Bittersweet Monday...

This morning, Tom put Alicia and Alyssa on a plane bound for their home in Florida. To date, this was by far the toughest good-bye for me. These two girls are growing into such neat young ladies; so very different in their personalities, but equally adorable. Alyssa is now 12 and Alicia is 14 (going on 20!). We all had such a nice time together, going to the movies, to the pool, spending all of our money at the mall on school clothes and, of course, sharing love with Lilly. Alicia, Alyssa and Lilly really bonded. Alicia promised to take Lilly to the mall to teach her about cute boys and designer clothes. Alyssa promised to keep Lilly more "grounded" by sharing her love of animals and the outdoors. Lilly giggled a lot while they were here. I think she was most tickled about how the girls would "call" getting to do something with her (like you would "call" getting the front seat of a car!) For example, the minute we'd decide to go to a store, Tom and I would hear one of them yell, "I call pushing Lilly's stroller!"; then a roaring rebuttal would occur "I call holding her first when we get back home!"

Here is the bigger baby, Alyssa. She calls herself "Big Sis Lyss"---



Big Sis Lyss holding Lilly



Big Sis Lyss feeding Lilly



The ONE thing that Alicia and Alyssa NEVER fought over doing was changing Lilly's diaper! Alicia always ran the other way, but Alyssa just held her breath and did her Big Sis duties! No matter how plentiful the "duties" were!



Grandma Courtney bought Lilly this Baby Einstein floor mat. When she is laying down, there is a bright sunshine face that lights up to classical music! Lilly LOVES this toy! She giggles and kicks her feet while the catchy tunes play! Here are the 3 of them enjoying the upbeat tempo! (I think Alicia and Alyssa were secretly assessing whether or not Lilly inherited her Daddy's complete lack of rhythm! LOL!)



Lilly talked most to Alicia...well...blubbered and coo'ed. Something about Alicia inspired Lilly to want to carry out a conversation! (perhaps the promise of cute boys and designer clothes?)



And finally, my favorite, favorite, favorite picture! My eyes water up every time I look at this one! Look at these two faces! Be still my heart!



I'm going to miss the girls terribly. They are so fun to have around. They still think I have "a little" cool-ness left in me & enjoy seeing me be a mom. It's amazing how much my perspective of being around them has changed now that I have a child. The things that they say are a little more personal, the jokes that they crack are a little funnier and the short amounts of time that we share are so much more valuable. Not that I did not love them before, but it's different now....I hope that makes sense to you.