5 Months Old

Rayna,

You are five months old! What a fun five months it has been! You've had a busy month this month.

The weather has been nice so we've been spending a lot of time outside. You love to swing on the baby swing on the swingset. And you don't mind going high! The higher we push you, the happier you are. You like for everyone to push you on the swing, but especially your sister. You think it is so funny when she pushes you and just laugh and laugh.

You spent the night away from home for the first time this month. We went to visit your Uncle Will and you had a great time. You slept in the pack-n-play like a champ and did pretty well on the car ride.

You LOVE to be carried in the sling. No matter where we go, you are very happy with Mommy or Daddy carrying you in the sling.

You love being held and cuddled and you are such a sweet baby girl! We love you!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Will!

We made it!! Mom and I successfully took two very small children to another state and back! We had a great time with Will (aka Billy) and squeezed tons of fun stuff into the few days we were there. We went for Will's birthday and it was nice to get to spend a few days with him. The highlight of the trip for Molly was definitely going to Ripley's aquarium. She is still talking about all of the fish!

The girls did SO well! Molly traveled very well thanks to the Nichol's DVD player (I'd love to know how many states that DVD player has been to--this is our third trip with it!) Rayna did really well into we got stuck in traffic on the way home. She wasn't happy that we weren't moving and was very glad to get home.

I wasn't sure how the girls would do going down for bed tonight since they've been so off schedule, but they both went down without a peep. I think they were exhausted and just happy to be in their own cribs!

I took an absurd amount of pictures on our trip (imagine that!)--here are just a few:

Spring Break!

Friday was the first day of Spring break! Our bags are packed and we are leaving in the morning for Tennessee to visit my brother. Brian will be working so Mom and I are taking the girls by ourselves. It's Rayna's first time spending the night away from home and Molly's first time going on a trip since she's been potty trained. Can I just tell you that to take an infant and a toddler on a trip to another state, you have to bring A LOT of stuff! With the way the van looks, Brian probably wonders if we're really coming home! :-)

We've had a great start to Spring break! We had dinner with our good friends the McArthurs last night. Molly had a blast playing with Corrie and Ruby and Rayna had fun playing with new baby Zoe. Alicia and I have actually been "expecting" together three times. Zeke and Corrie are two months apart, Molly and Ruby are two months apart, and Rayna and Zoe are two months apart. The McArthurs are so dear to us--they've been through the good times and the bad times with us and we just love them all so much!

Paw Paw's Girl

Brian looks JUST like his dad. So it was no surprise that Zeke favored both Brian and his dad. When Rayna was born, I was really expecting her to look like a girl version of Zeke (and Daddy and Grandpa Hines) but from the very beginning, I've seen MY dad in her. At first I thought it was just the blue eyes, but now I just think she is the spitting image of my dad. Her eyes, her smile, and so many of her expressions remind me of my dad. I SO wish he could be here to meet (and spoil!) his granddaughters. But I know that we will see him again and in the meantime, I have a little reminder of him everyday.

Couple of Cuties!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Spring has Sprung!

Today is the first day of Spring and it really feels like it here in North Carolina! We are loving it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

We had a fun St. Patrick's Day! Justin is still in town so he celebrated with us this year! We went to Concord Mills and met Nicole and Cooper for dinner. Molly and Cooper had a great time running (literally!) around the mall and we all got some good exercise chasing after them. :-)

See, Dan? You could TOTALLY wear the pink Ergo! :-)

Molly and Rayna are both loving their Uncle Justin.
And we're loving the extra pair of hands around here!

Justin has even been getting the "I love you" sign from Molly. That's big stuff!

And PS--did Rayna's green shirt look familiar?

There's a reason for that!