four on friday

one- We are leaving very soon for our summer trip to Virginia.  The only person who seems to be more excited than me is Jillian, who has told everyone we've seen this week "we go on airplane!"

two- I feel like before we were just two people with a little girl, but with the addition of Mattie we're a real family.  And, we're a family that requires a lot of stuff.  

three- This season of Bachelorette is really struggling.  I find Des so annoying and the guys totally unlikable (except for Brooks, who I only like when my eyes are closed.)  But I recently discovered ashleyjonesy.com.  She writes the very best Bachelorette recaps every week that are funny enough to keep me watching the show.

four- Mattie has progressed from her first smile last week to cooing this week.  We love to hear her sweet little voice, especially Jilly who yells "She's talking to me, she's talking to me!!"

side by side

From the moment Mattie was born people have told me that she and Jilly look exactly alike.  I thought so too, until gradually Mattie has become such her own little person to me.  Mattie has lots of dark, dark hair while Jilly just had a little bit of fuzz that she quickly lost, and Jilly's face is rounder.  But, looking at these pictures, no one could doubt that they are sisters.  Jilly is on the left and Mattie on the right.

{coming home from the hospital- same car seat, same outfit (see how the outfit is hanging off J's feet and fits M perfectly?)}

{this one also proves that my sleeping habits haven't changed much- super messy hair and right arm up by my head}

Yesterday

Yesterday we woke up around 6:30.  I fed the baby then got breakfast for the family members who eat solid foods.  Jilly has had bad allergies for the past few days and she woke up with awful red, puffy eyes.

 I gathered all the laundry, including her bedding, in an attempt to get rid of whatever is causing these allergies.  Next on the allergy-fighting agenda was giving Jilly a bath.  While she was in the bath, I snuck Jilly's blankie into the washing machine (possibly my greatest success of the day.)  I got Jilly dressed and snipped her too-long bangs that had been driving me caa-razy.

By this time Mattie needed to eat again so I fed her and got her dressed.  Jilly and I spent a few minutes playing with smiley baby Mattie.

 

I talked to my mom for a little bit then vacuumed Jilly and Mattie's rooms while Jilly pretended the vacuum was a monster chasing her.  While in Mattie's room I saw my old journals on the shelf and decided to indulge for a few minutes.  I had been feeling nostalgic about our college days since reading Lisa's love story.  I'm glad I was such a good journal writer back then because those notebooks are seriously hilarious.

We came downstairs and I started some dinner in the crockpot.  Jilly said, "I'm hungry" and I looked at the clock to find that it was noon!  I had two girls that were hungry for lunch and I was still in my pajamas- no makeup, crazy hair, and I hadn't even brushed my teeth!

At this point I was struck by how glamorous my life is (ha!)  It may not be the most exciting life, but it is perfect for me and I'm so glad I have my little chickies.

from here

fyi- I did finally get dressed (at 4:30pm) after changing both girls' outfits twice :)

pre-Mattie projects

It's difficult to remember life before our sweet little Mattie, but there were a few things I was going to blog about before she surprised us and arrived 5 days early (bless her!)

Brown paper packages tied up with string-

Between Mother's Day, birthdays, and graduation I had lots of gifts to purchase, wrap, and send off (this picture only shows about half!)   I also let Jilly pick out and wrap a gift for Mattie, and we got a gift for Jilly from Mattie.  These presents kept me busy for a few weeks.

Another dress-

 

We got new curtains for Mattie's bedroom, but I still loved the fabric from the old curtains so I channeled Maria von Trapp and made a play dress using this pattern.  Jilly loved this dress and wore it for 3 days straight, and now I can't get her to put it on at all. Typical.

Mobile-

Bryan and I spent a whole night debating the pronunciation of mobile- is it mo-buhl, mo-beel, or mo-bile (with a long i)?  Anyway, making this mobile for Mattie was a perfectly fun and easy project.  I used this tutorial.  

After Mattie arrived I looked back over my "To Do Before Baby" checklist and was shocked that I never got to 'clean the blinds.'  Maybe before our next baby... but don't hold your breath.

five on friday

one-  I got Mattie's pictures taken this week and I love love love how they turned out!

two- On Sunday night I was holding fussy Mattie and Bryan came up and started talking to her.  She stopped crying and flashed him her very first dazzling smile.  She knew just what to give her daddy for Father's Day.  We've all been able to get her to smile this week, but she definitely smiles the most for Bryan.

three- I read The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton this week and LOVED it.  Children were possibly neglected (or at least watched a little more Curious George than is necessary) as I devoured this book. If I wasn't reading at any moment I was most likely thinking about the book and wondering how it would end. It's the perfect summer book.

four- At the grocery store Jilly begged for me to buy the "pink milk."  I was trying to get out of there quickly and without any major meltdowns so I gave in.  But we have been suffering drinking skim milk all week (yuck!)  Back to the blue 2% milk on Monday.

five- I ordered this backpack for Jilly, and when she opened it up Jilly said, "oh my goodness, oh my goodness!"  Definitely a hit.

Happy Weekend!

silly Jilly

Whenever I do something for her Jilly says "Oh nay-ku mommy" (thank you)

McDonald's = Donald Duck's

When she sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" instead of "Up above the world so high" she says "Up-a up-a world so high."  Bryan has tried to correct her, but she insists that she is right.

We were outside playing and Jilly had to go potty so we headed inside and she started yelling, "Bye, I'll be back!"  I asked who she was talking to and she said, "the flowers"

We read Sleeping Beauty a lot and I always kind of skip over the death part but apparently she caught on from watching the movie.  Whenever we get to Maleficent's page in the book Jilly says "touch the spindle and DIE!" in her loudest and most dramatic voice.

As I've complained about at least 10,000 times Jilly is an early riser so I've told her that we don't get up until it's light.  So she now comes to us every morning saying "the lights are on!"

Whenever she sees Mattie or a picture of Mattie Jilly says, "oh my baby's sooooo coot"

One day Jilly did what I asked and I said "thanks for listening" and she said, "I obey Mommy and Daddy and Jesus!"

And lastly, a little Jilly in action for your enjoyment (She's singing "Once Upon a Dream" from Sleeping Beauty)

Mattie: one month

Yesterday I was telling Jillian that we were going to visit her Nana and Papa this weekend and she said, "Okay, I take my sister with me."  We can all agree- this baby girl is a keeper.

friday five

1. So far I have taken both girls by myself to Target, the grocery store, the park, the library, the post office, the mall (3 times!), McDonalds, and the doctor's office.  And each time we have arrived home alive I have congratulated myself on being a superhero.

(lots of pacifier love around here)

2. Though I am relatively comfortable with taking 2 children out and about I have yet to master the whole "take care of the house" part of my job description.  Bryan comes home at 5:30 every evening to find me sitting on the couch completely overwhelmed and surrounded by the effects of Hurricane Jilly.  We are so lucky to have the most amazing friends and family- Mattie will be one month old tomorrow (ack!) and I have yet to prepare a main dish for dinner.  We have had delicious meals pouring in and our sweet friends either A. think we are pigs or B. are just very generous (or probably a little of both.)  Every meal has fed us at least twice.  We still have dinners in our freezer and you better believe I am loving this break.

3. My sister Leslie graduated from high school this week.  We were sad we couldn't be there, but we did watch the graduation online.  Never have I been more grateful to be an Anderson- once Leslie had walked we were done (and the rest of my family had to stay and watch the other 500 students graduate.)  Jilly loved looking for Leslie, and then proceeded to tell me she saw other members of the family graduating as well.  Whatever you say Jilly girl.

4. This week was our annual Relief Society Garden Party.  For dessert we had fruit pizzas (idea from this pin) and they are my new favorite summer party dessert.  We just bought the sugar cookies and got strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries to go on top.  For the frosting, we mixed up cream cheese and marshmallow cream.  They were delicious, and I ate more than I am willing to admit.

5.  My very favorite thing that happened this week:  We were meeting up with some friends and after getting ready Jilly told me, "Clark and Mayzie will love my dress."  I assured her they would.  When we saw our friends Jilly walked right up to 3-year-old Clark and said first thing "You like my dress?"  And he responded, "Oh yes it's pretty."  That kid is going to make some lucky woman very, very happy one day.

Gigi

I have never been more grateful for my mom than when I had my babies.  Both times she arrived right as we were being discharged from the hospital which was good because I'm not sure I would have let them send us home without her expertise and help.  On the way home this time she got the lucky spot between the carseats.

My mom stayed with us for a week.  She fed us, cleaned the house, filled our fridge and freezer before she left, and watched the girls every afternoon so I could take a nap.  With her help I actually felt like a real person those first few days.  I could shower, get dressed, and we got out of the house to do something every single day (three things that definitely don't happen every day when I'm on my own.) My mom even watched both girls one night so Bryan and I could go out to eat sans children (which felt downright luxurious.)

Having her Gigi here was such a treat for Jillian.  They shared a room and my mom was so nice to wake up with Jilly every morning (Jilly does not believe in sleeping past 6am.)  My mom took Jillian on so many fun adventures- they watched a parade, went to the mall and got a build-a-bear, and went to get ice cream together.  Having five girls of her own, my mom is quite the princess expert, which is something that Jilly greatly admires.

 The best thing about my mom is that not only is she immensely helpful, we truly enjoy having her company.  We miss having her here so much, but luckily we get to see her (and the rest of the family) in just a couple weeks when we go to Virginia!

naming Mattie

We had a hard time choosing a name for Mattie.  I had all sorts of criteria that drove everyone crazy.  I wanted a two syllable name because I thought it flowed better with our last name.  It couldn't start with J (too Duggar.)  It had to sound good with Jillian (and Jilly.)  And, I like older names.  During our weekly skype visits with my family they'd give tons of suggestions and I always had some reason why the name wouldn't work (like I said, I was driving them crazy.)

One day I was driving around and suddenly the name Mattie came to me.  I texted Bryan:

Bryan wasn't very familiar with the name Mattie (it's a very southern name) and so he was hesitant at first.  But as the days went on we both started liking it more and more.  We were worried that she'd spend her whole life saying "It's Mattie, with t's.  No, it's not short for anything, just Mattie."  But, in the end we decided that we liked it enough to go for it.  Though Mattie was the frontrunner for the last few weeks of my pregnancy we didn't officially decide until a couple hours after she was born.

We hadn't chosen a middle name either.  As we headed to the hospital my sister Leslie said to not have the baby til after midnight because May 16th is her birthday.  Well, that obviously didn't work out.  But since Mattie was born so close to Leslie's birthday, and since we both loved the name Claire we did give her Leslie's middle name.

It's funny to go from calling her "baby" for so many months to actually using her name.  You give a baby a name and suddenly they seem like so much more of a real person.  And after these few weeks with her I can't imagine her being anything except Mattie Claire.

sisters, sisters

Later on the night Mattie was born Bryan's mom picked up Jilly from our friends' house and brought her to meet her baby sister.  When they arrived Mattie was in the nursery having her bath.  Jilly loved watching all the babies through the window, but was even more excited when she could see her sister for the first time.

Jillian stayed with Bryan's parents the rest of the time we were in the hospital and had a wonderful time.  But she was thrilled when it was finally time to take Baby Mattie home. 

To say that Jillian loves Mattie is a huge understatement.  She always wants to be as close as humanly possible to Mattie, which sometimes means that she ends up on top of her baby sister.  Jilly especially loves it when we put Mattie in bed with her.  

Jillian is a great helper- she's the very best diaper retriever and paci finder.  Jilly loves to help give Mattie a bath; she's always in charge of putting lotion on Mattie's feet when the bath is done.  She also likes to pick out Mattie's clothes, but has been very disappointed that her sister doesn't wear dresses every day. 

Jilly got a build-a-bear and Bryan realized that the Aurora dress for the bear would fit Mattie perfectly.  You can imagine Jilly's excitement at having a dress up buddy.  

 

I love, love, love that these sisters are going to be bff's.

more on Jilly's dress here, Mattie's dress from this tutorial

five on friday

five things you should know about Mattie Claire:

1.  She is so sweet and mellow.  Even at the doctor when she was being poked and prodded Mattie was  quiet and peaceful.  She's happy to lay on a blanket near us while we play and generally just goes along with the flow.  She also is super cuddly which is just about the best thing a newborn can be.

2.  She has hair!  Jillian was pretty much bald until she turned one so I am loving Mattie's dark, silky locks.  

3.  She is a dreamy sleeper.  During the night she wakes up every 3-4 hours to eat but then falls right back to sleep.  She even slept for 5 hours straight one night! (I don't think Jilly slept 5 hours straight until she was 6 months old.)

4.  At birth Mattie was 2 ounces smaller than Jillian but 2 inches longer.  All of the newborn clothes that fit Jilly for a few weeks are floods on Miss Mattie!

5.  When she wakes up Mattie always opens her right eye first then her left eye a few seconds later.