The Past Eighteen Months
Grace and Charley are the best of friends. Sure, they fight and push each other around every now and then, but the love that they have for each other is insane. They would rather lay next to each other in bed kicking and giggling while watching movies than do almost anything else. They love to hold hands, give each other kisses, and help one another out. Grace is constantly "taking care" of Charley by telling us when she needs her diaper changed ("Dad, you need to change her stinky bottom. Look (as she pulls her pants out to show him), there's poop in there, and it stinks!"), making sure she eats enough at dinner time, sharing her juice with her when she thinks she's thirsty, and even trying to wash her when they're playing in the bath tub. Charley will get upset if she sees Grace's blanky on the floor, and Grace doesn't have it. She'll take it over to Grace and whine until Grace happily takes it from her.
Watching these girls love each other is the greatest thing in the whole world.
Eighteen months ago, Charley was born.
From that moment, our world was changed forever. Having Grace showed us what true love was and made our hearts explode with happiness. Having Charley, and watching her with her sister, has truly melted us into a million pieces. We constantly find ourselves looking at each other and smiling after watching them be sweet to each other. It makes me so happy to have these two little munchkins to brighten every day.
As Charley has grown, Grace has had her ups and downs with the new task of being the big sister. After the initial adjustment period, she finally realized that she had a new best friend that she got to be with all the time.
We are so blessed to have these girls around. They make us laugh and smile all day long (in between scoldings and tantrums, of course). I can't imagine life without either of them in it.
The past eighteen months have been the most amazing, difficult, fun, challenging, delightful time of our lives. Charley has grown and changed so much over the past eighteen months. She can now walk, play, and talk. She knows so many words and can easily tell us what she is looking for. She is getting so independent. Eating is much easier now that she can sit at the little table with Grace and feed herself with a fork or spoon. She weighs 23 pounds, 10 ounces and stands a quarter of an inch shy of 32 inches tall (that's about two pounds less than Grace was and an inch taller). She's such a petite little thing.
Happy Eighteen Months, Charley!!
Daddy, Mommy, and Gracie love you more than you'll ever know, little one <3
