We Love Our Cousin

Baby Alise has us all smitten and, for good reason.

She is sleeping 4-5 hours at a stretch, gaining weight like a champ and showing amazing neck strength. She is strong and showing clear qualities of thrive and domination; basically, in short, she is obviously a Faiola.

Baby Lily weighs exactly twice what baby Alise weighs so soon, Alise will be able to handily win wrestling matches just by growing a tinch more. The kids were so happy to have both Grandmas around for loving and holding (though, Alise is a hot commodity so it took a while for her to make it to very patient Grandma Kelly).

Jamisen loves, loves, loves baby Alise. It is rather endearing how loving his since he knows she's going home and not staying at his home, fighting for precious resources,

Jamisen had a hilarious little incident the other day. He is fully potty trained (and for you competitive sisters? He had three accidents. TOTAL. For all of his potty training. And that includes nighttime). The other day, when he was standing up to go pee, he relaxed all his muscles, including his sphincter muscles. He farted (or as we say in our house, "Your dog is barking!") and out popped a little loose stool. He looked back, saw the deposit on the floor, laughed and said, "A moose came out!" (Dear Future Wife: Yes, I'm sure this will make the wedding toast. Consider yourself warned).

Alise may not quite be as enamored with Jamisen as he is with her. Thankfully, she has enough strength and heft to make her dismay clear. 

We were beyond (beyond beyond!) thrilled that Aunty Anne Ma visited from Norway! Yes, all the way from Norway to visit Alise (and perhaps the other cousins and her sister, but really, it was for this amazing addition to our growing Faiola Family). She was (is!) amazing with Jamisen and Lily. It was such a pleasure to have her visit and we can't wait to host more Norwegian cousins, aunts and uncles.

Aunty Anne Ma brought some amazing gifts for us - chocolate, socks, books (oh Karius and Bactus!)  and this amazing ear warmer for our marathon running Chris. 

Lily is contemplative about this new addition that is taking attention from her but she seems to feel that her piercing blue-grey eyes and perfect heart bow lips will win the day.

Or perhaps, the long lashes may win the day but either way, Lily's place in our hearts is firmly in place, guarded by her big brother, who continues to love her 20% of the time and rue the day she arrived 80% of the time - but this percentage improves weekly. We trust they will be best of friends by 2045.