Happy First and Third Kristen and Alayna

Alayna Marie turned three on June 18th. This past year she has blossomed into both a sweet and strong little girl. Our curly q does her best to keep up with big brother, yet maintains her own personality very well. She loves ballet, dresses, soccer, swimming, and anything active. At three, she is already opinionated about what she wears, it has to be either "ballet" or "soccer". At times, she is even persnickety about what mom wears! She cracks us up with the adorable things she says and her confident attitude. Alayna still wants to be held and snuggled a lot and sucks her fingers and twirls her hair to soothe herself. Her temper flairs easily and she can scream long and loud, usually landing herself in bed or on the mat by the front door. In August, she will begin PreK3 at Regina Caeli Academy. I think she will love to be out of the house and on her own with other kids.

Sweet baby Kristen was born two years after Alayna on June 19th. In her first year of life, our laid back baby has learned to hold her own in this family. After a few months of colic and some serious sleep training with Baby Whisperer, she proved to be a contented and easy going baby. This is the first baby to really be excited and into Adam so young. She smiled

and sc oot ed early, but she waited to crawl until 9 1/2 mos. and still hasn't decided to start walking on her o wn. But, Kristen can crawl faster than I can walk, and get anywhere and do anything she pleases. She's showing that active Carter spirit for sure. Her favorite things are mommy, her pink puppy she sleeps with, jumping on the trampoline, climbing, and swimming. In fact, we have to really watch her around water. At the beach, she loved to crawl and splash in the shallow waves, and fully believes she can swim on her own at the pool. We have this inkling that she might be a little thrill seeker like her godfather Uncle Jordan. Though she is sweet and enjoyable, she absolutely stands up for herself against John Paul and Alayna, and is not shy about letting u s know what she wants. Kristen has truly been a dolly of a baby, you know the kinds that makes you want more . . .We have really enjoyed our first year with our squishy snugly baby.