It's amazing

how different children can be.  Different looks, different personalities, different strengths...

Now that Arya is a toddler it is fascinating to see just how different her and Audree are.  Their strengths are very different and it has become much more apparent as of late.  When Audree was younger a big strength of hers was colors.  She loved colors and at 15 months old she could properly identify yellow every time.  By the time Audree was 18 months she could properly identify all the colors of the rainbow pretty much every time. 

To contrast that Arya is 21 months and can say all the colors but only properly identify them about half the time.  Where Audree's strength was colors Arya's is definitely numbers.  She loves numbers!  She can already count to 13 and we found out a few weeks ago that not only can she count but she can properly identify the numbers when she sees them.  She was watching Umizoomi, which is geared a lot more towards math, and she kept saying numbers.  I looked up and realized she was saying the numbers that she sees on the TV.  I kept observing her through the next week and realized it wasn't a fluke, she got them right every time, except maybe when there was something like 12 she would point out the 2 and the 1.  Also since she was about 18 months she's been drawing circles when she colors/draws.  Often when she is coloring you can hear her saying "circle, circle, circle, circle, circle..."

Arya definitely has more of a brain like Mark's and Audree has more of a brain like mine.  Audree loves doing her art game on the computer and Arya is obsessed with the ipad.  Arya thinks that whenever anyone gets the ipad out it means she gets to play on it. 

Audree has always seemed content with a slow moving life.  She plays well by herself, she watches movies quietly without requiring mine or Mark's company.  She didn't start really running until she was almost 3 and she would love to sit and watch TV all day long.  That isn't to say that she doesn't enjoy going outside and playing and being crazy, but she is definitely a calmer child.  Arya on the other hand is very active.  Playing by herself is rarely an option, watching a movie by herself lasts about 2 minutes.  She'll watch TV and movies but you'd have to be crazy to expect her to sit still while she does this.  She's probably going to be our little gymnast.  She hangs from anything she can and always keeps her legs in a pike.  Yesterday she wanted to sit on the potty and instead of sitting still wanted to act more like a monkey and kept holding onto the handles of the potty seat and lifting her bum and legs off the potty.  If you can imagine a tiny little squirt like Arya acting like she was on the parallel bars holding herself up and doing the splits in mid-air than you can probably imagine what she looked like on the potty. 

For as different as the girls are they do have a lot in common.  Like they are both sneaky and naughty little terds.  Arya maybe more so than Audree was!  I always have my hands full with these two!  But to me there is hardly anything more rewarding than being a mother.  Seeing all these things in my girls brings me such joy and makes me so proud.  They are both so unique and so special and I thank God every day for them.  Some days I do wonder what possessed me to have kids but by the end of the day I always remember how infinitely blessed I am to have them and how without them my life would be incomplete and empty.  I am so thrilled for this little boy to get here.  I know it will be difficult having 3 kids and sometimes, when I am weak, I start panicking and worrying about how I will get through all the difficult times ie: breastfeeding, not sleeping all night once again, being restricted by baby's needs etc. but quickly I remember that I am having a little boy! and I love babies and I am so blessed to be having him and when he comes I will be so filled with joy that it will be impossible to even describe it.  I saw this quote the other day and I loved it so much.  I had it on the side of my blog but for some reason it isn't showing up right now.  People often tell me I am going to have my hands full like while I can really tell they are thinking, "is this girl crazy!?  what is she thinking?  she is going to be so busy with these kids!"  And this quote describes really well what I feel, and what I want to say to people when they tell me I'll have my hands full.  The quote goes, "If you think my hands are full you should see my heart!"  And it's true!