1st Bath (4/5)

After wiping off Amelia's bits and pieces as necessary, there finally came a time when...when there was just so much of her that was dirty she needed to be cleaned from head to toe. That day would be April 5th. With her umbilical stump still attached, we can't put her in the tub yet, so we had to make do with a top to bottom sponge bath.

First, we needed to get all the clothes off. Evidence as to why she needed a bath is on the blanket underneath her.
As you can see, she was not a happy camper about the whole thing

Still unhappy, so I wrapped her up to dry her off before tackling the next project...
Calming down...
Ahh...relaxed at last! This girl can CRY LOUD! I'll have to try and get some video of that to post. She does just cry, she HOLLERS AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS.
Time to tackle that head of hair! I didn't want her out of diaper for any length of time (I swear this girl has managed to pee on me more times that William ever did W=0, A=7 and counting)
She actually didn't seem to mind me washing her hair. As long as she was wrapped up tight and the water was nice and warm...

Rinsing out the soap....and we're done!

How is William Doing?

William is doing fairly well with our new addition to the family. I'd like to think that it has something to do with how we are handling things, but honestly I think we're just lucky with how laid back he is about things.

He enjoys showing her his toys. Although she is not allowed to hold or touch them, merely admire them from afar.

When she gets attention, sometimes he demands equal treatment. Here he has demanded to be held and patted as the baby was.

He pushes her (not always gently) in the swing and turns on the music for the bouncy seat. He also likes to give her the pacifier and cover her up with the blanket. Although he seems to be confused about why it is okay for me to cover her face with her blanket when we leave the house and he is not allowed to do so.

Making Easter Eggs 4/4

After the Easter Egg Hunt, lunch and a nap for most of us, we were ready to tackle the coloring of the Easter Eggs. We were thankful Grandma and Grandpa were still here to help us with the big project with a total of 10 eggs!

Daddy doing double egg duty while William tries to come up with a plan to make a huge mess
Checking on the progress of his egg
Who needs a spoon or that special egg dipper? Hands work just fine!
Although then they are pink for the rest of the day...
Sometimes it is good to just hold and admire your work


William coloring on an egg while Grandpa shows off an egg he made in William's likeness. If you look at it long enough, you'll find yourself confused about which is the real boy and which is the egg.

Amelia holding her brother's egg

Amelia's first Easter egg

Our finished eggs...

Our family

Easter Egg Hunt (4/4)

Our church hosts and Easter Egg Hunt every year, but we are usually in Minnesota. Amelia's arrival so close to Easter made the trip impossible this year, but we finally got to be a part of the Easter celebration here!

The kids and the Easter Bunny. Our friend from church was the bunny, but William wanted NOTHING to do with her. Luckily Amelia was a little more laid back. I wasn't really planning on being in the pictures...but I guess sometimes that is how it goes!

Still unsure, tears are gone...

Warming up....showing the Easter Bunny his butterfly craft
Amelia's first Easter Egg Hunt
Also William's first Easter Egg Hunt (William in green/black jacket). We've never done the eggs with him before because he was so little (read:and we are lazy)
Putting his eggs into his bag with Daddy. Luckily Daddy was there to do the running around with William! William wasn't really sure what to do at first so we were a little slow getting started. All the big, excited kids were pretty overwhelming. Once they were out of the way, he relaxed and had a great time!
We were also lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa there to help with Amelia so I could do a little slow walking after the boys (and Nicole, yes these are jeans. MATERNITY jeans with the stretchy panel on the front)
Amelia found an egg!
Every time he found an egg, William would immediately try to open it. John had to be paying attention and get there quick to catch the loot inside otherwise it ended up in the grass. We couldn't convince him to leave the eggs shut...it was just too tempting!

Running around looking for eggs!
Opening up another egg...the funny thing is he doesn't even really know what candy is (besides M&M's), so it wasn't because he was excited to get the candy.
Look! An egg up in the tree! Thanks for the boost Daddy!

They also had a few crafts for Grandma and Grandpa to make...
(they honestly were trying to help William complete 1 craft, but his attention span isn't very long...) Nice job Grandma and Grandpa!

Daddy and William working on the "Guess the Flavor of the Jellybean" game - and Grandpa won! Go Grandpa!

Matching Kids

I know, I know. If I was a kid, I would have thought this was lame. But, I'm doing it anyway. There won't be much opportunity for me to do this in the future. Finding identical outfits for a boy and girl just won't be happening much. So, humor me here!

Look at the matching jammies!
William noticed that Amelia had her knees bent. He would NOT straighten his legs out then. He wanted to be just like the baby...
Silly Billy!
Look baby! A truck!
Two of my favorite people
Hmm....I guess they weren't looking at each other adoringly after all. The big one was looking at the little one and wondering if there was a place for his fingers....turns out the answer is yes!
Enough smiling. Time for some serious truck driving.

Mama's Photo Shoot (4/3)

Newborns are terrific photographic subjects. They hold pretty still and are game to try any position you put them in. They don't whine and will sit for long periods of time. As long as you don't mind them snoozing a little here and there.

However, 2 year olds do not make great photography assistants. They steal your props, stand in the good light, make a lot of noise, try to get in the picture with the baby, tip the baby basket over and generally make things difficult. Note to self: all serious photo shoots should be done during nap time. Other note: locate good light source during naptime inside the house.

These pictures really need to be color corrected and edited a little. The light was great, but there wasn't enough of it in big enough patches to get the job done. So, I'm disappointed and don't have time to go through each pic and make it perfect. But, I'm posting them anyway because...well maybe sometime I'll have time to come back through and fix them up right. When I'm 100 years old.

A sweet baby in a laundry basket
Snuggled in tight- she isn't going to fit into this basket for much longer!
Still has a little jaundice
A tiny smile - at least she has happy gas.
Patience is wearing thin...
Sweet baby girl
Stretch!
Trying to eat her hands...
Stretch the other side!
Thinking hard...about something.
You think it would hurt to put your finger in your eye
Tiny feet! Her feet are so much smaller than William's ever were. But, she has the loooooonggggest toes ever! They are so beautiful (for the record, all parts of her are beautiful!)