Starlet

Our little lady had her newborn photos taken today.

Can't wait to see how they turn out. :)

Xoxo!

Party animals

Asleep together on the couch by 9:30pm.

(Her rear is literally inside his sweatshirt.)

Such wild partiers they are. :)

1st (2nd) bath

I typed up this post yesterday, but it has since disappeared. Where did you go, cute little bath post?? Here it is again.

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Miss EJ was awake and alert earlier this week after her first bath at home.

And 20 minutes later, check out that hair.

We have a little chick in the house.

Flufftastic!

Sips and snuggles

Guess who went out to dinner tonight? We did! We did! We donned our Sunday best and ventured out for a steak dinner. Orrrrr, we threw on jeans and drove straight to our favorite Mexican hole in the wall. Totally the same thing.

EJ was a stellar conversationalist throughout the meal.

While her big sister pounded a quesadilla like her life depended on it, and also learned a big life lesson: how to properly dip your tortilla chip in salsa AND queso.

Mommy just might have sipped one of these.

It was good. (Understatement of the century.)

Meanwhile, I've been trying forever to grab a photo of the two girls together. A is warming up to her sister more every day, but her moments of attention towards EJ are so brief that I have a hard time capturing them. She has done quite a few cute things, though, like continually pointing out her eyes, nose, and hair, wanting to hold her hand, and getting all nervous and shy and running off to a corner when she's really crying. Depending on her mood, she also joins in the crying sometimes when EJ is really going at it. Those moments, however, aren't as cute. :) She knows when we say Baby Ella exactly who we are referring to, but has yet to say her name, regardless of our repeated attempts.

All of that being said, I finally captured a few pics tonight of the two of them. Not the greatest, but hopefully more to come.

The shy, hovering, "I want to pay her attention but don't want you to see me paying her attention" move.

I am overdue for an upstairs update. Soon.

2-28-14

A few photos from EJ's birth day:

The last pics of our big girl and me before she became a big sister and me a mommy of two, snapped right before we walked out the door to the hospital. (A wasn't too pleased about the photo session!)

Bump shot. The finale.

Hospital selfie. Can't remember when this was taken, but it must have been early in the day. :)

The photo N insisted on taking late afternoon, me oxy-ing it up in order to help EJ get through the contractions she was struggling with near the end.

Our first meet and greet.

Awake and alert after her first bath.

Paparazzi.

What the hospital gifted me mere minutes after she arrived.

Best.Gift.Ever. I *might* have squealed when they brought it in. I mean, who wouldn't go crazy for a fancy cupcake immediately after pushing out a baby? No one, that's who.

EJ had her doc appointment today, everything looks great. Still a teeny punkin - 5lbs 8oz - down from 6,3 at birth and 5,12 at discharge. She should start turning and moving the scale in the opposite direction from now on, as she's eating more and almost past the day four/five turning point. No jaundice issues or other concerns.

Two healthy little ladies. We're the luckiest parents ever! Xoxoxo.

It begins

Our first full day at home with Miss EJ was a fun one, lots of snuggling and settling in.

We said goodbye to all four grandparents this morning, and A continued to ask for papa, mamamama and Winnie throughout the day. It's quiet around here without them! Although E and her newfound lungs are doing a pretty solid job at filling the void.

She even soaked up a little sun, our proactive attempt at warding off any jaundice issues like what her sister had to go through. (A snoopy puppy was jealous we were hogging all the rays.) Doc appt tomorrow will hopefully confirm we are in the clear.

Meanwhile, Miss A took a little more interest in little sis today, covering her repeatedly with blankets (sometimes actual blankets, other times pieces of paper towel or toilet paper she would rip off and place on her head). She also had a thing for shoes today, demanding to try on everything she owned and eventually settling on a too-big pair of summer flip flops. She flipped and flopped around the house in them all afternoon, tags and all.

Sending lots of love from our family of FOUR! Xoxoxoxoxo.

Snuggle bunny

Somebunny was very interested this morning in the unveiling and cleaning of the bouncy chair. (And that same bunny is suddenly six feet tall. What the heck happened??). February 2014:

May 2012:

July 2012:

Sniffle sniffle.

Just sitting in it won't do anymore. One must investigate the buttons,

do a little swinging,

and complete minor maintenance.

Can't believe we'll have another teeny punkin to play in this chair in just a matter of days. Can't wait.

Finishing touches

Organizing and enjoying. Name of our game the last couple days.

Relishing in the finished nature of the upstairs, in the small "fun" tasks that remain like installing doors and towel bars and vanity pulls and closet rods. Enjoying the slow emptying of the dining room and office and basement with each armload up the stairs. Embracing the fact that we no longer have to wear work clothes in order to step foot upstairs, or throw socks directly from our feet into the trash because they got too dirty to even consider washing. Feeling relieved to have given our daughter her room back. And a clean one, at that.

Loving the finishing touches. Even if there still remain an unpacked box or two.

We'll lounge against them. No problem.

Loving the finishing touches, even if all the doors aren't yet on their hinges and annoyingly loud dogs can wander up and wake up napping children by sprawling out on the cushy new carpet.

Loving the finishing touches, especially when they are all being so sweetly investigated by our in-house inspector.

She slings a mean flashlight, that one.

Working on finishing up the door installation. Organizing like crazy. Deep cleaning furniture. Washing every linen that was sitting within a five mile radius of the project. Finalizing little details.

Oh, and grateful as all heck for a properly-positioned baby. :)

Every extra day we have now is a bonus. Bring on the rest of the week!