Miss E Hits Two Years!

Wednesday was Miss E's second birthday. She spent most of the day fishing with Daddy at Detroit Lake.

When they got home, we had a little family party. There was a cake and presents!







Miss E is growing and developing at an astonishing rate. She seems to learn something new every day. Here are some insanity-producing things she has just started doing:

• Shrieking randomly and loudly.
• Taking off all of her clothes and her diaper in the morning in her crib. Luckily, no accidents yet. Sometimes we duct tape her diaper on. Oh yes, we do.
  
• Whining until we pay attention to her.
  

Here are some adorable things she has just started doing:

• Yesterday she nursed her baby doll, put it to sleep in the bassinet, and put it in her shopping cart. She told it to "sit down" in exactly the voice I use to ask her to sit down while shopping.
• Last week we went shopping as a family. Dh manned Miss E while I browsed around with the baby. Miss E ran from rack to rack, pulling things off, holding them up to herself and announcing, "This is cute!" What can I say, she learned to shop from the best.
• She finally started saying "I love you." The 'love' is hard for her to form, so she says the whole sentence very slowly: I...wuvvv...you. Picture my heart bursting into a million pieces.

We really love Miss E to an impossible degree. Happy birthday, Miss E!

Bonesteele's Blessing

Bonesteele hangin' out with his big sister.

"Yeah, I'm MAN enough to sit in a pink bouncy seat!"

Bonesteele was blessed June 1 by Mr N at our church service. Lots of family was able to attend - it was so nice to see everyone! Mr N said Bonesteele would be a happy baby and that is certainly true so far. Bonesteele has started smiling and cooing a lot in the past week. He is a sweet baby, and very low maintenance. He is easy to put to sleep, though he is still waking every 3-4 hours at night.

Isn't Uncle B's hair so pretty? (hee hee)

Saturday most of the family went to the coast. Grandma N, Bonesteele and I stayed behind. We had a nice relaxing day and went for a long walk around the neighborhood. The Ns at the coast went to Pacific City. They ate at The Pelican (highly recommended) and played on the beach. Miss E got totally soaked, as she is impervious to the cold! She had a great time running in the frigid waves of the Oregon Coast.

Sunday morning was the blessing. As I was dressing Bonesteele for church, I discovered to my dismay that his adorable christening outfit was too small - it didn't even fit over his head! So we had to quickly improvise. He wore a white onesie and the little white shorts from his christening outfit. With a hand-crocheted blanket wrapped around him, no one was the wiser.

After sacrament, everyone headed over to our house. We all chatted and had a good time. Some uncles earned their keep by playing with cousins M & E in the backyard until they were all exhausted. I made the crowd homemade chili and cornbread. It was weird but fun to make such massive batches of food. Since it was the Ns eating, there were barely any leftovers. Ha ha By Sunday evening, everyone had left, and it felt awfully quiet in our house! We had a great weekend and I'm really glad so many could make it for Bonesteele's blessing.

Mr N Goes Under the Knife

Mr N had a septoplasty on Wednesday May 28. It was a surgery to fix his deviated septum. We underestimated how hard it would be on him! He had to wear a mustache mask for several days, and was in a lot of pain. He couldn't pick Miss E up either, which turned out to be nearly impossible for him (he only followed that rule for 2 1/2 days). Ladies in our ward at church very nicely provided two delicious dinners for us.

Mr N was on Vicodin for a while, and slept almost all of Thursday and much of Friday. There is no rest for the wicked though - Friday evening family started arriving for Bonesteele's blessing. He was quite tired by the end of the weekend. Monday morning he had a follow-up appointment, and everything seems to be going pretty well. There was a scare Monday evening that perhaps one of his nasal passages had collapsed, but it seems that hasn't happened. His breathing now is quieter than I have ever heard it, and he seems to be snoring quieter and less often. Mr N reports that for the first time in his memory, he can breathe out of both nostrils!

Pictures of My Little Ones

Miss E tries out the new table. (Thanks Mom!!)


Power to the people!


Check out that hair color!

My babies

Day 2

Little feet

Welcome to the family

He's Here!

Bonesteele arrived this morning at 11:54 am, April 18. He is absolutely adorable!!!! He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz and is 21 inches long.



More to come later! :)

Visit to the Capital

A few weeks ago we went to the capital to enjoy the cherry trees in bloom. Fortunately we went during a 45-minute break in the rain. Good ol' spring in western Oregon!

Miss E was enchanted by the flowers.






In the above picture, Miss E is pointing down, because that is where she wants to go! The rushing water of the fountain kind of freaked her out, she didn't like being too near it.


Well, she wanted down until Mr N walked under a cherry tree. She liked reaching for the blossoms.


Pointing at "fow-fow!"

Quote of the Day

“Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world, a mother’s love is not.”

~James Joyce

Easter Weekend

Travis and Jeanie came down from Seattle for Easter weekend, primarily because I am pretty much the only one in the family who hadn't met Jewell yet. She is an adorable little baby! Plus, it's always more fun at holidays to be around family. Friday was mostly spent chilling, though Mr N and I managed to give more money to Target. Saturday the boys went fishing. Jeanie and I ventured to the bookstore with 2.5 children. Jewell doesn't like driving in town, but everything went fine. I picked up a Rachael Ray 30-minute meals cookbook, since most of the recipes I make right now take about an hour, and I just don't think I'll be up to that once I have the baby.

When Mr N and Travis got home, we had the Easter egg hunt. (Sunday's forecast was rain, plus it just fit better with our schedule.)




Miss E quickly caught on to the whole idea, as you can see from the above picture!



I loved snuggling up with little Jewell, who is such a sweetie. She is almost two months old in this picture. And yes, she has red hair! Her dad is blond, her mom is brunette. Not sure about the postman...



Miss E sizing up the baby. She actually did pretty well around her, and with coaching would pat Jewell on the head, or point out her body parts. She does however have no concept of being quiet when the baby is sleeping, which will probably be an issue once Baby #2 is born.


Here are the girls in their cute Easter dresses. Um, yeah, totally lousy shot of Jewell's. I think Travis has a better one on his blog. In fact, also lousy one of Miss E's. Oh well. It's cute, take my word for it. It has a little bunny and many flowers. Courtesy of Grandma J! Thanks!

Sunday afternoon Mr N's parents were able to come over. (They are spending spring break in Seaside.) So Grandma N got to be entertained by her active toddler granddaughter, and hold her serene baby granddaughter.


I love this picture - she looks so absolutely innocent.

Dinner turned out quite well. Everyone helped, which was great, since, you know, I am eight months pregnant. We had a glazed half ham, steamed asparagus, salad, and crusty French bread. Mr N's parents brought New York cheesecake and fresh strawberries for a delicious dessert.

Travis, Jeanie & Jewell left around 3 pm so they could make it back to Seattle at a decent hour. After they left, Miss E switched into major "show off" mode, which was hilarious. Her grandparents have mostly just seen her at their house, where she is reserved and clingy due to the unfamiliar surroundings. In the comfort of her own home, she really turned on the charm.


And decided Mr N's socks would be an awesome accessory.



This Easter was very enjoyable! It was certainly more fun than if had just been Mr N, Miss E and me.

Gleneden Beach

Last week we had the opportunity to go to Gleneden Beach for a couple days. We had a really fantastic time. I think it might have been the best mini-vacation we have ever had! We arrived Thursday night and tucked Miss E into bed. Our room had a fabulous ocean view! The ocean was very rough and the surf was so loud. Our suite was very nice - 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, with a fireplace, full kitchen, and of course that marvelous view.

Friday morning dawned blustery but sunny! (Those of you from the Northwest know what a miracle it is to have a sunny day in March.) Mr N made bacon, eggs & toast for breakfast. Yum-may. Then we headed out to the beach.

Miss E fears no elements. With her trusty sippy cup, she was ready for whatever came her way!

Miss E and I pause in our meanderings for a photo op.

We tested Miss E to see how far away she would get from us. The answer was pretty darn far! The beach was pretty much deserted, which had something to do with it. If lots of strangers are around, Miss E hangs closer to her parents. She didn't want to get very close to the ocean at all. (Previously, at Pacific City, she waded right in and got soaked.) I think that was because the ocean was so rough and loud at Gleneden that weekend.

Action shot!

Back at our room, Mr N and I settled into patio chairs to enjoy the view and the surf sounds. Miss E found a puddle nearby and splashed in it until her shoes, socks and pants were very muddy. Toddler heaven!

After Miss E's nap, we went to Tidal Raves for a late lunch. It's heavy on the seafood, so Mr N had a hard time finding something to eat. But my vegetable stir fry with salmon skewers was very good. Then we headed up to Lincoln City to go to the outlets, where we found some great deals on clothes for the kids.

Saturday morning Mr N had to leave inhumanly early for work, so Miss E and I checked out around 9. We picked up Mr N from the house back in town and went out to breakfast! Where Miss E ate only grapes!

We had such a great time together as a little family. We wanted to make this trip while we were still a family of three. We had such fun that we are hoping to squeeze one more mini-vacation in before Baby #2 arrives, but who knows if we'll be able. His due date is just one month away. So sometime in the next six weeks, our family will grow to four.