Sibling Love!

Christmas 2011

 We decorated a gingerbread house on Christmas Eve.

 We went on a marathon walk (nearly 2 miles) and watched that old stop-motion animation movie of how Kris Kringle became Santa Claus and had pizza for dinner.  It is a tradition from Mr N's family to watch a movie and eat pizza on Christmas Eve night. 

 The children got to open one present Christmas Eve - their new pajamas.  We were worried they would take forever to fall asleep, but they both conked out right away.  Apparently the long walk coupled with weeks of anticipation was too much for our little ones.

 Here is the living room after Santa visited!

 Our Christmas tree.

 The children posing with their stockings.

 The baby ponders the joys of Christmas.

We didn't take many pictures of Christmas morning, it's mostly video.  I'll upload that...sometime.  We had a lovely Christmas and hope you did too!

This Girl's So Cute!

Updates to the Kitchen

Our dishwasher has been dying a slow death for about a year now. We were planning to replace it with some tax refund money. About a week before Thanksgiving, our oven suddenly popped loudly. The stovetop worked, but the oven was completely out. The replacement part was nearly as costly as a new oven, so it was time to head to Lowe's. They were having a pre-Black Friday sale, and the prices were great, so we got an oven and a dishwasher! They are so pretty. And they both work. So, you know, yay!

Late November

(E is patting Baby's C's head, if you couldn't tell.)

E made potions in these sippy cups and was very proud of them. I like how E & M are posing so similarly (unplanned). I'm not really sure how she got her potions to be blue...perhaps I should look into that.

Baby C, 4 Months

Baby C will be four months old in a week! I find it hard to believe that just four months ago she was born; it feels like she has always been part of our family. We all adore her.

Baby C is such a happy, smiley baby. She smiles sweetly at all of us. Right now her favorite person is me, can't say I mind it! Honestly I am adoring her special smiles and how she follows me with her eyes wherever I go.

Baby C's likes:

• Her big brother and sister
• Mommy
• Daddy
• Being held as much as possible
• Being swaddled tightly
• Snuggling with Mama in bed whenever I'll let her

Baby C's dislikes:

• Napping during the day for longer than 45 minutes (totally forgiven because she sleeps so well at night)
• Not being held
• Me taking more than 30 seconds to start nursing her
  

Learning from Daddy

Mr N: Who do you like more, me or your teacher?
E: My teacher.
Mr N: Why?
E: She teaches me things.
Mr N: I teach you things.
E: Dad, all you've ever taught me if how to shake my booty.

I figure anyone who reads this blog knows Mr N and what a goofball he is. He loves to tell the kids: "I need you to do something." He's done it so many times that they now just roll their eyes and say, "We already know - shake our booties." Then they all put their hands in the air and shake their booties. My family is nutz.

Some Recent Pictures

Here is Baby C wearing the dress I knit for her before she was born. It is extremely satisfying to see her wearing it. It doesn't hurt that she looks darn cute in it too!

Mr N asked me why I am including this picture. Because it is gross.

I found this suit coat for M at a local thrift store. He looks so dapper in it. I like this picture because you can see how much E & M love each other.

Baby C is a rough character. She has to defend herself against ruffians. It's quite shocking.

Here you see M watching the television instead of smiling at the camera as Mr N requested!

Halloween 2011

Halloween night - spiders

Church Trunk or Treat - pirates

I had different costumes for the kids, but M always wanted to be what E was, thus the haphazard nature of his attire in both photos. The last photo is of M wearing Mr N's sombrero. Mr N wore it to an adults-only Halloween party. Baby C didn't trick or treat. She went to the trunk or treat dressed as Santa's little helper (sorry no photo).

We've Got Smiles!

Baby C's 2-month stats:
Weight: 12lbs 6oz
Length: 22.5 inches

Baby C's Blessing

Baby C was blessed at our church on September 25. Both sets of grandparents were able to attend, as well as Mr N's brother J and his beautiful family. Here's everyone:

Here's a picture of the cousins:

Mr N did a lovely job blessing the baby. She had the hiccups the entire time; it was hard not to laugh! She wore the blessing dress my mother made after Miss E was born. It was a beautiful, happy day!

Grandparents' Visit

My mom has been here for the month of September. She actually leaves tomorrow (boo!). My dad was able to come out too, for a long weekend when Baby C was blessed. Here are a few pictures of the festivities (pictures of Baby C's blessing day in another post).

Grandma doesn't like to be photographed.

Mr N harvested his pumpkins. He got a very impressive crop this year. The children were very excited.

Look at M's face! So cute.

Miss E quickly figured out that Grandpa is a big teaser. She had great fun bossing all her grandparents around!

Our New Arrival

Most of you already know this, but Baby Girl arrived last Sunday, August 7!

This photo was taken by Mr N moments before we left for the hospital. The kids were SO excited. They went to some friends' of ours, who took them to church. This photo was taken around 7am. I didn't realize I wasn't turned enough for the full effect of the belly to be appreciated. I was alllllll belly.

Baby C was born at 5:45 pm, weighed 8lbs2oz, and was 20 inches long. She was born 12 days before her due date, for which I am eternally grateful. She was posterior for a while, which stalled labor for about 6 hours (also grateful for epidurals!), but once we got that resolved and I was fully dilated, she arrived in less than 10 minutes! Very fast, just 7-8 pushes. It took about an hour for my brain to catch up to the fact that it was all over!

We came home on Tuesday. The babysitter snapped this photo, the first of all of us. We are a family of five!

She is a sweet baby, great at nursing, and beloved by all of us. Miss E loves to sing to her, and pick out her outfits. The kids love to put "hanitizer" (hand sanitizer) on so they can touch her. They are both great at being gentle. They are also being helpful, getting burp cloths or new blankets for swaddling.

The other day Miss E said Baby C was cute. "No!" shouted M. "She not cute!"
"What is she, M?" Mr N & I asked.
"She's pretty!" he answered.
Awww.

She likes to have one hour-and-a-half fussy period each night. She likes to mix it up so we never know when it will strike. Fun. But other than that, she is doing so well. Her weight got a little low post birth. At four days old, she was down to 7lbs5oz, so we had to go back to the doctor the next day for another weigh-in. Fortunately she was up an ounce, so no supplementing is necessary. Her favorite place to sleep is in her parents' arms (of course)!

Mr N is off work for paternity leave which is marvelous. He is home through the rest of the month. We have mostly been splitting the labor as I take care of the baby, he takes care of the older two. However, now that it's been a week I'm feeling more able. Plus we can tell the kids want to spend more time with me than they have lately. But it is really nice that Mr N can take the kids out and about, so they don't get stir crazy. I am a bit hermit-y after a new baby arrives. I think I barely left the house for three weeks after Miss E was born. Though we have already been out as a family a couple of times this week. My hips are still recovering from pregnancy so I still can't stand or walk too much at one time or I get very sore & stiff.

We are in serious baby love here at the N house!

Pregnancy Update

I am having a bit of a rough time with this pregnancy. On Friday I fainted at the craft store. Fortunately there were many other people around so I never made it to the ground. We went to the hospital so I could be checked out, and everything was fine. They said I need to be sure to eat & drink enough. So I've been doing that, but I am still having periodic lightheadedness. Mr N strongly urged me to not go anywhere by myself, and I had to see the wisdom of his counsel. If I fainted somewhere out and about with the kids, that could go very badly. So I am sticking to home more, and mostly limiting my outings to places where I can sit basically the entire time (library, McD0nald's). Yesterday my friend went with me to the grocery store. If you could keep me & Baby Girl in your prayers, that would be very appreciated! I have a little over 5 weeks to go and am hoping to avoid giving myself a concussion. Ha ha

Some friends of ours gave us their old swingset, so the kids have been having a blast playing on it. We've had a couple of cool days and some rain (boo). Before that though we were having classic Oregon summer weather, so the kids have been having fun playing in the kiddie pool in the backyard. I sit in a camping chair and knit while they play, it works out very nicely for everyone.

Baby Girl is healthy, active, and head-down. Tomorrow I get an ultrasound to see how big she is. I requested this ultrasound because I am worried about having a baby even bigger than M (he was 9lbs6oz). I don't think I'm quite as big with this one so I don't think she will be bigger, but we'll see.