The Big Switcharoo and Other Happenings

There have been big happenings these days!  Nathan officially moved out of his room into the guest room.  He's got a big new bed as we're keeping the guest bed in there for visitors (hint, hint!), and more play space.  He's spent about as many nights on the floor in his tent as in the big bed.

Julia has moved out of the guest room into Nathan's old room and also out of her bassinet!  The transition to crib sleeping has been seamless, much to our delight.  She's doing quite well at night, knock on wood.

This girl has started daycare 3 days a week, with two weeks under our belts.  After Julia and I both put a lot of effort into learning how to nurse in the early days, she gave everyone a run for their money in bottle rejection her first few days away from me.  She had been taking bottles before this!  About 5 types of bottles later, she has decided that the Nuk bottle is acceptable and is doing fine now.  Her caregivers have remarked that she seems settled and happy most of the time, and I have to agree that she is her usual self when I pick her up.  These special days of time with both kids are hard to give up, but it's good for me to be back at work, too.  I *think* I am actually looking forward to the semester starting up.

Serious about tummy time.  So much to see and do!

On a couple of our "home" days, we have been berry picking.  Daddy joined us on the latest adventure which included both blackberries and raspberries.  Nathan probably ate as many as he put in the container.  Check out the size of those blackberries!  They are amazing!

"Daily" Double

Can't leave out the little one now, can we?  Wow, two posts in one day.  It certainly won't happen again soon but we'll try for more updates.

Julia is approaching 4 months and is a delightful baby.  She's quite easy-going except that she doesn't like to nap.  But, she's generally happy when she is awake and sleeping decently at night, so we're definitely not complaining (very loudly).

 happy girl!

 busy girl, exploring with hands (and mouth)

silly sweetheart

and finally, the sibs together

The Many Faces of Nathan

This guy is VERY expressive!  Here he is, modeling some of his moods for the camera.

Vocalization

So much has happened since our last post and we are far behind in documenting/sharing.  For now, here is Julia showing off the new sounds she can make.  This morning we woke up to a happy baby making these sounds!

Late Spring Happenings

Nathan is quite particular about the seasons.  It is definitely not summer yet, and you better not say it is, even though we have hit 90 degrees a few times.  Here's what we've been up to this late spring.

These two are delightful together!

Nathan has been playing soccer on Saturdays:

Nathan is enjoying his new guitar:

Julia turned two months old on 5/30/11.  She is delightful with her smiles and cooing.

Julia is interested in toys in her advanced age!  Nathan is a great big brother- he likes to show her things.

Julia contemplates Mr. Frog:

Snapshots of Daily Life

Things are settling into a new routine around here as a family of 4, although that does not mean it is quiet.  Here's one of the few pictures of the four of us together.  Don't worry, Chris is making sure Julia is OK.

Recently there's been a rainy, cold, foggy weather system sitting on us, but there were a few nice days ahead of that.  Miss Julia enjoyed sitting outside while I planted the tomatoes in the garden.  Is her hair going to be red???  It's still a mystery...  Thanks to Grandma, we have two nice hanging baskets in the front.  Only one is shown here because the other one has all kinds of plastic toys below it...

For the summer, Nathan will be going to preschool Tuesdays - Thursdays and staying home with Julia and me on Mondays and Fridays.  He's found all kinds of new activities to keep himself busy on these rainy days.  He's become the master of fort-making and toilet paper play.  This is all helping to keep the house extra tidy of course...

In-N-Out Julia

For fun, just to document the experience.

In (3/27/11, 3/28/11)


Out: (3/30/11)

Easter 2011

We enjoyed a beautiful Easter Sunday here. Both kids stayed with us in church and did fairly well. Nathan thought the brass instruments were a bit too loud, and Julia seemed to agree as she startled a bit in her sleep. Then, we enjoyed some time with cousins and family. Both kids were exhausted after a full day and slept all the way home. Ah, a whole 30 minutes of peaceful Mom and Dad conversation in the car!

Tired babies, now and then

Julia on the left, Nathan on the right.

Julia has arrived!

We joyfully welcomed Julia on March 30, 2011 at 4:17am. She weighed in at 8lbs15oz and was 21.5 inches long. Julia's birth went smoothly and swiftly, and she is healthy for which we are very thankful. She has continued to do well and is nursing like a champ, already up and over her birth weight :)

Nathan is very excited about his new sister and is doing well with the transition. He likes to help change her diaper and give her lots of kisses.

Check out this link to compare to Mr. Nathan when he was born. We think they look quite a bit alike. http://chris-betsy.blogspot.com/2007/03/nathan-has-arrived.html

Happy 4th Birthday, Nathan!

Another March 7th has come and gone. Nathan turned 4 in style! He thoroughly celebrated with friends from school, cousing, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and us. Nathan and his friends enjoyed a visit from a magician, complete with a real rabbit appearing from an empty box!

Our big boy is learning so much every day, it is a joy to watch him play and (usually) express himself in more and more sophisticated words. We are so lucky to have Nathan in our lives! We love you, buddy.

Little Miss

As d-day approaches, I have had lots of chances to check on the little one in various ways and we are happy to report that there has been nothing to worry about from these checks. ("Lots of chances" is the nice way to say that I'm getting comfortable in waiting rooms!) Earlier this week, I had another ultrasound and the tech flipped into 4D mode. Wikipedia tells me that this means 3D in real time, as opposed to a regular 3D which is time-delayed. Anyway, I got a few neat peaks at the little miss that you can see below. Here she is, resting her face on her arm, and looking quite peaceful. We never had this type of view of Mr. N, so we find the level of detail interesting. Things are getting more imminent!