We have had a very cold rainy spring this year so far, but the day before Easter we were treated with a beautiful sunny day! It was the perfect time to head up to the tulip fields and bask in their beauty! My parents were here visiting for almost two weeks and we enjoyed spending lots of time with them. The one thing on our agenda was to make it to the tulip fields. And we wanted Brittaney to be able to come with us, so we braved the fields on a Saturday. Traffic was crazy and we just stopped at the first field we came to and spent lots of time tiptoeing through the tulips. Or in Amina's case she wasn't so much tiptoeing as stomping and splashing in any puddle she could find! After the tulip fields we found a yummy mexican restaurant and then headed south with a stop at Cameno Island State Park to play by the water and through rocks in the Sound. Though if you ask Brittaney she'll tell you we went to Tomato Island. ;) What a fun day! And a nice, well needed break from the dreary rain!

3 months already!

Elijah is 3 months old today! And to celebrate turning 3 months today Elijah decided to sleep through the night for the very first time last night!  He got to sleep around midnight last night and didn’t get up until 8:30 this morning – it was amazing!  And Amina didn’t wake me up until 8, so I got 7 1/2 hours of practically uninterrupted sleep – definitely a record for this year!  He did wake up a couple times in the night and just made some little noises, but didn’t cry so I left him and he went right back to sleep both times.  Of course this morning he was turned diagonal in his bassinet so that his head was against the side and he had no blankets on him, but he must not have been too bothered by it as he did stay sleeping.  Elijah is getting so big now too.   He’s so long that his 3 month footsie pajamas are getting too short on him so his little feet can’t stretch out all the way when I squeeze him into those.  But his other 3 months clothes fit great at this point.   At his 2 month dr. visit 3 weeks ago he was 12 lbs even, and 24 inches long.  He’s so strong too – he holds his head up all the time and when I hold him up he is stiff as a board – all stretched out to see all he can.  He’s laughing now and loves it when Doug tickles his chest.  He talks a lot too, especially in the evenings.  His favorite sound is sort of a ‘guh’ sound with a back tongue roll gurgley sound that we don't have in the English language.  It’s so cute!  He makes eye contact and takes turns ‘talking’ for several minutes at a time.  I love my little chubby love bug!  This past week he has also been discovering his hands and he will just sit staring at his cute little fingers as he moves them or touches his hands together.  It’s so fun to see him discovering how things work!  At this point Elijah takes most of his naps in the swing because it’s easiest! But we are working on napping at least once a day in his bassinet or crib.  He does great at night in his bed.  Amina continues to be a great big sister who loves to smother her little brother.  It’s a little easier now that he isn’t quite as fragile as he was in those early newborn stages.  Though I still have to remind her to be gentle and not to squeeze him.  She wants to play ‘baby’ all the time now.  Where either she pretends to be the baby (I tell her she can as long as she is a helper baby who can still help out her mama) or she wants me to be the baby.  When I am the baby she grabs my hands and squeezes them hard and laughs… since she knows she can’t do that to Elijah!

Here’s my two darlings this evening.

 

 

 

 

And a couple more pictures of them together…

Laughing with Daddy last week:

Snow

We have some snow here today and it's lots of fun to see. Yesterday we got just a dusting but Amina wanted to go out and play in the snow as soon as she saw the snow was falling. After her nap yesterday there was enough of a dusting that she could grab handfuls of snow to eat. she enjoyed playing pushes without me for a little while while I was feeding Elijah and I think she was finding all the 'clean' snow she could to eat most of the time she was out there. Then today the snow started falling hard while we were at a friend's house. We were excited to get home to play in it, but it had mostly stopped by the time we got home. But again this afternoon Amina went out to play for a little while and made a snow angel with the grass showing through. She's dying to make a snowman so I really hope we get a bit more snow tonight so I can help her with at least a small snowman tomorrow. Tonight she came in from playing in the snow and asked me "mommy, is it winter?" I said, yes it is. And she responded with "I really really like winter a lot". Her favorite tv show right now is Caillou, and we can watch several episodes on Netflix online. Her favorite episode is Caillou's winter fun where he gets to do all kinds of things in the snow. Its rare that we even have a dusting of snow, so we are thrilled with the half an inch she got to play in tonight!

On my own...

Today is the first time I've been out of the house without Elijah since he was born. I'm currently sitting at Starbucks sipping a caramel macchiato and munching on a molasses cookie while typing on my iPad. Also in the agenda for this first trip out of the house alone all year is a library stop and a quicker grocery store stop. Wahoo... The wild and crazy things that i chose to do sans children today. :) though i will admit it is MUCH faster to run in and out of the stores alone! And I'm still not sure how I will fit two kids and groceries in the cart when I do have to shop with both of them with me. I may have to stick to Fred Meyers for those instances for a while as Amina can go play in playland while I shop. First time out of the house alone this year has now been documented. :)

6 weeks

Elijah Robert was born 6 weeks and 2 days ago… and this is the first chance I’ve had to sit at the computer for more than 5 minutes when I was awake enough to upload pictures or write anything.  I haven’t even been doing anything but reading other peoples posts on facebook.  Pretty much if I can’t do it on my itouch with one hand while I’m half awake and nursing I haven’t done it!  But I love these moments with my rapidly growing newborn and I don’t want to forget them! So I am going to try to post a picture or a thought or a little observation more frequently on here.  :)

Last week Elijah started smiling at Doug, Amina, and I.  It just melts my heart when I walk over and say hello to him and his eyes brighten and a big smile emerges on his adorable face.  I’m so in love! He’s been cooing and talking to us a lot too.  Tonight Doug was holding Elijah and ‘teaching him to talk’. He’d say “Can you say oooo” and Elijah responded with the cutest sound 'oooo’.  Of course once we broke out the camera and tried to capture it on film he proved to be camera shy.  These days with such a young baby and a delightful but attention seeking toddler are very busy, with hardly a moment to shower, let alone think of doing something else for myself.  But the moments I sit and hold my little man and enjoy his smiles and coos are like little glimpses of heaven. 

Sunday Fun-day

  After church yesterday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful sunny fall weather and head to a park on the Puget Sound to enjoy the day.  We had planned to go to Dash Point State Park where Doug could fly a kite and we could enjoy a bigger beach area, but when we got there the gates were closed and signs were up stating there was an emergency park closure.  Hmmm, that was too bad… but we didn’t let that stop us! We just drove a bit further north to Seahurst park where we could still be by the Puget Sound.   Unfortunately the beach wasn’t wide enough for kite flying, but we still enjoyed ourselves.  First on the agenda was a snack lunch of cheese, crackers, salami, cheese spread, chips, salsa, and apples.  After a cheese taste test and other fun with our food we got to play at the playground for a little while.  Brittaney showed us how to use the funny looking bars to slide down so then Amina and I had to try too.  Yes I’m nearly 7 months pregnant and sliding down the bars at the playground… go figure. :) Next we ventured down to the shore to walk on driftwood logs, find rocks and shells, and let Bruin run chasing sticks.  Amina even took 2 sticks and played ‘drums’ on the driftwood while singing a special song for Mama, Daddy, and Brittaney.  She’s so cute.  She loved walking along the logs and was quite vocal about where each of us should sit on them.   Amina asked why the logs were on the beach and why they were so slippery so I explained they were driftwood that had been in the ocean and then washed ashore.  Naturally she wanted to throw sticks into the ocean then to let them wash ashore.   The only problem with that was that she couldn’t throw them far enough, so I had to do it, and Bruin saw me throw a stick in.  No more dry dog!  Whoops!  It was a bit chilly for a swim and afterwards he was shivering, but hey, he’s a dog and that’s what dogs do… chase sticks wherever they end up.  Though the sticks were a bit hard for Amina to throw in the water she had no trouble with the rocks! I was afraid she’d end up in the water as she kept stepping closer and closer to the water’s edge to pick up her rocks and throw them in, but she only got her feet wet once.  She stayed down by the edge of the water throwing in rocks for a good half hour before she decided to come sit on the driftwood and look for shells.  We stayed almost long enough to watch the sunset.  But as soon as the sun went behind the low clouds it started to get really chilly so we decided to head on out! It was a fun spontaneous fall afternoon together.  I love my family! 

   

Preschool

I decided to sign Amina up for a co-op preschool this year.  Since it is a co-op both of us get to go.  There are about 12 kids in her class – all 2 year olds.  On alternating weeks half of the parents help out in the classroom while the other half are involved in a parent education discussion group.  We’ve only been twice so far, as we missed the first day of class while we were on vacation with my parents in Myrtle Beach.  But it is really fun so far!  Amina loves going to school and does such a great job following the routine and playing with others – most of the time anyway ;) I love that they do fun messy things that I wouldn’t usually get around to doing at home – like playing in shaving cream on a table, painting, using lots of glue to do projects, etc.  I’m so glad I get to be in class with her half the time too – I love seeing what all is going on.  And there are 2 other moms with young babies and 2 of us that are pregnant and due this winter.  So I know I won’t be the only one carrying a baby around the classroom for a while.   The pictures are from the first day we went to school.  Fun fun!