Spring

Spring is here and the sun is warming up our green world around here.  We are enjoying park playdates, walks around the neighborhoods, lighter jackets and sometimes even flip flops! :)  But most of all, we are just loving getting to be with our kids.  They are learning and growing so fast and it is such delight to experience their little personalities blossom.  Yes there are challenging days (oh the emotional throes of 2-almost-3-ness), but I love these little munchkins so very much!

Ben always has several things in his hands, and when we travel upstairs or downstairs he has to gather all his "treasures" to take with us, like it is a long trip. :)  So many things, in fact, that he often can't keep them all in his arms and they drop out all along the way.  Now he will say "I have too many things"....hmmm, wonder if he's heard that before!

The love of hats continues for Ben. This one was a cheap St. Patrick's Day hat we found at the store one day and has been resurrected many times since after having been sat on, crunched, etc.  He fondly calls it his "Weprikon Hat" (Leprechaun Hat).

Our little sunshine--still so happy almost all the time.  She loves to be a part of things now and is interacting with toys and grabbing her feet and rolling around a bit, and now sitting up for awhile without being propped up!  She laughs and screeches with delight and "talks" (quite loudly) to everyone.  She definitely has a colorful and bold personality!

Our little engineer at work....notice the tongue.  Pretty sure it works better when your tongue is out.

Hats, tools and Grandpa. Can't beat it.

Too many things, Ben?

There is a picture of me sitting on my dad's lap as a baby just like this.  How precious the picture and even more precious the memory.

Just like Daddy!

Easter egg hunt in our yard with family and cousin.  And yes, their baskets for collecting the eggs were construction hats.  That's how we roll around here. :)

Our little bunny

They loved their first egg hunt.  We kept hearing "find anona one!" (another one!)

Getting all four to look in the same direction and smile.....impossible.  This was the best we could manage!

Easter morning hug

First Easter dress made by Grandma....and handmade shoes to match!  LOVE it!

Love these little darlings so much I could burst!

First time trying solids....

....and that's what she thought of that!

But we love our Bumbo seat!

"Look, Meggy!  I'm driving the car!"

We had a special visit from Gran and Aunt Melissa

Gran's in love again!

But seriously, how could you not be?!

Some of my most favorite times during her visit were when we would all gather around and get Megan to laugh and "talk".  We would all be laughing so hard that our sides hurt!

"Alright, whoever blinks first, loses!"

John is Ben's hero.  Anytime spent with him is a treat, but Ben literally lights up when he gets to play with "Daddy's tools" in the garage WITH Daddy.  Heaven on earth for our little boy!

Linda, Mom and I and the kids went to Mount Vernon to see the tulips and had so much fun looking at all the gorgeous flowers.  And corraling a 2+ year old little boy, especially after he realizes all we are doing is looking at flowers....yeah, made the morning interesting. :)

We forgot Megan's hat so Gran's scarf working in a pinch and she was the cutest little Babushka!

We love to laugh!

some of my dear Life Group girls and kiddos out for a walk and park-date in the glorious sunshine!

My new favorite picture of us!

Girls Night!  Once a month we have a girls night called a "Pinterest Party" where we take something we have been wanting to do that we found on Pinterest and actually do it!  Plus we have treats and girl time just us without the kids.  We LOVE it!  This month was hair and skin and makeup tricks and tips and it was a blast!  These are homemade facial masks that Beth made. 

Sarah dolled me up with some pretty curls and taught me a few tricks from all her modeling expertise.

I just love this picture!  Beth and Marie--love you girls so much!

I saved this video for last because it might be the best moment I have ever captured.  Megan LOVES her brother--any time he talks to her she smiles, and if he happen to laugh, well she just cracks up and then he starts laughing and then they are both laughing and loving each other.  And I got it on film!  Enjoy!

Megan Colette

I have to apologize for being absent for so long.  Apparently I have used up all my storable space for photos and have had to find another solution to be able to continue posting.  So I will play a little catch up and share with you the joy our last three months have held.

On November 16th, we walked into the hospital under such different circumstances than last time.  No labor, we had both slept and showered, and we calmly checked in to have a baby.  I literally walked into the OR and climbed up onto the table myself to have the surgery.....so different than the marathon of labor and whirlwind C-section that brought Ben into our lives.
Everything went textbook perfect and within the hour we heard her first cry and saw our little girl being brought into the world (sounds so gentle, but looking back at the video we took of the c-section, it was quite the aggressive yanking and tugging to get her little body out!).  She was 8 lb, 9 oz and 21.5 inches long.  We spent two days in the hospital, and both Megan and I recovered well.  Unfortunately she did lose about 10% of her birth weight by the time we left the hospital, but through lots of feeding, supplements and pumping she gained her weight back like a champ!  It was discouraging and frustrating to get different instructions and opinions from the healthcare professionals we saw, but when we went back for a weight check a week later, she had done so well that we were able to finally feed on a normal schedule.
The nights have been long, the sleep is short, I feel like all I do is nurse and change diapers, and as the doctor told me, I have been a ball of emotions.......but we are so happy because our world is 8 lb. sweeter with little Megan in our lives!  We have fallen head over heels in love and can't get enough of holding and snuggling and kissing on her precious face.

She is now officially 3 months old and has filled our home with such delight!  She is a social chatterbug who loves to smile and coo and interact with anyone at any time.  As soon as she catches your eye she delivers a mega watt smile that would melt ice.  Even Ben gets smiles when they interact.  He has been a super big brother--so gentle and loves to hold and kiss and hug Megan.  Always wanting to take care of her, he notices when she cries and will say "Megan need paci (pacifier)?"  "Mommy feed Megan?"  My favorite moments are when Ben gets close to her face and smiles and talks to her and she looks back and him and gives him a little grin.  What precious kids we have been blessed with!

We have taken so many photos over the last few months, but I chose my favorites so you can share in our moments and fall in love with our kids just like we have!

Our family of three before we became four!  (Taken moments before we left for the hospital!)

My dear friend Sarah Bowman met us at the hospital and captured some of our first moments with Megan.

At home and learning how to hold his little sister!

I think he's a fan!

This pic and the next few were taken at Thanksgiving when Megan was just 6 days old.

Megan loves bathtime and grins and kicks through the whole thing!

My mom has made several darling dressings for our little sweetheart.  I am having so much fun dressing her up! And Grandma is having so much fun making adorable creations!

 

This was a super awesome day for Ben--he got to play with "big Daddy tools!" in the garage!  Wow! :)

Ben loves hats and often has more than one on at a time.  This shows one of his favorite combos: hat blankie (which was created by his beloved blankie being loved so much that it is open on one end which means he can pull it over his head) and "construction hat" as he calls it.

Notice the fashionable gloves I gave my son before going out to play....yep, they are socks....not even clean socks I am embarrassed to say--I think they were from the day before!

 

I have started a tradition of "Donut Dates" with Ben--we both love the special time together!

 

These last pics are so incredible--taken again, by my dear friend Sarah Bowman who is starting up her own photography business!

 

And finally, some video of both the kids showing off their "words".  This captures such a perfect glimpse of our two kids and their personalities.  Ben is exploding with words and is learning so much--full sentences and concepts and thoughts that blow our minds.  Lots of emotion, often expressed through tantrums, but hey--it's the 2's!  And Megan is like this ALL OF THE TIME.  We are amazed at the gift she is--so easy, so happy and such a delight.