Happy Easter - He is Risen!

Easter started off a good foot.  Natalie slept until 5am and went right back to sleep after eating.  I stayed awake and took the dogs for a walk...and even got a shower in before anyone else woke up.  Then I heard from the top of the stairs, "good morning mommy" and as I got to the top "you look beautiful mommy". That's what he says now and days when I actually shower and have on real clothes, not pajamas.  

When we got downstairs, he noticed the easter baskets.  (When we were getting his hair cut the other day, the stylist was asking, who's coming to see you on Sunday. He never answered. I explained,  we really don't push the easter bunny. If he chooses to believe it, that's fine, we aren't pushing it.) After seeing his basket, he said "this is kind of weird". In his basket, he got superhero underwear, a tube of frogs and lizards, easter marshmallows and some super hero action figures. 

 We had a great service at church.  The worship time was amazing. I think I got chills 3 times and teared up just about the same amount.  Service was really moving.  After service we came home and as my sausage balls cooked, we snapped a few pictures of the family. Unfortunately, we don't have an entire family shot.

Dylan snapped a family picture with his super heroes he got. Notice his super hero pose.

 Once the balls were done cooking, we headed to my Grandmothers.  As usual, Dylan couldn't resist the piano. Here he is very serious about his music.

 We got to see cousin Trinity too.

 Natalie even snagged some candy during the easter egg hunt.

 We forgot Dylan's basket. Give me a break, I have to pack the house when I leave now.  He used a reusable grocery bag. It worked all the same.

Next year, I really want to start the tradition of dying eggs with Dylan. Maybe some other traditions....any suggestions?

Sleep Over

Last week, Dylan had his first sleepover.  Unfortunately, it was under the wrong circumstance, but none the less, the boys had a blast.  Dylan's friend, J, who lives down the street and is 2 weeks older spent the night.  I was a little nervous as J has a reputation of waking up during the night and getting up super early.  However, I was willing to brave it :)

The boys played outside until dinner time with the kids next door.  They even had a "coffee party" with Dylan's girlfriend E using her tea set. Might as well wear them out, right?Then we ate pizza, had a bath and the boys watched Monsters Inc.  Dylan's choice.  After that they got tucked into Dylan's bed (I just knew Dylan was going to roll out of bed as he got the outside and is usually surrounded by pillows) To my surprise, no one rolled out of bed and the boys slept until 7:30.

The following day they played hard all day and even had an easter egg hunt (with balls not eggs) when additional kids came by for a bit.  (I'd like to mention that I am still finding the balls upstairs in little nooks.)

Dylan and J even played dress up.

We had a blast! We are thankful that Robert came home from the hospital the next day with minor injuries.  He truly had a guardian angel watching over him.

Watch Natalie Grow - 2 month

Natalie turned 2 months old on April 14.  I cannot believe that it has already been two months.  Then again, sometimes it seems longer.  She had her doctor appointment this week and Dr. L was really happy with her stats.  She now weighs 10lbs 13oz and is 22.5 inches long.  That puts her at 52% for weight and  67% for length.  Dylan, at 2 months, weighed 12 lbs. I have to remind myself that girls weigh less than boys, typically and that she has had an acid reflux issue.  I have been trying to eliminate dairy as much as possible. I don't avoid it if it's mixed in foods, except for cheese, but if it's milk or butter, then no biggie. She has done a lot better with spitting up since I made that change.  Now, it's not so frequent.  

I have finally got her sleeping in her own space (not in bed with me) and she does great.  Last not she slept from 10:00 until 5:00. I was so impressed. Dylan didn't sleep like that until he was almost one. She enjoys taking a pacifier. She still enjoys her bath time. Now at night ,when she hits her fussy time, we just put her in the bath and we see the fussiness fade away.  Natalie is a morning person. As soon as she wakes up, she is usually smiling.  I love her smile, it's so contagious.  Another thing that people seem to love, is her hair. No matter where we are, we get stopped by at least one person to see the baby that "looks like a doll with all that hair"

I can't wait until she can sit up and do things, but this will probably be the last baby we have so I am going to soak up all the babyness that I can. Is that a word?

Paintings

My friend, Jill, who is super talented made some art work for Dylan and Natalie's room.  Since Dylan's room is a dinosaur theme, he picked out his favorite T-Rex in a book for Mrs. Jill to paint.

I haven't revealed Natalie's room yet as it's still a work in progress seeing we didn't even know she was a girl. Finding the time or the energy to work on it as been few and far between..  Here's a little sneak peek as to what it looks like. I came up with the idea for this painting from someone else's art that I saw.  Their's had vases with flowers in them mine is based on her bedding, birds.  Can you figure out what the meaning is to the painting?

Thanks Jill for sharing your talent with us.

We Are Family

I know my posts have been short lately, but I don't have time to write long ones. When I have 30 minutes, I do several posts and schedule them for the week.  Hey at least Dylan and Natalie will have something during this time period to see...something is better than nothing, sorry kids but you are keeping me busy all the time ;)

Here is a pick of the cousins all together.

Puzzle Time

A while back, I bought a few Melissa and Doug Puzzles when they had them buy one get one free.  They are really big and have big puzzle pieces making it easier for Dylan to put together on his own. He really got good at those.  I figured he needed some more puzzles and while visiting another toy/ learning store, I saw a dinosaur Melissa and Doug puzzle. The pieces were a little smaller, but the picture was still really big. Dylan was excited to come home and do it.  We've had to help him a lot more with this one as the pictures with the puzzle aren't quite as large so it's harder for him to figure it out.  This doesn't stop him though, he is one determined guy.

Wordless Wednesday

Keeping it in the Hood

Dylan loves playing with our neighbor's kids.  Can't blame him there are 5 of them and it beats playing with no one. Out of the kids, he typically plays with the only girl more than anyone.  Sometimes he will call her his girlfriend, but they are best buds. The other day he was playing with them so hard that he had an accident in his undies and had to go get some new underwear and pants.  He brought them back out to me on the porch and said hurry before the kids leave.

here is a snap shot of Dylan and his "girlfriend"

Meet Natalie

My friends Jill and Lauren threw Natalie and me a special little party.  Since I didn't know if I was having a boy or a girl, Jill and Lauren decided to do a party after I delivered. It was more of a meet Natalie party, however, only one person in attendance had not officially met her yet.  It was very simple, elegant and only a few close friends were present. (I have something against big showers for 2nd, 3rd, etc children. No offense to those who have had them, I just wasn't interested in it.)

The food was delicious. The guests were fabulous.  We had a great time.  Thank you girls for making it so special.  I wish I had taken more pictures but when you have a newborn in tow, the camera isn't a priority.

Spring Program

Dylan's school had their spring program this week and I wasn't expecting much from Dylan on the performance end. At Christmas he was so distracted by the lights, he didn't really perform.  Well I was wrong.  I guess you could say he was the center of attention (at least for his class performance). For anyone who is cool and has been to a step show :)   You know there is one person in the step show who calls the next step....well that was Dylan accept it wasn't agreed upon by the class and music director, he just did it.  He started singing before everyone else, and then they joined in. Not only that put he showed some of his signature moves, the Captain Morgan pose that he does (one hand on the hip), lots of jumping and shouting. Later at home, he told me that he has to sing the songs really loud when I asked him to sing me the songs. He was a riot.  Also, later at home he told me that he was a rock star. Where he gets this I will never know.  I did send him to school that day in a rock star shirt so maybe that's where it came from.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures. The lighting in the church auditorium is horrible.

with all the classes

 with his class

 His post performance pose (look familiar?)

Afterwards the stars where rewarded with cookies and juice.  

Dylan and his BF 

Bath Time

Natalie loves bath time. She could soak for an hour I think. She kicks her little legs and stares at the shapes on the tub.  She cries when I take her out.  There for a while we would wash her hair under the sink faucet and again, she loves it. She just takes it all in.  Now, she gets her hair washed in the tub and she still enjoys the same. I see spa days in her future.

Big Brother wanted his picture taken too...

Wordless Wednesday

Easter Craft

I really want to start doing more things with Dylan during the day. My time feels so split but at this stage, Natalie requires a lot of hands on duty.  The other day, I had a few moments and took a craft idea from a friend and ran with it.  It's not quite the same as hers but I think I did it some justice.  I let Dylan paint the bunny's face. I used a painters tape roll and placed it on the paper as he painted inside it for that nice round look :)  I then painted the bottom of his feet for the bunny's ears.  and viola, you have an easter bunny.  It was simple but Dylan enjoyed using big boy paint that mommy uses and not the watercolor I usually let him use.