Weekend visitors...

Grandpa and Grandma W came for a little visit this weekend. Megan had fun playing with them and put on quite a show. We love when they visit us, because it doesn't feel like company! We never feel the need to make conversation or entertain them (although Megan does that all by herself)! Grandpa and Grandma make themselves right at home...dad using the remote and mom checking her email and baking banana bread! :-)

Here's Megan playing with Grandpa W. There is just something about daddy, Grandpa P, and Grandpa W! They can get Megan to giggle and be goofy like no one else can!


Sorry about the red-eye in the next two pictures... forgot!


In just the last 2 days, Megan has begun to say her brother's name. "NAY-NAY!" she yells as she points to him. "NAY-NAY!" :-)


Megan bouncing and jumping on our guest room bed... uh, an air mattress in the living room!

Looks like we have a quiet week at home ahead. We'll be heading up to Grandpa and Grandma W's house on Friday for the weekend - my Grandma is turning 90 and we're having a little celebration for her. I'm told that Megan's cousin Caleb is anxiously awaiting her arrival - he is looking forward to someone new to play with! And, I know that Aunt Leah and Aunt Stacey are excited to see Nathan...they haven't met him yet! And, I can't wait to see how much my nephew Micah has grown!

Our little guy!

We are still getting to know our little Nathan Alan. But in these short 7 weeks, we know these few things about him. Nathan:

• loves to be held
• gets hiccups after almost every feeding
• cries a lot
• just graduated from newborn diapers to size 1!
• likes to snack, thus is ALWAYS hungry and eating!
• loves to be rocked in the rocking chair
• likes to sleep on his belly in the pack 'n play
• doesn't sleep soundly for very long periods of time; would rather catnap
• loves to look at and listen to the things going on around him
• is often found with his hands tightly clasped together or into tight fists
• doesn't really like the swing or bouncy seat (much to mama's dismay!)

We are anxiously awaiting Nathan's first smile. It should happen sometime soon! Really, we're anxiously awaiting ALL of his milestones and watching him grow and change.

*Many thanks to Uncle Paul for the picture of Nathan...taken on Easter Sunday*

Our Sweetie

At almost 21 months, Megan:

• has 8 teeth
• loves bathtime and her duckies
• can say several words; some are: "ball," "no," "baby," "wow," "pooh" (pooh bear), "cup," "nose," and "kitty"
• loves to draw and color
• has to be wherever daddy is; loves to "help" him with anything he is doing
• loves to play with mama's hair and cuddle next to her while drinking juice or milk
• waves at the TV whenever Tigger and Pooh is on
• knows where her nose, ears, eyes, mouth, belly, and toes are
• loves jello jigglers
• uses any cloth or piece of clothing to "clean" around the house
• loves to sit in her dolly stroller
• tickles her baby brother's toes

But most of all, our Megan is...our sweetie!

Happy Easter!

We hope each of you had a wonderful Easter celebrating that our Savior is risen! We enjoyed a nice Easter breakfast at church!

Before heading to church, I tried to get a few pictures of the kids in their new clothes. Megan was quite uncooperative - and even looks bored in the second picture! :-)

The best I could do while she ran around the tables at church:

Enjoying some scrambled eggs and toast (notice the fork that was in her other hand? it worked for a little while, then she decided her fingers were much more efficient!):


Our complete little family:

Tuesday's Toy Dilemma

I keep trying to get a nice family picture. Very difficult! Here's a quick one that we snapped before church on Sunday. Ben laughed that I propped the camera on top of our tv...when he bought me a tripod for Christmas! I just didn't have time! We were supposed to be walking out of the door! So, this picture was the only one snapped...it will have to do for now! (The never-going-to-happen-dream picture would be of Megan smiling and a no-pacifier, eyes-opened Nathan... ! Ha - maybe someday!)


Trying to rock both crying kids...


A turned-upside-down doll stroller makes a great reading chair!


On Saturday, we bought Megan her first purse - for Easter (there are pink flowers on the front). She has loved carrying it around and putting little toys in it. This morning, I found her walking around, purse swinging from her arm, with a puzzle piece held to her ear as a phone, jabbering away. Cracked me up! Such a little lady!

This afternoon is Operation Toy Sort and Store! I've mentioned it before, but, it's true!! Megan has waaay too many toys for such a little girl! A week or two before Nathan was born, I knew I needed to do something to make room for a swing and bouncer. So, I bought a 20-gallon rubbermaid tub and tossed whatever toys would fit in there. STILL the living room was full of toys and books! When my mom was here, she bought another 20-gallon tub...and, I filled that one, too!! Nathan is now almost 6 weeks old and Megan hasn't even noticed 2 WHOLE TUBS of "missing" toys! I had every intention of rotating the toys in the tubs with her one toy basket that is under the end table...but, now I don't know! I just don't have room to store a rotating toy store...and, Megan would still rather play with a flashlight, Ben's deer grunt call, bowls and spoons, boxes...basically any non-toy item above and beyond what is in her average-sized toy basket! Most of the toys aren't girly, so I can pack them away and get them out as Nathan grows...but, not quite sure what to do with them until then. I know what Ben wants to do....

I can tell my energy is starting to come back! There is no other reason that I would tackle such a job! :-) My blood pressure readings are also staying in the normal (to low) range! In fact, I've been feeling quite light-headed when I stand up or stand in one spot for too long. So I called my doctor yesterday, and he gave me instructions on weaning myself off of this last medicine. Yay!

Hope everyone is doing well! I'm off to clean Megan up from her peanut butter and jelly lunch!

Mama's Big Helper

Megan pats her legs when she wants to hold her brother. Today, Nathan was hungry at the same time Megan wanted to hold him...so, I let her do bottle duty. She did a great job! Even holding the bottle upright enough so that Nathan actually got to eat! (Too bad I couldn't teach her to change dirty diapers!! lol!)

I am so thankful that Megan has adjusted so well to Nathan being here. Most days, I think she'd rather give him kisses than her mommy! Seeing them together just makes my heart melt! :-)

Just another day...

...and just a few pictures to share. Nathan is starting to be alert a bit more. He loves lifting his head and looking around, listening to all the noise his big sister makes. His eyes are pretty blue -- Megan's had a dark cloudiness to them and are now brown. I'm thinking Nathan's just might stay blue or green! I can also tell he's growing! His feet are right to the ends of his little preemie outfits!

On another note, my blood pressure has been pretty normal so my doctor is having me stop one of the meds that I'm on. We'll keep watching it and he says that he hopes I can start weaning off of the other med soon. I hope so, too!

Here are the pictures!


Megan was helping "feed" Nathan. Mommy had taken something to the kitchen and when I came back, there was formula all over Nathan's face! :-)


Playing ball while wearing one of mommy's high heels (isn't that how YOU play ball?!):

In this modern day of email and blogs, I don't send out many birth announcements, if any. Nathan is now 4 weeks old...and most of our friends and family know he has arrived. However, I still can't resist making one, because that kind of thing is fun for me. Besides, I made an announcement for Megan, so Nathan should have one to go into his baby book as well! I have other birth pictures I want to order prints of, so eventually I'll get prints of this, too:

Making the announcement took me days of a free second here, a free minute there, but I finally think I'm done with it. I'm hoping that I can make Nathan a printed digital scrapbook of his birth story like I did for Megan. I didn't finish hers until she was a year old...Nathan might be 18 before his is finished! :-) I'm sure that whatever free time I will have for playing with my Photoshop Elements will be quickly eaten up by dishes or laundry or some other much more important task! Noo...I know me, I'll be kicking myself that I left the dishes because I used naptime to play with my digital scrapping! :-) Well, we all must have a LITTLE fun, right?!