Present & Past

Halloween is here and Baby Sister's costume has me reminiscing...




















the Girl
Halloween 2005

















Baby Sister
Halloween 2008

Aaaagh!

Today has been one of those days and for the first time since it has been just me and the Girls on our own (during the day), I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. The Girl woke up with a cold and between wiping her nose, washing my hands every 5 minutes, taking care of Baby Sister, keeping up with some household chores and trying to find time to finish up a work project that I hesitantly took on 6 weeks prior to my due date (thinking that I could complete it before the Baby arrived and not anticipating that she would arrive 2 weeks early), I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water.





But this
little sweetie

















and this
cutie pie










make it all worth it! Besides, tomorrow is a new day and a fresh start.

Week Four

I can hardly believe that Baby Sister has already been with us for four weeks now. Time flies. She is sleeping a little less during the day and is more alert when she is awake. The Girl still adores her and last night wanted Baby Sister to come lay on her bed so that she could read stories to her.

Trick-or-Treat

This afternoon we met up with our friends for some trick-or-treating at local businesses in a neighboring town. The Girl's little friends are so sweet, there was lots of hand-holding with Rainbow Bear and several failed attempts at planting a kiss on the Snake.



There were only a few moments of distress for the Girl as we didn't see too many clowns but upon encountering a candy-distributing vampire she immediately reached for my hand and started dragging me forward through the crowd exclaiming, "Hurry up!"

The 80's called...

...and they want their outfit back! We received a couple of garbage bags of hand-me-downs from a friend and the Girl went through them and changed her ensemble at least a dozen times this afternoon. Here she is rocking an outfit (that she put together all by herself) very reminiscent of the 80's. I'm so proud!

What's in a name?

'J' has bestowed nicknames, or maybe I should call them 'terms of endearment,' upon both Girls, Knucklehead (the Girl) and Squeak (Baby Sister). I don't recall when or for what particular reason Knucklehead came about but it was early on and obviously it stuck. Coincidentally, it suits her personality perfectly as illustrated by
the picture below. As for Baby Sister, she attained her nickname practically upon birth as she was making squeaking noises while being weighed and measured. Even the pediatrician at her 3-day check-up called her a squeaker.

Maiden Voyage

The Girls broke me in easy today, I got to sleep in until 8:49 when I was awakened by the Girl who was ready for her customary breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes. Baby Sister continued to sleep so after making pancakes and turning on cartoons I even managed a quick shower! Then later in the morning we were off on our maiden voyage to the grocery store and it was a smashing success. Baby Sister slept the entire time and the Girl was extremely well-behaved. So today I swam!

Week Three

The past three weeks have been a non-stop whirlwind of visiting neighbors, friends and family. We have been so loved and cared for by everyone and have been the recipients of gifts and homemade meals, all of which were greatly appreciated. My parents, who spent two weeks with us, headed home this morning and now our house is empty save for the four of us. As much as we have enjoyed and certainly benefited from all of the extra help we are eager to return to a state of normalcy - whatever that may be as 'normal' today is a lot different than what it was three weeks ago. I guess I should say that we are anxious to discover what normalcy looks like now - as a family of four. Tomorrow the true reality of our life adjustment will set in when it is just myself and the two girls during the day...our first day alone together without any extra help. It is sink or swim time...

Another Pumpkin Patch

This morning we visited a farm not far from our house. We've gotten pumpkins straight from the vine from their incredibly vast pumpkin patch for the past two years. We met our friends there and the weather was gorgeous - sunny and blue skies.

The Girl had fun with her sweet friend 'A' traipsing through the field inspecting various pumpkins and climbing a grassy embankment bordering the patch to get a glimpse of the river.

Baby Sister was the cutest lil pumpkin in the entire patch and slept through all of the activity.

Early Birds

These are my early birds this morning (this picture was taken about 2 hours ago - 5:45), neither of which went back to sleep. Sigh. I fear my leisurely mornings of sleeping in until 9:00 are quickly becoming only a distant memory...I'm in serious trouble!

Eyes for Daddy!

Baby Sister has eyes for her Daddy and at night she falls asleep instantly in his arms...too bad that those deep blue eyes pop open as soon as he lays her down.

Two Weeks

Here it is October 12th...Baby Sister's due date and she is already two weeks old. I can't even fathom what the last two weeks would've been like without her, nor can I imagine having been pregnant for another two weeks. What would we have been doing for the past two weeks had she not come early? Would the house have been cleaner? Would we have gotten the Girl a dresser so that we could move the changing table into the Baby's room? Would the horribly unorganized and messy office be clutter free? Does any of that really matter? Priorities become clearly defined with the addition of a new, sweet Baby to love.

Friday Fun

We took the girls to a pumpkin patch where we met our friends. Ah, possibly my favorite event of the fall...and the Girl's too. She loves to pick out pumpkins and had a wheelbarrow full before we made her narrow it down to just two - one of which was actually a squash. In addition to the pumpkins there were tractors, bouncy houses, hay and train rides and popcorn.

Daddy's Girls

Need I say more?

ADORED

A week has passed since the birth of Baby Sister and it seems as though she has always been a part of our family. The Girl A-D-O-R-E-S her and has been a bit of a 'baby hog' ever since we brought Baby Sister home from the hospital. The Girl loves to hold, play and most recently, read to her Baby Sister. This morning she woke up and came walking into the bathroom where J and I were getting ready for the day, the first and only words out of her mouth were, "Where is my Baby Sister?" When we told her that Baby Sister was downstairs with Grandma she immediately turned and walked out the door without another word to either of us. Who needs parents when you have a Baby Sister to love?!

Show & Tell

Baby Sister made her first public debut today since coming home from the hospital...she was the main attraction of show and tell at the Girl's preschool this morning. The Girl has been talking constantly all week about wanting to take her Baby Sister to school to show all of her friends. Unfortunately, she thought that Baby Sister was going to spend the entire morning in the classroom with her and was quite disappointed to learn that we would bring Baby Sister at the end of class and just in time for show and tell.