7 Months!!!!

Incredible.

Another month has passed and Baby Sister has now "been on the outside" for 7 months.

This morning we went to visit some friends and their new baby girl that was born a week and a half ago. She looked so tiny and yet she was 8 pounds 1 ounce when she was born, nearly 2 pounds more than Baby Sister weighed at birth. It was hard for me to
wrap my brain around the fact that Baby Sister was once smaller than our friends' new baby. She is growing so fast and yet she's still a pipsqueak by all standards. Just imagine if she were in the 90th percentile of the weight spectrum instead of at the other end of the scale - then I'd really have issues trying to grasp the idea that she'd once been so tiny!!

I Spy

I spy the Girl....

sitting on a bench in the park....

through a knot hole in a fence.

Amused

Saturday night Baby Sister was highly amused by herself. She was kicking her legs out at a rapid pace which was causing the bouncy seat to really rock and as you can tell, she loved it!

(Not too sure what was going on with the hair, that piece in the middle sticking up, well it is usually falling down over the back. It has lovingly been dubbed as her comb over and/or rooster tail.)

Tulips

Today we went to see the tulips. We woke up to dismal gray skies and rain but had already planned on going and figured, who were we to let a few clouds and some sprinkles keep us from our plans. I think we missed out last year for precisely that reason, we kept waiting for the perfect weather. So we got an early start and headed out. By the time we reached our first field the rain had stopped and the clouds diminished

just enough to see bits of blue sky peeking through here and there.


Baby Sister intently studying a tulip the size of her head.

Then (2007)
Now

Those of you who are really observant may notice that the Girl is wearing the same sweater. I swear I did not plan that...no really. Two years ago this sweater was huge on her but my Mom had just knitted it for her. She wore it once to see the tulips and hadn't worn it since until it got rediscovered in the back of her closet just this week.

Our own precious Little Tulip

One of just a handful of smiles that we were able to coax out of her while we were admiring the tulips. For most of the time she had a very serious expression (we were calling her the General) on her face, which is so very uncharacteristic for her -

it's a rare occasion that she is without a grin upon her lips.

Baby Sister trying to eat, I mean "smell" the tulip.

Back then the Girl was barely taller than the tulips she was smelling.
And now...well as you can see, the tulips haven't grown much but she sure has!!

I never cease to be in awe of and amazed by the beauty of His creation - be it tulip or human!!!!

Whee!!

Yesterday evening before dinner we headed to a neighborhood park. It has a tire swing that the Girl loves to spin in. It's a fine line between not spinning fast enough to illicit shrill shrieks of delight and spinning so fast that she gets a little woozy and starts screaming in protest.

Even Baby Sister had a go at it, albeit a much more leisurely spin.

Never would've guessed that this is the face of a Girl who not 20 minutes earlier, took a spill on the sidewalk that resulted in a few minor scrapes and a bloody nose.

Hide & Seek

Monday was our first "official" day of gorgeous weather and Tuesday followed suit with more sunshine and warm temperatures. We took full advantage and met friends at the park where we became engaged in a rousing, if not totally hilarious game of hide and seek played only the way that 3-year olds know how. In their version, you never count past ten and the counter rarely keeps their eyes completely covered while the hiders run in a shrieking frenzy to the same hiding spot which they usually either haven't decided upon or reached by the time the counting is up. Which results in the counter immediately spotting the hiders upon opening his or her eyes and chasing after them. On the rare occasion that the hiders are actually in a hiding place they usually call out, "I'm over here!" within seconds of the counter announcing, "Ready or not, here I come."


After they tired of playing only with each other, they invited us Moms to join in.


Baby Sister and I hiding inconspicuously, well as inconspicuously as a Mom and infant can hide in a sparsely blooming garden.


Now it is the kids' turn to hide. Hmmm, I wonder where they can be.

"Here we are!" Poor O was totally given away by his female co-horts.

Wet Feet

Slightly intrigued, getting ready for that first gentle lapping wave.

Quickly bringing her feet up in protest.

Voicing her displeasure

Continuing with a pouty face. (I love how the Girl and Miss A are a part of the photo too, especially the expressions on their faces.)

On Saturday we went to a park on the banks of a nearby lake where Baby Sister got her feet wet (besides the bathtub of course) for the first time. She was none too thrilled about the whole situation and was quick to make sure that the rest of us knew about it.

Take me out to the ball game...

Last night we met up with a group of friends and went to a baseball game. It was Baby Sister's first MLB game.

The Girl has been to a few now and I think she enjoys the food more than anything else. Especially the honkin-sized fresh-squeezed lemonade.

The kettle corn isn't bad either.

In the end it was all just a little bit too much for Baby Sister and she slept through the most exciting parts of the game when our team scored runs and took the lead.

Even with all of the screaming and cheering going on around her she remained asleep.

Carrots

Wednesday evening Baby Sister got her first taste of carrots and she was less than impressed. She was puckering up her little face as though I'd just fed her a big, juicy lemon slice. I was surprised at her reaction as she devours her rice cereal and longingly stares at and grabs for anything that we eat. I thought they were pretty good but maybe that was because I had made the puree myself.

Playing with the Big Girls

Miss A came over to play after our outing at the park on Wednesday and both her and the Girl made it a point to include Baby Sister

in their activities. First it was a tea party where Baby Sister was the guest of honor and got the 5-star treatment. Then it was doctor where Baby Sister was a cooperative and willing patient who received a very thorough examination (which included having her heart listened to, a blood pressure check, her temperature taken, her eyes and ears looked at and all of this rounded out with a couple of

shots) from two extremely skilled (wish I could add gentle to their resumes - hee, hee!!) doctors. It's no secret that Baby Sister adores being an active participant in anything that the Big Girls are doing and I love the first picture in this post as her grin tells it all.

Swingers!

On Wednesday we made it to the park and Baby Sister had her first meeting with the swing. She's still a bit small for the seat but nothing a blanket stuffed in with her couldn't fix. She seemed to enjoy the experience and if she's anything like the Girl, it won't be long before she is gleefully screaming, "Higher, higher!"

Easter attire

Another Easter tradition around here is the Easter dress. Growing up, my sister and I always looked forward to getting a new dress for Easter, one which was masterfully sewn by my mother from a pattern and fabric of our choosing. I fondly remember thumbing through pattern books for just the right dress and then perusing countless bolts of fabric until finding the right color and/or print. Then

Mom would whip up our dresses and they would hang in our closets until the inaugural-wearing on Easter day. Luckily for my sister and I we never had to wait too long as more often than not, Mom would be sewing right up until Easter - she sews better under pressure. Ha! Unfortunately, I cannot read a pattern and do not sew, therefore my Girls are clothed in store-bought dresses. I couldn't resist having

them in matching dresses, I am taking advantage now knowing full well that the time will too quickly come when Baby Sister will have her own opinion as to what she likes and wants to wear. Pitifully, these were the best pictures I could capture of the two of them together in their dresses. Coloring Easter eggs late at night combined with early rising does not make for a cheerful and cooperative 3-year old.

Coloring Eggs

Of course one of the best Easter traditions has to be coloring eggs. Used to be that you got your basic Paas kit with the standard

five colors and the wax crayon. These days there are a plethora of kits to choose from - glitter, camoflage, tie-dye not

to mention the character kits. This year the Girl chose the Disney Princess egg coloring kit, complete with stickers. Since she was born we've always colored our eggs on Saturday evening. This year Saturday evening got away from us and the Girl fell asleep waiting. As I was carrying her upstairs to her bed she woke up and was insistent that we color eggs. Who was I to tell her no? So at around 8:30 we started our egg

transformations. Even Baby Sister was awake and watching although she was much more interested in the newspaper that was

covering the table than she was the eggs. This year the Girl was pretty self-sufficient and wasn't accepting a lot of help. At one point she forgot to retrieve an egg using the utensil and used her hand instead. The result was a very blue hand. It was reminiscent of a few years ago when we stripped her down to her diaper and she ended up as colorful as the eggs.

Egg hunting

On a very chilly, damp and windy Saturday morning we went to an Easter egg hunt put on by our city's Parks and Recreation department at one of our favorite local parks.

Heading out with Daddy in search of some eggs.

Found some!

Counting the eggs.

Of course Miss A was there and after finding their eggs they pulled up a patch of park bark and started opening those eggs to discover the candy inside.

Miss A is giving me the, "Don't mess with me while I'm eating my candy" look.

At one point the Girls were in hot pursuit of the 'Dancing Carrot' (a guy dressed as a carrot), all the while maintaining a hold on the umbrella and nearly taking out a few people in the process. They always made sure to stay just far enough away from the carrot, they admired him and the Easter bunny from afar.