Easter

Our tradition for Easter is to stay in College Station to celebrate. Since we were married, we decided that we needed to take one holiday to do this and we truly love to celebrate at our church and in our house with friends or family that are around. This year, GG was here helping us with Grace and Atticus, and Charley and Ana both came in to meet Grace and celebrate. Katerina also always spends it with us.

The weekend was spent eating, playing with Atticus, and loving on Grace--all the normal things we do with family in town. Plus, this time, we went to Easter service, opened Easter baskets, and hunted Easter eggs for a third time.

Charley & Ana meet Grace.

Atticus seriously loves any water--even the dirty water that runs from people's sprinklers down into the road. Here he is with his boat in the water.

 

While we were all in the backyard, Vic set his beer down on Atticus' slide and it spilled. Before we could wipe it up, Atticus put his hand in it and then placed his hand in his mouth. So, yes, my son has tasted beer. He didn't love the taste, thank goodness!

 Then, we learned that Atticus thought it was hilarious to be chased with the broom. No, we are not beating our child here as he runs away from us. He really was laughing! 

Of course, that means, Atticus had to find his broom and chase Daddy with it.

Atticus also liked being  pushed around the yard in his car. He has still not learned to make it go by walking it with his own legs. And, if you push him forward in it, his legs are so long that they curl back behind him, which is a recipe for breaking two tiny toddler legs. But, if you pull it so he goes backwards, then his legs just drag. This all sounds like parents-of-the-year material, right? Well, Charley drug him backwards for a long time and of course, Atticus thinks it is so funny! 

 My sweet boy and I.

During the Atticus entertainment outside, Ana is falling in love with Grace. 

 Thanks to Pinterest, we had homemade donuts on Saturday morning. 

 

 

 

 Ana, Atticus, and I also went to the park on Saturday. Atticus loves the Pebble Creek park because there are three different playgrounds and a basketball court. Plenty to do!

Saturday night, Atticus was playing his dog guitar and started dancing and then wanted everyone to dance!

 

 

 

 

 After the 8:00 am Easter service, we posed for some pictures.

 Then, Ana, GG, & Vic finished up our breakfast.

 We thought this picture was hilarious because Charley looked like Ward Cleaver. Dressed up, sitting in his chair, drinking his coffee, holding his baby, and helping his son, all with a smile on his face. I believe his exact words were "this parenting stuff is easy". Oh you just wait, Charley!

 

 

We finished the day with opening Easter baskets and hunting eggs. Vic hid eggs for Ana and Charley this year and he made it really hard! In fact, Vic hid them so hard that Charley couldn't find his last egg, which happened to have a $5 bill in it. So, Vic had to help him hunt until they found it! But, it was a really great Easter for 2013!

Grace: 2 weeks old

I never wrote what happened regarding Grace's Tongue Tie situation. When we went to the ENT that day, Dr. Simon said it was very tight and recommended we either do the procedure now and snip the tie back or wait a few months, but this would mean she would have to be put under anesthetic. We chose to do it that day. He assured us that although she would cry, there would be little blood and she would forget about it quickly. I will also say that his staff - 3 nurses - were the nicest, kindest, people we'd ever met. They came to get us, led us down the hall, loved on Grace before the appt began, hugged me and were so re-assuring and sweet. There were two younger nurses and one older one and the older one was definitely the mother of the group. Anyways, the procedure took about 3 minutes and she definitely screamed and cried. We tried to nurse her right away, but she wasn't interested. Once we were home, I just held her and let her sleep in my arms for a long time and then we nursed and things were back to normal. However, the pain has not stopped for me. Sometimes, I think it has lessened, but still hard to tell. I'm going to give it another week before I call the lactation specialist.

So, our little Grace is already 2 weeks old! At her 2 week checkup, Dr. Svendsen said she was a perfectly healthy baby. She weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. and was 21 inches long. Clearly, she is a good eater. The only thing that I had questions about was that sometimes she can't catch her breath and while she doesn't stop breathing, she gasps for air for a couple of seconds. It is sporatic and Dr. Svendsen said she had floppy airways and it was pretty normal in babies and would get better on it's own. She also had to have her little food pricked for the newborn screening test. Poor baby - it took a good 7 or 8 minutes and she just cried and cried.

At 2 weeks old, Grace is starting to get a little more alert, but mostly sleeps all the time and still prefers it on top of us. GG has been wonderful to still get up in the middle of the night when I'm feeding around 3-4 to take her. But, now I am not necessarily feeding on the clock every 3 hours, as I am letting Grace wake me. So, I really need her right next to me to know when she is waking up. If she decides to sleep 3 hours instead of 2, I am perfectly ok with that! And this means that hopefully GG gets a little more sleep to.

Other than that, Atticus is still in school and we are still working on projects to complete Grace's room. I am trying to nap when Grace does as well. I am almost back to normal as far as recovery. I know I'll notice soreness here and there for awhile, but I am moving around like normal and can lift Atticus and get on and off the floor or into bed much more easily. Vic rarely pulls me from laying position into sitting position so I can get out of bed. It's amazing the things you are kept from when you have a c-section, but then how quickly you recover. 2 weeks just about does it for the major stuff! Here are a few pictures of our sweet Grace at 2 weeks old:

 

 

I love how, when Atticus kisses Grace's head (which he does over and over and over) that he sometimes opens his mouth really big before kissing her.

A Regular Sunday Night

We are really into routine's around here with our evenings. So, I just loved this picture of our two little ones getting bathed and brushing their teeth.

Now is also a good time to write down that Atticus has been brushing his "tees" at the bathroom counter since late January. Prior to that, Vic or I would brush them with water while he sat in his high chair. Now, however, he gets up on his stool twice a day (or let's be honest here - sometimes we just run out of time in the mornings before work or totally forget at night before bed, but we shoot for twice a day) and we brush our teeth. There is a little song on his cd in the car that sings "when you wake up in the morning at a quarter to two, (something, something, something) what do you do? you brush your teeth. ch-ch-ch, ch-ch-ch, ch-ch-ch.". It's a silly song, but we sing it sometimes before we brush. Then, I put the toothpaste on and brush his teeth while we sing the ABC's (so he knows how long he has to let me brush before he can do it) and then he takes the toothbrush to brush them himself. This way, we actually clean them a little before he plays. But, it works!

Atticus: Easter Egg Hunting Rounds 1 & 2

This year, Atticus was old enough to hunt in the Easter Egg Hunt on Palm Sunday at church. However, he didn't know how to hunt or what an Easter Egg was, so we decided to do a practice run this past Saturday. Vic had bought Atticus a Mickey Mouse bucket at HEB to put his eggs in. And, I hid some eggs with some goldfish and crackers and fruit snacks in them. I had thought that if I put treats in just 5 or 6 eggs, it would show Atticus why he wants to find eggs. Well, he picked up on that goal pretty quick. First, I hid about 15 eggs in the yard and Vic and I helped Atticus find the eggs. At one point, about halfway through, Atticus shook an egg and it made noise. So, we showed him what was inside and of course, he immediately wants to eat it. We were so proud! However, after that, Atticus wanted to open every egg we found and immediately eat whatever was in it. So, the Easter Egg Hunt ended up taking a very loooong time. Once it was over, Atticus still wanted eggs with treats. But, at least he was trained and ready to go for Palm Sunday.

Since Grace was less than two weeks old, she and GG and I stayed home, while Vic and Atticus headed to church. Typically, during the Sunday School hour, the Easter festivities include snacks, singing, and then the egg hunt. Vic said Atticus was more than overwhelmed by all of the kids and the singing and just clung to him in fear. Plus, there is an Easter Bunny at our church that wears an old costume (that has seen better days), and frankly, I think is kind of scary. There is also a picture taking station for the kids and the bunny, but Vic said they bypassed that as soon as they saw it, knowing it would scare Atticus. Then, right before the little kids started hunting eggs, the bunny appeared again and Vic said Atticus just froze. He did not cry, but did not know what to do with that giant 6 foot tall bunny. So, the Easter Egg Hunting was not super successful. All of the kids were instructed to help the younger ones fill their Easter baskets though, so Atticus got lots of help. Vic said it was really fun!

Atticus: Painting

Vic has recently been painting a few items for Grace's room so we thought it would be fun for Atticus to paint too. So, we bought some washable paint, a board, and stripped him down to his diaper. The results are below:

And then we hosed him down. He loves everything about "wada" and this happened to be a warm enough day that we could get the water hose out!

Grace at 8 days old

A quick update on Grace:

She has really been the ideal baby this first week! She sleeps well in her bassinet, but of course, prefers sleeping in our arms. She is a great eater. She hasn't had any major tummy aches or anything that has made her cry non-stop. She doesn't have a regular schedule for her "awake" times. They tend to come in the middle of the night just as much as during the day. But, I love to watch her when she is awake and alert. She just looks at you with those big dark eyes and listens while you talk. It is just the sweetest thing.

She absolutely hates to have her diaper changed right now and when she does cry, it is so loud. I feel like her lungs are better for crying than Atticus'. Or I have just forgotten what a baby's cry sounds like. I felt like they were so soft and tiny, compared to toddler cries. But, she could give Atticus a run for his money. We are giving her the first sponge bath tomorrow morning, so we will see if she likes being in the water.

Also, Grace, being a girl, is so much fun to dress. While we have only been out once for a weight check on Monday, we have dressed her anyways. And I love sleepers so much and she looks adorable in those also. 

The only thing we have a concern about is the fact that at her weight check, the doctor said that she had a slight tongue-tie. Apparently, this means that the little piece of skin that connects the bottom of your mouth to the bottom of your tongue is attached really closely to the end of her tongue. This means her tongue does not stick out as far. So, when she nurses, the tongue may not cover her gum and then it can be painful for momma when she nurses. Well, I really thought the pain I was experiencing earlier this week was just because my body was getting used to nursing again. The pain comes when she first latches and it is truly painful. Then, the actual nursing is fine, unless she re-latches during nursing. She does not notice anything wrong, but it is painful for me. Anyways, apparently, there is an in-office procedure they can do to snip that area so that this problem is solved. We are headed to the ENT tomorrow to find out if that is what we should do. I HATE the thought of her having this done, because it sounds terribly painful. But, we will learn more tomorrow about whether it is painful, whether it affects her eating for very long while it heals (if healing is necessary), if it is even that terrible or if I just need to toughen up. Also, however, it is possible that depending on the severity and whether she outgrows this or not over the next  year or so, it could mean she might have speech problems later on. So, after tomorrow's appointment, we will know more and maybe even have this solved. Per what we have read online regarding the condition, it sounds like it is pretty common and not a big deal. 

Anyways, here is Grace. Our baby girl is so precious!