Catching Up

I realize it has been a while since I have written. To be honest, my life is consumed by my children. When I am not changing a diaper or feeding someone, I am washing clothes or folding clothes or picking up toys or reading to the Pumpkin or stacking blocks with her or rocking Lovebug or washing bottles or dealing with a toddler tantrum or soothing a crying infant or . . . You get the idea. I was talking with a couple of good friends, one via email and the other on the phone, and revealed to them that I am behind on everything. I hate that. I am behind on the housework, the bills, the laundry (which just keeps coming and coming and coming!), and I am so sick of dumping another can of soup on top of a couple of chicken breasts and calling it dinner. But most of all, I hate that I am behind with everyone else. My contacts with these two friends earlier this week were long overdue, and these are only two people of many, many wonderful people whom I desire to reconnect with.

But this will be my life for a while, and I am okay with that. I am trying to treasure these moments I have with my little ones while they are still little. It won't be long and I will be looking back on these days and missing those little socks that always seem to disappear in the washing machine and wondering how my babies who always needed me are suddenly independent.

So . . . On to enjoying the now! When I finally uploaded the pictures from my camera there were well over 200! While there will be a lot of pictures this post, I will not share all 200 with you! This series will work backwards, starting with Easter.
The girls had matching dresses for Easter, and they were too cute! The compliments they received at church were numerous. Sadly, I never got a good picture of the two of them together. Above is Sylvia hugging my parents' newest foster dog, Naomi. I really like her, and so does Sylvia. But I am not sure how much Naomi likes Sylvia!

Here is another attempt at getting a picture of all three cousins. Better. But we have yet to get a truly "good" one. Thanks, Dads, for the additional help in acquiring this shot!

These are some goofy bunny glasses that Grandma gave Sylvia a few weeks ago. She actually really enjoys wearing them, but only for a very short duration! The girls each got a clothing change after arriving at my folks' to try and keep the Sunday clothes looking Sunday appropriate. When Dave and I were out shopping the Friday before, we found this bright pink fufu skirt and we just knew that the Pumpkin was going to LOVE it. And, she does.

Yep. Sylvia had her first Easter Egg Hunt this Easter. I filled the eggs with such treasures as stickers, two finger puppets, a couple of half dollars and even four "Newmans" (what we call the Paul Newman organic chocolate alphabet cookies). She kind of got the egg hunt concept. She spotted several of the eggs on her own and she would collect them, but she had a very difficult time releasing them to Daddy to put in her bag. She kept wanting to hold all of them at once. I didn't reveal to her that there were goodies on the inside of these eggs until after we got back in the house. Once she learned this additional surprise she was thrilled and kept handing me egg after egg expecting more prizes.

In fact, this afternoon we stopped by Aunt Keeley's house to pick up cute little baskets that she had put together for the girls. Included in the baskets were decorated, but empty, Easter eggs. Sylvia got so excited to see those eggs and she kept bringing them to me after we got home. Just try and imagine her disappointment when she learned these eggs held no goodies!

The end of last week surprised us with some magnificent weather and one afternoon I took the girls outside to enjoy the sun. Sylvia has taken a number of walks with Dave around our property in the afternoon, but this was her first time getting to wander on her own a bit more while I watched from a short distance away with Veda. She loved grabbing the dirt and dead grass and leaves and throwing them up in the air! And I could tell she must have had a great time because of all the dirt that was attached to her fingers and knees and clothes and hair when we got inside!

And Veda enjoyed her time outdoors while safely sitting under the visor of the stroller.Okay. So, this is quite something. That same afternoon when I took the girls outside I decided to let Sylvia "hold" Veda. I figured both were big enough now that it could be done with very careful supervision. I asked Sylvia if she was interested in this and she nodded her head. I placed Sylvia on this green chair and then brought Veda to her and gently laid her in Sylvia's lap. Sylvia would stroke her head and coo at her. It was really sweet. Then when I thought she had had enough, I began to reach for Veda to take her away. Sylvia immediately wrapped her arms around Veda in protest! She absolutely did not want her sister to be taken from her. It is amazing how strongly Sylvia is attached to her little sister already, and the reverse holds true as well . . .

Veda is finally beginning to smile consistently at the sound of our voice or seeing our faces and last weekend she even smiled at her big sister! I love watching this bond between the two of them already forming.

And do you remember me mentioning that Sylvia nodded her head? Well, she does that now. She also shakes her head. I thought she was opinionated before, but now that she has learned these magic codes for "yes" and "no" her true colors are even further revealed. Let me reiterate, I have one very stubborn daughter! Ever heard of a strong-willed child? I have one. Prayers are appreciated!

And our little Lovebug had her two month wellness check last week. She continues to look great! She is lagging slightly behind other infants her age, but this is simply because she decided to make her debut a little earlier than most. She also started antacid medication. I feel kind of badly about this. I knew she had acid reflux, but I had no idea how severely she had it until the doctor began asking me different things regarding her behaviour and diapers, etc. My poor baby was in a lot of pain and I didn't even realize it! Since beginning the medication we have noticed some improvement but she is still struggling. Hopefully another week and we will see some continued change.

And her size: She weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 oz. And her height was 21". Both of these place her in the 10th percentile. This is actually very good, as it means she is gaining. At two weeks she was only in the 5th percentile. I do not remember her head circumference, but it was within the normal range.

I put away all of her newborn items two weekends ago. It was kind of difficult for this Mama to do, especially as Lovebug may be our last baby. I am certainly very thankful that she is growing and thriving but it also makes me very sad to realize that all these baby joys may never be revisited.

Some other interesting tidbits about the girls:

Sylvia is VERY tall. She can now reach my kitchen counter tops! This is quite distressing as it means that there is virtually no "safe" surface that exists in my house anymore!

Two mornings ago I was holding Veda after a feeding and Sylvia came over to talk to her sister. As she was standing there jabbering away I finally picked up one of the things she was saying. She was "asking" her sister, "Is that so?" This is something that Dave and I say to the girls quite frequently and it was too cute to hear her repeating it to Veda.

Finally, the other morning I asked Sylvia if she wanted to go to Oma's house. She ran off to get her shoes, grabbed her hoodie and promptly stood at the door ready to go!

Butterflies! For Dave's birthday his dad took Dave, Sylvia and me to see the butterflies at the Frederik Meijer Gardens. I hadn't been in several years and I had forgotten how fantastic it is. Sylvia really enjoyed herself and was even able to spot several butterflies all by herself. The Gardens are such a lovely place and I particularly like their Victorian Garden. I told Dave that if I had the time and a babysitter and the money to visit, I would go just to sit in the Victorian Garden and knit. I could happily sit there for hours with my yarn and needles breathing in the glorious scent and basking in the warm and airy atmosphere.

I acknowledge that this has been one long post and was possibly rather laborious to read, but if you made it all the way through then I commend you and thank you for your endurance! I will try and be more consistent in my blogging again, but please bear with me during these early childhood years!