Easter Number Three

Our third Easter.  Same traditions with a little tweaking here and there, but pretty much the same as the last.  Although we are plus one child.  Like I said, it has been a little different-a baby tends to require a few tweaks.

Dying eggs always starts the excitement before Easter and the boys sure did enjoy it.  This was the first time Baby O did it all by himself.  So independent now.

The day before was our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  The boys had a blast, and with over 500 eggs out for all the kids, the event lasted less than three minutes.

They had separate Easter egg hunts for the various ages-unfortunately for Baby O, there were many 'older' kids who knew the drill and he only got two eggs before the tennis court was completely clear.  Poor kiddo, here he is all alone looking for some eggs that had long disappeared.  I guess instead of taking pictures, I should have helped him out a bit.

On the other side of the field, Boy O knew exactly what to do and was filling his basket full.  Such a good big brother (and probably because his cup runneth over), he shared his candy filled eggs with his little brother.

Newbie O had some help from her Mimi and was completely satisfied rattling her egg.

 Back at home, enjoying all the attention.

Easter morning around seven.  An improvement since Christmas, but Boy O still got up around one.  He heard his sister crying and as I went to her room, I heard a loud whisper...."Newbie O, be quiet!  The Easter Bunny might not come!"

Suffice to say, he was hushed and put back to bed with explicit instructions not to get up until there was light coming through the blinds.

The Easter egg hunt outside was a big success!  We have always lived in places where this wasn't possible, either because of the weather or the size of the yard.  The boys had a blast.  And Baby O 'got it' and was able to collect many eggs for his basket.

Newbie O had no problems watching from the sidelines.

Success!

We had a baby egg hunt indoors.  Eggs filled with cheerios.

The annual bunny cake.  I let the boys do their thing.  This year they insisted on bright blue icing.

From our family to yours, hope your Easter was as bright and laced with colorful candy as our bunny cake.  Maybe one day we can make a pink one....although I still might be outvoted.

In One Month...

What a difference one month can make.  Newbie O can sit up all by herself, is pulling up into a standing position, calls her Daddy: Da Da, can sign for 'more' food and has her very first tooth.  Whew.  It's been quite a month for Miss Sassy Pants.

Today's photo shoot was difficult.  She insisted on chewing on the sticker.  I would take it away, only to have her erupt in screams of protest.  She certainly knows what she wants.

I think she lost sight of the sticker to try to put some blades of grass in her mouth for a couple of minutes.  Why look at the camera and smile when you can chew on grass, leaves, a sticker or a sequined head band?

Here is a picture of the two of us earlier in the month-we traveled to Alabama to visit my grandmother for her birthday.  

Newbie O has lost most of her hair.  It only seems to grow on one side of her head now and sticks out at every opportunity.  Still coming in blond, but the long strands that remain (on the one side) are half black and half blond. 

No more baby tub for this little girl.  She's just too big now!

She gets so excited when she pulls herself up.  So proud of herself.  Although she can get around on all fours, she's more interested in standing up, smiling and bouncing a bit.  I think she would rather just walk.  It really won't be long.

  

This is one of my favorite pictures-just Daddy and his Mini-Me, hanging out on the back porch and posing for the camera.

Spending a hot afternoonat the water table with her big brothers before they got into a splashing war.

She was sleeping pretty great during the day this month.  Two regular naps....then her tooth came in.  No more napping for more than 20 minutes, but at least nights seem to be getting better.  She is sleeping regularly in four to six hour stretches now which is a huge improvement from...well...just about anytime in the past eight months.  Everytime we seem to get on a schedule for any amount of time, some major life event takes place and we start back from scratch.

I'm not exactly sure how much Newbie O weighs-we'll find out next time at her nine month check-up. Tiny no longer, I'm guessing she has gained another two pounds and is probably around the 16 lb mark.  She's going up a size in diapers, fits into nine month clothes...growing like a weed like the rest of the crew.

Every day is precious....each day is momentous at this stage.  She has surprised me on so many levels this month...but I am selfishly hoping for a "Ma-Ma" next month.

Belated Valentines

I had better get this one out before I start posting about Easter....

I love Valentine's Day.  I love making Valentines.  Mostly, I just love the excuse of having kids, and having them make help constructing the Valentines they bring to parties and school.  After the ordeal of spending 10 days in the hospital, I freely admit to making my kids Valentines. Feel free to judge, but it was incredibly therapeutic to sit up the night before and put on the finishing touches and think of nothing else but how cool they were.

The kids did help a little...they are making tire tracks from black paint and rolling them on the card.

Baby O was much better at larger pieces of paper and of course larger mess.

Here are the final products.  The vehicles and planes are actually erasers, and I just put a glob of rubber cement on the card, placed the erasers on that and waited overnight for them to dry.  Voila!

The finished product turned out well and it made me feel somewhat normal again.  So I deemed this a successful venture, killing two birds with one stone: Valentines? Check.  Mommy O feeling like a human being?  Check.

And a happy Valentines day it was being home with all my boys and the little miss.  Nothing was taken for granted that week, just being home and together was plenty.  And that's what it's really about now isn't it?

The New Normal

It has taken longer than I had originally anticipated, but I think we have entered our 'new normal'.  I can definitely say it's normal because it's spring break, I have all three kids at home and I didn't blink an eye knowing that I would have to do my weekly shopping trip plus one kiddo.

This was Newbie O's first time sitting in the cart and she had a fabulous time.  Usually I wear her and I think she really felt proud to be a big girl with her siblings. Her presence also seemed to entertain both of her brothers quite a bit (and cut down on their normal brotherly picking at one another).

As you can imagine, we can be heard on the other side of the state at all times throughout the store.  I've pretty much given up on trying to make them quiet.  We are loud and proud, I guess.

Hoping for many more successful, stress-free shopping trips, but I still maintain they are easier with two kids, not three.  And for those of you with larger families,  how do you do it?  Where do they fit?