What we have been up to lately...

Nothing, that's what! Just kidding. Nana just went back to California. Adam just went back to work after paternity leave so my new reality is just setting in. So, before I permanently lose any remaining sanity, here's a recap of how we spent our first two weeks of bliss...

Natalie got to meet some more of her cousins and get spoiled by her aunties at her first game day tailgate party (sad day, UCLA, sad day).






Of course we make time to stare at this snuggly little face.

Elizabeth has been learning how to work all of her sister's toys and "help her" turn them on and off.

Nana took her turn napping with Natalie because how rude would it be to make her nap alone, right?

Natalie has been enjoying some spa time

Of course we had to make some more time to stare at this squishy little face.

Natalie did some sun bathing while we did our best to work off that jaundice

We at tons of take out...all healthy of course. Adam's work had dinner delivered to us for 7 nights which was a pretty fantastic perk to add to the two weeks of paternity they gave him. Let's hear it for the boss man!

Elizabeth took advantage of the opportunities to show off her baby sister and I certainly could not have been expected to pass up the chance to dress them alike, now could I?

We spent some down time just memorizing every feature of this little miracle

And then we decided to mix things up by staring at this sweet little face.

Elizabeth saw that Natalie could stick out her tongue so she decided to see if she could provoke her baby sister to do it more often.

Natalie got introduced to story time which precedes naps and bed time and she appears to like it.

In fact, Elizabeth enjoyed the company so much she read stories to Natalie herself the next time. Turns out both girls are big fans of the Cat in the Hat.

All of the sudden, though, all the fun had to stop! We had to stop hogging Nana in the way that only one can when she has just had a baby and she had the nerve to go back to Cali with Papas! What's that about? At least she played dress up with Natalie one last time before she left.

We've become pretty big fans of this leisure time with as much Dad and Nana time as we wanted. Too bad it had to end so fast...

We had to console ourselves somehow, so we went ahead and got back to staring at this beautiful little face.

We're in love. Two is definitely better than one. How lucky could two parents be?

Mission Accomplished.

Everyone, once again I made it to my due date. Thank heavens for medical science and the ability we have to coax the little bounders on their due dates even if they haven't seen fit to come on their own.

So, here I am in all of my 9 month pregnant glory at 6 am on our way to the hospital. No camera tricks here. This is really ALL me.

5 hours into the induction, here I am just about ready to meet my new little one for the first time.

Adam and Mom, sensing the moment was near, trying to contain their enthusiasm.

And here she is! Beautiful, sweet and just perfect. Look at that little face.

You'll all be happy to know that she aced her tests. :) She's already an over achiever.

This is my personal favorite part of having a baby. The very first snuggle with Mama and Baby. She cried and wailed when she was first born and she didn't stop when they cleaned her off or weighed her or checked her APGARS and all of that. She just wanted to make sure her little voice was heard. And then, they brought her to me fussing quite profusely and the sweet little girl snuggled right up and quieted right down. I love how they recognize Mom right off and how they respond to Mom. It seems like we've earned that kind of a nod after what we just went through, right?

She got to meet her big sister for the first time (and it actually went better than I would have thought.)

Mark and Carrie came to visit that night but I was actually too out of it to remember to snap any pictures of them with her. I'll never know why it didn't occur to me but I did manage to snap this photo of her with cousin Bubba. He was sweet as pie with her and it was so cute to watch the two of them interact.

Elizabeth got to come back later in the evening and hang out with us again. She and her sister had some pretty hilarious conversations. I love that Elizabeth has a sister.

We had our hospital food hospital steak and lobster dinner to celebrate the occasion. It was fun to have a little "date" in the hospital and even though the food wasn't so awesome, it really was a good chance for us to celebrate what an amazing miracle it is to welcome a new baby into our family. We feel so blessed.

So after two days in the hospital, Adam and I couldn't stand one more day away from our Elizabeth. We asked to be checked out as early as they would possibly let us out so we were all set and ready to go by like 8:00 this morning. We weren't discharged until about 10 but we were doing our best. Fortunately we had nothing to worry about. Nana had so graciously been on Elizabeth duty since she left the hospital on Thursday and Elizabeth was just happy as a clam.

Here she is all strapped in and set for her first trip in the car. I'm telling you this child does not cry. She sleeps and sleeps and sleeps. I sent her to the nursery last night about 12 and they didn't bring her back until 4 am. She wasn't even crying. They just woke her up because they thought it was time to eat. And after she ate, she went right back to sleep for another 4 hours.

Can you stand her little booties? I love baby feet. Just adorable. Impossibly cute.

Nana had been so great about watching Elizabeth that she hadn't gotten to see her new little angel since Thursday. Her little face had changed so much and so these two girls had some catching up to do. They seemed to have a great time doing it.

Elizabeth was pretty excited to have mom and dad back home today. She got to have a picnic lunch on the living room floor and she got away with even more murder than Nana had let her get away with already. She was super happy and excited and it showed all afternoon. She was just giddy running around and playing. It was fun for us to see her back to her normal self.

She's coming around to having a little sister. She's doing her best to share toys, bring her pacis, diapers, burp cloths, etc. and she even talks to her. She was extraordinarily helpful to dad in putting together this bouncy and other toys we needed too. If she cries, Elizabeth gets right in her face and asks her what is wrong and why she is crying. Tonight she gave her sister a kiss and told her goodnight before bed and then after she was in her crib, she shouted down the hall a goodnight wish to her sister.

This is how we see her most often now here at home. Perched in her "throne" and sleeping peacefully. She's super different than Elizabeth was. She sleeps a lot a lot a lot and she loves to be held and snuggled. She is not a huge eater and she's not much of a crier. She squeaks all the time and we find it hilarious.

Like her sister, her middle name is borrowed from her great grandmother. We think it's a fun tradition for our children and it gives their names meaning. And so begins our journey with our beautiful Natalie Catherine. We'll keep you posted on how life continues with her. Wish us luck for continued peace with our wonderful fun darling baby. We can't get enough of her.

To you, they are just a pair of baby sandals. However, to Elizabeth, they are much more. When Nana was out here visiting months ago, she couldn't resist these little shoes. We got in the car and she turned around and handed them to Elizabeth who was already securely fastened into her car seat. Upon first glimpse of them, my little 18 month old baby cooed and said "oooohhh. cooot!(her version of cute)."

Nana was pleased with her purchase but had no idea the monster she'd created. It was that pair of shoes from which my little babe derived her obsession with shoes. And who can blame her? You should see her little baby feet and pink toenails in them, or any shoes really. In fact, I often find 2 or more pairs of my shoes lying around the house because she needed to try them on and wear them around the house as well. A word of caution though. Heaven help the unwitting grown up who wants to help her put them on. Be prepared to hear "My turn put on shoes!" I'll admit that it is pretty great to not have to scrunch my ever growing self down to put her shoes on for her though. Her timing could not be better. Now if only I could get her to clean her own room...:)

It was a tough day...

You moms of little ones will understand. Those days when you can't seem to say or do anything that doesn't annoy the little darling. Early the next morning, I took her outside to enjoy some morning sun. She insisted (and I do mean insisted) that I put her down, even though she didn't have any shoes on. I obliged because I was not prepared to have another day like the one before.

She scurried off...




To bring me this. "Here, Mama," she says, "a flower! Mama want another flower? I get you another flower?" I smiled at her and told her it was beautiful and she beamed back at me for a minute before she ran off to find another flower for me. Yes, I know I should be apalled at the state my back yard was in that day before it had its weekly grooming. And yes, I know it's just a weed. But in her mind it was something beautiful that she knew I would love and she wanted to give it to me. And she was so proud of herself for making me so happy. How can you not love a baby who knows Mama loves flowers and runs to get them for her at her first opportunity?


Don't you love that about babies? They don't even remember from one day to the next that they hated your guts yesterday. Maybe she will think I'm cool one day...one day far far away. But some day it will happen. We're gonna make it, she and I. We'll be besties. I can feel it. :)

We asked Elizabeth tonight what we should name the new baby. Without hesitation, she said "George."

In Elizabeth's world, there is no name more beautiful than Curious George. Like attracts like, I suppose. One naughty monkey deserves another.

Yet another reason I ADORE having family around...

Elizabeth gets to make great memories with her cousins.

She's just giddy every time she sees them.

Despite being an only child (for the next 2 months or so), she still has the benefit of getting roughed up by people she loves.

And, they wear her out with little to no effort on my part. We love you guys. Thanks for playing with us.

When I say this girl is into everything, I mean EVERYTHING!

Look at her all caught in the act of getting into my mascara.

On a positive note, she looks like she's grasped the concept of where to put mascara.

That little smirk says "I know I got caught but I can tell Mom's not mad. Baby gets away with another act of mischief!"


And here she is painting her face with toothpaste.

And now she's scowling at me for trying to catch this on film.

In somewhat related news, Adam is excellent at getting mascara out of clothes so please check with him if you ever have the need.

Today while I was putting on my make up, she somehow got ahold of some concealer and fingerpainted the bathroom door with it. I should have suspected something was up when she didn't come pull at my leg begging for make up or hair product for longer than 60 seconds. What can I say? It's just another rookie mistake.