Brother and Sisters

This is how Erica's first attempt at tummy time went.  Compared to my other kids, I feel it was a success.

She just needed a little distraction from big brother's racing game.

 I hope they never fight. So far so good.

 My kids really wanted to decorate sugar cookies or cupcakes for Valentine's day but I knew that was a tall order with an 8-day-old. So we compromised on sugar cookie bars and heart sandwiches.

 Sarah was sick last year and missed her Valentine party at preschool. I was so happy she made it this year although she got way too much candy.

Last Saturday Erica was sleeping on the couch and Sarah wanted to lay by her and fell asleep. For an hour and a half, all 3 of my kids were napping at the same time.  It will never happen again.

I found these elephant pajamas for Erica and had to get them because Sarah had the same ones at home. This is probably as matchy-matchy I'll every dress them (much to Sarah's disappointment).

 So which baby is Sarah and which is Erica?

See these kids? Sometimes it hits me that this is the youngest my kids will ever be. Does that make sense? Like they are just going to get bigger and need me less and have their own lives and move away and someday I'll look at this picture and cry because this was when they were the smallest, sweetest, closest, and loved me the most.

 The TV was on behind me, in case you can't tell.

 This is a doll bed my grandma made for my older sister. Somehow I've taken ownership of it.  Somehow Henry thinks it's a motorcycle helmet and the handles are the wings. It's other job is to hold his favorite toys.

Sidenote: Erica rocked her 2 week appointment. She gained 9 ounces instead of the expected 4 and she slept through the PKU. She takes super long naps during the day but wakes up 2-3 times a night which isn't too bad since she just eats and goes right back to sleep now.  Those first several nights just waiting for her to get tired again are killer.

Erica's First Week in Review

In honor of Erica turning one week today, I pulled off some pictures from my DSLR from our big day to share with all of you.

Check out that chubby baby. I'm kind of sad I lost track of her hat.

Proud dad. There were a few pictures of me holding her but midnight deliveries do not a pretty mother make.

When I picked Erica up from the nursery the next morning, I about died from the pom pom cuteness. It almost made up for the large gash on her cheek they let her get while on their watch.

Siblings meeting again for the first time.

Elder and Sister Syme came by after a long day at the MTC.

Happy dad with the new crew.

This is how she felt about getting dressed the first time (and every time since).

I thought having the kids with us to bring the baby home would be a good idea. It wasn't. They were super whiny and obnoxious and didn't want to leave.

Henry figuring out who this little baby is that kicked him out of his crib. The night she was born was his first night actually staying in his new room. I've already taught him to say "Back off, boy, that's my sister."

Tiny, floppy baby.

Does Henry seem huge to you? He seems huge to me, especially his head.

I couldn't get Sarah to stop doing push-ups and go to bed. I do love her enthusiasm for fitness and sweatbands, though.

Henry is giving a doll a piggyback ride.

This is Henry's motorcycle helmet.

Even more ridiculous times two.

I will leave you now with some unbelievably cute pictures of my incredibly sweet baby. Happy 1 Week, Little Miss Pretty.

Happy birthday, new baby

I'd like to introduce Erica Mary Dye. Mary is my grandma's name. She was the nicest grandma.

The kids are obnoxiously excited. They argue over who gets to hold her and keep asking what her name is. When she cries, Henry covers his ears and says, "Baby crying! Get her binky!"  I think Sarah would be content sitting on the couch holding her while watching cartoons for a long time (which is what she's doing right now).

She's my biggest baby yet, a whopping 7 pounds.

After some crazy inconsistent contractions all evening Tuesday, we left for the hospital at 11:30. After waiting an hour for the anesthesiologist and wasting my time getting an epidural, she was born 2 contractions later at 1:37 am.

I like her.

More changes.....

My parents entered the MTC yesterday.  These are photos from their farewell last month. I made sure we got pictures of the them with the grandkids. I thought family far away (Mary Lynn) would appreciate these.

The Dye kids.

 My sister's kids.

One of the three kids of my other sister.

 My other, other sister's kids.

 And my brother's kids.

And that's only half of their grandkids. The rest were out of state or sick.

Sarah's room is 100% finished! 

She loved painting her pink wall. (She's wearing my EFY shirt form 1999.)

Tuesday the carpet guy came, Wednesday we set up her bed and then she moved in all day long Thursday. I let her decide where she wanted to put everything and she did a great job. She was kind of nervous the first night but stayed in there the whole night. She even set her alarm to get up for preschool, got herself dressed then came up. She got pancakes for breakfast for being so awesome.

Sarah downstairs means Henry can move into his new room with a big bed. Last night he was so excited but wouldn't ever go to sleep and called for us every 15 minutes or so. After 2 hours of that, when we finally went to bed and turned out the hall light, he cried and cried so I put him in his crib and told him we'd try again tomorrow. Same thing with his nap today. He really wanted to take his nap there but he either would call for me and not settle down or wander out. After an hour of that, I put him in his crib and he got so mad but went to sleep in 10 minutes. I hope I'm handling this right and he learns he has to stay put and be happy about it.  I've only got a few more days of using his crib as an alternative.

Speaking of bedtime, the kids love a double-decker-piggy-back ride up to bed.

I don't do much past 5 o'clock these days so Henry and I stayed home from the Superbowl festivities and watched Toy Story 2 for the billionth day in a row. We ate popcorn and played the Snacky Squirrel game where you pick up acorns with squirrel tongs (more fun than that sounds). Half-way through, Henry declared, "Squirrel sleeping. Just use your hands."

I liked spending time with just Henry. It doesn't happen very much and it will probably be harder once this baby is born. He's a very thoughtful kid. His mind is all sports and automobiles but he sure loves his mama.

From my perspective

This picture should pretty sum up my perspective. I can't see beyond February 13 any more than I can see my toes. 

I haven't shared much about this pregnancy because by the third time around, the novelty has worn off and I've got nothing new to say about this one. I am at that point where getting up in the middle of the night multiple times to nurse sounds like better sleep than what I'm getting right now. And I hate my stairs. I have 2 flights of stairs in my house and doing 5 loads of laundry just about did me in yesterday.

No, we haven't decided on a name. No, I haven't set up her room but her diaper bag is half packed and all her clothes are freshly laundered.

I've been trying to relish in all the things I may not be able to do once the baby comes like make dinner with both hands, take long showers, wear a normal bra, leave the house more than 45 minutes at a time.  Stuff like that.  I have also been trying to give my kids more undivided attention. Motherhood is a balancing act, is it not?

Onto the kiddos....

Sarah starts preschool again tomorrow. She is very excited. I'm excited for her. She loves the school environment. I've started writing down simple math problems for her to solve and she's a champ. She also is getting good at spotting words she knows as we're out and about. 

We got her a camera for Christmas so be excited for my next post; it will be full of her photos.  Her camera also has games on it and I've gotten a glimpse of what she may be like had we a Wii or something. Let me just say it would be a scary thing and seeing her zone out has only reaffirmed my no-vidoegame-stand.

She is still the best little helper. 9 times out of 10 she happily and willingly will help me with Henry or any other household chore except for cleaning her room. For some reason, that's torture. And most of the time she's loves making up games and activities for her and Henry to do. Like this one. She made a "clean, warm playground." She's going up the ladder and Henry is sliding down the pillow slide.

She drew up clues for a treasure hunt. This was in my bathroom. Any guesses on where the next clue was? I knew right away it was the ottomon by the couch.

Henry cracks me up one minute and makes me scream with frustration the next. He loooves to change his mind about every little decision. As soon as he picks a shirt, he wants a different one and cries about it. As soon as I set his egg sandwich in front of him, he says he wanted a cheese sandwich all along. I've learned to tell him, "You chose this, you can choose that tomorrow/next time/after you've eaten this." It works for the most part but I still have to brace myself for the argument multiple times a day.

Henry is no longer afraid of the vacuum which means I now have more competition help when cleaning.

To him, everything is a car/truck/snowmobile, even his apple slices.

He likes to climb on my lap and say, "Let's talk about it" which means he wants me to ask him questions about stuff. He's quite the conversationalist. Get him talking about snowmobiles or trains and he'll go on and on (I can understand half of it). He's also into saying things like "I Sarah, you Daddy" and getting the giggles. 

I am soooo scared of moving him out of his crib. Yes, he's still in a crib. He sleeps there like a champ and never tries to get out so it's worked well. He says he doesn't want a big-boy bed and that baby sister can sleep with him.  I'll let you know that all goes down in couple of weeks when we make the Big Switch.

Sarah's new room is almost done. We paint this week and carpet goes in next week. Between working 60 hour weeks and working in the basement every spare moment, Justin hasn't had much a life, poor guy. There's a thin layer of dust over my entire basement that I'll be glad to vacuum up once and for all. That, and the sawdust dragged in from the garage.  The victory will be short-lived as Justin undertakes the family room and bathroom next, right dear?

I don't have many pictures this month because I've been stressed/tired/distracted/sleeping/boring. But this totally freaked me out. I think I only captured half of the amount of birds flying housetop to housetop in our neighborhood. I HATE birds and this is right out of the Alfred Hitchock movie. It sounded like hail coming down on our roof. 

I love to leave things on a creepy note.