Easter Festivities

Maggie and I colored eggs last Tuesday night while Tyler was at class. I did 24 eggs this time around, we love egg salad sandwiches and hard-boiled eggs for breakfast so it works out. She did really well with the coloring and even made some 2-color eggs!
And look what a good picture she took. It was hot that day, James is just in his diaper.
Posing with our display of beautiful eggs.
More eggs.
We also made a Resurrection mountain (no picture) that we use to tell the story of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. From here: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/make-a-playdough-mountain So on Sunday morning, Maggie gets to come down to the kitchen to see the empty tomb. "He is not here, He has risen, just as he said." Matthew 28:6.

We've decided to do all the Easter bunny/baskets/egg hunts on Saturdays now and leave Sunday just for celebrating Resurrection Day. That way we put the proper emphasis on Christ and His resurrection on Sunday coinciding with church, without missing out on fun traditions, too.

Oddly enough, the Easter Bunny, aka Mom, leaves baskets of goodies the same place Santa, aka Mom, leaves filled stockings! It is events like this I wish my mom were closer so I could get a fun basket, too. On the otherhand, when I do my own, I go right for the important things: Cadbury Mini Eggs. they are my favorite candy. Ever. Hands down. I plan on going to the store tomorrow to stock up on them on clearance.
So I thought it would be fun to get the kids the same bunny, just in different colors: James got gray and white, Maggie got brown and white. Maggie named hers Jellybean all on her own. Too cute!!!
Showing off her chocolate bunny.
I found that cool night-lite at Target that goes great with his room theme. Here Tyler makes the appropriate rocket ship noise for James.
Maggie picked out more foam weapons for Tyler's basket. We now have 2 foam swords, 2 battle axes, and 2 maces all from the Target dollar bins. They go nicely with the shields Tyler picked up after Halloween. I didn't take a picture, but he showed her late the proper way to block a mace attack.
About to partake of this season's first peep.
Seconds later, a mouth FULL of purple peep. Before breakfast. Delicious!
Did not end up going to the local Easter Egg Hunt. Maggie wasn't feeling up to it when it was time to go, so we just stayed home and relaxed.

Maggie came down with a cold Friday that got worse over the weekend, so instead of spending Easter dinner with our Home Fellowship group on Sunday evening, I made an emergency run to Kroger Saturday to pick up a small ham for just us. Anyway, last year I made the easiest, yummiest ham dinner for us and the Christians (the day before Zeke was born). So this year I decided why change something that worked so well? Menu: ham with pineapple and brown sugar glaze, strawberry-spinach salad with homemade poppyseed dressing, green beans, rolls. I broke out the china, too. Gotta use it sometime!
I didn't get a good picture of the spread, Maggie was in a foul mood at that moment. But here she is minutes later in a good mood. Milk in a wine glass will do that to you. I did have her put on her Easter dress for dinner since she didn't get to wear it to church that day.
James spent the meal in his swing, smiling in his sleep. So sweet!

Mommy's Hunk-A-Chunka

Loving my little man! Still so sweet:
I unofficially weighed him on our scale the other day, he comes in at a HEFTY 14 pounds.

Still Kickin'

James kicked incessantly in utero, and he's still at it! Tonight he was having some tummy time (and getting sick of it) and the kicking began. I got a short snippet of it, squawking included.

Smorgasbord Update

James turned 6 weeks today. I weighed him on our home scale this past weekend, and he clocked in two different times at 13 pounds. He is definitely hefty! I had to get out the summer clothes as the weather here is starting to be consistently warm and little Mister is wearing clothes up to 6 months at this point. You read that right - 6 month clothes. Most of his 0-3 month clothes stretch enough to still fit, but some have had to be put up already.

He is starting to coo at me which I am SO loving. He is making more eye contact with everyone, which I really like to see. And nights are great, usually a 4 hour then a 3 hour stint between nighttime feedings, so I am not all that sleep-deprived; last night he went about 5 1/2 hours so that was great! He loves to be in his car seat and driving around, he sleeps so soundly when we are out running errands. He is still a very sweet, relaxed, chill baby. 8:30 - 11 at night he can be fussy, but I've found that getting him ready for bed and popping him in his crib when he starts getting fussy is the answer. It's like he's got to get in a little bit of crying before I put him down for the night, but tonight he went right to sleep or at least he was quiet in his crib...

Maggie still loves him to pieces. Lots of hugs, kisses, sweet talk. She likes to lay on the floor right next to him and pat his back or rub his tummy (whichever side he's on).

I got this neat photo app for my iPhone that morphs my photos into cool images, so here's one of them. My squishy little gummy bear. Taken last week. It was a hot day, and he got all sweaty when he nursed so I let him air out.
Yesterday in this SUPER cute sleeper outfit with a cute notted hood. Look at those cheeks!
Big sister and little brother. Here in the South, that's Sissy and Bubby (or Bubba). Maggie told me she will not call him Bubby or Bubba.
Tummy time turned into nap time. LOOK AT THOSE CHEEKS! I can barely keep my hands off them. And Maggie, too; that kid will not leave him alone when he's sleeping for anything!
So at Babies R Us I used the nursing mother's room since it was time to eat and we were out. Maggie thought his car seat was great fun!
Sunday night we went out for Mexican. It was so good! Again, playing with the photo app on my phone. So fun!
So that's about it. I really love this baby #2 business. I am WAY less stressed with this baby. It's fun to see Maggie with her little brother, and like I said, he is just SO CHILL. I am so very blessed with my little family!

Leave it to Auntie Tara!

Auntie Tara is magic, did you know that? When she comes to visit, our children get their belly buttons! See, it happened with Maggie. And now with James. His umbilicus got all wonky and mostly detached (except for a yucky little stringy business going into his belly) over the weekend, and then Monday morning when I changed his diaper it was off! Yay!

Visitors for James Part 2

Last weekend Tyler's sister, Tara, came out to visit. Although I do miss seeing her girls and Alex and Maggie would've loved having them here, too, having just Tara was quite a treat!!! It was so fun to have her come out and be just an Auntie. I think Maggie and James were both blessed by all the one-on-one time. Saturday we went to the Buttercup Festival. It was a nice day, so shortly after this picture was taken Maggie decided to go wading in the creek. Which was shortly followed up with her slipping and falling into the creek.
(Tara, I totally stole these off your facebook page - I have been so bad at taking pictures lately, so I'm glad these were on your camera!)

Visitors for James Part 1

The last week of March Poppy and Mimie came to meet their new little grandson. We had a great time: good food, sight-seeing, good food. Did I mention good food? =)
And while they were here James took his first bottle - from Maggie! He woke up at a funny time in the morning and I needed to bring Maggie to MDO and knew he would not nurse quickly enough, so a bottle it was. He did great, and was quick. Maggie was such a big girl; she sat on the couch and gave him the entire bottle all by herself. She had a great time being able to help.

Spring is in the air!

Maggie the budding photographer

One of Maggie's favorite things to do right now is snag my camera and take self-portraits and snap photos of stuff around the house.

One Month! Boppy Picture

Here we are at one month old. This is James' "Fists of Power" pose. We see the fists often.
And here he is with his "Yo!" pose. Note the face of indifference he displays.
One whole month has passed since James was born. Unbelievable! I just love my little gummy bear. He has been such a blessing in our lives, I can't put into words how thankful I am (we are). Big sister Maggie loves him to death (I've caught her picking him up several times, so that's not far from the truth!).

James is such a joy - pretty chill most of the time, and fusses way less than his sister did at this age. And he's been smiling since we brought him home from the hospital - they just melt my heart! He continues to grow and grow: during the day he usually nurses every two hours. The quantity of time I spend nursing really puts a damper on how much other stuff I can get done, but I am glad for the time to sit down and spend with him. Night times are pretty good most of the time, too; he goes right back to sleep after each feeding and quite a few nights he is going 3-5 hours between feedings. We won't talk of the bad nights.

In the hospital he was already holding up his head and his head and neck muscles are getting stronger everyday. The video below shows how strong his legs already are, too. All that kicking in the womb is paying off! We will be in trouble when James figures out how to move forward I know that for sure.