Beautiful Days

We've been spending countless hours outside in this beautiful July weather.  The days have been lovely and evenings sometimes cool.  We've spent time with friends at the new park up the road, had Momma and Emmie tea parties on the porch and played in the pool while baby naps.  Emmie has become so interested in cooking these days and pulls up her little stool so excitedly.  She helped make pickles this week, wash dishes and make dinner more time than I can remember.  She also discovered windows and loves her box window and playground tunnel window. Lena is smiling and cooing, watching our faces intently and sleeping just a wee bit more. Praise God!

Two Months

Little Lena is officially two months old. To celebrate, we decided to go to the Elmwood Zoo.  In this trip we discovered just how long it takes a family of four with 2 under 2 to get anywhere at a reasonable time and how crazy such an event is upon arrival.  Lena celebrated by crying the entire day but Emmie had a blast and is still talking about the goats, monkeys (like George) and the sticky icecream.  

Our garden is growing and we've harvested beans, tomatoes, squash and herbs.  Its a lovely time of year except for the squash beetle.  Emmie now sits in a "big girl" chair and it seems important to record that here.  It only took a week to acclimate to it and share her other chair with baby Lena.  Emmie is cautious about most things and does not like change at all. So this is a big step for our girl, silly as it is. These newborn days are tough, especially with a teething toddler. But it is a gift to parent these girls and we rejoice in them.

Exploring the woods

 Emmeline has become an outdoors girl and her new favorite activity is to explore the woods behind our home.  Here are a few shots, along with a picture of her other favorite game "ABC's"......

Eight Weeks

Dear Lena,

You are Eight Weeks (yesterday)! We're still in the thick of trying to help you feel better but in the middle of it all your sweet personality is starting to emerge. You are starting to really smile and coo, to cuddle and observe the world around you. We love you dearly.  You are ten pounds and 21 inches long. You hold your head up really well and you are staying awake for longer stretches during the day. In the night you are usually up every two hours.  Your hair is brown and your eyes are still blue. One of your favorite places to be is your changing table. You love it up there.  How thankful we are for you sweet baby girl!

Big sister

Little Emmie isn't so little anymore and she is shifting out of babyhood into toddler world.  It is beautiful watching her vocabulary and understanding  explode around her.  She is suddenly very interested in everything.  She loves  Bible stories (especially Adam and Eve who do a "no no", in Naaman who has "boo boos" and Isaac who went "night night" on the altar.  She is learning her ABCs or "ABs" as she calls them and points out letters to us wherever she sees them. She likes to dress herself, use her potty, count in German, read us books, identify all body parts including freckles, color identifiable objects and sing to herself. At bedtime when we say night night she must include all the people she knows and loves, sometimes including objects like the fan, or noodles or doors.  But perhaps her favorite thing to do is to love her baby sister "La" (Lena) with whom she has fallen completely in love.  In case we might forget, she reminds us to take La, to diaper La, to dress La and wants to share everything in her expanding world with her.  It is as sweet as can be.  La is still in screamy mode- crying around 8 hours a day. But she recognizes her sister and I can tell they will be best friends someday soon. 

Sweet babies

Here are a few more photos to document the days of our sweet babies.  Lena celebrated seven weeks with a trip to the pediatric ER. There is something so heart breaking in an infant hospital gown! Lena has a few more follow up specialist appointments so hopefully we'll get to the bottom of her unhappy days and troubled tummy. Emmie took a big step this week and went swimming!  Usually she cries in horror when she sees people go under water but this week she had such fun in Granddad's pool.  Even the hard days are a blessing with our sweet babies and we are so thankful for them. 

Seven

 Seven weeks already.... can it really be true?  Its hard to believe this sweet baby has been with us so long already, especially because she's still so little.  Two of her friends were born in the last 2 weeks and they've already surpassed her in weight! She's still in newborn size diapers and just now moving into 0-3 month clothing.

 This week marked a big change in baby Lena.  She's had her first real smiles (have not caught any on camera yet) and she's suddenly very observant, listening to music and turning towards it, watching Emmeline's face intently, watching the cats,  following us with her eyes wherever we move.  Its exciting to watch these explorations unfold in someone so tiny.  Everything seems so monumental.  We showed Lena her first stars, pointed out the leaves, the wind, the rain. She even wore her first swimsuit (though of course she didn't swim).  This baby is noisy! She grunts, peeps and makes chicken sounds much more than big sister ever did. It is really quite funny. Here are a few of our new faces.