Our first week together

Does life get any sweeter?  Our little Emma is simply wonderful.  She is starting to get her days and nights figured out. She and I average about 5 hours of sleep at night. (broken sleep...but at least it's sleep) She eats...a lot...all the time.  I suppose when you are a nine pound baby you have to come out swingin' and ready to eat!  She has a sweet little cry and then she has a high pitched shriek.  She uses them for different reasons.  The kids love taking turns holding her, Eliza especially.  Little Emmalyn adds so much joy to our home!

 Matt has been home for the past ten days (paternal leave) helping take care of the home, the kids, and me.  He does the dishes, the vacuuming, the cooking, the laundry, has "fillow pights" with the kids everyday, checks on me in the middle of the night while I pace the floors with Emma, takes the kids to the park, the store, the nature center...in short he does it all! I know the kids will miss their daddy when he returns to work on Monday.  I know I will miss their daddy as well!  It has been a great ten days!

Nana is here for the next couple of weeks.  She can take over while I take naps!  Nothing like having your mom around to help for a few weeks!  The kids were excited to see her.  It didn't take long for Dane and Eliza to realize that, of course, Nana was there to play with them!  Two more weeks of vacation before "real life" starts back up again.  I'll take it!

Here are a few pictures of this last week's happenings.

 Emma's first bath.  Yes, on the front steps.  It was a cold 70 degrees in our house but outside it was a balmy 90 degrees with 90% humidity.  I am sure Emma appreciated the extra warmth!

 The kids loved helping! 

 Daddy and Emma.  Emma wakes up in the morning to two very loud kids.  She tries to sleep in the morning but is usually woken up with shrills of laughter. Luckily, Daddy has been so willing to cuddle her in the mornings to help her sleep.  Not too bad of a job!

 Emma asks several times a day if she can hold Emma.  I love it.  She loves it!  Emma tolerates it.

 Dane has had the easiest time transitioning to having Emma around. He is at a great age- he understands and can easily express himself.  I think he will have a harder time letting Daddy go back to work than he did accepting a new baby.

 Momma and baby Emmalyn.  I sure love carting that little girl around.  Last night I took care of the nightly routine of baths, pjs, books, and bed.  Little Emma was a good sport.  I held her through most of it and she hardly complained.  Of course, she complained louder when I tried to put her down! :)

 Some of my favorite moments.  Having all three kiddos around me.  I feel like a mother hen sometimes.  I like having my little chicks around me.

 I think Emma would live sleeping on daddy if she could.  Perhaps her favorite place to be is sleeping on daddy's chest!

 Little Eliza.  It's amazing how big her face and body seem now that we have little Emma around.  When did Eliza become a giant?

 Fillow Pights...as Dane calls them.  This is Daddy and Dane's new favorite game.  

 Don't be fooled.  They both are pretty rough and Dane, especially, loves it!

 Again, our little Eliza!  She recently got a haircut...well, she got bangs.  Her bangs had been falling in her eyes for weeks and we had just been pulling them back.  Finally we decided to try the bang look.  We love it!  We think she is even cuter (if that's possible) with her new do!

About 15 minutes from our house is a Depression Era farm called Frying Pan Farm Park.  It is about 150 acres of pasture/crops with all the usual farm accessories...cows, chickens, sheep, tractors, etc.  It's a great place for the kids and it's free!!

These mini tractors are a show stopper for our kiddos!

There is a wagon ride that runs around the farm.  The kids may or may not have been more into their crackers than into the scenery.  Oh well, it's pulled by a tractor which is pretty neat when you are a 2 year old.

Maybe next time Dane will smile...maybe.

That about sums up our last week.  Emma was on the wagon ride but Matt was safe keeping her from all the grimy kids who wanted to touch her car seat or sneeze on her.  Well, he was taking the picture and holding on to her bucket seat.  It's kind of fun to take our whole family for these outings.