Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Week 7

This was another week spent mostly at home, not that I am complaining. All too soon I'm going to be back at work, and I'm going to miss the long days at home with my girls and our main man.

Here we are, snuggling.


Nora absolutely loves her baby sister and asks daily to hold her and have her picture taken. She was a mess here. She had just woken up from a nap and had a messy face from a pre-nap snack, but still, how cute are they??


We did bath time 2 different ways this week. The first time, we tried it with both girls in the tub. It was a bit of a tight squeeze with Nora in the big tub and Tilly in the whale tub inside the big tub. SO, the next time, we just bathed the baby in the whale on the kitchen counter. Nora was a great helper, and even though Tilly isn't yet enjoying bath time, I am sure she will eventually learn to love it.


This week was also Valentine's Day. As usual, the best Daddy in the world bought each of his little girls a red rose. We always want them to know that the first man who ever loved them loves them so very much. We got a sweet picture of him with his littlest Valentine, but Nora, while she absolutely loves her rose, wouldn't pose for a Valentine's Day photo op.


As week 7 wrapped up, we learned that both the flu and strep went through Nora's pre-school. She was a little under the weather, so I took her to the doctor, and sure enough, she had strep throat and an ear infection. We got her an antibiotic, and after a long afternoon nap on Saturday and a few doses of medicine since then, she seems to be on the mend.

I'm going to end this blog with a few random pictures of sweet Matilda plus a side-by-side photo of my 2 girls when they were each 3 weeks old.


I am obsessed right now with comparing the girls facial features. They look SO much alike to me. I'm sure that eventually I'll get tired of doing these side-by-side pics, but for now, I find it fascinating.  Here they are, Tilly on the left and Nora on the right-- my beautiful look-alike babies!


Saturday, February 7, 2015

Week 6

This week, we had a couple of warmer days with temperatures up in the mid-high 50s, so we took advantage and got the girls outside for some fresh air.

The first opportunity we had was on a "school day" after Nora had been at pre-school all day, so we just walked around our neighborhood. Can I tell you how nice it is to live in a neighborhood now where you can go for a walk without having to drive somewhere first?


The second nice day we got was on Saturday. We love to try to wear Nora out on weekends, so after her Little Gym class in the morning, we thought it would be perfect to let her play at the park. We went for a walk first, and then we let her play on the playground. This tactic apparently worked like a charm because she fell asleep in fewer than 5 minutes at bedtime. Score!


While we enjoyed some fun family time outdoors, we also had some quiet moments at home. Well, as quiet as it gets with 2 little ones at home.


And finally, we celebrated Grandpa's 76th birthday at Bo and Lea's house. Nora played hard with some of her cousins, and she also got to help Grandpa blow out his candles.


Looking back, I can't believe how busy week 6 was mostly because I'm just 2.5 weeks post c-section. I feel really great, and I don't think I even realized how much so!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Weeks 4 and 5

So, we have a new family member! Matilda Ann was born just over 2 weeks ago on January 20th at 1:19 P.M., out-measuring her big sis by almost a whole pound and an entire inch! Little miss was 10 lbs 1 oz and 22 inches of delicious perfection. See??


Brad and I had some very sweet first moments with her, just letting her know how loved and cherished she was.


Can you tell we were smitten from the first second?

Then, is there anything that can fill your heart with more love and joy than seeing your first-born little love of of your life become a big sister? I don't think there is. Check out some of these sisterly moments from the first week of Tilly's life. It doesn't get much better than this.




Since we've been home, we've had first naps...


First baths...


First special deliveries...


And first visits from friends...


Two other big things worth mentioning from the past 2 weeks:

First, Nora had her last day at Ms. Tracy's-- the day care where she has been since she was just 4 months old. Her last day there was our first day at home as a family. We stopped by to pick her up on our way home from the hospital and at the same time said a sad "see ya later" to Ms. Tracy. Tilly will be going there once I go back to work later in March, but I still shed a few tears walking out the door with Nora that afternoon. Here we are introducing the baby to Tracy and having Nora say goodbye for now.


Nora has been at her new pre-school for 2 weeks now, and she seems to like it. Overall, she has transitioned into her new house, new school, and new role as a big sister impressively well.

The last thing I want to mention is that we had to say an even sadder farewell last week to one of our sweet pups. Brandy, the youngest of our 3, was diagnosed with a very painful degenerative disease that went from undetected to critical overnight. We had to make the impossible decision to have her put down. Saying goodbye for the first time to one of our fur babies was one of the hardest things we've had to do.

Here are a couple of our first pictures of Brandy from back in 2009 when we adopted her from Young Williams Animal Center.


And I think these are the last ones I have of her. They would have been taken about a month or so ago just shortly after we moved in to the new house as she and the other pups were getting settled in.



This picture was taken the night before we had to say goodbye. She was resting comfortably at the vet clinic while Brad and I made the only decision there was to make. I'm pretty sure that these mopey dogs knew that something was going on. I tried to get them to look up for the camera, but neither of them would humor me at all.


So while the past few weeks have been mostly filled with great joy as we welcomed Matlida into our lives and became a family of 4, we had some moments of sorrow, too, as we said goodbye to the happiest, biggest knucklehead of a dog who we were ever lucky enough to know.