march happenings: week four

On Sunday Noel celebrated his first Easter.  He looked very dapper and was an angel, sleeping through church.  :-)

Love these 3!

Asher took this picture of Hadley, Noel and I.  Hadley was being a real gem and kept saying "no mommy, no baby, just Hadley" - apparently she wanted a feature photo shoot.

The big kids had dentist appointments this week and were rock stars.  Hadley looked so small in that big chair, but she did amazing.  She sat still, opened big, and got a clean bill of dental health!

This guy went to the barber shop for a haircut and came home looking sooo handsome!  He was really funny about it too.  When he got home Asher told me "mommy!  She did not speak any English there.  Only Spanish!  I told her hola"  Love him - ha!

Noel spent this week looking cute and spending more and more time awake.

We had a bit of good weather while Asher was at school one day so we took a walk to the park.  Gus and I love the Solly wrap - he's so content in there and I love having him snuggled close.  It's a little tricky getting Hadley in and out of the swing, but we got it done.  :-)

happy easter!

Drew and I grew up with a tradition of having hidden Easter baskets on Easter morning.  We decided that Asher and Hadley were old enough now to hunt for their baskets and have fun with it.  Normally we do all of this after church, but with Noel being so new we are a little slower this year and went to a later service.  First thing when they came downstairs we told them to start searching!

We made it pretty easy for the first year so the hunt didn't take too long.  ;-)  A and H are so fun to give gifts to - they get SO excited!  I tried to give the kids things that would be fun, but also practical for the coming season.  Everyone got new swimsuits!

And sunglasses!

And a few school supplies, of course :-)

What's Easter without some candy?  These Reese Pieces "carrots" are mommy's favorite...I might have enforced a "toll" regarding those a little bit.

Noel was here too, but needed a bit of help opening his basket of goodies.

After opening the Easter baskets and having a special breakfast we were off to church.

Happy Easter!

easter egg hunt

Living in New Jersey has been so fun because it's meant that we get to see our family a lot more often and be there for lots of events.  Drew's aunt and uncle were kind to invite us to join their family for an Easter egg hunt they put on for their grandkids on Easter Saturday.  Asher and Hadley were so excited!

Noel was excited too.  :-)

We have a big family which makes these kinds of events really fun!  All of the kids had a bucket and eggs that were hidden with their names on them.  I thought this was a great way to do it since we had a range of ages and having "assigned" eggs gave the slower/younger kids a chance to look around and not miss all the eggs.

Cousins!

We all had a great day (Noel napped in my arms most of the time) - and are so grateful to live near our family!  The rice krispy treat Easter cake was one of our contributions to the dessert table ;-)

easter eggs

Drew and I decided that it would be fun to dye Easter eggs with Asher and Hadley this weekend.  We've done it before, but in previous years they usually lost interest after a few minutes.  The hope was that with them being a little older the interest would last a little longer!

Noel was really into the whole process.

Yes, Hadley is wearing Christmas pajamas (and Asher is wearing Halloween pajamas) - we bring all the holidays together here.

In the most exciting news of the day, I successfully hard boiled eggs.  For some reason, this is a real and consistent challenge for me but this year I got it!  

The kiddos did great!  They loved coloring on the eggs with the wax crayon, picking the colors to dye, and seeing the final result.  Of course, it's hard to wait for the color to take but they were pretty patient overall. 

I'm so glad we can do these fun things as a family.  When Noel is ready to help we might need another Learning Tower!  Happy Easter!

march happenings: week three

The big kids have been really busy with school so this has become the Noel show temporarily.  I know that before long this guy will be running around and leaving me behind so for now I'm enjoying our one-on-one time.  Give me all the baby snuggles! 

He has even come up with a special little alarm system for if I try to put him down.  ha!

Noel loves the mamaRoo and has been sleeping in it every night.  I think he's grown a little in the past 5 weeks.

Mr. Big Eyes is wide awake for once!  He definitely has awake time, but still seems a little on the sleepy side most times.  His eye color is still up for debate.  They change between blue and brownish, but are neither bright blue like Asher or brown like Drew - may end up hazel like Hadley or a dark blue like mine.  Time will tell!

This guy still prefers a pretty late bedtime of 10-11pm, so he and I usually take a nap together on the couch from 8pm on.  I know that pretty soon he will have an early bedtime so I don't mind spending these weeks here.

More little baby smiles to brighten our days!

This little bunny went to his first Easter party on Saturday.  A separate post just for that coming up!

Easter is this Sunday - we're excited to celebrate Noel's 2nd FIRST holiday!  

happy st. patrick's day!

Noel celebrate his first "FIRST" holiday today at one month and 2 days old!  Naturally we needed a coordinating picture of the trio.  The first of many, many to come in Gus' life.  :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

march happenings: week two

Noel turned one month this week!  He went for his 1 month checkup at the doctor and got a perfect report!  His weight and height are both in the 50th percentile and he's a healthy, happy guy.  :-)

At least he was, until he got his shots.  I'm a big proponent of immunizations - they save lives and society is better off for having them.  But.  The first round is always the worst for my kids, so I planned Noel's appointment for a Friday and Drew was able to work from home to help get Asher from school and prep meals.  I knew that Noel would need me.

And boy did he ever.  I looked at this face for a good part of the day and evening - bless his heart.  The rest of the time he slept on my chest, clinging for dear life.  Slight fever and really swollen/sore leg.  Poor little guy.

On his 4 week birthday Noel surprised me with his very first smile!  I like to think it was a little "thanks for breakfast, mom" - just for me.  :-)

When I say that he likes to eat every 2 hours, I wasn't exaggerating.  My baby feed app says he's right on time, all the time.  

Hadley Fern agreed to watch Noel for me while I went upstairs.  Big sister's take their job very seriously.

These sweet hands - love, love them!!

The other day Hadley and I were getting ready to head to school and she got her "baby stelly" ready for us to be gone by turning on the sound machine and getting her sock on her hand - "NO paci, baby stelly!" Love her 3 year old imagination.