Round and Round!

A few weekends ago we were at the mall and decided it was time for Greg to experience the Merry Go Round! He LOVED it!! In fact, he loved it so much, when the ride was over and I was taking him off he made quite a scene! The entire ride he kept making noises of awe and amazement. He frequently bent over to kiss his horse as well! The entire ride was so amazing for him and so amazing for me to be apart of as he experienced it all. As the ride came to an end, I LITERALLY had to pry his fingers off of the pole. Then I had to walk around as he SCREAMED like I was abusing him. This screaming continued our entire way out of the mall...we were clearly done shopping! I was terrible. Here are some pictures from his ride!

Waiting for the ride to start!

Here we go!

LOVE this!

Needless to say, we have not been back to the Merry Go Round. He screamed so loud, I have fears of letting him ride it again because people were seriously staring us down as we carried him screaming out of the mall. I decided Grammy and Papa can take him...Papa can afford to pay 2 dollars over and over and over again! :-)

Brotherly LOVE!

So...not long ago, Greg was playing in the playroom, and I looked over and he was in the laundry basket with all of his stuffed animals...ADORABLE! So what to do? Grab the camera ASAP!

HEY MOM!

Animal fun!

SO SWEET!

Maria woke up and so I thought...hmmm?? Let's throw her in there, too!

Kisses for Maria!

Hugs for Maria!

Picture Perfect!

After I snapped the last picture Maria stared fussing! Greg looks at her and she starts fussing some more. He then looked at her and shoved her out of the laundry basket. He had clearly had enough! :-)

Ball Pit fun!

We love having the ball pit that Jonathan, Heather, and Jack got Greg for his birthday! Greg loves to throw the balls out! Maria is also enjoying her time in the ball pit! Never too early for some good sensory activities!

Big Brother Greg helping Maria sit up!

Just checking her out...

Play time in the ball pit!

:-)

Watch Me Grow...1 month!

Better late than never, right?? Maria turned one month on Feb. 6th! As you can see from the picture, we will be using Tigger for our monthly comparison! I love how she is looking at Tigger in this picture! So what is Miss Maria up to?

*Maria is in size one diapers now...no more new born diapers for us!

*She is in newborn clothes...but moving into the 0-3 month outfits she has. I think I am in denial that she is already outgrowing some things!

*At her one month check up on the 7th: weight: 10 pound 6 ounces (75th percentile) We have quite the chunker! Height: 21 1/2 inches (58th percentile) The doctor said she was just perfect! She is super healthy and everything looks great! :-)

*Maria has a stuffy nose like her brother did. I am constantly using saline and an aspirator to clear out her nose! The doctor said this is normal, and to keep up with this...just part of who she is! Poor thing! To help with this we invested in a powered aspirator! SOOO much easier and quicker than using the manual one! What normally takes minutes to pull out of her nose, now takes seconds!!

*Maria holds her head up on her own already!! She is very strong! She also will push off and try to "stand" for a few seconds!

*She loves music...especially from her glowworm and the swing.

*She loves the vibrating on the swing!

*She eats every 3 hours during the day and demand feeds at night.

*At night she typically sleeps from 10/1030-230/330, eats and sleeps again until 7! I LOVE that she usually only wakes up once a night! :-)

*She sleeps for about 45 minutes to an hour and a half in between feedings throughout the day!

*She smiles in her sleep ALOT...she also snores!

Maria is a super sweet baby and we have loved having her in our lives! She is very sweet and rarely cries! Simply put...a wonderful joy!!!

How is big brother??

Big brother is adapting quite nicely. He loves on Maria often, with an occasional pinch or slap from time to time. He did scratch her face this past week. She will be one tough cookie with Greg as her brother! He gives her kisses all of the time. When I have them in the bath together, he likes to help wash her hair. He is very sweet with her, but still very possessive when he knows it's his time with Mommy!

Pagan no more!

On January 22nd we welcomed our sweet baby girl into the Catholic Church! It was simply amazing! I am so in love with my Catholic faith and was thrilled to have Maria baptized at SJN! The day was crazy, but simply beautiful! Deacon Mike baptized Maria as we were surrounded by family and friends! Jonathan and Heather are her Godparents and it was so great to stand with them and commit to raise Maria in the Catholic faith. We are so very blessed! After the ceremony, Greg, the kiddos, and I had a nice relaxing Saturday at home. That evening we had family and friends over to celebrate Maria's big special day! It was simply wonderful to gather with everyone! Here are some pictures from her special day!

The Godparents!

My little stud!

YAY BAPTISM!

Maria wore my baptismal gown! She was beautiful and didn't get poop all over it like I did!

"I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!"

Sealing her in with the Holy Spirit!

The light of Christ passed to Maria!

We love Deacon Mike!

Godmommy and baby without sin!

Family!

Friends from high school!

Mommy friends and families!

Zoe loves Maria!

Greg loves Maria, too!

Papa and Pappy just staring at their beautiful granddaughter!

The day on which she was baptized was also the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It brought tears to my eyes during the ceremony as I thought of all the friends, peers, colleagues, etc. that Maria may have had in her life, but whose parents did not choose life, but chose to live their lives selfishly without children. These children will not be forgotten, and each day on her baptismal day, our family will remember all those babies who have been aborted. Join me in praying for an end to this genocide taking place in our country each day, and for every woman who becomes pregnant and feels there is no other way out! Saint Gianna, pray for us!

Bath Time!

Maria had her first sink bath on Sunday! She LOVED it. She was not so much a fan of the sponge bath while we were waiting for the umbilical cord stump to fall off. She really hates being cold, so being in the nice warm water with her whole body under was just her cup of tea! She does so well during bath time. She does not like to be taken out since she gets a little chilly...but once she is dressed she's a happy camper again. Here are some pictures from her first bath experience!

HMMM??? This is new!

...and I like it!

A little rest and relaxation!

And some cute pictures of my little man...

Riding the ATV in the kitchen!

CLOSE UP!

Picture Post!

Greg getting into things...surprise!

Breakfast time with blankie!

He decided he wanted to try out the swing again!

Maria hanging out in the ballpit!

He was so tired he could not even stay upright on the horse!

SOOOOO sweet!! Love them to pieces!

My little ones and me!

Greg showing Maria what tummy time is all about!

BOWS!!!

Sleeping burrito!

Daddy and his princess!

I love a good chest nap!

My sweet big boy reading in the car!

He likes to smell her.

Smelling the head.

All bundled and ready to head out!

Greg sitting inside his drum!

Silly face with GIANT cheeks!

He loves the tupperware!

Sunbathing to become less yellow!

Things continue to go well here!! We are loving our life with the four of us! It's hard to believe that Maria will be 3 weeks old already tomorrow! Even harder to believe that Greg will be 16 months old on Sunday! Just a few updates on the kiddos!

Maria is eating every 3 hours now! YAY! She still sleeps through the night! Double YAY! She goes down around 10 and sleeps until 4! I wake her up again at 7, and she sleeps until 10! She had her first bath in the sink this past week, too! (I'll get pics up soon)! She is a very easy going baby. She cried when she's hungry and when her boopie falls out of her mouth, and that's about it!

Greg is adjusting great! He is such a cute big brother. He is constantly kissing and loving on her. He does have his moments when he wants to slap her face, but these are rare! He had blood drawn from his yesterday for his allergy test! It broke my heart...he had to get stuck with the needle twice since they could not get the vein the first time. He cried, but as soon as it was over and I held him he immediately stopped crying and was back to himself by the time we hit the elevator! He wanted down in the elevator and wanted to walk out to the car on his own...such a big boy! Hopefully we will know the result of the test soon to confirm everything he is allergic to!

We are having a blast and cant wait for some of these freezing temps to get back up so we can play outside again for longer than 10 minutes! :-)