Dinner with "Uncle" Tony

So, Sunday night was Shane's first experience at a "real" restaurant, LOL.

"Uncle" Tony is in town last week and part of this week, packing the container to be shipped to Africa. Hard to believe that they have been there for almost a year now. Even harder to believe that we are finally starting to make a few plans to go ourselves one of these days!

It was so nice to hear everything that is going on, yet a little overwhelming at the same time. Things have definitely not been easy for them!

Surprisingly enough, all of the kids behaved at dinner. Jasmine is totally enamored with Uncle Tony - she's loved him since she was a newborn and was so excited to see him again. Athena was all smiles, which is unusual for her. Shane wanted to be held the whole time, of course, which made eating a bit of a challenge for me. Also ended up NIPing TWICE while we were there - even though it freaks Daddy out.

A few pics to share:

Tried our new stroller out today

Since the weather was so lovely, decided to try out I wonderful new Sit N Stand stroller and walk up to Zagara's. Needed a few veggies for supper, and figured I might as well take the girls along since Shane was taking a nap. The stroller is great! A little bit of a pain carrying up and down the stairs to our apartment, but I suppose any stroller that size would be.

On the way there Athena rode in the front and Jasmine sat in the seat in the back. Then at the store I got one of those baskets and put in the back seat and Jasmine did the standing feature. That's actually how we ended up walking home - two paper bags of groceries will fit on the back seat, if anyone was interested in knowing, LOL. And my purse fits perfectly in the bottom basket.

However, can someone please tell my 2.5 year old that just because I said "hop on" doesn't mean she literally has to hop? She hopped on my poor toes several times!

Gotta Love Cleveland Weather

So, after nearly 2 weeks of 70 degree weather I did what any native Clevelander should know better than do - I packed away the winter clothes. Of course, what did I hear on the news this morning? That temps are supposed to drop back down into the 40s and 50s next week. Sigh. All that work and now I'm going to have to go and dig them back out again. Fingers crossed that the weather man was wrong!

However, a positive side of it - we had to move Athena up to 24 month/2T clothing (I still don't know what the difference is, LOL). The jeans she has on this morning are a little on the long side, but not too bad. And since she was only in the 18 month stuff for about a month, I think that means we had a growth spurt! Which of course means that the Pediasure "magic" milkshakes are working! Woot! We go next month to see both the pediatrician for her 15 month check up and the physical therapist. I'm thinking we'll get good news!

Sleep, glorious sleep!

Is there anything more peaceful than a sleeping baby? Last night was Shane's first night of sleeping through the night - 1130 PM until 6 AM! Hooray! Hopefully this is the start of something good!

So what did we do yesterday to prompt such good sleeping? Honestly, I don't know, because it seemed like he slept most of the day. Morning routine was pretty normal. When Daddy got home from work we drove out to Babies R Us to get our new stroller - and he slept in the car on the way there and a good portion of the way home. Had enough time to assemble the stroller before I had to cook dinner, then after dinner we had a planning session for our summer Bible Study that he came along to. He was awake for a portion of that, and the rest of the time he was sound asleep in the mei tai.

Now, if only we can convince Daddy that he needs to come to bed before midnight! Since while Daddy gets to take naps in the afternoon, it seems like Mommy never does!

ETA: Apparently this was a fluke - the little booger hasn't slept through since!

Happy Birthday To Me

Yup, it's that time of year again. My birthday. The big TWO-SEVEN. Having a bit of a time with it this year - I'm starting to feel old. I suppose being two and half weeks post partum really doesn't help with that either.

When did birthdays stop being "fun"? I remember I used to look forward to birthdays. Now it is more or less another day of the week. Of course with 3 kids under 3 it makes it kind of hard to go out and have dinner or see a movie. And since they are so young we aren't to the cutesy handmade cards and gifts where "Happy Birthday" is misspelled and crooked...

George did make me eggs and juice in bed this morning before he went to work. And the weather is nice today - sunny and warm already and I think it is supposed to hit 70 this afternoon. Better than the years where it has snowed on my birthday! Maybe I'll go out for a walk later...

Pictures from "Auntie" Kim

Mommy's friend "Auntie" Kim came to visit us this week, and just emailed me a few of the pics she took. Kind of different being in front of the camera instead of behind it!

Here's a great shot of Athena. Amazing how she has changed so much in just the past couple of months. Still very much the drama queen of the family, but she is definitely having more silly moments in between as well. And now that she is fattening up she is becoming quite the cutie - maybe I should enter her in a photo contest?



Here's one of Jasmine's "CHEESE" face. Is there some unwritten rule in the "How To Be A Toddler Handbook" that says you cannot smile naturally for a picture after the age of two? And yes, we did attempt to brush her hair that day. I'm hoping that once it finally grows in some more it will start to get under control.





One of me and Shane. No, I am not stoned, just exhausted! And have I ever shared with you that I am WHITE? LOL! I look so pale in this picture. I suppose it will only be worse this summer - the kids will get darker and I'm one of those people that never tans...




And one last one of baby Shane. Nestled up in his favorite spot in the whole world - next to the boobies! Such a man already - favorite things to do are eat, sleep, poop, and snuggle the boobs. Too bad mommy doesn't get to keep that cleavage after we are done nursing...

Shane's 2 week appointment

So, the Heffalump continues to live up to his namesake. His two week appointment was yesterday, and he is now weighing 9 lbs. 14 oz. - up 18 oz. in just 10 days! What a little porker! They are still putting his length at 21.5 in, and his head circumference is now 15" (up about 2 cm from his birth circumference of 36 cm).

The appointment went well - the pediatrician is very pleased with his weight gain. Go Boobies! Shane is still looking a bit yellow, but they tell me that is a result of the breastmilk and will clear up eventually. A small part of his circumcision isn't fully healed just yet, so they gave me some ointment samples to put on it. They told me it should heal up in the next week to ten days.

He goes back in two weeks for another check up and to get his hepatitis vaccine boostered.

Even more exciting, we lost our umbilical cord stump last night! So guess who is getting a bath today...

This is only a test

Good morning all! This is only a test to see how this thing works! Check back for more updates later.