Six weeks old

We are "in between" cameras these days...our better camera broke, but rather than spend the money to have it fixed right now we are researching upgrading to a digital SLR. So, for now, we are using our old original digital. I hate the slow shutter reaction time, etc., but it does take some decent close-up shots. Here are some of the Phoebanator from this past week...six weeks old!

Hippity Hoppity...Easter 2008

We had a great Easter. The holidays are so much fun now that I have children...especially with Lucy, because she really enjoys them and looks forward to them. We told her for weeks that the Easter Bunny was coming, so the anticipation really built up (admittedly, we also used it as a threat at times...as in "Do you want the Easter Bunny to come? Well then stop fussing!!"). On Easter morning, we went in to her room to let her know that the bunny had, in fact, come the night before (so much for those threats!). She was thrilled to find her basket waiting on the dining room table and had a blast searching for eggs around the house. She beat Phoebe in the egg hunt 20-0...better luck next year, Phoebes! Some pictures from the morning:

Look, the bunny came!

What would Easter be without a hollow chocolate bunny?

The bunny brought lots of fun things! Clever bunny!

The Mad Egg Hunter

Look!

Phoebe got in on the action by donning her Easter bib again

After the basket and hunt, we put the girls in their matching dresses. The dress was a bit much for Phoebe, but she looked so darn cute in it. As always, getting a good picture of the two of them together was nearly impossible...

(poor little Phoebe!)

After a breakfast of (what else) eggs, we headed to the Cape where there were more baskets for the girls (what a generous Easter Bunny!) and lots of food for the grown-ups. Jeff and I ate more than we have in a while and Lucy ate more candy than she has in her entire life. Here are some photos from the day:

(Oh, did I mention that Phoebe is walking already?)

Happy Birthday to my Nanas

Both of my Nanas have birthdays this month...happy birthday! We love you!

Easter's on its way

Yesterday we went to an Easter egg hunt at my friend Rachel's house (or, I should say, at Lucy's friend Gabriel's house). Rachel is Jewish, so she was a sport for hosting what came to be known as the Jewish Easter Egg Hunt! It was a lot of fun...and Lucy got to learn something about Gabriel's Jewish heritage by helping make hamentashen to celebrate Purim. Thanks, Rachel and Gabriel! And sorry for the mess :)

Making hamentashen with Max

Hunting for eggs

"I found one!"

We started our day today with a haircut for Lucy at Snippits. This was her 4th or 5th haircut, so I decided I did not need to document it with photos. She was a such a champ and even let the hairdresser use a blow dryer, which normally makes her scream. The woman told us that she cut in some "long layers"...tres chic! It looks a lot cleaner now and a bit more under control. After the haircut, we headed to the science museum. Hard to believe that on our last trip there, just six weeks ago, Phoebe was on the inside. In honor of her first visit on the outside, we found her a display of a bird called an Eastern Phoebe. And here she is, posing with her bird:

(As you can see, she was very excited.)

Tonight, we colored eggs at home. I joked to Jeff that I was treating each egg like it was one of my children...I was just so determined not to break any as I cooked them. I had bought two dozen eggs in anticipation of inevitably breaking some. In the end I broke four, so I think a yield of 20 colored eggs is pretty darn respectable.

The finished products:

Lucy wore her bunny ears for the occasion:

And Phoebe wore her "My 1st Easter" bib:

Same bib, two years ago, on Lucy:

(Resemblance? Maybe in the mouth and chin, but I think it ends there. And, of course, Lucy now looks nothing like she did when she was an itty baby, so they may end up looking alike eventually...)

She's a princess alright

Lucy got this adorable princess costume from cousins Kelly and Pete...she is in love with it! It suits her attitude as of late pretty well, too. Yesterday when she got up from her nap, I let her watch some tv in my bed (Mommy was feeling tired and lazy!). I thought I heard her tummy rumble, so I asked if she was hungry. Without taking her eyes off the tv, she very matter-of-factly said to me, "Yes, bring some breakfast to the room." (She gets her meals mixed up, so breakfast is a generic term.) Um, ok, how about I just call the butler and ask him to bring us both high tea???

What would YOU do for a Dora band-aid?

I almost forgot to mention (how could I?) that on Monday, Lucy used the potty for the first time. Now, mind you, this was not exactly the momentous occasion one would expect. She really doesn't have that much interest in potty training right now, and I am ok with that. It's easier to keep her in diapers a bit longer and not have to worry about accidents, finding public restrooms, etc. while I am also dealing with a newborn. But she does show some of the signs of readiness, so I wanted her to see what it was like to go on the potty, thinking maybe it would at least start her interest in doing it full-time. So I had her sit on it and told her to wait until something came out, at which point I would give her the most treasured prize...a Dora band-aid. So she sat and sat and sat and sat and eventually a pee-pee came out. You'd think we would have both been super-excited, but instead she promptly told me it was "yucky" while I tried to calm down her screaming baby sister. Not exactly the Hallmark card "You Used the Potty!" moment. She was basically like, um, ok, I did it, now where's my band-aid? Since then, we have had no requests to use the potty at all. I think I'll let it rest for another month or two...

I'm the best

Today was a long day with the girls, but a good one. I have both of them on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays (Tuesdays and Thursdays are Lucy's daycare days). We went to the Atrium Mall in the morning so that Lucy could run around the playspace (she went down the slide a million times, each time proclaiming, "Here comes Yucy!" before careening down). We then had some lunch at the Vietnamese place at the mall -- the big draw being the large fish tank that I had to beg the hostess to sit near. We came home and Lulu had her nap, during which time I made a quiche for dinner. A typical day...I changed a lot of diapers, wiped a few tears, and listened to a very cute but incessant little voice give a running commentary of everything going on. Anyway, at the end of this typical day, I was typically exhausted. After dinner, all four of us were sitting on our couch (er, loveseat...no wonder the frame broke!). I was holding Lucy while Jeff held Phoebe. And then, out of nowhere, Lucy said to me, "Mommy, you're the best!"

You heard it here, folks. In case you were wondering who the best is...it's me. Lucy said so. And we must believe her.

Baby's got blue eyes

For now anyway...where they will end up is anyone's guess. Lucy's started out blue but are now a greeny-browny color.

Too stinkin' cute

Look who's smiling...

(Note the dimple in her left cheek...precious)

Phoebe's not one to brag, but her mommy would like to note for the record that she has mastered this skill one week ahead of when her big sister did. Well, at least Lucy can take credit for showing her how it's done...

One Month Old

*UPDATE* Phoebe weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces...a nice gain since birth of one pound, 8 ounces. Way to go, baby!

Phoebe Grace is one month old today! I can't tell if this month has flown by or if it has seemed really long...I guess in some ways, I can't remember life without Phoebe, but in others it seems like just yesterday that I was counting down the end of my pregnancy. Either way, our family has changed dramatically with the addition of a baby sister and we are thrilled with our little duo of girls!

Phoebe has filled out a bit since she was born. Tomorrow is her one month doctor's appointment and I can't wait to see what she weighs...I am guessing she's around eight and a half pounds. Her cheeks and thighs certainly look bigger to me than when she was born. We've also noticed that the little wrinkles on her face that she was born with have filled in a bit. Her neck strength is getting good and she will hold her head up on her own a bit. She loves to track movement with her eyes and will follow my eyes with hers if I move side to side. We have started to see some smiles, though I think it will be a few weeks before we get really big deliberate grins.

As for her "schedule"...well, there is not much of one to speak of. She sleeps A LOT, so it's exciting and so cute when she is awake. She nurses frequently, sometimes every two hours, but that's ok by me (for now!). At night, she does pretty well and wakes to nurse only every 4 hours or so. We are so happy that she goes right back to sleep most of the time at night -- Lucy used to be wide awake at 4am and unwilling to settle back. Sometimes we need to put her in the swing a bit or I need to hold her to get her to drift off, but I am fine with that (again, for now!). Sometimes we worry because she really is such an easy baby, but really we're just enjoying her ease...especially because we know it won't last!

Happy One Month, baby girl! We love you!!!

Meeting Greatgrandma

Jeff has a meeting in New Jersey on Friday morning, so we decided it would be a good idea to go with him and then to visit my family in New York. We are very glad that Phoebe got to meet her Greatgrandma, her Great Aunt Sue, and her cousins Jen and Mark. However, the night in the hotel in New Jersey was a little bit tough on Mommy and Daddy! Lucy LOVES hotels...I mean, really loves them. She talks about "going back to the room" all the time. Where does she get this stuff from? She had a grand old time staying up late, getting ice cream from room service, and sleeping in a king size bed with her parents. Too bad she also decided it would be fun to kick us all night (Jeff took the brunt of it). Also, it was one of the first nights we decided that Phoebe really ought to sleep in a bassinet rather than our bed (as evidenced by my practically rolling over on her the previous night). As a result, she spent a lot of time grunting in her little bed in protest of the indignity of being left alone. She's doing much better with it now and I am also getting better sleep without fear of suffocating my child.

Three girls piled in the hotel bed. Look at how gleeful Miss Lulu is!

Such a nice big sister :)

Betty Crocker

I convinced Lucy to wear her new apron the other day (that her friend Max gave her -- thanks, Max!) by telling her she had to wear it if she wanted to help make cookies. Boy, that apron sure did go on fast then!! It goes with her kitchen perfectly -- both are very retro chic. Of course, when it came to taking her picture in it, I was not that successful...

Here she is doing her "One-Eyed Lucy" pose. It consists of having one eye closed and a smirk on her face. It is what she does when she is unhappy with a situation but not throwing a total fit over it. Perhaps her version of "grin and bear it"?


Here is our finished product...de-YISH-is (as Lucy says) oatmeal raisin cookies. I have already eaten way too many of them!

Let me call you sweetheart

Tonight, Lucy leaned over Phoebe's little vibrating chair (well, it would vibrate if I'd just put some darn batteries in it) and said "Hi, Sweetheart!" Isn't that the cutest thing ever? Later on, she called her "Baby Sweetheart." I'm so proud of my Lucy and how well she has handled this new phase of her life. She is my baby sweetheart!

Here's a photos of "us girls" from over the weekend. Not the most glamorous picture of me, but I really like it because it depicts what our life is all about these days...tired, messy, but very happy!