Happy Easter!

He is risen; He is risen, indeed!

We had a lovely little Easter.  Jason and Russell went to church this morning to celebrate our Savior’s death on the cross for us!  We felt Meredith was too little to go yet, so she and I (and my mom) stayed here. 

After church, Russell and Meredith got to open their Easter baskets:

Russell’s favorite thing was the Lightning McQueen sippy cup.  Of course, as soon as he pulled it out, he said “bubbles!”  So we had to explain to him that it was a cup, not bubbles   But he still loved it anyway.

Isn’t Meredith sweet in her bunny outfit?  (And looking like a baby bunny herself, the way she had her hands!)

I got a couple of family Easter photos.  I would have liked to get some outside, but Russell just runs around outside so I thought I’d stick with the indoor ones.

We had a nice Easter lunch with my parents, Jason’s parents, my grandmother, and Jason’s grandmother…which I did not get any photos of, since I was feeding a baby and then feeding myself

After Russell’s nap, he (finally) got to have his very own Easter egg hunt!  Jason “hid” (aka placed in plain sight) eggs in our backyard, and Russell had a blast finding them and putting them in his basket.

What a fun Easter!  We know exactly how blessed we are.  Thank you, Lord, for our precious blessings, and more than that, for Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

Family Walk

Last night, Jason, Russell, Meredith, and I went for our first walk as a family of 4 :)  We used our awesome (hand-me-down) double stroller and walked to the park near our house.

Russell and Meredith in the stroller:

Russell was crazy – running around everywhere!  I was so glad we went so he could get some exercise and tire himself out.  We’ve been in the house mostly since Meredith was born (although we try to get Russell out to the park once a day) – he needs to get that toddler energy out!

He has started walking up and down stairs with less and less help – he was proud of himself for walking up and down these steps all by himself!

And Meredith was awake for a few minutes, but mostly, her walk looked like this:

Sweet sleepy girl!  It was a nice first outing for our family – even if it was short (for nursing and bedtime reasons!)

First Bath

Meredith got her first sponge bath at home on Tuesday. Let me say: Meredith is an angel baby so far - so so sweet - but she does not like to be messed with! So the bath was not her favorite thing!

Warm and snuggly and unsuspecting before the bath:



Jason washing her belly:



My mom washed her back and head/hair. She liked the head and hair washing!





I think once she's in the water, she'll probably be more fond of baths! We will see!

Brother, meet Sister

When we brought Meredith home, we told Russell to come meet baby sister. I honestly had no idea what to expect, but I thought his reaction would be either indifferent or jealous or something like that.

Thankfully, I was wrong!

He was pretty curious about her in her carseat, and then he signed "please" (which is also his sign for nice, so I wasn't really sure what he wanted or was saying.) Somehow I caught it in this picture :)



Jason went to get Meredith out of the carseat, and Russell signed "thank you" - so sweet! I don't know if he said it because he wanted to play with her, or he thought she wanted to get out - but either way, it was a good thing!

We asked him if he wanted to sit next to her on the couch, which he did:



He proceeded to point out her nose, head, feet, etc. He was (and still is) pretty interested in her at times.

Of course, everything's not all perfect - he is definitely acting out/being more fussy and needy and tantrum-y than usual. I'm hoping this will be good for him in the end (learning to wait, being more independent, etc).

More Hospital Pictures

When Meredith was born, her body temperature dropped below 98 degrees, so she had to "bake" beneath a light for a couple hours. Once her temperature was high enough, she got her first bath (supervised and photographed by Jason):





Kacki, Paw Paw, Pops, and Mimi all came to visit at one point or another. They were the only visitors. (Russell (lately) seems to hate hospitals/doctors offices, so we decided it would be best for him to meet her at home.)

Pops, Mimi, and their first granddaughter:



I didn't manage to dry my hair or put on makeup, but I did at least shower at the hospital:



Sweet girl:



We tried to get out early on Sunday morning, but we had paperwork to finish up and random hospital people kept stopping by. So we ended up leaving around 10:30.

Bundled up and ready to go home! (poor baby has her brother's hand-me-down carseat!)

Meredith is Here!

Sweet Meredith Claire was born on 4/15/11!

My due date was 4/14, and the doctor scheduled me to be induced on Friday, 4/15 if I hadn't gone into labor. Well, of course I hadn't! So Kacki and Paw Paw came up Thursday night to watch Russell, and we were scheduled to go in at 6:30 am.

On Friday morning, we were warming up the car when the hospital called to tell us they didn't have a bed for us. So we were "on call" - went back to sleep and just waited. Around 8:15 am, they called to tell us to come in!

There was apparently a baby boom this week: we got the last available room! We got in and started pitocin around 9:30.



Contractions were pretty slow and not too painful until the doctor broke my water at 1:30. They really picked up around 3, and I got my epidural around 5. That thing was so strong - a little too strong, but at least I couldn't feel the contractions anymore.

Around 7:30 or 8(?) I started feeling bad: nauseous, feeling contraction pain (but not super strong), and just generally bad. Apparently this was transition - I never felt it with Russell. Then at about 8:20, I felt the urge to push. We waited for the doctor, and Meredith came out in just a few pushes - about 5 minutes!



Her official birth time was 8:33 pm. 7 lbs 13 oz, 20.75 inches long.



First pics with Mommy and Daddy:





We came home yesterday (Sunday) around 11, and our whole family - including big brother - has fallen in love with her! More updates coming soon.

Park Fun

A new park opened here in town today, so Russell, Jason, Kacki (who was in town) and I went to the grand opening! It was really neat: there was live music, some food vendors, and a few people dressed as bugs and butterflies walking around. Russell LOVED it - mostly because it was a new outdoor space where he could run around.

I forgot my camera, so these photos are from Kacki's camera! Thanks Kacki!

Family photo in front of the water fountain:



R is for Russell!



Russell loves to walk over bridges and look at the water underneath.



We saw Eliza and her parents there! We thought a photo on this bench would be cute - too bad neither of the children thought so!



After a hot afternoon at the park, we all needed a little cool-down. Kacki bought us smoothies. Look at how red Russell's face was from playing outside!



What a nice afternoon! We will go back to that park again - it was fun!

Sicky

This winter was terrible for Russell, sick-wise. Countless colds, one or two stomach bugs, and the flu (even though he had gotten a flu shot). I hope he's getting it all now so that over the next 17 years, he won't be sick at all :)

The latest thing? Strep throat. Poor baby! He is on antibiotics now and I can tell he's feeling much better already.

What have we been doing in the house?

Pretend Play
Russell loves to do what Mommy and Daddy do. For example, here he is taking his temperature:



Coloring
He hasn't been interested until very recently, so I'm excited about it! One of his first masterpieces:



I printed off some coloring pages for him with some of his favorite characters (the cars from the Cars movie). At first, he just wanted to look at the pictures, and got mad at me when I tried to color on Mater.



...but now he's starting to get the idea.

Okay, this isn't a "stuck in the house" photo, but isn't it sweet? Russell just loves our sunglasses - although he really doesn't keep his own on. He also gets excited when it's windy out. Those 2 things made for this big smile:



Now that Russell is on the mend, I'm hoping we can go without sickness for a LONG time around here! Especially since a certain baby girl is due in 9 days (not that I'm counting :)).