Say Cheese!

She's smiling! She's been smiling for a week or two, but they've been so fleeting that we've never been able to get them caught on camera... until now. Saturday we had a little downtime as a family and she was in a good mood to see Mommy and Daddy smiling back at her. Here's the first pictures of her smiling!

She's much more interactive. After she's fed and changed, if she's in a "staring" mood, you can usually get her to smile big for you. She always has to get the tongue in there somewhere! She even has a dimple on the left cheek when she smiles big enough! Just too cute!

Big Brother and Little Sister

Garrett is now really enjoying holding his baby sister. He frequently asks to hold her, and when he does, he fawns over her like she's his own. He loves to give her the pipe and always gets concerned when she's crying. Here's one moment that Garrett really wanted to hold his baby sister. He even gave me a cheesy smile!

Mommy's Little Helper- the mothering instinct has kicked in!

Oh so polite, too!

It's times like these that I really cherish Garrett for being the toddler that he is. He's sweet, extremely hilarious, and uncommonly thoughtful for a 2 year old. He really seems to understand that Ellison is a baby and what exactly that entails. He know that she needs to be taken care of and that her needs tend to come first. He's always very understanding when I tell him that I have to take care of her before helping him with what he wants. I hope that this character that is building in him now always remains a part of him. He is going to be a strong, caring, loving husband and father some day... but he is now and will forever be my little boy.

Say What?!

Okay, so everyone knows that toddlers rarely use real words for what their trying to say... Luckily I speak Garrett. But does anyone else know what he's saying??? Take a guess and leave your answer in the comments section. Let's see who can get it right!

**UPDATE 5/25/09** - For all who tried to figure out what my little guy is saying, here's the real answer:

"The octopus dumps garbage on the whale." -from a Dora the Explorer episode.

See! She really DOES like Daddy!

My little girl is growing up...

She's 5 weeks old today. I can't believe that she's 5 weeks old! Where did the time go?! I really feel like it's only been 3 weeks or so. But here she is... beautiful. Her hair is getting a little red in it, and she's starting to smile more, but I can usually only get 1 smile a day. Her baby acne has flared up, but luckily you can't tell how bad it is in these pics.

Chillin' on Mommy's bed

In the middle of a screech, but still cute!

Look how high she can lift her head during tummy time!
She's so strong!

I know that I'm a little biased, but I think she's is going to be one stunning woman when she grows up. It's really hard for me to imagine what she'll look like as an adult, but I can see what she may look like as a toddler, and she's going to be gorgeous! Look out boys- she's got a big brother (and an overprotective Daddy)!

Thanks "Papa Police"!

On Thursday, my dad came over to bring Garrett and Ellison a gift. Unfortunately Garrett was at Mimi's house, but my dad stayed over for a couple hours and got to hold Ellison while we had a good conversation. Ellison was being very good and very cuddly with my dad for quite a while, and it was just too cute to pass up the photo op.

Here's video of Garrett opening the gift my dad got him. It's a Harley Davidson Cycle Town box with motorcycles and trailers and a little map of a street for them to ride on. Too cute!

He loves all the little pieces. Garrett is even expanding in his imagination too. He will drive the little motorcycles around making car noises, and even can imitate a motorcycle noise!

Thanks Dad! Garrett loves it!

Kidney Walk 2009

Doug's Camo Crew

This year was our 3rd year participating in the Kidney Walk. It's always great to get the families together for a good cause and get some exercise, fresh air, good food, and great fellowship. Unfortunately the walk always occurs during Garrett's nap time, so by the end of the walk he was a bit tired and cranky. Nothing beats snuggling with Uncle Dan at this point!

Garrett even got to ride the pony!

By the end Garrett was pooped! He fell asleep in the car not long after we left, and he looked like a perfect little angel with his hands folded in his lap!
Thanks to all that were able to donate and/or participate in the walk yesterday. It means a lot to us that we have such caring family and friends.

Garrett's day with the Dino's

Last Saturday, I decided we needed some family time. So I made Doug stay home from working on the apartment for the morning and we took Garrett to the Van Andel Museum to see the dinosaur exhibit. Garrett is really into dinosaurs, so we thought this would be something fun for him to do since I've been so preoccupied with the new baby, and Doug finishing up school.

Garrett and Doug looking at "Manny" (Mammoth bones)

Building dinosaurs

"Ninosaur Wex"

Garrett loved the robot dinosaur. He could push all the buttons

he wanted to make the dinosaur move.

Build a dinosaur

Mommy and Garrett playing archeologist... we got to uncover dinosaur bones out from under rice with paint brushes!

Mommy's Little Girl

Ellison is now 3 weeks old as of today. I remember when I was still pregnant, and Garrett wanted nothing to do with me. He only wanted Daddy. I would get a little hurt and think "I can't wait until I have a baby that only wants me..." Well, I have that. And frankly I'm getting tired of it. I love my little girl to pieces, but she WILL NOT sleep unless she's ON me. I have to be holding her or she has to be laying at my side or she just cries. I really try not to keep her in bed with me because I'm afraid something might happen to her. But unfortunately no one in the house (mostly me) will sleep if I don't. So the last few nights I've had her sleeping on my chest or curled up in my arms in bed so that I can get some sleep. The only problem is that I get worried about her getting a blanket or sheet accidentally moved on top of her that I really don't get that great of sleep anyway.

I think that she's too young to just let her cry it out and learn how to sleep on her own, but I don't know what else to do. I don't want this to become a habit, but with nursing every 2-3 hours at night I really do need to keep her in our room. And I think that because she's in our room she can smell me or sense me around her and that's why she won't sleep away from me.

I love holding her, just not ALL the time. And that's what she seems to want from me. I've even tried passing her off to Doug when she's asleep, but she will usually wake up and start fussing, and Doug can't get her to go to sleep unless he hands her back to me.

So, I guess I got what I asked for. Though I'm not so sure I like it now... The grass is always greener on the other side, huh?