AK's 7th Week

This is a very typical Anna Kate face. Eyebrows scrunched, lips tight, body tense. Up until this point, she was really not much of a smiler. I blame the reflux. She will be 8 weeks old tomorrow and hopefully I can catch some pictures of her beautiful smile to post next.

Anna Kate weighs about 12 lbs. and a lot of her baby hair has fallen out. So far, it looks as though blonde hair will be coming in its place. Her eyebrows are white and her eyelashes are long and blonde. Her eyes are already lighter than Trip's, so I think her eyes will be a lighter blue. She still resembles Trip at the same age, but seems much longer than he was and isn't quite as chubby!

She is a lot different than Trip was at this age. I can already tell that she is just a more sensitive child. She is a light sleeper and doesn't respond well to loud noises (insert Trip screaming at the top of his lungs). I'm sure that being a baby in a home with a 2-year-old boy contributes to this. As much as Trip adores his "baby bister" I am not sure that she is as fond of him at this point. When she is nursing peacefully and hears him approach, her entire body tenses and her eyes widen so much that you can see the white part all the way around them. He has jumped on both of us enough times, that I am starting to feel the same way! I'm just not sure how much to expect from a toddler when I ask him to exercise restraint and be gentle around us. Most of the time, he is just trying to cuddle and give kisses and his intentions are very sweet.

The hardest part (besides the reflux) has been figuring out how to give them both the attention they want and need. I never realized how guilty I would feel for taking attention away from Trip, and at the same time, not giving Anna Kate as much attention as I was able to give Trip when he was a baby. I just keep telling myself that this is really better for both kids because they are learning not to be as self-centered ... Right?

"lay her down" & "obey me"

Trip speaks in fairly full sentences now and has picked up a few fun ones from his mom.

"Lay her down, hold you."

(Repeating me when I say, "let me lay your sister down, and then I can hold you.")

Just a few days after posting about Trip being the best big brother (which he is), he decided that he was a little jealous of the attention his baby sister was getting. For the past two days, every time Anna Kate would cry and I would go to pick her up, Trip began whining, "Lay her down, hold you!"

At first I thought he was just wanting to cuddle with me, so during the periods of time where Anna Kate did not need my immediate attention, I would try and pick Trip up and hold him. But, he did not want to be held unless AK needed to be held.

Thankfully, today has been a better day. And even though I am sure there will be many more trying times with plenty of sibling jealousy, I am happy to say that he has been back to his "best big brother" self all day today.

"No no no. Time out chair. Obey me."

Because Trip was displaying some not-so-nice behavior toward his sister, he spent some extra time in "time out" over the past few days. After one of those episodes, we were sitting in Anna Kate's nursery playing when Trip went up to the full-length mirror and said sternly, "No no no. Go to time out chair. Obey me." while swatting his image in the mirror.

It is always interesting (and humbling) to see how your child views you as a parent. As much as I don't want Trip's primary impression of me to be the way that I discipline him, I am thankful for how he has responded - for the most part- in obedience.

I am quickly learning that when disciplining, and parenting in general, I have to yield to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to work through me.

Celebrating Easter

This year, J and I were hesitant to wake Trip up for our annual family sunrise service because we thought he might be grumpy for the remainder of the day. But, we decided to go for it. When we woke him up at 6:45 he started screaming and crying, but as soon as we gave him some warm chocolate milk, he cheered right up. We sat around our dura-flame fire and J read the story of Jesus' resurrection from Trip's "Jesus Storybook Bible" and then prayed. That was about as long as Trip's attention span would allow. Then, Trip went on an Easter egg hunt in the backyard and found his Easter basket hidden in the playground. He spent the rest of the morning playing with his new toys before we headed to church.

Trip and Anna Kate wore the cutest outfits from J's mom, and I planned to snap some pictures after church ... but Trip had other plans and his outfit didn't survive the morning. The picture below is after about 2 minutes driving in the car after church. He was completely exhausted and slept the entire drive in to San Antonio to celebrate Easter with some of J's San Antonio family.

Anna Kate was perfect the whole day and really only fussed when she was tired. This is "baby whisperer" Aunt Georgia holding her while I took a break to eat some lunch.

Me and my baby girl :)

J's sisters, Georgia, Greta and Clara with little AK.

The boys - J, Pop Pop, and Uncle Juan (J's brother Collins) with big boy Trip sporting his second outfit of the day.

After lunch we all went to the San Antonio Country Club and Trip had a blast swimming, playing with his Dad and going down the slide.

While I lounged with Anna Kate by the pool.

Check out my handsome son. He looks so grown up in these pictures. Despite being pretty tired all day, he was so much fun and I was a proud mom of two well-behaved kids.

auntie georgia

the BEST big brother

(doing a silly dance!)

The Egg Hunt and Giant Bunny

Easter Egg Hunt 2011

Last year around this time, I posted about how much I dislike Easter egg hunts and the Easter Bunny because they get in the way of the important and amazing message of Easter.

Little did I know that one year later my little boy would be OBSESSED with the Easter Bunny!

I thought kids didn't like people dressed in animal costumes. As a child, I always found them a little creepy. But not Trip. I think if he had the choice after meeting the Easter Bunny this past weekend, he would have taken him home to live with us forever.

The story - We decided to go to the city's Easter Egg hunt, which boasted more than 18,000 eggs with an assortment of candy and prizes. We figured Trip would have fun picking up the eggs and would come home on a sugar high. But, just before the egg hunt was set to begin, the Easter Bunny came walking by, and it was all over from there.

Trip followed the bunny around, waved to him, and hugged his legs - cutting off several children in the process. When we tried to pull him away for the egg hunt, he broke down in hysterics. So, instead of hunting for Easter eggs, we let him stand next to the Easter Bunny and watch as the other kids snatched up coupons to local restaurants, gift cards and other awesome prizes. He followed the bunny over to his chair, and was one of the first in line to sit on his lap. He did NOT want to leave, which resulted in another breakdown. As we tried to make our way to the car, Trip escaped several times and sprinted toward the bunny, trying to cut in line to see him again. There were tears all the way home and screams for the Easter Bunny as J put him down for a nap.

We captured the event in pictures and in video on my phone, which Trip likes to look at frequently. At least once every hour, Trip asks me about the Easter Bunny and says that we need to get in the car to go and see him.

So - at least for this year - we are enjoying watching Trip enjoy all of the festivities around this holiday. I hope that we will be able to impress upon him that as fun and big and amazing as he thinks the Easter Bunny is, our Savior's resurrection is truly the most amazing thing of all.

Happy Easter!

6 weeks

iphone pics (tell me if you can see these ones)

4 weeks

guy time

Trip spent the afternoon with his Dad and Grandpa ["Dappy"] enjoying the approaching summer weather and some much needed guy time. He helped fix the lawn mower and mow the lawn. What a big boy!