Sister Sister

My priorities when naptime roll around (presuming I got a decent amount of sleep the night before and don't instantly run to take a nap when all three children magically coordinate their naps):

Clean the kitchen, wash the floor, read and have a cookie and tea, and then, maybe, just maybe, update my blog.

Today is one of those special days. 

Two weeks ago I went to visit Rachel on a much belated "Welcome to the World, Dylan" trip. My parents watched Owen and Caelum, Zach had a peaceful house to himself, and Esmé and I had a lovely excursion together. Rachel and I had really enjoyed being pregnant at the same time, for the first time ever. As I had guessed, being together with our babies was even better.  Esmé and Dylan are only seven weeks apart, so we are very much in the same cycle of breastfeeding, diapers, and cooing at the baby. 

One of the best parts of being in Tallahassee at their very new house was spending time with the big Braun Boys. Usually, when my boys are around, the kids all run off and play together and we barely see them. Much to Owen and Caelum's chagrin, I got to play with the boys all by myself!

So many nephews to love

I drove the boys to school each morning, which was so fun since I don't have to do it all year.

Ethan made me a marker and melted my heart with his sweetness.

Cole and I had lots of good bonding time.

Including a special trip to the park

And a treasure hunt...no luck though.

Rachel sure has her act together, especially for having a c-section four months ago.  The footage of which, I might add, I watched with relish.  That is some intense, beautiful stuff.

Note their awesome house

She's even making lasagna!

The Braun boys were great with Esmé.  They were sweet, gentle, and helpful.  It's clear that they are accustomed to having a baby around and they enjoyed making her laugh.

Tyler is an old pro at this baby thing.  And how about those adorable glasses?

Tyler feeding Dylan some cereal.

Ethan entertaining Esmé

Sweet Cole and Esmé

Adam is so good with babies as well.  He watched the two of them while Rachel and I drove Cole to preschool, got a pastry, and took a tour around town.  Adam put the babies to work and successfully got them both down for naps.

Dylan is a good-natured, easy, smiley baby...unless he's in his car seat.

Selfie with DCT

Esmé is big enough for an Exersaucer! Huzzah!

I get all weird, dependenty when I'm about to leave my family, but I must say, it was easier to go with my daughter in tow. She did surprisingly well on the four flights and slept better in Dylan's crib than she does at home.  And how sweet does she look in a summery dress, surrounded by Spanish moss?

Sleeping on the plane.  Phew!

Thighs, I mean Esmé, was intrigued by the swampy topography

We had to do a quick photo shoot with the two cousins. It's hard to get the two babies smiling at the same time, though Tyler was doing his very best to get them to do so.  It was a wonderful trip.  Thanks again for having us, Rach!

Beautiful babies

My favorite outtake

Dylan is as long as E, but not quite as roly poly.

Such a good aunt!

Sisters!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Funny Valentine

Our sweet baby girl is almost six months old.  That's amazing. The newborn stage is over in a blink.

 She is officially called Essie around these parts, thanks to her adoring brothers.  She loves to be rowdy in her own special baby way: blowing bubbles, screeching, smacking at toys hanging above her and rolling across the room.   She is much more of a mover than our other kids have been. She also doesn't hate tummy time like they did.

 Essie loves to be facing out in the Baby Bjorn.  She smiles at everyone we pass and kicks her little feet like crazy. She's quite a cheerful baby and thank the Lord, a great sleeper.  She takes about three naps a day and goes to bed at 8 or so.  She wakes up for a dream feed at around 11 and then sleeps until 7 (or when I wake her up). I am savoring this time of restfulness as I know teething and pulling up in the crib will be her before I know it. Essie prefers to sleep on her stomach and sometimes she'll roll onto her back and give an angry scream. Of course she can just roll back onto her stomach, but she likes to let us know she's not happy.

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Esmé has already hit the ski slopes. Queenie, Mantis, and Aunt Hannah lugged her big, pink, marshmallowy body around as I snowboarded and Zach taught the boys to ski. She was a trooper, spending hours outside with little complaint. She's also been outside in the snow quite a few times at home, as we enjoy Snowmaggedon '14. She enjoyed smacking on the snow as it flew in her face, and she even sat in the snow on her own as Caelum and I built a snowman. I think she was very motivated not to tip over. 

  

 Things Esmé loves:

Daddy

 Brothers

 

Clemson (presumably)

 

And her latest favorite thing: solid foods! She's had them for about a week now and seems to be enjoying them. I recorded the very first feeding. Somebody likes avocado!

Painting

I better start blogging again, as the Ashtons called me out on never posting.

Shortly before Christmas, we decided to tackle our sad, dark basement playroom.  Who doesn't love a little wood paneling? Me. It took a lot of coats of paint, but the room is much cleaner and more cheerful. Our plan was to stain the concrete floor as well, but on learning what exactly that entailed, we're putting it off until the warm summer months.

Before

After

 The room is so much brighter, it even looks brighter outside.  That's a powerful paint job.  Zach and I finally have painted a room together, after seven years of marriage.  Yay for homeownership!

This is Halloween

This year, we got our pumpkins from Eliada Children's Home.  There were fun things to do and the money goes towards the home, so it was a win-win.

Owen and Zach shooting corn husks

Cargo spider web? Yes, please!

Which way to the corn maze, Caelum?

The Ashtons brave the corn maze.

This is why we don't do posed pictures often.

More tractor rides!  This time with a cow theme.

Enjoying a few quiet minutes while the boys ride the tractor.

A giant corn kernel box? We got that!

Kernels were appearing in our house throughout the rest of the night.

Owen sliding

Caelum diving headfirst

Rody!

Found his pumpkin

 I took the kids to an Asheville homeschool co-op Halloween party.  Caelum loved the catapult game they had there, and both boys enjoyed the bounce house. Owen had made his own fireman mask to wear, but both kids ended up ditching their whole costumes so they could jump.  Please note the adorable addition of a dalmatian dog.

Adorable!

Carving pumpkins is a tradition of which the Mannings had always taken part.  Zach hadn't ever carved one until we were in college, at which point he succumbed to my bad influence and participated in this satanic holiday.  Anything to woo a woman, right?  Then, when we were first married, it was a fun thing to do together as newlyweds and then as new parents.  Now Zach gets to clean and carve two pumpkins while I take care of a baby!  Oh how the tides have turned.

Zach and Caelum working on a pumpkin design

 

The finished products.  Owen wanted a sad face and Caelum wanted a funny face.

Getting ready to trick or treat

Caelum trudging up our neighbor's driveway

We went to the first two houses without realizing Caelum didn't have shoes on.

Trick or treating was a great way to meet a bunch of our neighbors.  And get free candy, of course.