{Hannah} 19 months & {Ethan} 3.5 years

Y'all. I'm so behind on this update that Blogger looks totally different, I can now upload my pictures in a much easier way, and we're seriously close to having a 4 year old. (I counted, Ethan's about 45 months old!)
I actually completely forgot about it until my Grammie, who isn't on Facebook, asked me to re-send my blog URL and I realized how long it had been! I also had planned to post something about London, and I have a note saved on my phone from that, so someday I'll get that done!

Our kids are getting older. Tonight, we sat on the bench at the park while they played. That means we finally feel comfortable enough to sit while Hannah plays and climbs (depending on the park). We're getting into a summer rhythm and re-acclimating to the heat!

Hannah is making us work hard to get her to say words. She communicates very well nonverbally so the use of actual words is rare (with the exception of our names, animal sounds, and words like "all done" and "nah" (no) -- you know, the essentials).

Ethan is really enjoying games. While we were in London, we met up with Austin's former nanny (she's from Ireland and lives there now) and she gave us a game called Snap which Ethan loves! We also play Memory, do puzzles, play Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. He loves having alone-time with mom and dad to do big-kid things like that, and he is so much fun to have conversations with!

We're partial, but we think they're both super smart and beautiful!

And, for a change of pace, most of these are Gifs. You're welcome!

xoxo,

Elizabeth

{Ethan}: Ethan Turns Three!

Ethan,

You amaze us. From writing your own name (with a lot of instruction from mom!), to accidentally doing math, we have really enjoyed this year. You learned numbers, letters, and colors, started to color with intention and string along better sentences. You've picked up on some attitude that came with turning three, which has us reading a few books. We can still reason with you most of the time, and you respond well to Daniel Tiger songs (thanks PBS).

We've loved being your parents these last three years and look forward to the year ahead!

Love you forever, like you for always,

Mom & Dad

{Hannah}: two weeks old!

I'll start this by saying that I will take any tips from mamas who successfully warded off the angry green monster when baby number two arrived. That sums up our last two days (since daddy went back to work). It was pretty manageable when daddy was around because he didn't necessarily have to wait for me to nurse Hannah and someone else could help redirect him.

Ethan needed lotion... Because Hannah was getting lotioned up.

He had grandma hold him the way she was holding Hannah.

Otherwise, Hannah and I are in a MUCH better place with breastfeeding (seriously, it felt like we had every problem in the book!). I finally got antibiotics on Sunday for flu-like symptoms caused by either mastitis or a blocked duct... That was the peak of my frustration, as I could hardly function with the fever/chills/aches. Thank the Lord for antibiotics. Seriously, I'm a new person! I share this not because I just love divulging this information, but primarily because I think people should know that breastfeeding is hard in the beginning, even if your baby seems to be doing it perfectly in the hospital (ha-ha!). I don't love everything about breastfeeding (am I allowed to say that?) and sometimes a bottle seems easier in more ways than one. But, I believe it's good for me and for Hannah... so we persist!

We also (finally) lost the umbilical cord yesterday! Hers was huge and curled over toward her stomach, I was glad to see it had disappeared!

We took a few pictures with our fancy camera, too (we took way more than this, I liked 3 of them).

And today, at two weeks:

Today, we are starting to work on establishing a schedule/rhythm for Hannah. She has an inconsistent routine already but I would like to be able to get out of the house every now and again, and Austin's Grammie is going to be with us for a few days starting today, so it seemed like a good day to (finally) start that. We are also hoping to make it out of the house this weekend so hint of a schedule would help with that.

The rest of our postpartum recovery time has gone really, really well, and we are happy to be at day 15! I go back to the doctor in 2 more weeks, and Hannah goes back at 2 months, so we won't have a weight/height update until after Christmas, though I'll be back again next week with her week 3 update!

xo,

Elizabeth