Snuggle

Don't you just want to snuggle him?

Brother & Sister

Brother & Sister meet for the first time

Eli checking out his big sister

She said that she was "making his toes dance."

Everyone has been asking us how Lily is adjusting to being a big sister. Well, I can honesty tell you that she has been wonderful! I am honestly amazed at how well she has adjusted and how sweet and loving she has been to her little brother.

We really didn't know what to expect from her when Eli was born. As much as we talked about it and tried to prepare her for it we still weren't sure how much she was really understanding. Joe's parents brought Lily to the hospital the afternoon that Eli was born and right away she understood that he was her little brother. She was only there for a minute or two before she asked to hold him (with a little help from Joe). And when it was time to go home she was sad that Eli couldn't go home with her that night (we thought this was a good sign)!

And since coming home from the hospital she has been really wonderful. She hasn't had any problems with all of the attention I need to give Eli. The first couple of days she did throw a bit of a fit every time Joe held him, but even that seems to have gotten better. And she really seems to love her little brother. She can often be heard saying, "He's so cute" or "He's so little" as she stares at him in his swing or car seat. I came into the kitchen this morning to find her very gently trying to give him his pacifier. And the other day she came home from grocery shopping with Joe to find me feeding Eli who was only dressed in his diaper. She asked me why I took his clothes off and I explained that he had pooped on his clothes. She thought about this for a few seconds and then left the room. A minute or two later she returned with a new set of clothes for Eli. She had gone upstairs in his room and picked out an outfit for him all on her own.

She is a really sweet, loving big sister (at least thus far) and I am so proud of her! I can only hope and pray that they grow up to love each other just as much as they grow older.

Those Eyes!

I finally got some pictures of Eli with his eyes open. It's not that he's asleep all the time (oh how I wish that was the case at 2a.m. last night) but it's just that my hands are the most free to grab the camera when he is asleep. I did manage to catch these pictures the other day while he was happily swinging in his swing. Aren't his eyes beautiful? I guess I would call them a very steely blue/grey- though at times they also look a bit brownish/greenish. If I were to guess I think he is going to have hazel eyes like Joe (I call it the mystery eye color since Joe's seems to change depending upon the day)! Either way I love staring into those beautiful eyes.

Thankful

I have much to be thankful for these days. There is something about having a baby right around Thanksgiving that really puts this in perspective. We are blessed beyond measure.

Not only are we blessed with all of the things that really matter but we have also been very blessed in tangible ways lately. There have been many family and friends going out of their way to take care of us (both before Eli's birth and now after). And there seems to be a non-stop delivery these days of goodies to our house in the form of flowers, gifts, and lots of hand-me-downs for little Eli! And so many people have also been thinking of Lily- bringing/sending little gifts. My sister-in-law (when they visited yesterday) even brought homemade sugar cookie dough and sprinkles so that we would have a fun little project to do with Lily. This is just one example of the thoughtfulness we have experienced from many around us. Another example is the picture of Eli above. As I looked at the picture I realized that everything in that photo has been given or lent to us. The little newborn cushion he is on is borrowed from my friend Amy. The blanket he is laying on was from our friends the Winslows. The knit blanket on top of him was knit by a women in one of the churches that supports our ministry. The outfit he was wearing was a hand-me-down from a friend. And I could go on and on...

So yes, this holiday season I am beyond thankful- for all the things that really matter like faith, family, friends, etc... but I am also thankful to all of you who have provided for our physical needs. While I haven't managed to get any thank you cards out yet (they will be coming)- please know how grateful we are and how loved you have made us feel!

Thanksgiving!

Above: Lily and Brenna "baking cookies"

Below: Eli and his Aunt Mary

Happy Thanksgiving (a day or two late)!!!
I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends!
We didn't really know how to plan for this Thanksgiving given that we weren't sure when we would be having a baby! One of the reasons I was so excited to be induced on Monday was that I knew I would be home by Thanksgiving- and I was (we actually came home the day after he was born- Tuesday). And Joe's family went WAY out of their way to make it a nice Thanksgiving for us. Joe's mom and dad cooked an entire Thanksgiving feast and brought it all the way up here for us! Can you imagine? Think about how much work it is to cook a holiday meal for 3 families and now imagine packing up the entire thing to drive two hours north!! We were also joined by Joe's brother and his family for the afternoon. It meant so much to me that they all made such an effort to be with us on Eli's first Thanksgiving!
Of course Eli was having a bit of a hard day nursing and I felt like I spent about 75% of the day upstairs in his room trying to calm him or get him to eat, but such is life with a newborn. I did get to enjoy the delicious meal and manage to watch a little bit of the Green Bay Packers game. The best part of the day though was watching Lily and her cousin Brenna play and laugh and just have the best time together. Lily likes to play with other friends, but there is nobody that she plays with like she plays with her cousin Brenna- it's like they have a special bond. Oh why can't they live closer?:)
The one thing that I didn't get to do on Thanksgiving was take very many pictures. To steal my friend Sarah's phrase, "I'm off my game." It's true- I've seriously slacked off in the picture taking department this week. And when I do manage to catch a few shots it's usually done quickly (thus not as good). Hopefully I'll remedy that this next week...we'll see.
Overall it was a great Thanksgiving because all day (even in the moments where I felt overwhelmed) I was reminded of how much I have to be thankful for- by looking around at our wonderful family who made such an effort to love us that day, or at Lily playing, or at my husband who was doing everything he could to help me, or at our precious newborn baby boy.

Happy Birthday To You...

Eli's Birthday Cake

Above: We let Lily blow out the candles in Eli's place

Below: Here is what Eli was doing while we celebrated his birthday!

I wanted to do a few fun things for Lily when Eli was born. One of the things I did was that I had Lily bring a present to Eli in the hospital (I don't have pictures, but it was a cute knit puppy stuffed animal). A few weeks ago she even helped me wrap it and she had been excited to give it to him ever since. Lily also recieved a present from Eli- it was a toy doctor's kit. I'm told that she had a blast the next day (while we were still in the hospital) pretending to be a doctor and a nurse. I believe she's already used the entire box of Curious George bandaids that I included with the kit!:)

I also had Lily and Nonnie (Joe's mom) make Eli a birthday cake while we were in the hospital. Lily really likes helping to bake and loves all things having to do with birthday cake (singing happy birthday, blowing out the candles, licking the candles, eating cake, etc...). So we did all of that to celebrate Eli's birthday! Lily and Nonnie baked and decorated the cake and the evening we came home from the hospital (just one day after he was born) we had dinner and celebrated with Eli's birthday cake!

Gobble Gobble

Here is Lily saying, "Gobble, Gobble" to her turkey! And yes, she is dressed in a poodle skirt costume!:)
Can you believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving?!!

Last week Lily and I did a little Thanksgiving project making handprint turkeys! We had a great time coloring and tracing each other's hands (to make the feathers).

Lily decided to name her turkey "Mouse" so I named mine "Cat."

It was a fun little project and we will keep our turkeys to use with Lily's puppet theatre.

We have lots more to post, but in the meantime I thought I would share about this little project!