2 Months ... WHAT?

I can't believe that Elsie has been a part of our lives for two whole months now!  It is ridiculous how fast time has gone.  Again, it feels like she has been here forever, yet it has gone so fast.  At about 6 weeks, she started sleeping from 10 pm until 6 am -- giving her mom and dad a much needed break in the sleep department!  Elsie loves to look around and watch what is going on around her, especially if her big brother is around.  She is becoming much more vocal cooing at whomever will listen to her.  

Since our last milestone post, I have had to go back to work and leave Jace and Els with a family friend.  Thank goodness school is over in 6 school days!  PHEW!  My favorite part of the day is when I get to pick up my little kiddos and I get one of those wide mouth uncontrolled grins -- when her eyes light up when she hears my voice.  It makes me secretly happy that sometimes I'm the only one that can calm her down -- that we have that special bond.  And even though it's looked upon as a "no no ... "  I enjoy snuggling in the middle of the night when she doesn't want to sleep alone.

We haven't had the chance to take many pictures and to do many fun things -- being a working mom of two is BUSY!  But here are some of the things we have done this last month: 

Elsie snuggling up with Grandma at Aunt Steph's and Uncle Trevor's wedding dinner.  (Please ignore my dad's face here!!  What does that look mean?)

 Chilling out with Dad at the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.  We went there in between the wedding and the reception.

 Ok ... PRETTY GIRL!!

 Can you tell that Jace is LOVING the museum?

 Jace often asks if he can snuggle with Elsie in the morning.  These two are awesome friends already!  As soon as he snuggled up he asked Joe to get the camera!  We're sure to have PLENTY of snap shots of these two snuggling.

 Elsie started playing with the rattles on her little chair.  It took awhile for us to realize that is what she was doing -- she has only done it once, I can't wait for her to do it again!

2 months old

A friend of mine took pictures of her little boy with the same stuffed animal as her baby got older -- to help see the growth that her baby was making.  I thought it was an awesome idea, so plan on seeing this little purple horse hanging around!  :)

Cousin Greyson

In the last year there has been a baby race to see which of the two Boucher babies would make their debut first.  Niki, David's wife (Bro #2) was surprised to learn that she was expecting another baby -- her only "baby" being 17 years old.  She has had many complications, and they didn't expect that Greyson would be able to stay in any longer than 32 weeks.  He didn't have much room to grow and he was very carefully monitored.  He was a good little boy though and waited to make his grand entrance until he was just over 36 weeks along.  Elsie was born on March 23rd and Greyson on April 12th.  When he was born, he weighed a whopping 5 lbs 2 oz.  We have been trying for a few weeks to get these two together -- because not only did we want to meet this little miracle, we wanted to see if our little girl looks like she weighs TWICE as much as her little cousin.

She does!

Jace doesn't have a cousin very close in age to him -- and Elsie is lucky to have TWO!  I can't wait to make multiple trips up to visit Dave, Niki, and her family -- and I hope that these two little babies grow close to each other!!!

 They were holding hands!

One Month Come and Gone

We were sitting at dinner last night and I suddenly realized that Elsie's one month birthday came -- and we missed it!  I can't believe that it has been one month already.  On one hand -- one month has come (and gone) SO FAST!  Was it really just one month ago that we were in the hospital?  On the other hand -- it feels like she has been in our lives forever.  You know, I was thinking about that the other day.  It probably feels like she has been in our family forever ... because she HAS!  We knew each other before we were born -- and were obviously very close there -- it makes sense that bringing her home feels more like a reunion than a first meeting.

Elsie is a GEM!  We had a rocky start ... but after turning to formula ... she is thriving!  She has gone from sleeping all day (she wasn't eating) to having spurts of being awake.  She enjoys going on walks with the family -- as we try to get out daily.  It is fun to watch her with Jace -- when they cuddle together, she is obviously quite content and he loves it to!  She only wakes up once per night now (If you don't count the 11:00 feeding) and goes back to sleep right after.  She is days away from cooing and smiling at us isn't far behind that.  I love to watch the faces she makes when she sleeps ... and I LOVE to listen to her chuck in her sleep.  It instantly makes me laugh.  

Here are a few (a FEW?) moments of our last month

My belly the morning of her birth -- it looks like I'm carrying twins because she was 10.5 lbs!!

Just after she was born -- being cleaned up!

Elsie and Dad  (Less than 2 hrs old)

Elsie and Mom (Just out of the OR)

Siblings meeting each other for the first time

Mom and Elsie READY TO COME HOME

We're on our way home!

Elsie at the Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Morning

Snuggling in Mom and Dad's bed (they look like siblings!!)

1 month old

2 Baskets

Easter this year was fun! It was so strange to fill 2 baskets -- and it is hard to fill a basket for a 2 week old!! In the end, both of our kids were very spoiled. Each got a new church outfit (even though Elsie didn't go to church), a book, a toy, and a movie. Plus my favorite Easter candies!!

Jace was awesome to share the eggs he found with Elsie. There were 20 eggs hidden and he would give to himself and be sure not to forget one for "his baby". AND he loved eating the starburst jelly beans that were inside. (I did too!)

Beautiful Little Girl!

It amazes me how much a baby can change in the first few months of their life! Little Elsie looks so different than she did in the hospital! Here are a few pictures of my baby for all to gawk over :) LOVE HER!

Easter Tradition bRoKeN

Every Easter weekend for ... years ... we have ventured down to Elsinore to spend time with Joe's family, then headed over to the Christiansen party in Kanosh. With a 2 week old baby and everything we had gone through with regards to her eating and gaining weight, we just couldn't make the trip. Instead though, we decided to hit up a local FREE egg hunt!

Well that morning didn't start off to a smooth start ... to say the least. I mean, we are still trying to figure out how to be a parent of two with very very little sleep! When it became more than clear that we would not be making the 10 o'clock egg hunt in South Jordan, Joe found a hunt in West Valley at 11:00. PERFECT! We'll go there.

Right before we were headed out the door I asked if Joe knew where we were going. He ran downstairs and came back with a bit of a smirk as he replied "At a Baptist Church".

A slightly different experience than I was expecting -- We did have a chance to win a chocolate covered cross! There was a great turn out, and everyone was very kind ... and Jace had a blast, so I guess that's all that matters! I did, however, feel an urge to go home and find Baptists at the Barbecue! Do I feel a sequel coming? Mormons at the Egg Hunt?

Pretty Elsie at her first Baptist function. hehe.

There were a few flaws in how the event was organized -- but again, Jace had a great time "finding" the eggs (that a man was dropping out of that big garbage sack in the picture above). It actually was quite fun to watch all of the toddlers follow the man with the sack around like little chicks!

(I'm still in shock that I have two kids, and that I can love them BOTH so much!! I am one proud mama!!)

Fun ... MEMORABLE ... afternoon! hehe

Loves to Love Her

There came a time last week that Joe needed to do something that required two hands -- I was unavailable to hold Elsie -- so Joe asked Jace if she could lay on his bed (he was THRILLED!!) Joe peeked his head in the bedroom and he saw this:

Jace cuddled up to Elsie in his bed

Joe decided to grab the camera -- how sweet to have my little boy snuggled up next to his little sister! Joe continued doing what he was doing -- and shortly he saw ...

Jace getting a little closer

Then Jace decided to share his blanket with Elsie

He takes such good care of her! He always wants to be by his little sister and love her!

Before Joe knew it ... they were sharing that little blanket!! Elsie didn't mind one bit -- she was very content to be up close and personal with her big brother.

I never had a big brother ... but if I did, I would want him to be just like Jace!!

"No, I'm not handsome!"

The other night Joe and I were watching the biggest loser. It was make-over week and the contestants were

revealing themselves to their families at the White House. Everyone looked phenomenal (including the hot trainers .... )

and I told Jace to look at the handsome guys on TV. Aren't they handsome? Jace responded with a yes but soon replied that he was NOT handsome. Joe and I told him several times how handsome he is (I mean ... I'm pretty sure I've got the cutest kids on the planet!) Jace looked at us with one sincere pout and replied: I'm NOT handsome! I not have a tie! He was quite upset that he wasn't wearing a tie and for the next ten minutes or so kept telling us that he needed a tie to be handsome and he wanted one! Finally Joe went and got him his tie. And BOY is he HANDSOME!!