Thank You.

I just wanted to put a shout out to Grandma and Grandpa Yoh.  Grandma retired from teaching earlier this year; she was hoping to spend more time with her grandkids among other things.  Well, with the way our life has been lately, her wish came true.  They have come down multiple times during the week to give me a little relief when Jeremy has been gone.  They came for a couple days a few weeks ago when the sitter was sick.  They came last week for three days to help out.  I don’t always post about it because I don’t usually have photos (although I am sure that they take plenty!).  I snapped a quick photo when they passed through this week.  So thank you, Grandma and Grandpa Yoh for all your time driving and playing!

FYI: I posted a few below this (a little out of order since this is really the oldest post).  Enjoy!

More Fountains

On Sunday after church, we loaded everyone up and headed to Easton Fountains.  I figured Madison enjoyed the ones at Polaris so much, why not go again.  Well, the Easton fountains well nice, are a little more surprising and difficult to run through than Polaris.  She still had fun, just had to change her playing techniques.  Ellie even got in on the action for about 5 seconds before crying.

             

                                             

We got out lunch from Piada, an Italian version of Chipotle with pasta bowls or piada wraps.  It was pretty good.  Madison enjoyed the chance to have a picnic.  She definitely didn’t care that spaghetti is the messiest picnic food. 

                       

Next fountain destination: Downtown.

Mercy Meander

This is the third annual bike trip organized by Mike, Jeremy’s former roommate.  The past two years it has been near Lancaster in the hills of Hocking Hills.  Those years, it was called “The Revenge".  Well, now he has a little girl, is in the middle of a move, and is getting older??  So, the location was changed to bike paths.  Jeremy decided to take Madison for a leg of it.  Mike decided to let him take his little girl in the trailer too.  So, Madison made a new friend, Sasha.  Jeremy said they did a great job until about the last mile when Sasha started crying.  This was to be expected considering it was her normal nap time.  Check out Madison with her new friend:

     

While we waited for everyone to get loaded up, Ellie woke up from her nap and lounged on the tables.

                

On a side note, we shattered our back car window while getting the trailer out of the trunk and bikes set up.  It was a freak accident experienced by at least 2 other people at that park at some point in their biking career.  Soooo  Jeremy was on the phone trying to set up a time for it to be fixed – no one is open on Memorial Day.  Instead, Ellie and I went with Mike’s mom back to our house to pick up our other car.  It made for a hectic morning, but things work out and life is still good.  I hope everyone enjoyed their extra day this weekend.  I know we did!

Ellie or Erin

My mom has had some fun looking back on some old photos of me and comparing them to Ellie.  It is surprising how much we look alike.  Here are a few of them:

     versus (and no I didn’t pose her like this)   

 

      versus    

           versus     

We are not identical, but it is a little crazy.  Thanks, Mom, for providing some comparision pictures.  We’ll see how much we continue to look alike.  I think I look like my dad, but there are a few pictures of my mom when she is little that she and I look almost exactly alike.  Maybe that will come in a later blog.  Hope everyone has a great weekend…. and enjoys the extra day we get!

Madison’s First Haircut

On Saturday, we went for Madison’ first haircut.  I got her dressed up for her special day and had prepped her for it for the past week.  Her hair was just getting a little wispy, and I thought I cut might help.  We went to Sweet and Sassy as recommended by friends of ours.  Madison did a great job.  She sat in the chair and laughed at the beginning, got a little spacey in the middle of it, and kept her head pretty still for the whole thing.  She received a compliment from the beautician.  The before and after is not drastic – not enough hair to be drastic – but she did get the back of the hair leveled out some.  Those little curls are still there.  I am thinking they could look super cute as they grow out.  Right now, although cute, they make it look a little disheveled at all times.

            

Afterward, she walked out like a model on their runway… a little shy, a little excited, and super proud!

My plan was to take her out for an ice cream treat or something special afterwards.  She found that “something special” on her own as we were leaving – The fountains at Polaris.  I almost said no – after all, I had no swimsuit, no swim diaper, no towel, no sunscreen, no extra clothes, nothing to prepare me for this.  But her enthusiasm won out, and I stripped her down to her diaper and let her run.  It was well worth it…

                    

                    

I dried her off with the little underwear covers that some dresses come with and slid her dress back over her head.  We headed to the bank to open a new account.  She loves the bank – a sucker on every visit, and she got a coloring book this time with crayons to keep her busy.  We got home, and she showed off her new (no longer styled) hair-do to her daddy and sister.  And wanted to snuggle her sister.  Ellie tolerated it briefly… even though she adores her big sister, she doesn’t adore being held by her.

Summer (?) Fun

It has been warm, so instead of going to the park I got out the little pool.  Madison had fun dipping in her little sprinkler can and watering the flowers.

            

Ellie hung out for awhile on the lounger and then I held her while she sat.  Madison gave her a spoon to play with… what a good big sister!

                                             

       

She also just sat and chilled while Madison kept playing.  It was a good way to spend the afternoon before supper. 

                

Be sure to check out the next few blogs.  I like splitting up the events, so there are some more posts below this.  Have a great week!

First Time for Food

Ellie tried rice cereal for the first time on Sunday.  She had a strange weekend of sleeping and eating, and we thought that maybe she just need a food boost.  She didn’t particularly like it (and she didn’t really like it tonight either).  It was worth a shot though.  I have no idea if I am supposed to keep trying the cereal or give up.  I may try it for about a week and see what happens.  Some pictures…

        

Birthday party

We went to a birthday party for a boy of a family that was in our small group before our small group ceased to be due to the number of kids and the craziness they brought.  His name was Owen, and he turned one.  The party was on Saturday night at our church’s playland.  It had a superhero theme, and it was a lot of fun.  Madison and I went, while Jeremy stayed home with Ellie; sometimes it is just easier to go sans baby.  Madison got to make a mask and run around in a homemade cape.  She also played on the little slide quite a bit.  She also went down the big, big slide.  The first time I don’t think she realized what she was getting into, but she did it!  The second time, I had to go up and rescue her because she was a little scared. 

                 

The kids had a blast.  Here is the birthday boy enjoying his cake.

        

Here is Madison enjoying her cake!

                    

4 Month Check up

I cannot believe that four months has passed since Ellie was born.  In some ways it seems like it was ages ago that I went into labor and had her.  It seems like I was never off school, but it was less than 5 weeks ago I went back.  In other ways, I can’t believe that four months has passed and my little baby is almost ready to eat rice cereal, is almost ready to roll over, is babbling non-stop (even in the middle of the night), is flashing her smile at everyone, and has had her first cold.  She has never been teeny tiny in size like Madison, but she was still a little baby – waking up many times a night, needing her head supported at every move, and not very responsive to interactions.  Her life has been a blur mixed in with all the other things that are going in, but I am still aware of how much she is changing.  Today I got a day with just her.  Her appointment was at 9am.  We learned that she is still on track weight, height, and head size.  She is healthy and growing and perfect.  Here are her stats:

• Weight: 12lbs 12.5oz at two months… 16lbs 0.5oz (3lbs 5oz weight gain) … 90%
• Length: 23.5in at two months… 27.5 in at four months (2 in growth) …90%
• Head: 16-1/4in at two months… 17-1/2 in at four months (1-1/4 in smarter)…95%

We played most of the day.  She had a short nap in the afternoon.  I brought down my full length mirror for her to look in.  My pictures aren’t what I hoped they would be, but here they are.

       

She is amazing.  I can’t wait to see how the next two months go – food, rolling over?, sitting up?, and so much more.  What a gift God has given us.