Race Car and New Play Set

Our neighbors, since their daughters had outgrown it, gave us their gigantic swing set. I thought it was going to take an army of strong men to move the thing. But, Howard arrived Friday evening with one of the large towers attached to a lawn tractor having put wheels on the tower. There is a photo of the scene. I video taped it, too, it was so comical. On Saturday, the rest of the play set made it into our yard. The kids in the neighborhood helped bring all the pieces down and also helped swing on the swings. Joshua is so excited. Sunday morning he didn't even want breakfast. He just wanted to go and play. So, we did.





Jason's new Mini Cooper S arrived on Saturday as well. Now we are all set for the mini meet in July. He just needs his helmet so he can do the auto cross.

Mira is on a smiling kick. She'll smile at anyone that talks to her and she loves to be talked to. She'll through an oooh or ah in periodically, too. Yesterday she started really reaching for her toys while sitting in her swing. Today she reached up and touched my face while I was talking to her.

Videos

We have some videos up now. You can access them through the links to the right, "Family Videos".

Mira is smiling now, a lot. She 'talks' to you and is starting to hold on to items placed in her hands. She was already grabbing Nettie's hair and my necklace and holding on tight! The other day she even laughed in her sleep :-) So cute.

Joshua is getting a new swing set tomorrow. Our neighbors, whose girls have both outgrown the set they have, are giving their old one to us. We can wait!

Happy Easter

Joshua loved Easter! With all that candy, what's not to love! We tried to talk about the meaning of Easter but all Joshua heard was, 'The Easter Bunny brings candy.' We did have a fun time. We dyed eggs on Saturday and colored Easter pictures. He used his new 'cutters' aka scissors from Aunt Jill and Aunt Tara to cut out the pictures we were coloring. On Sunday, we had an Easter egg hunt at home when we woke up. The Easter bunny brought Joshua a new foam airplane that was huge! We went to church at my mom's and they had an egg hunt there, too. After church, Jason and the kids played in the field behind my parent's house throwing the airplane around. Then it was time for Easter dinner, naps and MORE play. Joshua got his exercise that day.

Aunt Beth and Uncle Ray came out to visit this week, too. We were so happy to see them. Joshua was asking when Uncle Ray was coming all morning on Tuessday before they arrived. He called Aunt Beth, "Memaw" even though he knew there was something different.

Yesterday, I took the little ones out to my parent's library for storytime with Stephanie. It is so nice to see Josh and Stephanie playing together now.

Mira is smiling now and really playing attention to what is gong on. She likes to be up where she can see the action. This morning she was batting at the toys hanging down from her play mat. With all her chubs she is quickly out growing her 0-3 month clothing. I think she weighs 11-12 lbs now but I don't know for sure. Her next dr appt isn't for a few weeks but she will see the specialist about her hand in the mean time. We saw the OB who delivered her for my 6 wk checkup today and she got a kick out of how chubby my little girl is. Looks like Mama's milk is working!

Milestones

Today, Mira had two firsts! She found her hand to suck on this evening and then tonight she SMILED! I am sure it was for real. She was looking at a little bear dangling from her bouncy seat and she gave a big grin, then did it again :-) Too bad my camera was downstairs. But I guess there will be lots of smiles ahead.

Last Thursday, we had a visit from Aunt Jo. Mira loves the Peter Rabbit soft book that Aunt Jo brought and will stare at the pages for a long time. She likes you to turn the pages periodically so she can see what comes next :-)

On Sunday, she went to church for the first time. Another baby that was born just 3 days before Mira was also in church for the first time. It was fun to see them together. Miss Mira definitely had Piper beat in the chubs department!

Monday, Aunt Jill and Aunt Tara arrived for a visit. They were at our house 'til today and then Mira, Joshua and I followed them out to Mom's for the day. Stephanie and Noella were home from the sitter's and we took all the kids to a local Nature center. Josh and Stephanie loved all the critters: turtles, snakes, frogs, fish and birds that they could see live and up close. The kids even got to pet a rabbit. It was a lot of fun.

Frisbee

Jason, while out shopping the other day, picked up a frisbee to play with. Joshua love s it! He and Jason have been out every evening tossing it back and forth. To our amazement, Joshua is very good at frisbee. His throwing is great and he can pretty much get it to Jason. He almost caught it tonight, too. We also introduced him to bubble baths. You can see his first bath below. He loves it and looks forward to bath time even more now.



Mira is starting to get out a few 'ooo's along with her grunts and squeaks. She intently stares at toys and faces now and grasps hair, shirts, necklaces or whatever she can find to hold on to.

Alert Time

Mira is having more and more time alert during the day. She likes looking at her toys, being carried around the house and listening to her 'sleep sheep' when she is awake. Joshua has been interacting with Mira more, too. He gives her kisses and touches her. He has to know where she is at all times as well. I asked him what his baby doll's name was and he said, 'Mira Jean' so I guess she already has a name-sake.

Mira had lots of visitors yesterday. My friend Jessica and her boyfriend, Chris, came up to see us and brought a delicious lunch. Then Ron, Christine, Yanna and Val came over in the late afternoon and brought dinner. It was a yummy day :-)

Just the three of us

Joshua, Mira and I have been surviving without Daddy home for the past couple of days. Today we will attempt story time. Thank goodness Mira likes to sleep! I still have time to play with Joshua throughout the day and he has been good about the time I need to spend tending to Mira. We try a good outside to run around for a while each day. I am glad that spring is coming. I don't think I can handle being couped up much longer. The crocuses are peaking through, one has started to bloom and the temperatures have been in the 40's instead of the 20's.

2 week check up

Mira saw the dr today for her 2 week check up. She weighed 10 pounds :-) Taking after her brother and gaining a pound a week. Joshua kept it up for 5 weeks from birth. We'll see how long little Mira sustains her trend :-) The dr was impressed with how she held her head up and tracked faces. She is very strong.

We also had a great visit from Grandma and Papa this past weekend. I'll post photos once we get them downloaded. Joshua was sad to see them leave this morning. He liked the way Papa read books and played games and he liked how Grandma pushed him in the stroller and played puzzles. Mira snuggled with Grandma most of the weekend and was quite content to be held and sleep the entire time.