Easter 2012

We had our egg hunt at church the weekend before church. Will & Elle loved it and Patrick slept pretty much the whole time. Couldn't have planned it better :)

The big kids and I dyed eggs. They loved it.

Then on Easter day, we went to early mass (and actually arrived early!!). The Easter Bunny came while we were at church (magic, I know) and then we headed to mom's for the day. There was more egg hunting there and the Easter Bunny brought kites so they tried them out. Weather was great - kids were great - lovely day.

P in outfit #1. Blowout at church necessitated outfit #2 before going to Grandma's.

All about Elle

So, I'm behind on blogging - what's new? In an attempt to catch up a bit, I'm making this post all about Eleanor. She turned 3 last month and has become quite the social, independent, fun, sweet, smart, and antagonizing little lady. About what you'd expect for a 3 year old girl with 2 brothers, right? She has really blossomed at school the last few months. She's writing her name and many other letters quite well. She's singing, drawing, tracing, cutting with scissors - all kinds of fun things. Despite my best efforts, she has fully embraced princesses. She loves Tinkerbell. She prefers to have her nails painted, hair done, "lip glosh" on,  and jewelry with most outfits. While I, too, love to accessorize, she's 3! My challenge now is to fight against the princess mentality. So far, so good. She has a great imagination, is interested in her school work, loves to play outside and can hold her own with her big brother. In fact, she more often than not is the one instigating the trouble. She knows how to push buttons -- and her daddy's seem to be her favorite to push. A lot of her emotional breakdowns and perceived defiance are typical for 3 year olds exerting independence. It just drives her dad (ok, both of us) a little crazy sometimes.

 One of the greatest surprises to come with the addition of Patrick is how close Will & Ellie Kate have become. Much of it is because they are at school together now, but they play together so much more now and have a really good time. Just lately we've had to institute the "you may not touch each other for the rest of the night" rule due to some unsafe wrestling. But for the most part, they do really well together. And Ellie Kate has come to love her baby brother, too. She is the first to let us know if he's crying, wants to see and play with him, and can do spot on imitations of the sounds he makes. It's incredible, really.

a little after-school chat

Ellie Kate's 3rd birthday party was a great time. She loved getting to play with her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. She asked for "a princess cake". Thank goodness for Aunt Casie! She made this awesome cake and all of the princesses you see around it. Pretty amazing, huh?

And she was spoiled as usual.

Since her party was the weekend before, she got to open her present from us on her actual birthday. She LOVES her new doll house.

And the weather was so nice that we got to eat her birthday dinner (complete with neon-frosted cupcakes) out on the deck. FYI, we headed straight to the bathtub after dinner!

We love love love our little Ellie Kate!

Field trips

Will & Ellie Kate have had some awesome "in-school field trips" lately. The first was an amazing face painter. They begged to keep the paint on an extra day. Will cried the next morning when some of it had worn off. "It's all my fault! I turned on my side." Poor kid!

Next was a balloon artist. Will is a knight. Elle is a fairy.

Patrick - 1 month

At one month:
Patrick weighs 11 lbs. 4.5 oz (80%) and is 22 in. (64%).
He eats about every 3 hours, including overnight, but usually goes back to sleep easily.
Loves to lay on the changing table and look around.
Does great with tummy time.
Likes to be held facing out, no shoulder time for this one.
Is wearing lots of his 3 mo. clothes already.
Still reminds us of an old man - will be interested to see if his personality matches.
We love you, little man!

Newborn days

Clearly my blogging has suffered as a result of adding a family member. Honestly, I'm typing one-handed right now and this post will only be as long as P's nap, but I have lots of updates!
In general, I'm loving my time at home with Patrick. He's a good baby, except for a few of those eternally fussy days. He's eating about every 3-4 hours, occasionally has some snacky times that I try to break quickly. Nursing every 60-90 minutes does not make for a very happy mommy! I am currently on meds for mastitis - not fun, but we'll make it through.
The spring weather has been great for my mood as we've gotten out for walks several times. I'm anxious to be cleared to do more exercising, though not sure when I'll have time for that! Theoretically, there will be a sleeping and eating pattern emerge soon, right? The whole "sleep when the baby sleeps" thing has never worked for me. I value that time to shower or eat or start laundry. And honest;y, the sleep deprivation doesn't seem quite as bad this time. (I've probably just jinxed that.) W&E are still loving their brother. It's a celebration every day when I bring P with me to pick them up from school.. One of the most amazing, unexpected things that has happened since we had Patrick is how  close Will & Elle have become.  They play together a lot more know - it's very cute.
Some photos to remember these newborn days:

is there anything cuter?

unhappy, but still cute!

I think he looks like Will here

Introducing...

Patrick Marshall! (named after his grandmothers - my mom is Patricia. J's mom's maiden name is Marshall, which is also J's middle name)

Born February 15, 2012 at 8:07 a.m.

weighing 8lbs. 7 oz. and measuring 20 in. long.
He's absolutely wonderful! His chin is similar to Will & Elle's, but his nose is entirely different. In general I think he looks quite different than the other two did. I'll try to post pics to compare later. So far he's a great baby, even sleeping some!

Delivery and recovery went very smoothly - best of the 3 for me. The big kids are totally in love with their baby brother. Will especially adores him. He sings to him and wants to hold him and touch him all the time. Elle is a big helper and is sure to let us know anytime Patrick is crying :)
I'll post more as I get time; this announcement was just long overdue!