Hair

We tried curlers in Ellie Kate's hair the other night. She showered in the middle of the afternoon after a t-ball game (i.e. playing in the dirt) so I decided we'd leave the curlers in for a couple hours until bed time. The smaller curlers definitely worked better. And, unfortunately, she has my hair. It only held the curl for about 30 minutes. Oh well. Cute while it lasted.

Before

I just think this is a beautiful picture of her.

after

 Then tonight was quite a different story with the hair. Pretend haircuts got a little too real.

It's like Clue: Mr. William with the scissors in the bathroom

The aftermath. I guess I should at least be thankful he did it over a trashcan.

She has an interesting "layer" on the side now, and a nice big chunk missing. Not sure how we're gonna make that look good. Maybe the bob cut will come soon...

Just one snip from his own bangs.

My sentiments exactly.

So, Will was the barber this evening and did much more work on his sister than on himself (he's no fool). Once he realized what a boo boo this was he asked me not to tell anyone. Fat chance - every parent deserves to re-tell stories like this. Ellie Kate was unfazed by all of this. She kept saying, "I'm a princess!" Chunky hair, but a princess nonetheless. Oh what a night.

Patrick's baptism

We had Patrick's baptism a couple weeks ago. It was a great time with family. He did an amazing job! All three babies getting baptized then were great. Not a single one cried! A lot of our family was able to join us and we were very thankful to have everyone there. Mass was on Saturday evening, followed by the baptism and then a little dinner get-together at our house. Unfortunately, my camera battery died after the ceremony, so I didn't get any pictures of the party afterward.

Several of our family members -- many others were taking photos for us.

Getting baptized! Patrick smiled around his pacifier :)

Patrick with Dad, Mom, Godmother Aunt Casie and Father Riley

Patrick - 3 months

No official stats, just a quick update. Since Patrick is nearing 4 months, I figured I should post his 3 month picture.

Still such a happy, happy boy. He started day care about a week before he turned 3 months and has been doing great. He smiles and coos and reacts so much more now. His hair is growing in on top and he has the bald strip across the back. He rolls to his side constantly! He can very nearly get to his tummy -- if only that  arm wasn't in the way! He is still eating great. He's sleeping reasonably well. We're getting a 5-6 hour stretch most nights. About once a week he throws in a rotten night, but overall he does well. He is eating 5-5.5 oz. every 3-4 hours during the day. He's definitely a growing boy! Oh - and his eyes are still blue! We'll see how long that lasts.

Is there anything cuter than a sleeping baby?

The boys

Things I miss about maternity leave

So you can probably tell by my lack of posts that I've returned to work. And there wasn't much "easing" back into it. We are preparing for orientations so I hit the ground running. I have lots to post about so it's going to take me awhile to catch up. But, here's the beginning: things I miss about maternity leave -- in no particular order.

• Figuring out our (Patrick's & my) routine -- or lack thereof
• Long fingernails
• Seeing my mom every week
• Running errands during the week - Target at 2 pm on a Tuesday is amazing!
• Mid-day trips to Starbucks
• Getting to go back to bed after a 4:45 a.m. feeding
• Yoga pants & KU t-shirts
• the Today show
• Not having to clean and sanitize pump equipment and bottles every day
• Knowing Patrick's every move and seemingly seeing every new development

All that said, I enjoy my work and am happy to be back among friends and inspiring students. Just wish I had more time to blog :)

Patrick - 2 months

such a happy guy!

Patrick is 2 months old and so big!
Wt: 13 lbs. 11.7 oz (87%)
Ht: 23.7 in (75%)
HC: ? (81%)
He's a healthy, big boy! He did great with his 2 mo. vaccinations. Was a little fussier than usual for about a day, but then was back to himself.
He's much more responsive - smiles and coos when we talk to him. It's the best! He had his first trips to Topeka and Lawrence this month and did really well with both. We've gotten into a pretty good feeding routine. I'm finally feeling better, so that helps. He's spreading the feedings out a bit and has even given us 5 hour stretches at night on a couple occasions - yippee! He's lost a lot of his hair up front and it has grown back in with new fuzz. His eyes are still blue...we'll see how long that lasts. He's wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes now - thank goodness for hand-me-downs! We are loving our time together!

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!