March Madness

No, I'm not a huge basketball fan, but our month has been absolutely full and crazy. We've enjoyed lots of visitors, including my sister Amy who came out alone for a weekend just to see all of us siblings in Utah. She did such a great job blogging about her visit that those who are interested can read about it here. (And I concur with all she said about the good book she read, having read it first myself.) The very next weekend Daniel flew out to West Lafayette, Indiana to check out the Purdue campus. He found out he was accepted there last month, on his birthday--the best gift ever. It was his number one choice so we were super excited. The Physics Graduate program held an open house for the newly admitted students and he was able to find out more about the research being done there, which appears to be right up his alley, as well as find out more about the community and search for some housing. Spencer was sick that whole weekend and now has an ear infection and has passed his cold on to me. Daniel is also fighting a nasty cold and feeling pretty swamped with schooling. Esther continues to be our one constant, as Daniel puts it, and is as calm and sweet as ever, though she was sneezing a bit this afternoon. Even though I got a 3 hour nap today--thank you Spencer and Esther--I'm still very ready for bed and don't even know if what I've written makes sense. Here are a few photos from the month:

Spencer feeling sick

My sweet niece Maddy's first birthday

Esther is now 2 months old!

Spencer taking a nap when he was sick--I tried moving him twice but he just went back to the chair and continued sleeping.


He took a second nap later that day on my bedroom floor:

Grandparents

Esther got a lot of love and attention from her visiting grandma and grandpas the weekend of her blessing. We look forward to being closer soon so she and the rest of us can see them a bit more often. Thanks again for coming!!!

Some beautiful flowers from Daniel's parents:



Spencer got a bit of attention too, and especially loved these magnets from Grandma.

Esther's Blessing

We were so glad to have family with us for Esther's blessing--thank you Grandma and Grandpa Jensen, Grandpa DeVocht, Neil and Emily for coming! Esther continues to be a content, happy baby and we are just so glad to have her in our home. (We'd of course love her just as much if she were more fussy, but it's awfully nice of her to be so good).

We are a happy family!

This is the same dress that I and all my sisters were blessed in.




"And what do you have to say about all of this, Esther?"

(For those who can't read lips, her response was simply "oh," meaning "Oh my, there are so many people who want to hold me and see me and I don't even have to do anything special. I think I like being a baby.")

Big Brother

Spencer has now switched from saying "baby sister" to "Esther" and is always very happy to play with her. It is fun to see him taking on this new role as a big brother, but when we try to call him that, he corrects us and says he's a small brother and Daddy is a big brother. He has started asking me to take a picture of them after he sits down with her in this chair and I can usually get one or two photos before he tries handing her back to me.

Here's Spencer at 1 week:

Esther at 1 month:
(that's about the ratio of how much faster time seems to be going with the second child)

Going in for a kiss.

"She's Kinda Cute"

Happy Birthday Daniel!!

We enjoyed celebrating Daniel's birthday together as a family on Friday, party hats and all. Here he is with his two greatest gifts sitting on his lap.



Esther is doing very well and still sleeping most of the time, even at night, so we don't actually catch her with her eyes open very much. We are really loving these newborn days and enjoy the sweet spirit she brings into our home. Time is already slipping by quickly, however, and Daniel and I agree that every time we look at Esther she seems bigger. Good thing for pictures and videos to help us remember these precious days.

Trying out some disco moves in her sleep.

10 Days Old

It's hard to believe Esther has only been with us for 10 days because it's already strange to think of what it was like without her here. She is such a sweet, content baby and we are just so happy to have her in our family. I'm feeling better than I expected but am still a bit sleep-deprived so I'm trying to keep my "to do" lists pretty short each day and just enjoy this time with my two cutie-pies.

The flash wasn't strong enough so it's not the best quality, but it's fun to see us as a family of four now.

I'm such a lucky mom.