cloudy day!

It was a cloudy, cold, rainy day!  I'm ready for spring and a little time outside.  Gracie has been awake a little more this afternoon, it's fun to watch her start to look around and make little noises.  Maggie kept trying to give her a pacifier and she asked several times why grace was awake.  I suppose she's gotten used to her sleeping all the time. 


Gracie is SICK of the cold weather, she's ready to go out without bundling up!

 Maggie decided to let Gracie play with HER pink bear this afternoon, and she helped me take this picture.  The first picture is Gracie today, the second is Maggie at about a month old.... I think Maggie was about 6 lbs in this picture, so Gracie has a couple on her.


Gracie

 

Maggie

Our wonderful neighbors brought us dinner tonight.  It was so sweet of them, and truly appreciated by us.  I think Maggie has forgotten what it's like to sit down and have supper!  I'm again reminded of how blessed we are to be surrounded by such wonderful people. 

Today at school Maggie got to watch a baby chick "crack out" she thought it was really cool and was very excited to show me the chick when I picked her up.  She said he cracked out alot faster then baby Gracie...lucky duck!!  :)

Since it's been rainy and cold today Maggie keeps going to the window and checking the weather, she's commented several times that there are "no ice balls yet."  We have all kinds of damage to repair from last weeks hail storm, but I guess if it were up to her, we'd have another. 


Maggie was teaching Tater how to play with the duck mobile that Papa made for her.



Maggie walked in the kitchen and saw Gracie and said "Well Hello Bright Eyes!"



2 weeks old...

The last 2 weeks are a blur, we've stayed busy, but still I can't believe Grace is 2 weeks old already!

Yesterday Arnie picked Maggie up at school and she was bouncing off the walls....he said "Maggie, you're a character" and she quickly replied with "No dad, first I'm going to be a teenager, then a doctor, then a photographer, and then I can be a character."  She never misses a beat! 

Maggie had gymnastics tonight, she's still not driving herself :), but she does love it.  She would swing from this bar the whole class if her teacher would let her.

 

Gracie Tate, 2 weeks old!!

BATH TIME!

Last night Maggie was SO excited to share her bath with her sister....and I appreciated the ability to get them both clean at once! 

Maggie was trying to teach Grace how to roll over.

Serious conversation...



All clean!



Back to the studio we go....

Pretty in pink.



This picture was a family affair. My Uncle Jeff cut the tree down, my dad cleaned the stump up and hollowed it out, my mother-in-law, Betti, made the green blanket and Arnie helped me take the picture.  Thanks to all!!



Tiny golfer.



LOVE!



I hate getting behind...

I hate when there are a few busy days and I don't take the time to record what's going on.  We've had a busy and fun last few days, but I already seem to be forgetting the particulars....

The girls have had a weekend of family and attention.  Thursday Miss Gracie went for her first visit to Norfolk Iron.  Daddy took her on a little tour and she met lots of nice people.  She'll have to stay out of the warehouse for awhile because we just couldn't keep her hardhat on :)

On Friday Maggie and Grace and I made our first trip to Omaha, just the 3 of us.  Everyone did great.  Gracie slept, Maggie ate a little picnic lunch and watched Mickey Mouse (still no nap!).

Saturday was shower day at our house, we had a baby shower in Omaha in the morning and a couples shower in Norfolk in the evening.  Maggie was really excited about the sparkly sandals she got to wear to the baby shower and she had lots of fun.  We can't wait for Ben and Jessie's baby boy to join the family. This line of cousins will just keep growing.... (but the girls will still out number the boys!!)

Saturday afternoon we drove back to Norfolk for a couples shower for Evan & Amy.  The shower was great fun on its own, but the show that Mother Nature provided was unbelievable.  We had the largest hail I've ever seen, it was easily as big as my fist.  Needless to say we (and everyone around us) spent Sunday assessing the damage and deciding what needs to be fixed first.  I haven't taken any pictures of the damage, but Maggie's slide has a hole right through it, our gutters look like they spent the afternoon in the middle of a baseball field and there are several holes in the roof of the shed.  Our poor babysitter's windshield shattered right in our driveway.

Lots of Arnie's family and Aunt Amy and her family were here for the weekend.  We had a great time playing and catching up. Again, I didn't get the camera out as much as usual, so I'll have to see if I can gather some photos that other people took.  It was so fun to get to know Amy's family, we adore her and can't wait for her to join this crazy family.  It's also fun to watch Cooper and Ella grow and Maggie loves that she can interact with them more and more, I think she's amazed that her sister can't "play" with her yet, she is almost 2 weeks old you know, so it's fun to see her cousins smile and react to her.




Thanks for making me a hat Aunt Soni, my head is nice and warm!




All of this family time wore Gracie out!




Aunt Amy was a good sport, the rest of us were relaxing.




Maggie came up from the basement like this, then tried to put a spell on Uncle Evan.

What a hectic few days, but so fun to share them with so many different people we love.  I'm so grateful that our girls have so many people in their lives who love and care for them.  We are truly blessed!

I'm afraid we might not have a napper anymore...

...I mean Maggie, not Gracie.  Grace is still sleeping constantly, but the last 2 days Maggie hasn't napped.  Not for lack of trying, both days she's watched her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then laid down, and both days when I've checked on her, she's been laying awake....yesterday after an hour she said "Mommy, I'm just not tired today."  We'll see...I'm not ready for her to quit napping, but like most things with Maggie, I'm sure she'll do it on her time not mine.

Maggie and I took Grace to the doctor today.  Maggie told Dr. Gebhardt to "knock it off" when he made Grace cry...already looking out for her baby sister.  Gracie weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz., a few more ounces to get back to her birth weight, but she's on her way.  She's tall & skinny, just like her sister, 90th percentile for height and 55th percentile for weight.  Otherwise he said she looks good.  She's still eating like a champ and last night she slept about 5 and a half hours.  I hope she keeps it up, I could get used to this.

Maggie had gymnastics tonight, she LOVES it.  Tonight I was sitting out in the hall and overheard this conversation:
Teacher- "Maggie do you know your colors?"
Maggie- "Yes and I'm good at shapes and numbers too."

Gracie and I spent a little more time in the studio today, she's proving to be one of my more difficult subjects...we only get through a couple of set-ups and then she decides she'd rather stay awake and play.

I'm not sure if she's feeding her or teasing her :)

Maggie was determined to help daddy with the rocks.  It's going to take
a LONG time moving them 2 at a time.

Rain boots are the new style.

Maggie used to sleep with her arms straight up just like this.



I think they were both thinking the same thing "What in the heck is that thing??"



Gracie Tate....day 6....

I took Gracie out to the studio this morning, we only got a few pictures.  We didn't have too much time and she was in the mood to stay awake and play with me.  Good news is, we can try again.  Tomorrow we'll go back out....I have high hopes.  (and about a million set-ups spread all over the studio waiting for her).

We had our first outing today, just me and both girls.  After school we went to the mall for lunch and then picked up a few things we needed.  I'm thankful for the wonderful double stroller we found, but once again I have to report the trip was fairly uneventful.  The biggest hassle was that every few minutes Maggie wanted to hop out of her seat so she could walk around and check on "her baby" :)

The other notable change at our house is all of the sudden Maggie has started calling her sister "Gracie"...until yesterday it was definitely "Tater" but she may be changing her mind....we'll see.