I can't believe we are halfway through April already. I guess what they say is true-- time flies when you're having fun... Or also when you're just super, super busy!
Look at this sweet little thing! Jon said it best when he observed that she just gets cuter by the day. She has huge blue eyes and these soft, squishy cheeks! She'll be 3 months old next week. I hate how fast these little babies grow up.
She had her 2 month check up right after we got back from Spring Break. That meant 3 shots (plus the rotavirus one which is oral)-- and she was not a happy camper. But the good news was we got to see her stats, which were awesome! She weighed 11 lbs. 1 oz., which from her 2 week check-up weight of 6 lbs. 15 oz., means she'd packed on some nice, healthy weight. She really is a great eater.
We decided to get Miss Leah's hair trimmed even shorter, and she absolutely loves it. She actually likes going and getting it washed with nice, smelly shampoo at the salon, and she keeps asking if we like her "short cut." I think the shorter hair definitely fits her feisty personality.
Jon took her on a daddy-daughter date to get ice cream sundaes at McDonald's and she was so excited. She asked me the other day if her name was Leah, or Wee-Wees. I asked her what she thought it was, and she gave it a couple of seconds and said definitively, "Wee Wees!"
Sweet sisters! It is so fun for Leah to have a little sister home during the days with us. She still has 2 more years before kindergarten (which is only half-day here), so they have 3 long years ahead of bonding time. Elizabeth has become Leah's little doll, and to all of our very pleasant surprise, she has
never once been jealous or mean to the baby, at least that I can think of. She is super protective of her when Lucy and Zach get home and tells them it's "her baby."
Isn't she just so cute?? She is a hit wherever we go.
Being attacked cuddled by Zachy. Man, he loves this baby! I have to constantly tell him hands-off the baby because she gets mauled by all three siblings so often. I guess that's just the plight of the fourth child.
I've been doing little DIY projects to spruce up the house a bit. We tore down the old sliding blinds that were there-- they were old and brown and ugly, and replaced them with some curtains from IKEA. I LOVE how it completely changes the room! This isn't a great picture, but my favorite time of day is late afternoon when the sun is on that side of the house and the whole room just glows.
While Jon was gone in Chicago for his last implant course, I decided to paint the piano. I've wanted to ever since we bought it four years ago off of Craigslist. I figured if I messed up or hated the color we were only out $100 or so. We nicknamed it the "Battleship" because it's this cool old antique, enormous, dinged up monstrosity.
So, pretty much I spent all afternoon/evening on Saturday painting. It wasn't that hard actually-- in fact, the hardest part was just picking the color! Between shifts of baby duty, entertaining kids, feeding kids, and bedtime, I got it done. I LOVE it. It totally lightens up the room! It's amazing how much light that big, dark piano absorbed. Jon was completely surprised when he came home Sunday night because I hadn't said a word-- but he likes it too.
I started back up teaching since having the baby, and it's been going really well. They added a Friday morning class for me at 11 a.m., which (let's be honest) is kind of a crappy time, but I figure it's a start. I recently helped launch Body Pump 97 and it was so much fun to team teach!
The three instructors I teach with and sub for. The one in the middle is Australian and also hilarious. It's certainly not First Health, which I still really miss. The group exercise programs here are so small! But it's better than nothing, and I'm just glad I even have an opportunity to teach/workout so soon post-baby.
Well, on to the April Snow Showers part! We had been enjoying fabulous sunny weather since getting back from Boise-- but as most CO natives knew, it was too good to be true. Old Man Winter dies a slow, painful death up in these parts. We woke up Saturday morning to a huge blizzard.
This was once of four times Jon had to go out and shovel, just to keep up with it. Overall the Rockies got 4 feet of snow, and in Parker we got 2 feet. It was wet, heavy spring snow-- and was not kind to the trees and bushes. There are dead branches everywhere from all that extra weight! And to think, summer should be just around the corner. The ironic part (besides it being APRIL 16th!!!), was that this was our first free weekend since January. Between Jon working, Jon traveling to Chicago, Spring Break, and hosting various visitors, we have not had one weekend as a family to go do something fun together. You can imagine how excited we all were for Saturday!
We'd originally planned to drive down to Colorado Springs and see the Garden of the Gods, but due to the weather, that definitely was no longer an option! We settled on the Wildlife Experience in Parker. It was close, it was open, and the kids like it.
We even got tickets to the IMAX 3D movie "Prehistoric Planet" and had the entire theatre entirely to ourselves! The museum was also completely empty, so we had free-range of everything. Being from North Carolina, we wondered where are all of these hearty Coloradans hiding??
Elizabeth had fallen asleep in the car, so we stopped at the brand-new Freddy's by Target and got takeout for dinner. Not bad for a Plan B on a very snowy April weekend!
Sunday morning-- we woke to find our backyard COVERED in snow. It was up past Jon's knees when he went out to knock the snow off the trees. We live in Narnia for sure! At least church was reduced to just Sacrament meeting.
I had to show off this cute baby in her Sunday best though!
My view of bored kids during FHE, ha, ha. I think that secretly they really do like it...
Baby smiles and laughs are the BEST! Here's hoping Spring is really, truly here and Mr. Sunshine makes quick work of all that snow! Rumor has it that all this spring snow will make the wildflowers up in the mountains incredible this summer. And with all these showers we should definitely be getting some beautiful May flowers!
