Heidi's Future BFF

 This little cutie came over on Friday....she came home with her parents right around when Heidi was born so I haven't had much of a chance to bond with her myself, but we'll get there eventually.  I know quite a few of you blog readers are thrilled to see pictures of baby Emma so here you go (I keep telling Emma's parents she needs her own blog, we'll see if they ever get one rolling!).  Emma's Mom & I sure hope our girls can grow to be friends just like the two of us are.  Because really, Natalie (Emma's Mom) is one of the best gifts God has given me!

Too Much Fun

 Before Heidi was born I was pretty sure she was going to be a boy.  At the time we didn't really have a preference for a boy or a girl.  But now that Heidi is here I love having a second girl.  For a lot of reasons, not the least of which is coordinating clothes!

 I sure love these two - and they seem pretty fond of each other, too! 

Daddy Time

 Heidi loves hanging out with her Daddy!

 And Allison is certainly not to be left out of Daddy time & pictures.....

 So Mark had the brilliant idea of asking her for a foot massage.  Now, why can't I ever think to re-direct her like that?!?!

3 Months Going on 30....

 Heidi is showing great taste already...sporting fancy red shoes and reading Jane Austen...can't really get more sophisticated than that at 3 months now can you?

In all (sort of) seriousness - the shoes are all-time favorites of mine, a gift from my friend Melissa, who has impeccable taste and has claimed dibs on them should she ever have a girl.  And the book, well, my cousin's daughter was pictured on Facebook holding the same book some time ago.  I thought it was fabulous and happened to find the book back in September at the Portland Art Museum.  I bought it.  I figured even if our baby was a boy I could give it away.  And I have to admit, it was one of the most exciting elements of having a girl - getting to keep & use that book!

Writing

 You may not be able to tell but the paper above actually says 'Brittney.'  Allison wrote it for Auntie Brittney on the back of the picture she colored for her birthday.  (Note to Auntie Brittney: She didn't finish coloring it, when I asked her if she wanted to she replied 'I'll finish it in Alaska!').  This was Allison's first attempt at writing while I spelled a word for her.  I only had to show her one letter ('Y') and I was really impressed with how well she did! 

A Spring Hike

 Allison loves taking walks in the woods so we're trying to get some hiking adventures in this spring.  We're starting with some easy 'hikes' (it may be a stretch to call this a hike!) and then we have plans for later in the summer & fall for some bigger hikes with Allison. 

 Last Sunday we 'hiked' the Woodlands trail in Peavey Arboretum.  Allison & Mark had to stop and read each sign that we found.  I think Allison was the most animated about the sign that had a skunk on it!

 And she loved reviewing the map!

 And I'm hoping to track down a field guide for wildflowers in Oregon so I can figure out what the flowers are that we see.  Allison loves seeing the flowers and was disappointed that we couldn't pick them.  She was really good about staying on the trail, too, Mark gave her a stern warning about poison oak in this area.

 I am pretty sure this is a wild Iris - at least I know that much.  And I can spot the poison oak!  Well, at least I think I can.

Three Months

 Our little Heidi-Bug is 3 Months Old! 

 She is generally easy-going but plenty expressive when she wants to be.  She smiles easily but also will 'yell' when she is unhappy.  I don't really remember Allison 'yelling' she just seemed rather pathetic when she was upset.

 We don't have a doctor appointment for 3 months so I don't know exactly how big Heidi is but she seems to keep growing and growing (and she's finally growing into her cheeks!).  Here are a few details of Heidi at this age:
Nickname:  I picked up the habit of calling her 'Heidi-bug' some time ago, but it has since been shortened to just 'bug.'  Mark found it pretty confusing until I explained I think it is kind of a spin on 'Lady Bug.'
Sleeping:  Heidi is great at going down for naps, they just aren't the longest naps in the world.  She usually has one 2 hour nap a day, the rest are 1-1.5 hrs.  At night - well she is a champ!  She goes down at 7 pm and gets fed somewhere between 2:30-4:30 and then keeps sleeping until 7 or later most mornings.  I've had to start waking her up in the morning so we can get going to work and that is painful!  There is nothing worse than waking a sleeping baby.
Eating:  Heidi has been getting a bottle regularly since I've been working and she takes it okay - the first bottle of the day is generally not her favorite but she eats pretty well in the afternoon.
Activities:  Heidi still loves tummy time.  And she has successfully rolled herself over 4 times or so.  I don't think she realizes what is happening when she does it.  She also loves to hang out on her changing table and look at her shelves.  Especially when she doesn't have any clothing on, it cheers her up no matter what sort of mood she is in.  Heidi also really enjoys her bouncy seat and play gym with animals - she sits and has very exciting conversations with her 'friends' - there is nothing like seeing her light up at her toy owl!
Social Life:  After two days Heidi seems to enjoy daycare.  She is cheerful there and likes to see all the other kiddos.  She sleeps easily and eats relatively well.  She comes home very tired and sleeps great for us.  We're thankful she has such a wonderful place to go during the day.  And Allison loves having her there, too, since she occasionally gets to come in her room.  Allison also asks all the teachers if they've seen her baby sister yet.  She is quite the proud big sister.

We are so thankful for our little Heidi-bug and can't imagine life without her!

Hi-ho Hi-ho Its Off to Work....

Well, Heidi turns 3-months-old this week and to celebrate I'm headed back to work full-time!  I'll miss the time at home but I think we are all ready for the routine to settle in.  Bags are packed and plans are made....hopefully we'll all make it through the week smoothly.  Allison is very excited to have Heidi at 'school' with her and Heidi has enjoyed her infant room every time we've visited.  I'll post more pictures and a 3-month update on Heidi soon!  She is growing like a weed to say the least...

Sewing Adventures

Allison has hit a new stage in development.  She is at a point where she is (very) hard on clothing.  As a result I have quite the mending pile that I can't seem to ever get on top of.  Dress straps that are starting to come out....princess dresses in all sorts of states of disrepair (you can't expect too much from Target dress-up clothes I suppose)....leggings with holes where she fell....and jeans with holes being worn in the knees.  I decided to try to patch these jeans, Allison loved the heart shaped patches.  The patches worked well for about three wears and then she tripped and fell and one of the patches ripped off again.  I'll probably try to keep these functional through the summer but next year we're opting for a pair of jeans with reinforced knees!  I suppose I should be glad she is so active and that I have so many opportunities to expand my sewing skills.

Reading Lessons

 Our girls recently received packages from our Alaska friends, the Ellers.  Allison was given a book and according to the card she was to read it to Heidi.  She took the card to heart and decided to 'read' it to Heidi that very day.  Heidi was very fascinated by the story as you can tell.  We are glad Allison enjoys helping Heidi as much as she does.  Thanks for the fun book and reading opportunity, Ellers!

Working Girl

Allison doesn't have much experience with 'computers' or other electronics, she doesn't have any kid electronics and she doesn't use our phones other than to look at pictures of herself.  Apparently she still knows what they are, recently I found her sitting in her 'office' working at her 'computer' very intently.  I love that she had turned a Lego plate into a keyboard and was using a toy cash register for a monitor.  She was telling me all sorts of words she was typing.  We are really enjoying her imagination at this age!

Brought to You by the Letter 'I'

 Igloo!  She actually made an igloo out of marshmallows and didn't eat very many!  We also watched the Curious George episode where he builds an igloo.

And.....Inch worm!!

 

Her letter 'I' - I couldn't think of anything fancy to decorate it with so she used 'ice' (snowflake stickers) we got in the mail for something.

A Year Older

 We celebrated Mark's birthday this past week.  Allison was so excited for his birthday.  We had planned to go out to eat and get dessert at one of our favorite restaurants but when I realized Allison was looking forward to cake we needed to make one.  I made a gluten-free Strawberry Upside Down cake and it turned out to be pretty tasty.

 Allison insisted we use every candle I could find, including the number '1' candle.  She also bought a present for Mark with her very own money from the local lumber store, a pair of work gloves.  She had the guys at the lumber store well entertained walking in with her green purse, picking out gloves and buying them herself.  She was given a balloon and they even printed up a full page invoice for her.

We are all very thankful to have Mark around, he takes good care of us.  Life would not be the same without him!  We had a great time celebrating him & his birthday!

Little Sprouts April 2013

 I took Allison to her 'Little Sprouts' Gardening club again today where we learned about critters that live in our area.  Some are helpful to gardens and some aren't.  Allison impressed me with her bravery, she pet most of the critters that were shown including the snake.  She came home with a real snake skin which she thinks if fabulous (her mother does not!) and an envelope full of lady bugs.  For all her bravery in petting snakes she acted terrified of the lady bugs and refused to touch them or pick up the envelope.  Although she did chase them all around the garden once we released them.

And to wrap it all up we made Oreo frogs for dessert at lunchtime.  We really enjoy going to gardening club each month.  Hopefully we'll have an update on our own garden soon.

The Inagural Ride

 We know you can't force kids to like things but we sure hope Allison learns to enjoy bike riding.  We decided we needed to figure out something for her to ride this summer when we do family rides as Heidi will be taking over the bike trailer.  After much deliberation we decided on the lightest & most stable tag-along we could find on the market - because I'm the one who is going to be pulling it!  Mark & Allison took it out for her first ride tonight.  So far Allison likes it & riding bikes.  Which we figure is a good thing considering she is a 3-year-old with three bikes to her name - Yikes!

Allison's Bird Feeder

 Most Saturday mornings Mark & Allison take a trip to Home Depot together...either Mark has work stuff to do or needs to pick up things for a project.  They often stop for donuts even though Mark can't eat them anymore (we're pretty sure Allison will associate Home Depot with donuts when she grows up).  The best Saturdays are the 'Project Days' where they have free projects for the kids to do.  I'm pretty sure Mark ends up doing most of the work for the projects but they both have a great time.  This past Saturday Allison came home with a bird feeder which is now hanging in one of our trees, as far as we can tell the birds love it.

2013 Tulip Fest

 We made it to the Woodburn Tulip Festival on a beautiful spring day!  The weather had been dry leading up to our trip, the tulip fields were full of color, the weather was not too hot and not too cold, the lines were short....all this to say it was the perfect day to visit the tulip farm!

 I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked, it is a little tricky when I have Heidi strapped to me!  Thankfully Jodi & Bekah were along so Jodi took some pictures for me which I have stolen off of Facebook (thanks Jodi!!).

 The girls had the cow train all to themselves!  They were also pretty excited to try out a bouncy house and they surprised us both by going down the big red roller slide.  These two are not known for their adventuresome spirits so going up and down the big slide by themselves was pretty impressive. 

We had a great day with friends and were so thankful Bekah could spend her last day of spring break with us!  Allison loves both Bekah & Jodi and that made the trip with my two girls very easy on me.  We can't wait until next year!