Christmas in Philly

(My apologies that in Ben's 1st appearance on the blog, he is wearing a wig.)

Stats

The morning of our drive to Philadelphia for Christmas, we took both girls to the doctor for well checks.  Both girls are healthy and around 70-85th percentiles for height & weight.  Emily got to have the nasal spray version of the flu shot and thus avoid a "poke".  :)  Adara was a trooper after her shots, and both girls did incredibly well on the 9 hour journey to PA.  (Christmas photo/video coming soon!)

Emily (at 2 1/2) is 37.5" tall and just over 30 lbs.  She seems to be about average at most of the physical milestones they check for, and still way beyond the verbal ones.

Adara (at almost 11 weeks) was 23.5" and just over 13 lbs.  I think she'll be moving into 3-6 mo clothes very soon, especially now that she's kicked the yeast infection diaper rash and can be in cloth diapers.  :)

Early Christmases

We did a little early Christmas celebration with my parents and Nick on Saturday afternoon.  It was so much fun to have everyone here!  I was too busy enjoying the happy chaos to take many pictures, but here's one of Emily in her new dress from GG Tavilla and rocking chair from Great Granny Ware's house.

This afternoon, I told Emily that we were going to do a little Christmas celebration "just our family."  When I asked her who that would be, she started listing grandparents & aunts -I love that she has that broad a concept of family.  I think her favorite gift was this monkey costume I stumbled upon on Craigslist.

And tomorrow morning we head to Philadelphia for "real" Christmas with the Groves!  :)

Smiley Adara

She is one happy baby.

Nativity

We've been reading a little Advent book and talking to Emily about the Christmas story. Lately she's taken to assigning parts. Usually Daddy is Joseph, Emily is Mary and Adara is baby Jesus. If Adara isn't around, her stuffed monkey is Jesus instead. This morning she arranged all of her stuffed animals to eat out of the "manger". ("Baby Jesus" is learning to grab toys!)

Emily is also very excited to be one of the angels in our church's little Christmas program. Our church is full of young families, and there are about 50 children (mostly aged about 2-7) involved...we'll have Mary, Joseph, some animals, and about 15 each of shepherds and angles. It's pretty funny, and very sweet.

Charlie Brown

Adara is two months old!

Our Christmas tree might not be the most beautiful you've ever seen, but we had fun cutting it down in our field. :) Emily loves the ornaments, and Adara loves the lights.

Adara Meets Great Grampy T

I forgot to mention the other important thing that happened over Thanksgiving - I was able to bring Adara in to meet my grandfather. My Grampy has always been such a strong man, it's hard to see him so weak. He went into the hospital a couple of days before Adara was born, so I hadn't been able to visit him yet. Very special to see how happy he was to meet his 6th great grandchild. (#7 - Abigail Claire was born today to my cousin Kristin!)

Thankful

I am sure I've said this 100 times here, but we are so thankful for the families God has given us. We spent Thanksgiving with my family in MA. It was the first time Emily & Rosalie shared a room and the first time they really played together, rather than side by side or taking each other's toys. It was so much fun to watch them (and not watch them, since they entertained each other so well, we could spend a little more time with the grown ups!). My nephew Daniel has started walking and talking since we last saw them three months ago, and he is so.stinking.cute. His new word of the weekend was "pie!". Adara was her usual sweet self. We did Thanksgiving dinner with "just us" and then Friday was our traditional day-after Thanksgiving soccer game, followed by the pulled-pork dinner with all the family, which at this point is a fair number of cousins on both sides. I actually think the day-after is my favorite part of Thanksgiving! And, because Adara was asleep & Emily was off playing with Rosalie, Alasdair & I were able to talk & play games with my cousins.

Sister time

We've started putting Adara in Emily's room for naps and the first part of the night. Emily loves having her sister share her room and has been doing a great job going to bed quietly. I'm a little concerned about her climbing into the crib and hurting Adara... but when supervised, aren't they cute?

Adara was finishing up her nap after our walk the other day, and Emily decided to help her wake up by reading to her.

Cow sweatshirt

Adara - 6 weeks

I love this little sweater! It doesn't seem like all that long ago that Emily was wearing it!

Emily - 7(?) weeks

Moose Mountain

(Becky was with us too - she's taking the picture.)

One of my very favorite things about living where we do is that we are about 1/2 mile away from the Appalachian Trail. How many places can you live where you can sneak in a hike up a mountain in between baby's feedings?? The Saturday before last we met up with some friends from our small group and went up Moose Mountain. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground when we started, and it was a picture perfect November day. Our expectations were low, but we did make it to the top. Emily was a great little hiker (and spent about half the time in the backpack carrier) and Adara slept the entire time in the ergo. It was one of my favorite days since Adara was born.

When Emily was exactly this age (just shy of 6 weeks), Becky & I took her to her 1st Phillies game. That kind of urban adventure seems very far away right now!

We've been trying to get out for family walks as often as we can while the nice weather lasts! It is so beautiful around here right now.

One Month

Adara turned one month old yesterday. I put away all the newborn size clothes that are getting tight and felt that pang of realizing she's past the tiny tiny stage. So fast! :( She marked the occasion with her first cold (courtesy of big sister) and first slightly longer stretch of nighttime sleep (of course I didn't go to bed early enough to take advantage of it, but hopefully there will be more to come!). Adara is really an easy baby, generally content. Doesn't fuss in the tub, or during tummy time. She's bit of a spitter, so we're learning what burp clothes are for! She's started giving some social smiles. She's starting to be more alert, but still can't stay awake more than about 1.5 hours. She is super noisy - constantly making little grunts, squeaks and gurgles (I think she sounds like a baby elephant, Alasdair says baby hawk.)

Emily continues to adjust to our newest family member, acting out less and showing more interest in holding and smiling at Adara. Granny Groves is here to visit this weekend - a great way to celebrate one month. Today was the first day we've cooked dinner since Adara was born - we have been well taken care of by family & friends!

In big sister news - we learned this week that Emily is in the subset of children whose response to Benadryl isn't drowsiness but hyperactivity. After a few disastrous nights & naps, we figured out the problem and have switched to a homeopathic cold medicine which seems to work much better! We also learned that Emily can climb into the crib (which is still set up in her room)... which makes me a little nervous for Adara's safety once she moves in there!

A few more shots from today's photo shoot...

1st bottle

I let Emily feed Adara her 1st bottle yesterday, and she was soo excited. It's the longest she's held Adara & the most engaged she's been with her, and she was very proud of herself. :) You can't see in this picture, but she was grinning the whole time.

A few other recent sweet sister moments from the other day...
I had Adara propped up in a big chair next to me & Emily on my lap, and Adara was just giving her big sister smile after smile. Later, both girls were laying on my bed and E was "doing the Adara dance" (mimicking how A flailed her arms & legs).

Odds & Ends

Nothing major to report...the last week or so we've just been starting to adjust to this new 'normal'. Bundling up for walks on chilly afternoons, playing in the snow (!!), modeling clothes, and gazing at this sweet little face. (All pictures courtesy of Becky & her iPhone.)

A few of Emily's favorite things: her plastic cake, teacup & baby bear (from Great Granny Ware's house)

Emily often insists on wearing a skirt.

Beautiful weather... even though it is still October!

So cozy!!

Emily's been skipping her nap more often than I'd like!

GG

Alasdair had to go away for 5 days last week, to the CCEF annual conference. We were very sad to be without him, but grateful that the conference & the 2 talks he gave went so well... it was worth all the time & effort put in! While he was gone, the girls & I spent a couple days in MA with my family, including a baby shower for my cousin Angie. We've had a number of wedding/baby showers over the past couple years, and I love the ritual of getting together with so many of my cousins & aunts - so many wonderful women! And of course, we can't wait to meet Baby Girl Weyler. Adara had many loving arms to hold her -- most importantly, my grandmother's. Our kids call her "GG" for Great Grammy. My Grampy has been in the hospital for a few weeks, so the shower was a much needed happy event in the midst of some sadness & stress there. Also, Emily spent a lot of the weekend playing with Uncle Nick - running around outside, playing My Little Ponies, etc. He's wonderful with her.

Sibling Rivalry

I guess it had to happen eventually, I just hoped it wouldn't start so soon!

Last night Emily was crying after I put her to bed. I went in and (with some frustration) asked her what was wrong.
E: "What's wrong is that baby."
L: "What baby?"
E: "Adara. I don't like her."
It made me so sad, knowing what a hard transition it is to not be the only child any more. :( It's hard not to feel guilty!

On the bright side, the first thing she did when she woke up this morning was come say hi to Adara and give her a hug & a kiss. So I guess it's up & down.

Adara Meets Granny Groves

Quick sidenote for those who have asked:
When we pronounce Adara, 'dar' rhymes with 'car'.

Granny Groves made the trek up north to meet Adara this weekend. :) Of course Emily was over the moon all weekend.

How do I manage not to take pictures of these things?? Here's one from Becky. Alasdair did take some video, so when he's back in town we'll have to get that posted.

Cake

Our church's tradition for welcoming babies is to share a big cake after the service. Since our church is full of young families, we eat a lot of cake! Adara had hers this Sunday.

Here's another miscellaneous shot of the girls - wearing their first matching sweatshirts.

Pictures!

I finally got around to uploading pictures - here are a bunch of favorites from the first week. Even more on our Picasa page...

Before...

In the hospital....

At home...

Beautiful flowers from Uncle Nick
Only thing more exciting than a new baby sister... a new kitchen set!

Adara's 1st wedding - 4 days old. Tom & Leslie Ware were married on a spectacular October day, and Alasdair performed the wedding. We couldn't miss it.

Alasdair modelling the double-ergo look.