A few randoms

Reason # 357 that Eleanor is my daughter:

A calculator in one hand and cleaning tools in the other. Notice that she is happy about it.

Ellie is an artist. She loves to do any kind of art and comes home from day-care with tons of art work. Instead of buying pictures for her bedroom wall, we decided to frame her art work! Ellie is very proud of her 'art gallery.'

The other month Ellie had a cold and wanted her own box of tissues since she had been blowing her nose by herself. I wanted to encourage to keep up the good work, so I let her have a box by her bed. This is what I found the next morning... I learned that leaving a box by the bed is OK, but maybe not a brand new box.

5 on Friday

1. Genevieve Marie Larson! She made her Mommy very happy by arriving a few days early (official due date was today). We are head over heels in love with her.

2. We are now a family of four. I love saying that. It is perfect.

3. Ellie is learning to be a big sister. She loves to help out and loves her little sister--- she just needs to work on her gentle touches a little.

4. My recovery after delivery was 100x faster than with Ellie, and I am loving it. I can lay down with Ellie in her bed and not be incredibly uncomfortable. At the end of the pregnancy Ellie would ask, "you no feel well, Mommy?" To which I would respond that no, I wasn't feeling the greatest. The other night I laid down with her and she asked me. I finally got to respond that I felt great! And it was the truth.

5. The girls have been really easy on us. How did we get so lucky?

Valentine's Day

I am a little behind on updating the blog with pictures. I finally transferred the memory card to the computer on Saturday morning- we went into the hospital Saturday evening (must have been my nesting that made me delete 301 pictures to make room for new ones of Genevieve).

These are from Valentine's Day: Ellie and I used Play-Doh for her day-care friend Valentines. We also made cookies for Daddy (and Mommy). Since Ellie was sick on Valentine's Day, Nick and I opted for take-out sushi (veggie and fruit sushi for me). Nick picked up some sparkling grape juice to substitute for wine. No worries, once I get through the old pictures there will be plenty of new ones with Ellie and Neve!

Cutie Pies!

How cute are these three little girls! From going out to the bar to Barbies: who would have thought that Brad, Brock and Nick would end up with these little ones.

Ready to be a Big Sister

Prior to Genevieve's birth, Ellie had been practicing her Big Sister skills on "Baby". Interesting thing is she plays with "Baby" in Genevieve's room. I hope she is ready to give that up!

Introducing Genevieve Marie

Genevieve Marie Larson was born on March 25th, 2012 at 1:52am. She weighed in at 8 pounds, 9.2 ounces and is 21 inches long.

Genevieve must have known Mommy had a fun day planned, because she waited until after lunch and pedicures with Grandma and Aunt Megan, as well as a trip to Lowes, the mall and dinner out, before making the contractions "real". We dropped Ellie off at The Beltman's and arrived at the hospital a few minutes before 8pm. We had the 'pleasure' of walking the halls of the maternity wing for an hour before being officially admitted around 10pm. The epidural was put in as soon as possible, and the Dr. broke my water at midnight. At that point we were dilated to 5 cm (we came to the hospital at 3 cm). When the nurse checked again at 1:30am we were at 10 cm and ready to push. I think we pushed for 10-15 minutes maximum (5 contractions) before Genevieve was completely out. It was a very fast (although still painful) delivery (opposite of Ellie's 2 hours of pushing and 16 hours of labor). Genevieve had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck when she came out, although it didn't cause any issues. She is doing great (an awesome little eater) and we could not be happier! Big Sister Ellie loved her very first slumber party with Sophia, and is currently being spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa Greving in Ames. Before heading to Ames, she made a trip to the hospital to meet Baby Neve.

Here is our first family picture as a family of 4. It is so wonderful to say that, and we are all in love with our new addition.

I am sure there will be many more pictures to come in the coming weeks/months! We will be released from the hospital tomorrow, and Ellie will be at home with Grandma and Grandpa waiting for us to arrive. Let's hope she learns to share her Daddy with Baby Sister quickly.

5 on Friday

1. Happy belated birthday to my wonderful husband, Nick! I didn't get anything up on here on Tuesday... I am behind.

2. Ellie greeted Daddy in bed with "Hap Birth-day, Daddy!" and sang the Happy Birthday song to him on the way to work/day-care (with certain lines on repeat). She also helped open his present and was a little upset when he opened the card instead of letting her do it.

3. Sunday we celebrated with Nick's mom and husband. Nick and Jeff picked up our outdoor furniture and set it up, then we hit up John and Nick's for dinner.

4. Ellie and Daddy went to the bike shop on Monday night to get Ellie a new bike helmet, as she has outgrown her current one. They came home with a red one. It is blood and spiders. Ellie picked it out because she knows the color red. I asked her if Mommy could exchange it for a purple one without bugs. She said yes, although she wasn't too sure about it. I want to let her pick out her own things and be independent, but this helmet is going to last a while (it is a youth size and adjustable), and I don't see her as a 5-year old girl wanting a 'blood and spider' bike helmet. She already doesn't like bugs (she takes after her mommy) and is a fairly girly-girl. Nick took it back and exchanged it for the purple one and Ellie doesn't seem to care--- she just likes her new helmet. Am I bad for wanting to exchange it? Or should I have just let her keep the one she picked out? On a side not, I did let her wear socks that didn't match her outfit to day-care because she really wanted to--- so I do let her make some decisions.

5. Still no baby. Nick really wanted the baby to share his birthday. I was hoping she would have her own birthday, but I WAS/am ready for her to arrive so I would have compromised. Oh well. Maybe next week.