Photo overload!!

As the title suggests I have a ton of photos to upload here so I'll try and keep the update short!!!

This week Jon has gone back to work so it's just been me, Oliver and Emily at home. Oliver has been an absolute superstar so far - a complete transformation from last week. He loves to help me with Emily and tries to involve her in his games. This is a little difficult when he wants to race cars!! Today he has been helping me carry her in the car seat :) But he really didn't want to go to school on Monday and Tuesday as he was too sad to leave Emily. He did OK once he was there but it was really hard for me to leave him.

Emily is doing really well at night time. She wakes up twice most nights, although she only woke up once the other night!! And she goes back to sleep just fine most times. Hopefully she'll be as good at sleeping as Oliver always has been.

This afternoon I took Emily to the doctors for her first appointment. She weighed in at 9lbs 5oz so she's back to her birth weight plus a couple of ounces. She is on the 95th centiles for both height and weight so looks like she's going to grow big and tall like her brother! She is already very strong and can lift her head when on her tummy and she really doesn't need much support on her neck. Her next visit will be at 8 weeks when she gets her first shots - boo :((

Oliver has been excellent this week at counting and colours. When we were out in the car today he would tell me what colour the other cars were and he got them all pretty much right (some colours like silver and gold are still a bit tricky!). And the other night he was counting his cars and counted all the way up to seven without any help at all. This was the first time he'd counted anywhere past one so I was just amazed.

Anyway, here are all the photos as promised. Have a very happy Easter weekend everyone :)

Oliver opening his new T-ball set from Grandma Colleen. We took it outside today for the first time!!

Another favourite place to sleep - Emily's pillow as Oliver likes to call it

Uncle Matt showing baby Emily to Mikayla

Uncle Matt was pretty good at pacifying baby Emily (and being spat up on.....)

Resting in the chair - again!

I'm not convinced Mikayla was enjoying this as much as Oliver!

Playing with the trains and cars

Mikayla had a lot of fun with Oliver's Mr Potato Head!!!

Mikayla and Oliver enjoying the swings

Lounging with Mummy

Arrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!

Sticking her tongue out :)

Oliver playing race cars on the train table - quite possibly his favourite game.

Mikayla watching over her baby cousin

Oliver having a giggle with Daddy

The happy parents :))

Grandma Colleen with the kids

The happy family - even Scoop!!!

Opening presents from Grandma Colleen

Grandma getting cuddles with baby Emily

Ha ha!!! Emily dressed up for her first Scoop walk :)

Oliver eating his favourite lunchtime food - cheesy rice cakes!!

Just chilling!

Snack time - milk, granola bar and Cars!

Emily slept on Mike for about 3 hours the other night!!

Awwwww - this is sibling love!! Oliver makes sure the vibrating chair is switched on and even rocks the chair sometimes!

Emily sure looks cute in pink - one of the tops Nanna Pan sent from England

Welcome Emily Anne :)))

Our baby girl has arrived!!!! And she didn't waste any time in doing so :) All day Saturday I was feeling really ill but thought I had a sickness bug of some sort as I knew friends who were also sick and Oliver had been under the weather for a few days as well. Anyway, I went to bed at 9:30pm but couldn't really sleep. At around 12:30am I got up because I was having contractions that I couldn't sleep through. I started timing them but they were getting very intense, very quickly and I told Jon I was going to call the hospital. They told me to come in so we put a quick call into Ray who got here around 2am. We arrived at the hospital at 2:20am and Emily made her appearance just half an hour later. She weighed 9lbs 3oz and was 21 inches long. Perfect in every way and has lots of dark hair - just like I did as a baby!!! We are so excited to have a little girl and she will be very spoiled I'm sure :)

We got home on Monday evening and things have been going pretty well. Emily is eating well now and sleeps OK. She'll vary between waking up every hour and half and then sleeping for 4 or 5 hours solid!! Too bad the longer stints tend to be during the day rather than at night.

Grandma Colleen drove here from New York to visit and stay for a few days which is just great. We are also getting a lot of help from Matt, Jennifer and Mikayla. Jon is off work for the week too. It's so nice to have all the extra help to allow me to concentrate on little Emily in the early days. Oliver is having a tough time but we're not convinced it's related to Emily's arrival as he has been off colour for a week or so now. But he isn't eating very much, doesn't want to eat and has lost the ability to speak - he communicates in screams :(( It's tough going from that point of view but we are hopeful things will improve as time goes on.

Anyway, I will leave you with some pics of our new bundle of joy :)

One of the first pictures - take a look at the time on my watch :)

First picture with Daddy

Super cosy :)

Snuggling with Mum

Oliver (looking a little shell shocked) with his new sister

Mum and Emily

With Grandpa Ray and Grandma Sandy

Lounging on the boppy cushion - quite alert!

Oliver actually looks quite happy with the new arrival!

With Aunty Jennifer

All dressed up in her going home outfit

Passed out!

First bath at home this morning

Emily loves the vibrating chair!

All clean and fresh after the bath!

Still waiting.....

Sorry, it seems like ages since I posted and I am rather preoccupied with this baby at the moment. I truly thought he or she would be here by now but at 39+2 I am still waiting!! It's driving me slightly crazy and patience is not my greatest virtue right now. I keep trying to pinpoint milestones or significant dates to help me along. For example, tomorrow is March 20th so I could have two children born on the 20th of the month which would be pretty fun (and easy to remember!!). And there are numerous birthdays during March, plenty of them are in the coming week so I'm almost bound to make someone's day a little bit more special :) Anyway, the good news is that I am progressing very well and my OB thinks I could be in for a fast labour so I am prepared to get in that car ASAP as soon as there are signs of things happening!!

Meanwhile, Oliver and I have been keeping busy with our friends, although yesterday was my last scheduled play date. I could be gatecrashing some next week ;) Last week Oliver had his first McDonalds!! I haven't taken him there before only because I thought it would be a complete waste of money and he wouldn't eat anything. Also, it's not really somewhere I go as they don't do a veggie burger out here!! Anyway, he surprised me by eating some chicken nuggets with his good friend Rowen. They had a blast and were running round the place like mad things!!

It was St Patrick's Day on Wednesday and we went over to Jennifer and Matt's for some Irish cuisine which was excellent. Again, Oliver surprised me and ate a ton of corned beef!!! Grandpa Ray and Grandma Sandy came along and brought some great cupcakes so we let the kids loose with them. Hmmmm, guess which one stayed the cleanest??!!! Oh my, Oliver got frosting EVERYWHERE!!!!! Jon got some pics on his phone so I don't have any here right now - too bad. Oliver thought it was pretty funny :)

The weather here has been absolutely fantastic the past few days. I'm talking 60 degrees out, sunshine, no jackets and almost no sign of snow on the ground!! Scoop has had a couple of walks and Oliver has been to the playground near us. Of course, Minnesota is strange and there is a possibility of light snow over the weekend but, for the most part, Spring is here!

One of the funniest things Oliver said this week as I was drinking water out of a pint glass: "No more Daddy's cup, Mummy". Says a lot about what he sees Daddy drinking, LOL :)))

Anyway, it's breakfast time and Oliver should be up soon - he's sleeping in a bit this morning so I have the chance to get this posted. Hopefully the next time I'm on here will be to welcome his new brother or sister :)


Oliver and Rowen having fun at McDonalds

Oliver and Mikayla cranking out the tunes on the organ

And playing silly games with Mikayla's dog and Grandma Sandy :)

Crazy cousins!!!

Hi everyone!! On Saturday we went over to Jennifer and Matt's to celebrate Mikayla's second birthday. Safe to say that Oliver and Mikayla were as crazy as ever together and I got a couple of great videos of them proving it :) Every time we get together we wonder how much trouble these two are going to get into when they're older.......

Not too much to report. We are just waiting for the big day now. Oliver arrived on this day of my pregnancy but there are no signs that's going to happen this time around. I'm predicting a weekend arrival to coincide with UK Mother's Day and the start of the Formula 1 season - we'll see!!!!

The birthday girl - who always knows where to find Oliver's bear blankie :)

Oliver has his eye on the Thomas pillow.....

Actually, he has his eye on pretty much any present that anyone opens :)))