Eating

Here's Hazel "feeding" herself chocolate pudding. I don't think she really got any in her mouth, but it was a good attempt. And yes, she is a 2 fisted eater. She needs something in each hand when she eats (utensils, crackers, cheese, you name it).

Jude's not so much interested in feeding himself with utensils yet. He prefers shoveling handfuls of food into his mouth. :)

Happy Nona

Here's a decent picture of one of Nona's big smiles. 

Hazel kicks

"I learned how to kick the ball! Watch me go!"

Hazel walking

This video is quite old, but it shows Hazel's love of walking outdoors! We went to Coupeville for a day when my parents were here and she walked all over town!

1 month old

Nona turned 1 month old last week! She is starting to give us some really big smiles, which is really fun! She's incredibly unpredictable in her sleep schedule yet and often likes to be awake for 2-3 hours in the middle of the night. Hopefully that gets straightened out sooner rather than later.

Tulip Fields

We are quite far behind on blogging due to the craziness and unpredictability of each day. Last week was particularly challenging, but hopefully things quiet down a bit this week! 

We visited the Tulip Fields in Mount Vernon yesterday (we love Noel's day off!). The kids were NOT very excited about being there, but we're hoping that the more "outings" we go on, the more they start to enjoy them. I think that since they just recently started going out more, they are still a bit stunned by it. It was a glorious day yesterday and at least Noel and I had a good time!

 They were both much more content after they had their water glasses to hold.

 Chillin' in the stroller. Several people who walked by said something like, "It looks like they're having fun." They were being very sarcastic because Hazel and Jude never cracked a smile.

 We told Hazel to sniff the flowers. She got the sniff part. She missed the flower part.

Hopefully it's more fun for them next year! And maybe Nona will be walking around with them by then!

Jude

We are happy to report that Jude is medicine free for the first time in his whole life! We started reducing his Prevacid dose (reflux medicine) a couple weeks ago. He's been off it for a week now and seems to be doing great! We're thrilled! Now we're praying that Hazel can have the same success sometime in the near future.

Photos

We had a newborn photo shoot when Nona was 11 days old. Hazel and Jude got in on the fun and we even got a family picture. Here are a few of our favorites.

Happy Easter!

Hazel and Jude say, "Happy Easter!" a few days late.

This was the best I could get of the 2 of them. Nice, Hazel.

Hazel wearing her new Easter beads.

Jude sitting and staring at the microwave (one of his favorite activities).

Nona saying, "oooooooooh".

Nona is 3 weeks old! Isn't she getting big?

Happenings

Hazel and Jude are having lots of fun lately. Here are a few photos of them.

I included this because I think it's a hilarious picture of Hazel. She and Jude love "helping" to unload the dishwasher. Their favorite part is taking out the green plates and throwing them on the floor. Hazel stands on them. Jude drops them over and over to see them spin.

Hazel practicing her squats on the plate. Jude looking for more things to take out.

Playing, playing!

Hazel has developed a new shy look where she tilts her head on her shoulder and makes this face. She gave this look to Grandpa for the first several days he was here. She's also given it to church people she is very familiar with. We can't help but laugh.

Another angle (this was at Grandpa).

Finally a good smiling picture of Jude! He and Hazel were playing with blocks in Hazel's room at this time. I stood by Jude on the changing table today and I'm pretty sure he's grown 3 inches and gained 5 pounds since I've been able to lift him. I still have a few weeks of lifting restriction and am not even sure I'll be able to pick him up when I'm given the okay from my doctor. He eats like crazy and is turning into a tank.

Thought I'd throw in a funny one of Nona. She also is growing like crazy. I think she's exploding and will be the same size as Hazel in a few months.

Hazel LOVES wearing shoes and I put a new pair on her today that she loved. You can't see them that well, but they are bright pink plaid. They were a gift when she was born and I couldn't imagine her ever fitting into them! They're still a little big, but she loves wearing them and cried when I took them off before bath time tonight.

Grandma and Grandpa

It's great having Grandma and Grandpa here and life will sure be crazy when they leave!

2 weeks old

And growing like crazy! We had Nona's 2 week appointment today to see if she was coming close to regaining her birthweight. Not only, did she regain it, but she surpassed it by 8 oz. She weighed 7 lbs 9 oz today and the doctor was very pleased and surprised.

Sweet, sleepy, Nona. She is having much more awake time the past few days, but it's all during the night. Hopefully she'll get the day/night thing figured out soon!

"Hello!"

"Today was a good day for me because my big sister, Hazel, gave me lots of kisses on my head!"