Owen shows Vivi the aquarium

We finally got some batteries to put in Owen's old crib aquarium. Tonight I put it together and let them play with it. It was cute watching Owen show Vivi all the fishes and bubbles.

Loving his baby sister

Owen has gone from not being interested in holding Vivian at all, to now asking to hold her and take pictures every day. It's really cute! I snapped a bunch today and just couldn't leave any out when making this collage. :)

Not so little anymore

I started packing away Vivi's newborn clothes. :( She's not so little anymore...I would guess that she already weighs almost 12 pounds. We'll know for sure on February 10th when I take her in for her 2-month check-up. Owen only weighed 11 pounds & 4 ounces at his 2-month visit. I'm fairly certain Vivi will be close to a pound heavier ~ our little butterball. :)

So before putting away her cute "Little Sister" onesie, I squeezed her into it this morning for just a few pictures. Owen jumped in to give a kiss.

Our new playroom

A few weeks ago, Grandma and Grandpa Marshall and Aunt Hillary came over to help us move some furniture around. With their help we were able to clear out the basement bedroom in order to create a new playroom for the kids. I was lucky enough to scoop up a 27-inch TV off freecycle and my mom and dad sent us a DVD player they weren't using. I also got some kiddie DVD's from another freecycler (if you haven't heard of it or used it before, I highly recommend it - www.freecycle.org).

This playroom has helped us to have another room to hang out in during the day and I love the fact that we've been able to move the majority of Owen's toys down there which means less tripping over them in the family room. :)

The pictures on the walls were there in the old bedroom, but I want to soon paint some cute kid-friendly murals on the walls to make it feel more like a playroom. I'm hoping that I will soon be able to let Owen play in there while Vivian naps and I do a workout on the elliptical (see it through the doorway?). Here's to hoping...

Her first roll from tummy to back!

Look what Vivi can do!

Smiles start to emerge

Vivian has started to show us her adorable smile more and more these days. It's tough to capture it on camera, but we're working on it. I snapped a few after a diaper change today.
It's so fun to see her look at us and break out into smiles because she recognizes us. Loving every minute of it.

Big brother to the rescue

This morning I put Vivian down on her blanket to hang out while I quickly ran into the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. Owen had been playing off on his own on the other side of the family room, but when he heard Vivi start to fuss and cry, he knew what to do. He immediately picked up a book we had read earlier in the morning and sat down beside her and said, "I'm going to read her this book!". Being inches from my camera, I grabbed it to snap some pictures of this wonderfulness. Even though her head was looking the other way, Owen still turned the book around a few times to show her the pictures.
Made my morning. :)

Lounging in the bouncy seat

Reminded me of Owen enjoying this same seat when he was just a little older than Vivi.

Vivian's nursery & Blogiversary

We finally finished Vivi's nursery yesterday. My mom did an amazing job sewing up the valance, bumper, crib skirt and pillow. (She embroidered Vivian's birth stats on the pillow which is so special!) We were lucky enough to have found material for the bedding which had some of the aqua color we had used on the walls for Owen's nursery, so we didn't have to repaint. We added a few things ~ the plaque above the closet, the rectangle mirror and the shelf were all given to us and I liked how they went in the room. I painted the letters and Ben helped me hang them, and we kept the picture collage (with Ben's baby pictures on the left and mine on the right) and used Vivi's professional picture for the center in a frame that had a spot below the picture for her hospital bracelet. We're happy with how it turned out.

Also, today is our Blogiversary! It's been three years since we started blogging about our adventures in parenthood and I'm so glad we decided to do it. It's incredible to look back over the years and see how much Owen has grown and developed. It's our online baby book since we haven't been diligent at writing things down in an actual paper baby book. Plus, I love that we can keep photos and videos all in one place and our friends and family can check them out whenever they want. Here's to another year of blogging the story of our kids!

Activity mat

Grandma & Grandpa Marshall & Aunt Hillary visit

Grandma and Grandpa Marshall and Aunt Hillary came over today to help us move some furniture and more importantly, to spend time with Owen and Vivi. We're working on putting together a playroom in the basement for the kids, but needed help moving the heavy bedroom furniture so Grandpa and Hillary were the lucky recruits. :)

Afterwards, we did a little picture-taking and Vivi had a bottle with Aunt Hillary. Thanks to their help we're one step closer to that playroom! :)

Pretty in pink

During Owen's naptime, Miss Vivi and I had some tummy time and just relaxed on the fluffy pink blanket Grandma Marshall gave her. I loved all her cute expressions. :)

Playdate with Steph and kids

We've missed our playdates with Sarah Catherine! Back in early September Steph had baby #2 ~ baby Benjamin ~ and we had to put our playdates on hold until after our baby #2 was born. It's so fun to get together again and now it's even more fun with double the kiddos!!

Nate comes to visit

Molly and Nate came over for a playdate this afternoon! Nate showed off his army crawling skills and Owen was ultra-protective of his toys even though we're trying to work on sharing. Molly made us a delicious chicken pot pie for dinner. We had fun catching up while the kids played. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

Mommy & Vivian

Mommy's slippers

I'm pretty sure Owen has done this before, but this is the first time I've captured it on camera. I was in the kitchen making a bottle for Vivian and when I looked over into the family room I saw that Owen was walking around with my slippers on. :)

Vivi is one month!

This month has flown by! It's amazing that Vivian is already one month old. We feel like we just brought her home from the hospital. Here's what she's been up to lately:

• Had her first "sick" visit to the pediatrician for a terrible diaper rash (thank goodness she's now on the mend thanks to Triple Paste - the Pedi's advice to just use Desitin did not work AT ALL but luckily we found out about Triple Paste online and bought a huge tub of it which was totally worth the $32 - we highly recommend it)
• At that visit we found out she now weighs 9 pounds!
• Drinking 3-4 oz bottles every 3-5 hours
• Still sleeping in the carseat, but we're transitioning her to her crib this weekend
• Getting better at tummy time
• Still fits into her newborn outfits, but within a week or so we'll have her in 0-3mo clothes
• Took her first roadtrip to Hershey to visit her GG (from whom she received her middle name) and two of her Great Aunts (Aunt Diane and Aunt Liz). Vivi slept the entire ride there, but on the ride home woke up crying with a poopy diaper which Mommy had to pull over to change and then feed her - after that she slept the rest of the way.
• Would rather be held than put in her swing or bouncy seat, although her tolerance of both of these baby play-things is getting better
• Is losing her baby hair just like Owen did at this age. Thank goodness for cute hats! :)

She has stolen our hearts and we are enjoying every second of her being here. We can't imagine life without her.

Things Owen says

This weekend I've noticed that Owen seems to be so agreeable. Whenever I ask him to do anything, he has been responding, "Okay Mommy!".....um, yeah. Let's just see how long this lasts. :)

Tonight we went to the mall to return/exchange a few Christmas presents and I promised Owen we would stop at the indoor play area (it was just the two of us since Ben stayed home with Vivi). He was a very good boy in his umbrella stroller while I was making the return and picking out a shirt for Ben. On our way to the play area I let him walk beside me and as we passed each store he pointed out what he saw. "Look Mommy! Shoes! Look at all those shoes!" and "A giraffe! Mommy there's a giraffe in there!" (at the toystore).

Once we got to the play area, I took his coat and shoes off so he could run around. It was so incredibly crowded with kids and adults chasing after their kids, that I could barely keep track of Owen. The kids were a little bit rambunctious too. He played for about 20 minutes and then when I told him it was time to go home he said, "Okay Mommy." and came with me to put on his coat and shoes.

On the walk back to Macy's where we parked, he walked again. He was quieter this time, and after a few minutes I heard him say, "Mommy they were pushing me. And it made me mad." I told him next time we'd go when it wasn't so crowded so the kids wouldn't push.

Then, just as we were about to walk out the exit of Macy's, he stopped walking and looked up and said, "Mommy, I want a kiss." Awwwwwwwww!!!!!!! I said, "Okay baby" and gave him a kiss. Then he said, "And a hug" so I gave him a hug. I love my little man. :)

Snoozing in my Daddy's arms

Days of the week

During bath time tonight, out of the blue Owen started saying the days of the week! They must be learning them at school, because we weren't working on them at home. I ran and grabbed the camera to take a video.

Quick visit to Hershey

Vivi and I took a quick trip to Hershey so she could meet her GiGi and two of her Great Aunts. She did great on the drive there ~ slept the entire time. But the trip back I had to stop and change a poopy diaper and feed her a bottle before getting back on the road. We had so much fun visiting with Grandma and it was so nice to catch up with Aunt Diane and Aunt Liz. My Grandma now has 5 great-grandchildren and my cousin Sara is expecting so there will be a 6th to add to the growing clan of great-grandkids. We'll have to wait until April to find out whether number 6 will even out the boy/girl ratio, or whether it'll be 4 girls and 2 boys. My guess is boy! :)