Elena Falls off the Chart

I love Oskar's eyes. So much. This photo doesn't quite capture it, but they are stunning.

You do things when you're a parent that you thought you would never do. For instance, I said my kid would never eat McDonald's. At least not as a young child- eventually of course it would probably come up. The crafty little bugger stole two of my nugs when I was indulging a pregnancy craving. So, really, I haven't bought him McDonald's but he has consumed.

Ellie-3.75 months

Let's do a size comparison. The above picture is Ellie at 3.75 months. Below is Oskar at 2.5 months. How did I make both these babies? You'll notice that Ellie is a bit more tightly wound than the lounging Oskar as well. THAT trait is no mystery.

Oskar-2.5 months

I've always been a bit picky regarding cleanliness. I'm fine if things get a bit messy, but downright dirtiness bothers me. As such, potty training has been difficult. Oskar is house broken now but little dudes are little dudes and too often I find myself thinking, "Well, at least pee is sterile." This makes me sad. In my mind I see King Theoden: "How did it come to this..."

Elena got baptized! It was fun to have all of our family here. Nothing makes your house feel smaller than when you try to shove 20 people in it- five of whom are 6 and under and take up an astonishingly large amount of room. We were lucky to have a wonderful pastor baptize her and were super glad that Dan could just be a dad. Ellie was a star and slept through the service and woke up happy for the pictures at the end. We also got a beautiful Faith box from the Men in Mission at the church which is possibly nicer than most things we own.

I know most people saw this on Facebook, but oh my goodness I just love it so much.

Totally ready for the cabin this summer.

Do you know what is difficult? So many things, I know, but I'm going to talk about children in photographs. Oskar is generally quite photogenic. I guess for Ellie's baptism he just had a bit too many bits of crazy in him. Looking through the photos it's like he's trying to be all of the Three Wise Monkeys at once. Add to that a kid who hates being in pictures and another who confuses a smile with a grimace and let's just go ahead and be thankful that everyone could be there. Forget trying to get Elena smiling. That was not even worth an effort worth making. Another thing that makes it hard to take a nice photo? Waking up at 4:30 AM. I don't know if you know me, but "Morning Person" is never a title that I've earned.

Dan's siblings are Elena's Godparents.

We had Ellie's 4 month appointment yesterday. She seems to be moving up the chart in length and head size- I think her length was at about the 15th percentile! She, however, has fallen off the weight chart. This isn't great, but they aren't too concerned yet. We will go in for a measure in a month and worry about it then. The girl eats ALL THE TIME, so I find this particularly frustrating. No, I'm beyond frustrated.

Tranbys!

In all other respects Ellie is doing great. Very strong and alert and full of personality. She has a beautiful chuckle/giggle and tells me very loud and lengthy stories in the middle of the night, which honestly, I could do without. At least she is generally happy at those times. I can't believe how loud she is. She is so tiny! Where does it come from? Girl is going to be a great singer because of this. If you sing to her she will sing along. It is so sweet. Understand that when I say 'sing along' I mean she makes noises that are lengthy. I'm not claiming a prodigy here- just cuteness.

At about three months, Oskar was giving me a good, solid 6 hours of sleep every night. That was delightful. Ellie is no such champion. If I'm lucky she might have a five or six hour stretch, but it will start at about 8:30 PM so I can hardly take advantage of it because of, you know, life. I guess I take advantage a bit, because this is when I can actually get my work done, but I would love some sleep as well. Maybe someday. 

Nelsons!

You may have noticed that Ellie definitely has red hair. It is super cute. I have a friend in town that has really vibrant red hair, actually, her whole family does, and Ellie definitely looks more like her kid than mine right now. It probably doesn't help that I get to church and hand Ellie over to her as soon as I can, but still, it's pretty funny.

Oskar loves flowers. I got these at Costco, brought them home and he goes, "My flowers! Thank you SO much!"

I am living proof that if you do not get an appropriate amount of sleep you will be sick forever. And 'living' is putting it generously because I'm not doing great. All I want is to be able to breathe through both sides of my nose at the same time. Is that too much to ask? According to the last two weeks, yes, yes it is. Oskar, Ellie and I all got colds, mine is lingering the most. Better me than them, I guess.

Dan is leading mind blowing discourse on the merits of cake.

I apologize for being so lazy with the blog, but it is simply not a priority. Somehow feeding and caring for children and working take priority over writing a blog. Crazy, I know. We have been doing much better round these parts with making and eating real meals. Heck, I made tortillas the other day. And a 3 year old ATE them. I may not be a domestic idiot after all. 

Doing what he does best.

The above video is Oskar singing "Oh yes oh yes it's springtime!" to the tune of Vivaldi's 'Spring' brought to our ears originally by the Little Einsteins. He started singing it when he went outside and it was nice the other day and pretty much sang it all day. He is holding a tiny coffee pot that he found somewhere that we now use for birdseed. I thought it would be fun to get him a Little Einsteins rocket and all the kid figurines for his Easter basket, but apparently the series is old and all I can find are toys at collectible prices. I will not be spending $200 on a TOY for a CHILD. Thank you very much. That is absolutely insane. By the way, misspelling Einstein makes one feel really stupid.

This video is of Ellie laughing- don't mind my fake laughs and giant head.