Newborn Photo Shoot

Should I say it again... we are doing things different with our second child? The first pictures I had taken of L were not until she was about two and a half months old. Remember, I wasn't getting out of the house much...let alone camping or having pictures taken.
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They say that all you have to do for a newborn photo shoot is tank the baby up on milk and you can mold them and shape them to do anything you want. Well, I'm here to tell you that isn't exactly how it works in the real world. We spent 4 hrs taking pictures of K. There are some super cute ones but what you don't see is the squirming, feeding, crying and consoling. Luckily Blayr was super patient and is a quick & efficient photographer. For this to be her first newborn shoot, I think she did mighty fine.

Here are just a few of my favorites of K, 14 days old:

A Camping We Will Go...

... a camping we will go, Hi Ho the Cherry-O, a camping we will go!!!

I've already mentioned that we do things a little different with baby #2. Camping at 5 weeks was NOT on our radar with L. But if you can nurse, sleep, poop & be up in the middle of the night at home, you can do it in a camper too!
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We really try to get out and see the sights around us where ever we live. I have friends who have never done some of the fun, free things around our town in all the years that they've lived there. And at this time in our lives it's even more important that we find those FREE/CHEAP things to do around us, but I hope that it's never something that we forget to explore.
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Camping is one of our favorite - cheap - get out of the house things to do. We drove an hour north to get to this lake. I thought it was going to have a beach to play at in the park where we camped, but it didn't. It was a separate part of the lake & unfortunately the weather wasn't warm enough for us to visit the beach. However, it didn't slow us down. We enjoyed the lady bugs & butterflies, played with rocks, sticks & sand, relaxed in the hammock, chilled out by the campfire, read some books, and slept in the comforts of our cozy little camper.
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Derek loves to take pictures of his truck & our camper. So enjoy this one:

Everyone got to enjoy the hammock.

Even K!

It was actually pretty cool that weekend, so it was a perfect time for a campfire.

 Getting ready to turn off the light. Notice who has to get in one last feeding before bed. : )

How well do you know your celebrities?

Derek is amazing at spotting "famous" people. I'm not kidding. He spotted a guy in the subway in Washington DC.

SO... if you saw THIS picture, would you know who she was? Horrible picture of me... but who is looking at me anyways?

Yes, she is wearing dog ears, and YES that is Ree Drummond. As in THE Pioneer Woman!

Rhondalyn and I loaded up all 4 girls, skipped bible study (Lord forgive us), and went to the zoo to see Ree. The zoo was promoting reading to preschoolers and had special activities all day long, a free book for every child, and story time with Ree. She wrote a children's book about her dog Charlie and did a wonderful job reading it to the children (she was sooo animated!):

She also has two cook books, a "romance" novel about how she met her husband, and a cooking show. She lives about 2 hrs away from us on one of the largest ranches in the state.

Enough about her... we had a really fun day with the girls. We listened to story time with Ree, packed a picnic lunch, saw most of the animals, and stopped at Sonic on the way home for a cold drink to top off the hot day. It doesn't sound like much as I sit here and type, but it really was A LOT to do with our brood. The kids were exhausted when we left, but surprisingly stayed awake the entire drive home. I think L was just too excited to be sitting next to her friend in our van. What a treat!

Happy Easter!

HE has risen! And we are so grateful for an empty tomb. An event that changed the world forever.

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We had a wonderful Easter. Here's a few photos of our weekend:

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Easter Egg Hunt- L's hand is a blur, because she shook each egg before she put it in her basket. I guess she wanted to make sure there was candy in there??

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Dying Eggs with L. (wearing a costume we have in her dress up box, in case you're wondering)

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Easter Dresses for Easter Sunday. The first time we let L really HOLD K. It wasn't too much of a disaster, although K doesn't look too trusting of her sister...

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We had a wonderful Easter lunch with two families from our church. One couple is from Iowa, and our friends, the Richardson's, are OKies but had no plans to visit with family this year. We all pitched in for lunch, and had quite a spread. We all have 2 children, and the kids really enjoyed playing and having an Easter Egg Hunt after lunch. It was such a fun afternoon. We got home just in time to enjoy a nice Sunday afternoon nap.

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One last picture of K sitting in her big sister's chair.

This time around...

... I've taken a different approach to mothering an infant. I'm sure it's the same for every mother of a second child. I feel that one of the major factors that has contributed to my activity this time around is that I didn't have major abdominal surgery to bring my babe into the world. Wow, what a difference it makes! With that being said, our family has really been out and about - considering we have a 2 week old baby. We weren't doing this much until L was about 3 months old...if not older.

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This morning we went back out to Blayr's place and had K's newborn pictures taken. Of course it'll be a few weeks before we get them back, but here's a sneak peek of them... just a shot from my iTouch.

33 & ME

33 feels good. 33 looks good. See the picture...is there anything more a girl could ask for?

Thanks for all the FB wishes, phone calls, and cards! Love you all.

What you've all be waiting for...

... More Pictures.

At the hospital with Big Sister:

Checking out of the hospital. A headband looks like an obnoxious "sweat band" when it doesn't have a flower or bow on it... don't ya think?

Finally a good picture of her face with her eyes open!:

Tummy time.

We've had a great week and a half as a family of 4. We've had to survive 4 days straight of rain with a 2 year old and baby in the house, 2 days without internet, we've gone to a movie and to the Children's museum, and we've had lots of visitors. I know I've already been labeled "funny" for not plastering pictures all over facebook of our family... but just so you know... we're all healthy and happy, we're soaking up these numbered days of having a newborn at home, and we're limiting our time with other distractions like internet, and TV. It's a delicate time for L, a sweet time with baby and we're doing the best we know how to ease into this next chapter of life. Email/facebook is usually checked during feedings, when L is napping or in bed for the night... with one hand to type replies. We'll put plenty of pictures here, with updates as things happen.

......Love you all!!