The latest and greatest from the kiddos!

Natalie is 3 weeks old! She started to smile this week! yay!! Ethan also started smiling at 3 weeks so it's very fun to see. She smiles the most at Ethan, actually--haha :) It's adorable. He gets really close to her and pats her belly or rubs her head and says "hi Na-ee, I love you Na-ee" and she smiles! It's absolutely incredible. When she cries says ..."it's okay Na-ee...it's okay". Ethan has been very helpful too...getting diapers for me and wipes and "helping" to change Natalie's diaper and hold her. He pops her passie back in when it falls out too. He seems to love being a big brother! Natalie is doing well with tummy time too--she actually seems to like it. She lifted her head at birth and has been VERY strong since--but now she lifts it for a pretty good chunk of time and moves it from side to side when she is on her belly. She is a cuddle bug and LOVES to be held still. She is so snuggly that it's hard to put her down sometimes! She is doing so well nursing--she is already 10 lbs and 5.1 oz at only 3 weeks!! She has been gaining 2 oz a day :) The dr was very pleased with her weight gain and no more needing to wake her to be fed--AMEN! Other than that--life is going well with Natalie!

This week Ethan, Natalie and I ventured out to playgroup for the first time. It went really well thanks to the fabulous Moby wrap (thanks a million Colleen!). Natalie slept the whole time in the Moby and I was able to walk around and play with Ethan hands free. I feel like I am starting to get a hold of this mommy of two thing!

Ethan is doing GREAT too! He is talking up a STORM. The speech therapist said that he no longer has a speech delay and we will be decreasing to 2x a month with her and then will be ending speech therapy in the early summer! YAY!!!!!!!!!!! We are so so SO proud of Ethan. He is doing amazing. The other night when Mike was putting lotion on the back of Ethan's ear for his excema...Ethan said..."no daddy...hydrocortizone cream then aquaphor" LOL. He repeats pretty much anything we say with ease. He also has started to say "please, please please" when he is asking for something (3 pleases seem to be better than 1???) :)

Here are some pictures of our life lately!


Smiles at Nana! Natalie loved spending time with Nana and gave her smiles right before she left to go home to FL :)











Loving tummy time! As Col says..."let they anger fuel you!" haha.










About to smile at Nana









Oh how I LOVE these two!!! And I can't take enough pics of Natalie sleeping with her mouth wide open! It's just so cute! Here she is sleeping soundly on daddy :)










First real bath for Natalie--she loved it!










Ethan was "helping" Natalie with tummy time by cheering her on. It was adorable! We didn't pose him either...he wanted to lay how "Na-ee" was laying.



















Playing at the park with daddy! Ethan wanted to help push the stroller. He loves to play soccer and really any other kind of game involving a ball. Here's an action shot of him kicking the ball.














The cheeks have arrived--YAY!!!!










Ethan showing off his new rocks! He loves to collect rocks right now--especially "baby" rocks. And he and Daddy go to the creek and throw rocks, one of Ethan's most favorite things in the world! (and Daddy's too!)