Big Sister

People said it would happen, and they were right.
As soon as Hibou arrived Papillon looked 10 times more grown up.
This picture is from just the other day, and I know she's not even 2 yet, but I am pretty sure if you gave her a back pack she would look like she was heading off to her first day of school!



Papillon is such a good big sister.  She has been practicing with the carseat buckles - she got this bunny in all by herself. 

And she is really good at trying to soothe Ingrid when she is fussy.  She gives her a hug, rubs her belly, tells her "It's ok, it's ok" and either gives her the pacifier or sticks her finger in Hibou's mouth for her to suck on  (she often sees me let Ingrid suck on my pinky). 


Tulips Gardens

Since moving to the City, I have heard lots of wonderful things about a nearby green-space with an impressive spring display of tulips.  I had seens lots of people's pictures from the gardens - amateurs and professionals alike seem to flock to this spot.  And I kept meaning to investigate it for myself, but never found the time.  Until last week when Papillon, Hibou and I met a couple friends there to just explore and enjoy the nice weather! 

A few of my favorite tulips (they have pretty much every kind imaginable!)



Piggy Back Rides!

Pretty yellow tulips!
Napping in the grass

It was such a beautiful day!



After we finished exploring, Hibou was ready for a snack. And Papillon was ready to play! Luckily our friend had brought a ball and the two of them had a blast playing "catch".  Or, as Papillon would say "I get it!" (a phrase she repeated over and over again, between fits of laughter and squeals of delight!)



New Curtains

Recently, Mon Amour and I tried our hand a little house project.  House projects are not our strong point, but seriously, we thought, how hard could it be to hang some new curtains?  The answer: Don't ask, it was waaaaay more complicated than it should have been.  But, they are hung now, so life moves on. 

A few before shots:

This is not officially how the curtains worked - but just imagine that gimpy bundle of fabric at the top of the window, rather than at the bottom, and that's about what it looked like.

In other words: ugly. 
They were also impossible to raise up and down cause the home-made curtain pulls were breaking and got tangled and were over all very gimpy.  The cord then got wrapped around 2 screws just randomly stuck into the side of the windowsill.  

For extra gimpy-ness, we discovered when we removed them, that they were actually Velcro-ed to this random, unstained board that is very firmly screwed into the wall.  
 

The new curtains....

...so much nicer! They actually make the room look taller and bigger somehow.  And we have some shear curtains behind some awesome brown curtains that do a great job of blocking out the light.
It may have taken a whole day....or possible 2....but when it was all said and done, we decided it was a pretty fabulous little home project!

Smiles

She's 6 weeks old, and she smiles.

And laughs. 
And is all around amazing. 

Baby Blue Eyes

At 6 weeks old, Hibou still spends a vast majority of her life asleep.  But she is starting to go for longer and longer stretches of awake time.  And I just love to see her baby blues!
I know most all babies start off with blue eyes, but hers just seems to be getting bluer and bluer every day.
Who knows, maybe she will have her dad's blue eyes once they settle into their final color.


Easter

It's not the bestest family photo ever.  But by the time we got around to taking the picture post-church and post-Easter brunch, we didn't have time to perfect it.  So this is what we got - the whole family on Easter Sunday!

And just for fun - Hibou Marron in her first Easter outfit!

Bakery Visit

When she was three and a half weeks old, Hibou made her first trip to my parents bakery.
Tada!
At the time, Easter was just around the corner, and so Papillon was charged with modeling some of the seasonal goodies - like the Baby Bunnies!

Hibou had to get in on the bread-bunny modeling as well!
So tiny!

My dad had recently decided that lunch is more fun in these little red lunch baskets that he found. Papillon agreed. So we all had our lunches served up in special red baskets of fun!



As I suspected, Papillon is a little extra jealous of Hibou when it comes to Grandpa.  But somehow Grandpa managed to sneak in some special times with Hibou.


Tasty Treat

Since Hibou's arrival, we have been blessed with lots of tasty meals from friends.  Often times, the tasty meal is accompanied by tasty dessert as well.  In this case, Angel Food Cake and Strawberries!
Yum!
Papillon thoroughly enjoyed this after dinner treat!

Auntie M

When Auntie M. comes for a visit, the good times abound. 

Here are Papillon and her Auntie having an afternoon snack.
Cheerios!
And reading some books on Papillon's little sofa.


Hibou Marron, 1 Month

Hard to believe, but Hibou Marron is already 1 month old!  Already she is growing up too fast! 

I think I will take her monthly pictures with her little green doll, but I wanted to include Snoopy for comparison's sake as well.  And Papillon insisted on being in the picture as well, for further comparison. 

Papillon likes to imitate Hibou - so when Hibou's feet twitched a bit, Papillon shouted "FOOT!" and shot her leg up in the air!  So fun.


The entire photo shoot was pretty fun. I got a few cute shots of the girls together. But I had to act fast cause Hibou is clearly not stable yet, and Papillon doesn't like to sit still for very long.  In this picture I asked Papillon to put her arm around Hibou and hold perfectly still....she did such a good job holding still that when I asked her to smile, she wouldn't even look up.  Nice work Papillon! 

Papillon was very good about being gentle and holding still...but we did have a few tumbles. Note the sideways blur in this one.

Papillon did not want to miss out on any of the photos, but I did manage to distract her long enough to get one or two of just Hibou.

At 1 month, Hibou...

...prefers to sleep on her side. And doesn't like to be swaddled particularly. I wrap her up, hands free, and she is a happy camper. 

...is sleeping really well at night. I usually feed her around 8:30, she goes to bed around 9 or 9:30. Gets up at 12ish, 4 ish and 7ish.   For a while she would want to stay up after the second feeding, but she seems to be getting better at figuring out that night time is for going directly back to sleep. 

...after a couple weeks of sleeping in the Pack N Play next to my bed, she is now in her own room in her crib. 

...has maybe, possibly, smiled once or twice. Hopefully the smiles will start soon! 

....doesn't mind the sling, erg or carseat. She fusses when you first put her in any one, but she settles in within a minute or two. 

...enjoys, but is not (yet) addicted to the pacifier.  We went the first 3 weeks using nursing as really the only means of comforting her. At 3 weeks, when she was definitely gaining weight, we got out the pacifier (and bouncy seat) and she is much better at using it than Papillon was.  She does also like to nibble on her hands, so she may be a natural thumb sucker like her sister. 

...as of two days ago, weighs an even 8lbs.  Woohoo!   We are by no means setting any weight gaining records, but she is definitely growing.  We will take 25 percentile for weight any day! 

...is 21.5 inches long.  50 percentile. 

It seems that the shot she received at 4 weeks really knocked her out cause she slept that whole afternoon and still slept great that night.  These pictures are the result of me trying (and failing) to wake her in order to feed her before I called it a night.
Awake?
Nope. Still asleep.

I don't want to constantly be comparing Papillon and Hibou, but I can't help but think about how things were going when Papillon was one month, and we were struggling with her growth, and how we were still finding a church and so didn't have a lot of friends in this area, and so I felt like it was just me fighting through each long day.  
And then I look at what I have now.... 
Life is good. 
Life with two is much more do-able (so far) than I thought it would be. In fact, it is a ton of fun. 
Awesome friends, a baby who eats, a toddler who loves her baby sister, all help with that. 

We love you Hibou Marron!