Snippets from Summers Hill

Our 6 month old sweetie.

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 06:25:00 +0000

I can hardly believe my baby girl is already 6 months old. Isn't she supposed to still be a newborn? Yikes, time flies so much faster the second time around. At 6 months old, our sweet girl is:
- rolling over both ways
- sitting with little assistance, going short spurts on her own
- already starting to try and pull her knees up under herself while on her tummy
- cooing, giggling and squealing quite a bit
- happy to play on her own in one of her toys or on the floor, as long as Mommy, Daddy or big brother aren't too far away
- not showing any teeth yet, but is...

... very into putting everything into her mouth,

...especially her feet. She's very into her feet.

Feet, apparently, are funny.

She's also into the pretty Christmas lights Daddy put up outside. Ooooh.....aaahhhhh.....

And good golly is she cute. Gerber baby replacement cute.

And smiley. She's a very happy, smiley, cooing baby 99.9% of the time.

And did I mention cute? Big, blue, doe-eyed, dimple-chinned cute?

Brimming with cuteness, our newly 6 month old waited anxiously for her first taste of cereal.

"Eeeeeww... that's not what I ordered!"

She didn't like it one bit. There were some tears shed, and some choice words about that junk on a spoon.

"Please, mommy, don't ever give me that nasty stuff again."

Which, of course I did the next day, and the day after that... We've tried it multiple times and she still does not like it one bit. I've tried oatmeal instead of rice, and some squash, thinking maybe it was the flavor she didn't like, but nope, she simply does NOT like solid foods. I'll just keep trying, while she looks at me pathetically with those beautiful doe eyes as if to say, "You're not going to give me that junk on a spoon AGAIN are you, Mommy?"

Oh, Christmas tooweeee, oh Christmas tooweeeee...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 05:50:00 +0000

"Tooweeeee! Tooweeeee!" Yes, last weekend I put our tree up. I was surprised how much Luke seemed to remember from last year. For example, when I was bringing the pieces upstairs (yes, I'm ashamed to admit, it's fake) Luke started saying "Tooweeee!" before I even started putting it together. Unfortunately, even after all the work hubby did on the lights last year, less than half of them were working. But, as you can see in the photo, they were evenly spaced so it looked kind of like a light garland. Slowly over the past week, more and more lights have started to work and as I type there are only a few sections left unlit. Maybe by Christmas they'll all be working!

Luke had been playing with the bead garland around the house for a few days, dragging it around and stuffing it in different places, and I wasn't sure he really remembered what it was supposed to be for. But, when I mentioned that we were going to start decorating the tree and stepped out of the room, I walked back in to find this....I just love this picture, it warms my heart to look at it. He was very intent on doing a good job, evenly spacing the drapes of garland, frequently re-draping until it was perfect... a little man after my own heart.

If plumbers wore diapers, it'd look something like this.

Pretty! Good job, buddy.

Oops, apparently not good enough. He's re-adjusting again. I tell you, he's an arteeest at work.

A little side story.... in the late summer/early fall, when Luke wanted to go out on the deck to play on his slide, I'd tell him he needed to get socks on first. (He was usually barefoot, and I wanted him to at least have socks on). He would go running into his room and bring me back a pair of socks to put on him so he could hurry outside as quick as possible. As the weather got colder, he continued to do the same thing. Now it doesn't matter if he already has socks on and I tell him we need to get his shoes and coat on, if going outside is even mentioned, he goes running into his room, peels off his socks and brings me a fresh pair. That, according to him, is his passport to the great outdoors. A pair of clean socks.

After doing a little tree trimming, Luke lost interest and went running off down the hall, returning after a few minutes to the tree. I hadn't even realized that "we" had decided to go play outside until I saw what Luke had added to the tree, on the side nearest the door....
Doesn't everyone decorate their tree with socks?

More pictures of our decorated tree and our favorite ornaments to come...

Our heartwarming Thanksgiving family photos...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:44:00 +0000

Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce the winners of this Thanksgiving's "Worst Group-Photo-Taking Family", the Summers family! (*Applause from crowd.*)
Yoohoo, Daddy, the football game on tv does not take family photos! Poor Maria looks like she's ready for a nap, and Luke is just dreaming about cookies.

Looks like the tryptophan has hit Daddy, and Luke looks......a little psycho. He must see a cookie on tv. (Note to self, turn off the tv when attempting to photograph children. Or husbands.)

Look up here! Not that far up, Daddy. Was that a head bob? Stay with us, we just need one good shot!

Hello? Look at the camera! You know, that flashy thingy Auntie Karie is holding?

Oy, I give up.

WARNING Hormonal surge may occur.

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:52:00 +0000

This blog post may cause high levels of maternal urges and warm fuzzies. (At least for mommy....and gramma.) I won't be writing much so I can get back to spending a rare evening with hubby. But really, these pictures of my beautiful, precious baby girl don't need much explanation..... (they are most effective if you click on them to make them larger. Oh, be still my heart.)...
Ohhhh, the rosy cheeks, that pouty little mouth, those delicately curled eyelashes.... it's too much.

Now, these pics of my favorite little man may not be the most adorable shots I have of him, but the story behind it makes me overflow with the warm fuzzies just thinking about it. The other evening after putting Maria to bed, Luke was being VERY loving and snuggly with lots of hugs and "disses", (and he doesn't usually volunteer "disses".) I just didn't want it to end, and he'd had a later nap, so we changed into our pj's and had a pajama party in Mommy's bed watching Nemo instead! (I skipped over the scary parts. We didn't need them to put a damper on our happy snugglefest.) When I tried to take pictures of him with the red eye reduction on, he got a kick out of all the flashes. He giggled every time the camera started flashing, giving me some great mid-giggle shots.*Sigh* And now I'm off for more snuggles with my favorite big man.

We've been exersaucing...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:24:00 +0000

About a month ago, I decided Maria was probably big and strong enough to graduate to the exersaucer so we pulled it out of storage and set it up upstairs. Ok, by "we" I mean I was the brains and my sweet hubby was the muscle. (I asked and he dragged it upstairs for me.) But anyway, back to the star of the blog post...Sure enough, her legs were juuuuuuust barely long enough to touch the bottom. She loves the ability to sit and "stand" upright to survey her short little world.
And as long as I keep some toys on long enough "chains" for her to get to her mouth, she's a happy camper.My goodness, isn't she cute? Do you think Gerber might be interested in a new spokesbaby?

Apparently, seeing his old friend the exersaucer brought back fond memories for Lukas, too. I could hear him playing with it and thought he was just playing around it but was amused to find this....With both legs stuck through one leg hole, I might add.He was having fun until he realized he was stuck. Since then, he's gotten in it almost every day at least once. Each time, he can't figure out how to get back out and he'll call for me, "Tuuuuuck! Mommy, tuuuuuck!", (that's "stuuuuuck, stuuuuuck" for those of you who don't speak toddler,) which means he's done playing and would like me to get him out now.

In the mouths of babes...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:36:00 +0000

I walked in to get Luke after a nap a while back and caught him looking like this...
Notice anything on his face? I wish I could say it was due to something cute, like trying to rub lotion on his own adorable cheeks, but no....
I caught him sucking on a tube of diaper creme. No, I'm not kidding.He thought it was pretty funny. Not to mention tasty. The diaper creme is now well hidden, in case he gets the urge for a midnight snack.

Our precious little girl, on the other hand, has thankfully been keeping to more... appropriate things. Like her doll's face...She always just goes for the face. She could care less about the wooden rings her dolly is "holding", designed for just that purpose. That would be boring.And, like her big brother, our little girl is anything but boring!

As Elmo's World Turns...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:43:00 +0000

Now that Luke's two, I've eased up on the t.v. watching. This was one of the first times he saw Elmo in action on t.v. What's that they say about t.v. turning kids into zombies?....He looks very concerned. Must have been a dramatic episode of Elmo's World.
No matter how many pictures I took or how close I got, he didn't even blink. It made me laugh out loud at the time, but I'm sure going to treasure shots like this for years...

Babysitting

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:08:00 +0000

I've been a bad, bad blogger. *Sigh* If these pictures look like they were taken a few months ago, well.... it's because they were. You know, back when the kids could go without long pants and socks because it was still summer? I am attempting to get caught back up again, so I will begin around where I left off...

Of course, this is old news by now, but I'm sure you will all be impressed when I share with you how I've already begun teaching 2-year-old Lukas how to babysit. Yes, we feel there's no sense in waiting until he's older and "more responsible". Psshaw! Nonsense. That responsibility stuff is highly overrated and it's about time he started pitching in around here. And now, we will demonstrate for you his amazingly advanced skills...

"Lukas, Mommy wants you to babysit Maria.""Good job, buddy."

Ok, the REAL story is that I was working in the kitchen and Luke kept turning around, bending over and slooooowly and caaaarefully backing up toward Maria and the bouncy chair. He'd gingerly try to perch his little behind on the corner of her seat and sit for a moment, get up and turn around to survey her and the seat, then turn back around again to take aim with his tushie from a different angle for another attempt. Yet another of those times when I wish I could hear what was going on in that brilliant and adorable little mind of his.

Something old, something new, something hand-me-down and blue...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:19:00 +0000

No, nobody is getting married. At least, not anytime soon. It just seemed to fit what I wanted to share today. So, as I was saying...

For something old, I bring you "The Tale of a Dresser" ...
This dresser was once painted yellow and held the sweet little belongings and the diapered tushie of a baby girl named Candy Star. Candy Star grew up, stripped off the yellow paint, refinished the beautiful wood underneath, and it's drawers once again held precious little baby things as Candy Star used it's top to diaper the tushie of her own baby girl, Karie Ann Marie. While Karie Ann Marie was growing up, much to her dismay, she gained an obnoxious younger step sister named Adrienne. They both grew up, Adrienne turned out to be not-so-obnoxious after a while, and eventually started a family of her own. When Adrienne was getting ready to welcome their second babe into the world, Candy Star brought her the one last missing piece needed for the new baby's nursery, the changing table dresser. So, while gigantic-ly with child, Adrienne carefully sanded the worn dresser and refinished it with love for her new baby girl, Maria Ann Star, who shares the names of her great-grandmother, two grandmothers and the niftyness of two middle names like Auntie Karie... but that's all a different story.
And now for something new, I give you "Diddy 'Bout a Diaper Bag"...

There once was a new mommy of two,
whose bag once held tidbits of blue.
She tried with all her might
to cram all baby things in sight
and that's when the diaper bag blew.

Then the new mommy of two's fairy godmother (ok, fine, it was actually the new baby's gramma) gave her some gift money, and the mommy used it to buy this fab new diaper bag. The end.

And last but most certainly not least, Maria would like everyone to know that she can rock the baby blue hand-me-down pacifiers like nobody's business...
"Baby blue is the new baby pink, don't you know?", says fashion forward Maria.You go girl.

I (almost) have no words...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:47:00 +0000

It's difficult to give up the preconceived ideas of what your plan for your life may be, but it's AMAZING what the Lord can do if you truly put those notions aside and let Him lead the way.

Let this ongoing story touch your heart. (Click on the "blog".) I promise you'll be blessed by it.

Paci love....

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Luke likes to help Maria with her pacifier. Maria often doesn't want her pacifier. If Lukas sees it laying nearby, he'll try to somehow get it into her mouth and keep it there. Maria, on the other hand is just soooo enamored by her big brother that she puts up with a lot of abuse.
Lukas: "Aim at the mouth.....wait for an opening.... then SHOVE!"
Maria: "Hi big brother! I'm so happy to see you. I love you big brother."

Lukas: "Dang, it's right back out again. I should just be able to push it back in with my thumb.....concentrate....wait for it...."
Maria: "I love you big brother. Big brother, have I told you lately that I love you?"

Luke: (Squeezing the pacifier,) "What's wrong with this thing? It seems to be defective..."
Maria: "....love you, love you, love you..."
Luke: "Maybe if I try it from a different angle...."Luke: "Ok now....aim....steady....now put my weight behind it and really CRAM IT IN!"
Maria: ".....love y*gag* *cough*...love you, love you...."

Basketball

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 02:27:00 +0000

One would think that living in the Summers household, our son would have a complete understanding of all sports equipment and their uses. But alas, Daddy must be slacking because when Luke heard me tell him that one of his new toys was a basketball, he stopped for a moment as if in deep thought...
...then promptly went directly to the nearest laundry basket and sat in it, with his "basket"ball.

(I had to include this next shot just because of the funny, spaced-out look on his face.)..."Earth to Lukas. Come in Lukas."

More to come...promise.

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 06:44:00 +0000

Quite a bit has happened in the past month since I last posted regularly; I was laid off in the middle of my maternity leave, I was asked to co-lead a group at a bible study I've been attending for years and will start doing so in a few weeks, Rainer's had surgery for a clinical trial, Maria was dedicated (but I've covered that post already,) and I've found I may be going back to school, at least for a few classes, if not more and changing to a different line of work. I'll have to go into detail later, but here are a few pictures of the kiddos for now:

Luke continues to be fascinated with turning the lights on and off, and when he figured out how the dimmer on his table lamp worked......there was no obstacle he wouldn't conquer to satisfy his OCD light switching tendancies.
Maria continues to grow more and more delicious each day, and I continue to try and capture her yummy cuteness as best as possible. Maybe if I get in reeeeeeeally close...
Some ladies like to unwind in a nice warm bath with a glass of wine......Maria prefers a paci.

I will get back up to date soon. Promise.

Maria's dedication

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:23:00 +0000

Our baby girl, Maria Ann Star, was dedicated last Sunday at Calvary Chapel in Olympia, our home church.
Pastor Chuck got a chuckle when he mentioned he was keeping an eye out for pretty little girls for his grandsons. He graciously continued with the dedication, even though we, and all our visiting family were late getting to the church. I *heart* Pastor Chuck. :o)

"Grammie" Candy Star with her namesake. She is who Maria gets the Star in her name from.

"Gramma", a.k.a. my mom Andrea, with her namesake. She is who Maria gets the Ann in her name from. This first shot was a good one of Gramma, but Maria was busy flipping gang signs.

Not as good of a picture of Gramma, (complete with light fixture growing out of her head), but you can finally see Maria's pretty peepers.

Daddy had to go home to bed early, but the rest of us gathered for a group photo outside the Olive Garden where we had lunch after the dedication. Gramma, Maria, Mommy, big brother Luke, Grammie Candy and Aunt Pat.

An unauthorized post... ;o)

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 19:02:00 +0000

***Warning: This post is not authorized by Daddy.*** ;o)

A few weeks ago, while I was taking a much needed nap thanks to my thoughtful, sweet hubby, I missed a little excitement. I was awakened by the sound of the bathtub running, Luke whining, and hubby saying something like, "Well, you brought this on yourself." I walked in to find a little boy with sticky clothes and sticky hair getting stripped down for the tub. As it turns out, my dear hubby was quite exhausted from work and made the mistake of laying down on the couch while Luke played. He says he closed his eyes for "just a few minutes" and woke up to find Luke in the pantry, covered in Karo syrup.Word to the wise, keep all bottles that say...
"Easy Squeeze" on shelves higher than your toddler's reach.

Now, for the part of the post my hubby's REALLY going to hate. Luke had picked up some of Maria's clothes, (a onesie,) and when I told him it was baby Maria's shirt, he heard the "shirt" part and knew just what to do with it...
I admit, after watching him try and try to put the shirt on by himself I DID help him put it on, laughing the whole time. Knowing how Rainer would go nuts when he saw him, we went down the hall to wake him up, Luke still decked out in his frilly duds. Rainer was, of course, less than pleased and acted as if the pink flowers and ruffles were sucking away Luke's very masculinity. Knowing me, it didn't take long before Rainer asked, in a you-better-not-have tone, "You didn't take pictures of him in that, did you?" Are you kidding me?!? Of COURSE I did. What self-respecting scrapbooking and blogging mommy wouldn't?I think the puffy sleeves are an especially nice touch, don't you?

Portraits are here!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:12:00 +0000

They're here! Our portraits from Maria's newborn shoot! Lukas was MUCH less cooperative than his usual happy go lucky self for some reason, (and of course we had to deal with Daddy's usual camera un-friendliness) but we still managed to get some good shots. Even one with a smile!...

Maria's announcements...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:06:00 +0000

Instead of making Maria's announcements with "real" paper and embellishments, like I did with Luke's, I decided to make her's all digital with my nifty computer program. (Photoshop Elements) I finally have (almost all) the announcements printed and mailed, and had to share it here, too! I'm kind of proud with how it turned out...

What do you think?

By the way, if you should have gotten one but haven't, please let me know. I've had some additional little hands "helping" me with all the envelopes and would hate to find one under the couch or something a year from now, (like I did with a couple of his thank you cards from his 1 yr birthday.) :o)

Peek-a-booing and a little housekeeping...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:39:00 +0000

One of Luke's favorite things lately is to "wash" things. He often asks for a "wa-wass", meaning he wants a wet wipe to go wash things. I think he calls them a "wa-wass" because he's mimicking how I say "wash, wash, wash..." while he's wiping down everything in sight, the coffee table, the window, his toy cars, his hands, his head, his face, the cats... you get the picture. Apparently, much to her shock, Maria's face needed a "wa-wass"...
Then that lead to a game of peek-a-boo....
(Is it just me or does that last shot creepily remind you of those pictures of Michael Jackson's face-covered children?) Don't worry, Maria wasn't going to suffocate, I was right next to them like any good mother... busy taking pictures. I thought Maria might fuss at all this misguided attention, but she actually seemed to like it! You can see her grinning under this next peek-a-boo attempt...
Then Luke turned the peek-a-booing on himself and I got this great shot that I just love...There's just something about the way that Luke is grinning at her and obviously in mid-peek-a-boo, and she's just fixated on her her big brother.

Button, button, who's got the button...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 19:54:00 +0000

While I was playing with my camera and taking pictures of Maria, Luke started chanting, "Button! Button! Button!", and I realized he was talking about Maria's belly button. As soon as I made room for him, he dutifully pointed out her cute "button"...
And I must say, it took quite a long time for her to lose her umbilical cord, but once she did she was left with a perfect belly button. It's sticking out a little here, but when she's relaxed it looks like the way a cartoon belly button is drawn.

I aaaaaalmost got a picture of Luke giving his sister "disses", (which mean "kisses", not insults, of course,) but he's quicker than my clicking. His kisses are often more like head-butts. It's as if he thinks his lips are attached to his forehead, but then again, when he signs "thank you" (which is supposed to look kind of like blowing a kiss from your chin instead of your mouth) he does it from his ear instead. Maybe he's a little confused about where his facial features are. Or maybe he's a fan of Picasso.

Clips and grins...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:23:00 +0000

About a week ago, in a momentary lapse of good judgement, I finally gave in. Rainer had been wanting to buzz cut Luke's hair, just like his, and had continually threatened to do it himself. Because I love my baby's precious ears and would like to keep them in one piece and attached to his head, I thought it would be a better idea if I got to it first. My guys before... (Daddy's not really drunk, he just looks like it.)
After Daddy's haircut, Luke sat in his lap and I took the clippers to him, too. After the first few swipes, I unfortunately realized that his hair is much thinner and lighter than Daddy's and he looked quite bald with it that short. *Sigh.* Here are my guys after... (Not sure what Daddy's doing in this one. The camera just seems to have it out for him, poor guy.)
My poor child, I think he ended up looking like a little cancer patient. Rainer thinks he looks great and is proud of his "Mini-Me". In this next picture, it looks like Luke wants to say...... "Somebody kidnap me and get me a decent haircut. Please."

As for our newest little angel, she was a willing subject while I played around with some of the macro settings on my (mostly automatic) camera. You can't tell very well in the smaller picture (it gets bigger if you click on it,) but her little lashes are starting to get longer and curl at the ends. :o)
As she began to doze off, she started grinning... Thank God I was in the right place at the right time with my camera armed and ready! Isn't she just so precious?...

As for me, I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting back to normal. Well, sleep deprived, but normal. I was getting kind of discouraged that I just couldn't seem to get any of my "oomph" back. It sure does take longer to heal the 2nd time around, or at least it has for me. But this week I'm doing much better.

In other misc. news, Luke pooped on his "Eh-mo bah-tee" (Elmo potty) for the first time yesterday!! I will be shamelessly posting some pics later. Yes, I proudly took pictures of my big guy on his potty.

BOTH little ones are FINALLY sleeping so I'm next. Good night!

One month!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:43:00 +0000

Maria is 1 month old today! So far she is:
- stronger than Luke was, and has better head control (but then again, she "cooked" for 2 weeks longer than he did,) ;o)
- awake and alert more than I remember Luke being at this age
- fussier and much more opinionated than her big brother was
- harder to get to sleep than Luke so far, but usually sleeps longer than he would once she's down
- sounds like she's having issues with reflux like big brother, too, and has spent some nights sleeping in her bouncy chair
- such a pretty little girl who likes to smile at her Mommy, as long as all her demands have been met. :o)

I've been trying to get her smile on camera, but so far have just gotten a few "almosts" and "kindas"

Happy one month, Missy Miss!

"Bye bye for now."

First bath and photo update...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:01:00 +0000

These photos are a little late in coming, but here is a glimpse on what Maria's first bath was like...
She didn't care for her first sponge bath much, until it was over, that is. Bathing has been much better since then, but we're still doing "sponge baths" because her umbilical cord is STILL hanging on.

These pictures are really late, too, but here's Maria with Grammie Candy the first week we were home...

And with Gramma about a week later when I was sick and Gramma had come back for a sleepover to help out again.
I suppose I should blog a bit about what happened a little over a week ago. I came down with a sudden fever that went up over 103 and ended up going to the ER at the direction of my OB's office. They did all sorts of tests but never did find out the cause of the fever. One of the biggest concerns, since I just had a c-section about a week prior, was blood clots either in my legs or my lungs. They did a CT scan to check for clots in my lungs as one of the tests and had to inject me with iodine as part of the test, which then meant I couldn't nurse Maria for a couple days. I had to "pump and dump" and give Maria bottles instead. Thankfully, I had a small stash of milk I had pumped during the first week and was blessed by a friend who had a baby about a month before me and generously gave me some of her stash, too, so we had just enough to get through those few days without ever having to resort to formula! Maria did great going to the bottles, then back to breastfeeding again without a hitch. I had the fever for a few more days and we never did find out for sure what the cause was. I'm "all better" now, just back to recovering and trying to get sleep whenever I can. :o)

Finally, a few pictures of Luke and Maria together on what Luke calls "Ree-rah's doys". I have to sit very close to make sure he doesn't steam roll over her. He doesn't yet seem to grasp the concept of being careful or gentle around her, and often doesn't seem to be aware of where his body is or whether a leg or elbow may be about to whack her upside the head. :o)
I am now officially caught up on photos, at least with what I already have uploaded to the computer, that is. I have more that need to be uploaded, then prepped and posted, but that will have to wait for now. At least I did two photo-laden posts in one day! Now I need to get caught up on my scrapbooking... oy vey.

Big Brother Luke

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:54:00 +0000

Big brother Luke is getting into the swing of his new role and is learning how to help with his new baby sister. He calls her "Ree-rah" or "Baby Ree-rah" in a way that I find incredibly adorable. His favorite task is to take the rolled up dirty diapers and put them in the garbage, (or as he pronounces it, something like "bahdids"). He's learned how to step on the pedal to lift the garbage can lid and is quite proud of himself. We still have to go with him to "help" him, though, which really means we have to steer him away from the "bahdids" once he's done with his diaper tossing since he's tempted to stay and play. Yesterday, after hearing me say we needed to put baby Maria into her car seat before we could go bye-bye, he promptly walked over to her laying on the couch, grabbed as much of her outfit as his little hands could hold, and was clearly going to try and lift her. He was anxious to get going and doesn't like to wait once we've told him we're "going bye-bye". It was so cute to see his matter of fact facial expression and imagine the dialogue going on in his head, "We need to put Maria in her car seat? Ok then. I'm on it, Mommy." On the other hand, he's also upping the ante on his fit-throwing. Ahh, nothing like a new sibling to fast forward the little guy into his soon-to-be-two-ness.

About a week ago when I was sick and exhausted, I bent my own "no tv or dvd's until after age 2" rule and put in an Elmo dvd to see if it held Luke's attention for a while. Boy, did it ever. He was so tickled to see and HEAR Elmo for the first time on the screen. He just sat and stared for the longest time, even while I sat in his face with the camera, snapping away...
That is not how he normally reacts when I have the camera out. The other day when I was taking all those pics of Maria that I posted last, it didn't take long before he dropped what he was doing to come try to play with Mommy's "toy". THIS is what normally happens when the camera comes out...
So, of course I had to show a little camera love to my big guy and we took a picture of us, which he loved... (Warning, exhausted Mommy with no makeup...)
I have plenty more pictures to post and will as soon as I get the time!

Beautiful girl photo post...

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:32:00 +0000

Just a photo post for now, I've been under the weather lately. I couldn't wait to show off more pictures of our pretty little girl, though. :o)

Big brother likes to point out Maria's different parts, (ears, nose mouth, knees, toes...) which is cute until he wants to "point out" her eyes. "Be careful, Lukas! Gentle with baby Maria's eyes!"

Maria all strapped in for her first shopping outing (to Freddy's). I'm pretty sure those cheeks are holding the straps firmly in place. :o)

She's here!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Adrienne) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:59:00 +0000

Maria Ann Star was born on Monday, June 15th at 8:01 am weighing 6 lbs 10 oz and 18 inches long.

When big brother came to meet his new sister for the first time, he snuggled with Mommy in bed while Daddy brought her over. We kept asking him if he wanted to see his new baby sister and he kept playing bashful by burying his head and coyly saying "noooooo"...

When she started "exercising her lungs" for the first time during his visit, he stopped cold and just staaaaared at her with this look on his face...
The next day he was a little more comfortable sharing the same space with the strange little bundle who had invaded his Mommy's lap and we got this family picture together. :o)

So, here she is in all her beautiful glory! She looks a lot like Mommy when she was born. (Finally, a child that looks like ME!)And how 'bout those lips?...More to come as I get time and energy to post. (Ha!)