Marco Doc Appointment

Little boy had his 2 month doctor appointment on April 8, 2015.  He was truly older than 2 months, but I guess that's the way they do it around here.

Here are Marco's 2 Month Stats:

Weight: 12 lb 11.5 oz (5.769 kg) 37%

Height: 24" (61 cm) 68%

Head Circumference: 40.6 cm (15.98") 73%

He was a healthy little boy and such so cooperative for his appointment.  (In order to get Lily to behave I had to give her an apple).

At least he was cooperative until it was time to go.  I'm not quite sure what happened, but he had a blowout where NONE of it was contained or captured inside of his diaper.  It all ended up on Mommy's lap.  I couldn't go home like this, and I didn't want to get it on the seat of my car.  So I found a nice nurse who gave me a towel to go home in.  Such an interesting, interesting day at the doctors! Thank you Marco for keeping me on my toes!

Marco's Baby Blessing

On April 26, 2015 Marco received his baby blessing.

It was a beautiful blessing and we wanted everyone to feel welcome to come join us on this special day since family couldn't make the trip out here.  So we created a birth announcement, and included an invitation to his baby blessing in every birth announcement that we sent out via mail.

Although we had anticipated more people joining us for this special day, we really felt blessed and grateful to those who did come and "celebrate" with us.

Lael wins the prize for traveling the furthest to support Michal.  He came out all the way from DC and we loved having him stay with us!  He brings out such a fun side of Michal and Lael has such a different and interesting perspective on life! 

Michal wasn't the only one who was grateful that Lael came.  It appears that Lily and Marco were both happy about his appearance. 

A big thank you to anyone and everyone who came over and supported us since we weren't able to have family present.  Your love shows us that we have family here in NC!

Nursery - Part 2

When we started coming back to church after Marco was born I was nervous for how Lily would "adapt" back into Nursery.  She was extremely clingy and didn't want me to leave.  And then all that disappeared when it was "Singing Time."  

Lily squealed with delight when they sang the "Wise Man and Foolish Man" for when it rains, the teacher sprays water out of a water bottle.  The kids LOVE it.

And Lily was so eager to put the sun on her face for one of the songs.

I forgot to get pictures of the wheels on the bus... but I did happen to get one photo of "Five Little Speckled Frogs."  Lily loved having a froggy on her hands and she loved copying the singing teacher.

I was so grateful that Lily was clingy this particular day because I was able to stay in Nursery with her and it gave me such a good appreciation of Nursery and how much they care for my little girl.  I loved watching her light up when it was time to sing.  I loved church this day. And it helped me to love singing more often with my little girl.

Little helper

This little girl really is such a good helper.  Even when she makes a mess, she feels bad and chimes, "Lily made a mess."  She is trying so hard to make me proud and I just beam at times where she is trying so hard to learn and it backfires.  For example, she wants to have "Mommy Juice" (water), but somehow each time she drinks it "Mommy Juice" spills... either on her whatever is nearby.  The particular picture below she reached onto my nightstand and spilled my water everywhere.  I was nursing and so frustrated and didn't want to interrupt Marco's meal to clean up her mess so quite sternly I told her, "Go get a towel and clean it up."  I figured she's get a towel off the back of her bathroom door.  Or she'd grab an old towel in her laundry basket and bring it back.  I was wrong.  Lily went downstairs and climbed up on top of the kitchen table's chairs to grab a heavy beach towel that I had downstairs. (I thought it would be a fabulous idea to try to do Yoga outside on it.  My idea wasn't so fabulous.) She lugged the heavy towel all the way upstairs... and then proceeded to wipe up her spilled "mess."  I mean... how can you be upset when a little girl puts forth that much effort to clean up after herself?  It brought a huge smile to my face and I couldn't help but snap a photo so I could always remember how much of a great little helper she is.

She is also overly eager to make sure that Marco receives enough hugs each day and that any of his needs are met.  Whenever he is crying Lily announces to the household, "Marco crying. Marco crying."  And it warms my heart that she is so concerned about him and wants him to be happy.  Sometimes when Marco is crying she brings him his pacifier. She thinks it will help him by happy again.

And other times that he is crying she brings him her toys.

(Like her Doc McStuffin's stethoscope).

But don't get me wrong... she is into a lot of mischief as well and sometimes her help inhibits us from doing what we need to get done. 

One specific day I was showering and drying my hair.  As I was showering Lily was in my room "organizing" papers and batteries.  And then as I dried my hair she proceeded to take as many items as possible out from underneath the sinks and line them up along side the bathtub.  And, bless her heart, its probably because she saw me organizing or cleaning earlier that day and wanted to help.  (She just didn't realize that I had already completed that task and didn't need to do it a second time).

This specific day I was making dinner.  I look down and notice that Lily has pulled every utensil out from inside the bottom drawer (I put safe utensils down there so she can play with them instead of getting into other things I'd rather not clean up after). I was exasperated.  I almost got after her for "making a mess" until I looked at the mess I had created from making stuffed shells for dinner.  I can't blame her for taking everything out when she was just trying to "be like Mommy" (even if Mommy is a slob when cooking).

Lily also likes to help out Daddy.  When he was fertilizing and seeding the lawn, she had to feel like she was helping out also by "mowing" the lawn with her toy lawnmower.  She doesn't understand that her lawnmower has no effect on the lawn whatsoever.  But it is so adorable to watch her try and help her daddy.

And this one is my favorite.  I bought Lily a kite at Wal-Mart for $1.39.  It was a "Frozen" kite with Anna pictured on it.  We went outside and tried to use it.  It was a bust.  It didn't work.  But I did happen to get the kite all dirty.  Well... since the kite was dirty she wanted to give "Anna" a bath.  So she went and pulled down the bath that we use to bathe Marco, and put "Anna" (the kite) in the bath.  Then she got a cup from her kitchen and filled it with water (from the fridge).  She went back and forth and back and forth doing this a million times (as her cup was extremely small).  All she wanted was to give Anna a bath and I couldn't stop her because she really, truly felt like she was helping. She really is such a good girl!

As she continues to grow (and possibly frustrate me) I hope to be able to look back at these endearing moments and smile.  I hope it will help me to be more laid back and easy going and appreciate the small things in life.  She sure helps me to laugh and love her.

Easter

Easter

Being a parent, holidays take on new meanings...

Growing up, holidays start to lose their glamour as you realize the true nature of "Santa Claus" or "The Easter Bunny".  But this glamour is returned when your children are able to experience the magic of the holiday.  As well, Holidays change as you grow up because you start to focus on the real meaning of the holiday (Easter = the Savior's resurrection) instead of the treats and surprises involved with the holiday.

This particular holiday we tried to make special for Lily.  She is still a little young, but gaining a greater understanding for each holiday that passes.  We wanted to really try to make an effort to make this holiday special for her.  So we got her some special treats!

Can you tell what her favorite gift of the whole basket was?  Frozen cereal!  It was a hit!

She liked the little bunny that the Easter Bunny brought also...

But we couldn't go anywhere or do anything until we had eaten our 'Frozen' cereal (or at least all the marshmallows in it).

That was probably a good thing because it was really cold this specific morning and we wanted to wait until it warmed up a bit to go and gather eggs.  However, when she looked out the back window and saw the "eggs" she wanted to go and get them right away.

So we bundled up and gathered eggs as quickly as possible.  At first she wanted to open each egg as she gathered it, but with our guidance, she learned to just gather them and put them in her basket to open for later.

When we came inside to open eggs, she wanted to eat each one right away.  Unless the egg was filled with goldfish.  Those goldfish went to the side and all the other treats were eaten.  Holy cow - she was a good eater today - but of course - if you had treats all morning, you'd be a good eater too!

I think that she grasped the idea of Easter and gathering eggs, because the next few mornings she went to the back window and said "Easter Bunny.  Easter Bunny." Hoping that she could go and gather eggs, and thus get more treats.  This has been a good teaching moment to explain why holidays are so important and why they happen only once a year and how we need to make them as extra special as possible.  As Lily gets older, we will include Michal's Polish tradition of going to get baskets blessed the day before Easter Sunday.  But for now, we are so happy of how Easter turned out for Lily, because she was so happy and excited!