Family Friday Night

After a rousing game of Chutes & Ladders (congrats to Daddy, the winner), Mikaela found her magic wand and began to do some tricks for us.

After that, a new game was created, "The Poof Game."  The magician points to wand at a subject and says, "Poof, you're a _________" and fills in the blank with an animal. The subject then acts it out, makes the animal sound, etc.  When Mike was the magician and Mikaela the subject, Daddy had gone through many animals (cow, pig, bunny, dog, etc) and decided to say, "Poof!   You're a bird."  Then from there he said, "Poof! You're an angry bird." (This is a favorite game of Mikaela's).  Her angry bird rendition got Mommy very tickled (sorry no video).  After that Mikaela wanted to be the magician and make Mommy the subject.  Daddy informed her that until Mommy stopped laughing, she wouldn't make a very good subject.  To which Mikaela replied, "Stop laughing, Mommy."  Yeah, cuz that works.

A little while later, after Mommy composed herself and was a successful subject, Daddy was the magician, instructed by Mikaela.

"Make her a ducky."
"A ducky?"
"Yeah, you know.  A ducky."

And that's how we roll on Friday nights at the Moreland house...

Nicholas Talks

No, he isn't saying words, but he is starting to coo and gurgle and have a "conversation" with us.

Big Sister

On the drive to Mariel's this morning, Nicholas was quite unhappy riding in the car and cried all the way there.  Mikaela was playing on my tablet, but periodically would say, "Nicholas.  It's okay.  You're okay."

The Kids

Take a Bow

Bike Ride & Face Painting

These events actually happened prior to Nicholas' birth, but I'm just now getting all the photos off my phone....

 

One Month Old

Nicholas is one month old.  He had a good check-up.  He's a growing boy!  Here are his stats:

Weight: 9 lbs, 9oz (60%)
Length: 22.5 in (90%)
Head: 14.75 (50%)

Nicholas has his first cold.  I think he caught the sniffles from Mikaela.  It disrupted his sleep quite a bit Thursday night, but he did better on Friday with the humidifier.

Sleeping:  He's actually doing quite well.  His average sleep pattern is bed around 10, sleep til 2 or 3, then up again at 6 or 7.  He has given us one 6 hour stretch so far.  There are still some nights where he wakes every 3-4 hours.  He doesn't quite have a schedule down yet.  He sleeps in his crib in his room.  He only slept one night in the pack n play.  On rough nights (such as his cold or reflux), he sometimes sleeps with dad in the recliner so he can be more upright.

Activities: He tolerates his swing (turned off) for a few moments.  He seems to like the bouncy chair better.  He'll do tummy time for a few moments and lifts his head quite well.  He enjoys watching his sister dance and  play around him.

Other Pictures:

We'll see if next month he holds up two fingers.

Smiles?

Can a one month old intentionally smile?  We think he just smiled at his silly sister.

More Nicholas

Not a fan of  his first bath

staring at butterflies

Tummy Time with Mikaela

A Baby Changes Everything

In 2009, in preparation of our firstborn, we said goodbye to Mike's Buick, and purchased a 2009 Ford Escape.  We planned on owning this car for many years to accommodate our growing family.  In 2011, plans changed.  When it came time to replace that vehicle, we were concerned about the financial burden of a new car, so we purchased a smaller, cheaper vehicle, a 2011 Ford Fiesta.

Less than a week before Nicholas' birth, Mike went to put the infant car seat in and realized that if I ever wanted to ride with the family, then this car wasn't going to work.  So the Friday before he was born, we got a new car and sold the Fiesta to CarMax.  It was sad to see that little car go.  We liked it a lot and it served our family (of 3) well.  To replace it, we bought a 2013 Ford Escape.

Two Weeks Old

Little Nicholas is two weeks old!  He sleeps about 2.5-3 hrs in a stretch.  We had two great nights of 4.5 hr stretches, but they were short lived.  Here are his stats:

Weight: 7 lb, 15 oz (50%)
Length: 20.5 in (50%)
Head: 14.5 (55%)

He does have reflux, but he is already on medicine so hopefully we'll keep in managed well as he starts to outgrow it.  He's a great baby.  He really only wails when the reflux is acting up.  His hunger cry is soft, just enough to let us know.

Sometimes he likes his pacifier.  He does well in a swaddle and use it consistently if he's sleeping in his bed. He already tries to left his head and turn it quite a bit, though he's not a huge fan of tummy time yet.  He doesn't mind his swing as long as it's not moving.  He's very alert and focused on faces, surprisingly more on new faces as opposed to Mom and Dad.  I guess he figures he'll be seeing ours for the next 18 years, so why stare too much?

Prayer Time

Every night we do a repeat prayer with Mikaela (where she repeats what we say).  Wednesday night, she asked to pray all by herself.  She got flustered when she couldn't think what to say, but our hearts were beaming that she wanted to try.  It's hard to know what is sinking in as we work to teach her about the love of Christ, but we were so proud of this moment!

Easter Weekend

Since Nicholas is so young (and his parents are so tired), we had a more low key Easter.  Good Friday, the kids and I spent at Graemma's while Daddy was working.  Mikaela had countless hours of egg hunt practice.    On Saturday, we spent the day at home watching a couple of VeggieTales Easter movies and dying eggs.

waiting for the eggs to change color

putting stickers on

On Sunday, Mike and Mikaela went to church.  Following the service, they had egg hunts for the kids.  Mikaela jumped the gun to start, but when Mike called her back, she got embarrassed and decided not to participate in the church hunt.

almost time for Church hunt

After church, Mike and Mikaela came back to my parents' house where Nicholas and I had spent the morning and we had lunch with the Graems.

pretty table

bunny cake for dessert

Mikaela with her eggs (before Graemma and I made the deviled)

After lunch we took some pictures outside and Mikaela got to hunt eggs again with Graemma and Aunt Amy.

And what did Nicholas do?

cute little bunny, isn't he?