Hello Spring

Oh the wonderful feeling when both babies are asleep in their respective cribs after a long, but fun, day.  I love them to pieces, but I also love bedtime. Hallelujah for Spring!  Isn't it fantastic?  It has been so beautiful here recently, and I'm so glad that we can go outside in t-shirts, play with water, plan all outdoor activities and just enjoy this beautiful life.  Now that I'm feeling back to normal, it's been good to get into the routine of getting out each day and doing something fun.  This happens about 2 hours later each day than it used to, but hey, we roll with it.  Levi is an absolute trooper in the Bjorn, so he spend most of the morning in that and gets his beauty rest in.  We are by no means on a schedule, but he is getting older and cuter, and oh how wonderful his smiles are! They make that 3AM party which he wanted to have last night a bit more bearable.

 He is also quite the 'talker' and definitely wants to be a part of the action.  Already he has a cry which solely means, "I need someone to talk to me".  One night, I was holding him on the couch and he was faced toward Nathan who was doing his diligent workout on the stationary bike.  Nathan would talk to him or coo at him, and Levi would coo right back.  When Nate would look away at either the phone, tv, or mileage, Levi made a bit angrier noise at Nate.  Nate would look back at him and Levi would be all smiles again.  It was hilarious.  They are going to be the cutest little buddies--can't wait.  For now we're grateful that Nathan can hold him a bit more these days :).

Easter was awesome.  Claire had an absolute blast with the egg hunts.  A few days prior to our first hunt, I busted out the empty eggs and we did an indoor hunt just to get her used to the concept and so she would know what to do when the real thing came.  She was excited about the first few eggs, but them quickly got distracted with other toys.  I had to encourage her to keep looking.  But, when Saturday and Sunday came and the eggs had 1 piece of candy in each, boy was she motivated.  Absolute joy.  Here's one reason why I love Claire:  she asks to eat candy/treats.  Most kids, when presented with a candy, will immediately scarf it down.  She loves to hold it and play with it and give me the look like, "Mom!  Do you see this?  And I think it's for me!!"  Another example--we bought a cookie at a lemonade stand and I gave it to her in the stroller.  She just held it for about 5 minutes until I said, "You can eat it!"  Then she hesitantly took her first bite.  I'm not sure if it's more excitement or obedience, but it's really awesome.  K, pics from the Menlo Park Easter Egg hunt:

The proud and happy and matching parents.

So happy with her first egg!

Cheese!

Pure joy, on a mission.

Easter Family pic!

So, things are going well over here.  Claire is still doing really well with the change and has become so much more independent.  But, she also won't give up sometimes--like tonight, when I was nursing Levi, she asked me to "play circus" with her and I told her that I could once I was done feeding him.  We talk about how to play circus for a little bit (in case you were wondering, to play circus, you do the splits, then you roll on the floor, then "You fall on the ground and then I laugh at you" --Claire.  Apparently she learned a bit of slapstick in her latest library dvd...)  Anyways, when she realizes that playing circus is on hold, then she meanders around for a moment and looks at me with the utmost joy and says, "Do you want to make faces with the playdoh?!  That'd be fun!"  My response, "I would love to make faces with the playdoh, but I need to finish feeding Levi first."  A couple seconds later, "Do you want to play balloons and put them over our eyes?!"  haha.  And I really wanted to do all of those things, but patience is a virtue.  Don't worry, we got our Circus on.  I hadn't rolled on the floor for a while--it's a pretty good time.
I feel so blessed in so many ways.  I have the cutest family.  Nathan is such a wonderful husband and is so supportive and helpful and rational.  I have the most amazing friends, and am surrounded by wonderful people.  We had a great park day this week, and as I looked out and saw two of my good friends also with a 2 1/2 year old and wearing a Bjorn, I wanted to take a picture because it's such a blessing that we're all in this together and are able to help each other and have each other to talk to.  So life is good.