One Month Old!

The days seem to simultaneously drag on and fly by.  How is that possible?  Elsa turned one month old today.  The kids celebrated with ice cream and I took advantage of Sonic's awesomely good Strawberry Island Breeze Slush.  Dairy free and half price during happy hour.  :)

 Just to make sure no one thinks I actually have an easy going child here...

They just got back from a mommy's morning out where they got to go swimming.  I think we're going to live at the pool this summer.

We've done swim lessons, but is there such a thing as slip and slide lessons?  My kids seem to do anything but slip and slide.

Back to Reality

After Chandra left, I'd like to say that things went smoothly.  The first week on our own, however, was rough!  Elsa was having a lot of difficulty and the kids were going crazy being stuck inside all day.  One day I was sick of it, so we went to playgroup and ended up being the only ones who showed up.  I tried to salvage the day by heading to the library and Elsa was having none of it.  The librarians did not look so kindly on screaming babies there, so we left.  On the drive home, Elsa fell asleep so I thought I could get at least one errand in by making a run to Target, but then Elsa woke up right as we were pulling in.  She started to scream so we just ended up going home.  That outing pretty much captures my week.  It's been really hard to adjust to having 3 kids at home all day, but we're getting there.  I have gone dairy free and that seems to have helped with some of Elsa's issues and we've also started some reflux medication.  It got to the point that she was clearly unhappy and would want to be held and nurse all the time.  Now she just wants to do that 85% of the day.  It's frustrating when I want to get things done, but I'm learning to be patient and let the less important things slide.

Proof that I am getting sleep sometimes.



The kids are still completely in love with Elsa despite her less than happy attitude.

False advertising.

Not much makes this kid smile.  Most of the time she looks at you like a deer caught in headlights...that's cross-eyed, but I haven't captured that last quality yet.

First day of church.  She wasn't too happy about it.

 Deer meets headlights again...

Nadia is showing her how it's done.

Reading to Elsa...

 

Hopefully things will continue to improve around here.  My mom tells me that I've just forgotten what it's like to have a newborn and maybe there's some truth to that.  Regardless we're still completely in love with this little girl.  

More Adventures with Aunt Chandra

Before Chandra left, we managed to leave the house to take the kids to a local park.  It's rather large, with lots of trails and a nice splash pad that the kids enjoyed for a couple of hours.  The only downfall is it costs money to go there, but it was money well spent for a full day of entertainment.

Later we went for a walk on one of the riverside trails.  Elsa came along for the ride.

Green Thumbs

We have been getting pretty country down here in SC.  Our garden has been inspiring us to can pickles, salsa, and make lots of other things with our abundant produce.  The corn on the cob has been exceptionally good!  I also got my wheat grinder that we bought in Idaho from my in laws, so I've been trying my hand at homemade wheat bread.  We're feeling pretty domestic around here these days.  I've been especially impressed with Steve and his dedication to his garden.  Who knew he was such a green thumb?!

Making pickles with Chandra

Needless to say, we've been enjoying having an early harvest!

With the good, comes the bad though.  While South Carolina allows for an excellent garden, our backyard becomes a jungle really easily if we don't stay on top of things.  There's a huge bush along one side of our fence that seems to have taken on a life of its own.  I think it's the only thing that keeps the fence from falling over, but it started to look poised to take over the house so Steve and the kids went out one day to test out our new-to-us hedge trimmers.

Rowan got the non-electric pair while Steve wielded the electric ones.  He only cut through the extension cord once!  :)

Playing Catchup

I'm biting the bullet and attempting to get through my backlog of pictures with a fussy baby beside me.  It's been on the backburner since I broke our 2 laptops within 2 weeks of each other (not to mention a blender and baby swing).  A lot of pictures are on my broken laptop and so I'm waiting to get those back somehow so I can catalog them as well.  Bear with me.

My dad and stepmom came out in the beginning of April to see us for about a week.  We went to Charleston the day after they arrived and stayed overnight.  It was a great visit with the only downside being me getting food poisoning from eating the wrong end of a crab leg.  It took most of the remainder of their visit for me to recover.  Easter wasn't exactly put together as a result.  Luckily Dad and Marilyn picked up the slack and made a nice dinner and got treats for the kids.

On our way out to Charleston.  Dad rented a minivan so we could all go together, which turned out to be a lifesaver.  We spent a lot of time trying to find places downtown because our GPS couldn't keep up with the maze of historic streets.  One day we'll finally own one of these things!  Nadia puts on her shoes on the wrong feet 70 percent of the time it seems.

 

We went to eat at Five Loaves Cafe.  Worth the wild goose chase the GPS put us on to find it.  A bit of a hole in the wall, but top notch food.

 Nadia ate most of Dad's dessert.

We went to the local farmer's market downtown which is HUGE.  This was taken in the indoor part, but there is an open market that stretches for a good mile it seemed.  There were lots of sweetgrass baskets and Carolina paraphernalia.

 Then we took a walk along the pier and went to the adjacent park that featured a lot of cannons since we were looking out at Fort Sumter.

Still waiting on little peanut to come out. 

The scenery there can't be beat.

That night we went to one of my favorite seafood restaurants where I got sick as I previously mentioned.  Sadly, crab legs have been ruined for life for me.

After a very long night at the hotel, we went to the USS Yorktown.  I stayed in the car while the rest of the crew checked it out.  The destroyer was there this time too.

This is where the rest of my pictures are stuck on my broken computer.  Hopefully I'll get them soon.  The kids had a lot of fun with Dad and Marilyn and we're glad they were able to visit.  Next time I'll steer clear of the seafood!