6 Week Old Ariana

Ariana is 6 weeks old & giving us such cute smiles & cooing at us. We are still trying to get her comfortable, since she seems to still have some tummy discomfort. When she is happy, she is such an easy baby & loves to watch her big sister, Elise. Attached are a couple shots of the girls as they both wanted to "play" under the baby activity mat...so precious.

Playset!

Elise's playset was delivered last Monday & this past weekend John got it set up in the backyard. She was so excited! It is quite the story of how we finally got this ordered. We had seen it on Walmart.com, and when we went to order it, it was out of stock online and only available online. Well, after visiting the manufacturers website, I found that this was only available in stores and of course, Walmart was out. So, I researched some more and found it on Sam's Club's website for $100 more than Walmart, but this included shipping directly to your door. So, we joined Sam's Club & ordered it. I'm very pleased that we did. We don't have a huge backyard, and this is a great size for us.

Very excited Elise~!

There was so much hardware - it was a little ridiculous, but we separated everything out, and just started step by step to put this together. Elise was just giddy by nightfall when her glider was on and she could actually swing on her new set.

Check out all that hardware....whoa.

Ariana continues to smile and become aware of everything around her. We took her to see the chiropracter this past week, and I took her off the Zantac medicine. She finally had a poo in her diaper (I know, crazy things that parents get excited about) and she now will sleep longer and still has some spitting up, but it's much improved. I feel like she's more comfortable after the treatments, and has a few boughts of fussiness, but overall pretty happy. She reminds us so much of Elise as a baby!

Ariana - 6 weeks old

Building crew

As I write, we still have to assemble and attach the slide - but I'll post some more pictures of the completed project.

"I love this glider & playset!"

Shrek the Musical

Elise's birthday present from uncle Paul & auntie Jodi was tickets to see Shrek the musical at the Blumenthal theater. So, on Father's Day we left Ariana at Grandma and Grandpa's and headed into the city to watch the show. I tried to explain that we were going to see a play, not a movie, and that there would be real people on stage. Throughout the performance, she continued to whisper to me to ask all kinds of questions..."why?" but when intermission came, she wanted it to start again.

Getting ready to see the show!

After the show, she wanted to see it again! Also, another fun note - from the balcony, we could see into the orchestra pit, and I kept looking at the guitar player thinking he looked so familiar. Well, he did. It was Bobby Stanton - and John and I used to sing on worship team/choir at Crystal Evang. Free Church in New Hope, and Bob played guitar for the band there. So, we went down to the pit to say a quick hello before heading home. Such a small world.

"I want to watch it again"

Ariana has been becoming more and more aware of the world around her. She's started flashing us her grin - and we love to see it! Grandpa Ron seems to get the most smiles, and she nearly giggles out loud when he plays patty-cake with her. So fun to have her start interacting with us!

Smiles! First grins between 4-5 weeks old

On another note - since we started her on Zantac for the reflux, she doesn't spit up as much, but I feel like she's a different baby. She will now only sleep for 1.5 - 2 hours at a time, and she seems to grunt and be uncomfortable all the time. She is very constipated, and we've made an appointment to go see my dad's chiropracter this week to have him look at her and see if he can help her out.

Sittin' in the bumbo seat

playing

Ariana is 1 month old!

I took Ariana to her 1 month appointment, and she weighs 10lbs and measures 22 inches long. While we were there, I explained to our Dr. that she seemed to spit up a lot, and it sounded like reflux, because she would start swallowing a lot when I would lay her down, or even hold her upright. Well, she did this while he was examining her, and so we will try to put her on Zantac to see if we can make her more comfortable. She will take some great naps - 3 to 4 hours long, and I can get a 4 -5 hour stretch at night as well. Elise has been having fun with many of her new toys from her birthday! We played outside this week with her fun chalk!

Finding her finger

Fun with sidewalk chalk!

Tea Party Birthday

Our little Claire Elise turned 4 on June 11th! Where have the years gone? Her favorite color is purple, and she loves to dress up, so this year we had a tea party birthday with 5 of her friends.  I did lots of prep for this party while I was still pregnant, and I had help to set it all up - thanks Oma & Opa for coming to NC! It was such a darling party - so here's a look in pictures.

Tea Party for six

Thanks, John for folding the napkins!

Teapot sugar cookies...thanks, Missy!

lemon petite fours

Birthday girl

gloves!

Beautiful girls

musical chairs

carefully carry that sugar cube

pass the sugar cube

opening gifts

The next day we had another party with just family. Elise kept asking where her friends were? I tried to explain that this was just a party with family on her actual birthday, but she was a little concerned that her friends weren't coming...too funny.

Family party

Happy to be 4!

thanks Ben & Toni!

For her big birthday gift, several family members pooled together and we ordered a backyard playset. I think I'm almost as excited as Elise for this to arrive. Since we have the new baby - I can't just take her to the park or out to play all the time, and this will be a great help to have swings, a glider, slide and playhouse tower right in our yard where she can play and I can see her from the kitchen window....now we just have to put it together....

A backyard playset!!

Oma & Opa Visit North Carolina

Oma & Opa Brandenburg drove to North Carolina to meet Ariana & help us celebrate Elise's 4th birthday. They arrived on Wednesday, June 8th & will stay through the 13th.

Opa meets Ariana & plays with Elise

Oma feeding Ariana

As a special treat to help me with Elise, they took her to Discovery Place in uptown Charlotte. They came home after a fun day exploring all the fun things to see there. Thanks for making Elise feel so special and giving me a little rest.

Exploring Discovery Place

With a new baby, it was such a help to have extra hands to get ready for Elise's tea party birthday.

Setting up for the party

My whiz napkin folder

Thanks for making the trip to see us! Sending our love from NC.

Just me & the girls at home

Ariana - 2 1/2 weeks old

It has been challenging getting used to being a mom of two. Since Elise rarely takes naps, I don't have the luxury of sleeping while the baby sleeps. So, in an effort to keep her entertained, we have started working on some crafts. Here is one of the first attempts to make a stepping stone mold. Unfortunately, we tried to take it out too soon, and it cracked, but we're going to try again.

Keeping Elise busy - mixing up a stepping stone mold