Afternoon walk

Grandma and Analise have been enjoying their time together. Yesterday it was a walk down to the lake to look at the boats and ducks.












"Hey, let me tell you a secret .. . psh, psh, psh"









Baby boy










Analise and her "boyfriend" Enzo. She loves holding his hand and she's the only one that he'll let hold his hand - so cute!








checking out the flowers . . .

Analise had fun sitting on Grandma's bed and helping her unpack her suitcase . . . aka discovering all the fun stuff she brought along!











"Hmmm, how does that taste? . . . never mind, I don't really want to know"










Analise is reading Eli a story. Eli, safely behind bars, listens in peace. The book is Hippo Lemonade and was mine when I was little - a gift from my Grandma Johnson.











"Hi there baby boy"
Eli is lying on his baby quilt made by his Great Grandma Johnson - thanks Grandma!



Swinging at the park! Analise really loves the "Weeee" as she calls them and asks for "Show" which is "One for the money, Two for the show . . . " before the under-dog.

Saying good-bye

Grandma and Granpa left this morning and they will be sorely missed by everyone here.
Analise had a big day yesterday playing at the park with Grandpa and watching the ducks on the lake.
She also loved reading with Grandma and helping her in the kitchen.
We loved having them here and can't wait for our next visit. Love you guys!
















So, I'd heard it said that once you bring the new baby home your older child will suddenly seem HUGE. At the time I thought, yeah, right - she's still so little, it'll just seem like I have two babies.
Um, not quite. Suddenly Analise seemed to go from 20 months to 20 years! Her the independence, interaction, self expression, and personality are all her own. In my book she has crossed the line over to toddler.

Do you know this man?

After 40 some years of sporting a mustache, Alan finally decided to heed his father's advice and get rid of all facial hair.
As part of the effect, he didn't tell Deb and let it be a surprise for her. Let's just say he got a reaction all right!

This week

Watching Caillou with Grandpa . . .
























"So you're saying I shouldn't poke the eyes?"














"O.K., I guess I'll kiss him instead . . . but I kind of want to poke that eye"










Grandma and baby Eli

My Little Brother

Eli has the hiccups and each squeak started a new round of laughs from Analise.
Analise seems to already love her baby brother and is quite protective of her time to get to hold him. She can hardly wait to have her hands wiped after breakfast because she wants to get down to go see him.


Hand holding is an acceptable form of touching - we're still trying to discourage fingers in eyes, fingers in nose, mouth etc. Kisses are and acceptable form of showing affection - we're avoiding the patting on the face and all out bear hugs.


If he starts crying she says "baby ea, baby ea, ea, ea" (as in baby eat!) and starts patting my stomach or better yet, lifting my shirt!
After Eli's bath, when his crying jag went for quite awhile while we diapered, cleaned, and lotioned him - Analise had to just cry along with him and kept saying "ok baby, ok."
I think for all her drama she is a rather sensitive sister!

First Bath

Grandpa and Grandma Mueller have been visiting since last Thursday.
What a blessing to have my mother-in-law here to help!
I'm a little scared for what "real life" will hold . .. best not to think about it . . .



























Here is baby Elijah's first bath in the kitchen sink. He was very calm and quiet once he got in the water.











Hey there studly! Nice coif!

Home Coming

Elijah Daniel was born on Tuesday March 9 at the Morges Hospital in Switzerland.
I am very thankful that the delivery went smoothly and that Eli and I had some quality time together in the hospital before coming home - but I was REALLY looking forward to getting back together with the rest of my family!

The view from the hospital room. I actually had a nice view of the lake, but the weather was quite cloudy and cold this week, so the clouds never really let up for us to really see.






mommy, daddy, Analise and Eli heading home

Feeding the baby

Well, we have no news to report, but in the meanwhile we're getting plenty of baby practice . . . and mommy's trying not to be so impatient. Though I did give myself shin splints from walking so much on Friday. This boy is just taking his time!