New Sisters

So I was recently going back through some old posts I had written and found this gem of a post that I never posted. I guess the whole busy with a newborn and an almost 2 year old got to me. So a little late than never - here is a little gem and a look into the first few days as a family of four! 

One of the biggest stressors that troubled my brain while I was pregnant was Evelyn coming to meet her new baby sister. Most of the time we asked her about being a big sister or the baby in mommy's belly we heard a prompt "NO." It might be because that is one of her favorite words some days, or that she just wasn't understanding that there was ACTUALLY  baby in mommy's belly. I know she loves baby and playing mommy to her baby dolls, but an actual living, breathing baby who is here to stay made me really wonder how she would react.Evelyn has also been very attached to me as of the last few months and this would be the longest time she was away from me. So her coming up to the hospital and seeing me (& the baby) and then having to leave without me I figured would be a
disaster.

After a {somewhat} relaxing afternoon after delivering Natalie - perks/downside of not living near family - Jordan was back at work to do a couple things. He brought Evelyn out to dinner and then brought her up to the hospital to meet her sister! I was so stinkin' excited to see her. I really missed seeing her little face and hearing her little voice, and it was barely 24 hours of being away from her. I'll blame that on the hormones! 

A friend gave me a great tip to help alleviate a possible bad reaction from Evelyn. She said to have the baby in the bassinet or being held by someone else so I can give all my attention to her when she first walks in and she won't have to see me with a baby right first thing as she walked in. I loved that idea! I was all ready for her to come in.......AND......Evelyn did great! 

She was so happy to see me and saw Natalie right away and was so excited about her. She kept talking about "the baby," "hair," "eyes," "nose." It was so adorable! I wanted to bottle up this whole moment. Our little family of 4 was all together. It seriously couldn't have been a better situation. I caught a few moments on video, but I really wanted to just live and be in that moment. I was incredibly proud of Evelyn for handling it well and my joy was through the roof! 

Bringing Natalie home was an easier that expected transition and Evelyn continues to adjust better than I could have ever imagined. Evelyn loves sitting next to her sister and 'holding' her for a few seconds here and there. 

I am excited to see how these girls grow with each other and how their relationship will change over the years. I hope they continue to be sweet and love each other as sisters and as friends! 

Natalie at 3 Months

Natalie is THREE months old!! 

And in true second child fashion, I'm a bit late in posting about her third month! Sorry baby girl!! 

Just about a week after turning 2 months old, Natalie started rolling from her tummy to her back. I was so shocked she had already started moving! She was about 3 weeks ahead of when Evelyn rolled first. She is eager to catch up with her sister apparently. I'm definitely not ready for her to move yet! 

Natalie is obsessed with her feet and grabs them and rolls onto her side. It won't be long until she is rolling from her back to her tummy too! She loves being on the floor and playing with her toys hanging from her play mat. She is trying to talk more and more and is starting to laugh at daddy and her big sister. 

When her dad gets home, she has the biggest smiles for him and will sit and chat with  him in the cutest way. 

I know I'm biased, and I feel like a broken record, but she is seriously such a sweet baby. Her little eyes light up when she smiles and she has the slightest dimples next to her smile lines that only show up when she lets her biggest smiles out. 

I love watching her and Evelyn grow together and the way that Evelyn is tender and so loving toward her. When Natalie cries, Evelyn is quick to grab her blanket and whatever else she thinks Natalie might want. Natalie adores Evelyn and I just pray that their relationship continues to be *mostly* sweet and grows stronger as the years go on. 

The next month will be exciting and will surely lead to more milestones and big moments with our sweet, sweet baby girl!! 

Up, Up & Away, It's Evelyn's 2nd Birthday!

 A little girl can't turn two without a party! 

Feeling un-inspired for Evelyn's party, and the only idea in my head was an airplane theme - lets face it, a theme dominated by boys - I turned to Etsy for some ideas to get me out of my rut. I ended up finding the perfect set of invitations and the scheme of Evelyn's 2nd birthday party was born!

Credit: Swish Printables (obvi ours was custom!)

I still can't believe how stinking cute the colors and the airplane and everything is! Swish Printables on Easy is my new favorite place to look for invitations, thank you cards, and other party details. Donna was so easy to work with and made everything quick and just look at how cute these are!

Anyway, after I decided we were doing an airplane theme I had to look for more details and more fun. Because after all, why not have an airplane party during the year of all things airplane. Living on an Air Force base, planes flying overhead constantly, and a little girl who is obsessed with planes makes for the perfect, and very cliche birthday party theme. So I went with it. Can I just say that 95% of the things associated with airplane decor have BOY written all over them. Boy party games, boy colors, boy, boy, boy! It was frustrating to me to scour the internet and not find many options for girls. I think thats why I was so happy I found her invitations and party package. 

I did find a few really great options though. I borrowed some ideas and had so much fun making all things airplane the week leading up to her party. I bought an airplane mold off amazon (which will come in handy for many, many years) and a few boxes of crayons to make airplane crayons. I separated by color, melted, poured, cooled and packed up these adorable airplane crayons! The kids did think they were candy, but hey - they are some fun crayons for them to add to their collection of broken, misfit crayons.

 I found some cute designs using candy to make little airplanes. Turns out its hard to find long tootsie rolls when its not Halloween - I used smarties instead - and they are more time consuming than I imagined, so I made 5 and used them for decorations instead of favors. Improv worked in this case.

Its not a secret to those who know me well, but I have a huge sweet tooth and love all things chocolate and dessert. So I decided to make good use of my $3 airplane molds and make chocolate airplanes. Maybe the mix of edible airplanes and wax airplanes caused the confusion for the kiddos? Either way. I melted chocolate chips, butter and crushed walnuts to make delicious little chocolates with toothpicks and cupcake topper tags that were a big hit. I couldn't stop there. I made a double batch of homemade, hand rolled airplane sugar cookies (thanks again Amazon!) It sort of looked and smelled like Christmas in my house, but Christmas in July is a thing, right?! And the sweets didn't stop there. We had a delicious cake made at a local bakery and it matched our invitations. How stinkin' cute is that?! 

The decorations and the food were not the only thing happening that day. We had a house full of friends who are family to us and lots of love for our little girl, and we couldn't have asked for more. With us being in Oklahoma this year and far away from our bio-family, I owe a HUGE thank you to our Air Force family who helped us celebrate. Evelyn is one lucky little girl and we are all lucky to have made such wonderful, life-long friends during our time here in Oklahoma.

full house!  

Grill-MASTER! 

 Can't blame her - the icing was delicious! 

My beautiful friends!! 

What a celebration we had!