Esther at Fourteen Weeks

Esther is now 14 weeks old.

She is changing all the time!  Esther laughs and smiles easily.  Typically, all we need to do is smile or talk to her to make her smile.  She coos and "talks" a lot, too.

Esther grabs onto all sorts of things.  During the middle of the night this week, she grabbed onto my pajama sleeve which took me by surprise.  (I was trying to change her diaper.)

She has come SO FAR from those first two months.  They were so, so hard.  The pain and screaming were so overwhelming for Derek and me.  She continues to use Zantac for the reflux.  (Her dose was recently increased.)  The Nutramigen formula continues to be the food of choice.  Since each can only lasts five days, we buy several at a time since we can't get it in our town for a decent price.  (Not that the price we pay at Walmart is decent, but it is much cheaper than what we pay in town.)

Below you can see Esther multitasking.  She is "on" the phone and craning her torso and head to see the TV.

One thing that is really hard to figure out is if she is tired or hungry.  She eats every two hours...and likes to sleep about that often, too.   The weekend that she and I were away was wonderful because I was so tuned into her.  However, at home distractions abound and it is much more difficult to know what to do and when to do it.

Esther has been using her Exersaucer for a couple weeks now, and her "jumper," too.  She finally uses a swing happily!  (Before she would only use the swing in her room if she was asleep when we put her in it at night.)  She is batting at the little toys, too!

The big news, for me, is that I have been able to have Esther beside me during the day to fold laundry and in the swing when I'm in the kitchen (for a few minutes at least).  This is new for her.  She still gets lonely very easily, but as long as we are near, she is okay most of the time.  Even if she is Not. In. Our. Arms.

Can you feel my freedom?!?

Below you see that Esther has left the center of the mat and her blanket...and is doing what she can to get to Evan's knee.  She rolled and then...

The other BIG news for Esther is that she is on the move.  I already shared that she rolled at 11 weeks.  But now she is moving more!  Seriously.  She is trying to crawl.  As in really.  She is getting her belly off the ground and pushing herself forward.  Here's proof.  (Please excuse the night time video.  She did this several days ago and has not replicated it during the day enough to take a video.  And yes, the Big Kids were watching television...so you hear that noise in the background.)

For those of you interested in older videos, too, visit this link.  (I am so thankful for these little snippets of life captured on video.  Meghan and Evan love to revisit old videos with me!)

A New Blog

Did you know that I have been blogging for three years?  It all started with this blog, with the intention of keeping distant family updated about all of Meghan's speech progress and highlighting the little bits of our days.  After about six months, I realized I wanted to separate all the kids' milestones and family stuff from the "mom" stuff.  So I began a new blog at Live, Learn, Love.

Well, after blogging there for over two years, I decided I wanted a fresh start.  I will gradually phase out Live, Learn, Love because now my writing efforts will be focused at This Simple Home.  And it has a domain that is easy to remember (unlike LLL!)...it's www.thissimplehome.com.

My graphic designer friend, Danielle, made this header!  I adore it!

I never knew how much I enjoyed writing, but I do.  Now that This Simple Home is set up, I hope you will come see what we have been up to!  This Simple Home will share about the baby steps I take to make my house a home.  Primarily I will share recipes, organizing/cleaning ideas that work for me, my faith, adult and children's crafts, and my love of books...while trying to keep it simple.

This Simple Home

Feel free to subscribe to it through email or an rss feed, but I will keep a link on this site in the sidebar, too, so you can always click through that if you wish.

Cowboy Spy

Meghan came downstairs ready to be a spy.  Then she made up a song.  She is such a performer.

Does anyone else think of 1988 with the curly hair and cowgirl hat?  She had braids earlier in the day, but they didn't work with the hat she informed me.

Before and After

Before Church

 After Church

 And before Evan used his new stamps...

...all over his face.

No picture, but imagine him stamping a blue beard and mustache.

Yep.

Washable though.

A Beautiful Gift

At Esther's "debut" at church, we were given a very lovely gift.

This is one corner of the front.

 Hand quilted and not only personalized with her name, but also with a verse and her birth information on the backside.

 Hopefully, you can see the details (and lovely handwriting) this photo captured.

 I think the quilt is gorgeous, but I adore those personal touches.  (If you read the other blog, you know how I love personalized items!)  The colors are fairly subtle and were difficult to photograph.

 But we definitely love it!

(Can I just say how thankful I am that our third child has such a special keepsake?  Often, the first baby receives much...but the third...not so much.)

On a Roll...

Well, it was just last week that I shared that Esther had rolled over for the first time.  That was from her belly to her back.  She has replicated that again.  Not only that, but now at 12 weeks (though not quite three months) of age, she has also gone from her back to her belly.

WOW.  It's a tad early.  This is just a good reminder that every child is oh-so-very-different.

At twelve weeks, Esther is also talking A LOT.  Evan didn't coo and talk like Esther does, though he did have some sounds later on.  And, you likely know that Meghan never did babble or make any sounds before age 1...and nothing but "mmm" until about 18 months due to her apraxia.  So this is new to us.  I like it!!

While Mom's Away...

First, a recent  picture of the three kids.

Esther is trying very hard to roll from her back to her belly.  She consistently gets 3/4 of the way.  She has only rolled from her belly to back.

This weekend Esther and I had a special weekend away with three of my girlfriends in Lancaster.  So, yes, I was a bad wife and gone on Derek's birthday.  I had already committed to any weekend in January, and the rental was paid for, when we realized that it was booked on Derek's birthday.

While I was away, 

...they enjoyed some birthday cake. 

I love that Derek found a simple way to have a blast with the children!

Happy Birthday, Derek!

Happy birthday, Derek!

We love you!

Derek is 32 today, in case you are curious.

Rolling!

Tonight Esther rolled over from her belly to her back.

Esther is just 11 weeks old.  She wiggles all the time.  She also tries to throw herself off me daily.  I don't think this was a fluke.  

Evan rolled much later than two months.

It's a shame I did not blog when Meghan was a baby.  I know she sat up at five months, but I don't remember when she rolled. 

(How about that for a frightening picture?  I had to use the flash since I didn't have any recent pictures...)

Nap Time?

You can read more about this supposed nap at Live, Learn, Love.

Pink Penn State

For the first time in over five years, we have pink Penn State clothing in our home.

In the past we have always been too practical to get pink/feminine Penn State attire because we wanted to make sure it would be used again.  Both girls opened pink Penn State items for Christmas, and today was an appropriate day for everyone to be attired in it, despite the loss.

In the picture below, Evan is singing "Baby, baby, baby..." to Esther.

 Out of all the pictures of the three kids, this one was the best.

 Meghan is cheering, "Penn State!"

 Then it was Meghan's turn to hold Esther...and Evan ran off to be with Daddy.

 Evan also got a first this Christmas...a Penn State football jersey.  Thanks, Grandma for the fun clothes!

P.S. After having three October babies, I finally figured out that cute onesies don't have to be worthless during the winter for the baby hiding under long sleeves.  I put a long-sleeved onesie under Esther's Penn State onesie so she would still have long sleeves.

P.P.S.  Yes, that is a new couch.  We bought it for ourselves as an anniversary gift for the basement since we cleaned it out and were able to play down there.  That is, until we had to make room for Esther and relocated all of the spare room stuff to the basement and covered the couch in the process.  There was no room for the children to play anyway.  When we had the family here for Christmas, we brought the couch upstairs for additional seating and even cut off the tag.  We decided to keep it up here instead of just letting it collect dust in the basement.