Spring has sprung
We’ve been fortunate to have some very lovely weather the past couple of weeks and we’ve tried to make the most of it by getting outside as much as possible. In addition to a garden/backyard makeover, we’ve also found some new fun activities for Hazel to do outside. With the warmer weather coming, we started looking for a water table for her to play with in the back yard. On a recent trip to Costco we found one and for quite a steal, too. I posted a few videos of Hazel playing with it in the previous entry, and I’ll post a few pictures below, too. She sure does love that thing! Last weekend it got up to almost 80 degrees and she played with it until her hands were pruney and her clothes were soaked- 3 hours later we had to beg her to come in and get out of the sun for a while! I think we will glad we got the water table when it starts getting really hot around here this summer. With the way our backyard is set up, we’ll be able to take the new baby out and hang out under the big umbrella while Hazel plays. We’ve planted quite an assortment of flowers, fruits and vegetables for the summer too- a raspberry bush, roses, assorted wild flowers, watermelons, tomatos, green beans and more herbs than I can even remember off the top of my head- the garden should be in good shape this year!
As I write this post I’m uploading the latest batch of pictures from the camera and realizing that the pictures I add here will make for an all-over-the-place kind of update, but that’s just fine with me- bear with me! You’ll also find some more pictures of Hazel’s finished room- we took a few more once we got her shelves and pictures up. She loves being in her big girl room, especially since she now has free reign to read as many books as she wants for as long as she wants as long as she eventually falls asleep. She loves books…maybe even more than her mama, which is saying something!
In other news, we got a rocking chair in the mail from Grammy and Grampy last week. Hazel uses it quite enthusiastically, rocking herself and various “babies” in her chair. She likes to say “Roooock, roooock, roooock” as she rocks. It’s also become her favorite tv watching spot- she loves that she can rock while she watches Elmo or Barney or Super Why… and when she pulls that chair up to the coffee table she’s really in heaven- snacks in reach, rocking in her chair, watching her show- talk about a happy kiddo!
I realize I haven’t posted much about duo recently, and that is not for lack of excitement. Thankfully all is going smoothly with this pregnancy, and while I may not post about it much, we are just as thrilled, excited and anxious to meet this little one as we were when we were expecting Hazel. It seems that having a toddler at home just makes little luxuries like sitting down at the computer to type out an update a bit less common! My last appointment was last week (I still have bruises on my arm to show for it!)- I am now in my third trimester with about 9 weeks left. I had my routine blood work, glucose test and rhogam shot done last week and everything went very well- no gestational diabetes, which is wonderful since I’ve been craving sweets with this one (with Hazel I craved salt, so this is new for me!). The baby is measuring right on target, putting our due date around the 30th of May. We learned two appointments ago that I am not a candidate for VBAC (unfortunately), because of the way my incision was done during Hazel’s delivery, and thus we will be scheduling a c-section for this baby. I have to say that I’m a bit bummed that I will be having another c-section as you can only safely have so many c-sections, and that does put a limit on the number of our own children we can have, but, in the end, I will be happy to have a healthy baby, no matter how he or she gets here! I am also looking forward to having a scheduled c-section this time, as I hear they are much easier to recover from, and are generally less traumatic than the craziness we experienced last time!!! I am so excited and curious to meet this new baby. I find myself wondering what the new baby will be like- will it be bald as an onion like Hazel, or will he or she have a head full of hair? Will we have a laid back, easy baby, or an up-all-night rambunctious one like baby’s big sister? Girl or boy? One thing, I do know, is that this baby better be ready for lots of love- Hazel is fascinated with babies right now (thanks in part to the sweet little baby Aunt Joanna and Uncle Matt sent her for Christmas)- and I know that she is going to love being a big sister. The only thing I really know about duo right now is that this baby moves like crazy! I can see my stomach shift around when duo moves- something I wasn’t able to see at all when I was pregnant with Hazel. The kicking is especially feisty after I’ve eaten something sweet (read: chocolate), maybe I’ll be able to capture this baby’s antics on video this week- in class on Tuesday night, the students in the front row saw my belly move. Yeah- it’s that crazy!
Our next appointment is April 5th- more updates on duo as we get them!
And now, for the pictures. We’ll start with Hazel’s room and end with the most recent shots from around the house/yard.
This pictures needs a disclaimer… Hazel gets grumpy when I make her wear hair bows- but she really needs to wear them because her hair gets in her eyes without them, so, here you see a cute, albeit grumpy, Hazel.
Oh! We get to go outside! = instant attitude adjustment
A few videos from the last month
Just connected the video camera to the computer for the first time in a very long time and thought I’d do an update with a bunch of movie clips from the past month or so.
First, we have a few videos from MyGym- an activity that Hazel loves. We signed her up for classes last month and she gets to go twice a week. The kids learn simple tumbling and get to jump around, hang, swing and do other gymnastics type activities. She talks about MyGym constantly and I think it is one of the best things we’ve signed her up for. Here are a few videos from one of our first weeks last month.
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Untitled from esther benoit on Vimeo.
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
And here are a few from around the house/garden…
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Kitty… where are you?
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
And finally, these were taken today (we have had some gorgeous weather in the high 70′s)- Hazel in the back yard playing with her new water table. She played with this non-stop for over 3 hours today!!!
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
February/March 2010 from esther benoit on Vimeo.
Filed under Hazel by esther | Comment (0)Overheard
Listening to Hazel read herself to sleep this afternoon… “One puppy, no, two puppies…no, all of them puppies” (she has a puppy book out from the library right now)
While playing in the garden “Rocks, rocks, everybody eat rocks- Oscar, eat rocks!” (tries to feed Oscar a rock)
Looking into what Hazel thought was an empty pizza box, “Ohhhh!!!!!! More Pizza!!! Alright!!”
And at bedtime tonight, “Night Night, Mama… you you in the good morning” (we always say see you in the morning at bedtime)
I absolutely love this age- her language is just exploding and she is communicating so well! It’s incredible the things we hear around here!
Filed under Pregnancy by esther | Comment (0)Sunny Days
I meant to post this much earlier in the week, but somehow that turned into Saturday and here I am- time sure does slip away more quickly now!
These pictures were taken about two weeks ago when we were able to take advantage of an unusually warm day by heading to the park. We took along Hazel’s favorite toy, her butterfly ball.
She had fun looking for airplanes (this park is near the Newport News airport, so lots of take offs and landings can be spotted on a good day).
Kicking the ball is a big favorite…
and so is pretend “catch”
Hazel was very generous and shared her ball with this little girl, who kept running off with Hazel’s ball and not coming back… good thing Hazey was a good sport!
We played on the slide
Spotted more airplanes
and climbed around…
This girl loves to be outside! We spent the entire day today out in the back yard, digging in the dirt, drawing on Hazel’s new easel (a $1 bargain box steal!!) and generally enjoying the sunshine. Fortunately we are supposed to have another warm and sunny day tomorrow, which we are hoping to make the most of!
I’ll end this post with a few of my favorite pictures of Hazel relaxing with Papa on a lazy weekend morning…
