Goings on

Ryan just took Elena to swimming (where incidentally, she has improved dramatically and can swim about five-six feet and jump in the pool on her own) and Michael is sleeping in his swing. I have a cup of coffee and am enjoying the solitude of blogging about our family.

This staying at home thing is more difficult than it looks. I love being with the kids more and getting to know our new baby, but my 'to do' lists are longer than ever, mostly because I notice all the things that need to get done or that I've put off forever. I have big plans this week - cleaning the file cabinets may very well take me the whole week, but it's getting done.

Elena has been full of sass these last few days. I asked her something the other morning and she promptly loaded her spoon with cereal and put it in her mouth. She then pointed to her mouth indicating she couldn't answer me with food in her mouth (Uh, no you didn't little girl). She hurled a shoe across the room the other day and has been running away from us in public places with no regard to our repeated calls back. In short, she's three.

But even with all that, she's usually sweet. Like last night when she told Daddy while holding up the sign for "I love you" that she loved him. "Never forget. Okay, Daddy?"

Or when she climbed into bed with us this morning and grabbed my hand, then Ryan's and asked us to say morning prayers (We all cuddle together when saying them in the evening, after books and before bed). She always cuddles into me closely and this morning was especially sweet with her praying that, "We have good eggies forever and ever." (Everything is forever and ever with her - a tad dramatic when discussing breakfast, but cute nonetheless).
Michael is still sleeping constantly. He's awake a little more these days (maybe five hours a day on average) but mostly, he sleeps and eats a lot. He weighed in at 11 lbs., 1 oz. on Monday when I took him to the doctor to check his gooey belly button. He is certainly filling out nicely with cute little pudgy thighs and arms. He's just a sweet little boy and we're totally smitten. It's sad already though, because he's starting to lose that baby fuzz on his arms and back and has a mean case of baby acne.

Oh, how fast it goes. Our little bug is already a month old.

I suppose that's all for now - I should shower or something before they return and Michael wakes. It's going to be 107 degrees today, so we'll be finding cool things to do on this hot summer day.

The 'spokes'man

Daddy was profiled in Sacramento Magazine as a "Charity Rider and Single Speeder" in a story on local cyclists. How cute is HE?!?

It's a learning experience

Ok, so it's more difficult to get out of the house with two kiddos. I admit it.

With Ryan at work, I braved this for the first time on my own and I humbly request a do-over. I'm accustomed to getting Elena and myself ready rather quickly and though Michael isn't much work, the morning took an ugly turn when 1) Michael pooped all over our duvet and down comforter and 2) the ants came to claim our kitchen as their own. Couple this with needing to feed him before leaving, make myself look like I'm not a new Mom of two and of course, the regular getting ready and packing necessities and I've blown through an hour easily. But we're learning and it's good practice. Michael continues to be our dreamboat and Elena is a wonderful big sister. She's a sassy one these days, but mostly she remains very sweet and eager to do the right thing.

Oh and as shown, I cut Elena's hair this week (snif). I didn't want to, but the difficulty of the morning brushing outranked the need to hold onto her beautiful curls forever (and the curl is still there, but I'd bet next year's haircut will very sadly, end that). Our three-week old and three-year old are growing up.

Our babies

Elena and Michael at roughly the same age...

A week young

Our little man is a week old and our family of four couldn't be happier. The first week has been a rush of emotion, fatigue and giggles -- Elena may have projectile pooped on us, but Michael has the 'peeing on us thing' nailed. We still haven't mastered the art of keeping that crazy hose from squirting us, but we're sure getting accustomed to life with an infant again.

Elena is such a great big sister with arms wide open for her baby brother and a helpful hand ready to get diapers, burp cloths or whatever we need.

Michael weighed in at 9lbs., 3 oz., today and was cleared of all signs of jaundice. While that's great, it meant his circumsion day had come and to be honest, that was beyond awful. Ryan stayed, but I could not. The very visible signs of the procedure are enough for me. But my boys were troopers and are both recovering.

That's all for now, as I am a tired Mommy... of the world's best kids.

Introducing Michael McCarty Grohs

He was certainly due to arrive on June 1 because at 4:15 that morning, my water broke and our well designed plan was put into overdrive. In the end, it changed nothing because my contractions weren't bad and we decided that if I could wait, the c-section would proceed at 9 a.m. as planned. And so it did. After the spinal and prep(which was incidentally, much worse than I remember) the doctors let Ryan and my Mom into the room and began. Michael arrived at 9:18 a.m., weighing a svelte 8 lbs., 10 oz., and measuring 21 1/2 inches long (they measured 20 1/2 initially). He is as dark as his big sister was and though they certainly have similarities, he is his own person with narrower features, blue eyes and incredibly long fingers and toes.

During pregnancy, I was concerned that I couldn't love a second child as much as I love Elena. It's safe to say that concern ended the moment he entered the world. He is a bundle of precious, sweet heaven and he is loved a million times over.

And speaking of Elena, she is a proud big sister who loves to hold and kiss her baby brother. The week has been a rush of excitement and spoiling for her with presents and Grandma and Papa Grohs visiting, so we'll see what next week brings, but I think we're all going to be very happy as a family of four.

More will come later, but in the name of updating the blog, this will have to do for now. We are quite simply, happy, exhausted and complete.