Two posts in one day! I figured one big long one might be a bit much.

Easter. I realize that this is almost 2 weeks late, but things have been busy and I haven't been getting on the computer all that much.

Graham and Elise hanging out in their strollers on Easter morning.



A pretty sharp contrast to last Easter when they made their OneLife debut. Graham is in the middle and Elise is on the far right.(I'm bummed we couldn't include Asher in this year's picture, but seeing as his family moved to Chicago, that would have been pretty hard. I miss you, Johnsons!)



Matthew's first Easter egg hunt!



And his first tattoo =)







A few days later at Uncle Kelly's house watching the dog run around the back yard.



Playing with the toy kitchen she got for her birthday





Gilbert had a long week last week and by Sunday afternoon he was wiped. He fell asleep on the living room floor and when the kids woke up from their naps they used him as a jungle gym. Surprisingly, he slept through most of it.



Elise had her 1 year check up last week and she weighed in at 19lbs 10oz. I was pretty surprised to hear the doctor say that that puts her in the 25th percentile for weight considering her legs still look like this



That's also a good example of what I mean when I say she has tiny feet for her size.

My thumbsucker =)



Matthew is enjoying Elise's toy kitchen so much that he's constantly stealing my oven mitts to play with them. I finally got tired of trying to hunt down my mitts and decided to make him his own. Of course, I had to make it somewhat manly.



Next to mine just for scale



Matthew "making" (his way of saying that he's cooking)



Just because she's cute



Iron Man









Elise has recently taken to chewing on her crib rail while waiting for me to get her after her naps. Unfortunately this means she's ingested some of the finish. This makes me uneasy and I'm not thrilled about what it does to the crib aesthetically. I decided to dig through all of my scraps and ended up throwing this together yesterday. An easy, cheap solution that matches her room decor. Please excuse the ill fitting bumper wrapped around the bottom of the crib. I was just testing it out and have since decided to keep it there instead of the crib skirt I previously had on there and I haven't had a chance to adjust it yet.



Other than her weight, which wasn't a concern at all, Elise is doing well. According to her pediatrician, she has pretty much caught up for her age. She's not making much effort to walk yet, but she's cruising all over the place and trying to climb. I can't believe how big she's getting.

Viviana seems to be right on track, too. According to my doctor, I weigh the exact same amount I did at this point with Elise and my tummy is measuring the same. Seeing as I started out 10 lbs heavier this pregnancy, I'd say I'm not doing too bad. I also passed my glucose test. Woohoo! I will now be seeing my doctor every other week and I'll probably start going in once a week starting at 34 weeks.



I'd say my tummy has grown quite a bit in the last 3 weeks =)

Elise's party was insane. We seriously had between 25-30 kids here and by the end of the day I just wanted to curl up on the couch and not move for about a week. It was fun, though. It's amazing how many people took the time to come love on our girl seeing as all of our relatives are back in California. God has blessed us with an amazing group of friends who have become our family.

The birthday girl in the dress that I bought for her 1st birthday while I was still pregnant.





Cupcakes!







Cupcake cake from Grandma Maudie. She definitely wasn't as interested in it as she was in her little cupcake on her actual birthday.







Iron Man playing with bubbles



Me and my birthday girl



Safe to say that we'll only be reliving that experience for Viviana's first birthday. All other parties will be a bit smaller =)

It's been a big week in our home. I still can't believe Elise is 1. I can't believe Viviana will be here in about 2 months. Holy cow.

Matthew is constantly smothering Elise with "love". She's a trooper and she handles it well but I'm forever reminding him that he's bigger than she is and he could hurt her. I think she finally decided it was time to let him know how it feels to have someone laying on you at all times.





She really does love that doll =)



Batcave time



So because I can only do so much cleaning with two sets of grabby hands following me everywhere, I have resorted to sewing to satisfy my need to nest. Last week's project was a tent for Matthew. It was inspired by a craft blog I stumbled upon and I knew I had to do it. Luckily, I didn't have to buy any fabric for the project because I had 2 flat sheets laying around that worked out well. The only thing I actually had to buy for this project was the mesh laundry bag that I cut up to make the windows. It was made to fit over our dining room table. He's always loved playing under there.

Matthew loves his "house" and I love that he gets so much enjoyment out of it.







Elise is 1! It's amazing that the last year has gone by so quickly. Our girl has grown so much and she's made it very clear that she will do things when she's ready to do them. I'm doing my absolute best to enjoy every moment of my kids' childhoods as I can.

We had small group on Elise's birthday so we had a mini party that night but her real party isn't until next weekend.



Enjoying Star Wars with Daddy =)



Before she tried her cupcake

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Well, we're getting ready for Viviana's arrival, too. The fabric I picked out for her room arrived and I just have to get a few things before I get started on that project. We also got a new car. By new I mean new to us. We realized not too long ago that we couldn't fit 3 car seats in our Explorer and still fit a stroller in there. Seeing as Elise isn't anywhere near walking yet and I'm due in 2 months, the stroller will be a bit of a necessity. So we've upgraded to a Suburban... which makes me incredibly nervous, but I guess I'll get used to it. I have my 28 week check up next week and they'll test me for gestational diabetes. After this appointment I start going in every other week.

Easter tomorrow! I'm looking forward to the Easter egg hunt with the kids, dinner with our Texas family, and celebrating Jesus' resurrection!

It's already been a year =)





Happy birthday, beautiful girl!

Not much new around here. We're starting to get ready for Elise's first birthday. I can't believe she'll be 1 in less than a week now.

Matthew's been pretty camera shy lately, so this post will be a whole lot of Elise.

It always cracks me up that he has to unhinge his jaw to eat his food. It's just too much to ask of him to take smaller bites =)



He found Buzz and Woody on one of our trips to Target



On a different trip to Target I subjected Elise to this humiliation... but it's just too cute...



This is how I found Elise napping one day



She was in a good mood when she woke up, though =)







Wearing the new bird hair clip Mommy made for her



My mom bought these little gold sandals for Elise before she was born in hopes that they would fit her as a newborn... well seeing as she has tiny, tiny feet they fit her now just in time for Spring.



I love this little dress that Grammy bought in Hawaii



Hanging out with Elijah





They love their uncle Jason and Mommy appreciates the help =)



Cuddling with Daddy and her Cabbage Patch doll. She loves that thing way more than I expected her to at this age.





Alone time with my girl while Matthew was napping. I did get her to do a few things for the camera =)

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Untitled from Melissa S on Vimeo.

Yeeha







I went to a baby shower a couple of weeks ago and decided that all of us pregnant women needed to take a picture together. This pictures was taken at about 24.5 weeks. L-R is Marianne (due 7/20), me (due 6/30), Melanie (due 5/9), and Vicki (due 4/27). Yes, Marianne and I are only 3 weeks apart and she still doesn't look pregnant. It's pretty ridiculous how tiny she carries.



As for Baby #3. Well, she has a first name! Still working on a middle name, but for now we can all just call her Viviana =). I'm starting to feel pretty pregnant. It's hard to believe I'll be in my 3rd trimester in just a week and a half. I'm starting to feel some braxton hicks contractions and they're not the most comfortable thing in the world when there are 2 other children trying to squish the little person in one's tummy. I've been so busy around the house that I constantly have to remind myself how far along I am and that I need to take it easy. My body tends to get ready for delivery earlier than normal as it is... I don't need to encourage it by being on my feet all day. Only problem is, I'm the only Mommy around here so the kids don't give me a lot of free time. Oh well, I do what I can.





We're also gearing up for a busy month. I have a baby shower to go to Sunday after church, the week after is Easter, the weekend after that we'll have Elise's birthday party, and the weekend after that is my baby shower. Yikes.