Introducing Baby Sister Hazel Diane

Ezra is now a big brother. A job that he is happy to do. He LOVES his little sister. He was excited about her the entire pregnancy and had big plans on what he would teach her and share with her. And his excitement continues.

On December 12, 2010 Hazel Diane was born. She weighed 8lbs. 13 oz. and was 20.5" long. She was 2 ounces heavier than her brother. We have big babies!

Hazel is now 4 days old and having her home has been wonderful. The hardest transition so far has been that Ezra has a nasty cold that leaves him out of breath and cranky. He is not sleeping because he coughs so much, therefore he is up all night long. I think that Hazel is actually getting more sleep than he is.

Hazel is completely a part of our family and seems to have always been here. We were anticipating her for so long and now that she is here that anticipation seems like a distant memory. We love her so much and love that our family is now a family of four.

Hazel is already so much different than her brother was as a baby. She is calm and content to hang out. She prefers to be held at all times. And so far she enjoys her car seat!!! This is a major plus considering that Ezra HATED his car seat for months, making any car ride nearly unbearable. And so far, no colic. Praise Jesus for that!!!

Ezra is 2!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little boy! So fun being a parent to a two-year old. Ezra is truly a blessing and a wonderful sweet little man. We love taking him places, doing stuff with him and seeing him enjoy life everyday.

He has quite the vocabulary and uses sentences a lot. Once he figured out how to string his words together he took off. A favorite conversation we have is: Ezra, "where did daddy go?" Mamma, "Daddy went to work." Ezra, "whoa" Mamma, "does Mamma work?" Ezra, laughing, "no" Mamma,"Does Ezra work?" Ezra, "no." Mamma, "Does daddy work?" Ezra, "whoa!"

He has also begun his independence this week. Everything is "I do it" or "Ezra do it" or "Ezra work." It is great to see him have confidence in so many areas and want to push himself to do things that are a bit out of his reach (i.e. opening the door with the keys). It also is a good reminder to give extra time when we are trying to go someplace.

Favorites:
-the park
-swinging, jumping and climbing
-playing with friends
-playing with toys
-eating. He likes meat, eggs, berries, crackers, peas...
-the zoo. He loves all the animals. And now knows his way around the zoo by himself.
-Children's museum. He also knows where everything is here.
-chickens. Specifically Uncle Matt's chickens. (And Uncle Matt, and Uncle Matt's tractor, Uncle Matt's cat...At least a couple times a day he says, "I go to Uncle Matts")
-playing soccer and baseball
-trains, cars, airplanes, diggers and dumptrucks. Anything that has wheels.

We love you Ezra. And we are looking forward to seeing you be a big brother. You are already so sweet giving Mama's belly kisses, snuggles and listening to the baby.

19 months

This is a bit delayed, but here it is nonetheless. Our sweet boy is 19 months.

Likes:

• Animals. He is still mastering knowing all animals and their corresponding sounds.
• Airplanes, trucks, cars and trains. He has an eagle eye out for these at all times. And one of his favorite things is to go play trains at various train tables around town. We are regulars at the Wallingford center (2 train tables!!!)
• Books. Ezra loves books. He has his favorites and loves reading books all day long. A favorite he has had for a while now is BABIES by Penny Gentieu (thanks Grannie!). Ezra loves to look at the baby, especially the one baby in the book that is crying. To that baby he says, "sad, crying."
• Puzzles. This kid loves putting puzzles together and taking them apart.
  
• Food. Milk in particular, I think he drinks close to a gallon a week.
• Snuggles and kisses. He is so sweet. When he leaves he comes over to give kisses and hugs. Then says "bye bye"
• Talking. He is good with his words. He knows most of the things that are involved in his daily life, which is a big help when he needs something we can usually decipher what he is saying. This helps circumvent some of the frustrations for him (and us)
• Snow and water. We went to Whistler in January and Ezra LOVED LOVED LOVED the snow. He would probably stayed outside throwing it, eating it and stomping on it all day. And he still loves water. Looks like lots of swimming and skiing are in our future.

We love Ezra so much and love being his parents. This age is so much fun. It is really fun to take him places to watch him delight and explore new and familiar things.

17 months

Our little boy is 17 months old. Time has really flown by. Ezra has the sweetest little heart. He is gentle, kind and loves to help out. He is also stubborn and determined. Some of his favorite things right now are animals. He knows pretty much any animal in his books and the corresponding sound they make. He is also a little talker and chatters about as he does all of his important things throughout the day. He is constantly on the go and is always "working" on a project.

We have had a busy couple of months. We went to Hawaii for a bit and it was so much fun to take Ezra swimming, boogie boarding and to hang out on the beach with him everyday. He was the ring bearer for my sisters wedding, a role that he filled wonderfully. Ezra is a great traveler, he takes naps, eats his snacks and generally is up for anything.

One of the greatest joys that we experience daily with him is seeing his personality come out. He is now at the age where he is joking around with us and knows that he is so funny. Just this afternoon he was pretending to sleep, complete with a fake snore sound. When we would "wake" him he would jump up and laugh!

A daily activity for him right now is climbing and jumping. When he is ready to jump he says, "set! GO!" and then he jumps.

We love love love being his parents. And praise Jesus for all the wonderful months that we have had with him.

Lil' Pirate

Making cookies

Ezra helped make cookies today. So much fun!

Reading Noisy Animals

Ball time!