Off to a Good Start

We had the best weather for our annual New Year's Day hike. Nearly 60 degrees! We went to Scott's Run in McLean. The hike takes you out to a small waterfall that runs into the Potomac. We were feeling ambitious and decided to do the whole loop which ended up being close to 3 miles. Not a particularly long hike, unless you're a small child. Amelia and Elsa did really well for the first half but struggled towards the end. But they survived (Amelia claims she is NOT doing that hike again) and had a lot of fun throwing rocks into the river. It was a bit scary along part of the hike that took us along a cliff. The path was very narrow and muddy so we were happy when the trail headed back into the woods. There were quite a few people doing the shorter walk from the parking lot to the waterfall so one benefit of doing the whole loop was that we had the rest of the trail all to ourselves (especially helpful when certain members of our group had to go to the bathroom).

I was happy to have our new Canon PowerShot on the hike. We finally replaced our old one that died and as much as I love my DSLR, it's nice to have something I can throw in my pocket again.

Oliver all dressed up for the hike (he slept through the whole thing):







(Amelia picked out this gigantic walking stick which was more trouble than it was useful. We finally managed to ditch it.)























Ben rang in the New Year with pink eye. Luckily it has cleared up now and he managed to not spread it to any of us.

Warming up to a New Year

We ended up with amazing weather for the New Year's Day weekend. It was up to nearly 60! After an unusually cold December it was a welcome change. We took advantage of the warmth and headed to Clemyjontri Park on New Years Eve day. The girls were in heaven and we spent several hours there and even had a picnic.








(A random mom actually reprimanded Ben for riding on one of these. She seriously scolded him like a child in the world's most annoying voice saying "Oh no...not for you sir, not for you!" Really? Who does that? Is it wrong that I wanted to punch her in the face?)

Three of a Kind

I couldn't pass up the chance to do a photo shoot with all the kids wearing the hats my mom made. They were surprisingly cooperative.









Starting to fade...


Okay, we're done...

All Smiles. Well, not really.

Oliver is now 6 weeks old! The last several weeks have been a blur with lack of sleep and multiple holidays thrown in there. Oliver seems so big now...no longer a tiny little newborn. But still just as cute.

He was so easygoing and quiet his first 3 weeks of life (probably because he was still in that super sleepy stage) but then he decided he didn't particularly care for life outside the womb and has been fussy ever since. The girls were such easygoing babies (Amelia was sleeping through the night at this point) so this has been a harder transition. (Sorry Oliver, but so far you're not giving boys a very good image around here.) He does sleep well at night and usually goes right back to sleep after his middle-of-the-night feedings. And he is always happy (sleeping) when he's out in the stroller or car seat.

One of the hardest parts (for me anyway) has been his troubles with reflux. He screams during many feedings which is so sad to see (and makes it extremely difficult to nurse discreetly in public). The doctor put him on zantac and we did see some improvement, but it's still a struggle.

Phrases often heard by his sisters:
"It seems like Oliver is only happy when he's sleeping."
"Oliver is such a cry baby."
"Do you think Oliver will cry for the rest of his life?"
"Oliver is SOOOOOO cute."
"MOM, help Oliver. He's crying again."
"Oliver needs his fire." (Elsa's word for pacifier)
"Oliver smiled at me!!!!"

As if to make up for the fussiness and show us that deep down, he really is a happy baby, Oliver gave us his first real smiles very early, just before he was 4 weeks old. And he continues to give us lots of smiles every day. When he's not crying.

(None of these pictures are superb due to poor lighting and attempts to hold the camera while trying to provoke smiles, but you get the idea.)







(Captured a sneeze instead of a smile.)






(Smiling takes a lot of concentration.)









Okay. We think he's pretty great and are so happy he's part of our family now.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning with kids is so fun. I think Amelia is at such a perfect age for experiencing the magic of Christmas. It was great to see their excitement in the morning. We hung jingle bells on their door knob before we went to bed so we would hear them come out of their room in the morning. It nearly gave us a heart attack when the bells dropped. Luckily, they came straight to our room and nearly exploded with excitement while they waited for us to turn on the tree lights and some Christmas music and get the camera ready. Elsa wasn't totally sure what was going on, but she followed Amelia's lead.

We were all spoiled by Santa and our family and friends. It took us nearly 3 hours to get through all of the unwrapping and toy-discovering. Part of that was due to the fact that Amelia spent the entire month wrapping random items around the house to give us and making cards for each of us. It was really sweet.

The discovery that Santa had come:


The Santa piles before:


Exploring their spoils from Santa:


Awesome Christmas hair:


Digging out goodies from the stocking:


And more awesome Christmas hair:


A Pillow Pet!






Trying out her new lip gloss:




Hats and scarves made (in record time) by Grandma Olsen:







(Amelia was thrilled with her new jewelry and jewelry box from Grandma and Grandpa Olsen. She was also happy that they gave her and Elsa matching outfits. They have already dressed alike and put on all the jewelry to perform a rock show for us.)






(Amelia wore her new Tinkerbell outfit all day, courtesy of Stephanie.)



An example of one of the many amazing wrapping jobs done by Amelia:


The aftermath:




After a delicious breakfast, we spent the rest of the day in our pajamas playing, napping, and watching movies.

Amelia doing what she does best...organizing:




Elsa crashed around 5 p.m.:



Amelia's school offered a kind of "Santa's workshop" where the kids could bring money and pick out little gifts for family members in secret. Amelia was so excited about this. She chose this hideous mouse for Elsa and I kept finding it around the house all day...it was sticky and goopy and stuck to everything. I hope it has permanently disappeared...