The big hole and other things breaking

Earlier this week, the stop button on Matt's coffee pot broke. Luckily it was the off button and not the on button, is what I say. It still works but it has to get unplugged to stop it brewing. So maybe I can find a nice pink coffee pot and give it to Matt for Valentine's day!

Then about mid week or so, the van wouldn't start one evening. You know, my NEW van. It was doing the same thing it did that other time it wouldn't start when I was at the church. Except that this time I wasn't trying to skip staff meeting. It is still under warranty so we were figuring out how to get it to the dealer and everything when Matt's dad came over and helped fix it! Turns out it was just a little fuse that needed replacing. Whew!

And finally in our string of broken things, the largest and most icky: the master toilet. Right now there is a big hole in the floor of my bathroom instead of a toilet. Eww. The good news is we live in a house with TWO full baths. Anyway, Matt and his dad (thanks again Pop!) are going to fix it. They seem confident, and they have real plumbing people to consult. I know they will suceed! For now, the door to that room is CLOSED and it is STAYING THAT WAY!

Saturday Morning

I had just finished feeding Natalie, and Joanna climbed up on the couch with us for some snuggles. Aren't we so cute?! I love this one -- we've both got great big "cheese" smiles for the camera!
I remember that Joanna LOVED being on her changing table when she was little. In fact, it was just about the only place she was happy. I'm pretty sure it had to do in part with the fact that it was in front of the window in her bedroom, and that bright cheerful light came shining in on her.
Here is Miss Natalie in the same spot. Her changing table is actually in our room (the closet -- pretty cheerful, right?), but she was laying on the changing pad on Joanna's dresser. She liked the light, too!

My girls

I've attempted to gather some newborn pictures of Joanna in similar situations to the newborn pictures of Natalie I have. Enjoy!

This is Joanna newly born: Here is Miss Natalie newly born:
Another Joanna shot:

Also Joanna -- headed home from the hospital:

And Miss Natalie headed home from the hospital.

Joanna's first bath at home -- not happy!

Natalie's first bath at home -- also not happy!

Mommy and Joanna post bath:

Mommy and Natalie post bath:

Joanna at about 6 days old, I think. I like the one eye open, one eye closed look.

Natalie at a few days old. I'm actually not sure she even looks like herself here, but she's cute!

You can draw your own conclusions, but I say they look like sisters!

The past few days...

Joanna got this book for Christmas from her Nana and Popo, and she LOVES it. I think part of the reason she loves it so much is how Daddy reads it -- he gets very into it! It's by David Carter, who does a lot of pop-up books. This one's not a pop-up, but it's not a plain ol' 2 dimensional book either. It's got these cut outs that fancy it up. Joanna always says "puppy!" when she's asking for it.Natalie's first visit to the doctor's office! She was pronounced absolutely perfect. Okay, he may not have said perfect, but I know that's what he meant!
Our first bath at home! She liked being naked, cold, and wet about as much as you'd think. You can see the top of Joanna's head in the picture -- she was helping me. A Mommy and Natalie shot after the bath.

Matt and Natalie (yup that's her in the blanket) crashed out in the chair.

A cutie shot of Natalie in pink and brown

Daddy and Natalie with our yard sign:

Mommy and Joanna with the sign. The next visitor that comes over is going to be recruited to take a picture of all of us!

This morning was our usual play date time, and Lisa invited Joanna to come (even without her parents!). So Matt dropped her off and was able to get some man-errands done (haircut and oil change). When he got back home we decided to all go pick Joanna up together. I didn't take any pics while we were there, but Joanna was having such a good time! There were lots of kiddos to play with, and even some babies to play big sister with. When we got in the car to come home, I realized that it was our first trip with both girls in the backseat!

Natalie was fussing on the way home, and we could hear Joanna softly shhhing her to soothe her -- so precious!

I think this is just cute -- she's clutching the pacifier and snuggled into a blanket.

Joanna's at a pretty tough age, even without a new baby around. She's got that whole "I'm two and I need to do things my way" attitude. It's really neat to see her independence come out and watch her do things for herself. It's just tough to find that balance (on her end and mine) with all of that. She needs structure and she needs some room to become independent. We had a lovely afternoon together, though. Natalie slept a lot and Joanna played so sweetly! At one point, she found one of Natalie's swaddle blankets and attempted to wrap herself up in it. Daddy helped a little and they snuggled together in the chair. It was so sweet. It is precious to watch her soothe her baby dolls, animals, and Little People. She has the shush and sway thing down -- it took me longer, I'm sure!

Other cute Joanna things:

• She says "bless you" and "I love you." It just melts my heart to hear.
• She has a heavy sigh, especially after she hears yours.
• Sometimes she'll ask for help up off the floor! I guess she's seen Mommy do that a lot lately!
• She likes to throw and catch kisses. She keeps asking for more, and eventually I have to cut her off.

We're still doing well.

I hope to post properly tonight, with pics and everything, but for now I will just say that things are going well for our little family! Joanna is definitely Mommy-needy, but that's to be expected! Natalie has had a couple of great nights (consequently so have Matt and I!). We look forward to seeing everyone in the coming weeks. I sure love having both my girls around!

We have milk!

This may be TMI for some of you, but it's good news for us. Looks like my milk came in this afternoon/evening. Natalie's a fan, which is good. :) Off to try and sleep. Seems my daughter is a night owl party girl. Will hopefully straighten out soon...

Monday

I didn't get any posts up yesterday (a little busy, I guess) but we still took a bunch of pictures! Natalie and Mommy snuggling yesterday morning. We had a pretty good first night -- she slept a good couple-three hours in her little bed. We all got up about 4am to start our day. Gran and Joanna came by mid-morning for a visit. Joanna is OBSESSED with Natalie!
When she wasn't holding the baby, this was her favorite thing to do: play in the closet. :)

She wanted to hold that baby so badly!

She did pretty good, too. She really wanted to just grab her and hold her all by herself -- "My baby" -- but she did okay with the restrictions.

It made Joanna pretty sad when her little sister was crying.

Our family of FOUR!

Mommy and her girls:

Daddy and his girls:

Natalie and I got visits from our doctors in the morning (well, not actually our doctors, but doctors who work with our doctors) and we both checked out. We decided to head home after lunch and hang out at our own house! Natalie's billirubin (so cannot remember how to spell that word) levels were good, unlike her big sister's a couple of years ago. Lots of things are different between these two newborn girls (duh, right). Natalie is eating like a champ; she's also more alert and clear about what she wants. Some of that has to do with me sort of knowing what's going on this time around. As for me, I'm actually taking pain meds. I was sore with Joanna, but that's about all. I'm actually not as sore with Natalie, but I'm having cramps that make me cry! It seems that they're worse with the second -- I'll say! Hopefully they'll peter out soon...

Natalie gets mad when we put her down to change her diaper or clothes. She says no thank you! She just wants to be snuggled, and who can resist! However, we did put her in an actual outfit to come home, although you can't see it in this pic.

Here is my girl in the car heading home:

Mommy and Daddy bringing home the new baby.

Joanna was trying to go down for a nap when we got home; it didn't end up working out -- she took a Gran-snap. Later on, we got Miss Natalie dressed in some of her GIANT wardrobe for some pics on the couch. I LOVE this picture. I was really trying to shoot around Joanna for these, but I think this one is just precious! Joanna is tickling Natalie's feet. :)

Mamma and Pop came by and got a Natalie fix. It gave Matt and me a chance to get a few things done as well as go about Joanna's bedtime routine. If you look really closely, you can see Natalie's got a death grip on Mamma's fingers -- so cute! And yes, that is a pacifier in her mouth. She loves to suck!

We had an okay night last night. Matt and I were both bone tired, but I think we did alright. She ended up in bed sleeping next to me for a couple of chunks of time -- she slept so good like that. She also slept a little in the bassinet and a little in Daddy's arms in the glider chair.

So far today we've just been hanging around. Joanna slept in a little, then Matt took her to MDO. Natalie has slept a lot of today. And yet, I feel as though I have gotten nothing done! Oh, well. Matt just left to go pick up our other precious little daughter. I like it when they're both around. They are sure cute.