Olivia's Pool Progress

It has finally warmed up enough for us to enjoy the pool. The first thing on our agenda- as far as the pool is concerned- is to get Olivia started with the basics of swimming. Brian has been working with her for the last couple of afternoons, and we are pleased with her progress. At this point, she is wearing a bathing suit that has an inflatable built-in ring around her stomach.

On the first day of swimming, Olivia seemed hesitant to get into the water. She hung on to Brian for most of the afternoon, but seemed to really like being in the water by the end of the day.

By the second afternoon of swimming, Olivia felt comfortable enough to ride on her daddy's back. She even began to move her hands in the water like her daddy was doing.

Then yesterday, the third day of swimming, Olivia started to venture out a little on her own. She began to kick her legs to move about in the water. She also had better control of her balance in the swimming ring. Brian helped her practice by putting her at the very back of the shallow end and encouraging her to "swim" toward the steps. She did very well with this.

Owen Update

Owen went for his 2 month check-up and shots last week. I am happy to report that he weighs 15lbs and is 24 inches long. The doctor says that he is in the 95th percentile for both weight and height. He is such a good and happy baby, and he is pretty much sleeping through the night now.

Is it Summer Yet?

Well, Hannah broke out the kiddie pool last weekend for the girls to play in, so I guess it's official- summer has begun. I know that the "actual" first day of summer is not until June, but it feels like summer already. Let's look at the facts:

• The weather is beautiful
• I'm off work until the end of July (hooray!)
• Our pool is blue and clean (which is rare for this time of year)

Yep, I think I'm going to call summer vacation early this year. Olivia has been taking full advantage of the weather. She has been playing outside almost every day. I've even had to start putting sunblock on her before she goes to daycare because she has been coming home pink.

Fun with Poppy and Nana

We recently enjoyed a visit from Brian's family. They made the trip down to Georgia from Delaware to see us and the new baby. It is wonderful when they visit, and we wish that we could see them more often. Olivia especially liked receiving all of that wonderful attention that grandparents give.

Easter 08

This year the Easter Bunny visited Olivia at her Gigi's house since we were still at the hospital on Easter morning. Olivia was excited to get a pair of dress shoes, toy animals, and small bags of cookies in her Easter basket. Gigi said that it didnt' take her long to tear into the cookies-Nilla Wafers are Olivia's favorite!

At the hospital, Brian and I were trying to leave so that we could be home in time for Easter dinner. We had discussed early discharge with the nurses on Saturday, and they tried hard to make sure that we were out early. One nurse even called both Owen's and my doctor at home and asked them to be at the hospital early on Sunday so that we could leave. We were able to get home by lunch, so we didn't miss out on the food.

After lunch, we hid eggs for the girls to find. Ava and Olivia caught on quickly to what they were suppose to do. They really enjoyed searching for the eggs. Olivia liked it so much that Brian spent the next week hiding eggs around our house for her to find.

Coming Home

After a long two days at the hospital, we were finally able to bring Owen home on Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny had already visited our house and had left Owen a basketful of goodies. Among these treats were two new bottles, a taggie blanket, and a chocolate Easter Bunny (which is really more for me than for him). We had another visitor on Monday in the form of a big stork that appeared on our front lawn to announce Owen's birth to anyone driving down our street.

We are all happy to be home now (except maybe Olivia who really enjoyed staying with her Gigi for three days). Brian and I are still trying to get this two-kid thing down, and we are making really good progress. It's not really been hard, but trying to manage two kids while recovering from surgery is not really easy either- especially since I still can't lift heavy objects (like Olivia). Fortunately, we have had lots of help.

Introducing...Owen Walker Sanders

As you all know, last Friday was Good Friday. For our family, though, it was more of a Great Friday. Our son, Owen, was born at 8:14 am. He weighed 9lbs. and was 21.5 inches long.












As you can see, Owen is a much bigger baby than Olivia was. (And with the way he has been eating, he will probably catch up to Olivia before too long.) He has quite a bit of brown hair, and greyish-blue eyes. There is a general concensus that he favors me- which I am happy about since Olivia looks so much like Brian.

Olivia is taking her job as a big sister very seriously. She loves to give her brother kisses, and she is also very helpful when it comes to jobs like covering Owen with a blanket and checking on him while he's sleeping. Brian and I are still trying to get into a routine of managing two small children. It's not been bad so far, and we hope that it continues to be this way.

Here is a picture of our family with its newest member. The only thing missing is Remy, but I don't think that they would let him into the hospital.