Oliver Russell - 1 month

Oliver's first month really flew by...each month flies by!!  He still manages to get cuter every single day.

Oliver's only doctor visits so far (knocking on wood right now!) have been for his regularly scheduled check-ups.  This has been one of the biggest differences I've noticed between being 1st time and 2nd time parents.  Elle went to the doctor so many times in her first month (she coughed!, her belly button looks weird!, she feels warm!).  We were still pretty cautious about taking Oliver out and about, so we were pretty much home bound that first month, which was fine with me...more time for baby cuddles.

Oliver had his 1 month check-up after his actual 1 month birthday so I wasn't able to include his weight on his little chalkboard.  It was 9lb ??oz, mama can't remember.  I do remember being worried after they weighed him that he wasn't gaining enough weight.  This little guy has been the runt of all the grand-babies so far so being 9lbs at 1 month seemed so odd to me.

This face means "I'm about to start crying!"

Oliver's first month he was waking up almost every 2-3 hours. He has been a great eater, no problems there. :)  He started smiling right at 1 month, which the doctor didn't seem to believe, she must not know how funny I am. :)

Big sister Eleanor has had a great transition to sharing the spotlight, there are hard moments but overall she's been fantastic.  I even have a little photo assistant during his monthly photos...she would also like to be a chalkboard assistant.  I can already tell this is going to be much harder this time around.

Bear absolutely loves Ollie, it's like he knows he's waiting for his best buddy to get bigger.  You have to keep a close eye on Beary though or he will crawl right in to Oliver's carseat and head-but him. Charlie isn't being aggressive, it's just the way a Bear says "hello".

Look at these skinny little legs!

I love this little boy so much! It wasn't until the day he was born that I realized such a big part of our family was missing.  Having him in our lives, we feel complete.

St. Patrick's Day

This year for St. Patrick's Day mom and dad were having fun in Ireland and Eric was working so it was just me and kiddos!

This sassy little lady would not cooperate for a picture...

but then she got a case of the sillies and turned into a wild child.

After mom and dad got back from their trip we all met up at their house for corned beef and cabbage and lots of hugs since they were away for 2 weeks.  The amount of souvenirs these two bought all us turned the night into a little Irish Christmas with the babes distributing everyone's gifts.

Soon both of my babes were passed out (Ollie on Eric and Elle on me).  We were all laughing as Eric and I sat on the couch holding sleeping babies...

Mary was laying on the floor being attacked by her boys.  Those Voss boys make our family get-togethers SO MUCH FUN!

Frozen Breakfast

It's pretty common knowledge that Elle loves all things Frozen, so when I saw the characters were doing a meet-n-greet and pancake breakfast one weekend I knew we had to go.  And who better to go with than our bff's. :)

We got to the breakfast before the characters arrived so Elle settled in for a little coloring while Henry did a picture frame craft they had set out.

Once Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf arrived these babies were ready to say hello.  Elle had been saying that Kristoff is her boyfriend and she was so excited to meet him but froze and wouldn't go near him when the time came.  Henry has a deep love for Elsa and thinks she is his girlfriend but he is NOT a fan of Olaf.  So he did what any 3 year old boy would do...made Olaf stand in the corner while he talked to Elsa. :)

Henry is also at an age (or maybe this is just his personality...just like his mom!) where Olaf in costume makes no sense to him.  He doesn't understand why he doesn't talk and he comments on how big he is when in the movie he is much shorter than everyone else.

After we said hi to everyone we sat down to eat breakfast, Bear's favorite part of the day.

Before we left we stopped to say goodbye.  Anna was so great with Elle.  She could tell Elle was so shy so she went up to her and talked to her and took her hand for the pictures.

One person Elle was not shy around was Olaf!  He received some big Eleanor hugs.

On our way out to the parking lot there was a lady there by herself with 4 kids.  She had completely lost control...one was standing on the roof of her minivan!  We joked this would be Mary if she had any other kids...and with that Henry and Bear may be her only two. :)

Zoo Day!

We had our first Zoo Day of 2015 in March.  Elle and I met Mary and the boys for a fun day at one of our favorite places.

When I asked Elle the night before what animal she was most excited to see she immediately said turtles.  They've been her favorite animal ever since.  Unfortunately for me the turtles are in the reptile house right across from the huge snakes.  Normally this is an area I skip over all together but now we always start zoo trips with a stop to see the turtles.

A zoo day for Mary and I is somewhat laughable.  We spend about 6 hours there and always end up seeing the turtles, tigers, stopping for lunch (a good 2-3 hours after waiting in line and a parade of diaper changes), a ride on the carousel, riding the train (with lots of screaming in the tunnels) and then being exhausted and going home. But this day we managed to hit up the children's area as well.  I'm not a fan of petting zoo's (so many germs) so we skipped the goats and headed for the playground and little indoor area.  Henry spotted some cage free chickens and charged them while on our way to the playground.  He is by far the craziest little boy I know....and the most fun!

Henry and Elle also got their faces painted this time!  This was an ordeal having them both pick out what they wanted.  Henry at first was insistent on getting his face painted like an ice princess (Elsa) and I was trying to steer Elle away from some of the crazier ones (Panda) because I knew the girl would fall asleep and rub the paint everywhere!  The both landed on tigers, techinally Elle is a lion cub but she thought it was Truman.  She had her little eyes closed so tight as they were painting her face!

We finished out the day with a ride on the carousel.

We all feel like this at the end of a really good zoo day.

Car Wash

We had some super nice days in March, one day Eric and Elle decided to wash the cars. 

Elle loved helping and even decided her scooter needed a little cleaning.

She wore her bike helmet 90% of the time even though she really has no clue how to ride her bike. Safety first!  You never know when a rouge sponge could come flying at you. :)

Since their little car wash day she has asked several times to do it again, I wish I could get her this excited about laundry. :)