Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

(more to come, I promise)

Five Months!!

Kate has such a wonderful personality.  She has to be sweetest baby ever.  There is so much I should be saying about her, I am just at a loss as to where to start.  She is becoming quite vocal and she is getting really good at rolling both back to belly and belly to back.  She really loves to play and be active - she must be involved in what is happening or she isn't happy.  She had been sleeping 5-6-7-even 8 hour stretches, getting up only once at night for a feeding, but she has recently gone through a growth spurt (thank God, she plateaued at 12lbs for about 2 months) and is now nursing 2-3 times a night.  I feel more tired now that I did when she was two months old.  She loves cuddling and reading books, but I think what she loves the most is Blaise.  She always smiles and laughs at him and the feeling is mutual, he really adores his little sister.  I'm not sure how I got so lucky to have such amazing children.

Four Months!!

Three Months!

Scary Blaise

The night before my Dad left Blaise had a good time "scaring" him before going to bed.

2 Months!

The Unveiling

My Mom has always enjoyed baking and making my birthday (and wedding!) cakes.  We have given her the honor of baking Blaise's two birthday cakes.  Last year's was a fish based on his love of swimmy fish and this year's was Elmo based on his new found love of the little red monster.  She is very methodical in her ways and it shows in the outcome.

Those of you interested in children's birthday cakes in Germany, I can highly recommend the online service of Backformenladen.  Not that it is impossible to find cake pans here, but the selection leaves something to be desired.  Backformenladen has (at least what seems like) hundreds of pans for many occasions available for rent (also some to purchase).  The price is fair and I liked the idea of renting so that I don't end up with 40 pans by the time my kids move out (less stuff!).  I found them very easy to deal with and accommodating.  They ship cake paraphernalia (food coloring, icing, baking soda, etc.) along with the pan and you pay for whatever you use.  We actually didn't use this service, but it was good backup should we have run out of something (which we almost did - Elmo's fur needed a lot of coloring!).