We love daddy!

Eric has been out of town a few times this month and we miss him when he's gone...see you tomorrow!

Scotty Says

The other day Scotty walked into my room bright and early and announced, "I love Alyssa THIS much, mama!" stretching his arms as wide as he could reach. Smiling at his obvious love for his baby sister, I asked, "how much do you love me?" He furrowed his eyebrows in thought and said, "not that much mama..." and putting his hands about an inch apart he said "just this much."

Thanks, kiddo, I love you too! When I retold the story to my mom and her friends he made it even better by demanding that we stop laughing.

He continues to be my little running commentary and I find something to smile about every day. When people ask him what his name is he says "My name is Scott Larsen. I are a boy. I was 3 in August right now." He also loves to tell everyone he meets about his baby sister Alyssa, after announcing that he was in my belly first.

Last week I had to address him as "Batman Scott Larsen" as he wore his upcoming Halloween costume around the house. This week he's "just a little big kid."

What will he come up with tomorrow?

Blessing Day!

Sunday was Alyssa's blessing day and she was a complete angel. She is wearing the same dress I was blessed in, which actually belongs to a doll.

My dad tells me her eyes were open and gazing up at her daddy during the blessing, and Eric did a wonderful job. We are so blessed to have this sweet girl in our family!

She fell sleep right after the blessing and all four of her grandparents got to hold a sweet baby during church.

Nani and Papa

We were fortunate to have Eric's parents in town for the weekend to celebrate with us.

Grandma and Peeta

hence the nickname "Lizard Lady"

getting love from her big brother

Scotty loves Alyssa so much!

Today marked a return to real life, where my amazing mother in law is no longer around to rock Alyssa in the middle of night, make pancakes and play baseball with Scotty, cook meals (including extra in the freezer for next week!), and clean my house. Did I mention that this sainted lady even scrubbed the grout on my tile floors? It was a treat to have her here to help with the kids and also just to stay up talking and laughing. I can hardly wait the two months until we'll be in Colorado with the rest of the Larsens.

Of course, I am extremely blessed to have my mom so close. I'm probably at her house two days a week! I love having someone to talk to, help with the kids, food, and occasionally some extra naps :o) Thanks, mom!

Family of Four

We had pictures taken just before Alyssa was three weeks old, and despite the uncharacteristic hysterics from the littlest Larsen during the entire photo shoot, we got some great pictures!

 Huge thanks to my mom for sponsoring the outing and providing bribes for Scotty to show off his cute self. The kids are finally asleep so I should be dreaming away but I had to post just a few of my favorites first!

One Month!

Our baby girl is already a month old! She eats like a champ (though every 2 hours is a little much for me!) and loves to watch the world around her. She loves to cuddle and be rocked and I LOVE having a snuggly baby! I could sit on the couch and hold her for hours if Scotty would let me.

Here are the stats:

weight: 9.0 lbs (50%) finally a Larsen kid that's not a total lightweight! we'll see if it lasts.
length: 22.5 inches (92%) apparently she's growing like an inch a week or she's really stretchy...
head: 38.4 cm (75%) she's grown out of a few newborn outfits because they no longer fit around her head. Gotta have room for all the brains, I guess!

Overall she is a super sweet baby and Scotty loves being her big brother, which makes my life much much easier. She's fighting off a little bit of thrush but it looks like we caught it early enough that she hasn't passed it to me and it's not causing her any problems.

I thought baby vaccinations were so hard on me because it's hard to see your tiny baby cry, but they are nothing like shots for a three year old! Alyssa was already fast asleep while Scotty was still in hysterics over his flu shot. For the first time ever I'm glad that kids are pretty much done with shots by age 2--it's much more traumatic after that!

P.S. we took family pictures last week and they turned out fabulous! even though Alyssa screamed the whole time....watch for that post!

Big Brother

Scotty is a great big brother! He is an amazing helper and has already mastered the pacifier drill with his baby sister. On a drive home earlier this week I interviewed him about his current favorites.

Scotty's favorite...

color: "orange" (has been consistently for months now)
food: "cereal" (I would also add pancakes, fruit snacks, and popsicles)
song: "S-C-O-T-T" and "the batman song" (he likes to perform his name song for Nana to earn treats, though he also sings Old MacDonald, the snowman song, the eensy weency spider, and popcorn popping on a regular basis)
book: "dinosaurs"
movie: "the bad guy movie" (he rotates through lots of movies but is currently obsessed with bad guys in general)
toy: "a big Buzz Lightyear"
what he wants to be for Halloween: "Nephi" (he's obsessed with reading "scriptures on the computer", which is from this site and I highly recommend it)

Showing off his batman pose.

 Robin Hood, complete with clothes hanger bow.

Playing with Alyssa. He brought his special blanket and all the stuffed animals from his bed in addition to setting up books about babies and dogs for her. He also serenaded her with his new police car, which plays the theme from "Cops."

I put her in her chair while I was doing laundry and when I walked back into the front room, I found this.

I love that my kids want to be around each other!