As I mentioned in a previous post, Andy's brother Zach and sister-in-law Karen welcomed their second baby daughter right at the end of March, born the 28th at 1:30a.m. and 8lbs 13oz. For her first week or so, the little sweet pea was getting some phototherapy for jaundice and Alton was getting over a cold, so after meeting her briefly in the hospital after she was born I didn't see little Miss *A for a little while. We all organized a night to barbecue in at Zach and Karen's, and the sun was shining down on us all over a lovely evening of food and playtime for the two bigger cousins.
Me holding *A; she said hi to the sun.
Alton and *P running free in the yard.
Don't forget lawnmower time!
*A snoozed with me through most of the dinner prep; she said her tummy was full.
She enjoys the swing!
Alert after dinner.
Once they finished their dinner, the toddlers were ready for storytime.
I mentioned in a prior post that in March Andy and Zach brewed some beer. As they were planning out the schedule for when the beer would be brewed, then bottled, then ready to drink, they realized that the bottling would happen right around the time that Baby *A was due! They suggested that perhaps this batch of beer could be named in her honor, and so before we arrived at their house for the barbecue evening, Andy and I put our heads together and designed this label. Fun!
Lovely hue and a nice kick, and we've all agreed that it's the best one they've brewed yet!
Welcome to the family, Baby *A!
I'm catching us up to March! So as you see from an earlier post, I went out of town for the weekend to meet my new nephew, so Andy and Alton had a manly Father-Son weekend together while I was gone.
They went to swim lessons...
to the zoo...(doesn't it look like Alton's inside the cage in this one?)
...hid in boxes
...played outside
...and generally ran around having fun!
March signaled the first chilly opening weekends of one of our local farmers markets. Alton stocked up on pears
and kicked it on a curb eating hearth bagels with his little friend!
Andy brewed some beer with his brother Zach (more beer pictures to come!).
Alton clowned around in his sandbox,
blew some bubbles,
and killed some time before the end of the month, when Alexa and Brian came to visit for the first time with their baby girl!
*D is a squeezable little five-month-old sweetie, and she was wide-eyed over this big boy and all his toys. She especially enjoyed the rocking horse.
Our sextet decided to ride the train into Portland to visit the farmers market again, so rail-happy Alton was glad to hop on board!
The weather that day was crazy! Sun, then clouds, then rain, then cold, and back to sun again. *D couldn't decide if she wanted layers or a sun hat.
Alton loved the soft mud for stick drawings.
But he covered up again when the showers came.
Alton was glad to make faces at *D for the train trip home.
She loved it!
Happy little family.
More horsie time for little girl.
Then right at the end of Brian and Alexa's visit, we had another visitor arrive: Alton's cousin *P! She came to our house to stay because (spoiler alert) her parents had departed for the hospital for the birth of their second daughter. So temporarily at least, ours was a three-kid household. Alexa sat down on the couch to read a little book to *D, and Alton eagerly scooted over to hear the story. *P joined them to see what was going on, and soon there was a mini-storytime going on in our living room.
We took the whole gang swimming, then after we said farewell to Brian, Alexa, and *D, we took the two big kids to the gymnasium for some hoop time.
They expended some energy,
and read to themselves on the way to dinner.
We closed the month out with a new member of the family...pictures to come!
