Happy Easter

Esme had an Easter egg hunt at school the other day so we had to practice at home so she knew what she was doing.  I hid some plastic eggs around the house before she woke up and she thought it was the best thing ever to go and find them and put them in her basket.  She kept saying, "Again, again!"  It was hard enough to get her out the door that morning.  By the end of the day though she was even more excited to see that the eggs she found at school actually had treats/toys in them :)  Ms Faye said that she was hesitant to go after the eggs at first with all the big kids so she had to help her out. 

This morning Esme was more than ready to wake up and find all the eggs we hid the night before.  She had a trail of eggs to pick up from her bedroom, down the stairs, and to the living room where her filled Easter basket was.  I found all kinds of toys to fill the plastic eggs with - bouncy balls, bracelets, bandaids, magnets, etc so that kept her busy as she found all the eggs.  I filled a few with jelly beans to mix it up and of course those were her favorites.  Then she got to enjoy her new Duplo Lego set that the Easter bunny brought her. 

We had beautiful weather today so we headed to Gasworks Park to enjoy the sun and run around.  Esme really liked running up the big hill and watching all the kites. 

Concentrating hard on collecting her eggs

Finding more eggs on the shelf

 

Taking a snack break

Watching the kites and float planes

 

This weekend we also got down all the newborn stuff/equipment to get ready for baby #2.  It's really the first step we've taken to getting ready for baby and time is flying so it seemed like the right time.  Next step is to pack our hospital bags.  Esme was very curious about all the new stuff and wanted to try on the clothes and suck on the pacifiers.  She even put her baby doll in the swing and loves to rock it back and forth.  This week Esme will start going to school 5 days a week so it'll give me more time to get the house ready, nest, and also for my appointments which are weekly starting next week.  Ms Faye and the rest of the staff are very excited to see her that much more which was nice to hear :)   

 

 

Lots Of Lights

We took a quick day trip to Portland last weekend because Papa, Aunty Amy, and Malia were in town.  This was Esme's first long road trip since we've moved her carseat to a forward facing position and she liked that much better.  She stayed awake for most of the ride down to OR and then fell asleep in the last 30 minute stretch of course.  On the way home it was completely the opposite.  She played so hard all day that she was worn out and so she fell asleep as soon as we got on the highway and slept for 2 1/2 hours which was way longer than we expected.  When she woke up it was already dark and we only had 30 minutes left till we got home.  We thought she'd be fussy and wanting to get out of the carseat but it was exactly the opposite.  She was absolutely thrilled to see all the lights - cars, street lights, billboards, towns, etc.  She was laughing and pointing to everything like it was Christmas.  Then Allen and I realized that we rarely drive with her at night since we try to keep her bedtime routine as consistent as possible and get her in bed around 7pm every night.  It was hilarious until we got home and she started throwing a fit cause she wanted to stay in the car and keep driving to see more lights.
  

Wearing bunny ears with cousin Malia

Mimi & Gigi (great-grandma)

Today I had my 34 week visit with the midwives.  Baby was still head down and my belly grew the expected 2cm from the last visit.  Heart rate was in the high 140's and Esme was determined to lay on the exam table with me while the midwife did all of this.  I received my updated Tdap vaccine and we got information to start discussing our birth plan for the next visit.  It was a beautiful day out so we decided to go for an early picnic dinner near the Kirkland waterfront and Esme was excited to watch all the other kids that were out and the ducks.  We were excited cause she was distracted enough that she'd eat whatever dinner food we put in her mouth without protest ;)  

Playing in the sand at the Kirkland Marina

  

Yoga Babe

Esme loves to do whatever Allen or I are doing.  Here's an example of her doing yoga with daddy:

 

 

Esme also loves stickers and she's even been sharing them with the baby (see below).  My belly sometimes gets covered in them!



 



The pregnancy is still going well.  I'm 33 weeks now and really starting to count down.  The baby was finally head down at the last visit, heart rate was in the 150's which was normal, and it's moving a lot all day long.  It especially likes to go running at like 3 or 4am.  Sheesh!  We'll probably start pulling down all the newborn/baby stuff in the next few weeks.  I got a warning to come into the hospital as soon as I feel anything since my delivery with Esme was so fast.  She basically flew out about 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital. 

 

Esme got to meet her second cousin, baby Bridger, this past weekend.  She took time to be very gentle with him but couldn't quite understand why he didn't do anything with the toy that she brought him.  He just layed there and stared at it :)  Bridger's only 5 months old!

 

 

Strangely enough Esme was very excited to wear her pull-ups this past weekend and use the potty.  I'm not sure what changed but we just went with it and she's been very successful.  That also meant that she didn't want to wear any other clothes while we were inside.  I swear, she's totally ready to live in the islands :)  Here's Esme wearing her Dora pull-ups and doing her daily fridge routine with the pictures: 

 

Happy St Patrick's Day!  Allen picked up a shift at a retail pharmacy today so Esme and I escaped to the Seattle Aquarium to help pass the time.  She really enjoyed watching the sea otters and of course, all the other kids.  This was the only picture I managed to get of her since the rest of the time I was chasing her around or hiking her up over my belly to see all the fish/sealife tanks.  Lucky thing my belly is not too big and she's not super wiggly :)



Still In Diapers

I was hoping Esme would potty train while she's still our only child but it doesn't look like it's going to happen.  I bought some pull-ups over the weekend to see if that would help entice her but no luck.  She was all excited to wear them but it didn't encourage her to go to the potty any more than normal.  Right now she goes on the potty most of the time at daycare because she's just doing what all the other kids are doing.  And at home our routine is to definitely have her go on the potty before bath time (and she's always successful) and the rest of the day we just let her decide so it's very sporadic.  I don't want to push it any further so that's where we're at.  Once she's ready I know it will be quick but I guess we're just not there yet. 

Wearing daddy's pants instead of pajamas

 

If you sent us a Christmas card this past year with a kid or a dog on it then most likely it's still up on our fridge and will be till this coming holiday season. We ended up moving all the cards that Esme liked to the bottom of the fridge so she can look at them them daily and say everyone's names.  

Note the outfit, she's got quite the fashion sense ;)

 

 

Our Healthy Little Girl

Esme had her 2 year physical last week and all things checked out well.  She even performed her great jumping skills while clearing both feet off the ground and pointed to all her body parts (in a mixture of English, Hawaiian, and Chinese ;)  She weighed 29# and was 34 3/4" tall which put her in the 75th percentile for both weight and height.  Now her next physical isn't until 3 years old but she'll probably get to tag along when we take the new baby to the doctors in the next few months.  Here's some pictures to show her progress over the past year: 

13 months

 

14 months

 

15 months

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16 months

 

17 months

 

18 months

 

19 months

20 months

21 months

22 months

23 months