Bathing beauties

Oh, how I love these little bathing beauties.  And I love how they are starting to love each other (and sometimes make each other crazy...)!

 "I'll eat you up, I love you so!"

Eliza has a thing for touching Abby's face, mostly like this on the cheek.  Maybe one day Abby will realize that its kind of annoying, but for now she loves anything if Eliza is there!

Abby 3 months and Eliza's Dance Recital

 Goodness she's cute! Abby's personality is starting to come through, and she is a spunky one! At 3 months she can:

-smile and coo

-laugh

-grab her toes and put her hands together

-grab at objects on her play mat

-roll from her tummy to her back

In April, Eliza had her dance recital! It was hilarious/adorable. The 2 year old class danced to "I Wish I Were a Princess," and they did great during their dress rehearsal and kind of lost interest during the actual recital.  I was so proud of Eliza though (second from left).  She did a great job following her teachers and LOVE LOVE LOVED her dance class.

 Eliza with her dance buddies.

 How is she old enough to be in a dance class?!

Eliza with her dance teachers. Its so fun to see Eliza learn and grow!

More from MinnneSNOWta

We had a great little getaway up in Minnesota at the end of March.  We had been enjoying some warmer weather in Omaha before we left, and when we got to Minnesota there was SNOW! And lots of it. 

 We were there right before Easter, so we got to decorate eggs with Heather and Trevor!

 Not just any Easter eggs... Princess Easter eggs.

 Heather practicing her baby skills before her baby came.

 Eliza LOVES the book/show "Room on the Broom."  When she found Uncle Josh's "Nimbus 2000," there was a lot of excitement going on.  She has her wand, her witch's costume, and a broom-- finally! Our broom at home was causing too much damage... If you haven't read the book, its a cute one! (And the show is on Netflix.)

 After the snow thawed, we went out to play some baseball with Dad and Grandpa. We used a wiffle ball, and she actually hit the ball a few times. 

I just want to bottle up nights like these.

Abby's Blessing

Andrew needed to take his board exam in March, so we decided to have Andrew take it up in Minnesota by my family, where I could spend time with them while Andrew studied.  We figured since we would be up there, we might as well bless our little Abby while we were up there. (In our church, babies receive priesthood blessings from their fathers (or father figure) when they are an infant to receive a name and a blessing. )  It worked out perfectly and it was a beautiful day. My sister and her husband (I didn't get a picture with them! Ah!) were also able to come down from Minneapolis to be there for the blessing. They were expecting their first little girl at the end of May at the time! (They have since had their cute little Jane.) Yay for cousins!

Abby is our bright-eyed girl.  She has looked shocked from day 1. :)

 Abby is wearing the same dress that Eliza wore for her blessing. It is a handmade dress that Andrew's Grandma Oscarson made for Andrew's mom when she was a baby.  It is absolutely beautiful! (Hence why we only had Abby wearing it for about 15 minutes. :) No risk of blow-outs in this dress!)

 Abby and her daddy.  Abigail means "my father's joy," and she sure is. She brings all of us so much joy! Her middle name is Marie, which means "wished-for child," and oh how we wished for this girl! We sure are blessed to have such wonderful daughters!

Eliza turns three!

 On March 6, Eliza turned THREE!! What a goof. She is smart, spunky, strong-willed, loving, nurturing, sweet and very much a princess.  I can hardly believe that it was only 3 years ago that she came into our world and made us parents.  Having little Abby around reminds us how fast time really has gone and how much she has grown. 

 Eliza's version of 3. It wouldn't be a birthday without Daddy making a yummy breakfast!

 We had her party the day after her birthday, so we had to have cake on her actual birthday too!

 I'm sure everyone would be surprised (not) that she wanted a princess birthday party. We are totally spoiled and have 3 girls Eliza's age as our neighbors (one right next door!). They all dressed up, and had more fun doing "Ring Around the Rosie" and playing with Eliza's toys than the activities I had planned. 

 Princesses-- check

Friends-- check

Cake-- check

Presents-- check

One happy Eliza.

 Making princess crowns.

Eliza's princess cake. I was lazy (or I had a newborn...), so we had HyVee make her a cake, and it was awesome.  The princesses actually look pretty scary if you look close up (their eyes and lips got painted on off center or something), but Eliza loved it!

We sure do love Eliza.  We are grateful every day, tantrums and sweet kisses and all, for our little three year old.  She has pretty killer dance moves and makes up the best songs (about pears, rainbows, and whatever else comes to her mind). She would wear dress up all day every day if she could, and she LOVES her baby sister. She has such a big heart.

Sisters

What a blessing to have a sister. I must admit though, I was pretty nervous when when I found out we were having another girl.  I have 4 sisters and 1 brother, and I love each one of them! I was so glad Eliza would have a sister, because my sisters are my best friends! But, I also knew that girls are pretty emotional and tend to compare  themselves to each other.  I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to make both girls feel special and important even though they'll be different. 

 And then I had Abby.  Even though she looks so much like Eliza, she is different from Eliza and unique, and I love her! (Andrew does too!)

 And Eliza loves her too-- a little too much sometimes.

Welcome baby Abby!

Well, I don't even know where to begin.  We moved to Omaha! We had a baby! And Andrew has survived his transitional year of residency so far.  We have way too much to catch up on, but really, nothing is as exciting as our new addition, Abigail Marie Lowe.

 She came at 2:29 am on January 19th, weighing 7 lbs. 2 oz, 19 inches long. I won't go into too many details, but I'll just say it was long and short at the same time.  I went into labor January 17th (my due date!) around 9 pm.  I had contractions all night 7-10 minutes apart.  They were uncomfortable enough that I didn't really sleep all night, and I called my mom around 5 am to ask her to drive down to Omaha.  When she got here, Andrew and I headed to Labor and Delivery, where they checked me, told me I was still at a 1, and sent me walking around the hospital for 2 HOURS! It was torture, but it got things moving for sure. I came back, the checked me, and I was still at a 1, but in LOTS more pain. They sent me home around 4 pm and told me that my labor will probably be off and on for the next couple of days. NOT something a pregnant woman wants to hear.  And I really didn't want Eliza to see me in so much pain.

Anyways, contractions sped up and were more painful, and by 10 pm that night, I had enough.  We went to the emergency room, got checked in, and I was at a 6! Crazy.  I got that epidural as soon as possible, which was wonderful. (A lady next door did not get an epidural, bless her heart. I am VERY impressed that people go through labor without any drugs. Scream all you want!) After a few hours, around 1:45, I was ready to push.  Not much longer, baby Abby was born! We were SO thrilled to meet her.

I feel so blessed that I was able to have VBAC with Abby.  I had a great (long) experience, and I am so grateful that I was able to go through labor with Andrew.  It was an amazing thing to go through together. 

And here she is! Warning: Picture overload.

 Eliza meeting Abby for the first time.  I missed Eliza so much, and I couldn't wait for her to meet her baby sister.  We actually called her Madelyn for the first 24 hours, and then changed our minds!

 Doesn't get much better!

 My mom came at the PERFECT time.  I felt so silly when they sent me home from the hospital that my mom had come all the way down.  I'm so glad labor didn't go on for DAYS.  Yikes.  Bless any of you that that happens to.

 Me and my girls. So blessed.

We got Eliza a present from baby sister-- play breakfast food.  She served us all breakfast every time she came to visit us.  Her imagination has just exploded lately.  Eliza was pretty spoiled to have my mom AND Andrew's mom come and play pretend with her whenever she wanted to.

My Dad and Amber were able to come down the next weekend to meet Abby!

 My mom, the lifesaver.  For real.

 We were so glad to have Debbie, Andrew's mom, come for a week too.  Another lifesaver! We had such a great time being spoiled by our moms!

We love our Abby! More pictures to come...