Grocery shopping

Grocery shopping with 2 kids is an ordeal. Once we are all situated with our cart inside it's easy; it's just a pain getting all out of the car and back into the car, the loading and unloading of groceries.....

The key to success.....donuts. 

Box House

Alec brought home a huge washer box home from work, and made it into a house for Brie!  I would love to say she loves it....but she thought it was cool for like a half hour and hasn't touched it since!  I can't predict this kid at all; I think I know what she would love and get a kick out of and she doesn't care at all!  Haha....oh Brie, oh well. 

In this pic she kept saying, "Do you want fries, chicken, and dip-dip?!"  I swear, we don't even go through the drive through that often!!  Where does she come up with this stuff.....

Put her chair in the box; that she thought was a little bit more cool. 

Butterflies!

The butterflies are back at Frederik Meijer Gardens!  We went and checked them out one morning.  When we were walking in a worker asked Brie if she wanted a butterfly pamphlet, she was so excited.  She carried this little book around all through the gardens, and all day at home. 

Travis and Merin's Engagement!

My baby brother is engaged! 

Travis proposed to his girlfriend, Merin, Sunday March 8.  He took her to a park near our house and had a little area set up with a blanket and flowers and popped the big question!!  She said YES!  They came back to our house where we had about 30 of their friends and both sides of the family waiting to party :)

I am so excited for these two!  They have been dating for 4 years now and make such a great couple.  Travis will be finishing his bachelor's degree this spring at Calvin, and then hopes to start physical therapy school in the fall of 2016.  So, taking a year off to work and wait until Merin is done with school. Merin will finish her masters degree in speech pathology in the spring of 2016.  The plan is to get married August 2016!  I am already counting down the days until their BIG day!

Jordan and Sarah's Wedding

Alec's youngest brother got married March 7.  It was a beautiful sunshine day!  Sarah wanted snow still for her wedding pictures, so it was a perfect day for them!  Warmer temps, gorgeous snow pictures, and tons of family fun.  

Allyson and Mike came into town for the weekend so that they could watch the girls while we went to the wedding.  They came to the ceremony so that the girls could be in family pictures; and then took them back to our house.  It was the perfect set up, and Alec and I are sooooo thankful they were willing to help out!!  

The DeLange family!

Brie loves Auntie Sarah (and Uncle Jordan too of course!), but she was talking about Sarah for days after and her pretty dress :)

Spring!!!!

Hello spring weather!!!  

We are absolutely thrilled to welcome some sunshine and warmer temps into our lives.  We have spent a lot of time outside recently with all this nice weather.  I have gotten a ton of use out of my double stroller already!  Both girls love riding in the stroller.  For those who have been to our house before, you know we live at the top of a pretty decent sized hill.  I have been pushing the girls up and down the hill a couple times a day; wow that is a workout!  Brie gets mad when we head up the hill because she doesn't want to go home..... her crying and screaming does not make pushing them up the huge hill any easier!  Leah loves it; she usually falls asleep.  On Friday, when it was over 60 degrees, I sat in a chair outside in the sun and fed Leah.  Her first time eating outside, first of many!  Most of our drive way is dirt, so it is a complete mud pit.  Brie loves to stomp around in the puddles, however, she does NOT like if she gets wet or dirty.....

Leah soaking in the rays

Brie loves to hold Josie's leash when we walk.  Even Josie was getting exhausted walking up and down the hill....she is out of shape just like me!

Brie's hair has taken a turn towards crazy town recently, as you can clearly see in this picture!  I can hardly keep it under control.  I'm still not sure cutting it though is the best option....

"I'm mowing!"

3 Months Old

Our baby Leah is just growing and growing and getting older and older!

She is acting much less like an infant recently. She is so much more alert and loves to see what is going on around her. Her favorite thing to do is to 'talk' with someone! It's so cute when she chats with you, she changes her tone and smiles so much at her companion!  Oh the many facial expressions of Leah!! 

In true DeLange fashion Leah does have a couple nicknames. We mostly call her Lele ( pronounced Lee-Lee). We also call her Lele-kins. And when she is being a pain, we call her ratty or ratty-pants. 

She loves to eat :) She eats every 2-3 hours during the day.  Seems like she eats more often the days after I work.  She still naps between every feeding usually. Most of her naps are 45min to an hour, and she does one longer stretch in the afternoon that is closer to 2-3hrs. Leah takes most of her naps in the swing. And for night time she's still in our room. At night, she goes down around 9:30-10:30pm, up around 4:30am to eat, and then up for the morning around 7:30am. A couple nights after I have worked she has gotten up an additional time around 2am. That has been super rough since I've only been in bed for like an hour and a half at that point!!

The biggest change for this month has probably been me going back to work. It really has gone well so far.  Obviously an adjustment we are all still getting used too. We didn't do a bottle over maternity leave as much as we maybe should have. When she did have a bottle she did great with it, but we realized she never had numerous bottles in a row.... So a couple times when I was at work she gave Alec a hard time. Thankfully my first two shifts back were the weekend; it was much easier to leave knowing it was Alec at home with the girls! Both our babysitters we have are amazing though! My sister in law, Kaitlin, usually watches them when I work, and we have a Calvin student, Haley, as well! Between the two of them I have almost all my childcare needs met! 

The playmat has really come in really handy recently. She loves laying on there and is swatting at the hanging toys now! She also loves to sit on the counter in her bumbo seat and watch me in the kitchen. We do tummy time, but she really isn't a fan of it for more than a couple minutes at a time. So, no where close to rolling over or anything like that!  Brie likes to try and hand her baby toys. Anytime Leah is laying on the floor or sitting in the bouncy, Brie will run and say 'I'll go get her some baby toys!!'  I think once Leah can grab these toys from her it will be so fun for Brie and take their relationship to a whole new level :) Whenever I prop Leah up on the couch or our bed she tries to sit up! She will be a very happy little munchkin once she can sit and play with toys, but she's got a while to go! Meanwhile it just looks like she is doing ab exercises!  Leah went for her first outdoor stroller ride recently, she fell asleep all bundled up on a sunny day. I foresee many walks in our future as the weather continues to transition to spring! 

She wears 6 month clothing (has for a couple weeks now!). It is so fun to put Brie's old clothes on her, it just brings back memories of when Brie was a baby and now making new memories in the same clothes with Leah!  I've gotten far more nostalgic in my old age.  I have some little girl outfits that are passed down from Alec's sister, Kate, and so Leah is the 4th or 5th little girl wearing it! Claire, Jenna, Briana, Tia, and now Leah! Even though those outfits are the ones with set in spit up stains and such, they are by far my favorite! 

Leah is great at tagging along with us wherever we need to go. On Thursdays I go to a women's bible study, Brie goes to nursery during this and Leah hangs out with me and listens to our discussion. On Fridays we go to toddler time at the library in Lowell. She either sleeps in her seat the entire time or loves to be held and watch the commotion going on. I try to avoid having to take both kids to the grocery store, but when I do, Brie sits in the cart and Leah gets to ride in the carrier attached to me. Leah always does great in stores though, loves riding in her car seat and getting pushed around, she either sleeps or just looks around taking it all in. 

Out little Leah is such a good baby, almost always content and happy. Alec and I know we have it good and are very very thankful for that!!! I just feel so privileged to be her mommy; we are blessed beyond measure that Leah is a part of our family. 

My precious babe with old man hair :)