Nick & Amy visit Pleasanton

Uncle Nick and Aunt Amy came out to visit their newest niece!  The kids were SOOOOO excited to see them!  They were able to see Kate in her ballet class.  Kate's nickname in my Neslen family is "the dancing queen" and she loves it.  We walked to downtown, ate burritos and had huge ice cream treats thanks to Nick and Amy!  The kids played at two different parks with their aunt and uncle before we had to say good-bye!  It was a short, but sweet visit.  THANKS NICK & AMY!  WE LOVE YOU!

Nick and Alice!

Hugs for Aunt Amy.

Leaving for on our walk to down town for dinner.

Hurray for Mothers!

Visiting the Oakland Zoo with Grandma.
Watching a movie on movie night with Grandma MickiesGetting up a bubble can be a full time job!
We are so grateful to our wonderful mothers and grandmothers who came out to California and spent time with their grandchildren to help us out the first 2 weeks after Alice was born!  They were a blessing in our lives and we miss them dearly now that they have gone home!  We hope they have a wonderful mother's day and know how much we love them!

Alice

Isn't she the most beautiful creature?  So innocent, so pure, so helpless, so wonderful!!!  I am completely in love and captivated by her!  She is where my desires and energy are focused. What can I say about the most amazing experience of becoming a mother?  Is there anything that is more extreme than that?  Your whole life changes forever.  I don't sleep, I try to remember to eat and drink but when she calls I run to her.  I hold her, I talk to her, I care for her, I sing to her, I rock her, I love her.  I love to be alone with her, to be able to focus on just her and enjoy her smell, her sounds, her touch.  She has just started to notice things around her.  She started smiling at 6 weeks and "talking" at 7 weeks.  When she smiled at me it made me cry.  Here she is this wonderful baby recognizing me.  She has "talked" to me just today with her mouth and little noises.  When she needs something she tries so hard to tell me what it is.  I am getting better at figuring out what she is telling me.  Can you imagine needing something and not being able to tell anyone or do it yourself?  No wonder babies cry, how frustrating that must feel!  It makes me smile when I know she is hungry and she can tell that I am going to feed her, she starts to breathe in an anticipatory way that is so darling!  If I take too long or get distracted by one of the other kids she gives me the saddest cry that breaks my heart, as if she is saying, "Mom, don't forget me!"  I wish I could just spend hours holding all of my kids separately.  I wish I could divide myself into fourths, however I know that the only one who would let me hold them for any length of time is my Sam.  Meg and Kate are way too busy for me!  I am grateful for this brief and sacred moment in their lives where I am the mommy who they look for when they are hurt, in trouble, need help, need to show someone their latest moves/accomplishments, or just want loves.  How fleeting this time is!  I woke up today to realize that my baby is almost 2 months old, it feels like I was just pregnant yesterday!  It must be the lack of sleep, life is blending itself together!

Yep, it's another girl!

Cute little cry

Erik loves seeing how cute a newborn's cry is.

Alice's birth

Our view of Alice at the hospital. The kids were so excited!

Scat Cookies for April Fools Day

The Johnson Kids have a funny sense of humor.  They decided to play a joke on their dad for April Fools Day.  We just happened to have a recipe for scat cookies (Thanks to Grandma Patsy and her nature books)....aka.....Poo Cookies.  These are pictures of them on the prank day trying to feed Sammy the poo cookies and below making the poo cookies.  Erik left too early on April Fools so the kids had to wait all day long for him to get home.  When he got home I pretended like I had had a horrible day and that I was all mad at the kids so he took over and after putting the girls down he was talking to Sam in his room when Meg started screaming to him that Kate was pooping on the floor!  He came running in to find their "cookies" on the floor and I started yelling in my bedroom that "I have had it!"  Then I grabbed Sam and we went running in to find Erik just standing there watching Meg eating a cookie and then yelled "April Fools!"  He was so grossed out that he wouldn't even touch a cookie...I even tried to send him with one the next day and he just said, "I can't even look at them, it is soooo gross!"