Sisters

Alena and Nora have been getting along pretty well. Nora's favorite person is definitely her big sister, and Alena likes to get on the ground and kick next to Nora.

Finally, she will hold my hand!

This is a much more entertaining way to eat

Now what is big sister up to?

Ooh, opening presents! I hope she lets me keep this one.

While you were sleeping...

While Nora enjoyed a nice nap...

...Alena raided her closet. She really had to stuff herself into these newborn shorts.

Happy Mother's Day!

The big day has come and gone. Here I am with my two sweet girls. Today is Nora's 4 week birthday. What a big girl!

Nora's first art opening

Nora finally made it to her first art opening. I know, what took her so long? She seemed to enjoy meeting the artists though she slept through it all. Alena is an old hat at these things by now. She knows that you have to hit the snack table early if you want strawberries, but you can keep coming back if you just want cheese cubes.

All of those music classes finally are paying off (there were drumsticks for people to hit the sculpture with.)

Hmmm

Daddy won a trophy for all of his "patients." Is he teaching art or healing the sick? Hey, these are art majors, not English majors! Alena was happy to accept the award for him.

Baby Nora's achievements

Baby Nora (as she is called around this house) has really been growing. She has only been out in the real world for two weeks, but she has already accomplished a lot! On Easter, she rolled over from her belly to her back three times in a row. We have it on video, but I can't get the video to work on the blog. I swear, it's true!

She had her two week check up on Tuesday. She has gained a pound since leaving the hospital and is up to 7 lbs, 1 oz. The doctor said she is really strong. She laughed when Nora could hold up herself by just grasping the Dr's fingers and said that wasn't something many newborns can do and not to be surprised if she is an early crawler.

Nora has been sleeping fine for the most part. The other night she got her first bottle and Daddy took the night shift. This was also the only time she slept for 5 hours straight. We are going to have to have Daddy take the night shift more often!

Nora is also very alert. She loves to look around and see what is going on. I think her favorite subject is big sis. Daddy's nickname for her is "bright eyes."

She is definitely a super sucker. Don't get a finger near her mouth or you might lose it. A game she plays is "eat the hand," where she tries to extract as much milk as possible from her mittened fist. She is not easily discouraged!

She is a big eater, just like big sister (this is apparent from her large weight gain.) She also likes to eat quickly. She is done with a meal in 5-10 minutes. It looks like I will be the only slow eater in the family.

Alena thought she might want a doll

Baby lounge chair

Her entire forehead has to move to get her eyes open. Tongue out and blowing bubbles--her favorite look.

Alena Mae update

What Alena has been up to:

Reading books for two hours when she is supposed to be napping

Learning how to spit

Throwing away Nora's dirty diapers

Making forts out of pillows

Telling stories about monsters (Daddy will protect her from the robot monster on his shave gel)

Eating mint eggs

Having a fun time staying home with Mommy and Nora--really, she doesn't want to go anywhere

Spitting water

Sleeping on a pile of pillows in her crib--see the bed on the left? She can move from one to the other with ease and always chooses to sleep in the crib.

Easter

We went to Grandma Dee and Grandpa Ed's for Easter this year. This was the first time that Grandpa got to see Nora because he has been sick. She was on her cutest behavior to win his favor and a possible college fund! But of course we didn't get many pictures of the day. Angela came through once again, so check out pictures there. Alena had a great time, as always, playing with cousins. Nora is still a little young for hunting Easter eggs, but she bundled up to get some fresh air. I think it has rained almost every day since she has been born. We are hoping the weather turns around soon so we can get outside more.

Sisters

Big sister Alena shows little sister Nora how to eat peaches with a fork.

Here is the new family, all ready to go home.
This looks bad, but Alena was actually mad because she didn't want to leave the very fun hospital room.

Although small, Nora smoothed things over with Alena - through the gift of a new cash register.

Both sisters share the love of reading. Especially when a new Highlights magazine is delivered.

More Nora

We're sure you've all been waiting for more pictures of this little bean.
And here they are.

Meet Nora Joy

Introducing Nora Joy Jensen. 6 lbs 5 oz, 19" - born at 2:31 am on April 13th.

Little Nora has been a great girl. Super cute, she loves to sleep, and likes eating as much as her big sister. She likes eating so much, that she is ahead of the baby weight schedule. They told us that she may lose weight for the first 2 days and then stay about the same for another 2-3 days. Nora dropped to 6lbs 1oz after the first 24 hours and since then has gained 0.7oz.

The happy new family, Mom, Dad, and SISTERS!

Alena was very excited to meet little Nora. She came in saying "Baby Nora, Alena hold Baby Nora." And she did. Alena is going to be a great big sister.

Sweeping the front porch

Maybe because the baby is due soon, I am having major headaches with my blog. Let's hope Ben gets it fixed for me (hint, hint!) Anyway, this weather has been a roller coaster ride lately. It has been so beautiful that we have spent hours each day outside. I have all of my spring vegetables planted and Ben and Alena have gone on several bike rides. Then, all of a sudden it is super cold out again. Hopefully there will be warm weather from here on out. One of our cold days we decided to clean the front porch. It took a lot longer than I expected, even with Alena's help cleaning out the planters. Or maybe because of it?

Bellies

Alena is officially ready to be a big sister. She completed a rigorous training class at the hospital this morning. It included eating a cookie and drinking chocolate milk, watching Sesame Street, diapering a baby doll, finger painting, decorating a bib for the new baby, and of course getting to see a new baby in the nursery. Although she was the youngest in the class, she earned top marks for gentle baby doll holding. Now we just have to sit back and wait.

Stickers belly

Two sheets of heart stickers on a two-year-old's belly.

Another girl with fashion sense

This morning Alena tried on the swimsuit Grandma Dee bought for her a few weeks ago. I told her to go look in the mirror and when she got there I heard her give a satisfied "ooh!" Then she tried on her new pink dress and ran to the mirror with the same result. She even likes her pink sandals. She said "Thank you, Mama Dee," even though Grandma wasn't around to hear her. And she finally relented to putting on the purple night dress that Grandma Diane made for her. After she realized there was indeed some pink on it she thought it was very pretty. It is always good to have a second night dress around!

Cousin Lily needs to come over to play dress up soon!

Fun with a friend

Alena's friend Maren came over last week to play. It wasn't too warm, but we thought we could play outside for a little while because at least there was no snow. Yesterday it was finally nice in the evening, plus with daylight savings time (even though it makes for an exhausted morning) Alena and I had time to do a little gardening. She helped me take straw off of the strawberry plants. The neighbor was sitting on top of his camper and yelling at dogs. It was an entertaining night.

Alena has been working on making a toddler nest out of this bale of straw for awhile.

I put the girls to work scrubbing potatoes for lunch. They got a little wet.

Suppemental video

So Aunt Angela put pictures of the pizza making on her blog, so here is a supplemental video of the event. We also went to the zoo and the exciting Choo Choo Bobs, but we didn't manage to get any pictures with the monkeys or trains. We are glad we missed the next snow storm. There is way too much snow up there!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy celebrated his 32nd birthday last night (one night early due to his work schedule.) Alena helped me make a mint cake with chocolate frosting by Daddy's request. All Alena could talk about all day was the mint cake. Needless to say, she was not disappointed, especially when it was paired with chocolate ice cream! There were a lot of candles on the cake--fortunately there were two little helpers on hand to get the job done.

Daddy wasn't allowed to even help unwrap his gift. Oh well. Earlier he asked Alena what it was and she replied "shirt." Yes, it was a shirt. Alena is also sporting her new Hello Kitty nightgown, which she feels is much superior to the one piece pjs that she is used to. She sometimes refers to it as a "nap dress."

Here she is

Ok, here is the new 'do. Alena was an excellent toddler waiting for her haircut and sat very still while she got it cut. She looked down when she was supposed to and was rewarded with some pretzels and a balloon. She is excited to get it cut again but said she doesn't want to get it washed (that seemed a little too scary).

Getting ready for the haircut.

Missing mullet. This is the first time Alena hasn't sported her famous mullet. She looks very grown up now. This picture doesn't show it, but she has one curl in her hair in the back that makes her look like a wood duck.

Alena was too busy putting away silverware to pose for pictures.

What is Alena up to today?

Here is a video of Alena telling everyone what she is up to. I don't have any good pictures yet but I'll get a couple after she wakes up from her nap.

Valentine's Day treats for Mommy

Alena is cooking up something very tasty for Mommy to eat when she gets home! And look how cute she looks in her Valentine's jumper Grandma Diane sewed for her. Daddy and Alena had a lot of fun today at Kinder-music class. We sang, played with music sticks, hoops, and a parachute - whoa! Alena turned on the charm and got a free slice of cheese at Hy-Vee today (Mr. Cheese wasn't even working).

Snow day

What do you do when you get almost a foot of snow? Send Daddy outside to dig out the cars, hang out in pajamas, and cook.

Looking for good recipes

Alena rolled up some sushi. She and the cats really like imitation crab. Alena calls it "ham." Maybe a Finn-icky ham lover would even like it. Yes, there was rice stuck all over the kitchen after this.

It wasn't all fun and games, though. Alena cleaned the bottom half of the tv with her new dusting mitten...

...and scrubbed out the sink after supper.