Relatives in Town

My niece, Maelin, arrived on April 6th, and my mom and my youngest sister, who both live out of state, have been able to come out last week, and this week.

Last week my mom, came in for the weekend, to meet her new granddaughter.  We met in a park and had sandwiches, and she got to catch up with her grandsons. 

I also got to hold Maelin, who is still very small.  She is  6 lbs., 9 oz, and it is fun to hold such a little baby.  Ryan was 6 lbs., 15 oz, when he was born, and Cole was 7 lbs. 5 oz. at birth, so I never had a baby that little.  Here is the proud aunt, with her sweet niece, and you can see Cole sitting on a towel in the background (he’s still afraid of the grass  :-):

My sister arrived yesterday, and she is staying with Maelin and her mom (of course), but they drove up to my house, and we hung out with the kids, nursed, and when Joe came home from work, I got to go out to dinner with my sisters, without the boys.  It was a nice break, and Maelin slept the entire time.

As a side note, it was really interesting nursing Cole, and then having my sister nurse Maelin at the same time.  I never ever thought about my sisters and I having kids at the same time, and it was one of those things that you probably could never plan, but now that it has happened, it was neat- even though our children are different ages, and she is a new, first time mom, and I have 2 kids, nursing is still a common bond for us.  By the way, Maelin and her mom, have totally gotten the hang of nursing, and Maelin is a nursing champ!

Today, the boys and I went on a long walk, with me pushing both of them in the double stroller up hill, for the half the walk.  I realized I was pushing 50 lbs, between the two of them, and I was really sweating.  I hoped I burned off some of the Mexican food I had last night.  🙂

Tomorrow, Cole and I are going to go meet my sisters for an afternoon of shopping.  I am hoping to find a few summer capris and shorts, as I have *almost* lost all my baby weight (10 lbs to go), but sometimes that last 10 lbs., is hard to lose while you are still nursing.  I actually can get in to a few of my pre-baby spring clothes, but it is cutting it pretty close.  I would like a few outfits, I don’t have to “suck in it” if I want to keep the button from popping off.  And of course, I’ll be on the lookout for some summer clothes for Ryan and Cole.

Then my dad is coming over to my sister’s house to make his delicious chili rellenos.  My youngest sister loves chili, but where she lives, they don’t really have hot green chili.  So I plan to pig out on Mexican again.

On Sunday, the weather is supposed to be beautiful, so we are planning another picnic in the park, for the afternoon, before my sister has to catch her flight home.  It is great spending time with everyone and I only wish we could do it more often.