Spring has Sprung -- for now!

Again, the Stewart family has nothing terribly exciting to report as of late. However, this past weekend, we threw up the shades, opened the windows, and got outside! This past weekend, Madeline, Eric and I got outside to enjoy the GORGEOUS weather. While we were enjoying the weather, we were also being productive. Yes, the being productive part was my idea, but I was right there with him with my own rake and picking up my share of the piles! We got into all of our natural areas and flower beds to rake out all of the leaves and old pine straw to prepare for the new pine straw. Eric made good use of my most recent "yard present" from my mom -- electric trimmers! All of our shrubs and bushes needed their springtime haircut, so while I was raking and cleaning out, Eric was trimming. I was more than excited to see little green buds on all my hydrangea bushes! Oh, how I love springtime, and this weekend just made me ready for spring more than ever! Madeline observed our handy work from her exersaucer on the deck in the shade.

Lunch break! And, yes, our little sweetie is completely content for one of us to hold her bottle. She is a little bit of a lazy eater!

On a side note, Madeline has really surprised me lately with her naps. As we all know, I tried so hard to create an afternoon naptime ritual that was just NOT WORKING, and as a matter of fact, I think it was just making things worse. (Hindsight is 20/20! I guess every new mom lives and learns the hard way.) Lately, she's been napping on her own in the morning in our spare bedroom. When she begins to get a little fussy and the eye rubbing starts, I just put her in there for some quiet time with her plush toys, and she just falls fast asleep on her own for up to an hour. (This morning nap is still a power nap.) However, the afternoon nap has been going really well....she does one of two things consistently: Madeline falls asleep on the way home from the gym and has a late lunch at 2 or 2:30, OR she eats lunch when we get home from the gym, plays a bit, and gets fussy/eye rubs. I put Madeline into the crib with her bunny lovey, and she talks to her mobile. Finally she falls fast asleep on her with little to no crying for a couple of hours!! How great is that?! I snapped a few naptime pictures just for fun.

She can almost reach it! Time to lower the crib one level!