St. Luois Botanical Gardens

 Last Saturday, while I was still in Missouri, we drove into St. Louis to see the botanical gardens.  The trees were all budding, and there were many flowering trees- and some flowers were already up.  It was beautiful, and a felt so good to be outside when it was sunny and about 75 degrees!  Lily did great in the baby bjorn, sleeping until all but the last hour- when I found a secluded spot to change her and feed her.  She then actually slept most of the way back....I was so impressed! But, after 2 days of consant eating, she spent 2 days pretty much sleeping and she sure grew!

 Aidan- in the kids Park, there was this balancing rope to cross- he loved it!  He was pretty brave!

 The kid's park was great- with all these little hidden areas for kids to hang, slide, crawl and play.

 Aidan rock climbed up this big boulder!....and then jumped off!

 There was an outdoor music area.

 In the Japanese garden....

Aidan and Alaina met some friends near the kid's garden.  What a fun day! And then 2 days later I came back to MN/WI.....where it has been snowing/raining/ice most of the week.  Today I finally see the sun peaking through the clouds at North Bend.  Hopefully it will melt all the new snow we got yesterday....  Lily and I are headed into town to do some shopping and visiting today.....I now have only 2 more weeks left of maternity leave =(

Missouri...Lily's first Hikes

 The weather in Missouri was beautiful!!...especially because our late spring in MN/WI.  I did not mind leaving snowstorm after snowstorm to find green grass and weather in the 60's or more each day!  While Katie and the kids were in school, and Matt was at work, Lily and I enjoyed hiking with Arlo in the Grand Bluffs nature reserve near their house.  The hike up the bluffs was exactly what I needed to clear my lungs and build up some strength after all my time inside with Lily.  She loved being outside in the nice weather, though she slept through most of the hiking.

 Arlo was thrilled to see his first butterflies to chase!  We also saw a few wildflowers, bees, buds on the trees....ahhhh!  SPRING!!!

 Oh, yeah, and the ticks were out....

The baby bjorn worked the best, though Lily was not a fan of the sun in her eyes.  The next day we bought a sunhat, since I didn't think to bring one!!

Lily's first Easter!

 We went up to my mom's after church for the kid's Easter egg hunt (where I recruited help from the kids in finding my "golden egg"), and then went down to Westfield for lunch with Jim's Dad an family.

 This is Lily's about to cry face...

 Most of the grandkids, with Great Grandma Ruth

Right after lunch Jim took off to drive to Annapolis, Maryland.  He was gone for a week for the Polar technology conference...so on Tuesday, Lily and I headed to Missouri for a week, where Lily had a major growth spurt!  Looking at these pictures 2 weeks later I am amazed with how much she has changed!!

Smiles!

 Lily is smiling a lot more and becoming quite social.  I find her smiles so adorable I find myself reaching for the camera a lot! She is now 7 weeks old.  She had a doctor appointment yesterday, getting 3 shots and one oral vaccine....she did pretty good.  Yesterday was also the first day I really left her- with her Grandma, auntie Katie and her cousins Alaina and Aidan.  She did really well, probably better than her mom- who cried in the car on the way to a dentist appointment.  I know it is silly....but I just hated to leave her.  Otherwise the only times I have left her have been to go outside, where I could go right back in to see her.

 I finally got the buttons on this sweater I made for Lily....in time for her to wear it one time before outgrowing it!  Oh well.

 Lily's full face smile. She generally has one of these for me upon first really waking up.

 This smile was for the kiddos at school, who we went to visit this week.

 This outfit was the first thing I bought when I found out I was pregnant- at a garage sale by the Renewable Energy Fair.

Today.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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 We have been visiting a lot more family this month, seeing as I am not at work!  It has been really nice!  This is Lily with her Great Grandma Squires!

It is hard to believe Lily is over a month old already!  As of today, she is 5 weeks old.  She has been sleeping better (most nights) and is growing quite a bit!  Some of her clothes aren't even fitting anymore =(  This first month went really fast!

 Lily with her Daddy!

 4 generations all together- Lily, me, my mom, and my Grandma Bublitz!

 Tummy time is not Lily's favorite, but she tolerates it for short periods, and is doing really well lifting her head.  She is definitely one strong little girl!

This time last year we were getting some 60 degree days!  This year?...more and more snow!!  This was earlier this week, and it is snowing again right now.  I am more than ready for spring, but I do have to admit- this makes beautiful scenery!