I Love These Eyes!

Before we had kids I told Ryan I hoped our children had his eyes. We are definitely two for two. Ryan, Abel, and Adelyn have the deepest brown most thoughtful, beautiful eyes. I love all three of them very much, but there is something special about little Baby Adelyn staring up at me with those big brown eyes! She looks just like Abel did when he was first born...I'm assuming her eyes will stick like his did!

I love her fingers, I love her hat...

Abel is infatuated with Adelyn. He loves to look at her, talk about her, and most especially - touch her. Everything about her is new and interesting (to all of us)!

Together, At Home

When we arrived home, Adelyn was asleep. We didn't want to wake her, so we simply put her car seat in the crib. Abel was extremely excited, noticed that the baby was sleeping, and made the "shh" sign. He then proceeded to climb into the crib for a closer look at his little sister.

Heading Home

Adelyn and Courtney were discharged this afternoon. It was so sweet to see Adelyn's tiny body in her car seat. It seems like just yesterday her big brother was the tiny body in that same car seat!

Abel Meets Adelyn Lee

Sweet Abel was so excited to meet his new sister. After the initial shock of hearing her cry, he was completely intrigued. The first thing he did was lean down to kiss her. Great camera work, Grandma Peggy!

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl!

Courtney gave birth to a beautiful baby girl this morning - 7 lbs., 19.25 in. We arrived at the hospital at 6AM, and the baby arrived at 8:25AM. Court was amazing and is feeling well. We still haven't picked a name, but we'll update the blog soon with more information!

New Carseat Arrangement

At my doctor's appointment this past week, I was put on "limited activity" (yeah- limited activity is soooo me) and was told that baby would be here any day now. So, we decided we better get the new carseat in and switch Abes to the other side so he could get used to it. When we first put him in, he was clearly interested in the fact his seat was on a different side. Then, he looked over and saw the infant seat and hardly knew what to do. He actually seemed pretty excited! When Abel was an infant, he rode in the middle. However, Baby Deux will be behind the passenger as we don't really want Abel poking at her saying, "Eye, eye!"

Ella's Deli

Ella's Deli is a famous deli in Madison. I'm not sure why it's so famous because the food's not all that great, but who am I to judge? We've been a few times and it is always packed and a GREAT place to take kids. We took Abel for the first time this past week so he could ride the carousel and experience the deli. The food is mediocre, but man was he stimulated by all the stuff and all the kids the whole time! When we first put him on the carousel, he wasn't so sure. However, after a couple of times around he was laughing with delight!

Park! Shide! Shing!

Abel LOVES the park. He can't get enough of the slide and the swing. He crawls everywhere, gets into everything, climbs on as much as he can, and just LOVES going there. He hasn't quite got the "s" sound down, so he pronounces it "sh" instead. We'll be driving past a park and he'll yell out, "Shide!" It's pretty funny....especially when he announces he's going to "sit" on something. :)

Bye-Bye Curls!

I thought this was an appropriate title for this post because one of Abel's favorite things to do is say, "Bye-bye!" This weekend, he had his first haircut. It was very traumatic...kind of for us all. He cried through the whole thing - real tears- and in the end, we realized he is definitely no longer a baby, but a little boy!

Panera Bread

Most people here in Madison and our loved ones outside of Madison know that Panera Bread became Ryan's "office" during his PhD work. Whenever he had a break, he took advantage of their ice tea, bacon turkey bravo sandwich, and free wi-fi and worked there. He was on a first name basis with many of the employees and once they even gave him a free dozen bagels! So, as you can imagine, Abel was at Panera Bread starting when he was just a few days old. As time evolved, he began eating at Panera as well. Mostly we go there for breakfast. Ryan takes him every Tues. before gymnastics and we're usually there one weekend morning. Abel always has a blueberry muffin (a beyoh-muh) and a fruit cup. Here's a shot of him enjoying his beyoh muh!

Happy Graduation!

We had a big weekend at our house! Ryan graduated on Friday with his PhD. It's been four very quick years, and he has worked very hard. The ceremony was called a hooding ceremony. Each graduate is called on stage and "hooded." He was escorted by his advisor and they draped a long scarf around his neck. Ryan's scarf was red and blue. Red for Wisconsin and blue signifying the PhD. While they were being hooded, they read a short summary of his research and future plans. It was pretty amazing. Both of our sets of parents came and our friends Tori, Courtney, and Matt (sorry I don't have a pic with you Tori!) Saturday, we had an open house. Friends, family, and colleagues came, the weather was amazing, and it was a truly wonderful weekend. We thank EVERYONE who has supported us during these four years....we have needed it....and we'll be leaning on you even more in the next few weeks because, yes, that's me 152,000 months pregnant!

Yardwork!

Ryan and his dad did a bunch of work in the yard this weekend to clean it up and get it ready for our party and summer. Abel decided he wanted to help too! Little does he know, this is only the beginning!

Curly Hair

Abel's hair is getting slightly unruly...so we wanted to make sure we got one shot before we get his first hair cut. It's super long in the back and starting to get super long on the sides...and long in the Flessner family means curls! Ryan's mom says that Ryan's hair was just like this when he was Abel's age...but much more red! So, we tried to get the best shot we could get!

Happy Mother's Day, Mama!

Mama, the fact that you let me climb around in the dishwasher is just one of the reasons I love you! Here are some others: You taught me how to rub noses when I want to say I love you, you make me delicious meals, you have another baby for me to play with growing in your belly, and - most importantly - you're the sweetest mama a kid could have. I'm so happy to call you mine!

Hey! Check out my new bed!!!

As we prepare for the arrival of Baby Deux, we realized we basically needed to set up another baby room. Abel is nowhere near being in a toddler bed as he moves around all over the place while he sleeps and often sleeps up against the side of the bed. SO, we bought a new crib for the baby. Baby will use Abel's bedding and Abel gets new bedding...which of course means he needs a new carpet too! This weekend, Ryan and I made it to Pottery Barn Kids while we were in Indy to get the carpet and sheets to match the bumper I bought online. Tonight, we set up his room. He LOVED the carpet. He rolled all around on it. When we put him in his crib, he giggled with absolute delight and played "'night 'night". It was quite cute!

Helping in the Kitchen

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love to cook. When I come home at night and start to make dinner, Abel is often in the kitchen with me either playing with the Tupperware drawer or clinging to my leg. The other night, I pulled up a chair and told him he could participate. This was a VERY fun moment for him as he grabbed the spoon and said, "Help, help." He stirred and helped me add ingredients to the turkey burgers. He was so enthusiastic, he tried to add the whole jar of garlic...I told him that yes, it's my favorite ingredient too, but we don't need the WHOLE jar!