Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day from the Lah family to yours! We all enjoyed the day. Margaret and I surprised Addie and Michael with brownie cupcakes while Michael surprised us girls with a nice dinner out on the town. Today Addie has her school party. I'm sure she will enjoy it. I've included in this post some photos including the girls and one of Michael with his little loves. Like always, if you want to see more photos like these go to our flickr page.

One Month Old!

Margaret turned one month old yesterday. It's hard to believe that four weeks has passed so quickly. It seems like just yesterday she was born. BUT... She is getting bigger. Clothes that had to have sleeves rolled or she was swimming in them now fit her. Her skinny legs are starting to get a little bit of that baby fat on them. She is actually starting to sleep for 4-6 hour stretches at night (sometimes). The following two photos where taken yesterday of her.




Addie is doing great. She is adjusting to being a sister really well. Addie can be the cutest little mom. She is always trying to make her sister happy and help out in any way she can. So far the hardest part for her has been not eating when she wants too. If I'm feeding Margaret she has to wait until I finish before I can make her lunch or get her a snack.

I just had to share these two photos of my sleeping beauties. I might not always be able to sleep when Margaret does but at least Addie does. They both fell a sleep at the same time in the living room. It was 5:30pm when they feel a sleep so I had to make dinner instead of joining them.


Cloth diapering has been going great. I really do enjoy using cloth and washing them is super easy. Michael and I both agree that it was the best choice. He doesn't even mind them either! I found a few minutes the other day to make this new diaper cover for Margaret out of left over fleece from another project. She was so cute in it I had to share a butt shot!

In the White Room

We haven't picked out the curtains yet.


The dingy grey walls of the basement are on their way out. Actually, by now the first coat is nearly done and the second will be started once I finish this post. Once the walls are done, we can begin making this part of the basement into living space that does not resemble a dungeon. This Dry-lok product goes on well and is low-odor. It's also heavy and around $20 per gallon, but it will be worth it in the end. The basement is already much brighter.

Mom couldn't wait another week to see the girls, yet Papa Bill was still down with a sore throat. That wasn't stopping Nana Peggy. She had a good time playing with the girls and we were grateful for the break. Addie and Nana were even able to play outside on Saturday before the cold front came through, knocking the temperature down to the single digits.



And with all this going on, Emily was able to get some sewing done. She is working on a package deal with another Etsy shop owner.


And, that tiny baby continues to grow up on us. She's been playing on the playmat about once per day and loves it.


Last, but certainly not least, Purdue upended 8th ranked Wisconsin 72-67, to take sole possession of the top spot in the Big Ten. This was just the 7th home loss for the Badgers under the helm of Bo Ryan. It was also the second time this season that Purdue beat them. Sorry, Bo, we're all broken up about this.


I'm pretty sure he was saying, "BOILER UP!"

Family Update

I know that it has been a while since I've last posted an update but life has been kind of crazy around our house lately. Addie is feeling much better. Being sick was the worst thing to her. As soon as she was well enough to go to school we where hit once again with lots of snow so then she missed another two days of school. In the end she had only went to school 3 days in the past three weeks. The feeling of winter house blues was really hitting Addie hard. This week she has had school and we also went to story hour at the library which has helped her to regain her sanity. As soon as Addie started to feel better Michael got sick (of course!) so that made things interesting around here. But he is feeling better now also. Thank goodness Margaret and I never got sick!

Yesterday Margaret had a baby check up appointment. She weighed in at 8lbs 9ozs. That means that since her last check up she has gained 1oz a day! The doctor was impressed with her weight gain which has climbed at a good pace putting her back on track weight wise. The doctor was also very impressed with how strong Margaret is. She does a great job holding her head up and and is very alert for being 3 1/2 weeks old.

Along with the normal life stuff keeping us busy we have started to work on the basement. The plan is to paint the large room's walls this weekend and finish cleaning the floors. Then we will be able to start setting up the play space for the girls. Having all these snow days lately has really pushed us to get this done so Addie has more room to run! I've included several photos in this post but to see more photos feel free to go to our flickr page (see link on upper, right side of the main page, listed as "Family Photo Album").

Daily Life

Well, I was going to post on Friday to say how things in our house where starting to get back to some what "normal". I guess just the thought of that made things turn upside down!

This past week Michael did go back to work after taking a week off to be home with us girls. The girls and I where starting to get used to being home just the three of us (+ the dogs!). However, Addie only had school on Monday so we did not have to try our school routine yet. We all survived and things where starting to seem more like normal. I even broke out my sling and Mei Tia carriers for Margaret. She did not really take to the sling but loved the Mei Tia. In the photo I have her facing me which she is not to happy about but she loves it when she faces out and can see everything. She even sleeps better that way then facing in. Kind of odd for a newborn but if it works I'll take it!


Thursday night Addie started to complain about little aches and pains. Friday the same thing, head hurts, tummy hurts, legs, etc all at different times. But no fever... until the middle of the night Friday when she woke up with a fever over 102 degrees. Poor girl was sick all weekend. Her fever finally broke this afternoon and she seems to be on the road to recovery. Hopefully so because I don't think that she can take much more of this laying down, staying away from sister, no school Monday thing. One would think that it's the end of the world or close to it. But I have to disagree with that thought since we all survived two sleepless nights in a row taking care of a newborn every 2 or so hours and her sick older sister who never slept and would need us right after we would go back to sleep from helping Margaret. Oh the joys of parenthood :) But for some strange reason neither of us would trade it for the world.

Bilirubin be gone!

I'm pleased to say that Margaret's bilirubin levels have now shown the decline that the doctor was looking for. No more bloodwork trips out in the cold for this little one. Also, as of this morning, Margaret's weight is up to 7 lbs, 8 oz. She's gained two ounces per day since her last visit - also what the doctor was wanting to see. So no more doctor visits every other day either. All three girls will be more than pleased to stay home, and be out of the harsh winter weather for a while.

Addie's Rock Show

Addie has always loved music. She's had toy instruments, which always led to a marching band around the house. She's learning to read music at a local Kindermusik class. She picks up songs in a heartbeat. Nothing could prepare us for this. For Addie's 'big sister' gift, Emily and I decided to get her that pink guitar she'd had her eye on. That's right, Addie has been eying these for several months, and has a genuine interest.

We gave this to her on Tuesday, and spent some time tuning it and going over a little bit of ground rules (this is not a toy...). She played a song or two for us. On Wednesday, she put on a 'Rock Show'. She received no coaching on this - it is all Addie.







The camera work may just be more amature than the music. Now we just need to get her some lessons.