Mom photos- April 20th.

Now that my in-bed time with Beatrice was over, I took advantage of actually being out of bed to tae some photos of Beatrice.

First, I had to dress her up in the tiny silk romper I bought her in China. 

Our little China doll.

 Not that she cared for having her picture taken.

In fact, she didn't like it much at all.

But even when crying, she does have a sweet chubby face.

And periodically she opens her eyes.

But usually the weight of her cheeks are too much to bear.

Poor Sammy didn't feel much like getting his picture taken either.  He just wanted to be cuddled.

Luckily, there were some master cuddlers in the house.  Like I said, June adores her little sister.

So proud.  And so close to losing that front tooth.

Next up, we dressed up Bea in the dress I wore from from the hospital as a baby.

This time Bea was awake, but didn't look so pleased to be posed.

To be quite honest, for the few few weeks, those chubby cheeks made Bea look rather stern.  

Can I take off this lacy dress now, mom?

Finally, some pictures of Beatrice with her namesakes.

Bea, if this doesn't score you a few extra Christmas presents, we don't know what will.

Reunited- April 18th.

After a very restful, quiet week of recovery, we were ready for the chaos to start up again.  And did it ever.  Big sisters came in from North Carolina and PawPaw came down from Ohio, followed closely by Grandma and Grandpa Seibert.  

June was very excited to meet her newest little sister.  I often told June during my pregnancy that this baby would be very special to her, as Georgie was to Henry as a newborn.  There's just something about a big brother or sister that's 5 or 6 years old. And June has really taken that to heart.  She dotes on Bea constantly.

Which is not to say that Georgie doesn't also love the stuffing out of Bea.  Bea is so attended to that we often have to tell the kids just to leave her alone and that her nukie is only for when she is crying.  The favorite greating after any amount of time away from Bea is to run as fast as you can, jump straddle her and scream "BEA!" at the top of your lungs.  Luckily, sweet Bea takes it all in stride. (And has only been stepped on once in 4 months, to our knowledge.)

 Aunt Jill traded in her baby for a smaller one. It wasn't that long ago Sam was that little!

After the obligatory introductions, the girls got back to the business of being silly.  Unicorn June loaned her blankie and Jo's zebra to Bea.

Then she modeled for new french beret and necklace that Grams and PawPaw picked up in Paris. 

They go very well with the Eiffel Tower dress she inherited from Sadie.  

Not to be outdone, JoJo wore her best princess dress.

And the guys just hung out with the babies.

Bea's first playdate- April 16th.

Bea had a weight check at her doctor's office the day after we got home from the hospital.  (A few ounces under her birth weight, but on her way back up.)  It was a very nice April day and I knew that our Moms' Club Easter Egg Hunt was just down the road, so I took Miss Bea out for her first playdate.

And to our luck, my friend Gabriela was their with her camera and caught some very nice moments. This is Bea with my friend Emily.

I call this the "I'm so happy I'm not pregnant!" shot.

Hugs from Zuzana.

Barborka meets Beatrice.

Charlie is quite excited about the baby.

I'm not going to lie, it was pretty fun being a celebrity.

It's not often you get a sweatshirt worthy day in April in South Carolina!

My very good friend, Zuzana and I.  

Barborka and Magdalenko are expecting a little brother of their own soon.

3/4 of our Tuesday morning playgroup moms.  Zuzana, me, and Pam.

Meanwhile in North Carolina...

Don't feel bad for the girls that they weren't home to meat Beatrice right away.  

They were having a great time in North Carolina with Ant Jill and Grams.

They got to try out all of the great playgrounds near Aunt Jill and Uncle Phillips new house.

Aunt Jill took them out for pancakes.  They fabricated a story about mama not packing them underwear, which resulted in a new pack of Hello Kitty underpants.  (Look in the pocket, June.)

Aunt Jill is so lucky to live right next to the beach!

Even if it was too cold to swim, they had a good time playing in the sand.

And they got some big sister training with Sam, who was at the perfect age to adore the girls like crazy, but not ge into any of their stuff.  

And he even posed for pictures with June's dolls.

And when the weather didn't cooperate, they taught Sam about how awesome My Little Ponies are!

And spent hours on end coloring in their jammies.  

Thanks for the awesome week, Aunt Jill and Grams!!

Week 1- April 16- 19th.

Our first week home was rather nice.  Brandon would get up and take Henry to camp. (He got to go to the pool, play laser tag and miniature golf and go bowling.)

Meanwhile, the nightwaker and I would sleep in until at least noon.  

 We think Bea looks most like June as a baby.  That's June on the left. 

 Our friends Maddie and Katie came over to visit Bea.  We were surprised Katie even wanted to hold Bea because she has very little interest in babies.  She didn't even notice I was pregnant until about a month before Bea arrived.

 Maddie also got in on the cuddling.

 One afternoon, I received a skype call from Uncle Kevin's account.  Uncle Kevin was out hanging laundry, but these two stinkers apparently figured out how to use the ipad to call up their newest cousin. 

 The newest cousin who mostly still sleeps all the time.

Except when she's being dressed up like a little doll-baby.  Thanks for the new clothes, Aunt Molly and Uncle Michael!