Easter at the Erickson's

Well, as usual, I really wasn't on the ball this Easter and didn't get any pictures of the family all dressed up for church. I actually brought the camera to church fully intending to take pictures, but of course church was busy and hurried and we forgot all about it. And once we got home it wasn't too long until Linnea had ketchuped herself and the moment was once again gone.

However, despite the photos to prove it, we had a really nice Easter. We had brunch here at our place with one of our friends from California, Peter, who is going to school at Emerson. Then the whole family took naps in the afternoon before heading out for a walk to the playground for some pretty brisk outdoor-time. As for the Easter Bunny, Linnea enjoyed opening up all the plastic eggs full of candy more than she enjoyed the candy itself and loved searching for the hidden eggs. And I discovered that Sonja fit nicely into Linnea's Easter basket.

We hope you all had a Happy Easter as well!

Sonja's First Bath

Well, it was finally time to give Sonja her first bath the other night. Linnea got in on the action too by making sure that the baby tub was suitable for her new baby sister. Seems like Linnea needs to test drive a lot of baby stuff these days.

Sonja was very calm and relaxed during her bath. This was very much unlike Linnea's first bath where she howled the whole way through.

Sonja has been sleeping fairly well at night. I can't complain. She gets up to eat about 2-3 times a night and then goes straight back to sleep. Usually by about 6 AM, however, the entire family is in our bed. It's pretty cute, but starting to get a little crowded! Oh, and Sonja is pretty happy now that her ugly umbilical cord stub fell off yesterday. Mom is too! Those things are yucky.

It's girl number two for the Ericksons!

Welcome Sonja Lise!

Last Monday evening, March 3rd, we welcomed "little" Sonja Lise Erickson into the world. Our new bundle weighed in at 9 pounds and 13 ounces and is 21.5" long. She attracted the attention of many a nurse with comments like "Wow, that's a big baby!"

To us she is beautiful and sweet, just like her older sister! She is a very quiet baby and is currently sleeping about 2o hours a day! She is a good eater and was already up to 10 pounds at her first post-hospital weigh-in on Friday.

Big sister Linnea is adjusting well, although noticably more excitable since the arrival of her little sis. One of the first things Linnea did when she met Sonja for the first time was to check out her little tiny toes. Now she is in the habit of talking to her in her "baby" voice and giving her kisses. She does, however, get quite upset at the fact that the baby isn't awake enough to play with.

We were surprised by Sonja's quantity of dark brown hair! We are also impressed by the spikey-do that she was born with!

We are so grateful for a healthy and happy baby. We greatly appreciate all the help we received from my mom (Diane) and from my sister Lindsay in the days following Sonja's birth. We are also thankful for all our neighbors who have and will be sending meals over every other night! We know that the Erickson family is truely richly blessed to have such kind and caring people in their lives.

Attached below is a 5 minute video I took of Sonja on her 1 week birthday. I hope those that cannot be here to see her these first fews days might get a small glimpse at what our little one is like.