Grandma Lori, Aunt Wendy and Ethan! What a crew!

Can't wait to post about Reese's first round of family on the Butcher side to visit!  Considering Reese is the first girl on the Butcher side, some serious "spoiling" was sure to be in store!

 

Mom (as Drew calls her "Gwama Worwi") and Ethan had plans to fly down on July 26th.  Mom rolled the dice when she booked her flights knowing that my due date was the 27th.  It worked out PERFECTLY since I was induced on the 23rd and we got home from the hospital on the 25th.  Just in time for one of the best visits ever!

 

Drew was also VERY excited to see everyone - having Ethan here to play with him for 4 days straight was such a treat and made my heart to happy watching the two of them becomes good friends. 

 

Once they arrived, it didn't take Aunt Wendy long before she was snuggling with Reese!  If she didn't have baby fever before she came, I'm sure she did when she left :-)  Reese was so good, she would make you want to have another one for sure! 

 

 

"Well hello there -- you're not my mommy but I like you!"

Ok - I'll open my eyes for this sweet aunt!

Ethan wanted in on the baby Reese action too.  He was so kind and gentle with her, what an awesome cousin!  Hard to believe that he is 5 1/2 years older than her!

 

Grandma Lori was all about baby Reese AND the pool and sure knows how to make it fun!  She couldn't wait to get in with Drew and Ethan.  While they were here, we got lots of rain mid-day / late afternoon so they snuck in the pool whenever the sun was out!  I think there were a couple days that Ethan got in 3 times :-)

 

Drew had the time of his life.  They did dives, jumps and all kinds of new tricks in the pool.  Oh, and Grandma brought a floating basketball hoop with her so they even shot some hoops in the water!

 

I can never get video to load right on my blog, but we have some GREAT footage of Grandma's new trick of jumping onto the pool float and gliding across the pool.  Drew thought it was like "sliding" into home plate (of course).

Fun with Grandma in the pool!

While Grandma and the boys were in the pool, me and Aunt Wendy had some major work to do in the closet of the nursery!  Look at this loot!  All of this brand new clothes came from Wendy and Grandma -- I am pretty sure that Aunt Wendy has officially bought 80% of Reese's entire wardrobe!  We have all sorts of sizes, styles and even some Iowa State gear in there.  SPOILED!

 

One afternoon while they were here, I decided it was time for a little one on one time with Drew.  He was definitely adjusting to having Reese around and needed some special time with mom.  I know this is all a big change for him...and before Reese he was attached at the hip to me.  It was like he sensed that something major was going to happen and that life would be changing.  Kids really are amazing.

 

So.... off we went to the Twisty Treat to get some ice cream!

 

 

YUMMY!  And mom doesn't even care that I am making a huge mess - woohoo!

 

Love this pic -- Reese is such a little snuggle ball!  She loves to curl up her legs like she is still in the womb.  It's looks like a little yoga pose!

NAMASTE!

 

Back to Drew...during mom and Wendy's trip we had to really work with Drew to keep him going to the potty on the potty.  This classic picture was taken after a trip to the potty (no diaper/pull-up on yet).  He decided to bring the toilet plunger out with him and swing it like a baseball bat. 

What?  I'm just improvising...anything can be a bat if you use your imagination!

After Drew would go to bed at night, Ethan got to stay up with us and watch movies and eat popcorn... oh, and do more snuggles with Reese :-)

 

 

Grandma Lori got her fair share of snuggles too -- she is the best at "holding her off" when she is hungry and mommy isn't quite ready to feed yet. 

 

From the pool with the boys straight to Reese!  Busy Grandma!

This is one of my favorite memories of their trip.  While I was nursing Reese, Wendy read bedtime stories to Drew and Ethan.  Then Grandma broke out all her bedtime songs.  Drew likes "This little light of mine" and "Zachias was a wee-little man"... It was fun because Wendy and I chimed in and sang along, these are all the songs mom used to sing to us when we were kids.  I love them!

Hi Grandma, I love you.

One activity I didn't get a picture of (only video footage) was the WATER BALLOON fun that Grandma started!  Aunt Wendy supplied the initial batch of balloons and wow -- was this fun!  Drew wanted to hit them off the tee with his bat... he had so much fun smashing them.  In fact, we can't even bring up the topic of water balloons because he will throw a fit if we don't go blow some up.  One of these days while he is napping I'm going to go blow up like 50 of them and surprise him when he wakes up!

 

 

What a good big brother!  He was really starting to warm up to Reese by the time mom left. 

LOVE!

It was so sad to see everyone go -- Wendy and mom were such great help around the house.  Cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and helping with Drew and Reese.  But aside from all the great help, I miss the talks and laughs... we live way too far apart!  Our next visit can't get here soon enough. 

Thanks Grandma Lori, Aunt Wendy and Ethan for making the trip - we love you so much!