Our New Normal - Derek Settles in at Home

We've settled in to a routine around here with Derek. We really haven't been too adventurous, as he is still vulnerable to germs, so we stay close to home; but the girls are mostly loving the excitement of having a baby brother. Here is Lydia holding Derek for the first time - she was ecstatic. 

In this picture, Karina was thrilled that Derek grabbed her hair. She decided that Derek had intentionally moved his hand to touch her - we didn't have the heart to explain to her that he won't develop the necessary motor skills to do that for another few months.

Lydia happy to be a big sister.

All three of the kids decided to do some tummy time together to strengthen the neck and core muscles. The girls thought it was hilarious. Derek was a little more concerned.

Tanja and the kids (you can see Derek's head peeking out of the carrier wrap around Tanja).

Then Karina wanted to continue honing her photography skills. I think she took a pretty good picture.

The girls really like trying to entertain Derek. Here they are after taking some of his play gym toys off to see if they could get him to look at them.

Derek spends some of his awake time in the play gym looking at things.

Sometimes he gets his tummy time there.

And sometimes Snoopy joins him (though in reality, Snoopy just likes getting down to join us when we are crouched down trying to get a good angle for baby pictures).

He even accidentally pet Snoopy:

The best part is when his big sisters entertain him while he is relaxing on the play gym. Here, Karina decided she was going to put on a puppet show for him. She brought over several of the stuffed animals and put on a puppet show play for him with all the animals talking to Derek. It was adorable and Derek was fascinated with her.

Karina gets very excited to hold her baby brother.

Some other random pictures:

Derek also spends time in his swing for naps or just relaxing while waiting for us to get ready to leave the house.

We have spent more time outside now that the weather has warmed up. Here are some pictures from a playground.  Lydia was very proud of herself for walking all the way across this rope bridge.

The girls usually get to watch a TV episode when Karina comes home from Pre-K. Snoopy took advantage one day and laid his head on Lydia's lap and she started playing with his ear. It was cute.

Lydia playing with Derek.  She is thrilled to be a big sister.

Mormor got Derek a super soft blue blanket since all our baby stuff was either old or girly. Derek loves the blanket and it calms him down when he is upset.

Once Derek's umbilical cord stump fell out, we could give him a bath. He was a little stinky, so he got his first bath at home on Saturday (I wasn't at the hospital when he got his first bath there and missed out on that experience). Derek was not very happy to be in the bathtub and screamed his way through it, but he smelled better at the end.

He was much calmer once he got changed into his pajamas for the night and was placed in more familiar environments.

A few pictures Tanja took on Sunday while the girls and I were at church and she stayed home with Derek: