2 months

Baby brother is 2 months old... getting even cuter each day. He's smiling and cooing and sleeping pretty well through the night now. He is crazy about his sisters, and has a hard time eating in the morning until he has seen and talked to them for a while. I have pictures of the girls at 2 months in the same pose as above, but had taken them to a studio. I put brother on a black blanket and took these myself and they turned out great. So cute.

Memorial Day 2009

We always go to my uncle's house for Memorial Day and July 4th because they have a pool and it gives us an excuse to visit, they are a lot of fun. It was also Nana's big "60th" birthday, so we made her a cake and homemade icecream, and the kids put their handprints (and brother's footprint) on a plate we had glazed and fired that says, "Nana's Sweet Cookies" with the kids' names and ages. SJ lost her toenail the day before (ouch!) so wouldn't get her foot in the water, but tried to swim with it sticking out of the pool. The water was too cool for brother, but I'm sure he'll be in for July 4th!

Saturday V and I tore up 45 year old hedges in the backyard and stacked them out front for bulk trash pick up, fun fun. Getting ready for our new backyard fence in a couple of weeks.

Baby Brother is 6 weeks old

Baby brother is 6 weeks old now. He's smiling, cooing (especially at biggest sister SA, he is crazy about her), and is topping the scales at about 9 lbs and 22 inches long. He is very alert and always looking around and loves to be toted around in a sling. He's the sweetest little bundle, I know I'm biased, but seriously!

Ballet Recital 2009

SA (5 yrs) was a "Lemon Drop Hopper" in the Candy Land Express production for her ballet center this past weekend. She was adorable and really tried so hard this year, so neat to see her really focusing on this already when she's so young, and all the girls are still a little uncoordinated, so cute.

Grandmas

Grandma came to visit for about 10 days last week. She made the little man's baptism outfit and helped a ton with the baby so we could get the girls up and out the door to school. Baby N also smiled at Gma while holding her cross necklace (chewing on Gma's cross necklace is a rite of passage for all the grandbabies).

Nana was here the week before and helped in the same ways and even took the girls to her house for a few days (boy was it quiet around here, even with a newborn). Now we are on our own with three kiddos... so far it has been fun, tiring, frustrating, a little more fun, and... zzzzzz... what was I talking about again? I feel like my brain functioning properly is directly related to how much sleep I get and how many kids need my attention at one time... I short circuit quite often these days. I have put the lunchmeat in a kitchen drawer and left my phone in my daughter's school bag, but so far, I have been able to keep up with all my kids, something to be proud of.

Thanks Moms, for all the help, I hope to be there for my daughters one day as you have been here for me. And thanks to the best husband anyone could ever have for all he has done to help hold down this fort over the past 6 weeks. Thank you God for all the many blessings you have given to me - too many to list.

Happy Easter 2009

We went to the arboretum yesterday when the weather was really nice and the girls danced to the band that was playing. I'm so glad we got outside because today (Easter Sunday) was pretty cold and rainy. The easter bunny hid eggs at our house overnight and the girls found them first thing when they woke up. Everyone behaved at a very pretty, but long, mass service, and we came home and dyed easter eggs. Yes - you usually do this before the egg hunt, but we ran out of time, so we did it today just for the fun of it.

SJ always makes us laugh with things she says, and today with real concern on her face, she had this conversation,

SJ: "Daddy, is it ready to color easter eggs yet?"

V: "I'm boiling them now, then we'll dye them."

SJ: "Daddy, I want you to be nice to the eggs, I don't want you to "die" them."

We of course laughed and V explained how "dye-ing" is different than "dying" and means to color them. I thought she had gotten it, but later she told me, "Mommy, we're cooking the eggs until they die, then we are going to color them." ...oh well.

Baby Brother is 2 Weeks Old

Baby brother is two weeks old already and topping out at his birth weight finally, a hefty 6 lbs, 10 oz, and he’s already grown an inch to 20.5in. He’s pretty long and skinny much like his daddy’s side of the family. We’re trying to fatten him up a bit, but his oldest sister tends to be the same way, so we’ll take him as-is, as long as he’s eating well and is healthy.

I have to say, the world of boys is already so different… I’ve learned some handy tactics to keep from being sprayed when changing diapers, and the circumcision thing was pretty interesting.

Oldest and youngest cousin (25 year spread)