Halloween

Sometime last week was Halloween, did you notice?  If you have any kids, then you probably noticed.  We had the Halloween carnival the week before, and once I get Nate's pictures from his class Halloween thing together, I'll try to post those.  The kids had a great time at the school carnival, it was the first time we have gone where it was pretty nice weather.  Not raining, and not cold, so it seemed much calmer.  

We had friends come over again for the Halloween  trick-or-treating.  It was good weather for that also.  Not super cold, not raining, we were very lucky!  The kids had a great time, much less whiny than last year.  Rachel, didn't seem to care, have I mentioned how heavy she is lately?  Lord, is she heavy, no wonder I sling her all the time!  

The kids got a lot of candy, they have really enjoyed eating it, since they didn't have school the next day, we let them stay up a little late and I told them they could eat as much candy as they wanted to, I don't think Eric was on board with that, since he kept saying, um, I don't think you want to eat that...everyone survived!  

Here are the pictures:

Halloween 2012 - Slideshow

Sickies

Today I have sad news. Rachel has the sickies, we are not quite sure what, and she appears to be fine (and she's my third) so, I will not be taking her to the Doctor. She just has a runny nose and is rather congested, but she isn't acting any crankier than usual. I just feel bad for her congested self, she isn't so pleased with the bulb thingy, but she is pleased with the results. But I tell you her sneezing and coughing is rather pathetic, fortunately it is not frequent. I have a picture in the slideshow of her today. All smiles!

Rachel is getting more and more charming everyday. She has those chubby checks and in a couple days she will be 4 months old! The kids still adore her and Gwen loves showing off that she can carry Rachel. Nate still loves hugging and kissing her, but we still have to work on that she isn't a doll with movable parts. She loves watching them, so that's cool.

I'd like to say more, but you know, I desperately need to go to bed. Well, after I make the kids lunch, who knows how many time the mucous one will get up tonight, so I'd better be prepared!

Enjoy the slideshow!

Oct 22 - slideshow maker

New pictures!

I have some recent pictures of Rachel, would you like to see them?  Oh, wait, first I'm going to write some stuff and then I'll post the slide show.  Rachel is getting bigger, or so people tell me.  I think she is about the same as she always was, I am sure, I've had to put away 0-6 month clothes and she isn't even 4 months yet (3.5 months today!)  She is on her way to making sure she is heard, she was giving me quite the story today.  She chatted up a storm and it seemed like she has something very important to say to the ceiling, or a picture on the wall, or some thing else, that wasn't me.  I have a video, I'll upload it one day. 

We put Rachel in with the big kids tonight, so far so good.  But I imagine this will be more difficult in the days ahead and for me if she wakes up in the night, damn those 50 steps are going to be tough and where am I going to feed her?  These are all things I should have probably considered a long time ago, but there are really no good solutions in this house, and I desperately need to have our room back so I don't have to have my work stuff all around the house.  I need stuff to be contained, and it isn't currently! 

We still can't really tell what color Rachel's eyes are, she appears to be growing hair, it is still likely the same amount of hair, it is just growing longer.  And is it going to be blond?  Many unanswered questions we have here.  She really enjoys sitting up and today she cried every time someone smiled at her.  Which would be sad if her making a sad face wasn't so ridiculously cute.    

Well, by now I know my Mom is like, where are the pictures!  Oh, who am I kidding, she just skipped to this section and didn't read any of this.  (Hi MOM!) 

More Rachel - slideshows

Rolling

Big day for Rachel! She decided today was the day for rolling. As our babies start to develop personalities that we can distinguish. Rachel seems to have a very nonchalant attitude. When she went to roll over today, it took her about 10 minutes, each stage she kind of hung out for a while and then turned a little hung out some more, I desperately wanted to help her along, but I spent that time trying to locate the camera and the battery! Fortunately I found all the parts and got some pictures of our cute girl. Here's the slideshow of her in "action"

Rach-rolling - slideshows

Hi October!

I have a bunch of pictures that I loaded into a slide show, we have taken some pictures and haven't posted them, so I loaded them up! Here you go, enjoy!

Misc pictures - flash slideshow

In other news, Rachel is now 3 months old, the kids have been in school for 6 weeks now. I think we are settling into the routine and getting used to waking and sleeping times. I don't know for sure, but we might be getting the hang of school, a newborn and car pool. Nate loves school and comes home very excited and full of information. He gives us so much more information than "I forget girl". Gwen loves 1st grade and she is becoming quite the reader. Of course, she won't admit she's a good reader, but occasionally she will read something that surprises me. And on our 36 hour trip to Maryland this weekend, she kept reading Eric's speed limit, which was hilarious because it annoyed Eric. (yes, I know this is a number but we have been working on those also). Rachel is turning into a better baby, not a good baby yet, still a little fussy. Of course, she puts on a good show for others. This weekend in Maryland at a restaurant the waitress asked if I wanted to give her applesauce, since she was a little fussy. I was a little surprised and said no, she's not old enough to eat solids and she said oh, really how old is she? I told her 3 months and she said "wow, she's a big baby". Thanks lady. She is smiley and started laughing the day after she turned 3 months. She has fabulous double chins that really come out when she smiles. She still hates tummy time, but we think she is close to rolling over, this is our next goal for her...hahaha! Gwen and Nate both rolled front to back at 1 month, so we are trying to adjust to a baby that isn't super far ahead in gross motor skills. I wonder if that is any indication of how she is going to be on the rest of the gross motor skills. She is an adorable baby who seems to love her brother and sister and often follows them. She is starting to vocalize which can be very useful, say when you want Nate to stop squeezing her and you can tell him those noises means to "LET HER GO!"

Rachel's Baptism

We had Rachel's Baptism this weekend.  We were fortunate to plan the Baptism with our friend's baby's Baptism also.  Both girls did remarkably well, although we wouldn't expect any less of them.  Rachel wore the familial Baptismal dress, the history of which I recounted here.  Rachel is our third child, we've Baptized our children now in 3 different Churches and this was the first full Mass Baptism.  It was a nice service and we were blessed enough to have my Mom, and both Godparents here for the service.  And we had a nice reception at the house, where the kids played and the adults talked and we shared some lunch and cake.  And despite the dreary weather we all had a nice day!  It is possible I should pay more attention to the weather, but I guess that is a post for another day.  Here is a slide show of pictures from the day. 

Rachel's Baptism - slideshow dvd

These pictures were taken by my Mother and a random parishioner that Mrs. Kyle asked to take pictures for us.

Nate's first day

I realize I'm several weeks off for Nate's first day of school, but I did document it, and I promised my mother-in-law I'd get the pictures up last week. I'm a failure this week at getting stuff done! Oh well, hopefully if I get the pictures up I will be forgiven.
Nate had a great start to school. Eric and I have been a little nervous he wouldn't toe the line. He seems to be fairly smart, but at home has a hard time listening and following directions. He seems to not have any of these problems at school and is just sucking up information like a sponge. He's stayed on green and I've been told he is trying really hard to follow the rules in the hallways of not running up to the staff and other teachers.
There were no problems dropping him off for the first day of school, he was SO excited he jumped out of the car. He did however cry on Gwen's first day of school, he was so upset he wasn't starting on the first day. Of course that could be because they were both so excited they didn't go to sleep on time. So, here are the pictures!

Nate's 1st day - slideshow dvd

2 Months

Rachel is now 2 months old! Okay, so I am a week late on this post, so now she is 2 months and 1 week. I've been busy, I tell you! And really it has nothing to do with 3 kids, it is the other things. Now we are at the time where I should fill you in on Rachel. Everyone keeps telling me how good of a baby she is. Of course they see me when we are out and she's in the sling. She's lovely in the sling, all her needs are met in the sling. She can eat, poop and sleep in the sling, probably all at the same time, if she decided too, she is that skilled. We are coming to the time were people like to see the baby, because she is really starting to respond to people and smile (besides being so cute)! They assume that now she is developing personality and they are excited to see it shine through. She seems really has a special place in her heart for our printer and the fans and lights. Mommy tries not to be offended that she spends just as much or maybe even more time smiling at animate objects as she does smiling at Mommy.

 Rachel is still a fabulous night sleeper. I really can't complain, we put her down between 6-7pm, she fusses and then sleeps, getting up 1-2 times a night, most often sleeping until 7:30-8. She doesn't really make a lot of noise sleeping and doesn't really fuss when she wants to eat, unless I am out cold and she's super hungry! Seriously can't complain! She spends her days making up for that awesomeness by wanting special attention-to be held ALL day and not sleeping unless we walk with her, within 5 minutes of stopping the walk she starts crying and wakes up. I can put her down for short periods of time for tummy time, in the bouncy or swing. But she doesn't really like it. She likes to be held and she will let you know it.

She continues to be very alert when she is awake, she studies everything. She tries to mimic us and is free with her smiles. Her smiles light up her whole face, which I love. And she looks at me a lot and seems like she has something to say based on the movement of her eyebrows. I don't know if all babies are so expressive with their eyebrows, but my kids seem to be and it makes me smile!

We went to the Dr and they are pleased with her growth and her attention. She was 13lb 5 oz and 22.5in long. She gained 1lb 1oz and 0.5in. I think she is staying on her curve for weight 80% and dropped a little on the length curve, but I imagine she is in for a growth spurt soon-length wise. I do wonder when she will get a neck and Eric wants to know when she will start to laugh.

I tried to get a picture of her smiling, but it was difficult to do it while holding the camera, so the next day she was really smiling at Eric and I started snapping. Some great smiling pictures there!

R2Months - Free Slideshow Maker

(Sometimes I look at her and think "why did I put Nate in that dress?" I think the resemblance between them is strong, what do you think?)

First day of First Grade! and meet the teacher for 2!

Oh my, I have 2 children starting school, one started today, the other cried in his room wanting to know why he couldn't start today! (he starts next week!) Yesterday evening we had "Meet the Teacher". We already know Nate's teacher, she was Gwen's first teacher, so Nate is entirely comfortable there. He didn't know the assistant, but I don't think he really cared, he just jumped right in. We also met Gwen's teacher and assistant. Gwen's teacher is new to the school and we met her the night before at the "ice cream social" for new families. I was fairly impressed, since she remembered Gwen's name. Gwen said she only confused 2 of the boys today, still fairly impressed. Gwen's class is small, only 17 kids, and she has 2 new kids to the school in her class. She is enjoying class so far, and already came home with homework! The nice thing about 1st grade homework is apparently she has the whole week to work on it, and since they started on a Wed, she apparently has until next Friday to finish. The nice thing is we don't have anything to do in the evenings/afternoons, except pace with Rachel, so homework can easily be done while I pace. Which will likely be nice for Gwen, I won't be breathing down her neck while she's trying to do homework, just checking as I pass by. Here is another slideshow from yesterday and today. I swear I will post pictures again on here, but only if I don't have more than say 5 pictures, gotta keep the amount of uploading to a minimum!

Meet the teacher/Gwen's first day - flash slideshow maker

Miss Rachel

I haven't decided what to do about the blog, but I have deleted some photos, which I don't think will be a problem, but I realized I have some pictures to post, so here we go!  Pictures of Rachel.  Mostly sleeping, some awake.  She's a great sleeper at night, but sadly she seems to need to scream to fall asleep. And she doesn't really like it when I stop walking during the day, which makes me tired, because she is heavy.  I have perfected the use of the sling and I've tried to rock her after she's fallen to sleep, but the dang kid still wakes up!  I am looking forward to having the mornings free, with just Rachel to work on some of this sleeping thing, she'll be 2 months in a couple days, which means in at least a month or 2 she should be more receptive to a schedule. 

Misc Rachel - flash slideshow maker

Hi

I've been really busy lately, newborn + starting of school + renter leaving = very busy!  Sorry about the blog not being updated regularly.  Today, I am going to post a blast from the recent past, Rachel's first bath.  The poor kid, wasn't particularly fond of the bath, and really still isn't, but mostly because I really can't get the temperature right, or maybe because she is like, why aren't you feeding me ten minutes ago!
 

Rachel's first bath! - slideshows

The kid is 6 weeks now, and I think that we are getting the hang of her. I mean we can now mostly get her to sleep without crying and she will fall asleep, only at night. We've learned that even though she is awake and alert she still needs TONS of sleep during the day. I spend most of my day making sure she hasn't been awake for more than a half an hour or so, if she has I start trying to get her to sleep. Because, if she is awake more than that it is impossible to get her to sleep and stay asleep. She is a fabulous night sleeper, for 6 weeks and I couldn't be happier about that. I still wish she could sleep during the day, not on top of me or in the sling. I only hope all this walking around with the almost 12 pound baby is helping get off the baby weight! I am pleased that she no longer cries all day, that she is calming down and is starting to smile. Hopefully things will continue to get calmer around here, especially as I get all this school stuff taken care of.

Tummy time!

Yesterday we did some tummy time while the older 2 were outside playing in the rain.  Since the other 2 were outside, I got some front row action for tummy time and snapped some pictures.  Now, I didn't exactly get any pictures of her lifting her head, which she can do, I got her making faces, which hopefully you will enjoy more than 5 pictures of her lifting her head. 

Tummy time! - slideshows

The birthday boss

Today our first born turned six!  Ack!  Actually it isn't a huge deal, you know because she knows everything, so she actually seems so much older.  Or maybe because I just had a baby and she just seems like almost an adult, in comparison.  But anyways, this isn't all about the new baby, this is all about Gwen.
So, how's Gwen's these days, well she's starting first grade this year.  We've been working on her reading this summer, not because she's a terrible reader, but because we are trying to build her confidence, we want her to be comfortable when she starts first grade. Everyone who has had Gwen in their class has said lovely things about her, like I wish I had a whole class of kids like Gwen.  We just wish we would see that kid at home more often!
Gwen is rather bossy, she thinks she is Mom #1, Nate gets the brunt of it currently and is starting to fight back.  I spend most of my time reminding her that I'm the Mom here.  Of course, this is real convenient when Nate is doing something he isn't.  But I keep reminding her that no one will want to play with her if she continues to try and demand people play her way.
Gwen is a sweet and caring sister to her siblings.  She loves to dote and hold her new sister.  And she tries to keep her quiet and happy, which is a difficult task, for sure!  When Nate got his shots last week she was so upset about it that she was also crying and I had to shoo her away, so I could comfort Nate.
Gwen also knows everything about everything, or so she says.  We are talking to her about her attitude and not being so rude.  I am slightly concerned about the teenage years!
Today we had a "playdate" for Gwen.  I had 3 little girls come over, and play with her.  I made cupcakes and the girls played and had a good time.  I shuffled Nate off to one of the girls' Mom who has boys, so it was just us girls!  I knew with the new baby and all the attention she's been getting today had to be pretty special for Gwen, and I think it was.  But I think she took this "MY NEW PRESENTS" thing a little too far.  We try to let the kids have 1 day with their new presents to share or not share according to their will.  At 4 and 6 it isn't going over so well, but I hope with each year it will get easier!
Here is a slide show from today.

Gwen's 6th birthday! - free slideshows with music

Happy Birthday, Nate!

Today is our little man's birthday.  Such a crazy little guy!  He is full of life and energy who keeps us on our toes.  He will be starting preK this fall and he is looking forward to it. 

He is really getting into LEGOs this year and Superheroes.  He is also making up hilarious stories.  If you talk about something, says ghosts, he will tell you about an involved story he has made up about his experience with ghosts.  Very funny. 

He is still our cuddly little guy who loves to sit and read. He will sit for a long time and look at books for a long time, but he will happily listen to you read him a story. 

He is struggling to drop a nap, he really needs to still nap, but with his sister home and no afternoon car trip to pick up his sister, it is a real struggle.  His listening skills drop to nil and he loses impulse control.  I am hoping this is a short transition, but you never know. 

He does make have a pretty funny way of saying things and we can tell he is going to be a pretty smart kid.  I am hoping the structure and learning he will get at school will calm him down a little.  He seems to be pretty hyped up and has a lot of energy, I am hoping to one day learn how to channel his energy for good! 

We sometimes forget he is only turning 4 today because he often acts older and his vocabulary is so advanced.  He loves our camera and will take numerous random pictures, as a matter of fact I put together a slideshow of his random pictures, a lot of them are from Christmas, but I put a couple of recent additions in there.  I will also post his birthday slideshow after that, if you'd like to see it.  Sorry, I'm to lazy to annotate either slideshow.

The world according to Nate - slideshows

NateB'day2012 - slideshows

Emily's big day

This weekend I had the honor of going to Charlotte and celebrating Emily's Baptism.  The Dr said I was still good to travel until the end of the month, so we packed up Saturday and drove up to Charlotte.  We got there a little early so we could hang, chat and make sure we weren't late!  Emily's Baptism was the first Baptism at this Church, they don't actually have a Church building yet, so they meet in the rec center.  A Priest comes up from the sister Parish and does the Mass.  He seemed slightly confused, because he thought I was the Mom and hadn't lost the baby weight yet, when he figured that out, he thought Eric was the godfather, when he figured that out he then realized that Jess had an older son.  He gave a lot of blessing on us all before Mass and we all walked down the aisle with him.  Since there was no Baptismal font in the rec center, when it came time for the Baptism, he had us all stand in front of the Church while Dave, the godfather held the bowl for the Holy Water.  He gave a really nice service and Emily didn't even make a peep.  She was so good!  Unfortunately Jess didn't have a charged camera, Grandma forgot her camera so we got the only pictures.  For probably the first time EVER we had a completely charged camera and were ready to go!  Eric took all the pictures and he even got a video.  If you look closely you can see me giving Nate the evil eye because he's trying to blow out the Baptismal candle. 

Emily's Baptism - flash slideshow maker

We then all went out to dinner to celebrate and we'd decided to stay the night, but the kids just couldn't settle, so we popped them in the car and drove home!  We got home about midnight.  We stopped twice, but the kids were already asleep.  Once because I was like, "get me out of this car", I have to move and once because Eric felt the same way!
We are spending the rest of the weekend pretty low key, the husband's home and I guess we will be doing some grilling and what not, but that's about it!

Trees

We have some huge trees in our front yard, they provide some really nice shade and unfortunately some not so nice sap and bird droppings on the car.  But most of the time really enjoyable.  The kids asked to hang in the tree with Daddy's help about a month ago, they asked me to take some pictures.  I fortunately had the camera in hand, so I did take some pictures.  I finally had to say ok, enough, they were bordering on the very silly in their poses.  Silly kids! 

Hangin' out - slideshows

Bunk bed

The kids need a bunk bed and instead of buying one Eric decided to make one.  I have been trying to talk him out of doing it for weeks.  Not because I doubt his abilities, but because I was afraid it was going to take forever and although I love my children, containing them while Daddy is home and they can't play with him is an altogether another story.  Nate told me it was like "daddy was at work" and he didn't seem 100% pleased.  The first day, Gwen decided to sort all the puzzles we have, which is about 8 kid puzzles and 3 puzzle books. That actually took most of the morning and the kids seemed to enjoy it, but by the afternoon they were toast, so we watched a movie, it was too rainy to go outside and Eric didn't want us to leave since he was running the saw, in case of emergency!  By the first night he had finished the bottom, but didn't have enough wood to finish the top, so he had to go back to the store for the 3rd time.  We put the room "back together" and put Gwen's bed on the bottom and left Nate's daybed together.  Eric was curious about some noises he heard and went in and found they had made a fort out of the bed and last night they slept in the fort, it was really sweet.

So, day 2 we went to Church came home and Eric had almost finished the slats and needed more stuff from the store (trip 4 if you are keeping track) so we all went and Eric struggled to finish realizing he needed 1 more run to the store (trip 5) and finally he finished.  The kids and I persevered through another day with minimal fighting and disturbance.  But, man they wanted to help and play with Daddy!  Here is a slide show of the bed making! 

Bunk bed - how to make a free slideshow

On day 2 while Eric was working we decided to work on Gwen's "landform" for school.  Can you tell what she decided to do? 

It is the desert.  I made the "modeling clay" and she helped with the colors, a little and then she designed and made the rest of it.  I have to laugh because it is so hilarious what she thinks and how she gets confused.  She told us the sun is always shining in the desert (the moon never comes out) and there is a buffalo and cacti and a snake.  She has a whole story for the buffalo, which I can't remember but it was walking through the desert and what not, who knows. She has been to the desert before, so I was thinking that should help her, but you've got to let them do what they want, fortunately this isn't for a grade, just for fun!

So now all that is left to do is buy a twin mattress for Nate, rearrange the room, paint the bed and we'll be done...how long do you think that will be?

Christmas 2011

We had a very good Christmas this year.  Mostly quiet and lots of quality play time.  The kids tried to change up Christmas lists Christmas Eve, but they seemed to really enjoy the toys that they received and haven't mentioned the ones that they tried to change up for.  They played all day with their toys and are still playing with them.  I put together a slide show of pictures, but sadly it has taken me a week to save it!  The website was down and every time I tried to save it, the thing crashed.  Finally this morning I saved it!  So, FINALLY I am posting this. 
We decided this year to do a standing rib roast.  Not only was it super easy and fast, it was very good.  I think it was a nice "light" dinner compared to Thanksgiving, which is nice because who wants to slave in the kitchen when there are Legos and new toys to play with!  
It was a good Christmas for all, we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2011 - Free Slideshow Maker

Halloween

My Momma came for a visit, she appears to enjoy spending time with the kids for Halloween, might be the childlike wonder, or the free candy after walking around the neighborhood in the "COLD", or it could just be because she likes to visit and this is as good of a time as any! We don't question, we enjoy, you should too, because without her being here, we might not have any pictures, so when you look at the slideshow, thank my Momma! This year was a big year for us, we had Halloween Carnival at Gwen's school, the kids always love that, we had a party at Eric's boss's house, we had a neighborhood party and then we the actual event. Let's just say the kids got plenty of use out of their costumes. Gwen actually wore her costume again today. So, Friday we had the Halloween Carnival, Grandmom had wanted to do something special for the kids for Halloween so she pre-purchased the tickets for them. (Thanks Grandmom!) The kids really love this event. The school is completely transformed and each class is in charge of different activities. Gwen's class was in charge of the ticket booth, which meant I was in charge of the ticket booth, which truly wasn't that hard, but probably would have been easier if Gwen had a bigger class and everyone came! But, whatever it all worked out. We didn't actually bring our camera for that so we have no pictures, which is too bad because Nate and Gwen got on the twirly bird by themselves, this year it was a single seater and the went with 2 bigger girls and had a great time, Nate was just a smiling and a laughing. He kept trying to twirl the thing around. But he really had the most fun on the bouncy maze while Gwen and Eric did the climbing wall. Nate seriously went 15 times in a row. The next night was Eric's boss's Halloween party, costumes mandatory. Mom was kind enough to help plan the costumes and make me a poodle skirt, sadly no one knew what we were...We had a good time, but it was another late night for the kids. Dinner, was served, I have no idea what it was, but it was good! Sunday afternoon our neighborhood had a party, we went to that also. They had a bouncy house, free pony rides, cotton candy, all free, all good fun for the kids. We chose to walk and on the way home Nate fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next day! I tried valiantly to wake him up for dinner, but he just wasn't having it, so we let him sleep. Then Monday was of course Halloween! 48 and rainy, my Mom was thrilled! We invited some friends over since there neighborhood is "lame", the kids wimped out before we hit the whole neighborhood, but we were treating for an hour, and they got plenty of candy, so it is all good! All and all a good weekend for them, now I just have to get more activities in line for Christmas, since Halloween seems packed with activities! So, without further ado, the slideshow!

Halloween2011 - free slideshow

Wedding weekend

I have been pretty busy lately and I think that this past weekend and the preparation for traveling through 9 states to get to the wedding has taken up most of my time. We chose to drive to the wedding to keep the costs down. And I have to say my kids are fabulous travelers! The drive was long; we packed new car toys in a bag, food and audiobooks. Eric drove most of the way and has vowed to not drive for a LONG time.
In good news, we had a nice time at the wedding and Eric really enjoyed spending time with his friends from college. They did a great job with the wedding and the kids really couldn't get enough of seeing their godfather and Hector and Carissa. I took some pictures, but sadly none of us in the rental car! (I wonder why that was). So, here is the slide show.

Wedding extravaganza - photo slideshow