Trip To Pittsburgh

Grandma Mimi and Gramps came to babsit, so Louisa and I could take a trip to Pittsburgh, visit with my parents and ALL of my siblings and meet my older sister's latest red-haired and blue-eyed cutie---and Gabe is soooo cute! He's two months old but definitely bigger than Louisa---his little cheeks are absolutely adorable.

Yes, it was weird to be away from my big kids for 5 days---weird and WONDERFUL! I got a much needed breather. And the kids did great---Laney even told me repeatedly on the phone how much she didn't miss me. It would almost be funny but she reminded me so often and so emphatically that she didn't miss me that a little part of me wanted to strangle her. Don't worry--I'll remind her of this when her own child acts wretchedly.

Louisa got some much needed mommy time and snuggles. She was a piece of cake to travel with---who would have thought that traveling across the country with just one baby would seem like such a breeze!

ABCs

Delaney is learning how to write her name--with very little help from me. Yes, all of the letters are there (although not in a line!), and yes, I wish that we would have named her 'Ann' instead-would be much easier for everyone!

The Best Of Times

Life isn't always like this at our house, but these moments and memories are precious.

Morning At The Park

Dave took Laney and Elliot to the park this morning. Both Laney and Elliot have had colds and Laney was pretty cranky this morning---she's so much easier and cooperative than she was a year ago but certainly still knows how to push our buttons and throw a good fit.

On the other hand-Elliot's been giving us a tough time lately. A really, really tough time. The terrible twos have hit with a vengeance. However, we survived Delaney's terrible twos, so we certainly can survive anything that Elliot throws at us. Still, the fits, defiance and uncooperativeness are exhausting. It's like--come on kid, just chill out and cooperate.

Elliot goes nuts if he's inside for too long. Well, I go crazy, as I watch him bounce off of the walls. He loves, loves, loves going to the park and usually has to be dragged away when it's time to leave. His favorite things to do are climb up the slides, walk down the slides and climb, climb, climb. When I take him to the park, I'm constantly gasping and my heart is in my throat. He's incredibly coordinated and physical---certainly, doesn't get this from me!

Fingers

Look familiar, mom and dad?

Mornings

Since January, Dave has been getting up with the 'big kids' most mornings, so I can catch a little bit of extra sleep and lots of extra snuggles with Louisa. I am so grateful to Dave for this time--it's so precious to me--just me and the baby with no distractions. And it's the perfect start to my day.

Swimming Lessons

I was planning to wait until Delaney was four to start swimming lessons--then Elliot would be three (and hopefully potty trained!) and they could take lessons together. However, when Laney learned that her buddy Jimmy was going to be taking lessons, she wanted to take them too--and how could we say no?!

Delaney loves school and anything structured and stimulating, so it's no surprise that she loves 'swimming lesson school'. She's been super attentive and focused---loving every second of her lessons.

She now has swimming lessons two days a week and school two days a week. She asks me every night, 'What do I have tomorrow--school or swimming lesson school?'. Of course, she also asks me every nite, 'What is for dinner tomorrow nite? What about the nite after that?' and 'What am I going to wear tomorrow?' and 'What are we going to do after school tomorrow?' and 'What is Elliot going to do tomorrow?'. She is FULL of questions and wanting to know exactly what everyone will be doing!