Emily is 2 months

Miss Emily Grace is 2 months old today. She goes for her well visit Monday and first set of vaccines but at her doctor's appt on Friday she was weighed and has already reached 10lbs 3 oz. She is a joy and I'm enjoying every minute of her. She smiles now quite a bit, has laughed and is a truely happy baby. If I could only get her to sleep at night...

Finally a nice day!

Yesterday was a great day to get the bikes out so the kids could enjoy the weather. Now that our driveway is paved, the kids enjoy riding their bikes and would do so every day until the sun settles. My nephews and niece came over and the kids ran around and played until it got way too cold to be outside anymore. Emily needed to get some fresh air too. It was the first time she was outside and just looked around. I'm praying that the Spring-type weather is here to stay but you can never tell these days...

Shirt and ties

I have to admit I love the fact that Dylan has a thing with wearing shirts and ties these days. He had school pictures yet again on Tuesday and wore a nice shirt and tie. He insisted upon wearing the tie the next day to school and again yesterday. Here's a pic of my little politician...I LOVE the tie.

Happy Birthday Adam!

I appologize for not posting this yesterday but it was Little Gym day for us...Happy Birthday Adam!!! We hope you had a fantastic birthday! It's hard to believe that our kids are growing up so quickly. Kindergarten is right around the corner.

Woodloch Pines

We got the nicest invitation from my best friend to go spend the night with her and her boys at Woodloch Pines in PA. We don't get to see each other very often and it's always fun when our kids get together. Woodloch Pines is pretty close to where we live and it only took me a little over an hour to get there. This place is really nice. It's family oriented with tons to do. They have an indoor kids water park, kiddie pool, indoor playground and tons of kids activities. The food was good and the kids had a great time seeing Auntie Beff (as she's affectionately known)and the kids. I also got to see my goddaughter which was the highlight of my trip, even though it was a quick visit, it was great to catch up with her. I'm hoping we get to see eachother again really soon!

Bed for Brynnie...

Brynn has had an incredible growth spurt this past month. She is such a thin child that buying pants that fit her is a real task. That's pretty much the reason we keep her in dresses (other than the fact it makes potty training easier). I took Miss Brynn clothes shopping last Monday and when we got home she was playing in her room while I put everything away. She was laying on her bed when I realized pretty soon she's going to outgrow that too! As a child I always wanted a canopy bed. Something really frilly. I had this cool canopy-looking thing over my bed when I was a baby/toddler that I wished they still made. I still remember that it was bright yellow gingham and I really loved how cool it looked.

I prefer cherry furniture in my house which makes finding some furniture a hard task. I was surfing the internet yesterday and found a cherry canopy bed! I think Brynn would love this in her big girl room. Stephen is in for a real treat having two daughters. What purchase will I come up with next?

Happy Birthday Van and Logan!

Today is a very special day for two little boys. It's their second birthday! We hope you have an extra special day and send lots of birthday hugs and kisses!

7 weeks

Here are pics of all three kids at 7 weeks...you tell me who resembles whom more...

Big Blue eyes...

All of my kids have two things in common, my nose and eyes...look how alert Miss Emily is during her bath.

Day Camp

We were a little surprised when we found out that school was closed for an extended weekend due to President's Day. Brynn was off from daycare all week last week and President's Day and Dyl's school is closed only Monday through Wednesday this week.

Mondays are Little Gym days for Brynn I was worried about how I could handle bringing all three of my kids with me to the Gym. Again a friend told us about YMCA day camp. I was a little bummed when I was told that the youngest age for kids there is 5 years of age. After a phone call though, they said that they would be happy to make an exception so I signed Dylan up (even though daddy wasn't too thrilled about this).

Yesterday morning Dylan got dressed, put some extra clothes in his backpack and couldn't wait to get on the bus to go to camp. I think he was more excited about riding the bus than actually going to camp. It's a long day since the bus picks the kids up at 8:20 a.m. and he didn't return home until almost 5:30 but he had the biggest smile on his face when he got off of the bus. He got to go snow tubing yesterday, they are going cross country skiing today, making rockets, going rock climbing, singing songs and of course, drinking lots of hot chocolate. Unfortunatley school is open Thursday and Friday so he won't be able to finish the week out but I'm glad he got the opportunity to see what camp is like since he will be spending two weeks there this summer.

Valentines Day

Here's some pictures of Emily on her first Valentine's Day. I attempted to get a picture of Brynn also but that was not going to happen since she woke up with a major 'tude that morning. Emme is getting so chunky and is defintely starting to resemble Dylan more and more every day.

Train show

Dylan really was needing some one on one time with mommy since his behavior was getting a little out of control the last week or two. A friend of mine (thanks Julie) let me know about a nearby train show. Once I finally found the ad in the paper, I spoke to Stephen and we decided that Dylan would enjoy a day with just mommy instead of mom and dad. Friday night I told my little boy that we were having a special day the next morning. I purposely withheld telling him where we were going because I knew the 45 minute car ride would be a nightmare for me with him asking "are we there yet?". Dylan woke up Saturday morning, put on his "conductors" (a/k/a Osh Kosh striped overalls), his train conductor hat, BANDANA, and we were off. The expression on Dylan's face when we got inside the train show was priceless. He was definitely in his element and had a fantastic day. He was a total angel and we even managed to score another electric train for his collection. I have to honestly say I enjoyed the day even though I'm not as big a fan of trains as my little boy is. It's amazing how much time some people put into their train hobby. I was thoroughly impressed with the detail of some of the train displays.

Ice Fishing

Tis the season for winter activities (I guess...). Last weekend Stephen took Dylan and our nephew Ryan to the Lake for a day with the guys ice fishing. I don't know a lot about this activity but it's something Dylan gets very excited about. Dylan has lots of uncles who are very outdoorsy (he comes from a long line of hunters. The kids got to spend the entire afternoon out on the ice with the Poley guys which had to be so much fun. I know the boys had a ball! His favorite part was when someone had a brilliant idea to tie his sled to the dogs collar. The dog has a lot of energy and was running around on the ice with Dyl on the sled. He thought it was hysterical. Not a lot of fish were caught that afternoon but Dylan has lots of fun stories that he has been telling me and his friends all week long.

Big Brother

I hope my girls know one day how fortunate they are to have a big brother. I prayed every day when I was growing up for a brother but got four sisters. Being the oldest I always had to be the responsible child and make sure that I set an example for my sisters. When I was pregnant with Brynn, Dylan was too little to understand the concept of having a baby brother or baby sister. He was thrilled, however, when Brynnie arrived because he was the only boy. Then when we told him that he was getting another sibling, he said for 9 long months he wanted a baby brother named Thomas that he could play trains with (of course). We opted not to find out the sex of our 3rd baby and keep it a surprise. When Emily arrived Stephen and I pretty much flipped a coin to decide which one of us was going to break the news to Dylan that the baby brother that he wanted to badly was actually another sister.

My son was thrilled, to say the least, that he had another baby and has not once in 7 weeks mentioned not having a baby brother. He adores Emily. He draws her pictures at school (again of trains since Emily is one of the characters from Thomas the Train). He put his little wooden Emily train on her dresser in her bedroom because he wants his sister to have it. He's a wonderful big brother. He heads the kids off at school from touching his sister because they have germs. He'll actually put himself between the carseat and the kids and will inform them "YOU HAVE TO WASH YOUR HANDS TO TOUCH HER!!!" He'll sing to her, lay by her and just hold her hand, feed her bottles (for about 20 seconds until his interest goes elsewhere).

When it comes to Brynnie, Dylan has no patience but he does love to play with her. They'll spend the mornings playing hide and seek, trains, house, tea party and dress up. Of course Dylan is Spiderman or a Pirate. He's been caught snuggling on the couch with Brynn to watch tv, they'll hide in our living room and eat candy (which they both know they're not supposed to be doing). They'll chase eachother around the island in our kitchen or pretend they are dinosaurs. They will sit for hours and color, do puzzles together or read. There are days when they are fighting, taddling on eachother or just plain mean to eachother but I do know that there's a lot of love.

Dylan is an overprotective big brother. He's very sweet (for the most part) when it comes to his sisters.

sisters

The first two weeks when Emme came home from the hospital was very hard for little Brynnie. She was the baby and little princess for so long and then we bring this baby home and her world was turned upside down. It took a little while but one morning Brynn woke up and she must have realized Emily is here to stay. She loves her baby sister so much (and that's what she calls Em--her "baby sister" or lately "honey bunny"). I love having two girls. I dress them alike (which I know they will hate one day). I'm looking forward to tea parties, playing dress up and taking them to NYC to the American Girl store. Here are some pics of the sisters. I hope they grow up to love each other, respect each other and be the best of friends....

pig tails

This pic of Brynn cracks me up...

Trains, trains and more trains...

Dylan has trains on his mind 24/7 and I know he even dreams about trains. Daddy was on a mission at Christmas to find Dylan a Lionel train and bought the Polar Express electric train.

Dyl has been a little cranky the last week so I have been bribing him (bad mommy). I told him if he woke up in a good mood, didn't fight with his sister and cry or whine I would take him to the local furniture store that had a Lionel train display. So this morning he woke up happy, ate breakfast without whining, was overall a pleasant little boy I know he can be. I dropped him off at school and told him that if he behaved all day, I definitely would take him to see the model trains. So 2:15 rolled around and as soon as I walked into his classroom he announced "i've been such a good boy all day mommy, time to go to the furniture store!" I followed through on my end and now Dylan is on a train-high now and cannot wait to get home and put the tunnel up on his Lionel train...boy of boy he LOVES his trains...

Brynn's first snowmobile ride

We were blessed with some 'nice' weather on Sunday. Stephen had to go out plowing again which seems to be a daily occurance this winter, but was home early enough to play outside with the kids. Dylan woke up Sunday morning and was literally jumping up and down when he looked outside his bedroom window and saw the snowmobile in the backyard. Brynn was way too little last year to even attempt to ride but she started chiming in right behind her brother "I wanna ride that too". I didn't get a chance to get a pic of Dylan and Stephen riding, but I did get a pic of Brynn. She was so top heavy with her helmet on but didn't want to get off of her "ride".

Watching tv

I had another opportunity to take a picture of the 3 kids together last night. I never get all three together since someone seems to always be whining or crying when I get the camera out. It amazes me how different the girls look but how much Emily is starting to resemble her big brother these days. My goddaughter was over on Saturday and was looking at the pictures I have in my foyer and she said "I don't remember Brynnie being that dark!" My little princess was born with olive skin (like daddy) and tons of dark black hair. I think Jess was assuming that all babies look alike when they are brothers and sisters and was expecting to see Emily with dark hair and olive skin. I love my kids to pieces and it makes me sad watching them grow up. It's going by way to fast!