Summer Trips

We just got back from a whirlwind trip to Nana's, Grandpa & Grandma's, and Mike's family reunion in WVA. Also while we were gone, the latest addition to our clan arrived. My new nephew joined us on the 16th! We finally got to see him last night. When I've had a chance to download and edit I'll post pictures from vacation and of our new family member.

Last stop, West Virgina

Every year for years, Mike's mom's family gets together on the 4th Sunday of July at the same park, in the same pavillion to catch up and visit and eat some good southern cooking. We go every year (at least when I'm not 8 months pregnant!) and some of Mike's cousins have kids that are our kids ages. LB ran around with Cousin A. and enjoyed the bubbles! We also got to see Uncle Matt, Aunt Chrissy, and K. We hope to get together with our cousins sooner that next July.

Grandma's!

We just got back from my mom's on Sunday. We had a wonderful relaxing visit. We got to see Uncle Jay and have lunch at his restaurant. We spent a great deal of time at the park. We went to the pool and the beach. And we even got to see Uncle Dutch and Aunt Di! So much packed into 6 days.

Grandpa's visit

My dad came to visit this past weekend. This is the first time LB has differentiated between his grandfather's and refered to my dad as Grandpa, instead of calling him and every man of a certain age Poppa. It was so sweet to hear LB call my dad Grandpa. They had a lovely time reading books, going to the playground, visiting a nature center, and going out for lunch. BB was all smiles for Grandpa. Last visit, she was ill and screamed and cried almost the entire time Dad and L. were here.

LB got to touch his first lizard!

LB's new favorite book, Green Eggs And Ham.

Baby Bear was very talkative with her grandpa!

We're so glad Grandpa came to visit! We can't wait to see you again soon.

Cox Farms

My Dad is here for the weekend, giving me a hand with the kiddos while my husband is still away. We took the kids to the Farm to attend another fall festival. This one has SLIDES! All kinds of slides. There was also hay stacks to climb, animals to investigate, apple cider to purchase, TONS of Kettle Corn (forgot to pick up some of that!), plus a hay ride with NO wait. Last weekends hay ride had a 30 minute wait, there was next to no wait because of the amount of wagons. LB loved it. BB had a great time too. As soon as my dad emails me his pictures from the event, I'll have shots from the haystack and the slide we rode together! We also got to pick out 3 pumpkins to take home with us, as part of our admission. They are too small to crave, so we are going to paint them. When we accomplish that project I'll post those pictures!
(Isn't that sweet. He gave her a kiss, and then proceeded to tell her "No, No, No Bibi!")

Last weekends Pictures

These are the pictures from the Fall Festival we went to last weekend.

Nana's Here

Nana came to visit to help me out while Mike is gone. We are in the final few weeks until he returns home.

We've been having fun! We went to a fall festival in Annapolis, with our friends. I'll post the pics when I get the chance!

Autumn weather has arrived FINALLY! My cutie girl gets to wear her Halloween getup, along with her ghost hat. Thanks Aunt Chrissy!

Mom is here!

We've had so much fun with DamMa. She's cooked for us, taken us shopping, went to work/school with us (that was a whole other adventure, too long for this post), and went to a house warming party. Mom wanted to purchase LB a pair of boots for winter. So we took him to Stride Rite.. you know how I feel about that place! We had him measured. You recall those $50 shoes we bought him last month? His toes are at the end of the shoe already. When they measured him he had a thumbs width.... I can't believe his feet have grown this fast. The new boots are cute.. he'll be wearing them by the end of the month!
DamMa also found LB this cute story book player that reads him stories. He's got his new favorite, Nemo, as well as his old standby Elmo!


Aren't they cute? Snuggle time together.

Last week

Thank GOD Nancy came for a visit last week. We were so glad to see her and so was LB. As soon as he saw her he ran to her yelling Nana! She arrived in time to get up to her elbows in vomit. LB got a 24 hour stomach bug and puked all night Thursday night. Lovely. We spent the weekend with one sick Little Bear, and trying to keep Baby Bear from getting it. Luckily Mike and I were able to sneak out before the vomiting began and went to see Knocked Up. I highly recommend it. Nana left on Sunday. We were sad to see her go. We were so caught up with a sick kid, that I didn't take a single picture this visit. Bad Mommy!

Finally pictures with BB & LB's cousin!

We went to see Uncle Matt and Aunt Chrissy yesterday for a few hours, and I FINALLY got pictures of the girls together. For those of you who may remember, BB and her cousin were due on the same day, but born a week apart. Other coincidences were as follows: Both Chrissy and I had our sonograms on the same day at the same time, they were both girls, we delivered at the same hospital, and to top if off, even though I delivered a week earlier, Chrissy stayed in the same room I did the week before. Even though we have gotten together since the girls were born, we finally took pictures of them together!

Week 3

The end has come to all of my wonderful help from my family members. My dad and Linda left Sunday morning to go home. We had a wonderful few days with them, and really appreciated the help!

BB and LB are getting along well these days. He still enjoys kissing her on her head, handing her a binky, and his latest and greatest helping feat is to hand me a diaper while I'm changing her.

BB is still getting her days and nights confused. For the first time as a parent, I actually sent my husband with my daughter at midnight for a drive, to help her fall asleep. She was up from 8 pm and FINALLY fell asleep last night around 2ish in the morning. Yep. I'm a little tired. LB was bigger, therefore, he slept better as an infant. I just have to keep reminding myself of that!

In other news, those of you who have been to my house may recall a certain white fluffy rug that sheds like a dog. If you recall this said carpet, you'll also remember how much Mike HATES the damn thing. Apparently so did my father, mother, etc. My father hated it enough to buy me a new one! Thanks Dad!

Week 2

Week two has been less eventful then week one. We only had to go to the lab 3 times instead of everyday. Baby Bear had her last blood test done on Sunday, and even though her levels are still higher then they'd like, the doctor decreed no more blood tests! Thank GOD! My poor baby's feet have become callused due to being pricked practically everyday she's been out in the world. Dam Ma came and went. She was here just over 2 weeks, but not with us the entire time. Next she is off to San Deigo for 6 months for work. We're hoping she can fly here for a weekend visit to see the kids.

My father and L. will be here today. I'm not sure how long they are staying, but we are happy to have them here.

LB has been acting out. Time Out has been insituted in our home as of late. This morning, while snuggling with me and the baby watching Seasame Street, he decided it was a good idea to try to kick the baby. Thank god he's cute. I could have whooped his little butt. He loves to talk to her and kiss her, but he is not too happy to share right now. He'll get over it. All of us older sibilings do!

In other family news, my neice was born on May 18th, the day she was due, and Baby Bear was due! We got the cousins together yesterday for dinner. They have much in common these days. Sleeping, eating, and going through 20+ diapers a day. I meant to take pictures. But as with a lot of things these days, I forgot!

We're supposed to get together with my brother-in-law and his family again this weekend. Hopefully we'll remember to take some pictures then!

Grandpa & Grandma L are here

What a nice weekend we've been having. My Dad and L. have been visiting and having a great time with LB. He has really taken to spending time with the two of them. My Dad has been helping Mike with projects around the house and L., BLESS HER, has been cleaning my filthy house, since I have absolutely NO engery to do it!

Dad and Mike got the sandbox cleaned out and refilled for LB to use. He was having the best time playing yesterday.

Nana's Visit

We had a lovely weekend with Nana. We got to show her all kind of neat things that we routinely do. We showed her Little Bear's new bed and new Elmo bedding.

We even showed Nana how we use the potty. Of course, LB also now likes to stick his face and hands in it, to make sure that it in deed came out of his body!

We also went shopping and Nana got to meet Daddy for the first time! Every time Nana has been to visit, Daddy has been on travel.

Nana will be back in May to help out when Fetal Bear arrives. We had so much fun with her here. Grandma arrives next weekend and then Grandpa and Grandma L will be here in mid April. We've got quite a busy few weeks ahead of us.

Christmas, New Years, and Illnesses, OH MY!

Well, what an exciting few weeks we've had! Christmas, first plane ride, New Years, and oh so many illnesses!
Christmas in our house was so much fun. LB had a blast tearing open boxes and playing with them for hours. Why bother spending money on toys! He did recieve a doll from Grandma. When we opened it and took it out of the box, he was SO cute. He hugged her and loved her and layed down with her. He also dragged her around by her leg. Yeah, we need to work on being more gentle.
Christmas day afternoon, we spend in After Hours Care. I'm NOT crazy. I know when my son has an ear infection, and sure enough he did! We got some antibotics and the next day got on the plane for the very first time. LB did a great job. As soon as we landed in Charleston, we hopped into our rental car and drove to Palm Coast FL to see my Uncle's new place. GORGEOUS! We also were able to have our Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma L. Next stop, Charleston to see Grandma, Poppa Woody, Uncle J. and his family. We spent New Years there and enjoyed having Grandma take care of all of us. Of course while we were there I developed my 2nd round of pink eye. My son had it the week before and we just keep passing it back and forth.
We had an uneventful first week back to school and work, until Friday of course. We spent Friday night having LB puke on us all night long. He had one of those lovely 24 hour stomach bugs. Which of course now Mike and I both have! I am so tired of being Typhoid Mary. I would like at least a few weeks of being illness free around here!! Keep your fingers crossed for us!
On a lighter note, Fetal Bear's sonogram has been rescheduled for the 25th. Hopefully FB will cooperate more readily this time! nbb

Oh My! Has it really been a month?

Appartenly I'm no good at keeping up a daily, or even a weekly blog! What a crazy month it has been! Thanksgiving kept us busy. We had some of our friends over the Sunday before for the 8th annual Functional Family Thanksgiving.


We also had Grandma and Poppa Woody up from Charleston for the actual turkey day. Plus Grandma has been here every weekend since Thanksgiving for a class for work. It's been nice actually, having an extra set of hands to help with Little Bear. This week has been ESPECIALLY hectic. LB has been sick all week with a head cold/ear infection/fever. So ill in fact that we even had an ambulance ride and an ER visit on Tuesday morning. What a week we've been having! On a lighter note, Uncle Matt is getting married to 'Auntie" Chrissy this weekend. Now we can offically call her Aunt Chrissy! Woohoo! Uncle Matt will become a father on or about the same day LB becomes a big brother. I'm doing well. The pregnancy is moving along nicely. We have our sonogram on the 21st. We will then find out if Fetal Bear is a boy or girl! Can't wait.

Now it's time to finish up the holiday madness. With LB being sick, I haven't done much Christmas shopping. Oh the joy. Oh the crowds. Wish me luck!