Great Weekend

We were so happy to have Aunt Casey come and visit us this weekend!  It's been such a crazy few weeks for us, and her visit was a great escape for us!  We had a nice, low key weekend which was greatly needed.  The kids had a blast with Casey, as did we!  

Fun play

Emma is loving her standing toy.  She is actually getting the hang of bouncy in it too.  

Sweet Big Sister Isabel!  

Sisters! 

Emma and Mommy preparing for Emma's first meal of cereal!  

Not quite sure about this.  She really didn't take to it as well as Cooper and Isabel did.  I think she was too distracted by her siblings to really even know what was going on.  

Emma has this funny habit of covering her eyes when she takes a bottle or nurses.  Very funny.  

Emma was a happy girl with her Aunt Casey! 

This was the second trial of cereal.  Didn't get much more down that time.  We're able to get some down at this point, but she doesn't really seem to enjoy it.  We will probably move on to some squash soon and see how she does with that! 

Emma absolutely LOVES her sister Isabel, and especially her brother Cooper.  I swear, Cooper can make Emma smile at the drop of a hat.  He is pretty wonderful with her too.  Very sweet and gentle. Here are some adorable interactions between the two...

Emma is doing great overall.  She's in very good health and the doctor's don't even feel the need to see her again.  She's finally getting more comfortable at daycare.  She had a rough transition (the hardest of the three by far), but she's also been the most attached to me as well.  I can't say that doesn't excite me though.  I'm totally coddling her (sorry Pat!) as she's very likely our last little baby!!!!   Trying to soak in every moment!   

Halloween Part 2

We had an INCREDIBLY busy and very fun Halloween this year.  It started the week before with pumpkin carving in our kitchen.  The kids started by drawing the faces on the pumpkins then Daddy helped to carve.  The next day, much to my surprise, the three kids actually sat through a mini photo shoot with the pumpkins and their Halloween shirts.  Then Friday night they got dressed up with cousin Alice (and her little sister Dana too) and we all went to a Jack O'Lantern exhibit at the nursing home.  It was so cool.  Hundreds of very well carved pumpkins both inside and outside.  The kids had a blast looking at all of them.  Then on Saturday we got dressed up again and headed downtown to the annual Spooktacular event.  Cousin Alice was with us again and Cooper brought along his buddy Camden.  We had a lot of fun playing games then heading down Main St to trick or treat at the store fronts.  Sunday we had a much needed day off, then came the actual Halloween day!  (Pictures from that are on the previous post).  We were so happy to still have Alice here with us, and we had cousin Janet too.  We started off trick or treating at Momere's house, then Gramma Net's house, then went to Gramma Ali's who lives on a busy street, perfect for trick or treating! Alice, Cooper and Isabel (and Emma in the front pack) all went out door to door for treats.  They were having a blast until unfortunately Isabel got a little traumatized by some adults dressed up as zombies, so she and I headed back while Cooper and Alice and Aunt Kate hit up a few more houses.  Then the kids had a blast handing out candy to all the kids from Gramma Ali's front door.  I have never really liked Halloween, but I must say we had a GREAT weekend!  

First night of dress up!

The Jack O'Lanterns at the nursing home.  So well done!   

Cooper and buddy Camden at Spooktacular

Isabel and Alice (we missed you Eva!)

Then Cooper saw his buddy Luke...

...with whom he is always wrestling with!  (Usually at high school football games)!

Cooper and Camden doing the sack race!

Halloween Part I

Gymnastics

 It's been an exciting fall watching Cooper in his first organized sport, gymnastics.  Cooper has always been a little slow to warm up to new things, and after our failed attempt at swim lessons last winter, I was shocked when he agreed to do gymnastics class.  And much to our happy surprise, he's loved it.  Yesterday was our 6th of 10 classes.  They've done balance beam, spring board, bars, tumbling, and even started to learn cartwheels.  It's been fun for everyone!

Whirlwind

Well, it's probably been 2 of the most challenging weeks of my life (I hope).  Between having three kids 4 and under, getting back to work after 4 wonderful months off, and spending 5 nights at the pediatric floor at Fletcher Allen with Emma to ultimately undergo surgery for an infected lymph node, and Josh being in the middle of midterms for 2 of his MBA classes, it's been about all I can  handle!!  I'm so happy and grateful to report that Emma is doing great and is about fully recovered.  Just a couple more days of antibiotics and we can hopefully put this behind us!  I have to throw a huge shout out to all of the doctors, and especially nurses and LNAs at Fletcher Allen.  They were amazing and so supportive and comforting. It was quite a surreal experience to go through.  While it was scary on one hand to be in the hospital with your 4 month old (and to have her go under general anesthesia-that was the worst part), it also made me feel very lucky and comforted at the same time.  When I started to feel sorry for myself for being in the hospital with Emma, I would walk the halls and realize that we are SO fortunate and blessed.  My heart really goes out to all of the families who are dealing with much more dire circumstances.  I can't imagine that pain and heartache that they go through.  Thank goodness for the "angel nurses" for the wonderful care they provide.  All in all, Emma tolerated the whole ordeal wonderfully.  She really was never very uncomfortable so that made it all easier to deal with.  The other hard part was being away from Cooper and Isabel for days at a time.  Thank GOODNESS for all of our wonderful family and friends who were able to help us take care of them, and even provided some meals for us!!!  A special thanks to Gogo and Gumma (who was a huge help despite not feeling her best), and to Grammy and Gramps for making the long trip up here for a few days.  Couldn't do this without you all!  I'm not very organized with my pictures at the moment, so I'm just going to throw in a bunch from the last few weeks.  Thanks again to everyone and thankyou God for watching over my baby!

The little lady with her IV in.  Amazing little girl barely cried when they put it in!  She tolerated that much better than she did her 2 month shots!

Mommy and Emma passing time making faces in the bathroom mirror.  We had a few little toys, but it was amazing how creative we had to be without out Bumbo seat, swing, bouncy chair, play mat...

Finally one of the nurses brought in a bouncy chair for us the second to last day we were there.  It was a welcome change of pace for us!  

Smiles with silly Gramps! 

Grammy taking good care of Emma

Emma's first football game (this is an old picture from a few weeks ago)

AND WELCOME TO OUR NEW COUSIN DANA!!!  WHAT A CUTIE!!!!

Isabel taking Cooper for a ride