It's Ellie Time

Ellie is such a great baby. This was taken tonight under her play gym. I think she's tough like her Mommy. She doesn't let the fact that she has a stuffy nose stop her from smiling. :)

After a bath... She loves taking baths.

The Girls' Room

Now that we have the bunk beds, Ellie will make the big move into her new room with Charlotte. I'm a little nervous but she's outgrowing the bassinet and is sleeping fairly well at night. The past 2 nights have been what I would consider through the night. Friday night she slept from about 11pm til 8am and last night it was 11pm til 5:30, had a quick bottle and back to sleep until after 8 again. Hopefully they won't wake each other.

We took Charlotte's crib apart and set Ellie's up. Ellie's crib is 21 years old, it was my cousin Jonathan's which then went to Allison, then to Daniel, then to Owen and now to Ellie. It's a little bit bigger than Charlotte's was but I like it better. Not only does it have a little sentimental value but is also has lots of drawers. When you're putting two kids in the same room, this obviously comes in handy. Stephe and Jim had to replace a few bolts or screws or something since it had been put together and taken apart so many times but it's still in decent shape and seems very sturdy. (Charlotte used to play with the mini-blinds in the mornings and they're in rough shape. I think I'll replace them with some pleated shades at some point in the near future.) Unfortunately, they don't make the crib comforter in twin size. However, I was pretty happy with the bedding I found for the bunks. There's a little more pink in the new comforter but I don't think it stands out as drastically different. To me, it just makes the room go from uni-sex to more girly. :)

Early Winter - First Snow October 15, Second Snow Oct 19

Ellie's face says what we're all thinking... "What the hell is going on?"

Lainey's face says what only she and Charlotte are thinking... "Yippee!! I get to run and roll around in the snow!!"

I actually had a teary little girl when she woke up to snow but couldn't go out to build a snowman. She just saw white and didn't understand that there wasn't enough yet.

Charlotte and Hunter are so silly!

Time for a "Big Girl" Bed

We finally moved Charlotte to a big girl bed. A friend of mine was selling her son's bunk beds for $100. Stephe had the best quote when I asked him if he thought it would be a good idea to buy them. "We have no room in this house, we may as well stack the beds on top of each other." I had to laugh when he said it because it's SO true. This was a great deal and when Ellie outgrows her crib, we're all ready. Now Charlotte can actually have friends sleep over if she wants too. Uncle Jim helped Stephe pick them up and put them together. Hunter quickly did the math in her head and couldn't wait to sleep over on the top bunk. The girls had so much fun together. Here they are goofing around, they were both super excited to see them all set up. Hunter's just being silly and Charlotte had to see what she would look like if she were sleeping. These two clowns crack me up.The ladder just unhooks so we can leave it up on the top bunk when we don't want Charlotte climbing on it. Although she's already a pro.

Charlotte & Mommy Day

Charlotte and I spent the day together Sunday. It started out at a gymnastics b-day party for Cassidy. What a fun place! Here we are in a giant foam pit that we jumped in.After the party, we hit the movies. It was Charlotte's first real movie (not counting the time Daddy took her before she turned 2). We saw Toy Story 1 and 2 in 3D. I was shocked that she made it through both movies and seemed to really enjoy herself. My plan was to just leave after the first movie but she wanted to go back in so we did. I'm pretty sure her favorite part was the popcorn. At one point, I looked over and she had her entire face literally IN the bag. So funny!!!

On the potty training front, she's doing fantastic. She hasn't had any poopy accidents but has peed a few times. I couldn't believe at the end of the day Sunday she was still TOTALLY dry, even being out all day doing fun things. She's also starting to get better at telling me when she has to go rather than me asking all the time. I think we're close to throwing out all the pullups after only 2 weeks!

Two Months Old

Ellie had her two month check-up this morning with Dr. Mulqueen. It went well. She's a healthy little girl. She stayed perfectly on the 90th percentile curve that she's been on since birth for both height and weight. She's 12 pounds 11 ounces and 23 3/4 inches tall. She had 2 shots today plus a drink for the rotavirus. I took Charlotte to the appointment too. Well, when Ellie got the shots, she let out a pretty loud scream and Charlotte hugged my leg and was holding back tears. She's so sweet, she sympathy cries if another kid is crying. She hasn't done it for Ellie before but this cry was louder than the norm and I think it scared her.

I asked about the flu shot and after he explained things a little, I decided Stephe and I will get the vaccine but the kids will not. I've never had the vaccine before and probably wouldn't do it if it wasn't for the kids. Since Charlotte's only at daycare 2 days a week (and one of those days, she's the only kid there), chances are if she got the flu, it would be from us. He told me she's not the highest risk and that it was up to us whether we wanted her to have one.

We're still trying to figure out what type of formula to put Eleanor on. We started with Enfamil Premium with Lipil which she was spitting up with. So I went and bought Nestle Goodstart Gentle Ease which was made her spit up even worse. I bought a can of Enfamil Prosobee Soy which she didn't spit up but she started having trouble pooping. So I tried Enfamil AR which was even worse for pooping so I went back to the Soy. She seemed to be doing better until last night when had trouble pooping again and then today was spitting up. Dr. Mulqueen gave us a sample of Enfamil GentleEase. He wants us to try that for a couple days to see if it helps. We'll give him a call Thursday to decide whether or not she'll need the prescription formula. It's pretty frustrating knowing that she had no issues at all while on breast milk. I wish nursing went better for us.... :( Hopefully we'll get this all straightened out soon. I have 3 almost full cans of different formula on the counter right now that we can't use.

Laugh???

This video was taken Monday night. I think Ellie is trying to laugh. It kind of sounds like a throat clear but I'm going to call it a laugh. She had done it a few times before I brought out the camera. Then, the camera comes out and nothing. Well, if you listen closely, there might be a little one. haha!

Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes

Potty Training - Day 1

We had an almost perfect first day of training. Charlotte willingly went to the potty all day today. Every time she peed, we celebrated with lots of high fives, hugs and a smartie. I was shocked when each time I checked her pants, they were dry. Around 2 in the afternoon, Daddy decided to take her to the candy store so we could have better rewards for her. They came home with gourmet chocolates and french rolls for when she poops. Now I think I want to potty train so I can have some of the good stuff. Lucky girl. LOL

Then, around 4 or 5 she did the big one. She POOPED on the potty. I hear that's the toughest part of training. I didn't do a thing, she did that one on her own. Such a big girl. She did end up with wet pants once around 6 tonight, but I'm certainly not complaining about ONE accident on her first day.

I hope this great attitude continues.

Of course I don't want to leave little Miss Ellie out. She was looking pretty cute today too. :)

Monday night Hunter came over to play while Jim & Mich went to a parents meeting at Holy Rosary. The girls had a good time. I thought this was funny, Hunter helping Charlotte eat her dinner.
I can't believe Charlotte still sleeps in the same position as when she was a baby. I still think it's just as cute so I had to snap a picture.
Charlotte and Eleanor were ready for the Patriot game Sunday. They looked adorable. Too bad the Pats lost. Ellie knew it wasn't worth waking up for. :)

Seven Weeks

I'm back to work, maternity leave is over. Can you believe I have to leave this happy little face everyday now?

The Cutest Little Ballerina

Charlotte started ballet class this week. I don't know who was more excited for it, her or me!!! She did not disappoint either, she did awesome!!

She wasn't phazed when we left the room and was totally into doing everything the teacher told her.

Here are some of the kids coming out of class

Charlotte with her friend Mackenzie. She was so happy to find out they would be in class together.

Hunter is taking a tap/ballet combo class that occurs at the same time as Charlotte's. Hunter seemed pretty excited to introduce her little cousin Charlotte to all the teachers she had last year. So cute!!

Here's a cute little story: When I took Charlotte to the school to sign up for dance, they were showing a video from the last recital. When the little 2-3 year olds were doing their dance, I asked her if she wanted to learn to dance like that. Her reply was, and I quote... "Yes, and I NEED that dress!!!" I can't wait to see her in "that dress" at the recital next June.

Special Pictures

Eleanor meets her great grandmother. I love this picture!!!

Eleanor at 2 weeks old

Eleanor at 1 month

The "Music" Park

Earlier in the summer, while I was very pregnant and had to work, Stephe and Grandma Sue took Charlotte to Canobie Lake Park. She had a great time and couldn't get enough of the rides. When they got home, she kept asking me if I was going to take her to the "music" park (her version of amusement park). So in the month or 2 leading up to Ellie's birth, to help get her excited for her baby sister, I would tell her that after the baby was born, we'd all get to go. We lined up Auntie Krista to watch Ellie for the day while Stephe and I took Charlotte and Owen to Six Flags. What an awesome time. The kids were so well behaved are both such dare devils they went on everything they could. Charlotte was JUST at the 36 inch mark to get on some of the rides. Luckily I had a bow plus her sun hat on her that day to give her just enough lift that she cleared the marks without question from the ride operators.

First ride of the day

We all went on this one. It was awesome!

Check out the video of what this "kiddie" ride was like. Charlotte and Owen were yahooing and putting their hands up on this thing.


Wags the dog and Henry the Octopus from the Wiggles

We met up with Stephe's cousin Priscilla and her kids Jesse & Grace. It was great to see them.

The kids loved the Wiggles show

Here's a quick clip of the kids watching the show

I think Charlotte had a little crush on Captain Feathersword. She stayed with him a while.

Me with the kids on the ferris wheel

Stephe took the kids to the water park for a little while

The whip

Here's a quick video, you can see how big they're smiling and hear them scream when they took the corner. They loved this one!!


They were the smallest kids on the rides. A lot of my pictures were a big ride where you basically only see their hats sticking up. LOL

They played a game. They threw darts at the wall of balloons and won prizes. They each picked their own prizes. Owen chose a monkey while Charlotte chose the big snake.