Goodbye 2012

This has been a really good year for our family. Can't wait to see what the New Year will bring.

In January we Found out we were expecting baby #4 Boots Baby #4  
In March our offer was accepted on our house! We are buying a House

In April we found out we were having a girl 20 Week Prenatal visit

In May we had the Final walk through of our house Our House

In June we Moved into our House All Moved in!

In June we Also took a Trip Indiana Trip

 In July we went blueberry picking

In August Kevin Went to The Watkin's Glen Race

In September Kendall was born

In October we Survived a Hurricane

In December Nathan turned Two

Nathan Update

Nathan has had Diarrhea for close to 2 Months now. He has been tested for Giardia, Cryptosporidium, C.Diff and a few other things and everything has come back negative. At his 2 year check up he had lost weight. He is going to be seeing a Pediatric GI Specialist in Binghamton on Jan.8. Hopefully they can figure out what is going on with him. Some days he has it up to 15 times a day. Otherwise he seems pretty healthy and happy. He has a good appetitie and drinks a ton of water. I started him on probiotics on Dec. 23rd and I think that they are helping a little because he is going less often since starting it.

Nathan's 2 year check up

Nathan is doing good. He was so cute at his appointment. All the nurse's got a kick out of him being his usual cute self. He kept talking to them and was very cooperative. He had 2 shots and barely even made a sound when they gave them to him. He knew it was coming though because as soon as the nurse's walked in he said "Mommy hold me". So I held him on the table and he did great! He is a Tiny little boy! He weighed 23 pounds 8 ounces. In November he was 24 pounds 14 ounces but he has been sick a lot this fall and I think that is why he lost over a pound. His weight percentile is 4th%. He is also a little shorty. He is 32 1/2 inches which is the 7th%. The Nurse Practitioner said that by her calculations he will probably only be 5 ft 5 in as an adult. I don't think so though. Kevin is 6ft 3in and all my male cousins are tall. I think he will eventually hit a growth spurt.

Here he is playing in the waiting room

Here he is coloring a picture of his favorite character Diego.

Thank God for the mess!

Normally I get stressed out when the kids make a mess. I can't stand clutter. I usually even get frustrated when the play room is messy. Today I am just Thankful that I have this mess in my living room. Thankful for my silly kids. The girls are going through this silly phase where they like to wear mismatched Pajamas. They are so innocent, so cute, so sweet. Thank You Jesus for giving me these wonderful gifts.

There are no words

Gabby stayed home from school today because she was sick. I think it was a blessing in disguise really. If she had been at school today I probably would have had a panic attack and gone to get her early. Avalynn did go to school but she is done at 11:00. I am so heart broken for the families who will not have their Children home with them tonight. I am praying for the families of all affected by the school shooting. God Bless the Children.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Gospel of St. Matthew 5:3-10   

         New International Version (©1984)
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  

Star Wars Day: Showing Support of anti-bullying

Gabby is sick today so she didn't get to do this. Avalynn is wearing Star Wars today to support Katie and any other child who has ever been bullied.

Katie Goldman is a little girl who was bullied because she liked Star Wars. You can read her story HERE.

Her Mother wrote a book about Bullying too Bullied: What Every Parent, Teacher, and kid needs to Know

Memories

The other day I was up in the attic and opened a tote. Wow were there some memories in there! It was like a blast from the past. Thing I had forgotten about or thought I had thrown out. I think they must have been packed away for years and we just kept moving the tote.

Growing up we never had TV and no one had computers yet let alone cell phones. So we had a lot of time on our hands. I used to write in diaries. Some of them are in this picture.

 I also used to write to lots of celebrities and they would send autograph pictures. Also one time My sister and I wrote to Tia and Tamera Mowry right before their show "Sister, Sister" first aired.  They hand wrote us a letter back and from what they wrote it sounds like we were their first ever fan letter! I still have the letter and autographed picture. But the neatest thing was when we wrote to Raven Symone and she called us! That was so cool! At the time she was on "Hanging with Mr. Cooper."

I also used to write poems a lot and short stories. It was neat reading through those again. I thought I had gotten rid of them Long ago!

I also found some notes from my high school days.  Lots of fun memories. :)

3 Months

Wow I can't  believe my baby is 3 months old! That is 1/4 of a year already! She just keeps getting more fun every day. She loves to be held and talked to. She will "talk" back to you. She has just lately started taking a pacifier. She wants it a lot. None of my other kids ever really took one. She is still pretty laid back but is starting to want to be held more. Today she rolled over for the first time and Kevin and I both missed it. She was sleeping on my bed on her back while I was wrapping presents. When I was done I took some garbage down stairs. I heard her start fussing so I went back upstairs and she was on her belly!

Celebrating Nathan's Birthday

Poor Nathan spent his actual birthday (Dec. 3rd) pretty sick. He has had a bad stomach virus. He seems to be feeling a little bit better today. He is eating well and I have been trying to push fluids.He was playing more today then yesterday and sleeping less so I think he is on the mend.

Anyway we had a little party for him 12/6. My parents came and so did my Twin sister Shelly with her kids Zack and Natalee. I made a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate cupcakes with Vanilla frosting.  Nathan doesn't really like cake much but he did eat some ice cream.

It took us about 10 minutes to find a lighter to light the candles.

Nathan got a lot of "Boy" toys. Poor kid has had nothing but baby dolls and baby toys to play with up until this point. So I know he is going to love playing with all his new toys. My Mother in law and Father in law also sent gifts for Nathan.

Happy 2nd Birthday Nathan

I can't believe 2 years has gone by since Nathan was born.You can read Nathan's Birth story  Here .The time has gone so fast. Seems like we were just celebrating his First Birthday.  He is a Mama's boy for sure. He is always asking me to cuddle him. At random times during the day he will come up to me and kiss me on the arm or leg. Wherever he can reach me.

He is talking so well. He can say just about anything and says 5 to 6 word sentences. His favorite tv shows are Dora and Diego. I think he has memorized about every episode of diego because he will say word for word what Diego is saying right before Diego says it, lol.

He likes to rough house with his sisters. He likes to play with lightsabers. Nathan and Avalynn will go around "Hitting" with the lightsabers saying "Shehaaa". Not sure why but that is what they do, lol. Nathan and Avalynn have a love/hate relationship. They love playing together but they also are jealous of each other and fight quite a bit. Gabby and Nathan get along for the most part unless he tries to take her favorite stuffed animals. He gives her a big hug when we pick her up from school. Sometimes he will just go up to her and kiss her. She loves when he does that. Nathan really loves his baby sister Kendall. He is always saying "That is my baby sissy". He wants to hold and kiss her a lot. Sometimes he is a little jealous of her. If I am holding her and he wants me to hold him he will say "Daddy hold baby sissy".

Nathan has this fluffy pink fleece blanket that must have been one of the girl's or was given to us. I don't really even know where it came from. It is his favorite blanket though. He sleeps with it every night and wants it at nap. He also has a red one with his name on it but he prefers the pink one. When he wakes up from nap he carries it all around with him. One day I wrapped Kendall up in it and I think I broke his heart. Won't do that again!

Nathan's favorite foods are Chicken Nuggets, Pizza, Cheese, cereal, oranges, apples and Bananas. He loves drinking chocolate milk and water.

I can't wait to see what this year will bring for Nathan and watch how he changes through the year. Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

Last night as a 1 year old with his favorite Blanket.

My Kids Look so much alike

My kids all look so much alike as babies. They are all born with lots of black hair and blue eyes. They get this from Kevin because he was also born looking just like them. I was born pretty much bald with brown eyes. Here are pics of my kids to compare how much they all look alike.

These were all taken at 1 Month old

Gabrielle Born March 24, 2007

Avalynn Born June 1, 2008

She had the most hair!!

Nathan Born Dec. 03, 2010

I think he had the least hair

I also think he looks the most like me out of the 4 kids

Kendall

She looks like a mix of Gabby and Avalynn!

 

I am Thankful

I started this post yesterday. Even though there is an auto save one of the kids bumped me while I was posting and somehow it deleted my whole post and I lost the whole thing. We had to leave to go to Dinner at my parents house so I didn't start over then. 

I am most Thankful for God for bringing my husband into my life. He is a Wonderful Father and a great provider for our family. I am Thankful for all 4 of my Children. 

Gabby is my oldest and at times a little sassy. She is smart and silly. She is usually always kind to others and likes to help me clean.

  Avalynn is full of energy, has the cutest dimples and is a daddy's girl. She and I butt heads a lot but I think it is the stubbornness in both of us. 

Nathan is a Mommy's boy. He loves to cuddle, wants me to hold him a lot. He gives me kisses all day long. He is really sweet. He loves his sisters very much.

Kendall is a Wonderful baby. If there were such a thing as the perfect baby she would be it. She hardly ever cries and if she does she is easy to calm. I am so Thankful to have this family and our health and happiness!

Allergic Reaction

Avalynn was sick on Monday so I took her in to the doctor and she had strep throat. We knew she is allergic to Amoxicillian because she broke out in hives while on it for an Ear infection when she was a baby. So they put her on Zithromax. This morning when I got her out of the bath she pointed to her feet and said "Look Mommy". Her feet have hives on them. She said that it didn't itch but I saw her scratching them quite a few times. She had already missed school on Tuesday so I wanted her to go today. I took her to walk in first thing this morning and while we were waiting in the exam room for the doctor she was coloring and I noticed her hands had hives too. The doctor came in and looked her over and then went out and brought in another doctor just to confirm that it was a reaction to the antibiotic. They both agreed it was. They told me to give her Benedryl and she won't be able to be on that Antibiotic for anything again. 

Here are her hands and feet. Taken with my crappy cell phone so not the best pictures. They were a lot redder then the picture looks.

She was happy to be at the doctor's office. Anywhere she gets to color she is happy.

2 Month Check up

Kendall now weighs 12 pounds 7 ounces (85%) and is 21.25 inches (45%). She is a little chunker with chubby cheeks and thighs to match! She is a very happy and content baby. She is starting to coo and "Talk". When I was singing to her while waiting for the doctor to come in she even laughed her first laugh! It was so cute! Gabby came with me and she heard it too. Most nights she sleeps 6 to 7 1/2 hours at a time. She is starting to out grow her 0-3 months clothes and is mostly wearing 3-6 now. I just moved her up to a size 2 diaper because she was starting to leak out of the size 1. Kendall is doing really well except she had some thrush in her mouth so she has a prescription for that. She had 3 shots today. :( 

This picture was taken a month ago. It is going to be part of a collage that Kevin is working on for me. 

Halloween 2012

Our trick or treat here was postponed until Monday Nov. 5th because of the Hurricane. We ended up not really even getting much of a storm so they probably could have had it Oct. 31. Anyway the kids had their parties at school and then Gabby got to walk in her school Halloween Parade. Then a bunch of our family came over to our house with their kids and we all went trick or treating together. My Mom came over and watched my baby Kendall and Shania's Baby sadie while we took the kids around. Kevin and my nephew Zack handed out candy on the porch. Nathan also hung out on the porch with them. We ended up getting 285 trick or treaters!

Gabby walking in her Parade

Avalynn dressed as the Star Wars Character Ashoka

Kito and Nathan were both Darth Vader

Pretty little bumble bee

We got through the storm

It was really windy here all night. I looked out the back window around 4:00 a.m. and a huge Pine tree was swaying like crazy! We never lost power and no damage to anything. We are under a flood watch due to creeks and streams could flood. We were lucky here. I am so sad for everyone who was on the coast and had terrible damage. I am praying for all those who lost friends and family members to the storm.

Hurricane is coming

The worst of the storm is supposed to be here around 2:00 a.m., Our lights have already flickered a couple of times. Our roof is leaking and it is not even raining hard. I hope it won't get too bad. I can't believe how bad it already is on the coasts of NJ, NY and other places. I am praying for safety for all in the path of the storm. I am pretty sure that we will be losing power when the storm hits here. I don't have internet on my phone so I will update again when we get power back. I can post updates to facebook from my phone though.

Pumpkin Carving Time

Fall is kind of my least favorite time of the year. I start getting depressed knowing that Winter is coming. I hate being cold, I don't really like snow either. I would be happy if it snowed a week before Christmas and stayed through the New Year and then warmed up to 70. There are some fun things about the fall though. I love the pretty leaves and the kids have fun playing in them. Then there is going to the Pumpkin farm and also carving pumpkins. Fall also makes me want to bake lots of yummy things, not so good for my waist line though! 

When my inlaws were here visiting they bought Gabby, Avalynn and Nathan each a pumpkin. Yesterday when we were at Aldi they had nice sized pumpkins for 1.99 so we bought Kevin, Kendall and me each a pumpkin too. Gabby and Avalynn picked out what they wanted carved on their pumpkins and Kevin did the carving. I am terrified of Bats so wanting to have the scariest pumpkin ever I did bats on mine. It kind of turned out to look like a face though. We had fun and the kids loved squishing the pumpkin guts through their hands and just making a huge mess with it.

Kendall's

Kevin's

Nathan's on Left, Mine on Right

Gabby's

Avalynn's

Here is Kendall, she is getting so big!

 

 

Kendall - 1 Month old

Wow this Month flew by! It seems like I just had Kendall but then again it also seems like she has always been part of our family. She fits is so well. The other 3 kids just adore her! The girls always want to hold her as soon as they get home from school. Nathan wants to hold her all the time. He loves her so much and is always hugging, kissing and touching her.

She is a very easy going baby. The only times she cries is when she is Hungry, needs a diaper change or just wants to be held. She is very easy to calm down. She still sleeps most of the time. She has several times during the day where she is awake for 20-30 minutes. She nurses every 2-3 hours. Sometimes at night she has gone as long as 4 hours. She sleeps in a co-sleeper next to my bed which makes it so nice for nursing her. I can just reach over and pick her up and feed her.

She doesn't go back to the doctor until 2 months so I am not sure what she weighs now. She is pretty chubby though. She has chunky cheeks and thighs to match! I would guess her to be somewhere between 10 and 11 pounds.

Kendall loves taking a bath. My cousin gave me her baby bath tub that has a sling in it and it is so nice for bathing her in. I give her a tub bath every 2 to 3 days. The other days I just sponge bath her.

This morning I was talking to Kendall while dressing her and I am pretty sure she gave me her first real smile. I tried to get her to do it again when I had the camera but of course she wouldn't do it!

Here are some pictures I took of Kendall this morning.

Here is Kendall in her Co sleeper Bed

My Mom bought this bag for me. It has all the kids names on it and little pictures to represent them. We made it so that Kendall has blonde hair. I think it will turn blonde because both of my other girls did. Also her hair that was shaved in the NICU seems to be coming in very light colored.

Some Saturday Randomness...

All of my kids love taking baths. I took some pictures of Nathan in the bath tonight. He was having a lot of fun in there!

A family Friend Betsy bought this Taggie blanket for Kendall when we went out to Indiana over the summer. It is so soft and beautiful! The sleeping gown she is wearing is from My aunt Cindy. It has been pretty cold here at night now and this is so soft and warm! Makes night time diaper changing easier too! It is hard to believe Kendall is already 3 weeks old! Time is going so fast!

Kendall Well baby check-11 Days

Kendall had a checkup today. She is doing really good! she now weighs 9 pounds 3.2 oz and is 20 1/2 inches. She has been a really good baby so far. She only cries when she is hungry and then calms right now. She eats about every 2 to 3 hours day and night so I don't get a whole lot of sleep. It is okay with me though because I know this time in her life will go really fast and eventually she will sleep through the night.

Here is a picture of her sucking on her hand this morning. 

This is a picture I took with my phone of her at the doctor appointment. She was watching the screen saver on the computer in the room before the doctor came in.