WILD WEEKEND...

These two peas in a pod had a blast together swimming!

Maddie was an absolute love and I just fell more in love with her then ever this weekend!!

Her first official dunk! (and we're both covered in her spit up! how appropriate :) )

just some more of our daily wipe up from my reflux baby!

can you just tell how smitten I am w/ my newest little girl!?!?!?

is that a look of "where am I" or what?!?!?

she looked great her first time in a bathing suit!

this miss priss was having way to much fun to stop and let me take a picture. Sometimes she just rebels from her mommy always pointing a camera in her face. Can't say as I blame the poor girl! :)

Abigail and Maddie were both equally thrilled to have us taking pictures of the matching hair do's. I love the looks on their faces!! Sorry girls but you looked stupid cute!!!!!

Sweet Uncle Dave helped to get them to smile again!

I loved sharing the beautiful cold ocean w/ my sweetest baby girl

my darling Bit just loves the beach no matter how cold it was! I love that about her!

Showing mommy how proud she was of her bucket and we can't wait to show it to daddy!!!

we tried to walk out on the pier but didn't get far before we all looked at one another and said "no way!!! too cold!"

I love my wild sister!

"take the picture quick mommy it's too cold to smile!"

My sweet mamma helping warm the baby!

on the hunt

my sweet Hamilton, I could just eat him up!!!

these two have so much in common! It just warms our hearts to see them all play together and love each other. :)

my crazy Bit shedding her shoes

Love my sweet girl!! We had fun sporting our matching new jean jackets :)

Sue with the ultimate aunti look of concern on her face trying so hard to keep Chloe warm

she's quite smitten w/ her new neice too can you tell!?!?

The girls and I got a much needed break from our snowy city this past weekend when we visited my wild sister Sue and her fam at the beach. We headed east w/ mom and just enjoyed the feeling of getting out of town for a few days. It was a wild weekend w/ all those babies. Noisy but a blast! We started out with a late swim at the local YMCA and Chloe had her first time in a pool. She seemed to love it while it lasted but a dirty diaper kept the swim a short one. :) Saturday we took some long naps to recover from the late swim the night before then headed to the ocean. We absolutely froze but had a blast in the windy sunshine and we all hoped for spring to come soon. Chloe had another first as she got introduced to the beautiful Atlantic for the first time! She was a little chilly to fully appreciate it but it was special to mommy to show it to her. Abigail didn't seem to mind the cold as she carried her purple bucket all over the shore looking for shells. She had brought that bucket across the state so excited to fill it she didn't even mind that the wind chill that had to be in the teens. She got in her own little zone as she looked around and cried when I made her leave but I promised her that we would take the shells home to daddy so they could put them in his fish tank to always have them close by. That made her happy so we could skip hand in hand and catch back up to our fridged family who already left. We headed over to a sea side play area for the kids who forgot once again how cold it really was as they took off their shoes (!!) to climb the park equipment. Sue's one mission was to try to keep sweet Chloe from freezing. I must say I was a little worried about the tiny 4 mo old as well but thankful for mom and sue helping out w/ her so I could enjoy how much Abigail was enjoying the day. Sue's sweet babies were all about the fun day w/ their cousins. Mom just watched in sweet awe at the fun crowd taking it all in as she usually does. We ended the day w/ an early bedtime for all of the little en's and some actual time to catch up w/ my sweet sister. Mom and I left early Sunday and stopped at a good old southern Shoney's breakfast bar and a nice long car ride full of conversation discussing all the fun we had just had together. Great fun and only wish we could have taken my sweet hubby along. He enjoyed a nice quiet house for a few days but I think both he and the cats were glad to have us home noise and all Sunday night! :)

Just another Sunday morning..but this weekend..SUCESS

Well this Sunday Brian and I had a breakthrough and I had to post about it. Probably not a story that anyone else cares much about but for my keepsake book I wanted to remember this weekend. It was our first Sunday of actually getting through an entire sermon...both of us...in forever!! Ya know, when Abgail was coming along we just didn't have this problem. She would hear the music and noise and just pass out at church. She always slept through at this age but not our Chloe! Chloe is still too young to put in church nursery. It's flu season and the baby room in the back is just too full of snotty noses and drool to put a wee one in there. Well mine anyway! I waited until the Bit was 6 or 7 mo before we braved it with her. So in the mean time Brian and I have been attempting to still make it to church even though when we've tried it Miss Chloe has been a little less then cooperative with trying to actually get anything out of it. Usually we just take turns slipping out with her screaming over our shoulder and making a scene then pacing in the lobby with her or I'll suck it up and head to the back to nurse her/bribe her to be quiet in hopes of actually getting to hear some of the sermon. But up until this week we have yet to hear a sermon in it's entirety. On Sunday we took our usual seat amongst the 'back row baby boomers' in our sanctuary. There's one row of chairs that line the back wall and on Sunday mornings it looks like a baby store w/ alternating a baby car seat then 2 adults ...baby car seat, two adults and so forth. The area is just littered with blankets, bags and gear in hopes of getting the little monsters through the service. Each parent has their own game plan and it's hilarious to watch us all put forth so much effort to try to get fed spiritually for the week. Back on that row it's funny because we all sympothize so much w/ one another and when there's a lull in the morning music we share random parenting thoughts sentaments and looks of piti when it's clear one of the little-ens isn't going to behave today. :) Brian and I squeezed into the last section of seating w/ a plan this week! I decided to try pumping prior to leaving for church. Chloe as usual was all peaches and cream during the morning music, wide eyed, happy and alert checking out the surrounding faces that gaze in on her as they walked by. But just as the music stops and things get serious, Chloe again decides she's bored. I didn't think it was possible for another daughter of mine to be such a talker but if possible I think she's actually more verbal then her sister! Chloe loves to compete w/ noise. She hears pastor talking and ..."ohh I want to comment on that". So she starts into her Rainman like verbage of "ennnnhhh....annnnhhh....ennnnhhhh" at increasing volume until Mommy gives in and gets her out of her seat to soothe her. But today...I came armed with a plan! I pulled a big bottle for her out of the bag and gave it to Brian. It was so sweet I might add to watch him feed her. I'm always doing it so I never get to watch him do this. We got to listen to the sermon uninterrupted as she got more and more relaxed in his lap, her arms out like limp tree limbs, eyes closed and only the noise of her sucking until she got to the bottom of the bottle. We looked at each other like "oh boy, we'll see if it's enough". I got the passy ready and just like Indiana Jones w/ that golden idol pass off we held our breath and intensly transitioned from bottle to pacifier w/o a hitch. Teamwork!!! We looked at each other again, big ole smiles across our faces ..."SUCESS!!" We both beamed w/ pride and accomplishment, did a quick smooch to congratulate one another and then leaned back and relaxed through the rest of the message. Which was a really good one by the way! Ya know, it's those little moments as parents. There are a million of them through the course of this journey of parenthood that we enjoy. Sometimes with sucess sometimes we laugh or cry at our failure but at least Brian and I ride it out together. Today I just wanted to remember as an example, today we did it!! :)

Chloe my little love muffin is almost 4 mo old!!!

"mmmmm, tasty blanket.....must eat it"

Just killin time this weekend I had a blast taking pics of my little muffin getting all chubby and precious. Christine made a beautiful quilt for her and it was a perfect prop for the occasion. Thank heaven for little girls!

so stinkin proud!

Ok I have to use my blog to do a bit of bragging!!!! I am so stinkin proud of my sister Amy for her first major publication this January! She is now published along side some serious big wigs in the Nascar world in this latest edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul!!! Go Honey!! SO proud of you!!!!!!!!!! And also of my crazy brother in law who had lead my sweet Scarlet sister into a life of fast cars and wild rides! Love you guys!

AAAANNNNGGGGHHHH MORE SNOW...SERIOUSLY!!??

"MOM!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm Bored!!!!!!!!!!!

Wearing her officail, 'I'm too little to sleigh ride' jersey Chloe stayed all nice and warm inside.

Kinda hard to see cause I forgot to get his picture before I came inside and got dry. But that's Gaston on the other side of the driveway.

I'm loving my Japenese Maple and how all those little branches caught the heavy wet snow

Abigail actually tried to dance w/ the snow princess :)

Well it's been a heck of a winter here in 2010!! It's officially been stated that so far it's the 10th snowiest winter on record in our city. An additional 9.5 inches fell this weekend and Abigail and I got out to try to get some play time in. She insisted we build a princess snow man which I did and as I headed inside to finally get warm she lets me know..."but mommy! Every princess needs a prince!!! We have to build a Gaston Prince snowman for her across the driveway!". So being the big fat sucker I am, we started over and built snow man #2 across the driveway for our princess to wave at. :) It was all good fun. Brian kept Chloe happy and warm inside but I'll let him off the hook this time, after all he did have hot cocoa waiting for us when we came back in. I tried to get the Bit into sleigh riding. Had much better success w/ this recent snow vs. the fluffy 18 inches back in December but even w/ 2 successful rides down our hill, one in a tupperware bin and another on an inflatable raft she laughed and said "oh that was fun mommy"...."do you want to go again"....."no, I don't think so mommy.' Oh well. We'll wait for Daddy and a real sled to make that one fun for her. I on the other hand had a ball sliding down the hill on that raft!

"Fadowww Abwaham"

***** SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF MY SITE AND HIT PAUSE ON MY MUSIC PLAYER TO HEAR HER VIDEO*******

Random sweetness

"Is it spring time yet!?"

little princess fell asleep holding her little toy

little angel at naptime

"come on you know you want a big drooley baby kiss!!"

Just a shot of her personal chariot

helping me wake our sleeping beauty

Abigail helping entertain little Chloe while mommy cooks dinner, Chloe was hilarious trying to watch her go round and around!

"mommy, I'm too small for this toy!!!"

"Waaazzzz UUUUUpppppp!"

hanging out on the kitchen table watching the family go by

she's a very sneezy girl, I just hope it's not the cats that do it to her!

Just some shots of home these days. :)