October 2008 Pictures and updates

It's hard to believe that Carter is 17 months old now! :( I've posted some pictures of him in his Halloween costume below. The picture above is a picture of Isa walking with Bill at the Zoo when she wore the costume! It's funny, when you're raising the kids sometimes you feel like the time can't go fast enough. You have your fair share of wonderfully great days mixed with with wonderfully insane days. In the moment, it's hard to listen to advice such as "don't rush them, the'll be grown up before you know it." Looking at this picture of Isa wearing the same costume as Carter, it's hard to believe (or remember) when she was that little. :( I'd take it back in a heartbeat (minus all of the screaming!)




Carter snuggled in with Daddy




Playing tickle bug




Took the paci out for a brief moment

Scooby Doo and Daphne

Carter with Daddy.

Daphne posing

Braden at Shaw Farms

This is the best picture that I could get of all 3 of them. Isa was so tired. She had just had a sleepover at her friend, Maura's, and didn't go to bed until 11 that night.

Carter....a picture not in the highchair, but still with the paci!

With Daddy

Learning to put on his, I mean Carter's, coat. Hey, whatever works!

In the highchair, again. This is what being a 3rd kid does to you!

On picture day. Isn't she beautiful?

Posing again before school.

October was a fun month! The kids had a lot of fun at preschool, we went to Just for Fun on Fun Friday, went to Shaw Farms (where Buddy proceded to get lost and they had to do an all call for a "lost little boy with blonde hair in a Chad Johnson jersey with a blue Cincinnati Zoo hat"....luckily we found him quickly. We went to Kings Island's Halloween fest. There really are a lot of festive things to do in Cincinnati during Halloween.

Carter: Carter is such a stinker. He's way too smart for his own good. He loves getting a step stool and jumping over the arm chairs and then falling to the ground. He's very much into high fives, loves say "bye bye" at the top of his lungs, and yelling "hi" like a mad monster. Bill had told me that he caught on to trick or treating by the 3rd house. He held each piece of candy until he got to the next house and once assured that he'd be getting a new piece, he'd then put the piece from the last house in his bucket. I took them out later and we were walking around in our neighborhood. The neighbor asked Braden if he wanted a piece of candy and then she was handing us a piece (Carter and I were on the sidewalk), I said "no thanks" and started walking on and Carter through a complete fit and held out his hand for the piece of candy! It was too cute!

Braden: Braden continues to bring a smile to my face every day. You couldn't ask for a sweeter boy. He has his temper tantrum moments, but I can forget those when he looks at me and says "Hug, Mama." He's so genuine and soft-spoken. He's making huge strides in his speech and it shows on his IEP Progress Report. Waiting for him to say certain things makes it that much warmer (and cuter) when he does say them. The other day he said this whole entire sentence when Carter was crying "Oh, baby Carter wants his paci." Not a big deal for most 3 1/2 year olds, but when you're waiting on pins and needles for your baby to talk, a sentence like that melts your heart! He's come such a long way and his teachers and speech thereapist have really worked hard with him. He continues to be all boy. In a year from now, he and Carter are going to be wrestling all over the place. (Honey, that's why we need a finished basement...so they can romp around down there and not drive me crazy all day!)

Isa: Isa is one smart cookie. She earned a lot of good grades on her report card too. She's really into spelling right now. Here new sounds are sh and ch and the tricky y. It's amazing how this little 4 year old WANTS TO spell words and wants to tell you which end with the tricky y and begin with sh. Yesterday she said to me "Mom, I really want a sister, but I don't want to have to go to the hospital and get a shot to have her. So, I want you to go and get the shot to have her for me!" Ha ha! (No, that's not some indirect way of telling you that we're pregnant....just a cute story!)

Bill: Still working hard on his PhD and another paper to be submitted. He missed the last deadline because work got really busy when the paper was due, but this new one is still in Italy and is due December 5.

Me: Still staying at home during the day and having lots of fun with the kids and tutoring during the evenings. I switched my schedule to only working on Tues/ Thurs. Being out of the house all 4 nights was not working out for me.

Here are recent pictures:

Baby USA

Lisa and Josh's little guy: Tyson (Ty) Joshua


Angie and Gary's little girl: Mia Kate




Monica and Paul's little girl: Isla Francine

I do not have pictures of the others yet, but both had boys.

First Days of Preschool and PreKindergarten

In Miss Barz's classroom on the first day.




Isa's first day of pre-kindergarten.





So wanting to go play with the cars and trucks, but instead following the classroom routine: table activities when you first come in the room.

Soccer Mom, Open House for Preschool

Carter-Bear




A rare shot allowing us to take his picture.







Looking at the dolphins in the underwater case.



A nice short trip for us that we truly enjoy is one to the Indianapolis Zoo. It's about a 2 hour drive and the kids love it. The dolphin show is a family favorite. They still allow you to feed the giraffes right out of your own hands. They give elephant baths right in front of you. They have a very nice "closed in" playground for the kiddos. And, in general, you're much closer to the animals than at our Cincinnati Zoo.



Isa and Buddy in front of Milford Preschool. We're heading to Buddy's Open House day where het met his teacher, Mrs. Moreira.





Carter loves waffles! He's 14 months in this picture.

I guess when your child starts playing soccer, you officially become a Soccer Mom! Isa practicing before her first game.

I love August

Many of you know how special birthdays are to me! I love that my kid's birthday months are spread out perfectly between 6 months. Believe it or not, but it takes me that long to think of the ideas for the kids and the invitations. I slacked this year and sent the boys via e-mail, but the thought, research and creativity still took the same amount of time.

So, this year Isa is going to be 5! I can't believe that I have a child old enough to be 5. She'll start school next year. It's crazy. It seems like it was just yesterday. Am I even old enough to have a 5 year old?

She's been so into Princesses, dress up and pretend play, that I think we'll just do a general Princess Party this year. 1st year was dogs, 2nd was Sesame Street (which I have to say was my favorite game wise...I had Ernie's duck pond, Elmo's Coloring World, and we even bought her a "Dorothy". Well, let me rephrase that. Tried to buy her a "Dorothy." I sent Bill to get her a goldfish and he came back with a Beta! We ended up calling him Grover. Oh well) 3rd year was Ariel and this past year was Belle.

I have some good ideas brewing for this year. Hopefully it's just perfect!

Now, if I could only think of a good idea for 3 kids for Halloween. Last year they were Shrek, Fiona, and Puss n Boots! How do you top that?

August Updates

I have been really self-absorbed lately following my latest hobby, decorating. After realizing I only had 1 picture of my children from the entire month of July, I decided that it was time to get back to my old ways of taking pictures of my kids and having fun with them and stop being so preoccupied with "getting things done." The pictures below are from some of the things that we did.

Don't get me wrong, I do fun things with them almost every day, but I've been failing miserably at capturing moments on camera and really engaging in that meaningful play with them. I won't get too dramatic though because we've still had plenty of trips to the pool, Kings Island, playdates, parks, walks, etc...so it's not like I've completely kept them secluded during my preoccupation period.

Isa started soccer two weeks ago. She did so well this past week. She dribbled well, scored two goals and learned how to stop the ball with her foot. She was cracking me up whenever she would run too fast. I overheard her tell the coaches that she can't run because her stomach starts jumping. I guess that meant she couldn't catch her breath! Her first game is on the 23rd.

Both Braden and Isa start school in a few weeks. I'll need to make sure to get those moments on camera.

Carter just got over a double ear infection and a virus with blisters in his throat.

I'm down 3 lbs. this week on WW. Weigh in again tomorrow. My cousin, Angela, and I set a goal to lose 12 lbs. before our cousin, Jen's, wedding on Sept. 6. We started last week. So, as long as I keep exercising and staying within my point range, I'll lose that 3 lbs. per week. (Such a slacker....why does it take me a month before a wedding to get motivated?)

I don't know that I've mentioned this, but please keep Bill in your thoughts. He has a qualifying exam to pass and a paper due October 3rd. He must pass the qualifying exam to stay in the PhD program. The paper, if chosen to be published, would be something that he would present in Rome, Italy next May 2009. We'd both like to go if his paper is selected.

Met up with my old friend, Tina Cramer that I used to work with at Pete's Restaurant years ago and spent time with her and her kids today. She has two. Twins. Brooke and Brady. They're starting kindergarten this year! Geesh, time flies.

GG and Papa's anniversary is tomorrow. Happy Anniversary!

So many people are having babies here within the next few weeks: cousin Angie, friend Lisa, friend Monica, and friend Libby. Good luck to all of you!

August Pictures

Isa and her friend, Maura. When they both have their hair down, these two could be twins! Maura is Monica's daughter.


Carter driving the car

Isa at Recreations Outlet

A princess smelling her rose

Trying to convince Carter to marry her! (Braden wouldn't participate)

GG bought Isa a make up kit and had it delivered this week. She's played with it for a few hours every day in her room by herself. This is how she came downstairs a few days ago. She even knows how to do ponytails, so she styled her hair herself.

Finally getting him to sit still!

Funny faces at breakfast. Today, he said (while waiting to eat his waffles that I cooked him) "Wake up waffles. It's Buddy's turn!" Translation: Come on, waffles. I'm hungry. Hurry up and get over here. It's my turn to eat you.

The things that the youngest can get away with. He's been broken from a bottle for months now. Must have been a bad day to con a bottle out of me!