Gymnastics Finale

Today was Maddie's end of the year gymnastics show. Unfortunately, because of continued illnesses in the house, we were not all able to attend but Big A did a stellar job capturing it all on video for us (there were definitely some Pop Milani moments to the video that brought a huge smile to my face and good storytelling to my little ones).

Maddie started gymnastics last September and was definitely improving her negotiating skills each time she explained to her teacher why she shouldn't or couldn't do some of the things she was being asked to do.... going on the highbeam, doing a backward flip on the bars etc.. Fortunately for Maddie her teacher didn't buy into any of it and after months of practice, Maddie is able to go on the highbeam with ease and even do some fancy tricks on it with her teacher by her side. This little girl has made tremendous improvements this year and has boosted her confidence sky high. She cannot wait for the next session to start. We are all very proud of her!!

Unfortunately, Chlo-Bear was not able to participate in her show last night because she is still fighting off this horrible bug she has had. We have had a rough week in the house with illnesses and hope that everyone is 100% soon.

XXOOXXO to all!

Chloe's Preschool Graduation

Our little girl at her preschool graduation with her "duck" cap.

We cannot believe our little girl just graduated from preschool; it seems like just yesterday we took her to her very first day of school wearing her Lightning McQueen backpack. Chloe has really flourished and truly blossomed this school year. We couldn't be prouder of what a truly wonderful and loving little girl she is! She is absolutely ready and quite excited to be a kindergartener next school year.

Ms. Mary Kay Ms. Laurie

This school year was absolutely wonderful! Chloe was blessed with two truly energetic, dedicated and hardworking teachers. Ms. Mary Kay and Ms. Laurie were often topics at the dinner table. Chloe couldn't wait to get to school to see her teachers and her friends and I know she is really going to miss them this summer. Adam and I were quite impressed with the curriculum, the friendships and all of the activities Chloe was exposed to. Some of her favorites were the Art Show where she was able to show off her artistic abililites, the Winter Show where she was able to perform in her PJs, The Night of the Special Man where she and Daddy built a birdhouse then got to go to Starbucks and Mother's Tea where she sang a song and gave me a beautiful pillow with her handprint.

Here is Chloe singing "Ole-Ole Anna" with her good friends (especially her "best friend" Emma on the end). If you haven't heard her sing it yet give us a call as she has been enjoying singing it to anyone who calls..... all of the verses I might add.

Chloe receiving her diploma.

As I've said numerous times before I wish I could keep my little ones little forever. I am so lucky and blessed to spend all of my days with them watching them grow and really blossom into their own little persons. September isn't too far off and come fall I will be putting two on the bus instead of one to spread their wings for a full day away from the nest. You better believe I will do my best not take one moment of our time together this summer for granted... afterall, I know I cannot keep them little forever and that one day I will truly miss these times with them and will have only the memories we are creating now to remind me of how sweet my life with my children has been.

Hugs to all,

Laura

How does your garden grow?

In our grand attempt to get the children more excited about eating their veggies we decided to plant a vegetable garden. We are lucky enough to have a wonderful neighbor next door who has lots of extra space in her garden and is letting us plant our veggies at her house. We didn't quite get around to the raised bed this year so Ms. Jerri is a Godsend!

Maddie and Chloe asked each of us what vegetables we like then made a list of the veggies they would like to grow. We took a trip to Harvey's, our local organic farm, consulted with Mr. Harvey himself and loaded up on some plants (maybe next year we will be on the ball enough to start from seeds). The kids were so excited to get digging in the garden. They loaded up the wagon with their supplies and off they went. I was excited that Jerri was around to guide us in the garden, I never knew how deep you have to plant a tomato plant.... a learning experience for all of us. Jerri was great!!! She had little ground stakes for labeling the plants... much better than the popsicle sticks I had brought. Maddie really enjoyed being in charge of writing each plant's name and I enjoyed watching her phonetically spell everything. Chloe was ready to get her hands dirty and somehow, everyone's hands but mine and Gracie's got really dirty - did I mention how happy I was that Jerri was there?! One of the most exciting moments for the girls was when Jerri gave them permission to come to the garden anytime they want...no need for her to be there, just come, keep an eye on the plants and enjoy the garden. Just this weekend the girls went over to pick some lettuce for our hamburgers - oh, and they both ate the lettuce too.... priceless.

Adam enjoyed throwing the ball to the dogs but perhaps his greatest enjoyment came from learning that Ms. Jerri has a special door, just his size I might add, for the dogs and possibly for him too (although mommy nixed that one right away).

Gracie getting some attention from Ms. Jerri and the dogs. Grace seemed fascinated with Montana and Montana with her.

So, hopefully at some point this summer we will have some yummy tomatoes and cucumbers to go with that lettuce and 3 children who learn to love not only growing their veggies but eating them too.

That's all for now. Much love,

Laura

A Visit from Aunt Patti and Aunt Judy

We recently had the pleasure of having Aunts Patti and Judy stay with us for a fun-filled weekend. The kids had a blast and so did Adam and I. Between softball games, a walk to the ice cream stand (a must for all visitors at our house), Maryland lacrosse, board games and bowling the girls also practiced some very important educational skills- Preakness style. The girls both really love horses and so what a perfect opportunity to practice reading, writing and counting.

Aunt Patti had the girls write the names and numbers of the horses on a piece of paper then cut them and put them in a flower pot. After that, everyone contributed a few dollars (counting money of course is a very valuable skill), and picked two names out of the pot. The excitement when the race began was contagious..... everyone was jumping up and down cheering for their horses (number recognition as you watched for your horse....see how educational gambling is). In the end, Maddie was the lucky winner of the day with Rachel Alexandra coming in first. She was quite excited to win and smiled from ear-to-ear. Aunt Patti made sure that all of the little ones won a little something.... isn't she sweet!! The girls had so much fun and cannot wait to do it again. What a special memory for them... gambling with their Auntie :)

We had a big first for Gracie while Patti and Judy were here.... Gracie took her very first bottle of breastmilk - Hooray!!!! She would not take a bottle from Adam after several attempts and we had almost given up until Patti said she wanted to try. Gracie did fine as long as I was not in the room and she did not hear my voice. I'm happy to report that she now takes a bottle from her daddy as well.

No trip to our house would be complete without bowling. Aunt Judy turned out to be a ringer... I think she secretly bowls in her "spare" (ha, ha, ha) time although she doesn't "strike" us as the bowling type (okay, okay, that was Adam's). Our little guy is getting to be quite the bowler. He throws the ball down the lane with no issues and recently bowled a 101... tying his daddy and beating all the girls. Can you imagine what he could do with a duck pin ball???

So, you can see how much fun it is to visit..... any takers???

We're back!!

It has been quite a while since I last posted on the blog. While the blog may have been quiet our house has been nothing of the sort. Adam and I have been busy enjoying our little ones, taking in every precious moment. Life here is truly wonderful! Adam and I talk almost daily of how blessed we are to have such a happy life. How did we get so lucky?

I was so happy to hear how much we have been missed in this space. Thank you for the phone calls and emails touching base and telling me that you check in daily to see if we have posted pictures. Hopefully I will get my groove back and post more often. Also, thanks for all of the gifts for the children and the meals (those meals helped me survive those first few weeks on my own - the only downside is that all of you are much better cooks than I am so Big A has now asked a few times for me to replicate those meals)- thank you notes are on their way. For now, here is a little update.




Gracie is 3 months old already and is growing so quickly - too quickly!! I wish I could stop time and keep her this little forever. She is smiling and cooing and is just such a good baby. She has started sleeping 6 hour stretches at night... woohoo!! She has really good head control since about 2 months and has already started trying to roll. When lying on her back she tries to lift her head and shoulders off the ground as to try and sit up... she is so very strong! I am so glad I am home with her to witness it all... I thank Adam every day for making this possible. Gracie loves her big sisters and brother and enjoys following them with her eyes. I bet she cannot wait to be right there with them. She is quite the conversationalist already... I know, she comes by it honestly. While you are talking to her as soon as you pause she coos as if telling you her part... it is truly precious. She is truly precious!

Maddie, Chloe and Adam thoroughly enjoy their new sister and she thoroughly enjoys them. They enjoy holding her, singing to her, reading to her, kissing her and just loving her. They have all proven to be big helpers and very loving siblings.


Maddie really enjoys school and her friends. She continues to love drawing, crafts, gymnastics, singing and dancing. She was recently selected to be in our town's art show - we were so very proud of her! Maddie is playing softball this season and is doing an excellent job learning the game. She continues to loose teeth almost regularly and is starting to resemble a jack-o-lantern.

Chloe also enjoys school and her friends. She is playing softball as well and gets better with each game. Chloe loves to play princesses with Maddie and Super Hero with Adam. She learned Super Hero at school from the boys (observing not playing) so she thought she should teach Adam how to play since "he is a boy and I am his big sister." Chloe has really proven herself to be quite the big sister.... she is always looking out for Grace and is incredibly in awe of her little sister. I am quite lucky to have Chloe at home with me to help with Gracie!


Adam continues to be all boy. His energy amazes me. He loves playing cars and digging in the dirt. I cannot wait until summer when I can hose him down after playing outside. While all boy he is still so cuddly and loving. He is so gentle with Grace and asks often to hold her and give her kisses. I have a feeling he is going to be quite the protective big brother ( I had a few of those so I know how lucky she will be). His favorite color is still orange and he still loves his friend... Luke (a.k.a. Lukeee). One of my favorite moments with my little guy came the other day as he watched BigA's car pull away to go to work... at the window he looked at me and said, "Daddy's my best friend." Sweet, sweet, sweet!

Big A is doing well. He is enjoying his job and finding some time to play golf with his buddies, hit the gym and tackle his "Honey-do-list". He continues to be a great daddy and an even better hubby.

I am well. I am catching up on some much needed sleep and have finally begun tackling the front garden. My wonderful neighbor Jerri is letting us plant our vegetables in her garden this year so the kids and I are quite excited. I am enjoying hanging out with my girlfriends and slowly getting back into running. Other than that, I am enjoying every moment of being with my little ones and with the love of my life.


That's all for now. Hugs to all!!

Saint Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day.... always a blast in our house because of that crazy leprechaun. This year we decided to try and catch him. Maddie and Chloe built a great trap, compliments of Family Fun
magazine. The girls woke extra early to see if the trap was a success but unfortunately, the Leprechaun had a little help from a friend and was able to escape. There's always next year.

The Trap complete with trap door at the top so the Leprechaun will fall through.

The ladder was on its side when the girls came down the stairs. The trap door had fallen through.... surely they had caught him.... but oh, this note tucked inside. Who knew there was more than one Leprechaun running around?

Our all time favorite, green toilet water. This just never gets old and ohhhhh the giggles it creates.

Gracie's 1st St. Paddy's day

More on the photos......

Click on the link below for a slideshow, and then the gallery should open up at the end – password burke. You can also find the gallery on the “clients” section of Nancy's site. Turn your volume on.

http://nancygould.com/slideshows/babygrace

http://www.nancygould.com/

Gracie's Photo Shoot

Okay, so I have like 100 pictures and stories I want to post and I'm sure soon enough I will get all the photos up on the blog but for now bear with me as I post a little out of order.

Nancy took this picture with my camera.

Last Thursday my dear friend Nancy came over to take pictures of Grace. Nancy is a wedding photographer extraordinaire and wanted to capture a few newborn shots she has been trying to get and who better to try with than Gracie. Nina and Grandaddy were in town and with Maddie in school and Chloe and Adam at gymnastics followed by lunch out we had lots of time to capture these special images. Honestly, it felt so good to have this snuggle time with my little one who slept throughout most of the photo shoot and the results were photos I will treasure forever.

Nancy was a blast to watch in action!! So much so that I was taking pictures of her taking pictures of Grace. It took me back to the fond memories of when Jen and I did photo shoots with Maddie and Ailee as babies in the basement in Frederick. We may not have had Nancy's talent but we sure had fun! Speaking of Nancy's talent... check out all of the pictures Nancy took on her website http://www.nancygould.com/

Yes, Nancy on the coffee table.... feet up in the air.....

All for this pose... check out Nancy's picture

A big thanks to Nancy, not only for her beautiful pictures, but also for her wonderful friendship!!

Meeting baby sister

I could not wait to call the kids in the morning to tell them about their new little sister. Adam and I promised the girls that they, other than mommy, daddy and the doctors, would be the very first to know about their new sibling. It took everything in me not to wake Adam exactly at 7 am to make the call; I just could not contain my excitement. When Adam made the call I was so happy to hear the excitement in the children as well. The girls were excited that the "girl team" had another member.

We could tell almost immediately that I was going to have two very big helpers in Maddie and Chloe. Both were so wonderful and loving with Grace. They loved holding her and singing to her. I can just see them teaching Gracie about tea parties and dollies and all things girl.

As I post this we have had a good week at home and the girls have continued to be absolutely wonderful with Grace. Both have helped with changing diapers (okay they hand me the wipes and the diaper... soon enough I'm sure they will be doing the actual changing...at least we can dream right!?), burping and holding Grace. Each night before they go to bed we give each some time to hold and talk and kiss their newest sister. This little ritual has become quite special to Maddie and Chloe and something they look forward to each night... so much so that they remind us if we do not bring her in their room with us.



Adam did well with Grace at the hospital as well. He was definitely interested in her - almost as much as the buttons that made the bed go up and down :) We had to be quite mindful to let him touch and hold her and just take it all in. We definitely feel that we need to teach him about little babies and how to be gentle instead of guarding her from him and saying "no" to him all of the time. It is exactly what we did when Chloe was born with Maddie and when Adam was born with both girls.

As I am posting this Gracie is already a week and 3 days old. The first week proved to be quite a challenge adjusting Adam to a new baby in the house and not quite the attention he was used to. Even with all of the behavioral training I have received in under and post graduate work I found that all I wanted to do was to give him a "grace" period and just hold him and remind him of how much he is loved. I knew that some of his tantrums were due to just needing more sleep and others were his way of saying..."I need your attention. Will you please play with me?" That is just the thing... he is not able to verbalize his needs yet and so instead he "acted out." For everyone that knows Adam well we know that he is definitely all boy (no doubt about it) but that he is also a sweet and polite little guy. He is a kiddo that craves play... building and knocking down marble runs and blocks, making Thomas the train travel around the tracks while you pretend to be the conductor at all of the stops, Lightning McQueen and Sally in their respective voices... crashing matchbox cars and making big BOOM sounds, racing his dump truck up and down the driveway... and so on. The first week I was quite exhausted and quite honestly, I did not want to be my typical "behaviorist self". I just wanted my guy to be happy and to feel loved and attended to. Grace had days and nights confused and we had very little sleep at night. I also came down with Mastitis on Sunday which set me back a little. Luckily the antibiotic kicked in and I felt better by Tuesday. On Tuesday night Grace slept much better during the night and we were able to get one good 4 hour stretch... what a difference a little sleep can make!! Already, since yesterday, we have noticed a marked improvement in Adam's behavior. He is back on his nap schedule and Adam and I and the girls are responding to his "Please play with me" requests. He is still incredibly sweet with "Baby Grace" as he calls her and is still wanting to hold her and "play" trains with her. As I said from the beginning, I think he loves his new little sister greatly I just think he wants and expects the same amount/type of attention from the adults as he is used to . I know this will all work out but it wouldn't be me if I didn't take to heart the feelings of my little guy.

As Adam and I have discussed a lot this week we just need to make sure all of the children are getting some quality us time and that he and I are in tune with their needs. We are adjusting to life as a family of six and we remind ourselves every night how absolutely lucky we are to have such a beautiful and healthy family.

Sweet Baby Grace

Grace Elizabeth was born Friday, February 20th at 12:54am weighing in at 8lbs. 4 oz. and 21 inches long to a very happy mama and daddy. She is absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way!

3am and still full of smiles!

After many false contractions and days of thinking this could be the day I finally had very consistent contractions starting on Thursday afternoon. Because I had a few days where even the most consistent and sometimes painful contractions putzed out Adam and I still were not sure this would be the "real thing". Around 8:30pm my contractions were getting closer and stronger so a quick call to the midwife and a few tears through some of the pain and the pure aw that this little person would soon be in my arms we set out for the hospital. I kept thinking that we may be going a little early but with a longer drive to the hospital this time around and with how quickly things progressed with Adam (who was born 20 mins. after arriving to the hospital) we decided not to take any chances. We arrived at the hospital around 9:15pm at 3 cm. dilated - most of you are aware that I normally arrive closer to 7 cm so I knew we had a ways to go. Our midwife, Kathleen, and all of the labor and delivery nurses were amazing - with us every step of the way. I started off very chatty in between contractions and soon had to concentrate with every ounce of my being. One of my fondest memories was that we said forget about the relaxation music and instead put on 92.9... I will never again listen to the Beastie Boys without thinking about the night Gracie entered the world. It, amongst all of the pain of natural childbirth, was such a happy room. Adam was a great coach, there every step of the way, his strong hand in mine as if trying to bear some of my pain. I am truly lucky to have such an incredible partner in life.

When the time came to push and Grace entered the world the midwife excitedly asked Adam, "Did you see that?" She put Gracie right on my chest and she was perfectly clean.. unlike when the other babies came out. Grace was "born in the caul". That is she was born with her amniotic sac still intact around her body - something that occurs in fewer than 1 in 1, 000 births. Of course midwives seem to be a bit on the more spiritual side and I was told by Kathleen and Valeree, the other midwife, how legend has it that a baby who is born in the caul is good luck and is destined for great things. How appropriate then, that our little girl, born in the caul, be named Grace.