Annabelle Chloe

::dusts off blog::

Well, it's been just a few months since I last updated this old blog and by "just a few" I mean 18.

I kind of got sidetracked by life (and having three kids in three years with two in Pre-K) and the further behind I got the less motivation I had to update here!

To play catch-up very quickly, Eli is now a feisty 2.5 year old who does everything he isn't supposed to do. Before 2 years old, he was climbing out of his crib and scaling baby gates. His newest skill is unbuckling his car seat buckle and chest clip while the car is moving so driving in the dark has become pretty terrifying for Mom and Dad. I'm pretty sure he has a death wish, but we're working on an intervention.

Grace is 4.5 and is in her last year of Pre-K. She is so excited to go to Kindergarten next year and asks daily if she's bigger yet since I told her she can't go to Kindergarten "until she's bigger". She likes to play pretend and boss around Eli who does whatever she says. She has quite the sense of humor and I am constantly writing down the funny things she says so I don't forget them.

Jacob is almost 6 (in two months!) and repeated Pre-K this year instead of attending Kindergarten. We decided to hold him back to let him mature for one more year mostly in the areas of speech and peer-to-peer interaction and he has come very far in both areas. He and Grace will now start Kindergarten together in the Fall. Jacob likes to play hide and seek and go to school. His favorite part of school is snack and seeing his BFF Tristan.

The biggest surprise this past year was finding out in May that we were unexpectedly expecting! In August, we found out that we were having another baby girl and have been over the moon waiting for baby #4 to complete our family. Unfortunately, after two relatively uncomplicated pregnancies we gave birth to another preemie. Fortunately, she is what they call a "late term" preemie and they typically do well. She is having some struggles though and is still in the hospital at 23 days old and will be there for awhile longer until she gets the suck/swallow/breathe reflex down.

This blog was originally created as a way to document Jacob's NICU journey and I figured it would be unfair to Annabelle to ignore HER journey so I had to resurrect this old blog and update on her status. For now, I'll post a pic with her stats and come back later to update on her condition and outlook.

Annabelle Chloe

12/16/13 @ 4:53 AM

5 lbs 15 oz 19.5 inches

Nine Months

Eli, you are 9 months old! (pictures for these month posts coming soon....promise!)

You have officially been an outside baby longer than you were an inside baby!

This has been another banner month for you. A few days after you hit 8 months you got your second tooth! Only two days after that you were able to put yourself into a sitting position and abandoned the army crawl to crawl on your knees full time. You are now pulling to stand as well and I am starting to think you'll be an early walker!

You are still wearing size 4 diapers and wear some 6-12 and mostly 12-18 month clothes.

This week you had your 9 month well visit! Here are your stats:

Height: 28.3 inches (51%)
Weight: 20 lb 7 oz (64%)
Head: 45.5 cm (65%)

Your percentiles dropped significantly from your last well visit so your growth has definitely slowed. Good thing too because there is only 10 pounds separating you from your 4 year old brother! The next time you go back to the Pediatrician you will be ONE YEAR OLD!

This month I decided to pack up the Pack N Play and put you in your crib. I have been hesitating to do this since you will temporarily be sharing a room with Grace and it is still hit or miss whether or not you sleep through the night. I was nervous about you waking her up and everyone being up at 3 am, but you have been in there for a couple of weeks and you only got up a couple of times before 5 am! I am hoping that getting you to sleep in your crib was just what we needed to get you to sleep through the night!

You weigh around 20 pounds, and it was getting hard to carry you in the bucket seat, so we have graduated to the big boy car seat now! You love being in more of a sitting up position and looking out the window! You also have a better view of your siblings in the backseat who like to make goofy faces at you. :)

We also retired the baby bathtub and have started throwing you in the big tub with Jacob and Grace. It is much easier giving you all baths at once and Jacob and Grace think it is so funny having you in there with them.

I can't believe how big you are getting. I walked around the corner from the kitchen the other day and you were standing at the gate waiting for me to come back. I couldn't believe how big you looked standing there like a big boy. I feel like just yesterday I was snuggling you in the hospital and waiting for your brother and sister to get there to meet you. When I was pregnant, I remember wondering who you would like and I couldn't wait to meet you. When you were a few months old, I remember wondering what you would be like and how much you would've changed on your first birthday. Here we are only a few months away and I find myself wondering what you will be doing this time next year and I know it will be here sooner than I can imagine.

You've only been here for 9 months and I can't even remember life before you came. You are such a blessing and we love you so much. I hope you always know how special you are.

Jacob's Pirate Party

Last month, on the 23rd, Jacob turned four years old!

I can hardly believe the little boy who made me a Mama is already four! We celebrated with a Pirate party on Saturday the 31st. Jacob loves Jake and the Neverland Pirates and the soundtrack is on repeat in our minivan right now. Since the entire CD is 20 minutes long....seriously.... it needs to be longer, I know all of the words to all of the songs by heart.

I don't have many pictures since I was helping unwrap presents and serving food and drinks. This was the first year Jacob was really excited for his party. He knew it was his birthday and for weeks before hand he would hand out party hats at dinner, make us sing Happy Birthday and "practice" blowing out fake candles. Hilarious!

We had pizza for lunch and then ate cake. All the kids got pirate bandanas, pirate swords and eye patches! I can't believe that at his next birthday he'll be 5 years old and eligible for Kindergarten. He is growing up way too fast.

As for presents, this year he got Leap Frog Tag and four books, a Spiderman action figure, Spiderman and Batman books, a Cars race track with Francesco Bernoulli and Lightning McQueen, a baseball glove, baseballs and a Red Sox hat, a Thomas counting game, a drum, a Lightning McQueen t-shirt, a Mickey Mouse Look and Find book, a Chuck the Truck toy, a Spiderman puzzle and a remote control Finn McMissile!

On his actual birthday, we took him to see The Fresh Beat Band at the Orpheum Theater in Boston. This was the first time we left Eli since he was born and the first "concert" for Jacob and Grace. The FBB put on a great show and the kids had a blast. They were dancing in the aisles and singing along to all the songs while Jacob waved frantically yelling, "HI!!!" as if they could see and hear him. It was an unseasonably warm day for March with highs in the 70's so we wore t-shirts and had a nice stroll through Boston on our way to the show.

Grace's favorite, Kiki!!

Jacob's favorite, Twist!!

Eight Months!

**pictures coming soon!!!!**

Eli, you are 8 months old!

I can hardly believe it is now April and in a few short months you will be ONE YEAR OLD! This has to have been the fastest year of my entire life. I know they say that once you have kids the years fly by, but apparently once you have THREE kids they start going by at warp speed.

You currently weigh somewhere between 20-22 lbs and you are wearing some 12 month and some 18 month clothes. You wear a size 4 diaper and probably will stay in a 4 for quite some time now that your weight gain is slowing. You are still nursing around 4 times a day (more if you get up at night) and taking two-three meals of solids. You love yogurt, puffs, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, applesauce and oatmeal the best. You haven't been a fan of green beans which is shocking since the other two loved them! We have started trying out a sippy cup, but so far you just like to dangle it over the side of your tray and watch it drop to the floor. You have already cracked one of them so I hope that novelty wears off soon!

You have been on the move this past month and have mastered the army crawl. I have never, in my life, seen a baby more efficient and FAST at army crawling all over an entire house. You will occassionally scoot on your knees, but you realize how much faster you can move if you drag yourself so you immediately drop and start dragging. We have noticed you only use one arm and foot to propel yourself so we are trying to help you utilize your other half!

You have TEETH! Finally! On March 12th you had your first tooth pop through those gums and you aren't quite as cranky. Even though you were technically in your 9th month, I will also throw in that on March 29th your second bottom tooth came through. I am going to miss that gummy smile, but I am so happy they are finally cutting and hoping we'll see some relief in the sleep department. So far every night is hit or miss. You can be up twice or sleep straight through until 5-6 am. Hopefully this starts improving because we'd like to get you out of our bedroom and into your crib, but I don't want you waking up your big sister since you'll be in with her!

Now that you can move it is getting harder and harder to get pictures of you because you never sit still! You are constantly on the move and once you set your sights on something you drag yourself as fast as possible to the other side of the room to get to it before someone else does. I think you are starting to realize that you have two older siblings who move quicker than you do. You are fighting to keep up and before long you will be running around with both of them!

As for your siblings, you still adore Grace and vice versa. She loves being a big sister and as we pulled up to the register today at Target she said to the checkout cashier, "Hi! I'm the big sister!". She loves you and lets everyone know it, but just between us I think she was expecting a sticker! Jacob is really coming around and paying more attention to you, but these days he has more important things to tend to like Pirates and Spiderman. :)

You are well on your way to 9 months and have already had some exciting developments so I can't wait to update in a month on all the new things you are doing! It's also time to start planning your birthday party. Since you'll be having a shared party with Grace we have decided to go with a Carnival theme! I am so excited to plan this one!

Seven Months!

Welcome to what is quite possibly the latest post EVER!

Eli was seven months old on February 26th, but my laptop is on the fritz so I haven't been able to upload my pics. I kept waiting so that I could put a picture with this post, but if I keep waiting we'll just pass on by month #8 which is this coming Monday! Please imagine an adorable picture of a chubby little baby wearing a onesie with a number 7 on it and I will add it to this post as soon as I get my laptop up and running again.

Eli, you are SEVEN months old!

You must be well over 20 pounds by now. You are still in size 4 diapers and you can now wear some 12-18 month clothes!

You bucket roll all over the living room, rock back and forth on your knees and sit for short periods of time. You still haven't learned that if you throw yourself backwards when sitting you'll smash your little head off the floor so we need to pile up some pillows and blankets around you! You still love your crab and snail, but you have absolutely loved your Leap Frog Learn and Groove Musical Table this month. We still have the legs off, but I have a feeling in no time the legs will be back on and you will be pulling up to stand on it.

You are still sleeping horrible and up at least once or twice every night. Those nasty teeth are well on their way and I can now see little white nubs under your gums so they should pop through anytime now! You haven't been nursing good either because of the pain so it has been hard on both of us!

You have become a champ at eating solids and you are up to 2 meals a day. I usually will mix a jar of veggies with rice cereal or a jar of fruit with oatmeal and you haven't refused anything yet! Your favorite fruit is banans and your favortie veggie is sweet potatoes. You are also a fan of blueberry yogurt which we just started this month. We started giving you cheerios, but we are still having to break them in half so you don't choke!

I'm hoping in the next month to start you on the tilty cup and try and get you to drink some water from a cup. We had a really hard time with your brother and sister and they went right from a bottle to a straw so I am hoping to get you on a cup sooner rather than later so we don't have any trouble transitioning you.

Your next appointment is your 9 month appointment at the end of next month so we'll have some updated stats for you then!

Hopefully your 8th month will bring some relief (TEETH!) and some better sleeping patterns because Mama is T-I-R-E-D!

March for Babies 2012

It's that time of year again, folks! The time I post about how my 24 week, 1 lb 7 oz baby boy is a miracle and guilt all of my family and friends into walking/donating for premature babies!

I'll spare you the long story again (which you can read here) and just let you know that our walk is scheduled for Saturday, May 12th and it begins at 12:30 pm. It is a short, 3 mile walk around the scenic Charles River and is a great excuse to get your family into the great city of Boston for some sight seeing!

If you feel like donating, there is a widget on my left sidebar (which is secure and will take you directly to our page - Team Chicken Wing!) or if you want more details about the walk you can e-mail me through the contact tab at the top of my blog. You can also send me an e-mail for a mailing address if you prefer to mail a check made out to March of Dimes.

Again, thanks for all of your support!

Recipe: Cherry Pineapple Cobbler

I.love.dessert.

It is no secret in my house that I would love a slice of cheesecake/chocolate cake/brownie any time of day and I rarely pass on dessert. One thing I absolutely LOVE is a good cobbler. I love going apple picking in the Fall because it gives me a good excuse to make 6,783 pans of apple crisp. My husband, on the other hand, is a strict believer in "fruit and dessert don't go together". He will not touch any type of fruit pie, cobbler, etc. which doesn't bother me because then I can have more!

I was thinking back to my childhood recently and out of nowhere remembered a dessert my Mom used to make that I used to BEG her for all the time.

Some of you may have heard of this before, but I had to share the recipe for those of you who haven't discovered it yet. In many other parts of the country, this is lovingly referred to as "dump cake" which doesn't sound quite appetizing so I have no idea who came up with that. Yes, I realize this is unhealthy, processed, canned, etc., but it is also DELICIOUS. It definitely falls in the comfort food category right next to baked macaroni and cheese.

There are many other combinations you can make, but the cherry-pineapple is my favorite combo. It is an easy recipe to whip up and doesn't require much effort, but still tastes delicious! I've modified the recipe a bit from the original to fit my preferences so feel free to make it your own! ENJOY!

source

Duncan-Hines Cherry Pineapple Cobbler

1 pkg of Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Butter cake mix
1 can of cherry pie filling
1 15 oz can of crushed pineapple
1 stick of margarine or butter
1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Baking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Grease a 9x9 pan with nonstick cooking spray
3. Spread cherry pie filling on bottom of pan
4. Spread can of crushed pineapple with the juice on top of cherry pie filling
5. Sprinkle half of the dry cake mix on top, making an even layer
6. Randomly put slices of butter/margarine on top of dry cake mix
7. Sprinkle walnuts over top. Do not mix! Leave as is.
8. Bake 45-55 min until bubbly and golden on top
9. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream

Some other popular combos include blueberry pie filling and lemon cake mix and apple pie filling with spice cake mix.

6 MONTHS!!!

Eli,

Last week you were six months old!!

I can hardly believe you have been here for half a year already. You are now officially closer to your first birthday than you are to the day you were born. Mind.blown.

You are still our chubby baby, but you are growing at warp speed and really shot up in length this month! Usually at six months your speed of light growth slows down and let's hope so. Daddy and I are starting to wonder if you'll catch up to Jacob and his 2T's!

This month you are rolling over like it's your job. As soon as we put you on your back you flip right over unless you feel like eating your toes and boy, do you find them delicious! Neither Jacob nor Grace ever had any interest in their feet, but you want to hold them all day long! You have trouble getting them to your mouth with your big belly in the way, but now that your length is rapidly increasing I'm sure that won't be a problem much longer.

You absolutely HATE your bouncy seat and swing and they are officially being retired to the basement. Now that you know how to move you have no desire to sit still. You like to roll, sit for short periods of time, jump in your jumperoo and play on your belly. Your favorite toys at the moment are your Fisher Price Crawl Along Snail, Fisher Price Clack and Play Crab and Sophie the Giraffe.

Speaking of Sophie, you are definitely teething! My perfect, sleeping-through-the-night-since-7-weeks baby has been a nightmare lately. You are up multiple times and nothing seems to help your teeth except Tylenol. Cutting teeth was never a problem with Jacob or Grace and we didn't even know they had any until we stuck our fingers in their mouths. You, my sweet baby, are very vocal about yours coming in and have not stopped drooling, batting at your ears (we checked...no ear infection!) and chewing on everything in sight. Unfortunately, teething tablets and teething gel have done nothing to help you. I hope they break through soon so we can all go back to sleeping peacefully at night! That is, until the next set come in.

Here are your stats for this month:

Weight: 18 lb 13 oz 72%
Height: 27.0 in 61%
Head: 44.5 cm 80%

After 6 months of breastfeeding exclusively, we started you on rice cereal this week. Again, this was not a success with Jacob and Grace so we didn't have high hopes, but you LOVED it! You kept grabbing my hand and shoving the spoon in your mouth. I can't wait to see your reaction to fruits and vegetables in the upcoming weeks.

We had our first snow storm a week ago and we got about 8 inches of the fluffy white stuff dumped on us. We drove over to Grandpa's house and you stayed inside and hung out with me drinking hot cocoa while Daddy took Jacob and Grace sledding. It was their first time sledding and they had so much fun. Maybe next year you can join them!

Even though your teeth have been a nightmare you are still our happy-as-can-be baby boy. People still comment daily on how easy, content and smiley you are. You still seem to like Grace the best out of all of us. She loves to lie on the floor and make silly faces at you and you crack up every time! As soon as she gets close you are smiling and flapping your arms in excitement.

I can't believe we are headed towards your first birthday. These first six months have FLOWN by and I know in no time you will pulling to stand, cruising on furniture and taking your first steps. If you don't mind, I'd love it if you'd slow down a little. After all, you are still my baby.

Happy New Year!!

Disney on Ice: Treasure Trove

Over the Christmas vacation week we took the kids to see Disney on Ice: Treasure Trove.

Jacob is OBSESSED with Captain Hook and Mister Smee from Peter Pan. There is a show currently on Disney Junior called Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Disney brought back Captain Hook and Mister Smee as characters on the show. Jacob LOVES them and all things pirates so when I saw a commercial for Disney on Ice and saw that Peter Pan was one of the features of this show I HAD to get the kids tickets!

I found out when tickets went on sale and started looking at seats. I found out by chance that VIP tickets were already on sale if you had a presale code and after Googling like mad for 15 minutes I found out what the presale code was. The only information I could get out of the website was that we were Loge 6, Row F, Seats 1-6. Row F? Does it go 1 through 99 and then A through Z? Is it A through Z and then 1-99? I couldn't figure out where our seats would be and the map on the TD garden website was useless since it only showed our section, but I figured it was worth a shot. They were only $35 seats and there were two price points above us, $45 and $90, so I figured they probably weren't the best. They did say VIP, but I had no idea what THAT meant. I hit the ORDER button and hoped for the best.

When we arrived at the TD Garden in Boston we handed the usher our tickets and he started down the steps. As we dropped further and further into the depths of the Garden the look of shock on our faces (our in-laws attended the show with us) was apparent. We just kept going and going until he stopped mere feet from the ice. We were SIXTH ROW, FRONT AND CENTER! I was so pumped. I had no idea we would be THIS close!

Disney didn't disappoint and the kids were enthralled with the show. They saw Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Captain Hook and Smee, Rapunzel and Flynn, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Lion King, Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid and at the end of the show, during the finale, ALL of the Disney Princesses and their Princes came out. Eli came with us and after scaring the life out of me and screaming for the first 90 seconds of the show (it was the initial noise at the start of the show that scared him) he passed out cold and snoozed on me and Ian through the whole show.

There is nothing better than seeing your child's face light up as they see their favorite characters come to life!
Grace and her Gaga:
Jacob and his Papa (ignore Jacob's "flash face"):

We ended the day with lunch at Not Your Average Joe's and to say the kids were exhausted when we got home was an understatement. There were no naps that day, but the kids had a blast and slept well that night!

Five Months

Eli, you are five months old today!


You are growing like a weed and I cannot believe how big you are! Everyone that sees you comments on your size. Since you will not be seen again by the Pediatrician until your 6 month appointment I have no idea how big you are, but I am assuming you have passed the 17 pound mark! I decided to try and pull out a few 12 month clothes and was shocked that they fit....and don't have much room for growth! The pants are all still big, but all the shirts and onesies fit you perfect. I can no longer put you in 6 month pants unless they are sweatpants because you end up spitting up everywhere from them being too tight! For now I am putting you in 12 month pants, adjusting the adjustable waist and cuffing them! You are still in size three diapers and can still squeeze in some of your 6 month stuff, but you are wearing 9 and 12 month stuff already!


You are doing great at practicing sitting up independently and the days of the Bumbo are gone. You try and arch yourself right out of it and your fat little thighs are just too hard to squeeze in there now. You absolutely love the jumperoo and rolling around. Sometimes you work so hard in the jumperoo you simply pass out! You are not a fan of the swing and bouncy seat and I think it is just about time to pack them away.

We have started letting you play and nap in your crib and you love your FP Ocean Aquarium on the side of your crib. You love to turn it on and off all by yourself. You are reaching and grabbing for things that you want constantly and talking like crazy! You still LOVE your big brother and sister. You talk, smile and laugh at them all the time!

I had to throw this picture in here because I think you look just like your Uncle Josh in it:

You are still nursing exclusively and will go longer stretches between feedings. You have been kind of cranky this past month and will unlatch to gnaw on your fist constantly so I am wondering if those teeth are starting to make their way through. Jacob and Grace didn't have any teeth until 9 months so I am wondering if maybe you will be early?

We love you so much and can't believe next month it will have been half a year since you entered this world. We are so thankful for you each and every day. You are such a blessing to our lives and we thank God for you every single day. Your brother and sister are at that age where they fight constantly and sometimes I think I would lose my mind if I didn't have your sweet, smiling face to remind me how lucky I am!

Four Months

Eli, you are four months old today!


This month we celebrated your very first Thanksgiving!! We spent the morning at Auntie Jill and Uncle Eric's house for brunch and presents and then went to your Great Aunt Pam's for dinner. Unfortunately, you were too little to participate in the feast, but you had fun napping while we all enjoyed dinner.
You have started rolling 3/4 of the way over and I know you will be going all the way anytime now. You are still getting getting stuck on your chicken wing just like you big brother! You have started jumping in your jumperoo and are even starting to tripod! I was shocked the other day when I decided to try and see what happened and you stayed upright, without any assistance, for about 20 seconds! You love playing in your bumbo seat and you laugh at everything Jacob and Grace do.



You are officially wearing size three diapers now that I sold all of our leftover size twos on Craigslist! You are also still sleeping through the night (on average 9-11 hours) and nursing exclusively. You are still wearing 6 month clothes, but I pulled all Jacob's 9 and 12 month stuff down and started washing it and putting it in drawers. You will be wearing them in no time! Unfortunately, most of Jacob's 6-12 month stuff is Spring/Summer even though you guys were the same age at the same time of year. Jacob was a peanut and you are a moose which takes me to your stats:

Weight: 16 lb 3 oz 63%
Height: 24.8 in 27%
Head: 42.5 cm 74%

At four months old, you are the biggest (and the shortest) of all our kids! Even Grace, who we nicknamed "Michelin Man", was only 15 lb 5 oz at this age and you are shorter than she was! You are a true roley poley!

You have the best personality and are so easygoing. Everyone comments on what a perfect baby you are. I can't wait to see what comes in the next month!

BLACK FRIDAY

Before I had kids I worked in the financial industry. The only holidays we had off were the ones when the NY stock exchange was closed. Since they were open the day after Thanksgiving I always had to work, but I drove by one of the biggest shopping centers in the state every day on my way to work. Every Black Friday, I would notice the usually empty parking lot full when I drove by around 8 AM and think, "Those people are crazy! Who in their right mind would get up on their day off, at the crack of dawn, to go shopping with a million other people?"

Fast forward a few years and I am now one of those people!

The first year I went was shortly after we took Jacob home from the NICU. He was 7 months old and had been home for almost 4 months. He was sleeping through the night, but that night I just couldn't sleep and since everything opened at 4, 5 or 6 AM I decided to go to the Mall to check it out and see what all the hoopla was about. I wandered through the mall and picked up a few things at a few name brand clothing stores, but as soon as I entered Target I immediately backed away and ran for my life. That place was a MADHOUSE! The line snaked through the store and I saw two women almost attack each other over a DVD....A DVD!

Each year that has passed, I venture out a little earlier as the malls seem to open their doors earlier every year. This year, that large shopping plaza that I used to drive by every year was opening at midnight as well as Toys R Us! I thought how perfect! I will go at midnight, get what I want and be home by 2 or 3. Then I can sleep for a few hours before Eli wakes up. Well, I arrived at midnight, but the one store I expected (and heard) was going to be open at midnight never opened its doors. I was disappointed, but I hit up a few children's retailers that were open and one store for myself. I had driven by Toys R Us on the way up there and the line was crazy. People were camped out in lawn chairs with blankets and coffee and two carts each. All I wanted to take home was this:



which was on sale for $99!!! It is an interactive, 3 foot tall pony named Butterscotch. It whinnies, eats a carrot, you can brush her mane, she makes galloping noises when you ride her, etc. Jacob has the boy version, Kota the Triceratops, that I also scored for $99 a few years back and the kids play with it everyday! I knew Grace would love to have her own Pony version.

Once I left the Plaza around 2 am I decided to stop at Toys R Us on my way home. The line had to be gone by now since they opened at midnight. I drove by and the line was still WRAPPED AROUND THE BUILDING. Due to fire codes they were only letting so many people in at a time. Our local mall, which is rather small, also opened at midnight (select stores) and was right next door so I decided to stop there and see if maybe, just maybe, Gap had opened yet. Nope. I drove by Target and to my amazement it was empty! I guess everyone had come at midnight and left already (it was now around 4 AM at this point) so I decided to venture in and have a look around. Nothing spectacular and nothing worth purchasing and it was now almost 4:15. Gap opened at 5. Could I hang on that long? I had now been up for almost 24 hours. I was getting tired. I decided to go catnap in my car and figured instead of sleeping maybe I would drive by Toys R Us just ONE more time. I was sure all the Butterscotch Ponies were gone by now, but if I didn't check I would never know. That is the one thing I wanted to go home with.

To my surprise, Toys R Us had cleared out. I entered the store and approached the first person I saw who just so happened to be a manager. I asked her if there were any Butterscotches left where would I find them? She informed me that they were a ticket item and tickets were handed out to the first however many people in line that wanted them. They were long gone. I thanked her and was about to walk away when she stopped me. She explained that she had informed all ticket holders that if they hadn't turned in their tickets to pick up their items by 5 am they were being re-released to the public. Could I be so lucky?! She said if I wanted to hang around until 5 she would check with people already waiting in line and if there was one left out back it was all mine! Just as she was telling me this another employee walked by and heard her. She told us that someone had actually changed their mind and turned in their ticket for Butterscotch at Customer Service. Now I was getting giddy! She told me to hang tight and in 45 minutes to check back in. I sat myself in the corner of the store and didn't move for 45 minutes. One of the security guards commented that I was the calmest and most patient Black Friday shopper he had ever seen. I told him I would wait two more hours if it meant that I could get Butterscotch. I also explained that at this point I was way too exhausted to be anything more.

At 5:01 am (I went easy on them) I approached the girl who was supposed to help me. She paged the manager who went to check the stock room and everyone left in checkout line (which was STILL snaking through the store). Fifteen minutes later she emerged and shook her head yes. IT WAS MINE! I asked her where to go and the security guard who had commented on my patience let me skip the line and go right to the next available register. He said I had waited long enough.

As I drove home the sun came up. I couldn't believe I had been out that long and Eli would be up in an hour. I was so tired and ready for a nap, but I drove Butterscotch home, quickly assembled her head onto her body and waited for Grace to wake up. It was worth it when I saw the look on her face!

I am happy to report that Butterscotch has been a huge hit. I am happy I got the one thing I was hoping to get or I would've been seriously disappointed. Especially since I was out 7 hours and Gap was a huge letdown. I only bought one thing there!

I can't wait for next year! Maybe someday when Grace is older and likes to shop we can make it a mother/daughter tradition.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for my firstborn, Jacob. Born at 24w and weighing only 1 lb 7 oz he only had a 39% chance of survival. Thank you God for the precious miracle you have given us. I love you, Jacob!



I am thankful for my baby girl, Grace. She is a little spitfire, and at two years old, has plenty of sass and attitude to go around these days, but we love her more than anything and don't know what we would do without her. I love you, Gracie Girl!

I am thankful for my sweet baby Eli. I am blessed with the happiest, most content of babies and for that I could not be more grateful. He is definitely a "roll with the punches" kind of kid and being the third in line I think that is a good thing. I love his cuddles and how his face lights up every morning when he sees me. He makes my heart swell with joy every day (and secretly makes me want 10 more babies, but that is just between us). I love you sweet boy!

I am thankful for my husband who goes to work every day to provide for our family so I can stay home and raise our children. It has not been easy to run your own business in this economy and he has struggled, but has never given up. He pulls more than his share of the workload at home as well and I don't know what I would do without him.

Happy Thanksgiving!

World Prematurity Day

Each year in the US one in eight babies is born prematurely. Worldwide, 13 million babies are born too soon every year. Prematurity is the leading killer of America's newborns and those who survive often have lifelong health problems, including cerebral palsy, mental retardation, chronic lung disease, blindness and hearing loss.

Today is the first ever World Prematurity Day!



For those of you new here, my son Jacob was born at 24w5d in 2008 weighing only 1 lb 7 oz and 11.5 inches long. He spent 4 long months in the NICU before he could come home to be with us. Those first few days in the NICU were numbing and I don't know what we would have done without our NICU nurses and the March of Dimes representatives. Until you walk into a NICU and see your baby attached to tubes and wires that are keeping him alive you will never quite understand. Those four months were the longest months of our lives and we lived in fear every day that we might never get to bring our baby boy home.




The March of Dimes uses campaign funds to research and find the causes of premature birth, and to identify and test promising interventions. Premature babies are at risk of many serious medical complications. One of the most common of these is respiratory distress syndrome (RDS). Babies with RDS struggle to breathe because their immature lungs do not produce enough surfactant, a protein that keeps small air sacs in the lungs from collapsing. March of Dimes grantees helped develop surfactant therapy, which was introduced in 1990. Since then, deaths from RDS have been reduced by two-thirds. Jacob received surfactant at birth and would not be here today if it was not for the grant that was used to develop surfactant therapy.

Today we wear purple to honor all babies born too soon and to help bring awareness to prematurity. Please visit the March of Dimes website to make a donation or find other ways you can help!

A TV update

Well, you probably remember this post from back in May when we decided to haul our 46" LCD TV to the basement and subsequently decided to sell it at a yard sale. I figured I would give you all an update on how life is going without the TV in our living area.

When we first got rid of it right before Memorial Day weekend, I wasn't that concerned about the long term effects of being sans television. The weather was finally starting to get nice and we were outdoors far more than we were in so we weren't missing it all. Jacob was still wrapping up his first couple of months in the public preschool program as well so we were preoccupied with that.

Eli was born in July and we transitioned rather nicely. Unfortunately, work slowed down considerably for Ian due to the economy so he ended up having almost two months off with only a few small jobs here and there. I don't think he worked more than 2-3 days a week until the end of September. I have to say it was quite the luxury having him home that long as we transitioned from a family of four to a family of five. The first week and a half of school I didn't even need to pack up all the kids to bring Jacob to school since I had Ian at home to sit with the other two. Slowly but surely, his work has started picking up. He is now booked solid through the Spring and I am on my own once again.

When Eli first came home from the hospital my sole responsibility was recovering from my c-section and taking care of Eli. For the most part, Ian was wrangling the other two. He took them outside to play on the slide, took them for long walks around the neighborhood before dinner and helped them ride their bikes in the cul-de-sac. I don't think they even noticed the TV had disappeared.

Now that the new school year has started, Jacob is in school on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and we decided that in order to get them into good TV habits now we would set a family rule that there is no television on school days. We go to church as a family on Sunday so we also decided that there will be no television on Sundays. This leaves Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays. On Monday and Wednesday we take our time around here in the morning since we aren't rushing out the door to school so I let them watch one half hour show in the morning on our bedroom TV (which is now the only TV in our house) while I feed Eli and get him dressed for the day. We have shows pre-recorded on the DVR and they usually watch The Fresh Beat Band or Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Once that show is over they don't watch TV for the rest of the day.

About a month ago, we decided to try and implement "Friday movie nights" and eliminate Saturday TV since we were usually so busy on the weekends that they ended up not watching TV anyway. The first week we did this we decided to try out Peter Pan. I didn't have high hopes since Jacob isn't really into things he isn't familiar with, but we figured it was a good start since he is OBSESSED with Captain Hook and Smee from Jake and the Neverland Pirates. I was blown away by the fact that he sat through the entire movie and laughed hysterically the whole time.

**On a side note, can I also mention how violent Peter Pan is? I don't remember Disney movies being so ruthless, but Hook was calling people "blithering idiots", smoking like a chimney the entire movie and shooting fellow pirates with his gun. I digress, but I think we're retiring Peter Pan for a few years.**

We have since watched Cars, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Cars 2! The kids love our Friday night tradition (we also order take-out) and start talking early on in the day about what movie we should watch that night.

Since selling our TV, we spend more quality time together as a family. We are reading more. I am a cleaning/organization fool and I have been baking and cooking more. I have also been going through all of our pictures and creating photo books with the 3,000 pictures I have taken in the last three years.

Most importantly, the kids are spending more time playing together, doing puzzles, reading books, etc. It was the best decision we made to eliminate the TV from the living area! I will say that I am happy that we kept our small TV in the master bedroom. The kids and I have been sick once already and we spent one whole day in bed watching movies and for that I was grateful. I also still rely on the news every morning and evening for weather updates and I still watch my DVR'd episode of CSI on Thursday every week, but if anyone else is considering making the leap I say go for it! As a former TV junkie, I thought it would be way too hard, but it has actually been quite liberating.

Trick or Treat

Three Months

Eli, you are three months old today!


This month has been the best so far! You are doing much better with tummy time and we have even started sitting you in your Bebe Pod. Last night you rolled from belly to back for the first time and you did it TWICE! You also started laughing this month and I find myself doing everything I can to pull that belly laugh out of you. I absolutely LOVE that sound!

You are currently wearing 3-6 month clothes and are still in size two diapers, but only because I am desperately trying to finish off the size two diapers we have left. You should definitely be in size threes and I don't know how much longer I can squeeze your fat, little tummy in these size twos!

You have become so much more aware of your surroundings and it is getting kind of hard to nurse you. You are constantly rubbernecking and want to look around to see what is going on. You are still nursing exclusively and still sleeping through the night. The other night you went 12 hours for the first time ever! I was thrilled to be able to sleep in until almost 8 AM! You typically feed when you wake up (average is around 7 AM) and sometimes you can go 4 hours until your next feed. Every other feed during the day is typically three hours.

This past month we took you to Day Out with Thomas, leaf peeping in New Hampshire and the pumpkin patch. You did well at all three and slept most of the time.

You are such a good baby and your Daddy even commented the other day how you seem to be the most happy and content out of all three of our babies. We hope you continue that! You are such a joy to be around and we are anxious to see what you will do in the next month. We anticipate you will start rolling from back to belly and we are a little scared. I don't think we are quite ready for you to be mobile yet!

Jacob and Grace still love you to pieces and Grace tends to dote on you more than Jacob. She mimics us a lot and will talk to you in a sing song baby voice saying, "Hi wittle, wittle, wittle, wittle boy." It cracks us up! They both love to hold you and let us know when "Baby Eli sad". Grace tries to give you a bink and Jacob will lean his head on yours and say, "Awwwww".

Unfortunately, it is hard to get a picture of the three of you together. Usually nobody is looking or smiling. Kind of like this:

I hope you will all grow up close and stay that way when you are older and have kids of your own. Uncle Josh and Auntie "Ria", as Grace calls her, are coming over tonight to visit you. I hope someday you can look back at this blog and see how much you were loved by so many people.

We love you, Eli!