Merry Christmas

It was a very Merry Christmas in Giumarra Land. We all felt so blessed and much fun was had. Here are some pictures to highlight our Christmas magic.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

In my recent efforts to "journal" more... I wanted to use this blog to just give a little update on our recent going-ons and tribute to the things that make our everydays special.

This is a picture of my favorite people!

In true Sadie form, right when I went to take this picture, she had one of her many daily mood swings and refused to be in the picture. Luckily, as soon as the mood swing came, it went, and I got to capture this fun pic.

I had gotten these JETS pj's for Colin before he was born. It is no secret, I do not like football... but these cute PJ's were on clearance and I was excited about the idea of my son watching football and bonding with his dad. I did hear that the Jets are having a terrible season, so I don't know how much bonding Nick and Colin will share over football this year.

Nick's mom came over on Monday night and started off the Christmas festivities. We were able to exchange gifts. This was Colin's very first attempt of opening a gift himself. He was very into trying to eat his way through the paper. Both Natalie and Sadie were comping at the bit to help. It was funny to watch... Natalie kept telling Sadie to let Colin try on his own, yet Natalie was trying to help him too!

Here is Nick's mom with Sadie.

What an awesome lady...

This is Sadie and her best friend, Caleigh. I think this picture is priceless. Look at the look on both of their faces. It just shows pure JOY.

Here are Caleigh and Sadie on the "stage" that we keep out in the new room. It is were our girls spend a lot of time. Singing and dancing and trying to be as loud as possible. I wonder if boys will be any quieter?

P.S. - Check out the Rudolph balloon hat that Sadie has on. Caleigh's dad has a true talent for balloon art and made this for the girls. It is really very cool...

P.P.S. - This view is from the new room into the kitchen. It is really coming along. I was going to blog about that room too, but I decided it needs it's own.

How can I talk about our days without talking about snow.

Snow, snow, and more snow.

It has felt like one big snow storm after another. In fact, it is snowing right now.

There is lots of snow out there. About up to Sadie's waist or higher. It is actually too much for it to be much fun for her... she can't really get around in it. However, Natalie has been having good kid fun being outside lots and sledding with neighbor kids.

When is spring going to be here?

Sadie's preschool party with Santa. She wasn't so sure about meeting Santa... until she realized that he gave out gifts. I don't think she'd get much closer - but was sure to be in reach of the present.

Marc Brown!

This was so cool... at least for me, it might have been above the girls heads. Our local library recently had lots of renovations and had a GRAND re-opening. Marc Brown... the very famous mind behind Arthur, came and gave a presentation. Our kids have been BIG Arthur fans for years. I swear we have taken every Arthur book out of the library at least 3x each. I know many of them by heart. We have watch almost every Arthur TV show and even had an Arthur birthday party a couple of years ago. It was so interesting to meet Marc Brown and learn about where the idea of Arthur came fun. He even shared a picture of his own 3rd grade class and we got to see that all the Arthur characters are based on real classmates of his. neat, neat.

Today... Christmas eve.

Lots of festivities, family and fun.

16 days

16 days of vacation... all together... the 5 of us.
What awesome jobs we have.
What a lucky family we are.

Happy Holidays.

Merry Christmas.

Happy New Year

Colin is 8 months old!

Our little baby isn't as much like a baby anymore.

Colin is now 8 months old.

This past month, he got his top two teeth (the same week that Natalie lost her first top tooth!). He started solid food and absolutely loves it. He has had Cheerios, bananas, chicken, hamburger, green beans and pasta. It is fun that he can eat on his own, but I am pretty sure that with all this new food, he will start to refuse baby food any day now. He is still sitting up like a pro, but he is kind of lazy in all his other developmental milestones. He does not like his belly and really does not like using his arms to help prop his head when on his stomach. I think, he thinks it is a waste of time... like why would anyone work hard on their stomach, when the world is so much nicer to look at if you are just sitting up. He still can roll over, but chooses not to. I don't know if he is just lazy or just working on his own time line. When Colin was in the NICU - we asked over and over again, WHY this had happened? WHY had our full term baby not been able to breath on his own and the only answer we got was.... "he's a boy." So is that the only reason for his lack of progress this month?... he's a boy??

The good news is that he is super, duper cute and we love him tons. Don't you love the picture of him showing off his new teeth!

Are you willing to take the Challenge?

Those that know me well, know that I can be pretty sappy. I am the friend that cries at all Hallmark movies, I may even shed a tear at a touching commerical. I am drawn to things that are emotional . For example, if I say a book was good... it usually means that the story was based on some emotionally charged crisis, where someone was unfairly treated and had to climb a major hurdle to find hope. So... with that being said, bear with me during this blog while I write about Rachel's Challenge...

Yesterday, Queensbury High School hosted a presentation called, "Rachel's Challenge." Nick was going to be taking 2 of his classes to this presentation. Since I, too, live in the school world, I had heard of this presentation and was anxious to see it myself. I joined the "parents presentation" in the evening and found myself so moved and touched that I now feel the need to share this challenge with whoever finds themselves reading this little blog.

Rachel Scott was the 1st student killed at the Columbine High School shooting back in 1999. In her 17 years of live, she had made it her mission to treat others with kindness and truly felt that by doing this simple act, over and over, that she could touch many. In a high school English essay that she wrote just weeks before her death, she created a theory that in essence said... "if she could treat others with kindness, that it could create a change reaction of kindness and compassion." It was almost eary to hear about how she had shared with all her close friends and family that she knew that she would die young, but that she was at peace with it because she knew it was her calling to reach out to millions of people and touch their lives.

In this presentation, they asked you to accept 5 challenges and apply them to your own life. By accepting these challenges, one can make an incredible difference in thier own life and in others by creating a chain reaction. Her 5 challenges were...
1. Eliminate Prejudice. You can do this by always looking for the best in others.
2. Dare to Dream. Set goals and keep a journal. (or just blog...)
3. Choose Positive Influences.
4. Use kind words.
5. Start your own chain reaction.

Ok, now I am going to sound really cheezy... but just think. If we all found the best in others, exposed ourselves to good things and used kind words with others and then what if they went on to do the same... imagine what it would create!

I highly encourage you to check out their website.

http://www.rachelschallenge.com/

If you work with youths, you must share with them her story and ask them to accept this challenge. The presentation was amazing... maybe you can find a way to bring it to your area for youth's to see.

Teeth, more teeth, less teeth...

Lately there has been a lot of teeth talk at our house. Colin has been working very hard on getting his top two teeth. There has been many tears and sleepless nights, but they finally popped through this week. At the same time, Natalie seems to be losing all of hers! Just yesterday, Natalie came home from school with her 1st top tooth gone. Her smile is full of holes and her wallet is full of dollars! It's kind of fun to be excited about one losing teeth at the same time we are excited about another getting the very same ones! Check out their latest smiles.

Once again, Opinion's Needed!

So this worked out well for me last time, I thought that I would try it again and see what opinions were given. Below are some pictures of the new fireplace. I'll just take a sentence or two to brag about my incredible husband. Check out the mantle that he has created out of scratch. He started with nice oak wood pieces and created this really, really beautiful mantle. I am so very impressed. Anyway, we are now talking about staining it... Here are some of the thoughts:
1. a clear polyurethane.
2. a stain to match the stain on the top beam (it is in the top 2 pictures... a dark, redish color).
3. a antique looking white stain... so you can still see the grain in the wood.
4. a high gloss white paint like the trim of the window.

Let us know what you think!

All opinions accepted.

Celebrating Christmas!

The Christmas season has officially started. We began our celebrating by going to Queensbury's Holiday night. There were games for kids, a horse drawn sleigh ride and of course meeting Santa. We went with Sadie's best friend, Caleigh and her mom! Here are some pictures from our night.

Thanksgiving Time!

Ever since I can remember, we have celebrated Thanksgiving weekend with my mom's side of the family - The O'Brien's. Even when we lived in Maryland... we made the long drive up to this area to all be together. My mom has a large family and it is so incredible how many in her family still make it a priority to all be together during this time. We all seem to go our separate ways for Christmas, which is ok and only makes this time even more special. Of course, through the years... not everyone can always be there, but we all know that we want to be there together. It is such fun to celebrate together and even more fun to watch my girls love the time so much as well.

This is my cousin, Terrance. He is a pretty quiet guy, but when he was holding Colin... big smiles were seen by both!
Doesn't Natalie look so grown up with her hip pushed out to the side and holding Colin. Of course, I don't let her walk around with him (although she would like to) but this was fun to have her feel so grown up holding him.

The Thanksgiving day table.

My mom is so impressive. This year may have been a record high with 28 people for dinner. She always makes it a point to have us all sit down together for this meal. Look at how her entire house was rearranged to make it happen. Thank you, mom!

My brother and his girlfriend, Amanda with Natalie and Liam. Liam just turned 7 and is also in the 1st grade. He is my cousin's son and Natalie and him LOVE each other. It is so wild to see how excited they are when they get to spend time together. Sadly, we really only see Liam 2x/yr (thanksgiving and for a summer weekend) but yet they always seem to act like fast friends as soon as they are together. It is as if they know the special bond they have together as family.

Natalie and Colin full of smiles.

This is my cousin Katy. She and her sister, Erin, stayed at our house this weekend and totally spoiled my girls. It was great to have some time with just them at our house. Outside of the fact that they are both super successful, they are also just incredible people with such warmth and are filled with fun. They never seemed to tire,...they were always willing to play "just one more game" with the girls.

Here is the cutest baby boy at the dinner table (well actually he slept through dinner, but you know what I mean!)

This is me and my cousin, Jen, right after we ran in the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. We are both mom's of three and have used running to create our own time... it was great to be in this race with her (although she did finish way ahead of me - but who's counting??)

Running in this turkey trot (5K) has become a tradition and part of our thanksgiving morning. I love it! The idea of doing something healthy for me and good for the community on a day full of so much food and goodness, just seems right. I think this is the 6th year that we have made this part of our day. Sadly, this year... we missed a couple of our co-runners. My brother is recovering from a broken foot and my other cousin- Jessie, was out of town for the weekend. No worries, November 2009 will be here before we know it!

Thank you to all who make this weekend so special to me, my girls and my family.

What we've been up to...

Life in Giumarra land has been pretty status quo. ..
Days seem to go by so fast and weeks are over before we know it. The last week things at work were so busy for me that I was really struggling with trying to be a good mom, when my days were full of so much craziness that I was coming home later than usual and feeling drained by the time I got home and was with the kids. I learn more about myself all the time. I have learned that I like to be busy at work and I like to feel that what I do is important - I will even complain if I don't feel busy enough, but at the I know that my most important job is the mom that I am at home. Sometimes I just have weeks when I don't feel like I can do both and then get down on myself that I can't be a Super Social Worker and a Super Mom. So... after a good conversation with a friend, I looked at how I can work on making my time at home the best it can be. I can't focus on how hard it is, because that won't change a thing! Focus on the little things and making special times with tiny bits of time. This weekend we had a Game Night with the girls and they loved it... especially Natalie (as long as she was winning!) Then on Sunday, I took the girls to the pool and watched them swim and swim and swim. What fun!

Now we are on vacation for the next FIVE days.

Can't wait for our time at home together!

Happy Thanksgiving.

Big smiles from Colin
Colin's life as a little brother of 2 older sisters.
Check him out playing with the American Girl Doll.

Sadie looking so pretty before she goes to her Thanksgiving Day Celebration at her school

All bundled up together after a tub.

Just a super duper cute baby.

S-E-V-E-N

Our baby boy is 7 months old!

What an awesome little baby boy that we have. It continues to be lots of fun watching him grow from newborn to infant and now baby.

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  He is still a huge fan of the jumper. It makes this super loud noise every time he jumps. We can be in the other side of the house and know that he is doing ok just from hearing the bounce, bounce, bounce noise. It makes a great babysitter.


• Colin is eating lots of food... Trying all sorts of fruits and veggies. He even had Cheerios for the 1st time today!


• No more teeth yet, although I am sure there is one or two more just around the corner.


• He is sitting up like a champ.


• He is reaching for everything and anything. Whatever you have, he wants to check it out.


• He is still not rolling over much. He can... but he doesn't. He is not a fan of his belly and doesn't really move around much. I guess I shouldn't complain... I don't need to baby proof yet, but I would like to see him become more confident in that position.


• He will talk and make noises, but he is a pretty quiet baby. When I told this to the Dr at his 6 month check up... they told me, "He has 2 older sisters, he may never get a chance to talk!"


• He is turning out to be a very serious baby. He smiles and laughs, but more often than not... he is checking things out. He is a little guy that needs to take it all in and be sure of the world around him.


• Lastly, and sadly... today was Colin's last day nursing. I have been hanging onto it for over a month now. I have said over and over, "Today will be Colin's last day nursing, but then the next day comes and we go forth with it." This time it is for real. Going back to work was hard and I just couldn't keep up with him... so over the past month I cut back to just nursing him mornings and nights - but I know that I was not producing enough for him and I was always second guessing myself - is he hungry or is he just cranky. Plus the last couple of weeks, nursing has frustrated him. He has come to enjoy the warm, constant flow from his bottle and wanting it over me. This has been sad for me. Knowing that he is my last baby, I don't want to ever forget the incredible closeness that comes from nursing... but I know that isn't something that can last forever. Our time has come... and I need to accept it. Knowing that my nursing days are over gives me such sadness and such relief all in one. Does that even make sense?

Opinions Needed!

It is time to think flooring!

The primer is done and painting has begun, so we now need to think flooring. Nick and I both were hoping to just continue the same wood floor that is in the rest of the house, but it is fairly expensive and hard to locate an exact match. Neither of us are experts on interior decorating, so we are asking for help. We realize that if we did a different wood floor, it would have to be very different... a close match would look silly. Here are a couple pictures of the floor we currently have matched up against a light floor. What do you think? I took a couple shots from different views so that you can get an idea of what it might look like? Be honest, we don't have anything nailed down (at least not yet!!)...

Our Snow White

Do you ever wonder why kids get stuck on different activities or toys? Or what makes a child like one toy so much when another one doesn't ever get played with? Well... meet our Snow White (AKA - Sadie). She has always told us that Snow White is her favorite princess and when she got this outfit from some friends for her 3rd birthday, she loved playing dress up with it for a couple days. But then, like most toys in our house, she put it aside and would occasionally put it on for a brief dress up show.

However, since last Thursday, Sadie has had this outfit on. She has worn it constantly. She lays it out on her floor at night (cap, crown and shoes included) so that the outfit is ready for the next day. She has even brought it on play dates and dinner outings. She has not asked to wear it to the sitters or to school, but will talk about how she will wear it as soon as she gets home. She has eaten all her meals in the dress, watched TV and even debated taking a tub in the dress. I've even caught her posing for pretend pictures of herself in this dress.

If only we could understand the thought process of a 3 year old??

Election Day!

Today is election day.

For months and months and months, we (well really just Nick) has been following the political race for the White House. As today has drawn near, our whole household has become excited about what today means and what an exciting time it is for our country. Nick and I never thought that we would be the type of people to put political signs in our yard, but this election brings out a new excitement in us both... and now also in our children.

We were planning to all go and vote together as a family, but Sadie is sick... so Natalie got to go and vote with Nick and then later, with me. Democracy is such an awesome thing to be part of and it is fun to share the American pride with our children.

Here's to Change!

Halloween and Birthday Extravaganza

Nobody loves their birthday as much as me!

I think it comes from having to share it with a holiday. As a kid, it was always hard to share it with Halloween... the classroom birthday party combined with the classroom Halloween party just didn't seem fair. Now, I love sharing it with a holiday, but also love making it a big deal! My family (well at least my girls and my mom... Nick - who is another holiday/ birthday - seems to think that I should have already outgrown needing to celebrate my birthday) has learned well and love to celebrate big for me.
Nothing like doing it last minute... here we are on Thursday night (the night before Halloween) with our Jack-O-Laturns.

Here is my pumpkin!

Don't you love this picture??
I love how Sadie is looking at Natalie. She is literally looking up to her.
Notice the costumes.... Sadie wanted to be just like her sister.
Recently, Sadie has really been very cute as she tries to copy whatever Natalie does and says. It is very funny as they are such different kids, yet there is nothing like wanting to be just like her big sister. I hope they are best friends forever!

Lots of Halloween fun!

Look at Me!

Colin must have gotten the memo that he is now 6 months old... so he should be sitting up!

Here he is!

He is very wobbly and isn't up for long, but he is getting the hang of it fast.

6 Months!

Today, Colin is 6 months old!

It has been an exciting month for Colin.

Here are some of his highlights...

• Colin got his bottom 2 teeth (you can see them peaking through in this picture!). They came just days after he turned 5 months. Ironically, both Natalie and Sadie got thier bottom teeth just days after they turned 5 months old too! His smile is even more cuter with those teeth.


• Colin is again sleeping through the night. I was all prepared for having him "cry it out," but he must have heard me talking because he started sleeping through the night the very day I was planning to let him cry. I think it had a lot to do with increasing his daytime bottles to 8 oz and giving him a bottle (rather than mommy) before bed. A full belly is quite nice.


• Although it is not something he does often, he can and has rolled over.


• Colin is loving the jumper. He can literally spend hours a day in that jumping and smiling.


• He is doing this super cute nose scrunch when he smiles big.


• Colin is just starting to enjoy some food. I started giving him cereal a little over a week ago - it was fun and frustrating to watch him figure it out. For a while, he was so confused by it. Just looking at me and the spoon with a look on his face like, "why are you pushing that spoon at me?" Just over the last couple days, he has figured it out and we can't get it in him fast enough. He has only tried bananas, but more will come soon!

Time is flying by and can't wait to watch him grow with love over the next month and the many more to come!

Addition Update

It's a big project, with a big and exciting outcome...

However, it has been a slow moving project - always due to issues that Nick could not and can not control. First, it took forever to get the foundation work done. The concrete work was done as "a friend, of a friend of a friend" kind of thing. That got us a better price, but was done when the workers wanted in between their more important jobs. Once that finally was done (mid July or so), it started raining, and raining and raining. This summer had so much rain. Nick probably spent as much time cleaning up rain water than he did actually building. The next hold up was the inevitable... going back to work. Nick has continued to sneak in hours after work and full days on the weekend, but between work and fatherhood, there is just less time for this "little hobby" of his. Finally, this past weekend, the builder finished the grading and french drain that was put into the ground. The wood stove that was put in the new part of the basement is up and ready to go... just in time for the cold! Firewood is being delivered later this week! Next steps.... vinyl siding back on the house, fireplace installation and then taping inside! I am incredibly impressed by Nick's talent and hard work. I do miss him and his help when he is busy working all the time. In one way, I want the project to be done, but in another way, I just want Nick around more... but I can't have both! Nick needs to be busy in order for it to get done. Thankfully it is all starting to come into place and I am beginning to start thinking about flooring, furniture and decorating! Then Nick and I can sit on a comfy leather couch together, watching a warm fireplace and look out into our beautiful backyard!