Ready for spring

First off, spring can not come soon enough. If anyone thought that being a stay at home mom is easy than they should try to entertain 3 small children in your house day after day. Over the last 2 weeks Julian has missed 4 snow days (due to all separate storms) and had one holiday. I don't think we have had more than 2 days above freezing since the beginning of the year. I don't even think we have been close to freezing in a long time. I guess if this is what you are born and raised in you would get used to it more, but I'm not. Julian has heard me say this a million times, but I'm a southern girl. This southern girl has seen more snow in the last 4 winters than I care to for the rest of my life. Julian has even told people that it's too cold for him because he's from the south. Little does he know he has almost lived more than half of his life in the north. This includes 2 extreme winters in Canada. He's so cute with some of the things he comes up with.

We did talk Julian into taking skiing lessons. Chris took him this past weekend to Blue Mountain. We signed him up for a half day lesson with other kids and he said he really enjoyed it and would like to go again for a whole day lesson. We are so proud of him for trying something that is outside his comfort zone and enjoying it. I love to see him learn new things. It is such a great feeling to watch him try something new and show himself that he can do it and become more confident. His personality is a little cautious of new things and takes a little probing and then he loves it when he thinks he can do it.

Lilly had her follow up with the GI doctor last week. It wasn't the best appointment because she didn't have the weight gain we were looking for, but I knew it wasn't going to be great because we've had a couple stomach bugs since thanksgiving. It's amazing how fast you can lose weight and how long it takes her to gain it back. My new year's resolution is not to obsess over her weight. She's doing great otherwise. She's a healthy, happy, developing toddler that is just still very small. They say most preemies catch up by the time they are 2 yrs old. We aren't quite there but we are getting a little closer. If you saw her when she was first born to now, she looks great. We still have some hurdles but we are getting there. Lilly likes to eat, she just eats a small quantity. She eats a variety of food, and I have tried everything under the sun to get her to gain weight. I finally realize it. It is not in my hands anymore. All I can do is continue doing what we are doing and try to keep her well. I can't make her something that God doesn't intend her to be. She's my little fighter that is going to be a little peanut. She can still take her brothers for a good run for their money.

Alex is still doing good and has continued to be ear infection free since his surgery. He and Julian are very similar. Their personalities are just alike. They both are mommy boys and a little more needy than Lilly. He continues to love to eat. If he sneaks off, sometimes he goes to the kitchen and comes back with his own snacks. Thank goodness I have one child that loves to eat. He is starting to make more sounds and is trying so hard to talk. Our therapists say we just need one to start and then the other will follow.
I love Lilly's lips in this picture as she is looking at Julian.
My sweet big boys



Lilly's shirt says it's nice to be nice. I said this shoud be her motto. Hopefully one day she will want to live by this.

Lazy mornings. My 3 sweet kids.

Snow days

Something we have gotten used to in the last 3 years in the snow. We had a quick adjustment when we moved to Canada and we would get a foot at a time, and then it would just add to that with every snowfall until spring. We have now learned how to live and maneuver in the snow. It doesn't homebound us anymore and we are comfortable getting out and driving. It is very pretty to look at when it is coming down and the ground and house is snow covered. I can do without the shoveling, and the melted yucky ground. Today, we decided to take everyone out to the back yard to go sledding. (We have the perfect yard, since we live on the side of a mountain and our yard is slopped in the back). It's definately a harder to get everyone ready to go outside. I thought it was a process with just one child, well try getting 3 kids in snow suits before the meltdowns start.

Here are some pictures. Lilly did really well outside, Alex was the first to want to come in and Julian is getting to be a big boy going down all by himself on his new sled he got for christmas.

more pictures

I just downloaded pictures from my cell phone and found a ton of pictures I have taken recently.

PaPa stopped by last night on his way back to CT from SC. Lilly loves her Papa.
Our house during the 2nd snowfall of the year this season.
At the Columbia Zoo. The babies had a great time.
Julian loved being back in SC at the zoo. When he was little, I used to take him here a couple times a week. We had a great time my best friend and her 2 kids. Hard to believe all the kids are getting so much older. I was there when Mandy's son was born and now look at them.

Trying to get a picture with my kids and Mandy's at the same time. Of course Alex didn't want to be put down. Mandy and I met when I was pregnant with Julian. Now look at our families.
At the beach, the babies loved seeing the horses. I have animal lovers, they are taking after Julian.
Love it when he gives me his natural smile.




She loves to have her picture taken.

Post christmas

Nothing seems to go as planned in our household. We have had to learn really quick to adapt to changes. We were suppose to fly to SC the tuesday after Christmas. We thought this would work out great because their was the snow storm the 2 days before. That morning everything was going great until we did one final check on our flight before we walked out the door. It had been cancelled. Due to the snow everything was messed up for days trying to get flights where they were suppose to be. The earliest they could rebook us was 5 days later, which wouldn't work because Julian was suppose to start back to school. Our only option was to drive, which I really didn't want to do. But I didn't want to stay in PA even more than the drive so we waited until bedtime and loaded up and went. The drive was uneventful which was good, but still very long. The kids did really well though, and it was nice to be able to get somewhere that they could t least go out and play outside. We joined my mom, dad, and Jess for some more vacation together. And 3 of the days we were there it was almost 70 degrees. I needed that so much. there is so much to say about the effects of sun on your mood. It just makes you feel so much better, and the weather isn't going to be like that up here for quite a while.

Here are some pictures from our trip:

At PaPa's new boat. Have to get the babies used to boating.


Julian finding some shells for alex and Lilly.




Alex ready for nap after a trip to the beach.

We made it to columbia on our way home and met our friends at the Zoo for a nice day out. It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny, warm day and we were so happy we got to spend time with them. We miss being close, and everyone is growing so fast.