Just a quick update

I know it's been 2 months.....sorry!

Kaitlyn is 4 months today. She's getting so big! She is laughing, smiling, cooing and all the other cute baby things she should be doing. She started rice cereal last week. Not too sure what to think of it....but she eats it. I'm taking her into today for her 4 month check up.

James is finishing his first year of preschool later this week. He has made so much progress in his speech. He will continue to receive services next year. He has been potty trained!!! He still has an accident from time to time, but it's getting better.

Emily is learning so much in kindergarten. She comes home with new books each week that she can read. She is asking tons of questions, sometimes mommy and daddy can't keep up with her! She and I will be going on a field trip to the Reston Zoo this week with her class. That should be fun!

John is almost done with another class for his Master's degree. For those of you keeping track that class 7 out of 12......more than halfway done!

Me, I'm just holding down the fort, making sure everyone is where they are supposed to be and make sure they get there on time!

I'll try in the next few days to get on here and post a bunch of pictures and videos. I've got some great ones to put up!!

Waiting for spring!

We are ready for spring in this house. Winter has not been fun for us. It seems every week at least one of us is sick. We've all had the stomach bug, a cough and various other fun things. We did have one more snow storm about 2 weeks ago. We didn't get to enjoy it though. Emily had a pretty bad cough that turned out to be bronchitis. I had my 6 week check up (I'm down 20-25 pounds since having Kaitlyn!!) On our way home from the check up, we were in a car accident. We are all ok. John and I were a little sore. Our van was drivable, but we got it into the shop the next day. As of today, our van is still in the shop but should be done soon.

Yesterday was Kaitlyn's 2 month check up. We ended up having to take Emily in also. She woke up in the middle of the night with a bad cough and a temp of 103.9. We saw one of the nurse practitioners. She checked Emily out first. While she was checking Emily's ears, James starting pointing at his ears so she looked in his ears. He has an ear infection. So we ended up having all 3 kids checked out! Emily has croup and a sinus infection. James lost one of his tubes (placed in Aug. 2007) and has an infection in both ears. Kaitlyn is "perfect", she has some congestion but nothing serious. She now weighs 9 lbs 8 oz, and is 22 inches long. She had 4 shots, and 1 vaccine that she had to drink.

James' speech therapy continues to go well. Our teacher thinks that next year he needs to see a therapist in one of the schools, rather than a teacher in our home. He has the vocabulary but he needs work on refining his words and sounds. He talks all the time now! Most of the time we know what he is saying....but not always! He is working on potty training....so any advice would be welcomed. Some days he goes all the time and wants to be in big boy underwear, other days he refuses to go and to put on the underwear.

Emily will start cheerleading this weekend. She is very excited and can't wait to use the pom poms! She is still loving school. She is starting to tell time (on a digital clock), she knows her coins, and is getting all of the words right on the spelling test each week.

John finished his 6th class of 12 last week for his Master's degree. He'll start a new class next week. While he is enjoying the program, he's ready for it to be over!

I'm still holding down the fort. Some days it's easy, but other days not so much.

Some new pictures for you to enjoy

Emily and Kaitlyn love each other!

After bathtime!

Bubble baths are the best!

Kisses from mommy!

Pretty in pink.

Just to see how small she is.

Daddy adoring me!

With her pretty eyes open!

Not too happy with bathtime...

My first bath.

Emily playing in the little bit of snow we got in January.

James enjoying the snow.

Kaitlyn and Daddy taking a nap.

James checking on Kaitlyn

Showing off new clothes from Daddy's co-worker.

One more adoring fan

Since John didn't post a picture of himself, I thought I would. It's very rare that we can actually get a picture of him since he's usually taking the pictures. But as you can see, he adores his newest little girl as much (if not more) than everyone else.

Changing Times

Kaitlyn Marie Cyr joined us on Friday, January 16th, 2009. Not quite close enough for a tax deduction for 2008, but we're happy she's here. She weighed 6lb 14 oz, and was a teeny tiny 19in long. She lost a bit of weight after coming home on Monday, but she's gaining it back.

Thank God we didn't have to fight traffic on 95 on Tuesday after the Inauguration.



As you can tell, little miss Kaitlyn is being adored by all.

Mimi's in town to take care of her other two grandkids. We're having problems prying them away from her.

Poppop, as usual, is having fun with his (now oldest) granddaughter, and James is a constant source of amusement.

John's parents love having a new little one close by.

Emily was a little unsure of what was going to happen once Kaitlyn got here. We had a couple episodes of acting out while Stephanie was pregnant, but once she got to meet her, she's loving being a big sister.

We think James is going to be in trouble. Two against one...

But he's working on persuading her to his side.

No, she's not crying. This is Kaitlyn yawning, comfortable in her sister's lap.

Stephanie's tired, but recovering well. She's up and about, although I won't let her do much - just taking care of the kids (and her parents), which can be a full-time job in and of itself. And as long as 7-11 has coffee, I'm surviving quite well.

Hi to all

John

"Oh the weather outside is frightful"

Okay, I guess I should post one.

It's cold and windy out, Dallas is playing the Steelers right now, and we're playing Baltimore tonight...brrrr.

Christmas shopping is almost done; the kids are taken care of, and we've decided what to get the grandmas and the kids' teachers. All I need to do is get our dads gifts, and decide what else to get Steph, besides more Pandora beads. I'm so glad she's easy to shop for. I'm bringing up the Christmas decorations tonight, and Stephanie will start putting them up tomorrow while the kids are in school. It's much safer that way.

Fifty eight more days until little Kaitlyn's eviction notice, and I don't know if Stephanie's going to last. Between hip pains, general decrepity (now that you're 30, sweetie), and keeping up with James and Emily, I don't know how she's doing it. I thought it was tough going to work; now on the weekends I somewhat look forward to Mondays. Her health is good, and little miss is an active little thing. I think our nickname of 'rabbit' suits her so far.

I've finished another course in my Master's program - five down, seven to go. This professor was, well, in a word: inept. Don't send a teacher who has no real world experience to teach a room full of people who have been doing the work in their fields for a minimum of five years. A letter to the dean of the department seems to have sorted things out. Hopefully our next prof will be better.

The kids are enjoying school. Emily gets disappointed when she doesn't get purple (best behavior), but we've been telling her staying on green is wonderful in and of itself. Considering there are kids in her class that go from green, to yellow (warning), red (time out), to black ("Let's go see the principal and have mommy pick you up") in a matter of minutes, I think she's doing quite well. Of course, it helps to know she understands the phrase "Wait until your father gets home." James has his Christmas singalong program on the 15th for ELP. He may not sing, but he loves to please his teacher Miss Char.

Right now, Steph's watching the game cheering for Pittsburgh, Emily is (supposed to be) napping in her room, and James is watch Yo Gabba Gabba.

Question: Where are Max and Ruby's parents??!!??

Trick or treating- part 2

We didn't go door to door, just to Grandma and Grandpa Cyr's house- here are just a few of the pictures we took.

The cutest little bumble bee!

Cute little elephant.

The only picture we could get with his hood on!

Buzz, buzz, buzz....

Stephanie even had a costume!.

26 weeks and feels like I'm carrying a pumpkin!

All Halloween'ed out.

We did not get any pictures at the Harvest Fest at church. The kids seemed to have a great time. Emily went back and fourth between the games and the moonbounce. She had quite the stash of candy by the time we were done. James played the games, jumped on the moonbounce and ate lots of candy and chips.