Joe Cool

....to dust off an old Charlie Brown refence. LV has found his sunglasses buried deep in his closet. Mind you this is the opinion of a toddler. Some days you really do want to wear the hats and sunglasses - some days you don't. So LV is sporting his sunglasses lately. The weather warmed up again, so we've been trying to get outside as much as possible. LV enjoyed doing circles in the driveway on his airplane. He does enjoy walks which are harder on mom since she's lugging two of them around. But its all in good fun for the most part.

Two Month Visit

Nicole had her 2 month visit today. Dr. Wilson said that everything checked out okay and she is hitting the usual 2 month old milestones. She is 11 lbs now and 23.5 inches long. That put her into the 75th percentile for length and 50% for weight. We are just happy everything is normal with her.

The fun part with her has been her cooing and "talking" back to us. She loves it when her dad talks to her in a deep voice as she gives little squawks and squeals back to him. The gummy smiles are what mom enjoys most and big brother tends to notice them by shouting out "Mom, she's smi-uls"

The Big Brother

People have asked me if LV likes his sister and how he's reacting to her. To be honest, its been a smooth transition so far after a month. He is really indifferent to her now. He understands she's too little to play with his toys and he is such a great little independent child that he doesn't require her affections at this point. He asks occaisionally if she wants crackers or has interst to play with his toys but I explain she's too little. Right now he's fascinated by anything that moves backwards and thinks its cool that her carseat has to face backwards in the car. He comments that he is "a big boy" and gets to ride forwards. So thing are going quite well on the whole Ask me how things are when Nicole starts actually crawling, claiming his toys and taking over his territory. I think we'll be in for harder times then.

One Month Update

Nicole topped the scales at 9 lbs 9 oz today and 22 inches. The pediatrician deemed her to be tall someday. She is doing great health wise growing like a weed. She is starting to hold her head up more and more these days and is very alert especially when you talk to her. We get the occaisional gummy smile which is sweet in itself.

And then there were four...

Our baby girl has arrived. Nicole Katherine made her debut ON her due date of 1/30/2008. Mom had been told earlier on Tuesday that every thing was ready - all that was missing was labor. So mom, grandma and LV decided to spend the day doing a few fun activities including going to the World of Coca-Cola when Mom realized that she might be in labor!! So we returned back home, then called dad to go meet him at the hospital (around 7:36 PM). Seven hours later, our baby girl came into the world weighing 8 lbs, 3 oz and stretched to 21 inches. All the nurses noted that she was a "big" girl and kept asking us how big our son was. She was ready to make her appearance ready or not!!

Big Brother got to meet her on Wednesday later after mom had rested. He was very interested in her and claimed she was pretty. We think he hasn't figured out that she is a permanent fixture yet. Several of mom and dad's friends stopped by to say hi and meet the little Miss.

Friday we were discharged from the hospital. We arrived home around noonish to settle into a routine (as much as we could with a 3 year old and a newborn). Friday night was a little rough on mom. Thank goodness Grandma was there to help stay up with mom for the feedings. Nicole was not used to the big crib and all the space but with a little swaddling she was good to go and gave us a few hours of sleep. So today we are trying to establish a little more routine with Nicole's schedule. Its going to be a rough time because we are still finding that delicate balance with LV's schedule as well.

Let it snow!

Wow, its been too long since we posted something up on here. Sorry about that. We should be better considering a second little one is coming into the house very soon.

We got a second day of snow. The first one was Thursday and today the rain slowly turned into snow. Lou saw the snowflakes and pointed it out to me saying it was "cool". We played a little in the snow after lunch. It was a nice heavier one for snowballs and snowmen. There just wasn't that much of it to make a snowman. So we settled for one snowball which the little guy loved.

Happy 3rd Birthday

Its hard to believe our little man turned 3 already. It seems like yesterday we were taking him home. Now we'll be taking home his sibling at some point soon. On the day before his birthday, Mom made "Blues Clue's Cupcakes for his classmates. The kids there were afraid to eat Blue so the teacher had to show them that it was okay to eat Blue (since she was a piece of candy)

We had a nice little morning celebration with mom and dad opening his gifts. Then that evening our friends came over to visit and hang out in celebrating his birthday. To mark the "big 3" mom made him a train cake decorated as Henry who is the number 3 train in the Thomas the Tank Engine series. Hopefully if you click the link you'll be able to see pictures from his big day.

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Christmas Time is here!

Boy this holiday snuck up on us so fast. We were able to travel for Thanksgiving but the doctor's orders were no travelling after 32 weeks (December 14th). So we had our Christmas here with some of Dad's family. Uncle Steve, Grandpa and Grandma P and of course the three of us!!

Before they arrived, we tried a few "Santa dates" to get LV familiar with the big guy and the holiday. The first weekend of December, we went to our favorite train museum and had breakfast with Santa. Two weeks later, the local Knights of Columbus sponsored their Breakfast with Santa. LV wasn't too overly enthusiastic about it even though Santa arrived on a fire truck (Mom thought that was cool). Sometimes he just is really cranky and not in a social mood on Saturdays! The picture posted is with the Breakfast with Santa through the KNights of Columbus.


As for the Christmas holiday, we mixed up the meals by going out to eat a few times and cooking at home. On Christmas Eve, we went to the Children's Mass then headed to Ray's on the River. Christmas Day, we did our traditional frying of a big turkey which I think everyone enjoyed. It was a good time. LV enjoyed his new presents which included a dinosaur, firetruck, car transporter from Santa. His relatives got him a Vtech game and a car that actually runs when you "shake" it. (From Uncle Jim and Aunt Chelsa). So LV enjoyed the variety of gifts this year from both Santa and family. Uncle Steve got him the airplane ride-on toy which he enjoyed outside right away because we did have really nice weather for the Christmas Holiday (in the 60s and 70s!).

Turkey Time!!

We were able to fly out to Nebraska for Thanksgiving this year. It is the last official plane ride Mom can take with the new baby on the way. So we headed out to Granpa and Grandma Hervert's house for the occaision.

Grandma and Grandpa H have a new wonderful kitchen we enjoyed for Thanksgiving Dinner. The set up makes mom really jealous (she would love to have that much room to cook!). We got to see mostly everyone from mom's family. Uncle Jim and Aunt Chelsa were spending time with her family, but we got to say hi to them before we made it home. It was also a special time because it was LV's first snow storm! We experienced a little dusting in Nebraska which was wonderful for him. HE had never seen snow.

For Thanksgiving, we had a special treat of having mom's grandma come out (Great Grandma Sara H) So we got a few pictures of us all with Grandpa H on the couch. It was a nice meal and the food was outstanding. Mom particularly likes the yams with marhsmallows that Grandma H makes (her mom's recipe). LV liked the toasted marshmallows period.

On Friday, Dad, Uncle Jake and Uncle John went hunting out for pheasants. The birds were not cooperating and only Dad and Uncle John managed to shoot a bird a piece. Sadly it wasn't enough to take home and make into nuggets. Overall it was a great trip to see Uncle Jake & John, Aunt Kate, and Grandpa and Grandma H.

Halloween

Well...After wearing his lion costume around the house, the big night of Halloween rolls around and LV doesn't want any part of it - at all. So I had to think of a quick fix because the lion costume was my only option. So we opted to paint his face like David Puddy from Seinfeld and make him into a die-hard Devils fan. But as you can see, someone touched his face and his lovely face paint wasn't as perfect as mom had liked it to be!! We did go stop by our neighbors houses and hit about 10 houses. Its hard for a little guy to do all that walking!!!

Happy Birthday Godmother K!

We all surprised Aunt Kate at her home this last weekend. We thought she had caught on to something but we found out she was truly suprised and kept saying she couldn't believe she was the last to know something was up. We all flew in at various times on Friday to surprise her. On Saturday, with the help of her friends, we were able to enjoy a party with her colleagues and friends from the area. It was a great weekend to just get to hang out with her and her dog Ellie. It was even better to have a family gathering as well.

The Vacation that almost wasn't...

Well, we returned from Northern New Jersey about the same color we left our home. Out of the 7 days we spent up north, we only had about 2 full days of good weather. That was a disappointment to us for sure since this was our vacation. Bu I guess out of all the times we have gone up to the Shore, the weather has cooperated for us. So here are few photos of the "good days" we were able to capture in the sun.

We also made it to the Boardwalk to first go see the aquarium which was inside and good for one of the rainy days. These other photos show Lou on some of the rides up there. He loved the rides so much but truly hated the wait. His dad said he spent more time crying about having to wait for the ride then actually riding.

Lou also enjoyed his NJ relatives. Uncle Steve was there a few days to entertain him but Grandpa and Grandma enjoyed showering him with attention.

Uncle John's Visit

Uncle John took some time to come on down to see us from up north. We went to the Aquarium to show off one of our finer tourist attractions, ate some good food and hung out at the park. Its nice to have family come to visit us. We don't get out all that much!!

Touch-A-Truck

This was an event we heard about at the last minute but anything involving TRUCKS was a must see in LV's book! We saw dump trucks, mail trucks, tow trucks and a few other trucks there. Children could climb into them, honk the horns and just enjoy pretending they were driving these big trucks. Lou also got a kick out of the Chik-Fil-A cow. He was trying to convince the cow to go over to see the trucks with him.

Announcement time

In February 2008, we will be adding to our family. We have found out we are expecting number 2 then and are very excited. The little guy's opinion remains ambiguous for now!!

Memorial Day Festivities

We made the drive up to NC to visit Lou's brother and his wife because it was the big 3-O for her on Saturday. Lou had a chance to socialize with another tot there about to turn 4. Jimmy is an avid Thomas the Tank Engine fan so the two immediately bonded. He really did have a great time playing with him. Here's a picture LV with his uncle Mike.

Mother's Day Visit

We had LV's New Jersey grandparents visit us this Mother's Day weekend. Lou's brother Mike and his wife Robin joined us too. On Saturday, we went to the Children's Museum in Downtown Atlanta. Even without a nap, LV held up really well. We then grilled out for dinner on Saturday which was great. Sunday, we just took it easy and enjoyed Mother's Day. Unfortunately we didn't get as many pictures as we would have liked but Pop sent us some photos to put up out there.

Visit Home

LV and I headed to my hometown for a short visit. We had not been there since January and we felt we were overdue. We flew in on Saturday and stayed through Tuesday. Included in the visit were going to the Museum to check out the city's museum as well as see my brother's (Uncle Rico and Uncle Jim)

It was a good time all around for both of us but very short. It was great to see everyone regardless. Grandma's dog, "the Princess" had a great time playing with LV and really enjoyed chasing someone with boundless energy around the house.

Happy Easter!

Hippitus! Hoppitus! Easter is here! We had a really busy day yesterday. First we headed off to Mass to the 10:30 service. LV was really well behaved and we even ran into a few of his friends from Daycare. They just started going to Church at our parish, so that is nice to bring these two tykes closer together. We snapped a few photos after Mass on the new deck.


After a short nap, we headed to Joanna & Brett's house for a late Easter lunch. They held a Easter Egg hunt later that day. LV didn't quite understand the whole Easter Egg hunt concept. We did help him out by pointing out a few eggs. Notice he did not let go of his Thomas Trains at ALL!
Total bucket count - 12 eggs, 2 wood chips and a cucumber slice (we found later he put into his bucket!)
Hanging out in front of the play house.

Getting a big hug from Abigail.