Big Sisters

Big Sister/Big Brother Photo Shoot

As usual we made special shirts for the kids to celebrate Laura's arrival. It took us a few weeks, but we finally got around to taking pictures of the kids sporting their shirts.

We started off by taking a couple photos of the dozen little feet that provide most of the "music we dance to week to week" (a line from one of our favorite songs - "Remember When" by Alan Jackson) ~

Our six little munchkins in order by age ~

And a few requisite photos in front of the fireplace ~

After we were done with the group shots, the four older kids each requested individual photos with Laura ~

Eva and Laura

Eva holding Laura so I could get lunch ready ~

She rocked Laura to sleep :) ~

Laura Meets Laura

We got to hang out with both of the wonderful women little Laura is named after while we were in New England. My friend Laura drove down to meet little Laura and I for brunch on Sunday morning. Laura and I met about 30 years ago when I was four and she was three and we moved into a house across an apple orchard from her house. We've been best friends since then (except for the times we were worst enemies; then she was best friends with Christy to get back at me ;) ). Laura is the only one in the world besides Rob that knows everything about me and she somehow loves me anyway :) We are complete opposites in many ways; we disagree on things like politics and religion, both of which might be expected to cause all sorts of disagreements. Somehow Laura and I can talk about any subject though and remain friends :) She has been there every time I've needed her. I can't imagine a better friend!

 Laura is vegan, so we met at a vegetarian restaurant. Brunch was wonderful and it was so nice to see Laura in person and get to talk to her face to face! Despite being a pediatric nurse, Laura was a bit intimidated by how little baby Laura was. Once she had baby Laura in her arms though, she commented "You're not nearly as fragile as you look! You're actually a bit of a chunk!" :) Baby Laura's tummy is starting to get quite round and her legs are looking less and less like chicken legs :)

Laura and I had a wonderful visit :) It was much too short though. I really wish she lived closer! Like next door. Or that one of us had a private jet and we could visit each other every weekend. Thank heavens for the internet and phones!

One photo from my trip that I forgot to post is the picture I took of our old house. Leah and I drove past it on our way to the farm. The last time Rob and I were in New England, we stopped by and were shocked to see the horrible condition it was in. The people we sold it to rented it out and basically destroyed it. I was half expecting to see an empty lot due to it being condemned or something. I was thrilled to see that it has been completely fixed up and is for sale again! I wish we had tons of money and could buy it and keep it for a vacation home or rent it out to someone who would love it! It was such a wonderful house for us!

Leah's Bucket List

While visiting Leah, I had the privilege of being able to help her complete her bucket list. We started off by heading to Newport, RI with one of Leah's roommates from college, Jodi. Jodi just happened to fly out the same day I did to spend some time with Leah. When we got to Newport, we parked and walked around for a couple of hours. We stopped by a "cupcakery" that had been featured on food network and got fancy cupcakes. Leah got the daily special, which was a chocolate caramel sea salt cupcake. I got a hot fudge sundae cupcake. Jodi opted out of getting one. We stopped by a fudge store and picked up some fudge for Leah's mom (and for us of course) and stopped and bought some salt water taffy. We took pictures in front of the bay.

Leah and Jodi ~

Leah, me and Laura ~

We took the scenic route out of Newport, driving along Ocean Dr. I miss the smell of the ocean and being able to sit on the end of a rock jetty and watch the waves.

We stopped by Del's Lemonade as we left Newport. We drove Jodi back to the house she was staying at, stopping at Papa Gino's on the way to pick up dinner.

Sunday morning I went out to brunch with another friend (I'll detail that in another post), then Leah, Laura, and I headed out to hit some more places on her bucket list. We started off by going to Wright's Dairy Farm, a wonderful farm that sells raw milk and has a huge bakery as well. We dropped the yummy things we bought off at home and drove up to Leah's parents' home. Her mom, Patricia, and her sister, Rachel, decided to drive out to Nantasket Beach with us. We tried to make it there by sunset, but missed it by a few minutes. The view was beautiful!

Leah and her mom ~

Rachel, Patricia, and Leah ~

Leah and me ~

We went to dinner at Wahlburger, a restaurant owned by Mark, Donnie, and Paul Wahlburg. They serve homemade burgers with sides like homemade fries with sea salt and sweet potato tots. It was super yummy! Leah was excited that they served a "thanksgiving burger", featuring ground turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. When I saw that on the menu, I knew she would get one :) I think thanksgiving dinner is Leah's very favorite meal!

On the way home we tried to find a Honeydew Donuts that was open, but couldn't (it was 10:30pm on a Sunday night, so that didn't shock us), so we stopped by Dunkin Donuts to get a coolata. Leah was hoping for a lemonade coolata, but those are only at Honeydew, so she got half vanilla bean and half orange instead. Plus an onion bagel with cream cheese - my favorite too!

Monday morning Leah had a radiation appointment, so we went and hung out there for an hour or so. All the ladies in the waiting room and the nurses thought Laura was adorable :) After Leah's treatment, we headed to her favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. We got Leah's favorite - the pu-pu platter and a side of beef lo mein. After lunch we stopped and got lemonade coolatas since Honeydew Donuts was open at that time :)

I had to leave by 2:30pm to make it to the airport before rush hour started, so we headed back to Leah's house at that point. I took one last picture of Leah with one of her cats ~

And the pictures wouldn't be complete without a photo of Leah holding Laura ~

It is such a privilege to have Leah as a friend! I've known her for 22 years now and she is such an amazing person! I'm so glad I got the chance to spend some time with her and that I got to go with her to visit some of the places that are special to her!!!

MA Trip, Part 1

My flight left TX at 7am, so all of us got up at 4:45am and loaded into our car (we can't wait until Megan is old enough to babysit!). Jack was the only child who cried when Laura and I got out to walk into the airport. He really wanted to come with us :( I wish I could have taken everyone with me! I had nonstop flights both ways (jetblue is awesome!) and Laura was really good on the plane. I wasn't horribly thrilled to take a 3 week old baby on an airplane, but I had already waited 6 weeks and knew we didn't have much time left.On the plus side, I think it was actually easier traveling with a younger baby rather than an older one as Laura didn't need to be entertained at all; all she did was eat and sleep. I also discovered that traveling with a very young baby gets you lots of attention and offers of help. Everywhere I went someone offered to help me. I got lots of compliments about Laura as well :) The lady at the ticket counter tried to get me a seat in a row by myself (I ended up having someone sit next to me, but that's ok) and the guy at the car rental place gave me a free upgrade.

Laura and I started off by heading out to Millbury to meet my Aunt Cathy for lunch. Aunt Cathy took the afternoon off work so we could get together :) We met at a Pizzeria Uno's and picked a perfect time to hang out and talk as the restaurant was pretty much empty. Our waitress was very nice and didn't mind at all that we camped out in our booth for three and a half hours :) We had a wonderful time talking and Laura cuddled right up to Aunt Cathy and happily slept.

After our wonderful lunch, Laura and I drove down to Leah's house. We just took it easy that night and spent some time talking. Leah's mom was there and a couple from church dropped by as well.

Doctor Appointment Updates

Laura and Jack both had doctor appointments today. Laura's was her regular 2 week appointment. She has gained over a pound in the last two weeks, weighing in at 7 lbs 15 oz (she was 7lb 6oz at birth, 6lbs 11oz when we left the hospital, and 6lbs 14oz at 5 days old)! She's in the 50% across the board (weight, height, head size) and is now almost 21 inches long (she was 19 3/4 inches at birth). Doctor says to keep doing whatever we're doing because she looks great :)

Jack had an appointment to have his ear checked out again. The last time we checked it, there was too much blood and stuff to see how badly he had damaged it. We are very lucky; it turns out he didn't actually jam the q-tip through his ear drum. He hit another part of the ear canal, one that bleeds a lot. His ear drum is perfect and his hearing is great as well :) We are so grateful! We thought he was going to have to have surgery to repair it.

Not much else going on at the moment. I'm having a bit of a hard day. I fly out to New England tomorrow to spend some time with Leah and say goodbye to her. It doesn't look like the radiation is helping much. The cancer has spread to her spine and is proving very aggressive. Her husband, Rob, says that it's obvious the tumors by her brain stem have gotten larger as she's having more trouble thinking and speaking clearly. I'm hoping she has a good weekend and we get to spend some time talking. Prayers for her and and her family would be appreciated.

More Pictures

Rob and I were reflecting tonight on the number of photos we take. I know in a lot of large families, by the time you get down to the younger children, there are very few photos. We don't seem to have that problem. If anything, I think we have MORE photos of each child. And I love that we have discovered blogs! Both Rob and I have looked back on blog posts I've written to check when things happened. When we switched computers or when my last laptop crashed (can't remember which time it was), we ended up losing an entire year of photos. I was so grateful that I had them all on my blog!

Anyway, nothing horribly exciting has been happening. I finished up another quarter and found out today that I got a 100% on my final project and an A in the class, meaning I still have a 4.0! Only two classes left until I start my internships! I'm taking fall quarter off though so Laura will be older when I start. Plus, I haven't taken off a single quarter since starting 3.5 years ago and I think I need a bit of a break.

We loved having Rob home for two weeks (actually two and a half as Laura timed her entrance to coincide with Labor Day weekend - a date, I should point out, that my Grandmother guessed a month before her arrival even though no one else's guesses were even close to correct). I need to figure out a way to become independently wealthy so he can stay home all the time. Maybe we'll win the lottery or something, although I think our chances are slightly lowered because I don't buy lottery tickets. Unfortunately, Rob's two weeks were up on Tuesday and we couldn't keep him home any longer. Eva in particular really misses him! The two of them spent a lot of time together as the older four kids were at school most of the day and Laura and I slept a lot. Things are settling back down now and we are getting back into our routine. Laura's starting to sleep better, which is helpful :) She has a dr's appointment tomorrow, so we'll see how much weight she's gained. She's still in newborn clothing.

We caught some cute shots of her (and the other kids) this week :) ~

Sucking on her fingers ~

Eva insists that Laura loves playing "this little piggy". Eva plays it with her quite often. Eva's version is a little different than the traditional version and goes something like "toes, toes, toes, toes, TOES!!!!" Poor Laura; it's a good thing babies are flexible! :)

Jack LOVES Laura. He constantly talks about how much he loves her, reassuring me by saying that he would rather bonk himself in the head than hurt her. On a side note, Jack had me bring Laura down to meet his teacher at the end of curriculum night this week at school. His teacher told us Jack is doing amazingly well. He tested her boundaries the first week by throwing crayons at her when she told him to do something he didn't want to do, but she stuck to her guns and by the second week, she said he was a model student. She even says that several times a day she uses Jack as an example to his classmates. Rob and my response was to wonder if maybe we were talking about different Jacks :) I'm so glad he's doing well though! We were a bit worried as he's one of the smallest and youngest in his grade.

All of the kids love cuddling with Laura. I dish out time with Laura just like I do TV or computer time :)

Eva has taken to chewing her hair. Ewww. Anyway, she doesn't like me putting it in pigtails (although she LOVES having it brushed), so it got chopped off tonight. I think she looks pretty cute, even though it's not exactly even. It's difficult to cut a straight line in the hair of a child who keeps turning to see what you are doing, even when you give them a handheld mirror to watch you.

And finally, a few shots of Kylie, Eva, and Laura from tonight :) ~