Brian Daniel

Brian is like a little hot water bottle. On these cold, damp November days, he snuggles up close in my arms, and sleeps for hours on end. When I finally put him down, I realize just how cold it is in the house...his little body is so warm and cozy!

Dan has a couple more days left of paternity leave, and then the chaos of the outside world will hit us. Trying to get Beth and Amy off to school, gymnastics, etc., with a toddler and a newborn in tow will be quite a challenge, I think! But for now, Brian and I are content to snuggle up in front of the fireplace, enjoying each other's company, and blocking everything else out. At times like these, I can hardly remember the nine months of nausea...I can hardly remember the heartburn, the fatigue, and all the other challenges of pregnancy. All I can think about is how glad I am to finally have Brian here in my arms.

He was worth it all.

Welcome Brian Daniel!

As I'm sure most of you know by now, Brian Daniel arrived on November 14th, weighing in at 7 pounds 14 ounces. We're almost as shocked by his weight (so small for one of our babies!!) as we are by the fact that he is a boy!! He is home and adjusting well to the noise and chaos in this house full of girls. He is not the best night-time sleeper, however!

I have been feeling a bit better each day, although still pretty weak from the low red-blood count that I left the hospital with. Thanksgiving was a quiet time at home with the four kids, and we enjoyed an amazing Thanksgiving dinner that was delivered to our door by Grampy! Nana is now out of the hospital and recovering well. It has been a pretty crazy couple of weeks!

The girls have been enjoying the holiday festivities. I agreed fully with the following comment from Amy, when she saw the Thanksgiving dinner table set with our best china (even for the kids!)

She stared at the table for a minute, and then asked Dan why there were two plates for each of us...one large plate and one small plate. Dan explained that the large one was for dinner, and then she would use the small plate for dessert.

She thought for a minute, and then said, "I think I'll just change things up a bit here. I'll only need this little plate for my dinner, but I really think I'll need the big plate to hold all of my pies and dessert".

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Almost There

ONE MORE WEEK!!!!

Perhaps it's time to buckle down and pick out a name for this little one...

Daylight Saving

I know I wrote about this last year (see archives from last October!) but I feel compelled to mention it once again.

Fall Daylight Saving time is not fun for parents of little ones. If you happen to have a four-year-old daughter that generally wakes up around 6:15am each day (waay too early for me, anyway), she will now wake up at 5:15am, full of energy and ready for her day. This can be particularly stressful when you are planning to bring a wakeful newborn home in 10 more days. That gives us only a little over a week to straighten out Amy's internal clock.

Oh, Ben Franklin...why, oh why did you invent such a crazy custom?!

Sugar High

There is waaaaayyyy too much candy in our house right now. The girls only spent about an hour trekking around the neighborhood, but their pumpkins were almost overflowing when they arrived home. My days are now spent listening to the constant begging from three little girls..."pleasssee, can I have some candy now?" It begins the moment they awake in the morning, and ends at bedtime. Each night Dan and I dump a few more pieces from each pumpkin into the trash. We never, ever eat any of it ourselves. Wouldn't even think of it. That would be stealing. We're just desperate for the sugar highs and lows to end, and are hoping that the pumpkins will be empty by the end of this weekend.

The girls did have a great night, however. They enjoyed running from house to house along with a large group of neighborhood friends. I think Dan had almost as much fun as they did. As for me, I enjoyed a short bit of quiet and solitude, left home alone to pass out the candy to the few kids that rang our doorbell. I look forward to joining in the festivities a bit more next year, when we have another little trick-or-treater to carry along!

Hope you all enjoyed the Halloween festivities as much as we did here!!