3 Months

3 months...little man, the days go by so quickly! You're amazing! You are doing everything your OT asks you to do and you're getting so strong!
At 3 months you're excelling at tummy time. You sleep through the night. You eat 5 - 6 ounces each bottle...so far I'm keeping up with you :) You smile and giggle and fill our home with love. You're starting to scooch in a circle, beginning to hold onto your bottle and getting your thumb and fingers into your mouth to soothe yourself. Your favorite toy is still mr. Elephant and you get so excited when you swat him close enough to get him in your mouth. You also really like the musical light up butterfly that hangs above your play may- you kick your feet until he plays his happy song. And you love sister :) You're growing so quickly and we're so lucky to call you ours! Love you Bubby!

Happy Birthday Adam

Happy birthday Uncle Adam! Porter went to his first meal at a restaurant in honor of Uncle Adam's 30th birthday. He slept while we ate and woke up to eat as soon as I finished my meal. Mommy really appreciated the chance to eat!
Penny had a great time celebrating with her best friend (aka Uncle Adam).

Daddy Daycare

I'm back to work :( I miss my little man like you wouldn't believe. I miss kissing his forehead and having him nap all snuggled up on my chest. I miss his smiles and the little giggles he just started giving! I miss the way he's been so excited about getting his hands on the bottle that he couldn't eat. I miss Porter.
The only thing that makes coming back bearable is knowing that Porter is home with daddy. And daddy is bringing the awesome to Daddy Daycare. He's done laundry and dishes, took Porter grocery shopping and is getting him to eat/play/sleep just like he's supposed to. Daddy is doing such a great job!
Thank you RC for helping make this transition as easy as possible! I love you!

Penny cracks us up

Mommy: how was school picture day?Penny: good! I smiled at a stranger. And I said cheese to a stranger.

At dinner the other night, Penny poured some milk into her squash and mixed. Then she tried to pour some prune juice in too, so I asked her to stop. Her response- "mom, I just have to add more ingredients."

Daddy has been helping Penny learn to spell names of our family. When he got to uncle Adam, Penny stopped and announced "Adam is my best friend. Because he loves me."
This afternoon at nap time, we sang our go to sleep song. When we got to "good night daddy" Penny stopped me and said "no, goodnight RC."

A Whole Lot Of Random

Our best girl is 27 months old. And she knows how to use the iPad better than Aunt Becky. She amazes me- the LeapFrog apps and Monkey Preschool Lunchbox have nothing on her- she has them all figured out.

 Aunt Nic & Dave stopped by on mother's day :)

 Penny loves to do tummy time with Porter. Loves as in, "mommy, can I do tummy time with Porter," which is good. I know I make him work hard, but sister knows that he can do more! And he can :)

 Penny came home with her first drawing that really looked like something. Can you see the spider? She drew a circle and some lines for legs. So proud!

 Porter is 11 weeks old. He's getting stronger and more fun by the minute. He couldn't sit like this last week- we've been working on some new exercises and they are really helping with head control.

See, I can use the swing now :)

 Sarah & Kellie stopped by to see us. Sarah loved meeting Porter! And we loved catching up with her- who knew she could run a 6:30 mile- so proud of this little lady! 

 Sarah & Kellie brought Penny their old play house.  Penny LOVES it!

 She's been out there cooking pancakes and washing dishes every chance she gets.

Mommy & Missy decided it was time for Penny to have a haircut. We took advantage of the amazing weather and got the job done with some help from my phone. Two year olds are squirmy!

 Daddy has had a bad cold. Ten days and some antibiotics later, he's finally starting to feel better!

 Little brother's are still awesome!

 And, Penny's seeds are growing. The beans sprouted first and the squash a few days later. Now we've got to find them a home outside (preferably somewhere the deer won't get to them).



Swim Lessons

Penny started swim lessons again last week. She LOVES the water! She's doing really well on the noodle. When I asked her how her first week of lessons was, she said "Good, the teacher was talking." And then in the car on the way home, she told me "I'm just a little bit afraid of the back float. I do not like the back float."

Week two was a great week for Penny in the water. She is now comfortable standing in chest-deep water by herself and is starting to get a little braver, reaching for rings that are on the steps and putting her cheeks in the water.

Daddy is doing such a great job helping Penny learn to swim!

Sleepy boy!

I can't believe I forgot to document it. Porter slept through the night! The night of May 1st into the morning of the 2nd, he slept from 9 to 5. Amazing! He's done it a few more times since :)
Porter Charles, you are awesome!

Dear Penny

Dear Penny,
I am so proud of you! Today, when I dropped you off for school, we took Porter in for his first visit. You were so proud to introduce your friends to your baby brother. Your teachers and Miss Annette tell me that you talk about baby brother every day and that you are so proud to be his big sister.
I love watching you grow into your big sister role. When he cries, you say "it's ok baby Porter." You like to turn music on for him and give him his toys. You like to tell him things and include him in your conversations, even if he can't answer back yet. You look for him when you wake up in the morning. And you do it all with a smile.
That doesn't mean that there aren't times when you're jealous of the attention he gets or that you're not really careful around him, but you're only two :) I think you're the best big sister ever and I am so glad Porter has you! I hope you're always so proud of him!
Love, mommy

First trip to the dentist

Penny had her first dental checkup this morning. She loved the office- its got a really cool play area in the waiting room with a pirate ship slide. She loved the chair- she thought that was a slide too and kept sliding down and climbing back up. But, she wasn't a huge fan of the hygienist or dentist :( She clamped her mouth closed and might have cried a few tears. Poor kid! The dentist painted her teeth with fluoride and told us that her teeth look great. Afterwords, she was very proud and got to pick a prize from the prize bin...a purple bracelet. I think now that she knows what to expect, she'll have a better time next visit!

Toys in the mouth

We're entering the "I want everything in my mouth" stage. Porter will use his arms to scooch his toys close to his face.

And then he gets so excited and starts licking them. 

After that, we move onto the I'm going to try to get it in my mouth stage.

He gets so happy when he succeeds! You should see how his legs kick and his arms move in excitement :)

Baseball, Birthday's and Horses

Our neighbor Liam turned one this weekend! Happy Birthday Liam!

He had a Phillies themed  birthday party. Porter cooperated and wore his Phillies gear.

Penny pitched a fit when I tried to put a Phillies shirt on her. "No, I only want to wear Cardinals." It seems daddy has brainwashed his baby girl!

After the party, we turned on the TV to watch the Kentucky Derby. Penny LOVED watching the horses run. She cheered the entire race! Oh- look at that!

Our neighbor Alexa also turned one this weekend. Happy Birthday Alexa! We had a great weekend celebrating these two amazing kiddos and we can't wait for parties in years to come. It's going to be so much fun to watch our kids grow up together!

A visit from the Rizzo's & Johnson's

We had some special visitors from Ohio! Aunt Nancy & Uncle Henry, Aunt Gail & Uncle John and Colleen came to see us on their way home to Cleveland. They came to New Jersey for Emily's First Holy Communion- Congratulations Emily! We're so sorry we didn't make it up to celebrate and we're so proud of you!

 Aunt Nancy & Aunt Gail had fun texting pictures to Pa, letting him know that they were with his grandkids! Sisterly love!

 Uncle Henry bonded with Porter- he let him know just how awesome it is to have another boy in this family full of girls :)

Colleen had the magic touch and put Porter right to sleep :) 

Thanks for coming to visit guys! We can't wait to see you all again in Arizona :) 

Penny is super excited to play again soon!

Banana Bread

Sister loves to help in the kitchen. Her favorite thing to make is Banana Bread.

 She's got the ingredients memorized and tells me what to add next- bananas, sugar, oil, eggs (and then you wash your hands), flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon (lots of cinnamon), vanilla and raisins.

 She loves to help pour the ingredients and mix.  We like to count 20 stirs after every ingredient :)

 She's a great helper!

 She's very good at eating the finished product too!

Thank You Grammy!

Penny & Porter are sporting their personalized "P" sweatshirt jackets made by Grammy :) We love these sweatshirt jackets- Penny asks to wear hers every day!

 I tried to get some photos of them together in their new digs and an all-out love fest ensued. 

 Picture lots of high pitched "Hi Porter! How are you Porter! I love you Porter!" sayings coming out of big sister :)

Daddy and I loved every second :)

Cheese!

Look at these two cheeseballs!

Awesome!

8 Weeks/2 Months

Can you believe that our little man is already 2 months old? Here are his stats:

11 pounds, 7 ounces

23.5 inches

Off the DS charts!

He took his shots like a champ- just a few tears and lots of sleeping afterwords.

At two months, Porter still likes to sleep, but he also likes to play. He is getting stronger by the day- working a lot on tummy time and building head control. We've started Occupational Therapy and after our first session, we're working on body positioning around the mid line while feeding and getting the hands to the mouth. And, tummy time, of course- he no longer needs the help of a roll under his shoulders:)

Porter is making great progress!

Some of his favorites at 2 months:

Favorite Toys- Sensory blocks, Blue Elephant and Yellow Squeaky Duck

Favorite Books- Fuzzy, Fuzzy, Fuzzy and Little Fish (a finger puppet book)

Favorite Game- Kick the Blocks (I put one of the sensory blocks that jingles between his legs and he kicks away)

Favorite Person- Sister...he hears her voice and his head turns to find her :)

We're having fun at two months!

Nana & Papa's House

We spent two nights at Nana & Papa's house. It was Penny's first school day trip and boy did she LOVE watching the school bus parade!

She loved the playground...she made up a game for us- we each had our own slide and she'd say "ready, set, go" and when we got to the bottom, I'd chase her back to the steps. After a few rounds, she started telling me not to go and when she got to the bottom, then I was allowed to go- little stinker rigged the game so she could win! 

We took Porter to meet great Pop.  It's been a long time since great Pop held a baby!

Finally, a boy!

We had fun playing with Nana too!

She's really skilled in block building (with Papa's help).

And one more slide picture- girlfriend loves the playground and so does mommy!

Fun times! Thanks Nana & Papa!