Easter Egg Dyeing

G had all of the kids over to dye Easter eggs.

Mackie gets prettier every day...

...and sillier!

Hannah glows with excitement when she gets to spend time with her cousins!

Reilly and his super silly egg-dyeing face!

Shew! All that egg dyeing was hard work!

Fishing Time

One of the kids favorite things to do at the beach is to go fishing. The fun thing about their age is that they don't care what kind of fish they catch.

Check out that trophy of a pinfish Reilly caught. Whoa! Hannah caught a fish next just by raising her hand!

Ta-Dah! Hannah catches her fish. We have it mounted in the family room now.

Hannah Owns the Mountain of Youth!

See that gigantic structure in the background-- the Mountain of Youth at Lulu's in Gulf Shores. Yep, my little baby girl climbed all the way to the top with her Daddy. I wish I had her courage!

While Hannah is climbing the Mountain of Youth, Reilly is figuring out his new YoYo Pop bought him!

"Don't look at me, Mom." (He frequently tells me that and it just makes me laugh!)

I may sense a little bit of nervousness from her, but not much!

They're all ready to be "hooked" in. The harness was connected to the track above their heads by this tiny "thing-a-ma-bob".

Hannah climbing to the top.

Whoa!

Sullivan and G completely mesmerized by the Mountain of Youth!

Spring Break 2012

Spring Break 2012 was a blast! We went to Orange Beach and went to the zoo, Lulu's Mountain of Youth, rode on boats, had a 1st Birthday party for Sullivan, dyed Easter Eggs, Hunted Easter Eggs, Went to Easter Mass, and just plain had fun! Needless to say we have about 1000 pictures from our week (plus) long trip. I'm posting them in between kids naps. so bear with me!

Zoo Time! Gotta buy some food!

Zoo Time! Reilly loved feeding the animals!

Sullivan hamming it up at the zoo!

brother/sisterly love!

Hey, wait for me!

First Boat Ride!

Love baths in the sink!

Sullivan Update

A couple weeks ago, Sullivan was referred to an endocrinologist and an allergist. He had not gained any weight (length, head, or length) since January. The pediatrician was concerned and did some blood work. The blood work resulted in a "low growth hormone" and a milk allergy (because I requested that he be tested --he had a bad breakout with some yogurt).

So yesterday we went to the pediatric endocrinologist and the pediatric allergist. It ended up being a husband / wife team so it was perfect! We saw the endocrinologist first. He weighed Sullivan and he had gained weight (now up to 18 lbs!!) and had gained a little lengthwise. After looking at all of the blood work results that the pediatrician ran, he was not concerned because Sullivan is still within the normal range (although 3%) for his age. He explained that kids in the first 2 years of life can vary on the chart, but by 3 or 4 they should maintain their "curve". We'll continue to monitor his growth and see him back in a year. He explained that the growth hormone emits in your body periodically (throughout the night generally) so a low growth hormone could show a false positive based on the time of day the blood was drawn. Shew. I'm convinced it's genetics. Let's face it, Andrew and I are not tall people... so our children will most likely not be giants!

Ok... so then we saw the pediatric allergist. She asked what kind of foods he had been exposed to. She explained that a person will not show a positive reaction (or could show a false positive) to a skin test unless he /she had been exposed to it in their environment. After discussions she did a milk test and an egg test. He was positive for both. So now I'm researching alternative foods that he can eat that don't have milk or eggs in them. Tough task! We'll see her back in 6 months to see if there is anything else he needs to be tested for. She said to introduce him to only 1 new thing at a time and make a note of any reactions.

Fire Hat Coolness

He's saving this hat until next week when he visits the fire station
at school. He thinks maybe he'll get to put out a real fire if he
wears this hat. Precious Child!

It's Official

We have a "puller-upper"!! And he's so proud of himself!

Wedding Weekend

2 weekends ago, our family was honored to be a big part of Candice & Brian's wedding. Hannah was the flower girl, Reilly was the ring bear(er), I was the matron of honor, and Andrew was the photographer. It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding! Here are a few keepers!

I can't even describe the excitement they had over being in the wedding!

playing in the grass between pictures

My sweet Hannah makes me smile!

I think she may be up to no good here!

the bridesmaids, the beautiful bride and Hannah!

hammin' it up for their daddy, the photographer!

Curran was a lifesaver for Andrew by coming to help him take pictures. She is Hannah's idol!

Hannah & Reilly loved being in the top deck of the double decker bus. Reilly thought it was super cool to be scraping the trees on the way to the church.

G & Sullivan. This is one of the few pictures of him from the wedding.

if only Sullivan had looked at the camera :(

Oh yeah... and Daddy was there too! This is the only picture of Andrew. Thanks to Curran for taking his picture!

Reilly's School- "Donuts for Dads"

Reilly had Donuts for Dads a short while ago (I'm not that far behind)! At Donuts for Dad's, each kid and Dad has to draw the other. Reilly seems to think I am a space alien, but I am OK with that. Reilly had gone to vote in the primary with me that morning, so he was wearing my "I voted sticker"

Shortly before that day, he found an old digital/analog watch in my drawer and asked if he could wear it. It has a Velcro strap, so it could fit on his wrist well enough.
The battery was dead, so Mom get him a new one. He loved it before it worked, and after he found out it has a green light (when the battery is new) he could no longer be separated from that watch. He proudly showed it off to his teachers and anyone else who would listen to how he scored it from his dad.


These are some pictures from that morning.

Hannah - Basketball season is over...

Hannah had fun playing basketball this season. She learned a lot and really improved toward the end of the season. We don't yet know if she will play again, but if we asked her today, I bet she would want to play again.

Hannah- The good sister

Hannah loves her littlest brother. She is a good big sister, and helps a lot with both Sullivan and Reilly.

Reilly- A hockey story

Reilly is getting to be a big kid. He really is a cute, fun, little boy. He recently wrote at school that he likes to give his Daddy "Big Squeezes" (hugs). Everyone morning he tells me that he has something for me... And runs up to give me a hug.

A recent story... He was watching Ice Hockey with me tonight while his sister was working on an art project with mom. There was a big fight in the hockey game and there ended up being some blood on the ice. Hannah turned to see the ice crew cleaning the blood off the ice when she asked, "Daddy, what is that on the ice?". Like any good parent I lied and told her it was paint that fell on the ice. Reilly spoke up to correct the record, "Na-uh Sissy, that is blood". He will be a hockey player.

These two pictures were taken during Christmas 2011.

Christmas 2011

G and Pop stopped in for some time with the grand-kids, and by default with Andrew and Stephanie too.

Pop got a new MacBook Pro! G and Pop took turns entertaining Sullivan.

Catching up, or at least trying...

Yes, we are way behind on posting to the site. Here are some that show how behind we are...

Video from 1 Year Ago

Just stumbled on this video. I don't know if we posted this one from about a year ago, but it's so funny. Reilly is such a character!

Sullivan Gives Kisses

Sullivan - 9 month stats

Weight - 17 lbs 5 oz (7%)

Height - 27.5" (24%)

Head - 45.5cm (55%)

Sullivan had his 9 month checkup yesterday. No shots!! Yeah!! The doctor says he looks awesome (we already knew that though!). At the last visit, she was concerned about his weight gain and had me come back in to re-check him. At the re-check, he had gained weight and had basically made a new curve. At the check up yesterday, he stayed on the curve (a little below), and the doc was just fine with that. I reminded her that Hannah weighed 18 lbs at 1 year. She then said.. Yep, he's fine.

Sullivan remains a happy healthy little fella! He rolls around everywhere and scoots backwards to where he wants to go. He still doesn't crawl forward, but he hasn't really had a need to since he's so efficient in reverse! He laughs hysterically at his brother and sister. He eats everything he has been fed so far--sweet potatoes, mixed vegetables, green beans, peas, carrots, every fruit imaginable, cut up bananas, Puffs, cheerios, and now graham crackers.

He sleeps through the night 85% of the time. Takes good naps (when we're home). The only times he cries is when he's hungry, tired, or has just been robbed of a toy!!

Black Market Babies

Preface: lately I've been trying to teach the kids the value of money.
Hannah is constantly asking to buy lunch, breakfast, toys, etc. I tell
her that these things cost money and we need to save our money. Ok...
So we're driving to school this morning...

H: "Mom, did you have to pay money for us?"
M: [thinking to myself...does she think I rolled into a store and
bought her? It's 7:30am and we're on a 2 minute car ride to
school...How do I answer this without launching into a 25 minute
explanation?]. "Yes, the hospital charges you to come in and have a
baby."
H: "Oh! Well then you must REALLY love kids to spend that much money on us!"
M: "Yes I do! No matter what the price!"
H: "Bye mom. I love you."[exits car]
M: "I love you too!" [door closes.]

To be continued, I'm sure!

Happy 9 months Sullivan

We can't really get any still shots anymore...it's all action shots now!