Field Trip to the Fire Station

Juliet's class took a field trip to the fire station. I bought her and Isaac little red fire-fighter hats and Nanny Ada dressed them in their (snow)boots. They got to see the fire truck leave on a live call and Isaac was so excited to hear the siren and see the flashing lights. I think he actually enjoyed the field trip more than Juliet because he sat still for close to 30 minutes while the firemen talked about their jobs and answered questions.

Their favorite part of the trip was sitting in the driver's seat of the truck. I think Isaac would have hung out at the station all day if we would have let him, but he sure was pooped by the time he got home...

Happy Halloween!

This was the first year we took the kids trick or treating and it was a good time. The weather was about 60 degrees (at 6:00-6:30pm) and we knocked on about 20 doors. Nemo and Squirt were a huge hit again and they were very well behaved-- saying "thank you" and putting the candy into their buckets instead of insisting we eat it right then and there.

(Taylor, Juliet, Quinton, Everett, Miss Catherine, Jonny)

Juliet had a mini performance at preschool and sang a few songs: 5 Little Pumpkins, 10 Little Ghosts, and a song about a mean old witch on a broom. Not to brag, but seriously, she was the best little singer and stayed on "stage" the entire time like she was supposed to. She is quite the little performer.

Baby Group at Wheeler Farm

This is the third year we've gone to Wheeler Farm to take pictures in the pumpkin patch with Juliet's little friends from her baby group. The first year, the kids were so easy, they stayed right where we put them and the parents could carry on normal conversations without interruptions. The second year we were able to bribe the kids with Goldfish crackers to stand still long enough to snap a few shots together. Taking a picture of all the kids (with siblings!) was much more challenging this time. We weren't able to get a single picture with *all* of the kids.

(Reese, Kenzo, Isaac, Juliet, Brock) Missing: Jack, Phoebe, and Colin

Our little Nemo and Squirt!

Half Way There!

We had our big ultrasound and everything looks great with baby #3. It was a little tempting to find out the sex, but in the end, we didn't. I'm excited to be half way finished with this pregnancy-- only 20 more weeks to go!

17 Months Old

Isaac is such a funny little guy. He loves to make us laugh by pretending that his peaches and pears are sour. This is his "sour face" and it's adorable! His vocabulary is increasing and now he can say "Nanna" for Nanny Ada, "Na-Na" for Night Night, and "Na Na" for Panda. I like to joke and say his "na na's" are tonal, so just because the words sound alike, they mean different things by the tone he uses--like if he were speaking Chinese. He also says "Ka ka" for Cracker.

He can climb into his high chair all by himself and uses a little stool to climb onto everything else. Of course, he's still a clumsy little guy and it's not uncommon for him to have cuts, bumps, or bruises. (check out his split lip)

Isaac will copy everything Juliet does, good or bad, and they continue to have a love-hate relationship. He's working on the transition from two naps to one, and has finally decided that he loves to read books. I know it won't be long before he's stopped being my baby, so I'm trying to hold onto this stage for as long as I can.

Boy's Weekend

While Juliet and I were in NYC, Trent and Isaac spent some quality time hanging out together.

Juliet's Trip to NYC

Juliet and I had a great time in NYC for the Us Weekly's Celebrity Kid Look Alike Contest that she won. We stayed a couple of extra days so that we would have time to spend with my youngest brother, David, who's finishing up his senior year at West Point and one of my best friends from high school, Shani, and her husband, Seth.

Then we checked into the Shoreham Hotel where Juliet charmed the guy at the front desk into giving us a free upgrade to the penthouse suite.


One of the prizes was a shopping spree at Lester's and a reporter and photographer from the NY Daily News did a story on Juliet (I'll post it when it runs) trying on heels and walking around the city, like Suri Cruise has been seen doing...

(Below: Suri Cruise)

Juliet walked about 4 blocks in little black heels to Cozy's, where she got her hair cut and styled and a little manicure. When the reporter asked her how she liked getting her nails painted, she replied, "I wanted them painted purple, but oh well."

We finished off the long day with dinner and a famous frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity.

The last day was a free day and we spent the morning in Central Park and the afternoon looking around FAO Schwarz.

One of the highlights of Juliet's trip was hailing taxi's. She would actually shout out "taxi, come here please!"

All in all, she was pretty well behaved for a two and a half year old and we had a great 4 days together in New York City.

Pumpkin Patch

We took Isaac to a pumpkin patch to try to get some pics of him. Unlike Juliet, he does not enjoy being photographed, but somehow we finagled a few good ones.

He found a nice pumpkin that he wanted to pick up, but it was too heavy for him. We let him struggle with it for a minute and then when he signed for "help" we led him to some pumpkins more suitable for the little guy.

32 Months Old

Juliet is a sweet little girl and is still so helpful. She takes such pride in making her bed, picking up toys and books, and helping Isaac do things. She is having a great time in 2 year old preschool and knows the letters and sounds for S,M,P,D, and A. Her two favorite past times are singing (made up songs especially) and dancing. Here she is showing off her curtsy.

She tells me that she wants to be a ballerina when she grows up just like Angelina. She also likes to read the Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy books that we check out from the library and she has started "reading" Isaac's baby books to him-- she's probably memorized close to 20 of them.

Fall Is Here

We headed into the weekend by taking the whole family (Nanny Ada included) to Dr. Bank's to get our flu shots. Juliet held my hands as I got mine and told me that it would just feel like a "little pinch and then it would be over." Isaac was the only one who cried, poor little guy.

I had my regular visit with my OB and was so happy to hear that I am measuring big (I'm 17 weeks, measuring over 20 weeks!) I was starting to get nervous because every time I hang out with Yen I can't help but notice how much bigger her belly is than mine and we have the same due date! (This is a pic of us at 15 weeks.)

Juliet had another play date on Saturday, this time with Trinity at our house. Trin has a great time, but Juliet was more interested in playing with me. Later that afternoon, Kellie and J came over and J helped Trent fix the leaky roof , while Kellie got to witness me lose my mind with the two crazy munchkins. Thank goodness for our newest babysitter, Miss Elizabeth, who came over to watch the kids so we could all go out to our favorite Italian restaurant, Lugano's.

The temperature has dropped and I think it's safe to say that Fall is here to stay. We had a low key weekend with the kids and Trent made his famous Cajun Corn Soup for dinner tonight. It's too spicy for the kids, but we love it, especially on a cold rainy day like to today.

Since it was so rainy, I decided to get out one of the games that I had bought the kids for Christmas. It's called Crocodile Dentist. The object of the game is to take turns pushing the crocodile's teeth down one by one until one of the teeth sets off a trigger and the crocodile "chomps" down on your finger. I thought the kids would love it, but after Isaac's first chomp, he fake cried, had me kiss his finger, and then wouldn't go near the toy for the rest of the day. Juliet is slightly braver, but prefers that she show us which tooth to push and that we do the dirty work. Maybe by Christmas they'll think it's fun...

Oh, and as for mine and Trent's TV watching, we finished up our previous shows, and just started watching Rome, Heroes, Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars (me), and So You Think You Can Dance (me). Yeah for TV!

While We're At Work...

Lately I've been feeling like I don't get to spend enough time with the kids. They are both at such fun ages (2.5 and almost 1.5 years old), I wish I could freeze time. For the most part, they play together really well. Mostly because Isaac adores Juliet and Juliet loves to baby Isaac.

The best part of my day is when I walk in the door and they come running to me full speed yelling "Mommy!" and about knock me over with hugs and kisses. Today Isaac wanted to put my shoes away for me and Juliet hung up my purse, how sweet of them!

I constantly struggle with guilt of being a working mom and the fear of them growing up too fast. But I do love scanning the camera and finding the pictures that Nanny Ada took while we were at work...

Firsts

Juliet had her first play date yesterday with John, (the 4 year old stepson of a friend of mine from work.) I was a little nervous to drop her off since they had never met before, he is a year and half older than she is, and it was her first play date, but she did great!

On Sunday, Michele asked if Juliet could go to the movies in the afternoon with her girls. This was going to be Juliet's second play date, but her first movie theater experience. She was so excited to eat popcorn. The report back from Chele was that Juliet sat in her seat through the whole movie (Ice Age) and asked several times "why is it dark?" Cute.

Ears

Isaac had to go see the ENT this morning for an ear infection on his left side that we cannot get rid of. They had to suction the puss out of his ear to try and see what was going on, but even that didn't work... So, now we're continuing with the antibiotics and adding ears drops. Hope it clears up before his follow up visit in two weeks.

Cupcake Workshop

Kellie treated me to a surprise cupcake workshop at Sur La Table on Saturday afternoon. We made the BEST cupcakes: Lemon-Raspberry, Black & White, Strawberry Ice Cream Cone, and S'mores Cupcakes and had a great time hanging out together for a few hours.

Thanks, Kel! I had a great time and can't wait to eat these again soon!

16 Months Old

Isaac is 16 months old and turning into a full fledged toddler, which includes full fledged tantrums. They don't last long but they are pretty amusing to watch. We've always said this kid has quite the temper! He's added a few more words to his vocabulary: banana, yes, and clean-up. Like everyone else in our family, Isaac loves to help us clean up by sweeping, dusting, and putting things where they belong.

He's a friendly kid and says "hi" to everyone he sees but if they get too close, he takes cover between our legs. He's also climbing onto everything with the help of a little white plastic stool. too bad he's not as graceful getting back down. He got another ear infection that we can't seem to get rid of so we have to go back to the doctor's tomorrow.