Some pretty pictures from this month...

My Baby Alana

looking so cute
Crazy Sean marching in his "band"

Sean practicing shaving

Me and Alana at Chuck-e-cheese

Alana & Gary

riding the carousel

Alana

Sean

baby boy sleeping with his Daddy

Happy Valentine's Day

Alexis with her 1st lost tooth

Alana with her best friend Stella

Taylor, Gary and Sean at the Crunch game

Alexis, Aunt Lori and Uncle Ron making some noise at the game

Thursday

We have been trying to keep busy lately without spending too much money since I am not working and Gary is on temporary layoff...soon to be permenant. That's not really working out so well, but we are trying. So today Sean and I went to Barnes & Noble for their storytime. The story lady is so nice and you can tell she loves what she does because she just gets so excited to read to them. She does a song with the kids and reads a couple books based on the theme of the day. Then she shows the kids the craft they can make. Today we read about kisses and Sean made some lollipop valentine's cards and then he got a goody bag filled with treats and a pencil. After storytime, he played with the train table there and I got to talk to some of the other moms.
For lunch we took my Dad out since we haven't really seen him too much lately, actually since Christmas I think. We went to Friendly's so of course we got some ice cream. Sean got his and as he was eating it he said, "What is this fuzzy stuff on my ice cream? It is great!" That "fuzzy stuff" was whipped cream, lol. He's crazy....and funny. Poor Lexi missed out because she was in school though. She did get to go out the other night though with Grandpa before she got her blue belt in karate. She is so proud of herself and I am proud of her too!

Weighing in

Alana has been sick off and on for a few weeks now with a little cold. I brought her to the doctor a little over a month ago and they said it was just a cold and there wasn't much they could do, but that I could bring her in the bathroom with the steam and that might clear her up a little. So then she got better and last week and this week she has been pulling on her ears so I brought her back to the doctor today. She has double ear infections and they tested her for RSV but it came back negative. She does have to have treatment on the nebulizer a couple times a day though because she sounds all congested and that should help. She is such a happy baby though! Even though she is sick, she still smiles and laughes at everything. We weighed her while she was there and she now weighs 16 lbs. 7 oz. at 9 months, which is a little on the small side.

She also got her first tooth 2 days ago and it looks like her 2nd one will be coming through soon too. That same day she got her tooth, Alexis lost her very first baby tooth. That is completely weird to me that one lost her 1st tooth and the other got it, same bottom tooth too. Alexis was so excited that it finally came out after it being loose for a while. She ran right to her room to put her tooth under her pillow and fell fast asleep for the tooth fairy to come. This is my first tooth fairy experience and I quickly learned that it is not easy. I could not find where she put the tooth, took me 2 attempts and about 15 minutes, but I finally found it, took it and replaced it with $5. Yes, it seems a lot to me too, but it was such a big deal to her and we told her she probably will only get that much for the 1st tooth. She was so excited the next day when she found that the tooth fairy came, except for the part about the tooth fairy taking the tooth. She really, really wanted to keep her tooth. So all day yesterday all I heard from her is, "I really really really hope the tooth fairy knows how much I want my tooth back. Maybe if I keep wishing it all day she will bring it back to me. " And so the tooth fairy made another trip to the house last night to return the tooth back under the pillow. Happy Lexi! Oh and I also promised that when that tooth actually came out that we would go see the Tooth Fairy movie that is playing now. So sometime this week or weekend I am going to have to go see that with the kids, not very excited about that, but they are.

I don't know exactly when it happened, but Alexis is at the point of getting too "grown up" to hang out with me apparently. Gary & I brought the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese's on Monday and she was hanging out with a friend's son who just turned 10. She was walking around with him and playing games and they were sharing tokens and getting tickets together. At one point I went up to her to try to play a game with her and talk to her and she said to me, "I don't really want to play with you mom" and then she walked away to follow the boy. :(

At least my little Seany & Alana aren't too old to hang out with their Mommy. Sean is such a comedian...he does anything and says the silliest things to make people laugh. Last night he was wearing Lexi's earmuffs around the house with a stick in one hand and a stuffed animal in the other. He was marching all over the house waving the stick in the air saying he was in the parade. He looked so funny.

My Lana-Bana is still my little peanut but doing so much more. She loves dancing now and any music she hears she stops what she was doing and sways back and forth. She will also pull herself up and hold onto the couch and bop up and down. I really need to get that on the camcorder because it makes me smile.

My life

random thoughts:
I have realized that I am like the oldest 29 year ever! Or at least I feel that way sometimes...That being said, I am trying to teach to myself how to knit. I am not sure why or what the need would be, but I like a challenge and this is turning out to be one. I have been watching "how to" videos and whatever I am trying to do is turning out to look like a very sloppy Barbie-sized pillow. I definitely need a lot more practice.

What made me smile today? My funny children and the things they say...
After leaving Lowes today Sean was carrying a booklet of tile colors and he opened it and said as cute as can be "according to my chart, we should get 44 pizzas for dinner" What 3 year old says "according"?
Earlier Alexis and Sean were playing together downstairs and Sean starting whining. Gary asked them what was wrong and Alexis said, "oh nothing, just Sean being all dramatic!"

Cheeeeeeeese

So, I have been meaning to get the kids pictures taken, but I have been so busy it never happened. A few days ago I decided that it just wasn't going to happen and I wasn't going to send Christmas cards either because I just didn't have enough time.

Tonight I changed my mind and dressed up the kids to have a mini photo shoot in front of the tree before bedtime. They hung in there for a little while before getting too antsy. I think a got a few cute ones though. Here are my cute little children:

I've been a bad blogger...

I haven't updated this blog in over a month! So, if anybody is still out there and checking in on us, this is some of what has been going on:







we got together to say "goodbye" to Grandma and Grandpa before they went back to Florida for the winter.



Here is Alana with her Great Grandma



Alana with Aunt Kim

Alexis, Sean, Alana with their Poppi

Aunt Lori & Alana

I have decided to make my own baby food for Alana now that she is old enough to eat some fruits and veggies. This is my first batch of babyfood I made, yummy squash she kind of liked. She ate it, but green beans has been her favorite so far. The doctor said to give her 2 servings of food on top of nursing all day because she is a little on the small side still. My little 7 month old is 14 lbs. 8oz.

Love this picture of Alana looking at her big sister so intently while she is reading.

Lexi's Thanksgiving turkey we all made. Everybody wrote 3 things we were thankful for and added it to the turkey centerpiece.

Sean and Alexis with their Uncle B on turkey day





Going up "Christmas Tree Mountain" as Lexi called it when she was so much smaller.

Finding the perfect tree is always a fun family task

Gary meeting his best friend's baby on his birthday. Little Kayleigh Rose is so cute. What a nice birthday present for Gary!

Happy 29th Birthday!

Alexis, Sean & Alana in front of our newly decorated tree. I just love having our tree up!!!

Gary & I out celebrating my big old 29th birthday! We went bowling with a bunch of friends. Well it was a little more drinking than bowling, but I had so much fun!

Me and the girls...love them!!!

Lights on the Lake is a birthday tradition that I love to keep up. The kids loved it this year, especially Sean who has been obsessing over all the Christmas lights lately.

After Lights on the Lake, we went out with the family to Ichiban, one of my favorite places to eat. It was so good! Sean loved trying out the chopsticks and watching them cook. He got a little nervous about the fire right in front of him though.

Enjoying the yummy food!

Alexis got her purple belt in Karate! So proud of her!

My baby is standing! She is only 7 months old!!! Stop trying to do everything so stinking early Alana! She pulls herself up onto everything now and is trying to walk holding onto the couches.