From Paul III's camera

For his birthday, Paul III got a kid's camera. Here are some of his recent pictures.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated Thanksgiving this evening with Gram, BB, Aunt Char and Uncle Charles (who are now official New Oxford, PA, residents!)- it was a very nice Thanksgiving and we send our love to all of our family and friends as well!
Kaitlyn is still trying to learn to walk:
The family picture which won't be on our Christmas card:
Kaitlyn and Aunt Char:
Paul III and Kaitlyn waiting for dinner (one of them was more content to wait!):
Yes, their outfits were matching (daddy's idea):
Gram and Paul III up to no good:

All I want for Christmas...

Oh wait- I already have them- my two front teeth :) (the top ones just arrived last week). Coming soon we'll try to get video of Paul III's rendition of "Jingle Bells."
Paul wanted to share his new building blocks with Kate this morning, so he dumped the bucket out for both of them.
Kate quickly got bored....
Especially when she could quickly crawl over to see what I was doing with the camera....

80% feels great!

Paul and I both commented at breakfast this morning that after 7 days of sickness (and being out of work sick all week), we're both back at feeling over 80%- and somehow this feels great. We have a little longer until we're at full strength, but it was also nice to see little Paul truly happy again (he went back to daycare thurs/fri which allowed us to rest a bit more as well). We all ended up with H1N1 (which Kaitlyn's dr is pretty confident she also had even though she had two negative tests last week), and I also added a nasty case of strep throat to it.
Our week in pictures....
the family medicine area (no need for a kitchen counter on which to cook when you're not hungry):
Paul's medicine area next to his bed for night-time (apparently walking to the kitchen was way too much so he used a baggie taped to his dresser):
Our kitchen table... who knows what we forgot to do this week (my favorite item are Kaitlyn's purple socks at the far end):
A good picture- Kaitlyn headed at full speed towards a tower little Paul had built the night before and left for her in the living room.

What we learned this weekend.....

Although Kaitlyn was sick almost all of last week (3 dr's visits, 2 negative flu tests, 1 negative strep test, bloodwork and 4 days at home with mommy and daddy), she was the only member of our family to spend the weekend fever and yucky-feeling free.

A few things Paul and I learned this weekend as we were both sick and trying to take care of the kids (including P3 who started to feel sick Saturday night):
1- Two sick parents does not add up to one healthy, full-powered parent.
2- When your partner says "I need to lie down" it means they felt bad 15 minutes earlier but waited to say something- since they knew their counterpart had just gotten out of bed.
3- When medicine says "take every 4-6 hours," you will feel crummy again after about 3 and wonder "is it really that bad to mix cold medicine, tylenol, advil and alleve? None of them seem to be working."
4- Staying in bed to watch the 2nd hour of Sesame Street in one day is maybe not going to win you a parent of the year contest, but it allows for both parents to rest while snuggling with a sick 3-year old (as long as one parent is still relatively awake!).
5- When all you're doing is staring at the clock waiting for naptime and bedtime, time goes very slowly.
6- When your feverish son asks for hot dogs for dinner, you make them. But you know that he's still not feeling great when he doesn't even finish the first one.
7- Your medicine cabinet is stocked with every medicine for your children imaginable, but none which aren't out-of-date for adults.

But what we learned the most was that no matter how yucky you feel, a smile like this can always make you feel better (at least for a few seconds!):

Happy 3rd Birthday

Saturday night we celebrated Paul's birthday with a party at the house with lots of family and friends. Here are 2 pictures with more to come later in the week...Check out the homemade tractor cake

Halloween 2009

Trick or Treat! We headed to Gram and BB's neighborhood for Trick-or-Treating, since as little Paul noted on the way home, there aren't any street lights on our road (or sidewalks).
Kaitlyn came with us in her stroller and Paul got braver at each house- by the end he asked to visit a few more and would ring the doorbell by himself. He certainly knew that candy would be available if he said 'trick or treat'. Our pictures may be better for the blooper real, though.
Paul more excited about the earphones in the garage than trick or treating- these were added to his costume for part of the night:
"Mommy, Kaitlyn hit my nose"
"Are we really taking another picture... really"
Headed to the first house. Note the clouds in the background... I got an extra jog in running back for an umbrella after 15 minutes.


The best part of the night may have been BB trying to decide if our presence at their house resembles more of a tornado or a drive by... albeit a happy one, but a bit louder and busier than normal, especially since Kaitlyn is quiet and quick-moving these days!