Professional Pictures!

Last week, Stewart and I decided it was time to get new pictures taken of our family. Our walls and fireplace mantel had been crying out for weeks! It used to be so easy, with just Maya. Honestly, how could going from one child to two, be so difficult? If it wasn't one of the girls having a serious melt down, it seemed like Stewart or I was getting frustrated that it was taking too long. In the end, when it was over and we saw our pictures we were very happy.

Brooklyn might be smiling in this photo, but do you notice her middle finger? Neither Stewart or I noticed until we went to publish this post. OH WELL.

The time has gone by so fast. It is hard to believe that Brooklyn is already 3 and a half months old. Maya is a great sister and has adapted so well to Baby B.

SURPRISE!!

Today we got a special surprise from mother nature...about 2:30 this afternoon, I looked outside and saw SNOW falling. It was awesome! Stewart had just gotten home from work, and it didn't take long, until Maya asked to go out and "see snow." So Stewart bundled Maya up, and she and I took a windy, cold and blustery walk around the block.

Leaving our house. Good thing for my back, that once we started down the driveway, Maya wanted to walk on her own.

"Look mommy, Maya make boot prints in the snow."

"Snow falling fast. Let's make more boot prints."

Maya loved watching the cars drive by. Every time a car passed, she would get all excited and say, "car made tracks in the snow mommy."

Since the snow was blowing so hard in our faces, I suggested that we walk backwards. Maya thought this was so cool. When I suggested that we turn around and walk normally, she said, "Maya like walking backwards, it's funny mommy!"

As we were approaching our home, Maya asked if I could make a letter in the snow. I made lots of O's, M's, A's, C's, and B's. Every time, I got done with one letter, Maya was quick to ask for another.

When we got home, Maya wanted to see her turtle sandbox. We walked up our driveway and she said, "take lid off to see if sand has snow on it?" I had to do a lot of convincing that the sand wouldn't have snow on it, because the lid was on the sandbox. Luckily, I did a good job, because a few minutes later, she said, "Maya go inside and see my baby." (She now calls baby Brooklyn, Maya's baby)

After getting our wet clothes off, daddy put on Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who. Daddy had a great time cuddling up with Maya.

I went out a few hours later and this is what our house looked like. There was a good 4-5 inches!

Daddy will have to get up a few minutes early tomorrow morning to clear his car off.

When I put Maya down for bed tonight, she looked out her window and said, "I am going to go sledding in the morning on Maya's snow." I kissed her goodnight and said, "we will have to see if the snow melts or not." Maya was quick to say, "snow won't melt at Maya's house." I hope it won't, or we will have one very unhappy girl. The forecast is for the snow to turn to rain. We will have to wait and see.

A NEW FAMILY TRADITION.....

A couple of weeks ago, I was at the store and I overheard a lady telling her young little girl (maybe a year or so older than Maya) that they were going to start a new tradition at their home. I was very curious what she was going to show her, so I walked a little closer to them and saw that she was picking up a gingerbread house kit. I smiled at the lady and said, "great idea." I then walked away and continued my shopping. A few minutes later, I caught myself smiling and thinking that it would be an awesome tradition to start at our house. When I finished shopping, I went back over to the gingerbread house display and picked one up. I was so excited. When I got home, I told Stewart, "I would like to start a new family tradition." I pulled the gingerbread house kit out and smiled. He quickly replied, "have fun, I bet Maya will love it."

So, last weekend, I pulled it out. It was a rainy weekend, and I figured that it would be a great time to make it....

Putting the frame of the house together. Maya liked putting the frosting (or what I called "glue") on the pieces.

Holding the frame together. I had to keep reminding her not to push to hard!

While waiting for our roof to dry; Maya and I decided to try the frosting.

Working to put candy on the other half of the roof. I put the "glue" on and Maya chose the candy and the colors.

Putting the buttons on our gingerbread man.

Decorating the tree.

After two days and about 10 hours, we finally finished.

Check out the funny headband that Maya is wearing. When she wears it, she likes to say, "Maya is a cool dude!"

The front of the house.

One side of our house.

The back of the house.

The other side of the house.

The gingerbread men, our tree and our pathway leading to the front door.

What daddy thought of the whole project!

I am looking forward in doing it again next year, but I am hoping (just hoping) that something will be different:

That daddy will help a little more and be a little more excited about it when we are done!

And the emmy goes to....

Brooklyn! Yep that's right. I think we have an actress. The other night, Stewart and I put Maya down to sleep and decided to watch TV. During one of the commercials, we noticed Brooklyn was asleep but moving around like CRAZY! We watched for a few minutes, before we ran to get the camera.

"Could you please turn off the light?"

"Don't even think about taking my binky!"

"Phew, what a busy day. Sleeping, eating and pooping is exhausting!"

"Alright, I surrender. I will let you take this one picture, but that is it!"

"Someone in this room passed gas and didn't say excuse me. Who was it?"

"Thanks a lot mom, I think you gave me your headache."

An actress or not, we have absolutely fallen in love with Brooklyn. Maya has done really well with the transition and can't stop touching and kissing her. In return, Brooklyn loves looking at Maya.

Happy Thanksgiving

From our family to yours, hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! This year is extra special because not only do Stewart and I have another beautiful daughter, but Maya has a little sister. Things with us are busy as we are trying to adjust to our new "normal" life.

"Big sister Maya hold baby Brooklyn"

The time has come.....

to introduce you to our newest daughter Brooklyn Nicole. Brooklyn was born on October 4, 09 in Philadelphia. Five days after she was born, we all three traveled back to Philly to meet her. It was love at first sight! She weighed 7lbs 2 oz's and 19 inches long. She was born with brown hair and brown eyes. We were told before we flew out to meet her, that the paperwork was going to take a few weeks to complete. There was no way possible for us to stay for weeks, but we went for a few days. We had such a wonderful time meeting and bonding with Baby B. It was very hard to fly home without our newest daughter, but it was what we had to do. The next few weeks were difficult, but we stayed focused in getting our home ready and preparing Maya for when we got the call to come and get her.

Here are pictures of our first visit with Brooklyn in the hospital...

Mommy holding Baby B for the first time.

Daddy in seventh heaven! This was his first time holding Brooklyn.

I was able to give Brooklyn a bath. (Mommy couldn't stop crying). As Maya said, "mommy has happy tears!"

Mommy and Brooklyn had "quiet bonding" time. This was one of our favorite pictures.

Daddy enjoyed feeding baby B.

Brooklyn couldn't take her eyes off of daddy.

The next batch of pictures will be when I went to pick up Brooklyn. Stay tuned.....

If you haven't heard yet........

we have adopted another baby. Yep, that's right. Maya is going to be a BIG sister! Baby girl Brooklyn was born on October 4, 09 and we saw her in the hospital a few days later. She was born in Philly and the paperwork has taken so long! We just got the "all clear" last Friday, and our new baby girl will be joining our family early next week. We are all so excited and can't wait! It has been a VERY LONG 3 weeks!

Maya showing off one of her new shirts that her Auntie Jen bought.

If you couldn't read what the shirt said, here is a close-up.

"Baby Brooklyn coming to Maya's house!"

We will keep you posted......