End of Slacking!

Having three kids is keeping me busier than I was prepared for, so sorry about the major delay in postings.  Here are some of the BIG things that have happened in the last 90 days:

1.  We moved into our new house!  We moved in about August 20th and it's been great.  Going from our small starter house to three finished floors has been SOOOOO nice.  We can spread out and finally get all of our belongings back from "storage" (the basements of our kind family members).  Keeping a bigger house tidy has also been part of why my blogging has been so sparse.

2.  Fiona is 5 months old now!  She's eating cereal and crawling - two momentous milestones.  She still can't sit up (which normallly comes before crawling), but she's certainly good at getting around. . . ready or not!

3.  Grace started kindergarten at Our Lady of Lourdes.  She loves it and it's been great to watch her grow so much and learn so fast.  The half-day program has turned out to be a wonderful schedule for our family.  Grace is also taking dance class once a week.  In fact, she's taking from Miss Sue who taught me sooo many years ago.

4.  Lincoln has also started a school experience.  Since we're now living in Visitation's parish, he's going to Sunday school during 10:30 mass.  He loves it and really looks forward each week to being a big boy who goes to school.

There are lots of other exciting and not-so-exciting things that have happened between then and now, but it's more fun to just look at a few pictures :)

Fiona's Baptism

We welcomed another tiny member into the Church this Sunday.  Fiona was baptized at Our Lady of Visitation after 12:15 mass.  Her godmother is Daddy's Aunt Suzanne, and her godfather is Uncle Kyle.  Because we're in the middle of moving, we had the "after party" at Nana and Papa's house. 

It was a great afternoon and even though Fiona was a little cranky for the ceremony, I think a little holiness still rubbed off on her.

Summer is Flying By

and we are trying to enjoy every moment of it.  Here are a few pics from the River and a fun adventure-day we had downtown.

Baptism coming soon . . .

Beautiful Baby

I think that these pictures speak for themselves about how happy, healthy, perfect, chaotic, fulfilling, overwhelming, amusing, and busy our family has been since Fiona was born last week.

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She's Finally Here

World, meet Fiona Marie.  Born 06.22.12, at a healthy 8 lbs 7 oz.

We are so blessed!

This One's for Papa

It was pointed out to me recently that I've been slacking on updating some of the exciting things going on around here.  Constructive criticism is always appreciated :). 
SO, here are some photos from the last couple of weeks

Grace turned 5!

We went to our first Reds game of the season!

The 2012 'River Season' was kicked off on Memorial Day Weekend!

And had a GREAT day riding the rides at Coney Island!

a BIG day

Two significant events have occured in the last 48 hours:
#1  Lincoln went an entire day in 'big boy undies' and kept them dry!  Hip hip hooray!  He's been waking up dry for the last couple of days, so I decided to let him try the undies (since we were going to be home most of the day); and it worked!  Linc now willingly pees on the potty, but not so much for going poop.  It's a step in the right direction though. . . .

#2  I have officially began preparing our home for the arrival of Baby Girl.  I've been putting it off, hoping we would sell this house and unpack the baby stuff in our new home, but that possibility has all but disappeared.  So, last night Grace and I unloaded some drawers that had basically been junk storage and made room for all the infant clothes that will soon be retrieved from storage.  Very exciting!  In about one more week we'll start the process of hauling out the swing, the bassinett, the baby carseat, etc.  HOLY SMOKES!!

Getting Ready for Baby

Since the house is still on the market (until the contract expires in a few weeks), we haven't unpacked any of the baby stuff - hoping to keep the house as tidy as possible - so there hasn't been much in the way of baby-prep . . . until today.
This morning we attended Christ Hospital's "Super Sibling Class" - a fun chance for Grace and Linc to "learn" a few things about what it will be like to have a new baby and to see the hospital where Mommy will go when it's time for her to be born.  The kids each brought a baby doll and got to change a diaper, learn to swaddle and give a bottle.  Grace was very attentive and involved (and surprisingly knowledgeable thanks to her experience caring for favorite baby doll Rose and cousin Lucy).  Lincoln was not quite as good at paying attention, but hey, he gave it his best shot.  We all had a great time.

 Learning about big kid toys vs baby toys

 Changing a Diaper 101

 Lincoln has always been the snuggly one . . .

 Grace making friends with the other Big Sister in our class during the tour

PRECIOUS!!

And now, it's time to get ready for all of Grace's 5th birthday celebrations!!

Kid Quotes

Grace
Because of a recent family party, the kids were up especially late one night.  On her way down the hall toward her bed, Grace told us that she was so tired that her "throat was all out of laughs."  ♥

Lincoln
After dropping Grace at preschool, Linc and I were on our way home when he spotted a red sportscar parked in someone's driveway.  He observes, "Look at dat.  It only has one little door.  Prolly she [the woman climbing out of the car] doesn't have any kids."  Brilliant deduction my boy!!

In Your Dreams

Lincoln's most commonly used (and hilarious) phrase recently is:I was thinking in my bed if we could . . . .
followed by whatever scheme he's cooking up for the day:
go to Nana's house, have some Easter Candy, play outside at da park, watch a movie, etc.
Apparently, he does more thinking than sleeping.  Such a little philosopher :)

Easter 2012

Easter was beautiful again this year and we had a great time hopping from party to party to see all of our families.  After checking out what the Bunny left at our house, we started the morning with mass at St. Antoninus and then went to Mimi's for brunch:

Next stop was Grandma and Grandpa's to see the Edwards side of the family (where Linc took two spills onto the asphalt; hence the helmet and large bruise on his forehead):

For dinner we went to Grandma & Grandpa Smith's where we hung out until everyone was almost ready to fall asleep on their feet.  BUT the fun didn't end there . . . last stop of the day was Nana & Papa's.  Where (surprise, surprise) everybody ate more candy and relaxed:

Springtime Fun!

Fun even #1 - Edwards Easter Egg Hunt
Even though the forecast looked gloomy, we got really lucky and ended up having a beautiful day for the Second Annual Backyard Hunt.

Event #2 - Zoo Blooms
Sooo gorgeous!  Almost enough to motivate me to be a better gardener.  We ♥ spring!

Three Years Grown

Three years ago right this minute Lincoln was making his way into the world (officially born at 11:45 PM) - oh how time flies.To mark the occasion, we had a weekend full of parties - first Mommy's family came over for a grill out on Saturday.

And then we went to Aunt Mary's to celebrate with Daddy's family (also included everybody who had had a birthday in November, December, January, February and March).