Jack's 10 months old!

Happy 10 months lil' buddy. I know it's been a rough go lately, but we love you!!

(Pardon the boogers seeping from his happy little face!)

(Oh, and by the way, Kate wrote his sign all by herself this time - with spelling help only)

Happy Birthday Ella!

Ella turned ONE last week, and we celebrated a little early to get it in before the holiday commotion. The theme was Dr. Seuss, and the kids had a ball...

The hit, however, were the water bottles - why wouldn't they be?!?! - and there was a tussle a few times between these two chompers!

Looks like Ella won - Happy Birthday Lil Lady!!

Longwood Gardens @ Christmas-time...

We ventured up to Longwood Gardens with the Judy crew a few weeks ago to check out their Christmas trees/lights...which sounded like a GREAT idea, until we realized that in order to see the lights in all their splendor, it is REALLY DARK outside, with few lighted paths or other ways of keeping track of wandering curious children! It was beautiful, and a nice chilly night out for the holiday season!

Those silly girls...

Puffs make everyone happy!

Kate was sporting a Leah outfit, right down to those awesome boots!

Yay! Someone else's toys to play with!

Is it mean that we use one of Kate's old pink pacifiers for Jack sometimes? :o)

Isaac's best efforts at swinging on his own are done face-down, and he's totally fine with that!

Bundled up at the Towson playoff game!

Quick cuddle with Daddy at Longwood Gardens...

This just doesn't happen with our kids, but we must have shopped enough to wear him out pretty good, and Jack was sacked! .... and HEAVY!!

Just keep dancing!

And despite being sick, and a busy semester's end, the girl just loves to dance through it all!

I'd be remiss if I didn't note that the last two months or so have been a little rough for our little family. Jack came down with his first ear infection in late October that went away in a few days, but came back a week later...and then stuck around for a month! After 4 medications, we finally kicked its butt, but not without a trip to the ENT to discuss tubes. Shortly after that was Thanksgiving, and the weekend after the holiday, Jack, Kate, and Mommy all had a vomiting episode. All seemed well until the end of that same week Kate had issues coming out the other way (I know, ew!) that wiped her out. The girl's been sick only once in her life, so it was hard for her to take, but she sure tried to be a trooper through it all. Just as we were happy to get our happy girl back this past weekend, Jack woke up with a fever. We're watching for the ear tug but nothing yet.

Whew. So, my point is this - it seems we have very few pictures from the last few months. It certainly explains my lack of posting. And below I was able to find some happy faces that make me smile, despite the rough patch.

One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you!

We've got another early walker! Jackson took his first steps just days after he was 9 months, and slowly teetered and tottered his way to full-blown walking status this month! Here's a glimpse of some of the first...

And this is more recently. Now he succeeds with excited hand motions and walking at the same time!

Storyville!

Katelyn LOVES the library. And even more than she loves the library, she love love loves a library that has a kids' area that lets her play house, kitchen, grocery shopping, etc. Storyville is a pretty cool play area in one of the local Baltimore libraries, and we decided to spend some time there on Black Friday rather than go shopping....

Happy Thanksgiving #2!!

We visited the Fotiou fam in PA for a 2nd Thanksgiving...

Nana holding her babes...

Jack enjoying some Turkey day veggies like a big boy...

Who doesn't love a good dress-up session!

Jack's 9 months old!

Jack was 9 months old back in November and it was once again a difficult feat to produce a decent picture... Hence the sign taped way up high!

• 20 lbs 6 oz (54%) and 28.5 inches (68%)
• 6 teeth fully in (4 on top, 2 on bottom)
• Pulling up and cruising all over the place, taking steps with help
• Clapping and "dancing" to music or when excited - basically gyrates his belly and upper body up and down!
• Loves peek-a-boo, chasing Kate, and anything that makes noise
• Bathes in big tub with Kate
• Had first of two ear infections that lasted 6 weeks (ugh!)
• 7pm-5:30am some of the month, until ear infections hit.....then worse :(
• 
  

We're alive and kicking!

To prove the point of a busy fall delaying my updates, here are some pics of us watching some football. We've been lucky enough to enjoy some success this season with Tony Stewart (I apologize for that post being the forefront for WAY too long, there was a reason it made the blog before other things, but I digress...), the Ravens continuing a winning season, and our Towson Tigers going from worst to first and winning the CAA Championship and hosting their first FCS playoff game. Whew...