Little brother

Not too much excitement to report after our last post...the days (and nights) are mostly filled with feedings and diaper changes. But let's face it, you're really here for pictures anyways, aren't you?

 Arrgh...Can't get this last one to turn the right way, but it's still worth sharing, even sideways!

Christmas pics aplenty coming in a few days...

And then there were two...

We apologize for the absence of a new post lately, but it's been a little busy around here.  Emma has been waiting a long time to wear this shirt, and she now gets to wear it proudly because Baby Brother is finally here!

Andrew Quinn was born on Thursday, December 2 at 2:44pm, at 38 weeks and 2 days.  He weighed in at 8 lbs and measured 21" long.  It's a good thing he didn't go the full 40 weeks, or he surely would have been over 9 lbs!  So far he is a pretty easy little guy, although he definitely has a set of lungs like Emma never did!

Emma meeting Andrew for the first time:

Emma has been an excellent big sister so far.  She loves to give Andrew kisses and hugs, and she always makes sure his pacifier is in his mouth the second he makes a little peep. 

We're going to keep this post fairly short and sweet, but we look forward to many future posts full of Emma & Andrews' excellent adventures!



Let the baking begin!

No pictures to share from Thanksgiving, but we definitely made sure to cover all of the bases -- Daddy & Emma went over to Grandma & Grandpa K's house, and Mommy (& baby brother) went to Grandma & Grandpa H's house. But before we went our separate ways, we spent the morning watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade...a turkey day institution.

So now that Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas season is upon us. Since we have a new family member arriving sometime in the next few weeks, I decided it would be best to go ahead and get some Christmas cookies made in advance...after all, Christmas without cookies is just not Christmas! Emma and I made some reindeer cookies this afternoon. Turns out she is an excellent nose and eye applier.

After all of that hard work, it was only fair to let Emma be the taste tester.

She says they are good.  The rest of you can decide for yourselves in a few weeks!

Thanksgiving lunch

Mommy and Daddy got a special treat today. We got to meet up with Emma at school for a Thanksgiving feast, preschool-style!

All of the kids wore their special fall-themed headdresses, complete with feathers.


The teacher had them recite the Pledge of Allegiance for the parents. They all get way into it. Very cute!

Then, each kid found their seat at the table by looking for their own handmade placemat, which they had decorated with things that they are thankful for. Can you tell what Emma's favorite toy is right now?


Before they eat lunch every day, they sing the "Open, Shut Them" song. That's what they are doing here:


Then we all got to chow down on turkey and all the fixings. It was way better than Mommy or Daddy's usual weekday lunch break!

Teacher Emma & Mommy Emma

Emma has been very caught up lately in playing "teacher" or "mommy" with her stuffed animal "kids." She reads them books for storytime, she feeds them all lunch, and then she lays them all down for naps. It's pretty cute to watch her when she doesn't realize anyone is paying attention. She can be very...um...authoritative with her students/kids sometimes! The other day I overheard her telling the stuffed monkey, "You are driving me bonkers! Do you hear me? BONKERS!" Wonder where she gets this stuff...

Today, she was being "mommy" and lining her "kids" up on the stairs for their nap time. Out of the blue, she said, "Wow! I can't believe I have FOUR kids!" I said, "I can't believe you have four kids, either!" I didn't realize I was a grandma at all, much less four times over!


Baby Brother Update: Had my 36 week appointment today. I am not yet starting to dilate, but probably will be starting soon, according to the OB. It's pretty much up to Baby Brother at this point to decide when it's time, but the rest of us are definitely ready whenever he is. Emma asks at least once a day, "Is today the day we get to meet Baby Brother?" We keep trying to explain that we don't know when...that it's going to be a surprise, but if she keeps asking, one of these days she will be right!

4 year check up

We made our annual visit to the pediatrician's office today for Emma's 4 year check-up. She is in the 50th percentile for both height and weight, and she got an "A plus" from Dr. Dewling, who said she is healthy, smart, and very polite. This year's check-up included a few new items, like a vision and hearing screening (both went perfectly), and for the first time, Emma got to experience peeing in a cup. Exciting!

While we are posting, last Sunday we had a baby shower at our house, hosted by Grandma & Grandpa H. We had lots of family and friends over, and Emma got to wear one of her "Big Sister" shirts. Can you tell who was eating Doritos?



We had a nice time visiting with everyone, and we got some wonderful gifts for Baby Brother. Emma and I have one more shower to attend, a brunch this Sunday given by some of the ladies on our street, and then we pretty much just have to get everything put away and wait for Baby Brother to make his debut. Let's hope time flies!

Trick or treat!

Emma had a great time trick-or-treating tonight. All afternoon, she kept asking if it was dark enough outside to go...even at 3:00, with the sun shining bright! Finally, around 6:00, she put on her costume, and we set out for a long stroll down the street with the wagon, while Daddy stayed behind to hand out candy.



She did pretty well, and she brought home a pretty good haul for a little kiddo. After we were done, she had just as much fun passing out the candy to the kids who came to our door!

And now, understandably, she is sleeping soundly. I think Mommy will be doing the same very soon...

Fall festival fun

Emma is slowly recovering from her illness earlier this week, but she is definitely making sure it doesn't stop her from enjoying the fun of Halloween weekend! Last night, she and Alex had a sleepover a Grandma & Grandpa K's house. From what we hear, they had lots of fun. They definitely wore her out -- she came home and crashed on the couch for several hours today!

When she woke up, it was time to head over to her school for the Fall Festival. By the time we arrived, we were too late to enter her in the costume contest. I'm sure she would have won otherwise. (maybe I am biased?) She was a little overwhelmed with all of the parents and students walking around the school in their costumes, but once she got used to the chaos, she ended up having a really good time.

They had some beanbag toss games going on in Emma's classroom. Her teacher, Ms. Kathy, came over and took her by the hand and helped her win a prize.

In case you can't see her costume well, she is a ballerina with a magic wand and sparkly wings. We'll get some better pictures tomorrow with the fancy schmancy camera.

In another room, one of the other teachers she sees every day was giving out Halloween tattoos. Emma chose a pair of google eyes, and then got extremely shy while Ms. Sarah was putting it on.
Daddy told her to smile for the camera. This was the best smile we could get out of her! Maybe the sponge was cold or something.

Afterwards, she was all smiles and happy to show off her new Halloween tattoo!
She and Daddy also went through a haunted house in the gym. Must not have been too spooky because she came out smiling. I think her favorite part of the festival was the book fair setup at the end. She was allowed to choose one book. To no one's surpise, she chose a Dora book, which we have already read at least three times since this afternoon.

Now it's off to get our rest so that we can be ready for tomorrow's festivities -- pumpkin carving and trick or treating!

Birthday bug

Well, this was supposed to be a post all about what a fun day Emma had on her birthday, taking special cookies for her classmates, wearing the special "Birthday Girl" ribbon at school, and having her specially requested biscuits-and-eggs birthday dinner. Instead, we were all up at 3am, learning the hard way that Emma must have picked up some sort of stomach bug. She so badly wanted to go to school today, but Mommy and Daddy knew better.

She rested around the house most of the day, and after a marathon 3 1/2 hour nap, she woke up feeling much better. Of course, it probably also helped that she woke up and got to open her birthday presents -- that will put anyone in a better mood!

One cute story: when she woke up later this morning, she said, "Mom, is it my actual birthday?" I said, "Yes, you're four now!" She thought for a moment, wrinkled her brow, and said, "But I don't feel any older than I did yesterday." I think she expected to wake up this morning with a whole new four-year-old perspective on life!

Happy birthday to our sweet Emmy. We love you!

Public service announcement

We now interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging to bring you a brief important message about fire safety.

A few weeks ago, they were talking about fire safety in Emma's preschool class, and they learned about "Stop, Drop, and Roll." That evening, I thought I'd quiz her on what she'd learned that day. It went something like this...

Mom: Hey Em, what do you need to do if your clothes catch on fire?

Em: Buy new clothes.


Ba-dum-bum.

Cake all around

Emma had some of her friends over on Saturday for her very special art-themed birthday party. We were fortunate enough to have perfect weather, so the kids got to do art projects outside. They decorated their own crowns with markers and glitter, made very colorful foam monsters, and did some scratch-off Halloween decorations.

Instead of a birthday cake, Emma and her guests each got to decorate their own cupcake with a variety of toppings.

Since it was her party, Emma was allowed to help choose the toppings at the store. She insisted on gummy worms. I thought they would never work on top of cupcakes, but they turned out to be the topping of choice for just about all of the kiddos! Emma's cupcake ended up having dolphin sprinkles, star sprinkles, 3 gummy worms, some pink gel icing, and a mountain of mini chocolate chips. She said it was super yummy...we took her word for it.

We didn't get too many pictures, so we'd love to see some from those of you that might have gotten a few more good shots!

Emma had a great time and was so happy to spend the day with her friends. Thursday is the actual big day, so that's when she'll open the gifts from Mommy & Daddy and eat the birthday dinner she requested: eggs and biscuits.

Emma's not the only one who's been having parties thrown in their honor around here. My coworkers had a baby shower last week for Baby Brother. There aren't any pictures of the event, but they were sweet enough to order a cake from the amazingly talented lady who made Emma's farm cake last year, and she posted some pictures on her blog. Can you believe this is actually made out of cake and frosting?There was a little bit of confusion about the theme of the nursery, which my coworkers thought was blue and brown with monkeys (it's not), but it was such an adorable cake! And just like last year...totally delicious!

And speaking of Baby Brother, we are still working agreeing upon a name we both like for this kid. The other night, we asked for Emma's input. Her first idea for a name: "Rysee" (pronouced "RISE-ee") -- not sure where that one came from. Her second thought: "Little Bittle" -- maybe not first name material, but I definitely smell a nickname!

The farm & the fair

Between Halloween, Emma's birthday, and other activites, this is a hectic time of year for us. Yesterday was no exception. In the morning, we went to pick out our pumpkins. We invited Grandma & Grandpa K to go along with us. Emma not only picked out her own pumpkin, but also was charged with the important task of choosing one for Baby Brother as well.

There were some goats you could feed, but Emma wasn't too keen on sticking her hand up to their mouths. I can't say I blame her -- they were some pretty eager goats! She tried to see how many little pumpkins she could carry at once...I think she made it to 5. The pumpkin farm we visited is also a Christmas tree farm in December. The rows of trees were so pretty, and you could smell the pine in the air!We took a hayride that stopped at a pond where you could feed the fish. These were some very well-fed catfish!

We headed home with two perfect pumpkins and took a short rest before heading out to the Cumming Country Fair for the evening. Last year, the only thing Emma was brave enough to try was the merry-go-round. This year, she gave the Nemo ride a try and loved it.

Of course, we had to do the merry-go-round again, although she insisted on riding on a bench rather than on a horse.

She would have ridden more, but Mommy & Daddy were just about out of money -- fair prices aren't what they used to be back when we were kids! $5.00 for a corn dog??? Emma thoroughly enjoyed being allowed to eat popcorn (and a few bites of Mommy's corn dog) for dinner. I had a really cute picture of her cheeks full of popcorn, but for some reason I can't get it off of the camera. Anyways, a good time was had by all, and we all slept well last night after a very full day!

Scarecrow Harvest

We had perfect fall weather for a trip to the Scarecrow Harvest in Alpharetta on Saturday. Emma was so excited to see all of the silly scarecrows! We took a stroll up and down Alpharetta Highway and picked our favorites.
The Mad Hatter

Emma hanging out with Buzz and Woody

Emma liked this one. It's supposed to be one of the guys from the "Despicable Me" movie.

Mario

The King

There was one pair of scarecrows decorated as dancers, with some record albums hanging around them. Emma had tons of fun spinning them around. When I asked her if she knew what they were, she said, "No. Are they CDs?" Tim tried to explain, but I'm pretty sure she couldn't have cared less!

After taking in the scarecrows, we moseyed through the farmers' market. We didn't buy anything this time -- they were sold out of Tim's favorite salsa -- but they did have some gorgeous flowers for sale that Emma wanted to check out for herself.

After we got home, we had some fun in the backyard with the soccer ball and some cones. Emma really seems to be figuring out this whole soccer thing!