One sleepy baby

Natalie was so tired today that she literally fell asleep in her high chair while eating her special "pasta". Yeah, the girl is special! I thought it was hysterical that the lil' thing just passed out, pasta sauce everywhere!

She had a rough day today and was very cranky. She bit me a few times so I'm assuming she's getting another tooth somewhere. She did say her first word today (besides mama, dada, and fa fa (flower). I will try to catch that on video for tomorrow! She says "Brother". It is the cutest thing because she walks around looking for Brendan.

I just got home from an outing at the Whole Foods section of Shaws. I found many things that are gluten free, wheat free, egg and dairy free that have rice flour in them. So this week we will try to reintroduce rice. Please wish her luck because she is at a point where she wants NOTHING to do with baby food. She wants to eat with the big kids! I'll keep ya updated!

Hair and the Grasshopper

Here is another video I shot of Della today which cracked me up. Oh boy, I'm going to have to do a video of the week so you guys wont' get bored!

What is that smell?

Here is a video of Della telling the world what is so smelly!

A new "do"

Yesterday I took Brendan and Samantha to the hairdressers (Barber shop) to get their school hair cuts.
Brendan is his usual, Samantha only took about an inch off. Delaney, seeing her sister get a hair cut, begged to let her get one as well. At first I said no, but the hairdresser turned around and looked at her frizzy mop and declared her hair to be "dead" at the bottom and that I should really cut it to even her out. So I did. Here is Della with her first big girl haircut, a bob! I cannot believe it. She loves it and keeps walking around saying how pretty she is. At first I thought it looked like someone stuck a bowl over her head, but it looks pretty when you mess it up a bit. LOL. Is this child not the clone of her father? It's Brian with a bob!

 

 

A very special present

Yesterday I opened my mail to find a very special present. It was a beautiful blanket from my friend, Kat, and it was inscribed "Happy 1st Birthday Natalie Paige". I have wrapped it around her every chance I get. The blanket brings back such sweet memories of my grandmother, Mema, who made blankets for all of my children when they were babies. She made one for Brendan, and although unable to knit when I was pregnant with Samma, she gave me one that she had started for me as a "just in case". When Delaney was born a friend from nursing school made her one, but Natalie didn't have that special blankie.

So thank you Kat for bringing me such a sweet memory on such a sweet day. Such a perfect gift for such a sweet little girl. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend to me and such an awesome "fairy godmother" to Natalie. It meant more than you will ever know.

So here is my angel sleeping with her blankie wrapped around her the same way I know my grandmother would have wrapped her arms around her. And here is a sweet photo of her sitting in a chair, blankie in the background.

 

 

The Birthday Cupcake.....

Well her 1st birthday is almost over and what fun she had. We made her special "gluten free" cupcakes and frosting (I only added water and no margarine or soy milk to the mix). She loved it as you can see. Natalie, however, has not had such a fabulous day. As you can probably see by looking at her skin and eyes, she has been in pain all day, scratching and breaking out in welts. So I have been giving her Benadryl, but the poor kid is still miserable. I thought she might be coming down with something, so let's keep our fingers crossed that she will be ok. Although itchy beyond belief, and with Benadryl not offering any relief, I'm hoping she makes it through the night without incident. Let's hope she feels better in the morning. She did however, love her cupcakes.......what do you think?

 

 

 

 

Where has the year gone?

Happy Birthday Natalie Paige Welch. At 6:45 p.m. on August 28th you came into the world. I cannot believe that a year has passed. I cannot believe that a year ago you came into the world hollering, screaming, pinched and swollen! How cute you have gotten my darling baby girl! The head full of hair, the bright blue eyes, the beautiful rosy cheeks and the pink bow lips. I love to just look at you every day. Life has been a challenge with you in our lives, but you have overcome many hurdles in your short-lived life. Through the allergies, the acid-reflux, the surgeries you have come through it all like a trooper. Now we are off to toddler land, where you are no longer that tiny little baby. You are, however, very mischevous and are so strong willed (much more than your siblings). You are cuddly, yet not too cuddly. You are happy, but need lots of attention. You are into everything and we call you "Whodini" for the cabinet locks you can undo, for the tactics of escaping the house that you pull off, and for the gates you can climb. You are truly a "spirited" child and I love you more than anything.

So happy 1st birthday baby girl. I love you too much.

Getting her cake and eating it too!

Here is a great shot of Natalie eating her "allergy" free cake made by Chris's wife Ann-Marie! I just love how beautiful it came out (it was MORE than I could have ever expected!!!!) and she just loved it. Every single bite of it! I should be getting my camera back today so I am going to take a bunch of photos of her playing with her new toys as well! She got a special "birthday book" from Ann-Marie and Chris which was handmade (I have only 1 of 3 ever made!!!!) and it was just fabulous! Words cannot express how beautiful and perfect it was. I will take photos of LiLi reading it and post them as soon as I can. She also got a wonderful set of building blocks which she loves (thanks cousin Tyler) and they have truly played with them for days now (Samma plays with the people and Della loves the blocks and Natalie just plays with it all). Right now she is dancing to the Lil' People SUV that Uncle chet & Auntie Ann gave her. I don't think I've ever seen my kids so happy (ok, at least for the moment. They'll be back to fighting in about 5 minutes. However, I'll take the five minutes!!!!). Well, thanks to everyone. Enjoy the photos!

Natalie's party

What a wonderful, wonderful time we had. It was a hot day so the pool party was a great idea suggested by Auntie Christy & Auntie Cindy. Thank you so much for the use of the house and the pool! We had a fabulous day.

Special thanks to Christy & Cindy for letting us use the house and pool.

Special thanks to Ann Marie & Chris Brock who made Natalie's Birthday Book which I will post more about later when I get my photos back (I will tell you it was the most fabulous book I have ever seen and I am privileged to be one of only 3 people in the world who has one!)- I will also say a huge thanks for making Natalie's "special" birthday cake! Thanks to you she was given the luxury of eating cake-this is just taken for granted in our culture and I'm glad that Natalie was able to obtain this "rite of passage". We had her dig right into her special "allergen free" birthday cake and it was awesome!!!! So thank you Ann for making her day as special as it could be!

Special thanks to my mom and dad! Mom, thanks for handling the kids in the pool all day and being so helpful so I could get things done! Dad: thanks for the meatballs, for helping out with Natalie, and for being the butler!!!! The party was such a success because of all the help we received from you all.

Another special shout out goes to Uncle Chet for making the fabulous mac n' cheese which I brought home and put in my fridge for breakfast, lunch & dinner today, tomorrow and the next day! You are truly the best.

Auntie Ellie: Thanks for the huge bowl of potato salad. It was fabulous and I cannot wait to eat some more of that later today too :) So much for weight watchers.

The day of fun in the sun was absolutely perfect and Natalie couldn't have been happier. Of course, we thought from all the excitement she'd pass right out, but the girl was up "Wired and hyper" flying through my house and ripping open gift bags until after 11:00 last night! Lordy! It was a great day though! Photos will follow soon!

Do you think they are related?

 

Here is Della with one of her favorite cousin's, Cortney. Cortney also happens to be my goddaughter who just turned 12 in August! Don't you just love the resemblance? The white hair. The blue eyes. They are the only two in the family that have such white hair!

Happy Birthday Best Friend

Happy 43rd Birthday Rita~ Happy Birthday to you! This is the latest photo I have of us.....I know we could do a lot better if you'd get your butt to Boston for a visit!
So get out of that hot tub in your shed, get into that car of yours and come hang out with me!!!! Miss you much and I hope you had a wonderful, wonderful day yesterday. Delaney says Happy Birthday to her godmother! Love ya.

The girls and grandma

Grandma came over and like a flock of baby ducks, they all made their way to grandma. They were fighting so bad over here that della went to smack samma off grandma and samma ducked and della hit grandma! As you can see if photo #2, grandma is holding her dear face. Then grandma decided was enough was enough and a headbutt ensued! You go grandma! They just love their grandma!

My little escape artist

My mom and I were sitting in the computer room when she realized Natalie was missing. Usually it's no big deal because she walks down the hallway and goes into Samma's room and plays with her toys. So of course, we walk down the hall looking for her and she's amongst the missing. I realize that the gate to the stairs was opened and my heart sank. All I could think of was LiLi being at the bottom of the stairs. So of course, I look down. She's not there! Wheeeeew. But where oh where is she? If I didn't have her replay it, I would swear one of my kids put her outside! We found her out in the driveway! She crawled down the stairs, and someone left my front door partially open. She opened it and walked right out to freedom. I didn't believe any of the kids when they said they didn't help her, so I put her at the top of the stairs (while I watched closely- of course I had grandma's camera..........). Here it is: the sequence of events.....not even one and she's trying to run away.

An Oldie but Goodie

Does Anyone remember Hans & Frans? They will "pump you up"!
Here is Brian and my dad sometime in the late 1990's. I'm gonna guess and say it
is 1998 or 1999. And they are being goofy "tough" guys. Oooooooooh
I ascared! LOL.
Just thought I'd pump up your morning! ha ha ha

Oh Grandma................

I need kisses! I really do. Where are you art though Grandma................Oh wait...is that a purple car I see? Come visit me Grandma....................please. Oh yeah, Brendan, Samma and Della want kisses too and they also miss Papa! Muah. Hugs n kisses.

Time sure does fly!

I have been looking at hotos for my timeline that I'm finishing
up for my psych2 class and low and behold I came across this photo.
Of course, I nearly cried because I remember when Brendan would just
sit in the high chair playing with his trucks for hours (and of course, Grandma
would be feeding him simultaneously!).

Hug your boys, hug your girls. You blink and they no longer play like this.
Brendan is still sweet and cuddly (my best cuddler actually) but he no longer
plays kid games anymore. He is into the baseball, basketball, sports stuff, video games
and it just made me realize that pretty soon, my son will be in the double digits! The big
1-0 this year!

Wow. A decade!

Mommy & Her Baby Girl

Seeing where my camera broke, (and I'm still waiting for my husband to send it out for repairs...sigh),
I dug into the photo pit on my computer. Here is one of my favorite photos. It was Natalie's first trip to the Rhode Island Zoo and she had so much fun. It was a beautiful day and as you can see, she loved being in the arms of her mama. My precious baby girl is growing up so fast!

The joys of sister hood

Here I was today, watching my girls decide yet again that they were going to get along. They ate breakfast together and after Samma shared her "big girl" chair with Della (this is unheard of), they sat side by side eating pancakes and sausages while holding hands. They claimed they were best friends and after breakfast Samma taught Della how to clean up after herself. They then proceeded to play while chanting "you are my best friend......no, you are MY best friend". The moment was sweet. It was short-lived however. They have been beating the crap out of each other and screaming "I don't like your attitude (della said this) and then Samma put Della in time out. Love/hate. Can't we all just get along? Somehow, I don't remember EVER fighting with my sisters like these two. However, I also don't remember holding hands and chanting "we're best friends" either. File this one under "lost cause".........

My boy is having the summer of his life! But I miss him!

Ok...he is only 9 years old and has many summers to come....but he is having such a fabulous summer. I know he loves to get out of the house (who wouldn't with all the girls running around yelling all day). He has spent the summer so far with his cousin, Aaron and having sleepovers. He is hanging out at beaches with his best friends, Darien and AJ. Most of all, he is having a heck of a time with Grandma!

So I know you are going to read this Brendan at some point tonight while you are at Grandma's house. I love you and I miss you! After my class is finished next week, you and I have to have a mommy/son date night! Love ya "my guy".

Love,

Mom

No I am not pretending to be Bullwinkle.....!

I am trying to relieve some much built-up stress here! I am just finishing up a semester taking my Psychology Human Growth and Development course, and in the next few days I have more work than I've ever bargained for. My quiz grades are great, but I just turned in a research paper, I have a timeline due as well, which must be very detailed. I also have my final exam next Thursday! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Can a woman say overload! Throw four kids into the mix and let's just say I'm semi-insane over here! Ok, never mind. I am insane. So wish me luck. I need to go finish my wine and go to bed now!

Surprise Grandma!

I swear to you, she actually drove around the neighborhood like this! I was dying laughing! Can you imagine? What a sport she was. Actually, I think she actually enjoyed it. So didn't Brendan and Samma who got to give Grandma a great big hug! Don't worry papa, we'll decorate your truck too!

The joke was on Grandma....

Grandma came over on her anniversary after work and guess what? While she was playing with Natalie, Samma snuck outside and decorated Grandma's purple car!

Delaney, who was also in on the decorating job, took a little fall outside the house trying to run to grandma's car so she missed all the taping of the signs onto the lil' purple people eater!

It's a bird, it's a plane........

It's Ninja turtle Samma? Ok, here's the deal. My camera broke. Again. So I am going to have to send it out and I am lost without that camera! What is a girl to do? Go back in time that's what! I'm finding me some good ones....don't worry grandma, I'm searching for a good snow storm. That's up next! I swear I never know what Samma is going to do.....that girl has quite the imagination!

We so need a date night!

This weekend we went to a beach in Marshfield called Rexhame beach. It was beautiful but I just didn't have enough time to enjoy the beautiful scenery! So we asked my niece if she could come over on Sunday afternoon so Brian and I can take off and go there by ourselves, for some much needed time alone, watching the waves, swimming the surf and drinking iced coffee! Uninterrupted. Of course, two great minds think alike because Brian just said this morning that he thinks we should have date night next weekend! I started laughing. So we are going to get a sitter for next Friday night, which will be extremely enjoyable as I finish my Psychology class next Thursday night and will sure need a glass of wine or two to feel "done" with school for a while. I need a break!