Brynn 20 months old!

Our little ball of energy is 20 months old today! She is showing her personality everyday and we love it! She does and wants everything that Kate does. She loves her baby dolls- especially her Cabbage Patch Kids and she is obsessed with coloring. But, I think the most special thing for Brynn right now is that she became a big sister yesterday to her baby brother Chase. She adores the baby so far and wants to touch him. She tells us when he's crying, or that she wants to touch him. You definitely can't leave Brynn in the room and expect to find her in the same spot, but that's all part of her wonderful, curious little personality and all part of why we love her!

Last day as a family of 4

Hard to believe that tomorrow we will be a family of 5!  I feel like this pregnancy flew by.  Normally the last month goes so slowly, but with EVERYTHING we had going on here, that certainly wasn't the case.  I wanted this weekend to be all about hanging out with the girls and it couldn't have been better.

Today was our last day as a family of 4.  Kate and I woke up, went to church, stopped at Dunkin Donuts :), we all ate breakfast and then went to the grocery store.  The girls played while I packed lunches for the week- just to help out Rich and my parents who will be staying with them and getting them to school everyday.  Anyway, we had lunch, and took naps. Kate & I napped together, which she loves to do and I do too.  After we all woke up, we hung out and then went to dinner at Friendly's.  We got this picture of us:

Tonight was emotional for me.  This morning was too.  I'm so anxious about the surgery, yet so excited that we will be welcoming someone new into our family tomorrow.  I'm feeling a bit guilty that we are taking away from Brynn being the baby of the family, but I know that we are giving our girls the best thing we could ever give to them.  I also know that this is the very last day I'll be pregnant. I absolutely LOVE being pregnant and knowing that this is it is bittersweet. Can't wait to see our little guy and hold him and kiss him and see him interact with the girls, but I'm also going to miss all the kicking, poking and crazy positions that all 3 of these babies had.  I'm so grateful I was able to experience this 3 times!

I guess my next post will be a picture of our baby boy :)

Flood of 2012

No, there wasn't really a flood in 2012 in our area, but there was one in our house on Superbowl Sunday.  Rich was upstairs installing a light in the closet.  I was watching a show with the girls and took them upstairs to go to bed, all while I was washing our towels.    I came down stairs to the bottom of our steps to a river of water.  I followed it down the entryway, into the kitchen and laundry room.  I quickly got towels and started throwing them down.  I opened the basement door, which we literally just had carpeted as part of the finishing process, and there was water pouring out of the ceiling.

After spending an hour mopping up water with all the pool towels we had, and Rich was downstairs catching water, wet dry vacumming it out of the house- 40 gallons in the basement!- I called insurance.  Someone came at midnight and set up 7 industrial sized dryers in the kitchen and basement along with dehumidifiers.  They were here until 3 am!

On Monday, February 6, the construction company came and started their estimate.  They came back on Valentine's day and said work would start on Feb 24. Um.. I'm scheduled to have the baby on Feb. 27 and with all the dust, etc. we couldn't be here.  NOT HAPPENING!  So, I called and expressed my concern.  They pushed us up and work started on Friday, February 17.  On Thursday night, Rich and I started clearing out the kitchen:

We were told we had to be out of the house all day on Friday- Monday because of the fumes, dust, etc.  So, we have a lot of shout outs here.  Brynn's school allowed her to come on Friday and Monday and even offered Kate to stay.  THANK YOU CPS!!!

On Saturday and Sunday, I needed somewhere for Brynn to nap.  With 4 people and a nester, I was going crazy with the pile up of laundry. My parents let us use their house (they were still in Florida)  for naps, resting and laundry- THANK YOU MOM AND DAD!!!

Since we have no kitchen or laundry room, we have had A LOT of meals out.  On Sunday, we met Lauren, Brian and Evan for breakfast in West Chester and went back to their house to hang out for a bit- THANK YOU GUYS!!! It was so nice to be normal in a house!

And, throughout the whole week, we still have had no washer and dryer.  Our wonderful neighbors allowed us to use theirs, and she even put it in the dryer for me! THANKS JENN AND JEREMY!!!

These guys have been in our house almost every night until 9:30 pm, and 11pm last night, but they are almost done!  They call themselves Uncle Jeff, Uncle Sean and Uncle Rich to the girls.  It's actually become pretty funny.

The tile was completed, the paint is on in the kitchen, and the basement floor has been started.  We've made some changes in the house as well- new bathroom vanity, new sink in the laundry room. Thank goodness Rich is so handy!!

Here are some "during" and  "complete" project pictures:

Kitchen with tile laid down.  The blue thing is a special air purifier that filters the air every 20 minutes. They added this because I'm so pregnant and because of the girls. The dust was really minimal.

Complete!  Rich designed this hallway design.  We are so excited to  have a new floor and not the fake brick, or the "yellow" kitchen floor that Kate calls it.  So, yes, while it's been horrendous, in the end, we have a new kitchen and hallway floor.

 Kitchen!  We had to have it repainted- the water just attached to the walls and went up it.  There is new trim as well.  The floor looks SO GOOD!  I told the guys I was going to sleep on it.  LOL

So, here we are on Saturday morning.  I'm 39 weeks pregnant, just went under a major house renovation, and we made it through.  Kate said our house was "cracked" and "done".  When the fans were in the kitchen, Brynn would sit in the middle of all of them and just scream.  We couldn't hear each other, there was no thinking becauase of the buzz, but we had the best night's sleep- when we could sleep.  Every door had a plastic wrap on it with a zipper to enter.  That helped with the dust and fumes.  Kate & Brynn had a ball going through it, Molly would tear through it so she didn't miss anything, and I could barely fit through it with this belly :)  I really think that may have been the hardest part for us. But, we made it!!  The guys are coming back today to install the basement flooring in the office and gym.  The carpet down there is being repadded today and cleaned.  Hoping that when we bring the baby boy home, it will all be done.

Thanks Mom and Dad, our friends, and my coworkers for listening to us b*tch and moan, complain, and stress about this and dealing with us.

Rich's Surprise 40th birthday party!- February 11

Rich will be turning 40 in March.  I decided in November that I was going to do a party for him.  I thought a surprise would be fun and after thinking about it and talking with my friend Lauren, I decided to do it on February 11. Yes, it was a full month before his birthday- what better way to keep him in the dark? And, yes, I was going to be 37 weeks pregnant- he'd never suspect!  So, the invitations went out, the regrets started coming in, well, sort of, and the planning went into place.  On Friday, Brynn and I ran tons of errands for the party.  It was quite a sight seeing a 9 month pregnant woman, pushing a 19 month old, through the liquor store.  Thank goodness everyone is so helpful!

February 11 was finally here!  Of course, we woke up that morning and it was snowing. Literally ALL DAY!  But, it wasn't sticking, so that was good. I made plans to "have lunch with Lauren" aka- decorate Tammy's house.  Thanks to Tammy, her mom and her sister for helping me!  Climbing up on chairs with this big belly was not the brightest idea, and they didn't let me.

   I came back and insisted we run errands because I was so nervous.  6:45 finally came and Liz arrived and we were off to Tammy's for dinner.  Rich walked in, with me following, and everyone yelled, "SURPRISE!"

 This is Rich looking at me asking me "Did you know about this??"  Um, yes!  He thought it was a surprise baby shower for us. LOL.  He quickly realized it was a party for him!

This is for me!?!?

Rich and his 2 brothers

Rich and me

 There was plenty of food and plenty to drink. I had the party catered so I didn't have to worry about food. I've been selling things on e bay and was trying to figure out what to do with the money and thought, what better use?  And the food was delicious!

So many of our friends were able to make it and I am so thankful for that.  Here is Rich with our neighbors and good friends Jenn and Jeremy.  Special thanks to them for helping me out with the balloons. I had to pay for them to have them ready, but I couldn't use the credit card because Rich checks it, so Jenn called in her number.  Thanks Jenn!

 Softball/ Golf Friends made it!  

 Friends that we have had forever made it as well to welcome Rich to the 40 club :)

 And more friends hanging out- these girls in the picture are some of my best friends.

And these are their husbands who are some of Rich's best friends

Then it was time for cake.  I had this cake done with Rich's picture on it from high school. This was also on the invitation.  

 That's a lot of candles, Rich.  Just kidding :)

He was able to get them all out, but had to use his hands to wave them out too. 

 I asked people not to bring gifts, because that's not what it was about, but some did anyway.  Here is Rich opening the generous gifts from his friends.  Everyone knows him so well and got him things he will absolutely use.

Tammy took the picture that was used for the cake and made this poster board for people to sign. I thought it was a great idea. 

So, the party was a success! The surprise was a success!  I was so happy and I'm pretty sure Rich was too.  I couldn't have done this without Tammy - thank you for letting us use your house and for all of the food you made.  And, thanks to Lauren for being my sounding board, my "lunch date" and bringing the veggie tray.  What a fun night we had!  Hope Rich had as much fun!  Happy 40th!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I am so lucky to have my 3 3/4 Valentines this year!  Kate was up for school and was dressed and ready to go. She had a party at school and exchanged Valentines with all of the friends in her class. She wrote out each one and attached a lollipop.  She's doing such a great job with her writing. 

 Here she is all dressed up for school. Love this little girl!

   I made them blueberry waffles and cut them into heart shapes.

 We gave them their presents for Valentine's Day. She made this key chain for Rich.  So sweet.

 Yes, they are in matching outfits.  Kate loves to give Brynn a hug. I asked Kate who her Valentine was and she said Brynn and that I was Daddy's.

 Our Valentines

 We had heart shaped pizza for dinner!

Such a great Valentine's Day! hope you had one also!

Pedicures for the girls!

Kate, Brynn and I got pedicures on Sunday.  Well, I did and Kate got a polish change (on her toes and her feet) and Brynn has her big toes painted.  Here are the pictures from the salon as well as the finished products.

Rich came too to occupy the girls

 Brynn's 1st pedicure

 Brynn's big toes painted.  She was so proud of them. She didn't want to put her shoes on at all.

 Kate's finger nails and toe nails.  Kate always picks the best colors and does fun little patterns

Kate's Family Party- Sunday, February 5

We had Kate's family party with Rich's family on Sunday.  We had everyone over for pizza and cake. Kate loves getting together with all of her cousins.  It was fun to have her aunts and uncles, cousins and grandmother.  Here are some pictures from that day.

 Last cousin picture before our baby boy gets here

 Aunt Amy and the kids

 Kate opening more presents

 Kate's Rapunzel cake.  She didn't want to see it because she wanted to be surprised.

What a fun birthday weekend for Kate! Hope she had a great time- I'm pretty sure she did!

Kate's 5th Birthday!

We have a 5 year old! Holy moly!  Where has the time gone?!?!?  Kate woke up this morning, BEAMING!  We decorated the house last night, as we do each year, with balloons and decorations so that when she woke up, it was full on birthday!  She was so excited to see all of the balloons.  She saw her big pile of presents and wanted to open them, so we opened them upstairs.

We went to breakfast at IHOP, Kate's choice:

After breakfast, we headed up to Sweet and Sassy for Kate's Spa Day.  She got her hair cut, styled, and a manicure!

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The best part of Sweet and Sassy was Brian showing up to pick something up from Rich.  Kate was over the moon to see Brian:

After getting beautified, we came home and rested a little.  Well, Rich, Brynn and I did. Kate played with her new barbies she got this morning.

We headed to her birthday party at Sweet Lucy's. There were 14 girls total- girls from her class at SMM, her 2 friends that she still talks to at CPS, and her BFF Ashley.  We literally had to do NOTHING but show up.  When we got there, there was a sign, balloons and they were ready for our girl!

The girls waited for all the friends to get there

 And we started with pizza:

 Brynn was right in the mix.  Kate's new thing is to pick Brynn up and carry her everywhere.

 After pizza was candy bingo- everyone was a winner and the girls all got Princess or Dora stickers.  You could win as many times as you wanted. Such fun!

 And after candy bingo we made candy necklaces!

 Here are Kate and Ashley. Love these 2!

 And here are all the girls at the party- so cute!

 Here we are with the birthday girl!

 And after candy necklaces, we made sundaes! I mean, this party was awesome!  It was my dream come true party. LOL. I'm sure the girls loved it.

 The girls all sang Happy Birthday to Kate

 Brynn loving the ice cream sundaes

 Saying goodbye and thank you!

When we got home, Kate lined all of her presents up in the TV room and we opened each one. We read each card and opened each gift.  What generous friends Kate has!

 Brynn helped too!

And last but not least.... Kate's 5 year old Bear picture- yes, I'm still doing this.  I can't help it:

Happy 5th Birthday, Kate!  We couldn't be more proud of the sweet girl that you are.  You are truly the most loving, sweetest, caring and beautiful little girl!  We Love you more than you will ever know!