Her Smile

There is something about this picture of Marissa that I'm in love with. I think it's her smile! Most of the time when I take her picture I give her a warning before I do it. So they are kind of "posed" in this one I just called her name and quickly snapped the picture catching her off guard and the result was an adorable honest and pure smile! Of my three girls, Marissa is the most of a mommy's girl. She shares everything about her little life with me.. bad or good! She does not hesitate to tell me when she has done something I will be proud of or even something I may be disappointed in. I hope our relationship and openness with one another stays this way forever!

Last Baby Bath and a Day Off

Last night Jillian had her 6 month immunizations. Today the older girls are off from school for the Jewish holiday. I was so glad that I scheduled today off from work to hang out with the kids because poor little Jillian is STILL not feeling that great. She has had a little cold and then with getting her shots last night and a 1/2 of a flu vaccine she has been a little clingy. We spent most of the morning just laying around together. I don't want her to be sick but at the same time I love when she will lay or sit on my lap and cuddle. I love how soft her skin is, rubbing the peach fuzz on her little head and the way she still smells. (like a baby)
























Ed normally bathes her at night before bed but last night I just let her go to sleep after her appointment which meant I got to bathe her this morning. I think this may be one of her last baths in the infant tub. She so wants to sit up now when I put her in. She is growing way to fast. Last night at her appointment she weighed 15lbs 5oz. I know ... still tiny but to me it seems huge!! HOW DID 6 MONTHS GO BY SO FAST???























I love her smile!

Kate and Alan's Wedding

Ed's very best friend got married this Saturday! They have known each other since second grade. For the longest time we thought this day would never come because of how shy Alan is. Of course Ed was the best man and Alan was the best man in our wedding 2 years ago. We had so much fun. This was one of the most fun weddings we have gone to in a while! It made me want to have my wedding all over again!!!

Isn't he the cutest best man you have ever seen?? :)

6 out of 7 of the groomsmen! All of these guys with the exception of Kate's brother have known each other practically their whole lives!
























The Frank sister's. (Alan's sisters) They are all so beautiful!
























I had never seen this done before, but after the ceremony, Kate and Alan released 14 white doves as a sign of good luck!

Later on at the reception (after Ed had a few drinks) things started to lighten up! Ed is not the dancing type but as you can see he and Brian we doing some pretty awesome moves!! HA HA (go white boys go white boys go!!)

Ed was so nervous about his "best man" speech. He wanted to include every funny thing that has happened over the many years he and Alan have been friends ,but at the same time didn't want to offend anyone! In the end it turned out great and everyone was laughing as he read it!

The funniest thing was Alan's cousin Dave O. Alan (just like Ed) is a huge 80's rock band fan, so Dave decided to break out the wig and fake guitar while the DJ was playing some Bon Jovi!! Hilarious! I didn't get a picture but even though Kate has a much different taste in music, she grabbed the guitar and was jammin out to the 80's music as well!

6 Months Old Already

Jillian had her 1/2 year birthday on Friday! I can't believe she is 6 months already. She is so funny right now. She has been attempting to crawl lately and gets quite a kick out of herself when she actually moves herself a little across the floor on her hand and knees. Before this she got around only by rolling! She is so close to sitting up all by herself to. I'm still afraid to leave her sitting alone because once in a while she falls back!

I so wish I could freeze time and keep her this way FOREVER! We are thinking this may be our last baby so I want to enjoy every second with her. She is such a happy little baby and a great sleeper!!! Love this baby girl!

Weekend in Ocean City, NJ

We spent last weekend in Ocean city with Grandma Smith. She has been going to this same place for about the last 8 years. The woman that owns the house is so nice and always lets the girls borrow bikes, skateboards and toys for the sand! While we were there we met up with an old friend. Rick drove down from MD to meet up with us. We haven't seen him since Thanksgiving so it was nice catching up!

























The water was only at about 60 degrees so I didn't let the girls swim. Boy were they irritated!!!
























We did spend sometime on the boardwalk and getting on rides!





























Sunday morning we got up early and took a bike ride along the board walk. I wish I could do this every morning!

















































My friend Rachel gave us this baby carrier a while back and we decided to try it out. Jillian absolutely loved it. I guess because it puts her higher up than in her stroller and she can see everything!























What fun is Ocean City without a stop at Mack and Manco's pizza?? Ed and Rick waiting in line for pizza!

























Ed was so happy to take Jillian on her first carousel ride. He is such a proud dad!









Ed and I ended up with the cold that Jillian picked up last week. It has not been fun around here. Both of us sick and trying to take of the baby has been a little rough. Yesterday Marissa had to go to a follow up appointment for her collar bone. Thank goodness for Grandma Smith. She took Marissa to her appointment and even brought us back some dinner. I was so glad not to have to cook! Jillian and I took the day off today and it was so nice being at home with her even though I feel like crap!

Random

So today I saw that Tracy (www.gundysporch.blogspot.com) gave me an award. Thanks Tracy! It has been hard to find time to keep up with this blog since I returned to work.

So today I get to the daycare to pick up Jillian and am a little annoyed because she's laying in a crib wide awake, with spit up all over her clothes and a diaper full of crap. This is the second time I went to visit or picked her up and she had a dirty diaper. This transition back to work has been a bit rough for me. I realize that today there were 6 other babies (2 years and below) at the daycare with her, but it still annoys me when I get there and she is a mess! I probably should have said something while I was there today, but I don't want them to get irritated with me and then in turn take it out on her! Who knows maybe I just need to get used to the fact that no one is going to take care of my baby the way I would!

She has had a little cold for the past few days which has made me feel even more guilty for dropping her off at daycare! In October she will be finished at my work's back up center and on to the permanent daycare so hopefully I will LOVE it there! (Good luck to me on that one!)

On a more positive note... The first day I went back to work, I got home and came in to see a vase of white roses with a sweet card from Ed thanking me for being a great mom and being home for the last 6 months to take care of Jillian! How sweet!

One more day of work and we are off for a little mini vacation to OC! Can't wait!!!

One last thing... Ed mentioned to me the other night that maybe he should start a sports blog. If you ask me this has disaster written all over it. He is such a die hard Philly fan that I can only imagine that it would take one rude little comment about the Eagles, Flyers or Phillies to send him over the edge in blog land! He absolutely can not stand for someone to live here and root for a different team. I could see him making a ton of enemies this way, which is sort of funny because in real life I can't think of anyone that doesn't like him... I guess we will see if he goes through with it!! :)

Returning to Work, Stitches and a Broken Clavicle

Jillian and I managed to survive my first week back at work (eventhough it was only really 1/2 of a week). She did pretty well, except for that she has a really hard time napping with all of the new surroundings! The first day she only slept for about 40 minutes so when we got home she crashed for 3 hours before having dinner. It was kind of sad! Day two was a little better and by day three she still had only slept a total of an hour and 15 minutes all broken up throughout the day. I guess it's just going to take some getting used to. It is really convenient that my work offers a program where your baby can use the back up center right downstairs from my office for the first month that I return to work. It's great being able to go down and see her on my lunch break but at the same time I think it makes it that much harder. Everyone down there is really nice but I just feel like I could do a much better job of taking care of her and that while we were at home she had me to take care of her every little need where at the center she is one of 3 babies being taken care of by only one person. I guess that also will take some getting used to. I think it bothers me alot more than it does her!









This is a picture of Marissa's X-Ray. The Monday before I went back to work I took Marissa to the doctor after she had complained for over a week that her right shoulder had been hurting. While on vacation at my aunt's house Marissa was jumping on her trampoline and came over to me crying ( not screaming or really freaking out, just teary eyed) and said mom, my shoulder hurts. I need to go to the doctor. Knowing how dramatic Marissa can be, I told her she was fine and to put some ice on it and relax for a little while. She put the ice on but still insisted that it hurt. I still kind of brushed her off and told her that if it still bothered her once we got back home I would make a doctor's appointment. Over the next week she mentioned it a few times, but seriously did not seem to be in much pain at all. She had been playing and jumping on the trampoline again. We flew home, she went back to school and then Sunday night she was standing in front of me with a scoop neck shirt on and I noticed this bump on her collar bone. I asked her what happened and she said...that's from when I hurt my self in Utah. I felt really bad but still thought it was probably just bruised. We made an appointment the next morning and sure enough it was broken. We had an x-ray taken and then went to see an orthopedic surgeon. I felt horrible for not believing she was really hurt. Now that it has started to heal on it's own we were told that there really wasn't much that could be done. It would just continue to heal in it's own form which means she will most likely have this bump for a very very long time. We will have to go back for a repeat x ray and follow up visit. The whole thing made me feel horrible especially since a few days earlier when her cousin Addyson tripped and hit her face on the t.v stand....Marissa was so upset and was so nice to Addy when it happened. Addyson ended up with 12 stitches right below her eye and as her parents were leaving to take her to the emergency. Marissa was crying and told Jenny (my Aunt)... " I know that me and Addyson fight but I care for her" those were her exact words. Marissa has such a tender heart and is so aware of people's feelings and then she gets hurt and I pay no attention to it thinking she is just being dramatic. It was a rough week!!















































Did I mention that it was my bag that Addyson tripped over?

Back to Work

My time is up!!!! I can't believe how fast my almost 6 months of maternity leave has flown by. It seems like just yesterday Ed and I were anxiously waiting for Jillian's arrival. Trying to decide what colors to paint her room, which items we wanted on the baby registry and even wondering if she would be a boy or girl! It was a little rough getting her here, but I'm certainly glad now that we did not stop trying!!








































It has been tough these last few days knowing that I won;t be with her all day and that I may very well miss a lot of her "firsts". Just writing about it now is making me cry! As much as I would love to be with her, I know I do not make a great stay at home mom and I need to go back to work!
















































I will miss seeing her cute little face all day long. Let's say a little prayer that the daycare works out and she is happy there because I'm dreading tomorrow morning!

Flaming Gorge and the Cabin

During our trip to Utah we visited great Grandma Ilene's Lake house in Flaming Gorge! We stayed for 4 days and got to do some boating, jet skiing and knee boarding. There were 20 of us all together. Fortunately not everyone stayed at her house! It was so nice to have everyone together and yet so LOUD!! ha ha (which made some people a little cranky)


As we were pulling up to the cabin, these deer were just hanging out on the side of the road.

















































Jillian got to meet her great grandpa Darwin for the very first time and to my surprise he did really well with such a little baby!



Alexis and Marissa got to sleep in the loft with Kia and Addy which they thought was pretty cool!


















Jillian did great even with all of the noisy people!





























And we FINALLY got to meet our cousin Reece. What a sweet little girl!!











































Doesn't Addy look thrilled?? HA HA HA!




























The girls had a blast jet skiing with Great Uncle Jeff ( AKA - Chuck Norris)!!
















































































Jillian was not loving this life vest. It was the smallest size they could find but was still much to big for her.










Some of the cousins!!