Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Over the last week, I haven't gotten some unusual pictures of my kids sleeping and wanted to share. The first is Emma sleeping naked at naptime. She said it was very comfortable and luckily did not have an accident. The second is Ryan sleeping in the hallway outside his room. He kept wanting us to come upstairs again to tuck him in and just fell asleep waiting. The third picture is just of Nick sleeping. I was hoping he would flip over and sleep on his belly for the first time, but no. And the fourth one I took tonight. Kris falls asleep with Emma quite often and I have to go wake him up and this is what I found tonight!

Keeping Busy This Week

This week, we (read I) decided to stay home to attempt at potty training Emma. I assumed that by staying home, we would reduce accidents by always being near the potty. Well that was true, but we still had our share of them. She is doing great though. Today, was our first trip out and she stayed dry and told me when she had to go potty. All of the kids enjoyed cuddling in Emma's bed one morning. Emma has become proficient at taking her clothes off - that's why she's naked in the pic. She's also getting good at getting dressed - funny since Ryan would still let us dress him if we would!

Anyway, because we were staying home, I had to get creative to keep everyone busy. On an idea that a friend used, we started making a daily schedule. The kids liked that they could help decide what we were doing each day and I liked being able to tell them to look at the schedule to see what we were doing next. Also, no boredom. One day we painted outside, which the kids loved! They have asked to do it again - every day! They painted in their underwear to reduce mess (but Ryan didn't understand why I didn't want him running around to the front of the house).

We also started Nick on some oatmeal this week. He's enjoying it more and swallowing more each day, but still can't say he's 'eating it up'. We are still working on getting Nick on a more regimented nap schedule. He's still having trouble sleeping in his crib and prefers the swing. But it's getting better. All three of them fit in the bath this week!

New Things & Last Day of School

Nick is getting bigger by the day. He recently moved into 9 month clothes (where of course we had no summer clothes). We have done a few new things with him in the past few weeks. We tried a bottle which he didn't have too much trouble with. We have also gave him a sippy cup of water, which he disliked - probably because of the water - but we'll keep trying. He has started to use the bath seat in the bathtub. Emma and Ryan love that they can all bathe together! It's a tight squeeze but they manage.

Emma is also moving on up - to a bigger size that is. She is firmly in 3t clothing. She is also trying out the potty. For the past few weeks, we have been using pullups to get her started on the whole process. Over the weekend, she asked to start wearing underwear. She did good over the weekend. So today, was the first full out potty day. She had 4 accidents. I knew from Ryan that she would need some accidents to understand the holding it for longer than 20 minutes concept. That took Ryan about a day. Funny to think we just did this with Ryan last summer. Wow, the difference between girls and boys. Anyway, in all her accidents she did come up and say she had to go potty - just a little too late.

As for Ryan, he finished his last year of preschool. He thoroughly enjoyed his class and teachers and will miss them all. For his last day, he had a park playdate with lunch. They also walked over to visit the fire and police stations. He had a great time, especially sitting in the big fire truck. We showed him the ambulance that took him to the hospital when he was 2, but he was rather frightened by it. He said he was afraid they were going to take him back to the hospital if he got in! So now he's off to kindergarten. He's pretty excited by it! Me, I'm excited by it too, when does school start again? The prospect of entertaining all three of them all summer is exhausting!

Maifest & Memorial Day

Kris and I took the kids to the Maifest in Covington a few weeks ago. Ryan and Emma love riding the rides. Kris and I enjoy the wonderful food. And Nick could have cared less. It was a lot of fun though. Here are some pictures from it. I didn't get a pic of Ryan and Kris on the pirate ship - the one big ride Ryan went on - they both loved it!

Kris took Ryan and Emma to PA for the Three Spring Carnival over Memorial Day. I stayed home with Nick. We both had a great weekend. Sorry - we have no pictures of that weekend. But we can say with certainty that it was a wonderful break for all.

Playing, playing and playing

The kids have been doing a lot of playing around here. From Nick with his new sitting toy and exersaucer to the older two with the sprinkler and the pool. Here are a few pictures capturing those fun times.

Cute Pictures

A few weeks ago, I signed Emma up to have her 2 year old pictures taken. They happened to be doing some training sessions at JCP so we were excited for it to coincide. When we got there, they said they had some extra time and asked if they could shoot Nick too. So here are some pictures from that trip. Still have to pick them up! JCP called to ask if they could use the one where Emma is holding her hat to her head. I said yes, of course!

Nick's Baptism

After Saturday filled with the 10k race and Emma's birthday party (see below) we had Nick baptized on Sunday. Kris's sister Kelli and our friend Michael Pulhuj acted as godparents. He looked great in the christening gown that both Emma and Ryan wore that was made from my wedding dress.

After the service, we had everyone back to our house for lunch and playing (the kids that is). We all had a great day, once again despite the rain. By the end of the day, everyone was exhausted and we had finally figured out how to get Ryan and Emma to share a room (thanks Crystal) - by putting them to bed at different times. This is after two nights of them being crazy and taking their clothes off.