Nicholas

I have to devote a post entirely to Nicholas. With the two older boys and their non-stop action, some of his activities get overlooked. His favorite thing to do is probably play at home. He loves all the toys we have and plays with them even better than the older two. He is always putting on some sort of costume. For a while it was buzz lightyear all the time, he would even sleep in it. Lately it has been hats and glasses. Here are some pictures of him in one of his favorites, Jackson's cowboy hat. He is always hungry and is frequently foraging through the cabinets for snacks between meals. He is as comfortable snuggling up with a book as he is wrestling his brothers to the ground, so he is going to be a force to be reckoned with when he goes to school. I am interested to see what things are like when the big boys are at school all day and he is home with his baby sister.

More Swim!

I mentioned in my last post that both boys were doing swim team. Well Jackson's experience has been a little different than Francis's. Francis may be in in for the lollipops, but Jackson is in it to win it! It started off as something fun to do and he would go to practice each day and hang out with his friends and play ping pong and jump off the diving board afterwards. He participated in a couple of "B" meets (less competitive) and did okay, which we were happy with. Then suddenly he discovered that some of the kids also swam in "A" meets and it became his mission to get good enough to swim in one. The problem was that the strokes are very specific and with the exception of freestyle, he kept getting disqualified. So, he started asking his coaches to show him how to do it legally and as soon as he could swim without getting disqualified he started trying to improve his times. It paid off because, they put him in the last "A" meet of the season and was able to score points for his team by placing third in the breast stroke!

Now, I don't think we will be watching him in the Olympics anytime soon, but with persistence like that, you never know. I tried to get him to tone it down a little at first, but I have been impressed with how hard he has worked to learn about and improve at something that doesn't come easily to him. It is funny how your kids can surprise you....

Swim!

Both boys are on the swim team at our neighborhood pool this year, so that has kept us pretty busy since memorial day. Francis's team is non-competitive and finished up on Friday with a lollipop meet. Francis did really well, coming in first in the kickborad race and the winning his heat in the noodle relay, helping his team to a first place finish. He also swam a 25m freestyle, which means he swam across the pool unassisted, which he was unable to do when the season started. All-in-all, the ribbons were fun, but his main incentive was, of course, LOLLIPOPS!

Here are some pictures of the little swimmer with two of his biggest fans!

Let the transformation begin....

You would think having done this before, we wouldn't need much of anything for the baby. Not so. Much to our surprise our crib had been recalled, our carseats were all beyond the 5 year age limit, etc, etc, etc. Now just as a side, I find it slightly unbelievable that the plastic in my carseat is actually going to break down after 5 years, since I thought the argument against plastic water bottles was that plastic lasts forever. Does anyone else remember hearing about how all these plastic water bottles were going to outlive us in the landfills? Maybe, they should make carseats out of whatever the make the water bottles out of... But of course, I am not going to let my baby be the guinea pig, so off to to Babies R Us we go. The new carseat is here, the old crib has been shipped off, and we are awaiting a new one.

Anyway, here are some "before" shots of the nursery and I will post some "afters" as soon as it is complete.

Baby update

I admit, updates on this baby have been few and far between, but I guess that is what happens when you are fourth in line. I promise you, I will make up for it when she's born. Basically, everything has been going well. I am HUGE and she is sitting very low, which means everywhere I go someone thinks I am about to give birth. At my last check up they said she was head down, measuring well, and everything looked good. She is pretty active and my guess is a little bigger than the boys at this age, but I think she will be born earlier than they were. My hope is that she will come the week of Labor Day, right after the big boys start full days at school, but of course babies have a mind of their own. We are whittling down our list of names, but you never know where our next inspiration will come from. I have set an unofficial deadline of 2 hours after birth to finalize a name, so we have some time. The boys are looking forward to her arrival and try to guess what she is doing in my stomach. Jackson is sure she is going to set some kind of record for "the biggest baby in the world." He told me that this was good news, because I would "get a blue ribbon." I tried to explain that there are some contests you don't want to win, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

I wish I had some great ultrasound shots of her, but I don't, so at Pam's request, I am including some pregnancy shots and a picture of a cake some of my friends surprised me with.

Jeter-Mania!

Those of you who know me, know that I come from a long line of Yankee fans. Casey, on the other hand, had a grandfather who worked at Shea Stadium, so he has always been a Mets fan. So the question was always, which way would the kids go? Well, I think we got our answer.

While we were up in CT, Nana and Pops were in town visiting from AZ, and had bought tickets to see a game at Yankee Stadium. They wanted to bring both of the older boys and Casey and I went back and forth trying to decide if they were old enough or it would just be a waste of money. In the end, we sent Jackson. We hadn't told him about it until he woke up that morning. Then we handed him off to my Dad and a whole group of them all took the train into NYC. Amazingly enough, it happened to be the same day that Derek Jeter got hits 2999-3003 and won the game for the Yankees. I can only imagine what it was like to be in Yankee Stadium that day, but it isn't something he will soon forget. Apparently, the cheering continued the entire train ride home and the Jeter obsession is going to last well beyond that. Since we got home, he and Francis have used all of the souvenirs from the game to decorate their rooms and then started printing and cutting out logos from the computer to hang up. We now have an 8 foot Derek Jeter wall decal (thanks to Nana and Pops) and have already read two biographies about him from the Library. It is a bit over the top, but having always been a fan of Jeter myself, I must admit the excitement is a little contagious....

Fun at the Fair

The town I grew up in hosts a fair every year and it was a deal. I entered vegetables in it and won ribbons when I was little, my cousin milked a goat there, and last year my uncle entered his tractor in the tractor pull. It just so happens that the past several years our trips north have coincided with the fair and the kids have been able to go. This year, Nana and Pops were with us and Nana was a good sport and took them on all the rides. Here are some pictures, although some were hard to capture, they were going so fast.

Fun in the Sun

Our time at the beach this year was a bit shorter than usual, partially because it is hard for me to be out of town for too long at this stage in the pregnancy and partially because the boys are getting bigger and have commitments at home. Anyway, we made the most of the time we had and enjoyed nine solid days of swimming, boating, sandcastle building, crabbing and sitting in the sun. Jackson practiced rowing with Grandpa and Francis went on a kayaking adventure with Daddy and Grandpa. Nicholas was fearless around the water and loved swimming almost as much as he loved going out on the boat. He would sit right in the front holding onto the rail like a little masthead. It is hard to believe the next time we head up to the beach we will be bringing their little sister!

Happy 4th of July!

As many of you know, one of the highlights of summer is getting to participate in the 4th of July parade at the beach. They let anyone who wants to decorate bikes, scooters, wagons, stroller, etc and march in a 2 mile loop around the community. This was our 4th year doing it and it is an ongoing joke that every year one of our kids gets a flat tire, loses a training wheel or something and the accompanying adults end up carrying the child and bike through the rest of the parade. This year Casey, Jackson and Francis all participated in a road race in the morning, so we were all feeling a little lazy come parade time and we opted to ride rather than walk. We quickly decorated Peter's convertible and had the two big boys ride in the back throwing out candy, with Casey and I in the front. Nicholas was too little to be in the car without his seat, so he and Grandma watched the floats go by, collecting candy. Above are soome shots of our "float", the racers and Nicholas enjoying the beach.