This is my hubby. Also known as Vinny, Dowey, Dowebally, and (as of last night) Pickle Juice. (You may learn that I have an affinity for nicknames, comes from my daddy!) Unbelievably, the hubs and I have been married for 9 years! I can't believe it! Seems like just yesterday I was a freshman in college and my friend introduced me to this hunky senior with a hot red car! Vince is working hard to support our family and traveling here and there. Vince is a WONDERFUL father and his girls (all of us) are the most important things to him!
Barclay Kathryn
What to say? I'm Barclay, usually known as Barclay (not much you can do with Barclay). I was an elementary teacher for fours years until I had Bella. Now I am doing the job I have wanted to do ALL of my life, being a mom. I love these two girls more than I can possibly express and it is my joy and privilege to be able to spend each day with them. I recently entered the blog frontier, and although my blog followers will probably be able to be counted on one hand, I thought it would be exciting to be a part of something so neat. I love that there are many other moms out there facing the same joys, hardships, questions, surprises, and challenges that I am. I also hope to be a sort of medium to spread awareness for others that need prayers, help, or just someone to walk through life with!
Isabella Kathryn
Usually referred to as Bella. As well as Bells, Bellie, Belly Boo, Bellsie Bubs, Bubs, Bubba, Bells and Whistles.... Bella is our first born daughter. She is 6. Bella enjoys school, reading, riding her training-wheel free bike, she could color and write for hours, she loves singing to the Momma Mia soundtrack, anything princess or pink, having bows in her hair, playing dress up, and her little sisters! God blessed us with Bella a month early but she was perfectly healthy. In six years she has become such a bright, outgoing, sensitive, and fearless little girl. Bella really is the sweetest girl you will ever meet. She is eager to please. If she hurts or disappoints someone it literally crushes her to tears. This last year she asked Jesus to be her Lord and Savior and we could not be more proud!! Love this sweet, blonde, blue eyed beauty!
Bryanna Karina
Usually known as Brynn. As well as Brynnie, Miley, Miley Moo, Geegs, Geegers, Brynnie Boo, and many more. Ten days before Bella turned 2 years old we were blessed with another beautiful, healthy girl by planned c-section. This time I was able to see my baby right after birth, watch her get weighed, bathed, etc. I couldn't wait for Bella to meet her. Brynn is now 4 and keeps me laughing all day long. Brynn, since she was about 2 months old has been the smiliest baby I have ever met. All you need to do is look at her and she will flash you a world class smile. Brynn is smiley, more shy and reserved about things than her big sis, can be quite the clown when she feels safe or gets in a silly mood, amazingly brilliant, she's been speaking full sentences since she was 19 months and continues to amaze us with what comes out of her mouth. She loves doing whatever her big sister is doing, dressing up, looking at books, her blankie, being held, twirling in her dresses, singing, and dancing whenever she hears music! Brynn is my compassionate baby, she hates to see people hurting. We just love this sweet, shy, snuggly, smiling little girl!
Brooklyn Blythe
Also known as Brookie, Brookie Cookie, Cookie Lu, Lulu B just to name a few. Sweet, sweet Brooklyn is our family's latest addition! We welcomed Brookie into our family on August 23rd 2010 at 12:23pm by planned c-section. I was nervous she would be a bit high maintenance since she came out screaming bloody murder and continued to wail anytime anyone touched her- get her footprints, take her temperature, etc. Amazingly, she would instantly stop the moment the Hubs touched her or began talking to her. And since her birthday, we have barely heard a peep out of her..... And fast forward 18 months, she definitely makes plenty of peeps now! :) We are full blown in the the terrible twos (which IMO last from 18-36 months) I believe. To make matters worse she's also cutting her 4 molars. She definitely knows what she wants but can't quite articulate it, so gets frustrated. Eating is also a hit or miss these days which is very foreign to me. Mixed with the crabby days though is the funniest personality ever. She is a riot! She LOVES chasing after her big sisters or having them chase and imitate her. She also has this adorable chubby face and will peek out of the corner of her eyes and just melt your heart! She is definitely shy at first but if you can get through to her she will keep you in stitches with her antics. We love you little BB and couldn't ask for a sweeter addition to our family!
This week's highlights aren't all that exciting. Monday we actually had nice/warm weather so we hit a park for the first time this spring. I had all the intentions to take some pics but I failed. This was a MOPS week for me so the little girls and I headed over to church Wednesday morning and got things set up for the next day. I always set up the mics and the girls just LOVE testing them out for me. :)
Afterwards we headed to get Bella from school and head out to the doctor for their 5 and 7 year appointments (just a couple months behind).
Everyone was very serious about their reading while we waited. :)
We knew Bella was good on shots but couldn't remember where Brynn was at with shots. Unfortunately, Brynn did need two shots and a finger prick. Thankfully the hubs ALWAYS joins me for their appointments and takes the hard job of being with them during shots. Brynn however FREAKED out this time, long before they even came near her. I wasn't even in the room and it was so hard to hear from the hallway. She of course immediately stopped when it was over. Poor baby. We stopped and got a chocolate shake treat afterwards though. :) They're both doing well of course and here are their stats:
Bella: 25th percentile- height: 45 in. and weight: 46 lbs.
Brynn: 75th percentile- height: 43.5 in. and weight: 45 lbs.
(Little sis is catching up to big sis ;) )
Today (Thursday) was take your child to work day at the hub's office and Bella (unfortunately they have to be 6 or older to go, so Brynn will go next year) has literally been asking ALL week how much longer till Thursday. She even popped right in to our room at 6:30 this morning asking if it was time to go. I can't wait to hear about it but I'm sure she has had an awesome day with daddy. The hubs sent me one pic and a video, they're too cute!
I took this right before they left, can you tell she's excited? :)
Ha! Apparently she thinks daddy makes the big bucks. :)
Here are some of my fav phone pics from the week. :)
The girls LOVE edamame, EVEN Brooklyn! I think they enjoy opening them as much as they enjoy eating them.
This is where I found Brooklyn the other morning. Silly goose!
Recently I had posted a pic on FB of the girls. And by some miracle all three of them were looking and smiling at the camera. A friend asked me how in the world I do it. And, honestly, I don't. In the hundreds of pictures I take of the girls usually someone has a weird look and you can almost guarantee that Brooklyn is not looking at the camera. However, every now and then- VERY few and VERY far in between, I just happen to catch that perfect moment. Like I mentioned yesterday on Saturday I finally took their 7/5/2.5 year pics. I thought I'd just show you how MOST of the pictures turned out before I showed you ones I love. ;)
It was trying, tiring, and a down right hair pulling experience but I was able to get a few I liked. But first the outtakes (unedited too).
Daddy even photo bombed us! :)
Bella trying to get her sister to look at the camera....
Would have been cute if Brynn had her leg down and Bella wasn't strangling Brooklyn's head.
So our weekend was low key. Thankfully the clouds closed and gave us blue skies for the weekend and helped dry out the area a little bit. Saturday we sat around most of the day and took care of a couple projects here and there. I finally got the girls' 7/5/2.5 year pics which I have been wanting to do for a bit but our lighting has been non-existent for the last couple weeks. I also completely forgot to take Bella to a birthday party to a good friend from school that I had just RSVPed for. I felt just terrible!! That night we went to a fancy dinner of Wendy's and hit the mall playground for a bit just to get out of the house for a bit.
Sunday we went to a great church service. Afterwards we always go out to lunch for those interested and this week we had a big group! We had 8 adults and 13 kids! So we pretty much took over Go Roma, which we love because kids eat free on Sundays and their fries are amazing!! :) Afterwards we headed home for rest time, I worked on editing the pics I took, and the hubs organized the garage and the cars. They look great!
So very exciting and thrilling weekend. :) But I'll take it! We have had too much drama in the news and the hubs has been working and traveling like crazy, so a low key weekend is great. The hubs doesn't have late meetings or travel at all this week- first time in at least 2 months- we're SO excited! Well ok mostly me. ;)
Didn't take any pics (besides the 7/5/2.5 pics which I'll share soon!) this weekend but Bella's teacher sent me a couple from when we were the Mystery Reader on Friday! Also I've hit the 30 week mark, eep!! Single digits baby, only 9 more weeks!! Which totally panics me when I think too much about it. :) So updated with some belly pics. :)
Miss Brynn and Brooklyn front and center of course.
I used to be an elementary teacher but am now a stay-at-home mommy with three sweet baby girls. Bella is 6, Brynn is 4, and Brooklyn is 1. We also have a sweet Golden Retriever named Beckham. I have been married to the love of my life, Vincent, for almost 12 years. Although I hate the cold I am a Chicago girl through and through. And thats about all I've got!
