Ladies Trip to NYC!!!

For my 35th Birthday, Dennis surprised me with a girls trip to NYC.  I was so excited and shocked that he was able to keep it a secret too!

So, this weekend was the weekend.  I flew to NYC and my Mom and 2 of my sisters, Holly and Julie, drove and met me there.  We spent Friday having lunch at a cute diner where the waiters and waitresses sing broadway songs (most of them are trying to get jobs on broadway).  Then we walked around to a bunch of shops and then that night we had dinner in Little Italy and De Nico's.  It was so yummy!

Saturday we had a spa day (Dennis had found a place and booked it for us).  We spent most of the day at the spa, the package included lunch too.  Then we got dressed for a fancy dinner (Aureole) and went to a broadway show (Rock of Ages).  Dinner was delicious and the show was so fun!

Sunday we had a good breakfast and then I got picked up to head back to the airport.  Dennis had arranged a car service to and from the airport for me!  Anyway, we all agreed that we needed to do this trip again sometime!

While I was away, Dennis did great watching all the kids.  He even had to go to a soccer game with all of them.  Most impressive though, was that he took all four out to dinner to BW3's!!!  I wouldn't have even bothered with that!  I think he enjoyed the time bonding with all of them and the kids seemed to be at their best as far as behavior went, so that made it pretty easy for him!  I didn't take a single picture in NYC, so here are some of Dennis and the kids...

Eating Donuts while the big boys are at Sunday School.

Today, Dennis coincidently left for NYC for work!  He will be back Wednesday night.

Leah Rides in a Cart...

We had another great weekend around here.  Saturday, Evan had his last flag football game of the season.  What a great season he had.  He really surprised us with how focused he was and he was really good and understood the game well too.  He got to play running back a bunch, so that was fun to watch too.

Colin had a soccer game and then we went to a neighbors house for dinner with a bunch of other families.  The kids all entertained themselves and it was great to catch up with everyone since it has been a while since we have all gotten together.

Monday, I had the stent removed and I am a million times better.  It initially still hurt, but after about 12-24 hours it really felt much better.

Yesterday, I took the little ones with me to Costco.  Leah sat in the cart for the first time (usually she is in her carseat).  She was smiling the whole time, she loved it!

Kidney Surgery.

These are pics from Colin's game last weekend.  Pictures were taken by Logan...

So, this week Evan enjoyed his first play date at someone's house by himself.  He went home with a buddy after school and played for a few hours (they even did their homework).

Wednesday, we got our neighbor to watch Leah for my surgery.  I was actually kind of nervous for this surgery and don't love the idea of being put under, but it went well.  $5000 later (yeah our insurance stinks), the stone is gone, but I now have a stent I have to have in till next Monday.  I had no idea how much pain I would be in after surgery.  Apparently, my body doesn't like the stent because the pain is worse than after a c-section and after appendix surgery!!  A friend brought over dinner for us Thursday night and that was a huge help.

Friday, Colin had a field trip to a local museum and Wednesday Evan had his at Conner Prairie, so they have both had a great week.  Friday night was the annual Fall Family Night at the kids school.  They had subway dinner, crafts, book fair and a comedy show.  The show was over the kids head and a big flop, but otherwise it was a fun night.

Leah is all over the places crawling these days and getting into things too!

Grandpa Pritchard Visits!

This week Grandpa Pritchard is visiting.  He was visiting some of his cousins in Ohio, so he decided to come visit us too.  I was great having him around.  My parents gift to me for my birthday was money to get a manicure and pedicure, while my Dad watched the little ones.  So, that is what I did.  It was great to have a sitter and get away.  He also babysat while Dennis and I went out to dinner for my birthday Thursday night.  We had an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Recess.

He was supposed to babysit during Evan's field trip Thursday.  I was looking forward to going, but soon after I got to the school they decided to cancel due to the rainy weather.  So, Grandpa watched Leah, while I went ahead and picked up Logan and took him to story time at the book store.

The week wasn't perfect though, Tuesday night I was having a lot of stomach and back pain, I tried to sleep but after a couple hours of not being able to, I woke up Dennis after midnight to tell him I was going to drive myself to the ER.  Long story short, they did a CT scan and discovered I had a very large kidney stone causing a blockage.  Apparently, it had been there a long time!

Wednesday morning, I had to follow up with a urologist.  He did X-rays and said that I would need surgery to remove it.  He also was shocked at how long it had been around and kept saying how tough I was.  Anyway, surgery is set for next Wednesday.  Sadly, that means I won't be able to go Evan's field trip that was also rescheduled for Wednesday.

Storytime with the kiddos...

Daddy and Leah selfies...

Leah 10 Months Old!

Leah is 10 Months old!  I can hardly believe it.

Leah at 10 Months is crawling on her belly.  She is also coming up on her hands and feet occasionally. She seems to be less interested in her own chew toys and instead likes to crawl over to Logan's duplo Lego's .  I think it might be time to pull out some more toys from storage for her.   These days she mostly crawls around the living room and spends a little time in the exersaucer.  She only goes in the swing when she seems bored and fussy and I'm trying to get something done, or if I am showering.  She doesn't seem too interested in the swing these days.

Leah is eating 3 meals a day.  She is pretty much done with baby food, though I do bring it if I need to feed her out, just in case there are no baby friendly foods available.   I also occasionally give her baby food with her oatmeal in the morning.  Otherwise, she is eating what we eat if it is soft enough and lots of fruits and veggies (sweet potatoes, canned veggies, avocado, mango, kiwi, berries, fish, etc).  So far she isn't too picky about food, but she is a noticeably smaller eater than the boys were.  I give her a sippy cup of water with her meals to "practice" drinking out of.  I would like to be all done with bottles by the time she turns 1 and goes to regular milk.   Speaking of milk...she still nurses 4x/day (around 7am, 11am, 3:30pm and 7:30pm).

Leah sleeps from about 7:45-8pm to 7am.  She never wakes up in the middle of the night.  She also is taking 2 naps, usually around 9-11am and 1:30-3:30pm.  That varies though depending on if we are out running errands.  Occasionally, she will miss the morning one and just take a longer, earlier afternoon nap.  She is fairly flexible as far as that is concerned, but still doesn't really nap on the go to well.  She usually waits until she is home in her bed.

Leah is waving bye bye now.  I've also been trying to teach her sign language for "all done", when she is done eating.  Right now it looks like she is waving bye bye.  She also loves to shake her head and say AHHHHH....  Dennis and her like to play a game where he does that and then she copies him.

Well, I guess that is it.  Can't believe we just have a couple more months before she will be 1!

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Family Photo Session.

I have been wanting to get a good family picture done outdoors for years.  Me being the frugal practical person I am, I waited until after our family was complete.  So, I was thrilled when I went to Logan's school's silent auction this past spring and saw that a photo session was one of the prizes.  I was even more thrilled when we won!  So, this weekend we did the photo session.  The kids were well behaved and it went great, here are some of the "teaser" pics she sent us...

Leah's Ears Pierced!

A few highlights from this week...

I took Logan and Leah to the park and we did a picnic...I have so much fun with these two, it will be such a sad day when there are no babies home with me during the day anymore.

We broke out some Redskin gear for the Redskin game, Dennis tried about 10 times to get a pic of the little 2, but they kept moving...

Thursday, Leah got her ears pierced!!!  I didn't have a strong opinion one way or the other about when to get her ears pierced, but I found out our pediatrician does ear piercing and I spoke to a couple people that had done it as babies and that convinced me to go ahead and get it over with.  I'm not gonna lie, I almost called and cancelled the appointment, because I felt so bad causing her pain for something so silly, but I ended up sticking it out.  It was hard though, she cried a lot.  Luckily, she was done crying by the time we left.  I hoping one day she will thank me for getting it done before she will have a memory of it.  And, I am able to easy take care of them at this age and she is too young to yank them out, so so far, we are happy with the decision.

Friday was a beautiful day!  We spent some time outside, Leah loves crawling around on the grass!