Noah Loses His First Tooth!

Noah's first tooth finally fell out today... well more appropriately his mother pulled it out;) It has been loose since his visit to the dentist back in January and he has had "some" anxiety around it since then. He is very excited!!  The tooth next to it is also very loose and the permanent tooth has already come in behind it, so I expect he will have an even bigger hole there soon!

Summer Fun in April:)

We have had an absolutely gorgeous week!  It is hard to believe, but we did have the sprinkler and pool out earlier this week... I think that the kids MAY be getting a little too big for their pool. Ben has started to sit up for a few seconds and is trying really hard to learn to crawl... he is looking like he might be our first crawler. He will hold himself up with outstretched arms, get up on his toes, then shoot himself forward where he usually smashes his face into the floor... he is improving though;) Noah still has not lost his tooth yet, but the new tooth has started to grow in behind it, so it should fall out soon! He is eagerly awaiting this and his anxiety couldn't be higher about the whole thing. Yesterday we walked/hiked to the duck pond, over to check out our garden, and to the playground..... I then ran everyone home. It was my first run since Ben has been born (I know it has been so long!) and I think it would have gone better if I hadn't had to push all 3 kids... my arms got more of a workout than my legs, but it was better than nothing and will get easier I am sure:) 

Island Exploring

We have really fallen in love with all of the outdoor opportunities Portland has to offer.  This little island continues to be one of our favorites!  We can hike/run along the path, explore the woods/rocks/beach/tide pools and do it all in one visit. It was an exhausting morning, but everyone always is in a great mood after spending the morning outside. Unfortunately Gabe was not able to join us since he was on call the night before, BUT that was the last call of his residency so we are very excited about that:)

Little Drummer Boy

I was letting Benjamin "crawl" around on the floor while I changed James... this is what I came back to.  He had gotten the drum and was hitting it with the mallet, totally happy and proud of himself. He is 7 months now, has 4 teeth and is getting around with a combination of rolling and a military crawl to get to where he wants to go... usually to play with whatever his brothers are playing with. He is such a fun, happy and easy going baby that I still can't believe it.  The best part of the day is listening to him laugh while his brothers entertain him with peak-a-boo. Although he has recently started screaming in an effort to communicate which is reinforced by his brothers laughing hysterically each time he does it;)

Easter 2012

We have had quite an eventful few days and in all of the excitement this is what I got for pictures...no group shot, none of their easter presents, no one was dressed up....... oh well!  Nanny and Grandpa came to visit on Saturday.... They, Gabe and Noah all went to a baseball game at SMCC. While there, my mom and Noah went off to explore the beach and lighthouse.... my mom fell down a hill, broke her leg and, after her first ever ambulance ride, spent the rest of the afternoon/evening in the ED at MMC. Everyone else was fine, Noah was in no way traumatized, in fact, taking after his mother I am sure... he laughed the entire time at how funny it was that Nanny fell and then thought that the ambulance was really cool...:) Despite my mother's terrible luck, this turned out to be a fantastic learning opportunity for Noah... it was much easier to talk about emergencies, what to do, what number to call and safe people to ask for help given a specific incident... He has learned 911 and our phone numbers with incredible ease/speed.... Thanks mom for taking one for the team in the name of Noah's education;)

ANYHOW, we had a lovely Easter dinner on Saturday night followed by a relaxing Easter Day filled with candy, sticky buns and TBall outside with the neighbors... only one bat to the head taken by James, so not too bad for their first try (we had three plastic bats, four kids and one T, so it was bound to happen). I am sure we will have plenty more pictures of the kids trying out their baseball skills on a warmer day! 

Noah's Gymnastics Show- 4/12

Noah continues to LOVE his gymnastics class!  We are thrilled at the progress he has made in the last 14 weeks. He now runs and skips on the balance beam which he was scared to even walk across at the beginning of the class. Today was the last day of this session, so they had a special "show" and awards ceremony.

Y Spring Fair 2012

On Saturday the kids and I spent the morning with Nanny, Grandpa, Aunt Amy and Trey at the YMCA Spring Fair in Bangor. The kids were so happy to be able to ride on all of the rides and jump in the bouncy house. They both even rode in the pirate ship, which is huge progress... it should be a fun summer.  Luckily we arrived as soon as it opened and were able to get on most rides without waiting... things were much busier when we were leaving! One of the highlights of Noah's time was getting to meet and have his picture taken with a real live weatherman.

We arrived back in Portland and went to the airport to pick up Daddy. The kids were so excited to get to see him and to see how the baggage claim works as well as all of the planes.  It was an exhausting, but very fun day:)