James at 2 months!

James is 2 months old- 12 lbs. 6 oz. and 23.5 inches! We took him to his 2 mo well check last week and things looked great, developmentally on track, etc. That is of course except for the raging case of thrush I failed to notice until the pediatrician looked into his mouth... Luckily he has not been eating less or showing any other signs of not feeling well (he usually cries all of the time so that is hard to judge), but needless to say I felt like a great mom & nurse practitioner for my oversight:) Since he has been smiling I have been trying to capture it and these are as close as I could come.

Summer Update

Summer is a funny time b/c it is the time when we do the most and have the most to blog about, but the least time to actually get on the computer and post:) This has been a wonderful summer for us! Full of change, but all good change and adjustment. James is growing well, smiling & cooing all of the time, we are starting to see his personality more and more. I have just been amazed at how fast it is going by this time around... we just took him for his 2 month well check already! Noah has also blossomed this summer, not only has he started talking, but he is very much into pretend play now... amazing to see how his little mind works and the subtle things he picks up on. The other day I got him up from his nap and he was digging a hole on his bed and wouldn't get up until he was done cleaning up the dirt:) The most heartwarming thing has been how much Noah has embraced being a big brother and how much he loves James. He is a big help taking care of James, always is giving him hugs and kisses (mostly gentle I might add), and to show how kind hearted he really is… when James screams for long periods, especially in the car, he tells us to put James’ pacifier in and when that doesn’t work he sits back and sucks his thumb with his blankie. Gabe is adjusting well to residency and really seems to be enjoying working in pediatrics. I am LOVING all of the time I have been able to spend at home with Noah and James this summer, but alas I will be heading back to work mid September 2-3 days a week. That’s all for now… enjoy the pics!!

Trip North- Part 3

On our last night home Noah finally got to have a campfire. We have been reading a Curious George book where he goes camping, has a campfire, and roasts marshmallows, so Noah has been asking for a campfire for a while now. He had a great time making the fire with Grampy, eating Wheat Thins for supper, and finally roasting the marshmallows... Although he was a great marshmallow roaster (very patient and a slow turner) he did eventually figure out that it was much faster to just eat them "raw" out of the bag:)

Trip North- Part 2

We spent an afternoon at the lake and Grammy & Grampy Civiello's new home. Noah had a blast playing in the lake with Brady and James loved all of the attention so much he slept most of the time while being held by everyone:) We had lots of visitors there who it was great to see and have them meet James and see how much Noah has grown. It was also Aunt Sherri's birthday weekend so Noah got to have some birthday cake and feed it to Great Grampy Day:)

Trip North- Part 1

With all of our free time this summer and Gabe working so much, the kids and I have been able to spend lots of time up north with family. On our last trip we had a wicked fun, though exhausting, trip home with almost every minute booked:) The top picture is of Noah with Uncle John driving the Bobcat... I actually have a short video of this that Noah watches several times a day that I will try to post. Next, we went swimming and spent the day at the campground with Aunt Amy & Uncle Dennis. I love this picture of the two of them b/c you can see how much fun Noah is having. The bottom pic was right after Noah woke up from his nap and found James and Nanny napping too:)

Baking & Boat Rides

The top picture here is of Noah's continued love of cooking and baking... maybe just the licking of the spatula part... My parents came to visit on their way to the Baseball Hall of Fame and took us for a boat ride in Portland harbor. We had beautiful weather for a change! Noah especially loved the ride and watching the captain write in his book:)

Sebago Lake

We were very fortunate to have beautiful weather for Gabe's vacation and we took full advantage. On his last day off we drove up to the Sebago Lake State Park to use the Beach. There are many closer beaches to us, but are all to the ocean and Noah is afraid of the water at the ocean (the waves I think) and will not swim in it. Noah played in the sand and found a mini skateboard and is trying to stand on it in the first picture (it was about 3 inches long). Noah then found his goggles and insisted on wearing them despite the fact that they kept fogging up. The bottom picture is of him telling me that Gabe is swimming in the lake, but he needed to pull down the goggles to see him.

Boothbay Harbor Trip

This past weekend Gabe actually had some time off as we had a wedding to attend in Boothbay Harbor. Saturday before the wedding we spent some time at the Maine State Aquarium. Noah enjoyed the touch tank, but was a bit hesitant about touching anything. The 4th picture was the view from our hotel room on Sunday morning just after the fog burnt off. It was a beautiful day on the coast of Maine!! Gabe took Noah to play mini golf at the hotel and Noah did well, but after anyone hit the ball once he would pick up the ball and put it in the hole... it made for a quick 9 holes:)

Jo-Mary 2009

On Sunday of our trip home we took a day trip to the beach at Jo Mary with some of our family. It was a bittersweet trip b/c this was the first time any of us had been there since it was sold last year. For those of you not familiar with Jo Mary, this is a campground that my grandparents had owned for 40 years. All of us had grown up there and spent most summers of our childhood working making ice cream cones and serving bean suppers. Our family had to sell it when my grandfather passed away in 2007. Although sad, it was nice to be able to be visitors at the campground and not workers:) Noah had a blast playing in the sand with so many people to play with him... Elizabeth buried his legs and made him into a merman, Jacob helped him into some water skis, and Dennis helped him fill his dump truck. His favorite part of the day was the boat ride from Uncle Brian... it was his first and he hasn't stopped talking about it since! James came along too and was a very good sport sleeping in his little tent:)

Summerfest '09

We recently made a trip home to East Millinocket for the town celebration and my class reunion. In the park there were lots of things for Noah to do, but I only got pictures of the horses. He did much better than I thought he would and actually seemed to enjoy himself riding on them! The firemen also sprayed some foam for the kids to play in, but Noah was scared and preferred to watch from his stroller. We were able to be at home for almost a week so although it was exhausting we had a blast spending time with friends and family we don't get to see often!!

Maine Wildlife Park

In an effort to explore the new area and get outside on the few sunny days we have had, I took the kids to the Maine Wildlife Park. Noah really enjoyed the deer and the skunks... he related almost all of the animals to recent Curious George books we have read. The pictures aren't great, but I was by myself and Noah wasn't in the mood for posing:)

July 4th, 2009

Gabe didn't have to be at the hospital until 3 on the 4th so we were able to celebrate some of the 4th activities in the morning. We went north to Freeport for a pancake breakfast and to the parade after... and Noah got to meet the LLBean bear, which, as you can see, he was very excited about:)

James the great gainer!

James is changing and growing so fast I can't believe it!! At birth he weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 inches long... (about 1 pound and 2 inches less than Noah). At his recent 2 week check-up James weighed in at 8 lbs. 12 oz. (as a reference point babies just need to be back to birth weight at 2 weeks to be considered "on track") and 22 inches long!! No feeding concerns with James... I am hoping now that he weighs more than Noah did at this same point he will start sleeping more and eating less at night... I can dream right:)

First Day as a Doctor:)

The top picture is of Gabe with his boys on his first day of residency... still hard to believe that he is really a MD! The other pictures are of our indoor activities since the rain has come non-stop... it is a good thing Noah loves to paint, draw and read!!