Way To Go WVU!

Lots of updates for this post. First, I would like to say...Way to go WVU! I love our football team and it gives me great pride to say that I am a Mountaineer. Currently ranked number 2 (should be #1 but we'll prove that later) we are on our way to a national championship game providing we beat Pittsburgh next weekend. And Dominic and I will be at the game Saturday cheering on our team! We are going to the 100th Backyard Brawl! Thanks to my sister, Kristi, for scoring us some awesome seats. She's the one that can always get us tickets to the games. She also keeps Dominic stocked with WVU things for his office. Thanks sis! We'll see you next weekend! And, thanks to my mom for agreeing to watch all three of the kids at her house overnight while we go to the game and stay with Kristi. She's a brave woman, I tell you that!

Birthday Dinner

We decided to take the kids to dinner on Brooke and Nathan's birthday. We went to Outback and had a great time. They thought they were so cool sitting there with their sippy cups and entertaining people around us. Brooke worked one side of the room and had them smiling and laughing while Nathan did the same for the other side of the room. It was so cute! The wait staff even brought each of them out a big ice cream with a candle on it and sang happy birthday to them. Brooke and Nathan didn't know what to think. And Lenny loved it too.

Brooke and Nathan chowed down on some bread, green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, and of course some ice cream. They loved it. Lenny was being a picky eater that night and only ate some of our salads, some steak, and the ice cream. I can always guarantee that he will eat a salad, lettuce and all. He's loved them since before he turned two years old.

The pictures are very fuzzy because the lens had a fingerprint on it. I didn't realize what the problem was until we got home.


Thanksgiving Day

We had a wonderful and busy Thanksgiving. Dominic and Lenny worked (and played) some outside on the yard since it was such a beautiful day. I made my dish for Thanksgiving dinner and made a small centerpiece for the dinner table. I used our leftover pumpkin shaped gourds, cleaned the inside out and added some fresh cut mums, Lenny helped with the flowers. He was so excited to give this to Nunny. He carried it in to her so proud.

On the way to Denny and Gloria's for Thanksgiving dinner, we stopped by the firehouse to visit our friend Dennis, who is a firefighter in northern Virginia and had to work that day. Dennis and Dominic have been friends their entire life. They lived down the street from each other. I was so excited for Lenny to see the firehouse and Dennis. Lenny fell asleep in the van on the way there so was still kind of sleepy. And to top it off, he was afraid of the firetrucks. I couldn't believe it. Brooke, our girl, was the first one brave enough to sit in the seat of the fire truck. Nathan eventually did too but Lenny wouldn't do it.

Don't the kids look real happy in the picture below? At least Dominic and I were. Thanks, Dennis, for showing us around the firehouse. Dominic and I enjoyed it.

We then headed to Denny and Gloria's for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great time and lots of great food. Believe it or not, I didn't get any good pictures of us at the dinner table. I'm hoping that Gloria got some. Thanks for an awesome dinner!

Here's a good picture of Brooke and Uncle Chip. Brooke was just getting ready to grab his glasses. She had them shortly after the picture was snapped.

You can tell by the look on her face that she's getting ready to snag them. She's terrible about grabbing things. She's so quick about it that Dominic teases and says that he thinks she would be able to grab a fly in mid air.

One Year Well Baby Checkup

The babies had their one year check up today. I guess I can no longer call them babies now that they are one. They are still my babies though. Dominic stayed home with Lenny while I took Brooke and Nathan to their appointment. They did great today. I felt so bad for them though because they each got four shots (two in each leg) and they each got a finger prick. That's a lot of shots and finger pricks in one day. I wanted to cry myself when they started crying. It was so sad. I always hated that part with Lenny too.

Here are their measurements and the percentile:

Brooke:
Weight--19 pounds 2 ounces (23 %)
Height--27 3/4 (20%)
Head circumference--44 1/2 centimeters (40%)

Nathan:
Weight--23 pounds (60%)
Height--29 1/4 (40%)
Head circumference--46 1/2 (55%)

Brooke is still much farther behind than Nathan. But they have come a long way since the less than 5% that they received on everything at birth. And Brooke just jumped up to the 10th percentile on a few things at the 9 month checkup. Their doctor said that with premies, they usually catch up in their weight first and then they start catching up in their height.

I was curious about what Lenny was at this age so I looked it up:

Lenny weighed 22 pounds 6 ounces (49%), height was 30 inches (51%) and head circumference was 18 1/2 inches (75%)

Nathan weighs more than Lenny did at this age.

They missed their morning nap since we were at the doctor appointment and they were so tired. But by the time we got home, they were ready to play. At lunch time, I put them in their highchairs while I got lunch ready then I turned around to give it to them and Brooke was sound asleep and Nathan was almost asleep. They were really tired. Maybe they'll take a nice long afternoon nap.

From the Mouth of a Thirty Six Year Old?

Yes, this is a story about Dominic. It was very funny and I had to share it. When we eat lunch and dinner, we always lock Daisy out of the kitchen. We were finished with lunch yesterday and Daisy was reminding us to let her in but we were still cleaning the kitchen. She had barked several times when Dominic looked at her and said, "Daisy, that's enough barking. You are making us mad by barking. For each bark that's going to be five minutes." Sounds like a good concept but Daisy just ignored him.