Teeth and stuff

As you can see, Alex is doing just fine. By 10:am the day after he knocked his teeth out, he was climbing all over the barstool and the elliptical machine. I now understand when my mom used to tell me that I gave her gray hair!!


A couple of pics of Katie's chompers - one a bit under duress because I had taken 9 zillion photos and couldn't get one with her teeth showing...




My little slice of Heaven on Earth... There is nothing better in the world than when Alex and Kate are playing and laughing together!














Alex and his "sleeping beauty" London



Alex and some of his art from school... Just in case you were wondering - he still loves the trash truck and the yard waste truck and the recycling truck!



Katie getting into the toys - literally!

Alex gets an early visit from

the TOOTHFAIRY...




He was climbing down from the barstool when his feet got caught on the rung. He fell on his face and knocked out his two front teeth!! I was holding him while Tom was cleaning up his face. Alex saw all the blood on the paper towel and said, "Oh no, that's not good." This happened at about 6:50 pm and we were in Alex's dentist office by 7:10pm. It was pretty traumatic for us all last nite but, he's a tough kid and by 10:am this morning he was playing again.
More exciting teeth news: Kate finally has her two bottom teeth. No more gummy grins for us! She is thisclose to crawling, too. We just had our corners bull nosed (rounded) in the house, had a/c installed and got a new heater. Tomorrow the painters come... After they are done we're going to have the carpets cleaned and I'm hoping that I can get my house back in order before she takes off... Wish me luck!!

Finally got my braces off!!

I finally got my braces off!! Yay!! I told my orthodontist that 20 years after having braces the first time you'd think they'd have made some advances with the retainers. Not so. When I wear mine I still feel like I have marbles in my mouth!

Kate just loves being upside down!!


She's just now getting her first two bottom teeth but, she hasn't let that slow her down! She is already thisclose to being done with baby food! She loves to eat whatever Alex is eating. Peas, carrots, corn, black olives, pasta, chicken nuggets and loves meatballs!!


She was happy with the mini waffle... until she saw what Alex got...



She's 10 months old today - January 31st! Can you believe that she'll be ONE in just two short months!!

Jan - Alex starts school Feb. - Tracey starts bedrest

Alex started preschool in January! Before he started school he knew the alphabet, could recognize any of the letters and even tell you what sound they made. He knew his shapes, colors, and could count to 20 but, I wanted him to start gaining some independence from me and have something in his life that wouldn't change when Kate arrived. I hoped by starting in January he would be really comfortable there by the time Kate arrived in May.

In February we moved Alex out of the crib and into a big boy bed! He made the transition so easily and it was so cute the next morning when he got out of bed by himself and came running into our room!

One night at the end of February while Tom was out of town for business, I woke up to find myself bleeding. Being 6 months pregnant this freaked me out. I called my Dr. who wanted me to meet him at the hospital. So I called my neighbor and asked her to come over and watch Alex. She was at my house in no less than 90 seconds! It was pretty funny because I opened the door and she said, "You did just call me right?" Her husband drove me to the hospital. I was kept over night "for observation". Praise God everything was o.k. at that point. I opted to get the shot of steroids to help develop Kate's lungs in case she ended up coming early. Tom came home immediately. My doctor put me on "modified bed rest".

Thankfully Alex was settling nicely into preschool.
He's still a mama's boy though!

March - Kate comes 5 weeks early!

Strike two landed me in the hospital for the weekend with orders for strict bedrest when I got home. Unfortunately for Tom, it was the same weekend as his annual trip to Vegas with the boys and he had to miss it. It's very hard to be on bedrest when you have a toddler in the house. Once I got home I did very little other than caring for Alex.

Strike three landed me in the hospital "until the baby comes..." Praise God for my mother who dropped everything, took time off from work, and flew immediately out to take care of Alex while I was in the hospital. I'm here to tell you that I am probably one of the most laid back people on earth so I thought bedrest would be a piece of cake for me. I had a couple of books to read, my Bible study to do, cable t.v. and a few netflix. After 48 hours - I was completely stir crazy! My Doctor and I were hoping that Kate would have made it to 37 or 38 weeks but, you know what they say, "If you want to hear God laugh, just tell him your plans!" Kate came at 35 weeks. Once again, praise God for my mama or else Tom would have missed the birth! Kate arrived on March 31st and weighed 4 lbs. 15.5 ozs - so almost 5 lbs.!

Alex was not too interested in the thing that took his mommy away for so long but, at the same time he was not mean to her either. She did come bearing gifts so he couldn't be too mad at her. She brought him a guitar!


A couple of days after we brought Kate home from the NICU there was a "changing of the guard" as my mom went home and Babcia and Dziadek came in to help out for a month.

April, May. and June went by in a blur of baby....

July - Alex is potty trained and turns 3

Our big July news is that Alex is potty trained! I debated whether or not to post pictures of him on the potty and decided to respect his privacy - who wants to see pictures of themselves on the potty on the internet? Anyway - it IS big news and he learned pretty quickly! I am so proud of him!
Also, Alex turned 3!! He had a party at school - do you love his birthday hat? Guess what is on it? That's right, trash trucks!

He also had a birthday party at My Gym with his friend Theo who is 5 days younger.
Grandma and Grandpa also came out for this party. Here is Grandpa reading Alex's favorite birthday present, a book about... a TRASH TRUCK!

Last but, not least, on Alex's actual birthday we took him to CHUCK E. CHEESE for the first time!!! He had a blast!!

August - Kate's 1st time on an airplane

In August, we went to Michigan to celebrate the 80th and 90th birthday of my in-laws! This was Kate's first time on an airplane and she did great! She loved it - she was held all day long and got to eat whenever she wanted!!

Tom, Iza, and I threw them a big party at a country club. My parents also came and brought a huge surprise for me - Andrew and Ally!!
How sweet is this picture??


What are these people doing? Waiting for the trash truck, of course!! Did I mention that Alex is obsessed with the trash truck, the recycle truck, and the yard waste/compostable truck!