The BIG Update! - Part I

Not too sure where to begin, but I will try to catch up on everything that has been going on in the last few months...

First, November...we really enjoyed celebrating the holidays with family and friends this year. We had a great Thanksgiving at my parents house with lots of family including a visit from my cousin Deborah, her husband Grant and their new baby Kendall. It was an interesting day that started with Lauren waking up with some itchy spots all over her body, this resulted in a trip to the pediatrician before the big feast. You gotta love a pediatrician who is willing to meet you at the office on Thanksgiving Day!! He checked Lauren out and could not rule out that these spots were not chicken poxs, which resulted in John getting his chicken pox vaccination right there on the spot. I am sure it was just what he wanted on Thanksgiving! The spots never developed into anything more and so it still remains a mystery as to what caused her to have such a rash.

December is always chock full of activities, from cutting down our own tree, to riding on the Polar Express and having breakfast with Santa at the Lyme Firehouse. The kids enjoy every minute of all the excitement! We had a quiet Christmas morning spent at our house in Guilford opening gifts and enjoying Daddy's omelets before headed over to my Mom and Dad's house in the afternoon for more gift opening and dinner with family. It was during this day and a conversation with my Aunt Marcia that I started to have a sneaking feeling that we would be spending our next Christmas somewhere else...We rang in the New Year at home on the sofa. I don't think I even made it to midnight and we didn't watch any of the hype instead we rented a movie and called it a night. Actually, it was very nice to spend a New Year's this way. After all the activities that surround Christmas it was a nice way to decompress.

In January we celebrated Kathryn's 3rd Birthday with a party at Stay N' Play with a bunch of her best buddies. She had a superhero themed party and she requested that I make her a cake with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles, and so I did. She proudly holds up her three fingers whenever she is asked how old she is! She is such a hoot to be around, she can be the silliest and the sweetest child at times, and she still remains the loudest of the three! She thinks she is a princess and she prances, dances and sings her way around the house. I am pretty sure her brother out weighs her petite frame, but her feet continue to grow at an exponential rate, seriously, her feet are almost as big as Lauren's!! She is starting to become very independent dressing herself, using the potty herself, putting on her own shoes. She has been completely potty trained for some time and just recently started to not wear diapers at night. She is still very much in love with her blankie and her thumb!! She has other items that she gets attached to as well, these tend to rotate but currently it is a princess doll and a little Winnie the Pooh stuffed animal. I cannot wait to see what this year holds for her...it's going to be a big year, she starts preschool in the fall! I love you precious Kiki, you bring lots of smiles to Mommy's face : ).