Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was spent at my Grandpa Penny's house. We had a great time with him and my parents and my brother and his family. Jack slept through the actual Thanksgiving dinner, but I was fine with that, since it gave me more time to stuff my belly with delicious food. :)
Jack is really getting big. He is starting to talk so much to me now. He smiles a lot and coos. He doesn't laugh very much yet. I remember Isabella really laughing a lot at this age, but he isn't quite there yet. Occasionally I can get a giggle from him, but I really have to work for it.

Here is a picture of Jack and Isabella laying on the floor together.
And another...

And here is a family photo. It was really tough to get everyone to cooperate. So this was the best we could do.
Isabella loved playing with this toy drum that was at my Grandpa's house.
Chris, David and Cristina were also able to come up to my Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving.
Isabella loved her Great Grandpa and had fun playing with him in her own way. She brought such joy to him. I think she has such life in her and really lights up a room. She certainly did that for him and I was so happy we could be there.

Here is Isabella in her new hat and gloves.Here is a cute picture of Isabella and Jack. This was only the 3rd time she has ever asked to hold him. It is such a rare occasion that I had to snap a picture.So things are going well for us. We are looking forward to Christmas and Jack's baptism. I am so excited that we get to share that with Katie and Doug again as they baptize Mark at the same time. I also can't wait to meet my new nephew...they should be home in less than 2 weeks. Hopefully I will get some time to post pictures again soon and it won't be so long in between posts.

My Kiddos are cute! :)

Well I have to say I think my kiddos are pretty adorable! Jack is growing so fast and he is showing more and more personality every day. I feel like we are really getting to know each other. He is becoming more predictable to me every day and I can tell he is growing pretty attached to me. He is definitely starting to show a preference. He is a pretty good baby. I wouldn't call him easy, but he is definitely not difficult either.

Isabella is talking more and more each day. It is so funny to hear the things she says. I think my favorite part of the day is when she wakes up from either the night or her nap. It is fun to hear the first words out of her mouth. It is interesting to see what is on her mind. Yesterday the first thing she said was "Mommy, ride on elliptical machine" We have moved the machine into my bedroom and Isabella is fascinated. I won't let her play on it, but I will hold her and do it. She loves it...a little too much. I hope she loses interest soon. Here are some cute pictures of the kids. I hope you enjoy!

We are really looking forward to Thanksgiving right now. We are heading to OH to my grandpa's house. It is going to be so nice to see him and everyone else...then it isn't long until Christmas!!

October Update

It has been a few weeks since I updated the blog, so I want to include some pictures of Jack that I took when he turned 2 months old and just some other cute pics of Jack. I have started to understand why my baby book was so much smaller than my older sister's. Jack definitely doesn't have as many pictures as Isabella did. Here are some of my favorites of Jack.





This was Jack's first Halloween and Isabella's third. I really enjoyed this one the most since having kids. It was so special since it was Jack's first and I absolutely loved watching Isabella's face light up when she said "Trick or Treat" and was given a treat for it. She really enjoyed herself.

We went to NC for the weekend and her Nonna and Pop-pop came down to visit. Grandma and Grandpa Reintjes also came in for a quick visit. It was so great to see everyone! We were fortunate to get to ride on a hayride for our Trick or Treating. A friend and neighbor of Nick's Aunt and Uncle hitches up a hayride to his truck and takes kids around town. It was really fun, especially since hayrides have been Isabella's favorite part of the season




reet | Raleigh, NC 2760

Zoomania!! and Jack is 2 months old!

Jack was 2 months old yesterday and to celebrate turning 2 months old he slept 8 hours at one stretch and gave his tired and sick mommy 5 1/2 hours of sleep (had I known I would have gone to bed sooner)! I put him down after feeding him and slept 4 more hours. I was thrilled! He is 12 lbs 8 oz as of today. I can't believe how big he is getting. Here are some cute pictures of him. He loves bathtime and smiles like crazy! I tried to capture his cuteness, but it is hard to do with a camera. I have a feeling he would be even happier if we could both get rid of these colds. Yuck!

We went to the zoo on Thursday of last week with Isabella's friend Lea. The girls had a great time! It was all Isabella could talk about after we left. She wanted to go to the zoo so badly that is almost ruined her against preschool on Friday... So I promised her we would go to the zoo again on Saturday with daddy. We did and she had a great time again! On Saturday we got her a ride pass and she rode the carousel about 8 times. It had different animals on it and she had to ride different ones each time.

Playing on the playground at the zoo.

At the petting zoo with daddy.

On Thursday with Lea

Some videos

I have been promising some new videos to Gianna and keep running out of time to post them. Here are some new ones of the kiddos.

Here is one of Isabella trying on her Halloween costume



Here is Isabella singing along to the theme song from My Friends Tigger & Pooh. She is a singing fool these days!


Here she is singing some other songs



Baby Jack...we keep trying to catch him rolling over on video. So far no luck.



Lastly this is when her dog gets in trouble because he is mean to the sheep and has to go in time out.

Sibling Rivalry

So Jack is already trying to show up Isabella. Tonight at 7 weeks and 2 days old he rolled from his belly to his back. I couldn't believe it! Isabella did it at 10 weeks old I believe (I will have to go back in the files for that one). We can't believe how strong he is and how fast he is growing. He is so sweet and we are loving him more and more each day! Here are a couple cute ones of him in his new bouncy seat!!

Video for the Mandel Family

Isabella received a box from her Aunt Kate and Uncle Mike and the kids. I took a video of her opening it so the kids could see her reaction. Here it is.

Happy Birthday Gianna!!

This video is for Gianna. It is her second birthday today!! We can't believe it has been 2 years since she entered the world. We miss you very much and can't wait to see you again!

Jack and Isabella "playing" together

Here is a cute video of Isabella "playing" with baby Jack. I was thrilled that I caught the moment on video. I was about to take a video of her opening a package from the Mandel family so I had the camera handy. Enjoy!

6 weeks old! Stats!

Jack is 6 weeks old today! He had a doctor's appt yesterday and he was 10 lbs 4 oz (50-75%) and 22 1/4 inches (75%) and head circumference was 39.5 cm (75%). I was so happy to find that he is gaining well and our breastfeeding is working this time around. We were however diagnosed with oral thrush for Jack and candida for me...yippee! At least it isn't as painful as what we had with Isabella. Jack seems to already be responding to the medicine well and things seem to be looking up.