This year has been awesome for our family! We went through a lot of trials that challenged us as a family and as a couple! The happiest moment was when I gave birth to Lani! She really was a miracle since we doubted that after 3 years of trying anything and everything to get pregnant that it would never happen! Just when we began to accept it, SURPRISE, you are having a little babe in 8 months! Here is our year in review! Some months are more exciting than others but here we go!


**January: This month I finally began to feel like a normal person again! The “all day” sickness that I was having had faded away! I was able to stay up past 7:00 at night and begin to socialize with my family and friends again. We purchased our new couch and chair for our living room! We purchased our last one while I was pregnant with Wesley and it had held up well but with some rips and major stains it was time to say “bye-bye”! Hopefully the guy who picked it up from the dump as soon as we dropped it off will enjoy it as much as we did! YUCK!


**February: We took Wesley to see Monsters Inc. On Ice at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester. Wesley also was promoted from “Grasshoppers” to “Juniors” in karate! We also had the ultrasound that showed us that the little babe growing in me was a girl! HOORAY!


**March: I left my Child Care job this month and did not go back to work for the rest of my pregnancy! I do miss being a part of the work force but I LOVE being at home with my kiddos! Wesley started school at Barnstead Elementary since I was no longer working at the center that he was attending Kindergarten at. I was super anxious to have him start at the “big school” but he did great and had loved every minute of it!


**April: Wesley turned 6 this month. We had a fishing party for him and a few of his friends. We celebrated Easter at Grammy and Grampy’s with a yummy breakfast and egg hunt!


**May: This was a rather uneventful month! I drug my very pregnant self to a Girl Scout sleep over at the Boston Museum of Science! Had a lovely night sleeping on a deflating air mattress while a tiny little mouse scurried around looking for goodies! Michael also had his karate tournament this month. He placed first in each of his events!


**June: Babies! Babies! Babies! Lani Elizabeth was born in June 24th! Michael’s cousin also had a baby daughter 3 days before Lani was born! This was definitely the highlight of our year! Even Wesley decided that this was his favorite memory from 2006! Michael and I also celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary and Wesley graduated from Kindergarten.


**July: No sleep! Tired! Happy! Content! In love! We spent a lot of time staying cool at Grammies in her pool.


**August: Took Leah to Santa’s Village and Jenna to Roger Williams Zoo. I had a lot of job interviews but decided to stay home. Wesley started soccer and first grade. Went on the big yellow school bus for the first time.


**September: Michael turned 34! Lani caught her first cold and Wesley was promoted to yellow belt in karate.


**October: Did a little apple picking in unseasonably warm weather!


**November: I turned 29! Wesley went on first “big school” field trip to see “Seussical Musical” at Capital Center for the Arts! We celebrated Thanksgiving at Grammies and Grampy came over to help us paint Wesley’s room! We are still working on that EXTREME MAKEOVER! It has been hard to find the time to really work on his room!


**December: We celebrated Christmas here and at Grammies with all the family! Michael is now a blue belt in karate. We spent a lot of time together as a family now that Michael has 3 days a week off from work! I miss the extra money but I am thankful for the extra time that he is able to spend with me and the kids.


We look forward to watching Wesley and Lani continue to grow and change in 2007! I am excited to plan Lani’s first birthday! I hope to get Lani’s first year scrapbook done before she turns one :) Wesley says that he can’t wait to start second grade so that he can play soccer again!


We are not doing too much for the New Year! We are just hanging around the house, blogging, playing games, making play dough creations, and reading! We wanted to go out with some friends but I am still Lani’s main source of food and I couldn’t be away from her for that long! Maybe next year? Wesley is going to try to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop. Last year he fell asleep on the couch watching a movie so he is determined to stay up this year! It’s a little after 9 here and I am getting sleepy so he is doing better than me:) Hopefully Lani will sleep in!


Happy 2007 everyone! May this year be full of wonderful memories for you and your families!

Lani is 6 months old

Our little Bainers (this is Daddy’s nick name for her) turned 6 months old on Christmas Eve. Lani is doing so much now! It is hard to keep up with all of her little firsts. She says dadada all of the time now. Every once in a while we will get an ahgoo out of her. She has also discovered her hands and feet. She was beginning to notice them last month but now she is interacting with them. Sometimes she will be playing with a toy, notice her hand, drop the toy, and stare at it while opening and closing it. That always makes me smile:) She loves soft toys that rattle so she can decide whether she would like to chew or shake, two of her favorite things.

She had graduated from her swing and enjoys her bumbo or just hanging out on the floor. I am sure that her new exersaucer will be her new favorite. She has not been eating too much cereal since she has had this congestion that wont go away. The doctor said to concentrate mostly on the fluids so I have been nursing her more frequently. We have been practicing a cup here and there! She is not too fond of it but I am determined to get her to take a cup so that I can leave this house for more than 2 hours at a time :)

Time with Lani is flying right by for us! I love to watch her grow but it also makes me sad knowing that she is our last baby.

It is hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone! I even took the tree down this morning! It’s not that I was in a bah-hum-bug sort of mood but I was so sick of the clutter and adding all the gifts from family and friends became too much!!

Our Christmas Eve festivities started with me in the walk-in center of our hospital! I was not feeling great on Saturday but when I woke on Sunday I was running a high fever, achy all over, and had a nasty throat. Michael left work early to take me because I was sure that I had strep-throat and did not want to be sick on Christmas Day! We actually got in and out of there quickly with a positive diagnosis for strep and a prescription for antibiotics. I went home and snoozed between feeding Lani and felt much better by that night! I was never so happy to have such an awesome hubby! It certainly sped up the recovery being able to sleep the day away! I was just glad that we did not have any big plans. We put the kids into their new Christmas jammie’s and put out a treat for Santa. Wesley decided to stray away from tradition this year. He put out some pretzels that I had dipped instead of cookies. I am sure that Santa appreciated something a little different. We also had to leave a light on so that Santa would be able to find the Christmas tree in our HUGE house (NOT!!) We woke up the next morning and had a wonderful Christmas morning with Lani and Wesley! Lani woke Michael and I up around 6am. We checked on Wesley but he was still sound asleep so I fed her then we opened his door to let him wake up on his own. That wasn’t working and Lani was all done hanging out in our room so we took her downstairs to play. Wesley FINALLY woke up around 7:30! He came down and instantly began to rip into presents with out even a hello to his mommy and daddy :) Santa brought him lots of good presents. We only got Lani a few presents this year since we knew that she was going to get plenty of other things from the family. We also knew that the paper would be her all time favorite.

Later in the afternoon we ventured out to Michael’s parents house. We always spend it with his parents, and his sister, her hubby, and their kiddos! I didn’t get too many photos because Lani was pretty grumpy and the kids didn’t want to stay in one spot long enough. I didn’t even get a photo of Lani in her pretty Christmas dress. I will put her in it again another time to recreate the moment! We had a yummy ham dinner and lots of goodies for dessert. His family certainly spoiled us all this year! I will post pics of Lani in her exersaucer that her Aunty Lisa bought for her! I put it together this morning and she loves it. Although she hasn’t figured out how to spin around in it so when she fusses a little that usually means that she is bored. So, I spin her towards some of the other fun chew toys on it and she is happy once again. For another few minutes anyway!

Check up and Everlasting love!

Michael took Lani to her 5 month check up on Friday! She got 2 shots and was given a clean bill of health. She weighed 17 pounds 12 ounces (90th %ile) and she is 25 inches long. She has grown 2 inches from her last appointment and has gained 2 pounds! Dr. Fox asked if she was rolling over yet! When Michael told her “almost” she replied “that’s fine because it usually take BIGGER babies a little longer” Geesh…poor Lani! She’s been labeled as the “bigger girl”.

Everlasting Love

My Grandparents live in Illinois and are in their 70’s. They have always been a huge part of my life and it is sooo hard having them so far away. I received their christmas card and letter in the mail today. The letters are so sweet and usually consist of telling me how adorable my kids are, the weather out there, and how their health is! My grandfather has diabetes which has caused cataracts, poor circulation in his feet, and other problems that come along with this disease. My grandmother is reasonably healthy except that she now has to wear hearing aids!
This letter stated that she can’t wear her hearing aids for a few weeks while waiting for something to clear up in her ear. She goes on to say something so sweet and it shows how true love is everlasting! She wrote “Grandpa is now my ears and I am his eyes”. They are everything to each other and I am so thankful that they can still be together in their own home and still love and take care of each other! I think that is something that we can all strive for in our marriages!

Christmas Cookies

We had a great time decorating some sugar cookies! I made the cookies and baked them while Wesley was at school. Later that night we decorated them with some homemade frosting and lots of sugar :) When I was a child my Gramma Colwell made us so many goodies at Christmas. When we moved from Illinois to New Hampshire when I was 9 we always looked for the “big brown truck” to bring the big box full of goodies and presents. She even sent them to me when I was in college! That care package certainly didn’t last long in a dorm full of stressed out and home sick girls. Now that I have my own children I am sharing this yummy recipe with them! It is certainly the best sugar cookie that I have ever eaten! She doesn’t bake anymore because my Grammpa has diabetes and she doesn’t want to tempt him! So, it has been up to me the past few years to make my own cookies! Maybe in a few more years I will have them perfected just as Gramma did.

New Discoveries

Lani discovered her toes recently! She loves to scratch at them and sometimes she tickles her self. I love to watch her discover the world around her

Wesley's Holiday Concert

We went to Wesley’s concert last night! He did AWESOME and looked so handsome! The four first grade classes sang “let it snow’ and “frosty the snowman” to a standing room only crownd. Glad that we got there early. When Wesley first walked out he looked a little overwhelmed but when he spotted us I could see his body relax a little. I snuck up to get some photos and Michael snapped some with the video camera. He actually sang both songs and he even started moving a little to the music! The concert was at the auditorium in the new highschool.

First Snow Day

Wesley and Michael enjoyed the first, unexpected, snow day of the school year! They were out bright and early enjoying a game of “snow soccer”! We only got a few inches so I was pleasantly surprised to see that we were closed! I was nervous about sending Wesley on the bus with even a little snow on the ground! Michael has Fridays off so he stayed up with Wesley and I went back upstairs to get some more ZZZZZZ’s until Lani woke up!