Happy New Year

Well, we are back from a wonderful holiday break. We ventured to VT first for a great Leggett family christmas and then we headed to ME for the real thing. It was such an enjoyable trip that I have very few pictures to show for it! So here are some from the last couple of days at home.

Dana is happy to be back - her fussiness has really eased up in the last 24 hours and we hope this is a permanent change. She was a handful on the road, finding it difficult to establish a routine. But she did give us a couple nights where she slept all the way through (one being christmas eve which was quite a nice present!). Today we finally put her in the bumbo seat and she loves it! I am excited for this new hang out chair as it may allow me some more hands free time! She has never been a big fan of the bouncy seat so hopefully the bumbo is the answer.
Dana is set to start daycare next week. I can't believe that we are already to this point. I was ready and excited to start this transition when I thought Dana would be going to school two days/week for the month of january and then full time in feb. But as it turns out her full time spot opens up at the beginning of the month so she may be in school 4 days/week starting right away. I was excited for some free time, but 4 days/week away from my little munchkin is more than I think I was ready for. So I anticipate it to be bit of a difficult month but hopefully she will like school and her teachers. And going to school several days in a row, as opposed to just twice a week, may actually help her transition go more smoothly. We'll keep you posted.
Alice loved christmas. What I loved most about her enjoyment of christmas was her interest in the books and music of the holiday season. She loved singing jingle bells, rudolph, frosty, silent night, holly jolly christmas, (the list goes on...) and well, you all know how much she loved reading "the night before christmas"! she is still figuring out santa and this whole presents thing but she did LOVE her thomas trains that santa brought her. the first night we were back in CT she cried on the way up to bed saying, "i want to stay up and play with my train set." so we think we must have done ok on the gift front.

Observing Grandpa Chris mount his butterflies! Using her sister's bumbo. we tried to tell her she was too big for it...

So 2011 is coming to a close and we are still catching our breath. From NESCAC championships, to chemo treatments, to the birth of four beautiful baby girls, it has truly been a roller coaster ride of a year. We are happy to close the book on 2011 and we're excited to see what 2012 has in store. More than anything we are feeling grateful for the health of our family and friends as we head into the new year. Cheers!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

More Christmas Cheer!

We had an amusing visit from Santa at the KO Christmas party this year. Below is the three part sequence of Alice's turn to sit on Santa's lap. She was really excited to see Santa as we hd been talking up this visit for almost a week. She was well prepped, ready to say 'nice to meet you, Santa,' knew just what she wanted to ask Santa for and had her thank you all ready to go. Well, that all went out the window as soon as it was her turn to sit on Santa's lap. Can you sense the terror? Needless to say this was not the year that she warmed up to the big guy. Maybe by age 3...



Dana was much more calm when it came time for her turn. Happy as a clam.
Alice enjoyed helping her Dad with the leaves outside. She liked raking the leaves and sitting in the middle of the piles!!

We gave Alice her big christmas present from us on Saturday - a wooden train set. Since we leave for VT this Saturday we wanted her to have some quality time to play with her new toy. She spent all Saturday, probably a total of 5 hours downstairs playing with her train set.
Here are a few pictures of Dana just hanging around. She is still very inconsistent with her mood. Some days she barely cries and others she is pretty fussy. Her sleeping habits are equally sporadic, sleeping great stretches at times (last night from 9pm-6am) and other nights getting up multiple times. She is getting more smiley and talkative by the day. My heart absolutely melts when she tries to talk. It is the cutest.
We had a wonderful visit from Nikki and Emily last Sunday. They were nice enough to make the trek out to our house from their UCONN residence to have dinner with us. I can't believe it's taken us until Nikki's senior year to get them out for a meal. We loved having them visit and we're hoping to see more of them over the winter break!

The night before christmas

Here is Alice reciting the night before christmas. please excuse crying baby in the background! also, alice gets distracted towards the middle and end but it's still pretty funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgfI4okSUIc

'Tis the season

We picked out our Christmas tree yesterday with the help of Janet and Kristi. They stopped by our place on their way back from Philly. We were thrilled to have the visitors and even kept Alice home from daycare on Friday so we could get a tree. Alice had a great time! Janet and Dana were very accommodating as Dana slept through the whole ordeal and Janet smiled happily.
Pretty pleased with our ability to have three kids and a christmas tree in the back of the van!
The last picture is from this morning. Dana was a little fussy so Alice kept bringing her toys while she was in the swing. Alice was even willing to share her doll!! She is becoming a GREAT big sister (with the small exception of wanting to "wake up Dana" everytime she gets bored). We're working on that one...

Dana's face is a little shiny in this picture due to her week of skin issues. She started to develop a slight rash on Monday and by Tuesday night her neck was really irritated. We had to wait until 4pm to see the doctor on Wednesday and by that point I was in tears. She was red and blotchy all over. Turns out it was a bad case of eczema so we've been on a steady routine of applying a special ointment twice a day and aquaphor in between. She is getting much better...phew...

Spunky Dana!

A few pics while getting ready for our morning errands!

"Happy Thanksgiving"

A quick video of Alice wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and showing some love to her little sis!

Holidays and Check ups

It was a happy thanksgiving for us in VT! We had a great time playing with our cousins! Alice was in her element (very evident in picture below!). Dana was on her best behavior for most of the trip. She slept very well and kept her fussiness to a minimum. Overall it was a very enjoyable, relaxing holiday!

Dana had her 2 month check up yesterday. Her stats are solid. She was 95th% in length, 90th% in weight and 50th%head circumference (clearly taking after her mom in this category!). We are trying to alter her diet a little, as we are slightly concerned she is pretty sensitive to what she eats. Overall, she is doing great and slept from 10pm-6am last night! That was a much needed snooze for her and her parents!
SISTERS! Thanksgiving Day morning bonding!
The best pic from our sister photo shoot!
(ummm...can you say CRAZY?!!)

Cuddle Buddies

Dana and Gumma had some good cuddle time this weekend!! We had a nice low key visit where Gumma had to endure both the fussiness and the sleepiness of our eight week old bundle. Dana is definitely going through a fussy period but she still continues to sleep pretty well at night. We are hoping that in the next couple weeks she mellows out a bit during her awake time.

Dana had a quick visit to the doctor yesterday to make sure she didn't have an infection around her eye. Her eyelid seemed a bit red and puffy. All seems to be well. We have a more thorough check up next week. But we did find out she weighs 12 pounds 6 oz. So she's definitely gaining weight which we were pretty sure was the case, judging by the size of her cheeks! We head to VT tomorrow for the holiday. Can't wait to meet cousin Estelle!

Good Morning!

Damage from the Storm

Smiles...

Dana is trying out her smile these days. Here's a sampling...

Jackpot...

Alice is fired up about her new Thomas PJs. Thanks, Gumma.

Unexpected Family Vacation! (thank you power outage!)

We have been on the road for almost two weeks! We left town with the intention of going to Midd for just a few days - and 12 days later we are finally home! The power outage in CT encouraged us to stay away so we extended our stay in VT and then headed up to ME for a good visit. What I've learned about traveling with two kids is that many fewer photos get taken! So these are some of the ones I managed to get along with a few that I downloaded from Jenn. Wish I had more from our ME stay...

Mom and Dana are the perfect companions...both very sleepy!
Halloween pics...



Morning snuggle time in Gumma's bed! Alice spent many mornings snuggling with Gumma and watching Thomas episodes. It was a pretty good deal for her...
Momere's 99th birthday celebration!
On the actual day of Momere's birthday, we snapped a pic of her with six of her now eight(!) great great grandchildren. Pretty amazing...
Janet and Dana hanging on the floor. Dana is quickly closing the size gap - guess we won't rely on Janet for hand-me-downs!
Alice and Janet rocking the blue jumpsuit!
Lunchtime!
Alice was pumped to discover the new (or new to her) rocking chair at Grandpa Chris and Grandma Sue's house! Didn't even take her jacket off before jumping in!