Vacationing

I can't believe I haven't posted in three weeks. Sorry. We've been out of town for over two weeks now so please accept my apologies for the lack of updates.

We are all doing good and we are heading home tomorrow morning. However, our internet decided to take a vacation too and it will be somtime this next week before it will be working again. So, you'll just have to wait in anticipation for pictures from our two weeks in Mississippi (I have over 300)!!!!

Happy Labor Day!

Katie

One Month

Little Claire turned one month old yesterday. She celebrated by getting her first bath in the baby bath tub (we had been just doing sponge baths up until now). She did prett well and only got upset when it was time to wash her hair. Afterwards, we took her one month birthday picture in her birthday hat.

Some of you may remember us doing this with Maggie on each 6th of the month until her first birthday. Here is a picture of Maggie on her two month birthday in her birthday hat.

Claire had her one month check-up today with the pediatrician. She is doing great. She is 10lbs, 3 oz and 22 inches long. Yep, that's one and a half inches longer than when she was born. Can you say, Daddy's side of the family??? Unfortunately, she did have to get one vaccine today but only cried for a few minutes before falling asleep. She has pretty much been asleep since then.

We are hoping to have a quiet weekend and take Claire to church for the first time Sunday.

Have a good weekend.

Katie

Weekend Visitors

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Amanda visited this past weekend. Maggie was thrilled to see them Saturday morning when she woke up and pretty much didn't leave their side all weekend. We went to an outdoor shopping center for a few minutes Saturday afternoon and Maggie got to play in the water fountain and was none to happy when it was time to leave. Saturday night Jeff, Amanda and Andy cooked a great birthday dinner for me...stuffed flank steak, twice baked potatoes and crispy leeks. Yummy!

My 29th birthday was yesterday- woo hoo!! I went to see my co-workers and visit for a little while and then Andy, Maggie and Claire took me to dinner last night. Maggie did let me know over the weekend that I was going to have lots of candles on my birthday cake this year and that she could help me blow them out. You have to love the complete honesty of a three year old.

Here are some pictures of our weekend and the birthday.

Katie

Jump and Jive 2008

Yesterday evening, Maggie's school held Jump and Jive 2008. This was an end of the summer fellowship/dinner/dancing for all the kids and parents at the school. Andy helped cook the hamburgers and hot dogs and he and Maggie had a blast dancing (they even did the chicken dance)!

Claire and I decided to join them at the fellowship and Claire decided that she would wait until next year to participate in the dancing.

Maggie moves up to the 3 year old classroom next week and will have a new teacher, Ms. Irena. Maggie loves Ms. Irena and we are excited to see what the next school year holds for her. We will definitely miss Ms. Rebecca but she's just a few doors down from Maggie's new room. Another new addition for Maggie this school year is that she will be taking dance (ballet) classes once a week starting September 4th. Thankfully, she has stopped asking about it every day but I'm sure that will change soon.

Here are some pictures from Jump and Jive 2008 (and a few random pictures of Claire).

Have a good weekend.

Katie

Meet the cousins

This past weekend Claire was able to meet her cousins, Anna and David. Uncle Brad and Aunt Cathy came over Saturday and got to meet little Claire. Maggie, Anna and David played hard most of the day and were pretty tired by the time they all had to get back on the road to Mississippi. We tried to get a good picture of all four of the kids and had some pretty good luck. Andy and I tried to get a picture of Maggie and Claire together and I'll put a few of the ones we got below...notice that none of them are perfect but I think it will be a while before that happens. Maggie is pretty tired of having her picture taken these days. We are lucky if she lets us get one or two of her before she proclaims, "I'm done!"

Little Claire continues to do well and is eating and sleeping great. I had a check-up with my doctor today and I am healing well also. We have been getting a great deal of help with food for the past week and a half, so to all those who have graciously brought us dinner...THANK YOU!!!! It helps more than you know.

Here are some pictures from the past week or so.

Katie

The First Week (and a half)

Here are some pictures of the girls from Claire's first 10 days. Everyone is adjusting well, even Jack Pete.

We were able to come home from the hospital last Thursday afternoon and little Claire is doing great. She is a very calm and easy going baby (so far) and she really only cries when she is hungry. Maggie is enjoying her role as a big sister and has even started helping with the chores (as you will see from one of the pictures below)! Maggie went back to school yesterday and was very excited to see all of her friends. Meme was here last week until Saturday and Gigi joined us Sunday to help out while I get back on my meet. Maggie has really enjoyed getting some extra attention from her grandparents. I am doing well also. I'm feeling better each day but a c-section was definitely a different experience than Maggie's birth experience.

Here are the pictures...

Pictures of Claire

* * * CLAIRE HAYES KENNEDY * * *

Claire Hayes Kennedy entered the world today at 1:15 p.m. weighing 8 lbs, 10 ozs and measuring 20.5 inches long. She and Katie are doing great. The shocker for all of us is that Claire has a head full of dark (almost black) hair--completely opposite from Maggie. Maggie and ALL of her grandparents greeted Claire soon after her arrival. We'll post some pictures soon.

~Andy

Some pictures

Here are some recent pictures for you. We are heading to the hospital tomorrow mid-morning to have baby Claire. We are excited and relieved that the past 10 days have passes uneventfully. We'll post pictures of Maggie and her new baby sister as soon as we can.