AN INTRODUCTION

After the excitement surrounding the birth of Carina, our (my) biggest thing this time around was making it to the hospital in time for delivery...

So when I started feeling something a little different than the "normal" Braxton-Hicks type thing--I woke Mike up and we decided to take a ride...we left home (after bundling the kids into the car--really really fast) at around midnight.

The hospital clocked us in at 12:55am and Rian Liya made her entrance at 1:08am on Saturday, April 25th. We made it to the hospital with 13 minutes to spare. THANKFULLY!!!!!!!!!! I had the shower curtain in the car just in case... :)

Sherilyn met us at the hospital and took the kids (can't thank you enough)--No, they were not present for the birth.

Rian was born weighing 7lb13oz and 20 inches long--our smallest one yet. She has the most hair of all the kids. Here are some pics:

Moments after birth:

Later in the day after being cleaned up..

Rena, meet Rian. Carina has been having a bit of a rough time adjusting to having a new sister--but each day is a little bit better. She still has yet to hold Rian, but she loves touching her hands and hair.

Michael, meet Rian. What a good big brother!

The kids at the hospital.

ALL the kids at the hospital: Estrella, Michael, Rena, & Eric..it was hot those days!!!

Ready to go home...what a peanut!!

Finally home..it is amazing how much little ones change in the first few days and weeks..Rian is so far a pretty good sleeper. She is only up 1-2 times per night--I cannot complain about that, being she is only 9 days old!!!

We have certainly been blessed.

Gotta go..more to follow.

SO IT HAS BEEN...

Good Almost afternoon..

Sorry it has been so long--it has been quite eventful over here. Unfortunately not in a positive way for the most part.

March is a crazy month for us to begin with--we have "millions" (I only slightly exaggerate) of birthdays and events in the month..

I have tried to post since the last time, but for some reason Mike got me a new memory card and the pics won't transfer off of it. Any suggestions?
Anyways, no pictures today.

So, we ended up picking up a nasty virus from who-knows-where and my poor babies were ill for a good period of time. Its horrible to see the little ones sick and not be able to do much about it--our first bout of throwing up. Thankfully we're on the mend. It lasted 5 days each, poor kids. We are thankful it wasn't any worse--we were near hospital state being that it lasted so long.

We were housebound for 2 weeks--I ended up going out one Saturday for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary party for a couple of hours--and lo and behold, get a sort of food poisoning that lasted 2 days!!! I am thankful for a wonderful husband who helped out tremendously during this time.

Needless to say, its been a rough time of late. We're looking forward to some warmer weather in the near future and a new little one veeerrrryyyyyyyy soon.

TRIP TO BALTIMORE--HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!

On Tuesday, March 3rd, we took a trip down to Baltimore to visit the aquarium and also celebrate Mike's birthday...here are a few shots.

Poor Rena--we found out she gets carsick (hence the bib). After the initial "throw-up," she was fine the rest of the ride.


We left around 5:45am and stopped for about an hour total...let the kids stretch their legs and have a potty break. We hit a little bit of traffic...and had a minor "detour" so by the time we got into the aquarium (after having to search for parking and try to find the entrance--nothing is marked well!!) it was close to 11am.

A lot of the pictures are of the back of the kids heads...they were too busy looking at all of the fish!

shark!

The nice thing about going on a weekday is that it is pretty empty...the kids could walk around without holding hands at times....no lines...

A couple of shots while waiting for Mommy to be done in the bathroom....

Down the escalator..

Sea horses...

Michael and Nemo...he asked for this picture to be taken. :)

Both kids loved the columns of bubbles...Rena at this point was pooped and riding in the backpack.

Getting ready for the dolphin show. We sat all the way on top so we wouldn't get wet!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

The big tank at feeding time...I belive there are divers down there (that black mass)

Relaxing at the bottom, just checking out the stingrays..

We surprised Bill (Cathy knew we were coming) by "showing up" at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner...

The aquarium did not allow strollers, so let me tell you--the kids were exhausted (as was I) by the time we were ready for dinner...needless to say, it was hard for them to sit still...but it was nice to see Bill & Cathy anyway...

And extra special that they got to spend their birthday together--its been a few years.

So there are some pictures from our day....we left after dinner and headed on home. We pulled in the driveway right around 11pm. The kids slept the whole ride home AND all night...

It was a nice day overall.

'OH WHAT BEAUTIFUL MORNING'

Just a quickie...its been quite a day and its only 12pm.

So we raced out of the house this morning (Mike is working)...running a few minutes behind. Michael did not want to get dressed!

I dropped Michael off and proceeded to head down to Bloomingdale for a baby shower....well, I got to Byram and ended up pulling in the "exit" to the Exxon station on route 206. Why??

My darling Carina was covered in vomit and it was still erupting. Pleasant, I know. So I finally got her cleaned up in the back of the car--as much as possible anyway and headed back to pick up Michael. No baby shower for us today. :(

So breathing as best as possible due to the smell--not made any better by the blasting heat (her coat was covered and I wasn't about to put it back on her) we made our way to pick up Michael. Rena fell asleep in the car.

We got home...I got Michael out of the car and attempted to get the offending car seat out of the car (no luck)...meanwhile he tells me he needs to go potty...

I go up the stairs and the door won't open. One of my darlings locked it from the inside and in our haste this morning, I neglected to check it. Okay, no big deal--I have my keys to the front door. So I tell Michael to wait there (Rena is still sleeping in the car) and I run around to the front door. The handle turns...however the bolt is NOT budging!!!!!!!! ARG!!!

So needless to say, we could not get into the house for a good 20 minutes/half hour. One darling smelling and "covered" in vomit and the other darling smelling from the other end--what a morning...I finally "picked a lock" with a screwdriver and we're in....

Again, its only 12pm.....what else will this lovely, eventful day have in store for us???

WEDNESDAY

Good Morning...

More food shots:

Oops...Michael spilled too!

Yummy oatmeal. Wherever it lands.

Believe it or not--at 9:43am, Carina is still sleeping. Though I can't say I blame her...we had a bit of a different day yesterday and she did not get any real nap in...just a short maybe 15 minutes in the car. She is 15 months old today...

Baby countdown will be beginning any time now...less than 3 months to go. I can't hardly believe we're already down to 2 week doctor visits.

Not really anything new to tell you...Estrella has her first tooth, I hear.

The weather has been a bit nicer...our treacherous, solid ice-peak filled driveway has started a thaw..and in places has turned to muck. I'm not sure which is worse.

We're also all feeling quite a bit better...still a little congestion hanging on there (especially on my part) but compared to last week...no comparison.

Here are a few recent pictures.

Being silly....
Course, the box is more fun than the toys....

Playing outside with Daddy....