A trip from Auntie Sara and Lila

Sara and Lila came into town this last weekend for a visit. It was a great weekend! The weather cooperated on Saturday, so we took all of the kids for a walk on the cliff walk that afternoon and then out for lunch. That night, Sara and I were able to get some girl time without the kids, which was awesome. It worked out well – we put both babies down for bed and then left, so Josh was only stuck taking care of Avery (and Jack, of course), which is generally pretty easy. It rained all day on Sunday, so we were a bit limited, but did go to Asher’s 3rd bday, which was a good time. It was great catching up and hanging out with Lila, as I hadn’t seen her since she was about 5 days old! Clearly it was love at first site between Alex and Lila...

And, Avery loved having another baby to play with...


Everything else is going well. Alex is in the process of getting ALL FOUR top front teeth in at one time. The strange thing is that he doesn’t seem to be bothered by it at all. Very odd, but I’ll take it.

He is still not mobile – definitely taking after his sister on this front.

However, he has taken to dancing and even clapping his hands when he does it sometimes. It is really pretty cute to watch. He also LOVES to stand and will do so whenever we let him.

Unfortunately, he isn’t to the point where he can do it totally unassisted for any length of time. But, his favorite game is to stick his legs out straight when you are trying to put him down, which prevents him from sitting. It is pretty funny, but not so much in the morning at daycare when I’m trying to get out of there to get to work. He has also taken on a new laugh – it sounds something like a little machine gun going off. That too is pretty comical.

Avery is doing well with just about everything other than sleeping in her bed all night. We just bought her an alarm clock that turns green when she is allowed to get out of bed, hoping that would help keep her in bed throughout the night. So, far, we’re 0 for 2. As of right now, I have it set for 6 am. I’m thinking that I may need to set it for earlier because otherwise, she sees it getting light out and then comes in regardless because she knows that it is morning. I don’t mind anything after 5 am because, if she does come in, she’ll go back to sleep. Before that is an issue. If this continues, she’s going back in a crib. The good news is Alex is officially sleeping through the night and has been for about a month now. We can put him down at 630 pm and he will sleep until 6-630 am. It is fabulous. I guess one getting up in the middle of the night is better than two. But, give me a break – she is about to turn 3 – there are no excuses anymore! Here’s the little non-sleeper herself…




We’re busy getting ready for Avery’s 3rd birthday parties (and hoping that these parents RSVP someday soon). The “kid party” will be at the place that she does gymnastics and the family party will be at our house on Sunday. Opa and Grandma are coming in on Thursday – Avery is very excited!

Jack is doing well and is adjusting to his new house and family. The growling is definitely much less, but still exists every now and then. I’d like to get to the point where I don’t need to worry about this anymore, so I’m hoping that he completely stops someday soon. He has really bonded with Josh, as he has figured out that he is the one who will take him pretty much anywhere he goes in the car. We’re still going on our mile long walks at 530 AM, which is good for both of us. Our new favorite game is finding a place and a time to poop so that our neighbor (who walks back and forth down one road in our neighborhood I’m not kidding at least 25-30 times twice a day – it’s scary) doesn’t catch him because I really don’t want to have to pick up his poop – I know – I’m a horrible dog owner. But, all of the other dogs in the neighborhood run around without a leash and poop in our yard, so this is our payback as far as I’m concerned. Although, I did find some dog's poop under my car the other day and I was convinced that our neighbor placed it there because he is mad at us for Jack pooping in his yard. I mean, seriously? What dog do you know who could poop UNDER a car? Josh thought I was crazy. I think I'm right. I've talked about poop for far too long, so I'll take off now and get back to work...

The newest Holland

Meet Jack, the newest member of the family!

I didn’t want to say anything earlier, as it was very touch and go there for a while, but it is official – he arrived this last Saturday from Houston! We found him through a lab rescue league. It really couldn’t have worked out any better. He was staying with the sweetest foster mom who was so great to work with (as opposed to crazy psycho lady who I had initially been dealing with on another dog that didn’t work out). AND, because he was in Houston, my parents and sister were able to meet him and let me know how he was! Overall, he is doing really well. He is super chilled – already great in the house and in the office. Avery was a bit freaked out by him at first, but is slowly warming up to him. He on the other hand is still a bit freaked out by Avery. Unfortunately, he has done a bit of growling when she pets him. I’m really hoping that this is a transition thing and that he will calm down once he knows that this is his permanent home and that she won’t hurt him. If not, I’m not sure what we are going to do. It is very strange, as he really is the sweetest dog with everyone else. It is just the kids who seem to bug him. Besides that, he is doing really well and is really starting to feel more at home every day. He is going to the office every day with Josh and has already bonded with him.
The kids are doing great. Avery had a busy Saturday. She went to gymnastics and then had a bday party at one of her friend’s house from daycare. Then, that night, she and Alex went to church and dinner with Josh’s parents while we went to get Jack in Boston.

I managed to get a stomach bug that started on Thursday night and literally lasted until Monday afternoon. Granted, I could at least function somewhat starting on Saturday (as opposed to Friday when I literally thought I may die and could not get out of bed all day). So, unfortunately, Jack’s arrival wasn’t AS perfect as I would have hoped given how I felt all weekend, but overall, it was fine.

It is great having a dog in the house again (except for the obscene amount of hair that comes with him and is now all over my house). It seemed really empty without one. This week, our goal is to fine the perfect combination of toys to put on the couch so that he can't knock them down and sleep there at night. Apparently he hasn't got the memo that, while he is a member of the family, he is a member who sleeps on the floor, not in our bed and not on our couch. We're working on it...

Our own little speckled Easter egg...

Yeah….remember those outfits from Children’s Place that I was so excited about? Turns out, they are evil! Cute and cheap, but evil. I had Avery try the dress on the weekend before Easter just to make sure it fit and sure enough, 2 days later, she broke out with a pretty severe case of hives. And, the only reason that I’m blaming the dress is because the exact same thing happened 2 Easters ago when she wore a dress that hadn’t been washed from Children’s Place. Here she is in 2008…..

And, here she is in 2010…


Crazy, huh? It wasn’t even that big of a deal for the first couple of days, because it wasn’t bothering her at all. She was happy as could be.

Then, Friday came. Wow. She could barely even stand on her feet, the rash was turning purple in spots and one eye was almost swollen shut. As you can imagine, that resulted in the second trip to the dr. (the first being on Thursday so that we could get the clearance to keep taking her to daycare). The Dr. prescribed steroids for her to to get rid of it. Not sure if you have ever dealt with steroids, but they can do some crazy things to your emotions –especially when you are 3 and you don’t really understand what is going on and why you are feeling that way. Anyway – the weekend was pretty rough – she ended up in our bed Friday and Saturday night scratching like crazy. Finally, at 2 am on Saturday morning, after singing Christmas Carols and “Here comes Peter Cottontail” (as that is the only Easter-like song that I could remember), and talking about what the Easter Bunny may bring and then “painting” her with calamine lotion, I finally conceded and turned on Barney – anything to take her mind off of the rash at that point! ANYWAY – the rash did end up getting better in time for her to enjoy Easter. We decorated eggs on Saturday, which, as it turns out, she loved eating afterwards.

I’ve never seen a kid like hard boiled eggs that much. We had a great day on Sunday – the Easter Bunny left both her and Alex a basket and hid eggs so that she could find them on Sunday morning and then she also got to open both her and Alex’s gifts from Opa and Grandma (I’m not sure what she is going to do when Alex is big enough to actually open his own gifts!).




That afternoon, we went to Grammy and Grampy’s, where the Easter Bunny had hidden more eggs and another basket for each of them.


She loved the idea of finding the eggs, but still doesn’t 100% grasp the concept. No matter how many times we told her that the Easter Bunny was coming on Saturday night, she still didn’t remember it on Sunday morning. I figure next year will be the big year.

Here are some pictures of the kids on the big day...

Can we say mini Josh???? I couldn't get over that outfit on him. He looked like such a little man.

And then there is mini-Whitney....

I’ve decided that Easter may be one of my favorite holidays – I get to dress them up in really cute clothes AND you can buy an entire Easter basket and things to fill eggs for like $20 total for both of them (thank you Michaels!). That’s my kind of holiday. Hope you all had an enjoyable one as well!

A hiking we will go...

This last weekend, the Holland family did something that we have never done before – hiking! Ok – well, kind of. More like walking through the woods, but for us – that is about as close to hiking as we will ever get. As most of you know, the Hollands’ idea of “outdoorsy” is on a beach, in the sun. Not really in the woods. ANYWAY….we had a great time and Avery loved it. Here she is in true 3 year-old little girl style with her baby on the "hike."

We did learn that, next time, we need to do it when she has a bit more food in her stomach. Unfortunately, we were cutting it a bit too close to lunch time, so the energy level was low and as a result, most of Avery’s idea of “hiking” was this…..
She did love throwing stones in the pond. That was a big hit…

And, of course, here is Alex in his typical spot on walks.

I would have had him out and about in the Bjorn, but a) he needed sleep and b) it was pretty chilly that day, so better that he be all snuggled up in the stroller sleeping.

Avery is still loving gymnastics and she is actually very good at it! She has now learned how to do a somersault all by herself and exclaims how proud she is at the end by shouting “Ta Da!!!” every time.

She is also really starting to do well with reading!!! She can read I would say at least ½ of the letters in the alphabet and she can read 90% of the numbers 1-29. She is really starting to understand the concept of the 20’s and the fact that there is a 2 in front of every number in the 20’s and the same with 1 and the teens. It’s really pretty impressive.

Oh- and, we are also VERY close to no more diapers! She has been without a diaper now during the day and for naps for a while. But, we were still going potty overnight. However, for the last week or so, we’ve woken up dry every morning! So, last night, we didn’t wear any underwear and we were dry! Exciting times in the Holland household.

Mr. Alex is also growing up – he has his first tooth!!!!!! It was a very exciting moment for me - a) it’s just fun when your baby experiences new things that come along with getting older and b) I can finally justify it if he is just cranky and we don’t know why. Come on – you can all admit it. Inevitably, if your child is cranky, you blame it on teething. Yet, most of the time, that tooth is nowhere near popping through. So, it really is kind of a relief once they get their first one because FINALLY they have a legitimate reason to be cranky!

He is also doing really well with finger foods (please disregard the pink bib).

It took him a while to actually get the cheerio from the tray, into his hand then into his mouth, but he has figured it out! We’re starting to experiment with more foods – we’ve done cooked peas and carrots and he loves them! I have to admit –I’m still cutting the peas in half. I know, I know!!!! But, I swear – they are the perfect size to get stuck in a baby’s tiny throat. So, I don’t care what people think – I’m cutting them.

That’s about it from here. Stay tuned for pictures from Easter this weekend and the kids in their new easter outfits (which were 50% off at Children’s Place, which makes them that much cuter!!!! )

Spring Break - Holland Style

2 weeks ago, Josh and I made the trip down to Palm Beach, FL with both kids to crash his parents vacation. As it turns out, spring break just really isn't what it used to be. Granted ours did include a lot of throwing up and very little sleep, but unfortunately, none of that was due to alcohol. That being said, we did have a great time. Who wouldn't have a great time with these two??? The flight down was pretty uneventful – both kids did great on the plane and even slept for the majority of the trip. The weather on the first day was a bit cool, so we headed to the zoo. Avery loved seeing all of the animals.


Alex slept through most of it, but seemed to enjoy what he did see (as much as an 8 month old can enjoy those things). The next two days were spent in the pool and on the beach. Avery had a great time playing in the pool, but was very hesitant. Most of the other kids were diving under water and splashing up a storm. Avery preferred to pretty much chill out on the stairs and watch everyone. Oh, and she also enjoyed “getting rid of some energy” by running in place or jumping in place in the water. That was about as crazy as she got. Alex also LOVED the pool. He swam around with Josh quite a bit and had a great time.
But, as with most vacations with a toddler and a baby, there were a few obstacles along the way. Alex started the vacation off with a horrible cold (dr. said that it was a light case of bronchialitis), so for the first two nights, he woke up at approx. 330 AM with horrible coughing spells. It took us about an hour to calm him down and get him back to sleep and of course, since we were all in the same room, it would wake Avery up. Nothing like having 2 kids up at 330 am on vacation. After that, something was bugging his stomach, so he woke up every hour for the last 2 nights with gas pains.

Then, on our second to last night there, we went to dinner and Alex was having nothing to do with it. So, for the first time in my life as a mother, I actually had to leave the restaurant to take him back to the room (thankfully we were eating at the restaurant in the hotel). Given my obsession with food, you can imagine that this was not exactly what I had in mind and I was not exactly thrilled, but don’t you worry – I stopped the waitress on my way out and threatened to leave my 8 month old, tired, cranky, sick baby with her unless she gave me my glass of wine that I ordered. She was clearly very freightened, so she handed it over without hesitation. And, for the record, Josh did offer to take him up, but seeing as how it was his family who we were on vacation with, I figured it would be best if I went. It was fine. I put him to bed, drank my wine, watched the oscar’s and then Josh brought my meal up later. Here's the little stinker the next day, as happy as a clam.... So, that night, at approximately 5 am, Avery decided to share her meal with us a second time by throwing it up all over her bed. And, she has never really gotten sick like that, so she was pretty freaked out and proceeded to scream the entire time I was giving her a shower. I’m sure our neighbors loved us. She appeared to be fine the next day and was out swimming again at 9 am. She wasn’t 100%, but managed to get her water aerobics in anyway. Other than those minor incidents, everyone had fun and it was a nice break for Josh and I to have his parents there. I even (dare I say it) got to lay in the sun for a full hour one day all by myself. It was amazing.

Last weekend, we took Avery to gymnastics for the first time. She loved it!!!! I didn’t get a chance to get any pictures, but will post some when I do. She seems to be pretty good at it. I can’t imagine that this will necessarily be “her thing” considering her mother (yes, me) doesn’t even know how to do a cartwheel and never has, but then again, no one in my family can really carry a tune and look at what a fabulous singer I turned out to be. :)

It goes by so fast....

A friend of mine recently forwarded me an article (which I subsequently forwarded onto most of you who read this blog) that was written by a mother of two boys. She was looking back and realizing just how quickly her two boys had grown up and was reminding all of us “young mothers” to really take time out of your day to play with your kids and to appreciate the little things that they do (even if these little things drive you crazy at the time!). The article really got me thinking and made me realize that I probably don’t spend enough time just enjoying the kids. I’ll be honest – with both Josh and I working full time (and then some), it is so hard to find time to get everything done that needs to get done around the house, especially when we have only 2 days a week to do it. I find myself (as I’m sure most working mothers do) trying to get things like laundry or cleaning , etc. done during the weekend whenever I can when really, I should be taking some time out to just sit and play with the kids. So, I’ve really been trying hard to do that lately and it has led to some great bonding moments.

For example, the other night, Josh took his parents to the airport, so it was just Avery and I alone for dinner. It was such a nice night. We both had spaghetti and chatted. I will admit, it is somewhat difficult to find things to talk to a 2.5 year old about (primarily because of my lack of creativity, I’m sure – cut me some slack, I’m an accountant!), so most of the time, I just talk to her about daycare and what she has been learning about. That night, I decided to probe a bit to find out what the other kids eat at daycare for lunch – I figured this would be a good way to get some new ideas for her food. Well, instead of really answering me, she listed all of the things that her friends get in their lunch, but don’t want to eat – Johnnie doesn’t like eating his beets (can you blame him??), Maggie doesn’t like eating her cucumbers and tomatoes, Jill (aka, Jilley boo) doesn’t really eat anything, but she always has cheese and turkey and Cole has chicken and rice, but he never eats that either. And, of course, when asked, Avery exclaimed that she eats EVERYTHING in her lunch (don’t worry – her teachers list everything that she does and doesn’t eat on her daily sheet, so I know the truth). We also went through all of the letters and numbers on her Elmo placemat that night – she is getting so good at reading them! She knows pretty much every number 1-10 and definitely all of the letters in her name and in Alex’s name (both of which, she can spell) and then even a few more on top of that. It is crazy to me to think that she is kind of reading at the age of 2.5!


Then, just last night, she wanted me to tickle her and play “up and at ‘em, up and at ‘em” (a game where I bounce her on my legs and say that over and over again)– don’t ask how this got started. So, we played that for a while (instead of me doing laundry, picking up, etc. like I typically would be doing). And, sure enough, first thing this morning, she asks me if I can tickle her and play the up and at’em game again tonight. So, clearly she too is enjoying this mom and daughter time.

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of those specific moments, so here are a few random ones of her. Here she is in her coat, boots and pj's - she explained to us that she needed to go to the store to buy a few things, which is why she had her jacket and boots on.





She has really gotten to the point where she uses her imagination a ton. Typically, you will find either a parade (as seen below), a "party" (which includes all of her babies as well as some flash cards and other various objects in the house or nap time (which includes all of her babies lined up in a straight line covered by a blanket) and all of this tends to end up right at the bottom of the stairs for some reason....

Alex and I have fun just sitting on the floor playing with toys. He also LOVES books. LOVES them. If you bust out a book and read it to him, he gets all excited and squeals and tries to hold it, etc. It is really cute. And…nothing creates more of a bond than dressing your son up in his sister’s pink headband. Poor thing – it was bound to happen eventually. Here is another one of him looking a bit more manly in his own hat...

A visit from Aunt Lexi and Annabel!

I'll be honest - I'm a bit behind, so this post is going to cover the last 2 weekends. First off, Lexi and Annabel came to visit 2 weeks ago (clearly only a sister would leave Texas in the middle of February to come to New England). Friday, I sent the kids to daycare because it was the day that they were celebrating valentine’s day and I didn’t want them to miss out. Ok, and, let’s be honest – they both had really cute outfits to wear for valentine’s day, so they HAD to go and show them off.

Saturday, we went to the children’s museum in Providence. I had never been before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Let me first say – holy crap! Going anywhere with 3 kids is ridiculous. I’m not sure how families do it. Thank god we had the Pilot with the third row. Otherwise, we would have had to take 2 cars everywhere all weekend. And, even with the third row, poor Annabel was practically in the trunk. It felt like she was miles away from us while we were driving. And, besides the logistics of the car situation, I really think that the bigger issue is the amount of stuff that 3 kids require. I mean, we had 2 diaper bags (one of which had stuff for a 2.5 year old as well as a 7 month old), 2 bjorns and our double stroller to shove in the car with us wherever we went. So, anyway – we get to the museum and get all of the kids loaded up in the stroller, get the diaper bags in the stroller and off we went just in time to see a huge sign at the front entrance asking us to leave all large strollers in the car. Awesome. Well, thankfully, they didn’t really enforce that rule ( I think that they felt bad for us when they saw how long it took us to get in the door with all of this stuff). So, we walk in and Alex proceeds to FREAK OUT. I mean, totally start bawling and was clearly scared out of his mind. I think that the 5000 kids running around combined with the 10000 lights and sounds were probably a bit too much for him. Annabel on the other hand, just sat in the stroller chilled out and stared at him wondering what in the hell was wrong with him – this stuff was fun!!! :) Given his reaction, I put him in the bjorn and carried him for the rest of the time, which he was very happy with. Avery had a great time. It took her a bit to warm up to the idea of 5000 kids running around as well (man – apparently my kids aren’t quite as “social” as I would have thought), but as soon as she got used to that, she had fun running around, playing with things, etc. At the end, we found the water room, which was great. She loved playing with all of the water and it gave Lexi and I a chance to sit and feed the babies. Afterwards, we all went out to lunch “at a restaurant,” which is Avery’s favorite thing to do. And, on the way home, we did the famous “drive 30 mins out of your way to keep the kids asleep” routine, but it was nice because it gave Lexi a chance to see parts of Little Compton that she hadn’t before (ok, so that part only took 5 mins out of the 30 given the fact that if you blink, you miss Little Compton, but whatever…).

Sunday was Valentine’s Day. The day started out with a fun gift from Daddy – a sit and spin!!!! Poor Josh literally went to like 5 stores at Christmas looking for one of these and never found one. So, he finally found one on Amazon and ordered it. She was really really excited about it…until she realized that it doesn’t spin as fast as the ones at daycare. She hasn’t been on it since. Awesome. Anyway – we went to Lindsey’s house on Sunday morning for a little Valentine’s Day brunch. It was nice to have Lexi and Annabel meet everyone and the kids had a good time. Sunday night, we went to Josh’s parents for a Valentine’s Day dinner, which was also nice. Monday was spent with all of the kids at home just chilling out. Both of the babies were sick, so it was a constant exercise of how to keep both of them from screaming. Overall, Alex and Annabel really played well together – they interacted with each other much more than I thought that they would. It was pretty funny – every time Alex would get a new toy, Annabel would immediately steal it. For being such a little peanut, she sure was a big bully! Although, Alex didn’t seem to care. In fact, he showed her by stealing her sock and eating it! Overall, it was a great trip - it was fun having them here and for the kids to hang out. But, clearly, everyone was a bit exhausted by the end...

Quickly – the only real exciting thing that we did this last weekend was that we went to a friend’s house for dinner on Saturday night and then went to a park that they had lit up with various lights, etc. It was really fun and something different to do. Max and Avery had a great time together and liked running around at night seeing all of the lights. They seem to play really well together. I think that it works well because Max is a very laid back kid who pretty much just lets Avery play with whatever she wants and lets her just talk and talk and talk. It’s pretty comical – he just pretty much stares at her most of the time wondering who this crazy girl is in his house. And, Avery loves it because, let’s face it, she gets to do whatever she wants and what woman doesn’t love a man who just sits there and lets her talk and talk and talk…..