Juliette is 5 months!

Juliette is 5 months now! She went to the doctor this week and did great there. She is very smiley at the doctor and nurses, unlike her sister! She weighed in at 13 pounds, 14 ounces and was 23 5/8 inches long, which put her in the 25th percentile for both. She has been through rice cereal, oatmeal and barley now, so we will start her on some veggies this week. She isn't taking too much cereal, but I think it will only get better as she eats more often and gets some tastier food. She can sit hunched over, as long as we are there for when she leans too far. But she does enjoy sitting in her toy below and playing with the different toys. She loves watching her brother and sister and Chien too - she doesn't seem to mind his licking (despite our yelling at Chien to stop, he can't seem to resist). She still sucks her thumb and mostly sleeps on her side. She is doing great and I can't believe she has grown so much and isn't our little newborn anymore!

As a side note, Juliette started daycare about 2 weeks ago when I had to return to work. She is doing pretty well there - not napping too well but that is to be expected at first. She seems happy and enjoys playing with the new people.

Children's Museum

Daddy found out he was going to lose a vacation day if he didn't take it by the end of January, so he took today off and we decided to go to the Children's Museum by us (we are members). It turned out that a special guest was also at the museum that day and we got to meet him...This is George. He was a good little monkey, but always very curious! Abbey wasn't too thrilled about this, but Ben thought it was great and kept giving him high 5's!

Waiting to meet Curious George...Daddy again shows how easy it is to handle 2 kids at once!

Abbey really enjoyed the water station - she looks like such a big girl in her apron!

Ben also really enjoyed the water station!

Even Juliette had fun playing in the Infant area...

Family Update

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted! We have been very busy, but haven't taken a ton of pictures of all our activities unfortunately. We have had several playdates (where we forgot our camera) and lots of play time at home too. Having 3 kids ages 3 and under is sometimes a challenge. People always ask us how we are managing. So far, it isn't nearly as hard as I was afraid it would be, although Juliette isn't mobile yet (other than rolling) so I am sure the bigger challenges are still to come. But we are having fun and loving being a family of 5. Plus, we have lots of help! Ben is always available to play with his sisters and cheer them up if they are upset.

Plus he is great at helping to lead Abbey and show her the right way to do things...like how we must hold hands in a parking lot.

Having 3 kids means one of us is always taking care of 2 at once. Here is Paul showing how easy it can be!

The kids really do enjoy playing with each other, which is helpful too.

Abbey loves sharing a room with Juliette and gets upset if we put her down for a nap and take Juliette out of the room. But here she is just relaxing and reading one of her favorite night time books.

And of course we have lots of help feeding Juliette her bottles.

Abbey's 18 months!

Time goes by so quickly and Abbey is already 18 months!! We took her for her 18 month appointment and she still is terrified of the doctors and nurses! But she did slightly better I think. She said "Thank You" to the doctor before he left, so that was nice of her and the doctor liked hearing her say it. He said her vocab is excellent. She weighed in at 23 lbs, 15 oz and was 31 inches long, which put her right about in the 50th percentile. She continues to amaze us everyday with the new words or expressions she picks up. Now at night she reads along her book with us and sings along to the nightly song I sing her (Dream a Little Dream). She loves to help and loves to follow Ben around to do whatever it is he is doing. She's growing up so quickly! Here are a few of her pictures that we had taken...

Sledding!

We have had quite a bit of snow over the last week. We decided to take advantage of it and go sledding! Aunt Theresa and Caroline came over and we made a mad dash over to Nickol Knoll. (Yes we went sledding on an old landfill, but really where else can you find hills in Chicago?)

Ben and Abbey really love sledding. You can't really tell from the pictures but Abbey laughed the whole time down, every time.

As soon as we would get back up to the top she would immediately sit in the sled and want to go again.


Eventually she got pretty tired and just wanted to lay in the sun.

Caroline was quite the skilled sledder. She wanted to go down by herself the very first time. Ben was a little more hesitant but eventually he went with Caroline, and then by himself.

Here are the two proud champions of the mountain.

Nickol Knoll is great because it has its own lift! :) Many thanks Aunt Theresa.

Jillian Update

So I wait to blog about Jillian coming until I can post a picture, but can't find the camera so finally decide to post anyway and then guess what...I found the camera!! Anyway, here is beautiful Jillian!

Welcome Jillian Grace Kurby!!

I am very behind in blogging this, but we want to welcome to the world little Jillian Grace Kurby, who was born on Dec. 30th at 8:24am weighing 7 lbs, 10 oz and 19.5 inches long! She has a full head of dark brown hair and is absolutely gorgeous! We couldn't be happier for our dear friends. We went to visit them in the hospital to meet the new princess and took a bunch of adorable photos to share with you, but unfortunately, I cannot find the camera!! I have been looking since this weekend with no luck. I am sure it will turn up soon and when it does I will post a picture of this beauty, but until then, you will just have to take my word that she is adorable! Congratulations Uncle Phil, Aunt Sandy and big brothers Josh and Joey!!