Matthew's 3rd Birthday!

Today we got together to celebrate Matthew's 3rd birthday!  Here are all of the grandchildren with Dee-dee and Pops.  Getting this picture was not easy so forget about having them all smiling at the same time:

This one makes me chuckle because Evan is smiling perfectly while Matthew, Claire and Eric all seem to be looking off into the distance.  I laugh every time I look at it. 

 Here is Dee-dee with her pride and joy - the only grandchild she can buy pink for :)

 A profile shot of Claire in the bounce house:

 This outfit was a gift I received for Eric and I love it:

 Smiles:

 And we did not plan this but we were matching.  I need to bring this one to my desk at work:

 And a pic of the birthday boy with his family: 

After a whirlwind weekend in NJ, I'm as ready as I'm going to be to go back to work tomorrow.  Time for bed and then reality begins. 

Jessica's Bridal Shower

This past weekend, I had the honor of throwing the bridal shower for one of my best friends, Jessica.  I am Jessica's matron-of-honor and the wedding is going to happen in September.  Jess and I met during our freshman year at Lehigh - oh the memories:

And here we are 17 years later:

One of the many great things about our frienship is that she is friends with my sister, mother and cousins, who were also in attendance at the shower.  Jess calls my cousins her cousins as well:

 We went with a beach theme for the shower since Jessica's wedding is happening at the Jersey Shore:

 And here are 8 of the 11 bridesmaids with Jess:

Next up is the bachelorette party in August!

3 months old!

So we are over a week late here, but we were on vacation when Eric turned 3 months.  The last month has been a big one . . . mostly because we transitioned to sleeping through the night (11 hours) without needing to eat!  This is exactly when Evan moved to sleeping through the night as well, so I will stand by the Babywise method.  I thought I was just lucky with Evan, but I think Babywise had something to do with it.  Of course, Eric is still swaddled, so we'll have to deal with that in a month or so.  Though at least then I will know that Eric doesn't need to be fed at night. 

Eric is such an easy-going little guy. He smiles, coos and giggles a lot.  He rolled from belly to back one day shy of his 3 month birthday (on June 12th).  He did it 4 times that day but hasn't tried to again, mostly because I have been slacking in the "tummy time" department.  He loves looking at faces, especially if I'm singing to him.  I took him to get his 3 month pictures the other day and he was an easy subject:

 And here are his frog pictures for the month:

And here is an interesting comparison of the two boys at the same age, same pose and half of the same outfit.  To me, they look nothing alike.  Evan was a lot bigger in weight (not height) and had begun resembling the Weiss side of the family.  Eric to me still is all Felt family.  I don't even think they look like brothers most of the time, though I see a little resemblance in this picture. 

And sadly today is my last day of maternity leave :(  I'm going to miss my quality time with Eric.  It's the only time in his life that he'll get my one-on-one attention like he has.  He has been such an easy and happy baby that it's going to make going back to work hard. 

OBX 2012

This year marked our fourth trip to the Outerbanks of North Carolina.  We absolutely love it there.  The drive isn't too far from our house (6 hours of drive-time as long as we leave at 6:00 AM).  And the beaches are incredible and empty. 

We take this picture every year and were happy to have an extra set of footprints to add to the photo this year:

Our house, the "Beach Peach" on the shores of South Nags Head.  It was gorgeous - 8 bedrooms, pool, hot-tub, elevator . . . pretty much everything you need to relax on vacation.

The view from right outside our bedroom door:

 Evan happy to be standing in a hole dug by Brian:

Checking out the ocean:

Family of four on the beach:

Eric chilling at the pool:

 One of Eric's friends - Ian was due one day after Eric and their birthdays are 6 days apart:

 Hanging out on the deck swings:

 Evan enjoyed running down the boardwalk that led to the beach every day:

 The whole crew - 5 families = 10 adults and 8 children under the age of 5:

Evan LOVED the pool.  Brian had taught him how to jump off the side at our local YMCA.  I will post video soon too of this:

He was so happy to be at the pool.  Unfortunately, he cried when we tried to put him in a flotation device so we had to hold him in there the whole time (which wasn't always easy):

Eric's first dip in the pool - he loved it too:

Boys in bicycle shirts (Eric's was a little big on him):

Two father & son pics:

 All kids in matching OBX shirts made by Dan & Lindsay.  Watching the adults try to keep the kids entertained is hysterical.  We need to get video of that one year:

More running down the deck:

 And some family photos on the beach:

And what would a vacation be without one of these flying baby photos.  Evan is getting heavy and I'm not sure how much longer Brian will be able to throw him like this.  Hopefully Eric will be as happy to fly too. 

It sure does stink to be back.  And what's even worse is that I go back to work next week :(

A Low Key Father's Day

After returning from vacation on Saturday (lots of pictures to come from that later this week hopefully), we had a very low key Father's Day at home.  Brian got to sleep in which is a real treat right now, he got breakfast in bed and 2 gifts from the boys that Evan promptly opened for him.  We spent the day relaxing, playing outside and he got to get his choice of take-out (sushi & mexican) for dinner.

Here are the boys hanging out on the couch in the morning:

 Tried to get a picture outside but Evan was not happy about it:

 Eric was more than happy to pose, though:

 And a nice afternoon nap on the couch - Brian, Eric and Lily.  Evan was up in his bed:

Happy Father's Day!  I know the boys are very lucky to have Brian as their father.