Charlie over the past 4 years...a bit late, but you know what they say...

December 2005- 2 weeks old
June 2006- 6 months old

December 2006- 1 year old

June 2007- 18 months old

December 2007- 2 years old (the beginning of this blog!)

June 2008- 2 1/2 years old

December 2008- 3 years old

June 2009- 3 1/2 years old

December 2009- 4 years old!!!!!

I can't believe how quickly time has flown by. It seems like only yesterday!

Doctors Appointment for both boys...

Thursday 12/17, was a day that I brought Alex with me for reinforcement! I made an appointment for both boys with their doctor. Charlie's 4 year check-up and Aaron's 9 month. Both boys needed their H1N1 shot and Charlie needed 4 other shots. So I knew I'd need help!

It ultimately was a great appointment. As for Charlie, we are STOPPING ALL ASTHMA MEDS to see how he does! I wrote it in caps so I'd see it more clearly. Really the past year was so much easier with him, barely an issues but it was still 2-3 meds every day. And this has been going on for 3 1/2 years...not a long time in the grand scheme of things but I am totally excited. We are to watch him closely, call with any hiccups, but hopefully this is the beginning of the end of his daily meds! He weighed 39lbs 15ounces, and wasn't terribly tall although we know he's grown a ton. He was in 4T pants but they were long on him in september/october and they now fit him very well with no extra length just a couple months later. Last winter he was in 3T. It's funny because he always gets measured short but is actually afraid of the measuring thing, so maybe he hunches down. Anyway, he is good. He HATED the shots though and I totally felt like the worlds worst mother!

Aaron weighs 21lbs. He's 40th % for both height and weight and his head is growing but he has a skinny tall head! He was put back on reflux meds because of his breathing problems and worsening of his spit-up (throw up?!), I'm okay with this if it makes it better. They've tried albuterol on him in the past and I would like to avoid the whole reactive airway/asthma route! he got one shot and cried for less than a second. He is all over the place and gets into plenty of trouble! He's really starting to feed himself meals. He can eat cut up chicken and noodles and chews quite well the with 6 teeth he has!

I am planning to put up a montage of Charlie's 4 years on the blog but I lost all my pics when we "lost" our computer so now that I have the archive CD's from shutterfly, I can load them back on my computer and get to working on that!

Hope everyone is well, we are weathering a huge storm for us here in Philly, 12 inches of snow and counting. It's actually fun since we don't really have anywhere to be this weekend! Charlie loves it and Aaron just likes being in his house all day playing! Take care!

Sorry for the delay in posting anything...but we have a new computer as our old one went and got all infected on us!

So as the title of this post would indicate, our old computer caused us some major trouble this past week and my mom and dad were so awesome and bought us a new computer...they were planning on doing it so that we'd have a computer to support the software used to help visually impaired people use the computer...but we got it eraly thanks to our old computer...we plan to fix it eventually and use it for the kids to learn on. So THANK YOU MOM AND DAD! Lifesavers as usual!
Okay, so we are in the throws of the December holidays! Charlie has his birthday, Hanukkah is thrown in there as we are raising the kids Jewish, and we also do Christmas as I cannot give up my traditions from this time of year. So we have a tree and a Menorah and two very lucky children!

I finished the family stockings. Mine was the last to be completed. I have to say that I am really proud of how these turned out and hope they last forver...they certainly took long enough to complete!

We don't have a mantel here in the city so we hang our stocking by the bainster (we have plenty of these with 4 stories in our home!)

Charlie cheesing it up on the first night of Hanukkah at my parents' house. We had our first night there because my aunt and uncle who drove cross country from California (to move up to New Hampshire) were there and we wanted to see them! So they got to witness my butchering of the Hebrew language as I lit the first candle!

Bode in his Harley gear. My dad got this do-rag for Charlie and we've had pics of all the kids in it, Bode was the last one...funny thing is this didn't fit Charlie after he was 10 months or so...Its huge on Aaron still and fits Bode at almost 2 years old!

Cuteness!

The boys on Gampa's motorcycle....love it!

Aunt Judy and Uncle Jim who drove forever to get here!

Aaron looking super cute...he is crawling everywhere now and gets into EVERYTHING! Charlie, literally, never touched things he wasn't supposed to. Aaron is totally different and we are learning how to cope!

He also claps which is totally adorable

Every year Charlie and I make the star for our tree. This year we made it out of foil. Pretty snazzy!

Milk coma...

Charlie hearing his birthday wishes the morning of his birthday...

The crown his teachers made for him...we also had cupcakes that we brought to school!

Blowing out all 4 candles in his cupcake

Look at the smoke we created!

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays!

Lots of news...

The greatest news ever...Aaron's genetic work-up came out %100 normal! Whatever it is they thought he had, he doesn't. He's just hypotonic and will get over it eventually. The neurologist suggested a muscle biopsy but we're not going there. He's been prodded enough. We're stopping at the news that he's normal! All of his "distinct features are just his own little ways of looking different and awesome. He's the best and it's nice to have a test that tells us he's fine and we can stop looking for something. So in his 8th month, he started sitting unsupported, getting into sitting on his own, crawling and clapping his hands. The 8th month was his catch-up month. He is everywhere. Crawling like crazy and just being the cutest thing ever!

My boys playing on the floor together...

Charlie loves that Aaron crawls now, but gets annoyed that he immediately crawls for things he's not supposed to have, like Charlie's toys. I hear alot of, "no no Aaron...mommy, come get Aaron!"
Aaron still thinks that Charlie is the best and loves his big brother!

Aaron on his 9 month birthday...we drove out to Strausburg, PA to check out the trains, ride on Thomas, and visit the train museum. It was tons of fun, and my sister met us there with Bode and we went to her house for yummy pizza afterwards!

Daddy and Charlie at the train museum. It was so cool! I only wish we lived closer...what an awesome place for a birthday party!

Shoveling coal into the tender at the museum...

The whole family!

Christy and Bode

Aaron on the train (Thomas), trying to get into trouble!

Here's Thomas!

The three boys after riding on Thomas.

Riding the little train...as long as it's a train, it's cool in their book!

Mommy and Aaron...I don't know why I look a bit psycho...it's the whole self-portrait angle!

So this week we are gearing up for Charlie's actual birthday (December 10th, for which he requested a Christmas tree cake), and the start of Hanukkah! Busy times! It started snowing on Saturday evening which was super cool. Charlie had to put his boots on and check it out!

Hey, it made him happy! He was bummed that it was sunny today and not snowing again! Too funny!

Charlie's 4th Birthday party

The beginnings of the cake. Charlie asked for a Thomas the Tank cake this year so this is what I came up with! I thought it came out quite well! Scroll down to see final pics of it!
Charlie getting ready for the party...he was so excited and Aaron took a 2 hour nap that morning...it was one of those RARE days where everything kind of just works out! I even got a run in that morning!

The final product...we dishwashed and sterilized the trains before putting them on the cake. Charlie really liked it! The kids all had green teeth and I had some reports of some funnny colored poo as well. Thanks for those reports guys!

The kids having some snacks

Singing to the birthday boy...he doesn't actually turn 4 until next week but it's been so much easier the last two years having his parties in November...

Loving his cake...when I asked him what the best part of his party was, it was the cake!

We had the party at the discovery museum in Charry Hill, NJ. It's a really cool kids museum and everyone seemed to have a great time.

The grown-ups at the "diner" waiting for th kids to cook some rubber food!

Checking out the doggy's teeth...

Fishing...

Silly cousins

Thanks to everyone who came out and helped him enjoy his birthday! We had a great time!

Charlie and Ethan working on the Handy Manny Motorcycle...he has to go tell Santa now that he got this and wants something different for Christmas!