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Sat, Feb 2, 2008 11:00 PM
We're Safe!

Just a quick update to let you all know that we're all safe and sound, despite the shooting in Tinley Park today. We didn't even know about the shooting until around 6:30PM when Aunt Shirley called to see if we were okay. Amy had to attend a Village of Tinley Park volunteer appreciation dinner tonight at a country club that is located in the vicinity of the shooting (she walked quickly from her car into the building!!) and was able to quickly get up to date on the events. She was also able to learn that the planning director doesn't get the important phone calls when there's a Village emergency. (can there be a planning emergency?) Amy imagines that she'll be a part of the Village's public relations team that will work to repair the damage done to our lovely Village's reputation.

We shop at SuperTarget which is the anchor in that shopping center about once a week. Amy has shopped in the Lane Bryant store (but only once because it had terrible customer service).

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Nanna Priddy: Thank God! We all got quite a lump in our stomach's when we heard the news.

Carrie: That is horrible that there was a shooting-I'm so glad you're all safe!

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Sun, Dec 16, 2007 5:55 PM
Happy Holidays!

We haven't updated with any news for about six months. We have all the excuses -- we've moved, we're unpacking, we're preparing for preschool, it's thanksgiving, it's christmas. Stephen made me abbreviate our holiday letter this year, so here's where I get to do the bragging.

Henry and Libby are typical three year olds. They are full of energy, love to talk (and talk back) and are just finding the things that really interest them. Most of you know that Libby had a difficult time at preschool this year and we ended up removing her. This precipitated several months worth of wringing our hands and wondering if your Libby was going have educational difficulties before the local school district could "evaluate her." The evaluation came about two weeks ago and they found that Libby was prefect in every way. Her only shortcoming was some difficulties with fine motor skills like holding pencils. What a relief!

Libby is a darling little girl and loves to sing and bake cookies. She is always willing to play and share with her brother. She even plays and shares with her little sister - which is so lovely to watch. She's a big talker and will talk your ear off if you let her. Comments about everything!

Henry completed the fall semester of preschool and did very well. He seems to enjoy preschool. Henry is also a sweet boy, but does have a touchy side. He's less willing to share. He memorizes books and loves to line his cars up in rows. He's definitely a smart little guy and he also likes to sing, although, not in front of people as was his experience at the preschool holiday program (turned his back on the crowd!!).

Maggie is 15 months and walking and climbing on everything. She's a happy baby and is so full of life. Never cries (well...except when she's put to bed at night) and follows her brother and sister around like a puppy dog. It's so cute to watch her idolize Henry and Libby. She's already talking and understands just about anything you say to her.

Mom and Dad are fine, too. We'd like to hire babysitters once in a while and take a break, but we're so new here that we don't know anyone well enough. In the meantime, we're enjoying the first Christmas that the twins seem really aware of - Santa Claus is real now! They love watching the holiday programs on TV and they talk about what Santa will bring them. Libby gets to bake holiday cookies at least once a week. Let's hope the new year brings us lots of opportunities to sleep in and a babysitter once in a while.

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Fri, Jun 8, 2007 10:31 PM
3rd Birthday and other news

Libby and Henry celebrated their third birthday with a 4 day bacchanalia that began with a visit from Grandma Priddy, a birthday party with Godparents and lots of presents, a trip to the swimming pool, and a photo shoot and dinner at Red Robin.

Twins were overwhelmed most of the four days and true to the three year old manual, their behavior ranged from adorably cute to whining to full blown ridiculous fit throwing. We were under the impression that three years old was much easier than two years old...however, we're discovering that you just trade one issue for another. We think our twins are very good little kids 80% of the time and they are over-the-top cute, which helps some days!

Libby is almost totally potty trained and Henry is getting there. We struggle daily with eating dinner (they don't want to eat anything healthy) and learning to pick up toys. We're not getting anywhere with learning to share, either. However, we do know our ABC song and both Henry and Libby have conquered colors, most letters, and counting to 10. Thank you Sesame Street.

Maggie is our happy 3rd child. Strangers stop us to tell us what a happy baby we have. She greets everyone with a smile and waving hands. Those that spend more time with her will tell you that she also rarely cries. She's so happy, we have nicknamed her MOOGIE.

She is cutting four upper teeth and one bottom tooth right now, so the "rarely cry" label does not apply in the middle of the night for Maggie. Sleep is elusive at the Connolly household lately.

But during the day, when she's not chewing on something, she loves to growl at her dad and shriek with joy. She is still taken with her big sister and spends hours sitting on the floor playing with toys and making goo-goo comments about the twins.

One particularly unique Moogie trait is her love of being in the Baby Bjorn pack. She will spend several swaths of time in the pack - helping her dad unload the dishwasher or pick up after the twins. We're not sure if it's the point of view she enjoys or if she enjoys watching what he dad is doing. She's almost too big for the pack now that she weighs over 20lbs...whatever will we do??

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Mon, Apr 23, 2007 10:22 AM
Maggie's First Tooth

Maggie cut her first tooth on Friday...accompanied by the Connolly tooth cutting face rash (H&L always had that). She doesn't appear to be in any pain but is always covered in drool and has something in her mouth all the time.

Maggie is also sitting up! We're a little shocked because of how early she's sitting, but we figure it's just one step closer to being able to chase Henry and Libby around - and that's going to come as soon as she can manage it.

Maggie is also saying her first word - Daddy (of course). She is a constant babbler, just like Henry was.

Henry and Libby are so big. They are both talking a mile a minute. Henry's recent funny sayings, modeled off his father, include "now just wait a minute" and "I don't know". Libby is still conducting floor shows where ever she visits - dancing and gyrating like a solid gold dancer. We're are on the verge of buying her a "don't feed the bears" t-shirt for the park because she has no qualms about walking up to strangers and taking their food. The temper tantrums are leveling off and we're just weeks away from having three year olds.

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Sat, Mar 10, 2007 7:03 PM
New Cousin Makayla

Makayla Lynn was born on Wednesday morning and weighed 6lbs and was 18 1/2 inches...a tiny little thing! She's home now with her mommy Jessica and daddy Ryan. Reports are that she is a lovely baby and that daddy Ryan is in his element. There's a link to her website below.

This month has seen the Connolly's all under the weather with a virus we picked up at Castaway Cafe. Mom had a sinus infection that caused her to miss two days of work, Maggie was coughing and snuffling and up all night, Libby had a horrible runny nose and cough, Stephen had the same as Libby, and Henry topped us all by remaining sick and lethargic for over two weeks. We finally took him to the Pediatrician who said that he had an ear infection and he's now on antibiotics. He not quite back to his old self yet (running his tonka truck up and down the halls, playing with his cars, singing, and being silly) - preferring to spend time on the couch watching Piggly Winks and throw tantrums. We hope he recovers soon.

During all these days indoors through February (where temperatures did not exceed 30 degrees for the entire month!), Libby has managed to become completely potty trained. She's even dry for her naps, although we haven't attempted to go without a Pull-up at bedtime yet. Henry, however, it still completely uninterested in the potty. Not even the offer of M&M's has convinced him that there are advantages to peeing in the potty.

We enrolled Libby and Henry is preschool at the Catholic church this week. We're hoping that they'll be able to attend 2 days per week in the morning only. We can't wait for them to go to preschool and experience some of the fun activities they'll be able to experience under someone else's watch (i.e, finger painting, playdough)

We had an abortive attempt at dentistry this month. We took the kids in for their first appointment and neither one would cooperate to even open their mouth. We have started requiring them to brush their teeth after their bath at night and it's been a challenge to get them to brush correctly. Henry completely refuses unless he's held down.

Mags had her 3 month portraits taken (actually ended up being 4 month portraits!) and they are beautiful!

Mags is growing like a weed. We've managed to hold off feeding her solids, but she's really grabbing for food now. We're going to wait until she's 6 months old, but I think she'd like to start them now.

Spring is around the corner. We're promised 70 degree weather next week and the kids are eager to get back to the park.

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Sat, Feb 3, 2007 10:40 PM
Maggie had her 4 month check up on Friday and it was determined that she is a very healthy, very tall baby. Our pediatrician announced that she has the "Connolly height" gene as Maggie is now 27 inches long -- which is completely above the growth charts. This explains why she's now in 6 month clothing and some 9 month clothing due to her length. Stephen is making plans for Maggie to become a soccer goalie or WNBA star. We've also surpassed our initial weight gain issues as she's a healthy 15lbs. It is fun to note that both Henry and Libby were around the 15 lb mark at 4 months (Libby closer to 16lbs!).

Maggie continues to be our easy-going baby. She enjoys sitting in her bouncy seat and has now progressed to her Exersaucer, which allows her to grab objects and put them in her mouth. She has remarkable head/neck control and prefers sitting up to any sort of reclining position. Her favorite sitting position is anywhere in the middle of her brother and sister -- she thinks she's one of the big kids and can't wait to be as mobile as them.

H&L are working hard at potty training. Libby is nearly trained and only wears a diaper at night. We think we only have a few more weeks of night diapers with her and we'll be able to be dry for 24 hours. She has been easy to train and has only needed praise as a reward. Henry, on the other hand, is much more resistant to this "training" and even the promise of M&Ms hasn't convinced him to go in the potty more than a few times a day (if we're lucky). We hope to have him trained by 15 y.o.

Henry had a trip to the ER last weekend. Mom shut his fingers in the bedroom door accidently. Nevermind that she's always lecturing Dad on being careful about fingers. His fingers were very squashed and seemed to be swelling up, so he and Dad went off to the ER to make sure nothing was broken or smashed. Indeed, Henry was intact and nothing out of place. The report was that Henry charmed the ER waiting room with his non-stop commentary.

We're also implementing time-outs full on. We now have a "naughty chair" and it is often occupied with one of the twins. We've been experiencing a lot of naughty behavior in the form of doing things after being told "no", climbing in places where they don't belong, and throwing tantrums and throwing objects. Remarkably, the chair is working . Mom and Dad have had some issues hiding our laughter after we scold one of the twins and get our scolding right back at us: "no, no, no Mommy - you are naughty, time-out!"

Our goal this next month is to have Maggie sleep (more) through the night and follow a nap schedule. And...continuing to potty train Henry.

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Thu, Dec 28, 2006 10:32 AM
Merry Christmas!

It's been so lovely to have three little ones around the house this holiday season. Henry and Libby really enjoyed opening presents and playing with all their new toys. The twins did not understand the concept of Santa this year (which is fine, although it might have been of disciplinary assistance), but did enjoy songs about Santa. "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" became "I know, I know, I know" (Henry's take on the "he knows when you've been sleeping" phrase) "Up on the Rooftop" was just "ho,ho,ho". But both have mastered "Jingle Bells" which was requested as "I want to sing 'all the way'!".

Maggie is growing so quickly. She already has Michelin Man thighs and a big smile ready at all times. Everyone comments about what a lovely baby she is and how she never cries. You definitely wouldn't know that we have a newborn in the house if you lived next door! Libby continues her attempts to pick up Maggie and move her about the house. Henry pretty much ignores Maggie, although he does profess that he loves her if asked.

We spent Christmas with the Connolly family in Ontario. We stayed with Stephen's sister, Denise (aka "lady" and "neesee") and her family. Libby was very taken by her 10 year old twin cousins. She followed them around yelling "guys! guys!" the entire time. It was hard to be immune to her charms and it was laugh-out-loud hilarious to watch her try to charm the 10 year olds. Henry loved playing with Karsten and James' toys. Christmas day was spent at Grandma Connolly's. Libby and Henry received many presents including new coats, noisy cars, baby dolls, and clothes.

I think you can see from the photos that Henry and Libby are no longer babies. They are both able to say just about everything (including words we had hoped they would ignore!) and express their desires. Henry is still learning to express his frustrations without having tantrums. Libby doesn't through tantrums, but will scold her parents if she doesn't like the discipline she's receiving. Time-outs have worked pretty well for both of them, although less so for Libby. The twins play well together, but occassionally Henry seems to express the desire NOT to be a twin anymore (at least, the desire not to have to share).

To those who said it wouldn't be: the twins STILL nap 2-3 hours every afternoon. We are planning to keep this schedule until kindergarten if we are so lucky. They are also still going to be around 8PM and waking up around 8AM. Maggie, however, is not yet able to be scheduled and is awake around the clock.

Amy is returning to work full time after New Years Day. She was able to work part-time between Thanksgiving and New Years, which was a great help in our efforts to nurse Maggie. She will return to work full time with her trusty pump and we hope that Maggie will be able to nurse until she's ready to wean herself.

Stephen is the hard-working stay at home dad who keeps the house spotless (despite the twins' best efforts) and manages to put on dinner most evenings. Now that Maggie is almost three months old, she should sleep more during the day (we hope!). We're all looking forward to Michigan winter being over so that we can resume trips to the park with the kids. The kids are homebound for most of the winter, with the exception of shopping trips and vists to the indoor playground (also known as Typhoid Central as someone always gets sick after visiting that place!).

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Sun, Oct 1, 2006 10:01 PM
Margaret (Maggie) Sarah is here!

Maggie was born at 10:01PM on 10/01/06, weighing 7lbs, 1oz. and 20 3/4" long. Amy was induced on Saturday night and Maggie arrived in a hurry on Sunday evening -- 50 minutes from first contraction and water breaking to delivery. She is a sweet baby with lots of dark hair. She is named after her paternal great-grandmother (Margaret) and her mother's best friend, Sarah. Libby and Henry are happy with the new addition to the family -- "babymaggie" as they like to say. Henry said "I like Maggie" last night before bedtime.

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Mon, Jun 5, 2006 5:56 PM
We're Two!

Henry and Libby celebrated turning two with Grandma Priddy, Pat and Joe Convery, Mom & Dad at home with dinner and cake and ice cream. Loads of gifts -- thanks to Uncle Ryan, Aunt Jessica, and Aunt Mary -- we unwrapped, decimating the relative order of our living room. Big gifts of the day included matching Red Flyer Tricycles (and loads of accessories from the Converies to "pimp my trike") and an umbrella stroller and baby doll. Libby received a doll house and Henry received a train set. Also -- Elmo doll, big Bird Doll, books galore, Bob the Builder toys, sandbox toys, puzzles, and much, much more.

Beyond the festivities, the children were generally good -- but over excited with the toys. Didn't do particular well with dinner, but LOVED the ice cream and cake. Libby wouldn't bathe tonight because she wanted to push around her doll. Henry was a bit scared of the TTTE because it moves on its own. And many fights over the doll stroller (so Henry will get his own tomorrow).

Totally adorable, though!!!

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Tue, Apr 18, 2006 11:25 AM
At The Park

Spring has finally arrived in Michigan and we've had a stretch of warm (60F) dry weather. So the twins spend a couple of hours each morning at Baldwin Park, a short spin away in our double stroller.

The kids are so confident and agile now. They've mastered the jungle gym and spend lots of time clambering and sliding. Henry loves digging in the sandpit while it doubles as Libby's snack-bar if she can't find any cigarette butts to chew on.

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