Introducing Emily Anne

Born at 38 weeks on July 19th at 12:46pm weighing 8 pounds, 15 ounces and 21 inches long.  Just perfect.  We all love her.  More to come!

Family of four for one more night.

The baby is coming tomorrow! I cannot wait.  My c-section is scheduled for 10am and I don't think that I am going to be able to sleep tonight!  I remember that I didn't sleep well the nights before Drew and Katie were born either.  Mom and Dad are here and Gram and PopPop are coming on the Bolt Bus early tomorrow morning.  Andy and I are so excited to meet our new baby and Drew and Katie are even more excited. They talk about the baby all the time and they are really excited to meet him/her tomorrow.  I will update soon with pictures!

I am 38 weeks tomorrow!

American Girl Place

Kelly, Mom and I have been planning on taking Katie, Emma and Molly to the American Girl Place for months when we realized that we were running out of dates!  The baby is coming and then we are moving  so we made reservations last week and they took a trip into the city for the day.

Our big day out in the city!

Me and my sweet little girl.

Grandmom can't wait to buy Katie an American Girl Doll for Christmas.

Molly, Kelly and Emma during lunch.

So happy during lunch.

City kids take the taxi home!  

Katie loved the American Girl Place! I couldn't believe how much she was into it. She loved looking at all the dolls and babies and she just wanted to run around and take everything in.  At lunch, she happily fed her baby (not an American Girl doll, but one that I dressed in the same dress as her) and had fun talking to Emma and Molly.  We had a great girls day!

Cooper Hewitt Museum

There is currently a heat wave in NYC and I wanted to stay close to home due to the heat and my HUGE belly.  I researched things to do in our own neighborhood and found out that the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum was hosting the mobile Imagination Playground for a few days in July in their backyard garden.  It was perfect! The kids could play outside in an enclosed place, I could sit in the shade and relax and it was all just a few blocks away!

Friends!

We are going to miss our good friends the Gulotta's so much!! LJ and Dillon and baby Cameron are the cutest little boys and Drew and Katie are going to miss playing with them.  Megan and I talk everyday and even though I know that we probably will still do that even when we are in different states, it will be sad to not see her and the kids so much.

  Larry and Megan just purchased their first house and moved out of the city last week.  We were able to visit them in their fantastic new house and say goodbye.  The kids played outside the entire time and then took a bath together! Such great memories!

Horse and Carriage ride in the park

I asked Drew what he wanted to do on one of our last weekends in the city and he said that he always wanted to go on a horse and carriage ride through Central Park.  No problem!  Although the ride is a little short at only 20 minutes, we all enjoyed seeing our favorite NYC place from a horse and carriage.  Drew loved every moment of it and pretended that we were in a race around the park with all of the other horses.  Our driver even let Drew and Katie feed carrots to the horse, named Cooper, at the end of the ride as a treat.

John Jay Playground

One of our favorite playgrounds when we lived at our old apartment was John Jay.  The city had recently renovated the playground and the kids and I couldn't wait to go and check it out.

My little climber just wanted to play on the rocks.

While Drew wanted to get wet and play in the sprinklers!

So fun!

Imagination Playground at South Street Seaport

I had read about the new Imagination Playground at the South Street Seaport and was excited to take the kids because I knew that they would love it.  We went on July 4th when Andy had off and made a fun day---- playground, checked out the boats and tugboats on the pier and then lunch at a yummy BBQ place.

The kids loved building stuff with the blue "playground equipment" and playing in the water and sand. Andy and I loved sitting on the deck and relaxing in the shade!

Our visit to Collingswood before the baby

We decided to take one last visit the last week in June to Collingswood before the baby arrives.  Once the baby arrives and we move to Maryland, before we know it, Drew will start school and we won't be able to do our big trips to Collingswood anymore.  Boo!

Sharing a snack outside.

We went blueberry picking at Uncle Mike and Aunt Kelly's house.

Drew, Molly, Emma and Katie after blueberry picking.

Playing wii dance.

Me with Emma and Molly. 

Poppy with his grandkids. Does he have room for another?

Poppy taking the kids for a special treat.

Katie and Drew loved Roberts Pool!

Drew had so much fun on the slip-n-slide!

We had a great visit!  The kids always have so much fun at Grandmom and Poppy's house.  They get to play with their grandparents and great-grandparents and their cousins.  What could be better than that?

Jen's visit to the city

One of my best friends decided to come into the city from Connecticut to see us one day the end of June before we moved.  She brought her husband and their two adorable kids for some city fun!

Julia and Katie were born only a few days apart and I love watching them play together. 

At first Julia didn't want to get dirty, but then she followed Drew and Katie's lead and played in the sand box.

We had a nice day and I am going to miss being so close to Jen and her family when we move to Maryland.

A concert in the park with Grandmom

The kids have a cd from David Weinstone and the Music for Aardvarks Band so when I read that they were having a free concert during the Madison Square Park Concert Series, I knew that we had to attend.  It worked out great because Grandmom was able to join us.  She was coming into the city to watch the kids while I had my 34 week ultrasound.

The kids loved cuddling with Grandmom while we waited for the concert to begin.

Drew loved climbing all over Grandmom!

During the first one or two songs, the kids just stood and watched right by where we were sitting.

But then they decided to go right up front and dance along with the music. It was adorable!

Happy Father's Day

The kids picked out Andy's father's day gift and they were so excited to wake up nice and early and give it to him...fishing gear!  Andy told Drew he can't wait for us to move to Maryland so they can go fishing together all the time.

Rainbow City on the High Line

In mid-June we headed to the High Line to a temporary art installation called Rainbow City.  It was such a pretty and unusual site in the middle of Manhattan and I was excited to see what the kids thought.  Admission to both were also free! I love NYC!

Walking on the High Line.

The view of Rainbow City from the end of the High Line.

Two of the art installations were bounce houses and Drew and Katie loved running and jumping in them.  We arrived a few minutes before it opened and they were so excited to be the first in line!

One of the bounce houses. 

Inside the bounce house!

After checking out the bounce houses a few times, we just played with the rest of the colorful inflatables.

They loved running around and pushing the giant inflatables.

Katie taking a break under the giant mushroom.

Dressed up for a night out!

Even though Andy doesn't officially "graduate" from his fellowship until July 31st, Mt. Sinai celebrates the year with a big black tie event in June.  I am so proud of Andy....

- 4 years of medical school

-5 years of orthopedic residency

- and 1 year of shoulder and elbow fellowship

WOO HOO! Almost done!  It was really fun to celebrate his accomplishments this year at Mt Sinai with the rest of the orthopedic department and enjoy a big night out in the city.  I actually had fun getting dressed up, even though my belly was huge!  

Adventures in early June

Since the weather has been nice, we have been going to our favorite museum, the AMNH, quite a bit because the kids love that after visiting the exhibits inside the museum, we then head outside to the sprinklers!  The museum has this great sprinkler area just outside of the planetarium and the kids can run around and stay cool.

This was on one of the hottest days of the year.  Perfect!

The Big Apple BBQ was awesome!  For two days in June, Madison Square Park turns into a BBQ-lovers paradise where the top BBQ pitmasters from around the country cook up their famous food for everyone to try.  We had a little picnic in the park and ate until we were full!

The Museum Mile Festival is held once a year in June and it happens to be only two blocks from our apartment.  Fifth Avenue is shut down and all the museums are free to the public for the evening.   Of course, Drew and Katie loved running through the streets more than anything else.

Our last trip to the Catskills Part 2: Fishing

Drew and Katie have been into fishing since we took them to the Harlem Meer the last fall.  They were excited when Poppy and Grandmom bought them new fishing poles and tackle boxes for our trip to the mountains.  Drew was so excited to go fishing and talked about it everyday we were in the mountains.

PopPop taught Drew how to use his fishing pole.

Then Drew and Katie practiced their new skills on the grass!

Once Uncle Steve arrived, he was the resident fishing expert .

Cooper the dog was really into fishing as well.

The big catch! Drew was so proud!

Uncle Ken taught Drew how to kill and clean the fish.  Drew was really into this part as well!

After cooking his catch on the bbq, Drew enjoyed it for lunch, and even shared a little with everyone else.