Pigtails

I never thought the day would come when I could put my baby's hair in pigtails!!!! Everyone knows how excited I am about this:) Look how much bigger she looks!

Star of the week!

Berlynn was the star of the week this week at school so she had to bring a poster to tell about herself. We put pictures of her family as well as her hand prints and footprints. She drew a picture at the bottom of her family, it is so cute! During circle time the teacher gets the poster and Berlynn comes to the front of class and talks about her poster. The little circles say all the things she loves; Kissble and Blankie, hot dogs, riding my bike, Spanish Schoolhouse, Pizza, Painting, Milky Yogurt and Flowers. All the kids love to be the star of the week!

Tips for fighting off Cold and Flu by Dr. Bain

Most of you know that our pediatrician doctor Deborah Bain focuses her practice on prevention of illness. She put on a seminar on boosting your child's immune system and I wanted to share her recommendations to help keep our kids healthy during this flu season.

• Vitamin D: Boosts the immune system. Most people become deficient in Vitamin D in the winter months because we do not get the vitamin naturally by the sun. Dr. Bain recommends 800 IU's for prevention and 1600 IU's for acute illness. Vitamin D can actually be purchased in drop form that is tasteless, 2 drops is all you need each day as one drop contains 400 IU's
• Vitamin C: Another immune booster and powerful antioxidant. Dr. Bain recommends getting your vitamin C from foods rather than supplements.
• Probiotics: The good bacteria found in your intestinal tract. Probiotics help boost the immune system and fight off illness. We buy Flora Baby which is in a tasteless powder form. We put one small scoop in Berlynn and Sages milk each day.
• Limit Sugar intake: Sugar actually suppresses the immune system. It is no wonder our kids are always so sick during Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines day!

Tip on the Flu shot: You can actually recommend getting a flu shot free of mercury for your kids. Thimerosal is a preservative used in most all flu shots so they have a longer shelf life. Unfortunately, Thimerosal contains mercury. Request a "Thimerosal Free" flu shot and your doctor will order it in specifically for you.

http://www.healthykidspediatrics.com/

Clips from Disney

Berlynn's 4th Birthday Party!

My sweet little girl got a very special treat for her Birthday! We took her to Disney. She had 4 very special Friends meet us in Orlando to celebrate her birthday. Abbey and Carson came from Tampa and Luke and Nora came from West Palm Beach. The kids decorated cupcakes, opened presents and then we took them to the water park on the resort. Berlynn had such a good time. Thank you Melissa and Sarah for bringing the kids to the party, we miss you guys!!

From left to right: Abbey (4 years), Luke (6 years), Carson (20 months), Nora (4 years), Berlynn and Sage (13months)

Happy 4th Birthday Berlynn, look how much she has grown!

Here are the stats:

Berlynn had her 4 year old well check, here are the stats:

Height: 44 inches 98%
Weight: 46.5 lbs 95%

She grew 4 inches in one year!!!

A few favorites from Maddies visit....

Sages Birthday Party

My little baby is 1 already, I cant believe it. A few of her favorite words are "dog", "Mama", "Dada", "Hi" and she just started saying, "Hola". She will point to her head and her tummy when you ask her and she loves to blow kisses. She is so cute, when you pick her up from her crib she blows you a kiss. She is not one bit interested in walking but she is all over the place crawling. She is so busy.

As you can probably tell from her dress we has a minnie mouse theme. I made all of the invitations I was so proud of myself. I am usually not very creative, but these were so easy.

She had so much fun at her Birthday. We had about 20 balloons all over the floor that she loved to crawl around and chase. She loved her "Srpinkles Cupcake", what a spoiled little girl. Grandma and Grandpa Engelhardt came down as well as Jeff and Maddie. We were so excited to see Maddie, we have not seen her since she was a newborn. She is such a little cutie. Thanks Jeff for bringing her down. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures

Dancing Babies

The truth from a 3 year old........

Berlynn: "Mommy your booty is getting bigger"
Me: "I know yours is getting bigger too because you are almost 4"
Berlynn: "But mine is not as big as yours"
Me: "Berlynn that is not very nice"
Berlynn "Its not my fault"

You have to love the honest truth from a 3 year old, guess I need to work a little harder in the gym:)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Happy Birthday Daddy! We love you so much!

Sorry I am just now posting this, I had it as a draft so I could post it on your Birthday, it is now a week late:(

Berlynn, Sage and I went to KC for the weekend and daddy came to pick us up from the airport on Sunday. I kept telling Berlynn that we could not tell daddy what his present was that he needed to wait to open it and it would be a surprise. I kept beating it in her head the whole trip home. So I am carrying this birthday bag with his laptop, pushing a stroller and holding her hand as he arrives. I am so nervous that she is going to spill the beans that I decide to go ahead and let daddy open his present when we get home even though his birthday was Monday and not Sunday. Berlynn hops in the car and starts asking Dan if he is going to eat cake at his party. She keeps looking at the bag and I am getting more and more nervous. The next thing you know she says to Dan, "Daddy, how to you spell bumputer?" as she kicks the bag that has the computer. I let out this huge gasp...luckily he didnt catch on because he thought I was laughing because she said "bumputer". We managed to make it home with no slip ups! He was so suprised. I dont know what I was thinking even trying to get her to keep a secret...she is only 3!

Summer Fun!

We love NRH20!! It is a blast. Charisse, Keaton and Charley came to Dallas this past week and we were so excited when they wanted to go to the water park. We love it so much, we may get season passes next summer. Here is just a glimpse of our fun day!

We had so much fun while Charisse and the kids were in town. Dan took Keaton to the Rangers game and to Speed Zone while Charisse and I hung out with the girls. We also went to Bonkers and Chuckie Cheese all in a 4 day stretch! Charley even got to go to Berlynn's "Rock Star" dance camp one day, I was really cute:) Thanks Charisse for coming down, we love you guys!!

Happy 4th of July!

Oh my I have too many cute pictures to post. MeMa Kristy came down for the weekend and we had so much fun!! On the 4th we started off at the neighborhood parade. They had bounce houses, face painting, a balloon guy and dancing. Poor grandma stood in line with Berlynn to get a balloon for 45 minutes. Did I mention we are in 100 degree weather at this point?

From left to right we have Berlynn (3 1/2), Sage (10 mo), Nora (4 1/2), Luke (6), Tyler (3 1/2) and Grayson (6mo).

Berlynn's good friend Nora; sadly we had to say goodbye to them 2 weeks ago. We miss you guys!! Can't wait to see you in Florida!

Grandma still has a smile despite the long 45 min wait for a balloon. What a sweet grandma! We love and miss you.

That night we found a low key spot to go and watch the firworks in Las Colinas. Daddy and Sage missed out on all the fun since Sage likes to go to sleep at 7:00. There was no way I was even going to attempt to keep her up for 3 more hours......she would not have been a happy camper.

Here are the Stats:

Sage actually had her 9mo well baby check 2 months ago...I know I am a slacker. Here are her stats:

Height: 29 inches (92%)
Weight: 16 lbs 9 oz (13%)
Head: 17 inches (27%)

It is so sad but the poor little baby is 2 months older now and she has only gained a pound...she may have fallen off the chart....tiny little thing! We will keep you posted at her 12 month

Our visit to New Jersey

I have gotten a little behind posting our trip to NJ to see the family. We actually went on May 24th. We stayed on the beach with Aunt Jen. The girls loved it. Berlynn was so funny at the beach. She would run up to the water and as soon as the waves started coming she would take off running so the water would not even touch her feet. The weather was good a couple of days but we had a few rain days too. Ava and Amelia came to see us, the girls had a blast. Here are a few pictures of our vacation.

The Cousins: Berlynn 3 1/2, Ava 4, Sage 9mo, and Amelia 18mo

We also had the opportunity to get together with some of our friends while we were back. Thank you Tobey and Terry for hosting. It was so fun to get all of our kids together. Our "old" gatherings were always at the bar closing it down. Now everyone has kids, it is so cute to see all of them playing together!

This was our attempt to get a picture of 5 kids under the age of 4. From left to right we have Jake 9mo (Eric and Lauran's little boy), Berlynn, Sage, Shawn 2 and Ben 1 month (Terry and Tobey's boys). Dave and Kim's little girl Rosalie was only a few weeks old when we were there and too little to go to the party. Congrats to those two, they have a beautiful baby girl. Annie and Justin will be next, they are due to deliver any day now. We are so excited to meet little Jackson.

My Baby's 1st Dance Recital

She was so excited to put on her costume, she was such a little ham on the stage. Cant wait to show the family the video, it was really cute.

Berlynns good friend Nora, how cute are they?

Nora, Berlynn and Miranda