Mighty Man

Our little Mighty Man is here! He arrived on November 15th- his daddy's birthday! So not only do father and son share the month and day of their birth date, but also their first and last names are the same. I only hope their social security numbers aren't similar.

William Thomas Doran was 8 pounds, 2 ounces and 21 inches long. A big boy! He's almost up to 10 pounds now. At this rate he might surpass Sydney's size by the time he's one (she's only 23 pounds)! We're calling him Liam for short. No Billy, no Tommy, and please, PLEASE no Willy. :)

Big-Big Sister Lillian and Big Sister Sydney love their little brother. They always want to hold him and check on him when he's sleeping. Lillian keeps a close eye on his little hats to make sure they don't fall off or slip over his eyes, and when they get slightly askew she quickly rectifies the situation and returns his hat-wearing to a perfect state. Sydney is fascinated with his hands, toes, and hair. She is always trying to pull off his hat or his socks to inspect them. She informs me when he is awake or crying, and she likes to rush up to him and say, "Hey Buddy!!" This usually scares him and sends his arms flying up in the air by instinct response and his eyes get really big (then of course Sydney declares, 'He awake! See him eyes?!' They awake!') All in all we're adjusting well to having the little guy around. He's a champ at sleeping through temper tantrums, taking naps on the couch, and nursing while his big sister tries to climb into Mommy's lap. We're so happy to have him with us and to love him and cuddle him!!


Liam- Tell Aunt Aimee that Mommy made the shout out before you reached one month! :)

Fairies in Philly

photo courtesy of Lillian D.

Lillian and Sydney had their first "real" trick-or-treating experience this Halloween. A lady that Bobby works with at the hospital recommended some good trick-or-treating streets in the neighborhood and the girls scored quite a bit of candy! Lillian warmed up to the routine right away and she went right up to everyone and said "trick-or-treat"! She told us which houses we shouldn't go to because the lights were out, and she reminded us to bring a flashlight so we could see in the dark and not fall down. Sydney caught on quickly that the whole point of the outing was to get some great candy. It took her a while to get the "trick-or-treat" out, but when the bowl of candy was brought out she immediately reached for her portion. She wouldn't let anyone put the candy in the bag for her; she insisted on taking it herself and carefully putting it in her bag. Grandma and Grandpa B joined us for the evening as well and it was a lot of fun to see the girls interact with everyone and get excited about decorations, candy, and costumes.

the very first candy stop!!

Speaking of costumes, don't look too closely at the girls'. The sewing machine and I somehow managed to produce semi-wearable outfits for the occasion. Lil and Syd still use them as dress-ups and prance around the house in them, but I'm not sure how long they'll hold up. Next year I'm going to hit the Halloween Special at Wal-mart and save myself some sanity (and a broken sewing machine needle flying through the air and almost poking my right eyeball out). Despite the long, hard, sweat-labor at the sewing machine, it was worth it. My little fairies were pretty darn cute. And by the way, Lillian wasn't any old fairy...she was Tinkerbell. Sydney was just a cute little fairy, but she picked out the red wings. Mommy was a jack-o-lantern (or a lady who swallowed a pumpkin whole), and Daddy was the pumpkin patch farmer. Yay for Halloween and bottom-less bags of candy!!

my little home-spun fairies

daddy-daughter moment (or farmer-fairy moment?)

Polly-Pops!

Sydney has a new obsession with polly-pops...that's lolly-pops to the rest of us. It's so cute to hear her say "polly-pop" that I can't bring myself to correct her. :)

Pretty Princesses and Cute Little Monsters

Lillian turned four in July. She wanted a Princess birthday. Sydney turned two last week. Mommy decided that she wanted a Little Monsters birthday (because she likes to play the "monster coming!" game where she runs and hides- if you ask her what color the monster is she will most likely say "ba-lue!").

Both birthdays were lots of fun. Auntie Audrey was able to join us for both days, which was a nice treat. Daddy was able to dodge being on-call (barely!) and had fun with his little girls as well, which made it extra special.

My little girls are growing up!

Lillian's Birthday

Sydney's Birthday

Big Day at Preschool

Lillian had her first "big" day of preschool today! She had two mini sessions last week to help her adjust to the new schedule and surroundings. She kept asking me when she was going to get to stay all day- and the day finally came!! She loves her teacher and she said all the kids were nice to her- she's even made some new friends already. Her teacher said she had "not just a good day, but a GREAT day!" She blew bubbles outside (and popped all the teacher's bubbles), and she made a "Summer Counting Book" which she read to me in the car before we drove home. She even fell asleep during nap time. Sydney loves Lillian's preschool, too. When I was saying goodbye to Lilly this morning I told Sydney to say goodbye, too. She turned to me and said "bye bye!" and gave me a hug, as if I was the one leaving and she was staying! I told her she had to say goodbye to Lillian instead. That made her kind of sad. She loves all the fun toys in Lilly's classroom and she loves to play with Lillian.

I'm so grateful that Lillian has a fun classroom and a great teacher, and that she has the opportunity to be in an intellectually stimulating environment. It was also nice to have some one-on-one time with Sydney.

This morning I told Lillian that her great grandpa likes to scribble signs with a big sharpie marker for important occasions like the first day of school and birthdays, and then make the "person to be celebrated" hold the sign while he takes a picture. She liked the idea, so we started the tradition for ourselves! Sydney thought it was great, too!