We're here in DC and ready for bed!

What a day! An hour in traffic getting on the GW Bridge and than another hour on the NJ Turnpike due to an accident. The kids were troopers - the parents not so much! Then once we got to Dc we got even more lost thanks to our terrible Mapquest directions - after 7 hours the kids were done with the car and driving - Annie was less than understanding of our frustration while trying ot find the hotel. We are finally settled into the room and ready for a fresh fruit platter - chips and twizzlers in the car were no substitute for dinner - and then its off to bed for the chickies and the second to last night of Olympics for Bob and I - what the heck are we going to do with all of our time??

Annie and I hung out at the car during a trip to one particularly gross rest stop that I preferred not to bring her into! She was so cute eating her snack and having a drink!
Thanks to Auntie Eileen we had a great set-up for the kids with a portable DVD player and lots of movies to entertain them! It helped during the traffic jams. We actually only stopped twice in 7 hours - the kids were incredibly good and kept busy!
Annie was thrilled out of her car seat and in the hotel finally!
Bob and the kids hanging on the bed - they went to explore a little while after so that I could unpack and get everything settled - this hotel will never be the same again!
Molly-girl in her bed - she got comfy right away!
Peter hanging out by his bed playing for a while - he is actually in my bed right now watching the Olympics with Bob - so much for clean sheets!
Annie reading a book on our bed - so far no one looks all that tired - we may be in for a long night! Not sure what tomorrow will hold - possibly the zoo or we may just hang out and swim and explore. Either way we are happy to be here all together and ready for some fun! Bob told me that he has never been happier that he married me - when we walked in to the hotel there were signs for brunch tomorrow and I immediately said that we should go and have proceeded to talk about it ever since! Lots more updates to come but I'm off for now!

GNM - ILY!

Molly and Peter wanted me to send a message to Grammy and Papa so here it is - Goodnight Grammy and Papa - we miss you and want you to come to washington the next time - Mommy did not know how to get here and Grammy would know how. There is a pool and we are watching the olympics - I wish you were here. We love you! Most of that was Pete because Molly is fading fast!

Annie is officially mobile!

I was able to get Thursday and Friday off from work and Bob has the best boss ever so he got some time off too - we headed down to the beach house for some fun with Karla, Pat, the kids, KK and Grammy and Papa. It was gorgeous down there and the kids had a blast. I ended up forgetting my Zofran - the anti puking, anti nauseau medicine that keeps me sane - so there are few pictures from today but some cute ones from yesterday. And yes, Annie Bananie took her first few steps yesterday - is it possible that she is almost a year old?? Bob and I can not wait for the Olympics to be over - we stay up far too late during Olympic time and Annie has been waking up every night for the last 5 nights at 2 a.m. and just whining for an hour or so - uggg are we tired. We are leaving for Washington DC tomorrow and staying until Friday when we will brave the Labor Day traffic to get home in time to prepare for Annie's 1st Birthday - Wow!

We have lots of plans for Washington - the Spy Museum, back to our favorite - the Air and Space Museum, another moonlight tour - we all loved this the last time we were in DC and a few other surprises for the kids. Thanks to Auntie Eileen we should have a quiet ride - she got us our portable DVD player and we splurged on the extended version of Camp Rock for the kids - shhhh - it's a surprise for when we get in the car. We also have their Leapsters charged and ready to go so hopefully it will be an uneventful trip! Not sure how Annie is going to be now that she likes to be down and mobile but we have plenty of time to get there and lots of stops along the way if need be! Stay tuned for pictures from Washington - I'll try to post a few times while I'm there!

Katie - she had Uncle Bob and I gushing all over her as she cooed and smiled for us. She is just about sitting up now but still likes hanging on her back and playign with toys - or Uncle Bob's glasses!
Kisses from her godfather!
Bob and Katie - how cute are they?
Molly was so excited to sit behind Katie and make sure that she didn't fall while she practiced sitting.
Papa and Banana hanging out together - She is like his little appendage while we are with him.
A girl train!
Peter and Katie relaxing!

All the kids waiting to go for a trip over to the beach at dusk - poor Molly spotted a bee and was terrified after her recent issues with bee stings - she's had 5 this summer so far!
My beautiful girl posing on the beach.
Annie Bananie on the beach - she was exhausted!
Tyler hamming it up for the camera.
My love bug playing ball on the beach!

All the kids workign hard to entertain Annie on the beach!
Annie's first steps - I couldn't get the camera set in time - it happened so quick.
Hugs for Daddy after her big steps!
KK and Abby hanging out watching Annie learn how to walk.
KK, Abby and Molly - girl time!

Papa and his girls!
Papa and the girls watching the Olympics!
My handsome nephew!
Abby fading fast while watching the Olympics!
And she's out!

Grammy loving on a sleepy Annie.
Bonding with Annie.
My sleepy little angel.
Molly and Abby slept together in one of the queen size beds - they somehow wound up together in the middle and slept this way all night - how cute!
Papa showing Abby and Annie pictures on the computer!

Annie standing on the kitchen table with Papa. The things she gets away with !
My big girl doesn't want to leave Papa's side so here she is hanging out while he makes his coffee.
Eating a banana while Papa gets his milk - too cute.
Papa took the girls out for a LONG walk this morning and this is how Annie fell asleep.

KK got Peter this lollipop and he convinced us to let him watch the Olympics for a while and have a few licks since the girls had already fallen asleep. How can you refuse that face??

We had a nice few days at the beach and Bob and I are headed to bed now to get ready for the princess's evening visit to our bed. I'm going to finish packing tomorrow morning while watching the USA Women's basketball team win the gold tomorrow morning at 10.m.!!!!!

GNM - ILY!

Happy Days!

We have some official baby news. I had my first appointment with the OB specialist this morning which included a non stress test and consultation for delivery and we got GREAT news. We scheduled our c-section for November 11th - that gives me ten days to go into labor on my own. If I do go into labor my OB's are so impressed with the baby's growth and my stable health that they are going to give me the opportunity to deliver the the old fashioned way. I will get an epidural in case of an emergency and at the first sign of trouble they will take the baby via c-section. If I don't go into labor than I am not elligible for an induction so I will have my date all set up for the 11th! The big difference for me between the c-section (which was incredibly stress free and handled SO well by my docs) and a regular delivery is the amount of time I spend in the hospital away from the other three kids. Don't get me wrong - Bob and I cherish the time we get with a baby in the hospital when it is just us but 4-5 days is a LONG time to be in a hospital and arranging babysitters and worrying about the big kids and how everyone is doing without us!

Our other bit of official news is that thanks to my Mom and Auntie Ann - Bob and I have officially changed our sweet baby girls name to Nola Beth Harding - Wheeler. It is very Irish and we love how Annie and Molly say it! Pete isn't sold on it still but he'll come around!

So check out the new counter for the updated birthdate - assuming that we go by the c-section date!

In other big news the pediatrician told us that we could switch Annie around to be forward facing in her car seat! I don't know why but she looks teeny tiny to me turned around. I do love looking in the rearview mirror and seeing her making faces at us! It will also make traveling to Washington next week much easier.
She was sound asleep on the way home from the beach the other night when we switched her but since then she has realized how much fun it is to throw things at us and try to get our attention.

Lisa handed down this cute little Dora chair to Annie and she loves to play with it - I even indulged her and put some batteries in it so she can turn on the light and play with all of the annoying music making things on it.
Hanging in her new chair - how cute is she?
And by this morning Annie had learned a new use for her chair - escape route!
She worked very hard to get out of the playpen using the chair but it was no use - we decided to take it out of the playpen when she is not surpervised by one of us - just in case!

I'm still trying to picture Annie as a big sister - she can't even walk yet! I'm sure she'll do great. Tomorrow we are going to meet the teachers at Noah Webster to get a head start on the year! The kids made cards and bought little gifts - a little bribe never hurt anyone!

Auntie Beth is back in LA and bloggin again - yeah! Molly asks for her everyday - if absence makes the heart grow fonder than Beth may want to make the time between visits less and less or she will be overwhelmed by Molly girl when she returns! I have a feeling her namesake will also be enamored with her!

GNM - ILY!

Relaxing weekend at home with ALL six of the kids!

Patrick took Karla away to NYC for her birthday on Saturday and we got the fun job of babysitting. We prepared to be home bound - even skipped church since anyplace we went would require two cars. The kids had a blast and we loved having everyone. Katie and Annie were on different napping schedules so we didn't even have too much competeition from the babies for attention. Annie did not love when Katie used her high chair but once we lowered the chair so they could play she got over it. Papa called today looking for some playmates and so the boys ended up going down to the beach in the afternoon and since Annie came along for the ride and made it known who she wanted to go with (it was most definitely NOT me) Papa took her to the beach with him to see Grammy. She was beaming and I was going over in my head all the ways that I am actually a really fun Mom - even I couldn't convince myself that I was more fun than Papa so I'm letting it go! Pat and Karla are coming home soon and than we are all going to head down to visit the folks for a while!

Katie loved Annie's highchair - not that you could tell from this picture!
Bob and the girls hanging out!
I love my camera because it takes pictures in such quick succession - this was just a cute interaction with Ann in her booster seat at the table eating raisins - I am completely enamored with this baby!

And then we moved onto dinner where after painstakingly taking all of the corn off the cob we realized that somehow Annie could manage to get the corn in her mouth better when it was on the cob so we tried it that way. She had a blast and corn never looked so good to me!

Annie figuring out her corn on the cob!
She was like a wild animal with the corn - she could not get it in fast enough!
"Look Mommy, I'm eating corn on the cob." She was so proud of herself.
Another way to eat corn on the cob - annie style!
A half hour later and going strong on another piece! We should see some interesting diapers from this venture!

Abby in her favorite outfit!
I wanted to get a picture of Annie and Katie but they were not cooperating. You can not believe how BIG Katie is - my girl may start to look petite next to her cousin soon! LUckily for Annie she got some of Bob's genes!
Our girls - so cute sitting together!
Katie hanging out in Auntie Mary's green chair - my favorite picture taking spot - in case you hadn't noticed!

Bob thought this was an obscene picture of his precious goddaughter but I thought it was cute. Needless to say that at some point her godfather thinks he may need to have a discussion with her about crossing her legs instead of......well, not crossing them!
Katie - a little out of focus sitting up because her brilliant aunt had to drop the cmaera to keep her from banging her head about 2 seconds later - she's getting there though!
Big kids ready for a movie - they were tired of the olympics but last night was too good for Bob and I to miss so we put them on our bed with snacks and a movie!
The big kids in order of size - that is the way Peter makes them all sit when they are together - he has alot of his grandfather in him!

Pat and Karla said to give Katie a bottle at 7 pm and let her sleep and then wake her at 11 for another bottle and then she would sleep till morning. This picture was taken at 1:15 a.m. as she snuggled, giggled, laughed and played with her godfather. Somehow we had managed to wake her up TOO much and she was not ready to go back to bed after her bottle. We were exhausted but decided to just enjoy it since it doesn't happen very often that we get just Katie all to ourselves. She was so sweet and suggly with us but hopefully she won't expect this when she gets home or we won't ever get her again!
Smooches from Uncle Bob!
Hanging with Uncle Bob and loving it - she was cooing and talking to us for an hour!
Molly could not get enough of Katie and I personally think they look a bit alike - Abby refused to get in these pictures!
More of Molly and Katie.

Karla and Pat are on their way home and next week is prep time for the house, school clothes etc - everything to get us organized for the start of school. We leave for Washington on Sunday and have 5-6 days there until we return home for the weekend so our kids are missing the 1st week of school - I know I'm a bad mother but Bob and I made an executive decision to pack the trip full of educational stuff and the teachers agreed that we were okay doing this (and I don't care if they were just pacifyinf us). Besides - I have to present three times and don't think that I could be away from everyone for a whole week - poor planning on the part of this conference as everyone is having school issues!

GNM - ILY!