Shout out

I have to give a shout out to my biggest peanut. She learned to ride her bike last month and hasn't looked back. She is my softy, and I was pretty sure after one crash she would be done for. But, she has surprised us all. She rides everywhere now. She has even been going 6 miles with Matt while he runs. She loves that she gets to spend alone time with her Daddy.

She begged me for a couple of days to ride to school. I was a little nervous. She is my first and I'm a little paranoid so I drove along side her. I guess this wasn't enough freedom for her, so the next day she wanted to go all by herself. I went over the rules and just had to let her go, but I could still drive a ways back to make sure she was okay. She spotted me a block away, and demanded to know why I was following her. She wasn't happy about the paranoid mommy following behind. She is growing up so fast whether I like it or not.
She is pretty cute on that bike though!

For The Ladies. . .

This is Matt Commandeering the blog. Wasn't too hard though as it's apparently been abandoned.

I just wanted to give a huge THANK YOU!!! and LOVE YOU!!! to my favorite Women:

Linz, Momma, and Karen.

Linz, everytime I look at our girls, I am so thankful for all you do for us/them. You are an amazing Mom who truly loves to be with the girls all day, everyday. I'm so lucky that you have the opportunity to be with them each day and am thankful for that blessing. The girls love their Mommy, and you have done a great job trying to keep them grounded. With an example like you, I have no doubt what kind of Mothers our girls will want to be. I am so grateful for you, and I'm happy that I have you to share all the hilarious parenting experiences with. Thank you for being great. I LOVE YOU!!!!

To my mom, thank you!! You've always wanted and provided what you thought was the best for me. You gave me some space, but was always there to help me whenever I wasn't too stubborn to go to you. You endured 3 years of homeschooling me, and we've had some awesome trips together. Your daughter-in-Law and Grandgirls think you are pretty awesome as well!

I can't thank you enough for all you've done and sacrificed for me; Especially knowing that you were in the pre-epidural days when you had me! Thank you for your example and never-failing love. I wish we could be closer to each other and spend more time together. We had a lot of fun spending time with you this last trip down. I LOVE YOU!!!!

To my Mom-in-Law, thank you for taking me in with open arms from day one! It's been pretty obvious to me where Lindsay got her awesome Mothering skills. You are always happy, and happy to see us. I don't think I thank you as much as I should. You've raised a great family and am very grateful to be a part of it. I LOVE YOU!!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Here we go

Where in the world did the last 8 months of my life go? I am so far behind there is no way I am going to try and catch up. I've been busy with these guys.

Jillian

She is 8 months old now and has been the best baby ever. I have loved every second I have had with her. She is the happiest, smiliest, cuddliest thing. How could you not love her. As of 8 months she is:

-Crawling

-has 2 bottom teeth

-says dadadadada

-bouncing to music

-sleeping through the night

-loves, loves bananas, I'm having a hard time getting her to eat anything else.

-even though she is a smiler, she isn't much of a laugher. Matt and I try all the time, but it's the girls that get her to laugh the most.

Lucy

Lulu just turned 3 this week. She is by far my strangest child. She is always making us laugh with weird little dances or facial expressions. I'm not really sure where she gets that (Matt). She looks just like me, but acts just like her dad. She is so fun to have around.

-Loves Dora

-Loves to eat salad, and candy. (At least they balance each other out).

-She is the funniest dancer

Mari

She is the biggest, littlest 5 year old I know. She is the little mommy of the house. Sometimes I think more than me. She is always telling me to turn off the water or lights so I don't waste it. She takes such good care of her little sisters.

-Love to sing, play soccer, and is starting to read (so cute to hear her sounding words out and really get it).

Where did the summer go?

I'm alive, I've just been really busy with 3 crazy, fun little girls. I can't believe summer is over and Jillian is almost 3 months and I haven't posted a thing. We had the best summer with Owlz games galore, swimming, camping, birthdays, baptisms, bbq's, sleepovers, marathons, hiking, children's museums, Park City, soccer games, Jillian's blessing, San Diego, the beach, Sea World and Disneyland (to name a few). I promise pics to come if I can sit down for more than an hour to get it done.

Pics of my girls

I have been meaning to post these pictures that my friend/cousin took for me. She is an amazing photographer. Check her out at Amandaalexanderphotography.com

I am always so excited to get my pics back from her because I know they are going to be great. I was hesitant to do pregnancy pictures. Who wants to remember what they look like when they're huge. But I have to say when I got them I loved them.

What one week will do

One week ago when I looked like this

I was out to dinner with my girlfriends when I started having contractions. I didn't think anything of it until 2 hours later and they were still coming. I decided I better skip the movie and go home to pack my bags. 1 hour later when we got the hospital I was dilated to a 6 and ready for the epidural. 3 hours after that I had a sweet new baby girl.

Jillian Eliza

She has been the best baby!

We've had a pretty good week, considering I have been back to the hospital 5 times to get her bilirubin checked, and she has been under the Bili lights for 3 days now. I just want to hold her all day and it kills me to put her under those lights all by herself.

The girls think she is the best thing. They both ask where she is the second they wake up. It's been really fun seeing how they are with her. Mari is like her second mommy and Lucy just wants to kiss her constantly.

So, for my first week with 3 I have to say it's been pretty good. Wish me luck though there is bound to be some drama with all these girls.

Lucy holding Jillian's hand while she's under the lights.

Dad relaxing with his girl.

Some Pics of Jill

Happy Birthday Babe!! (part II)

Jillian Konold
June 18, 2009

1:43 AM

7 Lbs. 13 Oz.

19.5"

and a raspy voice.

We love you and glad you're here!

More details to follow. . .

Oh, I and just heard her first fart.

and second.

-Matt

Happy Birthday Babe!

As we're sitting here in our hotel bed in St. George, Lindsay is falling asleep and she's one hour shy of her 28th birthday. I won't wait. . . Happy Birthday!!!

I'm so thankful and lucky to have been able to spend about 9 of those years with you. (Even though you would have probably preferred to have spent it with this dude).

Thank you for being so loving, fun, and a great mother to our soon to be three girls!

mad props and shoutout to my home girl binzy boo.

We love you!

Matt, Mari, Lucy, & number 3

My strange little Lu

I was just going through my pictures and came across this. She was so proud of herself that she got this on (floating swimsuit). Who cares if it's on your head or your body right. She is such a strange little one, always making us laugh. I love it!!

ABC's of Boston

A - Adults only! We were lucky enough to get away for a week without our girls.
B - Boston Tea Party, we were there on tax day and got to see some rallies. Boston Commons. Bagels, our breakfast every single morning (carbo load) thanks to our hotel. Most important the Boston Marathon. Matt worked so hard to get there, and it really paid off. He got his best time ever 2:58:29 on such a challenging course. It was really neat to be a part of the crowds, and see all the amazing runners.

C - Celtics game. We were able to see the Celtics play their last game of the season. It was a bummer that none of the big players played, but the game was still fun, and they won. Cancelled Flights. On our way home the flight got cancelled, but it actually worked in our favor, we got a direct flight and home 3 hours earlier.

D - Drunk Bums, Driving up the coast, and the most Delicious Diner – South Street.

E - Early Anniversary, Our 7th anniversary was actually Monday. So we decided that this trip was both of our anniversary presents. Every meal out there was an anniversary dinner.
F - Ferry Ride. Walking the Freedom Trail was one of my favorite things. It’s a trail through the city that takes you through a ton of historical sites. Finish Line!!

We went to a couple of graveyards right in the middle of the city. The oldest gravestone I saw was from 1689. It’s so crazy how old things are there.

H - Visiting Harvard, and Matt’s conquering of “Heartbreak Hill”.
I - In Laws. Matt’s parents came out at the end of the week to watch Matt run. We were able to spend a couple of fun days with them.

J - John Kerry. Random I know, Matt saw him and he wished Matt luck at the beginning of the race.
K - Kittery, Maine. One day we drove up the coast to Maine. I’ve always wanted to see Maine. It was really beautiful!
L - Legal Sea Foods. Supposedly the best seafood in Boston. We had lunch here with Matt’s parents right after the race. It’s right on the water, and was really good!
M - Maine, and Movies. We had to catch a movie since we were kid-less.
N - New Hampshire was one of my favorite places we went. Portsmouth is an old artsy little town with red brick roads. Neil Diamond being sung by all the Redsox fans. I guess it’s a tradition, and it made my night to hear all these Bostonians singing Sweet Caroline.

O - Old North Church.

P - PT Cruiser, the fantastic rental car we had. . . It sucked. Paul Revere.

Q - Quality time together. It’s cheesy I know, (c’mon Q is hard) and it was nice to have some time to ourselves before this baby comes.
R - Red Sox game. Probably one of my favorite nights. It’s was a great game and fun to be in Fenway Park. They came back from 0-7 and won. We went to dinner after the game at a local pizza place filled mostly with fans.

S - Subway rides. We rode the Subway everywhere and for some reason I couldn’t get enough of the smell (loved it). Swollen Ankles. My poor feet, every night I was amazed that they could get any bigger. They are finally back to normal. Swearing, I think everyone in Boston does this. . . a lot.
T - Team Hoyt!!! I didn’t get to see them run, but meeting them was even better. If you haven’t heard of them look them up on youtube; they are amazing!

U - Uncle Cliff & Aunt Amy, you know I wouldn’t forget you, I told you I would blog about it! We visited Matt’s Uncle Cliff and his wife Amy. It was a nice relaxing day before the race. They live in the most beautiful place in a house that was built in the 1790’s. Thanks for a great day!

V - Victorious Finish! (V was hard too) But it was a great finish to the race and the vacation.
W - Walmart. We stopped here to get some earplugs and it was as white trash as it is here. Plus they had a creepy greeter that was a hybrid of Slash (GnR) and a grave digger (had a top hat and dark glasses). Warren’s Lobster House. We had to have lobster while we were in Maine, it was really good!!!

X - Xtra great!?
Y - Yellow retro bathroom. Yes, our bathroom was every shade of yellow. The tiled walls, and floor, the sparkly old formica, the toilet, sink, bathtub, even the toilet paper holder and towel bars.(sorry, I didn't get any pictures of this.)

Z - zzzzz’s we needed after the trip!