Newborn Portraits

We had a neighbor who is a photographer take some pictures for us to capture Emersyn when she's still tiny. She posted some previews of the pictures on her blog at
http://www.kcoughlinphotoblog.com/?p=1353
We're looking forward to seeing all the pictures!

Weeks 1 and 2

I had hoped to have a new blog up and running by now, but it hasn't happened.  So for now, Emersyn Kate will have to share the blog with Madeline Eve.  This is actually pretty accurate, because despite the typical demands of a newborn (frequent feedings and diaper changes), Madeline's presence is typically more obvious than Emersyn's.  She has been a wonderful baby so far and not too demanding.  Maddie on the other hand still likes to be entertained with never-ending games of pretend play, dress up, etc.  Luckily, she's had lots of fun things to do, thanks to friends and family for keeping her busy!  Maddie loves her baby sister and has said several times spontaneously, "Mommy, I'm really really really glad we have a baby!"  So sweet!  Here are some pictures we've taken since we brought little Emmie home! 

Maddie of course had to accesorize Emmie with a headband!

She's Here!!!!

Emersyn Kate Moskal has arrived!  She was born on June 12th at 11:50 a.m., weighed 5lbs. 15 oz. and is 19 1/2 inches long.  After a natural delivery without an epidural, I feel great and Emersyn is doing very well!  Here are just a few pictures from the first day.  I will be sure to follow up with more.  Madeline has been a very sweet big sister so far and we're excitd to all be home together.  Thanks for all the love and support from everyone...we did it!

Check out these new tricks!

Maddie has been LOVING riding her bike this Spring and is getting very fast. She's been riding with training wheels on and I've started to get nervous that she's going to wipe out because she goes so fast. So I was curious to see how she could do riding without the training wheels. Tonight, she asked Chris to take off her training wheels and she did pretty well! It's a start at least and I think with some practice she'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. She seems to have a good reflex to brake and put her foot down when she gets off balance. Pretty cool!


Madeline is also having a blast at the pool so far. It's only been open a little over a week and I think she's been swimming about 5 times. At the beginning she was very resistant to putting her face in the water, but has since become quite comfortable doing it. Here are two videos from the same day. The first one is in the baby pool and she tenatively puts her face in. The second is her jumping into the big pool all by herself (with a vest on) and going under water. I'm excited to see what she can do by the end of the summer! Oh and these videos are all taken on our new Flip Video camera that Chris gave me for my birthday! It's a little HD video camera that is so much better than taking video on our old digital camera. I love it!

Family Pictures on Mother's Day

This year for Mother's Day, we did what any pregnant mom would logically choose to do...go to a winery! Ok, so it doesn't make the most sense, but it was my choice. We are so lucky to have beautiful, scenic wineries in Loudoun County and we realized last year how nice it is to have a picnic, be outside, relax, and enjoy wine (if possible). This year we went to one we've never been to before and it did not disappoint. We took some family pictures since it was a great setting and we were really bad about taking pictures when I was pregnant with Madeline. I vowed we would do better this time. Here are some of our favorites.

We met Chris's family there to celebrate Mother's Day and put Samie to work as photographer for the three of us. Thanks Sam!

Next time we take family pictures, we will be a family of four!!!!!!

Belly Picture

My very sweet neighbors were kind enough to throw me a baby shower this past Sunday. Even though it's our second child and another girl, they insisted. We decided to take some pictures after the shower of my big belly. I am bigger this pregnancy than with Maddie and can't believe I'm only 28 weeks in these pictures. My latest ultrasound estimated the baby to be in the 73rd percentile for 28 1/2 weeks, so she's growing fast. We'll see when she makes her arrival and whether or not she'll start off a peanut like her big sister.

One of the cutest gifts I got at the shower was a "Sisters" basket with a Big Sis shirt for Maddie and a Lil Sis onesie for the baby along with matching big sis/lil sis bows and a big sis/lil sis picture frame.