Sweet Home Chicago

The Briches road tripped to Chicago the week of August 7 for a 5 day trip. John was heading there for work, so we decided to tag along.We stayed at John's old stomping grounds- Hyatt Regency Chicago. The location was perfect and we were able to walk to so many Chicago sights and landmarks. The hotel provided little cribs for the babies and they went crazy in there. They laughed and had the best time. When we arrived we were excited to get out into the city so we walked around Millenium Park. I forgot how beautiful dowtown Chicago is and it was fun to be back amidst so much diversity. Every way you turned you heard another language being spoken. We miss that!  The babies were so excited that they didn't go to sleep until 10 PM!!!  Their sleep schedule was definitely thrown off by the time change and thrill of being in a hotel.

The next day we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo with Kathryn, Ethan and Harper. It was a beautiful day to walk around the zoo and enjoy lunch outside. Ethan's favorite animal was the giraffe :) I think the babies slept most of the time, so they didn't get to see much. We all headed back for afternoon naps then the babies and I went to The Sheridan's for a delicous dinner. The babies tried barbeque chicken for the first time and loved every bite!  John loved tackling and playing with Ethan!  The girls were a little better behaved. Remember the banging on the table that their father taught them? Well, they decided to do this at the Sheridan's dinner table... not their finest moment!

The next day we walked to FXW and saw all my wonderful teacher friends! It felt so good to be back and I can't believe I haven't worked there in over a year. I was so happy and proud to show off the babies to all these amazing ladies.  The rest of the day we strolled around the city and then actually got to bed at a decent time. I enjoyed my favorite deep dish pizza from Pequod's:)

Our last day we spent at Kathryn's having lunch and playing with all of Ethan and Harper's fun toys. John loved the Little People farm and Anna loved the play kitchen and Harper's dolly. It was such a special time to spend with Kathryn and her babies. We talked about this moment for a long time. I'm so glad it actually happened :)

We miss all of our friends and our favorite city daily. It was an amazing, fun, and exhausting trip. The trip would only have been better if we'd gotten to see everyone! Sorry to those we missed, but we will be back... hopefully soon:)

Party in our cribs!

Enjoying the sites from the Hyatt.

Harper, John, Ethan and Anna

John loved Ethan!

John attacks!

Tribune Building

Chicago River

Michigan Ave.

 

Millenium Park

Lions, tigers and Mighty Mike!

Anna and John had their first zoo and aquarium visits in July. We took the babies to the zoo on the Fourth of July and met our friend Ryan and his mommy and daddy. It was a very hot day, so we went right when it opened and only stayed for a little while.

We were all really impressed with the Newport Aquarium, and Anna and John were excited to share this experience with their Pittsburgh cousins and family. The babies enjoyed looking at all the colorful fish and the big attraction was the giant 800 pound alligator named Mighty Mike! Most of all it was fun having our family over to our house to play! We love when family comes to visit :)

All the cousins!

The debut of the BOB stroller!



Tired out from the zoo!

Cooling off by the manitees!

9 Months

Anna and John turned 9 months on June 17th. They've become more mobile than ever this month. I like to call them my little rug bugs because they scuttle all around the rug crawling in all directions. Anna is such a fast crawler, it's quite impressive. John joined his sister crawling on all fours at the end of the month, on the 29th.

Along with crawling, Anna pulled up to standing (6-25) and cruises along the couch and anything else within her reach, including her brother's head! She's becoming more confident and bold everyday, yet she's very careful when she goes from standing to sitting. Some days Anna thinks she can stand all by herself, but she's not quite there yet.  Anna brought back "the raspberries" this month. This makes John laugh and then he joins in too.  Anna also discovered her full ability to scream, in delight or frustration, especially if her brother takes her toy! We have definitely seen stronger emotions from her this month.  Her dad nicknamed her "Annatude!" Her giggles and fun loving personality make us smile and keep us on our toes!

John pulls up to his knees, plants one foot on the ground and tries to stand, but he's not sure how to get from kneeling to standing. He really wants to do all the things Anna does and watches her every move.  It's so endearing to sit back and just watch the way John looks at Anna. He cracks up when she does something funny and always wants the toys she has and follows her lead. This could get him into trouble in the future!  John remains pretty laid back, but holds his toys close to him when his sister crawls nearby.  He is easy to share his big, open mouthed smile and has the most unique little giggle that always makes us smile. John even grew some more hair this month! We predict that John will be our sensitive little guy, and I think a momma's boy too :)

This month brought some other firsts as well. The babies went swimming at Aunt Jenny's neighborhood pool and also splashed around in Melody's pool during our Pittsburgh visit. They loved hanging out in their floaties and playing with toys in the water. They also went on their first swing at Nana and Pop's house. John had so much fun he fell asleep. That boy falls asleep whenenver there is any kind of motion!  The babies are also enjoying their finger foods. Their favorite is Cheerios! Anna loves cottage cheese, shredded cheese, diced peaches, and turkey. John is not as eager as his sister to eat these new foods.  Next month is sure to hold more firsts and accomplishments!! It is so much fun watching Anna and John discover their new world :)

Big girl

Pooltime with the cousins!

Baby Cousins!



 

An extra special visit with Meme!

We took a very special trip this week down the PA turnpike to see my grandmother, Meme. It was the first time she got to meet many of her great grandchildren. Meme had only met Amelia a few years ago. We went to visit her where she lives at Country Meadows and had to reserve the party room because there were so many of us!! It's safe to say, we pretty much took over and caused quite a stir. Aunt Kris and Zoe joined the visit. It was so great to see Meme and have her meet Anna and John for the very first time. We enjoyed catching up, having some snacks, taking a walk outside, and watching Meem hit the balloon. We learned that Meem is a champ at trivia and working the computer :)

We spent the evening at Aunt Kris and Uncle Hooper's house where many people enjoyed hard crabs from Baltimore, a special treat for all the Pittsburgh folks :) The older kids had a blast riding around the neighborhood in Uncle Hooper's ATV. Anna and John will have to wait a little while before getting on that ride. It really was a special visit getting to spend time with family that we don't get to see a lot anymore. Hopefully our next visit with each other will be sooner rather than later!

The Whole Gang- Almost! (Jenny, Abby, Amy, Anna, Meme, Zoe, Amelia, Don, Ethan, Mom, John, and Aunt Kris- dad was the photographer!)

Mom and Meme catching up

Anna loved talking to Meme and touching her sweater.

Cousin Amelia saying cheese! She was the only one ready for this pic.

John hanging out with Aunt Kris and Nana. He was getting a little heavy so Aunt Kris had to sit down:)

Go Meem! She was a champ hitting the balloon.

ATV rides with Uncle Hooper. The babies were a little too young for this wild ride, but Ethan, Amelia and Zoe had a blast.

Father's Day

Father's Day started out with some gloomy, rainy weather, but ended with sunshine. Anna and John picked out matching onesies that said, "I love daddy," to wear for this special day, and surpirsed their daddy ith a digital scrapbook, giftcard to the Art of Shaving,(he's sporting a beard right now), a craft with the family's handprints, and a book called, Daddies Do It Different.  This is a children's book and is a riot. If you haven't read it, here's a sample: "At the park, Mommy puts sunscreen on my face. Daddy pulls a muscle on the monkey bars."  It's a really cute story about how mommies and daddies are different, but the same in the end:) The rest of the day we spent hanging out around the house and relaxing. We had planned to go out for dinner, but John decided he'd rather stay home and get take out from P.F. Chang's, and it was delicious.

Splish, splash!

Anna and John love their "Crazy Crab" pool! Personally, I just loved seeing the babies in their bathing suits for the first time :) They loved splashing around, playing with their toys, and at times, even drinking the water. Yuck!

8 Months

Anna and John turned 8 months old on May 17th. They have learned so much this month, it's incredible. Here's a snapshot of what John and Anna are like these days:

* John and Anna became mobile this month! Anna started rocking on her hands and knees in her crib, then progressed to the army crawl, and is now a fully crawling baby!!  In one week, Anna got her first tooth (5/29), learned to sit up, and started crawling!!!  She cut her second tooth on 6/8.

*John's crawling progressed the same way. He started rocking on his hands and knees in his crib, then progressed to the army crawl.  John hasn't mastered crawling on his hands and knees just yet, but he's very close :)  He likes to get from place to place by log rolling and army crawling.  John learned to sit up on 6/9 and is becoming more sturdy each day.

*The babies were reintroduced to the Baby Einstein videos. John stays glued to the TV while Anna stops to watch for a few minutes, then gets distracted by something more interesting. Their favorite show is Neptune's Oceans. They love looking at all the sea creatures. It makes me want to take them to the beach :) This has become part of their wind down routine before it's time for bed.

*The babies are now napping separately. Miss Anna was keeping her brother up, so we decided to split them up and things have been running much smoother at naptime.  Anna likes to get up on her knees and bounce up and down while yelling at her brother to wake up. It is pretty funny, but baby boy needs his sleep, so we had to split them up.

*John and Anna both have to sleep with their "lovie." Aunt Jenny bought John a little doggy blanket and Anna a bunny blanket. They get so excited to cuddle with them and John likes to sleep with his over his face. They definitely comfort the babies while they sleep.

*The babies are eating solids three times a day and started using sippy cups filled with water. Anna is getting the hang of it and John isn't quite sure about the taste of water.  We are going to continue to work on that.  They also love to eat Baby Mum Mums and any flavor of puffs.

*Some of their favorite toys are their Leap Frog drum and maracas. Anna and John are just starting to play with their Fisher Price house. They love ringing the doorbell and hearing the different songs when it opens and closes. They also love water bottles, filled or empty, we have no idea why!!!  Anna loves banging her toys on any hard surface she can find and tries to do this as loud, and as hard as possible.

*One of their favorite activities is imitating whatever John and I do. They make lots of different sounds and their personalities are really shining through.

*John and Anna had their first high chair experience at our favorite local establishment, Mt. Adams Bar and Grill. This is now our Dark Horse :)

*Watching the two of them play together has been an absolute riot. They are learning to steal toys from each other, give each other kisses on the head (I think they are actually trying to bite each other), and John just loves watching Anna crawl around on the floor and cracks up everytime he sees her. He thinks she's the coolest thing around. I think he already looks up to his big sister.

First sippy cups

Mt. Adams Bar and Grille

Rocking and Rolling