ISN'T ALYSSA JUST ADORABLE?
So many of my pictures are of her now, since Nicholas is gone at school all day. As you can tell from the first picture, she just loves being a big sister! She is really quite helpful with Emily, and loves to sing her lullabies. Amazingly, Emily actually likes it when Alyssa sings to her...it usually soothes her right out of a crying state.
The second picture is of Alyssa and Julian...a little girl who lives around the corner and up the street from us. Last year, they did gymnastics together. This year, her older sister, Olivia, is on Nicholas' soccer team, so the girls played together at the playground yesterday during practice. They really had a great time!
The last picture is Alyssa as we have come to know her around here: "ALYSSA THE PRINCESS!" She loves to play dress up...this picture was taken as we waited outside for Nicholas to get off the bus.

EMILY IS DOING GREAT!
I don't beleive she is six weeks old already...where does the time go? She has started to take abottle occasionally, with absolutely no problems at all! She has turned into a "BINKY BABY", though. I hated even trying to give her a binky, but she really looked to nursing - or should I say "sucking" - to quiet her down at night after her last feeding. Since she takes the whole bottle, I knew she wasn't nursing fornourishment, so I thought maybe a pacifier would help her. Since I am starting back to work tonight, I had to try to find a way to help her with the transition. The pacifier seems to have done the trick; although I hate the way she looks with it in her mouth, I get comfort knowing that it is soothing her. I have mixed feelings about going back to work, as I did with Nicholas and Alyssa, too. I feel guilty leaving them, but at the same time, I look forward to getting out a little bit by myself, even if it is only at work! I will bring Emily with me for a couple of hours, so that I can nurse her one extra feeding. This way, she will only have to take one bottle. Plus, I know that all three of them will be in good hands with Daddy! Nicholas and Alyssa were usually left with a sitter when I went back to work, since John was usually working nights, too. Now that he is on all days, just working part time at the restaurant, he's going to stay home with them at night, and we're going to avoid a babysitter for a while. So, if nothing else, at least I'll know that they are in good hands!
For those of you who have been checking the blog regularly for updates, thank you. Weekly updates have gotten to be a bit much, though, and since I am going back to work, time will be even more scarce. I will update at least monthly, maybe more often if something really exciting happens!