Emily's 4 Month Pics

Emily turned 4 months old on Tuesday and the time is certainly flying by. She is definitely getting big and is starting to develop her own personality. She loves to smile and has started to chuckle from time to time as well. She has also found her hands which she loves to suck on any chance she gets. :-) Her newest trick is that she has finally started rolling over with some consistency. She actually rolled for the first time a few weeks ago, but then never did it again. :-) She has finally started doing it more often though and seems very pleased with herself.

Here are a couple of pictures of Emily with Mr. Ears the bunny! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Road Trip

We headed out Friday on our annual Thanksgiving road trip to Virginia to see my side of the family. This trip can take up to 10 hours, without kids, so we've started breaking it up and staying in a hotel half-way. Sarah was beyond excited about the hotel and kept asking us "when are we going to get to the hotel," "how far away is the hotel," or the ever popular "are we there yet?"

We arrived rather late in the evening, but the next morning we quickly realized why she was so excited to stay at the hotel...the swimming pool! :-) While I stayed with Emily, Sarah & Daddy hit the complimentary breakfast and then headed to the pool. By the time Emily & I arrived, they were having a ball playing in the hot tub and doing cannon balls into the pool. :-)


Making "Santa" faces with the foam from the hot tub.

Emily got into the action as well by taking her first "dip" in the pool. She loved it when her toes hit the water and gave us the biggest smile!

Daddy with his girls. :-)

Our Little Super Hero

Yesterday was "Super Hero" day at Sarah's pre-school. She was so excited to get dressed up and knew immediately what super hero she wanted to be..A NURSE!! We are fortunate enough to have a couple of these wonderful HEROS in our family so we know first hand just how amazing they truly are!

Here are a couple pictures of "Nurse Sarah." (My apologies for the darker than normal photos. The flash on the camera wasn't working and we were rushing to get out the door.)

Go Hokies!

She may be little, but she's got spirit! Emily is definitely ready for a VT victory tonight! Here's hoping they play better tonight than the last time they were on National TV!

GO HOKIES!!



A quick peek at the backside of the onesie...just because it's cute!

Happy Halloween!

Sarah is crazy about princesses these days so it wasn't much of a shock when she decided to dress up as one for Halloween. What surprised us though was her decision to go as Snow White. Let's face it, Snow White isn't as main-stream as Belle or Cinderella, but for some reason she seems to be one of Sarah's favorites. Of course, we were just happy to have a decision made and a costume in hand. :-)

For those of you familiar with the story, we knew we had to incorporate the infamous apple she ate into the costume somehow. Since my sewing abilities stop at sewing on a button, we enlisted Grams to help us and of course she did not disappoint. She made Sarah an amazing apple treat bag which received tons of compliments while out trick or treating! Thanks again Grams! :-)

Here is our little princess before her Harvest Fest party at school!



Emily of course didn't know what was going on so this left her costume selection to me. I cannot tell you how hard it is to find a costume to fit a 3 month old, but I think we did pretty well. Grams came to the rescue again with a few alterations on the petals which definitely helped. Emily was a pretty good sport about things too which was great.

Have you ever seen such a cute daisy? :-)



I tried my best to get a good picture of Sarah & Emily together, but unfortunately, these were the best I could do. It's tough when they are both melting down at the same time! :-/





Be sure to check out the Halloween slide show on the right hand side for more pictures from our Halloween festivities! Enjoy!

3 Month Picture

The last few months have certainly flown by, but Emily was 3 months old on Saturday! It's hard to believe how quickly the time is going, but we're having so much fun with the newest addition to our family. Much like her sister, Emily is not a big fan of tummy time, but does seem to enjoy sitting "up" (with considerable assistance of course). She loves to smile and make faces and she has also found her hands which is very cute. She also seems to be recognizing faces and voices (mine in particular) which is also very neat. :-)

Here is her most recent picture with Mr. Ears. Enjoy!



For comparison purposes, below is the 8 week old picture.

Finally...

Emily has been giving us the most adorable smiles for a few weeks now, but I never seem to have the camera ready at the right time. She was in a great mood yesterday morning though and was smiling and "talking" like crazy! I was so happy to FINALLY get a few pictures of her sweet little smile. :-)

Apple Festival

We recently took the girls up to Niles, MI, for their annual Apple Festival. We headed up with no set plans for the day, but were fortunate enough to arrive just in time for the Grand Parade through town. This was Sarah's first "official" parade and she had a great time. She was a bit hesitant at first when people would throw candy her way, but she quickly warmed up to the idea. :-)


She was a little shy at first...


...but quickly got into the spirit of things! :-)

After the parade, we ventured up to the fair grounds. They do an amazing job putting this festival together because there were tons of vendors, crafts, food, and of course rides! Sarah rode a few things, but one of her favorites was the motorcycles! Should we be worried?



To our surprise, Sarah also wanted to try the Euro Jump. We thought she would likely change her mind once it was her turn, but she certainly proved us wrong. Just seeing the smile on her face and listening to her squeal was worth the $7!! :-)


Just getting started.


Getting some air from Mom.

8 Week Photo

Emily was 8 weeks old on Friday and you can really start to see some changes in her. Her face seems to be filling out a bit more and her legs actually have a roll or two on them. :-) She is smiling more too and will even "coo" from time to time. It's been hard to get pictures of her smiling so far, but we'll keep trying. Below is here most recent photo with "Mr. Ears!"

A Couple of Firsts

It's been awhile since I've posted anything so I'm desperately trying to catch up...when I can find a free minute or two to spare. I'm hoping to get more pictures added very soon, but for now, I wanted to share a couple of "firsts" here at our house.

Sarah was so excited to give Emily her first bottle a couple of weeks ago! Both girls did a great job and Sarah loved finally being able to be more involved in taking care of Emily. :-)


Sarah giving Emily her first bottle!

Daddy's first bottle for Emily wasn't quite as relaxed, but helpful nonetheless. Here he is in the Notre Dame bookstore while we were on campus for their first home game.

Daddy's first bottle for Emily

Sarah's other big "first" is her new ballet class. She LOVES to dance so we were finally able to convince her to take a class at the local YMCA. We're two weeks in and she seems to be having a great time!

Sarah's first ballet class


Doing the Princess Walk

Stayed tuned for more posts in the near future! I hope... :-)

Little Mama

Sarah has been doing a great job in her new role as Big Sister! She loves to help change Emily's diaper, feed her a bottle, or sing to her when she gets fussy. She's also been playing with her own dolls more after seeing all of the things we do with Emily. It was cute when she put Baby Kate in the swing or fed Debbie a bottle, but I'm not sure what to make of this last one. This was the image today when I walked into the bedroom.


The thing around Sarah's neck is the nursing cover I use when we're in public.


The grumpy face was because "Baby Kate was playing around."


Sarah & Baby Kate

As if this wasn't enough, here are some pictures from last night when she was putting Baby Kate in the baby sling we have.







Finally got it!

Pictures of the Girls

We recently had some newborn pictures taken of Emily and were lucky enough to get some good ones of Sarah as well! Unfortunately I can't show all of the pictures here, but below is a collage the photographer put together for us! Enjoy!

4 Weeks Old Already!

It's hard to believe, but Emily is 4 weeks old today! It's certainly gone quickly and she is changing so much each day. She has already started to outgrow some of her newborn outfits and seems to be holding her head up more and more by herself. She's a really good baby who loves to be held and so far seems to be standing up to her sister's "love you to death" hugs. :-)

I'm going to do my best to get a good picture of her each month so everyone can see just how much she is changing. Here she is from today's photo shoot. I'm also going to try and get her picture with "Mr. Ears" each month as another way of showing just how quickly she is growing. Enjoy!



For comparison purposes, below is a picture I took of Emily with Mr. Ears when she was 1 week old.

Introducing Emily Grace Noto

As many of you know, we welcomed Emily Grace Noto into the world on Friday, July 30th, 2010. She was born at 7:22 am, weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz., and was 20" long. She is a beautiful & healthy little girl and has already captured the hearts of her new Mommy, Daddy, & Big Sister!

Below are a few pictures of Emily & Big Sister Sarah. More pictures can be found in the slide show on the right hand side of the page. We hope you enjoy these and will check back soon for more pictures of our girls. :-)


Emily Grace Noto




Sarah LOVES her new little sister! :-)


All smiles for the camera...


Our sweet little girls! :-)

Summer Fun

In Indiana, 90 + degree temps can only mean one thing...fair season is here! Seriously, growing up we had one "fair" (I use this term loosely) that came to the local mall each year, but that was about it. Here, every county has their own with each one boasting to be bigger and better than the other. The Elkhart County fair is currently going on and Sarah was lucky enough to get to go...on opening day no less...with her Grams, Grandpa, and Grandma! I gotta say I was surprised they lasted as long as they did given the temps here lately, but they put in a full day and it sounds like everyone had a great time. :-)

Below are a few pictures they took of their day. A big THANK YOU too to Grams & Grandpa for helping a 9 month pregnant woman out. Sarah had a ball and there is no way I could have taken her and shown her such a great time!


Of course Sarah had to pick the purple motorcycle!




She said the bumper boats were her favorite. My guess it because she got to hit the other boats!


What fair is complete without a pony ride?


Sarah "won" this Dora blow up wand during the fishing game. In addition to being super cool, it also makes a squeaking noise when you hit it. Most mornings I can hear her upstairs playing with it in her room before she even comes down. :-)