Picture overload

**Don't forget to check out the pictures of the beach after reconstruction

Another catch up post from the Sniders. Daddy hanging out with his girls

Jenna trying to decide which sport she enjoys most - she was dressed up to support the Clemson fooball game, but she was enjoying playing with the basketball.

Hanging out at Thanksgiving with Great Grandpa


Showing off the hats they each made at school.

Saturday after Thanksgiving Jenna was baptized - it was a beautiful day and we were so lucky to celebrate surrounded by family and friends - thank you to everyone for joining us! Jenna was a little ham during the baptism and just stared at the priest as she was christened. Jenna's baptism gown was originally my grandfathers gown - 93 years ago! What an honor that she was able to wear the same gown, which I wore and Claire as well.

Once we got back from Thanksgiving, we took the girls to the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Claire was so excited - we visited Daddys office and then headed over for a 5PM show. Claire was in awe and loved watching the dancing. Jenna fell asleep 10 minutes into the show and woke up when the music stopped playing at the end. Claire is still talking about it and loves running around the house kicking her legs.

Since the weather has been so nice lately we have been trying to get out to the park a lot. A few weeks ago, Claire took Jenna down the slide for the first time. Jenna seemed to love it - maybe she will be more of a daredevil than Claire is.

Andrea picked up this little diaper cover for Claire - it is sequined and says I <3 Santa. Of course I had this vision of putting her in it with little leg warmers so I went ahead and picked some up from Etsy - they might be the cutest little things ever - I think all little kids should sport leg warmer, especially with faux fur :-) Doesn't Jenna look thrilled? She might never forgive me for this one

This past weekend, myself, Dan, and Andrea travelled down to Birmingham for a friends wedding. We had a great time and from what I hear Claire and Jenna were pretty spoiled spending the weekend Nana & Pipere.

The pictures you've all been waiting for

It's kind of hard to believe

Catching up once again

Sometimes I feel like I spend my life catching up, but nonetheless here we go....

In October Dans cousin got married in Ohio so we took a trip to Columbus. It was Jennas first flight and she did great. She slept both flights and Claire kept the flight attendants entertained. She actually entertained the whole plane while we were boarding and she yelled really loudly - but Daddy the lady in front of me won't move! But that was better than when she asked a woman at the wedding if she had a baby in her belly...Anyways, Claire and her cousin Gretchen were flower girls and, besides looking beautiful, they did great!

Gretchen and Claire took different roles walking down the aisle. They both walked but Gretchen made it rather quickly and Claire took her time stopping at about every pew to hand out flowers. Dan eventually came behind to hurry things along, but at least they both made it down the aisle and no one freaked out. Jenna behaved herself and enjoyed her first time with a babysitter while we took Claire to the reception.
Meet the Snider grandchildren - Jenna, Claire, Gretchen (4), Benjamin (1.5 months), and Savannah (1.5 years)
While most people who read this blog spent Halloween trying to stay warm without power, Claire and Jenna got dressed up and enjoyed trick or treating. We went to a friends condo building and walked the halls which was nice because we stayed warm. Both girls had parties at school and got to wear their costumes there too - Claire is Belle and Jenna is a cupcake.
Jenna is getting bigger and bigger everyday. Not sure where the time is going, but she is growing up before our eyes. Developmentally, she is grabbing at things and rolling over from side to side. She doesn't like to play with any one thing for too long and she goes between her exersaucer, the bumbo, and playing on the floor. She has started making a lot more sounds and is generally a happy baby. She is taking (4) 6 oz bottles and sometimes a 4 oz bottle somewhere in the middle. The time change messed her up for a few days and I think she working through her tired period and caught her second wind once it was bedtime. We had a few nights where she didn't go down until after 9. Her normal bedtime is 8PM and she sleeps until I wake her up to feed her at 6 and then goes back down until Dan wakes her up around 7. Her napping is all over the place and she tends to take quick cat naps with the exception of one longer nap late in the morning. And while I'm rambling I'll add in that I believe Jenna will have Mommy's hazel eyes. Time will tell
One of my favorite things is watching Claire and Jenna interact. Claire listens to everything we say while tending to Jenna. She repeats it all in context and takes excellent care of her sister. Jenna watches every move Claire makes. She stares at her and just giggles and laughs. No one can make Jenna laugh like Claire can :-)
Daddy took Jenna for her 6 month appointment and she weighed in at 12 lb 10oz (below 5th %) and 24.5 inches (5-10%) She is very close to sitting up on her own - right now she stays upright for a bit before falling over - she is way ahead of Claire on this milestone. And can you tell Jenna loves the bath?
At 6 months the doctor gave us the OK to start rice cereal - Jenna is not so sure about it, but in the 3 times she has had she has gotten much better each time.
Now we are looking forward to heading to Massachusetts for Thanksgiving. Please join us on Saturday, November 26th for Jennas Baptism. The baptism will take place at St. Thomas church at noon followed by lunch at my parents. We're looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

It's Friends and Family Time

We are Robillards and you know we love a good deal. It seems like this is the friends and family time of year so I thought I would share some of the coupons that are out there.

40% off Ann Taylor and Loft - November 10th - 13th
30% off Gap, GapKids, etc... - through November 13th
20% off Kohls - November 17th - November 20th
25% off Crazy 8 - through November 13th

Happy Shopping!!

Christmas?

Greetings from Sunny California!

In attempting to make travel arrangements and plans for the remainder of the year...has there been any thought as to when we are doing the Robillard Christmas?

Check out this announcement...

It is a pleasure to announce that Kristin Robillard has been promoted to Plant Manager for the Vermont facility. Kristin’s extensive knowledge of the Vermont operation, as well as her people management and problem solving skills will be well suited to the numerous challenges that are a daily part of a plant manager’s responsibilities. Kristin holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business from Jacksonville University. She will begin her new role on October 24, 2011.

Congratulations Kristin - we know you have worked hard and deserve this. Best of luck in your position, we are proud of you and know you will do wonderfully!

A quick Snider update

I do use this blog to keep track of what the girls are doing, so I wanted to update before I forget what is really going on in our world. Jenna had her 4 month check up and weighed in at 10lb 8oz, the doctors were fine with that, but wanted us to come back at 5 months to check her weight and get Claire her flu shot. Jenna jumped up to 11lb 3oz (below 5th percentile), 24 inches long (5-10 percentile), and a 40cm head circumference (below 5th percentile). While she is pretty small, she is within ounces of Claire at 5 months and the doctors were not concerened at all, so neither are we! Jenna is nursed in the morning before I leave for work (yes, I wake her up to feed her) and then she gets (3) 4.5 ounce bottles of pumped milk at daycare, nursed once more at home, sometimes twice, and gets 4oz of formula before bed. She goes down around 8:30, goes back to sleep after I nurse her in the morning and Dan wakes her up to get her ready for daycare. She is still sleeping in a cradle in our room, but it's about time to make the move to a crib. We certainly don't mind having her in our room because she does not make a peep - not even when my alarm goes off multiple times to get up. Last week I put her down without swaddling her and she slept just the same, so I think we are done with the swaddle. How is she old enough for this already?

Jenna started rolling over from her back to her stomach at 4.5 months. She hangs out on her stomach for a little while and then gets mad and fusses until we turn her over again - what a fun game this can become! She still enjoys her play mat, but it's about time to pack up her little chair. She tries so hard to sit forward and ends up flopping over the side of the chair trying to grab whatever is in reach. She seems to be enjoying daycare and is doing well there. The transition back to work for me was pretty good. We are slowly getting into a routine, it just means dinner gets on the table a little later than it used to.

Unfortunately, my breastfeeding days are quickly dwindling down. Not sure why, but I feel guilty about it and I don't remember feeling this way with Claire. I am just not producing enough to keep up with her and pumping at work is becoming too much when I am just not getting enough. I would like to keep the morning and night feedings, but not sure how that will work unless I continue to wake Jenna up before I leave. We will see....but I'm afraid this will come to an end very quickly.

Other than that, we have been staying busy - we hit the Big E which Claire absolutely loved, had a good visit over Columbus Day weekend with Andrea, last weekend we went down to Maryland to visit friends and see Clemson play, and Thursday night we are heading to Ohio for Dans cousins wedding. Claire and her cousin Gretchen are the flower girls - can't wait to see how they do!

Jenna says hello!

For the crafty ones

I thought these Halloween treats were cute, maybe a good activity for the little ones.

Owl cupcakes

Candy Corn cookies

Happy baking - I think we will be making the cookies this weekend

Family Weekend

Finally got around to doing something with the pictures Dan & I took over family weekend. I must say we slacked off in the picture taking department, but we still enjoyed looking at the pictures we captured. Hope you enjoy as well (for those of you watching at work - there's music with the video)!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

We survived

Mommy survived her first week back at work, Claire survived her first full week of preschool, Jenna survived her first week of daycare, and Dan survived the chaos. Not sure we have ever been so happy to have a weekend to relax. And now for the pictures....Claire was ready for the first day of preschool.
Her first day was only a drop in so I got to go with her while Dan stayed home with Jenna. Claire is lucky enough to have two of her daycare friends in her classroom with her. I think that made the transition much easier. Her teachers are wonderful and she seems to be enjoying it. She cracks me up when she comes home and reports back exactly what happened that day and is so proud to show off the new songs she is learning.
Jenna doesn't seem so impressed to be taking pictures at this hour of the morning
Claire loving on JennaSomeone loves to make muffins on the weekends, but I think she enjoys eating the batter more than making the muffins.
Our last visit with Andrea before her California departure. Andrea took her to Build-A-Bear and they made matching teddy bears. Claire made Auna-bear and Andrea made Claire-bear - they recorded messages for each other and put them in the bear, so every night at bedtime we hear "Auna loves you Claire, I miss you" over and over and over
I love this picture, but I am starting to think these girls looks a lot like Mommy
This is Claire dressing herself - maybe she wanted to make sure every color of the rainbow was represented?
We took Jenna back to the doctor for her 4 month visit last week and she once again weighed in at 10lb, 8oz. This visit the doctor seemed to believe that it's the nature of our girls to just be small. She wasn't concerned at all and actually recommended holding off on solids for breastfed babies until 6 months. I remember starting vegetables with Claire and 6 months, but I have no problems holding out as long as Jenna seems happy. The ladies at daycare love having her there and she is always happy and smiling when we pick her up. Look like we are back into our new normal

You're invited to view my photos

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