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The biggest news of the month was Doug and Vanessa welcoming their baby boy, Aiden Christopher O’Brien, to the world. Aiden was born on July 19th at 8 pounds, 5 ounces, and 20 inches long. We are so happy to have a new, adorable addition to our family. Dan & Maureen were there to greet him at the hospital and Kathryn was able to visit him the following weekend. Aiden is super cute and his cousins John, Larkin, and Reagan and his uncle Paulie can’t wait to meet him someday soon.

The O’Brien-Kindem families began the month at their Watauga Lake cabin. The entire family, except for Doug and an expecting Vanessa, were able to attend (we missed them very much), so that meant 17 of us were there. Fortunately, our neighbor was kind enough to lend us their cabin for the week, so we were able to spread out a little bit. The week was filled with great food, good conversations, lots of swimming and boating, and just a couple adult beverages (wink, wink). One of the highlights of the trip was John and Larkin learning how to swim on their own. John and Larkin were not afraid of the water, but at first had the desire to be held or in a raft. However, miss independent, Larkin Lu, decided on day 2 that she wanted to swim all on her own. Paul would let go of her and she would swim to one of her other family members. Larkin had an extremely determined look on her face each time she set out to swim to someone, but a huge smile would emerge as she was grabbed by her doting caretaker. What a joy this was to see. It took John a couple more days of being in the water, but around day 5 he worked up the courage and was swimming by himself. John had a smile the size of the Grand Canyon as he swam and by the end of the week, both were staying in the water for hours at a time, sometimes with their teeth chattering. Continue Reading →

The very first weekend of June was spent up in Philadelphia for Paul, Kat, Dan, Maureen, and The Adorables. To make things a little “easier,” we divided and conquered; Reagan rode up with Grandma and Grandpa and John and Larkin rode up with Kat and Paul. According to her grandparents, Reagan was beyond amazing for the entire car ride, even with the famously horrible DC traffic. John and Larkin were amazing in the car as well. Although, no matter how good they behave, managing two toddlers, especially two toddlers who are potty training for a 7 (or turned out 9) hour car ride gets quite exhausting. The kids talked about the big tunnel (through Baltimore) constantly, read books with Ki, colored in their coloring books, ate lunch/snacks, and when Ki and Paul needed a short break, they watched a kids music DVD, which turned out to be a life saver (although I think we had those songs stuck in our heads for weeks after the trip). Continue Reading →

It’s been an especially rainy spring for North Carolina. Typically we are preparing ourselves for a drought, but this year it feels like we are living in London or Seattle. Very strange indeed. However, the weather doesn’t stop us from spending many of our days and hours outside. The trees, birds, grass, and occasional sunshine certainly helps the mind stay at ease & allows the kids to expand their creative minds and very importantly, release their energy. John enjoys getting wet & most of all enjoys jumping in and throwing sticks in the puddles. He gets great joy in walking back & forth over puddles and likes to look inside all of the water valves along the sidewalk in our neighborhood (hopefully a spider won’t get him). Larkin is much less pleased with getting wet and wants a hooded jacket on & finds it quite unacceptable when her shoes get the slightest bit of water on them. Reagan seems indifferent with the weather and simply enjoys watching her older brother and sister play. John and Larkin also love taking turns pushing Reagan’s stroller down the sidewalk. Although it scares us adults from time to time when they refuse to allow us to help, we think little Rea enjoys the competition that ensues over who gets to care for her. As long as Reagan is a part of things, she is happy. Continue Reading →

John, Larkin, and Reagan grew by leaps and bounds during the month of April. More specific details to follow, but in summary, Reagan had her Christening and has started crawling and standing up on furniture; John and Larkin are beginning to speak in complete sentences and both are showing much more interest in using the potty (especially Larkin).

Reagan Roo is totally on the move. She started off a bit slow, but after a couple of days was going after the dog bowl (yes, her favorite item to find and get totally wet), standing up on furniture (often falling over), and trying to steal John’s yellow truck (typically doesn’t end well). Reagan is the 3rd child, just like her father and Aunt Ki, so we have a strong feeling that this trend of her trying to keep up with her brother and sister is one that will stick around a lifetime. Reagan is trying her best to move on from baby food as well. It didn’t take us long for us to figure out when she was “over” basic baby food because she would zerbert (spit it out) each time you gave her food, which didn’t work out too well for our faces or clothing. Grandpa (Dan) must have gone through a dozen shirts before figuring out how to get out of the way. The zerberting might not of lasted as long, but with John and Larkin in the audience laughing hysterically, she was not about to stop. Continue Reading →