Aunt Shay Baby is Here!!!

Aunt Shay Baby arrived yesterday morning for her visit and made everyone very happy! Mary Pat has had a great time getting to know her aunt and has been showing off all of her noises and faces. Mommy has to upload all of the pictures we took yesterday, but here are a few to give a preview of what's to come.

Mary Pat LOVES having her Aunt Shay Baby here to play with!

Mommy LOVES this picture! We can't figure out what prompted this silly face from Mary Pat, but it is great. She looks a little bit like Mommom if you ask Mommy and Aunt Shay.

Who needs to collect bubble gum wrappers for the "Billbo Club" (of which Aunt Shay was apparently the treasurer) when you can be a member of the "Aunt Shay Baby Gang". Here she is flashing the gang sign for Mary Pat.

An Action Packed Weekend

We had a very eventful long weekend for Columbus Day. On Saturday we took Mary Pat to the Long Island Fall Festival in Huntington with our friends Kelly and Kevin, Al and Rosette, and the Simon family. It was a beautiful day and Mary Pat loved being outside. The festival also gave us an opportunity to try out the Baby Bjorn. Mommy and Mary Pat both enjoyed it which opens up many possibilities for their adventures!
On Monday, since Daddy was off for the holiday, we decided to take Mary Pat on her first trip to Costco. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first, but was sound asleep in the Bjorn after about five minutes. This left Mommy and Daddy plenty of time to deal with the ridiculous crowds that always seem to plague Costco.

Aunt Shay Baby arrives in two days for a visit and we are all very excited! Mary Pat can hardly sleep since she is anxiously awaiting meeting her aunt. I'm sure we will have many stories to tell over the days that she is here. Until then, here are some pictures from the festival and the rest of last week.

Mommy's night out

Last Wednesday, Mommy had her first night out since Mary Pat's birth. She went to the New Kids on the Block concert with her friends Kelly, Sarah and Rosette. The concert was wonderful (here are some pictures) and very nostalgic! NKOTB played all of there old hits and a few new songs and a good time was had by all.

While Mommy was out, Daddy and Mary Pat had a fabulous evening of playing and hanging out. I think they wore each other out since this is how Mommy found them when she got home:

Busy Week

Mary Pat is now 5 weeks old and has had a very eventful week! She has begun to smile and make all sorts of gurgling and cooing noises in order to "talk" to Mommy and Daddy. On Saturday, her official one month birthday, we went to the wedding of Mommy's good friend from college (and one of her NYC roommates) Kathleen. This was very exciting for Mary Pat and she was a wonderful baby throughout the ceremony and reception. Here are a few pictures from the wedding!

Four Weeks Old!!

We can hardly believe that Mary Pat is four weeks old already. She had her one month check up this morning and is already weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs! I guess her Auntie Leenie's nickname of "Chubbette" is pretty accurate.

It has been a busy week for the Kolenik family. Mary Pat received her first real bath this week now that her belly button is officially healed. To mommy and daddy's surprise she seemed to enjoy her bathtub and didn't cry at all. She has also been helping daddy cheer on the NY Mets as the regular baseball season wraps up. Daddy is hoping that the Mets make it into the post season so that Mary Pat can continue to wear all of her apparel!

Here are some pictures from the past week. Enjoy!

Mirror Time!

Today Mommy and Mary Pat embarked on their first adventure together without any help. Mommy is pleased to say that Mary Pat slept the entire time we were at Babies R Us and seems to really enjoy the car and her car seat. When we got home Mommy laid Mary Pat in her crib for a minute while she got some things done in the nursery and realized after a while that it was VERY quiet. Apparently Mary Pat had discovered herself in the mirror and was completely enthralled looking and making faces! Here are some pictures of her entertainment.

Big Cousin/Baby Cousin Weekend

After waiting so long she could hardly stand it (and then some) Big Cousin Victoria finally got a chance to come to NY to meet Baby Cousin Mary Pat. We were all thrilled to see that they hit it off swimmingly. Please follow the link for pictures of the cousins first of many times playing together!