Yay! Baby Elyse is here!

Tracy gave birth on Monday February 4 at 6:34 p.m. to Elyse Brandt Knoebel. Labor got started with an epidural before they would break the rest of her water. But when labor didn't start, they gave Pitocin and after an hour she was ready to push. We were waiting for the epidural guy to come back since it was only working on one side but the mid-wife said, "Let's just have a baby." Oh sure, easy for you to say! Luckily, Tracy only pushed for 4 minutes before it was all over. Elyse looks a lot like Brynn but with flatter ears, a smaller chin dimple, two straight feet, and a slightly bigger lower lip. She does a lot of sleeping and eating and pooping. Brynn has been a pain in the butt since she is still getting over her sickness (she barfed last weekend). Here she is:

Tracy on fluids

Tracy and Jeremy having a hospital catered electric candle light celebration dinner

Jon and Elyse

Adam and Elyse

Brynn and Elyse

Brynn's alphabet skillz

Well, I'm 11 days from my due date and not much is happening. We thought we'd showcase Brynn's new talents...she can sing the whole alphabet song (although she usually leaves out 'x') and can count to ten. She also knows the colors (most of the time) and some shapes. Tracy had some of her soccer girls in a 3 v 3 tournament at the dome yesterday and they finished with a 4-0 record, earning them a gold medal. Jeremy is making plans for continuing ed in Baltimore in April which should be a fun weekend for Brynn to enjoy the aquarium. Here's Brynn and Jeremy playing on the computer...we will update more once the baby comes!

Thanksgiving and December

We haven't posted since Thanksgiving since we've been very busy! Thanksgiving was filled with family time including, food, volleyball, bowling games. Once everyone left, Tracy and Brynn went down to Long Island to be with her family when her Aunt Carol died. We were just at cousin Meredith's wedding in the middle of September dancing and having fun so this was quite a shock to everyone. Once we came back to PA, Tracy had a lot to do that week to get ready for her team's banquet, which was a successful event. Here are some pics from Thanksgiving and Jeremy's vacation time when we went to Rochester:


Here is Brynn and Edie reading with Uncle Matt

Cousins Kenley, Brynn, and Edith with Great Grandma and Grandpa Knoebel!

Uncle Adam spent $5 in quarters on the little goobers at the Bowling Alley!

Dad and Brynn at the children's museum (Butterfly garden exhibit) in Rochester.

Look at this sweet action tunnel fort at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Grandma and Grandpa's new front door for their Christmas card pic.

Here is video of Uncle Jon from Thanksgiving when he passed out exactly 45 seconds after dinner was over.

On Thursday, Jeremy had to go to Harrisburg to get certified to write health certificates for when people take their pets on vacation or out of the country. While he was bored out of his skull, Brynn and I went shopping at the outlets in Hershey and then went to ZooAmerica. Here are some pics!

such a tiring day for everyone!

Here's the sidewalk and patio! This was finished last week and it is delightful to be able to walk all the way from the garage to the back door without getting your shoes and pantlegs all slimy with mud. The only problem is they backfilled with dirt and Flash thinks it is the new burial ground for his bones. He gets very dirty! The picture on the left is standing on the driveway and you can see how there's a big patio spot and then the sidewalk goes around to our back porch. The picture on the right is our tenants side, which is how it looks on our side. We don't have steps up to our porch at the moment but hopefully Tom will help us with that this weekend.

Captain One-Eyed V

We made this video better than the other one...the first one was rendered in low quality by accident

Brynn playing on the couch

This is video of Brynn having fun