Family Update {PIC HEAVY} - Happy Thanksgiving

This picture won me a $500 gift card! 

Sometimes I can’t even believe it; I now have a 2 year old and a 2 month old! The last few months have been busy, busy but have been great. With today being Thanksgiving, I of course have to be cliché and post what I’m thankful for, and the #1 thing on my list is my little family! G and I have been adjusting well as a family of four and are so thankful for a happy, healthy family!

 

We celebrated EM’s 2^nd birthday just over a week ago! Unlike last year, where we had a huge party for her, we decided to just do a small family party on Saturday. She got some great toys but the three big ones were a trampoline, an art Easel (which may be her favorite toy ever now!), and a little quad ride-on. Oh yea, and Minnie Mouse couch (that was from us and given to her on her actual Birthday on Sunday) – she seems to really like that too! We spent her actual Birthday morning (Sunday) at Epcot. We want to make it a tradition to bring each of the girls (by themselves) on their birthday, as a special day with just Mommy and Daddy. Since she’s so young, we just went for a few hours and took her to see the characters, on the Finding Nemo ride and looked at fishes in the Living Seas. She wasn’t comfortable walking up the characters on her own (maybe because she wasn’t feeling well) or maybe she was a little scared but with being in my arms she loved seeing them and giving them 5! Of course we couldn’t leave without getting a Mickey Bar (which she didn’t eat any of – more for Mommy!).  Unfortunately EM had a fever most of the weekend and wasn’t feeling 100% but it didn’t stop her from having a good time. 

 

unwrapping presents, one small piece of paper at a time!

her new trampoline and bracelets

ELMO was on her cake!!

her favorite!

Hi Minnie!

all the fishes!

getting the hang of driving this thing!

Mickey bars!

 

Sunday afternoon, we took a ride to my parents as EM and her Paca share a birthday and we spent the rest of the day (and a few extra since I was still on maternity leave then). My dad got to spend his birthday with all 6 of his grandkids (it’s not very often that they are ALL together at the same time) where we had a nice dinner and cake. EM loves getting to spend time with her cousins. Trying to get a decent picture of them all was so hilarious.

 

playing with cousin Mason

sharing her special day with Paca

 

 



gotta love the faces!

unrelated to her birthday, but thought this one was cute of her playing with her other cousins a few weeks ago at the playground

AB turned 2 months this week, where has the time gone? I’m now officially back at work full time as of last week. My maternity leave went SO fast. With EM, I was completely ready to go back to work by the time it was over, this time around, not so much. I think I stayed much busier this time, so I didn’t have many (if any) boring days. I mean, I didn’t even get to finish Breaking Bad. (I have now though, woah, great ending!) AB is definitely not as “easy” of a baby compared to how EM was. She doesn’t love the swing, whereas with EM, it worked instantly to calm her down and put her to sleep. She doesn’t sleep through the night yet either. EM started the week I went back to work, which I know is abnormally young to start so I wasn’t expecting it with AB, and sure enough, it didn’t happen yet. Luckily, she usually only gets up once to eat and goes right back to sleep, but still sucks to have interrupted sleep. Hoping once she starts daycare in January it’ll help exhaust her more and get her to sleep longer. At least that is our theory as to why EM started sleeping through the night so young as she started day care right when I went back to work. Anyways, even though AB is a little more difficult compared to EM, she’s really a pretty good baby, not very needy or fussy. She started smiling a week or so ago and rolls over from her tummy to her back since 2 weeks old. (Although doesn’t do it often). She loves her play mat too! She’s already grown so much, she weighs around 9.5 lbs based on my unofficial weighing (we haven’t had her 2 month appointment yet - it’ on Monday) and her features are really starting to change! Here are some of her pictures over the last two months.

 

7 days new

 

7 days new

 

 

smiles!

 

 

2 Months Old!

 

 

EM is doing extremely well adjusting to being a big sister. She checks on her every morning and looks for her as soon as she gets home from daycare each day. She doesn’t want to hold her often and when she does it’s for like 5 seconds before she’s pushing her away but she has asked for AB to be next to her on a few occasions. She’s also helped feed her a few times and even brought her a blanket once. She loves to pull the frog/music maker on the bouncy seat when AB is laying in there too. I couldn’t be happier with how she’s been with the baby. I was a little worried since she’s quite the Momma’s girl but I think including her in all the baby activities (fetching the bottle, helping with diaper changes, etc) has really helped her adjust well.

helping feed Sister



such a big helper!



shatring her Minnie Couch in their Eagles gear, watching the game

 

 

This one just cracks me up!

 

Now off to go stuff my face with some awesome Thanksgiving Day goodies at my in-laws! Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you get to spend it with some of your family and friends!

 

 

 

 

Halloween Festivities

Just wanted to share some pictures of the girls from Halloween. EM looked so darn cute in her bumble bee costume, and she surprisingly kept on her antenna headband the majority of the time. 

she loves her sunglasses!

They had a parade at her daycare but the teacher said it was too hard with the toddlers so they just watched and then they had a little halloween party for the kids. Since it was after nap time they had already changed them out of their costumes so I was a little disappointed when I went to pick her up and be there for the party that they were already in normal clothes. Her teacher said she took pics of the kids in their costumes too so I'm waiting to see those!

 After school, EM painted a pumpkin (and some paper and her feet too!) By the way Crayola washable paint is awesome! I highly recommend it, comes out of clothes completely! 

We then took her to the local Publix where she Trick or Treated between the different departments to kind of show her what it was like. She seemed to really enjoy that, so I was excited to take her out once we got home.

EM absolutely LOVED trick or treating. I thought she'd only be into it for a few houses so I went with some neighbor friends while G stayed at our house with his parents (since we live down the street from each other we decided to pass out candy together to make it more fun) and passed out candy to the kids and drinks to the parents.  Well, had I known she was going to want to do like 20+ houses I would have brought her stroller, I thought for sure she would have been over it by like the 5th house, but NOPE, she LOVED it. She probably would have kept going but she was a little slow walking between houses so I'd pick her up and "fly" her to the next house to keep up with the other, older, faster, kids in our group. After about half our neighborhood loop, my arms were getting tired and her bucket was full so I brought her home - she probably walked a good half mile! She said thank you to almost every treat giver and kind of said "trick or treat" to a few of them. When there was a line of kids at some of the houses, she stood in line and waited her turn. It was so, so, so cute how she got so into it!

walking with her Nanny before we met up with friends

EM and her buddy Charlie

AB stayed home and helped pass out candy (aka - slept during the festivities). She went as a "newborn" in her "First Halloween" onesie - so unique I know ;) 

working hard passing out candy

night time bottle with her adorable ghost hat from one of our neighbors

Hope everyone had a safe and happy halloween, I know we sure did!

The Last Few Weeks - in Pictures

Our last few weeks in pictures....

(probably a good 6 weeks now that I’m looking at my camera roll)

We’ve been very busy, pretty much every weekend!

We got to see baby Abigail in 4D, she was breech at the time, but hoping she’s moved since then – should hopefully find out next week! 

EM and I went on my parent’s boat for a day of fun in the sun while Daddy was golfing.

I spent a long week in West Virginia for work (G was on travel too) 

so EM spent the week with my parents

We attended an all-you-can eat Mac and Cheese charity event 

supporting Give Kids the World.

We hosted a watch party/breakfast for the UCF v Penn State game

 (that we unfortunately lost - boo!)

My in-laws hosted a yummy seafood boil

I got double baby practice while spending time with my good friend and her son.

We spent the day at the Four Seasons Hotel celebrating a friend’s birthday (super nice resort!) and EM had a blast playing in the kiddie area!

playing with her friend after a long day at the pool 

just loved this fixture in the lobby

gorgeous view from their balcony

I went and saw Disney on Ice presents Frozen with some friends (without EM, thought she might be too young to sit through it – I’m sure she would have loved it though, just wouldn’t have lasted the whole show) – OMG it was amazing, if it comes to your town, it’s a MUST SEE!

Sorry for the crappy photo quality, uploading them from my phone!