Update on Us

We thought that after Christmas our life would slow down and we would get back into the groove, well we did, kind of. My last post we were celebrating Mary's Birthday, there was no party, just us with our sweet girl. Henry showed jealousy, but quickly got over it. The next week we celebrated my Birthday. No big to do, just some friends and a fire pit on our patio. It was good to relax and celebrate with some great people.

Then, it all starts to go down hill. Snow, ice, school closings, school opening late and frigid temperatures. We are all getting a little cabin fever and were looking to get out of the house. The week went quick and Friday we had Henry's parent teacher conference at school and Mary's 2 year check up.

Henry is doing great. He is so damn smart and he always has something to say. They have been learning about planets and dinosaurs this past month. I can't tell you how much he now knows about both of them. He can tell you the planets in order ( I can't, can you?), he talks about all the different phases of  the moon, how you eat in space and you know that there is a flag on the moon. He loves drawing pictures of the planets and even colors earth in blue and green.

After the conference, I took Mary for her 2 year old check up. She weighed in at 27lbs, 13 ounces and is 35 inches tall. No shots, thank goodness and of course she wanted nothing to do with the doctor. She escaped the room two times and had the nurses smiling and laughing. We had a great appointment, everything looked great.

Saturday we headed to Ikea and got her some big girl bedding. Of course we went for storage containers for the playroom and left with a lot more. We came home, got it all set up and she was in love. That night, she went to bed no problem and I headed out to a friends. Came home and headed up to bed and checked on her. She was sleeping under the blanket and she looked so cute!

At 11:30, I hear Charlie yelling for me. Mary is screaming and she is breathing very funny. I scoop her up and she really doesn't wake up and her breathing is so shallow and it sounds like her lungs have something in it. We are trying to figure out what is wrong and we decide to call 911. We bring her downstairs and wait for the EMT's. Thankfully, Henry did not wake up and actually slept through the whole thing.

They show up and decide that she needs to be taken to the ER. She still wasn't acting normal but was able to put her coat and hat on. Our neighbors saw the ambulances and ran over. Our one neighbor sat at the house with Henry, while Charlie rode in the ambulance and I drove the minivan.

We get to the ER and she is admitted and diagnosed with croup. Within minutes of receiving the steroids and the nebulizer she was feeling better. She was delirious from not getting much sleep so that was entertaining. Our neighbor came and picked up Charlie while I stayed with her at the ER for monitoring. By 2:15am she was running laps around the nurses station and keeping them smiling. We finally got home around 2:30am and she fell asleep around 3am. I ended up sleeping with her or basically watching her sleep. Sunday was a blur but we survived.

Then came Monday, I'm now sick and guess what...Mary got pink eye. Charlie ended up taking her to the pedi that night to get drops. Thankfully, they had some drops in their closet because it was already 8pm. Mary has had very little sleep and needless to say, when she finally got home, she passed out immediately. She ended up sleeping until 8am yesterday and her eyes look great. She still has a little cough but now it sounds like she is getting a cold.

There are two more days until this month is over and honestly I am ready to get it over with. Looking forward to February, new house breaking ground, healthy kids and maybe some warmer weather. It's a long shot, but it's got to better than January.

Celebrating 2, like a Diva

These pictures don't need words....

Flashback

For some reason her turning 2, is hitting me a lot harder then her turning 1. I have no idea why, but maybe because she is becoming a toddler and leaving the baby phase, maybe because I see her growing up and developing a personality, maybe because I can talk to her and she responds. I just can't quite put my finger on what it is.

So bare with me as I relive the day before she was born. I don't know if you have this app, but it's pretty cool and it's called Timehop. It takes photos or status' you posted on IG or FB and everyday you open the app and it shows you from years passed.

This morning, I opened my Timehop app and saw these pictures from the day before she was born.

These were her monthly stickers. I had no idea they arrived a day before she came. I'm all about believing in signs and things happen for a reason - maybe this was telling me something, lol.

Apparently, we had snow the day before she came. Henry was in all his glory, little did he know his sister would be here the next day. I don't remember this at all but Henry looked really happy.

I also went back to my blog post about her birth and saw that Charlie and I had a conversation about being excited that we were almost three weeks out from her coming.

Mary's Story

I just can't believe this all happened two years ago already, I feel like it was yesterday. Thank you Timehop for letting me flashback to the day before she was born and showing me things I didn't remember. We can't wait to celebrate with her tomorrow, it's going to be a blast!

Almost 2

I don't even know where to start because I think I am in denial. Friday, is January 10th, that means that little Miss Sassy, is turning 2. TWO - how is that possible?

Two years ago, we were throwing her brother a 3rd Birthday party and then she decided to come three days later, at 36 weeks. We should have know then, that she was going to be this sassy. Her way or the highway and the problem, she is too damn cute to not give her, her way.

How do you resist a face like this....

And this face, it has sass written all over it.

In the past month her vocabulary has quadrupled. She has started the ever dreaded "why" phrase. "Why, Henry sleeping, mommy.", "Why, Daddy not home, mommy.", "Why, Rudy barking, mommy." Then you answer her and she says, "Oh." or "Oh Man."

I think our personal favorite is when she trips or falls and you hear her yell, "I'm, okay." The other day she was brushing her teeth and you hear crash, and then you hear her yell, "No, worry...I'm okay!!, I'm okay!" You can't help but smile or laugh.

She decided in December that her crib was more of a jungle gym so we had to make it into a day bed. Every morning, I am greeted with this.

How could you be mad when she is smiling at you. We tell her clean it up and she starts shoving it back into the drawer. The transition has been going okay, naps are hard, but we keep trying.

She will eat blueberries until she looks like the kid from Willy Wonka. She calls them strawberries and if you dare give her a strawberry, she will yell at you. She eats when she wants and I think she would drink a gallon a milk a day, if we would let her. She is tall just like her brother, but sadly she got my hair. It's cute,but there are days when it is just out of control. She loves her Owl lovie and if you touch it, she will ask you, "Why."  She loves her Henry and seriously can put him in his place. She doesn't take anything from anyone and she will let you know. She gives the best hugs and will snuggle when she wants to, don't even ask her, she does it on her own time. She is our Bear and her personality is infectious.

 The thought of her being 2 is a little scary, but we can't wait to see what another year brings.
We love you to pieces Mare Bear!

Final?

They haven't even moved the dirt on the lot and we just finalized all the fixtures and everything in the house. There is no turning back now and I hope in six months we still love everything we picked out. It's not easy choosing from 16 different cabinets and 24 hard wood floors. The last time we did this, we didn't have near as many choices.

Here are some pictures of what we picked out.

I think the far end is the laundry room tile, next to the carpet in the family room, play room and the entire upstairs. Then the hardwood that will cover the entire downstairs except the mudroom and family room and playroom. Finally, the cabinets that will be in the kitchen and bathrooms.

The carpet next to the hardwood to see how it will match up.

Same order but the granite we picked out for the kitchen.

The cabinet door next to the granite with the hardware we chose.

In the end it will look like this (minus that floor and the knobs).

The stone we picked for the fireplace with the grey slate mantle.

Finally, a picture of what the house will look like. Literally, it will be identical to this house, third car garage and all. Oh and of course I went after Christmas this year and bought wreaths for all the windows in the house.

So, those are pretty much all the big things for the house. Of course there were a ton of little things that we had to pick out too but they are not nearly as fun.We are very excited and I am sure I will be documenting the journey along the way.

2013 Year in Review

January 2013, we celebrated Mary's 1st Birthday with an owl party.  She hated her smash cake but had a great time at her party with all our family and friends. Charlie and I also were able to go the Inaugural Ball.

February 2013, we took a trip down to Florida to see Grandpa and Gayle. It was the coldest weather southern Florida had experienced in years but we had fun none the less. We were able to get a quick trip to SeaWorld before we left.

March 2013, Henry started T-Ball or for his age at the time. Blast Ball. His team name was the Sand Gnats. He enjoyed learning a lot about baseball.

April 2013, Mary started walking on April 9th. It was a surprise to all of us because she showed no signs of wanted to walk. Once she was going, she was off.

May 2013, We bought a mini van and traveled to Williamsburg. We went to Busch Gardens and toured old town Williamsburg.

June 2013, Henry got a room redo. We transferred his room into a Baseball room.

July 2013, We took our annual trip to New Jersey for the 4th of July and Henry and Mary had pictures taken in a sunflower field. Probably some of my favorite to date.

August 2013, We headed to South Carolina for a beach vacation with my whole family. Mary was sick most of the time but we made the most of our stay at the beach.

September 2013, Henry started Pre-K and we celebrated Daddy's Birthday.

October 2013, Charlie and I headed to Knoxville to watch the Gamecocks play and we held a kids Halloween party at the house.

November 2013, We had family pictures taken and we celebrated Thanksgiving with my parents. Henry also had a trip to the Dentist to get his teeth cleaned. I mention this because we were surprised at how well he did at the appointment.

December 2013,  Probably the biggest month of the year for us. We traveled to Disney with Charlie's office to celebrate 25 years of the firm and of course celebrated Christmas and Henry's 5th Birthday. The biggest thing that happened in December.....we decided to move and build a new home, just a mile up the road from where we are now.