Lots of Mia love...

...from Day and Paw

The calm between storms

It has been so wet and cold around here that when, for just a few minutes, the sun peeked through, Luke took advantage. He said, "Mommy, my sunshine is here. I need shoes!"


Thank you to Grandma who spotted this orange jacket for Luke. He LOVES it and was just so happy to have an orange jacket (because apparently no other color would do!)

A special visit

We always love when Grandma and Papa visit. They have always been such important people in my life, particularly when I was a child, and I am so thankful to be able to share them with my children as well. This was a particularly special trip because they were able to meet Mia, who was named after Grandma.

Luke helped open Grandma's 80th birthday present, which happened to be ready while they were in town.

Happy HALF birthday, my sweet boy!

Luke is 2 1/2 today - where in the world did the time go? It doesn't seem possible that we ever lived life without him. He brings so much joy and love to our lives (and, as with any two year old, teaches us to have patience and constantly reminds us that we have so much to learn about parenting!).

Luke, here are just a few of the things that I love about you right now:

I love how each day you become more and more of the big brother - helping Mommy change Mia's diaper (you always hand me the "medicine" and powder), expressing concern at her "boo-boos" (her umbilical cord stump requires you to inspect its progress several times daily), asking where your baby is, singing to her to calm her when she is crying. The way that you are adapting to this HUGE change in all of our lives is just amazing to watch.

I love your long hair right now - it's just too cute and, although difficult to tame some mornings, I can't bear cutting it right now.

I love how opinionated you've become (WELL ... sometimes I love this). You have an opinion on quite a lot right now, even down to which couch Daddy and I sit on! You are definitely your own little person.

I love that you have a friend who you just ADORE at school. Jadyn is your favorite and you talk about her often. You love her page in your class book, and will tell us that you love her. My sweet boy, you have great taste for a 2-year old, by the way, because she is just as cute as a button!

I love how you are so loving and are able to express your feelings to the people who mean the most to you. You tell us that you love us so often, and I am forever grateful for that.

I love to hear how much you know. You continue to be very interested in letters, and know most of them and many of the corresponding sounds. You are able to count really well now to twenty without missing numbers (usually), and also have one-to-one correspondence when you count. You still love puzzles and get better and better at them all the time. It's just incredible to watch you learn.

I love to hear you say new things, things that I had no idea you knew anything about. The other day you were sitting with Mia in her crib and we had just put up the mobile that you found in the closet. You turned it on and told me that it sounded like a rainforest. I had no idea that you even knew what a rainforest was. And, after being away from you for two days while I was in the hospital with Mia, I told Daddy that I felt like you were forming longer, more complex sentences than when I left. I have no idea if that's possible, but it certainly seemed like it.

I love how you like to play with Linus and Brooklyn. Brooklyn will just let you do anything to her - she loves all of the climbing and attempts to ride her. Linus tries to play, but you tend to take over his toys, throwing them for him and then getting them yourself!


With all of this goodness also come some challenges. Our biggest challenges at two and a half are:

Bedtime - we have taken a huge turn for the worse with bedtime. It takes you SO LONG to fall asleep. Some nights you can stay awake in your room for up to 3 hours after we've put you to bed. We have even tried laying with you to keep you in bed, but this doesn't seem to help - you just can't get your body to rest. We're going to be exploring some possible solutions to this in the coming weeks - here's hoping that we can find a way to help you get some more sleep.

Potty training - we have made so much progress, and you are really good at "holding it" if you are thinking about it. However, we are still the ones always suggesting that you use the potty. The number of accidents is way down from when we started. You wear regular underwear when we are at home, and a pull-up for school or when we are out. You are so close to being completely trained, so we're just going to keep working at it.

Eating - you continue to be pretty picky. You take FORever to eat a meal. I often make you a smoothie with all sorts of good, healthy stuff in it because I know that you are more inclined to drink a meal than to eat one. Your favorite meal right now: McDonald's chicken nuggets and a milkshake - not exactly healthy :)!


Luke, I love you more each and every day and we feel so grateful and blessed to be your parents. Thank you for being YOU.

Sweet baby Mia

Mia is just the sweetest baby - we are so lucky. A few observations on her first days of life:

• She LOVES to be held, swaddled, and bundled up under lots of blankets



• She has a ton of facial expressions



• She makes lots of little noises nearly all the time



• She has the loudest and stinkiest poops around!



• She doesn't love sleeping flat on her back, but prefers to be in the swing or carseat. And if she is tilted a bit to the side in the swing, that's even better. She's been sleeping in the swing (without it swinging) since she was 3 days old.



• She loves her food, and when it comes to eating, struggles to have any patience (like Mommy!)



• She likes to suck on her thumb or hand, and will also take a pacifier for a brief amont of time, but definitely knows when she no longer wants it and will spit it right out



• She spits up much more than Luke ever did, so I'm learning to manage that!



• She will often get the hiccups after feeding - especially if she's had a "big" meal



• She's a snuggler - loves to be in your arms, which is just the best

Leading up to Mia's arrival I often wondered (and even worried a bit about) how in the world I could love another child as much as I love Luke. Mia has joined our family and everything feels just as it is supposed to be - she was meant to be here, meant to be part of "us." I now know that I love her as deeply, but in a different way, as Luke. I guess the heart has the ability to continually expand, and to love not only one child more than I ever imagined possible, but now two...I am so incredibly blessed.

Silly tub night

Luke had a fun-filled bath this past week ... well, most of his baths are fun-filled, but this one included a lollipop (a treat that I wanted him to finish, but wasn't into holding up bedtime for), blue tub water (thanks to the crayola color changing tablets from Santa), lots of bubbles, and ... and shampoo mohawk!

Hi Mommy, I Paw (Luke's favorite thing to do right now is put bubbles on his chin and pretend he has a white beard - just like Paw!)

Mia Dorine

Sweet Mia joined our family on January 5, 2010 at 9:30 pm

She weighed in at 7lbs and 1 oz, and was 19 inches long

I have posted some pictures of her first days in an gallery that may be accessed by clicking on this link

We couldn't be happier or more in love with her - she's an absolute doll!

Happy 2010!

Needless to say, we had a quiet New Year's Eve this year - waiting (hoping) for a baby! I thought that perhaps the full blue moon would help ... but, no luck. Oh well, we had a fun night anyways, enjoying one of our last as a family of three.

Pizza making and baking

Happy New Year!

Christmas in the Park (again)

My buddy Jackson and I checking out Christmas in the Park

Christmas Day

A few final Christmas pictures from after Christmas dinner at Day and Paw's

A special Christmas cupcake was waiting for Luke:

Loving playing with Uncle Todd:

Christmas morning 2009

Santa Claus came!!!

I was SO excited ... and he even brought me exactly what I asked him for - a pink lollipop and a blue lollipop. He brought a few other treats as well, but I honestly would have been completely happy with just those two items.

He also brought a new and improved guitar!

Uncle Todd and the rest of my family came over for brunch - and Todd brought his new helicopter, which he let me play with also!

From our family to yours .... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve 2009

This year we celebrated Christmas Eve at our home. It was relatively quiet and mellow since we were unsure of when we might be rushing off to the hospital to meet our newest family member.

Daddy made cioppino, which was fabulous, and Day, Paw, Uncle Todd, Michelle, and Uncle Kenny joined us.

Here are a few pictures from our eve:

Opening presents - this one was one of my favorites from Great-Grandma & Papa - Percy the green engine and some ascending track for my railroad set!

Another present - this one from Day - a new baby doll for me to take care of when Mommy is taking care of my new baby sister:

Brooklyn with some of her favorite people - Uncle Todd, Michelle, and Cosmo:

Mommy and I made chocolate chip cookies to leave out for Santa ... but, I needed to take a small taste to be sure he was getting something good:

Oh, and as you might notice in the previous post, I did get a HUGE candy cane - that was from Paw, and might have been my MOST favorite present of the evening!!!

Merry Christmas!

and many more photos to come soon!

Waiting for Mia

...and a few last finishing touches to complete the nursery!

"Mommy, I tired"

AH ... it's a milestone! For the first time EVER today, Luke admitted that he was tired!!!

Of course, I knew he was tired, because he refused to take a nap at Day's house this afternoon (probably my fault since I forgot his blanket at home). As we loaded him in the car after what should have been his naptime, I saw his poor tired eyes, and he started chewing on his finger (which has started happening recently due to his 2-year molars coming in), and I knew that we just needed to get through a few hours before we could put him to bed for the night.

He talked to me on the car ride home, but as we approached our house, very quietly and completely out of left field I hear, "Mommy, I tired." Then he asked me if he could lay on the couch with his blanket when we got home .... of course, and that's exactly what he did (right before going to bed for the night at 6:45!).