Baby Steps

Leo's first few little steps.

Way to go!



Well Aunt Dona, you were right! He did take his first few steps while Grandma and Grandpa were here!

New found freedom

He's almost 11 months old already and brave as can be. He escapes and starts climbing up the stairs every chance he gets. He likes to get on his feet and let go of whatever he is holding on to just to see how long he can stay up. He's cruising around with push toys throughout the house. He is so excited about this that he couldn't nap today. I don't blame him...it is pretty exciting.

Ella-isms

Lessons of the day from our curious and determined daughter.


"Ladybugs don't eat cheerios"

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Daddy: "Do you know what patience means?"

C: "Yes. It means to wait very loudly."

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C: "No Daddy, you're the alligator. I'm the monkey."

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Our new bedtime routine (which changes frequently):
C: "Okay, one more jump hug, then I am going to zip your lips, unzip them and hug you again."

Before it was, C: "I am going to hug you, kiss you, and then I am going to smell you."

We have since added jump hugs where she stands at the edge of the bed, lifts up her arms and jumps into our arms. I can't resist it! I love getting "one more jump hug".

Today's Conversation

C: "Where's my wand?"

S: "Here it is, sweetie."

C: "Hey, it doesn't work."

S: "Have you tried using magic words?"

C: "POOF! It still didn't work, Mommy."

S: "Well, maybe it's the kind of wand that needs your imagination to work."

C: "Oh. Okay, I'll try that.

POOF!

Wow, did you see that?"

S: "What?"

C: "There is a rainbow.
POOF! Hey look! Now it is a yellow rainbow. (Pointing) Yellow, yellow, yellow. POOF! Wow!
Look, now it's a blue rainbow. (Pointing again) Blue, blue, blue."

S: "That's great honey. See I knew your wand worked."

C: "POOF! Now it's a brown rainbow..."

Halloween Day

As a neighbor and friend pointed out: "Wow, how many costumes does Ella have?"

True, very true. We ended up with multiple costumes for our little girl. She wanted to wear a variety of things this week and actually wore two different ones on Halloween Day itself: One for school and one for trick-or-treating.

The school costume was Super Girl and she looked super cute in it.

For going to the block party and for Trick-or-Treating last night she wanted to be a ballerina and wear one of my old recital costumes when I was about her age. She called herself a ballerina princess and wore the outfit with such pride.

We met a new neighbor at the block party and ended up going house to house with them. The little girl (also 3-years-old), dressed as an elephant, grabbed Carmella's hand and led her up to each door. The pair of them had the best time ever.

Leo went as Tigger, growls and all. Below is a video of him practicing his growl and of sis joining along for the fun of it.

Pre- Halloween Activities

I think we already have enough candy.

Everywhere we turn Carmella seems to be getting more candy and it isn't even Trick-or-Treat night yet. She dressed up for dance class this week and chose to wear a bee costume. Then we got invited to a neighbor's church for Wednesday night dinner and costume parade. She again wanted to wear the bee. I think she looks Bee-u-t-ful--even if it is just a play dress-up, hand-me-down outfit. Her actual trick-or-treating costume will be a lovely ballerina tutu that I wore for a recital when I was a little girl in dance.

Two more events to go. A neighborhood party on Saturday and then the actual trick-or-treat night, Monday. So many opportunities to dress up. It's perfect for my little one who is so in to dress up these days.

Carmella's 3

Oh my goodness! I can't believe that our little princess is already three years old. She is no longer a toddler, she is a long and lean little girl who loves Disney princesses and everything that goes along with them.

I kind of felt bad that we basically sang happy birthday to her last year and didn't do much else. We had just moved here and didn't know anyone at the time. Over the past year we have made some wonderful friends and have become close to several of our neighbors. So this time around it was actually difficult to pick and choose and put a limit to the amount of guests we invited. All and all we ended up with 32 people at the party.

We didn't want to overwhelm our sweet girl with too many gifts all at once so we had a small family celebration on Friday evening. Daddy was finally home from his trip and Grandma and Pop Pop were here to wish her a happy day. She got a few clothing items, some hair accessories, a fun packet of princess arts and crafts and a set of magnetic dolls with dress up clothes to put on them. She was thrilled.

The next morning the bouncy castle arrived. Her dad told her that the princesses sent her a gift for her birthday party. And as the castle quickly filled up with air she saw all the princesses on the front of it and got so excited. She couldn't take her shoes off fast enough to get to be the first to jump in it. What a special treat.

The guests arrived, the party was under way and our little girl was the perfect hostess. In fact, all the kids did a great job. We only had one full blown tear fest when a little boy tried to climb through a folding chair and it collapsed on him. It took him a while to calm down after that. I don't think he was hurt, it just scared him to tears.

She got a pretty Ariel cake and managed to blow out all three candles by herself!

When the party was over, and after she took a nice long nap, our little family of four climbed back into the bouncy house and hung out bouncing around for a while. Our new neighbors, next door, came over and joined us for a while. It was a nice relaxing way to visit with them and get to know them a little better too. It really was a perfect day.

Then on Sunday, Mark and I gave her our present. A few months ago I was able to call in a favor to a consignment sale that we have a special connection with the lady that runs it. She set aside a two seater, Jeep kid's car that came in so we could purchase it for our kids. It is in perfect condition and retails close to $600. It was on sale for a mere fraction of that and was a deal we couldn't pass up. Mark's folks went halfsies with us which made it even more of a steal. So after church yesterday we got Mark's folks on Skype and they were able to witness her reaction to the gift in real time. I love modern technology and laptops with built-in cameras.

And that's it...I promise. The birthday girl is officially 3 and there are no more surprises until next year--I swear!

I need to send out a special thank you to my parents for helping me put all of this together and pull it off seamlessly. We miss you already.

What a Week!

My parents drove down from Pennsylvania to hang out with me and the kids while my husband was in Ireland for business. It was so nice to "do life" with them for a week. We simply kept on doing what we normally do, but with help from Grandma and Pop Pop. It was great! My dad's sciatic pain was not bad at all, which allowed him to do a lot more than we originally expected. He and my mom actually went hiking at Kennesaw Mountain one afternoon.

Grandma got to take Carmella to dance class and witness how much she LOVES to dance. Then on Thursday we took a trip to the aquarium and saw the impressive dolphin show and other exhibits. That is always a fun activity for the family.

I especially loved the extra help. Every time I turned around, someone had made dinner, cleaned up the dishes and swept the floors. It was so great. I even had extra help scrubbing the floors when the spit-up king, Leo, struck again and again and again. I wasn't as exhausted as usual by the end of the week. Except that we threw a little birthday party into the mix. But that will be another post.

[Grandma and Pop Pop mingling with the natives.]

[Trip to a nearby pumpkin patch.]

[Morning of dance class.]

[The aquarium.]

[Carmella showing off her talent as a singer/drummer.]

Disney/Beach Vacay

My sister, Laurel and her kids get to do Disneyland every week. We are not that fortunate, but we did get to go to Disney World for the first time last week. We packed up our car and drove to Florida to spend some time with my Grandma Julia, see some dear friends, jump in the ocean, and of course, go to Disney.

Both kids got really sick the day we left. I honestly thought we would end up in the ER with Carmella for a horrible croup-like cough. We made it through the first night at a hotel along the way and continued our drive the next day. By the time we arrived at Grandma's house her cough was getting better and there was no fever. Thank goodness. Both kids continued to have a lingering cough the entire week, but every day got a little better.

That first day we spent some time with Grandma, took her to Grills, one of my favorite fish places right by the port. We sat outside and watched the big cruise liners go out to sea. A Disney Magic and a Carnival cruise left that evening. I loved that the Disney boat blew a whistle to the tune of "When You Wish Upon a Star".

We then headed to our condo on Satellite Beach. We were blown away by how close we were to the ocean. It was so relaxing to be able to open the balcony doors and listen to the waves crashing right outside our windows. The next day we invited some of my Florida buddies over for a little dinner party. It was so nice to see everyone again and meet their beautiful children.

Our time at the beach was awesome. We couldn't have asked for better weather! We were even able to go on a boat ride with a good friend of mine, and neighbor of my Grandma's, Pixie and her husband Capt. Mike. Carmella loved seeing the manatees and dauphins playing in the river.

Tuesday was the big day that we have been waiting for--Disney! First thing first, we had to see the princesses right away. Carmella was in awe of their beautiful dresses. She couldn't wait to meet them. The rest of the day was so much fun. I honestly think I was more excited than my little girl. Mark loved that I was having such a great time, and Leo was just along for the ride. In fact, he took three naps that day. Oh well. However, he clearly liked the It's a Small World ride and Buzz Lightyear.

It was so difficult to leave. Sometimes I find myself sitting quietly and wishing I could open the back door and hear the ocean waves again. I guess the nearby traffic will have to do. I will just have to use my imagination... Sigh.

On the move

Leo has figured out how to get to toys and other objects that he wants. It's a little squirmy and not so smooth, but he's getting the hang of crawling. It all started with him going from belly to sitting. Now he is moving and grooving--somewhat. Well, you can see for yourself. I managed to get his first few combat crawl attempts on video.

The only setback of all this is his complete satisfaction and obsession with himself and his new found talent. In other words, he is not sleeping very well during nap times. Yesterday he kept sitting up and getting mad that there was nothing to play with. I kept placing him back down--he didn't like that either. It was a battle of the wills. Mommy lost.

Today it was more of the same. I think he was just so tired that he conked out after only three "repositions" by mommy in bed. He slept 20 minutes then woke crying again for the second day in a row. If I remember correctly with Carmella this lasted a few days and the novelty of it wears off. I am hopeful that naps will return to normal by week's end.

If only we could get him to stop spitting up. Now that I cannot keep him on a blanket, my carpets are going to suffer even more.

Apple Orchard

Today, for our 6th anniversary Mark and I decided to embrace this wonderful cooler weather and take the family apple picking. Hillcrest Orchard is a fun family place a little over an hours drive away. They had all sorts of fun things to do.

First, we picked apples.

Then took a wagon ride through the property. After the ride, Carmella got to milk a cow.

She also got to bounce on some large air pillow and ride in a derby with a tricycle.

Then, to end our time there, we watched a pig race. Carmella even got chosen to stand up on the platform and race a pig. Her pig, Kevin Bacon, lost, but she still came away with a red ribbon for her participation.

Go pigs, go.

Little Drummer Boy

Precious Rewards

We have been having some major drama at bedtime lately with miss Carmella Rose. As sweet as she is during the day, the opposite became true at night. Our little girl mysteriously turned into a little monster just when it was time to say "good night". It became such a heartache for us because we would have such a lovely evening, fun story time and sweet good night kisses. But just when you thought she was snuggled in bed, the nightmare began. It wasn't just her getting out of bed a million times. We could handle that if it wasn't accompanied with full on tantrum screaming. We finally figured out the root of the problem...she was too wound up and simply wanted more of us.

See, daddy gets home around 6:30, we have dinner right away, then it is basically time to get ready for bed. Daddy always puts Carmella to bed. They have a blast singing songs, and reading stories and saying prayers. Who wouldn't want that time to go on forever. So every night turned into major drama, making everyone miserable.

To remedy the situation we did our Bible story right after dinner, downstairs. We took away songs all together and simply got jammies on, brushed teeth and said prayers before kisses and hugs and lights out. We put into place a rewards system because we exhausted all other consequences and punishments. And frankly, we were sick and tired of fighting with her. So Mommy made some fun numbers and each night that she went to bed without fussing at all she earned a new number. We stuck each number she earned to her bathroom mirror so she could easily see her progress. When she reached the number 5 she was allowed to pick out a princess doll at Target.

It took her about 8 days to reach the number 5 and still had two more nights before we could get to the store to purchase her doll. She did awesome! We are so proud of our little princess. She decided that she wanted Belle from Beauty and the Beast and couldn't wait to get her.

On Friday we had a very busy day. First we stopped by Carmella's school to check out a consignment sale because Mr. Leo is growing so fast I needed to get some size 18 month clothes (even though he is only 8 months old!!). I know that he will be in that size very soon and most definitely for the cooler months of winter. At that sale I found a Belle princess dress complete with high heal shoes and a wand for $8. It was is great shape and looked really cute.

Carmella was beyond excited about the dress. She wanted to hold it in the car on the way to swimming class. After swim lessons we had lunch then went to Target to get her doll.

When we walked in the store she started dancing and skipping down the aisle. Then she stopped, looked up at me, pumped her hands in the air and squealed, "Mommy, this is so exciting!" Then we walked as fast as we could to the toy section to find Belle.

I asked her: "So do you know why you are getting Belle?"

She replied (very intuitively I might add), "Because I have been such a good girl and didn't cry or scream at bedtime. And I got to number 5, Mommy."

So here is the end result. A very happy princess. A very happy mommy and daddy. And a very quiet house at night. Thank you to those who have been praying for our little girl and this situation.