Irie Elizabeth

Welcoming our newest family member, little Irie Elizabeth!  She was born August 12th, weighed 7lbs 1oz, and was 20 inches long.  Labor was more intense than with Mary Jane, only because it progressed so much faster and I didn't get me epidural until I was already having the worst contractions.  The good news is a only pushed about 8 times, and she was here.  With Mary Jane, it took an hour and a half of pushing before she was born.

About four days later, Mary Jane had her first day of preschool.  She loves it!  We are excited that she is excited.  She goes twice a week for two and half hours.  She gets to get out of the house and it gives us a little break too.  She will also be starting back to ballet next week, yet another diversion.

New Year's Day news!

Our New Year's news is that we are expecting our second child!  We are very excited!  The baby is currently the size of a blueberry and still looks like a tadpole (7 weeks along), I am due mid-August.  I am a little worried about being gigantic during the hottest months, last time I was the biggest in the early spring. 

We have starting thinking about names, but don't really want to share due to the fact that our chosen name has been stolen in the past.  Also, we prefer not to have everyone's opinion about the name we choose.  People didn't like the name Mary Jane and weren't afraid to tell us.  We used the name anyway and couldn't imagine her as anyone else!

Mary Jane is also very excited about the new baby.  She wants to touch my belly and keeps telling me that she can't wait for the baby "to crack out of my belly!"  We'll see how excited she will be when the newborn is crying all the time.

Spring Vacation

We just planned a trip to Disneyland at the end of April, it will coincide with MJ's third birthday! We are very excited! Note to self - don't tell your almost 3 year old that we are going to Disneyland to see all the princesses and Mickey Mouse, she has no concept of time and thinks we are going this instant. Poor thing had a total meltdown. I tried pointing out on the calendar what today is and then two months later is the Disneyland trip - she just pushed it away and cried harder. She went into her room and packed three little bags full of toys that thought she would need on our trip and proceeded to yell at Greg and I to put our coats on cause we were going now! Greg finally had to indulge her a bit and put her in the car, he drove around until she finally fell asleep.

There will be no more talk of Disneyland until we are standing out in front of the entrance!

Mary Jane's Photography

It will never cease to amaze me how fast my little two year old can figure things out. So, I got a new iphone a couple of months ago and I purchased some apps for her to play. I don't even have to unlock the screen for her, she figured it all out. One thing she loves to play with is the camera, and the other day I was scrolling through the pictures and found these, obviously taken by Mary Jane. I will let them speak for themselves.

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All the toys in the world cannot compare to the fun of a cardboard box.

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Seven degrees this morning when Greg drove me to the train.  This picture is from the dash in our car.  Burrrrrr!  Good thing I put on my long johns!

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving is probably my second favorite holiday after Halloween of course. I love all the food! Also, its when I get to start decorating for Christmas. We put up our prelit christmas tree that we made last year, 900 LEDs if you remember. It is just as awesome as I remember.

Mary Jane was a good little helper, she would tell me where to put the ornaments and thats where they went (most of the time).

After it was decorated, we sat in the living room and snuggled, Mary Jane wanted to take some pictures of the two of us.

The next step in the decorating process was the outside of the house. Last year we just had a single strand of lights, not very exciting. This year I had a vision with garland and oversized ornaments. It turned out pretty well. Greg did most of the work, I micromanaged.