Jennifer & Chip's Wedding

Jason and I just got back from Cleveland for one of my best friends weddings. We had such a fun weekend getaway and were so happy to celebrate Jennifer and Chip getting married. Here are some pics.

We took the red eye and I think I slept a total of 1 hour on the plane. Luckily our hotel let us checkin at 6am and we slept for a few hours. Then we headed out on the town. Jason loves to research new cities and sightsee. We headed to Lola for lunch, which was some chef's restaurant from Iron Chef.

Afterwards, we headed over to see Jennifer's new house in Cleveland Heights. It was a gorgeous brick house from the 1920's. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that our entire house (backyard included) might fit in her basement. She had 3 other stories. It was gorgeous. I loved all the woodwork and beautiful architecture. Her closets definitely made me jealous.

We then headed to the Rehearsal. I was so honored to be a part of Jennifer's ceremony.

Her rehearsal dinner was at a beautiful and delicious restaurant in downtown Cleveland.

Jamie, Jennifer and I all swam together as kids. These girls were part of my childhood and some of the best friends anyone could have ever asked for. It was so fun to be back together again. We ended the night around midnight at an Irish pub.

The next morning we were up bright and early to start getting ready. Jennifer, Julie and I spent the day at the Club that they were getting married. Here is a start to our hair. Thankfully it looked a little different when they were finished.

The beautiful bride and groom. They decided to see each other before their ceremony to be able to take some beautiful photos together.

Ready to go.

Live music and good wine. Jason couldn't have been happier!

Cheers Jennifer and Chip! We are so happy for the both of you. Wishing you a lifetime of happiness, friendship and love.

THANK YOU Grammy and Papa for taking care of our little ones. We are so appreciative.

Pumpkin Patch

Took our annual trip to the Clayton Pumpkin Patch this past weekend. We had so much fun and Roman loved the tunnels and the train. I absolutely LOVE HALLOWEEN and the Fall.

This boy couldn't be happier: in a tunnel with a snack. Two of his favorites.

CHOO CHOO!

Roman and Paisley's Halloween costumes should be arriving this week. I asked Roman what he wanted to be this year and he said, "WOODY." I asked him about a dozen times throughout the month and it never changed, so he will be our little sheriff. Paisley is going to be a sweet, cute, cuddly Piggie (we are telling Roman she is HAMM from Toy Story).

ONE

Paisley,

This past week you turned ONE. We can't believe how fast this past year has flown by and can honestly say it has been the very best. You have brought so much love to our lives. Your sweet personality shines and you are always smiling. You have a twinkle in your eyes that just fills up our hearts. Your tongue is always out when you smile. Truly your signature look.

You always hear from parents about life being so much harder once a 2nd child arrives, but you proved them wrong. There is definitely much more work, twice the diapers and some days that are hard, but you truly make our lives easier and brighter. Other than your spit-up, you were an absolute angel baby. You are a great sleeper at night, love your naps, are happy almost all the time and so cheerful. Your chuckle is contagious and comes straight from the belly.

You are very active and get into everything. Your favorite thing is to climb onto anything and everything. Today I found you on top of our media cabinet. You must have scaled the speakers to get up there. You have very little fear and lots of energy, which has recently equaled a few falls and tumbles. You crawl at a very fast speed and rarely slow down to cuddle. At night it is a challenge to get you to take your bottle since all you want to do is keep moving. I can't wait to see what life is going to be like when you start walking. I may be in for a real challenge with both you and your brother.

You love food and will eat almost everything we give you. Really the only time you get upset is when you see food that you want. You may be a little tomboy (or it may just be because you have an older brother) but you love playing with cars, blocks and trains. You also like playing with your kitchen. You love being outdoors and at the park.

Roman absolutely adores you and I love seeing the 2 of you interact. Some of my favorite moments are catching the 2 of you playing when you don't think that I am watching. You try and keep up with him and are always wanting to do what he does. I am excited to see your friendship and relationship grow thru the years.

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl! You are our Sunshine!

The Birthday Girl

Last weekend we got to celebrate our Sweet Birthday Girl. We got the most amazing weather for a beautiful party in my parents backyard. We decorated in pink and the best part of all were the Skippypets. We got 6 motorized animal vehicles "Skippypets" that were so FUN! They truly made the party. We had about 70 family and friends to honor Paisley turning ONE. I always feel like 1st Birthdays are a reason to really celebrate: both Paisley and everyone that has helped us survive and enjoy our 1st year.

I had a lot of fun decorating with the pink, Shabby chic style.

My Dad did an adorable little cake for Paisley. She loved it so much. I actually had to take it away from her since I thought she may eat the entire thing.

YUMMMMM! This girl loves chocolate. Paisley had such a fun day. However right before her party, I got some sunscreen in her eyes and she had an allergic reaction. Her eyes looked so teary all day, but she was actually really happy.

I found these Skippypets at the Walnut Creek Family Festival a few weeks ago. They were so much fun and Paisley loved riding on them. I encouraged each guest to take a ride and most people did. Everyone loved it.

Jason and Roman riding along.

Pop, Scott and Tyler

The next day we celebrated with our parents and opened up all of Paisley's gifts. It was nice and relaxing and a perfect way to end our celebration.

This lucky girl got some adorable clothes and fun toys.

One of her favorite toys (and Roman's too)

Paisley and Roman opening gifts. Paisley loved holding all the cards.

THANK YOU To everyone who helped us celebrate Paisley's 1st Birthday. We are so blessed with this sweet little love in our lives.

Prayers and Comfort for my Mom

This week was a bit unexpected, as my Mom had a procedure done to put a port into her brain that will administer chemo to treat leukemia cells found in her spinal fluid. 4 years ago my Mom was diagnosed with CLL (a cancer of the white blood cells). My sister explains everything very clearly on her blog:
Prayers for Grandma

We ask for your prayers for comfort, peace and healing. My Mom is definitely one tough woman and even through all of this continues to push herself to keep busy. I think our main challenge will be finding a way to have her rest a little.

We are all hopeful that all of this will lead to a much better quality of life and to relieve some of her recent symptoms that have included blurry vision, severe back pain and nerve pain. Thank you for all your support, love and encouragement. We know that each and every prayer is so important and I thank God for the amazing medical technology that is available. Times like this make me so thankful for my amazing family and friends.

On another note...I wanted to mention that Bob (Jason's Dad) finished his chemo about a month ago and is doing great! We were all shocked when he was diagnosed with a very rare Stage 3 cancer, but after 4 months of tough treatment and isolation he is doing so great and focusing on getting back to his normal life. What a blessing and answered prayer. As I have mentioned, he went thru quite a tough treatment on his body, but always had hope and remained positive. Such a wonderful example of courage and grace. Thank you for all your prayers for him.

A Princess

Today is Paisley's birthday, so I dressed her up in her pretty pink party dress. It was a rainy afternoon, so we did a little photoshoot. Roman kept repeating something about Paisley that I couldn't quite figure out. I finally realized he was saying, "Paisley is a princess." It was so sweet that I wanted to cry. I didn't even know that he knew what a princess was. I recently bought Paisley a book that includes Disney princesses about Fall. It has become one of Roman's favorite books, so I am guessing he thought her dress looked like the princess dresses from the book.

While I was pregnant with Paisley, I constantly worried how it would affect Roman. Now a year later, I can admit that it was the best gift we could have ever given him. He is in love with Paisley and they make quite a team. Here is a pic when I said, "Give each other a kiss". Paisley actually leaned in and went to give him a kiss. These are the moments that I cherish more than anything.

10 Day Countdown

Until you turn ONE!!! Can't wait to celebrate.

Two and a Half

Roman

This past month you turned 2 1/2. I feel bad that I don't write monthly updates for you anymore, but I figured every 6 months will really allow me to reflect on all that has changed. You have been such a good boy and truly melt my heart each day. You are funny, a true character, sensitive, loving, sweet, mischevious and so full of love. Your personality is one in a million. You make us so proud and each morning when I see you I just smile. You make me feel so full of love.

Luckily the temper tantrum phase of toddlerhood seemed to quickly pass and we survived. We are still working on patience and whining, but for the most part you can now communicate so much better about what you want and what you need. You are talking so much and it makes us laugh to hear what you say each day. Sometimes we still have a hard time figuring it all out, but it may be due to your slight Boston accent (it is so cute). One of our favorite times of the day is sitting in our bed with you at the end of the night. You tell us funny things and it is time to just act silly.

Here are some hightlights at 2 1/2:

-You are our little engineer. Definitely got that gene from your Grandpa's. You love to figure out how things work. You love to turn electronics on/off, follow the GPS system, push the button to have the garage door up and and down. Your favorite place to drive is through the Caldecott tunnel. When we drive through the tunnel, you talk about it for days and can't wait to go back. You also like to watch traffic lights and say, "Green Light, Red Light".

-You love the moon. Each night you go outside with your Dad to find it. You get very excited when it is visable during the day.

-Your favorite TV program is still Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. You watch 1 episode before your nap and when it is over you say, "Night Night Mommy" and walk to your crib for your nap. You will watch other shows, but Mickey is still your favorite.

-You love reading books at the end of the night. Your current favorites are: My Very Own Name Book, Farm Dog Marley, and The Very Hungry Catepillar. It amazes me that you have most of them memorized.

-You are fascinated with number and letters. You know all capital letters in the alphabet and most lowercase. This is something you taught yourself and it really shocked me when you started telling me letters. Your favorite is the letter X. You like to have us draw certain letters for you on pieces of paper.

-You have a slight phobia of bugs (hmmmmm...wonder where that one came from). We are trying to work on this and even came up with a song called, "Bugs are our friends"

-You still love water and could play for hours with the water table, in your bath, spraying the hose or swimming in a pool. We are all going to miss the warm summer weather.

-You are social, but it can take a little while for you to warm up. Once you are comfortable in a situation, you make everyone laugh with your funny sense of humor and personality.

-You like talking to people out in public. The other day at Walgreens you yelled, "Watch Out" to 2 ladies in the aisle. You also like to say, "Good Morning" throughout the day to strangers.

-You love your routine. You can be very particular if anyone tries and changes it.

-Favorite foods: Donuts, cake, turkey, yogurt, fruit, fruit snacks, M&M's

-You love your teacher Miss Helen. After 5 days of preschool, you finally went to Miss Helen with no tears. She swears to me that after 1 minute of tears, you are back to your happy self. I am so glad that you are doing preschool. I know you are going to love it!

-Full of energy. It amazes me how much energy you can have. You rarely are tired and can now go without a nap (but 2 days with no nap equals absolute terror). At the end of the night you get a rush of energy and are typically running around in circles, dancing around the living room or jumping in the bed.

-You love your sister, but are starting to get a little annoyed with her when she steals your toys. We are working on this one. For the most part, you are such a love with her and are very gentle with her. I am proud of the wonderful Big Brother you are to her.

-You are silly and a total entertainer. You like to sing and dance, especially right before bedtime. Your favorite songs to sing are Twinkle Twinkle, Happy Birthday and ABC's. You always clap after the song is over and are so proud of yourself.

-Love exploring outside. Whether it is picking flowers or digging in the dirt, you love being in nature. You also love animals. Sometimes you can get annoyed with Marley, but deep down you care for her deeply. You always say Bye Bye Mar Mar when we leave the house.

-All our practice with teaching you manners is starting to pay off. You get a little confused with the difference of Please and Thank You, but are getting better and better about using them. The cutest thing is when you burp, you say "CUSE ME"! I love it! I think it is so important to instill good manners in your children and even though it sometimes makes me feel like a broken record, the repetitiveness is finally paying off. Nothing is cuter than a little boy with good manners.

-You like to look at pictures and movies of yourself on the computer.

-You love your grandparents very much. You get so excited when they come over and visit.

-You look up to your cousins, Scott and Tyler very much. Whenever I want you to do something that you don't want to, I tell you that Scott and Tyler do it and it works about 90% of the time. You are so lucky to have such cool cousins that will hopefully teach you a lot along the way.

-You love your blankies and lovies. I think you may sleep with 8. Our favorite time of the day is bedtime. You like to sit in our bed, talk to us, wrestle your Daddy and read books.

-You have become a much better listener. You are starting to understand boundaries and where you can and cannot go.

Some things that we are working on:
Teethbrushing, not screaming in public, pottytraining (little by little), sitting at the table for dinner (you currently like to get up and down 20 times) and sharing with your sister.

Roman...we love you so much and you make us so happy and proud. We couldn't have asked for a more amazing, wonderful, loving and fun little boy to make our lives so filled with joy. THANK you for bringing so much happiness to our lives and keeping us busy.

11 Months

I can't believe we have less than 1 month to go before we celebrate your 1st Birthday! You have been the greatest blessing in our lives and truly bring so much to our little family. This past month your personality has really been coming out and you make us laugh and smile with your sweet and funny self. You are into everything and love to perch on anything that is dangerous. I always have to keep an eye out for you because before I know it you are usually teetering on our fireplace about an inch from falling off. You are daring and getting better with your stranger danger (thank goodness).


You love to bounce on this trampoline. You have even starting doing some bopping and bouncing when music comes on. We hope you love music as much as the rest of us.


Your 2nd favorite place to hang out (other than your perch on the fireplace) is in the fridge. You like to take out everything in the bottom shelf and try and eat it. Sometimes when I am cooking breakfast, I just open the fridge and let you at it.


Still love your baths and anything to do with water. We recently added Bubbles and you love dunking your face in the bubbles.


Other than people and the parachute tunnel, you don't seem to be scared of much. You loved going on a ride with Daddy at the festival. I have a feeling you are going to be more daring than your brother and always trying to do whatever he is.


We are sad that the summer is coming to an end, but will be sure to find a way to get you back in some sort of water.

Some highlights...
-Eating SO much! Sometimes we really think you eat more than us.
-Love giving me something and than me giving it back. "For Paisley, For Mama"
-4 teeth on top, 2 on bottom
-Starting to babble much more. Little by little we are starting to hear some sounds, but you are still pretty quiet.
-Starting to like opening and shutting things and rummaging through anything you can get your hands on.
-Love riding in the front of the grocery cart, now Roman is in the middle
-Moved to a big girl carseat. Much happier riding in the car now.
-Taking 2 naps: 1 hour in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. Such a good sleeper at night. We just put you in your bed and you fall asleep.

Paisley...you are such a happy girl. Your so easy going and fun to be around. I love your big smile and look forward to our weekly alone time together when Roman goes to Preschool. I can't wait for your 1st Birthday party, so we can celebrate the truly amazing little girl that you have become. We love you!

Preschool Begins

My little man started Preschool last week. Roman is going to Walnut Avenue Community Christian Preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 - 11:45. I fell in love with this school for its simplicity, the peaceful surroundings, the loving teachers and that it based on the philosophy of "instilling in each child a love of self and a love of others". What more could I ask for?


The night before school, we packed Romans backpack and he wanted to wear it around the house for hours. He kept checking it to make sure everything was still inside. He is very particular. We talked a lot about school, about his teacher and about how special he was to be able to start going to school. Part of me really struggled with starting him in school at 2 1/2, but I knew it was going to be great for the both of us.


School starts at 9am, which can be a little early for me, but we made sure we had enough time to eat a good breakfast and get ready. We made it to school and found his teacher, Miss Helen. Roman was a little concerned with where his backpack would go and then came the tears when it was time for me to go. I noticed a few other boys crying and gave Miss Helen the look that I was on my way. She scooped him up and just held him. By the time I got back to my car with Paisley, I was ready to shed a few tears until I looked down at my phone and saw that Lauren was having her baby. It gave me a good emotional distraction.


When I picked up Roman he had a big smile on his face and told me "School was FUN!". He than began to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for me. I asked if he met any friends and he said, "Miss Helen". He speaks a lot about Miss Helen and I know she is the perfect teacher for his 1st year at school.

I know that preschool is going to be so great for Roman and I feel so lucky to have found this school for him. It is so nurturing and reminds me of somewhere I would have gone 30 years ago. Roman is such a special boy with a sweet soul. I look forward to some wonderful years ahead at Walnut Avenue Preschool.