Dance Recital

We celebrated Abby's last dance class this past weekend.  Our little peanut was the youngest one in the class and absolutely the tiniest.  I dare say she might have been the cutest.  She shined like a diamond while keeping her hands down her skirt and chin tucked to her chest.  Who knew our little girl was so shy!

Look how small she is!

Good things come in little packages!

Courtsey

Pure happiness

Tubby Time

Two kids, one tub, and lots of bubbles!  Please excuse the pink tile, weird camera flashes, and whatnot.

Pinterest Fun

Most likely I'll be adding to this post in the next few days.  Since I became addicted to Pinterest during my late night feeding with Sam, I "pinned" a lot of projects to my boards, but also my to-do list during maternity leave.  I can say that I finally finished all the ones that I set out to do.  Some projects were just time in the kitchen baking or cooking.  Others involved power tools and paint.  Here's one of the latter:

Abby helping me hang the growth chart

Finally complete!

We'll need to transfer a few heights from medical charts, but here are the first two!

Easter Bunny

We met up with friends to hang a little Easter event and met the Easter Bunny!  The girls were excited and Sam was just being his awesome laid-back self.

The best part of the day was that Abby got over her fear of bounce houses and went in the BIG one!  YAY!  Thanks, Ridley!

Abby: 3 years 4 months
Sam: 3 Months (just shy of two days)

Playdate!

My friend Susie is a fabulous photographer and has shot our family several times.  Sam and I popped over for a playdate with Brianna and her awesome Mom.  Susie whipped out her camera for a few candids and she was kind enough to share with me.  Seriously, how awesome is she! 

Sam in the Bumbo

Sam is ready for Bumbo action.  He loves sitting up in the Bumbo and checking out his new surroundings.  He's still a bit wobbly and we support him as he sways a bit.  The best was when he was checking out his toes.  You could see his brain thinking, "are those things attached to me?"  Adorable....

Happy Three Months, Sam!

Our little guy turns three months old today!

Sam loves to drool, say "goo", laugh, smile, cuddle and play on his activity mat.  His big sister LOVES playing with him and kissing his head.  He is just like Abby in that he is driven by a schedule.  He eats every four hours and is sleeping pretty well.  Most nights he gets a late night snack around 10:30/11pm and then once again around 3:30/4am.  We're hoping he drops the middle of the morning feeding pretty quickly.  Tim and I partner well and take turns getting up with him.  He is wearing 3-6 month clothes and quickly growing long and lean!

Don't let the above photo fool you, we really do have a happy smiley baby!  He's just so serious in photos!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Top of the morning to ya!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone!  We celebrated with a night out with our BFF's at Gritty's last night.  It was a late one as we crawled home around 9pm.  Well, I drove and Tim may have crawled.  Okay, not really, but that HAS happened in the past. St. Patty's day just isn't what it used to be. Uncle Chris hung out with both kids solo and he lived to tell about it.  We hope he has it in him to do it again!  We went to the parade in Portland today and enjoyed the brisk spring air with friends, bag pipes, and kilts galore!

Please Humor Me....

....and tell me this is NOT child abuse.  You would NEVER have caught me doing this with Abby, because of all the germs and the like, right?  Well....it was just too funny not to catch and share.

We were at Abby's dance class and Sam was hanging on the glass top table.  An older brother of one of Abby's classmates was underneath the table tapping on the glass.  Why not have a little tummy time on the table?

Back to Work

Like all good things, maternity leave has come to an end.  Thankfully, not abruptly.  I'm back to the grind just three mornings this week with a promise to clean out email by Friday.  I'm back full time next week. 

No tears at drop off, but a sense of relief.  I knew this day was coming and embraced it rather than loathed it.  The first day of everything (school, job, etc) can be a bit overwhelming and cause some anxiety, but I was ready to get back to the office.  Since I had dropped off all of Sam's day care stuff last week, all I had to do was drop off kiddos.  And, it went just fine.  I trust our day care provider with my life and know Sam is in good hands.  Pheeww.  And really, it was just a few hours. Next week might be tough.

One of my employees asked me if I was sad.  Truthfully, no.  What I am sad about is that since we do not plan on having any more kids, there is no more maternity leave! Ever!  :-)

Sam and I had a lot of fun while it lasted and now back to the grind.  I WILL miss the hours of snuggle time, Days of Our lives at 1pm, crossing off projects on the list, and eating bon bons.  But, we'll be sure to carve time for all that good stuff in the midst of life's craziness. 

Love this little dude!  He's going to have some much fun playing with Abby and all his friends at Susie's house! 

Fruit Rainbow

Abby was home with me on Friday and I didn't have a clue what to do with her.  On Thursday, she actually came home sick after her 3 year appointment with a 102 fever.  Hmm, so I wasn't sure if she'd be sick, lazy, not sick or hyper.  Of course on my last day of maternity leave she's hyper and not sick.  We ended up having a fun day and made this to share for dessert!  We LOVE fruit in our house and usually have a lot to eat.  It just happened that we had Kiwi to complete the entire rainbow. 

Teddy had to help

Notice our sign in the background.  It's almost springtime!

Abby's Three Year Old Appointment

Better late than never, right?  We actually didn't even have this scheduled so we missed it in November.  So, four months later and here we are. 

Shocking, but she's still a peanut.  She is just shy of 3 feet, coming in at 2' 11" (3.77 %ile) and weighs 25 pounds (1.3%ile).  No concerns from the pediatrician as Abby's healthy, eats well, sleeps well and is an active little girl. During her dance class on Saturday, we noticed that she is the smallest of the bunch - by a lot.  She's also the cutest :-)

While Sam and I left the exam room, we heard Abby get her Hep A vaccine in the leg.  She was a bit teary on the way out, but two lollipops help calm her down.

We're going to have to keep on reminding Abby that good things come in small packages! 

Three and a big, BIG sister and help!

Abby is a beautiful little girl.  She's sassy, funny, smart, precocious, and loving.  She loves to play on the kindle, read books, play with her princess dolls, color, play with her busy bags, help us bake/cook, watch Cars and other Disney movies, and go out to dinner. 

At three she is almost potty trained and just has pullups at night.  Abby enjoys going to day care and playing with her friends.  She can be a little bossy, but shares well.  Surprisingly, she can be somewhat sensitive.  She is a pleaser and very much wants to make Mommy and Daddy happy.  Sometimes I'll tell her that doing xyz makes me unhappy/mad.  Later, she'll say, "Momma, are you mad or happy?".

She really loves her little brother and helps us a lot.  She is good about getting his pacifier when he's crying, feed him when he's hungry, and passes the diaper when he needs a changing. 

Sooooooo, Abby is now 3 and 3 1/2 months. 

A Few Snapshots

Abby had her first french braid styled by my friend Caren

Abby loved it and the curls after!

Sam at 11 weeks and 1 day

A lovely new hairstyle for the girl and a quick photo shoot with the little man.....T-minus 5 days before I go back to work. 

Blog to Book

One of my projects on my list was to use the wonders of technology and turn our blog into a book.  Per recommendation of a friend, I used this website.  After some help with changing my settings on the blog, it took seconds to create a 296 page book which dates back to April of 2009.    I wasn't able to do much editing and there were only a few spots where I wanted to do so.  For just over $100 (15% off and free shipping offer) I was able to cross it off the list.  I can't wait to see it! I'll be sure to do a final review upon arrival, but it will be awhile - delivery is not expected until March 20th.  Stay tuned!

Last. Week. Off.

How the heck did this happen?   Poof! Maternity leave is just about over.  I've managed to cross off a lot on my to-do list which of course includes snuggling with a pretty darn cute newborn on a daily basis.  While I'm looking forward to heading back to work, I know I'm going to miss this time with Sam.  With lots of trips planned during the past few months, I've also been able to spend a lot of time with Abby as well.  She asked me today while grocery shopping, "Mom, when is our NEXT vacation? Can we go back to the hotel?"  .  Two trips to VT a trip to Florida in one month and she's spoiled with the hotel life.  Because, you know, that IS the only place to jump on the bed.

This week marks the last week off and then I start part time next week.  Slowly easing into the work week.  The day after St. Patrick's (ridiculous planning that was) will begin full time.