Happy Half-Year Birthday Sweet Little Nellie

It is hard to believe Nellie is 6 months old.  Having children and especially an infant makes one realize how fast time really does go by.  Nellie has filled our hearts with so much love and joy.  Seeing the love develop between Jake and Nellie is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced.  It is the definition of true love!  Nellie’s face lights up when she sees Jake and Jake’s lights up when he sees Nellie.  Jake has embraced the role of big brother and shows his love, protection, and devotion to Nellie everyday.  (I know there will come a day when they will have a disagreement and it won’t all be love and happiness 24-7.)  Jake amazes me with the patience, kindness, and love he has exhibited in the last 6 months. 

Six months ago I gave birth to this beautiful little girl with big eyes and lots of hair.  She did cry a bit her first night with us in the hospital, but has hardly cried since.  In six months Nellie has gone from 7.5 lbs to over 15.5 lbs; she has lost her thick black hair for more wispy dark brown hair; her eyes have changed from blue to green; she has developed a captivating smile; learned to laugh; gained a “voice”; helped us love her more everyday; and made our family truly complete.  Thank you Nellie!

Nellie is such a happy baby it is unbelievable.  This past Saturday in Wegmans she gave a big huge smile to anyone in the store who said hi to her.   The last person to say hi to her was this older man who proclaimed he had a way with babies.  I let him believe this and did not reveal that he was the 10^th person Nellie smile at in the last 30 minutes.  Nellie started day care in January and adjusted just fine.  The wonderful people that take care of Nellie each day have grown fond of her.  The lady that works at the front desk told me she goes to see Nellie almost everyday on her lunch break because she knows she can always get a smile from Nellie.  A few weeks ago Nellie had her first ear infection.  When I picked her up Jen said: “Well for Nellie she was fussy today but for any other baby in this room she was normal.” When we got home I took her temperature and it was over 101.  Last week I discovered Nellie has her first tooth.  I only knew because she was trying to chew on my finger and I felt it.  She gave us no signs that she was teething.  Sleeping continues to be a strong character trait of Nellie’s as she regularly sleeps about 12 hours a night.  The one area Nellie is not making progress is in eating solid foods.  She continues to give us dirty looks each evening when we try to feed her cereal or applesauce.  I think she really likes the quickness of food delivery she gets from the bottle and can’t be bothered to get food spoonful by spoonful. 

Happy Half Year Birthday Nellie – You are an amazing little girl!

Brrr……. is it Cold – Yippeeeee!

The sub zero temperatures last week brought smiles to the faces of the people living in this house.  While most people around here were dreading the forecasted article like temperatures Erik and Jake got started on our family hockey rink.  We were able to make 3-5 inches of ice over two nights.  We have enjoyed the little rink over the last few days.  For those people around CNY who skate at Cicero Twin Rinks, both Erik and I thought our ice was better than theirs.  

The temperatures for this week will rise close to 50.  That SUCKS!  We want an ice rink and no stinking swimming pool.  Lets hope it freezes back over for the 2-on-2 hockey tournament my women’s team has planned next month.  Who needs the NHL when you have the HHL. 

A Very Merry Christmas

Wow what a Christmas.  I think 4 years old is the prime age for the spirit of Christmas.  We got the into the spirit of the season with the Peace Celebration at Jake’s school.  This is a wonderful event in which different families share their religious or ethnic celebrations.  Mixed into the sharing is the children signing all the songs they have learned throughout the year so far.  It is a mixture of songs in english and in french.  

After the Peace Celebration we moved on to making Christmas cookies.  This was a three day event for Jake and I.  We made gingerbread-man and snowman sugar cookies.  We ended up with more of them in the “hospital”.  Jake and I developed a pretty good surgical repair technique with red icing.  Even if they looked a little worse for the wear they still tasked good.

To get us into the spirit even more we got a lot of snow that allowed for some winter fun of sledding and skiing.  

For Christmas eve we had Uncle Dave, Aunt Lisa, Ally, Grandma, and TT over for a meal that included 7 fishes.  Christmas eve day was marked by the flu really knocking Erik out.  He spent the entire day in bed and got up to eat a little bit. Uncle Dave said the meal was “slamming” so I guess it was pretty darn good.  

 Grandma talking with the Florida Latours on Skype.

Cookies and milk for Santa

The entire week before Christmas Jake got up around 5:30.  We had spend all of December using and two advent calendars to keep track of how many days before Christmas.  Jake attended to the calendars faithfully every morning when he woke up.   He as so charged up before Christmas I thought for sure he wouldn’t sleep Christmas Eve.  When he went to bed it said he didn’t want to read books because we needed to go right to sleep so Santa would come.  He was worried about what would happen if Santa came while I was up feeding Nellie.  I had to promise not to go down stairs.  I guess I was pretty excited about Santa as I was up at 6am. Everyone else slept for another hour.  Just after 7 I hear Jake’s feet hit the floor and run down the hall at full speed.  

Jake’s Christmas list included Lego City, Lego City, and more Lego City.  He got his wish! When Jake was first checking out what was under the tree he went to Nellie stocking first to tell her what she got.  The love that Jake has for Nellie is beyond words!  Poor Erik was only able to get out of bed for about an hour.  Jake played all day with his legos.  Christmas dinner was nice but quite as it was Jake, TT, Nellie, and me.  You know Erik is sick when he doesn’t even get out of bed to eat a nice roast.  

With the exception of Erik being sick it was an absolutely AMAZING Christmas. 

The end result of the Lego Christmas vacation!

Nellie 0.25

Nellie turned 3 months old on 11/28/12.  I know it is hard to believe.  It is remarkable how much development occurs in such a short period of time.  She is really starting to show us her personality.  It appears she is going to be a little chatter box as she regularly has "conversations" with us.  I guess we better start saving for the future phone bills we are likely to be facing. Wait.....will we even have phones when she is a teenage?  Nellie does like to be included as she needs to be sitting in a position that lets her see all the action that is going on.

Our little girl remains to have an easy going dispositon.  She is happy to be dragged along where ever we go, seemingly always sporting her captivating smile.  Yesterday we were having lunch with my friend Hannah and Nellie was very willing to give Hannah and the random nice man sitting at the table next to us smiles.

THANKFULLY Nellie continues to be a great sleeper.  She usually only wakes up once to eat and will sleep through the night about once a week.  Nellie is a cat napper during the day, because I think she is afraid she is going to miss out on some action.  But if she continues to sleep like she does at night I am 100% ok with her lack of napping.  I do have to say that when it comes time for Nellie to eat this is the only time she is not patient.  When Nellie wants to eat she wants it immediately.  Her healthy appetite is seen in the roles on her cute legs.

Nellie is a true blessing and fills our life with love and joy!

Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it is all about being with family and eating (something this family excels at).  This year we went to my Uncle David and Aunt Lisa's house.  WOW was dinner amazing.  My favorite part of the meal is the stuffing and Aunt Lisa made the best I have ever had.   She admitted that she watched videos of Martha Stewart make it to learn.  However I must say "Move over Martha, Aunt Lisa's stuffing is the best!"  Thank you Lisa, David and Ally for the great meal!

In preparation for Thanksgiving Jake made placements and owls (from a kit) for everyone.  When he game up with this idea I started to panic because I don't have a crafty cell in my body.  Upon entering Joan Fabrics I didn't know where to turn first and had to ask for help.  I felt totally lost in that store and probably broke out in hives a little.  

Fun was had by all and everyone left with a full belly.  

Feeling extremely thankful this year for experiencing the love between Jake and Nellie.  It is the truest and purest love possible.  

Jake's Parent Teacher Conference

I am often filled with a sense of pride being Jake's Mom.  During our recent parent teacher conference my sense of pride and honor of being the parent of such an amazing boy increased even more!  We are very lucky that Jake gets to attend the Montessori School of Syracuse.  This amazing school has helped Jake develop into an intelligent, kind, and caring boy.  It was instantly clear at the start of the conference how much Jake's teachers enjoy him.  The teachers indicated that Jake is liked by all the kids in his class and works well with others.  They also described Jake as a very willing and excited learner who is able to concentrate and organize his work at a level exceeding what would be expected for a student his age.  Seeing Jake's love of learning is wonderful and we have his teachers and MSS to thank for that!  Jake is known as caring deeply about "justice" and gets very upset if a classmate is not following the rules or if one student isn't treating another student appropriately.  His teachers also noted that Jake works VERY intensely and they often try to pair him with a "calmer" student when completing group work.  I have no idea where Jake gets his intensity and desire to follow the rules..... Jake is very into his number work and doing very well with his addition.  The other morning without prompting or using his fingers when I was talking to Erik about how many people were coming over and that we could eat in shifts of 5 and then 6, Jake then stated "or we all eat together and set the table for 11."    

Below is the collection of pictures we got at the parent teacher conference.

Jake doning is beloved pin-punching work at school.

Below is a picture Jake drew of him pushing Nellie in her baby swing.

Nellie's Baptism

Nellie’s Baptism

Nellie’s Baptism was held during the 4:30 mass at St. Ann’s Church on Saturday, November 10th.  Her godparents are my Uncle David and Erik’s sister Lauren.  Nellie is a very lucky girl to have such caring and lets say.......spirited godparents.  We are sure they will watch out for her and add lots of fun and laughs to her life.  Nellie was blessed to share her special day with family and close friends.  

Father Cliff performed the baptism and did an amazing job of including Jake.  See video of Jake drying Nellie’s head.  Nellie stayed awake for the entire event and mass and did not cry.  It was noted by Father Cliff and several partitioners  how good she was.  We are very lucky to have such a sweet girl in our family.  

We are extremely lucky in our family to have four generations of women alive!

Great cake made by my Mom and her friend Roy!  Thanks!

Jake likes to help whenever he gets the chance.  We lost a few in the process.  Thanks to Morey for trying to catch one.