Milestone: First Haircut

I have been putting off Carys's first haircut.  Even though she was rocking a Carol Brady mullet, I just couldn't bring myself to cut her hair.  When she was born, she had the sweetest long hair at the base of her neck and even though she went through a period where she lost most of her hair up top, she never lost that hair.  But I knew when my sister, stylist extraordinaire, came home between her move from Nashville to NYC, it would be the perfect opportunity.  So, when the day came my mom and sister came over to our house.  Grandma gave Carys a pedicure with purple sparkle polish while Lynnette first cut my hair.  I think it helped watching me get my hair cut, because when it was C's turn she was excited.  (I'm sure the fact that it was Aunt Nettie helped a lot too - she loves her Aunt Nettie!)

The hardest part was getting her to stay still!  We took this funny video of us trying to distract her while Aunt Nettie snipped away.

  

The final result is adorable. Not very noticeable because we just trimmed up the back, but helping her layers even up made it look thicker, fuller and just plain sweet.  She was super excited to show Daddy when he got home, and it was quite obvious that she didn't mind the extra attention from her pedicure and haircut one bit.  I'm so thankful Aunt Nettie was here to do it for us, and since it was such a success I'm thinking for our next cut - we'll just have to fly to NYC to get it done!  

 

Happy Fourth of July

From our little Sparkler!

Hope your family has a fun and relaxing holiday.

God Bless America!

And Happy Birthday Aunt Nettie...We love you!

Happy Father's Day

To the most amazing Daddy I know.

Your two girls (soon to be three) love you so very much! 

The Squirrel Incident

After a long day of running errands and working on the house, I was really looking forward to sitting down and watching a movie with Scott.  As I'm walking to join him the living room, we both hear a loud thump.  I look into the office, which is off the living room to see if the wind knocked something over.  Seeing nothing, I head back into the living room.  Just then our fireplace doors start rattling and I'm greeted with this....

A visitor decided to come down our chimney and it sure as heck wasn't Santa.  This squirrel was going crazy too -  charging the doors, knocking down soot and making a mess of everything.  And of course this would happen now, because I literally just cleaned up our unused fireplace and replaced our old, dirty orange candles with  brand new, sparkling clean, white ones only two days earlier.  So, while the squirrel is wreaking havoc in our fireplace and making me jump out of my skin every time the doors rattle, we are racking our brains wondering how the heck we are going to get this creature out!   

We thought about using a basket or a bag to capture him, but the way the doors open there would have been too many escape holes.  Then we made a "net" with a blanket, folding it in half, tying off the two ends and holding the opening over the doors.  Scott opened the door through the blanket and we waited, but of course the squirrel wanted nothing to do with just crawling into the blanket.  So, we moved on to Plan B (which was actually Scott's Plan A, but I was too scared to let him implement it until we first exhausted all of our other options).  

Plan B:  Open the front door, let out the squirrel, and pray it runs for the door!

Now, there are three openings off the living room, the front door, the hallway leading to the bedrooms and the kitchen.  We propped open the front door, barricaded the kitchen opening and armed ourselves with brooms.  The plan was for Scott to open the fireplace doors and then chase the squirrel out with his broom.  I was to stand guard in the hallway (behind the safety of a laundry basket, mind you) in case our little intruder got off track.  

So we got in position, Scott opened the doors, and guess what......Nothing happened.  We waited for awhile, but the squirrel was not coming out.  Finally Scott took his broom and tried to "sweep" it out.  Lord. Have. Mercy. I had no idea squirrels made such evil noises.  That thing started hissing and screeching like nothing I've ever heard.  But it still didn't come out.  We started working on Plan C (which may or may not have involved some type of blunt object), when Scott decided to give him another "sweep."  Well, this time the sucker bolted and not for the front door either.  Nope he came charging. Right at me.  

The next part is still a little blurry, but I do know that it involved me screaming for dear life, while the squirrel was catapulting his little body over the laundry basket, only to come in direct contact with the full force of my broom!  Thankfully, this slight redirection on my part, convinced him to head the opposite way and right out the front door with Scott hot on his heels.  The next thing I know, Scott is congratulating me saying, "Babe, you hit it! What a great shot!" and I'm trying not to have a heart attack or worse yet, go into labor! 

So, that folks was our squirrel incident. Hope your Saturday night was a little more relaxing than ours!  By the way, have I mentioned how much I HATE squirrels? I really see no reason for squirrels or seagulls to live on this beautiful earth and wouldn't be sad if they all disappeared!  

Carys is 22 Months & I'm 27 Weeks

Time is just flying by, and I can't believe that in the next few months we'll be celebrating our sweet girl's 2nd birthday and bringing home her baby sister!  We have been working hard on Carys's new big girl room and getting things ready for little sister.  We've also been squeezing in a lot of fun too, so blogging has taken a back burner.  

I'm finally ready to start getting caught up though!  So, first of all our 22 month old....

It's crazy to me how grown up she looks in this picture.  This is her "cheese" face.  She loves to say "cheese" for the camera and then she says "see!" because she wants me to show her the picture after I take it.  Makes it a little difficult to take a good shot because as soon as I hit the shutter she's running up to me saying "see!"

Carys has changed SO much in the last few months.  Her vocabulary expands every day and interacting with her is so much more fun.  She repeats everything she hears (including her mother saying "Oh crap!") So, we are trying to be a little more responsible with the words we choose, knowing we have a little parrot soaking everything up!

Speaking of soaking everything up, there was a short little window (right around 18 months) where I was starting to worry about Carys not talking.  She said just a handful of the same words she had been saying for months... Dada, Mumma, all done, more, ball, and a few others, even though I was really working with her trying to get her to add new ones.  She has always loved to read, and between our growing collection (thanks Grandpa H & Grandma A) and weekly visits to the library, we've never been short on new stories to keep her entertained.  Well, I can finally see the benefits of reading first hand and it's amazing.  It literally seemed like as soon as Carys decided to start adding more words, there was an explosion in the number of words she was saying (I tried writing them all down, but quickly lost track).  And the coolest part was she was not only saying the words that we were "practicing" with her, but all of the sudden she was naming things like umbrellas and walruses (more on that later) that we don't use in everyday language & had no clue she knew!  I know all this came from reading and music.  And I say music, because as soon as she started really talking, she started singing too!  Last night while I was giving Carys a bath, she started singing her own montage of the ABC's, Row Your Boat, and Oh, Happy Day.  She also makes up her own songs and these typically include some of her favorite sayings, like "no way" or words like "paci".  It's absolutely hilarious and melts our heart at the same time! 

Carys is also quite the character.  She loves to say "hi" and "bye" to people we see in the store, and when family or friends come to visit it doesn't take her long to go into entertaining mode.  She loves to do her handstands and stretches that she learned in gymnastics.  She'll run and jump all over the house all while yelling, "Yun" and "Jump".  She also likes to dance and anytime she hears music, she'll start shaking it!  Scott and I are both pretty reserved, so my mom has said she did not expect our child to be so entertaining!  

Carys does have a pretty serious side too though and when she's in new surroundings or has a new toy, she'll put on her serious face (which she totally gets from her father) and is very reserved while she investigates or observes what is going on.  It's been fun watching her transition during storytime at the library.  The first few weeks, she just hung back and watched.  Now she loves to run around and dance with the rest of the kids! 

Carys has really started playing more on her own.  Her favorite toys are her stuffed animals she loves to tell them, "Sit Down" and make them all sit in a row.  True to her firstborn nature - she can be a little bossy!  

Also like a firstborn, she has become pretty stubborn.  She likes to make decisions and can be overly dramatic when she doesn't get her way!  We are still learning how to deal with her tantrums, but thankfully for now sending her to her room seems to work the best.  It's pretty hilarious because she can be throwing a full-on fit and we'll tell her to go to her room.  She'll go, shut the door behind her, and then come out less than a minute later with a huge smile on her face and say "hi!" like nothing happened!  

In spite of our occasional meltdowns, Carys really is such a joy and it's been so much fun watching her learn and seeing her personality develop.  We feel so blessed every day to be her parents!

I'm 27 Weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 27 Weeks

Size of baby: Almost 2 pounds and about 14 1/2 inches long, about the size of a head of cauliflower

Maternity Clothes: Yes. I'm still stretching some regular shirts over the belly, but it's getting more difficult (see photo above!)

Gender: Baby girl, yet to be named.  We'll likely wait to decide until she's born.

Movement: All the time!  She is very active, especially at night and makes it hard for me to fall asleep.  

What I miss: Not gonna lie, on hot days I wouldn't mind sipping on an ice, cold beer!

Cravings: Anything peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies!  Also, American cheese.  This is really strange because I don't think I've eaten American cheese since I was a kid, but I saw some grocery shopping and had to buy it. (I also may have eaten about 3 slices on the less than 5 min drive home)

Symptoms: Okay, this is weird (and maybe TMI), but I've literally felt like someone has kicked my butt - my tail bone has been pretty sore.  Also, I feel like I have heartburn a lot of times in my left lower ribs - I think she may have something (her head?) jammed up there!

Best Moment this week: Picking up her crib and realizing how soon we will meet her!  

Well, I think I rambled enough for today, but I'll be back soon to share about our trip to Orlando, the Zoo-de-Mackinac & our adventures in home improvement! 

Have a great day!

Our Favorite Vacation Spot

Kelly's Korner is one of the blogs I love to read and she is doing a link-up to share your favorite vacation spots.  So, if you are looking for ideas - head over there and check it out!  

Scott and I have done a lot of fun trips together, but last summer we made a trip to Bar Harbor, Maine with his parents and I have to say that was one of my favorite destinations.  We had an amazing time and I can't wait to go back again someday!  Acadia National Park is absolutely beautiful and Mt. Desert Island has some of the most charming seaside towns.  I know in the week we spent there we only scratched the surface of all there is to see and do.    

We stayed at The Red House.  It was just outside of Bar Harbor and we loved it!

 

 

We spent most of our time in Acadia hiking and biking.  Carys had her first birthday while we were there and looking back at these pictures I can't believe she was so little!  She was still my baby then - just mastering how to walk.  Now she's a crazy toddler that no longer walks, but runs everywhere!  

One of our first stops after we arrived was the local farmer's market, which I highly recommend, especially if you want lobster fresh from the lobster-man himself!  If you want to read about our first time cooking & eating (for me) lobster it's right here!  I also blogged about our adventures in more detail here, here, and here, so check those out if you are interested.  You can also leave a comment or shoot me an email if you have any questions!  Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Friday!

The Rest of our Easter Weekend

Scott was on-call this past weekend, so we didn't make any plans for Easter.  We learned a long time ago that this works best.  That way if we get interrupted by a work call neither of us gets frustrated if "our plans" have to change.  We still had a fun, relaxing weekend though and it was actually nice to avoid the holiday stress of trying to plan too much! 

On Friday afternoon the library we attend for story time was hosting an Easter egg hunt, so even though the weather looked dicey, I took Carys to meet the Easter bunny and to do her first egg hunt!  Before we left though we had a little photo shoot!

Warning: Scott got me a new camera for my birthday.  It's awesome.  I haven't a clue how the heck to use it, but that hasn't stopped me from taking a zillion pictures. So prepare for picture overload!

The bug and the belly!

ps. If you see my husband, please do me a favor and tell him how awesome my pictures are now.  Might make him feel a little better about his purchase! ;)

Okay, back to the egg hunt.  Thankfully the rain held off and even though it was still a little cold none of the kids seemed to mind.  In fact, there were over 100 kids that showed up!  So, our little library was pretty crowded, but we had a really good time.  Each child was able to collect 10 eggs and Carys picked up on the concept right away and went to work gathering eggs!

  

This is so easy - I can do it with my eyes closed!

Favorite new saying: "Dere dit doe?" 

Translation: "Where'd they go?" She says this while flicking her little hand up & down. It's adorable.

After gathering our eggs, it was time to meet the Easter bunny.  Carys loves characters, but I wasn't sure how she would react when I sat her on his lap.  I told her that she could show the Easter bunny all the eggs that she found, so after I sat her down and we snapped a few pics - she wasn't happy when I made her leave!  As I was trying to make way for the next kid, she kept pointing to the bunny and then her eggs - I guess she wanted to make sure he saw what a good job she did!  By the way - In my mind the Easter bunny has always been a male, but the sparkly, pink vest making me think I could be wrong?! 

After meeting the bunny, we waited in line to exchange our eggs for some treats.  It was a ridiculously long line and I had doubts that we'd make it to the end, but thankfully there were some older boys behind us.  I guess they were bored, because they made it their mission to entertain Carys - complete with singing, dancing & puppets!  Carys wasn't sure what to think of them, but thankfully she didn't mind sticking around and watching - from the safety of my legs, of course.

Checking out some fiction while we wait.

 

After all that fresh air and waiting in line, Carys and I came home a took a nice nap - I was exhausted!  Then Friday night we had our friends, Tim & Mary over.  Even though we live close by, it's difficult getting our schedules to line up, so it was great to have a chance to finally catch up with them.  

Saturday was a beautiful day, so we took advantage of it and hung out in the backyard all afternoon.  This girl loves being outside and helping her dad.

   

After having a blast playing outside (and staying out a little too late), we hurried in to eat dinner and dye Easter eggs.  Carys was hungry and tired at this point, so she was a little edgy.  After dinner, she was excited to dye eggs, but absolutely refused to let us put a shirt on her!  Instead of pushing the issue, we figured less stains would actually be a good thing.  So, while I did take quite a few pictures, for modesty's sake (I'm sure Carys will appreciate this when she's older) I've decided only to post one picture from that night! 

Edited of course! ha!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!