Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Spoiled Rotten

The past couple of months we have been spoiled rotten... :) Time has been flying by because I feel like life has been full of fun things to look forward to. Ultrasounds, parties, vacations... life has been good!

- Eloise and I tagged along on Cooper and Crew's spring break vacation to Puerto Rico. Awesome.
- Eloise went on her first sailing adventure in the Caribbean and even went snorkeling with me. It was so fun. She also had her first pina colada. She loved it. I'm creating a monster.
- I got to throw my good friend Lizzie a baby shower (I finally get to meet her sweet baby James tomorrow!)
- I went to my first Tribeca Film Festival with my good friend Laurel.
- Lots of ultrasounds. So far so good!
- We found out we are having a boy! (which included an awesome rooftop party thanks to Lizzie and Jenna)
- Eloise and I went and explored Savannah, Georgia and then met up with Craig in South Carolina at the tail end of his work retreat. Spouses were invited to come join for the weekend. It just so happened to be the #1 resort in the country. It also happened to be mothers day. It worked out very nicely for us. Remind me to have a lot of money one day so we can go back... :)

The whirlwind has stopped.  We haven't made our summer plans yet so who knows when it will start back up again. For now we are happy to be home to our awesome friends and our favorite city. I guess I should say we are always spoiled rotten.

For all you non-instagrammers... you know who you are... here are some pictures


















Sunday, May 6, 2012

IT'S A BOY!

Well, the time was quickly approaching my 20 week ultrasound- AKA when I finally would get to find out my baby's gender. And then... as I was crossing days off my countdown, 2 of my good friends Jenna and Lizzie decided that they were in the mood to throw a "gender reveal party"
At first I was like- A) I don't even know what that is and B) I am super excited to find out at the doctor so no need to plan a party for the occasion.
And then when they pushed back, I caved because then I thought, What the heck... 
and as I look at these pictures it makes me happy I did.
This pregnancy has been SO different for me than with my first.
With Eloise I thought of her all day and night and just knew from the beginning it was going to be baby Eloise.  There was no doubt in my mind.
This second time around I have had zero intuitions, and feel badly because truthfully, I think about this baby rarely...(sorry baby #2), and spend my day taking care of my crazy almost 2 year old.  Maybe I could describe it as distracted? Maybe it was denial? Who knows.
Anyway, I was extra excited to find out the gender because I was really wanting to stop calling this baby "it" and was looking for this pregnancy and this baby inside me to all seem more real.
(As if the gigantic middle section isn't enough?)
Anyway, like I said, I have had zero intuitions. Craig thought FOR SURE it was a girl.  I just simply had a hard time picturing a boy because I picture my baby as baby Eloise naturally. It is hard for me to imagine anything different.
As you can see by the chalk board... Most everyone else was hoping for a boy
And indeed it is a boy.
And we are in a little bit of a shock.
And we are ridiculously excited.




To answer some questions:
We had the nurse seal the baby's gender in an envelope.
The envelope was given to my friend Jenna who was just planning on dropping it off at the bakery but then my sister Ashlee demanded that Jenna open it and tell her first.
So then Jenna and Ashlee and the bakery knew my baby's gender... oh and my doorman apparently because Jenna opened it in my lobby and screamed "AH! ITS A BOY!" haha. love that.
Then the bakery made cupcakes with blue frosting inside so when we bit into it we got a little blue visual of the baby boy inside of me.
Anyway, it was something I would have never thought of on my own and I'm grateful for friends that are more fun than I am.  This made my weird denial pregnancy feel more real and a little extra special. Baby boy deserved a little special attention and I'm so happy he finally got some. :)

Name recommendations anyone??









Monday, March 19, 2012

oh ya...

I forgot to mention in my "updates" post that we are expecting a baby the end of September!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

updates

The past couple weeks have been sprinkled with some cold days and some gorgeous days. I'm talking 70 degrees gorgeous perfection.  Those days have been the best.

Eloise has been a handful this past week. I'm giving her the excuse of teething for now... but I also bought a couple toddler parenting books online the other day during a particularly low point. So, hopefully she gets a couple teeth soon so I forgive her for all the horrible things she has done to me. And hopefully I will realize soon that I have to stop laughing at all of the naughty things she does. That might send some mixed signals. Poor confused naughty sweet little girl. 

Also this week, Craig had a lot of extra curriculars. Knicks games (I believe he went to 2 games this week), playing on his basketball team, March Madness...  basically all basketball related. Poor tired mommy.

Fortunately I have learned a valuable lesson from my mom and sister- Instead of getting mad or feeling bad for yourself- make it a win, win.  I remembered this lesson by Friday night when I was so over the cranky baby and my messy house and feeling bad for myself- I decided Saturday was going to be my day. And it was. It was a nice break. I also negotiated a few things that should make me very happy come bonus season. After realizing what I gained from him going to another basketball game- it was totally worth it. Win win.

Eloise is growing up so fast.  She finally says her name and it is SO adorable. Eloise. Love it. (no matter how hard Craig tries, she refuses to say Lulu. Hilarious)
Her current obsessions are her sunglasses that some street vendor gave to her the other day after she tried to steal a pair. Great life lesson by the way. :/ She is also obsessed with bubbles and being a super picky eater. All day long she says "more" and I have to try to guess what she wants- and she usually wants nothing I am offering.  It is so fun.

Anyway, I am SO grateful for the sunshine we have had- otherwise I would have been extra cranky with the 2 peeps I love most.  If we couldn't have gone to play at the park and run around outside, both Eloise and I would have gone crazy.  And thank goodness we didn't. We actually had a lot of fun. We got to do our favorite sunny day activity- walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, play at the park on the water, get pizza from Grimaldi's to go eat on the grass and get an ice cream cone before you leave. The best. We had a day in Soho shopping. We had park days and play dates. So I guess I will stop complaining. :)











Friday, February 24, 2012

zona

Eloise and I went to Arizona for the past 2 weeks. It was such a nice warm getaway.
Unfortunately Eloise had a bad cold/fever and we had to take a trip to the pediatrician. And of course my sister and her kids all caught her illness. Somehow I avoided it... such a mystery to me.

So anyway
of course our last couple of days Eloise was finally healthy and happy.
And then we had to leave. Tragic story.

Some exciting events happened while we were visiting-
My best friend Katy got married.  My nephew Cason turned 8 and had a fun all boy birthday party. My nephew Dre turned 6 and had a Mexican Fiesta. My brother in-law John and his wife Stephanie flew to Hawaii to pick up their new baby Maya. The Cannons hosted us for a fabulous Sunday dinner. We got to meet baby Lauren and twin boys Cole and Crew.
And of course there was a lot of Mexican food and sunshine.

We always hate to say goodbye. There is never enough time to see everyone as much as we would like.
But we also couldn't wait to get home to Craig. 2 weeks is our limit.

I will do more pics another time. nap time is over apparently.





Wednesday, February 1, 2012

don't want to forget...


Eloise standing on the sidewalk with an outstretched arm screaming "BAB!" over and over again as loud as she could. (that means cab) And everyone stopping to watch her hail a taxi all by herself. (of course I had my hand up in the air but she definitely did all the work.

Every time we pass Wendy's (which is every time we come and go because it is basically next door) Eloise stops and asks for fries. I guess she does that even when we don't pass Wendy's...

She knows where people live now. If I walk by my friend Amanda's building Eloise starts saying "baby".
If we walk even remotely close to her best friend's building she starts asking for Elle... and I need to video her saying Elle because she sticks her tongue all the way out every time she says it.

All day long she says "daddy bye bye?" and "Elle?" over and over and over again.

She has begun to throw things.  This week I have been hit in the face with a remote and a glass cup. Fortunately neither left a scar.

She has discovered that she can climb out of the bath tub.

I could not wait until the day she would sit and watch a tv show. I never thought it would happen.  Now she says "show!" nonstop. I hope this means she will be happy on our long flight to AZ next week.

She stubbed her toe really bad this month and had to get antibiotics and I had to clean and bandage it every day. She was obsessed with it and was constantly trying to tell me she needed a new bandaid.  Recently her toenail fell off and she points to it frequently throughout the day and says "ow" with a sad face.  I painted her remaining toenails the other night and now she points to all of her toes and says "oww" with a sad face.

She kisses random things.  Like her arm or her stroller or the bath tub or her sandwich. So funny.

She wants to walk everywhere. Sometimes she is good and cooperative but I would say that most of the time she does not want to hold my hand... which is obviously not an option for a 1 year old in New York City. She goes completely limp if I try to hold her hand and lays on the nasty ground and then tries to get up and run away. So then I have to carry her kicking and screaming back home to get the stroller... or just give up and stay home instead.

She loves singing "popcorn popping" and "once there was a snowman"... over and over again. Sometimes we will throw in "head, shoulders, knees and toes" if we are lucky.

I noticed that if the song "If I Die Young" comes on she starts singing "uh oh uh oh"... listen to the song and you will know why.  I was shocked. It just randomly comes up on my iTunes sometimes. Made me realize she is always paying attention!

She screams my name when she is looking for me  "MA MA!" she learned that from taking showers with her dad and him screaming for me to come get her out.

She very much enjoys reading books, doing animal noises, pointing to her body parts (she especially likes to poke your nose or your eye and tell you what it is)

Her dancing is just standing in place and bouncing... sometimes adding strange head movements. Arms bent, elbows in.

She randomly starts trying to jump and screams "dump! dump! dump!" while she flops around like a crazy person. I don't see other people's children doing this...

If Daddy puts gel in his hair... Eloise would like some too. Which means that diaper cream or body lotion or soap usually mysteriously finds its way onto her head.

I guess I could go on and on and on....

She wears me out. Yes she does. But every night when I lay down to go to sleep I am laughing about something crazy or naughty she did that day.  So I guess I am lucky that at the end of my hardest days I am usually laughing harder too. I never did envision me with a quiet obedient child... don't think that is in the cards for me. but i think i just might prefer crazy. As long as I still get the sweet hugs and kisses and cuddles too.

Friday, January 27, 2012

funny face

post nap time is my favorite time of the day.
eloise is either super happy or super cuddly
her hair is usually messed up and she is usually hoarding blankets and pacifiers
and after having a couple hours of alone time, I am usually pretty excited for her to wake up.
It is hard to portray how badly I want to squeeze and kiss her all the time. 
or how crazy fun she is. or how silly she is. or how naughty or stubborn or stinking cute she is.
but here is a tiny glimpse of that face that keeps me grinning.
i am so happy i get to be the one to get her out of her crib every day.