Anneliese Turns 1!

 

 

Just like that Anneliese has turned one years old. We had the pleasure of celebrating with family in Oregon the morning before flying back to NJ (that morning was the only time that would work with Andrew's military training schedule, which by the way was in Hawaii!).

Andrew's sister and husband graciously hosted all of us. It was a wonderful morning celebration!

 

It seemed impossible to get her to smile!

But finally got one smile

 

Presents! Thanks everyone for the adorable outfits and gifts

Happy 1st Birthday Anneliese!



11 months!

Welp, whether I can believe it or not....one more month and our

little girl turns 1!!

We're in Oregon visiting family and friends, so Anneliese's 11 month pictures are at my parents house on her newfound favorite chair. (Yes we had to be clever and talk Malachi into letting her have it for the pictures, as it's his favorite too.)

 

We've borrowed Auntie Marjon's walker and are trying to get Anneliese walking before heading back to the East side. It's the same walker Malachi learned on. Both kids are really enjoying playing with their cousins, aunties and grandparents...although all three of us are really missing Daddy.

 

 



2 Months from a Year

Ten months old already! She sure is growing up fast. We had to buy a new car seat for her because she's already grown out of the newborn one!

We're getting packed up and ready to head to Oregon, can't wait to see family and friends...should be a fun trip!

This one's my favorite =)

Can I just eat my saltine cracker in peace?

She's all over the place, loves going up those two stairs and yesterday she even went down...although I wasn't watching and don't know how she did it. But there wasn't any crying so she didn't tumble down, like she's done a couple of times now.

Ayva Mae

March 30th, at 1:31pm Robin gave birth to little Ayva Mae. She was 5 weeks early (however doctors were shocked she didn't show up sooner because Robin had a short cervix...the power of prayer is way stronger than any expectations of doctors) but has been doing great. Of course she has fluctuated in her weight but she hasn't needed a feeding tube or tubes of any sort... And last night she was discharged from the hospital! I'm so impressed with this little girl. And can hardly wait to hold her in just a couple of weeks. 

This was the snapchat picture Jen sent before I even knew Ayva had been born, I was in shock! It was a super quick labor and delivery. Which I am thankful for...for Robin's sake and Jen's, as she was Robins support =)

Love you Robin and Ayva, see you soon!

Easter and.....

The Easter Triduum is my all time favorite religious holiday weekend. And we made it to Holy Thursday mass, Good Friday Service and Easter Vigil, even with two little ones. They did great for Saturday nights vigil and Anneliese didn't even fall asleep...although at one point she was very close. I think they were the youngest ones there....there weren't many other kids. =) Andrew and I feel so blessed to have been apart of the whole weekend's festivities and pray that we will still be able to attend in the future, even as our family size grows. That's right, we're a family of 5 now! 

Here's a picture we took right before heading off to Easter Vigil. (Literally seconds before getting into the car). 

So, Andrew and I found out a week and a half after moving into our house. It was a little rough getting used to the idea for me because Anneliese had been waking a lot at night, going to bed no earlier than 10pm and still nursing quite a bit. I just kept thinking, we're going to have two newborns at the same time! Andrew assured me it'll all be okay....and already she has grown up so much since then. She's sleeping through the night usually, it took some teamwork but we've gotten her to fall asleep the same time Malachi does AND they are sharing a room. Which feels like quite the accomplishment....even though it wasn't that hard to do, I just kind of stressed about it before it happened. 

This wednesday we will be 13 weeks and we are due Oct 14th.

I was barely nauseous this first trimester which as me convinced that we are having a boy...I had a lot more morning sickness for Anneliese' 1st trimester than Malachi's and this one. BUT I've been SO tired. To the point where I wonder to myself if I can just stay in bed all day long...haha, which of course is impossible with taking care of two little ones. I'm thankful for Thomas the Train on Netflix and for a VERY understanding husband who has had to wear wrinkly clothes to work because I left them in the dryer (or not have any clean clothes at all), and who hasn't had the most elegant of dinners or clean house cause I can barely do anything. But we've all survived the first 12 weeks and I've noticed more energy coming back.

For a reveal, we ordered quail eggs from Little Elephant Crafts, which is run by a friend of Andrew's brother. She cleans them out and puts notes in them. So we had our parents crack theirs open on Easter. 

We also sent on to Sr Jamie so she could open it on Easter...cause they aren't allowed to open any mail through lent. It was fun to facetime while our parents open their eggs! And I would highly recommend going with Little Elephant Crafts, if you wish to do anything like this. Elizabeth did an amazing job. Very professional, fast and even customized, not only the note inside the eggs but the box we had shipped to Andrew's brother so it wouldn't ruin the surprise of what was inside! 

Photo credit: my sister Jen, thanks Jen!

Easter morning pictures. For Easter dinner we went to my Aunt and Uncle's who live in Pennsylvania. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice to sit, chat, relax, and eat some really delicious food!

Crepes for breakfast with Strawberries and whipped cream..oh and fried potatoes with bacon, YUM!

I just realized that I never did a post about Robin having her baby. Yep little Ayva is one week old already! I'll post about it  next but not right now...I gotta take advantage of both kids sleeping and hem my curtains.

9 months

Nine month pictures for Anneliese...not my favorite but they'll do.  She's crawling all over the place now, and pulling herself up. But the biggest accomplishment for her....with Daddy's help, is she's sleeping in the crib in the same room as Malachi. AND this week she's started sleeping till 5am without waking (huge difference from waking 4-5 times last weekend but I think it's cause your top teeth are coming in)...at which point I just nurse her back to sleep for a couple more hours of shut eye. Oh yeah and she eats everything...she eats the same amount of food that Malachi does!

As you can see in the picture, in the past month we've added two houseplants to our home...we love them! They look great, however, the one behind Anneliese is wilting a little bit...I'm trying to figure the right amount of watering still. But the other one is flourishing. I'll have to post a pic later since I don't have one on my phone and its too dark to take one now.  

And she's off!

Of course Malachi has to get in on the action, although what he really wanted was to draw on the chalkboard.

First time I noticed she pulled herself up to standing! Malachi's bed is the perfect height

Also, we've added a beta fish to our family...we were going through some old boxes and found my old fishbowl so we let Malachi pick one out. The kids like to watch him while we eat...the dining room table was the only place we could think of where the kids can see him but not be tempted to grab the bowl. Is that weird to have it on the dining room table? I'll keep you posted on a name....

I love this one of him...he was so excited to be watching Thomas!

She's adding a couple teeth to her repertoire, of course, like Malachi the fangs are the first to come in on the top...

In other news, Andrew attended a Mens retreat put on by St Bartholomew's Catholic Church...the church that we've decided to make our own. He really enjoyed himself and we both appreciated meeting some families from the church (there was a reception last night that the kids and I were able to attend). Thanks to those who wrote letters to Andrew, he really enjoyed them!

Alrighty, well most likely next post will be Easter (didn't I just post last years Easter like a month ago? Where did the year go?)...Although I'm super behind on our dumping debt series....MAAAYBE I'll get around to that this week. But no promises. 

Hope you all are enjoying some spring...we're still waiting for it to show up around here. 

Snow day

Well we got quite a bit of snow today. I thought it would be fun to take the kids out into the yard but they didn't seem to like it much. Malachi really didn't like moving in the sled so they just sat there and before I knew it Anneliese had reached over and put her hand right in the snow...so she didn't last long in the cold. 

Little cold missy?

I shoveled twice today! This was after the first time.

Brownie time!

Girl after my own heart...she wants to lick the beater too! Unfortunately for her it had peanut butter and honey so she has to wait a couple more months before she can have some.