Mrs. Mommy and Mr. Daddy

On Sunday, April 8th, we welcomed baby Ethan to the world! In a surprisingly much simpler and much shorter labor than Hailey, this 8 pound little boy with a full head of hair came into our lives. We are now a very happy family of 4, adjusting the very best we can. Don’t let the photos fool you: it took much coercing, drooled pez candy, bribes, empty threats and Photoshopping of mom and dad out of said first picture to make this happen. But, it happened! I am so thankful to our photographer, who has the patience of a Saint, for these amazing photos (and more to come that I have yet to see!).

The cherry blossoms have arrived and are in full bloom here. They are weeks ahead of previous years. My daffodils are up and tulips are on their way. Everyone’s lawns will be barren by June at this rate. Needless to say, I wasn’t going downtown this year. Pregnant or not, it’s miserable down there with parking and crowds. Not doin’ it! Last year, we fell upon a neighborhood that has plenty of cherry blossoms and lots of large spaces – perfect for photos. So yesterday, being the day of peak bloom, I took Hailey to that same neighborhood and got some great pics. I was told, pretty emphatically, that I would not be taking any pictures of her. She had [...]

With only a month to go til we are a family of 4 (5, if you want to count that naughty dog of ours), maybe it’s time to update the ol’ blog. Hailey’s very excited about her new sibling. She helped me in his room today as I was putting things away and getting things together. I’ve been a bit of a slacker compared to how I was with her in terms of getting ready. But it’s much different this time around since we have the gear and furniture and are just replacing well, pink (of which, to be fair, there is a lot). In the meantime, we’ve been busy. This was on Valentine’s Day — note the goofy smile, [...]

In my effort to move Hailey into her big girl room, the only other thing on my list was a dresser. I wanted to find something that was reasonably priced, which was hard. I looked at Pottery Barn Kids, which was kind of the price range I was thinking but they had a $100 delivery fee, that admittedly also included assembly, but when all was said and done, we were looking at close to $1,000 for a 6 or 7 drawer dresser and that wasn’t the price range I was hoping for. Because we hope to move in the next 18 or so months, I wasn’t interested in a bedroom set that may or may not fit the size of [...]

As Hailey’s language grows, sometimes I feel like I’m on a Bill Cosby episode of Kids Say the Darndest Things. A few examples: Okie okie In response to “how are you?”, “I’m fine. I’m 2.” Me: Can you drink the rest of your milk? H: Can you drink your milk-ilk please, honey? At the post office. It’s quiet. There’s a man in front of us and in back of us in line. H: Mama? Is that Raffi? NO, hahaha. 2 minutes later, directed to the other man: Is that Raffi?  Oh my God Hailey, no, it’s not. And I laughed at that last one, mostly because of her innocence, for a long time. One of the men laughed too. I’m [...]

We’ve done a lot in the past few weeks! The little one is beginning to not be so little anymore. She’s still a toddler, but I am beginning to see a lot more kid in her. She turned two a couple of weeks ago and we had a great birthday at the park for her. We could not have had a better day — about 73 and sunny. Amazing for early October! The kids played and then had pizza and cake at some benches Matt secured about 2 hours before the party (what a good daddy). On the day of her actual birthday, I took her for some ice cream (birthday cake batter, of course!). I really thought she’d only [...]

Friday night: And for the record, I am pretty sure 16 was just a number she pulled out of the air. She has no clue what 16 represents. That said, I clearly need to work on names and ages. Or not. Because that’s cuter.   Saturday night: H: What’s that mommy? (Her first “what’s that” question…) Me: It’s a candle. H: It’s play dough? Me: No, it’s a candle. H: Roll it like a ball? Me: I guess so, but it’s not going to do anything. It’s a candle. H: Play dough? Me: Candle. H: Ok. I make a snake. :: face palm ::

The post that gets the most hits on my blog, even to this day, is the post on heterochromia. Hailey was born with two different colored eyes. Over time, they have become closer in color, but in the right light, you can still see her right eye is lighter than her left. I don’t know what color her eyes even are. They are a brownish hazelish greenish color. Depending on the day. And light. So that said, I’ll bring up another sure-to-be frequently visited post and that is on Accommodative Esotropia. When I looked this up, I only found one personal post on the subject and because it was so important to me to have information, I want to offer [...]