December 2010

After Vita's birthday weekend, we started to get really into preparing for Christmas. Here we all are doing our best to pose for some Christmas pictures, but most of them didn't come out because we are all very squirmy and at least one of us was blinking or jumping or moving or crying in just about every shot. These two were the only salvageable photos.

Also throughout the month, Anabelle's personality has REALLY started to blossom and she has become much more smiley and easy going.

Anabelle is also rapidly developing new skills. In fact, Anabelle rolled over for the first time at only 6 weeks old! It took her a couple more weeks before she repeated this feat, but now she occasionally will roll from either her tummy to her back or vice versa. Anabelle seems to focus on one new skill at a time. There was one week where she focused on rolling over, one week where she seemed to add a lot of new sounds to her "vocabulary", and one week where she really focused on her hands (holding and batting objects, and getting her fingers into her mouth).

She also loves toys.

And she loves being part of the action and just watching whatever is going on.

A few days before Christmas, we had a visit with Grandma Marianne, Grandpa Vito, Uncle Pat and Aunt Mary. Here's Mary with the girls.

And here is Mary and I having a dinner time hug with Vita.

On Christmas Eve, gifts were exchanged, and Vita received LOTS of really wonderful gifts. One of the first two gifts opened were this red velvet dress (which Vita wore the rest of the day) and this princess tea set (which Vita played with all weekend long).

Vita was so overwhelmed with all the fun that she took a two hour nap in the middle of the day!

Here's Vita opening one of the other gifts that was also a big hit... a music box with hearts on the outside and a ballerina on the inside!

Vita opened gifts with a knife (from her tea set) just like her dad does.

Later, Vita got everyone involved in a tea party.

And Vita even got Grandpa Vito to smile for the camera.

Later that night, Vita left cookies by the fireplace for Santa, and she kissed each cookie. We all went to bed hoping to get a visit from Santa and listening closely for the sound of reindeer feet on the roof.

On Christmas morning, Vita woke up early and climbed into bed with us, wondering if we could all go to the living room together to see if Santa had come. Vita discovered that Santa had left gifts and had filled the stockings too! Here's Vita emptying out her stocking.

When it was time to open the gifts from Santa, Vita looked at the boxes. None of the boxes looked like they contained a scooter, and Vita said she thought Santa must have forgotten to bring her one. Luckily, Santa DID bring a scooter and Vita was so excited we couldn't even get a picture of her with it. Vita was scooting through the house like a pro all morning long. Here's Vita with a new knit Santa doll.

We ended up having a quiet and relaxing rainy Christmas day. Vita and Anabelle played with their toys all day long. Here's Anabelle playing with her new mirror.

One of my favorite memories of this Christmas is the stomp stomp stomp sound of Vita's feet as she ran through the house going from one new toy to the next all Christmas day.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too, and wish you all a healthy and happy 2011.

Vita Turns Three!!

Last weekend, Vita turned THREE years old. I can hardly believe it. When Vita arrived at school on Friday, there was a big Happy Birthday banner just for her. We also brought mini cupcakes for Vita's friends to share.

Back at home, Vita spent some time reading Christmas books while waiting for Mema Joan and Grandpa Bob to arrive for a birthday visit. Vita's favorite Christmas book is The Night Before Christmas.

Once Joan and Bob arrived, the silliness began. Here's Bob, Vita and Ernie with silly hats.

Mema Joan and Grandpa Bob also got a chance to meet Anabelle for the first time.

Anabelle, as you can see, has been taking cuteness lessons from her sister Vita. The other day I said something to Vita about how beautiful Anabelle is when she smiles and Vita said "Mom, Anabelle is beautiful all the time". Awww. Anyway, we caught some of those Anabelle smiles on camera.

And smirks, too.

And pure joy!

The next morning was Vita's birthday, and she put on a cute birthday outfit and struck a sassy pose.

Vita can spell her name, and she's working on learning how to write her name, too. Vita wrote this with very little help from Ernie.

We were so excited all day waiting for the birthday party to begin.

Finally, at 2:30, a REAL fairy arrived to attend Vita's birthday party. Since most of Vita's friends arrived late, Vita had the fairy all to herself for a while, which was fun. Vita LOVED the fairy.

Here are a couple of shots of the birthday party in full swing. All the kids had fun, and they all loved the magic show, the puppets, the balloon animals and the face painting that Fairy Ember provided.

After the fairy flew off on her dragon, we sang Happy Birthday and had cupcakes. Vita blew out all the candles like a pro! (Don't let the broccoli fool you... Vita had THREE cupcakes at her party.)

All the kids were having so much fun that everyone stuck around for an after party in Vita's room and at her play kitchen. Here's Vita with her best friend Cleo.

Once everyone left, we had a quiet dinner with Mema Joan and Grandpa Bob, and then we opened presents. Here's Vita opening Joan and Bob's gifts which included a beautiful cradle for Vita's doll. The cradle was handmade by two artists that Joan knows. It's truly a one of a kind piece and will become a family heirloom. I still need to get a better picture of Vita with the cradle, but she loves it.

Here's Vita with Mema Joan and Grandpa Bob at the end of a very full day.

The next morning, Vita stumbled out of her room to watch some cartoons. She asked that we bring her cradle out to the living room so her doll could watch too.

We also played with balloons and ribbon. I love the smile in this picture. It's so authentic!

Soon, Mema Joan and Grandpa Bob stopped over for coffee on their way up north and we said our goodbyes.

Later that morning, Vita finally was able to open the gifts from her friends who attended the party, from her parents, and more. Wow, this girl sure had a lot of gifts.

The first one she wanted to open was the gift from Anabelle, and then she gave Anabelle a big hug.

Just when we thought all the birthday fun was behind us, a box arrived in the mail from Vita's Aunt Judy with all kinds of treats including a big sister book and LOTS of Disney princess play clothes. Vita was in heaven playing with all her new play clothes! Naturally, she's also wielding a sword. No princess should be without her sword.

That's it for now. I've got to go write some thank you cards! I'll do another big post after Christmas. Until then... take care and Happy Holidays!

November 2010

As November began I had just gotten home from the hospital with Anabelle. As luck would have it, Vita got a flu right away and Ernie spent the entire three weeks of his paternity leave sick... and found out he had pneumonia the day he returned to work. So most of the month of November was spent like this, with all of us crashed out and exhausted most of the day. Of course, we still managed to have some fun while resting up and recovering in our sick beds and the "nests" we built around the house. Anabelle and I both (miraculously) managed to stay healthy through it all, despite the lack of sleep. Well, I guess somebody was getting enough sleep. In those early days, I have a lot of pictures just like this. Sleeping newborns are so sweet, and I wanted to memorize every detail of her face, even the tiny baby eye boogers and chapped lips. Like I said, lots of sleeping baby pictures. In fact, I took over 1,000 pictures in November! And to think some people say that second babies are photographed less. As the weeks went on, Anabelle started to sleep a little less and stay awake a little more. She also discovered toys and this same play mat that Vita used to play on.

She loves to play on here with her sister, and she watches her sister in awe. Just look at how tiny Anabelle is next to Vita's foot! Lately I just can't believe how big Vita is getting!

Vita loves playing with Anabelle too, and she has been such a WONDERFUL big sister. Vita is so sweet and so gentle with Anabelle... and she's helpful too. Vita helps with Anabelle's baths, diaper changes, puts blankets on Anabelle, and helps out in every conceivable way. Just the other day Anabelle woke from a nap crying. Before I could even get to Anabelle, Vita was hovering over Anabelle's bassinet singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and saying "Don't worry little Anabelle, mom will be right back."

Anabelle is starting to enjoy tummy time, and has been demonstrating some impressive neck strength.

We've also had visits with Grandma Victoria.

And visits with Grandma Marianne, Grandpa Vito, and Aunt Mary.

We had a mellow Thanksgiving at home, and when Vita was asked what she was thankful for, her first answer was "pears", and her second answer was "baby Anabelle". Later that weekend, we got our Christmas tree and started getting ready for Christmas. Here's Vita helping to put a star at the top. We still can't use many of our most fragile ornaments, because Vita doesn't seem to want to leave them on the tree.

And through the whole month, there has been lots and lots and lots of wonderful snuggle time and play time with Mom and Dad!

Finally I leave you with this. On the day Anabelle turned one month old, I put her in a shirt that is sized 12 months. Each month, as she grows, I will take a picture of her in this same shirt. Right now the shirt is way too big. However, once she's a year old I bet it will be too small. On her first birthday I'll put the pictures together so we can watch her grow at a glance in one month intervals. (This is a cute idea I stole from a friend.) Here's the one month picture.

Stay tuned for another post in the next few days to see pictures of Vita's 3rd Birthday and our visit with Mema Joan and Grandpa Bob!