Baby Reunion

I LOVE the hospital where I delivered the kids! INOVA Alexandria is a smaller state of the art hospital with an amazing staff. I can't say enough good things about it! So today they celebrated their 140 year anniversary with a Baby Reunion!

They asked anyone who has been born at the hospital in its long history, to join in a day of festivities. The kids and I of course went, and was awesome! They had face painting, balloon animals, games, crafts, picture session, and yummy food. And it was all free!!! I couldn't think of a better way to spend my sunny Saturday . Elliot had a blast! I had to carry her to the car because she was so sad about leaving! We probably would have stayed all day if it didn't cut into naptime :) Below are pictures of our wonderful day

Genius Toddler

Everyone thinks that their kid is a genius, but my toddler really IS! Ok ok maybe she isn't the next prodigy, but Elliot is really good at making connections. Whether it's an event on tv or in a book, she connects herself to it. My mom says that she sees patterns in things!

Elliot's newest connections/patterns are with colors! Here is an example:
One of her jobs is to get Aaron a bib for dinner. She always makes sure that his bib matches his outfit! Elliot won't come to the table unless she can find a good match. Below are some examples:

Rolly Polly

Tonight, I was working with Aaron on rolling back to front, front to back, and sitting up. Maybe it's second child syndrome, but he seems to catch on to these things faster than Elliot did, especially when it's been a few days...um or weeks. Anyway, the ever present big sister decided to help! Elliot was impatient waiting for baby brother to roll across the blanket, so she decided to speed up the process ;) Below are the pictures of his progress..

Our 2 year old princess

Elliot is such a big girl! With the birth of Aaron and Elliot's second birthday, Elliot seems to get bigger every day. Physically she is a big girl, well tall that is. At her two year checkup, she measured 34.5 in tall and 29 pounds.

She is a little girl with a big personality!! Here are some of her favorite things:
-Anything princess, especially the show Sophia the First (on Disney). She calls anything that has to do with princesses "Sophia." She loves wearing dresses, and asks to wear her birthday party dress daily. In one of the pictures below, she is pointing out her princess slippers. Elliot got these for Christmas, and tries to wear them everywhere we go!

-Milk. If it was up to her, she would drink it all day long. Unfortunatly, milk fills her up and she doesn't want to eat as much. So we've had to cut her back to about 1 cup a day. She is very French with her food. Elliot loves cheese, bread, and fruit :)

-Crafts! Elliot's loves seeing her work on the walls and showing them to Tim! She can identify all te colors, and correctly pronounces half. In one of the pictures below, she is playing a game where she matches colors.

-Helping :) Elliot loves to cook and especially bake! Our favorite thing to make are cookies, and she has learned that cookie dough is very yummy. She also likes helping me with Aaron by picking out his outfits, getting diapers, and giving him a bath. Sweeping is also a favorite of hers right now, although she isn't very good at it right now ;)

-Her family! Although Mommy is still the go-to, Tim's status increases daily. There are certain tasks that Mommy does and certain ones that Daddy does, and neither the two shall cross according to Elliot! Tim is her superman who sneaks her yummy treats and plays rowdy games.

-Her favorite places are the library, any park, 7-11, and visiting my school.

So this post is already long...I could talk all day about how amazing my precious girl is, but I should probably stop for now ;)

Perfect Saturday!

Today was a great Saturday! After the kids woke up from their naps, we all went outside to take advantage of the gorgeous weather. It was sunny and 60 degrees! Basically swimsuit weather!

We walked down to the village and first made a stop at the library. We returned some movies & then read a couple books. Elliot checked out a book about ballerinas, which is her newest obsession. She still loves princesses, but now she loves doing ballet around the house :)

Then we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Guapo's, to have lunch/dinner. If you've ever come to visit us, it's basically a given that we'll be takin you there. Before we left, Elliot decided to do some pirouettes around the restaurant. Next door is our favorite self serve frozen yogurt place, so we had to indulge to celebrate the beautiful weather.

Finally, we went to the park to let Elliot run off her frozen yogurt. It's her favorite place aside from 7-11. Tim humored Elliot and ran around the park and attempted to go down the slides with her :)

It was a wonderful way to celebrate God's beauty in nature during this Holy week! I hope you have a great Saturday too and an excellent Easter tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Elliot!!

Elliot turned 2 on Feb. 24th! Can you believe it?! My sweet baby girl is now a big girl! I get teary eyed every time I think about it....

So moving on :) We celebrated Elliot's big day with a Purple Party! Elliot's favorite color is purple, so it was the perfect theme. While she was napping, I decorated the house with purple balloons, streamers, pom poms, and more!  We served purple treats and candy for our small guest list. After working feverishly to get it all set up, the big reveal was ready! Tim and I dressed Elliot in her party dress (she calls it her princess dress and wants to wear it every day) and walked her out of her room to see all the decorations. Usually Elliot "oohs and aahs" over a new picture frame, let alone a whole house decorated! Well unfortunately the big excitement that we expected wasn't there. As I feared, Elliot was too nervous about the people who were there that she didn't notice all the festivities.Thankfully after her usual 30 minute grace period, Elliot was running around and laughing hysterically like a normal two year old birthday girl :)
Here is a picture of the treats table (notice the little girl in the bottom left corner eying the goodies)

After playing with her princess balloon (it's deflated form is still a big hit) and the guests, it was time to open presents! Elliot had been very patient but we didn't have to ask twice. She torn through the wrapping paper and ribbons like a pro! Every gift was a hit :) She especially liked her Sophia the First book. This is a tv show on Disney Jr and Elliot loves it!! We have all the episodes saved for emergencies and bribery (yes I'll admit it).

After presents, it was time to sing "happy birthday" and eat the purple treats! Elliot did not enjoy everyone singing to her, but she did enjoy eating the homemade cupcakes :) She really liked the purple edible sparkles on top!

I'd say it was a great day! Filled with lots of love...and sugar, perfect for a two year old princess! A big thanks goes out to Jenny, who tried to capture the day and the elusive Elliot smile (she won't smile for a camera anymore).

3 Months Old...a month ago...

As I was taking Aaron's 4 month pictures, I realized that I never posted his 3 month pics. Oops!
So we didn't have a 3 month well visit, but here are some of Aaron's stats from February:
-He now where 6 month clothes! I had to hit up a Carter's clearance section in a hurry to find him clothes that were appropriate for the season. All we had were warm weather clothes. Obviously we were not expeciting a chunky baby :)
-Tim & I affectionately call him "Chunks."
-He has gorgeous blue eyes and full wavy hair that earns him lots of compliments from the ladies ;)
-He loves his big sister! He laughs and smiles at her all day, unless she becomes a little too affectionate and squeezes too hard. Don't worry, he'll toughen up!
-His umbilical hernia is gone! Praise the Lord! Slowly it started deflating and now he is the proud owner of a normal inny belly button.
-He still only sleeps one 4-5 hour chunk at night.
-HE WON'T TAKE A BOTTLE! Those of you who are moms, understand how FRUSTRATING this is, especially when he used to be fine with it. Now I have to tote Aaron around with me wherever I go, because he won't let anything feed him but the boob. Tim watched him during Elliot's nap time so I could have the luxury of going to an eye doctor appointment alone. He apparently screamed for a good while and then fell asleep in frustration. Needless to say, we have tried every bottle nipple created half a dozen times and will continue this tango from hell until the baby boy concedes. (Can you tell I'm not too happy about it...)
-He is still my little snuggle bunny who I love to kiss on his big chubby cheeks :)