15 months - Annie!

Our little Annabel is 15 months old now! She is doing just fine and growing right on track. At her check up this morning she is weighing in at 20 lbs and is 29 1/2 in long. She is hitting all her milestones and Dr. Roome said she looks just great!



*Fiesty personality - she will bite, pull hair, scream if she doesn't get her way. It's hard not to chuckle at because she is so darn cute

* Sucks her thumb when she is tired or hungry. She is sleeping 11-12 hours per night then usually a good nap in the afternoon still.

* crawls up the stairs alone but needs help coming down as she wants to just walk down

*much better with strangers, she is actually very social, loves other kiddos and doesn't cry if I leave the room anymore

* squeals with delight when she sees the park, or the pool, dogs, other kids, her favorite food, anything she loves

* words are still Dada,mama, she started to say diaper the other day and lots of other workds although she does point to things we tell her, she can identify her head, nose, shoes, specific books and toys. She tries to say dog, milk, stairs but usually just says the beginning sound

*loves the slides and swings, pool and LOVES the splash pad, animals (she is partial to the cow and will say MOOO and horse will say Neighhh)

*happy baby and so easy to love!

Girls week!

It was our annual girls week in Sister Lakes at our summer house. We actually came up on Tuesday since grandma treated uncle Brian and me to the Paul McCartney concert at Wrigley field! It was an amazing show. I am so excited I got to see a Beatle perform live in my lifetime!



So we got to our house bright and early Tuesday morning and headed right out to the pool. Mia does great with her water wings and noodle working on swimming all around. We then hit some fruit stands and a short visit to Contessa winery but it was just too hot. So we ordered pizzas back home and Mia had a campout movie night in the living room.


Wednesday we took the girls to the Deer Forest to feed the horses, deer, pigs, cows, goats, and ducks. In the afternoon we took them to the indoor water park Safari Joe's. Mia loved going down the water slides and going down the Lazy River. She was brave and went down the big twisty slide a bunch of times. Annie enjoyed it too, especially the warm lazy river.



Thursday we spent the day in St. Joe's. First we went to the children's museum and both girls had a blast. We then went to the new section of the museum on the pier, saw an animal show - Mia was so brave and was able to pet a turtle, tree frog and snake, she also proudly took home some snake skin. The girls rode the carousel then we went out for lunch.



Friday we found a new farm with the cutest play area ever - they had a ton of play houses set up, jungle gyms, a pole barn full of trains and a neat Gem stone exhibit. We bought some fresh fruit then headed home to hang out in the pool. Uncle Brian came up and we had a big taco dinner.



Saturday, grandma and the girls cheered me on as I ran in the Glad Peach 10K race in Coloma, Mi (a town about 10 miles from our house). The race went around Paw Paw Lake which was very pretty. It was a tough (hilly) course but I did it and met my goal. It started to rain so we came back to the house and hung out, went into the pool then had a nice dinner at our local restaurant on the lake.



It was a wonderful week, the girls had a blast with their grandma and Uncle Brian. It was nice I was able to go running in the mornings while grandma played with the girls. The beagles had a great time too with lots of walks


Annie and Mia love grandma's summer house and can't wait to go back - Mia keeps asking me when are we going back? We are very blessed to have this special place. My mom and I had a great time after the girls were sleeping each night, watching movies, drinking wine, playing games and talking. We had a great time too when Uncle Brian came up as well and even had a poker night.









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

1st Dentist visit - Mia

Last week Annie and I took Mia for her first dental check up and she did great! She let the hygienist clean her teeth, brush with fluroride and did great when the Dentist inspected her teeth. No cavities! She received stickers and a prize from the treasure box. She has 20 teeth.

Here she is before her exam - she looks nervous but she really wasn't at all.

Boston visit

The girls and I took a trip to Boston to visit my best friend from college, Sara and her kiddos...plus our annual reunion with our other roomies from college, Stacy and Tars and their kiddos. It was a great time and just makes me wish we all lived closer.

Annie did great on her first plane ride...Mia was a pro and did great too. I even received compliments from other passengers saying how good they were.

We had lots of fun. We visited Fenway park and took a tour, splashed in Frog Pond, went to their Yacht Club (but the waves were too choppy for swimming in the bay), played at their friend Nicole's house (it was a 100 degree day so we didn't last long outside)...Sara took the kids to see Winnie the Pooh while I stayed back to watch Annie and Claire. Sara and I got to sneak out for drinks to the L Street Tavern then the other night we went to North End for a yummy Italian dinner (thanks to her husband Chris for staying back to keep watch over the sleeping kiddos). Saturday we drove to Sta's dad's house for the annual get together. The kids had a blast swimming in the pool and it was great to see everyone. All the kiddos are getting so big. The girls and I ended back home early Sunday morning. Mia loved playing with Lizzie and Owen.




















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Grandma Victoria

We spent this past weekend in Seville, Ohio where daddy grew up. It was a special weekend to remember Grandma Victoria with daddy's sisters, christopher and Jason. Saturday we all ran the Lodi corn fest 5k - it was really hilly but so much fun. Jason and dad pushed the kids in their strollers and did great. Aunt Kelly and uncle Dave lead the race but we all received awards :) then we had a beautiful memorial at dusk at the Hubbard valley park. It was a great weekend and a wonderful way to show the kids all about who their grandma was. She was a beautiful, simple and funny person. She was a great mom and she will live on in her grandkids.









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Seville,Ohio

14 months -Annie!

Yep...time is flying by! Here is what's she's up to:

• still mischievous....we are always watching her carefully as she likes to put things in her mouth (stones and crayons on vacation - yikes) and likes to climb the stairs whenever she wants.
  
• She is very decisive...if she wants something she really lets you know what it is. She gets frustrated when she can't say the words but I am sure those words aren't too far away. She is very easily understood though and communicates very easily
  
• follows directions great - she picks things up quickly. For example, I usually pull her in the wagon while Mia's rides her bike in the afternoon and the other day right before we got to our house she took the garage opener and opened it up on her own! She gets really upset too if you tell her "Annie want to go for a walk" she will go right to the hallway and get her shoes and expect to go THAT second...too cute
• eating and drinking great....she likes pretty much everything we give her, really loves watermelon, grapes, meats, peas, corn, bananas, yogurt, applesauce....the usual!
• very social, she loves when we are out and sees other kids. She plays great and really likes to be apart of whatever is going on.
  

Moos like a cow!!!!!

Mia hugging her lil sis








Mia and mom at millenium park





Annie at the Frankfort museum this week

4th of July fun

Happy 4th of July! We celebrated with most of our family up at the summer house for a long and fun weekend! We all got up to the summer house early Saturday, hung out, enjoyed the pool then watched the fourth of July parade from our front yard. We had a huge BBQ and enjoyed the night, we also had a birthday cake for Uncle Chris. We saw the fireworks from the road. Sunday the guys took a kayaking trip on the Dowagiac river and the girls took the kiddos to St. Joe's to enjoy the splash park, beach playground, carousel and lunch! We then came back and a group of us went to a few wineries while another group stayed back to watch the kiddos. We ordered pizzas and had a bonfire and lots of laughs. Monday everyone went home.

When we got home we had a bbq with the girls then took them to Dairy Queen for a fourth of July treat. It was a great weekend and so nice to have had everyone together. Who was there: Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jason, Christopher, Papa, Aunt Christie, Uncle Chris, Papo, Grandma, Bosco, Charlie, Banyan, Mia, Annie, Mom and Dad.

Christopher and Mia had a great time together - they are two peas in a pod and just played and stayed together the entire time. We made them a little nest in the living room and they had fun sleeping over together. Annie is very interested in them and their play but mostly hangs out with mom and dad. The kids all loved the pool and just being together.


























Mia and Annie were really happy that Aunt Christie stayed with us last week for a few days. She was in town early and so was Aunt Kelly for our Eddie Vedder concert. That was such a great night, we spent the night downtown after the show and Grandma stayed with the girls for a fun sleepover. Mia and Annie adore their Aunt Christie, she played and read to them and they had so much fun just hanging out with her.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Dowagiac, mi