2013 In Review!

I love seeing all of my friends recap their year on Facebook. It got me thinking about everything that we've had going on this year…it's been a big one full of many life changes. In the spirit of recapping here is our year in review…

January:

Ed and I took our first real vacation since becoming parents! We had gone away for weekends for weddings and the such, but we spent a week in Lake Tahoe. We were able to ski/snowboard, relax, and even took a day trip to San Francisco.

February:

We found out I was pregnant in February and took a weekend trip to Connecticut. Preston got to visit his girlfriend, Lila. Don't be fooled…he's not as leery of her as he seems in these pictures. We looked at possibly buying a house, but thankfully found out we wouldn't be stationed there before it was too late!

March:

We found out that we were expecting not one, but two babies and I prepared this birth announcement to share later! Preston and I prepared to leave Memphis at the end of the month and spent time taking in the touristy things like seeing the ducks at the Peabody with our friends Ayden and Marie. 

April:

I spent a lot of time loving on my sweet boy, as I spent the longest amount of time away from him to date. While I got settled in Connecticut he had the chance to stay with all 3 sets of grandparents for a total of 2 1/2 weeks. Needless to say there were lots of tears on my part. Ed had lasik eye surgery in Florida and I flew down to surprise him with these two dresses -- we found out we were having GIRLS! I worked part time at the Stonington Country Club (where I worked when we were stationed in CT before).

May:

We got settled into our new house in Connecticut and Preston joined me! He got his first real haircut (and did an awesome job!), we spent a lot of time with our dear friends (and Preston's girlfriend), we spent as much time outside as possible (here is Ed and Preston at Cows and Cones in Ledyard, CT petting a donkey). And I hit the 5 month mark!!

June:

We spent a lot more time outside enjoying the beautiful New England weather! We took a couple of trips to the beach (which Preston wasn't a huge fan of), played in our pool outside and ate a lot of popsicles! The house we were renting didn't have air conditioning so we did whatever it took to stay cool. I also had the wonderful opportunity to see one of my favorite bloggers speak. Glennon Melton over at Momastery is one of my favorite people that I don't know in real life, so I was so excited to hear her in person! 

July:

We spent the beginning of July in New York with Ed's family. Part of it in Buffalo and a few days in Alfred at his grandparents farm. It was nice to get away from everything, let Preston get dirty playing outside, and cook over the campfire! Not long after that, though, little man had surgery to fix his hypospadias. He was such a trooper and we were so glad to get him taken care of while we could offer him our undivided attention! Towards the end of the month Preston and I took our last solo trip to WV to visit my family. Also…my stomach got really big. 

August:

My friend Amanda threw me a "sprinkle" for the girls arrival and I enjoyed having so many of my favorite ladies in the same spot! Also, we finally got rid of our boat! They say the two best days of a boat owners life are the day they get a boat and the day they get rid of it. It was definitely worth a champagne toast!

September: 

Of course, September was busy welcoming our little girls! Addison Margaret May was born on September 17 at 9:01 am weighing 5 lbs 6 oz and Delaney Gail May was born at 9:02 am weighing 4 lbs 15 oz. A good friend of mine from high school sent me a picture of the sign above and no truer statement was ever made. That is how I feel on so many days (though, I admittedly tend to focus on how full my hands are and less so on how full my heart is. Hey, I'm only human!). 

October:

         

We were very lucky that my parents were able to come to Connecticut and help us with the girls and Preston while we adjusted to having the girls home! Mom and I even took the first adventure out with all 3 of them to the park. Look at Preston's face…he is so proud to be a big brother! Ed and I managed to sneak in a couple of date nights before being apart for a couple of weeks during the move, as I went to WV for a couple of weeks with the kids while he went to NY and then headed west on his own.

November:

Preston went to NY to stay with Ed's family while my mom and I drove the girls cross country (my in-laws flew him out after we had arrived). He got to spend Halloween with them and he was the cutest pirate. I, personally, am amazed he not only kept the costume on, but sat in it for a picture! The majority of the month of November was spent driving and getting settled into our new house. You can see how ridiculous the car was during the trip, and no, we didn't drive with Laney in the center console. Girlfriend just needed to stretch out during one of our many stops. Finally…home sweet home!

December:

December found us finally settling into the new house and getting some projects done. Preston got upgraded to a big boy bed and he LOVES it! He has done such a good job with the transition and generally stays put until someone comes and gets him (for now anyway). This was the first Christmas that we spent in our own home, as we generally travel to my family or Ed's. It was fun to create our own traditions, especially now that Preston is understanding the concept of Santa and was so excited! 

We have had a wonderful (and busy) 2013 and I look forward to all that awaits us in 2014!

Easter Recap!

Holidays are becoming so much more fun the older Preston gets! This year was the first year that we really celebrated with P...we dyed eggs, attempted an Easter egg hunt, had an Easter basket, which was a lot of fun for me to shop for (and a lot of fun for P to open!). We also got to have a big Easter dinner with a lot of my moms side of the family...we missed Ed though!

Dying Easter eggs! Notice that he is only wearing a diaper...we weren't taking any chances! This was about the extent of his egg dying, though. He did this then tried to eat the eggs we hadn't gotten to yet. 

The egg hunt started off promising....carrying his basket was about the extent of his participation though.

Clearly, Barley was more interested in the eggs than Preston!

Even after showing him the goodies (Cheerios, puffs, a few M&Ms) inside, he still wasn't interested.
Not Shown: the crying, fit throwing, and us lobbing eggs in his general direction. He was much more interested in playing with the dogs toys than picking up eggs!

Prestons first Easter basket! 

Playing with the maracas! Thank you Target dollar bin for making him the happiest boy ever! Sheer joy from the maracas!

We were also a big fan of the chocolate bunny. He was only allowed to eat the ears, though! It's been hidden since Sunday. 

Sitting with Uncle Boom after Easter diner! 

It's so crazy to think that this time next year we will be doing 3 Easter baskets and having so much more craziness! It's exciting though!

Happy Easter from our family to yours!!

Our Big News!

Since it has become public knowledge now (or at least as public knowledge as Facebook makes it), I thought I would share on here that we are expecting our 2 AND 3 children in October :-)

This is the announcement that I used to post it to the world. I found a similar variation on pinterest and made it work for us. Then we found out they were twins and had to tweak it again. Regardless, I thought it came out cute. 

Just a couple of days ago Ed surprised me with a minivan. We were actually in the process of buying a new Ford Fusion when we found out about the twins. That being said, there was no way I was going to be able to cram 3 carseats in the back of a Fusion. We started looking at larger SUV's and found that we really couldn't swing getting such bad gas mileage (especially with all of the moving and traveling we do). We settled on a minivan and low and behold my husband sneakily traded in my Escape and bought me this:

I love it and it was very nice to drive it north on our partial move (more on that later). I just never imagined myself being a minivan kind of mom, so I am having some adjustment issues. It seems unnecessary with only one little one to tote around and I feel even weirder when I am the only one in it.   I just keep reminding myself to enjoy the solitude because soon it is going to be packed to the brim with babies and dogs!

Parenting.

I set out to write about how hard parenting is. You know...woe is me. This week, in particular, has been brutal. What, with a teething, climbing, fussy 8 1/2 month old and a tired momma....things have not been so pretty around here.

I am going to do something different instead. I will leave you (but mainly myself) a picture of this naughty messy little boy and a reminder that parenting without a sense of humor is like being an accountant thats terrible with math.

Also, this is a good reminder.

PJM - 8 months

Another awesome Chelsea, over at The Life We Love, has a sweet little 7 month old boy named Logan. Every month she does a bio for him, and I loved it so much I decided to borrow her idea. They will be fun little tidbits and pictures to remember P at this age!

Name: Preston James May

Age: 8 months (and 4 days)

Favorites:

• Jumping in your bouncer! You love it so much that you think every toy you stand in is made for bouncing. Your NeNa bought you a walker and you couldn't understand why you were going anywhere when you jumped!

• Picking things up off the floor and sticking them in your mouth. You are especially fond of the dogs food and seem to be able to find things even after I vacuum. Twice. 

• Talking! Your favorites include "Da Da Da Da" (even though I keep telling you Ma Ma Ma Ma) and "Ba Ba Ba Ba"

• Giggling! You think everything is the funniest thing you've ever seen! Especially when momma plays peak-a-boo with you or when the dogs lick your face.

• Snorting and blowing raspberries. You make the most hysterical face where you scrunch of your nose and snort in and out. It's especially funny when I do it to you and you do it back.

• You love Bella and Zoey! I originally thought you and Zoey were going to be kindred spirits just from how she was when I was pregnant and you were first born. Now I see that you love your Bella and she loves you. Boy does she love you! You are always climbing on top of her and grabbing her tail. She is so patient. She generally doesn't even move and when she does its only to give you a kiss.

Talents and Skills: 

• We have just got through your sleep training. We have tried to do it in the past but you weren't having any of it! You would just sob and sob and sob for hours -- until someone picked you up and you would promptly pass out! We have been working on your sleep training for just over a week and you are doing so well! It has also helped you get onto a schedule. You are down to 2 naps a day now, but they are awesome long naps instead of those crazy 30 minute naps you use to like. You are so sweet when you sleep...

• In a matter of weeks you have gone from doing an army crawl to sitting up, trying to crawl on your knees, and now pulling up on daddy and me, as well as the furniture. You are especially fond of the end table in the living room, probably because thats where we keep the tissues and magazines. 

Temperament: 

• You are the sweetest boy ever! You are so content and easy to get along with!! Momma is so lucky! You love to flirt with the girls when we are out and about and you are the best shopping buddy ever! You seem so content to just sit in the cart and look around -- to take it all in! You are so alert and it seems like you are learning something new all the time. I am constantly amazed by how sweet and amazing you are!