Week 12

Week 12 (going back to February 10th) started with getting ready for Baby G's 1st birthday on Saturday. It's hard to believe that he is already one, do I still call him Baby G or it is now Toddler G? We spent most of the morning and into the early afternoon prepping food, icing cookies, hanging decorations and making the goodie bags for the kiddos; the house was quickly being transformed into a Sesame Street theme. 

Later in the afternoon we went for a long walk and took G to the park so he could let out a little steam. He loves to be outside and enjoyed swinging and sliding. He particularly liked the tunnel slide after realizing that it was fun and not scary. It was cute to watch him go from being timid and kind of scared to loving it and wanting to keep going down. The look on his face when he got to the bottom the first time was priceless. I look forward to the day J is old enough to go to the park, swing and slide and watch her experience these things for the first time.

We then headed back to the house to take showers and headed to one of our favorite places to go in Florida, the Ale House! Baby G stayed back with Nana but J had her first trip, even though she slept through it! We had chicken nachos, chicken wings and beer, just like old times, except this time we were there with a baby (and this time mommy could drink beer since last time we were there I was pregnant)!

Saturday was a day of two firsts, it was Baby G's first birthday and Baby J got to meet her Pop Pop for the first time. This was the first time since Christmas 2010 that all of the family was together and with two new additions, we are now a family of 10. The morning was hectic getting ready for the party, actually the whole frigging day was hectic and chaotic, but in a good way! Everyone was making a big deal over Baby G and Baby J and all they probably wanted was to stick to their routines (well I know J probably did). The two hour party flew by and at this point all I remember was the cake part (probably because I was too busy taking pictures). Baby G was cranky (he also wasn't feeling to well and gave J her first snotty nose) and didn't want to go in his highchair but as soon as we started to sing "Happy Birthday" he got a HUGE smile on his face. As soon as we would stop he would start to fuss so we sang happy birthday to him for what seemed like 10 minutes straight while he dug into his cupcakes and then finally had enough (after his daddy pushed his hand into the cake).

Sunday we took it easy, Baby G had his first birthday photo shoot where we were able to get some pics of the entire family. Pictures to come as soon as my sister gets them back from her awesome photographer. Pop pop, Aunt H, and Uncle M all left to go back to Miami, we would be heading that way on Tuesday. 

Monday we went out to lunch, ran a few errands and cooked dinner in. It was a short night as we needed to be up early for the drive to Miami.

Tuesday (Valentine's Day) we said goodbye to the L family and headed down I-95 in a jam packed car!.This was J's first long car ride and I was praying that she would be an angel. Nana rode with her in the back seat and was ready to keep her entertained. About 2 hours into our ride we stopped at a Cracker Barrel for brunch (when you travel with a kid stops are no longer 20 minutes but more like 90 minutes!). J was an angel the first two hours in the car and only started to fuss when we were about 5 minutes from CB because she was hungry. We all ate, got J changed and let her stretch for a while before having to put her back into her car seat and hit the road. We continued south, J sleeping away and like clock work, about 2.5 hours later we heard some fussing because someone was hungry again. We pulled over to feed her and get some gas and then got back on the road, this time in about 45 minutes to finish our journey and get to Nana and Pop Pop's house. We FINALLY arrived and were all glad to be out of the car. For a trip that normally takes about 5 hours, we did it in 7.5 with an 11 week old, not bad. We let J stretch for a little while before we got back into the car and headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house (who were patiently waiting for our arrival). We had a family Valentine's dinner and J got to meet her Auntie V and Uncle G. After a long day everyone called it a night.

Wednesday we hung out and then J got to meet some of Grandma and Grandpa's friends later in the day. Thursday was a big day, J visited 'The U" for the first time, had lunch at the Big Cheese and mommy and daddy went on their first dinner date in 12 weeks (nothing is better than a stone crab dinner at Captain's Tavern).

In all this was a crazy week and J was TOTALLY off her schedule, something mommy had to learn to deal with and just go with the flow. But she did sleep well at night, sometimes too well and almost until 8am a few days! She is fascinated by her hands these days and they are constantly in her mouth.

Click here for all the pics of the week.