Best of 2017

2017 has been an amazing year!  Addie turned 3 in February and continues to keep us on our toes.  She is obsessed with all things princesses, going to Busch Gardens, and hanging out with her buddies.  We grew from a family of 4 to a family of 5 when we welcomed Noah into our crazy crew in May.  We spent our summer loving on our new little guy and soaking up as much sun and sand as possible.  Bella turned 2 in August and though she may be tiny, she is fierce!  She is Addie's little shadow who has also started giving her a run for her money! Bella loves choo-choo trains, dancing, and her baby "brother" as she calls him.  Both girls started their first year of preschool in the fall and they absolutely love it!  Noah turned 6 months old in November and it's been so much fun to watch his little personality shine through and crazy to even imagine our lives without him in it.  This year's Christmas was my favorite one so far, nothing beats watching the Christmas magic through the eyes of your little ones.  Life with 3 kids 3 and under keeps things pretty chaotic for Eric and I, but we wouldn't have it any other way! 

BEST OF 2017, month by month...

JANUARY

2017 was off to a great start when Eric won "Salesman of the Year."  Although we weren't able to make it to the conference this year, the girls and I had fun celebrating with him when he got home.

FEBRUARY

Our Addie girl turned 3 and we celebrated with a fun Pizza & Movie Night birthday party.  Eric and I also spent the most amazing week in Maui on a rewards trip from Jostens turned Babymoon!  We even got to hang out with Brian & Carla while we were there because they were in Hawaii for a wedding.  Towards the end of the month, we took the girls to Great Wolf Lodge for the very first time and it was a blast!

MARCH

We started the month celebrating Eric's 35th birthday.  Addie played soccer for the very first time and was potty trained!  We ended March with a trip to DC to see Pap, Grandma, T, Uncle Brian, & Carla.

APRIL

April was baby prep month!  We had a fun maternity photo shoot with my good friend Sarah, my friends and family through Noah and I an amazing baseball themed baby sprinkle, and the girls took a big siblings class at the hospital.  We had our family in town for Easter and had lots of family adventures including trips to Busch Garden. the zoo, the beach, botanical gardens, and the pool.  

MAY

My absolute favorite memory of the entire year was in May when we welcomed Noah into our family, being a boy mom never felt so right.  From anxiously walking into the hospital with my big ol' belly to laying eyes on our sweet boy for the very first time to having my heart literally beat out of my chest when the girls met him for the very first time, it was by far the best day of the entire year. 

JUNE

June was a time of lots of newborn snuggles, fun in the sun, and adjusting to life as a family of FIVE.  Kristen came to hang out with us for 2 weeks while Eric was busy with graduation season and it definitely was nice to have the extra help.  We started our weekly dinners with our neighbors and it's quickly become something we all looked forward to every week. 

JULY

We kicked off July with a road trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate the 4th, my cousin's graduation, and introduce Noah to his Pittsburgh family.  We also went on our annual family vacation to the Outer Banks, which was another highlight in 2017.

AUGUST

We flamingled our way through August as our Bella bean turned 2.  The Hazelwoods came into town for it and the kids had so much fun hanging out with Uncle Jay.  We also had lots of beach days and evenings, went to Busch Gardens about 100 times, and lots of other fun times with our friends and family as we soaked up every last bit of summer time.

SEPTEMBER

We started September with a little family getaway to the Outer Banks, just the five of us  Addie had her first day of preschool in the Owls class and also started ballet classes. 

OCTOBER

In October, Bella had her first day of preschool in the Bees class.  Eric, Noah, and I escaped for a long weekend in Chicago to visit Kristen, while the girls stayed behind with the sitter.  Then we turned around and we took the whole crew to Pittsburgh for a long weekend.  In between trips, we did all things Halloween - pumpkin patches, pumpkin painting play dates, and parties.  Eric and I ran the Wicked 10K with some friends.  We trick-or-treated as "Lions and tigers and bears..oh my!"

NOVEMBER

November was full of celebrations - Noah was baptized, we held our annual Friendsgiving, had a quiet Thanksgiving at home, and decided that we were going to build our dream home in 2018!

DECEMBER

The most magical time of the year sure was just that this year.  Christmas town became our second home and we loved every second!  We checked off all things Christmas on our to-do list including seeing the big man in red more times than I can count.  The girls put on the sweetest performance at their Holiday show and I surprised Addie with her first Mommy-Daughter date to the Nutcracker.  We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day continuing our traditions, both old and new, followed by an extra long trip to the Burgh.  We ended the year with some exciting news because my brother finally popped the question and Carla said yes!  She will officially be part of the family, let the wedding planning begin!  2017 was the most perfect year and I can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for us!

Noah Ryan - Month 8

No update on your stats, your well check is next month!

AT EIGHT MONTHS YOU ARE:
-Still sporting the toothless smile!
-Saying "mama" on repeat!
-Giving Dad the best high-fives
-Clapping, smiling, and laughing all day long with your crazy sisters
-Practicing your pincer grasp
-Happily sitting still vs. crawling
-Very curious - you grab for everything you can get your hands on.
-Officially a tummy sleeper

HEALTH
No update here - other than a few runny noses you've been pretty healthy this month.

EAT

You love to eat!  Right now your typical schedule looks like this:

5-6am - wake up for a 6oz bottle, but you easily fall right back to sleep

8am - wake up and eat breakfast - usually a jar of purees and some table food.  Blueberry waffles, bananas, peanut butter toast, and pineapple are some of your favorites.  I usually feed you a bottle with breakfast before we leave for the day, it just depends on when/if you woke up to eat during the night.

12pm - Lunch, 1-2 jars of purees

1pm - 6 oz bottle before nap time

4ish - 4-6 oz bottle and snack

6pm - dinner, 2 jars of purees and a taste test of whatever we are eating for dinner

7pm - 6 oz bottle before bed

SLEEP
It's been so nice to be able to get back into a routine after the chaos of the holidays.  You are down to just waking up once around 5-6am for a night time feed and I'm okay if that feeding hangs on for a while because it means you usually sleep until 8-8:30am.  You are usually ready for a nap around 10 and if we are home you will sleep for an hour or so, if we are on the go a quick 20-30 min cat nap usually helps you make it through lunch.  You usually nap every day from 1-4ish and then are ready for bed around 7.  You are such an easy baby when it comes to sleep (and pretty much everything else) I lay you down completely awake and you just roll over and put yourself to sleep.  You are following your sisters' footsteps in the sense that you love your pacifier.  You usually have one in your mouth and like to hold one in your hand as a back up to help you fall asleep.

LIKES & DISLIKES

You love attention, looking at yourself in the mirror, playing with toys, your sisters, eating and chewing on anything you can get your hands on, bath time, and swinging at the park.  You aren't a fan of snow balls to the face, getting tackled by your sisters or dog, falling over, having a poopy diaper when you are supposed to be sleeping, or when the Steelers lose - but frankly, I don't blame you :)

PERSONALITY

I've said it 100 times but I'll say it again, you are THE BEST baby.  You are by far the easiest right now, so content, flexible, and always so happy.  I love this stage that we are in where you are so curious, so playful, and so easily entertained.  It never fails that you make a friend every where we go.  I am always getting stopped by the youngest and oldest of strangers, that's right you get most of your attention from young kids and grandparents that stop to tell me how cute you are.  Then, you put the icing on the cake by showing them that toothless grin of yours.  I can't believe in a few short months we will start planning your first birthday party, time please slow down!   

FAVORITE MOMENTS
-We celebrated your first Christmas and it was so much fun!  You got a new high chair, some clothes, a baby walker, toy cars, and a "My Family" board book.  You also loved Bella's pink Mercedes, even more than she does I think!

-We got 11 inches of snow (which is a crazy amount for us!) and you got to play in it for the first time.  You seemed to really like it until you got smacked in the face with a snow ball.  You were not a fan of that, but who is?!?
-We took your first trip to DC for Brian and Carla's surprise engagement dinner.  Your sisters stayed behind with the sitter, but you came along and spent the evening partying with your Godmother Leah while we went to dinner.  It was a quick trip, but so much fun celebrating Uncle Brian and Carla!