OBX Mini-Vaca

The Outer Banks is by far one of our favorite places to visit.  We have visited the Outer Banks many, many times in the past couple years and it holds a very special place in our hearts because it's where we got married 3 years ago.  It is awesome to be able to now create memories there with our little family, plus being only an hour and a half away is also a bonus!

A few weeks ago, we packed the car and hit the road for a little mini-vaca to the beach.  We had a blast hanging out on the beach, enjoyed a super yummy meal at Black Pelican, and spent a morning exploring Manteo.  It was short and sweet, but just what we needed to recharge and relax before finishing a hectic work year for both Eric and I.  Until next time OBX, we will see you in July!

Favorite "Memorable Moments" from School

Addie is officially done with daycare!!!  I will say although I am very, very excited to be able to stay at home with her next year, leaving daycare is a little bittersweet.  We were so lucky to have such a wonderful experience at the Goddard School of Chesapeake.  We absolutely loved her teachers, the office staff, and all of the kids there.  The daycare was like a family and they treated all of the kids like their own.  They always made Eric and I feel very comfortable leaving her there, even those first couple days when as any parent knows it is extremely difficult.  Her teachers sent us pictures throughout the day and recorded memorable moments on her daily report so that Eric and I could feel included in her day.  Addie loved playing outside, singing and dancing with her friends at circle time, and of course snack time!  She learned so much and hit so many milestones while she was there too, from sitting up, to walking, to sign language.  I've been very impressed with the variety of learning experiences Addie had on a daily basis while she was there.  She learned how to wash and dry her hands all by herself, throw her trash away, and even stand in line.  

On Addie's last day, there were lots of hugs and smiles and we were even given a portfolio of special pictures, comments, and art work from every month that she was there.  Addie will spend the next 3 weeks hanging out with her Aunt Krissy and then come the middle of June I cannot wait to start a new chapter in mommy world and spend every day with my sweet Addie girl! 

Addie's 1st day of daycare back in September and her last day of daycare at the end of May.

Here are some of my favorite "Memorable Moments" from Addie's daily reports.  I love looking back at these and seeing how much Addie has changed in a few short months.  She went from being a sweet and observant baby to a fun, spunky, full of energy toddler.

9/2/14
Addie had a great day!! She enjoyed her first full day of school! She showed us how much stronger she is getting with sitting up! 

9/10/14
Addie had a great day!! She smiled at everyone that came in the room today!! She is so sweet! 

9/11/14
Addie had a great day!! She enjoyed her first ride outside in the bye bye buggy! 

9/25/14
Addison did a great job gripping the ball as we attempted to roll it to our friends today.

10/3/14
Addie had a great day! She enjoyed exploring with the rattles while we played music today!! She even bounced like she was dancing! 

10/7/14
Addie had a great day! She gave us lots of smiles and showed off her new tooth today!!

10/16/14
Addie had a great day! She danced while her teacher sang songs on the mat!! 

10/23/14
Addie had a great day! She clapped at everything today!! 

11/3/14
 We were so excited to see Addie successfully army crawl across the floor today! 

11/19/14
Addie had a great day today! She has been all smiles today and enjoyed playing with a ball with her teacher. 

12/4/14
Addie had a great day! Today is the first time we saw her up on all fours crawling on the floor!! No more army crawls for Addie. 

12/9/14
Addie had a wonderful day today! She is so friendly with the other kids and even reached to help pick up a pacifier that had fallen out of her friend's mouth! 

12/10/14
Addie had a great day!! She couldn't stop dancing to the holiday music we played this morning!  

12/11/14
Addie had a great day! She sure does like spitting raspberries!! It's so much fun for them when they learn that! 

12/19/14
Addie had a great day today! We were so impressed that she kept her socks on all morning! 

1/6/15
Addie loved waving hello and goodbye to her friends and teachers today! 

1/16/15
Addie had a great day!! Someone is getting braver and looks like she'll be standing on her own soon!! Good job, Addie!! 

1/26/15
Addie had a great day!! She did a wonderful job in her new shoes. She left them on her feet and was a little more stable while she was standing up!! Great job Addie.

2/2/15
Addie had a great day! She had a great time in the moo cows during her first official day of transition.

3/9/15
Addie had a great day!! She got to spend some time in the pigs class where she showed off her sweet walking skills! 

3/10/15
Instead of doing the "Happy feet" yoga pose, Addison decided to do the downward dog and show all of her new friends. 

3/13/15
As Addison began to walk she started following her shadow. 

3/19/15
Addie loved practicing her downward dog yoga pose today during free play!  

3/20/15
Addison was stacking the blocks and clapped every time she put one on top of the other. 

3/26/15
Addison signed "more" and tried to say the word too. 

4/15/15
Addison had a great day, she played with all her friends and did a great job practicing to share with her friends. 

4/16/15
Addie had a great time dancing with the cheer team today!

4/20/15
Through out the whole day Addison did the yoga pose downward dog. 

5/4/15
Addison made sure she tasted the apple before she painted with it. 

5/5/15
Addison was a diver today, she climbed up the big blocks and rolled back down and laughed about it.  

5/6/15
During music Addison got her boogie on, she showed her friends her dance moves. 

5/7/15
Addison, followed Ms Yuri around the playground, until she could get her hand and pull her to the water fountain to get a drink of water. 

5/11/15
Addison pretended like she was a whale and made noises while we listened to the song "Baby Beluga."

5/12/15
Today Addison decided to paint her hair instead of her paper.

5/13/15
Addison, made her teacher feel very special, she would not let anyone sit in Ms. Yuri's lap.

5/29/15
Addison we are going to miss you so much, you have brought so much joy and laughter into the moo cows. No matter where you are remember your the light that brightens the room. With the amazing spunk that you have, we will definitely notice your not here. Thank you for the warm hugs and helping to get circle time and music time together and for always giving a hug when a hug is needed. You keep being a blessing, your going to make an awesome big sister. We will truly miss you. Love Ms. Yuri and the moo cow classroom. 

My 100th Post

I can't believe that this is already my 100th post, time sure does fly by in the blink of an eye!  I started this blog back in January of last year right before Addie was born.  I wanted to document our lives as we went from a family of 2 to a family of 3, along with all of the ups and downs of being a first time mom.  Through my first 100 posts, I've learned that there are way more ups than there are downs that come along with being a mom and I have loved sharing every single milestone and special moment that we have had with our sweet little Addie girl.  Even if I am the only person that reads my blog, it is still totally worth it to me to have all of these memories in writing.  I love looking back at the very beginning of motherhood and I am so happy that I will be able to share all of it with Addie some day.

I hope to continue to blog for years to come and even though life continues to get busier by the day For starters, I plan on documenting our lives in the next couple of months as we go from a family of 3 to a family of 4.  I want to capture everything about Bella's arrival, all of her firsts and milestones, as well as Addie's ups and downs of being a big sister.  Hopefully these will be the first of many milestone posts and years down the road I'll hit 500 posts, maybe even 1000 if I'm lucky!

With that being said, here are some of my favorites from the first 100 posts:

Where it all began

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage - which pretty much sums up where it all began for Eric and I.  I'm lucky enough to be married to my best friend and I love the life that we have created together.  As Eric and I always say, from beach chairs to rocking chairs...

Addison Elizabeth

I cannot wait to share Addie's birth story with her and pictures from the very first day we laid eyes on her.  Our lives changed forever on February 10th, 2014 and we are so lucky to have our sweet Addie girl in our lives!

Daddy's Little Valentine

Addie will always be "daddy's little girl" and I love that we have the very first letter he ever wrote to her on the blog.  Maybe one day (a long, long time from now!) she will even go back and read this on her wedding day.

Baby Beach Bum

Our beach days may have changed quite a bit in the last year, but I wouldn't change a thing!  I love hitting the beach with the cutest little beach bum around and I love that I have our very first family trip to the beach on the blog.

4 generations

It's pretty neat that I have 2 pictures with 4 generations of women in them.  One when I was a little girl and now one with my daughter in it.  These photos are very special to me!

Two Peas in a Pod 

Addie and her Aunt Krissy have such a special bond and have more in common than you would think.  This post was so much fun to write and I laughed out loud the entire time.

Your First Christmas

There's something special about celebrating holidays once you have your own family.  We had a blast this year for Addie's first Christmas and started many traditions that I cannot wait to continue for years to come.

Addie - From Baby to Toddler

I loved doing Addie's mostly posts and this one kind of tops it all off to see how she changed from the day she was born until her first birthday.  Addie's first year flew by, so I am very happy that I have so many great pictures and posts to look back at one day and remember how tiny she once was.

Addie is ONE

A first birthday is such a huge milestone!  We had the best time celebrating, Minnie Mouse style, with all of our family and friends.  Addie is one lucky girl!

It's a GIRL

It was so much fun to share our exciting news with the world on my blog (and it gave me an excuse to do an impromptu photo shoot with Addie!)  I love having a daughter and I cannot wait to be a mommy of 2 sweet girls :)

Shopping sprees, sunshine, and strawberry fun!

I will have to admit, I am pretty spoiled the entire month of May!  Eric has his hands full with my birthday and Mother's Day just days apart, followed by our Anniversary only a few weeks later.  With spring in the air, a very active toddler, and swollen feet that come and go, I was not complaining - and actually really, really looking forward to a weekend full of pampering.

We kicked off the weekend celebrating my birthday.  Eric took me out to a super yummy kid-free hibachi dinner, followed my a kid-free shopping spree.  It was a blast and just what I needed after a long week of work!  I was happy to relax and Addie was beyond excited to hang out with her buddy, Anna, who is also our neighbor.

Saturday morning we started the day off early at Addie's first swim lesson and man, did she hate it!  Last year, we spent hours at the pool in the water, but I guess she was too little to have an opinion or figure out how to voice it.  Addie sure has found her voice now though!  She screamed almost the entire time and gave Eric and I a few looks that meant "Get me the heck outta here, it's cold!"  Eric did agree that the water was pretty cold and did his best to distract her with toys, splashing, and songs, but it was an epic fail.  Better luck next time I guess!  After our swim lesson, we met some friends at Hickory Farms for the Strawberry Jam!  It was a beautiful day and we had a blast strawberry picking and animal watching.  Saturday night, we cooked out for dinner and then Kristie and Samantha came for a quick visit before Samantha's cheer competition.  Even though celebrating this year was totally different than years past, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I love spending time with my little family of 3 and cherish all of the memories we are making together!

Sunday was Mother's Day and yet another beautiful spring day!  We went to Oak Grove Lake for a walk and some mommy-daughter photos.  When we got home, we broke out Addie's water table to cool off and had a picnic lunch outside.  For dinner, Eric and Addie took me to one of my favorite local Italian spot and it was perfect!  It's not the fanciest of places, but we walked right in and got our table, followed by an absolutely delicious meal, and were on our way home within an hour.  Like I said, absolutely perfect!  Addie and Eric also spoiled me with a new charm for my Pandora bracelet and a summer candle - both of which I love!

I hope everyone else is enjoying this beautiful spring weather as much as we are these days.  Our active little toddler is at such a fun age and we are loving every single minute of it!

Baby Bump - Month 6

How far along?  25 weeks

Gender:  It's a girl - Bella Sherry Harvell!

Feeling:   Since I am nearing the end of the "honeymoon" period of pregnancy, I am starting to get a taste of some of my least favorite symptoms - swollen feet and hands, heartburn, shortness of breath, etc.  Luckily, they seem to come and go right now (obviously the humidity plays a part too!) so although uncomfortable, it's still bearable.  I've never been a huge fan of being pregnant, but as soon as I think about our growing baby girl in there it quickly makes it all okay...and totally worth it.  I cannot wait to meet our sweet baby girl in less than 15 weeks!

Maternity Clothes: I'm learning that one nice thing about a warm weather pregnancy is that a lot of my pre-pregnancy clothes are still wearable.  I am loving my maxi-skirts and maxi-dresses right now!  My wonderful husband even took me on a shopping spree for my birthday, so now I have a lot of cute summer maternity clothes too!  This brings me to one of my least favorite things about a warm weather pregnancy - maternity swimsuits.  Yes, I finally invested in not 1, but 2 and am ready to suck it up and enjoy the beach and pool very, very soon.

Sleep: Still sleeping like a champ :)  No complaints here and hopefully it will keep up as long as possible!

Favorite Moments:

-Deciding on our baby girl's name - Bella Sherry Harvell!  Eric and I had a much more difficult time this time around choosing her name, but we both fell in love with Bella.  I love the idea of using family names as middle names and Sherry was the perfect fit!  We love how her name will have a piece of her mom-mom who loves her to pieces already and will be looking down on her from the moment she's born.

-Taking our mini-vacation to the Outer Banks was definitely a highlight this month and much needed!

-Last, but not least, I got a mom car!  Eric and I bought a Honda Pilot and I absolutely love it!

Missing anything?  Being able to get up and down and keep up with Addie much easier, she is getting faster these days and I am getting slower....

Movement:  Constantly - it's one of the highlights of my day!

Cravings:  I am still loving anything italian, french toast and waffles, fruit (strawberry shortcake counts right?), and iced coffee

Looking forward to:

-Scheduling my c-section in the next couple of weeks :)  My paper work will get sent to labor and delivery after my next appointment and the nurse will call me with Bella's birthday (unless she wants to make an early arrival of course!)

-SUMMER!  It's so close, yet seems so far away still!

-Aunt Krissy coming to visit and watch Addie in June, which means no more daycare bills!  All very exciting stuff!

Hello SPRING!

After a LONG winter full of very, very cold weather, countless snow days, and lots of sickness in the Harvell household...we are very happy that we can finally say HELLO SPRING!  Yes, that's right, I think we are finally over the hump and the warm weather is here to say and I could not be more thrilled about it.  Here are some of my favorite things about Spring right now:

• Family walks - I've missed these over the winter and love that they are becoming part of our daily routine again.
• Sidewalk chalk, playgrounds, and bubbles - Yes, Addie is into all of these childhood favorites right now and it is so much fun to have a change of environment and activities.  She loves exploring and we love to watch her explore (but I promise we stop her from exploring the taste of chalk among another things!)
• Cooking out - With any change of season comes a new set of meals and grilling out is one of my favorites.  I love the idea of throwing just about anything on the grill these days and I have already been on Pinterest for new grilling recipes to try out this year.
• Flip flops - who doesn't love flip flop season?  It's by far my favorite type of footwear!
• Fresh air - I love that the weather is perfect right now to have the windows open, not too hot, not too cold, and I love the fresh air.  The only thing that would make it better is if I heard the sound of waves when I opened our windows, maybe one day....
• More daylight - there's nothing better about coming home and having a few more hours of daylight before it gets dark. 
• Flowers - although I HATE gardening and am absolutely terrible at keeping plants and flowers alive, I still like to look at them.  Our neighborhood is in full bloom and it's so pretty.
• Pretty colors - after a season full of grays, black, and neutrals, it's nice to see (and wear) colors again.

Last, but certainly not least, spring means that we are one step closer to SUMMER!  Bring on the beach days, ice cream, and family vacations - the countdown to summer has officially begun :)

Hanging out with the fam on the boardwalk Easter weekend.  

Addie looking adorable in her braids...thanks Carla!

Going for a walk with juice and goldfish...life doesn't get much better than this!

Working on her masterpiece

Picnic for 2!

We are still working on walking her dog.

Addie's new playground that Daddy put together for her and she LOVES it!

It's a GIRL

"A daughter is someone you laugh with, dream with, and love with all your heart."

Addie looking adorable in her tutu!

"Wait, what does that say?"

"NOOOO I don't want to share my mommy and daddy!"

Gender Reveal - Easter Style

Since we had family in town for Easter the same weekend that we found out that we were having another GIRL, of course we had to plan a fun way to reveal our news!  We went along with the Easter theme and had an Easter egg hunt!  If nothing else, we thought it would be hilarious to watch grown adults search for the eggs, plus Addie could play along too.  Eric and I hid 3 eggs for each person and they had to find 1 of each color.  Everyone had to find all of their eggs before they were allowed to open them.   Everyone searched the house, Addie included, and collected their eggs.  Little did they know, the gender was not within the eggs...we saved the best for last and let Addie reveal that she was going to have a little SISTER!  

Look mom and dad, I already found 2!

Aunt Kristen with all 3 of her eggs.

Grandma found hers too, even though she kept trying to steal Addie's who were hidden very out in the open!

It's a

......

GIRL!

Addie was more excited about the plastic egg than the fact that she is going to have a little sister in August.

There's that smile :)