weekend fun

I love spontaneous weekends. I'm so thankful Brad talked me out of cleaning the house Saturday and instead we enjoyed our last weekend of him being a stay at home dad, as he starts his new job tomorrow. Eek!  It was a surprisingly beautiful day - the forecast had called for rain all week, but there wasn't a cloud in site and it may have even hit 80 degrees. Cleaning plans were put on hold and we visited the farmer's market, had our niece Emma Clare over for pizza on the porch (Jenna, Andrew, Meredyth & Maggi are visiting Scott & Lynne in China right now), went to the zoo, visited Weber's for the best custard in town, and made these sinfully delicious cookies! It was a super fun day! Sunday we joined my parents at church for Easter, then visited Brad's parents for Easter dinner. 

all tuckered out after a Very Busy Day!

Easter eggs colored with homemade dye...so easy and such beautiful colors!

glimpse of last weekend

we spent last sunday morning transferring our cool weather seedlings (brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, shallots, leeks & garlic) to our community garden plot. it was the first 70+ degree day of the year and everyone in the city of cleveland was in a happy mood. we dressed adelaide in a summer outfit and she soaked up every minute of being outside. we visited my parents for my dad's birthday where joy made a delicious lunch, then brad's parents for an evening cookout. adelaide was spoiled with getting to enjoy multiple walks and got to experience taking naps in the warm sunshine. we left our windows open all day (we even slept with them open!) and it was so nice to come home to a fresh air filled house! adelaide traded in her usual warm sleeper & sleep sack and slept in a onesie instead...it was that warm. i think she loved it. ah, spring in cleveland...nothing quite like it.

grow little seedlings!

our little gardener...can't wait til she can help us!

carrot cake cupcakes w/ maple cream cheese frosting for dad's birthday

happy birthday dad!

meredyth & samuel...so sweet...

joy & samuel 

someone loves sweet potatoes...and trying to feed herself...

playing with grandma!

ended the weekend with a glass of wine on the porch & these 2...

NYC

Last weekend we drove to NYC to surprise Mary for her 30th as well as meet little miss Mira. We had such a great time catching up with them. Can't believe we're all parents now! 

The boys with their little princesses on a walk in Central Park. It was SO cold, but the sun was shining so we couldn't resist getting out!

Love these two so much!

Signs Spring is near!

The proud parents!

Me & sis

Cleopatra's Needle (thought it was a cool looking monument)

he's not smitten at all...

LOVE this!

I love how it looks like Adelaide is leaning to get into the picture :)

Proud papas...

Adelaide loved seeing her newest cousin!

the babies...

Daddy dressed Mira in her fanciest outfit for their Saturday outing.

I love how alert she is, just studying everything!

Such a fun weekend - lots of walking & good conversations & good food...and of course relaxing.

We went out for Indian and they were perfect little angels until miss Adelaide's poop leaked out of her diaper (darn you disposables! - too hard to travel with the cloth...)...anyway leaked out of her diaper and I got to change her in the world's smallest bathroom on my lap :) oh the joys of NYC living!

momma reading to mira - so precious!

Adelaide loved Ace!

We got to catch up with an old friend too!

Good Night NYC - can't wait to visit you again soon!

6 months!

I can't believe that just 6 short months ago, our little one appeared in our lives. We can't imagine our lives without her and often wonder aloud to each other what it is we were even doing before she was around. She is THE light of our lives. She is such a busy body and continually lives up to her nickname of 'nosey rosey'. She enjoys spending time in her jolly jumper and rolling all over the living room. She likes having an audience and is happiest when she is near Brad or I. She is getting more and more vocal and the sound of her alto voice is my favorite sound in the world. She continues to have the sweetest disposition and is growing more and more curious by the day. She grabs at whatever we have in our hands and immediately puts it in her mouth. She is eating (2)6 oz bottles while I am at work (going about 4 hrs between bottles) and I nurse her once in the morning and 2-3 times in the evening. She seems to be showing signs of being ready for solids and we think we'll begin introducing them this month sometime. She usually goes to bed around 9:00p and sleeps until about 7:30a. A few things we don't want to forget... When she stops nursing, cranes her neck back so she can look at her daddy sitting next to me on the couch and just stares at him. Then she'll flirt with him, smile and nuzzle back down to eat. When I hear her wake up from a nap and she doesn't cry to get up rather i'll just hear her little voice, a few thumps and the sound of her playing with her crib toys. Her sleepytime giraffe. Her laugh.

work out girl

5 months (a little belated)

Miss Adelaide has become quite the mover this past month with her biggest accomplishment being rolling over! We put her down on her back and she’ll either scoot herself around 180 degrees or  roll unto her tummy. Her 2^nd biggest accomplishment is her ability to blow raspberries. When she figured it out she was Very impressed with herself and liked to practice all day long. Like I mentioned, she has become very active and continues to be such a little busy body. We usually find her completely sideways in her crib in the morning, playing with the little toys hanging on the side.  It took her a few times to figure out the jolly jumper – she would just kind of hang there and twirl around in it while chewing on the side of the seat, but she managed to figure it out and loves to practice her jumps now.  She also loves to spend time in her exersaucer. She has become quite the little flexible one with her talent being sucking on her toes while we’re changing her diaper. She is becoming very curious and I’m finding I’ll need to go hideaway soon while nursing her because she cranes her neck to see who just walked by, or where the sound is coming from, even if I take a drink of water she’ll stop and stare at me. I still nurse her once in the morning, then she’ll have (2) 5 oz bottles while I’m at work, then I nurse her on average 3 times in the evening. 10 o’clock is her predictable bedtime now and she’ll usually nurse or ‘slurse’ (sleep nursing) as we’ve affectionately nicknamed her nursing sessions that seem to take forever because she goes from eating to sleeping and back, the hour beforehand. She generally sleeps until about 7:30 or 8am. She still takes a longer (2 hour) morning nap then a few catnaps sprinkled through the day. A few things we don’t want to forget – She is so nosey! We like to call her nosey rosey because we swear she can twist her neck 180 degrees to see what’s going on. One of my favorite times of the day is laying in bed and listening to her jabber to herself in the morning, either that or her thumping herself awake! We keep thinking that every stage is our favorite, but  each stage just keeps getting better – she is such a blessing to us!