same party... two years apart

I did not realize, until after the fact, that I dressed Hana and Brooke in the same outfit for their first birthday parties. I guess I should have looked back on the pictures from Hana's party BEFORE I dressed Brooke... but alas I did not. So the end product are some pretty similar pictures 2 years apart.

Eating cake (I know the high chairs are different, but come on...) OK these don't look as close as the next ones :)





Standing by the coffee table




Looking at presents




Wearing something around their neck




There is no date on this one... do YOU know who it is??!!

Brooke's First Birthday Party Weekend

We had Brooke's first birthday party this past Saturday. It was a great weekend with family and friends.
Mom, Dad, and Nanny arrived Friday night. We had a nice dinner out and home to watch some basketball. (GOOO HEELS!!)
Everyone got to spend some time with Brooke.


Saturday morning woke up with stress. Hana woke up with a high fever, Jack took her to the Doctor. Luckily, she only had an ear infection (which is thankfully not contagious).
After the morning stress, the party was great!
Here is our yummy spread of food :)

It was a nice intimate gathering of friends and family. The kids played well and got along great (so did the adults).

Brooke enjoyed her cake. It took her a little bit to get into it, but once she did she was sticking her hands in and enjoying every minute of it!


Hana enjoyed the cake too (hey, that is what birthday parties are for!)

Brooke got some great presents. And their big present, a swing set, will be a long soon!


It was a great day. Unfortunately after everyone left, I started to get sick. I woke up Sunday morning with a 101 temp. This did cut the end of the weekend short.
But over all it was still a great weekend! Thanks to all who came and helped!

Red socks

When Hana had her surgery, at the end of February, she was given some (very cute) red socks. We told her how nice and warm they were (slight exaggeration on our part) and how they would help her during her surgery. When we left the nurse stated that they were sure become her favorite socks. Little did we know how right she was. These red socks, complete with cool tread, are 10 sizes too big. They are never to be worn in public. But Hana loves them! She wears them for every nap and bedtime.
One of the red socks went missing (some times she likes to take them off and play with them), so she wore one. We paired the one with a very bright pink sock so you could hardly tell they didn't match (yea right). When we finally found the missing red sock Hana was ecstatic!
I just wanted to share the new fashion trend that Hana is sure to start... hospital sheek.

Here they are from every angle.

Happy Easter

This is the first year that we have really done any "Easter Activities". The past 2 years, Hana was just too young to really enjoy them (and let's face it, I was not quite ready for the mess that would ensue).
We got dressed up for church this morning. Hana is in a very "anti-picture" phase right now. It is hard to get any pictures of her looking at the camera these days. When we do get a picture, she is making a face like this one.


Or we get a good picture... with out her!

After naps and lunch, we painted some eggs (I had bought these paints that were in Q-tip type things, one of the past Easters). Hana enjoyed painting the eggs! Two eggs actually made it through with out breaking!

Then we went outside to hide the eggs. We had to hide them several times so she could keep finding them. It made the hunt much less difficult because she liked to stand at the door and watch daddy hide them... oh well. Still fun!



And here are their cute baskets :)


Happy Easter!

He is Risen!

Good Friday

It worked out nicely that Brooke's First Birthday happened to fall on Good Friday. We were able to do some fun things in honor of Brooke's Birthday :)
We started the morning off opening some presents. (Thanks Nanny!!!)




She loves her new baby!

Then we went to an Easter Egg hunt put on by Hana's preschool church.

There were lots of eggs and LOTS of people.

Hana and Daddy set off into the fray... how many eggs would they snag? 15...20... no. They got 5. ("I only caught 5... one more and you could have had yourself a cocktail")

They had a fun art project for after the hunt (stickers on paper... one of Hana's favorite!)

We then came back to the house where Hana and I made a bunny cake. This is a new tradition that I hope to continue in the years to come. I do not claim to be a professional baker. You will see from the finished product that I could never make a living with my cake decorating skills... but we had fun!! (The cake was good! Yea cake from a box!!)





Brooke got her first taste of sweets... I mean it IS her first birthday!!

Brooke is ONE!!!

It is so hard for me to believe that one whole year has passed since Brooke was born. It literally seems like yesterday when I went to the Doctor (with what I thought was false labor). My mom called while I was waiting to see the Dr, and I told her that I was having contractions. But even after the Doctor checked and said I was indeed in labor... it still did not feel real. Even after being checked into the hospital and sending Hana to Emily's house... it still did not feel real. After getting several drugs to relax me (and see if I had a Urinary Tract infection)... it still did not feel real. After being sent to the "labor and delivery" side of the hospital... it still did not feel real. However, after hearing a woman scream during labor and realizing that my contractions were getting harder and closer together... it finally felt real! And once the Doctor checked me and told me that I was a whopping 7 centimeters dilated... it REALLY felt real! After only 3 pushes Brooke made her debut into the world... 6 weeks early... and 10 days before her shower.
So much has changed in the last 12 months. I have become a mother of two. I have gotten to know my beautiful sweet daughter. I have learned a lot about myself and even more about my two girls.
Brooke has learned to do so much. While she is still a month or so "behind the curve", she is growing and changing SO much! She is still a little tiny thing (we will know exactly how tiny on Thursday when we go for her year check up). She wears mostly 6-9 months clothes and can even fit comfortably into some 3-6 months. She can say "mama" and "dada". She can crawl very well and can stand by herself for up to a minute. She is cruising around on just about everything. She is laid back about most things... except her food! She likes her milk to be warm and she doesn't like to pick up "squishy" foods. She is very much a Mamma's girl. If I am in the room- I have to be holding her. She is learning new things (like pointing to our nose). She can also point to our mouth, but she will ONLY do those things if she is in the mood.
As you can tell life is much different in March 2008, than it was in 2007. And I wouldn't change anything for the world!

We are starting to read "word" books. Here we are yesterday with some animals :)

You've Got Mail

After watching You've Got Mail (for the 5 thousandth time), I really miss New York City. I know that I was only there for a very short period of time, but it really became a part of me. It is a totally different way of life than the one that I presently lead, but I can see why so many people love it. There are so many wonderful things to do, the options are endless. I am not suggesting that we are going to pick up and move. I just wanted to express my thanks again for the wonderful weekend that I got to spend in the City with some wonderful family!

Hana surgery follow-up

We had Hana's surgery follow-up appointment today. It was actually very quick. This is the first time that we have seen these Drs that the wait wasn't ridiculous.
He checked her incision, and said that it was healing fine. Her "cover strip" had fallen off a days ago, so I had seen the incision. It is kind of weird seeing a "cut" on your baby, but it is good to know that it is healing well :)

Since I was prepared for another all day visit to the Dr, I had packed a lunch. I was able to get home at a normal time and put Brooke down for her nap. SO Hana and I had a carpet picnic with our packed lunch :) She refused to let me take her picture. But these are the two that I took anyway :)

"Brookie, nose"

These pictures have nothing to do with the post, but she is just so cute, I had to share!



In this one you can see her lone teeth.


I have been showing Brooke my nose and her nose for a while now. Well the other night I said "Brooke, nose" and she touched my nose!!! Thinking it was a fluke, I said it again and she did it again! Of course I was alone at the time. The next day both Hana and Jack saw her do it! Now Hana will come up to her (point to her own nose) and say "Brookie, nose" and Brooke will grab her nose. It is so cute! I just had to share!

I heart New York

We had such an amazing time in New York City! At first, I will admit that I was a bit scared and overwhelmed. But after a little while (and some major help from Courtney) I started to really enjoy the City. I can see how some many people love it!
We did A LOT (a lot, a lot), so I will try to give a run down. But *note* there are a lot of pictures to come!!
Thursday, after flying in, we walked around the City. We saw Time Square (which is very big and over whelming). In the pictures I am not extra fat- I zipped my purse under my jacket (me being paranoid and all).

Stopping to pose for a picture (one of about a million more to come)

Friday we went to Live with Regis and Kelly (although Regis was not there- we later learned that he only works Monday- Wednesday). Bryant Gumbel was the co-host. Kelly was really nice, she came and talked to the audience in between each takes.
Here we are waiting to go into the show:)


Here we are on the set.

In the stands.

The view from our seat.

After we left the show, we took a cab (unfortunately, which we found out later, Nanny left her purse in this cab).
We ate an icky lunch and headed over to the piers for a boat tour. It was a great view of the city!
We got to see the Statue of Liberty.



And some amazing views of the city.




Don't even ask...


Since it rained ALL day Saturday, we weren't able to do our "planned" activities. So we went to China Town to get some cheap stuff. We did not know, that in order to get some knock off purses, that you had to go to the basement under lock and key. We will just chalk that up to an experience!
Saturday night we went to an amazing Italian restaurant a few blocks from Courtney's dorm. It was wonderful, I had black pasta... very good!


We did have time to pose for a few pictures... I mean there is always time for that!


On Sunday we went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Of course their choir was amazing!!


We then RAN to make our play... Hairspray. It was great!! The acting and singing was wonderful. The play had Norm from Cheers (as the Mother no less), Tevin Campbell (I don't know if you remember him... he had a song when I was in middle school "One More Try" - the main reason I remember is that I had my first "slow dance" to that song... ahhh the memories!), and one of the boys from O-Town. The only reason I know all of this was that it was in the Play-bill :)





I did stop by the "Seinfeld" restaurant... it is not the same inside... but the outside looks just like it does on TV :)

And sadly that ends our trip. I had an absolutely WONDERFUL time!! Thank you to Nanny, and Mom... who graciously paid for EVERYTHING! Thank you to Courtney who put the trip together, put up with all of us, and let me stay in your apartment!
I love you all!