2012- Oh What a Year it Was

January





It was a bit of a slow relaxed start to the year but we did make it to the beach for our first sunset of 2012.

February


We continued to beach it and hang out with family.


Aubrey and I went to lots of Wednesday night dinners with my parents while Joe played flag football with guys from work.


We went to the Blues Fest and Joey and my mom when on the crazy trampolines.


Aubs had her first ER trip


I made a big announcement

March




We celebrated Aubrey's second birthday with a trip to Disney World.


Aubs and I played in the backyard with the hose... a lot.


We found out that we were having another girl.

April


Aubs started going to preschool on Tuesday and Thursday mornings.



I took my first stab at vegetable gardening



I began to chronicle my pregnancy week to week.

May




We spent a lot of time on the boat & at the beach


We grieved at the loss of a family member

June


We remodeled our closet


Aubs spent a ton of time in Nanny's backyard


Tropical Storm Debby did some damage

July


Aubrey fell in love swimming


More backyard water fun


Aubs first dance

August


Learned to blow bubbles


My belly grew to insane proportions


Finley Kate made us a family of four

September


We all had a bit of a hard time adjusting to the new babe


The family met Fin


Took some newborn pictures


Finally semi-successfully potty trained

October


Realized that we had a colicky baby on our hands


Finley became an almost constant fixture to my body like she never left the womb


Finley's first ER visit


We celebrated cousin Lia's 6th birthday


We went to the pumpkin festival


Celebrated Halloween

November


Had another Finley health scare

December


Made a gingerbread house


Met Santa


Spent lots of time growing as a family


Happy New Year!
Thanks for sticking around during these crazy lack of blogging times.

My Stars- Macy's Heart of Haiti

Being a mom and a wife has really made me appreciate family on a whole new level. Growing up I knew family was important but I thought of it as a cut and dry kind of thing. I never really the thought about what it takes to form a family and make it last. Building and growing a strong family starts with two people falling in love and I could not be more happy with the man that I fell in love with.

Joe and I have known each we were eleven years old. The thing I really love about this is that there is no crazy secret past to worry about. He knows embarrassing things about me like that I never really kissed a boy until I was nearly fifteen and I know that he kissed pretty much every girl he met from the time he was twelve to fifteen. We also have a lot of shared memories of people and places. We’ve come a long way since roaming the halls of high school. We have had many highs and lows but in the end it has made us that much stronger. I know that after a long stressful day with the kids he will come home after working ten hours and help me with the dishes. He is also the only one who can rock Finley when she is super upset and get her to calm down within minutes. He is truly my shining star in life and the fact that I have had the pleasure of knowing him for more than half of my life makes it feel that much more special.

Having children took out relationship and our lives to a whole new level. I know that everyone says this but you don’t really know unconditional love until you have a child. I am still getting to know our newest addition but I know our toddler inside and out. They make my life that much more bright. When I’m down and out nothing can cheer me up like a smile and a giggle from my girls. Even when Aubrey is being bad she seems to know just how far she can push it before she turns it around with a hug and a song and makes me forget about all of the bad behavior.

My family is my light, the three of them are truly my stars. The beautiful star that I received from the Macy’s Heart of Haiti campaign helps me reflect on that when I’m having a hard time seeing it on a bad day. Once Christmas is over the star will hang on my wall as a constant reminded of how lucky I am. The star is not available for purchase but Macy’s offers more than 40 home décor items that are handcrafted by artisans in Haiti. To date the program has employed 780 artisans, which has improved the lives of over 6,200 individuals. The Heart of Haiti initiative provides artists with an opportunity to make a living, feed their families and pay their children’s school fees. When doing last minute Christmas shopping or really any shopping in the future please consider these products as they help improve the lives of people who are trying to provide for the stars in their lives.




I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own. #CleverHaiti

Santa Fail

Aubs has been loving Santa this year
Or so we thought.....



This one is slightly better but not much. I do love the cheeks on baby Fin though,


Pictures from the last two years






Have you posted your Santa pictures? Leave the link in the comments, I'd love to see them.

Gingerbread

I love traditions. We're a young family so we don't yet have any set in stone but it's fun to try some out. When I saw that gingerbread house kits were on sale at Target, I snatched one up. I'm no gingerbread pro unless you count the numerous milk carton graham cracker ones I made in elementary school. Do you remember those things? Sure they were fun but what a sorry excuse for a gingerbread house. I always did have a fondness for real gingerbread houses though because my Great Nana used to send fancy schmancy ones to me and my brother when we were little. We would put them on out mantel and then dive into them on Christmas morning.

Over all our family's first gingerbread house making adventure was successful. The house was a little lopsided and didn't look nearly as lovely as the one on the box but we had fun. Aubs got a kick out of sticking all the candy on the tiny house and "helping" pipe the frosting for the windows. Next year will be better though, I plan on making one from scratch instead of buying a kit. So for now gingerbread houses are a new Christmas tradition in our house, one that I hope will stick around for a long time.












Linking up with The Paper Mama

3 Months

Dear Finley,

Well three months have come and gone. You are still quite fussy but seem to be getting better by the day. This weekend you were surprising content so hopefully you just needed these first few months of your life to warm up to the world. I can't really blame you, you went from a dark quiet and peaceful place to a bright loud and chaotic place. The chaos mainly coming from your big sis. She seemed to overwhelm you at first but now you seem in awe of her. You give her lots of smiles when she talks to you which she absolutely loves.

You rolled from your back to your belly at 11 weeks 6 days. More than a month sooner than your big sis. Since then you have been a rolling machine but most of the time you get mad that you haven't figured out how to get from your belly to your back and we have you flip you over. You have also sat straight up in your bouncer which is kind of crazy to us. You're just ready to go go go. I will not be surprised if you're an early crawler and/or walker.

Sleep is still iffy, you aren't very consistent. You'll give mama a really good night and then the next night you'll be up four times. I am happy to report that last night you slept nine hours and ten minutes, your longest stretch to date. I don't mind if you don't continue to sleep that long every night but please sleep at least six hours please! Your naps have also started to become 4-5 cat naps a day rather than long ones. It kind of stinks at the moment but I remember Aubrey doing this too right before she settled into two naps a day.

Although you scream more than I'd like, you are absolutely adorable. You have the chunkiest little legs and your cheeks are so chubby they hang lower than the rest of your face. You are full of lovely smiles and loud happy coos. We are so excited to have you as a part of our family, especially for the holiday season.

Lots of Love,
Mama



Likes: being tightly swaddled, walks while riding in the Ergo, funny faces, evening dance parties before bed, sink baths

Dislikes: baths in the infant tub, being put in the car seat, being trapped on her belly for too long

Stats: 3 months, 0-3 & 3-6 month clothes, about to move into size 2 diapers and fits into clothes diapers better now. Unsure of height and weight but I'm assuming that she is between 13 & 14 pounds.



Be sure to check out the One Grace Place giveaway! It is an amazing prize of a luxury full bed set for your child or baby. I am extending the giveaway through Monday.

One Grace Place- Giveaways Galore

One Grace Place is a new company that offers high quality children's bedding and accessories. They have everything you need to decorate your little one's space to make it truly unique. I especially love the Sophia Lolita collection which has a ton of bright girly colors in it that will easily blend with existing decor. Although I'm usually in a more feminine state of mind with my two girls, I can't help but love the Teyo's Tires collection. I'm a sucker for all things black and white and I think that any item from the collection would be great for a car themed room.




Finley is loving her Sophia Lolita blanket

What is also great about One Grace Place is that they are having a huge promotion starting today and going until Christmas day. Each day they will be giving away one of they're beautiful products. Today they are giving away a binkie blanket from their Sassy Shaylee collection to two lucky winners. All you need to do is like their facebook page and then and sign up for the sweepstakes on One Grace Place's facebook fan page. Everyday there is a new task to win more. In addition to giving away great prizes everyday, they will also doing a weekly charity poll to find out your favorite charity and giving the winning charities one of their bedding sets.



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One Grace Place has also been generous enough to offer one of my readers their choice of bedding set. Check out the rafflecopter below to see how you can win!

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