Celebration of Love

Holidays have always been a big deal in my family growing up, and naturally I am providing SJ with the same enthusiasm for holidays. We enjoyed making Valentines hearts for his friends during play dates throughout the week, and we decorated a bunch to display in the house. I loved listening to him say Happy Valentines Day, melted my heart every time. 

SJ is 30 months old and I'm 30 weeks pregnant in these pix. =)

Enjoying his V-Day sensory tray. 

Posing for a quick pic on a play date. 

In typical SJ fashion, he was showered with cards and gifts for the big day.
But the gorgeous flowers are all mine! 

Shooting Hoops like Mommy

Just another fun day playing basketball last week. He's so cute. On another note:  He says the funniest things these days. My two favorite most recent ones are: "what's that noise?" said approximately 34 times a day for any noise or sound he hears. He puts emphasis on "that" in his question which adds to the cuteness factor. Yesterday he started saying "what's that people's name?" as he points to someone/something. Have to love a child's curiosity.

28 Weeks & Counting

This mama is officially in the Third Trimester! Pix taken at 28 weeks after our ultrasound. Baby is doing well and weighs 3 lbs. Love when SJ tells me my belly is BIG but at least he told the the other day that it will be smaller after the baby comes out. Oh thank goodness.

Pix taken on Jan. 29, 2013. SJ is 29 months in this picture.

Our Little Fish

For 6 months Sebastian was in swimming lessons and it was his favorite thing to do. Every morning when I asked what he wanted to do he said "Swim with Sue!" and every night I asked him what he wanted to do tomorrow he said "Swim with Sue." I shouldn't say this in past tense - he actually still does this even though his swim instructor takes a break from November to March. In a few weeks we'll start back up and I can't wait. He's such an amazing little swimmer and a skill that he will need since he loves the water and we live in Florida. We're blessed with living in a community with a giant resort-size pool where he can practice his skills year round (thanks to the heated pool & warm temps in winter months) so despite it's high cost of the 1-on-1 instruction, it's so worth it. In the pic below he was getting his last fish stamps of the season with his instructor. I'm so proud of how amazing he did and can't wait to see how great he excels in March when the lessons continue.

Turkey Day

We enjoyed turkey day here in Florida with friends. They have a 3 year old and an 8 month old so it gave us a glimpse into our future. The boys were very hyper and too busy to eat the nice dinner we made, but it was nice to hang with good friends for the holiday. They came up with a new game called "crashy crashy" where one boy goes down the slide and crashes into the other one at the bottom of the slide. Boys will be boys.

Potty Time

We've been potty training Sebastian for a few months. Very casual, nothing forced. He's still young. I feel bad though, I really made him work for his first "potty prize" chart below - look how many stickers are on here. The next ones I didn't make him fill it up so full. He's doing a great job so far - go SJ!  

More Blue

No pink tutus needed for our family. We're having another BOY! I wanted another boy so I'm super excited and I know SJ will have such a blast with a brother. Jaime thought he knew for sure that there was a girl growing in my belly that he didn't even think twice about having 2 boys running around. Everyone thought we were having a girl (except me!) since this pregnancy is different then my first one. And no, we're done at 2, unless we go shopping for another house - we're out of bedrooms! I'm due at the end of April so stay tuned for pregnancy updates. 

Right after we found out the baby's gender, I ran to get balloons for SJ to share the news w/ our family & friends. That way no one gets mad for who found out first when they all receive the same email/text at the same time!

Fun way for SJ to announce the news when we're out and about. 

He had so much fun modeling the shirt & sunglasses. I was crying laughing so hard at all his  funny poses and him trying to keep the glasses on his face. 

One just isn't Enough!

Flashback to August: We are pregnant with baby #2! We waited until the safe period to announce the news. And if you follow me on Facebook & Twitter this is really old news since we announced it there back in November. I am now 26 weeks pregnant, I'm just a tad bit behind on my blog posting! These pix were taken right after we got the positive test results. No worries w/ SJ sucking on the cap, there was no urine on there. I think... =)

Happy Halloween

Halloween 2012 was very fun for us. It's Jaime's favorite holiday of the year and SJ was very into it as well. The yard was all decked out with decor and SJ loved playing with all the decorations. The only thing he didn't enjoy was carving the pumpkin. SJ was Thomas the Train and Jaime was Sir Topham hat (from Thomas). He told me a month leading up to the big day that he wanted me to dress up as a banana. So I did! (All the kids enjoyed pointing at me and saying "look a banana!") We had plenty of opportunities to wear the costumes at events, parties, Gymboree class and of course trick or treating. We walked around the neighborhood with his little friends and SJ shared his daddy's enthusiasm for the holiday as he walked up to the doors and knocked, said trick or treat and thank you after receiving candy. His 1st experience with candy was a bust, he spit up/threw up all the chocolate, sucked on a few Skittles for a second and spit them out, but finally found something he liked: a Dum Dum sucker. But he quickly forgot about the candy never asking for it again so we got to indulge when he went to bed. I was so proud of what a great job he did for Halloween and his level of interest (some of his friends weren't into it at all) and have to admit, he was the cutest Thomas the Train in the world. And loved when he said "Choo Choo" when you asked him what Thomas said.

I have never quite experienced trick or treating like this before. The area of our community we went to goes completely crazy (we had only heard about it in years past). Their yards are head to toe full of amazing decorations. The home owners are sitting out in driveways/tailgating/dressed up handing out candy. It's hard to really describe but we were blown away at the thought and preparation that went into each yard block after block, not to mention the money it took to pull it all off. Jaime's wheels were spinning trying to figure out how to replicate it all at our house next year. =) I can't wait to see how much fun we have next year and what SJ will choose for our costumes!

SJ loved taking out the bones and hiding them in the bushes.

Family portrait at a Halloween event. 

Thomas waiting to ride the carousel.

Thomas & Sir Topham Hat trick or treating in the neighborhood.

Enjoying his Halloween sensory tray. The black beans were a hit. 

**SJ is 26 months old in these pictures.

Weekend Getaway

I'm back! Our old beast of a laptop died last month and our new one just arrived. I'll try to get you up to speed quickly on what we've been up to. Mid-October we rented a house for a long weekend in Sarasota/Siesta Key. It was a nice little family vacation only a few hours away from home.

Snuggling up to watch the sunset after a day at the beach.

Feeding the flamingos. They are very aggressive when you have food. 

SJ showing daddy his latest swim moves.

Sensory Fun

Yesterday SJ had fun with his ocean sensory tray. I layered the bottom with shells and coral, added blue food coloring to the water, used ocean animals (sting ray, lobster, dolphin, whale, shark, octopus) to sink to the bottom. Items that floated were placed on top (starfish, boat, ducks, fish). He loves sensory trays and had a blast digging out all the shells and corals with his shovel and taking out each animal and giving it a bath in a separate bowl. Then it got wet & wild when he started flinging water and using the cups to dump out all the water and get mommy wet.

Love My Trike

Sebastian absolutely loves his trike. His feet don't quite yet hit the pedals, but you wouldn't believe how fast he goes via Fred Flintstone style. To stay alongside him (which I do since he doesn't wear a helmet) you have to jog. Our daily trips to the lake and around the neighborhood and up to the lake to look at the ducks. 

And for those who follow me on Facebook & Twitter, you already get your fair share of trike pix! ;)

Fun Weekend

My sister came to visit us last weekend and we had such a good time. Below are pix from the beach where SJ had a blast as always. Thanks for coming to see us Jen!

I love the ocean pix with their backs to me while they face the waves. 

Playing in his moat Aunt Jen built for him. 

Swim with Sue

Sebastian is entering his third week in swim lessons. They are 1-on-1 with the instructor (Sue) who is one of the top instructors in the area and has been giving lessons for 30 years (she's also been featured in the Parenting magazine). Almost all of SJ's friends are going to her, and he absolutely positively loves it. He goes Monday-Thursday for 10 minutes each session. He got a ribbon (pic shown) after his first week of lessons. Jaime watched a session last week and was blown away at how great he's doing. I can't tell you how many times a day he says "swim with Sue, big pool, Ma watch." In that order. It's so cute!

Trip to the Dentist

SJ had his first trip to the pediatric dentist last week. He loved the jungle-themed waiting area where he showed off his elephant and lion noises for all the moms in the waiting room. He did good w/ the teeth brushing, but did not like them sticking any tool inside his mouth (but who does?!) After he got some cool prizes, he was ready to high tail it out of there!
-Pic taken in dentist office. He's wearing long sleeves because they warned me to dress him warm the office is 70 degrees. SJ is 24 months old here...

Nana Came to Town

My mom came into town for Sebastian's 2nd birthday and we enjoyed all of SJ's favorite things. He was happy to show her around at his new hot spots. Thanks for everything mom! It was great spending time w/ you and SJ had a blast playing w/ his Nana! 

Building sandcastles (and eating shells in this pic) at the beach. 

Feeding the birds. 

 

Visiting the sea turtles. 

Pizza Chef

Sebastian helped me make homemade pizza tonight by putting on the toppings. He piled on turkey pepperoni, ham, and turkey sausage. When it came time to eat it, he thought it would be more fun to run around the kitchen island giggling for 10 minutes straight. It was a long day stuck inside due to the rainy weather from Tropical Storm Isaac (day 3 actually). So I decided to pick my battles (my daily motto) and let him run around and sit back and watch the entertainment and enjoy my pizza. He did eat a lot of cooked carrots so at least he ate some veggies. He can eat the pizza tomorrow. =)

Sebastian's 2 Year Birthday Party!

Sebastian turned 2 on August 3 and we had a Mickey Mouse-themed birthday party!! We rented out the kids room at our clubhouse and were able to bring in our own food and decor. It was a ton of work, but everything turned out great. His friends and their parents helped him celebrate and fun was had by all!

Our little boy is 2! Where did his first 2 years go?

The Mickey cake was amazing. I worked with a local baker for design (no more grocery store cakes for me!). It was marble cake w/ real strawberries, cream & chocolate mousse in the middle. Pricey, but totally worth it. 

Thank you to my mom who was there to help!  Note giant Mickey balloon  in background.

And it wouldn't be SJ's party without water, so the kids had fun in  the splash park after the party. 

Party Details

I took pix of each child/family who attended party w/ this backdrop and included  it in their Thank You card. I am also using them in his scrapbook.

Each table had painted Mickey ears (thank you Pinterest), blowers, and crayons & paper to "Create Birthday Wishes for Sebastian."

Balloons, balloons, balloons! Mickey was everywhere!

There were 4 tables decorated outside, too, but it was too hot!

Each food was named & labeled after characters on Mickey Mouse (ex: Clarabelle's fruit kabobs)

Hit of the Party

So the big hit of the party was "Minnie's Cupcake Decorating Station" where the kids got to decorate their own cupcake with frosting, icing, and Mickey sprinkles. But the birthday boy decided he was gonna eat his face-first w/ no hands. Or utensils. I didn't see this one coming, he normally doesn't eat sweets. He had no interest in decorating it. He just wanted to devour them. I lost count at how many he ate. But he sure had a good time with his friends as they all gathered around the table eating them. So cute.

I Got This Ma!

On Saturday morning, SJ climbed into his glider by himself for the first time. He grabbed some books, and enjoyed some quiet reading time. I was shocked, as we normally read to him throughout the day (he's always been super into books, I even read to him when he was in my womb). He enjoyed showing off his exploding vocabulary and anytime we approached said "no - move!" As sad as we were for his independence, we were so proud of how well he did flipping through the books identifying so many words. He also really enjoys rocking in his glider while reading. There are dents in the wall to prove it (not happy about this). I did have a small role. He handed me the book he just finished as he jumped off the glider and ran to the bookshelf saying "next." He's so stinking cute and growing up way too fast. The problem is he wants to read his own books for naps and bedtime now (well since Saturday), which really delays his entrance in the crib. We used to cuddle as he sat on our laps before he went down (mommy for naps, daddy for bedtime). Tonight, as he did somersaults in the crib, clapped, danced, slapped his head, pulled the video monitor cord completely out of the camera on the wall, I realized he is really missing that quiet, chill, relax time as we read him books. Whether he knows it or not. 

A Whole New World

Since it's recommended that he faced backwards in his car seat until 2, we waited until this weekend to turn him around (he turns 2 in less than 2 weeks). It was getting difficult for me to put him in facing backwards (in the middle seat) with my back issues and his length. He was hesitant at first. In fact, he whined and pointed to his former view (out the back window) but as soon as we drove for a few minutes, I think he was sold on his new view (front window). Although I think he misses staring at himself in the mirror that was in front of his seat. He's getting to be such a big boy!