Well, the birthday event has come and gone...It was very very hectic, but also very very wonderful. Matt's mom was a huge help in preparing for the party, helping me to cook up platters of food to serve to our guests. My mom also helped pitch $ in to get some necessary items. We ended up splitting the party up into two big events, one with my family and friends, then the other with Matt's family and friends. I'm glad we did because we had about 25/30 people at each party!
Mom, Cheryl and Alyssa came down the day before the first party. They played with the girls/kept an eye on them while I decorated the birthday cakes. I wanted to make Emily's cakes myself since I had done the same for Ashley's first birthday. Since her room is decorated with owls, we thought it was fitting to do an owl theme for her...So it was "Guess Whoos Turning One?" It was cute. The cakes turned out pretty cute. After that we had a nice dinner, then watched The Elf on the Shelf movie...twice. Lol. We had an early bedtime and did all the prep work in the morning.
The parties were a blur, just lots of loved ones there to celebrate which was really nice. A lot of people drove from far away (up to 3 hours) to be with us for her special day, so that meant so much to us that they could be there to share in the love and the joy of celebrating Emily.
Prior to the parties, Emily's first birthday actually fell on Thanksgiving this year. I thought it was very fitting, sitting back to reflect on all that we have to be thankful for on one of the days that I am most thankful for--the anniversary of the birth of our amazing little girl.
We had a really nice birthday day. We of course decorated the place for her, and Matt and I went in and sang Happy Birthday to her when she woke up. We had a special birthday breakfast. Emily absolutely LOVES pancakes and devours them when we have them, so we made that for her. We opened a couple of gifts, then enjoyed a quiet morning together with just our family while we watched the Thanksgiving parade and had fun time.
That afternoon we went to Lisa and Bruce's for Thanksgiving dinner. The past few years we've hosted Thanksgiving down in SC, but with all the big birthday preparations going on, I was in no mood to tackle that as well. So we were invited to have a nice quiet Thanksgiving meal with Lisa and Bruce, then had a birthday cake while skyping with great grand pop Mike and Lenore.
This past year has had moments of chaos and stress; but also loads of joy, happiness, and pure love. I wouldn't change any of it. I am so grateful that God blessed us with two incredible little girls.
Anyway, more updates. Not only was Nov 28th special with Emily's birthday and Thanksgiving, but it was also a very big day for Ashley. That was the day she REALLY started potty training (and stuck with it). She's been going a little bit here and there throughout the year, but then decided she really wanted nothing to do with it. I'd still ask her everyday, but she'd say "no thanks". Then somehow Matt got her to try (I think he bribed her with something..lol). Well she went, and kept going since. She's doing great! She has her "big girl" pull up underpants, and we picked out her favorite real underpants and asked Santa for them for Christmas. She is very proud, and likes to sometimes say goodbye and "see you next time" when she flushes. Haha.
Emily isn't completely walking yet, but she will take 5-10 steps before falling/sitting down. She'll also walk only holding one hand and barely hangs on. It should be any day now. Then it will REALLY get interesting...haha.
I also stopped nursing about a week ago. You'd think that I'd be happy to fully have my body back, but I was actually kind of sad to stop. It's the last of the "baby" things we still did, and also because Emily is probably our last baby which means I'll never have that experience again...sad....I'm glad to have had that time. And at least Emily is a snuggle bug, so we still snuggle and rock to sleep each night which is so nice.
We have also been very busy with Christmas festivities. We've done the usual decorating, ornament making, etc. We attended Oakland's Christmas tree lighting with my friend Amy McManus, and after went to a little show they put on. I also took Ashley for some mother-daughter time and we attended Breakfast With Santa, where we ate, made crafts, watched some entertainment, then of course met with Santa. It was so sweet, in one of Ashley's movies The Polar Express, the boy has a bell to symbolize Santa, the Christmas spirit, and his belief...Well on the day we went to see Santa, Ashley took a bell ornament off our tree and brought it with her. When she went up to see Santa, the first thing she did was hand him her bell. It was so sweet.
Last night we actually went on The Polar Express. As I mentioned, it's one of Ashley's favorite movies. We've probably watched it 100 times over the past year...lol. They had it up in NY, so since we were coming up to have an early Christmas celebration, we thought it would be fitting to go. It was lots of fun--the conductor came to greet us, they even had "hobo Joe", the Hot Chocolate dancers, and of course Santa Clause and all of the music from the movie. It was a good time, minus a 35 minute delay due to some technical difficulties on the way back.
We had our "Christmas" today with mom, Cheryl, Billy and Alyssa (her first Christmas). Kristyn and Brian joined in via Skype from Bahrain. Then dad came by. We had a nice day opening gifts, playing games, playing with new toys, and dinner. Then we'll go back to NJ and celebrate with the Shohen side, then do Christmas day on our own this year, making our own Christmas traditions.
Other than that we've just been busy with the regular hustle and bustle of life, play dates, playing in the snow, etc.
Also, I forgot a great update...last weekend we took a trip to Pa. First, we went to the Pocono house to have a little get away. It was pretty stressful getting everything packed up to go (it always is by the time you pack all the clothes, night lights, fans/noise makers, food, baby chairs, their cups, plates, bibs, food, potty, etc etc, but once we got there it was worth it--we just totally relaxed (well, as much as you can when you have two kids), and played games, played in the snow, went sledding, made hot chocolate, etc. Then the next day we drove a couple hours to another part of Pa to see our good friends the Wagners from SC who were up visiting family. We just got together at the house we were staying at for a few hours, had lunch, exchanged gifts, played and chatted. It was SOOO good to see them!!! I really really miss my SC friends and the connections I had/have with them. We are hoping to make a trip to see everyone in the spring. I can't wait!
Well in case I don't get to write again before Christmas, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Emily isn't completely walking yet, but she will take 5-10 steps before falling/sitting down. She'll also walk only holding one hand and barely hangs on. It should be any day now. Then it will REALLY get interesting...haha.
I also stopped nursing about a week ago. You'd think that I'd be happy to fully have my body back, but I was actually kind of sad to stop. It's the last of the "baby" things we still did, and also because Emily is probably our last baby which means I'll never have that experience again...sad....I'm glad to have had that time. And at least Emily is a snuggle bug, so we still snuggle and rock to sleep each night which is so nice.
We have also been very busy with Christmas festivities. We've done the usual decorating, ornament making, etc. We attended Oakland's Christmas tree lighting with my friend Amy McManus, and after went to a little show they put on. I also took Ashley for some mother-daughter time and we attended Breakfast With Santa, where we ate, made crafts, watched some entertainment, then of course met with Santa. It was so sweet, in one of Ashley's movies The Polar Express, the boy has a bell to symbolize Santa, the Christmas spirit, and his belief...Well on the day we went to see Santa, Ashley took a bell ornament off our tree and brought it with her. When she went up to see Santa, the first thing she did was hand him her bell. It was so sweet.
Last night we actually went on The Polar Express. As I mentioned, it's one of Ashley's favorite movies. We've probably watched it 100 times over the past year...lol. They had it up in NY, so since we were coming up to have an early Christmas celebration, we thought it would be fitting to go. It was lots of fun--the conductor came to greet us, they even had "hobo Joe", the Hot Chocolate dancers, and of course Santa Clause and all of the music from the movie. It was a good time, minus a 35 minute delay due to some technical difficulties on the way back.
We had our "Christmas" today with mom, Cheryl, Billy and Alyssa (her first Christmas). Kristyn and Brian joined in via Skype from Bahrain. Then dad came by. We had a nice day opening gifts, playing games, playing with new toys, and dinner. Then we'll go back to NJ and celebrate with the Shohen side, then do Christmas day on our own this year, making our own Christmas traditions.
Other than that we've just been busy with the regular hustle and bustle of life, play dates, playing in the snow, etc.
Also, I forgot a great update...last weekend we took a trip to Pa. First, we went to the Pocono house to have a little get away. It was pretty stressful getting everything packed up to go (it always is by the time you pack all the clothes, night lights, fans/noise makers, food, baby chairs, their cups, plates, bibs, food, potty, etc etc, but once we got there it was worth it--we just totally relaxed (well, as much as you can when you have two kids), and played games, played in the snow, went sledding, made hot chocolate, etc. Then the next day we drove a couple hours to another part of Pa to see our good friends the Wagners from SC who were up visiting family. We just got together at the house we were staying at for a few hours, had lunch, exchanged gifts, played and chatted. It was SOOO good to see them!!! I really really miss my SC friends and the connections I had/have with them. We are hoping to make a trip to see everyone in the spring. I can't wait!
Well in case I don't get to write again before Christmas, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment