Doug and the Girls: April 2013

I swear, I write blog posts in my head for days/weeks and then suddenly people are so subtly reminding me to post and it's been a month. Enough apologizing, life is busy, am I right? We're out LIVING it!

I will do my very best to catch us all up on what's been happening and of course give LOTS of photos.

Happenings:

Aunt Christina babysat
She came home for the weekend and let Doug and I go out for the afternoon. We were back and forth between the movies and lunch/drinks, and decided since he wasn't into any of the movies to just go grab food and drinks and chat. It ended up being a snowy, cold, crappy day and we went to a cozy restaurant and enjoyed some guilt-free time away while Auntie played with Anna. Dancing, playing, watching Woody, snuggling, having a snack pouch malfunction. All in all, a good first babysitting event for the pair.

trying an (empty) bottle of Jameson before St. Patrick's Day

yeah yeah, we'll see if you feel that way in 20 years.

St. Patrick's Day
Not much to report. Went to Gram and Pop's for corned beef and cabbage. Wouldn't eat corned beef. Had some potatoes, lots of rye bread. Got a SUPER extra special treat of vanilla ice cream for the first time. Almost lost her damn mind, became zombie baby attacking for more ice cream. It was hilarious.

St. Patrick's Day girl

Gram's birthday
Helped Gram celebrate 2 times. Once we stopped for extra special hugs on her birthday (a Thursday), and that Saturday we had them over for dinner and cake and presents. Was a good girl, gave lots of long hugs with extra back pats. Went to bed before the lasagna and cake-fest commenced. The next day they took Anna so I could have an entire day to clean my house from top to bottom. It was amazing and SO appreciated!

happy kitty

swinging with her friend the blue carebear

it isn't a weekend trip without Home Depot... or the bear

Easter Egg Hunt
Doug's friend Chris and his wife Holly had a bunch of their friends and kids over for a pre-Easter egg hunt. Even though Anna is too little to understand what's going on, she still had fun running all over their house, chasing the dog (before they had to put him away), eating copious amounts of chalk, snacking on some munchkins (a big hit, of course) and finally running around outside on a cold but nice day. We left before a naptime meltdown began and overall had a good time.

chalk face

making friends

a brief try at coloring in between chalk eating

running free while the others egg hunted

can you spot the plumber

aaaaand OUT

Easter at Barnacle Bill's
This year we didn't really have a plan for Easter. No one was very enthused about anything and since we aren't at the 'easter egg hunt' age, we could kind of do whatever we wanted. So we decided to go kind of casual and went to Barnacle Bill's for burgers and it was perfect! Anna was great- ate some chicken fingers and fries, had a little bit of ice cream again (big fan)

our pretty little doll

don't touch my food!

back at home opening her Easter presents

Grandpa
Unfortunately, Doug's other grandfather passed away on Easter Sunday. After all kinds of illnesses, injuries, moves, etc. it was just his time. He was a strong man and always kept a smile on his face throughout. Doug and I traveled up to CT on Wednesday to say goodbye and help celebrate his life a bit. Sad to lose both grandpas in just 3 months.

LBI weekend & wedding
Our friends Brooke & Steve were due to get married back in November, just after Hurricane Sandy hit. Their wedding was in Long Beach Island, and unfortunately nothing was open and clearly no one in the state felt much like partying. They postponed it until April 6, and thankfully the house we rented (with our group of friends from Sea Bright) was still standing and in excellent condition and we were able to have it for the wedding, 2.0. We headed down on Friday afternoon and had great weather and great times hanging with our friends just like we used to. Everyone was helpful, cleaned up, cooked, made drinks - and for once, I DID NOTHING. I may have looked lazy and maybe I was, but it was so nice to not be the one doing everything. I had breakfasts placed in front of me within minutes each morning, fresh coffee, snacks, mimosas..... amazing. We had a blast and I'd love to do it every year just for fun. Sigh..

our gorgeous, enormous house - fit 14 of us!

main living room and kitchen area

view from the roofdeck

me and Lisa before the wedding

mom & dad!

our good lookin men before the wedding

the beautiful bride and groom

some of the girls dancing

weekend with gram and pop
Meanwhile, back at the ranch..... Anna was having a slumber party weekend with Gram & pop. She of course was thrilled and took to it no problem. Had a fun bath time, they were sending me pics and video where I was then showing everyone all weekend. Yeah, that mom. They had fun, had french toast and played at the park, visited Aunt Jeanie's doggy, went for walks in the stroller, played with all the bears and dogs in the house, read every single book 100 times, and watched a lot of Woody I'm sure. Overall it was a success and they didn't even look that tired when I picked her up ;)

she loved bath time in the actual bath so much she wanted to play in it!

just catching up on her correspondence

Other things to note:
Loves putting on her little easter tote bag on her shoulder (after filling it with random animals) and walking to the front door to say "BYYEEE!" with her hand up in a little wave.

Throwing major tantrums now over everything from getting dressed to wanting "uppy" and not getting it to taking something from her. I am talking body on floor, flopping around, yelling and crying. It's funny. We try to ignore it so she doesn't think that can be used to get what she wants. Not fun.

We knew she was growing out of the sink bath but every time I've tried the tub she has been terrified, cried, etc. so we just kept sink bathing it. At my mom's over the weekend they did a tub bath and BOOM, she loved it, played with my old toys, didn't cry, didn't fuss. We've since given her 2 at home in the tub and she's an angel. FOR NOW. hahaha

Loves playing at the park - on the swings, slide, running around, climbing, exploring. I am so looking forward to warmer weather when we can get out and do so much more!

Has 3 molars and 3 'canine' teeth. Missing 2, both on the same side - bottom right. Come on now! Once she gets those, we are good until sometime after 2 when she'll get the next set of molars and then I think she's done till permanent teeth. The light at the end of the tunnel.... so close, yet so far..

Will not talk about sleeping. Nope, won't.

LOVES animals of all kinds. Can now say moo, "duck duck" (for quack quack), neiighhh, meow, weird pig noise trying to snort (the cutest one), tweet tweet. Also knows bear, mouse, bunny, sometimes chicken and fox. Carries around her stuffed animals in rotation - minnie mouse, doggy, bunnies (2 of them), little dog, little kitty, little bear, carebear. Sometimes fights to bring them wherever we go in the car and snuggles them. A huge fan of kissing all of her animals.

Oh and she's getting sweet little curls. Love them. (hair is FINALLY growing!)

Best story for last:
I put her down to bed last night and she was snuggling in to get comfortable, grabs her pacifier in one hand and looks at her little carebear in the other arm, picks her head up, says "HI" to him, kisses him on the nose and puts her head down for sleep.

I think that's it. PHEW.