catch up

it was time for another reunion with the s family! we love getting together with kim, brady, brooklyn, and soon to be new addition baby s!

i grabbed a coffee and hit the road. we cruised there, i mean cruised there!!! the kennedy renovations were completed and whoa! what a difference does it make! the roads were open, there wasn’t a construction zone speed limit, and no congestion to fight through.

i arrived in the area so early {for a change!}, i decided to stop for gas and take my sweet time because i always find myself driving like a maniac, hoping i’m not too late {to any engagement}! hahaha!

as i pulled up onto to her driveway, sweet brooklyn was peering out the window! that was so cute and a wonderful first reception. typically, it’s brady looking out the window but on this day, we were graced with brooklyn’s pretty mug.

olive excitedly walked up to the door and we busted through her front entry way! hugs were exchanged and the fun began! brooklyn was obsessed with ellie and olive immediately ran to all the toys. brady was being shy, and kim and i started o catch up with all sorts of life adventures.

let me tell you, kim is so preggo and so darn cute with that baby belly, that it makes me miss mine. well, i still have a bit of leftover pudge from being pregnant but that’s not the same. haha!

i may say this a thousand times but i love hanging out with this mama. she’s a sweetheart, we have so much in common {from similar timelines of life or to our disposition on many subjects} and we truly enjoy each other’s company. brady and olive play together so  well and brooklyn is currently obsessed with ellie…it was too darn cute to watch her ‘dote’ on her as ellie cried about brooklyn’s overly affectionate ways. plus, i found out a cute fact: ever since brady had met ellie when she was a newborn {maybe a week old?}, he’s called every baby he’s seen since, ellie. how freakin’ cute is that?!

after many hours of us chatting, the time had come for us to leave. ellie needed a nap and we didn’t want to be in the thick of rush hour traffic. so, we said our goodbyes – my favorite part because it’s so darn cute to watch brady and olive kiss and hug their farewells!

hopefully we can meet up with kim before she has another bundle of joy {due in july!}! cheers to great friends!

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[the cutest friends!]

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[brooklyn is obsessed with babies]

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[cutest sequence of pics]

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[my sweet friend]

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[hugs and kisses goodbye]

xoxo

a simple outing

we had a quick, casual outing on a beautiful sunny day that turned out to be freezing cold and soooo windy in the early afternoon and then a warm day late afternoon! my, what a difference a few hours can make!

i met my dad and sister, thuy, for lunch out at the mall. we ate at a yummy restaurant and then decided to get donuts and coffee after our main meal. my dad could live off of doughnuts and coffee. ha! we were in a new part of the mall that is now a bunch of restaurants and it was pretty quiet and serene. we did a mini photo shoot with olive {natch}, ate doughnuts, sipped coffee, and enjoyed our peaceful moments together.

since my dad’s leg{s} have been bothering him, we decided to not venture out too far. thuy and i wanted to hit up anthropologie but it was too far for my dad to walk so we decided to call it quits. besides, they had more errands to run and i didn’t mind heading home with the kiddos. it was nice just to get out for a bit but honestly, with two kiddos and one being so young, you’re bound to time frames! well, i choose to be committed because i prefer for my kids to have a routine.

i love that ellie can nap at 10am and 2-3pm and olive will occassionly nap in the afternoon {depending on her wake up time & morning activities}. it limits our outings at times but hey…they are only this little for so long!

anyhoo, it was a great blip in our day. we loved seeing my dad and my sister for a bit and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air!

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[my sweet  babe]

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[ellie enjoying being flipped around by auntie thuy]

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[thuy thought it was a good idea for ellie to try her glasses, ellie – not so much. hahaha!]

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[she loved her glasses so much!]

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[stan’s donuts]

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xoxo

happy eleven months ellie!

happy eleven months!

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wahhhhhhhhhhhhh! what?! next month she will be one. it can’t be. it just c a n’ t be!!! my little, itty, bitty baby is getting so big.

well, let’s focus on this milestone. she’s officially eleven months young and i am loving her sweet self so much!

she is so happy! she’s so sweet. she’s so laid back…just like daddy. she truly is a kind soul. she loves to cuddle and snuggle. it’s the damnedest thing. i love how affectionate she is. she loves to be held and gets upset if i put her down. she is so loving and i absolutely love it!

she’s not into feeding herself. like at allllllll. she won’t feed herself puffs. she won’t feed herself yogurt snacks. she won’t feed herself period. i have come to find out that she doesn’t like puffs but she really does like the yogurt bits but she won’t put them inside her mouth! well, we’ll see how she does next month!

she’s still nursing. the feedings have spaced out quite a bit {although i still pump every few hours just to keep the milk going strong}. she definitely loves nursing more than the bottle. of late, she’s been refusing the bottle but i think that had a bit to do with us trying to feed her prune juice with the breast milk and that just turned her off and she boycotted the bottle overall. i hope this babe nurses for awhile because i just can’t bear the fact that she is growing up!

she’s a fast crawler! she can get to point a to point b in 3 seconds flat. hahaha! i think she’s obliterated the ‘i will fall down while i am sitting’ phase. she is still a wee bit klutzy but she’s managing quite well. she might crawl head first into a wall here and there or try to grab onto something and completely miss and fall on her face but she’s surviving and doing pretty well!

she officially has said dada as her first word and truly knows what it means. one afternoon, we sat outside alfresco for lunch and i picked up ellie to walk around a bit because she was fussy. we were walking inside the restaurant, trying to cool off, when we walked up to the window we were sitting by and she saw her dad. she then said, “dada! dada” pointing to her dad. i decided to walk around another lap and come back up to the window and see if she would say it again. she did. we walked around another lap and came back up to the window and she said it again. that was when i knew she knew it was her dad. sigh…

she does get sick so much more often than olive did as a babe. poor thing has been sick on and off since december. temperatures, sickness, coughs, ear infection, blocked tear duct, eye infection, fissure, etc. you name, she got it. this babe is susceptible to so much!

she’s climbing on up on the weight and height ladder but is still a tiny babe. she’s gained quite a bit of weight the last month or so, so that is a great sign! overall, she is still a petite babe but oh so cute! i love my little chunker.

she’s become a solid sleeper. even with the teething. i can see her top tooth coming in but she’s been great at night. she typically goes down around 9pm and sometimes that is late for her. she will sleep through the night up until 6, 7, 8 am. typically 7am is her sweet spot but it ranges. she will go down for a nap around 10am and then again around 2 or 3 pm. it was a rough few months with her in the beginning but she fell into a routine around seven months and i couldn’t be a happier mom. although, i need to get it together and go to bed earlier myself!!!!!

this babe loves to clap, repeat our sounds, and wave. i love watching her grow, learn, and become a confident little babe. she can stand up on the furniture and walk around on her own. she had attempted to stand up on her own. she loves to throw everything we have on our coffee tables down on the ground. she loves to be mischievous. she definitely gets into more things than olive ever did. she will break things {my lovely cake stand…yes, i am heartbroken this cake stand doesn’t exist anymore to replace}, throw anything out of her way {my slippers}, and put anything anywhere it doesn’t belong. hahaha!

oh, baby ellie…i am so in love with you!! we love you so much and i am so torn that you are my last baby. you are so sweet and cuddly and i can’t even stand it that you are growing up. my heart swells with so much love for you and your big sis. you gals make my world go round and i am so thankful that y’all are mine.

xoxo

oysters for brunch

original plans fell through but the new plan still included the originals. haha!

we hemmed and hawed over where we were going to eat. matt and johann suggested that we meet somewhere in the ‘burbs but the burbs {when it comes to restaurant choices} boooooooore me. it’s basically chain, there are a few unique, good restaurants to choose from and they are so sporadic.

i preferred finding a restaurant in the city, it’s just more fun! the sun was out and temp was just right outside. we decided upon gt fish and oyster. i love the ambience, decor, and delicious brunch menu. we met up around 11am and we were seated immediately {with reservations, of course!}. we had a spacious corner spot and we had a great wait staff. they were so attentive to the kids…which is always a bonus in my book!

olive had a blast with the crayons and coloring paper and ellie enjoyed eating the crayons and drawing all over her onesie. we really had a wonderful time. the kids were so well behaved {natch}, the food was yummy, and we always enjoy our time with matt and johann.

it’s times like these that make me smile. number one…i love brunch. brunch makes me happy. i don’t know what it is about brunch. is it the fabulous breakfast foods? is it the coffee? is it the alcohol? is it because it’s the first meal of the day? or perhaps, it’s the city scenery that i love? anyhoo, brunch on sundays fill my heart with happiness and warmth and twirl it around with our kids, hc, friends or family – i’m set!

we took our sweet time eating, drinking, and just reveling in life, because we are truly blessed and fortunate. that is how sunday brunches should be!

cheers!

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[spicy!]

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[sweet cheeks]

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[aren’t they cute]

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[yummy mimosa]

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[cheers!]

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[so delicious]

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[i love this smiley babe]

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[yummy!!!]

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[i love this crew!]

xoxo