Change

We came back from our little mini vacation yesterday!  We had a blast and enjoyed some time with our little family.  I'll hopefully have time to write a vacation post, but this isn't that post :-)!  I'm still recuperating and trying to find order in the house. 

Since we knew we were going to be gone for 5 nights and she'd already be out of her routine, we decided to move Anna into her toddler bed as soon as we got back so that she didn't get used to her crib again.  So last night was her first night in her big girl bed.  I was nervous about how it would go and if she'd stay in bed.

Well she always surprises me.  She was perfect!  She went right to sleep last night, didn't once try to get out during the night and slept until 6.  At that point, she got out of bed, whined for like 2 minutes (we decided to wait until she cried or called for us to go get her like we've always done), tried to open the door, apparently gave up, and fell back asleep on the floor behind the door until 7 (we couldn't see her on the monitor anymore, we just assumed she was playing quietly with her dolls but when we went in to get her, she had definitely planted herself behind the door).  Not bad for her first night out of her crib! 

She is currently napping in there and went right down like she usually does.  She didn't try to get out at all! 

I can't believe how easy it has been so far!  She LOVES her new room and LOVES her bed.  I think it helped that we started putting a flat pillow with a silk pillowcase in her crib a few weeks ago.  It helped her begin sleeping at one end of her crib and it made for an easy transition since that same pillow is now on the toddler bed. 

My baby is in a big girl bed.  I don't know that I'm ready for her to grow up yet.  I wasn't sure about moving her, she's still so young, she just turned 15 months this weekend.  Anna thrives on independence.  This is just one more step towards independence for her and she is eating it up.  She was definitely ready, and I'm glad we transitioned her now instead of waiting.

Let's hope she continues to do great in her big girl bed!

While we're on the topic of sleep, her brother has started sleeping 6 hour stretches.  Which means he's only getting up to eat once during the night (usually around 1).  He's going down around 7:30-8 and waking up around 5:30-6.  Sometimes he'll have a bottle at that point and sleep for another hour.  When he gets up around 1, he's only drinking 2 oz which hopefully is a sign that he's not really that hungry anymore and will soon stretch it even longer.  I have to continually remind myself not to compare him to Anna (who was sleeping 9-10 hour stretches at this point).  He is a really good sleeper for an almost 2 month old!

Beautiful

Could these babies get anymore beautiful?  Seriously?  I am totally in love with these beautiful children!

Always pointing at something!

Everytime I say "Anna, look at mommy!" Anna cocks her head to the side and gives me a small grin, just like this.  I finally caught it on camera and it is one of my favorite things!  She's cute and she knows it!

Big smiles for our big 7 week old!

Napping through our nice dinner out!

Anna's Big Girl Room Part 2

Well, I finished up Anna's room.  All that's missing now is some kind of dresser or shelf.  I just need something to put things out of her reach, like her nightlight and monitor...  Other than that, its minimal as far as furniture until she gets used to staying in her bed at night.

Here's some pictures and descriptions of what I did!

The shelf above her bed I got at a garage sale. It was brand new and I got it for like $4.  The crucifix was what her Godparents got her for her baptism and the frame underneath has a picture of her on her Baptism day and her hand and footprint.  A lot of this stuff was in her nursery and I just moved it. Including the polkadots.  Now the nursery looks really bare, we'll have to work on that here soon for Anthony :-)

The rocking chair was a garage sale find.  It's super sturdy and in great condition!  And it was very reasonably priced!

Shelf 1:  Garage sale find :-)  $1.  The frames I had and was just waiting for something to use them for.  I painted all of them white.  The plate was a gift and has her name/birthdate/info on it and the little thing is her "first rosary" from her great-grandma.

Shelf 2: Garage sale find.  $2.  Another few frames that I had and painted white.  And a few other accessories that she already had.

This frame I had and the inside that is now colorful was like an alligator print.  So I wrapped all kinds of ribbons around it and hot glued them.  I painted the frame white.  I'm putting a family photo in it, but I don't have it printed yet!  That's obvioulsy not our family in there :-)

Project completed!  And extremely inexpensively.  I used to be a snob about getting everything new, but most of the things in this room are second hand.  I realized (after lots of HGTV watching) that I can make anything look new with a little work!  And I think it came out super cute!

Now we just have to do the hard part... moving her in there :-)

Anna's Big Girl Room

The time has come to move Anna to her new room.  Once we get back from vacation in a few weeks, we'll be making the transition.  It's been a little bit of a project to get it ready, but it's going to be absolutely adorable!

First we needed to strip wallpaper and paint.  Here are the before pictures.  I was NOT a fan of the wallpaper OR the pink!  The curtains that they left, however, are staying, they're adorable :-).

So I stripped the wallpaper during naptime one day.  And we prepped the walls and floor.

Then I found a toddler bed on Craigslist for $10.  It was perfect except for the color and some scratches.

So we painted it.  It was pretty simple and turned out so cute!  We found the bedding on clearance at Target!

Then we painted the walls, green on top white on bottom.

I found a bunch of old frames and spray painted them all white.  I'll post a picture when I get them all reassembled and hung up.  I also found three white shelves at garage sales and paid a total of $6 for them.  They'll go on the wall to hold her name and the frames. 

Soon we'll purchase twin beds for that room and a dresser, but until then we're keeping it minimal so that she doesn't have anything exciting to do but sleep in there :-).

I can't belive I'm already decorating a big girl room!  She's growing up too fast!

Friday Quick Takes (23)

--- 1 ---

Nana and Papa got Anna and Anthony some toys to play with at their house.  This wagon is designed for her to like put her dolls or toys in.  But she thought it was a seat instead...  She barely fit but she had fun just sitting in it!

--- 2 ---

When Jon, Justine and Theodore were here to visit for Anthony's Baptism, we had a lot of fun with the babies.  We took some of the mandatory bath photos and we joked that we can share them at their wedding when Anna and Theodore get married :-).  They had fun playing in the tub together, and really, you can't find three cuter babies anywhere!

They also had fun at the park.  Daddys are so good at pushing swings!

 

--- 3 ---

We have spent a lot of time at the park in this beautiful weather!

--- 4 ---

And this is what happens when you spend two hours at the park with toddlers.  It's always a quiet ride home :-).  And lucky for me, they transfer very nicely to their beds for long naps!

--- 5 ---

Anna's biggest dilema in life.  Do I drink the milk that I love so much?  Or do I sniff the tail of my "gee-gee" that I love so much?

--- 6 ---

And Anna's monopolizing my quick takes since poor Anthony's having some baby acne issues and isn't taking great pictures at the moment.  He's got a little bit of eczema under his chin and in an effort to keep it moisturized, it caused some pretty gnarly baby acne.  We're just hoping it runs its course quickly. 

 

--- 7 ---

We're thoroughly enjoying the beautiful weather here at the moment.  We've spent a lot of time outside.  We're frequenting garage sales and parks and hoping to hit up the pool here soon!  And we are going on a little mini vacation here soon, so we're definitely looking forward to that! 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Birthmom's Day

We had a special picnic this year to celebrate Birthmom's Day.

Jenna, Anthony and me

Diane, Jenna's mom, brought a cake for us all to share.  I made the pottey tile with Anthony's footprints for her.

Anthony and his birthmom, Jenna.

Anna hd fun playing at the park and eating cake!

It turned out to be a very nice day and we had a nice visit.  We definitely enjoyed celebrating Birthmom's Day with Jenna and Diane and we said a special prayer for Anna's birthmom as well. 

I'm thinking that as Anna gets older, we may have her make her birthmom a card or write her a letter or something and put them in a box.  Hopefully one day she can meet her and give them to her then.

Mother's Day

Anna was Baptized on Mother's Day 2011.

Anthony was Baptized on Mother's Day 2012.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate Mother's Day.

For 3 years we waited for a child.  And now for two years in a row, those children that made me a mother, were baptized into the Catholic Church.  I feel abundantly blessed.

It was an absolutely beautiful day for a Baptism.

This is how Anna entertained everyone.  She picked her nose through the entire Baptism.  And when her finger wasn't up her nose, she was playing peek-a-boo and cheesing it up.  We have quite the little performer on our hands.

With Anthony's Godparents, Jon and Justine.

My heart is so full.  I am so blessed to have these two babies call me Mom.

Family Pictures

We took advantage of a local Red Thread Session photographer. 

**For those who haven't heard about these, it's an organization that teams up with photographers all over.  They offer special portrait sessions for adoptions.  It's a way to give back and to help adoptive couples who have often spent a lot of money on adoption be able to afford professional photos.**

It turns out that one of the photographers that participates locally is also the wife of a guy Jeremy works with.  She adopted her twins from Korea 4 years ago.  She was thrilled to do our session.  It was her first Red Thread Session and she did a pretty fantastic job.

Enjoy the beautiful pictures of our family of four!