Easter 2012!

Not only was this Harper's first Easter, but it was also our first living in the South.  We heard that they "do it big" down here, but don't think we really had a clue what we were in for.  City-wide there were egg hunts for weeks leading up to Easter, helicopter egg drops, Easter Bunny appearances, church events and the store shelves were stocked with Easter decor immediately after Valentines Day.  We tried our hardest not to give into the commercialism of Easter, but it was inevitable.  Grandma K arrived the Thursday before Easter to spend time with all of us.  The kids were SO excited to have her here and demand all of her attention.  Friday we all went over to see the new house (pics to come later) and I got to have lunch with the girls.  Saturday morning we went to the largest Easter celebration I have ever seen (and it was free)!  EasterFest 2012!  Hosted by a local church, there were over 3,000 adults and kids, a petting zoo, the Easter Bunny (for photos), huge bounce houses, carnival games, balloons, free drinks, a sack lunch and over 14,000 candy-filled Easter eggs!  It was crazy, but E enjoyed it.  In fact, we all did.  That night Dr. M and I took advantage of having Grandma K here and went out for a long over-due date to enjoy a drink, time together and the beautiful evening weather.  Sunday morning  the whole fam dressed in our "Easter best" for a church service and even an Easter brunch (where they Easter bunny even stopped by).  That night we had Easter dinner with some friends, their kids and more egg hunting, of course!

E's class egg hunt (they made bags for their eggs).

EasterFest craziness!

"EGGS, Mama!"

14,000 of them....(wasn't much of a "hunt").

Ducklings

"I know there's candy in here."

 Easter Sunday with Grandma K - beautiful girls!

 Cupcakes we made for Easter dinner

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Spring has sprung!

Across the nation it's been a very mild winter.  As our first here in Alabama we don't have anything to compare it to, but are told that it's not typical.  The warm temperatures have brought spring to us early this year...and we're not complaining!  It's beautiful!  The city is covered with blooming dogwood trees and bright, vibrant Azalea bushes.  Our backyard smells like a candle shop and looks like a painting.  It's been in the 80's much of the past couple weeks, setting record highs all over the nation and already feeling like summer here.  In fact, we've had our air conditioning on for a week already.  Unfortunately, Dr. M's allergies are not liking the blooming trees and the visible blanket of pollen on everything, but he's been a trooper spending time with E out back.  We've been enjoying the Arboretum, dog park, back yard, picnics and local art fairs.  It's a beautiful spring, even if it is early!

View from our back porch!

Not sure what these are, but they smell amazing (the bumble bees agree).

Beautiful, petite flowers in the yard.

These are huge (maybe 6 in across) and have been blooming almost all winter!

Berries on the tree next door.

St. Patrick's Day 2012

We had a wonderful family-filled St. Patrick's Day!  The weather was AH-mazing!  We seriously couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.  So, what better to do on a beautiful day than have a picnic?!  First we stopped by the Children's Museum for some festive holiday fun for E.  He had a blast searching the museum, collecting green coins that he could exchange for prizes.  He thought it was SO cool, in fact, that when it came time to exchange the coins, he had a hard time parting with them.  

 After coin collecting we headed over to the Quad to find a nice shady spot in the grass to eat lunch.

E even hid his coins in the trees and grass and went looking for them again.

 Baby girl loving the weather and playing in the grass too!

We had a lovely day together!  I even made my very first carrot cake that afternoon when we got home.  No green beer, cabbage or corned beef, but it was still perfect :)

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

Harper is 9 months!

Our little lady is two thirds of the way to turning one!  Though we keep telling her to stay this age forever, she doesn't seem to be listening.  She's so happy and content and as we always say about her "just loves being her" right now.  She's still army crawling, but is super fast at it.  She's building some serious arm muscles dragging her belly around and pushing with her tip-toes.  One of these days I need to attach a swiffer cloth to her belly and let her help me clean - you should see her onesie at the end of the day.  Needless to say, she's into everything and loves exploring the entire house.  Her favorite thing to watch and play with is her big brother, of course.  She thinks he's hilarious and they have so much fun together.  I love watching them play.  She still has amazing blue eyes and reddish, blonde hair.  She's got one tooth on the bottom, but I think the other one is going to pop through any day.  She's eating two "meals" a day now (oatmeal is her fave!) and is even feeding herself cheerios and puffs.   Nursing is still going great and we recently cut out the 3am feeding (woohoo!).  She still takes two naps, but the morning nap is getting shorter and shorter (sigh).  I love how happy she is to see me when she wakes up in her crib.  She squeals and babbles constantly.  She's an active little thing, crawling, rolling and chatting all over the place.  She also loves to play peek-a-boo (by putting her hands over her face) and patty-cake (clapping her hands).  I love watching her grow and discover the world around her.  I never imagined that this once colicky, reflux baby would be such a joy in our life.  She makes everyone smile and our family complete!  We love you baby girl!

9 Month Stats:
weight - 16 lbs
height - 27 1/4 in

Doc says she looks good, but has referred us to an allergy specialist due to her constant reflux, congestion and eczema (I'm looking forward to getting some answers too!).  She's still petite and staying in the bottom of the growth chart for weight (5%) and dropped a little in height, but doc thinks we just caught her before a growth spurt.  We see the cardiologist again in April.  Ahhh, I forgot how much you stress about your child's growth at this age - those darn percentiles!  It doesn't make it any easier that everyone that meets her comments on how small she is...   Well, she's our petite princess and we think she's perfect!

Elliot - 2.5!

Our baby boy is now two-and-a-half years old!  Amazing how quickly the time passes when you're counting each month of a new baby's life....you almost forget that your 2-year-old is changing too.  I can't even begin to describe all of the amazing ways he's grown in the past 6 months (but I'll try!).  He's imaginative, creative, compassionate, funny, smart, sensitive, curious, independent and soooo handsome!  Eli is such an amazing child.  I love seeing the wonder in his eyes when he sees something new or the expression on his face when he's really concentrating.  His main passion continues to be all things letters and numbers, but is closely followed by the solar system and the US states.  His favorite "toy" is the entire set of foam bath letters.  He insists on sleeping with ALL of them, taking them in the car, in the bath and loves dumping them in Newton's bed (but is also great about sharing them with his sister).  The iPad and the many apps we've downloaded for him are also a favorite of Eli's.  Honestly, he's learned so much from it, we can't complain about how much he uses it.  His favorite TV show is now Team Umizoomi. The show tag line is "mighty math powers" so we don't mind him watching it at all :)  He's very observant and notices even the smallest details in things - which makes hiding something difficult.  Even if something is out of place, he's quick to notice and change it back.  We talk to him about using the "big boy potty" but hope to be done with diapers this summer (3.5 is the average age for boys to potty train, so we're on a good track).  We plan to move him to his toddler bed at that time too, until then, he still seems to be loving his crib.  School days are still a favorite of his.  He loves to tell me what he did in class on the car ride home (recently they've been studying the ocean).  The weather has been so beautiful the past several weeks that Eli is loving playing in the backyard with the dogs.  I love hearing him tell stories to himself and play with the rocks and sticks.  A little dirt under his fingernails and scrapes on his knees just make him cuter.  I could go on and on about what an amazing little boy we have, but those of you who know him already know how incredible he is....so here are a few recent pics of our handsome little man....

The Children's Museum is still a favorite!

Umizoomi zone....

Loving the backyard!

Getting a head start...

Loving the swing out back too.

Valentine's Day

It was a mellow, low-key Valentine's Day at the Moen house this year.  I awoke to a very special handmade card from my three wonderful valentine's before Dr. M headed out to work.  The babies and I stayed home and made a new, fun dessert for Dad.   We made rice crispy treats, but added a packet of black cherry kool-aid to the melted marshmallows and then drizzled dark chocolate on top of them in the pan (a Pinterest idea!).  It was an interesting combination of sweet and tart and who doesn't love cherry and chocolate!?  That evening Dr. M came home early and made us an incredible "restaurant quality" dinner (homemade marinara, portobello mushrooms and cinnamon sweet potatoes and pear).  After the babies went to bed we relaxed with a glass of wine and snuggled on the couch watching our favorite TV show.  Simplicity.  Pure joy and true love.  Perfect.

  

8 Months!

Our sweet, happy, beautiful baby girl is 8 months old and she's been very busy recently.  Exploring her new world by army CRAWLING everywhere!  She pulls herself along the floor by her forearms, wiggling her knees and pushing with her tip-toes.  It may not sound efficient, but I'll tell ya, this little thing gets around!  She's into everything!  Between army crawling and rolling she can reach just about anything she puts her mind to (which is fun for her, but tough for mom).  She wiggles her way into the kitchen while I'm cooking or even down the hall to inspect the edge of the rug.  She's loving her new found freedom so much so that she's not been  napping very well.  She's too busy to sleep.  She'd rather scoot around playing with the little toys in her crib and talk to her mobile instead of sleeping (even at night!).  A couple days after she turned 8 months her very first TOOTH popped through her gums (bottom right), which hasn't been helping with her sleeping either.  Though she doesn't seem to be in pain, she just acts unsettled and restless.  I don't blame her, so much has happened in her little world in just a matter of a few weeks.  She's still chatty and has learned how to blow raspberries (with her tongue), so cute, but messy.  She's also learned to clap her hands (or two toys) together, which she thinks is really exciting.  Still tiny, she was just 15 lbs at the doctors earlier last week for her follow-up flu shot.  Her hair is getting longer and falls into a cute little point on her forehead.  It's still blonde with a hint of red and her eyes are still an amazing blue.  She's such an incredible little girl!  She makes us smile and laugh and love her more and more every day!  We tell her everyday that she's earned the "best baby in the world" award - which is true, she's truly amazing!

She still loves those fingers.

She's very busy and into everything!

Cardboard boxes are always the best toys.  E insists that H sit in it with him, while he teaches her the letters.  She just squeals and laughs at him, clapping her hands.  Such sweet moments!

Haircut (by mom!)

Well, I did it again.  I cut E's hair and it looks really cute!  It was SO long.  Dr. M and I were loving his little curls when the weather was humid or after a bath and just couldn't bare to cut them.  So, we let it get a little out of hand. I realize this...in hindsight.  The fact that a woman at the park asked me if he was a boy or a girl should have been a hint.  So, early Sunday morning we bribed him with TV and candy canes and got the job done as fast as possible (it was quite the task).  The good news is it turned out really cute and he looks like such a handsome little BOY!

BEFORE

 AFTER

Lately....

The post-holiday season is always rough.  An emotional roller-coaster, missing family, sugar withdrawal and boredom, with a sense of motivation for the new year.  The second week of January Dr. M was gone for a conference so the babies and I spent 6 long days and nights together.  We made it through the week, but by the time he got home my rope was starting to fray.  It was like the culmination of what we've been through the past 6 months and the reality of our situation all hit me at once and manifested itself in anxiety (for days!).  I'm not sure what triggered it, him being gone, the nearby threat of deadly tornados or simply missing family over the holidays.  Whatever it was, it hit hard.  I was in a really low place.  Recognizing my desperation, my mom drove out to spend a few days with us.  I SO needed her visit.  She helped me work through my head, talk things out and motivated me to reach out to new friends and ask for help.  I'm doing better now, emotionally, but still not feeling completely positive about our move down here and raising a family in a city I'm not crazy about.  I can't put my finger on it exactly, but for some reason I'm just not sold on Tuscaloosa.  Despite my recent attempts to make new friends, join new social groups and explore the city, I'm still not impressed.  I've convinced myself to give it a good, wholehearted effort and really try to make the best of our situation (finding the motivation some days is the hard part).  So far, so good, but we'll see.  Here's what we've been up to lately.....

Still LOVING the iPad!

Grandma W's visit

Spending time with Dad - pushing them around the kitchen like this!  They loved it, of course! (please excuse our hideous kitchen flooring).

Spending time a the park, enjoying the unseasonably warm and beautiful weather!

Even the plants can't believe it's January!

 

The UA Arboretum has become a very special place for us.  It's a beautiful park that's minutes from our house, nestled just off the beaten path of the city.  It's a place where our whole family (dogs too) can spend time together and enjoy the beautiful southern weather.  Our almost weekly trip has become something we all look forward to.  This is a place that's truly unique here in T-town.  I'm looking forward to it's smells and colors this spring when it's in full bloom!

  

 

Cardio Update

Harper saw the pediatric cardiologist (at UAB Children's Hospital) again last week for a routine follow-up. Overall, the appointment went well.  He said that her stenosis is stable, meaning that there's little to no change from our last visit.  That's good in the grand scheme of things because at this point he doesn't think she'll need surgical intervention.  We will, however, continue seeing him for routine check-ups (ekg and echo) every 2-3 months for the first year of her life.  After that point, it will depend on what the prognosis is for how often we go back in the future.  Generally, he thinks it will be just once a year until she gets older.  Overall, he thinks that this is relatively mild and that many kids with this level of PVS have very normal, active lives.  Woo hoo!

Getting the ekg.  She was such a trooper!  Poor little thing.