Friday, December 30, 2011

Nanny's Birthday / O'Haire Christmas / New Years

 We had an action packed weekend over at Nanny and Grandpa's house in NJ.  Three big events, all wrapped up into one weekend- pheww!
We celebrated Nanny's birthday on Friday night.  The girls helped to decorate the cake (loads of sprinkles!) and sang many heartfelt renditions of "Happy Birthday" throughout the weekend.  This has offically become Jocelyn's fav't song and she sings it on command to anyone who will listen (or claim it's their birthday).  


Happy Birthday Nanny with two of her fav't girls 

Saturday morning (a 7am wake up!) brought a visit from Santa Clause! He came in bearing gifts for all

Logan was very excited to see him. Jocelyn still wasn't quite sure what to make of him. 

Santa with his girls 

A visit to seaside isn't complete with out going to feed the birds! Nanny had a great time with the two older girls, making sand castles, throwing rocks in the water and visiting with the local seagulls.

Off and running! 

New Years Eve brought on a new tradition- a 12 scoop sundae at Friendly's!  Everyone dug in, but Logan was especially excited for it. 

the girls get their candy fix from some Pezz! 

J making sure she doesn't get hit from above 

Coming back from talks with the local crabs 

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Quick visit with friends

Sue & John, and the Maslowsky family all came in to NYC for a quick visit today and we had a really great time with all the kids.   Always a bit crazy, but great to see everyone!  The kids continue to get so big and it was so much fun to see them playing together (and watching Nola get them all in trouble!)
Karter 3 1/2 years, Nola 1 1/2yrs, Jocelyn 2yrs 

Christmas Morning

 Christmas eve and Christmas morning were spent at home in the city again this year.  This made for a really nice relaxing time for the 3 of us.  After a walk around Soho and lunch at a great patisserie we went to Christmas eve service at Trinity Church (one of the oldest churches in Manhattan- George Washington was a member) and had a nice quiet dinner at home.
Christmas morning arrived and we spent it slowly opening presents and just enjoying our fresh croissants (complements of the patisserie the day before), cheese and tea.   It was wonderful to watch J open her presents because there was no sense of entitlement or eagerness to open more.  She's at such an age where each gift was exciting and she was ready to just sit down and play the that.
One of the big hits of the morning- stickers!  


The other big hit- Winnie the pooh band-aids (check out her knee... she had to put one on a boo-boo) 

Slowly going through the piles.  

Burton got his present.  This was completely eaten by the end of the day 

Jocelyn is still a very avid reader. Books can keep her entertained for hours.  This was a fav't that had somehow gotten mis-placed, so Daddy replaced it.  

Playing with her new firetruck and police car. 

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Christmas at Mima's

Mima and Piper- 7 1/2 months

Gigi with Logan, Piper and J 

They both got some very fun presents! 

Add caption

The Klein Family- Piper 7 1/2 months, Logan 3 1/2yrs 

Friday, December 23, 2011

First Flutter- 17 weeks

I felt the first fluttering of Deuce today. Just a little one, but I remember that feeling well.  Just a nice reminder that their in there, growing and getting ready for a grand entrance in May!
This pregnancy has been quite easy so far.  Only mild sickness for about 2 weeks around weeks 8-10 and nothing to sever besides that.  I've been getting some heart burn lately, but again, nothing to serious.  I've been running regularly (about 2-3 times a week), which has been helping, although I've definitely popped quite a bit earlier this time!
Our first pregnancy with Jocelyn was fairly similar- no real issues or bumps until the 3rd trimester, so hopefully this one is the same!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Marangas Christmas

 We headed over to Garden City on Sunday for the annual Marangas Christmas party.  55 cousins, aunts, uncles and kids all running around having a great time.  As always, it was great to see everyone all together.

The aunties 

Big Bear = Big fun 

Santa even came for a visit! 

The kids all gathering around Santa for some presents 

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Donlan Christmas

"Christmas" morning with Yaya and Pop

A new tricycle! 

Caleb (1yr) and J

Everyone is very excited for their Disney shirts 

It's not Christmas in PA without a tractor in the yard! 

Look how much fun this box can be! 

Monday, December 5, 2011

Turning 2

I still can't believe that 2 years has come and gone.  The first year, yes, we could feel the slow progression of time  sometimes, but this last year absolutely flew by.  Jocelyn has been such a pleasure and a blessing in our lives.  She has so much love to give and is just a wonderful little girl!

Speech: J can put together 4-5 word sentences now and is still quite the mimic.  If you say something, expect to hear it spouted back at you.  We love listening to her as she lays in her bed after waking up, singing or trying out new phrases she just learned.  J doesn't stop talking all that often, so when she does, we know something is up.

Eating:  We've never had  a problem with J eating, and still don't.  She will try almost anything, especially if it comes off of someone else's plate.  She will finish up her breakfast, only to get down and then take a look at what everyone else is eating and ask for a bite. We still have to watch her cheese and banana intake as she can get a little stopped up at times.

Stats: J is 35.5" tall (92%) and 26.3lbs (48%).  Healthy and beautiful!  

Sleeping:  7pm-7pm with one nap from about 12:30-2:30.  Falls asleep quickly and easily.   J still uses a binky, but we've recently started to cut it down as she found biting it a lot of fun.  It's almost to the nub, and really doesn't offer her too much comfort, but she just likes to know it's there.

Play Toys:  Her fav't play toys are her "friends"- Minnie, Goofy, Pooh and new Minnie.  She brings one of them anywhere she goes, and enjoys playing "school" with them.  As J sits down at her table, she'll pull the chair out next to her and have Pooh sit with her as she colors.  She gets SO excited to see them, and loves to give nose kisses to them.

Books: Jocelyn still loves to read and be read to.  She'll lay in her crib with some books and just "read" to herself or Pooh.  We spend a lot of time with books, so it's nice to see her growing into such a reader.  Some favorites right now are:  How does a dinosaur say good night?,  Brown Bear, Olivia,

Bragging:   She can say her entire ABC's (prob. because we use that as her "share" song. When the song is over, she has to share her toy with whoever is waiting).  Jocelyn can count from 1-10 (but doesn't recognize the numbers yet) and knows the colors blue, green, yellow, red, purple and brown (but only if you ask her to point to these colors. If you ask her what color something is, she'll tell you "blue".)

Thanksgiving con't

and another Happy Birthday to Jocelyn! This one with a great Pooh cake made by Nana

The weather was warm and gorgous, so we took advantage and spent some time up at the bay playground 

The pooches got in on the sunny day action as well by taking a nice swim 

There's a fairy chasing the seagulls! 

Happy Piper 6 1/2 mos 

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Thanksgiving & Birthday Celebrations continue

For the 3rd year in a row, we headed up to the Thanksgiving Day Parade.  The parade was amazing and it was a beautiful day.  We took the subway up the east side and walked across Central Park at 66th street. We got the same great spot as last year and had plenty of space to view the balloons.  

It's Turkey time! 

"Want to touch" was one of Jocelyn's favorite sayings this year.  She was a bit confused why the balloons kept being so elusive.  

A fan favorite 

We weren't sure when Kermit was coming by, so we settled on Snoopy for this years family photo 

And... the celebration continues at Aunt Eileen's house

 Gigi and Great-Grandpa holding some of their great grand-kids, Jocelyn, Kaylynne & Caleb 

"Ah yes, hi, is this Elmo?" 

Turning 2

 Jocelyn's birthday festivities got started a few days early with a party at Mima and Pop-pop's house.  Aunt Mysh made fabulous Winnie-the Pooh cupcakes and cousins Logan and Piper helped Jocelyn to celebrate


Pooh Cupcakes 

Birthday girl in her hat and beads 

Logan helping Jocelyn with her presents 

November 23rd- birthday breakfast muffin!  Daddy took the day off of work and we headed up to Bryant Park for some ice skating 

J's first time on the ice! 

Doing pretty well! 

Mommy was loving it (although her back was quite sore afterwards!) 

Nothing like a ride on the carousel to complete the perfect birthday