First trip as a Family of 4

For John's birthday this year (yes, this is from AUGUST!), we travelled down to Virginia Beach for a night.  It was a very short trip, but so much fun.  Despite it taking us 6 hours to get down there (when it's normally three)-- due to traffic, potty stops for AJ, Jacob needing to eat (note for next time, bring the pump and bottle feed!), and us getting a tad bit hungry--we had a great time in the car and while we were there.  I think John can say he had a wonderful birthday.

John and AJ got ready and ran outside as soon as we got there.  I had to top Jacob off before our evening began.  Here is a shot from our hotel room, below.  We stayed at a low key but nice hotel in the North End of Virginia Beach, which is my favorite spot because you miss the crazyiness of the strip.  This picture is of John and AJ, taken with my zoom lens.

AJ LOOOOVVEEEDD the water.  The only time he didn't love it was when we were in Turks and Caicos and he was full on teething at 9 months.

AJ is laughing in this picture.  Luckily John is strong, or he would have probably dropped him since he was moving a lot!

AJ also loved the sand.  He liked building a sand castle with me.  He had the sand ALL over his body.

Even though Jacob stayed out of the sun, the sand, and the water...I still had to dress him up in a cute little bathing suit. 

More castle building with AJ.  Everytime I would actually get the castle going, he would be so delighted to knock it down.  He is a true boy--ever so destructive!

After a couple of hours at the beach, we enjoyed a little of the hotel pool.  I even braved a one-piece bathing suit only 4 weeks after giving birth. 

OH NO!  AJ DUNKED DADDY!

Our first trip photo as a family of 4!  At this point AJ was getting chilly.  Somehow it was a little chilly despite being a hot summer day.  Why does that happen at the beach sometimes?  Wind?

Since we were already checked out of our hotel room, we couldn't shower..but they had some places for us to change and clean up a bit.  We then ventured to the Southside of the strip for a nice seafood lunch and some walking and shopping.

I was ever so impressed with my one month old.  He was easily adaptable and enjoyed strolling down the strip in the Moby.  He even slept during lunch.  I was also happy with AJ--telling us when he had to go potty and being a good boy.  I was impressed with John and I too!  We survived our first trip together with a little newborn and three year old--and happened to really enjoy ourselves!

Pumpkin Patch

This morning (of course before the games!) we met our best friends Clare and Josh along with their adorable little boy Daniel (and future baby girl Foley!) at the Burke Nursery Fall Festival.  We got lucky and had a break from the rain while we were there.  You could tell we had a ton of rain recently, as the grounds were very muddy.  Luckily John and I wore our Northface hiking shoes, but we didn't plan well with AJ and he wore his newish Under Armour shoes.  Oh well, it's just mud!

The nursery was great for kids AJ and Daniel's age!  They had a lot of slides that both of them really enjoyed.  Look at Clare, over 5 months pregnant and still chasing after her 18 month old like it's nothing!

We went on the hayride--luckily without the hay (because that would have been wet!).  The boys enjoyed all of the spooky decorations on the ride!

Peek a BOO!  AJ peeking through the nose of the pumpkin slide:

AJ and Daddy.  My husband is so good looking :):

AJ, Mommy, and a bit of Jacob (who slept the entire time!):

The boys enjoying this ride:

Our family of 4.  Can't see Jacob, as I had him nice and warm.  It was quite chilly due to the wind today.

The boys in the Pumpkin Patch.  It was hard to get them to pose.

Afterwards we went over to Clare and Josh's for a great lunch made by Clare.  The boys both had fun playing.  They even figured out on their own how to play with the toys together!  Look how cute they are sharing the fire truck:

We left when AJ started rubbing his eyes.  He fell asleep on the way home..which is how I knew he had a lot of fun!  It was so great to see the Foley's!

Maternity leave

 As I mentioned before, I am loving maternity leave.  AJ is still in school two days a week, but I get a lot of time to play and explore with him.  We have done crafts, science experiments, field trips, and play dates.  Recently my best friend Lauren and her husband, Will, bought their first home--only 10 minutes from us!  Here is a picture of their new home (this and the other pictures are stolen from her website, ourlittlehalfacre.blogspot.com):

At least once a week we get to see and spend time with Lauren and McKenna.  They have truely made my leave amazing.  It's nice to get to see them so much.  Here is a picture of our two:

We even made the trip out to Bluemont, VA to go peach picking.  Here is a picture of me holding Jacob with McKenna in the background:

We met up with my friend Christine (from work) and her two little ones too.  Here is Avery and AJ walking down to get peaches:

And another photo:

McKenna picking peaches.  She is so darling.  She is a super sweet little girl.  She loves Jacob--always making sure he is well taken care of with his paci!

I'm sad because one month from today I go back to work.  While it's for the best for our family, I DON'T want to go back.  I do love working and I love my job, but I wish I could have off the next year or so!

Lauren wrote a post on her blog about staying positive.  In life, and especially when you have kids, it's really hard sometimes to stay positive.  I sometimes find myself feeling a little overwhelmed and exhausted and wishing I could just sleep a full night's sleep or stay up late to watch movies or sleep in until unreasonable hours.  Then I remember how LUCKY I am to have this 'problem'.  I may not get enough sleep or as much free time as I would like, but I am SO LUCKY to have my husband and kids in my life.  It is really important to stay positive no matter what deck of cards you are dealt.  You have to remember how lucky you are to have what you have and never focus on what you don't have.  I really am so lucky!

Zoo Trip

A couple of weeks ago, I took the boys (by myself!) to the Frederick Zoo in Frederick, MD.  It was awesome.  I thought they had a lot more animals then the National Zoo (at least when we went a year and a half ago) and it was pretty empty so we felt like we had the whole zoo to ourselves.  It also felt way more safe and I could take the stroller into the buildings if I wanted.  The weather was a perfect 75 and the kids were in good moods. 

Here is AJ and Jacob in front of the Flamingos.  I love them!

The kids are both in the stroller and ready to go!  I think this was the few moments that AJ was in the stroller--he much preferred to walk around and explore.

AJ in front of one of their ponds.  There were swans in this one (can barely see them in the background).

AJ looking at some of their reptiles.

Jacob was so happy the entire time.

As was AJ!  It was hard to get him to look and pose in front of the animals because he just wanted to look at them!

They had a petting zoo (which personally I can do without, I think animals are dirty and scary!).  AJ was almost brave enough to feed them, but this animal was a little too pushy and AJ backed away quickly after I took this shot.  I would have done the same thing.  You can't get me close to the animals!

AJ posing in the petting zoo area.

Yeah, I feel like that too sometimes.

A lion!  Very muscular and he even ROOOAARREEDD for us!

An Eagle!  I told AJ how it was America's mascot and all he could say was "BOO EAGLES!".  Yeah, his dad has him a *little* brainwashed.

A Koi pond!  How beautiful!  I would love to have a Koi pond one day in our dream house.

AJ looking at some alligators!  We learned a lot about alligators, like that they can't eat when it's chilly (it was expected to be in the 40s that evening in Frederick) and how they have to 'round them up' when it starts to get cold out and take them indoors under warmers because that is how they can survive.  They are some lazy species too--they just like to lay around all day!

A fun day at the zoo!  Did I tell you how much I'm loving maternity leave?

Family Wine Country trip

The Friday of Labor Day weekend, some of the Nelson crew (my mother's side of the family) met in Lancaster County for a winery trip.  We stayed in the Red Caboose Motel--which was a collection of retired trains transferred into motel rooms.  It was PERFECT for the kids.  The motel had a restaurant on site, a petting zoo, Amish rides, and a chance to get your picture done as if you were Amish.

I love this photo taken with my back to the motel--it's very American with the flag, the horses, the mountains.  Makes me feel American love :).

Pop Pop and AJ just after we arrived to the motel--everyone was looking at the animals.

My little munchkin in his seat (he was SO good in the car ride to and from).  He isn't in the parking lot,  but it looks like it :).

David with the boys--Roman and AJ--walking the petting zoo.

This is what the rooms looked like--I think this one was David's.

Some of the 25 of us that made the trip.  It's really incredible how we have all stuck together through the years.  I hope we make this type of thing a tradition.  Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bob (the two on the right) planned everything.  The spread was incredible.  They were really prepared!

AJ was quite entertaining.  The night before Daddy and AJ went to AJ's first redskins game and he picked up a 'Daddy Face'. 

Some of the great grandkids--AJ, Ava, and Leah (Roman and Jacob are missing from the picture).  They loved the cupcakes and AJ is very much like his dad--frosting only for him.  I, myself, prefer the cake, so it works out perfectly!

The band was a motown band (surprisingly I knew a lot of the songs!).  They were really good.  AJ brought his guitar (Pop Pop went all the way to the car to get it from him--sucker!) and jammed along.  He was so entertaining, that the band asked him to come on stage.  Leah joined him too.  It was very cute :).  I wasn't able to get pictures of him on stage because I left my camera back at the table and didn't want to miss it, but here is another shot of him on the guitar!

The next morning we all ventured out to breakfast (some had to leave really early but most made it).  Here is Leah and AJ with Jacob at breakfast:

Jacob, Me, cuddly AJ, and Kayla.

Mom, Kayla, the boys, and I did some fun things after breakfast on our way home.  We went to the outlets, stopped at a farmer's market, stopped at a Christmas store--and somewhere along the line, we saw the REAL Santa.  Yes, he is the real Santa (or is a crazy person that thinks he is Santa).  He was RUNNING alongside the road in his Santa gear and headphones.  We stopped to take pictures and he saw us and came over.  He even had Candy Canes on him for the kids.  He is at least setting a good example for the kids..EXERCISE!

A great weekend--can't wait till next year!

Giggles

I haven't updated in a while (I have the two month shots to post!). I find it so hard to get on here and keep up with it when I'm busy falling in love over and over again :).

We are doing well though. I am LOVING maternity leave. We have been having fun. AJ is sick at the moment (double ear infection :(), but we are doing well otherwise. Jacob is such a happy and good baby. He has been laughing lately! Below is a video we took of him laughing:

2 months!

Jacob is 2 months!  (I haven't had time to blog, so this is late with a backtrack to 9/15).

Stats:   Weight: 14 pounds (95th percentile)!

            Height: 24" (90th percentile)

He is giggling and talking up a storm.  He is also opening up his fists and grabbing at things like blankets (a milestone!).  He is far from really holding on to toys just yet, but he is getting there!

Here is Jacob's 2 month picture:

He is so happy all of the time.  You just need to look at him and he will smile!  We all love talking to him.

He is enamored by his big brother.  He smiles and coos at AJ a lot.  AJ is still the perfect big bro too!

More updates to come soon!