Happy Anniversary!

Today Jeff and I celebrated our second anniversary. Since he's recovering from his PRK eye surgery I wasn't expecting anything special. When the doorbell rang I didn't think much of it, the UPS man had been to our house several times over the last few weeks so I figured it was him again leaving a package. Jeff came down the stairs though to tell me to answer it, and to my surprise I was greeted with beautiful flowers!

 The arrangement was in a margarita glass, but it fit perfectly for our New Yeas Eve anniversary. Thanks Jeff, I love them!

Later that day the doorbell rang again and this time Jeff answered it thinking maybe it was the neighbors. But to our surprise we got another special delivery from my parents! We were so surprised from our beautiful arrangement we love them so much, especially the big roses that smell super nice. Thanks for thinking of us Mom and Dad, we love you!

 Posing with the flowers thanks to my remote control for the camera...

Johanna was entertained watching us try to get a photo.

Since Jeff was feeling relatively good we decided to go out for an anniversary dinner. We were both in the mood for seafood so we headed over to Bonefish Grill in Littleton. After waiting two hours we were finally seated and had a really yummy dinner. Afterward they even surprised us with a complimentary chocolate creme brulee. Yum!!

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful hubby I love you more than anything.

Baby Bean Update

Hello Third Trimester! Today at Baby Bean's appointment I learned two things:

1. Johanna does not like going to my appointments. Well, typically she does great. Today she was playing with the toys in the waiting room next to a group of elderly people. Things went downhill when the very friendly and very old strangers started talking to her. Of course I was called back immediately after her first breakdown. She calmed down when I had her on my lap while the nurse got my vitals, but as soon as my Doctor came through the door it was melt down #2. Usually she loves my Doctor but today I think she remembered him as the guy who gave her all those shots. God bless him he tried his best to get her to calm down between holding her, making balloons from his gloves and silly faces but Johanna was not having it. Worse yet today was my glucose tolerance testing! Luckily I was able to hold her in my lap while he drew my blood. Looks like next appointment Johanna will be staying with her Grandma!

2. I need to get used to saying the word penis. Hehe... this boy thing is so new to me. (Yes, we talked about circumcision today.)

Baby Bean is around 15 inches and weighs somewhere between 2 and 3 pounds. He is kicking like crazy and I'm at the point where I can see and feel his little tushy at times. He also has an over 85% chance of survival out of my tummy at this point!

I found a fun website that I've been playing around on babybunching.com. It's a site for Moms with 'twiblings' or kids less than two years apart. It has been fun reading up on tips and support from preparing toddler for baby's arrival to managing grocery shopping. Second thing I've been keeping busy with is choosing which double stroller we want. Johanna will only be 17 months when JJ gets here and is still on the tiny side so I know we'll need something that fits two children comfortably. I think I've gotten it narrowed down to two choices (but am open to suggestions...)

The Tango Zooper. Kara and Russ have this stroller and love it. I also love it for several reasons; huge cargo space, easy to fold and fully reclining seats. It also comes with a ton of bonus features such as weather gear and leg warmers and cup holder that are additional charges for other brands. Although it fits through most standard doors the negative is that it is a side by side.

The Baby Jogger City Select. I love this stroller as well! The seats can be configured to 16 different positions including outward facing, inward facing, one facing both ways. They also recline and the stroller can be used as a single or double and also has the option of adding a glider (the thing the big kids stand on in the back) for when Johanna is older and we add a third child to the mix! Cons are its heavy and gets pricey since you have to buy the second seat and all additional extras.

Next weekend after Jeff has fully recovered from his PRK eye surgery we'll be starting our project of turning the basement into a playroom. It will be so nice to have a place to put all these toys, dolls and new Christmas presents. After that it's on to the nursery! Happy third trimester to baby bean :)

Christmas Day

Time for picture OVERLOAD! Christmas is over so now I get to play with pictures and clean up the mess. Jeff and I woke up super early and couldn't wait for Johanna to wake up. We had time to make our coffee and watch some news before she finally woke up at 7:30. When we walked downstairs she said "Wow!!!" When she say all the presents under the tree.  In case you're wondering where all the furniture went in this room, this is where my new Lazy Boy stuff will be going, for now it's worked out great as play room :)

My Aunt Kathy sent Johanna this adorable hat that one of her friends make, Johanna looks so cute in it and it fits her perfectly! JJ got a little baby blue bird one that he is going to wear home from the hospital, it is so cute, thank you Aunt Kathy!

My Grandma sent Johanna a Frosty the Snowman book that she recorded reading, she thought it was so cool how she could hear Oma talking when she turned the pages! Did you know these books are motion sensitive? Yesterday morning Jeff and I nearly had a heart attack when we heard Oma's voice downstairs reading Frosty the Snowman. Turns out a cat had walked by and set it off...

It was so nice to be able to Skype with my parents when Johanna opened up all her presents from them. They sent the cutest stuff I can't wait for her to wear some of her new outfits, thanks Mom and Dad!

And look at her new baby with a little stroller! She couldn't be a more proud Mommy.

Oma sent us money and wanted us to get Johanna something fun to open so I found this awesome train at Toys R Us. Johanna loves trains, she calls them 'choo-choos.'

I think Jeff has been having even more fun than Johanna setting up the tracks and playing with the train. It is remote controlled and even makes noises!

One year ago...

 Look how much she's grown!! ...sniff sniff.

Jeff and I had a lot of fun getting stuff for our stockings. I got him a bunch of stuff for his smoker and a few things for his office. Of course he ended up breaking the rules and got me a bunch of 'bonus gifts' that didn't fit into the stocking. I got a maternity winter coat which I've been desperately needing, some more beautiful charms for my pandora bracelet, a bunch of comfy work-out lounge clothes, and a Coach wallet that Johanna can't get into (we've been having that problem which is why I had to order a new bank card the other day.) Thank you Jeff, I love you!!!

After playing with our new toys we cleaned up and headed back over to Grandma and Grandpa's for some brunch. Johanna got to wear her sweater and hat that my Grandma made her last year. This Christmas it fit perfectly.

When we got to Grandma's we were greeted by Tyler with a super cool mini jogging stroller! Johanna was ecstatic!! It is the cutest thing ever, it even came with a little mini diaper bag. It will be perfect for her as she gets older because the handle even extends higher. I can just imagine her wheeling her little American Dolls around in a few years. Thank you Kara and Russ!

Tyler was so excited to show her how it worked but all Johanna could do was scream at him to leave her babies alone! She is still working on her sharing skills...

The kids screaming at their Daddy's.

Hanging out with GiGi.

Poor Kara was sick at home with the flu so I had to have someone take a photo of this. Nathan is cuddling on the chair with me watching Tangled while snuggling up with a baby doll. He is so sweet!

The boys spent most of the day smoking the meat for dinner, they had a lot of fun out in the snow with their coffee and snow ball launchers.

At one point I noticed Johanna was being extra quiet. Guess where I found her...

Love my little girl!

Johnathan got his very own official Rockies hat, thanks GiGi!

 Nathan had just as much fun opening up all his gifts.  

Here is Johanna's very own front facing car seat!!! She was so proud of it, you could tell she felt like a big girl while sitting in it. That night we took out her rear facing car seat and installed her new chair behind the passenger side. Now I can see her while I'm driving, it makes it so much easier! She loves looking out the window, and I'm looking forward to using our DVD player for longer trips.  

The kids got some pull sleds which they of course had to try out right away. Tyler was such a fun cousin and had a blast pulling Johanna around while she screamed with glee.

After eating a delcious meal of smoked turkey, mashed potatoes and different casseroles we all headed home and made sure to go to bed early. I think we were all asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows! The next morning Johanna had a few more presents to open. Here she is rocking her baby in her new baby crib, she likes to say 'awww' while baby is rocking and gives her kisses. It is the sweetest thing ever!

I found this a few months ago at Walmart and knew Johanna would love it. It's a little shopping cart she can push around with her babies. Sensing a theme? And with her three new babies that she got this year she's got plenty to keep entertained.

We enjoyed Jeff's day off with lounging all day in our pj's playing with all our new toys, my favorite kind of days!

Merry Christmas everyone, hope the holiday was warm and bright for you. Thank you for all of the wonderful gifts, we are all so blessed! Of course gifts are never necessary and the real meaning of Christmas is the only thing that matters, but the love and thoughtfulness behind everything is so special. We wish we were able to celebrate it with everyone but you were all in our thoughts. I got my Mom a plane ticket to Colorado for February for my Baby Sprinkle, I can't wait to see you Mom!

Christmas Eve

 With Jeff being home for good this year and a whole foot of fluffy white snow on the ground it really felt like Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve lounging around the house watching football and catching up on some naps. Then we picked up Grandma, Grandpa and GiGi and headed over to Christmas Mass at St. Thomas More.

 We got to church a half hour early and boy did we wait too long! Not only were we in the gym, we were lucky enough to snag the last row of seats in the way back. Luckily they had huge screens for closed circuit and dimmed the lights. And in reality it worked out well, Johanna was much  more comfortable with more room to sit on the floor and be entertained, she did great! After mass was over we went into the sanctuary to see the beautiful decorations. Jeff took Johanna up to see the nativity scene and her favorite, "bab-y Es-us."

 Our attempt at a family photo.

What's more traumatizing than sitting on Santa's lap? Leaving the poor thing at the altar with tons of parishioners smiling at her, poor thing. She was only up there for a split second before I realized she was not having it up there on her own! Don't you love her little dress from her Auntie Cheryl though?

 After mass we headed around the neighborhood for our traditional Christmas lights show. We only stopped at a few housed this year since we were all super hungry, but we made sure to stop at the good ones.

 We got out of the car so Johanna could get a real good look at everything, she was oo'ing and ahh'ing the whole time.

 After the lights we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas Eve dinner. The first thing we did was stop to see the Christmas tree. Look at all the gifts! Between Grandma, Grandpa, GiGi, Russ, Kara, Jeff, myself, Tyler, Nathan, Johanna and Johnathan the tree was loaded with goodies. I've never seen more presents in my life!

 Johanna was overwhelmed.

 We told her she got to pick one gift from Santa to open.

She had a hard time choosing just one...

 For dinner we had an amazing Mexican assortment; spanish rice, chicken enchiladas and pulled beef tacos. Yum!

Sticking with our theme, for dessert I made one of my favorite (and sinfully easy) dishes, cheesecake sopapilla.  

 After we were all good and full we each opened a gift. Lori surprised Jeff and had an old family photo blown up and mounted. The picture is of Jeff's Great-Great Uncle who worked on an oil rig just outside of Santa Maria, California. How cool is that?! He is going to hang it up in his office.

 Johanna loves opening presents! We let her open a few, then a few more of JJ's.

 I got a bottle of Johanna wine... GiGi found it at the liquor store and had to get it, look they even spelled her name right! I'm excited to try it in a few months, we will have to bring it to the hospital for our birthing celebration!

 Johanna got a beautiful little jewelry box and of course was obsessed with trying to pull the ballerina off. The box plays a song from the Swan Princess and will be great for all her little bracelets, thanks Grandma!

 We stayed up extra late at Grandma and Grandpa's then finally decided to head home after Johanna started to fall asleep on the floor on top of some squishy blankets. Look, our Charlie Brown tree made it all the way to Christmas!

This year Jeff and I each got big gifts (Jeff is getting PRK eye surgery and I have some furniture from Lazy Boy on the way.) We decided to do stockings this year and call it good. We each went into separate rooms to stuff each others stockings then hung them on the mantle. That night I could barely sleep I was so excited for Peanut to wake up and open all of her presents and enjoy the day. I think Christmas is more fun now as a Mommy than it was even as a child!