Hurricane Irene and Kim's Visit

Well, we lived through an earthquake and a hurricane all in a week. Haha...the earthquake, which was in Virginia, was really small here...but we felt it...and it scared me. The girls were sleeping and I was laying with AJ on the couch. All of the sudden I felt a little dizzy...then I realized AJ's toys were shaking and the pictures on the walls were too. I quickly logged on to facebook to see if friends here had also felt it...they had, so I decided I wasn't crazy. It took about 5 minutes before it was on the news. It was really just a small tremor here, but it was my first earthquake and I got really scared because I wasn't sure if it would get bigger or not. Luckily it stopped before I could panic too much.
The worst of the hurricane happened in the middle of the night here. I got up to feed AJ a couple times in the night and listened to the wind blow and hit things against the door. They really built it up on the news so I wasn't sure what was happening outside of our house. When we got up in the morning we looked around our house...a shutter blew off the house and a branch fell down by the street. We lost power for all of Sunday and had it back by 9:30 that night. We were the lucky ones because a lot of people were out for much longer and a lot of people had trees damage their homes and flooding.
Kim, Tyler and Jarian were visiting the weekend of the hurricane. I only got one picture :( The power went out at their hotel for a while. But, at least we were all safe. We weren't able to do anything really fun. We had plans to go to the city zoo...but everything was closed Saturday in prep for the hurricane...Sunday was the hurricane, and Monday was cleanup and power out everywhere. We were able to go to a seafood restaurant Monday night on the water. That was fun. Tuesday they headed back to NM.

My adorable nephew Jarian


I stole these pictures from my friend Ambre. Thanks Ambre! She took pictures of some of the damage around Long Island.

Another Caroline Update

Last post for tonight, it's late...hopefully I will have more tomorrow! By the way, there are videos in all these posts so you will have to go to my blog to see them! Do it, because they are cute!
I took Caroline to the Dr the other day for her 2 year checkup. She did very well considering she had to get shots...that seemed to hurt her feelings a little. She is now 25.3 lbs, and 33 1/2 inches tall, head 18 1/4....25th percentile. She is so awesome. I have so much fun with her every day. She is talking up a storm! AND she is finally potty trained! She goes by herself all day long. I'm not sure what will happen when we go out since we've only really been at home, but at home she is doing great! I took her to her first ballet/tap class today...she had a hard time at first because she had to go potty, but I guess she was confused about what to do since there was no potty lying around. After a while she finally went to the door and looked at me saying "uh-oh". She thought she was going to pee her pants, poor girl...but I had put a pull up on her! She was very happy that she didn't get wet and started participating a little better.

She was being quiet one day and this is what I found her doing...changing Barbies diaper, haha
Cheese! She likes to hide in here!
She stole AJ's overalls and put them on, haha.
I told her to say cheese and this is what I got!

Johnny Rockets!

AJ - 3 Months

Ok, so AJ is actually 4 months old now, but I don't want to skip the 3 month update. At 3 months AJ was 13 lbs 8 oz, and 23 3/4 inches long, head is 16 1/8 inch. He was in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. He is as healthy as can be! He is such a smiley happy baby. All you have to do is look at him and say something and he will smile :) The day he turned 3 months old he rolled over from belly to back for the first time. He is also starting to teeth! I love him so much, he has been such a great baby. LOVE this picture...they are actually BOTH looking at the camera! LOVE this too! Smiley 3 month old!

Laughing with Yaya!



Rolling over



At 3 months he would put himself to sleep by swinging and looking up, lol. He's just so cute!

Carolines 2nd Birthday Party ~ Elmo Style

Alright! Time for some much needed updates on the kids and our little family! First up on my list of endless posts to update this blog is Carolines 2nd birthday! I can't believe my baby girl is 2! Here are a bunch of pictures from her Elmo birthday party! Well, actually she had 2...so from her 2 parties. Funny story...she went with me a few times to Party City to get Elmo stuff for her party. Now every time we drive by Party City she starts talking about her Elmo party and how her cousins came. Very cute!

First Elmo Party









I love this video because of how she says "landscaper". She used to be afraid of them...well, I think she still is...but she talks about them all the time. Any time she sees men with darker skin she calls them "lanscaper" haha





2nd Birthday Party!

Our Big 2 Year old!

Time for Elmo Cake
I made this...I wanted a picture, but forgot until after we sang to her...hence the nostrils!
Elmo Cake Pops!
The bow I made for her!
Cute little nephew Louis
All the kids digging for their candy from the pinata!
Aunt Elizabeth with AJ
The Bowens...I babysit their daughter Jolina...she's the cutest!
Aunt Denise and Giorgia
Another cute nephew, Christopher. Another one...Anthony!
Carolines friend, Isabella
Opening presents after a long day!

Poor AJ

Poor AJ is apparently allergic to amoxicillin...it just took 9 days for any reaction to show! I took some pictures to show the Doctor. He will get a rash, then it will go away and appear on a different part of his body...mostly his arms and legs. He seems OK. He's a tad bit fussy which is rare since he is pretty easy going. Hopefully it goes away soon!

Handsome Baby Boy

Isn't he just the cutest baby boy you have ever seen? I don't have time to do his 3 month post just yet...but I wanted to share this picture of my handsome baby boy. I sure love him!

To my Sweet Caroline: 2 years

Dear Caroline,
You are now two years old! I can't believe it's been two years since I first held you in my arms! It has been such a joy watching you grow and learn. There is nothing in this world that gives me as much joy as being your mother and playing with you every single day.
Shortly after you turned one we found out you were going to be a big sister! In May we welcomed your new little brother, AJ(Angelo), to our family. At first you pretty much ignored him. After about 2 months you realized he wasn't going anywhere and you got a little jealous. Now when the baby cries you immediately try to get me to hold you instead of the baby. It's a hard adjustment for both of us. Mommy really wants to just play with you and love on you every second of the day, but now we both have to share our time. I have a feeling one day you and AJ will be the best of friends. But I am so impressed with you! You are SO gentle with him. I never have to tell you to be soft with him, or careful around him. You automatically knew to do that. You like to bring him his "silky" and his "kiki" (binki). I know you love him so much...whenever we go out in the double stroller and people comment on what a cute little girl I have, you always have to make sure that they acknowledge your baby too. You say "Baby AJ too" until they look at your baby brother and talk about how you are the big sister. You like to play with your baby dolls by doing everything you see mommy do with AJ. You burp your babies, you breastfeed them, you put the "night night", you give them kisses. It's just so cute to watch you try and be like mommy.
You also like to try to be like daddy. I often find you in the bathroom trying to put on shaving cream and after shave. You like to brush your teeth when daddy does and go potty on your little duck potty (we're still working on potty training).
You like do do everything by yourself. You say "I do it, I do it!" You try so hard to do things and most of then time you succeed! When it is something that's just too difficult you get VERY mad. You start screaming and hitting and biting whatever it is you can't do. We are working on teaching you patience and how to ask for help. You recently learned how to open doors and lock them...this has led to a whole new level of childproofing for mommy and daddy. I have to keep ALL potentially dangerous things out of reach because I know that if you want to you will somehow find a way to get them!
You are now talking up a storm! You have been talking this whole year, but it seems like as soon as you turned two last week your vocabulary grew exponentially and we can understand you better too! You repeat just about everything we say and you have quite the sense of humor. The other day daddy told you that you were a princess. You looked at him and in the most sincere voice said "Daddy pincess too!" I laughed quite a bit so now every time the word princess comes up you say "Carline pincess...Daddy pincess too!" You love to make us laugh. You add the word "too" to almost everything you say. It's really cute. You say "Mommy do it too", "JoJo swimmin too"...I could go on and on...but really just about every sentence you say ends in "too"! When daddy leaves for work or goes outside for some reason, you always frantically try to get your shoes on and say "I hummin"...I guess "hummin" is your word for "coming". You like to do dangerous things and then say to yourself "don't fall, don't fall".
You love to play with ALL your toys. I don't think there is a single toy you have that you don't play with...and you play with them the right way. I just think you are so smart and will be good at everything you try in life...just like your daddy! You are going to start ballet and tap dance in the fall. It's a mommy and me class and I hope you like it. Your friend Vivian is in the class too. You have a few friends your age--Vivian and Zach are your friends from church, Isabella is our neighbor, and of course Jolina!
You are full of so many emotions! One minute you are bubbling over in happiness, the next minute you are sad...then angry. I hope soon you can communicate a little better, but it's still cute watching you learn how to handle different emotions.
I love you to pieces Sweet Caroline and can't wait to watch you grow more and more this next year! xoxoxo

Love,
Mommy

From this:




To this (1 year):



To this (2 years):

Caroline - 23 months

Caroline is just so cute and we have so much fun...when she's not whining! She has started to talk a lot more in full sentences...mostly demands like "Dadda, sit here!" "Momma, baby swing. Momma play!" "I want this...I want that". "JoJo play too!"It's pretty cute. Last week I took her to Party City with me and I asked her if she wanted to have an Elmo Birthday party. She said yeas of course because Elmo is her favorite. Well, she has a good memory because today I asked her if she wanted a birthday party and she said "Yes, Elmo!" She does so many cute and funny things that I am always taking pictures...so here are a million pictures of my Caroline!

Finger painting for the first time. She LOVED it. She made a little something for Daddy for Father's Day

An evening at the beach












Random Funnies...

Trying on headbands and hats
CHEESE!
Sneaky!
Trying on Dads socks!
It was raining, but she just HAD to go outside! She took off all her clothes and went swimming in the rain!

As soon as I sit down to feed AJ, off come her clothes!

She copies EVERYTHING I do...including breastfeeding


She told me "Momma, I swimmin in da sand!"


Throwing the sand and saying "weeee"


A day at Heckshire Park


Playing at the splash pad at Hoyt Farm










Another day at Hoyt...Kissin her brother.

My babies....

Happy 4th of July! She was a little scared when the fireworks first started, but she did great! She kept saying "wow...what that?" Near the end of the show she asked me for her binky and blanket and just cuddled in my lap. Not bad!

The flash was kinda getting to Tom, haha.