Christmas 2012 Photo Book

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Every year we take the best of the year's pictures of Isabelle and create a Shutterfly photo book. Some years were a little longer than others (maximum of 100 pages). This year's book was a little shorter. We've been really BAD about taking pictures since we moved to Florida. I feel a New Year's Resolution brewing!

Typically we begin and end the book with fabulous Puerto Rico pictures but this year we got a 40% discount if we ordered by today. We go to PR NEXT week so this year's book has no PR pics. We might print a whole book just for PR this year :)))

Enjoy!

50 Shades of Gray

Dear Baby Girl,

President Barack Obama was re-elected yesterday and will serve as President of the United States for another four years to a very divided country. The country was split in half for Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. It has been a long, hard fight and unfortunately today, there are a lot of people who are upset with America’s choice. Some people are getting very ugly with their words and using harsh language towards those who voted to re-elect the President.

The wonderful thing for us is that we live in a country where we can safely go to the polls on Election Day and voice our opinion by voting for the person we think is better prepared to lead our country for the next four years. The sad thing is, there is no such thing as a perfect candidate. And there never will be. Unfortunately, we sometimes have to vote for who we think is the lesser evil, and not necessarily who we think is the better candidate.

Voting for any one candidate does not mean that you have to believe everything that person stands for. You do not have to agree with every policy, every stance, and every point of view. You also do not have to agree with every viewpoint of any one political party. Please don’t vote the way I vote just because I’m your Mom. I don’t want you to vote how Daddy votes, just because you love him.

No candidate will ever have all the right answers for you. Your future candidate choices may win or lose, but it’s important that both sides respect one another and work together across the aisle for real change to happen. If more people could understand that, the more tolerant this country could become.

So find yourself, find your issues, speak your mind, and expect to meet criticism for your views. The thing is, issues are not black or white…they just aren’t. There are many shades of gray and it’s up to you to determine which issues put a fire in your belly, and which shade of gray sits well in your heart.

God Bless you, baby girl. And God Bless America. ‘Cuz we need it…

Fast and Furious

November 4th already, where does the time go? We whizzed through October so fast, I never even got a chance to post updates. After we got home from Maryland, Mom-Mom SuSu and Pop-Pop Bill headed out of town to visit Maryland themselves. They were up there for 3 weeks so we didn’t see them almost all of October!

We did get to go to the beach one Saturday (Mommy says it’s “just because we can”). It was warm and sunny with a cool breeze, it was perfection. We hit North Beach in Clearwater which has a lot less tourists and easier parking. There are 2 great restaurants up there – Palm Pavilion and Frenchy’s – which are both great beachfront casual places that have great food.

Mommy did an exercise boot camp this month, it was only for 3 weeks to get her motivated. We had to wake up really early for school so she could get there in time.

The third weekend of the month we got to go to Oktoberfest at Tampa Bay Downs which is the horse racetrack right down the street from our house. It was so fun, Mommy bought me a special bracelet that let me ride the rides all day long as many times as I wanted. Daddy had to work until 2 so Mommy and I did the rides while we waited for Daddy. Then we listened to some music and ate some festival food. It was a fun “Fall” day (even though it was 85 degrees).

Then last week Mom-Mom came home and I got to have a sleepover there! Mommy and Daddy had their 12th anniversary weekend in St. Pete Beach at the Guy Harvey Outpost while Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop and me played, played, played! I love having sleepovers there. I’m such a lucky girl to have a Mom-Mom who lives so close.

 This week was Halloween and we had so much fun. I got to go to a Halloween trick-or-treat event at the Westchase Park Village (I was Snow White). Then I got to wear a costume to my Ballet Class on Monday (I was Supergirl). Then I got to dress up for my Halloween Party at school (I was a cowgirl) and lastly, for Halloween night, we walked around with neighbors from our street and I got a TON OF CANDY! I can’t eat anything chewy though (Dentist’s orders) so I gave all the chewy stuff to Daddy to take to work and I kept the chocolate and crunchy stuff.

I was going to be Belle for Halloween night but then I saw my neighbor, Paige, outside and she was dressed up in a big girl costume so I decided at the last minute to be a rockstar princess instead. Mommy helped me get stuff out of my dress-up bin and we put my hair into funny ponytails. Being a princess is for babies, I’m almost five now, so I’m a big girl. Watch out world, here I come…

Gen Digital?

I'm not sure what our kid's generation will be labeled when they get out of school and start looking for jobs. It seems every 10 years or so produces a new label. This one will likely have something to do with the digitial reliance, social media, connectedness we all share.

We were saying goodbye to the last group of friends in Maryland yesterday. Five-year-old Clare was giving goodbye hugs to almost-five-year-old Izzi. Clare informed me that she got Izzi's picture in the mail. (I had totally forgotten that we had mailed one, so it was cute that she remembered to say something.) Here is how that conversation went:

Clare: I got Izzi’s picture she sent in the mail.

Jen: Oh, Good! Did you like it?

Clare: Yes! I loved it.

Jen: Well, you and Izzi will be reading and writing really soon so you can start mailing letters back and forth to each other. It's called penpals!

Clare: OR, you could just set up a video chat...

(Well, DUH, Miss Jen, why didn’t YOU think of that!)

No Sleep Til Baltimore

Warning: This is a long boring read just to document our trip back to Maryland. No real funny or interesting tidbits in here, so don’t commit to the long read if you are expecting entertainment :)


We had a whirlwind visit in Maryland last week. Isabelle and I arrived on Friday night (September 21st). We stayed with Aunt Kim, Uncle Chris and Cousins Ronan and Brooklyn for four nights. We hung at Geega’s house Saturday and Sunday during the day to see Uncle Sean, Aunt Jenny, and Cousin Megan, but spent the night with Aunt Kim.

I watched the Ravens game on Sunday night with Aunt Kim, the kids had to go to bed since it was a late game.

On Monday and Tuesday, Grandpa came to Aunt Kim's house to play with Izzi while I worked. On Monday night, we went to visit Miss Theresa and her daughter, Katie. Isabelle and Katie dressed up like rockstars and other strange creatures and ran around the house like banshees.

On Tuesday night we drove to Miss Kim’s (Morrison) house and stayed with her, Mister Zac, and her sons Will and Max. Izzi played with their dog, Jake, all day on Wednesday. He followed her everywhere she went. Miss Kim and I had to work all day.

After work, we went shopping in Hunt Valley since Mommy was trying to find a new Ravens jersey. Hers still says #86 for Todd Heap but he plays for another team now, and there is a new #86 on the Ravens roster. Mommy wasn’t having any luck so we said goodbye to Miss Kim and her boys and started to drive to Mommy’s friend, Miss Nicki's house. Miss Nicki has THREE girls, so they have tons of fun toys and Izzi had so much fun.

They only got to play for a little bit on Wednesday night because those girls had school the next day. But Iz stayed up late with Mommy and watched the Orioles play. On Thursday, Iz woke up with a really sore foot. She got a big splinter and it was hurting when she walked. So Mommy took her to the clinic and the Doctor tried to get it out but she didn’t have any luck. She gave us a referral to go to a Hospital but we decided to let it try to work itself out instead.

After the clinic we met Uncle Don and Grandpa for lunch in Fells Point at a place called Kooper’s Tavern. The sign has a big yellow dog on it but we didn’t see any dogs inside. I got ice cream afterwards which is my favorite special treat.

After lunch we had to race to the airport to pick up Daddy. It was SO GOOD to see him after six whole days without him! We hung out with Daddy in Federal Hill for about two hours and then Daddy went to meet some friends and Mommy and I drove back to Miss Nicki’s house to wait for Sienna, Naomi, and Paige. When they got home from school we played, played, played! The babysitter showed up at 5:30 and Izzi had the most fun with her (Miss Alyssa). Iz was sound asleep by the time Mommy and Daddy got home from the game. The Ravens won but it rained really hard that night so Mommy and Daddy only saw part of the game from the stadium. They had to race for cover and watch the last half on TV.

On Friday, we woke up and drove out to Geega’s house. Geega ended up having to work so we stopped by a special Ravens store to buy lots of purple Ravens gear. Then we went to lunch. Then we drove to the card store where Geega works with Baba at the Mall to say goodbye. Then we drove to Geega’s house to see Uncle Don. We did get to see Geega again for a little while. Then we drove downtown to see Uncle Eric and Aunt Mellisa. We went to a restaurant for Happy Hour, I mostly scribbled in my coloring book.We had a Pajama Dance Party and spent the night.

On Friday morning, Izzi ate two HUGE cinnamon buns that Uncle Eric cooked. Then we went to lunch with Grandpa one last time at Nick’s Seafood. Then Grandpa dropped us back at Uncle Eric’s. We walked up to Federal Hill to look out at the city. Then we walked down to the Inner Harbor and bought some new Orioles gear. We walked around there for a bit waiting for a text message from Uncle Don and walked over to meet him at Pickle’s Pub which is across the street from Camden Yards where the Orioles were playing that night. Uncle Don was going to the game with his friend, Mister Jamie, because it was “Brooks Robinson Night” at the Yard. Uncle Don was pretty excited. The Orioles won that night too.

The Orioles went on to clinch a playoff spot just a few days later (Sunday, September 30th) when the Angels lost a night game. We had won, Yankees had lost, and a few other special things happened to allow the Orioles a playoff spot. We don’t know which spot, where, or when yet but Mommy & Daddy seem pretty excited about it.

On Saturday afternoon, we said our last goodbyes to Uncle Don and drove to Edgewater to see our old friends and neighbors. We stayed with Aunt Jaime, Uncle Jeff, Kora and Utaw. We had so much fun. The Ridgeways, Healeys, and Brookmans also came over. We had a bonfire with s’mores and plain roasted marshmallows. On Sunday we went to the Healey’s house for steamed crabs and football, baseball, and Ryder Cup. We had to leave there around 6pm and go to the airport. We didn’t get home until about 1am and boy were we tired!

All that running around, with very little rest, and we still didn’t get to see everyone. Hoping we can get back to MD often so we can fit everyone in over several visits. It was great seeing everyone, the hospitality was amazing and we can’t wait to return the favor. We have had one family officially visit so far, can’t wait to host more.

Second Verse, Not Same as the First

As a follow-up to my last post of Swaddled Sweetness, our mornings have not gotten any better.

When the weekend finally arrives, we are not the kind of family to sit around the house to rest and relax after a taxing work week. In fact, it’s been 2 months since we moved into our new house and we still have a garage full of boxes that haven’t been unpacked. Who has time with so many fun things to do, places to explore, and new friends to meet!

This past weekend we had friends visit from Maryland. They left Sunday morning and we met some new friends here in Tampa. A friend of Ed’s from high school lives in Tampa now too, so he had a bunch of people over to watch football on Sunday. We met some really fun people.

On Monday morning though, we paid for our busy, hectic, super fun weekend. Everyone overslept. Our morning was more hectic than normal. Everyone was tired, and therefore cranky. Isabelle and I had one of our typical morning knock-down drag-out fights. It was a doozie too. I was yelling at her to get dressed, get her shoes on, brush her teeth, brush her hair, eat her breakfast, no she couldn’t watch a cartoon, we had to leave, we were late, ackkkkkk!

At the same time, I was running around trying to get dressed, brushed, etc.

So Monday night, we had a sit down to talk about our morning routine. Isabelle and I agreed that Monday morning was NOT very fun. It made us angry and sad that we got into such a bad fight. So we agreed that we had to do things differently. Our new routine as we laid it out Monday night:

• Isabelle’s Princess Alarm Clock will go off at 7:30 AM. If she wants to watch a cartoon that morning, then she has to wake up at that alarm time.

• She has been taught how to turn on the TV and access her recorded cartoons so she can pick what she wants to watch.

• After that one cartoon is over, she has to come wake me up (I’m usually up by this point anyway, but if I’m still hitting the snooze button, she is supposed to come rile me awake at 8:00 AM)

• At 8AM, we eat breakfast together. We have 30 minutes for breakfast so we set the timer for 20 minutes to remind us it’s time to finish up so we have time to get dressed.

• No later than 8:30AM, we each go get ourselves dressed and put our shoes on (quickly…NO playing in our room).

• Then we brush our teeth and hair.

• We should be leaving the house by 8:50AM at the latest to get to school on time.

We worked on a poster together, drew pictures for each step in our routine, talked about what happens if we miss any step in our routine (like we have to give up the one cartoon if we don't get up when the alarm goes off, or Mommy will have to pick out her outfit and get her dressed if we're behind schedule, etc.)

Fingers crossed we're on a path to a more civilized morning and maybe those few extra moments we save can be used for more swaddled sweetness.

This morning, we got through the last step of brushing and it was only about 8:40AM. I asked Isabelle if she wanted to read a book before we left since we had some spare time. She was totally shocked and thought I was joking. You mean here? At the house? Right now? Read a book???

And that's exactly what we did. We cuddled on the couch for 10 whole minutes and read a book that we haven't read in a while. It was an awesome way to send her off to school and start my workday.

Swaddled Sweetness

This morning was the typical morning of any Mom of a pre-schooler...

We woke up with kisses and cuddles, we fixed a healthy breakfast and chatted about world politics over a glass of freshly squeezed OJ. Then we jointly picked out an adorable matching outfit for her to wear to school all while singing silly songs together.

NOT!

We woke up in a panic after the 5th slap of the snooze alarm. We raced to throw dry cereal in a bowl, realized we were out of juice so had to count the cereal milk as our breakfast beverage too. I threw together two semi-matching outfits (one for me, one for Isabelle) from the least smelly clothes I could find in between the hamper and the floor. Then we swished some toothpaste in our mouth with a shot of water for a morning dose of dental hygiene. As we're running out the door I realize Izzi is still barefoot so I impatiently SCREAMMMM at her to go get her frickin frackin SHOES ON!!! You know that is part of getting dressed blee, blah, blah!!!!

While she is shoeing herself, I'm scrambling to find my phone, sunglasses, keys, and the grocery list (hey, maybe I can hit the store on the way home from school?). She is STILL not out of her room by the time I finally locate all of my own missing items. ISABELLE!!! NOW!!!! We have to leave NOW NOW NOW!

I'm COMING, MOMMY!!!!!!! I had to find my socks, and find my shoes, and my shoes weren't where.....blee, blah, blah!! Stop talking! Let's GOOOOO!

Fast forward a few hours, I need to wash the linens today. I go into her room to strip her bed and I find her "Baby Lola" very carefully swaddled, lying on her bed, with two of her favorite stuffed animal buddies snuggled up next to her. I know this is what took her so long this morning while she was supposed to be shoeing herself. She had to make sure her babies were gonna be OK today while their mama was off to a big day of Pre-K4.

I really need to start getting up around the 2nd or 3rd snooze alarm so we have some extra time in the morning for adorableness like this...