Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving weekend '09

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving as much as we did! The day itself was so much fun at Dan and Lisa's and the kids had a blast while we pigged out. Two kinds of turkey, Judy's famous oreo dessert, and plenty of wine. :)

Preston, Jacob and Lucas are our three little monkeys who were all three born within one year. (August 07- August 08) The only time they were still the entire day was when Aunt Lisa got these legos out...



He was kind of overwhelmed with 21 of us there at first but then became more comfortable and played with his cousins the rest of the day until he was absolutely worn out.


Here he is tasting Grandma's oreo dessert - an Erb kid favorite- for the first time. Let's just say he didn't hate it.



Here's baby sister in her cute Thanksgiving day dress. Her little smile is just never ending. We are so thankful for a happy baby!





Here she is with Daddy in their stripes. I think they look so much alike in this picture:




On Saturday night, Kevin and I took part in a long-time Fort Wayne family tradition. We loaded up the kids and headed downtown to see the Santa, the wreath, the big tree on Calhoun, and have some Coneys. We had an absolute BLAST! Downtown was packed. Preston was so excited and ran as fast as he could yelling, "I'm running fast to da lights!" when we saw the giant candles on the Community Center building. Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance, the horse drawn carriage rides were on every corner and even though Coney Island was packed, we braved the line and waited for some dogs. Totally worth it!




Tuesday, November 24, 2009

We're getting close to Turkeytime!

As we count down the days to stuff-yourself-with-food-day, I mean Thanksgiving, I wanted to say how incredibly thankful I am to have the world's best husband and most amazing children. Seriously. When I count my blessings this Thanksgiving, they are at the top of my list. Beautiful, healthy, kind, fun, full of love for one another. Yes, my family is pretty great. ;)

We have a busy week ahead. Kevin has Thursday-Monday off, and let's just say I am so ready for some family-time! (Read: much-needed help with my husband around.) We have two sets of friends coming to visit... (Jeremy and Scott: "The Debut.") And The Pryors! Yippeeee! In case you are looking for us, we'll be checking out the downtown lighting festivities, which I think Preston will love this year. And of course, a fun and per-usual *huge* Erb family gathering at the Fink house. (Which will include a cornbread casserole that I am making. Thanks to Holli for the recipe. If it's a hit, I'll be sure to share it here.) And I may or may not be absolutely *living* for my haircut on Monday.

Not too many pics of the past week... we took things slow and were housebound quite a bit. My poor Preston had Roseola about a week ago, so we are now healthy and ready to take on the turkey! Until next time, here's some cuteness for YOU to be thankful for! :)
CeCe at 11 weeks:


Bunny needs a diaper change:


Sibling love. <3

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Holiday Spirit!

Our family was recently asked to create and perform an original dance for the 2009 Holiday Spectacular downtown this season. Here is what we came up with after many long hours of practice and a lot of determination. What do you think?

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Saturday, November 14, 2009

10 weeks later...



Our sweet Cecilia Marie is 10 weeks old! And I'm really happy to report that even in our post-baby euphoria, life is beginning to take on a *somewhat* familiar routine again. I think it's really common and expected that adding another person to your family comes with an adjustment period before settling into a new "normal." While CeCe has been a pretty easy baby so far, newborns are still just so unpredictable. If they are upset, there's only so much you can do for them- nurse, diaper, burp, swaddle, rock, paci, walk, pat, sing... that's all I've got. As she starts to grow into a stage where she's content to kick in the bouncer for a few minutes and take longer naps, I've been able to see glimpses of normalcy for our family. And I like it.

Our days lately consist of wake up, breakfast, then generally we shoot for a structured activity. Usually I can count on Cecilia taking a nap sometime during the morning that lasts longer than her other day time naps which is nice because it allows me to ease into the day while my coffee kicks in. On an average morning, Preston gets some TV time while I clean up after breakfast then we might take a trip to the library, a play date with friends, a walk to the park, running an errand, etc... Then home for lunch and nap for Preston. My goal is to get CeCe to sleep while he's eating, so that she'll sleep while he goes down and I can get dinner started, get online, pick up or clean the house a little, do some art museum stuff, laundry, or whatever else is on my to do list for the day. Her other daytime naps are shorter- I might only get 30-40 minutes here and there. After Preston's nap which is usually about 2 hrs, he has a snack and more playtime. Afternoons from post nap until Kevin gets home for dinner can be rough, but we try to combat it by staying busy. I almost always have CeCe in the sling or beco for awhile, have Preston cook or bake something with me, read books, play in the basement, again some TV time, and lately we've been taking advantage of this gorgeous Indian Summer weather we've been having by playing outside. Once Kevin gets home, we eat together, play or read some more, then bath, book, bunny/blankie and bed. CeCe will hopefully begin to take a predictable afternoon nap soon and the other thing I'm longing for is to be able to bathe both kids at one time in one tub. Right now, we have CeCe in her little folding tub while Preston is in the regular tub and it usually ends with water all over both of us and the bathroom floor. Kevin puts Preston down while I nurse CeCe and from there, well, we just cross our fingers because you never know how it will go with either one these days. Oy. That saying, "when you have kids, the days are long, but the years are short"
could not be more true!! Here are some pics of our gorgeous growing girl at 10 weeks:





Last weekend, my Aunt Laura, Aunt Diana and I threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom in Angola. Wouldn't you know, I was without my camera, but my Aunt Laura (or, "Loda" as Preston calls her) got some great ones so I am waiting on copies from her. ...Hint hint, Aunt Loda. ;) While at Gram's house the next day, Preston got to take a bath in her kitchen sink and raked leaves with his cousin Cameron. Perfect piles for jumping!




By the way, I wanted to share the recipe for the hot chocolate Preston helped me make a few nights ago. I have to say I'll never buy the envelope kind again. This was so easy and so good! As you can see from his face, he loved it. And he was completely tickled by the marshmellows, which I don't think he's ever seen before. Here is the recipe- it made enough for a small cup for each of us. If you try it, be sure to let me know what you think!
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
4 tbsp. sugar
4 tbsp. water
2 c. milk
A bit of vanilla

YUM!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

costume fail and big baby


Hope everyone had a spooktacular Halloween!

Preston refused to wear his fireman costume, much to our dismay. The fireman costume that he fell in love with in pictures, the fireman costume we waited daily with great anticipation for the UPS man to deliver, the fireman costume that mimics the illustrations of the fireman in his favorite book, oh, and the fireman costume I ordered online and paid shipping for.

I remember how much Preston hated his chili pepper costume when he was 10 weeks old so I decided to forgo it and make Cecilia a pumpkin orange tutu to go with her little Halloween onesie. She wore it with black tights and of course looked adorable. We went to Grandma and Grandpa Erbs for sloppy joes, to see the other cousins and sneak some candy. Everyone looked darling and had a great time. Here he is coming out of Grandpa's garage without his costume. (Notice the fireman's hat in Kevin's hand.)




Cecilia is now two months old! I cannot believe it. She's smiling a lot, talking to us and starting to really notice the world around her. Kevin and I are adjusting to being up in the night again after blissful life with a toddler who was sleeping through the night. Although she really does well and sleeps in a few hour stretches most of the time. At her 2 month appointment this week, she weighed 12 lbs 6 ounces!!! 90th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. She's doubled her weight in just 2 months. Fatty fatty two by four, I can hardly carry her in the beco anymore. (not really, she's bundled up in it in the fist picture below, but it rhymed.)






Just a few other shots of the past couple weeks. We've tried to get lots of park-time in since it's been warm. Have to take advantage of all the sunshine we can before it's cold and gray through March. Ugh. Dear Winter in Indiana, please be kind to us this year. I have a toddler who needs to be outside as much as possible. Thanks in advance, The Erbs.







Getting ready for the holiday season ahead- lots of fun things planned to do with the kids! Is it wrong that I want to put our tree up this weekend?