The new Gerber Baby?

Christmas 2009

Annual Trip with the Mom, Aunt Carol & Kelly to Macy's

Family Christmas at Tim & Dana's

Acadia meets Nana

Christmas with the Vogels

Holiday party with Scott's friends

Hope everyone had a good Christmas!

FIRST NOR'EASTER OF THE SEASON

We had our first Nor'easter of the season today. The storm blew up the East Coast from D.C. and found it's way to us -- dumping about 14-16 inches of snow.

Folks from New England tend to get a bit bitter about the whole snow storm thing. As the Midwestern outlier I'm pretty amped about being buried in the white stuff.
The most exciting thing to report is our 4 unit condo group pulled the trigger on a new toy hours in advance of the storm -- The Ariens® Professional Sno-Thro® Snow Blower. Snow removal has never been so much fun.


My two leading ladies flew out of Logan yesterday hours before the storm hit and landed safely in Chicago. I'm happy to report that Acadia was on her best behavior once again (so was Chris - :)).

The night before Chris and Acadia flew out we had our own little Christmas celebration. Chris and I just want to put a bow on Acadia and put her under the tree because she's the most amazing gift of all.

Our Little Tree

My Leading Ladies

Daddy's Little Girl

I fly into Chicago late tomorrow night and will catch up with the ladies Tuesday morning. We'll have a day together visiting Chris's family and then we hit the road for Ohio. Can't wait to see everyone back home. Safe travels to all who are traveling and Merry Christmas.

So Big!

It's amazing what can happen in two weeks. Since Thanksgiving it seems as if Acadia has gotten so much bigger. Clothes that I never thought would fit now do. I'm trying to put her in something new everyday so she can wear things at least once. I'm sure the poor girl would just like to hang out in her pajamas once in awhile!

She's also more entertaining...both to Scott and me and to herself. She talks (ok babbles) all day long and can play for what seems like hours on her playmat. That means that I'm also able to get a little more done around the house. I love watching her play and talking to her, but really, how much baby talk can one do in a day?

And I think one day soon she's going to roll over. She already rolls from her tummy to her back, but not the other way around. Her new thing though is lifting both her legs up and turning on her side. The problem is that she can't figure out how to get back so she gets stuck. I don't think she likes it that much, but it sure makes us laugh!

Here's the latest and greatest on our little girl...

Chillin' in her bouncy chair.

Having fun on her playmat.

You can't help but smile when she does.

We decorated our tree last weekend (more pictures later of that). But I LOVE this picture that Scott took (particularly because mama wasn't a happy camper that day).


My goal is to get a family shot in front of the tree. That's a little difficult when Acadia goes to bed around 6:30 and Scott gets home at 7:00. Hopefully before I head home Saturday (Yippie!!) we can get one.

Our Christmas Monkey

Acadia is so going to hate us when she's older. First the pumpkin and now this! She's just too cute not to have some fun with!

Thanksgiving and more...

I know it was over a week ago, but I just got around to downloading our pictures from our time spent back at home. So be patient...there's a lot of them.

Acadia took her first plane ride and all things considered did amazingly well. The trip to Chicago she barely made a peep. The way home was another story. We had a ton of turbulence and I think I learned that flying in the morning is better than the afternoon when a baby is involved. Luckily we had a bunch of nice companions that didn't mind her crying.



The first couple of days were crazy with traveling and catching up and Acadia missed her usual bath time. So we freshened her up on Thanksgiving morning. She's a little too big for the sink now but obviously too small for the regular tub. But we found this bucket at grandma's house that was too fun not too use.


Unfortunately Acadia kept sliding down in it so even though she looked really cute, her next bath we had to try another method. We ended up laying a few towels down in the tub and that seemed to work just fine.


And her she is snug as a bug after it...


Starting with Thanksgiving, Acadia met so many new people. Here she is with Aunt Pat.



She also met a few of mommy's friends...

Aunt Lacey

Auntie Brynna

A trip home isn't complete without a visit to Cooper's Hawk. We had a family lunch with Scott's friends, John, Paula, Gianna and Kylar. Kye's been teething so she wasn't the happiest of campers, but she pulled through.

After lunch it was off to visit Great Gramma McEnery. Notice Acadia's in a new outfit. She started off in a dress that Gramma gave her, but after eating it didn't seem to last. Good thing we had a change of clothes!



We also spent a few days with Tim and Dana. Here's all the girls...


And the kids all getting to know each other...


My friend Becky also stopped by with her daughter, Lia. Lia and Acadia are 10 days apart. From the looks of it they're going to be good friends.




And I couldn't blog without a picture of Scott. He's always taking the pictures but I was able to get him hanging out with his little lady.


We had a great time seeing everyone and can't wait to come back in a couple of weeks!!

My saving grace

I have a new best friend. It's name is the Nap Nanny.

It's basically a supped up version of a wedge that you put in your baby's crib. The difference in this is that it's huge. It's basically the size and shape of a car seat. To see the Nap Nanny in all it's glory, click here.

I bought this at a breaking point a week or so ago. You see, while Acadia's been sleeping at night, most of it was spent with me on the couch. She got a great night's sleep. Me...not so much. A few nights of this combined with her not napping during the day (oh...and did I mention a sick husband?) left me exhausted. She just seemed congested and gassy when I put her on her back. I tried everything to get her to sleep in her bassinet...a humidifier, propping up the top so her head was elevated. Nothing worked.

The Nap Nanny came on Friday and I couldn't wait to use it.

Now let me preface this...this is Acadia's usual schedule:

7:00 pm go to bed
11:00-1:00 get up and eat
1:00-5:00 am she would get up every hour and cry when she was put back to bed. If I was lucky she would sleep for another hour. At this point I would give up and cuddle with her on the couch and she would sleep for hours.

Friday night she got up at 1:00 am to eat. She then slept in her bassinet for another 4 hours after eating. Saturday night she slept until 4:00 am and then slept for another 2 hours after eating!! I wish I got this thing earlier!

So if you know anyone who has a baby who can't sleep...pass this along. Of course, I probably just jinxed myself now that I'm telling you about it!!

Now if she would only nap...

More Pictures to Share

Pictures of Acadia

I've had so much fun taking pictures of my two leading ladies. They are both so photogenic and with our little pumpkin growing up so fast...you just want to capture every little moment. Double click on the image above to link to the photo album.

I was able to take last Friday off work, hang out with Acadia during the day and also give Mommy the opportunity to sleep in. Most the pictures were from this past weekend. Needless to say it was hard to go back to work after such a great weekend with Chris, Acadia and my mother-in-law.

More pictures...

Scott's been Mr. Photographer lately...and he's doing a great job! Here's some of his most recent pics...

Don't you just want to pinch her cheeks?

I love it when Acadia is nuzzled up to me!

And so does Grandma Mary!

This is one of my favorites. She's just so perfect and content.

I keep teasing Scott because he bought me a new lens for my camera for my birthday. But somehow he's the one taking all the pictures!
No complaints here though as he's obbiously doing a great job!