Two active children

I now have two very active children in my life...the toddler who is into everything and this baby inside me!

Acadia starts the moment she wakes up. Most toddlers have some milk when they get up. Not her! As soon as I get Acadia out of her crib (which, might I add is getting tricky), she starts pointing. The first couple times she did this I walked around the house with her trying to figure out what she wanted. Now I know...it's food. Acadia knows which cabinet her snacks are in and when she wakes up, she wants them. So I walk her over to the kitchen, she opens up the cabinet and chooses what she wants. Luckily everything is pretty healthy, though she does seem to have an addiction to Trader Joe's snickerdoodle cookies.

Then she's off to the toys. Toys in the family room, toys in her room. Books, blocks, dolls, she likes them all. It's rare that we get through a whole book with her. We'll read a couple of pages then it's off to the next one. I'm trying to teach her how to put things back before you pick something else up. Yeah, it's not working all that well.

And this baby...boy is he/she an active little thing. At 22 weeks I think I'm already having contractions. No, not those kind of contractions. These are the kind that just cause a little tightness. I remember having them with Acadia, but not until I was further along. Between all the tightness and moving around I pretty much spend most of my day back and forth to the bathroom. Hey, I have to get exercise somehow.

Is it really over?

After a fun filled week back in Chicago, we're all back in Boston safe and sound. We had such a great time, but as ususal it always goes by too quickly.

Acadia was a trooper being shuffled around. We made the rounds and took turns staying at my mom's, dad's, and Tim & Dana's. I think we were all exhausted after all of it, but it was so much fun seeing everyone!



During the week we celebrated Christmas about four times. Acadia definitely made out well. Here she is in her Chrismas jammies with one of her new favorite toys.




We also made a trip to see the new winery. The kids loved having all the free space to roam around in. Oh, and they liked the forklift too! And Acadia sure loves her Uncle Tim! Any time she saw him she ran up and wanted him to pick her up. It was pretty cute to see.





We were lucky enough to make it back before the giant snow storm hit. We flew in on Sunday morning and by the time we got to the airport there were more flights cancelled than not. Scott's work was even called off on Monday! We took full advantage of it and brought Acadia out in the snow. It was her first time and she loved it, so much so that she didn't want to go back inside!

I think every year at this time, I wonder where the past few weeks have gone. Somehow, it's mid December and we're in full Christmas season. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. It just always sneaks up on me.

TGIF!

I'm so happy (and ready) for it to be the weekend!

Last week, I went back to four days at work (I was only working three up until that point). While I didn't think it would make that much of a difference, I have to say it has. I know, I'm very lucky that I'm able to work less than full time. But boy do I feel like I don't have enough time to get it all done.

Our weekends have been jam packed lately and it will be nice to have nothing going on for the next 2 days. I'm going to take full advantage of it and veg (ok, try to). Especially since we'll be out of town from Wednesday until Monday for Thanksgiving. I still can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week...where did November go?

All that being said I'm going to start the weekend off right...go put on my pajamas and order a pizza! Hope everyone has a good weekend on their side!

Halloween and Nashville and New York, Oh My!

It's been a busy few weeks here. It seems like forever ago, but it all started with Halloween. My mom flew in and we had a fun filled weekend. Acadia got to play with Grandma Mary and Scott and I got to get a night out.

Acadia was an elephant and I don't think she even knew she had a costume on.

She was so happy playing around and keeping nice and toasty.

Isn't she the cutest little elephant?

After that I was off to Nashville for a few days for work. I was a little nervous since it was my first time away from Acadia for a night (actually for three). But I'm happy to report that both she and I fared well. Scott did a great job on Daddy duty...though I think he was extra happy to have me home!

Then we were off to the races! We loaded up the car and took a road trip to New York. Scott ran the NY marathon last weekend and did great! Acadia was so proud of her daddy and had a lot of fun cheering him on.

We're all looking forward to a quiet weekend at home this weekend so we can catch up on some much needed rest!

A few of my favorite things

Acadia's pretty animated these days and she sure keeps us on our toes. Here's just a few of her "new" favorite things.


She loves playing with her blocks. She loves it even more when Daddy stacks them so she can knock them down.




She loves "helping" Mommy with the laundry...

She loves reading which makes me so happy. Reading the same story 42 times in a row, not so much.

She loves her barn and climbing through the door.

And she especially loves her shoes! Acadia will walk up to me and Scott, hand us her shoes and just start dancing. She must like how her feet feel in them, but it's pretty funny to watch.

New York Marathon

If you can believe it, Scott's running yet another marathon this year and it's only a few short weeks away.

On November 7th we'll all be heading to New York City to cheer Scott on. This will be his 4th marathon and I'm so proud of him for doing it.

Again, he's raising money for the Livestrong Foundation and he's doing a great job. If you want to check out his progress (or maybe even donate) you can check out everything here.

I think after this one, he'll be taking a break. Retirement? Never. But life sure is getting busy and we like having him around. Maybe that will change but it's sure not looking that way any time soon!

Help us cheer on Scott. Just keep him in your thoughts on November 7th. He'll really appreciate it.

Our big girl

October Kickoff

This past Thursday was the annual Haunted Happenings Parade here in Salem. It's basically a kickoff to the Halloween season. See, here in Salem, Halloween is not just a day. The whole month of October is celebrated with costumes pretty much every day.

We let Acadia stay up past her bedtime, and we headed downtown Salem to watch the parade. Adults and kids alike were dressed up. While we didn't dress up Acadia (we were rushing to get there after work) we did put some ears on her so she showed a little festivity!










Saturday was the "Bizarre Bazaar". Again, it's an annual thing here where vendors are set up outside the main shopping area selling everything from fake vampire teeth, to knit hats, to kettlecorn. It's definitely good people watching.

After the bazaar we headed to the park since it was a beautiful day. Acadia was excited to get out of her stroller and walk around. She's so proud of herself walking!





She's so proud she won't even hold my hand anymore!

Fall is here!

It's been a fun filled week here. The colors are changing with the season, we got out apple picking, and Acadia started walking!


We picked up this collapsable tunnel from Ikea a few weeks back. Acadia loves it. She sits inside of it just waiting for Scott or me to open it up.




She also loves her horse. This was Scott's when he was little and it's pretty cute to see Acadia riding it around the house.




This was another toy of Scott's. On any given day you can find a random mix of things that Acadia has filled the cart with. Lately it's been toys, diapers, her shoes, some K-cups and our own groceries.






We couldn't have asked for better weather for apple picking...
sunny and in the 60s.





Acadia loved being outside and while I'm sure she enjoyed apple picking I think she would do anything as long as she was in her backpack. She can stay is it forever!

Catch up

It feels like it's been forever since I've posted anything on here. We've been busy keeping up with Acadia and trying to get out and enjoy the weather while it's still nice out. Here's some of our latest adventures...

Another fun weekend

Besides the birthday, we had a lot of other fun too.

Acadia got to meet new friends...

Jaisal Shah Bacastow born just one week before.


And hang out with Grandma & Grandpa Vogel...


Play with some new toys...

Better known as Grandma's cabinets


And catch up with her favorite cousins...