Happy 5th Birthday, Staci!

Dear Staci

You turned five just a couple of weeks ago. You are sensitive, loving, imaginative, compassionate, wise beyond your years and downright hilarious at times. You give your love freely without hesitation. You rock the crap out of that ballet class and are ready for the next level. You've grown SO much in preschool this year, I'm so amazed. You've made great friends with awesome parents. You've started to recognize several sight words and just this morning did simple math (3+3) in your head very quickly. That shocked me, but it shouldn't. You sing Frozen at the top of your lungs just like your sister--only you're starting to understand pitch and musicality. You. Love. Dresses. I have to share this collage of photos because I think it shows how amazing you are as a sister. You are so great with your little sister, and she is so lucky to have you!! And you are lucky to have her, too.

Photo Courtesy Mandy Leonards Photography www.mandyleonardsphotography.com

Favorite Color: Pink
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite TV Show: Strawberry Shortcake
Height: 42.5"
Weight: 45lbs
Size: 5T

You want nothing more than to ride your bike you got for your birthday in a circle in the driveway for hours on end. But I have to watch you. Every. Single. Second.

I cry every time I think about your going off to kindergarten next year!! Happy Birthday sweetheart. You are loved beyond measure.

Happy 3rd Birthday Olivia

It's been a long time since I updated over here, but wanted to get my happy birthday letter in!

Dear Olivia,

You turned three years old about 6 weeks ago. You are vibrant and full of life. You have the most infectious laugh! You started taking ballet and show off your impressive skipping skills without hesitation. You finally decided to start using the potty, have given up nursing, and you tell me I'm your best friend. You love sharing a room with Staci and you guys play effortlessly together. You are so lucky to have a sister who loves you so much--and she is lucky to have you, too.

Photo Courtesy Mandy Leonards Photography www.mandyleonardsphotography.com

Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Food: Mac'n'cheese (also, honey nut chex)
Size: 4T in most, 3T in Gymboree or others that run big
Shoe size: 9.5!!!
Height: 39"
Weight: 36lbs
Favorite TV Show: Jake and the Neverland Pirates

You amaze me every day with your intelligence, imagination, and sense of humor. I love you so much! My favorite game to play with you is Running Hug. You sing 'Let It Go' from Frozen at the top of your lungs. You make my heart happy--now if I could just get you to eat your dinner...

Wordless Wednesday

cute li'l mama

hooray for babywearing!

hug

PBS Kids in the Park

A couple of weeks ago, we packed up the girls and headed downtown to take a stroll down

We stopped to bounce a bit

And go down the slide...

Met up with a good friend to see Arthur

and stopped to give Clifford the Big Red Dog a hi-five!

Of course no party is complete without a bounce house...

...and Staci even managed to get on her feet once or twice!



Photo Book

I finally am doing something with all the beautiful photos Mandy has taken.  Many here are done by her.  Here is a book of the first 6 months of Staci's life.  More to come, I am determined to get caught ALL the way up to Olivia!

Click here to view this photo book larger

newborn photos!

As you all know, my very good friend Mandy is a fabulous photographer serving the north side Indianapolis and surrounding areas.  She has been so generous with her work and taken beautiful maternity, birth, and now newborn photos of Olivia (not to mention Staci's milestones and some family shots along the way!).  I might be a bit biased since we are such good friends, but I also think her work speaks for itself.  This is a shot of Olivia at 7 days old.  I will cherish these photos forever!  You can see the rest of the 'sneak peek' here.

Olivia is here!!

On March 4th, 2011 at 12:35pm, Olivia Charlotte was born.  She weighed in at 7lbs 9oz and was 20 and 3/4 inches long.  She came to us after a long labor and I had to work to get her to come out--but it was worth it!!  Mandy took some beautiful photographs of the labor and birth, and put together this amazing slideshow for us.  Stay tuned for the birth story!

Maternity Pics

Mandy from MLP took some amazing maternity pictures a couple of weeks ago.  check them out!  here is one of my faves. 

It always amazes me when I see the finished product of the photographs Mandy takes.  She truly is gifted--I'm so lucky to have her as a friend--for much more than just the pictures of course!  They are, however, a wonderful bonus :)

family photos

Thanks to my awesome photographer friend Mandy we have some absolutely beautiful fall family photos this year!!  I didn't think we'd get that many because Staci refused to stay in one place for more than a millisecond, but somehow Mandy still managed to get many amazing shots! if you want to see the gallery, it is up on her website.  The access code is our last name.  LOVE them!  One (or a few!) will be our holiday card shot!

pulling up, falling down, and family fun

This past week has been an explosion of development for Anastasia.  I think she heard me say she was a bit behind the curve in the movement category and said to herself, "what the WHAT? I am not behind, Mommy, I'll show you!"  Over the course of two days, Staci taught herself how to get into a sitting position on her own and to pull up to standing upright without having to rest her belly on anything.  She is now a sitting and standing machine!

Due to her quick development, we didn't get the crib lowered in time to prevent her from falling out of it.  She's fine.  I'm probably scarred for life, but she continues to try to crawl off of things so I guess she's not too affected.  I hope she has no more knievel Impressions planned!

On Saturday, we got together with Max's brother and sister in-law and their 3 boys.  It was so much fun to see them (they live out of town) and Staci had a wonderful time with her cousins!

Here is Staci with Trent--he was such a good older cousin and she had such fun playing with him!

Carter was adorable as always and stopped playtime to give her a hug! <3

Carter was VERY excited about his new Nerf gun!

and just cuz I couldn't resist.  GLEE on that face I tell ya!

Wordless Wednesday: worth a thousand words

There is so much I could say, but I'll just say this. She is the definition of joy.

Wordless Wednesday

picture share

Wordless Wednesday

I wanted to share some pics my good friend Mandy was kind enough to take for us.  one of them will be our Christmas card shot, I just can't decide which one!  Check out Mandy's blog here, she does amazing work!

Thanks Mandy!

pictures!...and I'm already sore!

Today was such a fun family day!  We had a lazy morning and then got our act together and went to visit with Mandy and Bella.  Mandy and I have been very close friends for about 11 years now.  She is a personal trainer and budding photographer.  Check out her blog, Fitness and Family, here, and her photography blog here.  She took some gorgeous pictures of our family today!  I'm so excited because besides these, the ONLY picture I have of all three of us I am about 7 hours post partum and wearing a hospital gown.  Not. Cute. Here are a few sneak peaks!

I am so impressed with these.  It is so fun to be friends with Mandy!  After the photoshoot, Mandy kicked my butt in her home gym and I'm already sore.  Max got Staci down for a nap and played with Bella while we worked out.  I'm not really sure what they were doing, but they MUST have been having fun with all of the running back and forth we heard above us.  It sounded like they were competing to see who could run to the other side of the living room faster!

Mandy was also nice enough to take some artzy phartzy photos of Anastasia breastfeeding.  I wanted a few shots to remember this special time by.  Don't worry, I won't be posting these online!  I feel so blessed to have made it through the rough patches in the beginning and to have fallen into an enjoyable breastfeeding relationship with my daughter.  She is such a good baby, and I feel so lucky to be her mom!