Eloise's Birthday!

Happy birthday to my sweet Eloise! Today my little sweetie turns one so we started the day off with a low key backyard photo shoot! She literally is too cute for words, so I am keeping this short! The photos say it all!

Where Have We Been?

breakfast time!

Phew! What a busy month it has been so far! It has left very little time for photographing our darling little ones and family blogging! It has been a busy month, but a wonderful one!

Our Anniversary
We celebrated four years on March 3rd. I cannot believe how fast time flies. I joke often and say that we spent these four years mostly pregnant and playing with babies. And it is true! What an amazing thing to think about. We are so lucky to have these two little girls that light up our lives. We went out on our anniversary and did the typical parent thing, texting the babysitter and scrolling photos of them on our iPhones instead of totally letting go and talking about non-child related things. I think that is what all parents do, no?

Girls Trip
Hooray for a girls trip to Boston! I have been busy working on SLC and wrote a full post about my wonderful trip that blog. You can click here to read all about it! You can also read about my recipes, health tips and much more!

American Lung Association Climb
We have been training hard for the stair climb at the Hartford 21 building to raise money and awareness for the American Lung Association. I first went to a climb in Stamford and Ben climbed it. The firefighters do it in full gear and I was so inspired by everyone that I decided to help form a group at my gym to make a team! That is later in the month and I cannot wait!

If you would like to make a donation in support of my climb, click here!

My First Road Race
I find it hard to believe that I have NEVER run a road race, but I haven't! I am starting small with the Shamrock Run & Walk and choosing the 2 mile run over the 5 mile run. I know I can do more than that, but I want to start very small and see how I do.

Cooties
Unfortunately, we were supposed to see the Russian National Ballet, but a lingering cold put a damper on that and I am so bummed. I love the ballet and have not been to one since at least 2003. Time to find another one to go see! Despite full health efforts, this bug just wont quit! Everyone in the house has been sick and I am ready for it to be fully gone!

Eloise is Sitting Up!

My sweet Eloise is now just over six months and it seems like she is growing so fast! She is pretty small in comparison to Charlotte at this age. It is fun to see the differences between them when they were the same age. Eloise loves to yell and chortle. She makes some very unique baby sounds and they are so funny to listen to. Charlotte was a very calm baby, but Eloise is even more so! As long as someone is holding Eloise or making silly faces, she is happy. She is quite low maintenance....which is probably a good thing since I am chasing Charlotte around most of the time.
Charlotte has really taken amazing strides as well. She can count to 12, she knows all her letters and colors and many animals...including hippos and seals! Admittedly, she is a little harder to photograph because she is always on the go!
Watching them grow together is so amazing. Charlotte now helps us out a lot and says "Ella-eeze" and it just melts our hearts! She loves to give her things, make her laugh and sit in the car next to her. 
This morning Eloise had a ball sitting up and having a little photo shoot! A perfect way to start a Sunday.....

Eloise's First Christmas

What a special Christmas, celebrating Eloise's first! She was very much into the tree and all of the endless love from all of our friends and family. Charlotte still does not quite get the concept of presents under the tree, though she has said "Santa Claus" many times! Charlotte is stepping into her role as "big sister" very nicely, and she was very helpful handing Eloise her new gifts as we opened them. She is very good at sharing and it is very sweet to watch the bond slowly grow.

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Eloise 20 Weeks

Our sweet Baby Eloise has reached twenty weeks. I will not lie though, I had no idea she was exactly twenty weeks on the day we did this photo shoot until I looked on a calendar. It was a good case of dumb luck. When Charlotte was born, I knew exactly how many weeks she was for months. I suppose when baby #2 arrives, there is considerably less space in your brain to compute such facts.

She feels so big to me and yet so small. I go back and forth looking at Charlotte and Eloise and one day one of them seems small and the other huge and vice versa. It is amazing to watch them grow and change. I feel like time really does go by so fast and they change so quickly. Some days I wish I could just freeze moments in time!

Whales!

Before Eloise was born, I bought matching whale sweaters with the dream of that perfect sibling photo, where they hug each other and smile endlessly. Ha! Charlotte is at the point of growing out of her sweater so the time was now! She has no interest in sitting with Eloise in the same chair, let along hug her. She likes Eloise and touches her toes and says hi, but the concept of sharing seating was just too much.

So, alas I took them in different shots and created a little memory of my dream!

Happy Two Months!

It is hard to believe two months have passed! In the grand scheme of things, two months is not a long time, but it is an amazing developmental time for a newborn. She has since started to "coo", self soothe herself to sleep, hold her head up and, my favorite, smile! Every time I pick her up or go near her, she is all smiles.
It is so wonderful to watch the daily developments. Charlotte is starting to take a liking to her, but still does not have great interest. She likes to peek into her bassinet and gaze at her. I really look forward to see how Charlotte's sisterly instincts develop.
We still are not sleeping through the night, as expected at eight weeks. She is very slowly settling into a pattern and sleeps just a little better each night.
We are so lucky to have such beautiful girls and I am so thankful for every day!

Smile Time!

As the doctor suggested, babies start to have real smiles around the six week mark. Right on time, Eloise has started smiling back at us! It is such a wonderful feeling when babies start to interact with you beyond just eating and sleeping. Eloise has been a beautiful little gift to us from day one, but there is something even more special about her now that she is slowly coming out of the sleepy newborn phase.
She is much more alert, has more awake time and I have even heard a few little coos.
I managed to capture one smile for the camera, her very first one!

Green Baby

First off, Happy Thirtieth Birthday to me! Ben and I had the pleasure of planning a weekend trip to Boston to celebrate my birthday, which marked the first overnight trip away from Charlotte ever! While I was incredibly excited, I was also filled with trepidation and fear that at the last minute I would cling to the front door and not leave Charlotte home with her grandparents. *Above are some photos I took before our weekend away!
Luckily, that did not happen and by the time we hit the highway I was enjoying a decaf iced coffee and tapping into my inner free spirit. Well, as free as it could be toting around our sweet 27 week old bundle, also known as Eloise. We are sharing her first name and keeping her middle name a semi-secret. I say "semi" because if you ask, I will probably tell.
We stayed at the Eliot Hotel which was beautiful. After a two night stay there (and a hint to those booking a suite there...request the 8th floor as the suites are decidedly bigger and we were fortunate to enjoy that little bonus), I decided I really must have a brownstone mansion on Commonwealth Avenue...unfortunately, without stumbling into found millions, that is not in our budget.
We strolled up and down Newbury Street, shopping to my hearts content, while my dear, patient Ben actually enjoyed shopping with us! A few friends joined us which was wonderful. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday and perhaps our last little getaway before Eloise arrives. An added bonus was realizing that it only takes two hours to get to Boston door to door....leading me to want one last weekend away in June.
I am thrilled to be thirty, I must say. I felt I "left" my twenties years ago and find turning thirty very refreshing and filled with joy, as this is exactly how I hoped my life would be when I did, indeed, turn the big 3-0.

Bunnies + Eggs + Pearls

What a joyous Easter we had at the Racho's in Stamford! Charlotte was looking dapper as ever and the real highlight (for me) was Charlotte receiving her first strand of real pearls from our wonderful Aunt Mary. I was so thrilled with the gift that I immediately dressed Charlotte in her new baubles and I must say, she loved them.
I took so many pictures of Charlotte and we had a ball playing outside. I had my "cheapo" camera as I like to call it instead of my nice one, but the pictures are still cute!
We hit the 23 week mark of pregnancy and are looking forward to celebrating the six month mark next Saturday. I am feeling great and loving my bump! We cannot believe how time has flown by and we are thrilled to meet Baby Racho in a few short months!
We are indulging in this amazing weather lately. Dare I say it, I even soaked up some sunshine for a little tan...
Even just a simple Monday as today provided simple pleasures such as planting some new Forsythia (yes, I killed the old ones but I think I know why), reading on the porch when Charlotte napped and then spending some quality time running around the back yard with Charlotte and Frank. Maybe it is the Vitamin D or the pregnancy hormones, but I am so happy and feel so lucky to enjoy these moments! Now, I am off to roast a chicken. Happy Easter everyone!