Happy New Year!

I have been so delinquent blogging lately! I believe it is mostly due to the holidays and things being very busy! Here is a photo from today of our little Eloise. She is a bundle of joy and Charlotte is really stepping into her role as a big sister nicely. 

These days Charlotte can count to ten, knows all of her colors and all of her letters. She amazes us every day with her new words and knowledge!

Eloise is cooing quite a bit and has almost mastered rolling onto her tummy. 

2010 was a year full of amazement, happiness as well as struggles, though luckily not in our immediate "pod" as I like to say. I am so happy and blessed to have an amazing husband and children.  Every day I am thankful for them all and so very lucky.

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!

Regal Frank

Words need not describe this little devil of a dog. Recently we watched Marley and Me, and we highly recommend you do not watch this if you love dogs. But really do not watch it if you love naughty dogs! it had us in tears for much of the duration and it was more than either of us could handle. We appreciate Frank every day, but this movie made us realize that we love him even if he has done a fine job of destroying things and making me replace things much sooner than most people do!

He has been very jealous of Eloise's arrival and has been having "tinkle" issues more so than usual. I decided to buy him a belly band (a nicer word for doggy diaper), and I realize that I bought one online with an uncomfortable waistline. Needless to say, he took it off and, yes, peed on it.

It looked like it cinched his stomach like a bad pair of stockings, which I am sure at some point, I probably would have peed on in anger as well if it was socially acceptable.

Frank, you are one of a kind.

Trimmed and Complete!

"The" Tree!

Yesterday I woke up with the excitement of a child on Christmas Day...excited to get our tree! I decided we would go to the place we always get our tree (the local volunteer fire company) and literally say "I want your biggest tree!" Alas, they had one 10' tree with my name on it! Yes, 10'! It is so big! When we saw it at the fire department, it really did not seem that enormous, but it felt huge when we got it indoors! We had so much fun decorating it, which involved many moments of standing on tip toes at the top of the ladder.
I have some finishing touches, but that will come in the next few days!

Pearly Holiday Prep!

Every year I seem to get more obsessed the the 'perfect' holiday card. This year was interesting because I had to capture both of them in the same style, but in two different photos. Charlotte is interested in Eloise, but not enough to sit down quietly. To say the least, it was VERY entertaining capturing the look I wanted and in the end, I got one hilarious shot of each of them. Here are two that were also adorable!

American Lung Association

One of the very best things in my life is my husband, Benjamin. He makes me proud every day, is a truly amazing father and is a doting husband. Those are the reasons I love him everyday. A few times a year he challenges himself in physical challenges in order to benefit a charity or organization and that just makes me adore him more. This year he ran up thirty four flights of stairs at Trump Parc in downtown Stamford in full gear. It was a sight to see, as there were many top athletes and firemen taking on this challenge. Ben completed the challenge in 7 minutes, 50 seconds. Much faster than I would ever do it!

Words cannot really express how I feel when I see him complete one of these events. I am so proud of his physical ability as well as his compassion and drive to raise money for such important causes.
I love you darling!

New Wheels!

I apologize for my major lack of blogging! Life with Eloise proves to be much more busy! Charlotte and I took advantage of this amazing warm Fall day to play outside on her new tricycle! I bought this while I was pregnant with her (aka: impulse shopping at LL Bean) and I am so happy she is ready to use it! While she does not quite understand the pedals, she knows its a pretty pink toy to sit on and she loves it!

In Eloise news, she is days away from being three months old and is a puny ten pounds! The doctor said she is healthy and beautiful, just very petite.

She has amazingly small feet, so last night I got curious and pulled out Charlotte's hospital footprint. At three months, Eloise's foot has just caught up to Charlotte's one day old footprint! These girls are my joy every day and we are just so lucky to have them. Now that we have settled into life with two under two, I really cannot express how happy we are and how much fun these little girls are! Makes me still want one more!

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!

One Month Eloise!

I apologize for my lack of blogging. Lack of sleep and a regular schedule has certainly taken its toll on all of us. The first four weeks have been, yet again, a very educational experience. One would think, seeing as we have done this before, that it all comes in stride. Little did we know, there is still a big learning curve with a new little one!
Bringing home Eloise has been such a huge blessing for us. She is a gentle reminder of how special life is and the care and love that must go into raising a family. Some moments are glorious and some are grueling, but at the end of the day, the love that comes out of our family is immeasurable.
As creatures of desire and want, we should all take a step back and really look at the valuable things in life and how precious they are...I thank my little family every day for helping me see all of the wonders in life.

Fun in the Sun!

Time is limited to blog these days but here are some fun photos from yesterday! Charlotte was enjoying the sunshine on the deck!