Now that the temps are so warm, we are back to having play-dates in the house, although looking for a slight cool down the rest of this week so hopefully some outside time coming up. We were happy to have friends over to play this morning. They even did a great job posing for pictures. :)
We can check one "need to find on craigslist" item off the list! Last night we picked up a small kitchen island that is in great shape. We needed the extra storage for bottles and such and I'm trilled at the idea of wheeling it where I need it when its cookie baking time again! :)
I have quite the stash of books I acquired while in college to prepare for teaching, which includes the "If You Give" series of books...If You Give A Mouse A Cookie, Pig A Pancake, Moose A Muffin...and the list goes on. My collection has been on the shelf and Lorelei has taken some time to pull some out. Most are too wordy for her still, but these books have been a huge hit! These are actually some of the only books she will let us read to her these days. Glad to have some variety in our reading and we can start using some of my books. :)
Two of Lorelei's favorite fruits are blueberries and strawberries so she is loving having them in abundance this time of year. This morning she just had them with yogurt. She also requested Elmo and the American flag to be with her in her highchair. :) She totally posed with the spoon waiting to put it in her mouth as well. Someone is used to getting her picture taken...
That's right...we have reached the third trimester this week! Wednesday was my doctor's appointment where I had to do a glucose screening test (check for gestational diabetes). This meant I could have only protein for breakfast...you know I'm a cereal/muffin/something sweet kind of girl so this is not big on my list, but I'm just lucky enough to have a husband who loves to make eggs. Brad and Lorelei both LOVE eggs so they were thrilled with breakfast. Thankfully the test came out great! I don't want to think about how cranky I would have been if it hadn't! Heart beat sounded good and that is pretty much all there is to report.
Here we have Lorelei getting her first glimpse at the big screen! When I told her the surprise she was very excited. We did have to wait in line a bit but got perfect seats with no one in front and a bar she could climb on in case she got antsy. :) She liked the idea of her own seat but when it kept folding up on her she decided to sit on my lap instead...which I was so happy about because I rarely get much cuddle time with this girl! :) She polished off her entire baggie of popcorn throughout the movie and sat very very well. She finally got off my lap for about the last 10-15 minutes and walked around a bit and climbed on the bar. What a relaxing morning! I loved the movie just as much as she did. :) I would highly recommend renting it! :)
We had a fun Father's Day, although it was definitely not a routine day for us. :) Brad did get a couple of home-made gifts this year, including a frame Lorelei painted entirely by herself! :) Forgot to take one of the finished product but this is her painting it, which she LOVED doing. :) She did a second layer that afternoon with green paint. :)
Found a picture closer to the finish. :)
Here we have Brad and Lorelei enjoying some Starbucks in Williamsburg. :) We drove there for two reasons on Sunday. 1) picking up a double stroller from craigslist...yikes I realized other than clothes this is really the only thing we have gotten prepared for having two children...so glad to have it checked off the list and excited to use it as it pushes a million times better than the strollers we have now! 2) going to try a new church there...it would be a long ways to drive but it was a nice congregation and the pastor was very friendly and kept us awake! :) We were thankful again for padded benches and carpet which equals a somewhat less exhausting hour for us keeping Lorelei quiet.
That's right...we got free smoothies this morning! Thankfully Sara reminded us that today was flip flop day at Tropical Smoothie so the first 100 customers to come in with flip flops received a free smoothie! Since Lorelei and I both had a pair, we even got two! :) Lorelei carried that huge cup all the way home drinking it all the way. :) She also wore her cowboy hat (some blog post in the future when she will let me get a good picture) all the way there and the whole time in line. I carried it home of course... We did this last year as well and it happened to fall on the weekend my mom was visiting - thinking of you Mom and wish you could have come with us again!
After our smoothie run all I heard the rest of the morning was "Yeeey! Yeeey!" Which is Lorelei asking for "Lily" (we have our y and l sound confused at the moment) so we were very glad when the Check girls came over to play.
Oh yes, we dared to try finger painting this morning! We were near Michaels and I had been putting off trying this even though I was pretty sure she would love it, so I went ahead and got some nontoxic/washable (two very key words here) finger-paints.
I could never get her to stay in her high chair and play with Cheerios like normal babies...but she was happy to paint with yogurt the other morning! :) At least it gave me time to do the dishes. :)
Your first thought may be...what? They spent money on an iPad!? Nooo way. :) This is one of Brads "perks" through his job that he earned by working a lot of overtime on the iPad project for his website...he gets an iPad of his own on loan while he is working for forrent. :) It will be fun while it lasts though! At first I was less than enthused especially since its not ours "forever" but Brad quickly changed my mind when uploading just a handful of toddler games for Lorelei to enjoy...she LOVES it and it kept her totally amused in the car this morning, not to mention different times the rest of the day! :) So much fun!
Lorelei all dolled up for trying out a new church this morning. Thanks for the dress Grandma! She is also eating string cheese...guess its a double cheese for ya. ;)
Realized I poorly neglected the update concerning Baby Stahl! Here we have Lorelei posing with baby brother. :) We had our appointment at CHKD (the amazing children's hospital here) on Tuesday and were very impressed with the doctor that will be doing the surgery. He has done somewhere between 5,000-6,000 cleft lip/palate surgeries and also goes over to other countries as part of Operation Smile. He made us feel confident we were making the right choices. The lip surgery will be within the first month more than likely, and he will try to do both lip and palate in the same surgery unless the palate is very severe. There will be other surgeries following that, but this will be the most major one I believe...the timing of the surgery will depend on how he is doing feeding etc. As the speech pathologist told us "we want to fatten them up and get them ready for surgery!" (We met with her after the surgeon and she gave us some advice on how we will be doing the feedings etc.) If everything heals up according to plan etc he will definitely be able to feed just like a normal baby by 4 months...including baby food etc right on schedule, so really the first few months until the palate is totally healed up will be the only time he should have much trouble with feeding. We were also able to meet up with a family (thanks to the surgeon's coordination I might add) who's daughter is now 10 and has gone through all of her major surgeries etc. It was great to be able to talk to them and hear them rant and rave how wonderful these people are...and they have to drive 3 1/2 hrs every time they come! How lucky we are to live so close we can make it in less than 30 minutes!
I have a confession. I'm now officially IN LOVE and on my way to addicted to Starbucks. :( I normally would do great avoiding it until Pumpkin Spice Lattes were in season, but now I have discovered that that little kick of caffeine (and I even get half decaf because of baby of course) can really help my morning along as being pregnant with a toddler is exhausting... and also discovered the Black and White Mocha...and the Cinnamon Chip scone...yeah we are in trouble! I have also gotten Lorelei understanding what the scone is so this morning in the drive through she was saying "co! co!" Somehow I will resist most of the time because of calories and finances, but oh it was much needed this morning!
Lorelei and I watching airplanes take off at a little look out in the Botanical Gardens. She got to see one plane and was very excited. "Big!" was her reaction. :)
Can you believe it!? They are all looking somewhat the direction of the camera and no one is crying! :) Love these beautiful guys. :)
When using our "back up pjs" (the ones we only use when I didn't know it was time for laundry) Brad accidentally put them on UPSIDE DOWN. :)
Thanks to the Checks again for letting us know about the new playground on the oceanfront! :) We enjoyed our morning here and it had so many fun features I have not seen before. We can even enjoy the sand and watch boats coming in. Great morning! :)
Enjoying part of his birthday present - cheesy popcorn from Jody's (yes more food!) and he even shared with Lorelei...great mid morning snack. :)
We enjoyed our Saturday, despite the predicted 5:30 AM wake up call, which followed a 4:15 wake up for about 45 minutes before going back to sleep for 30 more...She woke up at 4 the day before also but went back to sleep easily since we did not go in. Then all of a sudden it hit me - check her teeth! Sure enough we have a molar coming in...so that possibly explains the early mornings, and then I think she just combines that with the fact that she thinks she needs no sleep and its misery for all. Today was very rough although she did take a 30 minute nap...better than nothing but still nothing we were hoping for to make up for this whole week. She was VERY ready for bed by 7 pm. Now...what was this post again??? ;)
To celebrate Brad's birthday tomorrow, we spent some time making his cake today! Brad has usually requested things like brownies with mint ice cream... very easy stuff like that for his birthday. He would have been content with brownies this year as well, but Lorelei now totally associates birthday's with cake and blowing out candles, SO I thought I should splurge and do a cake. Brad was happy with the idea of my attempt at a chocolate peanut butter cake - and so the adventure began. :) Lorelei is sort of getting to the age where she can help but it makes me more nervous than anything. This time went pretty well and she LOVED being able to pour the peanut butter chips into the batter. I would say her other favorite would definitely have to be licking the spatula. :)
A few minutes after telling Brad this kind of cake (two layers in the 9 in circle pans) was really no big deal...I found out I was full of it. Not following up on my thought to coat the pans with flour probably had a bit of something to do with it...but needless to say the circles were basically crumpled up cake by the time it was all said and done. Although the frosting did not glue as well as I had hoped (eh hem even after two cans of it) we do have something that resembles a cake to eat tomorrow. I kept telling myself that I was just so thankful it was not Lorelei's cake I was making for a big party or anything like that, and just the three of us will not mind a crumbly cake. :) Better luck next time!
A look at the good old days, when we were trying to wake Lorelei up from her milk coma during her first week with us! I didn't think it appropriate to take a picture of her during her "great nap rebellion" as I am now calling it, so figured this would have to do.
