Baptized In Christ

Our sweet Maggie was baptized this weekend...January 30, 2010. We made the trek to GB to the Catholic church Clay and I grew up in, were married in, and that Jack was also baptized in. It seemed an obvious choice, even though the preparation for a short weekend trip is an immense amount of work these days. It was all worth it though.

The ceremony was held in the chapel per my request..I prefer the intimacy of family and friends for such a special day. Maggie made a couple squeaks, Jack wiggled around a bit, but that's part of what made it such a beautiful event.

Congratulations on your baptism Margaret Grace...you are truly loved!

On the way to the chapel to get baptized. It was pretty chilly so I had Maggie bundled in a sweater cardigan over her gown. I was sooo hoping for some good Florida sunshine...no luck.



There was a very informal processional into the chapel. Father Lambert conducted the ceremony and Matt (Clay's brother) and Catlin (our sister-in-law) entered with us.

Maggie loved having the water poured on her head. I think she was anticipating a bath...what a tease!

Father Lambert, a baptized baby, a relieved Mommy and Daddy, and an over excited brother! What a picture!

Maggie and her new God Parents, Matt and Catlin.

Some of our family that attended the ceremony. Maggie is so blessed to have such a wonderful family to share in her day.

Maggie's Baptism Party attire...always pretty in pink. Although, she was so exhausted from the baptism excitement that she slept half of her party away. (and no, she doesn't have brown eyes:)

Big Brother was lovin' a party. Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, cousins, galore! He solicited playtime from each of them! His eyes were a mile wide every time someone new walked in the door. I'm surprised I was even able to get him to the dinner table.

Party Planning

I've been a little slow on the blogging lately. Not too mention returning phone calls & emails, seeing friends, getting out of the house, etc,etc. You would think it would be due to the fact that we have a new baby around here. And...that is partly it. But the majority of my "free time" (I use that term loosely) has been consumed with party planning. I am up to my eyeballs in parties right now.

For starters we've got Maggie's Baptism and after party. No big deal really. I just had to schedule the date and time, make a few phone calls to order food, and get some paper products. Pretty much done with that one.

The big ones are Jack's 3rd birthday and Clay's 40th. And for those of you who remember, yes, they aren't until April. But bear in mind, April is only 2 short months away. Clay's is obviously a huge one and Jack's always turns into a huge one, no matter what I say I'm "not going to do". And with two birthday parties on my plate I've got to get started early. And early for me was a month ago.

In an effort not to consume every one's April, Cristina (Sophia's mommy) and I decided to do Jack and Sophia's party together. Seeing as how the two are attached at the hip and only 6 days apart...it just made sense. We mainly did this for all of you expecting April babies out there--so we better see all of you 9+ months prego mommies. Mark your calendars it's April 3rd. We're both aware that it's Easter weekend, but we had to get it in early before everyone was at the hospital in labor and delivery. Consider it a weekend for the kids...aren't they all though?

Party planning for the J & S party has really "taken flight" (you'll see what I mean later:). We've had invites custom made to suit a boy and a girl--that took a while--actually 4 proofs later, but, I can happily say, their in printing as we speak! And between Cristina and I, I think we've come up with some super cute ideas for the goodies, food, etc. Two heads are always better than one.

As for Clay's party, it's a one woman show. Clay does know we are celebrating, but he doesn't know how--that's the surprise! It's been hard not to ask his advice on certain things, especially when it directly affects him. I'm use to getting his opinion...do I always listen?...no, but I like to hear what he has to say.

So with no input from Clay, I've made about 3 zillion decisions in the past month. And I'm not even finished. I really hope he has fun. The party is a pretty simple idea, it's just entails A LOT of phone calls and planning. Things are coming together, but that's about all I can tell you. Oh, except for the date...April 10th...the weekend following Jack and Sophia's party. I originally didn't want them back to back for obvious reasons, but again I had to consider all of the April babies due and my Mom can come for 2 weeks straight. Huge help!

So come April I think I'll finally be able to exhale and focus on just loving all over my baby. It'll be really nice to "just be a Mommy" again. After all, that is my favorite job. I'm pretty much feeling about ready to hang up my party planner hat...until next year.

Where's Maggie?

It's official, Maggie is part of the family. She now adorns our family wall gallery...

A bit obnoxious, I know. But, I can't help it--I LOVE pictures of my kids. And excuse the awful photography on my part. The wall is right in a hallway and it was impossible to get a good angle.

So let's play a little game of Where's Maggie? (you know, like the old Where's Waldo?--I used to love those books) . Anyway, there are now two new framed images of her up there. Can you find them? (don't scroll down until you've found them)

Here they are...

How did you do? It probably wasn't too hard to find that GIANT one in the upper left hand corner. We were going for the look of making "Maggie shine" since Jack takes up the other two thirds of the wall. I'm pretty sure the goal was accomplished. However, I do personally think our "wall" looks complete now. I can't even imagine it without Maggie, kind of like my life.

I'm sure you are wondering what I'm going to do when we have her next session. The plan is to change some of the pics out. I hate to do it, but the time has come.

Thanks for playing!

My Maggie: 2 Months

Happy 2 month birthday Maggie! I know we are a week late on this, but seeing as how her 2 month Doctor's appointment got rescheduled due to the snow, I wanted to wait to have her stats. Wow, has she grown wide, just not very long. Dr. K called her a little "budah".

Weight: 12lbs 10oz : 90th %
Height: 22 1/4" : 50th %
Head: 38.5 : 50th %

In other news, she is still my angel baby. Don't get me wrong we have moments, but don't all babies? I ask that seriously, I'm not really sure what a baby without reflux is suppose to act like. Regardless I think she is an angel and that's really what matters.

So at the 2 month mark this is what's going on...

Eating

Maggie is far from a robust eater, even with her great weight gain. Sometimes when I feed her I wonder if she's really even hungry. She nurses on average about 10-15 minutes and does it very quietly and so daintily. I'm not use to that--Jack was a guzzler and then wanted more. Maggie nurses about 7 times a day, 6 of which are during the day and one during night time sleep hours. On average she's eating every 3 hours and then 2 cluster feeds in the evening before bed.

Activity

It's amazing the difference a month makes! Maggie is so much more alert now, although her wake time (including feeding) is still only about 45 minutes. But, the difference is her awake time is full of activity. It's no longer just a diaper change and some loving from me. Now, she stares at toys, sits in her bouncy seat and smiles and coos at me. Mmmmm...I love baby coos. And she smiled for the first time at 5 weeks. Talk about melting my heart. Her gummy smile can bring a smile to my face anytime. She loves to have conversations with me. A little goo here and then one back at her--you get the picture. I think we are in love with each other! I pulled out her play mat for the first time this week. She was in heaven. The star with the smiley face captivated her. She talks to it, kicks her legs, flails her arms, and grins a mile wide. I'm hoping that star didn't take my place.

Sleep

As for sleep, she's great at that too. She still takes 4 full naps of an hour and half to two hours and then one little catnap in the evening. Her daytime naps follow her feeding and playtime in that order. She still prefers her crib to anywhere else for sleeping and still loves to be swaddled. What I thought was an evening "witching hour" turned out to be nothing really. I don't even know if I have the right to call it that. She seems pretty content if someone is holding her or she has entertainment of some sort. Between dinner, two feedings, and getting Jack to bed, evenings are hectic with or without a "witching hour".

Night time sleep is where we've made the biggest strides. I've moved her bedtime up to 8:30 (working towards that 7:30 mark--we'll get there one day). But, the good news is she has been averaging about 9 hours for the past week. Some lucky nights I get 10 out of her and some only 8. Either way, I'm not complaining. I think we're on the right track. She usually wakes around 5:00-5:30 am for a feeding. I put her back down and then wake her at 7:30-8:00 am to start her day. I tell her every morning, "this is what time we wake up at our house, not at five". I'm hoping she'll get the picture eventually.

The biggest complaint I have of her is BED TIME!!! Ugh...it can be heaven or hell. I give her a bath at 8 pm, follow that with pj's and an 8:30 pm feeding. Then I lay her in her crib and hold my breath. Sometimes she dozes right off and other times she cries for 30-40 minutes. It's pure torture when she cries. Clay and I spent several nights going in and soothing her and the minute we would leave she would start back up. For a couple of nights this went on past midnight. I didn't get it, she didn't cry when she went to bed at nap time. I finally decided we were prolonging the agony. When we finally made the decision to just leave her alone, she fell asleep in about 30-40 minutes. Much better than carrying on with this circus of in and out of her room for 3 hours straight. We stopped going in there after bedtime about 2 weeks ago. And since then, like I said, it can be heaven or hell. She either falls right to sleep or cries for a bit before falling asleep. I've decide it's just her little quirk and she'll grow out of it eventually. It's more important that she and I get some sleep--so this is the way it has to be for a while.

What I Didn't Know

I've learned a lot in 2 months, even with her being my second. There's a lot I didn't know would happen when I was anticipating her arrival. Some of which are...

*I didn't how different two babies from the same family could be.

*I didn't know I could instantly fall in love with another baby.


*I didn't know how much fun doing a load of pink laundry would be.

*I didn't know that I would be dusting off all those baby reference books and flipping through them again.

*I didn't know that all babies don't spit up.

*I didn't know that Gripe Water would become my new best friend. Maggie is infamous for her hiccups and gas--Baby's Bliss Gripe Water has saved the day!

*I didn't know how much I would cherish a little bit of alone time with each of my kids.

*I didn't know that when little girls pee on the changing table it soaks the back of their clothes--I actually learned that one rather quickly.

*I didn't know how many nicknames could come from "Maggie"--magpie, mags, maggie maggie mouska (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse for those of you wondering), maggie grace....

*I didn't know how much S--L--O--W--E--R the baby weight came off the second time.

*I didn't know how much joy she would bring to my life in only 2 months. Have I mentioned how in love I am with her?

So that's My Maggie at 2 months. Perfect in almost every way and keeping me very busy at the same time. I'm hoping my three month post will have her sleeping through the night--here's praying!

And one more picture, because I think she is so stinking cute...

Snowbody To Play With

I stepped out my front door this morning and this is what I saw....


Yes, it snowed last night. More of like a dusting with lots of ice. School is canceled and a lot of roads are closed. Jack had a play date that was postponed. He did not take that well. Maggie was suppose to have her 2 month appointment today and it was rescheduled...bummer! I wanted to see how much she weighed. Hopefully next week. And may I add here, that she slept 9 hours straight last night...woo hoo! We'll see how long that lasts.

After being "snowed" in, I was hoping Jack would be up for some snow play outside. Not a chance. He took one look out the window and said, "not today". I explained that "today may be the ONLY day". It didn't change his mind. Instead he opted for a bowl of snow and ate it indoors with a spoon. I made sure it was the white snow that he was eating. All is well.



However, I did get Cosby outside--with A LOT of persuasion. He came back in immediately after doing his business. He was not happy with me.

Oh well, maybe next time I can get someone to go outside and play with me. Happy Snow Day to all! Stay warm.

Predictions Update

I've had a couple people ask me how my pregnancy predictions are going so far. Well to date, I am 4 for 4! I made six predictions, so I've got two more to go. But, here are my correct ones so far...

Karen--girl...check

Erin--boy...check

Andrea--boy...check

Erica--girl...check

Still waiting on Tasha (who is not finding out until arrival-boo!) and Allison, who should know soon. Hmmm...will I be 6 for 6? Time will tell!

***UPDATE...since I wrote this post Allison found out the gender of her June baby. It's a BOY!! Yea for her and her family, but bad news for my predictions. I guessed a girl. Can't get them all right;)

Looking Back...2009

Happy New year! Can you believe another year is over and a new one is here? So cliche, I know. But, when I heard someone on the radio refer to 2010 as twenty ten, I thought "wow already?". Well, here we are and my how things can change in one year.

Maggie and I spent New Year's Eve alone...just the girls. Clay is at a FSU bowl game and Jack took a much anticipated trip to Florida to visit his Grammy and Grampa. (I sure do miss my boys) So between yesterday and today, I've had a lot of time to ponder 2009. I went through some old pictures, laughed at some really good memories and ached over some not so good ones. But, either way we made it and as a family are better for it.

I had a really good time preparing for this post. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It wasn't easy narrowing it down to ONE thing about each month that stood out. Obviously some months were more eventful than others. Some memories may seem a little mundane to you, but trust me if you lived them they wouldn't. So here is to 2009 and a look back in pictures...

JANUARY

I hate that I have to start off on such a sour note. But, we started 2009 with a sorrowful event. I lost a pregnancy. It hit me hard. And just when I didn't think I could make it through the day, Jack declared he wanted a "group hug". Perfect timing my little man. I couldn't have made it through emotionally without my boys. And I'm thrilled to say, this year has a happy ending!





FEBRUARY
A much needed vacation to Costa Rica with my fabulous hubby. A little sunshine and sand can cure almost anything in my book.

MARCH

Yes, it says March up there. We got a great snow--nothing like coming back from the beach to this, huh? Jack built his first snowman and tried to decide if he liked the wet cold snow. I decided I loved all of his smiles and looks of wonderment that freezing day.

AND...I found out I was pregnant again! Very surprised, elated, scared, nervous, hopeful--you name it, I felt it. (obviously this picture is from farther down the road)




APRIL

Jack turned 2. This deserves mentioning for several reasons. The obvious--it's a birthday! But, second because our lives changed after that. From the morning he woke up on his 2nd birthday he was a new kiddo. An amazing kiddo I must add. But, busy, smart, testing, loving, verbal, active, and full of life. The third reason it needs noting, I planned this outdoor party for two months. I prayed and crossed my fingers that the weather would cooperate. And, after months of rainy days, to my surprise it did more than that--it was BEYOND perfect! Warm sunny skies and the perfect temperature for a car wash!




MAY

After 10 weeks of swim lessons, Jack was finally a swimmer. We went to swim lessons every morning for 10 minutes. Talk about a commitment! Jack was cautious and even a bit stubborn, but he finally mastered the skill of self survival in the water. It was amazing watching him grow. The bittersweet part was unfortunately he had to use his skills once. I never mentioned this before, but we had a "what could have been" terrible incident at my Grandma's lake house over the summer. Jack fell off of her dock into the black water without a life jacket. He went under, I panicked to say the least. But, he didn't! He used his skills and swam right back up to the top of the water in his floating position. When we pulled him out of the water, he was as calm as a cucumber. I, of course, wasn't. But all I could think of was that every penny and every minute of his swim lesson was well worth it. I still have nightmares about that day. I actually just got a pit in my stomach writing about it.

JUNE

What a fabulous month of family visits, trips to the lake, playing at the neighborhood pool, outdoor play dates and loving the warm weather. Have I ever mentioned I love the sunshine? Maybe it has something to do with being a June baby myself.

JULY

Jack moved into his big boy room. I was so nervous about the transition. I wanted to give him a couple of months to get use to the idea. But, Jack had other plans. The minute he saw his "transportation" room, he was ready to move in. He begged me to let him take his nap in there the exact day the furniture arrived. We were not prepared. Clay scrambled that evening to get the bedside rails put up so Jack could sleep in there at bed time. I paced the hallway outside his room that night, and Jack, well he slept like a baby.

AUGUST

Our first beach trip with friends and family. We are hoping to make it a yearly tradition. Summer 2010 will bring an addition to this picture--my sweet Maggie! Check her out in my belly!

SEPTEMBER

The Cibula annual family cook out. Again, we will have several additions to this picture--how fun! Geez, will they all be able to fit on the steps?

OCTOBER

I love this picture of my little pirate. Halloween was so much fun in 2009 despite the drizzly weather. Jack chose his costume, ran from door to door, and was on mission all month to find "spooky houses". The only downfall...way too much candy for an already energetic 2 year old!

NOVEMBER

Welcoming our 10lb 8oz sweet baby Maggie was pure bliss. I had almost given up hope of having a 2009 baby. It's truly amazing what God has in store for us if we just let him take over. I'm so glad that I put my fate in his hands. I think she is just divine!

DECEMBER

Our first family outing with Maggie. It was a daunting task even with two kids who behaved wonderfully, but very worth it. This is our family of four with Santa Christmas 2009 and of course there was not one picture with everyone looking, but you get the idea.

Since I began with a cliche, I'll end with one too...I can't wait to see what 2010 brings. With Jack turning 3 and Maggie's addition to our wonderfully busy lives, it's bound to be challenging and fantastic all at once! Happy New Year to all and wishing you and your family lots of happiness!