Bubbles Anyone?

For the past 2 days, I have been home without children. These are my last 2 days of Maternity Leave. I'd have to admit, it's pretty nice being alone. Yesterday, I really didn't take advantage... I cleaned house and went to the gym and before I knew it, it was time to pick them up. Today, I decided it was going to be about me. Other than getting the oil changed, I didn't do any errands nor housework. I took a nap, surfed the web, watched TV and mostly importantly, I took a bubble bath for the first time ever in our jacuzzi tub. We have lived here for 14 months and have never used the tub. Such a shame! For the most part, it was a really relaxing experience...

I just totally overdid it on the bubbles. It was something straight out of a sitcom! I wasn't sure how much was enough, as the stream of water as the tub was filling didn't produce many bubbles, so I just kept adding more. Well, once I turned on the jets, the bubbles appeared. There I was, lying in the tub and the bubbles were rising above my head. I laughed out loud at the sight. While still in the tub, I pulled the stopper on the drain and added water to try to make them subside. It was truly comical. Here is a picture taken AFTER I got out of the tub:



I will defintely be trying this again in the near future. Some times we just need to take time for the bubbles.

8 weeks

Lia is 8 weeks today. We go for her 2 month well-check next Friday. It's really amazing how fast it all goes by. I remember how fast it was with Alexander, and just as soemeone told me, it is faster with the second. Lia is already smiling, coos and gurgles often, has been holding her head up with ease for weeks and is growing into a BIG, healthy baby. She has grown out of all of her 0-3 month clothing and is now wearing 3-6 month and 6 months clothes.

She went to the babysitter for the first time yesterday, for a trial run. Other than not taking too well to the bottle, she did pretty well.

I go back to work on Monday. And for as much as I simply adore my beautiful baby girl, I welcome the break from the constant care. Sure wish there was another alternative to working, though...

2nd Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 2nd wedding anniversary. We celebrated by staying at the Hyatt, (where we stayed on our wedding night,) on Sunday night. We wanted to go to "our" cabin at Hocking Hills, but we would've had to stay more than 1 night...and that just wasn't possible this year.

We began our night with dinner and drinks with really good friends, Julie and Kim. Upon reflection, we realized it was quite fitting as they were instrumental in making our wedding day success with all of their advice, support and assistance in many matters of the event. We met up at Brio and were greeted with a really good bottle of Pinot Noir, courtesy of Julie. Leonard and I ordered food...as Julie and Kim already had dinner and were simply there for good company. The food was great and we had another bottle of wine and some good convo with our friends.

From there went to the Hyatt, where we got a room for the night and checked in before dinner. There is a Sports Bar on the ground level, where we played a couple of games of pool and drank a couple of Jack and Cokes. We actually had another bottle of wine in the room, given to us by very dear friends. We decided to open that up and we drank and sat out on the patio outside of the sports bar and reflected on how wonderful our life is. A lot has happened in the past 2 years. Not to long after the wedding Alexander arrived, then I bought my truck, next came the house, I left my job of nearly 12 years and most recently, the addition of Lia. Kind of surreal... But, any way you look at it, it's a wonderful life.

The night was amazing. Very relaxing and comfortable. The next morning, Leonard missed the children so, that it was decided we would check out and get them. I, on the other hand, was not ready to go home. I wanted a few more hours alone. Nothing I said could convince him otherwise. As he so matter-of-factly put it, "we are just prolonging the inevitable." We were home by 12:30pm.

Another anniversary in the history books. Can't wait to be blogging about many, many more!

First Smiles

So Lia is now 7 weeks old. Time has flown.

Yesterday morning I got 2 consecutive smiles from her, within a minute of each other. Alexander didn't have a genuine, "non-gas provoked" smile until he was about 3 months.

All I had to say in my high-pitched voice was:

"Hi Pretty Girl!"

Be a BEE!

Alexander with one of the Bees we used for Lia's room... Leonard was chasing him, like a bee, and then we asked him to be a bee...

Fatherhood...

This is a commercial from fatherhood.gov. First time I saw this I instantly thought "This is Leonard in about 5 years..." Too funny!



Leonard is a wonderful daddy! If you had asked me 6 or so years ago when I met him if he had this kind of potential, I would have never believed it.

Mother's Day 2009

My 2nd Mother's Day, now down in the history books. (Didn't really forsee having 2 children by now, though. CRAZY.) It was a pretty good day. I went to mass with Lia, my mother and brother... Then to the movies later with my mom and brother to see Star Trek while Leonard kept the children. (First time I had been out without either of them in 5 weeks.) It was so nice! Leonard bought me a new camera (since mine accidentally got destroyed by Alexander in Leonard's plain sight only the day before) and the DVD set of Season 1 of Angel. (I just recently got into it since I've been on ML.)

Interestingly enough, I spoke with a friend, who is a mother, and asked how her day was and she simply replied, "It's just another day." As a new mother, it's still pretty cool to be told how much you are appreciated. I hope when I've been a mother for more than 15 years that I don't feel that way.

My sister poated this comment on my MySpace page, I thought it was pretty neat:

95 Percentile!

Believe it or not, it's been a month since Lia entered the world. At her 4 week well-check we discovered she is in the 95th percentile for weight, weighing in at 11 lbs. 3 oz. Lia gained 4 lbs. in a month! I never thought I would hear ninety-something percentile and my children's names in the same sentence. lol It's crazy. She is 21.5 inches long, placing her in the 55th percentile and her head circumference is 14 and 7/8. (not sure what %.)

Lia is just as "alert" as Alexander was, but is noticeably much stronger. She already supports her head effortlessly, quite often, and also tries to pull her head up when lying in the Boppy. She is following figures as they go by and doesn't appear to mind being on her tummy yet.

Needles to say, she is a blessing and a great addition to the family!