Thursday, November 6, 2014

23 weeks pregnant

Walking into the hospital today that is home to my awesome Obgyn's office I had a flashback to 3 years ago when I was leaving the hospital with a not so little newborn Ocoee. 

I remember thinking I should have to take a test or get approval from someone important before they let me leave with this new little human. You would think after 41 weeks of growing her I would be prepared to have her outside, but boy did  I feel overwhelmed. 

Now she is a bigger little human and has a personality, sense of humor and all the things that make her the little girl I so love. I was imagining her arriving at the hospital to greet her new sibling. Wow. Time and life are such a blessing and leave me awestruck. 

Baby boy is due March 5. Our family is growing and it is my greatest joy. I appreciate every day that I get to be a part of this magical life. 


Cheers
J

Halloween 2014

For Halloween this year we really had a lot of fun. Ocoee enjoyed carving pumpkins, reading Halloween books and of course dressing up. We practiced trick or treating as a game many times before the big event.

On the day of the event Ocoee had daycare where she dressed up as a scarecrow. She was one of the few girls in the class that was not wearing a princess dress and she looked awesome. The day was pretty action packed for a little 3 year old who was too excited to nap. They trick or treated during the day in the different classrooms at her preschool and then ended the day with a party for parents to attend. I was very impressed with the class party and for the first time ever Ocoee actually wanted to be there.....we last a good 30 minutes before she was ready to go home.

At home we relaxed a bit making some caesar salad for our friend party and trick or treating at the Boxlers. They have a great neighborhood and enjoy hosting all the crazy kids. Ocoee did a quick costume change to her piglet costume, which was warm and fit the family theme. Hubby was pooh (yellow sweat pants and a bear stocking hat) and I was Kanga (brown tights and a kangaroo stocking hat). Ocoee did such  great job trick or treating. She loved seeing the decorations around the neighborhood, especially the scarecrows. She even walked to the door without us, since she had her friend Maggie to assist her. Maggie was a sweetheart showing Ocoee the ropes of getting candy from strangers.

Once we hit about 10 houses we called it a night and left the older kids to switching and trading their candy. It looked like the floor of the stock exchange during a frenzy.

We placed all of Ocoee's candy outside for the switch witch to trade her. She is super good at not eating candy with junk in it. She gets a steady supply of organic candy from grandma who has access to Trader Joes and Whole Foods. The switch witch gave her some dress up masks, the hungry hippos game and a new book. She was so pumped when she woke up!

Here are some photos:










Monday, November 3, 2014

Ocoee's 3rd birthday

Since I have had a month to write this you may be expecting some awesome, witty, soul wrenching writing......but you are wrong! Sorry. I will get the basics down and then run out for our packed Halloween day, which will also take me forever to blog. See the theme??

For Ocoee's 3rd birthday we stuck with the tradition of heading south to the ski town for Girdwood for a family retreat. We had friends rent rooms at the Alyeska resort and join us for the fun. Ocoee picked a pirate theme and we had gathered all the fun decorations, party favors and food weeks in advance. It was going to be easy peasy, pumpkin squeezey!

Except, my physically hesitant, cautious child fell on 6 inches of uber safe playground foam and broke her collarbone. It happened at daycare on her 3rd day in the new "big kids" room of preschool. She told us she was going up the slide the wrong way and slipped and fell. This was her trying to fit in with the other kids. Tough lessons there!

Hubby took the day off and took her to the doctor and she had her X-rays. I guess this was really traumatic and I am very happy that I didn't find out about her injury until the end of the day Friday. I was a wreck and don't think I would have helped the situation any. I guess collarbone injuries are very common and she had to wear a harness for 4 weeks. Hubby also broke his collarbone when he was younger, so this seems to be a family trend.

A broken collarbone didn't slow her down. After the doctors office we packed up headed to gird wood and had dinner at our favorite restaurant Jack Spratts.

Our karma seemed to turn around once we arrived in Girdwood. Upon check in we were informed that we had been upgraded to the Royal Suite. This is the nicest room in the hotel that is normally $1700 a night! The room had two separate entrances, more closets than my house, a full kitchen with sub zero fridge, a bedroom, a lounge with floor to ceiling 360 degree glass windows and two bathrooms. Let's just say a pretty jaw dropping place for a 3 year olds birthday party!

The weekend was filled with swimming, tram rides up the mountain, yummy food, gifts and many wonderful memories. Late on Saturday night we all wandered over to moose meadow released our wish lanterns. Ocoee wished for a frog. The lanterns must work because she received a frog bath toy on her actual birthday the following Tuesday.

Ocoee's 3 year stats:

Loves to read and is currently hooked on Winnie the Pooh.
73% for height-38 inches
62% for weight-32 pounds....I am pretty sure that is what she weighed last year!!
Still sleeps with her tag blanket but in her brand-new big girl daybed!

As Grandma said, A perfectly sized granddaughter.


Here are the photos!!