Introducing Miss A. the Ladybug

A Trip for Two - Key West, FL

Last week R and I took a 5 day 4 night trip to Key West, Fl just the TWO of us! As hard as it was to leave A, it was a BLAST to be just with my hubby for a few days!

We rented bikes for a couple of days. Here is R having some fun on the pier.



Pics of the beautiful sunset.



This is a picture of us at the southern most point of the United States. We were just 90 miles from Cuba.

Enjoying a relaxing morning breakfast outside on a porch of a little cafe.


This is a picture of Ernest Hemingway's home. We didn't go for the tour but took the picture for my history loving mom. :)


The reason we decided to make it a 4 night trip verses a full week.... :)

Dora

Although we try to limit the amount TV watching that A gets she is allowed to watch Baby Einstein or Dora the Explorer while I get ready in the morning. This may be one of those things that only a child's parents find super cute so please amuse me if that's the case. :) Here is a video of A saying Door-ra-ra (aka Dora) after we bought her Dora band-aids the other day.

Trip to Indianapolis

Last week A and I were able to accompany R on a week long trip to Indianapolis. R had conferences in the morning each day but by lunch time we were free to get out, explore the city and enjoy each other's company (A even fell asleep twice in her stroller giving R and I a couple unexpected dates in the city!). While there we walked around the city A LOT, found a nice big park and visited the Indianapolis Zoo. A surprised us by knowing almost ever animal by name. I guess she shares her dad's love for animals! One of the highlights of the trip is when A decided she wanted to walk on her own! Since her first steps were taken a few months ago we are excited that she decided she's ready to venture off without our hands holding her up.

An Unexpected Answered Prayer

When I was a little girl I remember thinking and praying for pretty specific things in my life. I would pray for my future husband that I assumed I would meet in college and get married soon after graduation. I always wanted a big family with our first child born a few years after I was married and then the next child a couple years later. I'm not sure why I had these specific things in my head. I'm guessing because I grew up with parents who met in college and married soon after they graduated and that, in my little child mind, was what I knew to be the beginning of a strong loving marriage. I had siblings that were close in age and I loved it! So when I met R in college, got engaged 2 months before graduation and married 7 months after graduation it seemed as though the beginning of what I prayed for and imagined to be my life had begun. Four and a half years after we got married we welcomed our first beautiful baby girl home. It seemed as though everything I prayed for and dreamed about in regards to my future family was forming. Now almost six years into our marriage another answered prayer, though unexpected, has been answered. To anyone in the blogging world who may not have heard we would like to officially announce that come March we will be welcoming our second baby into our family. A and this baby will be 1 yr and 9 months apart which happens to be exactly what my older but youngest sister is to me. We can't wait to meet this little one and experience the adventure he or she is sure to take us on!!

Our 15 month old A

A had her 15 month old check-up on Monday. Since I haven't been the best at keeping up with her baby book I thought the blog would be the perfect place to continue to record her development.

She continues to be our healthy, smiley and ever so feisty little girl. She dropped from being in the 90 percentile for height to the 75th% however due to A's lack of desire to be held down and measured I have a feeling she is still in the 90th percentile. The nurse says she is 31 1/2 inches long which is only one inch longer than her one year check-up and based on her jeans that we once had to role up in June now looking more like capris I have a feeling that measurement is a tad off. :) Our little eater is still in the 25 percentile for weight weighing in at 22 lbs 4 oz and her head circumference is also staying steady in the 75 percentage. Although A took her first steps two weeks ago she hasn't ventured off on her own yet other than at the mall yesterday so she could see herself closer in the mirror. :) In the meantime we're enjoying our little crawler. Although A never misses a chance to get her hands on anything she can, her most favorite activity seems to be sitting in our laps as we read her books. Thanks for her love for books her vocabulary is amazing!...at least to her unbiased parents. :) Whatever her development may be she is as fun and as crazy as ever and makes laughter in our home a regular occurrence!

Trip to Mystic

A looking over the dock to see her daddy






After grabbing subs at the famous pizza place in town, Mystic Pizza (where the movie Mystic Pizza with Julia Roberts was filmed) we took our dinner to our favorite place in town by the draw bridge and had a little picnic. Of course, I couldn't leave without an ice cream cone too!