Breakfast with Santa

Did I mention how much I love Christmas!?!? Well, I do! And what a difference a year makes... we went to Breakfast with Santa again this year with our friends the Manthey's and it was SO MUCH FUN! Ella totally "got it" this year and happily hopped on Santa's lap to tell him what she wants for Christmas. It was totally A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I just love love love the holidays. I am always itching to unpack all my Christmas stuff the minute I finish my turkey on Thanksgiving. I have to admit that I actually broke out the tree and the indoor decorations BEFORE Thanksgiving this year since were traveling over the holiday and I wanted to come home to a decorated house. But don't worry, I made Mark wait until after to put up the lights on the house. (Actually I had to BEG him to put up the lights just as soon as we got back, and sweet as he is... he did!)

Anyway- we've been busy busy busy this past month and Charlie is growing faster than I ever thought possible. I know it happened fast with Ella too, but it's hard to remember. All I know is that my little newborn isn't an infant anymore, he is a full fledged bouncing baby boy with his own little personality.

So here's a quick recap of the last month...

*Charlie can now roll in BOTH directions. He starting rolling from back to stomach on Nov 18th (4.5mos old).

*Ella "graduated" up a level in swim classes. We actually haven't moved to the new class yet because she is on the waiting list for the class that works with our schedule, but my girl's got the skills! Definitely her mother's child.

*We took a trip to Phoenix as a family to celebrate Thanksgiving at my sister's house. It was a wonderful trip and extra-special because my new niece (and Goddaughter) Caroline was baptized while we were there.

*As soon as we got back in town I got the kiddos into their new Xmas jammies. Aren't they adorable????

*Charlie is 5 MONTHS!!!

*This week we started Charlie on his 1st taste of solid foods- rice cereal (if you want to call that a solid- ha!).

*We celebrated St. Nick's Day (Dec 6th) with little treats left in the kids stockings.

*Charlie seems to be ready to start sitting on his own any day now. He can last about 30 seconds on his own without toppling over. It's pretty darn cute!!!

I hope everyone is having an amazing holiday season. We will be jetting off to warm and sunny Florida for Christmas with the Grandparents (both sets!!), Mark's Grandfather, my brother, and my Aunt Jenny (Charlie's Godmother) and her family.

Charlie is 4 months!

Wow how Charlie is changing and growing!! He is as noisy as ever and starting to be way more active. He grabs everything: his toes, toys, my hair... and even takes his pacifier out of his mouth. He hasn't yet mastered getting it back in on his own (except for 1 or 2 times out of pure luck) but he is working on it. We can't wait until he can do that on his own... and maybe he'll start holding the bottle on his own soon too!! :)

We went to the doctor today and here are Charlie's 4 month stats:

Weight- 15lbs 12oz (70%)

Height- 25.75in (75%)

Head- 17in (75%)

Our little man will be moving before too long, his head control is WAY better and he kicks and rolls and scoots all day long. We are still continuing the PT and chiropractic care for his torticollis, but he improves every day. As you can see from the pics, he can sit up against a pillow on his own. Soon he won't even need the pillow.

Ella continues to be an amazing big sister. She "helps" Mom with Charlie by popping the pacifier back in when ever he loses it, rocking him, making him laugh and playing with him. Ella and Charlie's favorite games to play together are "Pat-a-Cake" and "Ride A Horsey". I wish I could get it on video...

Happy Halloween from the Cupcake and the Puppy!

We were in Washington DC for Mark's Marathon on Halloween so we celebrated with the Bailey and Paul family. Here are a few pics of the kids in costume...

One of my favorite pictures of Ella with Ms. Jen! :)

Marine Corps Marathon 2010

This weekend Mark ran his 1st Marathon in Washington DC- the Marine Corps Marathon. He did an incredible job, running at a pace of UNDER 10min miles and finishing at 4:21:33. We are so proud of him!

Here are Dad's biggest fans:

And Mark's entire cheering squad:

Our little family:

Mark ran the race with our dear friend, Jennifer Veenedaal (who got at PR 4:22:10) and her husband Eli and daughter Gwyn watched the race with us.

Pumpkin Patch

We headed to the pumpkin patch on October 24th with our neighbors the Barrett family. It was really windy, so we didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but Ella still had a lot of fun. We even tried out a corn maze with the kids.

Bedtime

I just had to share the MOST ADORABLE picture of my two beautiful babies at bedtime tonight. Aren't they the cutest!? Thanks to my girl JV for sending them the most adorable matching jammies! :)

I'm feeling a little emotional this evening for a few reasons... which is maybe why I have the urge to get all sappy... but I just feel so blessed to have such an amazing family and such wonderful, beautiful and HEALTHY babies. If you asked me 5 years ago, I never would have been able to predict this, and I don't even know if I would have said I wanted it... but I couldn't imagine a more amazing life. Wonderful husband, kids and life. I thank God everyday for all my blessings.

Charlie=3 months, Ella=2.5yrs going on 16

Charlie's third month has been filled with lots of smiles, sweet baby noises, rolling over, and some great sleep habits. I'm happy to report that Charlie has been sleeping through the night for well over a week. The worst is behind us! He is a good baby with such a sweet temperament and we feel so blessed to have such a happy, healthy baby boy.

Ella has such a funny little personality and keeps me on my toes, she can be quite a challenge at times! She tells everyone that her favorite singer is Lady Gaga... and she even knows some of her songs! She signs and dances and plays pretend. She is a wonderful big sister, so attentive to Charlie. On the flip side, just the other day she pulled her curtains off the wall in her room (drywall anchors and all!) in the middle of a major meltdown. Little stinker!

Ella is continuing her swim lessons through the winter this year- its hard to believe how much she has progressed. Sh's been in lessons for over a year now and is such a little fish! Ella also seems to be liking school, although she still cries when I drop her off. The teachers tell me she is fine as soon as I leave, I'm just hoping she warms up eventually. The gym is another story... she SCREAMS and chases me out when I leave her there. It's heartbreaking. And when I pick her up, she exclaims "I'm SO glad you are back!"

When we aren't watching MU football and cheering them on against Colorado, we've been out and about quite a bit this last month, trying to enjoy what's left of the warm weather. Pretty soon we'll be in winter coats and boots for a while. We are excited for our upcoming trip to Washington DC to watch Mark run the Marine Corps Marathon. Wish me luck- traveling with two kids and trucking them both all over a marathon course to watch Dad should be interesting.

ARMY OF WOMEN

The Army of Women initiative is recruiting ONE MILLION WOMEN of all ages and ethnicities, with or without breast cancer, to sign up and participate in breast cancer research studies. If we can get ONE MILLION WOMEN involved in research, we are one step closer to understanding the cause of breast cancer and how to prevent it.

The Army of Women campaign is an online initiative, where women can sign up at www.armyofwomen.org. The members are then contacted via E-blast to participate in groundbreaking, breast cancer prevention research studies. They can either sign-up for the studies online, or if they do not qualify, they are encouraged to forward the information to a friend or family member. Every woman over 18 is welcome to participate, whether a breast cancer survivor or someone never affected. In many breast cancer research studies, recruiting women is the biggest obstacle, and our innovative program is working to virtually eliminate this hurdle.

We are dedicating ONE day to reach ONE million women to sign up for the Army of Women. We are declaring October 1, 2010 the official Army of Women Day. We beseech all bloggers to blog about the Army of Women and empower women to take the next step by signing up and taking part in breast cancer research studies. Together, we can move breast cancer beyond a cure and eradicate it once and for all.

Phoenix Trip

Charlie and I took a little vacation to Phoenix to see my sister Patti and her new baby Caroline, who was born Sept 8th 2010. It was such a treat to meet my new niece and spend time with my sister. The trip was WAY too short, but totally worth it. And an added bonus was that Charlie SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT 2 of the 3 nights we were there (about 10:30p to 6:30a). I'm hoping he continues this trend at home.

A few more pics from our stay:

And a video of Charlie swimming: