Life with a 2 year old

Life with a 2 1/2 year old is interesting to say the least. Some days we don't know which Ella is going to wake up. The sweet, lovable one or the terrible two's one that frequents time out. And sometimes it can change from minute to minute and hour to hour. While most of the time, she is sporting a smile, oh we have had some moments lately that test her Mommy's and Daddy's patience to the limit. I know it's a phase and she is testing us but I am just hoping it passes quickly since in less than a month, it won't just be about her anymore.

One thing is for sure though, sitting around the house is no fun for anyone. So, despite the rain and cold weather we had last weekend, we had to get out of the house to play so we went to our favorite children's museum where she rock climbed...

and played with Lego's (something that made her Daddy very happy.)
This week, Mommy got a little spoiled. I got to have 2 girls nights out and 2 yummy meals to celebrate the soon to be arrival of Baby #2. One night while I was away, Daddy and Ella had a date night at our favorite pizza place. He said she was great and I know it was fun for him to spend one on one time with his little girl. When she is eating pizza, she is all business!
I didn't manage to take any pictures from my nights out except this one. We had a special guest at our dinner, little baby Braelyn. I don't think Adam was ready to tackle all 3 girls by himself, especially with bath and nighttime so this little one got to tag along with the Mommy's. She was so good during dinner, alternating between watching us talk and eat and doing a little snoozing. Can't wait for Baby Hennessy to meet either her new best friend or his future girlfriend soon!
She comes home from school and learns so many new things and tells us about them all the time. This month they are learning about flip flop or opposites. So, she will put her fingers on her cheeks and do "happy face" and then frown and do "sad face." One particular afternoon, it was happy face complete with her bling!!
Now, for something fun and new! I have been dying to try out my new camera outside but last weekend was cold and rainy so this morning after going to Starbucks, we went to a local elementary school to play and run around. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and 60's and I played around with my camera.
There are so many things I have to learn about it but I figure one of the best ways to learn is by practice. I took over 150 pictures and I won't bore you with most of them but below are some of my favorites.







I love the fact that there is no shutter lag and how crisp and clear the pictures are even in motion. I already can't wait to take out my zoom lens next time for even more close-ups. Thanks Mike for a great birthday present!

Hope you all are having a great January, can you believe it will be February next week?? And my due date will be here in about 3 weeks??? Ahhh, time to finish everything up and start freaking out a little bit about having two little ones!!!

Birthday Celebrations & Progress

I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. We had a fun and busy weekend and I guess I am the one who takes most of the pictures but I was too busy celebrating so we didn't take any pictures. Mike did a great job to plan a fun weekend despite the fact I am 35 weeks pregnant and nothing gets too wild and crazy these days. Friday night, we had a rare date night at a great Italian restaurant we haven't been to in awhile and it was delicious. Saturday afternoon and evening, Mike invited a couple friends over to celebrate, watch football and eat yummy food. And he got the most amazing cake so even though I can't indulge in wine on this birthday, cake is the next best thing. Unfortunately, we all woke up Sunday feeling a little under the weather with colds so we laid low. Monday, my actual birthday, I was lucky enough to have Mike home since it was MLK and he had the day off. Ella and Mike made me waffles in the morning and spoiled me all day letting me relax. And even though there aren't many pictures on this post, rest assured, there will be many more in the future because Mike got new a new SLR camera and I am so excited to experiment with it and try it out.

We also had a special visitor on Tuesday, DeeDee came up to help the birthday celebration continue and also see Miss Ella. We had a fun visit and got some things we need for the new baby checked off the list. It's hard to believe that the next time we will see DeeDee, there will be a new baby.

Finally, the below two pictures bring a big smile to my face. The process of moving Ella into a new room and bed were hard. There were 3-4 nights of no sleep, lots of tears but finally, finally we had a breakthrough. We did some research on tips for keeping kids in their beds and sleeping and luckily, they worked!

I am happy to report that bedtime and nap time has gone a lot more smoothly and sleeping has resumed in the Hennessy household. In fact, on Saturday, she napped so hard I had to wake her up but before I did, I had to get a few pictures of her sleeping in her new bed.
She loves her froggie so much, it is always right next to her when she sleeps. I have to admit, I was ready to throw in the towel and give up with the bed transition but thanks to Mike who convinced me to stick it out a couple more nights and it finally sunk in with her.

Thanks to Mike, my friends and family for making my birthday weekend special!

Tired

I thought once January would hit, things would slow down to a normal pace and I could recover from all the excitement of January but no, nothing has really slowed down and at 34 weeks pregnant, I find myself tired a lot of the time. Not to mention I haven't slept the past 4 nights but more on that later. I am also in full nesting mode and Mike has caught the bug as well, we are trying to clean up and organize before the new little one comes. Mike was very busy this weekend building me new shelves in the garage to try and squeeze every last little bit of storage we can out of the garage. But before we get too far into 2012, I want to share some last images of 2011 and first ones of 2012.

New Year's Eve was pretty low key this year and that's just fine with me. When you are pregnant and have a 2 year old, New Year's Eve seems to take on a different meaning. So, our best buddies hosted couple families over to their house for a party. It was perfect, low key, the kids all running around and the big hit was the new dance game for the Wii. Our neighbor got it for Christmas and couldn't wait to show it off and the kids thought it was pretty fun as well!

This picture cracks me up, not sure what move Ella is doing, but she is really into it!
After all the dancing, these two had to dress the part for the fancy night by wearing their princess dresses. Still a little bit big for them but that didn't slow them down.
Happy New Year!
2012 looks so bright, I need to wear shades.
The next day, Mike's Dad and his grandparents stopped and stayed with us for the night on their drive down to Florida. They live in Connecticut but spend the winter in Florida and this was a great meeting spot. We had not seen them in a year and half but Ella immediately took to them. She loved playing with Great Grandpa who by the way is about to turn 91 and still sharp as a whip and just got himself a new iPhone!
Guess who's hair is finally long enough for a ponytail? Ok, the front and sides still fall so I have to put a clip in it but the back will go up. After waiting nearly 2 years for any hair to sprout, these are big moments for us. I need to start thinking about getting her a first haircut but I just can't bring myself to do it yet.
Santa wasn't able to deliver all the presents down to Seabrook so he left a couple back in Charlotte like this trampoline. Ella loves to jump and bounce non stop so instead of doing it on a bed or couch, we now have our own trampoline!
Future gymnast perhaps?
Santa also left this new princess scooter. All the kids in the neighborhood have one and is perfect since she is still a little too young for a bike. At first, she just wanted to stand on it and have us push her but then she got the hang of it!
So back to the sleepless nights. Something we have known was coming for awhile and maybe putting off was moving Ella from the crib and nursery to her new room but we finally did it. She "helped" Daddy take apart the old bed.
Someone likes using a screwdriver, future builder perhaps?
And we converted the room into Ella's new room with her new bed! She was really excited, helping me put on her new purple sheets and butterfly blanket.
She couldn't wait to climb in but of course that all changed once it finally came time to sleep in it. There have been lots of tears (both hers and mine) about the new bed. The thing is, she was the best sleeper in her crib. Put her in at nap time and night wide awake, she might play for a minute and then sleep for almost 12 hours at night and wake up and play until we came and got her. That's why we were reluctant to move her but wanted to get her adjusted before the new baby comes so last Friday night, we did the big switch. Let's just say, the past 4 nights have been rough. She wants us to lay with her and not leave or she will get up at all hours of the night and come find us and not want to go back to bed. Last night was much better so I am crossing my fingers, we have turned the corner but at a low point Sunday at 4am when she wouldn't sleep, I would have given anything to have her back in the crib. So, we will give it a couple more nights and hopefully she will do better. And hopefully, we will all start sleeping a little more since we only have six more weeks of good sleep anyway!
Happy 2012 everyone!

Christmas in Seabrook

This picture pretty much sums up our Christmas, pure bliss and sunshine. We were fortunate to be able to spend Christmas down at Seabrook with DeeDee, Papa and Uncle Court. Usually there are over 20 of us down there but this year due to conflicting schedules and busy lives, it was just the immediate family but still lots of fun. The weather was great, perfect for beach walks, golf and hanging out on the back deck. And trust me, this view never gets old.
Christmas Eve we went to church and it has been a year since Ella sat through a church service since we take her to the nursery at our church so I wasn't sure how she would do but since they learned all about Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph at school, she was excited. She loved the music and when things did get slow, coloring books and fruit snacks came in handy.
Back at home after church, we continued the tradition of hors devours on Christmas Eve.
Another tradition that was passed down is one that was started almost 30 years ago. My dad would give me a special bear every Christmas Eve and to this day, I still have them all. And, it's not just any bear, he would search long and far for the perfect bear making sure it had just the right amount of softness and hugability. Papa has now passed down this tradition to Ella and this year, she was very excited to open her gift.
She immediately fell in love with the bear who was perfectly named, "Ellie." She was immediately attached to the bear and now she insists on napping and sleeping with Ellie everyday. She even had to show Ellie to Santa and give them both a big hug. By the way, she was a little timid of the Santa at first but then thought he was great and hugged him all the time. Maybe there is hope she will actually sit on Santa's lap next year.
Before we went to bed so Santa could come, Ella and Uncle Court had a little dance party.
Ella woke up about 8am on Christmas morning and was excited about presents but while we waited for breakfast to be cooked and Uncle Court to wake up, she went to check out the dolphins with Papa.
Wow, we must have all been really good this year!
Now, it was finally present time, starting with stockings. She is a pro now at wrapping paper, no slowing her down.
And who would have guessed that one of her favorite gifts would have been a $1 Minnie Mouse spinning toy. Santa should have just stopped there.
Ella not only got excited to open her own gifts but she had to check out what everyone was opening. She was a really good helper!
And a model showing off Papa's new scarf that can also double as a hat.
She thought Mommy's new bracelet was so cool and wore it around all day.
Uncle Court came through with the coolest gifts though. Every 2 year old needs a North Face backpack right?
Uncle Court also got her a fancy new digital camera. She tries to grab our camera all the time to take pictures so she was very excited to have one of her own and the best part is the lens flips so she can take plenty of self portraits as well. It's also kid tough which is good since she has already dropped it several times.
She wanted to wear all her new gifts at once, the new tutu from Great Grammy, the backpack, the bows from her presents and capturing the moment with her new camera.
She is one lucky girl and got lots of new new toys and clothes. After a little while though, she started getting a little overwhelmed and kept saying "no more presents" and just wanted to play with the ones she had so we saved a bunch of them and spread them out over the next couple of days. After finally taking the pajamas off, we changed into our Christmas Day outfit and enjoyed the warm weather on the back deck.
Uncle Court taught her a new term, "chilling." Whenever we were out on the deck, Ella and Uncle Court would each sit in their respective seats and when asked what she was doing, Ella would say "Chilling with Uncle Court!" I think someone liked chilling on the deck! Oh, and she had to have her water in the drink cup. Everyone has to have a drink on the sunset deck!
We only had 1 morning of bad weather so we headed to the indoor pool for swimming. Mommy doesn't exactly fit into any bathing suits (nor wants to even try to fit into them) so Daddy took her in.
Uncle Court came and joined in shortly. Ella had a blast and keeps asking when we can go swimming again. Time to sign her up for swim lessons again soon.
Our final night, we had an amazing sunset. The perfect ending to a perfect Christmas.
Followed by an encore show with the moon and Venus.
Being able to experience holidays through children's eyes is truly magical and it keeps getting more fun with each one. We are truly blessed and had such an amazing holiday season and were so grateful we got to see so many friends and family.

P.S.-While I am typing this, I am also watching the Hokie game so please excuse any typos and Go Hokies! Wish we could have made it to New Orleans for the game but it does bring back amazing memories of being there in 2000 for the National Championship. Let's hope the outcome of this game is better than that one!