Sienna: One Month Already!

Dear sweet baby girl,

Our first month with you in our lives has flown by. You are such a joy to our family. You are full of smiles with lots to say to us. You coo and chat with us every day. I think you picked up our family's chatty ways as you seem eager to join in the conversation. Your absolute best friend is your brother, Asher. It is an answer to prayer. The way you look at him and light up makes our hearts swell. Your eyes look to him whenever he is near and no one else is guaranteed a smile from you like your big brother, Asher. He loves you and dotes on you, his "Baby CC." He brings you burp clothes and tries to help wipe your mouth. He is eager to dance for you and always puts his face right up to yours when you are getting a diaper change. Whenever you are in your room asleep he'll remind me, "Mama, Baby CC nap" in case I've forgotten. One morning when I was picking him up from Miss Caroline's house we left you in the house with Miss Caroline while Asher and I were loading up the car with a few things. Asher was extremely concerned you would be left behind and kept reminding me "Baby CC house" with a look of worry on his face. You will have quite the protector in life in your brother. I look forward to watching you and Asher interact more and more in the days ahead.

Eating: You quickly took to a 3 hour schedule and are such an efficient eater just like your brother was at this age. You also spit up like he did at this age! :)

Sleeping: You take great naps in your crib. Three naps a day and one short cat nap in the evening. Bedtime is 7-7:15 and you wake 4-5 hours after the dream feed. You've gone 7-8 hours a few times, but not consistently yet.

Playtime: Watching your brother is your favorite playtime activity!

We love you so much, Sienna!

Barcelona Trip 2012: Just Mommy & Daddy

In April, Jeremy and I went on a quick trip to Barcelona, Spain. It was the first time either of us had been to Spain. I was around 16-17 weeks pregnant at the time and I had been feeling pretty sick in the weeks leading up to the trip. The flight over wasn't too bad, but once I arrived in Spain I was feeling pretty crummy. Fortunately I was able to enjoy most of the trip, because we were able to sleep in every morning and eat small meals all day thanks to the Spanish tapas style of dining. We enjoyed some amazing restaurants. Our favorite two were Ciudad Condal and Tapas 24. Tapas 24 is absolutely tiny and located below the street level and it had amazing fare. While most restaurants in Barcelona have an English menu and a Spanish menu, our server at Tapas 24 gave us a Spanish menu and we just assumed they didn't have English menus there so we had no clue what we were ordering. I speak half decent Spanish so I could decipher a few of the items, but there were some meat dishes I had no clue as to what they were. We decided to just go for it and it was so fun to guess what would come out from the kitchen and then be completely surprised when it would arrive. We were often wrong and still to this day aren't entirely sure about two of dishes. Being a semi-sick prego, I made sure Jeremy ate most of my share and just did my best to try what I could. It was such a fun and memorable meal.

I think the absolute highlight of our trip aside from the many wonderful meals was our visits to the Gaudi designed  Parc Güell and Sagrada Familia basilica. I had always thought Gaudi's architectural style was not for me and too seemingly free form. I couldn't have been more wrong. Up close and in person it is absolutely beautiful and so methodical. Truly amazing. The interior of the Sagrada Familia basilica was one of the most reverent places I've ever been.

Park Güell

Sagrada Familia

Plaza Catalunya 

Beautiful Barcelona Streets

This trip was such a memorable one for Jeremy and me and we hope to go back one day with Asher and Sienna. I'm grateful to my parents for baby-sitting Asher. We were so excited to see him after a long trip back home via a horribly bumpy flight through Paris and then Atlanta. (I threw up 16 times on the flight- needless to say I was thrilled to get back to Seattle.)

A picture of a very happy Asher that Grandma sent to us while we were away

Blogging Penance

I have been a terrible blogger for the past six months. After a very long and sick pregnancy and the first six weeks of life with two children under the age of two, I'm finally back and ready to get this blog caught up. We had many fun adventures over the summer and fall and I can't wait to share them. While I get posts organized, here's a fun picture of Asher and his new baby sister, "Baby CC."