Coming in July

If you hadn't heard yet, we're expecting baby #2 on July 18th!

Ariella is about 16 weeks along right now, and is happy to have her 1st trimester behind her. Morgan is very excited at the idea of becoming a big sister -- although, she still isn't quite sure what that means.

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After a string of ear infections that's lasted 3+ months, Morgan had tubes put into her ears this morning.

We arrived at the hospital at 7am, were quickly admitted, and prepped for surgery. Morgan charmed the nurses to the point where they didn't think she needed the "giggle juice" (sedative) they normally give to anxious toddlers before the anesthesia. The nurses ushered Morgan off to surgery around 7:45. (As they walked away, we heard Morgan ask to push the button to open the doors into the Operating Room.)

At 7:50, the nurse came out and said Morgan was "asleep". 7 minutes later, the surgeon came out and told us the surgery was a success. By 8:00, the nurse brought us back to the recovery room, where Morgan was still sleeping. She woke up a few minutes later and was very cranky for the next 20 minutes or so, but eventually settled down. We left the hospital at 8:45 and were home before 9:00

Morgan relaxed at home all morning, and enjoyed a Sesame Street marathon on DVR. By mid-afternoon, she was back to being her usual happy self. (And, with that, Andy and Ariella let out a giant sigh of relief that could be heard all over South Jersey.)

Weekend in Virginia

Last weekend, we travelled to Hampton, Virginia for the reunion of the "Waldners Business Environments ('99-'03) Gang". In other words, Carrie, Jane and Ariella finally got together again. Hooray!

We arrived around dinner time on Thursday. On Friday, we were able to see the gorgeous waterfront sunrise that Jane, Tyler, Parker and Charlie enjoy every morning. (No, we're not jealous. Nope. Not one bit. Okay, maybe a little.)

While Parker went to preschool on Friday morning, we took Morgan and Charlie to a nearby farm to look at the cows, pigs, and chickens -- and see a llama wearing his pajamas... Down By The (Chesapeake) Bay!

After talking to the chickens, Morgan and Charlie headed over to the farm's swing set to try out the slides. Weeeeeee!

Friday afternoon, Parker and Charlie showed Morgan the ropes on Tyler's boat (literally). After that, it was down to the water for a January beach party.

Morgan was very excited to play with Webster and Charlotte, Jane and Tyler's two dogs. (Ariella... not so much.)

On Saturday morning, we went to Parker's favorite hangout, the Hampton Air & Space Museum.

"Attention passengers: we've reached our cruising altitude of roughly 29-33 inches. The flight attendants will be coming by shortly with complimentary sippy cups for everyone."

Back at the house, Morgan and Parker had a great time playing with Play Doh. (Easter Bunny, if you're reading this blog, remember this a couple months from now. Thanks.)

Morgan's other favorite activity during the weekend was racing around the house with the boys. Well, that and kissing Charlotte's on the nose whenever the poor dog tried to take a nap.

All in all, it was a great weekend to catch up with old friends, and introduce the newest members of our ever-growing families. Thanks again to Jane and Tyler for hosting us all.

"BRaDy, you'Re a bUM!"

FOr cHRistMas, AunT LiNDsay gOt mY DAd a PAtRIots chEErleaDer oUTfit. BuT sinCe it fitS mE muCH beTteR, I pUt it oN tOdAy for tHE PatrIOts' pLAyofF gaMe agAInst tHe RaVEns.

I nAppeD thROugh thE fiRSt haLf. BUt I waS alL suIted up aNd eXCitEd tO cHEer thE PatRiots iN tHE seConD haLf.

AnD tHen, I saW thE scORe.

ArE yOU kIDding mE? ThE PAtrioTs loSt 33-14?!? Oh mAn! I reALly waNTeD tO weAr thIs cuTe oUtfit agAIn neXt weEK!

Oh wEll. I guEsS I'lL juSt roOt foR THe EAglEs iNStead. (Oh waIt. TheY losT, toO!)

LoVE,

MorGAn

Celebrity Baby Sighting!

In the last few weeks, the paparazzi in South Jersey have been racing to get the first pictures of the hottest new celebrity baby. Luckily, we were the first to snap these exclusive photos.

(Yes, that's a celebrity baby nebulizer treatment happening in the 2nd photo. I doubt Suri Cruise looks so stylish when she has a chest cold.)

Twas the Weekend of Christmas...

... and all through our house, holiday fun was on tap for my toddler and spouse.

After two pre-Christmas Christmasses with the Sakraidas, 24 inches of snow, one overstuffed Holiday card tree, and literally dozens of viewings of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Christmas finally arrived.

On Christmas Eve, we decorated Gingerbread houses (okay, technically they were graham cracker houses). Just like she did with the Halloween cupcakes, Morgan spent more time decorating her face with chocolate than decorating her house. She was very happy with the finished product, though.

While Ariella and Andy prepped for Santa's visit, Lindsay took Morgan outside to play in the snow. By Thursday, the fluffy snow had become crunchy -- which made it tough to make a big snowman. But Morgan has very excited about the little one she and Lindsay made.

We all enjoyed Mexican Christmas Eve (another Sakraida family tradition). Then it was time for Morgan to put out her cookies for Santa. (Side note: since then, Morgan has called all cookies "Santa Cookies".)

For Morgan, another Christmas tradition is getting a cold right before the big day. But after a good night's sleep, she was very excited to see what Santa had left for her under the Christmas tree.

Morgan spent quite a while plucking all the fun stuff out of her stocking: coloring books, cars, a new toothbrush, a ball, and on and on.

Finally, it was time to dive into the pile of presents.

Morgan's "big" present from Santa was a kitchen set -- compete with "stainless steel" appliances (a.k.a. silver plastic), spice rack, backsplash, and a full set of pots and pans. With a setup like this, it's only a matter of time before she has her own show on the Food Network.

Morgan wasted no time fixing up her version of Christmas breakfast: pan-fried steak with sippy cup and a side of goldfish crackers. Yum.

Morgan was also VERY excited to open the Legos from Jenny and Jon. She screamed "Lego Lego Lego" for 5 minutes. Seriously.

Because of her cold, Christmas morning was a little overwhelming for Morgan. She took a couple breaks, but summoned up enough Christmas spirit to eventually get everything unwrapped. (That's our girl.)

By noon, it was time for a nap. While Morgan slept, Aunt Aimee, Uncle Russ, Henry and Alex arrived for more Christmas fun.

Aimee brought Morgan a Cabbage Patch Kid ("It's a girl!"). And, in an attempt to get back at Andy for all the noisy gifts he has bought for Henry and Alex over the year, she got Morgan a piano. (Revenge is sweet. And very loud.)

Ariella and Lindsay cooked up a great Christmas dinner -- turkey, stuffing, mashed potato, green bean casserole, and Morgan's favorite: sweet potato.

After dinner, everyone colored, played piano, and stuffed ourselves on cookies and cake before we all finally settled down for a long (and much needed) winter's nap.

Let It Snow x 3

It's not even Christmas yet, and Morgan has already been outside to play in the snow more times this year (3) than she did all of last year (1).

The first snowfall came a few weeks ago. "Snowfall" is actually being generous. It was really a "dusting". And it was ice, not snow. But that didn't stop Morgan from standing at the window and yelling "Snowman" until we took her out. (Note: At the time, Morgan was calling all snow a "snowman", even if it wasn't actually made into a human shape. She's figured out the difference now.)

Morgan wasn't quite sure how to react to the snow once she finally got outside. It was cold, hard to walk on, and not nearly as fun as it looks on "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

Last weekend (12/19), a doozy of a storm rolled through South Jersey. By Saturday afternoon, we had about 8 inches. So we bundled up Morgan in her snow suit (courtesy of Fricke Family Hand-Me-Downs, Inc.) and took her outside.

Once again, Morgan wasn't too excited to walk around in the snow. But the fluffy snow gave us a great opportunity to pull her around the back yard on her sled.

By Sunday morning, we had about 24 inches of snow -- which is more snow than we've had in South Jersey in our first three winters here COMBINED.

The circular part of our driveway is buried somewhere beneath all the snow in the photo below. Needless to say, we haven't been using that part of the driveway this week.

24 inches is a lot of snow -- especially when you're only 29 inches tall.

Even after we dug a path out to the driveway, Morgan was still intimidated by the snow.

"HeY, DAd, yOu taKE cArE oF tHE sHOvelliNg. I'm gOIng insIde tO wAtcH RuDolPh aGAin. SeE yA laTEr."