Last August...

Okay, so it's a little weird to be revisiting Amelia's 5th birthday and Ramona's 3rd birthday (among other things) as we begin planning for their 6th and 4th birthdays, but this is where I left off last year, so... here you go.

August is birthday month for 80% of our family, and so around here August means lots of cake, lots of special breakfasts, lots of candles, and lots of fun.  (So glad that August is just around the corner again!)  Chad is first in the birthday line-up.  We went (candlepin) bowling for his birthday, followed by a picnic at the Monument and cake at home. 

Yes, Ramona likes her carbs; yes, it is kind of difficult to bowl with a toddler on your hip; and yes, Louisa may not enjoy being called "Thing 3".

Ramona's birthday is next.  This child loves cinnamon rolls more than almost any other food, so that's what she picked for breakfast.  (The whipped cream made it fancy.)  Presents took quite a while to get through because she was so enamored with the barn set that Chad and I had gotten her (thank you, IKEA)!  The prospect of cupcakes encouraged her to move along...

Ramona is THREEEEEEEEEE!

Lest you think that I am exaggerating about her lack of desire to open more presents following the barn, here is some video proof...

I know, she's weird.

In between the girls' birthdays, we threw them at joint party at a nearby farm.  The party included a bounce house, a hayride, blueberry picking (with each kiddo taking home a pint of blueberries), and plenty of cake.  It seemed to be a hit, and I would highly recommend it if you're looking for a kids' party idea.  Such a fun theme to work with.

My birthday girls!

I was surprised how excited all of the kids were about picking blueberries... And Ramona still talks about that hayride!

Amelia's birthday followed the party.  By that point, I think we were all a little caked-out, so we celebrated her actual birthday with pancakes and mango for breakfast, and ice cream and strawberries for dessert.  Also, Amelia loves having her nails painted (and anything girly like that), so the evening before her birthday, my mom and I surprised her with a trip to a nail salon for her first real manicure.  At first, Amelia refused, saying that she wanted ME to paint them instead... (Kids!)  After watching for a while, though, she relented and ended up with glittery fuchsia fingernails. 

Five going on fifteen

My birthday finally rolls around at the end of the month.  Unsurprisingly, since I'm usually the one behind the camera, the only picture I have is this one from my phone:

Louisa and me, sharing my new scarf from Lindsey and Grant

But don't worry, Chad definitely made me a cherry pie, and it was delicious.  You'll just have to take my word for it. 

August also included a visit from my mom at the beginning of the month and a visit from my brother at the end.  Here were the highlights:

At the movies with Nonna!

No visit from Nonna would be complete without a trip to the Common

At the beach in York, ME with Uncle Grant, playing in the waves and exploring the tide pools

Sandy baby feet

Post-beach lunch.  And ice cream.  And taffy!



They love their Uncle Grant.

Take Five

As I begin to type this, it's 9:57 PM, on August 23rd.

Amelia was born at this very minute, exactly five years ago.  Her arrival into this world was not what one would call "smooth"...

After nearly 30 hours of labor, I was exhausted, had a fever and a high white blood cell count, and was stuck at 8 cm, despite having my Pitocin cranked way up.  As a result, around 9:30, I was wheeled back into the OR for a C-section. 

I'm pretty fuzzy on the events immediately preceding Amelia's birth.  I don't really remember getting back to the OR or all of the prep work that, after two subsequent C-sections, I know took place.  Like I said, I was tired and sick.  I do remember the odd sensation of her being pulled out, though -- lots of pressure and tugging but no pain.  And I remember throwing up afterwards...  I definitely remember Chad bringing my baby girl over for me to see (FINALLY) while I was being stitched up, and marveling at her tiny fingers and perfect nose while we (okay, I) named her -- Amelia Anne.  And I will never forget holding her for the first time, her solid warmth and her sweet baby smell, after getting back to my labor and delivery room. 

Just two days old...

 Has it really been five years?

Amelia assures me that, yes, she really IS five years old.  In some ways, it's hard to believe that it's been that long.  And yet, it's often hard to remember what our life was like before our oldest arrived! 

...And about two weeks before her fifth birthday!

So happy FIFTH birthday to Amelia, our independent, helpful, talkative, very tall, skinny, brave, clever, sometimes shy, giggly, occasionally sassy, (almost) always sweet, big/little girl. 

Here's hoping that this year brings fewer surprise challenges than last year... like, maybe no surgeries?  :) 

No matter what, we love you so much, Amelia!

One, two... THREE!

I promise to get back to our summer soon, but before I backtrack through July, allow me to jump ahead to the present momentarily... Because tomorrow (which actually arrives in half an hour) Ramona will be three years old!  That's right, my middle child, my mini me, is turning THREE.

Ramona at three DAYS old...

Having been through age three with one kiddo already, I am somewhat wary of what this year will bring... Terrible twos?  Nah, three is so much worse!  Precocious child that she is, Ramona seems to have hit this difficult phase a couple of months early: more fit-throwing, more defiance, more just plain disagreeable-ness (if that's a word).  On the other hand, age three is also bringing more independence, more reasoning, and more active imagining.

And Ramona really is such a fun little girl.  She's goofy and generous and loving and creative, and I can't wait to see how she grows and changes over the next year.

...and at about a week shy of three YEARS old.  How time flies!

 

Happy birthday, Ramona Florence!  We love you oh so very much.  (Even when you're sobbing that you don't want to go to bed because you're just NOT tired...) 

How Did It Get So Late So Soon? (The Rest of June)

The above poem by the good doctor captures exactly how I feel about this summer so far.  I can't believe that it's already August!  That means birthdays are around the corner, the days are getting shorter, and Amelia and Ramona will be back in school in just over a month...  I really wish time would slow down just a little bit.  I also wish that I could catch this poor blog back up to the present!  In order to do so, I am going to have to include a couple of miscellany posts.

So here's the rest of our June!

A couple of weeks after school let out for the summer, the girls' swim classes ended, as well.  (The Y actually runs a summer session now, which it didn't in previous years, but we find it better not to commit to -- and pay for -- things like that on summer weekends.)  I got quite a few pictures of our little fish during one of the last classes.

Loving swim class at the Y!

Amelia hit a major milestone during this session: She can REALLY swim!  All on her own, without any flotation devices.  SO proud of her. 

Louisa's first session of swim lessons started out a little on the shaky side, but ended in success! 

Another fun thing we did in June was spend a day at Six Flags New England, courtesy of my office.  You'd think that we would have been theme-parked-out after four days at Disney and one at Universal just a week earlier, but we were game for one more day of long lines and kiddie rides.  Turns out, we didn't really have to contend with the former!  Lines were extremely short to non-existent, which was a welcome change.  The girls had a blast.

Amelia and Ramona rode on the skyway, in a "hot air balloon," in cars, in teacups, in a boat... and Louisa rode in the stroller!

In addition to the rides, we also got to meet a few characters.  That part was a little anti-climactic for the girls, especially compared to Disney, since they had NO idea who the Looney Tunes characters were.  But they wanted to see them, anyway!  No fear of people in mascot-type costumes for our kids.

Meeting Tweety, Sylvester, and Bugs (after I explained who they were... )

The middle of the month brought one of my favorite days of the year: Bunker Hill Day.

Not every town gets to celebrate its own personal holiday, but Charlestown does!  To commemorate the Battle of Bunker Hill (which, yes, actually took place on Breed's Hill), the town runs a road race in the morning of the Sunday following June 17 (which is actual Bunker Hill Day), and then holds a parade in afternoon. 

We typically watch the parade down on Bunker Hill Street, and then walk a block up and watch the whole thing again as it turns onto Bartlett.  When you live a stone's throw away, why not, right?  My favorites are always the fife and drum corps and the bagpipers.  So very Boston/Charlestown!

Does YOUR hometown have its own holiday and parade?  So grateful that ours does!

June also included a couple of birthday parties for Amelia's buddies: One at a local park with a soccer class and another at Jump On In, a nearby "inflatable playground."  The girls had a great time at both!


Birthday party fun was had by all!

Chad took the girls strawberry-picking at the end of the month.  I was sad to miss it this year, but we just couldn't squeeze it in on the weekend, so it was either have Chad and the girls go without me or skip strawberry season altogether!  I still got to enjoy multiple servings of strawberry shortcake, so I'd say it was the right decision.  

Did they eat more than they brought home?  Maybe...

 Throw in a rainbow and a bathtub photo shoot, and that was our June!

Gorgeous rainbow over the Monument and a cute little belly

Next up: July!

Universal and Louisa's Very First Birthday

Thursday was the day that I was most looking forward to during our Florida trip.  Why, you ask?  It was Louisa's first birthday.  AND we celebrated it by paying a visit to Hogwarts (aka, Universal Orlando)!  SO cool!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

When the birthday girl got up, she got a special breakfast: Munchkins!  All of our Boston-born girls love their Dunkin Donuts. 

Birthday breakfast for the brand new one-year-old!

After breakfast, we set off for Universal.  Making a great day even better, we were joined by Nickie, a very dear friend of mine from college, and her husband Steve, who live outside of Fort Myers and made the drive up to spend the day us. 

Our first stop in Universal was Seuss Landing.  I was anxious to get to Harry Potter world, but Seuss Landing was pretty cool itself, was more age-appropriate for the girls, and we had to go through it to get to Hogwarts, anyway!  Also, first thing in the morning, there were NO lines.  (I think that was the only time that happened the whole week we were in Orlando.)  So we got (unexpectedly) SOAKED on the One Fish, Two Fish ride, zipped through a life-size version of The Cat in the Hat, and rode a carousel full of Seussian creations. 

We had these rides in Seuss Landing almost entirely to ourselves!

When I couldn't stand it any longer, we walked up the path to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter... 

Entering Hogsmeade!  I was giddy.

All aboard!

In a word: Amazing!

The rides really weren't anything spectacular (although we didn't ride the roller coaster that actually went through the castle -- it had a two hour wait!) and it was a little too crowded (long lines kept us out of Ollivander's), but I felt like I had stepped into the imagination of J.K. Rowling (or onto the movie set, anyway) when walking through Hogsmeade and looking up at Hogwarts.  The detail that went into the design of the whole thing was super impressive.

Hogwarts!  I SO wish I could attend...

Because the wait for the main roller coaster ride was so long (and I don't think the girls could have ridden anyway), we opted to take the "walking tour" of Hogwarts.  Really, you just walk next to the line waiting for the roller coaster, but it was still neat to see the talking pictures and other Harry Potter stuff throughout the castle.  We also had a butterbeer in Hogsmeade, bought a chocolate frog and some Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans (which look suspiciously like Jelly Bellies) at Honeydukes, and walked by Hagrid's hut while we were there.

Nickie and me enjoying our butterbeer: Cheers to catching up with old friends!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  WONDERFUL!

AND, Amelia rode her first real rollercoaster: the Flight of the Hippogriff.  Nothing that went upside down or super fast, but it was a real rollercoaster!  She said that it was fun, but she did not want to ride it again.  In all honesty, I think her favorite part was seeing the huge hippogriff sitting in its nest while we waited in line.  She kept asking if it was "real."  J    

Amelia and Nickie post-rollercoaster ride.  Amelia said it "shook up her brain"!

After a leisurely lunch at a covered picnic table down an alley and behind Gringotts Bank (they've got a perfect set-up back there), the grandparents took the girls back to Seuss Landing so we could ride a more adult rollercoaster.  After wandering through the underground line for what felt like miles and hours (since you couldn't see far enough ahead of or behind you to judge how far you had to go or had already traveled), we made it to the Dragon Challenge.  I really love a good rollercoaster.  The more loops and twists and corkscrews, the better!   

The birthday girl at lunch

 

Tip for tackling theme parks with little ones: Bring some new little toys with you.  Giving the girls new toys at the parks kept them from begging to buy thing incessantly and also provided sufficient entertainment when in long lines!

We met back up with the girls and the grands at Seuss Landing, where they had ridden the Sneetches ride and were having a blast at the If I Ran the Zoo play/water area.  I guess we should have brought their swimsuits, but they didn't mind getting their clothes (extremely) wet.  It was hot enough that I kind of wished it would have been socially acceptable for me to do the same...    

Getting soaked and loving every minute of it.

We walked through Marvel Super Hero Island on our way out of Universal, and got lucky -- Spiderman had just arrived!  We waited in a not-too-long line so Amelia could meet him and have him sign her autograph book.  After three days at Magic Kingdom and Epcot, Amelia's main concern when we were in the Wizarding World was where Harry Potter was, and she was bummed that we never found him, so Spiderman was a good consolation prize.  J  After that, we finally made it back to the car.  It was a very busy first birthday for Louisa!

No birthday would be complete without cake, though, and our little one-year-old got her very own cupcake back at the hotel.  Louisa was completely unsure about what to do with the candle (we blew it out for her after she tried to grab the flame), but the same was NOT true for the cake or the frosting.  I felt a little bad that she had a store-bought cupcake for her birthday -- her sisters have always had cakes that were homemade and somewhat elaborately decorated -- but Louisa didn't seem to mind in the least!

 

She is not timid.  And/or she just REALLY loves sugar.  That's my girl!

Yes, she went straight into the tub after she finished her cake.  And after she was adequately cleaned, Louisa even got to open some gifts!  Nickie and Steve brought her a set of squeaky rubber blocks and a stuffed purple dog that can be programmed/personalized.  Both have become favorite toys, but especially that dog.  I'm not sure if it's because it says her name all the time or because it plays the Itsy Bitsy Spider (currently her favorite song), but she LOVES it. 

Altogether, I'd say that Louisa had a pretty great first birthday.  At least, I thoroughly enjoyed it!  Too bad she won't remember it, but we'll just have to take her back another time...

Catching Up -- April and May

My apologies, I know I'm behind on my blogging...

Several posts ago, I mentioned that we were preparing for some changes around here.  It really was just one change: I got a new job!  After five and a half years at a law firm, I decided to make the jump to an in-house position, and accepted an offer to work in the compliance office of a Cambridge-based pharmaceutical company.  I'm one month in now, and even more excited about the move than I was before I started.

Anyway, in the interest of catching up, this post will be light on the narrative and heavy on the photographic.  J

One of the girls' favorite things to do in our "backyard" is to "garden."

Digging

I put the word "garden" in quotation marks because gardening to them really just means digging for worms.  (I put the word "backyard" in quotation marks because we actually have no yard; instead, we have a roughly 8x12-foot patio with a narrow flowerbed bordering one side and one corner... )

They both really love worms.  A LOT.

Louisa looks skeptical about the gardening thing here, but really is happy to hang out on the bricks, poking at moss.

In any case, it provides some solid entertainment for Amelia and Ramona and, as a bonus, always ends with a good long bath!

One of Ramona's friends from preschool had a birthday party at the end of April.  Let me tell you, this was QUITE the party.

The "Dressing Room"

Held at the Boston Ballet School, this party included costumes, a ballet lesson, story time with a real ballerina, boxed lunches for all of the kiddos, multiple kinds of dessert, Pinterest-perfect decorations, and a table full of adult food and beverages.

Entranced by the contents of the dessert table: cupcakes with pink frosting, meringues in pink wrappers, cut-out cookies with pink frosting, pink and white popcorn, and pink milk... I think I know what the birthday girl's favorite color is!

Oh, there was also a professional photographer!  I haven't seen any of those photos, but given the level of cuteness in the room, I'm guessing that they're to die for.  These are just a few that I took.

Ramona Ballerina

Ramona had SO much fun.  Amelia was pretty jealous that she wasn't invited.  We had to remind her that she's been to more than one party Ramona didn't get to go to...

Love this shot of my sweet girl

Another big even at the end of April: Amelia got a haircut!

Amelia's second-ever haircut (excluding trims), and the first she requested

This was a big deal, considering that she has insisted for the past two years that she wanted to grow her hair "as long as Rapunzel's"...

Watching the progress

Instead, about six weeks ago, Amelia decided on a whim that she wanted to cut (almost) all of it off!

Lots of hair on the floor!

I made her wait a few days, to ensure she really wanted to cut her hair and wasn't going to dissolve into tears afterwards...

Having her hair dried

I needn't have worried -- she didn't regret it in the least.  I guess she is my daughter after all!  J

And all of the sudden she looks like she's ready for high school...

After wrapping up work at the law firm, I took a few days off before I started my new job.  We spent one of those days at the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, RI.

Louisa checking out the elephants

Amazingly, we had lived in Boston for almost six years before paying a visit to our nation's smallest state.

Amelia modeling her new haircut at the zoo

We had a great time.  The weather was gorgeous and we got to see lots of animals.

From anteater to zebra...

  We will definitely be back!

Finding frogs

Some more shots from our May:

Mother's Day with my girls

My gorgeous lilacs

Duck-watching at the Public Garden

Cute little duckling!

Walking around the Public Garden

No trip to the Public Garden is complete without paying a visit to Make Way for Ducklings!

First carousel ride of the season!  (Ramona opted out, due to a "bwister" on her foot.)

Aviators

Post(s) on our end-of-May trip to Disney World coming soon!