Lily's 3rd Birthday At the Aquarium

We had big plans for Lily's birthday! All she wanted to do was go to the amusement park and ride a roller coaster! We had been talking to her about it all week, and she was SO excited! Unfortunately we woke up on her birthday morning to rain!! We did some quick thinking and changed our plans so she would still have a wonderful birthday doing something new! We chose to go to the Norwalk aquarium, which we have never been to before! I nice fun indoor activity!

But first, to calm her down from finding out we couldn't go to the amusement park, we led her to her big present from us...a grocery stand and shopping cart!!

Lily of course loved them, as we knew she would! She started playing right away, forgetting ll about the amusement park (well..not really...but at least she was happy!)

On our way to the aquarium, we stopped at the SoNo Brewhouse for a breakfast brunch! We all had a wonderful time at breakfast, feasting on waffles, eggs benedict, lobster stew, bacon, and bagels with lox. (Well, Lily feasted on fruit, muffins, and bagels with cream cheese!) It was a wonderful breakfast! And for the first time we took Ella and Violet out of their car seats to join us at the table!


They made things interesting at the table, with them reacting for everything in their sight!

And Lily was particularly loopy with it being her birthday and all! We let it slide though (She wasn't to bad really...just fidgety!)



Ella the thumb sucker?


Lily had fun playing with all the condiments! This place just just stunning too! So much to look at!


We then made our way to the aquarium, which we discovered was packed with people! There was a line all the way out the building and around the corner to get in! We almost turned around and left to find something else to do...but decided to stick it out. It may have been a bad decision on our part...but Lily had fun!

Once inside, we made our way over to the seals. There was a break in the rain, so we were able to check them out from the outside, where there weren't as many people!


This Little girls name was Lily too! We met a lot of Lily's today!



The girls checking out the Seals:


Then we headed to check out the penguins!


Inside we found some turtles:



And a big sea turtle! Lily loved this guy:


And we all enjoyed the jelly fish!


They are so pretty (behind glass!)


We then checked out some tropical fish. It drives me crazy when kids these days refer to this fish as "Dory" from Finding Nemo...but alas I don't know the proper name of this fish! It still drives me crazy!



At least Lily isn't one of those kids calling clown fish "Nemo". She was telling everyone (and I do mean everyone) in the area "That's not Nemo! That's Nemo clown fish! That's his home (points to the anemone) It stings! (but it sounds like she says stinks!) I love that she was listening to me and learned that they are called clown fish...and that she needed to inform everyone his proper name! (This little girls name was Lily too btw! Haha!) This whole moment was my favorite part of the day!



We then went to check out the sharks!



And then Lily found her favorite...the touch tank!


Touching the whelk snail inside a whelk:



Touching star fish:


After wondering around a bit seeing some other displays, we found a play area for younger kids! Lily had a lot of fun in this area collecting fish and building herself a kitchen!


We also found a hippo to play on!



We then found a boat play scape! Lily had fun driving the boat! (and did a very good job at waiting for her turn if I do say so myself!)


And then there was this food display (all about the correct fish to eat to be environmentally sound) Lily had fun pretending to eat everything!



The girls passed out of course:

Before we left, we found the Meerkat display. There was a bubble you could go inside that put you right in the middle of the display! Very neat! (And also very scary for Mommy when it got filled with about 20 children, and Lily got stuck and couldn't get out!)


Lily loved it though!




She loved it so much that she cried the whole way to the car when I finally got her out! All in all we had a fun day! It was very crowded, and I don't feel this aquarium managed the crowds very well...but it was a nice little aquarium with some nice displays! Lily had a fun time, and that's all that matters!

At home that night we pulled out the rest of Lily's presents!


Elmo in Grouch Land:



A baby doll carrier that is just like Mommy's (Really, it is! Made by Ergo baby just like my carrier! Wonderful products!)



And play fruit and ice cream to go with her new shopping cart!


We opened those while on skype with Nanie and Papa! It was nice they got to join in some of her birthday celebration!

And lastly, we finished the night with cake for dinner! (We were all still full from brunch...no need for dinner too!) This was my practice cake for her party next weekend! I think it came out pretty well...and it was definitely delicious!


I hope Lily had a wonderful 3rd birthday! I still can't believe she is 3 already! To me she will always be a little baby. It's hard watching her grow up so fast, but I hope we are giving her lots of fun memories to look back on when she's even older! Love you baby girl! Happy Birthday!

Happy 3rd Birthday Lily!!!!

I can't believe you are 3 today!!! Happy birthday Princess! I hope your day is wonderful!! (Even if this rain may be ruining our amusement park plans!)

Lily's First Hair Cut

Today we finally got your hair cut! We have being saying for about a year now that we needed to go get it cut, but Mommy has been having some trepidation about getting those beautiful curls cut off! Your hair only curls at the ends, and it's so pretty...I didn't want to lose those! But at 3, it needed to finally be done!

You were so exited you we getting it cut! You told everyone at little gym this morning what we were doing, and announced it to strangers at Breugers. You practically skipped into the salon (called Cuts for Peanuts)

First a couple of before shots of you rag-a-muffin hair:


Long wavy (messy) curls

Our hair dresser, Karen, let you pick out what you wanted to sit in, and you picked the fire engine!


She got you set up in it and got started on putting your hair in a little pony tail so she could cut of the first lock for me to save for your baby book.



First cut!

Showing you your first curl


And then down to business making that hair of yours beautiful!



You were so good and stayed still the whole time, and listened to her directions on which way to look! I was very proud you weren't the wiggle worm I was expecting!




All done! It was really quick! The whole cut probably took only 5 minutes! Taking a quick peak in the mirror while Karen was getting some hair ties!


Letting you pick out a hair tie. You picked a sparkly pink one!


Putting your bangs up in a cute side pony tail


The big reveal! Don't you look beautiful!


You were very pleased with your new do!


First curl

After you were all done, Karen let you pick out a prize for being so good! You picked a green apple lollipop!

You were very excited about it!


Outside Mommy of course wanted to take some photo's of your new hair cut...and of course you were not cooperating!


This is what you did when I asked you to smile like a princess:



I'm so glad we finally got you beautiful hair cut! The experience with Karen was great, and your new hair do is beautiful! I'm glad you had so much fun with it too! Now I just wait to see if your beautiful curls come back!

8 Months

Dear Ella and Violet,

Happy 8 months girls!!! Another month has flown by in the blink of an eye! I can't believe it!! This month has been a huge one developmental wise though! This is my favorite age in the first year, where you are discovering new things, and learning new skills almost daily!!

The most exciting thing this month is Ella is crawling!!!! You started this month getting up onto your knees a lot and rocking. You are constantly on our knees! You even started moving backward and in circles on your knees! And you starting being able to get to a sitting position from your crawling position on July 22nd. Then the night of July 26th, you took your first tentative steps forward on your knees!! Then the next night you crawling across the length of the hallway!! We are so proud! Since then you have been crawling like crazy! You have gotten so good at it in such a short time! Now you are constantly following me around the house, and always getting into the cat food! As soon as I put you on the floor it seems like you head straight for the cat food! We've had to shut the door to the bathroom when ever you are on the floor now, to keep you from eating it!

You've had another huge motor development this month Ella. On August 10th, you started pulling up to standing!! The first time I saw you standing up by yourself, you were trying to climb the stairs! I walked into the study, and there you were standing at the stairs, with one knee up on the first step! It was very scary for me! For the rest of that day you practiced standing at any chance you could get...pulling up on me, on the baby scale, on any toy you come across! You perfected it that day, and were a pro at pulling up to standing that night! Since then you've been pulling up at any chance you get, and are even letting go with one hand now! Slow down baby girl! You have been flying through motor development milestones this month....perfecting sitting up, moving from crawl to sitting, crawling and now pulling up to standing...crazy month for you Ella!!

Ever since you've been so mobile Ella, you've been like a different baby! You are SO happy all the time now! You're laughing, and smiling and playing all the time! It's like you were just aching to move around before, and now you are, and you are just thrilled with yourself! It's so wonderful seeing you so happy!

As much as Ella has been cruising through the motor milestones, Violet, you have been flying through cognitive milestones this month! On July 24th, you started waving! We were leaving Kyan's 3rd birthday party, and you started waving back at Becky's family! You love to wave now, when someone waves at you! Then on August 7th you showed us your first sign! While at little gym you were eating puffs with Daddy out in the lobby, and when I poked my head out to check on you guys, you looked right at me and signed "eat"!!! I was SO excited to see that! You also may be signing milk, but I'm not sure yet!

Another fun and really exciting thing you've started to do Violet is play a copy cat game with me! I'll click my tongue, and you will click your back at me. Then I will press my lips together and make that motor boat sound...and you will follow! You love playing this follow the leader game! I hope you continue it as you start to learn how to make babbling sounds!

Speaking of babbling, you both are talking like crazy now! You both love talking! Lots of Ba Ba Ba still, and Ya ya ya, and Ma MA Ma! We are still waiting on Dada. I sometimes think I hear it...but not sure yet! It's so much fun watching you both develop your languages skills! You love talking to each other too!

Ella, You are also starting to wave, and on August 13th you clapped for the first time!! You clap all the time now! Violet, you also started to clap on August 15th, at your first Pawsox game!!

Violet, you are doing great with motor development too! You are not crawling yet, but are getting so close! You are getting up onto your knees, and rocking all the time! You have also started to pull yourself up to standing as of the 15th!! It gets crazy now when I am on the floor with the two of you...you both climb all over me and pull up to standing on me!

In other exciting new, we have seen the appearance of teeth!! On August 11th Ella had two tooth cut through her gums! I noticed that you were a little warm that afternoon Ella, so I checked your gums to see what was going on, and sure enough you bottom right tooth was cutting through! I kept checking it through the day, because you other bottom tooth was right there too...and sure enough, right before bed we noticed that your bottom left tooth had cut through! They still aren't all the way up yet....but are getting bigger by the day! Violet, you still have no signs that a tooth is coming! Someday!

For food this month, you both have started eating more foods with texture...and have even started to feed yourself some finger foods! You both have a pretty good pincher grasp already. Violet, you are able to feed yourself really well already. You both love to eat puffs and mum mums! You have also had cut up bananas! Your first real finger food!!

One of the funnest things this month is watching you form a relationship with each other! This is the first month you have really started some parallel play! You follow each other around the house now, going after the same toy often! You are always at each others side though! And you love talking to each other, and handing off toys to each other! It's so nice seeing you together all the time!

It has been an amazing month with lots of new things for you both! I can't wait to see what the next month holds for us all! You are both growing up so quickly! I wish you would slow down, but I am so proud of all you have accomplished so far! I love you both with all my heart!

Love,

Mommy

Violet:

Trying Yogurt for the first time:









Ella, trying Yogurt for the first time:



So proud of herself for standing:





Happy 8 months girls!!