Thursday, October 20, 2011

3 years and counting....

October 11, 2008-the day that changed my life forever. The day Justin let me be his better half FOR LIFE. The day I married my best friend and really starting living. In short, one of the best days of my life!

Justin and I just celebrated our third wedding anniversary and even though we now are responsible for two small children, the day was just as special as the actual day we got married. Of course we had to work and our anniversary was on a boring Tuesday but it was still special. My only wish for this year was that Justin had to plan how we would celebrate and he would have to suprise me and what a suprise it was.

We celebrated our anniversary the Saturday following our actual anniversary. The night started with dinner. PF CHANGS...is there any better Chinese food out there?!? Dinner was amazing. Of course I had my usual but for some reason, it tasted better than normal (perhaps because it is definitely not part of my weight watchers eating plan)! Then Justin and I hopped over to the Funny Bone in Virginia Beach and saw Eddie Griffin. He was funny (as expected) and the Funny Bone actually has some great comedians coming to town, so we might just be frequenting that side of the water a little more in the future. The night was relaxing, child free, stress free, and exactly what we needed. Justin and I had the chance to be a married couple and enjoy eachother's company but I must say I missed my little men and was happy to see their smiling faces on Sunday morning. So our anniversary was great and I am sure next year it will be even better!

Some pictures from our special day:





Until next time....

Two months!

So Colin is now two months and had his two month appointment this past Tuesday. He now weighs 11lbs12oz, is 23inches long/tall (I say it that way because he's not standing yet, so long seems more appropriate) and the nurse said his brain is growing perfectly (head size 15 3/4inches). The doctor examined him and said he's "perfectly proportioned" and was shocked to find out he has almost rolled over. The other day while I was in the kitchen and Justin was hanging with the boys, he said if Colin had sneezed, he would've rolled over. So hopefully any day now he'll do it!

Sleeping is getting a little bit easier on all of us. I like to call Colin our little night owl because he stays up most nights as late as Justin and I do. Most nights he fights sleep and finally succumbs around 9:30 or 10:00pm. This is taking some adjustment on my part because we have had two years of being spoiled by Ethan going to bed at 8:00pm AT THE LATEST! But finally this morning Colin slept until 5:00am (after falling asleep at 10:00pm). It felt great getting up so "late" to feed him and I am really hoping the trend continues. What has also helped the sleep situation is that since I returned to work, Justin and I have been doing a great job of turns on who gets up with Colin. So every other night I get to sleep all night! While I love my bonding time with Colin all alone during his middle of the night/morning feeding, I also love my sleep. I know it won't always be like this, so I'm just soaking it up as much as I can!

Take a look at what the little man looks like these days:




Until next time...

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Catching up!

I know, I know...where have I been? What have I been doing? And most importantly, why have I not been blogging? Well since Justin is at work and NOT doing school work, I can finally catch up on the life and times of the Mandell's.

We took our (what's becoming annual) beach trip with the family to Sandbridge Beach and had the best time! Ethan had a better time this year than he did last year. This year we were able to get him used to the sand which was a task and I am hoping next year we won't have to go through the same dramatics like we did this year. Colin did not really do much but eat and take extended naps, but really that's what was expected of the little guy who turned 4 weeks old while we were there. We also had a chance to hang out with tons of family, eat some great meals, and while the time in the sun was limited it certainly was nice to just get out of town for a little bit and relax as much as possible.


Colin hanging by the pool

 Three of the four dudes
Ethan testing out the sand


We really had a great time and are so fortunate to have family that provides these great vacations for us. Our hope is to one day be able to be the ones providing the vacation for the family.

The boys also had some check ups this past month. Ethan had his two year check up. He is in the 90th percentile for his weight and 80th for height. All I can say is he has come a long way. When he was born he was below the 50th percentile for both so he has grown a lot and it has been awesome to watch. I can now have conversations with my little dude, he can tell me how he's feeling, and we can enjoy bundles of laughs together. It really does put into perspective how time flies. I feel like just yesterday we were painting his bedroom and now he's his own person telling me what he likes and what he doesn't like.

Colin went in for his four week check up and he has become such a little ham. He actually put on almost three more pounds. He also has already grown two more inches. He's definitely going to be our big boy. Hopefully he doesn't push around his older brother too much :) We are still getting to know the ins and outs of our newest little guy and so far we've decided we are going to keep him (insert laugh here)! He really is a great baby and it's amazing how similar he is to his older brother but how different he is at the same time. Maybe it's because we have already gone through the newborn stage so we knew what to expect and we aren't over analyzing everything like we did with Ethan. He's still not sleeping through the night yet but that's expected and we are actually about to test him out in his crib for the first time tonight. The crib will be in our room for a little while but it's time for him to get acclimated to sleeping on his back, in his own bed, and hopefully (soon) through the whole night.


I also went back to work this past month. This is my second week back and honestly I do not even feel like I left. I was gone for 7 weeks and it flew by like you would not believe. Things are the same at work and honestly, I do not mind. I love being at home with my children, but I am also the type of person who needs things to do throughout the day so working is a welcome change to napping and watching reruns of CSI (well not the napping part). Justin also had something big happen. He went back to school and started classes! He's been working diligently and we are so proud that he had taken this step in his life. He's really just too smart and this is a welcomed step in the right direction
for him. So congratulations Justin, we love you, and we know you're going to do great!

Here are some more recent pictures:








Until next time...