Sponseller Family

"Catching up" with October

2011-12-31T14:25:00.000-05:00

Catching up . . . Unfortunately when my plate gets too full, there are things that get pushed to the back burner. This blog has been on the back burner for way too long. What makes me upset is that when I don't post right away I forget some of the little details or memories . . . I'm finally completely caught up with downloading, editing and then uploading my photos in hopes to stay better on top of everything. And I know there is no way to do it all, not even close, but I will make an effort to push something else to the back burner next time I have too many balls to juggle . . .

- October -

Shannon turned SIX months old!! She had pretty much mastered the art of sitting up all by herself too! I wanted to mark the big occasion of her being half of a year old with a fun photoshoot by Mommy . . .

Shannon's smile is simply one of my most favorite things, her teeth were just starting to poke out too!

Although she looks like my thinker John here she really is quite fiesty!

Quick outfit and location change . . . I LOVE playing dress up with my little girl!

Checking out the grass . . .

"You talking to me?"

Love!

Happy Baby!!

Who knows what they see sometimes . . .

Big brother John wanted in the photos too! "Look at the bubbles Shannon!"

It took him a little while but he figured it out pretty well!

Time is a funny thing . . . I remember six months felt so much longer than six months when John was a baby, he seemed so grown up and not baby-like any more, it was an accomplishment, reaching a whole SIX months . . . and now with Shannon? I feel like I blinked and bam she was six months old, definitely still my little baby and not grown up at all . . .

We were still trying like crazy to get her to enjoy baby food . . . to some success . . .

But she was still a bit unsure of it all . . . it's still a work in progress.

Okay gonna go ahead and admit something that might get me nominated for worst-mom-of-the-year award. . . Shannon was not getting daily baths, or even every-other-day baths, there was even a time when I wasn't sure the last time she had a bath, it was just that . . . you know what? There's no good excuse, really. Anyway, I saw a really cute Johnson and Johnson commercial of a baby taking a bath in the kitchen sink and thought, yes! I can do that (almost) daily! So my dirty baby started getting more regular baths in the kitchen sink and we love it. When you really think about it how dirty is a six month old getting on a daily basis? Right? No?

Some cute photos of Shannon being cute . . .

Hello?

"Yes, I'm adorable and I know it!"

Next up was a fun get together at the Sponseller house. When Victoria and I were both still pregnant, Bernie got us cute matching outfits for the girls and we finally got a chance to show them off . . . Just imagine me on my belly with my camera, Victoria and Bernie hovering over me making monkey noises, rattling toys and yelling "Shannoooon, Scaaaarlet looook hereee!!" . . . and yet neither of them looking at the camera at the same time!

"Let's see how long we can get the adults to act like this? Look away, just look away!"

"Oh Hey! I know you!!"

Do you see the attitude on little Nonners? hehehe

We couldn't forget about getting John in one!

And a good photo of Uncle Matt and Shannon!

Grandma Betty turned 91 this year and the way I look at it any birthday after 90 should have a big celebration! You wouldn't know Betty was 91, though, she's sharp as a tack, witty and will remind you of her years of experience should you forget it for a second. ;) We had a very nice brunch at a local clubhouse and enjoyed just being together.

Happy Birthday Betty!

Happy Family!

Nothing better than having family love on your babies!

What?!

John and Janet, he loves her so!

Since we had the kids dressed nicely, we thought we should go get pumpkins for carving . . . (and again with the "not looking at the camera at the same time" bit!)

This one! No! That one! Wait, how about that one waaaay over there!

Hey scarecrow!

:)

She looked soooo grown up here! And sooo much like John it's crazy! Also, do you see that little tongue-curl-smile thing? It kills me!

A few days later we carved our pumpkin and by we I mean Jeff!

Whatcha doing Daddy?

Tadaa!

And here he is, our happy little pumpkin. And since we live in humidityville, this guy grew mold pretty fast and found his way out the door just a few days later.

It was time for school photos for the kids which is another thing that makes time seem to fly by! We got these cute photos of the kids, doncha just love the fake backdrops and forced smiles?

More proof of baby food dislike and kitchen sink baths . . .

Maybe if we let her feed herself?

Ummm, nope!

Yeah, I still don't like it . . .

But this seems like fun!!!

Big brother John even wanted to help out! :)

These get filed under "just cause" and "love" . . .

That smile seriously gets me every time!

And I would just like to take a moment to discuss the overload of Shannon and lack of John photos here . . . John flip flops between "Mommy get your camera!!" to "Mommy put the camera AWAY!!" and October seemed to be an "AWAY!!" month, sorry buddy!

Next up was a trip to see Grandma Doris in her new place. Grandma Doris and Grandma Betty are both living in a lovely place now, just a few doors away from each other. I've heard that it's pretty rocking during Bingo hours!! ;)

As much as I would like to deny it, Grandma Doris is getting older and no longer the marathon runner go-go-go Grandma I once remember. She's still sweet as pie, willing to talk to anyone about just about anything, but I can tell that she's finding a slower pace is more her style these days . . . I just love it when I get to see her interact with my kids and love on them, the way she looks at them is what gets me. It's like she's happily surprised to see them every time. There's a twinkle of wonder in both of their eyes . . . can't quite describe it, but it's there and I want to remember that.

Neither of them looking at me but you can see the love . . .

Yes, there it is!

We enjoyed our time with Grandma Doris and even sang a round or two of "Mairzy Doats" (by the way I seriously thought of naming my Etsy shop by that song since I learned to crochet from Grandma Doris and she has always sang that song to us) Good memory!!

Before we knew it, the month was coming to a close and it was time to get dressed up and have a Happy Halloween. Now last year Bernie made John a beautiful, err, scary dinosaur costume that I loved and he refused to wear it. I tried really, REALLY hard but he flat out refused to put it on his body so we just threw on a football jersey at the last minute and that was that. This year I didn't get my hopes up, in fact, work was busy and kinda stressing me out and I didn't want to go through the effort of finding a costume only to have it thrown to the floor, so Jeff went out and picked up costumes for the kids, Buzz Lightyear for John and Ladybug for Shannon. Holding my breath we started to get dressed and initially John pushed back, but with a little gentle pursuading we got him to wear it and he LOVED it. Shannon was sooo ready for her nap and kinda zonked out so she just happily went along with it as well.

Okay so you can see John was kinda not having it here, but he had the outfit on so this goes in the success file!

An attempt to get us all in a photo . . . yay!

Zoooonked out!!!

Then someone turned on the "I'm excited" switch! Watch out! To infinity and beyond!!!

Cousins! :)

Family!

More Family!

Then it was time to go Trick-or-Treating! (by the way I know you're loving John's candy "bucket", nice right?)

Success! :)

It was a great month and I wish I could remember more of the details . . . the one advantage to "catching up" is that I get to relive the fun times. Many more memories to catch up on coming up soon . . .

September in a post

2011-10-25T19:28:00.000-04:00

Yeah, so this whole keeping up with life on the blog thing is so not happening. I can't even begin to explain how busy life is and how little time I have to do anything it seems. We hit the ground running at a painfully early time in the morning, run out the door nearly always a few minutes late, I arrive to work no later than 7:30, blink, and it's 3:00 (sometimes I don't even have time to use the bathroom, not kidding), Jeff or I pick up the kids right on the edge of too late, eat dinner and get into bed at another painfully early time, rinse and repeat. And now it's October, not even early October, the month's almost over and then someone has the nerve to tell me we are less than 90 days from Christmas, excuse me while I have a mommy tantrum in the other room. Where's the wine? :)

Anywho . . . what did we do in September? Let's find out!

Goooo Buckeyes! While, yes, we are fans no matter what, it's been a rough year to be a Buckeye. The team is not so hot because of some bad decisions made by good players whose positions were not recruited for and well, its tough to watch. It doesn't stop us from proudly wearing our Scarlet and Grey! Yay!

Shannon continues to LOVE baby food and cereal!

Well, we are working on it . . .

We enjoyed a fun morning at the zoo!

We love visiting the zoo!

John and Shannon continue to love on each other and make my heart swell.

We set up Shannon's exersaucer and at first it was a little overwhelming for her with stimulation overload, it's now a favorite toy that she really enjoys!

John was excited to show her all the bells and whistles!

Her face may be blurry, but I think you can tell how much fun she is having!

Shannon learned very quickly how to sit up all by herself, she had a little trial run with the Bumbo seat and was quickly doing it all by herself.

So proud of herself!!

And now without the Bumbo seat . . .

Okay and maybe a little help from Mommy too!

We had a fun afternoon at the park and Shannon tried out the gravel and a swing for the first time!

John went and became a teenager and told me he was "relaxing in his room watching TV"

Shannon showed off by sitting up with her cousin! These girls are just starting to play together and I love it!

Shannon right after a tubby, I just love the expressions she makes, what a ham!

Shannon's first teeth started poking through to say hello and Daddy quickly caught it!

Then there's this masterpiece . . . John drew a picture of a starfish . . . with an extra leg . . . and two shoes. Jeff and I laughed about this for quite some time, let me tell you!

So September sped past us and it seems October is going to as well. Holding on for dear life right now and waiting for life to take a deep breath and slow down a bit, something tells me this is just the beginning! I swear there were times when I would wish the days away and now oh what I would do for a slow hour of time with my family, doing something fun or (dare I even say) doing something for myself?!

I'm going to go all Oprah on you and end with this . . .

Thank you for this crazy, lovely, upside and inside out life! I love it!

One of those times . . .

2011-10-05T21:47:00.000-04:00

You know when you are in a moment that is so absolutely wonderful, no matter what you will remember it forever? That's what John and I had the other night. A wonderfully memorable moment that will forever be locked away in my mind as one of the best nights the two of us had together.

On a whim I decided to bring Johnathan to sunset a few weeks ago. I loved the idea of being spontaneous so I literally grabbed John, two towels and my camera and that was it. It wasn't until I got to the beach that I realized I didn't have any toys for John and neither one of us were wearing bathing suits. Turns out that was a happy little mistake that made all the difference.

We got there set up our towel and just sat, watching the sun set, enjoying being together. John really loves playing in sand, I think he could run his hands through it all day long!

Are these mangrove seeds? Not sure. We used them as pencils!

John wanted to get his toes wet so we ventured to the waters edge . . .

Here comes a wave!!!

And thats it right there, do you see that look on his face? Just before he had gotten the hem of his shorts wet, he looked back as if to say "Can I?" and I said "Go for it!" The look of fun, excitement and breaking the rules wrapped up with the best smile in the world!

And then he was off to get as wet and as covered in sand as possible!

If there was a contest of who was having the most fun at the beach that night, John won, hands down!

Mommy I'm all wet!!!!!!

I'm not sure if it was more fun for me to watch him or for him to look back at me and scream with joy.

The new happy dance . . .

Love

Then it turned into try-and-get-as-wet-and-as-sandy-as-possible I couldn't help but laugh

It was at this moment that I started thinking about how I was going to get him home since the previously mentioned lack of beach supplies . . .

And then I realized I didn't care if it made the biggest mess ever, it was SO worth it, so so worth it!

Waiting for the waves to come sweep him away . . .

The sun had already sunk beneath the horizon, we were working with the last few minutes of sunlight. My curious little boy went and turned up the curious and seriously studied the sand, the water, searching for the perfect little shell or pebble. It might sound ridiculous, but I found myself fighting back a few tears as I sat there and watched him.

Then, just like that, he looked up at me and said "Ok, let's go home." I stripped him down to his undies, wrapped him in a towel and ignored the small pile of sand that started growing on the floor of the back seat. On the way home he told me over and over that he had "SO MUCH FUUUUUN MOMMY!!!!" . . . .

Me too John, me too!

August (part three)

2011-10-02T14:47:00.001-04:00

Oh boy, so let's see where were we . . . .

The day after Shannon's Baptism Jeff and I went back to work. I thought it was going to be terrible, but there was so much going on, I was so over the top busy, I didn't get a chance to miss my babies too much. I mean, I missed them very much, but I didn't get a chance to sit and dwell about it.

We worked our way back to a normal of getting up before the sun, getting out the door shortly after, working and rushing back home to enjoy some snuggles and fun afternoons together all while counting down to the weekend.

John and Mommy watching movies we have on the couch. This is one of my most favorite things to do!!

I'm not surprised at all to find that John is interested in using my camera. He always asks to take a picture and it's the cutest thing ever. He puts the strap over his head and holds the camera up to his eye and moves his whole head around until he finds me. He took this photo and although Shannon was not happy I have to say it's a pretty darn good photo!

John's becoming more and more interested in having Shannon play with him. Here he is explaining all of his different cars, their names, the colors, and trying to have Shannon push them back to him. Love to see them like this.

He really wanted her to play back. One day John, one day . . .

Hi sweetie pie!

Then it was official, the kids were coming back to school, it was going to be my very first day as a teacher and my babies were learning a new routine of Papa and Bert's in the morning and then to school. Here we are on the first official day of school!

The following weekend we went to the park and Shannon tried out a new (to her) stroller, I think she liked it!

The million dollar smile!

Mr. Serious trying to dig up the artifacts at the park, "I see a deer ear Mommy! A deer ear!! haha"

My big helper, he wanted to push Shannon back to the car! Love it!

Later that day I realized that I had dressed my kids in a very 80's way, those are Umbros on John and leg warmers on Shannon, don't they say that in fashion everything comes back one day? I don't know, but I think they look adorable!

Another photo compliments of John. :)

Then John found and wanted to play Candy Land. We had so much fun! He's listened and understood the rules and made sure that each of us had a player, since Shannon was sleeping he went for her turn but he didn't let us skip anyone once. I liked that!

Mommy, one orange for you!

Then it was time to give Shannon her first taste of "real" food, rice cereal. From what I remember John LOVED eating at this age. He opened his mouth, chomped down and it was never an issue. Well little Miss was definitely not interested in making it that easy. It's still a struggle, she just doesn't understand what to do and I honestly think she doesn't care for the taste (or lack there of). In any case, she was very unhappy about this new part of her day.

Open up Shannon!

Come on, it's yummy!! YUUMMMM!

You call this yummy?! Ugggh!

Seriously!

Sweet scrunchy face!

On one of the last days of August we had a nice family dinner, we were all talking, catching up, etc. and I looked over to see Jeff, Andy and their girls . . . love this so much!

So bye-bye August, you were wonderful and full of some great memories. We really enjoyed you and were glad to take a look back at all of the fun times. Speaking of time, slow down buddy, no need to win the race, September's already out the door and we are welcoming in October. I just can't keep up!

Life sure is busy these days!! :)

Shannon's Baptism (August part two)

2011-09-18T19:45:00.000-04:00

This past Christmas we were given the most beautiful Baptism gown for Shannon. We knew that it would be a wonderful family heirloom to pass down for years and years to come. I wanted to make sure that in 100 years when my great-great-great-grandkids are wearing it, they know who the gown started with, so we had it embroidered with Shannon's name, birthdate and baptism date. It came out looking just gorgeous!

On August 14th we all came together for Shannon's Baptism. We enjoyed Mass and all the kids did very well! John was nicely distracted with his phone and both Shannon and Scarlett made little peeps here and there but were great!

He looks way too grown up for my likes here!

John was sitting with Bert and asked to take a photo of me, I think he did a pretty good job!!

After Mass we went into a small Chapel for the Baptism service. I love this photo of us. There is something about it that is just so special.

We were so happy that Andy and Victoria said yes to being Shannon's Godparents. We know that they will always be a special part of her life.

Beautiful!

The ceremony started and they asked who were the Godparents. Shortly following this photo Shannon started getting a little cranky, poor baby! I decided to stand a rock her to try and soothe and comfort her, it worked well and she feel asleep!

Then it was for Shannon's part of the ceremony. Shannon was woken up when the Priest poured the water on her head!

Jeff and I both had to hold her, there was a lot of dress and a lot of baby in there! :)

Then we sat back down and Shannon was not happy! Here the Priest is drawing the cross on her head and she is literally red and angry. She started screaming after this.

I really tried everything to comfort her, but there was little I could do so I just shrugged my shoulders and let her cry it out. Did I mention she was loud?

John was perfect the whole time! So proud of my little guy!

Shannon rallied for photos after the ceremony. :)

Shannon, Mommy and Daddy. Oh how we love her!

Grandma Lolus, Auntie Kris and Shannon! Check out that smile!

Shannon with the Grandma's!

It was wonderful to have the Attanasio's there as well! Shannon started getting a little cranky here!

Then it was time for the Great-Grandma's . . . Shannon getting a bit more upset!

And then she lost it again, Aunt Janet and Uncle Jim tried to cheer her up!

We went back to Papa and Bert's for some yummy lunch and cake!

This was Shannon's third outfit for the day. Once again she found her second wind and was back to all smiles!

Andy and Victoria gave her a beautiful cross necklace! What a wonderful way to remember the day!

Hehehehehe Papa fell asleep on the couch after eating cake, we were all waiting for the fork to drop!

Since we hadn't taken a photo at church of Papa, Bert and Shannon we got one in at home!

Once we were home Shannon took about three seconds to fall asleep all snuggled in her comfy crib.

It was such a special day. We were surrounded by friends and family and everyone who loves us. It was the last offical day of our summer as Jeff and I had to go back to school the next day and I wouldn't have wanted to spend it any other way. Times like this always remind me of the important things in life and that they aren't things at all but people. Feeling loved and happily remembering this day. :)

August (the month that went by way too fast) - part one

2011-09-12T20:59:00.000-04:00

Well before I could even catch my breath about it being August already, the month went and flew by and somehow now it's September. I am not sure I can handle this break neck speed that life has taken on recently. I wake up Monday morning, before I know it it's Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday blur together, we get to take one long deep breath that is also known as the weekend and then wouldn't you know it, it's Monday again. And then I wake up and it's September. Seriously!?! I have managed to take lots of photos because I'm always afraid that I won't be able to remember these special times, I just haven't had time to post them to this blog and I've really missed it.

So before too much time passes and I forget the fun times we had . . . here's what we did in the beginning part of August (there will be a part two and probably a part three)

We had a fun girl's day in and visited cousin Scarlett! Although they didn't play together too much there was definitely a cute connection between them. When Shannon started crying, Scarlett would let out a pouty lip sympathy cry too, it was adorable! I can't wait for the day they start actually playing together!

Baby Shannon was Mommy's little model for the Loops And Swoops website, I don't think a cuter model exists!

"Ooooohhhh" :)

And then we went ahead and took some cutie pie fun photos. Love this little girl so much!

Grabbing for those toes, she's still as flexible as Gumby!

Oh those lips! Those pouty lips! Love them so much!

John and I had a fun park date. I really love the special one-on-one times we have together. John is really growing up and I'm finding I like hanging out with him. The kid is funny and sweet and says the most amazing things.

John and Daddy had fun practicing his swimming! John has shown some major progress with his swimming. Since we don't have a pool at our house, we don't get to practice every day, so some days are harder than others to get him excited about getting his face wet, swimming, breathing, all those swimming things. But usually after a few minutes he gets back into it.

Okay jump on one, two . . . .

Swim to the steps . . . ready . . . go!

Finally after weeks of trying to capture it in pictures, Shannon rolled over right in front of me and I was able to get my camera out in time (okay who am I kidding it's never really put away!)

Aaaaalmost there . . .

You can do it . . .

Nearly there . . . .

And ta-daaaa, she rolled over!!!

One really fun night John asked for "hair like Daddy" so I gelled up his hair and we laughed and laughed and laughed. He then asked for a piece of bubble gum, which I explained no less than 20 times that he was NOT to swallow, but just chew chew chew it up and spit it out when he was done . . . and now we'll be waiting 7 years for the gum to pass (isn't that the old wives tale?)

Do I look like Daddy? Do I?

Cheese!!

I'm gonna eat the gum Mommy!!

Oh yum!!

We soaked up some fun times with family towards the end of summer. Making sure to take it all in and enjoy our time together.

At the Sponseller's house, just hanging out. I love to see John and Shannon "playing" together. John was showing Shannon how to turn on the giraffe. So cute!

Shannon was mesmorized!

Getting a yummy bottle from Bert!

Papa and Shannon, I LOVE this photo of them. Also, little known fact, Papa is a pro at burping Shannon! Seriously, he taps her back for just a few seconds and "buuuurp". Funny!

At the park with my family, having fun with Auntie Kris and her friend Kendra.

Shannon and Grandma Lolus hanging out.

Two big kids and one little one bouncing away.

Mommy and Shannon enjoying the park too. :)

All of us together, love this great photo!

A sweet moment I don't ever want to forget . . . Shannon's hugs. I don't know when or how it started but it was the cutest thing ever. I would lay Shannon on her back and bring my head in close for a kiss or snuggle and then out of no where she would reach out and grab/hug my face. She would put her hands on my cheeks and just leave them there. It was really special and although no picture could ever do it justice these come pretty close.

Oh boy, this was tough . . . the day I was both dreading and looking forward to for months. John and Shannon went back to / started day-care. For John I was counting down the days until he could go back and be with his friends again. John really does love going to "school" and we love all that he learns there and all of the fun activities that they do. And then there was Shannon . . . sweet baby Shannon. I was with John every single day of his life until he was 14 months old and making the decision to send him to day care wasn't an easy one either. The first few days of dropping him of were probably some of the roughest of being a Mommy. I have memories of him beet red in the face, arms desperately reaching for me, screaming "MAMAAAAAAA" because he didn't want me to leave him. I nearly ran back in on the third day to bring him back home with me, but I knew he would grow to love it and he has. We've known since I was pregnant with Shannon that she would have to start going when she was only 4 months old. And I tried my best to not dwell on it since there was no other option, but I would be lying if I didn't say it doesn't bother me. I would give anything to be able to snuggle with my baby girl every day, but life just doesn't make that possible so to day care she goes. She has an amazing teacher who kisses, hugs and loves on her almost as good as I would and that makes me happy. And since she has started going so early on in life I am hopeful that we won't have the horrible separation anxiety that we had with John. So anyway, that was a long way to say that day care started in mid August for both of them. Jeff dropped off the kids the first day since I was in new teacher training and I asked him to document the big day with taking photos.

Bags all packed and ready to go!

Shannon and one of her teachers saying hi and getting to know each other.

John finding all of his favorite toys again. So happy!

Shannon with Miss M. the teacher who is with her all day long. I was happy to see Shannon looking so comfortable with her!

Shannon having fun on the play mat, she's gonna love all of the fun toys they have there!!

They did great at school and have continued to do great. John's back into the swing of things, playing, learning, having lots and lots of fun. Shannon's teachers are really amazing and always say that she is such a happy baby with the cutest coo's they've ever heard! Even if they tell all the mom's that it still makes me smile!

August started off with a great bang! We had lots more fun through the rest of the month too! More to come soon! :)

Last few weeks . . .

2011-08-02T16:25:00.000-04:00

As always there is so much to share and I'm trying to figure out where to begin.

Daddy has been helping Shannon with her tummy time. She is getting really good at lifting her head up high. I just love the expressions on their faces here. Too cute!

We have had fun friend get togethers where the little ones are all rolly polly . . . .

And the big ones run wild!

We have had to remind Johnathan how to be sweet and gentle to Shannon, instead of "rocking" her like crazy. Isn't this photo too funny? It really wasn't as bad as it looks, because Shannon was actually just fine and happy the whole time!

Awe there's my sweet boy and his baby sister. Love these two!

We've had Mommy Photo Shoots too. There are times where I get worried that I don't take enough photos which I realize sounds ridiculous, but I feel like they both grow up so much each day, especially Shannon, and if I don't stop and make an effort to capture it, I'm afraid I will forget just how little and perfect they are right now. I constantly feel like we are in some sort of time warp where life is on fast forward, except for when Shannon's screaming then life slooooows down and making a bottle seems to take ages, but for the most part I just can't help but think that I'm going to blink an eye and John's going to be asking for the keys to go out with his friends. Oh, I'm a broken record, I know . . . . .

My beautiful little girl, my heart!

A little yawn . . .

A little smile . . .

A little foot, I could eat up her little feet, really!

A little serious face . . .

A little silly face . . .

And a little scrunchy face, my favorite!

And then there's John. He's sweet and salty, that's the best I can come up with right now. There are times where I literally smother him with kisses and we go back and forth with squeezy hugs and "i love you too's" and then there are his saltier times . . . . which I don't care for, but I know we have to live through this and grow with them so I just hold on, breath deep and wait patiently for the sweetness to come back. It's always there, he just sometimes forgets where to find it.

Bubble Baths are his new favorite thing since he got Cars bubble bath for his birthday. So much fun!

Splashing away

Do I have bubbles on my eye?

We play with books and puzzles and count to ten . . .

Then we lay around and watch cartoonies and movies on the tv.

I love watching him watch something, see his little brain work it out, he's always thinking . . .

And I mean really, when he turns it on, he turns it on . . .

We had a nice dinner at my Mom's with Grandma. I love seeing my Grandma with my kids, there's a sweet and special connection there. It's just beautiful.

Love her!

Mr. Johnathan was a bit crazy this one day, he literally ran laps around the couches and kitchen in the house for about 20-30 minutes then he asked for a banana . . . shortly after we found him like this. He was O U T, out. Jeff and I even sat down to dinner right next to him and he slept right through it all.

So peaceful to watch him sleep!

Meanwhile, Shannon has been showing off her gymnastic skills, the girl is flexible like you wouldn't believe! I mean if I did this I would be in the hospital, Shannon can play around like this for hours!

I see you!

Taking a little breather, love the little rolls on her legs! Too cute!

John has been getting more and more interested in "playing" with Shannon. He was showing her his iXL game and how to color.

Shannon has rolled over a few times more without anyone catching it in a photo or on video, so we have lots and lots of photos like this where she is aaaaalmost over. Go Shannon go!

Ok, I'm not sure what's happening here, but for whatever reason I love the photo. hehehe

Another big thing is we have started John in swimming classes. We realized it was time after kids half his age were swimming around while John was still in floaties. We found Miss Kimmie through friends and are super impressed. After only the first lesson John had made huge improvements.

Scoop, Scoop, Scoop your arms!

Kicking his legs and getting used to being in the water without floaties.

Later that night he wanted to show off his new skill of holding his breath under water. Ready?

One, Two, Three! So proud that he wasn't scared of getting his nose and eyes under the water!

We have moved his table to the porch and started opening the doors in the morning before it gets too hot. John was happy about this, can you tell?

Playing with play-doh, one of John's favorite things to do. He concentrates so hard on making balls, snakes and roads.

John was proud of getting the play doh out by himself!

One morning I heard Shannon starting to wake up, so I went in to check on her and saw that she had flipped all the way around. I layed her down with her head near the teddy bear. I can't believe she's already moving!

Shannon was enjoying some tummy time and I couldn't help but take some photos. As I was looking through the pictures I remembered one of John that was very similiar. Yup, these two are definitely related don't ya think?!?

I can't handle the cuteness!

John asked if he could give Shannon a kiss, OF COURSE sweet boy!

I mean, I just can't believe these two little angels are mine, pinch me!

Without a word, they both reached their hands out for each other and just kinda held hands. Melt my heart!

I see you!

Something new and exciting!! I was very happy to be hired to teach Third Grade at Mike Davis Elementary school. It's a big challenge and a very new world for me. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit anxious about it all, but honestly I know I can do it. I feel like I have the awesome support of friends and teachers at school to rely on for help and direction. I'm excited to get in there, set up my classroom and start this new adventure!

As much as I don't want summer to end, I know that we are all ready to be back on schedule. I will miss my babies terribly and I know the first few weeks will not be easy, but I also know my family and I know that we are all ready to go back to our normal. We like getting up, going to school, going to work and coming home at the end of the day to enjoy our time together. While I wouldn't change this summer for the world and I really have loved every second of being home with my kids, I'm ready to go back, John is ready to go back and Shannon will learn to love it as well.

Life is busy, good and sweet these last few days of summer. I'm drinking in every minute I can, soaking up the lazy mornings, fun afternoons and late nights. The fact that we only have days of fun left is always in the back of my mind and I'm trying to not get too sappy about it.
_____________________________________________________________

On a completely different note, I've been busy recently. Mid July I posted the following photos on Facebook. I really was just showing off a little headband I made for Shannon . . .

I could have never predicted the response I got! Lots of friends started asking if I was going to make and sell them, I got special requests and it really took on a life of it's own. After thinking it out and asking friends for advice I opened my own store on Etsy.com. If you are interested in seeing what I am making please check out my website: www.Etsy.com/shop/LoopsAndSwoopsFL

John's Third Birthday Parties

2011-07-24T18:45:00.000-04:00

We woke John up on his third birthday with a big day of fun planned! He got dressed in his special "3" t-shirt and waited for the day to begin.

Of course we had to start the day with "don don's" and chocolate milk, so we went to Dunkin Donuts and had a special breakfast out.

In the past we have gone to the waterpark on John's birthday, but baby Shannon is too small to be outside for that long and we all wanted to be together on this special day so we decided to do something a little different. We went to Build-A-Bear workshop to create a special little friend for John.

We got there just after they opened and were the only ones there so we got lots of special attention. John was allowed to pick any animal he wanted and he decided on the multi-colored frog/dinosaur. They walk you through the whole process of making a stuffed animal from filling it with stuffing, noise maker, and heart and then sealing it with a kiss!

Then we got to pick out clothes for him (which by the way is just a little bit more expensive than what I spend on JOHN's clothes, nicely played B-A-B) and John wanted to be sure that "Dinosaur" had a "lightnin-queen" shirt. After Dinosaur was made, "washed" and dressed we got to create a birth certificate for him. The whole process was really lots of fun!

Then we came home, let John nap and got him up with the promise of his special gift from Mommy and Daddy. For weeks we had been waiting to give John his very own "iXL" game system. John knew all about it from spending nearly hours playing on the sample version of it at Target.

John LOVES this "puter"! He plays on it for hours and hours and hours. And it is SOOO much better than playing on an old iPod, this thing teaches him lots of fun things and he doesn't even realize he's learning! I'm convinced that this game has really helped him recognize lots of new letters. He plays on it here, there and everywhere.

Later that night we had family over to celebrate John's big day. It was lots of fun having everyone over to our new place.

John, Uncle Andy, Papa, Aunt "Toria", Bert and Scarlett

My Mom, my kids, and me. Love this one!

Cousins! This was the first time the girls "played" together like this, it was really fun to watch them interact!

Showing Bert and Grandma Lolus his new game.

All around the dinner table, yummo!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you . . .

Happy Birthday dear JOHN, Happy Birthday to you!

Happy family!

Yummy cake!

After dinner John opened all of his presents. He especially loved the singing card "You're Unbelievable, Ohhhh". It's always the little things right?

Showing off his gifts to Uncle Kurt, Uncle Andy and Aunt Toria

Proud Grandparents!

Grandma Lolus got John a very fun camping tent and John wanted to put it together right away!

Looks like lots and lots of fun!!!

One final photo for the night!

The next day all John wanted to do was play with his "puter" . . .

and play and play and play.

That night he wanted to sleep in the tent, here we are reading "I love you Stinky Face" before night-night.

And then it was time for John's big birthday party. We've had the party at the same place the last three years and I always get a photo of John in front of this one tree. I can't believe how much he's grown up!!!

We brought along chalk for the kids to play with and Grandma Lolus added this festive wish!

John was waiting on his friends to show up and drew his first "happy face" I was really so impressed since he only ever drew circles and lines up to this point!

Here were the party favors for all of John's friends.

One quick photo before everyone showed up.

John had said he wanted a Cars cake right up until we got to Publix to order it and then he switche his mind to Diego, I think it turned out great!

We also brought along some bubble guns, it was lots of fun!

Baby Shannon and Baby Joseph only one week apart!

Great Grandma's Doris and Betty hung out by the fans to keep cool!

John and his best bud Emma playing in the playground.

Then it was time for cake, John was acting a little under the weather at this point and was only interested in eating the cheese puffs, since we never let him eat them at home, so we just moved them closer to the cake!

Happy Birthday to you!!!

All the kids digging into the cup cakes, yum!

Shannon slept the day away, so sweet.

Love these girlies!!

Papa tried to get John to eat some of his cupcake but all he wanted was cheese puffs!

Then John caught his second wind and went playing in the water area with his other best bud Sammy Mac!

All the kids loved running around in here!

Sammy and Bridget grabbing some goodies before heading home.

Aunt Janet wanted John to open his gift right then, John was absolutely happy to do just that! He loves Aunt Janet!!

Right before we left we got some good family photos!

It really was a very special wonderful day!

I still can't believe John is three years old and my no-longer-a-baby-big-boy. Its amazing how fast time flies past when you try to slow it down, the harder you try the faster it goes. Each year with John makes life better, sweeter, happier than we could have ever imagined! Life really is good these days!

Father's Day and Fourth of July

2011-07-14T15:10:00.000-04:00

So this post is a bit out of order, but I didn't want to forget these fun days.

Father's Day 2011

Jeff is a great Daddy. He loves John and Shannon and they absolutely know it, feel it and love him right back! We wanted to make sure he felt loved on his special day so we did just what he wanted to do.

We decided to have any early morning trip to the Naples Zoo. Even though we were there early in the morning it was still SO darn hot!

Walking in and looking at the Koi and the turtles.

Look Papa, there are the birdies!

John, Daddy and Papa

Here are the giraffe's. We thought we would try and get John to feed them again, it was a great idea again, and right at the last minute John changed his mind . . . again. :)

Mommy feeding the giraffes and John trying to hide in Daddy's arms.

Papa made sure baby Shannon was keeping cool in the shade

We moved over to the playground and then Daddy had to make sure Shannon was okay and not too over heated.

After we saw all of the animals, fed the giraffes and the fish, played on all of the playgrounds and made two new pennies, we called it a day. We were there for a little over an hour and we were all hot, sweaty and ready for a nap!

A few hours later, we met up at the Sponseller's for a fun BBQ!

Shannon was wearing the perfect outfit for the day "I (heart) my DADDY!!"

John and Jeff were playing a "find it" in a magazine.

We had fun cooling off in the pool . . . .

And really enjoyed swimming around.

Then back inside, read for dinner, Daddy and "Nonners" photo. I love this one!

Jeff and his two kiddos, the best photo I could come up with!

After dinner, Aunt "Toria" read John a few books, I love seeing these two together!!

Baby Scarlett was showing off that she can sit up now and I just had to jump in and play with her. What a cutie patootie!! (Scarlett not me!)

Fourth of July

We drove down to 5th avenue for the 4th of July parade and bumped into a bunch of friends, I love how these happy get togethers just happen! We found a nice shady place and set up camp. It was another scorcher of a day and by the end of the parade we were all ready for some ice cold air conditioning! Shannon did really well, we kept her cool by soaking a burp cloth in cold water and wiping her down often. John LOVED the parade with all the fire trucks, police cars and motorcycles but what he really loved was all the candy every one threw out. We had a blast and will definitely plan on going back next year!

Here are the four of us ready for the parade!

Mommy and Shannon!

John and Jeff, and Emma and Chris watching the parade go by.

John and Caden picking up some candy in between floats.

John, Emma and Emma's Grandma Sue enjoying the parade. You can't tell but John was dancing to "Sweet Home Alabama" which was blaring out of loud speakers on a float. So funny!

Later that night we met up with more friends to watch the fireworks on Naples Beach. It's a fun tradition we started last year with a fun group of people. We realized that we added three new babies to the mix within the year, something none of us plan on for next year though! :)

Here's Shannon and Jordyn, two of the new babies . . .

And then Shannon and Kinsley, the other new baby!

One of my cutie pie!

All set up and ready for the fun to begin

John waited for the other kids to play with something else and then jumped in to play with all of the sand toys.

All four of us! :)

I was trying to make her smile.

Once the sunset we got out the sparklers, John loved them last year but was a little nervous this year so he let Daddy hold it.

After the fireworks we made the long walk back to the car remembering the fun we had the year before. This is definitely a tradition we plan on continuing!

John - 3 years old

2011-07-08T14:00:00.028-04:00

John turns three years old today. Three years old! It is absolutely amazing to me how much our little boy has changed in just three years.

Three years ago I was handed this 8lb. 7oz. wide-eyed, curious little boy and my world was forever changed. I had no idea how much I could love someone before John came along. I had no idea what it meant to see your heart walking outside your body before John. I just couldn't possibly understand how much better the world instantly became because of this little boy. And now, three years later, he is still wide-eyed and curious.

There are just too many ways in which John has changed and grown up to remember. He is no longer a baby and is quickly growing out of being a toddler too! He is our little boy, growing up so much every day. Not a day goes by that I don't marvel at how much he knows and says. I've tried to create a list of it all and I get stuck every time. We have come to a point where I can't just put "took first steps" with a date, the things John is doing are just so much more complex that than. His memory and his humor grow every day. He's actually come to a point where he can lie, which I'm not encouraging, but it's interesting to me. He is smart enough to know that he doesn't have to tell the truth AND to come up with a different story. That seems pretty smart to me. And he is funny, which is no easy task either. "Hey John are we having fun today or what?" "Or what Mommy, or what!! hahahah". John speaks to us in full sentences, paragraphs, and stories. We actually have fun conversations and boy does he have an imagination. He's also started to get a little camera shy, it usually passes with the "threat" of "do NOT smile at the camera, you will be in so much trouble if you smile, don't do it, doooon't do it!!" :) and then wouldn't you know it he smiles!

John was talking all about our day and the ice cold popsicle

Cheese!!

No pictures Mommy!!

At the gravel park getting ready to jump in!

Stopping for a quick snack

No pictures Mommy!!!

"Don't smile, don't you do it, NO smiling!"

Funny guy

John is a rough and tough boy who loves tractors, cars, motorcycles and anything that makes noise. He likes to get dirty and help Daddy no matter what he's doing. He is stubborn and knows what he wants to do. He is determined to get his way and will suffer any consequences to make sure he does what he wants. And yet, he is sweet and sensitive when it comes to certain things. He loves to snuggle on the couch and "squeezy hugs". He loves to say "I wuv yyyyooooouuuu!", whisper "secrets" and have our noses "kiss". He loves his quiet time to play on his own. And every night he likes to read the same books before going to bed.

John's car collection

Hard hat wearing tractor driving little boy

Helping Daddy clean the car, watch out!

That water's tough to control!

Stir up those bubbles!

Scrub scrub scrub the car!

Playing with his toys in the garage (oh and a cameo by "BB" for those of you who know what I mean!)

John is a good big brother to Shannon. He loves her in his quiet way and shows it the best way a 3 year old can . . . . by attempting to share his iPod, which I'm pretty sure means "you complete me" at their level. He shows concern if Shannon's upset and tries his best to interact with her. I think that they will "play" better once Shannon is able to sit/crawl/walk.

Here Shannon put your finger here!

One of our biggest challenges recently has been to get John potty trained. We are working on it daily and making big strides with some set-backs. John was VERY proud when he filled up his potty chart, we went to the toy store to celebrate and are now working on another chart. Again, his stubbornness and determination to get his way is slowing this process down, but we are trying to be very consistent with the praise and rewards for a good job done. I'm sure once John is ready to do his thing it will happen and in the meantime we will all work on our patience.

Yay for filing in the potty chart!

Sooooo proud!!!

Another challenge that we work on every day is what I like to call the "testing three's". Yes we had small bit of "terrible two's" but really they pale in comparison to what we are going through now. John is learning who he is, what he wants and again is proving that he is extremely determined and stubborn. Jeff and I often talk about what to do, how to discipline and reward, what works and what doesn't. We are learning along with John how to get through these some time tough days and often times the light at the end of the tunnel is that each day is a brand new start to try again. No matter what, even he makes bad decisions, we are sure to let John know how much we love him and that he is a good boy. We explain things to him in his terms and encourage better decisions. I think it became clear when he said to us "I'm gonna play with my toys, is that a good idea?" Since we always say to him that something is a good or bad idea.

An early morning movie as a reward for good behavior!

Of course baby sister Shannon got to join in too!

John, We love you so much! We hope you know there is nothing we won't do for you, to make you smile, to make you laugh, to teach you something, to make sure you are healthy or to make sure you are happy. You made us into a family and not a day goes by that we aren't grateful for you coming into our lives.

Jumping on the shaky bridge with Daddy close by!

Weeeeeeeeee!

Just the three of us!

Happy Birthday John!

Shannon - 3 months old

2011-07-07T14:27:00.000-04:00

Today Shannon turns three months old. I feel like we have made it through the toughest of transition times and are (hopefully) looking at some less stressful times ahead. I really think the first three months of a new life, a big change, are the hardest. Now we have created a new normal, a family of four normal. We are once again used to waking up in the middle of the night to push the binkie back in or turn on the heart-music-bear, more frequent diaper changes, major discussions of poopy diapers with lots of fun details, cleaning up blow-outs, cleaning up spit-ups, trying to understand and decipher all the different types of cries and what they might mean, cheering on the smallest of accomplishment and enjoying having an itty bitty baby in the house.

All wrapped up and ready for a nap

Shannon rolled over for the first time on July 5th with no one to witness this first major milestone. I was out shopping for John's party and Jeff was in the other room. He layed her down on her back, came back seconds later and she was on her tummy. We had seen Shannon aaaalmost roll over so many times, I just knew it was bound to happen at any time! We have tried to catch her doing it again and get it on video but it seems she is not ready for that just yet. It's funny, John rolled over right before he turned three months old, while Jeff was watching him, and I didn't see it for weeks. I guess these two have somethings in common already!

Sleepy attempts at rolling over

Pushing that one leg, getting ready to roll!

Shannon is cooing and "talking" lots. She moves her mouth into an "o" and makes a screetching sound by pulling air into her mouth. She loves talking to Daddy most right now. He loves to point this out to me all the time! Shannon's also started kicking her legs and "standing" up. We hold her by her arm-pits and she bounces on our lap. She has this look of pure pride when she does it too. She knows she's something special!

Winding down at the end of the day getting everyone ready for night-night, Shannon's "talking" away.

Showing off that she's ready to stand up!

She's reaching out for toys with her hands and feet and will turn a full 360 degrees on her play mat. We will lay her down with her head in one direction and just minutes later she will be upside-down and looking to move more.
"What's up guys?"

I can't get enough of loving on Shannon these days. There aren't enough kisses, snuggles, I-love-you's in the world for me to let her know how much I love her. I find myself just staring at her, watching her facial expressions, her adorble and sporatic smiles and feeling amazed that she's my little girl. She's got her Daddy wrapped around her little finger too. Although Jeff might not be as showy with his affection, it's very obvious (to me and those who know Jeff) that he loves her very much.

Nuggling on the beach at sunset.

An early morning movie and "pic-nic"

Watching Shannon and John interact has been really fun. John is not jealous of Shannon and has never shown any aggression or anger towards her, but he's also not over the top in love with her either. He acknowledges her and sometimes gets very excited about seeing her and other times just kinda does his own thing and let's her do her own thing. Shannon on the other hand is VERY interested in her big brother. She will look for him when she hears his voice and smiles at him every time. I will never push for a relationship between them, I want it to happen naturally, but I already can tell that Shannon is going to look up to John and that John will be the protective big bother. He's very quick to tell us when she is crying and what he thinks she needs, it's adorable. "Mommy, baby Shannon needs her binkie, she's crying, can you hear her? She wants her binkie!"

John is explaining "Angry Birds" to Shannon here. So cute!

"Mommy take a picture of me and baby Shannon, okay?!"

Apparently there was something interesting on the TV

Shannon, your first three months have been awesome. We are so enjoying watching you grow up into a beautiful, happy, smiley little girl. We love you!

Little Miss Serious face!

Wearing Daddy's sunglasses

Love her pretty little face!

Oh and that pouty lip?! I can't stand the cuteness! :)

Smiley, happy baby!

Not enough hours in the day

2011-06-15T22:55:00.002-04:00

I just don't know where the days go! Before I know it, its a new week, a new month and are we really half way through 2011 already?!

Right now I have a very sweet little girl snuggled under my chin, the rise and fall of her breathing and the occasional stir is something I just don't want to ever forget. It's really the best feeling in the world and I try my best not to take it for granted because I know before I know it she will be all grown up like another little boy I know. He's in his room taking an early nap after a complete and total meltdown because, and I'm not kidding, I wanted to take him to see a fire truck and tour the fire station with a mom's group. Really I don't know what it is with him some days, I have a feeling that we are in for some fun times ahead.

I thought keeping up with the blog was tough with one kid and now that I have two, well forget about it. I think about the little tidbits that I want to post all the time and then when I actually get a chance to sit down and type it all out I usually forget about half.

John is amazing and is growing up into a little boy before my eyes. He constantly does things that make me realize how much he is growing and learning. He picks up on everything that Jeff and I do, both good and bad, and is really showing that he is quite the comedian. Oh and he is stubborn like a bull, just like me I've been told, and if he doesn't want to do something forget about it. Like, for example, when I wanted to take a photo of him smiling for his third birthday party invitations . . . how about three "field trips" and about 500 (not joking) pictures later and not ONE where he was both smiling and looking at the camera. Photographing a three year old is better than a gym membership, seriously!

Shannon, oh Shannon, sweet baby girl, how I love her. She is a little over 2 months old and turning into a sweet yet feisty baby girl. Shannon does have a bit of a temper, again just like me I've been told, and when she is angry her entire body turns red and she does the silent cry. Her entire face scrunches up and she wriggles and kicks until she is soothed and cuddled. When she is awake, full and dry she shows off the most amazing smiles, giggles and coos. And there are even times when I hold her upright that she reaches her left arm out and kinda wraps it around my neck. I'm sure it's unintentional but it really does feel like she is hugging me. Her hands still do the little scratching and creeping that she did when I was pregnant with her, it's something I will never forget, feeling her little arms and hands move around my belly and now around my neck. She is suppose to be getting much more belly time than she is but I just can't seem to put her down enough, I'm enjoying snuggling and holding her too much! We'll get there and I'm sure she will hold her head up and start to roll over just fine!

Now to the pictures of what we've been up to lately . . .

Memorial Day weekend! Bar-be-que at the Sponseller's.

And then one back home at our place.

We have had fun get togethers with friends
Babies hanging out together, here's Shannon and Joseph

And Shannon and Kinsley

The big kids were having fun too! Sammy, Katherine and John

Another day of Shannon and Kinsley hanging out

John, Sammy and Peyton swimming away

I thought it would be fun to make a count down chain for John's birthday. John helped me by putting stickers on all of the strips of paper.

And then we hung it up in his room so that we could take one off every night. Don't mind the mess! ;)

I can't remember why, but this was a little race around the garage between Daddy pushing Shannon and John pushing the lawn mower.

Daddy and Shannon nuggling on the couch.

We had a fun opportunity to go to the zoo to feed their giraffes. We talked it up all day and John was very excited to do it, until we got there and then it was not such a fun idea. He decided it would be more fun to let Daddy feed the giraffes and watched from a safe distance.

Waiting in line

A little hesitant

Enjoying an ice cold fruit juice in a fun giraffe shape

Then, this was so cute, John wanted to check in on Shannon to make sure she was okay.

One day every one needed a bath, John was his normal sticky mess at the end of the day, Shannon had just spit up all over herself AND Mommy, so we all jumped into the bath together. John thought it was so much fun!

The once in a while quiet mornings at home when I catch John and Shannon playing and being sweet with each other.

And the typical mornings where John is super hyper and Shannon just takes it all in.

Then he calmed down enough to try and hold her hand

Smile for Mommy!

Here we are in the waiting room for Shannon's 2 month check up. She measured in at 11 lbs. 12 oz and 23 1/2 inches long. That makes her 80% for height and 60% for weight, tall and skinny just like her big brother. Doc says she is doing great and looks perfect, we of course agree!

Shannon getting in some good snuggle time with Mommy after getting her shots. Oh she HATED them!

Then my baby brother grew up way too fast and graduated high school. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday and now he's off to college. All I could think of while sitting at graduation was that it was going to be a blink of an eye snd it would be John sitting in one of those chairs in a cap and gown. Oh life has to slow down one of these days!

Finally, here are some out-takes from John's 3 year old photo shoots.

And one cute one of Shannon for good measure!

It's seriously taken me the whole day to finish this post! John is finally in bed, a little late since we are hoping it will keep him in bed longer in the morning. The past few mornings he's been waking us up well before 5am by silently tip-toeing into our room and quietly waiting for us to realize he's there, it's kinda creepy and Jeff and I would really like this fun "game" to come to an abrupt end! He would only lay down after we read the "Grover Book" and the "I love you Stinky Face" book. They have become his favorites and he "reads" along with me every night. Shannon was still cranky today from her 2 month shots yesterday and I held her almost the whole day. Daddy took over tonight and she finally quieted down and is now tucked in and snoozing away.

Life really is great these days. We are loving having Daddy home all day every day and are soaking up every minute of our together time. I'm just so grateful for this special time and remind myself every day to not take it for granted. And since I'm off to bed after this, I'm reminded of a happy note in my dove caramel chocolate "reward" today . . . smile before bed, have happy dreams!

Happy Times

2011-06-01T08:00:00.014-04:00

One thing that always makes me smile is when I can capture our happy times in photos.

Sweet Shannon

John showing off his computer. This thing is pretty cool, I hooked it up to my laptop and customized it for John. The computer says things like "Hi John" and even sings a song to help John spell his name. It also sings some of John's favorite songs like the ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Row Row Row Your Boat. John loves this thing!

On a different day we had some fun outside on his four wheeler and "motorcycle". John likes wearing his sunglasses upside down and I think it's too cute to correct!

Quick cameo of Mommy and Shannon, I love having her snuggle in the Mobi wrap!

On another day I thought it would be fun to buy John some beans to play with. I had seen him enjoy pouring things from one container to another and thought this would work perfectly. It really did work great until John realized it was more fun to pour the beans all over the floor . . . and then we took a deep breath, cleaned everything up and put the beans away.

Another day, another sweet moment. I was sitting on the couch, probably checking my email, looked up and saw big brother John showing baby sister Shannon how her bouncy chair works. I really love watching them together. John is still a bit shy about playing with Shannon, but when he wants to he is super sweet and loves on her so nicely.

One fun afternoon, I thought it would be fun to try out some paint pens I bought in hopes of a fun craft. It worked out much better than I anticipated!

Remember what I told you about the beans and how they wound up all over the floor. Yeah, well, I forgot that John had a tendency to do things like that and left him alone in the room with a bin full of necklace beads. Then we played a fun game of clean-up. Deep breaths people, deep breaths get me through the day!

Another great thing we love doing is visiting friends. These two have been hanging out since before they were even born!

And then Shannon went and grew up too fast. When we first came home with Shannon she was still on the same schedule as when I was pregnant with her. Every night for the first week or so she was wide awake from 9pm to 2am, it was somewhat amazing that she kept the same schedule. Since then we've been working on getting her on some type of schedule and finally we realized she was ready to sleep in her crib in her own room. It worked out great and she's been sleeping well but not quite through the night yet. We're getting there though! She usually drinks a 4oz bottle at about 8 or 9, sleeps until 3am when she starts looking for her binki, up again around 4am looking for the binki or maybe a bottle and then some days we make it to 5am for her first bottle of the day. Sometimes she falls back asleep until 9 and other days she is up wanting to be held, rocked and loved on. I'm, of course, happy to do all of the above!

Then this Mama got all artsy fartsy feeling and did a photoshoot or two of her own for her baby girl.

Another outfit, another day, new leggings, lots of photos

So that's our life in photos recently. Here's a few other things I don't want to forget.

John waking up in the morning, coming in to get his "phone" (an old iPod set-up with fun kids games), going to the living room to turn on the TV and wait for Mommy to get up and ready.

Shannon's lip quiver when she's just kinda crying a little. It's simply adorable.

John picking up on all the things Jeff and I say like "that's not very nice!" when he's upset about something or "oh . . . I know" when he remembers something.

Shannon's sweet smiles and how she sometimes has to really work those face muscles to get the smile out. Every now and then the smile is followed quickly by a little frown, almost as if to say that smiling was hard work!

John asking for me to tell him secrets. That's when I whisper gibberish into his ear and always end it with lots and lots of tickles.

Shannon starting to reach out to grab toys. She keeps her hands in fists and kinda punches the air until she bats a toy.

On one of our many trips to the zoo we went to "our" feed the fish spot and it was like a scene from Lion King . . . zebras to the right, birds and ducks to the left, fish in the water jumping for food and monkeys swinging from the trees just feet in front of us. John, my little engineer, was not interested in any of it, he was instead intrigued with the fish food machine and how it worked. He would move the handle and watch as the quarter dissappeared and the food was released. He's always been like this and its cool to see that somethings never change!

Watching John and Shannon together. She looks for him when she hears his voice and he kisses her feet, her cheeks, or her hands. He talks to her in his sweet, high voice and says things like "ooohh baby Shannon, your eyes are open, baby Shannon, baby Shannon, love you baby Shannon."

We've had lots of happy times and look forward to many more as we count down the last days of school when Jeff will be home every day!

Shannon's first shoot

2011-05-29T22:16:00.000-04:00

When we announced Shannon's birth on Facebook we got lots and lots of messages. It's one of the things I love most about Facebook, the way you can connect with tons of people at once and get good news out into the world fast. I was amazed that one of the responses was from Missy, the photographer who took our final family of three photos, wanting to schedule Shannon's first photo shoot. I had told Missy that I wanted to get photos of Shannon when she was still just an itty bitty baby and Missy didn't forget. Before we had even left the hospital we had time scheduled for Shannon's big photo day.
I have to admit that after I scheduled the photo shoot I was a bit anxious about it. I was worried that my house was a wreck, I was completely sleep deprived, maybe my kids won't cooperate, will the lighting work, will Missy be able to get the photo, and so on. Well, I couldn't have been happier with the whole procecss. Missy showed up completely prepared, every prop ready to go, and with a sympathetic blind eye. She scooped up baby Shannon and swayed her into a deep, deep sleep to get oh so many of the shot. I am over the moon happy with the outcome and am so happy to share these with you.

My hoppy little easter bunny

Pretty in Pink

Love these so SO much

My little princess

I could kiss this one

I don't know what it is about baby feet but they are just too cute! I LOVE these photos, love love love!

John was less than enthusiastic the day that Missy came over so she went above and beyond and invited us to her house to try one more time for a photo of the two of them together. I think these photos took about two hours to get. Missy is persistent, patient and a pleasure to be around!

We already have lots of these photos up and around the house. I can't say how much I love these and will cherish them always.

Please check Missy out, you will love her!!
www.missykphotography.com

The last few weeks in pictures

2011-05-22T23:16:00.006-04:00

We've had lots of fun over the past few weeks! Take a look!

Baking brownies with Mommy, John had so much fun with this. I can see us baking lots more in the future!

If you ask John we "put in three cups of eggs and stir, stir, stir and three cups of water and stir, stir, stir"

Yum!

Relaxing with Daddy, love my boys!

Fun morning at the zoo, John loves sitting on Daddy's shoulders!

Shannon enjoyed her first trip to the zoo too!

He heard his echo in the tube and thought it was hilarious!

Afternoon at the park, it might look like bad weather, but it really was a nice day! Big boy John climbing up all by himself!!

Mommy and Shannon all snuggled up! Shannon loves being in the wrap and I love having her so close, it's almost like being pregnant again!

Celebrating a friend's 3rd birthday! John's all the way on the left, a little less than enthusiastic about joining the photo.

Gotta love all the babies!!

Happy Family!!

The newest Sponsellers, okay so everyone is not smiling or looking at the camera but at least we got them all together, right?

Playing with friends then and now, I just love looking back to see the similarities when John was Shannons age.
Shannon and Kinsley

John and Sammy

Big brother John and baby sister Shannon loving on each other!

Awwe! Love it!

Smiley Shannon!! Shannon's been showing off her smiles lots lately. I love her happy, toothless grin!

And, I have to say, I just love her dressing her up in cute outfits, like this one!

And this other too cute outfit!! I see us playing lots of dress-up in the future!

You are my sunshine!

John and Shannon playing before bedtime. John really enjoyed showing Shannon how the birdies on her bouncy worked. It was adorable to watch them start to play together.

Lots more updates to come!

Pressure

2011-05-21T18:45:00.006-04:00

I'm sitting here on the couch, John is sleeping in his room, Shannon is sleeping on a pillow next to me and Jeff is watching Swamp People. It's a typical night in the Sponseller house and I'm trying to take it all in and be in the moment. It's hit me very hard recently how fast time is speeding past me. The harder I try to slow it down, the faster it seems to go. My daughter is six weeks old already and I'm in disbelief. I remember clearly when John turned six weeks and it seemed like it took much longer from when he was born. I honestly can't believe that Shannon is no longer a newborn, how did six weeks already pass. Where was I and what was I doing? I feel the pressure to "live every day to its fullest" and to "take it all in" and to "be in the present". At the end of the day I think . . . did I look at Shannon enough today, I mean really look at her and remember how she looked at six weeks and three days old. Will I be able to remember to tell her that when she slept today she smiled at least three times when I was watching and probably much more when I wasn't? Will I remember how it feels to hold her when she snuggles into me? Will I remember how soft her hair is, how sweet her breath smells and how smooth her skin is? Will I remember to tell her that her whole body turns red when she is doing the "angry cry"? And how about John? Did I play with him enough? Hug, kiss and "I love you" him enough? Did he have fun? Did he learn? Was he happy enough?

I feel such pressure to do it all and such guilt if we ever have a bad day or if I realize I could have done more or better. And quite honestly I've been feeling overwhelmed and a bit inadequate recently. I think it has to do with the fact that all I want is to be the best Mom I can to both John and Shannon and . . . . it's not easy! It takes hard work, patience, flexibility, creativity and (I think) some luck. It does occur to me that I just posted how much I love being a Mom, which I absolutely do. There are some days, though, that are easier than others. The other day, for instance, started much earlier than I had wanted. As I was getting out of the shower at 6am, mentally preparing for the day I heard John already awake and ready to go. By 8 am that day he had already played with and was bored by the majority of toys in our house, by 9am he had sat in the "time out" chair once, been repremanded three times and I think we had both cried twice out of frustration. Shannon cried for two hours straight that day as well. I felt like I was being tested and failing miserably. And yes, I kinda felt like running away, if only for a minute. And it was in that moment that I took a deep breath and came up with a plan. I loaded them up in the car and drove to McDonald's to play in the screened in playground (for John) and enjoy some deliciously horrible food (for Mom). Thankfully it worked and when nap-time came around that day I was in much better spirits and feeling, once again, like "I got this."

I think thats all part of being a Mom. There are ups and downs. There is this immense pressure to always be the best and completely selfless. There is even more guilt when you can't be. But I think the important thing is that I am trying, every single day, to be a better Mom than the day before. I'm learning what to do, what not to do, what I am good at and what I need help with. Above all I love my kids. There is nothing in the world I won't do for them and I think that if they know that, if they feel that love, then we will all be okay.

Today was a good day, I played with John, I snuggled with Shannon, Jeff and I were able to have some good quality time together and I even got to update the blog. It was the recharge I needed to build me up for a long week ahead. Better get some sleep before it all starts again!

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-18T22:23:00.000-04:00

These are the last photos of me pregnant with both John and Shannon.
With John we were on our way to be induced and with Shannon it was a few days before she was born.

This one made me a Mommy . . .

And this one has made me a more patient, more confident and more relaxed Mommy.

I love being a Mom.
I love waking up to two beautiful smiling faces each and every morning.

I love nuggling in bed with both my cuties every single night.

I love that a kiss from me will fix almost any boo-boo.

I love that sometimes all they want is for me to hold, hug or kiss them.

I love that sometimes all I want is to hold, hug or kiss them.

I love that I am setting rules, expectations, and schedules that will help teach them discipline.

I love that we will also find time to break the rules, act silly and stay up late because sometimes that okay too.

I love that I get the awesome opportunity to watch them grow into who they will be.

I love that I know them better than anyone else in the world.

I love that I will comfort them always.

I love that they will comfort me always.

I love that I lucked out and get to be Mom to both a boy and a girl.

I love my kids.

I love loving them.

Mother's Day 2011

Maybe next year they will both look at the camera and smile??

Easter 2011

2011-05-17T15:25:00.000-04:00

Woah . . . I'm feeling so far behind on this thing! Here's hoping to catch up!

Somehow it was already time for our first holiday as a family of four . . . Easter! I have to admit that it might not have been the best prepared for holiday, but we still enjoyed our time together and made the most of it!

We dyed eggs for the Easter bunny the night before, the weather was so nice we decided to do it outside!

John directed the whole process, "Put it there Daddy!"

So proud of his beautiful eggs!

The next morning we got John up and changed so that he could come out and find his Easter eggs. The Easter bunny decided to hide plastic eggs instead of the real ones! ;)

He was so excited to find fun goodies inside the eggs!

Can't get enough of his super cheesy smile!

Shannon slept through all of it, but I had to get a photo of her with her basket!

Then it was time to go to brunch with the Meerpohl's and Sponseller's. I dressed Shannon in a dress that I made for her!

This was a fun game with little popping eggs and bunnies. John loved it!

Really, really loved it!

Hanging out

Me and my girl, pure happiness!

John sitting with the grown ups!

John and Grandma "Bert"

Sweet baby Shannon

After a delicious brunch we went home for a quick nap and then it was over to my Mom's. We had a yummy dinner and hung out with family, the best way to spend the holiday.

Grandma "Lolus" with Shannon and Nikki

Me and my little guy, love love love . . . even if he was trying to escape my hugs!

John opening his basket with Auntie Kris

It was a very full, very fun day and the first of many first holidays with Shannon here. Celebrating with two kids really is twice as fun!

Three weeks, Almost Three and Thirty

2011-04-30T20:28:00.002-04:00

If life was flying by before, it feels like it's on warp speed now . . .

Shannon is already three weeks old. I still feel like we are only just getting to know each other and yet I can't remember life without her. It really does seem like she was the missing piece to our family puzzle and she fits perfectly. In just three weeks we are all over the moon in love with her and our new family. Oh there have been tough days and moments that we have had to struggle through. And I have gotten emotional about how tough it can be to be a Mama to two little ones . . . BUT (and it's a big but) it's so worth it. So so so worth it.

Nothing like a nap!

Hanging out on the changing table

In the bounce seat

Lounging on Mama's lap

Shannon is still in the eat, poop, and sleep stage of life and is slowly moving towards being awake for more than just a meal or a diaper change. When she is awake she studies the world around her with lots of intensity. She looks around with this almost shocked type look on her face and seems to really take it all in. Her mouth, which anyone will tell you is 100% just like her Mama's, drops open as her eyes dart around as if she is searching for something. She is a fiesty little one too! When she is hungry, she wants a bottle immediately and can get very upset, very quickly. Her cry goes from the "Can I have a bottle please" to the "GOOD GOD WOMAN, hurry up with the bottle" cry in much less time than I can make a bottle sometimes. And while she can cry with some desperation she is quick to calm down for Mama and that makes my heart swell. Really from day one she seemed to know who Mama was and while I could see where this could be an issue down the line, it's amazing to know that all she wants is me. Overall, Shannon is a great baby! She is a noisy little eater, sleeps well, doesn't mind having her diaper changed and if she has a full belly, is content to just go with the flow.

Mommy and me time

Daddy and Shannon

Hanging out on the play mat

Shannon's first bath at home!

Another little one who always seems to want only me too is my big boy John. Oh what a huge transition all of this has been for my almost three year old. In less than one month we moved him into a new house, with a new bed, stopped going to school and brought home a baby sister. We certainly have had our moments, oh have we had some testing times, but overall, John has done really well with all of this. I honestly think the hardest thing for him to get used to is not going to school, which I wish we could have continued, but it just didn't work out. John has done really well with Shannon. At first he didn't seem very interested in her. He knew Shannon was here, but the best way to describe John's reaction was indifference, he wasn't jealous or angry about her being here at all but he also wasn't overly interested or in love with her either. Slowly and on his own terms he has gotten more and more interested in his baby sister. At first he wanted to see her when she would open her eyes, then he wanted to hold her hand, next he asked to hold her and now he likes to kiss her cheek and talk to her. I felt it was very important to let him meet her in his own way. I didn't want to push Shannon on John or force anything, I wanted it to happen naturally. I'm not the least bit surprised to see that John is turning into a great big brother.

Look Mommy her eyes are open!

Can I hold her hand?

Just hanging out

John's first time holding Shannon

How we spend most of our days . . .

John has also seemed to grow by leaps, bounds and years in the past three weeks. I was always amazed at how much John understood and how smart I thought he was and now I really think he's pure genius (no bias at all right?!)! John's vocabulary improves on a daily basis, I find myself thinking "how does he know that" all the time. If we are in the car driving by something he recognizes he will point out the park or Publix or our new home or any number of other places we go on a regular basis. His memory is also getting incredible. He remembers things from day to day and week to week which I don't remember him doing as much before. We have also had some tough times when he uses his "angry voice" and acts out. We get through them as best and quickly as we can. The hardest thing that we have had to overcome is all of the energy he has as a little boy and trying to find ways to work some of it out. It's just too hot to spend any length of time outside with a newborn so I've been trying my best to come up with fun things to do at home. We watch tv (probably too much), we color and play with stickers, we play on the phone, we make crafts, we race cars, we laugh, we nap and we start each day trying to make it the best.

Making a necklace for Shannon

Playing on Mommy's phone

Arts & Crafts time

Fun afternoon at Grandma Betty's

Look Mommy! Snails!!

Then there was this . . . one morning this past week I woke up a year older, I'm thirty now. The big 3 0. It's funny, I look in the mirror and I can't imagine the ~~girl~~ woman looking back is 30. I guess there's a part of me lthat feels like 30 is someone older than me and I don't want to be considered old, but looking at some of the details of my life might beg to differ. We eat dinner by 5:30 on a daily basis, I'm usually in bed by 9, okay 8:30, I'm married and I have two kids. And while I still feel like a teenager from time to time, I have to say that there are times where I do feel like a mature adult who knows who she is and is very happy with her life. That's one thing that is 100%, I love my life. It might have taken 30 years filled with amazing, thrilling, exciting and scary, sad, or rough times along the way, but here I am. I'm happy, healthy and amazed with all that I have in my life. To celebrate we had a simple birthday dinner at home and it was perfect.

Happy Birthday Mommy!

And now for more photos . . .

I love this little girl so so much!

Shannon John

Our happy family!

Shannon's Story

2011-04-13T20:43:00.000-04:00

April 7, 2011 - Shannon Elizabeth Sponseller's birthday

This is possibly the most amazing story of my life so far. I can honestly say I still don't believe it all happened the way it did. I find myself replaying the day over and over thinking if I had waited just five more minutes to leave school, Shannon might have seriously been born in a car or in a parking lot. And if anyone would have told me that I could deliver a nearly 9 lb. baby without an epidural I would have thought that they were definitely crazy. But that's exactly what happened! So here's Shannon's story, one that she will be hearing about for the rest of her life!

It all started on Wednesday the day before Shannon was born. After a night of tossing and turning with mildly painful contractions, I woke up at around 4:30 am with a very painful contraction. I started walking and tried to lay back down but I was definitely very uncomfortable. I woke Jeff up saying that it was time to go to the hospital. We both started going through the motions of getting ready and putting the bags here and putting the camera there. I decided to take a quick shower and the contraction stopped. We were still planning on going but decided to sit and start timing the contractions. They never came, the entire day passed without one more contraction. I felt slightly foolish because I had taken the day off work and basically sat at home watching TV all day all because I had one painful contraction.

Wednesday night I started having my usual braxton hicks contractions that I had been having for a few weeks prior. They lasted all night long and were mildly uncomfortable by the morning. I woke up and got ready for the day just like any other day. I did notice that I was having contractions but they were still very mild and didn't seem to have any sort of regular timing so I decided to consider them braxton hicks. I got John up and we had our normal morning routine as well. By the time I got to school I felt like it was going to be a normal day.

Throughout the day I was still having contractions and decided to google it. After going to a few different websites I self-diagnosed myself with false labor. By 1pm I started giving myself a hard time thinking if I can't get through these false labor pains without a little deep breathing I'm going to have a pretty hard time once the real contractions start. At 2pm I went to the bathroom and found a little blood, this made me nervous so I decided to call my doctor. They told me that I should go straight to the hospital, which actually annoyed me because I thought "this is just false labor and it's going to be a waste of time and money going to the hospital". I called Jeff, who was still at school, and told him it was time to go to the hospital. I asked him to drive home first to get the camera "just in case" and our bags. My friend Fran told me she was going to drive me to the hospital and quickly got me out the door and into her car. It was now about 2:25 and I started timing my contractions on the clock in her car.

"Oh there's another one" they were now about 4 or 5 minutes apart. I still was not convinced I was in labor, which looking back I want to say to myself "HELLO!?!?!?! Crazy woman, go directly to the hospital, do not pass GO, do not collect $200, go go go!" . The last time I looked at her clock it was 2:49. I have to say that Fran was great, she remained calm the whole time and was really a great companion on this crazy ride.

I was checked into the hospital at 3:05 and brought back to triage almost immediately. The nurse there was amazing. I warned her that "I don't do well in emergency situations" and she assured me we weren't in an emergency situation, that everything was going to be just fine. I was already saying that if this was the real thing I definitely needed an epidural and talked with her about my IV placement and things like that. She then hooked me up to monitors and asked me a million questions. Jeff finally got to the hospital as they were checking me. I was already 5cm dilated and the nurse said that we were definitely having a baby today!

This is when life went into fast forward. We were told we were going to room 12 and on the way there I had a holy moly contraction where I had to grip the hand rails and hunch over in pain. We got into the room and Jeff sent out the following text:
"We are admitted to the hospital.
We are in a room.
Will keep you updated.
Baby is NOT imminent" at 3:41pm.

I remember having to spell the word imminent for him and thinking to myself "Oh this baby is definitely imminent". They took my blood and told me I would have to wait at least 30 min for the epidural which seemed like an eternity. At this point the contractions were coming fast and furious one melting into the next with only a minute or so of relief in between. I started becoming less pleasant and more demanding of some type of pain relief. They brought me the paperwork on the epidural and started explaining things and I grabbed the pen, signed my name and demanded the pain relief and fast. I was standing up at this point, another contraction started coming and I couldn't stop my body from giving a little push. I was told to "lay down right away, on your side and to try and curl up" so that they could give me an epidural or a spinal, not sure what the difference is but apparently someone was in the room and ready to give me some pain relief.

I literally had no control of my body at this point. The contractions were consistent and my body was pushing, there was nothing I could do. I was screaming, I mean really, really screaming. "I can't do this" "I need something for the pain" "Help me" "I can't do this" Jeff was told to sit down while they attempted to give me the epidural but since that option was out I screamed for him. Jeff was there holding my hand and I pushed again and my water broke with a burst. At this point the nurses started moving quickly. Oh and I have failed to mention that while they had called for my doctor to get there, he was not there yet. There was no doctor in the room or on the floor at the time. Once my water broke I don't even think I had to push again, Shannon was being born and I let out one final scream that Jeff has likened to "that one woman, Jamie Lee Curtis, in the movie Halloween right before she is killed."

Shannon was born at 4:05pm, only one hour after I checked in. The amazing nurse who was right there with me through it all reminded me to open my eyes and watch my daughter being born and I will always be thankful for her. She never left my side and kept me as calm as she possible could under the circumstances. I watched Shannon come into this world and they handed her to me, she was purple and crying and perfect. They took her to check her and weigh her, she was 8lbs. 13oz. and 21 inches long.

My doctor finally showed up about 15 minutes later, looked at us and said "I was on my way, I promise!" No one could believe how fast everything happened. They handed Shannon back to me and took care of everything else that you have to take care of when a baby is delivered. I was in shock, I was holding my beautiful little girl who I had delivered without an epidural and faster than anyone could have predicted. It didn't seem real for a little while. Jeff sent out the following text at 4:15pm:
"Shannon is here!!!
No epidural or doctor in the room.
It happened so fast.
Everything is awesome!"

Everyone was shocked that she was born so quickly. Our phones were buzzing and beeping with sweet messages and congrats and many with "wow" and "that was quick!"

Only a few hours later it was time for big brother John to come visit. I knew he was going to be shy and I was a little nervous about how he was going to react to it all. He came in and didn't like seeing me in the bed all wired up so he stayed with Daddy and looked at Shannon. John did well but I knew he didn't like being in that room that night. It was a nice quick visit that went better that I had predicted.

Here are all of Shannon's first visitors on her first night.

We spent the next two days at the hospital and had lots and lots of visitors! It was wonderful to have everyone come and meet our little princess.

The next time John came to visit he was much more excited. He brought Shannon a very special gift of little tubby toys that he opened and showed her one by one. He climbed right up on the bed and was very interested in looking at Shannon and talking to her. It was wonderful. And here is our first photo as a family of four. Our happy little family . . .

Mommy and her babies . . . life doesn't get better than this!

And finally it was time to go home! John came in his big brother shirt (the one that my mother-in-law bought for me when I was pregnant with John) and was excited about bringing Mommy and Shannon home.

Shannon was not as happy about it . . . she calmed down quickly right after this.

Proud Daddy with his little girl, I just love it!

Since we've been home life has been great. Shannon's not even a week old and yet it seems like she's been here forever. I have a feeling like this is it, this is our family, we are all here now. Life is great!

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-30T20:12:00.001-04:00

Woah! We had an awesome Spring Break! There wasn't one day where I didn't go to bed thinking that THIS was a good day!! Jeff, John and I did what we wanted to do whenever we wanted to do it and really just enjoyed being together!

I have tons of photos so I'm just going to let them do most of the talking . . .

Thanks to our new front yard we had some fun with bubbles!

We had some friends over for juice boxes and playing on the slide.

We went to the beach and it wasn't the "day of relaxing at the beach" I had imagined, but we still managed to have some fun! Our normal beach parking lot was full so we had to go to another beach and as we got there we realized that we were definitely not the only ones ready for some fun in the sun.

Daddy making the perfect beach play list and John getting settled.

Looking at these photos I can't help but think at how serious John looks. He had a blast playing, but what's with the somewhat sad look on his face?! He was really concentrating on having fun!

John's favorite beach game, put the sand back into the ocean . . . he does it every time!

And then he was done! John said "I wanna go home for nigh nigh" and as much as I really wanted to push it and stay longer I knew he was done. So we packed up and waited for Jeff to come get us.

We stayed up late to see the big full moon . . .

John helped Daddy put together some of Shannon's new things

We took John's motorcycle out for a spin!

We hung out in our garage while Jeff attempted to put together a fun tent we have for the beach. He wanted a trial run before trying it in the sand.

Hi! :-)

Back to the front yard for some ball practice. I have to say when I saw this front yard this is exactly what I imagined!

We went to the zoo and spent time at our favorite spots feeding the fish and watching the leopard.

Then we let John get two more special pennies. I think that this was maybe his favorite thing all week. He has three in total and knows exactly where they are at any given moment.

John and Daddy cleaned together! John was SO excited to vaccum with Jeff!

We had more friends over and enjoyed a yummy dinner and even yummier dessert! We are thinking extra special thoughts of the Hemrick's as they welcome their little boy, Joseph, to the world very soon!

John and Katherine making the driveway pretty!

Yummy cupcakes!!!

We spent time at Grandma Betty's house for her famous "Roni's and Mac's". Betty's house was built and decorated in the 70's . . . and hasn't really been updated since, it's definitely a fun place to visit!

There's just too many things I find funny about this photo . . .

Hanging out

"Fighting Daddy"

We enjoyed our lanai and painted some fun pictures. And again with the Mr. Serious face . . . John you need to lighten up bud! ;)

Back to the garage to "work on my momo-cy-co Mommy!"

Oh how I love him!

We had cousins over and had a great time playing together!

And believe it or not there were a few things I didn't even get to photograph! We went to the water park with friends twice, met up at the park a few times, went shopping with Grandma Lolus, had two doctor appointments (updates below) and spent probably too much time laying around being lazy!

I would like to update on a few more things too. (I mean I am about 9 1/2 months pregnant and feeling ready to go any day now, so I might as well get it all in now!)

So next up I will give you a quick tour of our new place. I feel like we have really settled in and changed it from a house to a home. I can't help but say I just LOVE our new place, LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Really I can see us being here for a long time.

The view from our front door . . . cue the angels

The view into our front door

Shannon's room . . . perfect and just waiting for her arrival!

The closet, oh the fun we had getting all of these adorable girl clothes! Thank you to everyone who gave us gifts and hand-me-downs, this little girl is going to be so well dressed!!!

Some really beautiful diaper cakes!

The kitchen area and again, cue the angels!

The living room and play area

And finally our backyard . . .

Okay so John's room is awesome as well, but I don't have any photos because every time I think to take a photo John is sleeping. And the master bedroom might just remain unphotographed for now!

Finally, an update on baby Shannon! The fun end-caps to Spring Break were the two doctors appointments I had. During the first appointment I was checked to see if my body was making any progress in the going into labor department. And I am! I was 1cm dilated and 50% efaced which means that things are moving! I get checked again in a few days and I have a feeling that they are going to find I'm making more progess. I'm feeling lots and lots of pressure every single time I stand up. I'm also get more and more uncomfortable every day. I'm still loving being pregnant and don't want to wish any of this time away, but I can tell my body is getting to the point where it just can't be pregnant any more. It's been amazing being the home to Shannon these past 9 months. She has definitely let me know she is in there! She gets the hiccups every day and some times more than once. She moves her arms, legs, and body all the time. Her little fingers and toes tickle and dig their way around my belly and there are times where I'm shocked at where I can feel her. I really had no idea she was taking up that much space but then again she is definitely big, big, big! At the second appointment I had another sonogram. Her head and belly are measuring at full term and her femur is one week behind. They think she is at least 8 1/2 pounds right now (deep breath). My doc tells me that sonograms are bad at predicting weight and they could be off by a pound either way but he agrees that all things point to her being a big baby. He wants to wait until a week before my due date before making any "big" decisions (c-section, inducing) so his advice to me? "Try your best to go into natural labor in the next week or so!" Okay doc, sure sounds like a plan! :-)

And this brings me to now . . . We are well rested from our fun Spring Break. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the fourth member to our family. We are happy, healthy and loving life!

Final Family of Three Photos

2011-03-24T12:41:00.001-04:00

I knew that I wanted to get some form of professional photos of my pregnancy this time around but I also knew that I didn't want the typical naked belly poses. What I really wanted was to capture what our family is like right now, just the three of us. The way it's been for the past almost three years. Now don't get me wrong, I can't wait until we are a family of four Every single day I wake up thinking today could be the day and I'm more excited that I could possibly express in words here. That being said, I still love our family right now, I love the way we are and I desperately wanted someone to come and freeze it for a second so I could always remember. And then I emailed Missy Kettler and tried my best to explain this . . . she totally and completely got it . . . and here's the proof. I absolutely love each and every one of these photos and will cherish them forever and ever.

We have these photos up in our house and I smile every time I see them. They make me happy!

I want to take just a moment to tell you a little about Missy. We have met through a mutual friend at parties and get togethers. I knew that she understood photographing wiggly little ones, but what I was oh so grateful for was that she also understood photographing reluctant husbands. Now I'm not saying that Jeff and John are difficult to photograph . . . it's just that . . . yes, yes they are! :-) Well Missy being a mom and wife not only understood, she nearly literally bent over backwards to get THE shot! Thank you Missy! I am forever grateful for your talent, time, energy, editing, all of it! If you are looking for a family photographer please visit her website! http://missykphotography.com/

Then the cherry on top? Our mutual friend, Jess Johnston, started a new card business! Jess turned the photos that Missy took into a wonderful card that I was able to send out to friends and family.

I am so excited for Jess and this new adventure in her life. I can see she has a real talent and truly enjoys making these one-of-a-kind special cards. If you are in the market, make sure you visit her website!http://www.etsy.com/shop/jecca33

I will end all of this by saying that the other day I felt a bit like a celebrity. I was at the mall ordering a delicious ice cream treat and a woman walked up to me and said "Did Missy Kettler just photograph your family? You look so familiar! I LOVE the photos!!" And of course I said yes and we got to chatting that Missy had just photographed her daughter too and that Jess had made cards and how impressed we both were with the whole process. She didn't ask for my autograph, but it was still very cool.

I feel very lucky to be able to call these ladies my friends! They have amazing talent and I encourage you to seek them out!!!

Big Update (or really) Update on Big Things

2011-03-14T20:00:00.006-04:00

There has been lots of BIG things going on in our lives over the past few weeks which is why I haven’t gotten around to blogging, but I'm attempting to make up for it with a big update . . .

The first big update is Shannon . . . she’s big and only getting bigger by the week! A few weeks back I had a sonogram to see what was going on in there. I asked to please confirm that Shannon is definitely a girl and fortunately after a little poking and prodding we were able to verify that it’s still a little girl growing in there. The tech also said that she’s got hair, maybe not a lot, but if we can see it on the sonogram it’s definitely there! I am SUPER excited for all of the bows and clips we can start using!!! And then the fun part, they measured her femur bone and head circumference and determined that she was already in the 90th percentile. They estimated that she was about 6 lbs, which could mean that she was really 5, 6 or 7 lbs. and if she continues to grow at ½ lb. per week, which is typical, she will be 9, 10 or 11 lbs at 40 weeks. Go ahead and let that sink in for a minute. So as of 4 weeks ago (the time of the appointment) I already had a full sized baby cooking away! My doctor said that I needed at least 4 more weeks to make sure that all of the important organs were fully developed and we definitely hit that mark. My last appointment (last Monday) was great. I’m still measuring ahead and I’m at the point where if I go into labor they don’t stop it. This is the point of the pregnancy where it is extremely exciting and still a little bit scary . . . it’s actually happening! The finish line is in sight and we are moving swiftly in that direction. The real question is, are we ready? :-)

Here I am sporting the big belly with the big girl growing inside.

And I decided to share a head on look too, is it me or can you tell that she favors one side of my body?

Another very big update is that we have moved. Yes, Jeff and I made the decision to move while I was/am 8 months pregnant. We knew for quite some time that the condo was way too small for our growing family, but due to a number of different circumstances we weren’t sure if we would be able to move before our little one was born. Fortunately the stars aligned and someone smiled down on us because we were able to find the perfect place for the perfect price at the perfect time. I was so nervous that it wasn’t going to happen that I didn’t even tell anyone about it until we actually had the keys in our hands. I’m not pessimistic, it’s just that I know how things go and this just felt too good to be true . . . but it is! I am just so grateful that everything fell into place when it did!

Our new place is a three bedroom, two bath coach home, which means we are connected to our neighbors. We have a two car garage which is huge, not in size, but in the way that we finally, after a year and a half, have a place to store things. Aside from being small the other big pain with the condo was that we had zero storage space for anything and now we have rooms that actually have TWO closets in them!!! Oh the possibilities! :-) We are in a lovely neighborhood and our backyard is a beautiful golf course. John has already made friends with all the golfers by waving hello as they drive past in their carts. We’ve been there less than a week, but it already feels like home! It actually felt like home the first night we stayed there! Oh there are still boxes and lots to unpack, but we are getting there slowly.

We woke John up the day of the move with his favorite . . . don don's!! :-)

Hey Dunkin Donuts, needs a spokesman?

Here are the guys moving all of the furniture, notice that Bob is safely in the background "supervising"!

There goes all my worldly possesions . . . and it definitely looked like it was going to rain all over them. Thank goodness it did not!

After John woke up from his nap I thought it would be a good idea if he actually saw that he old room was empty and that his new room had all of his things. We even left a few toys behind so he could move them himself.

And FINALLY we had a nursery for Shannon! No, it's not ready yet, but it looks much better than this!

We moved some of our fans and there was an issue with a lightbulb breaking or something like that. All I know is that Jeff and Matt spent a good amount of time shoving tools into the fan and cursing. I was sure something bad was going to come of it, so I grabbed my camera . . . in the end it did all work out! :-)

This might not be a great photo, but at least you can see our living room and our first visitors!!

Scarlett LOVES the place! :-)

Another big update is that my big boy got some very cool big boy bunk beds. A very big Thank You to Grandma Lolus for this amazing gift! John is IN LOVE with them!!! Up until this point he has been sleeping in the crib and we felt no need to move him from it. He never tried to climb out and I honestly think he liked the comfort and security of being in a four sided crib. It was his special place, we would lay him down at night awake and he would talk to his stuffed animals and listen to music until he fell asleep. And if I think about it too much I might get emotional about how he is growing up and becoming a big boy now . . . Anywho, about a week or so before we moved from the condo we took one side off the crib in preparation for the big move and he still would stay in the crib as if all four sides were up. We decided that when we made the big move to our new home we would also move into the bunk beds.

Getting ready to disassemble the crib, John took advantage of the ~~trampoline~~ bed on the floor . . .

And Daddy joined in on the fun too!

The new crib . . .

John seemed to like it just fine!

Fortunately, and again thanks to stars aligning and an incredible amount of luck being on our side, we got the last slot to have the furniture delivered on the actual day we planned to move. Sometimes you just have to think things were meant to be right? Well, Rooms-To-Go promised deliver between 3 and 7pm and I knew that meant that we were either going to have the beds by noon or not until 9pm . . . and I was right. The truck finally showed up at 8pm and three very tired, but trying to be enthusiastic, delivery men put together John’s bed.

John was not happy about having three strangers in his room and wanted nothing to do with them, but after they left he was bouncing off the walls excited about his new beds.

Hi there! It's just me with a big belly!

He hasn’t asked once about his crib and I really think he’s done incredibly well with the transition. He crawls in all by himself and stays in bed all night. I don’t want to jinx it, but I really think we’ve got a pretty good situation going on.

One final big update is this . . . Jeff somehow put on about 100 lbs overnight. We were quite concerned as you can imagine, but we figured we try and have some fun with it . . . .

Totally corny, I know . . . it was Sumo Wrestling Night at Barron again. Jeff won, I think?!

So there you have it our big update on big things . . . as you can imagine there will be tons more to update with all of the above and I promise to try my best to get it all up here.

Sprinkled with Love

2011-03-08T20:58:00.000-05:00

There are times in life when you realize how lucky you really are. This was one of them.

My sister, Kristen, and sister-in-law, Victoria, threw me a very special and beautiful baby "sprinkle" last weekend and it was absolutely wonderful. There was such attention to detail and so many special little touches it really made me feel so very special. It felt so intimate with just my family and close friends and almost fairy tale like with the beautiful weather and amazing surroundings. The icing on the cake was that we were all there to celebrate Shannon with tons of pink and bows and pretty things everywhere!

As you can imagine I have tons of pictures . . . .

The tables were beautiful!

Victoria cleaning and getting everything set-up

Mom making some goodies in the kitchen

Kristen and Grandma finishing up the little last minute details

All of the beautiful presents!

Chatting and waiting for the other guests to arrive

The delicious food! This was a serious high-light for me, I went back for seconds and thirds!!

Even more precious details!

Friends and family all showing up

Chatting with a great friend!

Digging into the yummy goodies!

See I told you I loved the food!

We played the game to see who could guess how big my belly was . . . sorry Michelle!

Measuring everyone up was hilarious, some people were WAY off!

In the end Bernie was the closest!

And then it was time to open the gifts! I was overwhelmed by how many wonderful things Shannon got!

Matching outfits for cousins Scarlett and Shannon! Can you believe Victoria had a baby two months ago? She looks good huh!?

I love this frame!!!!

Family photo with the Grandma's and Great Grandma's

Can you feel the love?!

Nothing better than family!

The best friends a girl could ever ask for! Love you all!

All of us together :-)

The hostesses, you both mean so much to me! Love you so much!

The belly photo, by the way my mother-in-law made my beautiful dress! Such talent!

John heard all about the fun party and wanted to come see for himself. He wasn't left out of getting gifts, Grandma Lolus and Aunt Janet got him a few goodies and he just had to open the bubble gun right away. He was in heaven!

It was such a wonderful and beautiful day! One that I won't ever forget! Thank you to everyone who made it so special!

What we've been up to lately . . .

2011-02-20T14:46:00.000-05:00

Life has been busy recently! In addition to the normal buzz of every day life we have also been to at least one party a weekend for the past three weeks. It's been great to be included in all of these wonderful celebrations!! We have a great group of friends and to be with them during their special times is really great! Let's see what we've been up to lately . . .

The last weekend of January was all about Swamp Buggy races. We have a good time out there people watching and cheering on the big swamp buggy's. Last year John wasn't that into it all, but now he get's really excited about the big "monster trucks", how loud they are and how they kick up the muddy water as they drive around the track. It was beautiful weather both days!

Oh and I got John some Buzz Lightyear sunglasses, he loved them!!

I love it when I can get into a photo with my little guy!

So John might not look so happy right here . . . he got nervous climbing on the buggy, but didn't want to get off in the end.

Next up we went to a very special little girl's first birthday. We had a great time celebrating Katherine's big day! Not only did Katherine just turn one, she is also going to be a big sister pretty soon. Her Mama and one of my best friends, Keri, and I are due a week apart. It's been so special sharing this experience with her!!

Birthday girl with her Mama and Daddy

The big kids enjoying the cupcakes and juice boxes

Then we went out back for some fun running on the golf course

Auntie Kris was in town and we were able to have a fun morning over at Grandma Lolus's house.

The following weekend was another special first birthday party for a big cheeked little boy who seems to always be happy and smiling! Ross's bday was a big success with a fun bounce house and dinosaur theme. John even wore his dinosaur shirts for the big day!

John was also very excited about the juice boxes (a new favorite because he can drink through the straw) and animal crackers. I swear we feed him at home!

And then it was time for cake, Ross had a room full of people cheering him on as he dove head first into his cake!

Somehow between all of that fun and excitement, we have also been able to have some good fun at home. John and I made some yummy sugar cookies together. I really enjoyed being able to do such a fun activity with John and I was impressed that he stuck with it and really helped me the whole time. I will admit that I cheated and used a box mix, all we had to do was add eggs and butter, but I also knew that a 2 year olds attention span is about 3.2 seconds so it really was the best decision.

Hands washed and ready to go!

Eggs in

Butter next

Stir, stir, stir and then scoop and put on the cookie sheet

We sat and watched the cookies bake in the oven. That's one of John's favorite things to do, turn on the oven light and watch dinner or, in this case cookies, cook. Only 10 minutes later and voila! Home made sugar cookies!

This is John's smily face these days!

And of course he had to try one!

After we baked our cookies it was time to make Valentines for school. I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself for first remembering to buy Valentines for John to give out and then that we actually filed them out BEFORE Valentines day. I think I'm turning into a teacher with all of this being prepared stuff. :-)

Jeff's perspective, he is tall huh?

All done!

After a fun filled afternoon John just wanted to lay down and relax as he watched some TV, I can't blame the kid . . . isn't he just too cute?!

Oh I can't miss the opportunity to do a little update on baby Shannon too!

As you can see, I'm getting pretty big! So big, in fact, that my doctor wants to do another sonogram to see exactly how big little Shannon is! I go in next week for a check-up, I'm going every two weeks now, to see if Shannon might be here before her due date. There haven't been any complications or problems at all and I am so grateful for that. The only thing is that I keep on measuring a few weeks ahead. Also, over the past two weeks, I have been feeling cramps or maybe they are Braxton Hicks now and then. I have been on my feet a LOT more than my last pregnancy so I think that definitely has something to do with it. As long as they tell me that I am healthy and that Shannon is healthy I am happy to welcome her into the world whenever she is ready!

I'm sure there will be lots to update on soon so make sure you check in next week! :-)

The newest Sponseller - Scarlett Reagan

2011-02-09T22:00:00.000-05:00

I am so happy to announce that Jeff and I are now Uncle and Aunt to a beautiful little girl named Scarlett Reagan. On January 4, 2011 my sister-in-law, Victoria, gave birth to a perfect 7lb 13oz beauty at 1:59 pm. Victoria was a rockstar of a first time Mama! When I asked her how the delivery went she said, "I wasn't sure what to expect, but it really wasn't that bad!" Go Victoria Go!

We were so lucky to be asked to come visit just hours after Scarlett was born! I was overjoyed to see an adorable little girl with a full head of dark hair! And without further ado, here she is . . .

Scarlett is the perfect combination of her Mom and Dad. I see a lot Andy in her face and she definitely has at least one of his dimples!

Victoria, Andy and Scarlett are still learning about each other and finding their groove as a new family of three. I am super impressed with how well Andy and Victoria wear the title Mommy and Daddy, not that I ever doubted them for a moment. Scarlett is one lucky little girl!!

A few weeks later we had a nice Sponseller family get together where we got some more sweet newborn snuggles. I just love this little girl so much! And I'm over the moon excited to give her a best friend for life in just a few weeks. I get so excited thinking about all of the fun these girls are going to have together . . . and I dread the trouble they're gonna get into!! :-)

I was very curious how John was going to react to Scarlett. I didn't want to push him into holding her or "playing" with her so we had a very nonchalant approach to their introduction. John was honestly not extremely interested in the new baby . . . he said "hi" and he wanted to look at her once her eyes opened, but overall it was like she was always there, already part of the family!

We've had the opportunity to see her a few times since and she is already growing up fast. I can't believe she is already one month old!! It's been a wonderful preview of being a Mama to a little girl!

Congrats to Victoria and Andy! We are so happy to have Scarlett as part of the family! She's a keeper!!

Baby Sister Shannon and Big Brother John Update

2011-01-30T16:34:00.000-05:00

I just had a great doctor appointment this week and thought it would be a good time for an update on baby Shannon. To start with the one thing I just can't get out of my head is this little fun fact . . . 12 pounds. 12 pounds. That is the amount of weight I gained between my last two appointments. 12 pounds in a month, or as my mother-in-law so lovingly put it "oh that's only 3 pounds a week, not so bad!" ha! I really don't have an issue with it at all, I mean I knew I was going to gain the weight at some point and the doc reassured me that most of it was baby and baby related "stuff", but I mean wow! That did seem like a big leap to me!

Check out the belly! And I swear I did have make-up on . . . kinda scary photo, yikes!

Baby Shannon is definitely growing in there, I think that she is up to the size of a cabbage or califlower. Doc says she is laying on the right side of my belly and he thinks she is head down, but will probably check with a sonogram as we get closer just to be sure. After typing this Shannon decided to completely move around. Last night I am pretty sure she flip flopped completely and was even laying sideways for a while. I am measuring 3 weeks ahead right now, at my 20 week appointment I was measuring 2 weeks ahead, so I wasn't surprised to hear this news. I start going to the doctor every two weeks now and the nurse led me to believe that it is because I'm measuring ahead. They have not mentioned moving my due date just yet, but only time will tell. I don't care when they tell me she is due, she will come out when she wants, whenever she wants!

I am in the wonderful part of pregnancy where I'm feeling great, getting around without too much trouble and feeling the amazing movements of a growing baby. She moves all the time and I love feeling all of it. I have noticed that her movements are either at the top of my belly or at the very, very bottom of my belly. I can almost feel her moving behind my pelvic bone if you can imagine, it's an odd feeling. But given the way that I can tell she is or was laying, which was confirmed by the doc, I'm not surprised at the locations of her movements. They are definitely different than Johnathan's movements which is interesting to me. Has her personality already started to develop? Shannon's movements are more soft, subtle and sporatic through the day. John's were strong and definite and at specific times or when I ate. Shannon's only had the hic-up's once, maybe twice, since I started to feel her moving. John had hic-up's once or twice a DAY! I can't wait to see if this difference will continue once she is born.

A few months back I had a really wonderful oppportunity to meet-up with my sister-in-law for her maternity photoshoot. Victoria and I were so excited to be pregnant at the same time we figured we had to capture this special time in photos. The photographer was excited to have this opportunity and came up with lots of neat poses and ideas. You can see her website here. Nicole Z sent me a photo that she took of my belly while I was there and gave me permission to post it here. I think it's just beauiftul!

Then for Christmas Victoria bought me a print of a great photo of the two of us. I just love everything about this photo!

The Sponseller Family is certainly growing!!

And no post would be complete without an update on my #1 little man. John has been showing us what a big boy he is recently, I just can't believe it!

To start with he is getting really good about going on the potty. He still has accidents from time to time and when he says he has to go it means immediately, but we are really getting there. We still do a pee-pee dance and give big high fives every time he goes which he loves. It's a fun time over here when you go on the potty!

John's been talking up a storm too. He has really become so much more verbal recently, it's like he has new words and phrases on a daily basis. Some of the things he says are really funny too, I wonder where he gets it. ;-) Some of my favorites are "Alright?!" as in "I want to go home . . . alright?!" "I want to watch Nemo . . . alright?!" or "No I fine" which is how he usually responds to "do you have to go potty?". I wish I could think of more. I have to get better at taking video of him talking. He also gets on these rants where he's almost stuttering because I can tell he has so much to tell me he just doesn't know where to begin. His memory has started to get better too. I'm sure there is some medical explanation for this time in his life, but all I can tell you is that he can recall things that happened yesterday or even a few days ago which has never happened before. I just find it amazing, another sign that he is indeed growing up. Bittersweet all around.

Also, we have a new found love of movies! John loves Toy Story 1, 2 and 3, Finding Nemo, Cars and all of the Shreks as well and asks to watch them often. He sings along to some of the songs and can tell you what the main characters say. What does Buzz Lightyear say - "To the rescue" or "To emfanimy (infinity) and beyond". What does Dori say - "Jus keep swimming!" and how about the sea turtles - "Duuuude!" He LOVES Mater and Shrek and seems to get the jokes because he laughs at the right times. I have to say, although I do love Elmo, I'm happy with this new obsession. Fortunately the makers of these movies understand that parents watch too and add in a few things that adults find funny!

John has also started a not so fun habit of screaming or shreiking when he doesn't get his way. It happens both at home and when we are out and we are really trying to nip that behavior in the bud, but it's not easy. He knows what he wants to do and he doesn't understand that maybe a) it's dangerous, b) we have to do something else, or c) we said that he wasn't aloud to do it. It's been a bit trying but we are working through it. And by that I mean we haven't a clue as to how to get him to stop, so we are getting really good at distracting him or just ignoring his screams and hope he stops soon.

Life has gotten back into a very comfortable swing of "normal" after the holidays and before the big event in April. We get up, go to work, come home for dinner, have our night time routine and repeat throughout the week with fun little add-ins of dinner with Grandma Lolus or Grandma Bert and Papa. Our weekends have been full of this and that and lots of relaxing at home getting the things done that we couldn't get to during the week. We watch movies, make yummy dinners and just hang out. It's been fun to have some quiet time to reset. We have a few busy weekends coming up and I think we will be ready for the change!

Starting 2011 off right!

2011-01-25T20:48:00.000-05:00

I can't think of a better way to start off the year than an early morning trip to one of our favorite local parks. Even better, Grandma Lolus and Aunt Kris joined us! We had a blast running around the park.

I have to say it was very, very nice to have my Mom and Kris there to play with John. I mean I do love all the fun times we have at parks, but this pregnant Mama is happy to just sit and take photos as well!

I love this photo, John pushing Mommy! :-)

And then it was John's turn!

Next was this tripod sea-saw type thing that John insisted Grandma and Kris go on with him. So much fun!

"No Grandma, legs UP, like ME!!"

Then it was over to the dig it area . . . here is John scooping up "coconut and chocolate ice cream" and making sundae's to order! I love his imagination!

Do you want sprinkles and whipped cream? Ok!

I also love that I get to be in some of these photos too!

A few days later Jeff, John and I went to the zoo. We love it there! We got there right as they opened and some of the animals were just waking up and very active, like the friendly leopard . . . thank goodness for plexiglass!

Okay John, where do you want to go next?

And we're off!

I have to say I wouldn't want to start off the year any other way!

Counting down to 2011

2011-01-15T16:04:00.000-05:00

On Christmas Eve Johnathan opened a toy tractor and fell in love! Andy started examining the toy and was pointing out its name and all the little working parts. It turns out that Andy had a real size version of this same exact toy and offered to have John come over and "play" with it. We were so excited to have this opportunity! He told John that he had to bring his hard hat and that they would "work" together on the tractors!

John was super excited about this whole idea, but when we actually got there he was a little shy. I can't imagine why, with all the loud noises and everyone looking at him and the huge machines . . . so this pregnant Mama thought the best way to break the ice was to climb on up with him!

So we are up there, sitting in the chair and John just reaches out and starts moving the levers all over the place which sends the tractor tilting this way and that. I nearly thought we were going to fall out, I wish Jeff could have gotten that on video. Funny stuff. Fortunately Andy was right there and didn't seem concerned so I figured we were safe!

Andy offered to drive it around with John and I was very happy to let him take over!

Another big crane truck caught John's eye and he wanted to climb all over it next!

Uncle Matt came along too!

Finally we went inside the shop and John wanted to get on the big lawn mower. I guess Andy's got a helper in a few years or so!

What a fun way to start a chilly day!!!

A few days later we got the opportunity to meet up with a friend of mine at the zoo. Beth has a daughter, Bella, who's just a few months older than John, they had a blast running around the place! Here they are comparing the cool shirts Santa brought them!

Of course no zoo trip is complete without feeding the fish and birds.

Just before leaving Jeff got a photo of the Mama's with the kiddos. The baby is Vince, Bella's baby brother, just a few months old. It was such a fun morning!

We somehow snuck in a fun park playdate with lots of other Mama's and kids too! It was right at John's nap time so we were right on the brink of a meltdown the whole time. Before anyone else got there I was able to snap this quick photo . . . looking so grown up!

Finally it was New Years Eve! I'm sure I've said it here before but Jeff and I realize we are definitely at the point in our life where we are completely happy counting down to 9pm and calling it a night. Yes we have partied till midnight and later in years past and I'm sure we will again but not now and that's okay! Here's John and Daddy pulling the strings on those little party poppers! So much fun!

And although it might not be the most flattering photo of me, here's the last photo of 2010.

2010 was year full of change for us. Our lives are nearly unrecognizable compared to what they were a year ago and that's not necessarily a bad thing. We are happy and healthy. We enjoy our time together as a family of three and are eagerly anticipating growing to a family of four. 2010 taught me a lot about myself and about my family, it was definitely a year of learning and listening and finding out what is truly important. I feel like we can welcome 2011 in with a big hearty hug. We have so much to look forward to and I'm not going to wish a minute of it away! We are living in the moment, taking it all in and feeling thankful for all that we have!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-08T14:38:00.003-05:00

Where do I even begin?!

I couldn't help but compare this year to years past and think how wonderful this Christmas was for us. Was it that John was old enough to really get it? Was it that I'm pregnant with our sweet little girl? Was it that Jeff, John and I had two whole weeks off to do whatever we want together? I think yes to all of the above, but I think there was more. I have just had this sense of contentment and "this is right where we're suppose to be right now" . . . this overwhelming feeling of happiness and gratitude for my life and our life.
What I really liked about this year is that we really felt the Christmas spirit from the beginning of December all throughout the holidays. John and I sang Christmas songs every time we were in the car together. We decorated. We baked. Well okay, we bought bake and break cookies and ate them off the cookie sheet before they even cooled! I bought special Christmas projects which I thought would take hours and be tons of fun that ~~John did all by himself~~ John kinda helped me with. By the time Christmas Eve came around we were ready for the fun to begin!!

We spend every Christmas Eve at the Sponseller house and it is always such a special time. This year was especially wonderful because everyone was there to help celebrate. With everyone living all around the state and country it really is something when we can all be in the same place at the same time!

John made a special gift for all of his grandparents this year and although it might not be a great photo, Grandma Bert and Papa are looking through their "John and Us" photo book while John is being John!

Then we did what we do best, we opened gifts, ate some delicious food, talked, played, and had a blast!

Bernie got all her "big boys" remote control helicopters, Jeff opened his right away!

Here's Victoria and Me with our huge bellies!

The whole gang!

Baby Shannon even got some adorable gifts too!

One very special memory that I won't ever forget is driving home on Christmas Eve. John asked for me to sit next to him in the back seat, we opened the windows and looked at all of the beautiful Christmas lights the whole way home. John reached out and held my hand the whole time, every now and then pointing out "ohhh look Mommy!!!". It seriously melted my heart!

Then it was time for John to get into bed so we could wait for Santa to arrive and drop off all his gifts! Santa had left some special instructions for Mommy and Daddy to put one of John's gifts together. Fortunately Uncle Matt offered to help!

We were all up early the next morning and I was so excited to see all the gifts Santa had left for John!

John was excited too!

Thinking back it was such a wonderful morning! We took our time opening each present and then playing with it before moving on to the next one. John's genuine excitement and over the top reactions to everything made it all worth it. All the thinking and purchasing (some gifts were from Mommy and Daddy) and wrapping (all done by Jeff, I know your jealous, he's the best gift wrapper ever!), all of it was so so worth it!

One very fun gift was a big box with one small gift and full of packing popcorn. John did exactly what we were hoping he would!

Just when he thought all the fun was over we revealed the big present out on the lanai! He LOVED it!

Then I took a look at our floor, it was a beautiful sight!

We ate a yummy breakfast at home, let John take a nap and then headed over to Grandma Lois's for a wonderful afternoon and evening!

John waisted no time and started right in on the presents!

Kristen got us a very special gift that is now proudly up on our wall! We are going to have to update this photo once Shannon gets here!

We did manage to get one quick family photo, then it was right back to playing with all of the fun toys John got!

My mom planned a very fun snowman craft that we all had fun working on!

John also made "Grandma Lolus" a "John and Me" photo book, but I don't have a picture of it being opened. My mom loved it and proudly shows it off to anyone and everyone. I'm sure if you haven't already seen it you will someday soon!

We had a delicious dinner followed by yummy christmas cookies. We opened a few more gifts and headed home very full, very happy and very tired!

John just couldn't resist playing with his toys one more time before bedtime!

The next day John ran out of his room to get right back into playing with everything. We had big plans for the day but wound up staying pajamas till way after lunch time, it was perfect!

Oh it was wonderful! It was everything I imagined and more. It was what I wanted our Christmas to be with happy extra's here and there. And it really had nothing to do with the things we got or opened, it was all about being with the people we love the most. It was going to bed that night feeling the baby in my belly kicking away, knowing my little boy was tucked in bed sleeping away, and snuggling up next to my best friend in the whole world knowing that life is wonderful. Life is truly wonderful!

Counting down on Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T14:58:00.000-05:00

Here we are on Christmas Eve and it feels like the calm before the storm. John is napping, hopefully dreaming of Santa Claus and all the wonderful gifts he's about to get. Jeff and I have done a little cleaning and are now watching TV relaxing before the festivities start tonight. I sometimes have to pinch myself to realize that yes, it's true, I'm living this wonderful life. While we might not be a Normal Rockwell painting and we certainly have our faults, our family is just the way I want it to be. I'm married to an amazing man who gets me and gets whats important in life. I have an amazing little boy who just recently, for no reason at all, has started running over to me, kissing me on the cheek and saying "I wuv you Mommy!". I'm pregnant with our precious little daughter who I can't wait to meet. I can't imagine life any sweeter or better than it is right now. And to think the best might be yet to come!

This week has been fantastic. I honestly don't know if I've ever had this much time off of work where I really didn't have to check in, read emails, or worry about work at all. It's been amazing and I've been soaking every minute of it up. We set out to do nothing, but of course we've being doing lots and lots and lots.

We've spent some time at the park with friends. Time at the park always reminds me of how far we have come and how big John is. The first times we would go to the park John couldn't even crawl! It was probably more for me than for him. Then he transitioned to the crawling/walking stage where I had to watch him like a hawk and pretty much hold onto him the whole time. And now, he's running and climbing all over the place, but I know he's okay, I can just sit back and watch. Maybe I'm a little sentimental, but it gets me every time!

John and Emma

Spin, spin, spin!

More spin, spin, spinning!

Here's John just hanging out! :-)

Then I saw my shadow! Woah!

Another park on another day, sizing up the wall . . .

Daddy first . . .

Then it was John's turn!

The other night, we made a last minute decision to see sunset. It was beautiful. I guess I forget sometimes how nice it is to live in this part of the world, to be able to drive down the street and see this beautiful sight. I stood there looking at my son and hugging my husband watching a gorgeous sunset and thought . . . this is it. Maybe it's the fact that tomorrows Christmas and I'm feeling all tingly with excitement, but I have this overwhelming sense of thankfulness and gratitude for our little family and the simple joys in life!

We've relaxed at home and put together puzzles . . .

We've received a wonderful amount of Christmas cards, I'm loving the way our fridge looks!

We've even made a special trip to visit real firetrucks! This is actually one of the funniest things that has happened in a while. We have a friend, Aaron, who is a firefighter. I thought it would be awesome if we could visit him at work one day so that he could show John all about firetrucks. John loves "wewoo fires", he points them out all the time and if you remember from the photo at the parade he lights up when he actually sees one up close and personal. So I coordinated with Aaron's wife on what day and what station Aaron would be at, there were a few emails back and forth, we both thought it was all set. So the big day arrives, we show up and ask for Aaron, "he's not here today, his shift is tomorrow" all we could do was laugh! Since we were already there and the other firefighters were so nice and offered to show us around we decided to stay!

John has a tendency to get a little shy in a new situation so he wasn't quite sure about sitting in the cab, but once Mommy climbed up there he felt that it was okay.

The firefighter who drives the truck showed John all of the compartments and was really just so patient with him, I was so grateful that he waited for John to calm down and get excited about all of this!

On the way out they gave John his very own helmet and coloring book. Very exciting!!

Later that night we were so happy to hear that our very own firefighter was in town and make a quick stop to say hi. Uncle Matt loves to play with John and make him laugh!

And finally what's a countdown to Christmas without a visit to Santa. I knew from last year that John was not a fan of the Jolly Old Man, but I did my best to talk him up for the past few weeks. "Santa is Mommy's friend!" "Mommy and Daddy love Santa" "Santa is so nice and happy, Mommy can't wait to hug him" and so on. We decided to head to the Mall and hope for the best. It all started of really well. We got there before Santa, we were second in line and John was excitedly talking about what he wanted to ask for from Santa. It was finally our turn, like slow motion we are walking up to say hi, John's all smiles and then . . . CRASH!!!!!!! The loudest boom you could possibly imagine came out of no where. We all jumped, even Santa and even though I tried to play it off, like "Hey John that was nothing, he he he ha ha ha!!" but the damage was done, John was histerical, screaming that he wanted to go home. Apparently some little kid knocked over a metal grate in his excitement to see Santa. Awesome. So we went to the back of the line hoping to calm John down, but I knew in my heart the moment had passed. We went home defeated, pictureless and dissapointed. Being determined I decided we were going to give it one more try. A few days later, we were back to see Santa. This time we were first in line and I told Jeff and the photo lady, I don't care if he's screaming and crying I want a photo! And they delivered! Honestly I'm happy with the photo, one day it'll be a great story!

First attempt . . . waiting for Santa

Second attempt . . . waiting for Santa

And finally . . . John and Santa!

Santa was so patient and kind! He thought of asking for a high five and it worked. Thank you Santa!

Well, there's only a few hours before all of the fun starts and I can't wait! I hope all of you have a wonderfully Merry Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

2010-12-20T21:49:00.000-05:00

December is here and with it comes all the joy of Christmas time! This year we certainly have found our "Holly Jolly"-ness and we are all loving it!

It all started with the tree, the same tree as last year, and even though I really want a big tree with lots and lots of ornaments, this little tree has found a very special place in my heart. I went shopping on "Black Friday" and managed to walk away a pretty good deal or two. While I was gone John and Daddy went about setting up the tree, ornaments and our stockings. And althought I kinda wished I had photos of this fun event, I think its cool that Daddy and John have this special time together. Jeff said John really enjoyed himself and they had a great time. I love hearing about my boys bonding!

We quickly realized that we were missing a stocking for our little girl! Jeff didn't want to leave her out of the fun and quickly ordred another stocking hanger and personalized stocking right away. We could not believe the size of the box that it came in. It was huge and filled to the brim with popcorn stuffing, never in a million years would I imagine that Jeff would allow, much less encourage, John to jump in and play, but it definitely made for a really, really fun time!

And now our family of four is properly represented with our stockings. :-)

It makes me so happy to know that I'm married to someone who totally gets how important little things like stockings are. :-)

Here are some of the fun things we've been up to recently . . . we've had lots of fun downtown enjoying the annual Christmas Tree lighting and Christmas Parade. Checking out the decorations before the lights were on.

Family photo thanks to a friendly woman walking by.

Then finally they turned the lights on, it was so beautiful!

Next up was the Christmas Parade . . . Oy what an adventure. Jeff was referreeing a basketball game and couldn't go, it was a very, very chilly evening and traffic was horrible, but I was determined to get downtown for the parade. It was just John and me, the closest we could park was still about three blocks away from the parade route and did I mention it was cold. So I get John in the stroller and all bundled up, I get my bag on the stroller and all ready to go, then I did something stupid. I opened the trunk to get out a beach chair so that I would have a place to sit and after struggling for a few minutes I realized that I was just going to have to stand or sit on the ground and slammed the trunk shut, patted my pockets for the keys and quickly realized that the keys were most certainly inside the trunk that I just slammed shut. After cursing and thinking through my options, realizing that just about everyone that could help me was not reachable by phone for at least an hour, I hiked it on over to the parade route, what else was I going to do?!? We found a little piece of sidewalk to call our own and settled in for the show!

And I am soooo glad I did! John LOVED it! It was great, just the two of us, snuggled together watching the parade go by. He squeeled with joy at every firetruck, there were at least four or five, and screamed happily when they rode by. When the parade participants threw candy towards us he would scream "LOOK Mommy!!!" and point out all the pieces for me to pick up. I think his face says it all!

Fortunately my mother was able to meet up with us for the end of the parade.

After the parade my mom met Jeff half way to pick up the extra set of keys and brought them back to me. Thank goodness we had an extra set! I'll never do that again . . . hopefully!

We've also had lots of fun at friends parties this month! John's best buddy, Emma, turned 3 years old and we helped her celebrate her big day! The bounce house was a big hit!

Even if John is out of focus, check out the air he is getting!!

Emma's Mom had a very fun activity of decorating gingerbread houses. A lot more of the candy wound up in our bellies than the house, but I think that's the point right?!

These two really do get along great!

The next weekend we helped a very special little girl celebrate her Baptism. Keri and Joe's daughter, Katherine had a very special service and day. We were so happy to be there to witness such a beautiful event! The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we didn't waste a minute of it and had fun outside!

Catch!

Kick!

It was a really wonderful day spent with friends who are like family!

We were happy to visit a brand new little girl that just entered the world a little more than a week ago. John's friend Sammy became a big sister to baby Kinsley Jane and we went over to visit and congratualte the family. I was very curious to see how John would react to a newborn and to me holding a baby. He didn't seem to mind one bit, he did show some mild interest, but honestly I think he was more interested in chasing Sammy around and playing with all of her toys.

We did manage to get a photo of the three of them . . .

But in the end John was much more interested in a photo of just him and Sammy

And finally, some big, big news . . . we are attempting to tackle potty training this week. We decided that John is old enough and we would like to have only one child in diapers. We started off by getting John some big boy underwear that he loves and is very excited about. I won't get into details, but I will say that we have had some MAJOR success during the first day and half. I am so proud of John and can tell that he knows what a big deal this is and how great he is doing! Here's hoping that it's not just beginners luck!!

Here's our little set-up . . .

We are counting down the days until Santa comes and leaves our good little boy some presents. This year it's very obvious that John totally and completely gets Christmas and Santa and all of it. I just can't wait for all the fun and excitement coming our way!! Merry Christmas!!!

It's a . . . . .

2010-11-29T20:40:00.001-05:00

GIRL!!!!!

We are thrilled to share the big news that we are expecting a little girl!!!! Earlier today we had our 20 week check-up and we were sooooo excited for the big day! As soon as the ultrasound tech started to peak in there I said "We definitely want to know!!!" And not a minute later she said "It's definitely a girl!" She pointed out all the parts and wanting to make sure I asked her to triple check and it's 100% . . . Johnathan will be having a baby sister!! All of the other important measurements were just perfect and her heart beat was anywhere between 150 and 158 beats per minute. Also I'm not surprised in the least that the baby is measuring larger than a "normal" 20 week-old.

I have to admit, the thought of having a baby girl . . . a daughter . . . is slowly sinking in. I can't imagine anything in the world better than having a son and now I have a whole new world to look forward to. I'm already imagining the fun we will have together, sharing special times that only a mother and daugther can have and I'm overwhelmed. I haven't stopped smiling since our appointment, I'm giddy! And I remember feeling the exact same way about finding out that Johnathan was a boy. I love the fact that John will have a baby sister and that my daughter will have a big brother.

Jeff and I have been discussing names for the past few months. I would shout out "hey what about ____ for a girl or ____ for a boy" and it was usually met with "nope and no way". I was feeling a little discouraged that we wouldn't agree on anything. Both Jeff and I had our top names picked out and once we heard that we were having a girl Jeff told me a name popped into his head. Fortunately I love the name, so we are sticking with it. Our daughter's name will be . . . .

Shannon Elizabeth Sponseller

We were very excited to tell John all about this big news, but I'm not sure he really understands. I told him that mommy was having a girl, that he was having a baby sister, that the baby inside mommy's belly was a girl, in as many different ways that I could think, but I still don't think he understands. I have asked him to say "baby sister" and his reply is "nope" or "say Shannon" again with a "nope" . . . maybe he's already showing some jealousy towards the new baby? I really don't think that's what it is, I'm pretty sure he just thinks I'm asking him to say a bunch of new words that he doesn't really understand. I'm thinking over the next few weeks of us talking about it he will get it. He already knows all about his baby cousin Scarlett that is due in about 3 weeks or so and that she is in "Tori's" (Victoria's) belly. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he picks up on all of this fun news.

Speaking of inside mommy's belly . . . it's definitely growing! I had at least three people tell me that my belly had definitely popped over the long weekend and that I was looking bigger. I'm definitely feeling bigger and after a long weekend centered around a food eating holiday, the evidence was on the scale too, I've grown!!! In addition to feeling bigger I'm also feeling the baby, her, my daughter, move around. It started with little flutters here and there and now there are definitely jabs and kicks. I told my doctor they all felt inward, towards my back and he said thats because she is facing my back, makes perfect sense! Right now she is in a breack position but 95% of the time the baby flips before delivery so he is not concerned. Here's a photo eof my from earlier tonight.

As you can imagine Jeff and I are feeling over the moon excited about this awesome news! And we know John will be as excited as we are once he figures out what all the fuss is about! Now starts the real fun . . . shopping for a little girl!!! :-)

Turkey Day 2010

2010-11-27T20:19:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! We started the day off with John wanting to play on the computer. He sometimes asks to "see John on puter" and that means he wants to play with the laptop camera. He gets a big kick out of seeing himself on the screen!

We started the morning off with a delicious breakfast at my mom's house. We enjoyed watching the parade as all the food was being prepared.

Quick photo of Jeff and me, thinking about it now, I'm not sure how many photos of just the two of us we have now that John's around!

We enjoyed the beautiful weather by sitting out on the lanai, living in Florida certainly has its perks!

Auntie Kristen is usually helping me take so many of these pictures I'm glad she finally was able to get in one of them. John really loved playing at his "workshop" with all of his helpers!

After a yummy breakfast we went home for John to nap and to get ready for dinner with Jeff's family. We enjoyed dinner at the Meerpohl house this year.

Hanging around in the kitchen waiting for everything to be ready.

Watching Uncle Jim carve the turkey. I have to admit I usually don't like turkey, even on thanksgiving, now I'm not sure whether it's the fact that I'm pregnant or the fact that they brined the bird for 24 hours, but the turkey was delicious!

Another quick family photo, I love how you can see the baby bump in this one!

Here we all are sitting around the table, Jim set up a tripod so we ALL could be in the photo!
We have so much to be thankful for this year and I think it's wonderful to set aside a special day to realize how good life is.

I can't leave out the fun we had leading up to Thanksgiving! The weekend before Jeff, John and I went to the Naples Zoo for some early morning fun. It felt like we were the only people in the place and all the animals were very awake and active, it was wonderful. It was also a very big day for us, we decided to not take the stroller and let John walk the entire time. A big risk, if you ask me, but he loved it! He was running from place to place enjoying every minute of it. Just another reminder of how big my little boy is getting!

Speaking of getting big, check out that belly! :-)

One of John's favorite things to do at the Zoo is to feed the fish and look for turtles. We found a little bench and fed the fish and birds for a while. John loved it!

Another very exciting thing to celebrate this Thanksgiving weekend was that Jeff's brother Matt was in town. We haven't seen him since August and we definitely missed him! We are so proud of Matt, he is already a paramedic and now he is working on becoming a fire fighter, just before he came down he found out he passed a big test that brings him that much closer to his goal. To celebrate we had a special dinner together.

As this wonderfully long weekend comes to an end I can't help but think what a great time it's been. Not only is the holiday season in full gear, but we have a very big day coming up on Monday. We have our 20 week check-up when we get to find out if we are having a girl or boy. I can not wait. I know it's not good to wish your life away, but I have to say that the sting of going back to work on Monday will definitely be softened a LOT by the anticipation of the big appointment that afternoon. Of course I will update here with all of the information as soon as I can. All we can ask for is a healthy baby that is growing on track, anything more than that is just the icing on the cake!