Thanksgiving 2013

I am so thankful that the end of the semester is near!  It has been a crazy whirlwind, and I've nearly lost my mind multiple times.  I wish I were exaggerating...

I sadly cannot find time to blog or read blogs.  I have a whole catch-up post in my mind, waiting to be written, but who knows when I'll have time to write it.  Here are the highlights in bullet points, in case I never write it:

• My 29th birthday was this past month. It was excellent and involved a shopping day trip with Luke and Scarlett.  Oh, and I got a ticket to go see Wicked at the end of the month for my birthday, so I'm pretty much over-the-moon excited!
• Scarlett had a hospital stay a few weeks ago to have a few tests done, and monitoring to see why she wasn't gaining weight very fast.  The verdict?  Nothing is wrong with her and she's just small.  Duh.  Luke and I were beyond frustrated with all of that, because we knew in our guts nothing was wrong with her.  This has been the story of her life so far, even before she was born!
• Luke and I watched the entire Breaking Bad series in 2.5 months.  It is the best, most intense TV series I've ever watched, and I'm sad it's over!

Okay, so that about catches us up.  So for the rest of this post, I'll share some of our pictures and memories from Scarlett's first Thanksgiving!

Luke and Scarlett and I watched the Macy's Parade in our pajamas, while we got ready in shifts.  I love watching the parade every year if for no other reason than the fact that it's tradition.

I think Scarlett is really starting to recognize familiar faces and voices, and Daddy is definitely one of her favorites.  Already her hero...my heart just about explodes daily:

At noon we headed over to my Grandpa's house.  This was such a unique day for me, because while it was my first Thanksgiving with Scarlett, it was also my first holiday without my Grandma.  Very bittersweet.  My grandpa, mom, and aunt tried to set the table like she would have wanted, and I think they did a great job.  I'm so glad almost the entire family was able to be together to celebrate, and I'm sure my grandpa really appreciated it too.

You can tell they're both thinking, "where's the food?  I'm ready to eat!"  Ha!

I feel like in future years when I come back to read this post, it will be very apparent that plaid was very "in" this year!

I love this picture of Scarlett and my cousin Rachel

...And this one of my mom and sister with Scarlett

...And especially this one of my Grandpa with her.  She sure does love her great grandpa!  Ever since she was just a few weeks old, she has always seemed completely captivated by him.  I think you can see that in this picture.

You can tell by the next few pictures that things started to get a little goofy after lunch.  There's my dad, making this kids laugh as always

Family Picture...our first Thanksgiving as a family of 3 (unless you count last year when Scarlett was the size of a pea!)

After Thanksgiving at my Grandpa's, we headed over to Luke's Aunt and Uncle's house to celebrate with his family.  I didn't get too many pictures here because I was busy playing Scattegories the whole time.  I can never pass up a good word game.  However, I discovered on Thursday that I'm possibly the worst Scattegories player every.  I kid you not, I was worried that I had somehow developed Aphasia.  (the future speech therapist in me is scared of too many things going wrong!)  I could not think of any words!  Oh well, we'll just chalk it up to mommy brain.

Anyway, we had a good time!  But clearly Scarlett was starved for attention...

There she is with Luke's cousin Jane

We got a family photo before the end of the day

You can tell Scarlett was getting pretty exhausted by this point!

But not too tired for some smooches from Aunt Di and Aunt Moey!  Her aunts sure do love her!

To end the day, we stopped at my Grandma's place for awhile.  I didn't get any pictures there, but it was nice to catch up with everyone!  We came home, crashed on the couch, and had a Netflix night with a sleeping Scarlett in my arms.  

Thanksgiving was so much fun!  Holidays are going to be so different with Scarlett.  I know she's too young to really know what's going on, but seeing everything through her eyes just makes it seem so much more special.  I just fee like my heart is so full!  

4 Months Old!

Dear Scarlett,

You are 4 months old today!  You just keep growing and growing.  Everyone has been commenting lately on how big you've gotten.

Here's a picture of the day we brought you home, next to a picture of you at 4 months old.  What a difference in a third of a year.

You are in mostly 0-3 month clothes, and size 1 diapers.  You have your 4 month well check on Thursday, but we would guess you weight about 11 pounds.

You have become a bit more independent this month.  You are supporting your head completely on your own now.  When we're holding you, you like to be facing out.  You're very curious, and you like to see what's going on!

Toward the beginning of your fourth month, you seemed to be going through a fussy phase.  Mommy and Daddy were running out of ideas on how to keep you happy and entertained, when you just snapped out of it a week or so ago.  You're back to being the happiest baby we could imagine, so thank you!!

You love to listen to mommy read books.  You are also really into your activity mat lately.  You love to kick or grab the hanging animals.  You are very interested in things that are bright colors or make silly noises.

You are learning new things each day.  You roll from your belly to your back sometimes, and you're very close to rolling from your back to your belly.  You can roll to your side but not quite the whole way over. I'm sure you will any day now!  You're also grabbing at things now.  Anything and everything, from your blanket, to daddy's beard, to mommy's face!  I think you are just amazed that you've learned how to use your hands.  Pretty much anything you can get your hands on goes straight to your mouth, too.  You also constantly blow raspberries and it's about the most adorable thing in the world.

Your little personality is showing through more and more.  You are so silly!  You are constantly making us laugh.  Lately, you've been laughing a lot too.  And I'm not talking about a few giggles here and there.  You've been full out belly laughing to the point where you almost can't contain yourself.  Just yesterday, I was listening to the Wicked soundtrack.  I was singing the song "Popular" and getting right in your face, and you thought it was the funniest thing ever!  Then later last night, you lost it when I was simply nodding my head "yes."  You thought it was hysterical!  Daddy tried to get it on video, but of course you stopped as soon as you saw the phone come out.  Typical.

You did a lot of fun things this month too.  You went on lots of shopping trips, another trip to White House Fruit Farms, you visited some of your friends, went to some baby showers, watched football with Daddy, went to your first trunk-or-treat night on Halloween dressed as Princess Leia, visited Great Grandma W and Great Grandpa S a few times, met your cousin Connor who was born 3 weeks after you, celebrated Mommy's birthday with a big day out on the town...you even spent your first weekend away from home when we went to help Aunt Julie and Uncle Andy move into their now house.  What a busy month!  You better get used to it, girl, because the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) are coming!  And we are sure to be on the go a lot! 

Here's what you looked like this month: 

Still getting cuter and cuter!

We love you so much!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Scarlett's first Halloween

Happy Halloween!  Halloween was extra fun this year, because we got to dress our little princess up like a little princess!

...Princess Leia, that is!  The Princess Leia costume was pretty easy:  Luke's sister got her the hat before she was born, his mom found her the white sleep sack, his other sister made the adorable bag you will see in other pictures, and my only real contribution was the little twine belt, which looks nothing like Princess Leia's actual belt, but is still cute.  Ha!

We spent the night at our church's trunk or treat night where Luke's family made donuts, which has turned into a tradition.

Here Scarlett is with Grandma and Grandpa, in front of a crowd of hundreds of people.  We had a huge turnout this year!

Whenever Scarlett is overwhelmed in a loud, busy situation, she blocks it out by falling asleep.  I think that's what's happening here with her Nana.

...And Aunt Moey

But she eventually woke up for a few more photos...

Here she is with Aunt Di

...And Mommy and Daddy.

And just for fun, here we are at Trunk or Treat night a year ago.  It was freezing, Hurricane Sandy was about to hit, it's the last time I was skinny, and also pregnant but didn't know it yet.  What a difference a year makes!

I know it was kind of silly to dress up our 3.5-month old.  But oh my goodness, I'm so glad we did!  It was so fun!  She'll look back at these pictures someday and love it, I think.  Especially if she's a Star Wars fan like her Daddy!

Is it too early to start Pinteresting next year's costume ideas?!  Because that's about to happen.

Happy Halloween!

Fall Touches

I usually do a fall decor blog post.  This year I'm having such a hard time just keeping my house clean, my thoughts were, "What's the point of decorating?!"  But I did add a few little festive touches:

These are delicious. Also, I'm wearing my favorite fall nail polish (at the moment): OPI - I'm Not Really a Waitress.

8 of these coasters for $1 at Target

Lost track of the salt shaker, but this is cute enough to be out on its own.

 Wait, how did that get in there?  (Just kidding.  I couldn't resist).

I like to keep a basket full of seasonal goodies on the counter

Right now I've got apple cider K-cups,

Starbucks Hot Cocoa - Cinnamon dolce (delicious!),

And random candy.  I don't usually buy candy, but as I said on Instagram (jessicaw1106 -- follow me!), Halloween is a good excuse!

 Scarlett has some fall decor in her room as well.

We read these books just about every day, and she loves them!  She is really getting to the age where she is actually paying attention to the pictures at least.

That's it for my fall decor this year!  

And a little life update since I NEVER post anymore: I finally decided that I can't worry about getting all A's and also clean the house and spend adequate time with Scarlett.  So I've given myself a break, and decided that, who cares if I don't have all A's?  What difference does it really make?  My employer will care much more about my experience than GPA, so why kill myself?  I feel like a giant weight has lifted from me, and I refuse to be a ball of stress during this time of year, especially with Scarlett.  She can sense when I'm stressed, and I think it makes her grumpy too.  Life's too short!  

Coming up later this week:  Scarlett in her very first Halloween costume ever!  I love this time of year!