OCTOBER 2, 2015!

it's a new month. 

it's a new season. 

and there's about a gazillion new things going on in our life. 

I'm so mad I haven't keep keeping up with all the things. The good. The bad. The ugly. 

A teeny tiny snippet? 

1. WE BOUGHT OUR DREAM HOUSE! On July 31st, we sold & bought. We left behind out very happy, very loved home and move into this big, beautiful house. If I'm being completely honest, it doesn't quite feel like home yet. We have a lot of work to do -- decorating, unpacking, clowning, organizing, furnishing. It's going to take us a long time but I think we'll be really happy there. We love the neighborhood and everyone has been SO nice. I really miss our old friends/neighbors but I know this will be great for us. My favorite part is the backyard -- we have a POOL! And a HOT TUB! And a big fun SWING SET! It's so nice to spend time outside and I know next summer will be even better. 

2. I GOT A NEW CAR! My lease was almost up and with some help, I was able to get a brand new minivan - the same I had before (Chrysler Town & Country). With approximately 400 miles on it, the car wouldn't start and it spent a bunch of time in the shop -- annoying. But hopefully they fixed the problem and I can ride happily in my new mommy mobile. 

3. WE HAD A PARTY! On September 6th, we had our first big housewarming party. We had around 60-70 people and it was better then expected. Catered by Wegmans, tons of fun, lots of swimming. When we moved in at the end of July, we had people here practically every weekend. It was so so much fun. 

4. WE VACATIONED! At the end of August, we all went to OBX. We rented a house (the 20 of us -my parents, my siblings, their families & us). It was so so so much fun. Lots of beach & swimming & napping & playing. It's hard work but so much fun & I recommend it to anyone. We also just got back from 10 days in Florida. Unfortunately, we lost Josh's grandpa (whom the kids called Goo-Goo) - it is so very sad. He was a gentle, loving, soft-spoken man and I feel lucky to have had him all these years. We switched our flights and were there for the funeral & shabbat. From there, we drove straight to Orlando and spent a couple of days at Disney World! We had the very best time & we're already planning our next time back. We also visiting UCF - there's nothing crazier then seeing your alma mater look 100% different then when you attended. The campus is gorgeous and modern and awesome and I SO WISH I could do another 4 years!!!! 

5. I BINGED ON NETFLIX! I finally took the plunge and watched ALL OF GOSSIP GIRL. It was SO SO SO good. Like, insanely fun and exciting and addictive. I was so sad when it ended but thanks to some fabulous ladies on Facebook, I jumped right into the world of Pretty Little Liars and OMG. It's terrifying and fun and scary. I love it -- I'm in the middle of season 2 with no signs of stopping! 

6. WE CELEBRATED! Josh turned 33, I turned 32. Nothing too exciting but it's always fun to have a birthday - although I'm way more excited for Benny's 3rd birthday (in January - BATMAN PARTY!) and Layla's 5th birthday (in June - LAYLA'S LUAU!) but let's not get ahead of ourselves ;)

7. WE SWITCHED SEASONS! Summer was SO nice and warm and lovely but like a swift kick in the ass, it's now fall. It's been raining & chilly since we got back from Florida with no signs of stopping. I love me some fall but I'm missing the sun something fierce. 

8. CAMP & SCHOOL! The kids had a blast at camp & started a new year of school!! They both adjusted so well to their new rooms. Layla's officially in Pre-K (ahhhh!) and Benny's in the big boy room! (2 1/2 - 3 year olds!). We are still so happy at our school and feel so lucky to have made beautiful friends and have wonderful teachers. The 40 minute drive to school from the new house is slowly driving me insane but I'm working through it and seeing that as a time to listen to  my books on tape. ;)

And lastly...a snippet on all of us. 

Josh -- He's still rocking his job and working SO hard for all of us. I'm constantly proud of him. He now works from home all the time so it's been a big change for us - but the new house has a home office which is a huge improvement over the dining room table he used to work at. He's so handsome & I'm very lucky he's mine. 

Me -- I'm still working at my part-time job but my main position is MAMA! I'm forever learning and growing and trying to enjoy it all, even when it seems impossible. I'm starting a new 21 day fix to drop a bunch of weight and I hope to start the new year smaller and happier then ever :)

Layla -- She's SO smart and SO funny. She asks for everything Elsa & My Little Pony. She only eats pork roll and yogurt. She loves chocolate ice cream. She's easy going and LOVES to make new friends. She starts dance class today. She thinks she's the best singer in the world. She's a performer. She's silly and sassy and wonderfully ours. 

Benny -- He's SO silly and ALL boy. He's so Batman obsessed it scares me. He is impossible to get dressed and only wants to wear Superhero apparel. He loves school and his Uncle Adam and his friends. He's obsessed with fighting & Layla. He still sucks his thumb and can cuddle better then everyone. He's funny and goofy and our little love. 

....

The list can go & on but I have work to do & Project Runway to watch ;)

I hope I can start writing more - I love looking back at everything we've done... 

xo

C

My sister in law took pictures of us in OBX - -love this! 

Sillyheads

MELT

My boys are the cutest!!!

My favorite picture of me & with my little best friend <3

FAMILY! 

MASKS!!!!

SWIMMING IN FLORIDA! 

That time my best friend announced to all of us she was pregnant <3 This picture is so very special to me. 

Next month we will have been together for 13 years.. WHAT?!?!?

Disney Day at camp!! Prince Eric & Ariel :) 

Girls day at Sesame Place!

My babe.

Bathing beauty!

MY BOY IN ALL OF HIS GLORY! BATMAN!

DON'T MESS WITH HIM. 

This is us. 

Still rocking his glasses -- so proud of him!

Nutella face!!

MY EVERYTHING.

 

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Benny, version 2.5

My Dearest Benny.... 

A BIG milestone for my BIG boy!!! You are TWO in every sense of the word. You are exploring, wrestling, wondering, soaking in, learning, running and zooming around the world. You are a free spirit. You are my little boyfriend, the one that keeps us on our toes, the sweetest, most loving little stud. 

How you look... You are a GIANT. I mean this in the most loving way but HOLY COW. You are large and in charge - we laugh hysterically when we see you standing next to your class. You are a full HEAD above the other kids - and you are SOLID. Not my sweet, chubby little toddler - you're now a big kid!! I think you hovering around 34/35 pounds and you're TALL! You have gorgeous blond hair that could probably be cut every 2 weeks. It grows SO fast. You have big, gorgeous, bright brown eyes -- and your newest accessory is your awesome BLUE GLASSES!! You are doing awesome with them. It took about a week for you to get used to them and now you wear them without issue. I didn't think you could be any cuter but these glasses push you over the top!

Your Schedule....Because it's summer, you're now in camp 5 days a week!! You are really loving it -- your bunk is called the "water babies" and you're having lots of fun! You get to swim everyday, do awesome art projects and play with your friends! We love the weekends - we get to spend time doing all sorts of fun things! You go to bed around 7:30 PM every night. You sleep in your crib surrounded by Brian, Teddy, Superman Bear, Batman Bear and a couple of random stuffed animals. You also LOVE to be covered in a million blankets (but I try to limit it to 4). You like a dark room although lately you've asked me to open your shade a bit to let some light in. You use your sound machine. We rock in your chair, read 2-3 books, rock some more and in you go. You ask to be covered, be tickled and for "hugs and kisses, more mama, more!" -- it takes some time to get you snuggled but then you're a great sleeper. You wake up around 7 AM every morning. You are an AWESOME napper - I limit your naps to 2 hours. You do great napping at camp/school too! You won't nap at Mom-Mom & Pop-Pop's so mostly I'll pick you up and nap you here if needed. 

Your Likes....It's all about the Superheroes. You love Batman, Superman, Spiderman, The Joker and more. You love talking about your 3rd birthday party ("Batman party at Chuck-E-Cheese!!!"). You love cars, play-doh, swords, bad guys, wrestling. You love to cook in the play kitchen ("Mama, do you want eggs and meatballs? OKAY!") - you love puzzles, board games and more. You're not a big fan of TV or movies but you'll watch Planet Earth and random cartoons at time. In the car, you love to watch movies (especially Lego Batman, Monster Vs Aliens, Hotel Transylvania and Frozen). 

Your Dislikes: You don't love change. You like things to stay constant. When we were in Florida for vacation last week, you asked almost every single day (all 10 days) to go home. You don't like most of your clothes (you're very particular on what you wear and it's usually a rotation of 4 shirts). You don't like when we can't understand you (although your language skills are amazing). You don't like it when Layla ignores you. You don't like it when you don't get your way. You don't like when we forget Brian at home, when we can't get sprinkled munchkins and when you're bored. 

Your loves: FOOD. Your grandparents. Your cousins. Your Uncle Adam. Layla. Mama. Dada. The cats. BATMAN.

Your Food: The complete opposite of your sister, you're a great eater!!! You love trying new foods. You are a CARNIVORE. You love chicken, meatballs, hot dogs, steaks, ribs, eggs, pork rolls. You love cereal (all different kinds), fruit (bananas, grapes, blueberries, apples, strawberries), bagels with butter, snacks (pretzels, chips, fruit snacks, popcorn). You love chocolate ice cream with sprinkles, cookies, cake. You're a rock star eater and sometimes I'm amazed at how much you can put down. 

Your Thoughts: Your language skills are awesome. You are stringing together LARGE sentences and thoughts. You know your shapes, colors, animals. You repeat everything!! You love talking about your friends and family. You love counting. You LOVE singing (Happy by Pharrell is your favorite) along with Old McDonald, ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle and more. 

I could write about you forever and ever. You are SO funny. You are ALL BOY - jumping, running, wrestling, climbing (a ball of energy!!!) but you also randomly will ask to play with barbies, wear a dress and wear Layla's bikini. You are always sucking your thumb (both!). You are OBSESSED with your sister ("Hi Layla! Want to play with me??"). You love to be at home and as soon as we walk in, you make everyone take off their shoes to ensure we are all staying. You hate leaving Mama (one more hug Mama!). You are obsessed with snuggling and laying on me and I love it so very much. I don't want to take one hug for granted because time is zooming by. You are excited to move into our new house (less then 3 weeks to go!) and I hope you adjust well. This age is tough but exciting. You are inspiring and loving and everything I could have asked for. You are my baby, always will be (even if we have another one day - you always ask for a baby girl but you're just repeating your sister!). 

I love you forever buddy!!!!!

Layla turns 4!!!

Disclaimer: I'm sorry this is SO late. I wrote your entire 4 year old post and it got erased. I was so mad I waiting 11 days before writing it again. Boo. 

I remember it like it was yesterday.
We sat in our first house, our townhouse, and took a pregnancy test. It was negative. I left for work, came home, took the pregnancy test off the side of the bathtub and saw the very faintest of pink lines. In complete shock, I called Mom-Mom & asked if it could be accurate. Without hesitation, she told me that most likely I was pregnant but I needed to wait and re-test.
But I didn't need to. I knew it. I knew you were alive and growing - the size of a poppy seed and already so loved it ached.
(Obviously, I took another test that Friday and BOOM - two lines).
That was the day I became your mother.
I jumped, cried, twirled and hugged your dada.
And now here we are...

Weight: Just about 32/33 pounds. 

Height: Just about 40 inches. 

Eating: Picky, picky, picky - with a side of pork roll, always :) 

Clothes: 4T/5T

Shoe Size: 10

"Benny, when you get big like me - you'll be able to do REALLY cool things. Right now you're only two, but when you're big like me, you'll be able to get off of the chair all by yourself!"

FOUR YEARS OLD.

YOU ARE FOUR YEARS OLD.

Three? Three is baby status. But four is BIG GIRL ALL THE WAY.

A list of everything I love about you would wrap around the world one million times.
A list of everything funny you say would never end.
A list of the ways I would stop time just to freeze you in this very moment would go on forever.

But alas...

Below is an update on where we are.

1. You planned your birthday party over 6 months ago. This is mostly your mama's fault. She's passed on the insane planner gene to you - and I'll admit, I love it. You decided early on you wanted a "My Little Pony" theme but it's now morphed into Rainbow Dash, your favorite pony. Bounce U was decided last September after your cousin Max had his birthday there. You were SO excited for all of your friends and cousins to be in the same room, I thought you may explode. Overall, it was a fabulous party. We had over 30 kiddies, everyone bounced the morning away and you were loving it. I think you were a bit overwhelmed with everyone giving you so much attention. After celebrating all weekend, you've asked me (over & over) to cancel your 5th birthday party. Poor bug. You keep telling me you don't want to get big anymore. You want to stay little. I want you to, also.

2. You finished your THIRD year of school. That's so, so, so crazy to me. You're getting ready to enter PRE-K! You had a great year in the big class -- you learned a lot, you played and danced and sang and cried. Your dramatic side greatly emerged this year - I think it's a girl thing? We heard a lot about "so & so said they aren't my friend anymore" and "I don't ever want to play with so & so" anymore. But the next day? You'd tell me how everyone is your best friend. We are working on sharing our feelings with our friends and learning that you don't have to love everyone but you always have to be nice. And if a boy hits you? He probably wants to play with you.

3. Your scared of everything. I don't mean this in a negative way -- you're just timid. You're nervous about scary parts in movies (as in children's movies), you're nervous about water (you finally love the pool but won't go under - and forget about the sprinkler), you don't like rides (except for all the rides at Sesame Place and any carousel), you watch kids play at the playground on the bigger things and cautiously try them (before realizing you LOVE THEM AND WANT TO DO THEM OVER AND OVER AND OVER). Your fear is usually squashed by your love of playing.

4. You are a people LOVER. You love to make friends. Anywhere we go, everywhere we go, you spot a girl that appears to be close to your age, proudly exclaim "I'M GOING TO BE HER FRIEND!" and walk over, smiling beautifully, introducing yourself - "Hi, I'm Layla. I'm 3 and a half. Do you want to play with me" -- this is, by far, my favorite thing you do. I am so proud of your way to put the people around you at ease - it's a beautiful trait and I know it will carry you far.

5. You love a schedule. At least once a day, you say..."Mama, what are we doing when we wake up?" I usually reply with the same response.. "Dunkin Donuts for coffee, gym, school, play, bath, night-night" and you always reply with... "And what about after night night?" -- this could go on and on and one. I am excited for you to learn the concept of time (but really, who understands it anyway?) -- for now, in your perfect little mind.. everything that happened in the past happened "yesterday" and everything in the future happens "tomorrow". There's no understanding past yesterday or tomorrow and it's quite beautiful.

6. You love movies. I mean -- really, really, really love movies. You are constantly asking to curl up on the sofa and watch anything. I'd list your favorites but they're always changing!! Recently, you've liked to watch non-cartoon movies which is awesome. You love Little Rascals, Hook and the new Annie. We are big movie lovers in this house. You also like any TV show that's on and any You Tube video involving My Little Pony or make-up tutorials.

7. You are learning - slowly. You are really good at spelling words (Layla, Benny, Mama, Dada, Hi, Cat). You know all your colors, shapes, etc. You know how to count really well (getting better at counting past 20) -- but you can't quite pick up your letters the way I'd like. I know it'll click soon and I think school helped with this. I'm hopeful Pre-K will be a great learning opportunity. You'll start school 5 days a week in order to get ready for Kindergarten -- and I'm confident you'll excel in your studies!!

8. You are a performer -- if asked what you want to be when you grow up, it's a singer. If there's a stage, you're on it. Shabbat Girl involves sitting on stage with everyone watching and you LOVE it -- and the shows at school are too much fun for you. This is so beautiful because stage freight can be tough and it seems you've conquered this fear!

9. You LOVE your friends and cousins. You love spending time with them and talking about them and generally being around them. You used only want to spend time with the girls but now it's becoming more then okay to be around the boys too :) You love love love your time with Ava, Abbey & Marley but equally love your time with Sami & Remi. And fighting with Justin, Andrew and Max are the best!! Same goes for school - you love spending time with Isabel, Alex, Lydia, Avery, Maya, Liora, Gracie - the list goes on!! And you're always telling me about Craigy, Mason, Eli, Braydon and Andrew :) It's so cute.

Oh my Layla...

Of course I can't remember all the great things you say or do. The words that come out of your mouth make me giggle every single day. You have an attitude of a 14 year old. You tell me through tears "I want to be a good girl! I want to listen!" and I believe you. We're working on this. You have a fierce love of babies, your brother and your Dada. You are strong-willed, bossy and all girl which I LOVE. You love to sing, dance, do make-up, eat Pork Roll and play with your guys.

You're everything I wished and hoped for in a daughter and I'm so lucky to call you mine.

I love you my sweet girl. I promise to write more about all your accomplishments and silly "Layla-isms".
Forever yours,
Mama

The morning of your birth. 

A few hours old!

A few hours old!

One of our first pictures together <3

In the middle of the night, our first night together in the hospital. I felt completely lost and you just stared at me with this face. I loved it.

Heading home from the hospital!

BABY LAYLA!

1 month old!

FUN WITH AVA! (Ava is 9 and you are almost 4 in this picture)

Dancing machine!!

Dancing machine!!

Dancing machine!!

Dancing machine!!

Bathing Beauty!!!

Your first birthday cake -- dinner at Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop's!

So happy Grandma & Grandpa came to visit!!

(one day day of) 4 years old!!!

Shabbat Girl and her sidekick, Batman!

All of your grandparents along with Mama & Dada at your Shabbat!

Birth, 1 Years old, 2 years old, 3 years old!

Birth, 1 years old, 2 years old!

4 years old!!!

This sign was at your party - I hope to do this every year!!

Ready for Bounce U!

Happy girl with her gorgeous cake!!!

Birth, 1 year old,  2 years old, 3 years old, 4 years old!

So much fun at your party!!!

Abbey & Layla!

Cousins = BFF

Mama & Dada love you so much sweet girl. 

No explanation needed.