16 Weeks Old

At 16 weeks, Evalie still breaks my heart every time I look at her and she smiles so brightly. Her eyes are like these amazing little lights, she's already perfected her "wrap you around my finger" brow furrow. At night, once in a while she'll wake up crying, it seems, just for a little cuddling and no matter how tired I am, I savor it. I breath her smell, I hear my thought against her rhythmic snoring, its the best I feel all day, I love it.

My little girl is also now able to sit up and for quite a while. (she already almost 17 weeks by now but last week she decided to sit up on her own!) I'm not surprised because she has been trying to sit up by pulling herself up for weeks now, she is very determined to be upright. Its great to see her growing but if course I feel my baby cuddling time slipping away. I can only hug her tight while she sleeps now because when she's up she makes sounds, she's sucking her fingers ( and drooling), she's very curious and therefore distracted by her environment. 

I have been wrapping the Boppi around her waist for about a week to support her midsection and I guess its given her the confidence to stay up. Also, tummy-time is working quite well, she rolled over abut a week ago but hasn't done it since, she doesn't mind laying on her belly anymore but she gets tired and does a face-plant instead of rolling over. 

It's amazing how much she's changed, she really looks like her big sister at this age the only difference is that Arie had a lot more hair at this point. Evie has shorter hair right now so I try to put little headwraps in her hair like the one she has on but usually she's wearing a hat since its gotten rather cold. 

THE BEST IS YET TO COME//OBAMA

Via

I am still overwhelmed by last nights events, I voted for the first in my life and it felt great. I have been engaged in the political process, I've watched and tried to understand the implications and effects of voting within a democracy. I became an American citizen last summer after living with a green card for many years...longer than I needed to. Somehow, I didn't feel I needed to vote, I didn't think it mattered or I mattered. President Obama proves that we do, he inspires and exudes hope. He makes me believe that there is a chance for my daughters to dream big. I am proud to say I voted for President Barack Obama. ( and can I just say how absolutely beautiful his daughters are.)

Via

At 5:30, the husband came home and we all jumped in the car and headed out to the VFW to vote. It smelled old and musty but you could see the determination in peoples eyes, there were kids the, babies crying ( mine!) and the poll workers were really trying to be orderly. We ran into some people we know on their way out and my neighbors on our way out. I signed my name, was handed my ballot and I filled in my choices behind a curtain, stood in line to scan my ballot and in that short moment, I had contributed to our future and it felt good. (whats really funny is I was wearing a blue and white striped sweater and red pants so I looked like the flag!)
After interviewing a woman for a nanny position at 7:00 we immediately focused on the TV screen watching as polls closed and projections were made. It was nerve-wracking, nail biting, exciting and bittersweet. The emotion built up as the various states were counted, tallied up and called out. We stepped away at 9:15am to put the babes to bed and returned to numbers which scared me a bit. I almost lost hope because lets face it, the race was tight and hard-fought. At 11:02, we watched the number for Florida and Virginia sway from one side to another. I stepped away from the TV for maybe 15 minutes only to return to a President Barack Obama as the projected winner. I am still getting chills this morning watching the replays of his acceptance speech which came on at about 1:30am. What a night..I know that this was a tough road and certainly there are people who may be disappointed by this outcome but I think we must all realize how inspiring this entire time has been. YES WE  CAN!

Via

Via

Via

Trick O Treat?// Halloween 2012

This halloween, we were slightly more prepared than usual, we actually bought our costumes three days in advance! Haha..when I saw the Obama mask for half price I couldn't resist and then when we spotted Mitt a few masks over, we were sold. We would go as Obama/Romney..OBAMNEY was born. A few minutes later Arielle decided she did not want to be a ferri princess butterfly anymore, she now wanted to be strawberry shortcake and baby Evie would be a pink circus elephant. The pink elephant was too big on her so we left without it. Once Monday rolled around and Hurricane Sandy hit we realized Halloween was not going to be a priority but by Wednesday afternoon, the kids really needed some time out and so we let them put the costumes on around the house ( we were at my sisters home because we had no power due to Hurrican Sandy). The husband and I quickly ran out to find Evie something and of course, Target had the baby in a bag pumpkin costume which was perfect for the chilly weather that evening. As soon as we got back we changed into costume and decided to get the kids out for a little door to door fun. It was nice to get some fresh air even though it seemed that people were understandably upset and a bit stressed out. 

They got some candy and had fun skipping through the streets. There were a few other kids around but overall it was very quiet. We had fun poking fun at ourselves, waved to a few people in our best presidential wave and went home. (I know I look more like Al Roker than Obama but what can I say I'm only 5'6" tall and just had a baby!)

Surviving Sandy..

After living by candle light, sleeping by the fireplace, eating peanuts and beef jerky, we are finally returning to normal. We lost power on Monday October 29th around 5:08pm, we had not anticipated losing power so when the lights went out we figured it would only be for a short while, we sat tight but packed our bags just in case. That night, Hurricane Sandy turned into a significant wind event with a bit of rain, the wind howled and it was as if the trees swayed from sky to ground and back. We all sat in one room by the fireplace and eventually fell asleep there. In the morning, we could see the results were bad but we didn't think it would have the effect that it did. The husband and my daughter stepped out to get coffee and something to eat which took them a while, meanwhile got on my phone to read the news and began to see the sheer devastation Sandy had left behind in places like part of New Jersey, Staten Island, Lower Manhattan and Connecticut. There were quite a lot of fallen trees and power lines around here, my neighbor had a tree through his roof and was out trying to cut it out, people were out looking for wood, generators, gas for their cars but many roads were closed.

We sat around for while that day, carved pumpkins and even cleaned the house up but then the temperature began to drop, the refrigerator began to melt and we got worried. My mum, sisters and nephew had already moved into my older sisters home because her power had returned so we called and asked to move some important perishables into her freezer and figured we could hang out, eat dinner there and come home later..to a home with power. That was not the case, our home remained dark until this morning...Saturday. Luckily, she had a spare room for us with a twin bed and air mattress to share. As each day passed and we still had no power we began to make daily trips home to get more clothing and something we might have forgotten. We went trick or treating on Halloween night, we cooked meals, talked and laughed, it turned out to be a really unplanned vacation of sorts. The kids had now school so they played all day and night,  it was like Christmas break  in October. So much so that I decided it might be a good time to try to ween Evalie and get her to take a bottle (from mum or my sister), unfortunately that only resulted in her crying and not eating. This morning as we packed up to return home, the sun was out, the skies were bright and there was a warmth to the crisp fall air. It felt like we had emerged from hiding..it felt surreal. But we're home and everything is calm..so far the only worry is our missing cat but he tends to return in time.