Kirby's 30th

I want to preface this blog by saying I have an awesome husband.  For my 30th birthday we went to a Miranda Lambert concert at Hershey Park.  It was all a surprise.  And he even included my dearest friends.  Afterwards we all crashed at a hotel and then had breakfast together in the morning.  On my actual birthday we went to the Melting Pot, my favorite restaurant!
So although I know he had a fun weekend, I definitely owe him a big birthday celebration when life isn't so crazy!

 o

Jocelyn cuddling with her Daddy before the celebration
 

Ready to eat cake-- sometimes its just easier to be shirtless and thrown in the bath right after eating cake

 

Presents and Cake

 



The previous three pictures were all taken on Kirby's actual birthday, October 18th.  Quiet night at home consisting of dinner, birthday cake and presents.

The real celebration was to come that weekend.  Per Kirby's request, I needed to make sure we were with family and I chose something Charlie would enjoy doing.

PUMPKIN PICKING!

I'm not going to lie, I love picking season.  Apple picking then pumpkin picking and finally the Christmas tree (sadly we won't be doing that this year).  I decided we would go to the Marlborough Valley Corn Maze.  I thought Charlie might enjoy the goats and everyone else would enjoy the corn maze before we ventured off to pick pumpkins.   Once we arrived we found out we couldn't pick pumpkins because the pumpkin patch was too muddy from all the rain.  We decided to hang out and we would figure out the pumpkins later.

This is the whole crew minus Jocelyn and I since we were taking the picture.  And yes that would be Kirby's mom sporting a pumpkin costume.

 

 

 

Clearly I was wrong about Charlie liking the goats.  They were kind enough to let him feed them but Charlie was NOT interested.  And to his defense, I must say the goat in this picture looks possessed.

 

 

Hanging out with Tia Becky by the hay bails.  Kirby, Becky, Kendra, and John created a great game of chasing each while running on the hay bails.  The game won though- they were all out of breath!

 

It took Charlie a looooonnnngg time to finally feel comfortable in the corn box (like a sand box, only corn kernels).  And when we got home I found corn kernels hidden in his clothing, right down to his diaper!!

Although it was a bust picking pumpkins at the Marlborough Valley Corn Maze, I would certainly recommend going there.  We had a great time and if we had been able to pick our pumpkins it would have been perfect.   We departed and Kirby and the Dads went to go pick up lunch (and grab a beer) from Giordanos.  The rest of us left with the intention of getting our pumpkins from Landhope (for anyone not local reading this- Landhope is a gas station/mini mart- a far cry from a pumpkin patch) .   As we were driving we passed by Barnard Orchards. (This is where we picked apples in September.)   They had awesome pumpkins!!!!!!  SUCCESS!!  We brought them back to my parent's house, had lunch, and the carving contest began!

 



I love him dearly but  I never claimed him to be normal

Charlie and Jocelyn didn't get in on too much of the carving action because it was already past nap time.

We divided into four teams.  A pumpkin for each household.  And here are the masterpieces....

Which one is your favorite??

Best wishes to my hubby for a fantastic 30th year!!

Colorado visitors

 

(Warning- I am going back in a time about a month and a half. )

The weekend of October 13th Matt and Sarah came to visit.  It was the best welcome present for Jocelyn.  They flew in on Friday the 12th and we finally got to introduce Jocelyn to them.  In true Heck tradition we kicked things on with Friday night pizza at our house in Wilmington.  It didn't take Charlie long to warm up to Uncle Eagles and Boom Boom.

On Saturday we spent all day hanging out on Dean Drive. In further Heck tradition we played a game of SPUD.   I didn't get to play for too long because Jocelyn was boycotting her nap.  Way too much excitement happening to waste time sleeping. 
October is a big birthday month for us.  Matt's birthday is the 1st; Kirby's is the 18th; and Mike's is the 22nd.  So in celebration of all the birthdays we had a bonfire, cake and ice cream, and later in the evening some Irish Car Bombs.

On Sunday Matt, Sarah, Kirby and Grandpa all went to the Eagles game.  The rest of us hung back and made a feast for dinner. Here is Jill- hard at work!

We also spent hours going over the new kitchen design.  My parents are thinking about re-doing their kitchen (major renovation).  The Eagles game ended later than we had expected due to overtime.  So, after a few practice pictures we managed to get in one good family photo. (at the top of the blog)



On Monday Matt and Sarah came over for a little more quality time with Charlie and Jocelyn.  The kiddos and I then took them to the airport!  It was a fantastic weekend! 

Thankful

Charlie's old babysitter/nanny came over to visit today.  She watched Charlie while I was working all last year.  I should have taken a picture, but glad I have this old one.  With everyone posting on facebook about things they are thankful for and with the move quickly approaching, I realize how thankful I am for Kaela and all she did for Charlie.  I know that out in Vegas I will have to find a go to babysitter and I truly can't imagine anyone living up to Kaela.
It has been three or four months since we have seen Kaela so earlier in the day I began prepping Charlie.  It went something like this... "Guess who's coming to see you today?  Kaela is coming to see you.  Do you remember Kaela?"  And to be completely honest I was expecting him to think of Kirby's cousin Kayla or just look at me clueless.  But right away he said "Ducks. Feed him".  Kaela used to take him for walks all the time and I felt confident he was remembering her.
When she came the door I knew he remembered her.  A shy smile swept over his face and then he went right up and gave her a hug.  It made my heart melt.  Knowing your baby boy was loved and cared for in such a way that it has left a lasting impression on his mind and in his heart is all a mother could ask for.  We hung out for the next hour and he talked to her as if she was just there yesterday.  After she left, he spent the rest of the night saying Kaela over and over again.  And I wouldn't be surprised if he ask for her first thing in the morning.
I know in years to come he will not remember her because let's face it, how many of us have memories of something before they even turned two.  But I also know that for the rest of his life Charlie will be a better person because of all of the love and kindness Kaela gave to him.

Update

I am a few weeks behind in blogging and there is lots to blog about (Matt and Boom Boom visiting, Kirby's 30th, Jocelyn's baptism etc.)!!   But I wanted to write an update (and decided to add in some random photos.)
 
Las Vegas Update:  Kirby has been traveling back and forth to Las Vegas.  (I have survived two separate weeks on my own with the kiddos.  And now gearing up for a 10 day stretch on my own before Thanksgiving.)  Kirby be renting a townhouse out in Vegas beginning next week.  It's a whole community of rental townhouses.  It isn't exactly where we wanted to rent but it has been hard to find a place willing to sign a 6 month lease and additionally, one that will allow Rascal . Why the 6 month lease?  Because we are hoping to get into a house that we can start calling home sooner rather than later.

A family photo after we successfully made it to church.

As for our adobe in Wilmington.  It just went up for rent two weeks ago.  We've decided it's not worth taking a huge hit on our house by selling it and being that we live near Trolley Square we are hopeful it will turn into a good rental property.  FINGERS CROSSED!! 

Warming up after a bath

The movers are packing up our house November 24th.  The kids and I will be staying at my parents house until after Christmas.  Kirby will be out in Las Vegas the first three weeks of December and then he will come home for Christmas and fly back out to Vegas with all of us.  My wonderful in-laws are going to drive my car out after Christmas along with Rascal and some of our stuff.  We haven't set a date yet for when we will all fly out but somewhere between Dec. 29th and Jan 3rd. Fear and sadness are growing emotions as it gets closer.  For a long time it felt like we were running through the motions but it was never going to actually happen.

And as the fear and sadness increase I look at these two smiling faces and they remind me how lucky I am to have the opportunity to stay home with them.

 

Worst Mommy Moment (of basically the past month)-  That one just happened the other day oddly enough.  I was cutting Jocelyn's finger nails.  I literally was on the last one when I cut her pinky and she began to bleed.  UGH!!!  It really wasn't bad at all, but knowing you are the reason your baby is crying and bleeding= Not a good feeling!

 

Best Mommy Moment There have been so many great moments!  But best mommy moment is more about personal growth.  I find myself realizing there are many great ways to parent and because of this I shouldn't be so quick to judge.   So much more to come on this at a later date...



2 month stats

October 16, 2012

 

 Happy 2 months Jocelyn! 

Length: 22.5 inches (64th percentile)

Weight: 12.4 pounds (70th percentile)

Head: 15.25 inches (61st percentile)

So what's new for this little duchess!  Life has been overly busy and because of that this poor little love has not been able to get into a routine.  Some days she naps for only a whopping 2 hours between the hours of 7:30am and 10:30pm.  YIKES!  And other days I feel like she is only awake for 2 of those hours.  At least night time has been going well.  She usually sleeps from 10:30 to 7:30 and only gets up once to eat.

On to the fun things in life!  Jocelyn is a smiling little girl.  We all have fun making her smile, even Charlie!  It's hard to get a picture of that beautiful little smile though.  Often I only catch the tail end of it and it looks something like this...

 

 

She is starting to cooo.   Baby talk is just the cutest, which reminds me that I need to get it on video.

In the past month Jocelyn has been on many adventures: the doctor's office,Grammie and Grandpa's house the Lampeter Fair, Tia Kendra and Uncle John's house, Unionville Community Fair, Bancroft Elementary, out to dinner at Firestone, Christiana Mall (repeatedly as it is our place to go when the house is being shown),  Nanny and Pap's house.

 

And in all those adventures she has met many more friends and family.  I must say though her number one fan is her big brother!

Professional Photos Part 2

 

 This is a  collection of photos from Jocelyn's newborn session.  We could only put a few on her birth announcement so I wanted to share a few more since I loved so many of them.

One of my favorites

Shortly after this beautiful picture was taken, Jocelyn peed all over Kirby.  (He was such a trooper)


Who knew a step ladder could make such a great photo prop.

Charlie waited ever so patiently while the photographers for the photographers to take pictures of Jocelyn so when he got the chance to ham it up he was happy to oblige.

 

And to end with a family photo (too bad Charlie wouldn't smile for this one)

Professional Photos Part 1

I stumbled upon Lightwork Photography when I was looking for a photographer for Charlie's birthday party. At the time the company was running a promotion on Groupon. I purchased the groupon for Jocelyn's newborn photos and I booked them for Charlie's birthday party. Susan, the owner, asked if we wanted to do maternity photos free of charge. Of course I jumped on board because as any mother knows you don't pass on the rare opportunity to get a great family photo. And to be completely honest, I never thought it would be worth the money to get maternity photos so what a great chance for me to see if it was worth it.

Is this not the cutest idea?? My little loves sharing secrets already!
 

Great pictures is an UNDERSTATEMENT and would have been worth every penny if I had to pay for them! I am in love with these photos and am overflowing with ideas of what to do with them. They so beautifully capture the joy and anticipation of our little family of three awaiting our new arrival.




This photo was taken at Brandywine Park.

When it came time to taking pictures by myself, I felt incredibly akward.  I am definitely not a fan of posing on my own and that in combination with summer's heat and all the extra poundage left me feeling far from beautiful. With that said, a gigantic thank you goes out to Susan and Jen for findng the beauty in a mother longing for the day she gets to hold her baby girl and daydreaming of all the fun they will have together.

As I mentioned earlier, getting a family shot is quite a challenge.  Even more challenging is to get a photo of just you and your husband.

The photo below is the last photo taken of just Charlie and I before he became a big brother. 

 

 

We ended the photo shoot at Rockford Park. These last two photos hold such a special place in my heart.  The tower in the background of these photos served as the half way point of my very first running race many years ago and since then it has been a sight on numerous training runs.  Rockford is home to a dog park where Rascal has spent many a day playing.  Rockford Park is also where Kirby and I took our wedding photos.  And now it serves as a backdrop for two wonderful family photos.   I can't wait to frame these and put them up in our home in Las Vegas.  These photos will remind me of all the joy and love we lived in Wilmington.