Happy Birthday Alexandra

I can not believe it, my little girl turns 5 today. It seems like just yesterday when we packed our bags to go to the hospital and have her. She has turned out to be a great little girl so far, don't get me wrong - challenging at times - but a great kid. Today was low key, school during the day, swim lessons in the afternoon and then dinner at home. Daddy got Alexandra a dozen hot pink roses and a cupcake - her dreams have come true!

Is that an Ear?

Well we really can not go a weekend without having some excitement in our lives. This weekend would not be any different. On Sunday, Daddy, Alexandra and Anthony all worked in the front yard. Alexandra came inside to get me and soon after that Anthony walked in as well. From across the room, I noticed he looked really red, but as he got closer - I noticed something was wrong with his ear. He was hitting and pulling at it, but only when he stood right in front of me did I realize it was actually twice the normal size.

Of course, Mommy panicked and we tried to take him to the emergency clinic. Luckily for us, they would not take him and before we rushed to the ER, we decided to give the Benadryl a few moments to kick in. Within an hour, the ear was starting to go down in swelling and return to a normal color. By the next day, Anthony was back to normal.

This whole episode might have only cost Anthony a few hours of his life, but I think I aged about 5 years from the stress. Parenthood can be highly overrated at times.

The Royal Wedding

So this is the day that we have all been preparing for. Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Jo are getting married and we could not be more excited. It has been a lot of work and energy for us to be in this wedding since we live in Jacksonville and the event is taking place in Miami - but well worth it all We spent Friday night at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. During the day on Saturday the girls got their hair and makeup done on site while the boys got ready together. We had some stress, a few things went wrong but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that they got married!

Everyone looked beautiful and the place looked amazing. The reception was a lot of fun - of course - and it went late into the evening. Oma and Aunt Daniela came as well with Hailey, so we called it a night a little early because of the kids. We are looking forward to the years to come, celebrating family and good times with Mr and Mrs Sestito.

Goodbye Old Pal

Today was by far the hardest day of our marriage and lift together so far. We had to make the decision to put our first dog, Maverick, to sleep. We found out last Saturday that Maverick had developed lymph cancer. I took him in for what we thought was his routine annual shots and they discovered the "lumps". After a round of blood work and an attempt at some steroid pills that did not help, we made the right decision for him, and us. Daddy and I took Maverick in, and then had a drink in his honor. We will never have another dog like Maverick - he was the best! Rest in peace buddy, you are always in our hearts.

He Talks!

Although, we seem to have lost the secret decoder ring. Anthony has recently started "talking" - if we can really call it that. We are still having a hard time understanding exactly what he is saying, but I can say this for sure - he seems to know exactly what it is he is trying to communicate. Some words are as clear as day - my favorite saying "I love you Mommies" - he has more than one? He has also mastered the "open this please" and "all done" or the ever popular "more please." If you don't understand him and ask him to repeat it - it is the exact same "verbiage" as the first go around - so soon, he should be up to understandable full sentences.

Other popular words currently used are:

Hailey, Hey Dude, Holy Moly, Good Boy, I see you, I got you, drink, water, huggie, good nite, I love you.

Turkey Day

Let us get back in the car - AGAIN - and drive to Cocoa Beach for Thanksgiving. This was our first holiday with the extended family from Germany, and Mommy was really excited about it. We all pitched in, it was a little crowded around the house and with three kids, chaos quickly arose. We took the kids to the beach for a little while, can you believe it was actually over 80 degrees in the end of November?

The turkey turned out perfect, one of the best ones yet. We all ate and enjoyed ourselves. Thursday late eveneing, Aunt Daniela dragged me out for Black Friday shopping, our new tradition. We did not get a lot of great deals, but it was great sister bonding time - and good people watching. On Saturday, we went to the annual Art Show - one of Daddy's favorite things to do in Cocoa Beach.

Another Girls Weekend

We went to Ft Myers, just us girls, to visit and enjoy a weekend away. Alexandra and Hailey enjoyed playing together and we all had a great time. Tante Heidi and Onkel Dieter happened to be visiting from Germany, so they also came to Ft Myers with Oma. During the day, we played at parks and shopped. Another great weekend with the family!