a FULL week!

YAY! I did not have to take off any work this week due to weather and Justin only had to plow a little...can we make it two weeks in a row {fingers crossed}?

We did get out and enjoy the snow, because it really won't last forever...and now that we have booked our beach vacations, I know there is sand in our future! (and nana's, because when we ask Rose who is going to the beach, she ALWAYS says 'nana')

Most of the week was pretty typical...although I have to admit I am kind of in a dinner slump. We had a couple grilled meals and frozen meals this week, plus it does help that we live next to a pizza shop :) After working 8+ hours, picking up Rose, and getting home, I have very little time to prepare dinner unless we want to eat at 7pm. I need to get better about making some things ahead on the weekends or the night before, so I can pull off some better dinners! I was successful in getting some turkey meatballs and fresh tortillas made this weekend, so no worries, Rose will not be going hungry :)

We could just skip the meal and go straight for dessert... Rose loves to bake with me; so far she has mastered cracking eggs, 'pinches' of spices/salt, and turning the speed up and down on the mixer. This weekend Rose and I made an Angel Food cake for a dinner at church and Chocolate Dark Chocolate Chip cookies. We LOVE our desserts!

Rose did enjoy a day out with Nana and Papa on Wednesday (although she opted to stay in her PJ's for the whole trip!). After lunch at Chick-fil-A, Rose napped while Papa drove to Lancaster for an errand and then all the way to great-grandpa and great-grandma's home. I have to say she is really cuddly in those footsie PJ's :) Rose thought that the walkers made great strollers for the stuffed animals.

And as always, we also enjoyed Rose's usual cuteness this week!

nothing says LOVE like lots of white stuff :)

Nothing cures the winter blues like thinking of my favorite things (you can just imagine Julie Andrews singing…I will NOT be singing in this post!).

So here’s a list of things that put a smile on my face:

Spending time together every day, although with Justin plowing some days it’s not much time L I am very grateful that I get to see Rose and Justin every day and that most days we have dinner together and a quiet evening at home.

Hardwood floors; with a hubby, toddler, dog, and cat I am so happy not to have carpet stains to clean when there are messes J

Oh, and our fireplace. With our old drafty house the addition of this gas fireplace keeps up nice and toasty!

Cute clothing for Rose J I love dressing Rose up in cute outfits, really no matter what I am wearing, if Rose is wearing something fun, it’s starts the day off great! I like to shop around at local stores including thrift stores and have some favorite online stores: LL Bean, Lands End, and Tea (those are mostly thanks to Andrea whose little girl is always very stylish!) and shhh, don't tell Rose she is getting some new cute dresses for Easter :)

ALSO detangler spray for Rose. Lately Rose has decided to sleep with porcupines and boy does her hair look like it in the morning :)

Vacations! I think we will be taking an early (short) beach trip this year along with our typical week later in the summer. I need something warm to look forward to with all this snow and Justin being gone so much to plow it :( So, maybe we'll go somewhere May or early June...even that seems far off right now. (**update- since I started writing this post on Saturday, Justin said we could go ahead and make some vacation plans!!!)

Simple little things that add up to wonderful moments and memories! Friday was Valentine's Day and due to being stuck at home, Rose and I made Justin his Valentine's Day card. I think it's much better than any Hallmark card we would have found!

AND Justin also gave me a homemade card :)

Luckily Rose seems to be happy no matter the weather ;) We did get to enjoy a long weekend together since besides a few hours of work, I stayed home Thursday and Friday. 

We kept ourselves busy...

Playing babies

Making cookies

Rose also got to enjoy some time out in the snow with Justin 

Tahnee LOVES this stuff!

and making some new play dough 

(we love to put cinnamon or vanilla in the play dough so it smells wonderful!).

Justin thinks we have around 16 inches of snow (inches...I think we really need to make the conversion to metric, but that's getting off the point). I hope everyone stays warm and safe and to whoever is wishing for snow...go away!!!

CAST OFF!

It was a great week...by far the best part being getting that cast off :)

I don't recommend ever needing a cast, but if you have one, I guess it's better to have it in the winter. Although bundling up is a bit more work and baths were not fun, it really didn't smell at all and you don't miss out on water activities.

Although we didn't play outside much since getting the cast on, Monday's snow was too wonderful to miss out on. So we bundled up (I had to use a stretchy glove to get over the cast) and had a great time in the snow.

Rose loved playing with her baby, pulling the sled, sitting in the snow, and eating it!

(you can see the mismatched gloves!)

Monday's snow didn't bother us much (except Justin was out plowing all day), but nothing was stopping us Wednesday from getting to St Christopher's and getting that cast off! I was surprised on the way down how many limbs were down and traffic lights were out, but we made it and off came the cast!

I really didn't want the cast all marked up while Rose was wearing it, but before we left Nana, Justin, and Rose had fun drawing on it.

The doctor said everything looked great and he will see us back in a month for a final check-up. I decided to stay home with Rose on Thursday just to make sure :) Rose is starting to use her arm more and more. She will bend it in, pick things up, draw, and hold a cup with it. She is not fully extending it yet...

We were able to take off her bandage from the 2 pins in her arm and Rose enjoyed her first bubble bath in a month! Look how happy she was to get her bath and wear a dress again :)

Thursday we all went grocery shopping (OH, on Wednesday after the appointment we stopped at a Trader Joe's on the way home... I LOVE THAT PLACE!). Doesn't Rose's hair look so long...it's really not :( We haven't even cut it yet and probably won't have to until she's 10!

 Anyway,  after grocery shopping we went out to celebrate the cast being off. Rose loves Italian food (as we all do), so we went to Vincenzo's. Rose ate almost her entire bowl of Italian Wedding Soup and then her pasta with mini meatballs!  I am so grateful she is a good eater...most days ;)

I could only entice Rose with the strawberries for dessert, but that left more peanut butter cup cheesecake for this mama!

We had a great weekend including a trip to a local toy store to adopt a new baby. We picked a baby boy in honor of Bruce and Kate who are having a little boy this summer. Rose is soooo excited to meet her cousin.

Sunday it was off to church. Rose is also starting to relax more with other children in the nursery. I still have to stay with her, but she used some words and played with the other little boy all by herself!

Then guess where Nana and Papa took us for lunch? Vincenzo's :) Rose had another bowl of Italian Wedding Soup and loved it (again)!

We are also enjoying watching the Olympics, especially with Trader Joe's Sweet Potato Tortilla Chips and Guacamole :) This week will hopefully be back to normal, as long as the weather cooperates!

Here's what you're up to sweet Rose :)

Hi Rose!

I feel like we are on the home stretch of yet another milestone...you'll be 3 in less than 3 months!

I can't believe how the past few years have flown by, it truly feels just like just yesterday I was getting ready to meet you for the first time and cuddle you in my arms. It has been such a wonderful experience getting to watch you develop and start your journey to do so many great things!

Maybe someday you'll look back and read through these blogs...I hope at times you laugh, at times you think your dad and I were crazy, but all of the time I hope you realize how truly treasured and loved you are to us.

So here's a quick update on your development and what we were up to this week :)

Rose at 33 months:
-can count to 10
-can make all your vowel sounds
-favorite color is orange
-shares instruments at music class
-loves animals
-shy around new people
-love fruit and dairy
-want to finger paint almost every day

We also started your collage wall this weekend (mostly because the stairway walls are taking WAAAYYYY too long to finish). I decided pretty early on that I just cannot save everything. I don't want to save everything. I want to keep special items that will bring up stories and meaningful moments in your life. So, around your birthday each year I go through the items I have held on to and place them in a memory box. I have your newborn outfit, crocheted sweaters from grandma and nana, shoes, artwork, and a few other items. I have also framed your birth announcements, birthday invitations, and Christmas cards. Eventually we will have to spread out to more walls :)

This week everyone finally worked a full week :) There were no doctors visits, holidays, or snow days...I really think that's the only week in January we had a regular week! This week is also going to be very busy with appointments, but...let's think positive that everything will start to get back into a routine.

We played lots this week. Rose loves to play with her dollhouse as part of our pre-bed routine...I think it's a stall tactic, but she is getting much more elaborate in her play routines and it's fun to watch.

Saturday was VERY busy. As usual we started out at the farmer's market and then went to music class. On the way home we stopped for a final set of x-rays to make sure everything is healed and the cast can come off on Wednesday :) Then we had lunch and got ready to head to Bloomsburg for Brahm's 4th birthday party.

We finally made it home around 9pm (after 4 bathroom, 1 home depot, and 1 dunkin donuts stops!).

Rose had her Sunday morning speech therapy session and I am so excited at how much progress Rose has made. On Tuesday Rose will have her 3rd Early Intervention evaluation. We started therapy at 10 months after her first evaluation at which time Rose had no sounds. Rose had her first word 'go' at 18 months and after a slow accumulation of words, she has recently really started to take off! I would say she is using over 100 word/word approximations and is using many 2 word phrases. She is also getting easier to understand and using more sounds in her words. Some people may think that Rose would have just been a late talker and tell me that I worried for nothing...they are wrong. I don't second guess getting Rose involved in speech therapy and now adding more speech therapy sessions. I feel relieved that I acted as soon as I did and I feel wonderful that Rose has made so much progress!

After cleaning up the house a bit we decided to run some errands...and ended up buying a new sofa! We had been planning to get a new couch this spring, but found one we liked on sale and so why wait? After a few more errands we took Rose to her favorite burger joint (5 Guys) where she loves to eat the peanuts almost as much as the burger and fries :)

We ended our weekend with story time (even Meow joined us).