Catch Up #2 - December

December was a big month for our little miss! She mastered the skill of sitting unsupported - which made her so happy because she could finally see everything around her. (Her favorite thing to see, of course, is her crazy big brother! She doesn't need toys to play with because she has constant entertainment!) She also fell in love with her jumper as soon as we put her in it. She loves to bounce in it and can really get some height! Sometimes when you hold her, she bounces like she's in it - that's how much she loves it!

Cecilia's other accomplishments from December include learning to drink out of a sippy cup, holding her bottle, feeding herself puffs, and graduating to the pack and play for sleeping. She got too big for the co-sleeper, but we weren't ready to put her in the crib yet (since she'd have to share a room with Sully) so we put the pack and play in our room.

December also brought Seesa's first ear infection (and luckily her only one so far), which also coincided with her decision that she was no longer going to be a good sleeper. The continual waking and desire to be held nonstop started before the ear infection, but the ear infection definitely made it worse. And even more upsetting was the fact that she had previously been an extraordinarly sleeper and been sleeping through the night for months! Switching to the pack and play did help a little because it gave her more room to roll around, but I definitely miss the early days when she would sleep through anything and for very long stretches!

Obviously, she also had her first Christmas, but that warrants its own post, so now we're on to pictures!


Cecilia - 6 months and 3 weeks

Sully - 5 months and 3 weeks

Nothing beats matching Mommy/Baby pjs- especially unisex ones so I can enjoy them with both kiddos! (Thanks Ginger!) Check out the comparison - Cecilia is starting to look less like Sully's twin. And I dare say, she may even look a little bit like me!

Here are two pretty hilarious videos that I have been wanting to share since I took them. You'll get a good glimpse of Cecilia jumping away, and you can hear Sully's beautiful rock serenade to his little sister. I had to include both because Sully's guitar moves are pretty sweet and I couldn't pick just one. ROCK ON!

And finally, here are some pictures from our visit to Holiday Magic at Brookfield Zoo. Last year when we took Sully, Mark was pretty adamant that this wouldn't be a yearly tradition (it was very rainy and gross last year), but I convinced him that we had to go, and it turned out to be a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season! It was pretty rainy again this year, but we went for the whole day instead of just at night time, so it was nice because there was practically no one else there! We also spent a long time in the Hamill Family Play Zoo where it was nice and dry, and both kids had a lot of fun!

In addition to visiting the animals, we partook in a lot of the "Holiday Magic," like posing for Christmasy pictures and singing Christmas carols to the animals.

But the best part was meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus..for Mark anyway. Cecilia and Sully weren't so sure! But the pictures are funny and Sully was happy because he got a goody bag. I can't wait to take them back next year!

Stay tuned for Christmas pictures! I'm on a roll so hopefully it will be soon!

Catch Up #1 - November

Obviously, I have fallen behind in my blogging...way behind. No judgement is necessary, however, as I heard it all from my father-in-law while we were visiting this past weekend. So in his honor, I am going to do my very best to catch up this week. So here's the first of a few catch up posts! I do have some very cute reasons for being so behind, so hopefully you will all cut me some slack:

At the close of my last post (a very long time ago...) I promised some pictures of Sully's third birthday, so here they are!




Sully's favorite parts of his birthday celebrations this year were definitely the presents and the cake! And lucky for him he got plenty of both! Grammy and Grandpa came up to celebrate with us on Sully's actual birthday and we had a beautiful round "purple pudding cake" per Sully's request - that was a fun one to figure out! He also had his first kid party - superhero themed, of course! - with his friends from playgroup and the neighborhood where there were more presents and cupcakes. And there was one more round of presents and cake at Grandma and Grandpa's when we visited after Thanksgiving. I'd say Sully is one lucky three year old!





Cecilia celebrated her 6 month birthday in November and learned some new tricks, too. Here's Daddy's favorite baby trick....

She started eating vegetables, but was not a fan at first. We gave her carrots first and she wasn't sure if she liked them, but the peas she knew she disliked right away! But when we gave her carrots again after she had eaten peas, she liked them much more than the first time. Bananas were a hit the first time out, though, and she has loved almost all the fruits since then. She has since warmed up to her veggies, so I hope she will grow up to be a more adventurous eater than her picky big brother!

Cecilia also started enjoying playtime, even on her tummy! She became interested in her toys (and Sully's toys, of course!). Can you tell from her slightly psychotic smile how much fun she's having??

The other big highlight of November was Cecilia's first Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a delicious feast with the Gerrity clan at Sean and Lin's house (our first Thanksgiving there since before Mark and I were married!), then drove out to Sherrard to spend the weekend with the Willhites. Lots of good food and lots of fun with family! Plus it was a great excuse to put Cecilia in some really cute outfits!

Here's Thanksgiving Day:


Boys and beer - what else is there to be thankful for?


Being cute with Great Grandma and Uncle Rory


Our first family photo since Cecilia was born! And it turned out pretty good, too!

And here are the kiddos at Grandma and Grandpa's (somewhat empty) house:

We had a very nice weekend in Sherrard - even though Cecilia was a terrible sleeper the entire time we were there. Yeah for teething, which she conveniently started just before Thanksgiving. But by the end of the month she had her first tooth on the bottom left of her mouth, and the right one popped out only a few days into December.

Other than being up all night rocking and soothing the baby, we had some nice family quality time and even got to help put up and decorate Grandma's new Christmas tree. Sully was pretty good at it and his attention span surprised us all!


And that was our November. So I will leave you with this adorable picture of Sully and Uncle Todd posing in front of the tree. Nice segue way into December, don't you think??

Halloween Hi Jinks

Happy Halloween from the cutest pumpkin around....only 2 and a half weeks later! (You can scroll down to the post titled Five Months, Fall & Feces if you want to see what has been keeping me too busy to update....) Since these pictures are pretty self explanatory, I am going to keep the words to a minimum. We hope you enjoy our Halloween Hi jinks as much as we enjoyed celebrating the holiday!




Our cute little ladybug!





Superheroes Unite! (Even if you are a canine and hate costumes!)











You're not a real superhero unless you know how to pose!

It wouldn't be Halloween without some pumpkin carving and painting.

A Wacky Willhite Halloween is also incomplete without our traditional Spooky Halloween Dinner! (Mark's a good sport and has been spooky dining with me since we got married, but this year it was extra exciting because Grammy and Grandpa joined us and Sully was actually excited to eat Monster Fingers and Eyes of Newt. I thought he'd love the Halloweenies, but I wrong.)

So there you go - a Willhite Halloween! Next up (and hopefully before another 2 weeks has passed...) is Sully's third birthday! How on earth can he be THREE?!?!?

Superheroes!

There are more pictures to come - including spooky Halloween dinner and Drogo as Bat Dog - but before too much more time passed I wanted to share our super hero costumes with the world! (Cecilia is dressed as the little known, but very powerful baby heroine - The Ladybug!)