Monday, December 29, 2008

Last Night of Hanukkah

Last night was the last night of Hanukkah. Piper helped Daddy light the candles and said the prayer with him. She opened one mroe present from Grandma and Grandpa Stevie... a Mickey Mouse Memory game. And she also opened the last present from Mommy and Daddy... The Little Mermaid DVD. She was excited that she'll finally be able to see Ariel on TV and we'll probably watch it tonight!

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Bathtub Coloring

Last night Piper's Hanukkah present was bathtub crayons. So she, of course, wanted to take a bath right away. We explained to her that she could take a bath in the morning and try them out then. So this morning she was really excited and kept asking to take a bath until it really was time. She had a lot of fun coloring on the bath tub walls!
Picking out a color
This is fun!
Check out my crayon!
Piper and her finished masterpiece!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas Day

Piper climbed in bed with us bright ad early at 7:15 and when I asked her if Santa came she said, "He lefts presents, Santa's so silly." Piper and Mommy got up, watched some cartoons for just a little bit and then Piper munched on some Cherrios and sipped some chocolate milk till everyone got up and arrived. When everyone was here, it was time to open presents. We started with stockings... Piper got underwear, socks and other small toys, Daddy got some tools, snacks and other stuff and Mommy got her favorite candies and other stuff. Piper was excited to open present after present and occasionally wanted to stop and play with the toy she opened. Santa even left Mommy and Daddy a present... a Wii Fit. After all the presents were opened, Mommy and Daddy made breakfast for everyone... chocolate chip muffins, bacon, crepes, and Mama brought over breakfast pizza. While breakfast was being made, Piper played with new toys and Grandma, Grandpa, Mama and Bapa watched the DVD that was their Christmas present from us. After breakfast, Mama and Bapa headed home and the rest of us just relaxed for the afternoon. Mommy fell asleep, Grandma and Grandpa had to head back home, and while Mommy was sleeping Daddy cleaned up the kitchen and set up our new toaster oven. When Mommy woke up, it was time for Daddy to test out Mommy and Daddy's new toy!

Waiting to open presents!
A laptop from Grandma and Grandpa
Grandma and Grandpa open their present from Piper... a drawing!
Checking out her Curious George stuffed animal and book
Piper's present from Mommy and Daddy... Elmo Live
"Take him out!"
Laughing along with Elmo
Playing with all her new toys
Singing into her microphone that came with her karaoke book!
Trying out the new toy
Hula Hooping!
Playing with her new big sized "doodle"
Ryan's headlamp stocking stuffer!

Christmas Eve

After the sonogram yesterday, we headed home to finish getting ready for the holiday. After we lit the Hanukkah candles we headed over to Mama and Bapa's house for present opening and dinner. Grandma and Grandpa Stevie arrived right in the middle of present opening... they made great time driving up and got to enjoy more of the evening with us than we expected! Piper finished opening all her pesents before we ate... she couldn't wait! Dinner was great, we had fried seafood and lasagna and other yummy side dishes. After dinner, there were a few more presents to open... mostly things for Mommy and Daddy. Then dessert... there was Boston Cremem Pie (made by me) and it was delicious if I do say so myself. There was also pumpkin pie (I didn't try that so don't know how it was). Not too long after dessert we headed home to write Santa a note, leave him and the reindeer some snacks and head to bed. Thank you to everyone for all the gifts and cards that were sent!

Opening a book from Nona and Nono... Piper said, "Too much tape!"
Mama and Bapa opening a present from Piper... a drawing she did!
A present from Great Grandma and Grandpa... a Little Einstiens music board
Climbing on top of the blocks so she could get them open!
Playing blocks with Bapa
Writing a note for Santa
Carrots and celery for the reindeer, Chips Ahoy and milk in the fridge for Santa

Another Sonogram!

Yesterday morning was our (most likely) last sonogram. Everything is prefectly fine. He's about 5lbs 2oz right now and is still on track with our February 8th due date. His head has already dropped which is a relief to me. He had the hiccups during the sonogram and we could see his body shudder everytime (yes, I can feel it too). He was wiggling a lot too and kept puting his feet in his mouth. The first 2 pics are all of the photos taken. The 3rd pic is his foot and the last is his profile. Enjoy the photos! Photos of Christmas Eve and Day should be posted this afternoon/evening.



Monday, December 22, 2008

The First Night of Hanukkah

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah. At sunset Piper helped Daddy light the candles. Next year Daddy will be able to teach her the prayer to say too! Piper was really excited to finally be able to pick a present from her basket from Mommy and Daddy to open. She also got to pick one of the presents from Grandma and Grandpa Stevie to open too.

Helping Daddy with the candles
What could it be?
A Hanukkah cup and Hanukkah gelt from Mommy and Daddy
Opening Grandma and Grandpa Stevie's present!
A coloring book and markers!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Candlelight Processional

Last year Ryan participated in the Candlelight Processional as part of the cast choir. The majority of the choir is made up of high school choirs from all over the US. All four years of high school, Ryan sang with his school's choir in this show. So, this was something he always wanted to do as a cast member and finally signed up last year. He enjoyed it so much that he decided to do it again this year. It is the story of Christmas. They have a different celebrity narrator every 3 days or so. Ryan did two shows earlier this month when a friend of his was conducting the orchestra. And last night he did two shows with Abigail Breslin as the narrator at my request. So last night Piper, Mommy and Mama headed out to watch. The show was great as always. And Piper really enjoyed "singing" along and trying to conduct! Afterwards Daddy headed off to work at Target. Mommy and Piper spent the night at Mama and Bapa's so that Daddy would have plenty of quiet to sleep in the morning. Piper and Bapa made Mommy breakfast this morning. Piper did a great job, she even got to crack the egg in the bowl. It was delicious!

The cast choir... Abigail Breslin at the podium, gray-haired lady off her left shoulder and Ryan off the gray-haired lady's left shoulder
After the show, heading backstage... great job!
Adding the ingredients
Mixing it up!
Throwing in the bread!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Piper at the Movies

Today we took Piper to see Bolt. It was her first time seeing a movie in the theater. We explained to her that she had to be very quiet. And she was. She only talked a few times. It was kind of funny... anytime the screen went black she'd say, "what happened" or "it's all over." It was cute. She even got her own bag of popcorn to snack on. Piper really liked the movie. Afterwards we went over to the studios so that Piper could meet the characters that were in the movie. She was really excited to meet them!
Heading into the movie!
Waiting for the movie to start!
Meeting Mittens, Rhino and Bolt

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

More Visiting Santa Photos

Finally got the pictures of our visit to see Santa from my friend Jen... here are a couple more from the same visit we posted about before.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

32 Weeks and Counting Down the Days!

Now for another baby update! I am now 32 weeks (8 months) along. I'm getting very impatient and really am just ready for him to be here, but for health he needs to stay in there for at least 3 more weeks. The glucose test that I talked about in the last post was normal as expected. But they found that I am anemic (AGAIN). Not a big deal really, I was anemic with Piper as well and it just means I have to take iron supplements along with my prental vitamins. This is nothing that affects Casey, just me, he takes all of what he needs and I get the leftovers. At my appointment this past week I found out I have gained 22lbs so far... I only gained 20 total (and lost 2 at the end) with Piper, but I had a much lower starting weight this time, so I needed to gain more. His heartbeat was right on track too with 152bpm. My belly measured a litte bit small, so as a precaution we are having another sonogram at the next appointmet (Christmas Eve Morning). My doctor is not very concerned and thinks that it just just due to my petite size, but she wants to be safe. I certainly don't feel like I'm any smaller than I was with Piper, in fact I feel like I'm a little bigger. Tomorrow is our tour of the hospital and when we will pre-register for delivery. I delivered Piper at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Women and Babies. A few weeks later Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies opened right across the street. So I will be at a different (and beautiful) hospital this time, which is why there is a need for a tour. Piper is still just as excited as ever, talking to him and about him all the time. Again, I'm still not sure that she completely gets it.

In other news I'm very excited because as of Friday, Ryan is on vacation (from Disney, not Target) for 3 weeks! He had so much vacation time built up that he kinda HAD to take it. We don't have much planned for the extra time together; probably just preparing for Casey and enjoying the holidays. Although, we do plan to take Piper to see her first movie in a theater later this week. We're going to see Bolt, the latest Disney movie, and afterwards we'll probably go over to the Studios to meet the characters from the movie. Ryan also has a tentative week of vacation set aside for when Casey is born. His manager will let him move the week accordingly. It will be nice to have him home that week to help with all the adjustments (both for Piper and us).

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Spectacle of Lights

Last night Piper spent the night at Mama and Bapa's house, so that today Mommy and Daddy could have a little break. When Daddy got up, we headed over to Downtown Disney to see a movie. We saw Four Christmases... very cute. Then we met up with Mama, Bapa and Piper at Studios to see Spectacle of Lights. That's where they COVER all of the Streets of America in lights and every 15 minutes they "dance" to the music. Piper really liked it and even had some cool 3-D glasses that she wore.

P.S. I'm fine... the wheelchair is because when I walk for extended periods of time my back starts hurting and sometimes gets to the point that I can't walk at all. It's better to just get the wheelchair from the start.



Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Visiting Santa

Sunday evening we went to visit Santa. All day Piper had been saying that she was going to tell him that she had been a good girl and that she wanted toys. But when Daddy set her on his lap and said, "What did you want to tell Santa," she just said "I don't know," and shrugged her shoulders. We forgot our camera, but we "stole" these from photopass (not the best quality). My friend Jen met us there, so I'm waiting for her to send me the pics she took and will post those once I get them.