The 40th Annual O'Neill St. Patty's Day Party

Sue and John have been hosting an annual St. Patty's Day party and this past Saturday marked 40 years!  It is filled with friends, old and new, green beer and car bombs.  My dad hasn't missed many of them.  Friday my mom, Sue, Whitney and I made some Shamrock cookies!

As most of you know, Whitney can be quiet around people she doesn't know.  However, she thrives on a party and was Miss Social Butterfly.  As people started to arrive she asked me, "When my friends come"?  When they did, she passed out a few green necklaces and partied with some bubbles.  I would catch a glimpse of her every once in awhile as she would run from one end of the house to the other.

Then we lost her.  Her friends had left and soon I didn't see her fluttering about.  We searched the house top to bottom...even looking outside.  I did start to panic a bit.  Where could she be?  Then our friend Brian spotted her in the corner behind the big arm chair with a flashing green light necklace.  Thank you Brian and also Kay for sharing your necklace!

We look forward to many more O'Neill St. Patty's Day celebrations!

 I decided to just let Whitney party until she crashed and figured I would be ready to go home too.  Now she probably hasn't stayed up past 9pm so when 10pm came, tears started to fall and we headed home.

The Circus

After a fun outing to Sesame Street Live, Tim looked for the next show we could go see.  Barnum and Bailey Circus was it!  Tim took the Thursday off and we headed to the Verizon Center for a 10:30am show on March 15th.  We didn't get out till 1pm, but Whitney didn't mind.  She was totally intrigued the whole time.  She danced along to the music throughout and excitedly applauded the many acts.  It was so fun to watch her enjoying the show!

                                      This photo sums it up!

Sibling Class

If I had read about this in the hospital booklet, I would have easily passed it by.  But with suggestions and  lots of positive feedback from friends who had recently done it, I decided to sign Whitney up for Siblings Class.

The most valuable thing about this class was that we got to visit a room like the one I will be staying in and the nursery with all the babies.  Whitney thought it was so exciting and seemed to understand that I will be spending the night there but that she can come to visit.  Also, how cool it is that the bed moves up and down!  They got to help diaper a baby doll.  How convenient (and surprising) ours was a boy! They watched a video about becoming a big sister/brother.  While other kids ran around Whitney soaked it all in and is already taking her role very seriously :) A successful Saturday morning!

A Sprinkle

A few months ago a family friend asked if she could host a baby shower for me.  I was totally surprised by her thoughtful gesture but was a little unsure.  One, because a lot of anxiety comes along with a pregnancy after a loss.  Fearing the worst might happen again and bringing baby things into the house was a scary thought. Secondly, I felt a little hesitant since I had many baby showers before and wasn't sure if it was the "right" thing to do.  After a lot of thought and some encouraging words from a close friend who said to me, "You deserve to be celebrating right now", I decided to say yes!

My first request was that it be called a 'Sprinkle', suggesting that it was a celebration and only a small gift was needed.  Also, I wanted to keep it small, so I decided to stick with a few close families I grew up with and aunts and cousins.

I looked forward to March 3rd for months and woke up so thrilled that the day was finally here.  I had gotten to a point in my pregnancy that I was able to relax.  He is looking strong and healthy and I have had to push any other worrisome thoughts out of my head.  (Though I won't feel totally happy until I am holding him in my arms.)  It was time to celebrate and I joyfully got ready for the Sprinkle.

Claire Amodio and soon to be daughter-in-law, Lindsay, threw me a fantastic party.  They put so much thought and time into the delicious food.  What is a party for a little boy without "wieners in a blanket" and "dirty diaper" appetizers!  And we finished the meal off with amazing cake pops!  Of course, we played a few games and Kristin guessed my belly size exactly!

Everyone totally spoiled us and we were showered with many amazing gifts.  A huge thank you to everyone, especially Claire and Lindsay!

 "Our Mom's are the best for bringing us home cake pops"... thought Whitney and cousin Theron.

Trip to Charlotte

Whitney and I recently took a girls trip to Charlotte. We flew down on Tuesday morning and came home Saturday morning, so we had a nice long visit. We had to leave Tim behind for Valentine's Day but we got to spend it with Brady, Niki, Cole and Haley. Sue cooked a special meal and she and John served us like we were in a restaurant. The kids all thought it was pretty cool!

We got to enjoy some warm Charlotte weather on the back patio and a fun trip to the park. Grandma had a few fun toys of her own and borrowed some toys from a friend, so Whitney kept busy playing with all the new things. She especially liked the play food and Mister Potato Head. Haley came over a few afternoons to play with Whitney. They had so much fun and she really wore Whitney out! Whitney also watched Princess and the Frog and Snow White for the first time.

I got very spoiled and got to sleep in everyday! I also took advantage of the amazing kids consignment shops and found tons of great stuff for Whitney and the baby! I also got treated to a manicure and pedicure!

We had a fantastic time and are thankful for the quality time with the family!

Movie time!

Fun big girl time!



Whitney wearing Uncle Brady out!

Valentine Activities

I knew I wanted to do a few fun activities with Whitney for Valentine's Day but wasn't exactly sure how to get her to grasp the concept. I came across a book that perfectly explains several Valentine activities you could do. And how perfect, it was Curious George! We read this book for a few days so Whitney was so excited when I said we were going to do something for Valentine's Day today.

First, we decorated a box so that as she received Valentines, she could put them in her box. This kept her occupied for a good hour. It was great!

Then it was the first step of making Valentine's Day cards for Papa and the Grandparents. One day we started with making red hand prints. Then I let her go crazy with the finger paints. The next day we put the Valentines together. Below is the finished product. I give credit to my friend Kelly for the hearts cut out of the finger painting art!

Cookies! You may remember at Christmas the post about the annual Christmas cookies. Well, we do it for Valentine's Day too. I hosted it at my house and along with Ann and Gigi, my mom and sister joined in. Of course, Whitney's meals consisted of mainly cookies that day. I made her a separate batch of slice n' bake so she could decorate with us but without using up our fancy cookies.

This year we got very ambitious and took on some new recipes. Red velvet cake pops. They were so delicious and looked pretty too. But I can't take any credit for them, I was mainly on cookie duty. My friend Sam sent me her amazing sugar cookie recipe and stopped by to show us how to do the fancy Royal Icing. First you do a thicker border, then flood the cookie with thinner icing and then decorate away. Ann found some cool techniques online that created what I would describe as a sort of tie dye heart effect. We were pretty proud of how they all turned out! I believe our total was 90 cookies and 45 cake pops!

The weekend leading up to Valentine's Day, Tim and I had a little DC Getaway. We wanted to do something like this before the little boy arrives! We took Whitney out to stay at my parents on Saturday morning and we had about 30 hours of just the two of us. We started off the weekend with some shopping at the outlet mall. We came home napped and relaxed on the couch. (I can't help but think what in the world did we do to keep ourselves occupied before Whitney!) Then we went to a great dinner at Sonoma Restaurant and enjoyed a long leisurely dinner. We stayed at a fantastic hotel called The Liaison Hotel in Capitol Hill. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Art and Soul restaurant and made a quick stop by Eastern Market on the way home. Definitely, more of a summer activity! Sunday we relaxed around the house and got ready for the week. It was a wonderful weekend. Thanks Mom and Dad!

On Valentine's Day morning we got up early and Whitney and I flew to Charlotte to visit Grandma and Grandpa for the week. We got to have a special dinner with Brady, Niki, Cole, and Haley. We sat at the festive dining room table while Sue and John played restaurant. We were served a delicious 3 course meal. We had fun conversation and Whitney had fun running around and playing hide n' seek. We of course wished Tim could have joined us but someone has to work around here! He sent a special delivery of chocolate covered strawberries and cake pops! Can't wait to devour them up! Thanks, Babe! We miss you!