J o e y & A l e e t h e a

babies and eye candy

At 5 weeks old Lily is "tall and slim" - per her pediatrician. Isn't that sweet? Lily weighs 10lbs 10oz which is in the  90^th percentile for weight, and at 23” long she's in the 97^th percentile for height.

She truly looks longer everyday. She's still wearing size newborn clothing but they're getting just a bit snug on her so it won't be long before she fully outgrows them.

When I do put her in something that is newborn size, and it still fits her, I feel a little sigh of relief just knowing that my new baby girl isn't growing too quickly for me to handle it. I mean, of course I'm going to put a big H on my chest and handle it (haha - remember that?) but I'd reeeeally like her to stay this age for a looooong time. :)

I don't mind the nighttime feedings, or the crazy hours she likes to be awake. Besides, I've been a night owl for quite a long time - so it's nice to have her follow in my footsteps. haha!

And now for a 10 second Etsy break. Here's one of my Etsy favorites. I'm totally loving this "little BIRDie and flowers" from emilie friday. She says "I have made this little bird, instead of getting a parakeet.":

I hear ya Emilie. There have been lots of times when I almost brought home a cute lil parakeet from PetSmart. Though I'm not sure how my GSD Aleethea would feel about that. She's can be pretty Sylvesterish sometimes, if you know what I mean.

Almost two thousand pictures.That's how many pictures I've taken since Lily Alexandra blessed us with her sweet little presence. What better way to make time stand still?

I have a super hard time selecting just a few pics to post here.  I want to post them all!  Every shot of this beautiful newborn baby girl is the one I want you to see. So if a week or so goes by without a post from me - you'll know it's because I'm still deciding which pictures to upload and show you. :)  She's so amazing. It's pretty difficult to not take pictures of her.

I always have the camera on me, or at least right next to me. I bring it from room to room with us in the house, and everywhere we go. I carry my camera around almost as much as I carry Lily around. And yeah, that's alot. More like...ALOT.

I got plenty of sewing accomplished this weekend, and finished up several orders from my shop. A major big thank you to the Hubbs Joe for everything he does to help!

These are just some of the minky baby burp cloths, Binky Blankies and owl onesies (owl kimonos) that are on their way out to one of my very patient customers. Full of super yummy fabrics and loaded with handmade goodness for some lucky little babies:

And I've once again gotten used to doing things with one hand while holding Lily (like typing, for example...not sewing. haha) and I'm getting pretty good at it too. Blogging with sentence case and all of that. Look out. hehe.

Checkout this cute typewriter pillow from Track and Field Designs:

Look at my son in this picture. Joey loves our little photo shoots. He giggles alot when I take pictures of him, and that makes me happy. More like...HAPPY!!! :D

Joey is a real big help with his baby sister, he's so loving and gentle with her, and helpful too. If he sees her blanket somewhere, he'll bring it to me and say "Here you go Mama, here you go babymoo, I bring dah blankie foh da baby."

Sometimes he gets real close up to her face and sings the alphabet - well most of it anyway - and Lily just sits there and listens to him with her eyebrows all scrunched up and her eyes wide open.

I think they'll have tons of fun playing together when Lily gets a bit older. Yes, I can see it now...

Doesn't Lily look like she's wearing a crown in this picture??

Well...if the crown fits! hehe, I couldn't resist.

Thanks for stopping by, I really love it when you visit us.

oxox

 

our new life with 2 kiddos

As I told one of my dear Etsy friends today: I'm currently living in a little place called "no time for actual sentences, one-handed typing, nursing non-stop, chasing joey round, running to sew during the 4 hour stretch when Lily sleeps at 2am, adjusting to life w/2kiddos" land.

I've been blogworld MIA, and I miss my little blog and also my visitors so much! OK I'm feeling a super long post coming up. 

Life with Joey & Aleethea, and now sweet Lily too, is quite busy to say the very least. My sweet baby Lily is one month old today, and Joey is 26 months. Here are some photos from this past very exciting month, a look into our new life with 2 kiddos, 2 years apart...and a dog.

This is a shot of me in labor, in between contractions. This is my labor doula Maggie, isn't she cute? She's sneaking me some yummy antipasto salad. Pay no attention to the hospital gown, and please try to ignore my super goofy face. That's if you can, I know it'll be difficult, but try. We were having so much fun:

And this is what I looked like during a contraction...laboring while sitting down on the birthing ball with the Hubbs Joe rubbing my back :

Fast forward 14 hrs of labor...Lily Alexandra arrives:

weighing 9lb 6 oz!!:

And our lives forever changed. And I was so happy to get Lily out of that pink and blue striped hospital-issued hat! Just because I had to wear the hospital gear, that doesn't mean she had to. :) Here's the newborn hat I made for her:

I love this photo of the moment Joey first met his baby sister:

Lily was only 12 hours old here, and Joey ran up to us and gently climbed up on the bed and said "I kiss the baby". Then I asked him "What are you going to tell your baby sister?", and he replied "Hi, I'm Joey, big brova." Ugh, now I'm gonna cry. :)

Here's my mom holding Lily, her 8th grandchild for the first time:

Lily's skin and hair is much darker than Joey's was when he was born:

We finally sent out Lily's birth announcement...but it was so difficult choosing which picture of her to use!

I almost used the above photo with Lily in her Amy Butler onesie for the announcement because her cheeks look so puffy and I think that's just so sweet. But I ultimately decided on the below photo instead because it's so bright and happy, I totally love her expression in it, and her face looks extra lovely. Plus I also think she looks so completely adorable in that dress I made for her! The Hubbs Joe and I designed the announcement together, and I did the graphics for it - I really love how it turned out, and I especially love that we designed it ourselves. Lily was only a day old in this photo, but doesn't she look weeks older?:

I love dressing Lily in the elephant gear I've made for her. It reminds me of how big my belly was while pregnant with her, and also how she weighed 9lbs 6oz at birth which I find to be pretty darn amazing!:

She looks so sweet in orange.

Well, now that my mom went back home, I'm back to doing my own laundry again...but now I have some company hanging out on top of the dryer while Joey and I load the washer:

My mom (Yiayia) and my sister-in-law (Titi) did so much for us while they were here, the Hubbs Joe and I got so spoiled!  Here's the Hubbs Joe with his sister and Lily:

My mom was here for six weeks, and my sister in law flew down here in early May for Joey's birthday and then again in June for Lily's birth. How awesome are they? They cleaned our house from top to bottom, they shopped for us, they helped take care of Joey, and they cooked up a storm for us everyday.

Speaking of storms, it thunderstorms every afternoon/evening these days. This is Joey's indoor view of our life in this tropical rain-forest called Orlando. I find this view very beautiful and calming:

It's a good thing Joey puts on his froggy boots while still in his pajamas, and gets his rubber ducky every morning from his hiding spot...cause ya just never know:

 

And yes, we dress our son in vintage Daffy Duck shirts, super bright pants, and pretty much the funniest outfits to sleep in. The Hubbs Joe and I just like giggling at who dresses Joey the silliest at night. Cause that's how we roll.

Here's what we like to do when it doesn't rain. This pic is from the first day of summer...this is the smallest inflatable kiddie pool ever, but Joey loves it, he had so much fun showng us how he swims. "Look Mama, I swiminey, look Dada, see?":

Aleethea got in on the action too. She's such an awesome dog and she loves Joey so much, and is very protective of him and Lily too:

While Lily and Yiayia relaxed on the swing:

Here's Joey, super excited when his Dada put him up in a tree...he's such a lil monkey sometimes:

Would you like to hear what Joey said to us the other morning? He had just woken up, he sat up in our bed and these were his first words...the Hubbs Joe jotted them down so that we wouldn't forget what Joey said: "Dada, Daaaaada! I'll be right back in two minutes (*as he held up 2 fingers*). The puppy (*his stuffed animal*) fell underneath the bed. I'm going to go underneath Mama, and underneath "babymu" and get puppy. Stay here (*with his hand out, palm facing us*).

Joey is such a character, he refers to Lily as "babymu"...which means "my baby" in Greek. How cute is that?? And he speaks sentences to us as if he wasn't only 26 mos old. He is such an amazing lil monster.

Happy first month to our newest little monster, Lily:

I love my little family more than I ever imagined possible.

And I hope your month was as wonderful and fun-filled as ours!!

oxox

Her 7th day

My sweet beautiful Lily Alexandra.

Happy 1st week on this side of my belly button.

Your lovely little toes smell so good and fresh:

 

Your big brother calls them piggies.  This lil piggy went to market...

Joey loves holding Lily, and he asks "I kiss the baby's toes", and "I hug the baby" several times per day. He is such a loving and gentle big brother.

our baby girl has arrived!

Lily Alexandra...6.11.08...1:31am...21”...9lbs 6oz...oxox

i'm due today!

baaaaaby...where arrrrrrrre youuuuuuu?

where's my baby?? contest!!

ok...so I know where my baby is, but at 39 weeks pregnant I'd really like her to be here already.

We're all waiting for her...her nursery awaits...the super cutesie onesies and dresses and other baby gear I made for her are all hanging in her closet...her helpful Yiayia (grandma) is here from Pennsylvania, her awesome Titi Theresa is ready to book her flight from NJ, our amazing Doula is on call, and the Hubbs Joe is killin me with his sympathy pregnancy symptoms! He's had a picky appetite lately, he's had some bouts of minor tummy aches, and he's starting to get kinda annoying. hehe.  Yeah, so now I know what he puts up with, with me. Gotta love Hubbs Joe...the best Dada ever.

So when I was 32 weeks preggers I began measuring 2 weeks bigger than my Doctor expected, per the sonograms. The glucose test results were all fine, no problems with my pregnancy, and all has gone smoothly...other than the couple of months of day-long morning sickness which was super yucky. 

But ever since I started measuring 2 weeks bigger than I should be, everyone thought I wouldn't last til my due date and my baby would most likely arrive early.

So now here I am, due in 1 week...and already feeling late. Like I'm overdue or something.  When in reality, I'm not.

So that's where I am.  Now...where's my baby??

Wanna guess?

It's contest time. Yaaaaaaaay!!!  I love contests!!!  :D

Guess what day my baby will arrive and I'll send you something free from my shop.  Woohoo!  You can choose anything from the section in my shop called "be cool with the baby" which has lots of sweet hair scarves, headbands, or cuffs to choose from. So go find your favorite item here in my shop, and then come back and comment here with the date you think my baby girl will arrive. I'll contact the winner shortly after the little one (or big one) arrives. And I'll definitely post pics on my blog to let everyone know.

Need some more info for your guess?  OK, so you already know I'm measuring 2 weeks bigger than I should be, but my son Joey was born 3 days past his due date and I was just as big with him. Now I'm carrying a baby girl, and I'm super big and carrying low. My official due date is next Saturday June 7th, and my Braxton Hicks have been very strong this past month and occur sporadically throughout the day and night. My wonderful Grandma Lily's 96th birthday is Wednesday the 4th, and I'd secretly love for her to arrive on that day. Oh and I've been walking around at 3cm for the past week. (Isn't that special?)

Here's a picture of us at Disneyworld last week. Yes, we went to Disneyworld while I was 38 weeks pregnant. It was Joey's 2nd birthday and he had a blast!  Plus we figured...what better place to go into labor? I didn't walk the whole time though - too bad I don't have a picture of the motorized wheelchair the Hubbs Joe made me whip around in while we were at Disney. It wasn't really a wheelchair - it was more like a chair-scooter thingamajiggy, like the ones on the Scooter Store commercials. It was pretty cool actually, and I got rather attached to it after six hours at Disney...I really didn't want to turn it in when it was time to leave. The thing totally spoiled me. 

OK now back to the contest for free handmade goodness!

Pick your favorite item from the "be cool with the baby" section here in my shop, and then come back and comment here with the date you think my baby girl will arrive. 

Have fun everyone!! :D

Update:  Saturday Jun 6th @ 11am...still waiting for baby...meanwhile this is so much fun!!  Thanks everyone for your sweet words and I love love love reading all of your comments and pondering who may be right and thinking of when this baby girl of ours will arrive. And happy birthday to all the June babies!!

The contest is closed as of today, my due date...and all entries are in!  See below for the stats on your guesses!

 

 

HALF PINTS - Sock Monkey Beach Party

Here's one of the super fun little outfits I made for Joey for his birthday:

"Half Pints - Shorts for your Shorty - Sock Monkey Beach Party SET". 

And here's a different coordinating top:

Available in my shop!

Happy Birthday Joey!

Our super sweet and amazing baby boy is now 2 years old:

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day!

being a Mom

A few days before Mother's Day in 2006, my son Joey was born...the best Mother's Day gift ever. The Hubbs Joe and I had no idea of the enormous impact that this little blessing would have in our lives, and Joey constantly amazes us, everyday. I had no idea I could love this much.

This year Joey's 2nd birthday actually falls right on Mother's Day - which is also pretty neat because the "super-amazing and very-talented and sometimes under-thanked but never forgotten or under-appreciated Hubbs Joe" is taking our lil fam out somewhere special for the whole day.  As Joey says "the whoooooooooole daaaaaaay"  Yaay for family day!!! :D

After 23 months of breastfeeding Joey (who weaned himself just last month), I'm ready to do it all over again in just a few short weeks from now. I look forward to labor and birth again, and I anticipate meeting our sweet baby girl.  I also can't wait to see our labor Doula again because she is just the most awesome person ever.  She's a mom of a handful of kiddos, a Licensed Massage Therapist, a certified HypnoBirthing practitioner, a certified Naturopath and Nutritional Counselor and my personal lactation consultant too. :) She is the only reason why Joey latched on to nurse moments after he was born and due to that my breastfeeding experience was nothing but absolutely beautiful from that point forward.

Last week I received some interesting news about my soon-to-be baby girl...she's already weighing 7 lbs! Not too surprising judging by the size of my belly.  Come on...you've seen my belly...I've posted big belly pix here...and I know what you were thinking!!  It's ok, I'm big, I know it.  And I love it!!  :)  Where was I?  Oh yeah...so now, according to my older sister Melissa (who obviously was just pulling my leg because she's 10 years older than me, and because...she's just real good at that), she says babies start gaining 1 pound per week during the last month of pregnancy.  (!!)

And, another fine and full of complete wholesomeness fact from my older sister, a mother of 4, whose opinion and wisdom I totally value, is that your newborn baby usually weighs 1 pound more than his/her older sibling did.  OK, so let's do the math here.  Per my wise ol owl of a sister who has 4 kiddos of her own, my baby weighed 7 lbs last week, which means she now weighs 8 lbs this week, and I have approx 4 more weeks to go which would then put my baby at 12 lbs, plus the whole older sibling thing adds another pound...so, according to Melissa, my baby girl will weigh 13lbs, 2 oz. at birth.  Isn't that nice??

WAY TO COMFORT YOUR LITTLE SISTER DURING HER FINAL WEEKS OF PREGNANCY!!!!!!!! And a Happy Mother's Day to you too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am SO telling Mommy what you said. And don't try to bribe me, either.  Ugh, I had a childhood flashback for a moment there.  Oh great...now I need chocolate.  And ice cream.  Wait, do we have any?  *zoikes!*

My Mom arrives in a few weeks, she'll be here for a month or so and will be right here when I go into labor, just like she was when Joey was born. Have I mentioned how amazing my Mom is? She's such a fabulous person and pretty funny too, she makes the Hubbs Joe crack up all the time when she's here!  Whenever she visits here from Pennsylvania, she stays for weeks and weeks to hang out with Joey & Aleethea. And she does everything else while she's here too!  I wrote about the super huge help my Mom is a few months back... "It's been a tremendous help having my mom here.  I'm able to get more rest during the day while she entertains Joey, and of course that means I get more sewing done at night.  *Joy!*  :)  She's also been cooking and cleaning which is more than a fantastic help".

Here's a picture of my Mom with my son - just hours after his birth, May 2006.

Have I told you lately, I love you Ma!

Greek Easter...kaloh pasxah!

Last weekend was Greek Easter...kaloh pasxah means Happy Easter. So the hubbs Joe, our lil Joey and the big belly and I spent the day...guess where?  At the beach of course! We found a sweet cove full of families with babies, toddlers and lots of pregnant mamas!  yaay!  Heaven.  :D

Joey made some friends with the cutest family sitting next to us.  He had a grand ol time playing in the sand and sea:

Joey's wearing his new Half Pints outfit in the "Nautical Blueprint" which is available in my shop:

Doesn't Joey look reeeally tough in the below pic?  hehe...all broad shouldered with his chest out. He was actually telling us "no" at that moment.  He was playing in the sand, and we asked him if he wanted to go swimming and he turned to us all serious and said "no, no, no".  We were like "well alrighty then!"  :)

He eventually ventured out into the water which was clear and beautiful. He looks like he's fishing in this shot, doesn't he?  I love the way his Half Pints look on him. So big boyish!:

It was such a beautiful cove, with little to no waves. Take a look at the below pic, look at the kids and adults all the way out in the water...the water was still knee deep even that far out!  Such fun!

Ready for a big belly shot?  Check this out:

 

And here we are, our lil family...with the exception of Aleethea who had to stay home, but she was having fun too since we let her spend the day at doggy daycare with her furry peeps.  :)

*************************And happy birthday to my sister Melissa!!  Love, us.  oxox

Featured EtsyBlogger April 2008

As the Admin and Team Leader of the official EtsyBloggers Street team, every month I will select 1 EtsyBlogger member who will be our "Featured EtsyBlogger" of the month. 

What does that mean?  That means our Featured EtsyBlogger will enjoy being featured on each and every one of our 150+ member's blogs...for the entire month!

Every member of our team will write a blog post about that member's shop/product or team participaton, and the Featured EtsyBlogger will enjoy lots of attention.  :)

This month's Featured EtsyBlogger of the month is StormyDesigns!

StormyDesigns is a super active member of our message board, our Blog Carnival co-organizer, and an all around awesome member of the EtsyBloggers street team.

Here's where you can find StormyDesigns:

shop: http://StormyDesigns.etsy.com
site: http://StormyDesigns.biz
blog: http://stormydesigns.blogspot.com

In memory of Kitt

In 2004 I began taking my German Shepherd Aleethea to a dog park here in Orlando. Aleethea was only a few months old, and she and I both met many friends at that park. It was there that we met a wonderful lady named Kitt and her Great White Pyrenees named Major. 

Kitt was a Florida native, and me being from NY it was a pleasure to be around her and her Southern charm.  My fiance Joe and I had just moved to Orlando from NY the year before, and Kitt was always full of helpful tidbits about the area.  I remember Kitt was always reading a book which she always put away when we arrived. That always made me feel so welcome. Kitt always carried a tote bag to the park with her along with her paper towels to wipe Major's drool.  Being a Great White Pyrenees, Major drooled often and it was the cutest thing to hear Kitt say "Oh Major" and then she's proceed to wipe his mouth.

Kitt and I spent many mornings at the dog park with our furry babies, and she always had a funny story to share. I looked forward to seeing her at the dog park, and I'd schedule my dog park days along with hers. We would stay for a couple of hours after 8am, just before it got too hot to be out in the Florida sun.  There was a whole crew of us - the dog park crew - and Aleethea and I were glad they were our new peeps.  Kitt and I often discussed the "Dog Whisperer" and I'd tell her about the new episodes I had seen.

The summer of 2004 was when Joe and I got married, and I remember Kitt and I talking about my wedding plans which were going to be on a private beach wedding in Jamaica. That was also the summer of the 4 major hurricanes in Florida - all of which hit within a 6 week period. In the Fall of that year we then laughed at how hurricane Charley had postponed my wedding for one day.

The next year in 2005 when I was pregnant with Joey, Kitt would watch me waddle over to the park and I'd sit at the dog park crew's table, and we would discuss my plans for the nursery. I remember telling her that we weren't going to find out Joey's gender, and she thought that was wonderful because there aren't too many surprises in life. As the months went on and my belly grew larger, Kitt started automatically meeting me at the table which was closer to the entrance of the dog park, as opposed to the farther table where we used to sit, so that I didn't have to waddle so far. She was always so considerate and caring of others.

In April of 2006 my Mom visited from PA when I was 38 weeks pregnant, and Joey was soon to be born. We all went to the dog park and my mom was able to meet Kitt and chat for a few. 

In June of 2006 Kitt came over our house to visit this new Mama just weeks after Joey was born. She was the very first person other than a few family members whom I let hold Joey. And she thoughtfully brought 2 gifts for Joey. One was a tiny little pair of baby overalls, and the other was a stuffed bear wearing a Pittsburgh Steelers t-shirt. Kitt knew we were Steelers fans, and it was the very first Steelers gift Joey received.

Throughout 2006 I would wear Joey in his baby sling and head on out to the dog park with Aleethea to meet Kitt and share stories with her.

In 2007 Aleethea and I weren't going to the dog park as often as we used to since Joey was now a year old and he took up much of my time. But Kitt and I often spoke via phone and eMail, and we would meet up every few months at the dog park or the dog beach to play with our dogs and to catch up. She was so great with Joey, and so sweet too.  She would bring balloons to the dog park for Joey, and laugh and play with him.

In the summer of 2007 Kitt and I would talk about the plans which my hubbs Joe and I have for moving to North Carolina. Kitt was familiar with the area we were looking at and offered helpful information on schools and neighborhoods. I believe the last time I saw Kitt was at the dog park in October 2007.  I know it was before finding out I was pregnant again, because I told her that knews via eMail.  We spoke of her holiday plans and she was always talking about meeting up with all of her cousins and the family get togethers they shared.

Kitt had an unexpected surgery in December, and had since been undergoing chemo treatments. We spoke via eMail a few times in 2008, and had shared photos and stories of the holidays. The last eMail we shared was just after Easter.  She said things were going well for her and she was able to drive her car again and so we had planned to meet at the dog park again sometime soon.

This week I was so sorry to hear that my dear friend Kitt has passed away.

Her full name was Katherine Mallory Simpson. Her death was rather sudden and unexpected.

I found this little movie of Kitt while she was playing with Joey last summer at the dog park. It's a very short movie clip - not more than 8 seconds long - but it speaks greatly of Kitt's playful nature and her sense of humor. I am so lucky to have this movie of Kitt with my son.

SIMPSON, KATHLEEN "KITT" MALLORY, died at her Lake Conway home on Saturday, April 19, 2008. She was 63. Born in Orlando on July 15, 1944, Kitt was predeceased by her parents, Dick and Frances Simpson. She is survived by her sisters Babby Wiedman (David) and Molly Lagatta, her brother Chip Simpson (Lucette), all of Orlando; her niece, Nicole Bowen (Jeremy) of Olney, MD; her nephew, Tony Lagatta of Gainesville, FL; her uncle, John Mallory (Ann), Savannah, GA; her Aunt, Patty Welch Hill of Orlando; cousins Linda Chapin (Bruce) of Orlando; Dick Welch (Delores) of Summit, NJ; Mason Blake (Amy) of Melbourne Beach, FL; Dede Blake Bonwit (Bob) of Greeneville, Tennessee; the Reverend John Blake (Sandy) of Lady Lake, FL; and numerous other cousins. Kitt was a graduate of William R. Boone High School (1962), St. Mary's College in Raleigh, NC, and Katherine Gibbs School of Business in Boston, MA. She was a former member of the Junior League of Orlando-Winter Park and the ORMC Hospital Auxiliary. Kitt served as office manager for the late Dr. Kennedy Browne and also worked for Home Health Care Services. Kitt was an avid reader and an articulate, witty conversationalist. She loved animals, especially her beloved Great White Pyrenees, "Major." She was a wonderful cook and enjoyed contributing delicious recipes to family gatherings. Her family meant everything to Kitt, and she will be remembered as an important, integral part of a large longtime Orlando family. A memorial service will be held at Cypress Grove Park on Monday, April 28th, at 10AM.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Florida Great Pyrenees Club Rescue, c/o Toni Tregear, treasurer, 14208 NW 61st Lane, Gainesville, FL 32653.

Published in the Orlando Sentinel on 4/24/2008:  http://www.legacy.com/OrlandoSentinel/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=108264621

"He will wipe every tear
from their eyes.
There will be no more death
or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things
has passed away."
-Revelation 21:4

Kitt, you touched our lives with your friendship. I can still hear your laughter. We miss you dearly.

revolving dork's 10 second dance break

This?  Waaaaaay funny.

Here's the full article.

happy birthday to me!

Today's my birthday!  Yaay for me!  :D

I received birthday cards in the mail from my family, and the hubbs Joe brought home a beautiful bouquet of colorful flowers which was so sweet. He also bought me a sleek lil iPod nano - we have a tradition of giving each other some sort of techy or geeky toy for our birthdays.  I love that.

Then we went to dinner at Toscana, my favorite restaurant in Avalon Park.  Dinner was compliments of my Mom and Aunt! We ate fried artichoke hearts (Tempura fried long stem marinated artichokes with balsamic reduction), tomato and mozzarella salad (Sliced fresh mozarrella and beefsteak tomatoes, fresh basil and balsamic reduction), tortellini alfredo, and chicken picatta (Chicken breast sautéed and served with capellini pasta).  Super yums.

Here's the hubbs Joe and Joey singing "happy birthday to Mama..."

Joey helped me blow out the candle in my creme brulee, and "Baby '08" in my belly gave me lots of braxton hicks contractions all day. 

I have everything I have ever wished for.

Earth Day at the beach

Today was a sunny 84 degrees outside so Joey and I spent Earth Day at Cocoa Beach...

we collected shells...

we played in the sand...

we ate mahi-mahi at a seaside grill on the pier overlooking the waves...

we took a walk on the pier...

we met a blue heron named Charlie...

we had fun riding some wooden waves...

and we beeped our horn all the way home...

Today was beyond beautiful.