October-ness

We love fall and Halloween, and everything that comes with it.  As you know from following this blog, we always get pumpkins, dress up, and generally just love the month of October.  This year was no different!

We went pumpkin picking a little earlier this year and the weather was hot! It's now much colder outside, but I honestly couldn't adjust to how warm October was.  For pumpkin picking I put Waverly in overalls and in the pictures she looks like a little tomato with her cheeks all rosy from being so hot!  I was dying of heat by the time we got done.  The heat aside, we had a great time!  We went with some close friends and ventured about 30 mins from our house into the country to Ashland Berry Farm. I went there with my family growing up and have fond memories of strawberry picking at this farm.  It's a really nice farm and had a ton of pumpkins. We rode the hayride out the pumpkins and Waverly loved it.  She threw her hands up in the air and clapped while yelling and basically having a blast.  We let her toddle her way through the patch and look at the pumpkins.  Then we picked out 4 (one for Cole!) great pumpkins…Nick got stylish and picked out a green one, which turned completely orange by Halloween. Ha.  All of our friends got pumpkins and we had a fun morning at the farm!  

Our pumpkins sat on our steps all October and almost everyday, Waverly and I would "check on the pumpkins".  She loved them. When it came time for carving, we got fancy this year with a kit!  It was intimidating at first, but actually turned out to be pretty easy with the sawing tools in the kit. I still carved a classic jack-o-lantern for Waverly's first pumpkin.

Ashland Berry Farm

"what the heck is this thing?"

Hayride fun.

the kids:  Sophie, Lawson, and Waverly

ahhh…the perfect pumpkin!

there's a peanut in the pumpkin patch!

girlfriends!

$20 for all you can carry!

and there they sat for a couple weeks...

Waverly's 1st pumpkin!

Onto Halloween. If you remember this time last year, Hurricane Sandy had just slammed the East Coast and devastated the state of New Jersey.  We were out of power for a week with a 8 week old baby. On Halloween night we were freezing our asses off around a fire, huddled in the living room watching Ghostbusters on our laptop with some neighbors.  There were no trick or treaters…in fact Halloween in New Jersey was officially cancelled.  This year couldn't have been more different!  To make up for last year all 3 of us dressed up…not just Waverly!

Nick and I love to dress up and we've decided that we'll always be those adults/parents who dress up for Halloween!  Kids love it when you answer the door dressed up and it just makes it more fun!  We had a family theme going on this year...Waverly was a bumblebee for Halloween, so Nick and I were a beekeeper and a Queen bee.  Very easy, cheap and fun.  I have Casey and Matt to thank for my cheap costume inspiration.  Of course I loved being the Queen bee for the night…even though I am every night! ;)  

Waverly was the cutest bumblebee. Ever.  I got her costume off Amazon and my mom made a few adjustments to the feet and legs.  I made her a hat with some antennas that ended up being too small on the day of Halloween!  Lesson #1: try it on way ahead of time.  I basically just took a hat that already fit her head and covered it black felt, but when I did that it tightened the hat and gave it zero room to stretch.  Even after loosening the stitches, it wouldn't budge over her noggin.  So with 1 hour till costume time, I tore off the felt and made the hat black with some permanent marker. Then I glued the antennas I made directly onto the hat.  It fit!  Even if she kept taking it off over and over.  She was just so darn cute with the costume and hat on…toddling around as a little bee. My parents came over to see her dressed up and we were dying.  It's nice to have Nana and Granddaddy nearby for these occasions!

We went to a neighborhood get together and met up with some neighbors and their kids.  Then we all trick or treated at a few houses on our street.  She loved following around the big kids and even had her first kit kat and lollipop.  The girl loves to eat and candy is no exception.  

After some successful trick or treating, it was dinner and bathtime which almost became meltdown time…Halloween is a lot for kids!  We got our little bee to bed as the doorbell kept ringing with trick or treaters.  This was the first time Nick and I lived somewhere with kids!  We were so psyched to open the door and hand out candy.  It was pretty fun and the kids were so cute.  I don't think Cole enjoyed Halloween though.  He got excited at every doorbell ring and never got to greet anyone. Hah.

a little fall decor

bee hat in the making...

"get this thing off my head!"

my sweet bee!

and she's off!

It was a really fun night and a great way to end October. Now onto November, my birthday month! Booyah.

Love from Richmond!

Waverly is 1 year old!

Waverly is ONE! Can you believe it??  I cannot. She has turned into such a fun little girl and I love watching her change.

We had a great 1st birthday party in the backyard with lots of friends and family. It was butterfly themed which turned out so cute.  It became a bigger party than I had originally planned, because it was our first time entertaining at the house. We worked so hard to pull the house and yard together for the weekend.  We had all our immediate family in town and were so grateful they made the trip to Richmond! To top it all off, weather was PERFECT.  I was crossing my fingers for the weather because our house is not huge and we had 20 some adults and about 10 kids!  During the party, everyone was outside most of the time which was ideal.

Waverly seemed a little tired because she skipped her pre-party nap and a little overwhelmed by the party.  There weren't any tears, but also not a single picture of her smiling...haha. She seemed to love playing with all her friends though.  I set up some kids activities in the yard and she had fun checking them out.  She also LOVED her cake...her face went right into it and she ate a ton.

It was so fun to have everyone at our new house. We love to entertain and haven't had the opportunity very often. I really enjoyed planning, decorating, and cooking for the party!  Special thanks to my family and friends who helped!!

kids table with bubbles and crayons

birthday girl

some butterfly decor outside

notice the butterfly shaped pb&j's - courtesy of my mom and sister in law!

the butterfly cupcakes I made

she has changed so much every month!

diy birthday wreath. I plan to change out the number and reuse it every year!

i made this little cake!

my close friends from college and their kids who are Waverly's buddies

friends enjoying the backyard

fishing pond

with Aunt Shannon, Caroline, and Uncle Andy from Boston

with Granddaddy and Nana

we are so happy Tina could come from DC!

with Grandmom from Wilmington DE

with Mimi and Poppi from Philadelphia

One reason I love our blog is so that I can look back and remember certain times in our lives.  This might be a long update on Waverly, but I like to have it all saved!

Waverly is seriously so fun.  She is physically strong and is ALWAYS moving...there is no slow mode. It's either go-go-go or sleeping.  She is super curious and exploratory.  She's also not afraid of much, in fact she loves a good thrill!  Waverly also loves anything that makes a LOUD noise...shakers, cabinet doors, the vacuum and usually tries to make her voice even louder. She started fake laughing recently which is pretty hilarious and has some new dance moves.  Lots of hip action and bouncing while bobbing or shaking her head.  We get a kick out of watching her dance!  This summer at the pool we discovered that she really likes being in the water.  She seems to want to swim on her own already! Splashing, kicking and wading along the edge of the pool were a lot of fun for her this summer.  Although she seems to be having a great time, it was tough for me to hold onto a baby who wants to dive right in!  At the moment she is very close to walking...stands up on her own but only takes a couple steps at a time right now.  Once she's confident enough she'll be off for the races.

One thing I love is how much she loves books. She has gotten really good at turning the pages and has some favorite books like "the big red barn" and "brown bear" and "goodnight moon". It's pretty amazing how the classics are still favorites. It must be the rhymes and illustrations.  She remembers where things are in her books and gives the dog in the pictures a kiss or opens the flap to see what's behind it.  She'll sit for a while looking at her books and it's nice to see her sit still!  Every once in a while I'll put her in her crib with a bunch of books so that I can shower...gives me a solid 25 mins.

She is now saying a couple words: dog, dada, mama, yucky, balloon, bye. She babbles a lot, especially in the car or during a walk in her stroller.  I think she is telling us about her day or what she's been doing.  I try to talk back most of the time, but sometimes she goes on and on!  Quiet is also nice, haha.  Waverly is also using sign language. I'm going to do a separate post about this with more detail but right now she has 5 signs: more, dog, all done, eat, and milk.

We have been playing a lot of "where's Waverly" and she loves to find a little hiding spot.  Since she's kind of a rough and tumble kid, we have been working on learning to be gentle and not chucking toys across the room. I do not enjoy getting hit with a flying block.  Recently she has been putting things back inside containers (yay for cleaning up!) and handing things to me instead of throwing them or putting them her mouth.

I would say that Waverly's 2 favorite things (beside mama and daddy, of course) are her dog and food.  She really loves Cole and squeals with excitement anytime she gets to pet him.  She gets upset if I scold him or put him outside...the guilt!  Food comes very close behind. I swear she could eat all day.  I'm not saying she loves any food, because there are some vegetables and meats that get the immediate high chair toss.  But when it's something yummy she will eat A LOT.  "Shovel it in" seems to be her motto.  Now not only is the dog always begging for my food, but so is Waverly. What does a mom have to do to eat, pee or shower in peace??

Through all this fun and hard play, I savor her sweet side.  She loves to lay on my shoulder and give "huggies" and kisses unprompted. These are such sweet moments that I love.  I also love seeing her climb up into the glider and snuggle up to her blankie.

I may have just highlighted all the postives about my sweet Waverly, but make no mistake she has her moments too.  Small temper tantrums, hitting, throwing toys, books and food, HATES to have her diaper changed...nothing out of the ordinary for a toddler!


Love this belly laugh...

A future roller coaster lover...

Little hip wiggle and doggy love...

Love from Richmond!

Busy Times!

We have been busy recently!  There is a little one in this family that is seriously busy. She started crawling! Woohoo!  Go girl.  She is curious about everything, which has made me realize how much I have to baby proof.  Since we're moving this week, I decided to forgo anything but baby gates, so I just chase her around! Phew. I try to prevent her from putting her mouth on dirty floor vents, door stoppers, the potted plant, Cole's bones....you name it, I'm trying to keep it out of her mouth.

Here is a video and some pictures of Waverly, the energizer baby.

"What?  I'm just checking things out."

"Water bowl, here I come!"

"Just one more inch..."  (she couldn't reach it, so she wasn't going to stick her finger in a socket)

"There you are, Mom!"

"Let's see what's under here."

"Socks are for suckers.  I refuse to wear them."

"Mmmm.  Beer."

Not only was Waverly busy getting around the house, but she also pulled herself up on her crib bumpers last week and pulled up to standing by the railing.  Wow!  I was watching her on the monitor and then the minute she pulled up on the railing, I ran upstairs.  She was absolutely thrilled with herself and smiling ear to ear!  I couldn't help but laugh. The rest of her naptime was spent in the pack and play and we dropped the crib mattress that night.  I can't believe we already had to drop the mattress!

We were also busy, because we spent Easter in Sunset Beach, NC!  We had Easter with my family and it was great to be with them and get away for a bit.  Nick and I felt like we really needed a break from all the moving crap.  Although, it took us forever to get there. A 7 hour drive turned into 10, because we had too many long stops and we missed a major exit in NC.  Longest car ride ever...a baby and a dog will do that to you.

Once we got there we went right to bed, but in the morning I woke up in a great mood! It felt so good to be at the beach. It was chilly and windy, but we had a long walk on the beach which made Cole one happy pup!  It was our first time taking Waverly to the beach. I wanted to sit her on the sand and dig her little toes in, but it was too cold.  Instead we both had our fleeces on and she snuggled against me for a snooze.

Not sure how Waverly felt about her new shades.

we found a whole sand dollar!

Easter weekend was spent watching the cousins play, taking some nice walks, playing golf, eating some yummy food, enjoying wine and beer, learning a new board game "Ticket to Ride" (it's really fun!), and of course celebrating Easter Sunday.  We hated to leave, but luckily our drive home was only 7 hrs.  Of course we hit traffic around Stafford, VA....the 95 corridor between Fredericksburg and DC needs to be 10 lanes with HOV going both ways or they need to build another highway. It's gotta be the worst stretch of highway in the US.

breakfast at the beach!

out to dinner with Granddaddy!

barefoot cousins...socks are for suckers, remember?

playtime!

my brother, Andy, teaching Caroline how to dye the eggs

concentration

yay Easter!

Easter egg hunt

Waverly's 1st Easter!

Caroline and her mama, Shannon

Grandparents and "the girls"

see ya!

Recently we also squeezed in our first date night since Waverly was born!  We have been out with friends and family, but we haven't had a night just to ourselves.  It was really nice to get that time together. We ate dinner at Mike Isabella's Graffiato in D.C.  Mike Isabella was on the show, Top Chef, (which we love!!) so we were excited to eat at his restaurant.  We've tried to eat at a lot of Top Chef contestant's restaurants...they are usually pretty great and Graffiato was no exception!

love from Alexandria!