Carmen is 18 months old

Our little sweetie turned 18 months on December 22nd.  Time is moving so fast!  Here are her stats:

weight: 27 lbs 7oz (82%)

height: 33-1/2" ( 86%)

head circ: 19" (87%)

She is growing up before our eyes!  Carmen is so sweet and lovable, but yet so tough and hard core.  She knows what she wants, when she wants it, and how she needs it.  We are raising a determined, little sweetheart.  We love her more than words can describe!

• Carmen still eats way more than Roman and we still call her Miss Piggy.  Roman questioned why we were calling his sister a pig, so we had to stop!  She loves most foods while eggs, applesauce, and yogurt are definitely her favorites.  She wants everything that big brother wants and the exact same format.  If he has a fork, she will have one too!
• Carmen is in size 24 month clothes and wears a size 5 shoe.  She is sporting a size 5 diaper also. 
• Carmen still doesn't talk much, but knows everything.  She says, dada, bye bye, shoe, and maybe a few other words.  She's really good at shaking her head yes and no.  We really communicate with her great even though she doesn't talk much.  Yet the other day, we heard her say a complete sentence, "I want breakfast".  It was crazy!  Matt and I were both looking at each other like did you just hear her?  Silly girl!
• Carmen still won't sit still for a tv show at all.  She's always on the go unless she's really sick.
• Carmen is learning her shapes and animals right now.  She loves to put together the wood puzzles and now can master all of them except the numbers.  She loves to read books with us pick out objects in the books.  She's learning every single day and it is so exciting to watch.
• Our little diva loves shoes and hair bows.  She likes to pick out which shoes and hairbow.  If I choose one that matches, but she doesn't want to wear it, she absolutley will not!  Daddy has brought her downstairs in bright red shoes insisting that she had to wear them! Silly girl!
• Carmen loves her big brother so much even though he often hits her and tramples all over her.  She still comes back for more!

We love you Carmen Dale!  You are my one sweet girl and I wouldn't change a thing about you.  We are blessed to be your parents!

Thanksgiving week

We spent the first few days before Thanksgiving at my mom's house.  We left on Saturday morning and flew to Springfield.  Everyone did great, even Captain!  We got to see my friend, Sarah, and her boys on Saturday night.  Roman and Carter played so well together. Meema enjoyed having having all of her grandchildren together for a few days.  We had a great time.

Meema and her grandchildren

Carmen was intrigued by baby Mason

Silly Roman and Carter

 We headed to the lake a few days later.  My mom drove us to Tulsa and back in the same day.  She's a saint!  We had a great time with Matt's entire family and enjoyed the peaceful lake!  It was a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We could not get the kids to cooperate at all!  We finally gave up and this was our Christmas photo this year!

The entire Jones family at the lake.  What a great family!

Quiet time

Roman decided to dress up his superheros in silly "costumes" during quiet time the other day.  I'm actually so proud of his creativity.  He gave them gloves and shoes.  My silly boy!  He usually comes out dressed up himselft with belts, slippers, hats, you name it!  I just love my big boy!

It's beginning to look like Christmas

I made some wreaths because we now have two front doors and I just couldn't justify spending the crazy prices for the pre-made ones. It was really fun! Matt also found our first fake tree on Craigslist for only $200! We love it! The mess of a real tree was such a pain. We just miss the smell of a real tree.

lately

I'm so frustrated!  We accidentally left our camera at my mom's house over Thanksgiving.  We haven't had any good pictures since then!  Bummer!  I'm 17 weeks pregnant and have felt the little bean move a little this week.  I was actually holding Carmen yesterday and he/she literally kicked me hard!  I wasn't ready for that yet!  

Carmen has been so sick lately.  She's had RSV with a fever and cold.  We keep giving her breathing treatments.  Poor thing has literally been sick since we got back from Tulsa.  

Roman has been so much better lately.  Three years old is such a hard age!!!  He was napping every day and literally crashing, but I couldn't wake him and he would be cranky all afternoon and then I couldn't get him to sleep at night.  There were many nights that he would cry and kick the door until after 10 pm!  Yuck!! Matt finally came up with the brilliant idea of having quiet time in the play room.  He plays quietly by himself for about two hours while Carmen is napping from 2-4.  It's awesome!  Sometimes he will still walk himself in his room and put himself to sleep, but we try to catch him.  No sleeping buddy!  Everyone is happier now!

Matt hasn't flown much at all the past few months.  We have loved having daddy home.  He loves it too!  He has gotten to fix many things around the house, play golf on our course finally, and play lots of tennis with the neighborhood guys.  It's great!

We absolutely love it here in Atlanta.  I can't believe that we would be settled in so fast with so many great friends from church and our neighborhood.  We feel blessed!

Roman's surgery

Our sweet boy had to get his umbilical hernia surgery finally taken care of last week.  The surgery was scheduled for 9:30 am, so we had to be there at 7:30 am.  I had everything packed.  Food for me during the surgery, his blanket, iPad  water, extra clothes for him.  Everything except my wallet!  I couldn't believe it!  Everything worked out okay, though.  I woke Roman up at 7:15 am and literally put him in the car and gave him the iPad   Poor boy kept asking for breakfast, but I tried to sway his attention as much as possible.  This pregnant momma was hungry also (even though I had already eaten a big breakfast).  The doctor was, of course, running late and his surgery didn't happen until 10:30 am.  He was out and in recovery by 11:15 am.  Poor boy kept trying to take out his IV, so I had to help hold him down. After a Popsicle and few instructions, we were headed home.  The next couple days consisted of cuddle time with mommy, alternating pain medicine every 3 hours, and lots of movies.  Matt helped so much with Carmen and cooking while Roman begged to snuggle with his mommy.  I loved my little boy snuggles that are far and few.  He is now recovering great!  I'm so proud and amazed of how strong and tough Roman really is!  It's unbelievable   I'm so glad we got this surgery over with and done!  I felt the prayers from friends and family covering us the whole time.  Thank you!

I love his hand gripping my arm.  Sweet moments.

Halloween

 I've heard about Halloween at the Windermere, but didn't imagine this!  The kids below are just on our cul de sac!  There were so many kids!  We went over to Charity and Chad's across the street for dinner and then everyone met outside for photos.  After photos, we all dispersed and went trick or treating.  Roman was absolutely glued to Ms Diana.  He and Aiden walked all over with her while I rolled Carmen in the wagon. It was a cold evening, but we all enjoyed ourselves.  All the husbands/dads crowded in the middle of the street discussing sports and weather over drinks.  Is this neighborhood for real?  I really think we do live in Pleasantville!  Ha!

Group photo attempt.  The older girls gushed over our little bunny, Carmen

Carmen enjoyed the wagon ride

Aiden and Roman were both Captain America!

Our little bunny wouldn't stay put for a minute!

 

Carmen and her buddies

Roman, Aiden, and Luke

lexi the witch

trick or treat time!

Aiden, Cohen, and Roman

Here we go!

A visit to Mr. Tony

 

Cohen and Roman were scared of the haunted house.  It was pretty scary!

 

Roman was seriously attached to Diana!  He loves her so much!

Roman and Cohen are only 1 month apart.  Buddies for life!

We feel so blessed to have so many amazing neighborhood friends.  This was seriously beyond our wildest dreams when we first moved here!  What a great evening!

Preschool Halloween Fall festival

Roman's school had a little fall festival on the morning of Halloween.  Matt was supposed to be flying, but with hurricane Sandy, he couldn't fly to New York, so we got to have him here the entire week!

We didn't get that many great pictures, but Roman had a great time showing us around his school.  Carmen also had a good time pretending she was as big as the other kids!

This is our attempt at a photo of the kids together.  Oh well!

Pumpkin patch with the Jansens

The Jansens' invited us to go to the pumpkin patch on October 27th.  It was a 45 min drive and the trees were amazing to watch.  Matt and I enjoyed all the pretty colors!  The weather was absolutely perfect also!  We couldn't have picked a better day in good ol' Georgia!

Roman and Hamilton had a blast playing in the pumpkins!

Hamilton and Luke

Our attempt of a sibling picture 

take 2

take 3

I guess this pic will do!

Love our cuties!

Family photo time!

Carmen and Luke are only 3 months apart

The Jansens'

 

Here's our 1st attempt of the pumpkin photos to announce baby #3.  It was adventurous!

We finally realized that we had to sit because Carmen kept trying to run off with her pumpkin!

Mark and his boys

The boys had a blast with Roman's superheros in the pumpkins

We all enjoyed a hayride through the country

After the hayride, we got some pumpkin bread, hot apple cider, and had a picnic lunch.  It was a great day!

I love our new friends!!  They're wonderful and so easy to be around.  We had a fabulous day!