24 Weeks - December 2012

Our house has been a little chaotic lately... Fast growing, eating chewing, niping puppy (already 24 lbs) Crazy toddler, Christams prep and then add almost 25 weeks pregnant, but I wouldn't change anything for the world. Cody is in the full swing of the Christams season. He just loves everything about... the lights, the blow ups (his favorite) the characters and most of all the fun cartoon specials. He just can't get enough of watching Frosty and Rudolph...

Cody has been lucky enough to see 2x so far this Christams season. He's is definitely growing up. Both times he waited patiently in line until it was his turn. Lucky for us the lines haven't been to too lng. We first saw Santa at the Sand Tree Lighting (only in S. Florida) then we went Christams @ Yesteryear Village and saw him again. I just love watching the sparkle he has in his eyes. So magincal

K3 is the first year Cody is able to participate in his school's Christams pagaent. My Mom and I went and it brought tears to my eyes. Each class gets to sing and act 3 songs. Cody was right up front and did such a good job, then they bring the entire school out for a finally together. Just love watching him grow and learn

Cody's Christams Paegent

24 weeks

As for me... This pregnancy is really different then with Cody. Everything seems to be starting much earlier. Seems that baby girl has already settled on my sciatic nerves. Some days are worse than others but bad enough that I have to go to the Chirpractor 1x a week. Cody didn't effect me til well into 32+ weeks. Also the heartburn has started, not too bad but it is there. I'll take everything she gives me because it is such a blessing, but it still stinks while I'm going through it. It's going to be a long 15 weeks :) Oh... and i'm much bigger

Spartan Trocey Bautz

In the midst of all our miracle news, our beloved Trojan passed away in September. He had been really slow lately, had tons of accidents but still eating. One random Tuesday Craig came home for lunch and found him gone. I was hoping he would go in his sleep instead of us having to make the decision to put him down, so this was a blessing, but I really wished I had been the one to find him, not Craig. I came home immediately of course and we decided to have him cremated. I had never seen Craig so upset, but I knew this was how it would be. Trojan was almost eleven... ELEVEN. For a large breed dog this was very old and we had alot of great years with him, but he was Craigs best friend, and not easy to let go.

We decided we would wait just a bit to get another puppy, but not even 4 days later I came home to find Craig on the phone with a women who had Rotweiller puppies and they would be ready in 4 weeks. YIKES... Craig was so excited, this was the first time I had seen him smile in days. So 4 weeks later we picked up Spartan Trocey (what Cody called trojan) Bautz. Of course he had the biggest block head of all the puppies to choose from. Now 12 weeks old he is almost 23lbs. Man, I think this one will be bigger than the last. My hope is that he is fully trained when the baby arrives :)


Baby Spartan about 9 weeks old



Baby Girl Bautz

Also in August we got some very AMAZING news. We were pregnant. I truely still can't believe it. 4+ years ago when we went through invitro with Cody we had about a 15% chance to concieve naturally. yes once you give birth you chances may go up, but time was not on our side. Craig and I are both 39 and with our issues our chances naturally are probably closer to 5-10%. In the last 2 years we have tried invitro 2x both with our frozen embryos. The first time was successful but ended in miscarraige and the second just didn't take. I still had a little hope but was giving it til the end of the year before we would no longer try.
The end of July came and no you know what. Not wanting to junx myself i actually waited about 8 days to take the test. it immediatly came back positive. I was in shock and still am..

The beginning of my pregnancy was not easy, I was sick from the minute I woke up until I went to sleep, I never actually got sick, but felt like crap all day long until about week 16. I was also extremely exhausted. Probably because I have a toddler and I'm not so young anymore, hahaha.  I did get the sea bands for motion sickness and they seemed to help a bit. At our 13 week ultrasound I asked the girl if she could tell and she said about 75% sure it was a girl as there was nothing showing. I have herd a bunch of stories of incorrect predictions for girls so i tried not to bank on that too much. At our 19 week scan it was confirmed... She is 100% a girl... I couldn't help but cry. I have dreamt of this since I myself was a little girl, Now all the fun begins... Pink Pink Pink (or purple)

Now @ 22 weeks I feel pretty good, have some energy back and can only complain about some lower back pain.

10 Weeks

12 Weeks

14 Weeks

16 Weeks

18 Weeks

20 Weeks

August 2012

Again this summer we took our annual family trip to Isla Morada with Matt, Amber and the twins. It was a short weekend trip this year, but we still had a blast. Cody and I hung out at the pool and the park while Craig went fishing and lobstering with the grown-ups

hanging wiht the fish

Fishing with Daddy

We also were able to take our annual trip up to Mass for 12 days. I feel so blessed to be able to spend that much time with my frinds and family. Since we only go up once a year now 10-12 days is nessesary. Cody, myself amd my mom flew up first then Craig joined us for the second half of the trip

This year we had a fun filled couple of weeks planned. plus thankfully we also had a few days with nothing to do :) We went apple picking, spent a day @ Six Flaggs amusement Park with my brother and his family, visited Great Aunty Paps, and best of all spending time with his cousins and our best friends. Daddy got to golf on new courses and of course a few lobster/clam bakes. We so look forard to this trip every year and it's truely amazing to watch Cody with everyone. makes me miss home so much (still can't deal with the cold weather though).

Baked our very own cookies

Apple picking wiht Chloe Chloe

Swinging with my girl Amaya

Plane tree at Aunties

June - July



Cousin Love

Nothing really happened in June, just alot of pool time with the twins and family time with Cody & Craig. Now July was a busy month for us. First Avery and Curtiss made there yearly summer visit. We were able to take a few days off to spend with them. We headed to the waterpark (sorry only phone pictures) and a few other parks. It's super cute now that Cody is older. He and Curtiss actually can play together and have some things in common

Cody Couldn't wait to see Mickey again!!!

July also brought Aunty Vicky's & Gianna's first trip and our 2nd trip to Disney. Vicky and Gianna had a cheer camp in Miami so they decided to extend there trip to spend a few days with us and to make the trip up to Orlando (after grabbing Daddy & Uncle Randy) for Gianna's first Disney trip. We had a fun filled 5 days starting with an overnight visit to Aunty Danielle's house and an adult night out in Orlando. Then off to the parks.

Princess Breakfast

We were lucky enough to have connections, so we got a great suite to fit us all and free tickets into the parks. We ended up spending 2 days at the actual parks then enjoyed the hotel pool and the other Disney amenties. We had a great week with my bestie and Gianna from Miami to Orlando, A trip Cody & Gianna wouldn't soon forget.

Our friend Tigger



May 2012



Cody & Monkey Joes



May brought us Cody's 3rd Birthday... This year instead of throwing a big keg/adults/kids party in the parents backyard we opted for a kids party @ Monkey Joes. This is one of Cody's favorite places to go. It is a indoor playground with about 10-15 different sized bounce houses. We invited about 12 kids and for 2 hours they bounced and played games and had a great old time. Best part of all for me..... NO CLEANUP...

May also brought Cody's first Major League Baseball Game. I had gotten free tickets from work to a Marlins Game. Neither Craig nor I are Marlins fans but the stadium is brand new and we were told it was worth making the trip to Miami to see it. I wasn't sure how he would do sitting for so long but I was pleasantly surprised. He was intrigued by the field and whenever the Marlins score they had a really cool fish dunk tank that Cody just loved. It was a super fun day...

Spring in Pictures

January - South Florida Fair

At the park with my bestie

The twins Baptism

Easter Morning

Emmy and Cody with the Easter Bunny

Cody and his Aunties

Spring 2012

It seems time has gotten away from me.... This past spring was pretty quiet for us, we just really got settled into our new house and got used to living in a new area. The highlight of our Spring was defiinatly taking Cody to Disney World  for the 1st time. It was truely amazing to experience it through his eyes. I'm not a huge Disney person but this was a completely different experience with a toddler. Craigs parents just love Disney and have been begging us to take him, so before he turned 3 and wasn't free any longer we decided

to go for a long weekend in February. It was so much fun.

The Beautiful Castle.

December 2011

What a fun Holiday season we had this year. One of the best things about living in South Florida is the Holiday season. For the most part, it's never too cold to go anywhere and between Thanksgiving and Christmas we have the best outdoor events. We had our local town's Winter Festival, Christmas @ Yesteryear Village, The Enchanted Forest @ Hoffmans Chocolates plus Christams parades in almost all of the bigger towns.

This year we had a vistor from Thanksgiving until Christmas eve. Joey the Elf on the Shelf has joined our family. Joey arrived on our front door step a couple of days after Thanksgiving to watch over Cody and report back to Santa every night, then returns to our house and hides every morning before Cody woke up. We had alot of fun with this. Every morning Cody would get very excited to go find where Joey was hiding. It was super cute to watch him.... The one thing... nobody can touch the elf or he will lose his magic!

Christmas was so much fun this year with a 2 1/2 year old. He is really starting to understand what it all means and loved ALL the Christmas cartoons and carols. He is still singing Jingle Bells today. I tried to take every moment and memory in as I know in just a few short years my little boys will begin to turn a bigger boy and all the stories will be just a bit different.

Fall 2011

In September we took a road trip with the in-laws up to Ohio to
visit Craigs family. Cody had never met his only living great grand parent and we thought it was very important for Grampa Plaster to meet our little Monkey. We were also able to spend a few days with Craigs brother and family. It was a short trip for us but we has such a nice time. We saw Curtiss play in his last football game of the season, Miss Avery play in her Basketball game, visited the BEST pumpkin patch I had ever seen and a fun Fall Fair. We had a blast! but agreed, next tme we need more than 4 days to visit everybody.

October brought lots of fun Spooky outings. We have a really nice farmers market called Bedners (strawberry picking place)that has all sorts of outside events for all the different seasons. For October the had hayrides, a corn maze and a pick your own pumpkin patch.
We also went to The Spooky time festival at the South Florida Fairgrounds. They have the older kid section that has all the scary rides, haunted houses and scary people walking around. We of course went to the little tyke section that has trick or treating, bouncy houses and a few carnival rides.
Now you are probably wondering where our Halloween pictures are.... Well there are none. I made the mistake of not letting Cody wear his costume around the house before the actual day. Lets just say Cody was not having a good night, actually had a complete melt down and refused to put on his super cute Pirate costume... didn't even want to hold the sword or his candy basket. Instead of causing a HUGE scene at the in-laws we decided to skip Halloween this year. Note to self... next year, wear the costume for a couple of weeks prior to the holiday!