Baby Shower!

A week and a half ago, my friends here in NY threw me an awesome baby shower in Manhattan. It was wonderful! It was at Alice's Tea Cup on the upper East Side. The food was amazing, tea was delicious, and the company was even better :)



And here is the latest bump pic taken of me... almost 2 weeks ago! I'm 36 weeks now, in the home stretch! Soon baby Noah will be here :)

The latest...

So it's been a while since I've made a post. Perhaps that's because we've been so busy! Halloween was so much fun. We went up to Brooklyn to spend the holiday with our friends and Jackson made out pretty well with the candy :) Although we couldn't get him to keep the hat on, J made a pretty cute firefighter.



A few days later, we got the opportunity to make one last trip home to Seattle before baby number two, who we have decided to name "Noah", arrives! We had such a wonderful time. My mom and sisters threw me a baby shower and it was so much fun. I am so grateful for all of the work they put in to it, and for all of the people who came to make the day special :)





We also got the opportunity while home to meet our sweet little niece, Kylee. She was SO adorable and we just loved her from the moment we saw her.







And here is our little guy being a cheeseball in the car :)



All in all, the trip was wonderful. It was so nice to spend time with family and friends and just enjoy being in the beautiful Pacific NW! We miss it so much and hope to get back there again someday.

Finally, here are the latest belly pics.

Me at 25 weeks


29 or 30 weeks... I can't remember :)


And now I'm 32 weeks! The big day is coming up...

Fall Fun!

Last weekend, we went to the Queens County Farm for the Apple Festival and Pumpkin Patch. Even though it wasn't technically a pumpkin patch (field with pre-cut pumpkins scattered about...) we had a great time and Jackson loved eating apples and playing in the pumpkins! It's so fun to be able to do fall stuff like this, since we weren't able to last year in seasonless Grenada :)

What's been happening lately...

It's been a little while so I thought I'd give a brief update on what's been going on!

We got to take a really fun weekend to the Catskill Mountains in Upstate NY over Labor Day Weekend. It was great to get out and go hiking and just spend some great time as a family.

Here's the little guy right before our hike.


Mmmm Burger King... a special vacation treat!


We were able to have our friends over for a little BBQ to say goodbye to summer. Even though it poured down rain and we couldn't go out and enjoy the beach, we really enjoyed the company and football games!



J and Elle having fun


And last but not least.... baby boy number two continues to grow! That's right, we had a scan a couple of weeks ago and they told us that Jackson is going to have a little brother! Here is an updated pic of the bump :)

Our trip in a nutshell!

As I mentioned before, Jackson and I just got back from a WONDERFUL vacation back to Washington to visit family and friends. We had a terrific time and it was so great to see everyone and let Jackson catch up with his grandparents and aunts and uncles again! Here are just a few highlights from out trip-


We got to go to Lori's baby shower! Here is Lori and myself comparing our bumps, aka future cousins!


My mom, sisters, Jackson and I took a trip to Seattle for the day. We had a wonderful time shopping and enjoying the city!



Jackson had his first haircut! It was pretty traumatizing for the poor guy, but his hair turned out so cute and he even got his first sucker, which he loved :)


We went to Seahurst Beach on day to play around! Jackson got these cool glasses and a squirt gun from Aunt Jenni and Uncle E-Bob! He had fun!


Grandpa Sealey took Jackson (and me) to the zoo! Jackson loved laughing at the Meerkats!


I got to attend Randi's wedding! She was so beautiful and it was a wonderful wedding :)


Jackson got to play with his best buddy Cooper, who is only 5 days older than him!


Jackson's favorite thing to do was play in my parents' yard! He was out there ALL of the time! We don't have this thing called "grass" in NYC, so Jackson had a blast being able to run around freely in the huge yard.

Overall the trip was fantastic!! Hopefully we can get back there soon!

The evolving bump!

Well J and I just got back from a wonderful two week trip to Seattle, which I will post about tomorrow, but for now I wanted to show off our second little cutie pie, who is almost 20 weeks! We find out the gender next Thursday and we are SO excited. We are really excited just to get a peek at our little one since we haven't seen it since 8 weeks. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is flying by!

Here I am at 15 weeks


And here's the latest pic at 18.5 weeks.


More to come!

Zoo fun!

It seems like I am a week behind on all of my posts :) Maybe I'll try to catch up this week.

Last weekend, we had so much fun taking Jackson to the Prospect Park Zoo with our good friends Jeff, Mel and their daughter Elle. It wasn't spectacular, but it was a lot of fun. There was even a little barn with farm animals, which Jackson loves! Afterward, we met up with our other good friends Evan, Erin and their daughter Anabelle in the park and had lunch. It was a fun day!



The fam



J checkin out the Alpacas with Dad.

Friends!

Last week, I was able to have a lot of my friends here over for lunch and a beach day :) Although not all of us actually made it to the beach, we had a great time! It's always fun to chat and catch up with these ladies. I have been friends with them since our time in Newcastle, and it was so wonderful to have them in Grenada and now NY!



Marca, Jodi, me and Kathy



Erin and her sweet little Anabelle and Gracie in the background



Mel and the darling Elle

Pennsylvania Weekend!

Last weekend Todd had the rare privilege of having a 3 day weekend, so on a whim, we decided to get out of town! We decided to head over to Lancaster County, PA to visit Amish country, then down to Gettysburg and over to Hershey before heading home. Friday we set out early and made it to Lancaster in only about 3 hours. J was great in the car! He had plenty of books and snacks and even napped for about an hour which was great. After we settled in to our hotel, we decided to head over to an Amish Farm and take a buggy ride! We went through an Amish farm and bought cookies from a little Amish boy on the side of the road. Then we went to a little Amish market where they sell all of their own goods. It's truly another world there. The people were so kind and helpful and it really was beautiful!



J waiting to go on his first buggy ride!



An amish boy working his farm

On Saturday morning, we headed over to Gettysburg, which was pretty cool because it was the Fourth of July. Now I know it wasn't a revolutionary war site, but to just be on such an important piece of American history was really cool. We actually got to see the final battlefield and walk around for a bit. It was very erie and humbling. It's an experience I know we'll never forget!



Near the actual battlefield



Todd doing his reenactment of the union army :)


After Gettysburg, we drove up north to Hershey and went to the chocolate factory! It was so much fun. We went on the chocolate factory tour, which was more like a ride and even got a free sample at the end! Then we enjoyed some sweet treats from the bakery... it was awesome!



just a glimpse of the store at hershey world



Mmmmmm... hershey's chocolate cupcake with pink frosting!!



All in all, it was a fantastic trip. I love PA and how the people there seem so down to earth :) I hope we can go back!

Coney Island Fun!

About a week and a half a go, we got to go experience the fun of Coney Island. We had such a blast! We met our good friends Jeff and Mel there and their sweet little daughter Elle. First we took Jackson to the aquarium and he had so much seeing the fish, seals and sharks! He really liked the show the sea lions put on. He even learned to say "fish" by the time we were leaving :)

Afterward, we walked up to the boardwalk and explored Coney Island a little bit. It's so cool in the summertime. Just like a carnival! We enjoyed a Nathan's famous hot dog and finished it off with some deep fried oreos!! I had never had any novelty item deep fried before so I was a little nervous, but they were amazing :)

Jackson enjoying the seals


Not too sure about those sharks!


At Coney Island!


Deep fried oreo goodness!

Out and about...

After SEVERAL rainy days in New York... and I do mean several.... the sun came out long enough for us to embark on a little adventure up to Brooklyn to meet our friends at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. It was so beautiful- a little piece of nature in the middle of the big city. We always have a wonderful time seeing our friends, and any day that Jackson can get outside to play is a great day for him! Just look how happy he is :)

We are in NY!

Sorry it's been SO long since I've made a post. Seems to be a common thing for me :) Anyway I am going to make an effort to keep this up now that we are here. We have settled in to our condo in Rockaway Park, NY nicely. Todd is working a full schedule at Coney Island Hospital doing his rotation in surgery. He's gone a lot, but he really seems to be enjoying it so far.

Jackson and I are having fun exploring the neighborhood and meeting new people :) NY sure is different, but I think we're adjusting well. Jackson had a tough time at first adjusting to his new schedule, but now he's doing really well with it. Having the beach and bordwalk right outside our door has been a major bonus!

And the biggest news of all... we are expecting again! Todd and I are expecting another Baby Curtis in January 2010, which puts that baby and Jackson two years apart exactly. I think we timed it pretty well, although we're really going to have to squeeze to make all of the events fit in to the month of Jan!

Here are a few pictures of Jackson playing at the beach! More to come!

The latest and greatest...

So to start you off, here is a recent video of our little guy! I was going through old videos we took of him in Grenada and I can't believe how much he's grown up since then. It made me realize I hadn't taken any recent video of him in a while, so here you go!! :) He's growing in to quite the little man and he has such a fun personality. Todd and I are so blessed to have him in our lives. Jackson has been enjoying himself a lot! He loves to play outside and play with his grandparents, aunts, and uncle. He's been having a great time figuring out different animal sounds, and figuring out how to communicate with us. He still loves music and loves to dance, and is really getting in to sports! He loves throwing the ball around with his dad, and can even kick his soccer ball to hit a target! He also has a great love for animals. We were able to take him to the Spring Puyallup Fair. He ran immediately up to all of the animals and tried to communicate with them in their own language :) Here is a fun pic of him with his animal friends...



Todd took the Step One of the US Medical Licensing Exam in March, and found out he passed several weeks ago! He did a great job on the exam and I'm so proud of him. Since then, we've been able to spend so much quality time as a family going on hikes, walks in the park, and lots of visits with Grandparents. I have been truly cherishing this time as a family, and know we probably won't have another opportunity like this again. It's been wonderful!

We also found out recently that our appeal to go to Michigan was denied, and Todd will be starting his rotations at Coney Island Hospital on May 26. We were pretty disappointed at first, but now we are looking at this as an adventure! NY will be a fun and exciting place to live, and even though it's not what we had in mind, I'm sure it will be great! Anyway, we are heading out there mid May, so I guess that means our time in WA is coming to an end... something I am not quite ready to come to terms with!

Well that's it for now! More blog posts soon, I promise! :)