It's the most wonderful time of the year

Christmas is now over, 2016 will be here in no time. I am finally enjoying the pregnancy relative to my first few months. I had a horrible scare September 30th. I had Matt take me to the hospital and despite everything seeming to be leading in a bad direction, we found out, miraculously, that everything was fine. A follow up appt at my Ob's confirmed the ER doc's diagnosis. Now that I have reached viability, I feel more comfortable discussing it, although my worry is not completely gone. It probably won't be gone until I deliver a healthy baby. We also found out around Thanksgiving that we are expecting a girl! While we both had an inkling we were having a girl, the ultrasound confirmed this!
Sean and Bradley have been playing so well together as they get older and older. Over xmas break so far, they have been starting light saber battles and play fighting. They are definitely in boy territory. We thought Sean was old enough to actually see Star Wars with Matt at the movie theater. I reserved seats for them at the Emagine Rochester. Sean loved the movie and couldn't wait to come home to tell Brad and I all the plot spoilers! haha
Before Christmas, we had a mini vacation planned to go to Traverse City. We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge and loved every second of it. They upgraded us to a Wolf Den Suite because our room wasn't ready at check in. The bunk bed room within a room concept was a huge hit. Sean loves the water so he enjoyed splashing around the water park. Brad hasn't really had a lot of experience with water, but he loved the Lazy River and Lily Pads. We also visited our friends, the Cannons, who recently moved from Bloomfield to Traverse City. It was great to catch up with them. We intend to go back to Great Wolf one day :)
Christmas Eve was spent with the Hersteins in Ann Arbor and Christmas was spent with the Guptas in Troy. It was so great to catch up with family. It truly is the most wonderful time of year!

 Ultrasound was taken in November. What a beautiful profile!

 We upgraded my Pontiac G6 to a Chevy Traverse. I LOVED my Pontiac but it did not fit 3 cars seats. I have never had an SUV, but it was an easy transition.

My 2nd trimester bump with my 1st SUV.

Thanksgiving and Diana's Bridal Shower

Both the Hersteins and Guptas (and all our siblings) were out of town so the 4 of us were on our own for Thanksgiving. We went up north and tried to make our own feast. The food wasn't bad but I have to say that Thanksgiving at my parents or Matt's parents is much tastier! However, the boys loved being up north since there are so many toys and games up at the condo. It's like our home away from home.

Right before Thanksgiving break, Matt's sister Diana had her bridal shower. It was held at Aunt Pat's house and was a lot of fun. Sean played with his cousins below and we were able to fete Diana a nice shower. We can't wait to see her and Brian get married in the spring!

Sean with his cousins Anya and Nora:

Mona's visit

More visitors came and this time it was Mona and her family! We were able to make the most of their week with us by taking trips to the park, Wing Lake, and celebrating my dad's birthday at his favorite restaurant, Mongolian BBQ. We also had a sisters' Zumba class where Mona helped teach Sab's class. Lastly we had an adults' dinner at 220 in Birmingham. Here is a cute picture of our boys at Firefighters Park.

And here we are at 220 (minus Ashwin who had to stay in GR)

Thanksgiving 2012

We went to Ann Arbor to spend time with Matt's family for Thanksgiving festivities. My parents met up with my sister and her family in Orlando while my brother celebrated with med school friends. We had a wonderful time with the Hersteins, eating a lot of food, including Matt's buttermilk pie. yum! Family picture-

Beautiful decorations by Charlene-

Disney Trip

We took the kids to Disney World in late September.

Since Matt's parents are in the DVC, we are fortunate enough to be able to stay on property, very close to the parks. This time we stayed at the Boardwalk, which is walkable to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Sean was at the perfect age to truly understand the characters and enjoy the rides. When we took Sean at 7 months old, it was not as fun, and even at 14 months, Brad wasn't really sure what was going on.

We had a really good time, despite the heat, in Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Animal Kingdom. Sean's favorite ride was Peter Pan. After our trip, he started to become obsessed with Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Captain Hook. Bradley was fascinated with the animals at Animal Kingdom.

Both boys also loved It's a Small World and our hotel pool. During naptime Brad slept at the hotel while Sean had "downtime" and watched movies. Because of all the excitement and walking around, they were pooped by 7/7:30pm every night. That gave Matt and I time to watch a movie or even go out to dinner, thanks to grandma! We can't wait to go again, although it might not be until 2014! Sean still talks about Disney weekly and even asks if we're going when we wake him up early in the morning (since we had to wake the boys up REALLY early for our flight). I hope he's still excited about it come 2014.

Bradley's First Birthday

Bradleys first birthday party came and went. It was such a blur with the stress of the move that putting it together was easy, it was bumblebee themed complete with a 3-D beehive cupcake tower. Brad was happy and very good at his party. Here are some pics below. On his actual birthday, we decided to go out as a family of four for a laid back dinner at Original Pancake House. The boys enjoyed this more than the party, hehe.

Here is the beehive cupcake display! The beehive was from Party Cakes.

Bradley happy after eating his cupcake!

Sean with his cupcake!



Mississippi Trip

We went to visit my sister in Mississippi last week. We left when it was 22 degrees in the morning and, after two flights, arrived in 70 degree weather. It was a welcome change! Mona's sons, Sohan and Sanjay, are both a little older than Sean and Bradley, respectively, but not by much. We were able to go to the Children's Museum, Science Museum, the park and have fun in the backyard. It was nice to finally see Mona's new house, which is beautiful! Here are a few pics of our vacation.

Sohan and Sean in front of the Science Museum


Mona and I with our babies

Matt's Birthday and Christmas

Matt had some days stored up so he was able to take a few days off in addition to the days off he had for the holidays. We celebrated his birthday on the 20th, Christmas Eve with the Hersteins and Christmas Day with my parents and brother. On the 26th, my sister and her family came into town so we had another week of family fun! I pulled Sean out of school last week so we could maximize our time with Matt and my family over the holidays.
Sean received so many new toys from us and both grandparents that we had to put half of them in the basement and will have to bring them out throughout the next few months. Although this is a good thing because every month I have been rotating toys so Sean doesn't get too bored. He will play independently all day by himself and I have to make sure I get in there once in a while to play with him! He does ask questions all day and tries to pack in as much information as he can. His memory is amazing.

Sean opening up his Green Lantern - Planet Oa.


I didn't have too much time to see any friends over the holidays, but a friend of mine arranged a Troy High playdate. It was really fun to see some old friends and meet their new babies.
On New Year's Eve, Matt and I ordered in from PF Changs (a tradition, three years running!) and spent a relaxing night watching movies and seeing the ball drop. I'm surprised we made it to midnight!
2011 has been a wonderful year and I hope 2012 is even better!

Thanksgiving 2011

We celebrated Thanksgiving at the Herstein household in Ann Arbor. Sean asked every day leading up to turkey day if we were going to Grandma and Grandpa's house and I had to tell him in 4 days, or 3 days, etc. When we got to Ann Arbor, Sean was so excited to play with Grandma and the millions of toys they have at the house. I kind of understand why Matt wants to keep his childhood toys now...kind of. If we had a ton of space, and maybe we will someday, it seems like a good idea to keep the good quality things.

Thanksgiving morning, we drove in and were driving home by 5:30pm. It was perfect timing both ways because Brad took his morning nap in the car on the way there, and both boys were exhausted and sleeping in the back on the way home (with Brad taking his afternoon nap at the Hersteins).

We didn't celebrate with my parents because they are in South America! They are visiting Rio and Argentina. I can't wait to see pictures. My brother decided to spent Tgiving with friends, but I was able to see him the day after when he was in town. Mona stayed in Mississippi this year, but is planning to bring her family to Troy after Christmas.

The background is not fake! It really was a gorgeous fall day outside.

Weekend Up North

We went up north this past weekend. It was great to get out of the house for a few days for a change of scenery. Sean had a blast playing with Grandma and Grandpa Herstein. He was the center of attention for a change while Mom and Dad could attend to Bradley. We decided to unswaddle Brad at night and he is sleeping through the night like that now. It's been 3 days and the night wakings and feedings have virtually stopped again. I guess he was done with the swaddle. I've also been putting him down for naps awake instead of asleep and that has cut down my rocking time by A LOT. I think being a mom is much easier the second time around.
I can't wait to go up north again, hopefully sometime this winter. Perhaps Sean will have a blast again and Brad will get through another milestone!

Bradley's Baptism

Bradley had his baptism last weekend. We invited our families to brunch at Kruse and Muer and then went on to Holy Name Parish in Birmingham for the ceremony. The day went quite smoothly and Brad's godparents, Ashwin and Jenny, did a great job. I was surprised to see the 5 other "babies" were almost a year or older. Brad was definitely the youngest baby there.

Father's Day Weekend

The day before Father's Day, we went to Rob and Amy's wedding in Ann Arbor. This time I bought him a baby suit for the occasion. Here he is with cousin Anya. Too cute!



On Father's Day, Matt took Sean to his last swimming lesson of the season. And then we went out to one of Matt's favorite restaurants, Outback Steakhouse. Here are a few Father/Son pictures. Note the similar outfits!





Matt is a wonderful father and husband. Sean and I are so lucky to have him!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful! Mona, Sujith and Sohan came to visit and we had a large family celebration at my parents' house. I made green bean casserole and Matt made his signature buttermilk pie to bring over to the feast. We had tons of food- turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, creamed spinach, cornbread, cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, gravy and sweet potatoes with gruyere (Mona made this). Besides Matt's pie we had pumpkin pie, apple pie, and some Italian tiramisu/bread pudding thing my brother made. And this year we had Sohan and Sean celebrate their first Thanksgivings. The two cousins met for the first time, but were not really interested in each other. Perhaps next year, when they are both older, they will interact a bit more.

My 5 month old nephew!

Mona, Sujith, and baby Sohan came to visit this past week and I finally got to meet my nephew for the first time. (They are on a plane as we speak heading back down to Louisiana- how sad!) He is so cute in his pictures, but even cuter in person. He is at that age where he is so much fun to watch. Sohan can laugh, cry and blabber all in a 10 minute span. He is also easily occupied by the littlest things like shiny objects or even his own hands! Above, he is staring at Auntie Reena, obviously fascinated by my beauty =)

While my parents kept an eye on Sohan, we were able to go out for some yummy seafood at Mitchell's Fish Market in Birmingham. Sabrina and Walter also joined us! Besides having great entrees, their desserts were AMAZING. We ordered the java mocha brownie cup, the carrot cake and banana bread pudding for the table. Each dessert was great. I wouldn't mind going just for dessert some time.

Ashwin Graduates

Congrats to my brother for graduating from the University of Michigan- Ann Arbor last weekend. Here he is in front of the stadium aka the Big House.


Even though he is 21 and all grown up, he will always be my little brother.

All three of us (my older sister, me, and now Ashwin) have graduated from Michigan- the highest ranked school in the state and top 5 public school in the country. Matt, his parents, and grandparents all went to Michigan as well. Our son will truly be growing up in a UofM family. Go Blue!

UofM and MSU

Congrats to my brother for getting into the MSU MD Program!! He is waiting to hear from Penn State and Florida-Miami but getting into MSU means he is definitely going to med school next year! I will be calling him Dr. Gupta soon!



Also, congrats to my Wolverines for FINALLY making it into the NCAA Tournament. I hope this means that our football program will follow suit and have a better year next season.

Congratulations to Janette and Dan!

They had their third girl yesterday! Anya was born yesterday morning. What a beautiful name! Baby H will be so close in age to his new cousin!

Congrats to Mona and Sujith!

Congrats to Mona and Sujith! I am now the proud auntie of Sohan Reddy. He was born yesterday, December 17th in the afternoon. Mother and baby are doing well!

Mona's Baby Shower Pictures

I got baby shower pictures from Sabrina! (see a few posts back). Here are a few:


The table was set up very classy. We had menus at each seat, personalized candy bars, baby confetti, and arrangements of blue/white flowers.


The dessert table. I love how the cake says "Let's get ready for Baby Reddy". I think Mona thought of that. How clever! The cake is from Whole Foods and Sabrina made the other 3 desserts! The framed picture is the invitation.

Mona opening up my gift to her.