big E turns the big ONE.

Today is our little guys' 1st birthday. I can't believe a year has already gone by since we were in the hospital OR room preparing for the arrival of Ethan. He's changed so much in a year, already walking (started at about 10 1/2 - 11 months). He has a few words (or sounds) that he likes to make:

momma
da-da
uhhh - oooohhhh
oooo-whhoaaa
din-doo (I think this means 'thank you', he always says it after we hand him something, ha!)

weighs 27 lbs.
height (I need to measure)
clothes - 24 months
shoes - size 6
*obviously, he's a BIG boy!

He's the sweetest, happiest, most handsome baby boy ever. Seriously though - always happy. He loves Isabella unconditionally. Every morning when he wakes up, he looks for her. Once he finds her, he usually lays his head down on her pillow - melts my heart. Bella is quite the little entertainer - she will do anything to make her little brother laugh at her.

Dinner's at the Conradi house are very entertaining...Bella is usually making a ridiculously funny face or sound, Ethan is cracking up laughing (which leads to him snorting, and eventually having the hiccups)...mommy is video taping, and daddy is just taking it all in. Never a dull moment - I wouldn't have it any other way.

This past weekend we had Ethan's 1st birthday party. Of course I had to go with a theme - and so I choose 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar"...this suited Ethan very well, considering he is always hungry! Everything turned out perfect. We had all of our friends and family over for lots of tacos, rice, beans, chips and salsa! Everyone loves Mexican food! I went all out for decorations (again), and like always, took tons of photos. Our little man was given so many new toys / clothes / shoes - he's a very happy little guy!

As for his birthday dinner - we will most likely have pasta (his favorite) and cake of course!

Happy Birthday Ethan - mommy loves you very much!

I like to write down things that Isabella says - because when she starts saying a new thing it's pretty awesome. Right now her favorite thing to ask is, "what's happening?"...some of my other favorites:

'we has to hurry!' - we have to hurry
'it's windy' - this is when we are driving with the windows down and yelling like 10 year olds :)
'tit-tle me' (tickle me).
'mommy dats your tar?' - mommy that's your car?
'titty tat' - kitty cat
'awww the bears sad, she's trying' - (from her favorite movie Madagascar 3 - the bear is CRYING)

a couple nights ago i started turning off the lights around the house to kinda slow things down for the evening, bella looked up at the clock and she said, "it's 8 o'clock? it's night time?" i looked at the clock and it just so happened to be 5 minutes to 8...no, she can't tell time...yet. she just knows that her bedtime is 8. haha! smart cookie.

the same night, i was in the kitchen slaving away making dinner, making baby food for ethan, doing dishes, and sweating like a mad woman...stephen walked in and asked what i was doing and my response was...'oh, you know - shootin' the shit'...little did i know i had a tiny pair of ears listening, and so bella danced around the living room yelling 'shooting the shit'...of COURSE she would pronounce that the way it's supposed to be said!! haha!

Every time I write a new post, I always think - dang, I have a lot of catching up to do...I should really, like seriously make it a thing to post every few days :/

Here's the current update on Little B. (notice how I say little, that's because her baby brother is basically the same size as her!) She's potty trained officially - I have it dated February 20th with no more accidents! We never really did the diaper at nap or bed time either. I wanted to just go for it - no pull ups, and it worked! This post from Facebook was on March 15th 2013 - for those of you who want to potty train your little ones, i bet this will help :) Bella didn't get this kind of treatment, we rewarded her with stickers & candy. I'm happy to say that she is COMPLETELY DONE with diapers, even at nap and bedtime! HAPPY MOMMY!...and I am, a VERY happy mommy.

 

 

Isabella has talked for awhile - and even though I'm her mommy, I think she is incredibly smart. I mean seriously, how many two year old's do you know that can say the Pledge of Allegiance?! that's right - she knows it :) actually, whenever we see a flag, she feels the need to stand there and recite it. It's pretty adorable.

favorite foods...mac & cheese, strawberries, carrots & ranch, pasta, fruit snacks (pronounced 'snoot snacks'), turkey, french fries, apples, oranges...any fruit, that girl is all over it.

 favorite TV shows...Bubble Guppies (she's basically obsessed), Madagascar (all of them: 1,2 &3 - oh and the Christmas ones)

favorite color...orange, she'll even tell you that.

clothes...little thing is still in 2T tops, and can fit her 18-24 mo. shorts.

she loves...riding her 'bike' (her big wheel), her mini mouse car, blowing bubbles, swimming at nana & pop pop's pool, going to the beach (we took her to the bay a couple times in the last couple months and she loves it!)

 

 

 

Ethan is growing like a weed! He's so big now! At his last doctor's appointment I want to say that he was 25 pounds (little B is only 27!) He's catching up! He has TWO teeth now, is sleeping through the night (and occasionally will wake up for a bottle). He's officially on the move and crawling, he LOVES food. His first word was da-da (boo!) I tried over and over again to push the momma, and look where it gets me! ha! Here's a list of firsts for the big guy...

 

first tooth - 3/17/13

 

first buzz cut from daddy - 3/24/13

 

2nd tooth - 4/21/13.

 

 

 

crawling for the 1st time - 4/23/13

 

first time at the beach - 4/27/13

 

 

clapping for the 1st time - 4/28/13

 

first word - "da-da" 5/5/13

 

2nd buzz cut from daddy - 5/10/13

 

 

 

favorite foods - pear, apricot, carrot, apple, bananas!

 

favorite toys - Sophie the giraffe (and cell phones, remotes -things he cannot have, but as soon as he sees them - he starts crawling like a maniac towards them)

 

loves to pull his sister's hair - she hates that.

 

loves cuddling

 

will give kisses - only to the lucky people, daddy usually gets them every time he asks for it.

 

loves to 'dance' while he's sitting on the floor and a toy starts to make a sound

 

absolutely LOVES when his sister plays 'peek-a-boo' with him - he cracks up, and it usually leads to both of them having the hiccups.

 

loves bath time with Bella (daddy does bath every night) mommy is a little jealous :) all I know is that I am so incredibly lucky to have these two amazing children - and that they love each other to pieces!!

 



my little (big) guy is already 6 months old! Where has the time gone? we are still waiting for a tooth to come in, hopefully he has some by his first birthday. anyhoooo...I will post pics for his 6 month (1/2) birthday, but wanted to share another puree recipe. Ethan LOVES apples, they also help in the pooping department ;)

so, here's what ya' need...

apples - wash, dry, and peel them.

slice them (remove the seeds)

put them in your steamer - I only used 4 apples for this batch because Bella is on an apple kick and clearly I didn't get enough to satisfy the whole clan....

let them steam for anywhere between 5-10 minutes, and then allow them to cool off a bit before you puree them.

add the apples to your blender and add a little water (I added maybe a 1/2 cup). Depending on the consistency you are looking for, use more or less water. Since my big guy is, well...big, I am making the puree's with a little more consistency and not so 'creamy / watery'

blend away until desired consistency is achieved

pour into a separate container (this will allow you to see any chucks that might not have been blended)...at this point, I like to use my immersion blender to give it one more mix :)

finally, pour puree into ice cube trays - remember that each cube is 1 oz.

wrap the trays with plastic wrap and stick them in the freezer...

easy peasy!

Potty training is a lot of..........work. We are getting close with miss bella, but my goodness - it's tough. She'll have really good days, and then days when she stands outside and says, "uh oh!!!!!" with pee running down her leg. ahhhhh!!! Every single time she does go on the potty we make a HUGE deal about it so she gets excited and wants to do it again (tricky, I know).

Her and daddy were celebrating the other day...so freakin' sweet!

Speaking of the little princess...she got a hair cut - not just a trim. We took her to my Aunt's shop and she did awesome. Her new cut makes her look so much older! What a little sassy pants...

I decided when I was pregnant to make all of Ethan's baby food once he started eating it...and now our big guy is eating solids so I am one happy / busy momma! I dedicate one day (typically Sunday) to get all of my groceries (organic, of course!)...and spend a couple hours preparing and storing his food. I am only storing enough food right now for a 1-2 week supply...for a couple reasons, but one is that our freezer space is limited with my husband's ice cream addiction and my breast milk supply!

We introduced spinach to our big guy last night...

Here's step-by-step instruction's on how I made it...

First, wash your spinach - even though mine said 'pre-washed', I still wash it. Spinach is on the dirty dozen list of foods, so I like to be extra careful.

Next, pack as much of it as you can into a steamer. Spinach will cook down (a lot) so you can pack that baby full - let's just say, my lid didn't really stay on :)

Steam it baby! The leaves will soften pretty quickly, so just keep checking it. I took mine off after about 10 minutes. (as you can tell, it cooks down a lot!!!)

Blend it. I love my blender. It makes incredible smoothies...and really gets these puree's nice and creamy.

Pour the puree into a container. As you can tell by the picture, my packed steamer only gave me 6 ounces at first. I then steamed another batch to fill up the rest of the cooling cup.

Let it cool off a bit before you store it. I let mine sit for approximately 2 bath's and 1/2 of a bubble guppy episode :)

Next, you can store it. I like to fill up ice cube trays...they are cheap, the food pops out easily, they fit great in the freezer, and they are each 1 ounce - so you know exactly how much your little one is consuming!

Wrap up the ice cube trays with plastic wrap nice and tight and stick it in the freezer. These will be good for up to 3 months.

Of course Ethan was eager to try momma's spinach...so I mixed some up with a little bit of apple puree that I made for him last week, and he was one happy boy!

If you have any questions, comments, or ideas - I'd love to hear from you!

love day.

a little mini photo shoot with my little love bug...seriously, how can you not kiss this baby all day!? I'm sure one day he's going to be so embarrassed when I whip these photos out to show his girlfriend :)

I might have to go back and play a little catch up since I missed all of Ethan's 'first' holiday's :/

But, here are a few shots that I absolutely LOVE of him. I think it's the simplicity of the photo - which is pretty much Ethan...these were taken on 12/5/12 - so he was 3 1/2 months old.

The weekend pretty much flew by (shocker), but we had lots of fun. Started my Friday night off by heading over to Label Me Lindsay's for an eyelash touch up. I don't think I've posted about her shop - it's beautiful, and all of the ladies that work there are amazing. It's 45 minutes where I can lay there and chat it up with Stephanie and not have a two year old tugging at my leg, or a 5 month old nudging his way towards my chest :)



no makeup - lashes only.


Saturday was my nephew's 1st birthday party - I am still trying to figure out where the year went! I feel like we just heard the news that Derek & Kris were having a baby. crazy.

Bella did her fair share in the bounce house - ended up with a fat lip. sad. (she bumped it...twice.)

Sunday was the Superbowl. We are BIG sports fans in our household - so these games are lots of fun to watch. Like my husband says, "playoff sports are the best"...it's true.

Before the game started Bella and I headed to the farmers market to grab some fresh fruits & veggies. My mom joined us and we got lots of yummy stuff. I was looking for lots of stuff for my new baby - a juicer. She's beautiful - perfect and compact enough to sit on our kitchen counter. I was able to wash a lot of it - but, wasn't able to juice yet. I noticed as I was washing everything up, little mini hands were grabbing veggies off the counter as I placed them there...

This girl LOVES carrots - I can't complain. I would much rather her eat those then bags of fruit snacks /or chips all day long. She ate 3 oranges (not joking) by the time we drove home from the market. I have a feeling she's going to love the juices I make. Speaking of, trying my first one tonight!

Ethan and I also got to spend lots of time together cuddling. He loves his mommy and wants to be held a lot these days. (i love it). I think he's teething, nothing coming out yet - but he's been a little fussy, and drooling like crazy. I was once told that teething is so painful, and we are so thankful that we don't remember it as adults because we wouldn't be able to handle it again. My poor little guy - I wish they would just pop through already! Of course he's still happy 99% of the time...I have the sweetest video of him laughing at a giraffe puppet. You can see it here. Of course, I get teary eyed just listening to it. You'll even hear me comment in the video about him making mommy cry - ohhh the joys of being a parent.

 Over all fantastic weekend...looking forward to the next!

If someone told me that I could only have one picture to keep with me for the rest of my life, I honestly think this would be the one. Gosh, why do they have to grow up so fast!?

I'm excited to start a new chapter in my 'business life' :)

Spring is approaching - yesss! I will say that baby / toddler spring clothes are super cute! Check out this little outfit that I pieced together for miss B. That girl has some serious style. Now if I can only get her to keep the floppy hat on! :)

My little boy is growing up too fast! I feel like I take so many photos of him, but how can I not!? Baby's have the cutest features ever, and I want to make sure I have pictures to remind me of how tiny they used to be...seriously though, look at those eyes!

I love Pinterest. Seriously, love it. I only wish it was around when I was planning my wedding. Oh well - maybe for my 10 year anniversary. ha! No but seriously, I get so many ideas through Pinterest - I get inspired to make / create things. I have tons of boards, one for the kids, one for the house (that I don't have yet), recipes, crafts, etc...

Before I had Ethan I saw this awesome idea about creating a baby book - I 'pinned it' of course, and actually started it. It's my project for Ethan's first year. I'm making two books out of it; 0-6 months and then 7-12. He doesn't really care / understand it now, but I hope when he's older he'll appreciate it...(or at least maybe his wife will!) Here's a little sneak peek :)

oh Bella.

Note to self - when you try to take one of your kids' crackers, make sure they aren't looking. Last night, I reached into Bella's bowl and took a gold fish cracker - she looked at me with the most evil little look, and said, "heeeeeeeeyyyyy". I didn't know what to say, so I did what any parent would do - I gave her back the cracker.

playing catch up

My last post was at my 38 week mark. Wow, we are a little past that. Ethan was born (all 9 pounds 12 ounces of him!) and we now a family of 4! It's so crazy to think that I have 2 kids...I sometimes still think to myself; I'm too young to have two kids. But, then I remember that I'm 28, and 28 is definitely not 18 anymore.

The birth experience -

I can honestly say that the 'planned C-Section' was harder for me that the one we had with Isabella. Part of it was because I already knew what to expect. So, I kept thinking about it for weeks. It's a major surgery, and the thought of me being awake for the entire thing freaks me out. I mean they are literally cutting into my uterus to get the baby out - nuts.

We arrived at the hospital at 5:45am on Monday, August 20, 2012. I had to do a lot of blood work before the surgery which is why we got there so dang early. I was the first surgery of the day - I planned that :) I wanted to make sure that the doctors were well rested, and not tired from having to do other surgeries all day long...no mistakes.

I was taken into the operating room at 7:18am. Stephen had to stay out until I received my spinal. It was HORRIBLE. There’s no sugar coating this whatsoever. I hate needles. Hate them. I was told to lie down immediately after the spinal was done because I would start to feel a very warm sensation in the lower half of my body and then go numb. Sure enough, it was instant and I lay down quickly. It was not a good feeling – the thought of my spine being tampered with is just not my idea of fun.

I was an emotional mess during the delivery. Stephen was amazing; so sweet and calm, and most importantly – supportive. I just remember him telling me, “You are going to be alright, he’s almost here.” Those are the words that honestly got me through the experience. At 7:44am our big guy was born. He came out crying – and at that moment, I knew that he was healthy. He had quite the pair of lungs on him. All of the doctors / nurses in the room kept saying, “oh, my god – he’s huge!” Well, duh. Did they remember the size of my stomach!? He was set on the scale and weighed in at 9 pounds 12 ounces and 21 ½ inches long.

Daddy went with Ethan to the nursery to get ‘checked out’ and I had to be sewn up. That part I was totally fine because all I was thinking about was holding my little boy. I was wheeled into a recovery room and wanted to see my mom right away. I was the same way with Isabella. There’s just something about having your mom there that makes you feel safe. I was pretty much exhausted by the time Ethan arrived into my room. I had so much medication in my system that I was vomiting, and itching, and could barely keep my eyes open. I did however want to hold and nurse him right away.

We had lots of visitors at the hospital, but the one visitor that I couldn’t wait to see was little Miss Isabella. After all, she is the new “Big Sister” and I couldn’t wait for her to meet her brother. We waited a day for her to come in, so that I could get some rest – I wanted to make sure to give her a lot of attention once she arrived and I couldn’t do that on the same day as my surgery.

Isabella meets Ethan -

Let me just start off by saying, when you have a baby, that you love with all of your heart and you feel like you just can’t love any other child the same (I know a lot of parents go through this)…well, it’s not the case – because when I held Ethan for the first time, I feel in love ALL OVER AGAIN.

When Isabella arrived to the hospital, she looked like she had jumped into a time machine and had grown up about 7 years. Seriously, she seemed so much older. She was wearing her “big sister” shirt that we bought for her before we went to the hospital. We planned out how we wanted to introduce her to her brother. I had gotten advice from another parent at the pediatrician’s office that when introducing siblings for the first time, have daddy hold the new baby, so that mommy can welcome in big sister / brother in with open arms. That way they don’t feel ‘replaced’. So, she walked into the room and I was sitting in the hospital bed ready to give her the biggest hug and kiss ever. She was so happy to see us. Stephen then brought Ethan over to me on the bed and I held them both…okay, even writing this makes me tear up, because honestly this was the most amazing day of my life. Holding BOTH of my kids in my arms was the greatest feeling in the world.

Fast forward about 5 months –

Ethan is 5 months old (as of Sunday.) He’s a smiling, drooling, laughing out loud machine. Bella is so incredibly smart. She knows her ABC’s, she counts to 20 (skips 15 & 16), knows just about every single kind of animal, knows everyone’s names, sings TONS of songs – and is just over all sweet. We are attempting potty training…again. I will say that majority of it depends on the parents. If we could dedicate a solid two days and not go anywhere and sit close to a potty all day, I think she would get it. But, as soon as we decide to go somewhere, we have to be prepared to stop the car and find a bathroom ASAP. It’s tough. Plus, we have a baby too.

This past weekend we took Isabella to Disneyland to have a mommy/daddy date. She needed it. Lately, she’s been acting out – and craving attention. We spent the entire morning at California Adventure, and Bella had a blast, so did her daddy and I…she even got to meet Jessie. 
Now that I think about it, I'm going to have to do a post just on Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas 2012...man, I'm behind.