Welcome Nathaniel Brooks Rugani!

Born May 29, 2011 at 5:50am

7 pounds 3 ounces

19.5 inches long

We ventured to the Rugani house this evening to bring gifts and dinner! I was able to catch up with Abby while holding the most precious, tiny little baby boy ever! Lily and Emma were very interested in Baby Nathaniel but no jealous bouts from either of my girls while I held and cooed over him. We're looking forward to many family get togethers this summer and watching this little boy grow-up!

Congratulations Tim and Abby!!



Beach Day 2

Today we became one step closer to our "spot" for the summer, 50th Street. It was perfect and not too crowded. Plus, we were able to gaze at all of the huge houses that line the oceanfront!

Today was much like yesterday where the girls weren't ready to run into the water but Lily was very into shell collecting. Luckily we were right in front of a sandbar that had tons of shells. Mike and I would shovel some sand into a pail so that Lily could sift through and find shells. This occupied the girls for a looong time!

The second biggie...Mike and I waded out to the huge, shallow sandbar with the girls in hand. Emma dug her little fingernails into our shoulders while Lily acted as though she was a koala bear hugging a tree. We traded kids on our four trips out and when I had Lily I would put her down in between waves. I have never heard such screams from this little girl! As soon as we would get back to shore, put her down, she would run to the towel yelling, "I DID IT!" Ha Ha....quite the beach girls we have on our hands :)

Until next weekend!

Beach Day 1

The official start to summer for the Check Family.

Today we went to the beach for the first time!

We went back to the spot we have been going to for the past few years on 32nd Street. The girls loved the morning we spent there but we quickly found out that they are not huge fans of the waves or the water for that matter.

They sat and played in the sand most of the time. Mike and I took turns filling up buckets with water that they would immidiately dump but it was worth it. We now know that we need a second beach chair since they are more than likely to stay close and Mike and I may be able to sit and relax :). Yay.

Ice Cream Cones

So much joy comes with a half scoop of neapolitan ice cream in a wafer cone.

Gotta love summer.

Last Day

of Preschool. This week we had an absolute horrible storm which damaged part of the preschool. School was cancelled and all last day parties were at a local rec center for an hour this morning. It was nice that we were able to see everyone one last time before summer break, give Mrs. RedBow and Mrs. Baksa their gifts, have some ice cream all while not being emotional. Lily's teachers gave them sand buckets full of goodies along with a cd with a digital scrapbook from the year.

We will miss her teachers a lot but look forward to 3 days next year with her new teacher....Sarah Johnson!!!! ha.

This afternoon Lily, Nana and Pa were finally able to get out the Play-Doh and play. :)

Then out to dinner one last time before Nana and Pa hit the road back to NC tomorrow morning.

We decided on Red Robin, the most kid-friendly restaurant ever. Emma is beginning to get her "cheese-factor" on and learning from Sissy how to pose.

Another great timeshare week with Nana and Pa. We loved every second of their visit and have had to tell Lily that we can go visit them this summer. She insists on getting out the map to see how far we would have to drive. She has even told Mike that while he is at work that she, Mommy and Emma are going to visit them in NC. :) Thank you Mom and Dad for being such wonderful influences in our daughter's lives. They,we, are so blessed to have you. Until August :)

A Beach Walk

This evening we spent with Nana and Pa at the beach.

The girls loved looking out the window onto the beach.

Can Lily's smile get any cheesier?!?

She is in love with Nana and Pa.

We enjoyed dessert from Dairy Queen and Lily enjoyed every bite of her blizzard.

To get out some energy we went onto the beach for a bit.

Since Emma is teething, again, she got plenty of sand in her mouth. Not from wanting to eat it but she would fall and then need to chew on her finger. :(

But, couldn't wipe that smile off Emmy's face.

Gotta love living this close to the beach.

Sissies and Their Bears

Today we spent the morning at the mall.Coconut got a new outfit and a sister! Emma loves Coconut and definitely takes advantage when Lily leaves her somewhere. Emma would just pick Coconut up, run away and turn around to see if Lily saw her and was coming after her bear. It seemed as though it was only a game until Emma would get upset when Lily would take Coconut away.

So, Nana and Pa got Emma her very own bear friend, Honey, Coconut's sister. Honey Bear now has the same jammies Coconut does and an outfit. And, like all sissies, they share clothes and hair bows :).

Lily and Emma love their bears. They go everywhere with us. They sleep with them and Emma recently began to hug Honey while she is going to sleep.

Thank you Nana and Pa.

This afternoon Nana and I also took advantage of Carter's Grandparent Wednesdays. Just so happened that they were having 50% of clearance and I had coupons :). So needless to say the girls will be coordinating a lot this summer :).

Garden Day!

Nana and Pa's first trip to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens was today.

We tried to do a slower, more relaxing pace of a walk around to the WOW Children's Garden but the heat set in and we made a bee-line directly to it.

Lily with her Nana and Pa

The biggest magnolia tree we have ever seen!

The blooms were bigger than Lily's head.

And, that's saying something since the hat she has on is meant for a 5 year old!

The biggest excitement for the day was the girls playing in the water.

We love coming to the gardens especially when public schools are still in session so that's it's mostly occupied by toddlers and preschoolers. Lily was wonderful and Emma loved her first time in the fountains. The looks on her face were priceless and I'm sure if it were up to her we would have stayed all day.

We had a picnic lunch on Statuary Vista and then quickly headed to the car since it was clearly in the 90s!

Big Girl Bed

Saturday, Lily got her twin bed. She has the softest purple sheets and a white quilt just like Mommy and Daddy's bed. Lily and Coconut sleep great and each have their own pillow :). Lily has been using her little stool to get in and out of the bed and the best thing, Emma is way to little to climb up too! No more jumping or diving going on :) And, something new...there are mornings and afternoons when Lily gets up and comes out to the den to find me. Not as bad as I thought it would be for her to get up when she wants, definitely spooky sometimes that she's all of a sudden there but all in all it's a good thing.

There are definitely some finishing touches to complete and some more clean-up but Lily has her bed and she looooves it. I can only imagine how nice it is for her to be able to have space to sleep in any position she wants :)

So proud of you Lil.

Family Day 2

This morning Uncle Mark went with us to pick more strawberries. This was his first trip to pick strawberries and it seems as though he'll come back next year, hope you're ready to get a little bit more dirty :)

Then off to the oceanfront to meet Nana and Pa for our annual trip to DoughBoys. The girls were exhausted, which is putting it lightly. Lily, with no nap Friday or Saturday, was about to fall asleep in her plate of pizza. Both girls fell asleep on the way home and took very long naps.

Family Party

Since we did not have a party to celebrate Miss Emma turning one in April, we decided to do it when our family was here. Uncle Mark came down for the weekend and today we had Emma's party. We did a little decorating, made her a special little outfit, she opened presents from Nana and Pa and Uncle Mark. Every single present was a HUGE hit and they have been played with every day since.

She got trucks, a Princess ride-on toy, babydoll carrier and more cars!

And, an ATV!

We didn't realize how quickly she would grasp the concept but she did and now she and Lily race around the yard. Lily can at least put her Princess car in reverse where we have to turn Emma around for her to go again, but no biggie.

It was an absolute beautiful day with a great breeze so we were able to spend lots of time outside.

After dinner Emma had her cake.

She definitely wore more of it than she ate, but that's the point.

:) Happy Day for Miss Emma!

They're Here!

Nana, Pa and Molly

are here for their week timeshare at the beach!

Emma is slightly obsessed with her Pa. She constantly carries his picture around the house and finds him in her picture book. It didn't take long this evening for her to warm up to Pa. She gave him lots of running hugs and threw her hands in the air for him to pick her up. I'm thinking they're going to be best buds this week.

And, Molly. Finally a dog that won't take us on a walk.

Lily did great walking Molly around the front yard!

We have lots of fun stuff planned for this weekend and the coming week!

Emma's Dessert

Is there anything yummier than

Strawberries and Cool Whip?!?

School Picnic

This morning instead of having school they had an end of the year picnic. It was at Bayville Park and most of the entire school came. It was very relaxed and orderly at the same time. We got there a bit early so the girls could have their choice of swing and plenty of time on the playground before it was overran with bigger and more outgoing kids.

And, when all of the kids showed up the girls had a great time with Daddy who got to switch his day off to today :).

They had a sing-along with the kids. Lily was too shy but of course knew all of the words and whispered them to me as everyone else sang and danced.

After the songs, we sang their Blessing and everyone went to their "snack spot". We brought our picnic beach blanket and the girls popped a squat ready for their goldfish, fruit and pretzels. We were treated to pieces of cake compliments of the school, yum!

It was a wonderful way to end the school year (of half a year) at this amazing preschool. Mike and I are so thankful that we were able to give Lily this experience and that the second half of the year has been nothing but a success for her.

*Side Note: I have been asked to be the school's commission which is compared to a school's PTA. I am beyond excited to get my foot in the door as I see an opportunity down the road to possibly become apart of their staff in a few years :)

Add Softball To The List

Over the weekend Daddy and Lily had some time outside together. They seemed to pull out every toy from the shed to have some fun with. When Emma got up from her nap we went to see what they were up to and this is what we found. Mike's New Form of Daddy Exercise! Supposedly they had been doing this for at least half an hour and Lily showed no signs of stopping. She just kept telling me she had to practice. HA. Already this girl has work ethic. Not sure where she got that from.

From the looks of Lily's love of sports and her natural ability, seems as though this girl is going to be a triple threat....soccer, softball and basketball! Watch out, here comes Lily Check. :)

Another Daddy's Helper

This used to be Lily's job when it appealed to her but lately Miss Emma has shown great interest in the dishwasher. When we have time to have her "help" she loves it! She will even take out sippy cups and find lids that fit them to give to Daddy.

**Note** See bottom left picture, the one where she's grabbing her right ear. (Taken Sat!)

This morning (Monday) before we left for school Lily blew her nose and felt much better as she gets over this cold. So, naturally since Emma has the same thing I thought it would be best to suction her nose a bit to help her out. Well, it was blood-tinged. On the way to school I put in a call to the dr to have a nurse call me back, just to see if this warranted a visit. It did since it was accompanied by a pretty good wet cough. By 11 this morning my nice white shirt had blood stains on the sleeves (since her way of blowing her nose is rubbing it so hard on my shirt that all of the snot comes out!), a "Good Ear Infection" in her right ear, and a prescription. We were also given the green light to give Emma a list of meds, just like Lily. She is now on Benadryl, Tylenol and Delsym at night for her horrible cold/allergies! Back to the Dr in a few weeks for an ear check.

Strawberries

Oh how we love this time of year.

We were up early this morning, of course, so we were out of the house early with our buckets ready to pick some strawberries. It was a perfect, overcast day with a nice breeze and no mud! Lily was so excited that as soon as she got out of the car, she ran and picked a strawberry to put in her bucket.

Emma did great her first time picking, I guess. Once she discovered how easily her little fingers could pierce the strawberry it became a game. All four of us had strawberry juice on us so when we got home I had to use an entire bottle of spray-n-wash (a little exaggeration but you get the idea). 

We are already trying to figure out when we can go get some more before the strawberry season ends. YUM!

The Time Has Come

and next weekend Miss Lily will have a new big girl bed.

(Do you like ALL of her necklaces?!?)

We were trying to stretch the toddler bed until she was 4 but she's extremely tall and likes her space when she sleeps. Plus, while she was sick she slept with us and she got used to Mommy and Daddy's comfy bed. I don't blame her, we love our bed too. So, we went shopping around for twin mattresses and found a nice pillowtop! It will be ready next weekend to pick up and she's so excited we had to write it on her calendar!

First the binky and now the bed :( Something's gotta give.

A Very Long Week

Lily passed out on Daddy's lap :(

Our long week began last Sunday after nap with Lily not feeling so good with some tummy troubles. Before we knew it she was throwing up and on the couch. With a few bouts Monday morning and not looking good at all, we made an appointment with the dr to rule out strep and ear infections. Thank goodness Daddy took a sick day to take Lily to the dr and help out!

With a diagnosis of a stomach virus, which we are no strangers to we went into the BRAT diet and rest mode for a few days. Now fast forward to Thursday when the sniffles and coughing begins. Ugh. Every day until now both girls took very, very short naps and were up with the sun. They are not used to this schedule and neither is Mommy. That in itself makes for a long week but throw in major coughing that drains you of energy and it even makes for a longer week.

Now, Emma has caught this "cold" but has been grabbing at her ear. Great. Is it teething? Is it an ear infection? I'm seeing a dr appt. in our future at some point next week and crossing my fingers that this coming week isn't as long as the last.



My very needy and unhappy Emma today.

I don't like it when my girls are sick.

13 Months!

 Wow.

*In the picture above you are wearing 12 month clothes and can pull off some 18 or 24 mth clothes.

* Still wearing size 3 diapers but since we have size 4 that's what you're wearing

* You eat really slow! You love using spoons and forks. You try and try but then just shove the food in your mouth.

*Are completely on whole milk. You like it warm and only take it in a bottle.

*You still take 3 bottles of milk a day, 6 oz in the morning, 6oz at naptime and 8-9 oz at bedtime.

*You are incredible smart and are showing signs of having the same memory as your sister.

*You are developing a sense of humor :). You laugh at silly Mr. Potato Head faces :)

*You are talking!!! You say the words down, up, yeah, mum mum, dada, Lily (forms of it), May (Maci), all done, good.

*Will do hand movements to 'Wheels on the Bus'

*Loves shoes!!! Will take every single pair out of our closet, stand next to the wall to use it to balance yourself and put your feet in. You actually have taken a few sliding steps with Daddy's sneakers on!

*Loves babydolls. You hug them, give them kisses and love feeding them.

*Can finally do the turning key on your pop-up toy!!!!

*Smiles at everyone, waves hi to everyone and is very social!



Sandbox

Last Spring Auntie I and Aunt Kiki gave us this wonderful sandbox. Lily would play in the sand but never really showed an interest in just digging and filling up buckets to dump so we didn't play in it much.

Well, now Emma is in the picture. She loves the sandbox which in turn has made Lily like it more. I'm not quite sure if it's just something Emma likes so now she likes it, or if it's that she has someone to sit in there with her.

Regardless of the reason, it's so much fun. And, it's so much fun when Daddy is home to play with as well.

Emma's Chair

Emma is so happy. She now has a seat at the table and sits across from big sister. Emma is beginning to help put things on the table and runs to her chair when we get ready to eat. All we need to say is "Emma go find 'Emma's Chair' ". 

Forts

Gotta love rainy days where you can build forts. They are only fun for so long but are so much more fun when it's "Sisters Only".



Happy Mommy Day

I really can go on and on about being a mom and how much I enjoy it (and sometimes not) every single day. But it all comes down to....

I love my job. I love these girls. And, I truly feel like I'm the luckiest person in the world.

Happy Mother's Day.

Happy Birthday, Leah!

Happy 1st Birthday Miss Leah!!

I can't believe it has been a year for our baby girls already. Seems like yesterday that we were pregnant awaiting their arrival. Now they sit in the shade needing things to occupy them so we can get a half descent picture. We had a wonderful time playing, eating, good conversation and delicious vegan cupcakes :).

And now, to begin another year.

Plant Sale

The Norfolk Botanical Gardens have an annual Mother's Day plant sale that I really wanted to go to. This weekend wasn't going to work out and since I didn't really want to face the huge crowds the girls and I went this morning. It was insane. There were tons of people there and as we were walking to the sale people and cart loads of plants. The prices were good but I'm cheap now so I only bought an aloe vera plant, which I'm very excited about.

We didn't let the crowds scare us though. We bypassed the children's garden since it was chilly and I could hear the kids in the water already! The girls were happy to go on a walk and have pretty much free reign on the trails. We stopped for a quick goldfish snack in which they shared the entire time and some pictures. On the way out we made a quick trip through the rose garden :). So pretty.



A Formal Introduction

to the newest Check Family member, Coconut.

Last weekend Coconut joined our clan as Lily's special friend. She chose Coconut relatively easily especially after I told her the bear's name. (She's big into food names?!?) She helped stuff the bear and got to pick out her heart. She hugged it, gave it kisses and made it warm by rubbing it between her hands. She loved every second of it and smiled from ear to ear the entire time.

After getting her friend, she was able to choose ONE outfit, pj's. She chose a cute monkey pj ensemble and bows to match. Daddy filled out the birth certificate while Lily showed Coconut around. Since last Sunday they have been pretty much inseparable, and it's so sweet to watch.

Now the reason for Coconut: The Binky Fairy

Yes, Lily still used a binky. We tried a year ago to take it away and then Emma came and it wasn't the right time to venture into something so huge when Lily's world changed so much. And, being the sucker that I am, I couldn't take it away. She loved that binky and it put her right to sleep.

On her birthday Fern showed up and left a note saying that her friend The Binky Fairy was coming that night to take her binkies to babies who needed them. Lily was able to give up one of the two that she had. Progress but not a completely successful mission. Until last weekend.

I informed Mike that I wasn't going to be the one to take the last one away. So, being very stealth like, he and the Binky Fairy were successful in getting the last purple binky. She told us that Lily could go to the mall and choose a very special friend to sleep with now that she doesn't have a binky.

Our first stop was the Disney store and since she more infatuated with the huge tv and random toys instead of choosing a friend, we left. As we were heading out of the mall we passed Build-a-Bear, so we went in and convinced Lily to choose something. We are so happy that she chose Coconut and so happy that after a few sad, rough days she is just fine sleeping with a binky.

Lily's last tie to "babydom" is gone :(. She is officially a big girl and I'm a little sad.

There's Nothing Better

There's nothing better than being able to take a break from playing dress up to look at pictures of ourselves. HA. The picture books that appeared in their church bags on Easter are the biggest hit EVER. 

Plus...need to note...These girls are two peas in a pod, best sissies ever.

This Too Shall Pass

She is happiest when she's outside :)

Emma is teething.

Emma is not happy A LOT.

Emma whines and cries, whines and cries.

Emma latches herself on my leg so that I can not move from that spot.

Emma fights us when we need to change her diaper.

Emma is very needy right now.

Emma screams in the car for no apparent reason.

Emma has been waking up in the middle of the night to cuddle.

BUT....

Emma is my baby.

I cuddle Emma.

I hug her tight.

I do anything I can to make her happy and feel better.

I sing all the time to Emma to try to make her smile.

I have given up doing things at nap time so that I can be ready to go get her.

And, like everything...This Too Shall Pass, This Stage WILL End Soon.