good news!

It feels as if we have been celebrating Coranelle's birthday for a whole week! It has been tons of fun and she has really gotten into opening presents and eating treats.

Here's the new water table. It is a great toy for our backyard. Ryan and I got her an easel- it has a white board, a roll of paper and a chalk board. It keeps her entertained while I nurse.

On Thursday, Ryan took the day off and the whole family went to the zoo. Coranelle got to feed the Lorikeets and ride the carousel- twice! She had great fun!


She's talking to us about how the plants are growing up big, just like she and Sheldon are.


We ended our day with some Chinese food with Uncle Josh and Auntie Claire. Coranelle scarfed down her fried rice and meat.

We celebrated again on Sunday with my family down in Longmont. Coranelle had a blast playing with everyone and opening more and more gifts! She got all sorts of fun outdoor toys, puzzles, and an awesome, portable DVD player. She was so excited about her own "compooter". She even got to watch part of a movie on the way home. She was thrilled! I think that doing parties with just the family was perfect this year. It was the perfect amount of people and attention for her.
Opening a new book from Stefan and Rachael. She got to spend time with her Auntie Amanda while she was home from Florida.
New cars from daddy!
She was entertained by sorting glass beads for a long time.
Enjoying the gorgeous evening with Rachael
Helping Grandmadele put candles on her cupcakes. She scarfed one down, which surprised us all! My mom decorated the cupcakes to look like teddy bears using gummy bears and jelly beans- Coranelle's favorites. They were really cute!

So, here's great news number 1:
A week or so ago, Coranelle and I were reading a potty book from the library. I mentioned to Coranelle that when she was a big girl, she'd get to pick out underpants with me. I told her that another thing that would happen when she was a big girl was that she would need to find a baby to give her pacifiers to. (For those of you who don't know Coranelle, she still uses her pacifiers at bed and nap time. She LOVES them. She runs to her room at nap and bed time to grab her 2 green and one pink pacifier. They really help calm down the child who never stops. At 18 months, I attempted taking them away and she started sucking her thumb. I decided I preferred pacifiers to the thumb, as you cannot take the thumb away.) Anyhow, that was the only mention of the pacifiers. On Thursday morning (the morning of her birthday), Ryan and I went in to her room together and sang her "Happy birthday". We told her she was 2 now and a big girl. She gathered up all of her pacifiers and handed them to us. She told us they were for baby Sheldon. We were shocked and kind of taken aback. We just looked at each other, like... do we run with this? Where did this come from? So, I told her that I was going to put them in Sheldon's room. She was a bit hesitant passing them over, but we praised her and told her how proud of her we were. Ryan and I were both worried about how nap time would go without her sleep aid. But, she has been pacifier free for 5 days and there's no going back. She's asked for them once or twice, but we just remind her that she gave them to Sheldon and she is a big girl. So, she has chosen two stuffed animals that she gets at bed time and nap time and cuddles with to settle down. Wow! We are just floored. She LOVED those things. And, nothing, seriously- NOTHING, has been that easy with Coranelle. We are so pleased! Yay for my little girl!

Good news number 2:
Last night, Sheldon went 8 hours without eating!!!! Ryan fed him at 9pm and he fell asleep around 10. At 4am, I woke up and looked at the clock and realized he hadn't eaten for 7 hours. I had to go into his room and put my hand on his chest to make sure he was still breathing. He promptly kicked his legs and went back to sleeping. He didn't wake up to eat until 5am! Wow! Then, I fed him and he went back to sleep until 7:30, so we all got to sleep in! It felt so great. Usually when Sheldon wakes up around 5am, he's up for good. That gets tiring! So, after all that great sleep, I got to go out for a run this morning. I cranked up my tunes and enjoyed the quiet morning and the luxury of a run.

I'm not counting on Sheldon going that long every night from here on out, but it's great that he is able to go longer and longer. He's grown out of all of his newborn clothes and is just growing like a weed! He's enjoying tummy time and generally pretty happy. He hates the carseat and is a bit of a mess when he's overtired. But, we are enjoying him so much and getting to know him better and better.

He is such a cutie!
Look at his adorable dimple!

Ryan took Thursday and Friday off and we got to spend 5 whole days with him. It was a great little vacation for us all! We even purchased and assembled a new headboard and night stand for our room and a new comforter. We rearranged our room a bit and I love it. It feels like we are real grown ups now!

What a great week we have all had!