New York City

Our family at the Rainforest Cafe

Day 1...

For our 1st Wedding Anniversary we decided to take a 6 hour trip up to the Big Apple. We left early in the morning on Friday so the kids could sleep. We got into New York around 930, we checked into our hotel and decided to head over to Hoboken, NJ to Carlos Bakery which is where The Cake Boss one of my favorite shows is filmed at. It was exactly like the show, the mom was so funny..she was dancing and singing around. I wasnt going to take any pictures inside until I seen someone take one of his sister Mary who at the time was checking us out so I then asked her if I could take one of her, she said if youd like but I can take one with you instead so of course I said yes! While there we got a cake for our Anniversary and a lobster tail and canoli. Chris liked the lobster tail better while I liked the canoli better, the cake was sooooooo yummy it was yellow and chocolate cake with fudge in between the two layers, we still have half left but shouldnt be long before its all gone =) Then after we headed to a nearby overlook of New Jersey City. We then went into New York City for a little while just to do some looking around, we seen alot of things like the New Years ball, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Disney Store, and FAO Shwartz. Later that night we headed about 45 min. to the Rainforest Cafe to eat dinner. Yummy...I had Steak, Ribs and Shrimp scampi it was sooo yummy lol We had a great first day of our trip and an awesome 1st Anniversary.

Carlos Bakery!

 

Mary and me at Carlos

 

Our Anniversary Cake

 

 

Disney Store

FAO Shwartz

Nathans cool monkey hat we got in China Town

Hailey and me

Nathan and me

Day 2...

We headed to the Staten Island Ferry we took a cab with a crazy driver, actually all cab drivers are crazy. And NY and NJ drivers are all crazy actually..ive never heard so many horns honking in my life! I swear people honk their horns just for fun. Anyways, we had to wait 20 min. for the Ferry then we loaded and decided we would stay on the outside part so we could get good pictures of the Statue of Liberty..the Ferry ride took a half hour to get there then we had to get off wait another 20 min and get on another one to bring us back to NYC again which took a hour hour. So that took up alot of our day right there. The Statue of Liberty was awesome to see in person. Then afterwards we took a train over to China Town to do some shopping..most crowded place out of all the NY! After finally making it through all the crowds of people we ended up in West Village..we wont talk about it there...then we finally got to our train and were able to go back to the hotel to eat dinner and rest...we ordered pizza from some small pizza place nearby.

On the Staten Island Ferry

Day 3...

Was the best day of them all! We headed to Central Park..which is beautiful! We did the Central Park Carousel which both kids LOVED...then we watched the people ice skating for a few minutes before heading over the the Central Park Zoo. At the zoo we had an awesome experience. The kids loved it. At the Snow Leopard exibit he was sleeping over in the corner, Hailey was sitting on a rock and I was taking her picture then all of a sudden he was behind a rock that was behind her and he just jumped up at her and kept hitting the glass where she was, it was so cute! Hailey had no idea what was going on, everyone was surrounding us looking at what was happening it was awesome. After the zoo we decided to head to Hooters for lunch and to watch the Steelers Game =) The kids both fell asleep on our way over and Nathan stayed sleeping the whole time we were eating. After Hooters we headed a few blocks up to Dylans Candy Bar for some yummy candy! It was huge in there and I felt like I was in heaven, I have a HUGE sweet tooth incase you didnt know! We then headed what felt like a million blocks to the Path train to head back to the hotel! We walked a million miles it seemed on our trip. I swear ive never walked so much in my life, seriously my toes feel like they are going to fall off. We are so thankful the weather stayed so nice the whole time for us. The kids did awesome on the trip, they got a little restless at times when they were in the stroller too long or when they were tired, but other then that they did good we couldnt be happier! I really wish I wouldve taken more pictures, but it was so hard with all the people plus having to push the stroller or holding one of the kids. We hope to go back again in the near future though!

Getting ready to go!

Me as the Statue of Liberty

Chris made me take my picture with the A&F model!

The Central Park Carousel

They loved it!

The Snow Leopard pouncing at Hailey

Pigeons..

Hailey loved this frog!

Both kiddos sound asleep at Hooters lol

The Princess is 9 Months Old

Hailey today 11/12 look at the bow in this picture then at the same bow on day 5

Lets start out by saying...9 months ago today our little princess was born, we never wouldve expected the 11 day NICU stay we would soon have to encounter. It was the one of the happiest/most scary days of my life. If you look at Hailey now youd never even know she was 5 weeks early or that she had to stay in the NICU for those long hard 11 days. She is truly a blessing in every single way. She is growing more and more each day it seems. Her 2 top teeth have just came through over the weekend so she now has 4 teeth, is walking along furniture, climbed all the way up the steps today, is on all tablefoods, drinking from the sippy multiple times a day, clapping, and waving hi and bye! She now weighs a 23 lbs 10 oz and is 28 in and 3/4 long! She is such a growing girl, that we are proud to call our daughter!I am probally leaving out some things as well..blame it on the mommy brain =)  Look how much she has grown...

Just born and taken to the NICU..5 lbs 12 oz. at 35 weeks

5 days old..still wasnt able to hold her =( One of my favorite pictures of her.

Exactly 1 month old on 3/12

On 4/12 Hailey turned 2 months old which was also Easter Day so here are 2 pictures from that day...

On 5/12 the Princess turned 3 months old

On 6/12 she turned 4 months and we were at the ESPN Zone in California watching the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup!

On 7/12 our love bug turned 5 months old =)

On 8/12 we were at the Toledo Zoo and Miss Hailey Nicole turned 6 months!

Turning 7 months old on 9/12 wore her out =)

Eating pancakes on her 8 month birthday!

The things people take for granted...

As many of you know my dad took his life on December 21, 1991...one month before I turned 2 years old. I always sit back and think of the little things like would I have been a daddys girl, what was he like, if he is watching over me, and if he is proud of me. I also think about the things like what kind of grandpa would he have been. Sometimes I get really upset that other people who have dads dont take every opportunity to spend time with them, like my little sister. Her dad is alive, use to take her everywhere and try and be the best dad he could be then she started caring about her friends too much and stopped going over there. She doesnt even call him on a weekly or monthly basis. I think I talk to him triple the amount she does. I just hate when this time a year approaches and I dont have my dad here. I wonder why he left me and why it was his time to go? I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and watching him with our kids is just amazing. I hope Hailey is a daddys girl, I know she is already wrapped around Chris' little finger. I just hope that they always stay close and that she will have him around always. I want her to experience everything I never got a chance to, I want her to have a daddy to walk her down the isle and keep the boys away(with the help of her big brothers of course), I want her to have a daddy to cry to, and to teach her how to play sports(we all know I am no good at any sports), I want her to have someone to spoil her and give her what she wants when she gives him her little sad face, I just want her to have someone in her life that I never got to. I always want these things for Nathan but we all know being a daddys girl is something special. Hopefully my dad is watching down on me and my family, which I believe he is. I pray and talk to him almost every night. I just wish I could call him when I needed too. Here are some of the only pictures I have of my dad...

Weekend Fun!

This weekend we decided to have friends over on Friday for movies and appitizers since Chris just got a 56 in TV and a bluray player. Anyways, Hailey is 3 weeks older then our friend Alyssa's little girl Callie, so we had a little play date you can say as well. The kids all loved playing, they ate dinner together and even took a bath all together afterwards. Here are some pictures of the kiddos after having a bath.

Hailey reading an elmo book to Callie

Callie, Nathan and Hailey before bedtime

The girls playing =)

 Saturday for lunch we went with Alyssa, Vinnie and Callie to Primantis to watch the Pitt Game..yummy! Later that evening we played outside for a little while and then Chris made a nice fire for us, we stayed out there for atleast 2 hours, Hailey even fell asleep in the swing..(which she never wouldve done)while watching the fire. It was a perfect fall evening =)

Outfit use to be Nathans and its an 18 months =(

She is getting too big..too fast!

Both kiddos sitting near the fire

                         My cutie pie!

Sunday afternoon we decided to just do some shopping and running around.

Later that evening we were invited to dinner at my Aunt Peggys so we headed there around 5, we had an awesome time since we havent seen them in a few months. We had a great dinner, fresh salad, spaghetti and garlic bread. My cousins little girl was there who is almost exactly 1 year older then Nathan. They played together so well, Jealynne loved Hailey and since we call her sis or sissy half the time she kept saying sissy is my best buddy and wanting to hold her it was adorable!

Monday we decided to take the kids to a park that we use to always take Nathan to when he was a baby before we moved away from that area. It is probally one of if not our favorite park. Hailey has never been there so we decided it was a perfect day to head over there. The leaves were beautiful, weather was just right and there werent many people there. We all dressed in our Steelers Polamula 43 jerseys since we had a Steelers Game that evening, which we won yay! Hailey loved the swing the most, Nathan loved climbing up the one wooden step/ladder and sliding down the slides of course, he loves to go head first down the tube slides, he is so funny, and he now hates the baby swing though. We had such a wonderful time!

I am so blessed to have such wonderful kids and such an amazing husband who truly is my best friend, I really couldnt ask for a better family =)