Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, from my little turkeys to you!

(Sydney was trying really hard to look at the camera...the sun was directly in her eyes.)

Goofball

Caught half a smile!

(By the way, I cheated and took Sydney's picture yesterday, the day before Thanksgiving.  There is no guarantee they will both be dressed decently and happy and awake at the same time to get a picture of them together, but I shall try.)

Grammy and Papa Greg's Visit

I'm sort of doing all my updates in reverse order, but randomly-ordered updates are better than no updates!  :-) 

Last Wednesday Chet's parents arrived from West Palm Beach to visit.  It was their first time to meet Miss Lorelei, and Chet was off work, so it was a few days of good family time.  We started the visit opening "presents" (Grandparents just can't resist!).  Syd loves her doll, tutu, and camouflaged John Deere hat. 

Chet and his dad always do a project when they're together (sometimes more than one), and this time they fixed our couch.  It was sagging in the middle, and they reinforced it.  It is so much sturdier now, and their project led to my project...rearranging the living room!  I haven't taken a picture of it yet, and I never took or posted pictures of what it looked like beforehand, so most of you will probably not be impressed.  I'm much happier with the arrangement though; it really opened up the room.

We also did some gardening (well, I didn't, but everyone else did).  Our flower beds were horrendous, but Chet's mom came to the rescue.  We planted poinsettias and mulched, and it looks beautiful!  (Again, no picture of the finished project.  It's dark outside now, otherwise I would have snapped one right before typing this post!)

Sydney liked throwing the dirt.

This is Syd's new "picture look".  She puts this contemplative look on her face...funny, but not always good for pictures!

Oh!  Chet also bought a mower and weed eater this weekend with Dad in town.  We've never owned either one, because a company has managed the lawn care in every place we've lived thus far...and a company still manages the lawn care at our current house (except the fenced-in back yard).  But Chet was sick of all the dead grass and planted grass several weeks ago in the front, side, and back of the house.  It's started to grow really nicely, and our yard looks oddly green compared to the other yards.  (Literally, all of the grass in our neighborhood is dead.  The Navy was cheap and decided against installing sprinkler systems in the yards.  They should have just spread gravel everywhere.) 

On Friday of their visit, Mom made an early Thanksgiving dinner.  Since Chet and I do not have Thanksgiving plans, it really let me off the hook cooking-wise for tomorrow!  Her dinner was delicious, and tomorrow, Chet, Sydney, and I will eat leftover turkey, green bean casserole (not leftover, I'm making a new one), Chet's Grandma's famous jello salad, and cherry pie (purchased from a bakery, of course...I have a newborn, who has time to make cherry pie from scratch?). 

The day before they left, Chet and I went on a date.  Not a nighttime date, but a morning date!  It was so nice.  All we did was go to Starbucks, Ross, Dollar Tree, and Barnes & Noble.  It was so strange to be kid-free! 

We will get to see Grammy and Papa Greg, as well as the rest of Chet's family, in December, right after Christmas.  We can't wait!

Halloween (quick post)

This post will be quick, because the eggs are almost finished boiling on the stove and I need to go get Sydney out of her crib (she's SO good about just hanging out in her crib in the mornings until we come get her...so, yes, I take advantage of it!).

Halloween was...lame.  Chet was in Djibouti for Syd's first Halloween last year, and was gone again this year (even though she's still too young to understand what's going on...and she doesn't eat candy, so what's the point?).  Anyway, my mom and I had taken Lorelei to her two-week well-baby appointment earlier that day (more on that later).  We dropped Syd off at the Child Development Center for the day so she wouldn't have to endure the trip to the hospital, but she only took a 30-minute nap at the Center...so she was a beast when we picked her up.  The trick-or-treaters started ringing the doorbell at 5:00 p.m. on the dot (right after we got home from the hospital and picking up Syd), and we hadn't even opened the bags of candy or put Syd in her costume (in fact, her costume was still damp in the dryer).  So my mom and I took turns running to the door every time it rang, while the other person fed Lorelei (me), firmly told Sydney to "Sit down!" on the couch, prepared dinner, and readied Sydney's costume.  Also, I wasn't feeling well (more on that later too), and all the running around and stress made it even worse.  Finally, there was a window of time where Lorelei had just eaten and I could take Sydney trick or treating.  We probably only went to five houses.  She was more interested in the bucket she was carrying (I didn't realize until we were in the midst of chaos that her monogrammed trick-or-treat bag was packed away in a box in her closet...no way was I going to dig that out), and then taking the candy she received in and out of the bucket.  It's just not fun to trick or treat when you (the parent) don't feel well, the other parent is absent, and the trick-or-treater has no clue what is happening.  My mom finally texted me saying that Lorelei was hungry...an excuse to go home and put an end to Halloween!  (At this point it was only about 6:30 p.m.  There had been a lull in trick-or-treaters, but then they started ringing the doorbell again around 7:00 p.m.  I ignored them, which left us with way too much leftover Halloween candy.  Yummy, but bad.)

Here is the one good picture I got of Sydney in her Halloween costume (as well as her picture from last year...yes, she was a Navy cheerleader two years in a row).  I didn't get a picture of Lorelei in her Halloween outfit (no costume for her this year).  If I had been more prepared, I would have taken a really cute picture of all three of us, monogrammed trick-or-treat bags and all, but I simply didn't have my act together.  Perhaps we'll skip Halloween altogether next year.  Then I don't have to buy overpriced candy beforehand, and can buy loads of clearance candy November 1st...

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2011

Pumpkin Patch (pre-Lorelei)

Saturday, October 15th, Chet, Syd, and I went to Southern Promiseland Farm to visit their pumpkin patch and corn maze.  We didn't know it at the time (although I think, deep down, we DID know), but this would be our last outing as a little family of three. 

First we were "briefed" on the rules of the corn maze, etc. 

Sydney's favorite part of the trip was seeing the animals.  There were horses, goats, pigs, rabbits, and chickens, but Syd loved the little pigs best of all.

Trying to see the rabbits...

They also had a huge playground with tons of swings.  Chet and I liked this one best (we wanted one!), but Syd wasn't all that impressed (I think the sun was in her eyes).

Sydney's second-favorite activity was running circles around this sign.  This was the sign explaining the "game rules" of the grass maze, which we opted to go through instead of the 1.5-mile long corn maze (we probably would have never made it out of such a long corn maze alive). 

She finally entered the grass maze.

Syd got her hand painted for the very first time.  She was very serious throughout the process, but liked having a pumpkin on her hand.

We took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch.  It was a beautiful backdrop for pictures, but Syd was not in a picture-taking mood, and Chet and I have no idea what we're doing as far as photography goes, so this was a semi-lost opportunity. 

We'll call this my 39-week maternity picture, since I did not take an official one (Lorelei was born at 39 weeks, 2 days), and I was exactly 39 weeks that day. 

That's it!  We had a great time, and I'm so glad we took the opportunity to do one last fun outing with Sydney before Lorelei's arrival.

Finally! (And 1-Month Pictures)

I'm finally back to blogging!  It feels good, although I must admit that I did not feel like blogging AT ALL until now.  It's been a crazy ride since Lorelei has been born, and I have much to update you all (y'all) on!  I'm going to break up my updates into several blog posts, but here's what you have to look forward to:

-- Lorelei's birth story
-- Lots of unforeseen post-birth drama (not much of which had anything to do with the birth or Lorelei)
-- Grammy and Papa Greg's visit (Chet's parents)
-- Sydney update
--Corn maze/pumpkin patch (two days before Lorelei was born)

There.  I made a list, so now I HAVE to blog about those things!  (Feel free to hold me accountable.) 

For now I will let you know that Lorelei Ann Wyckoff was born October 17th at 1:18 p.m.  She weighed 7 lbs, 7.4 oz, and was 19.75 inches long.  As I suspected she would be, she is a pretty laid back baby (although right now she is exercising her lungs in the other room...poor Chet).  She is such a blessing, and we are so proud she is our daughter!  Here is a picture of her the day she was born, and again when she was three days old.

A Few Hours Old

3 Days Old

I show you these pictures so that you have something to compare her 1-month pictures to.  Some of you may remember the monthly pictures I posted of Sydney.  (Click here to see Syd's year in review.)  I will do the same for Lorelei, but she will have a different "back drop" and will wear a white onesie with the corresponding month.  Sydney wore different outfits for each picture, but always wore the same type of bow. 

I'm not sure which "pose" I will go with each month in order to make the pictures look as similar as possible, but this one is my favorite.  And since this is Month 1, I will go ahead and post all of the pictures that I thought turned out good!  :-)



My Favorite



Cross-Eyed, LOL

No more!