Kids Say the Darndest Things

I just wanted to share this cute story. John and Connor were on a toll road last week and Connor asked "What's that?" when the transponder beeped. So he explained to him how the process works and that when he heard the beep we were actually paying for the toll with money in our bank account. Connor is starting to comprehend money and buying things. When he asks to have something, like a banana, and we don't have any he responds with "I go buy some." LOL So a couple of days ago they took the toll road again and Connor heard the beep. He then shouted out "It just took Dada's money!"

I got to witness this firsthand yesterday when we went and picked up the kids together. Sure enough, after we went through the toll and the responder beeped Connor shouted "It just took Dada's money!" How cute it that? Kids comprehend more than we ever give them credit for. 

First Word

 

Addison said her first word last week - "Mama"!!! I love it. It was also Connor's first word. She seems to know what the word means as she only says it when she wants me. Or maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part. Either way, she is cute as can be saying it.

 

 

Last weekend Bebe and Grandpa came to visit. They hadn't seen the house since the day we moved in. They were impressed with how much we have done and really like our new place. Bebe and Connor had a lots of fun together. Connor even learned how to do yoga! LOL

 

 

 

Here is a link to a few more pictures from our weekend.

Bath Time

 

Addison upgraded from her infant seat to the ducky bath! Now that she can sit up she hated laying on her back for bath time. Last night was her first time in it and she loved it! We knew she would just as Connor did. She loves bath time as it is but now she can play and splash around! I'm going to have to allot a little more time now for her baths :)

 

 

 

 

Catch Up

 

Wow! So, it's been awhile since I've posted anything. Let's see...what have the Gumula's been up to over the past month? For starters we (finally) sold our house! We had had a contract on it for a couple of months but we didn't really think it would go through. Why should we? We had 8 contracts over the last year and a half. A very good reason to be sceptical if you ask me. We have talked about moving to Tampa for awhile now so we thought that this would be a good time to make the move if we were ever going to do it. So we weren't exactly looking for a place to live here in Orlando. Closing day approached quickly! We may have had a small house but we managed to pack in a lot of stuff! It took us a couple of weeks to pack and in the meantime we asked work if we could keep our jobs but work remotely from our St. Petersburg location. Thankfully, our good friend Tim let us move in with him in the interim. We got the approval from work so we started looking for a house to rent in Tampa. Just two weeks after closing we found a place and moved! Let's just say it was an adventure. And we have a lot of crap. We managed to fill an entire 26 ft U-haul and still didn't get all of our stuff over. John had to make 3 trips total over the next week to get all of our things. We were also very lucky to have tons of help from both our parents and many of our friends. Connor loved every minute of it, especially getting to see his grandparents every weekend!


Let's load her up!

So we found a place to live. Next up? Daycare. We were so sad to have to take Connor and Addison out of Howell Branch Academy. We loved that place as did the kids! For whatever reason there is not a market for infant care in South Tampa. This was so stressful for us! Not only to find quality care for our kids, but trying to juggle working from home and unpacking our stuff at the same time. Yes, it was almost impossible. We would watch the kids and do what we could around the house during the day and then catch up on work in the evenings. We couldn't start in St. Pete until we found daycare. We would either come across a good school but they wouldn't take infants, or they would take infants but didn't have availability. As of Tuesday they are both finally in school but we had to split them up :( Addison and Connor both took a few days to adjust. I'm not sure who cried more, me or them. Addie has now been at her place for almost two weeks and seems to be doing ok. Connor has only been at his school for 3 days. His teachers said that he is acclimating better than most kids though which makes us feel better but it is still heartbreaking to leave him crying in the morning. He didn't cry today though so that is a good sign. I'm sure being home with us for the last couple of weeks didn't help. We're just glad they are finally situated so we can start to get back into a routine.

Connor and Addison with their HBA family

Addison also turned 5 months old. She is now rolling over from both tummy to back and back to tummy. She can also sit up all on her own! Connor didn't do this until he was 6 or 7 months old so she is very early on this. She is finally in her own room so we could start working on her (bad) sleep habits. She was getting to where she would wake up and want me every hour. So we turned to our trusty sleep solution which is basically the cry it out method. The first night was rough. She cried for 55 minutes before she fell asleep. But then she didn't wake up again until 4 am where we let her cry again, this time for only 20 min, and then she slept until 7 am. Every night got better and now she will only cry for 1 min if at all and sleeps for almost 12 hours. Her bedtime routine consists of a bath and then a bottle and she is usually out by 7 pm. She watches us very intently while we eat so we thought it was also a good time to start her on solids. Her first taste of rice cereal was this past Monday. She didn't hate it....but I wouldn't say she liked it either! Connor was so excited about eating he scarfed up every bite and always seemed excited to eat. Addie is still a dainty little eater and I can tell she isn't going to be anything like Connor in those regards. She is also teething. EVERYTHING goes into this girls mouth. She also loves loves loves her jumper. She gets so excited when she sees it and loves playing with every single toy on it. Connor is very fond of his sister now. The week he was home with us and she was in daycare, he would ask about her all day long. "Where is Addie?" "Let's go get Addie." Super cute. As soon as we get home from picking them both up he wants to hold her. He also wants to help with everything, from feeding her to bathing her...even putting her to bed. It's so sweet. 

 

Addie found her feet :)

First feeding!

We celebrated John's birthday on the 1st. It was a busy day. We were scheduled to start in the St. Pete office that day but hadn't yet found daycare for Connor. Thankfully John's parents were able to come over and watch him for the day. We got to work only to find they weren't exactly ready for us. We didn't have phones and couldn't connect to our PC's in Orlando. Not a productive day work wise. The day before John had gone back to Orlando for work. Connor and I made Daddy a birthday cake and painted him pictures with finger paint while he was gone. We had a great day together. I didn't realize how much work goes into taking care of 2 kids until I only had 1 to look after! LOL We also checked out Gymboree that day. It's an indoor play area built just for toddlers. Connor had fun but kept asking to go to the outside playground. Anyway, we celebrated John's birthday at home with Papa and Grandma with BBQ ribs and cake :) Connor had a great time with it. He loves singing Happy Birthday and had even more fun with Daddy's new power tools!

Making Daddy's birthday cake

Connor helping Daddy blow out his birthday candles



Power tools!

John's birthday also means football is in full swing! We kicked off college football with our friends this past weekend. So excited to welcome football back into our schedule. Monday we took a trip to the beach. Beautiful day but super windy. Our tent threatened to take off so we rented a cabana type tent. I've never seen the West coast so choppy! Overall not the best day for the beach but it was nice to break away from the house and enjoy the outdoors for a change. The house is starting to come around. We still have a lot to do and things to unpack but we're making progress. I'll take pictures once we are all settled in. Click here to view my pictures. Don't freak out but there are A LOT of pictures for me to share....an entire month's worth! :) Now that I have a computer again and we're starting to get back to "normal" you can expect to start hearing from me more often. I kind of went through Blogger withdrawal myself ;p

Have a great weekend!  

Beach

 

We went to Daytona Beach last Sunday to help our friend Kristy celebrate her birthday. It was a fun, relaxing day with friends. Connor enjoyed his sand pit and Addison just sat back and enjoyed the scenery :)

 

 

Potty training has officially made its debut in the Gumula household. Connor sits and goes before bath time every night. I opened my mouth to daycare, just to see where they would fall in with the training, and they took off running with it! They put him on the potty at each diaper change and he has gone at least once a day ever since. They said as soon as he goes all 4 times (they have scheduled diaper/potty time) then we will move him to underwear and go from there! He has shown a lot of interest but isn’t quite ready to go cold turkey. Or maybe we’re not. I think we are being potty trained at the same time! We aren’t used to having to ask him if he needs to go, etc. In more ways than not diapers are easier! There is no real rush, when he’s ready he’s ready. TMI alert! He (and his teachers!) were ecstatic the day he went poo poo in the potty. He was so proud and couldn’t wait to show off the sticker he got :)

We also attended Open House at daycare last week. It was fun to see Connor’s classroom and talk to his teachers. It was also good to see his playground and get a sneak peek at the 3 year old room. While we were given a tour of the entire facility a couple of years ago when he first started, we weren’t really paying attention to the older rooms. We were only concerned with the infant room at the time. They have miniature potty’s in the 2’s with little sinks right at their height – too cute! We were also given a copy of their daily schedule. It’s fun now for me to glance down at the time and have an idea of what he is doing. They teach them so much there! I was a little surprised when I looked at their “circle time” discussion that day to find them learning about nutrition and weighing food. Really? No wonder Connor thinks he knows everything ;p LOL

Click here for more beach pictures.

4 Months Old!

 

Addison is 4 months old today! I’m sure I sound like a broken record but where has the time gone? We took her in for her 4 month checkup this morning. Her doctor was pleased and she continues to grow right along her growth chart curve. Her new stats are as follows:

Height: 23 ½ inches (25^th percentile)

Weight: 13 lbs 6 oz (50^th percentile)

Head: 15 ½ inches (10-25^th percentile)

She handled her shots like a pro! I don’t think she even realized she had received the first one. She was still too grossed out from the Rotavirus vaccine (given orally). After the second one she cried but for a super short period of time. John and I were impressed!



Waiting for the doctor

She loves to play with her hands and is starting to reach and grab for things. We have moved her from the bassinet to the pack-n-play as she was getting too big for it. It was a surprisingly smooth transition. I thought she would have a harder time as we also stopped swaddling her at the same time. We are now working on putting her to bed awake but that can be hard. She has no trouble going to sleep and will sometimes fall asleep on our walk from the living room to our bedroom! I really need to work on dropping the 2 am dream feed but it’s hard while she is still in our room. I had reported last month that she was sleeping from 10:30 or so until 5 am but as soon as I blogged about it she quit doing it. I usually get up to feed her twice a night.

We also got out the jumper toy now that she can hold her head steady while supported. She can’t quite enjoy the toy to its full potential just yet (not tall enough). I think she is going to love it when she can though! The girl loves to move her legs.

She rolled over for the first time, from tummy to back, a couple of weeks ago. I had a hard time getting this on video but finally managed. I checked Connor’s milestones and they hit this one almost the same week! The doctor has said they will likely do things around the same time.

We were given the go ahead to start solids if we so choose but we’re going to wait until she is closer to 6 months as we did with Connor. I don’t see the big rush in this and it’s better for the baby, give her more time for her tummy to mature. She’s obviously getting all the nutrients she needs :) 

Happy 4 month Birthday Addison!! Click here to view a few more pictures.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!!

Today my parents celebrate their 36^th wedding anniversary! I thought it would be fun to take a peek back in time. Seems like a long time as they have been married longer than I have been alive! :p

Coincidentally, John’s parents also celebrated their 36^th wedding anniversary this year!

Happy Anniversary! Here is to many many more years of happiness! :)

SeaWorld

 

Addison had her first trip to SeaWorld this weekend! We haven't been in months and since we didn't have anything else going on this weekend, we thought it was a perfect opportunity to go again. We've been avoiding it due to the heat but Sunday was overcast which we thought would make it more tolerable. We also knew there was a chance of rain but that is the beauty in having season passes. If it started to rain we wouldn't feel cheated if we left the park. Connor was so excited when we told him we were going. He was grinning ear to ear when we arrived to the park. It was a hot day, even with the clouds. Addison was a trouper though and never cried once. She just sat back in the stroller and took in the sights! Somehow she even managed a short nap in the middle of the dolphin show. We only made it through the first half of the park when the dark clouds rolled in. We had already talked up the sharks with Connor so we had to go see those before we could leave. As luck would have it the shark encounter is at very back of the park. As soon as we were done the rain started. We ran as fast as we could back to the car...which was not close! I don't know if I can speak for all of us but I thought it was kind of fun :) It's been a long time since I've had to run in the rain like that - with no umbrella! Overall another fun trip to SeaWorld.

 

You can click here to view a few more pics from SeaWorld.

4th of July Weekend



We had a great holiday weekend. We would normally take advantage of a long weekend by going out of town but not this year. We've been traveling a lot lately and needed a weekend at home. And it was nice. Saturday we went to a party at the Moncello's. Connor had a blast in the pool with Tim. He went down the slide over and over and over again. We didn't have any plans on Sunday but didn't want to be stuck at the house all day so we decided to go out to breakfast and then get fireworks afterwards. We just went to Denny's up the road. Both kids were great! Connor enjoyed his chocolate chip pancakes and Addison even let me put her in her car seat while I ate my food...at the same time as John and Connor! :) Monday we went to Erin's house. She was having a BBQ/party for the 4th as her neighborhood was putting on a big fireworks production that evening. Connor had so much fun playing with the other kids there, especially Andrew who is about 5 months older than he is. We grubbed and then the kids got to do some small fireworks before we headed back home before it got late. We wished we would have stayed though! Justin proposed to Erin during the big neighborhood firework display!! So bummed we missed that but couldn't be happier for them. Congratulations Erin and Justin!!!!

Connor has really started to show more interest in Addison. His latest is wanting to feed her so we let him give it a whirl. He did a good job but he lost interest very quickly :) Connor was watching Sesame Street at one point over the weekend and we had put Addie down in the bouncer near him. We noticed him get off the couch and start to entertain her...such a sweet moment! 

Connor found the fireworks, mainly the poppers and bottle rockets, to be quite funny. He would laugh after each and every one of them.

Connor and I were cooped up in his room on Saturday while Daddy and Addison were taking a nap in the living room. Our house is pretty small so that was the only way I could contain the noise our busy bee makes these days. To preface this let me add that Connor is going through a phase where he would prefer not to be wearing any clothing. Thankfully he hasn't attempted to take his diaper off yet. Once he figures that out we're in trouble :p So we're in his room and he has on nothing but a diaper. He goes to his hat and sock drawer and pulls out his ski cap and asks me to put it on. Then he goes into his closet and pulls out his sunglasses. Cute right? It didn't end there. He then proceeds to do yoga like poses and tumbling all over his room. I had to capture this on camera - and he loved it! Once he realized I was taking pictures he would do a pose, hear the click of the camera, then run over to see what he looked like. We had so much fun!

 Below is a short but funny video of Connor "falling" on our bed. He does this all the time and I still laugh every time I see it. Never thought to get it on video until now....

 The following video is a clip of Connor doing poppers of some sort. Two people tug at the same time and it pops. Connor thought it was hilarious.

I hope everyone had a fun, safe and memorable 4th! Click here to view many more pictures from our weekend. Enjoy!!

3 Months!

Addison is now 3 months old. She is still growing like a weed! In the last week she has gone from taking 3 oz every 2 hours to 4 oz every 3 hours. She has started sleeping from 10 pm to 5 am on a pretty consistent basis, give or take 30 min. She goes right back to sleep after she eats until about 7 am when I get her up and ready for daycare. She is still the sweetest little thing. I just love her smiles and she is starting to giggle here and there. No belly laughs yet but I think we’re close. I got on the scale with her last week and I think she’s about 13 pounds now, unofficially of course :p We don’t go back to the doctor until she hits the 4 month mark. She is also sitting up really well when supported, which means she is ready to sit in the Bumbo. I like to put her in it while I wash bottles…it’s a whole new view for her! She sits and watches me and we talk about our day :)