Aria,

I waited for this day to come for many, many months. Now that's it's here, it's as bittersweet as I knew it would be. I'm happy, yet a little heartbroken all at once.

Since you've turned two, you've gained an independence about you. You've also eased out of that leech-attachment to Mommy. No longer all afternoon and evening are you begging me to hold you (actually you prefer to walk all the time on your own now). You don't scream in horror when I put you down for a moment. No more can I get you to sit on my lap while you eat your dinner. And when you wake at night, it's simply for a drink of water or a pouch, then you're back to sleeping in your crib. You don't even need me to pick you up anymore; you don't even ask for it. You're now content with sitting in your crib as I walk out of the room to get you your midnight snack. It doesn't scare you anymore; you know I'll come back like I say I will. It seems you actually prefer your comfy bed now over laying with me on the couch. -that part I do not mind, because I get a little more sleep.
But I do miss our hours of cuddling.

Can you slow down a little bit, please? You're growing up way too fast for my liking.

-Mommy

Luc,

You made me extra proud of you last night.

Before bedtime I was looking through your school folder one last time and noticed the little envelope for money to give at chapel the next day.  You were standing there with me and I thought I'd nonchalantly ask you if you wanted to give some coins to the poor for chapel tomorrow. I half expected you to say yes and ask for money from my wallet, but you walked right into the kitchen to get your chore jar. I opened it for you as you opened the envelope, and I handed you the six quarters that were in the jar that you had just earned this weekend (from helping empty the dishwasher, cleaning the toilets with Daddy, and carrying the sofa cushions in and out of my trunk). You proceeded to take each coin, one by one, and put it in the envelope. As you were doing so, I mentioned you didn't have to give all your coins, just wanted you wanted to give. But you said you wanted to give them all.

At bedtime, you told me you wished the envelope were bigger so you could give even more money (when you had it to give).

There's a part of me that's waiting to see how you'll react in a few days or weeks when you look at your chores jar and notice the money gone. I'm wondering how you'll react when you realize you gave all your coins away and they're not there to spend on a new toy. I'm happy to know that the lessons we're teaching you by giving our used clothes, toys, books, etc. to others in need, and you helping Grandma buy cans of food for the poor at Christmas time, have made an impression in your mind and heart.

And even though you wanted to give more money to the poor, I hope you know that in God's eyes you gave them millions of dollars because you gave them all that you had.

I love you,
Mommy

Aria's Birthday Party

 Aria's party took place a little late after her birth day.  -This year, Christmas was over the weekend and so was New Years, so it had to be pushed back to the following weekend. At 2, she doesn't know the difference. When she's older, we'll have to see how that works.

Aria loves Peppa Pig! When it's on TV, she's absorbed completely. So we decided to make that her theme this year.
We kept her party small, just family. I also made it super easy on myself and got some sandwiches catered and also got the cake made by Wegmans. They have a cute Peppa Pig picture to put on top, and that beats me trying to ice any cake, any day!

 I did some low-key, last minute party decorations:

 Aria got so excited everytime I put something up, she had to go around and touch each picture.

The super cute Peppa Pig cake:

Her precious princess dress (thank you cousin Kendall!)

 It started to snow heavier when the party was about to start, so the grandparents were a little late, and Uncle Dave came later in the afternoon (we celebrated Grandma's birthday at dinnertime).

 

The night before Aria's party, I was prepping some side dishes and Luc realized he hadn't made anything for Aria. He wanted to make something at Grandma's that day, but I guess he forgot. We told him to color her a picture, but he insisted it had to be more than that. Frederic got home early, and since I was too busy to find something on Pinterest (that we actually had the materials needed already at home), we suggested he go to the store and pick out a little gift for her. Frederic brought him over to Toys R Us and searched for her gift. Without wanting anything for himself, he left with a Peppa Pig purse that you can color. As Luc stated: "Because she loves Peppa Pig, and LOVES coloring!" And she loves to be a girly-girl, so this was a prefect present for her indeed. And she loved it.

Aria had tons of fun ripping open her presents:

And before the cake was even set down on the table, she had already blown out the candles. So we had to relight them so I could get pictures of her blowing them out:

 

And coloring with Bonne-Maman; because this little girl cannot go a day without coloring:

Even though Aria was fighting a bad cold, and we got about an inch + of snow, she loved her little party!

Aria is 2 Years Old!

Height: 34.0 inches (62 %)
Weight: 25.0 lbs (26 %)
Clothes Size: 24 months-2T
Shoe Size: 7

Aria Loves:

-Play with cars, especially Luc's remote-controlled cars
-Clean anything with a napkin
-Tease her brother
-Give Squeeze hugs
-Go on bike rides
-Feed herself
-Playing with hair
-Going down the slide by herself
-Sitting on the swings
-Kicking and throwing balls
-Coloring! "Color, Now!"
-Singing
-Twirling
-Dancing
-Picking out her own outfits and choosing her shoes for the day
-Getting her nails painted
-Copying everything Luc does
-Holding hands with Luc in the backseat of the car
-Jumping on Mommy & Daddy's bed with Luc
-Taking her socks and shoes off in the car
-Anything and Everything Christmas: the lights, the Christmas trees, ornaments, etc. She wants to touch it all and asks if it's hers and if she can take it home.

Aria does pretend play more and more. She takes care of her dolls, plays with toy animals but doesn't get further than saying: "Hi!" and the other answers, "Hi!" (sometimes they kiss afterward), and pretending her loved stuffed doggie is a real dog. She will lay it down on her lap and tell it to "Sleep doggie!", make sounds like it's eating from a bowl, and pet it while saying, "Good gurl, doggie." (like she does with Cali).

Aria can say and point out most body parts: everything on the head, belly, belly button, feet, toes, legs, arms, hands, fingers.

She is learning her colors, though she refuses to say the word "yellow". Right now, she's stuck on everything being called Blue.

Aria is very good at saying Thank you, Please, and Excuse me (after she farts, or if I'm talking and she wants to tell me something). I'm hoping she sticks with this and it's not just a phase.

She calls a blanket a "meemee". She has no words for her pacifier. She just says, "Where it go?"

Favorite Thing to Say: "What's that for?"
Favorite Foods: Eggs, hummus, pouches, veggies, black olives, corned beef, Almost anything.
Least Favorite Foods: not into peaches right now, chicken nuggets.

Favorite TV Shows: Lion Guard, Little Einsteins, Peppa Pig, Shimmer & Shine, Dora & Friends

Favorite Things:
-Her doggie. If she wakes up in the middle of night and it's lost in the covers I hear, "Mommy. Where doggie go? ...Where doggie goooo?"
-Dora doll. She has played with this poor Dora's hair so much it now looks like dreadlocks. At first I was going to attempt to brush it out. Now it's too late. 
-Having her hair tied up. Sometimes I take her hair tie out at night and she insists I put it back in, or she will keep asking for "Hairsss. On."
-Water. Outside, inside, where it's not supposed to be. Spitting it out from her sippy cup to play with it, finding the tiniest puddle, splashing in the tub, insisting to wash her hands, etc. She loves the water.

Goofy Face!

We're in Trouble:

Let the Terrible Twos begin! Well, they already did before her official birthday. The full-blown screaming, crying, forcing out the tears to make a point, throwing herself on the floor, kicking, and hitting has erupted. Yay.

Aria has discovered how to climb out of her crib. I put her in her crib one afternoon because she was having a tantrum and I couldn't get anything done with her pulling my yoga pants down. Next thing I hear, thud and running down the hallway, accompanying a cry. She did not get hurt dropping down from the crib, good thing. That night she wanted to be held and I was going to let her cry it out. By the time I made it back into my bed she was running down the hall. She seems to only climb out when she's having a tantrum, which is good. She doesn't fight going to bed or naps by climbing out. And she won't climb out if she wakes on her own. We don't think she's old enough to be in a toddler bed. And I honestly don't have the energy to fight with her all night by walking her back to her own bed whenever she gets up. We were planning to turn the crib around since the back is a little higher. But I'm sure she'll figure out she can still climb out the side. I placed her changing pad under her so if she does drop down, she'll have a soft landing. I also bought a sleepsack. Which, in a way, is good for two things. One, to help prevent her legs being able to stretch over the railing. Two, keep her warmer at night which will help her stay asleep. Her room gets so cold at night, it often wakes her up. And she still hates to be cold. Hopefully, this will buy us some time before transitioning her bed.

Aria is still very attached to her pacifier. Even though she has her doggie and Dora doll that she grabs for comfort, she still always searches for her pacifier. Our general rule was to get rid of it when she was 2 years old and had all her teeth. Since she had all her teeth expect the 2-yr molars by 17 months, we thought this plan was going to work out perfectly. Ha! She just had her first molar cut through the other day. No sign of the others following anytime soon. So now we're determining whether to let her have the pacifier to help her get some relief when the others poke through, or just throwing them out. I'm getting to the point where I'm tired of making sure I have a pacifier with us at all times, cleaning them constantly, and searching for them on the floor of her room in the middle of night. And since she's a feisty lil Irish girl, the tantrums and screaming when she isn't allowed to have them anymore is going to be intense!

It's taken a little "training" but I finally got Aria to respond to I love you! When I would say it at nighttime she would respond with "bye-bye" and a wave. But I kept telling her she needs to answer with "Love you" and now she finally does! And of course, it's the cutest, most heart-warming words out of her mouth.

This little girl has the most contagious laugh in the world. She's caring and snuggly as ever. As well as determined, opinionated, and feisty. She's picking up comedian skills from Luc and trying out her own skits to make us laugh. Facial expressions included. She keeps us on our toes everyday, and every night.

Happy Birthday, Aria-Boo!

Christmas 2016

Christmas Eve we waited around the house in the morning, took a little bike ride/walk and then waited some more for the late afternoon for Frederic's parents to come over for dinner.
With prepping dinner the day before, I was not running around Christmas Eve, which actually felt pretty good.

Aria helping me cook. "I cookin!"

Luc played his new Guess Who? game with Bonne Maman until bedtime.

Aria loved her dress up Maddie doll. So much so, that when we went downstairs to give Frederic's parents their gift (a snowblower too heavy to bring upstairs), we left Aria upstairs to keep playing. Then she came downstairs to us and her face and hands were covered in chocolate. Little booger didn't even try to unwrap the Dove chocolate, just bit through the foil wrapping and started sucking the chocolate out. This girl cannot be left alone with chocolate.

Before Luc went to bed, he and I took out a carrot, poured some milk, and Luc counted 5 cookies ("because I'm 5 years old!") for Santa. Luc then decided the other reindeer should have some carrots too, not just Rudolph, so he split it in 3 pieces.
Before Frederic's parents went home, we gave them the 5 cookies for Santa because Luc had counted out how many were leftover in the container. And we were so stuffed from dinner and dessert, we didn't have any room for cookies. I wrote out a little note from Santa to the kids next to the empty cup, and plate filled with cookie crumbs. Luc was beyond excited when he saw this Christmas morning. I wish I knew he was going to react like that and record it. His smile was huge when he saw the note from Santa!

Christmas morning was chaos of Luc pushing through to open every gift he had, and helping Aria open hers. When the kids were done, Frederic and I opened our own gifts.

After we cleaned up, got dressed, and got our heads together, we headed to my parent's for Christmas day.
Aria went down for a nap and while she was sleeping we opened all of our gifts.

Aria opened hers when she woke up.

I'm so sorry this picture is blurry; it's too funny how well she does the singing face. I took an awesome video of her singing along in the mic.

Christmas was crazy and a little stressful. And me being sick didn't make it completely enjoyable either. There's part of me that is insanely happy it's all over with and part of me that's sad that it passed so quickly. We decorate and prepare for so long in advanced and it's over in a flash.

Frederic was so excited to get a cigar box and a bunch of cigars I hide inside:

One of my favorite gifts this year:

And re-gifting my old 1980's Fisher Price tea set and food, and American Girl doll bunk beds to Aria was fun:

Merry Christmas from the Hairsons!

Holiday Wrap-up

From Thanksgiving until mid-January, we are crazy crazy busy.
Thanksgiving, Luc's birthday, Luc's birthday party all right before December starts.
This year, as if we weren't busy enough, we added some other things onto our to-do list.

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Decorating Our Tree

The day after Thanksgiving we put up our tree. If we didn't do it then, I really don't know when else we would have time. Like with the outdoor lights, they're still not up- don't know when that'll happen this year...

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Christmas Card Picture Outtakes

Before you see the picture-perfect Christmas card we sent out, this is a real behind-the-scenes of what taking pictures with kids entails. It's not picture perfect. It takes a really long time. And in order to get that great one or two to actually use, you have to take about 100 that get deleted.

Picking of the nose:

Aria decided a bright yellow flashlight was a great prop:

No one sitting/laying still:

 Aria inspecting her belly button with said flashlight:

Luc getting slapped in the face for laughing at Aria:

Daddy blinking, Luc making a funny face, Aria not looking:

Me trying to figure out how to use my new camera phone remote (Aria playing dead on the bed):

The winning photos in our Christmas Card (looks like a perfect, easy shoot, right?):

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New York City, December 2-4

Since the kids are obsessed with everything Christmas, we thought they would like going to go to NYC to see the decorations and the tree in Rockefeller. And since Matt and Jackie always come down to see us, we would make the trip up to them, and stay with them for the weekend. To make it easier on us, we left for NY Friday night. The kids passed out in the car around 8-8:30pm and we made it to Matt's by 11:30pm. Aria woke up an hour before we got there, but stayed quiet and patient. But she caught her second wind and didn't come to bed with me until 2:30am. Yawn.

Saturday morning we had breakfast at my aunt & uncle's house since they weren't coming into the city with us. We took the hour train ride to Penn Station. We walked to see the Macy's windows, which I thought were a huge disappointment. The story windows were boring and the other side had no theme or continuity at all. The kids seemed unimpressed as well.

Not cool, Mommy. What were you thinking?

Off to get some waffles from a truck run by native Belgians- which Frederic was ecstatic to find. He's been following them on Facebook for a few years now.

Then we walked to Bryant Park where they had little shops, the ice rink (where Luc saw his first Zamboni), and their own tree- decorated in red, white, and blue.

Afterwards we decided to head to Rockefeller since it was going to start getting dark soon. The crowds were insane! But it was worth it. Luc couldn't believe how big it was. Aria wanted to touch it and then kept insisting we take the tree home. hahaha! After almost getting split up trying to leave, we just headed back to the train station, via Times Square which lit up the kids' eyes, to get the kids some food before heading back to Long Island. I think the kids enjoyed the train rides more than anything else that day.

Of course Aria wanted to touch everything that was lite up in NY. And asked with every lighted thing we passed. She also loved the Empire State building that was lite up blue that night.
They passed out in the car ride home from the train station and slept all night.

The next morning we had a big breakfast compliments of Chef Matt. After Jackie left for an appointment, we smushed into the car to go to my grandparent's graves. I knew I would regret not visiting if we didn't go since it's only 30 minutes from my cousin's house. And I had yet to go there and see my grandma's headstone since she passed 2.5 years ago. We found it, and stood in the cold wind. Luc got too cold, so Frederic took him back to the car. Aria nearly broke my heart in two. I squatted down to clean off the dead leaves that were stuck around my grandma's headstone. When I stood up, Aria laid down in front of it, on her belly. And started gracefully outlining all the letters and numbers on the headstone. And talking quietly. My grandma passed away when I was 13 weeks pregnant with Aria. And I've always felt that she became Aria's guardian angel. Aria just seemed so at ease and calm laying there. Like she knew who was there and her connection to her.

Aria, entertaining herself on the drive home to Maryland: 

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School Christmas Program, December 9th

 It was so nice to see Luc healthy and singing along during his Christmas program at school this year. Last year he was so sick, he was out of school a lot and he made it to the program, but was just getting over the flu and looked so sickly on stage.
And once again, he refuses to the arm/hand motions that go along with the song.

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Voltaggio Christmas Party, December 10th

My parents hosted their annual Christmas party. Lots of family from different states made it to Maryland. It was so great seeing everyone and spending time together. It was fun to watch our kids play together too.

After we eat dinner, we bundled up the kids and took them outside to walk around the two courts and see the Christmas lights up on people's houses. Aria was the most excited screaming "Lights!! Lights!!" "Look, guys!"

Cousins, the next generation.

Matt and Jackie stayed over our house Saturday night, and we stayed up til 2am talking. Most of that was sitting on beach chairs in the garage smoking cigars and drinking- the After Party. Aria was up at 3:30am (since she didn't fall asleep for the night until almost 11pm). So I got about 2 hours total of sleep that night.
Sunday morning we went back to my parent's house where Matt and Jackie were riding back to NY with my aunt and uncle. We had a big breakfast. The plan was to go back home as I needed to go grocery shopping and we were hoping to get our outdoor Christmas lights up. But Luc started playing a game with Frederic and Aria got cranky. So we put her up for a nap and I took a nap on the couch. We ended up staying for dinner.
With the cold weather coming in and the kids not going outside to play any, I can already see the pent up energy exploding in other ways. There's a lot of No and Time Outs at the moment. sigh. Yay, winter...

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Voltaggio Christmas Tree Decorating, December 18th

This weekend was just as full.
We woke up Saturday to find everything covered in ice outside.

Thankfully the ice began to melt by lunchtime and we went to Frederic's parent's house for dinner. After we ate we followed my father in law in his car to see some crazy-decorated houses nearby. Their neighborhoods got more freezing rain than we did Friday night, so it was still very slippery on the roads. Unfortunately, these crazy houses are on busy streets so we couldn't pull off and take any pictures, and the kids had to see them from their car seats.

Our own street is pretty decorated and I kept feeling bad because we still hadn't gotten a chance to put up our own lights. Sunday morning, Frederic decided he would do it. Of course, just as he starts (Luc outside with him helping), it starts to rain. But since we were having a freak weather day and the temperature was 60 degrees, they stayed and got the job done. Luckily the rain stopped after I put Aria down for a nap and could help do the final touches.

After Aria woke up, we went to my parent's house for our annual tree decorating and dinner.

Luc taking a selfie with Aria and Cali.

And if the weekend was exciting enough and tiresome...Sunday evening at home Frederic's stomach started to hurt. We thought it was just gas from some of the food we ate this weekend. We went to bed. 11:30pm the pain woke Frederic up from his sleep. He was complaining and I could see he was in a lot of pain. I looked up appendicitis and freaked him out enough that he could have that, that we decided to go to the hospital. I reluctantly called my mom around 11:45pm. I hated having to wake her and ask her to come watch the kids, but I didn't know what else to do and I didn't want to drag the kids with us in the middle of the night. We got to ER at around midnight. When Frederic was in triage, he told the nurse the pain just sitting down was a 3, but an 8 when standing/walking. So since the pain wasn't severe, we waited in the waiting room. And waited. And waited. Then around 2am-something, Frederic's pain sitting became an 8 and we got moved up the list to be seen by the PA. IV fluids, a CT scan, and another hour later, we learned he had diverticulitis. Two antibiotics in IV form, and another hour and half later, plus some percocet, and we were discharged.
Just as we walked in the door at 6am, Aria wakes up. Another night with no sleep...I honestly wonder how I function at all with the little sleep I've been getting the last two years.

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Since my mother-in-law is having surgery on her hand on the 23rd, we're hosting Christmas Eve dinner with them. There's a lot of prep work to do on Friday, plus wrapping presents, cleaning, etc etc.
Christmas is always one of my favorite times of the year. I still look on Christmas and gain a feeling of excitement, family, and love. Surprisingly, I also feel peace. Unfortunately, we, I, get so wrapped up (pun intended) in decorating, finding the perfect gifts, shopping, and everything else we did this month, that I'm left feeling exhausted. And yet I still don't wish for Christmas to be over. I dread the morning after Christmas when all the music fades, lights are turned off, excitement worn off, and clean up gleaming to be done.

~May the Joy and the Peace of the Season stay with you all the year long!~