*L*O*V*E*

We hope everyone enjoyed the love they found in their mailbox from Lola this Valentine's Day! She's surrounded and showered with *L*O*V*E* from all her family and friends each and every day of the year and she loves you all very much! XOXO

Life with Lola is Sweeter than Sweet

"It's a girl...a little beauty, an angel, and I'm madly in love with her." -Henry Miller-

Sponge Rollers

I wish I could put into words the feeling of walking through the door every Tuesday & Thursday after work. I come home to the happiest of babies who no doubt had a fabulous day with her Grandmas and is over the moon to see her Mommy. It is a high like no other. It's at that exact moment that I realize I have the best of both worlds--days that I have her all to myself, and days that her Grandmothers have her all to themselves! (And Mommy can make a little extra $)!!!

Today was an extra fun day because I got an awesome surprise when I walked in the door--my toddler in sponge rollers! Now, you have to understand that as a child, I spent A LOT of time in sponge rollers so my mom could give my very straight hair a little curl. I couldn't believe my mom got her to sit still long enough to get them all in, but then again, that's part of her magic. I hope I can be as lucky, because as Lola's hair continues to grow, she will most likely spend the same amount of time as I did in these glorious little rollers.


How cute is that?!

Elmo--meet Lola.

Every year around Valentine's Day, Elmo comes to visit at Ed n Joe's Pizza in Tinley. Ed n Joe's is legendary--and has been around forever (Ronnie & I used to celebrate there after T-Ball games, so there ya go!)

Grandma found out when he was coming and wanted to take Lola, so of course we were very excited! It ended up being an interesting experience--while many kids tend to freak out the second they see the characters they love in real life, Lola lit up like the firecracker she is with sheer joy and excitement for her beloved. "HI ELMO! HI ELMO! ELMO! HIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!"

But when Elmo had to walk away and go visit the other tables, a Lola meltdown ensued...like I have never seen before. How dare any of the other children want time with Elmo?!

Coloring with Grandma before the red one arrives.
Elmo has arrived!
And here is Lola's amazing reaction.


WHAT?! Why is he leaving?!
Watching him from across the room.
She had the opportunity to give him two hugs. But when I had to pull him off of her, you'd think he was her mother!

With each go-around of the restaurant, the meltdowns lasted shorter and shorter, and she ended up eating a good dinner and a delicious cupcake (from the same bakery Leah & Phil are using for their wedding--excellent sweet treats!)

My Funny Valentine!

Is it April yet?

It's hard to believe that in less than 2 months, we'll be headed to Ireland for our second tour of the country. We'll be spending the majority of our trip on the West Coast...

We'll arrive in Dublin on Friday, April 2--from there we'll pick up our car and drive westward across the country to Doolin. We'll be staying at a quaint B&B that came highly recommended from one of John's class participants (her family owns it!) While in Doolin, we'll tour the Cliffs of Moher, visit the Aran Islands and, of course, attend Easter Sunday Mass. Doolin is the Irish Folk Music capital of the country so I'm sure we'll run across a great live session in a pub.

(View of sunset from Ramblers Rest, our Doolin B&B)

On Monday, we'll head a little north to the (what we hear) awesome city of Galway. We're staying at a townhouse-style hotel in the city centre, so it should make exploring all Galway has to offer quite simple.

(Eyre Square Townhouse)

After Galway, we'll head north again and settle in Westport for an evening. We found a great B&B with awesome reviews that we just booked. Our plan for Westport is to enjoy the town and climb Croagh Patrick.

After Westport, we'll head back east to Dublin, where we'll spend the weekend. We'll do the must-see sights, including St. James' Gate and Temple Bar (which is also famous for it's traditional Irish music!)...and attend Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral. We flew in on a Sunday and out on a Sunday our last trip, so we didn't have the chance to attend Mass our first go around. It goes without saying that Ireland has some of the most amazing Churches in the world, so we're looking forward to that.
And while it's going to be difficult to be away from Lola that long, we know she'll be in the best of hands with ALL her Grandparents taking shifts and giving lots of love!

18 months

(Lola, 18 months--rocking on her horse and modeling one of her adorable Christmas outfits from G.G.)

While her well check-up isn't until next week, I thought I might as well blog Lola's 18 month mark before it escapes me...

We went for her developmental check-up last week (same day as the climbing-out-of-the-crib event) and it went great. She was exactly where she should be with everything that was assessed and even a little advanced in some areas.

I couldn't even tell you how many words she's speaking now because there are too many to count! She is even starting to put more two-word phases together, including this afternoon's "more cheese". She continues to use her manners and melts our hearts every time she says "please" for something--and she's even starting to do it un-prompted.

She is SO active, I can hardly keep up with her! She is climbing on everything she can and is running laps around the house. This morning, we went to an open gym at a gymnastics studio and she had a blast running around like the crazy woman she is.

Coloring is probably her favorite activity of the moment. She'll sit at her table and doodle for quite some time--usually keeping the color on the paper. She knows all her shapes, most of her colors and can recognize and say many of her letters.

The toddler meltdowns are upon us, but they usually don't last too long and the next thing you know, she's smiling and giggling again. She continues to bring us more happiness than we could have every possibly imagined...

Cakearella

Our sister Renee is all sorts of brilliant when it comes to cake decorating. When someone is a natural talent at something, it's immediately apparent. But when they actually work to make themselves better than their natural ability--well, that's when you get perfection.

Renee stayed with us for the last two weeks so she could attend the Master Course at Wilton's HQ here in Chicago. She learned all sorts of useful information and applied in on her final project--a three-tired wedding cake. (See above.) If this is what she can accomplish in only two weeks, we can't wait to see what she has in store for the cake world in the future.

Fun fact: Her cake has over 100 handmade Wilton roses on it!

Playing in the Snow

Mother Nature gave us a beautiful dusting of fresh powdery snow last night, so we got Lola all bundled up to enjoy it this morning. She loved it--and made the cutest snow bunny. Putting her in her snow pants brought back SO many memories from my childhood. I remember sledding for hours on the hill behind my elementary school and trekking back home (just around the block) wearing those snow pants--and as soon as I got home, my mom had fresh, dry clothes waiting for me--and some steaming Swiss Miss with marshmallows....Our next snow adventure is to take her sledding on that same hill!




PLEASE don't think we're bad parents for the next few pictures--it happened so fast...and it was way too cute not to document.




John doesn't have the camera in his hands too often, but when he does, he makes 'em awesome. Just look at that face!

All done--time to go in.

The typical scene in our entrance hall--all winter long.

Cribs are for babies.

So, the day we took Lola to her 18 month developmental appointment, she decided to gives us the shock of our lives! We put her down for her nap and decided to lie down ourselves and catch a few Zzzz's because we didn't get many the night before. The next thing we knew, our little person opened our bedroom door and walked right in! John and I flew out of bed and both looked at each other with shocked expressions while we held our hands over our hearts (because they were about to jump out of our chests!)

We put her back in her crib and asked her to show us how she climbed out--without any hesitation, she threw her leg over the railing and began her decent. John promptly disassembled her crib, I moved the changing table into our room, together we moved her dresser away from her window and moved the gates to her doorway and closet.

So far, I'd give her transition a B+. My best girl friend is just getting ready to transition her daughter to her big girl bed, and when she was talking about it I felt bad for her. What on Earth would I do if I couldn't keep my baby in her crib? Turns out you put gates up in their room which then becomes a bigger crib :)

So for now, her crib mattress is on the floor. Eventually, we'll get her a twin, but I don't know when we'll actually put the bed in a frame--she likes to jump on her bed and I figure if it's on the floor, it's not a long way down!

Little Miss Eliza Rae

Jenny (one of my dearest friends from high school) and her husband T.J. welcomed their beautiful daughter, Eliza Rae, into the world yesterday! Jenny is blonde & blue eyed and she married a dashing Filipino. It was half-way through a conversation Jenny and I were having a few months ago that it dawned on me this child was going to look nothing like her! No doubt, though, she will have Jenny's kind heart--and SASS as TJ said! She is a little Asian beauty and we can't wait for the new Goco trio to make a trip back up to Chicago to meet her--thankfully Jenny's family still lives here so she's obligated! And since we make trips down to Florida, we'll get to see her there, too :)

Congratulations Jenny & T. J.--and welcome to the most incredible ride of your life!

You can visit the Goco's over on their blog: The Goco Family