NYE 2014

Im sitting in the living room, Greta is fast asleep and Dave is chasing Sully around the house. As soon as he is caught, he squeals with excitement before breathlessly saying 'anow!' which is his way of saying 'again'. I can't think of a better way to spend New Year's Eve.

What a year we have had. The kids have grown so much, and we have, too. Sully started the year with about five words, and although I have not counted, Im sure he is up to somewhere in the 1000 range. Having a two way conversation with him is awesome, something neither Dave or I take for granted. His current obsessions include his monster jammies, robots, choo choos, and Mickey. He is the sweetest boy and will frequently give me just the amount of snuggles I need, I cherish them all. Greta went from a sleepy newborn to a walking, talking, smiley little girl. She is so sweet. She has all 16 teeth and is a champion sleeper. She introduced us to the dermatologist as we continue to battle bouts of inflammation on her scalp and back. We are very good about staying on top of them in fear of ending up with a situation like last February. She loves to her dolls, Sully's toys, and playing on the stairs (a big no no around here). She loves to get in Sully's business, and he does the same to her. There are sweet sibling moments, buy boy, I had no idea sibling rivalry started so soon! All in all, the kids make our days both exhausting and fun. I am so grateful for them.

We were able to get out of town a few times, there is so much truth to the theory that traveling will never be the same once you have had kids. Most of my travels brought me to St Louis to be with my Stacy, weekends I would never choose to be anywhere else. I also had a couple of weekends to Minneapolis with Maggie, and one on my own to be with Leanne. We traveled with the kids and once without. I know Dave would like to get more traveling in, but I am at peace with where we are at this stage. I am excited to see where future travel takes us, but until then, we will do what we can when we can.

The house project has taken up much of our year. Between planning and waiting and picking a contractor and waiting and expediting the plans and waiting and waiting and waiting. We are anxious to see some big progress in 2015 in that department. We have a (very) soft completion date of mid-summer. I realize it is going to get worse before it gets better. Being an impatient person is painful in a process like this, but I am doing my best to keep my eye on the prize.

Overall, it has been a good year. There have been great celebrations and devastating losses. My relationships have strengthened and I am lucky enough to have even met some new friends whom I already hold close to my heart. I am fortunate to have the best partner through it all. Yes, Dave does work a ton, but when he is home, he is 100 percent home. I am optimistically looking forward to what 2015 has in store.

With that, I'll pour myself a glass of wine from the black box and enjoy the fire in my jammies.

Happy New Year!

Greta Girl, almost 14 months.  

Sully, 2 years and 7 mos. 

Christmast 2014

Another Christmas has come and gone.

December is always a busy and fun month. We celebrated Anna's 4th birthday, Hudson's 9th birthday and Liz's 38th birthday. Dave and I took on our annual Christmas card project, Maggie and I spent an afternoon baking cookies with our mom,  kids, and a couple of other cousins, I wrapped gifts at the mall with my sister-in-laws and mom to benefit The Children's Inn, and Dave and I enjoyed an evening out with friends. We topped it all off with watching Isaac play in an intense basketball game, what a thrill ;).

We celebrated Christmas Eve with a visit to Julie's grave for Dave and Greta followed by a party at Lauren and Elliot's house. The kids warmed up in spite of all of the commotion. Greta, however started to officially melt down at 7pm requiring us to call it an evening. Sully and Dave looked at Christmas lights while I put GG down. The kids opened gifts on Christmas morning and we celebrated Christmas Evening at my parents' house (complete with homemade fried ice cream, a true treat!). The Schocks came here on the 28th for dinner and a small celebration. Wow, what a week!

Greta girl wowed us with her first words and first steps, the greatest Christmas present of all.

I'm officially in recovery mode, I've cancelled most of my obligations this week in order to get the house back in order and get the kids back on their usual schedules.

Enjoy the photo gallery :).

My parents with the grandkids...no editing needed, a Christmas miracle! 

Christmas cards.

Christmas wrapping. 

Mommy and Greta all dressed up. 

Christmas Eve family photo. 

Santa came!

 This is so fun! 

Coming back for more Christmas fun after a quick breakfast. 

Kenzie Lou in on all of the action.

Connelly Christmas. 

Big, brave girl! 

Ready for the Schock family Christmas (Sully is obsessed with the hood :)).

Schock Christmas prep. Yes, the both (all three) have M&Ms in their mouths. 

This was their first tubby in days...way too busy! 

There goes the garage!

When we moved into the house last fall, Dave and I each had our dream list. Mine included things like an updated kitchen and bathrooms while Dave's consisted of bigger things, like a basement remodel and a wine cellar. There was one one thing we did not see eye to eye on and that was the future of the garage. Our conversations went something like this.

Dave: "One problem area is the garage, it either needs to be demolished or moved to the back of the lot."
Suzie: "What?! Move or demo it? Are you crazy? We cant knock down a perfectly good structure."
Dave: "Suz, it doesn't work. It's hard to get my car in and out and once both cars are in there, it is nearly impossible to get the kids' car seats in and and out. Don't get me wrong, it probably worked great when it was built (1922), but it doesn't work for the modern day family."
Suzie: "We can talk about that later. It is definitely not a priority."

Fast forward, after 14 months of pulling the car out in order to get the kids and car seats in/out, averaging 3 trips to and from the car just to get out of the house in all sorts of weather elements, and convincing plans from a couple of different professionals (which include a mudroom equipped with a powder room and an attached three stall garage) I was sold. I mean, how could I not be? The plans are awesome and as of last week, the garage is gone. It will be a long winter with no garage, but fortunately it will only be one winter and the new garage will be so worth it.

So, on that note, Merry Christmas, Dave!

Before, from the front. 

After.

Before, from the back yard. 

After.

Before.

After, we also took down a three season room. The den roof will eventually
be peaked and will tie into the attached garage roof. This will also
expose one of the living room windows which was covered with three
season room.

Tis the season.

With our St Croix trip so close to Thanksgiving, we didn't have a chance to put up our tree or do anything "Christmasy' before we left. So, we got up on Sunday morning and immediately started to deck the halls. Keep in mind, our halls are kind of closing in on us. As the construction continues, we move things from one spot to the next in hopes to keep them out of the way of the workers. We currently have the furniture of a couple of rooms at the very back of our living room, so we set up the tree in the front half. "This is all temporary" has become my mantra.

Anyway, we had to do a few decorations, mostly for the kids, but also because we really like to get in the spirit. I snapped a few photos of Dave and Sully hanging ornaments. Its funny how much time we spend sitting on the living room floor looking at and talking about the Christmas Tree.

Sully and Greta also met Santa yesterday. This was not our most successful year as both kids were sad, Greta, specifically, was red faced and screaming within moments of being set on Santa's lap. Sully was squirmy and whiney, but I think that was mostly because Greta's reaction made him nervous. The Olivers were there as well, so at least the kids enjoyed that portion of it. There is always next year :).  We wrapped up the festive day with new Christmas jammies for both kids. It was a pretty great day.

Trimming the tree. 

Anna and Isaac, professional Santa chatters. 

All is good in mama and dada's arms. 

OMG!! Help ME!

Sully kind of considering it once Greta is gone. 

Christmas jammies. 

St. Croix

Before I jump into our St. Croix adventure, I need to backtrack a couple of days and talk about Thanksgiving. Maggie hosted this year to a very small group (14 this year). It was the Connelly girls (including the oldest Connelly girl, my mom), their fiance/husbands, and offspring. It was really nice and relaxing. We timed it just right to eat when Greta was down for her nap which was great. Sully is in hog heaven with Isaac and Anna, so Dave and I were both able to eat with both hands...now THAT is something to be thankful for. We have countless other blessings: our great healthy kids, supportive families, beautiful friends, health and love, to mention a few. Thanks to the Olivers for hosting!

Thanksgiving selfie. 

We spent the last week on St Croix in the Caribbean. Dave and I took the kids, and Courtney, our babysitter and my sanity keeper. The week was perfect; beautiful, warm, relaxing mornings by the pool or beach, afternoon naps for the kids (and sometimes the adults, too), and then an after nap dip in the pool. The travel was difficult. Lets face it, traveling with kids is never easy, but throw a cancellation and a delay on the trip down and 36 hours later, we were finally there. The 12 hour trip on the way home was a breeze in comparison to the trip down. 

Dave had meetings most of the mornings, so Courtney and I got up with the kids, served breakfast and made our way to the pool asap. Sully started the week being very clingy in the water, but by the end he was rocking a hot pink lifejacket and totally doing his thing. He kicked his little body all around the pool. Greta also warmed up, eventually backing herself into the pool like she backs herself down our stairs. They are so funny, their little personalities crack me up. Dave would return in time for lunch and naps. We did go out for dinner one night while Courtney hung with the kids, which was really nice. 

One thing that was very apparent this trip is that sibling rivalry starts early. I can't believe how Sully and Greta get into each other's business. I have to admit, a lot of times Sully is defending himself because GG is as feisty as a one year old gets, unless Dave is involved. Sully does anything in his power to have Dave all to himself. Holy cow, its exhausting.

Sully officially turned 2 and a half while we were there and Greta turned 13 months. Greta also got 5 new teeth this month, three of which were molars and she was also diagnosed with strep throat immediately upon our return. My head is still spinning from all of the excitement.

Despite a few bumps in the road, we had a great trip. Having Courtney along made it really seem like a vacation for me. She is so helpful and kind, but the best part about her is that she really loves my kids, and they love her, too. We couldn't ask for a better person in our lives.

Family photo at the eastern most point of the US.  

Greta, no fear of the sand. 

Sully near Point Udall. I loved the colors and textures in this photo.  

Pool time with Greta and Sully.

The kids and Courtney. 

Group photo at our beach lunch spot. 

Sully. 

Dave and I at dinner.  

Lunch dates. 

Two weekends, two trips, and one fabulous husband.

Dave has been super-daddy, and super-husband while I have been away for two weekends in a row. What a good sport. I know it is really busy around here with the kids, and even though he says he enjoys every second of it, I can read through the lines and tell he is exhausted. Also, the fact that he was been in bed by 9pm on the Sundays that I returned has also been a good indication as to how tired he has been.

I spent the weekend of Nov 14-16 in St. Louis with Stacy and her kids, which was great. I had not seen them since July and I cant believe how big her baby is. We picked up right where we left off. We spent the days managing the kids and the evenings eating ice cream and talking/watching tv. We did some figuring, and that was my sixth trip this year. Wow, hard to believe. The circumstances are so crappy, but our friendship has strengthened in so many ways, as well as the friendships surrounding mine and Stacy's. I know I've touched on this before, but I don't feel like I can say it enough. The luck I've had in the friend department is something I'll never take for granted. 

Maggie and I went to Minneapolis this last weekend for our biannual shopping trip. We got smart this year and had babysitters come at 9 on Friday morning so we could get on the road early. As the weekend approached, we created a master list of 'to-dos' and 'to-buys' and then compiled the list into a master game plan on the drive up. Its all about strategy, and I'm happy to say it paid off. Our first stop was in Edina where my friend Leanne met us. We wandered around there for a few hours before heading to our hotel. We stayed at a hotel which is connected to the Mall of America which was genius. There were no parking lots to navigate, no coats to lug around, and a convenient place to drop off our bags when they got too heavy. Leanne hung with us for several hours and then had dinner with us before she returned home on Friday evening. It was really great to be with her, and I know she was grateful for a day out as well.  Saturday was one big shopping spree. We started at 10 when the shops opened and made a dinner reservation for 9pm when the shops closed. What a day! We returned home on Sunday afternoon and couldn't believe the weekend was over. We were tempted to just stay a couple more days. Thank God for a fabulous sis, seriously. The kids were so happy to have me home, Greta has hardly let me out of her site since then :).

In the week between the two trips, Dave came down with strep throat. Poor guy. He carried through like a trooper and fortunately the rest of us avoided it. In that same week, we celebrated our 5th anniversary since our first date. Hard to believe how much has happened in five years. Dave and I had chemistry and companionship from the beginning, but I didn't realize how much more about him there was to know. I'm grateful for his persistence and commitment to his family. It was after our second date, the following week, that he told me I was the one for him and he wasn't interested in waiting around for long. I thought he was crazy, but was interested to see where things would go from there. Lucky for me, and for him, it worked out! Happy anniversary, Dave. Thanks for a great five years.

Sweet Greta at the grocery store. 

After nap fruit snack.

Lol. 

Twin selfie. 

Bundled up Sully. 

Christmas lights are up! Almost time to turn on the Christmas music. 

Greta is 1!

I can hardly believe Greta turned one. What a year it has been. I get a little emotional when I think back to the days just before she joined us, then the excitement and adjustment to two. She is the sweetest, most smiley girl I know, and I'm so lucky she is mine. 

We celebrated with one final nursing session first thing in the morning and then did only fun things all day, including Kindermusic, lunch, naps, and a big birthday party with our families. We had a houseful and as you could imagine, she was completely overwhelmed. Sully loved to help her blow out her candle and open gifts. In true big brother form, he still sings 'Happy Birthday' (in his own lingo, "Happy...GG!" followed by fake-blowing out a candle). She loves this attention from him. 

Greta was also lucky to get a new cousin on her birthday. Our nephew Kyle and his wife, Amy were due 8 days earlier with a baby girl. As the days ticked away, I hoped, but didn't anticipate that it would actually work out. She ended up being induced on the morning of November 5th and at 2:34pm Madelynn Rue came into the world. She weighed 6lbs and 5oz. Dave and I were able to meet her the following day and she is a beautiful baby. We are so excited for Kyle and Amy.

We went in to see Dr Sam for Greta's one year check up on Friday and got a great report. She is 18lbs 10oz, 29 inches tall and her head circumference is 18 inches. We followed that up with 5 shots and a blood draw. Sully also got his flu shot the same day. Needless to say, we were all happy to leave the doctor's office. 

Good morning, birthday girl! 

"GG one! Sully two!"

Madelynn Rue

Sweet Greta (with a little support from daddy).

Cupcake consideration. 

A little help from Isaac ;).

Balloon fun.

Sully and his BFF, Anna.

Birthday family photo.