Easter, showers, parties and other recent happenings.

Wow, April came and has almost gone in the blink of an eye. We have been busy with Easter celebrations and are embarking on a basement project (which I hope flies by as quickly as April has...ha!).

We celebrated Easter last weekend with church in the morning followed by lunch and an Easter egg hunt at Mike and Jamie Willard's farm near Colton. It was our third year in a row, and my first year not pregnant. Although Sully still doesn't totally get the concept, he enjoyed running around and finding his eggs. Its safe to say the cinnamon rolls were the biggest hit in his book, though, oh my. That boy has my sweet tooth. Greta slept most of the day, and what a beautiful day it was. We feel really lucky to be included in the Willard celebration.

Maggie and I spent this past week prepping for our friend's bridal shower which we hosted here on Saturday. Sonia has been a friend of both of ours for a long time and she is getting married next month. We are really excited for her. We had 23 guests here for lunch, games and gifts. We had lots of fun prepping and even cleaning after it is all over. It really is great to have a sister as a bff, and to have her so close by. 

We continued the celebration later that evening with a bachelorette party for Sonia. I should mention that I snuck in another bachelorette party before Sonia's started for my friend, Megan from DC. What are the chances...two in one night. Sonia's sister did a great job organizing and went all out. We took a party bus to small town bars. It was fun to dance and party with all of our friends. 

Dave and the kids are great. We go in next week for their 6 month and 2 year appointments. I cant believe how time is flying. We introduced Greta to bananas last week and she seemed intrigued. We have had a hard time keeping at it, but need to as she needs more practice. Sully is so sweet and silly. He is definitely expressing some independence, in manageable amounts. We pick and choose our battles, if that means we go out in jammies, so be it. I'm making a conscious to not sweat the small stuff.

Last, but certainly not least, after four months we have finally decided on a contractor for the basement project. We do have plans for the house overall, but will start in the basement late May/early June. The house currently does not have air conditioning, so as you might imagine, that is one of the first steps. Our contractor thought it was possible for us to have A/C by July 1st. Let's see if that happens :).

Easter 2014

Greta hanging with her grandparents. 

Egg hunting/ Kick ball

Sully expressing his independence; his nap outfit:
shirt, pants, swim trunks and shoes.  

Sidewalk chalk with Sully. 

Swinging with daddy. 

Bananas.

Shower set up. 

Flowers and place settings. 

Maggie, Sonia and I

A few of the shower guests.

Megan's bachelorette party. 

Sonia's bachelorette party. 

Sunshine and a trip to St. Louis.

Time flies when you are having fun. I completely missed last weeks blog entry and I'm not even sure why. I hope its because we were outside enjoying the weather. Thats right, we have finally had some nice days. Sully has been racing around the yard while Greta plays with her toes and Dave and I clean up. We are in the process of having tons (literally) of landscape rock removed in order to create a kid's paradise. We intend to put almost everything to grass in order to maximize play space.

We celebrated on April 3rd with the news of the birth of my friend's baby in St Louis. She had a perfect baby boy (much to her surprise, she was thinking girl all along). He arrived four days after his due date and is a miracle child. Lucky for me, I had already booked my trip to visit, so I got to meet him when he was only six days old. He is so handsome and a very easy going baby. His big brother and sister are so proud of their new baby.

As one could imagine, their's is a very busy household. The kids are so sweet. Her daughter and I spent some time doing crafts and playing outside. I am lucky to be able to help her create some fun memories. I want to be someone she knows as she grows up, and I already feel that relationship developing. She was talking to one of her neighbor friends and I heard her say something like, "my Suzie gave it to me." My heart was overcome with happiness. They are all so special to me. Her little boy is getting so big and is so smart. He loves his sister and still wants his mom to do most things for him. He did make an unprompted reference to baby Greta, I know he remembers her from our last visit. He will be so impressed with how much she has grown when I bring her back this summer.

My friend is good. It is definitely a bittersweet time. It has been nearly 5 months since her husband's death and while she is working her way through the grieving process, having a newborn has definitely changed the progress. She is so good with her kids, incredibly patient and kind, maintaining routines and structure. I had to pinch myself on several occastions. I couldn't believe what I was doing there. I can't believe he is gone. I think back to our carefree college days and think if I had known then what I know now. How much sadness can one person endure? And why her? It is maddening. I wake up at night thinking of her and her uphill battle. Yes, it will get better, but when?

Dave was very busy here, but did great. We had a jungle gym delivered and set up while I was gone (happy early birthday, Sully!), so they were able to spend quite a bit of time on that. I returned to flowers, balloons, welcome home signs, piles of laundry, and to two smiling kids (one of which had her outfit on backwards...'but I thought the snaps went in front!') and a relieved husband. Ugh, I cant stop the tears. I've said it a million times, but I just wish I lived closer to her. Im happy to be home, but am anxious to get back.

Sully immediately jumps in as soon as Greta gets in.
This usually ends in tears. 

Birthday suit celebration for the birthday boy,
Joey Winters.

Racing around McKennan Park.

Sullivan supervising the play system assembly. 

Thank goodness mama left us with a loaf of banana bread!

Slide fun.

Totally under control with mama out of town. 

Spring Fever

I have a pretty good case of spring fever. The weather has started to get a smidgen better (although another snow storm is on its way! ugh.) and I can't wait to get out with the kids. They came down with nasty colds again this last week leaving us homebound for a couple of days. I cant believe the amount of infant tylenol and ibuprofen we go through.

Sullivan is 22 months old and Greta is almost 5 months old. I started the baby food making process this week and cant believe we are almost there. Greta is still obsessed with Sully, she giggles with delight whenever he gives her any sort of attention, wether it is a bit of roughhousing or sweet kisses, she will take it in any form. The older she gets, the more excited I am to watch their little relationship develop. Sully is a shy boy, so having Greta as his little sidekick will be great.

Last, but certainly not least, Maggie and I were able to get away for 30 hours this weekend. We went up to Minneapolis to do some shopping. Dave asked a few weeks ago if we had anything of the sort on the calendar and at the time we didn't, but I knew better then to pass up the subtle suggestion. Due to schedules, we could only go for a short time, but it was exactly what I needed. It was my first day off of child care since Greta's birth, 21 weeks ago. We were also able to meet my friend, Leanne, for brunch and some shopping on Sunday, which made the trip extra special. Mag and I have so much fun shopping together, we go into autopilot, one of us tries things on and the other keeps the items coming. Just one of the many reasons I am so thankful for her.

Speaking of being thankful, I owe big thanks and hugs and kisses to Dave for getting me out of town. When I got home last night he looked exhausted and completely worn down. I know it's not easy around here, especially since Greta is still up twice a night, and both of them are still so little, but it was so needed. I felt completely rejuvenated this morning when I woke up, the kids were extra cute, the sun was shining brighter than ever, and I had more patience than I have had in months. So, thank you Dave, it is so appreciated.

Baby food making. 

Diaper delivery at the Munce household. 

Sully's nap attire, boot and all :).

Living room fun. 

Greta 5 months, Sully 22 months. 

Busted! Sully, be nice!

Minneapolis. 

Munce Maddness

All is well in the Munce household. We spent the week trying to get out of vacation mode and were busy with lots of fun activities and lots of call shifts for Dave (in fact he is doing his third one this week today). This simply means lots of 'on my own' time with the kiddos. We've got it down.

Greta is officially rolling over! Big girl, she is going both ways, and is a total natural. Hardly any grunting involved. Dave and I were laying next to her and she was doing her thing and I said to Dave, 'did you see that?'. He responded, with 'see what?'. I said, 'Greta girl just rolled!' it was so natural and effortless that he didn't even realize it. Another really exciting piece of news to report is that she has dropped a night time feeding. I'm almost hesitant to put it in writing, but for the last three nights she has slept from 8pm until 1 or 2am. I forgot about the feeling of freedom when a feeding is dropped. The feeling is even more awesome when they do it naturally rather than having to spend 45 minutes with them crying it out. Just two more night time feedings to eliminate... come on Greta, you can do it!

Sully also had a good week. He has started to say a few more words independently bringing his total number to about 15, but we are pursuing assessment with the Birth to Three program to see if he meets criteria for in home speech therapy. We met with a woman this week and feel confident that we are only benefiting him by being proactive. He is the greatest little guy, and is obsessed with chicken nuggets, requesting them (by pointing and grunting at freezer) for every meal. I am able to sneak in fruit and cheese as well, so it works for everyone.

In other news, my Creighton Bluejays are in the NCAA tournament this year and we have had lots of fun watching them. They play again this evening and we are hoping to go up to the hospital to watch part of the game with Dave. Im bummed to not have Creighton shirts for the whole family. Maybe next year. We have also been following University of Dayton. My friend, Stacy's, late husband, Dave was an alumni from UD and they are upsetting one team after the next. Im sure Dave is smiling down. Stacy is 39 weeks pregnant today, due to have her baby anytime. I am lucky enough to be going in a couple of weeks, shortly after her due date. Im definitely looking forward to newborn snuggles and best friend time with Stacy.

Addendum: The Bluejays are in trouble, hopefully they can pull something off!

Happy St Patrick's Day!
Sully 21 1/2 mos, Greta 4 1/2 mos.

Our fine motor boy and his masterpiece. 

Reading stories to Greta. 

Playing at the Oliver's. Greta is the toy of choice :).

Sweet cheeks. 

I introduced Sully to jelly beans today, he is
protecting them in this photo.

Similar smiles, similar toes <3.

Coronado, CA

We did it!

We traveled half way across the country and back with our two young and busy kids, and survived. We are exhausted, but had a really great time. Coronado is so magical, it is the one place we travel to and never quite feel ready to come home.

We had a great week. We kicked it off by having friends from LA down for a pool/beach day, followed by more beach days, a visit to the Birch Aquarium, the mall, lunch on the Pier in Imperial Beach, the Coronado Library for story time, Balboa Park, family photos, a morning golf game (for Dave and my dad), lots of good food, including a spot from Diners, Drive Ins and Dives, a favorite show of ours, and a date night for Dave and I. My parents had returned to Coronado after a two week adventure to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands part way through our visit. It was great to spend part of the week with them. I love to watch them with my kids.

We played hard; chased birds, ran into crashing waves, strolled by the beach, chased dogs on the dog beach, and giggled and screamed with excitement over just about every new adventure.  We all took almost daily long naps. Sully even slept in sandals most days, definitely showing us that he is an independent little boy. Greta was a trooper, barely crying at all, just along for the ride, always smiling and blowing bubbles.

We are spoiled to have such a great place to visit, and the kids make it that much more enjoyable. We were gone for nine days, and I can honestly say that it wasn't long enough. We hope to go longer next year.

Greta had her four month check up the day before we left and she is right on for all of her measurements. She weighs 12 pounds and is 24 inches long, putting her at the 50th percentile for both. We are holding steady at two teeth, but drooling up a storm. Her skin issues have also been under control. We need to be diligent with creams, but we are managing. I have never been so excited for humidity in my life.

Oh, and how could I forget...I celebrated my 34th birthday on the day we arrived on Coronado. I was spoiled with a new pair of sunglasses and lovely bouquet of flowers upon our arrival. I am a lucky girl.

Enjoy the abundance of photos below.

Early morning flight. 

Birthday flowers. 

Daddy and kids playing in the sand. 

Daddy and Sully at the Dog Beach. 

Snuggles. 

Birch Aquarium and the shark tank. 

Family photo overlooking the La Jolla cove. 

Grandpa helping with jammies. 

Sully's masterpiece ;).

Waiting for a table at Hodads in Ocean Beach. 

Daddy's girl. 

Sullivan. 

Greta girl. 

Dr. Daddy

The cold nasty winter continues, and we are trying to be good sports. We have had a string of colds between the four of us and we cannot wait for some Vitamin D. It seems like Dave has been working more call than usual (although I know he isn't, really, it just feels like it), so we have referred back to the old motto: 'If you can't beat them, join them.' We did just that last weekend when he was on call. It was cold as heck, so we parked as close as we could and spent the afternoon at the hospital with Dave. It was great, we played dress up, watched TV, and had dinner. He rarely has a quiet afternoon, but lucky for us, we picked just the right one. 

Otherwise, life carries on. We are desperately working on sleep. Greta has two more teeth on their way through (the top two), which is bittersweet as I can't wait for them to cut through for her pain relief, but nursing pain is sure to increase. Its all part of the deal, I know I survived with Sully, so will survive this time around, too. She has definitely found her voice and spends most of her awake time cooing and screaming. She is a little chatterbox, Sully, however, is still hardly talking. I'm trying to stay optimistic about it, but I am a smidgen worried. He is so adorable and the best big brother. This morning at music class a little boy was lingering near Greta's car seat so Sully strong armed him away and then laid on her. Uh oh! 

Dress up with daddy. 

Happiest boy.  

Greta love. 

Tummy time.  

Matching vests from one of Dave's partners.
Greta, 4 months and Sully, 21 months. 

Happiest girl.