christmas at casa hart

waiting, originally uploaded by annaleahart.

we have been spending a day at home, super chill in our pjs, watching the littles play with new toys, walking a fussy baby around the house for hours, putting together legos and serving pb&j for dinner. seriously. jesse is out picking up a pizza for the two of us and we are going to cuddle up on the couch for the night in front of the tv.

our first christmas as a party of five. i love it.

(but i miss seeing our family and friends this time of year - kisses and hugs to all of you!)

(and see more of our christmas photos on flickr.)

our greatest gift

Raise, raise the song on high,

The Virgin sings her lullaby:

Joy, joy, for Christ is born,

The Babe, the Son of Mary!

joyeux noel

joyeux noel, originally uploaded by annaleahart.

wishing you a christmas full of peace, joy, and love.

love, annalea, jesse, luca, gia, and enzo

family photo shoot 2009

we had a photo shoot two weekends ago with our good friend tracy. she drove out from bloomington-normal and spent the afternoon with us trying to coax the kids to at least be in the frame for the photos. thanks hon!

here is a preview:

month one

we can honestly say we have survived the first month as a party of five. wahoo! (gia is rubbing off on me)

it has been a very full 4+ weeks. i am truly exhausted and would love a full night's sleep. who am i kidding? i would love to just sleep more than 3 hours at a time. it doesn't help that this is typically the busiest time of year and right now i am a walking zombie half of the time.

last week i took an unplanned blogging hiatus. i could not find the time. my spare moments were spent prepping gia's party, working on her birthday present (photos to come), shopping for and wrapping christmas gifts, and zoning out in front of the tv. my grandma came on wednesday to provide some much needed support. it was so great having the company and help. i was able to get out of the house a bit by myself! she also whipped up some yummy food to stock our freezer, so we are set for the next few weeks.


i had hoped to post a "here is enzo at one month" photo with a little update, but it is ultra gloomy here today and i have not been motivated to pull out the camera. maybe tomorrow? the top photo is my fave from last week. isn't it adorable? we went for a well baby check this morning. he now tips the scale at 9 lbs 11 oz, which is only the 55th percentile. i say "only" because i don't think luca and gia ever make it less than the 95th. my concern for a possible thrush infection was confirmed, but i was actually a bit relieved. the pain while nursing has been horrible (for me) over the last few days and i am glad to be able to do something about it. otherwise, he is very healthy boy. yay! he is beginning to coo and we have a couple social smiles from him this past weekend. makes my heart so full. i could just stare at him for hours!

she turned three

and we celebrated with her "favowite things evah" - shoes and the color pink!

reused the birthday banner from last year, but updated it a bit.

there was a request for "lots and lots of pink sparkly cupcakes."

pin the shoes on the gia.
gia poster courtesy of the amazing uncle cameron

waiting patiently for her cupcake.
isn't this the sweetest little expression of contentment?

we collected shoes to donate.

the top of our favor boxes filled with (fruit by the) feet for wearing your favorite shoes, (candy) necklaces to dress-up, and (hershey's) kisses from the birthday girl.

the tutu and sparkle shoes worn daily at casa hart were paired with a mama made shoe shirt. (special request from the birthday girl)

considering we had a baby turn four weeks old the day of the party, i am pretty amazed we even pulled off this party. the key was keeping it simple. as long as we maintain healthy boundaries, i think it is important to keep on living life. too much has been missed in the past due to the limitation of living with fibro. i have learned to change my standards rather than just let the events pass by. so, yes, i sent an evite for this party instead of making super cute pink and sparkly paper invites. and we served simple veggie, cheese, and meat trays, bread, pita, and crackers, and juice boxes instead of coming up with a shoe themed menu with cute finger foods and frothy fruity punch. and my fun idea of decorating shoe boxes for the party favors was forfeited to using candy boxes i had leftover from christmas gifts 5 years back with the kiddos names simply written on top.

i used circle punches (2 and 1 inch sizes), scrapbook paper, and a fine tip sharpie to make most of the decorations. i attached them to toothpicks for the cupcakes and added them to the birthday banner, favor boxes and donation bin to coordinate. we printed out coloring sheets found on-line for a simple craft activity (designing shoes with markers, glitter, pom poms, stickers, and construction paper) and played a simple game (pin the shoes on the gia) easy for the 2 and 3 year old population. the shoe shirt was a small final touch that cost me 5 dollars (shirt from meijer) and 15 minuted to cut and sew the applique from fabric in the stash.

how have the last three years gone by so fast? i spent this morning rewatching the videos taken on her second birthday - too precious. jesse and i have been very sentimental as we realize our baby is now fully in girlhood. can we just slow things down and keep all three of these children in our care from growing up? we are so thankful for being given the opportunity to raise them. but i too often take it all for granted. sooner than later i will have to push them (be it ever so gently) out of the nest. (sigh) i think i need to go have a good cry now.

(and happy 3rd birthday to our niece sofia! love you!)

someone forgot. . .

someone forgot. . ., originally uploaded by annaleahart.

to tell my little bay plant that it is time to go dormant.

actually as such a novice gardener, i am not sure if dormancy is a must, but i did not expect my herbs to grow so much once brought indoors.

guess it likes this window.