Eliana Grace - 6 months old!

September 28, 2009

Six months ago today my 2nd baby girl was born! It is absolutely impossible to believe that 6 months have already passed since she came into our lives, but at the same time it seems like she has always been here.

Eliana is truly the sweetest, happiest, easiest baby that has ever been. She smiles with her whole entire face and just fills me with joy everytime I see her. She loves her family and especially her big sister.....everytime Aubrey comes home Eliana starts laughing hysterically at her.

So at six months old, Eliana is a champ on her belly......you can't put her down for 2 seconds without her flipping over to be on her belly! She is just starting to pull her knees up underneath her and can push herself up on her arms really well. She's not quite sitting up yet, but she'll do it for a few seconds at a time. No rush for me!! I am so not ready for her to crawl or be mobile yet. I want her to stay my little baby for a little longer......although I can say for sure that I have enjoyed every second of her little life thus far. It's definitely easier the second time around......less worries and uncertainty, and more enjoyment of those early days and months that go by so fast.

Her official 6 month doctor visit is Fri. so I will have to update her stats then..(and here it is! 17lbs and 27inches, 95% percentile for her height!! My girls are going to tower over me one day)....but she is eating solid foods, sitting in her high chair, and putting everything within reach right into her mouth! No teeth yet, but she is definitely teething (and drooling!!) But she never complains. The only time she cries or fusses is every 3 hours or so when she is ready for her bottle.....other than that she plays and watches her surroundings, talks to herself and her toys, sleeps like a champ, and is just happy. Happy, happy girl. She truly brings such joy to our lives.....she is just a dream. She sleeps 12 hours at night and wakes up with a big old smile on her face.

I can't wait to get to know this little munchkin more and see the amazing little girl she is growing up to be. How I got to be so blessed with my girls I will never know, but I thank God everyday for the miracles that they both are.

Happy 6 month birthday Eliana Grace Katz!

We love you sooooo much!!

5 years old......

Sept. 19th, 2004........

Aubrey Michele Katz came into this world weighing 7lbs, 6 oz., 20in. long and screaming her head off!!!!

And has brought such joy and love and amazement to our lives every day since.

On Saturday, Sept.19th, 2009 (this year at 38lbs, and 44" tall) we celebrated Aubrey's 5th birthday! She wanted a "doggie party" so we rounded up every dog decoration, craft, cake that we could find and made it happen! 2 hours and 25 crazy kids running around having a blast.......she loved it and we all had a great time. We were so busy though we didn't get too many pictures!! :( But I am going to try to get some from friends that were there and will post them as soon as I do.

Now onto the mushy, mommy stuff.........

So incredibly hard to believe that 5 years have already passed since we had our first baby girl. I will never, ever forget the day I found out I was pregnant with Aubrey......in our little apartment in NYC, completely and totally shocked!! And thrilled.......and I will also never forget the day our doctor told me that we were having a little girl. We were so excited.....a beautiful baby girl.

So now that baby girl is 5 years old going on 15 for sure!

She is fiercely independent, strong willed, determined, creative, loving, and hands down the best negotiator I have ever seen at such a young age. She is a tough one sometimes though and I find myself praying for patience all too often! But I love her for her strong spirit and I know it is going to serve her well as she journeys through life. Someone recently told me that "God does not give strong girls to weak women....." I love that. Let's hope I stay a strong woman to help guide this amazing little girl!

She loves to sing and dance and play with her animals. And by animals I mean the 50 stuffed animals and probably 50 more plastic animals (horses, dogs, cats, unicorns, whales, coyotes, you name it) that she rotates through every day. She can entertain herself for hours at a time just talking and creating stories and games with these animals. Every night when she goes to sleep she surrounds herself with about 10-15 animals (the selection changes daily except for a few favorites) and when she sneaks into our bed about 3am every morning she brings them alllll with her. So we usually wake up with a sweet little girl and about 10 various stuffed creatures in our bed every morning! It is precious.

As independent as she is though, she has moments where she wants nothing more than to snuggle and love on her mommy and daddy and baby sister. She tells us daily that she is never going to get married and never going to college.....she wants to stay with us forever!!! I am going to remind her of this when she calls to tell me she is on a plane to China or France or wherever that spirit takes her. I know better! But I can say for sure that if she did want to stay here forever I would love it! :)

I am so proud of Aubrey and I love her to a million little pieces. She is my big girl, but still my precious baby and always will be.

Happy 5th Birthday Aubrey!!! I know this year will bring many wonderful moments and smiles and times to treasure to all of us.........

We love you Aubrey!!

Hilton Head!

We did our annual trip to Hilton Head, SC over Labor Day weekend and had a blast. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we enjoyed some much needed R&R!!

Every morning began with a trip to the beach where we stayed most of the day! Aubrey loves playing in the sand, jumping in the waves and making new friends. Eliana was happy as she could be to lay on a giant towel in the sand on her belly and just enjoy the cool ocean breeze. We played in the pool a bit and then headed out to yummy seafood dinners everynight! Every place we went had live music so we sat outdoors and Aubrey danced to the various entertainers and had a ball. We went to Lawton Stables so Aubrey could ride a pony.......her favorite thing to do every year! She still loves horses and can't wait until she is 8 years old to go to horse camp!!

It was a wonderful weekend........so nice to just be there and enjoy some quality family time with our girls!!

Already planning and looking forward to next year!

1st Day of Pre-K

Aubrey started Pre-K on Monday!

She was soooo excited. She keeps telling me that Pre-K is not the same as school........it's for big girls. And right she is. I am so proud of her. I asked her what she learned at school today and she said,"that it is not nice to tell someone that you don't like their dress. That would hurt their feelings." So lessons in manners it is! But she assured me she was going to learn to read tomorrow so we shall see......(she always tells me she is going to do or see or learn something tomorrow, it's her favorite word these days).....I am pretty sure the year will begin with some letters and numbers before the "real" reading begins, but she is so excited to read!

It truly seems like yesterday I was in NYC at the corner of 57th street when I found out I was pregnant with a little girl.............and now here she is. I couldn't be more proud or happier for her and all her accomplishments in the past 4 years.

I love you Aubrey Michele!!

:)

Sisterly love.........

Aubrey cracks Eliana up!!!!
She has just recently started laughing at things she sees and her number one favorite is to watch her big sister! She looooves Aubrey, she lights up with the biggest smile everytime she walks into the room.
Aubrey was putting on a little show for Ella this evening...........

Happy Anniversary!!

Well, technically our anniversary is tomorrow, August 30th, but tomorrow night is the night before school starts back and I doubt I will have time to blog!!  

Six years ago Jon and I were married!!  Still so hard to believe it has been that long, although I feel as if we have been together forever...(in a good way!:)

Six years, 3 states, 2 babies and a lifetime's worth of memories have been made.  

We went to dinner this evening with our two beautiful girls and were reminiscing and laughing and smiling about what the past 11 years has brought us. (6 years married, 5 dating before that!)

We had a wonderful dinner at a "fancy" restaurant.....our babysitter was unavailable tonight so that is why the girls came!  We decided, why not??  They were both complete angels and the food was amazing.  Aubrey used her very best table manners right up until the very end.......then the sugar rush from the banana cream pie desert kicked in and she got pretty silly!  She made a very loud comment about a man who happened to be bald....."look mommy, that man has noooo hair! Just like Eliana!"  I laughed so hard I cried while trying to tell her that wasn't nice, all at the same time.  Definitely made the evening a little more unforgettable.  

So thank you to my husband for putting up with me for the past 6 years, giving me the two most precious girls in the world, and here's to a lifetime of more happy anniversaries.

My Girls....

Eliana is allll about her cereal and eating in her high chair now! She must be going through a growth spurt because I cannot keep this child full these days! Aubrey loves to help me feed her, I think she thinks Eliana is her own personal-real-life-doll..........
:)
Just a sweet picture of my girls........

American Girl Day!

Today I surprised Aubrey by picking up her best friend Ellery and taking them to the American Girl Doll store for shopping and lunch!  The dolls got their ears pierced today, paid for by the girls with their own money which they had saved up, and we all had a yummy lunch at the bistro there complete with ice cream sundaes!!  We then headed up to the Carousel, did some shopping and then headed back home for a little more playtime before crashing!!  Eliana stayed awake almost the entire day because she was so excited watching her big sister and all the cool stuff we saw today so needless to say she was out for the count at 7pm on the dot this evening!  

Just wanted to get in one last super fun outing before I start work next week and Aubrey starts school......I love hanging with my girls!!  

Long time coming..........

DECEMBER 2008

So it has been months since I have done this blog, but not because I haven't wanted to!! It's amazing how time and life can let things get away from us.......I am going to do my best to summarize our past few months and post some highlights, and then start fresh for the here and now!

There has certainly not been a dull moment in the Katz household since November. Lots of wonderful, happy moments, some sad, but all memorable and special to me.

I will start with Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed spending time with our families and sharing yummy food, lots of laughs, and way too many presents for our resident princess....Aubrey had an American Girl Christmas and was showered with gifts from all our families and was so excited. She smiled and laughed the entire day!

We did all of our favorite holiday traditions........seeing Santa at Phipps Plaza, riding the Pink Pig, going to see the lights at Life College, drinking lots of hot chocolate and just spending time with our family and friends. We were very blessed this year with more blessings than I am able to name and we are so thankful. We said so long and farewell to 2008 with much gratefulness and are looking forward to an exciting 2009 ahead of us!!

JANUARY 2009

January began with a sad and difficult time for our family. Jon's stepmother, Jody Katz, passed away after battling cancer. We were so sad to say goodbye to her and will miss her so very much. She loved all of us, but especially Aubrey.......she loved to talk to her and play with her and was always so excited to buy clothes for her! She definitely instilled her love of fashion in Aubrey...... :) It was hard for Aubrey to understand that she had passed, but Aubrey decided that it was okay because she was now in heaven and became an angel....... so sweet. We will miss "Grandma Jody" !!

In December I began rehearsals for Jesus Christ Superstart Gospel here in Atlanta at the Alliance Theatre.  What an unbelievable experience it was!!!  Everyday at rehearsals I was continually blown away by the talent, the joy and the love and inspiration my cast members brought this show.  And I felt even more blessed to be a part of the show considering I was hired even though I was pregnant!!!  A thing not heard of too often in the world of theatre!!  But what a sweet journey it was to share this amazing show, this beautiful music with my baby girl in my belly the whole time.  She would kick as the drummer was drumming and move all around at the sounds of these amazing voices night after night.    We opened the show to rave reviews and everyone that came to see it just couldn't stop talking about it.  What an event it was for Atlanta, for me and for everyone that came to share it.  I just feel so blessed and so grateful to have had this experience and I know I will never, ever forget it.  Every show was such a gift and a blessing to me.......no matter how big my belly got, no matter how tired I was, no matter how many contractions I was having during the shows!!!!!  Oh yes, good times.  But it was a once in a lifetime experience and I am thankful to everyone who shared it with me.  

Jon and I at opening night.......

Me on the Red Carpet!  And of course my shining moment with Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland who came to see the show and loved it!!

So exactly one month and 5 days after we closed the show..........

My precious baby girl.......Eliana Grace Katz......was born.

March 28, 2009

8lbs. 2 oz., 21.5 in 

I was 37 weeks along but had been having contractions for months!!  I woke up that morning, on a Saturday and I just knew it was the day.  I cleaned my house from top to bottom, and started having contractions around 10am.  We knew I had to have a c-section so we called the doctor to let her know about the contractions and she said to come on in.......time to have the baby!!!  I packed Aubrey up to stay with our friends and tearfully said goodbye to her.   I was so excited and so sad all at the same time......to be giving my big girl a baby sister that I knew she would love and adore, but also to be saying goodbye to the 4 years of just her here in our lives.....but I knew we were about to be blessed beyond belief with this little life and I was right!!

Eliana is the sweetest, most precious baby girl and I am the luckiest mommy alive to have her here with me, making me smile and laugh and just filling me with joy day after day.  Aubrey is such a wonderful big sister and we have just been blessed beyond belief with our 2 beautiful girls.  Everyday I am amazed at my little miracles here in front of me.  They have taught me so much about love and joy and life.  God is soooo good!  

I love getting to know Eliana more and more each day.  She is such a happy, happy girl.  I sing the Martina McBride song to her, "Happy Girl" because it makes me think of her everytime I hear it!  She does nothing but smile, eat, sleep, smile.......  

And now here we are, 4 months later, winding down a wonderful summer.  2 beach trips to Destin, one trip to Louisiana for some Wood Family time, one trip to South Florida for some Katz Family time, and lots of miles on my new car-but worth every one of them.  It has been a great summer with my family, the four of us, journeying in this new direction together!!  I feel so complete and so utterly blessed.

Aubrey starts Pre-K next week.......my very big girl that I am so proud of.  Eliana will be 5 months next week and is a "tummy time" champ....like a little yogi in her "cobra" pose......

I have begun my yoga practice again and so thankful to be back in it.  I start back to work teaching at The Music Class next week and am looking forward to all those sweet little faces I get to bless with Music every week!

Jon continues to hold down the Southeastern district in his company and still loves his job.......he has also grown his love for his yard and the raspberry bushes we have and made a delicious batch of his "jonny jam" again this year......it is a neighborhood staple now.....  I knew I would make a proper Georgia boy out of him!!

I have been wanting to update this blog and share my memories for so long now and am so proud of myself for finally doing it!!!!  Now to continue from here and share life's journey with this family that I am so blessed and thankful to have by my side.

Thanksgiving.......

I am so thankful today for so many things.......I am thankful for my husband and for how absolutely wonderful he is. I am thankful for my beautiful daughter and how she makes me smile everytime I think about her! I am thankful for this little girl baby in my belly and what a miracle and blessing she is........

We were talking today about how blessed we feel to be surrounded by so many people that we love..........we are so grateful for our families and our friends and for how much they mean to us.

We sometimes wish to be closer and see each other more often, but we know that we all love each other very much and that is what matters the most.

I especially want to write and say how thankful I am for my beautiful Grandmother that passed away last month. I have been wanting to write about her but have just been a little sad and not able to. But today I was thinking of her and how much we all miss her and I am just so thankful to have had her in my life for so long and for all the memories and love I was able to share with her. She lived 93 amazing years and was a Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother and even a Great, Great Grandmother...........she was so wonderful. Our family got together last weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving and it was the first time in my 31 years that she wasn't there to celebrate and be with us all........we were sad, but just looking around the room at all the family she created and brought together was truly a blessing to see. She was loved by so many, and very much by me.

So a heartfelt thankfulness goes to my Grandmother, all my family, my friends and the many blessings I am given each and every day.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!