Happy 2nd Birthday, Melanie Grace!

Melanie celebrated her 2nd birthday on Wednesday, March 3 with her neighborhood friends Aya & Ellie (Grace was sick), and the added bonus of Molly.  She had a great time, and was more open with her friends than she usually is, since Molly was there.  The girls had pizza and cake, and Mel LOVED it when everyone sang Happy Birthday to her.  She had a dazzled look in her eyes as she looked around at everyone; then we attempted to blow out the candles, but we clearly had not worked on that trick.  I tried to get her to do it for a while, but once her finger went toward the flame, I blew them out for her.  She then hugged each of her party guests and feasted on the cake.

We had been preparing Mel for a while for her birthday - so she would say "Mine birthday" and point at her birthday shirt, or she would practice "singing" Happy Birthday.  She had some birthday books that we read every night, and if she saw her 'birthday dress' that I bought for her (that I later changed to a different dress) she would say "birthday!"  We're now trying to have it sink in that her birthday is over.  Maybe we hyped it up a bit much.

Post-vacation three-day weekend

It was nice to enjoy a three-day weekend after returning from Florida.  Did I mention that when we got back at 11:30pm on Thursday night, our neighbors Paula & Tom (well, Tom, I'm sure) had snowblown our driveway, sidewalk, and front walk??  That was an awesome welcome-home present, since we had received more snow while we were gone!

Friday was a "getting-back-to-normal day" - I had lunch with Rick & Lori from Lauth, we hung out at home, and then that night Mel & I met a lot of family members for a February birthday celebration in Thorntown.  Mel was thrilled to see Molly after talking about her all week, and she enjoyed playing with her cousins Lily and Bella (Wyatt was a little too cool to play with the girls).  That night, after a bit of struggle getting Melanie to bed, she again slept through the night in her new bed with no problems.  When I told her it was bedtime, she went straight in and laid down, but it was just a matter of getting her to stay there...but we're working on it.

Saturday we had Gymboree, and Melanie fell asleep on the way home (mid lunch, I might add).  She continued her nap once we got home, and we hung out at home again, playing and staying entertained by Mel's stories and antics.  She now loves playing in her new room and making cookies.  Saturday night wasn't the best sleep-in-the-new room night; we were up three times with her.  This is why we're doing this before the baby comes :)

Sunday we got an early start at the Children's Museum; we ended up buying a membership, which I knew I wanted to do at some point.  She had a great time playing in the Playscape area, and we rode the carousel twice.  She did NOT want to ride on the horses, but we sat on a bench as a warm-up to the real thing.   Apparently she was pretty exhausted from the museum trip, because once again she fell asleep mid-snack in the car.

Big Girl Bed

Before we left for Florida, Jeff painted Melanie's "big girl room" and we got it all ready for her.  I thought that after being away from her crib/room for four nights in Florida, it might be a good transition time to her new room and bed.  On our trip home from Florida, Mel fell asleep on the flight, and didn't wake up when we got home - so she went straight into her new bed (unbeknownst to her!) and slept until 7:30am the following day!  We're currently on Night Two of the big-girl bed (she's there now), so we'll see how this continues....

Fun in the Sun

Despite unseasonably-chilly temps in Englewood, Florida for our trip (February 14-18), here are the top things we did while we were there that we could NOT have done if we were in Indiana that same week:

1.  Jeff played golf

2.  I took a nap on the screened-in porch

3.  We took three trips to the beach

4.  We went on a boat ride

5.  We saw dolphins from the boat and from the pier behind my parents' condo

6.  We ate lunch outdoors

7.  Mel played at the park a few times

8.  Mel "played" putt-putt

9.  We had date night while Mel hung out with Gigi & Poppy (this counts since we could not have done this while we were in Indiana and they were in Florida!)

All in all, I believe it was a successful trip!

First boat trip

On Wednesday of our trip to Florida, we boated over to a restaurant for lunch!  Larry & Diana Forrester's house is right across the street from where my parents were staying, and so we were lucky to see them a lot while we were there.  We cooked several dinners on the Big Green Egg (Jeff's ultimate grill dream), and then they took us for the boat ride.  We even saw dolphins on our boat trip!  Larry & Diana have a black Lab named Boiler, and, as we know, Melanie is not a big fan of dogs.  The catchphrase of the week was "Boiler is asleep" - Mel's answer any time we asked her if she wanted to go see him.  She even came out with a full sentence - "I don't want to see Boiler." 

First trip to the beach

Our first full day in Florida, the guys played golf while the girls explored the beach. This was Melanie's third plane trip (her sixth non-Indiana state visited), but it was her first trip to the beach! She really wanted nothing to do with the sand ON the beach, but I captured her first touch of the sand on the playground. And her first wipe-off of the sand on the playground :) By her second trip, the following day, she had warmed up and enjoyed the beach - and walking in the sand on the beach AND the playground - more.

Fun with Gigi & Poppy

When we arrived in Sarasota, Melanie was beyond ecstatic to see Gigi & Poppy waiting for her at the airport!  She JUMPED out of her stroller and barrelled down the hallway to greet them with open arms.  While she was a bit confused to see them without Molly, she enjoyed having them all to herself for the week!  She had LOTS of stories to tell them, and was drop-down exhausted by the end of each day (as were they, I'm sure!)