2 Years??? 2 Years!!!!!

Today is our second wedding anniversary and it is so hard to believe that we have been married 2 whole years already. I can still remember the day that we met like it was yesterday. And here we are, years later, living in a different state...in our new home...with our Lucy girl...and our new baby boy. So much has happened ~ so much that we are grateful for.

So in honor of our second anniversary, we wanted to put together a photo timeline of our wonderful life together. Now, if I had more than 7 minutes to put this together before James starts fussing, you would see a custom made video with music and photos, but since I only have 6 and counting minutes, we all have to settle for good old fashioned photography. :)

This is the first photograph that we ever took together. We were at my cousin Julie's engagement party up in Connecticut. We had just met each other the week before and I conned Ed into coming to the party by saying that I didn't have a ride (which was not true at all!).

Shortly after we met, it was time for my 10-year high school reunion down in VA so we made the trek down. Not only did we attend the event, it was the first time Ed got to meet Mom and Dad Q.

Every summer, my family rents the same house (thank you Sheila!) at Bethany Beach and this was taken on Ed's first of many trips with us. He had just bought me that green hoodie on the Ocean City boardwalk since there was a chill in the air.

On the anniversary of our first meeting, we decided to celebrate in style and spent the weekend in New York City. We stayed in a great hotel on the Upper West Side and toured all the sites (including Lincoln Center, Gray's Papaya and H&H Bagel). We also went to see the Putnum County Spelling Bee which was still on Broadway at the time. It was a GREAT first anniversary trip.

We attended many weddings in the Fall of 2007 (Frascatore, Elmore, Seigal and Green to name a few) and had the opportunity to take in the sites of Los Angeles when out in CA for the Elmore wedding. We had a blast at the Chinese Theatre, seeing all the movie stars' names in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and visiting Universal Studios. The only thing we couldn't seem to get close to or even find for a snapshot was the darn Hollywood sign!!

In the summer of 2008 we went on the first of 2 trips to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Next up was Ed's 30th birthday party and his surprise BBQ party in the park. And I'm proud to say that I actually pulled off the surprise!

And then the big moment...OUR ENGAGEMENT!!!! We were at Bethany Beach with the family and you can read about the whole thing here.

We continued our tradition of visiting NYC each Christmas to see the tree...

... and took a trip out east to see the lighthouse at Montauk Point.

Lucy entered our lives in the Summer of 2009 and things never were the same!

After an amazing engagement photo session with our awesome photographer (Milimeter Photography)...

...and 2 wonderful engagement parties...

...it was time for the BIG DAY!!!

And what a great day it was. :)

There are so many more photos and highlights that I didn't mention, but the baby is stirring so it's time to go. Here's to many more anniversaries and memories as we tackle this life together!! Love You Bubs!!

The Rewards of Membership

One of the perks of using an AMEX card to buy all the everyday things you need for a baby is that you rack up tons and tons of Membership Reward points that you can put towards stuff that you actually want to buy. Ed and I experienced this today when we realized that we had enough points to cash in on something that caught our eye a while back.

What is it you ask?

Well, we are not quite ready to divulge since we do not yet have it in hand. But it is something for the house (and not baby related) and is something that I/we have had our eyes on for some time now. It's all part of our plan to make our house more functional by using every bit of space we have.

Some clues:

• It is going in our living room.
• It is from my most favorite furniture store on the planet.
• It will make our living space that much more user friendly.

As soon as we have it up and running, we'll let you in on the details. In the meantime, we'll be out buying diapers and formula to rack up enough points to purchase the beautiful chair that is meant to go with it!

Baby's First Easter

We had a great time celebrating James' first Easter holiday yesterday. Typically we are up in NY with Ed's family, but since James is still a tiny munchkin with no vaccinations, we decided to stay close to home and celebrate with Grandma and Grandpa Q.

The morning started off with a visit from the Easter Bunny. Looks like Mr. Bunny was very generous this year to both James and Lucy. James' basket was filled with all kinds of books and toys while Lucy was treated to a bunny doll that is as big as she is!

The Easter surprises continued when we arrived at the Grandparent's house. Looks like the Easter Bunny visited that household as well! James was treated not only to a bunny basket with goodies including bunny ears (he's so embarrassed about that pic!), but also a MEGA Blocks wagon filled with books and toys. He's one lucky guy!!

It was a lovely day spent with not only family, but good friends the Iovino's. They were in town visiting their son who is in dental school in DC so it was really great to spend time with them.

Happy Easter 2012!!

Spring Clean-up

Yesterday we took advantage of the beautiful weather to do a little outdoor maintenance. James was in a sleepy mood which allowed us to dive into our flower beds and make things pretty again for the new season.

First stop was Home Depot to pick up some essentials: mulch, annuals, and herbs. I think all of Northern Virginia had the same plan because the place was a mob scene. We managed to get all that we needed (in 2 carts of course) and made our way to the check out line where we met a future Mom (due on April 16th) and a new Mom. We all bonded over late night feedings, car seats and Kate Spade diaper bags while we waited to buy our plants. James even enjoyed himself on his first of many Home Depot visits.

When we got home, we did tag team gardening. Ed started out cleaning up the front of the house flower bed while I fed James and put him down for a nap. When it was time to plant the flowers, I took over and Ed was on James duty. It took a little more maneuvering, but we made it work.

Here's a look at what things were like before our spring cleaning - note that there was some sort of animal den in one of our lilyrope plants. Ick!

It really wasn't too bad. We were so happy that the azaleas we planted last year had made it and were blooming. Same goes for our gorgeous dogwood tree that is still on the mend from it's 2011 snow accident.

After a few hours things were looking like this:

You gotta love a job well done. In addition to the front, we also cleaned up the back yard and set up the deck so that we can start having dinner outside. I also got my herb garden going again. James even contributed by snoozing during most of the clean up. All in all, it was a very productive day that led to a very sleepy night. :)

Siblings

Since James came home from the hospital, I have been dying to do a little siblings photo shoot with Lucy. If you remember, we bought Lucy a Big Sister T-Shirt from the Chicago T-Shirt Deli:

Well, before James was born, I found a onsie that says "I'm the Little Brother" and since he has been born, I have been dying to get them in their t-shirts and photographed. Well, that day was today and I can't tell you how cute the photos turned out!! Of course I took close to 100 pictures, and I have to say my subjects behaved wonderfully:

Lucy loved the opportunity to lick James' toes and James loved laying on Mommy and Daddy's bed. Luckily I was able to snap the money shot before they lost interest:

We are thinking of tinkering with the color mode and hanging it in James' nursery. What do we think of black and white?

Or perhaps the always popular palette knife filter:

Or maybe go completely funky and make them look like comic book characters:

I am a fan of that one, but I have to say, my favorite is the textured black and white. It will definitely look great on the nursery wall.

After the exhausting photo shoot, we decided to get some play time in. We are so thrilled that Lucy and James get along and we can't wait until James is old enough to appreciate and enjoy her.

James' Monthly Photo Project: One Month Old

Guess who is 1 month old today???

I can't believe that our baby boy is already 1 month old! I seems like just yesterday that we were on our way to the hospital to meet the little guy. And now here we are...parenting pros. :) Just kidding ~ but we are getting better. Thank God for all our Facebook friends who provide us with a never-ending amount of advice on everything from diapering to gas drops to baby hiccups!

Happy 1 month Birthday James!