Bodhi Haze is 3 months old!

At 2 months old

Did you know that the first 3 months of your child's life is referred to as the 4th trimester? I just recently read about this and I have to say, the 4th trimester is the absolute best! The past 3 months flew by so very fast. It's always sad when the newborn phase comes to an end. 

1st bath out of the sink

It is very possible that I have a photograph of every single day of both Delilah & Bodhi's lives. I just can't help myself. These two thrill me. Mr. Bodhi as we call him, is a big flirt. He is a real sweet guy with an abundance of love and affection. He loves baby babble. If you speak his language, and I do, he will have an entire conversation with you filled with big expressions & the very best giggles. 

St. Patrick's Day

The love between Bodhi & Delilah is so strong, my heart could just explode. We had hoped to have them closer together in age but in the end, age does not define their love. 

We have been spending a lot of time on the floor these days. Bodhi loves to explore new toys and roll around with them. He is rolling really great from side to side and has his first big roll over coming any day now. Tummy time is now fun time for him. He is so proud when he pushes himself up so high and looks at me with a big grin & giggle. Of course Delilah and I are cheering him on the entire time. 

Now that spring is here, we have been able to spend some time outside! It always feels so good when you are able to get out with your winter baby and enjoy a nice day. We have been taking some nice strolls which thankfully he loves because mama needs to get her exercise in.

I just can't believe that next month he will be sitting up in the highchair trying out baby cereal for the first time. I'm certain he will love it. He's been eyeing our food for a few weeks now. 

Even though he has started to lose some of his dark, curly baby hair, he still has a full head of hair with some sweet curls through his natural mohawk. His new hair is coming in lighter but still brown. I do not think that he will be blonde with porcelain skin like Delilah, but only time will tell. He is a big guy! At his 2 month check up, he was the same size that Delilah was at her 4 month check up. His height is off the charts and his weight is in the 50th percentile. Right now, I think that he looks mostly like me. That will constantly change, but he is definitely my little guy. 

Home renovation jargon

Some people say that owning a house is a constant project. Maybe so, but I love a good household project as long as the job gets completed within an acceptable amount of time. When we moved in last September, We didn't have much time before Bodhi's arrival and the cold of winter to get much accomplished but we got a good start at it. We have learned that we need to make a list and prioritize our household projects. I throw a new idea at Patrick everyday and he is a bit overwhelmed with all of my requests, ideas and finish what you started comments. 

Before we had this last spring snow storm, we had two weeks of decent weather to get a start on the exterior/spring projects. Daily Patrick says words, term and phrases to me and I have absolutely no idea what he is talking about. I swear, some stuff he throws at me or just totally makes up just to make me crazy. Now I say "just tell me what that is called so I can do a search on Pinterest to find the style/design that I like." There has been a lot of talk about the soffits & fascia of the house as we make some improvements to the exterior before painting the exterior of the house. I know all about the fascia of our bodies but am totally clueless as to what fascia & soffits of the house are, even after he pointed it out to me numerous times. I think I get it now. 

We are also remodeling the front door entrance which thanks to pinterest I have learned is called a portico. I thought that it was difficult to pick out a color for the interior of the house, it is a whole other ballgame to find the right color for the exterior of your home. It's not really something that you can do over at least until another 5 years when the house will need to be painted again according to my husband. 

Inside we have painted numerous rooms and walls of the house, put down a new wood floor in the family room, demolished a large river rock 70's fireplace wall and built a new fireplace wall and mantel, completely demoed the basement and changed out a few light fixtures. We have a very long list for the interior of the house which includes a complete demo and rebuild of the master bedroom, bath & closet. Right now, the focus is on the exterior as spring approaches. Landscaping is a big project that we are working on. Four large trees that needed to come down have been taken down and removed last fall and one more just last week. Heartbreaking for me but they were a danger to our house and our neighbors. Now we are working on a landscape design which includes a large privacy wall along the new cedar fence that went up last fall. We have years of projects ahead of us, but it is so great to see the evolving changes. I will work on some before and after photos to share. 

Oh and when I say "we" I am mostly referring to my husband and some wonderful family and friends who have been so kind and generous to give us a helping hand. I have been mostly the designer and care taker of the children throughout these projects. 

These are some of my Pinterest inspiration photos:

You can find my Pinterest page here: https://www.pinterest.com/Nikkimaycapuano/

I'm back!

I'm back! Those words relate to so many things right now, not just the fact that I am back to the blog after an unanticipated absence. It has been a long time since I have felt like myself and I'm so happy to be feeling like me again. I still feel like I am in a strangers physical body, but internally, I'm back. The physical stuff I am working very hard on. All of the hard work is paying off, but I still have a long way to go to reach my fitness goals. 

Our journey through pregnancy beat me up pretty bad. Emotionally, it was a long road with many bumps. I didn't write much about my pregnancy with Bodhi & his twin because it was a daily struggle for me that I was working through each day. In the end, we have been blessed again with the gift of our beautiful baby boy. The two babies along the road that we will never know will always be on my mind and in my heart. Our story has a happy ending and not everyone who struggles with infertility & miscarriage does. This experience has forever changed me. I am extremely grateful for the blessing in our life. My thoughts & prayers are always with the families who are going through similar struggles. 

I'm excited to get back to start sharing our family photos, adventures & stories. 

Bodhi Haze 12/31/14

Hello World! 

On New Year's Eve our Bodhi Haze entered the world. New Year's has always been my absolute favorite and having this date as Bodhi's birthday is just perfect. It is a year end celebration & the start to a fresh new year filled with adventure, big dreams and wonderment. 

When it came to naming Bodhi (boh-dee), giving him a name that honored our journey to him, the loss of our pregnancy just before becoming pregnant with him and the loss of his twin who stayed beside him for the entire pregnancy was very important to me. 

Bodhi is a Sanskrit name translated as enlightenment and/or awakening. It was under the Bodhi tree where Buddha received enlightenment. 

Our Bodhi, my peaceful warrior came into the world at 8 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches. He is 10 days old today and his days are filled with peaceful sleep. When he is awake, he gazes into your eyes, gives you sweet smiles and tells you so many stories with his powerful eyes. 

My heart is full and at ease now that Bodhi is snuggled into my arms. 

35 weeks: anticipation

At 35 weeks, I look and feel like I will be going into labor at any moment now. Of course, that doesn't mean that I will but my Dr isn't planning on letting me go past my due date so we have 5 weeks max to go. 

I am constantly thinking about delivery day and become overwhelmed with emotion. We are extremely blessed and overjoyed to have our baby boy in our arms soon. I have had regular ultrasounds this entire pregnancy because our baby's twin has stayed by his side the entire pregnancy. The ultrasounds are to check the location and size of the twin baby for delivery. We have seen our twin baby at every ultrasound and I am very connected to the baby and I feel that our son is very connected to his twin also. When I deliver our son, we will also have to deliver and say goodbye to our sons twin. 

One year ago we found out that we were expecting. That pregnancy ended in a miscarriage on Christmas eve. Almost exactly one year later we will be welcoming our baby boy into the world and saying goodbye to another. Delilah's love and compassion throughout this emotional journey has given me the strength and the ability to heal. I strongly believe that our twin baby will always be a part of me & our son. I believe that our twin baby stayed in place to protect us throughout the remainder of the pregnancy. 

There is an empty feeling that is very difficult to explain that occurs after giving birth. Human life has been developing, living and growing within you for 9 long months. As uncomfortable as that can be with the head spins, kicks, flips and jabs, you become used to it. With every movement you know that your baby is there inside you safe. I know that my heart will be exploding with love, happiness &  gratitude as I hold our son in my arms. The empty feeling will eventually fade and we will always love and think of the babies that blessed us in a very different way through loss.  

Halloween 2014

Halloween was amazing! The weather was cold with howling winds and snow just as it should be on such a festive Halloween day. We had a few Halloween activities so Delilah dressed up in her costume on three separate days. She decided that she wanted to be Strawberry Shortcake this year for Halloween. As a child I also loved Strawberry Shortcake and I was so excited to design her vintage/classic Strawberry Shortcake look. After spending a few days together looking at style ideas online, Delilah told me over and over again that the vintage/classic Strawberry Shortcake outfit was for babies and it just wasn't her style. She has very strong opinions about her personal style. She saw this photo on etsy in a Strawberry Shortcake search and immediately fell in love. She had to have it. This was the exact look that she was going for. 

I think that the version that we put together from her inspiration photo turned out even better. She had this dress in her closet that she was recently given from a friend. I had the adorable hat made from a fabulous site on etsy. We found the wig & leg warmers at party city. We had a summer & a winterized look since the weather for our Halloween events fluctuated from 80 & sunny to 30's & snowing. Her shoes for her summer Halloween look were a gift from my brother from Spain. They are her absolute favorite. They are traditional Flamenco dancing shoes. Her dance teacher was very excited & impressed when she showed up to her dance class Halloween class wearing them. My mom made her special Strawberry Shortcake treat bag. 

 On the Saturday before Halloween after her Halloween dance class, the town that her dance studio is in had a wonderful trick or treating event in there downtown area. There were hundreds of children in fabulous costumes trick or treating from store to store. The shops were amazing and Delilah had so much fun running from store to store and showing off her look. She was really proud of her costume and loved all of the special attention. 

The night before Halloween, she got dressed up again and we went to a nursing home with her dance studio to perform Halloween dances for the residents. There were about 50 adorable little girls ranging from 2-5 in their fabulous costumes. Each class performed a Halloween themed dance and it was extra special. I'm so impressed with her studio for putting together such a wonderful event. 

Halloween morning and afternoon Delilah & I spent inside listening to the winds howl while we relaxed and watched Halloween shows and did Halloween activities until Papa came home. Patrick came home with way to much candy that at 32 weeks pregnant I was definitely going to overdose on. Thankfully he helped me out with that. Trick or treating hours started at 2pm but the trick or treater's really didn't start coming around until 4pm. We left a bowl at the door filled with candy while we went out to trick or treat with Delilah. I was so impressed as I saw so many children come to our door and take two pieces. Not one child dumped the entire bowl into there huge pillow case filled with candy. Delilah ran from door to door so excited. We were out for at least 2hrs in the cold and snow but we didn't make it to that many houses since Delilah spent most of her time socializing with the home owners when they answered their doors. Even though she did not want to come in, we returned home and handed out candy for the last hour of trick or treating. She loved talking to all of the kids, giving them candy and asking the "what you be"? It was adorable. I was highly impressed with our neighborhood. I knew that this would be an amazing neighborhood for trick or treating but it ended up being even more than I anticipated. I can't wait until next year. I can't imagine what big design plans Delilah will have in mind. 

Our anniversary at County Line Orchard

For our anniversary on Wednesday, we took a break from new home projects, and Patrick took Delilah and I to County Line Orchard. The orchard was one of our favorite fall activities last year and since they opened a few weeks ago for the season, I couldn't wait to go. It was a beautiful fall day and we had such a great time. 

Once we arrived, we headed straight to the big red barn for some warm pumpkin and apple donuts and apple cider. The store at the orchard is amazing. You could spend hours in there and spend a fortune. After some delicious fall treats, Delilah and Patrick took a ride on the moo choo train. Last year I rode the train with Delilah but this year being pregnant, it was Patrick's turn to squeeze his long legs in and take the ride through the orchard with her. They loved it and it was highly entertaining to watch from the orchard. 

After some quick apple picking due to aggressive mosquitoes, we headed to the the kid's farm which is one of the absolute best. You can feed the animals which thrills Delilah. Her only complaint is that you can't get inside the with the animals. She could spend an hour feeding the goats alone and I think that she might have. 

After a run through the hay maze and some toy tractor rides with friends she made at the orchard, we went to see the pumpkins. 

When we arrived home that night, I looked through our photos from last years trip. I can't believe how much our baby girl has grown up in the past year. We completed our trip with this photo which we will now take every year, or at least for as long as she lets us. 

County Line Orchard 2014

Count Line Orchard 2013