Eleven Years

 June 26, 2004

 



 2005

2006

 

 2007

2008

 

2009

2010

2011

 2012

 

2013

2014

2015

Steve and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary on Friday.  He surprised me with a wonderful afternoon...an Uber car picked me up late morning and took me to the Ritz Carlton (Lisa was kind enough to watch all the kiddos!) where he had set up a massage and a facial for me (both of which were incredible)!  Once I was finished at the spa, I had a couple of hours before Steve arrived at the hotel so I took a much needed nap - it. was. awesome.  Then, we had a drink at the club lounge before heading to dinner at the Atlas restaurant in Buckhead. 

If you haven't been to Atlas you should go- the food was spectacular.  Robert Downey Jr. was at the table behind us but I didn't want to be that person who snapped a photo of him eating.  Seeing Ironman in person was pretty cool though!  :)

They sent over this unbelievable dessert after we finished dinner...

 

 



Steve proposed to me at the Ritz in Buckhead; we also spent our wedding night there and have celebrated quite a few birthdays and special occasions in that hotel.  They never disappoint - when we got back to our room they had chocolate covered strawberries and this waiting for us...

I missed all of our kiddos but it was wonderful to have a night all to ourselves.  We had a leisurely morning drinking coffee and eating breakfast before heading back to the chaos!  :)


To my amazing hubs...

Eleven years ago I married the man of my dreams, the love of my life.  I am so proud of you and all that you have accomplished, and I know you feel the same way about me.  You make me smile...you make me laugh...you make me the happiest woman in the world.  Eleven years and four children later, I love you now more than ever. 

All my love,
Julie

Princess Catelin is THREE!

Catelin turned THREE last Wednesday (June 3rd).  Where did the time go?!  Catelin is very much a "girly girl" and is currently obsessed with Disney princesses so that made the theme for her party a no-brainer. 

You should have seen her face that morning when her brothers gave her gift to her at breakfast- a Sleeping Beauty dress!  She immediately put it on and it stayed on all day.  And yes, she chose to wear those pink Hello Kitty rain boots with it on all of our errands that day.  I did not protest at all - it was her day...

We decided to have a small party with just family and a couple of her "besties" that evening.  Everyone dropped by Grandma Eco's pool after work and the kids swam and ate pizza and cake. 

The cake was ADORABLE- it was a Disney princess castle made by Publix.  She was so in love with it I wasn't sure she was going to let us eat it!  haha

 

 

 

We had her three year check up last week and she is now back on the growth chart (barely) at 40" tall (97%) and 40 lbs (98%).  This is the first time that she was not >99% for both height and weight since she was 4 months old.  My precious little girl...Happy Birthday Princess Catelin!  

Jake at One Month

Little Jake is doing great (he was one month on June 1st!).  We had his one month appointment on Tuesday and he is up to 9 lbs, 11 oz and 21 and 3/4".  He was 7 lbs, 14 oz at birth but went down to 7 lbs, 5 oz so I am glad that he has more than made up for it!  He went through a growth spurt last week and is now eating about 30-32 ounces a day.  I try to nurse him when I can but with three other kids it's hard to spend that much time with him (he takes a LONG time to nurse) so I'm mostly pumping and giving him a bottle.  I am supplementing him with 1-2 bottles of formula per day since I am not producing as much as he is eating now!

Hanging out with Grandma

 

Jake has had a very busy month - he has been on the go for most of it with all of his siblings' end of the school year activities, baseball games, swim lessons, etc.  I am very thankful that he likes to nap in his car seat!

He didn't even mind all of the noise as we set off fireworks for Memorial Day!

Here he is cheering MJ on at his All Star baseball game a couple of weeks ago:

Jacob likes to look at lights, bright colors, and fans.  He loves to lay on the floor in his play mat - the only problem is MJ, Ty and Catelin swarm him every time I put him down there!  He doesn't seem to mind tummy time too much- he cries every now and then but for the most part he is quiet when he is on his tummy and I can tell his neck muscles are getting stronger.

And he is smiling now!

He is starting to sleep really well.  For the past week or so he has only woken up once in the middle of the night!  Last night he went to bed at 9:30, woke up at 3:45 to eat and then didn't wake up until 7:30!  Hopefully it will stay this way!  He is awake for the majority of the morning and evening and takes about 3-4 naps during the afternoon depending on what we are doing (most of these in the car seat but I try to get him in the crib for at least one nap)!

His siblings ADORE him.  The other morning they all came down and their first question was "where's Jacob?!"  (He is usually awake when they wake up but that particular morning he was still asleep).   They were so upset that he wasn't up yet and were dying to see him!  It was too cute.  His nicknames include "little man," "peanut" and "pumpkin" thus far.  MJ prefers to call him Jacob over Jake and he loves to read books to him.  Catelin and Ty also like to "read" to him and sing him lullabies.

My sweet sisters-in-law (Lee, Leah and Kerry) as well as Colleen threw a Sip and See for Jake last weekend - it was so nice.  He got some adorable gifts and loved being held by all of the ladies!  I totally forgot to take pictures until the end but here are a few...