to make a long story short.....

oh lawd.

we.made.it. through 2011

i don't know how, but we did.

and this post is anything but short but i'm covering a year, yo.

january

and she still loves to eat.

so does he.

his auntie jessy taught him "touchdown!"

she taught her, too.

life started to get really interesting once he started running. henever walked, just ran.

we confessed our little secret.

i was sure our sonogram would look like this.

thank goodness it looked like this.

february

he got his very first, second haircut.

and i started to get a belly.

she took her first steps.

and we spent a lot of time here. to clean up and instantly squelch sudden meltdowns.

march

he turned one.

and so did she.

and she was born. ruby james lewis. chloe's best friend.

we hit up after hours pediatrics for the first time.
rsv.

breathing treatments and coughing. ohmy.

we spent a most days in our bathing suits.

and the craziness began to take on a life of its own.

we stayed cool with popsicles.

and they had a birthday party.

you were there?

and you never got one of these?

you're right, no one did.

i'm a terrible person.

april

we asked your opinion on names. and you know now, we listened.

we had a happy easter.

mostly because he was born. on easter. brandon michael pantaleo.

i continued to grow.

nap time became play time.

this little girl turned two. emma adley rodriguez.

may

we celebrated mothers day.

and i kept growing. and growing.

we frequented busch gardens. a lot.

and she began her mad love affair with watermelon.

we had a memorial for my grandpa, vincenzo pantaleo.

and my cousins and i honored him by making ravioli from scratch.

the baby liked the pasta.

and so did i.

we celebrated my daddy's birthday.

the same night as the memorial. bittersweet.

we realized it was time to babyproof.

we spent time with our cousins.

while aunt jaime was in alabama taking care of her. bethan grace james.

june

my family and sweet friend threw sweet pea a little sprinkle.

my mom made a beautiful diaper cake.

and my friend kelle, er, lauren gave me the best.gift.ever.

sweet girls.

we hit up my dads beach house for a few days.

and i kept growing.

apparently we forgot to babyproof.

oops.

they officially became water babies.

july

we celebrated this sweet woman, we call gran's birthday.

and you guessed it. i kept growing..

i wanted one last hurrah with my twinnies so we spent the day at the beach.

luckily i was able to send them home with bana so matty and i could spend the night and enjoy this.

august

she learned to swim.

and so did he.

and just when i thought i couldn't get any bigger,

she decided to make her debut. 11 days late. 11 days..

what an angel. stella maris stratton. born 8.12.11.

i love her.

but things got tough. i ran out of places to safely store her from her siblings while trying to get things done.

september

they adapted into their roles as big brother and big sister.

some better.

than others.

they took their first big step and started school two days a week.

she got to meet her great grandma.

both of them.

we made it out to the park for the first time as a family of five.

october

they became fast friends.

and i realized quickly how difficult life would be watching three under one and a half.

we had a girls night.

to listen to them play in the park.

we celebrated her birthday.

and picked pumpkins.

and became pumpkins.

and ate a lot of sugar. a lot.

november

he terrified us by turning blue and spending the night in the hospital.

we had a beautiful party honoring her.

and they got some time sans baby, with parents.

we ate turkey.

and popped these.

with them.

they stayed up way too late.

and we got another turkey day with them.

december

his love for her hasn't changed.

we had a dinner with gran and papa before they left for tennessee.

she played with lights.

while we decorated the tree.

 we went to see mickey.

and spent most of the night here. dodging the rain.

we rode rides and watched fireworks.

some of us didn't like them.

some of us did.

we made it through the night and ate the best cookies i've ever had.

whew.

what a year.

bring it 2012.

we're ready.

we're going to do big things this year.

but, we will not be adding another baby, that i can guarantee.