Ashlyn's 3rd Birthday Disney Style

What a better place to celebrate a little girls birthday who is obsessed with Mickey Mouse and all things Disney Princess than Disneyland. So I had searched Disneyland website for the best place to celebrate her birthday and soon found out they have the "Happiest Birthday on Earth" at the Plaza Inn. You get to have a cake decorating contest with Pat E. Cake and then good old one on one time with Mickey and Minnie. I knew this would for sure be a birthday our little princess would not forget. Here are some pics from her party hope you enjoy, because we sure had a blast.

Her adorable birthday outfit from TheZboutique on Etsy

Decorating her cake

This is what the cakes look like before you decorate

Aidan and his Cousin Jayden

Everyone is having a blast decorating cakes.

Group photo of the whole gang

Our Family Pic with the Mouse

My sister was having fun torturing my hubby.

One of her birthday presents she had to wear.

Happy 3rd birthday baby girl. I hope you had a blast spending your birthday at the Happiest Place on earth. I still can't believe your 3 already, time sure does fly when your having fun.

My little Princess turned 3

Well my little girl is officially not a baby anymore. On January 2nd she turned 3. Where did time go I feel like it was just yesterday I found out I was pregnant with her. And I remember that day vividly. It was 3 weeks after we got married, and I was so exhausted and nauseous from every smell and food imaginable. I thought maybe I was just run down after 18 months of planning my wedding of a lifetime and running around with a 18 month old, but then I realized it had been awhile since I got my period. So I called the new hubby up at work and told him something wasn't right. He told me go to the store and pick up a test and call him back with the results. We had talked recently about having another. But not this soon we wanted to plan on a summer baby since we already had Aidan who's birthday falls 2 weeks before Christmas. I went to the store grabbed a test and ran home. Drank a few cups of water, waited til I had to pee then peed on my little pregnancy stick. (got a great mental picture there don't you lol)

The box says can take up to 2 to 3 min for results to show, well that wasn't my case that puppy had two pink lines staring at me within seconds. I was indeed pregnant again. I was in shock at this moment since we were leaving on honeymoon in a week and was not looking forward to morning sickness while on our trip. I then immediately called my hubby and he was elated with so much joy. I couldn't believe it he was happier than I was, probably cause he doesn't have to carry the baby for 9 months in his belly or have morning sickness and constipation. Ok Ok TMI I know.

So the pregnancy progressed and at 18 weeks we decided to take both sides of our families and do a 3D ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. When the ultrasound tech said a girl we all started screaming and I started crying I was so happy. I had a my little prince and now a princess. We had the perfect little family.

Then it came time to think of a name to call her. I always loved Addison for a girl. But I was soon told I'm no longer allowed to name our kids after a TV show I loved. I like Addison from Private Practice. And Aidan got his name from SATC. Who can blame me both great actors and actresses right?? So the hubby finally came up with a named he loved Ashlyn, and what a perfect name it was. Now that we had her name, the nursery was painted and decorated in pink, yellow, and green polka dots and now it was time to wait for her arrival. On January 2, 2008 that day finally came. I had been waking up all that night with pretty bad cramps but will still able to go back to sleep. But finally at 8 am they were a little to close together and getting stronger and stronger each time. My hubby had just taken on a new job and I didn't want to bother him so I told him I was just going to go to the docs to have them check on me. I called the docs told him how far apart the contractions were and I had lost my mucus plug he ordered me to get straight to the hospital. So I had my grandmother watch Aidan and I drove myself to the hospital which was 25 mins away from my house. Boy was I crazy trying to drive and not swerve into cars when contractions got bad. I finally arrived was checked in and told my contractions were a few mins apart. By then my hubby had knew something was wrong left work and meet me at the hospital. They then schedule a C-section for me at 6p.m. Several minutes after 6pm my little girl had finally arrived and she was so gorgeous. I couldn't get enough of her. 7 pounds 4oz and 21 inches long.

My big Belly

All ready for surgery

She's here..daddy cutting the cord

Family pic, just missing Aidan

She's perfect and chunky

Big Brother finally got to hold her

Later that night we learned she had some breathing problems and had to be transported to another hospital that had a NICU. My worse nightmare came true for a second time, how can another one of my babies be sick again right after being born. So my hubby followed the ambulance to the hospital and spoke with the doctors about what had gone wrong. Ashlyn was born almost a month early and her lungs were not fully ready yet. So she had to spend some time in the NICU to be put on meds and breathing machines to help her. 7 days later we were able to take her home.

Her home for the next 7 days

Auntie Sha Sha and Uncle Marc stopped by to visit

She only had eyes for daddy

Finally we got to bring her home

Now she is a singing dancing diva that can not be tamed. She amazes us everyday by the things she comes up with. She truly is one girly girl. From dress up to make up she needs it all. Happy Birthday Princess Ashlyn.

Her 1st birthday

2nd birthday we rented a pig for her piggy theme

Her adorable outfit made by @preppypoppy

Such a doll.

My two beautiful kids.

Wordless Wednesday

Merry Christmas from my Munchkins

Aidan's Journey

Today my little boy turned 5, my oh my has time flied these last few years. I can sill remember like it was yesterday when we finally got to bring him home from the hospital. Aidan's journey to get here has surely been a special one that I'm going to share with you today. I initially did not find out I was pregnant with him until I was almost 12 weeks along, I know crazy right. I had been on the pill called seasonale where you only get a period 4 times a year so not having one was natural for me. But when aunt flo was suppose to arrive and she didn't I was a little concerned but not much. I schedule an appt at my doctors he did a pregnancy test came back negative and he even went as far as to run a blood test still nothing. So another month passes and no aunt flo, I go back again he does an ultrasound and low and behold there's a baby in my tummy. Let me tell you the shock I was in since my husband (boyfriend at the time) and I had only been for together for a FEW months. Yes you read that right I got preggers 4 months in. Talk about getting to know someone real quickly.

So as the pregnancy went on we were very excited awaiting the arrival of our baby. We found out at 20 weeks we were having a boy. For months and months we went back and forth on names. Then we decided that he would take my husbands first name Brandon and I got to pick his middle name. And since I am a big Sex in the City fan and I of course loved Aidan so that's what I decided. Yes I named my son after a character on SATC. So not to confuse our son we decided we would call him by his middle name Aidan. About 28 weeks I was shopping for maternity clothes and noticed something wasn't right I was having some bad cramping and discharge. My doctors appt was 2 days later and I informed him of this and he decided he was going to check and see if I was dilated. Sure enough I was already 50% effaced and 1cm dilated. I was ordered to be on strict bed rest. I was only allowed 5 min showers and walks to and from the bathroom. I thought he was crazy I had to spend the next 12 weeks in bed watching tv, reading books and doing nothing else. I was for sure going to go crazy. So for the first few weeks I was really good but then I decided to venture out of my bedroom and just go to the store to get a few quick things for the baby. Boy was that a bad idea a few days later that put me into labor and back in the hospital. Thank goodness they stopped labor and later that evening I was sent home.

As soon as I got to 37 weeks I could stop taking my meds that stopped labor and sure enough on December 8th was the day my little bundle of joy was coming. After 15 hours in labor I knew something was wrong and that he wasn't going to come naturally. I begged the doctor for a C-section and he gave in. While in the operating room he told me you know your body well that baby was really stuck and would of never come out naturally. Finally at 11:35 p.m. he arrived 7lb 11oz and 19 inches long.

In labor with horrible back pain

Waiting patiently for this baby to come out

He's finally here

My precious little boy

The next day his pediatrician came by to do his newborn check up and noticed he was breathing funny and asked the nurse to check his pulse/oxygen and realized it was low. So they sent him off to the NICU to do some further testing. As the day progress things took a turn for the worse. We found out he had a seizure while in the NICU and had a pretty bad infection in his lungs. We then learned our precious baby boy would have to spend some time there. We were told he may have sepsis and some neurological disorders and that he may not make it. Thats when I broke down I had waited and waited for him to be here and then to be told I may not have him for much longer was devastating. They ran more spinal taps, EEG and EKG and after about 5 days of him being there we learned he just had an infection in his lungs and he would be just fine. My boy was going to make it. And on day 10 in the NICU we finally got to take our little boy home.

Seeing my baby in the NICU for the 1st time

So many wires hooked up to my baby

Holding his bottle for the first time at 4 days old

We would soon learn that his homecoming would be short lived. At 7 weeks old he was running a really high fever, could not keep any milk down and cried non stop. Not knowing what to do I called my pediatrician and she stated to take him straight to the ER. Where we soon learned he had meningitis and was quickly transported by ambulance to a bigger hospital with a PICU. We were put in an isolation room for a few days and after a few days of antibiotics we were able to come out of isolation and into a normal room. After being there for several days we finally got to take our little boy home again. By now we were so afraid of him getting something else we wanted no one to touch our precious boy.

His second visit to the ICU

Don't think Aidan's journey is done just yet at his 1 year check up we learn he has two inguinal hernias and had to have surgery. At 2 we find out he had complication from his circumcision and had to have surgery on his man parts. And at 3 after 6 severe ear infections and chronic bronchitis he had his tonsils and adnoids removed. Phewwww this kid gave me grey hair before I turned 30. All in all his is the best gift we could of ever asked for and thank God everyday him. He is now 5, growing like a weed, loves his xbox and torchering his little sister.

Surgery #1

Surgery #2

Pictures from Surgery #3 are missing there on my computer in one of my 1000 files.

So my son I want you to know you I love you more and more each day and I'm so happy of the boy you have become. I can't wait to see what the next 5 years bring.

Thanksgiving Gandy Style

Well another holiday has come and gone. Wow time is sure flying by pretty fast these days. And with one holiday down that means another one is just around corner. This year my in laws were hosting Thanksgiving at there house and they were making turkey, ham and all the sides. I felt bad that they were doing all the cooking so I decided to whip up some things to bring as well. First was my mom's recipe of cheesy mash potatoes. Oh my let me tell you these potatoes are to die for so good I love them. Needless to say I ate two servings of them on turkey day. Next I made pigs in a blanket, apple crisp and pumpkin cream pie a recipe I found on www.thepioneerwoman.com. That pumpkin cream pie was delish. I will be making that every year from now on. It was a big hit at the party.

Making the crust

More than half eaten product...success

After we all stuffed our tummies with all the yummy goodness. We hung around by the fireplace talked about old times, played root beer pong which I've discovered I'm pretty good at. Made it in the cup while carry my daughter. How's that for multitasking. But most of all I was missing all of my family back in New Jersey. Hopefully next year I will be able to spend it with them. Here are some pics from our gobble gobble turkey party. Now to work off all the food I ate this weekend.

Hubby and I

Root beer Pong I rocked lol

Daddy and his mini me

Me and my mini me

My two little rascals how I love them so much.