Life sure has changed!

I know that it has been a VERY long time since I have updated our family blog but I promise that there was a good reason for the delay....we added fraternal twins to our family! CJ (Colin John O'Connell Jr.) and Grace Elizabeth O'Connell were born on January 17, 2012.

                                         (CJ is on the left & Gracie is on the right)

It was a long road to get them here and honestly I was so focused on the twins that I forgot about updating our blog. Then when the twins finally arrived and I forgot what sleep felt like! At our 8 week ultrasound Colin and I found out that we were expecting twins (which is honestly the last thing that we thought would happen to us). When the technician asked if twins ran in our family we both responded, "No, why"? To say that we were shocked is an understatement. We went through every range of emotion: laughter, nervousness, terror but ultimately were thrilled. We were going to be expanding our family by 2!

In typically O'Connell fashion, the fact that we were pregnant with twins didn't slow us down. We bought a new house, remodeled it, moved, bought a new car, and prepared for the birth of twins. At 28 weeks I was placed on bed rest and remained on it until the birth of the twins at 37 weeks 1 day. I can't thank our families enough for everything that they did for us and for Catie while I was on bed rest (almost 3 weeks of which was in the hospital). It was a very difficult time (especially since it was over the holidays) and we required a lot of help. Our families took care of Catie, grocery shopped for us, did our laundry, friends delivered meals, etc. We truly thank everyone for their help and support.

It took a little while to adjust to life with two new babies and  3 1/2 year old. We quickly got the twins on a schedule and our home became a well oiled machine with all hands on deck. We joke when people come and visit by saying, "Here hold a baby, we have plenty of them to go around". The twins have completed our family and Catie is an incredible big sister.

This past Saturday Catie turned 4 and the week before the twins turned 6 months (which in twins time is kind of the turning point on things getting a little easier).

On Saturday we celebrated Catie's birthday by throwing her a Princess Party. The real Snow White came to her party and all of the little princesses had a wonderful time decorating crowns, watching a puppet show, having their face painted and getting balloon wands made for them. It is hard to believe that Catie is 4 years old. Happy birthday Catie. You fill our lives with so much joy, laughter and love. We love you from the moon to sea and everything in between.

Well, now that life is settling down (as much as it can be with three kids) I am excited to start our blog back up and updating all of our family and friends on the many adventures of Catie, CJ and Gracie. I am sure that it is going to be a wild ride. After all, Catie makes three and the twins make 5!

Several month re-cap

Has it really been 4 months since I have updated our blog? Forgive me. We have been busy trying to keep up with Catie. She never stops and I can't believe that she will be 3 next month. Where has the time gone! Catie is potty training and doing well, she loves to play soccer in the front yard with her cones, she can conquer any slide, and her favorite song right now is BINGO. She will be happy to sing it for you.
Here is a quick update of what we have done in the past few months: We spent Easter in Palm Desert and Catie had a wonderful time. She loved hunting for Easter Eggs and the Easter Bunny brought her sunglasses, sparkly shoes, a bouncy ball that lights up, and a lady bug that shines stars on her ceiling.

In May we celebrated Mother's Day and my birthday. We went out for breakfast and went on a hike. A great weekend!

In June we went stopped by the festival in downtown Larkspur and Catie was fascinated by the fire trucks. She loves fire trucks and will tell you that you need to go outside if there is a fire. We always have to stop and wave to the firemen. We also celebrated Father's Day by going to church in the morning and then we went to Sam's in Sausalito for brunch. What a great Father's day tradition.

Catie also took a trial ballet class at the Tutu school and loved it. She starts in September and can't wait!
On Sunday night we went to the Giants game and as usual....Catie had a blast and kept yelling "Go Giants". She loves baseball! Like father like daughter I guess.


July is a big month in our house. Colin will be celebrating his #% birthday (you are welcome Colin) and Catie will turning 3. She is still debating on what type of party she wants, but she has it narrowed down to either a princess party or barbie party. Party planning can be so hard.

The Paci Fairy

Catie is 2 1/2 and although she only uses her pacifiers (paci as Catie calls them) at night when she sleeps, Colin and I both agreed that it was time for them to go (especially since Catie has her first dentist apt. next month). For a few weeks we have been talking to Catie about the Paci Fairy's and her upcoming visit.

The back story on the Paci Fairy is that she comes and takes all of the pacifiers so that she can give them to the new babies (since Catie is a big girl and doesn't need them anymore). When the Paci Fair takes the pacis she leaves a present as a thank you.

Well, the Paci Fairy came on Saturday night and when Catie woke up on Sunday I immediately sat up and watched the baby video monitor. Catie started to feel around her bed and yell "paci" so I went into her room and said, "Oh my gosh did the paci fairy come?" Catie slowly sat up and saw the two presents on the floor and yelled "Presents, Paci Fairy" and she didn't think twice about her pacifier. It was great!!

She spent all day playing with her new doll and Barbie and didn't even ask for a paci when she took her nap. Going to bed was a little tough. Our routine consists of brushing her teeth, putting on her sleep sack, giving her a lilly (her blanket) and paci, and rocking her to her Catie sleep song. We did everything and when we started to rock her she wanted her pacifier. After 20 minutes of rocking and reading books (and crying) we finally put her down. She wasn't crying anymore but it seemed like she didn't really know what to do. She looked for her pacis for a little bit and then just sat up and bed and looked at some books (we left a light on...don't worry, she wasn't reading in the dark). It took her 2 hours to fall asleep but she didn't cry. She woke up the next morning and acted as though she had no idea what a pacifier even was. Catie hasn't asked for a paci yet.

Oh, it did help that the Paci Fairy visited B and Da's house the next day and rumor has it that the Paci Fairy also made a visit to Gigi and Bampa's. Catie scored....thanks Paci Fairy.

Catie not knowing what to do since she doesn't have her pacifiers. PS- all of those pacifiers came from her bed (she had hid them everywhere).

Traditions

Drum roll please.....we got into a pre-school!!! Woooo whoooo!!! As you may remember a couple of years ago I compared the pre-school application process to getting into college. I have come to realize that it is so very true! The pre-school that Catie will be going to has 30 kids in a class. Kids of alumni and current siblings get the initial spots and then the remaining spots go to the children on the waiting list. This year 24 openings went to alumni and siblings and the remaining 6 openings will go to kids that are on the waiting list (which currently consists of 200 applicants that were placed on the waiting list within 60 days of birth). Crazy, huh!

Well, we couldn't be more thrilled for so many reason.

1) Colin went to the same pre-school (hence Catie receiving one of the 24 spots for alumni and siblings). Thanks Colin!

2) Colin still talks about his time at pre-school. Not joke, he loved it and will tell you all about how he was chosen to sing "Take me out to the ball game".

3) The school is in a brand new location and the new facilities are amazing.

4) There are 6 teachers so the student to teacher ratio is incredible.

5) The school curriculum has a great mix of structure and play.

6) The pre-k program which Catie will be doing in a few years is excellent. They have a science teacher, a teacher that helps with writing, an art teacher, etc. I love that!

and finally the most important thing....

Catie loved it! We took Catie on a visit to the school for a morning and she had a wonderful time. Another family was there observing and the little girl stuck by her mom and dad for awhile until she warmed up. Catie on the other hand did not. She held my hand as we walked in and literally within 5 seconds of being inside she took off. She wanted nothing to do with Colin or me. She had a great time and loved every minute of school.

Catie also carried on the O'Connell tradition.....she cried and I mean CRIED when we left (just like her daddy did when he observed the school for the day). As we left Catie kept saying "Please mommy stay here".

Now if you ask her about school she will say "Catie, pre-school, next year".

She can't wait for September to come (I however will probably be the one crying this time).


Catie on the morning that she went to "check out" pre-school.

2 1/2 year old stats

Catie went to the doctor's for her 2 1/2 year old doctor's appointment. The doctor was thrilled with her language and how much it has developed since her 2 year old appointment. Catie is right on track with everything...yeah Catie!

Weight: 30 lbs, 2 ozs. (50% for her age)
Height: 37" (75% for her age)....amazing!!

It is so much fun to see Catie grow and watch her learn new things everyday.

Christmas Recap

Well, a Christmas recap is better late then never I guess. January has flown by and I just realized that I haven't updated our family blog. So here it goes.....

Before we headed down to Pasadena for Christmas we did a couple of things. We picked out our tree (Catie found a tree her own size)

We went to a Christmas party hosted by my mother's club and Catie decorated cookies and made a snowman

And we went to the Children's Party at Annandale golf club. Catie loved watching the magic show but didn't love seeing Santa Claus as much. After work on the 22rd we all drove to Pasadena and Catie was great in the car. She watched some dvds and slept for most of the way. On the 23rd we decided to do something different and my parents, sister, Colin, Catie, and I ventured into LA to watch the Las Posadas at a Mexican resturant on Olvera Street (The Posada is a short pilgrimage that reenacts the Christmas Eve journey of Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem searching for shelter). They had a performance of Aztec dancers (Catie wasn't a fan of the loud noise that they made), Mexican dancers, and a puppet show that was put on by the Bob Baker Marionettes. Catie loved the puppet show just as much as I did when I was a little girl. A puppet even sat on her lap!

The 24th was spent getting the dinner ready, wrapping last minute gifts, going to church and enjoying each others company. Catie had a wonderful time on Christmas eve and Christmas day running around with all of her second cousins and she was even big enough to eat at the kids table this year.

Catie loved Christmas morning. She asked Santa for a blue bike with a helmet (although the sight of Santa made her poop her diaper...literally). She must have been a good girl because Santa brought her the bike that she wanted (although I think that Colin was more excited then Catie was). Catie loved opening presents and would rip open the wrapping paper, grab the gift, hold it up to her face and say "ooohhhh". As I watched her open her gifts I couldn't help but think about how much she has grown. One year before (12/27/09) she started to walk and now she was running around thrilled with everything that she got. Time really does fly by. She was royally spoiled by her aunts, grandparents, and great grandmother. She is a very lucky lady to be so loved.




After Christmas we headed to Palm Desert for some relaxation and golf. We had a wonderful time and Catie enjoyed watching football with Daddy and Bampa. TOUCHDOWN!!!


We headed back up to Marin on the 30th in order to get ready to celebrate the wedding of one of Colin's oldest and dearest friends on New Year's Eve (thanks B and Da for babysitting).


2011 has already been a busy year (as you can tell by delay in posting) but we are excited to see what awaits us.

Thanksgiving 2010

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Palm Desert with the O’Connell clan. Colin, Catie and I flew down to the desert on Wednesday just in time for dinner. We woke up on Thursday morning and B and I starting cooking and waited for Colin’s cousins to arrive. We had a wonderful evening filled with delicious food, amazing wine, and surrounded by family and great stories. The only thing missing was Auntie E and Ken but they arrived on Friday morning to complete the festivities. We spent time talking, relaxing, playing dominoes and even went into the pool (for just a few minutes). It wasn’t really warm out but staying in a complex with a pool next door was torture for Catie who kept yelling “pool”. (thank goodness the pool was heated). Catie was able to spend a couple minutes swimming and she loved jumping off the side into Auntie E’s arms. Thanks Auntie E for swimming with Miss O.

Catie reading Polar Express while I pack for the desert

Walking through SFO carrying her own backpack!!!

Waiting for our flight at SFO


Looking cool



Helping us cook. She has a new apron (thank you B).





Come on mom....it's time to go the pool!





The playground at the Palm Springs airport- genius idea!





Well folks, it’s officially Christmas. As I am sure that everyone knows, Christmas is my favorite time of year and it seems like it is also my daughters (yeah!!!!). When we ask who is coming at Christmas Catie replies “Santa” and then says that she wants a blue bike this year and I bet that she will get one. After all, she’s been a good 2 year old this year. Catie also loves Christmas lights. When we drive by places at night she will scream “Lights, light” and then proceeds to gasp. It’s adorable. She loves listen to her Christmas cd that has her name in every song. I can only image her reaction when we get our Christmas tree on Friday and put Christmas lights up on the front of our house. Don’t worry, I will video tape her reaction and post it next week along with some holiday pictures.

Tis the season!!!!