Merry Christmas 2009!

There's no place like (a new) home for the holidays. . .

Well, it looks like our seemingly-endless move might actually be coming to an end. We spent several happy months staying at my parent's condo in Marco Island, Florida, but it was time for us to relocate. Staying there gave us a smooth transition to Florida, allowing me to stay home with the kids and for us to take our time finding a rental in commuting distance to both our new jobs. After our recent real estate fiasco, we easily decided on a rental over buying anything right away. It took a few trips up to Bradenton for us to find something we both agreed on (foreshadowing of how fun it will be when we start looking to buy!), and finally settled on a townhouse in a small, cute gated community with a pool and playground. We're near great shopping (quite a change from my time in NC), lots of golf courses (maybe I'll learn someday), and conservation land (there are alligators in the pond on our street).

From Townhouse

The move has been quite an ordeal. We had movers bring all our belongings down to FL back in September, but its been sitting in storage since then. Matt's dad came down for a weekend and helped out with all the major lifting at the start of December. But, it's taken 2 more weeks, and 2 more trips back and forth to Marco and storage to get all our stuff up here to Bradenton. If you add 2 kids into the mix and use your imagination, you'll get an idea of how fun our December has been. I think we have everything just about put away and organized for now, but the crowded garage tells us our next home will need to be bigger with more storage space.

From Townhouse

From Last days at Marco

Through all the confusion and madness, the girls have done really well. Brooke seems to be keeping track of her 'new home' (the one with the toys) and her 'old home' (the one near the water) and is very excited about Santa coming and starting school again in January. Luci is giggling and talking more than ever. She is very happy and sweet, but quite a 'mama's girl' which makes my arms tired sometimes, particularly when I'm trying to unpack. We're all looking forward to Christmas this week. Grandma and Grandpa Palmtag are coming, and, of course, so is Santa! Brooke is quite enthralled with Santa this year and loves watching the Christmas specials and playing with our nativity sets. We went to meet Santa this year and Brooke did great! I wish I had a picture to share, but wasn't up for dishing out $20 for a 5x7 and the photographer caught me with my camera out. Instead, I had to settle for a shot of Brooke dropping off her letter in the mailbox at Macy's (adding to the Make-a-Wish donations).

From Last days at Marco

Quiet Thanksgiving

Our actual Thanksgiving holiday was pretty quiet this year. We celebrated as a family by going on a long walk in the morning to enjoy the 80 degree weather. Ah! Our first Florida Thanksgiving. Of course, the Packers were on that afternoon and their win definitely kept the mood high that day. We put our own spin on Thanksgiving dinner since Matt is allergic to turkey (Yes, yes, we know it's a strange allergy. There are many more for those who haven't heard about it yet.). Becky cooked up a range of holiday fixings - the creamy potatoes, sweet potato casserole, asparagus with hollandaise sauce, sausage & apple stuffing, and Matt cooked a beautiful standing rib roast. There was also a small turkey breast for the leftovers. We love leftovers.

Matt had the week off from work, so we had a lot of family time. We went to the botanical gardens one day (see pics below). Over the weekend, we drove up to Bradenton to sign the lease on our new place and get another peek inside. We'll be moving in the 1st weekend in December (just a few days from now) and we're wrapped up with that again. We look forward to this being the last move for a while, and fortunately, we're nearing the end of a very stressful year.

A Family Trip to the Zoo and Luci on the Move

During the 1st weekend of November, the family visited the Naples Zoo. I'm excited that we finally live close enough to one so Brooke can actually see these animals in person. The first weekend of every month, the local zoo lets County residents in for FREE! What a great surprise. In 2004, the Zoo was in danger of closing, but the Collier county residents overwhelmingly voted to buy the land and preserve the wildlands. In gratitude, the zoo offers a suite of benefits to county residents.

Brooke loved seeing the animals and the gardens there. When we asked her, she said her favorite animals were the 'zabras' (zebras) and 'tigers'. There really aren't any tigers at this zoo, so I'm not sure if she meant the leopards, panthers or lions.

Luci, as usual, did a lot of sleeping at the zoo. But. . . when we got home she was ready for action. During tummy time, Luci started rolling over for the first time. This is pretty consistent with when Brooke started rolling, too. For the past week or so she's been rolling whenever she can and is now trying to go from back to front, but gets stuck on her side. Luci is turning out to be quite a chatterbox. She just talks and coos whenever she's awake. There's also a lot of drooling and hand sucking going on, so we're pretty sure that teething has started. We'll see how long it takes for the little suckers to come through. Teething was a pretty easy process for Brooke, but somehow we expect it to be a little different this time around. Miss Luci is more vocal than Brooke was and a little more particular about things.

Brooke's First Haircut

Today, we went to Clip, Bang, Buzz, and Brooke got her first haircut. Brooke is so busy, I was too afraid to come near her with scissors, so I found this children's salon for her and it worked out great. I'm sure many kids get their first haircuts long before they are 27 months old, but not so much for the Waggett and Palmtag kids. Both Brooke and Luci started out with a good amount of hair, but Brooke was completely bald at 6 weeks and had to start all over again. We'll see about Luci. She still has some hair on her little head, but there's an awful lot collecting on her sheets at night.

Brooke had a good time at the salon. She sat in a Princess car and was 'driving' it. They even put in a DVD, but we didn't see much of it since there still wasn't a whole lot of hair to cut. The whole process only took about 15 minutes.

Twick or Tweeeet!

Brooke learned the ropes pretty quick on Halloween. For Halloween day, we went Trick or Treating at our Town Center. All of the shops had candy for the kids. Brooke went straight into the first store ready with her "Twick or Tweeeat!" and a "Tank you!" She had a great time getting her candy and chocolate. Luci slept the whole time in the stroller. I'm sure next year she'll be in the action, too.

We had a week of Halloween activities. On Tuesday, the library had a Halloween party. We had a scavenger hunt, crafts and a parade. We went to a grown-up party on Friday night and Brooke was a dancing fool. That girl is going to be a party animal someday.

Enjoy the slideshow of our Halloween.

The little red wagon

From Brooke1

As we carried our bag of beach supplies, a diaper bag, a bucket of fishing tackle, a fishing rod, 2 beach chairs, a baby and a toddler off the beach on our 1st trip, we realized there had to be an easier way. That, and another beachgoer not so subtley suggested (by persistently shouting across the sand at Matt) that we needed to invest in a beach cart. But, not any beach cart was sufficient for Matt. He hit the internet and bought the cadillac of all beach-mobiles at the tractor supply company. Now, we'll be able to haul up to 800 lbs worth of stuff to the beach with no problem in our red, metal beach wagon. Good thing Brooke is only at 25 lbs! Some kids get a Radio Flyer, The Palmtag girls a heavy duty metal beach wagon. Brooke loves it and it's already made it's first trek across the FL beaches.

From Brooke1

Here are the first of our Halloween pictures. Brooke and I carved pumpkins last week. I let her color the face and I carved what she drew. I also took a few pictures on one of our many walks. The Esplanade (a row of specialty shops and restaurants on the water next to our house) is decorated for fall. Brooke was especially fond of the scarecrows on the benches.

A Bee Movie

Brooke's Halloween costume has arrived, and, apparently, is a big hit. She knew just what it was and wanted to wear it immediately. She was a little confused about not being able to fly even though she had wings, so I helped her out a little bit. Brooke was also feeling a little musical that night and did some world-class drumming and singing. See the video below. Yes, that is Luci crying in the background. It's not a sound we hear very often. Poor thing was very tired.

Palmtag Girls

Enjoy some of the shots of our 2 Palmtag girls. This is my first shot at making a movie with our pictures. Just press the play button below the picture to see the movie. Brooke and Luci seem to be pretty taken with each other. Luci is all smiles when she sees Brooke is nearby, and big sister Brooke is very protective of Luci whenever we head out. If strangers get too close to take a peek (it happens frequently), Brooke puts her hand out and says "My Luci!!" I'll be adding to the movie as time goes by.

A Day at the Beach

From Brooke1

Last weekend, we had our first trip to the beach as a family of four. All in all, it was a success and we're ready to do it again soon. The beach was beautiful and uncrowded when we arrived at 9:00 AM. Shade from the condos still covered parts of the beach and helped us last longer through the morning. The day started out in the 80's, but warmed up to almost 100 by the time we left before noon (naptime for Brooke!). It's hard to imagine that it's snowing up north when many of you are. Perhaps the photos will tempt a few visitors this winter!

When we got to the beach, Matt immediately set up his fishing pole and caught baitfish. Brooke helped Matt pick the fish from the net and throw them back in the ocean. Not long after we got there, the pole started to bend and a fish was on the line. Matt reeled in a snook, which is a great fish to catch. It was too small to keep, but fun all the same. Brooke loved the fish, but wasn't excited to have her picture taken that day. Whenever she saw the camera she'd say "No pictures, Mommy!" Matt let Brooke attempt to reel in the next few fish. The pole was a bit big for her and the fish broke off before coming to shore. Next time, we'll bring the Barbie pole for her.

From Beach

Luci spent the entire day snoozing in her sling (she LOVES the sling) while Brooke dove into the sand, digging and building. Later that day, Brooke was still pretending to dig back at the condo using spatulas and spoons. Brooke also appears to have overcome her fear of the ocean. She's always loved water, but she was strongly resistant to swimming or walking in the water at our NC beaches. Luckily, the waves are very gentle here and not as unpredictable. Matt had Brooke walking into the ocean and 'swimming' in the water. She even saw her first ctenophore!! To those non-marine folk, it's a small 'jellyfish' common in coastal waters that doesn't sting. It's pretty special to me since I've worked with them quite a bit over the years. When we got home, Brooke kept saying, "Mommy, I caught a ctenophore!" It was a proud moment for me.

From Beach

Learning to laugh

Our roller coaster ride summer is finally over. We welcomed our dear sweet Luci to the world, survived a month apart while Matt started his new job, moved 1000 miles south to FL - in 2 trips, and sold our house (with lots of drama included in the process). Throughout it all, our 2 girls have thrived. Brooke has adjusted to her new sister, new (albeit temporary) home, a new crib (we stll have no idea where the hardware to her NC crib was packed by the movers so we had to get a new one!), and a severe reduction in toys (still in boxes in storage). Luci is filling out and transitioning from newborn to infant. She is getting so fun. She started smiling a few weeks ago, but my camera's been too slow to capture it until this week. Now she's cooing and laughing. She is just as busy as Brooke was and very strong. We call her a 2-hander-baby because you need to keep 2 hands on her or she'll try to launch herself out of your arms. She also loves tummy time and Brooke gets down on the playmat with her every day to do 'sharing'.

Now that we're getting settled here and the bulk of our stress is behind us, I should get a chance to enjoy my time home with the girls. We're getting into our new routine and I've managed to track down the libraries for toddler storytimes and some fabulous parks. We love to go to Mackle Park where they have a gated water spray park for kids (and mommies!). Last weekend we bought a new tandem stroller which should make outings much easier. I learned the hard way that side by side strollers do not fit through all store doorways and can be cumbersome to push around. The tandem stroller is fabulous!! Brooke likes it so much, she had to sit in it in the living room when we came home with it. So far my biggest challenge as a stay at home mom is to get both girls to nap at once. It's a much needed break so that I can get a little nap myself or catch up on some work.

From September

I'm sure there will be much more time for fun here now that our lives have calmed down a bit. We are gearing up to start exploring the area and will have the camera ready!

Sold!! or It's all over but the crying

From September

We are so relieved that our NC house is officially sold. This past month has just been such a headache. We are ready to move on now and start the next chapter in our lives. 117 Pond Drive was a great home for us, and we loved living there. Selling it was just not easy, and we can now add our names to the list of Americans personally effected by the crash of the housing market and the recession. We're leaving the new owners a better version of the house we enjoyed since they nickel and dimed us for a month making repairs, etc. All we can say is that we're glad it's over and feel blessed that we were able to sell our house (even at a financial loss) and that it all worked out in the end. We were so fortunate to have a fabulous friend as our realtor to hold our hands through the process. We never could have gotten everything done without her, especially from 1000 miles away. We will definitely miss her and all our friends and neighbors back in NC. We hope to have many visitors once we find our next home.

From Brooke1

Sisters and Aquarium

From

As August winds down, we are gearing up for our big move! Just one more week until the family is together again. Becky has certainly had her hands full learning to manage 2 little girls, but she's had plenty of help from Nana and Grumpy Waggett. They came to visit this month and made sure Becky got in a few naps, Brooke was entertained and Luci got lots of cuddles. Nana is back at home now, but Grumpy is filling in her shoes. Fortunately, Luci has finally learned the difference between day and night. She certainly isn't sleeping through the night, but at least we're no longer awake all night.

Considering all the changes around here, Brooke is doing wonderfully. She loves having a baby sister and gives hugs and kisses every day. Here are some pictures of the sisters from the past 2 weeks.



Grumpy and Becky took the girls to the aquarium this week. Brooke had a great time running around the place and has now discovered more than the catfish (her previous favorite). She loved the otters and snakes and pushing her stroller around. Hopefully, we'll have time for some more adventures before we leave for Florida next week.

Luciana Ruth Palmtag

We are proud to announce that the newest Palmtag, little Luci, was born on Wednesday August 5th at 8:49 AM. She weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz (one ounce shy of big sister Brooke at birth) and was 18.25 in long. She is happy and healthy and doing all the things she's supposed to do. Her first week was pretty busy. We came home from the hospital on Friday and enjoyed a family weekend. On Monday, we had an in-home baptism for Luci. On Tuesday, Matt had to head to Florida. He started his new job and is getting settled done south before classes start this week. Fortunately, Nana and Grumpy Waggett have come to stay with the girls. They're making sure Brooke is entertained and Becky can get a nap in every day.

More to come later when Becky can squeeze some time out of the day!

July 2009

July has been such a fun month for Brooke. She got to kick the month off with a trip to Milwaukee with Matt and wrapped it up with her 2 year old birthday party. In the meantime, she’s been out of school keeping Matt on his toes during the day and wearing Becky out in the evenings.
Brooke and Matt had a great time in Wisconsin visiting Grandma and Grandpa. She finally got out on her first boat trip on Sturgeon Bay and caught her first fish (with a little help from Grandma). I guess Brooke was a little wary of the first trip out there and needed a little coaxing, but was ready to hit the water on the 4th of July.


This past weekend, we celebrated Brooke’s 2nd birthday. We threw a little party for her (and us) and Brooke had a fabulous time. She hasn’t stopped talking about the cake and presents.


Right now we're getting ready for the next birthday which is just over a week away now.
Stay tuned, but for now enjoy the pictures!

Testing things out

We're just trying this out to find the best way to share videos of the girls. Not sure yet if this will work better than our current website. We will see which one wins out.