February highlights

 1) Baby Four on the way! 

I just realized that although our family and friends have known for a while, I never made an official blog announcement. we are expecting another baby this July! and in February, we found out that baby is... another girl! Nick predicted this from the moment I had a positive pregnancy test. I had no intuition one way or the other, and the girls were convinced the baby was a boy. their initial reaction to finding out they are not, in fact, getting a brother, was incredulous disappointment, but by the next day, they were happily suggesting names for their newest baby sister. 

Elizabeth, at 15 months, of course has no idea what's coming. she and the new baby will be 19 months apart, which is by far our closest spacing. I'm equal parts excited and terrified ;) but after all the ups and downs of secondary infertility we have experienced, I'm mostly just so grateful for the absolute gift of this little life. I'm also glad Elizabeth will have a buddy close in age. even though Greta and Cece are three years apart, they're still good friends and have many overlapping interests and friends. 

baby girl!

somersaulting already (I just can't get over that perfect tiny femur!)

our social media announcement, the day before Valentine's Day

19 week bump

testing out her new wheels. I scored this for $25 on Facebook marketplace
and it's in great shape except for missing the canopies, so I'm on the hunt for replacements!

2) Pittsburgh Children's Theater

this past Christmas, in an effort to ward off the hordes of teeny tiny plastic things that threaten to run us out of house and home, I decided to purchase season tickets to our local children's theater as one of the girls' gifts. the first two performances we attended just happened to bookend the month of February. the first was a retelling of Rapunzel, which was very sweet (Rapunzel's grandmother agrees to let Rapunzel leave the tower to spend time with friends as she gets older, and Rapunzel comes back to visit her frequently). the overall performance was geared towards the 3- to 6-year-old crowd, so Greta was a bit underwhelmed, but no matter the subject matter, the whole experience of going downtown to see a theater performance is exciting, even for me! 

seating is open for these performances and we arrived with only a few minutes
to spare (not my plan), so we had to clamber all the way to the top of the balcony to find a spot!

posing with props from the upcoming May performance, which we'll also attend

the next performance was a huge hit for both girls: Danny Carmo's Mathematical Mysteries. this Irish performer had the whole audience shouting out answers to math problems and the girls were on the edge of their seats throughout the entire thing. it was a great mix of number games as well as traditional illusions (like the swords thrust through the box with the assistant inside, or objects appearing and disappearing from a sealed box). 

this time we purposely left the house early to get great seats in the fourth row!
of course no photos are allowed during the actual performance, but during the curtain call they told us
to capture the QR code so I took the opportunity to snap a photo of "Danny" and his vivacious assistant "Debra"

Cecilia wanted her picture with the Gruffalo props again

3) Grammie and Auntie Kris came to visit! 

the school where Mom works has the whole week of President's Day off for February vacation, so she flew out to visit us! we also celebrated her birthday that week, which was very fun. we had a great mix of relaxing time at home as well as visiting some iconic Pittsburgh sights, like Phipps Conservatory and the National Aviary. plus, she got to see two of Greta's basketball games and took Cecilia to gymnastics one night. unfortunately, she came down with a stomach bug towards the end of her visit, which was so sad -- but the silver lining was that her planned flight back was canceled and rebooked for two days later, so we had a few extra days to spend together once she was feeling better! I had to take her to the airport before the girls got home from school, so she wrote little goodbye notes to them (in addition to saying goodbye in person before they left in the morning). they posted the notes to their bedroom wall so they can see them every day -- so sweet!

Grammie's girls (including a very wiggly Elizabeth)

in my happy place, Phipps!

smiling at Grammie!

feeding the wetlands birds at the Aviary

the girls loved this virtual reality apparatus that mimics a bird

pretending to prepare food for the eagles

to add to the fun, Auntie Kris drove out from Boston to join us. the girls were so excited to swim in her hotel pool, and she also held down the fort so Nick and I could still go out for a belated Valentine's Day date despite Mom being sick. she came along to cheer for one of Greta's basketball games and as always, we had lots of good conversations!

Shrove Tuesday feasting: pancakes with blueberries & whipped cream, sausage, and eggs!

4) Disney on Ice

one weekend, we drove up to Erie on Saturday night for a sleepover with our dear friends. Sunday morning we attended church with them, where Amelia sings with the amazing choir. we sat in the back pew for the best views of the choir, and Elizabeth spent most of the service standing up facing the choir, holding on to the back of the pew, and dancing along! after enjoying a delicious post-service brunch, we headed to the performance of Disney on Ice. we took Greta to see it when she was four (as a gift from Aunt Becca and Uncle Josh!) and the skating chops of the performers were just as impressive this time as I remembered. the choreography, costumes, lighting and props are just stunning! the second half of the performance was a strugglefest for Elizabeth who did not, in fact, wish to nap in the Ergo as I had planned. thankfully the music was loud enough to muffle most of her shrieking, but the poor longsuffering man sitting in front of us got kicked in the back several times despite my best efforts. (God bless him, when I apologized to him after the show, he smiled and said, "Didn't bother me at all!")

5) Valentine's Day

Nick spoiled us all with beautiful bouquets and sweet notes. I am very lucky woman! :) I absolutely love that he makes Greta and Cecilia feel so seen and special, too, both for the sake of his own relationship with them and for the important foundation it sets for their future relationships. I hope they know how much they are cherished and that they don't settle for anything less as they grow. 

I've never seen roses in that beautiful lavender shade before!

the liturgically correct meme I sent to Nick on February 14, which is technically
the Feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius

sweetest artwork from daycare 

later that week, the two of us escaped the house for a date at a local bar/restaurant that's only about a mile away from our house, but I had never been there or even realized it was there. the food was absolutely delicious. of course I had to spring for the Reuben calzone and it did not disappoint (it's my favourite sandwich, but I've never seen it offered in calzone form!). in this season of life, I'm grateful for any opportunities we have to spend time together just the two of us!