Elle's 1st Easter!

Today we celebrated Elle's 1st Easter! We had a full day but nevertheless a fun one!

When Eleiana woke up, she hang out at Mommy & Daddy Jarbs' room where we read her Pat the Bunny book. We did not realize until later that she's wearing her bunny pajama on Easter! :-)

We had our own Jarbs family Easter brunch at Bombay Club. It is one of our favorite Indian restaurants. The last time we were here, Daddy Jarbs and I just started dating! Elle behaved really well while we were having lunch. She was happily playing with Sophie while Daddy Jarbs and I were enjoying the buffet brunch.

 

Daddy's girl :-)

 

  Mommy Jarbs with her favorite daughter :-)

Later in the day, we headed off to Grandma & Grandpa Jarbs' house for Easter dinner. 

Here she is with Godmomma/Aunt Kim and Aunt Terri.  Aunt Kim gave her books for Easter. Grandma Jarbs got her a stuffed bunny and a singing duck.

Family softball

Mommy Jarbs and Elle watching the game

Look who can sit up (unassisted) now!

Her new skill! Since she has discovered her toes, she can't get her hands and mouth off of them!

Cherry Blossoms!

After the family lunch yesterday, we drove out to Hanes Point to check out the cherry blossoms. It was a tad chilly so we only stayed for a short while to take pictures.

Hanging out on top of the cherry tree.

Don't worry, no baby was harmed. Daddy Jarbs was holding her really tight.

She was closely studying the flowers and then wanted to eat them :-P

 Daddy's girl



Bonding time with Daddy Jarbs!

Daddy Jarbs starts on a new job next week. He made sure he has a week in between jobs to spend time with Elle. Daddy Jarbs and Elle had a lot of bonding time this week. They ran errands together, went shopping, hung out at Big Bear, planted flowers outside the house and went to the Open Gym at Gymboree.  Unfortunately, Daddy Jarbs did not take any photos. According to him, he wanted to enjoy the moment :-).

Here's our little girl in her "special agent" outfit picked out by Daddy Jarbs.

This is what happens when Daddy Jarbs dresses her up :-)

Special Agent, Day Care Division



Elle's 1st St. Patrick's day!

Today is St. Patrick's day! Elle has no Irish blood but she still got dolled up and wore something green today. Daddy Jarbs picked out and bought her shirt from Tar-jay ;-).

Daddy Jarbs took off work early to take Elle to her 4 month check up. Grandma Jarbs came with them. After the doctor's appointment, they picked me up and we all had early dinner at Matchbox. Elle was knocked out from the vaccine shots she got so she napped while we ate dinner. She woke up just when we were almost done each eating so we got to play with her a little bit.

Her pacifier clip was more important than looking at the camera :-)

Elle with Grandma Jarbs

 With Mommy & Daddy Jarbs

Elle and her first slice of pizza!...kidding :-). We wanted to see if she'll want to eat "real" food. She practically puts everything in her mouth so we were not surprised when she wanted to suck the pizza lol.

Sunny Sunday!

The weather was really nice today so we headed out and walked to our favorite neighborhood coffee shop to have breakfast. The coffee shop was packed. Good thing Elle brought her own Bumbo chair and sat on the bar :-).

Here she is playing with Mr. Monkey, her favorite toy these days.

She loves to suck and eat the monkey's face! :-)

After breakfast, we walked around the neighborhood. Elle fell asleep on the BOB stroller! During our walk, we discovered a new park that is being built a few blocks away from our house. I hope it will be done in time for summer so we can take Elle there to play.

                     

Father's night at Gymboree (video)

Last night was Father's Night at Gymboree. The dads were invited to come to class and play with the babies while the mommies watch and take pictures. Unfortunately, because of the bad weather, there was a low turn out. Only 3 dads showed up but nevertheless, we still had fun!

We arrived at the Gymboree a tad early so we got to play during the Open Gym time. Elle loved playing on the slide!

 

She's all smiles while going down the slide

As always, she enjoyed looking at herself in the mirror

Here she is hanging out on the swing. Yeah, she's thumb sucking!

When the class started, Daddy Jarbs got to play and sing to Elle and do other fun stuff that we do in class! Elle also showed off her tummy time skills!

Elle's 1st class picture :-). A lot of her classmates were absent!

After the class and before we left Gymboree, Elle had to go down the slide one more time!

Overall, it was a fun night for the Jarbs family!

Sleeping just like daddy....

One thing they have in common is they both love to sleep!

Daddy-daughter bonding time

While I was napping last night, Eleiana and Daddy Jarbs had a little bonding time. They watched the Redskins-Eagles game together!

Elle wasn't happy with how the game was going

So..she just slept through it :-)

Daddy Jarbs goes back to work :-(

After 2 weeks of vacation leave and staying home, Daddy Jarbs went back to work. Elle and Mommy Jarbs will miss you Daddy!

Daddy Jarbs and Elle before he left for work

Baby Jarbs' 1st rally at 40w6d!

We were getting bored waiting for Baby Jarbs to come out so we decided to head out to the National Mall and check out the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. We were first hesitant to go because of the crowd. I did not want to have my water break in the middle of the crowd! Everything turned out fine though. We made sure we were in close proximity to the nearest exit :-). It was also a good excuse for us to walk around and help push the baby down. There were tons of people on the Mall and it was entertaining walking around and checking out people in costumes and seeing the different rally signs. Daddy Jarbs thinks that the message of fear has gotten into Baby Jarbs that is why she is scared to come out! lol. So much for Baby Jarbs' first rally...

Happy birthday Daddy Jarbs!

We did not have anything planned today for Daddy Jarbs' birthday. We expected that we will be busy taking care of a newborn by now. Needless to say, we were wrong. We ended up going to dinner at Marrakesh Restaurant and had Moroccan food. The food was not great but I guess you go there for the experience and the belly dancer! :-). The dancer did not look Moroccan though. We think she's Filipino! 

Happy birthday Daddy Jarbs! You would have to wait for a few more days to get your special gift which will come in a special delivery :-). For now, I hope you enjoy your new Google phone :-). More celebration to come when Baby Jarbs arrives!

Trip to the ER!

Daddy Jarbs woke me up at 4:30 am to tell me that his right eye hurts really bad and he needs to go to the emergency room! Poor thing has not slept since we had gone to bed (about 12 mn). I woke my sister up to tell her I need to bring Jeff to the hospital. She thought I woke her up because my water broke lol. I drove Daddy Jarbs to GW Hospital and went straight to ER. I sat in the waiting room while Daddy Jarbs was being seen at the triage room. One of the nurses saw me and said "Shouldn't you go upstairs?". I think he was referring to the labor and delivery room. I told him no and that I do not need any emergency help :-). One of the patients waiting asked me when I am due. When I told her I was due last Sunday, she took pity on me and said "awww" lol. I thought it was pretty ironic that I had to go to the ER not because I am in labor but because of Daddy Jarbs. Anyway, so we waited for about an hour before the doctor finally saw Daddy Jarbs. It turned out he has corneal abrasion. They gave him  percocet and numbing drops which helped relieve the pain. He cannot wear his contact lenses for a week. After the 2-hr trip to the ER, we are back home and he was finally able to sleep. Poor Daddy Jarbs!

Football, glider, nursery...

We were blessed with another awesome weather today! Daddy Jarbs was asked by his former flag football team to play with them today. Daddy Jarbs did not join this season's flag football team because of Baby Jarbs' impending arrival. Since we did not have anything planned today,  he was able to squeeze in a flag football game in his schedule. His team changed leagues so we had to drive out to Rockville, MD for today's game. Eventhough his team lost, Daddy Jarbs played a great game. He even scored a touch down for his team! Go Daddy Jarbs! His teammates thanked me for letting him come out and play given that Baby Jarbs can come out any minute/day now!

Here are some photos of Daddy Jarbs in action.

Click to enlarge

After the game, we swung by our favorite baby store, Great Beginnings, to pick up the Best Chair ottoman that we ordered and had repaired. The glider came in a couple of weeks ago but the ottoman was damaged to we had to send it back. Now, our Best Chair Mantova glider and ottoman with nursing stool is complete and assembled! Yay!

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I ordered custom hibiscus wall decals from Etsy and I should receive it on Monday. After that, we can finally hang up all the wall prints, wall decals and letters and the nursery decors will be complete!!

Weekend at Solomons Island

This weekend is Daddy Jarbs' 20th yr high school reunion at Solomons Island. We drove down Friday afternoon and went to our friends Jeff & Mary Anne's house which is about 10 mins away from our hotel. After dinner, we went to Daddy Jarbs' high school happy hour at the Tiki Bar. Since I can't drink alcohol, I stuck with virgin mai tais and water :-).

This morning, we woke up in time for lunch and got steamed blue crabs :-). Baby Jarbs was happy to eat crabs again! Daddy Jarbs and I were both so stuffed from lunch so we went back to the hotel and took a nap. We woke up in time for Daddy Jarbs' reunion/dinner party.

Daddy Jarbs was happy to see his good friend Scott who with his wife, Amanda and 2 yr old son, Griffon,  flew all the way from Kentucky. Scott was Daddy Jarbs' best man in our wedding.

Daddy Jarbs and Scott

Daddy, Mommy and Baby Jarbs at ~29 weeks

After the dinner party, I went up the hotel room and called it a night. I can't stay up too late nowadays. Daddy Jarbs went out to hang out with his high school friends. I do not think having a pregnant lady hang out at the bar two nights in a row would look cool :-). 

Since Solomons Island is just a short 2-hr from DC, we plan to come back and visit next summer with Baby Jarbs in tow :-). 

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's day to all the fathers especially to daddy-to-be, Daddy Jarbs! Baby Jarbs greeted her daddy with a kick this morning :-). For father's day, I got him the Hangover shirt:

Daddy Jarbs loves the movie Hangover.  He actually wants to "wear" Baby Jarbs for halloween and have her dress up as baby "Carlos" just like in the movie Hangover. Well, I found the perfect shirt for him. Now, he can start practicing wearing/carrying a baby :-). We walked to our neighborhood Farmers Market this morning and people were checking out his shirt lol. 

I also got him the Being Dad dvd to help him prepare for Baby Jarbs' arrival. It's a good documentary about pregnancy from a guy's point of view. We watched the dvd and Daddy Jarbs freaked out during the delivery scene! LOL.

We celebrated the rest of Father's day with a crab feast at sis-in-law, Terri's summer house in Cobb Island!

Sunset in Cobb Island

Daddy Jarbs' 1st sprint triathlon relay race!

We celebrated Mother's Day at Lake Anna down in Spotsylvania, VA. Daddy Jarbs participated in a sprint triathlon relay. We had to get up at 4:30 am and drive down at 5:30 am! Lake Anna is about a 1.5-2 hr drive from DC. The race started at 9 am.

Swimmers waiting for the race to start

Daddy Jarbs anxiously waiting for their swimmer
to cross the finish line and get the team's chip

Finally got the chip!

And off he goes..

18 miles and 1hr 15 mins hrs later, I finally saw him approach the finish line! Of course I cheered, "go Daddy Jarbs go"! :-)

Baby Jarbs and I congratulated Daddy Jarbs after he crossed the finish line

Daddy Jarbs with our friends/teammates who also participated in the race

What an exhausting day. I felt like I raced too! Daddy, Mommy and Baby Jarbs took a long nap as soon as we got home :-).