big girl bed

we had a memorable event happen in the hartstack household this week...lilian is officially sleeping in her big girl bed! it is an emotional ordeal as a mommy. on one hand it makes me sad to know that she is no longer a baby sleeping in her crib. she no longer needs her nursery with her rocker where i nursed her and we read her bedtime stories...she now has a big girl room and is truly growing up before our eyes! i have loved watching her change and grow so much this summer and become her own little independent person but it is an emotional milestone. on tuesday i had a meeting all day so lilian and brian spent the day together. when i came home from my meeting around 3 she was downstairs napping. i asked brian if he had shut the door to her room and he said yes. i came downstairs to get on the computer and noticed her nursery door was open so was confused. i tiptoed over to the computer, not peeking in her room in hopes she would stay asleep and not notice me. after a few minutes brian came down and i said i thought you said you shut her door. being the jokester he is he said, "i did, she doesn't sleep in that room anymore." ha! i looked in her nursery to see an empty crib (well, empty with no child but the crib was still full of her dolls so it was hard to tell!) he said they had been talking about her big girl bed today and when it came time for nap she said she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed so he put pillows all around the side and let her try it out! to our surprise, she stayed in there for her 2 hour nap just fine! we gave her all kinds of praise when she woke up and she was so excited to have slept in it. that night we went out and bought a bed rail and installed it before bed time. since that night she has been sleeping in her big girl bed successfully! i use the word successfully pretty loosely...the bed time process has definitely gotten a lot longer at our house! she comes up with every excuse in the book...i need a drink, i need mommy and daddy to tuck me in, i need another doll, etc. you get the picture! but usually after the third time of her either getting out to tell us something or asking for us to come down over the monitor she is in bed for good! our baby is growing up!

grandma camp

while brian and i were off enjoying ourselves in mexico grandma and grandpa entertained lilian for the week! along with help from aunt andrea, aunt leanne and cousins andrew and lauren! we dropped lilian off with leanne, lauren and andrew the sunday night before we left. they were in north kansas city visiting friends so it worked out perfectly. the drop off of course was harder on us than her...she was all smiles and so excited to go with them. when leanne pulled up lilian's words were, "i go in that car." she was in good hands and had a ball all week! the county fair was also going on the week she stayed which added some more fun to her visit. it was super hot in iowa too so many days they spent inside playing with grandma's fun toys. here are some pictures rhoda took of lilian's stay.

on the way to meet aunt leanne and the twins!

love the posing!

play dough fun

always a favorite past time...horse rides on grandpa!

breakfast date with lauren after a slumber party

craft time

grandma introduced lilian to cinderella...

dancing to cinderella songs...can you say OBSESSED! she wants to watch it every day!

cheese!

jammie time with her baby

goodnight hugs for grandpa

snuggling with grandpa

loves playing hide and seek on the stairs

love that face

fair time!

petting the goats

this picture cracks me up because when we got back home we went to dinner with my family and lilian kept saying to curtis, "pick me up!" wonder where she got that from! ha!

girl time at the fair!

love this picture!

watching the hog show

popsicles, another favorite at grandma's!

petting zoo

checking out the baby pigs with aunt leanne

happy girl

Mexico #2

last july brian and i took a trip to the maya rivera area with our wonderful friends, colleen and drew. we had somewhat joked last summer while we were there that we should do it again...well, we did! i honestly did not think it would happen again this summer but was sooo excited that they decided to come along with us again! we decided to try a different area of mexico. we went to a resort called the royal in playa del carmen. the biggest difference between this resort and where we stayed last year (the valentin) was how close we were to the city. you could walk right out the front door of the resort and were surrounded by vendors on the streets, tons of shops, restaurants, and nightlife. we spent a couple nights walking downtown and checking everything out for something different to do. 

our arrival outside the main lobby

most comfortable bed ever and HUGE

 every room had a jacuzzi right by the patio

 sitting area

 bathroom area

loved the hammock on our balcony

we spent our days at the pool and beach. we usually woke up around 7:30, headed to breakfast together and then spent the mornings at the pool. we would then go to lunch and spend our afternoons on the beach. often times falling asleep and taking a little nap while listening to the crashing waves...sounds pretty peaceful, huh? i could totally live by the ocean. i absolutely LOVE it. here are some pictures of our days at the resort...

view of the pool and rooms

another view of the main pool



having a drink on the swing

 at the main entrance before lunch

 lunch date at pelicanos and the tapas restaurant

  lounging at the beach after lunch

 the four of us!

 this is the life! what a view!

 at the pool

 another lunch date at spice

lounging

 drew and brian

 playing at the ocean

 the water was the perfect temperature, warmer than the pool!

cheers!

our nights were spent relaxing in our rooms for a bit after a long day in the sun then getting ready for dinner and drinks. our favorite restaurant was called asiana. they had sushi, and tons of amazing dishes...brian loved the fish from here. i loved the sushi and spring rolls. we also loved our dinner at maria marie...it was a french restaurant and was very elegant. we all enjoyed tons of wonderful food at the resort! after dinner we would usually watch the shows in the main lobby and enjoy drinks outside on the terrace.

first night, dinner at asiana

night two, mexican restaurant at the sister resort across the street

colleen and me

us

the food was amazing everywhere we ate!

french restaurant

 before dinner drinks by the beach

our last night

our one "excursion" on the trip was our night out to a club, coco bongo. we had heard it was a really fun place to go and was in walking distance to the resort. we had the time of our lives! there were over 50 acts...pretty much every great song/artist you can imagine was performed...lady gaga, guns n roses, madonna, michael jackson, etc. the dancers were decked out in elaborate costumes and had awesome routines choreographed to look exactly like the artists on tour or in music videos. we had vip seating so were super close to the stage which made it that much better! it was definitely a once in a lifetime experience that we would highly recommend to anyone going to playa.

so much fun!

the big stage we sat on the left of the stage

it was an amazing trip with amazing friends. we had so many laughs and just relaxed! it was an awesome get away in paradise! lilian enjoyed a week at grandma and grandpa's in iowa. i'll post lots of pictures of her fun trip too!