Christmas & Birthday Celebrations

As of the date of this post Sydney is 2 years and 2 days old.

The month of December could probably be renamed The Month of Sydney. Sydney definitely thinks December is all about her. Between Chanukah celebrations, Christmas celebrations, and then her birthday, it sure does seem fitting that it is the month of Sydney.

We had a great time being able to celebrate with family and some friends throughout the month. We are blessed with wonderful people in our lives who make these moments all the more special.

Christmas Eve had us celebrating with the Herold Clan. Sydney and her two little cousins had such fun opening up lots of presents from the grandparents, aunts & uncles, and even from each other. One of the gifts we treasure most is a picture of the 3 little girls together in a frame that says "cousins forever". We really do hope that all of the girls grow up to be close and good friends.

Christmas morning had Scott, Sydney, and I celebrating by ourselves and it was a prefect way to start the morning. We were able to take our time, have a liesurely breakfast and just really enjoy the moment.

Christmas dinner was super yummy and lots of fun with the grandparents all there to share in the memories and the moments. Sydney is indeed lucky as she would say I have TWO pop-pops, as loud as she possibly can. Followed up with 1 Ga-ga, and 1 mom-mom. She loves her grandparents so much.

Then came her birthday which was such a great day of fun. All about that sweet little girl turning two. Scott and I made sure to take down all the Christmas decorations and just put up birthday decorations as it's important to us that she feel her birthday is separate from Christmas. She loved the balloons and had such a good time playing with them. As did her cousins.

We made her an elmo cake and had family over for dinner and dessert. She and her cousins played with the many new toys that she got over the holidays and the night was a success. We are so thankful to all those who were able to share in that special day with us and we missed those who live too far away to be here.

Here are some pictures from the holidays and birthday for your enjoyment.

Holidays 2009 - Slideshow Maker

Chanukkah Celebrations...

In this post Sydney is 1 year,11 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days old.

This past week has been filled with lots of Chanukkah celebrations in our house. We have celebrated with Sydney each night of Chanukkah by lighting candles, singing songs, and she gets a present each night. She is LOVING that part!

Then on Saturday night of this past week we were fortunate to be able to celebrate with Sydney's Aunt Cassie & Uncle Scott, and her 2 little cousins, Alissa and Taryn. They came over for a pizza party, candle lighting, present exchange, and then we capped off the evening with a trip to our local zoo for the light spectacular. It was a cold but fun night out.

Sunday had Mom-mom & Pop-pop and Aunt Anita over for another Chanukkah celebration. Sydney loved it! She ate lots of latkes and other yummy foods. She was blessed with all that she received in the way of presents. It was crazy! so many new toys and such to look at that she didn't know which direction to turn first or what to play with first. I think she is going to feel like that for quite awhile. Each day she is gravitating toward a different new toy. It's fun to watch her discover a new toy and how it works. Some of her favorites so far are the little tykes etch a sketch (Aunt Martha & Uncle Saul sent up from NC), her Dora doll & stroller from her Mom-mom & Pop-pop, and the remote control car that Aunt Anita gave her. I am not sure who likes the remote control zoo car more though, Sydney or her Daddy!!

Then last night Ga-ga and Pop-pop came over for dinner and Chanukkah celebration and we had lots of fun visiting with them as well. More candles were lit, more toys were given. And the hit of the evening was the Cozy Coupe Car. Sydney could barely wait for her Daddy to put it together. she just wanted to ride in it from the moment the pieces came out of the box. For now she will have to be satisfied riding in it in the house until the weather changes a bit.

Today she "parked" it in the center of the family room, got her sippy cup, her fruit snack, and sat in it with her feet up on the dash watching her Dora DVD on the TV. I think she thought she was at the drive in movies! Such fun.

We still have a few more Chanukkah celebrations left before the holiday is over. Sydney sure is one lucky girl.

Here are a few pictures from the festivities:

A Special Thank you

We also wanted to say a separate and special thank you to our friend Darby. She designed this beautiful banner for us, and her and Michael are just special people in our lives. Now if only you lived closer. We miss you!!

Big Doings in the Herold Household....

In this post Sydney is 1 year, 11 months, 1 week, and 6 days old.

Just like last time, life seems to be moving so quickly that I am horrible about updating our blog. One of my new year's resolutions is to try and update weekly. We will see how long that actually lasts, but I am hoping it will last for the entire year, as I would really like to capture more of our memories on here.

But for now -- we have big goings on in the Herold household. Baby #2 is on the way!! We are half way through what feels like a VERY long pregnancy (for all of us), and we were able to confirm this past Tuesday that we are expecting another baby girl in April 2010. We are very excited. The baby is doing fantastically so far, and one of these days my morning sickness might even subside. I can hope right?

Sydney is going to be 2 years old at the end of this month and I am forever amazed at how quickly time is going. She is such a joy and the light of our life. Every day she makes us laugh and smile, and sometimes makes us want to pull our hair out!

She is doing a ton of pretend play, loves her "guys" as she calls them (refering to all of her stuffed animals, baby dolls, and assorted other friends) and is talking up a storm (just like her mama!). She likes to play with her ABC toys, and she counts okay... her favorite right now is to go 1, 2, 8. We have no idea why 1,2,8. But 2 is still her favorite number.

She keeps growing taller and needing new shoes, but I guess that is to be expected when you feed them. LOL

Sydney is really excited about the upcoming few weeks. With 2 Chanukah celebrations, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and her Birthday -- there is much going on. She has learned to say Happy Chanukah, although it sounds like happy hada, but that's okay we understand what she is saying. and Merry Christmas comes out sounding like Mer Mer Ca Ca.

We really feel blessed with the life that we have. Scott and I are both well and Sydney is happy and healthy, so really we couldn't ask for more.

A few holiday pictures of sweet Sydney. Hope you enjoy! I hope we get to see many of you over the holidays but for those we won't get to see, please have a safe and fun holiday season.

Long Time Coming

In this post Sydney is 1 year, 7 months, and 5 days old



We have no excuse for not updating lately so we aren't going to make one. We have been very busy since the last update. I'll try and capture all that we have been doing and hopefully won't leave out too much.

When we last updated we had gone to the Turtle Back Zoo. That was at the beginning of May. Since then we have spent many days at various local petty zoos and farms. Sydney just loves to pet as many of the animals as she can, as well as feed them. She also had her first few pony rides this summer and loved loved loved them! She never seems to want to get off the pony when she is riding on one.

June brought the celebration of father's day and we were fortunate enough to have both sets of grandparents come over to celebrate the day with us. Sydney loves both of her Pop-pops so very much.

June also had us taking a trip to Cape Cod & Wharham MA with our friends the Hermans. Scott was able to finally take a tour of Factory Five and we all got to see so many pretty (and some not so pretty) Cobras! It makes us want to be on the road all that much faster.

We have also celebrated several birthdays since our last update. Sydney helped her Daddy celebrate his birthday on 2 different days with LOTS of cake. She also helped her Poppop Herold celebrate his birthday again with cake! We still owe him a cherry pie though, so pretty soon we will be baking pie! Aunt Anita had a birthday in May as well but unfortunately we didn't get to see her this year on her birthday.

Sydney's Aunt Martha is celebrating her birthday on Tuesday and while we can't be in North Carolina to celebrate with her with lots of cake (see a theme) we will see her at the end of August and celebrate with cake then!

We have been getting out almost daily with our local moms group and playing at various parks or swimming pools. Sydney is a little fish who loves being in the water. She puts her face in and tries to blow bubbles, but mostly drinks the water.

Tuesday mornings are spent at storytime where we hear a new story every week, sing songs, and color pictures! Sydney loves seeing her storytime friends and playing with them often at the park after storytime.

We have done a bunch of picnic lunches and spend as much time outside as possible. This summer that is really hard because it seems to rain all the time lately in NJ. But that's okay... some days we even play in the rain. Mrs. V bought Sydney a beautiful raincoat, umbrella, and rainboots but right now they are too big for her to wear, so hopefully she will be able to use them in the fall. Then she can stomp in puddles without getting her feet wet!

Sydney has also discovered her love of amusement park rides. So far she has spent time at Storybook Land, The Land of Make Believe, and various fairs that have amusement rides. The antique cars, planes, and carosels seem to be her favorites so far! She has told me though that when she gets bigger she wants to ride on the Tilt A Whirl with cousin Alissa.

July brought about a fun bbq at our house on the 4th with lots of our friends and family. Scott and some of his friends put the engine in the Cobra for the first time and since then we have been going non-stop with getting things moving with the car! The 2nd weekend in July brought about the first official go-cart riding of the Cobra! We are all truly excited and so proud of all Scott has accomplished with the car. He tells me there are a few more things to be done, and then over the winter is body work and paint! Our hope is to be on the road with a finished car this Spring!!

July also brought about Sydney spending time in the Poconos with Gammy, Auntie Cassie, and cousins Taryn & Alissa... along with Mommy & Daddy of course! She is learning from her cousins all about camping and how not to eat the stones on the ground! So far so good... she seems to really like visiting there!

Sydney had her 18 month well baby appointment as well. At that time she was 33 inches tall and weighed 24 pounds. The doctor says we can continue to allow her as much to eat as she wants, including all the ice-cream and treats that she wants because she is still only in the 40th percentile for body mass. And believe me Sydney likes her icecream! She is just super active and always on the go!!

Okay if you are still reading and aren't sleeping by this point, God bless you for having the patience to read through all of our comings and goings!

We have taken so many pictures so far and it would take forever to post them all so we put together two slide shows for you to enjoy as well as a link to a short video of Scott's first ride in the cobra (during go-cart prebody stage. Enjoy!!

Car Ride

Make a Smilebox photobook

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Turtle Back Zoo Trip

In this post Sydney is 1 year, 4 months, 1 week, and 2 days old.

At the end of April Mommy and Daddy took me to a local zoo. (Turtle Back Zoo). It was such an unusually hot day though -- about 90 degrees in April in NJ -- that most of the animals were no where to be seen. But here is a small slide show of what I was able to see that day.

I had a great time and so did Mommy & Daddy. We will definitely go back again.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A few video clips

In this post Sydney is 1 year, 4 months,1 week, and 1 day old.

Mommy finally had time to post some video clips of things I have done over the past couple of months. Mommy, Daddy, and I hope you enjoy them. This video was taken at 1 year and 4 months exactly. I took my first steps on my 16 month birthday! Mommy & Daddy had been waiting for FOREVER for me to do it, but I waited until I was ready. Now I still don't walk everywhere but each day I walk more and more. Mommy says this looks like frankenstein learning to walk. Mommy is silly.


This video is of my first time having a lollipop. My pop-pop Leon got me this lolly to eat during Passover and i sure did have fun eating it and getting EVERYTHING and EVERYONE very sticky. I was 15 months old in this video.


Daddy thought this video was funny because I couldn't stay awake during dinner. It's not my fault that some days I don't want to nap so by the time it's dinner time I am soooooo sleepy. This was taken in January, so I was 13 months old.


hope you all enjoyed these... next installment will be my first trip to the zoo. Mommy just needs to find the time to post the pictures.