Eight Month Old Alex

Two Thirds of a year!

Height/Weight: Tiny baby is growing!  We had an extra doctor's appointment today so we got an update, 17 lbs 6.5 oz, 21%! Yay Alex!

Clothing Size: Alex is still wearing six months, but I think it's time to get down the 9 months clothes. 

Diaper Size: 2

Eating: My kids are apparently just good eaters.  Alex is doing great.  He eats pretty much everything we give him, although lately avocados have not been a hit.  He's doing pretty well with finger foods like puffs and small pieces of bananas, but most of his food is still spoon fed to him.  He usually eats banana and oatmeal for breakfast, puree for lunch, and often a mushed of version of our dinner.  He has one afternoon snack and nurses about 5 times a day, or has bottles when I work.  I'm excited that he's growing so well!
Sleeping: We had some tough nights, but then he slept through the night for almost a week! (7 to 6:30).  He naps on a fairly regular schedule, one nap during Colin's nap.  He goes down really easily normally.  We do his night time routine, then he plays or stands or crawls around before he finally falls asleep, usually sucking his thumb.

New Skills:He's standing!  Alex pulls himself to standing and likes to launch over and off of things.  He's also babbling.

Special Thanks to daddy for getting the pictures today! 

Blinks: Jabber box

Colin is quite the jabber box.  He talks non stop.  He narrates our daily activites, sings songs, makes up words, and most of all makes requests (and sometimes demands) about what he needs!

Some of my favorite from lately:

"Santa is coming.  He lives at the mall.  He has a hat. It's red.  His jacket is red also.  His chin is white."

"What's this all about?" (Said about various things)

"Impromptu Hug!"

"Bell Peppers are delicious; they no ring."

"Time to get ingredients out. Put my apron on.  Let's get mushrooms and ketchup!"

I love talking to Colin.  One of our favorite games to pass the time is to teach him new words (which is where impromptu came from).  He loves to practice saying new words and telling me about the world around him.  He is still a bit shy and it takes him a bit to open up to new people, especially in groups, but one he gets started there is no stopping him!

A look back

For some reason yesterday I decided to take a quick peek at what I had done on Janaury 20th the last few years.

2010
Worked all day at Lion's Field Sports Park in Fullerton (although it was a rain day).  At night Gavin and I had Ceramics Class.

2011
Landed in Australia and attended the Aussie Millions kick off party.

2012
Spent the morning playing video games before driving out to visit my parents in Vegas


2013
Spent pretty much all day nursing an almost 2 month old Colin.

2014
Spent the day on a construction site in Ontario, pregnant with Alex.

2015
Worked again.  Had dinner with the boys and headed off to MOPS.

Our First Trip to Disneyland!!

I have been counting down to our first Disneyland trip with the boys since before they were born.  And yesterday it finally happened!

For Christmas, I asked for season passes to Disneyland, and I can't wait for all of the memories we'll make there this year!

Our ride, ready to roll!

 

We were so excited to share this first trip with Grandma and Auntie Cheryl who made the trip all the way from Texas to be with us!

Both boys were so much fun!  Alex is at a very fun and interactive age and despite his need to be on the move all of the time, did great in arms and the stroller all day.

The boys did get a little overwhelmed.  Next time we'll probably keep our trip a bit shorter, but this time we were there from 9:00 am until 7:00 pm!  Considering there were limited naps, I was very impressed with the kids.

We rode, Pirates, the Steamboat, Snow White, The Merry go Round, the Train around the kingdom.  We also saw the Frozen parade float twice.

Colin's favorite thing at Disneyland when asked varies, but if I had to guess based on overall talking time, it would be 'Instrument Man.' There was a brass band in New Oreleans and one of the musicians gave him beads.  He loves music anyway, so that stole the show!

Prime parade viewing seats

Mickey playing the drums was also a huge hit!

Disneyland wore the boys out!

An old camera, a new toy

Colin was playing one of my least favorite games the other day (fish around in a drawer until he finds something he wants) while I was trying to clean up our kitchen when he came across an old digital camera.  He asked to take pictures, and I said yes.

Colin's first photography exhibit:

'Take Picture Christmas Tree'

'Take picture face'

"take picture outside'

'Take picture cam-binets'

'Take picture too bright'

'Take picture floor.'

 It was actually really fun to watch him wander around the kitchen taking pictures and playing with the camera.  And I was excited to see how and if any of them would turn out.  It's fun to see my world from his perspective.  I also found a surprise on the camera, some picture of a few month old Colin!!

Amy's Birthday Interview!

As I shared on Colin's birthday, we have a new tradition in our family, the birthday interview!  So without further ado, here is mine.

Birthday Interview!

Name:  Amy

Age:  31 (wait, I'm supposed to say 29, aren't I? Eh, I worked hard to get here, so 31 it is!)

Favorite Thing to Do:  Spend time with my family.  

Favorite Food:  Salmon Sushi and champagne 

Favorite Color: blue green

Favorite Book:  I love you as Much

Favorite time of Day: I currently have two; when things go well, it's the early morning when Gavin brings a hungry but drowsy Alex to nurse and he falls asleep snuggled up to me.  Sometimes that isn't quite so idyllic, so the other time is when Colin gives me check kisses.  I LOVE check kisses. (A check kiss is when he holds my checks in my hands and gives me a kiss)

What do you want to be when you grow up?  besides an engineer and mommy, a children's author.

What do you do really well?  Involve the boys in my daily activities.  People are amazed when I tell them that Colin helps me in the kitchen (okay, help is a strong word, but still).  It's never easy and I have good days and bad days, but I feel like I'm pretty good at making it fun for everyone.

What makes you laugh? My kids most often, followed by my friends (that's why their my friends!)

What are you afraid of? I work hard to let go of my fears so they don't take over, but being a parent is scary.

Who is your best friend? I've meet a ton of great women the last few years who I am incredibly grateful to call my friends, but my best friend is still my husband.  I love you, Gavin!

What do you like to do with your family: Play, explore, and cuddle.

What do you like to learn about: publishing a book and starting a new ministry.

If you had one wish, what would it be?  I wish that all mothers everywhere had the luxury of worrying about the things I worry about.  I guess another way to say that is that I wish there weren't children facing disease, hunger, abuse, or neglect.  I wish the biggest concerns facing any family was if they should choose organic produce or if their children should attend 3 year preschool.  

Special Time with Grandma

Sometimes it feels a bit lonely living so far from our families. While they are always only a phone call away, grandma can't just drop in when the peas hit the ground and Aunties can't be impromptu baby sitters.

We are lucky you have a beautiful community of local friends and even luckier to have families who choose to make the distance smaller with frequenty calls, trips and help.

The last few weeks we have been so lucky to our have Grandma in town to help celebrate the holidays. Grandma's visits are extra special to our whole family. The boys thrive on the extra attention, love and time that only a grandma can bring. Daddy especially thrives on the extra sleep that he gets and mommy especially on the extra help from someone who understands my household well enough to help without needing to be asked or directed.

Thank you so much to Grandma for being willing to make the drive and being a constant source of support, help and love. We aren't sure how we are going to manage without you but we will see you soon!!

Preschool Wrap up

We are done teaching preschool, for now!  We are hosting again next month, but won't be teaching again until May.  It was very fun, although it is much more difficult to engage and entertain preschool's than you would think.

Our last meeting of December was holiday themed and we celebrated with cookies, crafts, books and a potluck.

I was pretty surprised at how well the kids did decorating cookies, I was sure that some of them (Colin) would ignore the decorations, eat the cookie, and then eat the decorations, but everyone seemed to like decorating!  (And then eating them of course!)

Kari brough some hanukkah crafts and activities for the kids.  Colin realy liked the Yamaka, so much that he kept it while he did his Christmas crafts, too!

Our next activity was deocrating Christmas ornaments.  We added puff balls to plastic ornaments.  It's so fun to see the different kids approach activites so differently! Colin tends to do a few and lose interests, some kids, like Marlo, shoved balls into the ornament until you couldn't fit another one in!  They came out pretty cute.

After our crafts, we had a book exchange with our friends.  What kid doesn't like opening presents?

We are really enjoying our preschool group and I'm so glad Colin has this opportunity to interact with kids his age.  I am looking forward to our next month.  I have a pretty solid outline already, but I know May will be here before I know it!