20 months!!

There are SO many things to love about this little guy at 20 months, but I'm going to limit myself to 10.


1. the way you scold yourself and use the appropriate tone- for example, you walk up to the remote, hold your hand over it and say, "no, no" very seriously. if you are standing in front of something you REALLY know you can't touch, you use a louder, harsher, "NO!" to emphasize your point

2. you've always been so good at clean- up. you love the "clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere..." song. but lately, instead of cleaning, when we start the song, you stand in the middle of room, flapping your arms up and down singing, "ean up, ean up". adorable, but not effective for a tidy playroom.

3. the way you say 'dan do unny' after i say "thank you honey"

4. how there is really no need for us to thank you, since you take care of that yourself. if we ask you to do something, you do it and then say, "dan do"

5. how you show excitement over the simplest things (like waffles) by clasping your hands together and shrieking, "eeeee"

6. the way you pronounce a number of words- you repeat the first syllable instead of saying the word correctly. examples: shower is "show show"

7. that your pronunciation of "sorry" is "saucy"

8. the amazing love you have for your sister.

9. once again, your love of books. you received so many new ones for Christmas and it's a good thing b/c we read about 50 a day or so it seems.

10. your kisses. i can never get enough of them.

three's company..

Aidric pretty much insists on joining Juliet on the boppy almost every time she is nursing. He climbs up on the couch and plops himself down, practically on top of her. He then rubs her head and hair, kisses her and just loves on her. Usually he brings a book or two with him as well. Chris took these pictures the other day right after Juliet finished eating and while Aidric and I were burping her =).

by request...

Yes, we do have a daughter. It was brought to my attention (thanks mom) that Juliet has not been featured on the blog in a week. To be fair, she doesn't do much, so while I do take a ton of pictures of her, they are all so similar! Here are a few from the other day!

She is smiling at us now- not "on demand" but every now and then and it's so sweet! She also makes the sweetest little cooing sounds when she's happy. During her massage tonight, she was a one baby chorus!

(Despite the happy look on her face, she doesn't love tummy time!)

3 toddlers and 2 newborns

this is what it looks like:




Absolute chaos, but so fun. We get together about once a week, but this was our first playdate since both babies were born. Mollie and Krista conspired ahead of time and brought mimosas and pastries to celebrate my birthday.




Here's our attempt at a group picture using the self-timer. Not too bad.
(Krista and Dylan, Kyla, me and Juliet, Aidric and Lily on Mollie's lap)



And for old time's sake here is a picture of the first time we got together. Lily wasn't even born yet, so it was just Krista, Kyla, Aidric and I. Aidric was 3 weeks old and Kyla was 6- or maybe 7?

this kid...

cracks me up. He loves his food. He was having a snack this morning of cheese slices and apple sauce. There was some great light in the kitchen, so I grabbed the camera to snap a few pics of those blue eyes. Here he is innocently snacking:




I asked him to smile and it was the first time he ever did on request for the camera.



I put the camera down and go to the sink to clean some dishes and look over and see this:



Sometimes a spoon just isn't enough.

All of a sudden, he is SUCH a little boy..

I don't think I can deny it anymore. He is growing up so fast. This age is SO much fun- he learns new things every day and it amazes me how much he absorbs. We started talking about colors a few weeks ago and now he can name red, blue, green, yellow and purple. He counts to 3 and most amazingly, he has these mini conversations with us. He actually talks to people on the phone now instead of just pushing buttons and hanging up on them. I could go on and on, but I'll let you look at some pictures now =)

I forgot to post these pictures of Aidric's first hair cut! It was actually the week of Christmas. He did a great job and looks like such a little boy now.




Is it just me or does anyone see a resemblance to someone here? (thanks Gretchen for knitting the adorable hat!)


Sorry there are so many- he was watching Elmo and it's the only time he sits still enough for me to get good pictures!








Enjoying a PB&J

Is it too late for Christmas pictures?

We didn't go anywhere on Christmas, but I really wanted a Christmas dress for Juliet. I put it on her on Christmas Eve and attempted a little photo shoot, but my timing was horrible. She was hungry, Aidric was grumpy, Chris had the camera while I tried to arrange and pose...all in all, it did not go well.

So, here we are mid-January and I got her all dressed up while Aidric was asleep.





How cute is this little ruffly butt??? I distinctly remember LOVING my ruffly butt underwear when I was little. I remember my mom telling me I had it on backwards one day though and I was so confused. Why would the ruffles go in the back?? I couldn't see them when they were back there!

Brotherly Love

AJ has turned a 180 in his feelings for Juliet. When he first saw her in the hospital, he wanted nothing to do with her. When we brought her home, he would try to pull her blanket out from under her, swat at her when he was angry and just generally didn't care for her.
Now, he is so sweet with her. He loves to reach out and hold her hand- on the way home from the park the other day, they were in the double stroller and he reached into her side and grabbed her hand....and held it until she pulled it away- at which point he grunted and reached in further to get it again!
He runs to her whenever she cries, strokes her hair, pats her on the back and just rubs her. Today, he figured out how to give her her pacifier back. He does it just like he sees mommy and daddy do- puts it in her mouth and then moves it back and forth a little until she grabs hold. Unfortunately, he doesn't like to let it go, so he tries to stand there with his hand on it or take it back from her. We'll keep working on that.

I took this one with my phone on the way home from the park.

One month old!

I can't believe my second child is already a month old! She didn't have a one month appointment, so I weighed her at home. Not sure it's accurate, but 9 lbs. 13 oz?!?!?! Wow!! At one month, Aidric was somewhere around 6 lbs. I'm sure it won't take long for the numbers to even out though.

Here are a few pics, admittedly taken a few days after Juliet actually turned one month old.

Playing catch up...

Yikes- a whole week without a post! Here are a few pics from the last week - there are more posts to come!

There were plans to make/decorate Christmas cookies with Grandma, Aunt Sarah and Gracie, but time got away from us and it never happened. Since I had all of these cookie cutters and sprinkles laying around, I decided to do it anyway. I was surprised that Aidric really understood using the cookie cutters- but when it came to "sprinkling" the cookies, it was more like "dumping" the sprinkles.

(Oh, and yes, I'm using a champagne bottle to roll out the dough- we don't have a roller!)

We had a great four day visit with Grandma Porras, Uncle Richard, Aunt Sarah and Cousin Grace. Each visit with AJ and Grace gets more fun as they interact and really play together. Ok, and fight over toys, shove each other off furniture and vie for the adult's attention, but it really is a lot of fun! Chris brought everyone to the airport this morning and Aidric woke up saying, 'Grace, Grace" while trying to figure out where his constant playmate had disappeared to.

We tried to take a ton of pictures, but getting two VERY mobile toddlers in the same shot is practically impossible. We did dress all three kids in their osh gosh overalls for a photo op, but the results were not ideal. I'll work on those pictures and post soon!

Grandma and Juliet


Trying out the new rock, roll and ride from Grandma and Grandpa Porras- a huge hit!



Not so sure about his new passenger...





Reading new books with grandma


and cousin Grace too..