I'm Mean

I had just sat Juliet in her chair for an afternoon snack, when she looked so adorable smiling at me, that I decide to grab the camera. Ready for some adorable smiles???

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Not so much...do not put a camera between a girl and her cracker!!



Ahh, here we go


And what do you think...is there a chance she'll have some curls? Or is this just afternoon bedhead??

Thomas

If you're the mother of a 1+ year old boy, or if you even know ANY 1+ year old boys, I doubt you need a further explanation of who Thomas is.

In the event you are not familiar, let me introduce you.



The funny thing is, we can distinguish most of these Thomas trains, b/c they have slightly different names. There is "big" thomas, (he's the 2nd to biggest one, the biggest one was gift from G&P Porras and he doesn't have a name that I am aware of), "new" thomas (who is not new anymore, but also retains his given name), "whistle" thomas, and "little" thomas.

I realized later, that Little Thomas was missing from the picture, so I took one of him alone, when I spotted him under the train table. (I love the pink and blue pajama clad legs showing in the back of the picture here!)

I love them both separately...

but my heart just about bursts with love for them together. They are still working out the finer details of sharing and taking turns, but despite that, their love for each other is just so pure and so touching.

Tonight, Juliet denied me a goodnight kiss, but when I asked her if Aidric could give her one, she leaned her head in and turned her cheek to him. He put one hand on the back of her head and the other on one cheek when he went in for the kiss. As he kissed her three times, her little face just lit up and she started to giggle.

She has started attempting his name, but it comes out ah-dih.

He calls her "my sister" more and more. Usually when he's feeling protective. Like tonight, when I put him to bed.
Aidric:Mommy, will you come check on me?
Me: Of course, honey
Aidric: Will you check on my sister too?
Me: absolutely honey

I love that he's looking out for her. I pretty much just love them.

can't resist sharing these

the sunsets lately have just been GORGEOUS. again, nothing done to these in editing, though looking at them, i should really take the time to at least straighten them!

Fun at the Park...

It's so fun that Juliet can really play at the park now too, instead of just hanging out while Aidric runs around having fun. I love how happy they make each other.

Piggies

Thanks to Grandma and Papa Porras for these great piggy banks. The kids have loved decorating them!

If I had known this was all it would take..

We attempted to potty train Aidric a looong time ago, but without success on the "pooping" part. He has always been more than eager to pee on the potty, but seemed afraid of anything more. I read a blog post somewhere about a week ago that talked about the idea of "poop presents". Basically, a basket of small (cheap) wrapped presents in the bathroom to incite interest and motivation. I decided we'd try this next....maybe in a few weeks or even after we'd moved into our new house.

Aidric woke up from his nap on Sunday with a dry diaper though, so I asked if he wanted to wear underwear. And from there, he has ONLY wanted to wear underwear. I ran out during nap time Monday to get some "poop presents" all ready for him. (He'd had an accident that morning).

I am soooo proud of him right now!! Since Sunday, he has had 3 accidents TOTAL! I know we're not in the clear yet, but he's doing great!! So far, he's opened the "bouncy bouncy ball" and a John Deere tractor that is not pictured b/c it's actually a leftover Christmas present we never gave him. If I had known it would take just a basket of dollar store goodies, we would have done this a long time ago!

New Year's Eve (aka..another Christmas)

We celebrated Christmas with Chris's family on NYE. Once again, our children were spoiled. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was trying to just enjoy the fun!

"Christmas" ...still

I know, it's January 11th and I'm still blogging Christmas! My goal is to be caught up by the end of the week.

"Santa" brought Aidric a train table. Chris put it together once we got back in CA. When Aidric woke up the next morning, I told him Santa had come and he went running up the stairs. We were a little disappointed that he didn't show more excitement, but perhaps the train table box sitting in the garage for the last 2 months gave it away.

While he didn't shriek and scream in joy that morning, he has played with it endlessly EVERY day since. I think I might love it even more than he does!



Juliet loves it too.

BIG NEWS!!!

No, I am NOT pregnant. But, we bought a new house!! And said house is undergoing some major renovations. So, I started a new blog to document it all for us and anyone else who might be interested.
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http://www.zfamilyhome.blogspot.com/

Juliet's first snow

She's not standing on her own yet and refuses to even try walking, so she didn't get to play out in the snow with Aidric while we were in Indiana. I couldn't resist a quick picture of her "first snow" though!



With papa

He had asked her for a kiss. With Juliet, you sometimes get a kiss when you ask for one. Other times, you get a slap to the face. Papa was not so lucky this time.

tonight...

I did NOTHING to this picture...this is straight out of the camera and pretty reflective of how gorgeous the sky was over the ocean tonight.

Christmas Day 2009

Just a random mix of pictures from Christmas Day.