Our Family Blog

Monday, August 3, 2015

Adam's First Day of Kindergarten

Aurora getting in on the pictures

Ready for school!

Monday, April 13, 2015

Puzzles

Blurry photo but shows her absolute joy at having finished the puzzle (with Dad's help).


This guy has been working on puzzles by himself for a long time now. He works methodically by flipping over each piece, then organizing by color/patterns.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Brother celebrated his 4th birthday this year. He was lucky enough to celebrate his birthday with both sides of his family in New Mexico with 3 mini-birthday parties in one trip. He also got to celebrate his birthday at preschool and to have a special day with just us on his official birthday. The downside is that now he now expects that everyone gets a parade week of birthday celebrations.

Making tortillas with Cho

Adam finished his first year of preschool. He loves school, so it was surprising how he never asked about it during the summer. He tried his best to stay indoors the entire summer, but we forced him to go to the park when L would take the kids to the park. It seemed like the more he stayed in, the more he wanted to stay in and not do very much at all. He doesn't like the heat, but once we got him used to going out a few times a week, he was much happier and he does enjoy playing with other kids at the park.

Birthday party at preschool

Trying on Dad's glasses

For a while, he was really into coloring. Over the summer he went from scribbling over pictures to carefully filling in sections of a picture to practicing gradations of color within sections. It was amazing to see his development. We're hands-off when it comes to art, because school seems to push out all creativity in the goal to "color within the lines" and then you have to spend so much time breaking out of that structure to actually be creative. Still, he taught himself to color within the lines. That's okay.

July 2014

Adam likes to sing and he loves Sheriff Callie's Wild West. He has also gotten into the habit of trying to say the dialogue to almost anything he watches, even if he's never seen it before. It's a little amusing. It doesn't seem to get on anyone's nerves, so that's good.

In the last year it seems that Adam has become more afraid of the dark. He doesn't like to be outdoors after dark or even at dusk. He's also developed a fear of being out in the rain. While we were at the Arboretum in Flagstaff, it started sprinkling and he freaked out. He stopped where he was and was screaming and crying. We've talked to him about how he is safe as long as the rain is not heavy and if there is no lightening around. He understands, but he is having trouble feeling safe. We got him calm and had him finish a shorter version of the trail with us, pointing out how everything was fine. I think it's just going to take time and reassurance for him to let go of his fears.

Our sweet boy is into Super Heroes, Legos, Frozen, Tangled and he actually likes to do chores. We don't have enough age-appropriate chores for him to do. What a complain, right? He helps with laundry, dusting, picking up toys to vacuum the floor, putting away dry goods and washing produce. He also helps Sissy take her shoes off when we get home.

One of the things that we appreciate and admire most about our Adam is how he is able to talk to us. If he's upset, he always finds a way to talk to us about what he is feeling or thinking. He takes the time to listen to us when we offer guidance. He often takes our guidance also and then decides for himself whether we were right or not. Of course there are times when he is just not happy with us, but he knows we love and believe in him.

July 2014

Catch Up Part 1: Aurora

January 2014

Our little sleeping beauty has a huge personality. She loves to go out, outside, just anywhere. What she really does not like is sitting still and quietly in restaurants. We are having the hardest time trying to scold, negotiate with, bribe, appease, insist with her that she sit at the table until we are ready to leave. Most of the time, Matt or I have to take her to the car while the other stays with Adam to finish up the meal. Unlike his sister, Adam enjoys eating out and has no trouble sitting quietly through the meal. And I don't mean, silent, I mean, respectful of other people. Aurora, screams her head off, because we don't allow her to roam around the restaurant.

She's not the best sleeper, but she's transitioned to a decent bedtime which is better for all of us. Matt and I (mainly Matt, because he stayed up with her more often) were being worn out by her 1am bedtime.

Little Sister is also a bit too rough with her play. She likes to kick and hit and head-butt and wrestle and she just does not honor when you want to tap out.

Everything else about our girl is absolutely wonderful. She is talkative and ridiculously smart. She is strong and healthy. She is dramatic and funny. I've caught her practicing her cries, her laughter and even her tantrums in front of a mirror. She loves acting and will even remember particular gestures and dialog she sees in a Disney movie or on a Disney Junior show.

January 2014

What Sissy L O V E S to do is dance. She will dance to anything. I mean, anything. I have seen her dancing to Reveille which was hilarious. She makes me wish I had a video cam on my forehead that I could have record on command. Her ability to dance to the beat of a song is amazing. I think we need to look for dance and/or music classes for her. She has a gift for it.

April 2014

Aurora counts to 11 and can nearly sing all the words to "Let It Go", her favorite song right now. Thanks to Frozen, she is obsessed with Olaf and snowmen, in general. Actually, both Adam and Aurora love the movie and the characters.

She is working on being able to jump. She handles a fork and spoon and pencil and brush fairly well. Like big brother, she likes painting and popsicles and being chased around the house. Her favorite book is "Early Bird".

April 2014

In just a few more weeks our daughter will turn 2 years old. She loves people's birthdays and especially singing Happy Birthday. While we were at In N Out Burger last week, she kept saying, "Ha-birday" to one of the workers. She was so happy about it. Finally, we realized that she thought it was his birthday, because he was wearing an In N Out Burger hat. In May, we had my sister wear one when we went out for her birthday.

June 2014

Right now, Aurora is hanging off my arm and making it difficult for me to write any more in this post.

July 2014

I forgot to add earlier, that I also caught Baby Sister dancing to the beat of me chopping garlic. I guess, any beat will do!

Monday, August 4, 2014

Back to School

Let's go!

Adam started his first day (of his second year) of preschool today. He's been looking forward to returning to school even if it means getting up an hour earlier. We had no problems getting him up and ready for school this morning. He has matured over the summer and his happy acceptance of returning to a school year sleep schedule is one benefit of his growth.

Preschool!

I decided not to cut Adam's hair before his return to preschool. He was pretty consistent in his answer that he does not want to cut his hair. Since he's been so good about having it washed (the main reason for keeping it short in the past), it seemed like a fair trade. He promises to take good care of his hair and I'll let it grow.

Adam said his favorite part of school today was going potty. This must be in reference to my asking him to make sure he goes when he needs to so there would be no accidents. I'm thinking that making a treasure chest had to be another favorite of his day. He was excited to show the chest to me when I picked him up from school.

Friday, January 3, 2014

Single Dad Christmas

Adam prepared this treat for Santa

We should have taken our 2013 Christmas photos early, because we didn't take any pictures on Christmas Day. I was in bed with a sinus infection and reoccurring migraine Christmas week and Matt was on his own with the kids. Matt kept the holiday fun going for Adam and Aurora. They had a great time opening gifts with Matt and trying out their new toys.

The day after Christmas Matt took me to urgent care and I was able to get antibiotics. A couple of days later, I was feeling much better and was able to rejoin the family. One of the first things I did with the kids was paint. Aurora has surprised me with how much she enjoys painting or drawing with crayons. When it's time to take her out of the high chair and let our paintings dry, she cries to get back to painting. In fact, she whines and cries while I'm trying to set up their paper and paints. She has no patience at all!

Painting on left is Berta's, middle is Aurora's and the two on the right are Adam's

Adam's big Christmas gift from us is a Spider Man bike. A few days after Christmas, Matt assembled the bike and Adam was able to try it out for the first time. It was so exciting to see him start this new experience. I loved riding my bike and for me, it symbolized adventure and freedom and whole days of fun and play.

Go Adam!

Now that I've put a limit on how much overtime I'm working, it seems like I have a lot more time to spend with the kids. Imagine that! In these times, I'm trying to think of everyday things that they can do or help with. Aurora started her first chores with putting toilet paper away (stacking them in the bathroom cabinets) and dusting in the living room. Both kids really like helping around the house and I'm happy to have the extra bits of time with them.

Adam helped make cinnamon rolls for Aurora

Every year for Christmas, we take the kids to pick out an ornament. I wanted to make sure I captured the year for each of their ornaments before I start to confuse and forget them.

Adam, 2010

(darn it. where is 2011?)

Adam, 2012

Aurora, 2012

Adam, 2013

Aurora, 2013

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Photo Drop

Gingerbread house Adam made at preschool

Smile!

Aurora trying to sit on the controller while Adam plays

Aurora is quite the bully and since she has started walking more, she has started chasing Adam around, trying to take things away from him and sometimes even hitting. In the above picture, she is trying to interrupt his game by sitting on the controller. He is telling her to stop, but also trying to be careful with her. He is a sweet brother.

Sleeping through her cold

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Aurora is Walking!

Today, she walked around the house, more than ever before. From today on, it's official.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Birthday at the Zoo

We celebrated Aurora's birthday with both sides of the family throughout the week before her birthday. On her birthday, Matt and I took her and Adam to the zoo. We had a wonderful time together and will need to make it a regular family outing.

Happy Birthday Girl, ready to start the visit

Duck pond

Aurora and Mommy

Adam feeding giraffe

Aurora feeding giraffe

Adam laughing with Daddy at lunch

Aurora sleeping through lunch at the zoo

First Field Trip

Adam is going to a great in-home preschool. Just down the street from us, he attends class twice a week with 7 other kids. The curriculum is organic, so each student help define the learning content based on their interests and their needs. Adam loves going to preschool and a few weeks ago was his first field trip (Lowes and Pump It Up). At Lowes, the kids picked one vegetable or herb plant and one flower plant to grow at home.

Flowers and Herbs

Watering the plants

Adam's Thyme

Monday, September 9, 2013

Happy Birthday

Baby Girl

It's hard to believe our baby girl is a year old. It has been a fun year and it went by so, so fast.

Aurora, we still have not written about your birth day. It's one of the best days of our lives. Yet, we are so busy living our family life, we don't get much time to write about our family life. Even now, I am stealing time away from you, Brother and Dad to blog.

Your birth day post is pending, but I won't delay writing that we are so grateful to have you in our lives. We love you every moment and watching you grow and smile and laugh and display your personality continues to be the greatest joy. Your whole life and beyond, Mom and Dad love you.

When we brought Aurora home, we slept on the futon in the living room with our newborn sleeping next to the futon in her little bassinet. We kept a strand of Christmas lights on and hanging from one of the windows' curtain rod. Actually, I slept in the glider in the living room for the first week at home, because after cesarean, it was easier for me to get out of the glider than stand up from the futon. Matt and I took every other night feeding, but we so wanted moments with Aurora that we often stayed up with each other to both care for her. And when family went home after the first few weeks, the four of us would stay up late together watching Disney Junior with Adam. We were always meant to be together. I could feel it even that first night home.

On the third night home, in the middle of the night, while you slept in my arms, you laughed in your sleep. I was sure I imagined it or hallucinated it. I was on pain medication and I certainly had a couple of weird instances in the hospital when I had Adam. But you laughed again and as spooky as it was, I was sure the second time. On the fifth night, you did it again while everyone else was asleep and I really was weirded-out. I mentioned it to Dad and Cho. Cho said she'd heard you laugh in your sleep the day before, but didn't tell anyone, because she didn't think anyone would believe her. How odd it was! You continued to laugh in your sleep off and on for the first month. I'd never heard of another baby doing it.

Our little girl smiles and laughs a lot. Sometimes, it's her fake laugh, but most of the time it's her real one. She has the cutest smile. At nearly age 1, she is learning to blow kisses. She waves and yells hi/hey to everyone she sees. She also says wow and whoa and uh-oh. She gets a little jealous when big brother spends too much time on Mom's lap and she will try to bite him when they are fighting over a toy. When Adam naps too long, she tries to hold his hand or pat it to wake him up. She loves going outside and dancing. Ending either will result in a full-on tantrum. She loves music and has been overheard singing to Aqualung (Jethro Tull), Run to the Water (Live) and a British rock song that neither Matt nor I can remember.

We call you Party Girl. It used be because you kept us up so late at night and still do sometimes. You love music and dancing and well, being festive all around. I joked that all we needed to do was go clubbing for your birthday. I actually think that if the music wasn't too loud, you really would like it. Instead, we are taking you and Adam to the zoo tomorrow. We celebrated your birthday with family over the last two weekends. Imagine a baby so loved that her family will celebrate her arrival over TWO weekends! That's you.

Your first cake tasting was red velvet. You hated it at first then you rubbed into your face and your hair. You clapped and said yay several times during our cake outing and enjoyed all the cheer sent your way. You made a horrible mess of the high chair and the floor, but the server was so enamored by your cuteness she didn't mind at all (I also tipped her extra for the mess).