Sunday, July 14, 2013

The Bean: Three Years Old

My baby bean just turned three years old on Thursday. She's closer to five than not and that is just crazy.

My sweet baby girl. Everyday I look at you and cannot believe that you're mine. I am amazed at who you are and how you are changing and growing every single day. You are an impressive little girl that makes us smile and stare at you in awe from all the things you do. You're hilarious, creative, silly, funny, and downright awesome.

At the moment you love making up songs about any little thing. We giggle as your little voice quivers as you extend certain notes. Your love of water has not wavered and you are enamored with being in water, near it, looking at it, and especially playing it in with your mermaid dolls. Taking a bath with Sebastian at the end of the day is a constant request. You will only wear dresses, love having your hair done, and donning as many articles of jewelry as possible; you are certainly a girly girl and most definitely my daughter. You're bilingual. This makes me unbelievably proud and the sound of your voice as you pronounce words is Spanish is just about the cutest thing I have ever heard.




You've always been very sweet and loving, but I feel that at this age you are returning the love with great measure. You are always wanting to be held, kissed, and loved on. You impress us with your good manners and I always smile at hearing you say "please," "thank you," and "gracias" without being prompted. But hearing you say, "I love you mommy," is just the cherry on top. 



You love your brother with so much force; both literally and figuratively. Sometimes it's a little too much and you're learning to take it a little easy. I can foresee the sibling rivalry and the love you will have for one another. It makes my heart fill with so much joy to see you both smile and laugh at one another as you play together. I am so thankful that you have each other. 


 You have boundless energy and a love for life that I cannot put into words. You are the most wonderful daughter and I cannot believe how lucky we are to have you, Amélie Sophia.



Happy Third Birthday my sweet girl. I love you to the moon and back a million times over. 

Sunday, June 30, 2013

What's going on?

Did anyone just have a sudden urge to sing?

A list of happenings and things on my mind. 

1. The kids are getting so big. My baby boy is not really a baby anymore. He's taking more and more steps every day. Boo hoo. My girl talks non-stop and literally makes up a song about everything. Amélie loves to sing. We also think she is brilliant. I seriously look at these kids every single day and cannot get over how cute/awesome/adorable/sweet/loving/funny/smart/perfect they are. Of course I'm also sometimes rolling my eyes over how crazy/loud/ridiculous they are. They certainly make life more exciting and wonderful. 
{eleven month photo do-over the next day.}

{Noe Valley and Dolores Park with the babies and Abuelito}

{Whose big kids are those?!?!}

2. It's been ridiculously hot the last few days. It's the one or two weeks a year where not having AC totally sucks. We seek refuge at the movies, the mall, SF, and restaurants. Although the weather has been awful, we have been having a blast while cooling off. After a show at the Civic Center on Saturday, Amélie and I made our way through downtown to meet up with Eric, Sebastian, and our friends for lunch. As we got to the center, the big open splash fountain was calling to us. Amélie saw the other kids and some adults running through it and requested to go in. No brainer there. I quickly took off her dress, left her in her pink ruffly undies and we ran squealing through the water. It was perfect. It was so hot that I didn't care that I was soaking and actually by the time we walked to the marketplace a few blocks away, my linen skirt was practically dry.  Today, we decided a visit to SF was the remedy. After a quick breakfast at home, we packed up and set off for amazing 75 degree weather in Golden Gate Park. It was wonderful. The baby boy slept on the way there and then they both passed out of the way back. What's better than that?! Weather over 90 degrees = grouchy Johnson's.

{"Mami, take my dress off. Now.}

{"Smile, Amélie!"}

{We love you SF!}


3. My kids are so lucky (as I am as well). We recently bought a family pass to a local zoo and amusement park. They both absolutely love it and it's been great to have my daddy man in town to take the kids every week. 



{We discovered a beautiful Japanese tea garden in town.}

Amélie and I went to Sesame Street Live on Saturday and she could not take her eyes away from the show. She was in awe. A little story: While standing outside waiting for our friends, Amélie could see that there was cotton candy for sale inside. She called it "blue thing," since she'd never had it before. She asked me a few times if she could have some and I said we'd see once we went inside. Well, once we made our way inside, it turned out to be a concession stand with stuffed animals, toys, flashing lights, and the like. I offered Amélie the choice to select any ONE thing from the stand. I pointed out almost everything they had for sale except for the cotton candy because I didn't really want to buy her sugar, but of course, she ignored all the other treats and toys and still chose the cotton candy. That girl. Just shows she knows what she wants. 

{Amélie and Myles}

{...and her cotton candy.}


4. We did some major landscaping in the backyard. We now even have a little patch of grass which I cannot get over. I just love it. It's so nice to looks right out the back door and see our big lovely green trees, grass, my herb garden, flowers, plants, and NO weeds! Needless to say, we've been spending a lot of time back there. Lounging around while Amélie runs through her sprinkler toy, most often naked, and Sebastian plays by my feet in the yard is one of my most favorite things. Just a wonderful joy. 

{Not the best picture, but we have grass!!}

{my herb garden and Amélie's strawberries in the last plot.}

5. We very, very, very, very, much appreciate having my dad here when he visits from Guatemala. He's the best! He is so awesome with the kids and they absolutely love him. Daddy man helps with things around the house that we just don't have time to do or just don't have the know-how to complete. He's so handy! We love his company and his easy-going manner. He's been here for about a month and he'll be leaving towards the end of July. At this point I'm trying not to think about him leaving because I will miss my daddy so much. 



6. Teething is horrible for both baby and mommy. Am I right? Sebastian has been teething for months and it sometimes feels like there's more unhappy/fussy baby days than the good days. Those make for the longest of days and not enough sleep. This is especially trying for me because he's at the stage where he only wants me to hold him and wants to be able to see me at all times too. Ay. Ay. Ay. 

{But then you get looks like this and you just melt. Gah, baby smiles.}

7. I have an awesome husband. We make a great team. 

{Dessert date night at the Fairmont Hotel. Oh yeah, why not?! 
Totally taking advantage of Daddy Man being here.}

8. I've been sewing up a storm. No surprise to those that know me. The season started with making skirts, then a nursery set for a dear friend, and now birthday goodies for the babies. Of course there have been the usual decorative pillows, curtains, and whatnots getting made. I think the sewing machines and I will have to take a brief hiatus after July. They have become permanent fixtures on the kitchen island where I sew and I'd like my counter space back. Oh, and I'll be working on setting up my etsy shop again after July. You know, if I get some time. 

Anyone else feeling like the time just flies by? That our babies are growing up too fast? Also, when do people have time to blog?! Or read books?! Seriously.  

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Nine in; Nine Out

I wrote this at the beginning of April and kept coming back to edit and add just a little bit more. Of course the days then got away from me and here we are, two weeks past his 9 month birthday. Better late than never...

Our sweet smiling boy is turning 9 months old in less than two weeks. Sebastian Gabriel has brought so much happiness to our days. He's my son and boy am I lucky.

During the time that I was pregnant with him I often wondered what type of baby he would turn out to be. Amélie was such a sweet and relatively easy baby in every way, that I thought my next baby would end up being more challenging. You tend to hear stories of families with one easy and one difficult baby and I figured with my first being the "easy" one, the next would have to be the "hard" one. Up to this point, I have to argue against that point. Sebastian is just the sweetest boy.

I keep thinking about the 9 months that I was pregnant with him now that we're approaching the 9 month mark of his life. My pregnancy was easy, exciting, and went by so quickly. Before I knew it, here was this little bundle that has since grown unbelievably fast. Although our babies have been very similar in many ways, there are definitely differences between them. Along with this, it's really interesting to see what each of them has been like during different stages on their lives, but at the same time of year since their birthdays are only a week apart. The most obvious difference between them has been size and weight. My itty bitty 5 pound, 5 ounce baby girl has made up for her initial size, but since Sebastian started out over two pound heavier, he had a major head start. At his last doctor appointment Sebastian was exactly 18 pounds. That was at 7 months. There are pieces of clothing that fit Amélie up until she turned one, that haven't fit Sebastian in months. Our almost 9 month boy is wearing 12 month clothing and this makes me sad to see my baby grow up so fast, but also excited to see who he will become.

Our boy has a smile that spreads throughout his entire face and a contagious little giggle. When we're out and about, he gets so many smiles and greetings from strangers, especially now that he has those darling little bottom teeth (and the top two are peeking out). He is irresistible and he uses that to his advantage. He is most definitely a fan of the ladies and will often stare them down in order to get a smile. He's bashful when he wants to be and will snuggle up to my neck to hide. Sebastian is downright adorable; from his spiky little fluffy head of hair down to those little chubby tamalito feet. I just want to eat him up! He's my perfect little boy and I'm so very lucky that he's a fan of mine.

We did start off rough with the sleeping, but we've gotten into a groove and he's doing amazingly well. He's down to two naps and a 7pm to 7am night time schedule. He'll every so often sleep through the night, but more often will get up to nurse once around 4 or 5am. At first I was hoping that Sebastian would follow the same sleeping habits as Amélie and sleep through the night at 7 months, but I know not to compare them and take it once night at a time. It very well could be bad, but right now I get to snuggle with my boy in the darkness of the night.

As I hold him up while holding on to his hands, I have a feeling this almost-nine-month old boy will be walking in no time. Just like his sister, he's not a fan of being on his belly and shows NO interest in crawling. But get him on his feet and he's happy as can be. He's been taking small steps and showing us how strong his little legs are while holding onto the side of furniture and standing for a very long time. I can't lie that I am nervous about the day he actually begins walking because Sebastian's got a desire to touch and investigate everything in site. Our baby-proofed, or should I say, "Amélie-proofed" home will need to be reviewed for our inquisitive little guy.

If it's not obvious already, I'm in love with Sebastian. He's our Sebi, little papa, baby boy, chiquito, hermoso, sweetie pie, and snuggie little bug. He's completed our family. Getting to see my two babies together, smiling, and laughing just makes my day and I can't imagine life without those giggles and sweet faces. As I sit here remembering the hardest of days, just waiting for Sebastian to reach the six week mark so his sleeping habits would improve and thinking how long those weeks felt, it baffles me that we are now so close to his first birthday. Slow.down.time! It seems like it was you know, "just the other day," that I was nursing, nursing, nursing and counting the hours till nap time for both. Now, baby girl isn't napping anymore(boo hoo) and Sebastian is only nursing 4/5 times a day. The daily challenges now have to do more with a certain dramatic(diva!) and opinionated toddler and trying to find opportunities to give Sebastian more one-on-one attention. How life has changed.

Some notables on our little boy:
  • has four-ish teeth. the top two are out, but not completely.
  • wears 12m- 18m clothing. 
  • already enjoys the carseat more than Amélie did at that age.
  • will put anything within reach in his mouth
  • hates pacifiers
  • is literally a bouncing baby boy. he loves bouncing.
  • makes a lot of baby sounds; sometimes very loudly.
  • has great sense of style. hehe
  • loves his sister so much.
  • uses a straw/sippy cup to drink.
  • feeds himself. it's the cutest thing. he pinches to grab then rolls it into his palm to push it into his mouth.
  • likes everything when it comes to food. except avocado. what is it with my babies not liking avocado?!
  • can hold onto something and stand for an indefinite amount of time. strong little legs!
  • has always loved trees. they fascinate him.
  • is a fan of large trucks and noisy vehicles. what a boy!
  • is in the "i need to be able to see mommy at all times" period.
  • he really likes being held or carried. he prefers the ergo to the stroller.
  • really wants to walk. will take steps if you hold on to his little chubby hands. 
I wanted to add some photos, but at this point it'll take me another month to get those the way I'm getting along with blogging. Let's just imagine his cute little smiling face. Love him. 

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Our Little Room

In the last year or so (although more so in the last 8 months), we've made some changes to our master bedroom. As is frequently the case when decorating, the master bedroom ends up being the last to get done up all fancy-like. I was finally able to convince the hubby it was time for a real grown-up set-up. Now we're officially adults; we bought new mattresses. This is as exciting as it gets around here. Woo.

I'm awfully proud and happy with the way things have come together recently and I wish I had all the time in the world to just sit on my(although Amélie will argue it's hers sometimes) fluffy bed. For now, I'm happy as a clam spending mornings snuggling with my babies watching some Sesame Street before starting our day. I can't believe I get to do that every day. Bonus points for when Amélie doesn't freak out about...ummm....everything. Ah, the toddler years.

Since I haven't done any real decorating updates about our house since we moved to San Jose from San Francisco, I thought it was high time! I mean, it's been TWO years already. Oops. I also kinda abandoned my decorating blog because when it comes to the end of the night and I have to decide between remembering the lives of my babies or what I sewed/crafted/decorated/painted/sawed....blah, blah, blah; there's no contest. This reminds me I need to do some updates on the kiddies. They.are.awesome. But, so super duper exhausting!

Along with a new mattress(!), we bought a new bed frame, the Mendocino frame from PB. Although, there's a little story to go with it. Since I'm always trying to find the best deal in the whole wide world; always, I'd been looking on Craigslist for a frame I thought I'd be happy with. On one of my searches, I found several listings for my dream bed frame in new, PB packaging for sale at half the price. What?! Well, half the price is still a lot in my mind. I checked for many months and they always seemed to be posted. Finally, when we could afford it, Eric drove 45 minutes away to pick it up. It turns out that the man selling them designed it for PB and his company was making them for the store. Unfortunately for him, PB decided to have them made in China and was thus left with many of the frames in his warehouse. Eric said this man's house was huge and fancy schmancy. All I've got to say about this is, "WOO HOO, me!" and "Thank you, Honey!" He didn't even complain about all the driving I made him do to pick it up AND was even excited about setting it up when he got back. Lucky me.


We also bought a new dresser and nightstands from IKEA. We have the same dresser in the nursery and we love it. Our version is a different color and I'm in love. I jazzed them up with new hardware that I majorly scored via Ebay. Can I just say that I've never bought so many things off Ebay as I have in the months since Sebastian's birth? Ebay was there to keep me company during those late night and lengthy nursing sessions at the beginning. You can find everything on there!


I also hung up my Michelle Armas print in an acrylic frame on the big wall. Oh, and when I say big, it's more like "big." Seriously, our room is tiny cozy and I love it.


I added some greek key trim to the curtains that I made when we were in SF.


I bought that vintage suzani off Ebay. Surprise! But, seeing as I need my down comforter, I converted the suzani into a duvet. I found and sewed a table cloth in a coordinating yellow to the back and added a zipper to one side in order to insert the comforter.


The lamps we've had for years and I still love them. 


For my birthday this past year, Eric's family gave me a very generous gift card to my second home, Target, and I was able to buy the matelasse quilt.


The scalloped euro shams and faux mongolian lamb pillow are recent purchases that I'm in love with. I think I need more scallops in my life now; gastronomically, textually, visually, and pillowy. That is a technical term. 



I think the bed is calling my name. Have any of you made some updates to your bedroom? I wanna see!


Friday, February 1, 2013

Year in Review: 2012

Beware: Picture Overload! 

Happy New Year...a month late!

I've been slacking on the monthly posts for the kiddies. The holidays really kept us busy and then I started a new workout challenge that keeps me busy in the evening once the kids go to bed. After that I just crash. I had a fairly quick workout tonight so I figured it was about time!

I enjoy looking back on the review I did of the last year and didn't want to get too far into this year before completing 2012. It was a good year to remember. =) Oh, and because I can't very well remember the details of last year, this is all done by looking back at my iPhone photos since we don't use real cameras anymore. I don't even know where the real camera is.

January

We started off the year with a bean-dos update.

A big girl bed training; which, made me very nervous that our little bean wouldn't want to stay in her bed anymore. It wasn't the case then; it is now.

Many days at home being cozy with my girl while I tried to regain some of my energy back.

February

I hosted a cute Valentine's day tea and craft party for some mommy and baby friends at our house.

The hubby and I enjoyed a wonderful V-Day dinner date at a French restaurant.

The bean-dos belly grew and we found out we were having a boy! I sorta had a feeling it was and the hubby was genuinely surprised. This meant I could get started on nursery plans!

March

Enjoyed some beautiful sunny days.

Amélie almost touched a shark. Her buddy, Josie, did.

Lots of playdates and crafts

Drove down for cousin Corbin's second birthday. We had to drive back the next day because the Hubby was experiencing some terrible allergies. boo.

First Build-a-Bear. She made her beloved Bruce.


April

Our dear and wonderful friends got married on April Fool's Day. It was beautiful and so much fun. They even had It's Its for dessert. Yum!

We visited family in Kansas and had a great time. Probably one of my most favorite trips to Kansas; it was sunny and we were able to do some touristy activities.



Took advantage of our Gilroy Garden's membership a lot.

There was some big girl bedroom planning going on.

May

First visit to the Exploratorium

After numerous hot, hot, too hot days, we bought an inflatable pool. It was a big hit with the baby girl.

Amélie started soccer. One of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Amélie moved into her big girl room! It was a hit.



I finished Sebastian's room.

June

There were lots of special days days devoted to Amélie as we neared Sebastian's arrival.



My bestie threw me a perfectly sweet and thoughtful baby shower tea party. We ate the BEST cake!

We spent Daddy day riding a train through the Santa Cruz mountains and eating yummy mexican food.

Had some awesome weekends with girlfriends in preparation of my sweet friend Kendra's wedding where we rode a gondola on lake Merritt.

July

Had daddy man come to visit and help me so much in the few weeks before Sebastian's arrival and after.

Pool time with dear friends on the fourth of July.

We bought another Volvo wagon. We now have two.

Celebrated my girl's second birthday with a super fun duo pool party.

Sebastian Gabriel was born exactly a week after Amélie's birthday.


He went home wearing the same outfit Amélie went home in too.

August

The hubby and I celebrated our birthday.

Those first 6 or so weeks with a new baby were rough! Especially once Eric went back to work on the 15th.

Sebastian went to the Children's Discovery Museum for the first time and loved it.


September

Eric's dad and stepmom came to visit and meet Sebastian.

Lots of baby growing and toddler learning going on.

October

Halloween! We went with a Star Wars theme this year. I made both of the babies costumes and my belt.

November

Thanksgiving at home in San Jose with my family and Eric's mom.

Major princess infatuation going on with the toddler girl.
"Butterfly wings, tutu." 



This shirt also belonged to Amélie. She was able to wear it until she was about 1. Sebastian can no longer wear it because it's too small. 

Many wonderful days at home with the babies. Dance parties galore and warm baby kisses.


December

Christmas at home in San Jose

I made a ginormous advent calendar.

We sent Enzo to live with a new and very happy owner. He just wasn't a fan of kids. It was okay for a while, but now that Amélie is running around and Sebastian will be doing so in a matter of time, we thought it was best for him and us.

Our family of four got to spend some quality time together while Eric was off for Christmas break.





Spent time with our dear friends and their awesome kids in Sacramento.


There are so many good pictures and great memories that go along with them. I wish I could post all of them so I can easily go back and relive those special moments of our lives.