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. 

Mimi and Kiki

By the title you could believe that this is about individuals by the names of Mimi and Kiki, but they are in fact two things we never leave the house without- Amélie's special blankie (mimi) and her binky (kiki).

I wanted to write about this because one day I'll be able to look back and enjoy all the little or not so little things that were a part of our lives with these two babies. These two objects have certainly become a big part of our lives in the last several months.

For a while now, as long as we've been tucking Amélie into bed at night, she's always had her blankie. As part our routine we lay her blankets on top of her and then wish her a goodnight and give her a kiss before we walk out the door. Well, somehow along the way, Amélie decided her blankie was mimi. Since I was a child, I've always referred to bedtime/sleeping as mimi. I think it's just a nickname for dormir, which means to sleep in Spanish. It's not something I made up. My parents used the term and I've heard other people use it as well. Anyways, since then we've called her blankie, mimi. There was a time period of about two months a while back where Amélie wanted her mimi to go with us everywhere and we were fine with it. The doctor even said it was a good thing she was attached to an object as her security item and not a human. He said it was perfectly normal. We thought it was cute. She got over taking it with her everywhere, but it still remained part of bedtime.

Mimi's helping me eat my special pink! cupcake. 

This girl is in love with pink(how ironic) due to Pinkalicious books. 

Fast forward to about two months before Sebastian arrived and Amélie started asking to take mimi (oh, and we think it's a "she." ie. "Where's mimi? Where did you leave her?") with us everywhere. We were okay with it again, but it slowly progressed and now is at a serious obsessive level for her. We can convince her to leave mimi home for certain things or put her down for activities, but we almost never leave home without her because it.can.be.bad! The thing doesn't leave her sight at home, too. We probably hear her asking for mimi no less that 4 times in an hour. If she's(mimi) in the other room and we can't get it to Amélie THAT second she will go into hysterics while repeatedly asking for mimi and kiki. Imagine this happening while we're out and mimi is at home? Help.

Color without mimi and kiki by my side? Heck no, Joe. 

Mimi on the chair, kiki on the counter. 

Mimi used to get dragged on the floor and you can imagine this thing got filthy! There were a few times where I tried to convince her to take another blankie, but nope. That's not mimi! We even found a fleece with Curious George, whom she LOVES, on it at Joann's that I made into a little lovey blankie with the hopes of it taking the place of mimi, but that did not work for a minute. I was seriously embarrassed of my little girl walking around with her dirty blankie she didn't want to give up and so I cut her in half. That way I can wash one half while she has the other. Thank goodness she didn't notice.

I think along with the sense of security that she gets from mimi, she also feels the same way about kiki. Her binky has always just been part of her sleep routine. We'd give it to her right before we walked out and sometime throughout the night she's spit it out and that was that. It wouldn't be seen or talked about until the next sleep session. But again, about two months before Sebastian arrived (noticing a pattern??) she started using her binky all the time! Ugh, I hate that darn pacifier. Right before she started asking for it all the time, I was at the point where I was thinking about putting the binky away somewhere and never seeing it again because she's a big girl and I felt it was time for it to be gone.

If she's got mimi, kiki is right there too- in her mouth,  in her hand, or by her side. I'm always asking her to give it up and she usually will, but unless she's happily and busily preoccupied, she'll ask for it again. Although, even during any meal time she wants to have kiki right next to her plate. It's ridiculous.

Playing the keyboard? Can't do it without kiki and mimi(on the chair)!

At her two year well-visit we brought it up with her doctor and he told us not to worry about it because he thinks is a phase that she'll grow out of soon enough. I'm fairly certain it has something to do with a certain little addition to our household. It totally drives us crazy right now because we seriously cannot leave the house without these two things and we have to know where they are at all times as if they are our third and fourth children, but I'm sure it'll be something we look back on and tease Amélie about when she's grown. I'm really hoping that comes sooner than later. =)

Little brother; I'm the big girl with my mimi and my kiki in hand! 

Gosh, I love that girl and baby boy!

Do any of your kids have a security item they can't live without?

Two, Too, To

We have TWO kids!

What little time or energy I had before to spend blogging has now been divided in half. Almost. Now that our sweet Sebastian is here, I want to document all of his new and exciting developments. So, even if it's a quick list of things, I'm determined to blog. :)

Life with two littles has been busy, tiring, and wonderful at the same time. Amélie has been displaying some very needy/whiny behavior and has her two year molars coming in. Translation = somewhat difficult child. Sebastian on the other hand started off with a bang! Nursing wonderfully from the first hour of his life, sleeping, sleeping, sleeping, and cooing and smiling like a perfect little baby. Of course he didn't enter the world in the perfect way I imagined (story later- ended with a c-section. Boo), but we adore him just the same.

Week two of my recovery sucked. I'd been feeling great; getting out, doing a few errands and then...bam, I was down. I got the stomach flu, got some really painful stuff put on my incision at the doctors (oh, it burned!), and then woke up with a plugged duct after recovering from the other things. Bad week! Thank goodness I'm feeling almost normal now.

Our two year old is growing and learning sooo much! In the month since Sebastian's birth she's probably learned two new words a day. She just surprises me every day with her big girl behavior. Her favorite things right now are coloring, playing with water, reading books, trains, saying words, going for walks, Curious George, riding her trike, and whining.

Happy girl after getting a very special big sister care package from her great aunt Judy.

Too much...

sweetness from Amélie for her brother. It's too cute! She's all about the baby. Where's the baby? Is the baby sleeping? Does the baby want his binky? I'm so happy to see how much she loves him. My heart just explodes with gushy sweet loving for my babes.

much sleeping?! As if that is a problem. It was when I was supposed to be feeding my little guy who also loves to eat. A lot. Unfortunately that seems to be over since he's been refusing to go down for his naps easily or really at all for a week now. He is still a very good night sleeper. But I won't get into much detail as I don't want to jinx us! Riddle me this: How am I supposed to spend what feels like hours trying to get a fussy tired baby down for a nap while also trying to keep a toddler entertained? Someone please give me the answer. I am very frustrated with this issue at this point. I've tried everything I know. What are your secrets?

Going back to work and days at home.

Eric had a tough time transitioning at the beginning of his time off and I was worried; worried about him getting frustrated and worried about me not being able to help. It took some time but Eric was able to get the hang of taking care of a toddler at home all day and also help me out. He was such a huge help and by the end of his time off I was really nervous about how I'd do it without him. Well, he went back to work on Wednesday and we survived. Eric didn't want to go back to work and we missed him very much. I think we'll be looking forward to the weekends.

A proud daddy

I made it out of the house with the babies every day since Wednesday. I have to get out or else I get stir crazy. We went grocery shopping, went to the park numerous times, and enjoyed a play date. I think once Sebastian gets back into napping and a more structured day routine, things will go a lot smoother. I can't wait. Although, really, it wasn't bad this week. I didn't cry once.

Getting back to my former self.

I did a good job and gained 30ish pounds with Sebastian and have about 10 more to lose (unless my boobs now weigh ten lbs. Ha.). Ugh. I ended up swelling AFTER having him due to the fluids I received at the hospital. Darn it. I had made it all the way without any swelling and to come home from the hospital all swollen was a real bummer. It took two whole weeks for it to finally go away but I'm still having night sweats randomly. I'm pretty close to fitting into my regular clothes and I'm happy about that since it's only been a month. But I'd really just love to be able to work out like my regular old self. What is up with this poochy belly?! I have to take it easy and wait till I'm completely recovered. There's been a lot of walking, but it just doesn't make me feel like I'm really working out. I've decided I'm going to document my progress for self accountability and who doesn't love a good before and after?! Also, I am hungry all the time and it is so hard to not grab the unhealthy snacks that seem to be calling my name. I've lost a lot of weight before doing it the old-fashioned way (eating well/exercising), but I didn't have two kids. Time for a new strategy.

Hey, someone is sleeping!

Happy One Month Birthday to Sebastian!

Really, where does the time go?!?!

We all love you very much! I'm looking forward to all the things we'll be sharing and getting to know who you are.