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?

Tatos, Eche, and Niighe

In the last few months, Amélie's been slowly picking up a lot of new words in her vocabulary. She "talks" pretty much all day, but there are a few words that are distinctly obvious interpretations of real words. It's amazing to me how much she understands. Anything I ask her to do, she follows and she can respond correctly to many simple questions. Oh, and of course this is all mostly in Spanish since that's all she hears from mommy. Yet, she still has managed to pick up just as many words in English. Since most of these words will eventually be pronounced correctly, I wanted to make a list of what she knows now, at 19 months, and says in her cute little girl pronunciations.

tatos = zapatos = shoes
tines = calcetines = socks
eche = leche = milk
baeby = baby - she stretches out the "a"- she calls human and dolls alike
daggy = doggy - She knows when I say perrito, it means doggy
gato = gato = cat
agua= agua = water - although she likes to call anything in her sippy cup water
bubbas = bubbles
niighe = nice
uh oh
wow - it always surprises me that she knows exactly when to use "uh oh" and "wow"
si = yes
pee-pee = I believe this is obvious in both languages. She's currently potty training herself. She started it.
nana = banana
mMMmmm = yumm- she emphasizes the capital "m"
zana = manzana = apple
ousigh = outside
bajo = abajo = down
mimi = dormir = bedtime- she also has a special blankie that she calls mimi since she's almost always used it for bed
hi
bye-bye - says this to anything and everyone!
doe = dos = two
ballo = caballo = horse
shoo = shoes
mine -  with real emphasis on the "n." Yeah, not so thrilled about this one.
no, no, no, no, no = no. Also, not wonderful to hear sometimes.
mami = mommy
coco = Rosco, the dog
daddy
nigh nigh = night night

Really, at this point, there's something new everyday. She's constantly repeating words I say and adding them to her vocabulary. She's currently in love with the alphabet song and will ask us to sing and help her point to the letters in her A, B, C book. She sings along, although it's very far from accurate but completely adorable.

We've met other kids her age and they have a larger vocabulary, but I'm not worried. She's a sponge right now and she's bilingual. It's expected that her language development will be different and a bit slower.

All this in conjunction with her daily doings (she's hilarious to us) just makes me feel like my baby isn't much of a baby anymore. I'm considering not celebrating anymore birthdays from now on. That'll make her stop aging, right?

Summertime

If I was still working, my summer would just about be over and I'd be heading back to work next week. Eek! How summer just flies by! Our summer has been packed with lots and lots of activities and fun. Although, there have been not-so-fun things as well.

{Amélie and her cousin Corbin}

{dressed up for wedding #2 of the summer}

Luckily, August has so far been the slowest of the months thus far. In reality, it hasn't been that slow. But, our busy summer will be finishing off with a trip to Pennsylvania for the Ruttenberg wedding and mini-vacation where we're planning to also visit with the hubby's brother; then quickly upon our return we'll be enjoying a long weekend with two weddings! My brother will be getting married (yay!) and some of our good friends will be celebrating their marriage with a white wedding. Everyone is being asked to wear white and it will be our first big event without Amélie. She'll be staying at home with grandpa! That will be the grand finale to our summer.

{unhappy, hot baby}

Amélie and I have been keeping busy taking lots of day trips, visiting museums, thrifting, crafting, having play-dates, and just hanging out. I enjoy every day with my girl, but there's been some tough day sprinkled in between. She got her two top teeth and boy was that fun. My sweet girl was a big cranky pants and that made for some really long days. Also, as usual, Amélie got a fever after her vaccinations, but this last time her fever lasted three days (!) and my poor baby was miserable. She didn't want to leave my arms and was scorching hot. Then, once her fever went away, she got a rash all over her body; starting on her face. Her fever usually only lasts a day and it really scared me to have it continue for so long and then to be followed with another thing. It was horrible. When she eventually recuperated a week later, it was so nice to have my happy girl back. I really missed her usual self.

{at Gilroy Garden's on the day she got her fever. poor sweetie.}

The hubby's summer has also been really busy as well. He's been so busy at work and has spent many evenings working late. For a few weeks now he's also been expected to work six days a week because they have to many things to finish at work. Fortunately, there haven't been very many long weekend work days, but there's the constant work email and phone checking. He's expecting things to slow down in the fall. Thank goodness.

{after a fun-filled afternoon, the girls fell asleep 

on the way back from the museum}

{part of my garden}

{my first two zucchinis} 

Summer also brings lots of birthdays! Our sweet girl's first birthday was perfect. The hubby and I were having so much fun that we didn't get a chance to take very many pictures. The only pictures we have are from her cake eating and opening presents. It was so wonderful having so many friends together! Then there was my mom's, Amélie's girlie friends', the littlest brother's, Eric's brother, two nephews', my daddy man's, and tomorrow is the hubby and my birthday! Birthdays galore!

{the only one where's she's looking at the camera and sitting still. 

it's HARD to get a picture of this moving toddler!}

Now, for fall...I love fall. The clothes, layers, leaves, crisp weather, new planting, pumpkin bread, running a half-marathon, selling at a craft fair, our anniversary, and less work for the hubby- I can't wait for fall. Actually, I can wait for my marathon. I've been slacking on the training. I'm excited though because my brother, Gabe and I will be running together. It'll be fun either way and it's right here in San Jose so I don't have to drive anywhere.

{a thrifted afghan that perfectly

 matches Amélie's room. score!}

{one of the pretty features at Gilroy Gardens}

Summer we love you, but we're excited for fall.