Almost One Year old!

new pics from today, right after thomas got out of school. the weather was SO beautiful and both the kids were in such a good mood. sheesh... natalie is almost 1 year old!!!

9 month update

Natalie just had her 9 month checkup - wow, 9 months... funny thing is that she is sooo easy-going, she is still just barely rolling. She can't quite sit on her own yet, and nowhere near close being able to pull herself up using furniture, or cruising. Thomas could pull himself up to standing using his crib bars by 9 months. she is still pretty big baby - 19.8 lbs (60%) and 28 inches (70%). actually the same weight and height as thomas at 9 months!

And she is so sweet right now, she loves to play and laugh. she is very verbal about letting us know when she is bored too - she will complain and cry out, until we realize she is bored, then we move her to her jumperoo or piano toy, and she is happy. sooo easy! it's awesome how good she is about playing by herself. She did get her first cold though, from thomas of course. so she went from sleeping from 10pm - 7am, to waking up at 2am and 5am. I am dreading having to sleep train her when she is fully recovered from her cold... i really don't want to have her cry it out.

Thomas is much more complex of course - i can't just plop him down with a toy and expect him to play by himself. he wants me to play with him - ALLL the time. very demanding. the only thing easier about having a second kid is you sort of know what you are doing now. otherwise, the lack of sleep, the constant jumping back and forth b/w needs of two kids, juggling active 4 yr old's schedule with 2-3 naps a day, is truly a juggling act. i am exhausted by the end of each day. So these days, i'm only on the computer once every other day or so. too hard to try to get computer time in every night. oh and i'm such a hypocrite! when i had just thomas, i have a couple friends who are very slow to answer emails b/c they don't check every day. I used to think "oh she should just get on the computer once a day and check her email. 15 min, how hard can it be?" and here i am, taking days to get to all my emails... :p

We had Natalie's dedication ceremony last month - william was forced to come up with a prayer for natalie to say in front of everyone. We had 6 babies dedicated that day! it was really nice b/c Thomas got to hang out with the cousins afterwards. for some reason, cousins are just fun!

Thomas took 4 classes this summer: science, intro to acting/drama, legos, and intro to sports. After that, he starts school, Jr kindergarden, on Aug 30th. wow, school again, and he turns 5 in less than 6 months. wow, it seems like he hit 5 yrs old really fast! i read in a child development book that 4 yr olds by nature are crazy, roving balls of energy and questions. really driving parents crazy. they say it is terrible 2's and terrifying 4's. However, the book also PROMISES that most kids settle down after turning 5. so i am holding out for that promise. some days it feels like i have spent the entire day warning, reprimanding, threatening time-outs or yelling at thomas. *sigh* seriously, i feel like ally mcbeal, picturing in my head how i boot his butt out the window, or pound his little head into the ground, then he pops back up like a cartoon. i need to take a breath, count to ten, and then calmly explain to him how i will take away his allowance, give him a time-out and not play with him the rest of the day if he doesn't sit down and finish eating (for the 10th time). But kids are really wonderful, truly. Even when they are making you crazy.

Here he is with grandparents, acting as Goliath... again. even though we've told him Goliath always gets killed in the end, he still likes being Goliath. I guess being 9 feet tall with a spear, sword and shield is much more impressive than being a shepard boy with a sling. check out how he's figured out where to "sheath" his sword. ha ha!

Natalie has really started to figure out that electronics are where the fun is at. That and anything thomas is looking at :)

Where does time go...

We've been busy, but it's sad I haven't been keeping a good record of all that is happening. Natalie is now eating rice/oatmeal, sweet potatoes, carrots and peas now. She also has two teeth ready to pop out of her gums any day now, so her sleep pattern has changed a lot in the last week. She is uncomfortable so she wants to be soothed to sleep and she doesn't stay asleep as long as before. But she still sleeps 8-9 hours at night, awesome! I found she LOVES to fall asleep to the vacuum of all things. And it can't be the little dinky cordless ones we have, or the ipod white noise aps. She wants big bass and loud rumblings. we don't have enough juice in our little bookshelf sound systems, so 2-3 times a day, i waste electricity and just let the vacuum run for 10-15 minutes til she's asleep. then i leave the bathroom fan on. whatever works to get her naps in!

Here are a couple photos from the end of May.

Here is an old pic of Thomas when he was about the same age. Their faces have some similarities, but are definitely different!

Natalie again... she's still laying down, but I uprighted it. same smile :)

Thomas has moments he loves being a big brother, and moments where he takes pot shots at her when I'm not looking, or thinks I'm not looking. I can't leave him alone with her... it's too nerve racking thinking of what he could be doing to her!

Thomas is still a Wiggles fan, but not obsessed like a year ago. We're going to the Wiggles concert at HP Pavilion in July. Maybe our last one, unless Natalie gets into it.

As I've mentioned, Thomas fixated on the story of David & Goliath a couple months ago. He can't get enough. He wants to be big and scary like Goliath. But we told him that as big as goliath is, david gets him with a simple rock to the forehead. Just BONK and down goes goliath. Despite that, he still wants to be goliath. ha ha... i guess the sword and shield just make it so much cooler to be goliath. Here with his sword and shield - making his "scary" goliath face, saying in his scariest voice "I am Goliath! Who will fight me??!"

And this is Goliath after he has been bonked on the head with a rock by David...

Cute relaxed pic from after our photo session : )

Also, William turned 40 this year! Which means I am not far behind... yikes!

 

Update: Natalie can finally roll! ok maybe not rolling, but she can do one flip, from her tummy to her back. and yesterday for the first time, she rolled from her back to her side and almost to her tummy. I guess her days sleeping on my bed are numbered...time to train her to sleep in her crib.

4 month update

Natalie is now 4 months and a week old. We had her 4 month well-baby check and she is 24 inches tall (normal) and 16.3 lbs... that's 95% for girls. one little, rolly-poly girl baby. :) she is such a good sleeper at night - she usually falls asleep 11-12midnight and will sleep until 6 or 7. she usually stays awake for 30-45 minutes and then sleeps until 9:30 or 10am. so as long as i am on the ball and get myself in bed after she goes down, i get plenty of sleep. it is so nice! thomas woke up around 1-2am and 5am, so at 4 months, we had to sleep train him, to get him to stop waking up at 1am. it was really hard for 3 days, but by the 5th night, he was fine and started sleeping through from 10pm to 5am. it made a huge difference for us, to not have him waking up in the middle!

I've gotten lots of complaints from my mom that I don't have any photos of natalie that show how "pretty" she is. so this is the best we've got - and still doesn't do her justice! :) at least in my completely biased eyes.

i think i mentioned this before, but natalie is very mellow and easy, and often will just entertain herself if you leave her in her swing or bassinet. however, the big change in the last couple weeks, is she has been more fussy if she can't see us. so now she is mellow, as long as she is perched somewhere where she can take in all the action. oh! one thing that has been hard is she is a light sleeper compared to thomas. even now, thomas is a sound sleeper. once he is asleep, he doesn't wake up for much. :) but with natalie, whenever i take her outside, she either sleeps very lightly, or very little, and then ends up really exhausted and crying by the time we get into the car. at home, she usually naps from 12-2 and 4-6. but anytime we are out (like for church or to visit family on saturdays) she takes maybe a 30-60 minute nap if i'm lucky. then once she's exhausted, overtired, it's hard for her to fall asleep, and she cries more... poor thing. i have really not done any "tummy time" for her, so she is not really about holding her head up. she only holds her head up when she absolutely has to. otherwise, she likes to lay there, in comfort and just look around with her eyes. i started giving her a little tummy time every day last week... hopefully, she'll be holding her head up by herself in a couple weeks.

thomas is still pretty intense about organizing things :) he loves this little lego set my mom gave him that he can make into 3 different types of cars. as you can see, he likes to have everything carefully laid out before he starts a build. then he meticulously follows the instructions. so cute. maybe he'll be an architect or engineer. or just have OCD when he grows up ha ha... he is a good big brother, but he gets a little naughty once in awhile. a couple days ago, i left the room to go get some towels, and when i came back, he had his foam sword poked into her mouth, saying that he was King David, with his mighty sword and shield. As soon as I asked him what he was doing, he quickly withdrew his sword and said "nothing" trying to look very innocent.
well, at least he was not too rough, didn't even get past her teeth. but i took his swords away and told him he doesn't put swords into anyone's mouth. so i've decided i can't leave him alone with her, just to make sure he doesn't do anything that has potential to be something I will regret later.
Other than that, we have noticed that he is really growing up. ever since he started preschool in September, he is acting more like a boy, less like a toddler. We put him in with the 4-5 yr old class, so he's had to grow up a little, and he really watches the older boys in the class, learning and imitating. he's all about swords and shooting, action and killing now. not that he even really comprehends what killing is. i think he thinks it is when someone falls down. *sigh* i know it was bound to happen, just not so soon.

Natalie is already stealing daddy away

daddy: "hey let me give my favorite girl some kisses on her marshmallow cheeks"
natalie: "hi mommy, take a good look! i already got daddy wrapped around my little finger"

A recent exchange between Thomas and Mommy:
mommy: what are you saying?
thomas: (says a very long run-on sentence that i don't fully comprehend)
mommy: you mean in the book you and grandma were reading, david hits goliath on the head with a stone?
thomas: no no i am saying (another long sentence i don't quite understand)
mommy: oh you mean, david had a sling and goliath had a sword?
thomas: *pauses* i don't tink you understand what I am trying to say.
             *sighs very dramatically* then walks to get book so he can show me

Another recent exchange between Thomas and Daddy:
Daddy: thomas stop stalling. i am tired, i had a long day at work. you are starting to irritate me, so stop stalling and come over here so I can floss your teeth.
thomas: *doo doo dooooo*
Daddy: thomas do i have to ask you again?? i am getting really annoyed
thomas: (dances over to daddy) daddy, maybe you didn't get a hug today when you came home.

Thomas to mommy last Thursday: "if I tell you, are you going to give me a time out?"

Happy St. Patrick's day :)

took some pics for st. paddy's day. funny but i realized that with black background, you can't see Natalie's hair so she looks even more bald than usual :)

Thomas showing off his artwork

 

  

thomas doesn't like to do a lot of coloring, but he's more open to it now that he's started school. we try to keep his school projects for about a month, on the fridge. then we take a photo of it and finally into the circular file... :)

3 Month milestones

Just a couple days ago, she started talking to us. Really vocalizing, cooing and aaahh-ing, very cute. Here is a video of her that William got when she started smiling last month. Will try to post her talking soon.



I like this pictures because it looks like she is sucking on William's thumb. Her fingers are so small!

 

 Hey look at me! I am riding a mountain bike, down a big category 5 downhill. Waa hoo!

 

Thomas had the most adorable feet & toes, like little, round toe-berries. Natalie's toes in contrast are long and spindely. Her feet are actually long too, longer than thomas's when he was a baby. We like to think that means that she might be a little taller... at least taller than me :)

She has turned out to be a really good baby, very mellow and easy going. We discovered last week that she is an Ox - a cow. we laughed because it suits her personality to be a mellow, gentle cow :)
She likes to feed every 2-3 hours during the day, but sleeps from 11pm-5am, or 12-6am, then sleeps again from 7-9:30 or sometimes even 10am. it is so nice, but makes it hard to get anywhere early in the morning. then she usually naps from 12-2 and 4-6, with a cat naps here and there in the evening. depends on how tired she is.

another great thing is she doesn't demand to be held all the time. she is perfectly happy just looking around, sitting in her bowl swing, or in her bouncy seat. i can pick her up, but she doesn't need me to keep moving/bouncing. she's just a really happy, content little girl as long as she is dry and not hungry. even when she wakes up, she never really cries. she snuffles, cries out and grunts as she is waking up. but once both eyes are open, she just looks around, talks a little, waits patiently for someone to notice that she is awake and start paying attention to her. very serene.

the things that do make her cry? she hates it when i change her clothes! something about having that shirt pulled over her head, just really bothers her. ESPECIALLY after her shower. who knows, maybe she is hot after bath and doesn't want clothes put on? any other time I have to change her clothes, she either cries or fusses. she also cries if i am not on the ball and wait too long to feed her. poor thing... sometimes, i am trying to get one last email sent off and she is just sitting there waiting. but

Smiling now

I managed to catch this photo of her, smiling, just couldn't get one with her eyes open. She is 3 months old this week, and over 15 pounds! William started calling her "little mochi ball", and "mochi ball cheeks" this week because she is so soft and plump and rolly-polly all over :)

big burrito...

I was watching Oprah a couple weeks ago and found out that Chipotle (of all places) is really good about trying to make sure all of their meat and produce is sustainably and locally grown. So we got some burritos and boy are those big burritos for $6:

 

Thomas said, "Look it is as big as Matalie" (he's a little lazy with the "N" sound, so it comes out as "M" :)

New place to play!

We finally put grass in our backyard! This whole area used to be just black tan bark that had to be filled in with new bags of tan bark every year and always gave thomas splinters when he tried to play in that area. Yay for a new place for thomas to play. He loves it and it is much more functional for kids now too. This weekend, william and Thomas put a tent up and camped out for a couple hours with a bunch of toys. it was a beautiful weekend :)

Look how bundled up Thomas is, courtesy of his grandma. :)  The green grass makes the backyard look much more inviting. Can't wait to have backyard playdates!

Some photos from December 09

Nice and warm in daddy's arms, dreaming about milk...

Getting yummy milk from Daddy too :)

Sooo hungry.... ooo trying to slurp it down as fast as possible....

  

Clowning around with mommy!

Sleepy but happy trio at the end of the day :)

Does Thomas look like Natalie?

Here is Natalie in the puppy suit:

 

Here is Thomas in the puppy suit, at about 3 months:

 

 

He definitely looks different! They share a few features, but Thomas has William's head shape, eyes, eyebrows and nose. Her face is rounder, and she is a little darker than Thomas. He still has the most beautiful, porcelain skin I have ever seen. I love touching it! Of course, his little hands push me away now when he is trying to focus on telling me something and I am trying to touch his face at the same time. Pretty funny.
Their lips look similar so she probably has my mouth too. I'll have to post my baby picture at some point. She looks a lot like me when I was a baby.

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Here is a great shot of Thomas last week when they had a school fieldtrip to San Jose Children's museum. William FINALLY got the chance to go there with him. Thomas loves the fire engine in the front, the bubble room and the ball maze.

Not sure how William got above him, but that is a wonderful shiny smile :)