Valentine's Day Snaps

I had to add a few Valentine's Day 2013 pictures to the blog even though it was a few weeks ago. Memories!  Marissa made some cute homemade Valentine's for her class and had a ton of fun at school. I was happy they had an unofficial "no candy" rule at her kindergarten for the day, mean mommy, I know. Somehow I neglected to get any pictures of Miss. Marissa in her Valentine's Day outfit, but she was a cutie, all decked out in hearts. I wish I had been better rested to get up early and make heart pancakes and had decorated the house etc, but it just didn't happen this year. Oliver and Teddy got super cute new matching Valentine's jammies and I had to dress Teddy in a special outfit too, because dressing babies up is way too much fun!

Love Oliver's expression here, I can just picture him giving
 this same expression as a teenager. And, Teddy - climbing as usual!
 

Climbing over his big brother.

Teddy stalking Oliver - as per usual. Loooves his big bro.

Teddy's not cutting a tooth or five or anything.

Waving "Hi", just taking a momentary break from stalking Oliver.

Baby in sunglasses and ties- cuteness overload.

Yummy sunglasses.

President's Day Weekend

Ahhh, I just typed out a long post and deleted it or something by accident. I'm not up for writing it all back out, so here is the synopsis. I've been super sick since last weekend, Daddy was a champ and took Marissa and Oliver up to Aunt June and Uncle Brian's cabin Sunday and they all had a blast. I got to stay home and snuggle little Teddy (who also got another ear infection at the end of last week.) The silence, and occasional baby babble was so restorative. How did I ever think having one small baby was a lot of work? I did manage to rally to go to our local neighborhood park yesterday afternoon, and got a few photos that I loved, here they are:





Hide and Seek with Daddy

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Baby boy has HUGE hands. And, they are super crazy strong.

Proud tree climber.

Baby boy would stay in the swing all day if I'd let him. He gets a death grip on the swing.

Best Pusher Ever.

Little Peek-a-boo peeking out from his hiding place.

A+ at the Dentist!

Little Ollie had his first check up at the dentist. And, he did GREAT! I wasn't sure at all how it would go since I barely prepped him with a Dora Goes to the Dentist book just before his nap today, but he was a total pro! I love our pediatric dentist and her office is so kid friendly too. I mainly brought Oliver along to watch Marissa and was hoping he would let Dr. S look around in his mouth a little, but he let her do a full cleaning! Yay! His teeth look so bright and white. The kid's dentist had the great suggestion to put Oliver in the chair with Marissa, and sure enough, it put him right at eas. It was pretty cute seeing them all squished in there together too. I have to say, seeing big sis as the model patient must have done wonders of good for him too. She is little miss follows the rules and does what adults ask of her right away. She makes me very, very proud and just has the sweetest nature about her. Her teeth look great too!

Listening Carefully to Dr. Sumalee.

Feeling the power toothbrush for the first time.
Oliver was in complete giggles when she tickled him for real to test
his ticklishness.

They are still so little! Two peas in a pod (or a dentist's chair.)

Having fun in the waiting room.

Daddy Sess

Daddy Sess


This boy loves his Daddy, no denying it.

 

 

Holiday Fun

Eek! I can't believe it is December 18th already! It seems that Teddy turned 7 months old two days ago and with that apparently has decided that he can crawl anywhere, over anything and will shove what he pleases directly in his mouth. He is super, super strong, super fast and super big! Almost 25 lbs now. He is after Oliver's cars and Oliver is on the defense, but in a nice way.

I took the kids to see Santa today. Marissa had the sweetest request for a present, she wants a bouquet of flowers for her Christmas present. She later theorized on the ride home about how "ice flowers" might grow from the ice in the North pole. I can't wait to see her beautiful Christmas bouquet under the tree. She also asked for a new ornament for the tree. She has been really into the Christmas spirit this year, she would be pleased to do a Christmas activity everyday of the week I think. Her school is doing a holiday program and today they took a field trip to the middle school where they will perform 2 songs on Thursday. She told me with huge eyes, "Mom, the middle school kids have THE MOST BEAUTIFUL voices EVER. You would not believe how good they can sing." It was pretty cute. She is also very excited, as am I to go and see The Nutcracker on Saturday. Every year when I was a little girl, my family and I would go and see a local performance of The Nutcracker. I am so excited to continue the tradition with Marissa.

Oliver did great sitting on Santa's lap! I was totally uncertain if he would actually go up to the big man or not, but he did! It was kind of funny though, because he was walking right up to him and decided that would be the moment to pick his nose. Right away Santa told him, he better not pick his nose, which duh, I agree, but isn't Santa supposed to be all nice to kids? Is that really the thing to say to a 2 year old to get them to warm up to you? Oliver was so cute, telling him in his little 2 year old voice, "I wanta race car." Which this Santa was totally unresponsive to, just giving the kids directions on where to look for the photo. Then Santa proceeded to poke Teddy's nose with his white gloved finger several times, ew! How many babies had he done that too, I wonder? Please don't let us be sick again on Christmas! Anyway, maybe next year we will go see Santa when he first comes out for visits, I think he was a little burnt out by this point in the season. It made me a little sad to see Oliver's face go from looking all excited to kind of sad being scolded. Oh well. I was just so proud of him to go on up there! What a big boy!

Teddy was amicable as usual with Santa. That kid loves people. We went back to the pediatrician's last week to check up on how his ears were healing post another ear infection. He literally reached for all the nurses and our pediatrician to take him and then proceeded to give them the sweetest cuddles ever. He is such a total little love. I could snuggle him all day if he would let me. It's a good thing he is so into crawling around though, because he is too heavy to hold for long.

Christmas Jammies

Some of Teddy's Milestones:
November 6: First time sitting
November 11: First time scooting
Early December/late November: crawling faster every day
December 3: First tooth (bottom right) bottom left is about to push through any day.
7 months old and size 12-18 month clothes are fitting perfectly on him. Yikes. I thought I would be able to use all of Oliver's clothes for them since there birthdays are so close together, but now I am not sure how long that will last.

Christmas Jammie Photo of all three fail.

Holiday things left to do:
Bake and decorate Christmas cookies with the kids.
Gingerbread houses. I'm hoping I don't have to bake these from scratch, I can't find a kit anywhere. Next year I will buy them way earlier and advent calendars too! November, I promise.

6 Months!

Oh me, oh my, how does my heart ache for the time that is flying by. You are simply the sweetest baby that ever was and I love spending every minute with you.  You are the little heartbeat of this family that everyone adores. I can't wait to see how you keep growing and watching your sweet little personality bloom even more. I think I could count the number of minutes you have cried on less than the fingers of one hand. Somehow, you just know how to make mommy's life as easy as possible. I can't wait to soak in each minute with you for the rest of this first year in your life. I love you so much baby Teddy!

2012 South Pas Spooktacular!

Kids, we have partied hard this week. Amongst the usual stuff life throws at 'ya, broken furnace, no heat, fireplace issues, 'ya know life, we have been partying up a little storm in little kid speak. Park play dates, farmer's market outings, it's been go, go, go this week, pushing the naptimes and bedtimes back, in favor of fun. And, it all culminated in the South Pasadena Halloween Spooktacular last night. Oliver and Marissa, you were so excited to go to the "Halloween Party" as Oliver kept shouting from the back seat the whole way there. I love how enthusiastic two year olds are about things, even when they have no idea what's really going on, too cute!

Marissa jumped in the bouncies, was enthralled by a pretty terrible magician and ran around with a bunch of her school buddies. We forgot your fairy wings in thecar, but you told me, "Mom, that's OK, I can just use my imagination." Oliver ran wild and did nothing in particular. He was a goof, and had a blast. Teddy was happy to snuggle in the baby carrier and sucked his thumb and quickly passed out, deciding this was one fete he could miss.

Here are a few pictures from our night of fun.

Daddy surrounded by a Wild Thing and Iridessa

 

Oliver was a Wild Thing, chosen by him and so fitting!

Keeping Teddy cozy at home with no heat!