December 2010

I have been such a HORRIBLE blogger lately!  I really need to do a better job at this.  You may notice that I have a different layout!  I 'won/bought' a new blog design package at our AMOM silent auction.  I worked with Becky at 'Cheese my Head' and she made me this fun layout :)

 I don't know where to start.  I guess I'll try to get the rest of 2010 covered in one post.  Get ready for a lot of pictures!

Look at Javi's poor head.  That boy gives me a heart attack just about every day.  He runs into everything head first and he has a bit of trouble staying on his feet.  He has a 100th percentile head (it's large).  I think that's to blame for his lack of balance.  It actually has improved a whole lot over the past month, but just last week he fell head first into the music teachers fireplace.  

I love their Christmasy outfits in this picture.  The dress that Ana is wearing used to be mine when I was a baby! 

Ana and Javi love to ride around on their little 'cars' (or, as we call them, the Princessmobile and the Fire Truck).  Javi pushes Ana around on the Princessmobile.  He's such a strong brother.  Ana loves to push the buttons and play music.  She'll even reach over and push the buttons on the fire truck so Javi can enjoy some tunes as he scoots around.

 We went to the 'baby park' in our neighborhood several times in December.  It is a great little play area attached to the elementary school.  I don't really know who plays on it during the school day - maybe kinder aged kids?  I don't know.  It is perfect for toddlers.

 Ana's hair got so so long in front and it just all falls into her eyes.  I really was avoiding cutting bangs, but decided it would be best.  This is one of her last bang-free photos!  She looks adorable with bangs though and she seems to enjoy not having to deal with hair in her eyes all the time.

We painted a few Christmas presents this year.  Doesn't that green paint look yummy (Ana)?  haha!  Javi was not sure at all about putting his hands in paint.  Ana just thought it looked like peas - yum!  We got some very fun artwork out of these art sessions.  Their Abuela and Grammy loooove them!

Their great grandparents (my granny and grampa) gave them these great chairs for Christmas.  We tried them out a few days before Christmas so we could take pictures with us to Dallas.  They loved them!  They play in their chairs all the time.  I say, "sit on your bottom" all day long, but the are pretty good listeners.  They've only fallen over the arms of the chairs a few times...  ;)

I loved this picture of Ana and Javi looking at their daddy and doggy through the door.  Please ignore the fingerprints and dog nose prints... ugh.

Here are some "after" bangs pictures.  She is such a sweet big girl.  I just retrimmed her bangs last week and they look much better than my first attempt.   I love her little smocked top.  So old fashioned, but so cute.

We went to Houston for a few days before Christmas and for Christmas Day.  It was so much fun to see Nancy, Manuel, Pedro, Jenny and the Abuelos.  They spoiled Ana and Javi rotten and gave me and Juan a great break with so many hands offering to help!  It was so nice and relaxing.  We went to Christmas Eve mass, ate yummy food, opened presents and played at the park!  Juan and I also got to go to lunch with Tom and Shelley who are expecting their own little girl in a few months!!! 

I forgot Ana's coat in Austin.  (yeah, I win mom of the year for that one...)  So, she wore a random assortment of sweaters for the whole trip.  This sweater was one that Juan, Pedro and Manuel wore when they were babies.  It's a little snug on Ana, but I thought this picture was adorable.

There was a fun little park in the neighborhood.  We went there every day to swing and slide and run around.

We left for Dallas late on the 25th and made it in at around midnight.  Erin, Dan, Grammy and Grampa held off opening all of their presents until the 26th.  I have to say that Santa made Javi and Ana's Christmas by bringing them a basketball, football and soccer ball.  They love them.  They got so spoiled with all of their presents.  They will not be bored for a long long time  :)

Ana and Javi made a picture for their Grammy with their handprints.  When Erin and I were little, my uncle made a picture that said, "twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are..." with our handprints around it.  So, Ana and Javi decided that it would be fun to make one to match that says, "up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky."  She loved it.  They also loved showing her how they made their handprints.

Sweet little owl babies with their mommy and Grammy.

Erin was teaching a very snuggly Javi how to make some pretty faces.

They loved playing the piano!

More swinging at the park in Richardson.

Ana and Javi visited their Great Grandparents and had a GREAT time playing. 

We went to the new Aquarium at Fair Park in Dallas.  It's a kids aquarium, so it's very very toddler friendly.  The fish tanks are all really low and it's okay if the kids touch the glass.  We went about an hour before closing time and basically had the place to ourselves.  Ana and Javi ran loops around the place, stopping every once in a while to say hi to some alligators.  It was a lot of fun and I'm sure we'll go back!

We came back to Austin on the 29th and celebrated New Years Eve with Steve and Emily at home.  We played games and ate some YUMMY food.  Ana and Javi decided that they were way too cool to sleep through NYE.  Our normally very great nighttime sleepers were both awake to see the ball drop.  Luckily they pretty quickly went back to bed and slept in for us on January 1st.   Yay!

Christmas Card Update

A few weeks ago I posted about how Shutterfly was giving 50 free holiday cards to bloggers who wrote a post about Shutterfly.  I finally got around to designing and ordering my cards last night and I saved a whopping $106 at checkout!  That Shutterfly blog post was the best 5 minutes I think I've spent blogging in a long time.

Christmas cards are ordered and should be here next week. Now I'll just have to address them...  :)

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was a tiny bit different than last year.  Remember those tiny babies in the above picture?  That was 1 year ago.   This year those tiny little sleeping babies ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy, green bean casserole, spinach casserole, and crescent rolls (and banana. But that wasn't really part of their "Thanksgiving" meal.  They just loooooove bananas!).  Yum! 

 

The weather got really chilly Thanksgiving weekend and we were able to finally break out the winter coats and the awesome owl hats that Emily made for Ana and Javi!  They love their hats and don't try to take them off!  They look so sweet walking around the cul-de-sac with their little hats on :)

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

We had the annual AMOM breakfast with Santa this morning.  It was really fun.  I look forward to going in the future when Ana and Javi are old enough to participate in the crafts, the face painting and when they actually know who this "Santa" guy is. 

This was their first time seeing Santa and I think they did okay.  Ana was more interested in walking around the room.  She didn't really want to sit on Santa's, or anyone's, lap.  Javi was so happy sitting with Santa.  He just sat and stared at him for a long long time.  There was no line for Santa, and he said that he didn't mind holding him, so they sat there for quite a while  :) 

I don't want to spoil our Christmas card that all 7 of my readers will be receiving, so I'll leave you with these pictures that pretty much sum up the day...

Walking

This is what Ana and Javi do for much of the day.  They walk and walk and walk.  They really love walking up and down the hallway from our bedroom to the front door or to the kitchen.  We close the bedroom and bathroom doors so they can have free reign over that back hallway.  Aren't they becoming great little walkers?  It's funny how differently they walk.  Ana is so light on her feet and Javi... isn't.  :)

One

I still think it's impossible.  They can't already be one.  Impossible.

We had a fun little party at a park right by our house.  The theme was 'sock monkey'.   Our loving families came to celebrate with us.  Grammy, Grampa, Erin, Dan, Abuelo, Abuela, Jenny and Pedro all made the trip to Austin!  Aunt Nancy and Uncle Manuel couldn't make it from Boston - but they were there in spirit!  Several of our friends from Austin also came out to celebrate. 

We played at the park, ate some snacks and delicious cake and opened presents.  It was just about everything you'd expect from a first birthday party  ;)

Here's a little recap of what Ana and Javi are up to at 1 year old:

Javi (aka William)  ;)  *that's for you auntie Erin
- He is a funny funny boy.  He loves to make people laugh - especially Ana. 
- He loves to eat!  People are always impressed by how he puts away his food.  He really prefers things that he can feed to himself now.  He's not so into pureed baby food.  Even when I'm feeding him baby food, he likes to have something on his tray to nibble on between bites.  I could list his favorite foods, but that would probably take a few pages.  He loves cheese, blueberries, bananas, ham, tofu, mac and cheese, peas, avocado, turkey, chicken... the list goes on.
- He's a great walker!  Just this past week he's really gained confidence while walking.  For a few weeks he would take a few steps and sit down.  Now, walking is the perferred form of transportation.

(please excuse the drool... he's working on a few more teeth)

- He is so smart.  He has a shape sorter toy that he loves to play with.  He has actually put some of the shapes in the right spots!  He also knows where the cow, pig and horse belong in the 'Little People' Barn.
- He is big.  He is at the 97th percentile for height and weight (32 inches and over 28 pounds)!
- He is so loving.  He is a great little cuddler.  He gives hugs and kisses to his stuffed animals.  He is so sweet.
- He loves to play with his friends.  When he's in a bad mood, he can always be cheered up by Reid or Sam or Stella.
- He hasn't started saying many words yet, but he does say mama, dada, and gog (dog).  He can also do the sign language signs for dog and milk.  We're going to be starting more sign language videos and classes next week, so hopefully that'll help him.  He is very interested in his hands - he likes to copy people doing hand motions.  For example, at the dr. office last week, he was copying the motions the doctor was making while rubbing hand sanitizer into her hands.  :)  She was really impressed.

Ana:
- She is a crazy fun little girl.  Her personality is so much fun.  She starts bouncing and bopping every time she hears a song.  No exceptions.  We'll be in the grocery store and she'll start dancing to whatever song is playing in the background.  It makes for some pretty interesting looks, but whatever.  She also has a "radio" on one of her fisher price toys (the door).   She hits the radio buttons over and over until her favorite songs come on.
- She is a great walker!  She walks laps around the house.  She really hardly crawls anymore.  She is so light on her feet.  She can stand up mid-room without holding onto anything.

- Her favorite foods are cheese, cheese, and cheese and she'll nibble on whatever else I give her.  She is a great eater and really isn't picky at all.  So far, the only thing she really didn't like is swiss cheese (but she looooooooves every other kind of cheese).   Do you understand her love of cheese?  :)

- She loves to squeal and laugh.  She and Javi just look at eachother and laugh and giggle and tackle eachother.  I love that they love playing with eachother.  I don't know how moms of single babies do it. haha!

- Her hair is getting really long.  Everyone says how jealous they are of her beautiful hair.  It's so long in the front that it's in her eyes if I don't pull it back.  She's starting to pull out hair clips/bows/ponytail holders, but I have to keep trying.  Lately she has gone with a Pebbles style single ponytail on top of her head.  Kinda tacky, mostly just cute.

- She loves Ringo.  She is so sweet with him - hugging on him and petting him.  She also has started throwing her food (mainly just her cheerios) off of her tray in hopes that he'll come and eat them off the floor.  Ringo is usually not allowed in the kitchen during meal time for this reason.

- She is smart!  She understands so much that you tell her.  She also says mama, dada, and knows the signs for dog and milk.  She babbles all the time and I can tell it's not going to be long before she's talking nonstop!

- She has 6 teeth - 4 on the top and two on the bottom.  The four top teeth all came in at once.  Poor baby.

Both Ana and Javi love to read, love to play outside and love eachother.  They give eachother goodnight kisses every night before bed.  It is so much fun to watch them play together.  They're never too far apart. 

The past year went by so fast.  I'm ready for time to slow down a little bit...

Free Shutterfly Cards for Bloggers!

Shutterfly is running a promotion right now for bloggers to receive 50 free holiday cards (http://bit.ly/sfly2010)! I am actually going to send out Christmas cards this year and this promotion will make it really easy! I was just looking at some of their new cards and love them. They have over 700 different Christmas card designs on the website. We sent out photo cards for Ana & Javi’s first birthday party and everyone just LOVED them. Photo cards are definitely the way to go! It is so fun to have the mantle full of pictures of friends and family during the holidays.

I intended to send out cards last year, but I was in a total post-baby fog. It never happened. I figure that by blogging about it, I will actually stick to it and get something sent out. Right?

I actually think that a 2011 calendar would be a great Christmas present, too! Hmm…

Here are some links to some pretty cool Shutterfly products -

• Holiday cards - http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards

• Christmas cards - http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

• 2011 calendar to http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

Is anyone else going to send out Christmas cards this year?

Backing Up a Bit - Maryland and Pumpkins

Okay, I just realized how terrible I've been at blogging.  Sorry.  I am going to back up a little bit and post about our trip to Maryland and our visit to the "pumkin patch". 

In mid-October we hopped on a plane and flew to Maryland for a friends wedding.  Zach and Juan were college roommates for several years.  We were excited to attend his wedding - even if it meant flying 1/2 way across the country with two semi-toddlers. 

We had not stayed in a hotel with the babies yet, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I tried to pack well - not too much, not too little.  I kept telling myself that there were grocery stores and baby stores in Maryland  :)   We arrived late on Friday evening and got settled in the room.  We got Ana and Javi to sleep in the pack & plays that were provided by the hotel.  We ate dinner (quietly) in the room and then Juan headed out to the bachelor party.  I quickly learned the downside to staying in a hotel with babies.  Hotel rooms are small.  I tried to be quiet while watching the Rangers play the Yankees on TV.  They slept okay - as well as can be expected.

On Saturday morning we met up with my Aunt Nancy, and her daughter & son-in-law, Keltie and Dave.   It was so great to see them!  Nancy lived next door to my grandparents for years and years.  She was almost like a grandmother to me.  She moved to Maryland just before I had the babies.  It was so wonderful that Ana and Javi got to meet her!  Unfortunately, Javi was a big crank ball that day.  I think it was teething (he got 4 top teeth all at once during that trip!).  He was just not himself.  They were understanding though - they've all seen fussy babies before. 

We were in for another treat when Katie and Jen arrived!  They agreed to watch Ana & Javi while we went to the wedding.  I felt kinda bad that they got to the hotel and said hi and I basically threw fussy babies at them and left.  I knew they'd be fine  - although they probably have been convinced to never have babies...

The wedding was beautiful.  I am so happy that we were able to attend.  I know Juan had fun reconnecting with old college friends.  The reception was at the hotel where we were staying, so I was able to pop up and check on the babies (and Jen & Katie) a few times during the evening.  They did a great job.  They even rode the elevators up and down and up and down to keep them entertained. 

After the wedding, Juan took over baby duty (although they were soundly sleeping) and Jen, Katie and I went to the hotel bar for a glass of wine and to catch up.  I miss my Rice friends and still hold on to that hope that we'll all live on the same cul-de-sac in our old age. 

On Sunday we went into D.C. and toured around.  It was 'open grounds' day at the White House, so we were able to walk right up to the front door, the Rose Garden, the Oval Office, etc...  It was really fun.  Ana and Javi walked (yes, walked!) around in some of the parks and ate some peas at the Washington Monument.  We headed back to Austin on Sunday evening.  It was a great trip!

The following weekend we went to a nursery in our neighborhood to get a few pictures with pumpkins.  Ana was very into it, but Javi was mad at me.  I wanted him to be in something orange/Fall.  I didn't really realize that his overalls were too small and that his onesie wouldn't snap.  So, he wasn't very happy with my squeezing him into that outfit and then making him sit on straw.  :)  We still got a few cute pictures.

Long Overdue - Halloween!

This was Ana and Javi's first ever Halloween!  It's crazy to think what I was doing last year for Halloween...  I was busy scaring all the neighborhood children :)  I was just about a week away from delivering two huge babies.  I was HUGEly pregnant. 

This year was so different.

Juan and I had our first night away from Ana and Javi on the night of October 30th.  We drove to Richardson on Friday night and stayed with my parents.  We left the babies with their Grammy and Grampa on Saturday afternoon and Juan and I made our way to Denton for Ellen's wedding!  We checked into our hotel and took a nap before the wedding - yes, an uninterruped, no chance of baby waking up crying, NAP.  Ahhhh.  We had a great time at the wedding.  Ellen was a beautiful bride and she and Tim seem so so perfect for eachother. 

We stayed over in Denton on Saturday night.  I still woke up at about the time the babies would be waking up and I thought about them non stop - but it was good to have one night away.  I knew they were in excellent hands.  :)   We went to IHOP in Denton and drove back to Richardson.  (It's only about 40 minutes away)

Ana and Javi didn't seem to even notice that we were missing for an evening/morning.  They were happily playing when we got there.  They played for a while in the morning with Aunt Mildred and then later in the day with Aunt Jenny and Uncle Pedro.  It was so fun getting them all dressed up and ready for some heavy duty trick-or-treating. 

Ana was a ballerina.  She loves to dance.  I have no doubt that dance classes are in her future.

Javi was a Spanish Soccer (or futbol) player.  He got an official uniform from his aunt Bego and uncle Pepe.  He looked so cute. 

They went to three houses.  We went to the house across the street, to the Wachtlers and to the Boxwells.  They (ahem, Juan and I) got some yummy candy. 

Overall, it was a wonderful first Halloween weekend!

Ten Months

Aahhhhhhh!  I can't believe Ana and Javi are already 10 months old!  Where has the time gone? 

They are just growing and changing every single day. Here's a little summary of what they're like at 10 months old:

Javi - (I am making an attempt to call him "William" more often, since that is his name...  ha!)

- He can stand for about 20 seconds without touching anything.  After a few seconds he just starts laughing.  It seems like he's just so tickled that he can stand up.

- He is a very very fast crawler.  He just zooms all over the room and kinda mumbles under his breath while he darts around.  I wish I knew what he was saying.
- He loves to eat and eat and eat.  He is really good using his fingers to pick up food from his tray.  He can gobble up a tray full of cheerios and banana chunks so fast.  He hasn't really met a food he doesn't like.  He got his first taste of Saltlick brisket last weekend and loooooved it.
- He is really good at drinking out of a straw sippy cup.  He hugs his cup and drinks.  He loves water.
- He has his two bottom teeth and is working on a few top teeth. He is our slobber king and wears a waterproof bib 100% of the time to keep his shirt somewhat dry.  He goes through 4 or 5 drool bibs a day.
- He loves giving hugs and kisses.  I sometimes have to make sure he doesn't squish Ana  :)  He tackles and hugs her - laughing the whole time.   He is learning how to give kisses.  He's really good at blowing raspberries though!

-  He is a big "solid" guy wearing 18 and 24 month clothes.  He is quickly outgrowing the 18 month stuff... just in time for me to get him a new fall 24 month/2T wardrobe!
- He loves reading books.  He crawls quickly over to sit with me when I pull out a book to read.
- He goes to sleep at 7pm and usually sleeps until about 6 or 6:30am (usually waking up for some pacifier help early in the night).  He takes two naps a day at about 9am and 1pm. He's having a bit of a rough sleeping patch right now - he has a little cold (or teething, we're not sure).  So his sleep schedule is not quite so great.

Ana

- She is such a sweet sweet baby.  She hugs and kisses and smiles and is so kind and happy. She has just started giving good squeezing hugs.  I love them.
- She is also a big baby.  She's wearing mainly 18 month clothes and some 24 month.  We can tell that she's getting noticeably taller since her 9 month Dr. appointment.
- She has her two middle bottom teeth and no others currently in sight. 
- She is a great eater.  She takes her time with her finger foods, but she is great at feeding herself.  Her very favorite food is graham crackers.  She devours them. She likes to listen to music while she drinks her bottle.  We've started listening to the Beatles channel on Pandora instead of only listening to Raffi-type artists.  I think that a little 'classic' music is good for them.  :)

- She can pull herself up and 'cruise' around while holding onto the couch and her toys. 
- She sleeps like a pro, but is also having a little bit of a hard time right now during naps.  This too shall pass. Right?
- She loves to dance.  She bops around whenever music is playing.  Unfortunately, she has me and Juan as her dance instructors/role models.  Hopefully she'll have more style and grace than us.

- She loves to read.  She crawls over and sits down next to me whenever I pull out a book to read.  She often sits in the middle of the books in the play room and "reads" them herself.

- She loves Ringo.  Ana and Javi both do, but she really loves to pet him and love on him.  Too bad he doesn't really understand that baby love means getting poked and pulled at.  He takes it for a few minutes and then just goes into the other room.  :)

Last week we went to two free music classes to try them out.  They were a lot of fun.  The second class was a bit too crowded and during our normal nap time, so it was a bit of a disaster.  Thank goodness Reid didn't mind sharing his mama.  Jenny helped me out with two somewhat cranky babies that wanted to be on the move - not sitting still playing with maracas.   Even after the music disaster, we signed up to take a weekly music class that is being taught by a woman in our neighborhood.  We are going to go with my two neighbors that had babies within a few weeks of Ana and Javi.  It should be fun to get to know them better.

This is Javi, Ana and Reid playing at Reid's house

This Saturday we are going to the Austin zoo with the Mothers of Multiples group.  We haven't been to the Austin zoo yet and I've heard it's pretty fun.  I'm excited to see how Ana and Javi react to seeing zoo animals.  I think they'll really like it. 

I'm trying to decide what to do for Halloween costumes.  Any suggestions?  :)