Friday, October 29, 2010

'Picture perfect' photos

So, you know those families that dress their kids to the T's with their cute matching/semi-matching holiday shirts. Hair is perfect. Nice camera in tow. ?? Well that's not me or my kids. I tried! I tried! I tried to get them to smile together widely at my camera earlier this week at the pumpkin patch. But it didn't work. And that's okay! I don't need to send just one picture in my holiday cards-- I need to send two! :) Two because I didn't get one shot of my girls smiling together on top of the hay barrels with pumpkins in their hands, proudly showing their matching T's. :)

But they are cute. I took some very cute pictures of my girls at the pumpkin patch! And a lot of them show their true personality which is probably way better than some professional, matchy-matchy, big smiles in the same direction, photo!

Enjoy!

 











Stats!

Every other blog I read does an age/month milestone and I'm going to copy them. Since this blog, which I hope people enjoy and read, is for my memory. Since after birthing two children, I have lost! :)

Ava, when people ask me how old you are, I immediately say two! because you are, in fact, two years old (27 months). Adjusted age you are just over two years old (25 months) since for those of you don't know, she was born at 32 weeks and the docs go by her "adjusted age."

Ava, you are amazing! AMAZING! You sing songs in the car when we are driving. Your faves are the Beatles and Lady Gaga. You love to sing the 'alright!' song (Here Comes the Sun) and Miss Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." You can do a full summer salt (summersalt?? sp?). You like to jump and have "dance parties" where you strip all of your clothes off and run in circles around the room. You say a huge amount of words. You ask a lot of questions. You share great concern for Emma when she is crying or when she gets hurt. But you don't hesitate to shove her out of your way if you want what she has. You love to talk to her when you first wake up in the morning. Your favorite foods are 'eggies' and toast in the morning and you love a big glass of milk. You love pizza and have associated 'daddy pizza.' You are the little mommy of the house and repeat everything I say when disciplining your sister! We love you so much and we are so proud of you that you have overcome obstacles since the first minute you were born. You are our sunshine!


Emma! Emma you are now 15 months and you are mobile! You have started to get the hang of running/walking fast. You now don't like to be held unless you are tired. You take priviledge in walking from our house to the car without assistance. You are the sweetest little sister Ava could of ever asked for. You are, in fact, her little shadow. When it's time to go 'pee pee on tha pottay' you are the first one in the bathroom sitting on the little stool. You sign 'more' when you want more of something and you can say 'kittttttiiieeee,' 'ump ump' (pumpkin), mama, dada, 'sssssss' (Lucy) and more. I think 'ump kin' is our favorite. You have started sleeping through the night! WOO HOO!! You sleep with your butt up in the air and not with many blankets. You have taken to your ducky lovey that Auntie Kirsten bought for you (the cow that Ava carries around is from Auntie Kirsten too!) You aren't much of a sweets girl, but you love french fries, pizza, peaches, peas and a good, warm glass of milk! We love you Emma. You are a blessing that at first, was in disguise, but we cannot imagine our lives without you.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Happy *almost* Halloween!

I was telling the girls last night, only a week until Halloween! I think I'm more excited than they are. Or anyone else! :)

Last year, we started a new tradition with our childrens' generation to go trick-or-treating with our family. Our family includes my brother and his family (including my beautiful niece and his MIL), my cousins' family (including her three beautiful kids that go to day care with my kids), my parents, and now this year my neighbor and her three beautiful kids and my nephew and his parents.

Let me tell you-- trick-or-treating by yourself has to be pretty boring. We had a blast last year! Ava was a leopard and Emma was a loaf of Wonderbread.

 Not the greatest picture, but I had to give you the full effect of Emma's costume. :)
My beautiful babies, Emma 3 months, and Ava 15 months.

What are your kids going to be for Halloweeen? Ava is going to be a 'ink anosaur' translation: pink dinosaur. And Emma is going to be Tinkerbell! YAY for free costumes!!!

So Happy Halloween week! To close, here's a click to Parents' Halloween Pumpkin Carving Stencils

Thursday, October 21, 2010

'du chu'


You should know that my husband is a HUGE Chicago Bears fan. No, he didn't grow up in the windy city. He's been a fan since they won the Superbowl in 1985-- am I correct, babe? Well he is continuing the tradition of being a Bears fan onto his daughters. Just shy of a 8 months ago or so, when Ava started talking, he wanted her to say "Go Bears!" in which she said, "du chu!" Now being a big 2-year-old girl, she can say "Go Bears!" with her little arms up straight in the air. It's precious. Emma follows along and can't yet say "Go Bears!" and maybe sometime soon before the season is over, she'll be able to say "du chu chu?!"



Ava: "Go Bears!"
"ROAR!" says Emma.
Two generations of Bears fans.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Gardening in October??

Here in the sunny state of CA in the Bay Area-- we have had summer-like weather. It's been lovely, but not when it's 100 degrees and you have two young ones!

Last weekend, the girls not only baked with Nana, but they also helped with gardening too! My mom had some plants to plant, which for the life of me-- I cannot remember!

Enjoy the pictures! And yes, the girls wore their princess skirts to their house and gardened in them. :) That's just how we rolllllllllllll!

Nana showing the girls what they were going to plant.
 Emma got a hold of ... squash?? 
 YAY! 
One is looking up! :) Beautiful- none of the less!
 Princess skirts for gardening-- it's the new thing. You didn't get the memo??

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

More baking with Nana

This past weekend the girls baked with Nana and with their cousin, Leah! The girls were donned with baker's hats, aprons and mini rolling pins! Check out the pictures! Aren't they precious?? And don't you want a chef's hat for yourself?! Although I did forget to get a picture of the final masterpieces which consisted of A LOT of blue and pink sprinkles, multi-colored little ball sprinkles and a fun, short-lived sugar rush!

 Chef Ava and Chef Leah!
It's hard being this cute!
Emma's little apron
 Checkin' out the goods that Nana bought!

Peace out!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

'I do it!'

'I do it' is very much different from "Let's do it!" right???

I wanted to share this article from The Poop which is a blog from The Chronicle in the Bay Area. Enjoy! Child development phrases that no one tells you about Be sure to read the comments! It will have you rolling on the floor laughing!

'Let's do it!'

Just a quick note to myself to write in Ava's babybook. Martin teaches the girls, well mainly Ava, little catch phrases that are pretty funny. As we were getting our shoes on to leave to go to our favorite store, Target, I asked Ava if she was ready to go. She said:

'Let's do it!!' with her little hands in a fist and raised them in the air!

Now if I could get THAT on video-- I think I would make a lot of money on America's Funniest Videos, don't ya think?

Saturday, October 9, 2010

'Clean up! Clean up! Everybody do their share'

How the heck .. do two little girls .. know how to make a mess like this in a manner of 5 minutes?!

This isn't that bad as the video posted below. 
How many stuffed animals can a child have?? :)

Do your kids do this? Do you make them clean it up?? I found that if you make up a song or LEARN and sing the 'clean-up song' that is sung at day care, they follow through.

Terrible twos, threes and fours

Now, having a 2- and 1-year-old, is much different than having a 2- and 4- year old. In my opinion, of a momma of Irish twins. (Which at any age, kids are hard and have different levels of terrible whatever!)

When Emma came home from the hospital when Ava turned one just a couple days before, Ava immediately turned into the terrible twos, little girl. She was biting, hitting, grinding her teeth, etc. because she didn't know what 'jealous' was or what it meant.. obviously! She was ONLY one-year-old!!!!

Now having Emma who is almost 15 months, while her sister is two-years-old, Emma is going through the terrible twos. Why? Because her sister is two. And she mimics EVERYTHING her sister does. I'm guessing? How is this fair??

Now for the record, everyone should know that Emma is a blessing from above and has graced our presence with much laughter and love. But she was not planned. I was on the 'mini' pill you take when you are breastfeeding which is not exactly 99% effective, it's not even 95%. I think it's 92% effective. So in no way we planned her pregnancy, but embraced it. So I'm just rambling about something that I have/had no control of (their ages so close together).

Now we all hear and anticipate with horror the 'terrible twos,' but I've heard it gets harder. Harder each year! Does anyone agree? How does it get harder? What are we suppose to anticipate?

I will anticipate that every year the girls get bigger and older, it will get harder. But we will master shortcuts. But as I watch the two of them right now, the play together. They fight. But they also love each other. They hug each other, kiss each other and show concern for the other. Ava makes sure that Emma is awake every morning. Emma follows Ava around everywhere.

And we love it.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Which annoying mom am I?

The Bump sends me e-mails periodically and recently sent me one with this article in it. Read it! 8 (Annoying!) Moms You'll Meet Online Then comment which one you are or which one you think I am! (I'm sure I'm probably all of them at some point!)

Baking with Nana

So my mom, LOVES being a Grandma! Loves it. Thanks me almost everytime she sees ours girls. Same as my dad. LOVES it! Now Ava and my mom have a strong bond, much like the bond I have with my Grandma, my mom's mom. And Emma has a strong bond with my dad. I really didn't think it would of happened that way, but I'm so happy because it just melts my dad's heart.

As many of you know, my mom is a fantastic baker! And she bakes almost everyday off and it's always something sweet-- much to my desire! :)

Ava and my mom got to bake together for the first time two weekends ago. They baked caramel, pecan sweet buns or rolls, I'm not sure what you would call it. But she makes the bun/roll dough and rolls it out, spreads the caramel out and sprinkles the sticky goodness with buttered pecans. DELICIOUS!!!!

Here are some photos from their baking extravaganza, which Ava did so well in, sporting her little apron courtesy of Nana.

 And they're off!
 Rolling...
 Patting...
 Cheese!!!
And the work of my little Ava! Looks good, huh??

Love fest!

I've had a lot of "awww" and "ahhhhhhh" moments with the girls lately. And just within the last minute.

Last night, Ava was drawing on her Leap Frog thingy, and I asked her what she was drawing, and she said "a circle, mommy!" And continued to draw her circle within a circle within another circle. Now I know we've gone over the shapes in books and stuff, but never did I think that just one day she'd know what a circle was and draw it without any assistance. (Thank you to our wonderful day care provider, Paola!! because I know all things that she learns is from there like counting to ten in both English and Spanish.) I know as a busy working mom and my extremely busy working husband, that we don't think to just sit down and teach them the words to another nursery rhyme since we're just trying to get through another day!

Anyways! We had another Kodak moment just seconds ago as we were eating breakfast together (Ava, Emma and I), where Ava leaned over and kissed her sister. And then proceeded to say, "huggies! I want to give huggies" and hugs her sister.

After the love fest at the breakfast table, I turned on Elmo (so I could really have a break and write this post!) and Ava positions herself on the couch and says, "where's Emma?!" Explaining she was on her way, she then says "Sissy! How are you, sissy? Huh?"

And then there are other moments where Ava is THE mommy and bosses Emma around. Some terms she says are "Emma! NO!" "No Emma!" "Emma, siitttt down!" And then sometimes if she's in the mood will proceed to push her sister down or out of the way!

These moments, which I know there isn't any category in either of their babybooks, is exactly the reason why I wanted to start this blog. So I could remember them and tell them how much they loved each other when they were 2 and 1 year old, when they are 13  and 14... hating each other because of their raging hormones!

I love my girls. I'm so happy that they were born so close together so we can have more and more moments like this as they continue to grow up.


Monday, October 4, 2010

Treats

Happy fall everyone!!!

I had huge plans to decorate our balcony and porch for the neighbors' kids and our kids, but didn't get around to it. Hopefully soon! Loving this cooler weather as opposed to the three digit weather the Bay Area was blessed with last week!

Potty training has been going very well for Ava. She gets treats and that's her incentive to keep going! So we offer her M&Ms everytime she goes. Last week when picking Ava up from day care, I was informed that she receives 2 M&Ms for pee and 5 M&Ms for the other. "Yikes!" I thought, I better step up my game if I'm going to get this girl trained! :)

Well, as you know, Emma joins in on the party in the bathroom when we go 'pee pee in tha pottay.' Well she also joins in on the M&Ms after-party too! And Ava now insists that as soon as she receives her 'treats' that Emma gets her 'treat' too. Even starting at the ripe age of two, Ava has her sister's back.



What love!

(Photo courtesy of Leah-- so great to have seen you at the park! Thank you for this Kodak moment that you captured!)

Friday, October 1, 2010

'I do it!'

From the mouth of our oldest babe, Ava. She is 26 months, I'm guessing... 24 plus 2 is 26. Yes. Adjusted age, she is 2 years (she was born at 32 weeks) and that's what the specialists always say.

ANYWAYS!!!! Our sweet 2-year-old girl is MISS Independent and always wants to do whatever she wants to do and by herself.


As much as she is independent, she has grown to love her little sissy, Emma. Emma was just recently sick with the flu with the bad poops which lead to an ear infection... mommy working from home, etc.

So off to day care went Ava and Emma stayed home with mommy. It was fun to have just one child to take care of. But did those girls miss each other! On Wednesday morning when we were all home together, Ava kept kissing and hugging her sister.

That moment was worth all of the sleepless nights. All of the crying and all of the frustrating "I do it!" moments! :)

The girls are all ready to watch Toy Story in their matching Tinkerbell chairs.

'Pee pee in tha pottay!'

Potty training. Two words that bring a whirl-wind of different feelings. :) In stages of course!

We started potty training Ava a week ago today. She had been peeing on the potty for months and we made it 'fun' and exciting for her- and for us. But Friday was the big dip into the Pull-Ups and big girl underwear.

It's going quite well, but the deadline I've given her, myself and Martin, is another week of that and then hopefully start with the thick underwear and then the pretty Elmo, Dora and froggie princess underwear she's been wearing on top of the Pull-Ups.

What frightens me is the nighttime. Luckily for us, Ava has not climbed out of her crib, therefore it's still a crib and hasn't been transformed into a toddler/day bed.

Does anyone have any tips for the nighttime??

Emma on the other hand-- loves to join the 'pee pee in tha pottay' party in the girls' bathroom. She sits on a stool and reads books with us. Like our day care provider said, 'Emma would probably be trained a lot quicker than these other girls that are being trained.' Which is true. But I can't let go out my last baby that quickly! :)