What's in a name?

Since I had Jack, I have been trying to enjoy every minute of his new babyness. I know that he is changing so fast that I try to hold on to each moment, and yet he still seems to be growing so fast. Because I have been so focused on his growing over the last 2 months, I have overlooked one important little girl. This little one is also growing so fast, and today she just reminded me of that fact. I came into her room after she had been playing quietly by herself (which is almost always a bad thing), and found her writing on her white board. Apparently she can write her own name. I wonder how long that has been going on.

I immediately got my camera and when I held it up to take the picture she told me she wanted to do a funny picture. She is so spunky.

On a related note, Jack is starting to hold up his head. He is not a super fan of tummy time, but at least he doesn't scream the whole time like Ali did.

Also my mom visited me for a week and a half! It was so great to have her here. She never let my sink get full of dirty dishes, and she probably read about an hundred books while she was here. The girls and I miss her already (Nick was on night shift for almost all of her visit, so it was especially nice to have her here). For some reason the only picture that I took with her and the baby was when my dad also visited (he visited for about 5 minutes on his way to a conference).

Last, random poll question. What color are these eyes? Try to ignore the blue shirt as a bias. If you look at the tummy time picture you can also see his eyes.

A Blessing

I named this post, because not only did we have Jack blessed this last week, but he truly is a blessing to us. He is a good baby! He sleeps all the time, and through the night, and he is snugly and content most of the day. I really couldn't ask for more.

Nick's family was able to come for the blessing, which was also a blessing! Jack is the one in the blessing gown. The cute chunker in Nick's arms is Dominic, Jack's twin cousin. Can you believe they are only a week apart!?!

There is something about a bowtie on a baby that is just too adorable. I was worried about boy clothes being ugly, but I am really having such fun dressing him.

Today Jack turned 2 months old! I can hardly believe it. It seems like he has been in our family forever, yet at the same time just yesterday he was born.

Also this week he started to smile. I have yet to get a good picture of it, but here he is about to smile, so you kinda get the idea. His smile is adorable!

A little bit of everything

To start I want to announce the birth of my little boy. On November 8th at 12:45pm I gave birth to this beautiful boy. 7lbs. 8oz and 20 inches. This boy makes my heart melt every time I look at him.

We got some professional pictures taken of him.

He is such a sweet boy, and my favorite part is that he is already sleeping through the night. (most nights anyway)

A photographer friend of mine was amazing enough to come over a week after he was born to take some family pictures. Isn't she amazing?

I know I shouldn't put up a million pictures, but I just can't get enough of this guy.

The girls are equally in love with him, athough Ali informed me that even though she loves him and he is cute, he is boring because all he does is open his eyes.

Surprise, surprise, this is one super proud daddy.
More things happened while I have been blog-shy.

Ali was star of the week.

She played a brick wall in the "Three Piggy Opera"

Jack turned one month old.

And of course... Christmas!

Christmas season started this year with a wonderful present of a gingerbread house from our (mostly Alicia's if you ask her) dear friend Jim.

A few days before Christmas we headed out to spend a little time with family. Abuelita and Abuelito had some big fans.

While there we managed to find a mountain with some snow on it. Ali, showing her Boston roots, loved the snow and never wanted to leave.


All three little cousins loved playing, but Jack stayed snuggled in the Bjorn.

Nick turned 32 while we were there, and so we had a little cake to celebrate.

Maybe too much cake. Is it worth it to clean your child's face if 2 seconds later some other Christmas treat messes it up?

Christmas morning was full of family and presents.

Halloween 2011

I really do have THE cutest girls in the world, but dressing them up makes them even CUTER! Here is our little Strawberry Shortcake, and Plex (from Yo-Gabba-Gabba)
















They loved Trick-or-Treating, and both were old enough to really get into it.











After a few blocks we were joined by Dez! That scary dinosaur. This picture is kind of fuzzy, but hey! they are all looking the same way, so I can't complain too much.

Halloween weekend we were also SUPER lucky to have some fun visitors. My little sister, Melissa, visited from Utah, and spent the entire 3 days playing with toddler toys. Nadean and Philippi were able to visit us too! This picture looks like they are not having too much fun, but in reality they were having so much fun I was lucky to get them looking at the camera at all.

Here the girls are showing how much they LOVE their cousin, (or their picture being taken). I don't think they even notice that Philippi is trying to run out of the picture.

Sneak Peak for Halloween

Because we really have the cutest Strawberry Shortcake, I had to do a little sneak peak of what is to come for Halloween. Ali had a costume parade at school, and (I know I am biased) she was definitely the hit of the parade!

Here she is with the rest of her class. The lighting is kind of bad.

She really did have fun, despite the lack of smile. She was so excited about this parade that she woke up last night at 1am, then 2am, then 3 am... Help me!

Prancing and Ponies

We have been especially lucky this last few months to have Nick home each weekend (This last week was the last weekend with Nick for awhile). We decided to make it a good one, so we headed out to Griffith Park, where I have been wanting to go for awhile. The girls rode ponies and we all hopped aboard a mini train around the park.

Me and Kat. She only let me hold her for this picture. One second after this she "had" to sit by herself. I guess it is good that I am having a new baby, because my old baby is getting too old.

The ponies were a huge hit (no surprise). Kat got to go first in the line of kids and so she thought she was queen of the track.

I think Ali was most excited because she got to pick out which of the ponies to ride. According to her, this one is definitely the fastest one.

After they were done they didn't want to get off the ponies. They probably could have spent all day riding.
Last: Kat and Dez started a little dance class

Kat had to dress the part, and when I told them to pose for the camera, this was their response.

Random assortment of our month

This month has been kind of calm. Since Ali has started school it has been days full of drop-offs and pick-ups, but there have been a few photo worthy moments.

For labor day we spent the 3 day weekend in San Diego. For the girls that means Abuelita's house! They love that they have all different toys there. Plus this little rocking chair (along with lots of different books) is a big favorite.

We went to Sea World, which the girls loved... until Daddy sat us in the wet zone of Shamu's show. I should have gotten a picture of all of us soaked, but there were NO smiles involved.
I had to add this picture because it has Nick in it. A rare occurrence, I know, Nick has had decent rotations this month, and every weekend work-free!

Alicia lost yet another tooth! Here she is showing me her "hole."

Kat started gymnastics!

She is in the same class as Ali, so of course they have to hold hands most of the time.

This is just a picture of Ali that I liked.

For Ramona, here I am at 33 weeks! With my super itchiness, I am hoping that this baby comes early.

This is a picture for Jen, cause she always says that I am pushing out my belly in normal pictures, so this is me really pushing out my belly.