Days 'Til Xmas: Day 25

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you and your family enjoyed the special day. Santa came through our house. That's a wrap!

- Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 24

Happy Christmas Eve! Apparently now that I'm a mom, I'm going to need more cookie jars, so my mom gave me this one today. She seemed a little sad when she explained that she realized he didn't have a hat. I didn't care; I had a fix for that. Plus he looks cute without a hat. He was even cuter after I found out he came preloaded with shortbread cookies! Yum!

-Shirley

I Know What I Said

I've said more than once that I've never really wanted babies; I wanted kids.  Babies scare me.  They're so fragile and needy.  Puppies are much easier.  Plus, I was blessed with hyperactive and loud babies.

So it may seem cruel or backwards that while other mothers are trying to freeze time with their babies, I'm trying to teleport to the future and just get through this phase sanely.  I knew that I wouldn't miss the baby years; I knew what my preference was.

Until the other day, when we were walking out of Mateo's first year appointment.  After the doctor told me he was 26 pounds, I carried him out and stared down the loooooooooooong hallway.  My arms hurt just thinking about carrying him the whole way.

"Mateo, you and your 26 pounds are walking to the car!" I said and I put him down to walk down the hall holding hands with each other.

But he didn't even care about my hands.

He just left like he didn't know me.

Like we hadn't just spent the last 12 months joined at the hip.

I know I said that my finger needed a break from his hand.  I know I said I wouldn't miss it.

But at that moment.... I already did.

-Shirley

Lesson Learned

If there's anything I learned yesterday its that if you have kids under the age of three and a dog with no self-restraint: NEVER EVER bust out the gifts on Christmas Eve's, Eve! Someone will ruin Christmas!

Lesson Learned.







-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 23

I'm trying to "secretly" wrap gifts today during a big storm. The kids have cabin fever and itchy fingers. I can already predict that these gifts aren't going to make it.

-Shirley

Vlog: Mateo Walks

A vlog update, if you haven't been reading my posts lately.  :)

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 22

Diego's last speech therapy of the year, and he cut it short by pooping in his diaper and then refusing to give back this little guy to his teacher.  She let him keep it.  Man - is he going to LOVE his stocking stuffer!

-Shirley

What a difference 1yr makes!

Forget about making a cool ruler growth chart!  Who needs that when you have Santa, himself as the chart?  These two pics were taken just about 1 year in between each other at my aunt's house (that's her Santa).  Mateo isn't in the first pic because he was a fresh baby (just 11 days old) sleeping in his carrier at the time.  What a difference a year makes!  Diego passed up Santa's stature by a mile (and his hair filled in too, I wish he would share the hair)!  The second pic is blurry -- ever tried to take a picture of two writhing and wiggly kids? 

I wonder if Mateo will reach Santa's height this time next year.  It's a long way to go!

Only Santa knows - Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 21

Well, if you're reading this post it means that the world did not end 18 minutes ago according to the Mayan Apocalypse theory.  However, Mateo did utter his first word:  "Bubble" which was very similar to an apocalypse.  My parents told me about his new speech, and I - the naysayer, the doubter, the Negative-Nancy - wrinkled my nose and shook my head in doubt and said in a very unconvinced tone,

"Yeah right; he said Bubble?"

Not even a millisecond passed, when Mateo screamed "BUBBLE!"

He rested his case.

He doesn't like naysayers, but he does like bubbles.  I'm a turned apocalypse believer.  The world may now end.

-Nancy Shirley

Diego and Casey?

Diego likes to give me a play-by-play of everything that his little brother has just babbled:

Mama, Mama, Mamaaaaaaa!  Bruddah 'dah, dah, dah'.  

Mama, Mama, Mamaaaaaaa!  Bruddah 'ma gah dah'

Mama, Mama, Mamaaaaaaa!  Bruddah 'oooooo'

Yes, Diego your brother just said all those things.

Two nights ago as I pulled into our driveway, Mateo was especially babble-y.  I was ready for Diego to give me the scoop.  But instead:

Mama, Mama, Mamaaaaaaa!          (Long Pause:)             Bruddah Casey!

And no, he did not confuse his brother's name as Casey.  He was actually referring his bruddah as "CRAZY"!  A phrase that he just picked up from my dad (we need to be careful now because he's repeating everything!).

If I were a stick in the mud, I would've freaked out and corrected Diego on his brother's level of sanity.  But instead, I couldn't stop laughing.

Thanks for the good laugh!  - Casey Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 20

Let's pretend I posted this yesterday - shall we?  Now that Tater is a tot, he's supposed to be moving on to cow's milk and sippy cups.  Last night was the end of an era.  We bit the last bits of formula dust.  These Tommee Tippee Bottles (3 in total) have been through thick and thin.  Other than the deteriorating paint indicating the number of ounces on the bottles, they've held up pretty well.    They've earned their retirement.

-Shirley

Nipping at Your Nose

I live in California, so this is an awesome and very rare view of the back of my house this morning.  It's about as white a Christmas as we will get around here.  You bet your life I had a cup of hot chocolate after snapping this pic.

Warm fuzzy feelings amid the cold prickles - Shirley

DIY: Xmas Canvases

This is something that I HAD to do to add some special Xmas spirit in my house.  I took the same concept from this tutorial - only I gave it an Xmas spin with a few of my favorite Xmas photos.  Now I have canvases that I can put up each year, and my plan is to add at least one new one each year to build memories. The best part was that Michael's was having a Buy 1 Get 1 Free sale on these canvases which were $7.99 each (regular price). Score!

P.S.  I'm thinking that I really like the black borders and I'm going to paint all my non-Xmas canvases with a black border now.

P.S.S.  I also learned that you really should use a printer that uses toner.  I forgot to flip the picture of me and my baby belly so that the words would come out right.  I didn't notice until I got home, so I had to reprint the flipped picture on my HP Air Print printer at home which does not use toner.  The ink came off very easily (which you do not want) so I ended up not processing that picture as much because it started to look more like a water-color photograph. 

P.S.S.S.  I wasn't expecting to have such a committed crafting partner in this project - Hell - I wasn't expecting to have a crafting partner, period.  

 

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Days 18 & 19

Once again, I dropped the ball yesterday so today there are two Santa hat pics.

Day 18:  Diego's main Xmas gift has arrived, I think the hat brings out his eyes. 

Day 19:  The frost on the roof of my car this morning indicates that winter has finally reached California.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 17

What a great day to get back in the spirit!  Today we filled and wrapped gifts (yo-yos, play-doh, socks, etc.) and built bikes for tots at work.  Everyone deserves a gift on Xmas.  Everyone.

-Shirley

Growth Chart in Action

Now that Mateo's first birthday passed the growth race is on! Tater is trailing behind his brother by about an inch on our homemade giant ruler growth chart.  And check out D's crazy growth spurt when he reached 2!  His 3-yr birthday is next month and curiosity got the best of me.  Although not yet marked, he's barely grown an inch in the last year.  Unless he's the Incredible Hulk (he wishes) I don't think we'll be seeing such a drastic growth spurt in January.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 16

A sneak peek at my Xmas crafting project over the weekend.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 15

He sat there in wild-eyed wonder, screaming, "Mama! Bird! Bird!" and pointing to the TV screen last night. "Toy Story" was on and it was the scene where Buzz and Woody are trapped in Sid's Room. It was the decapitated head of a Pterodactyl bird in the corner of the screen that made his adrenaline rush.
It validated my stocking stuffer choice to compliment his Xmas gift: a Godzilla action figure.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 14

After hearing about today's school massacre it's been hard to function. I had appointments to take Diego to speech therapy and Mateo to his one year check in. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be around extra kids today, but their innocence is so refreshing and they really know how to make you better. So what if Mateo didn't observe the sign in this picture and pulled the bulb off as I scrambled to stick it back on.

So what.

I gave him a huge hug and thanked him and Diego for being in my life.

Holding on to Xmas spirit by a thread today - Shirley 

Days 'Till Xmas: Day 13

It's been awhile since I've bought myself a present but it had to be done.  My previous one was 3 years old and shedding like crazy.  I can only allow my Golden Retriever to shed.  There's only room for 1.

-Shirley

Tater is a Tot! (12-Month Update)

Happy Birthday Tater!

Today you've been blessing me with your dimples for 1 whole year!  Today you join your brother into the wonderful toddler world.  I'm so excited about this!  My Tater is a tot!  This month had very special milestones.  At the beginning of this month, I handed you a wheeled walker and you just took off running!  And just 3 days ago you officially started walking on your own (cutting it a little close to your birthday, no?).  We also celebrated your cookie monster birthday early and you thought it was deeee-licious!

OTHER TATER TIDBITS

• You do this whiney grunt and point to things you want.
• You still put everything you can find in your mouth.  When will this oral fixation end? You even found an old pacifier and decided to give it a go for old time's sake
• Our funnest time together is tap dancing.  You love tap dancing and shuffling!
• Your aunt thought I'd made a mistake when I told her that you wear a size 6 shoe (so she could do some birthday shopping).  She took one look at the massive shoe at the store and bought something else since I had "clearly made a mistake" 
• You started climbing things but you still don't realize what it means to fall.  There's been a lot of "redecorating" at the house.
• You decapitated the nativity calf under the tree.
• You totally love Qori.  Sometimes I think you two need to get a room!
• Qori loves you too.  Especially since you started sharing your food with him this month.
• You've been more cuddley this month.  It's like you're trying to entice me to want you to stay a baby instead of turning into a tot.
• You love exploring the fridge.  The other day I left it open for a few minutes while I was cooking.  I later found an onion with little bite marks on it.
• You've discovered and have become addicted to the adrenaline rush of a good game of Chase
• You started standing up during bath time.  I'm not sure if you're picking this up from you co-partner in bathtime crimes: Diego (who always stands in the bath).

Here are some pics on how Tater's First Birthday party went down:

Tater is stunned:  Who are these decorations for?

Mama:  "Go ahead, go wild! I'll clean later."  Boys:  "What is this? It feels gross; I'll pass"

And they finally start to bite, not always just the cake though.

At first, Grandpa couldn't help but notice a resemblance to Adolf.  Then you went and gave yourself the devil's goatee.  Of course you did. 

Tater shows us how he keeps his immune system strong.

Diego blows out his brother's candle prematurely and we all have a good laugh and then try again.

Mateo enjoys his party while Qori helps with the gift wrap and big bro Diego is a self-appointed attacker of all helium balloons!

Happy Birthday Tater Tot! - Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Day 12

I really enjoyed my team offsite at work today.  We went to a cooking class.  Don't adjust your screens.  That's not an extra raspberry on our chocolate souffle!

-Shirley

Wordless Wednesday: Yum!

2012 Christmas Card!

I just ordered our Christmas cards.  Another check off the list!  I was going to add "With love as deep as Mateo's dimples" to the back of the cards, but I held back.  Now I'm thinking I should have just done it.

Anyway, the card looks much like last year's in my opinion, although I tried to make it look different.  Maybe it's not the card; it's probably the person creating it.  I'm stuck in one style.  I think next year I'll try a dreaded family photo shoot.  Yikes!

It'll probably look like this:

-Shirley

Days 'Till Xmas: Day 11

One of Tater's birthday presents, the Twilight Turtle set the Christmas mood last night with a green, starry night and a tiny, red santa hat.

-Shirley

Days 'Til Xmas: Days 9 & 10

Yeah, I totally failed on Day 9 so today you get two!

Day 9

Day 10:  Today I started a new project at work:  Getting the system that I support to play nice on one of these.  Say hello to my new work toy.  She's festive.

-Shirley

Cookie Monster Themed Birthday!

Well, I can let out a big sigh of relief!  I'm done with Tater's first birthday!  (We celebrated it a bit early for Christmas' sake - He turns one this Thursday).  I paced myself and made the decorations over the course of a few weeks and weekends and sometimes worked on crafts during my lunch break.  As a working mom to two very needy children, I knew this would not be a very easy feat with my schedule.  As I mentioned, I was poor this month so just about everything was homemade.  I got my sister to make the cupcakes but everything else was me.  Oh - and go easy on my cake, that was my first go at ever decorating a cake!  Tater's party was very small, just immediate family, but I didn't want that to take away from his celebration and decorations.

So I gave it all I could, and I gotta say, I love how it all came out!  Pics of Tater's party will post later this week.  Now, onward to continue with the Christmas decorations!

-Shirley