Thursday, April 4

Nature walk

(now that you all know my family is far from perfect, we'll get on with the regular postings)

Last Saturday we packed up the hiking bags and went out for a nature walk.  It was a beautiful day for a walk.  Nick was supposed to be gone all day on a trip with a buddy, but he backed out last minute.  Rude...but anyways, we had a great day out as a family.  Here are some pictures from our fun family day.


The best attempt at a family picture






We parked near the trucks so when we were done Xander was able to get up close for the first time.  He loved it!  The face above is his face he does when he wants to smile but is unsure if he should, lol.



even Sissy got close up


"My life isn't near perfect, but I guess that's what makes it LIFE"

Have a great day!


Tuesday, April 2

Xander's 2nd Birthday

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, XANDER!!!

(cheese)

Today has come...and is almost gone...but it's another very special day in our house.  Xander turns 2 today! How amazing is it how fast kids grow!

We started our morning signing "happy birthday, I won't cry if you don't want me to", lol!  Then we all got dressed because Xander had an important meeting to attend.  His 2 year well baby visit, that is.  He was 26.3 pounds (minus the clothes he was wearing) and 33.5 inches.  Only 22% for height and 28% for his weight.  He might be on the lower end of the rating scale, but he's growing perfectly according to the charts.  A consistent growth is better than stopping and then having a growth spurt, IMO.  I LOVE every little inch and morsel of his well being!

After his appointment, which took forever, we headed over to the indoor playland to meet his friend, Lily and her mom.  We also had his favorite, Taco Bell cheese roll up for lunch.  

He's wearing 24 months and I'm going to try to get away with 2T stuff for summer.  We shall see if it works, or backfires.  His shoes are a perfect 7.  Wearing a size 4 diaper.  He LOVES hats!  His hair is changing.  The texture is rough, ugh!  We're trying to figure out what to do with it right now.  It's at the point that it needs a haircut, but we're not sure if cutting it short will help or make it worse.  His hair wants to curl when we brush it down.  So, (I'm) thinking we will let it grow a bit and see what it does.  Nick wants to buzz it all off like his, but I say NO WAY!  So we may have a boy that looks like his hair has not been combed for the next few weeks, but I promise you, it's combed at least twice a day, every day.  His hair just has a mind of it's own.

He's so smart!  He repeats everything we say.  He imitates everything we do.  Time for me to start watching what I say and do.  I have the habit to say a few curse words here and there, not good!  He uses sentences and asks questions in full sentences.  It amazes me!  A 2 year can do all that?  Maybe it helped that I never used "baby talk" with him (or Sterling), so maybe he just picks things up since we use the words daily?  Who knows, but I'm proud of him!

He's all boy!  He loves to wrestle.  I'm not too excited about that, but his daddy is!  Nick likes to joke with me that because I don't want Xander to be "rough and tough" like most boys, that I want him to be like a girl.  Not so!  I just love my boy to remain sweet and loving.  But I guess he can be all that and then some.

Such a good helper!  Follows directions.  Possibly is not the best listener a 2 year old can be, but he's working on it.  Loves art, although he calls it a 'mess', it's his favorite activity.  Still loves to read, would read (or be read to) all day if it were up to him.  Loves Bubble Guppies and Elmo.  Not a picky eater, but would eat bread and pasta at every meal if we'd let him.  Still not a huge meat eater, maybe someday. 


opening gifts


4th gift he opened, and he was done!  He was mad because I told him he had to wait to play and finish opening his gifts


...daddy gave in and opened it and started playing catch and tackle (he even went to bed with this darn ball, little man likes his sports!)
 

all his gifts minus the outfits from us that are hanging up :)

His gifts included:

From us:  3 summer outfits
3 books
2 ring flash card sets (perfect for our moving-transit kit)
Tag junior with 2 books
personalized backpack
Bubble Guppies race car

From Nana:
A very awesome Tricycle that he rides around (with his feet, lol) and says 'vroom vroom'--too cute!

From Opa:
Duplo Legoville Zoo

From Grandma:
2 fun summer outfits
book

From grandma's friend Georgia:
an outfit

From Auntie Stacy:
6 books
puzzle (which is going to be a part of our moving-transit kit)

Mrs. Pam and family:
his very own vtech smartphone...which he loves!

Thank you everyone for all the awesome gifts!  He's one lucky boy to have all of you in his lives!

On another happy note, his birth mom's mom (Nana S) wrote.  I sent them a picture of him this morning and she wrote back.  I guess his birth mom is with her first sons father again (and pregnant with his baby again). Nana S didn't seem to excited in the email about that.  Says it never works out and they live by the seat of their pants, which is probably why she hasn't written me back from 2 months ago.  I'm still going with my plans with making his birth mom a photo book of him and his favorites, it's almost done too!  I really hope she likes it!

What a special young man Xander is!  We love you to the moon and back, buddy!

Have a great day!



Wednesday, March 27

Celebrating being ONE

As this post has taken 10 days to create, it'll be a picture-caption post to describe Sterling's special day


First up, was a shamrock green pancake for our St. Patty's baby...ooohhhh


While Sterling was taking her morning nap, we decorated.  We decided to decorate later so Xander would have a place to eat at the table without everything in his way


We didn't wrap all of her presents and sat some of the unwrapped  stuff on her table.  She loved the sunglasses from her Opa!


After nap, Sterling and I went to pick up her balloon bouquet and came home to play with them


While she was playing with her ballons, I started decorating the cakes


Snuggles


We ate pork cutlets for dinner with butter noodles...yummy!  After dinner we opened presents


very cool!  Bitty Baby from Nana!


aaawwwww...my first cabbage patch from Nana!


2 of her presents from us, a very much needed pair of shoes that fit and stay on and then a personalized backpack that I can see coming in very handy during our move.  She also got 4 summer outfits (dresses) and 3 books from us.

List of loot:
From Nana & Papa:  
American Girl Bitty Baby
My First Cabbage Patch

From Opa: 
my first babiators sunglasses (seriously the cutest. thing. ever!!!)
2 dresses
package of hair clips/bands
2 packs of tights
pack of socks

From Grandma: 
2 outfits
my first Bible
barrettes/headbands
stuffed ABC's giraffe

From Auntie Stacy:
Fitness CD (you LOVE this CD!!!)  You're a little dancer!

From Auntie Renee:
$50 gift card to Gymboree (mommy's favorite store to buy from!)

Updated to add a gift received from Grandma's friend Georgia:
2 dresses



After gifts, we read the cards...I guess we did this backwards.  We should have read them first...oops!


Then it was time for CAKE!  We sang happy birthday as she touched and stared at the cake wondering what she's supposed to do


Not quite sure what to think, but brother loved helping eat it


yummy...but later we noticed she broke out on her face again, right on the tip of her nose.  


Clean up time, then stories and bed!  What a day!

What an amazing first year this little girl has brought to our family.  She's truly a blessing and the best gift He can give and loved oh-so-very much!!  Love you little girl!!


 Have a great day!