Sibling love

I was trying to decide what to do for this week's blog post and was going through pictures for ideas, as well as to find pictures to scrapbook and I discovered a lot of cute pictures of Alex and Amelia. I found some cute recent ones, as this one above and some older ones. I am sure anyone that has more than two kids had to field the question of "how does [insert older child's name here] like his/her baby sister/brother?" I feel incredibly fortunate that Alex has loved Amelia since the day she came home.

Now, I said day she came home. Alex was pretty stoked when I was pregnant because his best friend Bridget had recently become a big sister to Baby Courtney, who was an adorable baby. Then we had a 3D ultrasound done and he saw the pictures of Amelia. He looked me straight in the eye and said "I don't want an orange baby, I want a baby sister like Courtney!" We promised him up and down that when Amelia arrived she would not be orange but he was very unsure of things. The day I had Amelia, Alex slowly crept up to my hospital bed and confirmed that Amelia was in fact not orange and looked normal. So, the love of baby sister began. Alex actually never calls Amelia by her name, only Baby Sister or Sissy.

Here is a picture of Alex brushing her hair when she is only a few weeks old just like she is a little doll:


Alex has also been fascinated with putting he and Sissy into boxes and baskets. This started early and continues to this day....




I know Paul was relieved we had a boy first and then a girl so that Alex could always look out for Amelia as she gets older. Of course I have also pointed out that this means she will probably try to date his friends as well....but he just ignores me when I say that. Amelia does look up to Alex so much and copies him all the time. Last weekend when Alex was "fixing" something with his tools Amelia grabbed a hammer and started helping him.

When I look at Alex and Amelia playing (nicely, because they do have their moments trust me!) I think of the lyrics from a great Dave Matthew's song: "Lean upon me, I'll lean upon you and we'll be okay."

Brand new shoes!

Now that Amelia is walking everywhere, I decided it was time to take her into Stride Rite for her first shoe fitting. Of course by doing this I outraged my husband who was quite upset at the thought of spending $50 on shoes for a 13 month old who will outgrow them in a couple of months. His feelings - kids everywhere have survived on $10 baby shoes and walk straight as adults. My feelings - it is important to get them fitted correctly the first time to see if their feet have anything special needs going on and to make sure they get a great fit. I won in the end, but my mom was also nice enough to step up and offer to pay for the first pair (I may have guilted her into it a little too by reminding her she paid for Alex's first pair...details, details).

Amelia was sweet as pie at the shoe store and I was thrilled that the same kind, patient woman that fit Alex for his first pair was working and helped us this time as well. Amelia was very intrigued as her feet were measured and she tried on several sets of shoes. Unfortunately, my daughter has been blessed and cursed at the same time with narrow feet like me. Blessed that they are going to be lovely slim feet, cursed for Paul and I that we will be continuing to buy shoes at Stride Rite since she will need narrow fit shoes.

After we found a pair that fit properly we got her up to walk and wouldn't you know it, my daughter suddenly forgot how to walk. She could not figure out how to take a step in those shoes. Luckily the very nice sales woman helped her and even took some pictures of Amelia in her new shoes! So for all of you out there, $50 at Stride Rite will buy you baby's first pair of shoes and also a little card with their picture on it!

While us girls were shopping at the mall, Alex and Paul were busy at home. Paul worked on mounting our flat panel television up on our bedroom wall and is starting the work to hide all the wires. After he finishes that he will start painting our room a grey/blue color I have picked out. Every single room in our house has been carefully decorated except for our bedroom, so I decided after 3 years of living in this house it was time to spruce it up a little.

Alex, forever Daddy's little helper, took it upon himself to get his tools and fix the baby gate hinges at the top of the stairs that had broken this week. I LOVE these photos of him because it shows how concentrated he was on fixing these brackets. He will make a wonderful husband one day!




Tomorrow both kids start swim lessons at Amy Morris Swim School, so I am sure to have good stories to share soon!

Amelia is walking!!!!

Yes you heard it correctly, at 13 months, Amelia is mobile. She has been tentatively taking steps here and there the past few weeks but yesterday and today has really put it all together and now regularly takes 7-10 steps at a time. I finally managed to catch it on camera and video too which makes me happy. I love it when babies first learn to walk, that lovely drunken sailor walk which is just too cute! Amelia is very proud of herself and thinks she is quite clever.

Olivia has also been teaching Amelia some fun things. Amelia is now using a sippy cup and working on feeding herself better. In return, Amelia has been role modeling how to walk and Olivia took her first step today in our kitchen!!!! We were all very excited to witness her first step. The girls have been having a great time playing together.




As usual Alex has been very good with both girls and excited to have Olivia and Kim here visiting. He was up in Amelia's room today trying to read the girls a book and he looked so sweet I had to catch him reading "Goodnight Moon" to them.


We get to keep Kim and Olivia until Monday so we hope to have another fun day with them tomorrow. Stay posted for more pictures! :)

Sea Ranch Weekend

We are back from the coast, and back to the Valley heat. When I left the beach this morning I was wearing Uggs and a sweatshirt over my outfit, now I am in a tank and flip flops. Needless to say, we very much enjoyed our weekend away where the high was 60 all weekend and in the morning we were greeted by a view of the ocean while sipping our coffee. Paul and I haven't had a weekend to ourselves in several months and it was really nice to reconnect as a couple and spend some time relaxing. That also included catching up on some much needed sleep!!!

BUT, it wasn't all fun and games. The beach house up at Sea Ranch was much in need of some TLC so Paul and I earned our keep this weekend. Due to the mild climate at the coast some beautiful flowers grow well over there.....

but things also GROW LIKE CRAZY!! We took advantage of a once a year pick up Sea Ranch has of green waste and cleaned up my mom's garden. Here are some before and after shots of our hard work!

BEFORE


AFTER


Another view of BEFORE

AFTER


And this was the pile we left for the pick up!


Each day we did a few hours of work in the garden but also explored a little bit more. I have been going up to Sea Ranch since I was in 7th grade and my parents bought their house there 10 years ago, but what I love about Sea Ranch is that there really is a lot to explore and do! For instance, there is this beautiful chapel there that is very tiny and artistic that we drive past every time but never stop and go in. So - this time we did and I snapped a few great shots.

This is a close up picture of one of the beautiful windows in the chapel:


One of the times Paul & I went up to visit my parents in Sea Ranch my dad took us on this great hike to a little place called "The Hot Spot," named because the trail follows the San Andreas Fault line. It is a really steep hike, but the reward is a beatiful, serene picnic area. When we did this hike with my parents and Grandmother it was tough! I specifically remember half pulling my mother up the trail in the end... Paul and I didn't picnic there but we did go down there to check it out and take some pictures. Next time we take our friends with us though we plan on making them do the hike with us!!!

There are some amazingly tall Redwood trees down at the Hot Spot. I got a picture with one of them and also took one of Paul next to a tree trunk that they dated to be almost a thousand years old!



We also visited the 'neighborhood' winery that is just 7 miles up the road from the beach house. This is somewhat of a tradition for us when we go up there, got to support those little wineries!


Keeping in tune of doing different and new things we stopped at Bodega Bay on the way back and Paul finally took a picture with the Portuguese Beach sign we pass every time. He is so proud....


Meanwhile our kids had a great weekend with the grandparents. They were spoiled and had a great time. Amelia is now up to taking 5 steps!!! And Alex was a very good boy all weekend. Here are some recent photos of them:



Hope you all had a fun and safe weekend as well! Now back to the daily grind!!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I have gotten so behind in my blogging with work, family and resuming my teaching duties with University of Phoenix this past week. I promise to post some new photos and stories once we return from Sea Ranch on Monday. Paul and I are very excited to spend a weekend together up at the coast and the kids will have a great time, as always, at Grandma & Grandpa's house.

I had hoped to give you a link to our photographer's website with Amelia's 1 year photos, but they aren't up yet. The photo session didn't go as well as other sessions, but Jamie did manage to capture some cute photos of Amelia. As soon as the sneak peek is up I will post the link.

Wishing you all a happy and safe weekend!

Happy Mommy Day!!!

Wishing all of you wonderful Mommy's out there a happy, special Mother's Day! My wonderful munchkins and husband treated me to a relaxing day here at home, which is exactly what I needed after a busy couple of weekends. They also gave me a gift certificate to the spa to continue my relaxation - pefect!

Looking at my beautiful children today I can't help but think of last Mother's Day when Amelia was just a teeny tiny newborn. I cannot believe how much she has grown in this past year, as has Alex who is becoming a unique little person.

Through the woods to Nana's house we go.....

I am a bad daughter, cousin and friend, let's just get that out there. I have not been up to Sacramento to visit my mom since last July. Of course I see her all the time, but haven't been up to Sacramento for a visit in almost a year. This weekend in honor of Olivia turning one we made the three hour trek up Hwy 99 to Sacramento. Luckily we were able to break up the trip a little by staying overnight in Turlock Friday night and then heading out again Saturday morning. Three hours isn't such a long trip but with a 1 yr old and 3 yr old it can be an eternity. The kids did pretty well, but it still seemed longer than three hours.

As always it was great seeing my cousin Kim. Of all the things I miss about Sacramento she is who I miss the most. We've been such good friends since we were little kids and now that we have daughters only 6 days apart we are even closer.


Being that Kim and Olivia are so important to me I definitely couldn't miss Olivia's first birthday!! My beautiful niece (I know she isn't technically my niece but she calls me Aunt Corinne) was looking super cute for her first, cupcake themed, birthday party. Amelia and Olivia still don't quite know what to make of each other but played together a little bit. Amelia just preferred climbing up on top of Olivia's toys....that girl is such a climber!


Olivia, of Livy as she is called, dove into her cake not quite as quickly as Amelia but still did an excellent job of getting it everywhere which is the way it needs to be on a first birthday.



We also all devourted cupcakes from this amazing bakery named something like "Icing on the Cupcake." They had red velvet cupcakes and cookies and creme as well as other very inventive flavors. Kim said she doesn't have a single one left over everyone loved them so much.


After all the partygoers left Kim and I had some wine and got to catch up. We continued on until this morning when my mom made us all breakfast at her place. We stopped by to see my grandma on our way out of town who is doing great after her hip replacement surgery - up walking without a cane!!

Thanks Mom and Kim for a great weekend, I promise it won't be a year before I return again!!!