Cabo Part 1

Merry Christmas to us!! As our gift this year, my parents took the entire family to.....

 ....MEXICO!! We spent the week leading up to Christmas in San Jose del Cabo at an all-inclusive resort. Talk about an incredible gift! We had a fabulous time of course and came back with many stories to tell. One of my favorite parts was that they have this thing called sunshine down there. Here's proof:

It took 4 large, hotel-like rooms to sleep the 12 of us. My parents were able to get 40% off the room rates by agreeing to have the three couples attend a time share presentation (more on that later!) Isla and I were the early risers in our room so liked to hang out on the balcony before breakfast.

Who wouldn't with a view of the pool and ocean like these?

We'd never traveled on an all-inclusive style vacation. I think most of us determined it really isn't our style as what really makes a trip for us is the cross cultural experience. But we had a great time and made lots of fun memories! It certainly was nice to have access to "free" food and drinks at all hours of the day. 

The beach outside our resort was supposedly too dangerous for swimming but we went ahead and did it anyway and are alive to tell about it. Notice the crowd of people in white in the photo below. They are the local Mexicans, selling their wares. There is rope surrounding the resort that they are supposed to stay behind but if you so much as make eye contact with them, they'd cross over to show you their stuff, with the resort "security" looking on.

At the last minute, I realized it could be quite challenging to keep Emma shaded on a beach/pool vacation so I ordered this little (errr, bigger than expected) inflatable pool with mushroom sunshade to keep her cushioned and comfy both poolside and at the beach. It was definitely the talk of the pool goers. I almost passed out blowing the thing up and was almost finished when one of the resort workers came up and asked if I might want to use their electric pump. Ummm YES! 

The mushroom pool worked great when she was awake...

...and asleep

It proved a bit more challenging than I'd expected to take a beach vacation with two kids who couldn't swim. Graham and I did a lot of baby trading as someone was almost always needing to be held or taken back to the room for a nap. Thank goodness we traveled with family-more hands available to hold! One morning, my parents took all the grandkids so Lani, Michael, Graham and I could go out and play in the waves. I'm scared to death of waves so stayed pretty close to shore but went out far enough to get sloshed full of sand. Emma of course needed to eat when I got back to the pool so I pulled out my nursing cover and latched her on without looking. It wasn't until she was ready to switch sides that I looked down and saw her face was completely covered in sand! She even had a mouthful of sand to go with-her first solids!! Poor girl but all present had a pretty good laugh about it until I realized it was next to impossible to wipe the sand off the other side without a shower and I had a screaming baby in lap....

On our second full day there, we all trekked into town on foot to do a little exploring. We should have known right then and there that something was up with Isla--she fell asleep on the SUPER BUMPY stroller ride at 10 AM (4 hours before her usual nap time). She totally rocked the glasses and hat while she slept though!

Josh's beautiful girlfriend Silver was able to join us and experience Mexico for the first time. I loved having her along and having a chance to get to know her a bit better (she kicked booty on the beach volleyball court!) I wish I could take credit for this picture which is pretty much the cutest ever but I stole it from my mom...

We spent our time in town dinking around some souvenir shops....

...admiring the Christmas decor in the city square (I mean, what doesn't speak Christmas to you about these shiny things?)...

...and peaking into a church.

Emma got to experience the joys of facing outward in the front pack for the first time where she discovered the pack doubled as a built-in chew toy.

We were all craving a true Mexican meal experience since all our other meals would be at the resort so we set off in search of the perfect taco stand. I'm not sure we found the very best one, but we were able to give Silver a taste of local Mexico, flies and all (it was her first time south of the border!) It was here that Isla discovered they do time outs in Mexico too! She put on an epic performance that lasted the entirety of the meal, with Graham and I taking turns standing outside the restaurant with her until she was ready to apologize to Uncle Mikey. Man is that girl ever STUBBORN! We stood our ground though and weren't about to let her win. Finally, after buckets of tears, she gave in and obeyed and there was uproarious applause as she rejoined us at the table just as everyone else finished their meal.

Want to hear more trip tales? Well, you're in luck because this is to be continued...

Isla 28 Months

I'm pretty positive Isla is 100% Type A (i.e. she got my personality!!) She is very independent and wants to do everything "by self." If we attempt to help her, she'll go back and start over and do it again, making sure we keep our hands off (Mom and Dad, sound familiar?) When we put her in timeout, she even tries to change the location and sit in front of a different wall (so she can be in control...nice try Isla!)

Despite her strong will, she is quite the tender soul and is quick to burst into tears if (ok when) we raise our voices. I love her little heart!

The things she says always crack me up. She's been singing "Baa baa black sheep have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, 3 bags full. One for my master, one for the game, one for the little boy who lives in the parking spot...." She often asks for a back or leg "scrub" (rub)--girl after my own heart! Then tonight she asked me to shake her out over the sink to get the dinner crumbs out of her lap. She also thinks the word "still" all by itself means something. I'll ask her if she's still eating and instead of saying "Yes" she says "Still."

Graham's aunt and uncle have a dog named Cooper. For whatever reason, she can't pronounce it right and calls him "Pooper." But then ask her to say "pool" and she pronounces it "cool." Go figure! She's finally figured out how to pronounce her own name "I-lah" instead of "I-yah."

Last night as I was trying to change her diaper before bed (yes still in diapers--no progress there!), she was kicking her legs and trying to roll around. I asked her to obey and told her Jesus wants her to obey and that it makes Him sad when she doesn't. Immediately she asked "Where's Jesus?" (a frequent topic of conversation in our house) and then proudly answered her own question: "In our hearts!". *love*

Isla loves to sit in the tub and take a bath while I take a shower. She usually asks to join me every day but I try to keep it to every other day or so.

She is really enjoying crafts and artsy projects lately whether it be playing with play dough (where she requests rather elaborate creations), coloring or the latest, painting. She got a little craft box for Christmas and is already begging to break into it.

Isla loves to "play dishes toys," stack blocks and build with Duplos. Her blocks have letters on them and she is beginning to be able to identify "E for Emma and I for Isla." She also loves the special toys she gets to play with at each of her grandparents.

Isla is obsessed with stickers. She loves to cover her Ducky or her legs and clothing with them. Oh and you should have seen our row of seats on the airplane on the way home from Cabo! :)

She's definitely starting to get into imaginative play. She's always played with her babies but now she's really starting to pretend. We overheard her telling her baby the other day that she "needed to make sure she was comfy and cozy." She really must listen to what I say to Emma! She also likes to pick up books and make up a story that she reads out loud.

Isla has started to nap better again! I've found that if I can keep her awake until closer to 2 PM, she usually will sleep for a couple hours. This discovery has been wonderful.

She continues to love all things bread. She asks for it at almost every meal. Tonight we had short ribs and rice and kale and the first thing she said when she looked at her plate was "Where's the bread?" Oh the joys!

Advent Activities

Christmas has officially come and gone, a whirlwind of a weekend! We've attended our last party and reality is setting in as we try to get back to "real life." We took the tree down this afternoon (so bittersweet but it was on it's last legs, shedding needles if you did as much as glance at it and honestly, we really needed the space back). We are now are in the middle of a major reorganizing and rearranging ordeal in attempts to make space for new Christmas treasures and create a change of scenery (I've been feeling the need for decor change and to get rid of stuff--here goes round 3 of purging since Emma was born!) Out with the old, in with the new I guess. Really, we didn't need anything (except for maybe the chocolate which I've already almost completely consumed) but it is fun to have a few new items that we would never ordinarily purchase for ourselves.

Anyway, as I'm sure is the case for most people, I feel like this Christmas season came and went much faster than I would have liked and I want to jot down some of my favorite happenings from the past month so I can look back and remember.

It was really fun having a nearly 2 1/2 year old during Christmas time. Isla was brought so much joy to every activity! I loved driving around after dark with her in the back seat pointing out all the Christmas lights. "Look at those lights, Mommy!!"

Graham took her Christmas shopping at the mall once and forgot the stroller so the two of them walked all the way around Bellevue Square and apparently she just loved it. She got to help pick out some earrings for her Grandma Crozier. Graham sent me a picture of her in front of a Christmas tree in her fuzzy white lamb coat, crazy curls flying everywhere, shopping bag in hand, smiling so wide her eyes were completely closed. She looked like a little snow bunny and the picture just oozes sweetness.

We got Isla a small baby doll and her reaction when she opened it was just priceless. "A new baby for me, Mommy!" It didn't leave her sight all day and has since replaced her beloved Ducky as her bedtime companion. Wow, that says a lot.

Then there was the time Graham tried to "help" me with the Christmas cookies. He would have cut out all angel sugar cookies if I hadn't walked in and urged him to add some variety! Then there was the frosting disaster. He didn't scrape the sides of the bowl (because the recipe didn't say to) so there were large clumps of powdered sugar throughout. Then he thought it looked better if he didn't blend the food coloring in all the way and frosted them all uneven for a "textured" look. The end product looked like there were curdled chunks of spit up on all the cookies but he told me he thought they looked like a Van Gogh painting. :) I needed the cookies for a MOPS event and so smoothed the frosting as best I could and dumped on a ton of sprinkles to try and hide the chunks. We had a good laugh over it!

I know this is going to sound funny but my favorite gift from Graham this year was a giant bag of Sour Patch Kids. I used to always buy sour gummies and sneak them into movies when I was a teenager. Graham knew this about me and so bought me a big bag for an "at home" date night. I think it really spoke to me because a) he remembered that in my mind, movies and Sour Patch Kids go together and b) he doesn't really like them so this was something he got purely to indulge me.

It didn't happen often enough but I LOVED sitting in front of the Christmas tree, drinking coffee out of my Christmas mug while doing my Advent reading.

Mexico and the time spent with my family was cherished--only wished it could have been longer (more on the trip later!)

We spent a lot of time explaining the Christmas story to Isla. It was heart warming to see her begin to understand and retain what we told her. Graham really tried to simplify it for her. I'm not sure exactly what he told her but at one point we asked her where Jesus was born. Her answer: "a bucket!!"

We attended our church's Christmas concert in early December. Isla was too old for the childcare provided so she got to go into the service for the first time. I thought it'd be fun, especially since Graham was performing. The congregation sang a few carols all together and Isla had a great time dancing and clapping as we sang. When we sang Angels We Have Heard on High, she started singing right along!! I had no idea she knew it!

Of course a couple days later, we had background Christmas music on while we were eating dinner. All of a sudden Isla exclaimed "It's Mommy's song!" We listened closer and realized Angels We Have Heard on High was playing. Confused, we asked her what she meant. Her response: "Man singing about Mommy's Day! In ex Kelsie's Day--oh!" Too cute.

I'm sure there were many more memorable moments but it's getting late so this will have to do!

St Nicholas Day 2011

Did St Nicholas visit you this year?

Funny that I should finally get around to finishing this post the day we take down our tree....St Nick left some special goodies in our shoes this year, as is tradition in our family. Of course there was the token orange in the toe which Isla was pretty excited about.

Emma needs bigger shoes, that's the moral of the story! One of her new ornaments almost fit. This cute bunny is a Brushkin from the Philippines, made from the fiber of the Buri palm tree.

Isla's Brushkin was this adorable little pig.

I got a fox and Graham a mouse.

Graham and I also helped St Nick pick out a couple ornaments for the girls and for each other. Isla has been loving Russian dolls so ours was a hit!

Emma got one too!

I got Graham this globe because he used to be really obsessed with old maps. He got me a framed old map of Hawaii while we were dating and this ornament reminded me of it. It's also very fitting, well, I want to travel the world with him!

And last but not least, I now have a pickle on my tree! I have accumulated quite the collection of foodie ornaments over the years and I love to have them on the side of the tree facing the kitchen so I can look at them while I cook.

St Nick has been good to us over the years, so good that we are gonna need a bigger tree!!

Emma: 14 and 15 Weeks

14 Weeks (12/6/11)

I feel like Emma has transitioned from little baby sleeping away in her seat to little person who is completely 100% interactive. She's begun to turn her head toward familiar voices and really likes to be a part of the party (i.e. wants to be in the same room and at face level with all the action). Some friends loaned us their play mat and I was shocked to see Emma reach out and grab the toys hanging above her. Man, time flies with baby number two! I feel like she shouldn't know how to do that yet but I suppose she is 3 1/2 months already.

In addition to grabbing toys, she also has discovered her fingers. Sometimes she'll just watch them move around but most of the time she likes to suck on them. We're trying to give her the binky in trade (since you can throw away pacifiers but you can't throw away the hand!) but she usually just grabs the binky from her mouth. Sometimes if we're lucky, she'll put it back in and chew on it.

Emma is totally sporting an ever-growing bald spot in the back. :( I'm pretty sure she'll end up with a mohawk and a mullet before long. I'm really going to miss her hair! It's the talk of the town. Seriously. I walk through the grocery store and hear people whispering "Look at that baby's hair!" all the time. I'll be so sad when I stop hearing that. It's her trademark!

Two nights ago, Emma slept from 10:15 PM to 8:30 AM and I'm pretty sure she only woke because Isla was crying!!! Needless to say, we seem to have already fallen into a pretty nice sleep routine already (praise the Lord!) I'd like to take credit for it but I doubt I deserve all of it. Either I knew better this time what sort of routine to work toward or we have a fairly easy baby. I'd like to say it's a combo of both. Emma usually is asleep in the evening between 8 and 9 PM and wakes in the early AM for one feed (somewhere between 3 and 6 usually). Then she sleeps until 8 or 8:30 and goes down again ~9:30 or 10 AM (usually when I'm running). Her morning nap is usually only 45 minutes or 1 hour but then she often has one longer nap (sometimes 3 hours if I'm lucky!) in the afternoon. She usually wakes a couple of times for a binky or a quick snuggle so it's not consecutive but I'll take it! She often wakes up before she's truly rested and then is fussy and falls back asleep in my arms. I have been successful at getting her to fall asleep on her own once swaddled. She usually takes a half hour cat nap around dinner time and then the cycle repeats.  

I think I am finally ready to put Emma in the nursery at church in the New Year. I'd been holding off because I didn't want her to get sick before our vacation (she had her 2nd cold last week). And because I'm a little more protective of her after our little scare. We're reached the point where I have to step out so much that I miss a good majority of the service so I think it's time. It'll be good for her. And me. 

We had her 2 month appointment at 3 months of age (for scheduling reasons) and she weighed 12 pounds, 12 1/2 ounces (a drop to 75%ile so she is now on the charts) and she was 23 1/2 inches long (50-75%ile). Her doctor wasn't necessarily worried but cautioned that she didn't want her dropping any further and so encouraged me to make sure my milk supply is ok by pumping daily. Given that she's wearing 6 month clothes already, I'm not too worried but I have increased my pumping. :)

15 Weeks (12/13/11)

I just love to put Emma in front of the mirror. She almost instantly starts smiling and laughing at her reflection--it's great entertainment for all.

She continues to be a challenging bottle feeder. We're using the Tommee Tippee but she doesn't love it, probably partially due to the fact that we aren't doing it enough! Guess we need to go on more dates (I hate "wasting" pumped milk when I'm home!)

Some other little facts we've learned about Emma:
-She loves to be swaddled. TIGHTLY. If the others in the room aren't gasping in shock, you probably aren't doing it tight enough.
-She likes to be held horizontally and have her butt patted. Sometimes she's fights the position when she's really tired but if you snuggle her tightly, it's a losing battle and she gives in. She does not like to be held vertically over the shoulder.
-If she starts screaming bloody murder (which she surprisingly does do), she is likely overtired and not hungry.
-She takes upwards of ~6-7 ounces per feeding when eating from a bottle (for the record, Isla NEVER took that much in the entire year she received bottles!)
-I'll close with this one: pink is her color!! Graham and I have both noticed that her looks have changed over the past couple weeks. We feel like she's cranked up the cuteness factor and her adorableness increases exponentially when she's wearing pink.

Jingle Bell 5K

We made a very quick trip up to Bellingham last Friday to Saturday for the Jingle Bell Run. Both my mom and sister had been following the couch to 5K plan so we thought it would be fun to do the race together. And believe it or not, we all finished! I crossed the finish line at 27 minutes and 42 seconds which I was pretty excited about for my first race ever.  

 My ever-so-loving husband braved the cold (and the early hour!) with the girls to watch me cross the finish line (I'm on the far left). The race was super fun with lots of people dressed up in costumes and we all had bells on our shoes.

 We thought it'd be fun to run the race together but found our paces were too different so we all finished separately. Here comes Mom! I think she finished in 34 minutes.

 Poor Lani caught a horrible cold (including bruised ribs!) and was sick for a month so wasn't able to run much. She was hard core and decide to do the race anyway, even though she'd never run the 3.1 mile distance before. When we saw her rounding the final corner, we joined her for a sprint to the finish. Can you tell she's happy to still be breathing? :) 

The freezing fans

 Awkward picture--looks like Lani's trying to make a little announcement for me...

 Even more awkward picture...Graham made us do it! It got three times more awkward when the neighbors drove up mid-pose.

So, I gotta admit, running the race was really fun. And possibly addicting. I definitely felt a little competitiveness kick in when I saw the clock at the finish line. I think a 10K is on the horizon!