Isabella Danielle, born at 24 weeks and 1 day, 1lb 11oz, 12.5in

Zachary Michael, born at 36 weeks, 5lb 13oz, 18.5in

Alexander Charles, FULL TERM, 7lb 1oz, 20in

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Personalities

The Makings of a Tomboy
I’ve known for a while that my little girl is super tough. She can bonk her head, fall off a chair, or scratch her knee and not blink an eye. But the true test came this last week, she got into her first fight…at school. Apparently she and her “friend” (as they wrote it up in the report) had a scuffle where Isabella got bit and did not retaliate afterward. Now Chris was disappointed, but it made me happy that she didn’t do something back. It infuriates me that she swings her arms at me and often slaps me, but I would rather be me than anyone else.

Then there was Saturday at the park where she fell at the playground. Turned around too fast, lost her footing and face planted on a stair. Her nose even started bleeding. A couple of tears I must admit, but she recovered quickly and went right back to playing.

We had a brief doctor’s visit with Zach’s 6 month check-up where we switched her allergy medicine from Allegra to Singular. Hopefully this will help with that deep cough she has, we shall see!

The Makings of a Momma's Boy
As I mentioned, Zach had his 6 month check-up last week. He measured in the 75th percentile in all categories; 20lb, 27.5in long, 17cm head circ. Dr. R was very impressed with his motor skills. Said he resembled an 8month old, which I don’t know if that is good or bad considering his sister is so mischievous. We have also started trying level 1 foods, carrots to start. He wasn't too interested, but we will keep it up of course.

The little man gets so excited every time he sees me. He is actually the most active when I walk into the room. It looks like he is going to take flight the way he lays on his stomach and swings his arms and legs in the air. Then he will cry until I pick him up. I decided tonight that I have to force myself to leave him on the playmate or playing with his sister so that I avoid spoiling him any further. On top of that, my back is throbbing from lugging him around everywhere.




I've had one volunteering session at the hospital and it was great. I really didn't know what to expect or how emotional I would be. Luckily it was like riding a bicycle and felt very natural, just like holding any other baby with a few wires attached.

Chris and I actually got to go on a date the other night (outside of our Valentine’s Day dinner). We went to a Steve Miller Band show at the House of Blues. Great venue, great band, great company…all around awesome night!!! Although I was checking my phone every 2 minutes in case the sitter called, even though it was already set to vibrate.



And fortunately the weather here has decided to act like Texas. It was a super sunny, humid, warm February day, as it should be in Houston, TX. We were able to get a little yard work done and then enjoy lunch outside at one of our favorite Tex-Mex spots. Hopefully we won’t have any odd spring cold bursts.




As always, our days are filled with super cute moments (along with lots of crying, dirty diapers, and constant feeding). Cute moment for the day…Bella sitting on the floor in front of Zach, opening a book, which she quietly starts to read to him, turns the book to his face, points to words and turns the pages as she continues to say words. They love each other very much…for right now anyway!

We hope that all of you are doing splendidly well and find your days filled with many blessings! Peace & God be with you!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Monday, February 7, 2011

How Time Slips Away

And I thought I was going to do better at this...

Well, life has continued to stay busy, obviously. We are just about finished unpacking. So much harder to do all of this with 2 small children. The kiddos are great. We constantly struggle with the snotty noses and congestion. We've even had to resort to breathing treatments on both of them. But through it all they have been little troopers and continue to smile away. Zach is getting SOOOO big. He is a few weeks away from army crawling. I actually saw him get his butt in the air tonight. At times it almost looks like he is swimming on his belly. He is also cooing up a storm and starting the spitting phase. Tonight I was drenched in slobber when I put him down for bed. Bella is being defiant these days. We have incorporated a time out stool to get the point across that no means no. We will see how that works. We keep telling ourselves that we need to start potty training...but haven't. If anyone has tips on what to do...please feel free to share your wisdom. Other than the typical get up at 5am, get ready for school and work, go to school and work, pick up kids, feed/bathe/diaper change kids, eat dinner, pick up the house, unpack a couple of boxes, and relax, not much is going on. We have tried to spend time with friends and exercise a little. I got on the treadmill for the first time tonight since before getting pregnant with Zach, have to admit that interval training felt pretty good. Hopefully we can keep up a workcout routine. Oh, the other cool thing, I have been accepted to volunteer at Texas Children's Hospital at the Medical Center as a volunteer in the NICU. I have gone through a brief general training, but attend my NICU training class this Sunday. I'm very excited but nervous at the same time. Okay, on to the important stuff...pictures...

Isabella's Godmommy Rebecca came to visit! She got to spend an entire afternoon with Bella. Then mommy and daddy got to have adults over for dinner when Mark (Rebecca's husband) joined the crew, so nice!


It's all about the little man :)



The bike Nana and Papi got me (it is SUPER cool!)


Going for a stroll with the new bike!