Sylvie’s 3rd birthday

When we ask Sylvie how old she is, she says, “August 29th!” and then holds us 3 fingers.

Good Morning Sylvie, it’s your birthday!  The kids wanted her to open a present before they went to school, but she wasn’t in the best mood. She kept saying, “NO! it’s not my birthday!”

She got to open her new porcelain tea set. She is obsessed with this stuff, so I got her her very own to do whatever she pleases! She loved it!

Now that she is 3, she can do gymnastics all by herself. So, she had her first class on her birthday! As soon as we entered the gym, she ran in and took off her shoes and joined the class without a look back. She was all over the place, she was so excited. That poor teacher!

Look Mom, I got a stamp on my tummy!

After dinner, we met all the family at Leatherby’s for ice cream.

Lucia lost a tooth!

Mmmm, bubblegum ice cream, her favorite!

And more ice cream! Blowing out the candle after everyone in the shoppe sang to her.

 

Opening her gift from Grandma and Grandpa.

She likes to draw on walls, so maybe a chalk board will help her get out of that habit.

This was the only thing she actually asked for, a Dora Ballerina doll! She was happy!

The dolly from Tia Yesenia and the shopping cart from Uncle B were a big hit!

Her bestest bud Eden.

I can’t believe she is 3 already! To think that 3 years ago, I gave birth to her without an epidural and then left the hospital 12 hours later.  She was tiny when she was born and she’s still very small for her age. We hope that this year she: will learn to sit at the dinner table like a proper little lady, learn to go potty, learn to dress herself, start pre-preschool, enter Primary at church, spend lots of time with her cousins, and start to play with her little sister.

What’s new?

So this week has been an adjustment with our new schedule and not having Lucia and Marco around to entertain Sylvie.  Tessa is not phased by the change in schedule and is continuing on her late nights. It’s hard on me getting up at 6:45 to get the kids up and ready for school. Thankfully, Julio is able to take them and I don’t have to get myself ready that early. But, I try to go back to bed and Sylvie wakes up. I’m so tired! I have been trying to potty train Sylvie this week and it’s not working (again.) She just doesn’t want to do it. I don’t let her watch tv unless she is sitting on her potty, so she’ll sit there and watch tv for two hours and not pee! How is that possible? I give her juice and milk and she’ll hold it until I have to put a diaper on her! I have offered her treats and even bought a new toy, but nothing seems to motivate her. It might just come down to force. She’ll be 3 on Monday and I’m tired of changing them diapers!  Another issue with our schedule: Marco gets out at 1:35 and Lucia at 2:15. So, since the parking is INSANE around the school, I have to leave early so as not to park 10 blocks away and sit and wait not once, but twice. I have to get Sylvie and Tessa out of the car and into the stroller and go wait for Marco, then we go down to the playground and sit in the heat. Finally, Lucia comes and we head back to the car and home. I’m gone about an hour. I’m hoping to work out a carpool after next week when we know if Marco will be an early or late reader. I’m guessing early although late would work better for him. We had a major battle with getting him up one day this week and had to threaten to cancel his birthday party on Saturday and Julio had to sit with him for 1/2 an hour before he would go to class. Ay ay ay as Julio would say.

Anyway, on another note: Julio really likes his new job at Liberty Mutual. He’s been able to do real lawyer stuff. He has depositions almost every day and he has an actual trial coming up! He’s learning a lot and staying super busy which makes him happy. He’s not nearly as stressed (well, he is but a good stress) and I see a real difference in him. It’s amazing what a job can do!  He’s going to LA this weekend (after Marco’s party) for his mom’s 70th birthday party. Unfortunately, we couldn’t all go. Oh well. I guess that’s all for now!

First Day of School

It’s too quiet in the house! Last night we got the backpacks ready, set out their clothes and went to bed early. We got up at 6:50  this morning (much too early) and got dressed and ready for our first day at Trajan School. Marco seemed excited, but Lucia told me she was nervous.  Julio and I both took them so we could each accompany one of the kids to their new class. The neighborhood around the school was a zoo since every parent was doing the same thing. I took Marco to his class. There are 31 kids in his kindergarten class-thank you budget cuts! The classroom was very chaotic with parents and kids pushing through the small space. But, we found Marco’s name tag and his desk. I tried to hug him and reassure him that everything would be okay. He just shook his head and smiled when I asked him if he was going to be a good boy and if he was going to miss me. What else could I do or say? I started to get teary eyed, so I decided to make a break for it before I started to bawl. I can’t believe my baby boy is in school. I’m going to miss having him around the house making his motor noises and monster noises and alternately playing with or bugging Sylvie.  I’m a little worried he’ll get lost in the shuffle with that huge class because he is quiet and doesn’t call attention to himself. I hope he does well. I’m not worried about him making friends. He’s got one little friend in his class already.   Now for Lucia-Julio dropped her off in her 2nd grade class. She’s got two boys from church in her class, but doesn’t know any girls. I worry about her making friends. I know she won’t be overlooked because she is so smart and I know the teacher will recognize that. Her teacher seems amazing. She is really, really nice! So here’s to another school year and hoping it’s a good one.

Tessa is 3 months old!

I took her to Picture People today for her 3 month portraits. She was so smiley, I couldn’t pick just one or even 2, 3, 4 portraits. So, I purchased all of them on CD. She has been dubbed by more than one person as “The Angel Baby”. She is just so pleasant and smiley all the time. She hardly ever fusses and she’ll smile at you the second you look at her. She weighs about 11 lbs., so she’s still on the small side, but is growing steadily.  She’s still a night owl. I don’t know how I’m going to get up early when school starts. I guess I’ll have to try to adjust Tessa’s sleeping schedule. Here are some of my favorite shots from today.

Then we changed into outfit #2

I feel so feel so blessed to have Tessa in our family!

A very busy week

Last week Julio was home, in between jobs, so I gave him a huge to-do list. He mowed and edged the back lawn, rototilled the front lawn, cleaned the garage, calked the tub, fixed the grout in the kitchen, replaced the ceiling fan in the dining room, and steam cleaned the carpets. He was busy! Since he and my mom were both off work last week, we decided to go out and celebrate our anniversary on Wednesday (our anniversary is actually today.) We took Tessa with us and went to Joe’s Crab Shack in Old Town Sacramento. That place was hopping! Tessa was really good, but we didn’t want to risk her getting fussy, so we ate our crab as quickly as we could. Good thing too, because just as we were finishing, she decided she was hungry. So, we went to the car to feed her, then walked around Old Town and got salt water taffy and ice cream cones. It was nice. Next year, we won’ t have to take a baby with us.

Waiting for our crab with our bibs on.

All the hard work around the house was in preparation for family coming to town for Tessa and Riley’s baby blessings. On Friday, the Aldama’s arrived from Idaho, so we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house to swim, play, BBQ and celebrate Marco’s birthday (a week early).

Cute little Riley and Tessa hanging out.

Tessa and her namesake. (Tami’s initials are TESA)

These girls play so well together and they love each other so much! They look like they could be sisters too!

I think Corom’s ready to go swimming.

The sign says, “Noelle’s Lovey Sulon”   Lucia, Noelle and Marco were playing hair salon in the bathroom.

Lucia saw Noelle riding her bike without training wheels, so she decided she had to learn to ride her bike! She finally did it! It’s about time too, she’s had that bike for two years now.

Marco getting ready to blow out the candles. We couldn’t miss the opportunity to celebrate his birthday with his cousins, even though it was a week early.

Marco got lots of weapons this year. He got numchucks and ninja stars from Callie and Brian, a Nerf gun from Tami and Dan.

He got a Spiderman tent from Mom and Dad and a Hotwheels track from Grandma and Grandpa.

and here’s Double Trouble watching all the action.

There are more pictures to come from the rest of the weekend

Our mini vacation day 2

On Saturday, we got up and had a yummy breakfast at the hotel and then we packed up and headed to the city.

Driving over the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Dome in Golden Gate Park.

It was cold but Marco refused to wear a sweater.

Julio is trying to decide what we should do.

Even though it was expensive, we decided to spend the day at the Academy of Natural Sciences. It was awesome!

Looking at the man-made tide pools

Heading into the rain forest dome.

We saw lots of exotic animals.

The aquarium tunnel. This is the only place I could find to sit and nurse Tessa.

Can I have this mom? No.

Inside the kids’ cove-for kids under 5. They had lots of things to play with and explore. Lucia was bummed because she wasn’t allowed on the play equipment.

You can’t see them, but they are posing in front of the penguins.

Then they decided to pose in front of all the animals in the African Animal exhibit. Note the flash-that’s Sylvie running up and down the gallery yelling, “Look at the zebra!!! Look at the giraffe!!! Look at the elephant!!!!” She was so excited to see all the animals, she could hardly stand still.

We then went back to the aquarium to look for sharks, we only found one small one. The kids were bummed.

Up on the roof, it was windy! The kids were getting tired and starting to melt down.

A few more poses on the way out.The drive home was not too bad, we only had to stop once for Tessa.

I have to say it isn’t easy travelling with a baby, toddler and two young kids. But it was a quick trip and close enough to not have to be in the car for a long time. The kids had a great time and at least we can say we did SOMETHING this summer!