Update to Our Life...

Considering its been so long, I thought I would do a quick catch up on our life during the past six (or nine or however long its been...) months.


 Starting with the littlest Lock. I didn't announce it on the blog for some unknown reason... but I am now 26 weeks pregnant. I can't believe that next week I will be in the third trimester. The new baby is a girl, and we have been calling it Gookah Mimi from the get go. Davy selected the name Gookah after his treasured lost turtle. It really was a heartrending story. Davy never was very fond of any stuffed animals before we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and I bought him this stuffed little turtle. He took an immediate shine to the turtle, but somehow; about four months after we bought it, Gookah disappeared. Luckily, he has since adopted Tuvee (from Lia's stash of stuffed friends) and Jeremy, who is a big green Frog of sorts that he got from the Easter Bunny. But back to the Baby Gookah Mimi- Lia selected Mimi. Thus, Gookah Mimi was founded. :-) She has been a super active baby from the start; and a big kicker. I just passed my gestational diabetes test; and am now completely overdosed on sugar. In between taking the test and finding out the results I took it upon myself to devour everything sugar related in case I didn't end up passing. So basically, for the past two days I have spent bloated, with a tummy ache, but rather happy due to the high amounts of sugar in my system. After finding out I passed today; however, I went to Trader Joe's and stocked up on seasonal treats (helloooooo chocolate dipped peppermint joe-joe's!) and am now feeling even more bloated. I really should just go on a fasting diet of sorts for the next few days. Oy vey.

Anyhow- Gookah's expected due date is February 22nd; a little after a week after David's third birthday. We can't wait to meet the little pudgy, kicker from inside. We are still throwing around names but Chris has a special affinity for Alexandra and calling her Lexi, while I am still leaning towards Charlotte and nicknaming her Charlie. Lia has requested we name her Anastasia (not sure where she heard that name) and Davy has asked to name her Pump'd. Both names I think we will be avoiding. :-)

David- Oh my. Where to start? He is the most lovable little boy I have ever met him. Everything about him just oozes wonderful heart hugging qualities. He is going through a phase right now where his favorite thing to do is come and rub his soft, chubby cheeks against mine or pucker up and give me kisses and tell me things like, "I love you mommy" or "You are my best mommy EVER!" He has been really wanting to be involved in things lately- he started making up stories about his ''school'' and his ''school friends'' so I thought he might have been looking for a friend base. So we signed up for gymnastics, which he really likes, and the little fellow is actually pretty darn good at it! :-) He loves balancing on the balance beam and doing somersaults which I think he does better than any three year old there. :-) He is a smart little cookie, often times I forget about how intelligent he is but then he will say something that makes me turn and stare at him. His greatest love is cars. Trucks. Things with wheels. He could spend hours playing with his die cast cars characters. But he is equally as happy letting Lia put pretend makeup on him or dressing up as a fairy and running around with a wand. I feel super strongly about letting him do whatever he wants and not limiting his choices about his play things; be it fairies/dancing/princesses or racecars/swords, etc. Anyhow- he is such a wonderful, special and amazing little person. He was going through a phase where he was being super difficult about everything (terrible 2's?) but now, he seems to be getting over it. Before, he would sit and scream for twenty minutes if he doesn't get his way. Now, if I look at him, he will still cry but run at me wailing, "OKAY! I SORRY!" :-)

And he is potty trained!! It was definitely harder to potty train him than Lia, but God bless his little heart, he finally did it! He quickly picked up the potty part, but #2 was a battle and a struggle. But thanks to kid gum (aka starbursts) he is now potty trained. Couldn't be prouder of him. He's such a big boy now. Can't believe how much he is growing and its unbelievable that in three short months he will be three years old. Oh, another thing I wanted to add about his personality. He is sweet. He loves celebrating with others. He cheers people on. He is selfless. Lia's birthday was a little hard for him since he didn't get anything and all of the attention was on Lia, but aside from a few small instances of acting out, he was happy for his big sister. He was sitting next to her as the cake was bought out and squealed happily and supportively, "Blow out the candles Bia! Blow them out!"

watch out for each other, support each other and love each other. Hopefully it continues as they get older. LOL. Another thing about Davy; he has got the cutest, huggable little body. He is built totally different from Lia; his little chest has some weight behind it and when he launches himself at you in a moment of loveable impetuosity you literally go OOF! I love his short clipped hair and running my hand over it after it gets cut. His big head. His head was in the 98% percentile at his two year old appointment. :-) His body was in the 50th. LOL. His cute little lips that give such sweet kisses. His fingers that are so delicate with his cars. He is so loveable.

Lia- its unbelievable to me that she is four. I don't think I ever could have imagined in my wildest dreams when I was in the hospital four years ago that the little fat mucho haired baby that I had would grow up to be the smart, wonderful, disciplined, funny, quirky little girl I am so lucky to spend every day with now. Where to even start?

Lia is the smartest four year old I have ever met. I am convinced that she blows every other child out of the water intellectually wise. She knows almost all of her letters. She is seriously an artist. You ask her to draw something and she draws it. Yesterday she brought me a picture of silverware (fork, spoon and knife) and then I asked her for a Christmas tree and voila- she drew me a Christmas tree; with ornaments hanging down and presents underneath. She loves math. She loves counting. She definitely gets that from her dad, not me. LOL. She loves helping me out. Yesterday as I was cleaning the toilets she came over and interestedly asked if she could help. I was so close to handing her the toilet brush and telling her to have at it, but I figured if I wait a few more years it will only get more desirable and then she'll really have some brawn behind it. LOL.

She loves her preschool. She has so many little friends and whenever I drop her off I always see her immediately get surrounded by a gaggle of chatting little girls, all vying to tell her about something. She is so polite. She always says thank you and please. She used to be my less cuddly little person, but I've noticed over the past couple of months she seeks out cuddles and hugs more often. Her weird quirks include asking if her tags are all tucked in, and if things will be done in five minutes. Like her socks in her shoes. If they aren't laying exactly straight against her leg she'll develop what looks like a nervous twitch and then ask, "Will it be done in five minutes?" Funny the things kids pick up on. :-) Today in the car as we were driving somewhere she saw a big cluster of balloons on a string and squeaked, "Look! Black and aquamarine balloons!" Not blue. She said aquamarine. I don't think I even knew that was a color until I was twelve. She soaks up so much information. She uses big words. She joyously told me on Wednesday that tomorrow at school they are going to have a "feast!" at school. Her enthusiasm for everything is so contagious and wonderful. She LOVES her babies. She has so many baby dolls I've lost count- as does she I think considering we've renamed a couple babies multiple times. But she goes through phases where she will treasure one baby and then move on to the next and forget about the previous one. I've never met someone more entranced with baby dolls. Well, that and princesses. Considering the only two Disney movies she's had the courage to sit through are Cinderella and Snow White (which incidentally scared the pants off of ME at twenty seven...)- I'm not sure why she adores them so; but she loves them all. Tiana, Aurora, Ariel, Snow White, Belle, Cinderella... and I don't think I'm missing anyone. I swear we aren't TRYING to raise her to love pink and princesses but she is definitely leaning towards that. :-) JASMINE! That's who I forgot. Princess Jasmine. :-)

Anyone else noticing that my sentences are getting more fragmented? I think its due to the fact that I polished off almost a whole sleeve of cookies. Sorry. :-)

Anyhow, back to Lia. She is really and truly so helpful- I know she is going to be my right hand woman for when Baby Gookah gets here. Already she loves to accompany Aunt Cindy when A.C. changes Baby Jake (Lia's four month old cousin)'s diapers and wipe his butt with a wipe. :-)

I love how in love she is with Chris. He is her designated person. He is the one she runs to for cuddles, comfort and special time. She loves talking with him, telling him things. He makes her feel so special. People always say that little girls who have a good relationship with their fathers will grow up secure and not get into any trouble. Let me just say that if that is true, than Lia is going to be the best little girl ever. :-) The two of them share such a comradery and bond that I watch and marvel at.

A funny thing that the kids do is that right now their favorite thing to play is to play Chris and I. For the past week, Davy has been Chris, and I'm assuming (and hoping!) that Lia is playing me. Lia tells anyone who will listen a few things (this includes random people at the grocery store or the OB's office)- "I am four years old now. This is my baby. And this is Chris (pointing to David) and he is the daddy." The funny and hilarious part is that they really do take turns taking care of that baby. Yesterday as they were watching their show, the baby fell on the floor and Lia squawked, "Oh NO! The baby fell! Chris, can you pick it up?" Davy, without missing a beat squawked in unison, "The baby! THE BABY! I got her Bia!" as he valiantly jumped off the couch to rescue the baby from the floor,. Funny that Lia calls him Chris but he still calls her Bia. :-) Anyhow- they pretend they are us in every aspect. As I cook dinner they will play at their toy kitchen and reenact Chris and I talking before dinner when he gets home. While I clean out the car, they will sit in the front seats together and pretend to be driving places. It's very cute and a little flattening. I've never had someone pretend to be me before. :-)

Another thing I love- when I nap now with them. I remember being incredibly tired in my third trimester with David's pregnancy; and this one doesn't seem to be different. It seems like afternoon around 2pm I get tired; but that is also the time the kids wake up from their naps. So what has been happening is that I will start my nap on the couch; and then the kids wake up from their naps and come and cuddle up with me on the couch. Lia sits in the crook of my legs and Davy lays next to me on the couch. I curl my legs around Lia and Davy rubs his cheeks against mine. I doze while they watch a show. They are just so cuddly and lovable in all of their sleepy eyed sweetness.




I am so proud of both of them and their wonderful personalities. I don't know how we got so lucky to have two such wonderful kids. Sure, they drive me absolutely batty sometimes. Sure, they can be loud and obnoxious at the store; but they are really wonderful, thoughtful, sweet and unique babies. So in love with them. Its funny, but as a kid/teenager/adult I never really liked other people's kids. I never wanted to babysit. I never wanted to be around kids. But being a mom is without a doubt something that I love and treasure more than anything. Lately I've noticed that whenever I am gone for an extended period of time I miss them so badly. I feel like something isn't right when I'm not surrounded by their little voices and hands and problems and happy moments. A few weeks ago my mom watched them for a few hours and I headed home for what I expected to be an hour or two of delicious solitude. I got home, and walked inside. It was too quiet. I cleaned. The house didn't look quite right after everything was put away. :-) I sat on the couch. It was too quiet. I felt lonely. I missed the kids. They are definitely my happy place. Which is good considering the next one is already on the way. LOL.



I know that this is already a massive post of WORDS, but I can't end without saying something about Chris. I feel like over the past year, we've grown so much closer. I think that its because I finally matured a little (LOL!) but he has been such an amazing person. I've never seen someone work harder at his job than he does. I can never tell anyone how proud I am of my husband. He is really someone at his work. He has carved a niche for himself where he is someone who is incredibly valued and respected at his company. He is a manager now. He takes on so much responsibility and rises to every challenge that is handed to him. He takes on roles that other people shy away from. I am so proud of him for all he has accomplished at his job. I think the role of manager suits him to a T- he knows how to motivate and inspire people. He knows how to talk to everyone, give advice/critique and get things done. His company has no clue how lucky they are to have him be a part of their team.


You'd think as proud as I am of him professionally, I couldn't be prouder of him personally. But I am. I should be the envy of every woman in the world. My husband is the best thing there is. He is the best blend of love, humor, support, challenge, friend, eye candy, laughter and individuality. He is also the very best Dad I have ever met (sorry to my Dad and Chris' dad- LOL). Something I never cease to marvel about is how very ''present'' he is in every situation. The minute he gets home; he is there 110% for our family. He drops his bag inside the door, and immediately turns his attention to the insanely loud screams of the kids. If you are greeted every night by the joyful screams of two toddlers who greet you like most girls greet a rockstar, you are doing something right. It warms my heart to be cooking in the kitchen, hear the door lock turn and then hear the stirrings of the kids followed quickly by frenetic screams of, "DADDY! DADDY!" as they fall over themselves to be the first one to throw themselves at their dad and cover him with hugs and kisses. He takes such good care of his family. He is there for every single person in this family emotionally. He listens to me if I am upset. Calms me down if I am crazy. Loves me if I am sad. He is Lia's special friend and confidante as I already said. He is Davy's biggest supporter and enabler.  He doesn't mind if Davy wears lipgloss or paints his toenails. :-) He is an amazing provider. I feel like if I asked for anything, he would find a way for me to get it. Don't worry, I don't take advantage of that fact THAT often... (aside from the whole new van thing... LOL). He is really the backbone and heart of the whole family and the kids and I love him dearly and unreservedly for everything he does. Best man ever.




And I am done! This was actually more for me; things that I want to remember. Things that I don't want to forget about. I forgot to add that Lia's special animals she sleeps with are: Matilda (stuffed lamb from the Easter Bunny), Baby Minnie Mouse, Purple Bunny, Baby Doll (who I was informed today is really named Nina) and assorted other friends that come and go. :-)