Oh. The. Chub.

Alex is cute, there's no denying that. But there is something singularly sort of NOT pretty when she smiles... :-) I sound like the worst mother ever but when she smiles she looks like a toothy hyena. :-)


 

Magazines

I kept all of my old magazines in a cubby near the floor and for a while that was Alex's favorite thing to do. She would crawl over there and pull them all down and then thoughtfully go through them, pausing to examine things that looked interesting to her I suppose? :-)

Alex's Curl

This is a weird little quirk of Alex's that I don't want to forget. Ever since she was born she had two little ''wing curls'' on the side of her head. I never did anything to encourage them (no curling iron or anything) and yet they persisted. She still has them on occasion but as her hair is getting longer they aren't quite the same. But I think they were absolutely adorable. And her bangs weren't supposed to be this short... I forgot when you wet something down it will end up being a lot shorter than you thought it was going to be...

Little Bodies

I love how babies bodies change. They go from being blobs of delicious chub to getting taller. But there are still sweet little hints of babyness. Even in my big girl Lia. I remember seeing her dressed up a few weeks ago when these pictures were taken and I just had to take a couple pictures. I think it was her little cute tummy that I thought was so sweet. How it was so cute and round and babyish still, even though the rest of her is getting so big so fast. And the last picture just made me smile. Lia celebrates whenever she can. :-)

Christmas Tree Hunt 2012

Just a moment...

Gabriella's Snow Day

I'm not sure if I just wasn't as aware before, but it seems like lately, so so many children I know, or have heard of through various friends are sick with cancer. It is such a horrible, scary thing and I am in awe of the mothers and fathers who are dealing with a sick child. I wish that there was more that I could do. We are so lucky that aside from Alex, we've never had a very sick child. Alex was sick at the beginning, but she has recovered fully and is by far my fattest, most opinionated baby ever. She hasn't suffered at all from her rough start moving forward. But when I see kids who understand, who are four or five and having to go through chemo and everything- it makes my heart hurt.

I took the three kids to Gabriella's Snow Day. Gabriella is a little four year old who was diagnosed with cancer last year and who is currently undergoing treatment. She wished for snow for her birthday but with her chemo and everything, her family couldn't risk leaving town to bring her to snow. So through a bunch of amazing people, snow was brought to her. At Sky park in Scotts Valley they brought in snow. It was such an incredible thing; it was like a winter wonderland with Christmas Trees, free cookies and hot chocolate and snacks, Santa and other holiday stuff.

Gabriella with her Dad.

 

So grateful that my babies are healthy.

My Babies...

 

May 2013 be a wonderful year for them.

addendum

I forgot to add:

I am down to below my pre-pregnancy weight, which after having three kids feels pretty good.

Chris lost almost thirty pounds in 2012. Which sort of blows my mind. He is awesome sauce.

Looking at 2013

I realized that right around the time that Chris and I got our iphones, I stopped posting on the blog. Well, it didn't help so much that I was pregnant and nauseous around that same time too, and then Alex got here and here we are. Ten months later. I'm going to make a resolution that in 2013 I will start posting to this blog again. Maybe not as often as I once did when it was just Lia and myself; but at least once a week. I love the ability to look back at years of Lia's life and see pictures of her and re-read stories. I want to make sure that I have that for Davy and Alexandra too.

This might be a bit wordy but I feel a need to catch everyone up on what we are all up too before 2012 draws to a close.

2012 has been a good year. Tough, but good.

Alexandra was born. Life sucked while she was in the hospital. Life got better when she was out. :-) Lia started kindergarten in September. Davy started preschool. Annie got engaged. Kate moved to a new house.

I am so grateful for my family. So thankful to have everyone I love so close to me.

I started running! I completed the c25k program which I never thought I was going to be able too and discovered that I love running. I used to die a thousand painful deaths after running for five minutes. I can now run for an hour without dying. I feel strong and powerful when I run. I feel like I am accomplishing something. I love the fact that I can keep running for life, because there never needs to be an end to it. I can always add on more miles or do a different race. I signed up for a 10k race in March with my sister's, and I couldn't be more thrilled and excited. I discovered I have a penchant for workout gear. I want to own everything. :-)

I'm proud that we made it another year with three kids and we haven't lost one to a rushing creek or a meteor or anything like that. That no one has been brought to the emergency for something awful (knock on wood...). I'm proud that Chris and I survived another year. Well, that HE survived another year with me. :-) I'm proud that for the most part I cook dinners every night. That I am actually pretty good in the kitchen. :-)

I'm looking forward to 2013. I'm going to keep running. Chris is racing and doing super well at it. Last year was his first real season of racing ever, and he was amazing. He got an article written about him in the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper which tickled the kids to no end. He did it all with minimal cost to us since he pretty much podiumed every singe event. He was only a few points away from winning the season championships but missed it by a hair. (DIE ROBERT THORNE!!!). I realized that I actually don't mind going to the track; that I may actually downright like it. Screaming and cheering while he races is pretty fun. :-) Plus, it gets the kids out of the house which makes my life infinitely easier. In February 2013 we are heading to Disneyland for four days which I am so so excited for. I can't wait. It is going to be epic.

Lia. Oh my. She's gotten so grown up. She started kindergarten this year as a transitional kindergartener but she pretty much is doing everything the kindergarten students are doing and will move up to First Grade along with the rest of her classmates if we feel like she is ready. She is so so smart. Smarter than I was. :-) She reads alot now, and I can't wait for her to discover the easy reader books so she can read to Davy and Alex. She loves music and dancing; she's got an innate sense of music to her and the way she dances expresses that. She is so honest and forthcoming. She loves her siblings SO much that sometimes she just HAS to CHOKE them to EXPRESS it all. :-) She is the most principled person I've ever met. She brushes her teeth religiously and flosses. I didn't do that until I was like, twenty eight... or something... But she's also got such a sweet and cute sense of humor. When you look at her, she squishes up her little nose in a smile and you just have to beam back at her.

David. He LOVES school. Tuesdays and Thursday's he goes, and he just barrels out of the car and charges in with laughter and smiles. He is silly. If you ask him something, he rolls his eyes back and does this weird voice and says random stuff. He's such a ham. He's still a snuggly bug. He doesn't wake up happy ever. When he wakes up (in the morning, from nap, any time) he is a total crank. You basically can't talk to him until he comes out of a corner... he loves moving around and jumping and dancing. While Lia dances with fineness and timing; Davy dances all out. Throws his head around and jumps. He doesn't have any interest in reading or writing or drawing. He loves his helicopters, cars and things that go. He is a chatty fellow, always asking random questions about odd things. I finally took him to have his hair cut short and he's got the nicest little head now. I love running my hand over the top of it. He really is a jovial little person; best way to describe him.

Alex is ten months old now and is OPINIONATED. Holy cow. She is also super lovable and cuddly. She has a mouthful of teeth and was the first of my babies to say momma instead of dada. She is so funny. Today after my run I picked her up to cuddle her and she started ferociously sucking on my face (I think I tasted salty from sweat) and then beaming up at me. She is a chunk. She is in the 90th percentile for height and weight and 98th for head size. She had a rough beginning but you never would guess now... :-) She can walk too; a little unsteadily but I would definitely call her a walker. She goes super fast when she crawls. She's adorable, fat and marvelous and I love her dearly. She's also growing up so fast...

I will post some pictures tonight, but I just wanted to check in and write something since Alex is napping (which she has been for the last hour and a half... holy cow- it's got to be some sort of world record for her!).

I love love love my little family and am looking forward to 2013. BRING.IT.ON. :-)