Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve dinner we had both sets of grandparents over for a simple evening. Since Christmas Eve is also my birthday, we used to spend the evening at my parents' house and have a small family birthday party. However, now that we have kids it's much easier to have Christmas Eve at home so we can still observe some of our favourite rituals, like putting out cookies and milk for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer!) and donning special new Christmas PJs.

A few photos:

We have much better pictures than this, but somehow this one makes me giggle...all the looks on their faces are so typical:


Sam:


Getting ready for Santa!

Day 11: Make Christmas Cookies with Grandma

I had an appointment to go to, so my Mom took Amanda for the afternoon and they had a great time together doing lots of baking! They made gingerbread cookies, some no-cook chocolate balls, and a gingerbread house. The balls especially were very delicious!

I love this photo of their creations:

Day 5: Watch a Christmas Movie with Grandma & Grandpa

Jeff had his work Christmas party on Friday evening. Even though we weren't sure how Sam would do if we left him for the whole evening, we figured it was worth a try...it would sure be nice to get out occasionally, just the two of us! So we planned an activity for Amanda that she could do with Grandma & Grandpa when they came to babysit.

When we opened up the envelope in the morning, she chose to watch The Grinch. However, it was reported that they ended up watching a few others as well, including Charlie Brown Christmas. She had a great time watching with her grandparents, and being spoiled by them as well! They brought dinner over for her with all her favourites - mac & cheese, tomatoes, bread, strawberry milk, and ice cream for dessert - and generally treated her like a princess.

As for Sam...well, he took a bit of milk from the bottle with much coaxing. But it wasn't exactly a roaring success; he still spent much of the night crying. I guess we will keep trying...if he doesn't take a bottle eventually, we will probably just try a sippy cup after Christmas. Maybe Santa will bring one for him in his stocking...

I Need a Weekend to Recover from My Weekend...

It seems that the pre-holiday rush has already begun! This weekend was full with all kinds of activities. Even though it's nice to have lots to do, it never seems like we get a chance to relax!

On Saturday morning, Amanda's favourite musical group, Bobs & Lolo, was appearing at Coquitlam Centre as part of their celebration to welcome Santa to the mall. Yes, Santa actually arrived this weekend...it seems now that he always arrives the first weekend after Remembrance Day. As far as Amanda is concerned, having both Bobs & Lolo and Santa Claus in one place at one time is pretty much the pinnacle of coolness, so we had to check it out!

We figured the mall didn't realize how popular B&L are, because they had set aside only a small area for the performance and it was packed!!

We were off to a rough start as Amanda insisted on sitting on the 'A' on the big carpet they had laid out, even though it was at the furthest corner from the stage. Once the music started she was torn about whether to stay on the A or move closer and dance...plus, people were edging her off the A which was causing some distress. She had a few minutes of teariness and we finally had to tell her she had to cheer up or leave! She was starting to depress the other kids! Finally she shook it off and moved up towards the front of the carpet and enjoyed the rest of the show, dancing away. Personally my favourite was when they sang Cindy Seahorse, a slow story song, and Amanda danced her princess dance - complete with twirls and a very serious princess look on her face - throughout.

After Santa made his appearance and the crowd dispersed, we headed over to the Christmas train they have set up - I think this is the first year they've had this and Amanda really enjoyed it.

We didn't do our Santa photos yet - somehow it seems way too early. Probably we'll wait until the last minute like usual and end up waiting in line for hours!

Saturday evening Jeff was singing in a concert, but the kids and I headed over to my aunt Allyson's house to celebrate Chris' 19th birthday. It's hard to believe he is 19 already! Amanda had a great time running around Allyson's beautiful house with her cousin Tristan and generally being a monkey. Sam was remarkably well-behaved, and it was nice that I had lots of arms to hold him so I got a bit of a break! Contrary to his normal "needs to be jiggled constantly", he was content to sit in Nana's arms for a good chunk of time.


Sunday was our usual busy day - church followed by lunch with Jeff's parents. After a brief rest at home we headed out to a surprise birthday party for a friend of ours. They had just moved into their brand new house on Saturday, so his wife invited a whole bunch of people over for dinner. Seems like a great way to do it - no one is expecting anything to be tidy when you're in the middle of moving! Their new house is beautiful and once again Amanda had fun running around with friends while Sam enjoyed being passed around.
All in all, a fun but exhausting weekend!

Long-Overdue Update

WOW, it's been a really long time since we've updated our blog! I guess life has really been catching up with us. Between working long hours, chasing around after a 3.5 year old, and attempting (hah!) to keep up with the house, it's been tough to update as well.

Oh, and there's this...

(Yes, that's a very faintly positive pregnancy test...that's what you get on day 14!!). So yes, we're having a baby! All 3 of us are very excited, although I admit this pregnancy has been much less fun than the first one. Between the instantly-pooching belly (seriously, at like 4.5 weeks); the strong aversion to pretty much every smell I encounter on my daily walk to work downtown (exhaust, anything resembling a food...); the terrifying bleeding that started at 6 weeks and continued throughout my 1st trimester and into my 2nd; the unbelievable irritability (sorry family!); and fatigue so extreme that I've more than once fallen asleep with my head on the dining room table while Jeff and Amanda talk around me, I've seen better days. It's disappointing, because I so enjoyed my first pregnancy, and really I don't have that much to complain about - no serious nausea and so far I'm still down about 5 lbs from my starting weight (despite feeling and probably looking like I'm about 6 months pregnant!). I keep telling myself I'll feel better "when"...but when hasn't quite arrived yet. I thought by now (17.5 weeks) I'd be hitting that lovely 2nd trimester energy spurt, but it hasn't happened yet. I will definitely feel reassured when I feel the baby moving more consistently, but this one doesn't behave very well and I'm getting only faint and intermittent sensations that could possibly be the baby. On the upside: I've had 2 ultrasounds, both of which looked good, and am really looking forward to the 20 week one (on March 17th), to which we're hoping to bring Amanda. So really, everything is good! Baby is due on August 6th, but will probably arrive sometime towards the end of July.

So what else is new with us?

• Amanda's music lessons continue to go great. She had her first recital last weekend and we were so proud of her! She didn't get nervous, even a little bit - she was just so excited to get up in front of everyone and perform. She also played a pretty hard song (Mary Had a Little Lamb) for someone who only started a few months ago and is one of only two 3-year olds in the class, and did really well, although she got a bit lost in the middle; she totally recovered by the end and felt great about her performance, which was the most important thing! We celebrated with dinner out with her grandparents, then ice cream cake back at our place. A few photos are posted on a Flickr set; here's Amanda performing the "Sunshine Song" with her class:
  
  We have a videotape of her performance but haven't pulled it off the video camera yet...will update here once we've got it done (maybe this evening).
  
• Christmas! Well, we had a great Christmas although it felt pretty low-key this year. We announced our big news to both Amanda and our families on Christmas eve, after having a very reassuring first ultrasound early that morning, so that was fun. Didn't take as many pictures as we usually do, but there's a set on Flickr, and here is my favourite picture from this Christmas - Amanda and my Dad on Christmas eve (Amanda is wearing her Christmas nightie, handmade by Grandma):
  
  
• Jeff had a particularly exciting start to his year, with two surgeries - one pretty minor to remove a thingie from his lower leg, and a second more serious to remove his gall bladder. It's quite a relief to have it all over with and for both of us (especially him!) not to have to worry about the possibility of another gall bladder attack. He is recovering well although I think it was harder than he expected.
  

Hmm, sadly that's about all that's been going on with us. We will try to update more frequently with info about the new little monkey and everything else that's going on in our lives!

Congratulations Rosalie & Miguel!

The wedding we came down to San Jose to participate in is over! Rosalie and Miguel were married in a beautiful ceremony on Saturday evening. Amanda was the perfect flower girl - she is such a pro now, with this being her 3rd wedding as a flower girl! She walked down the aisle at just the right speed, throwing her rose petals as she went (this was a new twist - she'd never had to do the rose petal thing before - but we did lots of practice throwing ahead of time). She looked beautiful and she was so well-behaved...we are very proud parents!

The rehearsal dinner was on Friday evening at the hotel where the wedding party was staying. It was very nice, and it was good to meet the wedding party and Miguel's family, as well as to catch up with family and family friends. Amanda got to meet her cousin Vincent and the two of them had a good time running around, trying to avoid sleep:




The weather was a bit cooler on Saturday (like mid-80s instead of 90s+), which was great! The ceremony was held outside on a hilltop under a gazebo...it was a beautiful location. We had to be there quite early (2.5 hours before the ceremony started), so we had some time to kill but Amanda was extremely patient.




The bride was beautiful, of course...



It was a very nice ceremony, with many of the parts repeated in Spanish for the benefit of Miguel's family, who were originally from Mexico:



And then it was time for the party! Amanda once again had a fabulous time, dancing like a crazy person. She found a few little friends - her cousin Vincent, Miguel's two nephews, and a family friend who looked to be 1 1/2 or so:



We didn't leave until close to midnight, and we all had a good sleep and a late morning on Sunday!

(More photos on Flickr).

Shower Fun

The baby shower for Cristina & Tristan on Sunday went very well! We had more than a full house, but at least it was February so it didn't get too sweltering in the house! The food turned out well and everyone seemed to have a good time. Plus, Cristina got lots of lovely gifts to take home...that kid is going to be very well-dressed!

The cake:


Amanda's face after eating the cake:

Cute Baby Alert!

Tonight we had dinner at my parents' house, along with Mike, Cristina, and Baby Tristan. He is doing great and is getting cuter by the day! He seems amazingly awake for such a small baby. Apparently he is actually giving Mike & Cristina some decent stretches of sleep (well, at least decent by 1-month old baby standards) and they seem very calm about the whole parenthood thing. Amanda is very cute with him...she was a bit shy when someone else was holding him, but when I got to cuddle him for awhile, she came over and gave him lots of little tiny kisses on top of his head. She commented on how soft his hair was (so true!). But mostly she was distracted by the cool new firetruck Grandma had bought.

A few shots of Tristan with his Grandpa:

Post-Christmas Fun

On Boxing Day, we headed to my parents' place for another "Christmas dinner"...but it was just us, so it was nice to relax. Usually we've tried to go over to their place on Christmas day for gift opening, but this was an even better way to do it - less stress on Christmas day, and when is stretching out the gifts ever a bad thing?! Amanda got quite the haul (and we didn't make out too badly ourselves).

When Amanda opened her new doll (promptly Christened "baby cousin"), she immediately had to put it to sleep with her old doll (with the creative moniker "baby"). They're under the afghan Mom knit - a miniature version of the one she made for Amanda and presented the day after she was born.


The next day, we headed over to Jeff's parents' house for gift opening there. Amanda was getting a bit overwhelmed by all the presents but still managed just fine. :)

Playing with her "new iPod":

Our Christmas!

OK, so we are very late. :) But we did have a really great Christmas this year, despite the fact that we were all either fighting off illnesses or right in the thick of them. Amanda and I have managed to pass the same throat virus back and forth multiple times since the beginning of December...of course, Christmas isn't exactly the best time to get lots of sleep to be able to fight stuff off (especially after I was up all night when Tristan was born!).

Anyway, we had both our families over to our place for Christmas eve dinner. This was the second year in a row we've done this, and it works out really well - much less work for Mom to pull off two Christmas dinners in a row, and easier to get Amanda down to bed at a reasonable hour so she's not a total bear on Christmas day. This year it also meant we could start some of the rituals I remember from my own childhood...opening up that brand new pair of jammies before bedtime (made with lots of love by Grandma!), then putting out milk and cookies for Santa (and a carrot for Rudolph).

Grandma finally put a design onto Amanda's stocking (it's been blank for the past two years):

The look on Mandy's face when she realized the carrot was for Rudolph!

Putting out milk and cookies:


Christmas day was a bit crazy, as always. After church in the morning, we came back home for lunch and gift opening, then had time for a rest before heading to Cristina's parents' house for Christmas dinner. Amanda wasn't feeling great, but she's such a trooper...rarely complains about anything!

Crazy hair in the morning:

Wow! A Bobs and Lolo CD! (She made this "excited face" for just about every gift...it was classic!)

Baby Tristan is Here!!!

Still have to post about our Christmas (which was awesome!) but had to share the exciting news...baby Tristan William arrived this morning, January 2nd, at 3:10 am. He is an astounding 9 lbs, 12 oz (yikes!) and is absolutely beautiful. My "little brother" Mike did a fabulous job of supporting Cristina through a very difficult and long labour...we were so proud of him!...and Cristina is doing well but definitely needs to get some rest.

I was at the hospital until 6 am today and will be heading back this afternoon to introduce Amanda to her new baby cousin. I can hardly wait!

Check out our Flickr photoset for lots of photos of Tristan...here are a few teasers:

Baby L. is Almost Here!

We are so, so excited about Mike & Cristina's baby (Amanda's cousin-to-be), due January 1st but expected "any minute now".

Day 10: Eat Peppermint Candy Ice Cream

Since Mom and Dad had just arrived home from their fabulous vacation to the Cook Islands, we knew we would be at their house for dinner on Sunday. So we planned another simple activity - peppermint candy ice cream - yum! We shared it with everyone after dinner.

And, to top it off, we found the BEST candy cane ice cream ever. It's the President's Choice one, with fudge crackles. So yummy! I've never had candy cane ice cream with chocolate in it before, but now I'm hooked.





(Oh, and the photo at the top is of our German advent calendar that we bought on our trip in 2002. It's really beautiful even though we hardly ever remember to light it! It's out every year though.)

Again!?!

Wow, once again it's been over a month since we updated this site! Obviously we're not very good at this. :) We've been very busy over the past several weeks as we've been getting ready for Mike & Cristina's wedding, which took place on Saturday. It was beautiful! Everything went according to plan (at least from our perspective!) and it was an incredible day - the weather could not have been more beautiful.

Of course Amanda was a perfect angel - she walked down the aisle exactly as instructed and sat quietly through the entire service (despite the fact she was sitting with the wedding party, with no parents or grandparents close by). She had a fabulous time at the reception, dancing literally from beginning to end. We couldn't even get her to sit down and take a rest, other than quick refuel stops for fruit and water. She didn't fall asleep until after 11:30 pm! Needless to say, Sunday was a sleep-in day and she is only now starting to get back on schedule.

All our pics from the wedding are on one Flickr set, but here are a few cute ones:


Mike and Cristina at the wedding rehearsal on Thursday evening


Amanda eating ice cream cake at the rehearsal dinner


Amanda and Isabella outside Cristina's house on Saturday morning


Married!!


Mom and I with Amanda after the ceremony


Our little "ballebina" having fun on the dance floor


Amanda twirling her skirt around

...OK, could post a million more but will stop now! Go check out the photo set! :)