Baby's First Solids!

On exactly Zoey's 6 month birthday, we let her have her first taste of rice cereal. She did really, really well! I think she has had so much practice watching everyone else eat over the holidays that it just came naturally to her. We plan on going introducing her to baby food this week. It's so much fun watching her enjoy and learning new skills.

One of Isabel's Christmas presents was an Imaginarium train set with a table. The train set actually makes noise while it's going through different parts of the track and she absolutely loves it. She makes everyone sit down and play with her.

This year is so different than last year where she didn't understand the concept of presents or opening them. This year, Isabel totally understood what presents were and had a blast opening them. She would take her time and then stack all her gifts in a pile. She even threw away the paper trash. In the end she was only interested in the Zhu Zhu pets and the train table so I hid the rest of her new presents in the closet. Isabel helped Zoey open her presents too and it was really cute watching Izzy give her sister toys to play with. Overall, the holidays was wonderful and it's even more special with my two little girls enjoying every minute of it.

Oh What Fun!

My weekends have become super busy these days! Today I (unsuccessfully) took Izzy to her ballet class. I say unsuccessful because she had a total melt down and wouldn't stop throwing a tantrum. So we've gone 5 times without any problems and today she was just not having it. No use in trying to make her stay for a 30 minute class so we went home. I guess she must have been tired because she came home and fell asleep on her bed within 15 minutes.

At noon we got ready and made our way downtown to the Center for Performing Arts for the Nutcracker. It was both our first time watching the Nutcracker although I swear I've seen it before but I can't remember. She really enjoyed it and overall I think she had a good time. This is going to be a tradition for me and the girls until they decide it's too uncool to be seen with their mother at the ballet.

Our attempt at taking some home photos with the girls resulted badly. Let's just say that Zoey was the cooperative one... Thankfully, I had already taken the girls with the help of my mom to Picture People and had their holiday pictures done. Everytime we've gove for pictures there, they've turned out even better than the previous times. Even Ben was impressed with the portraits and that's saying something.

Auntie Cindy's birthday was on the 10th and she came to visit the girls. All the more reason to buy ice cream cake! Here is an example of what NOT to do if you're planning on sharing cake. You can always count on Auntie Cindy to teach wondeful behaviors. Happy birthday Auntie Cindy!

The Girls

I had a wonderful birthday this year and it was made extra special with Zoey's presence. Isabel sang me happy birthday which was super cute. It's actually one of her favorite songs and she sings it all the time. I wasn't expecting any gifts but Ben did manage to surprise the heck out of me with a gorgeous gift. Patience does pay off although I have none!

Isabel has been going to ballet at school and on Saturdays since September and she loves it. Baby ballet is the only class offered until they turn 3. After 3 a bunch of more classes become available but until then we're going to stick with ballet. She's more of a hip hop girl as we have found out.

Halloween 2009

I am so behind on updating the blog these past few weeks! I have been trying to get everything ready for my return to work (been one week so far) and must making sure the girls are having lots of fun with the holidays. Izzy went as Neo from the Matrix this year. I sewed her costume by hand with pleather that I bought from the fabric store. It was a much easier costume to make than Wolverine.

We were afraid to take her trick or treating because we thought she would be scared but we were so wrong! Ben took her around our neighborhood and she had such a good time that till this day, she still talks about Halloween. I think next year we're going to have to do it up real good and go all out with the decorations. Izzy would only trick or treat at the houses that were totally done up. She wasn't scared at all!

Neo. It's all about the hair. It's probably the last year she'll let me dress her up. I'm thinking by next year when she's 3, she's going to know what she wants to be for Halloween. I asked her this year and she kind of said Yo Gabba Gabba so I know it's coming...

We went to a Halloween party and one of the parents asked me how old my "son" was. Haha! So the costume worked! I'm sure next year she'll be a princess or something... ugh. I can only hope not.

I went back to work on Monday and so far the best piece of news since going back is that I no longer work for my old boss. I think all good things come around - eventually. Even if this is short lived, I'm glad that I can be happy for just a bit. I expected the absolute worst so anything else is better than that. Time can only tell...

Zoey's 4 month Update

Zoey had her 4 month check up today. She's just like her older sister!

Zoey's weight: 15 lbs 2 oz
Izzy's weight: 15 lbs 3 oz

Zoey's height: 25 1/8"
Izzy's height: 25"

Zoey's head circum: 16 1/4"
Izzy's head circum: 16 1/4"

All the Single Ladies

My dear little daughter discovered the magic of Beyonce a few nights ago. I was showing Cindy the performance on Youtube from Beyonce and Izzy was mesmerized. She instantly started dancing and even tried to sing along with Beyonce. I think we played that song like 10 times that night before bed time. Izzy is enrolled in dance at her school but when she's 2.5, I'm enrolling her at a formal dance school!

Zoey at 2.5 months

Zoey is growing up so quickly! At her two month check up she was already at 12 lbs. It seems like a lot but she's right on track with where Izzy was at her age.

Zoey is getting better and better at night. There has been a couple of nights where she has slept through from 7pm to 6am the next day. Those are the best nights! Now she just wakes up once a night and sleeping for 5 hours plus stretches. She still needs to be swaddled though and I don't know what I'm going to do when she grows out of her swaddle. It's really helping her sleep at night and I don't want to sleep train her if the swaddle is helping.

I'm madly in love with Zoey! She can coo and laugh with me now. She's so interactive and just a sweet, sweet girl. If she is our last child, I would just be sad because I want to remember all her little noises and expressions. There are days when I'm just communicating with her and it melts my heart, almost to a point where I want to have more babies just to get more of these moments! We'll see! If we even think that, it won't happen for at least 3-4 more years.

Gilroy Gardens

Last Saturday Izzy and I had a mommy and daughter day and went to Gilroy Gardens. I had been wanting to take her for some time so I dropped Zoey with my parents on the way down and spent the morning with Izzy at the theme park. It's a super cute little amusement park and all the rides are age appropriate for toddlers. Since I'm only home for one more month, I really want to take as much time as I can bringing Izzy to new places and exposing her to different things. I'm constantly looking for places to take her. What I love about being a mom is just watching her reactions to new things and finding out what she likes/dislikes.

Izzy takes some time to warm up to new things and for awhile she was super pissed off looking. I don't think she was mad but she acted grumpy. She actually went on a ride with another little girl and had a good time so I think it was because she was alone that made it not so fun. She definitely needs a friend/buddy to hang out with.

I'm planning on going again in a few weeks with another family so Izzy can have a friend to go on the rides with. We had a playdate this past Wednesday and she had so much fun with the kids at our house. She is much more social with kids her own age.

Top off the day with soft serve ice cream. She wanted ice cream so badly and she literally ate the whole thing. It was lunch time so that was probably why she killed the whole thing. We ended the day at the playground and then spent some time with the grandparents in Morgan Hill.

Chuck E Cheese

Our second time at Chuck E Cheese. Easy and cheap place to take the kids to. We normally meet up with some other little kids and just have a blast. It's safe and just fun for them.

Izzy gets better and better at putting the coins into the machines. This time she actually played a few games and won some tickets.

Rare smiling pictures...

More Birthday Pics!

We took so many cute photos of all the kids just hanging out... here's just a few...

Popsicle time!

Lexy and Bell Bell (Lexy's nickname for Izzy) having cupcakes together.

This was the mild bounce house pic... It get's MUCH crazier... I'm surprised the house didn't pop.

Happy 2nd Birthday Isabel!

Okay... so I let the excitement of celebrating Izzy's 2nd birthday get the best of me. Wow, it was a lot of work (and money!) to throw a toddler birthday party. I would highly recommend NOT doing it if I were you... Although it was amazing and super fun, I couldn't believe that it took SOOOO much work. I even had Ben, Cindy, Catherine and Angela helping out 4 hours BEFORE the event even started! There was no way I could have pulled it off without their help.

I hired a petting zoo to come to the party which was so great for the kids. It was definitely worth the money. So yea, I completely blown the budget that Ben set for the party... Let me just say that it could have bought me a nice Louis Vuitton if I had not thrown this shindig. So next year and for the rest of the years after that, I'm purse shopping instead.

No cake, just cupcakes for the party which Izzy didn't even care about anyway. She just had fun hanging out with all her friends.

Cuteness Overload! Isabel Recites the Alphabet

OMG - So our fabulous super duper camera proved its worth by showing off my dear daughter at her best. I had NO idea that she could recite the complete alphabet. I knew she could do segments but to actually have the attention span to sit there and do it was amazing. Well after all, we did just come off of a fun play date at our house where she wolfed down like 4 chocolate chip cookies. The energy was still there at 9pm, way past her bed time. Izzy absolutely adores her daddy and for like 30 minutes, her and Ben are in the kitchen having a conversation. I could watch this video a million times!!! Yes I'm a proud mama!

A New Big Girl Bed!

So based on how many times Izzy has fallen out of her toddler bed, we were finally convinced that maybe the bed was just too small for her after all. She sleeps in such weird positions and flips all over the place at night that eventually she ends up on the floor. We walked through Ikea a few weekends ago and found the perfect bed for her. It's actually a reversible bed that flips over and becomes a bunk bed so when Zoey gets older, they can share a room together.

The bed is actually navy but I had to customize it. I hand sewed the drapes and bought the canopy from Ikea. Isabel LOVES her bed. She plays in it and reads books in it too. I ended up buying her a new duvet set and a new goose down blanket too. She has not fallen out of her bed once since we've gotten it.

Last weekend we spent a day in San Leandro with our cousins and it was actually the first time we took both the girls out for the entire day. We had not planned on staying the entire day but ended up doing so which meant emergency run to the grocery store for formula and diapers!

Zoey makes the strangest faces! She constantly makes odd faces when she's awake. She has grown so much the last 6 weeks. We haven't weighed her yet but she's at least over 10 pounds now.

Bounce On This!

While planning Isabel's birthday party, I found out how much bounce houses cost. It's so much more cost efficient to buy one instead of renting one for the day. Our bounce house finally arrived today and while Zoey was sleeping, I set it up in our back yard. It's amazing! It inflates in less than one minute and deflates just as fast.

Izzy had been really scared of bounce houses the last few times she was in them so I was so happy that she took to it quickly. It seemed to me that she had gotten over her fear. Hopefully when we actually go to someone else's house she will be brave enough to try it.

This was an executive decision made by mommy. It's expensive but I believe to be well worth it. I don't want Izzy couped up inside too much during the summer watching tv so hopefully this will expel some of that toddler energy.