Play Date with Brandon

Today we all (and by that I mean myself, Ellia and Claira) ventured out for a play date! Gasp! We met up with Miki (mommy) and little Brandon (just turned 2). We all live in the same apartment complex and met last year at the Tot Lot inside our complex. Ellia always looked forward to seeing Brandon there and who wouldn't - he has the cutest, most perfectly round face you'll ever see! We decided to try out a place called Hullaballoos in Orange, CA. It turned out great, having just what they needed and even more things that maybe they'll want to brave on future visits (like the huge inflatable jumper obstacle course and slide!) I worried how I would juggle Claira but she slept the entire time in my sling! Whew!! Even though I don't want to tempt fate and end up with a play date with Claira screaming the entire time - I still hope we'll meet up a few more times before my maternity leave is over! I must say it was so refreshing to get out. And if there is one person who knows EXACTLY what I mean, it's Miki since she lives in the EXACT same apartment as me! Thanks for a great day with the kiddos Miki!

My Tender Girl

Ellia likes to "mother" the most random objects. Nevermind stuffed animals, that's too "obvious" for her. Here I made a pretend popscicle on a stick. She immediately claimed it and before long she was talking to it, asking it things it needed and saying "ok, ok". And eventually it always ends up with a "tucking in" under a blanket. I lovingly made it a bed and pillow to go 'night-night' on.

BFF (Best Friends Forever)

What would we do without YounMee?! Our little girl loves her "MeeMee" so much. She doesn't realize quite yet how lucky she is to have this wonderful person in her life. But we as parents realize precisely how lucky we are to have her. Just on this occasion alone I knew how lucky I was to have her chase Ellia around the grassy hills as I watched from the car feeding Claira. Jimmy, subconscously, knew how lucky he was to have her chat with Ellia as he played his losing style of softball. As you can see, they are two peas in a pod: (1) Ellia barking out orders of what color she'd like to paint with next. (2) Ellia scolding MeeMee after a game of chase: "No, MeeMee, walk now." (3) Ellia raising her arms up to silently inform MeeMee that she shall be needing to be picked up and held now. (4) Ellia leaning on a good friend.

Park Fun For All

We were invited to a friend's 4 year old birthday party/softball game. It was a nice break and we had so much fun! I "talked up" the joys of having your face painted to Ellia & she bought it. As you can see she had to take a minute to determine exactly what the heck was being done to her. But then made sense of it and it turned out so cute. The woman was very talented and she had a lot of amazing faces to choose from, many of which were incredibly detailed and realistic looking. I knew Ellia wouldn't want to hang out long enough to look like an authentic lioness so I quickly chose this poodle doohicky look. After it was all said and done, it seemed to fit her perfectly.

Instant Stress Captured on Film

Jimmy says I need to "get out more" during the day with Claira ... this is the photo that explains it all. No matter how many minutes the car ride is, this scene wouldn't change much.

The Original Funny Face Girl

Ellia likes to call Claira "Funny Face" but as you can see she herself is the original in that department. She has a gazillion dorky/adorable faces and I wish I could get snapshots of each and every one of them. Hopefully these will be enough when it comes time to thoroughly embarrass her someday.

1st Family Portrait (ghetto-style)

Believe it or not, we have never taken an official family portrait. We had to do this one because Ellia's classroom project was breathing down our neck and we had to supply one. I made an appointment to get photos taken of us at a studio and hopefully all 4 of us will be present for it!!

Snuggles with Daddy

Claira's "Activities"

Yep, at a mere 2 months, there just ain't much a girl can do. But Claira loves to have a bath at night. Last night her big sister helped out.
She likes our little morning routine of having her face washed and hair combed on the changing table. As you can see she is getting kinda chubby - still just 9.9 lbs though.
She's started her Tummy Time routine. We have a TT session before her morning nap (assuming it becomes an actual nap!)
And she also likes her big sister's mobile of eye-engaging geometric shapes. She seems to like it even more than Ellia did. She smiles every time she looks at her fish mobile as she is being changed - thanks auntie Kat!

And lastly, Daddy likes to make an activity out of making little Claira just look ridiculous. (As you can see below. Poor thing.)

Pleeeezzz Nap!

Oh, another light napper (sigh) However, Claira now regularly sleeps 7+ hours straight thru the night. (So I don't want to complain too much) But, man oh man is it hard to 'knock her out' during the day! Sometimes I just slide the pillow that she laid on while feeding off my lap and set it on the couch if it means I can just get up and do something. Also, Daddy has a unique techique of swaddling + incline on the legs + jiggling the legs back and forth...gets her (almost) everytime. She's the apple of our eye and the queen of cat napping!

Snow Trip...

Don't ask.

Happy 2 Months!

Happy 2 Months baby girl! The first month is a blur - and now we can take a deep breath and enjoy our beautiful "silly face" baby. Your abundant smiles are the most precious moments to us. You are truly a sweet-natured little creature. Thank you for being so patient with us as we try to figure out what the heck we're doing with two offspring. We just can't wait to see more and more of your personality! Oh, and thanks for not being colicky (gotta say we were crossing our fingers on that one)

Special Outfits

Ellia will be experiencing SNOW for the first time this weekend! We can't wait to see her excitement and we're sure she'll boss us around up and down the snow. This is her new "cozy" snow suit from Grandma & Grandpa.

These Sesame Street PJs are vintage Timura. They were either mine or my brother Adam's. It's hard to believe it's not a knock-off of Sesame Street character Oscar the Grouch because the image of him is seriously jacked up - he looks like he just escaped a neuclular meltdown. But Ellia loved them, especially the fact that her PJs had "shoes" on them.

Let the comparisons begin...

(Ellia on top, Claira on bottom)
From the moment we met Claira we believed that we had a very different baby on our hands than we had had with Ellia. Well, upon taking this new little person home and getting to know her better - we see that we judged her too soon. So far, these two girls are much more similar than different. In comparing how the Newborn Phase of these two we see the following similarities and differences:
THE SAME:
- Hates, hates, hates car rides & carseat.
- Prefers to be held/rocked above all else; not one to sit calmly, stare off into space and let the world go by.
- Light sleeper.
- Light eater/lazy nurser.
- Not a pacifer baby.
- Never spits up.

DIFFERENT:
- Ellia was more physical (mandatory swaddling & loved to use her legs) & Claira is more visual (concentrates her sight on things far longer and more intently than Ellia).
- Claira is easier/faster to please and to smile.
- Ellia gained exactly 1 pound each month until her 1st birthday. Claira is gaining weight at a faster pace & might have a totally different body type. She already has 3 chins.