Phone pics

Recap: Sascha helping daddy wash his car, Ice cream social with Sadie at preschool, Cameron in a party hat at a birthday, exhausted baby falling asleep sitting, playing at UTC playground and riding the train,splashing by the pool, and hanging out with Sonya.

The UTC pictures were taken after we went to the doctors office for flu shots. We explained to her that she needs this shot so that she doesn't get sick. Sascha was super brave and got her shot first. She confirmed with us that she would get a lolipop after it. She sat there with a smile on her face, until she saw the needle, and even then she was quiet as a mouse, she hesitated and looked a bit scared, but not a peep. I wish I had my phone with me to take pictures there. Cameron was the next victim and of course he screamed. She rushed to him and said "it's ok baby brother, you're ok". It was such a sweet moment. I saw how sorry she felt for him as soon as she saw him cry, and all she wanted to do was comfort him.

Just catching up from the previous week: Daddy reading yet another princess story before bedtime, hanging out at balboa park and enjoying the koi lilly pond and the botanical garden with lots of pretty flowers, found Cameron messing up the book shelf and the "no girls allowed" book in his hands, Sascha reading in the car, Cameron excited to be on a jumpy

Cameron - 11 months

We are month away from your 1st birthday!!! So what have you been up to the last month? Well you are now crawling everywhere and attempting to pull up on things as well. You love feeding yourself, so I have started to leave some chopped up items on your tray and most of them end up in your mouth.

This month has be a bit rough on you because you had to get used to a new environment. Your nanny had some medical issues and we have been forced to put you into a back up daycare that our company subsadizes. The first few days were great, you were happy when I left and even thought I felt the mommy guilt of leaving you with a stranger in a new place, I saw that you were ok. On your first day there you were finger painting. :) But after the first 2 days, you learned that this is where I drop you off and leave, so you started crying as soon as I would put you down, and when I came to pick you up, you started to cry and crawl to me as soon as possile.

Aaah, I felt horrible for leaving you and had to take an extra day off to stay home with you last week. This week, you are only there for one day, so hopefully it will be ok. This has taken a toll on us all. You stopped sleeping well at night waking up in the middle of the night crying. I have no idea if it's because of this daily environment change or teething, or you still seem a bit congested from a cold you aquired a few weeks ago. The nanny is back tomorrow, and I am really hoping that things will get back to normal with you.

You are such a chatter box lately. Chatting up a storm while in your high chair or crawling around. You get very excited when you see us after we haven't been home. The person you get excited to see the most is Sascha. Your face lights up and you start smiling and almost giggling with joy when you see her come through the door. It is seriously the most precious thing to witness. She is usually very excited and receptive, she wants to hug you and kiss you. I have even noticed that when I say "Sascha" and if she is not in the room, you start looking around for her.

You are also very excited to see your mamma, a few days ago you started saying "Mummy", over and over. Of course it makes me melt inside, and all I want to do is pick you up and hold you all day long.

You have now been to your first Pumkin Patch (I will save the details for another post), you took a nice long nap while your sister ran around the maze and picked out pumkins. I remember this time last year very well. I was very pregnant with you, so I guess technically this is your 2nd Pumkin Patch, since you were almost ready to come out into the world at the one we went to last year.

Oh how I love your soft little blond curls. Your hair is really starting to grow fast and it's curling more and more. Just like Sascha's you have a lot more at the very top and since it doesn't lay flat it turns into an automatic little mow-hawk.

Here are a few cute photos I managed to take when we were home alone. It's definitely more challenging taking photos of the little guy now that he is on the move. Cameron was in a great mood, he just didn't appreciate the outfit changes and really had no interest in wearing a tie. I snapped a few, and he pulled it right off.

Playdates & other fun events

Once again I am a bit behind in posts.

You had a playdate with one of your friends from preschool, and even though this happened over the summer I still wanted to talk about it, because it was pretty cute. We met your friend Sadie at thee duck pond, wher you walked around feeding ducks and exploring. It was a fun playdate. You guys had a great time checking out the different ducks, swinging on the swings and walking along the water, even holding hands at one point. Sadie is one of your good friends from school and now you guys are in dance class together as well. You were in the same class last year and got to be in the same class this year at CMP, however both of our families weren't happy w/the new class and we actually decided to try out a new preschool. It's a Montessori school that another few of your friends go to as well. So next week you will be starting at the new school joining the same class as Sadie and Matty. We are excited for this new change and hoping that it's the best thing for you.

Around the same time as this playdate was your last swim lesson for the summer. We saw great improvement this year, however you are still not that excited about going swimming, in fact you usually refuse to go, which is a bummer. After about 20 minutes sitting on the side step you finally decide to go in and by then everyone else is usually getting out of the pool. I am not sure why you feel so comfortable going swimming at the swim school with Mr. Josh and really dislike going with daddy and I, but I hope it changes next year. Cameron on the other hand loves the water, he just splashes around and is super happy!

Another fun outing we had was a "Back yard campout" at the Smith's house. All the kids went on a scavenger hunt, a few late night hikes with flashlights, did a craft, planted some seeds in a pot, ate smores, and slept in the tent with daddy. What a blast! Mommy and Cameron ended up cheating and walking home late at night, but Sascha was already asleep by then. When she realized we weren't going home, she couldn't really understand why? Sascha didn't seem very excited about spending the night in the tent. She wanted your stars ladybug which we didn't bring. We distracted her with projecting thomas the train pictures from a toy projector and then she realized that this can be a lot of fun and stopped complaining.

Another outting we had was to an indoor playground called "Funbeleivable". We met up with your 2 cousins there as well as another few friends, and you had a great time. Even Cameron had a good time in the little toddler play area.

Remembering 9/11

I wrote this entry over a week ago, but but for some reason wasn't ready to post it just yet...

I am so grateful that every single day I am reminded about how amazing and precious life is. This just isn't something you think about all the time, and I think our kids are definitely a constant reminder of this. We go through our daily lives and emotions, and get busy and wrapped up in an every day chore. On my drive home from work, I often feel tired and sometimes overwhelmed by my "to do" list, but always try to think about the positives and look forward to spending the evening with my kids. I feel grateful to have this feeling every time I get home. I've been thinking about this a lot more this week because of 9/11. How quickly 10 years have passed. How much we realize now, and how much more appreciative we are for the gift of life. We have overcome this event, but it has changed everyone and everything. Everyone remembers this day, what they did, how they found out about the horrible events in NYC. I was 21, going to UCSD... still pretty naive. I didn't have school that day, but I was getting ready to go to work at the bank where I was a teller. I remember turning on the TV while getting ready, and watching in disbelief. I couldn't take my eyes off what I saw, I think I was even late to work and it usually took less than 5 minutes to get there. Once I got to work, my coworkers and I had the TV on in the tiny little break room where we sometimes ate lunch, I remember running into the break room every chance I got along with the other tellers, to keep watching for updates on what's going on. I don't think I understood the full gravity of the situation, but I knew things just wouldn't be the same.

Yes I look at the world differently now after having children. I think about how to raise them, are they safe, how will they survive in this crazy world? Those questions are always in the back of my mind, and I always have hope that things will work out, and that the world will be a better place for our kids.

I don't do many of these type of posts, but I felt like I wanted to remember this day. Write about what I was feeling at the moment. I couldn't begin to imagine what some of the people who have lost loved ones are feeling on this day. It makes me feel sad, angry and helpless when I think about all the lives that were lost that day. Humans are pretty resilient creatures, and are able to overcome a lot of things and still have hope. So on a day like this, I am glad to say that I still have hope.

A view of the Twin Towers Memorial that was opened on the 10th anniversary of 9/11

Cameron - 10 months

What an exciting month for you! For the last few weeks you have been tirelessly trying to crawl. You get on all fours, you rock back and forth, then sit back or get on your tummy and roll on your back. On September 10th, you actually moved. Yay! I remembere Sascha army crawled for about a week, but you didn't go through that. Although a few times I saw you inching backwards instead of forward. Also the day before you turned 10 months, I heard you say "Mama" for the first time, and now you say it non stop. Oh how long I have waited to hear you say "Mama". That made me even more happy! It also seems that you have learned how to say "oh - oh", at least that's what it sounds like. So now that you're on the move, we are on our way to babyproofing the house once again.

You are starting to pick up food with your hands. It doesn't quite make it to your mouth very easily but you are working on it. :) Generally you have been a pretty good eater, you like just about everything that you are given. Some things you definitely eat with more enthusiasm than others. Usually the veggie or soup mix you are not super excited about but you still eat them without too much fuss. You're really starting to love your sippy cup and drinking water out of it. Sometimes you just want to hold it and teeth on it. Speaking of teeth, you still only have one! I keep thinking another one is coming, but it hasn't made it's way out just yet, so we'll keep looking out for it.

I love your little face, your big round blue eyes, your face expressions, your giggles and smiles. You bring us so much happiness. Mommy and Daddy love you so so much!!!

On your 10 Month Birthday we happened to be out and about with our friends Erin & Abtin who we haven't seen in a while, and we ventured out to Old Town as well as Mount Soledad for sunset. It was a gorgeous day out, and we got to take a lot of pictures on the grass. We even got one of the 4 of us at the top.

Such a Happy little guy!

Just the 4 of us

Phone post update

It's been a busy few weeks. Sascha started another year of her preschool. Daddy and I celebrated our 6th year anniversary over Labor Day weekend. Once again he managed to totally surprise me with an amazing day at the Grand Del Mar. We had the most relaxing day at the Spa and dinner there. Funny how this place is actually less than 15 minutes away from our house and the whole time I was there, I felt like I was on an island someplace. It felt like a little get away, and just what we needed. How did I get this lucky? Daddy has got to be one of the most thoughtful husbands in the world!

We had a super fun night of camping in our friends back yard, although I cheated and walked home pushing a stroller with a sleeping baby in it in the middle of the night and actually slept in my own bed instead of the tent. Sascha however really enjoyed sleeping in a tent and daddy took one for the team and slept next to her. She had so much fun playing with her friends, planting, going on a scavenger hunt, hikes and of course eating smores.

The night before camping, we had one of the biggest blackouts in the city. All of San Diego lost its power for over 10 hours, and we braved the dark with our lantern, flashlights and candles. It was out of the norm, and actually pretty fun. The TV and the computer was off, our phones were dead, we just went outside without any distractions, had a BBQ and hung out with Baba & Deda. Good times!

Recap: Reading a book in a chair at a furniture store, eating raspberries off her fingers, wanting to drive, camping with his babies, hanging out with Erin, going to Funbelievable indoor playground, sporting an FSU onsie, listening to da BEATS, holding a flashlight during a blackout, bedtime, anniversary night & dessert, grand del mar pool and a moody baby