Goals for 2013

They are not super exciting or challenging, but we made some goals for the year and it's more than we are doing right now.  So here they are for the entire internet to see. We'll see if a little accountability will help us to keep our goals.

Here we are off on our first run of the year, and afterwards Julia is excited about her goal to learn to read so she wanted to practice writing her name in the sand with a stick.

Ramiro Christmas Eve Celebration

Every year my mom's family, the Ramiro's, get together at a church on Christmas Eve and have a big party.

Julia (and I) started the evening by getting haircuts before we left Saratoga Springs. This was Julia's first real haircut even though she still doesn't have very long hair. We just needed it be a little more even all around.

We had a big dinner.

Micah got passed around between my grandma and all my aunts and loved it. Maybe he thought there was something familiar about them? I seriously hardly saw him all evening after everyone ate their dinner. And Julia. It was kind of nice...

We had a pinata

 

 

With plenty of candy for everyone. I was in charge of the candy that we didn't put inside the pinata in case the little kids didn't get enough. It was fun to toss the candy right at their feet and watch them light up and scramble to pick it all up.

 
Julia gets a ride in the broken shell of the pinata.

Then we sang Christmas songs, and who should appear but the jolly old man himself, Santa Clause!

Santa knew exactly what Julia would like, a pots and pans set for her toy kitchen and some new slippers.

Then everyone got a chance to visit with Santa. I was sporadically wearing Julia's hair bow whenever she would take it out.

And we said goodbye and took family pictures.

They had a birthday cake for a friends birthday and they let Julia eat the big pink bow that was on top of it. 

She was not a huge fan of how it tasted.

Then, we danced! Well, a few people danced. Julia literary chased down my youngest cousin, Corey, to get him to dance with her.

Micah 9 Months

Right before we left for Christmas break Micah had his 9 mo. checkup. He proves once again that he is petite, coming in under the 10th percentile for both height and weight. Since he is proportional however, the doctor wasn't too worried. On my part, I wonder just who the baby clothes companies are basing their clothing sizes on because even my tiny 9 month old has outgrown some of his 9 month old clothes and fits well into some of his 12 month clothes.

Height: 27 in. (7th percentile)

Weight: 17 lbs (3rd percentile)

Head:17.5 in. (21st percentile)

Micah learned to crawl near the beginning of December and has been a super mobile little explorer ever since. He loves to crawl with his fists clenched, which reminds me of a little gorilla walking around. He can pull himself up to stand and a few times and he has even balanced on his own for a second or two without realizing it. He is not so good about watching where he is going however and will often conk his head on something in his excitement to get there. Lately he always seems to have some scratch or bump on his head from his exploring. And over Christmas at the Holiday cabin he also learned how to climb the stairs.

He still loves to put everything in his mouth when we're not watching. He is doing a little better eating his fruits, but he still likes veggies more.

I was afraid that he might get clingy to me on this trip like Julia did at the same age, but he was pretty good. He did prefer me when I was in the same room and would cry out for me if he saw me passing through a room he was playing in with others, but for the most part he let other people hold him. You can also tell he loves the rest of his family too, Robert and Julia. Micah is usually interested in seeing what Robert is all about when he comes home from work, and he get's so excited to see Julia first thing in the morning. You can almost hear him say, "Oh boy, it's Julia! Now it's time for fun!"

It's fun to see his little personality coming out. He is pretty easy going and does well entertaining himself (by getting into trouble!), but he has a little temper that is cute- for now. 

His favorite game to play is knocking things over or throwing things down onto the floor. You can bet if you put him down anywhere in the vicinity of the bathroom he will make a beeline to the bathtub and knock over all the cups, toys, or shampoo bottles he can reach. He also loves to throw things off the edge of his high chair and watch if anyone will come pick it up for him. If someone doesn't, he'll yell and complain until we do come. Once he gets the object back he will immediately toss it right back over the edge again.

No new teeth to report yet, just his bottom two teeth that came in at the end of October. I think I'll also throw in here that everyone always tells me he has beautiful eyes, but I love his cute little nose the best!

Baby (Food) Making

With Julia I was never too interested in making my own baby food. Why make more work for myself when I can just pop open a container of baby food and be done? Sure, it was a little more expensive, but soon she would be eating table food and then we would be able to stop buying baby food.

Enter Micah.

Maybe it's a boy thing, but I swear Micah eats as much as Julia now, only in pureed form. All his baby food was killing my grocery budget and fresh fruit and veggies in Southern California are much cheaper than baby food. I can buy a pound of carrots for the same price as two little containers of baby food. So, despite the extra work it would create, I finally caved and started making my own baby food for Micah.

The first time I spent the entire day making baby food. Supposedly it was only suppose to take me an hour, but between stopping to feed kids etc etc. it took me forever and the kids were super bored all day and my kitchen was a mess. So, from then on I always just do one batch a day, and not even every day. People say you can just give the baby some of the food everyone else is eating, but mushed or pureed. But looking at all the stuff we ate there was hardly anything natural enough that I would want to feed it to a baby. So this has actually made the rest of us eat healthier because we added more fresh fruits and veggies to our diet from the stuff I am going to make for Micah. 

I just use my normal blender that I have had since before we got married. It works fine as long as I only fill it up about half way and leave it on a couple minutes to get everything nice and pureed. Then I pour the food into ice cube trays and freeze them. When they are solid I take them out, run the bottoms under hot water to loosen it, then break them out of the tray onto a cutting board. Then I put them in labelled ziplock bags and put them back in the freezer. 

Micah usually eats three to four ice cubes per meal. The food is actually pretty good, I would eat it, its nice and fresh. Micah doesn't seem to prefer store bought or fresh though, he eats it all. 

Snow

Last week we spent Christmas in Saratoga Springs with my parents. Now we are in Park City for the New Years with Robert's parents his mom's cousin's family. Micah had his first snowmobile ride, into the cabin. He was content being cuddled up next to me under the blanket, watching the scenery go by. Since we came in two days ago he has stayed inside getting carried around by all the girls.

Julia has spent her days sledding, snowmobiling, and playing in the snow. I thought she might get cold and not stay out too long, but I was proven wrong. She comes in only when she has to.

Last of the Pre-Christmas Celebrations

One night for FHE this month we did a "Mini Van Express," an idea straight off of Pinterest, thus the name because we don't even own a mini van. The night we had the FHE we got the kids ready for bed early, and when we went to put Julia to sleep she found a ticket on her pillow, and then one on everyone else's bed. While we were finding the tickets Robert popped us popcorn and made hot chocolate. Then we got everyone to the car, punched a star in the tickets as everyone got in and drove around listening to Christmas music and looking at Christmas lights. It was pretty simple, but Julia loved it. 

Our friends told us about this house in Claremont that goes all out with synchronized lights and music, Julia would clap after every song.

The next weekend we went out to West L.A. and saw the lights at the L.A. Temple.

Then we took the kids over to Steve and Wendy's so they could babysit the kids while Robert and I went on a date! (we don't go on a lot of dates, so it was pretty exciting.) We went to Robert's Holiday work party at the ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.

They had a show during dinner that was Cirque du Soleil-esque with crazy costumes and arcrobats.

Here's a video, kind of long, but you get the idea.

The next day we went over to our friends the Haskins for their annual Christmas Carol Sing-A-Long. They don't look too excited here, but trust me, the boys had a fun time.

And Julia had a great time. She spent the evening running around with all the kids and helping herself to the treats at the treat table whenever she wanted.

Before we left for Utah we opened all the presents under the tree. I love that my kids are both small enough that they get so excited about all their presents even if it's nothing extravagant. All we had was mostly clothes for them, but Julia was super excited for her sparkly shoes and dress and Micah was happy with the wrapping paper :). 

Micah got a board book. He loves to read books with us, it's super cute how he will pay attention for a little while, then he loves to turn the pages.

Julia was being really nice to Micah and letting him help her open all her presents.