it's been a while.

but rest assured we're all doing well here at the staples house. event-wise our lives have slowed way down- no more moving, no more pregnancies, no more house renovations, no vacations... not much of anything really.
except life. :)
which has been really beautiful for us.

the babies are growing up so fast we can hardly keep up with them these days. nora is rapidly approaching her 2nd birthday; claire just turned 9 months. and although the two have extremely different temperaments (like night and day, those two), we're really starting to see them begin to grow together as little friends. it's really such a precious thing to witness. it's such a wonderful thing to know that they'll have one another as they grow up- and all throughout their lives.

 

 (they even look quite different, don't they? one to take after each parent, we like to say)

chris is still doing important things at his job, and i'm still doing important things at home (some unimportant things too, here and there). we just celebrated three years of being old marrieds this past weekend, and were lucky enough to have a grandma come over to watch the babies (one of which was not feeling well) so that we could spend a couple hours romancing each other over dinner at the restaurant we'd frequent together back when we were dating. :) dates are fewer and farther in between these days with the littles at home, but they are oh so appreciated when they happen.

and so that's what we've been up to during the past six months. :)

until next time!
:)

june & july

also, most of the way through august?
sheesh.
time sure flies when you've got two babies.
we've been a pretty busy bunch here the past couple of months.

and the big news: we're finally in our house!!!
it's exciting business.
here is a view from our front door:

it's already been an adventure and we've only been here a month. but rest assured, we are having fun getting settled in.

and now, the children!

nora is getting smarter and smarter by the day. such an articulate little thing for her age, and thank goodness! we've been working really hard on using our words instead of screaming (oh the screaming!) and the result has been wonderful. now she can communicate what she wants and i can understand her! happiness all around. most recently, she has FINALLY taken a liking to all things edible, so we're finally able to wean her off formula (she's been a supremely picky eater up until now; would much rather have starved than eat food). and mercy, if eating food hasn't improved her mood tenfold! i'm so happy that our child has discovered the magical world of culinary goodness. and just in time too- the doctor was getting so worried at nora's refusal of solid food, she was about to send her to an occupational therapist. hooray for nora!

also, you gotta hear this girl sing "twinkle twinkle little star". the cuteness!

claire has got to be one of the best babies in the whole world. maybe i'm just saying that because i had a nora-child first, but i really do feel that way about her. she sleeps through the night, from around 8:30 to around 5 in the morning; she takes substantial naps throughout the day; and is content to just smile and smile and smile between them. it's pretty amazing. she's also reaching her milestones a lot earlier than nora did- to which chris says "well that just goes to show you can learn a lot more when you're not screaming all the time." i think he might have a point there. in any case, we're just so thankful for our sweet little claire.

and there we are! hopefully in the future i'll remember to post more often on this blog, but you know. no promises. ;)

may days

the month of may was a good one.

we started it out as a family of three, and ended it as a family of four!

before..

after!

little claire lillian was born may 8, 2012, at 1:52pm. 7lbs, 6oz and 20.5inches. check out that dark hair!

she's a very easy baby. we all love her. 

nora girl has warmed up to her very nicely. 

we spent the rest of may getting used to eachother.

also: our house was supposed to be completed this month, however, some projects ended up turning out to be more time consuming and labor-intensive than was initially expected. so the completion date has been postponed until late june. chris and i are anxious for it all to be done, and for us to be moved in and settled already! but right now we have been practicing patience, patience, and more patience... (i wonder if Providence is trying to teach us something? haha!) hopefully next month's post will bring some more exciting, long awaited news! :)

march & april madness + nora update

ready for a mass update, since i am so good at neglecting this blog?
settle in, folks!

march:
the month of march turned out to be quite a pleasant one.
although it started out kind of miserable- what with more sicknesses and freezing weather and chris working extremely long, late hours.
but then somewhere in the middle of the month we had st. patty's day and an abundance of birthdays (nora's included), which meant that there was awesome food plus ridiculous treats everywhere for days and days. hooray! and then things started to look up for us.
and since chris quit being plagued by colds, flus, and other sicknesses, he was also able to work out in an uninterrupted fashion the whole time and is now progressing just wonderfully with his P90X2 exercise program. he's pretty pleased about it. also, my family finds it quite entertaining to sit around and watch him do his thing in the middle of the living room; whether it be yoga or weight-lifting or plyometrics or whatever he does for the day. i'm secretly jealous of his spry in-shape-ness. there's nothing that makes a pregnant woman feel more blob-enly than sitting around watching her ridiculously athletic husband be all ridiculously athletic in the living room.

at nora's birthday party

april:
uneventful as far as events go, but very productive as far as accomplishing menial tasks- i think i got a case of spring fever, amplified by nesting. :) the most energetic i've felt in months!
but of the events that we had, we had a nice easter and christopher had a nice birthday.
we're currently waiting it out for the new little miss to be born and for the house construction to be completed. we're thinking the baby will come before the house is done though... which is quite alright with me- it's getting a little too crowded in the mama hotel!

easter sunday

nora:

is basically grown up already. she prefers to walk now, and is starting to say more words, such as "up" and "side" for 'outside'. she is also starting to learn the difference between dogs, frogs, and ducks; although saying the words is still slightly confusing for her when we're talking about all of them at one sitting. she's also starting to prefer daddy over mommy now because daddy has boundless energy to spend on her, and we're making slight progress with accepting more solid foods into her diet. we're also thinking that two more teeth are in the works... who wants to bet she cuts them right about the time the new little one comes home from the hospital? :)

next month we'll have pictures and stories of her little sister to share!

we have a toddler!

little nora is one year old! such a big girl!
she's a relatively tall one for her age- in the 82nd percentile for height (at 30.25inches); but rather thin as she's only in the 38th percentile for weight (20lbs).
i promise we're not starving her. she's just a picky eater. cheerios and oatmeal are the two things she doesn't reject on a regular basis.
however, if i fed her cake for breakfast, lunch and dinner i could probably guarantee we'd have an obese child in no time- she's a champ at eating sweets (just like her mother).

her new skills include:

• walking! although after a pretty rough tumble on the concrete she's pretty cautious about just toddling around on her own. she prefers a helping hand for security purposes. but when she does venture out on her own, it's usually accompanied by her shouting "go! go! go! go!" until she loses her balance and falls on her bum.
• knowing the word "dog", and applying the term not only to dogs, but to frogs, ducks, pigs, and horses.
• knowing where her tummy, eyes, and nose are. she also knows how to say "eye".
• nodding her head in the affirmative.
• knowing the hand signs to patty-cake and the itsy-bitsy spider.
• singing. it's cute.
• smiling to show off her two new front teeth! (that makes four of them. i'm proud of my little late bloomer!)

i got teeth!

nora's also becoming a little social butterfly- she loves waving and saying "hi" to all of the children she sees at the store. we're also trying to get her used to newborns... but she doesn't seem as interested in them as she does older kids (she might be in for a rude awakening here in a couple weeks... we'll see!)

february in review

now that it's halfway through march, how about i post about what we did back in february?
(i am on. top. of. things. around this blog, aren't i?)

which really isn't too exciting, because in february we all essentially got super sick a bunch more times. it was pretty miserable. i don't know what is going on with san diego recently, but apparently we are being visited by plagues (still. even into march. agh!). the pharaoh of this city needs to let moses's people go, or whatever, because it's seriously been beyond excessive, and i'm ready for it all to go away.

while we were busy recovering from our bouts of flus, colds, and other illnesses, chris and i celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary (this is 2 out of 2 i've spent pregnant), and valentines day! awwww, so much lovey-dovey in one month! we found time here and there between being sick to go out and celebrate, so it was like a whole four weeks of lover's-days. hooray! (although if you were to ask chris, he would have preferred just having a healthy family for all of those weeks. but, you know, you gotta take what you have handed to you and make the best of it, even if it's not ideal).

nora was happy on valentine's day! :) she had just gotten over being sick!

and there you have it! our super exciting monthly review, late as usual! :) hope everyone else has been seeing healthier days than we have!

also: our house is still coming along. in february the exterior saw the commencement of the plastering process:

while the interior got a bunch of electrical finished, doors and drywall installed and walls prepped for painting. maybe i'll have more pictures in next month's report! :)

11 months

oh my goodness. how is this the last month that our little nora will be considered a baby?! next month she graduates into toddler-hood. and i'd probably shed a tear here if we didn't already have more "baby"directly in the line-up. therefore and luckily, there will probably be more celebration than weeping when it happens. :)


growing up so fast! look how long those legs are now!

nora's becoming quite the little lady. this past month she has learned "pointing as a method of communication". thankfully this has reduced her disposition to be fussy, however she still does prefer to be held quite often- pointing here and there so that her lucky holder can take her whichever way suits her fancy, and screaming when she doesn't get her way. she really is quite spoiled.

"that way mom"

she is not yet saying too many words- just "hi", "bye" and "uh-oh"... she uses the latter before she throws something onto the ground- serves as a good little heads up for us. her newest thing is to nod her head and say "yeah"; she also babbles all sorts of baby nonsense while nodding her head as if to simulate a conversation. she also says "no," but only when she's attempting to touch a no-no thing, and she does it in a growly voice... i wonder where she learned that?

nora's been able to stand by herself for about a month now; however, she has become able to stand up from being seated without the aid of furniture if she reeeeeally wants to. no walking yet. most the time she likes to cry for someone to pick her up or power-crawl/cruise. she'll turn into a limp noodle if we so much try to help her walk. that girl is definitely something else.

nora's getting to be a pro at peekaboo. she sure likes the attention. she feeds off of the stuff. she's also having fun giving kisses... she's got quite the aggressive technique going on- chris and i are currently trying to teach her to tone it down.

we're still waiting for those two top teeth... they're pretty close. i'd say they'll definitely be in by next month, but isn't that what i said last time? anyways. we'll see.

waiting... waiting... hm...

until next month!