Catching up, a whirlwind tour of 2012

Hey! Welcome back to us...here is a quick recap of 2012 (complete with memories from our memory jar):

January:

February:

Undated- Xavi: “Water makes me sad.” (In reference to drinking water and not juice/soda)

2/15- Xavi jumped on Jeff while he was napping on the couch because he wanted to wake him up. Jeff jumped 5 feet in the air. 

2/21- Xavi (speaking in a British accent): “Do you want a spot of tea”. Amie and Leigh couldn’t figure out what he was saying for quite a while.

2/20- Vik loudly yells “Mama!” everywhere and all the time, very happily.

2/28- Vik was walking and Xavi was encouraging him as he was walking to Xavi. Xavi and Vik both had smiles on their faces. Amie was proud.

 March:

3/7- Xavi is trying to understand Amazon.com and where it is. Asked if we could buy lobsters on Amazon. He has been pooping for presents which explain his interest.

3/12- Xavi is playing in his space helmet which he calls his lacrosse helmet. He is obsessed with lacrosse.

3/18- Vik is finally enjoying grass and loves the dirt box.

April:

Undated- Viktor has started screeching like a pterodactyl/eagle when he’s looking at something or wants something.

4/6- Vik got Puma socks for his b-day and now Xavi is in love with Puma and wants Puma everything.

4/12- We saw the heartbeat of our 3^rd baby! Due 11/18/2012

4/24- Viktor and Jeff stayed home, while Amie and Xavi went to Costco. It was nice to sit, play, and enjoy Viktor and who he is. He loves to just be held and know I am here.

May:

5/5- Xavi is a fish. He swims and jumps in all by himself without any floatation devices. He’s so brave.

5/5- Viktor is fearless in the water. He goes right in and keeps walking off the ledge into the deep end.

5/20- Xavi got a teeter totter airplane from Didu and Gigi.

5/21- Vik got his first black eye on the teeter totter airplane.

Last week of May- The kids were all singing first and last names. Xavi made up “Isaac’s Snorin”. They were playing together, laughing and being silly. Playing in the dirt, swimming, and playing cards.

June:

Undated- Xavi has been reminding us to use the prayer pail—then says who he got— usually Lidia/Neuza and Scott.

6/12- Xavi rode his bike and the way to Gigis and did so well. Realized so much that he’s growing up and becoming independent.

6/12- Xavi prayed by himself from the prayer pail at lunch. He asked to do this on his own.

6/17- Spent the day at the pool. Jeff made a slide from an old slide we had and all 3 boys went down it (including Jeff).

6/30- Xavi and I were painting and he was making thunder and lightning and going “Boom!”. His creation/imagination reminded me of Good.

July:

7/3- Xavi got to have ice cream tonight because he finished his reading program. He then was super hyper and wouldn’t go to sleep, so he watched Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader with us and talked/questioned the entire movie and after.

7/5- We found out baby number 3 is a boy!

7/12- Xavi went to his 1^st movie- Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

7/16- Xavi has learned to play the Wii and is becoming obsessed though he is not competitive.

August:

8/4- Jeff and Amie were watching the Olympics and the power goes out (the only house on the street without power). The A/C unit makes a popping sound. Carlos comes over to help and Jeff discovers a frog on the wall/ceiling of the living room. Amie loses the frog and we have to look around the house for it. We find it under the kitchen table.

8/5- Xavi got his 1^st pet, a red Betta fish named “Peckabomb”. Xavi talks to him and Viktor loves him too.

8/7- Finding Xavi and Vik playing lego together on the floor. Vik is making car noises as he plays.

8/10-After seeing and Obama commercial, Xavi was very adamant that Obama was the catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Vik wakes up, Xavi says “Mom can you sing him back to sleep. Dad will take care of him.”

8/14- Vik has started going around the house and places yelling “Dada!” loudly, but he won’t do it on command though.

8/16- Xavi got his haircut like Isaac. Been asking for a while and we did it at the Hairy Elephant.

8/18- Family Apple Picking Day! Xavi loved picking and eating the apples. Vik loved all the apples living all over the ground free for the taking.

8/18- Xavi and Amie were walking and he said “Mom, when I get to heaven can I teach Grandpa Gary how to play golf.”

8/19- Xavi came out of his room and didn’t yell for us to get him.

8/22- Vik and I were reading and I pointed to a fire truck and made the noise and he mimicked me.

September:

Undated- Xavi and Vik’s morning routine is including OJ and coffee.

9/6- Xavi began tumbling on Thursdays and he loves it. Knows the kids names and he’s become even braver than he was before.

October:

Undated- Xavi: “Dad, what is a soul?”

Undated- We put out all the silver serving things and Xavi and Viktor love to cook and make tea with them. They are both very creative and imaginative.

10/1- Lately Vik will say “Yeah” when you are asking him a question and he wants it, or he’ll nod his head yes, no, or uh-oh. Can also say mama, dada, bun bun, up, and help.

10/6- Xavi: “Dad do you want to hit me? Lets have a lightsaber fight!” He says this as he is holding a wooden sword pretending it is a lightsaber.

10/13- Ron and Heidi’s wedding. Xavi was dancing the entire night and not wanting to stop. He cried when we left and didn’t want to stop even though he was exhausted. He danced shirtless.

10/17- Xavi was doing “toot leg” in our bed (lift his leg and make a fart noise). We asked him where he learned it and he said “Didu and Gigi”.

November:

11/11- Xavi and vik “riding” the treadmill in a laundry basket while Jeff turns it on.

11/23- At night had a fire and with the lights out Jeff told a story and the boys fell asleep under the blankets and the glow of the fire.

11/15- Baby Duker Arrived at 10:10pm, 20 ¾ inches and 7.15 lbs. Baby Teddy.

11/24- At 5:39am baby Teddy had the hiccups and wasn’t sleeping so Amie held him and he smiled at her and giggled for the first time.

11/26- Vik keeps saying “Hockey Taco” we don’t know why.

December: 

 

12/13- Xavi, “Mom do you like me? And you don’t want bad guys to take me?”

12/22- Xavi, “Mom, how do we open Christmas presents that don’t have bows on them?”

12/31- Xavi, “Mom, I think I am ready for a new pet.” Amie, “What would you like?” Xavi, “I think I would like a duck.”

 

Cousin Friends

We are terrible at updating this blog, or any blog for that matter, but specifically this one. So, instead of trying to play "catch up" from the last update I am just going to and do some little updates every couple of days. We will see how long this lasts.

Last week Jeremy, Shannon, Irene and  Isaac came to visit. They stayed at the Horton Hotel with daily excursions and activities in conjunction with the Four O. Seven Resort. It was fun to see the interaction between Xavi and his cousins. He and Isaac really hit it off and now have "conversations" that are incredibly entertaining.

This photo captures the essence of their relationship and the good times that even breakfast would bring:

 During the visit Xavi would wake up early (for him) to begin his adventures with Isaac. They got to swim together, fly the "airplane", went to zoo, the magic house, and even pick on Viktor together. Poor Vik just wants to be like his brother and would get upset that he was unable to do what his brother and cousin were able to do.

Xavi liked to engage with Irene as well, usually in the more artistic pursuits such as coloring, stickers, and activities of that nature.

As the visit concluded we were sad to see our Northern family members leave, but after such an action packed week exhaustion was quick to set in. Some of us did not get the luxury of an afternoon nap to recharge

Life has returned to normalcy for us (whatever that is) and Xav and Vik are back to causing trouble together as only brothers can:

 Vik is getting so big and is "growing up". He likes to wander around and is constantly getting in to things. The kid eats more than I do, but I guess that is necessary for such a growing boy. He loves to sleep and will smile at us when we put him to bed some nights. He is just like Xavi and loves to be outside playing in the dirt.

The other night we were reading to Xavi in his bed and heard a constant "thump" against the wall. I went in to the room and sure enough Viktor was sitting up smiling aware of the noise he was making. I pulled him into the bed to read with us and he had a great time. We decided that if/when the boys share a bedroom, it will be an epic struggle to get them to sleep every night.

 That is all for now. Welcome back to the blog!

Catching Up Still

Just added pics to the Catching Up Post, sorry it took a while. Enjoy!

Catching Up

The weather is nice and cool and it is a rainy day. The perfect day for creating a blog post to catch all of you readers up with pictures (and video!) of our recent exploits.

Since our last post was at the end of July, and really only covered our visit with Jeremy and Shannon, I feel like we have a lot to catch up on. Besides the events we will cover below, I wanted to make a few notes about Xavi and Viktor.


Xavi- he is growing much too fast. He is inquisitive and can be a little smart aleck (at 2 and a 1/2!) He is a daredevil who likes to run, jump, and go fast. He loves to jump over his brother when he is laying on the floor which scares Amie and I. He is talking more and more and is starting to like stories, not just pictures.


Viktor- he is loud, and wants to move. He gets so mad that he can't crawl that he just starts crying. He seems to always have a look of concern on his face, but with an older brother who is jumping over you it is not too surprising. He LOVES food and if he sees one of us eating he will start to get upset because he wants to eat too. He may start crawling soon as it is something he wants to do so badly. As i am tying this he is sitting yelling for me as he just wants to be picked up.


A Funeral in Memphis
My Nana passed away in mid July of this year. Amie and the boys went down with my mom a little earlier and I went down later for the funeral. It was great to see the family and allow Xavi to run around with all his cousins. Viktor didn't seem to mind things either.


My cousin Ben and his wife Lauren let us stay with them in their estate. It was lovely. Their son Nate is as tall as Xavi, yet Xavi calls him the "little boy Nate" which makes us laugh. My cousin Tara and her husband John, along with their family, also stayed with us (I told you it was an estate!) It was nice to catch up as I hadn't seen them in quite a few years.

We were able to make it out to my Aunt Jane's home on Saturday which was great fun for Xavi as she has lots of machines for her farm and horses too. It was the highlight of his trip as he can still tell us the names of all the horses that we rode that day. We also drove the gator around and this time i managed to keep it out of the lake.

Not sure what to think of the horses at first.

But then he rode one and liked it.

And by the end of the day was helping with the bath.

A quick story - There are blackberry bushes throughout the property that had EXCELLENT berries on them. Ben, Xavi, and I were driving around and found some of these bushes. I picked some of the berries and tried to give them to Xavi first. He wanted nothing to do with them. So Ben and I split them. They were amazing. Xavi reaches into my hand and grabs a berry. He does the "little kid taste" and once he realizes it is delicious, pops the whole thing in his mouth and asks for more. I pick another handful of berries and hold them out for Xavi to take a few. He grabs all of them out of my hand and proceeds to stuff his face. It was hilarious.

Family Picnic in Chicago
At the end of July we headed up to Chicago for the annual family gathering. We stayed in a hotel with the rest of the family and had a lovely time. Xavi had a wonderful time playing with Dean and all his "old" Thomas trains on Friday night. It is crazy to think that in a few years all the toys we have will be sold or boxed up.
Saturday we went to the picnic. The weather was nice this year. We had a good time relaxing and enjoying the delicious food, followed by some games. Amie and I took zero pictures as Sandy is the resident photographer and gets great shots of the entire day.

Sunday we reintroduced "Man Day" and headed out to my cousin Ron's house for a day of boating and enjoying the gorgeous lake/weather. That night we had a feast at Ana and Paulo's house as a lack of communication and gluten intolerance ended up with a table filled with Deep dish pizza, thin crust, and rice and beans. It was glorious. Overall a lovely weekend.

Jeff out of town/Rachel in town
I went out of town for a friend's bachelor party and Rachel came in town to stay with Amie and the boys. Of course they ended up having people over and fun times ensued.

Bird Sanctuary/Zoo/Lone Elk Park

Last weekend we decided to go on a more local adventure. Saturday the 3rd was International Vulture Awareness Day. We headed to the World Bird Sanctuary and despite the heat learned all about vultures and why we need them

(EEEEWWW. Vultures are gross, but we need them the most).

(A vulture as it flew over our heads, Xavi loved that it "touched his head")

We also got to see lots of other kinds of birds and Xavi was very interested in all the different types and their names.

Clyde the Eagle

(Daisy the chicken was also a favorite)

Very near the bird sanctuary is Lone Elk Park. Since we were so close we decided to drive over and take a look. We did find a herd of elk laying in the shade. Xavi started to walk very close to the herd and i was able to snap a few pictures before i got nervous and ran to get him. There are also bison in the park, but we didn't see any that day which was a bummer.


On Sunday we went to the zoo and had a great time as many of the animals were out and active because of the weather being a little cooler. Xavi loves to see the Hippos and they swam right next to him. It was good to get to go with Amie, Xavi, and Viktor as I often am at work when they go.



That about covers it. The rain is still falling and it is nice and cool. I guess i will go play trains now. As always check the link for more pictures of all of us.

TheTrip

A few weeks ago Jeremy and Shannon and Isaac and Irene came for a visit. Our pictures show the tales of the week.

Swimming is what we mostly did, while going to see The Little Mermaid at the Muny was a treat for the girls and going to the Train Museum was fun for some. Xavi now refers to Uncle Jeremy as Carlos Dos because he too rushes us through things like the train museum.

It was a great week and enjoy the pics.

Life with 2 kids

Viktor is almost 2 months old now and Xavi is well into his 2 years and extremely inquisitive and very talkative.

Viktor is pushing almost 12 pounds, while Xavi is a tiny 37 pounds.

Viktor from day one and continues to be very alert and looking at everything. He lets us know when he needs something, by very loudly screaming. Overall he's a good baby and we really don't have any complaints.

Xavi loves him and when he's asleep, thinks Vik needs to be awake and watching him. One afternoon I found Xavi in Vik's crib laying with him. Mostly Xavi likes to lay with him in his baby gym. Here's hoping they will always get along.

It's been kinda tough starting over, we have been so used to just Xavi and being able to throw a diaper in the car and be gone for the day. Now we have to cart around so much more stuff for an outing that only lasts an hour.

Xavi really loves watching Bob the Builder and has been inspired to build a big house in the dirt box that Jeff made for him in the backyard. He also has taken a huge liking to drawing, painting, etc. He loves to sit at the kitchen table and create. This makes us smile.

Xavi has now officially received his first hair cut. It went much better than expected and he still has his beautiful blonde hair.

Viktor likes to sit is his chair and watch us and be apart of whatever we are doing. He sleeps more soundly while in the thick of the family.

We are looking forward to more visitors this summer. Auntie Rach just left us and Xavi has been very sad. She played with him and swam with him and he loved every minute with her, sadly not one pic was taken during her visit.

We'll try to post more, but who are we kidding. You'll just have to come and visit and hang out at the pool with us!