A whirlwind…

I can’t believe Christmas is over already!  I feel like there is so much excitement and so much to do leading up to Christmas, that it is a bit of a let-down once it is over.  Such a whirlwind!  And unfortunately, one thing I didn’t realize I would miss is that I can’t bribe Charlotte by telling her that “Santa Claus is watching”…I guess I will have to come up with another stellar parenting technique :)

That being said, we had a wonderful holiday…Henry’s 1st Christmas, and the first Christmas where Charlotte really “got it”.  So exciting.  We had a nice Christmas Eve…went to 5pm Mass, and got to watch our favorite organist/musician with his flowing locks, which is always entertaining. :)  Charlotte was quite funny, as she would spread her arms out and spin in circles (while looking up at the sky) as they sang…she had everyone in the back of church giggling.  And Henry, like the good boy he is, slept through the entire thing.  After Mass, we went to Kathy and Ed’s for dinner, which was nice (albeit rushed).  Santa Claus came to visit the kids there, and Charlotte surprisingly didn’t cry…although she didn’t let him out of her sight for one second, and when we got close to him, she gripped on to me for dear life.  Baby steps.

Mommy, Charlotte & Henry on Christmas Eve

Attempting to get a family picture with Santa, although Henry isn’t looking the right way!

Henry is really not impressed…couldn’t care less!

Charlotte & Owen playing with the present Santa gave Charlotte

Grandma & Henry

I thought we would have a hard time getting Charlotte to bed because she was so excited, but we just put Santa’s cookies out for him and she was asleep within minutes.  Here is what she came downstairs to on Christmas morning:

So exciting…although I think maybe she was a bit overwhelmed.  But that didn’t stop her for long, and soon she was tearing into her presents like a pro. Luckily, Grandma came over to my parents’ house in the morning, as well, so she got to see Charlotte open her gifts.

Excited little girl!

  

Surfing on daddy’s new board

Henry got his Sophie teether, and so he was a happy boy!

Happy Henry :)

This is classic…look at Charlotte’s face—it is because I was paying attention to Henry and taking the pictures above.

My parents had Christmas dinner at their house…it was so great to see our family, and we loved not having to travel.  Good thing, because Charlotte was able to play with all of her toys, and by about 6pm Jon and I were exhausted and ready for bed ourselves :) 

Playing with her princess castle

Uncle James & Henry

Charlotte upon seeing the gift from Mama…a grocery storefront!

Henry’s turn

The kiddies

This “horsie”, affectionately dubbed “Caroline”, was one of Charlotte’s favorite gifts!

Even Henry got a ride on her!

The day after Christmas, we got a huge snowstorm and very strong winds…Jon tried to take Charlotte outside, but after putting her in her snowsuit and snow gear (which took quite a long time!), she lasted only about 14 seconds. So she came in and had hot chocolate with mommy instead…clearly, she is my daughter!

Before braving the storm…

As wide as she is tall :)

And, she’s done…that was fast!

In other news, Jon and I got a new car (you can see the back of it in the last picture)…after a lot of research, we ended up with the 2011 Honda Pilot.  Although I haven’t been able to drive it that much yet (see above re: snowstorm!), I love it and I am so excited that I have a safe car for my kiddies. And luckily, Jon doesn’t have to drive his 1984 BMW in this horrible weather…he inherited the Jeep just in time!

As for Henry, he is getting bigger everyday…I feel like I am carting around a toddler most days.  Actually, he is almost as big as my toddler :)  He has also taken to rolling from belly to back in the middle of the night, and then he gets stuck like a turtle on his back, so he starts grunting to wake me up.  So, surprise, surprise, I’m still exhausted!  One of these days, I will be able to sleep through the night again…I just wish I knew when, because I am ready :)

Xoxoxo

Sooooo big! :)

So, our little chunky boy is getting even bigger…we went to the doctor last week for his 4 month appointment (about a week late), and he was 25” and 15lbs, 10oz (or 15lbs, 8oz…the nurse said the former, but the doctor wrote down the later…either way, he’s heavy!).  The doctor told us we can start him on solids, but he is doing so well on breast milk that I think we are going to wait for a while…there is a lot of research that shows that delaying solids is better for the babies (less allergies, lower obesity rates, etc.), and besides—it is easier for us to wait!  We gave Charlotte baby food around 5.5 months, so I think we will wait until Henry is between 5-6 months as well.

As usual, Henry was as good as gold at his appointment, clearly not taking after his older sister.  He didn’t even cry for his first shot, although he let out a little squeal when he got the second. And the whole time, Charlotte was sitting in the stroller asking, “I no have to get nakie, right mommy? I no go to the docor, right mommy?”…as long as she wasn’t the patient, she could care less about her little brother! But alas, one more set of shots is over, which makes me very happy.  Here is a picture of him after his shots…in a deep sleep recovering from his traumatic experience :)

And in other Henry news, he rolled over from belly to back on Dec. 20th…Mamie saw him do it the first time, and as usual, I was a bit skeptical. It always seems that Mamie “sees” all of the milestones before anyone else, but this time, she wasn’t fibbing because he did it a few more times when I was with him later on that day :)  If only he could get his arm out of the way more often, I think he would be a rolling fool…

As for Charlotte, she is super excited about Santa Claus…actually, not about Santa per se, mostly just the presents.  She keeps asking for a “horsie” (who is going to live in her crib, apparently) and a guitar…except when she says “guitar”, it sounds like “couture”, so people always think she has really expensive taste at 2.5 years old, ha!  That reminds me that Jon actually needs to find a guitar for her tonight or tomorrow… 

We had her Mommy & Me Christmas Christmas party last Tuesday…it was very cute.  All of the kids got reindeer antlers and exchanged little goodies.  Here is a picture of the kids…

Oh, and Charlotte told me and Jon yesterday that she wants to be a “lawyer” when she grows up, so she can be “just like mommy”…too adorable for words.

Jon and I are off to pick up our new car…we just bought a 2011 Honda Pilot EXL today! We are so excited to have more space, and a safe mom-mobile :)

Xoxoxo

Oh, Christmas Tree…

Well, I've been pretty bad about writing recently...I need to get better about it. If only Henry would go to sleep early, and stay asleep without me having to replace his pacifier 5200 times, I could probably get on the computer more often.

Anyway, like I said in my last post, two weekends ago we went to get our first Christmas tree. Jon and I never got one when we were living in the city because, well, I was always studying and then when I was done, we would usually head out to HB. Plus, the past two years Charlotte has really been too young to understand Christmas decor. But we obviously wanted to get one this year...a new house, a toddler who is beyond excited about Christmas...it was time.

So, after our unfortunate encounter with the sad-looking Santa, we went home to decorate our first tree.  One problem--we can't find any of our ornaments!!!  We have been getting some every year since 2004 when we got married, and we have no idea where they are (even Charlotte’s “my 1st Christmas” ornaments!).  We never had them in the city, and we can't find them at my parents' house or Jon's mom's house...they are officially MIA.  So we just went with the red/gold balls this year, which works for now! Here are some pics of our first tree :)

Henry just taking in all of the craziness…

So busy!

The finished product :)

 

Feeling in the holiday spirit, I decided to decorate a gingerbread house with Charlotte a few days later.  Note to self: probably could’ve waited a few years for this project! A 2.5 year old isn’t able to resist eating the cookies, icing and candy simply because it would make the house look better…if I didn’t know better, I would think she didn’t give a damn about how our gingerbread house came out! :) 

I did manage to get some pictures, though, and Charlotte had her fill of the gross candy. 

P.S.—my mom NEVER decorated a gingerbread house with me during my childhood, so don’t judge me for my lack of skills…at least I am trying :)

Okay, I need to get off the computer and think about going to sleep soon...I got a whopping 2-3hrs of sleep last night being that Henry woke up every 20-30 min fussing for his pacifier. I'm sensing some sleep training in our near future, because I can't make it much longer on this little sleep. 4 months is when Charlotte started sleeping 7pm-7am, and she never looked back! So it is about time for Henry to get on the bandwagon. Unfortunately, he is getting his shots tomorrow, and I think he's starting to teethe, so something tells me it is going to get worse before it gets better...ugh.  All I want for Christmas is 8hrs of consecutive sleep...actually, I don't want to be greedy, I will take 6hrs! :)

I will leave you with a cute picture of my munchkins, and call it a night!

Xoxoxoxo

Close encounters with Santa

 

We’ve been talking a lot about Santa recently, with Charlotte telling me how nice he is, and how much he loves her. And whenever she behaves, without fail she asks me, “you tell Santa I so good”? So you would think she would be excited to see him.  Well, you would be wrong! When we went to go get our tree, a very bad Santa imposter was at the store and came up to Charlotte (while she was in her stroller) to say “hello”. Cue the quiver lip, and hysterical crying. Good thing mommy had a donut waiting in the wings, because it was shaping up to be quite the meltdown! So, needless to say, I don’t think we will be getting any pics of the kids on Santa’s lap anytime soon…maybe next year?

Off to decorate our tree!

xoxoxo

It has been a while…

I haven’t been too good about updating this recently, but we have had a very busy week at the Rocafort household.  After a nice Thanksgiving break, we are back in RVC and we finally—drumroll, please—have some furniture and window treatments! We made the switch from our formal dining room to the combined living/dining and separate den, and I am loving it so far. It feels much more like home. We still have to get our rugs (as Jon reminds me everyday), we need another couch for our den, and décor all around, but we are getting there…at least we aren’t living in a “fish bowl” anymore! We also made a lot of progress on the basement/eventual playroom. The carpet and runner are in, George and my wonderful father put up our lighting, the entertainment center and chest are in, and our couch was delivered today. We still need to get some toy storage and window treatments…oh, and to bring all of the toys down there, but I am thrilled that we will be able to play down there this winter.

Speaking of winter, it feels like it came on pretty fast…yesterday we went to the park, and we were the only ones there. After about 15 min, Charlotte said “I FREEZING…we need to go home!”  On the way home, she was telling me about how being cold at the park reminds her of her “city nest” (what she calls our old apartment)…very true, she and I spent many a cold morning at Hippo Park last year!

As for Henry, he is still as good as gold…even when Charlotte is being VERY rough with him (which is often these days!). He is so big, and I am embarrassed to admit this, but I actually am in physical pain from hauling him around all the time. Yup, a shoulder injury from carrying my baby who isn’t even 4 months old. I am guessing he is around 15-16 lbs., and when Charlotte was that big, she was definitely mobile! On the bright side, my left arm is going to be pretty cut…who cares if my arms aren’t quite the same size?!

I am excited to share pictures of the house soon, but for now, I have a lot of pics to share of my little munchkins!

The pic before and after this one aren’t as peaceful…

Charlotte very excited for daddy’s birthday cake!

Happy 31st birthday Jon!

My dad and his mini-me

Happy Henry laughing at mommy…

Daddy and his little boy

Is this normal?!

Cuddles with Mamie

Charlotte watering Mamie’s flowers

Great day for some fall pics…check out the beautiful trees in the background.

Jon was surfing on this cool November day…and yes, he makes me proud

Charlotte’s reaction to seeing daddy

Henry turned 3 months on Nov. 9th!

Charlotte’s new picture pose…fake smile just like mommy!

There are no words…Ray, well, not really sure what to say…and Charlotte desperately needs a bow!

Henry in his 1st Thanksgiving bib

Charlotte feeding her baby “Abby” (one of many). When we are confused as to what Abby she is referring to, she says “pink dress, pink bow” in an exasperated tone. Duh!

Okay, sorry for the picture overload, but the kids are too cute to make me choose

xoxoxoxo