Holiday Happenings

I think the last time I updated was right before Thanksgiving. Now it's past Christmas so here is probably my last post for this year! Nothing too crazy going on over here. Since we last checked in, Samara turned 10 months, Anayah performed in her first Christmas program at preschool, we all had the stomach flu, and the holidays came and went in the blink of an eye! Nothing new going on over here so I'll just show you what we've been up to for the last month or so:

 Christmas program at school:

One last trip to Disneyland before the end of the year. She was beyond excited to see Sofia!! Samara still isn't quite as enamored with the place hehe:

Checking out the lights with her bestie Jack:

 Samara and Bruno tearing up the house:

 
First present "opening" of the season. Daddy did an amazing job putting this thing together the night before! There were soooo many parts!

 Christmas Eve with the whole family:

 Christmas morning...waiting for everyone to wake up so they can open presents:

 Samara's first Christmas:

 Anayah was spoiled blessed again this year with tons to open!

 I love her screams in this video:

Day 3 of opening presents. She may not look too excited about this chair but this was the ONLY picture I could get because she wouldn't keep still from jumping for joy when she saw it! Thank you to great-Grandma S. who surprised her with it. The pictures on the left are the pictures she took with my phone of her dolls sitting in the chair. Haha they had a photo shoot apparently :)

This cracks me up. In Anayah's words: "this is me and this is sissy" Bahahaha!!!

Hoping to post Samara's 10 month deets tomorrow. We'll see if it actually happens. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

8 & 9 Months

These last two months have flown by even faster than before! Since we've gotten back from vacation, I've been busy with weddings and holiday photo sessions, my grandma was here visiting, we got a puppy (!), and the girls are just growing like weeds! I realized I never posted Samara's 8 month pictures so here is 8 & 9 together. She's reached quite a few milestones in the last two months and before you know it she will be ONE!! Geez, time moves too fast! Anyway, here are her 8 month pictures first:

In the last two months she has finally gotten her first tooth! And another one is very close behind. She's also mastered crawling and has taken to pulling herself up and cruising along the furniture. She will also stand by herself for quite some time if you put her there. I'm pretty sure she will be walking within the next few months, probably sooner than A did, and most definitely before her first birthday! She continues to sleep through the night, going down around 6:30 and wakes up between 6:30-7:00 the next morning. Most days she naps at 9, 1 and 3:30 but recently has been dropping her last nap. This girl can eat (just like her sister did) and loves being able to feed herself. We're not sure exactly how much she weighs but around 17lbs is what we're thinking. She's small like A was but definitely longer...she can fit in 6mo pants but they're too short on her. These 9mo pictures are all from my phone...apparently I haven't used my camera on them in a while :/

She's still the happiest baby I've known, always smiling, even when she's cranky. Lately she's been giving us some 'tude which I'm sure she's learning from her sis, but hopefully she stays mellow, because I don't know if I can handle TWO divas! Hahaha. Samara, you continue to be a constant source of joy in our lives. You really do light up a room and make someone happy just by looking at you. I can't imagine what life was like without you. We love you so much, love bug, more than you'll ever know!

Fall Back

Well, life has sure been busy lately. I feel like ever since the time change there aren't enough hours in the day anymore! The girls now get up at an awful hour of the morning (yes, 6am is too early!) and are ready to go once they're awake. We've been keeping busy with our new puppy, Bruno, who I might add is very energetic...it really is like having another child around the house. The girls love him and B is thrilled we finally have a Boston. Me, well, I'm not quite as enamored as the rest of the family, but I'll keep him around ;)

Right before Halloween we hit up our local pumpkin patch for our annual dose of pumpkin fun. It was Samara's first patch and she was thrilled to play with the pumpkins. Anayah loved all the slides and rides and even the swing!

 Sadly, I didn't make the family pumpkin patch picture this year...

For Halloween at Anayah's school, everyone dressed up as cowboys/girls. She loved her outfit and was so excited to get to school that morning! That evening we hung out with our good friends the Von Rosens and Anayah and Jack got to dress up and go trick-or-treating together. They were so cute dressed as Jake and Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates (Disney Jr. for those who don't know). Samara wore the infamous bee costume and looked so cute! 

 See?!

 

Don't they look so alike here?!

 They wouldn't keep still for a picture together!

I can't believe it's a week before Thanksgiving and I've yet to take any pictures of the family on my camera this month! I've been super busy with holiday photo sessions and working on my new website that I only have my phone pics to document the last few weeks. On top of all of that I've been starting to plan for Samara's first birthday! I know it will be here before we know it. Whew! On that note, I'm off to get some work done while A is in school and S is napping! Until next time...

7 Months

We were actually on vacation when this one turned seven months so I don't actually have her "rug" picture this time, but here are a few of her on a towel. On the beach. Ha. Tough life right?!

She so needs a tan haha. She's loving her little snacks and being able to feed herself. She's also been scooting around a ton more and is almost fully crawling on all fours! She's now growing at a rapid pace and I still have yet to start her party planning!! Slow down, little girl.

We love you bunches love bug.

About That Time

And so it begins...

 Yep, we're in trouble now!



 In related news, this is what the older one has been up to...

They keep me on my toes for sure!

Friday Favorite

Life is captured on my phone these days...I really need to start using my real camera!

Happy Friday!

Mommy & Me Night

Every now and then I think it's important to spend one-on-one time with each of the girls. Last night we made a very spontaneous trip to Disneyland for a couple hours. It was good to get out of the house, spend time with friends, and more importantly spend time alone (without daddy or sister) with my favorite toddler (or is it preschooler now?)

Because it was soooo hot and humid it really wasn't very crowded and we got right on most of the rides in CA. I think the longest we waited was about 10 minutes. We were able to get on quite a few and managed to head out by 7pm so she was home in time to get to bed at a decent hour. My favorite pictures of the night

 

She was being silly in the first one, giving me some cheesy grin, then the ride started going and it was fun to watch the progression of feelings in her expressions. This, though, is my absolute favorite...

Man I love this kid! 

Snacking Machine

So now that she's officially 6 months she thinks she's such a big girl!

I wasn't sure if she was ready for puffs so I started her on mum-mums.

 I got this mom. One handed and all!

Yeah, she tore them up! She ate both crackers in one sitting! Messy face and all she's still so stinkin' adorable.

Guess it's time to start stocking up on more snacks.

Friday Favorite

Her 5/6 month post will up later but for now here's my current favorite:

Happy Friday!

5 & 6 Months

I'm seriously like a broken record. I won't even say it this time. Enjoy the pictures! It's 5 AND 6 months. Gah, total failure!

These 5 month pictures are all from my phone. Apparently I didn't take ANY with my camera :(

Here are her regular monthly pictures...these are 6 months:

 I love this series of her (photo bombed by her sister!)

 Practicing her sitting skills

 Oh the conversations these two will have...

At her most recent dr. visit she weighed in at 13.2lbs and measured 25in. which puts her in the 5th percentile for weight, 18th for height, and 8th percentile for her height/weight combination. Her dr. asked if I was feeding her enough and if she seemed cranky or not like herself. Ha! No, doc, my child is as happy as can be and if you saw her eat you wouldn't be so concerned. This girl can eat! She's like her daddy and sister...they eat a ton and have a very fast metabolism. So thankful they got his genes in that department ;)

In the last two months she has started sleeping through the night consistently! She goes to bed around 6:30 and wakes anywhere between 6:00-6:30. She is a much better napper than her sister was and will take 2-3 naps a day, anywhere from 45min - 2hrs! She continues to be a very happy baby and everyone who meets her is so surprised at how calm and content she is. Until you take her food away though. Now that's a different story! I don't think her hair is going to fall out like Anayah's did. It just keeps growing and getting curlier by the day. I think they'll have different types of curls though. The time continues to fly by and I haven't quite started planning her first birthday, but I need to get on that very soon! For now I'll just continue to cherish her baby-ness...since I know it will soon be gone.

Time is just too fast. I can't keep up. I think I'll start NOW on her 7th month post.