Twins?  

The girls had their "well" visits today and well, it wasn't all fun and games.  Amelia asked her daddy to come with us so he did.  Of course he did, anything his "baby girl" wants!  The girls each got 3 shots and Jbird got the flu shot. He didn't cry but I can't say the same for the girls!  Amelia was so cute when she was getting examined...she reached her hand out and ask Ryan to hold it and wanted to sit on his lap for the shots.  She's such a daddy's girl and should be because he's a great daddy and loves her to pieces.

The stats:

Amelia; weight is 25 lbs 14 oz(25%), height is 34 inches(25%)

Mabel; weight is 25 lbs 10 oz(95%), height is 29inches(50%)

Yup, you read that correctly...Mabel is only 4 oz smaller than her big sister Amelia.  But hey, she's gone down in % since she used to be 97% :)

I can't have a post without a picture so I added this one of the kids playing with their daddy in the box that Mabel's Pottery Barn chair came in.  Cover came tonight so I will take some pics of her in it tomorrow.

Manhattan Beach Holiday Celebration

We took the kids to Manhattan Beach this evening for snow, sledding, picnic dinner, music, friends and fireworks!  I didn't have my nice camera so my iphone pics will have to do.

This was considered the most beautiful day in LA all year.  It was unreal.  Perfectly warm, clear and a slight ocean breeze.  Check out this sunset...

They closed Manhattan Beach Blvd so we layed out a blanket, beach chairs and took turns taking the kids sledding. Jeremy and mommy LOVED sledding.  Amelia enjoyed it as well but not like Jbird.

Mabel didn't know what happened when I put her down in the snow but as soon as she figured it out, didn't like it.  Too cold for her little feet.  This was taken at 5 pm so you can see that is was warm enough for short sleeved and no socks.

The fireworks were set off to holiday music and were mostly green and red. Mabel sat still in my lap the whole time watching them and loving it.  Jeremy was in heaven.  Where's Amelia....she's under the blanket on Ryan's lap. She hated it and cried when they started.

Mabel is 1!!!!!!

As I do every birthday, I take the picture right when I walk in the room to remember what they look like first thing in the morning. I still can't believe my baby is 1.  

Jeremy and Amelia were very patient waiting for Mabel to wake up and unwrap her presents which.  She decided to sleep in on her birthday and didn't wake up until 8am so they waited quite awhile.  I tried to grab the video in time but couldn't catch Jeremy saying, "Mabel, you're 1 today.  It's your birthday" in the sweetest voice ever. 

I think I look old in this picture but I'm sure there will be a day when she looks back on these photos and thinks that her mom looks young. :)

To celebrate her birthday, I invited just a few of our friends who have helped us, loved us and been there for us this first year.  Thank you.

Birthday decor

Birthday friends; top left is Nicole and Louise, top right is the south bay girls - Jess and Bella, Natalie and Mabel and Christy and Jolie, bottom left are south bay and Jen and Henry Pickett, bottom right is my neighbor Bethany and myself

Cake time.  She got really mad when I put her in the chair because she was ready for bed.  When she saw that a cupcake was coming her way, she settled down.

She loved it!!!!!!!  However, she got mad once again when it was bath time :)  

What is she doing now that she's 1?

She crawls very fast but has taken a couple steps.  3 this evening!!!

She waves hello, finds the moon when you ask her where it is, holds up number 1 when you ask her how old she is, gets fired up when you take her blankie away, loves dancing, lets anyone hold her and is very social, still HATES diaper changes, LOVES to wrestle with her dad and is still a happy (most of the time) baby.  

We love you Mabel Babel...to many many many many more years!

Fun Friday was a trip to the South Bay Botanic Garden in Palos Verdes

Mabel's Follow up cardiology appt

Let me start off by saying that she was such a GOOD girl during the whole appt.  She had an EKG to confirm something was not 100%.  She then had a check up by the dr in which she just looked up at him with her big blue eyes while he listened to her heart.  Lastly, she had an ultrasound.  What did they find...

Two things: 

1.  She has a MILD Pulmonary Valve Stenosis (Pulmonary valve stenosis is a condition in which the flow of blood from the heart (right ventricle, or lower chamber) is blocked at the valve that separates the heart from the pulmonary artery (pulmonic valve)

What does this mean for Mabel?  Nothing right now.  They want to 

keep an eye on it and see her again in a year to make sure the blockage doesn't get worse.  According to the dr, "historically, it doesn't get worse but" he wants to make sure.

2.  She has PFO.  A patent foramen ovale (PFO) is a defect in the septum (wall) between the two upper (atrial) chambers of the heart. Specifically, the defect is an incomplete closure of the atrial septum that results in the creation of a flap or a valve-like opening in the atrial septal wall (see illustration). A PFO is present in everyone before birth but seals shut in about 80% of people.

So this sounds like a lot of not so good news but both are small and mild. He said she is thriving and we should treat her like we have been doing for the last year.  All is good.  

Love you Miss Mabel

Mabel's early birthday!  Olivia and Hudson wanted to celebrate Mabel's birthday with her since they will be in Hawaii on her actual birthday!  They were soooo sweet and helped her open her present and brought her donuts.  As you can see...she loved it!

Which one shall I eat?  Hmmm...

She ate the whole thing by herself! I mean, literally.  I didn't break it into little pieces and there was not a crumb left. 

Auntie Jamie asked me how old I am and I said "1"!  My first "Happy birthday" song.

What do we do on a gloomy day?

Well, it's kind of fun sometimes because I can break out arts and crafts, stay in PJ's and not feel guilty about it.  So that's what we did.  We were all in our PJ's until almost 10:30.  That may sound early to some but I am usually up and at 'em with the kids by 9.

We enjoyed all of our Christmas decorations.

The "go to" entry way decor!  Advent calendars on the bottom so the kids can get right to it first thing in the morning and the "only come out at Christmas time" Christmas books stacked to the right.  And that reindeer hanging on for dear life...not sure but the kids like it so I left it. :)  Oh, the advent calendars have since been moved because when mommy left for a little bit today...this happened

A little blurry but can you see the chocolate around her mouth?  Yup, she got into them and ate 3 days worth of chocolate.  This girl's going to be trouble.  Oh yeah, Mabel actually stayed in her pj's ALL day and I only changed her out of them to put new ones on to go to bed.

Amelia played with floam!

Jeremy drew a sting ray and then glued stuff around it.  Amelia glued stuff too but I didn't get a picture.

They played Elefun (one of their favorite games)!

When everyone was up from their naps, we loaded into the car to head down to a Winter celebration in El Segundo.  I was informed that there was snow so Amelia had rain boots on to keep her feet from getting cold. We even took Jack and Annie.  It was quite a car load.  When we got there, there was no snow and the school band playing loud music = Amelia scared of the noise and 5 bored kids.  So we took a picture....

(Annie was ready for the snow and notice that Mabel is STILL in her pj's)

...and then left and went to a local park where the kids played, climbed and then we did some lawn bowling.

Now the kids are in bed, I'm back in my pj's and I'm going to enjoy the fire in the fireplace.

2010 School Photos

This is mommy's dress when she was 2 years old living in Germany.

Family Photo Shoot 2010


Oma and Opa's backyard!

Oma and Opa with all their grandkids

 Oma and her granddaughters (missing Cece bug who wanted nothing to do with it)

Opa and his girls

 Opa and his grandsons

 The whole crew!
From left to right; Jacqui, Jett, Nick, Benny, Windy, Georgia, Kalea, Opa, Christian, Kira, Oma, Dave, Jeremy, Cece, Courtney, Ryan, Amelia, Teddy, Skylar and Mabel

Family Portrait

 The original Little family

All the moms and dads

Siblings

 Namesake

 Miss Mabel

Sweet Jeremy and his best friend Mabel :)

'Tis the season...

to get ready for Christmas!

I love this time of year!  Did I say "love" because I mean I love this time of the year.  I think I love it more now because not only is it warm, cozy, think of others season but it's the time of year when I had my baby Mabel.  I've thought a hundred times about what I was doing last year at this time. Good memories and still making good ones.  So we got the house FULLY ready for Xmas by Sunday night including the outside lights which is Ryan's least favorite thing to do but I make him do it anyway.  I love opening the boxes and the smell of Christmas is back instantly.  I am usually anal about decorating the tree but since the kids are older, they got to put the non breakable ornaments around the bottom.  Ryan still doesn't get to decorate :) They had a blast.  Auntie Jacqui was here to help so she had to rearrange because the kids put all the ornaments on the same branches so it was "a little heavy on the decor".  We started some traditions last year which we will continue this year...those being; we put away all Christmas books the minute Christmas was over last year.  We pulled them out this year and they had so much fun reading the books.  Their favorite...T'was the night before Christmas because Grandmommy gave it to them with her voice reading it.  Jeremy came running in and yelled, "grandmommy says she loves us" when the book ended.  He's listened to that page over and over.  Another tradition is that after dinner and bath, we load up in the car and drive around looking at Christmas lights before bed.   They would warn each other when lights were coming.  Jeremy would say, "Amelia, lights are on your side" and she would then say, "Jbird, your side".  Back and forth the whole 45 minute drive.  Yes, time flies and it's fun so why not.  Mabel just sits in the middle.  Some traditions to look forward to are Candy Cane Lane, Gingerbread houses, Grandmommy's peppermint sticks, Santa visiting Westchester, Griffith Park Lights, advent calendars from Oma and Opa, more driving to look at lights, J picking a present for A and A picking for J.  I think they've already asked 100 times when they can open the calendars.  Jeremy spent all of his "quiet time" with me :( finding every number so it wouldn't take too long on the actual day.  Sorry for the long post but I want my kids to read this and laugh some day.

Random things we did over the holiday weekend...

 We took the kids to the beach

We spent quality time hanging out

The boys watched football with their babies

Did I mention Cousin Eddy came to visit?

We celebrated Teddy's 3rd birthday!