Vincent & a Newborn

Me holding 2 day old Amariah and Melissa holding 2-
month old Vincent

I can't believe how much bigger Vincent
looked next to Amariah. He's only 2
months older than her, but he just
seemed huge

And I had forgotten how newborns have that distinct
look to them

Vincent with Kathy, Melissa's mom

A Jarrod and I Update

Just to let you all know what is going on with our lives as well (and, I promise, a Vincent update soon).

So, first off, a Happy New Year's to everyone. I hope you can enjoy the moments you had in 2008 and, if not, then I hope 2009 is off to a better start. We've had quite a few things happen to us this year, including the new baby, moving in (and out of) our own place, getting married, and more. It's been a good year though. I hope the next is a good year for us as well.

Secondly, I've actually had a few people ask me about my camera - so I am just going to answer it here on my blog because it's easier. I use a Canon 40D. I usually just use a portrait lens, which is difficult to shoot with but makes for a gorgeous picture. I still do photo shoots from time to time for my company (CJ Photography), but lately being a stay-at-home mom has consumed a lot of my time. I have a photo shoot coming up on the 11th for some co-workers of Alice and another for my friend's newborn baby, but I don't have the motivation or the time to promote - so I simply don't. It's more of a hobby anyway, as we don't need the money. I have my focus set on other things now.

I am currently training and studying to become a doula, certified by DONA. I've been planning to go to school to become a CNM (certified nurse midwife), but I honestly don't have the time for that much school. You do not have to be a registered nurse to become a midwife, but I'd prefer to segway into that when the kids are older. So, I am becoming a doula. I'm pretty excited about it and should be finished with my final seminar sometime in March. I hope to be able to work with the midwife on the AFB.

Oh - and anyone in Minnesota - I am flying out there with Vincent on January 8th and leaving on the 11th. I'll be staying in Shakopee and I'd love to see some of you...

As for Jarrod, he is officially an Airman of the United States Air Force. He will be leaving on January 20th to go to Lackland Air Force Base (San Antonio, Texas) for his basic training. That will last for 9 weeks. After that, he goes to Sheppard Air Force Base (in Wichita Falls, Texas - about 2 hours north of San Antonio) for job training. He is going to be a load master. Don't ask me what they do, because I still don't fully understand. I know he'll be flying a lot and makes sure the planes not too heavy... After that, we figure out where he gets stationed. The kids and I are going to stay here in Glendale until we get housing on base, then we'll move to be with him. It's exciting, but a little bittersweet as we have never been away from each other for that amount of time before.

Jarrod hopes to get in some classes while we're living on base. He hasn't decided what he wants to do yet, but hopes it somehow involves physics.

I'm going to go get a start on Vincent's updates now =)

Grandpa Jay

Jay NEVER holds Vincent. I asked
him to watch Vincent for 15 minutes
while I showered, and when I came
back downstairs, this is what I saw. I
had to take a photograph as
documented proof

Hayden Update

(Vincent's update will be coming soon, hopefully). Hayden is officially 35 months, when means I have to (officially) stop saying her age in months. She'll be 3 in less than 30 days and that seems crazy to me. Was she really born 3 years ago? That can't be right. It hasn't been that long... or so I seem to be trying to convince myself.

Hayden's still a spit-fire. She has a little reddish-tint to her hair, but you'd think it'd be more prominent with the red-headed attitude that she carries. She's hot-tempered, impatient, and stubborn - which can also be transferred over to mean passionate, intelligent, and perseverant. She's smart. Too smart. She's a troublemaker, but I love her for it. I see a lot of me in her, and that makes me happy. I think I turned out alright.

She's far too advanced for her age, so we've already committed to putting her in Montessori in August. She can count up to 10 in 2 different languages (Spanish and French) and she can count to 15 in English. Not only can she do the counting in repetition, but she recognizes her numbers. She can also recognize about 70% of the alphabet. She can mostly sing the ABC song, but she struggles a little with the middle. I started her on baby signs and she seems to sign the letters better than she says them, but I'm okay with that. She still signs a lot of things ("more" and "thank you" mostly, though "nurse" is making a comeback as she always signed "nurse" instead of "milk" and she sees me sign it to Vincent). We decided to put her in Montessori because we think she might get bored in regular preschool and Montessori is based on an at-your-own-pace type of teaching.

Jarrod has finally agreed to let me put her in some sort of semi-organized play group, but I haven't decided what I am going to do yet. We've considered enrolling her in one of the Gymboree classes or perhaps a T-Ball for Toddlers group they have here. So far, the only time she really plays with other kids is the 1 hour a week she is at the L.A. Fitness daycare center or the 2 hours a month she is around the other kids at my La Leche League meetings. It's a shame because she LOVES playing with children. She calls anyone her size or smaller "baby" and anyone bigger than her "kid." I think we're leaning more towards the Gymboree music class but... we'll see.

Have I mentioned how polite Hayden is? We're working on the "please's" because she tends to only use them when she is trying to persuade you to give her something she knows she shouldn't have, but she always minds her "thank you's" and "your welcome's." She also likes to burp and say, "Excuse me!" I know the burping on purpose part isn't so polite but... in theory...

Luckily, her tantrums have died down a little, however - I have a feeling she will never truly be done with them. She seems the type of girl who will be throwing tantrums well into her thirties. I told Jarrod she is a "bridezilla in the making."

She's still a Daddy's Girl, though in a more demanding way. It amuses me to hear her shout, "DAD! Come downstairs!" 3... going on 13. Jarrod asked her for a hug recently, while she was putting together a puzzle, and she said, "No. I'm busy." 10 minutes later she went to cuddle up with him. She's a little nicer to him than she is me. I really feel like I am raising a teenager sometimes. Things that have come out of her mouth recently include, "Get out. My room. Close the door" and "Fine, fine, FINE!" and "Blah, blah, blah." She's also in the habit of constantly blowing raspberries when she doesn't agree with what you say. I have no idea where she picked this up from because no one here really sticks out their tongue in disagreement.

I still haven't figured out how such a large personality fits into such a small body.

I need to weigh and measure her here soon, but, for now, pictures will have to do.

Hayden Lisbeth Faith - almost 3 years (35 months) old

Just for the record, the reason her bangs are so long is
because I've been trying to grow them out. I hate bangs.
However, Hayden isn't one for wearing barrettes, so
hopefully her bangs grow out soon...

New Baby and More

A friend of mine had her baby girl,
Amariah, on the 29th and Andrea
and I went to go see her and I took
pictures. It's amazing how small she
felt even though she is only 3 pounds
lighter than Vincent

And then my 2 baby boys

Good Weather and a Cute Toddler

Vincent passed out. Grandpa D says his pants made
Vincent look like a "jailbird"

Our December weather

Funny faces (her upper lip looks like that because ever

since we took away her pacifier during the day, she's
been licking her lips)

We're going to Flagstaff this

weekend, so we bought her long
underwear and boots. She had to
wear them RIGHT AWAY. She
looks stylish, eh?

Vincent Update

Vincent Henry Thomas - 2 months old
He currently weighs 10 pounds and is 23 inches in length

So, I wrote an entry about Vincent and then it was deleted - so I have to start all over again. Fun, fun, fun...

Vincent is officially 2 months old and I can't quite figure out where all the time went. My perception of time has been horrible since I've had children. A friend of mine just had a baby a couple of days ago, and it amazed me to see Vincent next to her because he seemed huge by comparison and he's only 2 months older! Everyone always told me, "Kids grow up too fast!" and I always ignored the comment. Now, I understand!

Vincent's personality is really starting to shine through. He is laid back, for the most part, but he does have a temper and he does have a dramatic side. He is nothing compared to Hayden, so I don't mind too much. He smiles a lot when we smile at him and he only seems to get upset when taken from me, though he does alright with his Dad and Aunt Andrea. And his temper really flares up if he is hungry and I don't feed him right that very second. He's a little impatient (and he gets that from Jarrod). He loves to be tickled, though he hasn't quite figured out how to laugh. His mouth opens up wide and he shakes his body a little, but no sound comes out. Soon, I'm sure.

Physically, he is strong. He doesn't do some of the visual stuff Hayden did at this age (like focus on small objects, or follow them with his eyes), but he is extremely steady for being 2 months old. He hold his head up with no problem and he can easily lift his chest off the ground when placed on his stomach. He's a light sleeper and I often find him whining because he has rolled from his back to his stomach in his sleep.

As for appearances, he has started to look way more like me. My mother has a baby picture of me wearing this Mickey Mouse necklace, and, I swear, sometimes I glance at Vincent and see that photo. Jarrod has black hair and brown eyes and his half-Mexican - all the dominant features - yet Vincent looks like me. My mother once told me that I have strong features, despite the fact that I have brown hair and blue eyes, and I am beginning to suspect it is true. Both of my children seem to have my eyes (though Vincent's may change) and my hair colour (for now). Since I look like my father, I think he is pulling strings in the after world to make sure his grandbabies look like him too.

Vincent is a ball of joy though. I still haven't gotten over the fact that I have a son. A boy. A mama's boy, at that! He's such a cuddly little thing, and he adores being held. I know to soak up his love too, because he won't be this little forever.

His 2 month photos (a reminder - I am taking a photo
of him wearing the exact same shirt and Baby Legs
each month to see how he is growing)

For comparison. He can definitely hold up his head a lot
better!

This one you can tell a lot is
different. He has more meat
on him - he's not just skin and
bones. And his skin is lighter

The Best of our Christmas

Making funny faces at 6am in the morning

Hayden digging into her stocking

Hayden with half of her huge pile of presents - we went a
little overboard this year

Proof that Jay can hold babies. This is only the 4th or 5th time he has held Vincent, so
Alice told me to take out the camera for proof

Jarrod playing with Hayden's Christmas presents

Vincent with his Great-Grandpa DeLeon. Sorry the pictures are so pixelated. I think
it might be because I uploaded them through Photobucket first

Hayden and the mess of presents behind her

Playing with her toy kitchen. She LOVES that thing. She'll
come up to me and "make" me breakfast. Just this morning I
got a boiled orange, fried-peppered bread, and grapes that
were first baked in the oven and then microwaved

She also loves her giant puzzle. She has a little version of
that and plays with it non-stop, so we figured she'd appreciate
the giant version. It was the first gift she opened and we had
to convince her to open the rest

Vincent with his Grandma

Vincent - 2 months old

Vincent's funky smile

Vincent "punching" Jarrod

It rained Christmas Day - so we went outside to play in it

Grandpa DeLeon had Vincent about 65% of the time. He
never wanted to set him down and we had to really fight him
to make sure he didn't take Vincent to his home to California!

My Airmen =)

Like father, like son... though, I do think Vincent is starting
to look a little more like me

Andrea playing Raving Rabids on the Wii

Uncle Jorge and Hayden playing the soccer balance game
on Wii Fit

He holds up his head pretty well now

Getting kisses from Dad