Christmas in Jamaica

Happy New Year everyone! It's a little surreal to thin that this was Mia and Ben's second Christmas, and that they will be two this year! Yes, I know it's been four months since my last post, but honestly, although things are getting easier as they get older, I feel as though my life is getting busier and busier each day. I have started countless posts which will probably never be finished. Inevitably something grand happens, and I end up doing a massive picture post (as I'm about to do!), and all those posts that actually have some substance to them get left in the dust...

So this year for Christmas, my mom's gift to us was a trip to Jamaica for ten days! I was born and raised in Jamaica until I was 19 and left for college. My hubby (then boyfriend) went back with me once in 2001 when we were in college, and I've only been back once since then! It was a bit surreal to be there with MY KIDS this time! Brace yourselves- here comes the picture overload!

Ben was so tired after a full day of flying he fell asleep about 5 minutes into dinner the first night!

They loved playing in the sand..

The water was so warm

And SO shallow! Perfect for toddlers!

 All dressed up for dinner

They loved all the huge Christmas trees all over the resort... and the fact that they were actually allowed to touch them :)

Taking in the view

Typically these two will not sleep anywhere but their cribs, but I somehow managed to get lucky and get ONE precious seaside nap with Mia!

Can't get over how grown up they're looking! Where did my little babies go?

At the airport heading home...

"Um..mommy...where's the beach gone?

 

Hope you all had a fantastic holiday season!

 

 

Family Vacation

Hi there! I don't even know where to start.... Ben and Mia turned 1 over a month ago, and I'm just getting around to posting! August on the whole was pretty eventful, they turned 1 on the 9th, and then we went to Minnesota for two weeks to visit my hubby's family, which was so much fun and flew by way too quickly.
Now I have to apologize in advance for the picture overload that is about to happen... See, I took over a thousand pictures, and my sister in law arranged for a photographer to come and do family pictures as a gift. She gave us EVERY picture on a cd (just about 500), so narrowing down my favorites has been a chore!
Here goes....

Sibling Love...

  

Mmmmm cake...

Don't mind if I do....

We took a TON of family pictures. I really want to get one framed, as we currently don't have any family pictures up in the house- crazy, I know.  I have finally narrowed it down to two, and am stuck again. Which do you like???????????

This one I like the colors, myself and Ben...

And this one I like my hubby and Mia....

And now some of my favorites from my camera!

The milk drinking spot...

Fun at the pool

Quality time

Goofballs!

First boat ride (they were NOT amused with the life jackets!)

And a few of my faves 

It's sad that we don't really have any family close by, but then again, it's so much fun to have an excuse to take a vacation!

One year ago... Bellies and Car Seats

 This was me on July 31st last year.  one year ago exactly, at 34 weeks. Exactly 9 days before Mia and Ben were born. It's funny because in some ways this seems like so very long ago, but in other ways it feels like it could have been yesterday because I remember it so clearly.

I also remember the day these car seats arrived. It was so hard to imagine that there would be two little babies sitting in them before long.

And then there they were, in those seats, 4 days after they were born. They just looked so tiny, I could hardly imagine that they would EVER outgrow them.

But they did.  (This was still a month or so before the new ones).

We just got their new car seats a couple weeks ago, and they love them.  Once again, they look so small in them, it's kind of scary to think that one day they will outgrow these too!

11 Months Old

This month has gone by so fast it has been a blur.  I was actually sitting in bed on last night when I suddenly realized that it was the 9th- they had turned 11 months and I didn't even realize! And in only 4 weeks I will have one year olds. Crazy.

They both managed to get sick this month- together AND separately! They really have not been sick at all up until now, so I guess we were making up for lost time.  Ben got Roseola which was awful! Thank goodness that Mia managed to not get it.

The biggest thing is that Mia is now walking! She still prefers to crawl, just because it is faster and she is ALWAYS in a hurry, but she is able to walk across an entire room! I have tried really hard to capture this on film, but she apparently does not want this to be documented until she has it perfected, because she always sees me and immediately drops! I did manage to get some footage though.. excuse the bed head, she just woke up!
 

On the teething front, Mia now has 7- she grew 3 new ones over the past month. Ben has had 6 for the past two months, but is officially cutting 7 and 8 right now- as in, he may have them by tomrrow!

They still love to wrestle... or at least, Mia loves to tackle Ben!

They both love to dance, but I think that this is the funniest video of Ben rockin' out to Elmo! Love the foot stomp to the beat in the beginning!

Mia is now obsessed with waving bye-bye! Whenever we are out, she constantly waves at everyone- at restaurants, in the shopping cart, and in the stroller going for walks she waves at the cars- it's pretty funny because the people in the car usually wave back!  This is her with her talking book- when it says "bye-bye" she always waves :)

We've gone on a few picnics, and they seem to really enjoy eating outside... if they can focus on the food that is!

And Ben has this new thing where he likes to grab onto Mia in the stroller- he'll just hang on to her for the longest time like this....

She really doesn't seem to mind! He often does it when he's exited, or when we're in a store and someone comes up and starts to talk to them!

Mia LOVES dogs. We don't have one, but whenever she sees one she gets so exited. She is pretty close to saying "doggy" too. We took them to Dog Beach (yes, we really do have a beach just for dogs here!), and she loved it! 

Every day when Daddy gets home we go to the park. They are definitely not content just swinging anymore, they love to explore the grass, slides etc.  Once in a while they stop moving.... well, Ben does anyway!

OKOK, one more picture just because I love it! Daddy and his babies!

Next up- One year old!!

10 Months Old

On Saturday Mia and Ben turned ten months old. Double digits! TEN! As in, in around 8 weeks they will be one YEAR old! In the beginning time seemed to pass relatively slowly, and now the months seem to be just flying by... I'm sure soon enough I'll be saying that about the years...
As I never did an eight or nine month post, I'll try to summarize the past 3 months...

Mobility
YIKES! This has been the big thing. These two have been on the move! They have been expert crawlers from about 7.5 months, and man are they fast! It's almost as if they are running... speed crawling should be a sport I think! Mia has been standing up on her own, as in, not holding on to anything, and not even needing anything to pull up on! She will just... well... go from a sitting position to a squat, than standing right in the middle of a room!  Standing and playing with a toy, dancing, jumping, drinking from her cup- she must stand! It is so very strange to see my little baby standing all on her own. It does not seem that someone who only weighs 17 lbs (and is still wearing 6 month clothes and size 2 diapers) should be able to do this. Whenever someone her, they always comment that she looks too small to be standing!

 My Little Stander

Teeth
Ben now he has 6 teeth! He got his top 4 teeth the month he turned 8 months while we were in Florida. He actually cut two in the same day- poor little guy! He was SO miserable! I'm hoping that the others hold of for a little while. Mia has 4 teeth now, the top two finally came in this past month, and the third top one is on the way...

 CHEESE!!

Speaking of teeth.... apparently 'baby food' is a big no no with these two these days! In fact, I have started to have to give them food whole, or in strips, as they also apparently think that they are too grown up for bite sized pieces... 

 Breakfast Baby Blueberry Pancakes!

Lunch!

Interaction
I LOVE watching them interact. Mia loves to try and give Ben kisses... he isn't too sure about this!  They love to play with each other and do whatever the other is doing. The best is when they wake up in the morning or from a nap, and rush over to look into the other crib to see if their brother/sister is awake.  They stand up and hold hands and pass their blankies or toys back and forth and talk to each other- so very cute!

Skyping with Grandma

Rolling around in the 'Cushy Corner' of the playroom

Baby monitor footage!

 It is possible to fit two babies in a single shopping cart! One leg crossed, one through the hole! They love to munch on veggie sticks while shopping!

Another day, another isle....

We have also been getting rid of a TON of baby stuff that doesn't get used anymore. It is so strange to see some things go... Things like their exersaucer, jumper, swing, playmats... things they haven't used in months.  I suppose that in the back of my mind I knew that we would get rid of this stuff eventually, it's just that 'eventually' seemed so far away- and now here we are!

I can't wait to see what the next month brings!