Catching up

Well, where to begin.
The month of October - that brought us our tiny little walker!! Yes, the little man started to take his first steps around the 11th of October and just progressed from there. It only took him about a week or two to really get the hang of it. So at 10 1/2 months - he was a walker!

As he took his first steps, my dad had to leave the country again. Ugh. My aunt passed away so he needed to go and take care of some business. But it's taking SO LONG for him to come back! He's missing so much of the kids that it breaks my heart. I had such high hopes that he would be back for Patrick's first birthday, but let's just hope he's home by mid January. It's not the same without him here.

All three kids are just growing so fast! It's amazing to watch. Sofi is a total DIVA! She can't get enough tutu's, necklaces, headbands, bracelettes! It's adorable! I bought them four dress-up tutu's and Alex will have nothing to do with them! Sofi gets to have them all! Sofi is also my little protector. OMG does she worship and love Patrick! If ANYONE - including Alex, does anything bad to Patrick - she's on your tail. She just attacks you and gives you a big stink-eye! She also puts up with so much that Patrick does. He has a very heavy hand and loves to just slap people! And she totally tolerates it. Alex - not so much! She loves to hug him and care for him, but she just has a different relationship with him right now.

With my dad being gone, it's pushed me into hiring a nanny to help out my mom. Diana. She brings the balance we need. Patrick ADORES her and wants to go home with her every single day! They're amazing together. The girls are warming up to her. They're older, so it's taking a bit of time. Diana is amazing in the control she has over situations - she doesn't take crap from anyone, but in a loving way! AND the girls just need to get used to that. They are learning so much from her. Miss Alex is going to be speaking fluent English in the next few days! They're all just so adorable!

Well the vocabulary on these two girls is AMAZING! Alex is a totally chatter box and "dictator"! Hilarious!! She scrunches up her nose and has this disgusted look on her face - so funny! She speaks very clearly (in my opinion) and is easier to understand. Sofi is totally blossoming with her vocabulary. She's getting easier to understand and she's able to sing along with the ABC song and so many others. Is so great to see all of this.

They're very much into Sofia the First, Yo Gabba Gabba, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Super Why, Curious George and Raggs. They still watch Taline and I need to get Arevik back in rotation. We need to keep the Armenian stuff in there!!

We go to My Gym every week and they have grown so much! The first day we went in there, they would not be put down, we held them the whole time. This last week, they even participated in a group train ride! They also go to the stations to participate in the activities! They're making friends and it's just amazing to see. Each of the teachers there have been commenting on how much they've changed. It melts my heart that they've matured and grown so much.

OK - better get back to work.

OH! And we had Patrick's Birthday party and adamahadik. He picked the calculator! Maybe another Finance person in the family.

more updates

ok - this is going to be quick:

9/9/2013 - P started to get his upper two front teeth!

9/7/2013 - FINALLY!! Since Sof was so passed out from Disneyland, I put her in her bed - upstairs - and she stayed there and didn't wake up until morning! This has been the start to her sleeping in her bed!! We're a week and a half into it, and she's doing great! Still requires hand holding to fall asleep, but she passes out quickly!

9/16/2013 - Dare I say it - Sofi and Patrick are sleeping through the night! Alex still gets up but we're working on it. Not sure if it's her peeing that wakes her up. Apparently on Saturday night when we were at a wedding, she woke up at 4am and walked to our room and told my mom she had to pee - proceeded to pee and poop in the potty and then head back to bed!

9/7/2013 - DISNEYLAND!! Second trip for the girls. Super fun day but HOT!! P didn't come with us - thankfully! The girls lasted until 7pm. Alex took a little nap in my lap, but Sofi wated until we were sitting to eat at about 7 to pass out. Bobbing head and all!

8/31 - Birthday party at Santa Ana Zoo - super fun to see animals!

9/1/2013 - Pool Party! Terez's son's birthday. They all had so much fun in the water!

9/15/2013 - Saw Patrick just stand up - holding nothing - just in the middle of the family room! Gosh - slow down buddy!!

OK - don't want to miss these dates!

All about Alex...

For some reason, I just have a few bits to update about Alex!

8/18/2013 - she got her first hair cut! Not a major one, but our dear neighbor trimmed off just enough to get her out of that mullett look. She even loves her hair, though the chunk that she usually twirls around her finger is much shorter.

Since her birthday party, she's been sleeping with her Sofia the First book. Again, thank you to the neighbor and her DIL. They got it for the girls. Grandpa had to go out and buy a second one since they would fight over it so much!

She's also gone through a phase of waiting to poop after she's been in bed for a good half hour - so we end up in the bathroom for what we've dubbed "a marathon session". You would think she's just procrastinating about sleeping - nope - she seriously goes for quite a while. But we are required to read Sofia the First through it all. And since potty training is going to well, I can't have her just go in the diaper - so we have our nightly chats. And boy is her vocabulary AMAZING!!!! She puts together 6 word sentences - like complex ones!

Then we had a minor incident yesterday - she fell in said neighbor's pool. She was trying to sit right beside me, but didn't make it. I was holding Patrick and DH had Sofi. Thankfully the neighbor hopped in and got her before she could float to the top. She wasn't phased by it - not a single swallow of water, gasp for air, a need for a hug - nothing! I love that we were all pretty calm considering. It was a fun day there and thankfully it ended on a fun note of eating spaghetti! The DIL was feeding her son, and apparently my little vultures went in to help themselves. At least they were full! And it got the little boy eating too - so that made all us momma's happy!

And finally...as of 8/24/2013 - the girls are officially forward facing. I was VERY reluctant about this, but with all the crying Sofi has been doing latley, I had to try. And she was totally calm the whole ride to my aunt's house. Not a peep! I don't know if she was getting car-sick or what, but I don't want outings to be a miserable experience. I wish I didn't have to change it yet, but we made it 25 months! So that's not too bad in my book.

Teeth, parties and more!

8/9/13 - He officially has two itty bitty teeth!! We finally felt then on Friday, and it's just over a week later and you can really see them now!! Poor little man must be quite the trooper, because I've sworn he's about to get his teeth for about 5 months now! FINALLY!!

We also took that lovely weekend to go to Goofy's Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel. Well, we were doing ok and actually made it on time. We were waiting in the lobby to be called in ... when it happened...Goofy sneezed. Yes, Goofy was out there taking pictures with everyone and he was playing around with a kid and made a big sneeze. You guessed it - Miss Sofia was in hysterics and all I could do was hug her and laugh. Yes...I'm that mom. He caught her totally off guard and she literally jumped clear out of her skin - I actually saw this part - so I knew it would be bad. One of the Disney employees even came over to see what was up. Yes, she laughed with me. But we made it to go in, but they were totally weary of all the characters. They didn't really want to touch them or have them too close. Even Miss Alex was a little hesitant. But thankfully they weren't scared for life. Sofi would just keep saying that Goofy sneezed and she cried. But she's still playing with her toy Goofy, so they're on good terms again.

Well, the next day we were to go to the Beach with my family, but Alex and I woke up with colds. Thankfully we stayed home, got some nice long naps in and we did go to the park for some fresh air. We also got our first taste of the ice cream truck! But daddy did the picking, and made some yummy choices. It even enticed one little girl to come to our table and fully pull open our little cooler bag and want one. I had to send her back to ask her mom - didn't want to take chances that she had an allergy or mom just didn't want a stranger giving her kid food.

The next weekend - 8/17 and 8/18 we also full of firsts! Daddy took us to our first Angels game as a family! As I suspected, we didn't last too long in our seats. Sofi freaked out. Not sure if it was because of the height at first, but it didn't help when everyone cheered and the little fireworks went off because of a home run. Ooops! So she and I spent some time out by the food and drinks. Poor DH had the baby and Alex! But they did great! Thankfully they sat quietly and watched for a bit. Being in a new place was exciting. But eventually they came out too and we decided to walk around the levels a bit. We did manage to stay until somewhere in the 6th inning - and heard the 7th inning stretch while getting into jammies to go home. Not too bad, but I need to figure out if Sof is afraid of heights or may have super sensitive ears. Ugh. Maybe we should have taken the girls when they were tiny so they would get used to it. There was a little boy, maybe a little over 1 who was doing so well, sitting all quietly and watching the game. Hopefully Patrick will get some more games under his belt and he'll do better. Maybe we need to encourage some daddy and son baseball games!

On Sunday we ventured over to Ir.v.ine to go to a picnic sponsored by an Armenian Church's Saturday School. There was an old family friend that would be there and since they live so close to us, I really wanted to make it out there to see her - I'm really glad I did. It was fun, it felt like a huge family picnic more so, than an organized school picnic, so it was nice. Everyone took us under their wings and made us feel very comfortable. The girls surprisingly opened up fast and were little hams!

Once we got back home and were unloading the car, our neighbors came out to say hi. Janice had been saying that she would give Alex a little hair cut one of these days since I was so terrified to have anyone touch her hair! Alex freaked out a bit, and squirmed ALOT! But Janice did an amazing job! We even got her to put her feet in the pool and did part of the cut there! LOL! We need to open a hair salon that lets you wade in a pool! But she looked ADORABLE!!! She took off enough to get her hair to look "normal". I feel bad saying that about my own kid, but her hair really was unruly.

2nd Birthday....

Yup...they're two.

Where the heck has the time gone??? My itty bitty babies are TWO!!!!

They are the smartest, sweetest, most loving and wonderful little ladies. They know how to work an iPhone. They are speaking in multi-word sentences. Not just two words - more like 5 words! And it's in Armenian, where I feel it's a harder language. Each word is long and the equivalent of two or more simple english words - most of the time! They have their own opinions, and they let you know!! But they are also so very polite. Even when Alex is mad at Sofi, she says "bye" to her or she doesn't just throw what's in her hand at Sofi - no - she says "hametzek". It's a polite/formal way of saying "here you are/please take this/help yourself" It sort of covers all of that. It's stinking cute!

What else? Their true blissfully happy laugh - that gets me every time! I can listen to it for a lifetime - and I really wish every day only consisted of that laughter.

They've also come really far in Potty Training!! OK - so we got them a kitchen for their birthday. My dad and I stayed up until 1:30am putting it together (3 hours with only one small error/re-do). I was worried they weren't going think much of it - well, I was wrong. Their initial reaction was just quiet. BUT they got right down to playing with it and Alex had to pull up her potty so that she could multi-task!! Yes - we cook and pee at the same time. Unfortunately it didn't catch everything - but I take that to mean they were too excited to stop playing with their awesome kitchen!

We were lucky today - Aunt K, Uncle A and GRANDMA!!! All came down to spend the day with us! And my parents were here too. We had some cake, played with the kitchen, then headed down to Newport Beach. Had lunch at Ruby's then hung out on the sand! Then the girls laughed all the way home! I would say birthday number 2 was a major success! Now we need to get ready for their party!!

I love you my sweet girls! I don't even know how to express all the love I have for you. You are more than I ever dreamed of!!! My heart just explodes with love and pride for you both, you are amazing people and I'm truly proud to be your mommy and the one who you run to to hold. One day you'll be big and strong and I won't be able to hold you in my arms like I do today, so I enjoy every moment. May you always have the same sparkle in your eyes that you do now.

Love you to the moon and back and a million times around the sun.

Pulling up

Yeah - so P started to pull himself up around July 10th or so. This kid is really moving too fast - I keep saying he's going to walk before Sofi did - at 10.5 months.

Rolling over!

The little man has mastered rolling on to his belly! He did it for the first time on April 9th. Now - we can't get him to stop!! You set him down to change his diaper, and he's on his belly! He's so much happier to be able to not only be on his back.

P is just the happiest baby. We've added the nickname happy-cakes to the list! He has an infectious smile. This little man isn't bothered by all the poking and loving that his sisters smother him with. The only times you hear him cry are if he's hungry, sleepy or poopy! Other than that - he's content.

The girls are doing amazing too! Their vocabulary is just exploding. H was home the week of April 22nd, and right around there Alex has been putting more words together. They're both getting the concept of making sentences.

There was a bottle of Windex in the garage and Sofi goes up and grabs it and kept saying "Papa" (that's what they call my dad these days). I asked her where Papa was - and she looks outside and says "Papa - Alesi - tatar" (tatar - means outing  - and Alex and my dad were heading out on a walk and we could see them from the garage).

Alex is also trying many more words. She's saying "I love you" (I lo-vee) and it's so stinkin' CUTE! One day my dad was telling her to say I love you mommy, daddy, Patrick, etc. When he would get to Sofi...she would yell "NO!". I hope this isn't a sign of their future and it's just a funny story to tell them! But in all honesty - Alex was the one hugging Sofi yesterday, so I know she loves her sister and can't live without her!

Life is amazing - these three little munchkins are just amazing to watch as they grow and discover the world.

The Pull-Up

Oh goodness, there is so much that I just don't want to forget about these three!

So I get home the other day and the girls are in their highchairs eating yogurt with my dad and getting it all over themselves. I had just gone shopping so dad suggested that I hang out with the girls and he would unload the car. The girls finish and I put them down, they make a beeline to the garage door and another beeline out! Alex was wearing a t-shirt and pants, but Miss Sofi had on a t-shirt and pull-ups and messy adorable pigtails (do you see where this is going...) Yeah, so as Sofi runs...the Pull-up slips a bit. I didn't think much of it...until it's around her knees. (I burst out laughing) She pulls them up .... and they're around her knees again. (I look over at my dad and we are both laughing so hard that all we can do is make sure they don't run into the street! We can't speak) Oh! There they are around her ankles now! And my sweet thing just keeps pulling them up, but this time she's catching on - she holds them and runs around like that.

In the middle of it all, I'm dying to capture this on camera! I run inside and my phone is dead and the camera is nowhere to be found. But I did call my mom to come outside and witness this! Yeah - none of us could stop laughing. Though she chastised us for looking like a trashy family and not doing anything about it.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that the girls didn't have shoes on. But boy were they all laughing!

Eventually I found her Pull-up on the kitchen floor. She gave up on it.

Apparently pull-ups only hold so much pee. Mommy fail!

There's a bit to catch up on that I don't want to forget....

They all got sick.
Yup, all three. But thankfully it wasn't a bad cold. Just the sniffles and congestion. Sofi got it first. Right at the end of February. (hold on, I lied, I think I got it first and passed it to them - bad mommy!) Alex decided she had to kiss everyone on the mouth around the time Sofi got it. Alex had the sniffles next. And, on Sunday March 3rd, we wake up to Patrick being sick, and the paranoid mother that I am, we decided to take him to urgent care to make sure that he was ok and to see what we needed to watch for. Apparently he had a slightly red (sore) throat and the congestion. So little man got his first cold and first trip to Urgent Care.

OMG is he just pure adorableness! (I know that's not a real word) He may be my son, but he's just such a happy and smiley baby. He tries to have conversations with you. He was totally hamming it up with the nurse at urgent care, and she was just loving him! I mean...who wouldn't! We also FINALLY took him out! Yes, it took this long, but with the whole world being sick, I wasn't willing to risk it. Yesterday (March 10th) we went out to the Original Pancake House for breakfast with the girls and all three grandparents. We did pretty well! Y&G took care of Sofi, hubs took care of Alex and I had Patrick. Alex needed to be taken outside, but it was after she had eaten - so not too bad. Little Miss Sofi was the epitome of a "big girl". She ate everything on her plate, wiped her mouth and the table and was just a total angle! Patrick was also very good. He got his bottle while we were waiting for our table, so he was pretty content in his car seat.

Oh, my little helper! Alex was so adamant about helping to make Patrick's bottle while we were waiting for our table. I got her to help me make it, and she did great. But in the end, we some how bumped the bottle and spilled half of it. Ooops! But my sweet girl is learning!

Then we headed to the park. Of course the girls didn't want to sit in the car, but we got them in! They ran around the park while Patrick got his bottle (this time a full one!). The girls got to play and meet some dogs and some humans. There was an adorable little boy named Riley, who was so stinking sweet! Since grandpa was alone with Alex and she wanted to go down the slide, he offered to catch her at the bottom. I think he was about 9 years old. I hope my kids are all that sweet and friendly and helpful!

We finally came home and the girls passed out. This was the last time they slept in the Nursery. (que sad mommy) Because after they woke up, I had a little photo shoot of them in their room for the last time. Boy is Sofi a total ham and model! I could take pictures of her forever! Then came miss Alex. She can't be bothered by you telling her what to do! As adorable as she is, she's one stubborn little one right now! But boy are they cute! And when Sofi sits and crosses her ankles - I die!

Eventually I had to stop the photos and let hubs and grandpa move the beds into the new room. Miss Sofi had to come and check out the scene with me, and things wouldn't be complete if she didn't help daddy and grandpa. Serious cuteness! Meanwhile, downstairs, Alex decided to climb on the arm of the sofa and pretend that it's a horse! Yup, all on her own. Oh, and later that night, she grabs the camera, gives it to my mom and asks her to take a picture of her while she's on the horse. What have I created!

Once the beds were in the room, Sofi decided to play in her crib. Seriously adorable! We sang "The Wheels on the Bus", "Ittsy Bittsy Spider", "Pat-a-Cake" and anything else I could think of. But her favorite right now is "The Wheels on the Bus" - she loves to roll her hands! So we repeat that one part of the song over and over!

They took their baths and while I was trying to get Sofi dressed on our bed, she spots Alex's toothbrush on the nightstand, proceeds to grab it, gets down from our bed, grabs my finger and makes me follow her into the bathroom. She stands in front of her toothbrush cup and points to the toothpaste then to the toothbrush (like "hey mom, you need to put toothpaste on this - don't you know!") So I oblige, and she walks out happy and pretty much lets me dress her.

Sigh...how did life ever get so perfect. I don't know what I would do without these three. Oh, and the outfit the little Mr wore on his first outing! To die for. Even hubby was dying of how cute he was!

And we have more words!!
Little Miss Alex actually says "Sofi" or "Shofi"!! Then Sofi points to herself! It's so cute! Neither of them have said Sofi until now - and I thought that her name would be spoken first since it's easier! They also try to say cucumber (in armenian) - boy do they eat alot of it! They try to say "orange" and the way they "roll" their O is so cute!!! And I die every time they say Emily, Ballerina or Hoy Lari. They're just too cute!!

once bitten...

It was Monday morning (President's Day) and I was at home. My parents were there. And the girls were playing in their Princess House. It's one of those pop-up fabric ones. All of a sudden I hear Sofi start crying. I think nothing of it since she's my little drama queen. It didn't stop and just didn't sound good. My mom insists I pull her out. I do. She's still crying and looks so sad and pitiful! I ask her what happened. She makes the hand gesture of "someone" biting her cheek! I inspect her little face, and sure enough...teeth marks right under her right eye and at the apple of her cheek.

Yup. You guessed it. Sofi didn't bite Sofi. ALEX bit Sofi!! Yikes!! I mean big huge deep teeth marks!

So we're all totally shocked. My dad takes Sofi. I pull Alex aside and yell at her/talk to her/punish her. Whatever I can think of to get it through to her that what she did was WRONG! Poor thing gave me the pouty lower lip. She did go up to Sofi and hug and kiss her, but Sofi wasn't too quick to accept the apology.

What am I going to do with these girls!!

Oh, and Alex did strike again apparently. A few days later she bit Sofi's upper arm. Not quite as bad, but there is a bruise.

The bright side...if you can call it that....Sofi hasn't bitten Alex.(insert all superstition activity here so I don't jinx it)

My smart little girls!

These little ladies sure do keep me on my toes. Lately it's been Miss Alex.

The other day, she grabs me by the finger and leads me upstairs to her room. There are a pair of striped socks on the floor between their beds. She sits be down by the socks, starts to take the orange lion ones she has on off (which I help her with), she then tries to put the striped ones from the floor on (again, I help), then she wants the orange lion ones put back on, on top of the striped ones. We do that. She grabs a book and starts to head down the hall and down the stairs. How the heck did she remember those socks were there and that her tiny feet needed two pairs!!

Then yesterday, I gave her a bowl with some dried cranberries to share with Sofi. She took them to their play area and I turned my back and was doing something. My dad was sitting on the couch. Apparently Sofi had taken the bowl and was sitting in front of the TV with it just watching her show. Alex comes and grabs my dad by the finger, walks in front of Sofi and stops, points at her bowl of cranberries and then continues to lead my dad to the cupboard that houses those same bowls and cranberries. So grandpa giver her her own bowl of cranberries. Seriously - how smart is she??? She knows how to communicate her needs.

Hi again....It's a BOY!

So......... HE's here!!!

Patrick joined our family on December 1st and he's just pure perfection!

The hopes of a VBAC didn't happen and we just went in for a scheduled c-section on Saturday, December 1st. I wanted my OB to do the surgery and didn't want to risk having another doctor do it. So we went in early that morning and he was here before 10am!

The girls have been totally in love with him from the first day. They both keep saying "beebee" (baby)! They love to kiss and hug him.

Sofi is the total big sister. If he cries, she's the first one to stand by his bouncer or bed and make sure that we know the baby is crying. She always wants to hug and kiss him. She does, however, also love to poke her little fingers into his mouth and eyes! You'll also catch her trying to pet him and then slapping him hard on the head. We're working on "gentle", she's getting there! In the beginning, she used to totally say his name, now she just calls him "beebee", I can't figure it out.

Alex also adores her little brother. But she's funny! I think she's grossed out by him. She's always trying to give him a paci, but she only gets it so close to him and then pushes away. Yesterday us three girls were playing in their room and my dad brought Patrick in. So I grab him and Sofi signals that she wants to hold him, so she sits on the floor and I put him on her lap and she hugs and kisses him. Then Alex sits and wants the same - but as soon as I put him on her lap, she squirms away! It's so cute! It's like a human being scared and grossed out by an animal we try to feed - strange yet interesting!

Patrick is an excellent baby! I can't complain an ounce about him. He eats well, sleeps well (yet it's not always when I want him to sleep) but he's not a super fussy baby. He's very relaxed considering the chaos that is going on around him. So far we managed to breastfeed for about 8 weeks (momma couldn't handle it anymore - the chaos of the house and trying to spend time with the girls was just too much for me.) He started to really smile at about 5-6weeks old. Now he's just a little ham and it's so much fun to sit and talk and play with him! He's also super tall! He only lasted in Newborn diapers for about 3 weeks or so, and now he's in size 1's. Clothing wise, I was naive and took the preemie outfit we had for Alex to the hospital, um nope, couldn't even get him in that thing! He's out of Newborn clothes and even the 0-3 month stuff is just fitting - he may only have a few more weeks in them! I'm so not used to this - the girls were always on target/a little behind, with clothing sizes (until now!). So that's most of what the little man is doing. We just love and adore him and I can't imagine life without him!