We are THANKFUL!

One of my favorite parts about Halloween is that the day marks the beginning of the holiday season. I was fortunate enough to have the entire Thanksgiving week off, so our week was full of fun! We went to visit Ryan at his fire station. Clayton was in fire truck Heaven! We spent a lot of quality time together as a family going on trail walks, playing in our backyard, and just being together. We went to see Santa Claus the day before Thanksgiving, which was a brilliant idea because there was no line! South Coast Plaza is our favorite place to go to meet Santa because they have the Christmas carousel too. Clayton walked right up, gave his list to Santa and sat on his lap. Chloe, well, she agreed to sit on the floor in front of him as long as Mommy was no more than 2 feet away and Easton sat happily on Santa's lap. Thanksgiving was a quiet day for us, but special nonetheless. We had a nice visit with Papa Louie, Grammie, Gigi, and Uncle Travis and then headed over to Papa Jim and Nonnie's for a delicious dinner. So much to be thankful for this year...3 beautiful, healthy, happy children, children who at one point we never imagined were possible for us to have, a new, huge home that memories are being made in every day, two stable jobs that provide us the flexibility to work, but be home with our children too, good health, and loving families. We are very blessed.

Clayton and Chloe are loving Christmas and everything Santa. They love singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" (know most of the words), "Rudolph," "Frosty the Snowman" (that one is hard!), and LOVE the Justin Bieber Christmas CD, especially "The Little Drummer Boy" song, which remains on repeat. I wondered when the "wanting" would begin, and my how it has begun! What does Clayton want? He wants a tool bench and a blue bike. Everything is blue because as you know, pink is for Chloe, not boys like Clayton as he often reminds us. Clayton also wants a Dream Light and a fire truck. What does Chloe want? A new baby, a new baby stroller, and anything and everything related to babies. I'm so happy to see her naturally gravitating toward girlie toys because she is typically a follower of anything and everything Clayton wants and has. We also had a special ELF breakfast to welcome our elves Buddy and Sparkles into our family, which truly marked the beginning of Christmas for us! 

Activities are instrumental to these busy babes. We finished our sports camp this month. Clayton was definitely the all star in the camp. At 2 1/2, he knows how to dribble a basketball, so the "coach" was teaching him how to dribble with his left hand! Chloe preferred to "watch" Clayton, but got involved once we encouraged her. It's time for dance for our little princess! They've been begging to go to My Gym again, so we are starting back up in December. They will both be so very happy! 

We are so excited to share the next few weeks with our children with a train ride to visit Santa, lots of crafting days, cookie making, bringing toys to CHOC, a Christmas party, Christmas lights, fun with friends, and lots of smiles! 

Our sweet little Easton, is still sweet, but is now our sweet little Troublemaker...individual E post to follow!

Here's some pictures that capture our busy month...

Clayton had a stent put in his eye to open up a clogged tear tuct...he was a champ!

Mommy's little helper

 Helping Daddy take out ugly plants! 

 Thanksgiving craft time with Mommy

The girl takes her baby on a walk...

and the boy, his scooter!

Quality time with the original two at Disneyland!

Buddy and Sparkles have arrived...our special North Pole breakfast to welcome them back

Their smiles say it all

Santa Claus is coming to town! 

Bath time times 3!

Happy Thanksgiving

Uh oh...someone ended up in the laundry basket

Christmas craft time with Daddy

New house = new, beautiful, huge Christmas tree!

Have a beautiful Christmas Season! 

Easton "Troublemaker" James is 8 Months Big!

Oh my is all this Mommy can say about her very active baby boy. Easton started attempting to pull up on pieces of furniture right after he turned 6 months old, which seemed kind of premature since he wasn't crawling yet. Well, Thanksgiving day, little E made his crawling debut and he is unstoppable now! The boy is everywhere and is so very proud of himself when he crawls to you in another room. Additionally, he is pulling up on everything, but only with his arms and chest, which often leads to pretty major falls. Falls, which led to a call to 911 due to a minor concussion he received when he pulled up on a ride on toy in the play room, fell backwards, toy landed on top of him and he landed on top of a bridge piece to the train table track. I was afraid he cut his head open, but didn't realize the real pain was internal, so the next morning when he did a normal fall on the carpet, but cried, I was a little puzzled. Within seconds, he was struggling to open his eyes and then went lethargic. I thought he wasn't breathing, put him on the ground to I guess do CPR, and he started screaming. We opted not to transport Easton and instead take him to see his pediatrician. Sure enough he had a bruise on the back of his head. Poor little guy. Fast forward 2 days later and Easton got a fat, bloody lip when he discovered crawling up the hallway step, but couldn't quite figure out the down part and went face first onto the tile. Poor guy! And while Mommy and Daddy appear to be absentee parents, I was right there with both backwards falls, but couldn't catch him and Daddy was 1 foot away from him with the bloody lip face plant!  Little Easton wants so badly to be a part of his brother and sissy's fun. Major babyproofing is in the works at our house!
Other E news:

• He has started singing a chorus of sounds--such precious noises.
• Easton still sleeps inconsistently, but for the most part sleeps until 5, eats and goes back to sleep until 7:30. Some nights he still wakes up around 2:30. Unfortunately, he is not at all a self-soother, so Mommy has to oblige every time he wakes up. 
• He loves our backyard swing and park swings.
• Easton eats three solid meals a day--some of his new favorites are plums, apples, honeydew melon, and puffs along with all his staple veggies of carrots, zucchini, green beans, broccoli and yams. 
• He weighs 20 pounds--a pound heavier than Clayton was. 
• Easton loves to grab your face and kiss or chew on it! 
• He is a HAPPY boy! 

Here's some pictures of our newest troublemaker!

Bath time is so much fun now that I can sit and play!

My mommy says I have a big butt...I say I get it from her!

I can crawl!! 

Life is so much fun now that I can keep up with my brother and sister!

Lovin' my first time in a shopping cart...Mommy typically carries me in that silly baby carrier.

Yay for wagon rides--my first time!

Love my daddy and love that I get to visit him at the fire station. 

Looks like Mommy has an addition to her laundry!

Happy 7 month birthday Little E!

Our sweet Little E had quite the month! I feel like his development sky rocketed this month and he's officially on his way to becoming a toddler, which makes me a little sad, but excited for all of Easton's new adventures! Easton continues to eat like a champ. He loves bananas, peaches, pears, butternut squash, yams, broccoli, zucchini (his fave!), green beans, and carrots. He still nurses and because of that is a definite mommy's boy and mommy loves it! The boy is on his way to crawling--like any day now! He started rocking on his knees at about 6 1/2 months old and going from his tummy to sitting days before his 7 month birthday. He really tries to crawl, reaching and reaching, but gets scared and pulls his hands back. Easton has started sleeping better in the past few days and was found sitting in his bed at 5 AM--time for Daddy to lower his crib and baby proof the house! He continues to humor us with his growl and now has these high pitched, loud yells and screams; he's not mad, just wants to be heard! Easton must be realizing that he's going to have to be loud to be heard in this crazy house! He loves Clayton and Chloe and relishes attention from them. They are super sweet with him, but don't like it when he takes their toys, so lessons of sharing continue to be the running theme in our home. We love our Little E!

On Sunday, October 21, 2012, Easton James was baptized at Santa Clara de Asis Catholic Church. It was a perfect day filled with love for our little man. Grammie made Easton the most beautiful baptismal outfit. Precious is an understatement! We were honored to have my dear forever friend, Angela Conlee be Easton's godmother and Ryan's childhood good friend, Danny Pierro be his godfather. Both Angela and Danny will be such faithful role models for Easton to look up to. Following his baptism, we had our family and friends over for a delicious lasagna dinner made by Nonnie. Easton is our little miracle and God's child--we are forever thankful for our baby boy.

Here's some pictures that perfectly capture our Easton James' 6 month...

Happy boy!

Sweet boy on his baptism...we are very proud parents.

Easton's godmother, Angela Conlee

Nonnie and Grammie with their sweet grandbabies (who were so well-behaved!)

Easton James with his godparents, Danny Pierro and Angela Conlee

Such a smiley boy!

Easton's first time in a park swing...he loved it!

Bath time is so much more fun now that he can splish splash around!