Clayton and Chloe are 2!

Happy 2nd birthday to my determined, intelligent, ball-loving, cuddly, and handsome little man... Happy 2nd birthday to my sweet, goofy, dance-loving, smart and beautiful little princess... 

What a year it has been for Clayton and Chloe. They have both grown so much in the past year from babies just learning to walk and talk to running and talking in sentences toddlers. We are so in love with our first born babes and just relish in being their parents. There truly is nothing more fulfilling. 

Here's a little update on the two munchkins: 

Clayton's news: 

-His vocabulary is tremendous. Clayton can say and identify just about everything. He's so curious and repeats words nearly perfectly. Clay can identify the entire alphabet whether it's on a flashcard or a sign on the road. Some of our favorite words of his are: "W," "Nikes," "fip-fops", "boom baby," "bassball," "foosball," "nilk," and "oh mommy." 

-Clayton is ridiculously athletic. He clearly takes after his daddy. He loves every type of ball. He can shoot and make baskets consecutively about 4 feet from the hoop, run and kick a soccer ball, and hit a baseball. He even makes contact when the ball is pitched to him. 

-He started swimming lessons and is doing remarkably well. Clay screamed nearly the entire first lesson, but was giggling upon coming up from being dunked during his second lesson. His teacher decided to challenge him, so by the end of the lesson he was jumping off of the side, swimming to the bottom of the pool and retrieving a toy, and swimming to the steps from about 5 feet away...awesome! 

-Clayton still loves his blankie and now only has his paci when he goes to bed. 

-He loves cars, tractors, cranes, fire trucks, and especially trash trucks! 

-Clayton loves singing and knows some of the words in his favorite songs. He also adores reading, and now knows some of the words to the stories we read. 

-He knows many of his shapes...his favorite is the "octagon." Every STOP sign on walks and drives is identified as an "octagon!" 

-Clayton loves his sister, "Coey" or "Sissy," but definitely gets frustrated with her sometimes especially when she takes one of his toys or has something that he wants. He's very concerned about her whereabouts, though, if she's not near him. So adorable. 

-He loves to dance...every day begins with "dance, dance" and so we have a dance party in the garage with the music blasting!

-Next on Clayton's agenda is potty training and soccer camp!  

Chloe's news: 

-Her language has literally taken off in the few days leading up to her second birthday. She repeats everything and constantly asks, "whats vis?" She can identify some of her letters, specifically "B's". Our favorite phrase that she learned from Mommy is "oh no" and she does it with my exact tone. Other favorite words are calling her brother, "sissy," "baby" (Easton), "motoco" (motorcycle), and "Mickey." -Chloe loves to dance especially with her daddy. She asks him the second he gets home from work to "dance." She spins and waves her arms up and down with a super adorable smile. She and I will be doing Mommy and Me dance this summer and I imagine Daddy will sneak in a few times to be his girl's dance partner. 

-She started swimming lessons and is doing amazingly well. Chloe mastered "superman," which is walking with her hands along the edge during her first lesson. She's jumping off the side (sort of) and swimming to the side with her instructor's help, of course. Chloe is so cute when she floats because her legs either go straight up in the air or she closes her eyes (oh, the life of luxury!). 

-Chloe still sucks her fingers backwards, but really only does it when she's super tired. She also likes playing with my hair when she's sleepy or being shy. 

-She loves to play with anything and everything her brother has, but really likes her picnic basket and purse full of girlie things. Chloe loves playing dress up with her bracelets and necklaces too. 

-Chloe loves singing and doing the hand motions to some of her favorite songs with Mommy. Singing in the car is our go to when she starts to get impatient. 

-She is working on her shapes and knows what a circle is. She definitely follows right in her brother's footsteps with just about everything. 

-Chloe loves her brother, "sissy," as she calls him, but gets super mad when he takes something from her. Chloe literally screams at the top of her lungs when he gets near her and she's not ready to give the toy to him. She often will bring Clayton his blankie or water...so sweet. 

-She gets frustrated really quickly too, often throwing the object down, running away, and crying...super dramatic! 

-Next on Chloe's agenda is potty training and dance lessons! 

Here's some pictures from Clayton and Chloe's 2nd birthday party. It was a beautiful day, filled with yummy snacks, delicious treats, a special visit from Elmo, and most importantly family and friends who adore them.

Our baby boy is here...Welcome to our family Easton James!

It's a BOY! Such beautiful words to hear on April 3, 2012 at 7:49 AM.

Easton James' birth story:

I thought I might go into labor on my own because I was having pretty hard contractions the days leading up to Easton's birth. Sometimes they were as close as 2 minutes a part and others 7-10. They'd last about an hour and a half and then stop. The same thing happened with Clayton and Chloe. I'm a long, slow laborer. I spent several hours on Monday at Hoag doing all my pre-op stuff and fetal monitoring. The rest of the day was spent preparing to be gone for 3 days. I packed Clayton and Chloe's "hospital bags" full of toys and goodies, got food for the day ready for them, packed my own bags, Ryan's bag and baby boy or baby girl's bag. I actually had a decent night's sleep. The first part of the pregnancy I thought the baby was a boy, then I thought girl because the baby was measuring about 2 weeks behind my due date. I was diagnosed with Interuterine Growth Restriction at 36 weeks, which meant I had to go to twice weekly fetal monitoring to make sure my placenta was still providing for my baby. All was good every time. I learned from the nurses that it doesn't matter if you are a "6'2 woman from the Netherlands or 5'0 from Japan"...we are all compared to the same measurement. They said it seems like all women who come in with that diagnosis are petite like me. While a little part of me was worried, I knew that everything was fine because Chloe always measured at least 2 weeks behind, while Clayton was about 10 days. Ryan's mom got to our house dark and early at 4:45 and we headed to Hoag. Like he did with the twins, Ryan made a sweet playlist of songs for us to listen to on the way to the hospital. We stopped at Starbucks so Ryan could get a coffee and breakfast that he ate and enjoyed while I was getting all prepped for my c-section. My nurse was wonderful and so sweet, but unfortunately it was shift change, so she didn't assist in the birth. I walked over to the operating room at about 7:15 and all the crazy chaos began. The amount of people it takes to perform a c-section is incredible. They all work fast and do their job quickly. My anesthesiologist was amazing. Since I had an epidural with the twins along with the anesthesia for the c-section, I was incredibly nauseous during their birth and the entire day. For this reason I wore a patch behind my ear along with whatever other drugs the doctor ran through me to help with the nausea. This time around I was completely present in my baby's birth. Once everything was ready, the nurses called for the doctors and they literally started immediately. Dr. Clayton, my OB, is one of the sweetest, calming people I know. Assisting him was Dr. Feldman, who was Kyle and Lindsay's OB. He delivered Jett! Ryan peeked over the sheet a few times, but for the most part stayed focused on me. Once the doctor said the head is out, Ryan watched everything. I was waiting for the "It's a ______" announcement and all I kept hearing was "oh you're perfect, sweetie." Finally, I said, "well, what is it?!" and then they said, "It's a boy!" I think doctors are so accustomed to people knowing the gender, Dr. Clayton forgot I didn't know. Ryan saw the boy parts, but still asked to confirm! Baby Easton James Carlos was born at 7:49 AM, was 6 pounds 11 ounces, 18 inches, had a full head of dark hear, dark skin, and was absolutely perfect! I got to hold him right away and within about 20 minutes or so in recovery I got to do skin to skin and feed him for the first time. Easton did have some fluid in his lungs, which is common for c-section babies, so the nurses monitored him and within the first hour of his life, he had cleared it all out. We went to our room about an hour later where everyone came to meet him. The family was so excited to meet our beautiful third miracle and couldn't believe he was a boy as most of us thought he was a girl! We spent 3 full days and nights in the hospital. I recovered wonderfully this time and didn't need a blood transfusion like I did with the twins. The nurses so graciously took Easton to the nursery every night so Ryan and I could get some sleep. They brought him back for feedings of course, though. Ryan was able to stay with us every night thanks to Nonnie and Grammie who stayed with Clayton and Chloe. We came home on Friday morning to the happy faces of our Clayton and Chloe. They both love Easton so much, especially Chloe who covers him in kisses every day. It's definitely been an adjustment for all of us, but every day gets a little easier. Easton is a great baby. He eats so well and is sleeping perfectly at night. He loves to be swaddled. At his circumcision check-up at 6 days old, he had surpassed his birth weight and was 6 pounds 14 ounces and 19 inches long. I'm thinking his length was measured wrong at his birth. The pediatrician was super impressed with his weight because they don't expect breast fed babies to be back up to their birth weight until they are 2 weeks old. I was excited!

We are so grateful for our sweet little man and thankful God chose us to be his parents. He's our surprise little miracle who we love so very much.

Mommy all prepped and ready to meet her precious little boy.


Daddy's first picture with his baby boy!


Welcome to the world, Baby Easton James Carlos!


Skin to skin...the most remarkable moment.


Our newest pride and joy.


Our FAMILY!


Easton's first bath...definitely not a fan!


Easton is all dressed and ready to go home where his brother and sister are excitedly waiting.


Let the chaos begin!

March Madness!

Definitely not the basketball March madness, but oh my the crazy, get ready for baby, get ready for Easter, get ready for Clayton and Chloe's second birthday, get ready to hopefully move, madness! We waited to transform the office into a nursery until we knew how close we would be to moving into a new and bigger house. Unfortunately, the house we have been hoping for is taking a really long time to go through. We thought we had it, but then learned there was a number mistake on the bank's end, so we are waiting again. Ryan and I are hopeful we will hear something in the next week or so. Otherwise, we haven't found any other houses that meet our growing family's needs. We intend to be in this next house "forever," so I'm being pretty picky. The baby's room is ready besides all the cute decorations and bedding that truly make it a nursery. As soon as Nonnie knows whether her fourth grandchild is a boy or girl, she will be on the phone ordering the bedding! Daddy has been busy repainting the nursery a neutral color (we will paint more specifically when we move), putting furniture together, taking furniture apart, cleaning, etc. He's been in "nesting" mode too! I've lately gotten into a real DIY mode, so I have high hopes for what I'm going to create for the baby's nursery once he or she is here. I bought a paper cutting machine to help me with all of my projects. I love it! Ryan has always encouraged me to find a hobby and while my new crafting hobby isn't necessarily one that is solely for myself, it makes me happy to create meaningful things for my children. My next projects include Clayton and Chloe's Sesame Street birthday party, an advent calendar for Christmas, and personalized keepsake boxes for each child to keep all of their memorable stuff in. Fun stuff!

Here's some highlights about Clayton and Chloe in the month of March...
Clayton is a talking machine. He is putting together sentences and has more words than I can keep up with. It amazes me how he just knows a word based on hearing it and not being told "this is a ______." His letter recognition is unbelievable. He completely knows A-V now and recognizes them in other contexts too (signs, books, anywhere!). Chloe is doing fabulous with her letters too. She completely learns from Clayton. I used to have to tell her "this is an A, Chloe say, A," but now I show Clayton the card, ask him what letter it is, he says the letter, and then I show it to Chloe, ask her what letter it is and she repeats it. She doesn't quite have the identification part down, but listens to Clayton and repeats. We find this modeling concept to be true in a lot of aspects of our twins' lives. Clayton does whatever it is first and then Chloe follows some time later, but will do or say the same way as Clayton. It's pretty incredible. Another cute thing they both do is "read." They have a duck and goose book that follows the same pattern..."Is the pumpkin under the water goose?" on one page and then "No" on the other page. The pattern repeats with different beginnings for a few pages. I point to the "No" and they say "Noooo" and shake their heads. It's so cute and another thing Clayton did first with me and then Chloe just did without my prompting. Clayton is such a boy. He loves balls and knows every book that has a page that has some sort of ball on it. He's a super climber, can jump, swing from a bar, has an awesome throw, can shoot and "dribble" a basketball, is very aware of anything new or different, doesn't like anything out of place, can say his name, count to 10 (with prompting), and absolutely loves watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! He has also started singing. He knows some of the ABC song, twinkle twinkle, and several other songs we regularly sing. It's priceless. Chloe is our goofy little girl. She still does the silliest little march and her jump is magical. She bends down super low and stands up over and over again! She can swing from a bar, loves to color, can count to 10 (with prompting), calls her brother "sissy" which is what Ryan, Clayton, and I call her (another modeling thing!), gives the sweetest impromptu kisses, she loves to eat, loves ice cream, loves her daddy so much, and loves to sing and dance. She does the cutest hand motions for "twinkle, twinkle" and "head, shoulders, knees, and toes."

We are days away from little peanut's arrival. This is my last post as a family of four. In a few days we will officially be a family of five!

Here's some pictures that capture the March Madness!

Summertime in Winter!



No day is complete without a trip to the park!



Play time at bed time in Sissy's bed!



Our visit to the Easter Bunny...Clayton absolutely adored the bunny and Chloe was absolutely terrified!







My work so generously gave me a shower before my last day. It was so sweet of them to spoil little peanut.



Full term baby bump! 39 weeks and ready to meet sweet little peanut!


Our office has been transformed into baby peanut's new room, but it won't truly be a nursery until we know whether Peanut is a he or she and we can decorate it with all things baby boy or baby girl!

February Love

February came and went too fast, which means that I am officially on maternity leave. I am so happy to be on leave, but we have so much to do in the next month. We were hoping to be moved by now, but the market has not allowed for that, so we will be preparing our office for little peanut. Our dream house is looking very promising and if the acceptance does happen, I may be signing loan documents on the delivery table! Ryan is picking up the dresser this week and then we will be painting the red portion of the office to match the golden tan portion...that way it's neutral for either gender and for the future renters who will be living in our house. We went through the attic yesterday and got all the newborn baby gear down. Ryan did all the heavy lifting, while I went through the boxes of clothes. So, newborn clothes for both a boy and girl are washed, bottles are ready to be sterilized, and the swing, well if we are still here, it may be hanging from the ceiling! Needless to say, going through the "getting everything out of storage" process was enjoyable for both of us and really got us excited to meet our precious little one.

Now for Clayton and Chloe's update. They are officially 22 months, two months away from being two! One thing I've learned as of recent is that their every wish is granted by me. I'm thinking they do need to hear the word "no" from me once in a while, but I have such a hard time saying it to them. Of course, when it comes to discipline, I do it, but when my little boy says, "Mommy up" when he's in his crib, how do I not lift my big old self into cuddle with him?! I'm going to try to allow more independent play for them, but it is so hard for me to do. Wish me luck!

Clayton's vocabulary is incredible now. He can say most any and every word and has such a desire to learn what things are. He surprises me all of the time with his words. I was intending to tell him that what I was bagging at the grocery store was "broccoli" but before I could get the word out, he said "brocli." Yesterday he pointed to the vacuum and said, "vacuum." Their little minds are so amazing. Chloe is a little parrot too. She has more and more words daily, but her newest is calling Clayton, "sissy." We, including Clayton, call Chloe, "sissy," so we think she's just repeating his words, not quite realizing that she is "sissy" even though she responds to it when we say it. Silly girl! We still go through ABC flashcards most mornings after breakfast. Clayton can clearly identify A-O and can do so outside of the flashcards as well. Chloe can say her ABC's, but at this point every letter is a B! My favorite time with Clayton is 6:15 AM when we cuddle in my bed and watch Sesame Street or Mickey Mouse. At this point those are the only two shows we watch. Chloe sleeps about an hour longer than Clayton, so when she awakes we head down for breakfast. She actually has no desire to watch television, but Clayton could watch it all day long if we allowed him to! Clayton loves his blankie still, his paci (only allowed to have it when he sleeps and as a last resort in the car), Mickey, Minnie, his "nilk" (milk), sweet potato fries, Daddy's cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats), his cars, anything Chloe has, saying "uppy," dancing, going to the park, playing with any ball, going to My Gym, and giving kisses, especially to his Mommy and Daddy! Chloe loves her baby, eating anything and everything, especially blueberries and eggs, coloring, play dough, going to the park, dancing, dancing with her daddy, singing, going to My Gym, being held, playing dress up with her jewelry, my jewelry, old clothes, bibs, and giving sweet (open mouth!) kisses, especially to Mommy and Daddy!

Here's some pictures from their busy, fun month!

Sweet little sleepers...notice Chloe's unzipped jammies! She's our little exhibitionist!


Ticky, ticky time with Dada!


Clayton and Chloe love to read, especially in the big chair in their bedroom. Clayton likes to sit on Daddy's lap in the morning, eat Daddy's cereal, and read the sports page!


Valentine's Day fun! I've never been a huge fan of the day, not for any particular reason, but mainly because I felt like the day always did its best to push Christmas out, which is my favorite holiday. I hate seeing red and white M & M's before we've even celebrated Christmas! Now, that I have children, though, all of the lesser significant "holidays" are more meaningful. I bought all three babes little Valentine chair backers (I'll have their names embroidered once peanut is here!). We filled them with goodies and when Clayton and Chloe came downstairs they were so excited about the new "thing" on their chairs. They had fun with their little Valentine goodies and even more fun playing with the stickers and coloring later in the day. We also made heart shaped cookies, which they both enjoyed creating and frosting. Mommy burned the cookies, but C and C still loved eating them!









Having fun outside with their new bubble blower and sidewalk chalk!




Serious and focused little artists.


Daddy ran ahead to put our name in at Rainforest Cafe, Minnie was there on our way out of the park, Clayton spotted her, how could nearly 9 month pregnant Mommy say "no" to a photo op with Minnie Mouse, aka, Clayton's girlfriend?!