From Alaska to Australia

7 months, 27 days

Kristina — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 05:52:43 +0000

Walking!

As a reminder … Aiman was walking at 8 months, 22 days.

Our children are amazing.

And, just for your amusement, Aiman couldn’t help himself but to photo bomb (video bomb?) poor little Sofia while I was trying to capture the momentous occasion on video.

What a goof ball.

Less Words

Kristina — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:07:04 +0000

Someone (Scates, Grandma) seems to have a problem with my word heavy posts and demands MORE. PICTURES. Well, fine then. Here you go.

Hi Grandma! This post is for you.

Hello, my name is Aiman and I like frogs

Whatchoo lookin' at fool?

Oh right ... I'm adorable!

Hello, my name is Aiman and I also like trains.

and slides ...

And also water fountains

Mmmmm .... fingers!

A wink

and a smile!

Look ma, no hands!

No pictures please!

Playtime!

She's got him totally immobilized.

Mommy's obsession with the Hipstamatic App continues.

And continues.

The Park!

The Playroom!

Quality Mommy Time!

And finally ... photographic evidence that Sofia will sleep anywhere, so long as it does not involve any kind of crib.

Mandatory Mommy Blog No Sleep Post

Kristina — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 05:27:48 +0000

Let me start by saying that we have no one to blame but ourselves. I know this. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t write a whole blog post complaining about it. This is a free country after all.

The problem started essentially when Sofia was born. In Costa Rica we didn’t really have a place for Sofia to sleep, so she just slept in bed with us. It worked out pretty great when she was a newborn because she slept really well and could just roll over to nurse – I got quite a bit of sleep in those early days.

When we moved back to L.A., I started to transition her to the Arms Reach Co-Sleeper. Aiman loved the Co-Sleeper, he always slept in it and MUCH preferred the Co-Sleeper to the bed. When Aiman was about six months old he was ready to move to his own room and his own crib. He basically couldn’t wait. When we moved him into his crib he had one night where he woke up crying, but after that he was sleeping through the night and we never looked back.

Sofia … not so much.

She hated the Co-Sleeper. HATED IT. As in, if we got within 2 feet of it she would start screaming her head off. So … because I am a bad parent with no stomach for screaming infants, she stayed in our bed.

Then we put the crib together. She seemed to love it. Ooooh! Fun! New place to play! Everything was great … for about 5 minutes, until she realized that we planned to leave her in the crib, while we got into bed. WHAT. PARENTS. HOW DARE YOU! We tried to cry it out, but she is unbreakable. We let Aiman cry it out, but he never really had the stomach for it and always calmed down and went to sleep within 5 or 10 minutes.

Sofia has gone for over an hour (with me checking on her at regular intervals of course – I’m not a monster!) My girl has stamina.

Ugh. We seem to have turned a bit of a corner, I can get her to sleep in the crib with a minimum of crying, but she always wakes up within just a few hours and wants to get into bed. I would let her cry a bit, but our apartment is small and her crib is in our bedroom and its either let her cry or just bring her into bed and everyone goes back to sleep. I’m sure you can guess the path I have chosen. I am a bad parent.

Here’s the worst part though folks. And, I’m so ashamed to admit this, but … I’ve gotten really used to having her in bed, so much so that for the last few weeks I have found myself unable to fall asleep until Sofia wakes up and wants to get into bed. So every night I roll around in bed trying to get comfortable until she starts crying at around 1 or so at which point I bring her into bed, snuggle up and we’re both asleep in 5 minutes.

I’m such an enabler!

Send help.

P.S. Kids + Park + Hipstamatic App = Freakin’ Awesome!

The Haps

Kristina — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 06:49:05 +0000

Yo Homeees ….

Things have been crazy busy around here y’all.

Grandma and grandpa came to visit. Hey grams … I miss you!

Daddy’s business has been booming.

(And I’m super cute in my little sling)

I learned to swim … I mean sorta swim … I’m almost floating … I can get in the water. Whatevs, don’t judge, I look AWESOME in my Baby Elmo suit.

Daddy has been taking me to the park dressed as a boy. I’m so progressive.

Daddy always brings Aiman with us. He’s alright I guess, but he’s such a camera hog!

Ahhhh, that’s more like it.

Who’s got two thumbs and is always trying to steal my picture-taking thunder? This guy!

Mommy is OBSESSED with the Hipstamatic App on her iPhone.

Mommy and daddy finally put my crib together — it totally ROCKS, but I would still rather sleep in bed with the ‘rents. I’m a diva!

I love playing with Aiman and boxes.

Here he is hiding in the couch cushions. He is such a riot!

I feel like there is one more thing to report. What is it? What could it be? Oh yeah … I’m crawling!

BAM!

Who’s your daddy!

Picture Heavy

Kristina — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:28:45 +0000

You may have noticed that there is an awful lot of picture/video posting with not a whole lot of wordiness going on around these parts lately. To be honest, we’re still feeling a bit of culture shock from the move out of the jungle and with all the Bula Ball work to be done, the really time-consuming job hunt, plus trying to keep Aiman from sending us all to the loony bin with his full-fledged Terrible Two-ness, I just haven’t felt the inspiration to write.

Today is no different.

But look … its ok … cause see how cute they are!?!

(Sorry Sofia is out of focus, but I could not not post this – they are so adorable!)

And check out Sofia’s crazy blue-green-grey-brown-black amazing eyes. Who knows where those came from?

Happy Labor Day Everybody!

Kristina — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:42:16 +0000

Rollin Rollin Rollin – Part Dos

Kristina — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 23:30:19 +0000

OK, sure, lots of little babies can roll from their bellies to their backs. It’s almost like …. physics … and gravity … and maybe calculus or something. At a certain point their arms get strong enough to do a little push up and they kind of just flop over. No.Big.Deal.

But, rolling from the back to the belly requires much more coordination and brainpower and pure brute strength and my little genius infant has been rolling from her back to her belly for weeks now … WEEKS. Probably like, three weeks or something, which means she has been rolling from front to back and back to front (and even off her left side and her right side – my ambidextrous little monster) since she was just three months old.

She’s a beast.

And adorable.

And probably the most awesome baby ever (or at least just as awesome as her brother).

Surfin!

Kristina — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:04:03 +0000

This is easily the best 2 minutes of home video ever recorded by anyone ever. Seriously.

My kid is 100% pure awesome.

Aiman

Kristina — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 20:58:40 +0000

Geez, you Aiman fans are ravenous! He’s had 2 + years to himself on the blog, we are trying to teach him to share!

But, I have to keep this blog’s fans happy, so here is some Aiman, in all his refusing-to- sleep glory!

Smiles

Kristina — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 00:43:10 +0000

Sofia is the smiliest little baby you have ever seen. She smiles when she wakes up in the morning, smiles when I unswaddle her, smiles when she sees her daddy, smiles when she sees Aiman (but mostly when Aiman cries – she could be evil), smiles when she notices that she has hands, and on, and on, and on. Because of the Great Camera Malfunction of 2011, I have been unable to properly capture Sofia’s completely fantastic and infectious smile. But today was my best effort yet.

Behold, the power of a grin!