January 13 - Brr..It's Cold In Here

"Brr..It's Cold In Here! There must be some Toros in the atmosphere!" Fans of the movie 'Bring It On' are probably familiar with that cheer..okay, I'll wager most of you haven't seen this classic movie about high school cheerleaders and their choreography woes..but it's pure campy fun (you can catch it on TNT or TBS almost any given week). Anyhoo-it is chilly here in sunny Houston, at least by our standards. It is 30 right now! Amelia and I are LOVING it, Julia seems to like the cooler weather (so far she hasn't fought putting on her hat and mittens the last few days) while J.D., my warm blooded hubby is anxiously awaiting the return of spring/summer. I know the northeast is being hit by a big storm right now and hopefully you are all staying warm...and planning to take advantage of the powder by planning some ski adventures! Well-this is my first post of 2011 so let me wish you all a very Happy New Year! A few people have asked what kind of party we went to. Well...we have a newborn and a toddler so our celebration was pretty tame . To be honest-J.D. passed out on the couch around 9:30pm and I forgot it was New Years eve until I was walking the dog and thought "wow, a lot of people are having parties tonight." It wasn't until some fireworks went off that I remembered...pathetic, i know! So far, 2011 has been good to us. Julia is back at gymnastics on the weekends and enjoying every minute of it. She LOVES school and doesn't want to come home most days. It is a struggle to get her to stop playing and get in the car. J.D. and I had a parent/teacher conference the other day and she is doing great. Amazingly-she has never been in time-out there and plays with everyone. Occasionally she chit chats with her best buddy Lincoln during circle time and they have to be separated, but she always listens to the teacher. Developmentally, she is on target for her age and she's a "pleasure to have in class." Yay! In Luke news, our little man is becoming more independent. He will lay on his activity mat for about 20min and occasionally enjoys the swing. Sleeping is still a challenge but he does sleep in his crib for a few hours every night now-which is a huge improvement over a month ago. He loves to put his hands in his mouth (I think he might be teething) and has "found" his hands. He coos and makes noises all the time, it is adorable! He is also super smiley. Oh-fun, fun. Jill (one of my best friends from Gainesville) came to visit last weekend. It was a quick trip but it was fabulous seeing her and hanging out. We had a great time! As I type this I realize we didn't get any photos...darn it! Jill-if you are reading this, you'll just have to come out again to visit! :)

Here are some more fun photos - enjoy!

Just Call Her Tink

Our Little Super Hero!

December 25 - Jingle Bells

Merry Christmas everyone! Grammy and Uncle Chad flew in town on Thursday and it was fabulous having them here. They both had fun playing with Julia and snuggling with Luke, especially Grammy! I really appreciated having an extra pair of hands in the house to help out-it almost felt like vacation for me. I usually lay him down to do stuff around the house and listen to the poor guy scream, so it was nice doing chores in peace. Before I dive into our fantastic Christmas, let's rewind to Christmas eve. A big Christmas eve dinner is a tradition in the Yamo family so J.D. put together a fabulous meal. We had ham (my favorite meat..yum), carrots, potatoes, green beans and pumpkin cheesecake. It was fabulous! Before bed that night, we left cookies and milk for Santa (we planned to leave carrots for the reindeer but discovered Julia and Amelia ate them all). Julia drew a special picture for Santa but didn't want to leave it for him next to the fireplace. She kept saying "No! That's mine." We convinced her to leave it with the cookies and Santa was kind enough to leave it for her in the morning with a special message thanking her for the delicious snack. Julia was very excited for Santa to come and kept singing Jingle Bells..over...and over...and over again.

On Christmas morning, Julia was so excited when she saw all the gifts under the tree that she did a dance-it was beyond adorable!! Check out all those gifts...hmm, I think it's safe to say she is a tad spoiled (90% of those gifts were for her). It took us almost 5h to open all the gifts because Julia wanted to play with everything she opened. It was adorable. There are too many gifts and people to thank individually so I'd just like to say thank you to everyone for thinking of our family and helping making our day special! Julia is having a ball playing with her new kitchen set, dolls, makeup and books.

Here are some great holiday photos, enjoy!

Smiley Luke

The Fam


Daddy & Luke Snoozin' After Opening Gifts


Grammy & the Kids

Uncle Chad & Julia

Julia Playing with her new kitchen [in her Halloween costume which she wears all the time now]

Mommy & Her Babies

December 14 - Lucky Seven

Happy Birthday 2 month birthday Luke. We went to the doctor today and he is one healthy baby. Here are his latest stats:
*10lb 15oz (25th-50th percentile)
*22.5" (50th percentile)
*100% adorable
(I recently downloaded pictures from J.D.'s phone and here is actually Luke's first ever photo - how cute is our little guy?

As dedicated Bean followers are aware, Luke is not a great sleeper. The good news is that we determined that he CAN sleep on his own. How you ask? First-we must double swaddle him tightly. Next-we must rock him asleep in our arms and hold him for a minimum of an hour. Then- we gingerly lay him down and hope for the best. We've had mixed results over the last few weeks but great success over the weekend. He slept Saturday night from 9pm to 4am (10pm-4am in the pack 'n play) and Sunday night from 9pm to 3am (10pm-3am in the pack 'n play). I wish I could say I slept too but Julia woke me up Saturday night and Amelia barked for an hour Sunday night which didn't facilitate a good night sleep for me (luckily, the kids slept through her barking. I think she saw a cat or raccoon in our backyard although I didn't see anything. She rarely barks like that). Last night he slept from about 9:30pm to 1am..not horrible but not as good as the previous 2 nights. Hopefully tonight goes well.

In other fun news, Luke rolled over on Sunday!! He's been able to roll onto his shoulders for a couple weeks now but now he can go all the way over. I was pretty shocked. Otherwise, we had a great weekend. Our neighbors Girl Scout troop had a Christmas part of sorts in our cul-de-sac on Friday night. There were approx. 50 people singing Christmas carols. They also had hot cocoa and cookies. Then on Saturday we went to Emma and Sarah's house for a playdate. The girls were so adorable together-playing dress up and having tea parties. Amelia came too and Sarah played with her for quite a while (Amelia was so pooped when we got home she passed out snoring under the Christmas tree!). We went to the Radford's on Sunday where Julia and Hannah had fun playing with a kitchen set making me and "sandwiches" and "cookies." Overall-great weekend!

To cap off this post, here are some fun things Julia has said recently:
*I have pretty princess hair mommy.
*I listen. This is not a joke. (I realize when I reprimand her for not listening I tell her 'this is not a joke.')
*When she asks for something I say to her "What is the magic word?" She'll smile and say "Magic word!" then will say "Please."

(and that is our little Julia bean "swaddled" in her favorite afghan, she is so cute!)

December 7 - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner and our little Julia bean is getting very excited. Our Christmas tree is up and it looks fab! J.D. usually puts the lights on (he wraps every strand with lights and it takes hours, not too mention about 20 strands) but he's out of town this week so I did it myself. I'm proud to say I finished the lights (I think I used 6 or 7 strands) and decorations in a few hours and it looks beautiful (J.D. saw a picture and said it looks gorgeous but it needs more lights, hehe). I still need his help to put the angel on top (not sure if you can tell in this photo but it isn't actually on the top of the tree). We upgraded our stocking hangers from "JOY" to "PEACE" to accommodate our growing family and I love that I can finally hang them off a mantle (we didn't have anywhere to really hang them in our Gainesville house). Of course, being a klutz I've broken the hanger on the "C" twice already (note to self: take the stocking off the hanger before putting anything in it) so we always have superglue on hand.

We usually celebrate Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with J.D.'s. This year his mom and brother Chad are flying to Houston and we are all super excited to celebrate with them. Julia tells me every day that 'Grammy and Uncle Chad are coming on an airplane' and she can't wait to play with them! She also wants to go to the zoo again. There is a new exhibit opening this month but all she can talk about are the elephants.

In other fun holiday news, we went to a children Christmas party at J.D.'s work this past weekend and had a good time. It was geared toward older kids but I enjoyed making crafts with Julia (homemade ornaments). I think she'll really enjoy it when she is 4 or 5. She did get to meet Santa and received her first Christmas gift (the little stinker tried to take more than one present!). We didn't get a photo with Luke because he was sleeping and we didn't want to disturb him, but I'm sure we'll get a great Santa shot with him next year. Julia also LOVES LOVES LOVES looking at outdoor holiday lights. Every day after school we drive around the neighborhood looking at lights and she gets super excited. It is adorable!

Making Holiday Ornaments
Our Little Elf [Luke's party outfit]
My Favorite Photo of Luke-I am in love with him!

Happy Holidays everyone! If you are having trouble getting into the holiday spirit, I recommend listening to the Christmas music station (it rocks!) on the radio or check out the one on Pandora. I'm also a huge fan of lighting some fun candles (I'm a huge fan of pumpkin, cinnamon and the pine scented ones). Just under three weeks to Christmas.....!!

December 6 - Fun Photos!

Hello peeps-here are some fun photos for your viewing pleasure:

Julia holding hands with Luke

Fun with Daddy
Fun with Mommy
Jules loves Uncle Bryan!
Uncle Greg, J.D. and the girls at the zoo


The girls checking out the beautiful fish at the zoo

November 29 - The Gathering Season

Welcome back bean followers-I'm just now waking up from a turkey coma...we've had A LOT of turkey over the last 2 weeks. We celebrated our first annual Houston 'Friendsgiving' last Saturday and it was delish. The Radford's and Hargraves came over and it was fun for all. The girls had a fabulous time playing (I'm not exaggerating when I say they pulled out every toy we own and they were all over the house) and we all enjoyed an amazing meal. The next night I took the kids to Braven's superbowl game. He is my friend Tammy's 9-year old son and wow-when people say football is "big" in Texas they aren't joking. The game was held at a high school stadium that rivals most college fields. There was an announcer, cheerleaders and hundreds of people in the stands. Luke slept through the whole game but Julia really got into it. By the end, she was cheering and didn't want to leave. She loves football now, which J.D. is thrilled about!

Between Tuesday and Wednesday, J.D. and I made a few trips to the airport to pick up the NC Cook's, Jason, Bryan, Brian, Craig and Grandpa. We had an AMAZING time with everyone and are so happy everyone made the trip out to celebrate with us. Julia and Victoria played well together (amazingly, there were no outbursts) and they both had a fun time playing with their uncles (I'm pretty sure Jason's arms are still sore from throwing them in the air). Andrew tried to keep up with the girls while Luke spent a lot of time snuggling with different relatives. We feasted on a tasty Thanksgiving meal that included 2 different turkeys, stuffing, glazed carrots, green beans, spinach, corn bread, corn casserole and cranberry sauce. Dessert was also fab with apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin ice cream pie and chocolate cake. As if that wasn't enough, we also had a huge tin of gourmet cookies from Craig's mom. I think we all gained a few pounds over the last few days! And as everyone knows, no family holiday is complete without some serious gaming. We had fun playing Cranium, Wits and Wages, poker and a few other board games (a lot of football was watched too).

Overall-it was an amazing Thanksgiving and I cannot think of a more fun time with my family in recent years. I'd like to thank everyone again for traveling out here to see us and special thanks for the following:
*Brian: explaining the rules of the game...over and over....and making me laugh harder than I have in recent years with your charades
*Craig: helping with all the cooking, multiple trips to the grocery store & playing with Amelia
*Grandpa: all the stories & playing with Amelia
*Jason: for making the kids a special Thanksgiving book ('The Four That Saved Thanksgiving' plus a coloring book) and holding Luke during his fussy periods
*Bryan: flipping the girls over and being a great game partner
*Greg: waking up with the kids every morning & being a fab Cranium partner
*Jill: you are a superstar, thank you for helping to clean up the kitchen and toys every night!

Thank you everyone and I cannot wait until our next family Thanksgiving! And to those family members and bean followers who we didn't celebrate with-I hope you had a great time too!

Now....the countdown for Christmas begins!

November 17 - What Are You Talking About?

J.D. and I were chatting during dinner the night about our respective days when Julia asked us 'What are you talking about?' We continue to be amazed at her verbal skills! Every day she says a new word or phrase, it is so cool watching her grow and develop. She's also been into the PBS show 'Sid the Science Kid' the last week or so. Before this, she watched the 'Elmo's World' segment in Sesame Street (we record the show and fast forward to Elmo's World, she doesn't like the rest of the program) and there was a brief period where she liked 'Wonder Pets' (she really only sang along with the intro and then took off to the playroom). But with Sid-she watches the whole thing and (my favorite) sings and dances along with the characters. Very cute.

In Luke news, he is as adorable as ever. He is started to chub up a little and has little rolls developing on his thighs (I love it! Bring on the Michelin look!). He loves his nightly bath (it appears to be the only time he's on his back, without being held that he doesn't cry). We're still working on getting him to consistently sleep on his back with limited success. J.D. tried for over 5H the other night with no luck (great effort babe!) but last night he slept on his boppy for almost 7h (woo hoo!). I doubt it will happen again tonight but you never know.

My furry baby, Amelia, is also doing great. After we drop Julia off at school in the morning (Amelia still comes along for the ride with me and Luke, she loves being included!) we go on a long walk in the neighborhood. Today we did over 3 miles. It is good for me (walk off that baby weight!) and good for her (she needs to walk off the toddler weight...as in the weight she's gained from all the food Julia feeds her!).

Here are some cute photos of our fab family- enjoy!

Julia and 'Baby Sarah'
The Boys Watching Football
Julia Bean - Crazy Smile!

November 10 - Hey Little Man

"Hey little man!" "Good morning little man!" "I want to hold the baby." "It's okay baby, don't cry." "Hi baby Luke!" We are thrilled that our little Julia bean is bonding with our baby Luke bean. She is so adorable interacting with him-her new thing is to throw out his diapers when I'm changing him. She'll throw the dirty diaper into the trash and say "Thank you Julia, you're welcome."

In other news, Luke (or "Master Luke" as almost all his cards and gifts arrive addressed too) is doing fab (he's actually wearing a Star Wars onesie in the top right photo, but the blanket covers up the words). He's a hearty eater and still loves to snuggle, snuggle, snuggle. Getting him to sleep on his back continues to be a challenge (he is super gassy, poor guy), so we have a routine that is working out decently: I feed him around 10pm, hand him off to J.D. and immediately go to bed. J.D. brings him to me when he wakes up (usually around 1am and a few times we've gotten lucky and he's slept until 3am). So..J.D. sleeps from 1am/3am to 6am (when Julia wakes up full of energy announcing "I want milk and cheerios!") while I sleep from 10pm-1am/3am. Obviously, we need to get him sleeping on his back...on his own...in his room...all in good time! The pediatrician said we shouldn't let him cry more than 20min at this age and we keep trying with him...no luck so far. I'll keep you all posted.

Let's see, OH-big news!! J.D. was promoted at work to Lead Engineer for the software group in his lab. Congrats babe! Work is going well for him and he is still enjoying it. I'm currently on maternity leave and will start back up again part-time in December. Which is amazingly in just under 3 weeks! Time flies with a newborn, toddler, hubby and furry baby!

November 2 - Where Did the Kids Go?

Happy Tuesday everyone! Can you believe it is November? Thanksgiving is just over 3 weeks away and then Christmas is right around the corner. 2010 is flying by! J.D. left for Florida last week (shuttle launch) so Sarah and her pooch Ruby came in to help me with our little beans. Sarah had a great time snuggling with Luke and she had fun playing with Julia. Julia loved the company and had a fab time with little Ruby. As for Ruby...she came to TX never eating human food....and left after snacking on a lot of cheerios, goldfish and teddy grahams! Sorry Sarah...that is life with a toddler! Hopefully she won't become a beggar for you.

On Saturday, I took Julia to gymnastics and it was great being back in the gym with her (J.D. has been going with her the last few months). She is doing great and wants to do all the activities by herself (miss independent!). We all went to the park later that day and took advantage of the gorgeous fall weather. Julia had a great time on the swings, tire swing and slides while Luke enjoyed the fresh air (and being held). The dogs wanted to come but we left them home..maybe next time pooches!

Sunday was Halloween so we carved pumpkins and went trick or treating. Well-I took Julia trick or treating while Sarah stayed home with Luke and the dogs and handed out candy. Julia LOVED her fairy princess costume (we also painted her nails purple so they color coordinated with her outfit..I let her paint my nails as well...let's just say my hands were almost completely purple afterward) and had a fabulous time in the neighborhood. She did a great job saying "Happy Halloween!" and/or "Trick or Treat!" as well as "thank you" and "have a great night." We saw well over 100 kids in the neighborhood (which was very exciting, we barely saw any in our FL neighborhood) and she wanted to follow the big kids around. She literally power walked from house to house and when I finally maneuvered her back to our cul-de-sac the little stinker told me she wanted more candy and turned around and started running to more houses. I had to literally pick her up and carry her home! The next morning, she ran downstairs and looked out the front window and asked us "Where did the kids go?" We explained Halloween is just once a year. I let her try a few pieces of candy last night-she took a bite of a kit kat, then spit it out, and repeated that process for a few more pieces. That's my girl..she is not into sweets!

In Luke news, we went to the doctor last week for his 2-week check up and he is 7lb 10oz. The doctor was impressed with his weight gain! He is also almost 23". He's a growing boy, that is for sure! He is doing great, although he still wants to be held ALL THE TIME. It's cute during the day, not so cute at night. Hopefully he grows out of it. I'm totally in love with my little cuddle bug though-he is so adorable!! Julia loves him as well and still wants to hold him all the time and gives him kisses quite often. I love my life!