Happy Birthday Nixon

My precious boy is one year old! I have no idea where this past year has gone. He is such a HUGE blessing and we love watching his personality really start to break through. First birthday's are not taken lightly in our home...NO WAY! We love to go all out;) I'm talking hand made banners, dinosaur cupcakes, candy station and streamers. All to get some great pictures, because it's not like Nixon will actually remember this day!  So pictures you will see.  

Do to a lighting issue we couldn't get the candy station dead on so here is a side view. 

Let me just say that if you ever decide to decorate dinosaurs like this be ready for a long night. These little suckers were small so very difficult to actually decorate! But oh so adorable:)

September is such a beautiful month in Socal so we decided to make Nixon's party a swim party. Nothing like a pool to add chaos to a party. At one point we had 13 kids in the water!

First birthday's seem to mark big "first" moments for our kids. Ellsie crawled up the stairs on her first birthday and while I thought Nixon would CRAWL on his first birthday he decided to do something a little more adventurous. HE JUMPED IN THE POOL! Nixon can stand by himself pretty good. Chris would put him at the edge of the pool and he would jump right in to Chris! It was AWESOME. 

And of course it is a right of passage to devour your first cake when turning one. It took Nixon a little while to get the hang of it but it's food so of course every bit of that cupcake was GONE! 

We had such a wonderful day Celebrating Nixon. Ellsie is still wanting to sing happy birthday to Nixon daily... so she can have cake after;) Nixon finally has some BOY toys to play with. Poor guy, he mostly play's with Ellsie's old toys. I loved every minute making this day special for him. 

What I Love About...

Ellsie:
*If it stinks it is called a stinky poopoo. If I say "let's take a bath to get the stink off you." Ellsie will reply with "stinky poopoo mama." If I say "Ellsie look outside, the garbage truck is coming." Ellsie is quick to say "stinky poopoo truck." If I shut the door to go to the bathroom where Ellsie can't get to me, she sits outside the door crying "no stinky poopoo mama."
*I love that life is so exciting for Ellsie that she run's everywhere. "Ellsie will you grab such and such for me?" I hear the quick pitter patter of Ellsie feet "Okay mama!"
* If I dare to get out of my yoga pants and tank, Ellsie always tells I am pretty. She notices change and loves to give compliments.
* Ellsie does thing best on her own, she likes to be the one to make decisions. So, when not prompted she is just so fun with Nixon. She brings him toys, feeds him (not always a good thing), and makes him laugh all the time. I love the moments when I am just in the room and get to witness her love for her brother:)
* I love Ellsie's obsession with shoes. And I mean OBSESSION! She wakes up knowing exactly what shoes she wants to wear that day and we even get in slight arguments because I wont let her nap with shoes on.

Nixon:
* If you smile at Nixon, he smiles right back every time!
* His chunky cheeks are so kissable. I swear I kiss him at least a 100 times a day!
* He NEVER stops eating.
* He screams like a girl!
* Nixon absolutely LOVES Ellsie. He just lights up when she is around.
* His feet are indicators of his mood. His happy feet make me so happy:)

Life in South County

We have now enjoyed 5 months in our new home and YES all boxes are unpacked (well there may be a few stashed in a secret place still waiting for me). This was my first time having to unpack with children and what a difference! Chris and I have moved 8 TIMES but this has by far been the most difficult. Ellsie and Nixon consume most of my energy during the day and by evening...well good luck getting me to do ANYTHING:) But for the most part the house is coming together just fine. Here are a few before and after pics.

The kitchen had tile flooring, missing drawers, some nasty paint, old hardware, and lots of dirt:)

Ellsie's room had some very lovely floral detailing, the most holes in a wall I have ever seen, broken blinds, no closet doors, a multi-colored ceiling fan, and carpet

Nixon's room- Yes that is a chalkboard painted on the wall with the paint tape still around it. And yes this room is only half way painted and yes it was like that when the previous owners lived here.

The house we moved into previously housed 7 people!!! 3 young kids and 4 adults. So you can imagine the MESS we inherited. We took possession mid January and went to work right away. Stripping the house to bare bones, we put all new flooring in and had the entire house painted. Chris changed out all the electrical outlets and most of the hardware throughout the house. Then came the closets. Unfortunately we had to re-use the existing closet doors but Chris put in 2 new closet units. Every room got new lighting except for our rooms and believe it or not Chris did it all without electrocuting himself:) And with every project come a HUGE mess! We have been cleaning up mess after mess after mess from the moment we moved in. Which is especially fun with 2 little ones adding to the MESS:) But now a few months into the move our house is starting to look like a HOME. And might I emphasize STARTING:) I think Chris could have had so much more done however, nap times have made it difficult to do any LOUD projects...which is pretty much every project.

Chris installing new tile flooring in the kids bathroom. And YES the massive surf boards on the wall are gone!!!

Here is the TV room painted and just about to get the new floors installed:)

We would really like to give a BIG THANK YOU to our parents. Both have been SO helpful and supportive on this new journey of ours. None of this would have been possible without their help. We are really liking the neighborhood and Ellsie has made a few friends to play with in the community. And the park choices around us are ridiculous. We have 2 really nice parks near us less than a 2 minute walk.  We are in the process of finding a home church. There are a lot of great ones to choose from around us. Obviously a HUGE draw for us is the kids program. And so many churches have so much to offer for kids:) So as you can see we are enjoying our new home and can't wait to have it visitor ready. Until then enjoy the before and after pics.

This is what the kitchen looks like today:) Every stitch of the kitchen was painted and knobs/pulls put on the cabinets. YES! That is a home made pie sitting out on the counter (a weekly occurrence in our home...NOT). Our next project will be to take out the center lighting and make it a tray ceiling with some canned lighting.

The family room with furniture:) I have had those pictures up forever and just never seem to get around to ordering a picture of Nixon to put in the last frame (yep, good mama).

Chris had the fun task of hanging this bad boy. We can not decide what to do with these bricks. We wont be able to completely re-do the fireplace so the question is to have it painted or just leave it...
What to do?

Our current project is the backyard. As we progress a little further I will post some before and after pictures. Stay tuned! XOXO

I Speak Ellsie

Ellsie is talking so much and I am having so much fun decoding her language (well most days!). It really is quite amazing how one day they are just able to talk and talk and talk. Here are a few things Ellsie says on a pretty regular basis. 

"Poopoo Stinky"- This can mean a number of things, Diaper change, Tooting, bathing (b/c one time she had a poo up that back so we had to wash the stinky poopoo off so bath time became wash stinky poopoo time), or trash

"Poopo Stinky Truck"- Garbage truck

"Pooh Bear Mama"- Diaper change (he is the character on her diapers).

"Phone cards"- Flash cards on my iPhone

"Bickey"- Mickey Mouse

"Fingers"- I want my nails painted

"Chupi Nigh Night"- Pacifier and blanket

"Pinka"- Tinker Bell

"JaJa"- Jacket

"Kitty"- I want a bandaid (because we only use Hello Kitty bandaids of course)

"Chicker" - Stickers:)

Clearly I am having fun each day figuring out the riddles of Ellsie's language:) It does feel like sometimes we have our own secret language that only I can understand and I must admit I kind of like it!

Ladies, Eat Your Hearts Out!

I mean can this chunk look any more delicious? I just take this little guy in all day and all I want to do is SQUEEZE him! Nixon is our happy growing boy and is really starting to develop a fun personality. He has such a laid back side to him as well as a spunky fun side:) He is starting to show a little FIRE when Ellsie takes things from him. In the past he let Ellsie rule the roost but he is starting to put up a 

fight these days:) 

Nixon is just HAPPY. He is a sweet and easy baby and I LOVE having a little boy! My biggest concern with Nixon is that I am literally going to squeeze him until he POPS! While I describe Nixon and "sweet" and "happy" he is also ALL BOY. One of his biggest joy's in life is to poop out his diaper and laugh through the changing process and then scream when I try to put clothes on him. He likes to be NAKED and he is not really a fan of socks. Nixon also burps like a grown man. It seriously grosses me out. And if you can't tell by looking at him, he also eats like a GROWN MAN! 

This little guy just makes my heart ACHE!!!!!

Happy Fathers Day!

As I look back at my childhood, I have VERY specific memories of things my brother and I use to do with our dad. Things that my mom was not apart of, just things we did with my dad. Like on Monday and Thursday nights when my mom would work late my brother and I would climb into bed with my dad and he would read us The Chronicles of Narnia or The Hobbit. My dad also was the game player of my parents. I cannot tell you how many times Josh, Eric, my dad and I stayed up super late to finish a game of Monopoly! One year My dad convinced me to take a zero period spanish class in jr. high. It was short lived (1 semester) but every Tuesday and Thursday my dad took me to school and on the way we stopped off at the Mill Panderia and had yummy donuts and pastries:) It is fun for me too look back and think of the time I spent with my dad and it makes me wonder what specific memories Ellsie and Nixon will remember about their dad.

Chris and Ellsie have had a little more time together than Chris and Nixon so she has really had some special moments with dad. No matter what Chris' day has been like he always comes home ready to see his kids. Ellsie and Chris have shared bath time together almost since she was first born. It is now part of our nightly routine. After bath's Chris and Ellsie go in her room and play for a bit and he puts her to bed. It is his time to spend with Ellsie and she just soaks up time with dad. Chris has also made a point to take Ellsie on "dates." I would say about twice a month Chris takes Ellsie to do something just the two of them. Chris is so excited for Nixon to start walking (so he can teach him to surf of course) that he has taken over Nixon's "workouts." Chris is very good about make sure Nixon gets his tummy time or putting him in a crawl position or helping him hold on to the coffee table. I don't always remember to work on those things:) 5:30 is always a doozer for me. I'm a little tired from the day, I'm cooking dinner, and then kids are in their pre-dinner angry hunger phase. Most evenings when Chris get's home he feeds Nixon so I can finish getting dinner on the table. Nixon get's dads full attention and just like his sister he too soaks in every bit!

If I could sum up Chris as a father in 2 words I would say that he is PRESENT and INTENTIONAL. Two qualities I admire in him VERY much! Prior to have kids I always knew Chris would be a good dad. Chris is the type of person that is good at anything he puts his mind too... sometimes to an annoying degree. But to actually walk through life with him as a dad is much different than I imagined because "good" does not do justice when describing him as a father. I feel so BLESSED to be married to a man so willing to invest in our kids. When I'm stressed out or just having a rough behavior day (like 50 tantrums in one day) Chris is always supportive and takes so many burdens from me. So Happy Fathers Day to the best DAD I know:)

Spring Time!

Spring is definitely here and we have been enjoying the hit or miss GREAT WEATHER. Some days we have had drizzling rain but most days we get to enjoy the sunshine:) We had our first family pool day, it was Nixon's first time in the pool ever. Last year Ellsie was really catching on to swimming but the 5 month break set her back just a bit. She loves the water but it didn't really seem like she remembered anything she learned. I know it will all come back to her a few swims in. Nixon was just so chill in the water. He literally lounged in a floater for like an hour and was so content. 

Easter

For about a month now we have been reading books to Ellsie about the meaning of Easter. We talk about how the Easer Bunny is fun but that the real celebration is ALL ABOUT GODS SON. All the books showed her how to hunt for eggs and eat chocolate bunnies:)  I had wondered if any of it clicked with her and sure enough this morning when we went to find eggs, she knew exactly what to do. Find an egg and put it in her basket. We had a lot of fun in the morning which led to Ellsie becoming obsessed with eggs. She carried around a colored hard boiled egg all morning (we didn't let her eat it).

We spent the afternoon with family and friends at my parents house.  We had a GIANT lunch and ate too many sweets. The highlight was of course the egg hunt. We lined the kids up according to age and the youngest get to head out first. There were 9 kids (Nixon was napping) running around looking for eggs:) They all had so much fun! Ellsie just LOVES being around all the kids. She pulls the older girls around and chases after them when they run around.

So for whatever reason Ellsie wanted NOTHING to do with her little brother on Easter. Normally she loves making him laugh and I can usually get her to kiss and hug him. Well not on Easter. Which of course drove me mad because I bought them matching outfits and had it all planned out to get some cute pictures of them. This is the closest I could get them together. You could say I'm a little bitter. She did however, have NO problem posing with her buddy Kai!!! We got so many cute pictures of Ellsie and Kai and NONE of Ellsie and Nixon. As a parent I feel like you should just expect this. When you have something planned in your head it of course never works out that way. Well, pictures or not we still had a wonderful afternoon!

BLOGGING

I have spent months fidgeting with this blog trying to make it cute or whatever. Trying different formats, backgrounds, fonts, templates, bla bla bla! Then (not revealing ay names) someone in my life shared with me a blog from a CRAZY person. I started reading her blog because I was interested in her serious DELUSIONS and INTENSE personality. Turns out crazy people make really great BLOGGERS. So of course I stole some of her ideas and her template advice. So now I officially think my blog is a hundred times cuter (I really don't have much time to invest in it) and it doesn't irritate me to look at it. So, thank you CRAZY person for all your great BLOGGING ideas. XOXO-CR

Finally Some Solid Food

It was right around 5 months when we began giving Nixon solid food. You know how it goes. The first few times they play with it and spit it out and then about a week or so later they finally start to take the cereal. Or so I thought that's how it would go. In our house it goes a little something like this. Set Nixon in his high chair and his lip starts quivering. Like he knows we are about to give him some awful food to try. I bring out the food and try to give him some which is followed by a very loud cry, the refusal to open his mouth and pushing the spoon away from him. For some reason he wanted NOTHING to do with solid food. Fast forward 6 WEEKS LATER and he is a now devouring his cereal, fruits, and veggies:) I really thought he would be into food much sooner judging by his size but I guess like all kids he had his OWN agenda. And Ellsie finds his eating habits positively hilarious! He kind of groans with each bite and makes a mess all over his face. So now at dinner Nixon's food groans are followed by a loud gasp by Ellsie while trying to mimic him. She loves helping out with Nixon and she had so much fun feeding him. I love the look on Chris' face like... is she gonna make it in his mouth?

Eating as a Lefty

Eating meals as a family is very important to Chris and I. I try as much as possible to have Nixon and Ellsie eat with us but of course sometimes Chris has to work late or dinner didn't get done quite as soon as I thought. And well when it comes to eating my kids take after their father... when they are hungry, they need food that very SECOND! So with Chris manning Ellsie's meal and me shoveling food in Nixon's mouth, dinner time can be a little chaotic. I quickly learned that if I wanted to eat I best start using my left hand:) I have also started making Nixon's baby food. It is pretty easy once you get a system down and to my happiness, Nixon will actually eat it:)

So this is our growing boy. He is happy and healthy and just as SWEET as can be. He is putting on weight quite easily (unlike his sister) and sporting some 12 month clothes. Nixon is still having a hard time rolling over. I am sure there will be cheers and screams when it finally happens. I guess he has a lot of weight to push over. Chris and I are having so much fun watching him grow and become a little person:) 

Ellsie Turning 2!

Monkey See Monkey Do!!!

It is crazy to think back to when Ellsie was first born, I thought she was such a little CHRIS. Now I feel as though I have a little mini me constantly following me around. As Ellsie approaches 2 years of age she has really started to look like myself when I was her age. Some of the pictures are identical:) But even beyond that, her temperament and actions are a constant reminder of how much she WATCHES and IMITATES me. I will do some small action once and then the rest of the week I see Ellsie copying that very thing. I think I first started noticing it after Nixon was born. I would pump a few times a week and Ellsie was often around. One afternoon Ellsie was being quiet which means she is in to something. Sure enough I found her in a corner where I keep my pump tools and she has her shirt lifted up and the shield over her belly button. So since then she often pumps (just like me) and then brings me a bottle to pour it in. As a mother of 2 kids UNDER the age of 2, you learn to get resourceful to accomplish things. For whatever reason, brushing teeth times always seems to fall right around the time Nixon wants to be held. So with Nixon in one arm and Ellsie hoisted on my knee to reach the sink (yes a step stool would make sense but just haven't gotten to it yet), opening the toothpaste cap is quit difficult. So a few weeks ago I used my teeth to open the cap. Ever since then Ellsie wants to hold anything with a cap and tries to open it with her TEETH!!! Ugh! I mean can't she pick up on some of my positive habits??? I am not a huge phone talker so most of the time I am on the phone, it is with Chris. Ellsie quickly picked up on the fact that I was talking to Dada. Throughout the day she find my phone and brings it to me and just repeats over and over again "Dada Dada Dada!" So we call dad about 3 times a day.  Ellsie loves to call her dad. And when Chris doesn't answer she gets very frustrated and just repeats "Mor Mor Mor." 

Ellsie's Chores:)

I guess it is never too early to learn chores. Ellsie has 2 main chores she likes to do. The first is feeding my parents dog, Little Bear. A few months ago she needed help holding his bowl. Now she walks right up to it and carries it to the dog food bin, we load it up and then she carries it back. All by herself!!! Her other nightly chore is taking Nixon to his bath. We have a little routine around bath time. Chris gets the bath started and I take the kids in the room to get undressed. Ellsie and I first start with Nixon and then it is Ellsie's job to take Nixon to Dada. She grabs his hand and leads him directly to Chris. Then we head back to Ellsie's room and get her undressed where she ten proceeds to streak through the house before she joins Nixon in the bath:)

Birthday Fun!

In true Ellsie fashion, we had 2 celebrations for turning 2:) David and Debby were out the week before her birthday so we had a small family dinner while they were here. Ellsie's true LOVE at the moment is Mickey and Minnie. So we decided to go with a Mickey/Minnie theme. My mom made this fabulous cake and Grammy and Pops got Ellsie these balloons. I think she liked the balloons more than anything. She didn't let them go all night. We also had a play date at the park with a few of her friends on her actual birthday. The first year and a half of your child's life you want to take them to the park but really it is more of a work out for you than them. They are not yet coordinated to go down the slid by themselves or  climb up the steps. It was so fun watching Ellsie play with her friends and be able to do things on her own.

Ellsie and her 3 best buddies:) 

Elisabeth Grace Bury 2-28-09

From the moment Ellsie was born she brought Chris and I more JOY than we could have imagined. I can remember holding all 5lbs of her and feeling like she would NEVER be 2! It just seemed so far away. But here we are 2 years later, and I have NO idea where the time has gone. What I can say is that we have enjoyed every minute with her:) From the time she was born Ellsie had this sweet loving side to her mixed in with a feisty stubborn little trouble maker. That stands true today. One minute I am teaching Ellsie that the ENTIRE playground does not belong to her and that she cannot hit the other kids to get them to leave and the next I am listening to her say "Tank yuuuu" for every little thing I do for her:) She has really embraced saying thank you. Last week we got Ellsie a new toy box. I was trying to teach her how to put her toys away and with every toy I put in the box she said THANK YOU MAMA. I got like 10 thank you in a row:) Sometimes I feel like she best expresses herself when playing with her toys. Her favorite friends are Mickey, Minnie, and Abby. She is always sharing her snacks with them, takes them on walks and she squeezes them so tight to smother them with hugs and kisses. Chris and I are for sure a little jealous that Mickey gets more kisses than we do:)

Ellsie is also very much a DADDY'S girl. She loves to call him on the phone and have special dates with him. She never hesitates to leave me behind. Chris will tell her he is taking her somewhere and she just jumps up and say's "bye bye mama." I love seeing them together and feel so BLESSED that Chris has invested so much into our kids lives. There is something so special about seeing a little girl interact with her dad. Perhaps my most special time with Ellsie is just before or after naps. When Nixon is sleeping and we are alone together when she is a bit tired, I get snuggles and laughs that re-energize me for the rest of the day. Today before I put her down I told her that mama needed some love. She threw her arms around my neck and gave me the biggest HUG EVER. This is monumental because Ellsie usually can't sit still for 5 seconds to hug me. I get this half hug before she is on to the next thing. I think she gets her business from her father:) Even now as nap time is over I am listening to her on the monitor kissing Minnie, calling my name and jumping up and down:) So I must go to entertain this little person.