Cookies and Coffee

What is the holiday season without some homemade cookies - and a two year old decorating them?

Jonathan has a bit of a coffee obsession, which means Christian is a bit obsessed with what is in those mugs his daddy is always holding.

Enjoy the show!

One, Two, Three, Four ... FIBE

Merry Christmas!!

I used to be able to combine videos using "Photobucket," but they no longer offer that service. So ... here are individual videos.

Wordless Wednesday - December 23, 2009

Wordless Wednesday - December 23, 2009

Wordless Wednesday - December 16, 2009

Oops! We aren't "Los Luceros de Santa Fe" anymore. Old habits die hard!

Moving Day

Today is the big day ... we are MOVING! Jonathan and my sister's boyfriend have loaded the big stuff and and driving to the house right now. Christian is napping here with me and will surely be surprised when he wakes to find our house is empty of all furniture.

I was greeted by a visitor when I started moving things around. Thankfully, this scorpion made its way into a glass jar, was unable to escape (scorpions cannot crawl on glass), and DIED.

I am NOT fan of scorpions. We've had a bit of scorpion issue in this rental home, and I was stung earlier this year. It is not a pleasant experience, and I've been concerned about Christian getting stung. However, I am the only person in the household who had a chance encounter.

We paid to have our new house "sealed" and got a "scorpion intensive treatment" to ensure we wouldn't have scorpion issues there, too.

The scorpion is on a pad of pink sticky note pad, and so you can see it's a good-sized scorpion! EEEEEEEEEW!

A Lil' Preview ...

Christian had Christmas photos taken today, and here's a lil' preview:

Wordless Wednesday - November 25, 2009

Okay, another not-so-wordless Wednesday.

Christian is so obsessed with dirt these days. As soon as he gets in the backyard, he heads straight for the dirt. In this photo, he's been playing in the dirt and has two handfuls to give Mommy. Aw, I'm feelin' the love!


I had to capture this moment in time with the book. Christian is obsessed with Dr. Seuss books and videos, "The Sneetches," in particular. He gets that book and says, "Sneh ... Dah Sue." (Sneeches ... Dr. Seuss). We read that story over and over again ... and he is mesmerized when we show him The Sneetches video.

"One ... two ... three ... four ... FIVE!"

As I mentioned, Christian knows his numbers 1 - 20. We show him "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" on our fingers a lot.

If we say, "one ..." He'll say, "two." If we say, "two," he'll say, "three" and so on up to 20.

And he knows his numbers visually. He'll point at a number - be it on TV, in a book, on a sign, and say the number. My favorite is "16" ... he says, "siss teen."

But, knowing numbers is different than knowing how to apply numbers in a tangible way. That understanding comes later on.

Or does it?

Today at breakfast, Christian was studying his plate of food ... in particular the pieces of pancake before him.

He looked at one piece, said, "One."

Pointed to another piece and said "Two."

Another piece, "Three."

The next piece, "Four."

The final piece, "Five." (which was actually the first piece he counted ... ha ha!).

Jonathan and I just sat there in silence ... amazed at our little boy! He looked to us for a reaction, and then we clapped for him and said, "YAY!" and Christian was pleased.

Wow, he counted in a tangible way!!! And he's only two weeks into being a TWO YEAR OLD!

"Mommy"

For many babies, their first word is "Mama" or "Mommy." Early on, Christian would randomly say "Mamaaaaa maaamaaamaaa," but it was never directed towards me. It was just a random sound he liked to make.

Actually, his first word was "Bubble."

For quite some time, he's been saying "Papa," and even doing the sign for Papa. But still no "Mama." Although, if you asked him who or where Mama is, he knew it was me.

Recently, Christian has been calling me "Me." So ... he had the second half of the word.

So you can imagine my DELIGHT when Jonathan said, "Come check this out! Christian, say Mommy."

"Mommm-me."

MOMMY!!!!

It was music to my ears! MOMMY!!!!

So that was yesterday. And today when I picked Christian up from daycare, Melissa told me Christian was walking around all morning, "Mommy ... mommy ..." just repeating the word at random.

MOMMY!!!!

Wordless Wednesday, November 3, 2009

Christian Turns Two!

Our sweet baby boy turned TWO today. I suppose this milestone means he's no longer a baby, but he will forever be our baby.

As we are in between houses right now, we just had a small get-together at the new house. Liz and Terrill came over and we had pizza and cake.

I blew up a bunch of yellow balloons and had them on the floor when Christian walked in, and you would have thought he won the lottery. Christian LOVES balloons. It's nice that he's so easily amused (I know he won't always be).

I thought Christian would be more interested in opening gifts this year, but once he saw that Elmo DVD, it became his main focus. Christian LOVES Elmo.

Balloons and Elmo ... that's his life!

When I look back at the transition that has taken place with Christian over the past year, I am simply amazed. By his first birthday, he wasn't walking or talking, and that was a huge concern to his pediatrician. He's had numerous blood tests, a thyroid scan, CT scan, physical therapy evaluation, speech evaluation, etc. ... all to determine why he wasn't doing age appropriate things.

Everything turned out fine - Christian just wanted to do things in his own time. Today he's a walking, talking burst of excited energy!

We recently got inserts for his shoes (which actually look like mini-braces) to provide stability to his ankles (he has weak ligaments). We don't see a difference, but the Dr. tells us it's a long term solution, and we won't see short term results. He seems to walk fine either way, but we have the inserts and we'll use them.

Christian's speech has amazed us. He is finally imitating the words we say ... sometimes we say, "Christian, can you say _____________." And he'll say it. Other times, he will spontaneously repeat something he hears us say (we have now reached the point where we must really watch what we say around him!).

Of course, at this point, only a couple of words are pronounced perfectly, and we delight in the cute way he tries to pronounce words. His newest cute words to add to the collection are:

* "See you" ... this one is typically like this, "Bye bye, see you."
* "Easy"
* "Ahn-tee" (Auntie ... as in Auntie Liz)
* "Egg"
* "Wah-fo" (Waffle)
* "Mao" (Milk ... he also signs milk perfectly)
* *Washie" (Water ... last night he did the sign for water for the first time ... it came out of nowhere)
* "Bah-wah" (Bella)
* "Gen-tuh" (gentle)
* "Em-puh-tee" (empty)
* "huh-nee" (honey)
* "Pisa" (pizza)
* "Ow-s-eye" (outside)
* "Dad-dy" (we've been using Papa all this time - with the occasional "Daddy" thrown in, so we were surprised to hear Daddy all of a sudden)
* "All done" - This one is used in conjunction with the sign language for all done. This one amazed us! We'd been doing the sign for all done for months, but wouldn't do it himself. Then out of the blue, he started doing the sign, and saying all done when he was through with eating and wanted down. I had to laugh the other day when we were in the kitchen getting ready to go somewhere, and I was trying to make him eat and fill up his tummy before we left. He wasn't wanting anything, and I admit I was being too persistent. Suddenly he looked at me, did the "all done" sign and firmly said, "All done."

We are so incredibly delighted that he can communicate his needs either via words or via sign language.

And his ability to read words is just amazing to us. That "Your Baby Can Read" program we've been doing since earlier this year had done incredible things for Christian. I have so much to say on the topic that it must be an entire different blog entry! For now, let me just say that Christian can now read words that were NOT included in the Your Baby Can Read program. New words! He catches on very quickly.

Christian knows his colors, numbers 1-20 and the entire alphabet, too!

You know what? I could go on and on about Christian. He is the most amazing, adorable, wonderful, bright and loving little boy we could every hope for - a true gift from God. But I'll reserve the rest of my raving for future posts so you can see some pic and some videos from his birthday.

Happy Halloween!

Christian was a "Colorado Buffs Fan" for Halloween this year. Thought, I'd say it's closer to reality (or Jonathan's dream come true) than an actual costume.

Christian and I went to a kiddo Halloween Party in the morning, and then in the evening, we all went to a "Fall Festival" that our community's church was hosting.

For the first time ... ever ... I didn't decorate the house or hand out candy. You'll find a recurring theme around here is "We're too busy." But that's just how it goes these days.

Here's a slide show of pics from today. And beneath the slideshow are a couple of photos of Christian from last year. Awww ... he was so little last year!

Wordless Wednesday - October 28, 2009

Congratulations to Jonathan!

I'd like to shout out a huge CONGRATULATIONS to Jonathan for passing his "boards" today at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station.

Jonathan has been in long training program since we moved here in August 08. He's sat through endless hours of training classes, and has traveled a lot to take more training that was out of state.

But at long last ... he's passed all his tests ... passed his boards, and training is OVER!

Congratulations, Jonathan! We knew you could do it!

Signed, sealed ... delivered!

Today we bought ourselves a house! Wooooohooooooooooooooo!!!

The move will be gradual, as I am super busy at work and we have a very active toddler underfoot (who, by the way, turns 2 on November 2!). But, a gradual move is sooo much better than the rushed move we did last year from NM to AZ.

So here are some pics of the outside. I'll be putting together a "walking tour" of the inside soon.

Pumpkins!

We spent the morning at a local farm for a bit of fun pre-Halloween fun!

Christian was so cute with that little pumpkin he found. Right away, he went to it, said, "Ball" and picked it up. He wasn't prepared for how heavy it was ... but was successful in picking it up and walking away with it.

I would tell him, "Pumpkin ..." and he'd say, "Ball ..." Well, to him, it IS a ball. :)

Wordless Wednesday - October 14, 2009

A Field Trip to the Dairy!

We live in a rural community with plenty of farmland and dairies. Today we went to a "Baby Signs" field trip to a local dairy. Christian's favorite sound to make these days is "Moooooooooooooooooooooo!" so the dairy was a perfect place to be!

And a dairy is mighty interesting! The owner took us on a tour and explained how things work and answerd our questions. A grand time was had by all!

Swine Flu Paranoia

A little humor for a serious issue.

A Preview of the Interior

Two weeks ... two weeks ... :)

Wordless Wednesday - October 7, 2009

Not so "wordless" today because I've really got to talk about this truck, "Jesus Christ is Lord Not a Swear Word."

WOW!

Jonathan and I have both seen this truck on the highway, and finally we had our camera at the right time.

It is really an amazing sight to see this truck go rolling past you!



From the company's website www.shipwithsam.com:

Our main focus at Sam Kholi transport is to present to the world that Jesus Christ is Lord not a swear word. If you notice on our trailers you will see the name of Jesus Christ. Our hearts yearn for the world to know that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. The Creator of world, Jesus Christ is to be honored, glorified and praised by our lives and our tongue. Instead Hollywood has a driven agenda to denounce and make a mockery of our Lord Jesus Christ by stripping the power and holiness of His Name.

We have no motive or agenda other than to spread the message of hope in our Lord, Jesus Christ. Together with your help, we can fulfill our mission to send this message throughout America and Canada…that Jesus Christ Is Lord, not a swear word. Whether you have a transportation need or would like to donate to our ministry, please visit our services pages and web store.

Like Father, Like Son

Jonathan showed me this photo of himself as a child, and I simply could not believe how much it looks like Christian!

I wonder if Christian will look a lot like his Daddy when he grows up. That would be just fine with me, for I think I have a very handsome husband! :)

A Trip to the Zoo

Jonathan had to work today, so Christian and I picked up Liz and headed to the zoo for a few hours. It seems we arrived during zoo naptime, as there just weren't a whole lot of animals to be seen.

There was a petting zoo, but there were only goats there. Christian did get a kick out of being able to brush the goat's fur without it running off the way Bella does when he tries to touch her.

Outside of the petting zoo, there was a cow of sorts (it's a cow that had a big ol' hump on it's back - don't recall what it was called). I wasn't sure Christian would know what it was ... but right away he said, "Moooooooooooooooooooooo!" Clever boy! :)

Wordless Wednesday - September 30, 2009

A Few Nice Surprises ...

With the days getting shorter, during the week we are only able to get to the house as darkness is falling. Tonight I needed to go to Walmart anyway, so we decided to check out the house while we were out and about.

The first nice surprise was seeing the nice stonework on the house. We forgot it was going to be added ... and certainly didn't thing there would be so much of it. Very nice!

The second nice surprise was to see how big our backyard is really going to be, now that they've started putting up the perimiter wall. Sure, we could always see how much yard was there ... but we assumed it would feel small once the wall went up. However ... it feels HUGE. The thought of making our backyard beautiful over time is exciting, yet a bit overwhelming. But it's nice to know there is so much space and so much potential.

The third nice surprise was meeting some of our new neighbors at the park across the street. We don't have any immeidate neighbors just yet, but we met two families who live down the street and they also have younger children (looked like there were four kids between the two different families). There were too many names mentioned during the introductions, so I only remember the name fo the dog - ha ha!

The boxes of cabinets were sitting in the garage, so I imagine tonight is last time we'll be able to get into the house after-hours. I'm certain once they start installing the cabinets, they will completely lock up the house at night.

The House - September 26

Wordless Wednesday - September 23, 2009

Moving Right Along ...

Not a whole lot to report on the house. The interior insulation and drywall has been put up ... but those pics aren't too thrilling, so I won't post them. So here's some pics of the "pre-stucco" stage of the house.

Wordless Wednesday - September 16, 2009

Six Weeks ...

We had our "frame walk" at the house today. That is where the guy in charge takes us though the house and we get a close-up look at everything before they put in the insulation and drywall.

He told us we'll be closing on the house in exactly SIX WEEKS.

SIX WEEKS!

Keep in mind that on August 24th, all that was there was a cement slab.

Wordless Wednesday

Granny Comes For a Visit!

Granny (aka Jonathan's mom, Nora) blessed our household with a visit for a few days. I had to be in Albuquerque on Thursday and Friday for a meeting, so Granny came to take care of Christian while Jonathan worked.

Christian had a wonderful time with his beloved Granny ... and I know Granny had a wonderful time wtih her beloved Christian! And after I returned home Friday night, we all had a wonderful time together until she left us this morning (*sniffle sniffle*).

Granny taught Christian to drink from a straw, and to wipe his mouth when he eats! She also brought him a new Colorado Buffs shirt to wear on game day (it was a surprise for Jonathan!).

She also discovered the fruits of our labor with the "Your Baby Can Read" program. She laid out several of his word cards and would say (for example), "Christian, give me 'tiger'." And he'd give her the right card. "Give me hippopotamus." And he'd give her the right word. We have dozens of word cards, and he got it right every time. We've continued playing this game with him every night, and now he attempts to say the word ... it is so amazing to see!

He does the same thing with his alphabet blocks. "Christian, give me 'K'." And he'll scan the letters and hand us "K." And he'll do this for all his letters ... and try to say the letter, too (some letters he says very accurately!).

Remember: Christian is only 22 months old! :)

We just didn't know he was at a point where he could do these things ... and so we thank Granny for figuring it out! I'll have to get a video of these achievements and post them online.

We've also since discovered that he knows his numbers (1-10), colors and shapes! WOW!

Nora also taught me how to make tortillas (my past attempts have been pathetic), sopaipillas and chile. Liz came over and we both learned from Nora.

It was a wonderful few days for all of us, and we can't thank Granny enough for coming to visit!

Baby Buff - 2009

And so it begins ... college football season. The tradition is that Jonathan and Christian dress up in their best Colorado Buffs outfits (this year, Christian's outfit was courtesy of Granny - thanks Granny!).

They boys watched football (sadly, Colorado lost) while Liz and I learned to make tortillas and chile from Jonathan's mom. A great day was had by all!

Click here to see Christian's first Buff's game from 2007.

The Progress Continues

Wordless Wednesday - September 2, 2009

The House ... Just One Day Later - Sept. 1

No, we aren't planning on visiting the house EVERY day.

However, yesterday we noticed that one of the 2x4s supporting the roof had split in two - but the two pieces were somehow attached to each other. So we wanted to stop in after the crew left today to make sure the issue had been noticed and resolved.

A lot of work was done on the house today, however, the split 2x4 was still there. So Jonathan will be calling the builder to ensure they know of the issue and get it fixed. All of the windows were installed today, as well as some more of the roof. It's really starting to look like a house. :)