Santa

The stores on one of our commercial avenues decided to pool together to bring Santa to the 'hood this afternoon. He made several stops up and down the street, so we caught up with him then handed Jesse over:

Knowing that it generally takes Lucas some time to warm up to new and strange things, we watched other children sit on Santa's lap for a while and then followed Santa's horse-drawn (!) carriage...

...for 12 blocks (!) until Lucas decided he was finally ready.

Luckily, at the final stop Santa decided to get down from the carriage to stretch out, so we took the opportunity to catch a picture. Lucas looks a bit freaked out here but we can assure you that afterwards he was so pleased with himself and with the whole experience.

Bring on the holidays!

We Are Thankful

Thankful for food, friends...

...and family

"We are thankful, we are thankful,

for our [food, friends, family].

On Thanksgiving we pray: [or is it 'say'?
Whatever it's supposed to be, it's a mouthful!]

'Thank you, Thank you.'"

8 months

Jesse,

At this point in time (8 months old on our 8-year wedding anniversary!) here's what's going on:

Your once-brilliant blue eyes (like Papi's) are changing. They're now a grey-blue. Will they turn green like your brother's? Will they go brown like your Mama's? Only time will tell, but we're so excited to learn more about all the things that encompass who you are (and to find out who the heck you really look like).

When you're not playing with your feet, you like to hold my thumb and pump it with your fist while nursing.

You still have on the top of your head the same long piece of hair strand that was two inches longer than the rest of your hair from the moment of birth!

You love to eat! You like to feed yourself Oatios and peas, and so far you're tolerating the food I make for you. Except for bananas. But that hasn't stopped us from feeding them to you. (Or from you eating them despite not loving them!)

You're crawling so fast -- like an old pro -- and have been pulling yourself up onto our bodies and furniture over this past month. We find ourselves always saying to each other, "Look how strong he is!" We think it has everything with your wide girth.

You have the biggest bottom we've ever seen on a baby! Cloth diapers make it look even bigger. It is lovely but it seriously spans the length of your back.

This thanksgiving we give thanks for every moment we've had with you.

Love,
Those Two Taller People and the Tallish One

November 25

Hey boys!



Today's your Mama and Papi's 8-year wedding anniversary (almost 13 years of being together!). This morning you thought we were eating "O"-shaped pancakes but they were actually ring-shaped, like our wedding bands! (Aww... Your Papi is so romantic.)

Lucas says this is Papi and Mami with blankie hair.

Sweet Nif came over last night while you were sleeping so that we could sneak out to go restaurant hopping.

I love your daddy too, buddy. But I saw him first.

Though we didn't really miss you (okay well, sorta), know that you two have so deeply enriched our marriage and our lives!



Bye now.

Shake Your Bootay

Can it be "shakin' your bootay" when it's to The Boss? Well whatever you call it, Lucas and I have made it a point to dance most every day to really loud music. I cropped the first and last pictures to give you a better sense of how Lucas was gettin' down on that night.

We're Screwed

Jesse's been pulling himself up onto our bodies and pillows all month, but during these last couple of weeks we've caught him pulling himself up on furniture. He's not yet starting to cruise but he does seem to prefer standing instead of sitting a lot of the time. The only problem is that he doesn't always know how to get back down (at least not gracefully).

BounceU

Wednesday is Papi's day off of work, and in the mornings we usually spend that time catching up on housework and big errands, then in the afternoon after naps we try to go out and do something special together.

This time we went to a local indoor play space -- a huge warehouse filled with inflatable obstacle courses, slides, and tunnels. We were the only ones there that day, but it did give Lucas free reign to bounce and flip and roll wherever he wanted for an hour and a half. We had a GREAT time and worked up our appetites, too.

You can see that this slide was really high and really steep, so Lucas preferred to watch us go down before he finally decided he was ready. The ladder was also slippery and steep, so I gave him a piggyback up it (illegal, I'm sure). He went down with me once and had a blast, and then decided against it the next time. Aren't you proud of how brave he was?

Here's my attempt at catching us mid-flight down the huge slide. Clearly I missed the shot, but Lucas's wild hair gives you a sense of how fast that slide was:

Later that night in bed Lucas asked if he could bring all of the boys and girls and his teachers from his preschool class to BounceU next time. Oh, and that mama should be allowed to come, too (even though she's not allowed at preschool).

In The Crib

Jesse and Lucas with their cousin Liam.

Jesse's Baptism

Jesse just cut tooth #3 today (and #4 is coming up right behind), which reminded me of how fast time is moving... and that I needed to finally get around to posting pictures of his baptism from last month!

We forgot to ask someone to take pictures with our camera and then we later forgot to pose in our fancy dress like we did after Lucas's baptism. So all we have is a funny assortment of photos to share. Poor Jesse -- already getting the shaft as a victim of the classic Second Child Syndrome.

He and his brother wore matching sage green guayaberas. Jesse's was in a onesie style.

Of course we failed to take a picture of the two boys looking dapper in their matching outfits...

But Jesse was probably hamming it up enough for both of them here.

Grandma Pam (Tata's mom) did manage to steal some action shots during (!) the service from where she was seated...

What a gift it was to have Abuelo preach and to have baptized both of our boys!

Jesse's head is blocked by Abuelo's robe but you can see some water drips from the pewter seashell that the McKeever's gifted to Jesse (as they did for Lucas's baptism):

Jesse and Lucas did so well! We started to walk down the aisle together, but Lucas became a bit shy, so he and Papi hung back a bit while we allowed the congregation to awe at Jesse's massive thighs.

Then a cake reception at the church...

Then more food and family time back home. It was yet another gift to have family come for the event. Here we are with Tata, Maquin, Liam and the Abuelos...

And then with the Grandparents and Abuelos together...

And finally with the Grandparents...

And this one just makes me smile:

That's it! We made you wait a whole month and that's all we've got? Harumph.

For Robyn On Her Birthday

I realize that most of these pictures are of Jesse so why don't I tell some Lucas stories?

Fact: Lucas's most common expressions these days are "No Way!" (thanks to Maquin) and "Oh, how wonderful!" (thanks to his preschool teachers probably).

Fact: Lucas eats an apple every night before bedtime and about 3 huge, whole carrots throughout the day, every single day.

Fact: Lucas has stopped pooping in the potty. He waits for sleep times when he's wearing a diaper. We're slowly and patiently working on this.

Fact: Lucas likes to role play these days. Yesterday he told me that I was Dipsy, he was La-La, Jesse was Tinky-Winky and Papi was Po (of the Teletubbies). The day before he was Thomas the Tank Engine, Papi was Henry, Jesse was James, and I was Gordon (there are no diesel engines in our household, only steam engines, he says). Today Lucas is Curious George, I'm the Man With the Yellow Hat, Jesse is Hundley the dog, and Papi is Jumpy Squirrel. If you know anything about these cartoons, you'll notice how appropriately these characters are matched.

Fact: If Lucas is ever feeling a bit grumpy, all I have to do is ask him how my Kitty Cat is doing and he softens up, meows and tells the Mama Cat how much he loves me. Then I cup my hands and let him pretend to drink milk out of the "bowl."

Fact: We love these boys SO much.