Tamara is 6 1/2 years old

WOW! Where did the time go??!! This is when you start noticing how old your getting, when your baby is now reading, writing, doing complex math problems, and asking you if you will buy her a car when she is 18!!! WTH?? Oh and by the way, she also wants an iphone! That she wants now but I told her she will have to wait till she is older. When do you give a kid a cell phone??? She just wants it to play games though so dont worry, it isn't to call boys or anything.

Tamara is a great kid. She has her own unique personality. She is not like other kids and that is what makes her so cool. She is difficult at times and she is often called the "Spirited Child" but over the years she has learned how to control her emotional outbursts. Its been a learning experience for us to raise her but we see how amazing she is turning out to be. As a 6 year old, she has matured and has been a great big sister and a great helper to us. She is discovering her likes and dislikes. Its been really amazing to observe.

Tamara's personality traits are strong willed, intense desire to win all the time and very kind to her friends. If her friends dont have a pencil, she will take 5 from home to give to them, if they dont have a dollar for popsicle day, she will take 5 dollars from her own money and distribute it. If they dont have a snack, she will give them hers. She is very sweet. She is doing better with accepting loss and not always having to win. She knows that the most important thing is to try hard and she does but she still wants to win.

We are enjoying watching Tamara turn into a beautiful little girl!

Juli's preschool party and Daddy day

Julianna's teacher Miss. Minette had a little bday celebration for Juli today. She made her a cute little birthday hat and made a big deal of her birthday to all the kids. In addition, today was daddy's day at her school. It was a day of celebration. All the dads came in for breakfast and were served by their kids. Unfortunatelly, Robert had been sick all week but he still came. Juli served him outside so he wouldnt get anyone sick.

Karina at 5 months

This little kid is growing super fast! I know its a cliche but time does fly when you have kids. Wow! Karina's stand out features are that she is a very smiley baby, she is always happy unless she is hungry or tired. She also doesn't like to sleep well at night. She can give you a 5 hour stretch of sleep but then will wake up every 1 1/2 hours after that. Unfortunately, the 5 hour sleep is from 7pm-12am when im awake. She starts to wake up soon after I go to bed. My eye has been twitching for months. But dont you worry, most of the time, she wakes up smiling and cracking herself up. Yeah, glad she thinks its funny :)

I started feeding Karina food at 5 months. We started with rice cereal which she doesnt seem to love, but then gave her sweet potatoes which she scarfed down. She loved them. Next we will try bananas and she what she thinks. Hopefully this will help her sleep???? Just trying things out. I think she has been going through a growth spurt and that is why her sleeping has been off. Lets hope its not going to be the norm.

Otherwise, Karina's personality is starting to shine through. She laughs alot, loves her sisters, loves me and her papa and just stares at Malena. She loves to pull hair so watch out! She doesnt spit up much but she always has gas and likes to pass it from both ends :).

I still have her in her PCC parent ed class. Its nice to hang out with other moms especially since I work and dont get to talk to too many people with babies. The mamas are my other world.

Life is good. So blessed to have a 3rd healty and beautiful baby.

Julianna's 3rd Dr. appointment

Julianna had her 3 year old appointment today and boy was she scared. She remembers her visit last fall when I took her in for her flu shot. Luckily for her she did not need any shots today. She was all caught up so all she needed was a physical exam. Once she figured that out, she was a happy camper. Julianna weighed in at 31 pounds 50th percentile and was 75th percentile in height. Very healthy.

Julianna Turns 3!

My little baby is now 3! Its amazing how time has flown with her, She is still so adorable. Julianna's stand-out features are her histerical personality, the funny faces she makes and her love of being "big". She is constantly getting up on a sofa or a chair to show us how big she is. Dont try calling her a baby because she gets upset. She wants to do everything Tamara is doing because she is "big". This "big" attitude causes a lot of commotion with Tamara however. If Tamara tries to help her with something, she screams and yells because she can do it by HERSELF! God forbid her sister try to help her with something.

Julianna is quite the comedian also. She is always smiling and joking and making funny made up words. "Bucalaca" is one of them. It has no meaning but she uses it all the time and cracks herself up. She continues to fight with her sister Tamara but it is usually due to Tamara taking over and Julianna getting upset because she wants to do it by herself. Julianna loves to scream and talk really loud so when she gets upset, we all hear it.

Julianna has been enjoying pre-school at Hastings Ranch Preschool. She loves to draw and do art. She also loves to play on the swings. She is very quiet in school but when she gets home, you can't stop her. She will tell you things she did and saw at school that day with quite detail.

As Julianna approached 3, her sleep habits finally began to improve. She had been getting up at least once a night for a long time and one day, it just stopped. She has been sleeping through the night for a few months now and it has been great! She is still an early bird and wakes up at or before 6 but its been ok. She continues to take a mid-day nap from 12-2 but has been fighting us on it for the last month. Today was the first day ever that she didnt take a nap during the day. We are probably reaching our no-nap time soon. Boo!

Otherwise, Julianna is doing great! She keeps us on our toes.

Julianna's 3rd birthday celebration!

We threw Julianna a "cupcake" themed birthday party today. We had so much fun. There were lots of kids and lots of noise. All I can say is thank goodness for the large bouncer. We also had some special visitors from Texas and far away lands in Southern California, that made us all so happy! Thank you all who came. You made Julianna's day very special!

Grandparents and Special Friends Day

During this Lenten holiday, I always reflect on the things I have in my life. I dont focus on the monetary but on the priceless non-monetary gifts that make the monetary seem so miniscule. One of the things I am most grateful for is that I have a wonderful family and that my kids are happy and healthy. I am so grateful that they have something amazing that I really didnt have, and that is young healthy grandparents that spend lots of time with them. They create so many wonderful memories for them and I am so grateful for that. These are moments that they will never forget. Today was "Grandparents Day and Special Friends day at Tamara's school and both of their grandmothers came in addition to cousin Savannah and little sisters Karina and Julianna (and me of course). How lucky!

Happy St. Patricks Day

One of my goals for 2011 is to take lots of pictures of my kids "together". I have decided to take a monthly "theme" picture of them. Its easy when there are events going on in the month, so this month we took a "St. Patricks Day" picture. Love it!

Special Day

Today was a very special day for our family. Today we asked Mando and Alex to be Karina's Godparents and they said YES! We are so fortunate to have these two amazing people as the future godparents to our little girl. She is in great hands and we are very excited.

Karina in chair

My little monkey is growing up so fast. It amazes me how fast she is changing. It seems like only yesterday that she was born, now she is rolling over, smiling, laughing, jumping around in her bouncer and already sitting in a chair. I am really enjoying myself with her and am loving her little personality. She is so cute and is such a happy baby. Love my monkey!

Painting

My girls LOVE to paint. Today they spent the afternoon painting their birdhouses. They both did such a great job, they made them look so beautiful. Im so glad that they love to be creative. I had a really nice day with my little girls.

Nana in town

Nana came into town for a week to work at Tamara and Juli's schools. The girls really enjoyed having Nana around. It was sad to see her go.