A-B-C's

I walked into our office the other day to find Sebastian writing out his name. His 9 letter name, that is. No small feat for a 3 year old. Bravo!

Little Miss Mia

Mia's first two teeth, yay!

A friend bequeathed a talking Elmo doll to us, and Mia has taken a particular liking to it. He talks when you squeeze him. However, Mia isn't able to squeeze him hard enough, so she puts him on the floor and body slams him to make him speak. If Mia didn't like it so much, I'd have put the doll out of reach by now. Come on, you have to admit Elmo's voice is annoying at best...especially after hearing the same five phrases over, and over, and over, and over.

Thanksgiving '08

Sebastian imitating a Pilgrim during dinner

This was the first Thanksgiving Sam and I have spent without other family members. I missed the chaos of a family-filled house, but it had it's perks, too. It was by far the most relaxing Thanksgiving I've ever experienced. Since it was just us, and Sebastian doesn't have a discriminating palette, we took a few food shortcuts (i.e. bought Sis. Schubert's rolls and whip cream in a can rather than making them homemade as usual....GASP!) . I absolutely love to cook, but making things more manageable in the kitchen made all the difference. I was able to focus on the fam rather than stressing about my meal plan. We took the unconventional route this year and had prime rib rather than turkey...yum.

My favorite Thanksgiving dinner moments:

• Sebastian is thankful for "honeymakers [bees] and juice boxes"
• We let Sebastian try some of the sparkling grape juice, to which he scrunched up his face and said, "that's a little spicy!"
• Mia ate wide-mouthed like a baby bird
  
• Sebastian: "We just ate cow!? I love eating cows!"

Thursday morning we drove out to the sticks to cut down a Christmas tree. As it turned out they didn't have any trees that we liked, so we ended up buying our tree at the local grocery store -- hah!

Yesterday we had glorious weather, so we hiked to the top of nearby King's Mtn. Sebastian walked the entire way (with very little complaining). That evening our friends from D.C., the Bergheims, paid us a visit while in town. (Julia is prego again...another girl!)

I'd say we've had a great holiday so far!

Photos

My brother Neil is a professional photographer among other things.  He usually concentrates on architecture and nature, but he sure has a knack for catching great candids of my kiddos.  He took the B&W's that I posted for Mia's birthday.  Not wanting to leave out Sebastian, here are some from our trip to TX in October:

 

Latest project

After the last tab curtain project, I decided to try something a bit smaller.  Tah-dah: a nursing cover (a.k.a. Ta-Ta Tent, or my favorite, Hooter Hider).  I love these things!  The neckline is stiff and bows out, so you can see your wee one without flashing everyone in the room.  Brilliant.  Wish I had invented these.  Alas, I'll have to settle for copying them.  

Ladder 31: Our heros

If you're reading our blog, you're probably pretty familiar with the story of Mia's entrance into the world exactly one year ago. If you haven't heard it, let's just say she came rather quickly at the end, so we had to call 9-1-1. Thankfully we did, because she was born minutes later. Her safe arrival is owed to the fabulous firefighters/paramedics of Charlotte's Ladder 31 who were first on the scene.

They have taken an interest in Mia since Day 1, referring to her as their "little girl." They have paid us a few visits, but I was pleasantly surprised when they stopped by today to pay homage to Mia on her first birthday. How thoughtful! And they even brought gifts! Above and beyond the call of duty, if you ask me.

Mia is ONE!

I cannot believe this day is already here! Mia's entrance into the world was a bit indicative of her personality. She is feisty and always rearing to go. She doesn't hesitate to communicate her wants and dislikes, although she is incredibly tolerant and patient, allowing us to tote her from here to there with no complaints until she's at the breaking point.

She is quite the welcoming party. When I arrive home after an outing alone, Mia's reaction is full of smiles and high-pitched squeals. I must admit I've gone out and come back in several times just for a repeat. (She inherited her mother's tendancy to over-react...not sure if that's good or bad.)

Her vocabulary consists of "doggie, hi, ruff ruff, & uh-oh," the latter being her favorite. She loves to announce that she is about to drop the toy she is clutching by saying "uh-oh" in advance, as if to give us a head start on our responsibility of retreiving it.

I have never been good at putting my feelings into words, so in the simplest terms: I love this little girl more than I could ever have imagined.

As Sebastian would say, "Happy Birthday, little chica!"

(Thanks to Neil for the wonderful photos!)

"Look Daddy!.....

...Mom bought some little pink band-aids for Mia! Aww, how cute."
- Sebastian, in a high-pitched doting voice

Our hero

Sebastian has a new found interest in dressing up. First, as a cowboy - thanks to our newly acquired stuffed horse and child-size cowboy hat. Today he arrived in our bedroom and asked, "Guys, guys, do you know what I am!?" We were a bit befuddled until he informed us that he was a fireman! Why, of course! Why couldn't I see that before?

By the way, he's also got 4 layers on underneath the footie pj's. Most impressive.

Preschool

Holy cow. Sebastian started school this month....preschool, actually. He had been looking forward to it for months, but I think I was more excited than he on the first day. I miss school. You have no idea how much I wanted to go back and do it all over again. That is, everything up until a certain heinous English Lit paper. I would certainly skip that.

(Labeling the supplies was not required, but I got a little carried away - even labeled each individual crayon. Yup, I'm a nerd.)

All tuckered out

You can always tell when Mia is sleepy, because she has this precious way of hanging onto her bangs. It's like a built-in security blanket.

Sewing 101

I recently took up a new hobby: sewing. Some might laugh, but I tell you it's great. After a crash course lesson from a good friend, I tried out a few small projects. Then, I figured I was ready for something more challenging, so I decided to make some tab top curtains. It took me 3 weeks and who knows how many man hours, but they're finally done. Don't think I'll try that again.

Before


After

What happened!?

Sebastian: 5 months

Sebastian: 3 years

I had Sebastian hop in the stroller last week just for kicks. It was depressing -- no, distressing. Seems like yesterday we were cruisin' the streets of Old Town in the red buggy, Sebastian's feet barely hanging off the edge. Every day since has been filled with sweet moments, but don't you think you could slow up a bit, Time? Alternatively, anyone have a Delorean I can borrow?

Soapbox

CPR, folks. It's been on my mind since Sebastian had a seizure this spring, when it took him a few moments to being breathing again. I have never felt so helpless in my life, as I racked my brain for the CPR techniques I learned EONS ago. I was at a loss. Luckily, Sebastian regained breathing on his own, but if he hadn't....well, I would have been useless. Turns out the instructions for CPR have changed quite a bit since the days of Dr. Martens. Sam and I completed a CPR course last night, and I urge every one of you to do the same. The American Heart Association reports that "the odds of surviving cardiac arrest [any situation when the heart and breathing stop -- chocking, infant crib death, etc.] drop 7 - 10 percent every minute without CPR!" The average emergency personnel response time for my county is 15 minutes, which means that without any CPR, a victim has a only a 50/50 chance of survival at the 5 minute mark and is most likely a goner by the time help would arrive. Sorry for the grim picture, but it's reality.

CPR courses only take about an hour and a half to the tune of $10 or so. Most hospitals even offer FREE infant CPR training if you're expecting. As a parent/friend/daughter, I am embarrassed that it took me this long to brush up on my lifesaving skills. If you'd like to do the same, the websites below can help you find a CPR class in your area. Go get 'em tiger!

American Heart Association-- http://www.americanheart.org
American Red Cross -- http://www.redcross.org

Hydrophilic

Oh, how I love the water! Thankfully Sebastian and Mia seem to be smitten as well, be it a muddy puddle or the ocean. Outside of our bathtub, the closest body of water is the neighborhood pool, which is conveniently located just beyond our property line. Hallelujah!

Sebastian, our little fish. (No, that's not Sam in the video.)

The Job Hunt

Sao Paulo - not what you pictured, is it?

The banking economy here in Charlotte came to a grinding halt this year, thus, no work for Sam's law firm. They did their best to ride out the storm, but in the end they laid off a slew of competent attorneys -- Sam being one of them. He's off to NYC tomorrow to interview for a position that would take us to NYC for a year and then on to Sao Paulo (yep, that's in Brazil folks). We've always wanted to live abroad -- kids or not--, but the thought of leaving family so far behind is the only thing stopping me. Well, that and the fact that we STILL haven't sold our stinkin' house in Utah.

I have moved almost every year since Sam and I got together : 6+ times in all. I love the excitement and spontaneity, but I thought Charlotte would be our landing place for sure. Guess the big man upstairs has something else in mind....

Mia crawls!

Yea, Mia!! Beating her big brother's record by at least 2 months, Mia started crawling earlier this month. You can check out the progression below.... as well as a little something special....

SO CLOSE...



THE INCHWORM...



SUCCESS!



A LITTLE SOMETHING SPECIAL FROM MIA ....

The Beach...yipee!

This time we vacationed at Edisto Island, SC, with my mom's side of the family. I simply love the beach, and thanks to the generosity of my cousins, we enjoyed waterfront accommodations. Sebastian and Mia loved the water, while I LOVED having all of the extra helping hands! Hooray for family!