The Snow is Calling

It was so fun to wake up to snow fall! It just brightens my day.
This morning Lilia was eating her breakfast while looking out the window. She couldn't wait to go out and play in the snow. She said, "I think the snow is asking me to come out and play."

Sleepy Head

Yesterday we had Christmas w/Dave's extended family. Dave's Aunt Linda rocked with Alex asleep for a long while and my mother-in-law took over when Aunt Linda needed to eat. Then he slept in the car ride to my parent's house. (I'm staying at their house for the week b/c Dave's away at a Bridges conference.) Then he slept from 8:30pm till 10pm when I woke him up to eat again. He went back to sleep by 11:15 and slept till 4:45am. He ate very briefly and fell right asleep. He started to stir around 7 so I woke him up to eat.
I'm telling you all this because Alex hasn't slept this well and this much since he was a few weeks old!!!!!!!! It was so wonderful. Sleep begets sleep. Maybe he's catching up from weeks of not sleeping. Either way, I'm SO THANKFUL!!!!!

Happy Alex, the sweater says it all!

Sporting her new princess dress along with fairy wings and her magic wand!

Before we even went down stairs she wanted to get into her princess dress...

Lilia's Snow day

We ended up getting 24in of snow! It was so awesome. Lilia loved it. We were away last winter so this was a great surprise!

5 am

Lilia was up this morning at 5!!! The worst part was that she didn't even remember that it was Christmas and their were presents waiting for her downstairs. We kept her upstairs till 6. We even tried to give her hints to remember it was Christmas, but no luck. When she got to the bottom of the stairs she exclaimed, "Oh, presents!" She proceeded to open each one with excitement and vigor.

Her favorite presents are, "A Belle figurine (from Beauty and the Beast), pretend food, a toy kitchen and fairy wings."

Christmas Eve

Yesterday the four of us took the bus down town to Macy's. We walked through Dicken's Village and then stood in line for Santa. Dave and Lilia had gone ahead and when Lilia saw Santa, she got scared. Luckily we didn't have to stand in the long line to find that out. Then we watched the light show in Macy's. Lilia loved it.

We took a taxi over to the Comcast Building to watch a 15 minute Holiday video. In the foyer is this giant HD video wall where the picture is the most incredible thing I've ever seen. Here's a caption from their website...

"This realistic imagery offers 10 million pixels of clarity — five times the resolution of hi-definition TV — supplemented with computer-generated images of amazingly realistic quality, producing a vivid virtual world."

We took the "L" home. We promised Lilia a lolipop so we stopped in this tiny grocery store near our house. When I put a bag on dumdums on the counter the guy said, "That's it? She can just have it." It was an early Christmas present!

The day totally felt like we were back in Asia...all the modes of transportation, exploring the city and free stuff for LIlia.

Dairy Free Pizza

Alex can't tolerate dairy very well. I love pizza so I came up with this idea for a pizza tonight. It was SO GOOD!!!

Pizza crust

Pesto sauce

Fresh spinnach

Orange pepper, diced

Marinated artichoke

Arrange ingredients in order listed, cook/heat according to package and enjoy!

Thank you

Thank you for praying, keep praying! Alex went to sleep around 10:30/10:45. Dave and I were in bed by 11pm!!! I ask you to keep praying so he will consistently go to bed earlier. However...Lilia was up this morning at 5am. Dave went in her bed w/her to sleep. He slept, but he thinks she didn't. If it's not one kid, it's the other. We are thankful to God that he gave us an earlier night. And thank you if you prayed!

If you're someone who prays, please pray for us. Alex is such a difficult baby. He has reflux, he can't tolerate me eating dairy, he's not a great sleeper during the day and at night he has a really hard time settling down. He falls in and out of sleep every night then finally settles down around midnight. The whole process involves him crying, feeding, falling asleep for a short while and waking again after like 20min or so. It is really wearing Dave and I down. We just can't do it anymore, but there seems no end in sight. We're both so tired.

At night I'm usually the one that has to be with Alex b/c I supply his food. I'm so exhausted that I'm angry with him and angry with God that he won't go to sleep and stay asleep. Please pray that Alex would be able to go to sleep earlier every night. Pray that Dave and I would have patience with him and that God would give us the strength to persevere.

Thank you.

Don't knock it till you've tried it!

I made this soup today and it's really good. Most of the ingredients you probably have on hand already, except for the cauliflower.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

3 32oz chicken broths

1 large head of cauliflower, chopped

3 med potatoes, chopped

1 med onion, diced

2 tsp chicken bouilon

1 1/2 cups milk

1 bag frozen corn

1 large sweet potato, chopped small

salt & pepper (s & p)

1. Combine 1st 5 ingredients. Season with s & p to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 45 min till everything is soft.

2. Puree in blender or food processor 2/3 of soup. Pulse the last 1/3 so there are some hearty chunks. Return to pot and add milk, corn & sweet potato. Simmer low an additional hour until sweet potatoes are soft.

3. Serve with your favorite bread. Feeds about 4-6.

Snow day!

What an awesome day. We have gotten so much snow. I think we have at least a foot right now, and it's still snowing. Dave has been out shoveling, but it's hardly noticeable. Lilia got to go outside and play. She had a great time, but she came in and was really cold. She warmed up with some hot chocolate.

I made some soup and brownies and invited our friends over that live on our block. It's so nice living in such a close community that they just had to walk a few houses in the snow and we could get a nice break from being inside all day.

Dave has Alex giggling

Today has been an awesome day!!!

Killer Find!

Dude, check out these boots!!! They go for $89 new. I got them at a consignment shop in the city for $17.50! They are Merrills. Killer deal! Oh and they are exactly my size, 9.5. What are the odds???

Christmas baby

I LOVE my happy boy!!!

Chubby baby

Alex is gaining weight so well. He's up to 11lb 9oz!!! He was 2 months on the 12th.

30

Today was my 30th b-day. I can't believe that I'm now entering my 30's. It's weird.

Dave and I went to dinner in the city and spent a little time at Starbucks. My mother-in-law was so sweet to babysit so we could enjoy time alone. It was a nice night.

Where we parked, on 20th and Samson St. we found this killer consignment shop that sells high end clothing. I found a great pair of Merrill boots and 2 shrugs. Dave got a shirt. Everything was really reasonable. I love shopping and don't get to do it enough with Alex and Lilia in the picture. It's too stressful crazy. Some day soon things will feel more normal...I hope!

Lilia and Alex-8 weeks

It makes your middle of the night when you walk into the room and your son smiles at you!!!

Oh Toddlers!

Last night we were driving in the car and Lilia told me what she wanted from Santa. She said, "I want a table and chairs. A refrigerator and food and a computer. Yup, that's what I want."

I asked her, "What if Santa doesn't bring you those things?"

Her response was, "He has to, I need them."

Dave comes clean!

I was shocked last night to hear my husband confess his horrible eating habits in East Asia.

His first year there, 2001-2002, he ate McDonald's every day for lunch. He became known for it among everyone that was in the city. It's a big city!

Last year he ate a snickers and a Coke everyday during the class break! I couldn't believe my ears last night. I shot out of bed, "What! That's so bad for you."

It came up b/c during my 1st trimester I couldn't eat enough calories (that I liked) to fill my growing belly. Dave suggested a snickers. So I ate a snickers every day for about 2 weeks. I thought that was a long time!

Our tree...we found this one in Lansdowne, only $35!

I'm not vain

Lilia likes to play with our camera and take pictures. She's pretty careful so we let her. Yesterday she pointed the camera at me and told me to say "Cheese." This is her shot. Pretty good for 2 1/2 yrs old.

All smiles, sometimes

On most days when Alex isn't sleeping, he's generally crying. He does have his moments when he's happy. Usually it's on the changing table. We can almost always get him to smile there. It's AWESOME! 8 weeks old today.

Is this wrong?

Today, on 2 separate occasions, I craved alcohol.

1. I passed by a wine and spirits store on my way home from food shopping. All I wanted to do was stop in and buy the necessary ingredients for a Cosmopolitan.

2. Dave has bought beer b/c we had some friends over during the snow day. After Lilia went to bed a beer sounded good to me. I'm pretty sure my last beer was in college.

Today I asked Lilia what she wanted for Christmas. Here was her response...

"A ding dong bell and a door. That will be exciting! Yeah!"

Alex, 7 weeks

A nice treat

The past 2 days have been a little rough. Yesterday was better than the day before, but we're still just barely getting by. Alex is not a good sleeper during the day so I don't get much of a break. He cries often too.

Last night Dave and I were shot. Since 2pm yesterday, Alex was eating ever hour and a half. He had barely slept since then. Around 10:45ish we were both so tired. Dave put Alex in his car seat in his room and came to bed. Alex was wide awake, but content. We prayed and asked God for mercy that Alex would fall asleep on his own. The next thing we knew it was 6am and Lilia was coming into our room. Alex was still asleep! I think his last feeding was at 10:20pm. Since I was awake anyway I went to wake him to feed him. He ate and went back to sleep shortly after.

Thank you God for the really nice break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday he weighed in at 10lb 10oz.

You know your daughter watches too much tv when...

Instead of using the word "then" to transition a sentence, she uses the phrase "coming up next."

Shu shu Matt