12/30/2011 - Car Madness

From Drop Box

Boys will be boys! Finny loves his cars and it seems like Liam likes them as well. So glad that we have enough cars to entertain both boys. Santa was good to the kids this years by adding many cars to their enormous car collection.

12/29/2011 - Fun at work

From Drop Box

We did a fun little contest at work today. They gave away all sorts of swag, an ipad, a TV, gift cards, beats by Dre headphones and a jambox. My boss had me write funny jingles for one of my favorite coworkers to read to the group to describe each prize. My mystery giftcard jingle was a hit. If things don't work out with ADP, I could write jingles for a living. Could be fun!

12/28/2011 - Huggin Cousins

Kai, Kim and Tim arrived yesterday to visit for the next couple weeks. Finn has been having an absolute blast with his cousin. They can't get enough of each other. I love that they enjoy each other's company so much. So sad that they don't live closer.

12/27/2011 - Snuggles

Sometimes I worry that the boys will never get along very well. Finny, our organized systematic particular boy does not like it when Liam, busy, playful boy tries to join in Finn's games. Finn gets so frustrated having Liam messing with his categorized Hot Wheels cars. Liam gets frustrated when Finn won't play with him. Then some days, i just see how much they love one another when they snuggle together. Finn and Liam will be so close some day. It makes me feel better that they will always look out for each other.

12/26/2011 - Habitots

From Drop Box

We received a membership to Habitot from a really really generous and amazing friend for Christmas this year. So, we took advantage of our day off to let the kids try it out. It was amazing to see little Liam tromping around in the Toddler Room and Finn doing art and dressing up as a NASA astronaut. Totally adorable.

12/25/2011 - Cousin love

From Drop Box

Being the youngest cousin on the West Coast, I also became the babysitter of my cousin's kids at all holidays for many years. Now, my little cousins are all big and they take really good care of my kids of holidays now. J & K were watching Liam since Finn seems to want to hang out with the older boys now. It is so great to see the girls so caring for both Finny and Liam. So blessed and lucky.

12/24/2011 - Slipper Time

From Drop Box

Finny has been wearing my cozy slippers around the house. That kid loves to be cozy. So I bought him a pair of slippers, and then did a last minute purchase for papa as well. So the boys had new cozy slippers for Christmas from Santa. Total cozy happiness.

12/23/2011 - BFF

From Drop Box

Finn and Dylan are the best of friends. They spent Friday afternoon playing, dancing, watching fun movies and enjoying each others' company. Nothing better than having your best friend live 2 doors down from you.

12/22/2011 - Baachan Treats

Nothing tastes as good as a treat from your Baachan. Finn gets spoiled to death at his Baachan and Jiichan's house. Lucky lucky boy.

12/21/2011 - Maximum Coziness

One of my bosses gave me the most luxurious and cozy blanket ever for Christmas. Finn, the official Coziness Judge of the family, immediately claimed it as his blankie and spent most of the night luxuriating in it's supercoziness . . . until Liam puked up his bottle on it. Oh well, I knew it would have to get dirty eventually.

12/20/2011 - Sick day

After the most horrendous night of Finn and I puking all night, I took a sick day to stay home with both kids. Baachan came over to help out which was amazing! It's always such a chore to get both kids to nap. Having her here allowed me to put Liam down to nap and then put Finn down to nap. I amazingly had a good 2 hours with both kids asleep. i can't remember the last time I had that at a regular hour of the day (meaning not at 5 am or 11 pm). Liam took the longest nap ever and awoke as the most happy little man. It so rarely happens that little man wakes up smiling from ear to ear. Now if only we could get him to do this every night and every day.

12/19/2011 - White Elephant

My office had a holiday party that I was unable to attend. I still contributed my white elephant gift and "won" this beautiful calendar in return. Yes, I will have a Justin Bieber Calendar in my office cubicle until the end of next year. The reactions I have been receiving from my coworkers have been classic. Yes, people, I really do have Bieber Fever, well at least until the end of 2012.

12/18/2011 - Chilly walk

We took the boys on a walk down to the park today. Liam was bundled up in the stroller, as our wimpy California blood can't handle the 40 degree weather. Little man zonked out immediately. Finny got a good hour of playtime at the big playground and the firetruck structure before he insisted on going home because he was getting cold. So fun.

12/17/2011 - Backpack Buddy

From Drop Box

A little nervous about his 2nd non-parent participation soccer class, Finn brought along MonkeyBear in his backpack to keep him company. He didn't end up needing MonkeyBear, but I am sure that he was a good comfort. Finn continues to do better and better at soccer. It is supercool to see him thoroughly enjoying himself. Best investment we have ever made.

12/16/2011 - Lucky star

Finn made the most beautiful shooting star ornament for our tree. It was a lovely surprise to open this little treasure up after picking the boys up from school. Best Christmas gift I have ever received.

12/15/2011 - Remote control

From Drop Box

Some days the boys play so well together. It is usually so short lived when it actually does happen. But sometimes I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I've been told that once the baby hits about 18 months, the boys will begin to play with each better. 6 1/2 more months to go!!

12/14/2011 - Holiday Program

From Drop Box

We attended the boy's holiday program today. Liam (with the help of Miss Alicia) performed a cute holiday dance while dressed as a holiday elf. Finn sang 4 amazing holiday songs with his adorable classmates. It was thoroughly enjoyable. Who knew that 3 year olds could sing in spanish and italian so well??

12/13/2011 - Full blown walker

From Drop Box

Liam has been taking longer naps lately for us, which are great! I think it's because he is walking so much and it's taking a lot out of him. That is definitely the benefit of having a walking little boy. Finally captured a picture of him walking with no assistance, unfortunately , it is a picture of his back, with no diaper on ... and only one sock. That's how we roll!!

12/12/2011 - Checking email

Finny's fever didn't seem to be going away, so I am took a sick day today to stay home with him. After a trip to the doctor's office, we discovered that he has the start of an ear infection and that is what seems to be causing the fever. Poor little man. Back on the antibiotics. After the appt, we picked up Liam and headed over to our local CVS to get the prescription. Our pharmacy always takes FOREVER!!! Finn spent some of the time checking his email on the Blood Pressure Machine. That little boy can make me smile in even the most stressful times. Oh and Finny was a big boy and used the public toilet at CVS to go potty. It is rather interesting to have to suspend your 3 yr old over a toilet while reminding them to hold their peepee down and make sure that a 10 month old doesn't wake up. We survived though completely unscathed.

12/11/2011 - Smiling fever

From Drop Box

Finn's cold has taken a turn for the worse and the poor kid has had a mild fever on an off for the last 2 days. Even sick, the kid still is a little sweetheart. He even managed to ham it up for the camera and couple times today while playing cars with his brother. I was hoping that we had seen the worse with this cold, but it looks like it might not pass so easily. I just hope he recovers by Wednesday to participate in his first Holiday Program at work. He has been hard at work practicing his songs. "We wish you a Happy Kwanzaa, We wish you a Happy Hanukkah, We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!"

12/10/2011 - Walk the line

From Drop Box

Our little cruiser is now getting to be quite the walker. Not even 10 1/2 months and little man is walking around like a champ. Just on Tuesday he was taking two or three steps at time and now he can cross the room. Amazing. Soon he will be running.

12/9/2011 - Work Party

From Drop Box

Jesse was sweet enough to take care of the kids tonight so I could have a work night out for our Holiday Party. It was a nice break to be able to go out and have a few drinks with coworkers without having to chase around a baby at the same time. I still managed to get home early enough to snuggle with Finn and get an early evening wake up of the Liam.

12/8/2011 - Chinese Takeout

From Drop Box

Liam had his first taste of Chinese Takeout today. He dove right into the chow mein and braised tofu like the little champion eater that he is. That yummy food must have helped him to really take off walking tonight. For the past couple weeks, he has taken a step or two here or there. Tonight, he was taking 5 or 6 steps walking between Jesse and I. Yikes, with Liam walking, things are going to get interesting. Off topic, Finn has been a potty training rockstar. Fewer mistakes and only one poop in the pants. So so proud of both of our boys!

12/7/2011 - Adopt a Family

This year instead of swapping gifts among my immediate family, my sweet sister had the idea to adopt a family. We should have been doing this every year. It feels amazing to be helping out a 15 year old single mom of an 18 month old little boy have a better Christmas this year. And it was just as satisfying to buy presents for this family as it would have been to buy for my own.

12/6/2011 - Adventageous

From Drop Box

Baachan and Jiichan gave Finn and Liam an advent calendar with 21 days (Jesse and I need to provide the last 4 days worth) of gifts for the kids. Everyday, Finn gets to read a clue to find when his and Liam's gifts for the day are hidden. It's ridiculously sweet and fun. Hope this doesn't become an expectation annually!!

12/5/2011 - Toothy grin

From Drop Box

I don't know why I was so sad to lose Liam's gummy grin, when his toothy little smile is so freaking cute! Oh, it just kills me. What a gorgeous smile on that sweet little man. One day that smile is going to get him out of a lot of parking tickets and lots of dates!

12/4/2011 - Target Trip

To say that work has been busy for Jesse is an understatement. Lately, he has been putting a lot of work in on the weekends and evenings. In order to give him dedicated time to focus on work, I try to take the boys out of the house for short jaunts. We can't do long trips with Finny potty training right now. I had the boys tag along with me to Target. Finn LOVES Target. Target = toys! The boys enjoyed sitting side by side in their fancy double seat shopping cart. It was great to have them in there, but man that cart is hard to maneuver. I'm sure it just takes practice. They were such troopers. So lucky to have such good kids.

12/3/2011 - Going solo

Today was Finn's first day in the next level up of Little Kickers Soccer. This level is non-parent participation. Finn prefers to have us play with him at soccer, but I figure that we have to cut the cord some time. He cried a little bit in the beginning, but I gave him some time to work through it himself. Everything was great today .... except for the pants peeing incident. Poor kid peed in his pants, but mistakes will happen and we will all survive.

12/2/2011 -- Persistence makes the heart grow foner

Liam is the most determined little boy that I have ever met. No matter how many times you take him away from a toy .. he will keep going back for it. No matter how many times you tell him no ... he will keep after it with a mischevious grin on his face. The perfect example is that I cannot write more than 1 sentence before he crawls back over to bang on his keyboard. Everyday, he steals his father's glasses off his face at least once. Everyday, he steals his brothers car away from their perfect lineup. Everyday, his persistence makes his mama love him even more.

12/1/2011 - De-Stuffing

As we enter the month of December, we look forward in nervous anticipation of Christmas day. This year, I am going to make a valiant effort to declutter and get rid of some of the stuff we have in our house before the big day arrives. We have so much stuff that we have dump trucks, carrying dump trucks that are carrying dump trucks. Time to de-stuff our place before the new stuff arrives.

11/30/2011 - Saying goodbye to Movember

From Drop Box

Jesse spent most of the month of Movember with a mustache. At times it was glorious, but mostly it just looked odd. Jesse told me that he at times thought people were snickering at his facial hair. I will kind of miss the mustache ... but that not much.

11/29/2011 - Trying to walk

Liam wants badly to walk. He uses anything and everything to get around the house. Every so often he takes a step or two, but is still in that cautious stage where he will sit down if he feels unsteady. You can see that little fire in his eyes though. We are going to be running after our active boy.

11/28/2011 - Snacking up

We have turned Finn into quite a weird eater. The snack for tonight was juice and Korean Seaweed. The kid won't touch spaghetti and meatballs, but he will die to eat a pack of seaweed.

11/27/2011 - Buddha baby

Our sweet baby Liam loves his papa and loves to smile.

11/26/2011 - Onboard the Potty Train

Today we began the potty training. Finn basically walks around our house pantless while we ask him in a nonpressured way "Do you want to go potty?" every two hours. Today we had one successful pee in the potty and a lot of indoor playtime. Day one done and overall a success.

11/25/2011 - Auntie Tio Time

Liam just loves his Auntie Stacy and Tio. We had brunch with them this morning at Sconehenge. After devouring a quarter of my fruit plate and a small portion of my bagel, he spent time lovingly admiring his goofy auntie and Tio. We are so lucky and thankful to have such loving family.

11/24/2011 - My sweet pumpkin

From Drop Box

Finny helped me out this morning in my first pumpkin ice cream experiment. He is in the "I'll do it myself" mode lately, so I was fun to have him help out. I am sure it will be so delicious with all the love that he put into it.

11/23/2011 - Getting his workout on

From Drop Box

To say that Jesse has been busy at work is a total understatement. He has been so busy that he needs an extra couple hours in our 24 hour day to get the stuff done that he needs to get done. He has had to slack on his workouts lately because of work commitments and is starting to go stircrazy. Tonight, he ran back and forth in our downstairs just to get some kind of exercise in. I keep reminding him that this too shall pass, but the end does not seem to be in sight yet.

11/22/2011 - Keep them separated

Finn's sharing patience is starting to wear. Liam will not stay away from his brother's toys. For now, we can just keep the toys outside of his reach, but pretty soon it will not be that easy. Poor Finny, I feel sorry for him already.

11/21/2011 - Foodie in the making

Our little Liam is becoming quite the picky eater. The baby who previously would eat anything and everything is starting to be rather particular about what he eats. When he likes the food though, he dives right in. We enjoy watching the process, but it's never fun to clean it up in the end.

11/20/2011 - Home Sweet Home

From Drop Box

The best part of our weekend ... coming home to our kids. I couldn't wait to touch down on CA soil and see our favorite Californians, My Finny and My Liam. Oh, it feels so good to see their beautiful faces.

11/19/2011 - Celebrity sighting

The Las Vegas strip is covered with people dressed as "celebrities" making money off of silly tourists who will pay to take pictures of them. Today, we were those silly tourists. Jesse and I both agreed that Finn would get a kick out of papa meeting Spiderman. We were willing to spend $5 for our kiddo.

11/18/2011 - It's all a Mirage

From Drop Box

Oh Vegas, you seem so glamorous and luxurious, but when you really look closely, it's just everyday life dressed up in sparkles and lights. It's fun to visit you once in awhile, everyone likes a break from reality, but man, I couldn't last long in this place.

11/17/2011 - Getting in the snuggles

From Drop Box

Getting in our snuggletime before we leave for vacation for the weekend. Starting to be nervous about leaving them for so long. Will Liam sleep thru the night? Will Finny be sad with us being gone for so long? So excited for a break, but sad to be gone from them.

11/16/2011 - Dinner Time

Eagerly anticipating his favorite part of the day ... mealtime. Love our little eater!

11/15/2011 - Self Service

Liam is becoming quite the independent little man. Our baby food fanatic has discovered how to feed himself and no longer enjoys being fed. His current faves seem to be the banana and sweet potato puffs, as well as the yogurt melts. Things are always changing. That boy is growing up too fast. On another note, we got 2 nights of slightly uninterupted sleep, until last night, but he still was pretty easy on us with just one quick wakeup. Please let this be a habit!!!

11/14/2011 - Quality Time

The kids got some quality time with Nana and Gramps these past 2 weeks. They are heading off tomorrow to go back home. It was a huge help to have them here tending to the kids, cooking us delicious meals and giving Jesse and I some much needed alone time. We couldn't survive without the help from our extended families. We are so blessed to have that. The kids are so lucky to have 2 sets of grandparents who shower them with love and affection.

11/13/2011 - Utter adoration

I captured the boys in the cutest moment, as they watched as their super hero of a father used the pull up bar to lift himself over the gate and into their room. It was lovely and adorable. I only wish that I could have captured Jesse in the shot as well. So cute!

11/12/2011 - Mustache Man

I am starting to kind of like the mustache a bit, I am embarassed to say. It's growing in rather nicely and I might not want him to shave it off at the end of the month. Who knows though? It it rather uncomfortable to kiss a mustached man.