Our last 4 day weekend together

Doesn't this picture look familiar? Almost 4 years ago I took a similar picture of Axel. Is it funny how much they resemble each other.

 Phoenix is starting to enjoy her play mat. She is currently intrigued with Mr. Giraffe.

 Here is one of the very cute outfits we received from my Aunt Cindy and my second cousin Kaylee. I never thought I would be one of those moms who likes to dress their little girls up, but I have surprised myself and really enjoyed the cute outfits that our friends and family have given Phoenix.

 Family play time with all of the kids in the house getting in on the fun :) Axel hasn't played with his train tracks for a couple of months so it has been refreshing for all of us to get them out again. They have been the toy of the week. Phoenix loves watching her big brother play!

 Big boy Axel wearing the 3T clothing a coworker gave us. He looks so handsome and so much older. It is amazing how much he has matured physically, mentally and emotionally over the past month or two.

 Oh, wait! Did I say mature......being a product of my husband, I do believe he will be silly Axel his entire life and that this silliness has nothing to do with maturity :)

 We took Axel to one of his favorite parks with his bike. This was the first time that he rode his bike up and down the hill. He rode up and down a handful of times and then rode around the entire park. He must have ridden a couple of miles.

Here is Axel doing a victory salute.

 Axel now descending quite well without any help!

After riding his bike Axel and daddy played a little soccer.  Axel is becoming quite the ball dribbler. Daddy and him have been playing a few time a week. Axel loves to play keep away from daddy :)

We are sad that daddy has to go back to work full time, but are very grateful for the month of 4 day weekends together. It was perfect timing since daddy received a promotion and has a new engineer starting under him today. Yeah daddy! This will be the first time that I have both kids by myself for more than 5 hours. Hopefully, Phoenix will continue to improve on her sleep which will allow me to have more energy to play with Axel. Hopefully, Axel will continue to be an awesome, understanding big brother and our days together will be fun and uneventful! Wish us luck. Check back soon for a quick post on daddy and Axel's Monster truck day together that they had this past Saturday!

Bubbles of fun!

We had a few nice days of weather and were able to enjoy it. Axel is really into playing hit and pitch, kick the ball and chase the bubbles. Santa brought him this big bubble maker in his stocking and we finally were able to use it. 

Axel took a couple of turns making the bubbles himself, but he had more fun chasing them when daddy or I made the bubbles for him.

Axel and daddy went to the bank to set up something with his bank account and this balloon was the prize he was given to take home. This balloon went everywhere with Axel, including the park, for a couple of days. 

Axel has been eating and sleeping like a champ. He even gets up in the morning by himself and turns the news on while daddy and I sleep (or more like mommy feeds Phoenix and daddy sleeps). It has been such a drastic change and we are very grateful for his new found maturity. He also seems to be in a growth spurt with the increased food consumption. We know that he has finally grown in height because this past week we officially got out the 3T clothing and he mostly fits in them. They are a little long, but it is so exciting that he is wearing them before his 4th birthday next month!

For Valentine's day the entire family was able to spend it together because Keith has been taking off Thursdays and Fridays to help with Axel and Phoenix. We had a great time making Valentine hearts and cookies for his friends at school. We brought them over to his school's Valentine's Day party and then picked up some sushi to enjoy at home. Below is a message that Axel wrote for daddy and I. It says I love mommy ( heart, I, mommy). I love daddy (heart, I, dad (with the A below the D) and I love you, Axel (heart, I, Heart, U, Axel). I was very proud and honored that Axel wanted to write down how much he loves us.

I leave you with a video of Axel playing in the park.

 

Phoenix at 2 weeks

Phoenix had her 2 week check up this week. Despite all of the projectile vomiting and diarrhea I am proud to say she is on her way to being a nice and healthy baby. She weighed in at 8lbs and 4oz, which put her at the 60th percentile. She grew an incredible 3/4 of an inch to measure in at 20.75 inches, which put her at the 70th percentile. Her head circumference was in the 40th percentile so the big joke is that Phoenix is 100% my child and Axel is 100% Keith's child, as far as gene contributions. I have the common sense of the family, where Keith and Axel have the amazing photographic memory and are just plain old book smart. 

Axel absolutely loves Phoenix. He is so incredibly sweet with her. Keith and I are very proud of him. Here is a cute picture of Axel saying good morning to Phoenix. 

 Phoenix is now starting to track objects and for the first time showed interest in her mobile. She is also turning her head towards the light and the sounds of our voices. Starting to see little brain developments is such a cool part of parenting.

 Phoenix seems to have the same dairy protein allergy as Axel. Axel grew out of it by age 3. I am hoping by catching it early with Phoenix that she will grow out of it even sooner than Axel did. I have been really creative with meals the past week, but am already running out of dairy and soy free recipes after just a week. It is amazing how quickly I got out of the habit the past year with Axel now eating all foods except peanuts. Here is an Asian ground turkey recipe that tasted even better than it looks :) I was quite proud of the presentation and thus wanted to share it.

I am going to leave you with the cutest little video of Axel singing to Phoenix. I was cooking lunch for Axel and Phoenix started to become fussy. He found his nursery rhyme book and started to sing to her in order to calm her down. It worked surprisingly well. 

Phoenix

I just wanted to post a few pictures of Phoenix over the past week. She is such a peaceful sleeper. 

 She is having more awake time and I love seeing her big eyes. We still can't figure out what color they are, but they are beautiful!

 She has big lips just like mommy.

 She already has a great personality when she is awake and engaged in eye to eye contact. I see her smiling and making faces all of the time. Here is a smile I was able to catch on film as she was falling asleep.

 Grandma Susan and Grandpa Brian came to meet Phoenix today. It was a nice quiet gathering.

 Auntie joined us too for a couple of hours before everyone had to take off and head home.

Tuesday we have our first check up with our pediatrician. I am looking forward to seeing how Phoenix is growing and getting some questions answered about the large amounts of milk that Phoenix has started to vomit and spit up over the past few days. Hopefully, it is nothing, but I have a feeling she might be allergic to the dairy protein like Axel was, which means I need to go on a strict non dairy diet. Poor me.....how I love dairy!!! check back soon for stats! go 49ers!