Sacramento visit and more

Last Wednesday night we headed to Grandma Susan's house. What should have been a smooth 2 hour ride that Phoenix and Axel would sleep on,  turned into a 3 hour ride. The accident that slowed us down caused havoc because instead of being at Grandma's with the kids asleep in bed both kids were up until 10:30am as Phoenix was sitting in her vomit for almost the last hour of the drive. And the easy transition into bed was even more difficult as I had to get Phoenix cleaned up and put Axel to bed and then somehow get Phoenix to bed without her getting sick again! I am still unsure if Phoenix had a virus or a reaction (again) to broccoli. I let her eat a very small amount off my plate before leaving. It is hard to believe that broccoli has caused vomiting for days the three times she has tried it. Moral of the story is no more broccoli for a minimum of 6 months! 

On Thursday we headed to Auntie's new house. We had planned on heading to the park and running errands, but Braylin and Phoenix traded off naps for 4 of the 6 hours we were at her house. Luckily, we managed to get to the park around 2:30 pm and the kids got some good play time in before sitting in 30 minutes of traffic on the way home to Grandma's house.

Phoenix absolutely loves the swings. She went from one swing back to the other for almost the entire hour and a half that we were at the park.

We were able to manage to get a picture of the cousins together. I am looking forward to when they are a little older and can really play together.

On Friday we headed to Fairy Tale Land because Axel decided that is where he wanted to spend his morning. It was no big surprise that Phoenix loved it too!

She couldn't wait to climb in and out of everything that she possibly could. She went up and down the slides and laughed at the animals she saw.

I was able to capture my annual picture of Axel against the giant ruler. I know that he has grown, but I just wish it was at the same rate at his buddies. He was only a couple of inches shorter than his friends, but now he is 4-6 inches shorter than most of his friends. Good thing is he is doing a better job of eating a variety of foods, which I think will help, or so I hope!

On Saturday we headed to Connor's birthday party at Pump It Up Junior. Axel was his shy normal self again, but after about 10 minutes of trying to hold both kids I handed Phoenix off to Axel R's mom and started taking Axel up and down the slides. Amazingly, after about 5 times he said he didn't need me anymore and he started playing with his friends. He only cried once because he was scared, but soon overcame his fear. I was very proud of him.

Phoenix on the other hand was ready to explore from the beginning. She wanted to do everything that the big kids were doing. Her lack of fear amazes me just as much as Axel's overly cautious personality. They couldn't be more different if they tried!

After an hour of playing the kids settled down to sing happy birthday to Connor and ate some pizza and had some cake.

Axel doesn't want to try restaurant food yet so I made sure to bring him his lunch. He says if the pizza was homemade he would try it. Ha! I have created a monster :)

 On Saturday night daddy took Axel to the Monster truck show in Oakland with Axel R and his dad. The boys had an awesome time. Daddy took the camera, but didn't take any photos :( Both Axel's are already talking about going back next year!

 

On Sunday we had a nice relaxing day of family time. I have been feeling under the weather for over a week, but just can't seem to fight off what is slowing me down or get the full blown cold. We will hopefully have a nice and relaxing weekend this weekend as I need a break!

Phoenix seems to be feeling better. She had stopped eating for a few days and her eczema became so bad it was almost weeping. Her cheeks became very red as well. We decided to follow the eczema diet for a few weeks to see how she responds. I am not sure if it is coincidence, but her skin looks remarkably better after 4 days on the diet. We eliminated soy, eggs, tomatoes, seeds and nuts from her diet. The book also suggests eliminating dairy, but we want to wait and see how she responds to this diet first. Her appetite has been very good the past couple of days and she is only waking once at night again. 

Axel's appetite has also improved over the past 5 days. He is sleeping really well and becoming more and more charming. It is so cool to see him maturing and developing his personality. He has become so much more cooperative over the past couple of months. I am amazed! We are currently working on two very important milestones to prepare him for kindergarten. The first one is practical and a must.....he must wipe his own butt! This is a very big deal to a child who is a little OCD like his mom. He doesn't want any stains on his underwear and thus fights the battle of practicing. He wants to be perfect now! The other milestone is reading. He is starting to read, but again he doesn't want to take the time to really learn the words because he wants to read all of his books now! I know he will learn both of these skills over the next 5 months before kindergarten starts, but I just find it amusing at how similar he is to his mommy and daddy!

Valentine's Day and more

Axel is the most thoughtful child. As I posted last week we pain stakingly made 56 pieces of soap for his classmates, teachers and neighbor friends. At Target, Axel found this cookie mold that he picked out to give to daddy. I said he could pick anything out. He knew that a giant heart cookie is exactly what dad would appreciate the most and he was 100% correct. It only took us two days to eat the whole thing!

 Phoenix and I headed over to Axel's school party on Friday. I think she almost had more fun that him. She climbed up on the chairs and tables and played with their play kitchen.

 Axel was glad to see us because he knew he would FINALLY be able to pass out his Valentine's.

 He was more excited to pass out his soap then to receive all of his Valentine goodies from his friends. It was a long process to have all 20 something kids individually pass out each Valentine to each child. It took almost an hour. If I was restless, I can't imagine how the kids felt patiently waiting for their turn.

After school we went to Rishaan's house to give him his Valentine. Unfortunately, he was still at school so Nishka and Phoenix said hello for a bit and then we headed back home for some play time. 

 This kids had a blast drawing and painting. Or should I say Axel had a blast drawing and Phoenix had just as much fun pretending to do everything that brother did.

 Most of the time Phoenix played on the chairs and with the back door. She is already trying to open the door. She is not quite strong enough to turn the lock and not quite tall enough to open the latch. I am sure she will have it figured out as soon as she is tall and strong enough!

On Saturday morning the kids played the drums as they often do. They both love music and making noise!

 On Sunday, Axel helped make homemade orange juice. Our friends have a huge tree and keep giving us 20 oranges at a time!

 Yesterday evening we went to a classmate's birthday party. Axel had trouble warming up. It took almost an hour for him to play with his classmates. It just so happened he warmed up once the other Axel arrived. We asked him what was wrong and he said that he didn't have any friends there until Axel showed up. Funny that he goes to school with them three times per week and doesn't believe he is friends with most of them except a few select boys.

We have enjoyed a nice restful day today. Axel has the week off school so after my very short two day work week we are heading to Sacramento to see Auntie's new house and visit with her on Thursday and then a visit with Grandma Susan on Friday before heading home for a super action packed Saturday. Axel has his buddy Connor's birthday party Saturday morning and then the Monster truck show on Saturday night! check back soon for more Szolusha fun!

Growing friendship and PHEENY WALKS!

Axel and Phoenix continue to grow closer in their friendship as brother and sister. Phoenix loves to feed herself and anyone else she can. She got creative in the picture below by feeding Axel his yogurt with her hands. She has been really into learning how to use a spoon, brush and toothbrush. Speaking of tooth brushes I forgot to mention that Phoenix had her left top front tooth come in on her birthday and then the right and left top incisors have also come in over the past few weeks and now Phoenix has 6 teeth!

 Phoenix has no fear and wants to tackle and do whatever big brother does. Here is her attempt to climb the twisty big ladder. Although she only made it on the first step she still had a blast!

 Axel has started to become more dare devilish himself. Watching other big kids he has started going down the slide head first. Phoenix quickly follows him but she goes feet first on her belly.

 Besides sharing food, Axel and Phoenix make music together, ride the push bike/indoor scooter together, play peek a boo, play in the tent with stuffed animals together, cook in their kitchen together and

 their favorite of all, play in the bath together!

 They especially love it when daddy joins them because daddy thinks of funny games like putting the foam animals all over their bodies.

 Keith and I love seeing the two of them enjoying each other. It is so much fun. You can see from the picture below how much Phoenix wants to be like her big brother.

 She continues to be a little dare devil herself. Here she has Axel's marker in her hand because she was pretending to draw on the dry erase board, but she was easily distracted by this small chair. She absolutely loves to climb, stand and jump on small chairs. It is awfully cute, but extremely nerve racking as Keith and I await the inevitable fall that will come one day as she rocks the chair back and forth too much and topples over on her face.

 The big news of the week is that Phoenix started walking! Friday February 7th after her nap and snack I set her down on the floor. When I looked up at her she decided to take a couple of steps. I quickly grabbed my phone and was able to capture her first trek across the kitchen. It was as if she decided she was finally ready and was so happy and excited about the event. She continued to walk the rest of the night and continues to practice her walking throughout the day.

 Because Phoenix has had 3 teeth coming in all at the same time she has been randomly self soothing her gums with a bottle nipple and occasionally a Binky. I love this picture and her love for dogs, stuffed or real :)

Auntie Shannon bought Phoenix some girlie accessories for her birthday. I decided to put this on Phoenix and show her in the mirror how cute she looked. She absolutely loves it. She takes it off and then tries to put the head band back on. Absolutely adorable :)

 

Axel continues to be a joy as he becomes even more articulate and self aware of his emotions and feelings. He decided he wanted to make his Valentine's for school. He remembered a project of making soap in his arts and crafts book. We headed to Michael's and purchased the necessary supplies and now we have 4 packs of 4 soaps for his teachers and 30 smaller heart soaps for all of his classmates and a few other friends. It took about 6 total hours, but Axel had fun every minute of it and wanted to make even more soap since we had some left over supplies. I suggested saving the supplies for another day :)

 On a side note we have been enjoying the rainy weather and play dates with friends. Next up is a Valentine's Day party at school on Friday, a birthday party on Sunday and then a week off of school where the kids and I plan on visiting Auntie in her new house and Grandma Susan. Another birthday party and a Monster truck show follow for a busy and action packed 10 days!

I finally have Phoenix's one year photos and all of them are in envelopes. I intended to address them and get them in the mail, but the rain made me change my mind. Now that we have a break in the rain I do hope to get them in the mail by Tuesday so keep your eye out for a photo in the mail!

Phoenix 1 year photos!

This week has been really low key. I haven't taken any photos because I have been working hard at living in each moment and really enjoying the kids. There have been a few instances where I really wish I had my camera or phone, but when I really think about it, it's really nice just being with them. 

Here are the photos that we had professionally done for Phoenix. I will be able to pick up the rest of the prints next Thursday. Hopefully I will have them mailed out by the end of next weekend, but you all know how that goes :)

She did really well. I wish our photographer was a bit better because he missed some really cute moments.

 All in all, I do like most of them!

 Enjoy!

Phoenix's 1 year check up and summer fun in winter

Since there was no school or childcare on Martin Luther King's Birthday, I took off of work to stay home with the kids. Axel R, asked Axel S. to come over and play. We headed over after breakfast for a morning filled with fun. David, Axel R.'s dad set up a rope swing off a tree that runs over the creek. I had to do some major convincing, but I finally got Axel to try. 

 I even got on the swing to show him how much fun it was. He warmed up to it and enjoyed his few minutes of swinging.

 Phoenix had fun watching the boys and climbing off and on one of their outdoor chairs.

 After the rope swing they boys zipped lined through Axel R.'s backyard.

 Axel S. warmed up to this very quickly and got fancy with his technique.

 David was a bit nervous to make sure the boys didn't hurt themselves, but luckily they both were pros at it.

 Here Axel is no hands and his legs nice and high for the landing.

 Every landing was quite smooth for Axel S. He hardly needed the "crash landing pad" that Axel R. and David set up.

Axel came down with a virus/fever after playing with Axel R. I dropped both kids off at daycare on Phoenix's birthday, the next day, only to turn around and pick them up at lunch time. I have never seen Axel so sick. He slept almost all day. He hardly walked the entire day. I picked him up to go to and from the restroom, the car, his bed, etc. He apparently was very dizzy and felt like he was going to fall over. His fever lasted about 36 hours. It broke around 2am on the 22nd, although he is still a bit run down.

Phoenix and I took care of Axel all afternoon on her birthday. She was eating some bread and was walking 2-3 steps to and from me and Axel to feed him. Axel and I were very excited to see her start walking on her own. Phoenix squealed with delight as I clapped my hands and cheered for her. She knew she was doing something special and kept walking the short distance between Axel and I. 

Here is a picture of the big girl on Wednesday morning when I dropped her off at daycare. She eats at the big kid table now and absolutely loves it! Speaking of food, Phoenix continues to do great with everything we have introduced. She is eating bananas, apples, peaches for fruit. The same three vegetables of yams, carrots and squash. For dairy she is eating yogurt and drinking milk. For grains she is eating rice cereal, oatmeal , bread (wheat with only yeast, salt and oil, homemade of course), pasta and cherrios. And last but not least she is eating ground beef for her first non dairy protein. When Pheeny wakes from her nap we are going to try egg! I am a bit nervous considering she is highly allergic to chicken and vomits for days, but the doc and everything I read reassures me the protein is different and that she should be fine with it. 

Keith and I feel so blessed with this huge burden that has been lifted from us. To have two kids who can eat almost anything is a true miracle. We still have to introduce a ton of foods to Phoenix, but it looks like the worst is behind us. Axel really only has to avoid nuts and sesame seeds. We still have to see how he does with corn and rice, but I am hopeful that he will be fine with both. 

 With all of the nice weather we continue to play outside like it is spring or early summer. Every day we have been spending 1-2 hours in the park. Phoenix absolutely loves to be outside. She loves to climb stairs and go down the slide.

 While Phoenix and I are busy going up the stairs and down the slide a hundred times, Axel spent the week working on his garden/sand art project. Here is the finished version with "landscaping" and all. He was very proud of it.

 Here is a picture of one of Axel's awesome creations. This may not look like much to you, but if you saw the thought process that went into designing this you would be amazed. To get these magnets to stay up he had to build a very sound infrastructure of other magnets to hold up the next layer. On top of that, the entire building is color coded.

 If you can see from this picture the magnets are in rows of patterns. The first row is red, green, red, green. The second row is blue, red, blue, red and so forth. He made sure that there was a pattern for the entire building. It was super impressive to me that he was so thoughtful with his building.

 I thought this was a cute picture of Phoenix playing in the park yesterday. She has changed so much in the past few weeks. When we went to the doctor on Thursday for her year check up she weighted in at 17 lbs 15 oz. That puts her at almost the 23%ile. The doctor was so excited for her huge weight gain. All of the food she has been eating for the past month has really helped!  She measure 2 feet 5.75 inches which keeps her around the 70th percentile for height!

 The biggest change over the past couple of weeks is seeing Axel and Phoenix starting to play together. Is still isn't always sweet, with one child taking a toy away from the other or knocking down their creation, but it is the beginning of what looks like a beautiful relationship.

 Phoenix absolutely loves to feed herself. I love to see her love of food. We are all so excited and feel so blessed that she can eat now without suffering!

 Yesterday, we had my best girlfriend from high school, Tiffany and her family over for dinner. Her daughter, Charlotte turns one on the 31st. We were hoping to have a little celebration for the two, but both Phoenix and Charlotte were too tired. Luckily, after Phoenix's initial meltdown at dinner, we were able to get a quick photo of the two girls after her bath, right before we put Phoenix to sleep and right before Charlotte started her meltdown :). Of course, Axel had to sneak in the picture.

We will be picking up Pheeny's one year photos this week. Check back soon to see her big girl pictures! We hope to have most of the pictures mailed out by the end of February :)