Trabajar

So Judah's favorite word....or word he says more than any other.....is "trabajar" (work). It's funny to me how he conceptualizes the word right now. In his world "trabajar" means "not here". It makes sense. Every time he would ask where Stevie was or was going, I would tell him to work. So now he spends most of his days asking me if Stevie is at work. Often, Stevie is sleeping and Judah knows that. But in his world, if Stevie isn't with us, well then the most logical place for him to be is "trabajar".

What really cracks me up is how he has started applying that to everyone else. If Levi is napping (out of sight for Judah), he asks me if Levi is at work (which the idea always makes me laugh a little).

This morning in particular, Judah really focused on who wasn't here. He began to go through the list of all of his loved ones in his head and ask me if they were at work.
It went something like this:
"Papi trabajar"
"Levi trabajar"
"Tita trabajar"
"Tia trabajar"
and well, you get the picture!

Monica's Musings

For those of you who might ever so slightly be interested in my other blog, Monica's Musings, I finally posted today.
It's been a long time but you know how it is....!

Update on all of us!

As usual it's been a while since I've posted :(

BUT I will just chalk some of it up to the fact that Stevie was out of town for a week and I didn't have time for posting (even though it's been longer than a week since I've posted...hee hee!). I was just doing good to keep all three of us fed, clothed, clean and well, ALIVE!

So since my last posting, I took the boys for their latest well visit - Judah's 2 year visit and Levi's 6 month. Both are doing well and are on the charts-in very different places on the charts but they're both on! YEA! Judah jumped up into the 50th percentile on his height (34 inches)-woo hoo! His BMI is in the less than 5th percentile (23 pounds)-no big suprise there! And Levi is so far turning out to be pretty average in size - 60-75th percentile in height (27 inches) and 50th in weight (16 1/2 pounds). Both of them are right on target with development. Judah actually has more words than the minimum expected and Levi sits better than most kiddos his age.

Way to go boys!

A few new developments with the boys:

Levi has decided naps are overrated and would much rather stay up and play with Judah and anyone else who will give him attention. He is in love with nursing-I often have to pry him off with my fingers! He can roll both ways of course by now, loves to pull up to standing on people (not on things yet), pushes up on all fours-every now and then, ooches around in circles, loves playing with cups and bowls, loves drinking from his sippy cup (suprised us on that one!), doesn't like to wear hats (manages to take them off) and still thinks Judah is super funny. We have noticed that he seems especially observant for his age too.

Judah's vocabulary is exploding! He LOVES trucks and cars right now more than anything-well they are right up there with Mickey Mouse. Which speaking of Mickey Mouse-he now actively participates in the shenanigans that happen on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. When someone falls he shouts "oh no!". When they make faces and sounds, he does as well. During the opening song, he sings at the top of his lungs while dancing around and names all of the characers. He loves dancing in the car and directing me in how to dance as well. He informs me of when Levi is asleep in the car and on one occassion so far, told me to be quiet when I was singing because Levi was asleep. He is quite the ham lately and loves to run run run! He feels like a big boy when he climbs his stool in the bathroom to brush his teeth.

This list could go on and on as you all know so I'll stop before this post gets too long...or longer than it already is!

Like I said, Stevie was out of town for a week (went to Utah to do some repairs on his grandma's house) and I must say, it was really cute (and sometimes a little redundant) how much Judah talked about him. He asked me over and over and over again if "papi trabajar" (daddy work). As it got closer and closer to Stevie coming home, I could tell more and more that Judah really missed his daddy-so sweet! Of course some funny things (and not so funny things) happened while Stevie was gone. Pretty much within 10 minutes of him being out the door, in Judah's attempt to help me dispose of Levi's diaper, I was fishing a dirty diaper out of our bathroom toilet with tongs while keeping the water from overflowing. We talked a lot about Stevie and why was his truck at home if he wasn't at work. We also talked about every truck that we saw on the road-obviously truck is one of his favorite words. By my 2nd day at work, I was very exhausted as were the boys from not napping at the sitter's house or at their tita's house. Mickey Mouse was viewed much more than ever as I at times was just getting by! Many people were helpful-my mom, Stevie's mom and sisters, and I got a wonderful visit from Lois who came over, cooked dinner and helped me do bedtime with the boys. All I know is I got a new appreciation for single parents. It is lonely and hard to do it alone!

Judah fell asleep during lunch on Sunday-too many days refusing to take his nap led to this!

Little Levi is 6 1/2 months already...well and not really so little anymore!

They LOVE rides in their red wagon that Tía Monica got them for Christmas-Levi thinks it is hilarious to ride facing Judah!

A few recent pics....

I just had to add a few more of my most recent favorite pics!

This is what happened when I told Judah to share some of his toys with Levi!

Here are the boys with me on New Year's Eve....Daddy had to work :(

I love this one of Judah on New Year's Eve-classic!

Birthday weekend!

Happy Birthday Judah!

Well I cannot believe it but yesterday my sweet little boy turned 2 years old! We had such a great time this weekend and yesterday celebrating Judah's birthday. We started the preparations and celebrating on Friday night. Stevie's entire family came over and we had such a good time! Stevie cooked out on the grill for everyone while the rest of us split up birthday party preparations. Carmela. Louie Sr. and Monica took to hanging crepe paper and balloons all over and putting up Mickey silhouettes on our windows. Louie worked hard on creating the Mickey Mouse face for "pin the nose on Mickey" game. Kathy diligently prepared cupcakes and the cake and then coached me through decorating the Mickey Mouse cake-it was so much fun and I was pretty proud of how it turned out! Natalie helped hold the fort down with all the kiddos as they played and she so kindly did diaper changes and put Levi to bed for me when it was time. It was such a family effort and great fun while doing it. It truly reminded me of the blessing it is to be part of Stevie's family and how loving and giving each member is. We could not have pulled off the party without them! And that is just Friday night-they each helped us again in so many ways during the party itself as well.

On Saturday the party was great fun! It was so nice to have so many of our family and friends there to share the special day with us. The kids had fun jumping in the bounce house, playing in the playroom and outside (it was 80 degrees!), eating hot dogs and mac n' cheese, hitting the piñata and of course, eating cake and ice cream. Judah got so many great gifts and had so much fun with all of his friends.

After everyone left we all took a family nap-NICE! Then we topped off the day by having a "family date". Stevie and I took the boys to a coffee shop in Murphy where they were having live music. We had coffee and snacks, played Scrabble and listened to music. The boys did super well, especially considering we were there almost 2 hours and it was in the evening, close to bed time. We really had a great time watching Judah get into the music, dancing and pretending to play the drums!

Monday, the 5th, was actually Judah's birthday. We spent the day playing a lot with him and just relaxing at home. We left his party decorations up just to add to the fun! Monday night we went with our immediate family to Chuck-e-Cheese to celebrate. Although all the kids had fun, I think some of us "big kids" had even more fun. Stevie and Louie battled it out on basketball, Kathy and I competed several times (to our own embarrassment) on Dance Revolution and Monica, Kathy and I got some cute sketches done of us on the Chuck-E-Cheese sketch a photo booth. Judah, Carmen, Sofia, Tifani and Estefani had fun playing as many games as they could while chowing down on pizza! And of course, Levi was just along for the ride for it all!

All in all, it was so much fun celebrating our little man's 2nd birthday.

Judah, te amamos tanto, nos das muchísimo gozo y felicidad. Gracias por ser el bello niñito que eres. Con amor, Mami y Papi.