Photo Bomb

It's been an extremely busy couple of weeks. In lieu of a narrative, I offer this photo bomb. Enjoy!

A Great Day . . .

We have a bedtime ritual: before daddy takes Kaden off to bed each night I tell him that I love him, that I hope he gets good sleep and that tomorrow's going to be a great day. And it's true. Every day IS a great day. But today was super great and I hope we get a lot more just like it!

We're having a surprisingly beautiful run of warm weather and Kaden and I took the opportunity to have a very special picnic in the park between therapy sessions.

Just me and the sweetest little boy on earth. Heaven.

It was especially wonderful because Kaden's just now recovering from a sinus infection, cold and croup. It's been a rough couple of weeks but he finally seems to have gotten back on track.
Back at home, the little princess is recovering from a cold of her own. That doesn't stop her from wanting to play with Kaden though, not one bit. Here they are perusing some books, trying to decide which one mommy should read to them first.

And here they are playing Kaden's new favorite game: Tea Party! Sydney got a tea party set for her birthday and she likes it, but Kaden, he LOVES it! It's a pretty big step for a boy who's never been into pretend play. So we'll have tea parties. Everyday. Many times a day . . .

And they'll all be great days.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Sydney GIrl!

Today was a beautiful day filled with balloons, cupcakes, birthday hats and smiles in celebration of the most awesome little girl in the universe. Sweet Little Sydney is no longer a baby. She's a charming, fun loving, mischievous and delightful 1 year-old little lady who somehow manages to get cuter every single day. See for yourself . . .

The day got off to a lazy start. Sydney wasn't really digging her first birthday hat. Too generic.

She needed something fit for a queen. A crown. A custom crown with her name and her very favorite Sesame Street character, Abby Cadabby.

Yes, much better.

(By the way, a big thank you to the very talented Ms. Melanie for the beautiful birthday crown. If you have a little one that might like a custom crown, check out her work at www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/BetterThanNormal).
When daddy got home from work it was PARTY TIME!

Sydney mostly enjoyed herself but got a little overwhelmed by the time we started opening presents. Surprisingly, she didn't really seem to like cupcakes but maybe she was just being loyal to Cookie Monster. I have a feeling that's gonna change.

And what did Kaden think of all this? He was extremely happy all day long. He really seemed to enjoy our day of celebrating his sister and, for the first time ever, he sincerely enjoyed a birthday party. It was a beautiful thing . . .

A really beautiful thing.

My funny Valentine(s) . . .

Sweet comic Valentine(s) . . .

You make me smile with my heart . . .

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sydney's 11 Months Old

Sydney is now just one (very) short month away from her first birthday. Here's a look at what our big girl is up to these days . . .
Sydney likes to eat. She's still feeling things out with solids but, let me tell you, we've already got a cookie monster on our hands. I made the mistake of trying to pull that cookie back a bit so she could chew the piece she had in her mouth and, well, I think the whole neighborhood probably heard her scream in protest.

She likes to sleep but doesn't get nearly enough of it. She flat out refuses to nap much of the time because she doesn't want to miss ANYTHING. She gets so tired that she sometimes nods off while sitting up and then startles awake as if to say, "nope, I'm up." To make matters worse, after many months of sleeping soundly through the night she's recently hit a rough spell with teething. Nearly six teeth are breaking through at once. But she's a toughie. She gets through it and remains happy and playful most of the time.

Kaden is her hero. She absolutely adores him. If Kaden laughs, Sydney laughs. If Kaden wants to read a book or play with a toy, Sydney wants to do the same. Kaden's latest passion is dinosaurs. Sydney just so happens to LOVE dinosaurs too! What a great coincidence ;)

She's a sweet, beautiful, spirited little one who keeps us on our toes.

We love you, precious girl. T minus 29 days to your birthday . . .

Happy New Year!

I admit it, I've been a little neglectful of the blog lately. Daddy's been working long hours so I've been pulling double shifts with the little ones. The good news is that we're all doing well and had a great holiday season. The not-so-good news is . . . on second thought, I'll get to that later.

First things first, Kaden and Sydney are still super-adorable . . .

But that's not likely to change anytime soon so you probably already figured.

Kaden's a really big boy these days. He's been trying to walk everywhere lately. He still needs help from us but he's taken quite a few independent steps and just seems more ready to be on his feet than ever before. Independent walking seems really close and we're extremely excited for him.

We've also recently begun experimenting with glasses. Kaden needs them to correct near-sightedness but so far he hasn't been willing to keep anything on his face. The doctor suggested that I pop out the lenses on a cheap pair of plastic sunglasses to "practice" wearing glasses before we try the real thing. Well, I tried but he only kept them on when I bribed him with the iPad and even then his max time was about two minutes. Within an hour they were broken. I have a feeling this isn't going to be easy . . .

By the way, every once in a while a picture of Kaden really makes me marvel at the awesome lip repair work done by his plastic surgeon at NYU. There's almost no trace of his cleft lip and barely any scar. Well done, Dr. Cutting! Bravo!

As for Little Sydney, she's 10 months old and growing by leaps and bounds. Right now she's determined to master the art of movement. Her moves on the floor often look like a combination of yoga and pilates as she goes from crawling to sitting to crawling in slow motion. She squeals in delight if you run in place behind her saying "I'm gonna get you" and she crawls away as fast as she can.

She's also babbling up a storm and seems to have whole conversations with herself, the TV, Kaden, me, and anyone else who will listen. When I ask her if she wants to play pat-a-cake or help mommy row, row, row the boat she exclaims "Yeeeeaaaahhhh!" How awesome is that?

On a different note, there's not-so-great news of the new year but it has a very nice silver lining. Basically, we've decided to stop having Kaden casted because it didn't appear to be working for him. We're disappointed the process didn't work and more than a bit apprehensive about the treatment options that lay ahead but for now the silver lining is that Kaden is cast-free. He's once again enjoying long, splashy baths and bending at the waist. That's what we're choosing to focus on at the moment -- the decisions and worries of the future can wait -- we've got no-more-cast celebrating to do!

Happy New Year to all! 2012 is going to be great, I can just feel it!

Thanksgiving 2011

What am I thankful for? Very simple . . .
THIS boy

And THIS girl.

And every single day that I get to see their smiling faces.