Backfired

As a parent, I run the temptation of taking pride in the fact that our son's a good eater. It's true though. He will eat kale, mushrooms, garlic, meat, fish, spicy foods...you name it, he's downed it at some point. However, I think the Lord is up there chuckling as he keeps our pride in check, because sometimes, being a good eater can backfire on you.

(WARNING: the following may not be appropriate for germ-sensitive peoples. Plus, it was worse when he was actually in the put-things-in-your-mouth stage. This is just residual from that time...)

This is a parasitic wasp-egg bulb that forms on the oak trees and the falls off. Josiah loves them- I warned you, this can be pretty gross.

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Acorns and their caps have been a favorite since crawling times. I can't believe he's never actually swallowed one. It's actually pretty amazing considering how many times I've fished these out of his mouth.

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80% of the time, this is the incriminating cheek-puff that alerts me to a foreign object hidden inside. Paper, plastic, rocks...once I even caught him trying to eat an old bell pepper out of the compost bin!

And then there are the signs that show up after-the-fact.

I just took something out of his mouth. This little face may look cute (or a little scary), but emanating from those sweet little lips is a high-pitched, incredibly annoying Velociraptor scream. That's right, Ryan and I have named his screams of protest the Raptor Screams. I'm pretty sure you could dub them over the Raptor calls in Jurassic Park and you wouldn't even know the difference.

And what's our sweet little girl up to this whole time? A whole lot of this. It's tough work being a baby and lookin' this cute!

A San Diego Christmas

Shorts and tank tops were the attire for Christmas this year, throwing me back to my childhood days where I remember being a bit sad when the warm and cozy Christmas fire in the fire place actually heated us out of the room, and my cute new winter clothes went straight in to the dresser. Christmas in Ramona may never be white, but it is always filled with the more important parts of Christmas, lots of love and family.

Present this year, Mom and Dad Lucio, Carolyn and Bob, Me, Ryan and the two kids, Terra and Garrett and Joey and Andrea, for a total of ten people sharing my parent's home for five days. Needless to say, both Kaila and Josiah are going through a bit of an adjustment being back in a quiet home. Kaila is back to sleeping like a champ (she added a wake-up while in SD), and Josiah slept in till 8:30 this morning! Whew! They were some busy babies!

Christmas Day

All those childhood years being excited about receiving gifts has finally morphed into a more mature love for others and an appreciation for God's gift of His Son during the Christmas season. Ryan and I look forward to the gifts we are giving. This was the first year we had the gift of watching Josiah appreciate a toy and it was such a beautiful picture of how God rejoices in, and adores us. I can't help but think that conversely, I am often like the child, running around doing my own thing. So often I don't fully realize how deeply my Father loves me and is constantly watching my every move.

After a lazy Christmas day of opening presents, eating, and hanging out, everyone (minus my dad who said he was in charge of watching Annie, my granny's "devil dog" - sorry granny, it's just that she tries to bite the kids! ), went for a long walk and spent some quality time outside.

Poinsettia Bowl

A few other Christmas Highlights

Texas Christian University, versus Louisiana Tech. We rooted for TCU since we were sitting on the TCU side...Field-level tickets I might add! Thank you Andrea!

San Diego Wild Animal Park

Getting up close and personal with the animals!

I have to say, growing up around livestock all my life, I was still impressed by the goats in the petting zoo. Josiah and the other kids swarmed the goats like ants and they never bit, kicked or butted them.

This was right before he got knocked to his butt by this goat. Unphased as always, Josiah got right back up and kept chasing his new friends.

Sometimes your own species is just as interesting. Josiah followed this little boy around poking at him and trying to share the brush with him.

The tram ride took us around the "African Plains."

You can barely see them, but there are giraffes in the background.

A Childish Twist

Ryan and I are pros at doing the holidays as adults. Reliving the christmas story and celebrating Christ's birth, getting gifts for the ones we love, making cookies and decorating...This is the first year we have done all those things with A Childish Twist.

Baking and Wrapping Christmas Cookies for our Wonderful Neighbors

A new twist on the old. For example, who knew that old christmas ribbon would actually leave red and green residue on your mouth when you suck on it!?

Wrapping and Preparing Gifts

Who doesn't remember the fun of playing in a cardboard box? I couldn't resist jumping in this gift box with Josiah. OK, I'll confess, I actually jumped in it first and pulled him in with me. I can't help it...I still love playing in boxes!

The Living Nativity

I forgot my camera, but our good friend Kerry saved the day! We were able to get a few shots of us petting the animals. It was so fun to see Josiah explore and say hello, we even got to pet the camel!! Again, I left the show feeling like I was probably the most excited person in our whole family.

Things were a little different. Josiah wriggled and squiggled the whole time and we had our hands full keeping him from running on stage and attacking the camel during the performance. My mint hot chocolate mug was commandeered to keep Josiah entertained. Ryan was correct when he pointed out that we hardly heard a word of the performance. The new fun was seeing the kids light up as each animal and character came on stage, and knowing that we are sharing Christ's story with our family.

This year marks the first year that our children have been able to participate in Christmas with us. I am joyously realizing how much fun it is going to be sharing this season with them throughout our lives.

....sooooo sleepy!

Kaila Marie is sooooo sleepy! (It's 2:30 in the afternoon.)

"I can't even keep my eyes open mom! A little consideration please!?...After all, I was up all night."

Silly Me. What was I thinking.

Daddy taking the brunt of Kaila's antics. He takes the night shifts that don't involve the standard feeding-burping-changing.

Josiah "giving kisses" to Kaila. It's all I can do to keep him from smashing her.

Just found this under Josiah's crib mattress. It explains alot, I think they're in on it together...

(Photo courtesy of Tata Lucio)

Thanksgiving

Time off, vacation, R&R, call it what you want, this Thanksgiving was a time of rest. The tragic thing was that I was resting from adjusting to having two babies, and I had only been on my own for three days!

My Granny, Carolyn Wendt is amazing. She provided a beautiful place for us to stay right up from the ocean in Shell Beach. In addition she made the entire Thanksgiving meal for 13 people! Ryan and I decided to make it a mini-vacation by staying down in Shell (only about 30 minutes from our house) for four days. Lyndal joined us for part of it and her and I got a bit of girl time in. She even watched the kids while Ryan and I had a date at the local hot springs. By the end of the weekend, I felt like I got a little part of me back, a little part of me that has been buried for over two years.

This is the view from the street outside the condo.

The cousins and the new babies at Thanksgiving dinner.

Josiah and I walked to the Seaside Cafe from the condo, and the day before, Lyndal and I came here and sat and chatted for a few hours.

Josiah was a trooper, he sat, read books and played for an hour while we chatted and waited for breakfast. He thought putting the cup holder on his head was hilarious!

There was a good swell so Ryan and I got to surf a few times. One of the best parts was that we could just walk to the beach from the condo. One person could watch the kids and the other could surf. I got to go twice and it was so refreshing to get back in the water after so long. I felt like I got to reconnect with a little part of myself!

Josiah taking off on the little walking trail.

Ryan caught red-handed! Breast feeding and drinking...

We got to meet up with some friends and go for a walk.

It was the lowest tide of the year.

There were some pretty cool critters in the tide pools, starfish with 5 arms and one with 20 arms, sea anemones, big crabs...and best of all dogs! Pretty much Josiah's favorite thing on the beach that day.

Thank you again Granny, for all your hard work and for such a relaxing weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!