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!

Gotta love the Fashonista Aunties...they pick out the cutest clothes, Thank You!

(Please excuse the gang signs. We're trying, but there are some bad news babies out there....I think she met them at our mommy and me class ; )

Welcome Home Kaila

The first week at home. Short and sweet, the pictures tell it all. Plus, my time is quite limited these days : )

Josiah giving Kaila kisses.

It's A Girl!!

Welcome baby Kaila! We love you so much!

Kaila Marie Hayes

Born 11-1-11 at 1:10

6 pounds 14 ounces, 19 1/2 inches

...(continued from previous post) As we were walking around with Josiah trick-or-treating, I began to have a few contractions that I wrote off as false labor. Regardless, we decided to stay the night at Lyndal's, Ryan's sister, house since it was close to the hospital and she was one of the people who volunteered to help with Josiah when the baby came. Lyndal, Taylor, Ryan and I chatted and hung out at their house. We passed a few hours snacking and watching the masses of trick-or-treating kids as they took advantage of the one time of year it is socially acceptable to knock on anyone's door and eat candy from strangers.

I wasn't convinced I was in labor until 11 pm. I called my mom, labored for 45 more minutes before waking Ryan up (he had gone to bed a little earlier), and we went to the hospital around 12pm. Kaila (pronounced Kai-la not Kayla) rushed into the world at 1:10, astonishing Ryan and I at her speedy and relatively easy delivery!

As always, Ryan was an amazing source of comfort and encouragement! He was there for me all the way.

Kaila was born so quickly, she came out absolutely beautiful, without the cone-head and swelling that a long labor often inflicts. Such a pretty little girl already!

Kaila's journey to being born has been marked with joyous surprise. First, learning that I was pregnant was a surprise, then having her come four days early and threaten to be a Halloween baby was another surprise. I kept telling Ryan " I can't believe we're going to have a baby on Halloween...!" Then, when we found out she was a girl, I was overjoyed and our whole family was surprised as well (there were a lot of "boy" guesses). Welcome to the world Kaila Marie! We love you!