Raya Recently

I haven't done a "just Raya" post in FOREVER! And to be perfectly honest, this is basically a post to brag about what an amazing 2year old I have- just an FYI :)

She's in such a fun phase right now too. She's saying full sentences and can pretty much have a mini conversation and they are hilarious! Literally all day she has me laughing. And she knows it! Haha. I love that i have a funny kid. I need to start writing down what she says. I know some of my blogger friends to "Ism" posts. I need to work on that- Rayaisms. I don't want to forget the things she says!

So she's 33 months old :) Almost 3! Wow. She weighs 35lbs and is 37 inches tall. I think that's about the size of an average 4 year old. lol. I have a couple friends with 4 year olds and Raya is much closer in size to them than she is to kids her own age. She's totally potty trained, and has been since the beginning of September (about 28 months old).

She's such a joy!! She's so sweet to everyone she meets. She's not shy at all. She loves to play with other kids and says Hi to everyone. She also usually greets just about everyone with a hug. She's very outgoing and likes to talk and show off whenever we have friends over.

Her new thing is talking on the phone. Its.SO.CUTE!!! She answers my phone and listens and answers questions with whomever is on the other end (usually a grandparent) She also likes to hold the phone with her shoulder so both her hands are free. I gotta get a picture of that. Watching her talk on the phone is one of the sweetest and cutest things. Really. I can't get over it.

She's so good to Kallen. One of my favorite things to watch is what she does when he cries. She grabs his pacifier and puts it in his mouth or pats his back or kisses his face. Its so sweet. She lets him pull on her and take her things. He usually follows her around and plays with whatever she decides to play with. She's pretty good at letting him do it too. The only time she really protests is if he's playing with the toy wrong. They also jump on her trampoline together. I don't know how he hasn't fallen off yet, but they've been doing it since he was 9 months old. And no injuries! Lol. She's an amazing big sister. So loving and so caring. I'm so lucky to be able to watch them together all day long!

She still loves to be outside. She could play at the park all day long. She rides her bike a lot and is getting better at using her scooter. She LOVES to sing. Her favorite songs to sing are either Twinkle Twinkle or Happy Birthday. You're always humming or singing.

She still uses her pacifier :( And getting her to stop has been, what I can only imagine, similar to getting a cocaine addict to stop using. Lord al mighty! LOL. Its serious. Soooo, I'm not fighting her for it. Its clearly very soothing to her. She pretty much only gets it when its time to sleep or if she's really worked up (which is usually associated with her being tired) I'm sure people judge me for letting her have it and guess what, I don't care! Really, I don't. She's never had a toy or blanket that she HAD to have with her at all times. Just the pacifier. I can already tell she's starting to wean herself because when she's not tired or gets up to play she gives it to me. And not because she knows she shouldn't have it, but because she doesn't want it. So thats good! Its so helpful to have it when she's going to sleep, so I'm on Raya's side with this one. If she's 16 and still has it I'll make her give it to me before she can drive my car. And the reality of it, this kid is so dang good that if this is one of our most serious battles, I'm totally cool with it. 

"Mama, lay down and watch the clouds with me"

Her favorite shows are Tom&Jerry, Peppa Pig, and toy commercials. HAHA. Yah when she's watching her iPad she always finds commercials for Barbie's ice cream maker or hair station. It doesn't really matter what the toy is, she just clearly likes watching what it does. So she spends a good amount of time watching short little 30 second clips. She also likes watching home videos of other kids at the park or playing in ball pits or tumble lands. And then tells me she wants to go there. She's not really into any movies.

Her hair is getting long. She still twists it into a knot on the left side of her head if I don't give her some kind of ponytail. So frustrating. Her hair is like her blankie. When she's tired she twists and twists. Her hair on that side of her head is substantially thinner than the other side because of how much she's pulled out when she twists. When we were in Texas we got it braided. I LOVED it braided. We're trying to find someone here that can do it :) Her little blonde puffs are to die for too!

She's still a total cuddle bug. She's so loving too. She'll sit on my lap and hug and kiss on me. She'll just randomly say "Mama, I love you" and give me a big hug. If she's still awake when Gentry goes to bed she'll go up with him because she LOVES cuddling with Daddy. I totally get that :) He's just so big and warm. The best kind of person to cuddle with.

Raya bug, you are so much fun. You make my bad days good and my good days great <3 I'm so lucky to have you as my daughter. You bring a kind of joy I didn't know exsisted until you came along. Thank you for being You! I love you!!!
Xoxo,
Mom

Happy New Year! and Merry Christmas :)

We're back in the swing of "normal life." The past 3 weeks were busy, but amazing! I hate that its all over. BUT, we had a super fun Christmas, an awesome 2 weeks in Texas AND we have a 1 year old! So 2012 started with a bang and hopefully that means this year is gonna be rockin :) My goal is to do a separate post for each event because I have a gazillion pictures...so hopefully this week I'll have some nights to Blog.

Christmas definitely took the cake this year. I know I've had some great Christmases, but this year, with a 2.5 year old, man oh man! It was so fun watching Raya open presents and hear all the commentary that came with it. She was full of pure excitement. Like true, "OH WOW!" and "Oh my gosh!" phrases we're coming out of her mouth left and right. It was so great. Her facial expressions and the enjoyment that was written all over her body was priceless. I've never had such a fun Christmas. We made cookies, talked about Santa, made sure to be "Nice and not Naughty." All the things you think make Christmas- yah, we probably did it. And because I'm OBSESSED with Christmas its not hard to see why I loved every minute of this season. The kids got A LOT of presents. In fact I'm pretty sure she's been opening presents for over a month, so I'm working on how to help her understand that opening presents like this doesn't happen year round. She loves opening presents. The 25 Days of Christmas was a total hit and, lucky for her, her baby brother really didn't care too much about opening any so she got to open all his too. We opened presents Christmas Eve at my Aunt's house. Then all day Christmas Day. Then had 2 more Christmases when we got to Texas, so Raya got lots of present opening opportunities :) Here's some pictures for your viewing enjoyment:

 We started Christmas morning at our house

After presents at our house we went to my Mom's (aka Santa's house ;)

 Last year Raya got a Mercedes and this year they got this! They are some lucky kids :)

He clearly was enjoying his 1st Christmas!

Coolest kids on the block

Apparently global warming is in FULL EFFECT. Its not weird to have weather like this in Cali for Christmas Day, but it was also this warm when we were in Texas! Wth?!

Christmas Dinner with Uncle B

Just a few of her presents: A princess house and sleeping bag/pillow. And headphones for her iPad. She had a great Christmas. And the next morning Kallen was enjoying them just as much :)

I was so thankful to be with family, to watch my kids enjoy 3 Christmas with all their grandparents, for beautiful weather and for beautiful children!  It was an incredible holiday season and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a really great Thanksgiving Weekend. We went to my Mom's for Thanksgiving. It was a nice and easy afternoon with food and family. What more could you ask for? :) My Mom and brother did all the cooking. Everything was delicious! And my Dad came Thanksgiving night! So Raya was in Grandparent's Land and loving every minute of it. 

Its been a prefect holiday weekend! Now very much to report, just a bunch of pictures, of course. Kallen's 1st Thanksgiving and our first "Family of 4" Thanksgiving was just dandy ;)

Snuggling with my babies is one of the most special things I am so thankful to be able to experience. 

Kallen and I woke up early to make a quick trip to the store to make some Turkey cookies

The Turkey Cookies:

We headed to my Mom's about 1 and spent the rest of the day there

Some of the gentlemen :) My cousin Josh, Gentry and my brother, Bryce.

 And Gentry did this with Kallen. 

 And Kallen was totally cool with it ;)

My Uncle Rick and my bro

The guys watching football

Raya and Grandma

And of course, there was Thanksgiving Naps

Bryce's 1st Nap

I LOVE dressing him like a little man. God, I couldn't get enough of him in this. And he walks like a little old drunk man. Its too perfect :)

Couldn't get one of them together. Kallen was On.The.Move!

His dress pants were killing me. Like I said, I couldn't get enough of them!!

Going, going, gone...

He's so annoying

And Bryce ended it with Nap #2. LOL

My Dad and Alan flew in Thursday night and met us at our house. Raya LOVED having them at the house all day and all night. The way she says "Grandpa" and "PawPaw" is so so so cute, so I loved hearing it all weekend. 

 Nap time was a re-occurring Theme this weekend :)

On Saturday our Hogs played. We played LSU and it was a BIG game. We lost :( Pretty much got whooped. That was unfortunate. BUT I'm thinking and hoping and wishing and praying that they go to the Cotton Bowl now because we will be in Dallas the day of the bowl and we CAN GO!!! That would be so awesome...we should know next Sunday. Keep those fingers crossed! We dressed up in our Razorback gear for the game. We're true fans like that ;)

Baby Wrestle Mania was happening during the game.

And this whole holiday weekend has been Beautiful! I do love the fall weather, so this 80degree weather puts a cramp in my fall wardrobe, BUT its been absolutely gorgeous. Today we put up all of our Christmas decorations and I definitely decorated the tree in my bathing suit. It doesn't get anymore So Cal than that! (And I wasn't JUST wearing my bathing suit. LOL! That would be weird.)

And the wonderful weekend ended with one more group nap. HAHAHA. My family's going to kill me ;) But I promise, I'm not trying to embarrass anyone...I really thought it was cute!

My Dad and Alan left Saturday afternoon. Raya cried :( She kept asking if she could go to Grandpa and PawPaws house. We're going in December, so at least I could be truthful when I told her that we could soon.

The Christmas decorations are up and the house looks so festive!!! I LOVE IT! Omg. I LIVE for this time of the year. I wish the holiday season lasted like 4 months. I could keep these decorations up for so much longer. Well, as I type that I reflect on the last 2 hours of repeatedly telling Raya not to touch the tree. And even with me telling her every 30 seconds she'd still hop the baby gate and I'd find her removing ornaments. So maybe 5 weeks of these decorations will be plenty :) I do love the age Raya's at because she's just as excited as I am about the lights and Santa Claus. You just can't fake the excitement that girl exudes. I hope she too plays Mariah Carey's Christmas CD on repeat starting in October :)

Our tree looks so dinky. Lol. This is our first year with a fake one. We'll probably borrow my Mom's fake one because I have no intentions on getting a real one this year. Or ever again to be perfectly honest. And my Mom has a really full big one she said we could use. I'll keep you posted ;)

The Holiday Season is in FULL EFFECT!!!