Hanging around at the Zoo and Playground

We have been enjoying some good weather in Houston for the past few weeks, so we have been able to go to the zoo and have a few outings at the playground.  The boys love running around and exploring everywhere they go.  Fred especially loves the slide.

  Andreas has also been picking up some interesting habits.  His favorites are to say things like "Are you kidding me?", "This is ridiculous!", and "I can't want to ....".  We are hoping he outgrows these quickly.  However, he also has a very jolly "Suuurrreee!" (sounds like shooooore) and says "I love you!  I missed you!" when I come home from work, so hopefully he doesn't outgrow those quickly.

  Fred is not talking very much yet, but he does say Meeska Mouska (from the mickey mouse clubhouse show -- his favorite), No, and Night Night.  He likes to make noises, just not English ones.  But he is so sweet.  He will be running around the room, but if you open your arms he will pause long enough to come and snuggle with you for exactly 30 seconds before resuming his run around.  The funny thing is he will do this repeatedly if you open your arms, so he is very accommodating to his Mommy!  My next big plan is to teach him like I did Andreas at his age -- to bring Mommy's medicine (Tums).  It saves me a lot of trips and tires them out faster!

  Our little girl is kicking and active and everything seems to be going fine, so we will keep our fingers crossed!

Saul is going to have to learn to fix hair....

Our big surprise today is that Andaverde baby #3 is a little girl. We asked the ultrasound lady if she was sure, and she started pointing out all of the body parts. We are so excited, but we know this will be a big change. Fixing hair, buying dresses, and dolls?!? This is going to take some getting used to!

Fred turns the big ONE

Fred turned one on Saturday, so to celebrate we went down to Galveston and spent some time at the beach. It was still quite hot and the water was warmer than bath water and did not provide much relief. Fred crawled around chasing birds. He has been walking around for a few weeks and had his first steps about two months ago, but he still has more speed with his crawl.
By the time we got home both of the boys were tired zombies, but that did not keep us from having our homemade tres leches cake! Sam, Trent, and Zoe came over (Tiffany was sick) and helped us celebrate.
Overall it was a glorious day to celebrate our glorious boy Fred! He is almost always in a good mood and so inquisitive at this stage.

Happy 6 Months Fred!

Fred turned 6 months today! He got his first tooth in mid-February and has been drooling quite a bit but he is so smiley and sweet we can hardly believe it. How can someone with tooth pain and not very much sleep still be in such a good mood?

Texas Christmas 2011

Fred is growing like a weed -- so much so that he is racing through all of our baby clothes! This year we realized that he only had a couple of days left in November in which he could still wear his Santa suit. AND since we are shameless, here he is in early November -- never mind the high-water pants,,,


And this is what happens when his dad gets the camera. Me: "He can't see! Pull up the hat!" Him: "It's fine! It doesn't matter!"
Welcome to my life :)

And here is the actual Christmas tree. It looks ok from a distance, but it was one of those years when I was too exhausted to deal much with it, so I asked Saul to just throw some things on it and I would fix it later. Of course I never got around to fixing it, but we enjoyed it just the same.
Texas Santa, in cahoots with California Santa, found out Andreas was developing a love for the play kitchens, so of course this Santa, being Texan, brought a grill complete with hamburger and hotdog.


Does he know it's fake? Yes. Does that keep him from biting it? No.
Two more of the handsome men that were enjoying the festivities
Fred got the Bumble stocking this year and this gave us the added bonus of keeping it out of Andreas's reach all season. Note the Mexican nutcracker on the mantle -- that is one of our favorite pieces.

November Photo Shoot

Before I had to go back to work after my maternity leave we decided to try and attempt a professional photo session. For some reason Andreas had trouble performing for the cameras (usually he is the master!) but Fred did well and we were able to get a few good shots out of each of them. My two little men are the cutest brothers in town!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year we had quite a crew with Erika and Brandon coming into town right before Thanksgiving, and then Grandma Z, Mom and Dad, Veronica, Rachel, and Alex coming to see us to celebrate the holiday. We had lots of good food (if I do say so myself) and lots of fun visiting with everyone and holding the babies.




Here's cute little Trent -- luckily both of the babies did quite a good bit of sleeping in so that we were able to eat to our hearts' content!

Fred with Great Grandma Z

We also had a little birthday party for Alex, Dad, and Tiffany. Here is the cake:
We loved having everyone and hope that next year will be even bigger and better!