Summer Fun!

We did a lot of fun things this summer! We enjoyed going to Thanksgiving Point a few times, we grew a little garden, did a lot of yard work, swimming (Isabel even took swimming lessons, which she simply loooved), we had picnics, birthday celebrations, went to the family reunion, went hiking, camping, etc., etc. Here's a short picture retrospective.

Sisterly Love

Isabel usually comes to our bed in the morning when she wakes up. A couple of days ago when she came to our bed she found Sophia already in our bed sleeping next to dad. Isabel naturally woke her sister up as she tried to climb onto the bed, but then she looked at Sophia and said, 'Hi, Sweetheart!'
Isn't that the cutest things ever!!! She'd never used the word before, it was totally expontaneous!
Here are some pictures of the two cutest sisters in the world!

the girls with the pearl and butterfly earrings

I've been wanting to pierce Isabel's ears for a while now. Those of who who are American and might think that a very strange statement, remember I'm Brazilian, and in Brazil, we pierce babies' ears at the hospital a day or two after they are born. Having that said, Mike is not Brazilian (even though he loves Brazil very much), and like many of this great nation used to think the idea of piercing a baby's ear ridiculous. Even before I was first pregnant with Isabel, we used to have these long silly arguments over piercing or not piercing our unborn babies' ears. I thought he would never give in. He said he believed the girl had the right to choose. I told him she would, if she didn't want earrings, she could always take them off. It didn't convince him.
Another issue that always brought some cultural disagreement to our household was gun ownership. I told Mike I did not want a gun in the house. I don't believe it's safe to have one with little ones in the house (or even teenagers for that matter). We used to also have long silly arguments over that.
One day Mike said he would be ok with me piercing the girls' ears if he could have a gun. After much talking over the matter, I agreed. Well, I still didn't like the idea of having a gun in the house, so I also just kinda chickened out on the idea of piercing our girls' ears. We dropped the topic and haven't talked much about it since Sophia was born.
Last Saturday I decided just out of the blue to go get both Isabel's and Sophia's ears pierced. I called my sister to go with me to help out because Mike had to work (thanks for coming along, Mari, you were great!). It was easier than I thought. After very little crying, this is the result (sorry the pictures aren't great, but they never hold still!).





Might I also add that Isabel has been asking for earrings ever since she got her dress up chest from vovo for Christmas. It came with 2 pairs of clip on earrings, but they didn't stay on well enough for her taste, so she'd been saying she wanted earrings like mom's.
Oh, I almost forgot... Mike thinks they look adorable with earrings! : )

More pictures

These are a little older, but I just realized I hadn't posted any of them yet. My sister in law Dawnae took these when they went sledging the day after Christmas. It was Isabel's first time. She had a blast! Enjoy!

Pictures!

Last week a lot of Mike's family were here in Utah for Grandpa Jack's funeral. It was good to be with family and to hear stories about grandpa.
Dawnae and Deanna stayed at our house. I really liked having them over, since we don't usually get to spend a lot of time together. Isabel is still talking about her aunts. Dawnae took some beautiful pictures of the family, so here are some of my favorites. (I'm not sure why they are looking so dark here, the colors look much brighter in my pictures viewer. I wish we had more pictures of Isabel, but she was more interested in playing with her cousin Spencer than taking pictures)

Catching Up

We had a great Holiday Season! I really enjoyed being able to spend some time with both sides of the family. We had Thanksgiving here at our house, then Christmas eve at my parents', Christmas Day at Emily's, then a couple more "get togethers" again here at our house, the then New Year's Eve at my parents again (without Mike this time, though, the poor guy had to work all night - I missed having his kiss at midnight), and finally Lindsey's wedding on New Year's day. As you can see, it was pretty busy, but we did have a great time! A special thanks goes to the Wilson ladies who helped with the planning and executing of such a fun holiday!

Well, we are now recovering from the holidays and putting our lives back into a routine (as much as we enjoyed all the fun, it takes a while to go back to normal). The girls are now sick again unfortunately, but hopefully it's just a cold, and they'll be as good as new in a week or so.

Isabel and Sophia are becoming great friends. It's so cute to see them interact. Isabel really likes including Sophia in her make believe games. Isabel was playing with her princess things this morning, and she asked me over and over again to put a princess costume on Sophia too. This is what my princesses look like in pajamas and costumes!







I hope you all had a great Holiday Season too. Have a very happy New Year!

I'm sick of sick

It seems like everyone I talk to now either is sick or has a sick child, so needless to say it's been that way in our house too for the past 2 weeks. We've all been sick at some level, but we are mostly better now, except for Isabel. The poor thing has really gotten the worst of it. She's had a fever and a very sore throat since Sunday. It is so sad to see my baby so uncomfortable. She spent about two hours yesterday either whining or crying. She asks for water, then says she doesn't want it, then something else, and she refuses it too. The only thing she seems to really want is to watch Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, which we did 4 times yesterday.
I got very little sleep most nights this week. Last night Mike, being the wonderful husband he is, let me sleep and went to sleep with her downstairs so he could take care of her every time she woke up. I slept well, no, really well. I guess I really needed it.
She seems to be doing better today. Her fever wasn't as high, and she even played a little instead of just watching tv. Hopefully she will be better soon.
Here is a little video to remind me how cute she is (especially with her sister) when she is not sick and whining all the time. I know this sounds heartless, but it is hard to think she is adorable when to poor thing is so miserable. I love my little girls, and it breaks my heart to see them sick. Well, here's for better times!

Pra vc Debora!

I wasn't planning on posting tonight, but I know it makes Debbie happy when I post new pictures, so these ones are for you Drebs.

There's Isabel and Sophia playing after dinner (Sophia is sporting a bread pudding case hat - very papal)

Does this hat make me look fat?

And it couldn't really be Sophia if there was no spit up (nice stream, huh?!)

As you can see, we are really trying to go green here at the Wilson household - we only wear reciclable hats.

Isabel and her money mailer envelope hat (it will be a must next season, mark my words).

We love you Debs! (manda um bjo pro meu irmaozinho - eu sei que ele num gosta de beijo de irma, mas quando eh vc que da ele gosta!)

Happy Halloween!

Isabel loved Halloween this year! I had no idea she would enjoy the whole costume thing and trick or treating so much, I thought she was too young, buy boy was I wrong!
First of all, she absolutely loved her costume. Every time she puts it on, she goes in front of the mirror and starts posing and twirling, it's so cute. She is really into Mickey's Clubhouse, and anything princess, so being Minnie Mouse meant not only dressing like one of her favorite characters, but also being a princess (the fact that the costume was pink and had glitter, made it a princess costume too). She called herself 'Princess Minnie House'. My in laws came over as she was getting dressed, and got to see all the twirling and dancing.
I went trick or treating with Sophia and Isabel while it was still light and not so cold outside. I loved her soft little knocks on people's doors followed by a shy 'Treeeat' (we never managed to get her to say 'trick or treat' together). She thought it was great people were putting candy in her little bag. She would then say 'thek you' and run to the next house. She also really enjoyed the pumpkins around the neighborhood. Every time she saw one, she would yell 'Bucket!' (it took me a couple of times to realize she was saying pumpkin). I loved her reaction to other kids costumes. When she saw a dinosaur or a little monster she would say 'scarry!', and any girl with a shiny dress was "oh, princess!'.
When it got dark we came back home so Sophia could eat, but Isabel went right back outside with Mike to go trick or treating some more. After trick or treating with dad, we went to my parents' house to show off our Princess Minnie House and our little Peapod.
I have to say, Halloween is a lot more fun when you have kids, I realy enjoyed it this year because of them! (by the way, it's Monday morning now. Isabel got out of her pajamas this morning and straight into her costume again, ears and all!)

Hooray for poop!

I never thought I would say this, but I'm so glad Sophia pooped! Yep, after going a whole week and a half without pooping, the doctor told me to start giving her some prune juice. I also gave her some papaya juice. It seemed to do the trick. She pooped twice yesterday, and is now a much happier baby (she is laying on my tummy now cooing cutely).
You are probably wondering why I'm posting this information. I'm sure most people don't really care to hear about my daughter's pooping problems, but I'm posting this just so I can remember years down the road what the life of a young mother was like. Poop and all other bodily functions is a constant topic of worry and conversation.
Well, I'm also happy to report that the girls no longer have a cold. Mike and I are still recovering. I was pretty miserable yesterday, but it makes me feel better just to know that the girls are doing better.
Isabel is so cute right now. She talks constantly. Half of the time I don't know what she is saying, but she is starting to put sentences together and to speak both English and Portuguese. She says things like, "Mamae, lah fola, quaqua, bossa", which translated means, "Momy, outside, quack quack, purse", which in turn means, "mom, I want to go outside with my duckie in my purse". She is also getting pretty good at knowing when to speak Portuguese or English. For example, here at the house when she sees Phoebe (our cat) climbing on the counter she says "desce, Fimi!" (get down Phoebe), but at Grandma's house, she gives the kitty some food and says, "Kitty, eat!". I really enjoy watching her develop her language skills.
Well, I hear her calling me from her bedroom... I put her down for a nap, but I don't think it's working, I might need to go tuck her in again.
Don't worry, another post containing more of the glamorous life with Isabel and Sophia will soon be available.



This is a picture from Sophia's blessing day (July 5th)

Resolution

I spent some time reading some of my previous posts today and I realized how much I had forgotten. It's sad to admit I'd forgotten so much of the cute things Isabel did when she was younger. She's only two and it's hard enough to remember what life was like when she was younger... how am I going to remember in 10, 20 years?
After being a little sad for not having kept better record of our everyday lives in the last couple of years, I decided to not have the same thing happen now with Sophia. My new resolution then is to write at least once a week here. I'll try to always post a picture or a video too. I just feel like these years are so precious... my girls are so sweet, I need to have a record of this time.
Sorry if my sentences don't quite make sense, but I'm trying to write this with Isabel trying to mess with the computer, and while watching Play with Me Sesame (it's amazing how distracting this show can be), and also while Sophia is crying a little from her bedroom and I try to decide if i should go get her or not (she just cried again... i need to get her). Isabel just heard Sophia cry. She looks at me all worried and says "Ze beby!"
We are all a little sick this week. All 4 of us have a cold, but we've been trying to do everything normal just the same.
Oh, here are just some pictures of us enjoying summer.