Learning Through Osmosis

Heavy Sleeper

Isabella has been a great sleeper since she was born.  She was sleeping "through the night" starting at about 7 weeks old and has never really stopped.  It is awesome.  She is such a heavy sleeper that recently Bret and I assembled her entire bedroom furniture complete with hammering and loud voices while she was sleeping.  She barely even stirred.  She is also the funniest sleeper.  We bought her a lovely bedroom set which she was initially very excited about and quickly assigned the other bed to her good friend, Macy.  You'd think since she was so excited about her new beds, that she would use them.  Nope, she prefers to sleep on the floor - usually on her nap mat, but sometimes just straight up on the wood floor.  Comfy, huh?  Who needs beds when you've got solid wood underneath ya?  Isa frequently reads to herself before going to sleep.  We often find her with a book in mid page on top of her face.  I guess she thinks that she will continue absorbing her story if she doesn't let go of her book.  Sweet girl.  

Cumple de Diego

Diego's 1st Birthday

My sweet baby turned 1 on the 9th of January.  He is such a sweet little prince as my Argentinian friend Carolina likes to say.  He still has those big deep dark brown eyes that I love looking into.  He has gotten very proficient at saying papi and mami.  Erin B. and Tia Fia claim that he says his own name perfectly.  I have yet to witness this of course.  He  army crawls all over the place and has gotten faster at it.  He talks constantly - all babble that is indistinct.  Usually with sayings like, "meya, meya, meya."  

He is completely obsessed with balls.  He will be entertained with one or two balls for very long periods of time.  We had to finally adjust his crib to its lowest setting because he is starting to pull up.  He still loves the jumperoo and jumping enthusiastically in it.  He loves watching his older sister do anything - especially during meal times.  He loves being outside and really enjoys swinging.  He's the cutest thumb sucker and has a preference for his right thumb.  He hates getting dressed - especially if you pull a shirt over his wee little head.  He has had 4 hair cuts because he has the thickest fastest growing hair ever.  Big sis will be so jealous in a few years.  He still loves baths - probably one of his favorite activities.  He swims all over the place on his belly while getting at different things in the tub.  He is mesmerized by the water I pour out of the cup.  

He dropped off the chart for weight and is at a whopping 17lbs.  We can't turn him around in his car seat yet.  He eats like a champ though, but is definitely particular about his foods.  He likes his apple sauce at room temperature.  He likes yogurt - but only the kind with berries.  The plain kind with bananas that we give to Isa he spits out.  He loves chicken soup with rice and veggies and some days will eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Currently he hates eggs, which we will continue trying to give him since they are so good for you.  He only drinks out of a cup and can only drink soy milk since he has a severe intolerance (or allergy) to cow's milk.  Diego only has his two bottom teeth but we think he will soon have two top ones on the way.  He can chew crackers perfectly with those two teeth though with animal and honey grahams being his favorite.  

He sleeps solidly through the night, but has been a pretty light sleeper.  We of course can't help but sneak into his room (and Isa's) every night before we go to bed and sometimes (ok it used to be a lot of times until recently) he would wake up and I would have to cuddle with him (poor me) before putting him back to sleep.  Lately he's stopped waking up as much when we make noise, so we're thinking maybe he is part of the family after all.  Isabella is an extraordinarily heavy sleeper and always has been.  Bret & I have been known to sleep through a 4 alarm fire that was right across the street from where we were living.  So, to have someone who wakes easily in our family has made us wonder if he really was an Oliver.  

31 years old

My sweet husband turned 31 on the 28th of December.  As mentioned earlier, December is a busy month in our household with all the birthday and Christmas celebrations!  Bret has two friends who have his exact same birthday - Damon and Ross.  Damon was even born in the same hospital in Houston, Texas!  Happy Birthday to Ross & Damon.

To celebrate the occasion, we went to dinner with Ross and his wife, Erin - my friend since middle school.  We went to violin camp together and then went to high school together.  The memories!  We went to a local restaurant, Mark's which we have only been to once before (on the company's dime - that is the way to go if I do say so myself) and enjoyed a deliciously scrumptious dinner.  Check out the matching tie Ross wore - the Buntings are so matchy matchy!  

Thankfully Bret's folks were still in town from Christmas and watched our kiddos while we went out.  Free babysitting is always a huge hit in our household.  Bret scored some cool gifts this year from his folks.  He got a rifle (I'm sure it has some fancy name but for those of us that didn't grow up around hunting, I know very little) to go deer hunting with his Pops next year.  It looks fancy and dangerous.  His uncle gave him a generous gift card to Best Buy which will help buy Bret's Wii.   Need to get on that!!

Christmas Mail Out

Feliz Navidad.  I love receiving and sending out Christmas cards.  Albeit it's a bit difficult to get a good picture, come up with a poem, have everything printed out and sent out all before Christmas.  I'm not sure when the picture phenomenon started with the Christmas cards.  It seems to me that growing up we received Christmas cards that had something hand written in them and perhaps a family or kid picture included.  More and more we are steering away from anything that is personal or hand-written and only including a photo.  I have mixed feelings about this.  I enjoy the picture, but it seems so impersonal if you don't write anything in the card.  Don't get me wrong, ours is impersonal; I only hand wrote on two Christmas cards this year and those were to out of the country cousins.  The rest of our mail out received the following poem that my husband whipped up.

2008 in the Oliver household to the tune of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"

Good tidings we bring to you and your friends

Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We moved from our old West U. house,

and headed west to find a new house

we unloaded all the boxes right after New Year's.

Not long after we arrived there

we quickly had good news to share

Diego joined our family on the ninth day of the year.

Isa gives bro a hug and pins him to the rug

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sara handled the glorious commotion

Bret got a new promotion

We are thankful for our family and blessings this year.

Sara's 30th birthday 

was a thrilling and special way

to close out our exciting year with family and friends.

Good tidings we bring to you and your kin

Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Feliz Navidad

We had a very joyful Christmas with all of our family.  Traditionally, in Mexico Christmas Eve is celebrated much more than Christmas Day.  Typically we would go to a relative's home and have a lot of food late at night - say around 9/10pm.  Once the eating was done, we'd head to Midnight Mass.  But, we live in the States and we have young children so here we went to the 5 o'clock service at our church, Christ the King Presbyterian and then headed for some grub at our friends, the Batchelders' home.  We enjoyed singing carols and listening to the 7 lessons being read at church.  After socializing with fellow church goers, we got home and set out oreos and milk for Santa Claus along with corn and veggies for the deer.  

Christmas Day we woke up to hear Isabella all excited that the deer had eaten their food and two of Santa's cookies.  Santa had only eaten one.  Mee-maw & Grandpa, Uncle David, and Susan came over for breakfast and opening presents.  Tia Sofia and Nani (formerly known as Abuelita Sonia) spent the night with us.  Isa had really been looking forward to helping Diego open his presents.  That is all she would talk about therefore she could barely wait for Diego to wake up from his early morning nap.  

Grandpa Floyd cooked us a delicious breakfast of whole wheat pancakes which we all enjoyed very much.  Diego has become very good at eating with his fingers and rarely eats the pureed food anymore, so he particularly enjoyed the pancakes and couldn't get enough of them.  Isabella was mostly interested in the syrup (pronounced sarahp).  

After reading many stories from her new books to Isabella, and Grandpa drawing many a princess for her, we started getting preparations going for Christmas dinner.  Abuelito tito Juan made his grand entrance in time to make his delicious cream of carrot soup.  We ate cheese & crackers, olives with some tequila shots while waiting for the pork loin to cook.  We then sat down for a delicious meal of carrot soup, apple rosemary pork loin, french green beans, garlic cream cheese mashed potatoes, salad, and eventually much later in the evening some coffee and an array of desserts including Jack Daniels pecan pie, almond crusted cheesecake and grasshopper pie.  

It was a wonderfully relaxing day filled with family.  By the late evening we played cards, whilst watching cheesy movies and having good conversation.  The men solved the world as Mee-maw likes to say.

Twas The Night Before Christmas Eve

Twas the night before Christmas Eve, 

And all through the house

Not a creature was stirring

Not even a ... wait a minute, there's a possum in the attic!

The leaves of the tree

were all droopy and dry

Not even the sugar water

Could keep it alive

The freezer and fridge were losing their cool

and the ice was melting into a large pool

With only hours till our family arrives

What will we do, what will we provide?

A decrepit tree and food that is rotten

I'm sure that this Christmas will not be forgotten!

Los "Tas"

I have officially entered the thirties (known as los tas (from treintas meaning thirties) in Spanish).  To commemorate the big day, we threw a birthday bash at our house on my birth date.  We had such a blast.  Having a December birthday is not always the most fun because people are always busy with the Christmas hustle and bustle to remember December birthdays.  As it happens, we have several family members with December birthdays.  Bret's uncle David - 12/1.  Me and my mom, Sonia - 12/13 and Bret on 12/28.  This December though....everyone came out for the festivities and enjoyed a good party in my honor!  Here's how the party went down:

The Chef

Marisol Isabel Edwards.  A close friend of mine who graciously offered to do all the menu planning, shopping and best of all, cooking for the party.  The food was amazing.  Thank you, Sol!

The Bartender

Juan Ignacio Guadalupe Alonso Aguerrebere (i.e. Abuelito-tito Juan).  My dad has always enjoyed a good drink and has a great bar in his home.  If you ever find yourself in the San Antonio area, you should always stop in for a drink.  His specialty is rum & coke with lime or tequila with lime.  We are Mexican after all.  

The Music

We had several compilations put together by professional music listeners.  Jonathan Edwards, Ryan John Dolibois, Gladys Ileana Ortiz de Arakelian, and Alison Pauline Brown.  I love music, but am terrible about artists and knowing what's hip.  Good thing I have friends who are in the know!!

The Scene

Good friends + Good food + Good cocktails = Good times!  About 50 pairs of feet walked through our front door.  We enjoyed the night eating, talking, drinking, talking, dancing (mostly just me), singing, and having an all around good time.   

Reflection

Recently, Tricia Zucker asked me, "How do you feel about turning 30?" To which my answer is as follows:

I think it is really different being in your 30's.  For me the last decade has been the most change I have experienced.  When I turned 20 I was a junior in college, had just started dating Bret, did not have a career, lived from the mula my parents gave me and had no real responsibilities to speak of.  Now that I am 30, I have been married for 7+ years, have bought and sold a house and bought another home, have two children, have graduated from undergraduate and then law school, and have a career.  That's a lot of change in just 10 years!  I am excited about being 30 and seeing what life has to offer.  

For my birthday, my sweet daughter told me that a cake would be arriving at our house because you must always have cake on your birthday.  I asked her if she was going to make or help make a cake for me?  She quickly responded no, that the mail man would just bring me a cake!  This (obviously) didn't happen, but I found it amusing.  She is still talking about how my birthday will be on Saturday even though at this point the day has come and gone.  So cute.