Big Sister Class

We signed up Holly for the big sister class at Alta Bates, which was really great for her.  The kids learned all about babies, what it might be like when they come home, the crying, and the grabbing and how to hold them, bottle the, wrap them in a blanket and even change the diaper.  Everyone wanted to be such good helpers.  They read some books, watched a video, and got to try out there new skills with their dollies.  Later they got to go upstairs to labor and delivery, pushing their babies in the little infant cart.  They got to see the recovery rooms and even a real baby.  This was super nice and I think very helpful for holly to become more comfortable with the hospital setting and the ne baby.  Although my weekend stay in the hospital was a much bigger trial run, this was also nice for her.  One price if advice we patents heard was that when our kiddos one to visit, remember they miss mommy so we should let them see and visit mommy first and then wait for them to show interest in the baby when thy ask after they get all their cuddle times, instead of thrusting the baby at them immediately.  I was talking to Holly last night about the baby and while she loves the idea if her she Said she is very nervous and scared to meet her and doesn't want her to one yet.  I was trying to explain she will be here around the 13th not Christmas Day, and Holly wasn't too excited about her coming earlier before Christmas.  I told her its ok to be nervous and what a good big sister she will be.  I love her so much and hope she adjusts ok.  She was happy to hear that when it was time for the baby to arrive that she would get to have a sleepover with tanta Kat!

A Visit with Baby Evan

 Brendan's Mommy was in Berkeley and decided to stop by for a quick play date.  Holly was excited to have baby Evan over for the visit.  She was eager to bring him toys to play with and entertain him, but overall she missed Brendan.  Evan turned one a few weeks back, he is so big, so fast it is amazing how quickly the time goes by.

The Routine!

 So the girls have gotten a little play routine down now when Chloe has been coming over.  First they decide to go into Holly's room to play, no mommies allowed, we have to stay in the living room with Baby Dylan.  Next they pull out princesses of some type, on this day I let them do the squeakies. After that it is usually some dress-up.  They decided they wanted to do a fashion show, I think they changed 4-5 times each and we had to clap after each outfit, sadly my pictures of most of them came out dark.  Lastly they usually end the play date making a big mess in the kitchen as its the one place I usually let them, it is fast to clean up.  Chloe has been coming over on Wednesday after Gymnastics which is also the night Tanta Kat comes over for Family dinner.  On this day she was still around when Kat came so the girls went outside for a few minutes and played with her while Kathy got Dylan ready for the drive home.  Speaking of which, he is so big now, he is playing with toys and sitting up.  He is pulling up and will be crawling soon.  It was a fun play date.  Holly tells me how she misses Chloe several times each week, so it has been nice to at least have one steady play date with her where we know we will get together once a week, its not as much as she would like or as much as we used to see her, but she is happy for the fun times she does get to spend with her.  As Holly would say, "It's hard to grow up and it is hard to say goodbye to your friends when its time to go" I've been trying to help her with her emotional self regulation and when she is sad or upset we try to verbalize her feelings and talk through them, I think it helps and she is picking up little mantra's for tough times like saying goodbye at the end of a fun day.

Meeting Baby Avery

Here we are our Lucian's house to meet his new Baby Brother, Avery James Wei-Yang Chew-Bullock. He is about a month old in these photos. Mommy had a safe and natural delivery and is quickly adjusting to life with two boys at home. Luckily at almost 2 months old now she still for a few more days has family in town to help her out with the transition. Holly was super excited to meet Avery, as she knows all about little brother's from Chloe and Baby Dylan. She was super excited to even get to hold Avery. We had a lot of fun playing with Lucian. The daddy's had a lot of fun playing a new Xbox guitar learning game, and Mommy enjoyed hearing all the classic rock songs. But after a while the kiddo's vetoed the game and on came one of Holly's favorite movies, she had to show Uncle David how she would turn green and glow just like Susan. He had never seen the movie, so since it wasn't his 900th time was actually quite amused by it. We had a lovely Zachary's Pizza dinner and a fun filled evening. We hope to see our friends soon and often!

Megara - Rock Star!

Here we are playing over at Chloe's house. Where we always have such a wonderful time. Holly brought her Rapunzel Doll with her to show Chloe. When it was time to dress up Holly was super excited because she got to wear Chloe's Megara dress for the first time. Not a princess in the traditional sense, Megara is the girl from the Hercules movie and Chloe loves her. She dressed up like her for Halloween. She actually has two Megara dresses and of course Holly wore both. Another fun thing we tried was Eric's new 3D TV. The girls watched Cars in 3D. At least part of it anyways. Later they played Rock Star with there guitar's. They had an awesome time.