My amazing family

A bloody nose and a fever, but with a big smile. 

mama & her boy

Happy 2012 @ the beach in Santa Cruz

Tiny dancer

Exploring @ Seabright

Beautiful bright & shining face @ Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey

Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay @ Fisherman's Wharf

Mean mugging -- don't touch my croissant 

I feel so very fortunate to have so many lovely people in my life who care so very much for me and my family. I feel it's only right to tell what's up with our ever-changing family.

2011 was full of lots of challenges for us: most primarily, learning to find sanity with only a very limited amount of broken sleep. Secondarily, learning to find some sanity with a barely 2-year old and a very, very colicky newborn. 

Fortunately, life changed for us in 2012-- and things got easier. 

Z.A.Y.A.N. is now a big boy. He started walking just before his first birthday and talking not too long after that. He babbles and throws balls and flies airplanes and opens and closes things and love, love, loves to read books. He makes animal sounds and watches cars driving on the street and screams when he's hungry or frustrated. He's loud when he's sleeping (still frequently waking to burst out for a few moments), but when he's well fed, he's rather understated and quiet, especially in the car. He eats like a teenager, basically scarfing down an adult-sized portion of just about anything. He moves without much thought on consequences or rules-- he wants to be outside all the time. He's reckless and wild, taking things apart, throwing things around like that's how they were meant to be. Yet, he's very touchy-feely affectionate, and definitely holds the throne as mama's boy.  He's a bear in every sense of a bear. 

S/U/M/M/E/R is as bright as ever. She's learning to add and spell and doing the kind of things I could never imagine a 2-year old doing. She dances ballet and tap and does gymnastics and balances on beams and bounds on trampolines. She's just an amazing big sister and an asset to this family for sure. She is responsible, thoughtful, curious, and respectful, but very much so still cautious and sensitive. She's super hard-headed like her mommy, yet ambitious like her daddy. She talks a mile-a-minute; sometimes when we're driving home Ramis and I will be talking to each other only to notice that Summer is still holding her own conversation in the back of the car, presumably with her brother-- then she passes over her snack to him, which he happily obliges in. On that note, she's an impossible eater. Only eating snacks with enthusiasm, to get her to eat anything else takes some work. She just grows at a lightening fast pace and we keep waiting for her to slow down, but she never ceases to amaze us-- each and every day. 

Ramis & I are learning so much about our priorities and how we use our time, as the months have passed by like days. We have so little time to sit back and soak it up, so we're working on making our time at home more efficient so we can best spend our time relaxing or just being together. We're super fortunate to have all that we have in our life, so why not enjoy it? We've utilized our family calendar for planning to the max, which has created less surprises for us and much more streamlined. Teaching has been great at work and even more incredible at home. How much better can life get? We can't wait to find out.