Benefits

Lucian's interest in photography as of late, has some pretty great benefits. We have amazing shots of our kiddos. With the focus on Kyle lately, we did a little shoot with Claire while the equipment was still set up. I love these shots of Claire being herself.

Just a quick snap shot of the babies after a bath.

And Spencer has snuck in the mix as well. He's much easier to direct;)

Keeping Up Is Hard To Do

Where to begin? Two young ones at home has certainly added to our lives. Kudos to all you parents out there, it's an exhausting job. Kyle is wonderfully sweet and we so enjoy snuggling with him. He is pretty laid back and has a very squeaky cry.

With Lucian back at work, I am learning to balance a newborn and a 2-year old on my own. I've ventured out to run a few errands with both of them (grocery shopping this morning). It is a bit more challenging and I'm adjusting to the fact that it takes me 3 times as long. I much prefer when Lucian is with me:)

Claire is getting over her jealousy and continues to hug, kiss and care for her little bro. Our biggest issue is teaching her what gentle really means when she is touching Kyle or crawling around near him. Here she is "entertaining" Kyle with a finger puppet. See what I mean?We've tried to do some special things for Claire to help her adapt to her new role/position in the family. I must say, she is doing great.

We played outside in the first big snow.

Nana Barb and Papa Joe came to visit. Papa was pushing her in a laundry basket.

And we went shopping for a princess dress.

Below are highlights of some restaurant outings. We celebrated Lucian and Papa Dave's birthdays out for sushi with Lucian's family. Lucian's birthday is today, so the kids and I are meeting him out later for Vietnamese food.
On Saturday, Lucian and I ate out with Claire and Kyle, our first solo attempt. Both of them were amazingly well behaved. Here's Claire enjoying some ice cream.
Sorry this post is a little choppy. It's been been hard to keep up and there's so much I'd like to share. We'll see how things progress.

Little Miss Big Sis

Claire was very excited to have her little brother home, help out and hold and hug and kiss him. However, a week of big sister bliss abruptly came to an end sometime last week. Fortunately, Lucian was still home with me to tag team the issue. Mainly she has been unpleasant, not listening and making a huge scene at nap and bed time. I think we are on an up-swing now and luckily she was just acting out towards mom & dad and not the baby.

I can't really blame her, it's a very big adjustment when you were once the center of attention. We are focusing on quality playtime and all of the things she can do being a "big girl". It seems to be working.

Lucian is back to work this week and we've decided to send Claire to daycare once a week. She had a great time there on Tues. catching up with her friends and spending a day away from her brother. I'm sure she'll come around by the time he moves into her room, right?

Big sister Claire

I gave Claire a pedicure last week as a special mommy-time activity. She loves her "pretty toes."

She still loves to hold and kiss baby Kyle

Our little performer. Here's a little video of Claire's latest concert.

Kyle's Photos

With some new photography equipment (thank you Santa) and a week home with Lucian, here are a few images we've been able to capture of Kyle.

We left the tree up just for this shot. What a great present:)

Banana Kyle

First bath

Our sweet baby boy