Stella turns two this month...

We are sitting her talking about Stella turning two this month, and how we are now carrying on conversations with her. Her dialect is not as clear as Hudson's was at this age, but it's not hard to figure out what she's saying! She is more stubborn than Hudson was, more opinionated, and a bit of an instigator if i must say! There's a bit of competition between she and Hudson, and she works hard to keep up with him any time she can. She puts 4+ words together at a time regularly now, and though she cries easily (for attention I think), she is also a bit of a tough cookie (in order to keep up with brother).

We've been having trouble with her sleeping for months now, and aren't really sure what the cause is at this point. She wakes up on average once a night, and is very particular about how she wants to be treated and/or what she wants when she's up. We have gotten in the habit of having Andy go in to check on her when she wakes up, as I don't go back to sleep well, and now she will only accept andy! She's also very clear on when she doesn't want to go back to sleep, which has been the biggest challenge. She's been sick a few times since we've moved here as well, so it's safe to say we are often sleep deprived, confused about what her deal is waking up, and not sure how to make it stop.

Otherwise, Stel loves Lego and all her stuffed animals, and seems to connect differently with them than Hudson. She is very sweet, but spicy. We don't expect her to be a push over as she gets older! Honestly she has to be a bit of a fighter to put up with her big brother. His energy level is sometimes more than i can believe, or handle. We race in the backyard daily, go to parks, do as much physical activity as we can every day, and most days his energy still seems limitless. Sports will be coming to this boys life soon!

Stella is still going to be at 7:00pm, waking up by 6:30 (no matter how much she is up during the night - you can imagine how that is for the rest of us!). Bed time is typically very easy for her - maybe because she's worn out from keeping up with Hudson all day! :) And she naps an hour and 30 minutes every day, almost to the minute usually. She wears size 4 diaper, 24 month to size 2 clothes (though her 18 month stuff mostly fits, other than the pants are getting short). Size 6 shoes, and she's still a picky eater. She eats enough, but she's pretty finicky about what and when. Like her brother, fruit is usually not a problem still. Otherwise, it's anyones guess. She does love avocado though!

New years

This year we had everyone (almost) in town for the holidays! The entire Reeves clan was present, the Fluckigers, Travers, and Pete, Anna and Kathie (Rosdil) flew in on Christmas day! We've never had Christmas day like that at the Travers residence, and it was awesome. Even though a couple were missing, and a couple came on different days, we greatly enjoyed the almost two weeks of nonstop family!

 We took Kathie, Pete and Anna to the Griffith observatory - and as luck would have it the place was closed! But we walked around, they went for a little hike and out to lunch (i took the kids home for nap) and got to see the Hollywood sign and views of the city. 

 We had planned to go to the Rose Parade this year with Kathie, but I came down with a bad sinus infection, and we had really cold weather here this year over the holidays so we opted to go see the floats afterward! It was great to see them up close, and we ran into Connie and Kimberly along the way! 

 We have GREAT neighbors, who have been very generous in giving us some cool "toys' their kids have outgrown - including this awesome mini piano! They also let us use their spare room off the side of their house for guests, which made our holiday season with guests coming and going SO much better!

California Christmas

This holiday we got the Fluckigers, Travers, Reeves and Rosdils together for Christmas! 

Time flies

Time flies when you have two toddlers who won't leave you alone! Not that I'm complaining, but it's kept me from blogging a bit, that's for sure! The second I sit down someone wants on my lap. So, I've been making an effort to BE with them instead.

I can't believe the holidays are here and Christmas is just a week and half away! We have so much to do still, but have been preparing as well. Funny how that works. This Christmas we'll be with the more family than we ever have, and we are all excited. Rosdils, Travers, Reeves and Fluckigers will all be together here in So Cal! We'll miss the ones who can't make it, but I know Hudson and Stella will be over the moon with being together.

In the mean time, we've been busy doing other holiday fun things! We were at Aunt Susie and Uncle Rick's for Thanksgiving, and had a great time despite Hudson vomiting and getting the stomach flu at dinner! Stella had been sick and had a bad ear infection that week already, and Hudson had been quiet all day when he suddenly took a turn for the worse. Thankfully it was over in about two days, but then Andy and I both got it. The good thing was we got it over with and now we can just enjoy the rest of the holiday season (knock on wood!).

We've been singing lots of Christmas carols, decorating the house, baking, and Hudson had his first Christmas performance for school last Friday! He did so great, and it was so fun to watch him sing up there with all his little friends. He also got a special visit from Santa's elves who came to pick up his letter from the mail box, and they left behind two little fuzz balls that may have fallen off an elves hat. (wink wink). THEN he also got a phone call from Santa, saying he got his letter! So needless to say he is definitely looking forward to Santa coming to his house this year! It's been fun to do the holidays with both of them, and I'm glad I'm home to have more time to do things I normally wouldn't be able to do. Even though Hudson's Christmas wish list changes with the wind, depending on what toys he sees that day, top of the list is has been things like transformers, dinosaur things, legos, and things that shoot nerf rockets. So funny, he is ALL boy.

Stella is the little copy cat these days, but such a feminine version. She is still as cute as a button, but definitely nearing that number two! She often wakes up once or twice during the night, and has grown to want daddy to come and check on her, which works perfectly for me because I can't fall asleep in the 25 seconds it takes Andy once his head hits the pillow! It's sweet (not always in the middle of the night though) to hear her calling for her daddy. They have a very sweet bond. She is now counting up to 13! and sings her ABC's all the way through (though not enunciated clearly necessarily). She's quite a chatter box around the house, but quiets a lot when others are around. There is a lot of competition between the two kids, but she is still often happy letting brother set the tone or take the lead. It's fun to watch the play together, difficult to manage the competition.