The Adventures of Lucía & Jonas

This week Lucía and Jonas got in the bath together for the first time. They love being in there together. Lu loves being the big sister and showing Jonas what he's supposed to do and he loves being around his sister. As a bonus for Mom and Dad, it gives us more potentially embarrassing photos for when they start dating.

Jonas hit the 9 month mark yesterday. So as of yesterday, he'd been outside the womb for as long as he was in it. These days he really enjoys standing up along the couch, the music and Lego tables and more recently the refrigerator and the kitchen cabinets which you can see above. He's more vocal these days and really tries to express himself but that can turn into some screaming when he gets frustrated that his point isn't being understood.

On Monday I took the day off to spend some time as a family for our wedding anniversay. In the morning we drove down to see the Mission San Juan Capistrano. We enjoyed walking around the grounds and and seeing all the history there. After the mission, we grabbed some lunch and then went home for a nap before Kira and I went out for the evening sans kids.


Lucía's favorite part was checking out the fish at the Koi fountain. She would count them and tell us the size. She probably would have been content to spend all day watching the fish.


Lucía checking out some of the arches.


For some reason this made me want to get a Chalupa from Taco Bell.




The old bells from the ruins of the old stone church.


Did we mention that Lucía loved the fish? She kept wanting to go back so we made another stop at the fountain. You can see Jonas in the stroller which is where he spent most of the time sleeping.

Yesterday Lucía had a half birthday so she's now officially two and a half. It was also our seventh wedding anniversary so it was a big day for our family. Seven years ago we set out not knowing exactly what the future would hold and looking back it's been quite the adventure. Now after two kids and seven years of experience, we still don't know everything the future holds but we look forward to continuing our journey together.

Due to our potty training efforts last week, Kira was pretty much stuck at home all week. So over the weekend she got to take some time and get out while I stayed at home and tried to manage the chaos. It's probably a little easier to keep an eye on them with my eyes rather than through the lens but then we wouldn't have any pictures.


Standing up again.


This is our new favorite picture of Jonas. Smiles like this remind us that life is to be enjoyed.


I figured out a way to get into this post.


Is that a hug or a wrestling move?


We love watching them play together and hope that they stay this close forever.

Overall, it was a good chance to spend some quality time with my kids and it also reinforced the fact that accounting is a much easier occupation than homemaker.

Jonas has started standing up on furniture. A couple of days ago he was at the little music table and it reminded me of this picture of his sister. It's fun to see him going through the same stages as she did but at slightly different times. Lucía was 9 1/2 months when she started doing this and he's only 8 1/2 months. I think the difference is due to the fact that we don't have every second of the day to devote to him like we did for his sister. That means that he has time to learn things on his own when we are chasing after his more mobile sister. Or perhaps it could be that he sees his big sister doing things and tries to copy her.

We recently started potty training Lucía. On Monday, February 27th she got up, we threw away her diapers and said bye bye to them for good. She was pretty excited about it as we had spent the previous few days talking about it. After five minutes in her new big girl underwear, she had her first accident. That's when we thought, "Did we really just throw away all her diapers?" But after practicing every hour, by the end of the day she was used to it. Since then, the potty train has had a few accidents but it hasn't derailed.


Last night we finally made her a chart so she could track her progress. Before we were just using chocolate chips for pee pee and peanut butter cups for poo poo. Hopefully this will be a little healthier and have a longer lasting impact as it's on the wall across from the toilet when she's going.


At night she doesn't want the light on in the bathroom. Before when she would go poop in her diapers she would always hide. Maybe the darkness makes it a little more comfortable for her as she makes the transition to the toilet.


She was able to put her first sticker on it 15 minutes after we put the chart up. She's already got a few more so we're well on our way.


It's still a little strange to see her in underwear but the money we're saving from buying diapers makes it easier to accept that she's growing up.