Nick and Sam

So Sam has been in our lives now for 2 months and Nicky is getting used to having a little sister and being mommy's helper.  Every morning he comes in saying "hi baby!" when she is sound asleep.  That's always fun for me, ha!  During the day Nicky normally does his own thing but still has a little jealousy when it's time to feed Sammi (he'll say "my turn!"), or if he sees one of us holding her, in which he'll say "mommy/daddy hold you...-which means "hold me").  I'm starting to master the art of having Nicky on one hip and cradling Sammi in the opposite arm, or carrying the car seat - which tends to happen when I pick Nicky up from school - refuses to walk out of daycare so I have to carry them both!

In the evening, Dan helps Nicky get ready for bed, brush his teeth, while I am winding down with Sammi getting her ready for bed (we've been able to get them to go to bed at the same time, which is fabulous!).  I always hear Nick in the hallway saying "where mommy go?  where sammi go?", so he will come in and give both me and Sammi kisses before he goes to bed.  It's the sweetest thing.

Me and my babies.

And Daddy and his babies!

Nick helping Mommy put Sammi to bed

Samantha is 2 months old!

Well another month has flown by.  Sam turned 2 months old yesterday, and here are a few milestones:

• She's a rock star at tummy time
• Able to sleep at 5 hour stretches during the night (good for mommy and daddy!)
• Starting to smile
• Took the GRE (but scored very poorly)

She got some shots today, and I probably shouldn't have taken her to music class afterwards because she was not having it!  Otherwise, she really does love music class. And when I say she loves it, I mean she doesn't cry (unlike her big brother!)

Looking at the colorful parachute above their heads

The Herrons and Grandma came to visit us this weekend, taking Charlie (their RV - using our boy name  would we have had one) on their maiden voyage.  Nicky loves seeing and playing with his cousins. And he FINALLY said Grandma!!  It only took a year.

Sam and Grandma

Sam's godparents:  Aunt Sandy and Uncle Steve

Sam and Maya

Nicky's new thing - watching YouTube videos of garbage trucks.  I'm not kidding.

Sam and Sarah

 

I need my space!!

Tess and Uncle Dan

Christmas 2011

We hosted Christmas at our house this year.  Lolo and Lola came all the way from Austin to spend two weeks with Nicky and Sam!  It was a lot of fun having my parents here, and especially because I didn't have to cook for 2 weeks!  Nicky easily warms up to my parents even though he doesn't see them as often.  Nicky spent a lot of time playing with Lolo, and accompanied him on his trip to the PGA Golf store, something that Lolo likes to do every time he visits Arizona.  We'd love to enroll Nicky in golf lessons when he turns 3!  It just means a better chance for him to get a scholarship to Stanford (oh, that's where we've decided he is going to college...Harvard of the west!)

My brother-in-law Venu (Uncle Vinny) dressed up as Santa this year - on Christmas morning, we were all downstairs and in walks Santa..surprisingly Santa carries a cell phone and called Mrs. Claus to see if it was good to walk in now, considering he was freezing outside!   Nicky's reaction wasn't what I had hoped for - he freaked out!!  He has been talking about Santa, and when he finally walks in the door, nothing.  He wouldn't even sit in Santa's lap for a picture!  Hopefully next year Nicky will have a different reaction!

At least Sam didn't cry in this picture!

Nicky did enjoy opening gifts - I think I went a little overboard because there are still some gifts that he unwrapped, but wasn't interested in taking them out of their boxes.  Guess this means these gifts will make a second appearance at his birthday in March!

Nicky spent a lot of time watching Lola cook - she made Dan's favorite, lumpia:

Nicky and Lolo hanging out at the Commissary while Lola does all the food shopping :

Nicky is mesmerized by the flying Santa in the freezer section

His favorite gift was his his bicycle:

Samantha is one month old!

Can't believe Sammi is already one month old!  We are getting used to having a newborn again, and it becomes challenging with a 21 month old also needing your attention!  Sam's one month checkup went really well, and so far the only major thing she has to deal with is gas and a little bit of acid reflux.  When I tell people about it, the response  I get is "um...that's normal".  Nicky didn't have those issues when he was a baby so he is my benchmark (which could be a bad thing!).  We also have to cradle her till she is almost asleep before we put her down (she has been in her crib since she was 4 days old), slowly but surely she is starting to fall asleep on her own.  I read Nicky's baby book and noticed that he started sleeping through the night at 7 weeks.  A couple of nights this week she was able to sleep for 6 hours at night, so hopefully it becomes a pattern!    Overall, Sam is a good baby!  

One month growth picture

Sammi rolling her eyes at her brother's cheesy smile, ha.

We are working on tummy time, and unlike her big brother, she loves it!  She has been holding her head up really well since she was about 10 days old.  She is becoming more alert and we are anxious to see her smile!  It is really fun having a little girl...I messed up washing some of her whites with her reds and now she has a ton of pink clothes.  So I guess it all doesn't go to waste, HA!

Samantha Maria Boncel

Hi everyone!

     I think the last time I wrote about being pregnant was when I posted ultrasound pictures of our baby at 15 weeks old http://nickyboncel.blogspot.com/2011/06/summers-here.html. Time flew this time around, I think with being so busy at work, and of course, with chasing Nicky around...I think by the time I was 36 weeks along I gave up and just let Dan chase him around.  The delivery was scheduled for November 22, 2011.  I was 100% confident I was having another boy.  When my doctor asked me in the operating room what I think it is, I said "I think it's another boy", in which she responded "don't sound so excited Michelle."  I guess she could tell I really wanted a girl!  Dr. Dairiki told Dan that he will be the one to make the announcement to everyone in the operating room as to what we were having, which we were so excited about!  At 1:55 pm, Dr. Dairiki asked Dan to stand up and take a look over the sheet to make the announcement, and Dan said "I think it's a girl?"  And tears just started flowing.  We were overjoyed!  Of course, we would have been happy either way :)
         When Nicky was born, Dan videotaped the delivery and said "it's a boy!", and announced his name.  This time around, after Dan announced that we had a girl, he got the notice on the video camera "Memory card full".  Samantha didn't get to have her name memorialized on video like her big brother did - barely being 5 seconds old, she is already being treated as the second child, ha!  Dan and I both loved the name Samantha (we thought that "Nick and Sam" go great together), and her middle name Maria is in honor of my grandmother.

Dan cutting the umbilical cord.

Proud parents!!

Samantha Maria Boncel was born on November 22, 2011, at 1:55pm, and was 7 lbs 6 oz., which is 2 oz. heavier than Nicky when he was born..and Nicky was 5 days overdue, where Samantha was 1 week early!  Can't imagine what she would have weighed if I delivered on the 29th, my original due date.

Our baby girl

Nicky is getting used to his new sibling - he is sweet enough to say "shhh" and hold his finger to his lips if Sam is sleeping, and he will walk up to the pack and play and say "hi baby".  But there have been moments where I will be nursing Sam, and Nicky will try to push both of us away and has even thrown a book at Sam.  Oh well, the trials of getting used to a sibling I guess.  But it is encouraging to know that anything Nicky will remember, his sister will be in his life. When Nicky visited me in the hospital, it just hit me that he is such a big boy now.  He is doing so much, talking a ton, and even repeating things that I don't realize I say - the biggest thing is he yells "honey!" from the top of the stairs.  Apparently, I do that if I am yelling for Dan when he is downstairs - Nicky even has the same inflection in his voice like I do, it's hilarious!

Nicky got an early birthday present from his grandma and poppa, who have been kind enough to watch him when I was in the hospital and take care of everything at the house, and help me when I'm getting adjusted to being at home with a newborn again.  Nicky LOVES this playhouse! And he'll even have more fun when his baby sister is old enough to walk around in it with him!

Nick's new pad (even has a name plate to prove it)

My little man!

Nicky-angelo

One of Nicky's past times is to stack things..he has a high interest in stacking spices. Here are some photos of his masterpieces:

First it started with blocks

Then the spice rack

And sideways

Trip to San Diaahhhhhhhgo

Last month we took our first family summer trip and spent a week at Coronado Island! It was both sets of Boncels (other set is Dan's parents) and the Herrons (Dan's sister and family).  We were worried with the "June gloom" that it would be cloudy and chilly but the weather was PERFECT every day!  Even though we had a 2 hour detour/stop in Yuma (Herrons blew a fuse - the car did, not them :)), we made it to San Diego in one piece.  During those 7 days we went to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, the beach, and took in the sights!

Our first day there Dan and Poppa (Dan's dad) took Nicky to a Padres game and in order to get there, they took a water taxi from Coronado Island to the game, Nicky's first boat ride! 

Dan, Nicky and Friar

 While the guys enjoyed the game, Nicky enjoyed the kids sand area, also referred to as "the Beach", hope he doesn't expect a sandbox at every baseball game he attends!

Nicky did great during the game, got through 5 innings without his afternoon nap!  It was 75 degrees during the game, then got to the mid-50s when they left - luckily Nicky was prepared when they were waiting for the ferry.  It's all about layering in California!

Nicky and Poppa

We had such a great time at Sea World!  We saw Shamu, people swimming with the dolphins, and watched the pet show!  We were there practically the entire day and only got to see 1/3 of the park - next time we'll make sure to plan more than one day at Sea World!

Nicky with his cousins Maya, Sarah, and Tess

They're swimming with dolphins!

Nicky and Uncle Steve watching the Shamu show

Maya loves cuddling her cousin!

 Nicky enjoying the big musical instruments!

We also went to the San Diego zoo, and Nicky had the best time - so much so he refused to take his nap in the stroller (which I knew would happen since we tried out a new stroller during the trip), and there were just so many things to see! 

Ooh what is that!

 One of Nicky's favorite parts of the zoo was the petting zoo - he thinks there were Bentleys everywhere, and he tried sitting on one of the goats as if it were a log, and one of them ended up getting up from their comfy position to find another spot to sit!

Petting Zoo

 As we left the zoo, Nicky finally gave in:

We visited Seaport Village and Nicky took his first ride on a carousel...I have never seen him get so excited...he actually smiled for the camera! 

Every evening after the kids went to bed, it was game night for the Boncels and Herrons - we played Uno every night and accumulated the score until our last night, and Uncle Steve won, he was very proud! 

And any down time was spent on a puzzle that Sandy brought for us...it was funny to see Grandma "supervise" the group, almost like we were working in shifts and she would give us a section to work on!  With two nights left on the trip, we successfully completed the puzzle (yes, simple minds, simple pleasures!)

The finished product

Nicky also spent time at the beach - although the water was very cold, he enjoyed playing in the sand!

One of the major events during our trip was that there was a 24 hour bug being passed around the house...of 10 people, 7 of us were affected by it!   It became a game of Survivor - the three who didn't catch it were Grandma, and Steve and Sandy (both doctors, go figure).  Sandy has aptly named our trip Cholera 2011.  It definitely made it memorable! 

Here are more family pics (thanks for taking great pictures Sandy!):