Sister and Brother

A letter my two babies ...

Sophie and Blake


Someday ...
when you are fighting over toys,
pulling each others hair out,
and just plain being an annoyance to each other

I hope you will remember this time in your life ...
when you loved each other ...
oh
so
much.

Blake,

I pray
that you will always know
how much your sister loves you.

That she always wants to
hold you
hug you
and
kiss you

My wish is that you will always protect your sister
and love her ... and will always stand by her side.

I am proud of your unending patience with Sophie's love ...
even at this young age.

You have my permission, however, to
pester her so ... especially while she is asleep
as she did to you, when you were a newborn!!!

You will always be Sophie's "Baby Bake".

Sophie,

I am so proud of you.
You are the most incredible BIG sister.

You are loving and oh so sweet ...
if a bit to amorous.

I pray that you will watch over your little brother
and help him learn and understand
the things that you already know.

My wish is that you will stand by his side
and protect him ... and be there for him
for always ... as you are now.

My wish for you both,
is that you will always be
a sister and a brother
who will love each other for always ...
and be each others best friend forever ...
because being siblings is special.
It is for always ... It is forever
and it is never ending.

Ryan and Tricia's Summer Pool Party

Our friends, Ryan and Tricia, threw a pool party last Saturday complete with bratwursts, hot dogs, corn, a bloody mary bar and lots and lots of fun!

And though it took a little pep talk and some time to get Sophie into the pool, after a few minutes, Andrew convinced her to get in and she loved it!

Blake and I, on the otherhand, had a very relaxing time in the shade. Since Blake had been circumsized earlier in the week, we couldn't put him in the pool. My body isn't currently in swimsuit shape (the horror!), and perhaps might not be the rest of the summer (friends tell me to give myself a break ... I had a baby about 2 months ago and still haven't been given the go-ahead to work out again!) so I opted to hang out in the shade too ... taking pictures (obviously since I am not, as usual, in a single one) ... happy as a lamb!

All about safety!
Sophie holding her floaty on the way to the pool party!

Andrew coaxing Sophie into the pool ...

She's IN!
LOVING the water!

While Andrew and Sophie dried off in the sun ...

Tricia and Blake hung out in the shade ...

Sophie LOVES Blake ...
I hope they love each other forever!

Eight LONG Days ...

To start off, I hope this isn't too graphic.

This blog is for my babies ...
so I must tell the story how it is.

It has been eight long, torturous days ...

Two words:
Potty Training

Just the sound of it sounds awful doesn't it ...
But awful might not quite describe it exactly ...
Depressing ... Discouraging ... a Nightmare that never quite ends ...
... and then, all of a sudden, hope - a breakthrough
and the world is right all over again.

According to Sophie's preschool, she needs to head to school completely potty trained ...

She starts pre-school summer school in August ...
and has to be well on her way.
I was procrastinating - 3 weeks to go!

Terrified?
I definitely am.
Still am.
At least slightly am.

I have never potty trained anyone in my life ...
How do I do it?
What does one do?
Can't I just tell her to sit on the potty and pee or poop?
It's really NOT that hard ... right?
My fear is that Sophie will be the only preschooler who isn't potty trained.
A very, very realistic fear.
Thank you to all who encouraged us ...
and reminded us that everyone learns to use the potty ... eventually!
Don't lose hope - I nearly did!!!

We have tried to Potty Train 3 other times but (I have been saved) Sophie has gotten sick.
It's almost like she or her body knew about the changes to come.
In fact the week before, when I had planned (again) to potty train, both Sophie and I caught the stomach flu. It wasn't going to happen then ... and I was saved again!

My mom and dad, Pau Pau and Gung Gung kept asking when the day would be ...
and really, I was just scared. I kept putting it off.
C'mon, you can't potty train if there is even a trace of sickness right?
Do colds count???

But last Thursday, the day had come.
It was time to potty train.

Blake had a doctor's appointment that morning ..
by the way - my little guy is not so little anymore.
He was nearly 11 pounds and now, a week later, he's probably almost 12.
Blake was born at 7 lbs. 3 oz. ... what in the world happened???
I hate to compare but Sophie was small forever. I liked that.
Blake is growing out of all his clothes ...
A 7 week old baby in 3 month clothing.
I don't like that ... anyways ...

10 lbs., 11.6 oz.
Unbelievable!

So, I came home from Blake's appointment all energetic.
Trying to excite Sophie that this was the thing to do ...
Pee on the potty.
It was going to be easy ... I have a feeling.
Sophie is a smart girl.
I was armed with stickers and gifts ...
and she likes that kind of stuff.
Potty equals rewards.
And who doesn't like rewards?
Sophie loves rewards!
Easy-peasy ... right?

Not. So. Much.

I never quite cried.
But I was definitely close.

And before this, I've never cleaned our floors so many times.
I think they must be squeaky clean by now.

The first day was terrible.

Sitting on the potty for the first time ...
Well, first time seriously potty training.
Distracted by reading her favorite tiger book.

The second day was just as bad.
But thankfully I had Andrew (who was home for the 4th of July weekend)
who coaxed Sophie to pee on the potty for the first time.
I swear, my husband is a saint with the patience of an angel.
I am lucky to be married to him.

Opening the "Potty Gift"
This is literally the pee and poo doll.
It announces when it has gone either and demands a clean up
The funny thing about this doll is when we opened it up, I thought we
had bought the Spanish speaking doll instead of the English one.
It's first words, so we thought, where "A tu Mama?" but all the other words
seemed to be in English. We couldn't figure it out until Andrew
had the realization that the doll was actually saying,
"Bottle Mama" ... I still don't believe it.

The third day we realized we were so anxious about the whole situation,
that we might have scared Sophie from the potty.
We have officially up-ed the bribe gift to M&Ms.
It seems to be working.

The fourth day, Sophie pooped on the potty.
I was so excited to give her the bubble maker - the poop gift.
She didn't seem to care ... but she sure did care when I pushed the on button!

Opening the "Poop Gift"

Day five through seven were downright discouraging.
I completely felt like I had done something wrong and it seemed like nothing I did,
could stop Sophie from having an accident.
I bribed and bribed with M&Ms until I was possibly eating more of them than Sophie.
Shouldn't my potential weight gain be enough to get her to potty train?
I was ready to give up ... Sophie would just have to wear diapers ... forever.

But then, today, Day 8, finally ... a breakthrough.
Wait for it ... Wait for it ...
We had NO accidents today.
Not one single accident.
In fact, as Andrew was putting Sophie to bed, she asked to
"Sit down potty" ... and she did her thing and went to bed.

Are you amazed?
I certainly am!
Could it be?
Our little girl is potty trained?!?!?!?

Andrew and I are going to bed really proud of our little girl tonight.
Really, really proud.

And if there is a lesson out of this experience,
I have learned patience and perseverance.
Because that's what potty-training takes ... patience and perseverance.

I can't believe that I have to do this all again with Blake in about 2 years.
UGH.

Water Fun!

Last week was really showing promise of a nice summer ...

It was nice and warm, definitely feeling a little sticky with humidity ...
June (or really July) gloom be GONE ... and welcome to summer!
It's definitely time for the summer fun and tons of time playing in the pool!

We started off the week playing with our friend, Kobi, at her house in a bucket filled with water and plenty of toys. It is a bittersweet time because 2 of our closest mommy and baby friends are leaving us ... Kylie and her mom, Christine, with Brian (dad) have already moved to Orange County and Kobi and her mom, Megan with Drew and Cooper (dad and brother) are moving to Northern California. We are so excited for the opportunity that awaits them ... and a little sad that they are leaving us - who will we play with!!!

Kobi and Sophie filling the bucket full of water

Sophie was less keen on getting all wet ... rather watch.

Both girls love smothering their brothers with love ...
Kobi and Sophie enjoyed smothering baby Cooper with love ...
Not so sure how much Cooper felt about the love!

Sophie and I were inspired the next day, since the weather was was still so lovely to blow up the pool, that I had just bought a few days before. At first, Sophie wasn't so sure but before long, she was in the pool, splashing around. On this day, she wasn't wearing a swimsuit - I mean, how often can you go in the nude and it be acceptable (unless in Europe!)????

In the nude, so just one photo to show the fun she was having!

Then the following day, we headed back to the Sanchez house for a third day of water fun!

Running around in the grass with a hose

Sophie enjoyed watering the grass

Sophie's water fun with Kobi and Max!

I LOVE the next 3 photos
I LOVE that Sophie has a friend like Kobi!

A Musical Craft Day!

In Sophie's blog, I told you about my uber-amazing friend Mia and how amazingly creative she is. She came up with the concept of a "Children's Club" - a non-exclusive club that does super fun things activities weekly. We love it and enjoy getting to play with our friends.

This last week, Mia arranged for a Musical Craft Day. The little musicians were introduced to different instruments, made drums and even formed a band! It was so cute and Sophie had such a great time ... and of course Blake was perfect and just hung out as his big sister played music ...

Warming up!

Blake, watching the action from his front row seat

The wheels on the bus go round and round ....

Addie (and Segan and Shanna) playing with an accordian

Desmond and his harmonica

Sophie making music

The band!

My sweet little band leader!

Making noise shakers

Nothing more delicious than eating your drum stick!

Fourth of July

This year, 4th of July was pretty quiet. Andrew mentioned in the morning that we should be social and try to find out what friends were up to but since Sophie and I were still recovering from the stomach flu, we spent most of the day as a family relaxing. Instead, we watched tv, played outside and rested. Late in the afternoon, post naps, we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house for an early dinner and then off to my parents house to watch the fireworks at the country club ... which is tradition!

Blake's first 4th of July!

The sweetest little American!

Sophie - my American girl!

Steak for dinner ...

... and Lamb!

My mom's apricot and mulberry tart creation

The 4th of July diners

The firemen were sitting on their truck watching fireworks ...

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Mia & Francois's 60th Birthday Party

I've often written about my super creative friend, Mia, and her amazing Children's Club on Sophie's Blog and last Saturday, we celebrated Mia and her husband, our friend, Francois's 60th birthday with a very grown up dinner party. And a wonderfully amazing party it was ...

Now, if you wonder what a 60th Birthday party means for the Viljoen's ... it means 30 + 30 = 60 signifying that the age that my (very young) friends are turning this year!

Their theme was breakfast and they served dishes reflecting not only the breakfast goodies but also paying tribute to South Africa, where they are both from.

Amazing Table Setting
All the chairs were different ...

Yummy Orange Juice drinks that greeted us!

Yummy Appetizers

35 of the Viljoen's closest friends celebrating ...

Our friends, Dana and Dave Clausen.
Their daughter, Alexa, is Sophie's friend
and Baby #2 (due in December) will be Blake's friend!

Happy 60th Birthday Mia and Francois!
Fun fact: the dress that Mia wore was the dress she made
for her high school prom that she went to with Francois!

"Eggs" = Lemon Cupcakes
The theme was Breakfast so this was so creative
Even the "full egg" had a yolk in it!

Mom and Dad's first night out since Blake's Birth
(though the secret is that though Sophie stayed with the grandparents,
we brought Blake with us ... just in case!