A message to Naomi

 Today my two year old daughter cried herself to sleep after the seams in her purse ripped apart and now I'm trying to fix it.  I'm not trying to set her up and make her believe I can fix everything.  I just want her to know that even the smallest of her problems can be my problems too.

I think it's quite important that I remember to listen to her even if at times her speech isn't very coherent or what she says MAY NOT seem of high importance because perhaps the day will come when I will want her to speak to me and she might not interested.  

Finally a picture of the three of us

Naomi and I are currently visiting Chicago for the second time this year.  David was with us earlier last week, but because of work he had to head home earlier.  His family held their family reunion last week and  we took a few family pictures of the almost complete Beer clan (we missed Doug, Mandy, and the boys).  In my opinion, they turned out spectacular!  I think other people who have seen the pictures may agree with my observation.  :) Since we hadn't taken any recent family pictures of our family of three we decided to take advantage of the photographer that was present. 

Since our blog isn't private I decided I would just share our pictures.  Just for the sake of some of my family members who wish to not have their pictures be made public.

I thought the black and white picture of the three of us turned out pretty well considering Naomi spaced out.

I just love these two pictures of Naomi.  She's such a big girl now.  She says and does all kinds of things.  I wish I could follow her with a camera all day!

***

Did you notice that?  If you didn't maybe it's not as obvious as I think it is (even though I'm pretty certain it's obvious).  I'm sporting a pretty nice 12 week bump.  :)

Feed a child a Cherry...

 ...And you'll get a good picture.
My friend Yojana is learning photography and she was brave enough to go to Santaquin with us and take pictures of Naomi.  Finding a way to get Naomi to stay still was a serious conundrum.  I thought for a moment that the best picture of hers would be when she calmed down just so she could dig a hole in the dirt.  *sigh*

I finally came down with the brilliant idea of tossing yogurt covered cherries to her and alas the child stood still.  Yojana took about a 100 hundred pictures and despite how much Naomi wiggled, she managed to capture her finest moments.    :)   Thank YOU, YOJANA!!!

Oh, how fortunate Naomi is!

I found every penny we spent on our airfare to Chicago worth it. I wasn't very fortunate to live close to my Abuelitos growing up and two of them went away too soon.

My maternal grandmother died a few months after my oldest sister was born and my paternal grandfather died long before my parents got married. As a child, my living grandparents lived in Mexico and I saw them a few times before I was eight and I didn't really get to see them much afterwards. I sometimes wonder what it would've been like to be close to them and share moments with them the way Naomi did on our visit to Chicago. I have always been jealous of those people who get to grow up and have their grandparents in their lives. I promised myself that it wouldn't be the same for my children. I always told myself I would become a young mother so that my kids would never experience what I did. Going home was a treat. Watching Naomi bond with her grandparents brings about the sweetest joy. I don't think I can describe how it makes me feel so I had to take pictures and hope it does the trick.


As a way to reminisce my mom took Naomi to Chuck-E-Cheese. I think we can all admit that Chuck-E-Cheese food is nasty and my mom really hates since she's all about eating organic and healthy food but alas it's a childhood favorite. Well, Naomi is only 21 months old and she still gets scared getting in the play-tubes so my mom decided she would climb up their with her. I seriously had no time to convince her not to because she was already half way up the stair case. Naomi was on cloud nine crawling through those tubes and Abuelita didn't show one sign of being uncomfortable. I knew something like this doesn't happen everyday so I was prepared to snap a shot the moment they slid down. It was quite epic. :) I don't think many grandparents would do this. She's selfless.



It's true my parents have the coolest back yard in the world. It's huge and green and it makes you feel like you're far away from everyone else. A few years ago, before I got married, my dad built this charming little swing from a broken piece of wood and a rope he used for work. It doesn't look like the most trustworthy swing, but Naomi trusted that her Abuelito could push her and protect her all at the same time. This was a sweet yet scary moment. Naomi's face beamed while she swung on it and my dad had the cutest smile on his face. My dad swung her on the swing a few more times before ending our trip.




Before I tell you about the next experience you should know that Naomi is constantly doing something. Singing, dancing, jumping, discovering new things. You name it. Since she's always on the go she doesn't really make time for any snuggling (unless it's with mommy and daddy). Well, Grandpa found the greatest way to entertain Naomi. I think this specific tactic shot two birds with one stone. He would throw Naomi's favorite stuffed animals in different directions and she would run around getting them. They did this for a looong time. Once Naomi was done she jumped on the couch with grandpa was was quite and snuggly and happy. It was too cute. Naomi loved Grandpa's invented game that all her teeth were showing as she laid on the couch.


It's a fact: Naomi is Grandma's Song Bird. Ever since Naomi was a baby she liked music and not like other babies liked music. I'm sure this will sound made up but Naomi started TRYING to mimic music since she was 6 months old. Grandma and Naomi shared a lot of singing time together and I kid you not there were certain parts Naomi would sing really. Naomi came home with a few flower vocabulary. She's obsessed with tulips and daffodils since they were in Grandma's garden. Naomi spent a lot of time in Grandma's garden and her love for Grandma and flowers didn't stay in Chicago, but it came with us back home.




See, what I mean? You can't put a price on this! Naomi experienced so many more beautiful things with her grandparents, which are now memories of course but every time she looks at a picture from our trip this smile spreads across her face. As for me, watching Naomi bond with her grandparents made it so that I lived with my grandparents vicariously.

I'm ashamed of my blogging skills

I have officially reached a new low for my blogging frequency. This makes me sad. I was doing so well until July came. Sigh. David and I are doing an awesome job not sending Christmas card outs either. I have failed sending them out after trying to get one together for the last 2 years that for 2011 I didn't even bother.

On the bright side one of 2012 goals is to try to post something at least once a month. ***CROSSING MY FINGERS***

Just a tiny recap: My in-laws were so kind to give David and me a very sweet and generous Christmas gift. They helped us paint our family room. They bought the supplies and Dave (father-in-law) and David painted it together. Naomi, Joyce, and myself enjoyed a lot of quality time together. Hooray!!! I haven't taken any pictures of the finished room but I will post some soon. I have a sweet picture of Naomi posing in what used to be the freshly primed room.


What's Naomi been up to?

In December she turned 18 months old. She is forcing mom to potty train her. She can sing and hum her favorite songs pretty well. She is already a tiny little athlete since she demonstrated her outstanding skills in jumping. She is 98 percentile for height and weight. She is really well proportioned and sturdy. She is doing a very fine job balancing two languages even though she knows more Spanish words than English. Despite the fact she just turned the appropriate age to attend nursery this kid already has the ropes down since she's been in there since 8 months old.

How is the Mr.?

David wrapped up the year at Adaptive Computing by being consumed with work. He Traveled to Seattle in November for Supercomputing Conference and he truly liked seeing the city for the first time. He plays racquetball in the early morning, basketball on Tuesday nights, and Football on Saturdays. If you didn't know this already the man loves sports. Overall his is very happy the NBA is finally back on. GO BULLS!!! 12-2 - that's what's up.

ME?

I got a sewing machine for my birthday and I love it!!! It's a digital Brother machine and after reading the manual and hooking it up I worked on a few projects. The machine works so wonderfully, and David picked it out himself! I spend my days playing with Naomi and meeting up with friends to play together. In the evenings I cook and sometimes bake. I've been working on expanding my baking skills. :)

Well that's us, folks! I hope you enjoyed this mini-recap.

LOVE,
Cassie, David, and Naomi