A sneak peek into out trip to HAWAII (through shutterfly)

We made a BOOK to thank M & D Koch for such an amazing trip to the island of Oahu.
We are still beaming from the sun and time with family! Thank you isn't enough to express our gratitude and express the fun we had! we love you! You'll receive this book at your door in a few days!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Build your own high-quality photo books at Shutterfly.com.

You're invited...for milk and cookies. Num, num, num!

It wasn't hard to decided what kind of party to have for this boy.

What does he love the most? milk. And what goes best with milk? cookies.

Also, he thinks cookie monster is hilarious, so this one was a no brainer.

To celebrate our boy we threw a teeny tiny cookie monster party.

How did a year pass? It baffles me.

It has been a beautiful year. 

This boy has brought so much joy and calm into my life.

I spent the 9 months he was in my belly meditating, doing yoga, and working on myself in hopes that some of that energy would transfer into his little heart. 

All that work helped me, I know, and maybe it was easier for me to practice because he was sending me his calm present energy. Whatever the case may be, he embodies all I was working for.

He is patient and calm. He is joyful. Truly so happy! He loves to dance to Renee and Jeremy and Jack Johnson songs. His favorite person is Miss Ava and he loves to be chased and smiled at.

He's still nursing 3 times a day. He says Mama, Dada, and even "aba" (Ava). He signs for "all done" by throwing his hands in the air and opening and closing his fingers. He understands SO much and his pure innocence touches my heart daily.

To say I am grateful would be an understatement. 

I never expected to have such an experience of a child from infancy. Maybe it was being a 2nd time mom in combination with his personality, but it's been so different from the 1st time. It's been much smoother and dare I say, easier. And that's no offense to our girl. Every one comes to this earth with different needs. Sometimes I feel crazy for thinking this, but I really do feel like maybe Nathan has already had a go 'round here and he's back to share the love.

He's such a sweet boy and though I am sad to say goodbye to the "baby" phase and hello to "toddlerhood", for I'll never experience it again as a mother, I'm also excited to watch him grow more. This next phase is all about learning to talk and communicate.

I can't wait to hear what he has to say. :)

Thank you to all who joined in celebrating with us.

Nana, Poppi, Grandma & Grandpa Koch, Auntie Nikki (who pushed me to ask Brad if we could start trying for a 2nd- without that talk we may have had a different little person here today) and the Gilbert family, Auntie Hsiaolei, Kekoa and Malia, and Shirley. We missed Aunite Jill who helped me birth this boy, and of course we missed terribly aunties and uncles in Mass, DC, Portland and Rio.

Here are a few photos of the party.

Ava decorated with her own version of cookie monster drawings & Nana baked the gluten-free, diary free cookies.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY Nathany-buddy! WE LOVE YOU!

Christmas/NYE 2012

Another Christmas has passed us by. Time seems like it goes too fast to catch up with sometimes. And other times it feels so slow on those long, seemingly never ending, afternoons at home. 

We are blessed with wonderful friends and family to celebrate holidays with.

The Killough's came on Christmas Eve again, which has become a new little tradition I love. We woke up Christmas morning here in Los Gatos and shared in Ava's excitement that Santa came. It was, of course Nathan's 1st Christmas, which made it extra special too. The tree had lots of presents packed under and around it, making it cozy and feeling magical, which is what christmas is really about.

We ate a yummy Christmas dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Koch in Pleasanton.

Leading up to Christmas: Nathan met Santa and gave him a long hug, sharing all that love he has in his little heart, Ava decorated the house with her art and beautiful printing, we went to Grandma's to bake cookies, drove through the fantasy of lights, and attended Ava's Winter sing along. There was lots of Christmas spirit about :)

Hailey came for 7 days the on the 26th and we rang in the New Year with Grandpa Great in Pleasanton.

We missed our east coast family, but kept in touch through face time and instagram, hence all the photos. :)

xoxo

zonked out on the way up to Pleasanton on xmas day. 

Ava's pirate costume from G & G.

Nathan had to try it out too!

Grandpa's little buddy

Ava filled in Grandma on EVERYTHING santa brought her.

Bless Grandma's heart for listening to her so enthusiastically.

opening presents...

It's been cold and wintery in California, but not too cold for a trip to the park...

NYE 2012

Staying up until the ball drops in NYC!

my date on NYE ;)

Here's to a BIG 2013~

First up, Nate the Great turns ONE!

Ava's 4th birthday Party (can't believe I forgot to post this!)

Here she is! 

The birthday girl (Last April, that is). 

I've been planning a small little 1st birthday celebration for Nathan and realized I forgot to post photos from Ava's party.-- so sorry my Ava girl. Better late than never.

Ava had her 1st birthday party with friends this year.

She invited Ava B, Amaya & Ayla. 3 sweet little girls from her preschool.

There were 4 girls there for the 4 years she was celebrating. (this made it more manageable for mama too) ;)

We had a princess tea party on the green belt.

My friend, Carolyn, used to run a kids party company, so we bartered and I photographed her kids this winter to return the favor.

She set up a closet full of dress up clothes , a craft and a tea party for the girls. 

They enjoyed it and played pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey which was a hoot to watch!

We also celebrated on the actual day with Grandma and Grandpa (there are some photos of that at the end of the post.)

We love you Ava. We're proud of you and soon enough we'll be celebrating you're 5th bday!

For now, here are some memories of your 4th bday party.

xxoo

Meeting Amalia

Many of you know that I met Laura in grad school. We both remember clearly our first conversation over coffee at the misson cafe, which i drove by recently and noticed is no longer there. so sad.

We sat across from each other and said, flat out, no girl stuff. No comparing, no jealousy, no weird unspoken vibes. Let's not do that. Let's create a safe friendship, where neither one of us thinks otherwise, ever. I've never had a conversation with a friend like that right off the bat. Obviously both of us had been through our fair share of the proto-typical girl friendships and had little patience left for it.

Ever since that day, our friendship began and grew greater and greater and it continues to, free of all the things we "vowed" it wouldn't be. It's become such a source of comfort in my life. I seriously don't ever think about how I look or feel before I see her. I just am where I'm am and I can tell her any of that. She is one of the most giving and compassionate people I know. Her life with Jeff is filled up with amazing friends because of the energy they put out. So authentic and genuinely loving.  It used to be just Laura who would come over and have dinner with us and then Jeff entered our lives too. They got married and soon enough we were having dinner the four of us, instead of the three of us, and getting to know this awesome guy in Laura's life. Brad and I love Jeff as much as Laura. He's such an interesting guy who's doing so many cool things on his career path. I used to worry that we were boring him with our counseling psych talk, but now he totally hangs with us and teaches us about the amazing projects he works on.

Laura & Jeff were scheduled to come over for a "goodbye dinner" a couple years ago. They were headed off on an adventure- going to live in Argentina for 2 or so years. Laura called and cancelled, apologetically. Come to find out a few days later, she told me she had found out that she was pregnant. Little Amalia's life burst open in her body and she began her first part of life on earth- in her mama's belly. They re-scheduled the dinner with us and we still got to have our goodbye dinner, but they didn't change their plans. They were off, and Little Amalia was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in September of 2011.

I have to admit I wanted to shower Laura with baby love at least once a month, the way she had for my pregnancy with Ava. It was hard to have her so far away, but at the same time I was excited for her. So brave to have her first baby so far away from comfortable home.

It was awesome to find out that I was pregnant with Nathan just 4 months later. We shared a good part of pregnancy together. She reminded me of things I had forgotten

We sykped and showed each other our growing bellies and then in December of last year they made their first trip back to the States and we got to meet Amalia!

Here she is with Jeff trying to rock her to sleep.

I was about to burst myself, so pregnant with Nathan, so there aren't many photos of that visit. ;)

They made their second trip to the states this past September.

We got to spend an afternoon with our babies (and have a couple adult dinners).

It was so so fun to watch them interact and see how much Amalia had grown. She is 11 months in these photos. As most babies are, she is such a cool combo of her mom and dad. I think she looks a lot like Jeff, but her big blue eyes are unmistakably Laura's.

What a trip to have our kids play together and be so close in age. 

It doesn't get better than that. To share families with your dearest friends.

We love you Jeff and Laura!

We can't wait for your to be back in the States, but we admire your adventuresome spirits and know this journey will never be regretted or forgotten.

xoxo

Merry Xmas to you in Rio!!