Lucia meets El Tete

Eddie and I had decided when Lucia was born that we were going to try and avoid giving her the pacifier (aka el tete) because of how hard it was to break Mateo from it. Well we hadn't counted on the fact that Miss Lucia would become a finger sucker. Due to this unexpected occurrence, we had to decide - do we want her to suck her fingers or a pacifier. We decided that in the future it would be easier to take away a pacifier (instead of a finger). So we gave her a pacifier at Month 3 a full 7 months earlier than we gave Mateo his first pacifier. Oh well...

Lucia asleep with el tete. Don't let this picture fool you - all week we have been fighting with her to take the pacifier. She sucks it for 3 seconds, spits it out and puts her fingers in her mouth. I don't know if she is going to take to it. We may be too late.

Happy 3 Months Lucia

Today Lucia is officially 3 months old. She is definitely more chatty, alert and interactive now. We are all getting into more of a routine and she is thriving. We are starting to learn more about her personality and she is still the same sweet girl that was born 3 months ago.

Lucia loves to blow bubbles and play with her toy giraffe

We love you sweet girl

M&L Go Trick O' Treating

Today was an extremely cool Halloween for many reasons. First, it fell on a Saturday this year so we got to celebrate all day long. Second, it was the first time Mateo really understood the concept and he picked his costume and spent all week practicing saying "trick o' treat". Also, it was Lucia's first Halloween. The weather was perfect which was good because we had a busy day ahead of us - starting with trick o' treating, walking the parade and having lunch with Luca, next trick o' treating in our building and finish the day with a Halloween party at Mateo's friend Jon's house.

Baby Cow Lucia strolls down Washington

Penguin Luca and Tyrone-the-moose Mateo strut down Washington stopping at every store to trick o' treat

Mateo and Luca stop into a pizza shop to say hi to Princess Emily

Lucia is all tuckered out by all of the activities

Mateo and Luca sitting on the curb checking out their candy booty

Fireman Jon poses with Mateo and Luca

We also spotted another friend from class, Lioness Maggie, at the Ragamuffin Parade

More friends join in on the fun - Luca in the foreground, Maggie, Mateo and Will (in the Batman suit) in the background

Once the parade was over we all went to lunch - Luca's parents and grandparents joined us along with Aba and Abu at a local pizza joint

Luca and Mateo finish their pizza lunch with some Cherry Italian icees

Later on...Mateo went to Jon's for a Halloween party and decided to be Fireman Tyrone. You can see here that while Mateo isn't looking, John is sneaking in a taste of the frosting on Mateo's cupcake

The kids had a great time dancing and running and listening to music at the parade

OXO Halloween

Every year OXO has some fun Halloween activities for its employees. Most times there are costumes and pumpkin carving involved as well as internal trick o' treating and they have always encouraged people to have their kids stop by at the end of the day. This year there were also a few activities set up for the kids. Initially both Lucia and Mateo were going to come in, but yesterday Lucia got sick, so she was unable to make it today.

Mommy and Mateo in his Tyrone (from the Backyardigans) costume say cheese

Mateo colors while Aba (who was kind enough to drive him into the city) watches

Munching on a Halloween Cupcake - he ingested so much sugar that he was a maniacal crack head by the time we left

The Painter and The Poser

Now that I am back at work, Mateo is no longer out of the apartment all day. Navita has added our home to the play date rounds and has also set up indoor activities for Mateo so he has something to do if their is bad weather outside.

Today Mateo channelled his inner painter and produced a very Pollock-esque picture

"Please do not interrupt my work"

Later on Aba stopped by to visit the kids and help out with bedtime. While I was upstairs, she and Miss Lucia were downstairs posing for pictures.

Day 2 - Things Are Fine

I can definitely say today felt better than yesterday. I am starting to get back into the swing of things at work and it seems like Lucia, Mateo and Navita survived Day 1 and are trying to establish a routine.

Speaking of "the swing of things" here is Miss Lucia taking her afternoon nap

Mateo is finishing up dinner (On another note - he has recently become obsessed and very aware of what he is wearing. I think it has something to do with a classroom routine. Lately he has found the need to wear a shirt with buttons, so no matter what shirt we put on him , he requests to wear this plaid shirt on top)

First Day Back

Well today was the day I had been dreading for 6 weeks. I say 6 weeks because before the half way mark I hadn't thought about what it would be like to go back to work. As the time drew nearer I started to get anxious and nervous and sad and now that it is here I just feel queasy. It feels different this time than with Mateo because I was leaving 2 kids now not 1 and I was a much more calm mother this time which allowed me to enjoy Lucia as opposed to being a nervous Nelly. I also had the pleasure of greeting Mateo everyday when he came home from his adventures. I know I am not built to be a stay- at- home mom, but I definitely feel like I could use some more "at-home" time with my family.

In the morning I tried to muster up a smile, but this is all I could do

Luckily, I instructed Navita (our nanny) to take pix of the kids now that I am back at work. Lucia seems to be thinking "who are you?"