Adam here- I meant to have this up a few weeks ago but better late than never.

It was an odd numbered year so that means Christmas on the west coast, and it as a White Christmas too boot!

It was a fun year, with the two Kiddos. Sloane was so smart and really got into the fun of the season. Soren started to be a smiley little guy, so he channeled the Santa spirit.  Sloane loved singing Christmas carols (Frosty and Rudolph were her favorite to sing, but she enjoyed listening to all of them and giggled to Dominic the Donkey whenever it was on).  Since her birthday was just a week before she was primed for present opening.

Sloane picked Christmas morning to sleep in, so the cousins were all ready to get started, but she made up for it with her happy little elf smiles and cute glee at the presents. She enjoyed helping to bring people their presents.

Darby and the Zips came into town for over a week, which was great as the cousins are great with each other and it gave Soren a chance to warm up and smile with each of them. The older cousins were great with Sloane and with Soren.

My Parents got us a session at JC Penny for some portraits… it was fun to get all dressed up and the kids liked that afterwards they got to have bubble tea. Here are some of the shots.

Sloane had fun with the food that we got to eat over Christmas. She tried crab on christmas eve, had shrimp, ate prime rib, and despite the fact that there were a number of treats and her tooth was still loose she did really well.

See some more pictures below of people holding Soren. He did great on his first Christmas.

We get to have a New Hampshire Christmas in 2018, which will be great (I just hope we make it through the flight in one piece with two kiddos)

Here is the beginning of our kids’ crazy friendship

He has grown almost 3 inches and gained 3 pounds in the past 2 months! He is a super smiley and giggly little one, more so than Sloane at this age.

On 1/24/18, he did his first controlled roll over from back to belly. He had done a couple rolls in December but they were single events and mostly a product of momentum. In the last week, he started to make it to his belly but his shoulder would not complete the roll.

The past 3 days he has consistently done a controlled roll from his back to his belly. He is very proud of himself when he does it. Sloane was an expert roller and had it down when she was just over 3 months old. It is a nice reminder that everyone is an individual and Soren will be his own little person. But that doesn’t mean I can’t do a little side by side comparison of photos for you all to enjoy the rolly polly nature of my babies!

Sloane turned 3 years old a week before Christmas. This year she completely understood the birthday thing- presents, party, and cupcakes. She and Adam baked vanilla cupcakes (so Adam) with pink cream cheese frosting (so me). Her favorite gifts were a doctor kit from my parents (she has been giving all her dolls check-ups) and a leotard from Adam’s parents (she insisted on wearing it to an indoor gym we went to one cold day). I think it is still hard to get presents all at once, and then have Christmas a week later. She has been rediscovering other presents over the past few weeks- a lady bug tea set, story cards, and a home made bag.

When I got back from my trip, Sloane was still recovery from being sick. She was a bit of a beast for a few days and I thought ‘if this a 3 year old, I’ll be back when she is 4.’ Once she fully recovered, she was back to her old kind, thoughtful, silly self with only small hits of whining and total defiance.

Right now Sloane loves to play with her lovies- dolls and stuffed animals. She rocks them, puts them down for naps with blankets, and walks them in her stroller. Books and stories are still a huge part of our day and she is interested in making up stories herself. Her imagination has flourished recently. She will read a book and then want to pretend to be the characters. Her memory is astonishing- after hearing a book 3-4 times, she can recite it. The other day I was massaging Adam’s wrist and she ran to get him a band-aid because he was hurt. She is such a compassionate little lady. And she is showing traits of Adam and me. After Adam, she refuses to believe anything that she doesn’t see with her own eyes. After me, she loves looking at her reflection when talking! Hopefully, she will be a confident little performer soon.

And Soren turned three months old two days before Christmas. He rolled over kinda, but it was off a little mat. He does this super cute half smile when I am a little funny but not quite super funny. And he can find his thumbs and loves to suck on them. He is flying through clothing- he wears mostly 9 month clothes, but I squeeze him into a few 6 month outfits that I love.