Review of 2014- Part 2

Oh more excitement in 2014!

July
The kids watched their first World Cup with Lukas and Sarah! Sort of. I barely paid attention either. Go Spain! Or something. Oh, we're patriotic! Here's our 4th of July outfits!

Nana visited her mini-me.  Christina, Dan, and Hudson welcomed baby Aria (Dan's mini-me) into their lives. Aubree, Patrick, and Avery welcomed baby Asher (Patrick's dad's mini-me).

The agony of naptime

Miranda turned 3 months old. I blogged about full days alone with both kids. But, really, that doesn't even happen anymore. Kevin is here so much to help and now we have mother's helpers for when he isn't. Still it's fun (read: painful) to look back on this precious time!

Grandma came to visit and got Miranda to laugh for the first time!

Giggling with Grandma

And the Clou blog celebrated its 5th anniversary (which was also the 8th anniversary of Kevin and me meeting)!

August
We went back to the Cape- Miranda's second visit! And then we hurried back for one of the best visits to Jersey: to see cancer-free Owen and family!

 

So many beautiful people in front of the pool table!

Kevin's friends from Florida had a big month! Jim and Lisa had baby Otto! Trey, Sunny, Cort, and Max came to visit for a few days. So fun! And Neil and Anna had baby Bettina!

Cort, James, Miri, and Max!

Family time: Concert outside the local library. Nana watched James and Miranda so we could we could go to Jackie and Rob's wedding.

 

Jackie and Rob get married!

Miranda turned four months old! And we all went to meet her new bestie, Aria. James got to enjoy the Imagination Playground, and a visit to Kevin's job, which also has fun fountains everywhere.

September
James started Nursery School! He loves school and is so excited to go. It's a nature school and they go outside and commune with the elements even if it's cold or raining. Right now he only goes two days a week for 3 hours, but he really wants to go every day. Here's a little video they made at school.

First day of Nursery School!

Kevin had A LOT of writing events this month. At the beginning of the month, he went on a writing retreat with his friend Pete, while Grandma and I bonded, drank wine, and watched the kids. Jaime came to visit too and helped while Kevin participated in Lit Crawl NYC. Kevin also had a reading at Fall for the Book at GMU so we took the whole family down to Fairfax and visited friends. I watched the kids at home while Kevin signed books at The Brooklyn Book Festival. And then! Kevin left on a multi-day book tour in the Midwest while Grandma came back to help with the kids. Seriously would not have survived the month without Grandma!

Kevin reading to a spill-over crowd at Fall for the Book


James, Grandma, and Miranda are besties.

Nana babysat Miranda while we took James apple-picking for the first time. Miranda turned 5 months old and started taking a bottle and eating food regularly.

James loving the farm's playground

October
Chrissy, Allison, and I went to Atlanta and I had my first night away from Miranda! (I had a deposition come up at work and I almost missed my flight because I cut it too close! But I made it!)

Allison, me, and Chrissy in Atlanta

We took the kids to get pumpkins and take some obligatory pumpkin photos. Miranda turned 6 months old and started saying "Dada" regularly. Since the kids have the same birthday, James turned 3.5 years old! And we had our first Halloween with two kids- best Halloween ever!

With my two pumpkins

Halloween with Dr. James and Bunny Miranda!

November
Nana visited and dressed the kids like Cubans. Miranda turned 7 months and went through a rough patch where she stopped sleeping in the co-sleeper or sitting in her bath. Um, yeah. I went out for the first time in a month to Jackie's birthday, making Jackie responsible for my first and third times out without Miranda.

 

Cuban clothing

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Kevin's family on Cape Cod. We spent a few days there with family and friends, including Casey and kids, and Kevin A and Monica and their kids. We also went to go see Grandma Catherine. When we got back we had more friends visit us at home: Lukas and Sarah, Jon, and Jaime.

Miranda's first Thanksgiving!

Great-grammy playing with James

December
Our friends Teresa and Jon and their son JJ welcomed baby Phineas to their family. And our friends Jeff and Inga and their son Silas welcomed baby Clio to theirs!

Cathy and her girls came to visit New York. We took James to hang out and he had so much fun with Madison and Kennedy. Nana babysat Miranda so we wouldn't have to hurry back for naptime.

Christmas joy!

The four of us went to get a Christmas tree, and the kids got their picture with Santa. James had a Holiday Party at school. Sarah came over and decorated cookies with us! We went to the Holiday Train Show at the Bronx Botanical Gardens- it was kind of a bust.

Miranda turned 8 months old and started pulling up and crawling. Jaime visited again and the Casey came to town.

Nana made Noche Buena dinner

We celebrated Noche Buena and Christmas with Nana at home. It was awesome because James actually understood cared this year. After Christmas, we went up to the Cape to see Kevin's family. Also, here's our super crazy New Year's Eve- woo!

Christmas morning as a family of four!

Quality time with Uncle Andrew