Peer Pressure

Hairbands and Race cars
OK after my friend Gina got on me this weekend about never updating my blog I decided that it's way past due. So life is great, having a boy and a girl is an adjustment but I'm loving every minute of how different they are.
Brooklyn is 3 months old already and is complete opposite of Baker. She is super sensitive, its full out tears if Baker bumps her slightly. She gets scared easily and then its tears again. She loves to cuddle and be held, which I love because Baker has always been a go go goer and never wanted to be held. He was always happy sitting in his rocker. Brooklyn is a great sleeper. She already sleeps through the night. Last night she slept for 10 hours. Baker didn't do that until after he was over a year. She loves when I put headbands on her, all I have to do is pull one out and start to put it on her and she is all smiles. Baker likes to try and pull them out. Brooklyn is a really easy baby. She is a great nurser as you will all see in the following pics she is our chubby monkey. Baker wanted the bottle from the beginning and still has a Binky at night. She gags at the thought of a Binky.
Baker is 33 months old and full of energy. He is talking more and more and his favorite word is Race car! I hear that about 200 times a day. He is always pretending he is a race car or his toys are race cars or he wants to watch race cars on TV. I love every minute of it :) He got a new bunk bed this month and it is the coolest toy he has. He climbs up and down all day. He gives me a heart attack because he has no fear, but boys will be boys. He is a big Grandma's boy and I use it to my advantage everyday. When he isn't wanting to get out of bed I tell him "want to go to Grandmas" and he jumps right out of bed. Brooklyn on the other hand loves the men in her life! She gives Daddy a smile every time she see's him and she would let Papa Dan hold her all day if he would. She has definitely taken over the princess role! She is going to use her Blue eyes to get whatever she wants from her daddy and papa.

Brooklyn Riley 13 weeks

Baker and Hailey on their race car!

Brooklyn with her baby blues!

Gotta Love them!

Baker's Turn

2 1/2 years!
Wow where has the time gone? My baby boy is about to be 2 1/2 on Feb. 3 and it seems like yesterday he was Brooklyn's size. I have been looking back through pictures of Baker when he was a baby to see if his sister looks like him at all, and I have to admit he was one adorable baby boy. He always has a smile ready for the camera and is so full of life. I sometimes wonder how we got so lucky. He brings joy to Tyson and I everyday.
Fun things Baker is doing at 2 1/2
* Can run so fast and likes to race everyone. Ready Set GO, he says!
* Likes to draw and is pretty good at holding a pen or pencil. We have been practicing circles and lines
*Loves to practice his colors and shapes and even though he doesn't have them perfect yet, I'm proud of how many he knows already.
*Is in speech class and is really starting to talk a lot. He loves his speech teacher and the toys she brings.
*Takes time to read books in his big bean bag chair daily. For a little boy who hates to sit down this is a big accomplishment for him. Tyson and I will find him in his room reading. Its so sweet.
*Loves his baby sister! He hugs her and loves her all the time. He likes me to hold her and doesn't like others to hold her. He is always asking where she is. It's so cute. I have a feeling these 2 are going to be great friends someday.
I could go on and on about what a great little guy he is. I love you Baker Samuel!
Did I mention he is a HUGE daddy's boy :)

And that makes 2...

Brooklyn Riley

It's been so long since I have blogged anything. I feel like I have so much to say, but so little time. I decided today would be all about our new addition to our family, a precious little girl. I was due to have Brooklyn on January 25th but I was lucky enough to have her 10 days early on January 15th. The morning of January 15th I woke up at 3 am and had a feeling that it was time to have a baby. I didn't wake up anyone until 4:30 which now that I think about it was probably a big mistake. By the time I got Tyson up and called my mom and the Dr and got my parents here to watch Baker it was about 6:30 am and I was in pretty bad pain. I got to the hospital and the Dr. rounded up his troops because I needed to have a C-section since I had one with Baker. I just want to take a minute to tell all the mom's who have natural child birth with no pain medicine that they are amazing, a little crazy but amazing! Around 7:00 am I told the nurse that I felt the need to push, she had the Dr. come in and check me and I was at 8cm. Which sent everyone in to hurry up mode because they did not want me to get to 10 and I was going very quickly now. I also was in A LOT of pain and really really wanted some pain medicine. So to make what seemed like the longest 40 minutes of my life quick, they got me down to the operating room and I finally got my local anesthesia and felt so much better. Brooklyn Riley was born at a 7:43 am. She weighed 6lbs 10oz and was 19 in long. She was just a tiny little thing but full of life. She screamed and screamed which was great to hear. First thing I asked was "It's a girl right?" Tyson was the one to tell me that she really was a girl, and that she was perfect. So that makes 2 babies and 2 very blessed Parents!

Welcome to the family Brooklyn

Pumpkin Days
A couple of weeks ago we went to our local Pumpkin patch. The last two years Baker has been really excited to see all the pumpkins. The first 5 minutes is usually him running around trying to pick up every pumpkin in the place and trying to get us to take them all home. This year we quickly picked out 3 pumpkins and than moved on to the huge slide that Baker could do all alone this year. He ran up and down this thing about 15 times. I was glad he could do it alone because Mommy tried one time and realized that I would not be climbing up to the top of the slide more than once this year. After all that sliding Baker was ready to go home take and nap and than Carve our pumpkins. We carved them a little early because one guy is completely falling in and the other one is molded so it looks like daddy will get to carve one more before Halloween.

Baker and .......... Brooklyn

Brooklyn

We are so happy to be having a little girl! We were both in complete shock when the lady doing the ultrasound told us there was no little boy parts so she was pretty sure that this little tumbler would be coming out a girl. I was so set that I was just going to have boys and I had made myself Ok with that. So to find out we would have one of each filled our hearts with so much love! Cheesy I know but so true. We feel so complete. We already had a name picked out so that part was easy. Baker was actually going to be a Brooklyn if he was a girl. We still really love that name so thats what it is. Brooklyn Glory Basel. No we dont love B names it just worked out that way and actually if this tumbler was a boy we would have named him Parks. So see no crazy B thing. Tyson has actually let me do the nursery, which if anyone knows him is a huge thing for him to give over. He does the decorating in our house! So I have chosen butterflys and stuck with the oranges and greens that were in Bakers nursery but added a little pink. Ill have pics up as soon well actually not to soon. I think the crib and everything will be here in November so thats when we will be switching Baker over to his new room and finishing the nursery. So thats the baby update for you. The picture above is me at about 23 weeks. Im huge but feeling good. Baker keeps me going even when I don't want to... And with that on to

Baker

Time flys with this guy. Baker is about to be 26 months and is so big! He seems to grow an inch every day and comes up with more fun games to play than Mommy could ever think of. This kid has such an imagination, I have no idea where he gets that from. One minute he is stomping around like a big dinasour and than he is under the blankets pretending to hide from scary monsters. Baker has been very lucky latley, thanks to Grandma Dana working at Rancho Villa, Daddy has been home a lot so he gets double attention most of the day. We try and go to the park everyday or at least on a long walk because this kid has more energy than I know what to do with. I cant wait for him to start pre-school next summer and get a full day of action. He is very social so I know he will love it.

Baker has no idea that a baby is on the way, but he hasnt really seen to many little babies. I have no idea how he will react when she comes but Im hoping for the best.

Baker's best friend is his cousin Emiliano who he calls "mo mo" I have to hear him say that about 20 times a day. He is always looking for him and wondering if he is going to be at Grandmas when we go over there to visit. Emiliano is 5 and sometimes get annoyed with Baker's baby games but always gives him a hug and kiss when he leaves and that's good enough for Baker. Here is some pics of Bakers adventures latley. We had the fair and than we went to the corn maze with my cousin Jay and his wife and thier 2 kids. Baker had a blast at both.

2 and something New!

First off I want to say Im sorry for taking so long to actually blog. I have been exhausted and am actually starting to feel like myself again. So I am hoping to keep everyone up to date better while I can!
So I think everyone knows but for you that don't.............We are having a baby :) I'm about 16 weeks pregnant and after a long road to get here we are ready to announce we are going to have a baby January 21st. Baker has no idea and could really care less at this point but Tyson and I are so excited and cant wait to find out if we are having a little boy named Parks or a little girl named Brooklyn. We really have no prefrence. We will keep you all up to date as we find out more details on the littlest Basel.
"2"
Baker turned 2 years old over the last weekend and like always I couldn't just celebrate with a simple get together. I tried to go all out and hopefully all the kids that were here had a great time. We had a monkey themed party and there were about 15 kids and there parents here to celebrate with some cupcakes, subs and a water slide! It was super hot, 103 degrees, but all the parents and kids stuck it out to help throw Baker a great party. Baker's favorite part was the cupcakes and listening to everyone singing him "happy birthday".
We couldn't have done it without the Hinton's who came and stayed with us for the weekend from Snohomish. They helped do everything from dishes to decorating to running around like crazy people trying to make sure everything was picked up and put up before party time. You guys are great friends!
Here is the important part.........Lots of Baker Pics :)

21 months and Mother's Day!

21 months

Baker turned 21 months this month and I really just can not believe how fast this has gone. Even though I swear he is 2 by the way he has been acting latley. He is pretty spoiled and does not like to be told no or have to sit still for more than 2 seconds unless he is watching Handy Manny or Disney Playhouse, than he will sit forever if needed. Which does not help when we are stuck somewhere like a restaurant with no TV. Im thinking hold on Kristin this will get better. He will not be the worst child on earth forever. At the same time I always go to bed thinking just how lucky we are. He always seems to surprise us by how smart he is. And if he thinks he hurts his mommy he is always there to give me a great big kiss and a hug.

Tyson and I have been worried about his lack of actual words. He has NO problem getting his point acrossed and actually communicates with screaming very well. We usually know what he is trying to say. But where are the words, the real words. So I got out a pen and paper and followed Baker around all day and tried to count all the words that he really knows. I was surprised by the amount that he can say really well. It was over 30 which is normal for a boy his age. I didnt think he had 10 :) I guess I just forget he says words with all the screaming in between them.

Happy 21 months buddy even though I am a little late with this one.

Mothers Day 2009

I had a wonderful Mother's day with Baker and Tyson. We go to the horse races every mothers day because it is somewhere that I can do 2 of my favorite things in one place. Gamble and be a mom. Baker loves seeing the horses race and he even helps me pick out the good horses. He would sit up in the stands with me and yell "GO GO GO" thats one of his words he knows TO WELL. After the horse races we came home and Tyson cooked me a crab dinner and gave me a super cute cake that we ate in bed after Baker was a sleep. Being Bakers Mom is probably the biggest blessing in my life. He makes everday a great day, and loves me even when Im having a bad day.