December 2016 Update
December went by so fast!! How is it almost 2017? That seems impossible. Here's an update on what this month looked like for the Arevalo clan!
We started off the month with a lot of my side of the family visiting--Gigi, Bop, Uncle Jason, Aunt Lexxie, Aunt Lorrie, Cousin Chris, Cousin Matt, & Cousin Stacy!! It was a blast. We ate lots of food, played games, watched movies, and we even sent everyone home with a nice cold courtesy of Fynnlan ;)
We spent on Saturday this year volunteering at His Toy Store through HFNY. It was such a great experience! Dozens of families got to come through and choose toys for their children who otherwise wouldn't have anything to open on Christmas. We brought Aly and & Fynn with us to be a part of this day too. Aly and I worked in the craft room with other kids who came in while their parents shopped. It was a great experience to share with Aly how God has blessed us so much that we can in turn bless others. She has sucha big heart for others!
We got to take family pictures this month. Our great friend Liz was visiting NYC and graciously squeezed in a photo session for us. She is seriously amazing because Fynn was so difficult to keep still for pictures!! If you look closely, nearly every photo, Fynn has a mouthful of cheerios to keep him still and calm haha.
We celebrated Christmas here in the city. It was a fairly low key weekend. We went ice skating the week before, made sugar cookies, watched Christmas movies, and opened presents together Christmas morning!
Here are some things to remember for each of the kids this month:
Alynne:
-We took Aly to her first ballet, The NYCB Nutcracker! We weren't sure how it would go since she is just 3, but she did SOO great. She was so enthralled throughout the entire show. She clapped enthusiastically after each dance, and just did so well! She even got to meet one of the ballerinas, though true to nature, she was too shy to talk to her or even smile for a photo haha. Since going to the Nutcracker almost a month ago, we have listened to the Nutcracker soundtrack on repeat all day long every day. She is quite the ballerina! =]
-Some things Aly still doesn't say right, but I absolutely love: bingers (fingers), kruckles (knuckles), restaurnaut (restaurant), and Broadwiside (as in we live between Broadway and Riverside!)
-Aly has been dying to go ice skating for quite some time now. Since Ron was off work or working from home the last two weeks (so nice!!), we took her down to Bryant Park one morning. We had extremely low expectations taking a 3 year old ice skating, we figured she wouldn't like it. But turns out, she is a natural! She absolutely loved it and would have stayed out there all day if we had let her!
-We've still been having issues with Aly eating. She often just gets in a stubborn mood and refuses to eat. It's so difficult though because with her blood sugar issues, we need to make sure she is eating enough, so we end up having lots of battles at the dinner table.
-One day Aly got to go to work with Papi. She absolutely loved that and was quite the hit of the office. Every day that Papi leaves for work, she asks to go to!
-It's hard to believe how big Alynne is getting. She is so independent. She likes to do just about everything by herself. It's so fun being able to have conversations with her, do things like bake cookies together, and I love seeing her be a good big sister to Fynn! She is such a caring little girl, and we love her so much!
Fynnlan:
-Oh man, Fynn is such an active little guy. He is constantly climbing, exploring, and getting into anything and everything he can. But just when I am completely worn out, he crawls into my lap and cuddles and smothers me with kisses! He is the best.
-Speaking of being so active, Fynn can now run, and he also learned how to walk backwards!
-Fynn can now say "hi" and loves to greet everyone!
-One thing Fynn loves to do is go back and forth between Ron and I just giving kisses. He is such a sweet little boy.
-We've realized that Fynn is incredibly drawn to males. It doesn't matter if he's never met them, he is instantly drawn to whatever male is in the room, and he will even willingly leave me to go to them! I've noticed that if there are guys working in his nursery class at church, he is far happier when I leave him.
-Something silly that Fynn loves is when Papi rolls him over and over on the rug! Lol!
-Ron discovered this week that Fynn will instantly calm down if you show him videos of firetrucks haha. Firetrucks pass my our apartment quite often, and whenever they do, Fynn immediately drops whatever he's doing and runs to the window pointing and wanting to see them. So one evening when Fynn was extra fussy, Ron put on a firetruck video, and instant calm.
-Like I mentioned early, Fynn is so active and never wants to be still. So that has made it quite difficult getting out with him, like whenever we're traveling somewhere or going out to eat. I get it, it's no fun to be contained, but man it's tough. Praying this phase ends quickly.
-Finally, we just love this little guy so much. I love seeing him grow and learn new things each month. He is such a joy to be around!
