Marry Me Handsome

My little princess...

2012-02-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

Happy half birthday to our pretty girl! Rhyan is always such a happy baby with a lot to say. She loves her brother. He makes her laugh a lot.

Rhyan can sit up, jump in her jumperoo and roll over both ways. Rhyan has two bottom teeth and is working on getting more. She sleeps through the night most of the time.
Rhyan refuses to eat anything but breast milk. But I'll just quote the doctor, "she doesn't look like she's starving." So I guess we will keep on trying solid foods in hopes she eats them soon.

Rhyan is not a huge fan of the pacifier, she only uses it when she's going to sleep. We took the pass away when Bruce was 6 months but I think we will let Rhyan keep it for a little bit longer. It helps her sleep.

Rhyan is going on her first plane ride tomorrow. We are so happy to have sweet baby Rhy, Rhy in our family. Bruce absolutely adores her too!

Stats, coming soon.

Monday menu day...

2012-01-30T13:56:00.000-08:00

Have you heard of the blog This week for dinner? This week for dinner; and they give you their weekly menu. The comment section is full of other weekly menus as well.

Anyway, I'm posting my own menu here. My goal is to feed my family for under $100 a week. This weeks menu cost $87.13. But if you don't have a well stocked pantry it could cost you more. I had most spices except corn starch. Here it is, each title links to a recipe.

Monday

Crock pot BBQ Chicken, with Fresh Green beans cooked in olive oil and seasonings and french bread.

Tuesday

Slow cooker Parmesan Honey Pork Roast, with mashed potatoes and green and yellow squash.

Wednesday

Meatloaf and Crock pot Mac n' Cheese, with green garden salad

Thursday

Crockpot Chicken Quesadillas, with homemade chips and salsa

Friday

Vegetarian Spaghetti - I try to make a vegetarian meal once a week. This is one I made up. Substitute portabella mushrooms as the meat (if you don't like mushrooms, eggplant is a great substitute as well.
1 yellow onion, minced garlic - saute in olive oil until translucent add more olive oil in pan, add 3 chopped portabella mushrooms, salt and pepper and basil. Saute and poor 1 can crushed tomatoes in pan or 1 jar of spaghetti sauce. Done! Serve with green salad.

Saturday and Sunday - I'm out of town this weekend but we usually eat leftovers on Sunday and sometimes on Saturday. Along with serving one vegetarian meal a week I also try and serve fish. Saturday would be our fish day.

The total cost, $87.13 also included snacks and lunch items so the above menu should be cheaper than that. Enjoy!

5 Months

2012-01-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

Rhyan

Bruce

2012-01-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

This is stake conference weekend. Last night Kiel rushed home so we could go to the adult session of stake conference. Bruce stayed home with a sitter and we took Rhyan with us. We were able to hear some great talks and then get dessert afterwards. On the drive home, I mentioned that I really didn't want to drag the kids to the morning session on Sunday. And he was silent. I jokingly nudged him and said "you're not going to give me the green light to stay home?" And he just replied "what do you want me to say? It's okay?" And there it was, the nudge I needed, to go.

Now, I can sit here and type up a MILLION excuses of why I have the right to stay home. My babies are small, they need their naps, they don't understand anyway. But instead I will tell you why I go by myself with my babies every Sunday:

I go, because I don't know how to raise a child in this world.

A world, where shootings happen at high school parties. A world where babies are taken out of their safe beds for no reason but for harm to fall on their precious little heads. A world where it is uncool to be a virgin in high school.

Nope.

I have no idea how to raise a baby in this world.

But I do know, that I was promised my babies would be alright if I bring them to church. If we have family prayer, every day. If we make family home evening a priority. And have family scripture study. I am told these things by my church leaders. I have faith in these things. I believe in them, wholeheartedly.

Now, did Bruce learn anything about Jesus or Heavenly Father today? I can promise you he didn't. I can promise you Rhyan didn't either. And I got to listen to one talk before Bruce made me chase him into the play room, and the play room is where we stayed for the remainder of conference.

But that's okay. We went, we took in our surroundings. We were suppose to be there.

I can say the same, when we get together every night and say family prayer. Does Bruce know what is really going on? Not really. In fact, he probably doesn't like prayer because he associates it with bed time. Some days he sits in his reading chair while we say prayer, other days he takes advantage of our eyes being closed and whacks us on the top of the head. (We now say prayer with at least one eye open.) But he now says "Amen" after we do. He sometimes folds his arms. He sometimes doesn't. But we do know he's learning.

We will continue to do these things. Because sooner than I would like, my babies will not always be in the safety of their home. They will be in public school and around people that do not have the same values and morals I hope to instill in my beautiful babies. They will be tempted and they will fall. But I hope, when they do, they will reach up and grab the iron rod so they can pull themselves back up again.

I know that I am not alone. And I'm not writing this to get a pat on the back. There are many mothers who show up to church alone because they are divorced, widowed or married to non members. Whatever the reason, is not an excuse to stay home. But instead the opposite. The responsibility lies solely on us to set an example for our children.

So did today make a huge difference in their future? Probably not. But you miss one meal, then you miss the nutrients that would have come with it.

Today was a good day. I learned a lot today. A lot about parenting.

And next Sunday, I will do it all over again. But I will be dreading it even more because I have to give a talk in Sacrament.

More about us

2012-01-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

Below i posted about our vacation, here is a little more about what's going on in our lives, if you care to read ;) (I happen to find it extremely interesting but I'm also narcissistic.)

I quit my job. I was working 30 hours a week from home and it was very stressful. I hated it. My home life was suffering. I rarely had time to make dinner, grocery shop or sleep. I was going to bed at 2am every night, struggling to get my work done. I made the executive decision to quit. Kiel said ok. Done! Now I'm budgeting better to make up for the economic opportunity loss. I'm back to clipping coupons, checking out the sales, meal planning and making Kiel's lunch.

Kiel put in his transfer paper work for Dublin and a few alternative cities if he doesn't get his first pick, all are in the bay area.

We are house hunting and hope to be home owners by June. We are looking mostly in Brentwood but also in Dublin and Clayton. Brentwood homes are really nice, great schools and decent neighborhoods with low crime rate. Of course Dublin and Clayton are better but what we can afford to buy will get us a 3 bedroom condo versus a 5 bedroom house in Brentwood. Oh the stress and excitement jumbled up in one giant package. We are looking for a home to raise our family in, a great community and a nice neighborhood.

Church is now at 9am. The stress of trying to get two kids ready and myself and be there on time so I can serve in my calling is very overwhelming. I bathed myself and the babies the night before and had the diaper bag packed and ready to go. I was still twenty minutes late. Sacrament is at the end again. I should be there at 8:45 so I can help prep the primary room. Anyway this wasn't the hard part, managing both babies during sacrament was nearly impossible. Bruce was awful. He threw his quiet toys, crawled under benches, tried to escape and succeeded more than once, running up and down the chapel laughing all the way. Then when I pulled out the snacks he insisted on getting them himself and of course made a mess doing so. People must have felt sorry for me because three people got up to help escort me and my two little ones to my car during closing prayer. (We had to leave because Bruce was throwing the biggest temper tantrum.) These are the days I wish Kiel had a normal 9 to 5 job.

Both babies are sick. We see the doctor again today. Rhyan's cough has gotten worse which is not the best news. Bruce just started a cough, so I decided to take him in too.

Bruce is saying a lot of words. He is a talking parrot and surprises me everyday with a new word. He says, poo poos, pee pees, cookie, guck (truck), ca (car), he has some what of a new york accent, he says; Amen, more, hungry (and signs it too), chips, turkey, shoes, lights, on, off, up, down, phew (pee eww), side (outside), out, please, thank you, baby, sissy, mommy, daddy and of course our favorite (eye roll) No and no no and no, stop it. When he says "no no" it means he is doing something he shouldn't. He mimics everything. He is very cute and fun but a handful to say the least. Here he is dancing with his dad.

Bruce got glow in the dark pj's from Omi and Opa for Christmas and absolutely loves them. He asks us to turn off the lights so he can walk around in the dark and check out his pj's in the mirror. He also started walking around with a blanket over his head. He thinks it's funny when he runs into things. And he also started to spin in circles.

He's also a big boy in nursery although he is the youngest in his class. I get reports that he is such a gentlemen and shares his snacks with the ladies ;) Here he is during song time. Of course he doesn't sit in a chair by himself yet.

Rhyan has two bottom teeth that broke through during Christmas vacation. She baby talks all the time. She loves her brother and always tries to talk to him. Bruce talks to her and repeats what she says. Here is a really cute video of Bruce talking to his sister and Rhyan talking back. I apologize for it being poorly filmed. I was holding Rhyan and my phone. But Rhyan gets upset when Bruce stops paying attention to her and then goes back to cooing when she gets his attention.

Rhyan is also rolling over both ways and grabbing her toys. She sits up a tiny bit and started rice cereal today. She is growing up so fast.

Christmas Vacation

2012-01-09T13:18:00.000-08:00

(Nothing like the movie)

I guess I'm underlining everything, stupid blogger.

Anyway, I was waiting for my mom to send me pictures from our trip since a) the battery was dead on my camera and the charger is no where to be found and b) Kiel and I always have a baby in our arms which makes it difficult to take pictures. But my technology incompetent mother does not know how to send an attachment in an email, so I'll be waiting for quite awhile. I think she wants to send them snail mail. So, here is what I have scrambled off of our phones and I'll fill in the pieces with my eloquent words of wisdom (you'll be smarter after reading this, if you feel the opposite read the disclaimer at the bottom.)

Shall we start with packing? (I know what you're thinking, "thank goodness the underline is gone!") It took me three days to pack. BUT, I didn't forget anything, at MY house anyway, I can't say that for the stops we made along the way.

These adorable boots deserve a picture of their own. Rhyan's winter wear ;)

Our two week vacation insisted on a lot of driving, Kiel and I decided that driving through the night would be best so the kids would be asleep and we could use our stops to fill up and get back on the road. Yep, we're genius like that. Anyhoo, as you can tell from the picture above or you might have already known because of Facebook (stupid social media, really ruins a good foreshadow) the boy didn't sleep, AT ALL. And we were exhausted as well. Whenever we tried to pull off the road to get some shut eye, the babies would cry, our only solution was to keep driving. Somehow, we made it safely to Frannie's (yep, call her that for now on) where we slept and then packed up to head to Brittany and Gabe's and then to Oregon.

Bruce in the rabbit pen.

Bruce and Luke playing with the bunnies on the front lawn while we pack up the car.

The girl wasn't the best traveler either but as long as she was sleeping we were driving and Bruce was usually hollering. We decided to leave Brittany and Gabe's at around three and hoped the kids would be better travelers. Long story short it was still a nightmare but we made it to my mom's at midnight and promised not to do long drives for a couple of days.

Oregon was a lot of fun. My mom and stepdad, George live on 8 acres, surrounded by a forest. They have chickens and goats and frequent visits from deer and other wild animals. They have a beautiful garden that George takes care of and grow almost anything and everything. They can during canning season and we got to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Home made apple and grape juice, salsa, pickles, beef jerky, and eggs fresh from the farm are just a few of the many things we ate the week we were there. I felt like I gained ten pounds but after hopping on the scale that couldn't possibly be true because it would have meant I weighed my goal weight before the trip.

Nana and papa have a season pass to Wildlife Safari and some friends of theirs gave them a pass for four to feed the lions. Kiel, George and I fed four lions. These are massive animals. We were in a tiny cement hallway with only thick mesh wire keeping us away from these lions, who wanted to eat us. It was amazing to hear them roar and watch them eat and see them up close. The pictures don't do their size justice, but we were RIGHT there.

Afterwards it was too late to drive through the zoo so we visited my Aunt Myrtle, who is the only one left living in my grandmother's generation. It was great to see her and introduce her to our children. It made me wish that my grandma was still alive so she could meet our babies as well.

We also took Bruce to the Umpqua river and on the way back we noticed a pig farm. We stopped and asked if we could visit. We showed Bruce baby pigs and a baby calf. He was more interested in the play set. I didn't grow up on a farm but I raised lambs, pigs and steers for 4-H and rode horses since I was five and was even good enough to compete in Gymkhana and win many gold buckles. I want to get back to riding and maybe even have a horse of my own again and hope to pass some of my skills to my kiddo's. But who knows, Bruce doesn't like to touch the animals just look but he's still young.

Here's a picture of the princess because she's adorable.

We definitely wore the boy out!

Christmas Eve we celebrated with a small group and feasted on all the goodness my parents made. We also opened all of our presents. Growing up, my family holidays have always been split up between both parents. We celebrated Christmas Eve with my mom and Christmas day with my dad. I'm not quite sure what our family tradition will be as far as what day we open gifts but I'm leaning more towards Christmas day. My mom always did a great job of making the holidays fun and a big deal. While we were there we drove through Roseburg park where they had Christmas lights set up throughout the entire park. It was awesome. The rotary club make them every year. As a kid we would drive through the neighborhoods and look at Christmas lights every year. Bruce really enjoyed the lights.

Christmas morning Bruce and Rhyan opened their stockings and gifts they got from Santa. We also went to church. I think Christmas should be on a Sunday every year. I loved going to church on Christmas.
The next day it was time to go halfway home and hang out with our family in the bay area. The ride home was much better than the way up.
The cousins enjoyed sharing their Christmas gifts. Bruce really liked riding in Ashton and Luke's Ford F150. And Luke liked to play with Bruce's police car (tiny, toy police car.)
We also went to Chuck E. Cheese and played with Jacob and Natalie Erlick's little boy. Here's Bruce in another truck. (I think he would gladly trade his reading chair for one of these.)
We had a lovely dinner with my dad and Karen. My only living grandpa was there and he met our children for the first time. It was so fun. We also had dinner at Brittany and Gabe's the night we got into town with Omi and Opa and Celia. Brittany finally had her baby on her due date and we saw little Sophie in the hospital. It was a great trip!

Kiel and I also went house hunting in Brentwood. We've been thinking about buying a home for awhile and we have been looking in the bay area. The homes in Brentwood are huge and decently priced. I've checked out the schools and in the neighborhood we want to buy the elementary school is rated 9/10. Besides it being next to Antioch and Oakley it's absolutely perfect.
Unfortunately the palm tree is in the way and covers up the beauty of this home. It's actually quite massive (3,500 sq ft) and beautiful in the inside. The palm tree would be the first thing to go if we bought this house.
So after driving through, we were sold. Kiel put in his transfer paper work and we are hiring a realtor. We hope to be in one of these babies by June this year! It will be bitter sweet. We love where we live now and the friends we have made but are anxious to have a place to call our own and a ward to raise are children up in.

Merry Christmas all, it was a wonderful vacation and so nice to see everyone~

Bruce and Rhyan Update

2011-12-08T10:01:00.000-08:00

Both babies had their checkups today. Here are their stats:
Bruce: Ht: 34 inches Wt: 27 lbs HC: 49cm - Height, 90 percentile and weight and HC 50 - 70 percentile.

Rhyan: Ht: 26 inches, 100 percentile; Wt: 16 lbs 7 oz; HC: 44cm

Milestones:

Bruce can now eat with a fork and a spoon. He says about 8 - 10 words but mostly talks gibberish. He climbs onto everything!

Recently, Bruce started nursery. He cries for about 30 seconds and then is fine until I come and pick him up, then I get a complete melt down for about 10 minutes which I only imagine is his "how dare you leave me here" rant. I'm his best friend and he follows me EVERYWHERE, I call him my spider monkey because if I step out to leave his bedroom for a second he quickly wraps himself around my leg. Needless to say, I trip over him all day long! He loves song time and is finally giving the props back to the teacher when she asks for them. I have to hide so he doesn't see me or else he won't go back to class. I was able to sneak a few pictures.

Bruce plays well with others. He loves to laugh and play chase. Other kids can snatch toys out of his hands and he will find another toy to play with. Unless, you take his toothbrush. If you do that, be prepared to be pushed to the ground and have NO, NO, NO yelled in your face, while he takes his toothbrush firmly back into his possession. I just let it ride out and have to admit, I'm proud of him for standing up for himself. Although, I do get the occasional, tattle tale of a mother. "You're son pushed my son!" My reply in my mind is always "yeah, well, tell your snatch monkey to keep his grimy hands off my kids toothbrush and he won't get pushed." Bruce's one and only rule of friendship is; keep your hands off my toothbrush. Otherwise, he's friendly, loving, kind and generous and even if you take his toothbrush he's forgiving. Instead, I reply with "Bruce, use your words." And he replies with "Yabba dabba doo!" Which I translate as, "he started it." Moving on. P.s., this is not the toothbrush we brush his teeth with. I buy a package of toothbrushes at Costco, just for him to play with. Most kids sleep with a stuffed animal, mine sleeps with a toothbrush ;)

He loves Cheerios and is constantly getting into the pantry and bringing me the box of "O's" (bruce lingo) so I can poor some on his tray.

He loves to tease, he constantly does things he knows will frustrate us just to get a reaction. Such as playing with the blinds, turning of the t.v. and throwing food on the floor.

He's great with his baby sister, he gives her kisses, pats her back when she's frustrated during tummy time and rocks her carseat while he waits for me to gather everything we need.

He gives high fives, fist bumps and gives kisses. Loves music and knows how to work the ipad pretty well. He amazes me everyday about something new he's learned. Bruce is an excellent observer. He will just stand and watch his parents and then the next day he will mimic what he can. He's extremely smart and has a great memory.

Rhyan is fun too. She smiles all the time, is awake more during the day and is getting used to tummy time. Bruce loved being on his tummy from the minute he was born, Rhyan hates it but is doing better. I stick her in front of the closet mirrors which keeps her preoccupied. She can also sit up by herself for about 30 seconds ;) We haven't started solid foods yet, but she is waking up in the middle of the night again for a feeding so I think she might be ready to try rice cereal. I didn't give Bruce rice cereal until he was 6 months old because I worried about food allergies. But then I had to deal with him waking up every two hours in the middle of the night and I really do not want to go through that with Rhyan. As long as her tongue thrust reflex is gone I'll start feeding her solids. Rhyan takes about 4 naps a day and her fussy time is between 7:30 - 10:30pm, she's hungry and tired but too gassy to go to sleep. Rhyan is a princess and demands to be carried around everywhere. If you put her down we get the " huh, huh, huh cry" which I personally think it's the cutest of all cries. Bruce was my spewer and yacked (he doesn't discriminate) on everyone when he was a baby. Rhyan is my piddler and pees on everyone. It's extremely embarrassing when it's someone I asked to hold my baby for a quick second while I go tackle my toddler. More often than not I do not know this person very well and we have that awkward moment of, "your baby pee'd on me" and I apologize for not bringing an extra set of clothes for them as well. But we're at church so there's not much else they can say ;) My little Rhyan has pee'd on half the ward by now! (P.s., I'm not quite sure why this happens, but it's happened on me quite a few time as well. Sometimes her diaper catches it and sometimes it doesn't.)

Both babies are a joy! We have come so far in just 4 months. Bruce is much more prepared to be a bigger brother now than he was at 14 months old.

Holiday Transition

2011-12-02T23:27:00.000-08:00

I don't think my mood has quite transitioned into the Holiday season just yet. Weird, I know because the holidays are almost over. (But we just begun!) Here is my extent of decorating for Christmas this year:

Our floating shelf and dining table have the Christmas cheer and that's about it. No tree, no homemade wreath, no bathroom decor. Mostly because the above decor is all I have to make the place jolly. Don't worry I've already been scoping out the stores and can't wait for the day after Christmas when all of the Christmas decor goes on sale and I can ransack the place. My house will look like Christmas threw up all over it...next year ;) For now, the t.v. blares Christmas music whenever I get the chance and I don't have a toddler changing the station.

This year we won't be home anyway. We leave in 16 days, make a pit stop in the bay area and then continue on to Oregon. I hope their will be snow so Bruce can play but that means I need to do major clothes shopping. I don't think plaid shorts and t-shirts will work in Oregon.

Oh back to my floating shelf, see the bags hanging in-between the stockings? Those are Bruce and Rhyan's presents from Omi and Opa. My MIL had the idea to make them gift sacks (I just named them that) and fill them up every year. I LOVE the idea, it's green, saves trees and saves money. Everyone should steal this idea, go on - pin it on pinterest - do it!

Anyway, Rhyan is four months today ;) Happy Birthday sweet girl. I'll do a kid post on Dec. 9th mark it on your calendars ;)

And for fun click here to listen to my 18 month old favorite song he dances too while holding his dad's ipad like it's a boom box. Awww, that kid is sexy and he knows it :D His favorite line is "Girl, look at my body, I work out!"

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

2011-11-28T22:46:00.000-08:00

First I must apologize for the picture - less post this will be. Rhyan's first Thanksgiving and not one picture of her in her pretty dress and moccassins ;( Oh, well that seems to be the pattern when hosting events, I never have time nor remember to take pictures. You'll have to settle for two, really bad pictures I took the night before on my phone with no flash because the battery was about to die.

Table setting, Turkey Ornaments are napkin holders and favors for guests to take home. Bells are for the kids to hang on their tree.

This year Thanksgiving was hosted by me and Lisa at our place for a small dinner party, 5 adults and 3 and 1/2 kids ;) (Rhyan is the 1/2 just in case you didn't guess.) Our get together started around noon. Here's the menu:

Appetizers

Spinach Dip

Artichoke Dip

Deviled Eggs

Main Dishes

Turkey Breast, stuffed with proscuitto, mozzarella and basil. Breaded, pan fried and baked

Stuffing

Scalloped Poatatoes

Cranberry Sauce

Carrots

Dessert

Apple Pie

Oreo Cheesecake

Served with three flavors of bubbly

Pomegrante Rasperry

Pomegrante Apple

Apple

Almost everything was homemade except the spinach and artichoke dip, (save time, buy your appetizers) stuffing and oreo cheesecake. Lisa made homemade cranberry sauce and this delicious carrot dish and the best apple pie I have ever tasted. I am NOT a pie fan, but I ate both slices she left, it was divine. We both made the turkey, I really didn't have a big crowd so my stepmom suggested to just do turkey breasts. They turned out great! And poor Lisa also got stuck slicing the potatoes and onions. Bruce is a handful when I need to be busy in the kitchen he wants to be involved throughout the entire process. Anyway, the meal was delicious and a lot of fun to make.

Kiel stopped by with his police car so the kids could check it out. Bruce absolutely loved it! He's been a big fan of cars lately. He likes to walk up to every car and try to open the doors and play with the headlights (I'm sure my neighbors are thrilled) so it was quite a treat when daddy let him sit in the cop car and press most of the buttons. Jack and Mariah had fun too. They love to watch Monster Inc. and Toy Story 3 and Jack and Bruce had a great time completely destroying Bruce's room. There wasn't one toy untouched, unfortunately there was a toy lost. I still can't find Jack's car. Those two also had a blast on the stairs, Jack really made Bruce laugh a lot. Mariah and Jack also had big news to share with everyone, Mariah announced that her baby brother Jace was born Thanksgiving morning! congrats to the Jordans! Kiel's parents brought Mariah and Jack over to our house and celebrated that day with us while Shelley and Steve hung out at the hospital with their new addition.

After all was clean (thanks Lisa) and our guests were gone, we enjoyed hot chocolate with cinnamon marshmellows and rested our feet for a quick minute. I headed to Target for the midnight opening of BLACK FRIDAY while Lisa stayed home and took care of Rhyan because unfortunately she did wake up and Kiel was not the happiest guy to find out his wife had ditched him and the kids for a sale (but he said he wasn't surprised.) Here is my quick rendition about black friday. Thankfully, my friend Katie was already in line while I was at home putting Rhyan to sleep. I only had to wait an hour and she waited two hours. The line wrapped around the building three times, luckily we were in the section where it wrapped around once. I could have easily picked up the 47" flat screen for $278 bucks but we don't need one. When we do need a T.V. though, I will be waiting until black friday. Instead, I picked up $5 blu rays, pj's, gifts for families and saved $65 dollars. I saved more than I make in 2 hours so it was worth it but I think next time I will wait in line when I need something big.

Friday day, Lisa, me and the kids had breakfast, cleaned up and went to Suzy Cakes. If you've never had a Suzy cupcake you are missing out on some major goodness. We bought our cup cakes and went to the El Segundo shopping center where the water floor fountains are and they also had their giant tree up. Plus H&M and JCrew are in this shopping center. After eating our cupcakes we did a little retail therapy. Shirts for $5 bucks, sweater dresses for $15, you can't beat that. I'm still soft and gooey all over and decided not to buy clothes that show off my love handles (sorry boys.) Maybe in another month or two or three or four? From the mall, Lisa went to Shelley and Steve's and I went home to put my tired babies down for naps. I think it was around 3 in the afternoon that I started feeling ill and around midnight I had the major case of the flu. I made regular visits to the bathroom all night. Luckily, Bruce and Rhyan both slept in till 10 a.m. so I could try and recover. I had a headache the rest of the day but thankfully I did all of my throwing up during the night. It would have been weird with Bruce hanging right by my side like he does with everything else I do.

Anyway it was a fun filled weekend and I am so thankful for my family and friends and nephews and nieces. My little ones have so many cousins within their age bracket that holiday get togethers will always be fun! Jack, Luke, Bruce and Sydney will be best buds and Erica, Rhyan, Jace and soon to be born, Sophie will have great fun too! My friend Katie mentioned that her mom rents a bouncy house for the kids every Thanksgiving. Eventually when we have our own house we'll have to rent a bouncy house on Thanksgiving for all of the cousins, that would be a lot of fun!

Happy Thanksgiving, we have a lot to be thankful for!

Love

2011-11-19T16:21:00.001-08:00

Finally a day where I get to just sit an enjoy them and not worry about work!

Parenting 101 notes

2011-11-12T16:09:00.001-08:00

I went to a parent lecture today. I forgot a pen and note pad so I blogged my notes using my phone. I was going to copy it later and delete this post but I think I will leave it up for all those who find this interesting as well. The speaker was Kent E. Parke, who is a family therapist for a little over 30 years. He was awesome.

1. Help your children develop faith and trust in a kind and loving Heavenly Father. - make church attendance a normal thing you do. Lead by example.

2. Demonstrate to your children that you are in love. Demonstrate a happy and wonderful marriage to your children. Knowing their father loves their mother is critical for a child's feeling of security and wellbeing. Learn to treat your spouse with love, kindness and compassion. The lord gave Adam a helpmeet (Eve) = which means equal helper.

3. Choose your battles wisely, avoid power struggles. Never argue or bicker. Set reasonable boundaries and consequences.
- do not raise your voice. "i'm sorry you feel that way" 6 simple words.

4. Never criticize. - 25/1 home research: for every 1 compliment made to the child their were 25 criticism to follow. Children get tons of critical feedback. 1/10: for one criticism give 10 compliments. children interpret criticism as rejection.

5. Compliment often. - maximize the positive - minmize the negative. Give hugs & kisses liberally - use "hit & run" (when older, by themselves give them a hug and kiss and get out of dodge before they complain)

6. Encourage communication - be a good listener. Avoid being critical and judgemental. Be enthusiastic and supportive. Girls communicate more than boys. When they do, be there for them. Be sensitive and understanding to their feelings, even if they tell you things you don't want to hear.

7. Encourage decision making. - age 18 is coming -always give choices and let them use their free agency even if they make the wrong choice.

8. Give unconditional love, kindness, and acceptance. All children have unlimited intrinsic worth and are gifts from God! We can never error on the side of kindness!

9. Make everything fun! "why say 'no' when you can say 'yes' - let's have fun! Be a fun dad, go do stuff with your kids.

10. Be willing to apologize. - none of us are perfect. Please and thank you also help.

Avoid being authoritative, controlling, rigid, manipulative, perfectionistic, critical, judgemental, defensive, grumpy, and rude. Learn to be at peace with yourself, your spouse, and your children.

Enjoy the journey! Kids are amazing and grow up fast!

The loving relationship you develop with your son or daughter always transcends performance! When in doubt - always focus on relationships! Help your children have a safe, happy and peaceful childhood!

Do the best you can and move forward!

Taking Notes

2011-11-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

Life is happening so fast. One minute I'm changing Bruce's morning diaper and the next minute I'm putting him to bed. Here are a few photo's of our recent events along with me writing notes to myself.

Only take showers when Bruce is sleeping or playing with Kiel, otherwise he climbs in fully clothed and there is nothing you can do about it. Wait. when did he start getting into the tub by himself? This is new. Very new. You hate how fast he is growing but love every new accomplishment.

Rhyan is 3 months now and has many expressions.

She's mostly happy.But she has the sad face down when you stop holding her. Keep holding her, she'll be bigger in no time.
We went to the beach as a family. You loved it. It was Rhyan's first time there.

Rhyan gets her turkey neck from you, the above picture is proof.You love having a daughter. Especially one as sweet and angelic as Rhyan.
Baby legs are the best (the leggings she's wearing. But yes her legs are the fattest and cutest.) You need to buy more, they are starting to get tight.

Same picture but in different light. You can never decide on what pictures you like best so you just post them all.

Bruce walked in the sand all by himself for the first time. He usually wants to hold someone's hand but not this time. He now wants to do everything by himself. He sat down next to his dad after he pulled out a snack from your purse. He is getting so big. But this moment melted your heart.And this one did too!

Daddy's Boy

2011-11-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Kiel and I were wrestling downstairs while Bruce was upstairs, doing who knows what (I could take a gander and guess he was cleaning the toilet with dads toothbrush since that's where I found it...shhhh Kiel doesn't know. Don't worry I threw it away. Geez, I'm just trying to have a little fun!)Ahem, anyway, we were wrestling aka Kiel was being a giant bully and dominating me with all of his strength. Where's Celia when you need her? While I was trying to get a breath of fresh air and amidst being suffocated with a pillow I took a gasp of the most foulest odor I have ever smelled in my life. Kiel must have taken a whiff himself because he gave me the most horrendous look.

"That's not me!" I yelled.
"Well it's not me."
We both look up, and there's Bruce, ten feet away, with a giant grin on his face. We then both jump up on our feet and run across the room in opposite directions and away from Bruce. Kiel yells, "whose ever closest to him has to change him!" That was completely unfair, my sprint landed me near the back door and Bruce LOVES going outside. Bruce and the stench was coming my way. My only saving grace was to change the rules.

"No, we both need to be against the same wall and whoever he comes to has to change him." We both run into the dining room and stand next to each other. Poor Bruce probably feels like the kid who touched the cheese in the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Kiel yells, "Bruce, who do you want to change your diaper?" Bruce comes from the living room peeks around the corner and sees us standing there. He pretends to go back to the living room but then he quickly turns around and runs full force at both of us, at the last second he tags Kiel's leg!

He's a daddy's boy! And this time it really paid off!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T10:43:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween from the Christensen's

Rhyan the wicked witch of the west, Melissa a cowgirl with out a cowboy hat, Kiel a wall street protester and Bruce the cowardly lion.

I wanted to do a Wizard of Oz theme for our family this Halloween but the only two that stuck to the theme were Bruce and Rhyan. I ordered Bruce's Lion costume on Amazon and it came 2 hours before we needed to go to our wards trunk or treat party. I opened it up and it couldn't be any cheaper. The fabric shed everywhere and the inseam ripped after an hour of Bruce playing in it. I Ordered a 12 - 18 month size which is obviously too small. Poor Bruce had a wedgie the entire night. Oh well, I guess that's what I get trying to buy the cheapest lion costume. Luckily, Rhyan's costume was free. She borrowed her cousin Mariah's very first Halloween costume and pulled it off quite nicely. I just couldn't justify spending $80 on costumes for both me and Kiel so I bought Kiel a red bandanna for $1 (I'm still not sure why I did this) and he made a costume out of it. I wore cowboy boots and called myself a cowgirl.

Daddy helping Bruce with his costume:

I really wanted to get a picture of Bruce and Rhyan together but Bruce was being impossible.

So we decided individual pictures would have to suffice:

At the trunk or treat Bruce loved the trunks with the scariest decorations. Probably because they lit up and made noise. He ran around everywhere and at times was very hard to keep track of.

Saturday we went to Yucaipa and visited Aunt Shelley and Uncle Steve and cousin Mariah and Jack. Bruce had a blast playing with his cousins and they all got along nicely. We went to their ward trunk or treat party and it was a lot of fun. Bruce's favorite treat: A toothbrush. There was a trunk handing out toothbrushes and Bruce wanted us to open it immediately. He loves toothbrushes so this was a perfect treat.

After the party Shelley and I spent time on a craft project once all of the kids were in bed. Steve helped us a lot. I can't go into much detail but it turned out really cute. Pictures to post after Christmas!

Well both my children collected enough loot for us to last a couple weeks so we won't be going out tonight. My kids need to make their bedtime tonight since they've been going to bed late the entire weekend.

Happy Halloween!

101 ways to annoy your parents - By B.W.

2011-10-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

Prelude: I'm 17 months now, so it's 'bout time I write a book! I'm sure other babies are probably in pre-school by now. Anyway mom says to write about stuff I can relate to or am good at, so here it goes. In no particular order:

101 Ways to Annoy Mom and Dad

stack shoes on top of the coffee table right after it's been dusted.
Hold onto the end of a roll of toilet paper and run as fast as you can (if you do this while mom is feeding sister you get a lot farther.)
Then tear up the t.p. in tiny little pieces. It makes it harder to clean up
Take out the tupperware and plastic bowls and throw them on the kitchen floor.
Turn your sippy cup upside down and shake it all over the house
Ask to be carried every where when they look busy.
Turn the t.v. off and on over and over again
Take their keys and hide them in a spot they will never find them.
Bring outside toys inside and vice versa.
Knock all of the dvd's off of the shelf
Throw your food after they just swept the floor
Take sister's hair bows and put them in a 5 gallon water jug, where it's really hard for mom to get them out.
While taking a bath try and dump as much water onto the floor as possible
Poop in the tub
Take mom's candles and hide them in your room.
Pull down the dish towels hanging on the oven so they land on the floor.
Demand to make mom carry you while she is cooking.
Get in to dad's watches
Hide dad's wallet underneath the area rugs (takes them forever to find it.)
Call 911

This is a work in progress, if you have some ideas feel free to leave a comment and might include them in my book ;)

baby B

My birthday weekend

2011-10-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

I had the best weekend! I guess I will start in order.

My birthday was on a Friday, and since I work Mon - Thurs. I decided we needed to get out of the house or Bruce was going to kill us all. So I rounded up the clan and headed to Chuck E. Cheese. (P.s. does anyone know what the E. stands for? Why is Chuck so secretive about his middle name?) My friend Cambria and her two kiddos also decided to join us it was great fun. Plus, Bruce is at the BEST age for this place. You know why? He was completely FREE. The kid was so mesmerized by the games and flashing lights, he didn't need any tokens. I had a coupon for 10 free tokens and he used two. I spent 5 bucks at this place for an unlimited salad bar and drink. Bruce loved the salad bar.
Chuck E. or (hey Chuck do you mind if I call you Chuck?) Chuck came out and said Hi to the kids, I was very interested to see Bruce's reaction and the kid was fearless. He ran right up to the GIANT mouse with GIANT teeth and gave him high fives, asked to be held up so he could grab Chuck's nose and head butt his cheeks. (I seriously need to work on this head butting issue.)

After more play time, it was time to go home for nap time. And if you are wondering where Rhyan is, she's sleeping in her stroller, like always when we are on outings.
While the babies napped, I got ready for my hot date! Catalina Kitchen at Terranea Resort offers you a free surf and turf dinner if you dine in on your actual birthday. That's a $48 value folks! I couldn't pass up the free lobster tail and filet mignon so we made a reservation, asked my friend Cambria to babysit so we could leave BOTH kids and enjoyed ourselves. This place is gorgeous! It's a twenty minute drive through the cliffs with the ocean on one side and giant mansions on the other. A very beautiful drive.

While we were there, Bruce was well taken care of. Don't worry our sitter didn't whack him on the cheek that's his eczema flaring up ;)
And for fun, I included a pic of another Friday adventure we had last week. Here's Bruce dancing at Pretend City.

After dinner we walked around the resort a little bit and then headed home. It was a wonderful evening; the food was amazing, the weather was perfect and my date was REALLY hawt!

The next morning we took the kiddo's to the pumpkin patch. Again Bruce is the perfect age because he can't go in the jumper and is happy walking around and throwing pumpkins (Bruce we don't throw, it's not a ball, Bruce, no, no.) Okay so maybe he's not the perfect age but if you're not careful you could really do some damage to your bank account at these places. We walked out of there with two pumpkins. We spent 5 bucks, 2 dollars for grain to feed the animals and 3 dollars on two pumpkins. The larger pumpkins we didn't buy at the pumpkin patch, instead it was buy 1 get 1 free at Vons and I jumped on that deal. Thirty dollars for a pumpkin? Is it filled with gold? NO? O.k forgetta 'bout it. (read the last sentence with an italian accent, it's fun.)
My name is Bruce and I need shades, but I won't keep them on my face, so forgetta 'bout it. (read the three last words with a baby gibberish accent.)

He had so much fun feeding the animals, and I got a million pictures but just posted a few. I think he knows how to communicate with the lambs because he would walk right up to them and give them a solid head butt. (Bruce, stop that. I can't sanitize your forehead because of your sensitive skin. I said no, no...whatever.)
Before we left, Bruce picked out a pumpkin for himself and for his sister. And again, Rhyan was asleep the whole time. I thought it was amusing that he picked out a big and little pumpkin, just perfect ;)

Here is our pumpkin family: Daddy, mommy, Bruce and Rhyan.
Lastly, I have to post a picture of my bling. Kiel completely surprised me on my birthday gift. I asked for a gift certificate at Nordstrom and instead he surprised me with this beauty. It took a minute for me to get used to the size. But I absolutely love it, it's at the jewelers right now getting sized. Thanks babe! Well that about does it. A perfect weekend and not one picture of Rhyan because she was sleeping the whole time ;) I can't believe the year is almost over and this is Bruce's second round of holidays.

Bruce and Preslee

2011-10-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I watched Preslee so her mom could work. Bruce and Preslee play so well together, it's really cute! Here is a video of the two laughing hysterically. I guess Bruce and Pres both thought it was funny to lock Bruce in the downstairs closet.

Rhyan and her 2 month check up

2011-10-11T08:44:00.000-07:00

Here is Rhyan on her two month birthday! Don't you just love those cheeks? And yes she is in her brother's pajamas but I figured it would be okay if I made her wear a flower to bed ;)

Rhyan is really strong and already tries to stand up with daddy's help of course.

She smiles and coos alot now. It's really cute.

Rhyan had her two month checkup last Friday and weighed 14lbs 10 oz and 23 inches long. She is in the 100th percentile in weight and 75th percentile for height.

Rhyan is such a joy to have in our family. She is so calm and patient. She allows me to take care of her brother without a peep from her. She goes everywhere with me! Rhyan has already been to two movies and did great at both! Kiel and I had a date night two weeks ago with another couple and had a babysitter watch Bruce. I wasn't comfortable leaving Rhyan so she went along for the date. We went to dinner and a movie. And then another time I saw a movie with a girlfriend and took Rhyan. She goes shopping with me at 10 o'clock at night while Kiel stays home and watches Bruce. I love it, she's my little side kick. She is doing really well at night now. She sleeps 6 - 8 hours!

Here is a video of her smiling and cooing. Sorry it's really annoying because I am also talking on the phone while recording.

Oak Glen and a 5k All in One Day

2011-10-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a busy day for the Christensens that live in SoCal, but none of us were as busy as Steve Jordan, Kiel's brother in law. Friday night we drove to Yucaipa to stay at the Jordon's so we could get up early the next morning and run in the 5k/Triathalon that Steve put together. Shelley, my sister in law, watched Rhyan and Bruce so Kiel and I both could run. Bless her heart she had four kids four and under to watch all at the same time.

It was a lot of fun to run together. Kiel stayed back and waited for me, since I am really out of shape. Steve did a great job putting everything together, poor guy, I have never heard a name called so many times in just an hour. The only thing I will say is, Steve I don't think it was a true 5k because i finished in 28minutes and there is no way I was running faster than 10 minute miles (I was probably doing 13min miles.) Kiel and I want to run in the Crafton Hilltop Challenge every year! I do not dare post the picture of us after the run but is surfacing on certain blogs and on facebook, if you're interested. (I actually don't care I'm just too lazy to copy the picture and load it on here.)

After the run we had breakfast at the Jordan's and went to Oak Glen to pick pumpkins, berries and apples. It turns out the apples and berries were all gone so we let the kids run around and check out the pumpkins.

Above is the one and only shot of us four. Mariah did my hair do you like it?

And finally a good shot of the cousins! Whenever I try and take a picture of them, Bruce is running away, Jack refuses to look at the camera and Mariah says Cheeese.

Here are more pictures of us gallivanting around at Oak Glen.

After lunch we headed home so Bruce could nap. I napped too. It was a day filled with fun!

Uggggg!

2011-10-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

I have so much to blog about, but such little time to do it! I have really cute pictures and videos of the kids along with updates that I hope to post this weekend.

I'm literally going from 5am till 11pm these days. I started work today and I'm not gonna lie, it is near impossible to work at home with 2 under two. Plus, I have an insane goal to lose a substantial amount of weight in just 38 days so I'm never sitting. I haven't turned on the television in two weeks (go me!)

So between the kids, working out, working and being a house wife there is hardly any time to just sit and chat. In fact I was just able to look on facebook a few minutes ago.

And it doesn't look like I'm going to bed anytime soon, we put Bruce down at 7 and I hear him laughing hysterically right now in his crib. I don't dare open the door, hopefully he goes back to sleep :D

Getting Deep and Personal with Numbers...

2011-10-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

Here it is...my weight and my weight goals ;) The good news is I'm already more than half way to my ideal #!

This magic # is the weight I was BEFORE Bruce pumped me all the way up to...wait for it, wait for it: 195lbs!

I was able to drop down to 146 lbs and then little miss Rhyan came into the picture.

And she pumped me up to ... wait for it, 182lbs!

But so far I have lost 26lbs and my goal is to lose 21 more by NOV. 18th in order to claim my $5,000 cash prize!

I just might be able to do it since money is the motivator and this is how I'm doing it:

1. 44 days of Insanity
2. Sprinkle Sensa on EVERYTHING I eat
3. and cutting processed sugar out of my diet for 30 days

If you do a little math, you'll be able to guess my magic # ;)

Wish me luck!

Son and Pop Gymnastic Routine

2011-10-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

Video 1

Video 2 (basically the same video but from a different angle)

2011-10-04T00:05:00.000-07:00

I have a moment to blog, but I would rather sleep ;)

I also have lots of cute pics and videos of my kiddo's, maybe I will share later. But I definitely will post for Halloween and we have a family photo shoot booked November 14th and I better get a Christmas card picture out of it ;)

Gotta go, my pillow is calling! zzzzz, waaa, waaaa, waaa...never mind Rhyan is calling! My job is NEVER done...lately!

Face Book Contest

2011-09-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hi blog readers!

I entered Bruce into a photo contest and need your votes so we can win a free Holiday mini photo session! (We all know I need more pictures of my kids ;))

Please follow this link: Bruce #19 and "like" the Ty Bebe photography page so you can then "like" Bruce's photo. Make sure you "like" his photo and not just the mini contest album or it won't count as a vote for Bruce.

Let me know if you are confused and thanks in advanced!

xo - Melissa

My Babies

2011-09-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Here they are, playing together nicely ;) Bruce loves his little sister and even though we will never leave them alone together (not yet, anyway) he has proven to us that he can be in her space without putting his hands on her. He's very sweet with her now.

Bruce turned 16 months last week and celebrated with his first ear infection. We put him on antibiotics and towards the end I noticed a rash starting to develop on the inside of his legs. We went back to the doctor and Bruce is allergic to Amoxicillin. This was the first time we ever had to put him on antibiotics hopefully we do not have to do it often. Bruce, Rhyan and myself are now fighting a brutal cold that hopefully ends soon. The kids are handling it better than mommy, I think my immune system is down from lack of sleep and exercise so this cold is kicking my butt.

I went to CVS to get a few things for my cold and they had Halloween stuff out, I bought Bruce his trick or treat bucket and the next morning he asked for it and has been playing with it every since. I try and have practice runs with him, he knows how to say "teet" for "treat" and then I throw a beanie baby in his bucket. I hope he will do it when we really go trick or treating.

He has added "kitty," "keys," "d for down" and "out" to his vocabulary. He is constantly telling stories, and chattering away. He is hardly ever quiet and when he is it's because he's doing something he's not suppose to or pooping. Whenever he's hungry (which is always) he comes to me and signs the word "more" and then waits for me to follow him to the kitchen. And then I have to guess on which item he wants more of. This can be quite the game. He gets frustrated after awhile, if I don't guess right. But sometimes it's odd things like, the salt shaker or BBQ sauce. All I can say, is this kid is funny. Bruce loves to go outside and go for walks, or help dad take out the trash and get the mail. He is currently obsessed with my candles and constantly takes them out of my room and arranges them in his room on top of his night stand, or whatever that thing is called. He puts them from smallest to tallest in one single row and then carries them back to my room and then stacks them on the shelf again, he does this over and over and over again. If I see the candles in his room I take them out and the first thing he does is take them back. I hope this isn't his first sign of hoarding.

Rhyan is more alert and loves to look around. Her head is all over the place. She smiles now and coos. She is such a peaceful baby. She doesn't really cry. When she's hungry, she just lets out a few snorts and that's how she lets me know she's hungry. Night time has become more peaceful as well. I had to re-read some of my favorite books that helped me with Bruce and freshen up on my techniques. During the day Rhyan is around noise all of the time but at night it is quiet and hard for her to settle down. Kiel added an app called baby sounds to my phone and we play the hair dryer noise next to her ear all night. That has helped alot! I also make her stay awake more during the day, at least an hour from the time she wakes up. This includes a feeding, burping and some play time. She yawns twice and I wrap her up and put her back to bed. She falls asleep on her own, which is really nice. I make her nap when Bruce naps so I get a break to do stuff around the house and take a shower.

I have a new calling for church. I am second counselor in primary. Last Sunday was the first Sunday we went the full 3 hours since Bruce was born. We have a tough 3 hour block that interferes with nap time. Bruce was excellent in primary, he even sat down next to a few kids while they were singing songs. Sacrament meeting; however, was awful. Kiel ended up driving around the parking lot so Bruce could nap. Needless to say, church will be really hard when Kiel starts his old work schedule again.

Here are a few interesting facts: In one month we go through 900 wipes, 536 diapers and 3 gallons of milk ;) Bruce only uses 186 diapers out of that 500! Rhyan is a pooping machine! I couldn't imagine our diaper bill if we had more than two kids in diapers.

A different perspective...

2011-09-20T22:23:00.000-07:00

Since today was maybe the worst days of the year and definitely the month I've changed my outlook on a few things...

Disclaimer: These are meant to be funny and not taken seriously in the slightest

1. An oversized BYU t-shirt and pink polk-a-dot pajama bottoms, is a perfectly suitable outfit to go grocery shopping.

2. Showering only on the weekends does not equate to bad hygiene

3. Polygamy...uh, yeah. Minus the husband sharing part, I get what those ladies are talking about. I could totally live on a huge farm with all of my sister wives, where if I needed just a tiny break to tinkle, I could drop my kids next door to Aunt Brittany's house, or Aunt Brigitte, or Aunt Shelley or Auntie Fran. What do you say ladies? Shall we go look for one giant piece of land and start building? I say we build in a giant square so all of our backdoors open up to one huge back yard. Stipulation: Must have own husband, and own income. Yeah, I've been thinking about this too much.

I've already said too much...goodnight

a much needed dose of Bruceness

2011-09-19T12:04:00.000-07:00

I smile for pictures now...

I'm addicted to all types of medication, tylenol, advil, emococillan...I love them all and constantly sign more when I see a bottle of the good stuff...My sister Rhyan is super cute, I give her kisses now and love her lots...isn't her church outfit cute?
And this is a video of me telling you what I did yesterday and some other stuff!

Happy 28!

2011-09-11T13:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time again that I make a list of 28 amazing things about Kiel. But I really can't think right now, so I'll just say one: The mostest amazing thing about Kiel...He manages to get a good night sleep despite the fact we have a newborn in the house that doesn't sleep. (If only he could teach me this trick I would be willing to write more amazing stuff about him.)

The birthday boy got a gun, remember? And Bruce got him an ipad, that kid is awesome right? Rhyan got him a big fat fully loaded diaper. Yesterday we went out for sushi and enjoyed a lovely dinner coupled with two unhappy children. The food was delish, I guess that's all that matters. Bruce loved his terriaki (sp?) chicken and pot stickers.

But in all seriousness, Kiel is an amazing father and husband. Two children is not an easy pie to slice (is that a phrase? NO, well I just made it one because I don't fry fish but I slice pie, so there. But in reality I hate pie, worse dessert ever. Oh my we are way off topic here.) Ahem, The Husband is grand and together we are raising to beautiful children tag team style, so far its worked.

Happy Birthday my love, I can't wait until you turn 30!

Mariah's party

2011-09-10T22:57:00.001-07:00

Mariah's birthday party was today and I think all of the kiddo's had fun. Bruce did his usual and walked the perimeter of the park over and over and over again. Shelley feel free to steal whatever you want below, thanks for having us out!

Lightening the Load

2011-09-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Things have been crazy lately. Those days of browsing the internet while Bruce is playing with his toys are over. He seriously gets mad if he sees me on the computer and I don't blame him. The problem is any downtime I have I use it to sleep. So a few things needed to go and the first thing is my job. My boss is giving me more time to acclimate and hopefully I'll be able to pick it up again in a month. It really is a nice gig and we all need extra moola (who doesn't? I need a brand new wardrobe.) The second was Montana, Frances is keeping him at her house for a little while. He just wasn't getting the attention that he deserves and he is getting the royal treatment at Fran's house, lucky dog. I miss the safety net I felt when Montana was around, especially when Kiel worked nights but I do have to say it has been a relief not having to worry about him.

A couple weeks ago Bruce was head butting everything. And in the above picture his bruises are from head butting the concrete. His Dr. told me he won't head butt anything too hard that will cause brain damage, so ummm, I guess I shouldn't worry? She also told me this is how Bruce is adjusting to his new environment and it's normal. (Really!?! how is this normal?) But fortunately things have already improved. Bruce is much gentler with Rhyan, he sees us burping her a lot so he mimics us and pats her back and sometimes smacks her head (we're working on that.) He no longer grabs at her although he still tries to get her nose. Instead of taking the pacifier out of her mouth he tries to put it in when she's crying. It's really cute, he says "baby, baby, baby" as he tries to comfort her. He is, however; taking his aggression out on me by biting me if I can't pick him up right away because I am holding Rhyan or if I was on the computer working. I thought we got rid of the biting problem but it is back and in full force. I actually got really mad yesterday and tried to give him a time out for it - LOL, I laugh at myself for this one because I know it didn't work. He's too young to understand the concept and as proof he got off the couch right away and bit me even harder. (What a stinker!)

Rhyan is quite the butterball and does not look like a newborn anymore. She fits in 6 month sizes along with 3 - 6 month sizes. She is a true joy to have around. Such a lovely baby during the day and at night she turns into a gremlin. Things are getting better, I've noticed and I have yet to cash in on her prescription. If we can get through this without using medication that's what I prefer to do. But I also do not want her to be in pain where medication would have been a huge relief.

Kiel is doing great with his physical therapy, he's enjoying his birthday presents and I think he is really bored at work. Well we are off to a birthday party. Mariah is 4, we can't believe how grown up she looks. Go Mariah!

Rhyan's Blessing Weekend

2011-09-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

Here we are, a family of four! I still can't believe it.

This weekend, Rhyan was blessed by her father and almost everyone came down and some came up to witness her blessing. Here is a picture of the whole gang minus my dad, Frances and her two children, who mysteriously went missing during picture time.

Here is the princess in her blessing outfit. The picture doesn't do her dress justice, it was, well, A LOT of dress. Family started rolling in on Thursday night and by the time Saturday came, everyone was here. Kiel's side of the family spent the day at the beach and I stayed home to make dinner for everyone and take care of Bruce and Rhyan. All of the cousins played really well together and it was fun to have a very loud house and watch them play.

After the blessing on Sunday, everyone came over again and we had a BBQ. We also celebrated all of the September birthdays and there are a lot of them in our family. After another busy day, most everyone packed up and started heading home that night or the next morning.

The Browns and Celia met us for breakfast at Rubys Monday morning and then we played at the park before they headed back to Utah. The only family left was my mom and aunt. We did some shopping, got frozen yogurt and later that evening we took them for a drive on Palos Verdes Blvd, so they could see the sunset.

I love where we live. I also love my husband. I love that he is a priesthood holder and can bless his beautiful children. I love my children so much I would die for them. I am so grateful for this weekend and for everyone who spent time and money to celebrate this special day with us. It was so much fun, I just wish I could have visited a little bit more and been a better hostess. (Special thanks to those that stepped up and helped.) Instead I spent most of the time feeding my little girl who probably gained ten pounds this weekend, she is a p - i - g!

I also wish I got more pictures, but thanks to Brittany we got some really good family shots!

Happy 1 - month Rhyan

2011-09-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here are her stats so when she's asks me "mommy why don't I have a baby book" I can say because I blogged everything ;)

Height: 23 inches 100% percentile
Weight: 11 lbs 12 ounces 95% percentile
HC: 35cm 95% percentile

Poor Rhyan has acid reflux and screams ALL - NIGHT - LONG. We are trying some techniques before we resort to medication, I hope this works. Other than that, she's a mellow baby during the day, loves to be cuddled. She can't stand to sleep on her back even if she's elevated, so yes, hold your breath or look the other way; she naps on her stomach and we sleep on a couch at night. I have to be completely upright and she has to lay on my chest to get any relief - her poor tummy. I'm running on fumes, I average about 2 hours of sleep per night and a 3 hour nap during the day. You wouldn't believe the products they try to sell at 3 in the morning on t.v. Lot's of workout machines - really? I'm watching t.v. at 3 am because I have a screaming baby and you think I care about my thighs? Why don't you try selling baby sleep machines or energy drinks that reboost your immune system, metabolism and yes "if you drink this, you physically do not need sleep" - oh that would be amazing!

I think I've officially gone off the deepend - and get this, I told my boss I could go back to work! Ha! What the heck was I thinking? This week has been extremely unproductive work wise.

Oh I'm sorry blog reader did you want pictures? Too bad ;)

Your babies this week

2011-08-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

I get weekly emails that update me on what my babies milestones might be. Bruce is and has always been a total textbook baby; meaning, he's a predictable baby, and fairly easy to handle. Does everything on cue, so there are few surprises and reaches all the milestones right on schedule.

So when I got this email, it was no surprise that this describes Bruce exactly:

Hello, Melissa!

Whining and screaming: If your 15-month-old has started sounding like a hyena or worse, you're experiencing his intense desire to interact with you. Children thrive on their parents' attention, and a toddler this age will do just about anything to get yours. When he gets loud or whiny, kneel down to your child's level and tell him you're listening. If he keeps it up, calmly say, "I can't understand you when you talk like that. Please use your normal voice and I'll be happy to listen to what you're saying." Eventually, he'll get the message.

This wouldn't be such a problem if I also didn't get this email:

Hello, Melissa!

Every baby has a unique temperament. Some are placid and agreeable, while others are more sensitive. One thing all babies have in common is that they communicate with you by crying. Sometime in the first month, you'll begin to hear another kind of sound. That's when most babies find their voices. When your baby is calm and alert, you may notice she says a little "ooh" or "aah" when she sees you or hears you approaching.

Awww, the joys of two. And the joy of not sleeping. I didn't realize how lucky I was with Bruce. He slept till 5am, in his own crib from day one. Rhyan will only sleep at night if she is on my chest and I am propped upright. I think she has major gas pain in the evening and this is the only soothing sleeping position for her.

Last Tuesday we had Dr. appointments for both kiddos and Bruce is 33 inches tall (90th percentile) and 25lbs (50th percentile.) He is also advanced in his speech for knowing about 8 - 10 words. Right now he is only expected to know 3 - 5. Rhyan gained her birth weight back plus a pound. She weighs 9 lbs 12 ounces.
We've had more visitors. Rhyan has now met ALL grandparents, more Aunts, Celia and Shelley and Uncle Steve and cousins Mariah and Jack.

Bruce has been too cute lately, checkout Kiel's facebook for hilarious video footage.

And we regress

2011-08-14T15:32:00.000-07:00

Bruce is handling the birth of his baby sister as well as expected. Bruce says "baby" when ever he sees or hears Rhyan and tries to be gentle with her, but he is just too rough.

Lately I've noticed him take an interest in pacifiers, something he hasn't had since he was 6 months old. Last night he wanted to swing in this, after Rhyan had been in it.

My mom and George left this afternoon to go back home but took a family picture before they were on their way. We are so grateful for their help. George stayed with Kiel the entire time he was in surgery and waited for him to wake up. They cooked us meals, took care of Bruce and helped with Rhyan, did laundry, dishes and took montana on walks. Kiel's parents will be here soon to take their place.

I finally got the flowers I ordered on Etsy, they might be a little too big for right now ;)
Lisa stopped by for a visit before she went to Utah.Two babies is much better than one. I've been able to jump right in without experiencing the baby blues and stress that I did when I was a first time mother.

Another sneak peek

2011-08-11T00:06:00.001-07:00

Sneak Peek

2011-08-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

Rhyan had her newborn shoot yesterday. It was quite hilarious actually. Our regular photographer doesn't do newborn shoots anymore because they take away too much time from her family and she recently had twin girls. I am not a good picture taker but I know how to create a scene, especially for skin care products (ps, those make much better models. They are so much more cooperative.) We turned the nursery into a studio and went at it for 5 hours.

My friend Katrina has an awesome camera and takes great photographs but this was the first time she did a newborn shoot. Rhyan was not the most cooperative baby but that's expected when you try and stuff them in a basket or water well or flower pot. We got pooped and pee'd on with in the first minutes of shooting.

But here are a couple sneak peeks:
And this is what I mean when I say she wasn't being cooperative: I hope at least one shot of Rhyan and me and Bruce turned out. I can't wait to see the rest!

Rhyan Patrice Christensen

2011-08-08T19:00:00.000-07:00

Warning: This is a long post but I included a lot of pictures for those that get bored easily. For an update on Kiel go to my previous post and read the update on the bottom. Okay on to the good stuff!

Meet our baby girl: Rhyan Patrice Christensen, born: 8/2/11 @ 7:59 a.m., 8lbs 13oz and 20 inches long

Kiel and I arrived at the hospital at 5:30am for my scheduled c-section at 7:30am. Yes, I got up early, took a shower, dried my hair and put on make up so I didn't look like I did last time in pictures.Kiel suited up in scrubs before we entered the operating room. Here I am waiting to get cut open. I was nervous but also very excited to meet our little girl. Kiel still held out hope that it was a little boy, but promised me he wouldn't be disappointed if it was a girl.
And we finally meet: This labor was so much different than my experience with Bruce. A planned c-section is so much easier than an emergency one. To my left there were cabinets with glass doors and we could see my reflection in them. I didn't look until they told me they were ready to pull Rhyan out of my belly. Kiel and I were able to see them pull out her head and then the rest of her a few seconds later. It may sound gross, but it was the closest experience I had to giving birth, if that makes sense. I told Kiel for that for our third child he might be able to take a picture of him coming out of my belly. I think it would be cool. Kiel thinks it would be gross.After I held Rhyan for the first time, the nurse handed her off to Kiel so they could finish putting me back together. Kiel took Rhyan to the waiting room to meet my dad and then waited for me in the recovery room. I was able to do skin to skin with Rhyan for an hour. She immediately latched on and nursed for the entire hour. And this girl hasn't stopped since. She is a really good eater!

After bonding time was over Rhyan got her first bath.

Later that day Bruce got to meet his baby sister for the first time. This my friends, was the most scariest experience alive. Just picture an extremely busy 14 month old who is fascinated by buttons, babies, wires and all things electronic. And then stick that 14 month old in a room filled with all of those things he is fascinated by but NOT allowed to touch or else he could cause serious harm to others. He practically gave every one a heart attack for the 15 minutes he was there. Grandma Karen decided she would take him to the park and wait until my I.V. and other things were out of the room before his next visit. Good idea Grandma. Baby Rhyan was still in danger though and still is.
The second visit went much better.

But he still tried to attack sister. Bruce doesn't like socks on his sister's feet or when I have a blanket on her. He always tries to yank those things off of her. Other things I must block before he grabs at: her nose, belly button cord, hair bow and eyes. The only time he is somewhat cautious with her is when she is in her swing. He likes to rock it gently for her. Now that we are home, I try not to hold the baby a lot in front of Bruce and spend most of my attention on him when he is awake. Rhyan and I get plenty of bonding time by breast feeding that I don't feel guilty having some one else hold her or putting her in a swing. I do feel bad when Bruce wants to be in my lap and can't because I am feeding Rhyan. We all need time to adjust and I'm trying to create a new routine that works for everyone.
Rhyan had a good amount of visitors. My friends Beth, Marci and Rachel all came to my house for a surprise visit. Those sneaky girls arranged everything with Kiel and I had no idea. They brought me breakfast, flowers and really cute outfits for Rhyan. It was so awesome and I was so happy to see them.

Here is Rhyan with Grandma Karen.
And here she is with Grandpa Bruce.And here she is with Aunt Sunni.

And every visitor that came brought a present for Rhyan and also Bruce. Our home looks like a day care center with all of the loot Bruce has collected in the past few days. Here he is in his wagon that Aunt Sunni got him.

After three days in the hospital, we got to go home after I begged for an early release. Rhyan lost 10% of her birth weight by the beginning of day two but by the end of day two she already gained an ounce and her biliruben levels were completely normal. They needed to keep me because of my high blood pressure. I was panicking because my pediatrician mentioned on day one when Rhyan went from weighing 8 lbs 13 ounces to 8 lbs 4 ounces that we may have to substitute some of her feedings with formula if she lost more weight and I know from the classes we took while I was pregnant with Bruce that the chances of me producing milk would go down by 60% if I started substituting and continues to go down from there. (I want to breastfeed all of my children for a full year but if that doesn't work out I know that a breastmilk diet for the first 6 months is extremely important.) Later that night we had another weigh in and Rhyan weighed 7 lbs 15 oz which equaled a loss of 10%. I called the lactation consultant we took our classes from at midnight and prayed she would call me back in the morning before Rhyan's doctor got there. Then every two hours on the dot I fed Rhyan and had the nurses take her in the nursery when I wasn't feeding her so I could get some sleep (sleep helps with milk production.) Susan Orr called me the next morning and gave me very sound advice and told me how to communicate to Rhyan's pediatrician along with the nurses. And let me know that because Rhyan was a c-section and a hefty baby girl her weight loss was nothing to be concerned about. And it turned out she was right. Rhyan gained an ounce the following night as I mentioned above. As soon as I found out Rhyan was okay my blood pressure lowered and we were released.

Now here's a little info on our newest family member. She looks alot like her brother but she also looks different.

Remember Bruce:
Now here's Rhyan:
Bruce:
Rhyan:
Now a little history on the name. Right up till about two days before she was born her middle name was going to be my middle name: Janelle. But for the past month the middle name has not settled with me. I would shoot different middle names back and forth to Kiel but he would turn them down and say her name is, Rhyan Janelle. But I knew it wasn't. It was when I was on the phone to Frances that I told her about my thoughts of changing Rhyan's name. We shot ideas back and forth and as a joke she started naming all of Kiel's sisters. "What about, Rhyan Shelley or Rhyan Brigitte or Rhyan Lisa?" I responded, saying that would cause trouble. Each sister would be waiting for our children to have their middle name and there is now way I'm having 4 more c-sections on top of the 2 I already will soon have. But it was at that moment when I said "Rhyan Patrice, that is her name." And Frances said, Oh my goodness that is it! That is her name! I immediately got a spiritual confirmation and then made sure it was okay with Kiel. He loved it also.

Rhyan is the sweetest thing. I could not ask for a more mellow baby. When ever she is awake she has her mouth open. She also sleeps with her mouth her open. And check out her face when she is trying really hard to focus:
She is so cute! She wakes up once during the night to eat and doesn't even cry. I just hear her sucking on her fists and know that it is feeding time. She sleeps a lot during the day and has wake time at around 9 p.m. and then sleeps until 11. I wake her up for one last feeding and then she sleeps until 2 - 3 am. I feed her once again and this holds her over until 6:30 - 7.

I love the way she holds her little hands near her face, kicks her feet when I change her diaper and almosts breaks her neck trying to find food. I notice she does look more like me. I think she has my nose. She definitely has my feet. Her feet are so long they look like rabbit feet. I LOVE them. She also has really long legs. She fits in 3 month sizes, newborn is way too small. When she has gas, she lets out this large squeal that sounds like a tea pot when it's ready.

Kiel has hopped on the girl train and loves, loves, loves his little girl. They are so sweet together it makes my heart melt. He also loves all of the girly outfits I dress her in. I have relaxed since the hospital tho and dress her comfortably at home.
And here she is in her going home out fit. All of the volunteers rushed over to see the baby in the tutu. It's a onesie with a tutu attached. Love Target!

I should finish by saying, despite our hardships we are incredibly blessed. My dad and Karen took such great care of our little boy while we were in the hospital and took great care of us too. They brought Kiel breakfast every morning, gave him rides to Dr. appointments and back and forth to the hospital. Before they left they cooked wonderful meals that we are still eating today.

My mom and George are here now and picked up where they left off. This recovery has been so much easier than the first. The hardest part is me not being able to lift Bruce especially when he asks me to over and over and over again. (I found a trick tho and lift by just using my arms and not my stomach muscles, don't tell the doctor.) I love my job as a mother. I love changing diapers, preparing meals, setting schedules, reading books and playing with my babies. Right now I'm incapable of doing some of these things which makes me cry but I am grateful for those around me that can help us during this time.

Sorry for the long post, but as you can imagine my future blog posts will not be of much writing or explaining but just of pictures and I wanted to journal my thoughts here before I forget them.

Much love to all!
xo-

Kiel, Melissa, Bruce and Rhyan

Kiel

2011-07-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

Kiel got into an accident while he was at work. Here are pictures of the damage:

We are very lucky it wasn't worse and the airbags kept him in the car. I am so thankful to law enforcement that contacted me and stayed with my hubby at the hospital. They drove him home and his car home, kept me posted each step of the way and offered to take me to the hospital and babysit Bruce. It definitely is not a call I ever want to get again. Panic mode set in the minute I picked up the phone and it was the police department calling to let me know about my husband. I know those calls are never good. But it ended up being not so bad I guess. Timing of course could have been better.

Love you babe! Hope you feel better soon!

Update:
Well unfortunately this situation just keeps getting worse. Kiel goes into surgery for his hand on Thursday. They need to put pins in it and if that doesn't work (which the Dr. thinks it's such a bad break that it won't) he will need screws and maybe (worse case scenario) a metal plate. I'm hoping for the best case, that this surgery will go well and Kiel will begin to heal and have a full recovery. He hates feeling "helpless"and tries to help as much as possible but the reality is we are both dependent on family right now to help us take care of our family. Two parents on narcotics is not a good combo when you have a 15 month old and a newborn to look out for. I pray we recover soon.

Contractions...

2011-07-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

I'm having them. Lots of them. And I really can't go into labor until tomorrow, I mean I guess I can go at anytime, but it's really inconvenient. Here's hoping a bath will help them subside!

Hollyglen Park

2011-07-29T15:02:00.001-07:00

There are so many kid-friendly things to do here in SoCal, I think it's because no one is blessed with a spacious back yard. Hollyglen Park has a built in toddler pool along with a play structure that is perfect for the summer time. Bruce absolutely loved this place once his feet got used to the cold water. He just wanted to hold my hands and walk back and forth the entire time! I think we well go tomorrow when grandma and grandpa get here, so I don't have to do the walking ;)

The Nursery

2011-07-28T23:37:00.001-07:00

Minus a few things that I am waiting for, Bruce and Rhyan's room is pretty much done. Their room is perfect for a shared space although they will not be sleeping in the same room for awhile.

Rhyan's crib and wall decor. I'm waiting for a hand painted sign of her name that I bought on Etsy to go underneath the first shelf next to the picture. When she's born I will get her hand print in a picture design like I did with Bruce by Piggies & Paws and I will hang that by the light switch. On the shelves are a snow globe, a picture frame, a doll I got a long time ago and a barbie from the model collection. I need something to go inside the small shelf, but I'll worry about that later.

Rhyan's closet. She has more dresses than me and more clothes are coming on Saturday!
Both closets. Bruce has more clothes than Rhyan by a long shot. Those tupperware bins are full of clothes that are too big for him at the moment. And I can't forget the rocking chair and Bruce's Quilt that Omi made. I also left space on the wall for Rhyan's quilt ;)

Bruce's side of the room is decorated in sports. The blank space above on the wall is reserved for a newborn picture of Rhyan. In the picture below, I decorated Bruce's shelves with daddies cars, a vintage California book that was my grandmothers and a Giants visor. I am waiting for Bruce's handmade painted name sign to hang above his footprint.

Above, is a foot print of Bruce done by piggies and paws when he was 2 months old. Below is shelving that I got for Bruce and will now be shared with his sister. The left side is for Rhyan the right side is for Bruce.

A full shot of Bruce's side of the room.

Thanks to my wonderful husband who patiently hung shelves and pictures and took me shopping so I could finally put this nesting bug to rest! Now I just hope those name signs get here before Tuesday!

I'm walking

2011-07-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

Bruce took two steps awhile ago and hasn't done much since until about two days ago. He's made amazing progress. Tho, he still crawls about 90% of the time we think he will be a full time walker by the end of August. Check it out...

Rhyan's baby shower

2011-07-25T00:06:00.000-07:00

My friend Cambria threw me a really nice small shower for Rhyan. Bruce of course was the life of the party and entertained everyone by shaking his booty to the music. He also made out like a bandit at MY shower. Did you know Kiel and I have yet to buy him clothes? And he is set until he grows out of 4T.

We tried to decorate onseies but unfortunately the iron ons didn't work ;(
Monica opening up Bruce's gift. He got a carwash and LOVES it.
Opening up gifts for Rhyan. We got lots of baby girl dresses and outfits along with diapers, a girly boppy pillow, pacifiers and toys for her to play with.

Bruce hanging out with Aunt Lisa and of course making every one laugh.
The hostess with the mostest:
My friends who came to celebrate: Monica

Hanna and Ayu:
And of course Aunt Lisa had to buy Bruce a fitted outfit ;)

Yummy food and decorations:

And my friend Sunni was there, she's the one taking all of the pictures and has practically wardrobed Rhyan for her first year of life and spoils Bruce every chance he gets. She's the one who bought him the red car he can sit in and absolutely loves! I'm so blessed to have great family and friends to help us spoil our babies with lots of love.

Saying words

2011-07-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

Bruce is starting to say real words and it's so cute. At the end of the video he says "up"and "baby." In the beginning he is watching the Mickey Mouse Club.

Being a Mother

2011-07-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

Kiel read this article to me a couple days ago and I have read it five times since. I know it's old so most have probably seen it already. But I thought she did a really good job of capturing what it is that a mother does all day. I know when my childless friends ask me, so what did you do today? I give them the short answer, "oh, you know, the usual. I just kept the toddler alive for another day." Which is me trying to be funny, but now that I read that it sounds a little demented. So friends, this is what I do all day, besides QA customer service calls and attend to my husbands needs:

TELL ME ABOUT IT ®

(Nick Galifianakis for The Washington Post)

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By Carolyn Hax

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Carolyn:

Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

Okay. I've done Internet searches, I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.

Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy. You're funny.

Or you're lying about having friends with kids.

Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.

Internet searches?

I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.

So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.

It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.

It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.

It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.

It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself.

Write to Tell Me About It, Style, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071, ortellme@washpost.com.

Cut the Watermelon, Please!

2011-07-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

If you have hung out with Kiel and me longer than twenty minutes, you have probably witnessed, as Kiel likes to call it, our "banter" back and forth over something meaningless. We never really fight over something heart felt because most of the issues that matter we agree on. It's the stupid things that we stumble over and oddly enough it can trip us up for an entire day if we let it. Here is one that happened a couple months ago that I still laugh about. (Now, that day it wasn't funny in the slightest.)

I was making breakfast for Bruce and needed the watermelon to be cut in half and then quarters and then slices and eventually into tiny edible pieces. I tried to cut the watermelon into half and because our knives badly need to be sharpened I was unsuccessful. I asked Kiel, "Can you please cut the watermelon?" So he cut it in half and then proceeded to walk away.

"Where are you going? I need you to cut this."
"I did."
"Kiel, Bruce can't eat half a watermelon. I need you to cut it into slices."
"Well, you didn't ask me to cut it into slices."
"Yes, I did. I asked you to cut it."
"Yeah, you said cut it. You didn't say cut it into slices."

And there it was. The technicality that always trips me up when I'm trying to communicate to my husband. And this is when we banter back and forth. I assume he is just trying to irritate me by not doing what I said and he insists he DID do what I said and that's the problem.

Back to the watermelon.

I was completely confused. I thought my instructions were simple and easy to follow. Surely, he couldn't have possibly thought that when I said "...cut the watermelon" I meant just cut it in half? How could that possibly be of any help? This infuriated me for the rest of the day. And for the rest of the day we continued to have communication road blocks.

Me: "The dog needs to go potty."
Kiel: "Does that mean you want me to take the dog out?"

Me: "Bruce needs a bath."
Kiel: "Does that mean you want me to give Bruce a bath?"

Frustrated, I brought up the "watermelon argument" we had that morning. "How could you not know, when I said 'cut the watermelon' I needed you to cut it into edible slices?"

"We are back to the watermelon again? Fine, for now on. I will always cut the watermelon into slices. Never again will I just cut into half. Happy?"

"That's not the point. It's about our communication. How do you not know what I'm saying?"

"Because you want me to read your mind. I am more than happy to do what you ask as long as I know what you're asking. You just need to be more specific."

"Well, if you don't understand what I mean, you can just ask questions."

"Oh, no. I'm not falling into that trap again. Last time I asked questions you yelled at me."

"That's because you were asking questions to purposely annoy me."

"NO. Me asking questions annoyed you."

And now I was stumped. I thought I was specific. It wasn't until I came across this article: "Why do we fight: Blame it on our Brains." By Katherine Rosman. That it finally made sense to me. I had to laugh out loud. It's not EXACTLY like us, but it's pretty darn close.

To read the whole article click on the link above, but here is the part that sums us up in a nutshell:

"Here is how my brain works," Joe said, pointing to a jumble of charts, lines and graphs. He is a big A Quadrant/upper left guy: strong in quantitative, analytical and technical thinking. When he gets stressed, the analysis explained, he gets even more detail-oriented and focused on the sequence of what happened and who said what (B Quadrant/lower left).

If I needed any evidence of his methodical thinking, I might point to the fact that Joe was using a chart to show me why he thinks we got in a fight.

"I've taken it upon myself to conduct an analysis of your brain and you're are all upper and lower right," he said. I consulted the chart. This means I think artistically, emotionally and conceptually.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know these things about us," I said, tapping into my own Quadrant A logic. Joe looked a bit hurt that I was dismissing his PowerPoint presentation. So sensitive.

So there you have it! Don't you feel like you know us better?

Then and Now

2011-07-18T16:13:00.000-07:00

Last year: 07/18/2010

Today: 07/18/2011
37 weeks, with Bruce37 weeks with Rhyan:

This little girl is all out front! It's amazing what a difference a year makes, isn't it?

Bruce's Day - Happy 14 months

2011-07-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

Bruce is a funny kid. Each day he blesses our life and I get to see more of his personality shine through. And even though he is only one, I do see a lot of his father in him and I'm not referring to looks.

For instance, Kiel likes things in a particular order. In fact, he can't sit down and relax until everything is in its place; remotes lined up neatly on coffee table, all toys out of sight, trash on floor thrown in trash can, etc.. Bruce is the same exact way, but unfortunately, he doesn't have the same vision as his dad. Every morning is pretty much the same; after breakfast I get Bruce out of the high chair and allow him to have free play and every morning he can't free play until the living room is exactly how he likes it.

The very first thing he does; knock all remotes off coffee table one by one so they are scattered on the floor. Then he opens coffee table drawer and pulls out two coasters and places them UPSIDE down on coffee table. They must be upside down! After that, he proceeds to pull out his tiny toys that fit in the coffee table drawer and scatter those about. And then it's time to reorganize the t.v. equipment. He turns the x-box on, the Wii sensor gets thrown on the floor and the fios DVD also gets removed from the shelf. After that, he heads over to the shoes that are neatly lined up by the door and tosses each pair up in the air, where they fall is where they should stay ALL day. And last we head over to the electric reclining couch and press the button to make sure the couch is completely reclined. The odd part is, even though the room looks in complete disarray, each object was methodically put in it's new place in an orderly fashion. Like I said, he's a funny kid.He's the same way during meal times. First, nothing should be on his tray that he doesn't like. I usually have three groups of things on his tray at the same time. He will try one from each group first, to make sure he likes them all. If there by chance happens to be something he doesn't like (such as anything green) he takes each piece and chucks it on the floor AND only after his tray is visually to his liking will he chow down.

He can spend hours trying to figure out how something works. This morning he played with an empty teething tablet bottle, trying to figure out how to put the cap on and how to take it off. He only got frustrated when I twisted the cap on for him to show him how it worked and he couldn't twist it off. He also gets frustrated when you try to help him. He wants to figure it out, he wants to do it and every one else needs to back off!

He jabbers all the time and I think he might be part Italian because he always talks with his hands ;) Here's a little video, to show you what I mean.

and sorry it's sideways, I always forget to turn my phone the right way when taking videos.

Bruce is starting to get more confident when standing and yesterday he took 4 steps. But usually he drops to his knees and prefers to crawl. He'll get there soon!

The Hardest Day of my Life

2011-07-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Maybe some of you can relate...

Do you remember those college days when you had 16 hours of homework and only 3 hours to do it? Or worse, finals week with term papers, tests to study for, group projects and a 40 hour work week that always turned into 60 hours?

The one thing that got me through those times, besides red bull and youthful energy, was telling myself things that only naive, stupid people, that have yet to experience "real life" would say; "These would be the hardest times of my life and it would soon be over." Ha! I laugh.

I laugh because two weeks ago, the hardest day of my life was not writing a 60 page research paper on AT&T's business model, or putting together a powerpoint presentation about Apple computers and studying for three tests all worth more than half my grade. (I wish I kept one of my research papers, they would probably help get me asleep during these last days of pregnancy insomnia.)

Nope, my hardest day was trying to figure out how I was going to clean up my destroyed house, while the destroyer was still awake, make dinner, and do a load of laundry all in an hour before our dinner guests arrived and the only thing I wanted to do was sleep!

It was this day that Bruce was going to be Bruce and not change for anyone, not even his pleading mother. I would put the remotes, back on the coffee table and he would throw them on the floor. I put the couch back in seating position, and he reclined it. I stacked the dvds back on the shelf and he knocked them down again. "FORGET IT!" The missionairies would just have to deal with the mess.

I started dinner and Bruce did his normal, cry like a banshee until I picked him up so he could see what I was making.

Now onto loading the dishwasher, Bruce's favorite activity. I put a fork in, he takes the fork out and throws it on the floor and we continue this pattern until I get smart and put up the baby gate. And then He screams, and screams and screams, begging to be on the same side as me.

Kiel was upstairs sleeping before he had to work OT that night, but honestly no one can sleep while Bruce hollers on as loud as he possibly can. So Kiel came down stairs and I quickly sent him across the street to get quarters so I could pop in a load. "And take the beast with you!" But he didn't, he left him with me, hollering away.

When Kiel got back it was time for him to get ready for work. I sent Bruce upstairs with his dad, hoping he would calm down as soon as he heard the shower. But he didn't. He screamed in the bathroom the whole time. At least it was upstairs and not in the kitchen.

The missionaries arrived ten minutes early and proceeded to tell me they could hear Bruce yelling all the way down the street. "That's my boy!" I have to take credit for the loudness, if that's the only thing I gave him than so be it. He can look like Kiel and yell like me.

Bruce continued to yell all the way down the stairs until he realized we had company. And then he turned on his charm. He clapped his hands, smiled, kicked his legs and laughed. He did all the things that make the ladies go "he is so adorable, look at him flirt!" But, umm 19 year old boys? Yeah, they could care less. But this just made Bruce try harder. And he finally did get the attention he wanted but he did it by yelling like a cave man all through out dinner.

Soon dinner was over, my guests were gone and so was my husband. It was up to me to put the banshee to bed, clean up the mess and somehow unwind.

At the end of the day I felt accomplished, I did not lose my patience, I did not hide in a closet and pass out on a basket of clothes (although I was that tired, I could have), instead I persevered by doing one task at a time. And my last thought before I drifted off into wonderland was, I never would have made it through this day had it not been for Kiel.

During these last days...

2011-07-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night I completely melted. I gave way to the instability of hormones, life changes and motherhood sensitivity. And it all started because Bruce was eating a beef and cheese taco, ALL BY HIM SELF.

Kiel started the conversation that is impossible to avoid, with my ever growing belly reminding us of the inevitable.

"We are going to have a new baby soon" He said nonchalantly

"I know." I agreed

"Are you excited?" He asked

"Yes and no." I pushed my dinner back and forth with my fork and looked up. He was waiting for me to explain.

"I'm sad for Bruce, we are totally messing up his perfect life. Pretty soon he is going to wake up and there will be a new baby. There is no way to warn him, no way to help him understand what is going to be here soon. One day he will be the only child, the next he won't. He won't get the attention he DESERVES anymore."

Kiel, who is always so logical and rational when I am illogical and irrational simply replied "Giving him a sibling is not going to mess up his life."

But I started to cry anyway. Somehow my brain or heart or whatever couldn't compute how it would all work out. I'm not concerned with loving two precious babies at once but how would he know I still loved him when my affection was going to be split? How could I say goodbye to a time in my life shared only with my son and no one else? Those busy mornings and slow afternoons just the two of us with cheese and juice and fishy crackers--gone forever?

It felt like prepartum depression.

I cried until I went to bed.

The next day Kiel was home and I made him put together Bruce's car at 9 in the morning. Bruce of course needed to be involved in every step (all 38 of them to be exact.) Once it was all put together we took Bruce for a stroll around the neighborhood. He was beyond thrilled. He turned the key, back and forth and back and forth again. He moved the steering wheel. He beeped the horn. And he stuck his arms out like he was riding an airplane as Kiel went super fast down the street.

After nap time, we decided that this day would be the day we got Bruce a big boy car seat.

So we packed everyone up and headed out to run errands. Our first stop was the cleaners and then the car wash. While we waited, I bought an astro pop and let Bruce have a bite. He thought it was too cold and didn't want anymore. Kiel took him to the pond so he could see the fish.

We sat down on the brick wall together, Bruce gripped my shirt with his left fist and pointed with his right hand at the fish. "Dat, dat?"

"Those are fish." I said. He just sat and stared, kicking his legs against the brick wall and after what seemed to be an eternity, he turned to me and said "uppeee, upppee."

I turned to Kiel, "Kiel, he wants up." Kiel scooped him up and tossed him in the air. Bruce laughed and wanted more. We then got into our clean car and headed to Walmart.

We speedily walked through the aisles, grabbed some socks for the boy and his car seat. Bruce happily sat in the cart swinging his legs back and forth and eating his grahm bunnies out of a plastic bag, occasionally he would take a sip of water. I quietly thanked God for the short check out line and out the door we went.

I put Bruce up in the front seat with me while Kiel switched out the car seats right there in the parking lot. I let Bruce play with all the buttons, and not one button went untouched. We then buckled him in and Bruce was able to ride in the car forward facing for the first time.

As we drove home, I would glance back at Bruce, his mouth wide open and his eyes so big they looked like they were propped open with match sticks. He watched in awe as traffic lights changed colors, cars drove through intersections and ambulances drove by with sirens.

When we got home it was time to go on another family walk and Bruce went around the block in his car. It was just as enjoyable as it was that morning.

Afterwards, it was time for the same routine; dinner, bath and bed. I sat in the rocking chair, while Kiel put on Bruce's pajamas. Bruce played his piano for a few minutes and then crawled to me for story time. We said prayers and then layed him down. "I hope you had fun today, buddy." And then we left.

And I know he will never remember a second of that day, but I will.

It was all for me anyway.

Pretend City

2011-07-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today Bruce and I had a mommy and me date and went to Pretend City in Irvine. This place knocked the Zoo and the Aquarium out of the water. He had so much fun and was so excited about everything he barely ate lunch.

Pretend City, is a miniture town for children and includes everything from farms, to grocery stores, to cafe's, to real estate, to police departments, to beaches, marinas, a mini park, and even car dealerships.

The goal is to make as much money as you can by working at the cafe or grocery store or car dealership so you can buy a car or a house or the cafe or the store or even the farm. The grocery store, buys produce from the farm so whoever owns the farm makes money from the grocery store. The cafe buys their food from the grocery store so whoever owns the grocery store makes money from the cafe along with making money from their customers. It's a really neat concept that Bruce had nothing to do with. I did buy him his first tractor from the car dealership and he had fun taking that thing everywhere.

Bruce loved playing at the farm, the pretend park, the beach, the gas station and he was also a dispatcher for a short minute. He called the police to let them know there was a robbery at the cafe. It sounded like this on the loud speaker: Bababa dadadadada da! Great work buddy. The robbers were never found.

Anyway this place is great for ALL ages, Bruce had a BLAST! On the 2nd Friday of every month they have a 2 for 1 admission deal. Kiel missed out because he had to work so we are going to make it a family trip pretty soon.

Frumpty Dumpty Sat on a ...Couch

2011-07-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

Frumpty Dumpty had a big pouch...

Frumpty Dumpty always says "Ouch"

I'm not feeling myself these days. I think Kiel said it best the other day when he said "I can't remember what you look like when you're not pregnant." I hardly remember either. I think I'm a little more bipolar during this pregnancy than I was with my first.

But soon my moods will subside and I'll have a little tiny baby to hold, that will sleep anywhere and all of the time. It will be great ;)

Meet our newest addition

2011-07-06T22:28:00.000-07:00

We talked about getting this baby more than we talked about having kids. Happy Father's day, Birthday and Merry Christmas to Kiel!

Happy Independence Day

2011-07-05T23:32:00.000-07:00

Our 4th of July was really low key. Well, as low key as you can get with a raging, over heating, pregnant woman and a cranky toddler.

We started the morning off with our ward pancake breakfast. This was Bruce's second breakfast of the day and he ate two pancakes, two pieces of sausage and a bowl of fruit all by himself. He is a bottomless pit these days.

Here is our family picture, I look absolutely awful but I had to include it because this is the first time Bruce did a "cheese" for the camera! He's getting so big and comprehending things, I didn't even know I taught him!
Afterwards, Bruce took a long nap before we headed downtown (2 minutes down the street) to see how the little beach town was celebrating. It wasn't really our crowd and there was absolutely no parking so we went back home and Kiel BBQ'd an awesome meal. Luckily we live so close to the firework show we didn't have to go anywhere. Bruce slept through all the fireworks, surprisingly since there were some kids setting them off right on our street. I tried to send Kiel out there with his gun and badge twice to get them to knock it off...but he thought I was over-reacting. It was just 2 years ago that WE were the kids putting on our own firework show...I am getting so old!

One of my facebook friends posted this in her status on the 4th: Today is the anniversary of Abraham Lincoln, signing the declaration of independence which abolished slavery, Happy 4th everyone!

Oh my, someone needed to lay off the dope during elementary school. Even my nieces know the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation. Anyway, she got an overwhelming amount of comments letting her know how WRONG she was. It was quite funny.

Happy 4th!

It's about Father's day and about time

2011-06-30T21:43:00.001-07:00

A message from Bruce to his dad:

My dad is the coolest person on the planet and here's why:

He's super funny and makes me laugh even during church:

He's very handy with tools and makes me a make-shift play pen so I can watch him sand mommy's junk:

He let me ride shotgun when he parked his car from the driveway to the garage. It was so intense, I just sat there and took it all in.

He's super tall and lifts me up so I can see all of my surroundings. Plus, check out who I get my good looks from.

He got me a season pass to the aquarium, the seals and sharks and jelly fish are things I could stare at all day. This trip the octopus scared me and my dad lifted me up and saved me.
I follow my dad EVERYWHERE! From the second he gets home to the time I go to bed. Here's a photo of me waiting 15 minutes in front of the bathroom door until my dad was finished with whatever he does in there. Mom took a picture because it's the LONGEST I have ever sat still while I'm awake.
Thanks dad, I can't wait to play tomorrow.

Bruce belated 13 month post

2011-06-30T17:29:00.001-07:00

I haven't blogged in awhile and really don't like my last post so it's time to catch up.

Brucey boy is getting so big and although the milestones have slowed down slightly, cognitively I see a new development everyday.

He blows kisses, gives high fives, tries to copy every sound you make and your hand gestures. He knows daddy in sign language along with more, thank you and hungry. I'm sure he would pick up on a lot more, but I need to teach myself first.

He says the words "up," "dada," "daddy" "mama" "no no" "ya ya" "dat" (for that) "do" (for dog) and are you ready for his combo? ...boo boo bear! When Bruce gets hurt he asks for his boo boo bear in his most dramatic voice and this magical thing calms him right down. It sounds more like booo booo bare when he says it. Hmm, it's hard to describe. Really it's an ice pack with a bear on it. I sing his boo boo bear song and the tears stop!

He also knows his opposites, when I say no he says "Ya, ya" and when I say "Ya" he says "no no!" Ha!

For some reason Bruce loves playing in his little sisters crib.

And check out his new hair cut... BeforePs. he took the above picture all by himself while we were driving from the aquarium. Not bad eh?

After

I think he looks more like his cousin Jack with his new hair do.

Anyway this kid is adorable. He learns something new and annoying everyday and I can't help but laugh. He loves to walk while we hold his hands and he took two steps the other day, he thinks it's a game. We try to get him to stand but he flaps his arms so fast in excitement he falls forward.

He favorite thing is to dance, on the stairs. Alright must go cook dinner!

Things I'm obsessed with as of late...

2011-06-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

The Casey Anthony trial... I can't get enough. I've read 317 pages of interviews, watched hours of tapes and now wake up early so I can catch the trial live, eastern time. It's extremely sad and disturbing. I can't figure out what's worse, Casey murdering her daughter or her parents standing by her side. After going through all of the evidence, I can't possibly understand how they could think their daughter is COMPLETELY innocent. Now i'm depressed, onto happier obsessions.
Free Cycle.Org, Frances introduced me to this site. It's a site where people recycle their junk under one condition, it must be completely free. No trades, exchanges, or money can be involved. The first person to take it off the givers hands gets the treasure. So far I've gotten a crib, unused still packaged hair bows for Rhyan, a car play mat for Bruce and this lovely gem below...

It's a beat up desk that will go perfect in my "antique" guest room as soon as Kiel sands, stains and lacquers this beat up thing. We're making progress.
And another thing I'm obsessed with... Chocolate cake! I made this baby a day ago and half is missing already! And yes I'm responsible for every single crumb gone.

And lastly, I'm obsessed with the guest room. I'm obsessed with making it look like a bed n' breakfast. Pictures to follow once it's completed. Because of this obsession I am also obsessed with home goods and their unbelievable reasonable prices of mirrors and wall decor.

Bruce's 1 yr photo shoot!

2011-06-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

I'm excited that I finally got Brucey boy's photos back from his 1 year photo shoot! Alexia Sotelo has been Bruce's professional photographer since Bruce was 6 days old, so I thought it was appropriate to have her take his 1 year pics as well.

I wanted the photo session to take place at Wilson Park, the same place we had his birthday party. As you can see when you scroll through the pictures, there are lots of different locations within the park that make for great pictures ;) If you haven't noticed by now, I'm not a studio picture person, I like the aesthetics of the out doors and for this particular shoot; I wanted things to be fun, colorful, and boyish.

The props were carefully selected to portray the theme mentioned above. All props were in primary colors, playful and perfect for little boys. I brought the balloons and the beautiful quilt made for Bruce by his Omi. The colors were perfect for what we wanted to portray (don't worry, Omi it didn't get one piece of dirt on it) and really popped against the green grass. Alexia provided the red wagon, green chair and tricycle. I kept the outfits simple.

Wilson park provided the railroad sign and caboose for a more rustic feel.

Out of 90 pictures, I selected 25 that captured all facial expressions, props and scenery. Hope you like them, and let me know what one's you want prints of. I love them!

The above picture, was a "behind the scenes" shot if you will, but I chose it as one of the final 25 pictures because I like how Bruce is happy as a clam even though all of our photo props are practically stacked on top of him. Plus the colors look great!

Hawaii!

2011-05-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

This trip already seems so long ago, but I finally have time for a little recap.

For our 2nd anniversary, we took a trip, just the two of us to the beautiful state of Hawaii. We went to the island of Oahu and stayed on the northside at the beautiful Turtle Bay Resort. The northside of the island is more native and less tourist and it's beyond gorgeous.

I really do not feel like organizing the pictures, but this is what we did: We went to pearl harbor, the Polynesian cultural center, there we experienced a Luau and saw "Ha, a breath of Life" which is an amazing play that included everything Hawaiian and fire dancing. We did some temple work (the temple was less than 15 min. from our hotel.) We hung out at the resort and on the beach. We went to a flea market and picked up some cool souvenirs...turns out Kiel has really good negotiating skills. We ate at native restaurants, shrimp heads anyone? We got sun burned. Swam in the ocean and resort pools, relaxed and had a blast.

Disgusting plane food.

And Bruce? Well he had a blast as well, in CA with his Omi and Opa and little cousins. He got to see Nana and Papa as well.

All Aboard for Brucey's first party!

2011-05-22T16:23:00.000-07:00

The Theme: For B's first party, we decided to do a train theme. There happened to be a park near us that gives free train rides on the third Saturday of every month, so it turned out perfect.

The Invitations: I made the invites look like train tickets and brought a hole puncher to punch the ticket when the kiddo's arrived (that step was missed tho.)

The Decorations: I kept the decorations minimal. We had balloons, table cloths, napkins and plastic ware and goodie bags all in primary colors.
The Cake: I can't take credit for the cake, it was Amy who gladly came over and helped my idea come to life and it was Lisa who came over early in the a.m. to assemble the cake and add the finishing touches. But if you are wondering what the green blob is in the middle, that's suppose to be a hill and yes I did that all by myself, thank you!
Finished product:

The Menu: We did a bbq, and had Choo Choo Cheeseburgers, hot dogs, salad, fishy crackers, bella cheese and mac and cheese.
The Birthday Boy: Bruce was dressed as a train engineer, although he didn't wear his hat very well ;(

Activities: The kids played at the park and rode on the train.

Goody Bags: All the kids got a train whistle, an engineer hat, a train sucker, balloon and train stickers.

The Guests:
All in all, it was a really fun birthday party. For more pictures click here

wish list

2011-05-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

These are some of the cute frilly things I'm looking forward to in August:

Tiny Dancer Baby Ballerina Chiffon Tights by Mud Pie

Leg Warmers

Chiffon hat with matching flower

1 year

2011-05-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

Can you believe how old Brucey boy is? I have to say I feel physically better this time of year than I did at this same time last year ;)

It's been a very busy month and it's been all about Bruce. Hence the reason, I haven't blogged about our awesome Hawaii trip.

Today Bruce had his one year check up: 30 inches tall, 23 lbs and 6 ounces, 47 cm head circumference. All in the 50th - 75th percentile.

We are on day 2 of no bottles and this little boy is taking it like a champ! No complaints, I'm so proud of him.

Bruce is teething big time right now. He cut his right canine and right top 1st molar and he's currently cutting 2 bottom molars on each side. We've hardly had to give him anything for comfort except ice cold watermelon.

One of his big accomplishments that he is so proud of is he has figured out how to go down the stairs. It's one of his favorite things to do. That and open and shut his closet doors. Mommy likes supervising his closet door activity better than the stairs so we only let him play on the stairs when it's time to go up them, i.e. to change his diaper. I have a video of him climbing up and down the stairs. But it won't post. :(

I might have already mentioned this, my prego brain can't remember anything lately, but we had a 1 yr photo shoot for our little man. Alexia was there when he was first born and has taken all of his professional pictures. I love her work and am sad she won't be able to take newborn pics, of Rhyan. She's already booked ;( And I won't hassle her too much since she has 4 month old twins and a two year old to juggle. Anyway, if you want to see a sneak peek click on this link: 1 year photo shoot or go to my facebook wall.

While staying at Omi's Kiel cleared out a few boxes he still had stored there and he found his music bear stuffed animal that he loved as a baby. This is now Bruce's favorite thing to snuggle with during bed time. Move over stuffed dog, music bear is hear to stay. I wish I wasn't running out of his room as fast as I can while laying him down for bed or else i could video tape his giant smile when ever we wind up music bear and hand it to him.

Bruce has also phased out his 2nd nap of the day. He now takes one 3 hour nap from 11 - 2 and sleeps 12 hours at night.

This coming Saturday is B's birthday party. We are super excited to jump on the Bruce Wayne Express and celebrate his birth. Pics and details to follow.

Peace out!

Say Hello to the Birthday Boy!

2011-05-16T22:10:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday Bruce!

For my special day mom made me my favorite breakfast: scrambled egg yolks, (but this time she fed me the whole egg) toast and I tried strawberries for the first time. I loved them! I also drank whole milk mixed with formula in my big boy sippy cup!

After my breakfast I got to open my present. I got a water table which I can play with outside, a toy story ball and some cars.

Mom decorated the room for me and I really enjoyed the sign.After dinner I got to try cake for the very first time. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

I loved it! Thanks Aunt Brittany for the recipe.

Thanks for the presents and the cards!

Best,
B

April

2011-05-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

Is April really over? Talk about a whirlwind, holy smokes! Let's see what did we do in April?

The first week of April began with me starting my new job, finally!
We apartment hunted
Successfully found an apartment and went back and forth on paperwork
Moved
Bruce turned 11 months old and learned how to crawl upstairs
Vacationed for 12 days
Celebrated Easter
Left our baby for the first time
Went to Hawaii
Got sunburned
Celebrated an anniversary
Enjoyed time with family
Osama was captured and destroyed and because I don't want to end on the unlucky 13...
Melissa is officially big and pregnant!

And I would like to think we can slow down in May, but it's already booked...the biggest event? Bruce turning 1 of course! His photo shoot is next week, can't wait!

Our new place

2011-04-22T22:08:00.001-07:00

I have a lot of posting to do, but before I forget here is our new place, kinda put together. I still have boxes to unpack and nesting to do before it's officially "home" but here are some shots:

All three bedrooms are upstairs, the guest room is not shown because it is really disorganized.

Our bedroom and Kiel, exhausted from moving:

Bruce's room:

Family room:

Dining room:

Kitchen:

Downstairs bathroom:

Stairway:

Upstairs bathroom:

11 months

2011-04-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Bruce turned 11 months on the 16th and we have been so busy, I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.

Bruce spent his 11 month birthday at our new apartment and we went out to dinner that night to Kincaid's. It was gorgeous because it is right on the ocean. Bruce was an angel, he drank water from a straw, gulped down silky mashed potatoes, cauliflower, beets and bread. Omi and Opa were there to help us move and celebrate.

We now have stairs in our place and Bruce learned how to crawl up them in about 15 minutes. I thought I had a couple of weeks, but I only had a couple of minutes. Kiel and I are trying to teach him how to crawl down them backwards, safely, but he hasn't mastered that yet.

Bruce loves his new place and his bedroom, he has so much more room now to play. His new thing is to knock down the towers mommy builds with blocks, he will only let me get them 3 blocks high before he knocks them down.

Bruce loves to cruise the couch, coffee table, chairs, anything he can really. He loves us to hold his hands so he can walk and he loves his walker.

Bruce loves avocado, egg yolks, turkey, yogurt, apple sauce, bread, and much more.

Bruce is turning one year old in less than a month! I can't believe it. On to the party planning. It gets competitive out here, I've been to a circus party, a trip to mars, fire fighters, never never land and all have been outstanding...I hear the birthday train making his rounds and stopping at Bruce's grounds. Choo choo!

Easter Party

2011-04-14T13:58:00.001-07:00

Walka walka

2011-04-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

Where we live

2011-04-10T11:27:00.000-07:00

We are staying put for another year and we LOVE being Redondo Beach residents and here's why:

Beautiful sunsets on the beach.

Sun setting at Redondo Beach Pier, a 2 minute walk from our apartment.

Bike weather almost all year long:

Bike riders

I think it's time to invest in a bike trailer for the little ones so we can cruise on the bike path with the ocean as our view.

We have our choice of going to seven beaches within seven miles of us:

Torrance Beach

Redondo Beach King Harbor Sign

Kiel and I love the King Harbor and walk there often. It's the closest beach to us and where all of the dead sardines showed up a couple days before the earthquake in Japan.

Scenic drives:

Redondo Beach Light house

If you drive down Pacific Del La Playa, you will find this beautiful light house along with a scenic route the entire drive. The park where we took our Christmas pictures is not far from here.

Not only is it beautiful, but everything is within arms reach. Malls, farmers markets, super markets, ice cream shops, cute boutiques, the temple and much more are all within a 20 minute driving distance.

Come visit!

Collage of Thoughts

2011-04-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

I have a bunch of stuff to post, but I'm not sure if I should do it in one GIANT post or several mini posts. I guess I will figure that out at the end when we see what this blog post has turned into.

Our little boy has been running a high fever off and on for the past two weeks. We're not quite sure why, the pediatrician feels that little Bruce is getting his molars; by far the most brutal of the whole teething process ;( Anyway it's been scary and tiring tending to little Brucey's needs. For the first time in my life I actually got to see Kiel scared. I've seen him nervous, grumpy, happy, content, calm but never scared. But if a 103 temp on your first born isn't going to do it what is? As for me, I like to remain calm during the storm and then freak out afterwards. For the past couple of days, Bruce has been feeling better and we are very grateful for this and childrens' Tylenol.

Because Bruce has been feeling under the weather he has been in the snuggling mood lately. Here he is with Uncle Steve during conference:

General Conference was very uplifting. Both Kiel and I learned things to improve our lives and strengthen our marriage. My favorite talk was by Elder Richard G Scott. It was great to hear him speak so lovingly of his wife Jeanine and his advice on family and marriage.

We had a great time at the Jordan's and enjoyed great food. Montana had fun too and was completely warn out the next day. I wish I had video of Mariah and Jack playing with his tail, it was too cute. Here we are on conference Saturday:Kiel worked all night so he tried to get some shut eye.

Lisa Shelley and Bruce

I finally started my job. I've been in the office this week while Kiel stayed home with Bruce. I am so thankful that this was the only week I had to do that. I missed my baby and taking care of him. He missed me too.

The weather has been absolutely lovely. We've been able to go to the beach. Something I don't necessarily feel like doing often with a mobile toddler. But Bruce had fun:e
And lastly, we find out today if we are moving to a 3 bedroom apartment! We are hoping for the best. Wish us luck!

The Zoo

2011-03-26T19:54:00.001-07:00

We have been trying to go to the zoo for a couple of days now and today was finally the day it worked out (well, kinda.) Of course today was the most gloomy of all days and even though it only had a 20% chance of rain it still rained (Friday was a 50% chance and guess what it didn't rain.) Oh the irony.

Anyway, I packed the lunches while Kiel packed the diaper bag (remember that for later, Melissa packed lunches, Kiel, diaper bag. Got it? Ok!) and we were out the door as soon as Bruce woke up from his morning nap.

I know Bruce is at the age where he will never remember this event but he is also at the age where his surroundings excite him. Anything new must be explored, observed and enjoyed. And even if he doesn't remember the zoo tomorrow, he had a great day today. Plus, he's a free admission ;)

For us as parents, taking our son to the zoo for the first time was more fun than when we were kids and went for the first time. I became overwhelmed with excitement when I watched Bruce become overly excited over a lizard or prairie dog. And to know that I made his day different, more interesting and gave him a new experience is by far the best day I will ever have.

When we arrived we started at the exhibits of rehabilitation. Below are animals that have been injured in someway and are now in rehab:

In the prairie dog field you can stick your head in a bubble to get a closer look:
Bruce enjoyed the animals and had his most inquisitive look on at ALL times:

I figured I fit in mostly with the cows so I might as well take a picture by cow artwork. Baby Rhyan helped me gain 9 lbs this month so the bump is significantly larger than last month.
After a brief hour of animal sightings we stopped at the picnic tables for lunch.
Bruce is really getting the hang of eating real food. He's been eating a lot actually. For lunch he had apple sauce, half a banana, and turkey. Once we were all done we decided to head to the real part of the zoo to see the elephants, giraffes, etc. but we ended up going no where.

I went to tip Bruce back in his stroller so he could drink his bottle and this foul odor wafted right up to Kiel's nostrils.

"Aw, man he totally pooped" Kiel said.
"Great" I replied, "It's going to be a big one because he didn't go yesterday."
"Oh, yeah it's all over him." Kiel observed some more. "Dude, it's up to his belly."
"Ok, did you pack a spare outfit?" Stupid question, of course he did. He ALWAYS does.
"Nope"

So I raced down to the gift shop while Kiel sat with Mr. poopy pants to see if I could find sweat outfit or pants of some sort. They had tons of t-shirts, sweat shirts and a cute zoo-keeper costume but no pants, sweats, or bottoms of any sort. Our zoo trip was over.

We went to the family bathroom because this was definitely a mess for two to clean up and wiped him down. I rinsed out his shorts in the sink and then realized we would have to stroll Bruce out in just his diaper and t-shirt. Mind you it was a cold day. All children under three had jackets and 50 blankets on top of them. I couldn't be one of the judged parents. I just pictured strolling Bruce out of the bathroom in just a diaper and all of the moms pointing with their jaws dropped open. "How dare she" they would say, "Her baby is going to get pneumonia." No way, no how was I going to be one of those. So we decided on plan B.

Bruce would wear his jacket as pants and Kiel would run as fast as he could to the parking lot before anyone would notice:
And it worked! So next time I will pack lunches and remind Kiel of all the things we need to pack while he's packing the diaper bag.

Sounds like a plan!

I Love it when my husband does this:

2011-03-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Almost there baby cakes! You'll get it next time for sure :)

Aquarium of the Pacific

2011-03-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

We went to the Aquarium on Friday and had a blast! It's not as big as the Monterey Bay Aquarium but it's still really neat and only twenty minutes away. We got a season pass so we can go often. Bruce loved it so far. We didn't get to see everything because Bruce can only take so much before he becomes over-stimulated but here are some pics of us. The full album is posted on facebook.

The jellyfish were his favorite, I feel sorry for the janitors that have to clean the glass in that place...

They had a lot of touch pools, I got to pet a sting ray and we let Bruce watch...he's so funny when he has his serious face on. He is just trying to figure everything out! Such a cutie.

This Friday we are going to the zoo, we'll let you know how that goes too!

Baby Girl

2011-03-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

Yep, baby # 2 is a girly girl! I went shopping at Khol's today for baby girl stuff. Ps. if you need to shop for clothes Khol's has an awesome sale going on this weekend. You can get a fancy Easter dress for just $10 bucks. Everything I bought was 50% off plus you get an additional 15% off your entire purchase at checkout just mention "family and friends" discount. PLUS you get $10 bucks to spend on your next shopping trip, no purchase necessary.

I bought, lots of summer dresses, a cute little swim suit and Bruce got a few things too. Sooo adorable!

I know I openly announced we were hoping for a b-o-y, but that was only because i thought it would be fun for two brothers to be so close in age. We are super excited for a little girl and if I have one boy and two girls that would be fine with me. And now I can still call Bruce my baby boy, because let's face it he will still be just a baby.

Oh and yes we have a name all picked out. Rhian Janelle or Rhyan Janelle or Rhiann or Rhyann but not Ryan...obviously I still need help with the spelling. I think I'm leaning towards Rhyan...thoughts?

Little Rye is 11 ounces and a healthy little baby. All tests have come back with great results. And just yesterday I felt her little jabs and kicks. My favorite part of the pregnancy by far. It comforts me to feel movement and know that she's still there.

We crave lots of healthy foods (tomatoes, garlic, avocado, beans) and then slurpees, lots of red dye anyone? And of course red dye gives me heart burn...grrr.

I carry high and wider than I did with B.

I am always hot, and can't stand wearing layers (a major problem for us mormons) so I bought some Bermuda shorts and crew neck tees to help me wear as minimal layers as possible. So far so good. Although crew neck has never been a flattering cut for me.

I still get nauseous from time to time...raw chicken anyone? GAG, my stomach turned just by typing that.

So far I think my weight gain is less than around this time with B but we shall find out on Friday. I feel lighter anyway :)

I can't believe it's half way over!

10 Months

2011-03-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

B is 10 months today! This means my photo sessions are getting a lot more difficult. I doubt the hat will make it in next month it barely made it this time

I'm so mad this photo below is blurry. I've been trying to teach him to blow kisses and today he finally did it! But when I remove the flash from my camera any movement blurrs the picture, you can still tell what he's doing though. So cute!

Instead of listing all of the things he does, like a usually do I'm just going to announce my favorite things that he does.

Whenever he's excited he pants like a dog
He dances to all types of music. His favorite is hip hop and least favorite is heavy metal (thank goodness. Mommy hates that music too.)
He now hates wearing a shirt and pulls on it and cries until I take it off. (This won't be cute for very long, but it is now.)
He entertains himself and makes himself laugh all the time
Montana is his best friend
He's my traveling man! So easy to travel with, i love it.
When he wants more food he flaps his arms up and down
Whenever he hears the bath water or a vacuum he races to get to the source
Whenever he sees a stranger, he stares them down and turns his head all the way around as we walk by so he wins the staring contest

I will say these few things though: He is much better at eating solid foods and he's starting to cruise all things by standing and walking around them.

Here's a few pictures I took a long time ago but never posted them. You can tell this is when we didn't have his eczema diagnosed yet:

He was falling asleep in the swing so he wouldn't look up!

And this is him when I left for two days, he looks so much more grown up. I can't believe it~

Girl trip!

2011-03-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

Cambria and Katie in matching rompers

Palm springs is the perfect place for a girls trip! It's only an hour and half away, at least twenty degrees warmer and a perfect place to relax.

I'm lucky to be surrounded by friends that have more money than me, so I can enjoy there perks without paying the bill:) Four of us girls from my church stayed at Cambrias' parents condo in Palm Springs for the weekend.

We lounged by the pool:

Here I am stuffing my face

We ate wonderful food:As you can see baby # 2 is developing wonderfully. You might or might not recognize our friend at the end. If you are a fan of the show Criminal Minds, than you'll know AJ Cook or if you've seen Kiel's favorite movie Out Cold you would recognize her as well. Notice, I try and stay as far away from that beauty as possible but it still doesn't make a difference. She still out shines me from far away. They pretty much all do, don't I have gorgeous friends?

And of course it wouldn't be a girls weekend if we didn't shop at the outlets! Gap, J Crew, Levis, Saks, oh it was so nice!

Bruce and Kiel stayed at home enjoying the weekend without me around. Kiel let Bruce run around with out a shirt on the whole time, so now Bruce hates shirts (great.)

This was test to see if we could leave Bruce for a week next month and Bruce passed with flying colors. And I have to say, if you are a mom and have never done a girls weekend, it feels like you just got the best 2 hour massage of your life. I came back so relaxed and ready to tackle my mom duties than I ever have before. I highly recommend it.

Thanks hubbie, for holding down the fort and letting me spend some time and money on just me:) You are the best!