New toy

Thanks amy and derek and Sarah...Bruce loves it!

Pumpkin Patch

Candy Corn Craft

Here is the finished project hanging on my door

It is my belief that candy corn is a sorry excuse for a candy, I'm sorry but it's true. I've never liked it. But today I finally found a reason why it exists...to make decorations.

Here is the easy peasy you can do it yourself candy corn wreath...

And the kicker, it cost 3 bucks. I bought a wreath ring at the dollar store and two bags of candy corn. I already had black spray paint at home. I sprayed the wreath ring black and hot glued the candy corn. The orange ribbon was on sale at Michaels, I would prefer black but that wasn't on sale. Wa la done.

I might add some spiders to it but as for now my eyes are dizzy. The best part was, I wasn't tempted to eat one stinkin piece of candy corn, not one.

It's been raining at our house. Bruce and I have snuggled in pj's watching movies while Kiel heroically goes off to work. When night falls Kiel comes home after the baby has been tucked away in bed for a couple of hours. The days are smooth, busy and always left with unfinished business for the next day.

Bruce is happy, hungry and tired in 4 hour cycles.

When the clock chimes twelve times in the am my cute little baby that you see in the above picture turns into a gremlin that has been doused with water. Last night we awoke at 12, 1:50, 3:30, 4:20 and 6:50 by which time I finally gave up and turned on the tube. Bruce went back to sleep and I snuggled with him in our bed desperate for some shut-eye of my own. We awoke again at 10.

He greeted me with a smile and his legs did a happy dance and just like that he made the night worth it.

I used to be a 10 hour sleep person. The days were unbearable if I didn't get at least 8. I was never a morning person.

Motherhood has changed all of that. I miraculousy survive with only 4 hours a night. I have strength to take care of someone else while I feel under the weather myself.

There is something about us that physically changes when we become mothers and it's not just having extra fat on our bones; it is something much, much more.

The Look

I have mother's intuition that Bruce's concentration look is going to play a huge part in his personality.

I remember the moment I got to hold him for the first time, he let out a whimper and I told him it was okay and he stared at me with his wrinkled forhead...for an ENTIRE hour.

Every stranger he meets, he studies very intently. Everyone comments at his furrow brow. I think he is just trying to figure out who they are and if he likes them.

I also think it's very cute.

Happy Birthday Steve

Steve is my brother according to the law x 2 (Kiel's brother in law). We love Steve for the following reasons:

1. He's a Libra and Libra's are amazing and well-balanced (we're feisty and sweet but never at the same time)
2. He's an 80's baby and it's a proven fact by me that children born in 1980 are The B-E-S-T
3. He turned 30 and survived (gives me hope)

And last we love Steve because we know we can count on him when I show up to events as a "single-mom." Steve carries Bruce back and forth, makes me food and takes care of our dog when he's about to pass out from heat exhaustion.

Happy Belated Birthday Steve!

The Bay Area...Again

So it looks like about once a month we go to the bay area and like always our week books up fast.

Bruce took his first plane ride from Long Beach to Oakland and I could kick myself in the shin 50 times for not taking one stink'n picture. But in my defense, I was flying with a child for the first time AND I was all by myself. Not to mention (I never got this phrase, because whenever you say "not to mention" it means you're going to "mention) Ahem, to "Mention" the plane broke down and we didn't even take off until an hour and an half after we were suppose to land. But we made it, Bruce did great and he got a set of wings that I can put in his baby book.

For the first few days we stayed with Aunt Frances and Uncle Mike, cousin Luke and Ashton. Bruce LOVED Aunt Frances and laughed so hard he pee'd his diaper. He loves her curly hair. Kiel picked us up on Wednesday and we stayed at Omi's the rest of our trip. On Thursday Bruce and I went over to Aunt Katies and we had a "cousin playdate." My cousin Lisa drove from Sacramento with her little girl Leilah (7 months), Frances came with Luke (3 1/2 months) and Ashton (3 1/2 years), so we could play with Katie's children, Micky (5 months) and Jerry (5 yrs). It was great to all get together and play with the babies. I was the last one to FINALLY join the baby club. Of course we talked about breastfeeding, childbirth, wake/sleep schedules and other fun stuff. And then we got the babies together for a photo shoot. I took these pictures below. My cousin is a great photographer, (she was my photographer at my wedding) and she took really good shots of the babies, which I will post separately.

On Friday we visited Omi at her work so she could show off Bruce. Everyone thought he was adorable and kept commenting on how much he looks like a boy. That's also what the nurses said when he was born.

I stopped taking pictures on Thursday so you'll have to suffer with journaling.

Patrice's flock (minus Brigitte, Tyler and Logan *sad face) gathered at her house for conference weekend and Bruce played with his cousin's on Kiel's side of the family. I love watching Mariah who is 3 and Ashton interact with Bruce. They are so gentle, caring and playful. Jack is great too, Bruce, bruce, bruce! And we can't forget little Sydney who is the only baby I have ever known to interact with babies at her age. Most children parrallel play until about 1ish. (How do you like that? My child development class I took 11 years ago still stuck.) This little girl laughs at everything Bruce does, hiccups, sneezes, and staring is all hilarious to her. And when you lay them side by side, she wants to see what Bruce is doing, trys to touch him and so on. It is very entertaining to watch and I am amazed at how developed she is in this area. Of course Bruce is not socially advanced and continues to ignore Miss Sydney.

We all watched conference together, played with the kids and ate really good food.

Unfortanately, Bruced did get a cold from the plane ride that he is still suffering from. Hopefully he gets better soon so he can get shots :D