Monday, January 03, 2011

Holiday Snow

Christmas and the New Year past by in a blur of family. It seems like so much build up and preparation for a season that is over in a flash. We are taking down our tree today and it makes me a little sad. I have enjoyed sitting in the living room, with the warm cozy glow the lights give.

Okay, enough of that. Here are some cute pictures of my kids.










Playing in snow drifts at Government Camp. Wearing my gloves because we can't figure out mittens.
















Baby in the Ergo baby. So overwhelmed by snow that she simply went to sleep.







We took a break from busyiness (yes, that is the made up word I want to use there) last Monday too go find snow. It was a cold, fun time. No snowshoeing this time, we just went to the mountain and let Caleb play in the snow then ate lunch at Huckleberry Inn. Caleb would have played longer but it was dark and baby was ready to go home. When he realized that we hadn't taken a picture of his snowman he tried to demand that we go back. Since traffic coming off the mountain was pretty heavy, we declined...Next time - we will definitely do that again.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Savoring a moment of quiet

Both children are down for naps and despite the chaos that we call "home" I am taking a moment. I am not procrastinating! Really! I am sitting looking at the lights on our tree.

Rats! Hearing a baby cry.

Nate downloaded the camera last night so I thought I would post a couple pictures. quickly now!


Caleb "helping" Tyler walk
















Nate and Caleb decorating our tree













Lucy "tackling" Caleb










hanging out on the jungle mat

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Rolling over

It is amazing how quickly the last month has gone. First was Caleb's second birthday. Then then I (Andrea) went back to work. Labor day, my birthday, and now Lucy is rolling over.
Lucy is a wonderful baby! She laughs, coos, likes to play on her mat, likes the swing, will tolerate sitting in her chair for a short while, and most importantly - she sleeps. Mostly even sleeps through the night.
Caleb is 2, definitely 2. He is growing a lot right now and is making his wishes known - most of the time very clearly. There is still a little language barrier, which leads to his frustration. But it's amazing what can be communicated in a 2-3 word sentence.

Life has had some ups and downs and in it all we are blessed!









This is Caleb "helping" - Nate says this is from the "Don't Turn Your Back" file. My dad was yelling, "Stay right there!" while snapping the photo. I was having heart failure.











Lucy and me at Red Robin for Caleb's birthday





















Lucy's view of Caleb and Nate reading. She is very interested...it won't be long before she is part of story time too!












Caleb doing a little drumming at Nate's work. Much to my surprise Caleb was quite adept at this. He's apparently been there before and has had a little practice.
















Lucy helping mommy cook by hanging out in her chair, she can be quite the conversationalist at times.



















"So I rolled over and this is it?"















Lucy is ready for dance lessons already and is trying to convince Nate that it is worthwhile to learn now. It won't be long before he is dancing at her wedding.














Tuesday, July 27, 2010

What a life!


Have you ever felt like things were going really well and maybe even feeling a little smug that life is going so well and then BOOM! an unexpected speed bump that knocks the engine out of your car or the wind out of your sails - or whatever that saying is, happens.
My sister called to tell me that her almost 1 year old, Tyler, has the Hand Foot and Mouth virus.
Yuck!?
He woke in the night with a high fever and they ended up taking him to the emergency room today. The bummer part for us is that he spent several hours playing at our house on Sunday. So if he was contagious then...well it looks like it may or may not be a rough week. I am praying that Caleb and Lucy don't come down with it and wiped all the toys off with Lysol wipes. Not a whole lot more I can do except drag Caleb to the sink an make him wash his hands a lot, or snap at him to get his hands out of his mouth, and then just be patient and wait. Incubation period is only 3-6 days...I really really hope that Lucy doesn't get it! Not that I don't care about Caleb too, but he is older so maybe I just don't worry as much. It's not like I am throwing him into a volcano or anything! Right?

Anywhooo... Got distracted by the screaming coming from Caleb's room. He had a busy day with Bapa and between the sugar and overtiredness, lets just say I feel sorry for Nate, but I'm going to do my best to block out the screaming - cause if I don't hear it, I don't have to help. Actually, he is usually a sweet adorable ACTIVE almost 2 year old, but sometimes...

Lucy, My most adorable daughter, is laying on the couch cooing at me and I would rather tune into that. She's is a totally mommies girl. I am not sure how that happened. I really don't think I did anything to make her that way, but my guilty confession is that I love it. It's kind of nice. On Caleb's list is Dada, Bapa, Mama, then Maemae. Baby doesn't even make the list although he does give her a kiss before bed, and if he hears her crying he does tell me "uh oh, beebee." The point is that it's nice to be first instead of third. I know - it's not a competition. It's just an honest confession! Perhaps it's the difference between bonding with a son vs. a daughter. Or maybe it's just that she sleeps at night, which means I get to sleep, or maybe it's because she is my last baby. I have no idea why it's different. I love them both, but differently.

Lucy is growing super fast. She just had her 2 month checkup. She weighed in at 10 pound 10 ounces, and 22 1/2 inches long! 50th percentile - not bad, Baby girl! She really doesn't have a double chin like it looks in the picture. I am not sure if it's the angle or the plaid. Other than the chin part, (sorry kiddo) I got them both smiling. Lucy is staying awake longer, cooing more, and smiling.
Anyway, other than the threat of impending hand foot and mouth virus, life is actually really good.
Some more pictures.





This is Caleb being silly, holding a baby wipe on his head and calling it a hat and laughing.






















I love baby stretches. They are full body!














Okay so cute Caleb story. These are jammy bottoms that Maemae and I made. We went to a fabric store last weekend and took Caleb and Lucy with us. When we got there one of the owners, who's name I've forgotten, was out watering their plants in the front. Caleb loves to water plants, so he ran up saying "help, help!' While we were convincing him that his help was not necessary an ambulance went by with it's siren on. In the end she turned off that water and then enticed Caleb into the store when she told him that there was fabric in the store with ambulances on it and that they should go find it. Once she found the fabric, he latched onto the bolt and carried it around. We parked him in a chair at the cutting table where he spent time looking at the ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars (the pants he's wearing). I picked out the truck/dump truck fabric. Mom and I decided to make him some pajama bottoms. Once the fabric was cut he carried it over to the register table and let them ring it up. But then insisted on carrying/hugging it out to the car. I was carrying Lucy in her car seat and Mom tried to help him down the stairs, apparently he was afraid she was after his fabric and went down the stairs on his bottom rather than relinquish the fabric. When he went down for a nap, we made the PJ bottoms for him. We were able to get 2 pairs done while he slept. We took him back to the shop so that he could show the ladies but even then he wouldn't let them take them from him. It was pretty funny!


Okay cute Caleb story number 2: Yesterday, we went to the beach. Before we left, we told Caleb that we were going to the beach. A common sentence from him till we got there was, "Yay! Beesh!" So this morning, when Nate was getting ready to go to work, Caleb figured out that he was leaving and grabbed his beach hat, bag and lunch bag that we had taken with us the day before and ran into the kitchen with them yelling, "Beesh! Beesh!" When we told him we weren't going to the beach, he started yelling, "Bapa! Maemae!" Thinking perhaps that they would take him. Bapa did come and rescue him and took him to lunch with Maemae and then off to the zoo and the children's museum.

Saturday, July 03, 2010

The last few weeks

The last few weeks have gone by in a blur. Nate took his vacation after Lucy was born. Then Nancy, Andrea's mom, took time off to help us out. And then Kyna, Andrea's Aunt, came out and spent time with Andrea and the kids and helped with some house projects. Now it Andrea and the kids! Caleb is a good big brother, although sometimes he gets a little jealous. Lucy is growing fast and has a horrible case of baby acne - It hurts to look at her face it looks so sore and scabby! Andrea is figuring out how to juggle both of them needed her at the same time




Napping before her doctor's appointment






















Caleb watering the garden






















Caleb modeling a new hand me down hat
He really likes hats!


















Lucy and MaeMae






















Caleb hiding under the quilting machine



















Caleb with his new ball that Kyna got him!

















Lucy with the start of her baby acne. It has unfortunately gotten worse!












Caleb keeping Lucy company during floor time

Saturday, June 05, 2010

A post about nothing really

Caleb recently discovered Thomas the train. He has had trains and a train table for at least a year, but only in the last month has he become obsessed with playing with them. Consequently we get to build tracks. Big tracks, little tracks, round tracks, oval tracks - any shape of track really. And then he destroys them so that we can build another. At story time, the Thomas books are currently the most requested. My favorite - Moo, baa, la la la is turned down every time. (Sigh) Cousin Tyler was over earlier this week, so Bapa, Tyler and Caleb played trains.



Lucy is going to have a find education on Thomas the train... Here she is with her eyes open. Up until the last couple days this was a rare occurrence.



















And here she is just being cute. I wanted to get a picture of her in the outfit before this, but alas the camera battery was dead - something that we never let happen when Caleb was a baby!

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

Demolition Man

I began our first major home improvement project and it wasn't even on our home. There are two sheds in our back yard: one is a chicken coop with a shelter off one end. It is solidly built on a concrete pad and seems to stay very dry year round. The other shed is a different story. While reasonably built, it is constantly damp inside. It is also dark and dirty. The outside shows clear signs of rot around the base. We decided even before purchasing our house that this shed would have to go.

Well, the day finally came for demolition to begin. With some help from Andrea's dad, I managed to tear it completely down in a couple of days. Now I just have to level the ground around the site and call Tuff Shed to come build our new shed. It will be bigger, sturdier and have more light.


I got plenty of help from Caleb































































And the last wall comes down.