Spring break and more

We decided we would take a birthday, early anniversary getaway and baby moon all at once. CJ's Brother and wife were kind enough to watch our kids for 2 nights, so we could escape for some time together. It was great! We just went to Newport Beach, about an hour north. CJ's mom gave us a free night at the Marriott and so we took it and ran. Well actually we biked all along Newport beach coastline. I was pretty proud that I could bike while 6 months pregnant, without too much trouble. We also ate out at Dukes, probably our most expensive meal ever. It was good, but really not worth it:). We relaxed and slept in. And just enjoyed the beautiful area.

CJ's brother Tim and family came to visit the last week in march. We always love to see them and enjoyed having them stay with us for a few nights. The picture of Caleb and his cousin Anya was just too precious. Caleb actually does love his princess dresses and dressing up. But who couldn't resist the ability to 'twirl!' He actually loves to be a "pretty princess," which I don't suppose will last and he is so cute and innocent doing it, (why shouldn't boys be able too)  I haven't fought it, but sometimes when others laugh at him, he does get embarrassed. and I feel bad for him not really understanding what they are laughing at. (Maybe I should explain to him)

For Lizzy's spring Break we drove up to my parents new house in Greeley Hills, Ca. I previously thought they had lived in the middle of nowhere in Patterson, but they proved me wrong. Now they do, but it is a beautiful mountain community and a beautiful new home there, but quaint and very peaceful. They are only about an hour outside Yosemite, so we took the day and went to Yosemite Valley. It was gorgeous, A bit too much walking for me in one day, but that is only cause we didn't know how to use the free bus system till too late. We loved our stay there. Just being with them is wonderful, but "camping" with modern conveniences was great. We joked about camping the whole time.

Tim and Kirsten joined up and went to Yosemite with us. Abraham, Caleb, Lizzy, and Anya had lots of fun together.

That weekend also happened to be General Conference and Caleb's 3rd Birthday. We were inside most the day listening to conference over the internet, and it snowed for us san diegans. Not quite enough to sled, but enough to throw and build a little snowman. Also kept us inside most the day. So we decided to make have our own family birthday party, with games, presents, and a homemade ice cream cake that was delicious. We played pin the heart on Caleb, and a ball toss. The kids loved it and we had a great time!

CJ, and the kids with their snowman, and our snow clothes!

I think my dad has always dreamed of living in the mountains, so with him retiring this year they decided to give it a try. I was hoping they'd brave the San Diego city life, but I think they like a slow pace lifestyle more. So here is my parents new mountain house. It was just beautiful and we loved being there.

Finally just a picture to show me at just starting my 7 month mark. This pregnancy has definitely been harder then the other two, but I'm sure the reward will be great. A LOT of work, but worth it right. We are so excited to have another child, but also terrified. More often than not CJ and I look at each other and say three. Three is good! Our kids are so fun, but pushing their parents to their limits. This pregnancy has just confirmed I don't want to do it again, so unless there is divine intervention at a later time, We are looking to be a happy family of 5! I love my kids and my husband so much and just grateful they put up with me too. Lizzy has just really been growing in her learning this year with Spanish, reading, and especially math. She just decided the other day she wanted to learn multiplication, so reluctantly I taught her and she totally got it and now does it for fun! Caleb's language has improved a ton and now discovering all kinds of ways to talk and express himself. He is a homebody and usually never wants to leave, (which is so opposite of Lizzy) But he is doing lots better with playing with others. It is so fun to watch him grow up. I am truly blessed.

Gratitude and kids!

I've really been trying lately to have a good attitude and look for the good around me rather than the negative. I'm not perfect, but I'll have to say I've really been able to enjoy my kids more and see the good around me rather than focusing on the frustrating and things I can't control. My kids are growing up so fast, and I'm trying to enjoy as much as possible.


So Lizzy has been in school all day four times a week, which has given me a lot of time alone with Caleb. I've really been able to focus on him and see his growth. He has become my little bud and we spend just about every waking moment together. He will be 3 in March and I can see his little personality really starting to develop. He is quite the funny guy. Always trying to get a laugh. Yesterday I started playing 'this little piggy' and he would grab his little pinky toe before i could and hold it, so I couldn't say. 'all the way home and tickle him.' He just thought this was so funny.
He also loves to wrestle and tackle anyone willing and sometimes not willing to play. His favorite game is "Roarrrrrr." Which CJ can't walk in the door without him asking, "Daddy Roarrrrrr?" over and over till CJ gives in. Caleb just loves to run around the house, get tickled and laugh. Caleb is also my little snuggler. He loves to come up and hug me or kiss me. And it of course just melts me, he is so sweet and loving. Caleb will only wear short sleeve shirts and shorts, which he also calls babies. (basically 'baby' =small or short and 'wow'=lots or long) He is a bit behind on talking and language skills, but it is pretty clever how he has learned to get his point across. He used to be afraid to even try saying new words, but we have been practicing lots and working on just trying which I think has really helped and he is picking up new words all the time. Not real fast, but he will get there. I thought for a while he would learn to say Lizzy's name or at least some version of it, but he never did till recently he now calls her, "Honey." (of course that is my pet name for her or anyone in my house, but now it has become her name, because if i use it for Caleb or Daddy, Caleb says,"honey, no. then daddy or me". Its cute to here him yell out at the park or store, honey for lizzy. Or honey school?
Now of course he is far from a perfect angel, but I'm focusing on the good right now :). Lizzy actually adores him to and they often have their hug and kiss moments, but she often says, "Mom I really want a sister, Cause Caleb tackles or hits too much." Which remindes me Caleb either thinks he has a baby in his tummy or that his tummy is called a baby, (which I'm thinking the latter is correct). He is constantly pointing to my tummy and saying, "baby?" and I say, "yes" he then says "me too." But the other day his friend hit him in the tummy and, he started crying and said, "ow baby." Then a couple days ago he was feeling sick and said,"baby hurt" pointing to his tummy. He is always so clever and cute. Each night as he goes to bed, after asking for anything and everything when he has finally given into the fact he is going to bed he finally will yell from his bed, "Night night mommy," then I have to answer. Followed by "Night night Daddy," and CJ has to answer. If one of us doesn't he has to continually repeat this until we do. Caleb is definitely strong opinionated, and has his mind set in many things. Like when we drive somewhere he usually has an opinion about which way he wants me to turn. Especially when we leave home he knows his cousin Mack (really Max) lives to the left, but mostly we go right to town, but he usually yells and points to Mack's house. Or if we stop at a light, He yells, "GO." Which they I've had to explain red light or green light to him. But my favorite lately has been, "okay." He says it in such a cute little way and so often. He could easily use no, but he h as choose lately to be fairly cooperative and if I ask him to get something or do something he often responds with, "okay mommy." (Which is my dream phrase, especially after Lizzy. She for many many years has been adamant about having it her way in her terms, but Caleb will just say okay and everytime it shocks me.) So I've decided lately Caleb is very strong willed and has to be to hold up to his sister, but then he has a sweet cooperative side that mommy just loves and adores. Caleb also

Now Lizzy just turned 6 in December. Its been a really interesting ride with Lizzy. Of course i've enjoyed her and she has been sweet in her own way, but I have to admit 2 was terrible, and 3 and 4 were whatever is worse than terrible. Then 5 was maybe slightly better than 4, but not a lot. And FINALLY 6, so far has been amazing. She has just really blossomed in attitude and love. I just have enjoyed the last couple months of her being so helpful, fun, loving. She is able to play with Caleb and they can get along so well. Probably one of the most rewarding things as a mom is to see your kids like and play together, as well as learning new things. Especially things in a gospel sense. Lizzy has the most genuine and sweet prayers. She gets this angelic voice and talks about how thankful she is for the beautiful earth Jesus gave us, and that her family can be together forever. It is so sweet and so rewarding to see her pray. Lizzy has a love for other people to, she is often looking for things to do or make for someone else. She LOVES crafts and making things for her friends and parents. Lizzy also loves gifts. Getting just about anything from a sticker, something from the treasure box at school or from a doctor, or even a picture or letter from a friend makes her smile and shine so big. (We say her love language is gift giving) But i think the cool thing that says a lot about her is not only does he love to get things, she also loves to give. She is always wanting to make pictures and stuff for her cousins or friends. Just the other day she came to me with four quarters and wanted to give them to her twin cousins. Even though she has a huge love for getting stuff, she knows she feels good and wants to make other people happy also. I could not be getting through this pregnancy without her. She has been so much more mature, hardly any fits and she is willing to give into make Caleb happy or play with him. (of course they also fight like any siblings, but she has really grown up and been able to reason so much more) I've been able to talk to her and explain things on a more grown up level. She is in a Spanish Immersion program at school and while its got to be hard, she has not complained at all and is really starting to understand some things. Its so cool to see her wanting to learn and grasping new concepts. Although she will tell you she does hate math.

I love both my kids so much and so grateful when I get to spend time with them and see them smile, laugh, and getting along. They teach me a lot about enjoying simple things and life. While there are always things to do and get done, I'm grateful for those times I can watch them and be grateful they are my kids. It will be interesting and exciting to see what the next one brings.

Ammonia, Hospital visit, and Pregnant!

As I mentioned in the last post I have not been feeling well, yes I'm pregnant! I have been far sicker with this one then my other two and its been very hard to go. The nausea started the end of October, so I figured I was pretty far along to be feeling so crummy, but finally got into the doctor and he said 6 weeks. I swore I had to be 8- 10 by that time. AHH. So I thought maybe I'd get over it sooner since it started so early, but no. I'm now close to 10 weeks and still sick. I do admit a tad better and I got some medicine to control the nausea, but man its been no fun. But in the middle of all the sick fun, Caleb had a fever for over a week, so I finally took him in to the doctor to have him checked out. Then did x-rays and strep test to show he had walking ammonia. Round of antiboiotics and he is better now well mostly, He is also two and constantly touching things, picking his nose, and thus usually has some sort of cold or bug. Its been a long few months. I used to prize myself on how healthy we were, but after the last 4 months, we have definitely been more sick than not, and that doesn't even count pregnant sick for me. I guess with Kindergarten and Kids club germs are bound to come.
So i took Caleb in on a thursday for the ammonia, then lizzy was up for 3 nights in a row, complaining her tummy hurt and needed to be rubbed, or she had vaginal itching that was very uncomfortable. But during the day she was totally fine, no complaining or anything. But as soon as night came she'd start complaining again. So monday I went to the dr for me during the day and spend 2 hours there, and it was monday night we called and took her to urgent care at 7pm when it was starting again. They admitted her and took xrays and urine and blood samples. Which she was exhausted the whole time, she slept on the way over and in between doctors coming in, on the exam table or on my lap. It was sad. Finally just after 9pm they told us they were admitting her to the hospital. 'What!' I did not expect that outcome, but because she is on the medication she is for her arthritis she is at a high risk for not being able to fight infections. But the hospital (Kaiser) was down in san diego, so we had to drive 20 mins north to my house first, cause i had forgotted her glasses and new she would not be happy in the morning without them. Then we drove the 40 mins south to the hosptial. Finally getting there about 11pm. Then the real torture began. She again slept the whole way there, so I had to wake her, carry her the whole time through the hospital, luckily she is pretty light. Then they put an IV in which was horrible. I mean Lizzy is awesome with shots and gets bloodwork every 6 weeks, but she was not happy about the IV, (which i know from having a baby, i hated that thing) then it kept randomly hurting her hand the whole next day. But the really bad part was the catheter. She had suspicious urine from her urine test, but they needed to get a 'clean' sample to see if it was infected on the inside. It is soo hard to watch your child go through so much pain, Of course I cried, but I'm pregnant (I don't think that mattered) Actually I felt very blessed through the whole ordeal that I did handle it so well while being so sick. But adrenalene kicks in for your kids. Finally we got back to our room and Lizzy was wide awake. So she watched a movie while I tried to sleep on the most uncomfortable pull out chair, the springs were like rocks. Finally after a couple hours I got on the end of Lizzy's bed and slept in a ball the rest the morning. Till she woke up at 6 am ready for something new. The longest and shortest night sleep ever. All because I thought I couldn't go through another sleepless night at home with her complaining her tummy hurt. That was a sleepless night. So they thought it was either ammonia, a urinary tract infection or appendix. She didn't quite have all the symptoms of one, but fairly certain one of the first two. It would take a few days to get the results of the tests to know, but antibiotics would heal both those. So they started her on two strong rounds and sent us home after lunch. I wondered if it was really worth all that, or was the hospital really necessary, but the next day Lizzy asked, "how did they make my tummy better so fast." I figured it was all worth it. And it may have gotten worse and she wouldn't have been able to fight it on her own. So we came home and I got a cold, and fever for the next few days and felt completlely worn out and miserable. I had a great friend bring me dinner and watch Caleb, so I could get some rest. It took a few days to recover and we are doing much better. Lizzy and Caleb are back to normal. CJ has been a huge support in helping and taking the kids when he can, and I am hoping to continue to feel better soon.

A Thankful Thanksgiving!

Well I was trying to decide if iIwanted to keep going with my blog, so I've been procrasinating writing, but since I'm not keeping any other records I decided iId better keep up the blog (somewhat). Reading that last post reminded me about Lizzy's determination. She has been practicing lots of things lately until she got it. It is great to see her work so hard for something and then achieve it. For instance, She really wanted to snap, so she just kept practicing till she got it. Same with tying her shoes, and whistling. Its amazing to see her grow up, and doing new things. She has been a challenge to say the least, but what an amazing blessing she is. She is so sweet and innocent in so many ways, with a determination that she will not loose or give in, that often drives me crazy but I hope will help her throughout her life.
She made my Thankgiving for me in that i have not been feeling well (i'll comment on that later)and my house has been lets say a disaster. So Lizzy took it apon herself to clean the whole family room up. Then I showed so much gratitude for that she decided to go clean the guest room and her bedroom up. Then I went to shower and she got in the shower and got herself dressed all by herself with out me nagging at all. I got out and was just overjoyed for all she did. She totally changed my whole day. I had to go pick up some stuff for the food i was making, so while I was gone I thought i want to do something for my family to show them my love and gratitude on Thanksgiving. So I got Lizzy a little My little pony (which if you know Lizzy her love language is gift giving) and I got CJ some reese's pb cups, and Caleb we had a hand me down car race track from a cousin we hadn't given him yet that we gave him. ( But finally on my way home I remembered I should have got him a 'nak' cause that is what he asks for every 10 mins. (snack) But the whole reason behind it was that Lizzy really put me in a more thankful mode and I really enjoyed the rest the day cause instead of just feeling crummy I was able to focus on showing my family how thankful I was for them.

Befores and Afters

okay just going with the theme of my title. Lizzy has been trying over the last couple months to ride her bike with no training wheels. Little by little she was getting better, then one day she just did it and took off. I'm so proud of my little five year old. in her own words, "you know how i got better at that, is i just try and try until i get better to do the two wheels all by myself"
















I've been trying to figure out what i wanted to do in our backyard and finally thought of doing a patch of synthetic grass with a play house on it. So if went to work looking on Craigslist and was happy to find this beauty.... all it needed was some paint. And i talked him down to $100. Which is a steal, cause i looked everywhere and these things are expensive. So now i just need to get my kids to play in it:)

before:















after:
















I've been wanted in donate my hair to locks of Love for a while. Usually i grow it pretty long and then chop it before its enough to donate, but this time i lasted. So here is my before and after (10 inches). Also i thought it was cute, the next sunday i went to church and one of lizzy's friends had just chopped her hair and donated it too!
before:














after:















This isn't really a before and after, but we've been having a lot of fun jumping and racing on these bouncey balls. lizzy just came in and wants me to add," Caleb is my favorite pal, I see him everyday" She is in one of her sweet moments. verses earlier when she was telling CJ and I we are the meanest mom and dad in the whole world. But all she needed was a time out and cool down period and she is a sweet girl again.

Birthday time again

So Lizzy had been talking about leprechauns for weeks before st. patrick's day from preschool.
So i figured no chance i'd forget. But come March 17th, didn't give it a second thought. Luckily we decided to take a quick walk to the neighbor right before preschool. The kids love to feed the neighbors dog and it is often where we go on our walks. When we got there, She said come here, and pinched Lizzy and I. Then gave us the green shamrock headband. I was so greatful i found out that way and didn't send lizzy to school up prepared. She may not have let me live it down. I actually just happened to dress Caleb in this shirt though.



















Caleb's had a Birthday and turned TWO! Wow time has gone so fast. We went swimming during the day, then came home and dad took him around the yard for a Birthday bike ride. Grandma Mary called to sing Happy Birthday and then our friends came to have cake and Ice cream with us. I think it turned out to be a good day!













Caleb has gotten into bouncing on this ball and it is so funny to see him do it. He gets going pretty fast then flies off. hopefully nothing tragic will happen.

























Okay this is a random picture, but had to post Lizzy and Caleb doing ballet together. He loves to dress in her dance clothes, it really is so cute.

Catch up

Seems i am always trying to catch up. So here are some of the latest.

In March we were lucky to have Disneyland tickets given to us, so we had to take the chance and go. We did have fun, but there are way to many people at Disneyland. We started in Fantasyland and Toon town. Also the first mistake, that's where all the kids and most the people are. It just took longer to get through stuff. After lunch we had a lot more fun in Tomorrowland on Lizzy's favorite ride Buzz light year. She went on it 3 or 4 times. And that was the only ride you could pretty much just walk on. CJ took her on Space Mountain because her cousin Halle had just gone and said it was her favorite. Poor Lizzy was so scared and screamed the whole time. Unfortunately not to much after that i took her on another coaster (I was thinking would be much slower, but remembered wrong and again she was upset and screaming.) So no more roller coasters for Lizzy for the day. We did go on the jungle cruise which we loved. It was slow and on a boat. Both kids loved it. We are getting the hang of it, and maybe next time will know all the good stuff to hit.


We had to search for hot dogs, about the only thing Lizzy will eat out. And that one was a corn dog, she had to rip the bread off.











The kids loved the carousel.







We got Caleb to nap in his Stroller, after kicking and screaming. But worth it.
The kids also loved the tea cups, which i do not care for (i get pretty motion sick). i went with them once and dad had to the others.








Here they are relaxing on Minnie's bed.