Weekend Away

Mommy and kiddos in a penguin egg at the Aquarium. Such a silly place to be. :)









Here's Elijah playing with a cool new baby in the mirror at the hotel. It was cute to watch him interact with his reflection.

Elijah at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This was in the kids area-he had fun watching the fishies.

My two sweethearts...loving on each other. I love this picture. They have lots of fun together.

More pics

Here's a picture of the play set with the boarder and wood chips inside of it. Alia is having a blast with it-wanting to go out in it all the time. This afternoon as I was pushing her on the swings, she told me that swinging was her favorite thing. She had the happiest face on...brought joy to my heart.

At one point during the day Alia could see the guys pouring the concrete out her window. I thought it was pretty cute watching her watch them.
Here's what the backyard area looks like. Like I said before, the patio is extended 17 feet, then we have a 4 foot pathway from the patio curving around to the front of the house. There is a nice space between the pathway and the house to plant some flowers or other plants. That's what I'm thinking about now. :) :) Gardenias...gardenias might be nice.

This might be hard to see, but there are four hand imprints in the concrete. They go from biggest (Jason) to littlest (Elijah). Memories made...hand prints forever.

Concrete!

First of all..we need to say some huge thanks!! Thanks soooo much to Rob Knight for coming this weekend and showing Jason the way...and doing so much! We wish we could repay you with more...but keep checking your mail. :) :) And, thanks, too, to Bob Greene! Without you, Rob Knight wouldn't be with us anymore...he'd be covered over in cement. :) Thanks for coming to help with the pouring of the concrete. Keep checking your mail, too. :)


With that being said...the cement has been poured, flatened, brushed, and whatever else they did to it to get it to look so great.


Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.


Here is a before picture. You are looking at our house from the street.





Another before-from the backyard. We had the pathway curve around the house to the front of the house.

The beginning of the pouring. We extended our patio area by 17 feet. We can't wait to have more room for our patio table and BBQ.

Straightening the concrete.

A picture of the cement truck and pouring/hose truck.

DONE!!!

Well, it's done. The playset it up and Alia LOVES it! She was real excited and tried out each part she could. Elijah and I even tried it out too-the swings and the slide. It's pretty fun. Daddy said it's worth all the hard work to have Alia say, "Daddy, this playset it pretty cool!" :)

Thanks SO MUCH to EVERYONE who helped make this happen! We truly couldn't have done it without you.
The climbing wall being finalized.

More construction...

The final outcome! Alia playing on the slide. She can climb up the rock wall, too. I'll get a picture soon and post it. Underneath and behind the slide is a little picnic table...and behind the rock wall is a spot for a sandbox area.

Yeah! Thanks daddy, for all you hard work.

Little Cutie Pie

Here is a picture of Alia before we went to church this morning. She was eating mangoes-in case you wondered what the orange thing is in her mouth. :) Hasn't she grown up so much? I just love her a ton!

As of today...

We had a great crew here today to help out. Thanks so much Chandlers and Conner!! You guys rock! As of now the picnic table, rock wall, stairs and sandbox are all built. Here is a picture of the rock wall being constructed.

Alia and her buddy Evan had a great time playing in the muddy water.
More construction.

Here is what the play set loos like as of now. Work had to stop at our house because there is a workday at the church. So, we'll pick up tomorrow afternoon. It's getting so exciting. Alia has already started to climb up the stairs. :)

Playset, Friday's progress

Here is Friday's progress. Doug, a friend from church, came over to help Jason. They worked until about 5pm.

Here is what the playset looked like as of Friday night. (I actually took this picture this morning)

Removal

So, the cyst is gone. No major tragedy. We went, the Dr took it out, we left. :) It wasn't so bad...but once I stepped into the room I got real nervous. I felt so silly. :) Anyways, I am one less marble size of a woman...can I figure I lost a few ounces from it?? :) Teeheehee.
I'm doing fine, just taking Advil ever 6-8 hours or so. Thanks for praying.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Yesterday was Jason's birthday. For his gift, the kids and I made this piece of art for his office. The flowers are made from the kids hands and feet. The grass is made with my fingers and the sun is made with my hand. I thought it was pretty cute.

Sleepy Little Mister

On Tuesday we had a playgroup at a friends house. Elijah fell asleep on the way there. He stayed asleep for an hour more once we got to our friends house. He looked so cute sleeping in his little camo shorts, I had to take a picture. This is how he sleeps most of the time-his bottom sticking up, legs crossed and his arms tucked underneath his chest. Too cute! It turns out that this sleeping position is a family trait! His cousins sleeps like this, and so did his Gramma Barb when she was little!

Part 3

Here's what the backyard area looks like now. The picture to the right shows where the play set will go. Tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday will be filled with prepping the area and building the play set. Stay tuned...I'll post the progress each day.







This is our side yard. The grass here was taken from where the play set will be. Eventually there will be some trees/bushes/plants/flowers against the house and the cement wall.
















We have a few "trees" in our backyard. And, up until the past week, it was questionable whether they were alive. The other day I noticed the buds on this stick tree! Hooray! Spring is coming...AND our trees are not dead. :)

The plans!

What does every little kid need in their backyard? A swing set? And, let me tell you, they've come a long way, baby! After some serious investigating we came up with a great play set. It seems like the best bang for our buck. For those of you who want to check it out, click here. Then, in 2 weekends, our good friend, Rob Knight will come to help us (or, more appropriately, show us how) lay a concrete path and extend our back patio area.
So much work to be done...so keep checking back to see how things are coming.

Backyard Improvement, Part 1

Here's where the play set will go. Eventually we'll put a boarder around the area and fill it with wood chips. This grass will go where the dirt is in the picture below.





Jason, Conner and Alia raking up the wood chips.


Here's the guys with the sod cutter. This thing was a beast! It was like walking a huge dog. "Who is operating who??" Jason did a great job!

Backyard Improvement Part 2

This is the end of Day 2. With the help of Mr. C from church (we couldn't have done it without you!!!!!!!!!!!) the irrigation was extended to the side yard. They dug trenches and laid the pipes. Then, I filled the trenches back up...all with Alia's help, of course. The top picture is at the end of day 2. All the dirt that you see will be filled in with the grass from where the play structure will go. (that happened on Sunday, Day 3, but I haven't taken a picture of it yet)

Here's the little helper with hard worker daddy.

Achievements

Well, I joined Weight Watchers.

I'll say it again, I joined Weight Watchers. Even though I weighed 5 pounds less than I was before I got pregnant with Elijah...I was no where near where I want to be (let alone where I was before I had Alia!).

After Christmas Jason and I started a "biggest loser" contest with some people (you know who you are). We have until mid-June to weight in. Whoever loses the most body fat, wins.
A month went by and nothing had really changed for me-I wasn't doing all that much to change things :) Then, I went on a little trip with a few of my girlfriends (oh...what a great girls trip that was!) and found out one of them had lost 8 pounds in 2 weeks doing weight watchers. So, I was inspired. And I joined. And it's been so encouraging! It's been 6 weeks now and I've lost 12 pounds! Can you believe it? It hasn't been easy, but I've done it. I have also started exercising again. We bought an elliptical machine and I try my best to use it for 15 minutes in the morning, and another 30 minutes after the kiddos go to bed.

Anyways...while I was at my last WW meeting we were talking about believing in ourselves that we CAN lose the weight we want to. Our leader had us think back to some other aspects of our lives where we have achieved success. I immediately thought back to my time with InterVarsity and the challenge of public speaking. I was so afraid to get up in front of the 120 college students and bring God's Word to them. Yet, despite this fear, with God's power, and some great people walking me through it (thanks Rob, Ruth and my old staff team!) I did it-and it wasn't that bad!

I began thinking about that experience and how it relates to me losing weight. How silly it is that it seems so much harder for me to lose weight than it was for me to preach.
And so, I am encouraged once more...to step out of my comfort zone and make changes. Do things I wouldn't normally do, and watch God work.

So, feel free to ask me how it's going! I do not want to hide this part of my life...for when I hide it it isn't "real" and shame seems to find it's way. I want you to ask...and hopefully I will have even more achievement to share with you.

But, watch out...it's contagious.

O-R-E-O

I gave Alia an Oreo the other day and was shocked at what I saw. How do YOU eat your Oreo? Well...with not prompting Alia opened the cookie, licked the inside, put it back together, then ate it. Who knew a little girl would know exactly how to eat an Oreo. Enjoy, little Alia, enjoy...

Adventures

We got a new vacuum yesterday and Elijah decided to explore the box. He's having so much fun!

Elijah is a mover and a shaker. I know I've said this before but he is non stop. Here's a picture of little mister climbing under his exer-saucer and then climbing out of it. He likes to do that a ton.

Our new friends

So, this is our new little pet. Or, more accurately, one of our new little pets. Isn't he cute? We have a number of the frogs (or, are they toads?) living around our house. We first saw one in the garage...then Jason and Alia uncovered one on the side of our house...the another. So, who knows how many are there. Alia was afraid at first, but now she looks for them. Ribbit.

Valentine's Day

I took Alia (and Elijah too) to storytime at the library for Valentine's Day. We all brought valentines for everyone else and the kids got to decorate these cute heart envelopes. Alia had a great time...and an even better time opening up all of her Valentines. Elijah just liked munching on the paper. :) He's my little heart breaker. :)

Update

So the Dr Appt was good today. He confirmed that it is a sebaceous cyst. I have a scheduled appt for March 16th to have it taken out. After talking about my previous pilonidal experience he said the "surgery" would take about 20 minutes and it would be much less painful as the pilonidal cyst. Boy, did that bring relief to me! So, Jason will come with me to hold my hand...and I'll be a woman with one less piece of me. :)

Dr Appts...

So, after tomorrow the kids and I will have gone to the same medical clinic three days in a row. Ugh...I don't want to go to that place again! :) Why have we been there so much, you ask? Well, there's two reasons.

Reason #1: Today Elijah had his 9 month appt. He had a great appt! He's 17 lb, 10 oz and 27 inches long. He's in the 10% for weight. His head circumference is 17 inches. :) He's growing just fine! Yeah!
Reason #2: Our first year in Chicago I got an infected pilonidal cyst that had to be drained because it was so painful (the draining/packing was more painful than natural childbirth...in my opinion). Well....I now have ANOTHER infected cyst! Can you believe it?!?! It's been there for a while now, and it wasn't until late last week that I thought about it being an infected cyst. So, I took myself to the Dr and now I have another appt with a general surgeon tomorrow to discuss the next step. The Dr yesterday said he'd send me to have it removed (with the pilonidal cyst they only drained it...so I still have the cyst)...so we'll see. You can pray for me because I am pretty nervous about it all-knowing how painful it was before. I'll keep you updated as things progress.

9 Month Stats

So, if there were a Feb 31, Elijah would be 9 months on that day. BUT, there isn't such a thing...so Elijah is now 9 months old in my eyes. Here are some of his stats:

Favorite Food: fruits
Favorite Finger food: Gerber Puffs and Cheerios (he had his first Cheerios today!)
Least Fav Food: Anything green-he gags on it pretty bad...so we mix it in with other stuff
Fav Toy: anything Alia is playing with OR anything he can bang on the wood floor (such a boy)
Least Fav Toy: books-he has to sit still for them...and he DOESN'T sit still
Words used: babababa, mamamama, dadada, gagaga
Milk Feedings per day: 2 mommy feedings, 2-3 bottle feeds
Naps per day: 2, an AM nap and an early afternoon nap
Fav thing to do in car: watch his big sister
Size of clothes: 9-12 months
Amount of spit ups: >3 times per week. he's off his reflux medicine and he's great
Personality: cheerful, happy, talktive (since we have taken him off his reflux meds, it's like a cloud has been lifted. he's so much more attentive and responsive...poor guys has been drugged for weeks)
Favorite Activity: moving...as long as he's moving
Favorite "thing": he has a blanket "lovey" that he grabs and snuggles with when he goes to sleep.
Sleep position: on his tummy

Well, that's all I can think of right now...if I come up with other stuff, I'll let you know. He goes on Tuesday for his 9 month checkup, so I'll post those measurements this week.
More pictures to come...

Our trip to Grandma & Grandpa!

The first week in February we took a trip to my parents place. Jason went to Denver for the Covenant's Midwinter conference so we went down south. My sister in law and nieces joined us too! Boy, there was a lot of fun that was had that week! Alia loves playing with her cousins.

But, our trip to Disneyland was by far the more fun day of all! We spent the whole day there and the kiddos did great! Mary and I took advantage of the Baby Care Center they have (a place where you can nurse, change diapers, or just plain rest). Alia was amazed at all she saw...taking it all in. She road a few rides and was a brave little girl-experiencing so many new things. As you can see below, we saw a few characters too. Alia wasn't so sure about them, so I held her.
Right after lunch Alia got some sunscreen in her eyes. Ouch! I did all I could to wash out her eyes but she kept rubbing them and crying, so my mom and I took her to the First Aid room, where we put some eye drops in and she was so much better! And she even got a special Nurse Minnie Mouse sticker.

All in all, it was a great day. We're going to do our best to get back before Alia turns 3 (then she's $53!!) so Jason can have the experience too. It was a great day, but it wasn't the same without Daddy.

Thanks grandma and grandpa for many good memories!

Characters!

Here's us with the star of the show, Mickey Mouse!













As we were leaving Toon Town we found Pluto!


After a long day at Disneyland, we got our Mickey and Minnie balloons and headed for our car. What fun we had!

More Pictures...

Welcome to Disneyland! We're ready to go play!











It's Dumbo time! Here's me with Elijah and Alia on the Green Dumbo. Alia loved going up and down on this ride.



Grandpa and Alia taking a little rest in Mickey's Toon Town.

Here I am!

Elijah can stand pretty well when he is holding on to something. He likes to stand at this Leapfrog table and mae the different noises. Alia likes to "teach him how" to do the stuff and play with him. They are good little playmates. Doesn't Elijah look so cute?? :)

Our first "real" puzzle!

Here is her proud self! The other day I bought Alia a "real" 24 piece puzzle...thinking that she might be a bit young, but I'd give it a try anyways. Well...she definately ISN'T too young! She loved it! And she figured it out so quickly! She grows up more and more each day.

A visit to the Police Station

Yesterday Alia and I took a trip to the Police Station. The MOMS Club organized it...so we had mommy daughter time. We got to see lots of things including the dispatch room (where 911 calls go), the debriefing room, the holding cell (Alia saw the potty inside and instantly needed to go potty in THAT potty), a motorcycle, a SWAT car, and their emergency motorhome. It was a big over Alia's head but she sure loved the motorcycle! :) And she loved getting a Police officer badge sticker. "I'm a Police officer" she said.

PS: notice Alia's jacket?? GO BEARS!