Monica

This one is for Monica. Sorry it has taken me so long to do an update. I know how much you like to see what everyone is doing. I actually haven't picked up my camera for at least 3-4 weeks. So this morning I was procrastinating leaving my house for a few minutes and I got a few pictures in, so that I wouldn't have to do a post with just writing:) As far as an update goes, there hasn't been much going on lately that is exciting enough to post about, besides that I am in my fourth week of school, it has been a really fun semester so far. I have at least 4 hours of Activity classes M-Th, Women's studies, Elementry P.E, and a Recreation class.I am doing a lot of teaching in my classes, and starting in two weeks I will be going to Arcata Elementry and teaching in a 1st grade P.E class for a couple of weeks. It has truley flown by and I am really enjoying it.



Lucas is 8 months. He has 7 teeth now and his prefered mode of transportation is scooting backwards with a roll in there every so often. His most favorite thing to do is to stand. He would stand all the time if he could balance better. He has recently started to stand up next to the couch and play with toys.



Connor is still enjoying his school. He is talking more and more which I think might be due to all of the interaction and the learning at school. It seems like everyday he will say things or talk about things that I haven't even mentioned before.

I am still feeling bad leaving him there though. Not becuase he doesn't like it or because they aren't great people. I just feel like he is a stranger to them. And I think "how can he have a close connection with anyone there? They barely know him. But I know that it's all in my head and I need to get over it.

Maybe In time....

Preschool

This week I started back to school in hopes to be able finish within the year, fingers crossed. I signed Connor up to go to the Children's Center two days a week. I was nervous about him being there alone and not knowing anyone or seeing any familiar faces. I thought he would have a hard time when I left, but he seemed to not even care. On the ride to school I told him that I was going to go to my class and he was going to go to his school. When I dropped him off I was going to sneak out the door so hopefully that he wouldn't notice, but the teacher said that it is actually better for the child if you tell them you are leaving and that you will be back to pick him up later. I was anticipating a meltdown. Needless to day I sucked it up and told him I would be back and surprisingly he said "Bye Mom" and gave me a kiss:( It was sort of sad. I was expecting him to want me to stay while pulling at my leg and crying, and frankly he didn't even cared that I was about to leave him with 15 complete strangers. All he could think about was the Jumpy House in the room next door. I know that it all worked out and I am glad that he enjoys going, but part of me wants him to want me to be around even if it isn't possible:)

Bittersweet Relief

7 months


I never understood when people said that they were sad when they were done nursing their children. But I now know the feeling. I only nursed Connor till he was three months old, and I loved the fact that I could have someone else feed him and he didn't NEED me to be there every moment.

Well with much perseverance I finally got Lucas to take a bottle. It definitely wasn't an easy task. I think I tried at least 5 different bottles, several types of formulas, and countless hours of shoving the bottle in his mouth while he was screaming. I was bound and determined to have him weaned before I returned to school. I am not quiet sure what we did different this time but last Wednesday morning he decided that he was going to give up the fight, and after that is has been pretty smooth sailing. He is now taking a pacifier which was also an issue:)

I know that this is minimal in the scheme of things but overall it was good for me to have to continue nursing and I think that since he didn't take a bottle I forced me to do it longer than I would have in the first place. I am now a lot more understanding a sympathetic for other mothers that go through the same or similar things:)

This is a picture of Connor when he was 5 months old, it isn't the best picture but he is wearing the same shirt as Lucas. Now I think that I know what Lucas is going to look like:)



Connor and Lucas having fun on the fourwheeler

2 Years Old

We just got back for the Auction with Mikey. I wanted to get Connor's pictures taken for a while now. So we went to Babies R Us in Union City. They have a Kiddie Kandids inside and they do a pretty good job. So here are a few of them.

San Diego 2009

First of all I want to start out by saying Thank you to my amazing mother who is the most generous, loving, caring, and helpful mothers that anyone could ever ask for. She took all of us on the wonderful trip, and she always makes sure that everything that we want and need is taken care of. So I want to tell you mom how grateful and thankful I am to have a mother like you:)

Back to the trip...

Thursday-We headed to the Airport in hopes to leave at 6:30 that evening. Well that didn't exactly happen due to our wonderful weather we have here. Needless to say after we waited there for a couple of hours they finally canceled the flight and re booked us for Friday afternoon.

Friday- We left at 2:00 pm and arrived in San Diego at 8:00pm. The plane ride was pretty uneventful due to the Ativan that I took right before take off:) I have really bad anxiety when it comes to planes and the meds were complete necessity, and they did the trick.



Saturday- In the morning we headed off to the Zoo. I was sort of disappointed. The disappointment wasn't due to the lack in animals, it was sort of boring looking at all of the animals just sitting in their cages. I am not an animal activist but I felt bad for all of them being out of their environments and being locked up. So after a few hours there my Mom, Rachelle, Myself, Connor, and Lucas headed back to the hotel to take naps. While Danielle, her kids, Vickie, and Heidi stayed at the Zoo. Later that evening we got on the trolley and headed over to the cheesecake factory for Dinner. YUM..





Sunday- We took the trolley and the bus over to Sea World in the morning. I was much happier with Sea World, it is much better for kids. There is so much to do and it is a lot more interactive than the Zoo. They have some really good shows. One of my favorites was a Circus performance that was done over the water. It was amazing what those people can do with their bodies and the show was very entertaining. After a long day in the sun and at the park we went back to our hotel where we ate dinner at a near by restaurant.



Monday- We went over to Mission Beach which is a popular area and is great for kids. It was really nice to be able to be at the beach and actually wear a swimming suit! The kids had a blast just digging in the sand and splashing in the water. I loved that there were so many places to eat and things to rent close by. I felt as though I was in Mexico, but with out all of the people trying to sell you things the entire time. After a four hours in the sun we went to the hotel to clean up and take some much needed naps. Later that evening we walked down the street to eat dinner at a little THAI restaurant. Then we headed across the street to the mall. Danielle and I went to see MY Sister's Keeper, while Rachelle and my Mom took the kids to see UP.









Tuesday- We woke up at 4:45 to head to the airport. After a few minor delays we made it home at 12:30. Only 2 hours later that planned. Not Too bad:)

6 months

Lucas was 6 months on the 12Th of this month. He definitely has his up and downs but for the most part he is very loving and one of the happiest babies. He lights up instantly at the sight of his older brother and pretty much anyone that catches his eye.



I took him in for his 6 month check up last week and I was surprised to find out that he has dropped down into the 11Th percentile for his weight. I felt bad and I thought that maybe it is due to something that I am doing. So I have increased the amount of solid food that he eats during the day, and he LOVES the food! He is such a little piggy:) He will eat one to two bowls of rice cereal or oatmeal mixed with fruit, twice to three times per day. Which to me seems like a lot, so hopefully that will help:) Well we will see.....

Catch Up

I don't feel like we have done anything too exciting these past couple of weeks but they have sure flown by. I can't believe it has been a month since I last blogged. The only thing we have really done is go up to the lake. We have been up there the last three out of four weekends. It felt so good the weather has been really nice and it was great not to have smoke anywhere in sight.

When we were up there this past weekend Mikey took Connor on the wake board. He has always really liked the water so initially he wasn't scared. After they got up he kind of got a little freaked out, then Mikey put him on his knee and he seemed to like that a little more. I wish we could have tried a few more times before we came home, just to see what he would do:)










Lucas is Six months old today and is growing up so fast. He has such a cute personality and he is one of the most ticklish babies I have seen. If you stick you nose under his chin and move your head around he will instantly crack up. He loves his jumper and I think he could jump around in it for most of the day. Sometimes I feel kind of bad that he is always in that thing, but he seems to really enjoy it, so I don't really want to ruin a good thing.

I went out on the boat one day and this is what I came back to, Tasha had put Bailey's swimsuit on Lucas to see if we would notice that it was him in it and not her.




These are some pictures of Mikey wake boarding. He is always so fun to watch and I am glad that we have been able to go up more this summer because the lake is one of his favorite places to be.








These pictures were taken when Nat was in the hospital. All of the kids put the doctor's glasses and gloves on.