The Sanders

I finally took pictures!

2011-04-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I suck. Sorry...

Here goes:

Last weekend we went camping. I didn't take too many pictures, because I was trying to keep track of both of my boys the whole time. Very tiring!

Samson trying out his lawn chair. Already covered in mud, but happy!

Just loungin' around and watching daddy work.

Setting up EVERYTHING! That's what happens when you take a big fat preggers camping with you :) Thanks baby!

Tonight I took the boys to fairytale town for a family fun night. Zeke had a blast!

He LOVES "going to see the animals."

I tried to include Samson in the festivities, but he was mostly ornery, so we left him in the stroller for the rest of the time.

They had little games set up, and here is Zeke giving the cute girl his ticket to play.

As soon as he threw the ball, a big gust of wind came and knocked all of the pins over, so he got a strike! Way to go son!

He insisted on being the "Bad Guy". I'm not sure where he gets his information.

And an ice-cream cone at the end. Perfect end to a great night.

Grammys and Genders...

2011-02-19T00:18:00.000-08:00

First and foremost, it is very late as I write this, so please don't judge if it doesn't make a lot of sense. For those who don't know, I won a trip to the Grammys. They paid for our flights, hotel, and grammy tickets. So...

Last Sunday morning, Jacqui and I woke up in Sacramento, and got ready to catch our flights to the GRAMMY'S!! We had a 9:30 AM flight, so we got to the tiny Sacramento airport at 8:30. Plenty of time, right? We waited at US Airways for US Airways flight 6835. The line was a little long, so after about 20 minutes we reached the front. Our flight number wasn't listed on the screen, but all of the flights listed were to Phoenix, so I thought there must just be some mistake. When we got to the front, the lady informed us that our US Airways flight was operated by United. Which meant we had to go to the United gate. Which was in a seperate terminal. Which we had to walk to. In platform heels. You get the picture. So Jacqui and I BOOKED it to the next terminal and went straight to the United counter. We found a line of about 5 people, but there were a few self-serve kiosks, so I went to try one while she kept our place in line. My ticket went through perfectly, so she got out of line to do the same thing. However, Jacqui just missed the 30 minute cut-off before the flight, so it wouldn't work. The a-hole man at the counter refused to help us, saying there was nothing he could do. The computer was asking if she wanted to pay $50 to be put on standby, so she payed it. Then it asked if she wanted to check a bag, so she payed the $25 to check her bag, because it had a metal sequined dress in it that was difficult to get through security, and we didn't want to take all that time unloading and reloading her suitcase. Done and done. We run to the gate, and the sweet lady informed us that Jacqui was on standby for the next flight. She asked if she had checked a bag, and the lady said she could get J on the flight, but her bag wouldn't make it until the next plane came in. Simple enough, except that flight wasn't until 4pm, and we were leaving for the Grammy's at 3!!! I started crying. (I'm blaming in on the stress, and the pregnancy hormones.) I explained that her dress was in the bag, and we NEEDED that bag. She asked if the bag was checkable, and I said yes! Then, I told Jacqui (apparently with a crazy look in my eye) to RUN back to the checkin counter, and GET HER BAG!! She sprinted down the stairs (barefoot) while the gate lady called down to them, explaining the situation. We had less than 10 minutes until the doors were closing. I sat there for 5 minutes just DYING, and when Jacqui got to the top of the stairs with her bag, she still had to clear security. The gate lady had already torn her boarding pass, and she had to reprint her one, but luckily there were only like 2 people at security. She got back through security, and we boarded the plane with like 12 seconds to spare! And then we were off!

Then when we got to L.A. we rented a Convertible, which was super fun. Of course my super glamorous sister had a head scarf, whilst my hair was going all willy nilly in the wind!

We then checked into our hotel room, and had a couple of hours to get ready. The lady at the front desk of the hotel upgraded our room to the top floor which was an executive level which included a cocktail lounge at night and free breakfast in the morning. That was fun.

We also had a taxi pass which allowed our towncar to drop us off about 2 feet from the front door of the Staples center. It was very nice, considering the shoes! The red carpet is under tents in the back of the staples center, and the celebs are all kept FAR away from us common folk. I saw a window where you could see some VIPS coming in, but I got yelled at by security for looking out... he said, "We have to keep traffic moving here." I don't do well with getting yelled at.

Anyhoo, we found our seats and man were they high!! But it was still AMAZING! I was watching the recorded version a little today, and you just don't get the same effect!! 3.5 hours, and I was never bored. I want to go back every year now, even if I never see a celebrity!

The next day, we just tooled around L.A.
We went shopping in Beverly Hills... Lunch at Villa Blanca, which was AMAZING! We sat outside, and the seats were pretty close together. The table right behind us was a thirty something couple with their baby in a stroller. However, their "baby" was a mini-poodle. They were super sweet, and talked to me about my pregnancy... Then, the crusty gentleman who was waiting for his "date" chimed in that I had a 70% chance of having another boy, but there was a blood test I could take to clarify. I asked how he knew so much about fertility and statistics, and he explained that he knew a lot about everything.... Okaaayy. So after he waited and waited and waited for his date, she finally showed up. And she was GORGEOUS! Half his age, and SO pretty! Then, he asked her what a Valentine's lunch "entailed?" Was it the same as a Valentine's Dinner? She played all dumb, and giggled, and changed the subject. Then she was super snooty to the poor waiter, and wouldn't eat ANY fat, including oil on her ahi tuna tar tar, or any sauces, or anything. Anyhoo, I decided it's not worth being skinny, if you have to be such a B whilst ordering food. Plus, she's a high priced hooker, so how snooty can she really be?

Then we drove to the beach.

On the way to the beach, we passed right past the L.A. temple. So cool.

Then, we walked along the beach.

And on the pier.

And some guy was making his lady a nice Valentine. It was really cute how much effort he was putting into it.

And then we got bored. I asked Jacqui if she wanted to go find out what kind of baby I was having. She was super pumped! I have had 2 doctor's appointments, in which one midwife told me that my fetus' hearbeat sounded male, and the next one my NP told me the same thing. Then I took a pee in a cup test that told me I was also having a boy. Plus I have 2 beautiful boys... So, when we got to the sonographer's appt, the guy asked me if I had children yet. I said 2 boys, he said, "I'm not even going to ask the next question." He also explained that the odds were against me. So, finally he showed me what I was looking for. Well, I have seen a couple of boy ultrasounds, and I had known right away what I was loooking at. He had me laying on my left side to find the baby's privates, and the machine was on the right side, so he gave me a mirror to look. So I'm looking as he's going over and over and over my baby's privates. I am totally seeing 2 legs, but nothing else. And then my heart started pounding. Where's the weiner? My baby is missing his weiner. Wait. Does that mean? Am I missing something? I was too scared to ask. He then asked my sister if she knew what it was. He teased that he knew the gender, and just wanted us to figure it out. I finally got up the courage to ask, "Am I having a girl?" And he said, "You're having a girl!" I am tearing up as I write this, and I was totally crying and freaking out!!! I'M HAVING A GIRL!!!! When I got home that night, I gave Josiah the ultrasound pictures, and he was just as thrilled. He can't wait to have a little daddy's girl, since Zeke is a total mama's boy, and Samson is just a terror. A cute terror, but a terror nonetheless. Anyway, we went out tonight and bought our first girly outfits. Ok, quite a few. And some shoes.

As soon as we got home from date-night, he got called out to work, so I had to load up the boys to take the sitter home. Zeke fell asleep on the way home, so I put him in his bed, and went to find his blanket and elephant, which he drags all over the house. Apparently he didn't need them. Such a sweet boy.

And just one of Samson. His new "spot" is the closet. He loves hiding in the clothes. He prefers my closet, but his works too. He is actually getting less terrorizing, and much more sweet. He likes to snuggle as long as you work in his blankie somehow.

I am SO excited to complete our little family. We had always planned on 2, maybe 3 kids, so this was for sure out last little baby. We would have been fine with a boy, but I REALLY wanted to have a little girl. And all of my dreams came true!!! I couldn't be happier right now!

Serves him RIGHT!!

2011-02-04T22:03:00.001-08:00

We got home from date-night tonight, and Reggie had been locked in our bedroom. He loves finding warm places to lay, and has done some really disgusting naughty things when we leave him, but tonight was pay back. He trapped himself in the sleeve of Josiah's sweatshirt!!! I almost peed myself! Then we got him out, and it was kinda sad because he was REALLY stuck!

And here are some gratuitous shots of the kids because I haven't blogged in 4 months.

Zeke riding his bike... his favorite pastime. We put a big concrete strip on the side of our house which was basically unusable before, and now he and Samson both LOVE the back yard!

Samson just doing some yard work. In his jammies. We were lazy this day.

And, Samson's new favorite spot. We bought this super cozy dog bed for Reggie when we put in the hardwood floors, but he prefers to just cozy up with us on the couch. However, Samson thinks it's the bees knees. He cozies up to it all the time. He is also quite obsessed with his blankie which he takes everywhere and drags all over the place. Oh well, whatever keeps him happy!

Ok, so I just blogged for the first time in 4 months, and it's not showing my pictures as I'm writing, am I doing something wrong? It's showing them in some code, so I have to keep previewing to see if it's working? WHAT THE CRAP!?

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T20:42:00.001-07:00

We had a good Halloween with our two little guys!! Last year I made Zeke an oregon Duck costume, and it was a ton of work, but it was awesome!! This year, I decided to just buy their costumes from Target. Not as "custom" but still, super cute, and MUCH easier!! Zeke wasn't too sure about his elephant costume, but he loves elephants, and as soon as he figured out it was a sure way to get candy, he would beg to put it on!!

This is at the stake harvest party. I don't know why they're calling it "harvest" when we're all dressed up and passing out candy. Sounds pretty halloween to me!

We (the Young Women's presidency) were in charge of a booth. We went with a "Where's Waldo" theme. (I'm the evil version!) The kids had to draw a token, and depending which character they got, they would get a candy, a prize, or if they found "Waldo" they would get a FULL SIZE candy bar!! We had some repeat customers! I can see the gamblaholics already!!

Sunday night, I decided the boys would probably enjoy a nice walk around the neighborhood, so we got all suited up, and begged for candy. Thanks for all of your hard work Zeke. Mommy will enjoy!!

Zeke is totally engrossed with the mission at hand...

And reaping the SWEET rewards!!

Samson was a pretty good sport. Pretty much everyone in the neighborhood was talking about how cute he was. Pretty big ego boost... Josiah was taking all of the credit!!

Our big boy was very brave, and would go up to each house all by himself! He actually walked right in to the first person's house who opened the door! He wouldn't really say trick-or-treat unless someone prompted him, but he was VERY good about Thank-you! I'm so Proud!!

Splash park

2010-09-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot how much fun we have at the splash park, so we went this weekend! It was BEAUTIFUL, and not too hot under the shade. It is totally free, and my kids may enjoy themselves more than at the pool, with a much lower chance of drowning!!

Samson was clearly a happy camper!

We wanted him to get a big bucket of water on the head, but he was too smart for that!

Zeke and his GF Ava. They are besties!

She is not a huge fan of the water, so it was incredible that he got her to play! I guess when he makes it look that fun!

Shooting a sweet water cannon!!

Biggest. Post. EVER!!!!

2010-08-29T19:57:00.001-07:00

Pretty much the whole summer. Some trips, some randoms, mostly just pictures. Enjoy!!

Just a cute kid. Falling asleep on the couch.

Abuelita (My Mexican Grandma) had a birthday on July 12. For her birthday, her daughters told her they would take her on a trip anywhere she wanted to go. She chose my house. Well, I couldn't have Abuelita here, and not make her cook for me!! Chile colorado. Gracias abuelita, y mis tias tambien!!

Samson just being cute.

Zeke moved this chair to the counter, and proceeded to help himself to knifefulls of peanut butter. I wonder who he learned that from. (daddy...)

They are already being naughty together. Warms my heart.

8 month picture. I think I may have forgotten his 9 month shot.

First time with a banana. HE LOVED IT!!

OH NO!! My binky is stuck on mater's tow hook!!

Is there anything cuter than a baby in a sink-bath?

Um, I hope that sham-wow was clean!!

A couple of weeks ago, Jacqui and Dan and fam were in Tahoe for a few weeks. It was so fun to go up and visit them. Josiah even took a few days off of work (which is pretty much unheard of!)and we went up for the weekend.

We went to Reno for one of my brother in law's friend's birthdays. We went to a fun buffet at the Grand Sierra Casino. And then right outside were some bumper cars. Fun times... Zeke rode with daddy, and screamed the whole time.

Chillin at tahoe. He fell asleep in the car on the way to the lake, transferred to the stroller, and slept for 2 hours while we played in the sand! THAT NEVER HAPPENS!! (I actually have a picture of him a couple of summers ago in this same position!)

Sweet Samson soakin up the sun! (And eating some sand.)

Finally he woke up for some glamour shots!

Then we walked around all the sidewalk vendors. I LOVE my boys!

Then we went to a local farm. It's called Farm fresh to you. They package up their fresh produce in a random variety, and then you can order by the box. They also give farm tours, so we went up for a picnic.

This is Josiah and Zeke on the tractor tour.

I was in charge of Samson. Not fun. He was super squirmy!

Zeke picking free cherry tomatoes.

Susanne, Easton, and Zeke picking tomatoes. Zeke would pick one, put it in his basket, and then chuck it at someone. Jo was proud.

Mike and Clay soaking up the sun.

Waiting for the tractor ride back. Samson was pretty hot and sweaty!

Nothing like a Mexican coke to cool you off afterwards. Josiah gave him that. What are dads for?

"What Mom? Nothing to see here..."

Last night 5 months of training culminated in a race of epic proportions!! Just dramatizing it a bit. Me and 3 other girls from our ward did the Modesto Midnight 1/2 marathon. It was ok, but I was looking forward to more swag. We got tiny bags of chips at the end, and 1/2 bananas. I really needed that free massage like after the tri 4 fun.

Pre race... Me, Liz, Kim, and Tara.

MINE!!! Liz started us out quick, and I couldn't let her beat me, so I had to keep up. And then about halfway through, I abandoned them at a water stop. I rocked it out at 2 hours, 4 minutes, and 59 seconds. About 15 minutes faster than I had anticipated!! Kim came in 2 minutes behind me, and then Liz, and then Tara rocked it out just behind her! We totally represented for our morning jogging group.

pics from the road... and more...

2010-06-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

Josiah and I went to Oregon for Memorial Day weekend. Here are some pics...

First we stopped by his parents' house for a night. We got to see everyone, but only took a few pics...

Then we went up to Corvallis for Graham's blessing. He's the far right infant child. These are the first pictures with all of the Gonzalez grandkids. Notice there are 5 since Zeke. Lincoln, Henry, and Miles are the oldest, then a 2 year gap, then Zeke, Paolo, June, Samson, and then Graham. All within 2 years!

Not real fun getting 8 babies to pose happily!

Just a super cute pic of my sweet nephew!

Mommy and Samson: 6 months.

Zeke is constantly taking off his diaper. He didnt even poop this time, he just felt like sleeping with a breeze! I snuck it back on stealthily and didn't even wake him up!

Last weekend we went camping at New Hogan Lake. It was so fun. Our friends the Bybee's came with us last minute and spent a night. We actually only made it one night too. Zeke had fun getting dirty though!

Samson and Mama swimming!

The trusty green stroller. Chillin with Reginald.

Not sure why he's crying, but I love this picture!

Every automobile is "Daa tuck" That's Daddy's truck.

Relaxin in the packnplay. Being good. So far...

Just enjoying the sunset.

This is Ike. Every baby has to get in Reggie's crate at some point. They are just drawn!

Pool day! This one is Harmony's going away party. WE MISS YOU HARM! Notice Zeke with his ladies Ava and Jillian. As I'm posting this he's screaming for Ava.

Just taking a dip. More pool days to come!

Sorry this post is so scattered. I had 300 new pics on my camera from the last month! Hard to focus with 2 annoying (and adorable) babies!

He's a mover!

2010-06-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

In the past week, Samson has gone from an easy, mostly stationary baby, to a mover and a shaker! He's getting into all sorts of trouble, and my job has just gotten much harder. Exhibit A:

WORST. BLOGGER. EVER!!!

2010-05-25T22:03:00.000-07:00

When I began this whole blogging thing, I LOVED it because it forced me to take pictures. Whenever Zeke would do something cute, or we had a family event, I would whip out my little camera and snap a sweet shot. Well, then Josiah bought me a nicer (bigger) camera, and now I have 2 kids, and so I take fewer pictures, I dont' post them, and I'm not really doing anything exciting anymore. Oh, and I end up taking pictures on my phone and just posting them on Facebook. I think my facebook is pretty open, so just check that out. Here are a few (not so) recent pics...

Zeke went to a friend's birthday party. They had cake with chocolate frosting, and a pinata. He didn't eat lunch that day. He just wandered around eating all the other kid's left over cake and stray candies. I'm pretty sure this onesie is sufficiently ruined!

His new thing is to change is own poops. We're going to Oregon for Memorial day weekend, and when we get home, it's bye bye diapers. I don't want to potty train, because I don't want to deal with accidents, but smeared poo all over the crib was the last straw. It's like 3 strikes, and he's out. This is his second strike. He was watching cartoons and I had to go take a QUICK body shower one morning. Seriously, 5 minutes later, I got out of the shower, and he was missing. He had let himself out the back door to hang out with Reggie. Apparently he pooped, and then proceeded to take off the poopy diaper. The worst part was, there was no turd anywhere! Pretty sure Reggie ate it. He has a thing for crap diapers. I have found about 4 of them torn up with turds missing. I HATE MY DOG LATELY!

Speaking of eating, since this one is 6 months now, I decided to FINALLY tackle solids. I had tried rice cereal a few times, but it was just TORTURE! Zeke was SO easy. He was practically grabbing at my food, and just swallowed food perfectly from the first bite. Samson on the other hand SUCKED! I would try and feed him, and he would gag, spit everything out, and then once I finally got like a tablespoon down, he would spit it up. This week, we finally got it down. Once he did rice cereal for a couple of days, we started adding veggies! No fruits yet, but he is doing MUCH better!!!

This is just his 5 month picture. I still have to take his 6 month shot. I took one today, but Zeke was attacking us, so none turned out.

First bath together. Samson LOVED it! This is the ONLY time he enjoyed the bumbo, and we ended up getting rid of it, but for this one moment, he was having a good time. And apparently Zekels was too!

Let's go to the ZOO!

2010-04-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

Lindsey needed to come out to Sacramento, so we decided to have a fun day at the zoo. It really wasn't as much fun as fairytale town, but we still had a pretty fun day.

The boys and Lindsey eating lunch...

Zeke and Mommy

Zeke got a little too tired to walk, and Samson was sound asleep, so I picked up my toddler, and put him in the baby bjorn! It says 25 lb max, and Zeke is only 24 lbs, so we're good. It only looked a tiny bit silly!

Oregon or BUST!

2010-04-06T15:36:00.001-07:00

I don't even know what that means, I just know I went to Oregon last month, and I haven't blogged about it yet.

My volvo seats 7, and we had 6! 2 mommies, 2 infant seats, and 2 toddlers way there in the back! Plus all of our gear. It was a little intense! We couldn't open the back hatch until we got there, and we had bags stuffed in every open inch. No shopping in Oregon. It was a pretty peaceful drive though, and the babies didn't start melting down until after Eugene, so we were only about 30 min. away.

The first day we were there, we went to Nana's house! It was pretty fun. Heather and Isabel came down to visit, which Zeke LOVED!!

Zeke and Isabel having a snack...

Playing hide and seek...

Watching a movie...

And making dinner. That's Isabel's chef's hat. Too cute!

Zeke loves having kids around. I'm glad I popped another one out quickly so he'll have someone to play with!

Here's Zeke eating lunch at the table like a big boy for the first time.

He was a little sick during conference on Sunday. He has never taken a nap on the couch until that day! He even layed back down and snuggled with me, and then Josiah too! Poor boy. Why do they only snuggle when they're sick!?

Samson is 4 months!!! This picture was taken a little late because we were in Oregon on his 4 month day.

Zeke doesn't let me just take a picture of Samson for long! It's cool, the camera loves him!

Fairytale Town

2010-03-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

Friday, we knew it was supposed to be nice weather, so we "mommies" planned a day at Fairytale Town. It's a little park for kids across from the zoo. I actually like it much better than the zoo for Zeke's age. There are a ton of little things to climb on, and walk around, and some farm animals to look at. It isn't very big, so they can't get too lost, and as long as it's not super busy, it's pretty pleasant. Plus, they don't care if you bring in your own food, so we can have little picnics there. It is $4 to get in, but 2 and under get in free, so I'm golden!

Too scared to go down the slide, so I helped. It was pretty fast.

Riding a horse. I tried to get him to pet a real one, but he freaked out.

Driving Cinderella's coach. And putting the move on Ava!

They loved this little candlestick lamp.

Zeke was a huge fan of the goats. I think it's because they were behind two layers of fencing.

Zeke disappeared, and I panicked a little, but then I found him INSIDE the pumpkin. I didn't think he could climb inside by himself, but he liked it there.

Getting brave about slides. I suppose this one isn't as scary as the shoe slide!

AFTER his meltdown, Samson slept like a little angel for the rest of the day!

Brothers. I love these boys! Especially in jammies!

My RING!!!

2010-03-17T08:13:00.001-07:00

The night of the Bachelor Finale (which was a huge disappointent in and of itself!) My friend Sis had a "Bachelor Party". We all got together and watched it at her place, and had ice cream sundaes. Before I went, I was primping, and I distinctly remember thinking to myself, self, you just need to get your phone, keys, and ring, and you'll be ready!. So I did. As soon as I got in my car to drive home after, I realized that my ring was not on my finger any more. That night I scoured my house thinking maybe I never put it on, but to no avail. I even texted Sis and asked her to look. The next day I drove back to her apartments and searched the parking lot, the walk way, and we even tore her place apart looking for it! She promised she wouldn't vacuum until I found it. I told her don't worry, I've looked EVERYWHERE and it's gone. Well, this morning, our friend Cortnie called me. Last night her baby had a blowout in his carseat. When she took it apart to wash it, a sparkly ring fell out. MY RING!!! I am so excited. It's not my original wedding ring, but Josiah bought it for me after I had Zeke, and I LOVE it! I am on cloud 9 today. And today I am taking it to get sized, because now it's way too big!

picture taken when it still fit!

Three months!!!

2010-02-26T16:11:00.000-08:00

I can't even believe that this little monkey is already three months old! Samson is such a good baby (usually.) He sleeps from whenever he falls asleep at night, (usually between 7 and 9) to around 5am when Josiah leaves. He usually goes back to sleep after he eats. The worst is when he actually sleeps until 6, because he won't go back to sleep until 8, and by then Zeke is waking up.

He is pretty happy, and just loves attention and faces. He likes to chat it up with me.

Samson's a strong boy who can roll from his tummy to his back, and loves his swing (THANK GOODNESS!!!)

And he's very pensive.

Zeke is still into shoes. Daddy was very proud of this...

And Zeke was stoked once they were both on! But then he walked, fell over, and threw a fit!

Zeke found Josiah's Army hat, and put it on. He looks very handsome!

The boys' first bath together. I tried to get a picture where Samson's neener wasn't showing, but check out Zekel's luscious cheeks!! He takes after his dad, not me!!

This morning I couldn't find Zeke, and he was just chillin in the dry bath. It wasn't as cute when I was filling it up to bathe Samson, and he decided to jump in (just the bigger tub)with all of his clothes on and lay down. We had to leave in like 10 minutes, so I just made him sport wet jeans.

My sweet cousin Tiffany sent the boys these shirts, and Samson is just big enough. I couldn't wait for them to wear them, and I wasn't disappointed. Look how cute they are!

Just some random cuteness...

2010-02-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

I am such a terrible blogger now. I guess it's hard to keep up when you have 2 babies. I went to Oregon a couple of weeks ago and didn't even take one picture. THAT MAKES ME SAD! Anyway, I do have a few pictures that nana and papa would probably enjoy, so here they are...

Zeke tries to give love. Samson is just eating his nose though!

He is getting to be such a big boy. We cut his hair short, it should grow out in time for some good easter pictures.

So pensive. We're really enjoying him, and he's getting SO BIG!!! He'll be 3 months on the 24th. CRAZY!

And we got a smile!

LOVES mommy's shoes. Daddy's too, but there's nothing like a good pair of heels.

Can you still do this?

2010-02-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

How do kids have the crazy ability to rack out anywhere? I found Zeke in his booster chair like this the other day. I left him for like 20 minutes while I was feeding Samson and checking my email. I could hear him whining, and then he would be quiet, which is normal for when he's eating something that he doesn't like. I wanted him to finish his lunch, so I just ignored the whines. I kinda felt guilty when I saw him dozing. Poor kid, he just wanted his bed!

Jealous much?

2010-01-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

Or just having fun? Yesterday, Zeke came up to me totally whining because he couldn't get these pants on over his jeans. So I took his jeans off and helped him out. Looking good baby. These are Samson's! Size 3mos! Oh, and Samson's hat too.

And just another shot of my cute little bug!

Whatever works!

2010-01-14T09:31:00.001-08:00

Since Zeke has been sick for the past few days, he hasn't eaten anything. Well, he'll ALWAYS go for some pancakes and syrup to dip it in. He loves to dip. And he loves syrup.

That's not a telephone. It's your cup of syrup. Which means it's now in your ears!!! Straight to the bath for you.

And here's my good baby. He loves his swing. Zeke hated it, so even 15 minutes of peace and quiet is totally welcome!

But usually he falls asleep, and I get a good hour!

Kindred spirits

2010-01-11T16:51:00.000-08:00

Can we go out and play?

Samson's blessing day

2010-01-09T10:35:00.001-08:00

All of my siblings came down for New Year's weekend, and that is when Samson was blessed. My Tio Nacho, his son David and wife Marlene, and their daughter Monica and 3 of her daughters also came out. It was so fun and special to have so much family and support there. Here are the pictures that were taken with Laurie's camera.

Fun family picture.

The Sanders family with Tio Nacho.

Que sexy!

And the whole family. Thanks for all the LOVE!

Way overdue!!

2010-01-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, Josiah's parents came down for the weekend. We had a really good time relaxing with them.

Christmas Eve was Samson's 1 month birthday, so here's his one month picture.

The boys in their matching jammies.

I'm pretty sure the only way we'll get over this tradition is when Zeke leaves on his mission.

Maybe next year Samson will be able to sit up.

Zeke enjoying all his loot! Actually that is Samson's present that he's stealing!

And this is Josiah's hat that he's stealing. But he looks SO cute in it!!

Enjoying Christmas dinner with family and friends. (The Turners)

After dinner, the boys sat down to read a book.

They finally became friends! Zeke is scared of men he doesn't know very well. We'll have to see Papa more often!

After Christmas, the Sanders' went home, and the Gonzalez's came down.

Bath time. It was so fun for Zeke to actually be big enough to play with his cousins. I didn't see him for 3 days straight. It was AWESOME!

Basically this happened all weekend, regardless of which one was in the booster.

Sharing some pumpkin pie! Why not? I was cleaning pumpkin pie out of the booster chair for days!

(Sorry my thoughts were really scattered on this blog. Both boys have been terrorizing me all morning, but I HAD to get it posted.)

More of my cuties!

2009-12-24T10:29:00.001-08:00

Zeke likes a little tummy time too!

Sometimes he likes to lounge in the carseat...

Sometimes he likes to give kisses.

He likes holding his brother

Last night we had dinner at the Turner's. I made 12 layer rainbow jello and "football" rolls. We called them "football" rolls when my mom would roll them extra large!

The other day they were incidentally both in diapers, so I took a few pics.

Someone didn't like it so much, but you do what you gotta do!

Trying to get a good picture.

Just playing with black and white.

Merry Christmas to me!!!

2009-12-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

Josiah and I are REALLY bad at giving eachother presents, and then waiting to open them. He came home from shopping, and promptly told me that I would probably want to open it early. He bought me a CAMERA! So, here are some shots from my new fancy pants camera.

Sweet baby sleeping! The bumper I made, Laurie made the black and white blanket, and the polka dots came from Target.

He loves the swing! Zeke hated it.

Just some of his new favorite activities: Putting on pants over pants

Shooting his shot gun

and torturing the dog.

Oh, and pulling ornaments off the tree!

I have BOYS!

2009-12-01T18:44:00.001-08:00

I haven't really been doing anything this week, except having my nips sucked into oblivion. They're healing now, and I'm doing pretty good. I did however cut Zeke's hair for the first time. I was scared to cut his curls off, but he walked out in his jammies the other day, and he totally looked like a girl.

He's clearly making a face, but you can see his sweet haircut from here. He's a big boy now.

A REALLY big boy. What a difference 17 months makes!

And just some gratuitous shots of my handsome.

And my other handsome. Sideways. I don't know how to rotate it, and I'm too lazy to figure it out right now. Notice the Oregon Duck's shirt. It's pretty standard uniform this time of year.

He's HERE!!!

2009-11-26T19:43:00.000-08:00

So our boy is here. He couldn't have come at a better time. Samson Manrique Sanders was born at 8:10pm on Tuesday, November 24th. He was 7lbs, 3 0z., and 20.5 inches long. Same length as his big brother, but over a pound lighter.

We were hoping he would come this week, because Josiah had taken the whole week off anyway for Thanksgiving. Monday night I was having some contractions, but that was totally normal for me. Pretty much every night I had contractions. However, when I woke up Tuesday morning having contractions, I thought something might be up. I timed them starting at 7am and they were about 8 minutes apart. They weren't too painful, but they continued until 10am when I decided to just take a shower, and get ready for whatever the day held. I was supposed to be at McDonald's for a playdate at 11:30, but when I got up and going, my contractions started getting more regular, and a big stronger. We decided to go to McDonald's and drop Zeke off with some friends, and then we would just go to the hospital. I felt really stupid, because my contractions weren't even bad, and they were still at least 5 minutes apart.

I was super nervous getting sent home from the hospital. It is such a pain, and I feel like I'm letting everyone down. We went to traige, and they hooked me up to a monitor. I was definitely having contractions, but they weren't too extreme. Finally the midwife came in and checked me, and I was at a 5!! I almost started crying. Well, there were definitely tears in my eyes. I was SO happy to know that I was staying. The baby was coming out today! We finally got admitted to our room around 3, and they hooked me up to monitors. By about 4 they let me get off the monitors and use the restroom. After I was standing behind a chair, and I started having a contraction. Before I knew it there was a puddle on the floor. I started cracking up. I felt so bad for the nurse that had to come and clean that up! For the next few hours, I just chilled in and out of bed having medium contractions every 5 minutes. In between the contractions I was making phone calls, and chatting with Josiah, and just resting. It didn't even feel like real labor. Then at 7 my midwife came in and checked me again. Now I was at a 7, but there was still a little bag of waters there, so she broke it. In the next hour, I started having real contractions. By 7:45ish, they started getting really hard, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it. I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life by not getting drugs yet. I was always open to it, but I hadn't been in bad pain yet. I was still standing through my contractions, but the baby's heartbeat was dipping, so they made me lay down. I got in bed on my side, and the midwife came in to check me one last time. I told her that she would have to wait because I was going to have another bad contraction. She was coaching me through it, and Josiah was telling me how amazing I was doing. I was in some serious pain, and making some really nice noises, and then I was like, "I think it's coming out." and the midwife said, "I think you're right." Then things got intense, as she jumped off of my bed and scrambled to get ready. I just rolled to my back, and within 3 minutes, he was out. I don't even remember what was going on, just feeling his head come out, and then they said one more push for the shoulders. It was INSANE!!! I was cracking up and shaking and just a big old mess. I was so amazed that in 20 minutes I had gone from scared to death, to having a baby in my arms. For the next 20 minutes or so I just sat there shaking, maybe a little in shock, and then I calmed down enough to nurse him and hold him and love him. We're so glad he's here, and I am feeling AMAZING! I don't want to brag, but this was the best delivery EVER! I feel totally different than with Zeke. Not that I'm saying I want to do it again, but this worked this time.

So excited to be admitted!!

Did I seriously just have a baby!?? Pure adrenaline!

Our precious baby!

Just getting cleaned off.

Sleeping like a sweet boy.

This is a good picture of what he looks like awake. I took it with my phone so it's not super clear, but he has lots of dark hair, and he's just adorable. To us at least!

Oh, and here's one for Jacqui. He's extreme thumbsucking.

Halloween 2009!

2009-10-31T13:47:00.001-07:00

So we started out our festivities by visiting the pumpkin patch. This one is about 2 miles from our house, so it's really convenient. Zeke LOVED being able to walk around all independent like!

He's wearing his oregon shirt because it was a game day.

Here Daddy is pushing him through the haybale maze. They were both having a pretty good time.

When he got out he had to try out every "car" they had there. Zeke REALLY liked this one, with the antennae and squeaky horn.

We tried pulling him in the wagon, but he insisted on pushing it. Such a big boy!

And here is our little ducky. This is at the trunk-or-treat on Friday. We all go to the church, open our trunks and let the kids walk around in the circle getting candy. VERY efficient! I was surprised at how long he kept his hood on. I made his costume and this white fur sheds SO BAD! My sewing room is a hazmat zone.

So, I woke up at 5am with Josiah on Friday, and all of the sudden, I had a cough. By that afternoon, I had a slight fever. But I was NOT missing the trunkortreat. Basically that was the whole reason for making Zeke's costume! So I got some cough drops, and made it there. By the time I got home, I had to run out of the car, into the house to throw up. I called Kaiser, and the nurse said I have enough swine flu symptoms that they wanted to put me on tamiflu, an antiviral. Since I'm pregnant, they want me to really watch it. So, now I feel a little like death, but Zekey got to parade around in his costume! The things we do for our kids!

Our little person.

2009-10-17T16:11:00.001-07:00

Our little guy is just FULL of personality. I swear he's changed this week. He is no longer a baby. Well, he sort of is. But he's also this walking, talking, signing, screaming, opinionated, little person. He LOVES being in the kitchen with me.

The oven mitts go in the second drawer from the bottom, so it's right at his level. They're usually somewhere in the living room or play room. Or kitchen floor.

When Zeke was still in utero, Jacqui found this costume and gave it to us. He is NOT a fan. Plus it's a little small. It was just hilarious watching Reggie. Apparently he likes having another doggie around.

He did NOT like the hood, but it was the cutest part.

So today, I was letting Zeke feed himself. I wasn't supervising, because it takes FOREVER. He just coats the spoon, and licks like half of it off, and then 20 seconds later tries again. Well, I heard him start crying suddenly. Apparently yogurt in the eyes doesn't feel good.

Is it terrible that I was cracking up. There was a thin coating of yogurt on EVERY surface that he could reach. I'm not sure where this all went wrong. Last time I checked, he was doing ok.

WHAT??

2009-10-15T21:42:00.001-07:00

Not sure if you can read this, (I took it with my cell) but I was behind this car the other day, and the License plate reads des "heart" joe.

How many des's out there can love a joe? In all fairness, we spell "joe" Jo, but it's basically the same thing! She must have great taste!

Just a couple of videos for Nana and Papa.

2009-09-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

Here we had just bought him a new gun at Cabela's. It took him about 2 seconds to fall in love, and he still won't put it down.

It's still summer here!

2009-09-20T20:29:00.001-07:00

Since it's still full on summer here, we decided to visit a splash park last week. I tried to take him a few months ago, but he was still crawling, and he ended up crawling the tops of his feet raw. It was sad. He LOVES the water though, and this was no exception!

Just soaking up some rays. The sprays turn on and off, and he would always get there right as they were turning off. He's a little too slow.

He also LOVES bigger kids, and loves following them around.

And sometimes he gets thirsty. He goes to the drain where it all puddles, and sucks it out. It's really gross and I yell at him, but he finds it irresistable. He also likes to drink pool water. He takes nose dives when we swim, but at least he's not afraid to put his face in the water.

Our friends the Turners have a kid chair, and Zeke LOVES it, so Josiah went to Ikea and bought him a nice little chair. Josiah wishes he had the adult version, but our house is too small. He took off with my silverware basket. He likes things with handles.

And sometimes you just gotta do some work on your truck, and you can't be bothered with clothes.

Pretty much every time we put Reggie outside, Zeke goes to the back door and torments him. The back door is behind our couch, so I'll be minding my own business, and he'll be at the back door giggling. It's really cute in real life.

I'm also a GENIUS babysitter. Since Easton loves movies, and Zekels loves his stroller, I gave them the best of both worlds. I set them up with some Scooby Doo and Goldfish crackers, and they were silent for 20 minutes. Well, Easton was good to go for the entire movie, but 20 minutes in Zeke time is like 2 hours in regular kid time!

Walking isn't the issue!

2009-08-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

So it's no big secret that Zeke took his sweet time learning to walk. He's been taking steps for a couple of weeks now, and he's doing pretty well. People always said, "Oh, just enjoy your time. It's a whole new ballgame when they're walking." Walking is pretty much not even a problem. Our house is equally baby proofed for crawling and walking. He was cruising along things for so long, that he's been able to reach the same level. But along with the walking has come CLIMBING!!!! He LOVES to climb onto the couch.

Last week I went to play the piano, and I heard a familiar rustling sound. It took him about 2 seconds to climb on the couch, and find a bag of "emergency" Cheetos under my purse. And the purple "L" is a of foam bath tub letter. He picked this one out and has been carrying it around the house for weeks making gun noises. He has no idea what any animals say, but he KNOWS the gun noise. Daddy is SO proud!

Here he made it between the chair and the table. At this point, he's still thinking he's pretty crafty. About 2 seconds later, he realizes he's STUCK! Hahahaha!

Sometimes when I'm doing dishes and watching my girlfriend Judge Judy, I wonder why she's suddenly speaking spanish. He can find ANY inconvenient button on the remote.

He also LOVES climbing into his containers. He climbed into the "toddler basket" during R.S. last Sunday. It was not a very big basket, much like this container.

This is just him walking across the living room in his jim-jams.

On Tuesday, Lindsey and Chase came to play. It had been WAY TOO LONG! The boys are getting older, and it's SO fun to watch them play. We ran a bunch of errands, and I totally got to try out my new double stroller. Note to self: Both kids need awesome snack cups. Other than that, they did AMAZING together. It made me want to start a toddler playdate at my house. Zeke didn't even acknowledge me for like an hour and a half when we got home.

I just love Chase's face in this picture. He's too cool for school.

I waxed nostalgic tonight and put Zekels in his infant carrier, which conveniently snaps right into my double stroller. So then we decided to walk down the block to get the mail. About halfway there, I realized there was a couple standing right by the mailboxes talking, so I made Reggie jump in, so he wouldn't jump all over the people and piddle on their legs and what-not. The girl thought this was the cutest thing she'd seen all week. I was really embarassed and told her we were just being silly, but she assured me that either way, she thought it was awesome. I'm pretty sure she thought Reggie was cuter than Zeke. Even after Zeke waved bye bye. On command. Oh, and when we got back inside, Reggie REFUSED to get out of the stroller. He apparently thought this was a pretty sweet deal!

Ok, so our dog is spoiled. He has a crate. He loves his crate, but when the bed is unoccupied during the day, we usually find him there. Under the covers. Well, since Lindsey was coming, I decided to make my bed before 4pm right before Josiah gets home. (that's when I usually end up making it.) Reggie was really confused. He couldn't find where the blankets started in order to get under them. So he just made himself comfortable on Josiah's pillows. Silly dog!

Is this nesting?

2009-08-17T16:46:00.001-07:00

I guess I just decided that a few things needed to get done. We bought a new duvet cover for our bed. Once I got it all in place, I decided I needed some color, so my next project is to find a nice fabric to make a couple of throw pillow out of, and then valances for our room, and then we have to find a coordinating paint an do that. I'm thinking a nice blue-green. Who knows. I suck at decorating.

Now that it's been a year, I decided I could get Zeke's room done. So I picked out fabric for the new baby's bed. I have to make a bumper, because we ordered a mini-crib and there is basically no bedding available, especially matching/coordinating with what we already have. So I made some valances, and then I wanted to hang them, but I wanted to finally paint his room first, so that was our weekend project. Josiah was such a HUGE help. We love you daddy!

If you look closely, you can see that Zeke is in his crib. He was supposed to be going to sleep, but since he refused, I took the opportunity to take the picture.

This is called peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Dan (my sister's husband) introduced them to me. They're pretty tasty, and nothing tops them off like an ice-cold IBC root beer!

And here's a gratuitous picture of my very bad baby. He apparently was NOT in the mood for macaroni and hot dogs. As you can see, there is quite the spread on the floor. Dotted with blueberries. And everyone wonders why he's so skinny. I think he just likes to see the dog come and clean up after him. And he does. TOTALLY WORTH HAVING A DOG!

We're a tiny bit abusive.

2009-08-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

The other night Josiah found a mouse in a trap in the garage. He went and got one of my haircoloring gloves to pick it up, and Zeke saw it and freaked out. He apparently has a deathly fear of black gloves. Sorry we're laughing so much.

I suck at blogging

2009-07-30T11:52:00.001-07:00

I used to love blogging, because it forced me to take pictures, something I have never done consistently. Now I just feel bad, because I have nothing to blog, because I never take pictures! Well, last week Zeke and I went to Oregon for my Uncle's 50th birthday party, and then a family friend's wedding. I didn't take pictures at either one. Zeke was melting down (literally, it was hot) at both. I did however get some cute pictures at otter beach in Corvallis. Otter beach is the name of the public pool's outdoor play area. It's super fun for kids, and Zeke can't wait to be a bigger kid.

Here he's just testing out the water

Lincoln loves his little cousin!

Zeke realized he could stand and play with this apparatus.

Zeke LOVED these two boys. When they had to go in, he crawled after them.

And here's a shot of UNCLE LEVI! Best uncle ever! He is so good with the babies. He always holds them and loves them and helps take care of them. Zeke pretty much screamed every time I left him alone this week, but not if Uncle Levi was there with him. We'll miss him! COME VISIT UNCLE LEVI!

It's a BOY!!!

2009-07-17T14:39:00.000-07:00

It's official! We're having another baby boy in December. This is exactly what we wanted, the boys will be 17 1/2 months apart, and will be the best of friends. Right? I'll post pics later.

I THINK I'M IN LOVE!!!!!!!!

2009-07-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Tonight I was at Wal-Mart looking for good old fashioned fudgecicles when I stumbled across these! In case you can't read the package, they're birthday party ice cream sandwiches. And I just ate one. And they are as good as they look! The cookies are a little firmer than the classic sandwiches, so they don't stick all over your fingers, and the ice cream has crunchy sprinkles throughout. And the ice cream itself is light, so it's not so bad for you! That means I can have one for me, and one for the baby!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZEKE!

2009-06-22T08:51:00.001-07:00

I can't even believe that it's been a whole year since I had this little angel. He's the SWEETEST baby anyone could imagine. Currently, he's cruising along furniture, has 8 teeth and eats just about anything (including an entire bratwurst last night), and he usually sleeps 14 hours at night straight through. Plus a 2 hour nap at some point during the day. Sometimes 2.

This is his 1 year old picture from after church yesterday. I tried without the binky, but he wasn't focusing! He had just woken up from his nap, and friends were there!

For father's day, as well as Zeke and Kurt's birthday that is today, we had the Waller's over. Kurt, Lindsey, and Chase came over to play and BBQ. After dinner, the dads were enthralled in some XBOX, so we took the boys out back to play in our kiddie pool. They did have fun, this is just the only picture of both of their faces.

Then we got cleaned up and opened presents. Zeke got a busy ball popper, duplo legos, and cars from us, books and clothes from Nana and Papa, and a baseball and glove from the Wallers.

Here he's a little scared of his cake. In all fairness, it is on fire.

But once it's extinguished (with some help from daddy) he seems to cozy right up to it.

You can tell he's really enjoying it, because we're getting the "cheesy" smile.

It's all fun and games until someone rubs their eyes with red frosting all over their hands.

Then we stripped him down, and gave him a bath in the sink.

We LOVE our sweet baby, and we can't imagine our life without him. He's such a blessing, and he teaches us so much every day. I'm so excited about his little brother (or sister) that's coming this winter, and watching them grow and play and learn together.

Zeke LOVES strawberries!

2009-06-17T17:59:00.000-07:00

One evening last week I picked all of the strawberries out of my garden. They're smaller than store ones, but I got 2-3 cups full. I sat with Zeke on the sidewalk out back, and he dug right in. After about 3/4 of the container was empty, I thought, "This is sure cute. I should probably get my camera." So you're catching the tail end of our strawberry extravaganza. He clearly loved them.

"This is delicious!"

"NO!!! They're almost gone!"

I think Reggie wanted a bite, but no luck!

Viva la familia!

2009-06-11T14:08:00.001-07:00

Last week, I took a trip to Oregon, and then Washington to see some family.

Jacqui, Dan and Levi came down to see some friends in Reno. Then we caravaned back up to Oregon all together. Levi is the CUTEST uncle. He took such good care of Zeke and Paolo the whole time! This is us at Black Bear Diner in Mt Shasta City, with Mt Shasta in the background. It's a really pretty drive.

When we got there we just had to go see Nana and Papa, and they suprised us with Heather and Isabel coming down! We went to lunch and had a pretty good day. Zeke showed off his straw skills by sucking down literally half of my chocolate milkshake.

He's also taken a liking to sunglasses. It's pretty cute. Here he stole Isabels. He just started doing it on the way to Oregon with Jacqui's. They were pink too. Uh-oh.

Zeke loved playing with his cousins. Here he is with Paolo.

This is at the family reunion in Washington with Jared. He is my cousin Zynna's 9 month old.

I'm sure he was tired, but mostly it was warm in there. I think he liked the nice cool floor.

All the hot ladies. And their babies. Jacqui and Paolo, Zynna and Jared, Aunt Coca, and Zeke and Me.

Finding his new love. Strawberries. I never bring him food because he can eat basically anything, but here it was limited, so he ate about a dozen that day. I had strawberry juice all over my nice white pants.

Here is a lot of the family that was there. I could even tell you most of their names now! YAY!

Silly BABY!

2009-05-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

Zeke has been quite the handful lately. And since I'm pregnant, I've been lazier than ever. I had a little bleeding episode on Sunday night, so Monday, I was taking it easy. Whilst laying on the couch, I dozed off, and Zeke found my extra strength Tylenol in my diaper bag, got it open, and proceeded to try some. I woke up when josiah got home and discovered them all over the place. I called poison control, and the guy said at his weight, 4-5 are toxic. Since we didn't know how many he had, we took him straight to the emergency room. They had to give him a little IV, and they tested his blood for the drug. Whilst we were waiting, I asked the nice doctor if I could be admitted because I thought I may be miscarrying at 12 weeks. There were no doctor's offices open since it was Memorial Day, but since we were already at the ER, I figured, why not? So while we were waiting for Zeke's results, they set me up for an ultrasound. Jo and I said a little prayer while we were waiting for the doctor, and when he came in to do the US, everything was fine. He said I had a "marginal placenta" which tends to bleed when overexerted, so I REALLY have to take it easy. And Zeke had no tylenol in his system. One of my ward friends called to have her hair done, and I politely declined due to my situation. She called me back 15 min later, and told me she had called the primary president, and told her I needed to be released from Nursery. HAHA. Whatever it takes. But it really is a legitimate request.

New Story:

Every single day Zeke and I take a shower. Every day I get out and fill the bath with 3 inches of clean baby soapy water. He plays while I get dressed, and then I get him out and get him dressed. Well, today he must have been a little tired/impatient, because before I could get my unders on, he did a face plant on my bathroom floor. It looked like when seals flop on the ice. He just slid out face first. He got a tiny fat lip, and he cried for a long time. He hates getting out of the bath as it is, and he was REALLY tired. He's fine now. It was hilarious though. A mental picture I'll cherish forever.

Last weekend we went camping with the Turners. It was a blast! I can't wait to go more this summer!

Josiah's bringing us all our tin-foil dinners. Yum YUM!

This is where we wanted Zeke to play all day:

This is where he preferred to be:

This is also his 11 month shot! How HANDSOME!

Here's my sexy hubby cooking us dinner!

And here's the boys playing horseshoes. Mike brought the games. He also brought a beanbag toss called CORNHOLE. That's really the name kids. I thought they were just being funny, but when I got home, I wanted to buy a set so bad I googled it and there's an ACA. American Cornhole Association!!! We had a really good time!

Zeke got into pen the other morning.

And Lastly, my gardening update.

What a carrot should look like:

What happens when a small carrot hits a rock, or something else hard.

And this baby just came out of the blue. I check my plants at least every other day when I water, and this was there today! HOW FUN!

Sacramento Rivercats and Teenie Potatoes

2009-05-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited about my garden! It's starting to get really big. I planted potatoes about a month ago, and they are out of control huge on top. It's cool, all you have to do is cut up a disease free potato and stick it in dirt, and a few weeks later, the plant is ginormous! One of my weaknesses however is digging up what I plant too early, just to see how it's coming along. But then you can't exactly put it back. I've done this with carrots and onions also. They're cute! I can't wait until they're full grown! So yesterday I dug my hand under the potato plant, and this is what I found:

I put it next to an egg so you could see how tiny it is. But it's a potato!

Last night we went to a Sacramento Rivercats baseball game. They're our triple a team, and they were the champs last year. I guess they then got recruited pretty heavily, because they're not as great this year. We played the Albuquerque Isotopes. Jo was pretty excited about playing the Isotopes. Like on "The Simpsons" Silly boys! Oh, and we won!

What's baseball without the snacks! It was clearly a packed house. I was trying to give Josiah a bite of my red rope and Zeke grabbed it and started gnawing away. Whatev.

These are my cute boys leaving the park. Night time and still warm outside!

And here's my very bad baby. I was waiting for my little friend Easton to come over so I could take him to preschool for his mom. I decided to put on Dora so E could watch whilst I showered. I watch a LOT of TV and Zeke never seems to care what's on. Top Model, The Hills, he's oblivious. This time however, 30 seconds, and he was HOOKED! I guess the makers of Dora know what they're doing!

Plus one makes 4!

2009-05-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

So I've been trying to decide when to post this. I was going to wait a few more weeks, but I couldn't hold it in any more! We're having another baby!!! I'm 9 weeks, 4 days, and I'm due December 8th.

I know I know, we already have a baby and he's only 10 months old! Yeah, we were pretty much freaking out at first, but now we're really excited. We're hoping for another boy to keep Zekey company. They'll be 17 1/2 months apart.

I couldn't figure out how to rotate this picture, but you can tell which way was up. It looks like a perfect picture of a baby with a face and little hands and everything. Little did I know, the baby is upside down, and his face is actually his body. Whatever. I was still right about the hands.

If anybody knew me during my first pregnancy, I WAS SICK. Every other day I was throwing up, and if I wasn't throwing up, I was laying on the couch. This time, I'm SO MUCH BETTER!!! It's so exciting. I'm still feeling exhausted, but I only threw up once, whilst cleaning up dog poo. (Please refer to two posts ago.) Anyway, i'll keep everyone updated on the progress.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

2009-05-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

There's a commercial for the boardwalk that has a fun jingle that I was singing all day. Anyhoo, today we spent our Saturday mostly in the car. We woke up this morning and went to the Black Bear Diner in Suisun City, CA. It's the closest to us, and they have some KILLER pancakes. They're made with sweet cream. I thought Zeke was going to share with me, but he wasn't hungry, so I had to do most of the damage by myself. (And I could only get about halfway through.)

Since we were already halfway to Santa Cruz, we decided to make a day of it. I have been wanting to go. It was really fun. Josiah was super impressed (Which is VERY difficult) with the "real California beach." They were having a beach volleyball tournament. It's funny because all beach volleyball players wear skimpy bikinis whether they should or not. There was one hot guy while we were watching, but he was the only player who refused to take his shirt off. I was sad. JKLOL. Anyhoo, this is me after playing one round of "knock over the milk bottles." There were six bottles stacked and I had to throw three baseballs and knock them all down. I did it in two! And then Josiah and I played a rifle game, and he got 14/15, and I got all 15! I wasn't trying to emasculate him, but needless to say, he wasn't trying any more contests after my winning streak. He did tear it up on skeeball though. After a churro, a pretzel, a virgin strawberry margarita, and way too much licorice, we decided to head home. I did get a crab cocktail on the way. I LOVE CRAB!
This is Zeke just loving being out.

This is me and my prize. Zeke lost it halfway through the day.

Here's us in front of the beach. Pretty fun!

BAD DOGGIE!

2009-04-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

FYI This story is gross, so stop reading if you're squeamish.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner, so we put Reggie in his crate. Somehow throughout the night I had let him out, but then I put him back in our bedroom, not locked up. I do this often with no problems. When we went in to go to bed after dinner, there was poop by the bed, and he had peed in our closet. BAD DOGGIE. So Josiah cleaned up the poo, and I went behind with the Little Green Proheat Turbo Spot Cleaner and cleaned up the residue and the pee. Done and done.

Well, I woke up at 4:30 AM needing to pee, and our room once again smelled pretty bad. I turned on the lights dimly and searched, but found nothing. I went to the bathroom and climbed back into bed and tried to sleep, but the smell was BAD! Josiah gets up at 5 and leaves by 5:30, so when he got up I was on a mission to find the source. And find the source I DID! In the middle of the night, Reggie had gotten up, and diarrhea-ed all over under our bed. Not like, "oh, scoot the bed over", but take the mattress and box spring completely off. At 5am. And Josiah was going to be late, so I couldn't even make him do it! Reggie also had a bit of troubles near the back door. Clearly he was full of shame, which is why he hid it, but I may take him to the pound! JKLOL. I could never do that! Oh, and Zeke's had 3 HUGE poops today too. All of which I got to change. Who knew my days would be filled with non-stop dookie!!! I CAN'T WAIT FOR POTTY TRAINING! (Sense the sarcasm)

Thank goodness I had this to whip out at 5 am!

Busy Busy

2009-04-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

Last week was CRAZY!!! I started out by watching my neighbor Ashley's daughter Lily each afternoon from 3-5:30ish. Ashley has come over a few times, so I was thrilled when she trusted her precious little girl in my care. Lily is a month younger than Zeke, but she is a big fine woman! They had a lot of fun together, and they played pretty well. As long as neither of them were tired. Or hungry. Or had fallen. Or hitting eachother. Oh well, it was fun.

See. They're in love! Oh wait, I think she's trying to block his swing!

Then on Friday, it was my BDAY. Josiah took me to dinner at a really nice Steak House, Morton's. We had reservations, and we got all dressed up. It was really fun. We dropped Zeke off at Susanne's and then went to dinner. After dinner, Susanne threw me a party, and made me this awesome cake. We played poker. It was a tribute to my gamblaholicness. I turned 27, hence the 2, and then the 1+6 dots. It was just our friend Erin, and us and our husbands, but we stayed up all night talking. We didn't get home til after midnight!

This is my 10 month old. DOUBLE DIGITS! I don't know what I'm going to do when he's a year!

Last monday it was in the 90's, so I took Susanne and Easton to my pool. We picked up Kim's little girl Haylee, since Kim just had a C-section on the 15th. Zeke really liked the water as long as you didn't rush him.

And here he is eating a whole sandwich. I was going to cut it into pieces for him, but he was getting really impatient. And I usually don't feed him white bread, but all we had was daddy's bread. It is whole grain white in all fairness.

And I call this one "Doggie Torture" I was checking my email this morning, and I thought Zeke was trapped in the living room. If all the doors are closed, and the baby gate is blocking the office, it's pretty baby proof. Well, I didn't shut the bedroom door, and I found poor Reggie cowering in his crate. Scared of the big bad baby!

Just a day at the beach!

2009-04-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

Since Cindy is in town (Zeke's Nana) we decided to take a mini road trip to Bodega Bay. It's a little beach town about 2 hours west of where we live. It's a pretty cute town, and has a really nice beach. We had an awesome lunch (although a little pricey) and I got my crab fix. For now.

Anyhoo, then we drove down to the beach, and it was gorgeous. Perfect weather. The sand was warm and the wind was great for flying my awesome sponge-bob kite. I wish Lincoln was with me. Last time he came to visit, he was trying to fly a kite by running up and down my street. This was much more enjoyable.

Testing out the water. BRRRR

Testing out the sand. YUMMM

Testing out the kite.

Josiah thought it was fun to let it WAYYY out.

Saying "bye-bye"

Sorry kids, I've been busy!!!

2009-04-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

It's been a LONG time since I posted, and I'm WAY behind.

Chase taught me that playing with wipes is so much fun! We miss you Chase and Lindsey!

This is about 2 seconds before he realized he was stuck. No more smiles.

I went out to water my garden, and he was by the back door on the sidewalk. I turned around, and he had army crawled halfway onto the grass.

First classic baby moment: found the pans!

This is Ezekiel's 9 month picture. That's right, he's 9 months old! He's still just army crawling, but now he's pulling himself up onto things. It's all fun and games until someone lands on the piano.

This face is hilarious. He's making a "PHFF" sound

And check out the bump. He fell on the piano. OOPS!

The Reichs came to visit last week. Dan left Jacqui and the kids here. Lincoln called his dad one night, and said, "Dad, we were going to go to the zoo today, but we just didn't make it. Maybe tomorrow we'll get to go." We never mentioned the zoo, but somehow he decided we needed to go. So we went to the Zoo. The babies really LOVED being out and about. Jacqui has the baby pics on her camera.

This is Annie. She's from Washington. Josiah's cousin Brittany had a baby girl a month before Zeke was born. She was only due 2 weeks before, and I was hoping they'd be closer, but she got toxemia and had to be induced early. I was jealous, until I learned that it made her gain 85 lbs!!! I felt so bad for her then!

This is at Nana and Papa's house. Cindy only had one of Isabel's old bibs, but we think Zeke looks great in it! He's man enough to wear pink, right?

I guess texture makes him crawl. It was too hard to army crawl through the grass, so he had to get up on all fours!

"But Mom, I'M not so sure about walking!"

And lastly, a tribute to our sexy dog. He always has this seductive look in his eye. It's like, "Hey baby, you know you want to snuggle this!"

I'm toast!

2009-02-26T22:48:00.000-08:00

Thank you Thera for introducing me to these little suckers. Luckily they're only around during easter time. I already found some, but they should last me a while since they're having to compete with...

I always wanted to be a girlscout when I was younger, but my mom thought it was dorky. She probably didn't want to have to deal with THESE! And more specifically:

THE Caramel deLites. COME ON PEOPLE, We know they're called Samoa's, and it's just not cool to call them deLites, when there's NOTHING lite about them.

Gardening update #1

2009-02-26T22:39:00.001-08:00

So we've gotten all of our boxes built, filled, and divided. We planted a bunch of seeds in cups, so that they could begin sprouting indoors. One day whilst we were out shopping, a torrential rain storm came and killed most of my seeds. Plus, they just weren't happy in cups. A few, however survived, and so this weekend I transplanted them. I also bought a few seedlings at home depot. They're the pretty ones!

Here's our strawberry plants. These take 3 years to fruit from seeds, so I had to buy them in plants. Hopefully they produce this year!

These are the store bought pepper plants.

And these are my little seedlings that I just transplanted. A few tomato plants survived as well, but we'll see if they actually survive move into the big boxes!

Is there anything sweeter?

2009-02-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

I am totally in love with my baby! More adorable pics:

Apparently this is his new sleeping position

And it's so cute because he reaches for his hippo when I lay him down.

Zeke's new favorite food. BLUEBERRIES. HE takes after his big cousin Lincoln. HE LOVED THEM TOO! However they come out in acid poo. POOR BUM BUM. (tmi?)

He's such a messy eater he has to have a bath every day! That's not gel; it's crusty banana in his hair.

He loves eating his toys, so he usually has a foam goatee.

All clean now. HOORAY! He's pretty excited about it.

And this one is from last week. Jacqui and Lincoln came to visit. Zeke took one header, but we recovered. His balance was off in the deeper water. 2 inches is his limit! It looks like he's crying, but he's not. They're splashing and he's loving it!

This is us at the Park. Susanne was cracking Zeke up. He claps all day long. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE California weather!?

We have an 8 month old!

2009-02-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

I forgot to take his picture until he was in his jimjams, but here he is!

He's eating meals of real food now. His favorites are waffles and bananas. Bananas are really messy though. Here he has them all over his face and in his hair.

His favorite pasttime is swinging at the park. We try to go once a week.

This is Zeke's army crawl. He's getting even better. Maybe by the end of the week it will be legit.

And here he is in his new jumper. I figured he was getting old, but my friend Susanne insisted we try it. I wan't too excited to have another bulky baby apparatus in our tiny house, but this one is worth it. He was cracking up right before I recorded this. And then he continued to bounce happily for another 30 min straight!

Playing Catch-up

2009-02-07T10:22:00.003-08:00

Our baby turned 7 months old Jan 22. Here is that picture:

Every Wednesday we have girl's day at McDonald's. To keep Zeke quiet I gave him a biter biscuit. HE GOT IT EVERYWHERE! But he was quiet for a good 45 min! This is after I wiped his face, but his jeans and sweatshirt were toast!

Sometimes Zeke falls asleep in wierd positions. In this case, he was already sleeping and I was trying to feed him.

Once again, how did he fall asleep like this?

And his favorite pasttime, Playing in a 2 inch bath.

Cute Boys!

2009-01-20T19:52:00.000-08:00

My good friend Lindsey came out last week for a visit. We had a really fun time doing hair and running errands. I forgot that I had pictures though, and these ones are ADORABLE!

Hey Chase, move the toy so we can see your cute smile!

"Chase, my mom said we had to smile and look this way."

"Oh Zeke, you're so cuddly in these soft coordinating pajamas! I hope our dads never see this!"

I guess this is as good as it gets!

We've got SPROUTS!

2009-01-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

That may sound gross. It's not. They're radishes! I have been dying to buy a house for the sole purpose of having a garden. We moved in last April, so I was hoping I could get one in then, but alas being 7 months pregnant doesn't agree with yard work. Not for me anyway. A friend told me about "Square Foot Gardening." Apparently you're supposed to be able to grow in 20% of the space of a row garden. So, I bought the book, and enlisted the help of my two friends Kim and Susanne. They also want gardens, but don't have quite the yard that I do. I got SO lucky with this lot. it's over 5,000 sq ft. and since my house is tiny, it leaves a good back yard. Basically you build little boxes and all of your plants get a designated square foot. I'm doing 1x7 foot boxes along my fence for climbing plants, and then some 4x8's and a 4x4 in the grass for the rest of them. I know the grass is going to die under them, but then we're going to have delicious produce. Berries, corn, tomatoes, potatos, (sp?) RADISHES, beans, melons, squash, peas, lettuces, spinach, PEPPERS! YAY? So on Saturday, I began seeds indoors so that we can get an early start and not have to buy plants later. It's only TUESDAY, and my radishes are already sprouting. Kim's little boy Kayden planted those, so he must have the green thumb, because it's NOT me! I'm just hoping to not kill my garden this year. This may be the theme of my summer of blogging. Oh yeah, and I have a really cute baby too. He actually LOVES being outside when i'm working. It's really cute. I'll have to get him a kiddy pool to play in whilst we garden.

These are our seedlings that we started last Saturday. The red cups are the radishes that are already sprouting. They're supposed to harvest in 22 days, so I'm excited for a quick return!

How do i even survive!?

2009-01-13T08:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a pretty fun day. I went to Costco with Kim and then we met Susanne at the park. Zeke LOVED the swings! I LOVE Macaroni Grill and Kim had a gift card that work there and a few other places. I told her to give me a call when she decided to go because the chicken florentine is one of my favorite things in the world. Pretty much as soon as we got home from the park, she called to let me know that her Father in law was coming to watch her kids, and we were going out! I'm doing weight watchers and I had like 15 points left for the day, so I went online and calculated that I could eat half a chicken florentine and half a loaf of bread. Which is a ton! I knew I was golden. And this is where my day turns bad.

We google mapped the nearest Macaroni Grill. We found one at Arden. Not far. The other two are in Roseville and then Elk Grove. Both about a 20 minute drive, but it's 6pm which means traffic would be HORRENDOUS. Well, in my search for nutritional information, I noticed that the Arden one wasn't listed on the actual website. So when we got in the truck, I called, and the number had been disconnected. Sucky! We live on the apex of I-80 and I-5, and either alternative was either direction, so I had to call my friends super fast and figure out where to go, and Josiah was driving in circles wondering which on ramp to get on, and he was already annoyed about the key incident (details to follow...) and instead we decided to go to Chili's. Not my very favorite place.

So before we even left the house we were going to take the Jetta. We have my set of keys, and then a replacement key. Josiah keeps the back-up in his nightstand, but a couple of days ago I took the initiative to replace the batteries in the clickers. The batteries came in a two pack, so I just replaced both keys. And I didn't put the back-up key back. So we're searching for like 15 minutes, and I'm feeling like a total jack-a because I can't find EITHER KEY!!! So we take the truck.

Then we have Chili's. Zeke pulls josiah's ENTIRE Diet coke onto my lap. Thanks Zeke. and then I pay. We go to a new yogurt place called Yo Go's. Self Serve and DELICIOUS. It has fresh chopped fruits and berries along with EVERY candy topping ever invented. Kristin, it's like yog yog quality but really close to my house. Next time you come, we're eating lunch there. But I paid cash there because I had a bunch of cash.

Then I go to the Gym and I can't find my card in my wallet because I had used my membership number online. Then on the way home from the gym it's past 10 and I HAVE to stop at the store for some essentials. I go to pay, and I DON'T HAVE MY DEBIT CARD! I must have left it in my jeans. And, they don't take my checks because they still have a Boise Address. LAME. So I have enough cash for like half of the stuff I wanted.

So needless to say when I got home from the Gym I was FRAZZLED. My debit card wasn't in my jeans, so I called Chili's and it is there. I have to go pick it up. And that's right next door to Yo Go's so I might need another. I put my gym card back in my wallet, and I got it a little sheath thing for the gym so I don't lose it. Josiah found the missing back up key on top of his night stand. Not where it goes, but come on, I was CLOSE!

Here's the good part. I made a new year's resolution to be more spiritual. I'm not very. I decided to just try to pray daily, and go back to reading scriptures with Josiah. I'm MAKING IT HAPPEN! I even set a calender appointment in my phone so it reminds me daily. So, we lay down to read scriptures but first I say the prayer. I say all the regular stuff, and I also bless us to find my keys. I have been a long advocate of praying for lost stuff. I guess I lose stuff a lot. But I remember praying when I was like 6 to find a lost remote, and praying to find lost shoes in the morning whilst trying to catch the bus and what not. I really have faith in the power of prayer to find lost stuff. So I pray to find my lost keys. We read our scriptures and we even read two sections because they were short. We're serious over-achievers. After we finish, I get up to get up to get ready for bed. At this point I have torn my house apart to find my keys. I've looked in the fridge and cupboards. As I was getting ready for bed, I had a clear as day revelation. When I got home from Church yesterday, I did the responsible thing and walked straight to my closet and took off my shoes, and hung up my dress. But I had my keys in my hand, and I had to set them down to hang my dress. So I walked into my closet, and there they were on the shelf! My shirts totally cover the shelf, so I NEVER would have found them! So my blessings for being more spiritual have already begun! Yeah, I'm in it for the blessings.

Now it's a new day, and Lindsey is coming to visit from Petaluma! YAY! and Zeke just fed himself his whole bottle in his swing behind me. How cute is that. Oh yeah, I quit nursing. It just wasn't working. I gave it the old college try, but now that I've stopped, I'm so relieved. Now I can lose some weight!

Tricks are for kids!

2009-01-11T20:55:00.000-08:00

This is Zeke's new trick. He's been doing it for a couple of weeks. It was really cute at first, and funny, but now it's getting old. He does it a log when he's eating. I think it means he's full. It's especially nice when he has a mouth full of squash, as you'll see here. He had apricots with mixed fruit the other day and he spat them all over my pants. Thanks baby.

It's been a while since my last post, but really, nothing exciting has happened. We did have Christmas and New Year's, but the three of us made it a family affair. We have made some new friends in the ward, and we spent New Year's Eve with those two families. Here is a Christmas picture.

6 months old!!!

2008-12-22T20:11:00.000-08:00

I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE IT! It's been a half a year since I had my sweet baby. We've had a lot of fun, and I've enjoyed every moment! Well, almost. We went to the doctor today. People always talk about how sad it is when their babies have to get shots, but I'm always so excited to see how much he's grown, that I don't mind. Plus, I always dope him up real good.

Zeke is a tall thin boy. Which is weird considering genetics. Actually, if I ate as healthy as he does, I'd probably be thin too. For height, he's 27 inches long, which is 73rd percentile. As for weight, he's only 16 lbs, 5 oz. That means he's only 29th percentile. My poor boy! I wouldn't feel so bad, but he started out 77th percentile! He's only gained 8 lbs, but the doctor didn't seem concerned at all. He eats when he's hungry, and if I try to nurse him early he won't eat, and if I try to feed him solids he just plays:

(Exhibit A)

He's rolling over pretty well. It's funny because we don't really see him rolling a ton, but sometimes he'll end up 10 feet from where we put him down. It's fun to try to entice him with toys. Hopefully he'll get the concept of opening presents. He really likes new things, and he LOVES crinkly paper, so either way it should be fun.

I had been REALLY stressed about nursing. For the last couple of weeks, it didn't seem like I was filling him up. I've been pumping, and supplementing with formula, and the past few days I think I've caught myself back up. Maybe he was just going through a growth spurt, but now I've actually been able to stockpile a few ounces extra. (like 3 oz./day) I think I was drying up a bit, but luckly with weeks of pumping and not giving up, I think I've made it through this little hurdle. Oh, and the zipties in my hooterhiders broke. So now I have to find real boning, and give it another try. W-E. (whatever)

Anyhoo, Very Merry Christmas to all of my fans, and loved ones, and a Happy Hanukkah to all of my Jewish reader :)

Tizzity-tizzagged

2008-12-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

7 Random Facts Game
Here are the rules:
~Link to the person who tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
~Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
~Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
~Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

7 Random Facts
1. I lived in Mexico for a year in High School. (Where I was also a cheerleader.)

2. In the past 10 years I have had 20 different addresses.

3. I have also had at least 34 roommates. (And that includes my husband for the last 3 years.)

4. My great-grandfather really did invent the pinto bean.

5. I have had 2 of my cars totaled by other people. (Sorry Ivette.)

6. I have had 15 jobs, and my favorite to date was HOGI YOGI!!! HOLLA!

7. I once played spin the cellphone at larrykinglive's house.

Now I tag... Kelsey, Aunt Sylvia, Thera, Ivette, Haya, Ashley and Mandy.

FINALLY!!!

2008-12-16T10:39:00.000-08:00

A TOOTH!
I have been checking for months. He has been super slobbery, and fussy, and people have been asking, and nothing has cut through. But this morning, I felt something, and sure enough, there is definite tooth coming through on the bottom left. His right. Yay! Now at least I know that he's teething. And not just starving.
And on that note. I have to eat in secret. Yesterday morning I nursed him and put him in his exersaucer whilst I watched some Judge Judy and ate my breakfast. As soon as I sat down with my bowl of honey-nut cheerios (Wow, I just realized that nothing has changed since I was 12) anyway. As soon as he saw me with a cereal bowl, he started freaking out. He just screamed until I put him in his booster to give him some delicious solid food. What ev, then he took a 2 hour nap, so that was cool!

M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E!

2008-12-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

I know this past week has been sad for all of you, but I have been in Orlando at Disney World. Josiah's parents decided it would be fun to forego buying gifts for eachother this year and just take a big family trip. So, from the 8th- 14th, we were in DISNEY WORLD! It was a lot of fun. I have only been to Disney Land in CA once when I was like 11, and so it was basically all new to me. Except Space Mountain. I could ride that ride 100 times. There were a couple of new ones too. I even took Zeke on a couple. We went on "It's a Small World" and he LOVED it. And then we went on "Pirates of the Carribean" and that one wasn't as bright and cheery. Seriously, he's never been so enthralled as when we were in "Small World."

This is Ezekiel and Josiah on Small world. He really was this excited the whole time.

Here's Heather, Zeke and Isabel in Minnie's house. It's a pretty dope pad.

Here's Zeke and Isabel meeting Donald. I was really surprised at how interested Zeke really was in all of the surroundings.

Walking into the Magic Kingdom. Cinderella also has some pretty sweet digs.

The fam at Epcot. We had a lot of fun. Food from all around the world? COUNT ME IN!

The last day we were there, I saw an old friend, Ashley Siruno from the colonies.

And this is us 11 years ago! Muffy, Alicia, me and Ashley.

Color me domestic!

2008-12-06T20:05:00.000-08:00

I'm not domestic out of joy, but pure necessity. And cheapity. Josiah picked me out a hooterhider when I was pregnant at this really cute baby store here in Sacramento. I had been shopping with my good friend Lindsey before either of us had babies, and I convinced her that they weren't worth $40. She didn't get one, and then 6 months later, Josiah decided I needed one. The first time I used it I realized that it was definitely worth having. Sorry Lindsey. Last weekend, whilst nursing on the train ride, I think I left it, and it has not been recovered. So I decided to make my own. I went to the local Walmart that has a fabric department, and picked up all of the things I needed. They didn't have boning for the neck, but I had read online that heavy duty zipties work just as well, and they're like $1.89 for 20. So after spending $15 on fabric and zipties, I now have three! (And one more on the way.)

I also made these stockings. There are two of each. The fabric was pre quilted and different on each side, so I made two facing each direction, or two of each style. I had enough fabric to make 4, so I decided reggie could have one filled with delicious treats!

And then finally, I was inspired by Kelsey to make some baby food. Zeke loved yams, so I bought some fresh ones and baked them up, and baked some butternut squash, and then cooked up some fresh green beans for him. I pureed them all in my Magic Bullet (my favorite appliance EVER!!!) and then froze them in ice cube trays. Once they were all frozen, I divided them into Ziploc snack bags, and now they're ready to go! He LOVES his food.

I'm thankful for...

2008-11-30T18:55:00.000-08:00

FAMILY!

(How cute is he?)

This weekend I had so many family and friends over! It was AWESOME! The first to arrive was Uncle Levi. He's my little brother which makes him Zeke's youngest uncle. Then after hours of traffic from the Bay area, our good friends Lindsey, Kurt and little Chase got here. As soon as they got settled in my older brother Casey got here with his family: Laurie, Henry, and Miles. It was a party. Sorry Jacqui. She couldn't make it due to the new baby. Whatever. Laurie took a lot of pictures with her awesome camera, but I still snapped a few.

So the first night we all got settled in. Sort of. It was a tight squeeze at my house, but everyone had a bed of sorts. Then around 1am, Kurt and Lindsey decided they needed to leave. Chase doesn't sleep well away from home, and I guess he had been screaming since we went to bed. We all felt terrible, and they were greatly missed.

The next day, we all woke up to "Run to feed the hungry." It's the 5k I've been training for. We didn't get out of the house on time, and by the time we finally found parking, the race had started. Casey jumped out early, and made it with the 10k start, but Laurie and I just jumped in a few blocks from the start. We still did most of it, and by the time you count the hike to and from the car, we walked way farther. The problem was that with the jogging stroller we could barely move. It ended up being a really tight walk the whole way. It was so festive though. People were holding signs thanking us for donating, and it was through a cute neighborhood in downtown, so people were out front drinking mimosas and bloody mary's for thanksgiving cheering us on.

Then we got home, and I started cooking. I made some of my famous deviled eggs (can you really mess them up?) And by the time I was finished with the appetizers, it was time to cook! I had brined the Turkey in a very herbal mixture, and it turned out AMAZING! I was so proud of myself. Casey said that it was the best thanksgiving food spread ever. Josiah had requested I make a ham, so we bought a small spiral sliced, and that went over HUGE also. Here is the before. Don't mind the GHETTO ness. Paper plates, and patio tables. What-ev. We had fun. Josiah's cousin Brice came over for thanksgiving dinner too, since he lives like 2 blocks away.

The next day, the boys went shooting. They actually drove eastward up into the mountains to shoot in the morning, and then to San Francisco on the west to go to a japanese knife store in the afternoon. They pretty muched circled the width of California.

Laurie and I decided to take the boys to Old Sacramento. Miles LOVES trains, and so I knew it was a must see. They have a train that runs all summer for rides, but it closes in September, so we thought we had missed it. However, for the Thanksgiving weekend, they had a Polar Express! It was SO fun. I find myself getting misty at holiday thoughts. I LOVE the HOLIDAYS!

So Excited to see the trains!

Finally all snuggled up on board!

Miles couldn't even look at us for the pictures!

Henry just sat like this the whole trip. I couldn't believe how quiet they both were!

The next day was Saturday, and it was time to say goodbye to Thanksgiving, and HELLO to CHRISTMAS! We all went in the morning and got a tree at a fun little farm, and then in the evening we decorated. Josiah hung the lights on the house. Casey couldn't resist helping once he found out someone was going to have to get on the roof.

What good boys!

Then we decorated gingerbread cookies that I had made from scratch! They were pretty delicious. Miles kept putting buttons on, and then taking them off and eating them. And Henry and I put shorts on one gingerbread boy, and he was a fighter. His words, not mine.

Later that night, I decorated the Tree. It was SO fun.

My baby rolls!

2008-11-21T13:41:00.000-08:00

I haven't gotten it on video, but I wanted to make it official. He actually did it once last week, and then again while I was in Oregon, and now this week he's been doing it a lot. He's rolling from his back to his tummy. I think he's forgotten how to roll back to his back though. Once he figures that out he's gonna be pumped. Then the floor's the limit!

Crazy Baby!!

2008-11-17T16:10:00.001-08:00

Today my sweet boy took a nap that started out regular and when I went to check on him he was sound asleep in this position:

I didn't know anyone could sleep like this, but apparently it's comfy!

And then when I went to get him after his nap, he was completely turned around into this position:

I guess he kicked his way all the way around. Isn't he cute?

Husband of the YEAR!!!

2008-11-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

Since I had my baby, my wedding band has been too small, and my solitaire fits, but I don't wear it a whole lot since I stab my baby with it and what not. When I got home, Josiah told me he had a present for me...

I LOVE IT!!! Now I need to get my chubby hands a manicure and we'll be set! It's perfect because it doesn't get tangled in my hair and my baby is safe too!

Oregon 2008

2008-11-14T23:15:00.000-08:00

This past week I went to the OR (Oregon) to visit my family and help out Jacqui. I had SO much fun. Basically I got a taste of 2 kids for a week. I'm not ready yet. I mean, I could do it, but I'm still too selfish/lazy. Baby Paolo had a chance of pneumonia, so they had to give him intravenous antibiotics, which kept both he and Jacqui in the hospital until Wendesday. That wasn't so fun. The first couple of days I was there, Lincoln and I would wake up, go hang out at the hospital for a few hours, and then go out to lunch and then go back to the hospital, and then go home and play legos. Legos are so much fun. Now I want to go buy a really intricate project and put it together. On Wednesday, Jacqui came home, and it was so neat. We kind of had to keep out babies sequestered so as not to cross contaminate, but nothing says bonding like simul-nursing. Poor Dan. I hope he didn't have to see more than he wanted. Anyhoo, I am so happy for them, they have been praying for this little miracle baby for a long time. Oh, and by the time I got there, Jacqui was just walking around like no big deal. Of course it was kind of a zombie walk from lack of sleep.

Here's Lincoln and Paolo. What a good big brother!

This is Casey's garage/mat room. Perfect for letting some little boys burn off energy. Every house needs a padded room! Miles, Lincoln, and Henry!

I didn't know 5 month olders could really get bored, but this one did. Zeke was getting so stir-crazy, so I took him to Laurie's and let him play for an hour or so. He LOVED IT! Oh, and I got to hang out with Laurie too, so win/win!

And my precious baby taking a nap in our bed. He did SO amazing with his sleeping. I can't say the same for when we got home. Cribs just aren't the same!

I got tagged!

2008-11-14T23:05:00.001-08:00

Thanks Ashley! It's my first tag ever. I think. Anyhoo, here is my 4th picture of my 4th folder. It's from my trip to Los Angeles. Jacqui came down from Oregon last spring, and we took an EVENTFUL trip down to Burbank to visit her sister in law Mary Jane. She is so much fun. She took us shopping downtown and we went out to lunch. This picture is my nephew Lincoln, and Mary's little girl Scottie.

We're in a fancy baby store, and the kids loved this giraffe. Ironically Jacqui just bought a different huge giraffe for her nursery. She must have been inspired!

Oh yeah, now I tag Kelsey, Kristin, Ivette, Thera and Haya.

Congratulations Reichs!

2008-11-05T20:03:00.000-08:00

My awesome sister Jacqui had her baby, Daniel Paolo Reich Jr today. Her water broke this morning, and by this evening he was out. The little guy came 4 weeks early, and still weighed 7lbs 6oz. Good thing she didn't go full term! We're so excited for you and Zeke's so pumped to have a little cousin to play with. Paolo will probably pass him in weight by January.

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm like the people who get their Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve. But guess who has the perkiest pumpkin on the block... oh yeah, that's me! Today I went to Walmart to pick up a few things, and Zeker's got to parade around in his cute little outfit. The socks even have little candy corns on them. When we got home, he took a nap, and I carved my masterpiece! Josiah was very helpful, but opted not to carve his own. Especially since I used his in the nasty pumpkin soup.

4 month checkup:

2008-10-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

He's 14 lbs 13 oz, and 25.75 inches long. 45th percentile for weight, and 76th for height. I could tell he was not chunking up, but trust me, I'm eating the calories!!! WHY WON'T HE TAKE THEM! He did grow a couple of inches and the nurse didn't seem too concerned, but he was 77th in weight 2 months ago, so I'm going to try and squeeze his feeds together so I can get an extra one in. It's hard though because he's already eating every 3 hours. Whatever. He's still cute.

We're all getting more active!

2008-10-29T10:47:00.001-07:00

I am so proud of myself, I have to brag. So I started this couch to 5k program a couple of months ago, and when I started, I couldn't run for 3 minutes. Today I jogged (slowly but surely) 27 minutes. And I went just over 2 miles. I know that's a snail's pace, but I just want to be able to do it. I tried going faster for my monday run, and I crapped out after 19 minutes. I'm starting to really enjoy going out instead of dreading it. Zeke really enjoys being in the stroller and Reggie LOVES IT! As soon as I'm done giving Ezekiel his morning feed, Reggie is sitting at my feet waiting to go. I practically trip over him as I get ready. It's really sad on the mornings that I don't go. Ha Ha, burn!

And Josiah is doing really well too. I'm pretty sure if he really wanted to he could have done a 5k the first day of training, but he still goes out most mornings at 4am before work, and now he's running a 4 mile loop. Yeah, my boo is sexy! I better lose this baby weight before some denny's waitress snags him! (His crew eats at denny's weekly because it's the only thing open at 3am when they work overnights.)

Last night I had a couple of friends over to decorate Halloween cookies. (Yes, I have a friend now!) They turned out much yummier than the soup. Anyway, Caden, their little boy, was wondering about Zeke's sleeping situation, so I let them help me put him to bed. In all of this excitement, little Zekers must have wanted to stay up and play. After they left I went in and found him like this!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Don't worry, I checked to make sure he could breathe.

Looks delicious!

2008-10-27T19:19:00.001-07:00

If only looks were everything. I have come to the conclusion, that pumpkin should be left for pies. It smelled great, but there just wasn't the flavor that I was hoping for. So then I added brown sugar and cinnamon, and then it just tasted like a watery pie. Whatever. Good thing the bread was delicious, and we had some manicotti left over from last week. Now that was good. I stuffed it with turkey sausage and ricotta and topped it with marinara and mozzerella. Cheese on cheese.

The pumpkin patch

2008-10-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

I like to be festive, I wish I was more festive, and now i'm actually trying to BE festive. I know my son is only 4 months old, but he was dying to go show off his cute halloween outfit at the pumpkin patch. That's not silly, right?

Well, Josiah doesn't really believe in festivities, so instead of asking if I could decorate the house, I just told him I was going to decorate, and asked what my budget was. 10 bucks. Nice. So, I went to Ross, and got these little pumpkins that are glittery, and put them in a bowl that I already had on display. I used the other 2 bucks for halloween colored candies and put them in a dish. P.S. Zeke's outfit doesn't count.

So when it was time to go to the pumpkin patch, Jo gave me a really hard time about exhausting my budget already, so I told him that pumpkins were actually groceries, and therefore would be coming out of the grocery budget! (I'm so smart!) I asked Jacqui what to make with pumpkin, expecting to hear pie, and she delivered. She suggested a soup that she had heard of here: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/Recipes.html

It's a pumpkin soup that's cooked and served in the pumpkin shell. I'm SO EXCITED TO MAKE IT!!! I bought two pumpkins, one for carving, and one for cooking. This should be fun! Hopefully Josiah won't work tomorrow, and we can cook it up!

Pretty much a beautiful day. Fleece pants probably weren't necessary, but they matched

See, he's having a good time! They both are actually.

Oh, and this is my "made in china" find of the week. I went to Ross, again, and found this AWESOME outfit. Josiah will be SO PROUD! Isn't it hideous! I know we're supposed to be boycotting China, but how can I when I get gems like this. I remember this plaid from grade school. Pretty sure EVERY boy had this shirt. And the undershirt is thermal material and I love that it's a onesie, and not just a t-shirt. The pants are corduroy, and the penny loafers were only 3 dollars. They smell like made in china. They don't go, just another lucky find.

My baby is 4 MONTHS OLD!

2008-10-23T10:10:00.001-07:00

That seems CRAZY!!! Whenever I jog, I tell myself when I am 1/4 of the way done, and then 1/2, and then 3/4, and then that last 1/4 doesn't seem so tough. Well, we're 1/3 done with the first year, and that just seems wrong. The weeks just stand still when you're pregnant, and then once you have the little guy, the months just fly by! I guess he is getting cuter, and more responsive, so that's fun. Here's some fun ones!

Here we taught him how to wave. JKLOL!

Isn't he sweet in his onesie!?

When I'm busy in the kitchen, he likes to hang out. I put toys in his tray, but he knocked them all down.

This picture didn't turn out too good, but it's my sweet husband sleeping. He ALWAYS falls asleep with the TV on. Before we had dvr in the room, it was the couch. Pretty much every night. And mind you, it's 8:30 pm. I guess that's what happens when you get up for work at 4:30 am.

If I build it, they will come...

2008-10-18T11:29:00.001-07:00

At least that's what Jacqui says. So in the last week, I've had 3 people from church ask me to do their hair. I always say yes, but then I put it off, because I have nowhere to put the mess. Well, I made somewhere to put the mess. Our formal living room, which is just off of our front door faces the street, but since there's not any parking on the street, nobody uses our front door. So the formal living room turned into our "office". The only thing official about it is our computer, but it's where our little digital piano was and a hutch full of fabric and sewing what-nots, and then my sewing machine. Oh, and this old big ugly oak bookcase that took up too much room. So Jacqui told me to get a really tall bookcase because they take up less room, and I did. So, I moved my piano to the dining room wall, where there actually was extra room, because our table is so small, and then I put the old bookcase out in the garage for shoes, and bought a really tall skinny one at Ikea, and put it in a formerly useless tiny corner, and then dedicated another corner to my sewing hutch, and table, and then biggest corner is now my SALON! So it's a work in progress. Our house came with extra linoleum from the bathroom, so we had a 10' sq piece, that I laid out, and then I hung a mirror, and I picked up a salon chair that I found on craig's list. And I had a sofa table that was in the garage. Josiah stripped all of the finish off of it, and we were just going to get rid of it, but I painted it white, and it's my station top. I can put magazines and towels in the drawers, and I have my rolly cart for my actual hair stuff. I'm really excited. Plus I'm hoping that if I have regular people coming over, it will inspire me to keep my kitchen sink EMPTY and all of the clutter put away. That is what destroys my house. Junk mail on the coffee table seems to reproduce.

Finally on tape!

2008-10-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

So he rolled from front to back quite regularly about a month ago, and then he stopped. And now he's started again, and I FINALLY got it on tape. Sorry it's a bit long, but you get to see Reggie too.

Oh, and THANKS AT&T!

So we have the AT&T bundle with home phone, cable and internet. We have the digital video recorder, but it only works on the front TV. NOT ANYMORE!!! Now our main box records up to 4 shows at once, and then I can watch them in my room, whilst Josiah watches 9 hours of College football on Saturdays. Yay!

What's that smell?

2008-10-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

So today has been HELL!!! Well, it didn't start out that way. I went for my morning run, decided to pick up the house a bit, and started laundry. The house has gotten progressively worse, I've gotten exactly one load of laundry done (and not even folded or put away) and Zeke is in the worst mood ever. He basically wants me to sit over him and make googley faces/noises. Toys don't work because they frustrate him. So he's been CRYING all afternoon. At least there is some humor in this life. He's been tooting quite a bit today, so I'm thinking his tummy hurts, and I've changed him very frequently cuz he's a smelly baby today. So I'm holding him and putting him down for a nap, which he won't take, and I'm like dude, you smell. So I smell him all over to try and get rid of that rotten milk smell. I checked his hands because they have been stinky lately. He sucks on them all the time, and then spit-up gets in his tiny fists and just marinates. BABIES ARE GROSS. Well, who's gross now?

Advance misbehaving

2008-10-08T16:02:00.000-07:00

So I'm sure everyone thinks their child is amazing, but he's top of his class in being naughty!!!
We had to go to the mall to pick up his pictures today, and when we got there he had wriggled out of his carseat. I can barely get the stupid thing clipped it's so tight, but he found a way to get his arm completely out.

He's also learned how to make elmo sing on his exersaucer.

On a lighter, no, fatter note: MCDONALDS MONOPOLY IS BACK. Oh nO!!! I'm a mild gamblaholic. When Josiah and I started going to church, he gave up the sauce, and I gave up all gambling, lottery tickets, slots... everything. So when we get coupon scratch-it's in the mail for furniture stores, he always lets me scratch them. I swear I'm a child. Well, McDonald's monopoly is the next best thing. And now that I'm in training mode, and I've actually lost 5 lbs, I can't eat that crap!!! Maybe i'll just buy diet coke's every day to get my pieces. Well, one hashbrown won't hurt. Maybe I'll jog there. That would justify it, right?

Update!

2008-10-06T12:55:00.000-07:00

I shouldn't complain because Zeke slept til 7am which just happened to be when Josiah got home from work. (He got called in 3pm Sun.) So then I fed him (Ezekiel) and we all went back to sleep til 10:30 AM!!!

Then I went for my morning jog. I'm training for a 5k that we're planning on doing Thanksgiving morning. So I'm doing a routine that I found here: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml . It's called the "Couch to 5K running plan. That fits. So this week I'm on week 4. It goes from jogging 9 total minutes to 16! And I just want to report that I did it! Seriously, I'm such a pansy, but I'm glad I have a goal, otherwise I would find reasons to put off running. My next goal is to do a sprint Triathalon. Wish me luck! And Lindsey, if you read this, you are cordially invited to spend the night at my house the night before thanksgiving and do the 5k with us! You get a shirt.

It's NOT playtime!!!

2008-10-05T21:59:00.000-07:00

So I guess I'm not too good at this schedule thing. We usually have some sort of routine that follows the E.A.S.Y. plan. Eat, Activity, Sleep, Your time! So I feed him, let him play til he fusses, and then it's usually nap time. Well, lately, I've been letting him play, and then once he's over that, I'll find an activity to keep him up and happy for a bit longer. Like, say a bath, or books, or just playing with him. I try to keep him up for at least two hours, so then he'll sleep an hour, and then he'll end up eating every three hours, and sleeping through the night. HOPEFULLY.

Well, today was like up for 1.5 hours, and then sleeping for 45 min. and eating every two and a half hours. I tried keeping him up as long as possible, but he was just fussy all day. Plus he would fall right to sleep. So I thought maybe if I try keeping him awake right before bedtime as long as possible. We were playing in his room, and I had to go pee, so I laid him down, and he fell right to sleep at 7:30. I thought, wow, he's really pooped today. By 8pm he was back up, and now it's almost 11, and he just went back down. I'M HOPING HE STAYS DOWN!!

So here he is just as happy as can be. Oh, and Reggie's starting to pay more attention to Zeke. He likes to hang out with him by his exersaucer. I think he's waiting for a playmate!

Sweet baby!

2008-10-01T12:43:00.000-07:00

So Sunday was Zeke's blessing day. Josiah did such a wonderful job. He was so nervous that he kept saying "I'm gonna throw up, I'm gonna throw up." Every dad has to go through the first public blessing. He's gonna be a pro one day! It was cool because we sat by a couple who is in charge of nursery, (we're their assistants) and they're really nice and he's a convert too. And they don't have kids yet, so we're them like a year later. I hope it's encouraging for them. I feel "seriously, so blessed!" (JKLOL.)

P.S. I am such a heffer. I am still training for my 5k though, so I won't be huge forever.

Anyhoo, when I was pregnant I went to AZ to visit my friends and bought this whole sailboat ensemble for my baby. AND NOW IT FITS!!! It's 3-6 months, and he just turned 3 mos, but he's fitting into most of his 3-6 month stuff. He looked SO precious!

NO, it's not cold here, I just couldn't wait!!!

The socks are the cutest part: WHALES! We did go buy me a new cell phone that night, and I'm sure it was below 80, so he needed to stay warm somehow!!!

Lately I've been trying to wean Ezekiel from the swaddle. It's the only way he knows how to sleep. I just get lazy during the day, so I'm trying to lay him down with just a blanket. Today I laid him down and he started crying. So I shut the door, and went to get his clothes out of the dryer and seriously within 30 seconds he had stopped crying. I peeked in, because I knew he was exhausted. (he was awake for a full 90 min! LAZY BABY) This is what I found.

That's an elephant tail in his hand. I think it was an accident, but how precious is that! He spit out his pacifier, and he's sucking his thumb like a champ. Whatever.

Randoms- I hate having to title everything.

2008-09-26T09:54:00.001-07:00

Check out his fingers: MOM I'M SWINGING TOO FAST!!!! They were pure clutched on.

Three months old. We got this outfit at TJ MAXX, and Josiah doesn't like it because it's "Calvin Klein" but it's the SOFTEST outfit ever. SO COZY for our harsh fall weather. (or our harsh A/C)

And what a good husband... I fell asleep yesterday watching Dr. Phil, and woke up to Josiah getting home from work, and look what he brought me! (This is NOT normal, but VERY much appreciated!!!) And now he has the next THREE days off. No overtime or anything. So we're planning a fun family weekend.

Seriously???

2008-09-24T17:21:00.000-07:00

I was just watching the local news, and the three anchors were all women wearing brightly colored blazers.
And I quote, "How do you like this? We're pretty bright here today. It's to keep us alive during this fall weather."
Um, excuse me, it's 90 degrees and completely sunny with no wind.
WHAT FALL WEATHER!!!!!

BAD BABY!!!

2008-09-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

I hate to chronicle every bowel movement my baby makes, but when he goes more than a week without having one, they're pretty intense. We have a rule in our house that whoever is holding Zeke has to change him when the time comes. Well, if Josiah has him, he has to, and any other time, I do! So it just so happened that Josiah was home (he worked 6am mon-7am tues.) sleeping Tuesday. When he woke up he came out to play with Zeke, it happened. The weekly blowout! Josiah is not as skilled as I have become in dealing with it, so it ended up all over Zeke's arms and chest. Jo was just going to give Zeke a bath, but I suggested they both jump in. So while Josiah's getting ready, he hands me my sweet baby, all naked and what not. I'm holding him facing me, but an arm's length away so as not to get poopy, and I'm just chatting with Josiah, when the shower, which was already running starts spraying me in the face and chest. Wait, why would the shower just start veering off course and spraying me. The shower is stationary. Wait, that's for sure pee hitting me in the face and chest!!! SICK!!! I had already done my makeup and everything. I couldn't just drop my baby, but he did stop when I screamed. But pee was just dripping down my chest something awful. So we made it a family affair in the shower. What a BAD BABY!!!

In case you were wondering...

2008-09-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah, he's that cute! We pretty much love him.

We just went to Sears to get some pics taken, but the ones I ordered turned out pretty cute!

My little thumbsucker!!!

2008-09-17T20:05:00.000-07:00

So when Zeke takes a nap, he usually wakes up making a coughing sound, which quickly escalates into a cry. With the baby monitor I can hear every move. So this afternoon, while he was napping, I kept hearing movements, but no coughing or crying. After about 5 minutes of phantom sounds, I got curious. This is what I found!:

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to stifle my child... I just don't want to have to break him of the habit when he's in first grade. But if he really want to suck his thumb I won't stop him. I just always offer him the pacifier. However, a three month old sucking his thumb is just adorable. It's more his whole fist! I'm just proud that he's getting more coordinated with his hands. He's starting to play with his toys on his swing, and on his playmat.

Viva Lake Tahoe!

2008-09-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

So the Sanders had another fun weekend. Well eventful may be the right word. I guess both. Yesterday (Saturday) my only friend in California, Lindsey Claussen, became Lindsey Waller. I'm so excited for her. We met about 4 years ago working at Ruby Tuesday in Corvallis. (Good times, good times!) After all of this time, we're still in pretty much the same place in life. We both have babies, we both have apprentice husbands, and we both live far away from anyone else we know.

Friday Josiah and I had to run a couple of errands, and we decided to stop at Folsom Outlets on the way up to the south side of tahoe. Basically my baby poos once a week, and it had been about 5 days, so I knew he was due. We got to the outlets, and I started to smell that old familiar smell. Sweet nasty!!! So i go into the bathroom, and it has blasted out every direction. THANKS HUGGIES! Luckily I had put an under onesie on, and so it only got on that. I had to use half a travel pack of wipes, seriously like, 20, and then I just threw the onesie away with the diaper. SORRY CLEANING LADIES AT FOLSOM OUTLETS!!!!!

So then we get on our merry way. We got to the motel in South Lake Tahoe. We picked the one that the wedding party was staying in because I wanted to be able to help with hair if needed, and they took dogs, so I could bring Reginald. The motel was pretty cute. It was woodsy, and the motif was all log cabinesque.

Then we got to go to a bbq on the beach with everyone who had arrived early. Kurt's (the new hubby) parents were there, and his mom Cindy snatched Zekers up and showed him off. It was fun to have 30 people I don't know go gaga over my baby!!! Plus I got to eat with two hands. After the bbq we went back to the motel, and pretty much went to bed.

HERE'S THE GOOD PART:

Zeke woke up around midnight for a feeding. I guess the traveling had thrown him off, because usually he sleeps til 6am. So I'm sitting there feeding him, and Josiah is sound asleep, when I see this bug crawling on the bed. I believe it was a carpet beetle, but at the time, I didn't know, and didn't really care. We're in the woods, bugs happen. Then I look at the white sheets, and there's a little smear of bright red blood. I start searching my legs for bites or scratches, and I find nothing. Meanwhile, I'm still feeding Zeke, and Jo's still snoring. Then I see this NASTY looking bug on the pillow that I was propping Zeke up with, and I wake Josiah up. It took him a second to focus, but he was like, um that's nasty. So I told him it was the second bug I found, and I showed him the blood stain, and he started stripping the bed searching for others. I took reggie's dog food bag, and caught the #2 bug, and then Josiah found a tiny red bug. Apparently, they were BED BUGS!!! One was an adult, and the other a baby. (not the technical term.)

The office to the motel was closed, so we had to walk to the lobby and call an answering service who then had to call an offsite manager, who then took 20 minutes to get there and then there were no more rooms at the inn, because of the wedding! She did comp the room, and offer a free night's stay in a suite! Yeah, we want to go back there. I called travelocity to explain the situation, and try and find a new hotel, but after 40 minutes of being transfered and talking to two "Steven's" in India or Pakistan, I just searched the phone book. So then we had to call a few more places, and they were either scary looking, or they didn't take dogs, or were closed, since by now it's 2am. I finally picked a place with a decent looking ad, and didn't mention the dog. We ended up smuggling him in and out wrapped up in his blanket. The only upside was that the new motel used Tempurpedic mattresses which was nice, and had a continental breakfast which was delicious the next morning.

This is getting really long, sorry. The next day we went to the only dog beach on the south shore, and it was really beautiful. That night was the wedding, and it was also really beautiful. I'm so happy for my friends, and I'm glad we were there! Also, one of Kurt's Aunts, (susan I think?) held Zeke most of the time, so I got to really enjoy the night!

Our majestic dog Reginald. We'd like this turned into a portrait please.

Chillin at the beach.

Zekers is smiling more and more. He LOVES water.

This was the backdrop for the ceremony. I thought this could be our Christmas card picture, but i'm going to lose more weight between now and then, so we'll have to take another family photo.

The girls and their boys! Chase looked ADORABLE in his baby tux.

Sweet aunt Susan. Zeke LOVED her!

Cutting the DELICIOUS cake. Aren't they a beautiful couple.

Our trip to Oregon!

2008-09-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

Josiah and I decided to take Ezekiel up to Oregon to meet his family over Labor day weekend. We left Thursday morning after Zeke's 5am feed, and got there for his 3pm feed at about 3:30. Needless to say, he screamed the last 20 minutes. It didn't help that some mobile home in transit had fallen off it's trailer on the overpass of the exit we had to take. That itself took 15 min to get through, so he would have only cried for 5 minutes. ANYhoo...

So Thursday and Friday we hung out with Gonzalez's and Reichs and then Saturday we hung out with the Sanders and Garretts. How do you pluralize Gonzalez? So here are a plethora of pics from the weekend.

Tummy time! They played all weekend!

Lincoln loved his cousin! This worked better with the boppy under him.

This is us going to the park. Lincoln has on Heely's which he's just getting used to, so he liked pushing the stroller. It was like his old man walker. For safety's sake, I took over when we got close to the road.

Papa and Nana! Zeke misses his grandparents!

This is a beautiful pic taken by master photographer josiah.

Clearly we're used to California! 68 degrees, and we were freezing all day!!!

Beautiful, glowing Jacqui! As always the gracious host. And 6 1/2 months pregnant!

The Garrets. Andre, Isabel, and Josiah's sister Heather. Andre had just done a triathalon that morning, and now Josiah is all pumped to do a marathon or a triathalon, or both. I'd rather do a sprint triathalon, or maybe a half marathon. So we are both in training now. Thanks for inspiring us Andre!

This little ditty is just from swimming with Kristin before she left two weekends ago. Zeke is going to be a water baby like his mama!

My little two month old!

2008-08-22T18:54:00.001-07:00

I can't believe how much this boy is changing now. He's no longer a little bundle that can only arch his back. He is starting to interact so much. It was so rewarding when he began to smile at us, but it's just getting better and better. Plus, he's been sleeping from 9 or 10 pm til about 5am each morning! And I'm up making Josiah's lunch then anyway, so it's a big fun family morning! I never thought I'd be so grateful for 7 straight hours of sleep. Well, today we had his two month doctor's appointment. I had been so excited to see how much he's grown, but just DREADING the whole shots portion. We went, and I had to strip him down, and weigh him... 12 lbs, 12 oz. 77th percentile. And then he was measured, 23.6 inches. Also 77th percentile. The doctor was quite impressed. He said it's very rare that both percentiles are the same. I must have a very proportional baby! And then he measured his head. 87th percentile. He must be a giant-head like his big cousin lincoln. I think it's cuter that way! Anyhoo, here are a couple of pics of my sweet baby, modeling his new outfit from Aunt Sylvia.

Here he's just chillin'.

I got him to smile, but then he wouldn't hold still, so it's blurry. But cute!!!

Also, today was Kristin's last day of work here in Sacramento. We had to memorialize it with a lunch, so we went to Panera. It was wonderful. I will miss her terribly. It was really fun having a friend here in Sac town. I guess I'll just have to make a local friend, since importing them isn't working. Oh well.

Fun filled week!

2008-08-20T11:09:00.001-07:00

I have been meaning to post for a while, so this might be a big one! First off, thanks to Auntie Sylvia for the awesome package. Josiah and I were cracking up as we read the progressive cards. I love the dinostomp outfit. He has two others and they're always the first to get dirty because they're my favorites. As for the sleep dresses, we love them too. He has a few, but his little legs are starting to stick out, so these ones are awesome because they're super long. Pics to follow...

So to begin, last Saturday Josiah decided to work, so I decided to kick it with my good friend Kristin. She had a friend who was visiting Lake Tahoe, so we decided to make it a day. Neither of us realized we were going to be visiting the actual lake, but we had a blast. We went to a doggie beach since her friend had a dog. The kids couldn't wait to get in the water, and it was SUPER shallow for like 30 yards. Like 2 feet deep. However there were little waves. So, we both roll up our pants, and wade in with our kids. I put zeke's little feet in and he didn't even cry. He is going to be such a water baby! So Kristin goes to take a picture of us, and I crouch down to put Zeke's feet in the water, and a huge wave comes from behind and SOAKS my entire back side. Kristin also got thoroughly wet picking up drake. She kind of looked like she peed herself. She has the pics on her camera. Sorry folks. Then we went and got ice cream and came home. It was marvelous.

Racked out after playing in lake tahoe. Yeah, that's Drake's diaper in the background. He finally lost it. We did dispose of it properly.

So I get home, and Zeke had just started crying in his car seat. Josiah came to the rescue, and found the reason. MAJOR BLOWOUT! So he got a bath. It was so funny seeing Josiah trying to pull a nasty onesie over Zeke's head trying to not get the poo even more spread around. It wasn't successful. It was his favorite doggie onesie, otherwise we would have just cut it off. (pics not to follow, for your sake!)

Then last night, (Tuesday) we went to the California State Fair to look at the "big dumb animals." However, they were mostly packing up and going home, since they were done competing. Whatever, jerks. There was a kids "animal nursery" that we decided to go see. It was SO worth it. I LOVE baby animals. Like when I see tiny sheep and cows on the side of the highway, I just melt. Well, these guys were TINY. Like Ezekiel tiny. The piglets were even smaller, and they were all huddling under the heating lamp. Super cute.

"Little lamb, you're the same height as me, that is neat!"

We went to the fair last year with Kurt and Lindsey, and I didn't go on any rides, because Lindsey was pregnant, and this year I didn't go on any rides because we didn't want to leave our baby in the care of the Carnies. We're givers like that.

This is him all ready to go to the state fair. How cute is he like a little boy!

Lastly, my baby wants SIDS. I'm having a little problem with his sleep habits. I know I can just put blankets on each side of him, but for the past few days he's been doing this.

Same position, different day:

I think he's trying to suckle against the side thats closest to me. It's really funny, but it makes me nervous. I never thought I had to make sure he was breathing until now. I don't really understand how he has no control over his arms and legs and body, but he can scoot, totally swaddled a good 10 inches to plaster his face against the side of the co sleeper.

This is Ezekiel playing with his friends. His neck is SO strong!

And finally, his swing. He pretty much hates the swinging portion of it, but he can sit staring at those lame bears for like 15 minutes. It's funny, because he'll blink, and then he'll close his eyes really tight, because they're burning from staring so hard.

How cute is he?

2008-08-13T21:01:00.001-07:00

He was doing this for like 30 seconds before I got the camera. It was really cute. They're buddies! Oh, and talking at 7 weeks? I think he's a smartie!

Yeah Josiah!

2008-08-13T19:28:00.001-07:00

For those who do not know, Josiah is in the beginning of his apprenticeship at Smud. He went to a lineman college in Boise, ID for four months, and then he got hired at smud one year ago! So, now we've been living here in Cali for a whole year. Last night he wanted to try out his new leg pads, so we found a pretty deserted road with some telephone poles on it and he gave it a try. For the record, they really were telephone poles, because they had only telephone lines on them, but if they hold power lines, they're POWER POLES. Get it right people! All I had was my phone, but the pictures turned out pretty cool. And Zeke and I loved hanging out in the field watching.

Look, no hands!

And it takes him about 10 seconds to get up that high.

Don't mind my face, I look sick! But Zeke was being such a cutie!

P.A.R.T.Y.

2008-08-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

I guess it's not that big of a deal, but when I get three families to come over and BBQ, it's a pretty big deal to me! I figured that Kristin and Ryan would be down to watch some UFC, so I decided to take the opportunity to make it an event. Since the Mcphie's are moving back to AZ, (so sad for me!) we invited her sister Tara (and fam). Then we got our friends Kurt and Lindsey to come all the way from Petaluma, and it was on!

It just happened to be Ryan's birthday next week, so Kristin made a cake, and we had a grand time. Kristin and I went to lunch again on friday, so I bought a bottle of the salad dressing at Nordstrom, and I made that salad. We also had more deviled eggs, potato salad (homemade), chips, fruit, and Josiah grilled us some DELICIOUS burgers. It was perfect timing, because as soon as everyone started eating, the fights started. We all had a great time, and we put on a movie for the kids. Hopefully we can do stuff like this more often. You know, have friends over!

Kurt, Josiah, and Ezekiel enjoying the fight

Cute couple!

And even cuter Drake and Jack! I love when little kids watch movies!

Ladies that lunch:

2008-08-06T16:09:00.000-07:00

So, as we all know, my dear friend Kristin Mcphie has moved to California. She works right across the way from the Arden Mall, so I decided to go out to lunch with her today. We went to the Nordstrom Cafe. Holy cow, where has this place been all my life? I had an apple/goat-cheese salad. I was a little wary, but I L.O.V.E. goat cheese. I think Laurie introduced me to it, and I am forever in her debt. I think it's the only way I really love salads. Ok, so I like candy, and I think it's the candy of cheeses. And this salad was the candy of salads. It had green apples and chicken, both sliced REALLY thin, and red onions. Then it had really good spring greens, not the bitter kind, and candy coated almonds I think, and some kind of red apple chips, and then tons of goat cheese. I almost got another one to go for dinner. Seriously. It's like when I met the Chicken Florentine, (it's the orzo dish), at Macaroni Grill. I'm Obsessed now.

So, my sweet sweet baby made it all the way to the mall without screaming in the car, and was a sweet angel the whole time, and then he fell asleep when we were eating, and slept the whole way home. It was really sad, because his head kept falling forward, and it looked like it just might roll off. I kept trying to fix it, but whatever. I tried to get a picture with my phone while I was stopped at a red light, but I figured I should focus on driving.

(I took this when we got home)

So we get home, and I am just enamored with my sweet baby. I feed him, and it's not even that painful. He's all smiles, and just being the sweetest baby. Then he starts to poop. And poop and poop and poop. When I finally went to change him, I didn't think it was too bad, because it wasn't leaking from the sides, but it had blasted all the way up the front and the back. SICK! So, I just stripped him and bathed him, which he loves. Here's a modest shot. Josiah will get really mad if I photograph Zeke's junk.

Look how happy my baby is! However, he gets pissed when you take him out.

Color me domestic!

2008-08-02T19:58:00.000-07:00

So lately I've been wanting to make use of all the wonderful things I inherited from my Mom. So the other night Josiah and I were watching t.v., and I mentioned cinnamon rolls. He didn't let it drop, and so I stocked my cupboard with baking ingredients, and proceeded to pull out the Bosch. For those who aren't familiar, the Bosch is basically a kitchen aid, but not as cute. However, I think it's way more user friendly. It's more cumbersome, but I'm just used to it because I grew up with it. So this unit is as old as I am, and it still works great. I whipped up some beautiful dough in about 20 minutes, and then I had to let it rise forever. Once the cinnamon rolls were in pan, we went to bed, and then I finished them for when Josiah got home from work the next day. They were pretty tastey, but not gooey enough and I like cream cheese frosting better. Also, I was supposed to use a half batch of sweet roll dough, and I used the whole thing. Oops!

So the next project I decided to take on was a little more challenging for me. I had been looking everywhere for a blessing outfit for Zeke, but I couldn't find anything perfect. So yesterday we were running errands, and I picked up the only option at the distribution center. It was fine, but it just wasn't special. At all. So the more I thought about it, I decided I'd TRY to make him something. The easy part is picking out a pattern, because you can sew anything in all white, and it will work, but I'm not a designer, so bare with me. Josiah was sweet enough to take us to the fabric store, and be my consultant. Zeke was miserable and kept waking up and crying, so Josiah was getting stressed, and the store was closing down, so they didn't have everything we needed. However, I put most of it together last night, and then went out and bought the rest of my supplies today. The jo-ann fabrics in Roseville is AWESOME! I wish I had a girl to sew for. Boys clothes just aren't as exciting. Also, the ladies there helped me through one technical part of the pattern, and here's the finished product! Thanks mom for the sewing machine. I knew I'd use it one day for something besides a quilt!

For Nana!

2008-08-02T18:15:00.000-07:00

I love you nana!, love baby Zeke

Our new ride!

2008-08-02T18:13:00.000-07:00

Recently Josiah decided he really needed a truck. Apparently little red Jetta's aren't considered cool at Smud. Plus, it's kinda a teenage girl car, not a dad-mobile. Jo has really taken to this Dad role (with the grill and all). I know when he comes home from work talking about something he needs, it's usually because all the other dad's at work are talking about "grillin'" (that has to be said like a redneck for the full effect.)

So it's been a week, but every time I go to take a picture, Josiah is at work. It's pretty basic, but we got a sweet deal, so here it is. Plus, Josiah's still just a grunt, so he says he doesn't deserve a "journeyman's truck."

Oh, and speaking of Grillin, thanks to the Mcphie's for being our first bbq guests. I'd say we had a pretty successful dinner. Everybody loves a good deviled egg, and next time I'll just give kristin a spoon and a watermelon! I meant to take pictures, but we were having so much fun, I forgot :(

Graduating to the crib

2008-07-29T10:23:00.000-07:00

Well, not permanently, but today at least. I was changing Zeke's morning diaper, and then planned on putting him down in his co-sleeper for his nap. He puts himself to sleep with his binky and a good swaddle. Since his room is right next to the washer and dryer, I decided to move a load of laundry real quick like, so I swaddled him up, and gave him his binky, and set him in his crib. By the time I was done separating the loads, he was all tuckered out. So cute. I just turned on the monitor (Thanks Jacqui) and went and took a shower. This is him 20 min later. He always gets that arm out of the swaddle. Maybe a rightie?

He LOVES staring at the stripes and dots.

Is there anything sweeter?

Our boy is 5 weeks old!

2008-07-29T10:15:00.001-07:00

So we had a fun day at church. Oh, we got callings finally. We dodged the bullet for 4 months due to the baby. However, when they finally got us, they got us good. We're assistant NURSERY LEADERS! They were really nice though, and gave us the smaller class. They're the newbies, only 18-24 months. They're so darn cute, and there's only like 6 of them. And two will be gone in September. I'm not scared. They loved my little baby Zeke, but we're going to work on not touching, just looking. I guess he'll have a strong immune system later in life.

He's pretty darn cute. This is my FAVORITE outfit. It's just so cute. I don't think we bought it, so I'm pretty sure it came down with Nana when she brought us a ton of clothes from Aunt Heather and Shari. Thanks to all of them. Well, Mr. Man has a tendency to ruin all of his outfits before I get a chance to take his pictures, and Sunday, he was super tired for some reason. Maybe because we were out ALL DAY Saturday buying a truck, but whatever. So he kept eating, and sleeping and waking up and eating, and then just falling back to sleep whilst nursing. So I tried to rouse him from his sleep long enough to take his picture, but to no avail. He just keeps falling over on the couch. Josiah and I were laughing so hard. Is that abusive?

It looks like he's falling fast, but it's really in slow motion.

So that's why it's closing.

2008-07-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, Josiah is scared of our baby offending people with his cries, so we have to plan our outings carefully. Since Josiah has been wanting to see the batman movie, he planned a movie night at the drive-in. That way, I could feed Zeke, and if he started crying, we'd be in our own car. Well, the last local drive-in is closing down, most likely at the end of the summer, and a lot of people think it's sad. So friday rolls around, and I'm so excited for our date night. We go get tons of snacks, I feed the baby, and we load up the car and we're off. I brought blankets, and the boppy, so I can be totally comfortable. We got there almost an hour early when parking starts, to get a good spot. We had full view of the screen, perfect angle...

We ended up parking next to a church social. They had pizza, I was jealous. This nice girl had a 2 month old baby, and chatted me up about mine. She told me how cute he is, so we were friends right off. So it started getting dark, and the cars just kept coming. By 9 it was dark and the movie was supposed to start at 8:55, but cars were still parking. We had cars on both sides of us, and a nice space between for comfort and what not. Oh no, people found ways to squeeze their hoopties right between us and then the jerks on the left proceeded to hit our car when they got out. The mom was yelling at her kid, cursing and what not.

So the movie finally starts. Meanwhile I had told Josiah about my only drive-in experience when I was little, I can't even remember what movie we watched because the sound didn't work too well, so I couldn't hear anything. So the movie starts and we all tune our dials to the designated station. FUZZ. I couldn't distinguish anything they were saying. I don't even know what the movie was about. Just lots of action and shooting, and violence. We ended up turning our radio off, and just listening to the sound from outside. It worked ok, but it still sucked. Plus someone was smoking the marijuana, so our car reeked after we left. But Zeke slept through the whole movie, so I guess it all worked out ok.