Time For An Update...

So I believe its time for an update on the family. Let's see, before we left for Hawaii, we were in limbo about where we were going to live for the next year and now that's been resolved...we're staying in our house. Our landlords have graciously lowered the rent, granted they weren't as gracious as I had hoped for, but every little bit helps. So for now, we are staying put. Who knows what the future holds though.

Moving on to the kids....

Ava is growing so fast, it seems like just overnight she has turned into a full blown playmate for Van. She just turned 8 months last weekend and I swear her lifetime is going faster than Van's was. She went straight from crawling to pulling up and trying to walk. I do believe there was no time in between. She has been pulling up for quite a while now and is moving herself around the furniture, couch, chairs, etc. I think it probably won't be too long until she's walking on her own. The only thing holding her back is her little tiny feet. She still wears a 2 and has plenty of room to grow in them...I am so sure if she had some good 3's or 4's for feet she's be all over the place vertically by now. She has FINALLY broken her first tooth. She did it about a week ago and boy are we excited. She seemed like she had a runny nose for weeks and now, of course, its all gone. Not only does she have a tooth, but she is soooo over baby food. Hawaii pretty much turned her into a full blown eater. She ate everything from tri tip and potato casserole to blueberry muffins and sausage. Now her daily diet is very similar to Van's and she'll eat pretty much whatever we're having with only small limitations. She has really become such a happier baby now that she can get around so much more on her own. Her and Van chase eachother around the house, they laugh all the time together, and just love eachother's company. Don't get me wrong, there are many times that they are both so sick of eachother, but for the most part, Ava's favorite person is Van.

Onto Van. He's doing great too. Since Hawaii, we have had to nix the "no way"s a lot, thank you Kyler. But we're working on it. He's doing great at school and has started enjoying going too. I'm really glad we just stuck with that one. Its so hard when you know your kid is having a hard time because you just want to take away whatever is hard and make it easy again, but that's not always the best thing for them. Everyone told us to just hang in there and he'd be okay again, and they were right. He even runs up to the sign in table and picks his letter and goes to play with the kids. He has started to make friends, remember the other kids' names, and he always says this "goodbye everybody" when I pick him up. Its really sweet. Even the other parents and teachers have started to see our real Van, the sweet one that all of his church teachers have had the pleasure of teaching. Its a good thing. Speaking of Van and school, he has this new found independence, where he believes he can do everything himself. I do appreciate the help, but sometimes he just can't quite do whatever it is he's trying but he's pretty stubborn about letting us help. For instance, Van is potty trained but initially learned how to go potty sitting down because 1) it's easier and 2) he just wasn't tall enough to do it any other way. However, he is tall enough now (he has grown 3 inches in 1 year) and at school they help him stand up, so now he's all about that. He has also learned to pull both shorts and underwear down, pull up the toilet seats, and do his business standing. However being that he is only 2 and has just discovered the joy of peeing with his "sword", pee does not always end up in the toilet. Now we have to watch him closely because he will just run off, go to the bathroom himself and then come tell us he's done...and I have found on occasion pee in random places such as the bathtub (its right next to the toilet), the floor, the back of the toilet seat, the side of the cabinet, etc. Again, appreciate his striving to go all by himself w/o us asking, going with him, or even having to be in there, but we just need to work on his aim. Its so easy to see why boys enjoy the "sword fighting" game after seeing how boys initially discover it.

Now for some sap...I feel like there have been a lot of couples around us lately who have been breaking up or going through rough patches. Its sad really. I guess I'm just the eternal optimist when it comes to relationships and I always want to see people end up with someone they love. I feel very blessed that even though Mike and I are dealing with lots of other issues, i.e. kids, finances, etc...our relationship is solid. The basis for our family and future, our relationship, is pretty strong. We've been together a long time (at least at our age) and we have a lot of trust and faith in eachother. Not to say we haven't made mistakes or said stupid things, but we're still going strong and, I think, we have that "it" factor. Like I've said before, its not just that I love him, I genuinely like my husband. He is my best friend and I can be myself with him all the time, no hesitations, good or bad. If this were my only blessing from God, I'd be eternally grateful, however God finds it pleasing to bless us in so many more ways.

Okay off of my soap box for now. I'll try and be back soon with some more updates. Holidays are coming up which means lots of family times...oh boy. And, my dad's coming for a visit in a few weeks so that should be fun too. Off to figure out what to do with my Saturday.

B

Halloween Fun!!!

This was our first year REALLY celebrating Halloween with our kids. Van's first year, he dressed as a cowboy but he was too young to really do anything with so it was just a scheme for pictures. Last year, he was sick and so we did nothing...but this year, this was fun. We wanted to find something the kids could wear together and we thought these outfits were perfect. Van was our little devil and Ava, the angel. However, in my opinion I really would probably switch the costumes. Ava just has much more spitfire to her than Van does. Anywhoo.....this is how our Halloween celebrations went this year.

We kicked off the holiday fun with Van's preschool, they had a Halloween party last Wednesday. We all went to Irvine Park, rode on the train, visited the pumpkin patch, and then had some pizza and had the kids trick or treat w/ some of the parents. It was a lot of fun. Mike and my mom accompanied us so that we could manage both kids and there was a free hand for lots of picture taking too. Ava was a real trooper, she pretty much always is so she just hung out while her big brother got to enjoy all of the fun. Everybody loved the costumes by the way, although Van did get called a dragon and Ava a fairy....we thought it was so obvious!!!

Then came big day. Van was running around all Friday saying "trick or treat" even though he really didn't know what it meant...or what he would get if he said it. So we invited Grammy and Pappy over to see the costumes and do our trick or treating with us but Grammy just had surgery so she wasn't up to much, but Pappy came anyways. And, we had invited Mike's friend Jason and his new lady friend over for dinner, so there was literally a heard of us taking our 2 kids, really just 1 though, trick or treating. It was still great fun. Van was a little nervous the first couple of houses. But, once he realized every house he went to and every time he said "trick or treat" he got candy, I think it dawned on him....this is a great holiday. So around we went, probably only to about 10 houses or so, remember he is only 2, but we all really enjoyed it. Its really amazing, how little things like this are so enjoyable as a parent. I think I was so excited and had great anticipation for this fun day, even more so than either of my little ones could have. Its so nice to just get to enjoy these times w/ your babies. It makes me smile just thinking of the millions of memories we still have to make. Enjoy the pics below....

"I was a devil", he says

Okay so she looks a little angelic, don't let her fool you

look at that, almost a smile at the camera

so many pumpkins, how can I pick just one?

doing the hay maze...

and smiling pretty for daddy...

As always, there are more pics on our flickr site so feel free to visit. Can't wait till next year...already thinking, maybe a police man and jailer, firefighter and fire hydrant...hmmm choices choices...a whole year to decide.

Love to all, more posts to come....

B

Hawaii Here We Come

Okay I know you have all waited and waited for some updates. So here is the starter. Although lots more has happened since Hawaii, we'll go in chronological order.

So we left for Hawaii on the 14th. On the 13th we had the worst winds by our house. That night our house was literally creaking and weaving because it was sooo windy. So Van would not go to sleep. He kept trying but everytime he would get close, his window would start shaking and it would completely freak him out. Because he was in and out of his room so much and crying, Ava couldn't sleep either. Therefore, Mike and I were trying desperately to get our little ones to sleep knowing we had to leave for the airport at 430am. Of course they pick this one night out of their lives to not sleep...Murphy's Law huh. Well they both finally calmed down around 1030ish and we managed to get them a few hours of sleep.

Mike and I were both dreading the plane ride a bit just because not only did we have our little ones on it, but Mike's cousin Janelle had her 3 little ones on it. We just felt bad for the other passengers and were praying for a good and easy flight. Surprisingly, the flight there went very smoothly. All of the kids behaved greatly and they were so excited once we got to Hawaii. However, an unforseen problem, there was a 3 hour time change going to Hawaii, we gained 3 hours. So not only did the kids not sleep really well on the plane, but by the time we actually got to Hawaii it was 7ish Cali time and only 4ish Hawaii time. This dumb time change really screwed the kids up for most of the week. We finally put them to bed around 7ish Hawaii time that first day and hoped for a better outcome the next. However, we did end up getting up every morning around 4am because their little clocks just woke them up then. As the week progressed they got a little better everyday but it wasn't until the very last morning that we were there that they actually slept until normal morning time, and even then we had to wake them up to go to the airport to go home. Ughhh!!!

Overall our trip was very nice. It was really relaxing. As I've been telling everyone, we did a whole lot of nothing. Mike and Van went snorkeling with some more in our group, we did a Luau with the whole family, visited the black sand beach, went swimming, played a lot of tennis, and just enjoyed some downtime. Other than the time change, the only downside for us was that Ava was sleeping in our room all week and she's a pretty light sleeper so we had to tip toe around all night and if she woke up, we were pretty much awake because we didn't want her to just cry herself back to sleep and wake everyone else in our condo up. Little Van man did get sick about half way through the trip. Still not sure what that was all about but he ended up with fever, achy, and just poor icky. He was that way for a few days but seemed to be better a day or so after we got home.

It was definitely a new adventure traveling with 2 kids. They were both exhausted when we got home and after a week of being around lots of cousins, aunts, and uncles, we had to really work on Van's listening skills. Well here are some pics for you to enjoy...of course there are lots more on our flickr site (use the link to the right).

Black Sand Beach

More Black Sand Beach

at the Luau in matching outfits (thanks Grammy)

Van and Kyler getting ready for snorkeling

almost ready...

at our last night at Bubba Gump's for dinner

oh yeah, did I mention Ava is so over baby food, she gobbled Pappy's tri-tip too

I know I have so much more to post about, so keep looking daily. I know I've got Halloween and just a good 'ole update on the family too. Should be coming shortly.

B