Secret Path Pictures

There is a path by my Mom's house, a secret path! At least to all our kids. My wonderfully talented sister Kendra took a picture last year as we were walking down the path. It was one of my favorite pictures of our family. So about the same time this year we tried to re-create that one. It's fun to compare them and see how much the kids have grown since then.

Josh-isms

Joshua never fails to make me smile. The way he says things cracks me up. The other day I said something about "being on the safe side" and he asked me, "What does the trouble side look like?" Then today I was telling him to be happy with what I gave him for lunch. I said, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit" and Joshua said, "Why are you putting your eyes on me, I'm not throwing a fit!" It was cute.

Birthdays!

Our Three Year Old Boy







and One Year Old Girl




At 1 year old Kara is very social and talkative. Currently she says, Mama, Dada, baby, ball. Christine taught her "beep beep" , and our friend Marsha taught her to say, "purple". One of Kara's first words was, "happy". When she says it sounds more like "appy". At times it sounds like she is singing "appy ber day" it's very sweet. Kara loves music and can be seen moving and grooving when songs are playing. When Kara first meets someone they usually comment that they don't think she likes them because she will have a frown on her face. It doesn't take long for her to warm up and soon she will be smiling and waving. In fact she waves at everyone, especially cars and strangers in the grocery store parking lot. I love the way she waves, arm fully up in the air and bending just at the wrist. Reminds me of a southern belle waving her hankie. Kara gives hugs and kisses and makes a loud "mmmmmppppaaaahh" sound. Kara enjoys blowing raspberries on bellies too. She likes to "speed crawl" these days and can also be caught walking un-assisted for short distances. Kara loves her brother and tries to be near him. It's fun to watch her try to get in his red chair with him while he is watching TV. While most of the time Joshua is her friend, there are times where she acts as though he were her arch enemy. Times where she screams at him, shakes, and bites, yes bites her poor brother. She has a strong will. She doesn't let a lot get in her way when she sees something she wants. We tried teaching Kara sign language and the only sign that really caught on was the sign for "more". Actually to Kara the sign for more really means, "give me what I want". Whether it's something to eat, being carried downstairs in the morning or given a toy. Kara loves animals. She has an animal book she enjoys but is especially excited to see a real live animal be it our rabbit or the kitties at Auntie Kendra's house. Kara is very attached to Mommy right now and it's hard to get out of her sight these days. I'm trying to savor this as I know one day she may not want too much to do with me (around 13 years old perhaps?). While most people say Kara looks a lot like her Mommy, I can also see a lot of other resemblances in her. When she smiles very big, she looks a lot like her Grandma Baxter. Other times she reminds us of my Nona and of Auntie April. We feel so lucky to be Kara's parents. She brightens up our days with her sweet smile and fiery spirit.



Joshua is three years old! How did this happen so quickly? I imagine I will still be asking this when he is 18! He has really grown up a lot this past year and I am seeing him less and less as a baby and more and more as a little boy. He is very sweet and creative. He has a great imagination. Joshua loves to be with his cousins, especially Brooklyn who is only 9 months older than him. They play together a lot. Lately, the favorite game is "Doctor". Joshua lays down and Brooklyn sits over him with a tool of some sort examining him. It's very cute and I keep a close eye on them to make sure it doesn't get too exploratory! Joshua's other favorite play mate is Daddy. He loves it when Vince is home. Their favorite game these days is "Good Guy, Bad Guy" Joshua will run up to Vince and say, "Come on Daddy, let's go get the bad guys, they are in there" and he will point and run off into the other room. For his birthday he got some Super Man PJS. He asks to wear these all the time, but usually not to bed. He likes to wear them during the day. Vince downloaded the Superman theme song on iTunes and will fly Joshua around the room while he plays it. Joshua beams! I am also starting to see that Joshua has some very specific preferences. The other day I came downstairs with my hair up in a rubber band. Joshua immediately told me that he didn't like that and to take it out. Joshua says, "I like your hair long, and straight, by your neck so you look like a Momma." He is also very particular about his beverages. When he asks for milk, he usually reminds me that he wants the cup filled all the way to the top. I always tease Vince for being so particular, so of course I think Joshua must be taking after his Daddy. Truth be told, I can be rather persnickety at times too. Joshua enjoys arts and crafts, he likes to paint and draw. Recently he told me that "naked" crayons helped him draw better. So he spent a good part of the morning peeling off the paper from most of his crayons. One of Joshua's stranger preferences is for candles. He loves them! I think it may have started with birthday candles, but it has expanded beyond that to include any thing that resembles a candle, not to mention Wiki sticks. He doesn't like to light candles, just likes to get them out, look at them, carry them around, sleep with them clutched in his little fists. He loves going to Nona's house and one of his favorite things there is a drawer full of candles that Nona so graciously lets him play in. It is quite a sight to see him pouring over the candles all spread out on the dinning room table. Joshua is very loving. Some of my favorite moments are when he will put his arms around me or Vince and say, "Mommy (or Daddy), your the best". He also says sweet things like, "Sure is a beautiful day outside" and the other day he told me, "You sure have a beautiful family" At night when he is going to bed he likes to have Mommy and Daddy laying with him. He asks Vince to tell him a story. .. a story about "the family" We feel so blessed to have him in our family!



*** photos used with permission from photographer http://kendrawatsonphotography.wordpress.com/

I know I'll get used to this..

But I don't want to! Vince started a new job this week and for the first time in years he is working in an office instead of from home. On top of that, he has about an hour and a half commute to work. Which works out to about 12 hours away from home everyday. I know this is reality for many families. We were incredibly blessed to have him working from home and I am so thankful he has a job in this tough economy. That said, I MISS HIM SO MUCH!! I miss coming home from the park and hearing him call down from upstairs. I miss being able to just pop in and say hello. Being able to have lunch together. Now our time feels so limited and it really makes me sad. Once he gets home we hardly have time to relax, just have dinner, get the kids to bed and try to get ourselves to bed early. Then it starts all over again. Glad to have the weekend!

What was your favorite part of the day?

We have been asking Joshua this at dinner time. We all talk about what our favorite part of the day was. Joshua's favorite part usually has something to do with the park or playing with Daddy. The other night Joshua climbed in bed with us around 2AM. This has been happening more regularly these days. He put his face right up to mine on the pillow, we were nose to nose and he whispers, "What was your favorite part of the day?" I had to smile despite the sleep deprivation.

My Big Boy Joshie

I snapped these pictures of Joshua sitting at the top of the stairs in his big boy undies "reading" his magazine.



We have been working on going in the potty and it felt like we were stalling out for a while. But I dare to say I think Josh has hit his stride. We are on day three of no diapers and he's stayed dry for the most part. It's taken candy, and lots of it. I feel bad giving him so much sugar (usually two gummy bears every time he goes) but I'm not going to mess with it when it seems to be working!! He's funny and sometimes will tell me, "I don't want to be a big boy, I'm just a little boy" That's just fine with me! He's growing up so fast.

Kara 10 Months Old

It's hard to believe that we are fast approaching Kara's first birthday. The past 10 months have flown by, but I'm so thankful to my sister Kendra for capturing beautiful images of Kara while she grows. Here are a few she took for Valentines Day:

Christmas Candy

This morning I heard Joshua come out of his room when I was still in bed. Usually he comes right in our room and wakes us up but not this morning. I heard him go down the stairs and it was very quiet, so I thought I'd better see what he was up to. I tried to stay out of sight so that I could just watch him. He had turned on all the Christmas lights, then went over to the shelf and found a candy cane that we got from Christine last night. He was trying to open it and not sucessful. Then I watched as he took that candy cane to the kitchen. Joshua took a chair and moved it over to the counter, he was looking in the pencil cup for his scissors. When he couldn't find his scissors, something else caught his eye. It was a package on the counter. In the bottome of the package there were small hard candies that we had told him he couldn't have because we were afraid he would choke on them. He carefully took out a few of the candies and then climbed down under the table. Once there I could see he was thinking about what to do next. He left the candies under the table with the candy cane and went back up to get more! Then the package tipped and crashed down to the ground with a lot of noise. Joshua didn't even flinch. He climbed back down under the table and started unwrapping each of the little green candies, and lining them up on the floor. At this point I was crouched down peeking at him from behind the island in the kitchen, just smiling at how quiet and careful he was being. He saw me, and got a big smile on his face. Without missing a beat he said, "Do you want to help me count these?" As if to say, "Oh I'm not going to eat these, just counting them, no harm in counting" It was really funny. He did end up licking the candies and I said as long as he didn't put them all the way in his mouth he could lick them.

Kara's Dedication

Last Sunday we participated in a Baby Dedication (or Family Dedication) at our church. The life verse we choose for Kara is from Psalm 121:7 & 8

The Lord will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life. The Lord
will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

We were so thankful to have our family and friends there. Here are some pictures from the day

Creating Family Memories

That was the topic of our MOPS meeting today. I realized there is so much I would like to do for my children to create memories for them. But where do you find the time? One thing that I have tried to do is keep a journal of cute things they do/say and different milestones they reach. I got the idea from my sister, who keeps a journal for each of her children (she has three!) I need to get one for Kara. Another idea they talked about was high/low of the day. Going around the dinner table and asking each person to tell about a great part of their day, and a part of their day that was difficult. I totally want to do this with our family. I have always thought they were too young, but the speaker suggested that as a parent you can tell about a great part of their day, and a hard part. Another idea was writing a letter to your child on each birthday, telling about their year and saving them. Then 21 days before their 21st birthday you start mailing them a letter a day! That is so sweet, I would like to do that and have a little catching up to do. It would be fun to add pictures and little keepsakes from the year. Almost like a mini time capsule! I do want my children to feel connected to their family and as they grow up, know it's a safe place where they are loved.

Finally feels like Fall!

It's finally starting to cool off out here in the desert and I am so happy to be able to put on jeans again. Today we made pumpkin bread, it feels like fall! We had a lot of fun celebrating the Harvest season, Joshua really enjoyed trick or treating. Here are a few pictures:

I wanted to take a pretty picture but I wasn't quick enough


Chicken Pot Pie YUM!

My aquatic sweeties



Pumpkin Patch

Finally

We are going to attempt to "decorate" our house! Coming from a two bedroom apartment we didn't have a lot of furniture. So for the past 10 months we have been enjoying a lot of open space in our home. A friend came over to help us get some ideas about how we want to fill our space. Here is one of the pictures she showed us:

Both Vince and I love the color, layout, and pieces in this room. The Chair is my favorite, I have seen it before at ZGalerie:

And here is my dream "Craft Room": From the Pottery Barn Catalogue.

Now we just need to figure out how to pay for all this furniture... it's fun to dream!

Two Napper

The past two days both kids have napped at the same time (I napped too yesterday) It is such a sweet time if day. I am so thankful for these two precious sleepy heads.

Psalm 22:7 &8

The Lord will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life. The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

How I love birthdays!!

Well, it's official, 31 years old. Does that mean the world will take me seriously now? Got to spend my day relaxing with my sister Kendra. It's fun we get to celebrate our birthdays together every year.
The mud was fun, but also kind of gross


Floating in the pool was relaxing

One thing I realized is I have never had a birthday go by un-celebrated! I am blessed!

Phillipians 4:4-8

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

I am trying to hang on to this verse. Today I'm feeling anxious. I think its a combination of many things. The Dr's office called today and wanted to move Kara's appointment to tomorrow instead of next week. It's fine, but it just makes me realize that we have to really decide when we are going to do the surgery. Because Kara is covered under my COBRA insurance, it's very expensive. But we aren't able to get on a different insurance until this surgery is "off her record" The insurance guy said that anything like a pending surgery will cause other insurance companies to not accept you. Kara's pediatrician said that it's probably a good idea to go ahead and do the surgery so she can have better coverage. He said that there is a higher risk driving down to the Children's Hospital in San Diego, then the actual surgery. But he also said that for elective surgeries most Dr.s wait until a baby is at least 6 months old. It's so hard to make decisions like this. I never realized how much anxiety would come with having children. After Kara was born and they told me that something could be wrong, it felt like my heart stopped. It felt like I couldn't breathe until someone told me she was all right.

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” ~Elizabeth Stone

That is just how it feels. I don't know how other parents deal with their children being hurt or sick. Kara's small defect is just cosmetic (Thank GOD), there are so many parents dealing with other things like cancer, heart defects, life time disabilities... We are so blessed to have healthy children. I am so extremely thankful for that. My prayer everyday is that they would lead healthy lives. That God would protect them.

" When you have everything
You have everything to lose"~Ben Harper Diamonds on the Inside

The other side of the anxiety is the extreme joy and relief you feel when everything is well. When the nurse walked in with Kara after they did the ultrasound and told me everything was ok, I could have jumped up out of bed I was so happy. So relieved and joyful. My prayer is that there will always be relief from the worry.

Kara Marie

Well Kara is almost three months old, so I thought it was about time to share some pictures of our new baby!
Kara Marie born May 2, 2008 7lbs 11oz














2 1/2 Months old and already such a social girl

2008 (gasp)

How did it get to be 2008? And February no less, we are already a month in! So the reality is hitting me that another baby will be here in three months. I have NO idea how I am going to take care of an infant AND Joshua. I think we are jumping into the terrible twos. "NO!" is Joshua's favorite word. Gone are the days of "O.K. Mama" and "YEAH!" Everything is "NO!" even things he would enjoy. A friend suggested I don't ask, just give him two options, for example, "Would you like to sit in your highchair or at the table?" I tried that and his answer was still "NO!" But then of course there are those moments where he will grab my face, give me a kiss right on the lips and say, "I luv you". Those are the moments that make me forget about all the NO!In those moments I am so excited our family is growing. I guess there is no sense in worrying what the future will hold. I'm trying to just be grateful for today. I'm sure there will be overwhelming days ahead, but we will deal with them as they come. Overall, I feel so blessed to have a family, so thankful for all God has provided for us.

So it's been a while

I am not a good blogger at all! It's already July and my baby boy is already a year old. Where did the time go.

Here is a recent picture of him. He likes to climb up on his step stool and get into Mommy's things! Daddy wasn't too thrilled about his love of jewlery, I'm sure he'll get it out of his system now. ;-)
Some fun birthday pictures too:



The fun crown was made by a friend of ours Michelle, here is where she sells her creations: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5089881