Friday, August 31, 2012

PRUNES!

It's official...
Daxton has tried solid foods.
The poor guy must have inherited my side of the families digestive problems, because he has not pooped for almost three weeks without our help.  It's amazing how quickly your life revolves around the poop schedule of your baby!  I figured since he is 5 months old he could try prunes to hopefully help with his discomfort.  Needless to say it was very messy!  He's only tried it a couple times, so he hasn't taught his tongue to push in instead of out.  It was pretty funny to watch all the different facial expressions as he was eating.  I fed him for about 25 minutes and only got a third of the way through the jar...a much longer process than solely breast feeding.  He did really well, though, no fighting, crying, or pushing it away.  I think he was more confused than anything.  Hopefully we will see some progress soon.  I feel so bad for the poor guy!



Sleep Swimming

Last week Lisa and I got together again for a quick swimming adventure with our kiddos.  I previously posted about how GLAD I am that she has moved to the bay area and I continue to feel that way!  The first time we got together, they were staying in the city while they were looking for a more permanent housing location.  They settle on an adorable apartment in Dublin (about 20 minutes south of where we live in Pleasant Hill.)  Once they got settled, Daxton and I drove down to hang out for an afternoon of fun swimming in their pool.  Where they are staying is pretty neat and feels more like a resort/hotel than an apartment building.  They have a nice gym on their floor, pool, hot tub, and BBQ area.  I left thinking twice about where we live and contemplating a move in our future...we shall see!

I was super excited to take Daxton swimming.
A month ago I had gotten him an entire swim outfit, but ended up not being able to go to the pool much this summer with everything going on.  He looked pretty darn cute in his swim hat and rash guard!  He was not too pleased about having to wear a hat, but he quickly forgot about it once he was in the water.
The only down side to their pool is that it's not heated.  Luckily it is pretty warm on this side of the bay (usually in the 90's during the summer.)  Getting is was a bit shocking, but he didn't freak out at all.  At the beginning he got a little scared when I held him away from me for a few seconds, but once he was snuggled up close, he absolutely loved the water.
 Lisa was such a sweetheart and jumped out of the pool to snap a few pictures of my little guy.  Maddie was great about it, too, needing only a set of keys to keep her happy on a lawn chair while we smiled for the camera.  She's such a happy, great girl!  We ended up chatting and playing in the pool for over an hour.  Daxton even ended up falling asleep for his nap while swimming.  It was so wonderful to be able to snuggle with him again!  If I had my way, I would live at the pool, laying out in the sun all day.
 When Maddie was ready for her nap, we hopped out and headed back up to their apartment.  It was such a nice afternoon.  I love having Lisa close and being able to talk with her about anything and everything.  I can't believe it's already been ten years since we lived in New Zealand together...the years have flown by!
 Daxton woke up from his nap as I was warming him up in his little swim robe.  I think I may have a water baby on my hands, because he definitely LOVED the pool!
Thanks again, Lisa, for the fun afternoon.  Can't wait til our next adventure!

Rulon's 8th Birthday

A couple weeks ago my little nephew, Rulon, turned 8 years old.  It's weird to think that he was only 3 when Dallas and I met and later got married.  There are so many funny stories involving little Rulon.  He has the most amazing personality and constantly shocks us with the interesting perspective he has on so many things.  As silly as he is, he is also one of the most sweet and sensitive little guys (although you could never mention that to him!)  We have LOVED living so close and being able to watch him grow through the years.  We are especially excited for this birthday, since he has chosen to be baptized in a couple weeks!  (If you'd like to learn more about our beliefs and why children in our church wait until 8 to be baptized click on this link.)

For Rulon's birthday, we were invited over for a fun family dinner and party.  We thought it would be funny to sneak in a silly present before we gave him his real one.  Rulon is very much a boys boy.  He hates anything 'girly' so when we found pink wrapping paper in our closet covered in flowers, we thought it'd be pretty funny to wrap a present in it.  We ended up searching our house and finding an old can of peas that Daxton smiled at.  Dallas wrapped it up super tight and then covered it head to toe in tape.  It was quite the ordeal trying to open it.  We ended up video taping his reaction which was pretty funny since we said Daxton picked it all out.  It turned out that he was so super sweet about it; making big smiles and telling Daxton how much he loved the peas and thanking him for them.  Daxton of course just sat there and drooled all over him during the whole process.  It was a pretty funny exchange!  I love Rulon's face in the bottom right picture :)

 After opening his peas, we gave him his real present.  You can see from his reaction he was pretty excited about the new lego set.  It was fun to see him start the process of putting together each intricate step.  It reminded me of watching my brothers doing the very same thing when we were all kids.

Giving hugs, kisses, and thanks for the birthday presents.
 Daxton found the wrapping paper to be quite interesting...but not as tasty as his hands.  He liked you to krinkle the paper, but never tried to put it in his mouth.  His fingers must taste like chocolate or something!
 After dinner we went outside to play on in their back yard.  We are REALLY missing grass.  What I wouldn't give for a nice yard with gorgeous green grass!  It was such a beautiful evening and we loved playing with our little guy and his pantless legs.
 More chewing on his fingers...
 Airplane rides with daddy...
 Sitting in grass for the first time...
 Upset about sitting in grass for the first time...
 The most amazingly yummy thighs ever!

 We are so in love with this gorgeous boy!
 Will continues to be so sweet with little Daxton.
I was nervous about how he would react when Daxton was born, but it hasn't fazed him at all.  Will's still just as confident and never questions my love for him...probably because I still attack him with kisses every chance I can!  I can't wait to see these two in action in a year or two...lots of trouble?
 I was having a mommy moment.
I feel so unbelievably blessed.
 After playing outside for awhile, we came back in for cake and ice cream.  I wish I would have captured it, but the funniest part of the evening was when we were singing the happy birthday song to Will leaned over and blew out Rulon's candles, which was not well received!  We ended up singing the song again and holding Will far enough away from the candles so Rulon could make a wish.
I sure do love this crazy little family!
Happy birthday, Rulon!
We love you so much and are so excited for you!
Thanks for letting us help celebrate this special day with you.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Flashback Friday: High School Musical

My heart was definitely in Provo over the weekend.
I previously posted about my good friend, Jason, passing.
I was sad that I couldn't attend the memorial for him over the weekend, but our cousin got married in Oakland and we had several family members in town for the occasion.  While in the sealing room of the temple, though, I never feel closer to those that have passed.  It's such an amazing feeling to know that we will be reunited with our Heavenly Father again and to those that we have lost along our journey through life.

For this week's Flashback Friday I thought I would share another one of my favorite memories of our Sunset View gang.  About a month after I got married, I flew back to Utah for a VERY quick weekend.  Jason had gotten Janelle, Ashlee, and I all tickets to the touring broadway show High School Musical playing in Salt Lake City.  Our dream team of 4th grade teachers had performed at many an assembly doing different dance and musical numbers from the famous movies.  The soundtrack also became a go to on our long road trip through southern california two years previous.  In short, we were all obnoxious fans and super excited to see the musical and sing along with each number.
The four of us drove up to Salt Lake together for dinner and then the show.  Needless to say, Jason was extremely patient with our crazy antics of dancing in our chairs and singing along in the audience.  You would have thought that we were teenage girls at a Justin Beiber concert the way that we were behaving.  Which is why I love them all so much!
 After the show, Ashlee and I were literally dancing through the streets, which meant we simply HAD to take off our heels!
 I also took some amazing video footage from our car ride home, but I consider those escapades classified, so you will just have to be satisfied with some great still shots.  
What fun memories...
I sure do miss you all.
I'm glad things went well this past weekend.
My heart was with you all.

Tummy Time

 We've slowly been realizing that our little guy may be a male version of a diva.  He's been spoiled with a very comfortable bed, so when we travel we have to make sure that his pack-n-play has several layers of padding for his sleeping pleasure.  He also has refused to to tummy time unless it is on a soft bed.  He will scream at the top of his lungs, almost to the point of throwing up, if we have him on the ground for tummy time.  I mean really!?
I finally decided that I needed to pick my battles and shouldn't care where tummy time takes place, as long as he's having it.  He's getting so much better too.  He's already rolled over several times from his tummy to his back.  I have to admit that I'd rather be on a soft bed, too, instead of a hard floor...I guess he really is my son!

A very drool filled tummy time session.
He's quite talented at drooling!

5 months old!

Have 5 months really passed?
I can't believe how quickly time flies by.
It seems like only yesterday we were holding our little man in the hospital; trying to maneuver around wires and machines.  How is it that time moved so slowly while he was in the NICU and now it seems to fly by in an instant?  We just received an invite to our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit reunion in September.  We feel so blessed that he had such amazing care at John Muir Hospital.
Looking at our little guy now no one would guess that he was 6 weeks early!  He has grown so well and continues to be the happy, perfect addition to our family.
 On his 5 month birthday I took him into the Day One center to get his exact weight.  I had to wake him up from his nap in order to put him on the scale, so I figured taking off his diaper was enough.  He's not a fan of taking on and off his clothes and so I figured a couple onsies weren't going to effect the final weight too much.
 It's pretty funny to see him stretch out longer than the scale.  I remember when we first weighed him in the hospital and he couldn't even touch from one side to the other.  Now he giggled kicking his legs all over the place.  His final weight is 16 pounds, 7 ounces (give or take an ounce due to the clothes.)
He's definitely my little buddy.
He sleeps so well at night, giving me at least 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep time.  We read our scriptures together during our morning feeding.  (He loves 3rd Nephi as much as I do!)  He laughs when I laugh and gives me extra snuggles when I cry.  He only throws up down my shirt on occasion and gives me drooly kisses all the time.
What else could a mommy ask for!?

A Surprise Visit from James

I love listening to Dallas' stories from before we were married.
We really are meant for each other.  Both of us have had amazing opportunities to travel the world and have experiences that truly shaped us into who we are today.  Along each of these journeys we were also able to make and create lasting memories with incredible friends.  For me it was my time teaching in both Uganda and New Zealand along with all of my college experiences in Provo going to BYU.  For Dallas, it was his two year mission serving in Thailand and then later his business ventures while living in China; along with his college experiences in Provo going to BYU.  It is rare to find amazing friends that have the same drive and passion for so many interests in our lives, but that is why Dallas has loved his friendship with James over the years.
I remember first meeting James back in the summer of 2009 when Dallas took me to Thailand for our anniversary.  I remember thinking how great it was to see Dallas get so excited to see someone.  He is usually so calm and collected, but when he got around James it was like a light went on and he became a little boy on Christmas morning.  Within seconds they were laughing and plotting their next great adventure.  It was all I could do to convince Dallas that renting a large sailboat that neither James or him knew how to maneuver, may not be the best idea.  I have to admit, though, that it's endearing that Dallas knows anything is possible if he and James are together.
Being so far away, we obviously don't get to see James very often.  And I'm sure Dallas wishes that his work life weren't so demanding so he could keep in better contact over the years.  Which is why, on that rare occasion, that they are reunited it is such a fun time.
While traveling home to Utah recently, James was able to have a quick lay-over in San Francisco and we couldn't have been more excited to see him and introduce him to our little guy!
James recently made a trip to Kenya and brought back Daxton a super cute shirt.  You can already tell from the pictures that Daxton's a fan of not only the new apparel, but meeting his fun Uncle James as well!

Daxton can't wait to hear all the crazy stories James has to share.  I remember thinking "There's no way all these stories are true!"  But I was put to shame when I met James and saw all the proof of such an interesting life.  Just ask Dallas about his camping trip on the Great Wall of China or the countless rock climbing and other adventures they've shared.
Dallas is lucky to have had such a great friend in his life!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Michelle's baby shower

 I swear we must all be drinking baby makin' water or something, because there are so many of my friends who are pregnant or just recently had babies.  In fact, in my ward alone, there will be almost ten new babies.  Oddly enough only 3 of those are boys!  I'm just excited Daxton will have so many fun friends to play with.

Last Saturday Jules and I hosted a baby shower for our good friend, Michelle.  I've had so many fun memories with Michelle over the past few months.  Last summer we spent day after day at Waterworld.  We've had Sunday dinners, play dates at the park, movie nights, games, and double dates.  We even joke about the fact that she's the reason I went into preterm labor.  We were driving back from a double date together and we were both sharing funny stories from our childhoods of being raised in small towns in central Washington.  I remember laughing at one of Michelle's stories when my water broke in the car.

I was so excited to find out that she is pregnant with her second child, this one being a girl.  Jules and I thought it would be fun to throw a baby shower for her, which was also a great excuse to plan a party :)
 Like I mentioned in my previous post, I was pretty excited about successfully making two diaper cakes for the party.  There was a fun turn out of girls and she was able to receive so many adorable clothes for her little girl. 
Jules is also pregnant, in fact their due dates are only a couple days apart, but her shower was a few days ago.  Being summer, several of us were not able to attend, so she opened some late gifts as well.
She's always trying to steal the thunder!  :) 
 I was so happy that Michelle loved her diaper cakes and the onsies I used for decorations.  It was nice to have the shower outside, since our apartments are all on the smaller size, but I wish we had grass to make the scenery a bit more pretty.  We had fun regardless though and people brought very yummy treats for us all.
 Matching bellies!
Michelle and Jules, both due within days of each other.  Who knows, maybe they'll even get to share a hospital room!
  
Some of our fun guests...

 Little baby Penelope
Showing off some great smiles!
 The Marshall girls: Penelope, Abby, and Adri
Best Buddies: Adri and Kayla
All such gorgeous girls!

 Little Adri
Gotta love all those curls!
 The lone brave boy in the group...little Constantine.
Such a happy little guy and I'm in love with the blonde curls.

 Absolutely gorgeous mother and daughter, Sarah and Leah.
  
September due dates
Ashley, Michelle, and Jules showing off their striped bellies.
They are all so beautiful while pregnant...not fair!
 We love you, Michelle.
We are all so happy for your, soon-to-be, little addition in your family.  Hope you had a fun day.  Thanks again for letting us help you celebrate this special occasion.
Love ya!

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