The Month of December

Wow. This month has sped by so quickly! Probably because we have been so busy. I have actually missed a couple important posts, so I will write the condensed versions (or at least I'll try).

This was the month of appointments. We had about three or four in a one and a half week period. The most important one was Caleb's nine month well check. He turned nine months one the 13th. Here are his stats from the appointment.

Weight: 16lbs 14oz, 5-10th-ish%
Height: 27.75in, 12th%

So, our little guy didn't grow much these three months, but he is following suite with Ella (he's actually almost the exact same size she was at his age, she just weighed about 5oz less). He only had a 1lb 4oz weight gain and grew only 3/4in. He went from 70th% in height down to the 12th. We (meaning us and the doctor) aren't concerned because he is extremely active. Never stops moving. He's been crawling since 6 months, sitting and pulling himself up since 7 months, and he began cruising (walking along furniture) since 8.5 months. So he's very busy. A little brag: His doctor was very impressed at all of this and said he was advanced. He said that many babies aren't even crawling at 8 or 9 months. I was actually surprised at that. So I guess Ella was not behind at all when she started crawling at 9 months.

Caleb also now has three teeth with another one on the way! He's had his two bottom teeth for a couple months, but he got one of his top teeth on the 24th! The other one should be here in the next few days.

This month, Ella turned 2 1/2. She is just growing up so fast! She's also had a major growth spurt. I'm very curious as to how tall she is compared to other kids her age, but her next appointment isn't until she's three. She has grown so much that her 2T pants are all too short now. This was shocking considering that she could still wear 18 month pants in about September. Good thing we have a supply of 3T pants, thanks to my sister and one of our home teachers in our old ward! The only problem is that Ella has not really grown much in her waist, and not all of her pants have an adjustable waist.

Ella has also exploded in her speech. She spoke really well a month ago, but in the past three weeks, she has turned into a different kid. It's totally amazing.

And of course, the month of December brings Christmas! As a gift to our parents. We (as in I) took some family pictures. They are no where near professional, and our lighting in our house is really bad, but at least the kids turned out cute! I photoshopped the ones we gave to them. Except for fixing the red eye, they are raw. Here are a few.



And here are some for Christmas Day. I asked Ella to show the camera her toys, and boy did she! Also, excuse her pant-less self. She's in a phase where she won't wear pants to bed.



We had a great Christmas being with family and was so fun with Ella being old enough to get excited over it!

Deck the Halls

Thanksgiving was fantastic, but I'm going to do things a little out of order. When I can get photos from other people, I will post about Thanksgiving.

Ella's first Christmas - 6 months old
This is one of my favorites I took that year

I just have to say that I am so excited about Christmas! We have quite a bit less money for things than the last few years we've been married (thankfully we were able to sell some stuff so we actually have something), but that's okay!

It's funny, because I think I'm even more excited than years past. I think it's because Ella is starting get excited this year. She doesn't know about getting presents, but she talks about Santa Claus sometimes and LOVES Christmas music. It's so cute watching her in the rear view mirror rocking out to it!

And this year we have a new addition to celebrate with! Caleb will have a blast ripping and tearing into his presents! He does that anyway to books ( unfortunately, he's already torn up at least two of Ella's books I was able to keep nice since she was a baby).

I just love the Christmas spirit in the air. This year, I think I am going to learn that you can have a nice and enjoyable Christmas with very little money. Christmas is ultimately not about money or gifts.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Overload of Videos

Recently, Craig and I decided to sell some old cell phones. they still have pictures and videos on them, so I took them off. Oh my goodness, they are so cute! Most of them are of Ella as a baby, and a few were of her just after she was born. And the best thing was that I had no idea Craig even took them! I found a priceless treasure.

Please excuse my weirdly slurred words at the beginning. She was three days old.


Here is one of Caleb's cry, and Ella dancing. He's over in the swing to the right.


Ella at seven months old eating a Baby Mum Mum


Ella singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. She knows all the words and doesn't mix the ABC's in now.

I do have videos of Ella's and Caleb's first baths but won't post them for obvious reasons, but watching both videos, I noticed that I am actually wearing the same shirt! I thought that was hilarious and sad at the same time. Shows you how much I go clothes shopping.

Dentistry and the "Wisdom" I've Gained (or lost)

Warning: If you think teeth, or dental work, or mouths are disgusting, you might not want to read this. And it's really long.

I really don't know why, but I have always had an aversion to visiting the dentist. It could be that growing up, we didn't have health insurance most of the time, so I didn't go regularly. Only if I had a toothache or something. Maybe I always have just associated going to the dentist with pain or having something wrong with my teeth. Unfortunately, I believe I am prone to cavities. I am not obsessive over my dental hygiene, but I do feel I take care of them pretty well.

Another reason for this aversion could be the traumatic (to me, anyway) tooth experiences I've had. The first was when a baby tooth never fell out and my adult tooth came in pushing the baby tooth sideways and toward my tongue, causing the roots to poke through he gums towards my cheek. This wasn't painful, but I had that sucker in there for what is seemed like a few years. It was wonderful when it got pulled!

The next experience happened while the baby tooth was still there, and just the tooth behind it (they were molars). This was a baby tooth as well, and it had a filling in it. I was flossing my teeth and when I got to this tooth, the floss got a little stuck, and out came the filling. Ever since then, I have been extremely scared to floss my molars (that's why I don't floss as much as I should). Since we didn't have insurance at this time and it wasn't hurting, I never went to the dentist to get it fixed, so little by little, the tooth started chipping away and left little chunks of tooth in my gums. It's weird that tooth never fell out by itself either, and the adult tooth came in just fine. One day, I decided I was sick of those little pieces in there, so I parked myself in front of my bathroom mirror and wiggled and wiggled them until they came out. I think there were about three or four pieces. So, I guess you could say I performed my own tooth extraction!

The last experience was about eight years ago. My family and I had just recently moved out to Queen Creek, and so we were taking a car trip exploring to area. I was eating a sucker (a Jolly Rancher green apple flavor, to be exact) and for some very odd and strange reason, I decided to bite down of the blasted thing. I don't know why, I never do that because I know it's bad for your teeth. And I hate green apple flavor. Anyway, this time was bad for my teeth because it caused one of the points of my molar to be completely broken off. I freaked because a) it was broken and b) I wasn't on any insurance anymore. So, it stayed that way. I always made sure to brush that tooth extra and take extra care of the area. Well, I did a good job at it because it never hurt and it chipped only slightly more. It is still not fixed, but will be working on that. I have other things that need fixing first, and it will be expensive, so it will have to wait. I don't remember exactly what my dentist said, but he said it needed a crown after something else is done to it.

When I was in high school, my family finally got insurance, and my mom made sure I went in for cleanings every six months and of course to get stuff fixed, like cavities (and old ones replaced) and pulling that pesky baby tooth. Well, I hated going and would moan and groan about it. Part of the reason for that, was because every time I went, it seemed like the dental hygienist would chastise me about something. When I turned 18, I got kicked off my parents' insurance. I was glad to not have to deal with anymore of the dental hygienist(s), but I knew I wouldn't be able to go if I had problems.Thankfully, at one of the last visits, I got x-rays done of my wisdom teeth. They were set to come in straight, so I didn't ever worry about them. And they did come in straight.

I also had a time when I got a filling and the dentist must have done something wrong. This was the last time I have a cavity filled until recently. The tooth became sensitive after that. I was told it would get better on it's own, but the stupid thing is still sensitive to this day. So sensitive I have to cover it with my tongue every time I drink something hot or cold.

So that was the last time I went to the dentist for a very long time. Seven years, to be exact. I didn't mind (except when my tooth broke), I hated going anyway. When I got married, I got insurance again, but it still took me three years to visit the dentist. I was pretty afraid and embarrassed. I knew I probably had tons of problems going on in my mouth.

Finally, Craig made me get an appointment with our dentist and his very good friend, Alex. Wait, I mean Dr. Matheson. The first visit was back in May for a cleaning. I was SOOOOOO nervous. I even know one of the dental hygienists (she was in my ward), but I still remembered back in high school being chastised. I figured they all did it, and I was not looking forward to it. But, I was pleasantly surprised. I got the x-rays done. Only six (I think) cavities in eight years, and I was pregnant twice in that time. Not bad (for me)! And Alex did the cleaning himself and did not make me feel like a failure.

Now for the real purpose of this post. My teeth have been on my mind a lot lately. And for a very good reason. Last Monday night, the back of my mouth started getting sore. I thought, "Great! My wisdom tooth is trying to make it's way up again. Now I will be in pain for Craig's birthday tomorrow." I was not expecting the amount of pain I had on Tuesday. My normal dose of Advil didn't even touch it. It was Craig's birthday, so I tried not to complain too much about it, but it got unbearable as we were on our way to dinner with his parents. It hurt to even talk. So, I told Craig to call the dentist office and see how much it would cost to take the darn things out. It's only my bottom ones that gave me any problems, but I would have to take them all out because the top ones would just keep growing down. Gross, huh? It was cheap, so we set up an appointment for that Thursday. And now I have four less teeth!

I was super scared because I always hear how horrible getting your wisdom teeth out can be. So, I expected the worst. I was awake during the extraction, so that made me even more nervous. Well, I was pleasantly surprised! The worst thing was the gross crackling sound when my top teeth were being worked out. Oh yeah, and that the tooth that was hurting me took longer to get out than the others and a tip of the root broke off and he could get it out. It will be fine for it to be in there, though. I was a little disappointed, though. My wisdom teeth weren't as big as I thought they would be. I had researched on the internet and saw some awesomely huge teeth. Oh well! But I guess the one that was harder to get out had like four roots or something like that.

Recovery hasn't been quite as bad as I thought either. My whole left side and the top of my right side has never even hurt! Just the bottom right side. In fact, most of the pain came from under my jaw and the molar next to the wisdom tooth. It always takes a while for my teeth to recover from any dental work. When I got fillings in June, it took a week before they stopped hurting. I swelled up a good amount, but not too bad.

I have been out of commission since Thursday afternoon and yesterday was my first day back "on duty". Craig has been so, so helpful with the kids, and I am very grateful. I also didn't even have to take any Vicodin yesterday either! Of course, I wouldn't have been able to even if I needed to. It makes me very drowsy and loopy. But it also makes me very happy!

I am finally starting to gradually eat normal foods, but still softer stuff. I even ate a six inch Subway sandwich last night! Even though it took me about an hour because I have to eat small bites and I have to chew mostly with my front teeth. Ladylike, eh? (That was in honor of Craig because he served his mission in Toronto and loves Canada. Maybe he'll be impressed.) I have been drinking Ensure to help with my nutrition and recently for breakfast since I can't eat cereal yet, but those things made me gain weight, so I will let Craig have the rest and get myself some oatmeal for breakfast.

Hopefully I'll be able to fully recover very quickly. Like in time for Thanksgiving.

I would have posted picture of my Wisdom Teeth, but that would probably be gross. Yes, I kept them.

And please excuse any typos. I'm still on medication (not Vicodin) and am not used to this much Ibuprofen/Acetaminophen in me. I usually try to avoid it.

Happy Halloween!

We had such a fun time this weekend! On Saturday night went to a very fun Harry Potter themed party put on by my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. Poor Ella was very afraid of some of the costumes, but she was fine after a while. And poor Caleb started choking. It was very scary. There was a time where I couldn't tell if he was even breathing! Nobody had fed him anything and there was nothing in his mouth, so we determined that he was choking on some spit-up. After that incident, we all went trick or treating. This was Ella's first time actually getting candy. She had gone out for the last two years, but she was too young for candy. She had a blast!

We weren't planning on going out on Sunday, but Ella had so much fun, that Craig took her out again last night. I didn't go because I woke up sick that morning. I'm glad they went because Ella had so much fun (this morning she asked to go again), and Craig was able to meet people and get to know our neighborhood better.

After they came back, we loaded up in the car and went to my sister's to hang out while they passed out candy. Boy, did Ella eat candy! She has never had so much at one time. She doesn't really ever have candy, so this was a treat for her! Unfortunately, I paid for it last night because she woke up every hour and sometimes more often!

Here are some pictures of my cute Fairy Princess and handsome little bear. Caleb wore the same costume Ella did last year (and the year before)because I knew he would be so cute in it!






Last week I had asked my mom for my baby book, so she brought it to my sister's house last night to give to me. After we got home and put the kids to bed, I decided to look through it. Craig and I were absolutely amazed! There were pictures in there (of me, of course) that looked like Caleb with long hair! I wish we had pictures of Craig when we was a baby to see how much our kids look like him. I can't see any of us in Ella, but I did find a picture of me that definitely resembled her.

And here's the one I think resembles Ella.

Surprise!

(Don't mind the grass growing in the rocks. We haven't gotten around to spraying them recently.)

Yesterday, Craig brought home Ella this as a surprise! She got so excited when she saw it! As soon as Craig put it back together, she was already playing on it!

We got this slide from a friend just after Ella was born while we were still living at Craig's parents' house when they were on their mission. When we got it, Ella was obviously too young to use it, and when we moved out, she was only six months old. We always wanted to go get it, but we always forgot soon after we thought about it. So, two moves later, we finally brought it home! Ella is the perfect age now for her slide and it is so fun watching her play on it!




Also, happy seven month birthday to our little guy!

Teeny Little Super Guy (and Girl)

Warning: This post is just a bunch of tangents (since I'm so good at them) and may not make the best of sense.

Ella has been into calling things "Super ____". She has said Super Ella, Super Nash (our dog), and even Super Ariel. She has a Little Mermaid doll. There is a possibility of two places of where she got this. The first may be from us. We have been known on a handful of occasions to call Caleb "Super Son". I don't know why, but we have.

The second place she could have gotten this was from Sesame Street. Ella doesn't watch much tv. She watches two shows, to be exact. Sesame Street and Caillou. She loves them both. Of course they are really the only shows she has seen in full. Anyway, on Sesame Street, she knows just about all the characters and has recently learned about Super Grover. So, I'm thinking that's most likely picked up the super thing.

Also, back in the day on Sesame Street, there was a character called Teeny Little Super Guy. And I'm talking pretty far back maybe from the '70s or '80s. I loved this character very much. For those who don't know, he was a cartoon man in a glass. Here he is.


I liked him so much, I had a miniature army guy i found and named it Teeny Little Super Guy. I cherished him until the day one of my brother's dumb friends cut him up with scissors. I will never forget that.

Anyway, sometimes I call Caleb Teeny Little Super Guy for fun. And to me, he is a super guy. He is very strong. Last night, he climbed up and over my lap just to get my computer. It was pretty funny and amazing at the same time. The other thing he does that is super is that he crawls now! This is super to me because it's new territory. I've never had a baby crawl this early! Heck, Ella was over 9 months old before she started crawling. I finally got a good video of him crawling. Enjoy!



*Disclaimer: Please excuse Ella throwing toys at and near Caleb. And please also excuse Nash from walking right in front of me twice. He loves the kids. What can I say? Oh yeah, also please excuse Ella again for being in her undies.

We are on round two of potty training. We had started just before she turned two, but she wasn't really getting it. So we took a break for a couple months. We'll see how it goes this time! Good luck, Ella (and me)!

Half of a Year

I am a week late, but Caleb is now six months old! I can't believe it! He turned six months last Monday, Sept. 13th. His well check was on Thursday, so here are his stats:

Also, I like to compare with Ella, even though boys are usually bigger and measured on a different percentile chart (I assume).

Weight: 15lbs 8oz, 12th percentile
Ella was 15 lbs 2oz and 30th percentile (I believe this was her highest percentile)

Height: (this one was a shocker to me) 27 inches, 70th percentile! Whoa! Where did this come from?! No wonder his 6-9 month pajamas fit him perfectly in length.
Ella was almost two inches shorter at 25.25 in, and 30th percentile

Head Circumference: 16.75, approx. 15th percentile
Ella was 16.25, unknown percentile

So, Caleb is long and a featherweight. He looks like he should weigh more, but he doesn't.

In Ella's words, "Cabub so smart!" And he's extremely active. The boy never stops moving. Even in his sleep. He's also now officailly mobile. He's been rolling around the house for a few weeks now, but Monday night (on his six month birthday) he started crawling! He does this hybrid army crawl/inch-worm type crawl. It's so funny! I was very surprised even though I'm sure many babies crawl this young, but I really only had Ella to compare with and she crawled pretty late, at nine months old.

Caleb also loves toys, books, and basically anything he can get his hands on.

He is also such a sweet natured little guy and only cries if he is hungry or very tired. And speaking of being tired, he is an excellent sleeper! He sleeps through the night, and has since he was about three months old. Thank goodness, because sleep is very important to me.

He also loves, and I mean loves food. Whether it is his milk or solids. He drinks four 8oz bottles a day. He loves rice cereal, and I just started him on veggies (sweet potatoes). He can eat a whole container. I'm going to start carrots today.

Caleb is very healthy, and I'm so grateful for that.



By the way, check out the post below.

Silly Girl

I've noticed that a lot of these posts have been about Caleb, so I want to write just about Ella and what a blessing she is to our family.

Ella has a wonderful personality. She is silly, imaginative, and yes, she also lives up to her red hair. Especially now that she's two. But, when she's happy, it definitely more than makes up for the times she's throwing a tantrum (which is really not that often). I love this little girl with all my heart and I know Craig does too.

Here are some pictures of her and her silliness!

She put a shirt on like shorts

On the way home from Snowflake


She made a bed in the hall


This is where I found her during her nap one day


Putting on Daddy's socks and shoes

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

How does your garden grow?

Okay, so my name is not Mary, and I'm not "quite contrary"(usually), BUT I do have a garden. My mom, sister and I are growing a "community" garden to split the produce (and work) between our three families. We figured it would be a fun project to work on together, and considering I'm renting my house (can't plant a garden there) and have been wanting a garden, it works out perfectly for me. We are using a plot of land in my sister's backyard. We got started on it on Saturday and worked all afternoon. Thankfully it was very cloudy and even sprinkled and little bit. The temperature was also very nice. We tilled the ground and also mixed in some fertilizer and mulch. We borrowed my in-law's tiller and Craig did the work with it. After we did all that, we started to build up the furrows. We stopped before we were finished, and thankfully we did.

Yesterday morning, we continued getting the garden ready for planting. Our plan was to finish the furrows. Things never go as you plan. The day before, the ground was too wet, so the soil just ended up drying and creating rocks. So we knocked down our rock hard furrows and basically started over. We discovered the ground had been packed down badly from us stepping on it on Saturday. This would not work at all for planting seeds. We first sifted through by hand picked out the big clods of dirt. Then my sister and I got rakes and basically hand-tilled the ground. Oh my ouch. It was very hard. In fact, the head on my sister's rake came off. Between that and the beating down sun, we were so worn out! I thought I was going to pass out and die. But we had to keep going.

The next step was to rebuild the furrows. But thankfully our plans changed and we decided to do a square-foot garden set-up. It requires a bit of measuring and stringing string, but it was so much easier! Then we plotted out where we were going to plant the different kinds of seeds. It was about 1pm by this time (we started around 9:30 or 10:00)and Ella was getting bored (and getting into the seeds), hungry and tired, so I had to go after I had planted only two squares of radishes.It was probably good for me to have left then too. I knew I was sunburned, but when I got home, bathed Ella, fed the kids and put them down for naps, I didn't realize how badly. I got in the shower myself and then it hit me. I felt sick from too much sun. And, I then saw how badly I was burned.

As of now, I am a lobster. And I hurt. This morning I woke up with sore muscles and hurting skin. I am burned very badly on my face, ears, back of my neck, my chest (it looks like I'm wearing a red dickey), the back of my hands, arms, legs, and top of my feet. I would post pictures, but they just don't show how bad it really is. Let's just say it hurts just wearing clothes. I can't wear pants, and since my only shorts are dirty from yesterday, I must resort to wearing a pair of Craig's basketball shorts. And the neck of my shirt is touching me, but there's nothing I can do about that!

However, despite my suffering, I am very excited for the veggies to start growing! And the hard part is over with. I'll have to try to remember to take pictures once the seeds start sprouting.

Sunshine

I became slightly obsessed with "You Are My Sunshine" since yesterday's post. So, I decided to make a slideshow of the kids to this song.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

You Are My Sunshine

Even when my day is really crappy, I always have these two rays of sunshine to help me feel better. It's not ironic that the song "You are My Sunshine" is one of Ella's favorite songs. She truly is my sunshine "when skies are gray" (Caleb too).

Best Friends

Ella and Caleb sure do love each other! It is so cute watching them interacting with each other. Yesterday Ella asked hold hold Caleb, so I let her. I, of course, had to help, but I was able to get a picture of the two.



The funny thing is that as I pushed the button to take the picture, Ella was smiling as Caleb was not. They switched expressions during the second or two it took for my phone to take the picture!

Bouncing Baby Boy

Growing Like a Weed

He was so exhausted from his appointment, he fell asleep during his tummy time.

I just realized I forgot to post about Caleb's stats from his doctor's appointment last week! It's amazing because he has constantly been about a half pound to a pound heavier than Ella was at his age and also an inch longer.

Weight: 13lbs 5oz, about 15th percentile (Ella was 12lbs 15oz, 25th percentile)
Height: 25 in., 50th percentile (Ella was 24in., 30th percentile)

I was expecting his percentiles to be higher than Ella's, but I then realized that boys are probably compared with boys (and naturally bigger) and girls with girls. So his percentiles would be much different.

Caleb also had his second round of shots at this appointment. Last time, he had no reactions to them, so I wasn't expecting any. But, that night and throughout the next day, he had a mild fever. Even though his fever was mild (100 or less), and I knew what it was from, deep down inside I was on alert and nervous. When Ella was four months old, she got her shots as normal, and got a fever from them, which was also normal. However, her fever was not mild. I called the doctor's twice, and they said to not worry, some babies get high fevers as a reaction. A day or two later, I called them again and the nurse said she probably had some sort of bug and to give her Motrin and wait it out. But, a day and a half later, her fever was still raging (totalling six days), so we decided we needed to take her to the ER (at 3am). It turns out she had a fluke UTI and had turned into a kidney infection. She was in the hospital for three and a half days, and she had about three of four tests performed on her. The fever she got as a reaction to her vaccines covered up that she was sick. It was all so weird how it happened. And she hasn't had another one since. Anyway, that is why I was nervous deep down with Caleb's fever. That was a very traumatic time for me, especially being a first time mom.

Back to Caleb. He is perfectly healthy, eats well, sleeps very well (from 8 or 8:30pm to 5 or 6am), is very active (he rolls from back to tummy very well and has even rolled from tummy to back), is happy and is growing like a weed.

Three Years

Today is our third anniversary. Time has flown by so fast! Last night we were thinking all the way back to when we were dating. Such good memories. We had so much fun just being with one another. We started dating in November of 2006 with our first date being a double date hiking up Camelback Mountain. I had been hiking before plenty of times, but not this kind of hiking. I swear it was mountain climbing and not hiking! I remember huffing and puffing just five minutes into the hike but I was too prideful to let anybody see me. Well, somehow I made it up that mountain. I think it was me wanting to make a good impression on Craig. I had such a great time and was sad when the date was over. I wanted to go out with him again, but I didn't expect to. I didn't make it to the second date with anybody else but one guy. He turned out to be a jerk. Anyway, now that you know how much of a loser I was, the next day after church, Craig called me up on the phone and asked me out for a second date! The rest is history.

We got engaged on April 28, 2007. Looking back, our engagement was actually quite short. But at the time, it seemed we would never be able to get married. We were waiting on permission to be sealed in the temple from the First Presidency because of Craig's previous marriage. This was such a hard time. And his ex wasn't making it any easier. She was supposed to write a letter but never did (even though she claims she did). Our bishop was so wonderful in working so hard to get everything in order to send up to Salt Lake.

After a couple months, we decided that I should go through the temple in preparation for receiving the letter from the First Presidency. On June 30th, I was able to go through. June 30th is a special day. Not just because of this. This is the day when I truly gained a testimony of enduring to the end. That afternoon, Craig and I were hanging out at his parents house and we decided to check the mail. As he was going through it, he saw it. The letter from the First Presidency granting us permission to be married in the temple. We just hugged each other and jumped up and down out of excitement. We told our parents, and then got down to business. We had a wedding to plan. We had basically had everything but the temple part and the actual dates planned. Craig's parents were leaving for their mission just a few days later so we decided to get married before they left the MTC. So two days short of two weeks later on July 12th, we were married in the temple. Because of the short notice, we held our reception two weeks after that.

We had already been married for two weeks and back from our honeymoon.

Three years and two kids later, we are still madly in love. You know, people say that marriages are hard and you really have to work to make it good. I totally believe that, but honestly, I think that we are such a perfect match, it's not really that hard for us. Sure, we have our little spats, but in three years, we have only had one true fight. I also believe that because of the incredible path it took for us to even meet each other, we are truly meant to be together. I love Craig so very much and I know that he loves me just the same.

He is such a great and wonderful husband and daddy. I couldn't ask for anything more in life. I can't wait to spend the rest of eternity with him. I get so excited thinking about that!

Two Years Ago

Ella Kate Newman came into our lives two years ago today at 1:29am. She was 6lbs 15oz and 20 inches long.



She has been such a little joy to have in our family and has the cutest and sweetest personality.




The beginning of her life wasn't problem free. The girl did not like to eat much, so in the first few weeks of her life, she had a little weight problem. At two weeks, she ended up losing a few ounces. But after supplementing with formula, for a weekend, she finally surpassed her birth weight. However, she has always been in the lower percentiles. Right now, she's probably only about 23 pounds. She's just a petite girl.

At four months old, she was admitted to the hospital with a bad and fluky UTI. I think it might have even turned into a kidney infection. The doctors were not very clear about that part. It got that bad because the fever she had was masked by the fever she got as a reaction to her shots. She was pitiful looking in the hospital bed.


Here are some more pictures of Ella growing up.

Ella at six months old

Ella at ten months old

Ella's first birthday


Ella at 18 months

A couple months ago, Ella got a big girl bed. She loved it before we even opened the box! She loves being able to get in and out of her bed all by herself. I think this was the easiest transition we've ever done with her!

Here she is just a month ago eating cake with her daddy. Messy hair and all.

And here she is today, on her birthday.

I can't say enough of how much we love her. She is just growing into a beautiful girl inside and out. She is smart (sometimes too much for her own good), loves to sing and dance, and she loves Elmo! Happy birthday, Ella!

Three Months Old

This cute little guy turned three months old on Sunday. As you can see in the picture, he loves to chew on his fingers. It's very cute and he makes very loud sucking noises when he does it. Thankfully, his thumb has not solely made it into his mouth yet and let's hope it never does!

He is a goofy little boy and is so easy to get to smile! He laughs every once in a while, but not too often. He also loves to talk a lot! Just like his sister and daddy.

Caleb is still a great sleeper! He naps about two or three times during the day and for the past couple weeks or so, he's been sleeping through the night! I put him down for bed between 9:00pm and 9:30pm and he wakes up between 5:30am to 6:30am. He has even slept until 7:30 once! When he wakes up, I feed him and then put him back down to sleep (for my sake) and he then sleeps about another hour.

He is such a sweet and even-tempered baby. He really doesn't cry very often either. He has his days sometimes, but he is usually a go-with-the-flow type of guy. I feel so lucky that he is so wonderful! Especially with a very active toddler running around the house! We all just love him so much, and we can tell he loves us back. Especially his big sister!

I also want to say happy birthday to my nephew Matthew. He turns six today! He is a very smart and good kid and also has the best imagination. A couple of years ago, he was into swords and the like (still is). He would imagine anything into a sword. Especially sticks. One day as he was playing around, he came up with a great name for a sword: Importation Long Sharp Sword. Matthew cracks me up! And thanks to him and my sister, Caleb has a very large wardrobe!

Dancing

This morning, as I was going to go in to clean the kitchen, I decided to put on some music. We have music channels on our satellite, so I browsed through looking for a good channel. I like oldies, so decided on a classic rock channel. As i was starting on the kitchen, Ella seemed very interested in the music and started to dance a little. Then I got the idea to put off cleaning the kitchen for now to have some fun with Ella and dance with her. Now, I am not a dancer and have no coordination whatsoever, but it doesn't matter when you're dancing with an almost two year old. It was a lot of fun and a good workout too! She was trying to do what i was doing and had a big smile on her face. It was so cute. After a while, she decided it would be more fun to just watch me dance by myself. So she stopped dancing. I felt a little silly dancing by myself, so I tried to stop a few times. But, Ella is a very bossy child. She kept telling me to dance as she went back and forth between the family room and her bedroom. Finally, after about the tenth or so time, I went into the kitchen to start cleaning. She wasn't happy about that, but she got over it fast when I opened the dishwasher. I swear she must have a radar built in to tell her when that thing is opened! Anyway, here is a video of Ella dancing to the song 'Hotel California' by The Eagles.

Summertime!

Well, almost. Even though it's not officially summer, it sure feels like it! We got Ella her swimming suit for this year a couple of weeks ago or so. We tried it on her one morning just to make sure it fit. And it did! We were all in our room (Craig's and mine) a few minutes later. I turned around to make sure she wasn't getting into anything, and we see is this:

She likes to wear my shoes a lot and it's so cute! And she must have been trying to take her swimming suit off because she took her arm out of the strap. Silly girl!

Where my kids at?

I thought I would share our favorite video. It is a advertisement for the Toyota Sienna. Now, I am not a minivan person, and unless I can't help it, I will never drive/own one. Instead, we want this.

We want this vehicle really bad. I fell in love with it when we went to the LA Car Show with my family on Thankgiving weekend a year and a half ago. The only problem? Money. However, when we have our next baby (hopefully not within the next two years), we will need a bigger vehicle. My little Cobalt will not fit three carseats in it. And Craig's Altima in stick, which I can't drive, and refuse to learn because I am convinced I will break it. I've tried to learn, but was not successful.

Anyway, enough of my tangent. Here is the video. It almost makes me want one! Enjoy!

Two Months Old

Caleb is two months old today! Time has sure gone by fast, but on the other hand, it feels as if he's always been a part of our family.

This morning, we went to his two month well-child visit, and it was determined that he's in perfect health! I just love my kids' doctor. He is very nice and very helpful, and never rushes through our appointments even if he's running behind. Anyway, here are his stats:

Height: 23in (50th percentile) - He's grown three inches from birth and 2 inches since his two week appt.
Weight: 10lbs 1oz (20th percentile) - Gained two pounds since his two week appt.
Head: 15.25in around (15th percentile)

He is still a little guy, but he is a bit bigger than Ella was. Not by much, though.

He also got his first shots today. He was such a trooper. He cried at the initial poke, but quickly stopped. Hopefully he won't get a fever. It's miserable for me too when they get fevers. Here's a couple pictures of his cute little band-aids!

Smiles!

Here are the two cutest kids ever! Don't mind the bad quality of the pictures. They were taken with my phone. And Ella wouldn't hold still, so she's pretty blurry.

Such a sweet girl. I can't believe she'll be two in less than two months!

This is his first smile caught on camera, but he has been smiling for a week or so.

By the way, for any family reading this, Caleb's eyebrows have turned red like Ella's! Maybe he'll also be a redhead!

What's been going on with us?

Well, we have been very busy. I think things are finally calming down now.

Ella is just growing up way too fast! She is such a little social butterfly, it amazes me. She loves people and kids. It just takes her a few minutes to warm up, and then she starts holding conversations and/or playing. She is also a typical toddler. Getting into stuff, exploring, being curious, and throwing tantrums. The "terrible two's" and definitely upon us, and she's not even two!

Caleb is doing great and growing so fast. He's a great eater and a great sleeper! He has almost slept through the night a few times already. But I feel he's too young still to go that long without eating, so I don't let him (he probably would if I let him). He is such a calm little guy most of the time. Of course he has his times, but I am truly blessed he is a good sleeper and is calm because his big sister is extremely active and busy. I don't know what I would do if he weren't the way he is!

So, almost three weeks ago, we moved into another house. Unlike our last house, this is one that I could live in for a few years. In fact, I want to stay here until we can buy a house. It was a hard house hunt. We started in the beginning of March and the rental market is insane. There are lots of people looking to rent, and not many houses to choose from. We lost out on about three houses after putting in applications because somebody else slipped in an application just a day or so before us and got approved. It was really frustrating. We decided we could afford a little more expensive rent, but none of the houses we saw were worth it to us. Just before Caleb was born, we basically ran out of houses to see. We were freaked because we had already put in our 30 days notice to our property management company. We decided to just take a short break to concentrate on having our baby, and our realtor (she is absolutely amazing, by the way) continued to keep a look out for more houses that pop up. We were getting very scared, but we thought that maybe the wait will be worth it and that something great will come up. Well, it did! So, about three days after Caleb was born, we went to see this house. It was perfect. It was nice inside, the perfect size, and a great layout! The only downside was the rent. It is more expensive than we wanted to pay, and the pet deposit was a little insane, but our wonderful realtor negotiated with them and got us the first month free! That in itself was a HUGE blessing!

Anyway, we have been moving, cleaning the old house, and settling in the new house for the past three weeks. and we're still not completely settled. I think it will be a while before that happens, with the new baby and a toddler to take care of. I will try to post pictures, but I think I said that with the old house and I never did.

There is one word that describes us right now. Pooped.

Baby Caleb

Wow, we've been busy! Two kids is definitely much more work. Not to mention the billion doctors' appointments we've had (both me and Caleb). Things are finally sort of slowing down...sort of.

Caleb was born on March 13th at 8:05pm. That morning, I was scheduled for induction and arrived at Mercy Gilbert Hospital (which, by the way, I like much better than Chandler Regional where Ella was born. There was only one slightly scary nurse too!) at 7:30 in the morning. I was not looking forward to the pitocin, BUT, I was able to dodge that bullet yet again. Yay! With Ella, my water broke and I was not really dilated, so they were going to put me on pitocin then, but I ended up not needing it. Anyway, they decided to use some gels instead to get me into labor. They usually give three doses, but I only needed two.

It was a pretty easy labor until the late afternoon/early evening time (don't remember exactly) and the contractions were hitting HARD. They would not let me get the epidural until I was 4 centimeters (which took forever). Unfortunately I had to endure those very painful contractions until then. Finally they ordered my epidural, but had to do some blood work first. The lab must have been very swamped because it took them almost two hours to get to me. Then we had to wait for the results. My body was so exhausted, I almost couldn't handle it anymore. In short, I was 7 centimeters dilated when I got the epidural. What relief!

The L&D nurse was amazing. She was so nice and made sure I was as comfortable as I could be. I was sad to see her go when her shift was over and I still hadn't had the baby. As she was leaving, she joked that I'd probably have the baby while she was in the parking lot.

I wasn't able to get to know the new nurse. First thing she did was check to see my progress, and guess what? I was at a 10! Time to push! I only had relief from the epidural for about 30 minutes before it was time. The doctor came in and in only 2.5 pushes, Caleb was born! It's funny, because my original nurse was probably literally in the parking lot when he was born!

I hate being in the hospital after having a baby, so I chose to be discharged 24 hours after he was born. By the way, the discharge class they made me go to was a complete waste of time. They didn't tell me one thing I didn't already know. It should not be required for those who already had kids. Because of that, we didn't get to leave the hospital until almost 10:00 Sunday night. It was kind of weird leaving at night.

Here are some pictures of the first two weeks of Caleb's life.

Almost two hours old

First picture of both kids

True ASU fan. His version of the pitchfork. This made his daddy proud!

He was not happy about this "photo shoot"

She loves her "Baby bwuder" or "Cabub"