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!