Update for Darek

-Still no teeth, but chews on EVERYTHING!
-Has a cold with a terrible runny nose. Poor little guy has skin rubbed off around his nose. It's getting better now.
-Moving everywhere, but still not quite crawling. He keeps going backward and just can't figure out how to get himself to move forward. He can get up on his knees and stay there for a while, but as soon as he moves, he's back down on his belly.
-Smiling and giggling every day! He can entertain himself for a while, but definitely prefers the attention of everyone in the room. And he will let you know if you aren't giving him enough attention :)
-He loves doing his side-to-side dance and sing at the same time. Not sure where he picked it up, but it's the cutest/sweetest thing to watch!
-Loves to shake his head no-no-no-no-no. He thinks it's hilarious when you mimic him and will continue doing it until you stop.
-Started clapping with his feet, but just this past week learned to clap with his hands. One of my new favorite things to watch him do.
-Along with clapping, if you put your hand out in front of him, expect you will be given "five".
-Still HATES anything with texture. Everyday we struggle with getting baby food down him without him gagging and throwing it up. We'll see how he progresses. He's doing better than he was, but has a long way to go.

That's about it for updates. But I'm sure he'll be doing something new tomorrow. :)

Happy/Sad

I have been so conflicted about how to feel emotionally with Alex graduating kindergarten. I am so happy because he is learning so much and growing into such an amazing kid! But I am just seeing how quickly this time has past. His little kid years are over. He's big. Maybe having a baby now emphasizes that more, but there has been such a change in him over this past year. He's so smart (almost too smart at times) and sweet. He has all these friends that he wants to hang out with. I think it takes me back to when I was little and doing the same things. Realizing that I had friends that I wanted to do things with. I think it makes me realize that he doesn't need me as much as he did. He still needs me, I know that... but I'm not quite as needed as I once was. I'm learning to love each stage of my kids life. Each stage brings new fun and excitement as well as conflicts and learning experiences. I hope that as a mother, I will not take any part of my childrens lives for granted and remember to love each moment.






I still love those big baby blue eyes!

Swing Set

We've had our swing set for over a month now and it has sat in the garage waiting to be put together. The daycare kids I watch look everyday to see if it's done and are always disappointed. Well, we finally decided we'd go for it this weekend. We started in the afternoon on Saturday and worked until dark, so about 6 hours. We were really bummed when we only had the tower of the swing set built. We weren't sure if we wanted to wait until Monday to see if we'd get better weather and finish the swing set then, or just finish it Sunday. Well, we saw in the evening on Sunday that we had some sunshine, so we took advantage of it and got everything out to work on it again. We didn't know that it would be the only sunshine we'd see. But through the rain, wind and cold, we finished the darn thing. It took approx. 10 hours to build the swing set, but I think Alex has already gotten that much fun out of it. Every possible moment he can, he's out there playing. We went and bought a baby swing for it on Monday so Darek can also "play". Here are some pictures of the pain in the... I mean, the wonderful, awesome swing set!!

Here is Papa hanging out with Darek while Ryan and I got everything set up.


Ryan has quite the system when it comes to screws, bolts, etc. But it works really well and it helps get things done quicker.


Here was my attempt at organizing all the wood. I still can't believe all of that was made into a swing set.


Our cute kitty, Beast tearing up some tissues while we worked.


Darek just having a blast sitting out in the sun watching us.


Our first few boards put together.


After the first afternoon, we had the tower put together. Alex was beyond excited and would have spent the night in it if we had let him! :)


Alex's new hang out


Cute little brothers swinging together.


Here is the whole thing all done (minus the glider that will be put together shortly).


Alex climbing the "rock wall"


Darek's first ride... not so sure about it.




My little monkey!

Alex, the neighbors and all the daycare kids have had a blast playing on it! I'm so glad we got it... and yes, even glad we finally put it together!

Thankful Friday

Two Thankful Friday's missed in a row! I have some catching up to do! I'll make this one as long as I can.

1. Being Outside - I think one of the things I enjoyed most about Disneyland was just being outside. We realized just how much Darek loves being outside while on our trip.

2. Plans - I love having life plans. It was so nice stopping off in Victorville on our way home and really imagining ourselves living there. It's so nice to know that in 1-2 years it could be a reality!

3. A Sunburn - Goes along the lines of #1. But I was so happy to have seen enough sun to be able to get a sunburn.

4. The Beach - One of the most memorable moments I had our trip was being in the ocean with my husband, 2 best friends and my sweet little boys. We all were chatting and having a great time and didn't even notice a huge wave that ended up taking us girls down. It was so much fun! I could spend days and days just doing that!



5. My New KitchenAid!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this. My whole marriage I have only had hand mixers. Yesterday I got my beautiful red KitchenAid. I'm cleaning out my kitchen today so that I can put it up and start putting it to work!



6. Bakugans - For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, you're not alone. After we got back, Alex had some extra money he wanted to spend. We came across these Bakugan things and he went nuts! So he bought a few. In the past Alex has never really had favorite toys (minus guns/swords), so it has been wonderful to see him playing with these little things and totally loving it. And all his friends love them too, so they can play together.



7. New Books - I just got 5 new books that I ordered off Amazon. I cannot wait to start reading them.

8. Teething - (Trying to make this one happy) I'm grateful that Darek is starting to teeth, because it shows that his little body is doing what it's supposed to. It makes me feel so good when he reaches milestones. (No teeth yet though)

9. Alex's Friends - Goes along with #6. It was so nice to take Alex back to school and see all the kids crowd around him. They all asked about his trip and expressed so much happiness that he was back. It makes me so happy to see him loved by all his little friends!

10. McDonalds Angus Burgers - I never thought McDonalds would be on my list. But at the McDonalds in California, they actually had the most tasty Angus burgers! It renewed my faith in them... until I came back here and found out that they will not be getting them here. At least not any time soon. :(

I would like to make this longer, but my messy kitchen calls to me. Time to start cleaning!

Cherry Ice Cream Pie

I just bought a new dessert book and couldn't resist this recipe. Actually, Alex was the one who picked it out (with a little help from me). I messed with the recipe just a little bit, but I like the adjustments.







I've just had a slice and I'm loving it!!! I made a little too much... I have 3 whole pies made. I have some friends coming over tonight. So hopefully they'll take a little bit off my hands.

And We're Back

I know I didn't keep up to date on the blog, which I'm sad about. But I kinda forgot my laptop charger, so I couldn't do much about it. I'm way too tired to post about everything right now. But we are home, we had a GREAT time and there will be stories and pictures to come!

Having Fun!!

We are having the best time! Today was such a fun day. We woke up at 4:30 am and drove from Primm to Anaheim. We got to the area just as the park was opening. We parked and got a little freshened up and then walked over to Disneyland. The park was incredibly empty! Not what we were expecting. We decided our first ride would be Buzz Lightyear. I thought this one would be a good one for Darek to start out on. WRONG!! Ryan and Alex rode together, while I took Darek with me. As soon as we got into the ride, he started bawling. I think the lights and noise just really got to him. He calmed down a few minutes into the ride, but he still didn't like it. After Buzz, I took Alex over to Star Tours while Ryan went to get fast passes for Space Mountain. Alex loves Star Tours, and I just love watching his face while we're on that ride. We met Ryan after that and went to eat. While I fed Darek, Ryan and Alex went on Space Mountain. I was going to go on it with Alex after that, but decided not to. Instead we went over to It's a Small World. We have not been on this ride for a few years as it's been closed down for some refirbishments. They did some wonderful things to it to tie Disney into it a little more and made it a little brighter (so you don't feel like taking a nap). Even though Darek was more than ready to go to sleep, he was wide eyed the whole ride and practically broke his neck to see everything. He loved it! Alex decided after that ride that we should go over to pirates. On our way over there, we saw that Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was only a 10 minute wait. It ended up only being about 5 minutes. So Alex and I went on that one together. Darek fell asleep while we went on that one. We walked over to pirates, took Darek out carefully and went on that ride. Darek stayed asleep until the last few seconds of that ride. Then it was over to Haunted Mansion. Darek did really well on that one, where we thought he might have a hard time. After that busy morning, we decided it was time for a break.



We went back to the hotel to see if our room was ready. It was and we got all our luggage in and unpacked. During that time our wonderful friends, The Nielsens, arrived!!! We were so happy to see them. They did not have tickets for the park today, so we decided to head over to California Adventure before it closed. We headed straight back to Toy Story Mania and California Screamin'. We have been excited for this trip because Alex had not been tall enough before now to go on Screamin'. We found out just recently that he would be able to go on it. We got fast passes first and then went on Toy Story Mania until our fast passes were ready. Alex was freaking himself out the whole time. Toy Story Mania was a really fun ride and I can't wait to go on it again. We got off and Alex decided he wanted me to take him on Screamin' the first time. We got in line and he decided that he wanted to sit in the very front. It was a bit of a wait since quite a few people request the front, but we waited. Just before we were about to get on, Alex started crying. He always does this. He loves these rides, but scares himself so bad and gets upset. After a little bribing, I got him to settle down and got him on the ride. We took off and he got quite happy pretty quickly. I could tell he was a little nervous as we came up on the unside down loop. But at the end of the ride, I asked him what he thought. He was laughing and said he loved it. I asked him what he thought of the loop. He said, "Ah, it was nothing!" Such a funny boy!



After our rides, we did a little shopping and Tammy and Kaylene decided to meet me to go into Downtown Disney. We had decided one thing we wanted to do while we were here, was to get Build-A-Bears in Downtown Disney. We all picked out the same bear and decided we would get pirate outfits for each of them. They all look a little different, but ended up being so cute! It was so much fun doing together and something to remind us of this wonderful trip together!



After shopping, it was back to the hotel for a little ice cream, swimming and now bed. I'm tired, yet have too much energy to go to sleep. I have no idea how, but I do. I do have some pictures to post of today, but haven't put them on my laptop yet. I'll try to tomorrow. Ready for a fun day of rides and great food. We have a reservation for the Blue Bayou! Great atmosphere, great food... GREAT DAY!!! More to come...

10 Months

Each month seems to go by quicker and quicker. It's hard to believe Darek is 10 months old! He is finally really starting to show that he's growing. My current estimate is that he is around 15 lbs and possibly up to 26 inches.

Darek loves to talk and he's learned to control his voice more so he's not just yelling. He makes really sweet little noises now, which are so cute. He has found his little singing voice. He loves to sing along with us when we have any music on. One hilarious thing he has started to do is fake cough. He loves fake coughing, especially when someone will do it bak and forth with him. I'll have to get video of it sometime.

Darek is moving more and more each day. He can't crawl still, but can roll from tummy to back and now back to tummy. So for now, rolling is one of his favorite things to do. But he is really consentrating on trying to move while he is on his belly. So I'm guessing it won't be long before he is crawling.

He is starting to realize the difference between those he knows and those he doesn't. Most of the time he'll still go to someone else, but if he's in a bad mood, he cries. I'm not a huge fan of this stage, so I'm hoping he won't become so overly attached that he won't go to anyone else. I love that he loves me, but it's nice when he's willing to go to others as well.

I'm also afraid I have a thumb sucker on my hands. Well, more of a thumb chewer. But he loves his little thumb and it's constantly in his mouth. I'm waiting for teeth to come in soon. He doesn't have any yet and I think we're getting closer to him getting some. We'll see.

We love our little Darek. He is so much fun and always attracts a crowd. It'll be interesting to see how many comments we get at Disneyland with him. A little story really quick. Yesterday we went to Chuck E Cheeses again. A lady came by, she had her kids with her (including her 7 month old baby) and she stopped when she saw Darek. She said that he was the cutest baby she had ever seen. And that was with her baby sitting right there with her. I felt a little bad for her baby, but I couldn't disagree with her! :) He is the cutest little guy!

Thankful Friday

1. IT'S MAY!!! - May means better weather (hopefully). May means Disneyland! May means the start to an incredible summer!

2. My Laptop - I've been having a lot of fun with my laptop lately and am really enjoying having it. At first I was wondering if I would use it enough, but I know my answer to that question now!

3. Playing Outside - Several evenings this week I've gone out back with Alex and we've played soccer. It is so much fun to do with him and probably one of my favorite past times right now.

4. Having Ryan Home - Ryan finished his clinicals yesterday... at least for the semester. So other than his finals, he is done for the semester. I'm going to get him home for a month (when he's not working of course)! I love having him home and it'll be great to have so much family time together before summer semester starts.

5. Fruit - I love it when fruit is in season and is affordable! I couldn't help myself and bought a whole flat of strawberries this past week. I made strawberry shortcake and snacked on them for the rest of the week. There's nothing like fresh fruit!

I'm too tired to continue thinking right now. I'll try to do an extra long list next time. I'll be in Disneyland, so that shouldn't be too hard :)