Walk with me

Lately Jonas loves for you to hold his hands and walk him around the house. He can go at it for quite a while. And he really shows you where he wants to go. Today, he walked me into the bathroom and just stood by the bath tub, so I ran some water and let him take a bath!

and some crawling:

Often, Sydney will want a blanket tied at her neck and she will become... SUPER SYDNEY!!!! Dad decided tonight, it was time for a side-kick, SUPER JONAS!!!! Here are our little super heroes:

I told Brian that has got to be the best smile Sydney has ever given for a photo. I love it!

Ride-a-long

This was the first time I put Jonas on a ride-along. I was really shocked at how stable he was on it and how much he loved it!

And my scrapbook page of it.

(Credits: Kit: Dream Big Designs:Bikes and Trikes)

You so funny!

Brian and I often talk in funny accents and this is one of Brian's favorite things to say with a Chinese accent.

Brian finds it strange how worked up I get about coupons sometime and this last week I told him, "when a coupon dies (i.e. expires), it hurts!" I'm not an extreme couponer by any means (have you seen that show?!!) but when I find a good deal, I try to take advantage of it.

Oh, (by the way, this is my random post) Sydney is such a Daddy's girl! Sometimes it has to be Dad that does it, Mommy can't do it. I have Dad to thank for Sydney always wanting to play monsters. "Hide!" she'll say with her big eyes and shocked face! "Monsters!" She'll also look out the window and say, "The sun is going down". Apparently, Dad would tell her that to let her know it was bed time while I was gone. (Which by the way, she is getting into an amazing going to bed routine. I'm astounded!). I just tell Brian all the time that she's his little clone!

Don't think me a bad parent but I already have her addicted to an anime. Which one? Inu Yasha? But hey, before you get upset, I have NO idea why she wants to watch it with me. It's in Japanese. I watch it with subtitles. but she still watches it with me. And requests it. must be the monsters. thank you dad.

The other day, I had a water bottle at the table and I left for a minute and came back to find a puddle on the table with Sydney right there. I knew she had done it. She LOVES dumping out water and playing with it. Not my favorite habit of hers. So, I send her to time out. I come to check on her and without me saying anything she says, "Mommy, I'm sorry I spilled your water." Ticket for getting out of time-out granted! I was so touched! How cute!!

All in all, life is going well with these two kiddos. Every day is fun and a new adventure.

Jonas 7 months

Wow! Jonas is 7 months!

Stats:
Weight: 20.5-21 lbs
Length: 26.5"
Eats: pears, peaches, apples, bananas, green beans, peas, beef, sweet potatoes, carrots and rice cereal.
Abilities: rocks on hands and knees and sometimes makes crawling motions. Sits up very well and independently. likes for you to hold his hands and walk him around. Makes "ooo", "ha" and "ga" sounds. Ticklish under the chin.

I think the days of holding the number are gone and it will have to be in the background from now on.

Traveling with Jonas went really well. He slept on half the flights because at the beginning of almost every flight I nursed him. On the plane. Between 2 people. Fun! Jonas was a big flirt. He would lock eyes with a passenger behind us through the cracks in the seat and start smiling and laughing. When he wasn't asleep he was in constant motion, wanting to stand in my lap and turn around constantly. That was a little exhausting. I'm just thankful my grandma was able to watch Sydney for me while I was in California because traveling with 2 would have been boot camp. Real tough.

Jonas vs. Thor

I'm betting on the giant baby.

Monkey see, Monkey do

Sydney is a big time copy cat (like every child, I know!) so it was no shock that someday she would ask to feed Jonas:

The chocolate fiend:

Swim Time!

In case you did not know my grandparents' house has an indoor pool. Yeah.

Both of our kids have become big time water babies! I love how Jonas loves the water and loves splashing it! While in California, I found these floaties for a good price so I got a penguin and tiger. Sydney decided the penguin is hers and the tiger is Jonas'. She LOVES the floatie and I'm so glad!

San Francisco

2 days after Easter I found out my sister Nicole (my 2nd oldest sister, who's 4 years older than me) was in the hospital with liver failure and things did not look good. I found out late Tuesday night and by Wednesday morning decided I had to go see her. So I bought a plane ticket for the next day and took Jonas with me. My family was not sure she would survive. I have to admit I don't think the reality of how serious her condition was really fazed me. It was impossible to think of my sister not being here.


When I first visited her, she was very lethargic and out of it. It was hard to see her that way but I was glad that I had come to see her.

I stayed in San Francisco for about 1 week and stayed with my parents and Nicole's two sons while there. Nicole is doing a lot better now but the liver failure caused her kidneys to fail as well so she is on dialysis and has that procedure done 3x a week. My family is still praying for her and hoping for the best.

This trip marked the first time my parents had met Jonas so that was something to be happy about. I haven't seen my parents since last July either so it was nice to spend some time with them, even with the fears and anxiety over Nicole hanging over our heads. I'm just glad it was not the last time I will see her.

Jonas with Aunt Tessa

Jonas with Gma!

Family Photo! (You have got to love Ross' curly hair!)

And here is a picture of my sister. You can see how sick she is. That's the Bilirubin making her appear so yellow.

Love you Nicole and pray for your recovery!

Easter 2011

WAY belated I know but life has been a bit crazy these last few weeks as you will find out from my posts.

Brian and I were super happy to have his parents here for Easter weekend!

• We went to the Sci-Port and got this awesome photo with the galaxy. It reminds me that families are forever.

• Sydney got this gorgeous Easter dress courtesy of Gma Tuck. LOVE this dress!

• And here is a big family photo shoot on Easter Sunday!

Jonas' First and LOTS of pictures

Wow! I know it's been a month since I posted! Sorry! I have been having a lot of sick kids around here lately! Poor Jonas and Sydney got a nasty cold and were coughing a lot which meant not very good nights of rest for us all and then Jonas developed bronchitis (again) and so we had to start him on breathing treatments again. He's feeling a lot better now but Sydney's cough has returned.

Even with being sick, I decided it was time this kid started solids! He's been driving me crazy with the still constant feeding every 2-3 hours! So, here is trying out the rice cereal. It was a big hit!

He also loved the applesauce and sweet potatoes we have given him.

Also this past month, we took Jonas for his first swim. He loved it! We just put him in the floatie and he was content!

Here are his 6-month shots.
Stats:
Length: 25.5-25.75 inches
Weight: 19.2 lbs
Milestones: He rakes in toys, brings everything to his month, can change toys from one hand to the other, can push himself up on his hands and knees and I think pull himself a little? He can also sit-up for a while on his own so this is the last set of month-old shots with the bumbo!

Anytime I take photos of Jonas, Sydney wants to jump in which is fine because I get these cute sibling shots:

Now for some Sydney madness. She cracks me up. Every day! Brian and I often debate who she gets her wackiness from. Sometimes, it just from trying to be like me:

Those are my boots. (Any PowerPuff Girl watchers? Him? Anyone?)

And then, she is "feeding" her baby. That's my nursing cover.

And Brian thought this little girl hiding out was cute.

We have bought some shirts for Jonas for the future, like 18-24 months size clothes and Sydney has to try them on. She has been wearing his future shirts and even a football sleeper. That's our tom girl.

As for Brian and me, Brian is enjoying his 4th week on the job at Schlumberger (prounounced schlum-ber-jay). He gets taken out to lunch about 1-2 times each week so lucky him! We're hoping that in 5 months he can get hired on permanently and get a pay raise.

For me, I took some of our tax refund and bought an independent course, Ordinary Differential Equations. It's one of the undergraduate math courses I didn't take as a Math Ed major but have decided I want to get a Master's in Applied Math and so I need it. I was hoping to get it done by September so it would count as credits I needed to get re-certified as a teacher but it's just not happening and I don't know when I will teach next. I'm hoping to have my master's before I have to go back to work and so I can teach at a college. But either way, since I'm no longer in Idaho, I will have a list of things to do to be certified in a different state so whatever! But I do want to aim to get my Master's by the time I am 30 or at least be close to finishing it!

I know I should probably focus on my kids and then my class but I also got happy news with my digital scrapbooking designing. I sell at two online stores and for one of them, I made the most sales in the first quarter! That was pretty cool. I had no idea where I was with my business and that gave me some hope. I'm hanging around a 28% profit margin now (which Brian tells me is good- my business adviser) so I'm trying to stick with it and see where it goes.

Good luck to everyone and Happy Easter!