Euhus Family

David is crawling!

2011-11-04T20:14:00.000-07:00

Joya is doing an awesome job at reading. She can sound out simple words and can write out words by sounding them out. It is amazing how messed up the english language is and I never realized it until I have to teach Joya aobut different sounds each letter has, there there are silent letters but only in certain words and with certain order...it is confusing to her and a little unfair. So I have decided not to cover it all right now and I just let her mis-spell everything and praise her for sounding out the words with the letters she knows! She loves to do school with me, which is work on dry erase boards, workbooks, and on starfall.com.

Timmy is working on listening and following directions. He gets better and better at it each day! Today in gymnastics he did an exallent job of listening to his coach and following her directions. He laso is getting more daring and was able to do the high beam all by himself, and did stiff arms on the bar...its been hard for him to hold up his own weight!

6 months old and David is crawling! He also can roll all over, go from laying to sitting, and loves to be in the jonny jump up! He has started eating food and has eaten rice cereal, oatmeal, and sweet potatos. He babbles very loud to keep up with his siblings and their voice levels...the car is very fun these days!

David is 4 months

2011-09-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

David is 4 months old, and I took him in for his check up today and again the Dr. thought he was older than he is. He is a big boy and his stats back that up. he was 90% for height at 26.5 inches and 95% for weight at 17.1 lbs. His little head is at the 50% at 42cm. He is a big boy that is very advanced! He can sit up, roll all over and even scoot around the floor when I set him down! He loves to stand up and look around while in the exersaucer! Joya and Timmy are his biggest entertainment!

It's been a while!

2011-07-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a while since my last post, but life is busy! We are however starting to get into a good routine! David has started sleeping through the night; he sleeps from about 10:30ish to about 4ish and then goes right back to bed til 6ish. It is nice not nursing through the night! He naps at the same time as the other kids about 3 of the 7days a week. Those days that they all nap together are wonderful!!

David went for his 2 month check up about a month ago now, but at that visit he was 14lbs 10oz, 24inches long and was in the 90% for everything! He's a big boy! I compared his stats to the other two and they were all the same length, Joya was a pound lighter and Timmy was a pound heavier than David.

David is trying to roll over, he makes his body turn like a banana but doesn't have the strength to do it yet...yet, it won't be very long til it happens! He is sitting up on his own for a very short time! He is the happiest baby that I have ever had. He loves to smile, giggle, and is very very ticklish! He loves watching his two older siblings and all the entertainment that they provide and occasionally is the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time around them!

Timmy is awesome! He is loving, kind and super funny! He loves to tell his eye joke. It goes like this "I got something in my eye." You then say "what is it?" He says, "It's a eye ball!" We love for him to tell everyone, cause he is so cute and funny! He is just starting to test me and the boundaries that have been set for him. He has now experienced time out several times a day and an occasional spank. But all in all he is a wonderful little 2 year old!

Joya has finally adjusted to David being here and that she has to share Mom's attention! She loves having Timmy on the bottom bunk of her bed at night and loves to hold David. She is a awesome big sister to her brothers! She has a sweet heart and we are getting to see it more and more lately! The tantrums have slowed way down and so has the attitude, which has been really nice for me!

Tim has also finally adjusted to David being here! It has taken several conversations, some being intense fellowship and others quick words, but he finally gets it that I do need breaks and his schedule has to slow down for right now! I know he doesn't like it but he is making the adjustments to make me happy and to help out more!

As for me, I finally feel good! I have recently lost 10 lbs of the 25 left over David pregnancy pounds. And I finally feel like we are into a routine and able to conquer the day! I even went to the grocery store with all 3 kids by myself! I definitely feel better physically when David sleeps through the night and when I can get a nap in the day! I think my hardest adjustment is that I have to always maneuver 3 kids! I can't just go for a run, because I have only a double jogger! So either Christi has to go with me or Joya has to ride her bike. I can't go bike riding when I want to either. It is also frustrating that just to go for a walk I have to wear David and push a heavy double buggy! So part of Tim giving up his evening activities has given me time to workout or just have a breather without kids!

The last couple of weeks

2011-05-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Ok here is how it went down after David and I came home from the hospital:
Timmy had a hard time seeing me in the hospital and then going home with my parents, so he gave them a tough night his second night there. He gave us a tough time his first couple of days home with tantrums and yelling and screaming "NO" at us. He was adjusting to David by screaming at us and wanting to do everything himself! Joya was good during the time that Timmy was adjusting and then it was her turn after he was done. Joya's adjustment came int he form of being really mean with her words and screaming at me. All of her actions were directed toward me and she became very hurtful with her words. Tim and I decided to reward their good behavior with tickets that they then can trade in to get prizes from "Daddy's Store." Joya and I went shopping at Target and got a bunch of games that her and Timmy could play together or by themselves, we also got sugar free candy too. They are very excited to earn their tickets for making their bed, cleaning their rooms, putting their dishes in the sink, brushing their teeth, taking their baths, saying their prayers, and obeying Mom and Dad. We don't ever take tickets away but can remind them that they can earn a ticket by doing such and such. The last week has gone much better for both kids! Joya responds really well the the positive re-enforcement!
And David is doing good, he has started a nice routine of nursing every 3 hours during the day and has given me even more time at night! He has started NOT going poop during the night and so for the last 4 days he has blown it out and up the back and ruined several outfits now! He has also started staying awake for a couple hours at a time. He looks around and has even given us a couple of smiles.

Easter Sunday

2011-04-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

Welcome!!!

2011-04-22T17:39:00.001-07:00

Welcome David Dean Euhus!

Born April 18th at 1:28pm at 9lbs 8oz. 21.5 inches long

I had a scheduled c-section on the 18th at 1, but had a scare on Saturday with consistant contractions for 4 hours and then finally ending at 1:30 am. I then had contrations all day Sunday but nothing consistant! When I was monitored on Monday I had several contractions ont he machine and they told me it looked like I would have had the baby today one way or the other!

Timmy at 2 Years:

2011-03-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here are some of Timmy's likes and dislikes as of now at his 2 year birthday! Likes:

Shows: Chuggington, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Movies: Cars, Mr. Incredible, Johny Appleseed

Food: Mac and cheese, crackers, anything with carbs!

Toys: Train track and magnetic trains, lucky pup and snickerdoodles, cars, basketball, and golf

Books: Boys Bible, the Rescuers, the B Book, The Prayer Book

Songs: Jesus Loves Me, Wheels on the Bus

Misc: blankey, pubbies, washing hands, playing outside, his big boy bed!

Dislikes:

Food: green beans, any food mixed together!

Misc: Going in after playing outside, cleaning up, having Joya take anything out of his hands.

Timmy's 2nd Birthday

2011-03-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

We had a great 2nd Birthday for Timmy! We had the Grandma and Grandpa, Great Grammy, Uncle Dan and Auntie Kim and their boys, Tia, Auntie Heather and Vi, and our neighbor Mr. Art. We had a full house with lots of excitement! We decorated the house in a Mickey Mouse theme. :My sister drew some of Timmy's favorite characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and we decorated with balloons, another favorite of Timmy's!

I made this cake for Timmy, with help from Krista's decorating tips at HOME group!

We made a pinata, and didn't get too fancy with it. We weren't even sure that Timmy would get what to do, but he got right in there and did excellent. All the cousins got a turn to take a couple of whacks at the mickey pinata. Cousin Josh is the one who really did some damage and helped get the goodies out! I stuffed the pinata with extra stickers, army men, crayons, snakes, and old mickey mouse candy canes from Christmas. I was excited I didn't have to go buy more junk for the pinata! The most important is that the kids had a great time and everyone was safe! After Timmy's party on Thursday we left for the beach on Friday. We continued the party for Timmy and made a big deal of him being 2. We also were having our last get away as a family of 4, before we become 5! We have 3 weeks from today before baby comes! We found this fort on the beach and it was a great place to play out of the wind! Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grammy came with us. We all enjoyed the time on the beach when we could. Sometimes it was a quick dash to the beach in between rain storms! We had a great relaxing weekend! Loved it and love our family and kids!

A Little Photo Session

2011-03-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

Here is Joya with Tim's fake teeth in, she calls them the "gold toof."Here is Tim and Timmy, we decorated a little bit for Timmy's 2nd Birthday that will happen this Thursday! Timmy has his Mickey ears on, they are part of the decorations...it's Mickey Mouse themed.

Here is me and the kids; we are at 4 weeks until baby comes! I'm just starting to swell and be uncomfortable!

This is Joya and her money from her piggy bank. We took it in and she had 51 dollars!

Here is Timmy playing with Toby's chuck it! Just wanted to show how big he is getting!

Too Funny!

2011-03-16T09:15:00.001-07:00

Ok here are some funny things the kids have said lately:

Violet: "I got a new book at school today, it's about snakes, ssssssss"
Nana: " I can assure you Vi, that Nana won't be reading that book to you, Nana doesn't like snakes!"
Joya:" Well, I can assure you, I don't know how to read!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

At bed time we do a little devotional with the kids and then have them repeat the written prayer, Tim does one sentence at a time and here is what happened a few nights ago!

Tim: "Here is the prayer tonight; Dear Lord, forgive me..."
Joya" Dear Lord forgive me..."
Timmy" Dear Lord forgive me for liking peanut and butter and honey sandwiches!"

We laughed hard after that one!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

In Joya's Sunday School class they do one story for a month, so after the third week of the same story this is what we here in the car:

Michelle: " Joya what did you learn about in Sunday School?"
Joya: " We learned about Jesus...again...it's so annoying!"
Timmy: "sing Jesus loves me!"

Timmy chimes in whenever he feels the need to!

Anyway they have given us some good old belly laughs in the last couple of weeks! I wanted to write them down so I wouldn't forget!

Too cute!

2011-02-23T08:07:00.000-08:00

Here is Timmy singing Jesus loves me:

A Few Fun Pictures of the Kids

2011-02-19T20:43:00.000-08:00

The kids wanted to be bundled up today while they watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Chuggington...they're favorite shows!

Tim did Sack of Potatoes with both kids in one blanket and here is the result..all laughs!

We let Joya practice finding and typing letters on our old computer, she loves it and it keeps her busy for a good while!

Timmy wearing Joya's tap shoes while watching Joya's Ballet/Tap class.

I came home one night and found Tim and Joya on the couch, he said Joya climbed up in his lap and literally fell asleep within a minute of cuddling. He was enjoying the cuddle time so he hadn't taken her back up to her bed yet.

Timmy fell asleep with his sunglasses on at nap time today. I thought it was really cute, since he was obsessed with the glasses and wearing his flip flops all day!

Here is the baby moving from my perspective! Wait a few seconds and just watch the top of my belly. Tim and I both agree that this baby moves a whole lot more than the other two did! Our big athlete!

Its about Time:

2011-02-19T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well it has officially been over a year since we moved into this house and I finally just finished Timmy's room. I painted the football field stripes on his green wall. It has been calling my name for some time and today I went for it. I did it all free hand and it went really pretty fast. The challenge was keeping the kids away from the wet paint and off the bed that I was sitting on. Joya would have loved to help me, but I told her that today it was just a mommy project!! She understood but checked in on me several times to make sure I didn't change my mind and need her help. We also finally put up our wedding quilt in the guest bedroom. Again for a year the quilt hanger has been by the guest bed and today was the day to finish some long needed work! Tim also mowed the lawn for the first time ever! It looks so nice! I don't have pictures of the lawn, but I will post them soon!

Also a fun unexpected trip we took was last Friday. We went with Tim to Florence. He had to pick up some equipment and the whole time at the hospital was literally 20 minutes, just enough time for the kids and I to find the bathroom and for all of us to go (or be changed) and then find Tim. We got back int he car and headed north to Haceta Head Lighthouse. We ate lunch in the car facing the ocean and then hiked up to the lighthouse. We had a great time until the way back down to the car, Joya just lost it. We got to the car and she was crying hysterically, I felt her head and she was burning up! I gave her some Tylenol and she seemed to be doing a lot better! So we decided to go to the last Varsity basketball game, we got to watch the warm ups when Joya started throwing up! We then headed home and put the kids to bed. Joya and Timmy slept all night! She has acted better today and has eaten fine, but still ran a low grade fever at times today. Hopefully she feels even better tomorrow with no fever!!

Sick at Home and Now One on Board!!

2011-01-28T10:38:00.000-08:00

The kids have been sick with low grade fevers all week. Timmy had diarrhea at the beginning of the week and has been over it since Tues. Joya has had a nasty cough since last Friday. She isn't running a fever today but is still whinny, so were still at home! I had to take Timmy into the Dr. this morning because last night he struggled to breathe while laying down and since it's Friday I just took him in. The Dr. gave him some more decadron, just like a month ago when he had croup and couldn't breathe then either! So Joya missed her ballet lesson, Timmy missed one swim lesson and went to the other one. Him and Tim have fun with that, it's a special time with just the two of them, and Timmy needs the practice. He has lost all confidence in the pool from this summer, and won't even put his face in the water anymore, or jump off the edge into the pool. But him and Tim are working on it and it is a fun time for just the two of them. Timmy always says "Daddy Timmy smim lessons?"

On another note, last night Joya asked Jesus into her heart! The subject was brought up as fast as it was dropped, but we're counting it and will help her develop a relationship from here. So last night we were reading her Princess Bible and she said "Dad everyone has God in their hearts." Tim said no that's not true, you have to ask Jesus into your heart to have him there. Then Tim helped her pray to ask Jesus into her heart. She was excited and then ran off. That was the end of that! It made me tear up last night, I am not sure what her motivation was, but we'll take it! It also made me tear up because just a few weeks ago she was being disrespectful during prayer, we had to work with her on that, and what it meant to be respectful! We determined she was just board during our prayer, and had her start saying her own prayer and she is good now!

The New Baby and Christmas

2011-01-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures from my ultrasound that all the kids came to with us, including cousin Vi. They were interested for all of 10 seconds and then wanted a snack! Joya was very concerned with the goo they put on my stomach, after she felt it she was done with the whole thing and could have left right then and there!

Also some pictures of Christmas, Timmy was extremely sick with croup and Joya was hilarious to watch open her gifts! She would open something and then scream, "that's what I always wanted," or "I knew it, I knew I would get this." She was so funny!

We did Christmas Eve with the Euhus side and Christmas Day with my family, except we did stockings at home!

We also got to meet Uncle Jeff's Girlfriend Miss Mollie or as Timmy said "Mitt Mollie."

After Christmas there has been a lot of playing with Mickey and Minnie, and Daddy does a great Mickey Mouse voice that Joya loves!

Also after Christmas when Timmy was feeling better, he decided he wanted to poopoo int he potty! That was exciting but he has no feeling of pee, so we are half doing potty training, and more because I don't want to sit of the floor all day and wash peepeed underpants! Maybe we will hit it hard later when I feel more up to it...it would be nice to only have one in diapers at a time, but at the same time I don't want to do more laundry than I have to just because he wants to copy mommy and big sister sit on the potty for their business!

Here is a video of Timmy talking to the baby. Both him and Joya like to push on my belly and talk to the baby and then wait to see if it responds with some movement, it usually does which is fun for them!

Cousins!

2010-12-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

We are so lucky!! Dan and Kim and their boys moved here about a month ago. The twins are 6 months older than Timmy and Josh is 6 and in the first grade. We also are lucky to have Heather and Vi in the neighborhood. It makes playing with cousins very easy and very nice for our kids!!

Timmy is getting more used to playing with boys in stead of always having to tag along with Joya and Vi. As a result he is being a little more physical, but I am pretty sure that was going to happen regardless! Timmy and Andrew love playing trains together and Evan and Timmy like to play basketball together. I just love that my kids get this opportunity to have time with their cousins on a regular basis!!

Joya and Vi have always played great together, they are each others best friends! Joya also likes and almost idolizes her cousin Josh. They have always played well together even with their age, gender, and interests being different! It was always fun when cousin Josh would visit, but now we get to see him more regularly! Because of Josh's interest Joya had now started playing Wii sports games, eventually she'll be up to par with her cousin!

I'll get more pictures of the cousins all together!

Disney and the Millers

2010-11-30T05:41:00.000-08:00

We have had a fantastic 10 days! We left our house Sunday morning on the 21st, got on a plane at Portland Airport and headed across the country to Florida. We landed in Orlando at 11:30 local time and got into our hotel room 12:30ish. The kids were so excited because we stayed at the All Stars Disney Hotel and we got to be in the 101 Dalmatians buildings! Our room had a Dalmatians border and comforters on the beds. We pushed the beds together and had a huge family bed that we all slept in!

On Monday we woke up, got a Disney breakfast and headed to the Magic Kingdom! We got into the park about 11:30ish and stayed until after midnight! We did all of fantisy land and toon town and some of tomorrow land. But it was an extremely busy day and all of our lines were long. The important people we met were Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, Mickey, Miney, and Goofy. Joya and Tim did Splash Mountain while Timmy and I did Pirates of the Caribbean. We all had a fantastic day!

Tuesday we all slept in, then had another Disney breakfast, then discovered all our hotel had to offer. We played at the pool, saw the mighty ducks buildings, fantasia buildings, and of course the Herby the love bug buildings. We also spent a lot of time with Lucky Pup from the Dalmatians. Timmy just loved lucky pup!! At about 1ish David and little David came to our hotel and picked us up to take us to their house in Eustis, FL. That evening we hit the Barrel for dinner and then were so tired we all slept really well!

Wednesday early morning Tim, David and Little David went deep sea fishing in the gulf with Davids friend Butch. Butch has his own boat and everyone caught a couple of fish! Tim caught a 20lb. red grouper. The kids and I stayed home with Daila, Danielle, and Darlene. We hung out at home, did a little shopping, and went to the park. We had a nice and relaxing day and Timmy got a good nap which was very important for the sanity of everyone!

Thursday was thanksgiving, the Millers had a couple of families over including kids our kids ages! All of the little girls had a great time together! After eating we went to the park and the adults played kanjam and the kids played on the play structures! We were there until 5ish and came home to have a calm evening at home with some wii. All of the little girls played wii together, which was comical because they had to learn how to even do the remote.

Friday morning Tim and David did a little shopping and then we all got in the car and left for St. Petersburg Beach! We stayed one night but had a fantastic time on the beach, in the pool and of course playing more kanjam! I forgot the camera so I will post pictures when we download the recorder and Tim's phone camera!

Saturday we played all day at the beach, Joya and Tim went down this huge blow up slide that was at our hotel. Tim, David, little David, and Danielle went Jet Skiing and had a blast until Tim and little David wrecked! They both are still pretty soar! We stayed all day and headed home around 5ish and stopped for dinner at the Waffle House. I only mention these places we ate because they are favorites of ours while we are in the south!

Sunday we got up and went to church with the Millers. It was a very nice facility and very friendly welcoming. The kids did great in their childcare and we listened to Pastor Ron preach. David will start preaching at the first of the year. He has some great plans for the church!

Monday we got up early and headed back to Disney! We had a fantastic time. There was a third of the people there than the previous Monday, which made waiting in line a whole lot better and just moving around a whole lot easier! We walked in and met Pluto, Pinocchio, Daisey Duck, Ariel, Jasmine and Aladdin. We did all of Adventure land, Frontier land, and Tomorrow land. The highlights were the mines on Tom Sawyers Island, Jungle Cruise, Swiss Family Tree house, and the Tiki Room. Because there were not a lot of people there we hit the stuff from last Monday that was our favorites! Tim also got to go on Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain! Joya loved the Goofy;s Wild Ride! Timmy loved the Carousel and cried when we took him off the horse! Maybe he will be a rancher like Tim's family! Last Monday during the fireworks show Joya made a wish to be a real princess, Tim cuddled her and told her she was a princess to him. Then we went again on Monday and we were standing in line to try and pull the sward from the stone. While waiting in line Tim told Joya that this was her chance to be a real princess. When it was her turn she got up there and pulled with all her might, and the sword started coming out! We had no clue that it moved, we later learned that 1 in 1,000 pulls the sword moves and it just happened for Joya. So now she is princess Joya! She even mentioned it this morning, that she is a real princess now! It was a great ending to an awesome vacation! We stopped at the shops on the way out and left the park at 8:30ish. Both kids fell asleep on the way home, so when we got home we had time to chat with Darlene, Danielle and Daila. We were all so tired that everything was funny, especially Danielle saying she would take her shirt off for 10 dollars!haha

Today is Tuesday and we head home this afternoon! We had a fantastic vacation!! Just two flights home, hopefully the kids will do just as well on the way home as they did on the way here!

Banana Bread

2010-10-20T21:48:00.000-07:00

Here are the girls cooking banana bread with Nana, so cute!

A Busy Few Weeks

2010-10-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday we, I mean myself, Joya, TJ, mom, dad, Heather, and Violet, headed down to California to visit Grandma and Grandpa NeeNee. They live in Redding CA, my dad, the kids and I traveled together in dads truck while pulling the 5th wheel. We made it in 6 hours and only stopped twice. The kids did wonderful on the way down! We stayed down there until Sunday. We had a great time, Grandma took the kids to an awesome park called Kids Kingdom, the next day we toured Simpson University. There are a lot of new buildings since Heather graduated from there! We mainly hung around the house to have some good quality time with Grandpa! He is pretty thin and his energy is limited, but he was in great spirits. Timmy just loved him and went right to him! The kids got to hear some of his Stinky the Bear stories and GG (great Grandma) did her story apron with the girls. We took the kids bikes since GG and Great Grandpa NeeNee have an awesome backyard with a paved path all the way around their house. They also had a trampoline, which was a big hit with the kids.

Then we came home and went to the Pumpkin Patch with HOME group. HOME stand for Helping Our Moms Excel. Its like MOPs and we love it. So we picked out pumpkins, had fresh donuts and apple cider and then went and played in a hay maze and hay pyramid

Today I finally finished Joya's Halloween costume. Timmy is wearing the Elmo one I made a couple of years ago for Joya and Joya is Cinderella!

Some Milestones!

2010-09-28T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Joya at her ballet class. She is so cute and I will post so video when I take some, but its hard because I have to entertain Timmy during Joya's class. For now enjoy Joya's ballet costumes and her poses!

Here is the family at the first home beaver game, it was during Timmy's nap time so he fell asleep for a while but enjoyed himself yelling "OOOO" with a random "dutchdown". Joya loved it too, we taught her the OSU chant and anytime it happed during the game she joined in but was always a letter or two behind the rest of the crowd. It was very cute!

And here is Timmy doing all of his animal noises! Just for your enjoyment!

2010-09-02T18:52:00.001-07:00

Timmy had tubes put into his ears yesterday. He did fantastic until he came out of anesthesia. He screamed and flailed for a half an hour. The doctor said he would be cranky...I do not call that cranky, I call it mad! Here are some pictures of him before the surgery while we were waiting there and a video of him after the procedure. He was so cute in his little yellow scrubs!

Timmy also got his first hair cut this last week. Our neighbor across the street used to do hair and offered to help me with the kids, but she ended up just doing Timmy...he was a moving target that would have been hard to learn on!

Here is the before picture, he did very well about sitting there and playing with his toys while Mrs. Jenn cut his hair.

This is a picture of me, today on my birthday! I have had the worst day! I started getting sick last night, but couldn't tell if it was from the baby or the flu...it was the flu! I had extremely bad stomach cramps, I actually at one point thought I was loosing the baby, but I called my sister and she has the same flu a few days before, she said she had the same thing! I vomited anytime my zofran ran out and everything came out the back end too. The bad part is because I am pregnant that I have low blood pressure and I just kept fainting! I would have bad stomach cramps and double over in pain and then try to get up and then would faint! Ohh how I love the first trimester in pregnancy!!

Pregnant with Baby #3

2010-08-28T08:27:00.000-07:00

Well we were really surprised a week ago Sunday when I started getting sick. I couldn't stand the smell in my parents house and everyone else said they didn't smell anything. I walked down to my sister's house because there was a Philippine meeting in progress and I was planning on going with her to teach VBS there. They handed me my plane ticket and I put my two sense in and then headed back to mom and dads house. I walked in and couldn't stand the smell again, so I hung out in their backyard with the kids. I remembered feeling the same way when I was pregnant with Timmy. I had been feeling nauseous all day but attested it to the coffee I had earlier that day. When we finally got home that evening I decided to take a pregnancy test. It was as clear as day a positive sign! I cried a little and smiled a little. This changes my plans for this year, especially going to the Philippines. I also had plans to sub a little more this year and we have a trip planned to Orland in November. That trip is still on but my other trip is not happening and I haven't decided about subbing yet. I need to get through the sickness first! I have some meds that help me not throw up but the nausea is still there in waves. I am extremely tired and am napping everyday while the kids nap and rest. Joya comes and wakes me up when her noise maker goes off and by then it had been an hour and a half!
Needless to say we are excited that the Lord blessed us with another baby, it was really nice not having to decided when to try for baby #3! We were a little shocked because I was on birth control! We also are really excited that we are still on Tim's NFL insurance! That is a huge blessing!!
Baby is due April 24th, Easter Sunday, but will most likely be born the week before because my doctor told me she doesn't operate on Sundays! When baby comes, Timmy will have just turned 2 and Joya will be a couple months shy of her 4th birthday.

Swimming

2010-08-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

Joya has been taking Swimming lessons from our babysitter who also teaches at Osborne Aquatic Center. I hired her on the side to come to our pool and teach Joya while Timmy is napping in the afternoon. Yesterday Zoey had to come in the evening so we got to watch and Joya was swimming! She can hold her breath and swim underwater the width of the pool. She puts her arms in front like she is diving in and just kicks! She is doing great and Zoey is a great teacher, she is going to start working with Timmy for just a few minutes after Joya's lessons! This is the first day of swim lessons with Zoey.

Timmy is trying to repeat and talk more and more. He has a few words that he says ALL the time. Doggie, Ball, Dada and Mama are his constants, but now he tries to say football, which sounds like "BotBall". He is also repeating animals like kitty, pig, and bear. He is teething really bad right now to where his mouth is bleeding. His molars are coming through...three of them at the same time. He hasn't slept through the night for the last 5 nights in a row. I don;t think he will sleep through the night again until his teeth stop hurting!! Poor guy!

We're Sick Again!

2010-07-05T22:59:00.000-07:00

This is the kids and I making cookies for the new neighbors...and for ourselves!! We made monster cookies and the kids licked the beaters. Timmy is old enough to join in now, and he fights for his turn to pour in the ingredients and of course getting the rewards of helping!

We almost went a month without being sick...but not quite! We have been sick since October. The kids had hand, foot, and mouth in Oct. Then in November we all got the swine flu, in December the kids got croup. January we moved into the house and Joya and I got the flu. February, I can't remember what we had but in March we all got sick with a horrible virus that lasted a month! April we were still sick and I got a virus in my eyes and have not been able to wear my contacts since then. We have had colds since on and off since April including a cough that has lasted for awhile! Joya and Timmy are sick again, but I think that has to do with staying up late and playing hard this last weekend!

On Saturday we went and hung out with my cousin and his family, they were camping with their Church outside of Sweet Home. We floated down the river, had dinner, and then church with them. We hung around to roast marshmallows and then left when it was getting dark. It was about 9:45...the latest the kids have ever stayed up! Sunday I went to church and Tim and the kids stayed home, Joya and Timmy already had nasty green goop coming out from their noses by then! We just hung around the house for the day. After nap time I took the kids swimming and Tim worked hard at finishing the shed, he finally finished today. Anyway then we walked over to the neighbors house to grill with them and a bunch of friends! We walked back to our house where we lit fireworks, starting at 8 and finally ended at 11. I put Timmy to bed at 9:45 and he never woke up! He was out. He even took a 3 and a half hour nap today because he was so tired from last night! Joya was able to make it until the end. We all slept in until 8:30, i think that is the latest the kids have ever slept in and I think today was the first day in 3 years that I woke up on my own instead of one of the kids waking me up!
We had a great weekend and loved having Daddy home today!

Joya is 3!

2010-06-14T21:48:00.001-07:00

Wow I can't believe our first born is 3! She had a fantastic day on her actual birthday starting with breakfast in bed..she thought it was awesome! She also got a smoothie from dutch brothers, a small party after dinner with my family, and of course cupcakes!

We also celebrated her birthday yesterday on Sunday with her friends. We had a little pool party, then walked across the street to our house for pin the crown on the princess, neckless and bracelet making with fruit loops, and of course cupcakes! She has had a fantastic week and a fun birthday!

I had to add these pictures of little man, the first is of him sleeping with his new found love, snickers the dog. The second picture is of Timmy and the first time I made lasagna...he really liked it, so he put it all over his face!

2010-06-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

So I haven't written in a long time!! We have been very busy...having fun! I thought I would re-cap our last month with pictures!

Here is TJ riding a cart that Daddy is pulling around, just having fun at home with Dada!

Last weekend we went to Sunriver for Memorial Day Weekend. In the middle of the Village Mall they had a Children's day. Here is TJ playing in the bubbles, another kid gooed him with a bubble wand. he didn't seem to care, he was having fun.

While we were there Tim, Joya and I floated down the Deshutes River in a Canoe. We had a blast while going down, then we got off the river and didn't have a plan on how to get the canoe back to the house. So we called my mom to bring our Tahoe so we could put it on the top of the car. She brought the truck and the canoe didn't fit in the bed of the truck. So Tim held the canoe on his lap in the bed of the truck while we drove home...good thing it was only 5 miles home!

This is a picture of Joya just being released from the stairs. She thought it was a good idea to put her head through the banister...she quickly learned it was not a good idea!

Up until last week we had nice weather, so here is the kids enjoying a Popsicle outside on their little play structure. It's on the concrete slab because we are working on the back yard!

Here is Timmy making piggy faces on the sliding door...He cracks me up!

Here are the kids pretending to be dogs in a large dog kennel. This is what we do when the weather was nice and now we have to play inside!

Some machinery we rented to start on the back yard. We hulled 6 yards of rock with the little bobcat, and whacked it down to make more room for our picnic table, grill, and eventually the shed will be down the side of the house on the rock!

More before pictures.

We had to lay plastic down first before putting the rock down...here is Tim working hard on that!

1st of Many

2010-04-17T09:39:00.000-07:00

The dreaded stairs that we have all fallen down now! Timmy fell down the stairs last Sunday. We knew something was wrong when he screamed for 45minutes and then wouldn't walk on his leg. There was no swelling immediately and he never had any discoloration. WE took him in for x-rays on Sunday right away and I called our on call doctor, which was not our doctor, but a partner in the same building. I called him and asked if he would meet us in the ER so that a pediatrician would see Timmy. So they took x-rays of his hip and upper leg. The x-rays came back completely clear and they told us it was probably muscular or ligature damage. They also said if he doesn't walk in a couple of days he needs to be seen again.
A couple of days later he started crawling, but not walking. So we knew then it wasn't his hip or knee. We started feeling his leg to see if anything hurt and we pin pointed the area about an inch above his ankle. We made an appointment with a pediatric orthopedist. We met with him yesterday and he took x-rays of the tibia and yep, its broken! It is called a spiral fracture, which is common in toddlers. The doctor said that they see this injury when a child is riding down a slide on mom or dads lap. The child gets their foot stuck in the slide and it twists the leg and spiral fractures down the tibia. The x-rays showed a crack diagonally down Timmy's tibia.
We got the cast on yesterday and had it set in beaver colors. Timmy missed his afternoon nap to have the cast put on, he surprisingly just sat there for the tech to put it on. It was awesome. The only time he put up a fight was when we had to hold him down for the x-ray. He was a champ and got a cookie when it was all over.

Today Timmy is a happy baby again! He is giggling and walking all over. He ate a good breakfast, which he hasn't eaten good since it happened! I am assuming it feels a whole lot better now that it is stabilized! It's the smallest cast I have ever seen, we might have to keep it for his baby book!

Psoriasis

2010-04-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

I have psoriasis, it is an auto-immune disease, which means that when I am tired and stressed out, my psoriasis flares up. I have it all over my scalp, chest, back, arms, and legs. It burns and itches really bad when I am flared up. Right now I am flared up because I am sick, but I took these pictures a while ago when I wasn't so bad! When I am flared up I have huge red spots, that flake and itch and burn. I don't know why I am blogging about this, but someday it will be gone and I probably won't remember what it felt like or looked like, so I am publishing it for the record!

I found out that I had psoriasis almost 3 years ago. When I got pregnant with Joya I got really bad dandruff...or I thought it was dandruff, it really was psoriasis. Anyway after I had Joya it got really bad, when I wasn't sleeping when she was a new born. Anyway I went to a dermatologist in Arizona, found out what I had and that there is nothing I can do for it until I am done having babies. All of the medications that would help the psoriasis go away cause birth defects. So for now I have steroid creams that help with the itching!! And that's all I can do!

HOME and the Fam.

2010-04-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday a few other ladies and myself launched a new ministry at NW Hills in Corvallis. It's called HOME, Helping Our Mom's Excel. It is based on the MOPs groups that I have been a part of, but we didn't pay the dues and wanted freedom to have our own curriculum. The ladies and I started meeting about 9months ago, and Tuesday was our first meeting for all Mom's with kids at home who are 5 and younger. We have a specific crowd, with a specific purpose! We had 14 moms at our meeting, most of them being on the HOME team or a table group leader and then several moms from around town! We were very excited to see new faces and ones we already new from NWHills! All our moms that pre-signed up didn't come and the moms that did come had not pre-signed up. So we could potentially double our numbers next week if the mom's that pre-signed up come! Anyway we had a great guest speaker who came and talked about worry and contentment and the book Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. We played a little get to know you game at the beginning and then had snack and then the guest speaker. We were then supposed to have discussion time, but we ran out of time! I think it went well and I am looking forward to next Tuesday!

Our family has been extremely sick since last Thursday, so for a week now. Joya and I got sick with a fever on Thursday and Friday, Timmy got his fever Friday and Saturday and then our fever subsided for a few days. On Monday Joya and I got our fevers back and by then Tim was sick with it. I took Joya and I in, she was all viral and I have a sinus infection, so she got nothing and I got antibiotics. I hate the words ALL VIRAL when we are all sooo sick. Joya has had a low grade fever since Monday and Timmy dropped his fever on Saturday and then woke up from his nap today with 101.5. So we went back in and he has ear infections! Joya was checked out but is still ALL VIRAL!! Poor Timmy was so tired tonight, we started bath time early because we knew he was tired, but he got in the shower with me and fell asleep on my shoulder!! That's a first! Tim is already feeling better, so I am hoping that we are soon behind him!

Timmy is One!

2010-03-24T21:34:00.001-07:00

This picture was taken last night, Timmy's last night to be only months old, because now his is 1!

Timmy had his first Birthday today! We celebrating by picking Daddy up in Salem, after a morning surgery, and headed up to the Oregon Zoo. We had a great time, with gorgeous weather. It actually got up to 71 today! There is a new exhibit with Lions, Cheetahs, and Wild Dogs that look like Hyenas. Timmy loved watching the turtles in the Amazon exhibit. He just started at them swimming back and forth and then would giggle if they swam right in front of him.

We packed a lunch and ate there next to the Elephants, which next time we won't do! We kept getting nice whiffs that made our lunch taste not so nice for a few moments! Joya walked the whole zoo and both kids were asleep before we left the parking lot!

We then ran to Nike employee store and got Timmy his birthday present. The big guy came home with 8 new pairs of shoes ranging from size 4 to 12. When we got home we quickly made dinner for Uncle Eli, Auntie Kalen, Auntie Heather, Tia, Grandpa, Cousin Vi, and our family. WE ate dinner, then Timmy opened his gifts from everyone and then we let him have his first cake!

Here are some pictures of the zoo, Timmy's dinner and cupcake, and his new shoes!

Timmy Playing Ball

2010-03-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

"All Done"

2010-03-14T21:41:00.000-07:00

"All Done," is what Timmy says when he is all done with his food or milk, or anything else. But Friday it was Joya's turn to say it. She is officially all done potty training! For the last week she has been earning 50 stickers on a chart for every time she used the potty. She reached that goal and as a reward we took her to the bounce house. It was just her, Tim and myself. It was a special date with her and now she does not get anymore rewards for going to the bathroom!She is a big girl!! Here are a couple of pictures of that fun event!

Last weekend Tim and I left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa and we went up to the hills. I went skiing which I have not done since I have had the kids. Needless to say my body was completely different not to mention my balance! I even had to borrow boots from my friend because my boots didn't fit anymore since my feet grew in pregnancy. Anyway here is a video of Tim snowboarding. He had never been before, so we both took a lesson, his a beginner lesson and mine was a refresher lesson. This video is after his lesson before we started skiing and boarding the bunny hill together. He went down the bunny hill twice without falling which in his mind qualified him to go half way up the hill. It was a rough time down and maybe a big mistake but he met some other people who gave him pointers and by the end of the day we both felt good about our last run. We came home to find the kids playing air hockey with Grandma and Grandpa...it looks like they had a great day too!

Here is Timmy playing air hockey with Grandma and Tim after a day of falling and a little snowboarding at the end! Exhausted!!!

Baby Horse and Baby Lambs

2010-03-04T14:37:00.000-08:00

We have some friends that live out in Philomath( The Gradins), they breed Arabian horses and a few lambs a year. We go out to their house a few times a year for Joya to know about large animals, farm living and to get some nice country air!!

We went to the Gradin's on Monday with our friends, the Winders. We had a great time, they had a colt the week before, they also had twin girl lambs the week before. So Mrs. Nancy showed us all the babies. We had a great time. Here is the gang watching the colt and mare running around in the stable.

Here is Mrs. Nancy showing Trevor and Joya one of the little girl lambs, and Timmy watching the colt. He loves watching and petting horses!! Our little cowboy!

Weekend at the Beach

2010-03-04T14:29:00.001-08:00

Last weekend Tim took his first day off in 10months and we went to the beach for a fun get away with the kids. Here is Timmy and I making funny noises. We didn't bring a stroller but brought the backpack so this is how Timmy got around for the weekend!

We flew a kite a couple of times, but mainly just played in the sand on the beach. We were outside as much as possible when it wasn't raining!

Here is Timmy playing in the sand and below is Joya. She found a fort and liked playing in it...too small for us to go in!

We all had a great time at the beach! I say Tim should take more time off!!

BOOT CAMP!

2010-03-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

The last two days have been trying! Joya has had extremely bad behaviors that are not allowed, so we have been in boot camp since Sunday afternoon. I call it boot camp because I am embarrassed to take Joya in public because of her behavior and her consequences (some people don't believe in our punishment system)! So we stay at home and do what we need to, to get rid of her behavior that is not acceptable.
Some changes we have made: No more sugar, no more peepee and poopy treats, no more snacking in between meals if she doesn't eat a good meal previously, no more hitting, no more tantrums, and no more screaming "NO!" I think she is just turning the corner on her behavior, she was punished this morning but she has been a pleasant girl since then!!
We made these changes because we realize we were feeding her a lot of junk food, and then she was not eating a good meal, also I think too much sugar really effects her behavior and her ability to think clearly. She also has been getting away with more bad or questionable behavior because I have had more on my plate and has let a lot slide. Its all or nothing with Joya, so I had to buckle down and be very consistent with her!
I really don't like these days, but I know they are needed for her to test her boundaries and my reactions. I know it is a short time, but it seems like it lasts forever!!!! From her attitude today there is hope that she will be back to her normal self!!

Sick Again!

2010-02-25T09:11:00.000-08:00

I started "school" with Joya this week! I said I was going to start at the new year, but that obviously did not happen! So we started this week with the letter A. We did the short letter A sound on Monday. I had a little letter A book for her to write in, practice writing the letter A and draw in. On one of the pages I wrote in "aquarium." And then Joya, Timmy, Cousin Vi, and Auntie Heather and I went to Newport to the aquarium there. It was a beautiful day. Unfortunately half of the aquarium was closed for them to build a new section with amphibians! So we were done in one hour, and since it was such a nice day we headed to the beach! Like I said it was a gorgeous day so we played on the beach for an hour and a half and then headed home. The girls ran the entire time they were on the beach! Timmy crawled a long way and was closing his eyes as I put him back in his car seat to head home. Joya was asleep before we left Newport and Vi a short time later.

On Tuesday we had MOP's and while there, Joya decided she wanted to take a nap and go home. Once we were home she napped for 3 hours and woke up with a fever of 102! We laid low the rest of the day.

Wednesday morning I dropped Joya off with Auntie Heather and Cousin Vi, because they were sick too, and I took Timmy to the Gathering (bible study). I kept Timmy with me because I

could tell he was getting it, but didn't have a fever yet. After nap time on Wed. both Joya and Timmy had 102! We again did not do anything for "school" other than recognize and look for the letter A in our books, and when we were out and about.

In this picture above, Joya is on the top of the dune, and Vi is at the bottom. They had a great time sliding/rolling down the sand. Timmy had fun crawling in it too. Needless to say there was a lot of sand in their clothes by the time we got back to the car!! It was a great time though!

Last night was a rough one! Joya woke up at 12:30 really hot, I gave her some Tylenol and it took her until 2:30 to be able to get back to sleep! Then Timmy was up at 4:30 and 5 and then was up for the morning at 6:30. He is now taking his morning nap and Joya and I did "school". She gets very excited to about school, but right now she will practice writing the letter A once or twice, color a few things and then is done with school. So we left an alligator project only half done. I think when she is feeling better and doesn't have a 102 temp, she might be able to finish her projects and have more of an attention span! We also did a bible memory verse with the letter A starting the first word in the verse.

Tomorrow is a big day, Tim is taking his first day off since he started his job, 10 months ago! We are going to go to Waldport for the weekend! I am very excited, and I hope the kiddos start feeling better so they can enjoy it too. But right now we are just reading books, and resting on the couch...we definitely can do that at the beach while watching the ocean!

Timmy Playing

2010-02-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

Here is a video of Timmy playing with his truck. He is making the noise of a car vrooming, because that is what Joya and I do while moving cars and trucks.

Timmy tried whole milk today! He has been nursing really hard and the two reasons that Tim and I can come up with; is his attachment issue or I am not producing enough milk anymore. When Joya was this age she was only nursing once or twice a day, but Timmy still is nursing 5 times a day. He also has some anxiety when I leave him...if he sees me leave! Anyway I decided to give him cow's milk today and see if he will stop nursing really aggressively and do a little better when I am not holding him ALL DAY long!!

I can not believe he is almost a year old. He is 10 months but on the 24th will be 11months and it has gone fast!! He is walking 4-5 steps at a time, eating everything from the table that we are, and responding well to directions. For example if you say "where is Mommy's nose?" he will grab my nose. He knows mouth and eyes but not ears yet! He is growing so big, its has been fun watching him develop into a "little man."

The New House

2010-02-14T21:38:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures of the new house. This is a picture from the edge of the stairs, and entry to the family room and kitchen is behind me. The picture is of the front door, living room and formal dining room.

Here is the family room that is open to the kitchen. It is really nice to hid our toys from the entry!! On the other side of the TV and fireplace is the formal dining room.

Here is the kitchen, a little messy but you get the idea!

Here is Timmy's room. The green wall will eventually be a football field!

This is Joya's room, tan on top and purple on bottom with a princess border.

This is a picture of the kid's doors from the play area!

Here is the play area!

Some Fun Pic's

2010-02-12T09:39:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of the kids playing while I was packing. I just went through my camera and found some cute pictures to post!
Here are Joya and her cousin Violet doing Papa Sir's salute! He has them stand to attention and then Salute. It is very cute. For those of you that don't know, Violet and Heather are now living with Christi right down the street from us! Joya and Violet love one another so much and have enjoyed playing together almost everyday since they moved here! It is so cute how Violet says Joya's name she says "cousin Jaw-a" I love it!!

This was just a fun picture of Timmy going to town on his spaghetti but he wouldn't let go of his ball he was holding. It amazes me how he loves balls, he would probably sleep with them if I let him!!

This was Joya's last day of gymnastics. They were presented up on the stage there and then ran back to us parents! She loved gymnastics and it was good for her to know there are other authority figures that she needs to listen and follow directions from! The bottom picture is for Uncle Jeffrey, Timmy's hair looked especially red that day!

It's Been A While!

2010-02-01T12:33:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I blogged last and a lot has happened! We moved three weeks ago and that would be the number one reason for not blogging. I had a good majority of our stuff unpacked and settled right away. Tim's office and my craft room have suffered, but we need a few things for those to be finished. A desk for Tim's office would help him be more organized and have space to put all his supplies on! I would love a sewing table, but that is not in our near plans, the garage must be finished before we move on the luxury items!! We also have to do something with the back yard, but that has to wait for good weather to even put grass in!

The second reason I have not been blogging is the kids have not slept through the night since we moved...until last night. It was the first night they both slept the majority of the night and I was not up at all hours of the night...it was wonderful!

The third reason is I have been doing a lot of work to start our new ministry call HOME. Helping Our Moms Excel. we are now meeting frequently to be ready for our April meetings. We will meet every Tuesday at NW Hills. It is a well needed ministry for the moms of young children at our church! Tim and I also joined a bible study with couples from our Sunday school class, and I am still doing MOP's and co-leading a bible study on Wednesday mornings. There is a lot on my plate and even more on Tim's as he was just given a new territory to sell to. He now sells to half of the state of Oregon, everywhere south of Salem...its a lot more territory to cover, which means more time to travel. We are making it all work and have made spending time with each other more of a priority since it has to be planned and there isn't much down time to hand out together!

The fourth reason is Timmy is walking! He is a busy boy and I have to keep my eyes on him, he loves to get into cabinets and drawers, which most of them are fine for him to be in. Joya is a very busy girl, she is finishing gymnastics this week and we are not signing her up again but instead going to make more play dates and have more time at home until we start swim lessons in the spring. I still haven't figured out how I am going to do both of them at swim lessons because they both have the have an adult to hold them, Joya is not old enough to do self taught lessons...next year!!

First Steps and First Hair Cut

2010-01-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

Timmy has taken his first few steps by himself! He started a few says ago, and only takes a couple steps at a time, but he is walking on his own!! We are so proud of Timmy, he is 9 months and walking!! He is still so happy and easy going! He has started eating diced foods and since that has started he doesn't want the pureed foods anymore! When I feed him baby food, he spits it out or tries to grab the spoon from me to feed himself. Timmy has also adopted the hand signs for "more, all done, and water." It makes communication with him a little easier! Timmy and Joya are finally feeling better. They are still on antibiotics for their ear infections, but they are acting and feeling a whole lot better! I cut Joya's hair the other night! I can't believe I did it and right after I cried, it was hard to watch her long hair, that took so long to grow, go away! I do think it looks cute and matches her personality! She is a little spit fire and her little bob hair cut works!

Joya's been having a hard time going to sleep at night, she is pulling everything out of the book from monsters in the closet, to "tell me one more story," to "I need some milk." She is saying that she doesn't feel safe, protected and that she just wants to be in her "new purple room." Anyway we are praying with her and for her to be able to get to sleep fast and stay asleep through the night!!

Christmas and the New Year

2010-01-01T20:47:00.000-08:00

We have had a great and fun couple of weeks. It started a couple of Friday's ago when Tim's younger brother came out from Houston. He stayed with us for the week and the kids just love their Uncle Jeff! That Sunday we went to church and then headed down to Eugene to hang out with Tim's older brother and his family that flew in from Houston Too. Dan and Kim have a son Josh who is 5 and twin boys who are one year old. Josh and Joya love each other and act like brother and sister, they play great, fight and then play great again! Anyway we headed down to Eugene on Sunday and found out that Josh was sick with Croup. He was struggling, poor little guy, he is also allergic to Toby, but seemed to do ok this trip. We got to spend every day with them, going down to Eugene everyday and coming back up to sleep in our own beds. Wednesday we went and cut down a Christmas tree with all of the kids and Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma and Grandpa also took the older two up to the snow in the mountains. Joya had a great trip! Kim and I also went shopping with the babies one day! We played a lot of games, did some baking with Grandma, and even fit in a trip to Chucky Cheese! Travelling back and forth made for long days, some days with naps and some with out, which were much longer days! The twins got croup by the end of that week and my kids had it by Sunday. I took them in to the Doctor on Monday and they were put on steroids for their cough, then Dan's family came up to play at our house. It was a fun week with them and a fun time on Monday too. All of the kids played really well together and in spite of all the sickness! Here are some pictures to prove it.

Here is a picture of all the grand kids with the grandparents and then a picture of all the great grand kids with Great Grandma!

After everyone went home we spent the next few days at home trying to recover from croup, but it just got worse and on New Years eve we spend the evening playing cards with my parents and then at 11 they went home. Our kids woke up with major fevers at 11:30. We took them into the urgent care today after Timmy not sleeping except for two hours . Both kids have ear infections. They both had their first dose of medicine and had a great nap,and they are both acting better! Praise the Lord their might be sleep tonight!!

One Pound of Hair!

2009-12-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

I went and got my hair cut today, I decided to chop it off and donate it to "locks of love". Once the ponytail was cut off, it immediately felt lighter, but I didn't realize it was a whole pound heavier! I weighed it when I got home!! Here are some before, during, and after pictures!

I really like the final product! It is completely different and I like it! I have only had short hair like this two other times in my life, once when I was six. My brother cut my hair when we were fighting and we had to trim it to my ears to cover the cut. The other time was in the eighth grade, and I didn't like it on me then. I have a really round face and it made it look even rounder then! Somehow I don't feel the same today even though my face has not changed.

Last week I worked Mon-Wed. and we spent the other two days catching up on everything I wasn't doing at home! We also decorated for Christmas, but minimally because we will be moving in the next couple of weeks.... still waiting for a closing date! Here are some pics of Joya putting the star on the tree and Timmy finding his reflection in the dishwasher!

Piggy Flu

2009-12-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

We are going on day 8 for Joya and day 7 for Timmy. Timmy spiked a fever back up to 102 this morning. Joya had another low grade fever yesterday after her nap. We have not been fever free for over a week now! I told Tim this morning that I don't know if were going to make it through this! My flu is in my back, probably also due to always having to hold one of the kids! Both Joya and Timmy liked to be held and cuddled while they don't feel good. Here are some pictures of the poor little darlings, res around the eyes and running noses. All that didn't stop us from dressing up to support our beloved beavers today! Its a big day for the Beavers and we will watch the game with our orange on and from the comfort of our couch!!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T09:12:00.000-08:00

Well we had an interesting Thanksgiving! It started the Sunday before Thanksgiving, I got sick with bronchitis and was put on meds on Monday. We left on Tuesday for California after Tim and Paul worked for a half a day. We stopped in Redding and staying the night at my Grandparents house, they weren't there, but we invaded their house anyway. We got on the road at 10:30 the next morning and got onto Grammy's ranch at about 3 on Wednesday. At this point I am still the only one sick!! We all go to bed and I took a night quill because Tim told me to get a good nights sleep and he would take care of Timmy. The only problem is when I am not the one to replug Timmy or tend to him he really wakes up and has a hard time with me not being there...Mamma's Boy! Anyway Tim woke up with Timmy at 1am and tried to settle him down, he woke me up at 2ish and I was so drunk on cold medicine that I could not nurse him in good conscious! Anyway Tim got him settled down until he woke up again at 6am, by then I was able to nurse him and he went back to bed for a couple more hours. Joya woke up Thanksgiving morning feeling "puny", those are her words. She took several naps and by the time we found an old school thermometer she had 102. We gave her Tylenol and took her in Friday morning because nothing was helping get her fever to go down. She was treated for Strep Throat. Timmy came down with the really high fever that night, so we decided to leave Grammy's ranch early on Saturday and make the whole trip home in one day. Both kids just wanted to be held but they did a great job on the way home. Timmy had such a high fever that he would sleep for 20 min and wake up for just a few minutes and then go right back to sleep. It was a fast trip with everyone getting sick including Tim's parents, we are praying hard that Grammy and everyone else we exposed does not get sick!!

It wasn't all sickness while we were on the ranch. The first day we were there Joya got to see and feed a lot of animals! We took her up to the horses and put her and Timmy on an old mare bareback, she wasn't so sure of it but Timmy loved it. She also helped Aunt LarryAnn feed all of her wild pigs. Aunt LarryAnn gets a truck load of old bread and feeds her pigs and some of the cows that. They sat in the back of the bed of the truck and tossed the bread over the edge. It was so cute, Joya would yell to the pigs to "come and get it or I'm throwing it out the window." She loved it!! On Thursday after our big meal, Aunt LarryAnn went and caught Rosie for Joya to ride. By this time she was not feeling good at all, but she still wanted to ride for a minute. She rode for a small time, but then wanted off and to go lay back down. I know if she was feeling better she would have been on Rosie all day! Timmy loved it though! On Friday a friend that played with Tim in Arizona now lives int he Bay area, he and his girlfriend came out for the afternoon. It was really fun to meet his girlfriend Christie and to see Troy again. We took them around the 16000 acre ranch on 4wheelers. It was a fun time before everyone got sick! That evening everyone got sick. Paul and Marilee were so sick they went to bed at 7. I was up during the night a lot with both kids. We packed up Saturday morning against Grammy's wishes, but we felt like we needed to get the doctor. We made it home by 12:30 Sunday morning. The kids did a great job on the way home! This is Great Grammy painting Joya's nails because she found her nail polish in the bathroom, and Grammy was sweet enough to do it even though it was very hard for her to see!

He's Walking!!

2009-11-17T10:47:00.001-08:00

("Oh Toodles," Joy is saying. She loves the Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express)

He's walking...just kidding, but he is pulling himself up on everything!! He gets very angry when he can't pull himself up on things like a card board box, his sister, and the little rocking chair. He hasn't figured out that somethings move and he can't put his full weight on to it to get up. He also hasn't figured out that if his legs are not right under him he will fall to the side...good thing its not a far fall!

Here is a video of Joya singing to Timmy, she wanted to put on a little show for him. We are becoming very creative as we are quarantined at home with "hoof and mouth." We are doing better with that too, Joya has been without a fever for 24hours now, and her shots are looking better but not gone. Timmy's three spots on his face are almost gone, but he got a bunch on hes bottom yesterday, and they look painful!! Maybe a few more days and we can get out!!

Hoof and Mouth

2009-11-14T20:38:00.000-08:00

"Hoof and Mouth" disease is what my father in-law calls Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease. And YES we have it...I don't, but both kiddos do! Joya was so sick on Friday she ran 102 while on Motrin and couldn't even swallow her throat hurt so bad. She was just letting her saliva run down her chin and had a nice wet ring around her collar. She looked a lot like Timmy, but she's not teething!

I called our doctor and my sister, they both said the same thing, its a "virus" and there is nothing you can do but make sure they stay hydrated! My sister also recommended equal parts of liquid Benadryl and liquid Maalox and paint Joya's tongue and throat with it and it will take the sting out of her throat for her to swallow. I did that and it works great, I can tell when it wears of, about every 2 hours and we do it again.

Today Joya had low grade fevers of 99-100 and had many more moments of being alive and able to play, not like yesterday all she wanted to do was lay on the couch and watch a "little show." Today she still has the little white pox marks in her throat, but she wasn't having the same trouble swallowing like yesterday. And thank the Lord she wasn't as whinny today either. I can tolerate quiet a bit, but I can not take much of the whinny talking and attitude. I know its different when she is sick, but I think she knows how to play it up now too!

Timmy woke up with one of the little boils/pox marks on his lip. He doesn't have any other symptoms other than that one mark...lets all pray right now that he stays healthy!!

Here is a picture of Timmy chewing on a duck, sorry to all our family and friends who are duck fans, but I think Timmy is choosing his allegiance early!

Timmy also decided that crawling is not challenging enough for him, so he started pulling himself up to a standing position today! It was fun to watch both my parents, Tim's parents and my sister were all in the room when he performed for us! So naturally we put him on the walking toy and he did great. We held on to the toy so it didn't slip out in front of him, but he took a few steps with it!! I think he might be cruising the couch next !!

It's Official!

2009-11-09T09:51:00.000-08:00

It's official, Timmy is crawling. He is extremely slow and makes it around the family room floor just fine, but has not ventured outside of the family...which is fine with me!! We used our baby gates for the Toby outside at this house, so I will have to get new ones for inside. He also hasn't figured out the speed factor yet, but that again is only a matter of time! He has been doing the worm thing and been mobile, but now its on hands and knees and I got his first few steps on film!!

Timmy also was dedicated on Sunday. The whole family was up on stage and Joya was making Tim and I laugh through the whole time. We told her it was time to pray and so while the Pastor was praying she started praying too. She prayed for her carebears, carebear cousins, her Sunday school class, penguins that she didn't know their names, and named everyone names in our family. After she was done praying she said, "OK I'm done, lets go back to my class."

The dedication was presented by Pastor Andy Buchanan, and he did a great job! We had Joya dedicated also, but this one felt different and was more community based, I really liked it! So here are some pictures from that, I will post more when I get more from my sister, she has a better camera than us!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

These pictures are from Friday we went to the aquarium. We had a great time and got to see scuba divers with masks on in the shark tanks!

We had a great time last week, cousin Josh was here. Him and Joya had a great time together, they wore each other out, but had a fantastic time together. On Saturday we had a fun, but long day. We started the morning with the OSU fall carnival. It was a bunch of booths with ring toss, cakewalks, and a blow up bouncy obstacle course. Then the OSU football game started, I took Joya and Timmy home for a nap while Tim, Josh, Dan and Tim's parents went to the game. On our way home we stopped by a friends birthday party, but then went home for a good nap...for me too! When everyone came home from the game we all ate dinner and then went trick or treating. The kids were so cute, Josh was really into getting candy, Joya just liked telling each person at the door that she was a care bear! We took them around our five houses in our neighborhood, and then to my parents and sisters neighborhood, then we took the kids to see coach Riley and Mrs. Dee. Mrs. Dee had told Tim at the game that she really wanted to see Joya and that she missed her, we went to see them, Joya was so excited to see Mrs. Dee!

He did it!!

2009-10-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Timmy went with me on a women's retreat while Joya stayed with Daddy. While on the retreat he said "Mama". He said it all day Saturday and Sunday, but as soon as we got into Tim's presence he stopped saying it and has not said it since!! I try so hard to get him to say it and he just looks at me and says"mmmmm."
Yesterday on Monday Timmy started army crawling. No one was around to see it and I tried to get him to do it again when Tim was home again, and again he didn't perform!
Last night I had Timmy on the floor and got him to inch his way forward for the little Elmo doll that Joya has. Timmy did it, he army crawled toward Elmo and Daddy was so excited to see it. Joya was even excited for Timmy and told him "good job, Timmy!"
It's been an exciting few days, crawling is next and he will probably be a lot faster at that and we will have to set some serious boundaries for him and for Joya as far as picking up after herself!!
Here are some pictures from the Picture Me studio. They turned out great!

Whats that smell?

2009-10-06T21:20:00.000-07:00

Well I walked into the house a few days ago and smelt something really bad!! So I did what anyone else would do, emptied the garbage, cleaned the sink, ran the disposal, Lysol everything. Anyway the smell was covered for a little while but then it came back, so I started following my nose. I followed the smell to to corner of the room where Joya has her kitchen, I thought Toby had puked or pooped back there so I was on my hands and knees searching. I found the culprit...it was a white butcher paper covered, pound and a half of beef! Joya was playing with one of the frozen packages of meat when we got the half a cow and we were putting it away. Tim was working in the garage putting it away in the outside freezer and I was putting a few pounds in the inside freezer. Joya was walking back and forth between us bringing meat from Tim to me and visa versa. Well neither Tim or myself realized that Joya still had a package and she put it in her kitchen. She was cooking her meat in the oven, and that's where I found it! A couple weeks old, nasty smelling, rotting meat! Bing...it's done!

Big guy eat'en some food!

2009-09-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

Here is Timmy eating food!

And here is my babies in a row!

Timmy is 6 months!

2009-09-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

Timmy turns 6 months old today! He is back to nursing every 4 hours through the night because he broke his first tooth through on the 18th and now is breaking the next one through! Some how that makes him more hungry or just needing more mommy time! Timmy is sitting up by himself and doesn't like to sit in the exersaucer anymore because it is too confining. He likes to be on the floor where he can scoot to what he wants to pick up and put in his mouth. I tried giving him rice cereal today, but he was not having it! He just wanted to nurse and not have anything to do with a spoon! We will try again this evening.

This is Joya's Halloween costume, I just finished making it and she loves it. I am not letting her wear it all the time yet, but it has been on everyday since I finished it. She is so excited to be a care bear!

Here is our half of cow! That's right we shared a cow with some friends from church, it was a good deal for a completely healthy cow that wasn't fed crap! We are having the first steaks tonight, so we will see if there is a huge difference! The white packages on the ground, we had to organize the cuts of meat before putting it in the freezer. Here are the kids before Tim's first home game as a high school coach. We went to the home game, Timmy is wearing his Jordan outfit and Joya is wearing Tim's steelers jersey! They both were big hits at the game!

"I know what I want to be when I grow up."

2009-09-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Well Joya knows what she wants to be when she grows up. We were watching a show on TV and their was a commercial for a chocolate company and it said their "chocolatiers" make the chocolate. Joya asked me what a chocolatier was and I told her it was someone who makes chocolate for their job when their grown up. She thought for a while and then looked at me and said, "mom when I grow up I want to be a sprink-a-latier, I want to make sprinkles!" I thought it was so cute, she loves sprinkles and loves to put them on everything!

Joya also has decided that she wants to be a care bear from Halloween. The pink one with the rainbow on its tummy, Cheer bear. So I have to get going on that costume.

Timmy is rolling all over the floor, sitting up for longer and longer periods of time, and he is trying to cut a tooth. He is screaming when not on Tylenol and the tooth is right under the surface, i can feel it but it hasn't come through the gums yet. This is way sooner than Joya got her teeth. She was 11 months, Timmy is almost 6 months.

Beaver Game and Wild Life Safari

2009-09-07T19:42:00.000-07:00

It was a busy weekend, on Saturday we went to the beaver game as a family. We didn't know how it would go with Joya and Timmy, but Joya was so excited to go to a beaver game that she did excellent. Timmy did great also and it reminded me of when I used to take Joya to Tim's games and where her on the front pack. Timmy was a little heavier this time around, but he fell asleep during the game and was cheerful when he was awake. This was big Tim's first beaver game as a spectator and fan and it was the first time that Tim and I sat next to each other. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was awesome because Tim could still read the quarterback signs and was telling me what was going to happen on offence before it happened...it was awesome!! The beavers ended the game in a victory and Joya did a great job of making it through the day without a nap!

Today we went to Wild Life Safari down in Roseburg, its a couple hours south of here. It is a drive through zoo where the animals can roam wild. They do keep the animals separate with cattle guards so they don't have predators and prey! The best part for Joya and Timmy is that they could be in the car without being in their car seats! Joya even watched the animals through our sunroof...it was awesome! Here are some pictures from the day, we had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma and saw some great animals!! I'll let the pictures tell the story!

Here are the elephants washing cars...for a fee. It was fun to watch though, their slogan was they guarantee NOT to clean your car!

Here is Joya watching the animals through the sunroof...I think she really liked this except when a tall animal came near the car, she was quick to get back in the car.

There was also a petting zoo in the safari village. We also got to ride a little train there that took us around a small part of the safari, but it was fun and good timing since it was around 3 and Joya hadn't melted down yet, but easily could have! It was a good rest time!

The Wild Life Safari is famous around the world for their cheetah breading. They are so successful because they keep the cheetah's near another exhibit of deer and it makes them think they have enough hunting to provide for their family and they can then make baby cheetahs!!

Joya in the petting zoo as a little lamb, she was so cute going in all of the cut outs!

For Your Enjoyment!

2009-08-31T15:01:00.000-07:00

This is of Joya singing "Jesus loves the little Timmy". It was so cute I had to post it!

Last Week Was a Full Week!

2009-08-31T14:12:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took Joya to the Lane County Fair with Grandma and Grandpa. She got to ride a few rides which brought back horrible memories for me! I was almost killed at a ride at that fair when I was little and have never rode a carnival ride since. I got very nervous even thought they were just cute rides that she could not get hurt on. I had an anxiety attack and had to leave for a minute to regain myself, then I walked back and watched Joya have fun. We went to the fair with expectations of riding the farris wheel, but she wasn't tall enough and we told her she had to be three years old to ride it...I hope she is tall enough next year! Tim left that night for Bend and was there working at a golf tournament and came home Sunday night right before the kids went to sleep.

During the week we had a lot of fun with friends, Joya had a few play dates. We had the Trimmer boys over again and it was another wonderful experience, all the kids played great together! We also had over our new neighbor Lauren, and her daughter Jaden (18mths). Even adding another child in the mix everyone played really well together.

Thursday night we headed down to Eugene because Tim had his 8th knee surgery Friday morning at 7:00am. So we stayed the night at Grandma and Grandpa's and they watched Joya for me while Tim had his screw and staple taken out. He has been a little disappointed with how he actually feels like he had surgery. He thought he would feel fine the next day and be able to go golfing with his buddies on Sunday...not the case. After the quick surgery we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and ate breakfast and then packed Joya and Timmy up to come back up home. We put both kids down for a nap and Tim and I took a nap too. Then when Joya woke up my mom came and got her and they went to her house to bake some cakes. Joya had a fantastic day! Here is a picture of the screw and staple that came out of Tim's knee. My ring is next to them so you can see how big they are!

On Saturday my sister came and got Joya and they went up to Enchanted Forrest. They had a blast and Joya got to ride a Kiddy Farris Wheel, she was pumped up about that. The rest of us headed back down to Eugene for Kenny Cox's Memorial Service. We cried a lot and Tim got people laughing with Kenny stories from the past. It was a great service. We came back up to hear about Joya's day with Tia and had some friends over for dinner, it was very low key, just pizza and salad and Tim didn't even sit at the table with us, he sat on the couch with his knee propped up with ice on it.

Sunday we went to church in the morning and then in the evening we went to the church swim and BBQ. We had a great time. My mom watched Timmy and and I took Joya swimming, she even went down the big huge slide twice. It was awesome, and I loved the time with just her, usually I have her and Timmy in the other arm, so it was nice to just have her and concentrate on just her!

Timmy this last week has decided to not sleep through the night anymore! Last night he finally slept really well! It was just in time too, my eye had been twitching for four days because I was so tired!

Update on Timmy Jr.

2009-08-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

This last week Timmy has hit some major developmental milestones! He started rolling over and now can roll to where he wants to go, within reason! He will see Joya's stuff across the room and roll to get there, he also does this scooting thing on his tummy where he doesn't use his legs or arms but cinches up his but and goes back down to make him move forward. It's funny to watch, but he can move with it. Timmy also can sit up for a little while on his own. I can't leave him sitting up by any means but I can sit him up and let go of him for about a half a minute before he starts toddling. He sometimes will correct himself and sit back up but most of the time he falls over, usually head first. Timmy is also a very loud baby, he loves to join conversation and will "ahhhhh" as loud as he can, he got the vocals from my side of the family!!!

Here are some new video of Timmy talking, he is an easy going baby with a great smile and he just wants to be heard and smiled at!

A Great Week but now I'm in Trouble!

2009-08-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

This has been a great week, a few other mom and myself put on a vacation Bible School for 3-5 year old kids. The week went really well. We weren't expecting a lot of kids and we didn't get a lot but we connected with the kids that did come and connected with their moms. Joya also loved VBS, especially since it had the word "school" in it. She loves the idea of school and can't wait to go, too bad for her she has a long time before she is going to school!

This is a picture of Joya and a project that she made on the last day of VBS. She is still wearing her cross that she decorated around the house.

This last weekend we hung out at home because we knew Tim would be gone this week. We made homemade cinnamon rolls and went to the Scandinavian Festival on Saturday night. We went with some new friends and their kids, so here is a picture of our kids together!

I am now in trouble! Timmy is rolling over! I now have to put the side up on his crib, get Joya to pick up her little toys, make sure my floors are really clean, and I can't just leave him in the room alone anymore!! I left him on the floor on a play mat to put Joya down for her nap and when I came back he was off the mat and touching Joya's red barn she has out on the floor! She has the whole barn and house out because we had a play date with some good friends today. The Trimmer boys came over for the morning and we played outside the majority of the time and then came in for lunch and to play with the barn. Here are some pictures of the day. It was a great play date, the kids played so well together!! Jack and Joya didn't hit each other and Caden wasn't bossing any of the other kids around, they all played so well together!

GG and Great Grandpa NeeNee's 50th Wedding Anniversary

2009-08-12T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last Friday we packed up and got the kids in the car at 6:45am to get down to Redding CA for my Grandparents wedding anniversary. They celebrated their 50th with several miracles to make it there. My grandpa has been in and out of the hospital with Leukemia, and having to go on and off Dialysis for his kidneys because he is Diabetic too. Anyway we were wondering if this party was going to happen at all. He is at home by the grace of God and we all got to go celebrate with them! From our family Heather and Eli were not able to come, Uncle Roger's whole family was there, the majority of Uncle Jeff's family and the majority of Uncle Steve's family came.

On Friday Tim had to work on the way down, which worked out great for me and the kids. It split the trip up so Joya could get out of her seat and run around and for Timmy to nurse and not sleep the whole day. He falls asleep whenever were in the car! It's really nice except when were traveling a distance and we would like him to sleep at night! So we stopped in Roseburg at the hospital and across the street was a Starbucks in a Alberston's, the kids and I hung out in there. Joya and I got a pastry from the bakery and I got coffee and Joya wanted some tea, Timmy got milk! The night before we left both kids came down with fevers and they still had them on the way down, so tea was a great thing for Joya to have. The next stop was Grants Pass, this was a very quick stop and Tim new it would be, so we just got out of the car while he was inside and played on the little patch of grass behind the building. Joya and I ran a lot of races from one tree to the next. Tim's last stop was going to be the longest and that was in Ashland. I had never been there before, but we dropped Tim off at the hospital and went down the street to a grade school with an awesome playground. Joya really liked the outhouse! Yep the outhouse, it had a sink and a flushing toilet in it. The weather was a little colder than I had expected so Joya had to wear my sweatshirt because I couldn't find her sweater I had packed for her. This picture is of her on the "big kid" section of the playground. She was fearless and climbed up the whole way by herself. This is of her coming down.

After the playground we went to lunch and then hit the road again. Before we even got to I-5 Joya and Timmy were asleep and they stayed asleep until we were almost to Redding. It was awesome and a good time for Tim and I to talk. On the way down we put an offer in on a house and we just heard back yesterday that they did not accept the offer and are not willing to budge from their price. Bummer for us! Well keep praying about a house!

We got to the party and we had a great time. I got to see some cousins that I haven't seen in years...like 10 or so. It was so fun to see them, the little kids are teenagers now and they had fun with Joya, which was a nice beak for me! The cousins that are my age have jobs and are very nice people! I loved reconnecting with them and talking with all the cousins about their lives and whats next for them!

Saturday we stayed at home with GG and Great Grandpa NeeNee and all of the other cousins went to Great America to ride rides with my dad and Christi. I was only a little jealous! I loved giving that time to Joya and Timmy with the Great Grandparents. Grandpa put on a puppet show for Joya and Grandma got out her story telling apron and told bible stories to Joya...she ate them up! Then Saturday night Tim and I left the kids with my mom and grandparents and we went out with my uncles and their wives. Tim had only met my uncle that lives in Southern California once at our wedding. So he had never really gotten to know them, so it was really fun for us to first of all get out and away from the babies and secondly to get out and chat with my uncles and their wives!! We also had a little time as a family to go to the Sundial Bridge in Redding. It was an awesome bridge and here are the pictures of it. There is a family picture and one of Joya near one of the cables that holds the bridge together.

Sunday we had a huge breakfast all together and then hit the road back home. We didn't end up leaving until 11ish and so the kids again fell asleep right away and we made it to Medford for lunch. Then back int he car, which Timmy was not a fan of and screamed to let us all know that. We were 20 miles south of Eugene when he really let us know that he was done being in the car! Joya joined his band wagon and we stopped in Eugene at Tim's Grandma's assisted living house. She was so surprised to see us and it was a fun stop. Joya got to run around and Timmy got to eat and everyone was happy again! We finally made it home to pick up Toby from the dog-sitters, which Toby made him earn his money...sorry Nathan! We had a fast but awesome weekend! I am so glad that Joya and Timmy got to spend some time with just the grandparents and no one else around, I have no clue if they will remember them but I will remember that they got special attention and time with them!

Joya's hair looks crazy because she had cute braids in and took them out in the car on her own...good job Joya!

Some Recent Pics!

2009-08-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

Here is Joya practicing her kisses on Timmy this morning. She just realized how to pucker, so she is practicing as much as possible...I love it!

Last night we went in to check on Joya before we went to bed and this is how we found her! It was funny!

Timmy, Joya, our friends Jessica, Jailey, Josiah, and myself all rode the bus to the library for library time on Tuesday. The girls loved riding the bus! Josiah loved tormenting his mommy by stading up and trying to crawl under the seats and Timmy was content in his carrier on the way there but not on the way home! We had fun!

Here is Jessica and Josiah.

Joya and Jailey

Timmy in the backpack. We rode our bikes up to DQ for some icecream and this is how Timmy rides with us! He falls asleep to any motion, which is great sometimes!

Were so EXCITED that Joya has hair!! I can put piggytails in it, braid it, and I love it!

Joya, Tim and Grandpa went to Chucky Cheese one day and had a great time, here she is playing Whak-a-mole!

Joya loves to help me bake, and she got her own pan for her Birthday, so we had to put her own cinnamon rolls in her pan!

We made it, and Tim made it home!

2009-08-02T15:21:00.000-07:00

We made it, we survived our last week without Tim!
On Monday Joya got to spend some special time with her Auntie Kaylen while my dad and Timmy and I worked out. Timmy didn't last long in the stroller, so it was on to plan "B", which was the backpack. I lifted my arms and back with big boy on my back...it was a lot harder and more challenging to keep my balance. Then I went to pick Joya up and take Timmy to his 4month doctor's appointment, it was fun to see how big he really was! He weighed in at 18lb2oz, in the 90% and he was almost 26inches which was the 95% and his head circumference was in the 70th%. I was kind of shocked that his head wasn't bigger because he has the biggest smile with the chubbiest cheeks!!! Then we went back to Nana and Papa's house where we ate lunch and Joya had a major melt down because she thought I was leaving right then and she was not ready for me to leave her with Papa, it stems from Tim being gone! I explained that I was not leaving until after she went down for a nap and that I would be back by dinner time! I had to go down to Eugene to sign all of our papers for the refinance on the Veneta house. I took Timmy with me and he was a champ! It took me a full hour to sign for me and Tim and then I had to go to the bank for a check and back to the mortgage place to drop it off. My trip to Eugene lasted longer than I thought it would, but Joya slept for almost 4 hours, so she never knew I was gone for so long!!
Tuesday we left first thing in the morning to the beach, my sister had some really good friends out from North Carolina, so they went to the beach for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We have an aquarium pass and met them at the aquarium, then went to lunch. Then I took the kids back to the house they were renting and put them down for a nap while Christi and her friends went to the store and played on a beach for a while. Timmy and Joya tag teamed me so I never got a nap, but I had a beautiful calming view of the ocean! Christi and her friends came back and Joya woke up, so I took Joya down to the beach while Timmy and Christi's friends stayed at the house. That was awesome because it was really windy down on the beach and I was thankful that Timmy didn't have to be down in that. Joya and I had a blast on the beach. We stayed down there for almost 2 hours, just digging holes! Yep holes! We would dig until we had water and play in that hole, build a castle next to it out of the pile of sand from the hole and then start all over again. We did take a small walk with Christi to look for neat rocks and shells. We drove home at 9 at night after having a wonderful crab dinner!!
Wednesday we had swimming and lunch plans with my mom and her teaching friends. Her teaching partner has a daughter that is turning 4 next week, anyway Joya loves her and she calls her "Baby Joya" and takes care of her. They are very cute together. Anyway we went swimming...Timmy too, and then went back to Mom's house for a potluck lunch. We came home for a nap and were supposed to have a play date with some neighbors, but they thought I said Tuesday and had already come the day before...oops! Anyway it was a good thing to have the evening free and have some down time, Joya just played with her baby Leila and was completely content with that!
Thursday we hung out at home for the morning and then we to the fair at noon to see all of the animals. We went with some friends from church and she had her third son two days after I had Timmy, so we saw them in the hospital room! Anyway she has a son who is Joya's age and her oldest is 4 but is so sweet to Joya! The mom taught 4H in California and was teaching us about all of the different types of pigs, cows, and sheep. The kids really liked the "Blue Butt Pigs", their a cross breed of Hampshire and Yorkshire pigs and yes their butt really looks blue. We stayed for a couple of hours and only lost one kid and then went home for naps and stayed around home to make dinner for everyone! That was my folks, Christi and her friends, of course Joya loved all the attention and couldn't eat anything for dinner. Joya and Timmy slept great that night!
Friday was a fast day, we were all looking forward to Daddy's return so we stayed at home and cleaned the house and then we drove down to Tim's folks house so the kids could go down for their naps. Tim's flight was supposed to get in at 3, right in the middle of nap time, but it was late. Anyway we got him, he was tired and we drove back home to have a big BBQ with all the family, it was great because all I had to do was bring our meat!
Saturday was a fun day, we spent the day as a family and were really laid back! One thing we did do was pump up the rubber raft to make sure it didn't have any holes in it for floating the river on Sunday. We floated the river with some friends from church who have a 4yr old boy and a 2.5 yr old boy. We left Timmy with my parents and Joya came with us. We had a great time. It took us an hour and half to float down, we almost missed our boat ramp to get out on, but other than that we had a blast. It was a beautiful day, not too hot, and we had great company. There were too many of us going so Steff and the kids and I were all in the boat and John and Tim were on a blow up mattress. I wish we had a picture of them, they were a sight to see! They sat on the edge with their feet down in there and just were relaxed with life jackets on. We had a great time!
We have another busy week this week with some friends coming in from Alabama and a trip to Redding CA for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary party!!

Half way there!

2009-07-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Tim has been gone for a whole week, and will be gone until next Friday, so we are half way there. This week has been great! Joya has been fantastic and Timmy has been sleeping great, which makes me a happy and patient mommy!
Monday we stayed at home for the morning and played at the pool in the afternoon. Then I went to a new class I'm taking called a "mystery quilt class" and then went to workout, my mom watched the kids for me. I love the new class and am very excited to make the quilt. That night Timmy slept until 5 am and then went right back to sleep until 9. It was awesome!
Tuesday we went to the library and then to meet our MOPs friends at Central Park. Joya loves a little girl named Audry, but Joya calls her "Aud-th-ry", its very cute. I took the kids on a run and ended at the pool again! Then Joya and Timmy came with me to a planning meeting I had with three other ladies. We are planning a VBS type week for a low income area of Corvallis. I have planned for two days of the week and took on a little more than I thought I would but its ok and I am excited to put it on. That night Timmy again slept all night until 6 and then was up for 2 hours and then took a hour and a half nap.
Wednesday I took Joya and Timmy to the park and on a walk down by the river, we ended at Nana and Papa's house and played there a little while. I also mowed the lawn with Timmy on my back in the backpack, and Joya playing in the back yard. It went great until Joya swung the see saw and didn't watch it come back and hit her in the face...poor girl she has a nice fat lip now! I got to work out that night too, while Nana watched the kids. We thought Timmy would take a bottle from Nana, because he took a bottle once or twice before, but he wasn't going to have it! Nana called me and I had to come back a little earlier than planned. It was fine though. Timmy slept from 9 to about 1 and then cried until 2:30 when I finally gave in and nursed him.
Thursday we went grocery shopping in the morning, Joya was a great help. She put apples and nectarines in plastic baggies for me and held a box of cake mix through out the whole store. We also picked out new peepee and poopy treats for her...she needs a little more motivation to come in from outside playing to use the potty! We then went for a run and ended at Tia's house. the Kropaniki's are here visiting Christi from North Carolina. Deb said she was meeting Christi for lunch and asked if we wanted to come, so we went with Deb to have lunch with Chrsiti in Lebanon. We had a good time and both kids were tired and took great naps when we got home!
Timmy slept until 6 am again that night, again it was wonderful!!
Friday we woke up and hung around here for the morning, playing outside and watering all of Daddy's plants. Then I went and had a chiropractor appointment and Deb watched Joya for me, I took Timmy with me. While I was out and about the doctor's office called and told me that my insurance had dropped Timmy Jr. So I had to call and straighten all of that out and fax a copy of his birth certificate to them...as if the hospital bills weren't enough proof that he was born! We then went out to the Gradin's Arabian horse farm. We had a blast feeding and watching all of the horses and sheep. Joya also got to ride on little Gradin's (their grandson) four wheeler. We came back took a nice nap and then went for a bike ride after dinner. The day flew by! Timmy slept until 4 am and then was up for an hour and went back down until 8.
Today is Saturday and we went to Home Depo to get a sprinkler head that I ran over with the lawn mower, then we went to the Saturday market. In the car on the way there Joya asked me, "mom, whats there?" I told her there were fruits and vegetables and fun crafts. She asked if there was salad there, I said yes salad makings. Then she asked if Saturday was there. I started laughing and said that Saturday was the day of the week that the market is on, that they can't sell Saturday! I thought it was very cute!!
Tim will be home next Friday and I hope this next week goes by just as fast as this last week went!!

Last Weekend

2009-07-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the first time I left Timmy Jr. for a long time. We had a couple of busy days. It started with Tim taking Fri. off and spending the day with us because he left Sunday morning for two full weeks of training in Boston. So we spent Friday with him, not doing anything special, but it was just nice to have a family day knowing he is going to be gone a long time! Friday night was a horrible night with Timmy Jr. waking up every hour and by the morning I was exhausted!! So Tim gave me a nap in the morning and I woke up to the lovely tantrum of Joya Mae! Who knows what set her off this time, but she was screaming at my door and I woke up with a head ache! Tim had to pack for two weeks in two bags, which is challenging for a guy who's clothes are huge! I can do all my laundry for the week in one load, but it takes 2-3 loads for his clothes because they are so big. Anyway he got everything packed up and we went down to Eugene. We had lunch with Tim's folks and then left the kids with them while we went out to the Veneta house to clean it and get it ready for the next renters. I really like this next family that's moving in, they are moving from Idaho and seem like genuine people. On a side note, its hard renting out your house, its a true leap of faith in that family for them to keep the house in the condition I would keep it in!! Anyway we were out there for almost 3 hours doing yard work and I cleaned out the fish tank, which took me an hour, and washed all the base boards and walls...you never know how dirty something is until you start cleaning! Anyway then we went back to the In-Laws house to clean up for Tim's High School Reunion. We had a great time, it was fun to see everyone, and I would post pictures but Tim took the camera to Boston with him, so I will post them later! It was amazing to me how many people never left Eugene, are still single, and are very similar to how they were in high school.
Anyway we got home at 11ish and Tim had to fly out the next morning at 5am. It was a short night of sleep, we woke up at 3:50, and Tim woke everyone in the house up with showering and he dropped everything he had in his hands!!haha We got him off and Joya couldn't go back to sleep, so she was up from 5:30 on and so was I!
We are now on our own with out Tim until the 31st! It's a long time with out daddy, but we will manage. Joya misses him, she is mad at him for leaving and won't talk to him on the phone. I'm working on that everyday! We also thought we would be able to see each other over the web cam's but Tim is going to school from the time we wake up until after the kids nap time and then he goes to dinner and then to study sessions, he has very long intense days. But I hope that on Saturday or Sunday we can get the web cam's going and Joya will have a better attitude towards her daddy being gone!! I'm sure it doesn't make Tim feel good!

Here is a picture of Tim at training. He is working on a shoulder

Confessions of a Tired Mom!

2009-07-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here with a wide awake Timmy at 6:31am after being up with him every hour last night starting at 12:50am. He wasn't up with anything serious except that he kept loosing his pubby and needed it to get back to sleep. It was a hard night that followed two hard days of Joya and Timmy having fits. Timmy's fits were gas related and Joya has started having little tantrums! They are wearing and not fun in public as she displayed yesterday. So I have decided if the tantrum is small to just ignore it, as I do not want to give her any positive or negative feedback, if it escalates then I send her to her room until she cans stop crying and come out with a better attitude. She usually goes in there and lays on her bed with her pubby and does come back out with a better attitude for a while! If it is so out of control and she is being dangerous to herself or me, as she has started hitting then I have no other choice than to spank her and then put her in her room until she calms down. This has only happened once, but it has stuck with me and has been hard for me to forget. I know this is just a stage, but it is wearing on me and makes me sad that she acts like this. We were on a hike yesterday and I had both kids in the double jogger for a while and then I let Joya walk for a while too. While she was walking she went too far ahead of me and I called her back, she turned looked at me and then started running the opposite was of me. I had to run after her to catch her. It was so disobedient and so defiant that I was so mad at her. I told her because I could not trust her to walk with me that she had to get back in the buggy. She got back in, with a fight, I fed her a snack and then she acted as if nothing had happened. The day was perfect for her! Its amazing to me how fast she can turn her attitudes from defiant to compliant, its like she's bi-polar! I had to take her cue and let it go too, it was hard and I am glad we had a drive home from the hike so that I could cool down! Anyway its been two days in a row of all of that attitude and then I am not sleeping at night because of Timmy...I am tired, emotionally and physically. I wish that Tim would wake up early and refreshed and say, "you go back to bed for an hour, I'll take the kids." No such luck though! I am praying hard for myself and Joya today!Here are pictures from the wedding in Boise that we went to, we had a great time!
Timmy's first shoulder ride!

Joya and her cousin Josh loved playing together. Josh is 5 and did a great job of playing with Joya and keeping her in the boundaries I had set for her and keeping her out of the pond water...good job Josh!!

Here are the red heads together!! Jeff didn't know that Timmy has red hair and was joyfully surprised!! Evidently we forgot to tell him!

4th of July

2009-07-07T07:39:00.000-07:00

This last weekend for the 4th we went with my parents and aunt/uncle to the beach. The first night, like Bend, was horrible for Joya to fall asleep. Which inturn makes the next day so long and not really fun for anyone. That day was Saturday the 4th. and we got some good outlet shopping in, and some fun beach time in, and Joya fell asleep on the way to the outlet mall so Tim stayed in the car with her and I took Timmy shopping with me. She was asleep for a good 30 min, and then she woke up and they came in to join me. We shopped quick and then went home for lunch. We ate lunch and Joya tried going down for a nap and I did too, I fell asleep several times and was woke up several times by little Miss Mae waking me up. Anyway she didn't get a nap so by the time fireworks came she was a handful! We went to watch them on the beach and we had taken our chairs and some sand toys for Joya down earlier that day to reserve our seats. Its a good thing we did because by the time we got there at 9 the beach was packed. We stayed there until dark and then came home because we could not see any of the fireworks, it was so foggy. It was fun to watch other kids set off their fireworks both Timmy and Joya were just mesmerized by the lights of the fireworks. It was fun and a bust at the same time. We brought Joya home and washed her hands and feet and put her to bed. She fell asleep before we even finished praying! Timmy was up for just a little bit longer and then we all got a good night sleep! It was well needed. We went home the next day and after nap time on that day we all went for a nice long bike ride with Tia and our family and ended at the pool. We came home and BBQed and went to bed...another excellent night of sleep. Monday both kids were sick and we stayed home all day and rested. I caught up on laundry and cleaning!!
The last couple of weekends have been fun, but the first night is brutal with Joya not sleeping. I hope she gets better at sleeping in motel rooms!

A lot has happened...

2009-07-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since the last time I blogged. Joya has done excellent at her potty training. She loves wearing her big girl panties and loves to have a nuddie bottom when shes at home. I have dressed her in dresses because its easier to get to the toilet and go, and she loves wearing dresses! Shes such a girly girl!! Last Thursday the whole family drove to Eugene, Tim did some business there and once him and Paul were done with we drove to Bend. We got in around dinner time and went to Red Robin...one of our favorite places. Then back to the motel, which we had a suite room with Paul and Marilee. Needless to say Joya was too excited to go to bed, so she tormented us all until midnight when Tim took her out to the car and put her in her car seat and then drove around until she fell asleep!! It was a short night of sleep for me because 30 minutes after Tim got back with her, Timmy woke up! I slept very lightly because I didn't want Timmy to wake everyone up after Joya kept us all awake!

The next day Tim did business in Bend and then we drove to Boise. We got to Uncle Alan and Aunt Marie's house, in Kuna ID, for dinner and for Joya to play with cousin Josh, who flew in with Uncle Dan from Houston, TX. J So that night was a late night for Joya again. This time she tried pulling the same stunts as the night before but I told her I couldn't do it again and she had to lay down and go to sleep, or else... She did so and slept until 8 the next morning! It is so nice that Timmy is still small enough to cart him around anywhere and he can take a nap or sleep anywhere. Praise the Lord for that!
The next day we played with cousin Josh in the pool and then went to lunch with everyone which included Uncle Jeffrey, who evidently no one had told him that Timmy had red hair so he was pumped up for that! Sorry we forgot to tell you, I guess next time Uncle Jeffrey will have to come visit after the baby's born and not wait so long!!haha. The wedding was at 5pm at a local vineyard, it was a beautiful setting. There were a ton more kids Joya and Josh's age to play with there, most of them were from the Willis side of the family (Marilee's side), so it was fun for them to meet each other and get to play and run all evening. We finally left at 9ish when Josh and Joya were starting to loose it, both of them complained that their feet hurt from wearing their boots all day, I had taken my heals off, but Tim's feet hurt from his boots too! We went right to sleep that night after saying goodbye to Uncle Dan and Cousin Josh, and woke up the next morning to go have one last family time at Allan and Marie's house for breakfast. We hit the road by 10am and got into Eugene at 8pm. We stopped several times for Joya and Grandpa to use the bathroom, but the last hull was from Bend to Eugene and it was a long one. Timmy had decided he was done sitting in his car seat and let us all know that the whole way home (about 2.5hrs) That's when Joya wet her panties too. She had very minimal accidents with the potty training the whole weekend. The few accidents she had were while she slept in the car, and while playing with cousins, it was just too much fun to leave and go to the bathroom!
Anyway we had a wonderful weekend and now both kids are sick with head colds, so I know they had a great time too!
I will add pictures when I get them. We had everyone else take pictures for us and then they will give us copies soon.

Potty Training Round 2

2009-06-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while because Joya woke up last Wed. and said she is a big girl and didn't want to wear a diaper anymore she wanted to wear panties!! She made the decision and has gone with it. There was a build up to her decision, about two days before her birthday we went to some friends house for dinner. Their youngest boy is 2.5 yrs old and just potty trained and was telling Joya that Timmy is a baby because he wears diapers, and that he wasn't because he went pee pee in the potty. She listened to him and wanted to go pee in the potty that night, it wasn't a big deal we put her on the potty every night before bath time, so I didn't think anything about it. On her birthday she went to the doctor and the doctor told her she couldn't have her pubby outside of her bed because she was a big girl now. She also asked me if Joya was potty training, I said no, but I think it will be happening soon because she loves sitting on the potty! We had a fantastic birthday party and the next day she said, "I'm a big girl!" Se we went with it! She has done excellent! Saturday she didn't have one accident, Sunday was a mess! We set her up for failure there, because she is still in the "Starfish"room, there is no potty in there. I tried to come and take her to the potty every 20 min, but it was just a few minutes too late! She also pooped while she was there, which is normal, but it was not normal for it to run down her legs!! That was a huge mess! After church we went down to Eugene for Tim to see a good friend that was in town, and she did great all the way there and back! Monday she did not have an accident with peeing but she pooped on the rug and then made it to the potty the second time. She completely has the peeing down but the poop is another story. She even prayed for it last night to happen in the potty last night!

Here is a picture of where we have set up camp in the kitchen for her to have quick and easy access! Oh and the other big motivation is that she gets a m&m for every time she makes it in the potty. She gets several if she goes poop in the potty!!

This is a picture of the dress I made her. i got the fabric on clearance at JoAnn Fabrics for 3 dollars a yard. The dress cost me 2dollars and I had the ribbon for the straps!! I thought it was a cute dress. It has ballerinas on the bottom, and ballet shoes and crowns on the top...very cute and Joya loves it!

Joya is 2!

2009-06-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Joya's birthday, we celebrated with a Luau! This was Joya's idea after going to the OSU's Luau. We had a great time, it was close family and three of Joya's friends that we see on a weekly basis. We had a quick party from 5:30 to 7:30, we started with dinner; I made a teriaki chicken, rice, and cut up some fruit. It was a very simple menu. Then we quickly moved on to cake as it was tempting to all kids as it sat on the table we at our dinner at. Then it was on to presents, Tia just kept Joya busy with handing her one right after another so that she didn't get distracted with wanting to play with any of them. Joya got several nice outfits and wonderful toys...she's set for quiet a while! Then all the kids headed outside to play on Joya's new swing set(it's new to us). My father in-law found it at a garage sale for $25 and we re-painted it blue, it looks really nice now and the kids loved it!! Joya has pushed her boundaries with it, in swinging the teeter totter as hard as she and then standing there and letting it come back and hit her in the face!! She's still learning how strong she it! When all the kids were outside, I stayed in and fed Timmy, which was a nice break of quiet and relaxation after go, go, going all day!!
We started the morning with both kids having a doctors appointment, Joya's 2yr, and Timmy's 2 month. They both got shots! Timmy had three, one in each leg and then one oral. Then Joya got hers and she laid there very nice and still for them and then the lady was not good and re stuck her twice, but Joya did great. While the needle was in Joya screamed out, "Ouch that hurts a lot!" The nurse tried not to laugh because it did hurt, especially how she gave it to her. Joya cried hard and told me the bandaid was what was hurting her, so she wanted me to take it off. I took it off, showed her the little spots of blood and she told me she felt better and that is what was hurting her!! It was funny. Timmy is huge, he weighs 15lbs 13oz. and is 24.5 inches long, they didn't give me the percentages of that, but I am pretty sure he is up there!! Joya weighed 31lbs and 8oz and was 36inches tall!! They didn't give me the percentages of the her measurements either, but I will ask my sister if she knows what they are. Joya's doctor told her that her pubby has to stay in her bed from now on, now that she is 2. I prompted that conversation, but because a Doctor said it, she will do it!!

We then headed from the doctors to a new park over on that side of town with our MOPs group. For a while I thought I had the wrong park but then Diana showed up with her daughter Audrie, whom I think Joya is now in love with. Audrie did a great job of playing the Joya who is 2 yrs younger than her.

After the park it was home for lunch and then cleaning up and decorating!! Auntie Kalen came over to help me because I foresaw it being very difficult with both kids to get everything done in time, but of course since she came the kids were perfect. Timmy slept the whole time and Joya played outside on the swing set, until she went down for a nap. Then right when we were done with everything my mother in-law came and played with Timmy so I could get a shower and not smell bad for the party. I even got a little rest!!

WE ended the day by putting both kids in the bath. Then we got Joya ready for bed by the usual reading and praying with her. After an hour of her talking and calling us back into the room we invited her to come out and watch a little TV with us and relax. It took her a long time to wind down. We put her back in bed at 9:50 and finally after 10:15 we didn't hear her talking anymore. She is now up at 7:30 like usual...it could be a long day, but it was worth it!

A few Firsts...

2009-06-05T08:59:00.001-07:00

Timmy can now support himself enough to sit in the exersaucer, which we call the poops-a-saucer. Joya loves to run around him and make everything make noise and rattle...what a great big sister to entertain him!

The kiddos had their first bath together last night! Joya loved it and Timmy could have cared less. I wanted to go running last night, so this was the most efficient way to bathe both kids in a minimal amount of time!

I thought this was funny, I put Timmy in Joya's Elmo seat and she moved Timmy's seat next to him and crawled into it. I thought, what is wrong with this picture?

This is Joya with her new costume and doing her ballet, she first does a plea and then an arabesque.

This is a video of Timmy smiling and cooing, its very cute!

Its been a while!

2009-05-31T22:07:00.001-07:00

So it has been a while since my last blog and a lot has happened since then. Tim has started his new job and is liking it. He goes to hospitals all over and watches knee and shoulder surgeries. He is building relationships with the doctors and their staff. He has made his first sale in Eugene to Slocum Surgery Center!! It wasn't a huge sale, but it is a start!! Tim fills his spare time with basketball, and two softball leagues. He is having a blast and filling that competitiveness that is now not being fulfilled with football. He is also training for a weight lifting competition, which up until his last lift he was ready for, but in his last lift he felt another pop on his hammy. The competition is next weekend, so we will see if he is ready or not.

Joya is doing great she fills her time with playing in the back yard, which she weekly looses her privileges out there by putting something in her mouth she is not supposed to!! She is still doing gymnastics, story time at the library, and now is swimming at Papa and Nana's pool. She has learned that she can swim by herself with the floaties on her arms...and she will remind anyone that "I do this by myself!" We had our last MOP's of the year last week and had a great time with a bouncy house. If you ask Joya how old she is she will tell you, "I'm almost two!" She will also tell you her birthday is "June nineff." She knows she is getting a swing set, that we are repainting, and wakes up wanting to go outside to see it! This picture is of Timmy sleeping and Joya wanted to put her babies to sleep next to Timmy...its probably not the last time Timmy will have to play with her dolls!

Timmy last night slept for 7 and a half hours!! I feel like a new woman, we will see if this is the beginning of sleeping through the night or a fluke. He loves to play under a little gym and has started playing in the exersaucer, which we named the poops-a-saucer with Joya and it is keeping its name with Timmy! He loves smiling at everyone and Joya loves making him smile at her. He is a way better sleeper than Joya ever was at this age. Timmy has been put on acid reflux medication and it seems to be helping. It is a peppermint flavored liquid that he takes twice a day. He gets a horrible look on his face whenever he gets it, but swallows it anyway. He lately is not liking his pubby(pacifier) and is preferring his first finger on his right hand...I am not a big fan of finger suckers!!!

I took the kids to the zoo a couple of weeks ago, with Christi, Kalen, and my dad. We had a great time and Joya loves the animals. Timmy did great and slept until we got there and was awake most of the time we were there and then slept the whole way home.

As for me, I am finally getting to work out and run, which makes me feel better, even if I don't loose any weight! I am excited to do a mystery quilt this summer, I also want to take a cake decoration class, logistics have not been figured out for that yet!! We are looking for houses right now and have an option, but the house needs some work! We will see!! I have taken on a leadership position for MOPs next year and we had a planning meeting yesterday, Joya got to spend the day with her Daddy and Timmy was with me. I know I have forgotten a lot, but its a quick update!!

1st Pub!

2009-05-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

Joya had her first pub on Monday. We were at a trial gymnastics class when a reporter was doing a story on The Little Gym, the place we were doing the class at. Anyway the photographer recognized Tim, and took some pictures of him and Joya on the bars and all over the gym. The article was about the family who started The Little Gym and what they do there for the community. We have enrolled Joya in the last five weeks of the spring session and she is loving it!! They sing songs and get to play on all of the equipment. It is a lot of fun for her to explore, climb, and be daring while getting out a lot of energy! It is great especially since the weather has been rainy!

Pictures

2009-05-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

Friday I went out for a Mom's Night Out with the girls...and Timmy. Joya and Tim went out on a father-daughter date. They went out to dinner and then to a volleyball tournament. Joya loved watching the girls and loved running all over the in-door facility. Then her and Tim went out to the fields and ran and ran! They got home late and then we all got up then text morning and went down to Eugene to have breakfast with Tim's family and to go to JC Penny's to have pictures taken. Timmy is 6weeks and Joya is 23 months, the pictures were Timmy's first and Joya's 2year pictures. After a frustrating photo session due to the photographer not letting us do what we wanted to, like taking pictures with Toby, and having Joya in the rocking chair by herself. We were glad some of the pictures turned out really cute!!

Then we went back to Tim's parents house to celebrate Mothers day with his mom and to celebrate Grammy's 85th birthday. Great Grandma was there too. We think it is so cool that Joya and Timmy have met their great grandma's, we never had that.
Today was a great day, it started off with Tim taking all of us out to breakfast, then we went to church. We then celebrated mothers day with my family with a fantastic lunch that Tim, my sister and sister-in-law made. We had a great time!! Tim got me a "T" charm for my charm bracelet and a couple of yankee candles and he cleaned the house...I have had a great day!

Everyone has been making comments about how big Timmy looks, well we weighed him today and he is 13lbs 4oz. He is a chunk!!

Tim has a JOB

2009-04-28T21:11:00.000-07:00

This Saturday is Tim's last game to coach in. He has taken a job in the medical devices field. He will be selling screws and pins for joints to surgeons. He is very sad to leave coaching, especially at OSU, but excited to start this new hase of life!!

He's a Big Guy!

2009-04-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Timmy is now over 10lbs!! I can't believe it, he has grown so much in the last 5 weeks! We are still struggling with colds in our house, Joya seems to be the only healthy one right now!! Tim and I still have a sore throats and Timmy is still congested. But we are doing good, and we are making it through day by day!

Saturday Great grandma came to visit with Grandma and Grandpa. Great Grandma hadn't seen Timmy yet, so she saw him and held him for a long time!

Saturday night we went to a Luau at OSU. Tim, Timmy and I went to the dinner and the show, but my mom brought Joya for just the show part. She loved it, she says her favorite parts were the blue dancers, the fire dancers, and the purple girls. She also loved watching the girls with the spinning balls!! The picture is of Joya putting dollar bills on the stage for the dancers, it's a Hawaiian tradition.

Yesterday after Tim's practice we went out to the Gradin's Arabian Horse farm. Joya loves looking at the horses and they even had a philly that was only one day older than Timmy, so that was fun to see.

Today we had MOPs, which I love to have that time with my friends and with out Joya. I also love for Joya to have that time with other children her own age. Unfortunately she hit a little girl today. She tells me she pushed her, but the workers told me she hit her. Anyway she had to apologise and then she gave the little girl her dolly. She's been really physical lately, she doesn't know her own strength but I really think she is just testing the waters to see what she can get away with and what her consequences are. This was the first incidence at MOPs but we have been dealing with it at home a lot. She has to learn to be gentle around Timmy and learn to control her temper and her hands.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to take both of them grocery shopping...should be fun!!

Pictures from Today

2009-04-16T11:57:00.001-07:00

Here is Timmy holding my wedding ring, I just wanted to capture how little he is. He has already gotten so big!

Timmy closed his eyes every time the flash went off, sorry you don't get to see the dark blues!

A little photo shoot, Joya and Timmy were matching, and Toby was laying next to Timmy on the couch. So I put Joya up there and this is the best picture that came out of the several I took.

Joya is giving Timmy a kiss, which is how he got sick in the first place!! I do love that she wants to show him her love!

Easter

2009-04-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was Easter, we tried explaining why we celebrate Easter to Joya, I am not sure she got any of it. She would tell people "Happy Easter and He is Alive." But, I think she was just repeating what she had heard. I guess we have to start somewhere, and even though she didn't real;y get it, she might next year. The weekend started on Friday night with Joya and Nana dipping egg shaped rice crispy treats in chocolate and sprinkles. The sprinkles were in the shapes of eggs, hearts, butterflies.

What she did get is how to hunt for Easter eggs. She had a great time and every morning since Saturday we have started our day with an egg hunt. It is funny how excited she gets when she finds an egg. On Saturday we went to one of our Family Foundations group members house. They have a 2acre piece of land, with some of it being an old christmas tree farm. We went there for brunch and an egg hunt. We had a great time getting to know more people in the group, since we are new to it! We also had a great time watching Joya hunt for eggs. She found about 8 and her basket was full, so we would say "Oh Joya your basket is full, let me hold some eggs for you." Then we would take half of them out and re-hide them for her. Sometimes it didn't work out, other kids would come and get them, but some of the older kids caught on to what we were doing and helped Joya find the eggs we hid. She loved it and it wasn't too bad taking the whole family out!

On our way home we stopped at the fair grounds because OSU's agg. department was selling their baby animals. We stopped by, just to see them and our neighbor, Mr. Matt. He works in that department at OSU and invited us to the viewing. He knew Joya loves animals!

The next day was Easter, so we packed everyone up again and went to church. Timmy did excellent, he was mostly quiet during the service. Then we hit Starbucks on the way home for a treat for Tim and I and I needed to feed Timmy. Joya loves to go to Starbucks with her daddy because he gets her strawberry milk, when she goes with me she only gets water!! Her daddy loves to spoil her! Then we spent the day at my parents house until Joya melted down at 6:30. We came home and put her to bed!!

Monday and Tuesday came and went for us, we all have head colds and the kids are not sleeping!! Joya slept better last night, but I was up with Timmy every 2 hours. He is just starting his cold and Joya, surprisingly, seems like hers is passing through fast. Tim is sick, and I am just tired, it may hit me later, or this is the same cold I had when Timmy was born! Monday was Timmy's first real bath. He screamed and then liked it after he was completely emerged in the water. I can't remember much from the last few days, but his bath was fun, especially when he soaked the counter by peeing a nice fountain on it. The pictures is not a good one of me, but it is the only one that didn't have Timmy's package out in the open!

Big Timmy

2009-04-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

Timmy had his 2week appointment today, he weighed in at 9lbs.5oz. Today was his original due date, so I am pretty sure that's how much he would have weighed. He is a eating machine, he nurses every hour and a half to two hours. I asked the doctor if I could make him weight for three hours, she said go for it. She also said that if I establish a routine in the day it will transfer to night. So far the only routine we have is he is hungry and I feed him...often! His jaundice is gone and his circumcision is healing nicely. He has a little infection on his rear from diaper rash. He rashed and blistered and now has an infection, the doctor called in some antibiotic cream that I have to apply three times a day. She also thinks it will get better when I can give him a real bath, right now he gets birdy baths because his cord hasn't fallen off. Joya calls the cord a snake, or as she says"nake." It kind of looks like snake scales.

Joya stayed with Papa today when I took Timmy in. She had a good time and learned how to salute. Papa was in the Marines and then was a police officer for 35years, his name is actually Papa Sir. I got the salute on video, but have not downloaded it, I will soon.

I am tired and need to get ready for bed, so that when I feel the little guy next I can go to bed too!!

Joya the Big Sister

2009-03-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Joya is doing awesome as a big sister. There is some jealousy but not of Baby Timmy, its of not having me, she and I miss our one on one time. She is adjusting better than I thought she would though. Her and I got to spend some time outside and color on seashells with side walk chalk and walk around the house like we used to on nice days! We didn't stay outside for long because I got cold and started to tighten up, so we had to go inside. It's hard for me too, my instinct is to pick Joya up and love on her!! I want to have time with just her and I but I can't take her anywhere, because I'm not allowed to drive. I can't lift her up, so I can't even have alone time to change her diaper, unless I do it on the floor! It's a hard time, but I am healing a whole lot faster than the last one and feel like in a couple of weeks I will be good to go!!

Joya got to hold Baby Timmy today, which was a highlight...we all stood by holding our breathes!! She did a good job. It's very cute how she touches him very gently and always talks to him in a high pitched voice!

She read to him yesterday, and likes to touch and say hi to him any time she passes him, or notices him. She is very sweet!

She also is including Timmy in her pretend play. She goes into her kitchen and makes Tim and I coffee and different meals all the time, but today she made Timmy some coffee and then fed it to him. That's what she's doing in the first picture there.

I think she likes being a big sister,and I know she loves having Nana and Grandma here to pay her some special attention!

1st Day Home

2009-03-27T17:51:00.000-07:00

We have been home now for over 24hours!! We were happy to come home yesterday even though TJ has jaundice. They sent us home under the conditions of having a home visit for TJ to be checked. A nurse came today around 11, and said he looked pretty good. Joya and my mom played in her room while TJ and I were checked out by the nurse. She had a lot of good info. for me, but she did say that she didn't recommend a pacifier, but i begged a differ!! We gave him and Joya a pacifier right away because they suck consistently, and if they don't have a pacifier, then I am their pacifier...not going to happen!!

Joya got to go with her daddy to the gymnastics practice today. She had a blast, she got to do the balance beam, bars, the rope, and got to do "flip flops" or summer saults on the mat. She loved it and fell asleep on the way home from working so hard!!

TJ has had a good day. He has slept most of the day. He loves to eat, hates to be changed, and loves to have his sister talk to him. He does not open his eyes very much, he mainly sleeps and eats!!

Its a Boy!!

2009-03-25T10:55:00.001-07:00

We are proud to announce the birth of T.J. Euhus, or as Joya calls him "Timmy". He was born at 8:16am on the 24th. He was 8lbs.9.4oz. and 21inches long. Auntie Christi guessed the exact weight and height and sex...she wins!!

Joya Talking

2009-03-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

I tried several times to download a video that is so funny of Joya. I asked her her name and she told me Jack Bauer. We do not let her watch 24, but Tim always says "Jack Bauer is my hero." Anyway it was too large to download successfully. So I taped her again and this is her talking about her favorite movie Madagascar.

We are enjoying our last few days of just us and Joya. I have been really tired and it shows in Joya. I am ashamed to say that I have let her watch a lot of TV. I have let her watch TV everyday for the last few days and yesterday I let her watch almost an hour and a half of TV yesterday morning!!! That is a lot for her and a lot for me to let her watch. It showed up in her nap!! She decided to sing and talk to her animals instead of taking a nap. She was completely compliant in staying in her bed, which I am proud of her for, but talked for an hour and forty five min. I take full responsibility for that, she obviously did not get enough energy out to nap and therefore I did not get a nap. Which for me, it is very important, I am not sleeping well at night so I need a little half day pick me up!! I am going to do better, and it will help when the weather turns nice and we can go outside in the morning as well as the afternoon!

Grabbing the bull by the horns!

2009-03-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

We had one nice day last week and so Joya and I walked to the park. On our way back our neighbors had their bull out and was practicing lasso. Joya watched for a long time, and then asked them if she could touch the bull. They of course said yes and then brought out a little rope for her to try it. It was very cute. she kept saying that they were playing jump rope with the bull. We stayed outside for almost an hour with them and playing with the bull. It was very nice of them to let her join in their fun!!

For all of you wondering I go in 8 days to have the baby. I will go in on the 24th at 6am and the baby will be taken out at 7:30am!! My mom is going to spend the night with us and so we won't have to wake Joya up, she can sleep and wake up at her normal time. Then Nana (my mom) can feed her breakfast and get her ready and bring her over to the hospital to meet the baby....that is of course if she is healthy. She just started vomiting today at the grocery store!! That was fun!! Now she is watching her new favorite move, Madagascar, and falling asleep!! Anyway here is a picture of me at the coast last weekend, when I only had 2.5 weeks left!! I know I am huge, but I am pretty sure this baby will be big, just like Joya was!!

Thinking of Daddy

2009-03-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

Today Joya and I went to the library for story time and to get books about becoming and being a big sister. She found books that we haven't checked out in a long time, but that her and her Daddy loved reading together. Anyway she found them and said "Daddy read, daddy read this one." She remembered that she and her Daddy liked that book and wanted to ready it with him again. She also got a book that has the BINGO song in it and she said "I know this one." After we went to the library we stopped by Daddy's work for lunch and Joya insisted that I bring in the Bingo book for her Daddy to read to her. It was very sweet. She is loving her "Daddy time", which is awesome because there was a time when she was an infant that she wouldn't go to her daddy without screaming!! I love that she wants to spend more and more time with Tim and that she and him have special times. They have a game called drying time. After a bath or shower, he wraps he up in a towel, puts her on the bed and drys her off with the towel while playing peek-a-boo and singing "drying time, drying time." Then she rolls over and he chases her on the bed, while she says"get the bummy, get the bummy." It's funny and cute to watch! They also have a game of "hop on pop", you can probably guess, she jumps on him as he lays on the floor. She loves it, he always looks a little pained, but he lets her do it anyway because she loves to wrestle with him.

Girly Girl

2009-03-03T09:06:00.000-08:00

I went last week to have a pedicure with my sister, my sister in-law babysat (thanks Kalen). Anyway, when I got back Joya noticed that my toenails were pink! She commented on them for several days and yesterday I asked her if she wanted her toenails painted? She of course said "yes!!" So we went to my bathroom and I let her pick out the color she wanted...it was a bright red with sparkles called "firecracker". I painted her toenails and she stayed so still for me...it was amazing how quiet and still she was. After I was done painting I used the hairdryer to dry her toenails and she stayed still for that too! She loves her red toenails and likes to show everyone, including taking off her socks and shoes for everyone and anyone to see!!

Here are her toes for all of you to see!!

A Failed Attempt!!

2009-02-25T20:14:00.000-08:00

So today was a big day...we were starting potty training!! Joya was very excited to go pee pee in the potty and to wear her big girl panties, that have Elmo on them. After she peed through the fourth pair, I was wondering if this was a good idea. She did make it to the potty several times but I also changed her wet panties 7times!! I would ask her if she had to go and instead of running to the potty, she would try to go right then and pee herself. Tomorrow I will just take her to the potty and then ask her if she has to go...hopefully that will eliminate some of the accidents! After her nap she got up, went on the potty, tried to go but couldn't. I then went to the bathroom and while I was in there she started crying so hard. She peed her pants and had a major meltdown!! So we got cleaned up and then she said, "No more big girl panties, no more!" At that point her and I had enough!! We only had an hour and a half until swimming lessons so I just put her in a diaper. She was happy and I told her she did a great job today and we can try again tomorrow!!
It was a hard day with a lot of tears, hopefully tomorrow will go better!!

Aquarium

2009-02-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday Tim, Joya, and I went to the Aquarium in Newport. We had a blast!! We left the house at 8:30am and arrived just a little bit before they opened at 10, after a much needed stop at Starbucks!! Joya got to see the Otters and Sea Lions being feed, which was a good show. If you ask Joya about her favorite part she will say the Sharks and touching the sharks and rays, which she calls "hoorays". Yes that's right she got to touch a little shark and ray in a small tank. The aquarium also had a walk through tunnel that has the sharks and all around you. Joya liked watching the sharks swim under and above her. She also got to see an octopus and lots of fish. She really liked the orange fish. We had fun!! After the aquarium we went to lunch and then to the beach. We almost lost Toby with in a tide pool and a wave...a bad combination while chasing a seagull!!! After the beach we got in the car and drove home, Joya and I slept almost the whole way home!!!

Fun with Cousin Josh!

2009-02-22T19:40:00.000-08:00

Tim's brother Dan and his son Josh came into town for a quick trip. Dan received a very nice award from Oregon State University as a promising engineer. He also did some business while he was here. He brought Josh as a fun thing for him to get away and have special time with just his daddy, and not twin babies at home!! Anyway Joya and Josh had a great time playing together. Every time they get together its better because Joya is more capable and able to do more and play better with Josh(who's 4). They came in late Thursday night and went straight to bed. Then Friday Dan had to work until 2ish so Josh and Joya got to play that whole time together. Tim's parents came up and spent time with both grandkids, which I am certain they LOVED!! Since they were up here, Tim and I left Joya and Josh with them to go to my doctors appointment. We came back, picked everyone up and went to Joya's friends birthday party...Caden was turning 4 too. Then we came back ate lunch and let them play a little longer until Josh had to go meet his dad on campus. It was good timing because Joya needed a nap, but would not have gone down easily with all of the fun company we had!! After Joya's nap everyone came back to get dressed for the big awards banquet. Everyone but Joya, Josh and myself, we got to stay home and have a picnic on the floor and watch a movie. They both agreed on watching the Pirates that Don't Do Anything; A Veggie Tales Movie. That was fun and then they took a bath together, I got them those capsules that you soak, and become a sponge shaped as and animal. There were a ton, so we split them up and Josh got to take his half home with him. Then they both went to bed, Josh was a sleep right away, since it was 7:30 our time and 9:30 his time!! Joya on the other hand had an extremely hard time falling asleep, she was up until almost 9:15, which is when everyone came home from the banquet. The next day was Saturday and our last day with Josh and Dan. We had a good big breakfast with grandparents and all and then we played some GIJoes and Wii. The GIJoes were Dan and Tim's when they were little boys, Grandpa has kept them all these years, and now Josh got to take some home with him, since he is way into them. Although I am not sure who was having more fun Josh or Dan and Tim strolling down memory lane!! We then all packed up and went to an awesome park we have in town. We played there for a good while then hit the book store at the University and then to lunch at Taco Time for Dan to get his Crispy Meat Burrito fix. They don't have Taco Time in Texas!! Back home again for a nap for Joya while the boys went out shopping, and when they came home we had to wake Joya up for her to say good-bye to Josh and Dan. She keeps talking about Josh being here and going to the park with him, so I think she liked having him here and playing with him. Both kids did a wonderful job sharing with each other and being kind to one another!! I was very proud of both of them!!

Working

2009-02-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

I am not used to working full time!!
I have been subbing for my mom. It was three days last week and two days this week. I am not used to working and am so tired when I come home at the day! I give props to any working moms.
First of all it is so hard to get up in the morning, get myself ready, Joya ready and get me out the door by 7. Luckily my mother in-law came to stay with us, so I didn't have to get everything done with Joya in the morning because she was staying at home with Grandma. But usually I have to get her into the car to take her to Grandma's or Papa's house for her to be there for the day while I sub. I love subbing once I am there, but it is hard to leave Joya, especially when she is crying for me not to go!!
This is probably my last week of subbing, I have 4 weeks until the baby comes and unless its a half day, I think I am done!! When I was pregnant with Joya, I subbed up until the week before she was due!! This time around I am too tired! By Friday I was having contractions and I had to call the doctor, she just told me to rest and the contractions went away!!
I have two more days and then I am done...I can do it!! I feel like a wimp saying this because a lot of women work while they are pregnant and have kids at home. I am just not used to it, and I am so thankful that I don't have to work!! I love staying at home with Joya!!!

Cousins Having Fun

2009-02-11T11:15:00.000-08:00

My sister, Heather, and her daughter, Violet, came to Oregon for a nice visit. Violet is only 2 months older than Joya, so it was a fun visit for the girls to play together and for us sisters to share our stories. This was also the first visit for Heather to do with Violet not being in a crib...it went pretty well, there was only a few times that she maybe wished she was still in a crib. Like the time Violet jumped into bed and hit her head on the wall , giving her a huge goose egg right before going to bed for the night!

I think the girls had fun together. Violet taught Joya to do a summer sault, which Joya calls a "flip flop". She calls them that because we have taken her to two gymnastics meets at OSU. She loves to watch the girls for just a few minutes, then find Benny the Beaver, and then probably her favorite part is Daddy gets her dessert!

Anyway Joya and I would spend most of the days with Violet and Heather at my parents house. We had a blast and here are a few pictures to prove it!! The picture of the girls in their matching dresses was a fun day. We were going to take the girls down to Eugene to JC Penny's photo studio, but Violet was not feeling good, I wasn't feeling good, and we didn't know how we were going to get the girls to sit still for the camera!! So we decided to try it our selves, with the distraction of a movie!! We took over 30 pictures and only 1 turned out good...I am so glad we didn't drive all the way to Eugene for 1 picture!! I was very happy with the 1 we did get!!

Big Girl Panties!

2009-02-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

Joya saw her Elmo panties on her dresser this morning and wanted to wear them. So this morning I let her wear them for 3 hours or so. We ran back and forth from the potty several times. She never went in the potty, but she never went in her panties either!! Every time she sat on the potty, she would get up and say "nothing". It was good practice for her to put her panties up and down, it takes some practice. She would not put pants on ever her panties, but I knew we were only going to wear the panties for a short time this morning, so it was ok with me.

This evening she wanted to wear them again and she did great!! She told me she had to go poopy, so we went and she pooped on the side of the training potty! We were very excited though, and praised and praised her for telling mommy and then going on the toilet!! I left it there and took her to her room to clean her up. While I was gone, Toby ate her poop, which grossed me out!! She pooped again in the toilet about 20 min later, this time it was in the big potty!! So here is a picture of her next to the potty and then she got to flush it!!

We are very proud of her!!

Cracking me up!!

2009-02-04T20:07:00.000-08:00

Joya has been cracking me up! She has some hilarious one liners. I thought I would just share a few with you!! Today she sneezed, and then said, "bottom". I said what about your bottom, she told me, "sneezed out my bottom." I don;t know if that means she peed while she sneezed or if she had some gas at the same time as her sneeze, either way it cracked me up!!

She has also told Toby to go into a time out!! That was really funny because she pointed to the time out chair for him to go to!!

When we got her big girl bed, we had it in the family room, just on the floor for her to play on for a day before it went into her room. It was right before bath time, so she was a nudy, I told her whatever you do, don't go pee pee on the bed. She stood up said pee pee, and then pushed her pee out. She peed right on the bed!!

She, for some reason, thinks the word "disobeying" is funny, so anytime I use it when punishing her she starts laughing!! IT makes it very hard to punish a 19month old when she is laughing. Speaking of punishing her, I was talking to her while she was in a time out. I told her to look me in the eyes, she looked at me, pointed to my eyes and then said"green". "Mommy eye green." It was hard not to laugh during that one, Tim couldn't contain himself, he started laughing!!

Anyway Joya is a delight and she has some great one liners!!

The zoo

2009-01-29T20:52:00.000-08:00

Joya, my sister and I went to the zoo last weekend. Joya can't stop talking about all of the animals she saw!! She talks about the polar bears, penguins, zebras, monkeys, and the elephants. We had a wonderful time, it was cold but we all bundled well. We also met my cousin and his family there. I think Joya had a better time than all of us,w e have all been to the zoo before and Joya was taking it all in for the first time. This was not her first time to the zoo, but this is the first time she has cared!! The picture is of my sister, who Joya calls Tia, and Joya on a statue of the baby elephant. The baby was just born this summer and was very cute!!

Big Girl Bed

2009-01-29T20:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we put Joya's big girl bed in her room and I gave her the choice at nap time which bed she wanted to sleep in. She choose her big girl bed after playing on it all morning. I put her in her bed and told her it was nappy time and that she needed to stay in her bed. She is allowed to bring any toys or books she wants to on her bed, but then has to stay on her bed for nap time. I put her in her bed, and left the room leaving her door open a crack. I watched through her door and she paced back and forth crying, on and off her bed. She cried for an hour and then finally laid down on her bed and fell asleep for almost an hour. That night she cried for 5 min. and never got out of bed. She slept all night until 6:30 the next morning, she did so good. Today during nap time I told her it was nap time and she ran to her big girl bed saying "big girl big girl" the whole way down the hall. She talked me into reading her a story and then I told her she needed to get into bed, she got on her bed and came right down asking for the book we had just read, so I gave that to her and she got in her bed with the book. Again I left her door open a crack to see what she would do, but she stayed in her bed and slept for 2 and a half hours!!! That is an amazing nap for her but she also stayed in her bed which was awesome! Tonight we put her to bed and it was just like putting her in her crib, we read stories, put her to bed, prayed over her and then left the room. We haven't heard a word from her since and its been 45 min. I think its safe to say she fell asleep right away!! I have been waiting a half hour past her normal bed and nap times to put her down, so that she is really tired!! But I am very please with how she is doing!! It is going a whole lot better than I thought it would!!

Imaginary Play

2009-01-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

Since Christmas Joya's imaginary play has taken off!! I don't know if it is from being around older kids or if we gave her more tools to play with. She got a kitchen from us and lives in there every day!! She also got a doctors kit from her grandparents. She likes to listen to everyone's "heartbeep". She even listens to her dolls, her bucky horse, Toby, and my baby "heartbeep". Here is a picture of Joya listening to the baby's "heartbeep". It is very cute, but she can't ever listen to the heartbeat through my shirt, she lifts up my shirt to listen!!

8 weeks and counting down!!

2009-01-22T12:30:00.000-08:00

I can not believe we have 8 weeks before the baby is here!! I am 30 weeks and still growing large!! Last week at my doctors appointment I measured 33 when I was 29 weeks. You are supposed to match what week you are. That being said she, the doctor, was no longer concerned that I only gained 1lb last month!! Its kind of nice this time around not gaining a ton and feeling huge, although I still feel large, I know I haven't gained even half of what I did last time around!
Back to only having 8 weeks, I don't have anything in the room done, in fact it is still fully the office. We packed up the book shelf last week, but nothing else has been done. I have picked out the bedding my mom is going to make, it is a cute lamb quilt. I will make the bed skirt and valance for the window but I don't see that happening anytime soon either! I guess I am kind of waiting for Tim's future to be known first...is he going to GA again?, will he find a job coaching?, or another kind of job?...will we be moving before the baby comes? There is no point to setting up a nursery to just pack it up and move it before the baby comes, even though I really want everything set.
One major thing that has to happen before we set up the nursery is we have to move Joya into a big girl bed!! We are getting a mattress next week and I think I am going to take Joya with me to pick out her own bedding!! That will be fun for her, and yes I could make her one, but I think it would be really fun for her to see it in a store and pick it out herself, bring it home and put it on her brand new bed!!! I'm sure I will update everyone as to how that situation goes!!
Oh and for those of you wondering, Toby is fine from the "Oh Poop" incident!! He was sick for a few days along with my parents and sisters dogs. So they either all got into something or they had a nice little doggy virus going on!!

Joya is wearing a ponytail!!

2009-01-19T12:02:00.000-08:00

I am so excited that Joya can finally wear a ponytail!! She likes to look at herself in the mirror when she has it in. Today I tried pigtails!! She looks so cute!! Her hair is so pliable that when she takes her ponytail out, her hair stays straight up as if there is still a rubber band in. I thought you all would enjoy it too!! The first picture is of Joya showing her hair after wearing a ponytail, her hair stays up and we call her a roster. The second picture if you look closely she has pigtails in...that was from today!!

Red Door Shower

2009-01-19T11:54:00.000-08:00

When I was in college I lived with 6 girls and we lived in a house with a red door, so we were called the red door girls. Anyway there are several of us who have been in and out of that house, 8 of us are still in contact and try to get together on a yearly or bi-yearly basis. Well 6 of us our pregnant and all due with in 4 months of each other. So we had one big shower together in Portland yesterday, it was so much fun!! The picture is of the 4 of us who could make it to the shower, the first is Kari who is due first in Feb. then me in March, then Janae in April and the last is Hannah who is due in May. There were two more girls who couldn't make it to the shower one girl lives in California and the other lives in Bend, OR. Anyway we had a great time!!

"Got it!"

2009-01-15T08:39:00.000-08:00

While we were in El Paso, Joya heard and repeated "dang it". She repeated it several times and Tim thought it was funny so he laughed and of course it stuck in her little brain as funny. Well since then she has said it several times and now Tim is not laughing anymore!!
Joya and I were sitting around the dinner table with my parents and my sister and Joya said dang it. Everyone just looked at me and I had been telling Joya that it is inappropriate for her to say that. Anyway she said it, I told her to that was inappropriate for her to say that and if she said it again she would get a time out with out her pubby. I said this all in a very stern voice. She looked at me and then looked around the table at everyone else, she looked back at me and I said "do you understand me." She looked away and then back to me and said "GOT IT!" We all started laughing so hard, I was crying, I was laughing so hard!! Had to share these moments of Joya and her language development!!

3 in one day!

2009-01-08T21:48:00.000-08:00

So Joya has not slept through the night since we got home on Monday. I thought it was because she was adjusting back to being at home after staying in our hotel room, and then in Uncle Jeffrey's bathroom while we were in the room next to her. Anyway last night she woke almost every hour. I could not figure out what was going on, and this morning I saw a molar coming through on the top left side of her gums. So I gave her some Motrin and she took almost a 3 hour nap. After the nap I looked in her mouth again, which is not easy to do, and there were 2 more molars coming in on the bottom one on each side. Poor kid, I didn't know she was in so much pain!! So now she is on Motrin and gets popsicle too!! I am hoping she sleeps through the night though, because he mommy needs to sleep!!!!