Big Bear....finally!!!

Yes, yes, I know we've been back from our little mini-vacation for over a week and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. What can I say? Oh, that's right. I have two CRAZY toddler boys to chase around all day long (and clean up after). :)

Well our trip began Wednesday afternoon, Sept 2nd. We set off at nap time, hoping our sweet little boys would be lulled to sleep by the nice noise of the freeway and the lullaby music on the radio. NO SUCH LUCK. Both little stinkers stayed awake the ENTIRE drive to Big Bear. And Eli capped off his performance by throwing up three times on the drive. What a way to start the trip, huh? Don't you fret. It only gets better from here!

So we FINALLY arrived at the cabin. We unloaded stuff so Eli could nap (he will self-destruct if he doesn't sleep SOME in the afternoon) and put him down in his Pack N Play where he promptly knocked out. Off Jayden and Dan went to the store to grocery shop.

Now, a couple days before we went up there Dan's dad had let him know we might need to have a plumber come out to check on the water heater. Didn't seem like a big deal. So the plumber arrived while Dan and Jayden were at the store. So here we are in the mountains, calling a plumber. What would you expect? A middle aged or older man, maybe a little hickish...you know, your stereotypical plumber. Yeah, not so much. We got a pimple-faced twenty year old. It was so strange!! He examined everything and concluded that we had a clog in the gas line and we wouldn't have heat or hot water until the next day, when "the propane guy" could come out to take a look. WHAT?!!?!

So at this point we realize it very well could get quite cold in the night and we probably shouldn't stay. Now, let me share with you that by this time, the boys had eaten dinner and were needing baths and bed- FAST!! So here we are, bedtime approaching, realizing we can't stay at the cabin that night. Dan got on the phone to our timeshare company and booked us into their Big Bear location that night. Praise God!! But everything had been unloaded. So we ran around like chickens with our heads cut off, packing up everything, loading the boys up, etc. We got out the door in under 20 minutes! We are awesome! We arrived at the timeshare, which was AWESOME and checked into our spacious three-bedroom apartment, number 163.

We bathed the boys and put them to bed. Dan and I then had a few drinks, relaxed, and watched a movie. We passed out around 10 only to be woken up by Jayden in the middle of the night. He woke up and was terrified. So after a long hour or so with him, he went back to sleep and so did we.

The next morning we packed up AGAIN (although I did get to go run at the fitness center that morning which was AWESOME) and headed back to the cabin.

But not before Dan and Jayden did a little playing outside (how cute do they look in this first one?).


"The propane guy" came and said, "Well, it would help if your propane tank was ON. Did you pay this plumber?" So thankfully nothing was wrong at all and he didn't even charge for the visit. That afternoon, Jayden decided he had enough change in routine and was NOT going to nap. So Dan loaded him up in the car. He was asleep in under 5 minutes and Dan proceeded to drive around the lake for an hour and a half. Ha ha ha.

The rest of our vacation proceeded nicely, complete with trips down to the lake and a trip to the zoo. Dan's parents (a.k.a. Oma and Opa) met us up there Friday night. They also watched the boys almost all day Saturday while Dan and I headed down the hill for a wedding in Palm Desert. It was so nice to get some time away together! Thanks, Oma and Opa. And, the boys did great while we were gone and even napped well. Wahoo!

Without further adeiu, here are some pics of the trip!

Eli whapped his head on something, which is somewhat common these days. The boy is a daredevil and feels NO pain, it seems.

The beautiful lake

And our beautiful firstborn

When my mom saw this one of Jayden, she said, "He looks about four in this!"

Eli wanted to go in the water. In his clothes. He can't swim. Did I mention he's a daredevil?

And one final one of Jayden being silly after his shower one night.

And just so you know we were all there...here's a great family pic Dan's mom shot of us! Thanks, Oma!

we're alive!!

I know, I know, its been forever since I updated. The reason? Well, we went on vacation! To a place with no internet, believe it or not. These places DO still exist.

Pretty much the second we got home Dan started back to school so we've been busy settling into life changing like crazy (this is a nice way of saying that I have totally panicked and have been trying to keep some semblance of control).

Anyway, I will post pics and details of our fun vacation soon. But, for now, check out THESE cute faces!!!

little boys love boxes!!

Dan got a box from Amazon the other day and the boys have LOVED playing in it!!

Here's Eli enjoying the fun.

Getting into the box...
Loving being in it...





















"Mmmm...I can also eat this box!!"
















"And, just in case you were wondering, I am super cute, even when in a box!"
"See?"
But, he's a toddler, and toddlers get bored quickly. Off to new horizons....

We love Auriel!

Auriel came to visit today. It is always WONDERFUL to see her, and the boys love her, as do I. I've known her since she was just a babe in her mommy's tummy. I have watched her grow up and couldn't be prouder of who she is becoming. She heads back to New York next week to start her sophomore year at NYU so she came over for one last cuddle with the boys (and me, of course!).

Here she is with Eli.

We love you, Auriely Cappely (remember when we used to call you that?)!!!

sweltering heat + toddlers = WATER PLAY

So it is HOT HOT HOT right now. It was sweltering by 10:30 this morning so we headed outside to get wet and have some fun. Mommy decided it was time to snap some pictures of these sweet boys!

Jayden being VERY serious about filling the pool with water.
Oh, Eli, you melt my heart with that smile.

The boys playing. They are doing better with this these days and how it makes my heart soar to watch their little friendship develop.
And just one more of our littlest man being his cute self!

walking! and other updates

So Eli is officially walking. He just seemed to decide all of the sudden it was time to be uprightly mobile! He is too cute, cruising around, exploring his world.

Jayden is also doing well. He is just exploding with the talking lately- stringing together long word combinations, saying all sorts of funny stuff, and keeping us marvelously entertained. We've been having some sleep issues with Jayden. Some of it seems to be fears and some just seems to be 2 year old stubbornness. so we're hoping we see an end to it soon cause we are TIRED.

All in all, the boys are doing fabulously.

Here are some fun shots from recent days in our household.


Eli walking across the room and loving it!
In his cute new jammies!

Eli also has been moved from a highchair to a booster seat and is super stoked! And we were happy to move the highchair out! (not sure why he is looking at me like that in this picture!)

This is the face Jayden made when i told him to look at Mommy and smile. Hee hee.

And for once, our two little boys playing together nicely!

shake your booty!!!

Jayden loves to shake his booty. This boy has been musical since day one. I caught him doing this by himself today. He just kept making the music play over and over again and he was grooving! :)
I apologize in advance for the glare off the windows!

surgery!

Eli had to have eye surgery today! He had a blocked tear duct that had caused a few infections and persisted beyond his first birthday, which 99% of the time means it won't resolve spontaneously. We went to see an Occulal Plastics Eye Specialist at UCLA two weeks ago and he recommended surgery. They got us scheduled quickly, which was nice. Dan goes back to school soon and we wanted to get it done before then. So we checked in at UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute at 7AM this morning. Eli enjoyed playing in the waiting room. Once we were taken back, they put his gown on and then gave him an oral sedative. The doctor came and talked to us and just reviewed the surgery again. Then they took him back. I have to admit, I shed a few tears as I watched him disappear down the OR hallway. We sat and waited for a little bit and then I headed to the cafeteria with my mom and brother. By the time I was coming out of the elevator, he was out of surgery! So it was nice and quick. The doctor said it went great and was super simple and said he has about a 90% chance of this curing the problem permanently. We went to see him and he was pretty upset. Hungry (hadn't eaten since 6 last night and it was 9:15) and in pain. He became so inconsolable and seemed to be in so much pain that they gave him some oral pain meds and then let him have some juice. After that, and after getting his IV taken out, he was MUCH happier. Since he kept his juice down and was calmer, they let him go home and we were home by 10:45! So all in all not too bad. He slept quite a bit today and went to bed early. But by the end of the day he was back to his normal, happy self.

Here he is in the waiting room with the bear they gave him. Too cute.

and here he is waiting to head into surgery. oh, could he BE any cuter?!? SERIOUSLY? I love this little guy so much it hurts me!


His eye is so much better already. No more excess tearing, and no more gooping and oozing. So that's so nice!

13 months (+3 days!)

Eli is now 13 months old! Wow. He is doing so well.

What's he up to?
*eating like a champ. seriously, the kid just eats and eats.
*still nursing in the morning when he wakes up. he loves this feeding and I have a feeling we'll keep it for a long time.
*he now has four teeth. two top, two bottom. working on a couple more.
*still in 12 month clothing for the most part but we've been busting out the 18 month here and there (funny note. Jayden JUST grew out of his 18 month stuff. ha ha)
*not walking. he will take a few steps to get to things if he really wants them and we hold them up. but, mostly, he prefers crawling. and, for now, that's fine.
*he says a few "words." he says "ba-ba" for his sippy cup. and "da-da" for Dan (and my dad sometimes). "na-na" is for his loveys, since Jayden calls them "nigh-nighs" and we have started to as well.
*he is such a mellow, content little one. but with a temper!!! he is super content 97% of the time but then when he gets mad, he is MAD!!!
*he loves his mommy and daddy and brother and is happy to just kind of observe and take in his surroundings. so different from Jayden but we love his uniqueness!!


In other news, the poor little guy has to have eye surgery! He has a blocked tear duct that hasn't resolved so we went and saw a specialist. they did a test and said its pretty blocked, I guess. The procedure is simple and short. Anywhere from 5-30 minutes. He has to be knocked out for it but that's the scariest part. So that will either be next week or the week after. We had to get him weighed, though, for it and here's the news.

He is 21 lbs, 11 oz so he gained over a pound in 3 1/2 weeks. He also grew a quarter of an inch and is now 29 1/4 inches. So he's doing great!!!

And just cause he SO stinking cute, here is something to feast your eyes on.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

At church yesterday, I most certainly did not give in and grab a donut off the donut table only to take one bite, feel guilty, and promptly walk over to Dan, hand it to him, say, "Eat this!" and stuff it in his mouth. I have total self-control over sweets, and also am NOT stressed about dropping this marriage/baby/baby weight.

I also can assure you that I did not forget to wash our cloth diapers on Saturday night. Since I didn't do this, then I most certainly did not have to run out to CVS at 8AM on a Sunday morning to purchase disposables. I also did NOT take the opportunity to pick myself up a tasty Diet Coke to drink during church.

When my toddler decided midnight was a good time to be awake the other night, I definitely didn't let him watch Mr. Rogers so that I could snooze on the couch till he fell back asleep.

The other day, I most certainly did not forego cleaning to nap during the boys' nap. I also would NEVER forget that I needed to pick my husband up at work. I was NOT asleep when he called the house wondering if anyone was coming to get him. Nope, not ME!!!

Go Dodgers!!!

So we were big time blessed this week by having a friend of a friend sending (actually, overnighting!!) us SWEET Dodger tickets. So we decided to take the plunge and take Jayden with us, even though we arrived at the game at his bedtime. Ha ha. He did VERY well, considering how late he was up. He did, however, sleep HORRENDOUSLY that night, which seems to have set off quite a horrible string of nighttime and bedtime issues. Despite that, we had a blast at the Dodger game and they won. WOO-HOO!!

Checking out the stadium. He was SO excited!!

Hanging with Daddy
Being stinking cute!!

Steph came with us, too, which was so fun. Here he is with "Ne-nee."
3/4 of the fam!

Opa came too but unfortunately we somehow missed photographing him. :(

GO DODGERS!!!!

just because

Jayden boy

So I was scrolling through the blog and realized its been SUPER Eli heavy of late, what with him turning 1 and all. So I thought I'd give a shout out to our firstborn, our crazy 2 year old Jayden. :)
He is such a delight to watch as he blossoms into a little boy and not a baby right before our very eyes. His vocabulary is expanding everyday and we are amazed at how well he communicates with us now. He is super social, and loves to be with people. But we are also seeing a more timid, scared side emerge. He often comes over to me and says, "Mommy, scared. Mommy, scared." He doesn't like things too wild and crazy, unless its him dancing wild and crazy. As I type this, he is dancing around the living room. :) Jayden amazes us with his sweet heart, and his affectionate nature. He loves to give his little brother kisses, and loves to give us hugs and kisses too.

And just because he's too stinking cute lately...

And an example of his sweet affectionate nature. This is baby Charlie, born on Eli's first birthday to our friends Kevin and Stacey. He has a twin sister, too, Eva. She was in the NICU when we visited but is now home!! Yay Eva!!

heartbreaker

Cutest little 1 year old in the world, I tell ya!!!

a boy in a box

Steph was carrying Eli around in one of the new storage bins she bought.

Kinda reminds me of this...
from last fall.

It is a fairly frequent occurence for me to think, "Weren't we JUST doing this a year ago with Jayden?" One of the joys of having children this close together!! :)

Eli's 1 year old stats

So we took Eli for his one year check-up last week.

Here he is waiting in the waiting room.
And with Dr. Alban. Meant to get one of him on the scale. Forgot. Whoops!

So without further adieu...

Weight: 20 lbs, 10 oz (25th percentile)
Height: 29 inches (30th percentile)
Head circumference: 18 inches (50th percentile)

So he's on the small side, which is hilarious, if you've seen his CHUNKY thighs and little Buddha belly.

We didn't have to do his shots cause they were out of some. So unfortunately we have to go back for them. So we'll do that sometime this week or next.

But all in all he's growing well, conquering his milestones, etc.

What's he up to?
*not walking yet. a step here and there but nothing documentable. he stands well but just doesn't seem to have a huge interest in walking. so that's fine! :)
*sleeping 11-12 hours a night and still taking two naps. he's starting to show early signs of dropping one nap.
*eating super well. loving almost all food we put on his tray
*still nursing twice a day. we are slowing weaning. I have such mixed emotions. part of me wants to keep breastfeeding as long as possible, and part of me is SO excited to have my body back after three straight years of breastfeeding and pregnancy. :)
*he is talking a little. he says ball (BA), balloon (BOON), Mama, Dada, and Baba, which he uses for sippy cup.
*if you ask him, "How old is Eli?" he holds up one finger and says, "BOO" which I think is him trying to say "One."
*he is a pretty mellow guy. loves to laugh but is not overly silly. loves to be with people but also plays very well independently. he has quite a temper when he gets mad, though, although that doesn't happen very often.
*all in all, Eli is growing and learning well. he is such a joy and I thank God everyday for His providence in giving us our second little son. we were surprised by his conception, and some days I still wake to find myself shocked i have two little boys. but we are SO thankful for all the joy raising Eli brings to us.

Eli's First Year in Video!

party party party

We had a smallish party for Eli's birthday. Mostly just family and neighbors. We tried to keep it small in the interest of not wearing out my dad. But, still, there was celebrating to be done, and cake to be eaten!!

Just love this shot.

Let's just say Eli was a HUGE fan of his cake. But this boy LOVES to eat so its no surprise.


But he, of course, wanted to share with Mommy

And a quick family pic!!

one year later...to the minute!

3:51 PM, July 9, 2008

And.....

3:51 PM, July 9, 2009

We were in the car at the exact minute and this is what he was doing!! :) Ha ha ha.

whatcha looking at?