Little House in Encino

We have been searching Craigs List for months looking for the perfect playhouse for Olivia ( and eventually Finn too) and yesterday we finally tracked one down ... Chad went and picked it up last night and this morning while Olivia was watching Sesame Street he put it together in the backyard. She absolutely loves it! We have all been invited in and out many times. She was mostly thrilled when Cassie decided to join her by jumping in through one of the open windows. So much fun!!

xoxoxo

Finn Month 2

Whew! We just got back from 15 days in the Midwest and little Finn celebrated his 2 month birthday while we were away. He is getting so big but more importantly he is such an easy going, good natured, watch-the-world go by kind of baby. He smiles at everyone, lights up when his big sister enters a room , and cuddles in our arms when he is sleepy and tired. *sigh*. Here are some new milestones that Finn has accomplished!!!

1. He can stick his whole fist in his mouth.

2. He can make us laugh even when we have had the roughest of days...

3. He can say "a-goo" and "oooo".

4. He can hold his head up on his own.

5. He can make your heart melt with his handsome smile!

xoxoxoxo

My babies...

*sigh*

Video from the Aquarium!

Here is a little video of Olivia feeding her beloved LoriKeet birds at the aquarium yesterday.. She was pretty patient for a 2 year old...with a little gentle coaching from "mom" of course... haahahaha!

xoxo

An afternoon with the Fish!

Yesterday afternoon Chad and I decided to take the kids to the Long Beach Aquarium. It was such a nice afternoon. Olivia had been there once before but was really too little to enjoy last year... this time we met up with our good friend Kevin and his older daughter Gracie who is just 2 months older than Olivia. We all had a great time....after the aquarium we stayed in Long Beach a little longer to enjoy some dinner and a walk along the water where Olivia LOVED looking at the boats in the harbor. It was a fabulous afternoon.



She really enjoyed feeding the LoriKeet birds some nectar!

Gracie and Olivia really looked hard for the Sea Lions... it was hilarious to watch them try to figure out where they were!





The girls really liked to press their little hands up against the glass and just stare at the fish!

It was a great day!

Our Big Girl

So yesterday was the day that we weren't quite prepared for..... it was the day that Olivia moved into her new big girl bed. It was lovingly passed down to her from her cousin Hadley and fits perfectly into the nursery. It is so strange that now there is a twin bed in there directly across from the crib where Finn will start to sleep in a few months.

Anyway, we put the bed in there and expected for there to be tears and frustrations over leaving her crib. Not one tear was shed and to our suprise she bounded into her new bed and laughed , then proceeded to take a 2 1/2 hour nap. Crazy. I love the way she just rolls with the punches...when we told her that Finn would soon be sleeping in her old crib she got very excited and screeched a loud "Hurray!". She never ceases to amaze...

Here is a great pic that pretty much captures her emotion over getting a new big girl bed complete with a polka-dot comforter.

xoxoxo

Finn Month 1

Ok, so Finn is actually almost 7 weeks at this point but we have been out of town and sooooo busy. Here are some highlights from his first month at home.

Finn can:

1.Lay on his back and look real cute.

2. Cry when he is hungry.

3. Sleep a lot.

4. Look real cute... ( oh, I already mentioned that one. )

5. Spit up and still look cute doing it... :-)

I'm afraid the Month 1 achievements are pretty dull. Stay tuned for Month 2 when more exciting things will be coming your way!

xoxoxoxoo

Another Baby Barber!!

Today ( at officially 1:07 pm ) I become an Auntie for the 3rd time!!! Keenan and Jen ( Chad's brother and his wife) gave birth to a beautiful baby boy! His name is Micah Thomas Barber... he weighed 7 lbs 10 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches tall. Mom and baby are doing great and big sister Hadley and big brother KC are so excited to have a new brother. He is only 3 weeks younger than his cousin Finn so it should make for some interesting holidays and family BBQ's.... !!

xoxoxo

Signs of the Times

So we are getting thru each day with a sigh.....(deep breath in, deep breath out...), and some tears, and some laughter. Each day brings new challenges and joys. Olivia continues to amaze us with her beautiful acceptance of her new brother and Finn continues to grow fatter and happier with each passing moment....I know that some day we will look back at these days with tears in our eyes and warmth in our hearts....

...right now.. I would love a beer ( that's out cuz of nursing...hahahaha!) .. and a giant dark chocolate candy bar. ( which is also out cuz Finn seems to be very sensitive chocolate...cue the projectile vomiting! )

Here are some pics from passing moments in the last couple of weeks....the one thing I hadn't really planned on was the the increase in laundry....WOW!! Good thing we have a great clothesline and the wonderful California sunshine to save on energy costs.:-)

xoxoxo

Twinkle, Twinkle...

Olivia completely blew us away a couple of weeks ago by singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star all the way through!!! I have been trying to get it on video for weeks and finally was able to get it all except for one little part at the end when she decides it's time to perform her "fake" cough. Anyway, it's pretty cute.. .enjoy!! ( just pause the music on our blog on the right hand column so you can hear her perform.. :-)

xoxo

Happy 4th of July!

Happy "belated" Fourth of July! Olivia was soooo not into having her new brother sit next to her... I totally had to bribe her with a cookie. hahahahaha! We stayed home and BBQ'd with my mom and James... then our neighbors down the street put on their annual fireworks show from 9-11pm... the dog hated it.. she hid in the bathtub for 3 hours.. poor thing...

by-the-way this occurred to me today....

Holy crap! I have 2 kids!!

Aghhhhh!

A Birth Story

So many of you know that my first birth with Olivia was "challenging" to say the least. She was posterior, meaning she was coming out face up instead of face down which allowed for 4 hours of pushing... ai, yi, yi! That was only the topper to a labor that was about 4 days long... :-( I was really hoping and praying that this birth would be different.

This birth was sooooo different.

I started having contractions around 4pm on Friday afternoon... by 8 pm they were every 4 minutes apart. At 10pm I decided to try and get some sleep ( I was putting off going to the hospital until I absolutely had to)..by 11:30 my contractions varied from 2 minutes apart to 5 min apart....It was then that I decided I needed drugs. :-)

After we got to the hospital, they checked me and I was about 2 cent. dilated... not great , but something. The midwife said that I could have my epidural when I reached 3 cent. .... Whoppee! I decided to get up and walk the halls to get things going...I did that for about 1 hour or so.. came back and I had progressed to 3 cent. They took me right into an labor and delivery room and gave me my epidural....ahhhhhh...relief. That was around 4 am. I was so relaxed I took about a 4-5 hour nap.. on and off. They checked me at 11 am and I was 6 cent. dilated but the midwife noticed that not all of my water was broken so they did that for me ... :-) By 12:30 pm I was ready to push.... 45 minutes later , Finn was born at 1:16 pm.

It was so nice to have a "non" dramatic delivery. My mom and mother-in-law were able to be present for the birth this time and that made it all the more special too..

So there it is... :-)