Happy Birthday Karyl!!!!

We had planned to visit Disneyland on Monday, October 17 to celebrate Karyl's birthday, but Freddie got really sick that morning and we had to postpone the outing until this past Tuesday, October 25.

Lucky for us the weather had been nice and cool, and even a little wet the night before...we love visiting Disneyland when it's slightly overcast and cool!!

We had fun, the kids had fun...it was just a win-win situation!!

The kids rode the Storybook ride for the very first time....Karyl has been asking to go on "the whale ride" for a while, but the line is always long....and we have an aversion to long lines.

They even let her sit on the front of the boat - she loved that!!

We also rode the teacups, which I swear is one of Karyl's favorite rides...makes sense because despite what people think, it's one of mine too. I always have a baby strapped to me though when going on it so I can never spin the things as much as I want to!! This time we decided to be gender discriminatory and the boys had to ride in their own teacup!!

On Karyl's birthday Grandma and Grandpa brought her a cake, and we gave her our present that Greg brilliantly came up with.  This camera was actually exchanged the next day for a little better one, but the digital camera idea was amazing!! She carries her camera everywhere and is always snapping pictures of EVERYTHING!!!

Then, the Saturday after her birthday, October 22, we celebrated with our family. That morning Karyl got super sick, but managed to be feeling a lot better by that night - she caught whatever Freddie had so was feeling fine in the afternoon and just had to stay away from some of the heavier birthday foods!!

If you have kids, check out Nick Jr.'s website...they have everything imaginable to print out for your kids from coloring sheets to entire party packs!! We had a Milli themed party (she is a character from the show Team Umizoomi) and Karyl loved it!! These flowers were supposed to be on lollipop sticks, but I liked the thumbtack in the pencil version much better...and Karyl loved them!!

They even had this banner to print out!!

This was priceless...Uncle Glen and Aunt Dyanna got Karyl a fossil discovery kit where you dig through the sand to find fossil pieces, then put them together.  She opened up the present, got one good look and yelled out "It's a paleontologist kit!!!" Yes, that's right, unprompted and all on her own she blurted that out. Everyone got silent for a split second and looked at us like "what did she just say??" That's my girl!!

She also won't put down the purse that her aunties gave her.  Not only is it her all time favorite color, but it matches her mommy and Auntie's purses. If you ever want a giggle, ask her to see what's in there any given day...it's hilarious to tell her to pack up her purse and then look and see what she felt needed to be taken with us that day.

We had lots of fun celebrating her birthday!! It was unfortunate that everyone got sick, but the timing worked out perfectly that at least she could mostly enjoy her birthday dinner, and we were able to show her just how special she is and how blessed we were to bring her into our family 5 years ago!! Can you believe it?? We have a 5 year old!!

Just for posterity's sake...here are a few of the amazing things our big girl is up to...

*She loves her ballet class

*She can count to 100 with no help

*She is 2 chapters away from being done with her Kindergarten Math...and we're only 2-1/2 months into the semester!!

*She LOVES school and every day asks me if we can do more school work

*She can read any CVC book (consanant - vowel - consanant)

*She loves books and is constantly asking to read!!

*She can write and spell most 3 letter CVC words.

*She apparently knows what a paleontologist is and what they do!!

*She is in love with her baby sister, I mean completely smitten!! Those two will be best friends as Nicole gets older!

*She loves her Learning Center classes, especially Digging for Dinosaurs!

*She is constantly making Freddie scream - she tries to help him but he wants to do things on his own. They love each other, but the sibling rivalry has already begun!!

Oh Karyl - what would we do without you in our lives!!

Disneyland!!!

Last Thursday we decided to take advantage of the lovely weather we've been having and head to Disneyland...

We packed up lunches for the kids and they loved it!! They were excited to use their Tinkerbell and Cars lunchboxes we got a few months ago!!

We went on their favorite ride - the Merry-Go-Round.

We met our friend Claire and her son Jaxson there and the boys had a blast goofing off together! Don't they look like they could be related?? Oh wait, they are!!

I'm starting to like my mostly permanent place on the bench when we ride the Carousel - Nicole was such a sweetie and stayed asleep when I got her out of the stroller!!

Who doesn't love some snuggle time with the baby??? Isn't she just too much cute all squished into a tiny package?!?!

This pic is strictly for Claire...she knows why =)



See, the cuteness is just too much!! I wish I had another picture of her in the sun so you could really see and appreciate her flowing red locks!!






She's a wiggler!!

When I went in to get Nicole this morning for her first feeding, this is what I found...

She wiggles out of her "swaddling" most nights and has her arms free and above her head...but this was a first. She has been trying to roll, and getting VERY close...but I find it hilarious that she fell asleep while trying to do it in her sleep.  She never whined or cried, so she wasn't doing it while totally awake. 

How do I know she was trying to roll?? She only rolls to her right side...don't ask why, I don't speak baby, she just does.

I just had to run back and take a picture before waking her up because it was so stinking cute.  Yes, that's right, I have to wake her up in the morning.  If I were to let her sleep in she'd wake up at like 8:30am, which means she doesn't get her last feeding until around 11pm and I have to be up at 5am every morning. So, I've started waking her up around 7:30am in the hopes that I can get her to bed before 11pm so I can get at least 5 hours of sleep.

The best laid plans...

CRAP!!!!!!

I made a HUGE mistake...I was trying to fix something on our blog and accidentally erased my entire "blogs I follow" section.  And unfortunately, once you do that, you can't get it back - now matter how many times you try pressing that "back" button!!! I cried, seriously...tears were shed.

So, with that being said...if you remember seeing your name on the side of my blog and it's gone now, PLEASE send me your blog address so I can add it back on.  There were a few that I was able to remember right away, but otherwise I don't remember most of the URLs. I will try and find some through other blogs, but the chances of recovering all of them that way are slim....

I'm so sorry...please help!!!!

Tanaka Farms Field Trip

Today we headed to Tanaka Farms in Irvine for our very first Homeschool Field Trip

It was so much fun!!

The kids had a blast and the experience created lots of questions that lead to some great discussions about farm animals, how vegetables grow and how a farm works.

Here are some great pictures we took while there!!

Right after checking in...before the heat got to us!!

Yep, those are real farm tractors and some gorgeous plants they had along the edges of the farm....Freddie about died when he saw these tractors!

Ah the inevitable petting zoo....

Karyl had no fear....she grabbed some food and walked right up to the animals and fed and touched them.

Freddie took a little more convincing....he finally touched this one goat on the top of the head - I barely got this picture it was so quick!

Even though he wasn't super thrilled about the animals, he still was in a good enough mood to smile for me!

After washing their hands we stopped for a quick picture before heading back to the wagon for our ride around the farm. Freddie kept saying how much he loved the petting zoo, that's why he's all smiles here...even though he didn't want to touch the animals!!

This was the wagon ride....Freddie was SO excited watching the tractor pull the two wagons, he could barely contain himself.

Waiting for our wagon to take off...a quick attempt at taking a picture ourselves...not too bad, right??

The good old corn maze...the kids loved it, but it was getting hot and it was a little larger than they planned....

But they made it to the middle and were so excited when they did...luckily this was a short maze so I could follow them from a distance and see them.

See, just the right height for kids....Kayrl loves to tell everyone that she made it to the flag with the smiley face in the middle!

Then we got to pick vegetables...these were the radishes.  Karyl even let Freddie pick one of each vegetable (she was allowed 4 of each veggie).

Look, it's a radish!!!

And then some carrots...

Even Freddie picked a carrot and then put it in the bag with the rest of our pickings!

They had so much fun and loved getting into the plants and seeing what came up when they pulled the leaves.

Does this need a caption??

Karyl also got to pick a pumpkin, but it had to be small enough that she could carry it out of the patch - no rolling allowed.  She walked that pumpkin patch for at least 10 minutes looking for what she thought was the perfect pumpkin!!

Tah-dah!! It was about 8 pounds, and she didn't carry it very far.  Right after I took this picture she asked me to carry it.

We were lucky to get this picture...the kids were hot and sweaty and REALLY thirsty by this point and about 10 seconds later Freddie completely broke down and screamed for water and to go back home.  I had no idea how large the farm was, or how long we'd be there....next time we will bring water bottles!!

Our freshly picked veggies from the farm...now what to do with them!?!?

Overall, we had a great time and despite the heat and whining, the kids say that had a really fun time and would love to do it again!! SUCCESS!!

Oh, and for those thinking our group looks a little small...Grandma and Grandpa were nice enough to watch Nicole for us while we went so I could focus on the two older kids and really enjoy spending time with them!! I loved being able to give them my undivided attention for those few hours, and I think they appreciated it too!!

I'm one of the chosen ones!!

For those of you who haven't heard...there's an amazing blog I love to read - Win, Lose or Blog which chooses 8 contestants for each "Season" to participate in a new-age weight loss competition.  Not only are there prizes at the end for whoever loses the most weight, but each contestant is given a blog page to write updates on and share their triumphs, frustrations and experiences with weight loss through the 8 weeks in the contest.

They also have giveaways for the blog readers and lots of great weight loss inspiration!!

So...why am I sharing this with everyone here?? Because I was chosen as one of the contestants for Season 6 which starts October 3!!!

As most of you are aware, I worked really hard to lose weight before getting pregnant with Nicole, and I am SOOO excited to be a part of this contest and now have extra motivation to work hard...because all the people who read the blog will be able to see how much weight I lose and my weekly picture.  That's motivation enough to work hard and really lose some weight now that I'm accountable to lots of people!!

Once the contest starts I will have my own blog page off their main one and you can follow my 8 week journey with me - please check out there blog and see for yourself how neat it is!! And I can't wait to see how this goes and would love to have all of you follow me through the contest!!

I will post my blog address for the contest when I get it!!

What you've been missing

I know, there aren't enough Nicole pictures on here...I gave her a bath this afternoon and since she was clean and relaxed I held her for a while and she fell asleep with her head on my chest. I took this picture about 30 minutes ago....I got her to sleep laying on me and thought I'd try laying her down on her tummy. She is still asleep and has even readjusted herself, so I know she's not going to suffocate!! Maybe this will be a new tactic for napping??

On a side note, that onesie she is wearing used to be HUGE...it's still wide, but she's finally the right length, which means she's growing!! She's still a little pipsqueak, but she's slowly expanding!!

This picture was taken last weekend...I decided that I needed to map out Karyl's school schedule before I started back to work so that I would be able to get everything she needed for the day or week ready ahead of time and she could do more independent work...and make sure she gets it all done by the end of the school year!! So this is everything spread out while I tried to sort through and make sure we got everything on the schedule!!

Our little ballerina!! She started ballet and tap class on Saturday mornings at a wonderful little studio here and she LOVES IT!!! The best part is watching her huge smile each week. She's super easy to find because she's like the tallest kid in the class (there's a few first graders maybe an inch or two taller, but that's it). However, in 2 weeks she will be moving over to the performance class because we decided to let her continue on after her class through the city was done and she will definitely be the tallest girl in there by at least 6 inches!!

There were about 30 girls in the class who, like us, signed up through the city....but if you decided to continue on with classes and be part of the Winter Wonderland rehearsal, you get to leave the city class and move to the performance class and learn the dances for the recital...she even gets a professional costume (which there is a picture of further down!!).

Tah-dah...this will be her costume...a penguin!!!

The rest of this blog is courtesy of Karyl....she asked if she could borrow the camera and take some pictures, and these are the things she felt were important enough to snap a memory of.  I have no idea why, but quite honestly, some of her pictures are better than the ones I take!!

I love that she chose specific things to photograph...she even placed them carefully on the floor and was very meticulous about the pictures. You have to love that girl!!

And for those thinking, "wait, don't you have a son??" yes, we do!! However he is such a little ball of energy that he's never in one place long enough to take a picture of!! He is growing so tall so fast....we thought Karyl was abnormally large, well we were wrong...Freddie is quickly giving her a run for her money!! This boy is only a head shorter than Karyl (about 5-6 inches) and he is only about 6 pounds less than her. Luckily, since Karyl is a girl, she thinned out as she got taller, but Freddie will definitely not be "thinning out," this boy is linebacker material all the way!! He is getting too stinking cute too and is talking like it's nobody's business. He went from saying maybe 2-3 words together before Nicole was born to full sentences and ideas now. He know his whole alphabet and what sounds the letters make...he can count to 10 and count objects correctly...he is amazing us everyday. He had a slow start but has caught up fast and we just can't get enough of him...even if he is loud enough to always wake Nicole up RIGHT AFTER she finally falls asleep and I finally get a few minutes with no screaming....

Homeschooling ROCKS!!!

I know, this post should probably be on Life After Diapers, but since it involves Karyl I think it is appropriate here!! For those of you who aren't aware, we have made the decision as a family to homeschool our children. Before you start typing any comments, let me save you some time....I've heard it all, "you're crazy" - "but what about their social life??" - "I can't wait for my kids to start school so I get my 'me' time back...when will you have your 'me' time?" - and my personal favorite "you're just going to screw up your kids"


Well, I have lots of great comebacks to those comments, but this is a family-friendly blog and I like to at least appear to be a sweet and kind person, so I won't tell you what comments go through my head every time someone gets nasty about our decision to homeschool. I should point out that we are homeschooling through a Charter School, so we are held to the same basic academic standards as a regular public school (basic....VERY basic...) and we are accountable to the school for what work gets done. So don't go thinking that we are just going off the deep end and just letting our kids frolic through the woods and just learn whenever they want. I have a list of things a kindergartner should know by the end of the year, and lots of books to use to get us there. The beauty of Charter School is that they give you the money to buy curriculum (hey, it's MY tax dollars, at least I get to spend them on what I want!!) and the curriculum has to be on an approved list from the school (no religious curriculum is allowed because it is a public school).

What's great is that we can teach however we want and do it in a way that makes our kids excited and eager to learn. Every day I have Karyl asking to "do school." It's great because for instance, Karyl already knows most of the stuff that's in the Harcourt Kindergarten Math Book that most schools use, so we can go through quickly, check for understanding and move on without her having to be bored with doing something she already knows over and over!! We have it planned out so that by January she will be starting 1st grade math and we're super excited!! We get to read books and really dive into all aspects of they story (history, geography, math in the book, science...etc...) and use all the lapbooks we are willing to print out and put together!! I love that in the 5 weeks we have been doing Kindergarten, Karyl has gone from maybe knowing 5 sight words to knowing well over 50 and being confident in sounding out all the basic consonant-vowel-consonant words (cat, mat, dog...). She will actually get a piece of paper when we're not doing school and "practice her words" and write all the 3 letter words she can think of, then bring me the paper and make me read all of them - the most amazing part is that not only does she spell the words right but I can easily read them in her writing!!

I just love that her thirst for knowledge is still going strong and that I can be the one to fuel her fire for learning. She really is an amazing girl, and I feel so blessed to be able to be her teacher and watch as she learns everything she will ever need to know. There is something very special about being able to see that moment when the light bulb goes on and something is learned for the first time.

Another thing I love about homeschooling is that we can take education back to its roots, which is something that has been lost in the public school system. What ever happened to teaching our kids the basics....reading, writing and arithmetic?? It seems like nowadays they teach everything BUT those basic subjects. I love the analogy that our public school system is a conveyor belt type of education...everyone is taught the same things at the same time based on age and just sent through the system...there is no room for kids to explore or learn about what interests them. I love the idea that my kids can think and be creative and let their imaginations run wild instead of having a teacher tell them what to think and when to think it. If Karyl suddenly wants to know more about dinosaurs I can add that to our studies for the week and we can spend our time gathering information and learning about dinosaurs when she is interested in them, as opposed to her having to wait for a teacher to decide it's time to learn about dinosaurs.

It's a tough job, and it requires time and effort that students won't appreciate until years later, but homeschooling is totally worth it!! There are so many amazing resources out there online for us homeschool parents that make our jobs infinitely easier, and they even make it fun!! I can't wait to see where this journey takes us!!

The milestones begin!!!

I was feeding Nicole a little while ago and after she was done I was playing and tickling her and the most amazing thing happened....SHE LAUGHED!!! That's right, she actually giggled!! Combined with her absolutely adorable smile it was an unforgettable moment.  The one thing I love about babies is seeing them hit the milestones, the first smile, the first laugh, the first word, the first roll....

So, despite her tiny size, her laugh and smile were HUGE!!!

Let the amazingness begin!!!

I know...I'm a bad, bad blogger...

 I know, I've been REALLY bad about blogging the past month, but it's been crazy around here!! I've adjusted to having 3 kids all day, but Nicole is still adjusting to all that craziness and has a hard time napping during the day if she's not being held. I'm slowly breaking her of that, but it takes time.

So, at Nicole's 2 month check-up:

Weight: 10 pounds 7 ounces

Length: 21-1/4 inches

I was worried because to me she seems so tiny, and I was ready for lectures about feeding her more and all that.  Apparently, she is average...yep, her weight in the 50% range - literally, she is average!!! It was odd to me, but we were so used to Karyl and Freddie who at their 2 month checkups were right under the 13 pound mark and longer.  So, you could see why I would think she was so tiny!! I was VERY pleased to hear that she is growing just fine and that it's OK for me to let her sleep through the night (I had been waking her up after about 6-7 hours at night to feed her to make sure she was getting enough food), it turns out that she'll grow more when she sleeps and since she's growing and old enough to not worry about hypoglycemia, I can let her sleep all the way for the 8-9 hours that she wants to!! Yes, that's right we scored a third time with a child that by 8 weeks sleeps through the night!!! I have no idea why, but it's a blessing we aren't going to question!!!

On Sunday, August 7 Nicole was blessed and this was about the only picture we could get with all 5 of us!! The older kids just wanted to go run and play with cousins, so this was the best we could do! It's true that the more children you have, the less pictures you accumulate...not because you love them any less, it's simply because you don't have a free hand most of the time to take more pictures!!

And I know this is a random picture, but I saw it and had to put it on the blog....this was taken about 2 months ago, the kids went for a ride in Aunt Christine's new convertible.  They LOVED it, but there is definitely something odd about seeing 2 car seats in the back of a sports car like that!!

Anyways....things are going good around here, we made it through a round of Strep when Nicole was only a few weeks old and so far have been healthy since.  Nicole is an amazing little girl, despite her aversion to sleeping out of someone's arms.  What's funny is that she sleeps just fine at night!! I am trying to take as many pictures as I can when I have a free moment so we can have a few to show her when she grows up.  She is a gorgeous little baby, so different from the other 2 children.  She has dark red hair (I think it's called Auburn) and in any type of sunlight it's a beautiful almost orange!! She has pink skintones like me so she'll be joining me in the SPF 99 category when she starts spending time in the sun, unlike Freddie, Karyl and Daddy who tan beautifully!!

It's amazing how even with her only being with us for 8 short weeks, I already can't imagine our family without her here...she truly is a blessing from our Heavenly Father and I know without a doubt that she was meant to be with our family. Karyl and Nicole are going to be best buddies once she is old enough to play, Karyl just adores her and always wants to hold her and feed her and just be in her face talking to her and loving her.

On a side note, this week we started school...at our kitchen table. I have been blessed to have the resources and opportunities to homeschool her and I was just as excited as she was. It will be difficult once I start back to work and trying to balance everything here at home but we know that we are doing what is best for her, and that's what matters.  The whole point of homeschooling is to do what's best for the children, not for me...and even though it will take more time on my part for lesson planning and teaching, she will grow so much more learning at home and having the opportunities to explore learning from that perspective. In a few weeks she will be taking a few "workshops" at the local Charter School site and that will give her some time with kids her age and she will get to do things that not only would I not be able to do at home, but that she wouldn't even be able to do in public school, and it's awesome!! She is taking a Theater class that also involves dance and music, and she picked a class called "Digging for Dinosaurs" where she gets to learn, hands on, for 90 minutes a week about dinosaurs...with a small group of kids her age...how awesome is that?? She will also be taking a ballet-tap class in September thanks to Grandma and Grandpa that she is beyond excited for. 

We are so blessed to have such wonderful children, and I am beyond words with how blessed I feel not only to be their mother, but their primary caregiver and teacher...that I can work from home and be able to be a "Stay at Home Mom" in a world where that title has been degraded.  I prefer to call myself a Domestic Engineer because let's face it, I'm not just a mom...that is my first and foremost job, but equally important is my role as a wife...and beyond that I cook, I clean, I nurse sick children and boo-boos...I am a psychotherapist on call for when a nightmare strikes at 3am and a kid needs me to convince them that plants can't fly.  I am so much more than just a mom who stays at home...sorry, I've been re-reading Dr. Laura's "In Praise of the Stay at Home Mom" and I've been reminded again as to how important my role is at home...a wonderfully empowering book for other moms out there!!!

Enough with the randomness...I will try and post again soon...hopefully with more pictures and more details as to our wonderful life!! 

The Past 4 Weeks.....

Here's what we've been up to the past 4 weeks...

First off, Nicole started off slow with her weight gaining and her dried umbilical cord came off too soon...so the first 3 weeks of her life were spent trying to get her to eat more than she wanted to and trying to get her belly button to look normal.  She did finally start eating more and is now a healthy 9 pounds 6 ounces, turns out she gained 12 ounces in 9 days which is WAY above average and now we can't feed her enough fast enough!! I never thought I'd be so happy to feed a kid an hour after the last feeding! As for her belly button, after 2 treatments of silver nitrate her navel finally decided to stop fighting nature and the end of her umbilical cord went back in and she looks totally normal, although she does have a large belly button but that is simply because she had such a huge umbilical cord (which is why she was so big when she was born!)

And here she is in a rare moment of actually laying down and not screaming (she seems to have an aversion to not being held when she's awake...we're working on it - for her future and for mommy's sanity!!)

Here is a picture of our butterflies we've hatched!!! They started out as tiny, TINY little caterpillars and grew into 2 inch caterpillars...then they made cacoons and we put the in this neat cage.  A few days ago we saw butterflies, and now they fly around in there and are fun to look at.  The kids LOVE it and love watching them fly around and loved seeing them go from worm to butterfly!!

Of course, I can't leave out the other kids...Freddie has seriously picked up on tons of vocabulary in the past few months and even talks in sentences now.  He transitioned into his big kid bed without a hitch and still absolutely adores his Lightning McQueen race car bed!! He has grown so much and has even gained a few pounds.  He is already in 4T and 5T clothes...we thought Karyl was big but we hadn't seen anything yet!! He's also ALL boy...his attention span is seriously lacking and he likes to try to give me a heart attack a few times a week with a good fall or something.  I have a feeling over the next few years the local ER docs will get to know us VERY well. This boy has NO fear!!!

And then there's Karyl...once sweet and innocent Karyl.  She now is almost 5 going on 16 - it's a little trying but in general she doesn't have a horrible attitude and we've managed to curb a good portion of the behavior that comes with her age.  She absolutely adores Nicole and during her nightly prayers asks Heavenly Father to bless Nicole that she'll start sleeping through the night so she can start sleeping in Karyl's room in her crib. We had told her that Nicole can start sleeping in her room when she starts sleeping through the night, waking only once (around 8 weeks usually) and she can't wait!!!

Overall, the transition to 3 kids has been pretty good.  We aren't taking as many pictures as we have in the past, but that's mostly because we just don't have enough hands, and I honestly don't have the time to sit and transfer them to the computer and blog from them. I'm slowly adjusting and adjusting our daily routine to accomodate the endless energies of a 2 and 4 year old while trying to take care of a newborn. Nicole has been tough because she doesn't cry, she SCREAMs...and if you try to put her down while she's awake she will scream forever, she won't even cry herself to sleep unless she's in her carseat and we're driving. I have to hold her until she falls alseep and then put her down. It's made a few nights really long, and during the day I can't get as much done as I want to, but I know that it's OK for her to cry and that sometimes I just have to make sure she's got a clean diaper, that her belly is full and that she's generally OK and then put her in her swing and let her scream while I get things done. I can't sleep while she screams so at night I'm stuck holding her until she wipes out, but during the day sometimes it just has to be done and it's much easier that she's not the first screaming kid we've ever had around here!

So, there it is...I will try and be better in the future, but for a while the blogs will be limited since I really do have higher priorities for while Nicole is actually asleep like 2 other kids, dishes, meals and other things.