The Holden Family

Faith - 3 year old pictures

2011-10-31T14:43:00.000-07:00

My friend and terrific photographer, Elise, took Faith's pictures at Rincon Valley Park. Faith completely cooperated and Elise took great photos. Here are a few.

Faith 3 Years Old

2011-10-26T13:22:00.000-07:00

My baby is now officially a little kid and no longer a toddler. While I'm sad to see the baby/toddler years officially over with, I'm also hoping that she'll move into a phase of being more agreeable and that she'll have a lot less fits.

We've noticed over the past few months that she is not using her left hand very often. She used to switch back and forth between both hands whether she was eating, drawing, throwing, cutting, among other things. Now she seems to be favoring her right, but when she uses her left she is just as skilled. It will be interesting to see if she ends up being ambidextrous or right handed. I think we'll encourage her to use both at least for the time being.

At her 3 year old check she weighed 30 pounds 2 oz. fully clothed and was 38.5" tall. That puts her in the 80th percentile for height and about the 45% for weight. However, her weight to height drops down to about the 15%, meaning she is tall and thin, just like her big brother. She far exceeds all of the skills/abilities the doctor says a 3 year old should be able to do, so in that regard she is doing wonderfully.

She has recently learned to spell both her and Bryce's name. She can count past 20, knows all of her ABCs, and recognizes some written letters and numbers.

She is thrilled that she gets to start ballet next week. I hope she enjoys it as much as she thinks she will. She took a trial Lil' Kickers class a few weeks ago and said she enjoyed it. However, every week when I ask if she wants to go back she tells me not this week. Perhaps soccer won't be her thing, or maybe she just prefers a quiet morning at home with mommy. I'll keep offering it, as we'd like her to be well-rounded and have lots of experiences.

Faith refuses to wear anything but a dress. I'm lucky if I can get her to wear leggings with it when the weather is cold. On rare occasions I can get her to wear a skirt. Her requirement is that the dresses/skirts twirl, if they don't go out enough when she spins she won't wear them. She is also very into her new pink rain boots and likes to make fashion statements by wearing them with her pretty dresses.

Bryce - Tigers Soccer Team

2011-10-20T12:15:00.000-07:00

Bryce played his first season of soccer with the Northwest Oaks Youth Soccer Club. He was on the Tigers - #24. Practice started the week before school started, which was wonderful since he met a few other kids starting Kindergarten at Riebli. None of the kids on his team ended up in his class, but at least it meant a few more familiar faces on the playground. a number of kids from his class are on other teams so he gets to play against them.

Bryce has really enjoyed his first experience playing on a real team. He's learned a lot about teamwork. He's learned that being the one to actually score the goal is not always what the game is about, but rather that passing the ball to a teammate that is in a better position to kick a goal is a good thing and playing defense is important too.

While he's not the absolute best player on the field, he definitely has shown that he has athletic ability. He lacks a little of the agression and drive at this point, but his skills have greatly improved. Most importantly, he's had a ton of fun!

Faith 2 Years 11 Months

2011-09-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

Faith is starting to give up naps. She naps about 50% of the time. The issue now is that when she naps she wakes up grumpy. When she doesn't nap, she often has a night-terror and is grumpy in the evening. We are in that weird no win, transition stage. I'd love it if she keeps napping for a while so that I can continue to have one on one time with Bryce in the afternoons and/or get some of my own stuff done.

Now that she is settled into her own room, she has started sleeping through the night again She still comes into our room most morning between 6-6:30 wanting to cuddle, which we let her do.

I can't get her to wear anything other than a dress. She is even particular about what dresses she will wear. They have to have adequate twirl capabilities. If they don't twirl enough she won't wear them, as ballerinas must be able to twirl.

She is starting to be able to blend a few double consonant words, but most of the time she still says stuff like "nail" for "snail", "mall" for "small" etc.

Baby dolls are still her favorite things to play with. She is such a good mommy. Sometimes, as she is supposed to be going to sleep she will scream for me because she wants to make sure I'm taking care of her babies appropriately. She tells me to remember to lift up my shirt and feed them, rock them, not to be too loud if they are sleeping, or some other important instruction.

She is still attached to her binky and yai-yai, although we are being really firm about them staying in her bed. Some days she still fights us on this, but most of the time she cooperates without much fuss.

She is still as head strong as ever. Once she gets her mind settled on something, good or bad, there is no stopping her.

Bryce's First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

We didn't tell Bryce the night before Kindergarten started that it was the next day. We were afraid with how much he thinks and worries over things that he wouldn't get a good night sleep. So, that morning he came in to get me I told him that it was an exciting day because he got to start Kindergarten. He said, "Yippee, we better go quickly."

He got dressed and ate breakfast very fast, which is unusual for him. When we got to school he was excited to play on the playground. The parents were invited inside to meet the teacher, here a little bit about what their first day would be like, gather some papers, take a family picture, and finally say goodbye. Bryce gave us big hugs and kisses, including butterfly, Eskimo, and his latest ear kisses and said goodbye. I was so relieved that he was happy, but at the same time sad to see that he was growing up.

When I picked him up he said he had a great day. He did tell me that he was supposed to color a picture of himself, but he didn't do it because he didn't want to. He was happy to tell me all about his day, with a surprising amount of details.

The Friday of his first week of school, Mrs. Trager pulled me aside and let me know that he had an issue with stubbornness and refusing to do his work. She said when she pushed him to do something he pushed back. I reminded her that we warned her about that when we went to meet with her before school started. We teased that she might be sorry she had requested him to be in her class. I also explained that at his preschool all projects were optional. I told her we'd talk at length with Bryce over the weekend in hopes of getting him on the right track. I also asked if it would be okay if I checked in with her daily to see how he did. Bryce insists that the only day he was stubborn was the first day. He said Mrs. Trager never said, "Bryce you must do ________." I explained that there are 23 other kids in the class and that when she gives a project to the whole class that includes him and that he must do the work. I also let him know that she doesn't have time to tell each kid individually that they must do the project.

Over the weekend we devised a sticker chart with consequences and prizes for good behavior at school as well as at home. If he has an entire week with a good report than he gets to order hot lunch one day the following week. He has an opportunity to earn 28 stickers a week (4 each day, Morning, School Day/Lunch time, Afternoon, Evening and Bedtime) if he earns 25 stickers he gets a Lego kit. If he doesn't get a good report for school daily than when he gets home he doesn't get to watch Cat In The Hat, his new favorite show. We'll see how this goes.

Faith 2 Years 10 Months

2011-08-20T08:32:00.000-07:00

Faith is getting very anxious to start a ballet class. We were hoping she could start in September, but just found out the school won't take her until she is 3. She is dancing around the house, in stores, or wherever we go move than ever. She keeps reminding me that when she turns three she gets to do her ballerina class.

She is also getting very excited to start preschool. Since Bryce began Kindergarten she asks daily if she gets to go. We were planning on her being at school just for the 9-12 Tues/Thurs preschool program, but she is insisting on staying for lunch until 1. Bryce didn't start staying until half way through his first year in the back class (3 year old class). I guess we are going to have to let her stay since she wants to so bad.

Faith recently discovered Olivia, a show on Nick Jr. about a little pig. It is a cute show and she keeps talking about it. Besides Veggie Tales this is the first show she has really enjoyed and asks to watch.

Faith continues to have a lot of fits. When you tell her that she will have a consequence if she continues a certain behavior she says something like, "well if you do that then I will hit, bite, climb on the counter and get my toy, etc." We always though Bryce was the strong-willed one, but she by far outdoes him in this regard. We continue to try and be firm with her, but sometimes nothing works. When she gets in a mood you have to let it play out because there is no talking her down.

She is smart as a whip. She knows her days of the week, can count to 20, knows her ABCs, knows she lives on Wilshire Dr. in Santa Rosa, and can write the letter F. Now that Bryce is in school and will have homework, I'm guessing she'll want homework too. If she does homework, keeps playing with Bryce's V-Reader, and watches the Letter Factory and the Word Factory she'll be reading when she is 4.

Faith 2 Years 9 Months

2011-07-21T19:35:00.000-07:00

Faith has been more challenging than normal the past couple of weeks. She continues pushing the boundaries, trying to assert her power. Regardless of how consistent we are and the consequences we give her, the behavior doesn't seem to change. She gets herself so worked up that she will sometimes scream for 2 hours.

Until Faith was about 18 months old I said she was so much easier than Bryce. Now she is so much more difficult than Bryce ever was in terms of being head strong and throwing fits.

Her intelligence seems to match her stubbornness. She is so bright and her vocabulary continues to amaze me. The other day I asked her if she wanted to play a game with Bryce and I. She responded by saying, "not particularly." What 2 1/2 year old uses language like this?

Faith has really been enjoying using Bryce's new V-Reader that he got for his birthday. If she keeps playing with it she'll be reading by age 4.

She is still into her babies. She is also liking play-doh, coloring, being outside on the swing set and playing games (Zingo Bingo is her favorite).

Bryce 5 Years Old

2011-07-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

For the past couple of weeks Bryce has had fabulous behavior. He is so excited to be turning 5.

I've always told him that when he turned 5 he could chew gum. When I gave him his first piece I told him not to swallow it. The poor guy didn't understand me and was saving up all the spit in his mouth, afraid to swallow until he finally asked me if it was okay to swallow just the spit.

He is still very into dinosaurs.

For his birthday, we went to see Cars 2 in 3D, out to Fresh Choice for dinner, to the Disney store, and finally home to open presents. It was a wonderful way to celebrate his big day.

At his 5 year check he was 44 inches, which is the 90-95% and 43 pounds. Dr. Wold said he is doing great.

Bryce's 5 year old pictures

2011-07-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

My friend Elise took Bryce's 5 year old pictures. The pictures were taken at her house.

Faith 2 Years 8 Months

2011-06-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

It seems hard to believe, but Faith is becoming increasingly difficult. She has thrown some huge fits where she screams for an hour plus over nothing but her stubbornness. Some days it seems like a constant battle. I just pray that she outgrows this quickly. Nathan reminded me a few days ago, when I was venting to him saying that we needed to take Faith to a counselor, that I said the same thing about Bryce when he was of a similar age because of his fits. Now Bryce, while still strong willed, is not too difficult. I also hope that we are able to focus her stubbornness on something positive.

Her favorite thing to play is still babies. She loves taking care of them. She feeds them, changes their dirty diapers, burps them, and puts them to bed. She almost always has a baby with her.

Bryce's last day of preschool

2011-06-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

Bryce is officially out of preschool. I had a hard time all week thinking about the school year coming to an end. He has had such an amazing time at Brush Creek Nursery School and I'm sad that he has to move on. For the final day of school they had a jumpy house, face painting, pizza and lots of fun activities. He has a blast. After school I took the kids to get a frozen yogurt to celebrate.

When we got home, Bryce started crying because he missed school and just knew that at the end of the year in Kindergarten there wouldn't be a jumpy house and that he'd never have his face painted the same way. Poor sensitive guy. He made me tear up.

Bryce 4 Years 11 Months

2011-06-02T20:14:00.001-07:00

I can't believe that my baby will be 5 in just one month. Five seems like such a big boy. He will no longer fall into the preschooler age group, but will be moving into school-aged. So sad.

Bryce is starting to learn to act tough and suck it up when he gets hurt. While I like that he is able to control his emotions a little more, it also makes me realize that he is growing up on yet another level. He recently went to a jumpy house in San Jose with Nanny, Juli and the kids. I was told that he got hurt two different times, started to cry, and then took a deep breath, held back the tears and kept on going.

When Bryce gets angry his latest response is to huff at you and stomp off. He also asks us why we get so angry when most of the time we aren't angry, we are simply pointing out that he needs to change his attitude, or that he did something that isn't acceptable. He hasn't yet figured out the difference between us getting really angry, us not liking his behavior, and us just giving him suggestions/directions.

He is still really loving soccer and Tball. He had his Tball team party at Round Table pizza. All the kids were called up one by one to receive their trophy/medal. He was so proud of it.

We finally made the decision to send Bryce to Riebli for Kindergarten. We figure we'd try out the free option first and if it doesn't work out then move him. We felt by sending him to RVC first that we might be paying a whole lot of money unnecessarily and that once we started him in private school it would be difficult to move him into public. He had his Kindergarten screening at Riebli and is getting excited to go to Kindergarten.

Faith 2 Years 7 Months

2011-05-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

We are working on getting Faith to leave her binky in the bed. She has been biting holes in them. "Threw" away a bunch

Faith is officially potty-trained during the day. She can hold it for a very long time for a child her age. She's only had one or two accidents since she decided she was no longer wearing pull-ups during the day.

Faith can write the letter "F". She practices her writing while Bryce does his "work".

Because of the noise from the "worker-men" and being afraid of Bitsy getting her while she sleeps, Faith is napping in Nanny's closet. She thinks it is great to sleep in there. The best part is that it is dark so her naps have been longer.

Most mornings Faith will say "I don't remember the workermen, so I'm shy of them." She also won't sit in her normal seat at the kitchen table if workers are here because that is the closest seat to where construction is taking place. The funny thing is that she talks their ears off half the time, and the other half she is too shy to be near them.

She is starting to throw some huge fits, worse than ever before. Sometimes she'll scream for a good hour or more over the smallest things. Such a drama queen.

Bryce 4 Years 10 Months

2011-05-02T20:13:00.000-07:00

Bryce is still into watching the Dinosaur Train. This is always the first show he asks for. He is also into super heros, Spiderman and Batman especially. I was hoping to avoid these things for a couple more years, but he learned about them from his friends at school. Then, at the consignment sale I told him he could choose any toy he wanted and what does he find, a bag full of little super hero guys, including Batman and Spiderman. When I tried to tell him I didn't want to buy him Batman or Spiderman toys he told me that I said he could choose whatever he wanted. I had to keep to my word so now he has the toys. Thankfully he has not yet been exposed to the fighting and darker side of these characters, but I know I won't be able to shelter him forever. He already makes them fight the bad guys.

Bryce has been loving having Nathan home more now that tax season is over. It is so cute how he wants to dress, eat, and do exactly the same as daddy.

He makes everything into a competition. He is always concerned about who is older, bigger, faster, better at x,y,and z, etc. I've really been working with him so that he doesn't say anything to hurt other people's feelings, including Faith's.

Bryce started Tball and is loving it. The coach is doing a great job teaching the kids how to catch, bat, run the bases, and be good team players. He is playing through Santa Rosa Parks and Rec. It should be a great into, as it is only 6 weeks long with one game and one practice a week. Unfortunately because of the late heavy rains his first practice was cancelled. He was really disappointed.

Faith 2 Years 6 Months

2011-04-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

It seems crazy that my baby is 2 1/2 years old. While on one hand I'm glad she is half-way to three, as I'm hoping her behavior will improve when she gets out of the terrible twos, but on the other hand I'm sad that she is growing up so quickly.

She still loves to play with her baby dolls. Whenever you ask her what she wants to play, she tells you babies. She lines then up on blankets for naps, feeds them, burps them, wipes off their entire bodies with baby wipes when they poop, and is so loving to them. She likes real babies a lot too. She is always wanting to hold babies at church or when we see Cole and Kira.

She is still doing really well with potty training. She only asks for jelly beans occasionally now. Pull-ups are still a must for nap and bedtime, but during the day she has only had one or two accidents.

She continues to be having sleep issues. She and Bryce can't start off sleeping in the same room because they talk and keep each other up. Bryce is now starting off the night in our bed and we move him into his own bed when we go to sleep. Faith still continues to wake me up screaming 2-4 times a night. Often all I have to do is cover her up or find her binky, but it means I loose out on a lot of sleep.

Bryce 4 Years 9 Months

2011-04-01T14:21:00.000-07:00

Bryce continues to be really into Dinosaur Train. He says he might be a Paleontologist when he grows up. He can sing the whole theme song and can tell you facts on at least a dozen different dinosaurs, knows what an herbivore, carnivore and omnivore are, and knows the names for different period of time, such as the Cretaceous period. The amount he absorbs, understands, and can explain is incredible.

He is still really enjoying school. He seems to hang out with the same group of kids, Mason (his best buddy), Andrew, Miles, Garrett, Chloe, Zoey, Maddy (his crush), and Ezmia. Most of these kids stay for respite time so he has really seemed to bond with them. He doesn't like that they won't be at his school next year when they are all in Kindergarten.

Bryce's behavior has been as much of an issue this tax season as it has been in the past. Maybe he understands a little more that Daddy has to work a lot this time of year, but that once its over he can take time off. Maybe having my mom around all the time also helps.

We are still struggling with where to send Bryce to Kindergarten. He had his evaluation at Rincon Valley and did very well. He is performing at age 5-6 in all categories. It was nice to see that it is not just me being prejudice, but that he really is excelling. We have continued to be impressed with what we see at Rincon Valley Christian, but still wonder if we shouldn't start him out in public school. We'll keep thinking on this.

Faith 2 Years 5 Months

2011-03-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

Faith is officially potty-trained. We had been encouraging her to use the potty for several months. She would do most of her poops in the potty, but she preferred to go pee in her pull-up. About three weeks ago she refused to put a pull-up on in favor of wearing panties. She made it all day long, including going to Bible study and running errands without an accident. Since this day, she will not wear pull-ups unless she is napping (she wears panties over the pull-ups for nap - very funny) and bedtime. She has only had a couple of full-on accidents, all of which have been at home. The first few days of wearing panties she would suddenly freeze and say "A yittle drop in my panties" and run to the bathroom. Now she holds it for several hours. We are slowly weaning her from thinking she needs a jelly belly every time she goes potty.

Along with this new skills, she has become quite the tantrum queen. She has thrown some huge tantrums over the past month. When she decides to throw one of these fits nothing we say or do can get her to come out of it. We have resorted to putting her in her crib until she is done screaming, which can last upwards of 30 minutes. Last week she refused to get dressed and started screaming. I put her in her crib, and 30 minutes later she still wasn't ready to get dressed. I had to leave to take Bryce to school, so my mom and I had to pin her down, get her dressed and carry her to the car. Finally after 10 or so minutes in the car she calmed down. I hope she gets over this tantrum stage quick.

St. Patrick's Day - Daddy's Birthday

2011-03-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

For Bryce's school lunch I made a rainbow of fruit, a four-leaf clover shaped sandwich, and green yogurt. When I picked him up, he had a big smile and told me he was the only kid with a special St. Patrick's Day lunch.

Faith celebrated at her My Gym class. She recently moved up to the Tots class (2 1/2 - 3 1/2 years) and loves it.

The kids each made Nathan a masterpiece for his birthday. The worked on them over a few day period, letting each coat of paint dry. Bryce did a picture of the ocean and an orange sunset sky with a steam boat.

Nathan opted to stay home and have a quiet family dinner rather than going out. It was a nice evening.

Bryce 4 Years 8 Months

2011-03-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

Bryce went from a little boy that didn't like anything having to do with art to being an art junkie. He all of a sudden starting sketching and wanting to cutout everything in site.

A few days ago he asked me to draw a whale so he could cut it out. I gave it my best attempt, to which he replied, "Mommy, that is not a very good whale." After explaining that daddy was the artist in the family I had the idea of printing out sketches from the internet. What a hit. We've since printed out whales, dinosaurs, moose, bears, dolphins, boats, trains, elephants, hippos, Toy Story characters, Dinosaur Train characters, etc. and he has cut them out. He now has an entire folder with all of his cutouts. His attitude has also greatly improved when he makes a mistake. He still melts down occasionally, but not nearly as much as a few months ago.

He has also started to write his name. It is so interesting to watch him. Sometimes he writes his name exactly the write way, sometimes he write a perfect mirror image, somethings he uses all capital letters, and sometimes some letters face the correct direction and some do not. He doesn't seem to notice the difference when looking at the finished product. I'm told that this is a natural stage in a child's development and not to correct it. That to his eyes it really looks correct. In addition to writing his name he has started to work in Pre-K workbooks and is doing extremely well. He is spelling simple words, knows the sounds of each letter, recognizes A-Z in both lowercase and capital, and can tell you what letter most words start with by sounding them out slowly. Now to just get him to hold his pencil correctly...

One recent behavioral challenge that we've been dealing with is Bryce telling me to "Stop It" or yelling "No" when I try to correct his behavior. He has also said that "It sounds like you don't love/like your son" and "I'm a bad boy" and "I'm a bad son" when he is in trouble for something. All are devastating to hear, as this is most definitely not the case. He takes all constructive criticism and disciple so personal and doesn't want to hear it. He tends to just shut down. I'm trying very hard to be sensitive to this and tell him when he is doing the right thing or when he has a terrific attitude.

Faith 2 Years 4 Months

2011-02-20T19:51:00.000-08:00

The extent to which Faith tries to keep up with her big brother is impressive. More and more she is wanting to do big kids things or do the same things Bryce is doing.

She wants to eat the same foods as he eats, which thoroughly frustrates Bryce. She wants to sit at the table without her booster seat; buckle her own seat belt; get dressed on her own; brush her teeth on her own; and the list keeps going. She has always been very independent when doing these things, but more and more she is getting adamant about it.

Her latest thing is telling us she wants privacy when she goes potty on the big potty. I have to stand outside the door until she tells me she is finished. I found this hysterical since I have to come in and wipe her when she is done. She has been doing really well using the potty. She no longer uses her little potty seat, but instead sits on the real toilet. She is doing almost all of her poop in the potty.

Faith is getting really into Veggie Tales. When given the choice she will choose a Veggie Tale movie over any other movie. Her favorite character is Bob the Tomato.

After spending the weekend in Tahoe earlier this month with the Husen's and Garcia's, Faith started carrying her babies around in her shirt or pj's trying to emulate Auntie Em carrying Ella in a Ergo Baby pack. She was stretching out her shirts and pj's trying to make the babies fit. At Nanny's suggestion I went on Amazon and found an Ergo Baby carrier specifically made for baby dolls. I immediately ordered it. Faith has spent entire days wearing her baby carrier. The only baby she puts in it is Ella. She has names most of her babies. She has Cole, Kira, Ella, and Ashley to name a few. All are named after babies she knows. If you call a baby doll by the incorrect name she immediately corrects you.

While she is still very attached to her pink lovey, she has started wanting all of them in her bed with her. She will tell you, "I want too many YaeYae's." I hope this means we can more easily distract her when it is time to wash the pink one.

Spokane

2011-02-08T20:32:00.000-08:00

We had another wonderful trip to Spokane to visit Auntie Rachel, Uncle J, Samantha and Emily.

The kids and I flew out Wednesday morning, January 26th. Nathan joined us Friday night. We then all flew home together on Monday.

While we were there we did a lot of hanging out at the house so the kids could play. Samantha and Bryce got along wonderfully. Emily and Faith played well sometimes and at other times it was obvious they are both used to being the baby of the family. They had a tough time sharing and compromising.

Some of the fun things we did included tubing at Mt. Spokane, a drive to see the Bald Eagles, lunch out, Mobius (a discovery museum for kids), watching Samantha's ballet, tap and tumbling classes (Bryce participated in the tumbling class and had fun), and baking cookies.

Bryce 4 Years 7 Months

2011-02-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

Bryce's artistic skills are improving dramatically. He is really amazing us. The other day he asked me to make a top hat with him out of paper. Not being very artistic, I wasn't sure how this was going to work out, but thankfully he had a plan. He instructed me step by step. While at first his directions didn't seem to make sense, I caught on to his plan and it worked great. He told me to cut a rectangle and then make it a circle. This meant to cut a rectangle then fold the two short ends together to make a cylinder. Then I was told to cut a large oval for the top and attach it to the circle. Next I had to cut two small ovals for the brim of the hat. While the two small ovals didn't make a "normal" brim, they looked correct from a 4 year old's view point of looking head on at something.

He continues drawing and writing letters on a regular basis. When he writes his name, the letters go from right to left, but they are in the correct order and legible.

It is so wonderful to watch this development occur.

For the past few weeks Bryce has been ultra sensitive. He cries easily over little things. If you ask him to do or not do something his reaction is sometimes to head upstairs because he thinks he is in trouble. I'm trying to be sensitive to his sensitivity, but he is really over the top right now.

Bryce went through a huge growth spurt this month. In a matter or two weeks his pants went from being too long to being high-waters. I had to pack up all his size 4 pants and get down the box of size 5 hand-me-downs. Thankfully there were plenty of pants and I didn't have to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe mid-season.

Bryce started staying through respite care (from 1-3) at school. I am hoping the extra hours help him to be better prepared for Kindergarten. He really likes it as it means a short quiet time and then more playtime outside with his friends.

We are still undecided on where to send him for school. We are applying for financial aid at Rincon Valley Christian and are touring Riebli in a few days. Hopefully after our tour we will have a better feeling one way or another.

Bryce has completely stopped having accidents at night. It has been over 6 weeks since he woke up with any wetness. Yea for not having to wash sheets as often or wake up to change him.

Faith 2 Years 3 Months

2011-01-20T20:19:00.000-08:00

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Faith has once again stopped sleeping through the night. Ever since our Tahoe trip she has been waking up 2-4 times screaming for me. Thankfully all I have to do is give her back her binky and lovey and tuck her in. The bad thing is that while it only takes me a couple of minutes to settle her down, it sometimes takes me over an hour to fall back to sleep. I feel like I have a newborn sometimes with the amount of sleep I'm loosing.

Faith has gone through a growth spurt over the last few weeks. She has gotten taller. Many of her pants no longer fit. I think she is finally in a 24 month or 2T size. The only issue is that her winter wardrobe is all 18-24 month. I really don't want to have to buy a bunch of new clothes. I'm hoping to find enough to fit that we can't wait until Spring for a new wardrobe.

Faith has been using words like "similar", saying "that _______ is similar to ________." She is also saying things like actually, except, and many more words that most 2 year old can't even pronounce let alone use correctly. The only words she consistently misprounces are words that begin with "sp" or "sn" like snow is "no" or spanking is "panking." She can say her "s" sound with many words that begin with "s" and if the "s" is in the middle of the word. Her language skills really are amazing. We are so often astonished at what comes out of her mouth.

We are trying to bribe her with a big girl bed (toddler bed) if she starts to keep her pull-up dry. In the last few weeks she has only gone poop in her pull-up a couple of times during nap, but it is almost always wet. So far she tells us that she wants a big girl bed, but keeps peeing in her pull-up.

Tahoe

2011-01-09T19:41:00.000-08:00

Our fifth annual New Year's trip to Tahoe was a lot of fun.

Our drive up was uneventful. We were afraid of getting stuck on 80 since snow was in the forecast. Thankfully the snow was very light going over the pass and the roads remained clear. Since we feared getting stuck or having to turn back around due to road closures we left early Sunday morning and rushed through lunch. Consequently we arrived in Tahoe a couple of hours before our house was ready. We spent those hours going to Safeway to buy all the food we didn't pack with us, walking around Tahoe City and getting hot chocolate and muffins for the kids for snack.

Monday - We woke up early and headed to Northstar for a day of skiing. Nanny stayed at the cabin with Mandy and Faith. I was so impressed with Bryce. Nathan and I started him off right away on a green run. At first Nathan had him skiing between his legs. When he feel he didn't cry or whine, but got up ready to try again. After going down with him for a couple of hours we took a short break to use the bathroom and have a quick snack. Bryce didn't want to sit in the lodge long as he wanted to be back out skiing. After another couple of runs, we met up with the Buccellato's. Juli then took over teaching Bryce. He made great progress with her. She had him hold her poles and skied down beside him. We did Village run numerous times and by the end Bryce was started to turn and would let go of the poles. While we did Village run, Nathan and Clay went up to the top of the mountain for some more difficult skiing. We meet up again for snacks around 2:30. By this time the boys were getting tired. Since I enjoy skiing the least out of the adults I took them back to the car to warm up, watch a movie and wait for the other adults to get a few more runs in. The only time Bryce whined the entire day was on the long walk back to the car. He was such a trooper, had a ton of self confidence, and tried his best. He loved it.

Tuesday - Nathan, Juli, Clay and Trey spent another day at Northstar. Nanny, the girls and I stayed home. We played games, including Faith's new Zingo game, watched movies, took a walk, read stories, and had quiet/nap time. It was a relaxing day for those of us that stayed home, and a fun day of skiing for the others.

Wednesday - Nathan and I went in the hot tub after breakfast with the kids. After that we went to the same sledding park we had been to the previous two years. The snow was perfect and there were no other sledders there. Faith and Bryce were both fearless, loving the bumps and going fast. After a couple hours of sledding everyone was getting hungry so we went back to the cabin for lunch. That afternoon we went to Northstar to ice skate and make smores. Bryce was so fun to watch on skates. Even though he hadn't skated since last year, he got right out on the ice, didn't hold the wall, and figured it out all by himself. After just a few times around the rink he was trying to do tricks (skating on one leg, going backwards, turning, etc.). He was so proud of himself. Mandy had taken a couple sessions of skating lessons last summer, but she was very unsure of herself and didn't want to let go of Juli's hands. This gave Bryce a boost of confidence. When he fell he got right up and kept on going. Faith also enjoyed the ice. Nathan helped her around the ice several times. After skating we made smores and rested then went back on the ice for a while. We decided to call it quits for the night when Bryce started getting upset when he fell because his bottom hurt and we were all getting hungry. We went to CBs Pizza for dinner and then home for the night.

Thursday - We had a lazy day around the cabin. We played games, watched movies, played with the kids, built a snowman (our best one yet), took a walk down to the lake, read our books. It was a very nice way to spend a vacation day.

Friday - We had a repeat of Wednesday. We went sledding in the morning and once again we had the hill to ourselves. Bryce was even more daring this time, wanting to go over the biggest jumps. One time he hit the jump a little hard, flew off the sled and hit his face hard enough to make his nose bleed and cut his lip. I thought for sure we were done for the day, but after a few hugs and tears he was going again, although not over the same jump. Faith also continued to enjoy sledding. Her favorite person to go down the hill with was E.T. Juli. That afternoon we went back to Northstar for more ice skating and smores. Bryce didn't have as good of an experience as he had previously. Mandy decided that she didn't need to hold onto Juli's hand and decided to go around the rink as fast as she could. Since she had toe-picks on her skates and lessons under her belt she was faster than Bryce at running around the rink. This greatly upset Bryce because he wanted to be faster than her. Mandy didn't help the situation as she taunted him every time she passed him. After a few fits and a smore, Bryce began to understand that Mandy had more experience with skating and that it didn't matter who was faster. We also pointed out that he could do tricks, which Mandy wasn't doing. This helped improve his attitude and he started to enjoy himself. Faith only went around the rink a few times and then was finished. While she enjoyed it, she was content to sit with Nanny and watch.

Saturday - We had another lazy day around the cabin on Saturday. We had intended to go to Jake's on the Lake for lunch, but the adults were feeling tired and lazy, and Faith was sick with a nasty cold. Instead we stayed home, read, played lots of games, watched movies, and relaxed. It was a nice way to spend our final full day of vacation.

Sunday - Our drive home was uneventful. We left at 9:30 am and were home by 2:30. This included stopping for gas and lunch in Auburn. The kids were well behaved for the majority of the ride. We were sure Faith would take a good nap since she hadn't slept well for the past two nights because of her cold. However she proved us wrong.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was watching Bryce blossom. Often times he is afraid to try new things and can be a little cautious. This was not the case. He tackled skiing, sledding, and ice skating with confidence, determination, and enthusiasm. It was wonderful to see this. Also, for the most part he wasn't too hard on himself when he fell or was not perfect.

I also loved watching tiny Faith fly down the sledding hill in her pink and purple snow outfit. She had so much spunk and did her best to keep up with the big kids.

I also loved watching Nathan teach Bryce to ski and helping Faith to ice skate. He is such a wonderful dad.

I feel so blessed to be able to spend such quality time with my family.

Bryce 4 1/2 Years Old

2011-01-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

Bryce has suddenly become interested in drawing. It started when we were out to dinner for my birthday. He was given crayons and paper and drew something other than just scribbles. He isn't holding the crayon correctly, but he is now able to draw things that truly look like the object he is trying to create. He is very hard on himself when they don't turn out just right, but he is still enjoying it.

He has also started to get more into art projects in general. He had to make a star badge for his Star Person Week at school, which takes place the second week in January. He glued all sorts of sequence, little pom-poms, beads, and feathers onto the star. He has also been enjoying cutting projects and other artsy things.

Bryce had his first soccer scrimmage a few weeks ago. Only three goals were scored the entire scrimmage. He scored his team's only two goals, and the other team scored one goal. He was very impressed with himself. I was happy to see this since the previous week he was very upset during his class because he had a new teacher, their class was on a new part of the field, and things were just different since he had moved up a level. The next week he scored three goals. He is not afraid to get right in the middle of things, tries to get the ball back from the other team, and loves to score goals. We bought him shin-guards, which he wore for an entire day so that people everywhere we went could see them. He was so cute showing and telling people about them and his soccer class.

Faith 2 Years 2 Months

2010-12-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

Nanny got smart and asked Faith if she wanted to sleep in a big girl bed. She of course said yes. We put a folded twin sheet on her bed and used her crib comforter and a blanket and now she is happy to have blankets in her bed. We no longer have to double-up her pjs and she stays plenty warm. This, along with a few really rough nights of insisting she sleep in her own bed really helped. Now the rule is she can only come in our bed for cuddle time in the mornings. She still wakes up around 5 am most mornings screaming, "Mommy come get me", but I make her lay back down and she goes to sleep without much fuss.

Faith is fairly hit and miss with potty training. She rarely goes poop in her pull-ups, but pees often in them. This is partly our fault as we haven't been very diligent in taking her to the bathroom. There has even been times when she'll tell me she has to go and we'll be out or really busy and I'll tell her to just pee in her pull-up.

Faith has really been enjoying playing with her baby dolls. She continues to change, feed, burp, and soothe them when they cry. She even makes pretend crying noses then tells the baby its ok, shh.

Faith has started to become very into doing things on her own. She wants to climb into the car and buckle her own seat belt, get dressed (this includes picking out her own clothes), brush her own hair and teeth, wash her own hands, etc. While sometimes this is wonderful, letting her do these things can take a long time, and the end result is sometimes very interesting. She likes wash her hands in the "cold sink" (the water in the downstairs bathroom takes a long time to heat up) by herself. This would be just fine if she didn't use multiple squirts of soap, drip water all over the floor and counter, and throw the clean towels on the floor when she is finished. When you ask her about the mess she says, "It happens" and shrugs her shoulders like its no big deal.

Her vocabulary continues to amaze me. She has mastered concepts that many 3 and 4 year old don't have down correctly. She also is trying to write letters already. While none of the letters actually look like letters she writes in the lines and goes from left to right using both of her hands equally well.

Faith is down to just one nap a day. She had been taking a morning nap a few times a week, but with the busy holidays, I cut her down to just her afternoon nap. Sometimes she is still a little fussy, but she can make it until after lunch.

2nd Annual Holden/Clapper Family Gathering

2010-12-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

Merilou and Jack had all of their kids and the Holden family to a house out in Stinson Beach. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and it rained most of the time we were there.

Even with the rain we all thoroughly enjoyed our visit. A few of the older kids went swimming in the pool, but Bryce and Faith just put their feet in the spa. We didn't even go down to the beach because of the rain. The adults spent most of their time sitting indoors chatting.

We had a wonderful lunch catered by Comforts, a delicious restaurant/cafe in San Anselmo.

Sally brought the kids a very cute game called Snail's Pace Race. They love it. We've played it many times already.

Christmas Tree

2010-12-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

Faith took a late nap so we didn't leave to get our tree until close to 4 pm. By the time we got to Frosty Mountain in Sebastopol it was almost 4:30 and getting a little dark.

Faith was tired and cranky and the to make matters worse she fell in the mud as soon as we go there. She cried most of the time.

Bryce had a good time helping Nathan to cut down and carry the tree.

We didn't decorate the tree until the following evening because it was late when we got home and the tree was wet.

Bryce helped Nathan to bring in and set up the tree. Both kids got their annual ornament from Nanny. Bryce received a dragon bell and Faith a ladybug, which was perfect since this is what they each were for Halloween. After decorating the tree, Bryce and Nathan set up the train.

The Nutcracker

2010-12-07T15:12:00.000-08:00

Nanny and I took Bryce and Faith to the MicroNut, a shortened production of the Nutcracker. It was put on by Sebastopol Ballet. The Director of Sebastopol Ballet was my first ballet teacher until I was 14 years old. It was very nostalgic to see the show, as much of the choreography from when I was Clara was the same.

Bryce and Faith sat completely still for the entire hour long show. They both loved it.

Bryce 4 Years 5 Months

2010-12-03T15:36:00.000-08:00

Bryce is continuing to do really well at Brush Creek. He is happy to go and doesn't want to be picked-up most of the time. When I arrive to pick him up I often hear, "Why did you come so early" even if I'm there at the normal time. I'm really glad he is thriving there.

Bryce is trying to do more and more "school" work, which includes cutting, gluing, stickers, writing his letters, etc. I'm really trying to work on his fine motor skills. He is also continuing to advance in his reading/spelling skills. The other day as we were reading he sounded out 5 or 6 three-letter words all on his own. He doesn't like help with anything learning related, so the trick is to help him without him realizing he is being helped.

Bryce went for about 4 weeks without an accident at night. This is the longest stretch without an accident he has ever had. Prior to this he would make it two or three weeks without an accident. Hopefully the next stretch will be even longer than 4 weeks.

Bryce is continuing to play soccer with Lil' Kickers. He is very coordinated and seems to be having a great time with it.

Bryce starting singing with the Son Light Singers at church. It took a lot of convincing to get him to go, but once we got there he was very excited. Mary Durham (his first crush) and Sarah Cobb are the teachers. When it was over he asked me if I could sign him up so he could go every week. Yeah - success at something new on the first try. He doesn't normally do so well with new things or changes. I hope next week goes just as smoothly.

Bryce is going to be an angel in the Christmas show next week. He is very excited and keeps telling us that angles are very important. He is also very concerned about having a halo. He wants to make sure he will have once since all angels do.

Faith 2 Years 1 Month

2010-11-22T20:53:00.001-08:00

Faith's mind has started to go faster than she can form the words. Just a few weeks ago her sentences were very clear without saying "um." Now when she talks, especially if she is excited or has a lot to tell you, she says, "um, um, um" many times while she is trying to spit the words out. I know that all kids go through this, but it is so funny since she used to talk so clearly.

Faith is enjoying going to Patty and Jackie's. She normally cries when I leave, but stops just a minute after. It is mostly for show. She gets excited when I tell her she gets to go and is always happy to see me when I pick her up. She likes the kids that are younger than her. She likes to take care of them.

She is really enjoying playing with her dolls. She likes to change them and wipes their bums when they go potty. She nurses them, feeds, them, and plays so sweetly with them. Most of the time her babies' names are Cole and Kira.

Faith has started to go to the bathroom on the potty more frequently. I've let her wear training panties around the house a few times, but she has accidents a lot. I think mentally she might be ready for potty training, but I'm not sure her bladder is ready. Even when she goes pee on the potty she only pees about a Tbsp and then has to go again in 10 or 15 minutes or has an accident.

She started this new thing where she grabs a church directory out of the drawer and a piece of paper and something to write with. She looks at the directory and runs her finger under a line of text them pretends to copy what she sees onto the paper. She looks back and forth between the directory and her paper as if she is very intent on copying it just right. She says she is doing her email work. She holds her pencil correctly when she does this.

It seems like Faith is waking up at least half of the week in the middle of the night. Once she wakes up it is very hard to get her to go back to sleep in her crib. This is partly our fault since we don't like for her to cry for fear that she'll wake up Bryce. For a while she was doing so well with sleeping. I think she might be waking up now because she is cold. Without heat upstairs it gets very cold at night, especially since we keep the kids' door shut at night. Faith will not allow blankets in her bed so we double up her pjs, but her hands are still ice cold when she wakes up in the middle of the night.

Halloween

2010-11-11T20:00:00.000-08:00

We had planned on going to the pumpkin patch after Faith's birthday party, but it was pouring rain. Instead, we waited for a slight break in the rain later in the week and just went down to Punky's at the Wells Fargo Center. Faith wasn't feeling well and it was wet and cold so we were only there for a few minutes. Nathan didn't get to go with us because he was working. The kids still had fun, aside from Faith touching the stem and getting tiny throns in her hand, even though we didn't go to a place with a maze, tractor ride, etc.

Nathan carved pumpkins with the kids. Bryce said he wanted a Jack-o-lantern face on his. He didn't quite understand that any pumpkin with a face was a Jack-o-lantern. What he meant was that he wanted the traditional face - triangle nose and eyes and a smily face. Faith had no problem digging right into the "guts" and cleaning out the inside. Bryce took some coaxing before he would touch it, but I'm proud that he did.

We participated in Trunk and Treat again this year. Bryce was a Dragon Monster and Faith was a Ladybug. I at first wanted to put her in a Pig costume since she loves pigs, but when I showed her the pig costume online she through a fit and said with no uncertainty that she would not be a pig. After she had settled on a ladybug costume, she then told me she wasn't going to be a ladybug that she wanted to be a pig. Thankfully I got her to get into the ladybug costume idea since I had already ordered it. Bryce picked out his Dragon costume and thought it was pretty neat.

Bryce had a great time hanging out with Alex and Emilee Thomson at Trunk and Treat. He sang and danced with Pastor D. and went from trunk to trunk several time. Even though he had a ton of candy, he only ate one piece the entire night.

Faith had a good time collecting candy, but she mostly wanted to sit in the back of the Highlander and eat it. She had 3 or 4 suckers, milk duds, popcorn, and possibly more. I lost count.

Bryce 4 Years 4 Months

2010-11-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

Bryce's behavior has been very good lately. It has been over a month since he has had behavior that warranted a spanking. I hope this lasts, as he is so much more pleasant to be around when he is behaving well.

Bryce has started to take an interest in learning to write his letters and numbers. He has a practice board that uses dry erase markers on a clear plastic sheet with work pages that you can switch behind the plastic. He has been doing remarkably well, but he is such a perfectionist that anytime he makes event he slightly mistake he gets very upset. We are trying to help him to hold his pen correctly, but he won't allow us to help him very much.

Bryce is doing really well in his Little Kickers soccer class. He is following directions, learning to dribble with both feet, learning balancing skills, and other techniques. It has been fun watching him. Anytime he does something well, he looks at me and gives me a thumbs up sign. Jackson Hermsmeyer is in the class with him and Hunter Mueller is in the class next to his, so that has been fun too.

Bryce has gotten away from his Franklin craze. Now he is really liking Little Bear and his Leap Frog Letter movie. He has pretty much mastered the basic sounds all the letters make thanks to this movie. He has also started playing his Boggle Jr. game and wants to sound out simple words. I love that he is starting to want to learn more and that he is willing to branch out and play different types of games.

We are in the process of looking into Kindergarten's at public and private schools for him next year. This is so difficult. We see pros and cons to public and private schools and just want so badly to make the right choice for him. We also worry because he had such a rough time adjusting to being back at Brush Creek this year and worry about his new teacher and their ability to handle it if he has the same issues with going to Kindergarten.

One afternoon while Nathan and I were out and Nanny was watching Bryce, he said something very funny. He was having trouble going to the bathroom and was complaining that his poop wouldn't come out. Nanny told him to sit there for a little while. When she went back he had done his business and he told her, "I figured it out. There were two poops that were trying to come out at the same time. They realized that they had to take turns." So funny!

Faith 2 Years Old

2010-10-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Faith is two, yet when I see how advanced she is in so many ways, it seems like she is beyond two.

She understands concepts that a lot of three year-old kids don't grasp. She understands the basic concept of time and uses words like I used to do ______, or I will do _______ later, or maybe next time we go/do/I have ______. She understands and uses pronouns correctly. She is already started to dress herself and put her own shoes and socks on. She can count to 10 without much assistance, holds her pencil correctly (with both her right and left hand), and can use scissors. She knows a few colors - her favorite color is pink.

She is starting to be a little picky about what she eats. She now doesn't eat every veggie I put in front of her. She also took bites of black bean soup, which she loved last year, only to spit them out and refused to swallow.

Faith had a wonderful birthday at My Gym. It was so stress free for us. All I had to do was bake cupcakes, buy paper products, and get stuff for the guests' party favors. All the kids and adults really enjoyed themselves.

On Sep. 27th her second lower 2-year old molar starting coming through.

Bryce 4 Years 3 Months

2010-10-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

It dawned on me a couple of weeks ago that I haven't seen Bryce suck his thumb in a very long time. I'm not exactly sure when he gave it up, but it appears that he isn't even sucking it when he goes to sleep. I'm glad I never stressed over him sucking his thumb, knowing that he'd give it up when he was ready.

He has finally settled into going to school. He doesn't throw fits about getting ready to leave for school, is happy when I drop him off, and comes home excited about his day. He is even participating in the art projects.

His behavior has also greatly improved. I think so much of his behavior has to do with stress for him and he gets very stressed over change and new situations. Now that life has settled into a comfortable routine he is doing much better.

he is really starting to sound out words and spell simple words like dog, pop, cat, bat, etc. Academically he will definitely be ready for Kindergarten.

Faith 23 Months

2010-09-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that in just one month my baby will be 2 years old.

She is becoming very self sufficient these days. She will often says "No I do it" "no me" or other phrases to express that she wants her independence. She has event old us she wants privacy when she is sitting on her little potty.

She is starting to use her potty occasionally, but only because we bride her with a jelly belly. Bryce also gets one for encouraging her. When she goes pee we all clap and say "yea Faith."

When Faith is mad she has taken to saying "You bad Mommy" or "Daddy" or whomever happens to be doing or telling her something so doesn't like. She will also sometimes spit at you or try and hit you. She has also picked up some potty talk from her brother. She says, "No you yucky poo poo guy." She especially likes to say it to Bryce because he get very upset.

Her vocabulary is continuing to grow even more. She now uses words like "tomorrow" "next week" "next time" all correctly.

Faith's 1st 2 year-old molar came in on the lower left side of her mouth on Sep. 17th. She had been putting her fingers in her mouth for a few days and then all of a sudden a tooth popped through.

Bryce 4 Years 2 Months

2010-09-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

Bryce started preschool again today. All summer he has been telling me that he was not going back to school. He says he wants to stay home and play with me and that school is no fun.

I told Bryce that he had to go to school or else we could get in trouble because it was the law that all 4 year old have to go to school.

When we arrived I had to drag him out of the car. He was very grumpy and upset. He wasn't happy about having his first day of school picture taken. Once I got him onto the playground he just clung to me crying and kept saying don't leave me mommy. It was heart breaking. I stayed for about 10 or 15 minutes. Finally I had to leave so that I could take Faith to her first day at Toddler Playgroup. Birte, one of his teachers did a good job of taking him away from me. I tried to assure him that I would be back soon, that he would have fun, and that he was safe.

When I returned to pick him up I was told that he was only upset for about 5 or 10 minutes and then had a good day.

I think Bryce has a very difficult time with change. He has always had trouble adjusting to any new situation whether it be going on vacation, moving, or starting a new school year. His whole system gets out of whack and he becomes agitated and gets upset much more easily.

Bryce has also had a hard time adjusting to our move. It has been about a week and a half since we officially moved in with Nanny. Although we've been here since June 20th my mom didn't invite us to move in until July 22nd and we didn't move out of our house completely until mid August. He tells us that he misses his old house, but can't verbalize why. We try to tell him all the wonderful benefits of living at our new house, but he is very focused on being upset about it. I hope with time he comes to appreciate how blessed we truly are.

I think some of his issues lately also stem from the fact that I've been working a ton on Worth WeeCycling. He is not used to having my focus elsewhere. I feel bad that I've been putting in so many hours, but with the sale just two weeks away I have no choice.

Faith's First Haircut

2010-08-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

Faith had her first real haircut today. We took her to Lions, Tigers and Hair in Petaluma. The owner, Chris, made a donation to Worth WeeCycling's raffle, so I decide to give her our business.

They started off by just spraying her with a water bottle and giving her a basket of toys to get her comfortable. She sat perfectly still during the whole haircut. They took just the split-ends off of her bangs, as I decided to grow them out. Most of her curls were cut off the back in order to even things out.

When she was all done, she got to have sparkles put in her hair. She was so pleased with herself and told us that it was "so pretty."

Since she was such a good girl she also got a pony ride on the street in front of the salon.

Faith 22 Months

2010-08-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

Faith is now talking in 8+ word sentences. She knows things like underneath, behind, "What are you fixing for dinner?", "Where did Nanny go", "I want to do ___", and she knows tenses like wants, want, wanted, etc. Even Patty, her teacher at Patty's Toddler Playgroup commented that her speech is very adult like after meeting her for the first time.

She is still napping twice a day, however we are often gone during her morning nap so this gets skipped a few times a week. It would be much easier to get errands done, etc. if she'd switch to just one nap a day, but she still seems to do best when she has two.

Faith is still eating just about anything we give to her, including all her fruits and veggies. I sure hope this continues. Now that she is not nursing, I'm trying to get her to drink more milk, but she doesn't really seem to want it. Thankfully she eats lots of yogurt and cheese so she is still getting the calcium, protein and fat she needs.

She spent the night with Grammy and Gramps on her own for the first time. We took Bryce to see Peter Pan and Faith went to their house for the night. She did absolutely fine. I guess she asked about me a couple of times, but other than that she was happy to be with them. I love that my kids feel so comfortable there and that I don't have to worry at all about them.

Bryce 4 Years 1 Month

2010-08-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

Bryce has become quite the swimmer this summer. While he has been swimming without a life jacket or tubbie for over a year, he has made tremendous progress this summer. He can dive down to the bottom of the pool and pick up dive sticks. Sometimes it take a few tries, but he can normally get it. He can also swim the length of the pool, and loves to see how big of a splash he can make when he jumps. He likes to yell cannonball when he jumps regardless of whether or not he is doing a cannonball, belly flop, or jumping straight in.

He has also been enjoying his trampoline a lot. He loves to play tackle with Faith and bounce her down. Thankfully she is one tough cookie and can handle the rough play.

Bryce has been hooked on the show Franklin. Last year he took a Franklin stuffed animal home from preschool for a couple of nights. Since then he has loved Franklin. I finally thought to record a bunch of episodes. He watches a couple everyday while Faith naps. While I'd like for him to not watch so much TV, it is also nice because it allows me some time to work without worrying about him or having to give him a lot of attention.

Bryce has been having a rough summer as far as his behavior. He is acting out a lot, yelling, and being deliberately disobedient. We have tried to be very consistent, but with the craziness of life - moving, me working so much, vacations, family visiting, etc. it has been hard. When he gets in one of his moods, nothing we do seems to help. We try warning him, giving him a timeout, and taking toys away. However, when he really escalates the only thing that seems to work is a spanking. Recently when we've spanked him he tells us that spankings don't work that they just make him act worse and that they don't hurt. However he also asks if I can give the spanking because apparently I don't do it as hard as daddy. Once he gets a spanking we normally see a huge change in his attitude for the rest of the day.

These pictures were taken during a visit to Doran Beach during my Uncle Kim's visit.

Faith - 21 Months

2010-07-20T20:49:00.000-07:00

Faith's vocabulary has really taken off. She can now say just about anything and fairly clearly. She tries so hard to keep up with the big kids. She runs as fast as her little legs can carry her, and is one tough cookie.

One of her new things is screaming at the top of her lungs over and over when she is upset. It is very frustrating. When you cover her mouth, she stops, but as soon as you move your hand she starts again.

She has been spoiled the last month. We've been staying with Nanny for the past month. As a result, she has been sleeping in our room and every night when she cries I pick her up and let her sleep with us. Letting her cry it out just doesn't work when she can see us. We just officially decided yesterday to move in with Nanny permanently, so we have got to figure something else out. She has started crying Mama NiNight or Mama Sleep and points to our bed.

The whole family ended up getting really sick this past month. It started with Faith. She got a bad case of the flu and couldn't even keep water down and had diarrhea. She was sick for about 2 das. Nanny and Nathan got a little touch of it next, but nothing like Faith. Then Bryce got the sick, but thankfully he never threw up. I ended the cycle and unfortunately was sick on the 4th of July. With being so sick I was forced to stop nursing Faith for a couple of days. Once I got better she wasn't really asking for milk. It seemed like a logical time to wean her. Since then she has only asked for milk a couple of times. She now says "empty, no nurse."

Faith got the worst looking bruise and cut on her face a few weeks ago. She and Bryce were running through the house when she tripped, fell and landed face first right on the corner of a doorway. Her check split open and her eyelid bruised and swelled immediately. She ended up with a black eye and a solid line of bruising from her forehead down to the middle of her check. She looked so pretty.

I forgot to take her picture today while she was awake, so I had to sneak in while she was asleep. Thankfully she didn't wake up. She is wearing her favorite piggy pj's.

Lake Shasta

2010-07-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful trip to Lake Shasta with Grammy, Gramps, Auntie Hannah, Uncle Blake, and the Garcia's.

Bryce absolutely loved swimming in the water. For the most part, we made him keep a life jacket on, but sometimes when we were right with him, he took it off. He liked the freedom of not having it on. He also loved riding in the boat, and even went on a Jet Ski for the first time. He thought that was pretty neat. He relaxed in the canoe while Gramps or Uncle Blake did all of the paddling. He went for a bike ride on the trail-a-bike with Nathan and I and rode on Blake's skateboard.

Faith also enjoyed the water, but was petrified of the rocks at the shore line. She would cry hysterically, "no rocks, no rocks." She must have stepped on a sharp rock the first day and from then on we had to carry her across into deeper water. She liked the boat ride, but not as much as Bryce. She held on to me very tightly, but did have a smile on her face.

Everyone enjoyed a fun morning at the Shasta Caverns. The boat ride over was nice and relaxing and the coolness of the caves was very welcomed. The tough part was carrying the kids up the hundreds of steps inside of the cave. Some were very steep and the kids wouldn't walk up them on their own. The view from the caverns overlooking the lake was beautiful.

We also enjoyed relaxing at the house, eating great food, and enjoying each others' company.

Thanks Grammy and Gramps for a great trip.

Bryce's Birthday Party

2010-07-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Bryce had a Toy Story themed birthday party. As usual, we did a swim party at Nanny's house. This year was much smaller than in years past. The same number of people were invited, but many people happened to be out of town, and others ended up sick the day of the party. I think there were only about 30-40 people, including kids. While it was too bad that some of his closer friends couldn't make it, having less people was nice.

Just like his 3rd birthday party, his party ended up falling on the hottest day in weeks. It was over 90 degrees. The good part about the heat was that the pool was thoroughly enjoyed.

My family convinced me to not go all out on the cake/cupcakes this year. We had so much going on the week prior to his birthday with VBS, a party for a friend at the house the day before Bryce's birthday, and Nathan still sore from his bike accident that it would have just added unneeded stress. So, I simply made a bunch of cupcakes and bought a small Buzz Lightyear cake from Safeway. Bryce was perfectly happy with this and I eliminated a lot of stress.

As usual, he received a lot of wonderful gifts. A big Buzz Lightyear, Tinker Toys, tickets to see Peter Pan 360, Franklin books and a stuffed Franklin and Snail (which he asked for) a stuffed Caterpillar (again he specifically asked for this), tractors, books, a Toy Story poster, chair, sleeping bag, lunch bag and thermos, and much more. As you can see Toy Story was the all around theme.

Bryce 4 Years Old

2010-07-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

Bryce woke up on his 4th birthday with a terrible headache and a fever of 101.8. He laid on the couch sleeping, staring at the ceiling and watching movies all day. Nathan was going to take the afternoon off work so we could take him to see Toy Story 3. After Nanny and Faith were going to meet us at DePaoli - a great family Italian place where kids can make their own pizzas and eat free on Thursdays (his birthday happened to fall on a Thursday). I felt so bad for him. When I told him we'd have to celebrate another day he sadly looked up at me and asked if we could save him some cake.

Bryce's behavior has continued to be an issue the last few weeks. He gets angry so quickly and doesn't take no for an answer. He also loves to argue. He is a very head strong little boy. I'm hoping his tenacity, unwavering determination, and stubbornness can be channeled into positive things as he gets older. On the other hand, when he is not in a mood, he can be so sweet. He helps with Faith, gives me hugs, tells me how much he loves me, etc.

Bryce is also a very bright boy. He knows all his letters (names and sounds). He can sound out simple words in his mind. He can make letters by putting sticks, pretzels, or other things together to resemble their shapes. He can also count to 20, but sometimes skips 15. He can do simple addition and subtraction in his head with the help of his fingers. He also understands concepts and picks up on things that are well beyond his years. For example, when Nathan had his bicycle accident, Bryce told me that it was a good thing daddy was going to be okay, because if he wasn't then he couldn't go to work and make money. That would mean that I would have to go to work and then he and Faith would have to go somewhere everyday to be watched while I was working. Very insightful.

Bryce is also a sensitive little boy. He doesn't like to watch anything with people being naughty or anything slightly dark or scary. He has me fast forward movies, even movies like Veggie Tales when bad guys are there.

Bryce has a hard time turning his brain off at night, much like I do. He thinks and thinks and runs scenarios over and over and worries about things. At night we often ask God to quiet his mind so he can sleep. Sometimes he lays awake for over 2 hours, even when I know he is exhausted.

Bryce doesn't like to sing or dance because he tells me he is shy. However, he loves attention and being the center of attention (when he chooses to be). He doesn't like being the center of attention unintentionally. He also hates it when he thinks people are laughing at him. I find this strange since when he was younger he had class clown written all over him.

Bryce seems to continue to grasp biblical teachings to a level beyond his years. I love this about him and pray it continues.

He is such a wonderful, special boy. I can't believe we've been blessed to have him in our lives for 4 years. Time flies. I thank God daily for him and pray he grows up to be a man of integrity with a heart for God.

Faith 20 Months

2010-06-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

Faith continues to be a little pistol. She completely knows when she is doing something she shouldn't. One of her newest things is running away from me as fast as she can as soon as I put her down when we are running errands. Sometimes she makes it halfway across the store before I catch her.

She is talking so much. She is putting 4 and 5 words together at a time. She can also repeat any word back to you. After getting home from Hawaii, if you ask her when she is going she'll tell you "Why - ee". She also learned aloha and ma halo. She continues to love to talk on her "hi" phone. She'll jabber on and on while holding a phone, calculator, or anything that remotely resembles a phone.

Just like Bryce, she is fearless in the water. She wears a tubbie in the pool and can go in all by herself. She likes jumping in and putting her arms straight up while spinning in circles. It is so cute.

She is still nursing before bed, but if I'm not around to put her down she doesn't mind skipping it. I still plan to completely wean her within the next couple of months. I just figure with how little she is, the extra calories and fat can't hurt her.

Hawaii - Day 7

2010-06-08T11:48:00.001-07:00

We spent our last morning on Oahu cleaning up the room, re-packing and admiring the view from our room one last time.

The concierge told us they'd have a taxi or limo waiting for us to take us to the airport. We thought he was joking about the limo. Sure enough a limo was waiting for us. Even though the limo was old, it was still fun and it cost the same as a taxi.

We got the the airport over an hour before our flight. While we waited to board, the kids watched the planes and we enjoyed Starbucks and a muffin. The plane ride was only about 40 minutes gate to gate. Faith spent most of her time cleaning with a baby wipe. Bryce was content to look out the window as we passed over Molokai and Lanai. When we arrived in Maui we took a shuttle to get our rental car. When Nathan was putting the car seats in he noticed that Bryce's latch system strap was missing, it had been ripped off. After an impossibly long wait on hold, being transferred numerous times, and having to call again, we finally talked with someone that was able to locate the strap. They held it for us until our return flight.

After getting the rental car we went to Costco to stock-up on food and then to KMart to buy a port-a-crib for Faith. By the time we arrived at our condo at the Maui Eldorado it was about 3 pm. Our flight landed around 11:45. We were hungry and tired.

As soon as we started to unload the car, Bryce had to go potty. When we flushed the toilet, it was clogged and overflowed all over the floor. Yuck! Nathan found a plunger and unclogged the toilet, but we had to wait for a cleaning crew to come and disinfect the floor. What a fun welcome. After unloading the car and eating lunch we took a quick dip in the pool. Faith then had a late nap and Bryce watched a movie.

That evening we went to Lahaina for their weekly Friday Night Art Night. All of the shops and galleries stay open late and many serve appetizers and drinks. We saw some beautiful artwork of which our favorite was the Peter Lik gallery. We also toured an old mission house by candlelight. The tour guides were dressed in period clothes and acted as though they were the missionaries.

By the time we made it back to the condo it was around 10 and we were all wiped out.

Hawaii - Day 6

2010-06-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

We decided to spend our final day on Oahu relaxing. We started off the day with a trip to Waikiki Beach. The beach was very crowded but we managed to find a spot in the shade. We took the kids in a man-made lagoon area, watched surfers, and people watched. When lunch time came around we headed back towards our hotel. We grabbed sandwiches at the Subway across from our hotel and went back to our room.

After lunch and naps we went down to the pool area. They resort had a music/food social that evening. After swimming we relaxed in the hot tub while listening to the music. When they served the food we grabbed some fresh fruit, veggies, little sandwiches, and some cheese and crackers and headed to our room. This food, along with all our leftovers from the past few days made a great dinner.

After dinner we went to Cold Stone for a treat. The kids received coupons for buy one signature creation get a kids ice cream for free. The signature creations are filled with 4 or so mixes, plus a ton of ice cream. Nanny and Nathan got these fancy signature creations, while I opted for my favorite - sweet cream ice cream with Snickers. Bryce had his first real experience with an ice cream cone. He wasn't thrilled with how quickly it was melting and dripping down his hands and arms. Nathan ended up having to hold it for him. Faith managed to make quite a mess all over Nanny, herself and the sidewalk.

Hawaii - Day 5

2010-06-07T14:21:00.001-07:00

We work up early, dragged the kids to the car in the pjs and headed to Hanauma Bay. We arrived at 6:30 and made it in before the park officially open, saving money and not dealing with crowds just like the officer had told us. Hanauma Bay was beautiful. We didn't snorkel but we still saw a few fish. There were some that just kept circling around us.

Since we didn't eat breakfast before leaving, the kids had granola bars and cheerios on the beach. Faith spilled some and the pigeons came right onto our towels, with us sitting there, to eat the crumbs.

Back at the hotel we had a big breakfast. Nanny and the kids stayed at the hotel for nap time while Nathan and I went to Pearl Harbor. We arrived shortly before 1 and thankfully were able to get tickets to the last tour of the day at 3 pm. Instead of waiting around for the tour, we walked to a huge swap meet held every Wednesday in the Aloha Bowl Stadium. The walk was just over a half mile. The swap meet was great. They had hundreds of vendors selling all types of tourist things, including jewelry, hats, tee-shirts, soaps, bathing suits, food, etc. We found some great deals.

The tour of the Arizona was something that every American should see. They shuttle you by ferry to the memorial site, which is above the remains of the Arizona. You can see parts of the ship sticking out of the water. There is also a huge wall listing all the names of the soldiers that lost their lives on the Arizona that day. The magnitude of the loss really hits home when you are there.

That evening we went to Aqua Cafe for dinner. I tried a Hawaiian specialty Moco Loco. Traditionally this dish consists of rice topped with a ground beef patty and a soft-cooked egg on top covered with gravy. My version was rice, grilled salmon, a well-cooked egg, and miso sauce. The combination of the flavors was actually quite good. I also got a Blue Hawaiian, which was very good.

Hawaii - Day 4

2010-06-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

Nathan went and picked up our rental car first thing in the morning. We started the day off by going to Leonard's Bakery, well known for their Portuguese donuts called malasadas. I wasn't impressed with them, but Nathan liked it. After our bakery stop, we continued on to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We arrived just in time to take the first tram ride of the day at 9:30. The ride was about 25 minutes and took you through the pineapple fields and buy some other crops as well, including bananas, apple-bananas, macadamia nuts, sugar cane, and more. I never know what type of plant pineapples grew on and was surprised to see it was a low bush. I figured it would be some type of big tropical looking tree.

After the Pineapple Plantation we continued on to Turtle Beach, which is just north of Hale'iwa, a small surfing town on the north shore. Unfortunately there were no giant sea turtles sunning on the beach, and Bryce was having a bad attitude about sand in his shoes, so we went into Hale'iwa and had lunch at Jameson's on the Beach. Lunch was decent, but nothing to write home about. After lunch everyone was in a better mood so we stopped to see if we could see turtles before going to the Polynesian Cultural Center. There weren't any on the beach, but we did see a couple swimming close to the shore.

We got to the Polynesian Cultural Center around 2:15, just in time for their big canoe pageant, where people from each of the villages put on a show in their river on the back of canoes. Bryce loved all of the dancing, especially when it was done by pretty girls. We then went village to village seeing their individual shows, model huts, and other cultural things. Our favorite two villages were the villages of Samoa and Fiji. The main performer in the Samoan village was very funny. Bryce sat on Nathan's shoulders to watch the show and was cracking up every time the rest of the audience laughed at a joke. At one point, I think more people were watching Bryce and listening to his wonderful giggles than the performer. In the Samoan show the main performer started a fire using sticks, and another climbed a coconut tree. In the Fiji village we were taught some songs and played with stick instruments. The kids also were invited to the front (some adults went up to) to learn a dance.

We didn't leave the Center until closing, which was about 6 o'clock. Once again we were tired and hungry, but much to my dismay we decided to wait until after we drove to the Pali Highway lookout to get dinner. We didn't want to miss the sunset. Unfortunately, we got a little lost along the way, and by the time we got to the turnoff for the lookout, the sun had set and we decided to just go back to Waikiki without driving to the lookout. When we got back to our hotel it was about 8:30. We decided to go to an all you can eat buffet, but when we got there after a much longer walk then anticipated and looked at the food we changed out minds. We finally settled on IHOP, and after requesting to move to a new table when the one we were originally seated at smelled like throw-up, we ended up having a decent meal - breakfast for dinner, yummy. It was well after 10 before we got back to the room.

Hawaii - Day 3

2010-06-03T08:22:00.001-07:00

We took a bus that dropped us off on the main road lading up to Diamond Head. The walk from the bus stop to the trail head was about 1/3 of a mile. The hike from the base of the trail head up to the top of the summit of the crater is .8 miles, all up hill with about 225 steep steps, dark tunnels, and switch backs. I carried Faith on my shoulders most of the way and Nathan carried Bryce on his shoulders. It was also very hot. However, the view at the top was well worth it. The 360* view from the top, was amazing. After a short stop at the top to eat a few snacks and have some water we started back down. At the base of the trail, we got the kids a smoothie as a reward for their good behavior and positive attitude. While we were sitting down, a Department of Land and Natural Resources Cop started talking to us and told us to go to Hanauma Bay before 7 am in order to get free parking and save the $7.25/adult admission.

We continued our walk back to the bus stop. Along the way a taxi driver pulled over to us and offered to take us anywhere in Waikiki for $10/person. We passed up this chance thinking that the bus would be only $2.25/person or possibly free if our transfers worked. We waited anxiously for 30 minutes for the bus. When it finally came by it didn't even slow down as it was completely full. By this time it was 2:30 and we were all starving and the kids were very cranky. We decided to walk the 2.4 miles back to our hotel rather than wait another 30 minutes for a bus that could be full again. The walk back was hot and I carried Faith on my hip most of the way. By the time we got back to our hotel everyone was totally beat and it was after 4 pm. We didn't even go back to the room.

Instead we went into Giovanni Pastrami's an Italian Restaurant that advertised a great happy hour. We first ordered drinks, Mai Tia's for the girls, beer for Nathan, and water for the kids. Being completely dehydrated and hungry, it didn't take long for the alcohol to kick in. With any purchase during happy hour you get two free slices of pizza (Round Table Pizza). We thought this meant two per table, so we ordered a big plate of nacho's to get us started and personal pizzas for all of us ($5/each during happy hour). After ordering the waitress brought us each 2 free slices of cheese pizza. We had so much pizza we ended up taking over a whole pizza back to the room.

That evening we took the kids down to the pool. The one thing we weren't crazy about at the Wyndham was the pool. For a big resort, the pool was small and was a touch on the cold side.

That night the kids went to bed early. Nathan and I slipped out and went to the Trump Tower intending to have a drink and watch the sunset. After seeing the $15/drink price, we decided to just enjoy the view for a few minutes and get a drink somewhere else. We had a drink at Shore Birds, which is right on the beach, but the service was bad and it was so noisy we couldn't really talk.

Hawaii - Day 2

2010-06-02T15:09:00.001-07:00

We walked a couple of blocks from our hotel and caught a bus to Bishop Museum. Bryce and Faith really liked riding the bus. From this point on in our trip, when Faith saw a bus, she would point at it and say, "Me, me ride" and then hit herself in the chest.

The bus stop was a couple of blocks from the museum, but the walk wasn't bad. The museum was very neat. First we listened to a talk about the native plants at the museum. Faith and Bryce weren't too interested in this, so Nathan and I spent much of the talk chasing the kids. The two highlights were the Polynesian Hall, where the architecture of the building alone was worth seeing with its tall wooden pillars and beautiful railings, and the Science Hall, complete with a model volcano, a show where they actually melted lava, and a melted wax model of how lava flows. Bryce thought the snail statue, which he called a "snail pistachio" was really cool. The kids also enjoyed turning the wheel that made the hot melted wax flow like lava.

After the Bishop Museum we got "directions" to China Town. What was supposed to be 5 - 7 blocks turned into almost an hour of walking in the hot sun. By the time we got to China Town, all the stores were closing as it was Sunday and apparently everything closes at 3 pm on Sundays. We were all hot and cranky by this point and in desperate need of ice cream. Thankfully we found the bus stop and took a bus to the Ala Moana Center. This is the world's largest open-air shopping center. After getting our much needed treats, we watched a dance recital that included many of the native Hawaiian dances. Bryce loved watching all the girls. After roaming around the shopping center for a while, we took a bus back to Waikiki.

By the time we got back to Waikiki it was dinner time. While waiting for our table at the Yard House, we watched a musical performance on at the Beachwalk's outdoor stage. This was a great distraction for our tired and cranky kids. Dinner at the Yard House was excellent. I ordered a turkey burger and it was the best I'd ever had. It was hand made with lots of tasty spices and veggies mixed in. It came with sweet potato fries drizzled with a touch of maple syrup. Yummy. The kid's got chicken fingers. They were huge pieces of chicken breast battered and fried to perfection. Nathan and Nanny got huge burgers that were wonderful too. Nathan also enjoyed selecting from the largest selection of draft beers anywhere.

By the time we got back to the resort we were wiped. We gave the kids a bath in the huge jetted tub, put them to bed, then crawled to bed ourselves.

Hawaii - Travel Day/Day 1

2010-06-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

Rather than wake up in the middle of the night to catch our flight, we decided to stay in an airport hotel with free parking during the duration of our trip. I'm not sure if this allowed us any more sleep since Faith didn't fall asleep until 11 ish, was up a couple of times in the middle of the night, and then awake for the day around 4. Oh well, it was at least cheaper than paying for parking for 11 days. The kids were great on the flight. Faith slept for the first couple of hours. Then she entertained herself by playing with the plane's satellite phone, eating snacks, and making friends with the people around her. Towards the end she got restless, so we walked up and down the aisle for 30 minutes. Bryce sat quietly in his seat for most of the flight. He listened to the in-flight kid's radio show, watched an animal planet type show, and played with his toys. When we arrived at the airport we were supposed to be picked-up by a Pleasant Holidays shuttle, however our travel agent messed up and didn't reserve this for us. We were however met by a representative of Pleasant Holidays for a lei greeting. She was nice enough to help us find a taxi. When we arrived at the Wyndham Resort, they had our room ready early. We lucked out and got all of the upgrades I requested - 9th floor (highest floor with the exception of the penthouses) with a beachwalk view. The room/condo was great. It was very tastefully decorated, spacious, had comfortable beds, and a view of the ocean from all three balconies. After we got settled in, we walked to the International Marketplace for lunch. Following lunch we had a late rest time and then went to Waikiki Beach for the evening.

Bryce 3 Years, 11 Months

2010-06-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Bryce has just two weeks left at Brush Creek before summer. He has really enjoyed his time there. All the teachers are really good with him, especially his teachers Miss Nancy and Miss Vicki. Next year he'll move up to the front class - the 4 year old class. After much debating, I think we'll stick with the Tues/Thurs morning program. I was really thinking of switching him to the afternoons, but he'd have to go three days a week instead of two and I want to be with him as much as possible, especially since kindergarten will be here before I know it.

Bryce's behavior has started to take a turn for the worst lately. He has been arguing a lot. He also gets so angry and yells anytime something doesn't go his way, anytime you correct him, or anytime he makes a mistake. He hates to be wrong, not know an answer, make a mistake, etc. Basically he is a huge perfectionist. We try very hard to explain that he is still learning and that making mistakes is okay, but he looses it and you can't reason with him while he is like that. In my current Bible Study, we've been learning about reality discipline (making the consequences fit the action). We've been trying to put this into practice, but it is tough. We also keep trying to be firm, loving and consistent.

We suspect that one reason for the change in his behavior is the upcoming life changes (summer vacation, knowing that he will be in the front class when school starts again, and turning 4). He went through a similar phase last year before his birthday. We started talking up how big he was getting and telling him that his birthday was coming up. I think he feels pressure from this.

Faith 19 Months

2010-05-20T21:07:00.000-07:00

Faith is hooked on her "hi" (phone). She walks around saying "Auntie hi" all the time. This means she wants to have a phone and call auntie.

She is still really loving music and dancing. She likes to get her instruments out and play along with the music. Her head bops up and down too. She will try and mimic your movements, sway her arms back and forth, and spin.

She also is really enjoying playing with her dolls. She likes to nurse them. She pulls her shirt up or takes it off completely, says "nurse, milk" and gives her babies milk. When she is finished she says, "pat, burp" and gently pats her baby's back. It is very cute.

At night when she finishes nursing, and often before naps she has learned to ask for cuddles to prolong going to bed. Of course I can't turn her down when she looks at me with those big blue eyes, nuzzles up against me and says, "cuddles." I have to give in and cuddle for just a couple of minutes.

Faith's personality is becoming more and more pronounced. Majority of the time she is very sweet and loving. She likes to cuddle, sit and read stories, and play. However, when she isn't happy about something she doesn't hold back from expressing her opinion. She yells, screams "No", throws herself to the ground, and will resort to biting or hitting on occasion. She is also very smart and has figured out how to be extra cute to try and get what she wants. We call her a little pistol and often say it is a good thing she is cute. I don't remember Bryce having this type of deliberate behavior so young. She has been getting timeouts for a few months now. Sometimes I've gone so far as to put her in her crib until she can be nice.

Bryce 3 Years, 10 Months

2010-05-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

Bryce is just two months away from being 4. Wow, 4 seems so big. We've already started pumping up turning 4. Saying that he is getting so big and that 4 years old can do more big boy things and that they can behave even better than 3 year olds.

Bryce is still loving school. He threw fits twice when I arrived to pick him up. He was upset because he wanted to stay for rest time at school and wasn't ready to go home. He really has a great time. We had parent - teacher conferences at his school. Miss Nancy said he was doing great. She said he was a joy to be around, got along great with the other kids, and had grown a lot since the beginning of the school year. She said occasionally he is really sucked in by other boys that tend to do naughty things, but that they were working on this.

His behavior at home has been fairly good. He definitely wants to be right all the time, doesn't like to be corrected or told no, and wants the last word.

He and Faith continue to play more and more together. When Faith is napping, Bryce misses having her to play with. It is very cute.

Bryce is still only napping once or twice a week. I think by the end of summer he will give them up completely.

Faith 18 Months

2010-04-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

Faith is talking up a storm. Her favorite work is "No." This is often said with a lot of attitude behind it. She can say pretty much anything you ask her to, although often the words don't sound much like the actual word. She is also putting short sentences together.

She is getting to be very independent. She wants to do things for herself without any help. For example, she likes to climb up into her seat and buckle herself in without any help. If you try and help her she yells, "no."

She has become extremely attached to her lovey "Yae-yae" and wants to have one all the time. She has a number of them, and in a pinch any will do, although she particularly like a pink one with a teddy bear on top. She also wants her binky all the time. This started about the time she had the flu. I allowed her to have them whenever she wanted for a little over a week. Now I'm trying to enforce them as being only for nap, bedtime, and the car. Sometimes she chooses to stay in her crib after she wakes up rather than get up without her lovey and binky.

She is starting to get timeouts. She has exhibited that she knows exactly what she is doing and that she shouldn't be doing it, so we started timeouts. For example, at dinner last night she refused to eat anything but bread and butter. When I wouldn't give her more she sat there screaming at the top of her lungs. When I told her I was going to take her up to her bed for a timeout she immediately told me sorry without being prompted and stopped screaming. After going back and forth like this a couple of times I finally removed her from the table and gave her a time out.

She is really liking art. She will color for a long time and likes to do other art projects. She also still likes her baby dolls, Bryce's cars, and music. She loves to dance and sing to music. If you say "la, la, la" or some other sound she can repeat it in the same tone back to you.

She also loves talking on her "hi." Her favorite person to call is Auntie Juli. I wonder if this is a glimpse into what she is going to be like as a teenager.

Easter

2010-04-07T14:17:00.001-07:00

Each year we go to Grammy's work for their annual Egg Hunt. The kids had a great time decorating cookies, seeing the Easter Bunny, and hunting for eggs. Faith would not sit on the Easter Bunny's lap. She started crying when I walked her over to him. Bryce was delighted to sit with him. He thought it was funny that the Easter Bunny had shoes on. This year, the egg hunt was set up differently then in the past. After the kids collecting their eggs, they exchanged their eggs for a goody bag. This meant that all the kids got the same amount of candy and other prizes, regardless of the number of eggs they collected. This was great, especially for the little ones. Bryce ended up with the most eggs, then Mason, followed by Faith - it was perfect.

The kids decorated eggs the day before Easter.

Unfortunately we were all sick with the flu for Easter. We missed out on going to church and the rest of the day was spent resting. I did manage to prepare an Easter dinner, but Juli, Clay and their kids were the only ones that enjoyed it.

We are hoping this is the last holiday that is spoiled by illness. Last year every holiday from Easter - Nanny's birthday were spent worried about Pawka. Then Pawka died on July 4th. Thanksgiving Faith was very sick and we weren't able to go to Grammy and Gramps'. Christmas Amanda was very sick, now Easter and we were all sick. Maybe this was God's way of not letting us have normal holidays which helped us not to focus so much on the fact that Pawka isn't here to enjoy them with us anymore. I do sure hope we are through with illnesses over holidays for a while.

The kids still got Easter baskets and hunted for eggs. The Easter bunny gave Bryce a new Buzz and Woody swim suit, two new Car movie cars, jelly bellies, and chocolate. Faith got a My Little Pony, a bathing suit, jelly bellies, and chocolate. Nanny got each of the kids an outfit or tee-shirt. Faith also got some chalk and Bryce got a Veggie Tales flower growing kit.

Pops and Grandma Julie also sent the kids Easter goodies. They opened these a couple of days after Easter and were able to fully enjoy them, as they were feeling much better.

Bryce 3 Years, 9 Months

2010-04-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

Bryce is definitely approaching 4. He looks so big to me now. He can do more and more things for himself (when he chooses to) like get himself totally dressed, comb his hair (at least the front), and much more. He has also outgrown most of his winter clothes. I hope Spring comes soon so I don't have to buy him new cold weather clothes.

He is doing super with his letters and numbers. He has been enjoying watching Leap Frog's Math Circus, Letter Factory, and Word Factory. He is starting to get the concept that when you put the letters together with their different sounds it makes words. He has even been trying to sound out words. He also is understanding addition and subtraction. These Leap Frog movies are great. I try to reinforce what he sees in the movies, but he isn't always receptive to learning from me.

Over the past month Bryce was a sick a lot. He had a bad cold that turned into a sinus infection. He went on antibiotics for the first time for this. A few days later he was back at the doctor's because his eyelid was purple and very swollen. They said it was an eye infection and gave him eye drops. He hated the eye drops because they really stung. I felt so bad having to put them in multiple times a day.

Bryce is still handling tax season fairly well. I'm definitely noticing that he is missing Nathan, but the acting out isn't bad like last year. I think he understands a little more that tax season doesn't last forever and that things will be back to normal soon.

Bryce has started playing with his trains a lot again. He hadn't played with them for several months and now plays with them daily. He is also playing Cars more and Toy Story and Peter Pan less. He has earned a few new Car movie cars for good behavior. Each time he earns a new car he likes to play with them for several days.

Faith 17 Months

2010-03-20T15:15:00.001-07:00

Faith is really talking now. Some of her new words include: "Bycee" for Bryce, chocolate, love, I love you, please, shoes, and tons more. She can repeat almost every word that you ask her to say. Bryce loves saying, "Faith can you say..." and most of the time she'll attempt to say the word.

I am still working on weaning her. She is down to nursing about 3 times a day. I try and cut out nursing either first thing in the morning or before one of her naps. She still frequently asks for milk, but is getting less demanding about it. A few days ago she even drank a whole cup of vanilla flavored almond milk. Out of all the types of milk I've given her this seems to be the one she likes best.

She is starting to skip her morning nap more and more, mostly because we are out running around in the mornings and she doesn't fall asleep as easily in the car anymore. If we are home she normally still takes two naps.

For the past several weeks she has been waking up in the middle of the night, normally around 1 am. She screams, "mama" at the top of her lungs over and over for 10 - 20 minutes before falling back to sleep. She doesn't really cry, she just screams until she realizes that I'm not coming in to get her.

Faith is definitely a dare-devil. She went to MyGym yesterday and was climbing on everything with no fear. The other day at playgroup, she climbed up a friend's big slide and was contemplating going down the ladder when I ran to get her. I've also found her on top of Bryce's train table, on the kitchen table, and standing on the rocking horse. I can't leave her alone for even a second.

She is still throwing some pretty big fits. When she gets really mad she tries to hit, pinch or bite. We've been trying hard to correct this behavior by giving her timeouts, taking toys away, and of course telling her no.

She really enjoyed this past session of Music Together. She loves to dance and sign. I think the next time we sign up for a class, I'll put her in MyGym and see how she likes that.

Faith's eye tooth on the upper right side poked through around the 1st of March. No she just has the other upper eye tooth and her two-year old molars left to come in. I'm certain she will need braces, as her teeth already appear to be crowded.

Faith has gone pee-pee in the potty a few times. She doesn't like to sit on the potty, but I try to put her on it before bath. When she does sit, I give her a jelly belly as a reward. She also gets an extra jelly belly when she goes pee-pee.

Bryce 3 Years, 8 Months

2010-03-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

Bryce so far has been handling tax season much better this year. He still misses Nathan a lot, but his behavior hasn't suffered on a account of Nathan being gone like it did last year. He still has his normal fits, and he is whining a lot, but nothing out of the ordinary.

His naps are almost non-existent. He'll nap once a week on average now. I actually prefer it when he doesn't nap. He has been pretty good about staying in his room for around an hour for quiet time. Sometimes it is a struggle to make him play quietly on his own, but I try to explain that I need the time to work. My goal is still two-hours of quiet time, but that rarely happens.

I've completely cut dairy out of his diet. I wanted to see if this would make a difference in his digestion. It seems to have really helped. He really likes Almond Milk, and replacing dairy cheese and yogurt with soy hasn't been an issue. The couple of times that he has had dairy, his digestion gets off. I am convinced he is lactose intolerant, just like me.

Bryce is becoming a little better at trying new foods. We still have the rule that if I make something I know he isn't fond of he has to try 5 bites. He is doing this with less fuss than in the past. I'm hoping after trying things several times that he'll actually learn to like more things.

He is still really enjoying playing with Toy Story, Peter Pan, and Cars toys. He is also liking to read books more and more. He is continuing to do really well with his letters and numbers. He is recognizing more and more lowercase letters and all the numbers.

Bryce continues to thrive at school. He is back to playing with Dax and Garrett. He is also playing with Andrew a lot. So far there has been no more incidents of misbehavior. Bryce also keeps talking about a little girl named Sienna. I think he has a crush on her. She is a very pretty little girl.

Faith 16 Months

2010-02-21T14:12:00.000-08:00

Faith is starting to "talk" more and more. She has gone from making the same few sounds and her very small vocabulary of just a few words, to making all kinds of different sounds. She is now saying thank you, binky, ball, lovey, Bryce, Kona, and a few other words too. While none of them sounds quite right, we know what she is saying. She will also try and repeat words when you ask her to say something. In the past when we asked her to say a word that she knew the sign for, she'd just do the sign. The other day, I said, "say thank you", expecting her to sign thank you, and she said, "tank oo" without any prompting or ever having said it with her words before.

She understands absolutely everything we say to her. She can respond to most questions by shaking her head yes or no, or by pointing or showing you something. I love that we can communicate better with her now.

She still loves playing with her dolls, music toys, Little People's animals and people, and of course loves anything that Bryce doesn't want her to have - Duplo Blocks, Toy Story or Peter Pan figurines, etc.

She likes to climb up on to the kitchen chairs, which makes me crazy. She has taken a couple of good falls from them already. She also likes to stand on a little stool in the kitchen to watch me cook. Hopefully she'll enjoy cooking so that I have someone to do food projects with. Bryce has never been interested in helping me. If her eating is any indication, she's going to love cooking. She still eats whatever we give her, including spicy things like black bean soup. In fact, soups of all kinds seem to be a favorite. The only thing she won't eat or drink is milk from a cup. I've tried all types of milk and she wants nothing to do with it. I'm still trying to wean her and she isn't going for it. Most days I have her down to 3 times a day, but she walks around all the time signing milk. When I say no she throws herself to the ground and starts crying.

She is still napping twice a day, however if she misses her morning nap she survives until the afternoon. It does seem that afternoon naps are worse when she misses her morning nap. They do say that sleep begets sleep - I guess it is true.

She is starting to look more and more like a little girl and not a baby. Her hair is getting longer and fuller. In another couple of months it might be long enough for a real ponytail. She'll definitely need her bangs cut soon.

Faith went potty in her little potty for the first time a week ago. We had just brought in her little potty a few days before. She was doing the sign for potty, so I put her on it and told her to push her poo-poo s out, and she did.

Bryce 3 Years, 7 Months Old

2010-02-02T15:24:00.001-08:00

We finally moved Bryce out of his toddler bed into a twin bed. He got to pick out his new sheets and surprise, surprise, he picked out Buzz and Woody sheets. I also bought him a plain navy blue duvet cover so that as he grows and is into new things we can just get different sheets and pillows and the duvet will still match.

His new phrase is, "But, what will happen" or "but, what if." He says this 100 times a day. When you tell him something as simple as "we are going to sign up to bring snack to school", he responds with something like, "but, what if they don't know we signed up." Then I explain that there is a sheet I can write on that the teachers will look at. He then continues, "but what if someone else brings snack." I tell him that no one else will because they will see that we are signed up. The conversation goes on and on this way. I know he is just trying to figure out how everything works, but it can be exhausting.

A few weeks ago Bryce had a week of terrible behavior. He went from being extremely sweet to over reacting about everything, yelling, not listening, throwing fits, etc. I felt like he was on timeout constantly and having lots of negative consequences. At least we weren't having to resort to timeouts in the car. A consequence, like no movie for the day, or taking a favorite toy away helped to not require us to put him in the car. He did have a couple of spanking during this week. When he would get a spanking he would ask if I could give it to him rather than Nathan. Apparently he is a quick learner and figured out that Nathan's spankings are harder than mine. Of course we didn't let him choice, instead, what ever parent said he was getting a spanking was the one to give it. Even though he has had a few spankings, it still breaks my heart every time we have to give him one. I just keep telling myself that it is for his own good. Better to learn good behavior, respect, self control, etc. now, than to grow up without these boundaries.

He is only napping one or two afternoons a week. It makes the evenings nice since he goes to bed by 7:30, but it makes for long afternoons. Even though he has to have quiet time, I don't get an uninterrupted break, as there always seems to be something he needs during quiet time.

Bryce is no longer playing with Dax and Garrett at school. We've had lots of talks about choosing friends that play nice and not have potty talk. Apparently these two little boys are the ringleaders for trouble, and Bryce is really attracted to them. He knows that he is supposed to play with the kids that have good behavior and that when other kids act naughty he shouldn't follow their lead.

Faith 15 Months Old

2010-01-20T14:39:00.000-08:00

Faith is back to sleeping through the night again! When we moved back home from Nanny's I let her cry it out for a couple of nights. Now I don't hear a peep from her until 7 ish. It is great. I feel so much more rested.

I'm trying to cut down her nursing. She is typically still nursing 4 times a day - once when she wakes up, before each of her two naps, and again before bed. She asks for milk frequently throughout the day, but I don't give it to her. For the past few days, I have cut out her feeding prior to her first nap. So far she is not putting up too big a fight over this. I'd like to cut her back to just morning and night within the next month, and then gradually wean her completely. The only problem is that she won't drink milk from a bottle or sippy cup. I've tried breast milk, cow milk, soy milk with vanilla flavoring, and formula. At least she eats plenty of yogurt and cheese. She also gets milk in her cereal and oatmeal.

Faith is getting more and more attached to her binky and lovey. She likes one lovey in particular, a pink one with a bear's head, but any lovey will do. She gets upset when I make her leave them in her bed. I'm trying to only allow her to have the binky when she is in bed or in the car. I want to try and avoid her having it in all the time, especially when she really starts talking.

Faith has added to her vocabulary. She now signs hurt, pats the ground when she wants you to come and play with her, and said "shh" for shoes. She understand everything you say to her, and can follow directions when she decides to cooperate.

We started Music Together class again. Faith is really enjoying it. She participates a little more at this age than Bryce did. He was more into observing, while she rocks back and forth to the beat and does some of the hand gestures.

Another bottom tooth came through earlier this month. Now she just has one more bottom tooth and two top teeth that need to come in. Then no more teething until her 2-year old molars.

At her 15 month check Faith weighed 20 lbs 0 oz, fully clothed, including shoes. This puts her in about the 15% for weight. She was 30.25 inches tall, which is in about the 50%. Her head circumference was in about the 25%.

Christmas

2010-01-19T14:38:00.006-08:00

We divided Christmas a little different this year. The weekend before Christmas we went to Grammy and Gramps' house to celebrate with them. It was wonderful being able to spend some quality time with them and Hannah without having to worry about rushing off to go someplace else. The kids had a great time.

Christmas Eve the Garcia's, Tom and Julie all came to my mom's house for the afternoon. We had appetizers and opened presents first. The boys each got bikes. Mason got a bike meant to teach balance. It doesn't have pedals. Bryce got a big-boy bike with training wheels. Faith got money to go towards lessons. Nathan and I were given a couple's massage at Silverado Country Club - this will be very nice. After presents, we quickly got dinner on the table - delicious black bean soup that Tom and Juli brought, a salad and french and corn bread. Yummy. Unfortunately dinner was a little rushed because we didn't want to be late for church. Tom and Julie went with us which was great. After church we came back to my mom's and had dessert.

Christmas morning waking up at my mom's was great. It was so nice not to have to pile in the car and go anywhere. The kids were able to stay in their pj's and not feel rushed. The kids opened up their stockings first. Next they got to see what Santa brought them. Next we had a wonderful breakfast and then opened gifts. Bryce wasted no time opening his gifts. He was very into it. Faith took her sweet time. After everyone was finished, she still had several left to open. She opened them throughout the rest of the day. The rest of the morning was spent relaxing and playing with new toys.

I think by nap time, the kids were tuckered out. Bryce took some of his favorite new Toy Story characters to sleep with him.

That afternoon we played with more new toys and helped get dinner ready. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner.

Once again Bryce and Faith received more gifts than any two kids need. Among Bryce's favorites were his bike, Toy Story Characters (the big ones and the little figurines), Buzz Lightyear wings, and his Little Mermaid doll. Faith loved her baby, music set, necklaces, cd player, and books the most.

This Christmas was tough not having Pawka. He was missed a hundred times throughout the day and during the entire Christmas season. Not having him there really makes you value the time you do get to spend with family and to cherish every moment.

Bryce 3 Years 6 Months Old

2010-01-19T14:38:00.003-08:00

It is hard to believe that he is now closer to being 4 than 3. That seems so big to me. He is starting to get a pudginess back to his face, which helps him not to look too grown up, but everything else about him seems to be heading towards being a big boy. Sometimes he likes to be a big boy and is happy to get dressed, go potty, put his shoes and socks on, clean up after himself when he gets down from the table, feed himself, etc. Other times he tells us he can't do things and whines until we help him. I think he mostly wants help when he feels like he needs extra attention or when Faith is doing something that requires my attention.

Bryce has been so sweet lately. He has been listening, following directions, and being such a joy to be around. When he starts to have a behavioral issue he quickly changes his attitude. He has had very few time-outs and has been so fun to be around. I love it. He has also been extremely sweet to Nanny, giving her loves and cuddles.

Bryce got all the Toy Story characters for Christmas and is even more hooked than before. I thought he would like the larger sized figures best, but he tends to play with his little figurine set the most. His favorites are Buzz, Woody, Zurg, and "Small Little Bo Peep" as he calls her. He often plays with this set and his Peter Pan set at the same time. Tinker Bell and Buzz have races to see who can fly faster.

We have a new rule with dinner. If I make something new, or something I don't think he likes, he has to have 5 bites and then I'll give him something else like mac n cheese, chicken nuggets (which he just started to eat) or a sandwich. I don't want food to become a major battle ground, but I also think he should try new things. So far it seems to be working okay. We often have to feed him his 5 bites because he will tell us he can't do it. Funny how he has no problem eating the stuff he likes on his own.

Naps are still hit and miss. I'd say he naps about 3 days a week. This just makes planning so tough. He is getting better about staying in his room for quiet time if he doesn't fall asleep.

Faith 14 Months

2009-12-21T14:37:00.000-08:00

Faith's

Faith's sleep schedule, and mine has been very interrupted over the last couple of weeks. When we got back from our Pismo Beach trip we temporarily moved in with Nanny to help her through the holidays. Faith bounced back and forth between sleeping in the crib in our room to sleeping in the pack n play in Bryce's room. When she was with us, she'd wake up at some point in the middle of the night and would not go back to sleep. I'd bring her to bed with us and she'd insist on nursing ever couple of hours. When she was in the room with Bryce she would often wake up around 3 or 4 and not go back to sleep, even if we let her cry for an extended period of time. Again, when I'd finally get up and bring her back to our bed she'd want to nurse on and off. While I know this was a bad habit to get into it seemed easier than allowing her to cry and wake the whole house up. Once we move back home again, I'll have to let her cry it out for a few nights to get back into a good routine.

Often when Bryce and I eat breakfast Faith isn't all that interested. I'm not sure if she just doesn't like breakfast foods that much, isn't hungry first thing, or if she is full from nursing when she wakes up. However, since we've been staying with Nanny, she'd eat a little of the breakfast I give her and then later in the morning, when Nanny would eat she would insist on getting in her lap and sharing her cereal. It became their morning ritual. After a few mornings of this Nanny wised up and starting pouring herself a larger bowl to accommodate Faith's demands. Other than her two breakfasts, her eating pattern hasn't changed much. She'll still eat just about anything and nurses 4 times a days, not including the middle of the night. When she is finished eating she doesn't just tell you she is finished (she signs this). Instead she rubs her filthy hands in her hair and throws every crumb on her tray to the floor. It is always a big ordeal to clean up after her.

Lately she has been going through another Mommy Phase. She wants me all the time. She walks around saying Mama, Mama a gazillion times. While I love that she wants me, it can also become a little much. If I get up before Nathan and leave her with him she screams and throws a huge tantrum until her brings her to me or until I'm finished in the shower.

Faith gets into more things than Bryce or my niece and nephews ever did. She is so busy and she loves to go right for the things that are off limits. She is constantly digging through Nanny's desk drawers, emptying out the pantry, removing all the Tupperware from the cupboard, and pulling out all the sandwiches bags from the drawer. When you tell her no, she looks at you and keeps doing it. When you remove her, she throws a fit. She can be a real handful.

Bryce 3 Years 5 Months

2009-12-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

Bryce is still loving school. Most of the time he still tells me that he plays with Dax and Garrett. I'm encouraging him to play with other kids too. While I haven't personally observed these kids, from what Bryce tells me they don't always play nice and often have "potty talk." He still doesn't like to do a lot of the art work because he doesn't want to get his hands dirty.

Bryce is doing so well with his letters and sounds. When he is in the right mood, he can tell you the name and sound of just about every letter. He can also string a couple of sounds together. Unfortunately, even though he knows these things, he doesn't like to sit down and practice. I realize he is really young still, but I would love it if I could teach him even more. I'm trying to come up with fun ways to keep him interested.

Bryce's behavior has improved a little. He has been having less time-outs over the past couple of weeks.

Sometimes out of the blue Bryce will bring up Pawka and tell me that he is really sad because he misses him, but happy because he is in heaven with Jesus. He asks a lot of questions about heaven and who will get to go and when. He also reminds us that Nanny really misses Pawka too, and that we need to give her extra loves because Pawka isn't here anymore.

Bryce is totally obsessed with Toy Story. We got him Toy Story 2 on DVD and he wants to watch it all the time. He rarely plays with his Car movie cars and hasn't watched the movie in weeks. He is sure that Santa is going to bring him all the characters from Toy Story. He also still likes Peter Pan, but this too has taken a backseat to Toy Story.

Faith 13 Months

2009-11-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

Faith is doing great. This past month she has started to communicate even more. She is signing more, and will shake her head yes or no to just about any question. However, more often than not she will tell you no. Some of her new signs include please, birdie and thank you.

She is one tough cookie. Bryce likes to get low to the ground, grab Faith around her middle, or sometimes her neck, and wrestle with her. She often falls to the ground with a loud thud, but doesn't cry. She just rolls over and wrestles with him. We try to encourage Bryce to wrestle with her gently, since she is such a peanut, but it doesn't often happen.

Faith is still throwing some good fits as you can see from the picture. Thankfully once she screams for a couple of minutes she normally reverts back to her happy self quickly.

She is really loving playing with her new doll and stroller. She pushes it all around the house. She also loves playing with whatever Bryce happens to be playing with.

Her feeding and nap schedule hasn't changed in the last month. Thankfully she still eats whatever I put in front of her. She is getting better at using her spoon. She still uses her hand a lot, even with things like cereal w/ milk, yogurt, and soup, but we're encouraging more use of the spoon.

Soda Springs Trip

2009-11-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

Nathan, the kids and I headed up to Soda Springs mid morning on Thursday the 12th. Pops and Julie were already there. Packing was simplified since all we had to worry about were our clothes, Nathan's bike, and a few toys for the kids. Pops and Julie took care of everything else, including all the food and drinks.

The house we stayed at was very nice. Since we were the only family joining Pops and Julie for the first two nights, we were able to have Faith in her own room, which made our first two nights much more restful. The following two nights all four of us were in one room. Bryce slept in a bunk bed that ran perpendicular above our bed. He thought it was really neat to sleep up high.

The first afternoon Pops and Nathan went for a little bike ride. Julie took Bryce outside a helped him to build a snowman, which Bryce named "Mr. Tall Foot." The rest of the day was spent relaxing and playing with the kids. That evening we celebrated Tom's birthday. Rather than having a cake, Julie put candles in some chocolate chip cookies. Bryce thought that was great. Each night after he wanted to know if we could have candles in the cookies.

The next day we went sledding. We drove out a long dirt road, covered with snow, until we found a good spot. It was very beautiful as we had a view of the surrounding snow-covered mountains and valleys below. Bryce had a blast. As he barreled down the hill he would yell "heave those halyards" or "man the long cannons" both lines from Peter Pan. At the end of one run, he tipped forward off the sled and landed face first in the snow. I was sure it would be the end of sledding for him, but he stood up, brushed off the snow and was ready for more. He carried the sled up the hill on his own without complaining at least 40 times. Faith also enjoyed her rides down the hill and equally enjoyed Julie pulling her around on the sled.

That afternoon Nathan and I went on a long walk through the neighborhood while the kids slept. It felt good to get out of the house and get a little exercise. We were hoping Em and Justin would be coming up that evening, but unfortunately Justin got bogged down with work and they weren't able to make it.

The next day we hung out at the house until Julie's kids arrived. We really enjoyed getting to know them and the kids played really well together. Julie had told me that Caitlin and I had a lot in common and that our family structure reminded her of Ryan and Caitlin's. Meeting Julie's daughter, Ally, and her boyfriend was also great. That afternoon we went back to the same place we sledded the previous day. The snow had melted quite a bit, but there was still enough left for sledding. The kids all enjoyed it. On the way back Joey's car got stuck in the snow. The guys had to go back and dig him out. Later in the day Nathan and I went on another walk around the neighborhood

The following day the guys went on a bike ride and us girls and kids stayed home. We played in the snow and the kids made another snowman. That afternoon we all went for a walk. Julie prepared a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner that afternoon. We ate until we were stuffed. Tom and Julie gave each couple a wonderful poetry book, and each kid received a blessings book.

We left to come home the following morning. Pops and Julie - thanks for a wonderful trip.

Blueberries

2009-11-04T14:47:00.000-08:00

Nathan and Bryce planted three blueberry plants at Nanny's house. We did research to find different varieties that grow well in this climate. With any luck each of the three plants will produce about 10 pounds a year.

Bryce had a great time helping Nathan.

Bryce 3 Years, 4 Months Old

2009-11-02T14:25:00.001-08:00

Bryce is still thriving at school. He loves it. He has made a lot of friends, but mostly plays with Garrett and Dax. He has not gotten into any trouble since the first week of school when he pushed a little girl. I'm so happy that he behaves well at school and seems to get along with all the kids. In the beginning he didn't like to do the art projects. Now, if I ask him to make me some art on the way to school he tends to participate more.

Naps are still sporadic at best, but he is doing a little better at staying in his room for quiet time.

We have a new timeout spot - the garage or if he has been really naughty than he gets strapped into his car seat. This seems to be the only effective discipline. He hates it. Generally after only a few minutes he is ready to come in, apologize for his actions, and change his attitude. This seems to work better than earning smiley faces which earn him prices or taking toys away. It sounds a bit harsh, but I know he is safe and it really calms him down. When I would put him in his room for a time out he would throw all of his toys down the stairs and try to climb over the gate. It was not good.

Sometimes out of the blue Bryce will come up to us and say, "I love you Mommy (Daddy)." It is so wonderful that he is doing this without prompting. It melts our hearts.

He is still really enjoying playing with his Peter Pan toys. He also loves Buzz Lightyear, his Goofy stuffed animal and his car movie cars. His imagination keeps growing, it is wonderful.

Halloween

2009-10-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

We had a great Halloween. We hosted a car at the church's annual Trunk N' Treat night. Bryce was Peter Pan, Faith was a Fairy, Mandy was Tinker Bell and Trey was a Storm Trooper. They all looked great. Bryce had a blast going from car to car. He probably went around to each car 7 or 8 times. After going around a few times I recycled his candy into our basket to give out knowing he didn't need that much candy. Somehow we still managed to come home with tons. Bryce also had fun singing and dancing with Pastor D.

Faith didn't get the concept entirely. She had more fun digging through a huge cauldron filled with candy and taking candy from her pumpkin and putting it into the cauldron. She did however enjoy her first sucker (first piece of any type of candy). After a few minutes Nathan decided she was sticky enough and we took it from her.

Grammy and Gramps and Pops and Julie also came to Trunk N' Treat. It was great to be able to see them also.

Dinner Honoring Pawka

2009-10-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

The Sonoma County Bar Association honored three people for Careers of Distinction. My dad received one of the three awards. He was notified of his nomination back in May while in the hospital. Normally a couple of letters come in from the legal community supporting each nomination. The Association received over 20 letters supporting my dad, including one letter from the entire Sonoma County bench. My mom was able to read the letters to him while he was in the hospital. He was very proud and humbled by the award.

A special dinner was held in honor of the recipients. They played a video for each recipient showing pictures of their life. Then Cerena Wong, a Judge and friend of my dad's gave a wonderful tribute to my dad. My mom then accepted the award and gave an acceptance speech. She was very nervous to get up and speak in front of 500 or so people, but she did a beautiful job. The evening turned out to be very pleasant. The food, drink and company was great. It was also wonderful to have so many people come up to us that we didn't know and tell us what a wonderful person my dad was and how he impacted them.

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

Nathan and Bryce had a good time carving the pumpkin. Bryce didn't want to touch the gooey inside, but was happy to watch Nathan do it. He was given the choice of a silly or scary face on the pumpkin and chose a silly face.

He named his pumpkin Jack and wrote Jack on the back. He also taped a small piece of straw on the back side of the pumpkin and said it was his feather. He likes feathers since Peter Pan and Captain Hook have feathers in their hats.