Our Trip to Monterey...

Every time we go and explore the area in which we live I am AMAZED that God has placed us in such a beautiful part of this country. It is unbelievable to me that if we want to go to Monterey or Carmel we just drive 2 hours... if we want to go to Lake Tahoe, it is just 3 hrs. away! Not to mention Napa and San Francisco!! WOW... it really is amazing! I loved our trip to Monterey! We didn't make it to Carmel but plan on going back and ALONE maybe sometime soon! So here is the LONG story of our trip... Oh, and if you want to see more details of the pics you can click on them and blow them up.

We left Sunday morning and arrived two hours later... After checking into the hotel we ate at Rosines in the down town Monterey area. It was VERY good.

They had the largest cakes and pies I have ever seen. TJ and I got a piece of pie and there is no way we could finish it (and that is not like us) so we had to take the rest of it with us. We enjoyed it again later that night!


17 Mile Drive
I could not get over the beauty of the 17 mile drive... we really enjoyed it!


Karoline was asleep for the first part of the 17 mile drive...

... so we took some pictures with Anderson.





The Lone Cypress- This was a very fun stop because I saw a little toddler with an Auburn jacket on... Of course I said "War Eagle" and it turned out to be the mom was an Alpha Gam at Auburn! She knew Leigh and it was fun to talk for a few minutes...


We tried to get a picture of me with the kids but I was about to drop them! :)


Miss Karoline thought she owned Pebble Beach! She strutted her stuff all over the club house and around the course...

Anderson by the 18th green at Pebble Beach...

Pebble Beach is stunning...

THE HOTEL
We are so thankful for my dad who got us a room at the Embassy Suites Hotel! It was so nice and we enjoyed every minute while staying there. For this trip and our summer trip back to the south we were worried about what to do with Karoline since she is really too big for a pack-n- play ( plus she has been out of a crip since she was 16 months old) but we don't want her sleeping with us or on the floor. So we got her this toddler blow up bed from Onestepahead.com and she loved it. She really thought it was cool getting to be with Anderson. When we left the room saying goodnight to them Karoline said "Oh, there's Anderson". They did great sleeping in the same room... Karoline talking to herself before she fell asleep did not bother him at all. Oh and when we went to bed I noticed that Karoline had both of her socks on her hands! After TJ and I went to bed we moved Anderson's pack-n-play out to the living room so when he woke up at 7AM he would not wake us up.


She had a ton of fun playing with the phone...

Karoline spent a lot of time swimming with TJ at the hotel pool... she LOVES swimming!
Day 2
LEGUNA SECCA
The Alabama in TJ made us go see Leguna Secca... a famous race track.

THE AQUARIUM



If you know my Karoline you know she is not fond of live animals (other than dogs... well, her dog)... even though everything was behind THICK glass she still stood pretty far away (I think this is a trait she gets from her Gammy- you can never be too careful).

Anderson with a HUGE bottle...

This was a space for kids to crawl through but she would not go without TJ...

Yeah, we found a slide...

Karoline's favorite part of the aquarium was the slides! I guess we could have just gone to a park...

She did actually touch a star fish I think...


TJ was holding Karoline up in this dome like thing where you are kind of inside with the fish... kind of cool until the shark came by and Karoline FREAKED OUT completely!!!! Oh how she cried.

The shark that was not so popular with Karoline...

After her encounter with the shark, the only thing that would calm her down was strolling Anderson around...

CANNERY ROW
After the aquarium we walked around Cannery Row for a little while and then got a wonderful HUGE dark chocolate sunday at Ghirardelli...





Both of the kids pretty much slept the whole way home! It was a wonderful get-away!!
A few negaive things about the trip..
1) I forgot Anderson's Zantac. If I was not sure if it was working before, now I know it was!! I paid for this... big time... in the amount of massive amounts of spit up! I was SO thankful to get home to his Zantac!
2) We almost got pulled over on the way there... but he got the car behind us! I kept my eyes on how fast TJ was driving the rest of the way!
3) Karoline going through DVR withdrawals! I am thinking of finding a support group for her. She could not understand why Dora didn't come on the hotel TV whenever she wanted. She also did not understand why she had to watch commercials! She is so spoiled by the DVR!
4) It finally happend... Karoline stepped on her brother. He was fine but cried for a moment. She is having to really learn to watch where she steps!

Happy 6 Months Anderson!!

Can he really be 6 months old?? REALLY?? It seems like yesterday that he was born. Anderson is the most amazing little boy and I just love him to pieces!! Here is a little about Anderson at 6 months...
- He loves avocado, sweet potato, apple sauce, and banana's
- He nurses 4-5 times a day
- He still takes 3 naps a day but the last nap is only about 45 minutes... he might drop this one soon.
- He hardly ever cries!
- He has a smile that will melt your heart!!
- He LOVES his sister... he just laughs at her all the time and he loves it when she runs into his room to see him after his naps.
- He loves bath time
- He LOVES his fingers (but you already knew that)
- He is ALMOST crawling (see video if you want to...)
There is so much more but I won't go on....
Two Weeks Old...

Three Months Old...

Six Months Old...

Oh how they love each other...

He LOVES playing with his feet these days...

Karoline with her camera taking a picture of me...

While I was making dinner and she was playing she put Huggums in her car seat and then in the "car"...

Here is what I DID today! A TON TON TON of laundry! This is not all of it either... there are two drying racks full of clothes drying in the garage, and another load of swim suits etc... I think I did 8 FULL loads today! I folded it on the bed so I would have to put it away before we went to sleep!! I am so glad it is OVER!!!


We had a WONDERFUL trip this weekend... I have to go through over 200 pictures and choose the best to post so I will try and get those up in the next few days! Stay tuned...
For now this video has a little of Karoline after she came back to the hotel room after swimming. I think swimming was her favorite part of the whole trip... Then there is about 2 minutes of Anderson rocking, trying to get the nerve to crawl.

"What's THAT?"

Okay, I was not planning on doing another post before we left for our short trip but I did for two reasons:
1) My mother will be so happy that she does not have to wait more than two days to see more pictures and
2) My kids were so darn cute today... even TJ picked up the camera a few times (I am getting him addicted to taking pictures like me...)

My mom does this thing with Karoline whenever she visits where she puts Karoline's socks are their hands and they play puppets. So Karoline puts her socks on her hands a lot while she lays in bed waiting for us to go and get her. Well, every night I go in around 11-12 midnight and give her one last kiss before I head to bed and last night when I went in she was laying there fast asleep with both her socks on her hands! It was so funny... I went and got my camera, and no I did not wake her up.
She put her socks back on her hands after breakfast to do her puzzles... crazy girl!

Sweet Little man playing while his sister works on puzzles with socks are her hands :)

Karoline got this backpack, sleeping bag thing on sale at Target and she loves it because she feels like Dora. She runs around the house singing Dora's backpack song...

Karoline and Anderson took a bath together for the second time. I think I am going to start doing this every night because the four of us in the bathroom at the same time (usually TJ washing Karoline and I am washing Anderson) is just too much! The bathroom is not very big! Anyway...Karoline finally asked the question that I knew would come very soon.... "What's THAT?" TJ explained it to her... all she knew was what she saw on him she knew she did not have. Funny stuff! But she loved having him in the bath and she was a big helper. She bathed his belly and rinsed him off for me.



The kids were off schedule today because Anderson took a 2 1/3 hr. morning nap. So he was awake the whole time she was asleep. I enjoyed it though because we don't get a lot of time to just play by ourselves. So he was so cute I decided to do a video. We had a lot of fun playing the slots, reading books, playing on the floor, and then he even snuggled with me some! It was fun... enjoy the video (again, grandparents will find this video more exciting than many of you)...

I Need It; I Want It!! & Another Use For Olive Oil

"I need it Mommy"
"I WANT it Mommy"...
Oh yes, it has begun. It is so funny what she "needs" and "wants". Every day she comes up with new phrases and makes us laugh so hard. It is so cute. Also, she has started recognizing her name when it is written out. I told TJ all the monogrammed clothes were coming in handy! :)


Today was one of those proud daddy days for TJ... Karoline finally can wear her new Converse!! We have been waiting...


Karoline FINALLY sat still for me to do her hair... well, I don't like using the rubber- bands because it stands up too much but I do like it half way up. I am going to get some flat clips from Target and see if it works better, still cute though!

After I took the rubber-band out... Hehe!


Oh my little man... I hate to write about this but he has been "backed up" all week! It has been SO sad! You might want to skip this next paragraph unless you have babies and this advice might come in handy one day! It's way too good not to pass on.

My friend Emily rides on a van pool with a nurse from UCSF and she was talking about using a little bit of olive oil to help constipated babies. You put a little on the outside of their bottom and (yes this is gross) a little on the inside. TJ was so grossed out when he saw me doing this but when your little boy is crying because he needs to poop you will do ANYTHING to help him!! Anyway, it works! He is feeling MUCH better by the way! I think the problem was that once he started solids he wanted too much of them... I think he is going to be okay now but I know what to do if it happens again!

The reflux is MUCH better now that he is on Zantac. He still spits up every now and then but it is just a little "normal" spit up and not a pool of it over and over again! My laundry load is a little smaller! YEAH!

Do you see a trend in these four pictures? Watch the video too... this boy LOVES his fingers!

His new favorite location for an afternoon nap! He always falls asleep while we are playing on the swing set!


Video...
This is what Anderson always does when he eats... the grandparents will love this but it may not be too exciting for everyone else. Please excuse Karoline in the background saying "watch pictures" and "watch videos".


Living in the Bay Area, especially since we are close to Berkley, we have become very "green". I take reusable bags to stores, we recycle like crazy, Emily taught me to hate bottled water, and NOW TJ is walking to work!! It is about a two minute drive to work and it take him 15 minutes to walk... I don't know if this makes us official "Californians" or not!?

Nothing is new with me except I did wear another new outfit today and managed to keep it clean!! I also ate a Fruit Roll Up today and I have not had one of them in like 10 years!!!! I am SO glad that girl got kicked off American Idol!! Oh, I HATE Pottery Barns new return policy (only 30 days!!!).... I am excited about our trip this weekend... I pray the kids are in good moods! I hope to have some beautiful pictures to post when we return.

New Video

Here is a video of a few different clips. The first is Karoline "making dinner". This is something she started doing this week in the kitchen while we try and get meals ready. It is pretty cute. The second part is Anderson just playing on his mat. And last is Karoline saying her new verse. She was being very shy so she was not saying her words very clearly but it is still cute! Enjoy!

Life After Company...

Karoline has asked for Jackon, Pressley, Aunt Dee Dee, Uncle Brent, and Gammy about a million times. I wish they were still here!! I miss having company around but it is good for the kids nap schedules I guess. Anderson took a 3 1/2 hr. afternoon nap the day after Gammy left (and had his normal morning and late evening nap too!). Now we are getting ready for our short family vacation this weekend. We are going to drive to Monterey and spend the night on Sunday night and come home on Monday. I figured just one night away would be good to see how we do traveling/ sleeping with all four of us!! Someone from church was so sweet and gave us tickets to the aquarium there! I am so excited because Karoline is going to love it.
Anyway, we have a busy week ahead before the trip but it should be good. TJ's going to a baseball game for Dave's birthday (our pastor), I am out to Now Were Cooking tomorrow night to make our meals for the month, I have scrapbooking with some girls on Wednesday, dinner with my small group on Saturday, and I need to clean the house and pack.
This week Karoline has mastered her second Bible verse, Psalm 33:11. I'll try and get it on video soon. I actually have a lot of video's that I need to post.
Anyway, here are some pictures from the past few days.

Cute picture of Karoline after church... oh, and we had to have church outside this week because the power was out. It actually went pretty well!

Karoline LOVES Whisper...

Anderson sitting up and Karoline watching Baby Einstein. Today he was so close from going from all 4's to sitting up!! I can't believe he will be mobile soon!!

Enjoying the outside...
We have had beautiful summer like weather the past few days (but now it is windy and cold again), but we had a lot of fun being outside and playing in the backyard.



This boy LOVES his fingers!!

He was tired after playing so he just layed down and started sucking his fingers! It was so cute.

New Clothes

You gotta love moms. When my mom was in town she was so sweet to buy me some new clothes. It has been forever since I have bought new outfits (I am trying to buy actual outfits rather than just random pieces that are on sale). I went from being pregnant to post baby "fat clothes" to my normal size again for a nice few months before PREGNANT AGAIN, then the "fat clothes" again and now I am almost back to my regular ole self (6 more pounds- TJ says my sitting on the sofa eating chocolate diet is working but I think I am actually going to have to get out and walk a little now!!) Anyway, I love my new clothes.

BUT I realize why people with toddlers and babies don't need new clothes! I had on a cute new outfit the other day when we went out to dinner. My sweet Karoline is sitting next to me and of course she tries to hug me in the middle of her meal and yes, food all over my new shirt. Then today, I was making Anderson some pureed avocado and got avocado on another new shirt. Thanks to oxi clean it all came out but seriously... if it's not food it's spit up, drool, or something else. God bless oxi clean! But I do LOVE new clothes because at least I feel somewhat stylish again. It is hard having a metro-sexual husband!!!

It's So Sad Saying Goodbye!

Well, we are back to our family of four! Gammy left this morning and Brent, Leigh, Jackson, and Pressley left on Thursday. We had SO MUCH FUN! Karoline really misses everyone already. She woke up this morning asking if Jackon and Pressley would be arriving soon. I had to explain the best I could they had to go back to Atlanta and Gammy has to leave to go back to Texas! SO SAD! But we treasured our time together. I talked to my dad who is traveling/ working in Europe and told him we missed him so much but we had a blast and spent plenty of his money! Hehe... Here are a few more pictures!

Gammy with the grandkids...

Gammy with her babies and the grandkids!

Karoline LOVED having Jackson and Pressley sit in on her bedtime reading time!

Anderson gets a bottle from Aunt DeDe (Leigh)...

Sometimes Karoline thinks we got all these cool baby toys out for HER!

Karoline asked me to take out my earings... then asked me to put them on her! We are going to have so much fun with earings when she really gets into dress up!

Gammy gives little Diva a kiss!

Anderson is practicing sitting up. He is getting better everyday.

Cute little man...

Karoline was so funny when she walked into the kitchen with my heals on, TJ's hat, my earings, and her Dora sunglasses and NO pants!! I just laughed so hard!