Santa Ana Zoo

On Saturday, we decided to go to the Santa Ana Zoo. I think we might have been once or twice in the distant past. But Danielle read about it in a book about activities you can do with your family in Southern California. So, we thought it'd be a fun activity to do in the morning. Turns out we loved it so much, we went back in the afternoon and bought an annual pass for the family. Not only that, but we will likely have Joshua's 2 year birthday party there. Wow...is that extreme or what?

What's really nice about this zoo is that it's the perfect size for a toddler. Not so large that they get overwhelmed, but not so small that he gets bored easy. They have a really nice area where you can get snacks, have a picnic or just rest while the kids can use the playground area.

Funny story...we're at the playground and I needed to change Joshua's diaper. So, I took him into the restroom where there's one of those diaper changing tables that fold down in the large handicap stall. I stood him on it to pull down his shorts which I got down to his ankles and then proceeded to lay him down onto the table. I went to grab the shorts and...they weren't there! I looked down and found that as I picked him up to lay him down, the shorts sort of slipped off over his shoes and fell off...directly into the toilet. I quickly went to grab them and start ringing them out. I let out a little word of frustration - don't worry, it was clean - and Joshua just started laughing at me. Needless to say, I felt dumb. Of course, I came back out and confessed to Danielle what had happened - hard to hide something like that when he's no longer wearing his shorts - and a couple other parents just said not to worry...that we've all done it :-).

What's going on? cont'd

First off...here's a picture of Joshua's rash/hives. He'll probably kill me someday for posting this one, but at least he's covered. As you can see, it was concentrated around his waist. He actually scratched through it once to where it started bleeding. Poor guy!

After he got on the steroids and off the antibiotics, he started clearing up pretty quick. Probably took about 3-4 days before it was cleared up for the most part. On Tuesday, as Joshua was starting to get better, we noticed Abigail starting to get a temperature *sigh*. It seemed to get into the 100 range pretty quick. But we tried not to panic and just figured if she still had it after a couple days, if it didn't get higher first, we'd take her in. By Wednesday afternoon, it had stayed in the 100's and would occassionally creep into the 101's and 102's. Once it hit 103.0 and that's the magic number for sure. We also figured, even before the 103 reading, that since we're planning on heading up to Big Bear that weekend (more on that later), it'd be good to get her on antibiotics as soon as possible, if that was the appropriate course of action.

So, Danielle took her into Urgent Care and of course, they first read her temperature at something like 99.6! But since she really didn't have any other symptoms, they really couldn't do much. Later they took her temperature and it was in the 102's, so we felt more justified. They decided to try and take a urine sample in case she had a urinary track (or tract?) infection. Weird to think she could have that at such a young age. To do that, they had to put on this contraption around her private area in hopes that when she pee'd, it would catch some of it. Of course, she wouldn't go, but they did get enough to test positive that she had one. Now, they had to get more so they could do a culture and figure out what kind. That was more difficult. To make a long story short, they sent Danielle home with a couple more of these bags and explained how to collect the urine and put into the tube. If we didn't get enough to do a culture, they'd have to put a catheter in, which is not very pleasant for a baby. Fortunately, we got it, though it took us until about 2AM to do it! Oh and they gave us some antibiotic...the same kind Joshua had. Nice. We explained what happened to Joshua and they said don't worry about it, she'll probably be fine.

Friday, we went up to Big Bear with my brother and his wife and 4 year old son. We share a cabin up there and that was our week to use it. Here's a picture of the lake from the living room. It was beautiful that weekend. By that time, Abigail's temperature had come back down and she was generally doing better. Seemed she was getting congested some, but maybe that was the altitude change. The hardest part about that weekend was not realizing how much effort would have to go into taking care of our kids. Even on the way up, they were both a handful. Joshua was having meltdowns. *sigh* What a great start. I knew I wouldn't get much rest. But they've been sleeping so well in general, I didn't expect the struggle we'd have with them sleeping at night. That just made the days seem that much harder. We do look forward to going again, especially with family. But we'll have to make sure we're emotionally ready and have a better plan for handling meltdowns and such.

Nonetheless, it was fun seeing Joshua play with his cousin, Jefferson. I think Jefferson really enjoyed it. Joshua is in an imitation phase right now and I think Jefferson learned that pretty quick. One of the things he did was let out this loud high-pitched screech, which of course Joshua followed right behind. For the most part, it's quite humerous...unless you're in a restaurant or when Abigail's nursing or trying to take a nap. And of course, Joshua likes doing it on his own, even without Jefferson's help. But we all managed. Just before we left on Sunday, we all went to a place that has a long slide where you ride down in little carts, similar to bobsleds, except with wheels. Danielle and I each took Joshua down and he seemed to enjoy it a lot. That was a good ending to a long weekend. Not only that, but on the way down, the kids slept practically the entire time...a far cry from how it was going up. Joshua was especially funny...he slept so hard, he had bed-head...or is it carseat-head?

One final note concerning Abigail. When we got home, we had a message that told us the results from the urine culture and that they came back negative to having any infection. So, the original test was a false positive I guess. And we could stop giving her the antibiotic, which was just as well. Not only were we having trouble giving it to her, but Danielle thinks she started seeing a rash begin on her. But since we stopped it, we won't know till next time whether she really is allergic to it, like Joshua is. While it's nice to know that Abigail didn't have that infection, it's still a mystery is why she had such a high temperature in the first place. Another question for heaven I suppose.

So, it took us a few days to recover from that weekend. Not sure if Danielle ever fully recovered. But this past week has been pretty good. The biggest thing I realized this past week is that it's been the first time in a couple months that we haven't had to give our kids any kind of medicine. For so long, we've had these droppers and medicine bottles collecting on our kitchen sink and we've finally been able to move all those upstairs and not have to think about them. The other fun thing is that Abigail is really starting to show more personality, is smiling a whole lot more and is now starting to laugh. It is ADORABLE!! Talk about bringing joy, just like her name.


Joshua has begun to get into bugs more. He loves going just outside our patio and looking for snails, pillbugs, whatever. Here's a couple examples. Joshua also seems to be gaining more and more energy and has a huge need to expel it, despite his parent's inability to keep up sometimes. Actually, he's probably always had this much energy...but he seems to really enjoy just running around the entire complex. It's really fun watching him run because his arms just flail around, I'm sure to help keep his balance...but he looks so out of control too. Every few seconds, I can just envision him losing that balance and BLAM! Face plant into the sidewalk. I hate to say this, but I'll probably have to keep myself from laughing when it happens.

Enough for now...will share about my weekend later.

What's going on?

Wow...has it been over two weeks since the last post??? So much to share, so little time before I likely fall asleep. I suppose I ought to first start with a final American Idol comment being that the season ended tonight and it's fresh in my mind.

Of course, we knew Taylor would win. At least over Katherine. Once Chris was voted off it became a no-brainer. You could even see it on Katherine's face right before they announced it. It was the same face she had right before Chris got voted off. Anyway, I'm glad that's over because now I can have my Tuesday and Wednesday nights back...at least I'm sure my wife's happy about that. Oh yeah and the LOST season finale was tonight as well, so another reason my Wednesday's are back...not only that, Smallville finished a couple weeks ago, so my Thursday nights are back. It's a beautiful thing...

Now...let's go back in time...Friday the 12th, we had Abigail's 4 month checkup. I would share her measurements except I can't remember them off hand and the info is downstairs. Umm...I believe she weighed in at 15 lbs 10 oz and measured like 25 or 26 inches. I'll have to post an update later. Either way, she's doing well which is nice.

Saturday, we test drove the Honda Odyssey. That was cool. We even transferred the car seats over to it just to see how it would all fit. We'll definitely get this car. Just a matter of time. Later that day, I took our dog, Goldie, in to get a bordatella shot. That's always an adventure. Found that Goldie is at 22 lbs. She's been at 19 or 20 lbs forever! So, maybe she's beginning to pack it on now.

Sunday the 14th was Mother's Day and so after church, we met up with Danielle's family at a nearby park to have a picnic lunch. Earlier that day, I had noticed what seemed to be a rash on Joshua, but it wasn't that bad and we were in a hurry, so I didn't do much with it. Later in the day, it became worse and we initially thought it was a heat rash because it was so warm outside and because it was occuring mostly around the waist where his diaper is. By morning, it was a lot worse, appearing over a larger part of his body, and rather than wait the whole day for Urgent Care to be available (after 5PM), we decided to take him to ER (actually, Daddy took him to ER). The ER doctor suspected it was an allergic reaction to the antibiotics he was on the previous week. He told me to stop the antibiotics, he gave him some steroids and told me to have him see our pediatrician in 1-2 days to follow up. The weird thing is that we think he already had this antibiotic once before and didn't have a problem. Not only that, but he began this antibiotic a week prior to reacting. But reading some things online debunked that theory.

MORE TO COME...I'm falling asleep fast!

Conclusion of My Birthday Week

Wow...what a whirlwind this week's turned out to be. But it's been a good whirlwind except for Joshua getting another fever today. But I'll talk about that later.

Friday morning, we all met up with Danielle's parents at the Original Pancake House for breakfast. We always enjoy going there and this was no exception. Chocolate pancakes for me, thank you very much. Later that morning, we went to the mall to go birthday shopping - Robinsons May to be exact since the store here was closing because Macy's bought it. Later that afternoon, I took Joshua to pick up the portraits at Sears (because we forgot that morning). Then after dinner, the two of us went to church where MOPS put on a Dad's night where the Dads and their kids could make Mother's Day crafts together. Of course, Joshua lost interest pretty quick. But it was fun nonetheless. Next year should be more fun if they choose to do that again.

Saturday, we did some minivan shopping. It was actually sort of spur of the moment, but something we'd been needing to do for awhile. In the morning, we went to a Honda dealership to look at the Odyssey and in the afternoon to the Toyota dealership and looked at the Sienna. We were amazed at how much less room we felt in the Sienna. There were lots of other features we really liked in the Odyssey that either weren't in the Sienna or were just designed differently. Ultimately, it looks like the Odyssey is where we're leaning. We just need to do the test drive and the kid test (i.e. how does the stroller fit, get the car seats in and how easy is it to move in and out, etc) and then figure out how we're going to pay for it and we're all set.

That evening, our neighbor's, Tara and her mom Cheryl, came to babysit while we went out on a birthday date. We are very appreciative of them for taking care of the kids while we got some time together. We went to the Irvine Spectrum and specifically to the Yard House for dinner. We would have gone to the one in Brea, but figured we hadn't been to the Irvine Spectrum in a quite a while and it would be fun to walk around the various shops that are there. I wasn't impressed by the food or atmosphere. Not bad, just wasn't impressed. Danielle, on the other hand, really liked the food. Probably didn't help that it was on the night of Game 7 of the Lakers series with the Pheonix Suns. But since they lost so badly, we didn't hear as much from the crowd as we would have had they won. Overall, it was a fun evening just hanging out with my bride of 9 years (soon to be 10!) as we celebrated my birthday.

Today was really a regular day, going to church, going shopping, etc. During church, our pastor told us that there was an article written in the local paper (Star Progress) about our church and the series we were going through. Pretty good article. Here's a link and I hope you're able to see it.

Orange County Register - Star Progress for La Habra/Brea

After church, we began realizing that Joshua wasn't acting normal and felt really warm *sigh*. We took his temperature and it was somewhere in the 101 range. We took it again later and it read somewhere in the 103 range. Seeing that he had been pulling on his ear for the past day or two as well and that Urgent Care closed at 5, we decided to take him in rather than wait a full day. So, we got him on antibiotics...again. Sheesh! Does this ever stop, even for one month???

My Birthday; 83

I'm not one to toot my own horn...even if I had my own horn...and advertise that it was my birthday today. But I guess I already spilled the beans in the previous post, so there's not much tooting necessary. And no, I'm not turning 83. That was my golf score today. And for those not in the know about golf, 83 is pretty darn good (there I go tooting my own horn again).

I played with a friend from our old church and he invited his neighbor. It was a great time. I already knew that I like playing golf. I just don't always remember that I LOVE playing golf. And it's not just because I do pretty well, I love being outside with the green grass and trees. We played at the Westridge Golf Club in La Habra, my hometown. Really nice course built in the southern hills of the city.

On the way home, I treated myself to a lunch from The Hat. Pastrami Dip and fries...too much for one sitting, so I'm saving the rest for lunch tomorrow. After filling up with that and getting the mail, I took a nap with my wife while the kids were asleep. Only one hour long opportunity a day to do that.

After our nap, Danielle arranged for us to go to Fullerton College and get a massage. The students who are going through the program are, at this stage, just working to get their hours in before moving on. So, they're all relatively experienced, yet still new. So you still get a good professional massage at a fraction of the cost since you're not paying them, you're paying the department.

I would write more, but I'm falling asleep. I think it took me 5 minutes to write the last paragraph.
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Another week

Another week has gone by without a post...*sigh* I'll try to recap a few things as I think of them.

Last Friday, I went to a Men's BBQ at church. They had Big B's catering. They specialize in BBQ ribs and chicken. Good stuff. They're actually right behind us in the Albertson's shopping center, so everytime I walk over to the store, I smell the delicious spread. It was a good time at the event...and I didn't have to deal with the kids :-). But thankfully for Danielle, our good friend Stephanie came over to help out. Thanks Stephanie!!!

Saturday morning, we all went to the driving range so I could hit a bucket of balls and practice my golf swing. It's my birthday this Thursday and Danielle arranged for me to play golf with someone from our old church. Since I haven't even swung my clubs for almost a year, it was a good idea to get out a few times. Abigail fell asleep and so she stayed in the stroller while I practiced. Danielle took Joshua around and let him explore. It was fun for all. That night, we went to the Friends Center banquet. This is where Danielle recently finished her Master's degree. We love going, but it's especially nice because you not only get a dinner out of it, but also childcare. Gotta love that!

I went Monday night to the driving range again to get some more practice in. The place was well lit and it was nice and cool outside. I'm actually starting to feel a little more at ease and will get one more practice in tomorrow night. While I was there, they brought out the vehicle that goes around collecting all the golf balls that have been hit. It was the weirdest thing...as soon as the vehicle came out, it was as though every ball that was hit was aimed directly for it. Like there was either some gravitational pull or a certain collective motivation to hit it. Whatever the reason, to see a group of white balls all of a sudden attempt to descend on this thing was quite humerous. I had to stop myself a few times because I could just feel myself starting to crack up while trying to hit the ball.

So, Danielle was just reading a MOPS Magazine and came across an ad for Holy Folks. There's always comments made about how commercialized Christianity has become. This seems to be the epitomy. 'Nuff said.

More to come later. I'm falling asleep and need to go to bed.
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Sleep deprivation; poop in the tub; Idol Wrapup

Just when you think you've got things under control...Abigail's been sleeping 8-9 hours a night for a couple weeks now. We get her down by about 11PM and she sleeps until well after 7 the next morning. Joshua's been even better, generally going to bed by 7:30-8PM and not waking up till 7:30 the next morning. We've been really blessed by this, we know and we try not to take it for granted.

A couple nights ago, the two of them woke up around 6:30 and didn't go back to sleep. Fortunately, I had already left for work. Danielle wasn't that fortunate. Last night, Abigail woke up just before 5AM. So, Danielle fed her and put her back down. What made that hard for me is I had set my alarm for 5:30. I knew if I tried falling back to sleep, it'd be a major struggle getting up when the alarm went off. So, needless to say...I'm a bit sleep deprived. Danielle usually can get a short nap in during the day, but she's even more tired because she has to take care of the kids all day. Let's hope tonight is not a repeat.

A new ability Joshua seems to have is to poop in the bathtub. I think he's done that three times now in the past week. What makes it even more funny is the fact that he'll grab the shower curtain and hide behind it before doing it. We just think he's being cute with the curtain until we realize he's grunting back there! And in the "it's all about your perspective" category...at least they're solid. Maybe he's at the beginning stages of potty training already. Wouldn't that be a treat.

And what Tuesday wouldn't be complete without my take on American Idol. Granted, I missed reporting last week's festivities. Last week they sang the classics and Rod Stewart was their coach. I guess he's old enough to remember the classics. I wasn't really impressed with much of the performances. Ace was voted off which wasn't surprising except that I thought he did better than some of the others. I think what was even more surprising is having Kellie be in the top 3...I mean she even admitted that "ah butchered it".

So tonight, they did love songs. I again wasn't all that impressed with most of it...except for Chris' performance of a Bryan Adams song. Kellie again butchered it. Man...if she doesn't get voted off this week...actually, I have no idea what I'd do. Screaming doesn't seem like it would cut it. But she just seems totally out of her league right now. I used to like her, but now she's just an annoying ditzy blonde. She's way outlived her usefulness in the competition and it's time for her to leave.

I ran across a couple of sites that offer their own comments about the show that are pretty fun to read: http://althouse.blogspot.com and http://www.imao.us. You'll have to scroll down if you're reading this a couple of days after the fact. Have fun!

Sick again; Portraits

Another lag between posts...shame. Joshua got sick again this week. This is just weird...he was so healthy his first year and now in the past 6 weeks or so, he's just getting sick over and over. I ended up taking him into Urgent Care on Wednesday night. You know...that makes it sound so...well...urgent. It really wasn't that bad. It's just we didn't want to wait till the next morning to take him into walk-in hours. Not to mention the fact that Danielle would have to do that on her own whereas I could take him in to Urgent Care myself without having to take Abigail. Anyway, it just worked out better. The doctor said he had a lot of snot build-up in his ears which I guess is a sign that an ear infection is budding...which is really what we wanted checked. So, we got another prescription for that. I think he's beginning to feel better now, which is nice. Now if they could just come up with some prescription medicine for whinyness and tantrum-like symptoms.

On Friday, I stayed home from work and we took the kids to get some new portraits. We were supposed to do it as Abigail's 2 month and Joshua's 18 month portraits, but that didn't happen with everyone getting sick so darn much. So, now it's more like Abigail's 3...almost 4 month portraits and Joshua's 19...well, almost 20 month portraits. Nonetheless, we got 'em done. One things for sure...we won't be doing them together at the same time for awhile. OH MY GOSH!!!! Perhaps we just have to schedule it a bit better. But something was in the air that day that wasn't entirely right. Granted, we got some really cute poses. But that doesn't communicate what we went through just to get those. Maybe when they're teenagers, we'll try it again.

But I thought I'd post a few of the proofs so you could enjoy them. We got a pretty full package and since I have no idea who's reading this blog, if you're interested in one of these in wallet size and we have one, I'd be happy to mail one off. I suppose I could try scanning them in once we get them to make them email-able. Hopefully Sears doesn't get mad that I'm posting these.

UPDATE: After posting this, I realized I should comment on Joshua's outfit. We actually got those outfits BEFORE Joshua was born. They were a baby shower gift from friends at our old church. We loved them, but they're size 2T and we thought we'd never get around to wearing them. But Joshua is already fitting into 2T clothes, so we thought we'd try them for the portraits. The tops fit pretty well. The bottom part on the other hand...you can see the plaid shorts...yes, they're shorts, not pants. We didn't quite feel socks and shoes were appropriate in this case. For the other outfit, we used another pair of tan slacks we already had.

Easter

Happy Resurrection Sunday! It is good to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, though we should celebrate it every day. We had a pretty good day, although it started out late. Not only did Joshua not go to bed at his usual time, he decided to wake up between 5 and 6am this morning for no particular reason. Actually, the last time I went in to check on him this morning, he pointed to a pillow on the ground. I put it in his crib and he laid down and fell asleep until past 8.

At church, they had an easter egg hunt between services. I hadn't really considered that he'd take part in it. But when the time came, we gave him a bag and set him up. We tried to explain to him what he would do and when it was time, he sprang into action.

After that, his dad relented and allowed him to have a cupcake that they made available to all the kids. Joshua REALLY enjoyed that. I'll post pictures of that to our photo site sometime. We took a family picture while we were there and while it would've been better had we taken the picture earlier, it turned out pretty good.

When we got home, we made sure to take a cute picture of Abigail. After Joshua's nap, Danielle put some eggs around our patio and did another easter egg hunt here. He loved it and it was very enjoyable to watch him "get it". We videotaped that, so I don't have any pictures of it to post. Hopefully, someday, I can create some streaming video to post.

Getting together with family

Today we had my brother, Brian and his wife and son (Sharon and Jefferson, who's turning 4 this month) over for dinner. They were up from the San Diego area (Poway) and staying at Sharon's mom's house in La Mirada. Anyway, Danielle cooked this really good dinner with pork tenderloin and red potatos. Joshua was kind of a pill at first, but I think it was because he was hungry and smelling all the food being cooked made it worse. But it all turned out pretty good with the kids and Joshua and Jefferson really enjoyed taking a bath together. Danielle was quite brave taking on the task of bathing both kids while the rest of us chatted. She did great and got some great pictures! One of which is here.

Earlier in the day, I was supposed to be watching Abigail...which I was. But I was so tired and she was playing so well, that I fell asleep. Of course, Danielle was right there to take a picture of it. So her caption for this picture is "Brent's idea of watching Abigail". I guess I got caught sleeping on the job.

Fun With Kids; Good Friday

We've had so many photo ops this week, it's hard to know where to begin. So, I'll post a few here and hopefully get our photo site itself updated soon with a full range of photos.

Joshua is such a funny kid. He's totally into the "I want it my way" attitude and yet he's so funny sometimes, it's hard not to laugh so as to encourage the behavior. The past few days, he'll come over to me (or Danielle), take my hand and literally try to drag me over to where he wants me to go and then show me what he wants (a drink, go outside, food, video, etc).

Wednesday night, I took this picture. Danielle was going in to put Abigail into her crib and she comes back out quickly for me to get the camera and take a picture of this. Turns out tonight, the same thing happened. Of course, about a half hour after taking that picture, Joshua wakes up coughing and ultimately throws up. *sigh* I'm not sure we were expecting that. But it wasn't too bad...we cleaned it all up, got him back down and he slept fine.


Thursday, I took the kids for a ride in the wagon...really just to get the mail. But they seemed to enjoy it. I think Joshua had a kick out of having Abigail with him.

Sometime this week, Danielle got this picture of Abigail wearing some small sunglasses. Of course, she could've been asleep here and no one would have known. We have another one of her wearing bunny ears for Easter, but I'll post that another time.

Tonight was the Good Friday service at our church. It started at 7 which is a challenge for a kid who normally takes his bath about then and goes to bed between 7:30 and 8. But Danielle gave him some Benadryl before his nap (because he had some drainage going on) and he slept for nearly 4 hours!! So, that made it a little easier to expect him to stay up a little later and he did fine. He didn't get his bath, but that's okay.

Haircut, Fever and Idol

So much for being healthy. Joshua woke up Sunday morning coughing. We took his temperature and it was 99.8, so we decided to keep him home from church. After his nap, it was at 101. Since then, it's hovered in the 99 and 100 range dipping occassionally to normal. So, it's not enough to really take him in, but it sure makes him hard to live with. We love him dearly, but he's being such a pill this week. Either that or he's just exerting his will more. I think he just doesn't feel good. We started to think today that maybe he's teething again. He's got his bottom two molars now and perhaps he's starting to his top ones.

Of course, what one kid has typically gets passed to others. Abigail has shown a slight fever the past day or two. Nothing alarming, but enough that it makes her uncomfortable sometimes. Then I've been feeling under the weather the past couple of days as well. Mostly a really bad sore throat and just a general "blah" feeling. *sigh* I feel like it's been forever since all of us were healthy.

Saturday, we took Joshua to a kid's place to get his haircut. We had tried cutting his hair a week ago and he would have nothing of it. At least at this place, they have videos and games and other fun things to distract him. He did alright and they did a pretty good job with his hair. They even put gel in it and made a little ramp on the front as you should be able to see in the picture. He really looks like a little boy now. Kinda fun.

Finally, since it's Wednesday, I must provide my brief thoughts on American Idol. Bucky is finally gone. Unfortunately, this week, I'm actually sad. He did pretty well...especially compared to Ace. They all did the music of Queen. Ace attempted to do We Will Rock You and butchered it. I don't mind his falsetto so much, but that song was not the one to do it with. Last week, I thought it would be great if Bucky did Bohemian Rhapsody. Instead it was Kellie. Aside from her hair, I thought she did alright.

Top 9 Idol Results; Healthy Again; Kids

Just got done watching the American Idol wrap up show and I'm a bit sad. No...I'm really sad. At least you can't say..."it's just a TV show, Brent!" It's not just a TV show...it is reality. Someone really got voted off this week that I liked. Mandisa...or as some had called her...Mandiva. She exited with class, though, and even blessed everyone in the name of Jesus...on national TV! I bet the censors went crazy :-). Actually, to see Paris, Elliot and Mandisa in the bottom three was even more shocking then to not see Ace, Katherine and Bucky there. But like I said before, because it was country week, Bucky was likely safe for another week. Speaking of next week, they're doing the music of Queen. I'd love to see Bukcy try to do Bohemian Rhapsody.

Back to the family...so, Joshua is beginning to really assert his independence and display some tantrum-like episodes. I think I've always felt like he has the potential to be a strong-willed child. This is beginning to confirm that. He's still a joy, mind you. But when he starts to throw a fit because he doesn't want his pants or sweats put on, that's a problem. Of course, 5 minutes later and we can put them on without a struggle *sigh*.

Tomorrow, Danielle is taking the kids back to the doctor for what is hopefully to get a clean bill of health from all the sicknesses they've been passing between each other. It's been three weeks since Joshua initially got sick. I feel like it's been three months. Glad everyone's healthy again.

Abigail turns 3 months tomorrow. We finally transferred her to her crib in Joshua's room (which is hard to say since it's not just Joshua's room anymore). We would have done it sooner, but when she got sick and was having so much congestion, we felt she wouldn't sleep the whole night and would wake Joshua up. This past week, she's been sleeping consistantly for 8 hours (like between 11PM and 7AM). I don't know if I blogged about this, but she is smiling and cooing so much more now. It's SO cute! For whatever reason, she smiles almost everytime we pump her legs. She's also started sucking on her fist. We tried giving her a pacifier, and she would take it initially and start sucking. But inevitably, it gets spit out...but I don't think she intends to. I think her bottom jaw doesn't come out as far as most and so she can't keep the pacifier in her mouth very easily.

Danielle's Birthday Week and the Mall Story

Trying not to be so far between posts, but oh well...life goes on.

The other day, we went to the mall for a little family outing...and we needed something to do. At one point, we let Joshua get out of the stroller to walk around. He really enjoyed looking at different things, but he especially seemed to like looking down from the top level through the railing. I didn't concern myself too much because I didn't think he could fit through the bars. But he did end up putting his head through to get a better look. Then he started crying. Turned out, he couldn't get his head back through. So, I went over to help him and tried pushing his head through. It wouldn't go through! I tried a few times and it just wouldn't go through. For a moment, my head spun as I thought "oh no, what if I CAN'T get his head through? What are we going to do? Who would I call? Wait a minute...how'd he get his head through it if I can't get it back out? That's frustrating! This can't be happening, it's not logical!" There was more, but you get the idea. Then I repositioned his head once more and out came his head. He was still crying and just wanted to be held. Who would blame him? But it wasn't long before he was back at the railing looking down. Hopefully, he won't need counseling for this later in life.

We finished up Danielle's birthday week by letting her have a nice long nap on Saturday and then going to her aunt's house on Sunday to get a lengthy massage. Her aunt is a licensed massage therapist. She really enjoyed the pampering.

Idol and Birthday - Part 2

First off...big shocker on Idol. Not so much that Lisa was voted off. But that 1) Bucky wasn't in the bottom three and 2) Katherine was. I'm not a huge Katherine fan, but she is good...certainly better than Bucky. Okay...to go into the "what DO you believe?" category...Katherine sings this song proclaiming that you can only trust in yourself. Tonight, being in the bottom 2, she says that she'll just keep doing what God wants her to do. So...which is it?? *sigh* It was sad to see Lisa go though since she's a local (from Anaheim) and has a killer smile. Then they said next week, they're all doing country. Great...right up Bucky's alley...guess he'll be around a couple more weeks *sigh*.

Back to Danielle's birthday...which was today. So, I stayed home from work to basically watch the kids all day. Although, she did take the kids this morning and go to breakfast with her mom while I stayed home. I used that time to put together a couple happy birthday letters, one from Joshua and one from Abigail. Danielle got back about 9:45 and pumped some milk for me to use at the next feeding which was about 10. Soon after, she and her mom went to get their nails done. So, after I fed Abigail, I took the kids to get some birthday cards I could put their letters into. I also went to the florist to get some flowers, some from me and some from Lisa who had asked me to get some.

Once back home, I put the letters in the cards I got and realized that the card that was to be from Joshua was a birthday card for grandma, not mom. I also had put together a little gift certificate for Danielle - good for 5 2-4 hour naps throughout the year. Basically, I give Danielle the opportunity to go to a neighbor's or something to take a nice long nap without the distractions of two young children. It's always a good thing to let your wife nap.

Anyway, I later was able to go to the store and get the right card for Joshua to use and all was well. Danielle loved the flowers and the letters. Later we went out for dinner to a Hawaiian BBQ place that we'd been wanting to go to. It was really good. So, that made for a nice birthday dinner (even though Monday's trip to Summit House was really the birthday dinner).

Been a while...more American Idol...Danielle's Birthday - Part 1

While it's been 11 days since the last post, I will try not to make this too long. Not so much because I don't want to share everything, but because of what time it is right now. You see...I don't often get a chance to do much posting till late at night when we're all in bed and by that time, I'm fading pretty quickly.

Case in point...check out the previous post...the title of which is "Survivor Wrap-up..." I think because I make reference to Survivor, I was inclined to use that. But the fact is, I was probably falling asleep while finishing the post and when entering a title, didn't think twice about what I was putting down.

Well...since it is Tuesday, and American Idol was just on and it's fresh in my mind, I'll provide my own synopsis of it. B-O-R-I-N-G! Wow...what a non-event it was tonight. They were all donig songs from the 21st century, which is basically anything in the past 5-6 years. Mandisa surprised me by doing a Mary Mary song (they are a Christian R&B duo) and proclaiming pretty loudly her faith in Christ. Her performance wasn't earth-shattering, but it was cool to hear it. Contrast that with Katherine's song called "The Voice Within" where she says that you can only trust yourself. *sigh*

The last couple weeks have been tough. Both kids and Danielle have been sick for most of that time. I just have a minor cough which is manageable. Danielle took them to the doctor this morning to have all three of them checked out. Joshua's ear infection is still there (or left and came back) while now he says Joshua might have a sinus infection. Either way, it makes him pretty miserable at times. We know this too shall pass...we're just hoping it passes soon.

Tomorrow is Danielle's birthday. So, Monday we got a babysitter - first time for Abigail - and first went to dinner at the Summit House. We've been there a couple times before and usually get the John Dory. That was nice. Afterwards, we went over to a friend's who have a nice jacuzzi formed from rock. We sat in the jacuzzi for almost an hour and that was really nice.

Okay...it's late again and I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. So, I'll post what I have and update it later.

Survivor Wrap-up; Sickness; Big Bear

First off...I must do a quick follow up on American Idol...Melissa was voted off. Sort of sounds like Survivor. Melissa was voted off the island. Just as well. Not sure I liked her as much, although I don't think she did as bad as a couple of the others.

Now, back to the children. So, Wednesday, Joshua got sick. He's gotten a heck of a lot more sick these past several months compared to his first year. This time...like most every time so far...we think he got it from the church nursery. Kind of a cop out I suppose, but it sure seems like when he does get sick, it's either on Monday (the day after Sunday church) or in this case the day after the Women's Bible Study on Tuesday where there's childcare provided.

So, back to Wednesday...our sister-in-law, Sharon, came up with her son, Jefferson (almost 4) to hang out, meet Abigail and play with Joshua. She also was kind enough to offer to watch Abigail during Joshua's nap so that Danielle could get some good quality sleep. That was huge! Unfortunately, an hour into Joshua's nap, he woke up crying. Normally, he'd go back to sleep, but he kept at it to the point where Danielle had to go in and check. Long story short, he threw up (or insert your favorite expression - blew chunks, upchucked, spewed, etc.).

That night went okay. The next morning, however, Danielle noticed what looked like an infection in his eyes. We debated whether to take him in to the doctor and decided she should take him. It was probably good that we did. He does have eye infection. But he also has an ear infection. So, we got a couple prescriptions. One is some eye drops which he said might sting (oh joy!). The other is some liquid medicine that has to be refrigerated and then shaken well before dispensing it. Smells pretty good actually. We were also told by a nurse friend - other than Lisa :-) - to get an antihistimine to help dry his sinuses up. So, Danielle got bubblegum flavor Benadryl (kids get all the great flavors!). For the most part, he takes all the medicine pretty well. That's nice.

This morning, we drove up to Big Bear to the cabin that we share. A couple of friends of ours wanted to use it and so we drove up with them to open it up and show them around. It had snowed the previous weekend and there was another storm brewing. So, I was a little anxious to get up and get back home before it snowed hard enough to have to use chains. Turned out to be beautiful up there during the few hours we were there and just as we were leaving the clouds started moving in. We actually did drive through the clouds and snow/rain, but it hadn't gotten bad enough yet. Although, later that night, I checked the road report and chains were required everywhere.

Now we find that Abigail's gotten some of what Joshua has...mostly congestion, which is hard to hear because there's not much you can do. And laying her on her back isn't that good since the flem just sits at the back of her throat. *sigh*

Now for a completely different post

I always talk about my kids...and I don't mind that. But there is more to life than our kids. First, we'll start with a completely superficial topic...the weather.

This is going to sound weird to the non-CA crowd, but we've been having some cold weather for March. This morning, I walked out and there was frost on the roofs. The other day, we had a storm pass through and when it first started coming down, it came as hail. Not very large stones, the size of pebbles. But not something that happens very often. Unfortunately, it was at night and so Joshua didn't get to see it. There I go talking about the kids again :-).

Today, I was listening to some music while working and started listening to Michael W. Smith. Came across one song that I like and recalled really liking the video to it. Thought I'd check his website to see if I could see it online. Come to find out that he's starring in a feature length film that was written and directed by Steve Taylor. Steve Taylor is/was one of my favorite music artists who I've always admired in terms of his authentic faith in an industry that's not always authentic. He hasn't done a CD in over 10 years, but still has an impact in other areas and with other artists (like the Newsboys). At any rate, it's called The Second Chance and deals with issues of race in the church. Looks fascinating, especially for a first time film for Taylor as well as first time acting for Smith. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's playing anywhere near here right now. I'll have to check around more.

Back to more mundane things. I hate to say it...but I really like American Idol. I watched the show tonight and it was just fun. I enjoy watching the contestants perform and hearing the feedback from the "judges". It's mostly entertainment and maybe I'm easily entertained. But there's something organic about it that makes it very interesting. I guess it's the ultimate reality show.

So, tonight, they all had to sing a Stevie Wonder song. Not the best option for some of them who just don't have much soul in them. But they tried. Here's my roundup:

• I thought Ace did pretty well...better than previous weeks, especially that horrible falsetto he did of a Michael Jackson song last week.
• Kellie, who I think is extremely cute, especially with her southern drawl, was horrible. Totally out of her element with this one. I hope she doesn't get voted out, but I'm afraid she will be after that performance. But here is last week's performance which is the reason she's in the competition...not to mention that Simon thinks she's a "naughty little minx".
  
• Elliott did alright. He just doesn't strike me as an "American Idol".
• I haven't always like Bucky...both the name and his performances. Tonight was no exception. It was almost painful to listen to. I hope he gets voted off.
• Mandisa was pretty good. Incredible voice. Powerhouse vocals that can tear down any house.
• Kevin...he's got a good voice, but he just seems too awkward. Like a fish out of water. But he's only 16, so he's got some growing to do.
• Melissa was okay. The judges liked her even though she forgot some of the lyrics. That's an honest mistake, but not one you should make in a competition.

Then came the last 5...all of which will easily move on to the next round:

• Lisa, who's only 16 herself and yet she sings and performs like she's done it for years. Tonight was more of the same. Awesome...and she's a local from Anaheim!
• I've always liked Katherine. I can see her going all the way. She did a great job tonight as well.
• Taylor Hicks. I love the name, love the grey hair, he's got an awkwardness that actually works, unlike Kevin. He makes you smile when you watch him perform. Sometimes I smile because he makes me laugh at how awkward he looks. But mostly it's because he's got some soul that comes out when he sings and it's fun to watch.
• Paris is quite simply a fireball. Extroverted with more than a capital E...it's in ALL CAPS. But she's good. Her voice is like Mandisa's...powerful. Yet she's 10 years younger. Pretty cool. Tonight's performance was a showcase of that voice.
• Finally, Chris...the Bo Bice of this year's lineup. Total rocker and so he does a Stevie Wonder song that the Red Hot Chili Peppers had apparently done. Go figure. That sounds like having The Rolling Stones doing "The Sound of Music". I wasn't totally into it tonight, but the judges thought it was brilliant. Hmm...shows how much I know...or maybe it shows how much they know.

All in all...fun show. Look forward to the results show tomorrow night.

Recap of the Past 9 Days

Lots of stuff has gone on this past week or so. So, this may be a long post, but it’s a lot of good stuff IMHO. For those not abbreviation savvy, that means In My Humble Opinion :-).

My brother, Bruce, was here from Poland. He’s a missionary with SEND International. The link to their page on SEND’s website is a couple years old, but gets the point across. Anyway, he was here alone to travel the western states to meet with supporters and try to attract new supporters due to some changes in the exchange rate between the dollar and the euro. We were sad to not see the rest of his family, but know it was for a good reason. It was still a lot of fun to see him and spend some good quality time with him between all his meetings and presentations.

One thing that will make the distance not so bad is Skype. Bruce has been encouraging the rest of the family (one brother in San Diego, myself in Fullerton and the other brother and the parents in near Portland, OR) to get on Skype so that we can essentially talk with each other free through the Internet. Not only that, but the latest version of Skype has video. So, I will break down and get a webcam and join the crowd. It should be fun.

On to some things Joshua is doing. The other day, he climbed into his crib…sort of. We lowered the side of the crib and he was able to get up and almost get his foot over. So, Danielle helped it over. He just needed a little help! He does seem like a good little helper. We’ve “taught” him to help put things in the trash, especially Abigail’s wet diapers (dirty ones are off limits). So, not only will he put the wet diapers in, but he likes putting other things in the trash, like socks, sippy cups and so on. Definitely something we have to keep an eye on. Although, sometime later, he took 2 or 3 of Abigail’s diapers from our bedroom trash, walked into his bedroom and put them into the diaper pail. That was pretty cool. Of course, he’s been known to put other things in the diaper pail…but I digress.

He’s decided to also change his sleep schedule on us this past week. Not drastically, but enough to cause us a little grief. He used to sleep from about 12 Noon to 2PM (give or take a half hour) and then go to bed between 7 and 7:30. He would then wake up between 7 and 7:30 in the morning. Now, he isn’t falling asleep until 1PM or after and sleeping till well after 3PM. It seems he also doesn’t fall asleep at night till after 8. But he does make up for that by sleeping in till almost 8 most of the time. So, it’s not horrible, but does cause us to accommodate.

Joshua had been teething for the longest time a while back and we figured he was getting his molars, but wasn’t sure. Then he stopped teething, but we never noticed any additional teeth. The past week or two, we’ve noticed he’s started teething again. But this time, we noticed a molar in the back had come in, presumably from the previous teething session. By the way, his sign that he’s teething is when he begins chomping on his fingers and hand while his mouth and nose are dripping almost uncontrollably. So, hopefully, another one is coming in this time. I’m sure it hurts a lot, so the more that can come through now, the better.

Danielle and I do like taking Joshua to various parks and Joshua has really begun to enjoy going down the slides. When Bruce was here, we went to a park next to the Brea Plunge. Here’s a picture of him going up the slide…notice daddy behind him with his hand ready to catch him when he falls back. Of course, I’m not sure how successful I’d be since I’m holding Abigail with the other arm. Fortunately, he didn’t fall back and he actually made it up the slide. Later on in the week, we went to Arovista Park in Brea. I hadn’t been there in years and so it was fun to see all they had done to that park (I played some Little League games there “back in the day”). We played on the slides for awhile and then I took him down to where the ball fields are and explained to him the basics of baseball. He told me he’s looking forward to playing when he gets older – well, I know that’s what he was thinking at least.

Friday was his 18 month checkup. He weighed in at 35 lbs and measured 34 ½ inches in length! He got his last shots until before he enters kindergarten. As always he did fine…cried a little bit…well, a lot…but he’s a trooper. Our doctor really encouraged us to have him use his words more. We know what Joshua is asking for half the time, but to tell him to say “ball” or “juice” and have him actually try to say the word. We can already see him getting closer and closer to saying things. It’ll be fun when he actually starts putting those sounds together and forms the words themselves.

Not too much to say about Abigail since all she does is eat, sleep and cry. But she is smiling a lot more and is in general less emotional than she has been. She’s enjoying her bouncy more and we’ve also introduced her to Baby Einstein (Baby Mozart to be exact) which she seems to get into most of the time (provided she hasn’t pooped). This has allowed us to get more things done in between feedings because we’re not having to always entertain her.

She seems to be sleeping a little better now. She is more consistently getting about 6 hours of sleep each night which has been really helpful. But throughout the day, it seems she won’t sleep for more than 30 minute chunks. Maybe when she’s in the car, she could go longer. But that’s not always possible nor do we want her getting a preference for it.

In a previous post, I mentioned Abigail’s pattern of pooping once every 2-3 days. Well, for whatever reason, she’s pooping more often too…usually once a day. The other day she went three times.

There's probably more...but I'll save it for another post that won't be nearly as long.

Abigail's Two Month Checkup

We went to see the pediatrician today for Abigail's 2 month checkup. I was looking forward to go so we could get her official height and weight. Also, since she'd been going 2-3 days between bowel movements on average, we were interested to hear what he had to say. Now, before anyone gets concerned, we had been asking around and felt that since she was not exhibiting any other odd behavior and that she seemed to be eating and growing fine, we weren't going to concern ourselves too much.

As it turns out, our doctor told us that breast-fed babies can normally have 3 or more BM's each day and that breast-fed babies can normally have one BM every 3 days. It really comes down to how efficiently their bodies process the breastmilk. In Abigail's case, she is probably just processing it all so efficiently that there's not as much waste produced. So he said not to worry.

Abigail weighed in at 11lbs 13oz and measured 23 1/2 inches long. So, she's grown over 2lbs and 2 inches from 4 weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised. They also told us she's in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. Not that we're to compare with the siblings, it's still an interesting excerise. At 2 months, Joshua weighed in at 16lbs and measured 25 inches long. And yes, he was above the 100th percentile for both height and weight.

Nonetheless, Abigail is doing very well healthwise which is nice to see and hear. Now if we can just get her on our routine :-).