Monday, June 28, 2010

I'm a big kid now!

So as many of you know, I wear contacts. I think I've worn them since I was 12 or 13. Technically I am legally "blind" without anything to help me see. Anyway, so insurance usually covers an amount off of contacts for a year OR new glasses. Seeing as how I use contacts a lot more and only wear glasses at night, I usually use my amount towards a year's supply of contacts. So, I very rarely get new glasses. The last time I got new glasses was 5 years ago. The lenses were actually starting to crack, and Mike has never really liked the frames I had, so I decided it was time for new ones.

I headed over to LensCrafters one afternoon without the kids and began looking through their cheapest frames. The guy that greeted me at the door was no help. I kept asking what he thought of these frames & these, and like a typical guy, he would just shrug and say they were 'fine'. I was starting to think I was going to end up with another pair of frames that would just 'do' as my nighttime glasses again! My name finally gets called by one of the sales people and I walk over with the 2 frames I have chosen. The lady starts out with figuring out measurements and types of lenses I'll need. Then we get to the frames, and I show her the two I've chosen. She puts them on, takes a look and tells me they are actually a bit too wide, and my eye isn't in the center of the lense.

At this point I am a little frustrated. I had a hard time even finding a frame I liked, and now they don't fit like she thinks they should! But, she has a solution. She asks me if I mind if she picks out a few frames. Yes, please! So then she says she hopes she doesn't offend me... and walks over ot the KID'S section. Yes, the frames for children. I almost burst out laughing! She came back and I tried on I think 6 or 7 frames and finally chose one.

A week later I picked up my kid's glasses and have been wearing them ever since.


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Why I don't whip it out

I have a love/hate relationship with nursing.

I love that I am able to give my baby nourishment that helps them thrive
I love the bonding and closeness we get

I really hate pumping (a necessity since I work full time)
And I hate nursing in public (NIP as it's known on all the boards)

I really couldn't put my finger on why I don't like NIP though. I know it's a natural thing to do, I know I can't always force baby to adhere to a schedule that works for me. But something about whipping it out in public makes both me and Mike very nervous. Today I stumbled on this:
http://www.drmomma.org/2010/06/breastfeeding-in-church-picture-of.html

Seriously wow. She touched on exactly what it is that makes me nervous. If you have ever breastfed, or know someone who has struggled with this exact issue, it's a good read.

Segway tour!

So for my birthday (in April) Mike had planned on taking me on a Segway tour as my present. At the time, he was laid off and so I just needed to take a day off. Well, the day I took off, Kevin ended up getting sick, so we had to postpone. Then Mike took a new job, and he doesn't get any paid days off, and it looked like we would just postpone indefinitely. But this week Mike decided f-it, and took an unpaid day off. We went to Santa Monica, rented a Segway and took a tour through Santa Monica to Venice and back (along the beach). It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we had a BLAST!

Mike in the training room, getting used to the Segway:



Me in the training room:




Our first stop overlooking the beach:




On the pier in Venice




Mike chasing a seagull on the pier


Father's Day 2010

This year we celebrated with a brunch at my sister Erin's house. She is very pregnant (due the beginning of August) and she didn't want to have to go anywhere, so she hosted. Her in-laws & family were also there, so there was a total of 5 kids (and 1 in belly). At one point they were all lined up on the couch watching tv:



Left to right, that's Amanda, Kevin, Jaelen, Jordan & Andrew.

Close up of Amanda & Kevin. Jaelen loved sitting next to the baby :)



And a little later, here's a pic of Daddy & Son on the floor.




Andrew also wanted his time with Kevin, so here they are cuddling



And later in the day (at home), here's Daddy sporting his father's day tie from Kevin and posing with Amanda.



Finished shed!

Mike has finally finished the shed.





He will be taking bids for his next job throughout the month of July*.




(*Just kidding. Mike actually was pretty frustrated throughout this entire project and will probably never build anything from scratch again!)

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Focus on Kevin

Kevin's 1st birthday is coming up, so I had a photo shoot to get a picture for his invitation. I bought these cute baby ties from http://www.babyhalfoff.com/ (and got a matching one for Mike if we eer decide to do a family shoot!) and got him all ready.

At first, he didn't even notice. Too busy standing at the coffee table!



But then I got him on the couch and got a few pics. I didn't end up choosing any of these for various reasons, mostly because you can see the windows behind him!

















Then the next day I tried a different approach and gave him some stuff to play with









(I ended up choosing one similar to this last one)

Friday, June 18, 2010

Busy notes

I can't believe how busy we've been the last couple of weeks. And there is no end in sight! It's going to be a very busy summer. Compounded by the fact that I have a neice on the way, and a good friend is due around the same time, and delivering at the same hospital. What do you think the odds are that they will deliver in the same weekend?

Father's Day is this weekend. I got Mike some really good presents this year that I think he will enjoy. I am looking forward to seeing his face when he opens his presents :) I think I forgot to mention on here what I got for Mother's Day - a necklace with our entire family's birthstones. Hand picked by Mike. I absolutely love it. The only problem is Kevin likes to grab it, so I have to be careful when wearing it!

I have essentially filled up my hard drive on my laptop with pictures. Thus, I haven't been able to download any off my camera until I make room. I burned 4 CD's last weekend and I only freed up 1.2 MB of space. I have a long way to go...

I am still nursing Kevin, which for me is a huge accomplishment. I only made it 6 months with Amanda, but I am enjoying the bond Kevin & I have. He is 10 1/2 months now, and getting so big. He is crawling into everything, and pulling up. It's only a matter of time until he starts taking those first steps! He moved up to the Infant II class at daycare last month. He is the smallest one in there, but there is another move coming July 1 when he should be joined by his smaller friends from the Infant I class.

Amanda will be moving up to Preschool on July 1. Finally. She's only been potty trained for nearly 9 months now... but there hasn't been room for her at the preschool level, so we had to wait. She is excited to be moving to the other side of the center, where all the "big kid" stuff is. She tells me every day when she gets to go visit her friends over there, especially her best friend "Nicky". I can't believe how big she is getting now too. She is going through a very sensitive stage where everything is a huge deal and she cries a lot, so I am trying to be sensitive to her and give her more attention. She is very artistic (like her dad) and loves to draw and use scissors (safe preschool scissors). She can now draw a very good looking happy face, complete with hair, as well as most of the numbers 1-10 (has some trouble with 2 & 5). Too soon she will be ready for Kindergarten and more independent than ever!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

The shed (continued)

Here's some pictures from last week as Mike put up the last wall.




This last weekend he put up the roof and the door. Just working on trim now. I still have to take pictures of that, but now I'm having an issue with space on my computer for all my pictures! I need to put older photos on CD and archive them. Will work on that hopefully soon.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

May Update

Sorry for the lack of posts. Things have been hectic to say the least! We've been battling colds and other random sickness, along with birthday parties and activities every weekend! AND, I keep forgetting my camera, so I can't even document most of it :( Here are some of the pictures I took in the last week.

Amanda has taken to playing in the sink. She will fill up any bottle or container within arms reach and then put a spoon in it. As you can see, she COVERS my countertop!



This last weekend I was cleaning out my truck and Amanda wanted to help by cleaning Aunt Ilene's truck (which is parked in front of our house while she is in the Caribbean). So I took out the spray bottle from her house cleaning caddy and gave her a paper towel, and off she went!








Cute pic of Kevin




Kevin started "crawling" in the last couple of weeks. It's not really crawling in the real sense of the word, in that he more "scoots" by pulling himself along on his tummy. We call it the "army crawl". He also started pulling himself up this weekend. Too bad he can't figure out which side of the walker to use!



Crawling in to see what Daddy & Amanda are doing.

And I took this while he was napping on Saturday. Amanda used to sleep like this for a while too and it cracks me up. How do you sleep with your butt up in the air?!?!
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