Our Little Lady

I figured it was time to emerge from my cave for a little update.

This last month is all a blur. Honestly, it's been difficult adjusting to two kids, but we're getting by... or surviving at the very least. I went through some old blog posts today to remind myself what it was like when we first brought Robert home. "Hell" pretty much sums it up. Luckily Anna is so much more content than Robert ever was. For the most part she doesn't fuss unless she's gassy or hungry. The rest of the time she's happy to observe her surroundings and sleep. I'm so thankful for that.

Robert is getting used to having a little sister. Once she's bigger and can play with him I think he'll appreciate her more. For now, she's just a nose to pinch. He's talking more lately and while most of it is still baby jabber. I can make out a few things...

be-be (baby)

Uh-Oh

kuck (duck)

e-meh (amen)

No!

bye-bye

ah-doh (all done)

ott (hot)

It's amazing how much he picks up... and scary. The other day Alex was changing him and he was positive he heard Robert say "Oh crap!" He claims it was clear as day. I'm still in denial.

Robert loves to play outside. When he wants to go out, he brings me his shoes or coat and waits by the back door. It's cute!

Alex and I are still doing the same old stuff. Alex is in school working hard to graduate. I'm home with the kids trying not to go crazy. I'm hoping to get back into some kind of routine soon. For now it's all about survival.

I feel like a total slacker since I haven't posted Anna (or Robert's) birth stories. My goal is to post them both by the end of this week (more for myself than anything). Here are some old pictures instead. I'm thinking I took these 2 weeks ago or more. Enjoy!

Robert going for a ride.

Playing at the park with his Auntie Sophie.

A short story:

A few weeks back Robert and I were hanging out. He left the room for literally 2 seconds. I didn't think anything of it until I noticed something unusual. Silence. I listened for a few seconds longer and heard a weird noise I'd never heard before. Upon further investigation I came into the kitchen to find this little mess.

Busted! If there's anything in the house that hasn't been baby-proofed, he WILL find it. I love the one oat stuck to his face.

At the park with Dad. Like his parents, some good people watching really satisfies.

Robert thought his monkey backpack was super cool. Then he figured out it was attached to something. Mom or Dad. Now he hates it.

Learning to drive.

Robert's first Easter egg hunt. He didn't really get the concept of hunting for eggs, so Dad took a moment to explain.

He still didn't get it, but it was fun to watch him run all over the beach with his little bucket.

Skipping rocks with Dad.

Easter dinner at the cabin. Food is one thing Robert understands very well. He was happy to polish off his dinner.... and Alex's.

Meanwhile, Anna hung out nearby in a cross-eyed state.

This is Anna 2 weeks ago. She looks totally different now.

And a close-up. Right after I took this picture she spit up all over the place. I think it was her way of saying, "No more pictures, Mom!!"

Stay tuned for some more recent pictures... and hopefully more frequent blog posts.

Happy Mothers' Day

I have always liked Mothers' Day because I have been blessed with a great mother, many surrogate mothers, and a wonderful wife who is the mother to our two beautiful but taxing children.

Today, I just want to post about the mother in our home. (I hope you other mothers don't feel slighted, I have just as much good I could say about you. )

Kristine is a great mother. It doesn't surprise me any, but I think there are days where it really surprises her. Let me give you the top 5 reasons why she's a great mom:

5) She can really cook well. Whenever my wife cooks, my children and I know that we are in for a treat. She has a special talent for seasoning things so that they just get that little something extra.

4)My wife is a meticulous cleaner. I try to not be messy but where I fail (and I do) Kristine can make our home a pleasure to be in. She has knack for making things look pristine.

3)Kristine has a sense of humor. Let's face it, if you know me or our kids, you would need a sense of humor to deal with us all the time. There are so many times where the kids both start screaming ("kiddy choir") and K and I just laugh because we feel like our life is a circus act. I'm glad my wife can appreciate the ironic timing of so many frustrations without always being frustrated.

2)Kristine loves me and our kids. When Robert came out looking nothing like her, I think she was worried. Over time though, Kristine has become one of the most involved and doting moms I know. She loves seeing our kids grow and develop and is vitally concerned with their welfare. She also surprises me constantly by wanting to spend time with me. (I don't know whether I would want to spend time with myself). She constantly shows me with the things that she does, the help and mercy she gives, that she loves me. I know that she loves me and our kids do too. I think that makes her a great mom all by itself.

1)Kristine is a great example for all of us. Whenever I recognize that I need to be better in my family duties, I look to Kristine for her example. She will always do what is best for her husband and family, even when we try to tempt her not to. I have learned more about being Christ-like and loving from Kristine than from anyone else. THANK YOU for being you!

I love you Kristine,

Happy Mothers' Day!

Baby Anna

Here are a few pics of our little Anna - who arrived today (painfully) at 4:42 pm.

7 lbs, 2 oz.

20 inches.

More details later - I need a nap!

Marital Bliss & my latest Addiction

Whew! Back from the dead. We've all been sick with colds this past week, but I think we're coming out of it now. Slowly. Here are all of my/our latest goings-on and rantings in random order:

#1: Dead hard drive.

It's kind of funny, just when you're at your wits end about money, how to make things work, whether you'll be able to eat (slight exaggeration, but you get the idea) something really cool happens, like your hard drive crashes. No biggie right. Except in this case where I had NOTHING backed up (I'm an idiot. I know better now). I figured it would be a semi-painless fix... but have since learned that data recovery is a big deal. And very expensive. Estimate from the tech today: $850!! Unfortunately, anything and everything that had any importance was on that hard drive - all of Robert's baby pictures from birth to now, our wedding, Alex's mission, my Grandma's funeral. It makes me sick thinking about it - BUT, on a positive note it got me in the right mindset for my newest addiction.

#2: Coupons.

I never thought much about coupons. I figured they couldn't save that much anyway, so why waste the time clipping them. Well, let me show you some quick math.

Today I went to Rite Aid and purchased the following:

6 boxes of Special K cereal (3 regular, 3 red berries)

4 pkgs. Stayfree pads/liners

2 boxes of Band-Aids

1 pkg. Breathe Right Strips

1 bottle of eye drops

I spent $1.27. And I have $11 of UP rewards (think store credit) to use the next time I shop.

Other purchases of the day... Reach floss - free after coupons. BIC rollerball pens - free after coupons. Reach toothbrushes - .50 each after coupons (should have been free, but I was too tired to deal with it).

In short, I love the satisfaction I get from couponing and knowing that most everything I've purchased as of late has been super cheap or free.

#3: Marital Bliss

As of December 22, Alex and I have been married for 3 years! To say it's all been blissful would be misleading, but I can accurately say we're still happy to be married and continually trying to make it more blissful. To celebrate, we ate dinner at a nicer-than-our-usual restaurant (not hard when the usual is Arby's or Taco Bell) - Anthony's Hearthfire. It was so good. I'm hungry again just thinking about it. Yum!

#4: Christmas and Family

We had Christmas with both families this year. Mine on Christmas Eve, Alex's on Christmas Day. The best part of both (overall) was having the time together. Nothing else to do, no one else to see. Just having the time to enjoy each other's company. It was really nice. I miss just hanging out.

#5: Random funny.

Alex has a habit of elbowing me in the face while we're sleeping. He claims he's not awake and it's an accident and I've chosen to believe him... but this last time was classic. I'm totally sleeping and get the elbow to the face action. From there, it went something like this:

K: What was THAT for?

A: ... Huh?

K: Dude! You totally just elbowed me in the face!

A: No, I didn't.

K: Yes you did! You totally elbowed me in the face! What the heck!

A: ... long pause ... It was a physics-y thing, you wouldn't really understand anyway.

(I think this is where he actually started to wake up and realized he had no clue what was going on our what conversation he was in the middle of).

K: ???

....

????

... at this point he rolled over and went back to sleep.

I have no idea where his brain comes up with this stuff... but it's good for a laugh.

#6: Pregnancy

I'm due April 9th. I'm not ready. Totally freaking, actually.

The baby appears to be healthy. Kicking. Making my back hurt. Giving me Arby's cravings. She's good. We're planning on naming her Anna. No idea on the middle name yet.

#7: Robert

Still not walking. Loves to get into and CLIMB onto/into/up everything. Watches Sesame Street daily. LOVES food, especially breads and homemade rolls. If he wasn't my own child, I would think he was 100% adorable. I still think he is, but most days I've completely had it with him and am ready for a break when Alex gets home. Robert gets so excited when his Dad comes home for the day. He worships his Dad. It's so cute. Here's a video of them playing Hide and Seek.

That's our news...

Hope you all had a great New Year's! I can't believe it's 2011.

Bed Head

I know. I'm slacking again.

One of these days I'll post about Christmas, our anniversary, the pregnancy and everything else we've been up to. Until then, here are some pictures I took of Robert today. He woke up with some serious bed head. Like usual I took a million near identical pictures in hopes of getting one good picture. Typical.

Oh... and a video I found on my camera. Sorry, it's sideways again... I don't know how to fix that. We discovered that Robert likes slapstick. I never thought he paid much attention to our movies. One night we were watching "Get Smart" and he randomly started belly laughing. We were both confused until we realized he was actually watching the movie. Apparently he likes slapstick. Enjoy!

Pizza Crust Recipe

As requested, here is the recipe I used for the pizza we made recently. It's from Allrecipes.com.

Some things I did:

Minced a few garlic cloves and soaked them in olive oil with some Italian seasoning. I used this to oil my pan and brushed it on the outer edge of the crust during the last few minutes of baking.

Also, I added all of the flour during the first part of mixing (I do mine in a Kitchen Aid) because the dough is so sticky. At the end I don't bother putting the dough on the counter (it would never come off). I put it directly into my oiled pizza pan and press it out by hand after sprinkling more flour on top. It is super sticky to work with, so whatever works for you - do it!

The first time we made this we used all of the dough to make one pizza and it was super fatty... the second time we made a personal for Robert and pressed the dough a little thinner for our bigger pizza. I think we liked that better. I think this crust would be super awesome with some seasoning added to the dough as well (Italian, or something garlic), but I haven't tried that yet. Maybe this week since Alex wants to have pizza - AGAIN!

Good Luck and Enjoy!!

Jay's Signature Crust Pizza

Ingredients

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon brown sugar

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve the brown sugar and yeast in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes. Stir the salt and oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Place the dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. Let the dough rise until double; this should take about 1 hour. Punch down the dough and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax a minute before rolling out. Use for your favorite pizza recipe. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15-20 minutes before topping and baking it. Bake pizza in the preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Baby Spoiler, Food, and Laundry Fun

Last week we did more of our usual with the addition of one very exciting appointment. We were finally able to answer the question that's been plaguing our minds: Boy or Girl?

We're having a...

GIRL!!

Check out our cutie pie...

For a more accurate report - the tech said that the baby wasn't being very cooperative. He/She wouldn't uncross their legs so she could get "the money shot". The tech ventured to say she was almost certain it was a girl. She didn't see anything that would indicate a boy. She offered to see me again in a couple of weeks to confirm the gender - and I am going to take her up on her offer... but I'm feeling like the verdict will be the same based on everything we've felt up to this point.

In other, less exciting news... this week we've been experimenting with more recipes...

Twice Baked Potatoes. These were really good, but they were such a pain to put together. We won't be making them again. It's just as easy to make the yummy potato guts and skip the putting it back into the skin. Pretty to look at, annoying and time consuming to make.

Main dish: Ribs! I was having a serious barbecue rib craving and decided to try making them at home. The ribs did come out really tender and tasted pretty good. Unfortunately I didn't know that "chili sauce" and "Vietnamese chili sauce" were two different things - so these were really spicy. Almost to the point of being inedible. And almost to the point of causing flaming rocket poop.

We tried lots of other new recipes too - but I'd rather talk about Robert.

Tonight we realized how helpful our son is. Alex brought in laundry to fold and Robert was kind enough to help... at least in the form of comic relief.

He's discovered the joy of flopping into a laundry pile (much like a pile of leaves). He did it over and over again for a good 20 minutes. It was really cute and made us really happy to see him enjoying something so simple. I wish we were better at that. Here are way too many pictures documenting his joy.

In the end he belly-flopped onto the bare ground (Ouch!) and lost interest, but it was cute while it lasted.

... now on to another week!