Birthdays and More

The kids and I checked out a new park in Palo Alto that Axel fell in love with. We met my girlfriend, Tiffany, and her two kids there. The park had this cool sand area that had a cement tunnel with holes in it that the kids could climb out of. It also had a bridge that Axel had fun climbing over while hanging off of the side.

 While brother had fun playing in the sand, Phoenix and I chilled with the other babies and chatted a bit. Unfortunately, we were not able to stay very long, but loved the park so much we plan on going back as soon as we can find time!

 Daddy and Axel watched the NBA finals together and for some reason the two things that Axel took away from watching the basketball games were 1. that he likes cheer leaders and 2. he liked Birdman's hair and wanted a mohawk of his own. Since we have had a streak of hot weather I had wanted to cut his hair anyways, we decided to leave the top of his hair long and cut his sides. Here is the finished product.

Just in case you were wondering the above events were on Thursday, June 27th. On Friday, my birthday, the kids and I had a fun day at home and then daddy came home to take me out to dinner. this was the first time since we had kids that Keith and I had a date out to a restaurant. The only other dates we have had were to his company party each year and to one Halloween party three years ago. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the wine cellar together and a short walk around downtown Los Gatos and then went home to relieve our babysitter.

Phoenix is becoming more and more aware of her surrounding and stronger and stronger. She recently discovered her toes. Because she is into sucking and biting on everything, she decided to try sucking on her toes. Funny thing is, since then, she only plays with them, rather than sucking on them.

Axel and Phoenix still adore each other. I love seeing them play together. I can just see how much Phoenix wants to already do everything that brother does. And I know, that Axel can't wait until she can actually "do something" with him.

Axel continues to have an amazing imagination and ability to put together full ideas. Here is a picture of a little house with a sun, sky, fence and birds. there is one round window a crib, a high chair and a bunk bed. This house is for kids only and the crib is for his future baby and the bunk bed is for him and Phoenix. I just love his imagination and stories!

On the 4th of July we took a visit to go see Touis because I had to work a full day of work on July 5th.

Axel and daddy played some pool while Phoenix and mommy watched.

We enjoyed some good good and playing with squirt guns,

while Touis enjoyed chewing on a bone. He looked great and hadn't changed a bit. He was begging for food just like he use to.  It was great to see him doing so well. It was also amazing to see that he hadn't forgotten us. He is such a sweet, loving dog.

The kids were absolutely exhausted on the way home. They both fell asleep as soon as we were on the road.

It is such a rare occurrence to have both kids sleeping at the same time. Keith and I always feel like we are on a date because we can talk to each other uninterrupted.

It has been hot, hot, hot in the 90's for weeks. We were able to enjoy our neighbors pool while we took care of their chickens because they were out of town for the long holiday weekend.

On Sunday night we celebrated daddy's birthday. I made him tiramisu and Axel made him an awesome monster truck pop up card. Monday, July 8th, was daddy's actual birthday, but because it was a work day and we were getting ready for our trip to the east coast we didn't have much time to celebrate. Stay tuned for more fun pictures of our trip to the east coast!

June

The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. I no longer remember everything that we did, but I will do my best to back track. Axel has two of his closest friends moving in the next 5 weeks. Because of this we had Mason and his family over for dinner. Kaia, his mom and my co-worker, and I made the most delicious steak tacos while the kids played on the slip and slide. We had a great time visiting with them and were glad to spend some quality time with them before their big move. This is Mason and Carter's last week at daycare with Axel and next week is Kaia's last week at work. They are moving up to Vancouver Washington with the hopes of buying a house and establishing themselves up there. They will be greatly missed as Axel and I are losing a close friend. 

 During my spare time, I have been busy trying to make yummy wheat, corn, rice, soy and nut free food. Here is the big winner for noodles. These are egg noodles made entirely of egg, potato and tapioca starch.

 They were easier than I thought and only took an hour with all of the resting time in between each step.

 The best thing about these noodles are that they were TASTY and Axel enjoyed them.

 I also make a tasty buckwheat crepe. Axel scarfed his up except for a few bites and said, "I liked it until the end. It started tasting bad." He was right that they do taste good for the most part, but the fiber, protein and heaviness of dark buckwheat gets a little overwhelming by the time you finish.

 The following Friday Axel, Phoenix and I ventured out to a new park. It was sooooo packed that Axel didn't want to play. He was afraid of all of the kids. Instead we hung out and had a picnic then headed home.

 Axel spent the entire week, a couple of weeks ago doing over 10 connect the dots pictures and then coloring them. Here is his first one and my favorite. I was extremely impressed by his creativeness with the rainbow fish, birds and the sun and sky he added to the picture.

 I remember taking a ton of pictures of Axel in his car seat and I realized that I really didn't have very many of Phoenix in her car seat. You can see how big she looks. She still seems awfully skinny and light to me, but I can tell she continues to grow in height.

 Like Axel, Phoenix loves to stand and play. I got brave here and let her stand independently to take the picture. She can easily do this except for the balance thing that she won't have for months to come.

Axel and Phoenix continue to adore each other. I thought this was a really cute picture of Axel hugging Phoenix and Phoenix hugging Axel back.

 On Father's Day Keith and I went for a short ride together and then we just hung out around the house. Axel made him a poster with his hand prints on it that said "Daddy's hands are wrapped around these fingers" and he painted a couple of big rocks for paper weights. Here are Axel and daddy hanging out at the park and riding bikes together. They both love their time together.

On Monday morning at 12:13am, after Father's Day, Phoenix rolled over from her back to her stomach for the first time. I heard this very unusual cry from her room. Normally she talks when she wakes up to let me know that she is hungry so I was taken aback by the cry. When I went to check on her I found her on her stomach. I rolled her onto her back and she continued to roll onto her stomach two more times throughout the night. She couldn't roll back onto her back because her right arm is still swaddled. I tried to have both arms unswaddled, but that just ended up in her being awake for an hour. Luckily, since then she has mastered rolling back onto her back with her right arm swaddled. On Wednesday night, the 19th, we headed for Sacramento in order to spend time with Grandma Susan and get ready for Auntie's baby shower. Grandma has this really cool mini air hockey arcade game. Axel had a blast playing with it throughout our three days there. 

 Because it was hot in Sacramento I was able to dress Phoenix in several of her dresses. Here she is rolling over to grab Mr. Monkey in her cute little dress.

 Grandma Susan and Phoenix playing.

 On Saturday, the day of Auntie's shower Axel ran into Phoenix's room when she woke from her morning nap. I heard Axel yelling "help, Help". I found him stuck upside down holding himself up. After helping him upright, not more than a minute later I hear the two of them giggling. I went to check on them and found that Axel decided to just hop in and join sister in the pack n play. I love seeing them have so much fun together.

 On Saturday afternoon over a dozen family members gathered to shower baby Braylin with love. Here is the happy mother to be.

 And the happy couple!

 Axel and Auntie being silly!

 My precious Phoenix with Auntie and Grandma.

 Phoenix talking to mommy!

During the baby shower, Uncle Ryan, his brother in law and nephew took Axel to Scandia. Grandpa Brian met them there. They had a ton of fun playing mini golf and games in the arcade. 

 After the baby shower, Ryan's mom, sister, brother in law and Grandma Susan, Auntie and I went out to dinner to celebrate Ryan's birthday. His birthday was on the 17th and because his sister and mother were there for the shower they decided to go to dinner. The kids and I joined because I wanted to wait until Phoenix's bedtime to head home. Lance and Axel had such a great time at Scandia together they wanted to sit next to each other at dinner. I was so proud of Axel. This is the first time he sat completely separate than me. He ate his dinner and hung out with Lance without a peep! I had Casey, Lance's dad, take a photo since I was all the way at the other end of a very long table.

 We arrived home very late. For the first time both Axel and Phoenix slept in. Phoenix until 7:30 and Axel until 8:30am. Keith and I were very thankful since we stayed up talking until almost 2 am. Keith got home just after 1 am after having a "man day" with his close college friends. It was kind of a bachelor party without the craziness. A bike ride, good food, ping pong, pool and beers....a perfect man day for anyone :)

While we were gone for the three days besides, Keith's man day, he was busy working hard. One of his engineers was forced to quite because of poor performance. He absorbed all his projects. Just when he was about to crack from all of the stress and work, he received a call from HR that informed him he finally received his promotion!!!! After 13 years at the company he is finally a section lead, something that he should have received years ago. We are so excited and proud of him!!!!

On Sunday morning, Annika came over while Keith and I went for a short ride. In the afternoon we headed over to Max's house to attend the Bartolo's going away party. Max and his family move August 9th and they are out of town for most of July. The kids had a great time playing together. They even had a chance to play in the rain! Yes, it rained in June in California....weird!

Another quick news flash is that it looks like Phoenix's first tooth is slowly breaking through. I felt tooth ridges yesterday on her bottom right tooth. I didn't feel it as much today so I am not sure if it is going to be one of those long processes or not, but we are excited for the big event : )

 I would love to say that things are slowing down, but with Keith's and my birthday, another BBQ this Sunday, a trip to Boston, and a weekend wedding in Cloverdale July is going to fly by more quickly than June. I will do my best to post before the end of the July, but no promises :) Happy Summer Times!

Crunch Time

The week got away from me and now it is Friday night and I am exhausted. We have had a great two weeks since I posted last. Phoenix is such a cutie. I washed all of the 6 month clothing and realized how many cute "dressy" outfits we had and decided we better starting wearing them regardless if we were going anywhere or not. Here she is in one of the many girly dresses she has. 

 It has been crunch time as I desperately tried to get everything done that I intended to do during my maternity leave. I had to pull in extra help, a.k.a Axel, during some major cooking/baking last week. Axel did a great job of helping me feed Phoenix for about 3 minutes until his arm got sore. I still had to stop the baking of his bread, cookies and dinner to feed her, but it was worth a try :)

 Phoenix loves Axel so much that she is content watching him play most of the time. Here is a funny picture of her completely entranced by him playing with Alfie and talking with her.

 Last Saturday, Keith and I were able to ride for the first time together. It had been over a year since we had this luxury. Phoenix and Axel were watched by Annika and Marlena for the two and a half hours we were gone. Elizabeth their mom, had to come over the last 40 minutes as Phoenix started to cry because she was hungry and Annika didn't want to put her down to make her bottle. It was very cute and I understand the difficulty of hearing a crying baby. Annika and Marlena are going to watch Axel and Phoenix again tomorrow as well. We will see if they need Elizabeth as back up again. We are very grateful to have such awesome neighbors and basically an entire family of babysitters :)

 It was a hot one the day Keith and I rode. Axel and Keith went over to Annika's house to jump in the pool. Here Axel is playing with Marlena. Phoenix and I came over later after she woke from her nap. we are pictured above, trying to stay as cool as possible.

 On Sunday morning, we had the pleasure to visit with the McFarrens. Unfortunately, I didn't get very many pictures, but here are the 4 kids and half of Kristi :). It was very nice seeing them and we are hoping to have more play dates during their future visits to San Jose.

 On Sunday afternoon/evening was Max's 5th birthday party. The Bartolos went all out and got the big bounce house with a slide. Axel needed help initially, but eventually was able to go in, bounce and go down the slide without being afraid. This is the first time he has warmed up enough to completely play independently without mommy or daddy near.

 Here are the three boys, Rishaan, Axel and Max the birthday boy.

 Phoenix continues to get better with her hands. She wants to stick anything and everything in her mouth likes most babies.

 Even objects that are too big, like this cylinder, she tries to suck on. It is terribly funny to watch her, although, I do feel bad as she gets frustrated when she is unsuccessful.

 I promised Axel I would learn how to make him rice, corn, and wheat free noodles. Here is my first attempt. These are soba noodles, or buckwheat noodles that are without the wheat that the Japanese traditionally add to the buckwheat when they make it. I added tapioca starch in place of the wheat. Lets just say they looked prettier than they tasted. they were a complete fail in tastiness, but I am determined to make tasty noddles. Up next are egg noodles. I am hoping they turn out better in the taste category.

 On Tuesday, Keith took the day off and Phoenix spent her first day at day care so that Keith and I could spend the entire day together. It was wonderful to be kid free for 9.5 hours. It felt like we were dating again. We went on a bike ride, ran errands, held hands, talked without interruptions. We had such a wonderful time that we vowed we need to spend at minimum one day per year like this :)

Phoenix did well at day care. She drank all her bottles and she did nap, although her naps were short. She was so tired the next day that her first nap in the morning was 3 hours long, rather than the usual 1 hour. I am hoping she traditions quickly to being comfortable at Angela's. I am still nervous about leaving her, but I know that she couldn't be in better hands.

Yesterday, I dressed Phoenix in the tie dye shirt that Grammy Carol bought her. Axel then changed his clothes in order to be like sister. They looked so cute, I couldn't help but take the opportunity to take pictures of them together.