Fun, Busy Times

We have had so much fun since I last posted. We have been busy from sun up until sun down. These pictures are in reverse order so I will start with the past few days and work backwards. We were blessed with a visit from Grandma Susan! She came in on Wednesday night and left with us on Saturday for Braylin's birthday party. 

 On Thursday Axel and I learned how to sew!!!! Here is my first creation, a pillow case dress. Funny Axel had to try it on. The ribbon says Jesus Loves me and has rainbows on it. It is really cute.

 Grandma suggested I practice on the green pillow case before making the pretty princess dress with the pink pillow case. The only bummer was that the material was much harder to work with so instead of doing the dress completely by myself, Grandma had to swoop in and finish it for me since dinner time was approaching.

 Thursday night we went to the pool to watch Axel's last swim lesson. He worked on breast stroke while daddy and Phoenix had fun swimming too.

 Grandma and Rubix watched from the side lines as I took pictures and videos to help document what Axel should practice over the winter.

Friday was all about converting Axel's desk into a chess board. This was a long project, but we are very grateful for Grandma's hard work! We all hope it gets used!!!

 Friday night Keith and I went out to eat for our Anniversary since our 8 year anniversary is today, Monday, 8-8-16! We went to a new restaurant in downtown Saratoga, the Mint Leaf. It was an Asian infusion restaurant that doesn't sell liquor. On their website in really big letter is says BYOB or wine....no corking fees.

So we brought a couple of beers and enjoyed a lovely dinner. Here is a picture of what I thought was Keith capturing our meal, but he also snuck me in the picture. I was laughing with our very sweet server who was bringing Keith fresh hot chili peppers. Afterwords we headed home to make sure all of the kids made it to bed and to watch part of the opening ceremonies. Funny that 8 years previous on our wedding night, was also the night of opening ceremonies to the Beijing Olympics. 

 Before continuing onto Saturday and our fun filled time at Auntie's house for Braylin's 3rd birthday party I want to pause to brag about my cute little 4.5 month old. He continues to grow and thrive! He is reaching tons of milestones. He is rolling all over the place which has provided him with frustration and excitement. Luckily, he is getting over the frustration and is loving the ability to move more. He went from sleeping on his side for over a week to now sleeping on his stomach for the past few days. He can roll both directions now and works himself around the entire crib. His hand-eye coordination has really improved and he is able to crab and manipulate all kinds of objects. You can see in the picture that he is working on crabbing the bird and sometimes he can even push bird to the other side.
We all joke that he is starting to walk in the exersaucer because he can move it around by leaning forward. He is such a big guy and so tall he does this with ease. Phoenix walked in it as well, but Axel really didn't walk very much in it.
Rubix has now developed a pretty good schedule. He wakes around 7 am and takes a nap at around 9 am for about an hour, at 12 for about 2 hours and at 4 for about an hour. He goes to bed between 7 and 8 pm.
He eats 7 times a day for a total of 29 oz. He will drink a 5 oz bottle during the middle of the night and then 4 oz bottles throughout the day. He can go over 8 hours without eating during the night and the day he can eat as close as an hour apart or as far apart as 5 hours. It seems to me that when we are out and about his hunger doesn't register because he is taking in the surroundings. Luckily, his body allows him to catch up by taking feedings close together if for some reason a long period has gone by without a bottle. I hope it eating becomes more routine, but I am more than happy that his sleep is on a schedule. Here is a picture of the first time I saw him sleeping on his side. Soooo cute!

 On Saturday we headed to Auntie's house. Grandpa Brian met us there after picking up GG. Ryan's sister Shannon also came up with her kiddos. Grandpa Brian is great with Rubix and the grand kids. Here he is with Rubix.

 Auntie got as much of a baby fix as she could. She loves Rubix so much!

GG also got to spend some time with Rubix. He was a bit heavy for her, but she was able to hold him while sitting down. I think she looks great for her young 84 year old self!

 After the grandparents left the rest of us headed to the park.

Uncle Ryan gave me much needed relief by holding Rubix for me. Like I said, Rubix is a big guy. the almost 16 lbs puts my biceps and back into an over worked state after about 30 minutes of holding him :)

Axel and Lance had fun making tunnels in the sand. While the girls pretended to cook and make food.  We all had a great time and can't wait to get together with the cousins again soon!

 Braylin gave us some of her hand me down 3T clothes that were too small for her. Phoenix loves getting clothes no matter if they are new or old. The biggest hit were the pajamas and slippers. She wore one pair to bed and another the next day, despite me reminding her that they were not day time clothes.

 Yesterday we went to a fun pool party at Westgate Cabana club. Rubix did great and had a blast!

Axel and Phoenix also enjoyed themselves. It was a long party, but great fun for the entire family. Axel had over half of his 1st grade classmates there.

 Now if I back track to the previous weekend we had a fun filled night at Axel R's house on Saturday night. They put in "fake" grass. Doesn't it look beautiful? Their backyard is so fun! They have a tent suspended in the air and a zip line. They have a climbing wall, tight rope, soccer goals and more! Here is Rubix checking out the grass.

 The kids are enjoying the slip and slide with the extra cushion the artificial grass offers.

 As you can see Rubix loves watching the other kiddos play. I am not sure who gets more tired, him watching the kids or the kids playing!

 Also last weekend I had Axel make breakfast for us! I quickly threw the ingredients together and Axel patiently made 20 waffles while I was feeding and getting Rubix ready for the day. I was so proud of him. He is starting to mature more and more. Keith and I are looking forward to when he matures enough to no longer be bothered by Phoenix. He still gets so annoyed by her being a little sister. Since I was the annoying little sister I understand that she just wants attention, but he doesn't quite get it yet. They continue to either get along wonderfully, or be at each other's throats! With school starting in a couple of weeks there will be much less chances for them to fight which I am looking forward to.

 We are headed to Washington this week to see my friend Kaia and her family again. It should be a fun filled long weekend. I leave you with a cute picture of Axel and his big buddy and swim instructor Hanno. Hanno and the Westgate Gators really made our summer. He had his end of year party on Sunday the 31st. He got swimmer of the week and other awards for improving his times and having team spirit.  We are excited to see what the futures holds for our little Axel!

July 2016

The past two weeks have been action packed and full of great memories. Axel had vacation bible study camp. Here are his two group leaders. The Junior high and High schoolers lead the groups to the activities that are run by all of the adult volunteers and church leaders. Axel loved it again this year and I praise the Lord for that!

Last week Axel was initiated into the Hype Squad with the older swimmers. Here is Hanno, the swimmer who has been giving him private swim lessons writing #Hype Squad on his back.

He got to be apart of a video they made for awards night tomorrow night. Axel had an off week last week, but today he is at champs in Morgan Hill and has had PR's in all of his events. We are so proud of him. We are looking forward to the festivities tomorrow night as well.

Rubix has continued to change so much. He is now able to put him self to sleep for naps and at night. I transitioned him into the Zipadeezip from the swaddle on Wednesday night and he loves it. I also got rid of the binkie on Thursday and he has been doing great with all of the changes. His naps can be as long as 2 or 3 hours (rarely, but it can happen!) or as short as 50 minutes. When he takes long naps he only has 2 naps for the day. When he takes short naps he usually takes 3 naps per day. He is also transitioning to 5 oz bottles. He has half 5 oz bottle and half 4 oz bottles throughout the day. He is almost completely down to 1 night waking a night, but did wake 2 times once this past week. He is now rolling over onto his left side to sleep and has rolled from his back to his front once and is getting better at rolling from his front to his back. He is also starting to scoot on his stomach. He is tucking his knees under him and then pushing forward. He doesn't quite yet know what to do with her arms, but he is figuring it out. He can also push all the way up onto his hands when lying on his stomach. I am so impressed with how normal of a baby he is now that he is no longer in pain. I am so excited for him and us as a family because we are operating like a normal family now. Yesterday I was able to take the three kiddos to Jack Fisher Park, Party City and Trader Joe's. It was so nice to be mobile with my three precious kiddos!

Last Tuesday I took the three kids to Axel's swim lessons. We have been in a heat wave with 95 degree weather for the past 9 days. Rubix was worn out from the heat and watching all of the kids in the pool. Luckily, daddy met us at the pool so that Rubix and I could head home, while daddy stayed with Axel and Phoenix at the pool.

Phoenix can almost swim by herself. She is still building up confidence. Daddy purchased kick boards for the kids, a floatie for Rubix and I and a swim cap for Phoenix. Here is are up and coming swimmer sporting her new gear.

Yesterday we ran into Macey and her mom at the Library. We found out that Macey was going to get dropped off at Angela's so that the rest of the family could head to a soccer game. I offered for Macey to come over for the afternoon instead. So Macey was over from 2:30 until almost 8pm.

The girls had dinner, Popsicles, played in the park, read books and watched a Dora movie.

It was an action packed fun filled day!

Here is a picture of Axel pushing Phoenix on the swings yesterday at the park. Axel had a blast riding his scooter around the park and the kids played extremely well together building in the sand while Rubix and I played in the shade on a blanket.

We are looking forward to Grandma Susan arriving this Wednesday night. We have lots of art projects planned for Thursday and Friday and then we have Braylin's Birthday Party on Saturday and another pool party on Sunday. Keith and I will get to have two dates too. We will be celebrating our Anniversary a few days early. One will be dinner and the other will be a bike ride and coffee. We can't wait!

Visitors and Rubix turns 4 months!

Axel took another few days of chess camp last week. Here he is with Chess Master D.

Axel earned chess pieces as a prize for memorizing poems about chess that chess master D wrote. Axel is still a snake, but has decided he wants to become a Lizard or even Gator next year because his friend Kedar is working towards becoming a Monster. which is just under a chess master.

On Tuesday Grandma Sonia and Grandpa Bruce arrived. We were able to spend the afternoon together and enjoy Taco Tuesday at Casa de Szolusha for dinner. On Thursday, after they spent Wednesday in Sacramento we enjoyed the day watching Axel and Phoenix have swim lessons and then by going to the Tech Museum. Phoenix loved the dance floor that responded to touch and movement by changing shapes and colors. 

Axel and Grandpa loved the space exploration section of the museum.

 You can see how excited Grandpa was to be in this small capsule. The kids were not nearly as excited as Grandpa was. Grandma Sonia says that Grandpa would go to Mars if he was given the opportunity.....

 The Tech Museum had great exhibits that the kids and adults were able to participate in. The museum wasn't nearly as big as I thought, but definitely a good couple of hours of fun.

I think we will try to go back again next year!

On Friday morning we headed to Happy Hollow. We haven't been there for a long time. I can't remember if the last time was before Phoenix was born or when she was an infant, but it has been atleast 3 years. They added some fun new play equipment. Here is a tight rope that Axel really enjoyed for the first time.

The Merry Go Round is always a kid favorite. Here is my conservative Axel with Grandma. I was proud of him for going on since he isn't usually one for going in circles. Luckily, Grandpa went with Phoenix. All of the pictures of them were blurry, but Phoenix picked out a princess horse she said and enjoyed riding it.

 The kids played a long time in the big jungle gym area and then rode a couple of the rides. Here is Phoenix on the car ride. After a fun filled morning we spent the afternoon at home.

Besides, it was Rubix's 4 month old day so I needed to get pictures. Here is the not so little guy.

 He loves to stand, just like Axel use to love to stand.

I tried to get him sitting, but as you can see he was falling over. He appears to be in the process of dropping one of his feedings at night. He has gone two nights with only waking once. He is also falling more into a schedule with 3 naps a day for most days and an occassional 4th nap of the day. He is starting to put himself to sleep in the middle of the night. He talks for about 5 to 10 minutes after he eats and then falls asleep. This is the only time he can do this, otherwise he still needs to be walked for a minute or two or needs the binkie.  He is also going to sleep much more easily at night. the first night that he did this was Saturday night when everyone was over. I was able to put him to sleep and join everyone in the park across the street. It was such a treat for me to not have to spend hours getting him to sleep. His wake cycles are usually 1.5 to 2 hours now. He is getting much stronger and can almost sit in his high chair unsupported. 

He is loving the exersaucer. You can see here he is leaning forward, but today, Wednesday, over a week later he stands bearing weight and moves himself up and down and back and forth. Axel thinks he looks like a bobble head because his movements are still a bit jerky, but it is amazing at how quickly he is gaining strength and coordination. 

Here is a random picture I took on Friday that I thought was too cute to not include. Oh, how I love my boys!

On Saturday Axel had another swim meet. Daddy worked the entire 6 hours as head timer and announcer. Axel dropped about 5 seconds on his back stroke and free style. Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed watching him swim, just as much as I did.

 Saturday after the swim meet we had Grandma and Grandpa and the Jolleys over for dinner.

After dinner everyone enjoyed popsicles and playing in the park. The kids came in for bath time and books.

 We then had to say our goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa as well as the Jolleys. We were glad that we were able to have such a great evening before Grandma and Grandpa had to fly back to the Midwest.

Grandma Susan made Louis a collar. He finally tried it on Friday night. What a handsome fellow he is!

Rubix had his 4 month check up on Monday. He weighs a whopping 15 pounds 7 ounces, which puts him at the 47th percentile. He is 26.5 inches and has a head circumference of 17 inches, which are both the 89th percentile.

I got down the music and activity table this past Monday. All of the kids have been enjoying it!

 Axel continues to take swim lessons. Yesterday he started breast stroke. He is going to race it for the first time this weekend. Here is a cute picture of Phoenix as we watched Axel's swim lessons.

I started back to work yesterday. I prepared myself for the worse because the transition has never been easy. Kaiser did not let me down. To make a long story short I did not have access to any of our systems which makes seeing patients quite tricky. Luckily, I got access today 15 minutes before I had to leave and was able to cut and paste all of my charts from my email into the charting system.

Rubix did great because he is at home with Annika and the kids. Axel is enjoying Bible study camp this week. The theme this year is Walk this Way. He learned today that it is not about what we do, but about how God uses us for his works and purpose. Amen to that!