An apple a day...

I decided to take Sterling to the doctor yesterday, because he seemed inconsolable. If I was holding him, and Andy walked by, he would reach out for Andy, to then turn right back and reach out for me 30 seconds later, just trying to make himself feel better. He had been grabbing at his ears a little - but I wasn't certain that meant anything, considering he is literally going to get his two bottom teeth any second now. Luckily, we were able to get in to see the Doc. right away, and sure enough, Sterling had an ear infection... in both ears. Poor little guy. He was so miserable. I felt terrible knowing that he was in so much pain, and that he was trying so hard to figure out what he could do to stop it from hurting. Thank goodness for numbing ear drops!!! This is the first time I have had to give medicine to one of my kids (besides teething tablets, occasional tylenol, and pedialyte). I think I lucked out pretty well with Stella being 2 and still no ear infections. We do pretty well keeping the Doctors away... lets hope this is it for the sick season eh? After taking his medicine faithfully, he is now as good as gold. You would never know he was "sick" just by looking at him. Stella was such a great big sister while we were at the Doctors. Normally, she freaks out, and doesn't want anyone else to touch him but me, however, I think she was a little nervous with how sad Sterling seemed to be, and she was just hoping someone could "fix" the problem. While we waited for the Doctor to come in, Stella sang him "I am a child of God" over and over again. She is going to be a fantastic mother someday.

*8*

Dear little silver,

Some things about you at 8 months old.

You are starting to show super excitement when Daddy comes home... ( I thought I had my mamma's boy, maybe not)

You get the biggest kick out of your big sis. All she has to do is say peek - a - boo, and you giggle your little heart out.

You wake up at least once a night (usually 2-3 times)... we are working on the soothing yourself, you get there, but it takes about an hour every time you wake. (I didn't think anyone could be harder to get to sleep through the night than Stella, I guess you just want to prove me wrong.)

When it finally is time to feed you in the morning, you giggle and giggle with pure excitement from the time I pick you up until you get to eat...

You are still as cuddly as can be - LOVE IT!!

You love your food, but when I put you in the bumbo to feed you - you flail yourself around until the first bite is in your mouth, then you remember.. ah yes, I like this.

You are a techno geek. You love all electronics, and can stare at the tv or computer screen for hours. (well, minutes, but in baby time..)

You don't like shoes or anything on your feet - but you will learn;).

Body contact is your best friend. You love to be as close to someone as you can get.

You still love to head butt your mom and your dad. We like it too.

You hate having your diaper changed or clothes put on you. Consequently, mom hates this too. You wiggle all around, and cleaning you up ends up meaning cleaning a lot of things up.

Still no teeth, but they are so close bud!

You ate your first whole mum mum tonight!!!

We kinda think you look like a cute little Dopey.

You still sleep in mommy and daddy's room, if you could just sleep through the night you could move into your crib - Stella wants so bad for you to sleep in with her.

Most of your clothes are 12 months.

You love to stick your tongue out in the corner of your mouth - you are so funny with your mouth.

You refuse to crawl. You prefer to roll around and around. Your belly is not where you want to be.

You still love to rock front to back when we say yeah yeah yeah - little dancer.

You have started copying me when I sign to you- soon you will be able to tell me a little about what you want.

You pout with your whole body, hanging your head and arms all the way down.

You are such a little sweet heart. I can't believe you are already 8 months!! We love you "big boy".

*camera just died... pictures will have to come later

Sick, over-tired, and teething

Poor little boy.

He still manages to smile for us every once in a while though.

Mud Fun

We are back online folks! Woo Hoo!

Team "One Bad Apple" in line to start!!!

Anyway, a little over a week ago Andy and I participated in the USMC Mud Run. Andy had done it last year, but I was pregnant, so he got me all psyched to do it this year. As far as training was concerned... I started running (jogging) on the treadmill at the gym about a month and a half ago. Andy told me to up the incline every once in a while because there were lots of hills you had to run up in the race. I did that... once. It was hard, so I never did it again, thinking it would be better to try to slowly increase my speed, rather then worry about a hill every now and then. Right about the time I hit the first "hill" in the mud run I regretted that decision. As we started the race out, I started to think, "ok... this is absolutely not fun. What are people so obsessed with this whole mud run thing for?" I kept saying things along the lines of, I do not want to do this, and I quit. Andy tried to reassure me by telling me that everything that was going through my head, had gone through his head about this time during the race last year. I doubt everything I was thinking had gone through his head. I doubt he was worried about how his behind appeared to the people below him climbing up the hills (embarrassing), but all the stuff about how I was not going to be able to keep that quick a pace for the entire 4 and a half miles, and how my legs were already pumped from the hills, that I didn't know how many more I could take, all that stuff... maybe. So I kept going. And then it happened. We hit a mud hole. Thank goodness for the mud holes. The water was cool and, I wouldn't necessarily say refreshing, but they were a nice break from all the hills. (Can you tell that what I didn't like about the mud run were all the hills) I enjoyed basically every obstacle, but the hills. The hills were just double stress... oh crud, can I make it up that hill without having to stop - because if I have to stop - I will totally slip (mud lends you no traction!) and then suddenly you hit the top and it's like... oh dang - that is steep, and I'm wanting to slide down on my bum, but there are rocks, and so I run down, hoping I can stop myself when I get to the bottom, if I get to the bottom without crashing. I think the obstacle I enjoyed the most was the jump - I don't know 12 feet or so, into 14 feet of mud. It was fun, I got a little freaked in the water because it was deep and dark so you couldn't see anything below the surface and I had to roll onto my back - look up, and just swim towards the other end (where there was of course a giant hill you had to climb up to get out... but there was a rope for help, and I made it up and felt very proud). The hardest obstacle is a 10 foot wall. You have to get all 4 members of your team over it, and it can prove to be challenging... especially when you are the last person at the bottom, no one to stand on to get yourself over. It's a little high to just jump over, but we all made it. By the time it was over, I thought... had I known this was really the end, I would have pushed myself a little harder. Maybe next year - now that I know what to expect. I am glad I was on a team with Andy. Made me feel safer. Made him take it easy - but it's all good. We ended up finishing in less time then I thought we would - So I feel good about it all. Here is a short video of all the excitement.

More Carpinteria pics to come...

DISNEYLAND

While in Cali - we were able to go to Disneyland. This was really exciting for me - not for Andy so much, but I have fond fond memories of Disneyland as a child. We had passes while I was growing up, so we would go quite a bit, and also would perform there with a group I was in. I really enjoyed taking Stella there, and seeing her reaction to all of the madness.



Grandma and Sterling on the tram.




Stella woke up just in time to get inside. (1:30 pm.)

Showing off.

Cousin Sam

Stella and cousin Grace showing off their yummy suckers.

Its a small world ... a little intimidating for a small girl - but she liked it.

The parade involved picking kids from the sideline to dance in the street. Stella was brought out, and I went with her the first time, but the second time they tried to get her to go... she was too scared. She wasn't really sure what to make of all the larger than life characters. Maybe in a few years... and after a few disney movies... the only characters she knows are pooh ones. Oh well, we had a blast.

Carpinteria!!!!

I am currently in Cali about to make my way up to carpinteria Beach... the worlds safest beach. Sounds perfect for me huh? Will post more soon!

Father Daughter Fishing

Andy took Stella fishing off the dock of one of his friends from work. Stella had a blast of course. Then she came home and helped her dad cook up their catch. She tool the first bite, smiled a huge smile, and said yummy... so we let her eat the whole thing. She was happy, and her Dad was proud!

All domestic and stuff...

I am turning into a real life house-wife/homemaker. I have now canned my own peaches, and loved it. I told Andy that canning was something I could see myself getting obbsessed with. We also went and picked our own blueberries, and suprise suprise, I had the tme of my life. Andy and Stella did also. (Stella's favorite food is Blueberries, so she ate and ate and ate the whole time we were there.) We picked, (if I can remember right) 8 pounds. They were only a dollar a pound. How rad is that.

The life of the party

We had a birthday party for Stella the week after her birthday. At first, I wasn't going to have one, because I figured she was maybe to young to have it be worth it, but then she started talking about her "friends" and how much fun she had with them every sunday after coming home from nursery, so I decided another excuse to have all of her nursery friends around wouldn't be a bad idea. Plus, my mom and sister were going to be in town, so it would be fun for them to be able to celebrate with her too. My friend Tammy was so sweet to let us have it at pine island, a private island for members only - she's a member - and Stella loves to swim. Plus I thought it would be fun because whole families could come and play, and having all those two year olds in my tiny apartment didn't seem to fun. People were out swimming, including Andy and Stella, when two of the guys - Brandon and Mike - decided to swim to the buoy. (Brandon is Karens oldest son, and mike is her brother who was visiting from Ohio) Once at the buoy, Mike told Brandon he didn't know if he could make it back. Brandon asked if he was serious, and Mike said - lets just go. About three strokes from the buoy, Mike asked Brandon to get Andy as he started going under. Brandon tried his best to keep Mike above water, while he yelled out to Andy. Andy first thought they were joking ( I think this probably happens way to much because people are always messing with their friends about stuff like this), but then saw Mikes blue/grey coloring, and handed Stella to one of the moms out there, and hurried over to help out. Some stranger also came over, and after failing to get Mike onto a float, they drug him up onto the sand. This is where I realized what was going on. From up by the picnic tables, I could tell it was Mike. I immediately start crying, yelling someone call 911 a couple of times, and pacing all over. I told Karen it was her brother, and she went down to see if she could help. Luckily, there were two first response guys there at the island with their families that day. As soon as he was pulled high enough on shore, they started CPR. Mikes body was in defense mode, and he had clenched his jaw, and his eyes were popping out of his head. He was blue grey from his waist up, and his belly was full of air, and Andy says - as hard as a rock. The doctors say he was flatlined for between 10-15 minutes. Finally they got him breathing on his own. Up by the picnic tables, I was freaking out - so worried. Poor little jeramia was up there with us praying for his uncle. Watching the CPR made me think - maybe this is it... maybe he wont make it. The thought made me feel so sick. I couldn't believe that it was actually happening. One moment we were all playing - celebrating a two year olds birthday, and the next, we were all praying and hoping for a miracle. It felt like forever before the ambulance finally arrived, but once they got there I felt so thankful. Mike says he doesn't remember anything from the time he told Brandon to get Andy - to when he woke up in the ambulance. Crazy. Turns out - our prayers for a miracle were answered the best way possible, and he was released from the hospital the next day with nothing wrong, minus some bruises on his chest from the compressions, and bloodshot eyes from them being popped out his head. I am so glad it all turned out ok. I would have felt so horrible had that not been the case. Once he was taken off in the ambulance, we still "celebrated" by singing and openeing presents, But I felt so weird. I was not in the mood to sing and clap - but we had to for all of the kids sake - to help them get the crazyness off of their minds. Stella seemed to be fine after the whole thing - but then a couple of days later while we were driving in the car she started to say things like - Scared, get him, swimming, hurry hurry, help him, get him... over and over and over again with this real concerned look on her face. She has forgotten by now, thank goodness, and we are so gratefull that everything worked out so well. The phrase - the life of the party will always have a different meaning for me now, and I will never forget Stella's second birthday party.