Wesley - 8 months

Wesley was 8 months old yesterday. He crawls all over the house. He especially loves to go after the dog food and water. He has been crawling for a few weeks now but what he loves more than crawling is standing. Wesley works his way over to anything he can get a grip on and pull himself up. He has 6 teeth with 2 more on the way. Biting has become an issue!

He is my little thinker. He will stare at things for a long time before deciding to smile or scream. He is still up once a night but I am trying to break that habit. Wesley loves to nurse and I am trying to keep him nursing to a year so I can completely skip the bottle stage and go right on to a cup. His favorite past time when not standing is to pull my dad's chest hair.

Wesley has blue eyes but they are more gray than blue, gorgeous. When he smiles it will melt your heart. I am still trying to decide what color his hair will be, maybe a very light brown, but not quite blond like Jaxon. He loves to cuddle. Yesterday he started saying "blah blah." I think he weighs about 17 lbs now and we just moved up to size 3 diapers for containment purposes! Can you tell what present Daddy got after work yesterday?

This video was taken in Hawaii at the beach. He kept falling over due to the uneven ground. Please ignore my "mommy is taking a video" voice. For some reason it comes out whenever I turn the camera on!

MAUI

I just returned home from a 5 day trip to Maui. I took Wesley with me and left Daniel and Jaxon with my dad and Johnny. Johnny could not come with me due to work, so I cashed in my frequent flyer miles. Quite a few people in my family were there and we all stayed in a condo together. My (almost) sister Lee was married at the Olowalu Plantation in Lahaina on Saturday the 24th.

Wesley was amazing on the 5 hour flight, both ways. Once we arrived we swam in the pool, Wesley's 1st time, then went with "the girls" to the Mai Thai Lounge for a Welcome Party site check. Wesley was left with "the boys" (which included my brother-in-law Kevin, his friend Steve and Kevin's brother Jimmy) after some reluctance on my part. We were gone longer than expected. Jeanine needs to realize the more she asks Kevin to watch my kids the less likely they are to have children of their own. I called after a while to check on them to find out that Wesley was hysterical. The boys had tried putting him to bed, walking with him, rocking him, and finally strapping him in the car seat. The guys then bust out some beer to take the edge off. I was not too happy with that but Wesley was calm by the time I got back. (Don't worry he was not given any of the beer!) This was not the first time my children have lead others to drink! Rough start to a vacation for the poor boy.

The next morning we were off to the beach. Wesley loved looking at the water but he did not like it to touch him at all, especially not the waves on his feet. I was a little nervous to snorkel because I don't like my peripheral vision cut off. I want to be able to see what is around me in the water. Kevin was patient with me long enough for us to swim out to the coral reef where we saw two gigantic sea turtles. While I was looking at one the other swam right up to me. It was amazing and a little nerve wracking at the same time. If they can sneak up on me out there then other things can too!

That afternoon was a welcome party on the upper deck of the Mai Thai Lounge. It was beautiful. The deck was literally right over the ocean. Whales were spouting off in the distance. My Granny was there. She is always a riot. She loves to spend time with her great grand babies but she tires quickly. This time she tried feeding Wesley some honeydew melon and celery. I had to dig it out when he started to choke! I always have to be on my guard because for some reason she likes to feed them things behind my back.

I think I may have tramatized a little boy who was sitting on the couch when I went to nurse the baby. I am sure he had no clue what I was doing at first but I think he caught on quick because he literally ran away from me! After the Welcome Party we went to a Hawaiian plate resturant. Yummy. That night we went to the Westin Resort to hang out with friends. It was nice that my mom was not interested in going and I was able to leave the baby to sleep.

Friday was spent at the Westin Resourt where most of the wedding guests were staying.

They had five pools with waterfalls and whirlpools inside tunnels connecting the pools. It was so cool and I felt a tiny tinge of regret that my two other boys were not there; they would have loved it!

Lee & Dan rented two cabanas for us to use. Relaxing by the pool in Hawaii looking out at the ocean really is an amazing experience. Wesley slept on one of the lounge chairs under the cabana. Can you tell?

After the pools we had a girl's night while the boys had a Bachelor party for the groom.

The day of the wedding I took Wesley swimming in the morning then we went to the Westin again. There he swam with my mom (who discovered he hates waterfalls) while I tricked the groom into giving me his room key. I am not sure why Dan believed that I wanted to put my baby down for a nap in the bride and groom's room on their wedding day, but he fell for it! Not to mention I didn't have Wesley with me when I got the key from him. He didn't even notice the roses sticking out of my bag. A friend and I cleaned their room then covered the bed in Dove chocolate. We threw rose petals all over the bed and floor. It was so beautiful. I was giddy just thinking about them walking in after the wedding.

The wedding was one of the most amazing experiences. First of all it was overlooking the ocean in Hawaii. Second the man who married them was funny and witty, the food and cake were brilliant, and to top it off a pod of whales (with babies) were breaching and spouting in the background. Lee even hired a babysitter to stay inside with the children. I was able to enjoy the wedding and go feed him or put him to bed and know he was being well taken care of.

The only sad part was when they played our song Johnny was not there to dance with me. Come on girls you know what I mean. I wanted to dance and kiss by the ocean in Hawaii.

Non Mormon weddings are very different than a traditional Mormon reception at the Cultural Hall. This was a wonderful experience for everyone and I could not be more happy for Lee and Dan.

The day we left I went snorkeling one more time and saw another sea turtle. I would love to return with my family so they could share the beauty of Hawaii with me. Aloha!

Preschool or Kindergarten

I have been praying and pondering on starting Daniel in Kindergarten this coming school year. He makes the CA cut off by one week, but misses the AZ cutoff. I have been leery about him starting at 4 years old and graduating at 17. Plus with our always changing life while Johnny is in the apprenticeship if I enroll him it will just be one more change we have to make every time we move.

Conference was full of talks about the importance of teaching our children. I have been really thinking on this responsibility and how I can do better in this area. The other night I read D&C 68 about parent's responsibility to teach their children. My heart has really been torn about what to do. All of the preschools I have looked into are not going to work for us and home school kindergarten did not meet our needs at this time either.

The Lord answered my prayer on Thursday morning at the Children's Museum when I met another Christian mom with three little boys just like me. She told me about ABCJesusLovesMe. http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com/ It is a Bible centered preschool curriculum for 3 and 4 year olds. I reviewed the site and really like the program. We will be starting this with Daniel and Jaxon for the coming school year, making the necessary adjustments for our LDS faith. I invite anyone who would like to go through this program with us to check it out.

We are still here...

I know it has been a while but honestly I just have not had a chance to sit down and post. My mom told me people were asking her if I was alright because I had not posted in so long. This is what happens with 3 demanding children and one broken computer.

We went to my sister's house in LA for Easter weekend. We watched conference and I was able to attend my friend Lee's Bachelorette Party at S Factor http://www.sfactor.com/ (yes I was learning how to pole dance) while Johnny attended Priesthood session.

Easter was great. We had fun at the Venice Beach Recreation Center egg hunt.

The egg hunt overall was poorly organized but the boys were thrilled to turn in their empty plastic eggs from the hunt for a little box full of candy. Daniel promptly handed it over to me and let me know that he was going to "earn all of the candy" by being a good boy. It was so cute.

The only disappointing parts were the parents of the other children and the Bitter Balloon Clown. Parents were literally picking up their children and running over other kids so they could grab empty plastic eggs. What a poor examples! One guy was cussing at the volunteers because his son didn't find the golden grand prize egg. Pathetic. His son was not even old enough to know what the grand prize was! The balloon clown we affectionately named the Bitter Balloon Clown after my cousin's high school garage band. Daniel asked the Bitter Balloon Clown for a Giraffe. She loudly informed him that she was a "professional physic" and was missing out on a lot of money to make these balloons. Next she informed him that unless his Mommy put some dollars in her little pail he was only going to get a dog balloon. Wow! Daniel looked at me completely confused and we moved onto the face painting table. Next we ate at Veggie Grill, a vegan restaurant in LA. AMAZING! I would totally be a vegan if I could eat there every meal! Not that they would invite us back after Daniel wrote on the wall and both boys built a fort with the chairs, but hey I can dream!

I had forgot how perfect CA weather was this time of year. Most days we eat lunch and read books on a blanket in the front yard. Wesley loves the grass. He is growing so fast, has 3 going on 6 teeth, he sits and crawls/rolls all over. We also found the local children's museum to be a diamond in the rough.

Last week Jaxon had his endoscopy at Rady Children's Hospital.

Look at his absolutely perfect esophagus & stomach. Beautiful. I am sure these picture don't look like a miracle to most people, but to us they do. Jaxon is doing very well and thanks to many answered prayers and food exclusion his results were completely normal.

Tomorrow I meet with a team of specialists including a GI, Allergist, and Nutritionist. I am hoping for an action plan that includes trialing some of the major foods we have been avoiding such as wheat, eggs, rice, corn, dairy, and nuts. Not all at once of course, but more variety for Jaxon would be heavenly.

Diana's Baby Update

I am an Aunt. Diana had baby June about 1am our time Saturday March 6th. The baby was 3.25kg (I think about 8 lbs 2 oz). She has a full head of dark hair. Diana said she has her nose and mouth but Sunil's eyes. Her official name is Junu Paige Percival Gurun. Diana did have a c-section but everything turned out well. Diana is a very proud momma.

Location #3 - Mira Loma, CA

Johnny was called out today. Yeah. He was called at 6:30am and told to be in Pomona, CA by noon. Not much notice but that is the way it goes. He will actually be working for Henkels & McCoy out of Mira Loma, CA on a Distribution project. Johnny is SUPER excited!

It is funny how things work out. I of course had a big freak out moment yesterday when Johnny called the apprenticeship office to see where he was on the active out of work list. He was told #11. Since he started at #23 in December I was, well, freaking out saying things such as "At this rate you will be out of work until July." Johnny my constant rock was faithful as always and said "it is going to happen soon." He has done this multiple times before. He proves time and time again to be like Lot, and that leaves me as, you guessed it; Lot's wife. I tend to not look forward with the faith I should trusting that the Lord has never let us down even for a second. I get scared and frustrated. I don't always allow myself to trust in the Lord's plan for my life. This exact same thing happened when we were trying to get pregnant with Daniel. I was going to so many doctors, seeing the result of test after test only to be told I could not have children. I was a crying ball of goo and Johnny didn't seem very concerned. That is how I took it anyway. It was not lack of concern on his part, it was faith in the Lord's plan for our life together. He knew we would have kids (the 3 in 3 1/2 years came as quite a surprise to both of us).

So now we move forward together with more faith. We are going to put the trailer in storage and set up residence here at my parent's house while Johnny is working in Mira Loma. It is about a 45 minute commute from Hemet. Not too bad. The boys are excited to stay and I am excited to feel like I am no longer waiting for the sky to fall in on us. Progress! That is what I have been looking for. Some feeling of moving in the right direction. I am looking forward to sleeping a lot better at night.

How am I going to survive another 3 years of living like this? Sheesh!

Jaxon Update

Today I took Jaxon to see a doctor at Rady Children's Hospital. Too bad I had to take all 3 boys with me because it really made the appointment a nightmare. Dr. Garcia was great and talked to me about an action plan for Jaxon. His last scope to check his eosinophil count was in June 09. We are going to scope him again to see where we are. Depending on the results we will add some of the "big ones" (egg, dairy, wheat, nuts, corn, etc.). I am not sure on the order yet but the plan is to add one every 3 months then scope again. It feels good to have a plan but at the same time I like that Jaxon has been doing really well food wise for so long (mostly due to my lack of trying new foods). I am scared of the vomiting, crying, tummy aches, sleepless nights, etc. if he reacts to something. As he gets older he really needs more variety. I am hoping this will give us more variety and more answers.

Sorry, no pictures. I almost snapped a pic at the appointment of Daniel checking Jaxon's tummy with Jaxon's feet in the stirrups, but the nurse came in the room. Too bad, it was hilarious.