Giveaway!

There is this fabulous blog that my girlfriend Chiemi follows (and now consequently so do I). The blog owner just found out she's having a boy, and to celebrate, she's offering a giveaway.

For details, go here: http://forevrandaday.blogspot.com.

New Stuff!

Sooo, the bathfoamy that Jonathan's been using for around a month has stopped being very effective at bath time. He rolls and wiggles like crazy and ends up mostly off of it- not very safe.

Thursday, a few hours before Jonathan's bath, we went to Walmart to get a few things, (the main thing of which we went for, was out of stock- LAME). We picked up a purple hippo step stool for me to sit on to lean over the edge of the tub, a froggy faucet cover (because he's started to kick it and I don't want him getting hurt), and Disney Cars slip guard bathmat for Jonathan to sit on.

He has lots of fun being able to sit up for the first time in the bath, but he's much more grabby and I had to fight to keep my hands on his rinsing cup. Obviously, I gave up and let him have it.

Temple Trip!!!!!

Yesterday, Lars and I made a trip to the temple. It was Jonathan's first trip. (He was asleep in the car when we stopped by for a photo op at New Port when my brother and his family were here last month, but I don't think it counts.)

Jonathan loved being outside in the cool fresh air with the

hynms playing on the grounds.

It's impossible to get Jonathan to look at the camera at

the same time as an adult when he's in new surroundings.
A wide shot of us in front of the LA temple.

Lars and I had planned to do initiatories one at a time, taking turns watching Jonathan having me going first. After I came out Jonathan was ready to go home, so we packed up and ended up needing to stop at a Jack in the Box before we got on the freeway so he could nurse.

I had SUCH and amazing time! It was the first time I've been able to go since I was seven months pregnant when we did sealings with some very close friends. I wish I could've done a session, but really, the fact that I got to spend any time in the temple at all was incredibly special. Bless my sweet husband for giving me that time.

On our walk back to the car we met this adorable young woman named Amanda who'd just moved to Santa Monica from Utah to be a nanny for a year. We chatted for a bit then directed her to the baptistery. I hope someday to run into her again.

When we were talking on our way home, I insisted that Larry get to go to the temple today, since he didn't get go yesterday. I think since he isn't home after a couple hours, he decided to do a session instead of initiatories. I'm glad he's gotten a chance to go, too. I'm not sure when he'll be home, but at least the baby's napping. =)

This Week in Pictures

I've been meaning to upload and blog every night, but Lars and I've been working very hard to make and keep a normal night-time schedule. So to get the card empty and finish what I started, here's our week thus far.

Last Thursday, I was trying to make more room in the fridge so I emptied out the egg cartons and put the eggs in the door shelf. I gave Jonathan one of the cartons and he loved it!
On Friday morning while I was getting ready for the day, I took this shot. I've been meaning to take sleeping shots of Lars every month to compare and contrast Jonathan's growth, but every time I wanted to to do it, we were all so tired we couldn't think about where the camera was or even if the memory card was in it.

Sunday night was a break-through for our little boy. Normally he only falls asleep for the night nursing, but I took him off to see if I could start training him to fall asleep in my arms without the comfort of nursing. It took about 10 minutes for him to settle, but he did it.

Monday morning, Jonathan went up to a size 6 diaper. Yes, that's right. I said size 6. I know what you're all thinking, "I thought he just went up to a size 5 a couple weeks ago." You'd be spot on. The diaper is a little big in the bum and we have to put it up high in the back, but his waist needs the room and I wouldn't be surprised if he actually fits the whole diaper in a month or so. I really don't know what we're going to do because as far I know, diapers only go up to size 7. After that, it's all pull-ups and he's not even close to being ready to potty train!

Monday afternoon, we went grocery shopping instead of Tuesday like we planned because it was SO hot in our house. We needed some a/c. After we loaded up the groceries in the back seat (because Jonathan's stroller was in the trunk), we found he'd fallen asleep after we got home. We're very careful about the bags so he doesn't get his little hands on them because, like most babies, he loves the crinkly sound they make. I found a little piece in between his fat little fingers. After I took this, I promptly took it out.

Here's the full shot from the backseat window.

Now that's he's getting big, he's getting into lots more trouble. The kid can't even walk yet! =P

This 'n That

Today was a happy/sad day. Jonathan turned 8 months old! This morning, we went to Tustin see off some of our very best friends before they leave tomorrow morning. We will miss the Dustin, Whitney, and their son Jason Hemsath very much. Dustin got a job in Arizona teaching Spanish at a brand new high school and Whit will finally be able to be a stay-at-home mom. We will miss you but are thrilled for this new chapter to start in your lives.

Later, we went with my mother-in-law to the Toys R Us in Bell Gardens. I loved the storybooks there because they come with both English and Spanish in the same book, which is SO important for Jonathan and our future kids to learn!

We also looked to see if we could find a car for him to push himself around in that was safe enough and would keep him strapped in, since he loves to scoot. This was one that worked. Unfortunately, all the ones that would've worked for him were far too much money for our college wallets. =P

As you can see, he LOVED it!

Don't you dare try to take me out, Mommy!
WHOA! The traffic is crazy today!

He's so big now that he can sit in the toddler chairs by himself.

After we came home, ate dinner, and bathed Jonnie, we put him in his play pen. He loves to stand up by himself. He's very good at it. The other day I left him to stand by himself while I washed some dishes and he stood for around 20 minutes!! (Don worry, the pad in the bottom of the pen is very soft and so are his toys if he falls and/or hits his head.)

Standing all by himself!

Bright eyes with ever-vigilant Daddy nearby to catch baby if he falls.

He's also mobile now. Before, he would only scoot on his bum a few inches before getting extremely frustrated. He's been working on it for around 2 1/2-3 weeks now, rolling around trying to figure out how to get from his back to his tum-tum. He's been doing that for about week, but the last couple days, he now log rolls to get around. I'm glad we've been giving him more tummy-time. He seems like he wants more of it now than when he was little. I'm pretty sure that he'll learn to crawl. He was just so stubborn for so long that I wasn't sure if he'd ever learn! But skill-wise, according to a few parenting books I flip through, he's right where he should be. Nonetheless, it makes me feel relieved that he's a bit more mobile, even in some tiny way. He's not so frustrated anymore, for now.

Mr. Sleepyface

My sweet baby boy woke up from his nap this afternoon looking completely hung over. His hair was a mess and he was looking around deliriously. So funny and cute!

Wet Feet and Pruney Toes

Last Wednesday on the first, we went and had a pretend bbq at our friends' Brett and Kellie's. It was pretend because the gas line to their apartment's bbq was out and non-operational. But we did our meats on their Foreman, so it was all good. We also went for a swim in their pool and it was Jonnie's first time in a real pool- our backyard blowup doesn't count. =p

Jonnie's pruney feeties after a good swim. So cute!

And here's the size five diaper shot I took 4 days after he'd already started the first pack of size fives. For all I know he's bigger than when he wore his first size five diaper.Then on Monday, Larry was playing in the wet grass and I thought it would be so cute if he did footprints on the sidewalk with Jonnie.

I was getting jealous and wanted in on the fun.
I didn't know it, but Lars was playing with Jonnie in the sink yesterday and took this adorable photo! Jonathan really does look like his daddy.

I love my boys! They make life entertaining. =)

Independence Day

We had a wonderful day spent with Larry's family. First, we headed to his cousin Art's house in Mission Viejo to have some WONDERFUL BBQ Mexican hotdogs. Really, no one makes them like Art. He has a gift for Mexican food, especially bbq.

Then we along with Art and his wife Laura, headed to Laguna Niguel to swim with more of Larry's cousins, their spouses and children. When we got there, the view was incredible. At the edge of the parking lot, you can look down into the valley and see the ocean all misty. It looks like a giant bowl and you can see a silver of coast around the edge. Just breath taking.

Jonathan loved being in his little floaty around all his boy cousins. There's four rambuncious boys and one crazy little girl. I have a feeling he'll be getting in a lot of mischief with so many older boy cousins. We ate BBQ'd lobster, hung out around a couple hot tubs and splashed around in the big pool.

An hour before sunset, we got out and decided to drive the two hours back home since Jonathan fell asleep almost the moment we turned the car on and strapped him into his seat. I didn't want to drive a half hour back to Mission Viejo to watch fireworks when he was finally going to take a good nap. Even after we got home, he nursed and went right back to sleep. He woke up just in time to see the fireworks over by Warren High. Sitting on Larry's shoulders bouncing up and down giggling with delight, he loved it.

Soooo to make a long story short, we thought we'd charged our camcorder and had all the parts for our camera. It turned out that we'd left our memory card to the camera in the computer after dumping it the night before and something didn't work right because the red light on the camcorder never turned green after a full charge.

We did end up borrowing a relative's camera and took a few shots at the pool, but are still waiting for them to be emailed, so we'll see if I'm not too lazy to post them. =P