Thanksgiving 2008

There was a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! My parents house is still intact and my parents and their animals are safe!! Then to have given birth to a healthy, happy & beautiful baby boy this year and to see him growing & learning more and more every day. Plus the fact that I get to stay home with him, that is a blessing in itself. Working from home is all it needs to be for me to spend time with my little man every day and not have to send him to day care. It is exhausting at times when I have project deadlines but it is worth it! I'll catch up on sleep when I am old...hehe!

The day started with Tre waking up early and we spent some time with him in the morning just relaxing and playing. Then while Tre went down for his morning nap Jammer and I got ready for the day. Tre took a short morning nap and while Jammer played with him, I was making breakfast and then getting our stuff packed up and ready to go. By the time we were ready to leave it was probably 30 minutes until Tre needed his middle day nap. On the road Tre took a 27 minute nap and we were stuck in the car for over 2 hours. Traffic was pretty bad. We went over to my parents house before heading to my sisters because we wanted to see the fire damage. Then since we had been in the car for so long I decided to feed Tre at my parents house so that when we got to my sister's house he could just hang out. However, the day was flying by and when we got to my sister's house Tre was supposed to take a nap 45 minutes after we got there. We took a family photo and then I tried to put Tre down for his nap but I think he was past the point of tired and just fussed for over 30 minutes until I had decided to put him in his jammies and then just take him back out to the living room to hang out with everyone and put him down for bed at 6pm.

Tre lasted until 6, but at 6 he was really ready for bed. He cried a bit and then went straight to sleep. Then it was finally time for dinner..so YUMMY!

Another thing that was going on at my sister's house is they were all playing with their Wii. I got to play tennis on the Wii and that was fun. It's so crazy to be swinging your arm without the actual item you are supposed to be using, it takes some getting used to but it was fun!

Jammer had to work at 3:45am so we head out earlier than everyone else but not as early as Jammer initially wanted to leave but dinner was delayed by 2 hours so our entire schedule was delayed a bit. Before leaving we had yummy pumpkin pie and cherry pie both homemade by my sister, SO GOOD! I'm craving them as I type this. Should've taken a piece home with me. There was a little bit of traffic going home but not too bad and all my boys (Jammer, Tre & Noa) slept the entire ride home so it was a bit of a long drive for me but not too bad. We got home and got ready for bed as quickly as possible. But really thankful for having a safe and happy day!

Ashley playing with Tre

Jill playing with Tre (Mckenna on the sidelines)
Me and my little boy in his Thanksgiving sleeper
Tre hanging out with his cousin Masonn
What a handsome little man
My nieces and nephew made special turkey name markers for us, how cute are they? Our new place markers for Thanksgiving!

More on Yorba Linda Fires

Before we went over to my sister's house for Thanksgiving we decided to stop by my parents house and cruise through the neighborhood and see for ourselves how things look. First off getting up the hill isn't as easy as simply driving into the neighborhood, they had a cop at the stop sign asking people where they were headed, etc. So after we told the cop we were going to my parents house we went to my parents house. :)

However, first and foremost we wanted to drive by my parent's neighbor's house, that was gone. It was so sad to see it in person. Fires are so crazy how they just land on a home and off it goes, then houses right around it are completely intact.

After stopping at my parents house to feed Tre really quick and see their house and what the fires had done to their surroundings we got back in the car and were on our way to my sister's house, but before we left the neighborhood my Dad told us to drive around quickly to see the loss on the other streets, there was something like 9 houses that were taken by the fires!!! And it was again so random, one house that was gone in the midst of a bunch that were all still okay. So weird, so sad and so frustrating to see that there really isn't any rhyme or reason to it and nothing you can really do if your house is the victim at that moment.

Our friends and neighbors of my parents, The Flakes created a blog to post info on what's going on with them and what anyone can do to help them out.
http://flakefamilyfire.blogspot.com

I took some pictures of things around my parents' house and neighborhood:

Up the street from my parents house, The Flake's House...


A shot of the hill behind The Flake's House


My parent's palm trees in the back yard


The houses on the hill behind my parent's house


Looking to the left from my parent's backyard


The hill on the other side of my parent's house

Happy 20 Week Birthday Tre

Wow...the weeks are flying by! First thing I would like to post about is that Tre is now 100% of the time sleeping in his crib. Naps and nighttime! He was a swing napper before last Friday and we decided it was time to transfer his naps over to the crib and it wasn't as hard as I had anticipated! The first night and day were kind of torturous and I had a few emotional meltdowns but I made it through and the following days just sort of flowed. I took my time getting Tre relaxed enough to fall asleep and when he was drowsy enough to lay down I would put him in the crib and he'd cry a little bit to fuss himself into sleep and then fall asleep. His naps aren't very long but he is getting better. I'm just thankful that he no longer needs his swing to go to sleep during the day. Yay for Tre!!!

It was a busy day preparing for Thanksgiving (getting all of Tre's things together and making the green bean casserole) and just getting through the day. The days are very long these days now that Tre isn't sleeping in his swing.

I took a few pictures of Tre in his cute new stuff...

Tre's new beanie from Lotus Baby Clothing


Tre in his new beanie cap from O'Cali Baby

Tre in his cute "Gone Surfing" onesie from Lotus Baby Clothing

18th Annual Encinitas Poinsettia Festival

Today was the 18th Annual Encinitas Poinsettia Festival on S. Coast Highway 101 in Downtown Encinitas from D Street to J Street. Our friend Lori who owns Lotus Baby Clothing told us that it was coming up so we had planned on going to the festival to visit her booth. And I was excited to purchase one of her new long sleeve onesies she had told me about. So cute! The onesie I am talking about is pictured here to the top left.

We also got a really cute beanie that has the same design on it as the onesie. I love Lori's designs because they are so stylish and not your average baby clothes. It was a great experience to take Tre to the festival and have Jammer carry him in the Baby Bjorn. He was able to see all that was going on and enjoy the festival. We brought Noa too, but decided not to put him down so he could walk, I left him in his doggy bag because it was so busy I didn't want people to step on him. Lori had also recommended a friend of hers that she met through these street fairs, who has cute baby clothes as well, so we went down the way a bit and stopped at her booth and bought two hats (a baseball cap and a beanie cap). Her company is called O'Cali Baby Here are those two:
This is a cute blue baseball cap with Bob Marley on it

A cute beanie cap in brown, which I thought would be so cute for those chilly but sunny days in San Diego


It was a lot of fun walking around the streets but after leaving we realized that we didn't take any pictures of ourselves at the fair, it was kind of busy and stopping for a photo op was a little difficult. Besides the fact that I couldn't stop looking around myself at what was all over the place that by the time I stopped to take it all in it was time to get Tre home for a nap.

Jammer and I were really happy that we made it over there and wanted to thank Lori for letting us know she was going to be there so we could come by, visit and get some cute stuff! Thanks Lori!!!

Oh and Lori has given us a couple cute items before and here is Tre in his Aloha onesie, we wanted him to sport it at the fair but I made the mistake of trying to feed him before changing his diaper and he ended up peeing on his outfit dangit! Sometimes I try to rush things a bit quicker than I should...I was in a hurry and not paying close attention. Oh well, at least I got a picture of him in it...

Happy 19 Week Birthday Tre!

Today was a fun day! We had scheduled a professional photographer to come to our house today to take pictures of us. The company that had taken pictures of Tre when we were in the hospital had been trying to get a hold of me to let me know that they owed me a free 8x10, from photos taken at our home, so I was excited to schedule it before the holidays.

We got all dressed up in brown as a family. Hehe...I'm all about the matching, thankfully Jammer let me be about it. Before the photographer got to our house (he was scheduled from 1:30pm to 2:30pm) we took a few pictures on the patio. It was a nice afternoon and Jammer and Tre were hanging out outside.

The photographer got some really great shots and I am sooo..anxious to see them. The hardest part about a photographer coming to the house is we have to wait to see them in bigger size, he showed us a couple on his camera and said someone would be coming out to our house in the next few weeks to go over all the pictures and to see what pics we wanted.

Then of course since it was Tre's 19 week birthday I had to take his traditional weekly baby on the boppy picture. He was in his jammies already because the photographer was here for the afternoon portion of Tre's day so this pic was taken at nighttime after his afternoon nap. I had to take a bunch of these, little Noa kept jumping into the picture. That puppy sometimes just wants to be the center of attention too. HEHE.

On another note, Jammer and I got an early Christmas present for ourselves because it was a great deal that we couldn't pass up. Since Jammer runs the Verizon kiosk at Circuit City he gets wind of great deals on products, like open box deals and things like that. So he was looking at video cameras and they had an open box deal on one and we decided to get it. So now we have a new video camera. It takes pictures as well as video, so that is pretty cool. I was testing out the camera yesterday morning and took a REALLY cute picture of Tre smiling at me. Love that little smile!!!

Everyday we practice our tummy time...


Tre playing in the blankets...


Another pic of Jammer and Tre...


Lastly, I have to show a pic of Noa and his new favorite place to sleep...this is Tre's boppy with a blanket over it...it is so dang cute that Noa cuddles up in this spot...it's the perfect size for him to lay within...

Yorba Linda Fires

This past weekend was a pretty crazy weekend for many in the city of Yorba Linda. Saturday started out as a beautiful day and then I got the call from my sister, Jill letting me know that my parents were told to evacuate their home. I was so shocked I went home and searched the internet and television to find information about what was going on. Not a whole lot was available, finally a little bit later I figured I would try and contact my Mom. I text her to make sure they were okay and heard back letting me know they were and they were at the house trying to keep things wet. Then I called my Mom later that afternoon to get a quick play by play of what had been going on. It was crazy, they were hosing down everything, the neighbors and my parents trying to keep things wet so the embers wouldn't torch up. I think if they had evacuated they may have lost their house or had much worse fire damage than a few palm trees burnt and the hill going up to their house burnt.

The fire reached all the way up their hill (thankfully they had some ice plant where the fire stopped at). After the fires were out and my parents were safe they took their dogs for a walk on Sunday and saw all that the fires had done to their neighborhood. Torched so many things. I was sooo...sad to hear that a family that I have known since I was younger lost their home. Their dad who is the Bishop of my old church actually married us. My heart aches for their loss! And to all the others that lost their homes in these fires...my hometown is hurting, but this can only make them stronger, right?

My Mom sent me some pictures of what remains...

Here is a view of the ravine below my parents house...

Here is the palm trees in my parents back yard that got scorched...

This is the bottom of the hill (my parents neighborhood has one way in and out) where they weren't letting people up...
A house up the hill that is gone...
Another home taken by the fire...
So sad...
This is a picture looking up the hill towards my parent's next door neighbors house...

The bottom of the hill (parallel to where they weren't letting people up the hill)...
Another shot of the bottom of the hill...
This is from my parents house looking over to the fields across the hill...
The ice plant compared to where everything was burning...
Another side of the ravine...
And another side of the ravine...
My Mom said she was going to take some more pics of other things so if I get some more pics I'll post them for anyone who is curious to see. We have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

My Roommate Moved Out

So my little 4 month old roommate moved out last night. He moved into his own room! HEHE!

Last night was a big night for little Tre. We decided to try our luck at putting Tre in his crib to sleep in his own room for the first time. He did great! He fell asleep within 15 minutes of laying down AND slept until 1:30am. That's almost 7 hours of straight sleep! I was so proud of him and almost couldn't go to sleep because I kept thinking he is going to wake up any minute. But there must be something about him sleeping in his own bed that helped him sleep longer. I probably shouldn't speak to soon but I'm hoping!! He woke up and I fed him at his 1:30am wake up and then he woke up at around 5:30am but I decided to just put his pacifier in his mouth and he went back to sleep until 6:30am. I was pretty stoked that he did so well for his first night.

I have been thinking about starting sleep training for Tre but wanted to wait a few days after his shots to start the process, however yesterday was a great step in the right direction. I thought since he did so well last night I would try getting him to take a nap without his swing, that however, did not go so well. I didn't mentally prepare myself for what came next...the constant crying. I put him down in his crib and he cried for 30 minutes, I couldn't handle it so I gave in and put him in the swing. I need to mentally prepare myself the next time I decide to do this nap without swing thing. I felt like I failed, but it was my first try...I will do better next time!!!

Here is a pic of Tre from yesterday in a cute little shirt that Jammer's Aunt Candi & cousin Heidi sent him from Canada, it was such a nice day the tank top was a perfect shirt for the warm weather, doesn't he look buff? HEHE!

Tonight Tre and I were hanging out on the patio in his walker so I took a few pictures of him:







And a video from tonight outside on the patio...