Kawaii 2011

I wanted to post some pics of our trip to Kawaii back in November just for memories sake. It is just so nice to be able to look back on the blog and see the kids grow so I wanted to make sure we had some documentation of that trip on here.

The trip was about 3 wks long, Zion was 2 going on 3 months old on that trip, and we were just coming out of our rough spell with him which was such an answer to prayer. During that trip he was cooing and interacting so much, seemingly trying to explain to us just how much better he felt. Eden grew a lot on this trip as well. There were two older boys with us ages 11 & 13 and they played and played with Eden as if she was their sister. I have never seen anything like it. By the time we came home, Eden was speaking in full sentences and has been ever since.

It was hard to be there with a 2 month old, mainly because it was hard to protect him from the rain and the sun while at the beach all day, and by the time we came home I was more than ready. But already I am more than ready to go back. It is funny, I never had a strong desire to visit Hawaii, but once you go it sort of gets in your blood and I often find myself day dreaming about our days on the sand and in the sun and rain, and our afternoons of eating snow cones in town. Counting the days till we can return....

This was Eden's third trip on an airplane, she was super excited!

Zion getting ready for his first airplane ride

Zi sleeping in the sun tent

Zi's first dip in the ocean!

It is raining super hard in this pic. Zion, Kerry and I are huddled under a beach umbrella waiting for it to pass while Eden and Jon were playing in the water.

Best pineapple ever! (sp?)

An endangered monk seal - this little guy crawled right up to us while we were camped out on the beach. We ended up having to move all of our stuff so that they could put a "do not enter" perimeter around him.

One of Eden's first waves actually standing up.

Back to Blogging!

For Valentines day/my birthday, Jon got me a new computer. It is very exciting since we have been without one since mid November. I have so much to post and to blog about - so much I want to catch up on...the last 3.5 mo of Zions life to start with, not to mention our trip to Kawaii and Baja and everything in between. For now, I will just start with today. Today, both kids had swim class. Below is a little video of Eden swimming. I am so incredibly proud of her and how well she is doing in her swim class. This video is pretty awful and un-edited but it shows her swimming, and I know Jon will appreciate watching it while at work tonight. We have some video of Zion too. He is pretty funny in the water. He just acts like it is any other element, nothing different, like it doesn't matter to him whether he is in or out of the water. So silly. It is a very special time for he and I, our only one on one time and I try to appreciate every second of it. We will post some video of him swimming at another time.

Rhythm

I have been away from the blog for too long and I just can't take it anymore. I can't add any pictures, but I feel like I need to document our current situation and give praise and thanks to God on print that we are in such a sweet and happy place these days.

Zion is finally starting to settle into a rhythm. It seems like it took so much longer to get here than it did with Eden. In part because he is just a different baby than Eden and because he is the second. Things feel so much different with two and just a bit more complicated but good and amazing nonetheless. He is a very sweet and loving boy. We call him our koala bear because of the way he loves to just hang around our neck. That is his happiest place, cozied in to just about anyone's arms but especially mine. Every time I am near him my heart fills with peace and warmth.

Then there is Eden. I don't even know where to start with her. She is at the sweetest and most tender age. I can not believe the things she is doing and saying. She try's to be so good all of the time. Of course she has her moments but wow, most of the time she is angel for us. Words do not rightly describe the joy she brings us everyday. She is the most loving and sharing big sister and just pure fun all day every day. Some days I wish I could freeze her and keep her this way forever.

Treading Water

Do not get me wrong, we are having fun and enjoying the magical moments that we will never get back, but it also feels like we are treading water...just trying to stay afloat. We are still trying to get to the bottom of baby Zion's stomach upset, such a frustrating endeavor that I will spare the details of, but it is exhausting and heartbreaking to say the least. To top it, Eden just started showing jealousy, for the first time since Zi's birth, in the last few days. Of course we should have seen it coming, but I guess I just hoped that she was so secure that she was above those feelings altogether - not so much. Well, that is the update with where we are at on week 5. On the upside the weather has been beautiful and Jon is amazing and supportive and everything else. He watched the babes on Saturday so that his mom and I could paddle from Dana Point to the pier and then again on Sunday so that I could standup surf at Sano - it was my first time surfing in somewhat bigger waves in quite some time so it was a real treat.

Baby Zion

Poor baby Zion has such a sensitive stomach. So far it seems even more sensitive than Edens - is that possible?? Because Eden was so sensitive to dairy, I have been off dairy since the moment Zion was born, but even still he is very gassy and spitty, he even appears to have actual reflux. Because of this he almost never sleeps laying down. More often than not, a few minutes after I lay him down on his back he starts burping and spitting and choking on his own spit, then he is crying and we have to start all over again to try to put him down. Therefore, during the day, many of his naps are spent in our bed propped with pillows and blankets. It is kind of a bummer at the present, but I know that soon enough we will look back on this phase and laugh. Here is baby Zi in his usual mode of sleep.

I'm super happy because I'm sitting up!

Mommy & Me - Wk2

I promise not to give an update on school every week, but this week was so special that I just could not resist. Since last week was somewhat traumatic with the circumstances surrounding the name tag, everyone rallied behind Eden to try to make this week go more smoothly. Grammy & Grampy brought Eden some name tags to practice with and last night before bed, Daddy practiced with Eden. He told her that if she wears her name tag it would give her special powers to dance really well. And from the moment he put it on her she danced and danced and danced....I have never seen such beautiful dancing in all my life - it was amazing and magical! When she got to school she was not only willing to put on her name tag but the name tag actually did seem to give her magical powers so that she even seemed to be one of the most participative kids at circle time! A special thanks goes to Grammy, Grampy, & Daddy for helping make Eden's second week of school such a success!

Fancy Camera, Fancy Pics

We splurged on our 6 yr anniversary this year and bought a fancy new camera. Our hope is to be able to take really cute/fancy pictures (and video) of the kids with it. Lately we have been so busy that we haven't been able to play with it much, but these are the pictures we have gotten thus far we hope to get some better ones soon, but I think you can really tell the difference in clarity between our two cameras.