8 months old

Tanner is 8 months old today! We love our baby boy. He has such a sweet easy-going personality. He loves to watch Ethan play and is already trying to get into the action by crawling and pulling up on things. He loves Ethan and looks for him when he is away at preschool. He has five teeth now and enjoys eating bread, Kix, and Cheerios, along with his baby food. I think Tanner likes animals because they always bring a smile to his face. He loves peek-a-boo and will laugh when we play it with him. He is starting to reach for people when they put their hands out to him. He is wearing 9-12 month clothes but is still a petite little thing. We love our lovable little munchkin!

So sweet and cute

This evening while waiting for Jared I was doing the dishes and Ethan was playing play-dough while Tanner was eating in his high chair. Tanner started to babble saying, "dah dah dah dah" and Ethan very sweetly says, "It's ok Tanner, Daddy will be home soon." It was neat to see him so lovingly talk to Tanner and have a little conversation with him. I hope they become best buds someday.

Ethan was going to the bathroom and starts saying, "There's a snake! There's a snake! Call the ambulance." I said, "There is no snake and we wouldn't call the ambulance if there was a snake. They don't take care of that." Ethan keeps insisting that there is a snake in the bathroom so I go in. I ask him where it is and he points to the long winding stool in the toilet bowl.

Parks, Disneyland, Temple Christmas lights, & Travel Town

 Last Sunday we went to Balboa Park to feed the ducks and go for a walk. It was raining so we only got to stay for a minute but we enjoy having a large park close to us with lots to do. It's similar to Irvine Park in many ways but free!

 On Thursday we went down to Tustin for two days to go to Disneyland before the holiday season is over. We also went to a park with Grammy and Brett one afternoon. Ethan was the conductor on the play train and had a blast running around with Brett.

 Friday evening we got to Disneyland with enough time to get great front row seats for the Christmas parade. Papa came from work and brought us McDonald's. It's always fun to eat dinner while watching the parade. The park was packed so we rode the train and called it a night. The train had quite a long line!

 Ethan and Tanner playing this week - in this picture Ethan is about to dump Tanner but the load was a little too heavy! This week Tanner has been getting faster at crawling and Ethan is starting to engage in more imaginary play. It's cute to hear him talk back and forth with his trains.

 I have tried multipule times this week to get some nice pictures of the boys. I got some good ones but it's tough to dress both boys in church clothes, get them both to sit up and look in my direction with a smile - all without anyone else to entertain them.

 Last night we went to the LA temple to see the Christmas lights. It's not Temple Square by any means but it's still neat to see a temple with pretty lights and a nativity scene. We were there for almost two hours. We also went inside the vistor's center which was so nice. I haven't been there in years and it's newly remodelled and much nicer than Salt Lake's now. We watched a movie on families and it was really well done. A lot of the time the movies are so cheesy but both Jared and I thought it was a really nice video with a great message. Afterwards we watched the Christmas fireside with youth choirs singing. Ethan was great and wanted to stay all night.

This morning we went to Travel Town in Griffth Park. The boys rode the train around the park. Jared said Tanner was jumping up and down the whole time and Ethan wanted to go again. It was a hit! We are looking forward to more Christmas activities in the next two weeks. 

Goodbye Naps

Sadly, as of this week we are done with naps for Ethan. He will still take naps pretty willingly and it's hard for him to get up when I go in and wake him up after two hours but bedtime is becoming too hard. He will come out of his bed over and over until 9-10pm. This week he still tries to stay up when it's bedtime but once we are done with the bedtime routine he has been staying in bed! I was tired of battling naps and bedtime and this makes for a quieter evening, plus he wakes later in the morning. I'm trying to teach him about quiet time where he plays by himself in the playroom and after that he can watch a show. He has been doing pretty well with it so far.

This afternoon as I was preparing him for quiet time I said: "Ethan, you are going to learn how to play independently, which means by yourself."
Ethan: I'm going to play "pendently" in there (pointing at the playroom)
Me: Yeah, that will be fun! You can play with your blocks, play trains, build tracks with Jenga...whatever you want.
Ethan: Oh, you can play pendently with me! That's fun!
Me: yeah, it is but so is independent play.
Ethan: Oh, I play there (pointing to his toys) and your quiet time is there (pointing at the computer)
Me: yeah, you got it!

As I type he is playing next to me with Jenga by himself! For Ethan that is huge. He loves to play with others which is understandable but everyone needs to learn to play on their own sometimes.

Mr. Gingerbread Man

Last night we created a gingerbread man. Yesterday while at Trader Joe's I picked one up along with a chocolate advent calendar for Ethan to enjoy. I was hoping the gingerbread man would taste better than the other pre-boxed gingerbread houses we have done in the past but it was still just as nasty as ever. These activities really are just for decorating and letting kids eat the candy as they go along. The sad thing is the candy isn't even good. I prefer using fresh graham crackers with candy you buy at the store and making something that in the end you can enjoy. I always enjoy making them though and this was actually the first time I have tried one. They don't really appeal to me but this time I wanted to see if it was as soft as it appeared. You could lose a tooth biting into other types and this was just the same. I think I will stick to the decorating and let Ethan enjoy it!

We have been playing "conductor" a lot at our house. Ethan is Mr. Conductor and I am Mommy conductor. The fireplace is the "train" where we all line up. Mr. Conductor is kind enough to let us go to the bathroom every once in a while. We love having our Christmas decorations up. This is definitely my favorite time of year. While we were still in Tustin for Thanksgiving Jared surprised me by putting up our Christmas tree, buying ornaments for it (did a great job, I would have bought the same ones) and decked it out! It was a pleasant surprise and I was impressed with his Christmas tree skills. It was no small task and we love it. Tanner loves crawling under it to play with the lower branches and bulbs, but luckily he really can't hurt any of it and can barely reach.

Jared is still working long hard hours with few breaks but is doing well. He's had some really tough patients lately which means more work but he has been able to do some procedures as a result. In the last two weeks he has performed a Paracentesis, Thoracentesis, and put in two central lines. He of course had a supervisor right there telling him what to do but he was able to do the whole procedure by himself. A Paracentesis is where they take fluid out of the abdomen, and a Thoracentesis is taking fluid out of the lung. Pretty neat! What's even neater is he gets a week of vacation during the week before Christmas. We are excited to party.

Boys & Blessings

 I am so grateful for these two little boys! I really can't get enough of them. I feel I say that a lot but it's so true and you can never say it enough. I'm so grateful I get to stay home with them on a daily basis. I couldn't imagine it any other way. There are a few days here and there where you want to rip your hair out, but for the most part I really could just eat them up. I love Ethan's sweet demeanor and Tanner's happy nature.

 Being a mother is something I always dreamed of and I'm grateful I have the opportunity to fulfill that calling. I think of my blessings often because I am truly blessed! I love being a wife to an amazing husband. Jared is so good to me and the boys. We love when he comes in the door from a long day at work. The poor guy walks in the door and three excited people attack him. He is a wonderful father to his boys.

 This cute little thing is just the best baby I could ask for. He has slept through the night the last two nights which is a dream. I hope this is a new trend for him. He takes great naps now, is getting on his hands and knees crawling to whatever he wants to attack. At this point he can get what he wants but is not all over the place yet. Give him a few more days!



Black Friday

Last night I debated if I should go to Old Navy and Walmart right at 12am when they opened the doors with the big sales or wait a few hours. Having a little baby and an active three year old in the end made me choose my bed but it was a struggle because I realize this might mean I miss out on a few deals. I received a text which I found when I was up at 3am, (one of the many times with Tanner from his cold) that Danny was at Walmart and got several of the deals I wanted. I was grateful for his efforts in my behalf and knew I could rest easier. At 6am Heather, Doug, and I went to Old Navy and that was a huge success. All the stores we went to I felt were well stocked and the lines were not bad at all! I got jeans for $15 and ended up saving $71. Later in the morning Jared and I went to Walmart and got some more amazing deals and are so glad we battled the stores. I have to say I was not a big Black Friday person until today. I want to go every year because I truly saved so much and it's fun to get great things for 50% off. We ended the afternoon playing tennis again but this time with Daddy too. Unfortunately, Jared had to come back home tonight but we are so glad he was able to come for a while. We are off to play games at the Brooks.