Our Valentine's Day Gift from Paige.

You can read below for the whole story- But I thought I would add this pic I got from Kayla's Cell.

Justin & I have never been big on celebrating Valentine's Day. I think that the day is overrated and I would rather not just pick one day to celebrate the love I have for my husband. I have always been nontraditional in the fact that I am not a big fan of flowers, jewelry, or chocolate gifts. I want a gift that is from the heart and it does not need to cost much at all. And I would prefer to receive that gift on any other day. It could have started back in 7th grade when a mean person sent me a Candy Gram as my secret admirer with a notes to meet them in front of the gym at 3pm. Of course they did not show, breaking my heart and starting my dislike for today. Or it could have really sunk in when Justin bought me a Bass Tube (A speaker to make the Bass in my car sound louder) for Valentines day. I know I just said that I don't like traditional gifts, but that is not something I needed or wanted (In fact it is in his truck now), so it kind of ruined the gift giving on this holiday and we just decided not to exchange real gifts now. On a side note, he has improved his overall gift giving skills over the years. Partially from listening well, and partially from my very blunt hints.

OK- now that I have ranted about my feelings about Valentine's day, let me tell you about this Valentine's day. Kayla is hanging out with us today, while my dad takes my mom away for a special day. We had a great lunch all together at Sweet Tomatoes. We came home, and while I was doing bills Kayla was playing with Paige in the living room. Justin came in and was playing for a few minutes too when he noticed that the Kaleidoscope she had been playing with was going with her everywhere. It was making climbing up her slide, etc harder. He told her that she could put it down, but then he realized it was stuck on her thumb.

After we had a flash back to the story of Chelsie getting the coffee pot top stuck on her finger, he took her into the kitchen. He soaped and oiled her up. But he could not get it off. We were not sure how to cut it off so we piled into the car. We drove to the firehouse (Where my mom had taken Chelsie) but no-one answered. So we headed over to Valley Care Hospital to their emergency room. When we got there, the lady who checked us in smiled a little when she saw what was happening. After I gave them our whole life story and our insurance information, we sat in the waiting room. There was a little boy there who was waiting with his mom to have her grandmother transferred to another hospital by ambulance. He loved to play with her. Everyone was so amazed by the fact that it was actually stuck on her finger.

They got us in fairly quickly. The doctor looked at it and said it was a first in his 39 years. He had another guy come in with a cutting tool and they took out pieces of the toy until they cut it almost down to her finger. It finally came off. Paige was a trooper. She screamed the whole time but did not pull her hand away too often. It took a while to calm her down, but then she just enjoyed playing on the hospital bed (going through the bars to the floor and back up) until they checked us out.

Needless to say- the toy will not be used again. We will be throwing it away now. I did not get any pictures with it on her finger (Kayla has one on her cell, but can't email it to me) but I do have a couple of pics of what the toy looks like now.

Hello

Just because I have not posted in a little while, I thought I would write a quick hello. Things are going ok here. Things have been a little stressfull with Justin barely working, but on the plus side he has had lots of bonding time with Paige. Paige is feeling better, but now I have a sore throat and Justin may have a little cold. The CD Player we use to help Paige sleep isn't really working anymore, so we are examining our options. A friend at work mentioned she had a cd/radio/alarm clock that I could use that may work for a while. But I do love the green CD player we currently have (Which another friend from work gave to us and saved our lives since she started sleeping better when we used it). For tonight, I have the radio tuned onto a christian radio station.

Despite some frustrating situations in our lives, we are doing good overall. We are really trusting that God has a hand in our lives and he has not failed to provide. I was able to get my cable company to reduce my bill subtancially for 6 months so that will help for now. Hopefully in 6 months Justin will have more work. We have a couple of jobs pending, so for now we just wait. As always- if you know anyone who needs tile work please send them our way.

The little engine that coughed

Paige has been coughing since Saturday and we thought she had just a little cold. On Monday she had a stuffy nose and the cough was getting worse. Plus it had woken her up every hour or so on Sunday night. And while she went back to sleep within a minute or two each time, it made for a long night. So, after talking to the advice nurse we had an appt to go to the Dr in the late afternoon. Let me tell you how much Paige loves to have Dr's look at her.. (She takes after her Aunt Chelsie). Doctors appointments are always quite the adventure, and it is helpful to have both of us parents there.

The Dr determined that she had a mild case of croup. She prescribed a steriod which he had to crush up and put in some applesauce or juice/milk for 1-2 nights to reduce the swelling. Last night she did not get the full dose since we put it in the milk and she refused to drink it all. Today her cough was not really worse, but not a whole lot better. Besides waking up at 4AM and not going back to sleep, the day went OK Justin says. But that could be because she slept more from about 5:30-7AM on my chest on the couch. I was late to work, but that was OK since I had to get some bloodwork done (fasting) so it all turned out good. Now hopefully my bloodwork will be good. They are testing me for diabetes since I have some ongoing fungal infections (I know this is probably TMI). What a fun family we are this week.

Paige Dancing

Random Pics

Here are a few pics from the last week that I thought I would share. Paige loves to help me vacuum.
She takes afer daddy.

I think we are turning over a new leaf

For the last year, our attendance at church has been way down. Prior to having a baby, Justin & I went to church most Sundays, but also were involved in several other ways. We used to attend (And I was on the worship team) the young adults group. Justin also volunteered with the Junior High. And I used to teach the 2 year old class every other month. But then, this wonderful miracle entered our life. And we didn't go to church for at least 6 weeks to avoid exposing this precious package to germs. We were able to go for a few weeks as she did well in the nursery at first. But around 4 months old she took a turn. She would scream and scream and scream until they had to page us.

Now our church has a great parent viewing room. But Paige has never been very quiet. So one of us would always end up walking her around the church because we felt like she was disturbing the other parents in the viewing room (Now she walks up to all of them and says HI so it is very distracting). We kept trying the nursery but within 20 minutes we were walking around again. So most weekends, we decided not to go because it was tiring. And we missed the encouragement and knowledge we get out of the weekend services.

Last week we went to our normal church, and had no problems in the nursery. We were able to enjoy the whole sermon. I thought it had to be a fluke. Today, we went to a different church with my sister. And again- no problems in the nursery. I am still a little skeptical, but I hope we will be able to start going to church again. I am not sure how soon we will be jumping back into different ministries as we are still trying to decide if we are staying at our current church or if God is taking us to a new place. But for now- I get to enjoy church again and I am thankfull for that.

Daddy Day Care

Those of you who know me well, know that the last couple of months have been challenging to say the least. There have been days where I did not even want to get out of bed because I am so frustrated by everything and everyone (Ok not EVERYONE) around me. But I was reminded at church that one way to having a fun adventure in life again is to LOVE. And I realized, that I had not been doing a lot of Loving lately. So that is something I am trying to do more of.

In the meantime, I thought I would focus more on a sweeter moment last week. Justin has not worked a whole lot lately, so he has kind of been doing 'Daddy Day Care". I came home from work the the below pictures. It is kind of heartwarming.

And we have Snow when it was 75 degrees outside.

If you know Justin and me, then you know we are almost opposites in many ways. But one thing we have in common is our imagination (All though Justin doesn't realize he has such a big one). But being different, we use it in very different ways. Me, I have crazy dreams, I get lost in a book or a TV show. I sometimes drift off in the daytime and find myself in some far off land. But Justin, he likes to bring his imagination to life. I think about how fun it would be to do something in my unrealistic dream world, but the thought of making that happen does not usually cross my mind. I am way to much of a "Realist" to think that those crazy ideas could come true.

So Justin was snowboarding on Monday (Thank-you mom for getting him a pass. If I had to listen to him talk about how much he wants to go, but he didn't go last year and we can't afford to go this year, I would have gone crazy). He had a great time, but I think he felt bad that Paige and I could not come with him and he did not know when she would be able to see snow. So he packed his truck bed as full as he could with snow and headed home. Surprisingly there was a decent amount of snow left when he got home. He piled it up in our front yard. And it survived through the night.

When the sun came up, he put her in her snow suit (Don't ask me why I bought it) and headed out. She had a blast. And surprisingly there was still snow when I got home despite the beautifully warm weather we had today. Enjoy the pictures.

Learning how to eat

Paige has been able to feed herself finger food for quite some time now. Lately, she has not wanted us to feed her things on a spoon. So cottage cheese, yogurt or anything thick but spoon fed has to be fed by her. As you can imagine- this can be quite a messy affair. But it is all a learning process.

A girl and her purse

Every day Paige amazes me by doing something I least expect. Yesterday, we were playing in the living room. We keep most of her toys in a large box outside of the gates and usually just pull out a couple at a time. She spotted something at the top of the box, walked over to the gate and was able to pull it down. It was a plastic bag that the fabric Elmo's Christmas book came in. It has a little strap and had a few blocks in it. She started walking around the living room with it on her shoulder and in her hands just like a purse. Then she climbed the slide with it and had to slide down a few times with her new purse. This little bag must have entertained her for at least 30 minutes. If you know my daughter (and probably most 1 year olds) that is quite a feat. Enjoy the cute pictures I snapped.

New Years Eve

On New Years Eve, we put Paige to bed and then took off.... J/K sort of. We have Mikaila and her friend Zoe come over and hang out at our house while she slept. Justin and I met up with a few close friends, went ice skating at the outdoor rink in Walnut Creek, then headed back to a friends house to play games etc until the ball dropped. Pathetically we literally left seconds after the ball dropped and we shared a New Years Kiss. But we are not used to staying up until Midnight. And we were tired.

Ice Skating is one of the few things I am actually good at.
Mike & Geoff

Denise is a skating Queen.

Geoff still trying to skate.

I actually remembered to have a picture taken of Justin & Me together.

A day at Superfranks

The Monday after Christmas Paige did not have swimming lessons so we headed to SuperFranks. This is the first time I was able to take her to Taught Town which is specialized for under 5 year olds. She had a blast. She also did fairly well playing with the other kids. She took one little boys toy once and tried to push another one away from a toy she wanted to play with. But I would call that progress. Below are some pictures. This is what she looked like after playing when we went to lunch with Mikaila.
Circle time looked like lots of fun, but she was only observing from the sidelines

Singing during circle time

Playing house with Daddy.

She was not quite sure what to do when we first got there.

1 Year/Christmas picts finally

These pictures were actually taken the day after her 1st birthday. Many of you may have received a copy of one or two of them with your Christmas cards, but I thought I would finally get around to posting my favorites on the blog. So enjoy.

Typical Paige- Always has something in her mouth

I just love how huge she looks next to that barn

My favorite picture. She really is so loving- we just need to keep encouraging that part of her and work on her "gentle" side.

Her official 1st birthday pic.

One more version.

Christmas Day

We went to my parents house around 10 am on Christmas day. We opened the piles of presents while eating the traditional breakfast pizza. Paige loved the baby dolls her Nana gave her in additional to several of the toys that were under the tree. We ended the day with a nice steak dinner and a christmas tree cake. It was a wonderful Christmas.

Loving her babies.

Sitting on the presents.

Sitting on presents.

The Elmo chair Nana & Papa got her.

Christmas Morning

On Christmas Morning we woke up with Paige around 6am. She had a little bit of a runny nose, but she was her happy self. She saw the toys set-up in the living room and immediately went to the ball pit. Eventually she discovered the slide and she opened up the presents from Mom & Dad (Practical stuff like towels, shoes and books). We played for a while before we headed over to my parents to spend the rest of the day.

Sliding down the slide.

Opening more presents.

First thing she did was climb the slide.

Playing in the ballpit

Christmas Eve Fun.

Christmas Eve started for us at 8:30 in the morning when we left for Santa Cruz. After making a pitt stop to pick-up our nephews (Keith, Joseph and Tyler) in boulder creek and drop off a present at our friends house out there, we headed to Dan & Michelle's. We arrived at 11AM to a warm house with a beautiful tree. We played with our neice and nephews for a couple of hours and ate around 1:30. We started opening presents about 2pm. This continued the yearly tradition in which Grandma plays Santa and reads the names while the little kids deliver the presents. Once everyone has their "Pile" of presents we open them. One person at a time, youngest to oldest. Paige was blessed with a few great outfits. I scored with some vanilla scented stuff and a beautiful picture of Paige and Alyssa from Dan & Michelles wedding reception (And yes that made me cry). Justin took home some good smelling cologne and we both also received a digital crock pot.

All of the kids made out this year with digital cameras and video cameras from us. It was so exciting to be able to give them something they have been asking for over the years. Overall it was a fun day.

Grandma, Chrissy and Paige

Princess Alyssa

Paige had fun with the presents and her cup.

All of the neices and nephews together.

Another shot of the neices and nephews

After leaving Santa Cruz, we headed to my parents house where we video conferenced in with my family back east for a gift exchange. That was really fun. Justin and I ended up with a Patriots jacket. I can't wait to have it in my hands. We then settled in for a fun dinner with many types of pasta and sauces. After that, we headed home where we assembled the slide from Santa and the ballpit from Santa.