The Favelo's

Thomas Trains

2009-11-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

I am just hosting these here to get some advice from some friends. =)

Praying for a baby.

2009-10-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

Giving God the glory. Would God get more glory if I were real and open and allowed friends to share with me in my journey, all the ups and downs and triumphs of Faith and all of the ways that God shows Himself faithful, or if I keep everything inside - because it is safer that way?

We are wanting another baby. We have been for a long time. Wanting, praying, aching, hoping, wishing, desiring, begging, longing. We are trusting God, trusting Him completely.

For those that are close to us, you know we would love to have a large family. We see children as a blessing from the Lord and would like to have as many as He blesses us with. This has been our desire since the beginning. Abigail is 18 months old this month. I am ready and wanting to be welcoming another baby into our family.

We are open to adoption, but don't feel God leading us in that direction at this point. I am just rambling here, but as I was talking with the Lord today, I felt a nudging to make this known. To make it known, so as to make Him known as we trust and follow Him. We praise Him if He chooses to bless us with another baby, we praise Him if He chooses not to. We pray that He would give us another child. We pray for His will to be done. I ask for you to pray along with us.

We have peace, contentment, and trust. Yet we have longing. I am thankful for this time, as it is causing me to draw closer to the Lord, and to have a bit of increased empathy for others who have heartaches, pain or longings. In the scheme of things my ache is so small. We are so very blessed. I am thankful beyond measure for my two beautiful children. They are a delight.

I am laying my desires at the feet of Jesus. Sitting at His feet. Praying for less of me, and more of Him. That's all for now.

*Please know that if you are expecting, or just had a baby, I am thrilled for you. No need to feel awkward or walk on egg shells here. Our family rejoices with you.*

Hi Ho Cherry-O

2009-05-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

Noah and Abigail playing Hi Ho Cherry-O.

Abigail video - signing bird, dog, cat

2009-05-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

Abigail is really enjoying us reading to her. She loves books and will bring them to us to read to her. Her favorites currently seem to be books with animals in them, and she will make the different signs for each animal as that page comes, and say her version of the word. Here is a little video clip or her "talking". She is such a sweetie.

Water fountain and pigtails

2009-04-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

Anatomy

2009-04-02T16:13:00.001-07:00

After Noah got out of the bath this morning he pointed to his right nip*le and asked me: "Mommy, what is this bump?" I asked him back: "What do you think it is?" He said he didn't know and asked me again. I was really curious as to what he might think it was so I replied "Guess. What do you think it is?" He looked at me quizically and responded: "It is a kiss?" (He has a little brown birth mark on his tummy that we told him is where Jesus kissed him). So then I told him: "No, it is called a nipp*le" and then "you actually have two of them". So, then he asked me where the other one was. I told him to look for it. Pretty funny, he started looking all over, in his armpit etc. until he found the other one on the left side of his chest. Such a sweet boy.

Abigail is 11 months old, standing up

2009-04-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

Abigail is 11 months now and such a sweetie. She LOVES to pull herself up to a standing position and then she will let go and balance. That has gone from 1 second of balancing to know she will sometimes do 10-15 seconds or more. She loves to pull herself up on the little bumbo chair we have for her, and then she will get herself in and out of it. A few times she has gotten herself to a standing position without using anything. I am guessing she will be taking a few steps before she turns 1! I can't believe that will be this month!!!

She just discovered the stairs, and would probably climb up the whole flight if we would let her. She seems to really like her new found independence of crawling and getting around. Although she is also learning that she doesn't always get her way - and she is having to submit her little will. We are training her and she is already learning to be obedient, she knows the word no, and she won't put something in her month if we say no - she won't touch something if we tell her not to. We are currently working on"Come here", and she has that down about 50% of the time. :-)

She plays little games with herself now. She will take a ball and roll it away from herself, crawl the few feet and get it and roll it again. She likes to put little things in cups or containers and then take them out again. She will stand up at the train table and take a train or a book or whatever and put it on the floor, then bend over and pick it up and put it back on the train table - over and over again.

She is definintly a people person and likes to be in on all the action. She is very verbal as well - she talks a lot. She is doing well with her sign langauge, although we sometimes tease that she is just a princess waving her hands (because many of her signs look similiar.) There is no mistaking when she makes the sign for milk.

She is becoming very much like her brother and likes to play outside in the dirt. Papa and Noah have affectionatly nicknamed her "The Dirt Girl". We need to get a set or two of play clothes designed for outside because all of her clothes are getting dirty.

Abigail is a really good eater. Everyone who sees her eat comments on how well and how much she eats. Honestly, she will shovel in the food just about as fast as I can cut it up and put it on her plate. Her current favorites are chicken, eggplant, and strawberries.

OK, that turned from a mini post - into all of what is new with Abigail. It is such a wonderful and humbling blessing to get to parent our children.

Thanks for reading!!

1 funny thing

2009-04-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

OK, I need to get back in the habit of blogging. Noah has said a couple of funny things lately - but I can only remember one of them... :-( so I had better write it down before I forget that one to. We went to the Dr. today for Abigail - thinking that maybe she had an ear infection. Noah told the nurse and the Dr. that Abigail had an ear confection. (Turns out her ears were just fine).

More to come

Southwest chicken salad with cilantro-lime dressing

2009-03-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

We keep getting asked for the recipe for the Southwest chicken salad we make and the yummy cilantro-lime dressing.

First off, I have to give my Dad the credit for "inventing" this salad. When he was on a business trip last year he ordered this salad at the hotel restaurant and he really liked it. So, being my Dad, he went back the next 3 nights and ordered the exact same thing and took notes on what was in it. With that being said there is no EXACT recipe, I have just played with it until the amounts seemed right for our taste. You can't mess it up! When my Dad makes it, he makes it different each time, so it is always an adventure. (If you know my Dad you know this to be true with everything he does).

OK, so this is to make a large salad. Think enough to feed 8 if it was the main dish. You should cut it in 1/2 if it is just for a small family dinner.

1 1/2 -2 large heads of green leaf or romaine lettuce. (I put this in last, enough to fill up a large bowl almost to the top)
3 cans black beans rinsed.
3 cobs of raw white corn - just cut the kernels off the cob with a knife.
1 small red onion chopped
1 bunch of cilantro chopped
4 grilled chicken breasts
1 tub of shredded Parmesan cheese
2 tomatoes diced
Tortilla Chips

Chop the lettuce, chicken, cilantro, onions and tomatoes, and put everything (except chips) together in a large bowl and toss. You can crunch the chips and add them just before serving, or even better you can have people add their own chips. We have also added avocado, but with that I would toss it in at the very end so things don't get mushy. We've also added 1 can of red kidney beans and that is good. (Sometimes I will use the frozen grilled chicken strips from Costco, or you could just shred pieces off of a rotisserie chicken - this makes it one step easier).

Now for the dressing: (This is a double batch, which I make for the salad above, again you can/should 1/2 it)

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup honey
4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Place the jalapeno pepper, garlic clove, and ginger into a food processor or blender; pulse until the jalapeno and garlic are finely chopped. Pour in the lime juice, honey, balsamic vinegar, and salt, add the cilantro leaves; pulse a few times to blend. Turn the food processor or blender on, and slowly drizzle in the olive oil until incorporated into the dressing. Season to taste with salt before serving. I leave the dressing on the side so people can add their own.

If you want it to have more of a vinaigrette taste you can just add more vinegar. (Found that out on accident)

If you have any questions please feel free to ask - and please let me know how yours turns out!

The Bible in the morning

2009-03-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

I had a very Godly and wonderful mom friend share with me that she likes to keep her Bible at the kitchen table so she can sneak in little times of reading the Word here and there with her family though out the day.

I have been doing this the last couple of months and really enjoying it. I have made it a habit to always read it at least during breakfast, and I make it a point to read it BEFORE I turn on my computer and check email, or anything like that. It has been really good. I will just read a section out loud and then discuss it with Noah while Abigail listens in. (Of course Doug does it with us if he is home at that time).

The last week or two, I have brought one of Noah's "Bibles" to the table, and we will read a couple of stories out of there. It has 100 different stories, which are basically just a verse and the story of 100 different Bible characters. He will always ask for "just one more please?" So precious!!!

At the park

2009-03-14T23:37:00.000-07:00

Tried to catch Noah on an "up-swing". He is starting to like to go HIGH!!!

She is starting to really like the swings!

Trying to get a picture of us.

Abigail wasn't cooperating!

Happy Birthday with Sarah!!

2009-03-14T23:26:00.001-07:00

Birthday lunch with my dear friend Sarah - we went to Cheesecake Factory.

Abigail LOVED the bread!!

Getting Noah a toy or something.

Cheese!!

At the water fountain.

Smile!

Noah took this picture himself!!!

Why we homeschool

2009-03-14T23:22:00.001-07:00

I came across this blog post that expresses 8 reasons why one mom decided to homeschool. She writes in a clear, compelling and beautiful way. Please check it out if you are considering homeschooling, would like some encouragement in your journey, or just want to know why we do what we do! :-)

Click Here

Birthday dinner at Sakura Chaya's

2009-03-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law Marcie and I have the same birthday - March 4th. How fun!! So, this weekend we went out for a little birthday dinner at one of our favorite places - Sakura Chaya (Japanese food). We were wanting to do the Teppenyaki (where they cook in front of you), but they weren't going to be able to get us in until 8 o clock, so we had a very nice dinner in the regular dinning. Here are a few pictures.

Happy Birthday!!

Checking out the fish tank.

Noah is sucha good eater, both kids loved the miso soup.

Abigail was clapping the whole evening. She was also chowing down (shoveling in) all of that yummy food.

Our lovely parking lot shot! :-)

Pump it up fun

2009-03-07T22:20:00.000-08:00

Prayers for Eli

2009-02-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

Please continue to pray for Baby Eli. In case you don't know the background the Wedehase family blog is www.wedehase.blogspot.com. In short, their son Eli was born with a serious heart condition. He has open heart surgery two days after he was born. He is now almost a week old and he is recovering well, but is still very fragile. The Wedehase's our dear friends of ours, and they continue to amaze us as they put their faith in our mighty God and seek Him in the midst of all of this.

Thank you for the prayers!

Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T22:41:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful Valentine's Day! Doug and I actually celebrated yesterday. My Dad came over after we put the kids to bed and we went out to dinner at Tony Roma's. It is one of Doug's favorites, and we haven't been in a long time. Doug loves the onion loaf thing, and I love that they have mini deserts! Which means I got to get two! Red Velvet Cake and Warm Brownies with Vanilla Ice Cream. Yummo! We had some great conversation and reminiscing about our 5 1/2 years of marriage. I am married to such a wonderful man!

This evening we went to dinner with my parents and my Grandma VeVe. We were going to go to Cheesecake Factory, but that was a BAD idea. The wait was 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Crazy. We ended up going back to my San Joaquin Gardens and having a really nice dinner there. They had it all decorated for Valentine's Day, and even a dance floor with a band playing. Doug and I danced for the first time in...??

Noah enjoyed handing out his Valentines that he made earlier today. Abigail was happy and enjoyed eating little bites of everything. Well, not everything, she TRIED to get her hands on my ice cream. Not till you are 1 little girl!

Here are a few pictures.

Noah making his Valentines. He loved putting they googly eyes on the heart frogs.

Sweet boy.

Abigail ENJOYING her food. She is such a loud eater!!

Doug enjoying HIS treat.

Noah showing Papa his card

. Noah giving Grandma her card.

Grandma VeVe's heart and pom-pom card.

My beautiful card from Doug.

Abigail crawling - Noah encouraging

2009-02-14T21:38:00.000-08:00

Here is a little clip of Abigail crawling... in this one she is still kind of dragging her leg, but she seems to have it pretty even now. It is cute, you can hear Noah saying "I am racing you Abigail", thinking that will encourage her to go for it!

Abigail crawling to Mama.

Crawling!!!

2009-02-14T21:31:00.000-08:00

Abigail is crawling!!! She officially began on Wednesday night. 2/11/09. So 9 1/2 months old. She had been on the verge for quite a while, she could pivot herself around on her bottom, but then when she would get on her knees she would just fall to her tummy and get frustrated and kick her little legs like she was doing the frog stroke. My friend suggested taking her clothes off, that naked babies crawl better. So I took everything but her diaper off, and sure enough - that night she figured out how to crawl. Here is a picture from that night. She wasn't very happy about the whole thing, she was frustrated that we kept taking the phone away and putting it just out of her reach. Now though, she is really liking her new found independence! She is such a little sweetheart. Noah has been great with her also, he has taken on the roll of coach, and had been trying to teach her and is always cheering her on.

World Ag Expo

2009-02-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the World Ag Expo in Tulare as part of Noah's Birthday present. He will be 3 in one week! He loves tractors, farm equipment, construction equipment etc. , so he was in heaven. I think some of the Reps were impressed when he was "talking shop" with them. It was so cute, when we would tell him he could he would run as fast as his little legs would carry him (which isn't very fast) to the next piece of equipment. We got there about 10:30 and stayed for 2 3/4 hours. We checked out all the equipment, watched some different exhibits, walked through all the booths and of course ate a tri-tip sandwhich, a corn-dog, and some ice cream. Abigail had a fun time too. She was a trooper the whole time, and just took a little nap on the way home. We thought for sure Noah would zonk out too, but he made it the whole way home. It must have been the adrenaline rush from all of the heavy equipment.

Swinging and dinner

2009-02-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

Swinging in our backyard.

Dinner with Grandma VeVe. Abigail loves to sit on her lap - and Grandma loves to hold her!

Woodward Park

2009-02-10T14:39:00.000-08:00

We went for a picnic at Woodward Park last week. So fun! Abigail loved kicking her feet and legs in the little wood chips.

Friends

2009-02-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

I snapped a few quick pictures of the kids and their friends at a little play group we had over here today. All of the kids were great and everyone shared well with each other. The other 2 girls that are about Abigail's age are 8 months, and 9 1/2 months. They are both crawling very well. I was hoping Abigail would have an Aha moment and realize she can crawl too! :-) Actually, I am quite ok with her still being stationary and enjoying that for now.

Playing with tools.

Lego's and heavy equipment - Noah was trying to smile really big!

Girls

Abigail is almost crawling - video

2009-02-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

Abigail is getting closer and closer to crawling. Here is a cute little video of her attempts!! :-)

Quick pics

2009-02-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

A few quick pictures

At the park by our house - one of Noah's favorite hang outs.

Daddy's girl.
Cutie pie

Sign language - cat

2009-02-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute little video of Abigail signing CAT. Both of our babies first words were MILK, CAT, then EAT.

25 random things about Heather

2009-02-02T20:11:00.000-08:00

I was "tagged" on facebook for writing 25 random things about myself and just posted this there. I normally don't do these types of things, but I enjoyed reading/learning about other people, so I figured I should put something up for those that wanted to know more about me... and figured I should post it here too. So, here are some random things about me!

1. I love listening to God and am working on doing it more consistently. It is amazing to me that He loves to communicate with us.

2. It would be much easier for me if this were 25 random things about your spouse / children... i.e., my husband is currently getting his PhD. in ancient history from UCLA. etc.

3. I climbed halfdome when I was in high school.

4. I drove a 4x4 Jeep Wrangler as my first vehicle... and I didn't get to get my driver's license on my birthday because when we went I had a brake light out, and my Dad wouldn't let 'his daughter' take her driver's test on an automatic transmission.

5. I love being my parents' daughter. I am an only child. The other day a friend shared with me that I was the only only child that he knew that he couldn't tell right away (because of being totally messed up in one way or the other)... maybe he will reconsider after reading this.

6. I peek at my children every night before I go to bed. I love being a mommy - I enjoy my kids so much.

7. We don't go to church... at least not a church building. We are the church, and we "do" simple church / home church.

8. We would love to have a lot of kids. As many as God blesses us with... we are leaving that up to Him.

9. I played Volleyball and soccer in highschool. They didn't have a girls soccer team, so I played on the guys team.

10. We plan on homeschooling our children and giving them a classical education.

11. I have a hard time making friends; I always think that someone wouldn't want to be my friend.

12. I love my Arbonne business and the freedom and options it has given our family. I enjoy helping other women with the same thing.

13. I am married to my best friend and wouldn't have it any other way. He is an amazing man of God, treats me like a princess, is a hard worker, a wonderful dad, AND he does most of the laundry and dishes. (I am working on changing that last one).

14. I have little patience for puzzles or online games. The other day Noah and I did a 25 piece puzzle and that was just about over my threshold. Our family does play a lot of board games.

15. Being real... I have clinical depression. I over analyze things to a fault and decisions can sometimes be very overwhelming for me. I have challenges with over eating... serious challenges.

16. We have 2 cats - Ninja and Mama.

17. When I first met my husband after going to a Bible study for the first time I went home and told my parents that it was a really neat group of people, but there wasn't anyone there that I would consider marrying. Glad God knows better than me.

18. I can recite Mel Gibson's pre-battle speech from Braveheart. I even have a trophy for best performance at a talent show.

19. I can't sing well - not well at all. I can, however, make a joyful noise.

20. Both of my babies were born via C-section, after 31 and 24 hours of labor.

21. My daughter had to be transported to Doctor's Hospital in Modesto after she was born, and we didn't get to bring her home for 13 days.

22. We really enjoy going to Carmel. My Grandma has a house over there, and we try to go every few months at least. Lot's of special memories.

23. I planned on having Abigail at home and did a good portion of the labor at home, in a birthing tub.

24. I call my children Pooka (as in pooka shell).

25a. I cut my kids' hair.

25b. I have lived in Hawaii.

25c. I believe a wooden spoon is very helpful in training your children properly.

25d. I have loose shoulder joints. I have dislocated my shoulders playing volleyball, surfing, rock climbing and sleeping (dangerous sport). I have since had 2 shoulder surgeries.

25e. I love ice cream. LOVE it.

Noah amazes me...

2009-02-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

Noah continues to amaze me - what a gift from God! He is going to be three this month, on the 19th. He is such a good boy and such a joy. Often he will just out of the blue say "Mommy, I love you." He is talking and conversing so much. He loves to pretend, he loves to tell stories, and have stories told to him. After we took Daddy dinner tonight at Fresno State there was a big bar that was blocking off a field, and he asked if we could go in there. I told him it was closed and that was just a bar that could be opened for emergency vehicles to go through... so he asked to be told a story about that field and an emergency vehicle going through. So I told him one and then he told me one.

He loves to be read to also, and he can recite a lot of his books. Tonight when we were reading his Baby Bible, there is a prayer at the end of each one. I have him repeat it after me. One of tonight's stories was about Noah and the ark, so it said, "Thank you God for taking care of all of the animals and for taking care of me." I started with "Thank you God for taking..." and he said "Thank you God for taking us to heaven." So sweet.

When we were playing Geotrax this afternoon he threw the switch on the track to make one of the trains go the other way and he said: "Mommy, I diverted your train". Diverted? Seriously, you are not even 3! I didn't tell him that - I just told him that was a really big word and I was proud of him.

Later this afternoon he was sitting at the table having a snack and I was making dinner. He said: "Mommy, I have a question for you." I replied - yes? He asked "Do Koala bears eat pineapples?" This must have been a very pressing question for him... :-) Anyways, I told them that I didn't think so, that they mostly eat bamboo, but that we could do some research and find out for sure. So I guess we will be researching Koala bears tomorrow.

Thank you God for such a wonderful son.

Abigail is 9 months!

2009-01-28T21:15:00.001-08:00

Abigail is 9 months old now! She is so much fun. She is still not crawling, and for that, I am actually very thankful. I know it will be soon - and I know once she takes off she won't want to stop! She is just about there, she can pivot around a bit and sometimes that gets her a foot or two, she can also go backwards a bit when on her tummy.

Just today when she woke up from her nap, and I went to go in and get her she was sitting up in her crib for the first time. I told Doug we needed to put her rail up, and sure enough, when he went to get her from her 2nd nap she was sitting up again. She figured it out!

She is also figuring out sign language. Her favorite word is CAT, and she really loves to sit and watch the kitties by the sliding glass door. She will also say Eat, and Mommy/Milk/I want you. (All the same sign for her).

Just wanted to give a quick update on Abigail, and I will try to get back on a blogging roll. :)

Crock Pot Clam Chowder

2009-01-19T21:14:00.000-08:00

Wanted to share our *famous* clam chowder recipe. Doug is a big time clam chowder fan, and I finally found one that I like as well, and that is easy to make. It is really simple, and OH SO GOOD! Everyone asks me for the recipe. So here it is: clam chowder

I follow the recipe exactly, I just thicken it up right at the end with a little bit of corn starch.

Enjoy!

Heather

"Our" Carne Asada Taco Recipe

2009-01-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

I have been asked by a number of people recently for our carne asada recipe... I thought it would be easiest to post it here.

Carne Asada Taco's

It is amazing!! Well, at least we think so. We don't make the salsa (we did once, wasn't worth the trouble), but the marinade is SO delicious. One of our young teenage guests told me (as he was having thirds) that this was the first time he had good taco's that weren't made by a Mexican. Just call me Maria. The marinade looks like a lot of ingredients, but most of it is spices, and they are all common ingredients which is nice.

The relish also gives it that really authentic flavor - so you have to make the relish! Unless of course you are morally opposed to eating onions.

Chicken Scampi

2009-01-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

I made Chicken Scampi for the first time last night and it was Yum-Yum-Yummy! It was pretty simple too! I am always looking for good recipes and inspiration so I thought I would share it with you. (I have a few more recipes I will be posting soon that people have been asking for - but wanted to do this one before I forgot!)

Chicken Scampi

Enjoy! :-)

Fun at the cabin

2009-01-07T21:46:00.001-08:00

We went up to Shaver for 5 days with our family - what fun! There was a lot of playing in the snow, sledding, playing all kinds of board games, air hokey, guitar hero, naps, yummy food etc. etc. A few pictures to get us started.

This years vs. last years Christmas Tree

2008-12-29T21:38:00.000-08:00

Last years tree - still decorating it.

Just to get an idea of the height - those are vaulted ceilings!

Picking out last years tree.

Peek a boo!
This years tree - a better fit!

Setting up the tree - and the geotrax train track!

This years tree vs. last years tree.... Last year was our first year in our new house, and when we went to pick out our tree our eyes were bigger than our living room - seriously! The tree wouldn't fit in our living room, so we had to put it in the front family room (or however that goes). It looked really pretty there right in front of the window, but we are hardly ever in there, so this year we decided to get one that would fit in the living room, and that was a lot better, and it was way easier to decorate! Those few extra feet make a big difference!

Doll

2008-12-29T21:33:00.000-08:00

Abigail got her first doll for Christmas (actually she got her first 3 dolls)! She really seemed to like them. With the first one she got she just held in right in front of her face and was kind of cooing / babbling at it. The she was holding the little dolls face in her hands, and touching it's little hands, all the while talking to it. She seemed to know what to do with it right away - it was very cute!

Picking out our Christmas Tree.

2008-12-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

We went to Cobb's Ranch to get our tree again this year. That is THE place to go! It is always so much fun, and they have great prices!

Enjoying his candy cane treat!

Practicing smiling. :)

Waiting for Daddy to buy the tree.

Picking out the tree.

Pooh's friend?

2008-12-29T21:23:00.000-08:00

The other day we were all in the car, and Doug stopped at the neighbor's house so I could go ask them something. Noah asked: "Where is Mommy going". Doug replied that I was going to Al's house. Noah asked: Is the Pooh's friend? He was refferring to Owl's house -- and they do sound pretty much the same - Noah was probably thinking how privileged we were to live on the same street as Owl! :-)

More Thanksgiving

2008-12-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

I am trying to catch up!! Here are a few pictures from the great Thanksgiving weekend we had. My cousins from San Diego came up and they stayed at our house for 4 nights (1 of which we weren't here!). I already posted the Yosemite pictures, but here are a few more. We had a LOT of fun playing a bunch of different board games. Watch out for Paul and Mutsuko though, they drive a hard bargain in No Thanks! And Uncle Paul taught us a fun new game called SWIPE. We all thought he liked it so much because he could beat us every time. You should have seen Julianna in Bohnanza, she put us all to shame!! The pictures of Abigail and Aunt Grace were at the last night at Teppanyaki. Even though my cousins are 1/2 Japanese they had never had Teppanyaki!! Mutsuko said it was very "Americanized", but they still liked it.

Christmas at Grandma Dee's

2008-12-26T09:10:00.000-08:00

We did Christmas in Los Banos with Grandma Dee and Rick the Sunday before Christmas because Rick had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We all had a wonderful time with the family.

Playing piano

2008-12-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

Grandma Veve giving the kids piano lessons.

They were both very good students - paying attention to the finer things in life.

Trying it on their own.

Abigail is always looking up to her big brother.

Restaurant.com - now even cooler

2008-12-11T22:11:00.001-08:00

Tip of the day. :-)

You may have heard of the website Restaurant.Com? Basically, you can buy 25$ restaurant gift certificates for only 10 bucks. Sounds like a pretty good deal right? Well, it just got even sweeter. When you go to Wow Coupons (cool site as well), they currently have a coupon code to where you can get that 25$ G.C., for only 3$!!! No joke! We have done it, and it really works. We ate out at some nice restaurants when we were in Carmel, and this made the bills really reasonable. We have also bought a few for some restaurants in this area, but haven't used those yet. The current code is "ONLINE", and it is only valid through tomorrow, the 11th, but there will likely be another one after that, or soon, but maybe not for 3$. Enjoy!

Quick and easy Christmas Treats

2008-12-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

Here is a link I found when looking up a recipe. The thread was titled Quick and Easy Christmas Treats. The opening post says: "Let share some quick and easy Christmas or other Holiday treat ideas/recipes for those of us who don't have time to make lots of cookies. Please only include ideas/recipes that take less than 30 minutes to make."

They are simple, fun, and tasty. Just my style! I had fun looking through the different recipes and I got some great ideas! (There is a compiled list on page 53). Enjoy!

Growing up fast

2008-12-10T22:35:00.000-08:00

Abigail is growing up so fast. She has her top two teeth just about all the way in, one is still breaking through. Very cute. She is very steady with sitting up now, and is getting better at rolling over. She does this little thing where it kinda sounds like she is laughing at herself. It sure makes us laugh. We usually say that she is telling jokes in the back seat.

She has been eating all kinds of things too. She even had turkey for Thanksgiving. She had bananas a few times this week. That was a bad idea. :-( Bananas are something that you would want to eat if you need to stop diarrhea, so this week we found out that the converse is also true. So, Abigail also got to have prunes and apple juice this week. That seemed to do the trick.

Sign Language

2008-12-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

Abigail has been making her first sign in sign language! Can anyone guess the word??? Yep, MILK. :-) I often wonder if she thinks that my name is "milk" also. But hey, the sign for milk is a whole lot easier to make than the sign for mama. :-) We taught Noah sign language when he was little, and we found it VERY helpful. It is so fun to see them be able to communicate even before they are verbal, and it helps them to not be frustrated or have a reason to whine, because they can just tell you what they need/want.

Cute video

2008-12-10T22:02:00.000-08:00

On the trail

2008-12-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

Another little video on the trail in Yosemite

Noah going up the "mountain"

2008-12-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

You will be able to hear Noah saying "I hink I can, I hink I can" (Just like the little engine that could - I think I can)

Yosemite Pictures

2008-12-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

Jason Siebert killed in car crash, please pray for family

2008-12-08T07:05:00.000-08:00

A dear family friend of ours Jason Siebert was killed in a tragic car accident this weekend. For those of you that know the family, please pray for them in this time of grieving. He was an innocent by-stander and as he was driving through an intersection he was hit by a car that was in a high speed chase. This happened in Long Beach where he was living.

Our family has been friends with theirs since 5th grade, and my parents are very good friends with Steve and Debbie. Jason was loved and will be remembered by so many. I was in Oddysey of the Mind, band, and choir with him in grade school, jr. high and high school. Many fun memories of World finals, Santa Cruz band trip, Disney Land fun, and good times at the cabin to name a few. He would always make you laugh and feel special, and was never lacking of something witty to say.

My Dad is driving down to Long Beach with them today to be a support person / driver as they go to collect Jason and his belongings. Please pray for them all. It is so hard to know what to say when someone is in the midst of such pain, we are grieving with them as they grieve.

The family is planning a service here on Saturday at Clovis Hills church and next Tuesday in the L.A. area. The details are still tentative.

*** We are setting up a website at www.JasonSiebert.blogspot.com. Pictures and memories will be posted there as well as service details. If you have a special memory of Jason or condolenses you would like to share with the family the best place to do so would be at that blog.

Thanksgiving in Fresno

2008-12-08T06:53:00.000-08:00

Not the best of pictures, but wanted to record the memory. My Dad holding Abigail who was playing with a measuring cup, and my sweet Grandmother VeVe in the background.

Then we headed back to Fresno and had Thanksgiving dinner with the Hinkle and Krikorian side of Heather's family. Aunt Barbie has been graciously hosting the last couple of years, and she is a wonderful cook. A few of the yummies we had: delicious whipped sweet potatoes, the best ever corn casserole, and tasty razzberry pie and pumpkin streudel pies made from scratch. They always have a warm and cozy fire going, and we had a wonderful time visiting.

Thanksgiving in Los Banos

2008-12-07T22:10:00.000-08:00

Grandma Dee with the Grandkids.

Grandma Dee and Abigail.

Abigail "helping" Grammie cook in the kitchen.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Los Banos with Doug's side of the family. Grandma Dee and Uncle Rick live there, and it is tradition to go there for Thanksgiving lunch. She makes her famous rigatoni's and special sauce, along with Italian sausage - what a treat. It was great to be with family. We didn't get a big family picture there this year, we will need to be sure to do that at Christmas! There are a lot of exciting things going on: Greg and Yessenia getting married in 09 and thenJulie and Keith having a baby in08/09?? They haven't found out the sex, which I think is so much fun, so we will all be awaiting that phone call. I am so thankful to be a part of the Favelo clan!

Carmel

2008-12-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

More Carmel pictures

Fun on the slide at Casa de Fruta

Abigail's first lime

Kissing the owl - her new best friend. :)

Waiting for dinner at Bahama Billy's. Great service and YUMMY food, especially the fish tacos!

Big brown eyes.
On the swing at Casa de Fruta, this was my favorite place to stop when I was young.

A few pictures from Carmel

2008-12-06T15:52:00.000-08:00

A lot of digging was done at the beach!

At the beach

Getting her diaper changed in the trunk before heading to the beach.

We were able to go to Carmel for a few days before Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun and a very relaxing time. I just accidentally erased a bunch of the pictures I uploaded - oops! More to come.

The week before Thanksgiving

2008-12-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

Making our thankfulness tree - Noah helping with the glue

Working on smiling at the camera. :-)

Abigail watching us do our craft and playing with one of her favorite toys - a tape measure.

Playing airplane with Daddy.

Prolly' Jullianna

2008-12-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

At Vernal Falls, getting Noah out of the carrier. Daniel hiked him almost the whole way up - thanks Daniel!!

Fun in Yosemite - more pictures to come!

This morning just for fun, I asked Noah who his best friend was, and he replied: "Prolly Julianna". I think Julianna won him over with the many books she read him, and their common love for cranberries. I don't know, I still think Daniel should have won the prize for backpacking him all the way up Vernal Falls. Well, all of you cousins rank pretty high in his book - he can't stop talking about when the cousins came.

I have SO many pictures, and so much to blog about, and I have been so busy that it is overwhelming to think about starting, but I thought I could at least share that quickly before I forrgot and to get the ball rolling. I will try to post more pictures later today. :-)

Bath in a shower

2008-11-24T21:41:00.000-08:00

I think I have come up with something wonderful.

A bath in a shower.

Here is how it started: Abigail loves to be given a bath. She loves to play with the little bath toys, kick her little legs excitedly and splash her hands all about. The only problem is, with all of that splashing about, it seemed like her goal was to get all of the bath water out of the tub and onto me or the floor. This turned it into something that was more of a chore that a fun experience. Either change into clothes I didn't mind getting sopping wet, and cover the floor with towels, or skip her bath.... babies don't get that dirty anways do they??

I regress - the other factor is I LOVE taking showers. Nice, long, hot showers.

So, the next time I needed to take a shower, and Abigail was awake, I decided to take her little bath tub in there with me, fill in up with warm water and let her splash away while I took my shower. It was a win-win and we both had a wonderful time. You do have to have a rather large shower for this to work out, but ours is perfect for it, I sit on the built in ledge/seat, enjoy my nice long shower, and I get to watch Abigail happily splash in the water and play with her little toys. (The baby also needs to be able to sit up on their own in the little bath for it to work).

Child training tip of the week

2008-11-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

I am considering adding a child training tip of the week. This will mostly be something that will help me solidify and reinforce what I am learning in this joyful journey of raising and training my children. I am not writing it because I think I have it all figured out, by any means! I will just be sharing some of the tips that are working for our family. God has blessed us with his Word, some good Godly examples of parents raising wonderful children, and some helpful books that have encouraged us along the way. So please don't take this as I am telling you what to do with your children, I am just sharing things that have worked for us - if they work for you too, then great!

So, let's get started.

Tip for today: When I am training my children, I always speak with the voice that I want them to respond to. For example, if I tell Noah or Abigail "no" in a nice, gentle and quite voice, and I mean it and back up my words every time, they will come to know that when Mama says no, she means no, regardless of the volume or tone of voice. This doesn't mean that I am over the top syrupy sweet, but I always aim to speak with a gentle voice to my children and I expect them to obey the first time. That way they aren't waiting for Mama to raise her voice, or get the serious tone before they obey.

Play dough

2008-11-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

Daddy and Noah playing with our home made play dough.

3 fire alarms...

2008-11-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

The other night in the middle of the night we had THREE smoke detectors start chiming (loudly) that they were out of batteries! What are the chances - 3 in 1 night?? I said maybe it was because we had changed all of their batteries at the same time last time. Doug thinks it is a wiring issue. Anyways, I am thankful that it was on a night that Doug was home!!! Just one more way that he takes care of all of us. :-) Funny thing is, I hadn't even heard the chiming, I only heard Doug once he was pulling the dresser across the room to stand on to reach the smoke detector. I am a SOUND sleeper!

Fun at the park

2008-11-20T22:02:00.000-08:00

Not sure if you can see it in the picture, but Abigail has sand all over her face. (I know, I know, not a very attractive picture in any way shape or form!) I had just started to let her sit in the sand and play, because she is getting pretty steady.... well, I guess not that steady! She did love kicking her little legs and grabbing the sand with her hands.

Just last week Noah started going down the big slide by himself. He has been very cautious about those type of things, and he really didn't have too much interest in the "daring" type things. Last week was a breakthrough in him realizing he could do it all by himself, and then he wanted to do it a bunch of times. Then when we came home he wanted to tell Daddy all about it.

He also really likes wearing his little Ninja hood.

Abigail hanging out at the park, taking everything in and enjoying her fingers.

We are so blessed to live so close to such a wonderful park! Noah loves the sand, and it is so nice that they put a large shade over the whole park last year. FUN!

Enjoying our backyard and the firepit

2008-11-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

Everyone on Daddy's lap!

Warm and cozy

This is the best! Loving my Christmas present already!

Abigail enjoying her broccoli

2008-11-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

Abigail is "eating" quite a few foods now. I say "eating" because it is mostly "playing" and sucking on the food. She sure does enjoy it though! We waited until 6 months, and her first food was avocado. Since then she has had carrots, green beens, squash, egg yolk, honey dew, chicken, cucumber, apple, and toast. She is still getting probably 99% of her nutrition from breast milk.

Lest you think we are too healthy, I will share this picture I snapped as I was giggling at the opposites attracting. (And no, Abigail doesn't get the ice cream!)

Abigails first day riding in the "car"

2008-11-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

Noah did a great job of sharing his seat

Doug and LA

2008-11-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

Doug just left, he is driving down to LA this morning, and then he is driving back tonight. Then after he teaches his 3 classes tomorrow morning at Fresno State he is heading down to LA again, and then back tomorrow night! So - there and back twice in 2 days. Extra prayers for safe travels!

Noah giving Abigail a ride

2008-11-20T09:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first day that Abigail got to ride in the little red car. First she and Noah rode together in it as I pushed them to the mail box, and then I let her ride by herself (she was strapped in), as Noah pushed her. They both had a gloriously good time, and I had a lot of fun watching them and taking their picture. So cute now that they are getting close to actually playing together.

Obedience

2008-11-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

Obedience in our house means:

1. You obey quickly
2. You obey completely
3. You obey cheerfully

If we tell Noah to do something he needs to do it quickly, completely, AND cheerfully. If not, it is disobedience. I have found that having this definition of obedience really helps with his attitude and the heart of the matter when being obedient. It is often a mirror to myself - if Noah isn't obeying cheerfully or completely, I look at myself and my obedience to the Lord and there is often something there. So then I have to repent and ask for God's help. It is also often because I haven't been being 100% consistent - then it is time to up the diligence and work on being more consistent. It is such a privilege and joy to have these children and get to train them up in the way of the Lord. It is so wonderful to see the fruit of our labor already in Noah. He is such a blessing.

WinCo

2008-11-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

I have a love/hate relationship with WinCo. Namely, I love WinCo and WinCo hates me. Not really, but it sure felt like it. I went to WinCo the other day, no I take that back, I went to WinCo 3 times the other day. I seriously debated blogging about this, because it is almost too embaressing, but I am over myself now, and I figure you might get a good laught, and if nothing else it makes me more real.

So heres the story - I decided to go on an adventure and go to WinCo the other day for our shopping. (Yes, that is what I call an adventure). I loaded up the kids and headed out. It isn't close to our house, but I had been wanting to try it and figured since Doug was out of town and I didn't have much planned for the day it would be a good day to go.

Boy, that place is big!! But I was in shopping heaven. Noah and my eyes both got really big when we got to the bulk food area, where you put everything in the little bags and tag them. To me, that is SO much fun. Getting to get a little bit of this and an little bit of that. (That is why I love buffets and pot-lucks so much!) It was all such amazing value! I got dried fruit, pistachios, peanuts, pizza dough mix, wheat germ, etc... and a few mini lollipops "wawwy-pops" (Noah still have a hard time with l's), for a special treat. We also got diapers for both kids, cat food, fire wood, marshmellows, you know, all of the necessities.

Well, we had shopped for quite a while - Abigail was in the Ergo carrier and being quite a trooper. And then it happened... we were in line and I swiped my card and it said "Enter Pin". I told her I wanted to pay with credit because that card wasn't a debit. (Is this all starting to seem a little like de-ja-vu?). Well, turns out they don't take credit, and this time I wasn't so lucky to have a spare check on me, and like a silly girl I hadn't put my other credit/debit card back in my purse. Ack!!!

I was trying to look on the bright side, and thinking "well, I guess it was fun to pick everything out and now I can pick it all out again". The kind lady then said that they could hold everything for me for a few hourse in their walk in cooler. So I went home, fed the kids and put them down for a nap - then we headed back to WinCo. We were in a bit of a hurry, because I was trying to get back before Abigail's next nap, as I wasn't able to leave right after her other one. Anyways, got there and I am in the parking lot looking for the debit card, and couldn't find it ANYWHERE. Ack!!! I went in to ask them if they could hold if for me longer, and also to see if possibly they would just be able to key in my debit number, but they said no.

So - we headed back home, Abigail napped again, and then we headed back out to WinCo. Mind you, this is no short jaunt from our house! So 3rd time is the charm and we got to buy our food and groceries. Noah had a great attitude the whole time, and we actually had a lot of fun listening to this new children's book on c.d. on the way It has a lot of songs on it as well - I think I had it all just about memorized by the last trip home. I rewarded Noah with one of those lollipops on the way home. It was a good excercise for me in patiance, trusting God, and not getting upset about the things I can't change.

I did seriously debate after the first and second time if I should just cut my losses, call them and say I wasn't going back. But like I said I had a lot of groceries, and a lot of it was necessities - like the cat food and diapers.

Oh yeah, it turns out I had left my check and debit card on the top of my car from when I was putting the kids in their car seats. When I got back from the 2nd trip they were in the street by our house. Thank you Jesus that they were still there!! And yes, I did put my debit card back into my wallet so hopefully I won't get into this predicament again.

Happy Birthday Nicky!!!

2008-11-12T23:05:00.000-08:00

We all had a great time at Boingo's in Visalia for Nicky's 6th birthday. WOW!!!! 6? Already! It seems like it was just a little while ago that he was a cute and chubby little baby at our wedding!

Early Christmas present!

2008-11-10T22:14:00.001-08:00

I got my first Christmas present this weekend... a fire pit! Love it! Noah has had "camp-fires" quite often over at Papa and Grandma's and it is always the highlight of the evening. So now we are able to have our very own camp-fires in our backyard. We had one last night and it was so much fun - there is just something special about sitting around a campfire! I think my next Christmas present needs to be an ax though - because we can only borrow Papa's for so long!

She has teeth!

2008-11-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Watch our Grammie - she has teeth! (She has her bottom 2, and she has had them for a good month now - makes for a super cute smile!)

Noah showing Daddy how to shoot the deer - or whatever it was they were shooting??

Grammie had the week off, so she came to Fresno and we got to go to dinner and visit.

How to tell when a baby has a burp

2008-11-10T21:51:00.001-08:00

Abigail is just about to get out of the "burping" stage, but I wanted to pass on this little bit of wisdom to all of you new mommies, before I forget! When Abigail was in the NICU in Modesto our favorite nurse Toni would often say "Oh, I think she swallowed wind" (Her Australian way of saying she has a burp). Sure enough, we would pat her back and up a burp would come and the fussing would stop. Finally I asked her how she knew - because she wouldn't say it every time she fussed, just some of the time. She told me that you look right above their upper lip, and if that area is darker, they likely have a burp. It will just look slightly darker - not the lip, but right above the lip. It looks almost like a very light 5 o clock shadow of a mustache. I would have never noticed it if she hadn't said it, but once we brought Abigail home I would always check the skin above her lip and it was a sure-fire way to tell if she had a burp. (Small print - Not making any medical claims, if their lips are blue or purple definitely take them in, and I am not sure if this will work on all babies). I hope that helps one new mommy!

Political Activists

2008-11-10T21:25:00.000-08:00

Abigail checking out the lawn sign.

Noah helping Abigail with her bow.

Chanting: "Yes on 8, yes on 8" as the cars drove by! :-) Just kidding.

In case you didn't know where we stand/stood on the issue, now you do! If you ask Noah he can tell you about it too - next time you see him ask him who can get married and he will tell you "One man, one woman". For a while there before he got it down he would come up with all kinds of wrong combinations, like: One man, 8 women - or One woman, 2 men. But now he knows the right answer! And he would always point out the prop 8 signs when we would drive by them.

The Saturday before the election we felt led to go and show our support for prop 8. and hopefully encourage others to vote, so we took our sign and walked to the main intersection by our house and held up the sign. We prayed and sang and waved to people as they drove by. It was pretty neat to see peoples responses. We got a lot of honks, waves, and thumbs-ups. It was interesting, we only got one car of thumbs-downs and that was by the kids in the back seat of a car. (I guess their parents are teaching them just like we are teaching ours).

Praise God Prop 8 passed! The little exercise in freedom of speech that we did as a family was really a blessing to us, and a lot of fun too.

In honor of Doug

2008-11-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Doug loves Star Wars. We even walked into our wedding reception to the Imperial March... so in honor of him, please enjoy this video - it is pretty cool, even for non star wars fans!!!

Chinese babies and swinging

2008-11-02T00:00:00.000-07:00

Princess power

Chinese baby - my mom brought their outfits back from China.

Dazed and confused - hanging on to the swing and her pacifier for dear life. :-)

Bounce house

2008-11-01T23:53:00.000-07:00

King of dark, but here is Noah showing off his bouncing skills in the bounce house!

Cake walk video

2008-11-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

Here is Noah going around the "cake walk" by himself - so cute, and he won!!! We got to take home 3 yummy cupcakes thanks to Noah! :-)

Fall Festival

2008-11-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

We went to a little Fall Festival at Bethany church right by our house yesterday. Noah had a lot of fun in the bounce house!

He is wearing a little China boy outfit that my parents brought him back - all the way from China.

Checking out my little pouch baby.

She is becoming a thumb sucker!

Peek-a-boo!

Here is Noah doing the cake walk - it was pretty cute. I tried to upload the next even cuter one, but it didn't work - I will try again.

Enjoys!

FIRE!!! :-)

2008-11-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight "the boys" were all over here playing board games in victory of Doug passing his exam. (Yes, he passed - yeah!!!) Anyways, Jessica came with her husband David, and we decided to bake the boys some cookies. So we got busy putting everything together and I turned the oven on to preheat it. Only thing was I had forgotten that Doug had put the last pizza box in the oven to keep it warm. A minute or so later I was melting the butter in the microwave and I smelled something really funny. I peered in at the butter, and then it hit me - "Oh no! The pizza box!!" So I got Doug's attention and he came and got the box that was on fire and carried it outside. It was still on fire but Doug had gone back in to open the windows etc. so the fire alarm wouldn't go off. Darren heroically came out to... rescue the pizza, he scooped up the slices and took them inside. I was left outside with the burning box. Then Jessica came out with a big glass of water that we poured on the burning pizza box. Yeah Jessica! Phew! All that happened was my pride got hurt (especially since this is the 2nd fire I have caused in an oven), and we had "smoked pizza" - I guess that could be a specialty item?? Well, praise the Lord it wasn't any worse! Jessica said it was pretty funny how I calmly asked Doug "Doug, can you please come in here? - the oven is on fire".

Costco

2008-10-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

Always make sure you take your debit card to Costco!!!!!!!!!!!! (Or an American Express or check book) I almost learned that lesson the really hard way. I was in the checkout lane with Abigail in the Ergo carrier, and about 200$ of stuff on the conveyor thingy when I had the dreaded thought/picture of my debit card being at home on the counter. I had a moment of utter panic. I explained to the lady that I wasn't sure if I had my debit card and asked her for a minute to let me look. She asked if I had an A.E. card, which I don't, at this point I was going through all my options - call Doug and see if he would wake Noah up from his nap and come rescue me, call me mom for the same, ask them if they could leave the groceries in a cart (but 1/2 of it was frozen stuff), when she asked me if I had a check. I had a glimmer of hope as I thought I remembered having my checkbook in my purse, which I usually don't. Phew!!! Praise God! I did have it! Hooray - such a big relief.

There was also this REALLY friendly mature Chinese couple who were intent upon helping me with everything (unloading the cart onto the conveyor - pushing the cart to my car for me - unloading it all). On the way our the lady said (with a heavy Chinese accent) "In our country we wear out babies on our back so we have both hands free!" Next time you come over have me do an impersonation for you, when I did it for Doug and the Morris family it was pretty funny - or so I though! That really was a neat blessing and gift of service they gave me.

In other Costco news: If you are a bacon fan at all, you've gotta get their already cooked bacon. YUM! And it is so easy. I always hate the mess of cooking bacon, and this is delicious and you can eat it cold or put it in the micro. and it is perfect. Great for throwing in beans or on top of burgers.

Doug's big test

2008-10-30T22:02:00.001-07:00

Doug went down to UCLA today to take his big written exam in Greek history and Greek translation. He had studied really hard, and we all prayed really hard! I talked to him this afternoon and he said he thought there was about a 51% chance that he passed it. When I talked to him tonight it was about 60% (after talking to a graduate student friend). I however am 100% sure he passed it! :-)

He has been working/studying like crazy for this one the last 4 months, so now he is taking a little break and playing a computer game on the couch next to me. We both have our laptops in our lap - he is playing and I am blogging. Probably a pretty funny sight. :-)

After Abigail was born

2008-10-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

Abigail is 6 months old now! Praise God, He is SO faithful! She is such a delight and we are so thankful to have her, and happy that she is completely well after her rough start. At birth she had meconium aspiration which lead to persistant pulmonay hypertension, pnemonia, and sepsis. This is a little video of Abigail shortly after she was admitted to the NICU nursery. Her heart was racing and you can notice her rapid breathing n the video. She was on a hood of 100% oxygen, and had a little surgery to put umibilical lines in her tummy to give her nutrition and medicine. She was in a lot of pain and very agitated; they had her on morphine. (There isn't any blood or anything in the video, but it might be hard to watch if you are tender hearted.) Following are some pictures of our first days, and our stay in Modesto.

Abigail at Fresno Community

2008-10-29T23:31:00.000-07:00

Less than 24 hrs after Abigail was born.

Oxygen hood of 100% oxygen. Little IV in her hand, oxygen monitor on her foot, and an umbilical nutrition line, and umbilical blood line.

Precious girl

She spent a lot of time screaming those first couple of days. :-(

She was still adorable.

More Modesto

2008-10-29T23:06:00.000-07:00

Pretty girl - she graduated to her cannula here.

When Grammie came to visit. Abigail was happy, very alert and making all kinds of funny faces.

In her oxygen hood with all the tubes and wires. We had to transfer to Modesto,before she was 48 hours old because she needed a higher level of care than the NICU in Fresno had. There was no room left at Valley Childrens in Madera - hence Modesto.

Mommy looking wiped out, but happy to be in Modesto with her little girl.

Bright eyes - no cannula!

I was really happy the hospital had wonderful visiting hours in the NICU, they only closed for an hour in the morning, and an hour at night.

When Grandma and Papa came to visit. Notice the pictures of us that were on the side of her bassinet. They did that in part to make her and us feel a little better about the situation, but also so that they had a picture of the parents by the bedside, as a security in case someone else was by the bedside. They would only let non-parents stay for 15 minutes at a time.

My parents brought Noah to come and visit and meet Abigail. She "picked out" this little John Deere tractor for him. He was happy to meet his baby sister.

Abigail in Modesto

2008-10-29T22:48:00.000-07:00

This was our doctor - Dr. Yao, he was wonderful, everyone spoke very highly of him and said we were lucky to get him. Behind him was our very favorite nurse - Toni. We were blessed to have her a number of days - maybe 6 or 7? She was awesome, very breastfeeding friendly, so she helped me a lot with that. She was from Australia, so she had all kinds of funny names for Abigail, like little "Vegimite" or "Sweet Pea" or "Possum". God hooked us up with the best people while we were in Modesto.

The first time Daddy got to hold his little girl (since she was in the NICU), she spent her first night with us in the hospital room at Fresno Community.

My mom stayed with me to help a couple of days, when Doug had to go back to school.

Bonding with Abigail.

My Dad came to stay for a couple of days to help as well.

Pumpkin patch

2008-10-28T22:56:00.000-07:00

Such potential to be a cute picture - didn't quite work out!

Abigail and Doug.

Corn maze.

He has a lot of fun running through the corn maze.

Maybe we need to go again!?! ;-)

"I've never seen a pumpking before"

"Who took my pumpkin?"

They gave Abigail this cute little pumpkin to take home - she liked to try to chew on it!
She also really liked playing with the hay and kicking her little feet.

And examining the hay.

Front yard Olympics

2008-10-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago we were having "front yard Olympics" (just any kind of competition we come up with), and I challenged Doug to a game of "who can jump the furthest". Only thing was Doug had to compete while holding Noah. We marked our lines - jumped, and then kept increasing our distance. We had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. Do you want to know the really sad thing though? Doug still beat me, even while holding Noah!!! Uggh, something is not right! Maybe I need practice?

Abigail in a tutu

2008-10-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

She loved grabbing the tulle and kicking her little legs

Model material

Just hanging out

Big smiles for Mama

"Does this tutu make my butt look fat?" :-)

Angel baby

Doing push ups

Super cute

Naked babies

2008-10-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Nothing cuter than naked babies... See if you can guess which one is Noah and which one is Abigail?? :-)

Talking SO much

2008-10-18T14:49:00.000-07:00

Abigail is babbling quite a bit now, and it really seems like she is trying to communicate and form words. It almost sounded like Dada earlier while we were eating lunch. She sucks her thumb every so often also, which is kind of amusing.

Rolling over

2008-10-18T14:45:00.000-07:00

Abigail rolled from her back to her tummy yesterday for the first time! (5 1/2 mos) She has been able to roll from her tummy to back for probably a month now, but doesn't do that too often either. I just went and got from the attic this little toy that she lays on and there ar\re toys dangling above on a bar and the bar curves on both sides of her. I remember Noah rolling towards the bars and that helped him to learn how to roll over - Abigail is doing the same thing just now - so cute.

Favelo language

2008-10-18T14:39:00.001-07:00

Favelo Trivia:

What are Pooh Sticks?
How do you play Pooh Sticks?
Who is Pooh Sticks?

Last of the birthday pics, fun times

2008-10-18T14:32:00.000-07:00

Birthday Continued

2008-10-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Cousins

Almost a cute family picture... well, besides the fact that Doug is really the only one that looks good. :-)

"Mama, may I have some candy please?"

Wierd angle but cute girls!

More Birthday

2008-10-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

Notice Abigail's shoes...

The Wedehase Family

Laurie is pretty in purple... hmmm, is that look in her eye contemplating #2??? :-)

Doug, Sarah, Bobby, Marcie, Jeremy, Corban, Angel, Darren, Christian, and Laurie.

Beautiful Beery girls - Paula, Gabriella, and Juliahna.

Doug's B-day

2008-10-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for the party

Having fun with Grandpa and Grammie

"Cheese"

Daddy's girl - notice the Pepsi sign in the background. :-)

Pizza with Grandpa and Cousin Nick

We had a lot of fun at Me-n-Ed's for Doug's Birthday party. He turned 33 this year! More pictures to come.

Tool time!

2008-10-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

Noah is showing Abigail the ropes.

Definitely taking after her brother - this is one of her favorite toys to chew on!

Gotta have ice in your milk

2008-10-08T21:39:00.000-07:00

If you haven't tried it yet, you've gotta try putting ice in your milk. Doug thinks I am wierd... but, seriously, you are gonna love it - at least I do. Especially in a bowl of cereal, 2 big ice cubes and it's perfect - nice and icy cold.

Best of friends

2008-10-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

It is really cute watching Noah and Abigail becoming "friends". He likes to give her kisses and pat-pats, and bring her toys. When we took this picture he had actually asked out of the blue - "May I hold Abigail please?" So I went and grabbed my camera. She is starting to give him really big smiles, and is starting to giggle when he does certain things. He has really gotten her going with the giggles a few times in the last week or so. 2 weeks ago they had there first "fight". Not really, but I was holding Abigail on my lap, and Noah was bending down under the chair to grab something, as he was coming up she grasped a handful of his hair in her little hand a yanked it towards herself. He let out a little yelp and looked up in disbelief - like "What just happened?!?!" I explained that it was an accident and she didn't do it on purpose. I think he learned to keep his head away from little hands! :-) We are glad they are close in age, and pray that they will grow up to be wonderful friends.

Digging

2008-10-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

Noah REALLY likes to dig. When we were going to the fair yesterday he kept asking if he could bring his shovels, bucket and digging vehicles and if there would be sand at the fair! He can play happily in the backyard for hours, digging trenches, building roads, etc. etc. Oh, and yesterday he learned how to make "worms" and "pies" out of mud. He figured out the worm thing all on his own, and I helped him out with the pie thing. Little boys are wonderful!

Geocaching

2008-10-08T21:16:00.001-07:00

We went Geocaching the other day for the first time. It was a lot of fun. Basically it is a treasure hunt using your GPS system. People hide things all over the place and then log them into a website, you can look up ones that are near your location, and pick a difficulty and terrain level that suits you - plug in the coordinates and then go hunting. There was one that was 185 feet from our house (as the crow flies). So we headed out on our big "adventure". We ended up not being able to find the treasure, because you can't actually plug in coordinates on our GPS, but we did have a lot of fun looking - and we came away with some pinecones - and we found a tiny one for Noah and told him that was the treasure. He was thrilled. I could see how the whole geocaching thing could be a really fun and free family activity!