Ethan is Here!!

Ethan arrived on September 10th in the evening. He was 7lbs 9oz and 19.5 inches long. He is healthy and doing well. We are so excited he is here! The delivery was easy. At my apt that morning we found that my water was leaking so she sent us to the hospital. Once at the hospital we got settled in and they gave me my epidural and broke my water. Then we waited by playing games, napping etc. until he arrived at 5:21pm.

Las Vegas Summer Heat is FUN (Not so much)

I am 8 months pregnant and counting the days until it starts cooling off. Unfortunately that will probably not happen until after my little boy arrives. The heat usually does not bother me too much, but having a little extra heater inside has not made this summer easy. So I have been trying to be creative as to what activities we can do inside to keep these kids out of trouble. In this department my parents (especially my mom) has been a LIFE SAVER. So as often as time permits we have been trekking over to her house and hanging out there. The kids have discovered some new toys. My mom pulled out some old blocks that we played with as kids, buckets with water and a Popsicle in the mouth is a new found method of getting some fresh air without too much work. And then there is a favorite of running into Papous' office to see what new and exciting things have popped up in there. Even Emily has decided that sitting still is no longer entertaining, she has become quite mobile and loves to eat real food, just like the toddlers.

My friend gave me a coupon to get some free pics, so I couldn't turn down the offer. All the pictures turned out so cute a had a hard time just picking one. This is the one a put on my wall.

This one is the one I picked to give as gifts to grandparents and such. I love it because you can't help but smile when you look at it. I also like it because you can see how much progress he has made in the tooth department. All i had to do to get him to smile like that is play peekaboo behind the photographer with his blanket, monster noises always does the trick. Kaleb has such a great personality.

Here are some of the other pics that were taken at this photo session. Enjoy!I wish I was this photogenic, what an adorable smile! I LOVE him so much! He is definitely a keeper forever!

It's My Body

Just some thoughts that have been on my mind that I would like to write down...

As most women know, from the time that a girl is born, we are exposed to all kinds of ideas about our bodies and how we should treat them. Like most women I am not alone in the search to find the Truth and find a balance about how it really should be. Over the last month this has really been on my mind. I know that it makes Heavenly Father sad when women do things to their bodies that tries to make them all the same. He did not create us the same for a reason, therefore we should not try to become identical. Now when I see magazines in the store, it makes me sad to see what role models and doing to their bodies, it isn't something I aspire to in any way. I have grown an appreciation for my body over the years. Heavenly Father gave me my hips, hair, face, legs, feet, tummy, and every other part of my body as a gift, he created it just the way he wanted it to be. I can finally say, I love my body just the way it is! Yes, I still have my moments of weakness, but the fact that it wont look like it did in high school, in this life, it is okay. I don't have to be a model with no figure, I will never look that way, nor do i want to. No one in my life or in anyone else's should be setting unwanted expectations on what my body should be other than being healthy. So here is what I do care about, I want to take care of my body and be as healthy as Heavenly Father will allow. This does not mean running 20 miles a day, it does not mean I am never going to eat chocolate or anything that is not good for me, this means, all things in moderation, and I am not going to be ashamed of what I look like because in Heavenly Fathers eyes, I am beautiful, I am gorgeous beyond anything I can imagine (or I have the ability to be)and that is the only thing that matters.
My body is a gift, and with it comes the gift of motherhood, and with motherhood comes sacrifice. And with motherhood comes, change of body, that is all it is, change, it isn't good or bad, just change. Yes, weight gain is part of it, and it isn't bad. Even after the baby is here, your body is never the same, it is changed, and that is how Heavenly Father intended it to be.
Being a mom has been the best change I have gone through in my life, it is why we are here. It is so exciting to watch Kaleb learn and grow! He is worth every pain I have felt on his behalf.
This gift that God has created, was created especially for me, he knows what I need and has created it accordingly. It was a customized gift that he made just for me, how could you not love a gift made with so much love and potential?

He's Here

My sister Amber had har son at around 11am on Easter. He was 7lbs. 1oz. They named him Mason McKade. He looks just like his dad. Because of all the crazyness of the weekend, I only got one pic of him, (it is in the slide show at the end, it isn't very good) Amber had quite the weekend, she was in labor for a little over 30 hours. She too wanted to deliver natural but because of the length of the labor had an epidural three hours before he arrived. They are both doing wonderful, and Amber is loving every moment of finally being a mother of her own.

What have we been up to? In a nutshell, quick, and easy

Guess What!!

I'M PREGNANT!! It seems along with everyone else, I am also due in Sept, on the 14th. That makes me almost 14 weeks along (3 1/2 months for those who are not female and don't want to do the simple math) I am in my second trimester. The first wasn't to rocky, pretty much just extreme exhaustion, but in the last couple of weeks my energy has returned and I feel a little more human and have a little hump to show for it (no, it isn't very noticeable yet, but it is there). I have also been able to feel the baby move a few times, which was a surprise to me so early, but I guess I know what to feel for, this time around. Kaleb already knows about the baby too, anytime you ask him (except when too many people are watching or when Emily is around) where the baby is, he will point to my belly button. Who knows how much he understands or will understand before the baby gets here but it is fun to think he is going to be an older brother and I want him to be excited when the baby does come. So the next question you probably have is, was this planed? Well kind of, we had "stoped preventing" it for the last six months and "tried" for a couple of months, but because we were into Sept, and up against Matt starting school in another state (potentially) we stopped and prevented it again, and low and behold here I am, pregnant and due in September. So we have some things to work around and help from family might (okay, will) be needed, but we will make it through, and we are both excited to welcome another spirit into our family!
I had my first doc apt, and it went well, the baby seems to be healthy and strong. We probably wont have the ultra sound until about 20 weeks, so we have a ways to go before we know the gender. We are hoping for a boy, but of course will be thrilled with a girl too! Going off the fact that this pregnancy is almost identical to Kaleb's, my guess is that it is a boy, but we shall see!

She's Here!!

Julia Faith was born on March 3rd around 10:30pm. She was 6lbs. 11oz. And she is beautiful and both Megan and baby are doing great. They are home from the hospital and enjoying their time together as a family. Congratulations to Megan for delivering her first child naturally, especially since her doc accidentally broke her water at her weekly check up, so they had to give her drugs to start labor. They sent her directly to labor and delivery. She was hoping to do most of the labor at home. Everything turned out great and Julia is here and healthy. Congrats! Mike and Megan on your new arrival. She is beautiful!

Mini Van

One thing that has gotten pushed aside, is the fact that we bought a mini van! That's right, (disclaimer, Matt will not drive it) It has been fabulous. We did it for many reasons, 1) we wanted to buy while we have the money 2) Now is a great time to buy a vahicle 3) With me watching Emily that would put me at needing three car seats in the car which the honda would not fit, therefore leavinging me stuck at work everyday 4) We want to have more children, and they are really nice for lugging stuff around that comes with them 5) it is safer, for the kids, no worrying about one getting hit by a car while i am strapping the other one in 6) it was in our price range, if we are buying a vehicle for more seats why pay extra for it to be an SUV, mini vans are cheeper and just as nice 7) I love the sliding doors, expecially the automatic one, no more worrying about kids slamming doors into other cars. and i think i could go on and on but you get the point, we are excited about our new (to us) Mini Van!

The Last Months Happenings

Since Emily has gotten here, I just have not had the time like I did before for blogging, and I don't imagine it will get any better any time soon. So I have a feeling my blogging will be fewer and farther between until we get the Internet at our house.
Christmas
Christmas was fantastic, we celebrated a couple of days early with Matt's family and then celebrated Christmas with my family. It was really nice because everyone was there and we all have spouses now. Matt Kaleb and I ended up spending a couple of nights at my parents house just so we wouldn't miss out on all the fun. Of course we had the traditional Greek Leg of Lamb for Christmas eve dinner and all the things that go with it, Once again it was delicious. We opened one gift witch were matching camo Pj's nice and light for the Vegas summers :) Then on Christmas we opened presents ate breakfast and just hung out all day, It was great!
Reno
A few days after Christmas, actually new years, we flew up to Reno to visit my sister and her husband. She has lived in Reno for about three years and I have never been there to see what it was like, so I finally decided to do it. She showed me all of the houses she has lived in, took us on a walking tour of campus, and thanks to AJ we watched a movie at the student union movie theater just us five. Kaleb loved the freedom to run up and down the isles and explore. And of course we watched some movies at her house too. They live in a one bedroom apartment on campus, so it was a little squishy with five of us, but thankfully we are all flexible and enjoyed our time together. Thanks Stacy for the great weekend!
Five Years Together
So we returned from Reno on Monday, went back to work for four days, then turned around and left town again Friday night. This time Kaleb stayed with Yaya and Papous, and had a fabulous time. Meanwhile Matt and I took of to go to California where our Cruise left for Mexico. That is right to celebrate being married for five years we decided it was time to take a cruise and go on a real vacation just the two of us. IT WAS FABULOUS! It was seven days so we had a day and a half to relax and get in the groove of vacationing on the ship. Then on Monday we docked in Cabo where we had no idea what were doing, so we walking around, went to a museum, and walked through town a little. On Tues we were in Mazatlan where we paid a taxi to give us a tour. We also added on an aquarium (where i saw a sea horse in real life for the first time and a toucan, it was very cool). On wed we were in Puerta Viarta where we did an excursion that took us snorkeling, to a fishing town only assessable by boat, a water fall, a beach and fed us lunch. The town was amazing, it looked like it was hanging off the side of the mountain. It looked ancient and run down but the people were friendly. Then we had two more days to do absolutely nothing! It was nice to sit down and read a 600 page book (The Host by Stephanie Mayer), that is my kind of vacation. The only thing that could have made it better was the food was not great, it was a step better then airplane food. When we wanted to stretch our legs there was plenty of things for us to do. We played ping pong, shuffle board, a 6 ft chess game, a game room for cards, and we also attended a couple of shows and classes. Overall it was very relaxing and refreshing.
Grandpa Mandeles
Before we left on our cruise, my grandpa suddenly passed away. He was in fairly good health, so it took us all off guard. He was hiking when he felt a little light headed, then he fell and never took another breath again. Some of the group he was hiking with were retired nurses, they tried to revive him until the paramedics get there. It makes me so grateful that we decided to visit them before Christmas. We usually don't go because of the busy schedules around the holidays, but because of some encouragement from my sister, we visited them, which is a great last memory of my grandpa. We had the traditional Greek leg of lamb, opened a few small gifts and sang Christmas carols together. And of course left with a hug and an "I Love You." So I think we are all feeling grateful for the life he lived and the time we spent together and we are happy that he is in a better place. Now we are all praying for my grandmother who is now adjusting the the life of a widow, and will have some mourning to get through, loosing her best friend and eternal mate.
Matt and school
Matt has officially got all three applications in to Denver CO, Phoenix AZ, and Salt Lake City UT. He has gotten confirmation that they received the applications (which was a process in and of itself, but we made it) and all the pieces that goes with it, Now it is the waiting game, and to all those who ask me every time I see you, it probably wont be until April or May that we will hear back from the schools. Thankfully Matt is still working (they have laid off about 7 people, in his office that used to have 40 people, so Matt really is grateful to have his job).
My Work
It was hard going from taking care of just me to taking care of two children again. Erica is still on maternity leave until the beginning of March, so she mostly takes care of Emily while i take care of Anna and Kaleb. Unfortunately they have been passing around a virus at their house so everyone but me has gotten it. So we have been doing alot of hanging around the house to keep from spreading it. I have been taking vitamin C and praying that I dont get it, what do you think the chances are? So to add to my plate Kaleb is truly sick for the first time (an ear infection caused by the runny nose from teething doesn't count right?) i think he sounds like a dog barking, Matt says he sounds like the bad guy from transformers, either way he sounds horrible but seems to still have energy to play, so it can't be too bad. Emily has it though and is not doing so well, so she has been to the doctor many times so Erica sure thinks it is very helpful to have the extra pair of hands, and it is nice to be needed, even if I don't get breaks anymore. So yes, I am still loving my job, and couldn't ask for a better one.

Well I think that is all for now...i feel like I am forgetting something, sorry there is no pictures, I will try and take the time to download them some time. That is what has been going on in our lives, and yes it has been crazy, but fun. ( I'm sure you can only imagine the laundry) Thanks, I am excited to get updated on all of your blogs.