billy jean

my favorite michael jackson song! crazy that he's dead now...he's been a head case for so long now, but he did make some good music and sure did have some great moves! i still remember my uncle giving me the thriller cassette tape and me LOVING it! who didn't love that album???

happy father's day!

happy father's day, dada!

thanks for teaching me to mow the lawn...

and all your great tricks!

...and of course, for everything else you do for us! we love you SO much!

rolo - 20 weeks!

i've officially hit the halfway mark with rolo - which is simply unbelievable! last week we had our BIG ultrasound, that could have told us the sex of this little one if we had wanted...but alas, we closed our eyes three times to avoid the genital region and instead came home with a sealed envelope marked with three huge question marks containing a snapshot of the region (only to be opened sometime after the birth for momento/baby book purposes!). many people ask how we can stand not knowing and especially how we can stand to have the answer in a sealed envelope in our hands without opening it! honestly, i feel no temptation whatsoever to open that envelope or to ruin the surprise that awaits us at the end of october! sure, i wonder...will our boy be joined by a little brother or sister, but i'm all good to wait it out! it's so exciting. but...i am curious to know what you think - boy or girl?? answer the poll that should be posted on the right! leave us a comment with your reasoning or thoughts! i'd love to know what people are thinking, because i really don't have a feeling one way or the other yet!

we did get our eyes on all the other little baby parts of our sweet rolo and everything looked great. it never gets old hearing that heartbeat and seeing your little baby moving inside of you. it's simply incredible. i'm starting to feel more and more movement and more frequently - which is my absolute favorite part of being pregnant. i forgot how cool it is - like a little conversation with just you and your unborn baby. i missed it and will certainly miss that feeling when i'm done with this one.

i don't have any official "belly pics" yet. i have never been good at that. i had hopes with kellen to take weekly or monthly photos and it just never happened. i have thought about it this go around, but again...they haven't happened and besides, i didn't have any with the boy, so i really should keep things fair! instead, i leave you with a profile pic of our little rolo and the cutest little foot and hand waving hi to all our peeps.

the cloth diaper debate

i've gone back and forth about taking the plunge in the cloth diapering world! i actually dipped my little toe in when k was still a little guy in that i gave g diapers a whirl! after going through our case of flushable inserts, i decided that the g's weren't for me. they sure were cute (i mean...come on! how cute is that little g for a baby with the last name of starting with a g???!), but i didn't feel like the paper inserts were that much more environment-friendly and they were a lot more expensive. on top of that, i was having to wash the cloth cover after nearly every use because they would get wet or worse...blow out with a poop! it felt like too much work! so i gave up.

but everytime we take the bag of diapers out to the trash can, we get a sick feeling in our stomach. it's so much waste! i haven't been able to shake that feeling. i now actually have several friends who have made the switch to cloth. they each have their own system, some use pockets diapers, some use prefolds in a g diaper cover, some a little of everything. i am preparing to dip my little toe in a little further and hope that i end up making the plunge with both the boy and our little rolo when s/he arrives. i have already purchased a few g covers in kellen's size and a stack of prefold diapers (confession...i actually bought those over 6 weeks ago and have yet to give them a try!). erin (who has made the switch!!) pointed me in the direction of the simple mom blog, who has been reviewing cloth diapers, answering questions and even posted awesome videos about how to use cloth diapers and how to clean and prepare them! if you too are pondering making the switch, i highly recommend checking out these posts as they are giving me the confidenct i need to take the big step towards cloth!

if you currently cloth diaper (or have in the past) and i haven't already picked your brain to death on the topic (friends, you know who you are!), what advice do you have for someone like me? what are your tips for making it fun and easy (ha...it's diapers, people!)?

swim lessons

after taking a long break from swim lessons over the fall and winter, we started up again this spring. the sessions last 10 weeks and this week was our last session. it wasn't quite as easy as when he was a four months and had no fear! the first several lessons he literally clung to us and would cry every time he went for an underwater swim. the only thing that kept him going was the fact that there were toys to play with, so he would gather up as many toys as he could hold in his little arms and that made him a little happy! slowly he started to get a little more confident, but it was still a struggle to pry the toys out of his hands and his body off of mine every time we'd want to do a swim to the instructor.

a few weeks ago we had a turning point! it actually was lucky on my part in that i had gotten off work a little early, so we had some extra time (instead of racing in from work at the last minute like we usually do!). we sat and watched several of the older kids having a great time in the pool, splashing, playing, swimming and laughing. as we sat there and watched, he decided that he wanted to join in the fun and asked to get in the pool. we went over and sat on the stairs and he just took off and walked into the water (the pool ranges from 1.5-2 ft deep!). now, we had tried walking in the pool several other times, but he was too fearful to really allow himself to do it. once he realized that he had full control of his body and could walk the whole length of the pool, he thought swimming was the greatest thing ever! the next several lessons we had no tears and instead of working to get him to let go of me, i was working to chase him all over the pool!

it was so great to watch his fear of the water and his confidence in the pool literally change overnight. he now enjoys kick, kick, kicking on his tummy and his back, jumping into the water from the side of the pool (assisted, of course) and even going underwater for a short "swim". in our last class this week, one of the parents brought an underwater camera and took a couple shots of each of the kids. i'm happy to have these pictures, since aaron wasn't able to attend many of the classes and these are our only shots of us swimming this time around! you can be sure that we will be keeping up our lessons to make sure his confidence stays up and his skills continue to develop!

i think he might even be smiling a bit in that underwater shot!

June???

wow...i can hardly believe that the year is almost half way over! is it just me or does time seem to fly faster and faster the older we get? so...i haven't taken a look at my 2009 list in awhile. might be good to see how things are going!

1. take a photography class - nope and i fear this may not happen. i've done a lot of looking and most of the classes that i find are offered during the weekdays or the evening during the week, which is just too hard for a working mom like me. i'm crossing my fingers something might work out - like maybe a private lesson or something. we'll see!


2. get an external hard drive for our computer and back up all our photos and videos...ahh...this one has been hanging over my head for awhile now! - DONE!


3. be better at meal planning - uh...not so good at this yet!


4. try at least one new recipe each month - i haven't been very good at tracking, but i'd venture to say i've come close. last week i tried a great semi-healthy lemon yogurt muffin recipe that we all enjoyed! it was on someone's blog - i'll see if i can find the link again, because it was really good!


5. waste less food - we've done pretty good with this, but could always do better. the meal planning would certainly help in this area!


6. compost - DONE!


7. get more pedicures this year...i think last year i got a whopping 2! need to improve upon that this year. who wants to help me with that one?? - i'm on track for two again this year! ha. again, can't believe this is so difficult. to all of my no-kid friends, cherish your pedis! i never realized how difficult it would be to find time to get away for this little self luxury! i miss them!


8. consume less/simplify - hmmm...i think we are doing fairly well with this, but again could always do better.


9. eat as a family more - making major progress in this area. for awhile it was a struggle to get home and get food ready for all of us. now that kellen is becoming a better eater and i'm not so worried about his weight, we seem to all be able to sit down and enjoy one meal (with some minor modifications for the boy!)


10. figure out our family holiday traditions - working on this!


11. reduce my hours at work - not happening so far...now is not the right time to be pursuing this - will wait until after rolo is born to see what we can do about this!


12. wean the boy - DONE! wednesday, april 29 was our last nursing session before bed. aa and i flew to san francisco the next morning and that was that. he never asked for it once we got home, although wanted/needed A LOT of extra mama time for 3 weeks after that. i feel so good that i was able to nourish and comfort him for so long...but it was time for us to be done and i feel SO good about that!


13. travel - aa and i went to sf for our anniversary. we're pondering another vacation, although we just can't decide. would certainly like to have a family getaway before our family of three becomes four. any ideas of good spots for a family of three, including one very busy 1.5 year old?


14. have an internet free weekend each month...or at least a day/month! this one will be hard!!! :) - we haven't been super diligent about formally doing this, but i think our computer time has diminished in the last several months. our computer being down seemed to help that...plus we are just too tired!


15. go to the beach more often this year - we definitely have more beach trips in us!


16. take a trip for our 5th anniversary...possibly without the boy - DONE! it was wonderful!


17. more date nights with aa - doing good in this category! last weekend we enjoyed dinner at Davis Street Tavern with Adam and Sarah, while grandma and papa had the boys. was a great night!


18. move more - already working on this one - i'm getting certified to take the pilates reformer classes at the gym - it's so great! any nike peeps want to join me for the tue/thurs 4:30 class? - ugh. was doing SO good with this prior to me getting prego - it's been downhill from there.


19. 1 month in 2009 = no consumption - haven't done this yet, but will!


20. use zero disposable plastic water bottles - so far, so good! i even had to decline a bottle of water at a friend's party...thanks for letting me dirty a glass, erin!

not too bad, if i do say so myself!

Tally: Green (meaning done or tracking) = 9, Yellow (meaning working on it, but not quite tracking) = 6, Red (meaning danger!) = 5