That's right folks - we have friends. In order to secure some new friends I've said yes to every playdate, get-to-gether, party invite and church function that has come our way. I think its starting to pay off. We hung out at the beach with the Jagers last Saturday and Collin gave Brannon his first surfing lesson. I think Brannon was a little disappointed that he couldn't surf like Kelly Slater but everyone else (who could surf) said they were impressed that he did so well! He got up several times but I also had to include a video of this awesome "trick" he made the surfboard do (second video). I think Brannon fell in love for the second time and now every opportunity he gets he runs down to the beach to body bash (not sure if that is surfer lingo or not, it just means catching the waves w/out a board). Maybe for Craigslist will get you a nice present for Christmas? Ian, Luca, and Belize
A couple weeks ago, I heard Rio playing in his crib after he woke up in the morning. I head in there to discover THIS;
You need to click on the picture to see a close up of his face - he was SO proud of himself!!! He just smiled and smiled telling me, "Look what I did MOM, all BY MYSELF!" He is now pulling himself up onto the closest object, including his sister. I can't believe my baby is 9 months old- only 9 more til NURSERY!!!!! I pretty much just let him loose during Sunday school and Relief Society (church classes) but everyone just ooooohs and ahhhhhhs over him so I don't think they mind.
Rio is pretty much a terror at the beach, a picnic blanket does not contain and he LOVES eating sand! You'd think loose affection for it after one taste but not my boy, the day after we go to the beach I have to give him a bath after every sandy poo. It's disgusting, Rio I hope you appreciate that your mom does this for you! Here a vid of him crawling in the sand.
I forgot to blog that I gave up on nursing a month ago and Rio gave up on babyfood (he WILL not eat it!) So we're going through a cannister of formula a week and he's eating all the table scraps he can get his hands on, this boy is a MACHINE!!! He will eat anything except for bananas, no matter how big or difficult to eat, he even eats meat. His two new top teeth help him out now- that's right 4 teeth! Also, the only time he gets mad and screams like someone has cut off his right leg is when he gets hungry.
Mom, I used your clippers for the first time in 5 years. Brannon MADE me cut his hair, I was so nervous and to make matters worse Bro only gave me 1/2 an hour! We decided it ended up looking like the mammoth from Ice Age. He SAID he wanted to keep it long on top! A couple days later, I trimmed the top and he's been raving about it ever since. I think i need to charge next time.
We had the clippers out so we decided to give Rio his first haircut. I have ALWAYS wanted to give my boys mohawks, and I can't wait to hear, "What were you thinking Mom?" when he gets older. Oh, the perks of being a mom!
This movie is not for the faint of heart, yes Rio is crawling and Belize is doing her sad face, but you might want to skip this one of you're not a grandparent. More video of Rio crawling soon.
The 4th of July was a little uneventful (I do have 2 kids under 3). Bro was on-call so the kids and I went to the ward picnic and shopping for much needed Babies R Us supplies. The Ortons sent us these super cute festive socks that I just HAD to take some pics in! Awwww, I have cute kids!
We did our first touristy thing and went to the Santa Monica Pier. Belize rode with me on the ferris wheel. I don't consider myself afraid of heights but it was REALLY high, its got a breathe-taking view of the ocean and the coast line. Belize wasn't scared at all and it lasted a LONG time (like 20 minutes). Brannon had the camera and had a hard time getting a good shot of us. So here is me and if you look closely you can see Belize's head behind the railing. I took some shots from my cell phone so i'll have to upload those later. Poor Rio and Brannon had to wait half an hour for us to stand in line and finish the ferris wheel. We bought a few tickets for Belize to go on some rides (I don't think she was exactly tall enough but almost). Here Brannon is explaining to her that she'll have to go on the ride herself. I think she was a little nervous, we had to attempt a few times. This ride was pretty big time for little kids and i have to say, I am surprised that she went by herself, i think it helped that other kids were on it too.Looking like she's having the ride of her life. Getting off the ride: "I want to do it again!" "That was so exciting!" I like both of these pictures cause the kids are both in action. Belize running and Rio about to give his pirate face.
Last week we had our first visitors, first Aunt Linda and Uncle Blair (Orton side) stopped by and took us out to dinner while they were visiting LA. In return we let them buy us icecream as well at our favorite Gelateria :), thank you thank you thank you, it was great to see you guys!Then Aubrey (Merrell) Taylor, my best friend (since she was born) and stayed with us over the weekend. Poor Aubrey, Rio had Roseola and was miserable the whole time with a fever. Belize attached herself to Aubrey and called her "Cindalella" and made Aubrey call her, "Prince Charming." It was wonderful to see her and a huge blessing to have an extra pair of hands while Rio was sick. There was a festival down the street by the beach and Belize kept this balloon alive all the way until we reached our house where it hit a pokey bush, she was so sad! Balloon + Ice cream = perfect day Watch for one of Aubrey's signature moves near the end! :)
A lesson in privacy- after Belize was trying to peak on Aubrey.
I think we're finally settleing down into a routine now. Bro is on-call (leaves at 5:30am, comes home the NEXT day in the early afternoon) every 4th day. And the kids and I are trying to master getting the laundry/groceries up and down 3 floors (we have an elevator, its just very inconveniently placed). I think I carried more than 70 lbs up the other day- both kids plus a 2 gallons of milk. I'm sure we'll figure things out eventually. Oh and single mothers who take their kids for 3 HOURS of church are AMAZING!!! Yeah that's right, I'm amazing . . . not to mention completely exhausted right now but here I am blogging away. Here are some pics and videos from our recent beach adventures:
Thank you for taking the time after sleeping only 2 hours and 15 minutes in the last 41 hours of your day/night/day to accompany me (and carry my load, literally) to the laundry room (located 4 floors down) not once, but thrice. It reminded of me how you are always willing to lift my head up and it made me fall in love with you all over.
Love, Me
P.S. I love elevator rides, just you and me and the pee pee clothes.
Okay, so its taken me a week and a half to get to these California posts but in my defense the interet wasn't working for half of that time. and SOOOO many things have happened!
Belize on her new bed - thank you Nana and Grandpa. She calls the bottom the "trungle bed". And it only took her a couple nights of falling off the bed to figure out how to stay on. One night she was screaming "Mommy, Mommy!" I went in and she was in the middle of the floor, she said. ," Mom, I fell out of bed and I got lost." Belize is especially loving her own room and our bigger floor plan to run around. This picture has special meaning - right after getting all of his family members naked in a matter of 2 minutes. Belize and I had been swimming and she said she needed to go "Ca ca", THANK GOODNESS!! We made it upstairs (1 naked person) when Brannon came running in the bathroom, holding Rio at arms length, "HELP ME!" Poop was POURING down Rio's pant leg, it was all down Brannon's arm and his shirt. "Rio blew out in the car seat and on the front porch!" I took Rio into the shower (plus 2 naked people) while Brannon changed his clothes (plus one more). That equals four naked Ortons, the 2 older ones laughing hysterically for 45 minutes while extensively cleaning the carseat, the front porch, bathroom floor, toilet seat, shower, Brannon and Rio's clothes. That's right he now owns all of those things, the rule is you poop on it - it's YOURS! We waited a few days to show Belize the said pool. And just as we suspected, it is her favorite thing about living in Los Angeles. Everyday she asks to swim in the pool, i'm not sure however how this is going to ever happen now that Brannon is working and Rio is past the weight limits and looks a little unsafe as well in his floaty tube. i'm sure we'll figure it out, I need to observe other moms but Californians refer to this weather as June gloom, even though its been in the mid-60s to 70s and sunny everyday. Unbelievable. Abuelo is telling a rivoting bedtime story over the phone. We don't feel like we're very far away from grandparents as we set up our webcam this weekend. When Belize is upset in the car she does say she wants to go to "wello's house." We decided to see the sights of Redondo Beach before Brannon started orientation and went to this seaside lagoon. Pretty much its a pool of salt water in a giant sand hole. Its pretty disgusting to think about how many germs are in it but Belize was giddy the whole time. I only put Rio in the sand for 2 seconds before it went in his mouth and that was the end of it. I got this used Body Glove swimsuit for a few dollars at the nearby consignment shop, Belize calls it her "Body Gwub". This is right before we all went to our new ward's movie night. We are really impressed with how friendly every one is. Belize's happy face Sad face - look how she gets her whole body into it, she must practice! This was her mad face. My californian babes! Now for the updates:
Belize: For the past month or 2, Belize has been in full blown meltdown mode and it is FINALLY starting to get better. Now that she's finally been getting into a familiar routine, the tantrums are shorter and farther in between. Although after almost every nap she still crys for 30-60 minutes, but I blame that on heavy sleeping. Hopefully she'll grow out of it. We've been working really hard on minding quickly and its starting to pay off, she's finally seeing that we get to do fun things and everyone is a lot happier when she minds. She told me the other day that I shouldn't hit, shouldn't make a mess, shouldn't yell, shouldn't spit up and don't cross the street unless she's holding my hand. The "spit up" one cracked me up. Also, this WHINE entered our household and is determined to stay! Ahhhhhhh!
She's also eating a lot more, not so much new foods or even at mealtimes but lots and lots of snacks. I try to make her eat at meals and limit her snacks but its kindof a cranky disaster, any suggestions? She picks up on everything Brannon and I do and is constantly using phrases that we use in her daily conversation. She is so funny and likes to show off for people she loves, namely Aunt Sarah and Tia Carissa especially. Belize gets quite shy for 2 minutes or so when she first meets someone but then its over and you'll be asked to see her room and go with her to the bathroom. Her new favorite game is playing doctor and wants me to sit on her "bizam" table (flipped over laundry basket) to "check" me out. Her favorite symphony is still Peter and the Wolf and will listen to it in her room for up to an hour (with her ballerina dress on of course!)
Rio: He's 8 months old now! He is such a social little being and smiles for everyone. He's been going through some separation anxiety from me recently which partly drives me crazy (when I need to get something done in the other room) and partly makes me melt (when his little face lights when I back into the room). He FINALLY crawled a few steps? a couple days ago and today he started clapping his little hands, he was so proud of himself! He's still enamored with Belize, loves to go on walks, loves the wind, will watch anyone play with any kind of ball and is eating almost any kind of solid food. He also really knows what he wants and will whine/thrust his body toward whatever he desires.
Brannon: He's sad to see his vacation go but we did find out that he'll be getting 5 weeks of vacation instead of the supposed 2, so he's very excited for that! He is ACLS certified as of this weekend (he can respond to a CODE aka heart stopped/stopped breathing) and he started his orientation today. His first call night is Friday. He has gotten a lot of exercising biking to the hospital, swimming with Belize in the pool and body bashing in the waves on the beach (seriously how does that appeal to anyone?) He's been super Dad this vacation and I will SORELY miss his helping hands.
Me: I'm turning a new leaf and am slowly becoming a coupon queen. No, I haven't actually USED a coupon yet but I went to 3 grocery stores last week to get the sales, Keri will be so proud! :) Our budget is tighter than ever before so the vacuum cleaner, double stroller, laundry cart (laundry is in the basment of our complex) , KITCHEN TABLE (we're using Belize's tea party table, its quite comical and I need to take a picture) and that oh so cute swimsuit from DownEastBasics that I want SOOOOO bad (don't worry, its on the very bottom of the list). The white walls of our apartment are more than enough to drive a person INSANE so I'm amist researching cheap decorating ideas that are apartment friendly.
We are all healthy and happy and excited to explore this new area. We still need friends and a babysitter but all in good time.
That's right folks - we have friends. In order to secure some new friends I've said yes to every playdate, get-to-gether, party invite and church function that has come our way. I think its starting to pay off. We hung out at the beach with the Jagers last Saturday and Collin gave Brannon his first surfing lesson. I think Brannon was a little disappointed that he couldn't surf like Kelly Slater but everyone else (who could surf) said they were impressed that he did so well! He got up several times but I also had to include a video of this awesome "trick" he made the surfboard do (second video). I think Brannon fell in love for the second time and now every opportunity he gets he runs down to the beach to body bash (not sure if that is surfer lingo or not, it just means catching the waves w/out a board). Maybe for Craigslist will get you a nice present for Christmas?
Ian, Luca, and Belize
We had the clippers out so we decided to give Rio his first haircut. I have ALWAYS wanted to give my boys mohawks, and I can't wait to hear, "What were you thinking Mom?" when he gets older. Oh, the perks of being a mom!
