Brotherly Love

Melayna, I think, has grown quite fond of her big brother. She loves to watch him (she's been doing so for months now). She loves to laugh with him. She loves to laugh at him. And she loves to scream with him.....

Baby laughter

While she hasn't done the full on chuckle yet, this was close enough. While I was at work, Daddy got her to laugh a bit and recorded it for me. Oh, I hate missing the good moments. However, I was able to get her going pretty good last night.

I know I have some updating to do, but all I can spare for time right now is just uploading videos and pictures. I've been so busy with everything. I get up, get the kiddo ready for preschool, get ready for work. Work itself has been extremely busy. I come home for lunch (10 minute drive one-way, but I have an hour lunch), feed the baby, eat lunch, and rush back to busy work. After work, I pick up the kiddo, come home, get the baby from our neighbors, start on dinner (while trying to keep te baby happy), and do our evening routine (dinner, bath, storytime, and bedtime). It seems that I'm always on the go. The only time I can relax a bit is after Tristan goes down for bed (the baby may or may not be sleeping, though). Blogging has been the last thing I've wanted to do when I get to unwind for the evening. Sometimes I don't get to unwind, because after Tristan and Melayna go down for the night, it is my only chance to get some cleaning done (dishes, laundry, straigtening up, etc). So, that's how my days have pretty much been. The weekends aren't near as hectic, but I've been in a vegging mood wanting to do nothing when I can. Weekends are our opportunities to do grocery shopping, major cleanings (cleaning the bathroom, finishing laundry, etc), and just hang out together. I hope that I'll have a chance later this week to post about our holiday. I've had a great time reading about other's holidays, from homemade holidays to coming home from China with a new little daughter to a trip to Disneyland. The one thing that I enjoy most about the holidays, which everyone seems to also enjoy, is being with family. Enjoying time spent with my family is the best part. Its only going to get better as the kids start to understand the fun of Christmas morning when Mommy makes a gigantic breakfast for the whole family and they get to open their gifts from everyone.

Our little girl...

here at last!

So, I was scheduled to be induced Wednesday night. I was going to head into work on the 1st. Go home, eat dinner, and then head to the hospital. After some prep work and a night of observation, they were going to induce me Thursday morning.

Well, Melayna had other thoughts. She didn't want to be forced into this world. She wanted to come at the time she wanted and when it best suited her. She did just that.

Tuesday night I was feeling some intense contractions, but not frequent enough. I went to sleep around midnight with a feeling in my gut that something was going to happen. Sure enough, I wake up at 6:30am with a painful contraction. About six minutes later, another one. Six minutes later, another one. Each more painful than the last. So, we get up, shower, get our bags together, make all the calls we need to, wait for my dad to stop by to take Tristan home with him, and head to the hospital. It was around 8:00am when we arrived. I was already 6cm dilated. So, I'm a weakling when it comes to pain. Besides, who should have to suffer from pain in these times of modern medicine? Anyway, I asked for an epidural to assist me with the pain management. It was smooth sailing after that. In fact, once they told me to start pushing, it took one contraction (four pushes) to get her out.

Well, before I fall asleep at the computer, here's a short video of Melayna's first sponge bath. The lady talking is the nursery nurse. Melayna didn't like her first sponge bath. Although, I don't think many babies do.

Tristan's Puzzle

If there is one thing that Tristan really loves, its animals. But put those animals on a 24-piece wooden puzzle board and he's all smiles. His first attempt really didn't go so well (this was about a month and a half ago). A week or so later we tried again. This time we showed him - turn the piece around, try it in a different spot, and if those don't work, get a different piece. Without our help, he managed to get it halfway done by himself, before asking for help. Instead of pointing out where the piece goes, we asked him questions. Eventually, he figured it out to the point where he can do the whole thing without assistance. I suppose we need to get a new puzzle or two to challenge him even more.

Here is a video I compiled of him putting his puzzle together. Please excuse the runny nose and occasional coughs. He hasn't been feeling too good lately. Oh, and sorry that the video is a bit long. It still takes him about seven minutes to finish the puzzle (with interruptions).

To Be Continued...

The Circus!

Today Tristan got a special treat. Grandpa really wanted to show Tristan the elephants, so he got tickets to the Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus. The show was great. Tristan really enjoyed much of it. Although, he didn't seem to interested in some of the shows (specifically ones not including animals). Of course, his absolute favorite were the elephants. He enjoyed that more than anything. In fact, during intermission, we needed to change his diaper and I needed a break, too. So, Scott, Tristan, and I set out to wait in line for the for the family restroom. What happens to be right next to the family restroom? A vendor selling all sorts of goodies - including elephants. The whole wait in line, Tristan is clamoring for the stand of goods - doing his best to squeeze out of our arms (we took turns holding him). It was a mighty difficult task seeing as how he's about 37 lbs. Since we had a bit before it was our turn to use the restroom, Scott went over and bought him a small plush elephant. Tristan's fussiness subsided and he was absolutely smitten with his new animal.


Tristan and his new friend, baby elephant

This video is ever so brief, but I just had to include it. Besides, I'm not sure if I can upload any of the video I took of the circus without infringing any copyrights. Bummer too, I have a 6 minute video of the elephants. Anyway, this video is Tristan's farewell to the circus.

Tristan and Grandpa pose for a picture. Thank you, Grandpa! Oh, and Happy Father's Day, too!

Tristan was so tired from an exciting afternoon at the circus. He was so tired that he fell asleep on the way home (and it wasn't even his bed time yet).

To Be Continued...

Finding Nemo...

...on Ice!

Yesterday, as a birthday gift from a friend, we saw Finding Nemo on Ice. Now, I've been extremely excited about this - for myself (since I've never seen a Disney on Ice production before) and for my son (who absolutely loves Nemo, Dory, Bruce, Mr. Ray, Crush, and the rest of the gang).

Now, I planned this perfectly. The last World Arena show we saw was a disaster trying to get there (traffic was absolutely horrible and I was thirty minutes late). This time, I got off work early, picked up my son from daycare, and headed for home to pack his stuff (diapers, juice box, book and toy for entertainment, camera, etc). I did this while we waited for Scott to get home from work. We were loading up the car when Scott arrived. We then immediately headed out. Traffic was decent (Friday night rush hour wasn't that shabby). We stopped at a Culver's drive-thru (they were packed - we waited about twenty minutes there). After getting our food, we drove straight to the World Arena for up front parking (we were in the third row). It was about 40 minutes until show time. So, we ate our dinner before heading inside.

Inside, we immediately bought our son a huge plush Bruce (the shark). $24 for this guy! Then we quickly found our seats. I knew we were in a lower level section, but row L is 12 rows up. And seats 7-9 would be in the middle of the row - or so I thought. We had one of those short rows with five seats in it, so we weren't in the middle of a long row. To top that off, the other two seats in that row were empty the entire time! We had the whole row to ourselves.

Before the show started, we bought - two large sodas, two large popcorn (we had a coupon), a souvenir cup snowcone, cotton candy, and a commemorative Nemo hat. This was all $32. Eek! We only brought $78 with us. This left us at $17 (we had to pay for parking, too).

Tristan was confused at first and getting agitated. But once the show started, he just sat there. In awe, surprise, amazement, everything all at once. Our son sat and watched the whole thing, a few words here and there, but just sat and watched. During the intermission, we received a compliment from a lady who sat behind us. She asked how old Tristan was, and before we could respond, she said that he has been such a well-behaved child. I don't know if it is a reflection on our parenting skills (or perhaps his love for Finding Nemo shined), but I was proud to hear a stranger say that about our son. Either way, we had a blast.

During intermission, we bought one more souvenir for our son - a glowing Nemo. When you push the button, it lights up and the lights spin around inside a translucent Nemo.

Our son was definitely tired after the whole thing. It was nearly 10pm (his bedtime is between 8 and 8:30). He fell asleep almost immediately after leaving the parking lot.

To be continued...