For Sale

Kaia's had a rough couple of days which equals a whole lot of crying/screaming. Rusty, who up until this point adjusted quite well to having a little sister, is wondering why we didn't just get a dog like he asked. In the midst of Kaia's crying he asked if we could just put her up for sale. When I questioned who would want to buy her, he had the perfect buyer in mind - Isaac from preschool. He already had a little sister so he was use to having his ears cracked. Trying to cheer him up we watched the Santa video on disneyfamily.com to make sure his picture and name were still on the nice list. Sure enough they were, but he made sure to let me know that "you know whose name's not on Santa's good list...KAIA!".

And then there were 2...

It's hard to believe it's already been a month since Kaia was born. So far Kaia is doing very well at the baby thing and can sleep, poop, and give cute little gassy smiles with the best of them. I'm still undecided if I like headbands on her, but it definitely dresses up her pajama's.

I'm not so sure she likes them either...

Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to over the last month:

For Halloween Rusty was a Pirate and we had a lot of fun at all of the different Halloween events. It's amazing to me how kids just instinctively know what to do on the holidays. As soon as we got home from trick or treating he dumped out his candy and got it all sorted into matching piles and let me know which ones he was going to share and which ones were just for him, which were basically all of them.

Pirate Rusty in his super cool pirate ship/laundry basket

Rusty also got to go on 2 field trips last month with his preschool. The first one was to his beloved fire station. He thinks he is BFF's with the fire fighters now and everytime we pass the station he asks if he can go talk to them and see what they are doing.

The second field trip was to Black Island Farms. Since Kaia wasn't even 2 weeks yet, my mom, Denise and Jackson were kind enough to go with him. I'm told the pig races were a huge hit.

Rusty loves preschool! He also enjoys unwinding from preschool with his new tradition of eating a bowl of popcorn while watching his "bestest, favorite show ever" Rescue Hero's.

This is his expression basically for the whole 30 minutes it is on:

Rusty also just completed another session of swim lessons and did a great job. Here he is getting ready to swim back to the stairs...

On the last day of lessons, my mom had just finished up swimming some laps and was still in the water so she let the boys go down the big slide and caught them at the bottom. Rusty was pretty thrilled.

Kaia was a super trooper and basically spent most of her time like this:

Rusty has already informed me that Kaia is his new best friend, but Nate and I can still be part of their group. I'm so glad he loves his little sister so much.

Baby Kaia

Kaia Danielle was born on October 16th at 5:57 am weighing 7 lbs 2 oz and 20 inches long.

The night before her arrival, Nate and I dropped Rusty off at my parents and then headed up to the hospital to be induced since I was at a 4 and the baby was just not coming. Everything was going pretty smoothly until I got my epidural...which did not work. Nor did the second dose or the adjustment or the third dose. But everything was worth it to have such a sweet, healthy little baby.

*This picture makes me laugh, but it is good to know she has such healthy lungs!

Everyone is adjusting better than expected. Rusty just loves his little sister and the only time he's been upset with her is when he was trying to read her a book and she wouldn't stop crying. He finally got fed up and walked off saying, "I'm going to my room where it's nice and quiet!".

Nate has also been a huge help and loves his little girl.

Luckily Kaia is a super pooper, helping bring her billirubin levels down, so as of yesterday she no longer has to go in for daily checks. I love my little family!!!

The "Great Swimmer"

Rusty just finished swim lessons and did an excellent job. I was surprised how much he learned and was willing to try. I remember when I use to teach lessons how annoying it was when parents would try to coach their kids from the side and swore I would never do that. Of course the very first day I caught myself yelling, "Tummy up Rusty!" or "Tuck your chin!" Despite his embarassing mom, he had a great time and I'm glad my mom signed the boys up!

Back floating all by himself!

We also went to our neighborhood block party a couple weeks ago and they had a fire truck, ambulance, and police motorcycle come for the kids. Rusty was in HEAVEN!!!

Summer Fun

Recap of our summer so far...a whole lot of camping (Crystal Hot Springs, Backyard, Father & Son Campout in Eden, Bear Lake x2, & Flaming Gorge), soccer camp, visit from Auntie Dana, RM Races, lots of swimming, playing at the park, fishing, and Rusty's first exposure to a "girl" birthday party. Lucky for Nate, he got to take a week off from the sudden heat wave that hit us in July and travel to Seattle for a work training. We also found out we are having a little girl in October!

Random pictures from the last few months...

Rusty in his "equipment clothes" to go fight the summer fires.
While packing for a camping trip Rusty decided he also needed to be packed in a sleeping bag-bag.

Playing at a park...

Titan was kind enough to share his towel with Rusty :)

Soccer Camp

(Rusty was quite small compared to the others, but he still had a fun time. Thanks Grandma for sending him to the camp!)

Go little Red!

Fueling up after practice.

The "Races" - loud but amusing. Rusty LOVED the crashes!

Princess Cambrie's birthday - she was a very gracious princess and let Rusty "help" her open her presents.

Bear Lake - the second time.

Rusty and Gavin wth sand on their nose.

Flaming Gorge

Having a park and kid's cabin right across from our campsite was Heavenly!

Vacation

After much thought and consideration, Nate and I decided we needed to do our part as outstanding American citizens and help stimulate the economy = family vacation! (Not to mention our bounce back passes at Sea World were about to expire). Southern California here we come.
Flying with a 3 year old was a 1000 times nicer than an 18 month old. We were even complimented on how well behaved he was on the airplane. I think this was the first positive behavior comment Rusty's ever received and the first time he sat still for 2 hours. It was a pleasant surprise.

First stop...Sea World

I forgot the camera in the car so this is a picture from last year. The new Bay of Play area was fun and Nate actually kind of liked the Shamu show this time because they cut out some of the cheesiness and added cooler tricks. My favorite is still the shark exhibit.

Next stop...Disney Land - the Happiest Place on Earth

Our first ride was Small World, we decided to get it over and done with as fast as we could. Rusty enjoyed all the little people but hated the music and kept his ears covered the entire ride.

Rusty found a lot of joy at the bumper cars and wanted to get everyone, which he was pretty successful at.

Tom Sawyer's island was a great way for Rusty and Nate to burn some energy. We had never been out there, but it was really neat and will for sure be one of the first things we do on our next visit.

Stop #3...The Zoo

I could have skipped the zoo this time and been fine, but Nate and Rusty wanted to go, so we did.

Rusty's impersonation of a hibernating bear...

and a growling tiger (this was probably the highlight of my zoo visit).

Final stop...Lego Land

We weren't planning on going to Lego Land, but Rusty is EXTREMELY persistent and spoiled so of course we ended up going. We had a really good time and the fact that he's grown almost 3 inches since our visit last year helped out a lot.

*This picture cracks me up! Bob the Builder 4D was pretty cool and Rusty kept his even cooler glasses on the whole time.

We jammed quite a bit into 5 days, but had a lot of fun doing it. I love family vacations!