I want you to remember...

I will try not to worry you
I have seen things that you will never see
Leave it to memory me

Merry Christmas
&
Happy New Year

Our New Home...

Well, it's been over a month since I have been able to post. Randy is over 3 months now and is growing like a little, intelligent weed. He continues to amaze us daily with his ability to learn and adapt to his surroundings. Nowadays he has found out that he can 'talk' very loudly and will usually do the highest, loudest shrills he can possibly do while talking to the item of his choice such as the fire in the fireplace, G & G Jordan's Christmas tree that I put up early for them, and so on.

We celebrated Halloween a few days ago up on the land where we have been living just over two weeks now. We LOVE it! G & G Brooks invited some of the people who live around us up there over for a little Halloween party and it turned out pretty nicely. R-2 was a froggy, Randall was Wolverine, I was 'dead', Delaine was Cruella Deville, and Randy was a sheriff. We had a fun night hanging out by the firepit and driving the quad around in the nice, cold weather.

Also, just 4 days after moving up we were granted a special gift from Mother Nature.... SNOW! Yup, 4 inches of snow fell over night and blanketed the ground (for a few hours.) The baby even slept most of the morning and allowed Randall and I to get in some good snow-playing time. It was a blast. We made a snowman (aborigines/island style) that lasted a whole half hour before it collapsed in the rising sun.

All in all the last couple weeks have been a blast and have been exciting with our little man to see him grow and learn as much as he has. He can now grab things and put them to his mouth to chew on... which is good because he has 2 little teeth that have started to poke through and it looks like at least 2 will be coming in within the next couple weeks as well. Poor little guy! He currently loves to bounce in his bouncer and mainly uses just his left leg to make it bounce. It's so cute!

He's so close to laughing, too! Everyday he seems like he wants to but just can't figure out how to express it. Randy likes to be in his sling more these days; Randall is usually the one that will carry him around in it. It's so cute. We spent all last week and G & G Jordan's house while Randall did some tile jobs and Randy became friends with their two cats. He liked to watch them move and play. He had his first taste of rice cereal the other day and ate a couple spoonfuls pretty well!

It's been so nice up on the land. Just taking walks around the property, or bird watching in the mornings is such a turnaround from life in the city and we just couldn't be more happy! I don't have much time to separate all of the pictures all chronologically backwards, starting with the most recent and back. So, here's a little of what's been going on in our life these days!

Randall got an EMT shirt for his ride-a-longs!

The goat (Dazzle) is on top of our barn!!

Cutest little Halloween froggy ever!

Randall as Wolverine!

I'm dead... but happy. ;)

Happy pumpkin boy!

Happier pumpkin boy!

Hanging up the spiderwebs

I guess Randall wasn't hanging them right! :)

On the front porch on Halloween with the dogs Ruger and Beretta

Icicles on the snapdragons

What is his writing in the snow??
Awww.... :) Haha...

Our aboriginal snowman! (He lasted about a 1/2 an hour!)

The firepit rocks with snow!

Cleaning off the solar panels

Our front yard

Off the front porch

In the bouncer

Grandma got him the cutest overalls!

First nap in the new house!

In the bouncer (again)

Riding at 11:00pm, in the windowless quad, in the freezing snow... fun stuff!!

2 Months and Counting!!!

2 Months Old!

Well, our little man is two months old now!
I cannot believe how much he has learned and also taught Randall and I so far.



We usually have excellent days together
but, up until recently, he's had some harder days due to him already cutting teeth!


That's right, he has one that has already cut through the gum on the top left
and another on the right in the same position is starting to make it's way.
It also looks like a couple on the bottom are starting to want to sprout as well.

(This is one of the 'bad' days...)


Poor little Randy!!!

I swear if it's not one thing it's another for him... but I think it's actually a good thing because I think he has learned a lot and has grown stronger because of it. He's so active and fun.

He still loves bathtime and is the most happiest when he first wakes up in the morning. He will sit and coo at everything for at least an hour or so.


Randy is a freakin' doll!


These past few weeks we have also been out of the house a lot. We house-sat for Grandma and Grandpa Jordan while they were at Disneyland for a whole week (Lucky dogs!!!!!); and it was nice to be back on the east side of the valley for a while.

We were able to attend Randall's nieces and nephew's soccer games as well as our old soccer team's game, so that was fun. We had to leave the niece's game because it got just too hot that afternoon and he does NOT do well in the heat. He breaks out in pimples every time and fusses a lot!

He also learned a new trick a couple days before he turned 2 months, but this video was taken the day after he turned.... what skills! :)

Our First Family Trip

This weekend we were fortunate enough to be able to trek up the mountain to visit Randall's parents for the holiday weekend. We left Saturday afternoon and came back Tuesday night. It was a perfectly relaxing time and really fun to be able to get out of the house and the Valley. We're getting more and more excited to move up and hope to be able to move the first week of October. That's also providing that the contract goes through... we find out next Tuesday, hopefully.



On the way up to the land we were able to stop by Randall's cousin Cassie's house, who has her own CUTE little girl named Hannah. We had a good time catching up and getting to know Hannah more. She is only two years old and is able to recognize the numbers 1-10 if you show her the numbers! She also does the cutest thing where she likes to play with her hair and suck her thumb and also stick her hair between her toes because she likes the way it feels.... sooooo cute! I think she helps make Randall and I want to have a girl next, but I still wouldn't mind either!




The weather up there was beautiful as usual. The only downside to the location is it can get windy, but it hasn't been that windy the last few times we've gone up. There was a few isolated thunderstorms, then the rest of the time just beautiful scenic clouds. The temperature was perfect and was just chilly enough to be able to make a fire in the firepit at night time. (Randall's warming his toes below.) We enjoyed playing yet another heated battle of progressive rummy... Grandpa Randy was the winner this time.



R-2 did really well up there. He actually slept more up there than he usually does down here, which was nice since it enabled me and Randall to be able to relax and spend more time with each other and his parents. Randall ended up getting sort of sick on Monday and Tuesday, but he seems to be feeling better today, thank goodness. We also were able to put our sling to good use finally. He doesn't like getting in it at first, but usually falls asleep within a few minutes of walking around.





There was also a horde of about 10 hummingbirds that would either all come at once to the feeders on the back porch or just in a couple pairs at a time. It was really neat to see them up close. They're actually pretty territorial and the males will go after each other to keep them from the feeders; so there was a constant battle going on at times. There's also some Arizona bluebirds that will come eat the seed they put out along with some doves. The feeder is right off the back porch so it's really fun to sit and watch them. The bluebirds remind me of Grandpa Anderson every time. :)


All in all, it was a great time. Can't wait to permanently be up there!!!!!!!

R-2: Weeks 3 to 5

Well, it's roughly 2:30am and I am up (like always) with the babe. The last few days he has had problems with gas primarily at night. Last night he was awake from around 12:00am to 6:00am being pretty fussy on and off and way tired. This picture was taken a little earlier today when he was just fussing because he didn't want to stop feeding to burp... I love those little whines. :) If you can't tell, he's got a nice spattering of baby acne along his cheeks. He also has lost a lot of his hair, but only in the front of his head. That coupled with his ears that stick out a bit, he looks like an old man!

Not too much has been up the last few weeks... Dad, Mom, me, Julie and Sushanna all went and tried out for family feud a few Saturdays ago. I don't think we were "flashy" enough, but we kicked the other teams butt and had a REALLY fun time! Randall and Steve watched the baby in the lobby while we were in the room waiting to be tested. Then we (except Julie and Steve) went and ate dinner at Denny's. It was my first official outing and it couldn't have been funner! We also got to hang out with Dad, Mom, and Sushanna this weekend for a few hours and also had a good time. Randall and Dad like to discuss and debate issues... which they both, I'm sure, are very happy about and Mom and I talk about life with Randy and such and interject on their debate when the topic is hot. ;) I hope we get to have more evenings like that.


Randall's parents were able to stop by and visit us for a night. It was really nice to see them again. I hadn't seen Big Randy since the 4th of July and DeLaine since the birth. We talked about things like moving up on the land and business stuff. We were even able to play a full round of progressive rummy (if you have never played that card game, I highly recommend it!) I hope we are able to move up ASAP. Not like I don't like living with Julie and Steve, but the anticipation is killing me to be able to finally get up there.

And here's some bathtime pics just for fun!
R-2 actually LOVES his baths!

Well, he finally fell asleep, at least for now, so I should wrap this up. Love to all!

R-2's Hospital Stay

Well, this week started out sort with him having a little bit of greenish-colored diapers; which after reading online I saw that most of the time it was a problem with him getting too much foremilk and not enough hindmilk, so I tried pumping in a way so separate the two and make sure he got enough of the hindmilk. It seemed to have work a little bit, but then on Tuesday he had a whole day of projectile vomiting (all three feedings in the day) and it was enough with the greenish stools to make a trip to the nearest pediatric urgent care. We were also worried because he was showing signs of having a problem with his stomach called pyloric stenosis that would require a minor surgery to correct. (This picture was taken just before the 2nd vomiting episode.)

Well, we made our way to the urgent care and saw a Dr. who also thought it sounded like pyloric stenosis and told us we better take him to Phoenix Children's Hospital and make sure that it's not. We arrived there about 7:00-7:30pm and, at the time, R-2 was having some extremely neon green and runny diarrhea and started to get sort of lethargic (or just SUPER sleepy) so that alone was enough for them to want to admit him and do some basic blood and stool tests, as well as an ultrasound to check for pyloric stenosis. It was so sad to see him go through everything he did. Randall stayed with him while he got his IV put in around 9:00pm and I went to the family waiting room and called my sister Becca for some moral support (who helped tremendously). Afterward he was taken almost immediately for the ultrasound where we were SOOOOOO fortunate to have caught a main ultrasound doctor that allowed us to get immediate results instead of having an ultrasound technician do it and have to wait for the results to be evaluated and then finally get word. He ruled out the pyloric stenosis and we were so relieved!


After that, we waited a bit and then were taken to our room that we ended up sharing with a little girl who was in for an infection with fever... so sad. This picture was him finally getting to sleep again after the whole ordeal. Randall ended up going home to get some sleep around 1:30am and I stayed with him for the night. Wednesday morning we were supposed to have some upper GI tests done, but the only test that ended up being performed on Wednesday was a urine test that they had to put a catheter in to retrieve. Again, Daddy was the one to be there for that. I still have been more emotional lately than I ever did during my pregnancy or even during puberty or periods or whatever. It's kinda interesting...














I was able to have 3 meals a day delivered to me since I was breastfeeding (pumping), which was nice so I didn't have to leave him and go to the cafeteria every time. Randall came back in the afternoon of Wednesday with more supplies from home since they said it could be another 2-3 days stay. Poor Randall... he's had to put up with a lot during the past few weeks. I know that I have, too, but he has just been so wonderful and has taken it so well. Nearing the end of our stay at the hospital this time our nerves started to unravel a bit, but that was only because I think the communication of things started to slow down between us and the hospital staff. Not like they didn't do a good job, it was usually during a shift change that information would slip through the cracks, I think. All in all, they did a good job.

On Thursday morning the last tests were performed, which actually turned out to be beneficial and that was nice because it would have really sucked if we had been there for no reason. Not like I wanted anything to be wrong or anything, I'm just glad that we will be able to give Randy some more comfort. We finally had the upper GI tests performed, which consisted of two different tests performed under x-ray. He wasn't able to eat for a few hours before the test and it was really hard to see him so hungry! The first test he was strapped down to a table and they had him drink a bottle with barium in it for the contrast on x-ray to see if his esophagus, stomach and small intestine function properly. The x-ray doctor said everything looked good. The second test was performed with that doctor as well as a speech pathologist where they had him drink different thicknesses of the barium to see if any would go down his windpipe. They started with breastmilk consistency which is the thinnest liquid and it should that he did have a little problem with it trying to go in his windpipe. The same was with the formula consistency and then there is two other consistencies called nectar and honey (honey is the thickest). He did better with the nectar and honey. So they ended up prescribing this gel that I have to add to his breastmilk bottles to make it to the 'nectar' consistency. So far today (Friday) he seems to be doing a lot better with feeding and being less hurtful and fussy! I'm so glad. So he will be on that gel for at least a month they said and that it should correct itself in time.

It's so nice to have him home and in our care exclusively again. We had a really good night and day together today. He actually slept from 1:00am to 6:00am and woke up happy as a clam and then went through today with his regular 3 hours sleep and 1-2 hours awake. During which, he fell asleep in my arms and I had his boppy pillow next to me to put him in, but literally as he was falling asleep Ween came in and stole the boppy pillow (don't worry sistas... there was a blanket over it, so I could easily clean away any hair and stuff :) ) but seriously it was so cute. I didn't get a picture, but Ween ended up laying in it just the way that a baby does! So cute. I also let it happen because he has been so nervous of the baby and it was nice to see him so close to him for once... I think it will help his psyche. Thanks to everyone's prayers and well wishes for him this week. We definitely could feel the love and are grateful to have such a caring family.