In Memory of Paul

As many of you know, I lost my older brother, Paul, to cancer last October. No matter how long you've had to think about it and grieve beforehand, there is so much grief after you lose someone you love.  After the initial shock wore off, I found myself lethargic about doing anything extra, like reading my Bible (or reading any books, for that matter), spending time with friends, and exercising - all things I normally love to do.

When January 1st came around, I resolved to work on each of these areas so I could begin feeling more like myself.  So I'm reading through The NIV Prayer Bible (a daily reading plan Bible with prayer-focused devotionals) that my mom gave me. I try to get together with friends once a week on my days off with Emma, and she enjoys having play dates with her friends, too!  And I've been running again and working up to a half marathon distance. 

I'm planning to run the Disneyland Tinker Bell half marathon on Mother's Day (May 10th). Running a Disneyland race has been on my bucket list for a while, since I've heard that they are lots of fun. I honestly haven't felt like running at all most days, and it has shown in my effort and pace. But I am continuing to plod along, hoping that I'll enjoy it again. 

To make it more meaningful and motivating for me, I have joined Alex's Lemonade Stand, and am raising funds to benefit childhood cancer research in Paul's memory. If you are inclined, all donations are tax-deductible and even a small amount will help to battle this deadly disease. More details are provided on my fundraising page (http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/1122175), as well as an online method to donate.  Thank you! 

Also, here are some cute old pictures of my family that my Dad scanned recently. You're welcome.

What Happened to February?

I blinked and February passed me by!  We were pretty busy, so no wonder it was a whirlwind.  Dan was out of town at a school administrator's conference for a few days.  His hotel was near Yosemite National Park, and I was wondering if he would have a view of the famous valley. But it turns out the hotel was right outside the park entrance - which is about 25 miles away from the center of the park where Half Dome and El Capitan are located. He and his coworker drove to the valley one afternoon just to see it, but it took them almost an hour and they didn't have time to do anything fun once they got there.  He really benefited from the conference, though, and was so glad he went.

Emma and I did some fun things while he was away to take our minds off of missing him. We joined some church friends for a mom & kid play time and went to Sea World one afternoon.  As many times as we've been, we've never run into anyone we know until that day. Emma and I saw some friends from our former church, the Neynabers, at Sea World a few minutes before closing time and had the chance to catch up a little bit with them.

Since Dan came back home right before Valentine's Day, we decided to postpone our Valentine's date until the following Monday (President's Day), which was a holiday for his school.  We dropped Emma off with her babysitter, Linda, and drove to Los Angeles for the day. We've been wanting to hike to the top of the Hollywood sign, and needed good weather and a full day to do it.  We ended up hiking 6 miles total and getting lots of fresh air and a great workout. It was definitely worth the trip, although after sitting in L.A. traffic to check this off our bucket list, I'm not sure there's any reason for us to drive back to L.A. again.

In other news, Emma has hit a growth spurt and I've upgraded her to size 3T shirts since the 2T shirts are starting to ride up her belly like Winnie the Pooh's.  She's still the most amazingly cute kid we know.  I've been running longer distances again and am thinking of registering for a half marathon soon to keep me motivated.  Dan has been singing and playing bass with the worship team at church once a month, and we both recently volunteered to help with Sunday School classes.  Emma always has a great time in her toddler class and we thought it would be fun for all of us if Dan and I volunteered in her class. Holy cow. First of all, a class of 12-15 toddlers is no joke. We had 5 volunteers total and we were drowning by the end! Also, Emma is going through the "Hey, that's mine!" stage, and she was not okay with HER mommy and daddy holding or playing with other kids.  The other Sunday School volunteers kept telling us how easy and good she usually is in the class, so apparently we were the cause of the worst experience she's had so far. But we will keep volunteering wherever they need us, because we have a new appreciation for the work that's done in Sunday School so that parents can listen to the sermon.

Here are some pictures from our month:

The picture Dan sent Emma and I from Yosemite Valley. 

Emma and I played at Sea World one afternoon while he was away

They bring out Elmo and one of his Sesame Street friends every day and it's always a highlight for Emma. She could've sat on Elmo's lap like this all day long.

Our friends, Judy, Chris, Ian, and Jon Neynaber were at Sea World that day, too, and it was great to see them!

Dan's and my Valentine's date/challenge. Hiking to the top of the Hollywood sign!

A view of the steep trail on our way up

We made it to the top! (You can see the back of the sign behind us)

Twenty-One Months!

Emma is almost two, and I feel like the baby stage is over in so many ways. (Unless she's sick - then we suddenly have a 6 month old again. Heh!) Many parents seem to lament when their babies grow up, but that type of mourning just hasn't hit me yet.  Since Emma was born, I've been dreaming of doing the things she enjoys now - playing games, singing songs, chasing each other, dressing up, drawing pictures, etc.  Dan and I did those things with her before she really knew what was going on, but now that she can verbalize almost anything, she'll tell us exactly what she'd like to do.  We are having so much fun!

She's definitely an opinionated toddler, and we are learning how we can help curb her meltdowns. I make sure to have a toy or book or something to hand her as soon as we're getting into the car so she's got something to distract her right away. It seems to help the most when we give her warnings before we transition her from a place or toy. We'll tell her that she can keep playing, but we have to leave/put the toy down/give it back in just a few minutes. After we tell her that two or three times, she will generally do it without getting upset.  We try to give her warnings even when we're in a familiar place or routine (getting her ready for nap time or picking her up from her babysitter's house). Depending on how tired she is, even normal transitions can throw her for a loop. Sometimes we forget. But just because she bursts into tears about getting into the car right now, doesn't mean that 10 minutes later she won't go cheerfully.  Sometimes it's worth waiting that extra 10 minutes.

And like all females, eating regularly helps, too. :)  We have reduced her milk intake and only give her a bottle before her nap and bedtime. So she's eating more food, although still not much most days. Her favorite foods right now are Gerber Graduates freeze-dried baby snacks, oatmeal with fruit, pasta, bananas, bread, scrambled eggs, and deli turkey slices. Depending on her mood, the time of day, and the alignment of the stars, she will also eat grapes, blueberries, apples, and cheese.

One of our very favorite things is that she's singing songs now. She has a great memory and can sing about 30 songs that she's picked up from videos, Sunday School, or home. She used to always love it when we sang along with her, but recently when we jump into a song she's singing, she'll stop and say "Emma's turn."And we'll say "Oh, excuse me, Emma. Please continue!" And she does. Cracks me up every time!

She can identify all her ABCs now, and loves to read the letters she sees.  We take her to the park so she can play on the playground, and she'll spend 10-15 minutes reading letters on the plaque that tells who donated the playground equipment. We are beginning to teach her to read simple words. She knows the names of basic shapes and colors and she can count to 14. She still loves to read books and can "read" a few of them correctly all the way through because we've read them with her so much.

She speaks in full sentences now, and is constantly surprising us (and making us laugh) with a new phrase. The other day, she was trying to get situated on a seat and kept wobbling and almost falling off. When she finally stabilized, she said "Well, that was crazy!" I almost wet my pants laughing.

Another funny conversation we've been having every day for months goes something like this:
Emma: Play with Daddy's phone?
Dan repeats: Would you like to play with Daddy's phone?
Emma: OK! (In a "That's a great idea!" tone of voice)

It makes us laugh, because we're repeating what she says to reaffirm her, but we end up feeling reaffirmed because she's so happy we got it right.  We understand what she says the best, of course, but based on my limited experience, she speaks very clearly for a 1 1/2 year old.

Some things she loves at twenty-one months old:

• She would watch TV almost all day long if we let her, and her favorite shows are YouTube videos of Pocoyo, Little Baby Bum nursery rhymes, Baby Einstein, and Sesame Street musical guests. We've tried to graduate up to kid movies and cartoons with more of a storyline, but she's not ready for those yet. It's just something else to look forward to when she gets a little older!
• Dan and I have small libraries of books in our cars. When we're driving, we'll hand her one book, she'll read it, then hand it back to us and ask for another book. 
• She's become a serious Daddy's girl! For a few weeks, she wanted Dan to hold her all day and put her to bed every night. I love it, because I was a Daddy's girl, too. But as sweet as it is, it can be exhausting to be the favored one. Unfortunately, Dan hurt his back, and wasn't able to lift her comfortably for over a week. So she was forced to break her "Daddy only" streak.
• When I blogged about her a few months ago, she was going through a stage when she sometimes hated getting in the bathtub. She's done a full 180 and now she asks to take a bath almost daily.
• Dan taught her how to play hide and seek, which was hilarious! I would point her in the direction of the room he was hiding in, and she'd shriek with delight every time she found him.
• She also loves when we pretend to fall asleep so she can wake us up - very enthusiastically.
• She loves to say "That's my favorite (fill in the blank)!" when she wants something. One morning she woke up with a fever, so I left to buy some Infant Tylenol for her while Dan was holding her. He said that as soon as the door shut behind me, she said "Hey! That's my favorite Mommy!" So cute. :)

She got really sick with some sort of virus or flu during Christmastime, and would hardly let us put her down. Dan and I took shifts holding her while she slept so she would get the rest she needed. She would drink milk and that's it - she vomited any medicine we tried to give her. Poor baby!

When she's frustrated (or sick and cranky), her favorite things to say are "Hey! That's MINE!", "Hurt Emma, ouch!" and "Oh no!"  When she was feeling sick in Virginia, she must've said "Oh no!" 20,000 times (as she's demonstrating in the video). She had all the Jesters saying it before we left.

 She is such a good kid on flights! She loves to sit on our laps or in a "big girl seat," if one is available, and play games on our phones, read books, color, and take naps. We are so grateful that she makes flying easy on us.

She's just reaching the stage where she wants to try to do the tasks she sees us doing. 

Taking a pretend bath. We still give her baths in her toddler tub on the floor, and it's one of her favorite things to do.

Her babysitter, Linda, made some play dough for her, and she has asked to play with it every single day.

I take her to a toddler play area in one of our malls, and she loves climbing in the cars and "driving".

Coloring with her friend, Ellie.

Dan is braver than I am about taking her on big playgrounds. This is a tunnel and bridge course at SeaWorld that is about 30 feet off the ground. She loved it, of course!

 She loves sitting on the chair that Grandpa Jester made her. She just couldn't wait after her bath one night. Haha!

Dan and I celebrated my birthday a few days early with a date day. We went to a movie, shopped at the mall, and went to lunch sans baby. On my birthday, we all went out to breakfast before church.

We've discovered that Emma is a chocoholic! She definitely belongs to us!

Our little princess reading a book out loud

During the "all I want is my Daddy" phase, she insisted that Dan put her to bed every night. He was so exhausted one night, I had to go wake him up in the rocking chair so he could put her in the crib and come to bed.

We attended a wedding last weekend, and she looked so pretty in her fancy dress that was passed down from her cousin, Chloe! She brings us joy every day.

Christmastime!

We had a great Christmastime with friends and family.  We enjoyed holiday festivities in San Diego the week before we traveled to visit our families.

Our friend, Sue, invited some of the kids she used to babysit over to decorate Christmas cookies. She is explaining the rules to the kids before setting them loose with cookie dough and candy toppings.

Emma loved cutting cookie shapes out of the dough - and eating it raw!

We visited Sea World a couple more times while it was decorated for Christmastime.

And we also joined some friends from church to see one of the most well-decorated streets in the Point Loma area of San Diego. Emma and her friend, Jemma, loved walking through the winter wonderland!

Emma and I have enjoyed our friendship with Jemma and her mom, Jackie!

After Dan was on Christmas break from school, we flew to Texas to visit my parents and Steve and Sheila for Christmas week.  We loved being together, although it was bittersweet without my brother, Paul. We miss him every day, but we are so grateful that he is in heaven now and not suffering any longer.

*Someone* kept trying to sneak into the gifts early. I may have encouraged her in this behavior.

We visited The Sixth Floor Museum, located at the former Texas School Book Depository, where John F. Kennedy's alleged killer shot and assassinated him.  It was an interesting exhibit of the events surrounding his assassination, and my parents added their own memories of when they heard that the president had been killed.

My family outside the museum.

We had a great time opening gifts on Christmas morning.  It was fun to watch Emma get excited about her gifts. Next Christmas will be even more fun with Steve and Sheila's baby who is due in April!

We went for walks around my parents' neighborhood almost every day. Emma enjoyed pushing her new baby doll in its stroller and peeking inside all the neighbors' mailboxes.

My Aunt Jane and cousin Tim joined us for Christmas dinner, and we played a game of Scribblish.

The day after Christmas, we flew to Virginia to visit Dan's family for New Year's week. Unfortunately, Emma had caught the flu and was pretty miserable for about three days. Then her fever broke and she finally felt (and acted) more like herself.  Dad, Mom, Robin, and Naomi were also getting over colds or the flu, so we were in good company. Most of our days were spent relaxing and playing at Mom and Dad's house, but we also visited Busch Gardens one evening.

 

The Jester Clan is still growing! Robin and Rob are expecting a second baby girl in May!

The King family (Pete, Kimberly, Christina, and Joyce) was able to join us a couple of evenings. I can't believe that those beautiful young ladies were the 4- and 6-year-old flower girls at our wedding!

Emma and cousin Naomi loved their Grandpa and Grandma time.

Emma followed her older cousin Josiah around all week. 

We gave our four nephews a street hockey set for Christmas

And Uncle Dan didn't need much encouragement play with them!

Emma got all geared up and ready to play, too.

We hope you and your families had a blessed Christmas and New Year!

Catching Up - November

The day Emma and I arrived home from our Nashville trip with my mom, Dan picked us up and we headed straight downtown to the Hyatt to spend the night.  I had been given vouchers by my company, and we needed to use them before Thanksgiving weekend. We always have fun spending time downtown!

Emma is showing Elmo how pretty the lights are outside our hotel room window

Ready to order room service!

She didn't sleep well in her pack n' play, which meant that she ended up sharing (a.k.a., completely taking over) our king-sized bed. 

We still woke up ready to play, though.

The view's not too shabby in the daytime, either!

We went out for a big breakfast and it was one of the first successful restaurant experiences we've had since Emma started walking. "Success" being defined as: 1) She sat in her high chair, 2) she actually ate something, 3) she didn't whine to get up until we were finished eating our meals. Sitting still and eating are not her favorite things to do right now, so we enjoyed it!

We took a swim in the hot tub, which was set at about 85 degrees. Dan thinks that should be the universal temperature for all swimming pools.

It was Veteran's Day, so we walked to a good spot to watch the Veteran's Day Parade along the downtown harbor.

We've had great times at amusement parks recently, too. Sea World is just two miles away from our house, and we love going for an hour or two at a time. It's one of the most fun ways to get outdoors!

There is an entire section of Sea World that is perfect for toddlers, called Bay of Play. It has Sesame Street-themed rides, games, and activities. But Emma could happily spend all her time playing with the giant rubber duckies at the store they planted just outside Bay of Play. It's the simple things.

When we finally drag her away from the duckies, she has a great time on the rides! She and her friend, Jemma, are waiting to ride the Flying Elmo ride.

Riding Abby Cadabby's Tea Cups. She has no idea that you can spin the wheel to make the ride go faster because that would make Mommy and Daddy sick. She is going to feel ripped off when she figures it out.

 Sea World has a Christmas play area with snow! We think it's exciting and we take Emma there and say, "LOOK!! IT'S SNOW!!" and we show her how to walk like a penguin on it and play with it.  She touches it once to confirm that it is still wet and cold and slippery, and she is ready to leave the area within 9 seconds. Oh well, maybe next year.

In keeping with our family tradition, we planned a short getaway during Thanksgiving weekend. We spent two days at Universal Studios Hollywood, since we have passes that are good until the end of 2014. Getting away to do something fun and active for the weekend is way better than stuffing ourselves with turkey and watching football on TV, in my humble opinion. 

She loved the minions, which were everywhere you looked in the park. Too bad she is too young to ride the new "Despicable Me" ride, because it is awesome!

Universal Studios doesn't have much for little kids, but they do have a couple of fun playgrounds.

And they have props from movies that you can play on.

While she was napping, Dan and I took turns riding several big kid rides.

Another nap during the Studio Tour. Unfortunately, Emma does not have The Parents Of The Year, and we took her on the ride knowing there was a scary part. At one point, the tram stops in a studio with a 360 degree, 3-D IMAX movie with King Kong fighting dinosaurs. It is dark, overwhelmingly loud, and your tram shakes as if you're in an earthquake the entire time. It was obviously terrifying to Emma, although it only lasted about 3 minutes. She fell asleep immediately afterwards from exhaustion, poor thing!

But when she woke up, she got to hug Curious George! Clearly King Kong did not frighten her away from all abnormally large monkeys. Heh!

She loves Dora the Explorer and kissed life-sized Dora right on the nose.  

Since we spent Wednesday and Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) at Universal Studios, we still had a 3-day weekend at home afterwards. It was the best of both worlds. 

Dan's birthday falls right after Thanksgiving, so we had a lunch and movie date to celebrate. I love this man!

Emma gave him a cute card and some NY Islanders-colored balloons to play with.

And the sweetest song ever

Dan's birthday kicks off Christmastime at our house, so Emma decorated our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. Bring on the holidays!