Beach Day with Grandma

My mom came out to visit a few days after A2 was born, allegedly to help me recover from labor, but really so that we could play. And play we did!

This being California, we had to initiate A2 to the beach within the first week after birth. Thus A2's first trip to the beach:

As you can see, the beach didn't make much of an impression on him. But A1 had a great time, building sand castles with Grandma, while Daddy built irrigated moats out to the ocean:

We loved having my mom come visit and want to share more experiences like this with others of our family and friends. I invite one and all to come visit.

Accidentally Learning How to Write

Since A1 started attending nursery in our new ward, her favorite things to do are color and sing songs. We sing songs everywhere we go and, of course, we have to do the actions. She knows all the actions to "Popcorn Popping" and "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock." We're working on the actions to "Book of Mormon Stories." I'm having a hard time remembering the "nursery songs that every kid should know" - can you help me remember some good ones to teach my kids?

In a related story, A1 begs to color everyday. It's the only way I was able to watch General Conference earlier this month (she colored so I could watch). She also likes to pretend that she is writing people's names (particularly family members) and other known words. The other day she was pretending to write letters of the alphabet in a notebook we gave her, when suddenly she proudly shouted, "M!"

A1 proudly shows off her coloring

What letter does this look like to you?

Now I know she does not actually know how to write and that this was some random coincidence in writing. But how amazing is A1 for recognizing her own scribbling to interpret it as M?

It's a Boy!

We had a new addition to our family early (VERY early) Saturday morning, and it's a boy. ACJ (to be known hereafter as A2) was born at 12:31 am and was about half a pound bigger than A (to be known hereafter as A1) and nearly 2 inches longer. Labor went well for me - I only had to push for less than 5 minutes this time! The OB staff was very impressed by how quickly everything went, and the nursing staff was delighted by how quickly I recovered. We were able to come home late last night.

Mom and A2

Dad and A2

A1 and A2

A1 has completely fallen in love with her little brother. She is very gentle around him and loves picking out which clothes he should wear. So far the transition to big sister has been going well for her. R is back on call, but we hope to spend some quality time with him next weekend. I'm recovering well.

We wouldn't have been able to do all this without the help of my sister and her fiance, who came out to stay with A1 while R and I were in the hospital. Thank you so much, Erin and Ryan!

As we make our way to the hospital...

I thought I would share some beautiful pictures of A with her "baby brother."

We have a wonderful friend here in LA that does photography as a hobby. She took some pictures of A with my big belly last week that are just adorable. I thought you might like to see them as well.

And so we are off to the hospital to have this next little one. Check back in a couple of days for an update.

New Lessons

A's grandma brought her a new book when she was here visiting. This book has really helped in teaching the alphabet. The first night she had the book, A taught her stuffed animals which letters she already knew and learned a new one (T) in the process. I caught her reading to her puppy, especially showing off the D:

A also had the opportunity to go swimming with Daddy yesterday, as it was his day off. He tries to take her swimming every chance he gets, and he is a very good swimming teacher. Yesterday he taught A how to lay on her tummy with her hands and legs out in the water, in the correct swimming position. He also was able to convince her to put her face in the water (only once and not for very long, but her face was still in the water!) to blow bubbles. I'm amazed that he was able to teach her as much as he did during that short time in the pool.

I'm also trying to teach A how to play the piano (no pictures of the event yet), which is very fun. She gets quite a kick out of pushing the keys and making sounds. She even figured out how to play the Jaws theme (duh-Duh, duh-Duh, duh-Duh), but I haven't been able to get her to repeat it since that first time.

What lessons have you been teaching your kids? Any suggestions for what else I should be teaching mine?

San Diego

My mom was in San Diego last week for a medical conference. A and I couldn't resist the chance to spend some time with her, so we made the 120 mile trek. We then forced her to play hookie for one of the days of the conference so that we could take her to the beach. Grandma built A a nest in the sand, which A used as a dancing stage:

I don't know how that girl can be so cute! She is growing up so fast and already thinking that she is too cool for anything but the beach.

I guess we need more people to visit us to give us an excuse to go to the beach more often!

The medical conference was wonderful. A and I spent a lot of time in the exhibition hall getting all the free stuff they offered (anything from pens and post-it pads to grapes and yogurt). We also went to a few classes with Grandma (I'm all up-to-date on the new antibiotics and what vaccines are best for pertussis, if you have any questions!). Amazingly A was an angel during the classes, especially when they offered her chocolate cake (I love medical conferences!).

We are so glad that we were able to spend time with my mom. Thanks for letting us join you in San Diego, Grandma!

This Post Brought to You by the Letter D

As promised, I have started working on letters with A. She picks them up very quickly, although in a very strange fashion: She can remember the strangest letters that we use the least better than those that we use all the time (Q and W are her two favorites at the moment).

Today's letter was D. I tried to help A remember the letter by saying, "Like 'dog'!", but now she thinks the letter is called "dog," not D. Oops! She did want to show off her new letter for the camera, so I thought I would share with you.

Speaking of the letter D, the other day A spilled some milk on the floor (and unlike her mother, she did not cry over it). She watched me wipe up the milk and now has a new fascination with wiping up any dirt or liquid, real or imaginary.

After taking this picture, I realized that A now has hard evidence to use against me if ever she wants to accuse me of treating her like Cinderella (my favorite accusation to my mother when I was growing up).