March Field Air Museum

 Saturday, February 2nd, we visited March Field Air Museum in Riverside. Henry had a lot of fun running around among all the planes and seeing the different uniforms and such. He was disappointed he couldn't go inside any of the planes though haha. 

 Tuskegee Airmen

I thought this patch was hilarious. I don't know what division or group had this, but if they weren't teased for having a sea lion while everyone else had bears or eagles or swords I would be surprised. 

 I love that even while being in the filth and misery of the trenches, someone still had the desire and drive to still create, even if it's just a simple ring. 

The sign in this display talked about jacket art and how at first it was allowed (we saw some much less creepy and impressive ones) but then the war department issued this statement: "Taking note of some of the strange and wonderful designs that have been etched onto field jackets and fatigues, the War Department has directed that the practice be discontinued immediately." I'm pretty sure the jacket above is wholly to blame, or should be at least. 

 Everyone's favorite flying ace

Seeing the big planes outside. 

The best shot I got of most of the group 

I think Grandpa must have pinched her ;-)  

 Russian plane 

Polish plane  

Taking some supplies. That face....ha

 Henry was SO excited to see some kind of plane he could sit in. 

Thea, meh. 

 They have air shows every other year so we plan to go back in 2014 for the next scheduled air show. While we were there we did get to see one plane land and Henry was pretty excited about that. Hopefully we'll be around for the air show next year.

26

"When are you going to turn 80 then?"

Henry keeps asking me when I'll be really old, like 80, and when I tell him not for many, many years he says, "oh so in five years you'll be old." Thaaaanks.

Well, on the 6th this month I hit 26 which seems to be a pretty uneventful age to turn but it was definitely a good birthday. Tuesday night (the 4th) Johann took me to the verizon store and used his upgrade to get me a fancy pants iPhone. I really love it. We have both always gotten the cheapest, most basic phones so this felt like a super splurge but I love all the features on it and I feel like I am just scraping the surface on what I can use it for.
               
Wednesday morning I woke up and read and article in the Conference edition of the Ensign. It was President Monson's Sunday morning talk and as I read it I felt like there was no better day to record some of the blessings I've seen in my life than on my birthday. Thankfully the kids were still asleep and I had about 10 minutes to write down some thoughts on that. The thing I remembered by doing it was that I have been blessed to know and associate with so many good people who helped bless my life. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had in life and the people who have helped me, taught me and encouraged me. I think I have found a new tradition for my birthday morn!

The rest of the morning went as usual with the kiddos and then around noon my mom came home from work since they had a minimum day and took us out to lunch at Red Robin. After that we went to some outlets in Barstow because I had some coupons and gift cards. I got a couple shirts and a pair of shoes and got some things for the kiddos as well, because let's be honest, buying clothes for the kids is much easier and more fun annnnd they are just always cuter!

We headed home, played with the kids and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Once Johann got home we went out for dinner at Tokyo Sushi, mmm. Poor Henry had already seemed a bit off during lunch but he was definitely out of it for dinner.  He laid on my lap most of the time and didn't even eat his eel, which he loves. When we got home he wanted to get into bed right away but didn't want to miss presents so we took them into his room and I got to open a new book and iPhone cover from my mom and a cool shirt  fromt outofprint.com from Johann and the kids (I told him just the phone but apparently he bought this before we decided on the phone). Then we had some cake and called it a night!

(Heading to Tokyo Sushi) 

On Friday I was delighted to get another gift from my mom that hadn't come by my birthday-slippers! My feet are always freezing in the house because it's all tile sans Henry's room so I am so happy for the nice warm slippers! Saturday Johann's parents, who also sent a cute card in the mail and email, came out and along with them, my mom and brother went to Go Bankok for Thai food. Following dinner we came back to the house and had some cheesecake compliments of mi madre.

So if want the short version of my birthday-it was great and I was given in extra 5lbs for it. =)

Yay for birthdays!

7 Months

Oh, Dorothea. I don't have words to express the joy it is to have her in our family. I just love her. I could spend all day holding her and kissing on her chubby cheeks. Here she is at 7 months:

Stats-According to home measurements she is 20lbs and 26.5 inches which puts her somewhere between the 75-90th percentile for weight and 25-50th  percentile for height. She is so much fun to cuddle with all her chubs.

Eating- She loves it. Nothing she has refused yet. She is especially fond of feeding herself. Also we tried with some rice 'biscuits' and she hasn't had a rash. I don't know if it was weather or just a random rash before or she wasn't ready but nothing appears to be wrong with her skin now. She's had puffs, rice biscuits, peas, carrots, bananas, squash and green beans and enjoyed all of them. She also likes practicing noming on things with her two little teeth on the bottom. They're so goofy looking but still terribly cute.

Sleeping: She is still a fairly good sleeper. She gets up anywhere from 5:30-7am, usually somewhere in the middle. She takes a longer morning nap (about 2 hours) and then a shorter afternoon nap (no more than 90 minutes). Bedtime is 7:30pm and generally she goes down easily though she is starting to resist a little bit on and off now but that doesn't last very long. She'll sleep in her crib until anytime between 10pm-1am then she cries and comes into the bed to eat and sleep. She nurses on and off during the night, I am usually barely awake for it.

I decided this week, however, that she needs to be exclusively in the crib. She is much more able to scoot around now and our bed is too high for me to feel comfortable about her being in it, especially since Johann gets up before me frequently, leaving one side barricaded with a pillow only. The first night it went great. She woke up around 2am and I nursed her for ten minutes and then she went peacefully back into her crib until about 6am. I was actually a little sad to have her out of the bed all night. Apparently Thea felt the same because last night didn't go nearly as well. She only slept in 20-30 minute bouts after her initial sleep from 7:30-10:30pm. Even if she didn't scream when I put her into the crib she whimpered and whined for a good 10-15 minutes before falling into a light sleep. By 2:30am I said 'uncle' and just put her into the bed where she then decided she needed to be attached to me for what felt like the next two hours on and off. Needless to say, I am hoping tonight goes like the first!

Personality: Overall she is still very even. You can do something to make her laugh and the first time it's a big laugh, the second a giggle the third a kind of sigh and then maybe a polite smile. She's also getting more interested in toys, like when I was nursing her this afternoon she kept rolling back in my arms to look at her music table and grabbing at it. She is still just very sweet and likes having her neck, back, bottom, legs and head rubbed. She also babbles a lot, especially "dada" and today Henry and I both laughed when she babbled something that sounded like, "hot dog mmmm." I wouldn't be surprised if her first real word was something food related.

I love how above she looks like she is about to run away. He is crazy but they get along pretty well now days, for a little bit at a time at least. She especially likes getting to play in his room and get her hands on big brother's toys. 

Movement: She is still sitting up really well, scooting backwards really fast (especially on the tile) and can move from a sit to a crawling position but not vice versa yet. She goes up on hands and knees and rocks but then gives up and goes to her backwards scoot. She still really likes standing, only now she tries to let go of our hands half of the time and tumbles accordingly. She can hold on to the ottoman for a few seconds at a time standing but that's about it. The scary part is it seems she is starting to actually care about moving herself, so maybe she'll crawl or walk sooner than my prediction of 14 months.

 Standing girl 

 Well that's a little bit about our little miss. She brings so much joy and love to this home!