A Very Eventful October

This month was so monstrous (and probably a preview of what all our Octobers will look like for years to come). First we had a Rockin' First Birthday for Bekah on the 10th. She turned One! Then we celebrated her actual birthday with some everyday fun. Then we all got sick for two weeks. And then E turned Three! She had a super fun day at Super Franks (in Pleasanton) and got a plethora of gifts (bike, mini play structure, princess stuff, books).

Along with that Ian and I started our new schedule where I'm working three days a week and Ian two. I'm now (trying) to do 20 hours of billable work a week all while maintaining my sanity, keep the house chores still happening (somehow) and enjoying the girls as they're growing up.

Oh and speaking of milestones, R is now starting to take steps to people, crusing down the hallway holding on to the wall and cutting her first tooth (lower front right); and E just had her last nursing session. She's sad, but also is so happy to hear about how she growing up from a baby to a little girl to now being a big girl.

I cannot believe October is almost gone and the year with it. And I can't believe that E is Three and starting to get more independent (and particular). And I can't believe R is One and no longer our little baby girl (although she's still our little bean... and I do mean little - only 17 pounds lite).

P.S. There's a lot of pictures... so click on the photostream badge to see more!

Site Maintenance

Unless you think we've abandoned this blog, we haven't... but finding time to regularly blog is problematic. I think I just need to find the right app to help me "get it down". I think of them in my head, but they rarely make it to computer and even less rarely do they get published. Sigh.

So, instead, a little blog maintenance... update the birthday tickers, adding a twitter roll and changing our family "about us" section. We hope to continue sharing through this site, so keep checking our blog if only to check out our new pictures on flickr and see what I'm tweeting.

Twitterpated

We're tweeting now. Follow me (gilda) at @sillyporcupine, E at @ImZeebo and R at @ImBekahBean.

p.s. E and R's tweets are private, but send a "Follow Me" request and I'll add you as a Friend.

R's First Word and other milestones

A new post is long overdue. And R is really growing up fast. So before she's 12 and everything is out of date... here's a rundown of her newest milestones.

She is talking. OK, only one word. But a very clear one at that. She breathly says "Hi" to those she recognizes. (Super cute!) And she tries to mimic other words, but they usually come out as some sort of grunt. For instance, today I asked E what a cow says. "Moo", she answered. I asked R what a cows says. "Arrrr", she answered. So funny.

She is climbing like no body's business. We're constantly grabbing her down from some precarious spot. Or trying to keep her from stepping right off of things. Or helping her out of tight places (like the second shelf of an empty bookcase that she climbed into). Silly girl.

She is standing up on her own and standing without holding onto things. Soon (but hopefully not too soon) she'll be walking! I fear the day she is even faster on two feet! (She's a speed demon in the crawling department).

And even with only 2 weeks before she turns 1, R still doesn't have any teeth. I know, amazing huh.

Ok, my late update is done. :)

Busy Babies

I truthfully have to say I don't know how people with small kids keep up to date with their blogs. Some have great stories, pictures galore and captions for all. I'm lucky if every 3 months I get on here and get an update. Of course, maybe I'm just long winded and need to post more shorter entries. Anyways, even when our blog sits idle for months, keep checking back on our page if nothing else for the change in our flickr banner. If I find time, I usually upload pictures... because well I'm a shutter bug.

So just to let you all know how our busy "babies" are doing, here a short recap.

R - She's crawling, cruising, climbing stairs, "talking" (gabbing all day long or shrieking to match E's volume) and eating with her fingers. Her newest food is Puffs or Cheerios. She has been a super handful because she has decided that sleeping is over-rated and sleeps very short naps and sometimes not at night. Also, we really have to keep our eyes and ears out because she is super fast on those petite hands and knees she has. She also has a knack for reaching things and getting to stuff I don't think E could reach until you was over a year old. We love our little Bekah and she is getting to be quite a bit of fun. Her laugh is infectious and this is a great stage. Oh and she still doesn't have any teeth!! She's 9.5 months old! I'm not complaining though because she already likes to "munch" while nursing. Ouch.

E - She's going through a "terrible twos" period of testing every boundary and disobeying every things we say in hopes to get away with something. It's very tiring and trying, but we just constantly remind ourselves "It is just a phase." Also, E is now offically potty trained. Yay! She'll even (on most days) go through her nap and all the way through the night without wetting her diaper (which we still put on her because we're lazy and don't want to clean sheets constantly.) One thing that hasn't changed though is E's LOVE of her sister. She loves her... sometimes too much (bear-hug-squeezed). And her sister loves her! Our two girls are so cute together, especially when they play (nicely).

Ian - The end is near. Ian has finished his first draft of his dissertation. Now he's in footnote expanding, comment picking up and the "finishing up" part of his writing. Yay! Now let's hope theirs I nice amount of jobs come this fall for next fall.

Gilda - Same ole same ole with me. Only new thing is I am finally losing some baby weight (due to food diarying and calorie watching) and I'm trying to get back to that pre-baby routine of taking care of myself along with the rest of the family. Oh, and also I'm turning 30 next week. Wow, I can't believe I'm that old... actually I can. ha lol.

And so as we get more used to the neighborhood and get more involved at our church, we're hoping to build some great friendships and community... all as our family continues to be well (and busy).

Almost June, already?

I cannot believe that it is almost June already. Where did the month of April and May go? So many things have happened (and some things that haven't) - so many posts started in my head but never typed out - then one day, I turn around and it's almost June. Well, this would be a dizzingly long post if I wrote about all that has happened since the end of March, so instead ... the quickest of updates and a hope to post more often.

• Ian turned 29. What a youngan! We had a very low key dinner at our place with a smattering of our family. On the very same day as our get together, though, Ian's stepdad has a really horrible motorcycle accident. He broke a few ribs, shattered his right arm and I think he broke his pelvis. He's doing better now, but still has a lot of mending to do.
  
• We went up twice to Davis for a visit since we moved and also met up with a few friends around here. This helped E accept the move more (although if you catch her tired, she'll cry if anyone leaves). Oh but at least she doesn't lament about not having friends anymore evn though we still don't have a lot of new friends or anything close to the kind of community we had in Davis.
• We have started to get plugged into a church (Cornerstone in Livermore) and E is enjoying her Sunday School class a lot. Thankfully she has stopped calling this church "the new church." (This also goes for our house, the park, the store, etc. Everything no longer is precedded with "new" and she doesn't ask anymore to go back to the "old house".)
• R started on solid foods. I've made a few items, bought a few items and have tried to give her a new food each week. But we battle (once again) the problem of constipation as we move from easily digestable breastmilk to solids. Sigh.
  
• R had her first Easter. Ian was out of town (in Vancouver for a conference - his first time in Canada) and so I took the girls by myself to Stockton to see his family (since we see my family all the time and his still does the whole Easter shabang). E got to have a Easter Egg Hunt at the church and R got more used to be passed around (and taken care of by someone other than Ian or I). I also braved sleeping all of us in one room. Let's just say I did not sleep much that weekend... and I now can say the girls are not ready to share a room.
• Ian has not heard back from any of the schools in the very last round of applications - and so we have resigned ourselves to the fact that we won't be moving or starting a new job in the fall. Of course, Ian still has to finish his dissertation (which was put on the back burner as he taught a class) ... so I guess it all works out in the end. We hope for him to be done by September or December, walk in December and be out on the job market yet again (along with maybe some grad school applications in something different but related) during this coming fall. Keep praying for us that we'll be patient with God's timing and plan for all of us.
  
• We checked out the local Farmer's Market. And although the tractor ride was fun, it just doesn't even come close to the one in Davis.
  
• We spent two weeks passing back and forth a nasty flu full of sleepless nights, sore throats, snot and fevers.
• We made our biggest kid related purchase to date - a double jogging stroller (which I love). It's already seen a few miles as it becomes the "transportation" of the kiddos on days when Ian is up in Davis with our one and only car.
• We went to San Ramon's annual Art & Wind Festival. E got to sit in police cars, fire trucks, make crafts and got her face painted. Highlight for the weekend also was playing at the "water park" with a big water mushroom right next to the sand park and also flying a kite we bought. We didn't do that great at keeping it up in the air, but E shrieked with joy at seeing it fly.
  

So, that's our two months in a nutshell. Lots (and very little, at the same time) happens day to day here at "home" that it's hard for me to adequately share it on our blog... I just feel a bit at a loss of what to say. What is easy to share though, of course, is how the girls are growing.

E is now 2.5 years old and her vocabulary continues to grow by the minute. She says some of the cutest things like, "I love ____ (fill in the blank with anything she's talking about). That's my favorite". She also started making up her own songs and singing them to herself. Sometimes you catch a word or two, but usually they don't make any sense and they aren't even bits and pieces of other songs. The best milestone that E has crossed though is that hse is now potty trained. She'll have the occasional accident if she's stuck somewhere when she needs to go or is really tired and the day is waning - but all in all, she holds it when she needs to and goes when she needs to. She constantly says "I do it all by myself" and "I a big girl now." Yes, she is our big girl, now!

R is now 7.5 months old and has learned so many new things in the last two months - She can sit up on her own, she can turn over from her tummy to her back to her tummy she can transfer things from one hand to another and she is starting to "play" all on her own. She is also starting to reach over and try to grab things and trying to pull her legs underneath herself so that she can propel herself closer to those coveted objects out of reach. And even though she is progressing beautifully, she is still a peanut. She weights just a few ounces over 15 pounds (compared to E who surpassed that at around 4 or 5 months) and looks lean and long. But she is absolutely adorable, especially when she smiles ear to ear!

And so, that is us in a (still longish) nutshell. Be sure to check out our recent pics in our photostream to the right. (Lots of times photos will be uploaded even though our blogs remains silent.) Ta-ta for now!

So Sad... "Just Kids"

Poor E is taking the move so hard. She asks at least once a day if we can either go to PoPo's (Gilda's Mom's) house or home (which she means to be the Davis home). She refers to the house we live in as Auntie Gigi's house... and wonders why we are living here. Even with all the packing and the bringing of her bed, her clothes, her toys and her family (us)... she still wants to go "home".

The saddest thing of all though is on when on Tuesday she had the following conversation with Ian while they were returning from the park just around the corner from our new place.

E: I want friends.
Ian: You just played with friends.
E: No friends.
Ian: What about the boy you played with at the park?
E (matter of factly): No friends, just kids.

I guess in E's opinion you just can't beat the parks and spontaneous playing with friends at Russell and Orchard Park. Hopefully we'll meet some new friends and the children at the park won't be "just kids".

P.S. I just loaded some pictures on to Flickr of our last days in Davis... and it's so sad to see pictures of E so happy swinging in Russell Park when now a days she is often seen crumpled on the ground having a tantrum or trying to climb on us to be held or crying when any extended family member comes to visit but then has to leave. I just have to remind myself, this too will pass and our high energy ear-to-ear smile toddler will return.

Spencers on the Move

So it's been a month and a half of silence on our family blog... mainly because we were busy prepping, planning, being sick and moving. (If you're wondering about the potty training, it's still going... but of course with more steps backward than forward with all the family upheaval... sigh). Yep, we have moved!

Ian is still finishing his dissertation (although he hasn't worked on it in a couple weeks) and he is still going to be up in Davis at least twice a week (for a class he is teaching next quarter), but our family has moved down to the Bay Area while we wait to hear back from the last of the job openings for the upcoming school year. The economy being what it is and with the opportunities being sparse, we decided to move to aid our finances and be closer to family. We're still hoping to get a position somewhere, but only God knows the plan for the upcoming year(s). Keep praying for us, either for a job or a good transition-stay in the Bay Area as we wait (for how many months long it will be).

This last weekend was the big load the truck, drive down, unload the truck weekend. Then Ian spent two whole days back up in Davis cleaning our really dirty apartment, while I waded through boxes to find all the stuff we needed and sort all the stuff to be left in storage. Now, the end of the week is here and we are basically moved in with our essentials, even if there is still a few boxes in the garage (oh, isn't it lovely to have a garage!) and a few in our closets too that need unpacking. It probably helps that we don't own too much... and the majority of it is (not surprisingly) games and books. And we've also done all the really important stuff like change our addresses for all our bills. But moving is one of those things that the more you do, the more you realize you need to do. Case in point, the list of things to pick up continues to grow no matter how much stuff I buy and cross off the list... and I've visited Target three times already this week. Sigh. No wonder it takes people months and sometimes years to get settled and unpack that momentous last box. No matter how long we live here though, we really want it to feel like "home", especially for the girls. So far E has taken the move the hardest of us all... it's quite sad. She misses our Davis home, her one and only home since she was born. We miss Davis too, but know we'll be back to visit (soon).

And now for pictures. Here's some shots of our old place during the days of packing. Pictures of our new place (where we currently reside with Gilda's sister) will be coming soon.

Diaper Destruction and More Nighttime Adventures

Well the Toddler Nighttime Adventures continue...

Night 2 - E again woke up at 5 asking to be taken to the bathroom. She made her way out of the room and was sitting outside our door making little noises hoping to wake us up. But no mess in her room, so that's an improvement.

Night 3 - We were hoping for no night time wakings... but instead she woke up at about midnight (because I was on the phone and trying to wash dishes at the same time... it was a bit loud - oh, and yes, that is sometimes the only available time for me to talk on the phone or wash dishes... at midnight). Then when Ian went to put her back down, she asked to be put in the crib! So she slept there that night and we didn't have any incidents. Although the night was basically uneventful... during her nap the next day, we found her awake from her nap again playing semi-quietly in her room. More clothes were in a big pile on the floor and she was sitting right behind the closed door with her legs up in the air (on the door). Odd place to wait. :)

Night 4 - I fully expected E to wake up and want us to take her to the bathroom at 5 in the morning. She did and I took her to pee and put her down fairly quickly. Oh and I was already up because I had just finished feeding R. Hopefully this isn't going to be an ongoing "wake up" time for her... sigh.

Night 5 - E woke up several times last night, asking to be taken to the potty, asking for more water. I don't even think I heard the second time she got up (Ian attended to her), again at 5 am. This is starting to become a tiring routine, but at least we weren't greeted with surprises from E ... until this morning. That's when we encountered Diaper Destruction!

I was wondering why E didn't make noises when R and I had woken up... I was thinking "Could E still be asleep at 7:30am .. 8am.. 8:30am?" (we had skipped a nap yesterday and got in a little late, so it could have made her sleepier). Finally after being awake for almost an hour playing with R I hear a small voice coming from E's room "I poopy in my diaper". So, I go to her room, open the door and find diapers everywhere!! She had gotten into her trash can (full of pee filled or poopy disposable diapers) and had taken them all out and opened them. She also had the cloth diaper diaper pail open (and the smell that comes out of that is pretty rancid, especially since we're close to pick-up day which means almost a whole week of dirty unrinsed - because we use a service - diapers).

It looks like E was dumping all the poop in her disposable diapers into her diaper pail. Of course, that means she had to open all her disposable diapers to know which had poop and which had pee. Then in her attempt to put the diaper contents in their "rightful place" (the diaper pail), she ended up dropping a few diapers in there. I think while she was engaged in her dirty diaper adventure, she did end up pooping in the diaper she was wearing and that was when I heard her calling. And that is how I found her... with poop all over her hands, some dried stuff scattered around the trash can and diaper pail... and a little bit of poop on her clothes.

I guess these next few weeks will determine what can be left in the girls' room after we move. After a thorough cleaning of her room (with Clorox Antibacterial Wipes) and of E (three rounds of hands washing), we moved the trash can and the diaper pail out of her room (she doesn't get her diaper changed in there anymore anyways). We might end up moving other pieces of furniture (her clothes dressers) out of her room and replacing it with other ones.

Sounds like her next room (after we move) might have only beds and a few toys in there. I had a conversation with a veteran mom (of mostly boys) and she gave me some great ideas on how to lock the closet (sliding doors) and maybe we'll have to do a combination of a striped-bare room and locked closet at night.

All in all, though, we're still glad that E mostly likes her new bed and the mess isn't too bad. Even with Diaper Destruction at it's worse - it is still better than finding fresh smeared poop "art" all over the walls and floors -- Ah, the stories parents (mostly of boys) have to tell!

Oh, and here's our promised pictures of E in her new toddler bed:

Midnight Mayhem

Yesterday E got her first toddler bed. She was so excited that as soon as it was cleaned off and set up she wanted to get in, have blankets put on her and told us to turn out the light and leave. It was 6pm. But she didn't go to sleep, she was just excited and wanted to try it out. We thought, "What the heck? If she's interested, might as well give it a try". We were hoping that by introducing a Big Girl Bed, we could graduate her out of the crib (for good) in a couple months so that R could move into our one-and-only crib.

So, after she got out of the bed and got ready for bed (at her normal bedtime)... we laid her peacefully to bed in her new bed. Fingers crossed, we hoped we wouldn't have a nighttime wanderer on our hands. She did great!... or so we thought. By the time we went to bed, several hours after her, she had only gotten up once use the potty (with assistance... she's not potty trained yet, hopefully soon we'll be more successful than we have been) and to get a diaper change. But at 5:30 am in the morning, during one of R's awakenings for nursing - I discovered that E had the light on in her room. It was pretty quite and she had not come to our room for anything... so maybe she just turned the light on and went back to sleep after playing a bit.

Not quite.

I slowly went to her door, opened it and discovered an almighty mess! She had emptied half of her dresser of clothes and scattered them across the room. All her stuffed animals that were on her bed were on the floor. There was a bag of unopened diapers (but probably wouldn't have been for long if I hadn't come in) in the middle of the room. There was also a few books open and lying on the ground. It looks like at some point (probably in the last hour from when I had found her) E had woken up. She had realized she could turn on the lights and get out of bed fairly easily. So she did. I think she started to read a book or two and got bored. Then it looked as if she might have decided to play and clothe her Mr. Bear Bear with clothes from R drawer (and maybe later would have given him a diaper change too). Then it looks like she had raided her drawer for clothes too and tried on a few. She was fully engaged in all this quiet play in her room when I walked in on her. Highly amusing but not quite what I was hoping for. (Sorry, no pictures, I thoughtthat running back to my room, grabbing a camera and snapping pictures might give her the impressiong that this was "acceptable".)

Well, after a quick pile-pick-up and a minute of rocking from Ian, she went back to bed - but this time in her crib. No repeats, please.

Tonight we're trying the toddler bed again. This time, we turned off the light from the ceiling fan fixture, so she can't get the light on. Hopefully this will curb most playing-in-the-middle-of-the-night desires. But I won't be too surprised if I find her tomorrow morning in the middle of her room fast asleep. Will post again on the outcome (oh, and I'll try to get a couple of pictures in her new toddler bed). Goodnight (so we hope)!

Near Future

Many people have been wondering how the dissertation has been going along with the job search. They've also been asking where we're going to move to and when. So here's a quick update on what's been going on in the life of Ian.

The dissertation is coming along pretty well, with one chapter written last month and hopefully one soon by the end of this month or beginning of the next. After that, it's basically one more big chapter, an intro chapter, and the first full draft is complete!

The job search hasn't been going so hot, however. With the economy so bad, the number of job postings has been significantly smaller than usual and the competition is a bit intense - many schools get 200-300 applicants for a single position. Out of over 50 applications sent there have been no interviews, several rejections, and multiple cancellations due to the economy. Out of that pool, there are probably only 9 or 10 that still might call or email. New job postings, however, will come out in February but these will be mostly all for one- or two-year positions rather than real tenure-track jobs (though we'll take what we can get!).

So with all of that, we might try to get out of our lease here in Davis by the end of this quarter and move to the Bay Area. We hope to find some rent cheap (or rent free) living option with Gilda's parents as we wait to hear about post-doctoral and visiting positions and also save as much money as we can. Ian will drive up to Davis as necessary and Gilda will continue to work from home as much as possible. If no jobs are to be had this year because of the slowed economy, graduation might be delayed until the next school year. If so, Ian will just stop working on his dissertation for a short bit and work on getting some stuff accepted for publication in order to beef up his CV (a resume for academia) for another round of applications in the Fall. As of now, though, things are still kind of up in the air.

Please keep our uncertain job situation in your prayers along with all the moving/transitioning for our whole family - especially the girls.

Traveling near and far

For Christmas we did quite a bit of traveling. While going to see both sides of our family in Stockton and the Bay Area, Ian also flew to Philadelphia for a conference. By the time we came home on New Years Day we were exhausted. Here's what our time away looked like:

The Monday morning before Christmas, we packed the rest of our gear (honestly, most of it being clothes and things for the girls) into our car. We weren't sure what we were going to do once we had presents from Christmas, because we thought that our car was seriously full. Then we drove to Stockton. We hit a bunch of traffic because of horrible mis-communication and a lot of assuming on my part. Then we had to unpack most of the car along with our overtired kids.

Tuesday was a very low key day as we basically just hung out at G&G's (Grandma LaVeda and Grandpa Jim's) place. Ian did some work and we tried to keep the girls on their routine. That night we went over to Ian's mom's house for dinner.

Wednesday, we had some running to the store and a lot of napping, diaper changing and feeding before Christmas Eve dinner (where we celebrated with Ian's family as everyone was going to be in different places Christmas Day). The dinner was late and poor E, although excited about opening presents and seeing all the family, ended up crashing in tears (when I wouldn't let her fully open all her presents - taking them out of their packaging). We left at about 10 or 10:30pm.

Thursday, it was Christmas! We had a quick breakfast, opened a few more presents (well, E did) and then repacked our car to head to the Bay Area. We had planned to leave a few of the bigger gifts at G&G's house, but E had a fit when we tried to leave her new trike. So we had to put it in the front seat, resting partially on the airbag. Not something we'd want to repeat. Then when we got to the Yee (my family) house, we again did more presents (yes, that's three times so far). E got by far more gifts than anyone else. We (Ian and I) instead got some very useful stuff, like new tires for our car (very much needed) and money (also very much needed). This day was pretty low key and nice, because we were already feeling stretched thin from the traveling. The girls had slept basically okay up to this night.

Friday, Ian was going to fly out to Philadelphia. My sister took him to the airport on her way home. I don't remember doing anything of importance this day other than finish getting Ian packed up and maybe running to the store for something we had left at G&G's house.

Saturday until New Year's Eve, the girls and I just stayed at my mom's. E often was taken out by my mom to the park, to go shopping or to go for a walk. I basically tried to keep R on a good schedule and get lots of sleep. Keeping the girls taking good naps and night time routines was the hardest thing about being at my mom's house and having Ian gone. As much help as my family was in watching the girls, the naps and night was something I did all by myself. Oh, and did I mention that E learned how to climb out of her pack and play... yep, always an adventure.

The only other thing I did when at my parents was that I tackled cleaning out boxes from when my mom had moved and basically thrown all the random stuff from my sister's and my room (none of us were living there at the time) into boxes. I think I had at least a garbage bag full of trash, another huge pile to recycle and a box and a half of empty picture frames. My mom was amazed at what I found in the closest, including random wedding gifts we had gotten that we were never going to use - that were given to my mom to be regifted. Now, we know how much we have stored at their house (for when we eventually move).

And then New Years Day, after Ian had gotten back from his conference (no interviews... but more on that in another post), we repacked our car... full to the brim again (even after we had my brother take several big boxes and a huge bag of laundry up to Davis on his way up to the snow earlier in the week) and came home. We got home in the afternoon and after only unloading half our car... we then had to make a trip to the store - uh, because we had no food in our house. And then the day was done and we were super kaput.

We were glad to be home and glad to have been able to see both sides of our family, especially since we don't know where we'll be in the future. We just hope not to have to repeat this whirlwind traveling often and instead be able to have just our family time and share with E the true meaning of Jesus - not just presents, eating and family hanging out time.