Swingin' Through Life

Wow - I can't believe it's April already.(can't you tell from this picture? Welcome to CA! We stole all the global warming)

Not very much has been happening around here the last few weeks. I always say that and then my posts are 10 pages long.  All that has been happening is day to day life in general.
The updated baby news is that we had our ultrasound last week and found out we're expecting another boy! We both secretly wanted a girl (probably me more so than Jake) but I am excited because I won't have to buy any clothes, aah, we start the hand-me-down process early. I commented that now we're going to have two boys running around battling it out with wooden swords and Jake piped up "and I'll be in the middle!"
Kaleb has been growing and developing quicker than I can blink. He crawls everywhere now and gets into everything. We have our computer hooked up to our TV. We just haven't hooked up wireless yet. In the mean time we have to sit on the floor in front of the TV to use the keyboard and mouse. I have learned I can only do this when Kaleb is asleep or confined. Yes, that above, is the ball that goes in our mouse, I frequently have to hunt for it before I can use the mouse.

(at least the edge of our keyboard gets spit clean often, it's the cleanest part on the keyboard)

I called poison control last week (or the week before) when he decided to try what an Air Wick essential oil, plug-in thing tastes like. He didn't get very far on his tasting before I heard him gagging and ran in his room to snatch it away. Just in case, I called the hot line. A few days before this I had the inspiration that I needed to program poison control into my phone...glad I listened since it could have been worse. He survived, and all was well. It's an essential oil so worst case scenario is that it can be inhaled. I just had to watch him for signs of choking and coughing but he didn't seem to have any effects. After this I quickly grabbed my plug protectors and ran around the apartment putting them in all the outlets...still need Jake to put latches on the cabinet doors.
Kaleb pulls himself up on everything and will occasionally walk around furniture - yikes! I'm not ready for that next stage so soon - according to Grandma Stevens he needs to crawl longer or else he'll be a spaz like his dad (or have no hand-eye coordination).
We're still working on getting him to sleep through the night (down to only one waking most nights), we still get the up 4 times for no reason. He is starting to nap a bit better also. Talks to himself for about 1-1 1/2 hours and sleeps for about 45 min. - 1 hour (just need to work on getting the sleeping part to be longer and the talking part shorter)
I have decided to let Kaleb start learning to feed himself. I'll just have to get over the fact that I know it's going to be a HUGE mess. I don't want to feed him the rest of his life! We have carpet in our dining room so I think I'll look for a tarp or canvas to spread under his highchair.

I am officially done nursing! (I'm sure you all wanted to know that) Apparently I have a slightly higher risk pregnancy since I am pregnant so soon again. My body wasn't quite ready to carry another child already. And something about the umbilical cord not being centred. All these factors combined means I couldn't keep nursing since this baby could have growth issues as it is because it's not getting nutrients as direct and fast. I can't be supplying nutrients for two babies and myself, have to focus on one baby and me. I am just so grateful that I was able to supply Kaleb with 9 months of such a valuable, nutritional substance (even with only one side working...again, I'm sure you all wanted to know that)
I got a recipe printed in a cookbook Worldwide Ward Cookbook - I am very proud to see my name in print. They only printed a caramel popcorn recipe - but, I feel very special, okay. Even if I did get the recipe from my mom and she really should have been given credit for it.
Without further blah blah blah...here's a glimpse into our daily life through pictures (and a video)
This is where we're at now...Tujunga (let me pronounce that for you...tu(as in Tupperware)-hun-ga (as in garage)
We love it here we have...
A view from our window.
We share our zipcode with the national forest, so that tells you how close it is. It helps us both feel more like we're home. Utah was the best because of the mountains that surround you and protect you, we found mountains again! It is only a 20-25 minute drive from work in Studio City but so worth it. We feel like we are out of the city and the drive is nice too.

Wildlife...

(what, you expected me to take a picture of the mountain lions?) We got a warning to be aware of our surroundings because there are mountain lions in the area - we just got excited - YEAH! Wildlife! The other night we were laying in bed listening to an awesome coyote brawl somewhere extremely close - oddly, I haven't heard the local rooster since then.

Architecture...

I'm still trying to figure this house out...did they go to a sight where they were tearing down an old castle and steal the turret? Isn't that what the round part is called? If you can't see it, it has a rounded door.
Then we have this beauty...

I wish I could have taken a better picture of it and managed to capture all its quirks. There is a bridge. There is a round door, the roof looks like a thatched roof. I keep expecting the Seven Dwarves to walk out of it.

We have a small park close by that Kaleb and I frequent every day after morning nap and lunch.
It has...

Old guys who congregate at the park every day, all day. They have gone from siting on the stairs to sitting at the picnic tables playing games. There is quite a crowd sometimes.

Kaleb's first 4-wheeler

Slides, not so much a favorite of Kaleb's

Kaleb is discovering the joy of sand eating...cleaning out his insides.

Most importantly, it has...

SWINGS!

Kaleb is a huge fan of this part and could probably sit there all day letting me push him back and forth, up and down.

Most importantly of all, Tujunga has only 1-1/2 miles up the road (and I mean literally UP - whew)
the Murrays!We met Nick and Karin in Studio City, and then along came Rose, Tessa, and Todd, and a bigger house in Tujunga. When we found our apartment here we couldn't contain our excitement that we were in the same ward as some of our greatest friends.
(thanks for letting me steal this picture without your permission from your blog)

We also have not too far away...
our Studio City friends.This is only half the Low family - Tanya, Brian, Kevin, and Adam, came for dinner this past Sunday. Jake had to show off his TV and surround sound by throwing in a THX certified (ask Jake) DVD, Star Wars. For the few minutes it was on, all the kids were captivated.
Are you close enough to the TV Kaleb?

Life is going on. We are enjoying it.  Jake is still working at the same job, and seems to enjoy it (most days). He takes the car in the morning which leaves me with a stroller and two legs for transportation.  I get a lot of exercise.  Everything is uphill.  You would think this would mean I would get downhill on the way home, oh no, it's all about 50/50 so you end up going uphill both ways (just not in 2 feet of snow).  One of the great things about our location is that I pretty much have everything I could need within walking distance.  One direction within 1-1/2 miles is a grocery store, bank, and a quilting store.  The other direction within a mile I can go to another grocery store and the library.  There is the post office right next door, and the park just a few blocks up the road.  

We love our ward, although we still haven't been given a job to do.  Jake taught in Elders Quorum a few weeks ago, which he was very excited about.  He usually doesn't like EQ and it really bugged him in this ward because the person sharing the lesson would just read it or pull out the video.  I'm sure they didn't know what to do when someone actually prepared a lesson and expected them to participate.  The RS presidency came over one night to meet me and mentioned that they talked about Jake in PEC and they were excited to have him in EQ since the numbers are so few anyway.  I met my visiting teacher and also found out there is a quilting get together.  The RS is making baby quilts for humanitarian and a gentleman in the ward (he is the big seamstress, has his quilts in art shows, makes his own clothes, unusual I know) he gets whoever is interested together once a month and is teaching them how to make a quilt.  When the RS presidency came over to meet me they saw the quilt I have up on a frame being worked on and they were excited to have me join them.  This ward is an oldy but a goody.  Oh yeah, I wasn't going to write very much since nothing is going on in our life.  I'll leave it overly long and sign off.