There's No Place Like Home

Here I sit freezing in UT. It's supposed to snow tonight - brrrr! I had to go buy hats and gloves and borrow coats for the boys, we've never needed winter gear in CA!
I can't believe one week has gone by already.
I spent the first half at my parents home. Most of that was spent chasing Kaleb up the stairs, until we barricaded it. That lasted about 1 day until he figured out how to move the barricade with much gleeful laughing.
Alexander is getting a lot more interactive and social. He is so fun to have around. I can prop him up in the corner of the couch and he'll be happy there for quite a while. He doesn't like to lay down, but, sit him up and he's all good. I'm glad he is already growing out of the 'hold me 24/7' faze.

Grandpa and Xander discussing life

My two monkey boys with grandma
Cousins - 20 years difference

On Thursday Jake's family came to pick me up and let me spend some time with them. I feel so blessed to have married into a family that I love so much and love spending time with.







On Friday we got to go to Gardner Village and see the witches that they have all around. Witch hunt only lasted about 10 minutes before we were leaving with two screaming and one soaking wet baby; due to Xander puking all over his clothes (again).




Kaleb has been getting so much better with regards to walking. He can now walk while holding only one hand. He has taken a few single steps by himself but he'll quickly drop back down into 4-wheel drive. We'll get there eventually.
I can't figure out why this video is sideways and won't rotate. We'll call this video 'Kaleb walking on the wall with grandma'


Alexander had been progressively getting worse with his puking and throwing everything up so we took him immediately to InstaCare to see if there was anything that could be done for him. I asked my pediatrician in CA about his problem and was told it was just a newborn faze that he would eventually grow out of. I was concerned since he's only happy sleeping sitting up in a swing, or only sleeps 45 minutes at a time. He gags in his sleep and I have to run over and sit him up. He screams and gags like his spitting up is hurting him. It just goes on with him. The amazing InstaCare pediatrician quickly filled out a reflux prescription, what can it hurt to try it out? If it doesn't help him she thinks there might be something else wrong and he'll have to get an X-Ray of his stomach. I don't think it will come down to that. The medicine already seems to be helping balance the acids in his stomach.
The next day we went for a visit to great grandma and grandpa's house.

Auntie Shawna was able to meet us there.

Great Grandma and Grandpa meeting their 3rd great grandson.





























After visiting the grandparents we stopped at Costco to get medicine for Alexander. We also stayed to eat some food. All Kaleb wanted was grandmas Caesar salad dressing. Silly boy.












I hope all of you have a happy and enjoyable Halloween

Rain-Rain Come to Play

I took the boys to their Dr appointment this past Monday. Both are growing so well. At 16 months Kaleb weights 22 lbs and is 30 inches tall. His last appointment was 6 months ago. He only gained 1 pound and 1 inch in 6 months, which was surprising to me. Alexander at 6 weeks gained 2 pounds and 2 inches in just 5 weeks. He's now 11 pounds and 23 inches. Dr says Kaleb is in the 30 or 40 percentile in height for his age and Alexander is in the 70 or 80 percentile in height for his age. Other than that both are average in everything else for their ages. The Dr is concerned Kaleb isn't walking yet, apparently they are supposed to be running and walking backward by 16 months. He'll get there, I think he's just stubborn and doesn't see the point since he can get wherever he wants to go just fine and dandy in 4-wheel drive.

I'm loving Utah! Jake and I left Friday night. It worked out great because the boys slept the whole drive. We only had to stop once for fuel, I woke Alexander up to eat and we were quickly back on the road.
We got in to my parents Saturday morning, tired, but so excited to be here. My parents had things to do so we spent the rest of the day with Jake's family. Among the things we did was go get some dinner at a family favorite Chinese restaurant - YUM! We spent the night and then headed back to my parents church so we could hear their homecoming talks. We snuck in a bit late and sat in the back. It was so fun to hear about my parents experiences the past 18 months while they served a mission in France.
My mom's side of the family had a sibling get together on Saturday so all the aunts and uncles were still here (minus a few). Everyone crowded the house afterward for little roll sandwiches.
It was fun seeing all the family, it has been a while.
It was a perfect blue sky sunny day. There was grass to play on and lay on - oh how much I miss grass living in an apartment. California grass isn't that nice anyway.
Right after church Jake had to get back on the road and head home to California. I wish he was able to take a vacation and didn't have to turn right around and go home. He's been so busy at work pulling double duty since a lot of stuff has been going on. Him staying just wasn't feasible and sadly he had to be back to the daily grind on Monday morning at 6am. He had a bit of trouble on the way home which set him back a few hours but he still made pretty good time and made it home safe and sound.

Alexander enjoying the day...he looks a bit annoyed that I'm disturbing him.


Kaleb has mastered going up the stairs. There are a lot of stairs here that provide hours of climbing entertainment. The only problem is getting down once he's up. I'm sure he'll have it figured out before we leave. In the meantime I've been doing a lot of running up the stairs to rescue him, and trying to teach him how to get down on his own.The boys got to meet Grandpa and Grandma for the first time. The warmed right up to them.

Sammy - 2 weeks younger than Kaleb. Him and Sabine (3 weeks younger) are both walking so I'm hoping some of that rubs off on Kaleb and he can learn a few skills that are important in life.

My mom and grandma
One thing I miss in California - rain storms. Early this morning I saw a flash of light and was momentarily confused until a huge boom shook the room...ahh - thunderstorm - cool! I love thunderstorms. I called Jake because I was so excited it was raining and storming, he was jealous - I'm sorry you're missing out Jake.
A Kaleb story...He was sitting on my lap up at the counter in the kitchen. He was busy playing in the bowl of tomatoes when he suddenly bit in to one, in an instant he went from spitting it out with a disgusted look and audible "yuck!" and then squeezed the tomato which squirted all over both of us. It took me a second to figure out how I suddenly had tomato dripping off my nose and glasses, and tomato seeds covering the front of me; thank you for that one Kaleb! Oh life with kids is so fun!

Flash-bam-alakazam

My title was going to say 'flashback' but that came out instead. I think it sounds cooler anyway.
Remember way back in the day when you took a picture and it was stuck in a little round canister and you had to wait to see what the picture looked like? This might make me sound ancient. I found three rolls of film that I wasn't quite sure what fun things were captured on them. I finally remembered to take them with me to Costco this weekend. After shopping for an hour I was able to pick up the pictures, along with a CD so I could view them on the computer. Technology is amazing.
I discovered on the film a camping trip and a wedding.
My side of the family tries to do a camping trip every summer. This was the last one we were able to go to. The summer of 2007. There was hiking and a lake nearby where we were able to launch our canoes. There was lots of pine trees and the fresh scent of mountain air (I miss that so much living in CA). Most importantly, there was lots of laughter and fun.

Dad and a nephew relaxing

2 brothers (1 missing), 5 sisters,

4 brothers-in-law, 1 husband,
5 nephews, & 5 nieces

My sister getting help from her daughter with eating her grapes.

Three of my nieces looking rather unhappy

that they are stuck with dish duty.

Love abounds when you're with family

No, this is not a polygamous advertisement, it's
just the Scofield crew (minus 1)

Then came a wedding in January 2009. Jake's brother Daniel and his wife Hannah. This was also when we told them we were expecting (again). Ha ha ha - oh the joy of remembering the shocked expressions around the dinner table after that announcement came out.

Three of my favorite sister-in-laws

Kaleb and Grandpa Mc
(Kaleb looks so tiny)

Make sure you don't miss a drop of that juice Kaleb

Sister-in-laws and cousin

Remember when this could happen to pictures if light got into that little light proof box?
I love this picture of Jake (although I am so glad he shaved off that mustache). Too bad the camera wonked out at this point and ruined it.

Once a family of three.
I guess technically #4 is there.

Back to the present day...

Kaleb and Dad relaxing

Kaleb talks! Too bad he's the only one that understands what he's saying.
It usually consists of a lot of "deider deider deider" He has loved discovering the cool noises his tongue can create and spends a lot of time clucking, blowing raspberries, and such.

Another Kaleb story from this week. I wish our eyes had a rewind and record because Kaleb does so many things that I would love to share. As I was making grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch I dropped some butter on the floor. I threw the sandwiches in the frying pan then grabbed a towel to wipe up the floor. Turn around and Kaleb is licking the butter off the floor - ewww.
Kaleb is getting 2 more teeth on top, a total of 6 now. He has also recently been grinding his teeth, much to my annoyance.

Next week I'll be posting from Utah...if I am not too busy having fun that is. The boys and I are headed to visit the family. We'll be back in CA in time for December.

Boys-R-Us

My life is pretty boring right now. It mainly consists of one poopy diaper after another. That and wiping oatmeal or puke out of ears and noses. Oh the glamorous life of a mom. We should start a fashion line of pre-dirty looking shirts on the shoulders and down the back. When baby pukes, that's fine, no one will notice if you don't change your shirt until tomorrow, oh wait, didn't account for the smell. That could be a new perfume line Eau Sour Milk.
It has been challenging doing the whole nighttime business again. Kaleb is gettting two more teeth on top so I believe that is his excuse for also getting up at night. What ever happened to both boys sleeping 12 hours, taking 2 two hour naps, and being potty-trained? Oh that, and of course, getting their own food and feeding themselves :-) That is what mom's dream about.
It is so rewarding though when the newborn stats smiling and paying attention to you. Oh, you do notice me. It is hard to capture those first tentative smiles on the camera, but, here's the best attempt.

Alexander has a needy temperament and doesn't fall asleep or nap very easily. We're getting by and figuring him out one day at a time.

These pictures are for those of you freezing in Utah and other areas. Here we are, enjoying the park in onesies and short sleeves. Ahhh, California. Although, I am sad and jealous when I see pictures of the changing seasons in the Utah mountains. Good thing I will be visiting Utah with the boys for 5 weeks so I can get that all out of my system and then be happy to come back to temperate California weather.




Days are long, sleep is short, but these boys are filled with love and laughter and make life so wonderful and perfect. I can almost say I look forward to getting up each day to spend another day with them.
I can't believe how fast they grow. It doesn't seem like Alexander has grown much but one day his newborn outfit was a perfect fit, the next, it was way too small. How did that happen so fast!? It's hard to believe he's 1 month already.









Today Kaleb woke up so grumpy. He was screaming about being hungry and was sitting on my feet holding my knees while I was in the kitchen trying to scramble an egg for him. I put some leftover oatmeal in the microwave for him. He sat in front of the microwave screaming the whole minute and a half. Soon as it dinged he cheered "YEAH!" and started clapping. Never a dull moment with this fun boy. And I swear he ate a huge dinner, we don't starve him.What have we been up to this week? Not much different. We enjoyed conference via the wonderful technological advances and streamed it through our internet and onto our big screen TV. It really made me miss Salt Lake City. Saturday night we went over to our friends house, the Murray's. Jake and Nick went to the priesthood session while Karin and I enjoyed our baby conference with 4 toddlers and a newborn. Afterward they fed us a delicious spaghetti dinner with homemade sauce - YUM! Sunday morning we had some new friends come over. The Estradas have a 6 year old and 3 year old boy that are full of energy and gave me a glimpse of how this place will sound in a few years. Although Kaleb is pretty mellow so we'll see. We ate crepes and biscuits and gravy while watching conference, and trying to listen with so much chaos and noise all around us.
The week quickly came to an end last night with a goodnight Skype conversation with the Stevens family. I am so excited to see all of you in a few weeks! (I'm also excited to see my family, don't worry) I'm sad we'll just miss Hailey and her cute baby Jesse but glad they'll be back, and bringing Cam with them - YIPPEE! Can't wait for Thanksgiving when we get to have everyone together.
I love that the weather has been mid 60's lately - so nice! We actually pulled out the kettle last night and had hot chocolate. Although it made me realize, I have no long sleeves and hardly any pants for these boys. I'll have to remedy that before Utah weather freezes us all.
Kaleb is now digging in our freezer (it's on the bottom) so I guess that means he wants some lunch and is going to help himself if I don't get up.