speaks for itself

9 weeks along. Due October 24.

here she goes again

My favorite photographer/friend Jenica did it again. She takes the most beautiful pictures! Check out her stuff http://www.lemondropsphotography.com/

the twins are here

My best friend Heather had her beautiful baby girls on Feb.17th at 8:24 and 8:25. Baby A(Alyssa) weighed 5.4 and had to spend alittle time in the nursery. Baby B (Isabella) weighed 5.8 and got to go to mama about an hour after birth. They all are doing great. It was so great to be there and get to see these girls. They are alittle small, but are just perfect. I am so happy for there little family!!!

Little Eli

I thought I'd update everyone on what Eli is up to lately. He turned 17 months this month. He saw the Doctor last month for his 12 month (oops) appointment. He is 24lbs and healthy as can be. We live in an old building so they checked for lead through a finger poke and everything is great. I love this new Doctor we have, I researched on the Internet first to find someone with the same parenting values as us. This was the FIRST time we ever had a choice about our Doctor. He is pro breastfeeding, offers alternative vaccination schedule, and lots of nutritional information. So, I'm happy.
He is a runner and climber and loves to be outside. He loves picking up sticks and has learned how to throw a fit when we take the sticks away. We say "no sticks in the house" and leave them outside the door, but when we get upstairs goes straight to my broom and grabs it saying, stick! smarty.
He says lots of words, mama, dada, papa, bamba(grandma), bubba(thats him), Eli, water, eat, highchair, please, more, baby,ball, guitar, dog, blueberry, apple, banana, juice.....the list goes on. The weird ones are George, and elbow?? He really is in that phase of repeating EVERYTHING we say, including when mommy says no,no and dear dear dear.
He loves to sing and dance and play one of his 4 guitars?!? Kid got alot of Christmas gifts! He has been singing his ABC's, which is pretty much the tune with F,G,F,G,F,G,A. Its cute, I'll try and get it on video.
The best thing lately is he gives unsolicited hugs and kisses. Just walks over out of the blue to give you a kiss. Melts my heart.

Chinese Gardens

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, just got new batteries for my camera and I guess we really haven't been doing much blog worthy lately. I am not a writer blogger, I am a picture blogger. So if there are no pictures there is no blog. This weekend we did have my little brother spend the night and got to explore some new things in downtown. Micah is totally into anything Asian, so we walked through Chinatown and went to the Chinese gardens. He took lots of pictures of the city for inspiration for his comic books :)

you vote!

I know its a hard decision, but cast your vote for Eric's look. Winner gets.....uh.....the creepy reminder of what Eric looks like with a mustache.

Merry Christmas!

opening his christmas gifts

a little stuffed doggy and a new hat for Eli

first snow

Well, our "arctic blast" hit yesterday and it is COOOOOLD! Lots of snow on the ground Sunday and now the daily high temp is 20! Eli was pretty cute standing in the window watching the snow. When we took him outside he held up his hands and whimpered like, why is my hand frozen to this stick?!

at the pumpkin patch

The fall is my favorite time of the year! I was so excited because this was the time last year that Eric left for Iraq, so we are just now getting to experience the things he missed with Eli. Going to the pumpkin patch and Halloween were the first pictures I sent over to him and he said it broke his heart to be missing that. But now we are all together and enjoying the beginning of the holiday season! And Eli is a much better age to be enjoying all this, last year we propped him up near a pumpkin and tried to snap a shot before he fell over! This year for Halloween Eli was a dog, it was a great soft dog suit (might have been a bear?) from Costco, that he loves and would bark like a dog while he wore it. perfect. He was a huge hit around my parents neighborhood. I felt a little greedy taking a baby around to collect candy that is obviously not for him! Oh well, we all had a good time.

Speaking of Halloween, I just have to say this- some people have a hard time deciding whether they will let there kids partake in the tradition, and I realized that I love Halloween! Not because I am evil, but because around our house growing up it was always a time for great creativity! We almost always made our costumes and came up with great things. It drives me CRAZY to see little teenagers going door to door in there street clothes with a cheap scary mask on- just to get candy! In our home we will always celebrate Halloween, but there is no need to teach the creepy part, just use as a chance to be creative and have fun!

Like this year, at the ABSOLUTE last minute I had an idea:

taken from Lori

I am -Melea
I want -to do right in life
I have-a WONDERFUL husband and a beautiful baby
I wish -on 11:11 pretty often, since junior high- might be Heathers fault!
I dislike -nuts in sweet things.blah. they don't go in cookies,cake,ice cream. I tell most people I am allergic to avoid eating it.
I fear -Military junk. Way to close to home.
I hear -nothing.ahhhh. baby asleep.
I search -for good deals.
I wonder -what we will do next. where we will live. where will the money come from. how many kids I will have. will I raise them right...wonder is equaling worry.
I always -check my e-mail, maybe 5-10 times a day. sad.
I usually -clean my house daily, I LOVE a clean house with a scented candle lit at the end of the day.
I am not -a girly girl at all! I am sadly not concerned in the least bit about prettying myself up and sometimes I scare myself in the mirror.
I dance -like a 1 year old with Eli. Its usually a booty dance.
I sing -not enough anymore. I should do it more often, I think I have lost my skills.
I never -go to bed angry.
I rarely -rarely, rarely do the dishes. That is man's work.
I cry -pretty often, I think with pregnancy, breastfeeding, deployment and all the hormones in between, I have been crying for about 2 years straight!
I am not always -honest.
I lose -baby socks, they are tiny.
I'm confused -period. Alot of the time.
I need -to lose weight. I am not eating for 2 anymore, and I can't seem to get that through my head.
I should -keep in contact with friends far away more, I try with all the Internet stuff, but sometimes I wish I could see people more.
I dream -not very often, or I can't remember things.
I love-my life.

girls weekend

Cousins, mom, aunties, sister-in-law, and a baby oh my!

Here's a picture from our girls weekend in Seattle 2 weekends ago. We surprised Aunt Darlene by taking her up to Seattle for a shopping/eating/hang out spectacular. It was very fun! We all drove up together in our pary (party) wagon! And all shared the penthouse suite. what what. (you have to do it in that gangsta voice) The weather was AMAZING! It made me realize how much I love Seattle and need to go up there to hang out more often, its a cool city. Not pictured are our Seattle natives that joined us for lunch on the wharf. Super fun weekend! We should do it more!

so sad

So it is official. Eli is done breastfeeding. :( My last post was almost a month ago, when he started to stop. The next couple days I tricked him into it a few times, but he was just not into it! I got him to nurse on both sides one morning, then one side at night, and the other side the next day. Every time he was pretty frustrated with me. So I let him do his thing, and now over the past few weeks ANYTIME he signed milk or points at my chest I'd offer it to him, he usually just laughed and ran away! I didn't know if this was just a nursing strike or if he really was self weaning. From the info I read, babies don't self wean before 12 months, but more likely between 18-24. What about the in between? He is 14 months, and he for sure weaned himself. no tears...on his end at least! I wasn't so sure about being done with nursing...tear. I looooved breastfeeding and would recommend it to every mama out there! There's nothing better than looking down into that little babies eyes while your providing the best thing for them!
old picture of Eli and I on our way to Japan.

Lets finish off that Germany trip already

As I said we stayed at a resort in Garmisch Germany and took day trips from there. We got to see a lot of Bavaria, which is amazing! The mountains all around and the most ADORABLE little villages. It was like a fairy tale place. We had some of the best food I have ever tasted! Eli got addicted to spaetzle and ate it at every meal. At the end of the trip we flew through Amsterdam and had a 20 hour layover. We got to see Justin and Jen and stay at their (not their) house. I wish we could have stayed longer, but it was so good to see them and thanks for helping us discover our personalities, I never knew who I was before! Anyways, we had a wonderful vacation. We are back in town now all settled into our new apartment and Eric has started classes. I will post next about our place!
Our hotel



























Munich


Ettal Monastery
Mittenwald, Germany

I just wanted a frickn' picture

For the life of me I couldn't seem to get a decent picture of the two of us for our anniversary. My weird faces and Eric's half opened eyes! ugh. Well happy 6 years to us.

FINALLY, our trip to Germany

Our first full day in Germany at our hotel in Garmisch. Its a military resort that is about an hour outside of Munich in the Alps on the border of Austria. It is at the base of Germany's highest peak, and is a major winter sport area. I would love to come here in the winter, there was alittle snow on the mountains while we were there. It is a beautiful town and the hotel is so nice.



















This is the town we stayed in, it was so cute! And they were having a festival the first few days we were there! These were cool Renaissance people, not the weirdos we have in the states!






















Eli being extra cute for pictures on the train ride to Munich. He loves trains now, we got him alittle wooden one and he can say "choo choo"

busy, busy, busy

recovering from a wonderful trip to Germany, moving into our new/very old apartment downtown, and dealing with a baby who quit nursing...cold turkey?? Its been 3 days now, and he is just not interested at all, he fusses when I put him on my lap. Is he done? Should I pump, or just let go? Any BF mama advice?

Wedding Pictures

Well, haven't been blogging in awile. I do have some pictures from my brothers wedding to share with you all. It was about 2 months ago now, so I am alittle behind. We are heading out on our big trip to Europe soon, so many posts to follow!
















Jonathan
Chelsea















Micah embarrassed to have everyone looking at him!















The four kiddos, in order oldest to youngest













The whole family