I'm trying to figure out our new picture system on the laptop that we switched over to. Pictures will be coming soon. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!d

I realize that I've been lazy about updating my blog so here is the latest. We have been renovating our apartment. Chris' mom is coming to stay with us for Christmas and since we only have two bedrooms and one of them is the baby/office/paper mess room. So yesterday and tonight was a flurry of activity trying to turn it into just a baby/guest room. It required lots of shredding and rearranging. We bought an Aero bed and it's blown up and ready to be slept on. Now the living room is in chaos and I'm too tired to even worry about it.
So, some time between tonight and tomorrow the house needs to get pulled together.
I'm planning on having a baking day on Friday with Eloise and at some point I need to go Christmas shopping.
I'll put some pictures up after the Holidays and by then everything will have been pulled together and we will have made some nice memories.

Merry Christmas!

We left for Oxnard on Friday around noon after a relaxed lunch at Chick' fillet. We chose to take the PCH scenic route which ended up being about the same time wise as the freeway but prettier!

Anders got to relax and sleep most of the way!




Friday night we went out for a special dinner at the "Side Car Restaurant"











While we were in Oxnard we ate a wonderful free breakfast at our hotel, did laundry, went on a harbor cruise,ate luch at Andrea's sea food, visited the local children's museum..... all in one day!


On Sunday morning we got up early and checked out of the hotel by 6:30 in the morning to make it to church by 7:30! Anders was a trooper and napped on the way.

O.K., here is a load of Thanksgiving pictures. We had a very nice time at my parents house with lots of good food and family fun.



Anders was much loved as usual!



It wouldn't be a holiday without golf practice!

Here are a few pictures of Anders from the last couple of days. On Monday I took him to downtown Fullerton to see the trains come and go. He was appropriately impressed and I plan on taking him there again soon. I have been trying to get Anders to transition to a sippy " cup instead of a bottle and it is not going well. The bottle is a huge source of comfort and I'm embarrassed to admit that it's what helps him go to sleep.... bad mom. So, in the next month or so I will continue to talk about cups and give it to him first instead of the "ba ba".
The middle picture was from tonight and I was impressed with how old he is looking. Chris and I decided that he now looks like a kid and not a baby. Kind of sad but fun too.
Lately he has been very interested in babies and says "baby" quite clearly and sweetly. He loves looking at pictures of his new cousin Garrett on Erin's blog. We are looking forward to Christmas to get some cousin time in!
Tonight, he spent about 15-20 minutes perfecting the "spin and get dizzy" game. It was pretty funny to watch and I was slightly concerned that he would get sick but he seemed to just wear himself out which was fine with me.
Chris has been busy with work and so far we haven't seen the commercial his voice was used on, so we'll see.
We are looking forward to getting away for Thanksgiving. We'll spend the weekend in Oxnard and do some touristy things while we are there. It's our first family vacation just the three of us and we are really looking forward to it.

I figured it's about time to post again since Halloween is quite over now. I was asked by a couple of people how our trip to Cincinnati was since I hadn't posted about it yet. My camera was MIA when we went so Chris' mom graciously sent all of the pictures from the trip to me about a week ago. I have yet to upload and name them but when I do I'll put a couple up here. (the camera was found shortly after we came home in the couch cushions).
The trip was really fun despite traveling with an active toddler. He adjusted pretty well to the 3 hour time change and was a trooper with all of the driving and late meal times. We got to visit with Chris' grandpa one of the days and that was a special treat. He hadn't seen Anders in person so it was especially meaningful for all of us. He has been having some health problems and Chris and I have been talking about going out to visit for a while. Luckily he was feeling good enough to meet us half way between West Virginia where he lives, and Cincinnati. We met at a State park lodge which was really quite pretty and we took plenty of pictures (coming later). It was good to spend leisurely time with Chris' mom and go to her church on Sunday. We also got to spend a relaxing day at a really nice local park with Chris' dad and Aunt one of the days. Anders really took an interest in airplanes and the day we got home we were sitting on the floor of our apartment playing and an airplane went over. Anders eyes got really big and he pointed up with quite a bit of urgency. He seemed to really know what that sound was after all the traveling that we did.

On another note, if you happen to be home during the day next week and flip on the t.v. you may get to hear Chris' voice! He recorded a commercial for "Cash Call" a horrible lending company that advertises to the desperate and destitute (and charges accordingly!). I looked them up online and read some interesting reviews.
It will probably air mid day during the talk show circuit. I'm curious to hear it myself so we'll have our tube on until we hear it!

Here are some pics from our Halloween experience. Anders LOVED walking around and seeing all of the people. He didn't seem to bothered by the Scream masks or spooky looking pumpkins. The top picture is of James and Anders at Mommy and Me class yesterday. They got to try out their costumes before the big day.
The first house we stopped at tonight was Philip and Abby's house next door to my parents. Philip and Michael Posey and another friend were having fun passing out candy. After going to about 5 houses we came home and Anders played with his "loot" for a while and then lost interest. He doesn't know yet that those bright crunchy wrappers hold yummy treats!

Quick post to plug the latest updated "Life Behind The Picket Fence" blog. We're trying to put some new stories up so check it out.

I received a call from Chris' dad today and he was wondering whether we were affected by the fires or not. Sunday morning we got up as usual to make our hour long trek to Malibu for church. We were listening to "the Jesus Christ show" on KFI which we always enjoy on Sunday mornings. We made it all the way to almost past Santa Monica when the news reports started coming in about a pretty bad fire that was getting worse in Malibu. Malibu Presbyterian Church had burned to the ground and that is just up the hill from our building. So, we turned around and went to get breakfast at a local diner and then made our way back. We ended up going to Granada (the church where I grew up and where my parents go) for church.
Since Sunday the fires have increased although some containment is happening. The air here is pretty retched though and it is HOT. I will look forward to the end of this bad fire season. Hopefully there won't be more homes lost than there have been up till now.

I finally found my camera in the cushions of the couch so now I can finally post pictures from our trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We had a blast with Laura Blackwell and her two girls, Abby and Megan. Abby is at the age where she can really enjoy all of the sights and although Anders and Megan had fun they will enjoy it even more in a year or so. Actually Anders had almost more fun climbing on the window frames. As you can see in the top picture other little boys had fun doing this also!

Here are some fun pictures that my mom took when Anders and I visited the other day. That day was the first real fall weather and it was so fun to sit outside and feel the crisp air. Actually it's still warm during the day but the nights are getting quite chilly for California.

In the bottom picture Anders was finding great joy and excitement in lifting my foot off of the pot.

Next Friday is Chris' birthday and we'll be in Ohio for the weekend. To celebrate, my parents took us to little place called "Panda Rice" in Whittier. It looks like any Chinese fast food place with the orange chicken and chow mein under heat lamps but if you come in and sit down and tell the owners that you want "the special food" then they go to the back and make some amazing and fairly expensive Chinese food. (we learned about this great place from Kristy and Simon Caver). We had filet mingon with port sauce, kung pow chicken and green beans with chicken, a huge plate of the best fried rice we've ever tasted and a really good cabbage dish. My parents had never been so it was fun to share the experience with them. As you can tell by the picture of the table we did the meal justice although we do have some leftover fried rice for dinner tonight.
Tomorrow Anders and I will be visiting the Long Beach Aquarium with Laura Blackwell and her girls. I'm sure pictures will follow.

The main reason I clean my bathrooms.

This morning Chris was getting ready to leave for work and part of that process involves checking the favorite traffic web site to see how the freeways look. I just charged my camera battery and so I thought it would be fun to take a picture of Anders doing his best to get up near Daddy. Lately he's been finding anything to stand on to get up higher and this little bucket is a handy one. This is the same bucket that was his bath for a few months when he was a new baby.

Here is a list of things that made today enjoyable.

- Anders 1/2 hour morning nap

- A trip to the Santa Ana zoo

- Seeing a monkey the size of a large mouse

- Having that monkey come so close I could gaze into his beady little eyes

- Taking Anders on a "choo choo" ride around the zoo

- Getting an hour nap on returning home

- Being able to read for a full hour while Anders happily amused himself with a box at my feet

- Having a peacful night of dinner bathtime and bedtime

Here is a link to a web site that I read almost every day. I really enjoy Heather Armstrong's descriptions about mothering, life and her experience growing up as a Mormon. She is witty, crass, brutally honest, and best of all hilarious. The reason that I linked to this particular post is because I have been thinking about parenting lately and the internal guilt inducing pressures that come with the job. The pressure to do the right mothering/fathering activities to LOVE the whole process of mothering and to live up to the ideal that we had before we had kids.
Now that I've had a chance to have a child and to look around at other parents and families, I am WAY less judgemental of various styles of raising kids. Before I had Anders I had lots of opinions about raising children. I knew what I would do and what I wouldn't do. I still have an idea about what I want my life to somewhat look like but I am alot less certain about the process of getting there. I'm slightly defensive about criticism of my parenting abilities because I'm just learning how to do it. And unless I ask for the advice or it comes from someone whom I really respect I don't want to hear it.
On Sunday, I took Anders to Target. We were just getting over the stomach flu so we didn't do the long drive to church with Chris. Instead we slept in and had a slow enjoyable morning. Around lunch time we made the trek to Target and while we were there we sat down to have some lunch. I had brought a cereal bar for Anders and I broke it up into pieces on his stroller tray. As we were sitting there a lady walks by and in a very overly concerned tone says "You aren't giving him popcorn are you???!!!!" I was really annoyed so I responded "of course not but if I was it would be MY choice!" I normally would have just shrugged it off and not cared but I had just come out of one of the hardest weeks of parenting yet and I was feeling very sensitive about my role as a mother. I'm still perturbed at that lady!
Needless to say, when my kids are grown and I have a big opinion about how I think someone should deal with their child, I will keep it to myself!
For more interesting thoughts on child rearing here is another link to Ariana's latest blog.

Here's a creepy picture for those of you who hate spiders. Heidi blogs about the critters in Texas.

This week has been one of the more trying weeks in my experience as a mom. As I blogged before Anders came down with the stomach flu on Saturday just one day after starting day care. Since then we have all experienced various forms of the flu and last night was the low point for me. Luckily Chris was feeling better and was able to deal with Anders nightly ritual of throwing up in his sleep. I dealt with it the night before. We have bags of laundry and it looks like tonight will be the magic laundry night for me.
The one miracle this whole week is that after being miserable all night, this morning I woke up feeling almost completely normal. I have never in my life woke up feeling good after a night of misery. Usually I would be a limp dishrag. But by the grace of God I was able to face the day with Anders feeling good. I took him to the doctors to make sure he was doing ok and not too dehydrated or malnourished. Everything looked ok much to my relief!
I have to say that this week has made me and Chris reevaluate day care. I lost two very profitable days of work. If Anders keeps catching various illness it won't make any sense to make this big change.
He is back in day care tomorrow so it's left to be seen.

This week has been a big one with the addition of Garrett James Barnes to our family. Anders also had his first half day at day care which was a little hard for me and alot of fun for him. The only down side is that he now has the stomach flu and I'm hoping that this is not a regular side effect of day care. I knew that he would get sick more than when he was home with me all of the time, but come on, the first day that he goes he comes home with the flu?!

Last month Chris and I decided that it might be a good idea for me to try and build up my clientele by working two more half days a week. I've been working Wednesday and Saturday which has been great but we would like to be a bit more aggressive in some debt repayment and maybe relieve some of the financial stress that we've been under. (we've really been under it!). So we figured that we'd try it and see if it makes any sense in the long run or if my working just pays for extra work costs and day care. At that point I would just go back to the two full days again and get to be with Anders more which is my main desire. So, we'll see how it goes!

Congratulations Jim and Erin! And welcome your new little one to the world! For more info coming soon, go here.

Just a quick post. Erin is in the hospital and the new Barnes addition should be here tonight or tomorrow if all goes as planned! Yeah! A new nephew to add to the bunch!

Here are a few pictures of this weekend. Last night we went down to Redondo Beach to visit Grandma Cox and my parents who were spending a couple of nights down there to beat the heat. Great gram had fun taking pictures of Anders playing in the office closet. He had an equally fun time playing in the closet so it worked out pretty well.
After hanging around the house for a while, we went down to a local Mexican food place and got some dinner. We enjoyed it looking over the ocean and watching the sun set.
The best part about being down at the beach was the drastic change in temperature from inland. At home it was at least 102 and at the beach it was maybe... 80 and breezy. It was a nice break.
Of course I had to put a picture of Anders climbing into his toy basket. That has been a favorite thing to do lately so I figured it would be a good one to record.
Tonight Chris and I are looking forward to having our friend Alicia come and babysit for us. We haven't had a date night in quite a while. Having a holiday has been much needed and hopefully tomorrow will be as relaxing as today!

It's hot, hot, hot, and we just came upstairs from sitting out on the front steps of the apartment complex. The reason? When we returned home after a pleasant evening visiting with Gma Cox and my folks down in Redondo beach, we pulled into our complex and it was eerily dark. It turns out that there was a rolling black out which started around 9:30 this evening. All of our neighbors were visiting outside with candles and the doors hanging open in hopes of some fresh air. Our house was really stuffy and warm but not horrible so we were able to put Anders down and then join our friends outside. It ended up being really enjoyable and kind of campy. The electricity just came on a few minutes ago and now we are off to bed!
I kind of wish these things happened more often because we had a really nice time visiting and hanging out and not worrying about T.V shows or the computer.
So, I'm off to bed.

O.K. so I may have spoken a little too soon. There is no taste of fall in the air. It was at least 100 today and it hasn't cooled down much by 8:30 in the evening. It is hot, humid and very stale. According to the weather forecast we have at least another week of this. And then back to the typical 85-95 temps.
The only difference that I can tell is that the onslaught of summer ants has stopped and I haven't seen one for over a week now. That is a huge relief since my summer was practically defined by constant ant murdering.

All I can say is PLEASE, FALL HURRY UP AND GET HERE!

Yeahhhh sister Heidi posted and if you're interested you can go here! The beginning of the school year is upon us and there is little different feel to the air even though it is still in the 90's here in La Habra. Could it be the first stirrings of fall?? Ahhh, I am excited about holiday's, spending time with family, rain and cool air.

The haircut was much needed although I was a bit sad to see those red wispy curls fall to the floor. Luckily we saved a few for his baby book!




Anders was pretty proud of himself when all was said and done.

Today was a big day starting with Anders first hair cut and ending with a three year old birthday party for Anders friend Jett Godwin. The party was "worker" themed and the kids each got a ride around the yard on a tractor. While Anders was eating a cupcake he decided to wow us with his strong man face. It was all very fun.