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.

Anders has been discovering the joys of food variety and I am on a constant quest to keep ants from devouring the leftovers. Two of his favorites are pasta with either tomato sauce or cheese and fruit. Mainly cherries.

I'm thinking that he is outgrowing the sink bathtub.

Well, I haven't posted much lately because we have been busy. My camera has been on low battery so I'm finally charging it to get some new pictures taken. Anders is getting so big and grown up and is looking more like a kid than a baby now. His hair is filling in so much and we are going to give him his first real haircut tomorrow if my schedule allows. I realized he needed one when I noticed a "bad boy tail" growing in. That's gotta go.
Some of the new things that he as been doing are saying "bye bye" although it sounds more like "ba ba" and he only says it when he wants not when the time is right. He also has hit the stage where he realizes what his muscles can do and he will clench everything up and his face gets all red. We call it "strong man". Today he discovered that his middle finger can "snap" at the knuckle and he spent a good five minutes with one hand up in the air "snapping" his finger up and down and watching with intensity. It was pretty funny to watch and Chris and I watched out of the corner of our eyes trying not to let him know he was being watched.
I'll post some more pictures soon. Probably of his first hair cut.

So today was an extremely hot day and Anders and I got to experience it fully while at the Santa Ana zoo. I woke up this morning and was antsy to get out and do something interesting. We've never taken Anders to the zoo and I wasn't sure if he was old enough yet to enjoy it. I did a little research and the Santa Ana zoo seemed small enough and interesting. (they have a little train that goes around the perimeter of the farm area.) It was all very exciting but really hot and muggy. Chris and I will probably take him back again soon on a cooler day!
When we got home we went for a swim which was extremely refreshing!

On another note one of the blogs that I read regularly has had a discussion going about a Southern Baptist seminary that is offering a 23 hour course on homemaking offered only to women. To get the whole article go here. Anyways, everybody is riled up about it and I have to say that the tone that it is presented in is distastefully legalistic and self-righteous (in my opinion). But it has made me think more about the subject especially because I am the primary house cleaner, cook and child caregiver in our home. I have noticed that even the women I know who work full time, take most of the responsibility of the home life on themselves. Now, most husbands that I know share some of the responsibilities around the house as well but that's not their primary focus.
As a side note, Chris and I were discussing this and he made an interesting observation that since the women's lib movement, the economy has grown and become dependent on two incomes and therefore much more expensive and difficult for the one income family. My sister Erin pointed out that we also have come to have higher standards of living. Thus making it difficult to make due when money gets tight. In my opinion this is directly related to the major problem of over spending and maxed out credit that much of America is dealing with now.

Anyways, after some thought I am of the opinion that the support and encouragement for wives to take homemaking more seriously is extremely important not just for the good of families but for the economy as well.
I believe that the tide has started to turn because frankly women are realizing that they are ones being shorted by going to work full time and having to come home and give undivided attention to kids, husbands and laundry. I haven't mentioned the problem of extra money shelled out for house keepers, babysitters/nanny's, gas, work clothes and pre-prepared convenience foods.
So, although I cringed a bit at the tone of the article, I really agree with what they are advocating. Teaching and encouraging women in the task that they will have whether they stay at home or work outside the home.

Well, as you can see Anders is missing Amelia. Actually I'm missing having the Mullins around and Anders is just amused with that cute little girl on mommy's computer!
Over the last couple of years I've had two cousins and their families and two sisters and their families move out of state. It's been a mass exodus from California and we understand but we don't necessarily like it! It seems like the trend lately. A lot of young families are moving out of state in search of affordable housing and a more relaxed way of life.
Although we are missing our extended family we have been enjoying spending more quality time with my parents and grandparents and seeing Anders get Grammy and Papa all to himself one day a week! He is getting a chance to really know his great grandparents in a way that Chris and I never did and we love that!

This Sunday turned out to be a pretty fun and special day at church. The couple in the picture below had a wedding after church and we all attended and celebrated with them. It was especially meaningful since he is a brand new christian and they have a 14 year old son already and the bride has a three year old daughter. It was truly a special and significant milestone for them and we were really blessed to be able to share that with them. The bride's daughter is Anders new best friend now. They are the only children at the church and Anders has taken quite a liking to the pretty little three year old. She really dotes on him and at one point during the day I glanced over and she was feeding him something! After taking a closer look I saw that it was just goldfish crackers and that Anders was quite enjoying them. After the service a friend of the groom pulled out a guitar and sang a song that he had written for the occasion. Anders was spellbound. The guy looked like a rock star with big blonde hair and very cool sunglasses and everyone commented on Anders reaction. He just sat there on all fours with his right arm lifted off the ground and a wide eyed stare. He didn't move the whole time the guy was singing. We were pretty amused!

Dance Baby Dance!


This has been Anders favorite activity the last couple of weeks. He LOVES music and we have one particular cd called "Baby Moves". It's basically alot of children's songs put to a rock/techno beat. He stands or sits next to the cd player the whole time the cd is playing. When the music gets especially wild sounding he looks at me with an expression of utter joy that says, "Wow! Could this get any more fun??"

Tonight was/is what I call a "Jonah night". Actually it started out pretty good and just in the last hour it has been a big pain. I went to see the new Harry Potter movie with a friend. Needless to say it is the first time in quite awhile that I have actually gotten to do something with a friend that doesn't involve babies. I was able to escape for just the movie and then I had to hurry back as soon as it was done to allow Chris to run an errand to Burbank.
When I got in the car and checked my phone messages there was one from Chris informing me that Anders had thrown up all over everything in his bed. He had taken care of it but all of the bedding and his special blanky needed to be washed. Now as most of you know I HATE doing laundry here at our apartment and I try and do it only once a week and just kill it. Lately it's been more annoying because it is so darn hot. Even in the evening when I have a chance to do it, it's still fairly warm outside.
I've had a few loads ready to go including all of the bedding from my bed so it was a good time to knock it out. Of course the whole time I'm counting out the last of our quarters and bumping the cart down the stairs and making my way to the laundry I'm feeling very frustrated. I want a break and there is none in sight. I know that I'll be staying up later then I want and I'll have to reassemble the bed when it's way past my bed time. (dwell, dwell, dwell dwell)
When all of the loads are in the washers I have one quarter left and so I'm trying to decide which load I want to put it in so it can have the three extra minutes of rinse time. I finally decide on the babies sheets and blankets and I drop the quarter in and.... it doesn't work! Arggggg my last quarter and that load needed the extra rinse too! It's sooo not fair! (dwell, dwell, dwell)
As I make my way back to the apartment with a black cloud floating over my head, I head up the stairs and.... I trip and fall. A scraped knee to add to my grumpy evening. For some reason it's worse to get hurt when you are already angry. It's almost insulting.
Anyways, now I'm waiting to make my way back down to transfer to the dryer. I already feel better with a little perspective.