"Somewhere with you"

This last Saturday was Angel's FanFest at Angel's stadium (Anaheim). It is just a big fair to celebrate Angel's baseball and it was really crowded. It only cost $5.00 and there were players there and games. They were giving away tickets to an exhibition game versus the Padres. We went for a little break in all the moving/baby bustle. 

 A trivia contest on the main stage. We were almost the only people NOT in Angel's gear.

 At least Buck wore red. This is also a pic of our new double stroller. It can hold the baby OR Buck!

 Dad helping the boys make sand art baseballs. 

 The finished specimen! They are actually baseballs filled with colored sand. The boys loved them. 

Right after the FanFest, we found out that our house was finished being "termited" (tented). Here is our little family right before we went in. Yes, I am VERY pregnant at this point :)

"Freedom! There is freedom, when we let go - of all that doesn't matter"

Mall day. Lots of climbing toys and fun (geared towards 0 - 3 yr olds, but Buck survived)

 Thunder enjoying some time with mom in the play area.

 Buck lying around. He tended to follow Thunder and jump off of climbing toys. 

After about 10 minutes, Thunder discovered that there were basketball games on at the nearby television store. He would not leave the bench and watched the games until we left. He is obsessed with basketball at 2 years old. It's crazy. 

Our new rental is wonderful. It's central to many things, very spacious and the back yard has been wonderful. On the first day, the boys and I had bagels at a nearby coffee shop (no groceries on the first day) and then headed to the mall across the street. I had to buy an outfit for RKZ's dinner outing with the prez of his company, another co-worker and everyone's wife. Although I look like a woman smuggling a watermelon at this point, I did find something comfortable and "cute" enough. I must have been quite the sight walking into the maternity shop. I only said, "We're going out with cute people wearing cute clothes and I'm enormous. I have no idea what I should wear and don't even really want to look. Please help me." To her credit, the sales girl (really, I doubted she'd ever been pregnant) found a great pants and long tunic set. And both were on sale! (I had figured she'd shaft me). The boys were only able to throw around the padded toys from the maternity playset about 5 times before I was done. 

And dinner went really well. The food was great and it was actually really fun. Only drawback - 6ish hours of heartburn and no sleep that night. 

"all you have to say is 'O Toodles!"

No pictures for this post. Just writing that we've moved to a new rental house. This house is about 25 minutes closer to everything (RKZ's job, our new house, Huntington Beach). We never need to get onto the 91. It's also a larger and much cleaner house. Not that the last house was dirty, it was just dusty and the owner has 2 dogs so we were often sneezing and had stuffed noses. No one is allergic to animals, so I'm not sure if it was the dust or random animal debris that had us going.

The newer rental is not dusty and everyone has his own room. Previously, Buck slept in a loft that was open to the tv room/great room downstairs.

Currently the only drawback to this new house - we can hear the VERY LOUD trains all morning. I'm guessing that after a while, the sound fades away. This morning, it has awakened everyone very early, which is a bummer.

On the new house front, today is the previous owner's last day. The relator has promised that she has hired a moving truck. The boys and I drove by yesterday and the garage was still filled to the rim with random things. I was freaked out that the owner will not be gone in time. Everyone thinks it will be fine.

3 houses in 1 year is just too many for me. We are all tired of moving.

"The smile on your face - lets me know that you need me..."

We've been super busy lately, so I have been slow in posting. We officially bought our new house today and now the work of renovation begins. We have found some babysitters and RKZ and I have been out alone twice now! And, we are settling more and more into our Southern California lives. Not too much crazy has happened - but what has happened has been great. 

Buck, Thunder and I have been spending some time in the various playgrounds each day. I love this local park that has a grove of citrus (I'm assuming orange) trees. The park is big and open and very fun for the boys. This picture cracks me up. I especially love the saying on Thunder's shirt: "I tried to be good but I got bored." Sums up our little guy. 

On Sunday, twin cousins of ours turned 11 in a "fiesta" themed party. There was a pinata and a tres leches cake (cake is soaked in 3 milks and there are no eggs used). My boys both adored the pinata. I'm guessing we won't get away without them now at parties. This picture is myself and my beautiful aunt, K. She looks lovely, but I look a bit scraggly. I am 32 weeks pregnant now. Glad the baby has stayed in but ready to meet him face to face. 

STILL amazed at the warm weather - even in the rain! 

"Welcome to the Jungle"

Two things have been on my mind today:  

Firstly, I will never complain about the fact that I am having another baby. I simply CANNOT WAIT to meet this little person. I am so happy to have the blessing of a third child. BUT, being pregnant is SO UNCOMFORTABLE.  Seriously, I can't sleep. I have constant pressure from my belly (like a a giant water balloon stretched to its limits) and sometimes walking -waddling- around is all that I can take and I have to sit down. As a fairly fit 41 year old strong female, this entire thing is killing me. I will try to remember this when I am suffering from sleep deprivation in 8 - 10 short weeks. But right now, I just want to be able to eat past 5 o'clock without 10 hours of heartburn. 

Secondly, little boys are magic. Absolute magic. The house we are currently renting (moving out March 23) has a backyard that basically goes up-hill. The flat part is covered with grass and the up-hill is covered with various plants and bushes. It's beautiful and the larger part of the yard. My boys discovered it today. They've been crawling around finding "hiding places" and "secret trails" all day. I can't get over the fact that it's March 9 and my boys are playing Peter Pan in our yard. They are covered with dirt (and not just on their foreheads for Ash Wednesday). Magic. 

 This last shot is a picture of my niece, SDJ, and her volleyball team. My brother, Superman, sent it and said: "D took the picture and all she said was "Just have fun and be yourself" well this is the pose our daughter chose to make...  I don't know that I've ever seen a better personification of the 2 families she represents." SDJ is the 5th from the left (directly in the middle). Shows what she has going on, for sure. 

"Warm my heart"

 Funny, random things that you never think about when moving to a warmer climate: random landscape workers waking up your sleeping children at 7 am with a really loud leaf-blower; and going to a park where you are the ONLY stay-at-home mom surrounded by nannies. Don't get me wrong, I could do without the gardeners (and we will, RK & I will do our lawn maintenance) but I had a really nice time with the 3 nannies. They included Buck and Thunder in all the games, gave them snacks when all the other kids were eating and asked me about 100 times if I needed a nanny for my "3 kids - so many children!" I did fall platonically in love with one of the women named Isabel. She was so nice and we talked for 2 hours about how much she loves her little charge. The 18 month old's mom does not work outside the home (or in it, seems like), but she did just take a 2 week vacation to Mexico while Isabel stayed home with the kids. I laughed and said, "I'd like to see my husband's reaction to that if I asked him." I was devastated when I didn't see the boys for 10 days of my bed rest! People are different, that's for sure. California is different now that we have a family!

On practical notes, escrow closes on our house on March 25th and then renovation work will begin our our house. I'm having a difficult time figuring out what to do with finishes, etc. The problem is, RKZ and I are pretty simple in what we like. Honestly, we just want everything to work and look nice and go together. We are more particular about a party/beer fridge in the garage than our entire kitchen! I'm including this picture of the kitchen above because RKZ and I both agreed on it and I can use it on my cell phone to look for things. Does it seem a bit pretentious for us? Am I pretentious now? 

This is a picture of a truck with a driver who shares my sentiments exactly: I hate the 91 freeway. Around March 23, we will be moving to a NEW rental house in Santa Ana (5 mins from Disneyland). I will not drive on the 91 again except to get to Las Vegas or Reno or to go on some awesome vacation.
Lastly, looks like we will be getting our truck back in 4 weeks - YEAH!

"Meet me at the coffee shop - where we can dance like Iggy Pop..."

Song added by RKZ

 Thunder at the children's museum in La Habra, California. They have a small carousel that T especially liked.

Buck as David Beckum (sp?) He is wearing clothes here that he never looked at in Calgary.

It's coming together for us down here. Looks like our truck can be mended. My parents went home today. Our house is nearer to closing and we are going to tour a new rental house (hopefully for use in the month of April) this afternoon. Just to be clear - we've purchased a house that needs some work. The house closes this month, but the work will take until May 1st. I will post pictures of what the house looks like soon (this week sometime, I think).  We will live in a "vacation" rental house (VRBO.com) until we can officially move into our new home.

We are feeling as though we're hitting a stride. My doctors are saying how amazing it is that I seem less likely to go into labor (a Christmas miracle!), so I'm hoping that #3 will wait until the middle of May like he's supposed to. Then, we will bring our newest little one home to our real house.

Lastly, today is a sad day for our family as we remember baby Gabriel, my cousin's son who passed away at birth due to doctor's errors. Gabriel would be a bit younger than Buck today. Every time I look at our precious gift today, I will remember how fragile life is. And I will be grateful.

"In Grandma's Feather bed"

Wow, the world is just different now. RKZ arrived home and we've been running from meeting to meeting ever since. Well, he's been back to work and it's going well. He leaves our rental house around 5 am and drives to Long Beach. He's been working hard but the hope is that soon he'll have official East Coast hours - this means he might be home around 4 every day! It seems like a dream that he'll be around more in the afternoons because the boys are missing their best friend in a big way. Moving sucks. There is no other way of saying it. Even if we've moved from -35 degree hell to 65 degree heaven, there are so many little things (and big things) to do that it's just a warmer pressure cooker :) Yes, I am taking this moment to complain. :) RKZ said (last night) that "it's a good lesson in just getting it all done, even if it's a pain." (there was more swearing than that, but it's the basic idea).

A brief list of what this week has entailed:

1) RKZ flew from LA to Miami to Philadelphia for work in a 4 day span (not sleeping really)
2) My parents have been here to help with the boys while I got a multitude of appointments done. I have to see a doctor once a week. I had a 2 hour glucose test on Tuesday (uneventful but a pain for sure - I'll spare the details)
3) We had a 3 hour meeting with the contractors who are going to renovate our new house. Now, we begin to choose finishings. It's exciting, but difficult when we're not actually meeting in our house.
4) Our home escrow doesn't close until March 21st - so we're officially in a rental house until then. BUT, our new house has to have all of the flooring changed and walls "un-wallpapered" and painted. This will take about 2 weeks. We're trying to find a different rental house because the tiny house we're in is becoming increasingly unsafe as Thunder becomes more comfortable with the various knick-knacks and open stair case.
5) I have had major week-long drama about my new cell phone (Princess B needed an iphone and it's biting her in the butt). It's been resolved but has involved new software and calls to the mac support people. I should have listened to RKZ and kept my old one.
6) Our truck might not be totalled (good news) but will take a while to fix.
7) Lastly, poor Buck is seriously missing school and friends. A 5 year old boy just needs a crowd of smelly, dorky-acting friends to run around with. I am looking into some day summer camps for him so that he will not be stuck in a jail of toddlers and newborns all summer. Thunder, of course, is creating camp for himself everywhere we go!
8) I am trying to contact baby-sitters so that I might see my husband alone in 2011. Love him.