MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Its always chaos when the Moore's celebrate a holiday!

Cuddle Kitty

So, to add to this years ups and downs, we will be bringing our sweet cat Cuddles into the vet on Monday morning to euthanize her. For the past 3 years she has been throwing up her food quite a bit, and we have tried multiple ways to stop this, everything has worked for a short time, but eventually she starts it up again. As of late, she has become skin and bones and her coat has lost its luster, we feel this is the most humane thing we can do for her, as well as for us.

I remember picking Cuddles out at the Cat House on the Kings, they had named her cloudy because she had one cloudy/blind eye probably having been hit by a car or some other trauma as it was not glaucoma. She had such a calm disposition, and was litter box trained as well as chill about having her nails clipped. When we brought her home, she came right out of the box and explored he house, Nate and I sat down on the couch and just let her explore, within a few minutes she had come back into the living room and jumped right into our laps. Thus, she named herself Cuddles.

Throughout the years we were to find out that Cuddles was uncommonly the most good natured cat ever, she enjoyed roughhousing, even going so far as to enjoying a good smack down lol. Not once, did she ever scratch or bite anyone, even as nephews, Godchildren and eventually our own daughter tortured the bejeezus out of her, she would just sit there and take it, and eventually get away and hide herself.

Though she was not the first pet for either of us, she was our first pet together (if you don't count the dang fish ;)), and will be sorely missed. I am sorry that Bug will not have a chance to roughhouse with her as his sister has been able to, but will never forget bringing both children home to her.

Goodbye my furry friend, I love you much, and will miss you always.

*Soooo, apparently the paparazzi missed the boat when Bug came home, though I swear the cameras were a popping when she came up to check out Bug, besides, the kids looked much the same so try to imagine....

Chub chubs :)

Bug is finally home...

Bug was born on November 16th at 9:56pm, 9lbs 8oz, 20.5in long. (Yes labor was rough, couldn't understand why it wasn't going like labor was with Cake, but he did eventually come out! [:D]).

We just finally got home today, after a 4 day stay in NICU, he landed there with low blood sugar 24hrs after he was born, (because he was large for gestational age they automatically test blood sugar for a specified amount of time, this is typically an issue with GD moms although I was negative at the time they do the diabetes testing, its possible I developed it late term without knowing), and it just seemed to go downhill from there for a bit. He had a heart murmur, which the doctor was pretty sure would clear up on its own but because he was registering different pulse rates and O2 saturation's from the monitors on his left foot and right hand was a bit worrisome. He also had elevated C-R-P values, and increased WBC's and bands (yeah, I am vague on how to explain those) which basically pointed to a possible infection, so he wanted to do a antibiotic regimen to nip that in the bud (I was GBS+, but this is not the only reason I guess), he said it was more preventative and didn't want to wait for the blood cultures to come back 3 days later (would have added to the stay, plus possible complications), the blood cultures did eventually come back negative.

The first night was roughest, as I was angry at a nurse in the mother/child unit who had horrible bedside manner about my son being whisked away from me to the NICU (basically said "oh yeah, this baby is going to the NICU" and swept out the door really quickly after taking a blood sugar reading) and just basically feeling helpless, but after the initial shock wore off, Husband and I were able to push through the fear and just get through it you know? For 3 days, Bug had a Dextrose 10% IV bag that they stepped down the dosage of as his blood sugar tests improved, for the first couple days of life we had to supplement his breast feedings with formula (until my milk was in completely) to try to help his sugar levels that way as well, and he was treated with gentimicin and ampicillin for the possible infection. Our poor baby has pokes in both his hands from IV sites and what seems like hundreds of nicks all over both his heels from all the glucose tests.

We are very thankful that our son is healthy and at home now, there are so many babies there that are there for so much longer, and I truly feel for those parents. We are also thankful that our hospital offered me a room on the mother/child unit to stay in while he was being treated so that I could more easily breastfeed him at will. We are most thankful that Cake had her grandparents here so that we could spend so much time with Bug, it was so hard to be away from her, I saw her a total of 3 hours in 5 days, Husband was able to leave for a few hours each day to go home and shower and spend time with her while my parents came to visit Bug and I.

I am positively exhausted now, but will post pictures as soon as I have gotten more in the groove of things here, right now, I am just enjoying being home with my family!

Here we go.....

So, tomorrow 9am we go in to evict this kid ;) Keep us in your prayers.

*sigh*

Yep, still nothing, go back to doc on Monday to talk induction Wednesday. JOY JOY JOY!

Veterans Day

Even grumpy people like me are remembering the importance of this day. If you know a Veteran, or see one today, thank them and thank their families.

Growl

Ok, so I have been trying not to do this here, but I'm fed up now, I'm tired of being a house and not having any signs of it changing anytime soon.

I am grumpy
I am tired
I am impatient
I am unwieldy
I am achy
I am ready to see this kid already dangit.

On Our Anniversary

Its unbelievable what life gives you sometimes, I am so blessed by the people in my life, especially my husband and family.
Husband, it will never cease to amaze me that we can be walking along, and I will look down at my hands and you will know exactly what I am thinking...
I love that our humor is so much the same, you wouldn't think that movie would be the perfect anniversary movie, but wow, was it....
Dinner was wonderful, best ever...
Dessert was decadent, and I so love your Daddy eyes....
Home in time for Cops, what more can a girl ask for?
I love you honey, thank you so much for the past 7 (heck 13!) years, I look forward to what is to come.
143

Manipulation

I think its funny how manipulative Cake can try to be..

EX:

Tonight Husband is asking Cake about taking a bath.

H: Punkin, would you like a bubble bath, or a bath with toys tonight (disclaimer: we are very careful about bubble baths, we rarely let her have them since it can be such an irritant)

Cake: *Big eyes* OOOH, a bubble bath and toys.

H: No honey, you can have one or the other, bubble bath, OR a bath with toys

Cake: Ok daddy, bath with toys....and we can put bubbles in it!

H, me, Nana: Darling, you can only have one, either bubbles or no bubbles but with toys.

Cake: Bubble bath and toys, *big excited inhalation*

H: Nevermind, I will choose for you... and off he goes to fill the bubble bath.

YUP! EDIT IN PROGRESS

Oh man, this made my day....

http://www.motherhooduncensored.net/motherhood_uncensored/2010/11/congrats-on-your-3-year-old.html

New Friends

Just wanted to do a little anonymous shout out to the new friends we met today! Its so fun to meet the people you get to "know" through these blogs, and I feel blessed to count you as one of our new friends. Please have a safe and blissful drive home, you deserve some peace and quiet for sure!

Babyshower

This past Saturday our church family was kind enough to throw us a baby shower, though I was hesitant at first as we had a baby shower already when I was pregnant with Sophia, the ladies were so intent, I couldn't say no....(btw, looks like the camera was a year behind)

Think anyone will notice if I had just a little piece?
Angie H from our Church is so very talented! Can you believe she made this cake?!?!

OK Seriously, I really didn't pay very good attention to the tightness of this shirt before I chose it! (blush) On another topic, where the heck did that sway back come from?!?!?

I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful group to be a part of this shower, I am so blessed to know all these people! Probably the only picture of me that I liked (because the stroller box blocked me!
DD has already claimed the diaper bag as her own!
The ladies were so sweet to include big sister in the gift giving!

50th Post, Whoo hoo!

Sorry its blurry, had the cell phone right next to me, so thats what I used :)

Is it weird I am obsessed with this commercial?

More Disney Pics!

Sophia looooves the "chickmunks"

She was just so cute with the characters.

Doesn't she look so sweet and innocent?

Oh, she was most excited about Woody!

The Disney photo people took sooooo many of these pictures, will probably have to purchase one of theirs since Sophia doesn't look particularly thrilled in ours. :(

She looks itchy doesn't she?

This kid was amazingly good at avoiding the water for the longest time, we kept trying to trick her into standing right where something was going to squirt her (does that make us mean parents?).

Once she got wet, she figured out how much fun it was.

I loooooved this photo op! Of course I was wearing my ridiculously priced non matching disney outfit that I had to purchase after someone (not naming any names) had a temper tantrum and tinkled all over me.

Let me tell you how much I wanted to stretch out like this multiple times!

I want to ride my Bicycle, Bicycle, Bicycle...

Thank goodness for my brother in law for being such a computer geek! All better now.

Disneyland September 2010 (More to come)

Though you see her covering her ears (her defense mechanism), she asked to go on this ride 3 times! LOL

So excited to see Jessie!

Daddy love in line at the Peter Pan ride, incidentally, we had to trick her into getting on this ride as she thought it was going to be scary.

Its amazing what you will pay for a little butterfly on your daughters cheek! (well worth it though ;))

First Mickey ice cream bar. (Oh! Notice the husband has been indoctrinated into the pin geek club? ;) Hahahah, I knew we could get you!)

Daddy readying the wet wipes.

So very serious?!?!

Sorry if we made you sick, but I think I have my roller coaster partner!!!

Done.

Bowl full of jelly

I caught Jude making my belly look like a bowl full of jelly, thought I would share. Will try for another video another time, hopefully one that is even more obvious.

Big Girl

After a recent mishap with an at home trim of the bangs, we decided to bring punkin in for a "cleanup" to make it look even at least. Would you believe, that kid got right up on the seat and let our favorite hairstylist/friend trim her hair all around?!?!? Listened well and everything. This was only the second time we have had her hair cut at the salon and though the first time she did a great job too, she moved more and she had to sit in my lap for it. It probably helps that this is mommy's friend, and we see her once a week at our standing lunch date, but still! Our little cake is growing up.

Little Miss Innocent

Our little Diva

Toy Stories in my bedrooooooooom.....

Loves her horsies (the carousel)

9/11 Happened to us all.

9/11 Happened to Us All @ Yahoo! Video

Its Official

Well, we have banished the diapers and Punkincakes is now rocking panties during the day (even during nap) and a pullup at night. Yesterday and today she even got up in the morning and went right to the potty. We need to work on accuracy as well as how to get tp off the roll now, but I think we can safely say that she is day potty trained now! We are all learning how the out and about potty trips work, but I will tell you that she is soooooo good about saying "I need to go potty" and then holding it until we find and get on a potty! Whoo hoo, no more diapers (for a couple months at least)!

Insomnia

Pretty sure this is one of the most annoying symptoms of pregnancy, that and the sciatica I seem to be experiencing right now. Ugh, oh well, I guess I should put away some laundry or something, maybe that will make me tired.....

Big Girl Pants

We had another number two last night whoo hoo! So now we are going to try big girl underpants when we are at home as she seems to be aware when she needs to go. Still diapers out of the house and during sleep, but we are on our way!!!! Wheeee.

COEXIST

'Nuff said.

New Due Date and Whooping Cough

Ok, so according to the ultrasound it looks like the new due date for Jude is November 14th, but you know how that stuff goes, could be anytime in the 2 weeks prior. All is well, no issues whatsoever with us.

FYI, California is currently experiencing a whooping cough epidemic and people are being urged to get vaccinated (yes, even if you were vaccinated as a child, make sure you are up to date on your Pertussis vaccine, you can ask your doctor if you are or not), especially adults because its hard to differentiate a cold from Pertussis in the beginning! Pertussis can be deadly to infants, California has already had 8 deaths per my doctor visit today. You can read more here: http://www.cdph.ca.gov/Pages/NR10-041.aspx, as well as the CDC website.

In light of this epidemic, we would like to ask all of you planning on visiting Jude to please get vaccinated. Also, if you have even a "little cold" to please please please postpone visiting until after you are well. I am not trying to be "that mom", if my doctor wasn't so adamant about this being serious I wouldn't be worried.

Love to everyone!

Ever see one of those nature programs, where there is a herd of something being chased by a lion and then the lion picks out the weakest of the herd and you see it get taken down, hard and fast, face first into the tundra? I swear, I felt like that weak animal today when I woke up from a much needed nap. As if I literally got taken down face first into the pillows and slept as hard as one can sleep without actually being that dead animal!

Needless to say, I feel sooooo much better now, ready to push through this fun phase that Sophia has decided to go into. I am pretty sure we have entered the terrible threes, and wow....Mom, every day I appreciate you more, but if this is how I was, thank you so much for not killing me, and mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa, how exhausted you must have been as a single parent going through this.

And the name is....

Jude Sawyer, Jude has a couple meanings, its biblical, a form of Judah and means Praise or Thanks and of course there is a Beatles wink here! Sawyer is from the book Tom Sawyer one of Jenn's favorite writers' books.

WHOO HOO!

So yesterday we got nothing on the potty, today, 2 tinkles, and then, yes folks, we got a poo poo!!!

The following pictures are the celebratory cupcake! Sophia is very proud.

POTTY UPDATE

Ok, so yesterday we got a tinkle, not her first by a long shot, but it seems like she was most proud of it this time! TODAY however, she was in the bathtub, I had her 1/2 soaped up and she said she was going poop, I said not in the tub, and took her out of the tub, tried to hold her on the big potty, she was not having any of it, so I said ok come on lets get the little potty, rushed her to the bedroom, grabbed the little potty, rushed her back into the warm bathroom and put her on the little potty. Would you believe, our little girl went tinkle on that potty. Not only did she go tinkle, but that smart little girl didn't do it in the tub, she actually WAITED and went on her little potty!!!!!

Whoo hoo, diaper freedom (for a couple months at least lol) here we come!!!

Potty Time?

So, we are at it again, this time taking it reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally slow, none of this potty train in a weekend stuff until we get her nice and comfy with the potty. So, we have a toy story little seat for the big toilet, and her baby toilet in the front room. Today, we made a deal that she needed to go on the potty if she wanted to watch Toy Story 2 for the umpteenth time! She sat there for a good 1/2 hour I would say, but no "prize".

Wish us luck!

Making Cupcakes and First Manicure

So even though Sophia just didn't seem to like any of the recipes I made yesterday and today, today was a pretty fun milestone day! We decorated cupcakes, and did a first manicure! Check out our big girl in action.

My Transformation to Suzy Homemaker...

...is almost complete! I made homemade cheese today folks, yes, homemade! Its called Paneer, and is actually quite easy to make, but still come on, I MADE HOMEMADE CHEESE!!! Check out the recipe on this awesome blog I follow called Homecookinginmontana.blogspot.com. http://homecookinginmontana.blogspot.com/2010/07/homemade-cheesepaneer.html

Ellie has some incredible recipes that she modifies and plays with, she makes them easy to follow and even has pictures to guide you along. I have already tried a couple, my fave so far was the crushed new potatoes but I still have a ton bookmarked to try out. The next recipe to try is Mujaddara, which is a vegetarian meal or side dish, I can't wait!!!

Question for all

What is/was your child or children's funniest word difficulty? Sophia for the life of her cannot say Polka Dots, it used to come out as coconuts, and now its "Polkanuts". With prompting she can say Polka, and then Dots, but never together! So, your turn, what word or word combo just eludes your little pumpkin(s)?

OPBW*

*Operation Prepare for Baby and Winter has begun...

Nope, we aren't smuggling now, this is 40 ears of corn blanched and ready to freeze.

Spaghetti sauce will probably be next, hrmm, or maybe refried beans.

Nesting? noooooo not me .

On a side note, Nate said he is glad this is the last one since he said I am "acting weird"

ITS A BOY!!!!!

We are positively thrilled that our baby cooperated so that we could find out he was a he! The excitement is almost unbearable, imagine, a little boy, .

I know its hard to make heads or tails of these images, but above is a shot to prove he is a boy ;)
Above is our little guys profile, he even waved to his sister during the scan!

GET READY FOR A PITY PARTY

I want to cry, its hot outside (and before you Fresno people start giving me a hard time, look, we have no freaking A/C, and so there is not way to escape it), we have no car, there is a pool here, but I guarantee the whole dang park is there so it wouldn't be very refreshing, plus its heated and they have the heat up too high so its only marginally nice. I hate this trying to get out of debt stuff, stupid debt anyhow, we only have it because of school, how fair is that anyhow?!?!? And why can't we catch a break? Sure would be nice to have Nate in town, be out of debt and have another vehicle or at least have Nate here so that I could drive him to and from work and not be trapped when he isn't here. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGH, *whine*, *pout*, *cry*. Poor Sophia is being so good, just hanging out, reading her books, like its no big deal that Mommy is pouting.

Ok, done making you all a part of the pity party.

Just Remember

Remember when you are enjoying your family time today, that it is more than a day off, and take the time to remember those who have fought and given their lives for this country. There is even a special National Moment of Rememberance that has been established by Congress for 3pm local time today, so take a moment please.

Love,

The Moores

Ponytail time!

Finally got one in her hair! It lasted all the way to Target before she got sick of it. Hey, I'll take that, just means she is slowly giving in!!!

Finally Out

Poor miss Sophia has been housebound with her sick mommy and sick daddy for over a week, Mommy finally felt up to going out and got her to the park to run around and make friends. I love how she runs up to any child in the park and says "Hey Kid, want to go slide?" or "Hey Kid, wanna build a sand castle?". No matter how much I cajole her into introducing herself and getting the child's name, she will continue to call them Hey Kid. She was quite the social butterfly today, making friends with a couple of sisters and then when they were called away by their mom to go home, bouncing right over to a little boy to make him play with her.

After the park, we walked to the Safeway so I could take advantage of the super deals on corn and new york strip steaks, some for this weekend, some for freezing. Let me tell you, trucking 2 gallons of milk, 8 steaks, 12 ears of corn, some sausages and avocados along with a 35lb toddler home was not a treat, prolly should have eased back into activity! I think after doing the half marathon in November, I tend to misjudge distance lol.

Nostalgia

WATCH

OUTFORTHOSEFLASHBACKS!!

These were taken at Auntie Bambo's baby shower in September of 08, Cake was clearly teething, and loved being in the kitchen (hrmm, just like now!). doncha just love that hair!??!?

The newest addition to our family

Ok, so its a cell phone picture of an ultrasound picture but I tried to help out with arrows. From the left the first arrow is pointing to the babies head, the second points to his/her hand (incidentally Cake's favorite pose in utero), and the last is to his/her feet up in the air. So excited to have had the chance to see the baby, and especially happy that Daddy got a chance to see too since he wasn't able to come to either of Cake's ultrasounds,

Happy May!

A Very Happy Easter to our Family and Friends