All About Cedric

Cedric had just turned two a few months before.

He did a great job golfing and beat out Mom  and Pop-Pop Phil

Neal helped him get all lined up

He loves to look at the pictures I have taken so this is him trying to run behind me to look at the pictures

On our trip to Washington we stopped my Mt. Shasta.  He found this big pine cone, he carried it all the way to the top of the view point

Then he found this.  Way cooler.

Yum Grapes

When he woke up from his nap on the trip he totally flipped out. He wanted to hold Lila and would get ferrous if we took her off his lap.

He went back to sleep for a few minutes.  I then got him to take a walk into the store but before we got in he was already crying about nothing.  As we walked back to the car he saw some stranger with an umbrella and started to cry that it was his umbrella. It was an emotional stop.

We went bowling for the first time and the shoes are the cutest things ever.  They are so small.

He was very possessive of his ball and we would guard it until his turn.

He did a decent job rolling the ball down.  I only had to walk down the lane a three or four times to get the ball down the rest of the way.

This is at the Grant County Fair.  It was so hot I was melting.

On the way back from Washington he fell asleep reading his book

Can you tell I love my babies when they sleep

A few months later we went to Apple Hill.  Cedric loved riding Neigh Neighs

He liked feeding the goats until they stole the cup with the food out of his hand

Cedric has learned to take pictures with my camera.  Here are a few of his favorite things.

These are the stickers he got for potty training

I thought this was a pretty good pictures.  He loves his trains more than anything.  He has two sets that are the same and calls them Thomas and Percy.  One day he lost one of the engines and asked for Thomas so I found of the engines and gave it to Cedric and told him it was Thomas and he looked at it and said "No thats Percy"  They are exactly the same!

Doing a dot picture at the First5 California day at Fairy Tale Town

He likes to make soup, he has made alphabet soup, pumpkin soup and apple soup.

I am trying to do a preschool type thing with him twice a week.  This was our first week, we learning about bees and bugs.  He learning the song "Bringing home a Bumblebee" and thought it was the funniest song ever.

Cedric is very social and is getting better with using his words to express his feelings.  He is very sweet and loves to gives hugs and kisses.  Before Neal goes to work Cedric has to give him a kiss on each cheek and then the lips.  He loves to dance and will ask me to listen to music with him.  He is very nice to Lila and is always when she wakes up crying. He is such a joy to have around the house. 

All About Lila

This girl is the cutest little girl ever.

She is sweet and loving and has the best hair

Here she is one month and has a bit of baby acne.  It was so hot she would break out when ever I took her outside.

One of the best things about having a girl is all the crafts I get to do for her.

I dusted off my crotchet hooks and I love making flowers, hats and headbands.

 In her first month of life she:

Was here for her own baby shower

Took her first bath

Went to story time at the library

Saw Toy Story 3

Met Grandma Sharleen and Grandpa Jim

Went to the park

Got her picture taken

Got loved by her big brother

Started to look for Mommy when she talks

Went down her first slide at the park with Mommy

Went to church

Learning to stay awak longer

About 2 months old

She gets cuter and cuter every day.  We have a hard time deciding who she looks like.

in her second month of life she:

Smiled at Mommy

Smiled at Cedric

Met Grandma Nancy, Grandpa John and Uncle Joel

Got carried around the Jelly Belly Factory by Uncle Joel

Met Grandpa Anderson

Had her baby blessing

Met Aunt Shanna

Went to San Francisco

Rode in the car all the way to Washington and did wonderful

Rode all the way back from Washington and did wonderful

Met Cousin McKenzie, Mady, Evie and Aunt Laura

A cute hat one of my young woman made

On our way to Washington we stopped to take a look at Mt. Shasta

She woke up after we got down from the view point.

3 months old

Mom already slacking on writing down what she did

Has the best pouty face.  Her lip sticks out so far it is adorable

She is rolling from back to tummy and gets so mad when we don't roll her back over right away.  Cedric has become very good at rolling her over that he has rolled her half way across the carpet.  She just smiled

smiling at Daddy

First bath with Cedric

As her hair gets longer it gets curlier.  It really is great hair.

Ced took this picture of us at Fairy Tale Town

Lila is a delight, she loves her brother and doesn't mind being mauled by him in the morning.

She pulls her own hair and the gets really really mad.

She loves to grab our faces and gets put in time out by Cedric when she grabs his too hard.

She has an easy smile but has only laughed once, we are working on that.

My Search for Bao

The quest began last Wednesday. The kids and I were at the train museum and thought we could do lunch with Neal. I suggested Dim Sum (kind of like appetizers in the Chinese food world) but Neal wasn't able to go making us hold off until later.


I guess I should back up and explain what Bao is. . . it is the most wonderful pastry you can imagine. It is a sweet bread with Chinese BBQ pork in the middle with a yummy sauce to keep it moist. It is unbelievable good. There are lost of variations such as pineapple, coconut, and curry beef. Click here to see what I am talking about
This picture is from her site

So. . .Wednesday came and went and no Bao. Then Saturday came and Neal was working again, we decide to get some Dim Sum for lunch with him. He looks up a place, we pick him up from work and park. We walk down a block to find the restaurant gone. We walk a few more blocks as Neal has seen another Chinese restaurant, we got there to find it closed and gutted. By then we were only two blocks from China town, there would of course be something there to eat. Guess how many Chinese restaurants there are in China town 0 as ZERO. That is right, well that is at least according to a store owner, but she and never ate at the restaurant that was right next to her (it was Thai and Vietnamese) now I don't know if I should have listened to her. We head back the way we came me carrying baby girl and Neal carrying baby boy. Oh and did I mention that it was raining this whole time and we didn't have an umbrella, and I had straightened my hair. Back all the blocks we had walked plus more to a place I knew was still in business, but of course it was closed today. So and hour later and still no lunch we trudge back to the car.

I would not give up though. You see I really really want Bao, and now that it is so elusive it makes me want it more (and I didn't think I was competitive). Into the GPS I type Dim Sum and we find Dim Sum house just a few miles away and off we go. It is a tiny little place but I have hope. Oh, and Neal has needed to use the restroom since we picked him up from work but he didn't tell me this until we got back in the car. This tiny place has no bathroom. He rushes over to subway to use their restroom while I scoop out the place.

I walk in and there is a mother and two girls with the most beautiful Baked Pork Bao I have seen. They are wonderful (the bao not the mother and girls, well I am sure they are too) I go up to order “8 baked pork bao please?” “No more baked bao” the cashier says “NO!” I scream at her “You have no idea what I have been through, my life is dangling by a thread here and I just want some BAO and I want it NOW!” Alright I didn't say that (which you should have guess since I made the last line rhyme) I said “Oh” She offered me some steamed bao which was good but now as good as the baked bao. There was one coconut bao left so I got that but I only got to take one bite as Cedric ripped it from my mouth and ate the whole thing while shaking his head no every time we asked him for a bite. He had to shake his head no because his mouth was never empty.

Now it is Saturday afternoon no Bao but now I want it more than ever, I decide I can make it. I look on the internet for some recipes. Do you know how long it takes to make Bao? WAY TOO LONG! It is all the BBQ pork's fault. You have to marinate it for a day, then cook it for 4-6 hours then cut it up and make the sauce and let it sit for another several hours. Well this is what I thought until I realized I could just by the BBQ pork from a Chinese restaurant or those Chinese places they have in Safeways. It is late now on Saturday and I have no energy to go to the store to buy some so I figure I could wait a bit for some Bao.

Sunday is all right but I still think of Bao. Then Monday comes it is a gray morning and I think Bao would make this day perfect. I decide I will go get some this morning for breakfast with the kids, Neal asks me to drop some off for him at work and he heads off without breakfast. We get in the car, and drive the 15 minutes to the store, it is closed, which I would have known had I looked at the menu I took that was sitting on the table right next to the door. I call Neal, you see there is this lady at work who brings in Bao for the team sometimes. I get him to go ask her, oh, she is not here today. Again the GPS, I continue to drive for another 20-30 minutes going to several different places but nothing is open. My heart is breaking, Neal is at work starving andCedric is in the back seat crying because he took his shoes and socks off and can't get them back on.

We go for breakfast burritos with Neal instead. SO NOT BAO.

I will make bao tonight. At least start it so we can have it for breakfast.

After I finish at the gym I head to the store, park, then realize the kiddos are so hungry there is no way I am getting in and out of that store without a melt down so we head home.

After baby boy is in bed I head back to the store to find them cleaning up the Chinese food spot. No BBQ pork for me again. Now that is where we are at. One week of major cravings and still no success. I think I may start crying soon.

To top this all off this is what else happened this week:

Freezer broke (and now smells like death)

Microwave stopped working (but I fixed it today)

Spent way to much on the car heater to get fixed

Garbage disposal clogged while going through the list of what shouldn't go down a disposal but ignoring it.

There is one upside. I keep all my vases under my sink so they caught a bunch of the water that overflowed when the disposal broke.

Try some Bao this week, but don't tell me you did until I get mine.

A Baby Blessing

We had a wonderful time with Neal's parents and brother Joel when they came to meet Lila. We went to the Jelly Belly Factory and had a good time at the parks, but the most notable event that happened was Baby Lila's blessing. My Dad also flew for the occasion and it was wonderful to have him here.

We decided to bless her at home instead of at church and it was wonderful.




(click on picture to enlarge)

After the blessing we went miniature golfing and it was way too hot and I melted to death, and we ate at The Squeeze Inn. Yummy!

Hey You Look Like

Today I looked into the mirror and I thought "Hey you look like this girl Alanna" and then I realized I was Alanna.  Is that weird or what?

This week

Some notable things happened this week

Lila rolled over today
It is our 6th wedding anniversary
Cedric learned how to do disco fingers this week
I joined a gym and am losing the baby weight
I wrenched my knee and hip playing tennis with Neal
Oh and the most amazing thing... I got my house straightened swept and vacumed and clothes washed all in the same day!

Finding Friends

A common topic I have been hearing about is friends; how do we make them, what do we expect of them, and how we are all wanting them?

Making friends can be a taunting task. I moved from Utah where we had lived for three years and it felt like I just made friends in the last few months of living there so when we moved to California I was determined to make friends faster. Having children is a good opening to making friends and being involved in church is the other opportunity for friends.

I decided to exploit both. I got on meetup.com and found a wonderful attachment parenting group that has helped me get out of the house twice a week with wonderful activities and places to visit. Neal and I went to all the church activities and I would try to introduce myself to the people I sat next to in Relief Society. Although the ward is very welcoming it still took longer to find friends there. After a lot of prayer I was called to Young Womens. I have loved this calling more than any I have had. Not only do I get to be with the young women I got insta-friends in my counselors. They are wonderful women who make me laugh and feel loved when ever I am around them.

I have heard several people saying that they need friends. That there is a need for more inclusion. If there are so many of us that are needing friends how are we missing each other? Here are some of the reasons I can think of:

The Stay at Home Mom sometimes feels like the Jailed at home mom. Don't get me wrong I LOVE being a SAHM but it can be difficult to get out of the house sometimes from having sick kids, cleaning the house, laundry, dinner, having to convince the children that they do want to go outside, that is would be nice to get dressed to go to the park, that getting into their car seat is not going to kill them.

Needed family time. Once Neal gets home I don't want to be running off right away. We have so little time together that I feel that I need to be spending all the time we have together. I also really like family time. I love listening to Neal and Cedric play. I enjoy reading books together with Neal and visiting about our day.

Work, when I worked I had some social outlet so other friends were as much of a necessity but it is still nice to have a few girls to go to movies with.

The fear of rejection. Will we ever get over this?

Lack of transportation, it is difficult not having a car to get to parks or other activities. When the ward boundaries are like they are in Utah it should not be too hard but here in California the boundaries are much larger and that can make it difficult to get everyone together if there is a lack of transportation

What do we do about this? How much is it our job to get out there an how much it is other people's job to include us?



To be continued