pictures for Daddy

Here you go, Rudi! Can't wait to see you tomorrow! The picture of Samuel's legs is from Sunday morning when he and Caitlyn were playing with the paints. I went to the bathroom to get ready for church, and Samuel's legs were completely tattooed. I had a hard time getting the photo because he was ready to get into the tub and didn't want his pic taken. Caitlyn had tattoos herself, and she bathed with Samuel (after she went home to get her swimsuit on).

hike and updates

I suck my two middle fingers just like Samuel does! I promise, my parents are not teaching us to do this!!!!
Joanna at 4 mos. Her hair is light brown, straight, fuzzy, and stands straight up (I know, no explanation needed if you are looking at this picture). As her hair gets longer, it just stands up higher and higher.

Baby Joanna was touching Samuel and it was tickling him. He was just laughing and playing with her here....
and here--so cute when they are together!
on a hike with Daddy (and Mommy & Joanna)

Joanna is now 4 months old and is coming out of her colicky phase. The colic is pretty much why there have not been many blog posts--just pictures. Right now we are all sick with colds, but are starting to get better. This afternoon, we took a 'hike' out to the 'wilderness' behind where we live. Samuel on Rudi's backpack and Joanna in the baby Bjorn. The kids LOVED it, though we're not surprised as they both love being outside. I have included 2 pics from the hike, though unfortunately there is no pic of the 4 of us.

Joanna now can roll over both ways, though she's new at it and doesn't do it consistently. She has a sweet laugh and smiles a lot when in a good mood. When I get home from work (only 2 days a week), she looks at me and smiles constantly. She loves grabbing things and putting them in her mouth. She got her first tooth at 2.5 months old, but that is still the only tooth she has.

Joanna and Samuel both love each other and it is rewarding to watch their relationship grow, even as they are this young! She loves watching him and he loves interacting with her. We pretty much have a constant commentary on what she is doing, all in Samuel's words...."The baby is blowing you..." (meaning she's breathing on him), "she's touching your blanket...." and so on. He does not like her crying and asks me to pick her up or nurse her if she is crying.

Samuel talks more and more. He has been talking in full sentences for quite a while and he cracks us up constantly. Rudi and I both agree that 2 is such a fun age! Yes, there are temper tantrums, but Samuel is generally a sweet 2 year old who loves words and is reserved around those unfamiliar to him. Right now, he loves to contradict what we are saying by changing statements we make. Example: Mommy: "Would you like milk or water." Samuel: "juice." Mommy: "Juice is not one of the choices." Samuel: "Juice IS one of the choices."

Recently, I became worried about his social skills as he gets very cranky in large groups of people, especially those he doesn't know well. So recently, we have been making more of a conscious effort to have him play with the other toddlers on the street (there are many of them, and we love their sweet parents as well, so it is a good thing all around).

more kid pics

Samuel cheesin' on the porch

Samuel says, 'pick her up.'

Joanna laughing at 3.5 mos

Joanna 3 mos.

Joanna 3.5 mos

more recent pictures

update

Samuel turning 2
Joanna 4 weeks.
6 weeks--she loves the bath--calms her down most nights.
7 weeks
My little guy!!!

Wow, time has gone by way too fast! Joanna is now 2 months old (as of July 6th) and Samuel is 2 years old!

Here is a brief summary of the kids and our latest family happenings.

Joanna is a fussy baby. We love her dearly and are so happy to have her, but it has been a challenge. She just cries a lot and is difficult to soothe, especially in the evenings before she goes to sleep for the night. I am writing this while she is fast asleep in her own bed, though. Today was a good day--she took good naps, was pretty happy all day, and then fell asleep around 8:30 for the night (I think).

Joanna started smiling at 5 weeks of age and is now smiling quite frequently (when not crying). Daddy just started getting smiles. We live for these sweet moments. She also coos quite a bit when in a good mood as well--we really enjoy "talking with her." Beyond that, no new tricks yet.

She is growing well--10 lbs 10 oz. at 7.5 weeks of age (birth weight was 6 lbs. 14 oz.).

She may be getting her first tooth--I know it's early, but it is possible. She was born with a small swelling located on her lower gums. After a few days, the swelling went down, but I think I am feeling the very top of a tooth coming in from that area. Additionally, she has been drooling and chewing on her little fists a lot--a sudden change from before. So, our little daughter has teething overlapping with her colicky weeks.

Samuel is 2 now! He turned 2 on June 2. Since Joanna was less than one month, we had a very small, brief gathering for his birthday. I made him the traditional "Cake Canaveral," that his Gross Mama used to always make Uncle Bevan (chocolate cake, chocolate cream cheese frosting, decorated with Andes mints). The cake turned out well and was very yummy, but I didn't take any pictures of it before we cut it! I also made a bunch of matching cupcakes. We had just two neighbor families come over at dinnertime and sing happy birthday and eat cake with us. My original plan was a simple cook-out, but that didn't happen. Samuel still had no idea what having a birthday meant, so he didn't care that the celebration was very small. Actually, he didn't even care about the presents he got. Daddy got him a tricycle/big wheel type thing, but Samuel's favorite part about it was putting it together with Daddy (Samuel LOVES tools--Rudi's ratchet set is in the house and Samuel loves walking around with all the tools).

Samuel has an enormous vocabulary and talks non-stop. He amazes us each day with the sentences he constructs. One of my favorite things about him is that he loves to "joke" with us by saying things that don't make sense on purpose. An example is "eat the light bulb," or "vacuum the baby." He loves to make such statements and wait for our reaction (which is usually, "Samuel, that's silly, you can't do that!"), and then laugh and laugh. He also loves hiding from us, and more recently, hiding things from us and looking for them with us.

Recently, he has been working on the concept of counting. He counts to ten, but is getting the concept of counting things. He always asks us to count objects if he sees more than one.

Samuel seems to be shy around people he is not very used to. He loves playing with our direct next-door neighbors because he sees them a lot. His favorite playmate is 5 y.o. Caitlyn. She plays so well with him and is such a sweet little girl. However, if he is not very used to a person, he tends not to want much to do with them. There are a lot of little kids around his age in our neighborhood, we need to do better about getting him together with them regularly.

Samuel is doing really well with Joanna. No jealousy!! He gets a lot of one-on-one time because his nanny is still coming over and I have not gone back to work yet. However, on days when I have the 2 kids alone, he still does well. He waits patiently while I nurse the baby, calm the baby, etc. He has been very, very gentle with her (touches her gently), and likes including her when we go outside, or to a store.

Rudi has been working, as usual. His shifts are either day (12 hours) or night (12 hours). The number he has per month varies based on whether or not his colleagues are on leave, deployed, etc. His workdays are long (often end up being 14 hours), but he gets lots of days off as well.

Rudi purchased a mountain bike from ebay the other day. He has a mtn. bike already, but he decided (and a lot of his friends also decided) that he needed one with rear suspension. After buying the bike, he had to arrange for it to ship to Guam. That was about 3 weeks ago. The bike is on Guam now, and can be picked up from the port tomorrow. He is waiting for it with the excitement of a little boy. He and his friends also made a new trail through some jungle and across a river--a shortcut to the southern part of the island. The biking and also lap swimming have been pretty much the only things Rudi has been doing for himself. The rest of his time is either working or being a very involved Daddy.

I am not back at work yet. I had planned on July, but with the baby being so fussy still, I can't imagine that our nanny would be comfortable watching both kids if both Rudi and I are gone. I have mixed feelings about work. Part of me wants to be full-time at home. The other part wants to go back so I don't loose skills. I have very much enjoyed being at home with the kids--even though when I worked, it was only 2 days a week. Going back shouldn't be that hard if it's only 2 days a week, right?? My work has been very gracious in just giving me extra time off! Other than take care of the kids, I clumsily try to get dinner together some nights (we're eating mostly vegetarian these days), and usually get a work-out in . I've been running, lap swimming and going to circuit training classes (not all that stuff in one day).

Joanna Evelyn--first 10 days.

Here are a couple pics from Joanna's first 10 days of life. I can give more details on the birth, etc. later. No time now!

Both kids cuddling with Daddy.

Joanna resting on Daddy. She has socks up to her knees in this pic--Rudi didn't want her to get cold.

Playing outside

Snoozing after an afternoon snack

Samuel putting stickers on baby sister

Joanna's first bath

Dad holding both kids.

eating a popsicle outside

tried to duplicate Samuel's newborn photo at home. Didn't turn out too badly.

The birth announcement, in case anyone looking here didn't receive it by email already.

April pictures

Easter Sunday outside of church.

At a Navy sponsored egg hunt.

At Asan Beach park. This is where the Marines landed when they took the island back from the Japanese in 1944. Over 1,700 Marines died here, over 6,000 were wounded, and over 18,000 Japanese were killed. This pic is out of order....see below.

East Sunday AM. 33 weeks prego.

Samuel "helping" Daddy put together his uniform for an inspection. I think the inspection is the only time that he has worn his white uniform that I can remember. I thought it was so sweet how Samuel was concentrating on what Daddy was doing, and I struggled to get a good shot of what was going on.

Samuel and me at 'Underwater World.' I am 37 weeks pregnant in this pic. Underwater world is a big aquarium in Tumon. There are also activities for the kids there. We just purchased one-year passes to go thered--a wise move since sometimes Samuel only lasts for 15 min. there and then wants to go home. He is obviously ready to go home in this pic!

Samuel waling around at Asan Beach park.

one of Samuel's favorite activities---drawing on our driveway with sidwalk chalk! He and Rudi got into the habit of regularly drawing planets. Samuel now says, "draw Saturn, draw Jupiter," when we go outside to draw. I was particularly impressed when Samuel decided to draw Saturn and "Saturn's rings." (see below: the blue and yellow circular scribbles are Saturn, and the yellow lines that kind of intersect the blue scribbles are Saturn's rings. Rudi's artwork is the better-looking Saturn in the corner of the pic).

recent pics and a pregnant pic

Below are some recent photos of our family. Today, Samuel had two birthday parties to attend for neighbor kids--both for little girls. So, we suited up and had an afternoon full of swimming and fun. Samuel did well for about 3 hours, then was asking to go home--he was getting tired and I think over-stimulated.

Rudi and Samuel going down the waterslide at the resort where we live. Our next door neighbors (the ones we share a duplex with) had their daughter's 5th birthday party here. This pic was taken during Caitlyn's party. Caitlyn plays so well with Samuel--it is so sweet to watch them. I need to get photos of them playing together.

We feel very blessed to live where we do. Especially as Samuel gets older and can do more and more outside.

On a side note, you may notice Rudi holding his right arm strangely in the picture above. That's because he broke his scapula (shoulder blade) in a mountain biking accident about 5 weeks ago. He thought it was all muscle pain for a few weeks and did not seek medical care. When things were not getting better at all, he finally got x-rays that revealed why he has been in so much pain! We found out that scapula fractures are quite rare and they frequently occur in people who have been in high speed motor vehicle crashes that have multiple other serious injuries. So, we are very thankful that Rudi did NOT have any other serious injuries from this accident.

Cutie. Photo taken by Daddy while waiting for me to pick up an order of Indian food from our favorite restaurant here, Curry Kebab. One of Rudi's co-workers and our good friend, Margrethe, also loves Curry Kebab. When we get together, we pick up the food and she comes over to our place so we can eat and put Samuel to bed.

Me at 30 weeks pregnant. Just a little over 2 months to go. I know, I look like I could deliver any day, but I do have quite a bit more time left.

Rudi and Samuel playing at Jazzie's (pictured on right) 2nd birthday party. Jazzie and Samuel will mention each other's names, but they play together in that 1-year-old sort of way.

Samuel and I at Caitlyn's birthday party. Pregnant and in a swimsuit....ugh!