Baby it's Cold out here! Newport Beach

It sounds funny to say, but it was quite chilly in Newport Beach. And yes it was July. I think we had one day of good clear sun. Which is fine, I don't really like to get sunburned anyways and I also don't like it when it's uncomfortably hot. I think I'm really used to the temperate climate of Hawaii. It was a little chilly in the mornings, which can be verified by Dave (our human furnace) wearing a sweatshirt. But the water was really, really cold. I couldn't believe how many people were swimming while we were there. I will say that I am used to the warmer Hawaii water, so it would have taken a crane and bribery to get me into that water.

Since it was pretty chilly, Max didn't get to the beach much, but he couldn't really enjoy it anyways, so I don't think he felt like he missed out on much.

You can see the Newport Pier behind Dave and Sophie in this photo.

Here's Missy, Dave's mom with Max. Max was quite spoiled by the time we got home. He was used to being toted around by an array of admiring people and didn't enjoy being put in his bouncer or Bumbo so that I could do things around the house. Which meant he cried a lot for the first week or so we were home. Makes me wish I could get Missy to move in and hold Max all day so I could get stuff done. I could pay her in Root Beer and sunflower seeds or Cheetos. Think she'd go for it?
Dave sister, Anne, drove with his Aunt Lynn from Sacramento to see the kids. Anne hadn't seen Sophie since she was about a month old and of course hadn't met Max yet, so it was a treat for her to join us in Newport.

This was Sophie's shubul. I'm trying to write that in the same way she would pronounce shovel. It was a constant refrain of Mommy, where's my shubul. We go beach, get my shubul. That's MY SHUBUL! I didn't have the heart to tell her it was more of a hoe, and I also didn't want her running around shouting she wanted her hoe. Just saying.
She is running away from the water in this photo. It took her a solid four days to decide she wasn't terrified of the ocean and at that point she would run headlong into the waves. This kid has no fear.
Dave worked really hard to get her comfortable with the water. Personally I was happier when she was terrified and I didn't have to worry about her making a beeline for the water when we would walk down to the beach. She can run really fast, and I'm still carrying around an extra 10 or so pounds from the baby.
Dave was on vacation and he likes the scruffy look. By the end of our vacation he looked disreputable and kind of piratical.

Here's our little drama queen when Dave tried to put her down. "Oh no, I'm sugar, I'll melt. I'm melting..." I wonder where she gets that from? Best part is, the water was nowhere near her.

Rock Climbing in Newport Beach

Hey All!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Dave, the kids and I headed to California at the beginning of July and it seems like it's taken almost three weeks to get back into the swing of things. We had a great time in California. Since I have quite a bit of the trip to post, I thought it would be easiest to break up our trip into a couple different posts. Easier for me anyways =). We stayed at Dave's Grandmother's house in Newport Beach. She lives about four houses and an alley from the beach, so Sophie spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the beach. This is the view from in front of Grammy's house to the beach.

Dave and I both spent a fair amount of time at California beaches growing up. Dave spent his time at Newport Beach since he's grandparents rented/owned their beach house for years, and I spent a fair amount of time at Long Beach. It's funny how we've probably almost missed meeting each other a ton of times before we actually did meet. We both remember climbing over the rock jettys on these beaches like little monkeys and Sophie made a beeline for this jetty our first day in California.

Sophie loves to climb on anything and she is completely fearless when it comes to her personal safety. She'll jump off almost anything into Dave's arms. I guess that says more about her complete trust in him that he will catch her than it says about her fearlessness. She's actually kind of terrified of monsters and dinosaurs. The whole pretend thing kind of went out the window after our visit to Disneyland (more on this later). She really liked the little rocks that she could climb onto by herself. She loves anything that she can do by herself (welcome to the twos). Plus these little rocks put her out of reach of the waves. That California water is REALLY cold.
We climbed onto the jetty and with a little help from Dave, Sophie was walking from rock to rock and having a great time looking for crabs. We didn't see any crabs this day, but one of the days were we by the jetty some kids found some starfish and let Sophie and I touch them. It was pretty cool.

This really took me back to my childhood. I remember hanging out on jettys as a kid while my dad fished. He didn't really care what we did as long as we didn't scare the fish or get hurt. My brothers and sister and I would spend hours jumping from rock to rock. I just started singing "memories, misty water-colored memories" in my head =).

Dave and Sophie had a lot of fun crab-hunting on the jetty and I enjoyed the peace and quiet when they were down on the beach.

Happy Birthday Dave!

So this post is a little bit late. Dave's birthday was at the beginning of the month, but I got distracted before I could post his birthday photos. I won't be telling you how old Dave is. You can ask him, but I won't be giving that info away (at least not for free). I do tease him that he's robbing the cradle fairly often, since I'm four years younger than him. I'm also not telling you how old I am.

Here's Dave, Max and Sophie with the famous Crunch Cake. It's the traditional birthday cake for the Edgerton's. Sorry that Sophie looks like such a wreck. Dave came home from work super early, and I wasn't finished with all my preparations. In fact I was in the middle of wrapping his presents when he arrived. I had to throw myself bodily over the unwrapped stuff to keep him from ruining the surprise.
Here's Sophie and Dave opening his presents. He got a pair of shorts and two high ball Waterford glasses. Just what he wanted!


Here's Sophie showing me the card she was about to give Dave. She colored in it.

My Little Thumbsucker

Max finally discovered his hands and joy of joys, every once in a while he manages to get his thumb in his mouth. He's such a sweet baby. As long as he's well fed (which you can tell he always is) and has had a cuddle he smiles and coos most of the day. He gets cranky when he's trying to fall asleep, but who doesn't get cranky when they are tired.

Mother's Day 2010 - Gift

Here's the photo book I put together for my mom for Mother's Day.

Memorial Day

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

-John McCrae

For all the men and women who didn't get to come home and hug their loved ones, we honor you.

Max's First Smile, on camera

I've been trying for weeks to capture Max's smile on camera. He's such a serious baby, in fact he rarely smiles. I get lots of frowns and lowered eyebrows. Sometimes I feel like he's judging me =). The other day though, he was smiling and Dave was able to get some photos of it. I can't believe how fast he's growing.

The Best Mothers I Know

I thought in honor of Mother's Day I should write about some of the mother's who have inspired me. I'm pretty new at being a mom. I'm only two and a half years into it and some days when Sophie's hitting me and Max is screaming, I wonder what I've gotten myself into. So I like to think about what someone whom I admire would do. It helps me get through the crazy times to get into the happy part of mothering. When Sophie gives me a big hug and tells me I'm her friend. Or when Max hangs onto my neck when I'm trying to put him down. Or the way they smell after bath when I'm tucking them into bed. Being a mom is a LOT of hard work, but every day my kids remind me how rewarding it is to be their mom. So onto the mom's I admire (in no particular order).

Nicole-a good friend

My friend Nicole found out she was pregnant with her second child around the same time I found out I was pregnant with Max. Except it turns out she was pregnant with twins and it was a high risk situation. I can't explain how much I admired her upbeat attitude throughout her experience. She has such a positive outlook on life and I can tell she's teaching that to her daughters.

Missy-Dave's Mom

Missy has been without question the best mother in law I can imagine. First of all, she raised this wonderful man who I was lucky enough to marry. Then she accepted me into her heart and her family with no reservations (that I could discern =)). She laughs at my stupid jokes, we can talk about books we love, and we could go on endlessly about how great Sophie and Max are. How can I help but love someone who loves my children so completely. She is truly an inspiration. I only hope one day when Max and Sophie get married I can be as wonderful to their spouses.

Melissa- my little sister

I can't believe the little terror who used to bite me like a rabid shark has grown up into this amazing, smart and funny mom. She's the person I call when the kids are screaming and I'm crying because it's all just too much. She can make me laugh at myself and whatever bad behavior Sophie is currently immersed in. She is calm in the face of my crazy and I'm pretty sure if I needed her to she could talk me off a ledge. Not that I would need her to, because she would never let me get that far. She loves without reservation, which is a quality I wish I had in a little more abundance. She is strong and strict (a quality more parents should adopt) and more than anything she loves her kids with every beat of her heart.

Mickey -my Mom

I was by no means an easy child. Actually according to all accounts I was a pretty easy child, it was those nasty teen years that were really hard on me, and my mom. I was mean and ungrateful and she loved me despite of my attempts to push her away. I think the best thing she ever said to me was, " I love you. I don't like you very much right now, but I love you." It made me believe that there was someone out there who would love me no matter what I did, but also made me realize my behavior was pretty sucky. She is kind, generous, unfailingly polite, and can find the best in everyone. She laughs at me and with me. She's a free babysitter and the person who tells me when I'm acting like an idiot. She doesn't referee fights between siblings, but makes us work it out. She taught me how to be a woman and tells me to put on my big girl panties when I'm too whiny. She's my best friend and a darn great mom.

I am so lucky to be surrounded by all these strong and wonderful women. Happy Mother's Day!

Note: This was supposed to be done on Sunday, but let's be honest, I'm consistently running about three days behind right now.

Impromptu Photo Shoot

Since my sister and her family were visiting a couple weeks ago, I held an impromptu photo shoot on my parents lanai. Here's Danny, Jonathan, Jack and Melissa. My mom was jumping around like a crazy person behind me.
Here's my parents with most of their grandkids. Don't ask me why Sophie is looking at me like that. I'm assuming she's already hit the teen years when she doesn't want her photo taken.
My dad and his girls. I can't believe we're both the mothers' of two kids. Melissa sure doesn't look old enough to have two kids, and I don't feel old enough to take care of myself most days.
I think Melissa and I look more and more like our Mom every day.

Max's Surgery

I've been kind of derelict in my blog posting lately. I'm always amazed at how busy it can get around here. Two kids, two dogs, and a husband, sometimes I think it's a miracle I get a shower (and sometimes I don't even worry about the shower).

About a month ago, I was changing Max's diaper and noticed a large lump in his lower abdomen. It was really big and kind of scary, so we took him to the local ER. After four hours and about four different doctors we had a diagnosis, he had a bilateral inguinal hernia. Which we found out is pretty common. Basically his abdominal wall didn't close completely before his birth and his intestines were poking out a bit. Kinda gross, I know. The surgeon didn't want to waste any time, so a week later he was admitted for surgery. It is a common and routine surgery, which didn't make it any less scary. I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling as I handed Max off to the anesthesiologist right before his surgery. I was and am so grateful for Dave's unwavering support. It was a blessing to have Dave at home during this experience. The surgery went really well and after an overnight at the hospital just to be safe we brought Max home. Other than some residual crankiness for a couple days he did great. He's such a little trooper.

We just want to thank everyone who said prayers and sent good wishes his way. Max is a happy little two month old right now. In fact, we went in for his two month well baby check up and he weighs almost fourteen pounds. He's quite the chunker.

A Fat Baby Boy

I can't believe Max is already six weeks old. It seems like he's always been a part of our family. He is starting to be awake more often, which is fun and keeps me a lot more busy. He also weighs almost 11 and a half pounds. He has a double chin and fat little legs. He is a good eater and seems to be hungry all the time.
Melissa (my sister), Danny, Jonathan and Jack are visiting on their way to their new duty station. It looks like a trip to Okinawa is in the works now. I better start brushing up on my Japanese.
Here's my mom loving on Max. I can't believe how humid it's been here lately. All the cousins hanging out at my parents house. Sophie and Jonathan are pistols. It's a constant battle to keep them from knocking each other out. My Sophie is a hitter. She just doesn't get that she can't punch someone when they make her mad. We're working on it, hopefully she'll get the memo soon, or I'm going to tape her hands to her sides.

Favorite Swaddling Blanket

I thought I'd start a listing some of my favorite stuff. I think I'm a pretty good judge of kids products, considering I've been taking care of kids since I was twenty. That sounds kind of snobby, but oh so true =).

I just received these baby blankets from my sister Melissa. I LOVE them. They're sold by Luna Lullaby. Made of cotton muslin, they are huge and soft and really light. They're perfect for swaddling Max in our tropical climate, but I imagine they would work just as well in a cooler climate. They're also great as a nursing cover, carseat cover, I think it would even work as a scarf. Love, love, love them. They come three to a pack and have the cutest patterns.

Here's my little man hanging out with his new blanket.