Easter 2011

I never did a proper post about our Easter weekend last month.  Jon's parents, sisters (Sarah and Catherine), brother (Curtis) and his two kids (Luke and Stella) all drove up to visit for the weekend.  Jon took Friday off so the boys could spend time with their cousins and family.  We spent the weekend allowing the kids to play to their hearts' content, catching up on family gossip, eating way too much food and coloring (and hiding and hunting) Easter eggs for the kids.

It was a lot of fun!  Logan and Callum totally enjoyed the visit from their cousins.  Logan and Luke, especially, really hit it off and Logan still talks about his cousins day after day.  :)

Thanks for the great visit guys!  Here are a few of my favorite pics from the visit - click on the link at the very bottom to see the full album  :)

Click here to see all pictures of the entire weekend.

Family Visit

Abuelitos Riedy and Tia Sarah came to visit us this weekend.  We had a nice time visiting and generally eating too much food.  Isn't that how it always is when you're together with family?  ;-)

Friday night we ate at our favorite, La Milpa, where Tia Catherine and my parents joined us as well. It was Alicia and Paul's anniversary (technically Saturday, but we were celebrating on Friday) so Catherine also made a yummy carrot cake for dessert.

I forgot I brought my camera with me, but I did manage to get this awesome shot of my mom and Alicia together at dinner.  :)

And, I didn't take too many pics while visiting either, but I did manage to snag a couple of shots of the two boys with Abuelito and Abuelita before they had to take off to drive back home today.  As always, we had a great visit - thanks for coming!  :)

The Negrete Family

So, two weeks ago (yes, I am THAT far behind in my posts!), Jon's parents ("Ita" and "Ito") and grandparents (Great-Grandpa and Grandma Negrete) drove up from LA/SD area to visit and meet Callum for the first time. It was also the first time Jon's grandparents had been up to see us and our new house, so that was fun too!


Friday evening, once they arrived and visited for a bit, we took off for dinner at Jon's favorite pizzeria. We hadn't been there in awhile, and hadn't yet taken his family there, so it was nice to go back after so long. Logan did extremely well eating his "BIG" pizza (whole slices - no cutting them into bite sizes any more for this independent kid!), once he sat down next to me and my patient watchful eye. It was pretty late and past his bedtime, so I'm really glad he did as well as he did. Callum slept through the entire meal, allowing me to eat a slice or two.

When we were done with dinner, we bid our goodbyes, with Logan joining his grandparents and great-grandparents for an overnight stay at their hotel that night. I was worried he'd throw a fit and "need" his Mommy or Daddy but he was great! He immediately waved goodbye to the two of us and didn't look back.


Saturday morning, Logan had a huge breakfast with his grandparents and great-grandparents before they all headed over to Happy Hollow for a couple of hours. Meanwhile, Jon was a saint and took Callum off my hands for THE. ENTIRE. MORNING. so I could sleep in. WOOHOO! He and Callum went to Jon's favorite donut shop for his weekend ritual of donuts and coffee and God knows where else (probably the game store, his other favorite haunt), before coming home to wake me up around noon.

Did you catch that?

NOON! I slept in until noon!


I rushed to nurse Callum, get dressed, and out the door to visit, and support, my friend's Stella and Dot coming out party. Callum slept for the first half of the visit while I got to gab with a couple of my old old OLD friends (Elizabeth and I go back to KINDERGARTEN people!). I also, unintentionally, got sucked into the purdy bling of Stella and Dot myself. Eeeps! So, fast forward to next week, where I'll be hosting my own Stella and Dot party with her at my house. hee hee :)

When I got home, Logan was napping which was perfect since Callum stole the show and center of attention from his grandparents and great-grandparents anyway (particularly the mothers). ;-)


Tia Catherine and Auntie Nadia also drove down from the city to visit with the family (Logan loved even MORE of the extra attention).


That night, we all piled into the cars and headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant, La Milpa, to meet my parents for dinner. As usual, it was delicious and we all stuffed our faces.

Sunday morning, we met everyone for breakfast at Stacks, which I think is becoming a bit of a tradition on the last morning of Alicia and Paul's visits. ;-) We had a wonderful meal, as always, and then bid our farewells to the family, since they needed to get on the road to head back home.


Logan was not happy to see them go, thinking he was going to get to ride in their car again for another fun excursion somewhere. I think it was testament to how much he (and we) enjoyed their visit. Always a delight!

One week old

I can't believe it's already been a week! On the other hand, I also sometimes find myself thinking, wait, it's only been a week?!?!

Time has flown by as we've adjusted to the newest member of our family. But, the labor, delivery, birth and time spent at the hospital all seem a distant blur in my memory now. Funny how labor will do that to you. :) I definitely need to scribble down a few notes about the day of labor, before I completely forget everything!


Because Callum was born in a different hospital from Logan, our regular pediatrician didn't get to see him the first day he was born. So, his first check up with Dr. Safir was actually earlier than usual, last Friday morning.

While waiting to see Dr. Dave, I decided to cut Callum's fingernails, since I hadn't yet done that and they were so super long that he was already cutting his face anytime he grabbed it. :(

Unfortunately, I cut the tip (or two) of his fingers, which threw him into a raging fit. Jon immediately grabbed him from me, scolding me for being so extremely cruel and practically amputating our newborn. I told him to relax. I did it with Logan when he was a newborn too. It's like the required initiation into our family.

Jon failed to see the humor in that comment.

Following tradition, a pic of Callum wrapped up in the blanket that my mom and aunt were brought home from the hospital in, and every other child born on my mom's side of the family, since then.

Thankfully everything looked great during his checkup. Callum is a strong muscular little guy who's very aware of his surroundings. Unfortunately, just like Logan, he has some weight gain issues. We knew this could be a possibility but I was really hoping it wouldn't be. However, he weighed 6lbs, 13oz, which is about a pound under his birth weight (in just 4 days!) and, given my history of battling a low milk supply, Dr. Safir wants us to be more aggressive this time around.

So, we're back to supplementing again. UGH.

We've been given the weekend to see if we can turn his weight around and get it back on the upward trajectory. We'll go in again tomorrow morning to do another weigh in and see. We've been instructed to continue breastfeeding and supplement 2-3 times a day. Dr. Safir knows I'm pumping in addition to nursing, and said to definitely use whatever breastmilk we have expressed first, before moving to formula. But, if we're out of breastmilk, then onto formula we go.

I supplemented with formula for Logan and he has turned into a wonderful kid (if I do say so myself!). And yet, the news still shook me emotionally. I had a rough couple of hours after the doctor's appointment, coming to terms with the news.

So, what am I doing?

I've spent the entire weekend with either a baby or a Madonna-looking S&M device attached to my boobs, to try and stimulate my milk supply as much as possible. So far it seems to be working, since we haven't yet had to break into the can of formula to supplement Callum's meals. But GODDAMN it's exhausting and hard work.

I'm basically nursing Callum every ~2-3 hrs during the day (he seems to be able to go longer at night so we're feeding him every ~4 hrs, or whenever he wakes up, to take advantage of the much needed sleep). After I nurse, for about 20-30 minutes, I then pump for another 20 minutes (we rented a hospital grade pump to help).

I also called my OB, and put in a request for a prescription of domperidone, a hormone supplement meant to help boost my milk supply. We'll see if that helps any as well (I didn't know about this option when I had Logan, since the drug is still pretty new in the States, and wasn't readily available then...)

We've spent Callum's first week getting to know his little squeaks and squirms - when he needs to burp, feed, or poop. He and I just got out yesterday afternoon to enjoy some of the beautiful weather we had this weekend for a short walk - it was quite lovely and he stayed awake the entire time, obviously taking in all the new sounds we heard, along the way.


His little umbilical stump also fell off yesterday, which seems so much earlier than with Logan! But very cool since it's one of those first big milestones that you look for during the first weeks of your newborn's life. :)

Jon and I are still re-learning all the newborn parenting tricks of the trades that we have long forgotten from Logan's days.

We've also had plenty of visitors of course. Callum has already met several of our close friends. My parents have visited quite often (most notably my dad since he sets his own hours), which has been helpful, especially during the week when Jon is out running errands and I need someone to just hold Callum so I can pump, shower, or God forbid, take a piss. ;-)


Jon's brother Aaron happened to be in town for work these past two weeks, so he, Jon's sister Catherine and husband Danny, all visited this weekend as well which was great.


Aunt Catherine also made a beautiful cake to welcome baby Callum into the family! :) (Thanks again Cat!)


Many have asked how Logan has adjusted to the arrival of his new baby brother. And I'm pleased to report, so far, so good! He had a good, but rocky time, with my parents while Jon and I were in the hospital. He definitely missed us, even though he enjoyed the extra attention and spoils that my parents gave him. You could tell since, he was literally SINGING, when he woke up the first morning we were all home together as a family again. Jon and I chuckled as we listened to his random notes bellowing out from his room - he spent a good 15 minutes just lying in his bed performing his greatest hits. It was clear he was happy to be home again, in his own bed, and with his Mommy and Daddy just across the hall.

One thing we've noticed since Callum was born, is how much BIGGER Logan now seems to us. He truly is the BIG kid in the family now! :)

Since then, Logan's been very curious about Callum - I'd say more so than when at the hospital. At first he called Callum "Mommy's baby brother", but now he's identified with Callum as his own baby brother. He joins us in bed in the mornings and asks where his baby brother is every time - and when he sees Callum, he softens his voice to this squeaky little baby voice and says "Hi baby brother" while petting Callum's head really softly. He also likes to lay his face down close to Callum's face or top of his head, smiling when Callum's downy soft hair "tickles him". He has helped Daddy feed Callum a bottle of milk, watched while I nurse (at first he thought Callum was "eating you Mommy!") and tries to give Callum a pacifier anytime it drops out of Callum's mouth.

His interaction with Callum has been the most adorable thing ever and we love it. :)

Easter Weekend

Last Friday night the Easter activities began. I had bought several Easter egg decorating supplies, boiled about 2 dozen eggs that afternoon and invited the Jodoins over that night so that Robert and Logan could do a bit of Easter egg coloring. I had set everything out prior to picking Logan up from school that day, so when we got home, and he saw the array of arts and crafts on the table, he immediately put on his smock (informing me he was SUPER MAN MOMMY!), ready for some action. I had to distract him for awhile, telling him we couldn't start until Robert showed up, so he was raring to go by the time the Jodoins arrived. :)


The boys had a terrific time - we only had one casualty with the colored water (poor yellow, was mostly spilled on the table, before we could use it to paint many of the eggs). We had a couple eggs that were cracked since the boys weren't as delicate with them as we would have liked. But overall, I think it was a successful evening.

After the egg coloring activity, we all ate dinner and then the boys played and screamed and yelled and chased each other around the house until they were tuckered out. We put all the kids (Logan, Robert, Connor) down for the evening and then played a game of Alhambra, yet another new game Jon has roped us all into. It was tons of fun, I won! And Jenn came in a verrrrry close 2nd (although, she reports in her blog that she won so who the heck knows now). The important thing is, we totally left the guys in the dust. ;-)


I realized this weekend that I never posted about Easter last year and what a bummer! Because, it was our first experience of Campbell's Eggstravaganza that was a crazy experience. Logan had just learned to walk a few months prior, so he was still a bit unsure on his footing, especially when compared to the savvy 2 year old running machines or worse, their parents.

Jon and I were aghast and totally blown away by the fact that the parents just picked up their children and RAN out to the center of the circles, collecting eggs on behalf of their kids, and leaving smaller children (like ours) to stand alone, bewildered and empty handed. Luckily, Logan ran into a very nice girl who shared an egg or two with him, and it couldn't have made him happier.

(Enter memory lane with a few pics from last year's event)


So, this year we were PREPARED. We brought BACKUP. Enter Tia Catherine.


While Jon parked, Catherine, Logan and I staked out a nice little spot near the edge of the 2 yr old ring, getting ready to let loose. I warned Catherine of the madness that would ensue. How kids and parents alike would be RACING to grab any and all eggs they saw. She must not have believed me. When the flag was raised and all kids were allowed in the ring, Catherine and Logan took their sweet time finding the perfect little egg or two, only to be beaten out by the other eager parents clamoring to fill their precious son or daughter's baskets with eggs.

Somewhere in all that madness are Catherine and Logan!

Tia Catherine wised up quickly though, and competed with the best of them. She found a group of unclaimed eggs which she quickly set Logan down to, "roping off" the area with her arms and pushing other kids and parents out. Their goal was 5 eggs. Logan scored 4. Good job Cat! ;-)


After the Campbell egg hunt, we had a delicious lunch at Hobbee's before meeting up with a number of our friends at Sky High Sports, a warehouse sized trampoline center, to partake in a day's worth of activities celebrating Nathan's birthday (Happy Birthday Nathan!).

Logan likes to jump, but is still learning and the bouncy houses intimidate him a little I think. His reaction to the trampolines was similar - he was very cautious but seemed to pick up interest as time passed, since Daddy and Tia Catherine were bouncing all over the place with him, not to mention Robert (and Jenn), Jamie (and Julie), and Kim. :) I think he was enjoying his time by the end of the session.


Jon split with "the boys" to wait in line at the Apple store, for their reserved iPads, while Catherine and I headed back home to put Logan down for a nap. Jon actually got home just about the same time that Logan was falling asleep, so he snuck in and laid down with Logan, showing him the fun new glossy toy he had just scored. Jon had just downloaded a simple "Trucks" flashcard app on the iPad, so they ran through that before Logan finally fell asleep. :)

While Logan napped, I rested and Jon and Catherine played a round of Alhambra (where this time, Catherine whipped Jon's butt, noticing a pattern?!?!). We then filled up several (and I mean SEVERAL) plastic eggs full of chocolate candies and Catherine did a KICKASS job at hiding them all around the front yard while I distracted Logan once he woke from his nap.

He had a BLAST during his own personal egg hunt in the front yard - yelling and pointing "THERE'S ANOTHER ONE!" every time he saw another neon green or pink or blue egg peeking out of a bush or tree or corner. It was awesome and we all had a really fun time.


After Catherine took off, we packed up the car and headed over to the Hickson's house to continue visiting with friends and enjoying Nathan's birthday festivities. We were all pretty tired from such a long day we ended up going home rather than staying over, so that we could put Logan down at home. I was noticing his cough more and more and a few more sniffles and runny nose (and, based on Monday, I'm glad we did come home early!).

Sunday morning we headed over to my parent's house for EVEN MORE Easter fun. My dad whipped up a DEEEEEEE-licious batch of homemade pancakes. Logan helped prep the batter but wasn't as interested in flipping the hot cakes this time around. By then he was getting pretty hungry (and finally climbed into his booster seat asking me for some pancakes), and I think he was also starting to feel more out of sorts from his cold. :( Still, we had a great breakfast and enjoyed everyone's company.


While Logan napped, I coaxed my brother, Zane, into hiding all the eggs (it's great what you can get the Aunts and Uncles to do!) around the house, so Logan could do another hunt when he woke up from his nap. It had been raining most of the day so we decided to do the egg hunt inside the house this time, rather than outside. Which made for a more challenging hunt since there are LOTS more places to hide eggs! Zane did a great job at creating some really cool hiding places. :)


After everything was set up, we decided to break out Alhambra once more, this time with my mom and dad. I did SO TERRIBLE, coming in the very last last spot. But the surprise of the day was MY MOM! who totally killed all of us in her winnings. Poor Jon, batting three for three now in the loss department. I wonder how many more times he'll play before returning to one of the other games he excels in? ;-)

Logan had a blast with his third, and final, Easter egg hunt after nap time. I was afraid he might not find some of Zane's more challenging hiding spots but he did great! And of course, absolutely loved the game. Afterward (and just like the day before with the hunt at home), he spent a good 20-30 minutes carefully taking apart each and every egg, collecting his winnings. He quickly learned he could shake the egg to know instantly if it was "worth" opening.

Those with M&Ms were worth opening. Those with stickers/tattoos were, sadly, not.


As you can tell from this post - we were busy busy bodies and had a lot going on. It was definitely an exhausting weekend - but oh so much fun!! :)

(Click on any of the pics above to get to the larger album of all Easter pics taken)