We Four Bears

Weekend in Tahoe!

2010-03-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

Alex and I took Friday off of work and we headed to Tahoe. My parents were already there, and my sister Janel and her 3 boys were headed up behind us. We had such a great time. I have never been a big fan of the snow, or cold weather at all. I decided that I needed to sacrafice myself for the family and allow them to have a fun visit in the snow, and that we did. Even me.

Video of Josie crawling through snow tunnel. I apologize for the quality of the video, sometimes I forgot to turn off the camera. In the second video, I apologize for 1.) not being able to find my subject until 10 seconds in, and 2.) losing my subject on their way down the hill. It's hard to video a moving target when zooming in and out. For me anyway.

Thanksgiving Celebrations

2009-12-01T16:59:00.000-08:00

This year brought a few changes to Thanksgiving. This is the first Thanksgiving since I can remember, probably since way before I can remember, that my Uncle Bud and Aunt Rina weren't at the table. We also had the addition of my brother-in-laws family this year. Last year his mom passed away, so this year his two brothers and father joined us for Thanksgiving for the first time. It was nice to have them with us.

I've heard 3 complaints about the fact that I haven't updated my blog recently, and I blame it on Facebook. I kind of figure that everyone sees the girls there, and nobody cares about the blog anymore. Well, I've been told that is not the case. So, here you go.......

Jacob and Josie....this is the Jacob she talks about constantly. I think she has a little crush on him. / Me and my godson William

Alex and our Auntie Esther. / That's Alex under those kids. He's always a good sport.

Hosts for the evening.

Annual picture in front of the turkey.

Show those pearly whites!

2009-10-16T08:24:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a difference 6 months makes. In March, Josie was a screaming, crying, stubborn mess at the dentist. I was so embarrassed. This time, she was great! Dee, at the office, took this picture of Josie for me. She was the perfect patient. Thank goodness!

Goodbye to Our Uncle Bud!

2009-10-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

My dad's Uncle passed away yesterday, just 15 minutes after my sister and I visited him at the hospital. He was a fixture at my parents house on our big Italian Thanksgivings every year. He would have been 94 years old later this month, and him and my Auntie Rina had been married 61 years! He was a funny man. Our family has many, many funny memories of him at the Thanskgiving table telling very funny and some inappropriate stories. Always a hoot! Alex and I have been drinking Manhattan's at home in his honor. My Uncle loved his Manhattan's, and Old Fashions, and also his cigars and cigarettes. Would you believe he smoked for about 70 years of his life? He loved to talk to Alex about duck hunting because when he was much younger he enjoyed that hobby very much. I think he liked to hear Alex's stories and live vicariously through him since he could no longer hunt anymore. I really hope I inherit the strong blood from that side of the family.

He was also a Crew Chief in WW2 and some fellow in Denver was making a documentary about his crew. He had interviewed Uncle Bud (a.k.a. Fred, Stag for Stagnaro) already, but is still in the process of editing the documentary. But, we have seen clips of my uncle's interview on youtube already. It will be nice to watch when it airs on whatever channel it will air on.

The picture above is special to me. It was taken last Thanksgiving. That was the oldest living Stagnaro and the youngest Stagnaro at the time, little Dana. 93 years apart! We will miss you Uncle Bud!

Playing together..

2009-09-21T11:17:00.000-07:00

The last 8 months really, Josie and Dana have played fairly well together. Every week it seems to just get better and better. Funny how the older they get the worse it will probably get. I digress. Anyway, they sing together, Dana copies everything Josie does and says. This explains why Dana's vocabulary is that of a 2 year old probably. She amazes us everyday with her new words. I have a lot on video, but am trying to get shorter videos so as not to bore you all. She knows all her facial parts, and lots of body parts. She knows most her farm animals and the sounds they make. The cutest by far is when she says "neigh"....I've it on tape as well, but it's about 1 minute in, I'l have to get it quicker for your viewing pleasure.

Here are some photos of the girls playing together AND waiting for cookies. I love how Dana is dangling her baby doll in one hand while staring at the cookies.

I also posted a video clip of Dana asking for olives. Both girls love green olives with pimientos. She asks for olives, then apple juice, listen carefully at the end and you will hear her say "thank you" as well.

September Update

2009-09-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I really want to thank everyone who donated to the Diabetes Walk that our family will be participating in next month. Thanks to a bunch of you, we made our goal of $300! Whoo hooo

Now for some updated pictures of the girls and their cousins.

Josie loves to pretend to be a teacher ever since she started preschool. This is her pretending to read to her "class".

Sharing an apple -Occasionally they share nicely with each other. I had to take a picture of it, cause lately they fight over most things.

Corey's Crew

2009-09-02T09:03:00.000-07:00

Hi. You all probably remember our nephew Corey. Last year was my first year walking to support the cause of Juvenile Diabetes. Many of you were very generous in helping me to raise money to walk.

This year I have cut my goal in half, in light of the current economic conditions. The walk has no minimum fundraising guidelines, so I have no pressure to raise a certain amount of money. But, it would be nice to raise at least a couple hundred dollars. If you can donate $5, $10, or $15 I'd appreciate it, and so will Corey and his family.

Last year the walk was in November, so I haven't been too concerned about posting this. However, I recently realized the walk is October 4th this year! HELLO! I only have a month to make my goal. Click on the link below to go to our fundraising home page.

No donations are too small! Thanks again for helping a great cause!

http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=87412886

First Day of Preschool

2009-08-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow, where has the time gone?

Josie started preschool today. Of course she didn't make a big deal about us leaving her there, and it also seems she has made a friend already. Here is a photo of her before going to school, and one of her at school.

After picking her up, I found myself getting just a little teary-eyed. She looked so much older to me after I picked her up, is that nuts? She says words like "appointment" now. This morning before school she was pretending to talk to the doctor on the phone and she told me, "I am making you a doctor appointment". WHAT?! She made a little art project at school, and when she showed it to me after school it had a tear in it. She said a boy with an orange shirt ripped it. I looked at the pictures I took of her at school, and look who is sitting next to her. Hmmm...one suspect, a boy with an orange shirt.

Well, another milestone bites the dust. Sigh......

Fun with Nonu & Nonuma on July 4th!

2009-07-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

Celebrating Independence Day at Nonu and Nonuma's is always fun! In between dinner and fireworks we all wrestled and played on the floor. The kids all had fun dogpiling and rough housing with Nonu. How cute are Dana's watermelon shoes in the first picture? I couldn't pass those up. These are some of my favorite shots from the day. Obviously I had a hard time choosing.

Watching fireworks with daddy.

Dana was playing peek-a-boo around this pole. You can imagine there were a few comments as to what she might be when she is older. Oh dear.. Anyway, she's such a big girl now, kind of sad, but also kind of cool! She says: please, thank you, here you go. For some reason her favorite words are still MINE and NO!

These cousins love to spend time together, playing, eating and hugging.

Josie on the Plasma Car. Has anyone ridden one of these? I rode it around on Saturday also. It even goes with me on it, these things are pretty cool and Josie likes it alot.

Happy 40th Birthday to my OLDER sister!

2009-06-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

Everyone in the water...well, a lot of us anyway.
Dana and her cousin Josh.

Dana was doing a good Marilyn Monroe impression over my parents air conditioning vent. Thanks Natalie for the darling dress for Dana from Hawaii.

Discovery Kingdom....again....

2009-06-26T21:49:00.001-07:00

First picture of the day......

Last picture of the day......
Natalie was able to come with us, and we had a lot of fun with her.

After we got home and bathed, Josie was asleep as soon as her ear hit her pillow. What a fun-filled and very warm day at Discovery Kingdom.

You gotta look at the picture of Josie on the froggie ride up close. She is so happy and proud having her arms up. That was a lot of fun to watch.

Josie's Birthday & Natalie's Graduation

2009-06-17T22:58:00.000-07:00

Josie got frozen yogurt after dinner on her 3rd birthday. Can't believe she turned 3 yesterday. She is doing so well at summer camp, talking like an adult and just surprising us more every day. What's cool about 3 is their ability to finally play real games. We are enjoying playing "Oh Rats" with her, and I think at her birthday party she might be getting some new games.

Our babysitter Natalie graduated from high school this last week.

Dana with Kenny and Nate. These guys are too cute with Josie and Dana.

These photos were taken back in May.

Fun filled days!

2009-05-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

A weekend camping with great family followed up by a day at Six Flags Discovery Kindgom with the same great family! Josie loved Six Flags, good thing my mom got me a season pass to take her there often. My mom got each of her daughters families a season pass, which is super awesome for me because the girls are still free. Now my sisters and I can go together with our kids. Today though, we went with Alison, Corey and Megan. These kids see each other so much now, they are becoming best buddies. It's so fun to watch.

Corey and me on the hot air balloons. Josie on the frogs!

Camping and fishing with cousins.

In Dana news, she ate her first corn on the cob tonight. How cute is this? She did pretty well on it. She continues to amaze us with her vocabulary. Alex and I made a list today of the words she says for her baby book. Would you believe this list?

hot dog (today first time)

I want more....(yes, all 3 in a row....sounds like, I want mo)

Mine (her favorite)

all done

outside

Bailey

doggy

daddy

shoe

hair

down (when you sing ring around the rosey, she'll say DOWN at the end and fall down)

and another first today that I am not that proud of is "poo-poo". I am thinking that I'd like to call that something else. Any suggestions on other cutsie words we could use for that...um.....thing. Josie uses it too, and I'd like to change it to something else if it's not too late.

Anyway, Dana says these all so clear. We are amazed at her. I wonder what she'll say tomorrow!

Strawberries and walking for the cause!

2009-05-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

Since we are living in "the country" now, we went and picked strawberries at the local strawberry farm yesterday. Josie had a great time and wants to go again. We were there all of 15 minutes and had a big full box. They were delicious too!
Julia, do you recognize Josie's dress?

Then we went to a brand new park that just opened here with lots of water features. Dana loved the water. Next time, we'll bring their bathing suits.

Yesterday was the Bras for a Cause walk. It was great fun. There was some crazy bras out there, and everyone had a good time raising money for a good cause. We had 12 people on our team, and my uncle who lost his wife to breast cancer last year came out to cheer us on.

I think a elementary school was tasked with making encouraging signs for the walkers along the way because there was some really cute and funny signs obviously make by kids. We laughed quite a bit.

Thank you to everyone who donated to my walk.

Weekend

2009-04-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went over our friends Karen and Benjamin's. Benjamin has a new hobby, photography. He is practicing for the arrival of his new baby in June. We also needed Dana's 1 year photos taken. He was kind enough to donate a Saturday to accomplish this task. If you'd like to see the pictures, click on the link below. Thanks Benjamin.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkd/sets/72157616917523799/

We went to the zoo today. Dana had her first ride on a carousel. Although you can't tell in this picture, she loved it. Josie's favorite thing to do, other than look at animals, is drive the cars. She'll drive those all day if we let her.

Oh yes, when we got home from the zoo. We had a "sold" sign on our house. Bitter sweet I guess because I have mixed emotions about moving. Oh well, it's done now.

Easter recap! What a fun day....

2009-04-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

Yep....these holidays get better as the girls get a little older. Last Easter, Dana was just a couple weeks old. This Easter they are both participants in an Easter Egg Hunt.

One of my parents neighbor's bunny got out on Easter weekend, and escaped to my parents backyard. After about 15 minutes of the rabbit eluding my dad, Alex and Garrett, the trio managed to capture him. Before returning him to the neighbor, we took some photos. How lucky could we be, getting an up close and personal visit and photo of Dana with the bunny on Easter? Josie pet the rabbit and ran off, obviously not impressed by it too much. But Dana loved petting it.

Rachel, Joey and Josie.

Josie and Joey having a chat while investigating the contents of Josie's purse.

All sorts of random pics....

2009-04-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

My sister and I went to an A's vs. Giants pre-season game this last weekend. She being a Giants fan, me being an A's fan. She's been brainwashed by her husband, because she did grow up in the EAST BAY! We had a great time. The A's ended up winning that particular game, which doesn't really matter anyway.

Two thumbsuckers

Josie likes to pretend to drive. She gets her keys and her purse and "drives" the couch. She talks about stop lights, green lights, if you sit on the couch she'll instruct you to put your seatbelt on. Quite a little imagination she has.

Awwwwe.....Dana can say "baby" now. She also says ball, out, and a few others. She likes to feed the baby. She sees Josie doing it, and likes to copy her.

Overdue post...birthdays and more!

2009-03-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

Dana turned one on March 14th, we had a nice party with her friends and family. Even though the party started AT naptime, she was in great spirits the entire time. She loved her birthday cake, which we let her eat for about 20 minutes. I didn't really have time to take more than just a couple photos, so I've posted a link here to my friends photos from her party.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bkd/sets/72157615346076854/

Dana says, now that I am one, I thought I'd just help myself to the fridge mom.

We've got a big time climber on our hands. She climbs completely up on their picnic table and stands. Child one and child two....complete opposites!

Josie shows off her first pork rib. She did a great job eatin that thing.

Dana eats with a fork......sometimes.

You can see her in the background of Josie's pic too....she really tries to get the food with a fork. We give her forks with actual metal ends, instead of the plastic ones so she can really stab the food and get it. Josie used the plastic spoons far longer....another side effect of being the 2nd child.

Eh...what's the worst that can happen, so long as she's not running around with it, right?!

Bras for a Cause!

2009-03-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! This is a picture of my Auntie Barbara when she was very young. Wasn't she beautiful, she was a former beauty queen after all? She would be celebrating her 67th birthday this weekend, but she passed away August 31st from Breast Cancer. Happy Birthday Auntie!

My cousins and I are all doing a walk together on May 9th, in honor of her. I think my auntie would think it was nice that her nieces and daughters are doing this together, since in the past we haven't really done very much together ever before. We hope to make this an annual event.

We chose this event because it is a fun one. All the walkers have to decorate a bra, and then wear it on the outside of their clothes. Each walker has to raise $200, which I think is pretty doable in this economy. Initially I had wanted to do the 3-day walk, but I was intimidated by the $3200 required donation amount, especially in these difficult times.

If you'd like to donate, please click on the link below.

Remember, every dollar counts, so donating even $5 or $10 would be great.

My auntie said before she passed away that she wanted to come back as a white butterfly. Therefore, our team name is Barbara's Butterflies! Thank you!

http://www.active.com/donate/brasforthecause_2009/beardslee

You can also look to see how our team is doing as a whole with donations. Currently Barbara's Butteflies is ranked the 2nd highest fundraising team. YEH!

Dana's 1st Ice Cream Cone?!?

2009-03-04T19:38:00.001-08:00

I just had to post this. Josie got an ice cream cone tonight. She left it on her little table with about 1.5 inches left, to go to the potty. I was in the laundry room and I didn't hear Dana. I go to look for her, where did I find her? She found Josie's ice cream cone. I went ahead and let her finish it because she looked like she was enjoying it so much and I couldn't bring myself to take it away from her. She ate the whole thing, shoving the last soggy bit in, with one big bite. Josie laughed at the site of Dana eating it, not getting upset at all that sissy ate her ice cream. That was a surprise to me. I managed to take a few photos (like 15) of her eating the ice cream cone.

I figured I'd take this opportunity to post some other pictures from this week that I loved.

Notice that Dana's feet are not on the ground.
Dana petting Bailey.

Matching pajamas.

And my favorite picture of the week. Alex snapped this one. How sweet is it?

February pictures & video!

2009-02-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

Dana loves pesto....can you tell by looking at her green face?

My auntie Joanie has been having back problems and since she spends so much time sitting, she has taken up the hobby of crocheting. She made all her nieces scarves, here we are modeling ours. She even made little shorter ones for Josie and Dana. Thanks auntie!

Here is a video of Josie playing hide and seek with her daddy.

Now, a Dana video. I am trying to make up for all the time I haven't posted lately. :)

Dana can say mama, night night, hi, no and one more word that I can't remember. She can also sign "more", although she refuses to do that in this video, but we will capture it at some point. This child WILL be the most photographed 2nd child ever. I have vowed not to slip off as far as documenting her milestones, because as a 3rd child, I know how sad it can be to have not as many pictures or info about you as your ELDERLY sisters. :) She can also wave bye-bye. In this video, she waves backwards, which is weird because in person now she waves the correct way. This video was taken on Feb. 11 though, so perhaps she has already corrected herself. She is quite the copycat. You make a noise, she'll make the same noise. You squeal, she'll squeal. We are having lots of fun with her, so much so, that I have no time to post as much as I used to. Not sure what is up with her weird eye twitching in the video, but I thought the strange faces she was making were funny.

Dana in her pink car (which used to be Josie's, which used to be Rachel's).

I had lots of trouble formatting this post. So, my apologies if it looks funny to you. Hopefully you can still see the photos and videos.

Is this dorky?

2009-01-28T19:28:00.000-08:00

I don't care what anyone says, I happen to think it's cute when I dress the girls the same. Actually though, I don't have much choice. If Josie sees that Dana is wearing something that she also has, she says, "I want to wear the same".

Just a random picture of Josie that I thought I'd include.

Busy girls!

2009-01-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

Dana sat through 30 minutes of Baby Einstein this weekend. I don't think she moved a muscle, total opposite of Josie. I needed just a few minutes to get some things done and it worked like a charm.

Here are my girls visiting my friend Carrie's (from college) daughter Brianna. The three girls all had fun playing together.

Dana on her Christmas present from Nonuma. She loves to ride this outside.

And here is another video of Dana walking. I have yet to get a really good video of her walking. She can walk 40 feet. She walks more than she crawls now these days at no urging from us. Here is the best one I got recently.

Give me three steps......give me three steps baby!

2008-12-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

Josie with her cousin Megan. Megan is only 4 months younger than Josie. Pretty hard to believe huh, just by looking at their size.

Saturday night we went around looking at Christmas lights. We saw Santa Claus at 2 different lighted houses. The second house you actually wait in line to get in and walk around the front yard. They have 301,000 lights. It was really amazing. They had so many cute things at that house, elves, an elves break room with all sorts of cute posters and lists for you to read. I loved it! Natalie, our next door neighbor came with us. Josie said to Natalie while we were waiting in line, "i love my Natalie"...it was pretty cute since there was no prodding involved.

Josie in daddy's waders.

And here is the highlight of our weekend. This video was taken on Sunday. Enjoy!

Christmas Time is Here!!

2008-12-07T16:47:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh, this year is finally the year when Christmas becomes fun with the kids. Ok, so it's always been fun, BUT, this year Josie seems to really get it. She loves Santa Claus, Snomen, lights on all the houses. I can't wait to take her out driving to see houses with lights on them. The few we have seen so far she loves. It's so much fun hearing her in the back seat, "I see more lights, look mommy, more lights". This is going to be fun.

What is up with this Santa? I think it's ridiculous that you can't see his face. But, it was free, so whatever.

7 cousins with Santa Dana and Santa.

Josie with our snomen and Santa.

Thanksgiving 08

2008-11-29T17:11:00.000-08:00

Another successfull Stagnaro Thanksgiving. We had 39 people at my sisters house this year. It was so great to see everyone. Below is a picture of the oldest living Stagnaro, my Great Uncle Bud and the youngest Stagnaro, Dana. My Great Uncle Bud is 93 years old.

Cousin Billy helping Dana gnaw on a turkey leg.

Josie says Happy Thanksgiving.

Alex went hunting Saturday morning and got himself 3 geese and 2 ducks. My nephews couldn't wait to see the geese. They helped Alex pluck them, and then Alex grossed them out with an anatomy lesson, which actually they thought was pretty cool.

Beach, zoo, and other recent shots!

2008-11-26T22:16:00.000-08:00

I am already missing the sun we had the last 2 weekends. Going out with the kids and doing fun stuff outside. Now at least things will be green again, I guess I'll just look on the positive side of things.

Ahhh....now tomorrow is my favorite day of the whole darn year.....yeh for Thanksgiving!

November pics

2008-11-13T08:45:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to cousin Megan's birthday. She had a TumbleTime Bus at her party.

Standing up all by herself.

I love that the girls take their bath together now. It makes it much easier on us, and they really enjoy it.

WOW!

2008-11-07T14:07:00.000-08:00

So, this morning I was in the shower when Josie got out of bed. She came and told me that she went poop. I immediately thought, "uh-oh, she must have went in her pants". I asked her if she went in her pants, and she replied, "I went in the potty". I hate to admit it, but I didn't believe that she would do this by herself. I then asked her if she flushed and she said no. I quickly got wrapped up in a towel and ran off with her to see. Sure enough, she got up on the potty herself using her stool (no pun intended), and went #2 all by herself.

A proud moment for a mommy indeed!

Halloween!

2008-11-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a bunch of random pictures from Halloween, visiting pumpking patches, etc.
The girls enjoyed all the festivities, and Josie loved carrying her pumpkin bucket.

Dana trying to get Josie's kitty nose.

Trick or Treat!

Our cute little ladybug.

Josie with a pumpkin man that daddy made.

Dana loved the pumpkin.

Yummy!

This must feel good on the gums.

Downtown enjoying the festivities.

Josie with her friend Alexis.

Josie is always a fan of the pony rides.

Our little pumpkin!

First bath together. Finally, it's much easier now and Dana LOVES it.

Dana looking at Bailey dog.

It Paid Off!

2008-10-21T19:55:00.001-07:00

And, she is so good at it!

.....Mantis religiosa

2008-10-19T11:35:00.000-07:00

So, I was out collecting canine dung (sorry)...and came across this praying mantis. I took this lovely shot with my Canon PowerShot SD 450 Digital Elph. I was zoomed in a fair amount, which I thought would affect the picture more, but was surpised that it still came out pretty clear.

I think the lighting actually turned out pretty favorable and all in all this was a successful photo shoot with Mr. Mantis. He cooperated very well.

P.S. For Cyrus and Benjamin....hope you enjoyed my post! :)

I hope you all knew this was a joke. I wonder how Mr. Mantis would have looked with Cyrus' fancy new lense? Probably pretty amazing.

Little visitors came to play!

2008-10-13T19:16:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to have our friends come over last Friday. Julia came over with 3 month old Sophia, and our friend Marcy came over with 8 month old Donovan. Marcy and Donovan just moved back here from Switzerland, and I was very eager to meet little Donovan. Oh my gosh, what a cutie he is too! I love his cheekers.

The play date went really well. I am very much looking forward to the next time we can get the babies together. Dana liked to grab Donovan's foot (see photo).

Josie also asked to hold Sophia.

Photo of Josie blow drying her hair. She loves to blow dry her hair. I imagine it would be hard for a 2 year old to brush and dry their hair at the same time, hence the very serious focused expression on her face.

Up she goes!

2008-10-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

Today I gave Josie a Lysol Wipe (is that frowned upon?), anyway, she was copying me wipe things down. Then she went off on her own, and I noticed her wiping down her vacuum. She clearly has OCD like her mother.

In other news, I went to get Dana after her nap today, and the picture below shows how I found her when I walked in the room. Out of laziness, Alex and I never adjusted the crib back up to the highest position after Josie moved out of it. So, the crib is still in the lowest position. Dana still managed to pull herself up into a standing position. Here is she happy as a little clam waiting for mommy to pick her up. I also posted a picture of Josie the first time (one of) she pulled herself up. Josie was 10 months old. Dana, not even 7 months yet!

Visiting with friends, etc....

2008-10-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to an annual lobster dinner at Chucks (a friend of ours from college) parents house. It's always a good time, especially visiting with our friends. Kaleb and Josie are only 4 months apart, and Dana and Abigail are only 4 months apart as well.

Can you see Dana's tooth? If you make the pic bigger, you might be able to see it. She has 2, but it's hard for me to catch them on camera.

Kaleb eating chicken.

Dana standing up, which she did all by herself. She amazes me!

Dana (standing) and mezmorized by the singing lobster. / Josie meeting our dinner.

Friends, Dana & Abigail / Can you do this? Yummy!

Dana pics....

2008-09-20T13:03:00.000-07:00

Dana took her first bath without using the baby tub. She despises reclining, so she would always fight to sit up in the baby tub. Therefore, we decided to just move her to the sink without it. Pretty soon she will be taking baths with big sister in the real bathtub. Yeh....

Josie and Dana play well together. Josie is trying to teach Dana how to crawl. She basically crawls correctly with her hands, but hasn't figured out how to move her legs yet. She will, very soon.

Moving and Shaking

2008-09-18T18:17:00.000-07:00

My goodness, 6 months have gone fast. Our little Dana is amazing us everyday. Not only does she have her first 2 teeth coming in, and she's handling it great, but she is also moving around lots. Last Friday her first tooth poked through, now today we can see her second bottom tooth poking through.

In addition, if she is laying down, she can sit herself completely up, without leaning on that last hand (called tripoding). And as if that's not enough, she is about to take off crawling. She gets herself on her hands and knees and she has actually crawled, like maybe 2-3 movements, then she either gets frustrated or collapses. I'd say in a week, she will be officially crawling.

That's all! :)

Tribute to Lindsey! (and some other favorite pics)

2008-09-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

So, our babysitter/friend/adopted daughter, Lindsey leaves for college this Friday. I know I am going to miss her terribly. She has become somewhat of a fixture in our house lately because she loves Josie and Dana so much! They adore her as well. The girls will miss you Lindsey, and we can't wait for you to come home for visits. We also hope to come and visit you down in SLO town at least once before you graduate. :) You are in for the best time of your life and we are so happy for you!

Here are some pictures of you with the girls, and other pictures that you took of them.

OK, these 3 have nothing to do with Lindsey, they are just recent pics I thought were so cute

Lining up princess shoes. / A happy Dana on her Uncle Brook's lap.

Hiding with "sissy baby" in tent. Josie likes to play hide n seek now. It's so much fun playing with her, even though kids don't quite get the concept you know?

Part of Corey's Crew!

2008-09-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

This year, Alex, Josie, Dana and I are excited to get involved in walking for Diabetes. Our little nephew Corey, age 3, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes about a month before his 2nd birthday. I remember what a scary night it was when we all learned Corey was diabetic, not to mention what a close call it was at Children's Hospital in Oakland that night. It's amazing how far Corey and his parents have come in the last year and half, they have gained so much knowledge about children with diabetes. If you have children, you know that raising kids is a full-time job in itself. But, if you had the opportunity to watch Alison and Tyler with Corey, you'd realize it's like having 2 full-time jobs. Since Corey is such an active child, as all children are, his blood sugar constantly seems to go back and forth like a pendulum making it a constant worry for those around him.

The amazing thing about Type 1 Diabetes though is you can tell the donated money is being well spent. Recently Corey was able to get a really cool insulin pump. Now, he doesn't have to get shot with insulin needles as often. The pump has a little needle, he wears the pump on his leg, and when his parents deem it necessary to give him insulin they use a little blackberry type thing to send insulin into him. I know that techonology and research will allow for a cure to be found soon!

Now that Corey is a little older (3) I have been attempting to learn more about helping him out. Corey's parents have a small support system, Alison's parents. It's hard to trust just anybody to watch your diabetic toddler. So recently I have been asking lots of questions and I even tested Corey all by myself once recently. This little boy doesn't even flinch anymore when tested, making it easy for a squirmer like me. My hope is that someday soon I will feel comfortable enough, and more importantly, his parents will feel comfortable enough to let me 'babysit' Corey, to give them and his grandparents a much needed break.

In the meantime the only way I can help out is by participating in the Juvinile Diabetes Walk on November 2nd. My goal is to raise $500. I don't expect for everyone to be able to donate, but if you can and you would like to help out this cause, please click on this link to go to our walk page. Thanks for reading this entry! Paula

Here is our nephew Corey!

Monterey Bay Aquarium, Brentwood Waterpark......

2008-09-01T09:07:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we met our friend Mike (from Boston) at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was great to see him again. We originally met Mike on our Italy trip 3 years ago, and we have stayed in contact.

Josie liked the wave pool.

Both kids asleep at the aquarium.

Sunday, we went to the waterpark with our cousins Alison and Tyler, their kids, and her family. It was a great day for a waterpark. We couldn't get Josie out of the water, we had to bribe her with a cookie. Dana is sleeping comfortably on John, Alison's dad. Her family was so nice to help with Dana, so that Alex and I could swim in the water with Josie. Not to mention go down the waterslide. :) Even though they are not Josie's and Dana's grandparents, taking care of babies seems to be in their blood. Lucky for us!

Josie covering daddy's back with stickers, while cousin Corey covered hers.

Other pics from the last few weeks.

My favorite picture from the last few weeks, I caught Josie putting her Cinderella dress up shoes on Dana. Look at Dana watching her. These 2 are already so cute together.

Keeping busy

2008-08-10T21:43:00.000-07:00

We helped Gracie (Alex's cousins daughter) celebrate her 3rd birthday Saturday. It's always fun to get all the kids together. Grace has a new pool at her house, and we all went swimming, even Dana. Dana was almost asleep in her little pink whale, she loved the water.

Dana in her pink whale. / Corey & Josie eating lunch.

Grace holding Dana.

On Friday I told Josie, tomorrow we are going to Grace's birthday party, she replied with "I want cake". I was surprised that she put 2 and 2 together. For the next 3 hours all she talked about was going to Grace's house and having cake.

Patiently waiting for cake.

Dana before her bath.

I just had to take this picture. I think Josie is starting to pick up some not so good habits from daddy.

Josie loves to read at night. She does like to read the same book over and over and over and over again. Recently, this week it seems she FINALLY got tired of Goodnight Moon. THANK GOD. Ok, I know it's a classic and all, but Alex and I
are SO tired of reading it every night.

Josie hasn't grown tired of
holding her baby sister.
She asks every day I think.
Eating mashed potatoes
right out of the pot. Lately, she's been wanting to help me cook. She likes to help stir things. She says "I help you cook mommy, I stir mommy". She's an excellent helper.

Livermore vineyard.

Alex and I took a friend of ours to a winery today, he was just passing through. Anyway, since he had to hit the road, and we had a babysitter, Alex and I went to another winery and tasted more wine. It was so nice to be out together, just the two of us, doing something we used to do here in Livermore, B.C. (before children) These grapes are almost ready to harvest.

Sidenote: I am watching the Olympics right now. Anyone else really into them? I love them, especially Gymnastics, Swimming, Diving, Water Polo. Did you know there is now a Trampoline event, and a Fast Walking event? Kind of lame I think.

Characters

2008-08-02T21:48:00.000-07:00

Here I go again, taking more pictures of my baby sleeping. I can't help it, I love the way they put their butts in the air. Dana is 4.5 months now. She is drooling so much. Much more than Josie EVER did.

Josie is doing her "squishy face" below. If you ask her she can do any of the following, sad face, happy face, surprised face, and squishy face.

Wearing her backpack.

We went out for a walk this morning. Josie insists on carrying her purse whenever she pushes her baby stroller. Today she was particularly funny. Halfway through the walk she stopped, put her sunglasses in her purse, took out her cell phone and had a long phone conversation. I wish I had my camera on me because I would have loved to post the video of her talking to whomever she was talking to. So, she had a big long conversation with all the "ok's, yeh, ha ha ha's", and other Josie mumble jumble, then she said good bye and put the phone back in her purse and put her sunglasses back on and continued walking. She is such a character and I get so much enjoyment watching her.

Another new thing she does is say "bless you". Alex and I were driving last weekend, Alex sneezed and we hear a "bless you daddy" from the backseat. We both looked at each other like, "when did she start doing that"? She has gotten much better at "please and thank you" and for the last 2 days she has pooped in the potty. I'm still not counting on that being an everyday thing. She is doing awesome with pee peeing on the potty. I guess to be fair I should also say she does have her share of temper tantrums as well. Those aren't as fun to write about though. We ignore her and usually she quiets down on her own when she realizes she isn't getting her way.

For those of you who want hints on how to potty train, a major helpful hint is to make sure your child is not constipated. Any sort of painful poopy will scare them from using the potty. The easier it is to poop, the more likely they will want to do it on the potty, as opposed to their pants. At least that has been my experience so far. Unfortunately for us, Josie loves bananas and would eat 2 a day if I let her.

Family Ties

2008-08-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

So, over July 4th, my cousin Billy got married in Mexico. Unfortunatly, due to lack of funds, Alex and I couldn't attend. Our Aunt Joanie gave Billy and Heidi a reception at their house in Sebastapol last week, and it was so nice to see the newlyweds and the rest of the family as well.

Bride and groom / Rachel & Josie on hammock

Josie and I with my cousin Alex.

My goddaughter Ana, with Dana.
Jacob and Josie on the hammock.

Me and Jonathon.

Me, Christina, Janel and Laura.....4 cousins.

Me and my godson William.

Alex, Josie, Nicholas and Dana.

Josie liked the fishies.

Firsts, firsts, and more firsts....

2008-07-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

First haircut, first cereal, first time holding her bottle all by herself.....lots more firsts happening around here. And some other random pictures are included here as well. Some of my favorite recent pictures.

Dana holding her own bottle.

Josie eating her first cereal at 4 months old.

Dana eating her first cereal at 4 months old. (Do you think they look alike at all? I think they look very different).

First haircut. I am not sure how I feel about her new haircut.

I actually think I regret cutting it. We'll see how I feel tomorrow when I "do" her hair.

Dana's first time in a bumbo. She loves to sit up and be able to see what is going on.

Not a first, but here is just a cute picture of her sucking her thumb and sleeping.

Josie playing in "snow" at Christmas in July downtown, right after her haircut.

Daddy and Dana relaxing.

Happy Independence Day 2008!

2008-07-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

Off to my parents on the 4th as usual. We had a good time. My parents have this adorable volkswagon battery operated car and Josie loves to drive it. It didn't take her long to figure out how to go forwards and backwards. It never ceases to amaze me how fast kids pick things up.

When the fireworks started Josie was a little scared. But, after a couple minutes she loved them. She watched them from inside Grandma's house (that's a perk of going to Grandma's on the 4th) with her adopted Grandma Laurie.

Saturday, we went to the Alameda County Fair. We were there for about 4 hours and Dana slept for 3.25 hours. Josie had her first experience pee-peeing in a public potty. I guess we couldn't avoid that forever. Don't worry mom, we didn't let her touch anything. The second Josie saw kids on the pony rides, she said, "I want to ride the horse mommy". She loved the pony rides. She wasn't scared at all. I didn't even attempt to go in with her and walk along side of her, because I could tell she was fine. When it was over, she just kept saying "more mommy, more". Unfortunately, at $6 a ride, she wasn't going to go again. :(

It just keeps getting better....

2008-06-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

We have BIG news here again in our house, and this time it's for real! We are happy to announce that Josie hasn't worn a diaper during the day since Saturday, June 21st. She has been wearing one at night, but she has been waking up dry. This morning she woke up dry for the 3rd time, and immediately went pee-pee in the potty. Can you believe it? She also takes naps in her big girl underwear. At some point we will stop putting her in a diaper at night, but we are just not confident at this point, maybe after a week of dry diapers we will stop. We just took a family trip to Tahoe for a family wedding and Josie didn't pee her pants in the car at all. Halfway back home she did say she had to go potty and we stopped and she peed in her potty chair. It's been awesome! (we haven't mastered pooping in the potty yet, but we have gotten close a couple times). We tried potty training her about a month or so ago and it was miserable. Then last Sunday, the 22nd, we tried again, and it just happened, very easily. It was almost kind of weird how easy it was this time.

In other news, Dana completely rolls over. She can even get her arm out from under her. Josie rolled over at 5.5 months, Dana at just over 3 months. I am so surprised at the big difference, I didn't think there could be such a wide range for rolling over. Dana is very strong. She can hold up her own weight on her 2 feet. I remember when Josie was a baby I could leave her on our bed while I showered, because she never moved. Not so much with Dana, we can't leave this baby anywhere.

This picture of Dana laying on her tummy was taken after I laid her on her back....

Josie swinging, eating and riding next to her older cousins. Makes me kind of sad that my little girl is growing up. I am happy she has her cousins to play with, they are very good to her. Josh and Jake played well with her this weekend, and they always wanted to hold Dana. Josh is big enough that we don't have to worry about him holding her anymore so much. He was putting Dana above his head in the air, and she laughed and smiled. She is lucky to have them!

Other photos, us being silly with my cousins Laura and Larry at the Tahoe wedding. I think it's safe to say we were the "fun table".

Lots going on here...

2008-06-19T15:01:00.001-07:00

It's been a busy month here. Josie turned 2 and Dana is now 3 months. It's nice having a baby around since Josie is no longer a baby. She is a full on talking toddler. She says thinks like, "I want a drink", "I want apple juice", "Baby wants to eat", "I want to go out", and her favorite "I do it", or "I get/got it". This morning she woke up and one of the first things she said was, "I want to see a goat". I've been showing her pictures lately of her at a petting zoo with the goats. So, I guess when she woke up today, she decided that's what she wanted to do. Hence, we are going to the zoo tomorrow morning. It's kind of nice having her be able to tell us what she wants.

Burping her baby.

Pics above (uh-oh, putting a baby in the oven?) She loves her kitchen, she likes to cook for mommy and daddy. She says, "I cook for you mommy". Then she brings over our dinner.

And Dana, she is a mover and a shaker. She hates to lay down. She wants to sit up all the time where she can see what is going on. She is stronger than Josie was at this age. We didn't put Josie in the exersaucer until she was 4 months old, but Dana has already been in it, and did just fine. She likes it. She is also SO close to rolling over. I would pretty much consider it rolling over, look at the pictures below, what do you think? She also recently took her first nap in the crib. Although below, is also a picture of Dana in Josie's baby doll crib.

All smiles!

2008-06-13T15:04:00.000-07:00

Dana just loves to be talked to, and she likes to talk back also. This morning my neighbor was talking to her and taking tons of pictures of her, and Dana was just laughing like crazy. Of course, I have to post them.

Also, I am so lucky. Both my daughters have been excellent sleepers. Josie is doing great in her big girl bed. We don't need to stand outside her door, or use a lock anymore. We read her a book, and she stays in bed (99% of the time). Then our little Dana has been sleeping through the night consistently also. Last night, she slept from 9pm to 5am. Our girls are awesome! I am starting to think they are going to be difficult when they are older since they have been such easy little ones. Time will tell....

This makes me dread going back to work.

2008-06-11T16:39:00.001-07:00

Fun in the water....

2008-06-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

I love summer. Here are some recent pictures of the girls.

Josie went to her friend Gabby's princess birthday party on Saturday and it was requested that all guests wear their "royal best", so she went as Snow White. She had A LOT of fun at the party, especially in the jumpy house. She has really started to enjoy those lately.

1st vacation with "the girls"!

2008-05-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

So, Alex and I decided to take advantage of me being on maternity leave and get on the road for a road trip with the girls. We took the opportunity to visit some of our friends. Chuck and Jennifer who live in Redding, and Amie and Ira (and her folks) who live in Vancouver, WA. Amie and I grew up living next door together and played everyday. We always brought her on family vacations with us, she was the one who helped me shave my legs for the first time, it's safe to say, we just shared an awful lot of good times together. It was great to see her, and it was funny that even though we drifted apart the last few years before she moved to WA, it was like no time had passed at all. Alex and I had a great time visiting with her and her husband Ira, and Josie and their daughter Hannah played very well together also. Talk about coming full circle. Our daughters are playing together, just like we used to. And, because Amie's mom saved many of Amie's old toys, the girls were playing with some of the same stuff we used to play with. It was so cool.

I love how Josie's pony tails prove how hard she was playing with Ira.

Josie helping to feed Dana.

These rhodedendrums (sp?) are everywhere up there, I thought they were beautiful.

Amie and Dana.

Beautiful falls in Oregon.

Kaleb, Dana and Josie on one of those 100 degree days we had. Kaleb lives up north, and we wish we could see him more often.

Uncle Chuck is very good at reading to the kids.

She's my daughter!

2008-05-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

Here is Josie eating a pickle and a banana at the same time. Gosh...that is so me! I eat weird combinations like that quite often. Josie has also added "pickle" to her vocabulary. Alex and I are amazed at the sudden explosion of her vocabulary. This age is so much fun. Everyday we are like, " did you just hear her say that"....I LOVE IT!

Below are some pictures from our visit with Corey and Megan last weekend. Josie loved playing with the water sprinkler toys. Of course, that's when it was like 100 degrees a week ago. Boy I miss that weather already.

Why is it only cute when little girls butt cheeks hang out of bathing suits, and not so much when mine do?

A day at the park!

2008-05-16T14:25:00.000-07:00

Joey with his newest cousin Dana. Out of habit, Joey still calls Josie "baby Josie", we are trying to retrain him.

Josie eating a popsicle with bestest neighbor Natalie. By looking at her face, I'd say she's not used to that kind of cold yet.

We went to Happy Hallow Park in San Jose this week. What a cute, but old place. Very similiar to Fairyland in Oakland. Anyway, Josie wasn't scared of the goats at all. One goat chewed on her dress twice. I wish I had it on video, because she pulled her dress from the goat, and then started shaking her finger at the goat while giving him a piece of her mind. She was going on and on to the goat, while laughing. She thought it was so funny. Of course it happened, after I turned the video camera off. Why, God Why?

Mother's Day Weekend!

2008-05-12T14:31:00.001-07:00

It's weekends like this that remind me how lucky I am to have two beautiful daughters and Alex to call my family.

We went to walk on a trail here in town and came across this really cool hollow tree. The tree had a hole in it to look out, and we took a ton of fun pictures there.
Here are 3 generations of Stagnaro women on Mother's Day.

Also, Josie doing what mommy calls her "Laura Ingalls impression".

Say cheese!

2008-05-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

Dana smiles all the time now. I get such a high when she smiles. Last night I am sure I heard her laugh for the first time. It was small, but it was very much her letting out a little giggle.

We all went to the Oakland Zoo Sunday with Alex's parents. It was an incredibly hot day.

Josie looking at the Siamangs, which are apes. The Siamangs were SO active, swinging from rope to rope.

Josie's 1st Fenton's Ice Cream! If she is anything like her mommy and daddy, it won't be her last!

Josie at work

2008-04-23T11:12:00.000-07:00

I took Josie and Dana to my work awhile back. Josie made herself right at home at my boss's desk. My company designs motor controllers for electronic vehicles, such as scooters, wheelchairs, golf carts, etc. Therefore, we have plenty of equipment around to test drive. Here is Josie test driving a scooter. She did make it go, and surprised herself.

Nobody ever said parenting was easy....

2008-04-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

So, if you read one of the post below you know that Josie recently converted to a big girl bed. I must say I am very proud of the way Alex and I (mostly Alex) have handled this transition. One of the things we have been most proud of with Josie is her sleeping habits. She can go to sleep on her own, no rocking, no holding, no whatever. Well, it was easy to train her to do that when she was in a crib, but now that she can get out of bed, it's been a little different. However,
Sunday night was her first night in the big girl bed. It took us about 45 minutes on Sunday night to get her to STAY in bed on her own. I have seen on Supernanny before how she suggests that parents just keep putting their kids back to bed, no matter how long it takes, and she guarantees that every night it will get shorter and shorter. Well, Alex just put Josie to bed tonight, Friday night, her 6th night in a big girl bed, and it took less than 5 minutes. This happened for me at naptime today too! It's amazing, but THEY CAN BE TAUGHT! That Supernanny knows what she is talking about.

So, for any parents out there with kids this age, or who will be going through a bedtime routine anytime soon, be strong, and it will totally pay off!

Now I mentioned that Alex was better at this than me. He very much is. I start to feel badly and want to lay down with Josie. But, I will remind myself of how Alex spent 30 minutes with her the other night, on his feet, standing in the hallway waiting for her to open the door so that he could put her back to bed, and I simply can't cave in knowing that I will undo all the work he has already done, and that would not be good. So, like I started this post, it wasn't easy this week, but nobody ever said parenting was, and it was totally worth it!

Dana is one month old!

2008-04-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already been one month since Dana came into our lives. People have asked me if Josie showed signs of jealousy, to which I would reply no. I think it just took her 3 weeks to realize that Dana is here to stay. She now shows signs of jealousy, like a normal child.

Here is a picture of Dana on her 1 month birthday and some pictures of Josie this weekend. Mommy has been having fun putting Josie in dresses since the weather has been so nice. Now only if that nice weather would come back.

I love catching her gazing off like this, not looking at the camera.

Our baby isn't a baby anymore.....

2008-04-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

So, today, Sunday, Josie climbed out of her crib for the first time.
We thought she tried to climb out and then kind of fell out and probably scared herself out of doing it again. Because of this new event though, we tried to get her to nap in her big girl bed. No go! At bedtime tonight however, we tried to put her to bed in her big girl bed again, after 45 minutes, she was still trying to walk out of her room. So, since it's a work night we put her to bed in her crib again. Soon after we heard a LOUD THUMP. We ran in, and she was on her feet on the floor, screaming! OK, so I guess we are done with this crib thing. She has successfully fallen asleep in her big girl bed, and I was able to take the above picture. One more milestone to check off the list. The two milestones I was worried about on my maternity leave were potty training, and the transition to the big girl bed. It looks like we are on our way with the big girl bed transition. We will see how tomorrow's nap goes. The other picture is of Josie in August 2006, taking her first nap in the crib. Dana is already wearing the pajamas that Josie had on in that picture. I didn't think the time would go so quickly. Our little baby looks so cute in her new bed. It brings a tear to my eye though. She's NOT a baby anymore. My how time flies!

Josie went for a bike ride today, she loves her bike trailer.

This picture was captured by our friends Karen and Benjamin. I just love how they captured her in motion, with her pony tails.

Swinging in the WARM sunshine with Natalie.

Our big girl after her bath.

Mommy's favorite pictures from last week or so.

2008-04-08T16:55:00.000-07:00

Josie showing off her pink sparkly shades....she loves them.

Check out my cool pool shoes. Josie before swim lessons.

Josie lining up her baby dolls. Dana is just another one of the baby dolls to her.

Where is Dana's....?

2008-04-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

Enjoy this video..... it's only a minute long, and the end is the best.

P.S. I am not sure why she keeps sticking her finger in her mouth, Wet Willy's are not something we have taught her!

So, it took me awhile....

2008-03-23T20:37:00.001-07:00

to finally post a picture of our new addition...Dana Marie!

Honestly, finding time to post an entry on my blog hasn't been the highest priority on my list lately. When I am not feeding or attending to Dana, I prefer to play with Josie or sleep.

I was wondering why I was so tired the week after Dana arrived, and it appears I was fighting an infection. Yesterday, Saturday, I was doubled over in pain for about an hour. My good friend Sharon came to my rescue, running over to my house to help me out. She fed Josie breakfast while I called an advice nurse, who told me I needed to come to the emergency room. After spending an entire day in emergency, from 10am to 7pm, I was finally moved up to an operating room where I had to have a procedure done to remove left over tissue from my uterus that didn't quite make it out on Dana's birthday. Thanks again to my parents for taking Josie in this emergency situation, so Alex and I could focus on me and Dana. Dana spent the day with us in emergency so that I could continue to feed her. She did have to take 2 oz of formula while I was being operated on, and she seems to take from a bottle just fine. That's good to know.

Anyhow, here are many pictures from Easter today, as well as some others of Dana & Josie from the last week.

Two-Day Breast Cancer Walk

2008-02-26T22:36:00.000-08:00

So, this is a different kind of post coming from the We Four Bears Blog...

This morning my sister's mother-in-law passed away, her name was Diane. Her battle began with breast cancer, and ended sadly this morning mostly as a result of brain cancer. She was 70 years old. My sister and her husband Brook have been dating/married since I was 10, so I have known Brook and his mother Diane for 20 years. She was a wonderful woman, and a great MIL to my sister, and a great grammy to my 3 nephews.

In honor of Diane, my sister is participating in the 2 day San Francisco Avon Breast Cancer Walk in July. The required donation limit to participate is $1,800.00. I thought I would try and help my sister out by adding a link to my blog as well, because I know many of us are touched by this terrible cancer. Every dollar counts, so if I can help her collect just a little, it will be worth it.

We also have an aunt who successfully beat breast cancer 5 years ago, and is now fighting liver cancer. My sister will be walking for her as well, our Auntie Barbara.

If you'd like to donate to this special cause, please click on the link to the right titled Janel's Blog. Once you are on her blog, click on her link to the right which will take you to her personal Avon page. For some reason, I couldn't get her personal Avon page directly under my links.

Going to the coast!

2008-02-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

On Saturday we headed to the coast. It was a beautiful day out, our mission was to see some elephant seals. We did see a couple. They were just as ugly as I remember them being back in the 7th grade when we visited them on a class field trip. Josie had a good time at the beach and running around with daddy.

This picture of the 2 of them looking down at daddy's sand writing is my favorite.

Josie put her baby girl on her head all by herself. She was giving baby girl "uppies", like daddy does to her. She is quite the mimicker.

With elephant seal.

If you are wondering what is with this large jacket Josie is wearing, Josie lately has wanted to wear what she wants to wear. This jacket was mine when I was little girl. It's probably like a size 4 or 5. My mom saved it, as well as some other clothes of mine for Josie. Anyway, Josie insisted on wearing it this day, and I decided it wasn't a battle I was willing to fight. No biggie, let her wear the big jacket. Besides, since it used to be mine, I was a little touched by the fact that she seemed to be drawn to it.

Our little mommy!

2008-02-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

I've been able to catch Josie in 'mommy mode'. She loves her "baby gil" (that's what she calls her). We bring baby girl many places now. You can see below, she likes to feed baby girl, and put her in everything babies are meant to go in. Recently, we've had to put baby girl in the highchair and scoot her up to the table, with a cup, mind you, so that all 4 of us were at the table.

Yesterday was a beautiful day outside, so Josie took baby for a walk in the stroller. Thank you Auntie Christina for Josie's red "Daddy's Little Angel" shirt. We like it on her.

Relaxing with baby and blanket.

BIG JOSIE NEWS!!!

2008-01-31T19:29:00.000-08:00

Well we have BIG news in our household. Tonight, Josie went pee pee in her own potty. She's been sitting on the potty lots lately. Everytime mommy goes potty, she wants me to take her pants and diaper off so she can sit on her potty at the same time. Well tonight, I had a little more patience and I sat their longer to give her a chance to make pee pee. Her diaper was pretty full too, so I didn't really think she'd make any pee pee in her potty, but she did. So, of course, we called daddy over and the two of us made a big deal about the pee pee in the potty! WHOO HOOOO.....not sure if this will happen consistently, but we will definetly be letting her sit on there as long as possible and rewarding her with lots of praise and possibly jelly beans. Maybe it was a one time fluke, but lets keep our fingers crossed that she continues to make progress!

Anyway, here are some more recent pics.

Senorita Josie

This was my nephew Garrett's Chico State sweat suit that I bought him 8 or 9 years ago. Josie now fits it!

Pictures from January.....

2008-01-23T11:22:00.000-08:00

Lucky girl.....because Josie is a lucky girl and has 5 older cousins, she received a slide from her cousins Josh, Jake and Joey that they don't use anymore. She loves it, and seems to be pretty fearless on it.

She loves to push her 'baby' around.

Also loves to talk on the phone...she jabbers a lot, and says "nonu" on the phone.

A couple weekends ago Josie was invited to Wyatt and Samantha's birthday party. They had a jumphouse and Josie loved it. She loved to watch the kids jump, which in turn made her bounce. She tried to get up once or twice herself, but it was pretty difficult for her. You can see her almost standing up though in the pic on the left. She had a great time!

Bee takes great pics!

2008-01-23T11:10:00.000-08:00

Back in December we visited our friends Julia, Cyrus and Bee. Cyrus had a brand new fancy, schmancy camera, and Bee was having a good time taking pictures of Josie with it. I think most turned out great. Bee.....we might have to hire you to take some family photos of us outdoors this summer! Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures back from that day in December. Thanks to Cyrus, Bee and Julia.
I think we have a pretty happy child, what would you say?

Mommy's favorite picture!

Christmas and then some....

2008-01-01T20:34:00.001-08:00

Another happy Christmas with relatives! Christmas Eve we went to my sisters house, and had a nice quiet Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas Day we went to my parents house, Nonu and Grandma's house. A much more crazy experience. Opening presents with 6 kids 9 and under can be hectic.

Josie liked her Santa gifts this year, proving you don't need to spend a lot of money to make an 18 month incredibly happy. She loves her princess tent, as you will see below. She likes to hide in it, and also bring her toys in there with her.

Auntie Christina got Josie a lawnmower for Christmas, and you can see below she is already enjoying mowing the lawn with daddy.

We got a Wii for Christmas, it's been fun to play so far. Nonu and Grandma also like playing the Wii. You can see them bowling below, but the real show was watching them box. Pictures didn't do them justice. I did get a picture of Alex boxing posted below. So, far Alex still has the high score in bowling, but I am only 9 points away, and I intend to practice and beat his score of 200.

Oh my gosh, my sister Janel made the best HOMEMADE ice cream sandwiches for Christmas. Josie really enjoyed the ones with peppermint ice cream inside. Mommy was smart and had Josie sit with daddy so that he would have to share his and mommy wouldn't.

Alex boxing on the Wii!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJxpSNKbUWI video of Josie in new tent

Here I am 29 weeks pregnant with our second baby!

First Snow Trip!

2007-12-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

Some pics from the last week. Josie made her first visit to the snow. She is like her mommy, not a fan of it. She didn't want to touch it, but at least we got some pics of her in it.

Josie's first fishing trip. Josie with Grandma. And our Reindeer Bailey.....

If you click on this YouTube link, it's a 30 second video of Josie watching Barney sing, "When You're Happy & You Know It". She's got the clapping down, and she is trying hard to get the stomping feet part down. Watch at the end, you can see she is trying to stomp her feet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfnT5QCZA5U

US pics for Baby #2, due in March

2007-12-07T19:21:00.001-08:00

As you all know by now, we are expecting baby #2 in March. Here are some US pictures taken at 19 - 20 weeks. We won't be finding out the sex until the baby comes out to greet us in March!

Shot of head and tummy. The first darker spot near the top of the chest is its heart. The other black spot that looks long and narrow is the stomach. Hopefully you can see the nose and mouth without much help.

Butt cheeks!

Foot with all 5 toes accountable.
Hand near mouth
(this pic is vertical)

Leg

Mommy's favorite pics of the last couple weeks.

2007-12-07T19:06:00.001-08:00

Natalie puts Josie's hair in pony tails.

Not a fan of Santa this year :(

First Zoo Trip!

2007-11-23T10:51:00.000-08:00

A couple Sundays ago, Alex and I took Josie to the Oakland Zoo. Rachel, Garrett and Auntie Christina also came. It was a beautiful day and Josie seemed to really enjoy looking at many of the animals.

Below is Josie having her first Jamba Juice in her very own cup.

She loves Jamba Juice!

She's a big girl now!

2007-11-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know....I take pictures of everything. The other night I tried to feed Josie dinner in her high chair. For some reason she wanted no part of it. You see lately Alex and I have been trying to eat dinner at the table again (foreign concept I know). Anyway, we think possibly that she just wants to eat with us and be a big girl. So, after she refused her dinner we pulled up a chair for her and gave her our food. We were having salmon and zucchini and bread for dinner. We gave her a bunch of salmon and probably 8 slices of zucchini. She ate ALL of it. I think we need to go out and get her a little booster seat. Of course I took pictures of her sitting at the table and eating, as well as wiping her face. How cute is that?!!

These random pictures are of Josie sticking a CD in the VCR. Ok, first of all, how does she even know the CD goes near there? Kids are amazing. I quickly grabbed the camera because I was thinking about those stories you hear where people find peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in their electronics systems. Too funny!

We went to Auburn to visit our friend Carrie and her new baby. Carrie took us to a nice park for Josie to run around and the static there was amazing. Josie's hair just stood up the whole time. We thought it was funny.

Trick-or-treat with Piglet!

2007-11-02T10:31:00.000-07:00

We changed her costume for Halloween. Josie is lucky in that her cousins pass down costumes so we get to wear more than one! Josie liked being Piglet for a day. The first house we went Trick-or-treating to she just couldn't understand why someone would put candy in her bucket. She kept trying to give it back. It was quite adorable. We went to visit Grandma and Nonu so they could see Piglet, as well as Auntie Christina and some of her cousins. Below is a picture of Cinderella and some sort of reaper. Josie should be Cinderella in about 3 years....Christina has all the princess costumes lined up for Josie, I shouldn't have to buy a Halloween costume for her....EVER! Rachel is old enough now that she plays the part of the character. You should see her "bippity boppity boo" ing all over the house. Very cute.

Josie helped (not so much really) daddy carve our pumpkin.

Josie the clown!

2007-10-25T19:09:00.000-07:00

Every year our downtown closes First Street and all the businesses give out candy to the kids in costumes. We just went and walked around with our little clown Josie. She enjoyed looking at all the kids, she even befriended a little dinosaur. It was pretty cute. We had painted her nose red, but it rubbed off pretty much before we even got downtown. I think because of the tie though, she kind of looks like a boy clown. But, people downtown seemed to realize she was a little girl. She got lots of compliments on her costume.These pictures aren't great, but our clown doesn't stay still very long. Especially when there is so much to see and do. This was the best we could get. Happy Halloween!

Lucky girl...

2007-10-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

Josie got to go to a pumpkin patch again, this time with cousins Corey and Megan.

Poor horsey, Josie liked to turn the head around so that she could see it.

Pumpkin Patch!

2007-10-22T21:13:00.000-07:00

Every year my family goes to the same pumpkin patch. Here are a few photos from our visit there last weekend. Josie, Joey and Rachel in the cutouts below. You have to click on it and make it bigger, Josie's smiling face in the scarecrow is totally worth doing that. Nonu and Josie looking at little piggies.

Look how much she's grown in one year.

Josie at the park!

2007-10-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

Daddy and I took Josie to the park a couple weekends ago actually. She had a great time. She liked the slide and the swing, but I think most of all, she just liked to watch other kids.

Our vacation to Boston!

2007-10-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

Alex and I left Josie with Grandma and Nonu and headed off to a vacation on the East Coast. Although we missed our litttle Josie, it was time well spent away. We had a great time together, and met up with some friends who used to live in California and our friend Mike, whom we met in Italy. We ate great food, had great Clam Chowder, had awesome weather the entire trip, and all in all just had a relaxing time together. We did get to see the A's play at Fenway Park. I've always wanted to see them somewhere else, and even though they lost, we managed to have a good time. I did cheer for them without getting anything thrown at us. Here are some highlights of our trip.

Us at Fenway Park to see the A's!

Our first Maine lobsters.

Us at a beach in Chatham, Cape Cod.

Alex with a 15 lb. lobster, which retails for $100.

Dinner with our friends Frank and Doreen in Chatham.
Us on top of the highest peak on the eastern coastline, Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.

Photo opp in front of the Cheers sign, with our friend Mike. We met Mike on our trip to Italy 2 years ago. It was awesome to see him again.

Here are all our pictures of our trip around Massachusetts and Maine.

Pixie Playland

2007-09-17T14:11:00.000-07:00

Josie and I went to Pixie Playland last weekend with her friend Alexis, and Alexis' mommy. Here is Josie on the carousel with grandma. Grandma stopped by for a few minutes, as she only lives a couple miles from Pixie Playland. This place is old. I used to go there as a small child, although all the old rides are gone now. The only existing one is the train, which has been redone.

Surprisingly Josie liked the teacups, which Anne DID spin around, but she did not like the carousel.
A big hit at Pixie Playland is the train. The train goes all the way around the park, which includes a small lake/pond with a ton of very people friendly ducks.

Josie on train.

These pictures are of a hairstyle daddy made during Josie's bath. It reminds me of Ace Ventura.

Our first bike race!

2007-09-17T13:51:00.000-07:00

Jeff going UP grassy slope.

Josie and I went and watched our friend Jeff participate in a bike race this weekend. We had a good time and would definetly go again. The race was great because even though it was 7 miles long (I think), we got to see Jeff every few minutes, as the course was made up of 7 laps (again I think). I have a new respect for Jeff. These racers have to carry their bikes over obstacles, and also up a flight of stairs, not to mention ride it on gravel, sand and grass. Not something you'll ever catch me doing, but fun to watch nonetheless.

Me with the celebrity of the day!

Awesome picture of Jeff passing someone on the inside. This was taken by Benjamin, not me.

Josie feeding mommy a pickle at lunch. You know how we open our mouths when we are feeding children. Well, even toddlers do it, look at Josie. I guess it's just automatic.

Labor Day Weekend.....mostly Josie!

2007-09-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

We had an eventful weekend. Our friends Karen and Benjamin were married in a beautiful wedding in Los Gatos, Josie went to her first A's game, and we also had some relaxing time at Grandma and Nonu's. I have uploaded pictures of this weekend to Shutterfly. Sorry, for those of you who are used to Kodak, but Shutterfly has better photo books, and since I am making Josie's book there, it is much easier. The link for our Shutterfly album is below. My favorites are right here though.

Eskimo kiss with daddy.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1CatWrhs3YsKA&emid=sharview&linkid=link4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGYJV6wTU2I Video of Josie and her cousin Jake. Jake was being extra nice to Josie yesterday. What a lucky girl she is to have such nice, fun older cousins!

Josie dancing....

2007-08-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

Left: Josie looking for her belly button.
Then big smile and playing music.

Daddy took this video of Josie tonight. For some reason he turned the camera vertical for about 10 seconds - so bear with that part. The movie is about 1 minute long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YmaySNioQ4

Josie this weekend at Grandma's.

2007-08-26T20:46:00.000-07:00

Roni feeding Josie some of grandma's green jello. Josie liked it a lot!

She's learned something new!

2007-08-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this video might not be that exciting for the average person. But, for a parent who is teaching their child new things everyday, it is very exciting when they actually get it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXsuHCMPAvY

By golly, I think I did it!

2007-07-26T11:08:00.000-07:00

Here is Josie getting her first lip gloss lesson from Auntie Christina. Look how still she sits while Christina puts it on. Alex, with Garrett, Rachel and Josie. Josie is eyeing Rachel's "Little Mermaid" purse, which you can't see.

Yes, I think I have successfully uploaded a video of Josie. I was mostly scared of having videos of her "public". But, I really don't think someone is going to happen across this random video and then find out where we live. So, I am posting it! Let's see if this works, try clicking on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNtn0H4rs7o

Josie's 1st trip to Fenton's!

2007-07-09T12:11:00.000-07:00

Mommy's girl for sure! Look at that smile, she knows this is good stuff.

On Sunday Alex wanted to test out his bow and arrow and make sure it was shooting straight. Opening day for bow season is next Saturday up at the ranch he hunts at in Winters. There is a really pretty archery club in the Oakland Hills off of Skyline Blvd. It's free, and you just walk around following a path and there are different targets set up. Josie and I had a good time watching. The best part though was knowing where we were headed afterwards. Alex was the one who actually suggested we go to Fenton's afterwards and I reluctantly gave in. Yeh right!

Cheers!

In this photo Josie was actually reaching for the sauce

on daddys plate. I missed the shot of her getting her fingertips in it before daddy moved it.

Alex shooting at 65 yards, see the target? Well, he didn't hit the X, but as he says, "it'll still take a deer down". I hope he gets a deer this year so Josie can try venison. She ate duck on the 4th of July and seemed to like it. She ate more than one bite of it so daddy was happy and proud.

Independence Day!

2007-07-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

Josie in her 4th of July outfits.

We had a great second Independence Day. We always go to my parents because you can see fireworks from their backyard, and of course they have a pool, which is a must in July.

I took a zillion pictures of Josie on Wednesday, so if you have nothing else to do, you can look at them all here. I have the hardest time deleting pictures of her, even ones that aren't that great. I'll be like, well her right toe looks cute so I can't delete this one even though her eyes are closed. I need help.

Rachel and Nonu playing in pool.

Kaleb and Josie reunite!

2007-07-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Back in December, Kaleb was one month old and Josie was 6 months old.

Now, Kaleb is 8 months old and Josie one year +.

Sunday we visited our friends Chuck and Jennifer and their baby boy Kaleb in Oakdale. Mark and Shawna came with us, and the boys (Chuck, Alex and Mark) had a good time being together again. The boys helped Art pick up a new buffalo to join his male buffalo already on the property. I thought this was interesting, me being a city girl and all, so I had to take a picture of the two buffalo together.
Josie and Kaleb played on this blanket together, and she tried to read him this book. :)

Day at the Faire!

2007-06-24T20:29:00.000-07:00

We went to the Alameda County Faire on Sunday with friends Anne and Bill and their daughter, Alexis (Josie's friend). Josie liked to look at the goats (from a safe distance). But the rabbits, uh....she didn't like the rabbits at all. I wonder what makes a child scared of a rabbit? She liked to watch the birds - until they flew. We also went on our first faire ride, the elephants, which is like the Dumbo ride at Disneyland. She didn't look scared at all, I think she was just taking it all in.

Josie peering in at the goats, which she liked until they started sniffing her shoes.

Our baby girl is 1 !!

2007-06-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

No, it can't be......it couldn't have possibly been a year already!!
Our little girl is now walking around, tumbling and getting her first bump, feeding herself , drinking from a cup, eating crackers, and opening drawers, and much more.

The last year has been so much fun, Josie is a joy to watch learn and grow. Although we are somewhat sad to see the first year end, we look forward to what is ahead for us. We know she will continue to amaze us more and more everyday.

Josie also went to the doctors today for her 12-month check up. Her doctor says her length and weight are all good. She is 22 pounds 14 oz and is 30.5 inches long. The doctor thinks she will be 5'8" to 5'9" tall. She got two shots today and cried for about 10-15 seconds. Josie also fell down for the first time today bumping her head and knee. I am sure this will be happening lots now that she is getting used to walking on two feet. Here are many pictures from this monumental weekend.

Now that Josie is 1, she can have strawberries. Here she is enjoying her first one.

Kitchen - Before and after & Josie sleeping (again)

2007-06-12T21:35:00.000-07:00

You are looking at our old kitchen. You are also looking at ALL the cabinet space we used to have. I never even had a drawer next to my stove for oven mits....I know that sounds trivial, but having a drawer for pot holders next to my stove is one of my favorite new things!

Here are a few shots of our kitchen after....
This is looking into our kitchen from our new addition. The opening is where our 8 foot slider used to be.

This is looking into the new addition from the far side of the kitchen.

Our sink is in the same place, but our oven moved across the way.

Our fridge moved to the right a few feet, and we have a nice big pantry on the left with slideouts. LOVE IT! We also made our kitchen a foot wider in the middle. That made a big difference, it was way too narrow before.

So, we (being Alex) still have to put up the crown moulding in the kitchen, and we have to put knobs on our cabinets. Other than that, we are pretty much done.

Tonight is a very warm night. Josie is sleeping in her summer pajamas. I looked in on her and this is how she was sleeping. Good flash on the camera, because her room was dark and it turned out pretty good. Look at our little angel, we can't believe she is almost 1!