Major Update!!!!

Wow it has been months!! I can't believe how time has slipped away and I have neglected our little blog. Let me start with Sept.....

September: Well, it started out counting the day's until Steve came home from doing his rotation in TJ, Mx. We were soooo excited for him to come home....it felt like forever...one month!!! We ended up receiving some very sad but expected news, that Steve's grandmother had passed away. She was ill for some time (heart failure) and lost her battle, September 7, 2009. We headed to the funeral service in California the 14th. It was a nice service and nice to see everyone....she always brought the family together:) Nathan and I stayed in Cali with my parents until October....little vacation!

October: Since Nathan and I were in Cali the last part of September-mid October, we were able to do a lot! We went to Clovis Fest, Fresno Fair, Pumpkin Patch, Park, etc... It was sooo much fun to be home and do 'Fall-like' things. We came home Oct 22nd and so excited to see Steve!!! Halloween came and we do a trunk-or-treat with the 'wives club' for all the kids. It was ton's of fun and this year we dressed up as the "rocker's". Nathan was Steve guitar (Steve was the rocker) and I was a 'rocker chick'. Nathan and Steve won best outfit in their age/gender.

November: I can't believe that it is mid November!!! So far nothing too exciting, just been enjoying family time and catching up with friends. Nathan started his swim class again (this will be his last month). Steve has been studying for his Step 1 test (Dec 8th or 10th). I have been enjoying cooking again and getting the house back in order. I can't wait for the holiday's and for Steve to be done with his test, so we can FINALLY have a Christmas with no books!!!!

I am going to be better about keeping up with this blog, it is fun to look back at the old blogs and see what we have done. Pictures to come.....

Backyard

The before and after shots of the backyard...and Nathan!

Missing money, clam chowder, weeds

Well Friday morning, Nathan and I woke up and went to Starbucks and then Walmart for a few things. I got home and had a message from our Bank (Bank of America), stating they have had some unusual activity on our account. I called the bank and I guess someone (Mexican) took my debit card number and withdrew about $700.00 (that is our daily limit). I was pissed and very nervous that they were going to have to close my account and I would have no money until I went back home. I talked to the bank and long story short, they can put a hold on my card and when I need to take money out of our account, I will have to call and request to use the card. I attempted this later that afternoon, but was not aware that they took out the limit for the day, so I was not able to get any money...I had 20 pesos...so little less than $2 cash! Not to worry, I went the next morning and was able to withdraw some cash. So, Nathan and I won't have to stand on the corner and beg for money until Steve gets home.

Last night, my friend, Lexie invited us over for some clam chowder. I have always wanted to try it out every time we are by the ocean, but have never had the chance or guts to, hahaha!! So I informed her that I have never had chowder before and will see how it goes. We arrived and her house smelled soooo good, so that was a very good sign! Nathan had a blast playing with her 2 kids (5yr & 3yr). He really loves kids and I am sure he gets his social abilities from his dad. So, we sat down to eat and the chowder was amazing!! I couldn't even tell there were clams in the soup, it was that good! So next time we are at the beach, I think I might order up a bowl?

Today I finally tackled the backyard that had turned into a jungle!! Since it is raining season the grass just grows like crazy!!! When I was gone in July, Steve took care of the backyard, so I thought it was my turn to get the weed whacker out and go to town! So I was all ready with my shoes, socks up to my knees, hair pulled back and then...the whacker was broken!! So I took it apart and re-threaded the spool of plastic thread (the whacker part) and started to go to town on the backyard. I was very proud that I fixed it, not only once, but twice!!! So the backyard is all back to normal...nice and green too! Never knew weed whacking could be so hard on your back and arms???

Park, Bath and Blueberry Muffin

Yesterday I took Nathan to the park. I usually will put him on the swing and hold the back of his shirt, so he won't fall. So I was holding on tight to his shirt and he started to kick his legs back and forth. I let go of him and there he was swinging away all by himself! So I guess he swings but he won't walk on his own yet?

As I was giving Nathan his nightly bath I had realized that it has been way too long since his last bath photos. So I took some of the little guy, during his 'bath'a Time'.

We went to Starbucks for my morning cup of energy and I got the little guy a blue berry muffin for a treat! I decided this time to just give it to him whole and he can take bites from it. Bad idea on my part! He took really BIG bites and it crumbled everywhere and made a huge mess...but Nathan did enjoy it!

Pictures that I have been meaning to post

Nathan's Swim class

Nathan's swim buddy, Luca

Coloring

Hanging out at the zoo, watching the singrays

Nathan's new little seat

Showing off my swim skills

Today we, both Steve and I, got to take Nathan to his mommy & me swim class. Nathan was really excited to show his dad all his swim skills. He was so excited that at times I had to get Nathan to pay attention because he was so excited his dad was watching him. It was really cute:) The best part was when Nathan was able to show dad how he can go under water and swim to mom. The kids and mom's circle around the teacher, while singing a song, she will take each child, hold them up and then dive them underwater to swim (glide) to their mom. It was Nathan's turn and he was really excited and did GREAT! I was even amazed at how well he did. Steve was so excited about him going underwater, after the class was over we had the teacher do it again with Nathan and took a 6 frame shot of him swimming under water. I have still have to load the pictures and many more.

Steve left about a hour ago to TJ, so it will be just me and Nathan for a month. Not too excited about that but with his swim class, weekly lunches and friends, it should go by fast...well we hope!

Swim class, green chair, hair cut and dad's leaving

I decided to enroll Nathan is a swim class Tues/Thurs for about a hour. His little friend started the class and so we went last week to try it out and Nathan just loved it! So now we have that to do 2 x week, which leaves Nathan nice a tired for his afternoon nap. The class is really fun with songs, games and swim basics. It is in Spanish, so it makes for some fun with my singing and making sure I am understanding the directions. They usually start the class with a circle of all the kids and moms and take each kid one-by-one and dunk them underwater to swim to their mom. It sounds pretty crazy, but they all actually do really well. Nathan is getting better and not getting too much water in his mouth from being way to excited when the teacher takes him for his turn. So we are having lot's of fun in swim class.

I finally found a little chair for Nathan to call his very own. He loves to climb on the couches, so I figured he would probably enjoy his own chair. It is light green and he can use it from 1-6yrs, so will see how that goes. So far he loves it and will watch some shows on it.

Yesterday we took Nathan to get his 2nd haircut. This time we took a little bit more off the bottom and top. He just sat there the whole time, being such a good baby (big boy). He looks soooo handsome (well I am his mom) and soooo big! He looks like his dad with light hair!

We are getting ready for Steve to leave for a month to TJ, Mx for his clinicals. He is really excited about going since they allow the students to do more hands on work. We, on the other hand, are not so excited. I am happy for him for the experience, but am a little nervous about the area and we will miss him like crazy!!! So I will be acting as a single mom (again) for a month! I went back and forth over going home, but seems like we just got home and settled and I have such great friends over here, it makes leaving hard. So I think Nathan and I will be ok, but we will miss da-da.

Stages????

Well last Thursday, I woke Nathan up and he had thrown-up in his crib. He was not fussy or anything, but none the less, we stayed home all day in our jammies and called it a, "sick day". He also had the "runs or mud butt (da-da calls it)" all day and pretty much the day after. He is getting another tooth, so we are not sure if it was a combo or he was just sick? His poor little buns were as red as could be and he screamed every time I had to change his diaper, which was about every 45 minutes. So we kept him drinking lot's of fluids and eating very bland foods.

I am not sure if this is just a "Stage" but for about a week, Nathan has not been the best eater. He has been such a good eater until this point. Now he will only eat waffles, eggs, turkey & cheese sandwiches and fruit...or anything sweet. This is just stressing me out!!! I have made a few pasta dishes that he usually loves, but now he refuse's??? He has got to the point where he will see the food and refuse to take a bite, not even knowing what it is. If I manage to trick him him taking a bite, he will spit it out right after it is in his mouth. Man this kid???? I am hoping this is either a stage or because he was sick and he is getting a new tooth. So here is to getting creative with food.

Park and Sit

I know I am lagging on the pictures but my computer is a bit old (6 years) and I have no memory for pictures. So in order to load any pictures , I have to delete some things to make room....sad I know.

Yesterday we went to the park across the street from our house. It is a small park but fun to walk around and now that Nathan is getting bigger, he can play on some of the toys. Nathan and I have been to this park before, but this time he got to take his da-da along and show him how he can swing on the big boy swings (with mom holding him of course). He also spun around with Steve in this thing that is kinda like a "Tea Cup" but doesn't look like one. He had a blast at the park for a total of about 10minutes. We had to cut it short due to the storm that was coming (it is raining season here). So next time I will take some pictures and hopefully we will spend some more time there.

This weekend I am on a mission to find Nathan his own little seat he can sit on. At my mom's house, she has a little seat toy-thing the kids play on and when we were there Nathan just loved it! So over here at our house, he will climb on the couch and find a way to sit on all his big toys. I found him last night and this morning sitting on his toy garage car set. He thinks it is pretty funny and it is, hehehe!!! So let's go find a seat!

Update

Let's see where did I leave off on our last blog..... Well last week, Nathan and I met up with two other wives with there boys for a little play date. Nathan had such a good time and I was very happy he got to play with some other kids for a change since leaving my parents house. I was so proud of Nathan, he stacked 3 blocks up and seemed very interested in playing with them. I know this seems silly but when you are a parent you love to watch your child meet their developmental milestones.

Last Friday night, Steve had a potluck dinner for his "bosses" from the hospital where he did his clinical's for the past 4 weeks. I made a few dishes, so that was fun for me...I love to cook! Nathan was such a trooper being out past his bedtime. Everyone took turns holding and playing with him, so he was very spoiled by his da-da's friends. It was a good time, but since it was kinda late, this brought up the idea of looking for a trustworthy babysitter.

Saturday, we woke up later than usual and soon decided to give our new friends a call to go visit a little town near by for the day. We went to a town about 45minutes away called, Telaquepaque (I think I spelled it right). It was nice to get out for a bit and look at all the different art work and not to mention some good food. We ate at a cute little place called, "El patio". Steve and I shared the enchiladas and a steak...it was good! It was a fun day with friends!

If looks could speak Spanish....

Yesterday was our weekly run to the grocery store to get everything ready for the week. Since being gone so long back home, we were in need of some major grocery items. We headed to Costco to get a few "American" items that are kinda hard to come by here. I was so excited to get some blueberries (Nathan's favorite) and ravioli, salad...I won't bore you with the list of items. We were cruising around and it was nice because we went there pretty early in the morning before ALL the Mexicans got out of church and CROWD Costco. We waited in line, checked out our items, ALL except the RAVIOLI'S. I guess there was no bar code on them, so they were unable to scan them. The cashier sent a worker to go get the price, so she went to the managers station and attempted to look up the price (not sure why she wouldn't just go get another one which would have been faster) and came back with no price. She then walked SLOWLY to locate the raviolis to get a package with a bar code. During these, probably 7 minutes, there was a older Mexican lady who was to be next in line. As we were waiting patiently, she was NOT! She asked with a huge attitude if Steve would just pay for everything and let her go through and then pay again for the raviolis. For those that don't know, we get a international charge for using our visa at Costco. So Steve had explained to her the situation and that he was sorry but he was not going to be able to accommodate her and that he too was waiting. She got very upset by this and started to plea with Steve, "Porfavor, Porfavor" (with an attitude). Steve responded (in Spanish), "It is not like she went to China to get them, she will be right back. We are waiting as well". This got her very upset and her response was, "China-shmina (with a snobby nose look)". So I was over with Nathan and the cart and I could hear what was going on but, since my Spanish is not very good, and certainly not good enough to argue with the lady, I made eye contact with her and gave her a stare down like none other. I locked eyes with her and gave her a look like, "Lady, you better calm down or else". She kept her eyes locked on mine, staring me down. Trying not to laugh, I sighed and mumbled something under my breath and did the whole, 'snobby nose raise' right back at her and looked away. Her response, she made a childish face, hahaha!!! I was laughing! It was great because I have had wayyyyy to many of these incidents in Mexico and I was NOT having it on my Sunday shopping day.

Migraines

After we put Nathan down to bed last night, we thought it would be relaxing to watch a Movie. So we got all ready and snuggled into bed, DVD in the player and BAM....a migraine from you know where!!!! I am not sure what happened but my neck felt so tense, so Steve rubbed it for a while and I started to feel a bit better. I fell asleep for about 15 min and woke up with a killer throbbing head and tears in my eyes (for those who don't know me, I don't cry that often, so if it was that bad to make be cry then you know it was reallllyyyy badddd). I nudged Steve to go to the corner store and get me SOMETHING!!!! He gave me some anti-inflammatory that he had and thought that might help and then went out about midnight and got me some migraine medicine; I took that and passed out. I probably woke up about a hour later with no pain and again nudged Steve to roll over (I had passed out in the middle of the bed, giving poor Steve no room to sleep, but curled up in a ball) and let him know I was feeling better. So when I woke up in the morning to get Nathan up I was all better and ready for the day!

Home

Nathan and I finally made it back to Guadalajara yesterday morning. Our flight left at 1:00am and we got in at about 6:15am (Mex time). We finally met Steve at 7:45am, after waiting in the customs line for over and hour! Yup since I was traveling with Nathan and by the time they gave me my stroller, I ended up in the back of the line that consisted of 2 other flights that had come in the same time as our flight. If I didn't have Steve picking us up, I would have been pissed for waiting so long but I just stood knowing that we were going to get to see him, so it made it better.



Nathan is adjusting well to being home. He was very excited to see da-da. Nathan is figuring out the house again and realizing that the tile floors hurt more when he falls rather than the carpet he was use to at Gammie and Grandpa's house. He attempted to go up the stairs but with simple, "No" he stopped and came down. So, it seems he is happy to be back.

4th of July, Picture Day, Packing

We (Nathan and I) spent the 4th with my parents at the coast (Santa Cruz). Nathan loved walking downtown Capitola and had his first slice of Pizza My Heart (best pizza). He even got one of there shirt's and one for his dad, hahaha!!!

We woke up on the 4th and made our way to Mountain View to take a trip down memory lane. My family grew up there and all of us Keener kids were born there as well, so we took Nathan on a trip to see his mom's roots. We even took him to my grandpa's resting site and brought some festive flowers...it was cute! Later that night we drove back to Clovis and made it just in time to have a quick BBQ and watched the fireworks. Nathan LOVED the fireworks and the noise didn't bug him at all. It was so fun to watch him looking at the fireworks and his eyes getting sooooo big. I didn't think they could get any bigger but they did!

Yesterday I took Nathan to get his 1 yr pictures taken. I was a bit nervous because last time we took him he was not really into getting his picture taken, but on the other hand he was sick then. Anyways, he did great this time!!! The pictures came out sooo good, he looks like such a big boy in his pictures and even did a few poses for the camera.

Well we are getting ready to head back to Guadalajara tomorrow night...well really the flight departs at 1:05am Thurs am but we have to be there wed night. I am happy to say that I have all our bags packed and ready! I now just have to get mentally ready for the EARLY flight. I have been blessed with Nathan and he is such a good little traveler. But we are very excited to see Steve and get back to him!!!!! So will see how we make it....

Waking up

Everyone that knows me, knows that I run a tight ship. Nathan has been on a sleeping schedule (baby wise) since 6 weeks old. Because of this he has slept all through the night and been such a easy baby. Who knows, I think he has been easy because of the schedule and because Steve and I are both easy going anyways. So 3:00 rolled around this afternoon and I went to wake him up from his nap. I went in and he was knocked out and he just looked sooooo big to me. My little man is getting big!!!

Custom clothes, bows and more....

I have started a little hobby and thought to sell some of my creations. I hope you enjoy what I have so far! If you have a certain color, style or whatever you can think of, I can make it! Bows range from $3.00-7.00, clothes from $5.00-15.00 and burp rags are $8.00 (depends on materials).

Missing da-da but going to stay longer

We are missing Steve like crazy but have decided to stay an extra week to spend some more time with family. We have been here for about 3 weeks but the time just goes by wayyyyy to fast for us. So good luck to me on talking to the airlines to extend our flight, last time it took only an hour...seriously it was a hour.

Weekend...

Yesterday we took Nathan to church and like always it was communion!!! Not that I don't enjoy communion, but just a "normal" Sabbath sermon would be nice for a change. Every time we have gone to church at my parents, it has been communion, funny I guess. Anyways, so after church we took Nathan to eat at our families favorite spot to eat after church...Lunas in down town Clovis. He loved it, and loved the alfredo AND grandpa's eggplant. He is such a good eater; we are very lucky!

We came home from eating and Nathan went for a little swim, in his personal pool (no one else can fit anyways). He splashed and played for hours...well it seemed like hours since it was soooooo HOT outside. My mom and I watched him, while I made a few bows (I started making bows, and baby things). So after the splashing, we went for a drive to Lake Millerton to check out the lake and boats. Nathan slept the whole way and woke up as we were driving home, so it was a nice little drive.

I had a craving to get some good old fashion take-and-bake pizza and make popcorn. So we got some pizza and make popcorn with lot's of butter....it was so good and hit the spot. It reminded me of when we were kids, it was a "typical" Saturday night.

Nathan's 1st Birthday

Here are a few pictures of Nathan's 1st Birthday Party. We can't belive how fast the time has gone by...our little man is getting soooo big!

Here we go.....

Ok, I am totally new to this whole "blogging" thing, so will see how this goes....