Oregon Vacation

We had an amazing vacation this past week as we traveled up to Oregon to visit family and friends. Our journey began with a 13.5 hour drive from Fountain Valley to Grants Pass, Oregon! We drove over night so the girls would be sleeping, which was nice for them but rough on Mike and me. As we get older we notice that our night vision is fading...I thought that only happened after 60 or something??? We arrived in GP at 8:30 in the morning and had enough time to eat a wonderful breakfast, hand the kids over to my parents, and head off to bed. I think it's safe to say Meadow could have cared less if we were there or not! With the park at my parents house and all the fun toys she was in heaven.

We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and enjoying the beautiful scenery at my parents house, and enjoying all the help with the kids. Diapers were changed, meals were fed, and baths were given...such a nice break that Mike and I needed!

On Monday we headed up to Crater Lake to meet up with Grammy(Sharon) and Linda to spend the afternoon. We had a great lunch and walked around taking in the breathtaking views. Sharon and Linda were in Ashland for the Shakespeare festival and decided to spend the night at the Lodge at Crater Lake.

Tuesday Mike and I ventured out, without the girls, and did some wine tasting. What a great time for us!!! Unfortunately our wine tasting skills aren't what they used to be and we were done after 3 wineries, but it was gorgeous! We stopped at 2 wineries that were very small and the actual wine makers were the ones pouring the wine. One of which Mike might even do business with in the future. (can we go anywhere without Mike talking shop???) We stopped in town on the way home and had lunch overlooking the river watching everyone float on by.

Wednesday we were treated by my parents to a white water rafting trip down the Rogue River. We were both really excited to sit in the boat and hit some great rapids. What we weren't expecting is that they would convince us to run the river in our own single man kayaks. This seemed a little scary at first, but after the second rapid we were both stoked to be navigating the river on our own. It was the two of us, one other guy, and the two guides. We stopped after a few hours for lunch, and then were back on the river. As we headed down, we came up to our only class 3 rapid. I started to get a little nervous, and after I saw the rapid I was very nervous! The boys decided to go ahead of me, mainly because Mike was so nervous watching me head down the rapid that it was hard for him to focus on what he was doing. Smart move on his part, since in the second small rapid I hit I flipped my kayak and was out on my own. Now to my credit, I got myself turned around and had my toes and nose in the air, but if I'm being honest I felt like I was drowning! I couldn't see where I was going and was only above water for split seconds at a time to gasp for air and then I was back under. Mike made it down the rapid no problem, of course, only to have his celebration quickly ended by our guide yelling, "your wife is swimming!" According to Mike his heart sunk in his chest as he watched my little feeties head right towards a giant boulder. With no skill on my part I moved around the boulder and was spit out the bottom of the rapid, and was able to swim over and catch my favorite visor, much to the dismay of our guide! He pulled me onto the big boat, and I decided to spend the final jaunt down the river relaxing in his boat and catching my breath. He said that I swam the rapid the exact way he would have taken his kayak down. So even though I am disappointed that I couldn't make it down in my boat, I am glad I made it out unharmed!

That night we had a great dinner at my parents house, stayed up late playing cards, hearts, and finished our evening sitting outside looking at the stars. Living in Southern California you forget how beautiful the sky is at night and we were just amazed at the sight, and the silence.

On Thursday we packed up the kids and the car and headed up north to Lincoln City, Oregon where cousins John and Amy were at their family beach house for the weekend. The drive took us a measly 5 hours, but it was SO worth it! It is called a beach house but it is actually perched on a beautiful lake just 2 miles from the beach. We spent 3 days hanging out with John and Amy and their daughter Ava; Cousin Janna and her daughters Talia and Savai, and Mike's childhood friend Hunter, his wife Stacy, and their daughter Mila. A packed house with 6 adorable little girls! It was so fun to watch them all together, and even more fun when they went to bed and we stayed up talking and playing cards/yahtzee. We definitely want to make this an annual trip to get us all together!

That Sunday we drove back down to Grants Pass to stay the night before our long drive home. It was so nice to see my parents one last time and get a little break from the kids before it was back to reality. I miss my mom and dad everyday, but it is so worth it for us to have these incredible trips to their house where we get to spend so much quality time with them. It's a special time for us, and I can picture our girls telling stories of visiting Mena and Papa in Oregon, much the same way my mom tells me stories about spending time on her grandparents ranch.

We left Monday morning, and after many stops, we made it home to FV just after 11pm. Although we were both tired from the drive, we have finally come home from a vacation feeling rested and rejuvenated.

And so, there is our long tale of our Kraber family road trip.

Let me give one last shout out to Mike...it is his 36th birthday today!!!

Lake Mission Viejo

We spent the afternoon yesterday at Lake Mission Viejo with Auntie Kim, Cousins Morgan and Eliza, and Grandma Linda. It was so much fun and a gorgeous day! Eliza and Emma hung out in the shade while Morgan and Meadow were water bound! I was so proud that Meadow's swimming lessons are paying off. Se ran right in the water....actually she dove in after a few steps! Going under water and coming up on her own! Morgan was a little more cautious, probably didn't want to get her hair all wet, but she and Meadow had fun playing ring around the rosy and falling in the water.
On a few side notes..... Emma is now sleeping in her crib in her own room. With Meadow, that was a happy time, but with Emma I am feeling sad. Could this be it? Will I never have a little baby in the bassinet next to me in our room? She is 12 weeks old and I fel like she might as well already be 16.... I ran 5 miles today as part of my training for the Long Beach Half Marathon and it felt amazing! I finally hit the point in my training where I feel like a real runner again. I have always enjoyed clearing my head while running, and today I kept thinking about my girls. I was hoping that maybe someday they would watch me cross the finish line of a race and be proud of me. And that maybe I would be able to inspire them in the way that my mom has always inspired me. Thanks Mommy, for passing on a hobby that makes me feel so great!

Moving Right Along

Well, it is definitely true that the second baby grows much faster that the first! Emma has such a little personality, I can't believe she isn't even 3 months old yet! It's scary, but one day I know we are all going to laugh as we call Meadow the calm Kraber girl. Emma is all about smiling and cooing and starting to laugh. She can roll over from her tummy to her back, and any day now she will be sleeping in her own crib. At her 2 month appointment she weighed in at 11 pounds 5 ounces, and 24 inches long. She is in the 75th percentile for her weight, and almost off the charts in height. Long and lean...she must take after her uncles! Meadow is still amazing us every day with the hilarious things she says. I wish I could have a camera or recorder on her 24/7 to remember it all. Here are a few of my favorites: "nothing can stop me mommy!" "I'm really frustrated today." "What are we going to do this weekend?" "I've changed my mind!" Oh, and one more not so favorite, as she dropped the remote control she looked up and said: "God Dammit". I blame it on the Indians...maybe if they were playing better Daddy wouldn't have to yell at the TV! So here are some new pics of the girls and a video from today when Pixie came to visit.

Gymboreeeeeeee!

New videos of Emma

Well, Emma's baby acne is finally clearing up so now we can get pictures and video of her! She loves to hang out and stare at the TV...yup, she's definitely our baby! She is smiling now and not just because of gas, but because she is a happy baby! Here are some videos for the grandparents to play over and over and over again!

Strawberry Farms and such

We went to Tanaka Farms yesterday with some friends from Stroller Strides and had a blast! We went on a wagon tour of the farm and got to sample the fresh veggies straight out of the ground! Meadow loved the Romaine lettuce and the carrot, but decided the green onion was 'too spicy'! They sop at the Strawberry fields for 15 minutes to let you pick your own, you get to take home a basket but there was no limit on how many you ate while you were out there! It's amazing how great strawberries taste right off the vine with nothing on them. I was surprised that Meadow only sampled a few, she was so excited to pick them and place them in her basket. She know just which ones were ripe, which was great since I was carrying Emma in my Moby wrap that had loosened on the wagon ride so I only had one free hand. When we got back to the wagon all the other kids were covered in Strawberry and Meadow was the cleanest by far! This is a first for us, I was so proud. She sat carefully for the whole ride back making sure not to spill her basket of strawberries.

I am back to teaching Stroller Strides this week and it feels amazing to be working out again. Emma is still getting used to being in her car seat in the stroller, but that's ok...she will get the hang of it eventually! She is more alert everyday and is even watching the toys on her swing as the spin around. Meadow still thinks Emma is just the cutest thing on the planet, and I am so proud at what a wonderful big sister she is!

I promise to post more pictures soon, poor Emma has really bad baby acne on her face right now so I am not snapping away with the camera. She'd kill me when she got older!

Soooo, I think I've got this...........

Home now for almost 3 weeks with baby Emma and I think we have the swing of this whole 2 kid thing. We're focussed on paying a lot of attention to Meadow to keep her from seeking it out( which means she empties out Emma's dresser into the living room, or takes the toilet bowl brush for a tour of the house), trying to keep on top of the laundry so we don't get overwhelmed, and spending plenty of time interacting with Emma to stimulate that little brain! We are not completely sleep deprived which is awesome, and Meadow still manages to get a bath everyday...well almost everyday! I even ventured out wih both girls today to the park where Meadow played with her BFF Makayla at the park and fed the squirrels and ducks.

Oh, I guess I should add in that we have all this under control now, but I have yet to start teaching SS classes, haven't had any events for my other job, and we are still getting dinner delivered from all my amazing girlfriends 3 days a week! It's crazy how clean our kitchen can be when we aren't making dinner every night!

I keep telling myself it is baby steps into the real world and I think we will do just fine even when the meals stop!

I'm Nesting...WooHoo!

I am so glad to be nesting now for a number of reasons. First, it's a great sign that yes, the baby is coming, and with any luck it will be soon...ish. Secondly I am so happy because our house is a disaster area! I have been so tired these past few weeks, and really busy on top of that, by the time I had a moment to spare it was all I could do to put pajamas on before crawling into bed. So today I cleaned and vacuumed out my car, did all the grocery shopping and meal planning, braved Babies R Us to return something, did a few loads of laundry, organized the new baby's room, cleaned the kitchen, and now I am so pumped to clean out the refrigerator! I actaully am sitting down to write this blog since it allows me to rest while still being productive!

Oh, and while I'm here we have finally decidied on a real name for Meadow 2, but we'll keep it to ourselves until she is here just in case!

Rubber gloves and sponge here I come!

Meadow's Birthday

The Little Things that make Being a Mommy so Rad

Waking up in the morning to have Meadow ask me:"How'd you sleep Mommy?"

Getting a kiss on the forehead

Meadow telling us that she is so proud of us.

Listening to her talk to her dolls and stuffed animals

Listening to her make up songs

Listening to her read one of her books and she knows the words by heart, or she makes up the words but the tamber is the same

Kissing Meadow good night and having her raise her arms and ask for a hug, and holding on for almost 30 seconds.

How excited she gets over EVERYTHING!

Watching her hold hands and hug and kiss her friends

Knowing that she is such a special and amazing girl, and how lucky I am to know her for her entire life.

Meadow 2 Update

I had an ultrasound yesterday to check the weight of the baby and make sure she was plumping up! Since I have a significant difference in the amount of weight I have gained this time around as opposed to what I gained with meadow the Dr. just wanted to make sure all was okay. And of course it is! My Dr. said the majority of women gain more weight with the second pregnancy and I don't know how that's true! Granted I am working out everyday with Stroller Strides, but just keeping up with Meadow is enough of a workout to keep off the extra pounds!

The little baby was very active as we were looking at her, not shocking at all! Her head is already down which is a great sign, and I am measuring about a week and a half ahead of schedule. Now my Dr. said that doesn't mean anything for when I am actually going to deliver, and I assured her I wouldn't hold my breath! Although I do feel this baby is going to come before April 15th. I did gain 1 pound again putting my total weight gain at 15 pounds. My Dr. is no longer worried about my weight gain since she knows the baby is growing just fine. Plus with me having the flu last week it's a good thing I kept any weight on at all.


So now we have 8 weeks to go! It is starting to feel closer, I think once we get to 6 weeks it really will be the home stretch.

Big Girl Bed Success!

Well, it finally happened...Meadow spelt in her new room last night in her big girl bed! Mike and I were prepared for a rough night, but it went so much smoother than we could have hoped for!

At first she was excited and ready to sleep in her new bed, which is not what we have been experiencing for the past few weeks so we figured this was our window to jump on! We put her down in her toddler bed, read her 2 stories, and said good night. We went out to the living room, and, as expected, Meadow was out in just a few minutes. I picked her up and told her it was bed time and she told me she wanted to sleep in her crib. My heart broke little because we want her to feel safe and comfortable and it must be scary in a new room and a new bed all at once. After that, every time she came out Mike and I took turns putting her back in bed Supernanny style not saying anything. After 30 minutes and with Mike stationed right outside her door to turn her around, she gave up and went to bed.

This morning she came into our room at 7, telling me that she slept in her big girl bed and the light came on. We need to get a new shade for her room, the one we have is way too transparent. Mike gave her a big kiss and told her that we were so proud of her for sleeping in her big girl bed, and she said, "me too DaDa!"

So now I can move on to getting boxes down of baby stuff to sort through what we have and get the nursery set up for the new baby...still yet to be named, but we're leaning towards Meadow 2.

The baby has the hiccups

Ah yes, it is all coming back to me now! I am feeling so very pregnant and a little shocked that I still have at least 10 weeks to go! Does anyone else feel like I have been preggers for 6 years?

The baby is all over the place, just like Meadow was although this time it is a little less uncomfortable since the baby seems to be hanging out much lower than Meadow did. Meadow was always up high in my rib cage, trying to be as close to me as possible, which knowing her personality now doesn't surprise me one bit!

As I was sitting on the couch last night I thought I was being kicked up high in my belly and was impressed at the amazing beat she was keeping and then quickly realized she had the hiccups! Meadow had them all the time so it was cute to feel them again! Cute and then the novelty wore off, she has now had the hiccups 4 times! Maybe I should stop drinking so much liquor???

Whining from a stay at home mom

As I sit her on a Saturday afternoon while Meadow sleeps, I am feeling quite sorry for myself and figured I should just write about it and move on instead of sulking all day! I think it goes without mentioning that I absolutely LOVE being a 'stay at home' mom and would have it no other way. I use the term in quotes because while I do stay at home, I also run my own business and work a part time marketing job. These two combined are what make it possible for me to be at home, but are also what cause me the most conflict with my role as a stay at home mom.

I started feeling sorry for myself when I walked out to the never ending mound of laundry in the garage, and saw Mike, happy as a clam playing with his newest toy- a table saw. He is building all types of gadgets for the garage, storage bins etc. he has his music up loud, sports on the TV, and a delicious cocktail in his had(don't worry, it's after 10am!). He looks forward to the weekend to work on projects, root for his favorite teams, and just relax. I look forward to catching up on laundry, hoping to get to clean the office that I can barely work in, maybe getting to mop the kitchen floor, and finally clean our bathroom! Not to mention new research for my marketing job and catching up on paperwork for my business, planning events and workouts, oh and wait a minute...what about Meadow?

I wanted to stay at home to spend as much time with Meadow as possible, but that is happening less and less. She gets up close to 6 every morning, and I am not one to get up at 5 to get in an hour of work! After she goes to bed at 8, now that I am entering my third trimester I am so exhausted that I'm lucky to get the dishes done. I usually do all my work related calls etc. during Meadow's nap so that I can speak to adults on the phone without having to hush Meadow. So I find myself putting on the TV for Meadow so I can try to get caught up. PS- has anyone ever been to that magical place of caught up? I am beginning to wonder if it even exists!

Mike assures me that our moms went through the same thing, and Meadow is in no way being deprived and that she has an ideal childhood. And he tells me I need to learn to delegate responsibilities to him. He did say he might roll his eyes and complain a little bit but that's OK. And so we come to the final conflict of the stay at home mom: asking my working husband for help. In theory I would love it if my husband did the dishes every night, or better yet cleaned the bathroom, heck I would even settle for making the bed. Yet if I do walk in on him having to pick something up, I immediately feel guilty, obviously it has been there too long and is starting to get on his nerves, and isn't it my job to take care of the house?

Well, I am deciding today to get over them all. Meadow is a very bright little girl with more social skills than she knows what to do with, so clearly all the TV isn't rotting her brain yet! I am not going to believe that anyone lives the perfect life of having everything clean all the time, and if I just vow to get certain things done everyday, I can keep things manageable. And I will let Mike help me, and even tell him what he can do to make my life easier. He knows how hard I work and how much pressure I put on myself so he wants to help relieve that so I can be the happy wife and mother all the time! As long as I promise that some of the things I ask him to do need to be outside, and possibly involve the table saw!

As I preach to my moms in Stroller Strides all the time, the best thing you can do for your children is to take care of their mother. So for my first real New Year's Resolution I am going to give Meadow's mommy a break.

I'm So Proud of Me!

Last night we were enjoying quality time here at the Kraber House- Mom and Dad lying on the couch watching TV while Meadow danced around! She brought her foldable chair over to the couch and wanted to set it up on top of the couch. Mike asked her nicely to put the chair back where it belongs. We watched in awe as she walked it right over to the spot where it is kept, folded up and everything! Mike looked at her and said: "Great job Meadow, I am so proud of you!" To which Meadow got a huge grin on her face and replied: "Me Too!"