The Cousins

While in CA, we stayed with Jon's cousin Matt, his wife Allison and son Connor. Connor is 2 years old. Sara had a blast hanging out with Connor. The first day Sara and Connor met they held hands - it was very cute :) Sara wanted to hold Connor's hand all the time after that, but Connor politely declined :) They would go off and play together. Their favorite was dancing. They both love music. We had a lot of fun with Matt and Allison too. They are a great couple. They took us to the Red Woods, a few wineries and a sweet park. The park had a carousel, train, pony rides, and your normal park stuff. Hopefully, it won't be too long before we see each other again.

4 Months

Jonas turned 4 months old while we were in CA. I think he has changed a lot. He is really beginning to interact so much more. He loves making eye contact, smiling, and laughing. He holds toys now for a long time and just stares at them. He is so sweet. He does not fuss much. The only complaint is that he doesn't really believe in sleeping at night :) The three hour time change didn't help much either :) We have gone to letting him sleep in bed with us because we only wake up every 3 hours instead of every 2. I don't know any 13 year olds still sleeping with their parents, so I figure worse case scenario we only have 12 years left of this :)

Gigi's House

We stayed with Lorraine (Jon's Grandma, aka Gigi) for about a week and a half. She is a wonderful woman. We had a great time staying with her. She has a pool in her backyard that Sara loved. It was relaxing and beautiful. We were blessed by Lorraine's generosity, her excitement with life, and her love. Jonas went in the pool for his first time right before we headed back to MI. It was hard to leave such a beautiful place. While we were there, we made sure Sara never went to the pool alone. One day, we were all outside relaxing around the pool and Sara came walking over with her wet hair over her face to show us. She walked right off the edge into the pool. I jumped in to save her. She was actually swimming on her own, though. She was doing the doggy-paddle. It was pretty frightening, but it was also good to know she could swim if she needed to. Sara and I took a walk around the neighborhood Sunday morning. While we were walking, we came to a clearing where 7 deer were grazing. We just sat down and watched the deer for about 20 minutes. Sara was fascinated and so was I. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The had come down the mountain to graze. They saw us, but just continued enjoying their breakfast. Sara wanted to be sure we didn't disturb them, so she spoke in whispers. She also collected leaves throughout the neighborhood. When we returned to Gigi's house, she gave Sara a vase to put the leaves in. Sara thought that was wonderful :) We were able to see a lot of Jon's family while we were in CA, unfortunately, we weren't very good about taking pictures with them. We really enjoyed spending time with everyone. They were so much fun. We felt refreshed by being in their presence. We only wish we lived closer...

On the way to CA

We were able to take a trip to California as a family. We left on 9/11 and were gone for almost 2 weeks. Sara and Jonas did great. We spent about 6 hours on the plane. The only thing Sara did not appreciate was taking her shoes off. I didn't know a child could scream that loudly :) The airport personnel were very helpful - it seemed to speed up the process and no one really wanted to check our baggage out. Jonas had his first real laughs on the plane. Jon was playing peek-a-boo with him and Jonas was cracking up. We're glad we made it there and back with no big problems. I think our fellow passengers were relieved the kids didn't scream and cry the whole time :)

Can you see the dinosaur?

Sara loves to paint. She received an easel with all sorts of art supplies from TT (grandma Tricia). She has had a lot of fun, especially painting. Here is one of her creations. It is a dinosaur :)

For the Love of Water

Every person has something they get super excited about. For Sara, the thing she loves is anything to do with water. She loves washing her hands, rinsing things in the sink, bath time, pools, watering flowers, flooding the lawn with the hose, and the sprinkler. She can be entertained for many minutes (which is a long time at this point in her life) :) Here she is just enjoying her sprinkler. I really enjoy watching her enjoy life. I keep wondering when is it that we get all bent out of shape about life and miss enjoying things like sprinklers because we have dishes, laundry, on and on to do. Oh, to just enjoy the moments and to truly be ourselves. It's great to have Sara help me get back to that spot.

Rolling

Jonas rolled over (from back to tummy) on August 23, 2008. The thing is that he doesn't really like being on his tummy, so whenever he gets to this position he starts screaming :) We have to help him roll the other way. Once he figures out how to get back on his back it could get a little crazy. We have never actually seen him roll over. He doesn't seem to want an audience. He is suddenly fussing because he is on his stomach. One day, he may let us observe...

Jonas, 3 months old

On August 12, 2008 Jonas officially became 3 months old. I still find it hard to believe he is already 3 months. Another part of me can't remember him not being a part of the family. We're taking pictures next to the big blue bear to see how much he grows each month. A few days later he was sitting up at the dinner table with the family. It's fun to see him be able to hold his head steady :)

The Detroit Zoo

We recently took a week to just relax and be together as a family. We went to the Detroit Zoo one day. It was a perfect day for the zoo. Sara loved seeing all the animals. Her favorite animals were the monkeys that were trying to climb this huge rock. They would get halfway up and fall all the way back down. She couldn't stop laughing (neither could we). Jonas did great. He slept most of the time in the sling :) One day I might figure out how to rotate pics in here, until then, enjoy rotating your head :)

Just a Day

I finally decided it was time to keep an online journal for my kids. Hopefully, I will be better at this than using a pen and paper :). Today, we are just taking it easy. Whatever life with kids means when you say "taking it easy." I want to take a moment to reflect on the fact that even when it is just another day, it's a wonderful day. Sara, currently 3 (as of 8-18) and Jonas, 3 months, are amazing children. I am so blessed to be their mom. I hope they enjoy reading about their day to day activities and remembering. I love you! Love, Mom