Eating habits

Lest you be deceived, this is not chocolate all over Calvin's face. Yep, they're black beans. This boy loves his beans!

Calvin pretty much eats whatever we are eating. He's not terribly picky, but you can bet he won't finish eating something if he doesn't like it. Some of his favorite foods right now are:

graham crackers (by far his favorite. I can get him to do anything if I promise him a graham cracker)
bread
eggs
pancakes
carrots, broccoli, lima beans, peas, squash
tortilla with cheese and black beans
apples, grapes, watermelon, bananas, applesauce
macaroni and cheese (homemade)

He's still not a huge fan of chicken. Maybe it's just the way I cook it. Who knows...

Halloween Fun

This weekend Trevor's parents and sister, Summer, came to visit us. We had a wonderful time with them and of course they had a wonderful time with Calvin! :0) He is such a good boy and has the sweetest disposition (well, he also gets into plenty of trouble and tests mommy's patience at times, but we love him just the same!).

Here is our cute puppy for Halloween! This was a Goodwill special that I got for $6 brand new. Calvin saw it in the store and kept saying, "dog! dog!" over and over again. I let him hold it and he wouldn't let go of it for the longest time.


Last Saturday our church ward had a Halloween party/Trunk-or-treat and we all had a great time. There were so many kids running around and Calvin loved all the commotion.

On Halloween night we took Calvin trick-or-treating to a few houses. He liked knocking on the doors and was pretty good about grabbing a piece of candy (or two), putting it in his bucket, and saying, "bye-bye!" He also wanted to go into the homes when they opened the door. I think he had lots of fun. I'm looking forward to the next few years when he really starts to understand how trick-or-treating works!


One reason Trevor's family came to see us was to bring the completed cross-stitch Trevor's mom made us. We can't get over how beautiful this picture is and feel honored to hang it in our home. It was originally going in Calvin's room, but we decided it needs to be hung in a more prominent place in our house to give it the respect it deserves.

The original painting is by James Christensen and is called "Faery Tales." There are 22 fairy tales depicted. We put Calvin next to it to give you some perspective. We love all the many bright colors. This is definitely going to be a family heirloom!


271,975 total "x's" which puts the total number of stitches at 543,950 (because every cross requires two stitches).


We also went to Stanford University yesterday because Summer had never been there before.  That campus is beautiful.

Man, am I really looking that pregnant at 5 months already?!?!

 
Here are some other cute/random pictures we took this weekend.

 
We are also discovering Calvin is mildly obsessed with dogs. Every time he sees one (real or not) he gets super excited. One time I went into his room to wake him up and I found him using his stuffed dog as a pillow. It was so sweet!

It's a...

BOY!!!

Some recent pictures

Pictures! I found our cable to our camera and got some recent pictures off to share.

Here's a picture from my Grandma Black's 81st birthday party at the Golden Corral.

I think this picture pretty much sums up how we felt during the move (I didn't know I was in the camera shot...).

"You gotta try this stuff!"

Calvin and Trevor so happy to be done with the plane ride to California!

Calvin trying on his new bowl hat. He tries to wear this all the time.

We went to a park one day and found a see-saw. Didn't really work, but Calvin had fun at the park!

I feel like I'm always playing catch-up...

Calvin is becoming quite the character and makes me laugh all the time. Because we don't have any childproof locks on our temporary housing, he has free rein over more than usual. I find pillows in the kitchen, pots/pans/tupperware in the family room, socks/keys/beach balls in the kitchen drawers, etc. He loves to put the tupperware bowls on his head and mine. He has discovered the dishwasher and loves to pull things out if the door is down, so I have to be careful that it's always locked. He also loves to empty his bibs and washcloths out of the kitchen drawer and then put them back in (sort of). Don't worry, I do watch him while he gets into everything and nothing is within his reach that is actually dangerous.

Calvin now eats with a regular adult fork. He LOVES using it and is actually quite good at using it. I think he likes it because it's easier to poke his food with than using a little plastic fork. He also thinks it is the funniest thing in the world to put a blanket over his head and walk around running into things. He can now say: mama, dada, uh-oh, ball, dog, bath, hi, bye, and cracker. He also loves to go swimming.

So I have been doing lots of research and reading on the Internet regarding doctors in this area to deliver our baby. After my first experience with Calvin, I really wanted to make sure that I liked the doctor I chose. After going through pretty much every single doctor within a 5 mile radius of our home and reading reviews about those doctors, I felt like I would never find the "right" doctor for me. So I decided to look into midwives. I knew I didn't want a home birth, but Trevor's co-worker's wife recently had a baby with a group of midwives who deliver babies at a hospital. They work with a group of OBGYN's so if there are any complications during delivery, they can call a doctor right away to assist me. I read a lot about their practice and felt this was the right thing for me.

I set up an appointment and met with one of them last week. I never thought I'd ever be so happy and excited about my doctor. They believe in a more holistic/natural approach to labor and delivery. They have very low C-section and episiotomy rates which is good. I also already know I can deliver a baby drug-free based on experience, so why not try again? It can't be any worse than my last experience, and if I feel I really need an epidural, I know I can get it. The best part is that they really spend time with you. At my first appointment, this midwife talked to me and examined me for about 45 minutes. That would have rarely happened at my last OB's office in Provo. During labor they stay with you as much as possible and are your support system. Anyway, I'm really excited about it and feel I'm in good hands!

Trevor and I went to the Oakland LDS temple on Saturday. We LOVE this temple! It's beautiful inside and out! The temple grounds are beautiful and the view of the city is amazing. They also have a visitor's center with a Christus statue and beautiful paintings depicting Christ's life. It kind of reminded me of the Mesa visitor's center. Next to the temple they have a tri-stake center (yes... that's TRI-stake... it's a huge building) and people from our ward volunteer to babysit children there so you can do temple work. We were really grateful for this service they provide so we were able to go.

Well, I don't have a way to get pictures off my camera yet, so pictures will have to wait until later this week after we move into our apartment.

Lots of Change!

Sorry for the lack of postings. I was waiting until we had our computer back because I don't have any pictures to show. I'm using Trevor's laptop instead and I guess I'll just give an update on us and show the pictures later.

Lots of changes for our family recently:

1. Trevor defended his thesis about two weeks ago. He cut it really close, almost too close, but he got it done! Now he doesn't have to fly back to Utah later this semester and have it hanging over his head. I have to tell you I'm so proud of him. So many people were telling him he wasn't going to finish, which really frustrated me, but he didn't listen to them and worked REALLY hard to get it done before we left. Three cheers for Trevor!

2. We moved to California! We were extremely blessed to have Microsoft pack and move us. It would have taken me literally weeks to do what they did in 6 hours. We are staying in temporary housing for now. We found an apartment (I'm still getting over the shock of rent prices) and we are so glad it has A/C and a dishwasher. These are two things we didn't have in our last apartment and are so glad to have now! We still have to go outside our apartment to do laundry, but I think I can handle it.

3. We went to our new church ward on Sunday and we had a really good experience. Lots of friendly people and LOTS of children! There are roughly 100 kids in primary (18 months -12 years old). There are about 50 in the youth program (12-18 years). So about 150 people in the ward are under 18. We had lots of people come up to us and introduce themselves. We think we are going to really like this ward!

4. Trevor started his job at Microsoft yesterday! He's working on PowerPoint in Mountain View. This is where he interned last summer so he's pretty familiar with the people and the work. He likes working there!

5. Last but not least, we are going to have another baby! I wanted to wait to tell people until I had seen a doctor but we can't see one until our insurance paperwork goes through and I can't wait any longer to tell the world! I'm 14 weeks along and definitely showing faster than I did with Calvin. Luckily, I'm through my morning sickness (7 weeks of prolonged death... explains the lack of posts...) and I'm feeling a lot better.

Calvin is talking and babbling more and more. He now says momma, dadda, ball, bath, dog, doggy, cracker, and bye-bye. He understands a lot more though. If we say, "go get your shoes," he will run and bring them to us. He is a little tornado right now and I can't keep our house clean for more than 10 minutes it seems. He loves to get into everything and definitely keeps me on my toes with what he finds to play with! I wouldn't have it any other way and I'm just trying to enjoy this time as much as possible. Calvin also loves music and starts dancing whenever he hears it. He's also started to semi-sing and makes up his own songs sometimes.

We'll have pictures to come in a couple of weeks!

Poor Neglected Blog...

The 4th of July was pretty fun for our family! Lindsay, Calvin and I woke up at 6 AM and walked over to Provo's annual Balloon Festival where balloonists get together to show off their balloons, fly around, and have a good time. Anyone is invited to watch the balloons fill up and launch into the sky. This year, there were twenty balloons, several of which you can see here.

Calvin enjoyed watching the balloons.

They had a couple of patriotic balloons. This one was the first to go up and brought an actual American flag with it. After the Pledge of Allegiance was said, the festivities began!

And they're off!

Needless to say, Calvin had a good time! He spent much of it on my shoulders :-)

After the balloon festival, we walked home, dodged the parade, put Calvin down for a nap, and got ready for the rest of the day. We joined up with Mandy, Summer, and the Melo's for a late breakfast at Nielsen's Grove Park‎. Calvin spent most of the time playing with wood chips under the shade of the slide. I love that Calvin looks cute even when he's not smiling!

Last weekend, we drove over to Colorado for the Walker family reunion. We stayed in the Hilton Garden Inn not too far from the temple and had an all around good time. It was great to get the chance to catch up with family and to get to know new faces. Some of our highlights from the trip were: gourmet breakfasts, the talent show, Super Hearts (ever played Hearts with 13 before?), and the gorgeous drive along the Colorado River. Here's everyone who was able to make it to the reunion:

We spent most of one day in a church. Calvin had a blast playing with his 2nd cousins. There were about 5 balls flying around and balls are Calvin's favorite toy ;-)

Here's family hanging out in the cultural hall.

Here's a family picture we took during the reunion.

Although Calvin is the smiliest baby ever, he's never been fond of cuddling; he's really antsy and can't stay still that long. The other night, when Calvin couldn't sleep, I put him on my tummy and stroked his head and he just stayed there, relaxed on his daddy. It was really precious. So far, he'll only do this when he's tired, like this picture taken right after he woke up.

This week was Lindsay's birthday. I made her cream cheese stuffed pancakes topped with a sauce of apples, brown sugar, raisins, and pecans. We both agreed that they were decadent. To finish up Lindsay's birthday week, we're going on a date to see the new Harry Potter film and Mandy is going to babysit.

Lindsay is doing well, taking care of Calvin (which is a lot of work), nurturing our garden, and holding up the fort. I've been on overdrive working on my thesis. I have it written now and am working with my adviser to get it revised and submitted to my committee. With a little luck, I should have everything taken care of before we head out to California to work for Microsoft. If things don't work out so well, I'll have to fly up to defend my thesis. Either way, I'll be graduated by December.

Lots of love!