Ruby the newbie

More pictures of our cuties..

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Aaaahhhhh, nothing like the refreshing air in the midwest when it snows. We got our fair share of it over the holiday weekend, so much so that we even had to spend a nite in Wisconsin Dells just to get off the roads! Jason took Elida out sledding at his parents house and just when I thought he was about to hop on the sled with her, he LET HER GO!! She had a blast and I suddenly saw just how grown up my 2 y/o really is!

Big sister getting bigger!

Thought with all the hoopla around "newbie" I'd share a new picture of Elida- and she's even wearing a skirt! This was the day of our Christmas card pictures- the skirt came off almost immediately after! :) Ruby is a gem and Elida calls her 'newbie'
..she also loves to hold and hug and kiss her OFTEN... we're still working on 'good touches' but it's all fun to watch from above.. anyway, here's the big sister..

More photos

hello there.. just posting some new ones of our new one.. she's super sleepy and lots of cute snuggly fun!

pictures on the hospitals website are now posted... the password is our last name. here's the link. she's listed twice bcs there are two sets of photos.. none of which are any better than those that we took ourselves ....ahem! :)
http://www.stmarysmadison.com/internet/home/stmarymadison.nsf/documents/62856D4CE675CCA98625713E005F0854?opendocument

Ruby Paula

I'm posting to this blog on Shelley's behalf ("I" being Jason, that is)... Anyway, the big news is that there is a (big) new baby in our little family: Ruby Paula was born yesterday (Wednesday 12 December at 1:31 p.m.) at 9 pounds, 5 ounces and 21 inches all told. Ruby because we liked the name and Paula after her grand-dad, Paul.



Anyway, here's the latest (Shelley-selected) pics. Shelley will update you all as time and energy allow, but both mom and baby are well and getting better every day.

Congrats Renee and Brett!

My sister had her baby BOY today- December 6th, 2007! Taran Maverick Rayno was 7 lbs 13 oz... That's all I know for now.. will post pictures when I get some!

I'm next. Can't wait. Six days to go!

Updates on us all...

Okay- so I just wrote a huge blog and it got zapped. So, I'll keep it short.

The new c/s date is 12/12... I cannot wait another minute. 7 days will feel long, and we're all set up at home for the new baby girl! We're just about settled on her name.. stay tuned!

We had our first snow storm last week, Friday. It was really fun to watch the snow fall and then to see Elida's excitement when the plows went by.. good times!

Today's big news: my sister was induced today! My new niece or nephew should be born by now- or SOON. It's 9:15 and I've still heard NOTHING! I'm going crazy here! CRAZY!

All for now, I'll try to post some pictures next.

Baking cookies...

I can't resist this cute little smile- even though she's totally phoning it in in this photo!

Elida loved the spritz machine and said: ooh each time we made a new cookie. The sprinkles were a nice treat too...

Happy Birthday! Or was it all just a dream?

Last Saturday we celebrated Elida's second birthday- ON her second birthday! We celebrated in Minnesota because we have a good sized family there with the right sized kids! She had kiddos from the ages of 8 mos. to 9 years to help her celebrate~ it was too good of a time and Elida decided to nap 1/2 way through the party!

Let me tell you, she woke up a totally different child! TWO IS HERE and it's not going anywhere!



She opened her presents at Far Mor (Norwegian for Father's Mother) and Grandpa Paul's house that nite. This is her train from her daddy.

You can see at cake time she was already tired, we rushed through it so she could blow out her candle and ignore the cake and ice cream! ha. She enjoyed the singing. (yep, this is my huge belly)
You can see the big park with slides, etc. behind the inlaws here.. it was a good and WILD time. The place is called: Adventure Park and the theme for parties is : Go Ape on your Birthday. Which she did. I don't think she took one bite of anything~!

Happy Halloween!

well, we intended for Elida (and mumma too) to be a witch, but by the time the cold was done with us, she was a witch/vikings fan/firegirl all in one....she enjoyed trick or treating with cousin Ellen, the black cat. Overall I think it went well and the candy enjoyment went on for about two days!

The Little Jumper!

Recently we joined "The Little Gym" a cute place where Elida gets a workout, some social time with peers and has gained so much self confidence in her jumping skills especially, here're some photos of her favorite Wednesday activities.

Turning two!

Today we let Elida practice opening gifts for her 2nd birthday party this coming weekend... upon seeing this little item she immediately said: Horsey, horseeeeey! It was so cute, she even sensed dad taking her picture and said 'cheeeeese!'... this was the cute result.

Bean Sprout Cafe..

Our new favorite restaurant for a special treat after "The Little Gym" class on Wednesdays... they have cool sparkling ice cubes in thier drinks! Fun.

A preview of Halloween

We ended up with the Witch costume from Target for Halloween this year.. we've been practicing our best 'eee hee hee hee my pretty.." Elida loves the hat- we'll see about the dress~!

There's a strange man in Grandpa's kitchen!

Elida took a strange liking to the waiter in grandpa's kitchen.. it took a minute for her to warm up and then they became fast friends!

Fall in the UP..

We recently took a trip to Houghton, MI to visit my dad...

mittens and a hat!

Elida had been struggling with the changing weather, refusing to wear jackets, coats, hoodies or sweaters, but tonight we had a breakthrough! When we weren't looking she put on her hat and mittens all by herself! Here's some photos of the step in the right direction.

A good picture

A reminder of the splendors of the midwest.. I found this picture of my dad and liked it. So, here it is.

Oldie but goodie..

Found this older picture too of my 7 month old! Wow... I can't believe how much my baby has grown!

Copper Country..

Today we're up in Houghton, MI visiting my dad...I found these older pictures on his computer from our last visit (in April) that I never got my hands on.

A brief halt.

Sad but true....cannot seem to upload anymore tonight. Keep getting error messages.

All for now.

Pictures, phew.

Finally got some new (old) pictures from our last week in Los Angeles.. here's one of Elida and cousin Megan on the Santa Monica beach.

And the date will be.....

We've scheduled our c-section (wait, did I say 'our' .. as if anyone else has to go through it but me??) MY c-section for December 17th!

Many of you will note that is two days prior to my own birthday- also the little one's due date! So- I'll be waited on hand and foot on my birthday- the way it should be! And what a gift to have my 2nd daughter there in my arms!

As they say: The Lord is in the blessing business!

Best wishes to all and I'm hoping to keep in touch in the next ten weeks- cuz I'm feelin like I'll be hard to find once the little babe arrives. Hugs- Shelley

Coming along..

Hi everyone. Much to my disappointment, there will be no new pictures tonight. Finding our camera cord in the box of magic computer cords we have is just not something I'm able to get to.. so, I'll tell ya what's been going on.

OUR BIG GIRL ELIDA is: Sitting on the potty. Reading and waiting and being SO cute. She commands me to 'sit' next to her on the floor and we just chat. It's a fun, cute and rather clean (since she's not doing anything) step in her life.

Also, along those big girl lines, Elida is sleeping in her big girl bed these days. Her mumma has been sleeping next to her for most nites- which works great if you've seen our trundle bed. One of the biggest benefits is that she won't fall out of this thing.. and, it's ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE when she wakes up- she gets up, comes to find me/us and upon seeing us, runs to us with her cute arms up... hair all messy and cute and snuggly- it's juts a wonderful time. She's really been good at making changes while other changes are happening.

In other Elida news, we joined "The Little Gym" this week- wow. What fun she has in those classes. It's like a little work out for kids. There are several other kids in her class and she actually likes Mr. Scott - her teacher. good times.

That's it for now- and for Elida news... stay tuned for news on our little bundle "Duecette".. this news is too big to share with all the other good stuff!

Bad blogger...

Hi friends.. I've been a bad blogger.

But, we've made our move.. as of one.5 weeks ago! yay. We're here.. and as for me, I LOVE it.

I am SO glad we're in the midwest again.. enjoying that crisp air that accompanies autumn!

I'm still using J's borrowed laptop til our home pc is fixed- which unfortunately means no pictures for now. :(

As for our home and social life, we're up and running! MIL Julie has already paid us a visit and we've found some great and fun kiddo classes/activities for our 'BIG GIRL' Liids who is growing up SO fast, I can hardly believe my eyes! Stay tuned for updates! S

Packin up!

Wednesday nite is the last one we'll be spending on Rexford Drive in Beverly Hills.. then we'll visit Renee, Brett, and Peter in PHX... then onto our new home in Madison, WI on the 17th! Here's a picture of Elida packin up!

Ellen and Elida in McCall Idaho...good times!

Renee and Shelley & cousins too!

Yep- both preggers and 2.5 weeks apart! She goes first, but my outfit isn't as flattering! :)

The update(s)...

Soon to be living in a semi-northern town! Woo-hoo! We're thrilled to announce that we're moving to Madison, WI! Yay! Our current apartment in Beverly Hills is torn apart and HOT. We're SO ready to be out of here... we can't even be at home mid-day..and we've got packing to do!

This move will be much easier than our last one (out here) bcs I'll only be around 26 weeks pregnant (some of you might remember that we moved here at 36 weeks) and we're not moving our own stuff this time!

Elida continues to be oh-so cute! She's a real trooper with a busy house and enjoys un-packing boxes while mom and dad diligently pack them.

I have to give props to Jason - he's not letting me do much packing this time.. I appreciate that more than he might know!

Thanks Sister Kristi!

We're stealing these photos from Kristi's blog bcs they are so cute (and I can't get my camera to work right.)... these are from our trip to McCall Idaho- a great time was had by all and I didn't want to leave!

Elida and her cousin Ellen really had a good time together and it made my heart sing! :)