Peace and Quiet

Both of my babies are sleeping....ahhhh :) Brody rolls over a lot so he likes to fall asleep on his side and ends up on his back now. However, he also seems to wake himself up more. He is waking up twice in the night to eat which is not fun for me! I am pooped! I am praying that he will once again sleep through the night soon!

Where I have been

We went on vacation to Indy and Michigan for two weeks and this week has just been so busy!! I haven't had much time to blog or post pictures but hopefully will soon.

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Happy Birthday Makena Bee!

Today is Makena's third birthday! We celebrated it in Indy and Michigan with our families and will do a little friends b-day party on Saturday. We suprised her with a bicycle this morning! She LOVES it and has ridden it around the house and outside. I made her birthday waffles with a candle in it and sang "happy birthday" to her. After nap, she and I made brownies. We gave some to our neighbors and put three candles in one and sang again with Daddy and Brody. I can't believe that she is three years old! What a big girl!!

Happy Birthday Makena

Check it out!!!!!

Brody had his pictures taken today by Mina. To see the pictures go to
http://minaarnoldphotography.blogspot.com
I think she got some GREAT shots of both kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a whirlwind!!!

This has been a fantastic weekend for us! It started out on Friday night when we had some friends from AZ over. Makena loved playing with their little girl. On Saturday we all slept in and then went shopping to Crate and Barrel. Our place settings were from there and we need about five more cereal bowls. Well, guess what? Our pattern has been discontinued! AHHH....so they were very nice and suggested that we call the outlets and warehouse. I will get on that tomorrow. Then we headed to this giant mall and it was a tad overwhelming with people. Our goal: running shoes for Ryan, tennis shoes for Makena, and sandles for me! Ryan: nothing....Makena: nothing but we did find out that her foot has grown by leaps and bounds in 4 weeks...me: yea!! I got black sandles. (That does not look right for spelling...hmmmm) Then, the great find of the trip! I got Makena the cutest dress for her b-day celebrations! It is a berry red with white polka dots. I LOVE it! That night we went to our friends house to swim and bbq. They are simply wonderful friends! Their son and Makena are great friends and love to play together. :) It was great conversation and yummy food which included homemade ice cream. :) Then this morning, we went to our old church with the AZ friends and met up with some other friends. WOW! We really miss RH church. After church, all three families grabbed food and went to a house to eat and chat. It was neat because when we all first met, we were newlyweds and now we all have children! As we were driving home this afternoon, Ryan and I decided that this had been a fantastic weekend! Now, because we were so on the go, both B's did not have naps in their beds. But they were both troopers! So come Monday, we will get pictures of baby B and get everyone back into the routine which included naps. :) So, to end our weekend, we are going to watch Shark Week on Discovery!! (Chomp!!)

Summertime Fun

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Offically 3 months

Brody is now 3 months old! He loves to interact with us and really pays attention to the ceiling fans. :) His smile melts our hearts! I have started using a slightly deflated beachball for rolling him on his tummy during tummytime. (I learned it from Gymboree classes with Makena.) He thinks it is great! Brody has learned the cause and effect of his bouncy seat. He kicks his feet and the lights and music turn on. Books have become more interesting for him; his favorite is a Baby Einstein called Mirror Me. We are going to have picture taken of him this week!!

Let's Go Swimming!

We have started Makena in swimming lessons! Our clubhouse offers them for very inexpensive so it works out good for us! :) She has completed one lesson and her instructor said she was doing well. Our goal is for her to have some understanding of moving her arms and legs to swim by the time we head out for our trip.

What's in a name?

When Makena was little I started calling her "MakenaBee" one day and the name stuck. Well, it often gets shortened to just "Bee". When Brody was born, Ryan came up with the nickname "BrodyBear" because he is so cuddly. I came up with the nickname "Blue" because his eyes are blue. Guess what he is most often called? "B." Yep, so basically Makena and Brody both will answer to the name of "Bee/B." I guess that when we have our third baby we won't even have to think of a new nickname; he/she will answer to "B"!

Our little B is 12 weeks old

Future Artist or Vandalist?

Last night, as I was cooking dinner, I heard a strange scratching sound coming from the back of my house. I did not think much of it until suddnely, I realized that I hadn't heard from Makena in a while. I called to her,"Bee, what are you doing?" When I did not get a response, I quickly walked out of the kitchen, about four steps down the hall, and stopped. Makena was scribbing with crayon all over the wall, had turned the corner, and scribbled all over that wall. I calmly said, "What are you doing?" She just looked up at me with her brown eyes and said, "coloring." Well, I had to turn away because I started to laugh. However, that was when Ryan walked in and he did not think it was funny. He walked back outside and I got my camera. I did talk to her about why she shouldn't color on the walls and then I tried to take a picture. I took a few because I was thinking that in the realm of life, it is just crayon the walls, not sharpie...and I think she was funny...ok so maybe not such a smart move but oh well!! Then Ryan had her clean it all of with a Magic Eraser; she scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. Then she looked at Ryan and said, "This is hard!" He replied, "I know. It's hard for Mommy and Daddy to clean off too." It took her about 10 minutes to undo what she did in 5 minutes but hopefully she won't color on the walls again. So I ask you, "did I take a picture of a future artist or vandalist?" :)

Sister bonding time! We went and had pedicures on Sunday. Can you guess which toes belong to which sister?

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh sleep

Guess who has slept through the night and is still sleeping????????? Brody!! Yes, at 10 1/2 wweks old he has successfully slept through the night. WOW! I am so hoping that this continues.

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Our brave little one

This morning Brody had his 2 month check-up. He weighs 14 pds. 4 oz. and is 23 inches long. This means that he is in the 95% for weight and 75% for height. (I think my littles may take after Ryan in height...) All is well for Brody and he got his shots. Ohhhh how it breaks my heart to hear the cry of pain!!! He was very brave though and the nurse was super fast! I also discussed the Infantsee program out here in CA with the doctor. Google it if you have the chance b/c it is really neat. Brody will be going to do it when he is around 6 months of age. I wish I had known about it for Makena but we still got her eyes checked about 6 months ago. Anyway...pray that he is going to do ok tonight!

Relay for Life

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This past weekend was the Relay for Life out here. My partner Lisa put it together for our school in honor of Donna. Donna is an amazing mom, wife, teacher, and strong christian who has been battling cancer for four years. Here are some pictures of Makena and Grace who is Lisa's daughter.

cute outfit

Here is Brody on Saturday...he is wearing little Nikes that belong to his cousin Nicholas.

This is what eats my plants!!

Last year I found numerous HUGE grasshoppers and had to smoosh them b/c they eat my rose bushes. Well guess what came back??????????? The giant grasshoppers! They are nasty and huge. They also fly through the air!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Oh,and these little guys are about 3 inches long! No kidding!!!

The Life of a SAHM

This is a picture of the Shepherd Grandkids!!


(SAHM means Stay At Home Mom)
So I have been at SAHM for 8 1/2 weeks now and am only beginning to see the huge differences in my life. My "littles" are an absolute joy to be around and I love having the time to help them develop emotionally, cognitivly, motor skills and more. . .But I haven't quite figured out how to carve out "me" time. I feel that when I am home, I have to be doing something. (There is always something to be done.) So I have decided that there are some things in my life that I need to be a good SAHM and wife:
*the gym or workouts w/o kids ( This really helps my energy level and destress)
*girltime (if I don't get this to talk, then poor Ryan has to listen to me for hours as I tell him everything and include all the details!!)
*pedicures (ok, i just like them and have two GC's to use :) )
*highlights ( i need one NOW)
*Sistertime (8 days to go until all the Helmer girls are together!!!!!!!!)
I'll let you know if I actually take the time to do all of those things.
NOw, Ryan also needs his own "me" time....well hopefully he gets it golfing and sitting in the car for hours on end in traffic...:) Seriously, time management is going to be huge for us in fitting everything in!!

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We Love Our Daddy!!

Here's Ryan, Makena, and Brody all snuggling on Father's day. Can you tell they adore him? :)

He's 8 weeks old

smiling baby

He has an adorable smile that lights up his whole face!

A special card for Ryan

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Check out what I found!!!!!!!

Ok, so I was reading my best friend from HS sister's blog and she had this cool thing on there called smilebox. I made one about the month of May. Check it out below. I will be making more b/c they are a blast to create and post!!! (Thanks Liz!!! I loved reading your blog!)

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

empty house

once again we said "good-bye" to our guests and the house feels empty. We had Ryan's parents and our niece Keirsten with us for about 10 days visiting. They met Brody the newest addition to the Shepherd family. :) It was fun hanging out with Keirsten and get to hear all of the fun high school things. She is just so great!!!!!!!!! I will post pictures soon!!

5 weeks old

Brody is five weeks old now! He is really getting strong in holding his head up. During tummy time, he pushed himself up with his little arms! His eyes are still blue so we'll see if they change eventually. :) He is now sleeping in his own room and doing great. (We are doing great too. Last night we got almost 6 hours of sleep!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh Happy Day er. . .Night! Let's hope that lasts!) Back to tummy time, Makena was a tummy sleeper (yes, I know about the whole back to sleep but it did not work for her) but Brody sleeps on his back. Therefore, it is important for development that he has tummy time each day. Well, guess who hates it? Yep, my Baby B! I figure he'll eventually like it. Oh, and Makena LOVED the swing but guess who screams anytime he is placed in it? Yep, Baby B. He does like the Baby Bijorn and the bouncer. He also does not have colic like she did. Funny how different kids are!!

rock painting

One night we went for a walk to find rocks for painting. Makena had a blast searching for "good" rocks. When we came home, she went to town painting the rocks blue and green!

Birthday Party Girl

Last weekend was the birthday party weekend. Two of Makena's friends had celebrations on Saturday and Sunday. Since I was sick, Ryan played "super dad" and took her to both parties. The parties were fantastic I was told by Makena; she had a wonderful time! This weekend our only plan is to say good-bye to mimi and papa and learn to survive w/o them...hmmmm...

four weeks and going strong

Brody was four weeks last Sunday and is getting stronger each day. He is gaining strength a lot with his head. I got super sick last Friday night so I was thankful to hear that my parents trip to Napa was cancelled for this week. I was so sick that I couldn't do anything for three days or so. Lesson learned: the mommy cannot get sick!!! So guess what? I took vitamins tonight and am going to start REALLY taking them. That will help me function better. . .right?

Fast forward to today: I discovered the Mary Kay facial highlighter!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW! It is great and amazing. I recommend it to people everywhere. So I am adding it to my collection of fabulous products from MK that I use on a daily basis. Thanks to my consultant!!!! :) Well that is all for now b/c Brody Bear is crying . . .more on this nickname later~~

3 weeks old

Brody is three weeks old now!

scooter girl

My dad brought out a scooter for Makena in his suitcase. (He assembled it when he got here.) Here she is riding it. She is not too sure of it; I think she'll really take off on it when here cousins Nicholas and Savannah show her how to do it!

Proud Sister

Makena is so proud of Brody and is very sweet to him. She is all about helping which is so cute! Brody is doing wonderful!! He now weighs 9 lbs 4 oz and is 21 inches long. Today he turned 3 weeks old! We went to church where he slept the whole time :) and then to lunch for Mother's Day. Both Makena and Brody were great at the restaurant which is always a blessing! :) Happy Mother's Day to all of you!

Our New Little Addition

Brody John arrived on Sunday April 22nd at 6:24 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz and is 20 inches long. Brody is just a sweet baby! Makena loves being a big sister and is very "proud" to have a little brother. She is very gentle with him and loves to give him "pats".