Welcome Dustin Thayne!

My sister finally had her baby boy on Thursday! I say finally because she was due on February 18th and thought that he was going to come early for awhile... but he decided to be very patient.

Dustin Thayne Harris was born at 5:05am on February 26th. He weighed 8 lbs, 11oz and was 21 3/4 inches long. He lives all the way in Arizona, so it will be awhile until we get to see this little guy in person. Dustin joins his brothers Evin and Braxton, and sister Quinlan, as Harris baby #4. We happily now have 9 nieces and nephews.

With Tanna and Dustin here, we're just waiting for the Stutzmans to have little Caleb and our trio of important babies will all have arrived. Come on Caleb... well, okay, wait until it's time... (come on March 19th!)

Dustin is a handsome little man... we are excited to learn more about him. Congratulations Harris family!

Another Parental First

Well, I knew it would eventually happen... but I kind of hoped that we had gotten lucky by missing all major stomach bugs with children to small to know how to aim. Wrong!

I came down with a stomach flu on Wednesday night. It was scary bad. I got to skip my blood pressure medication on Thursday because I was so sick and the nurse said that my volume would be depleted anyway, so I should be fine for a day. Well, I was a little concerned when my blood pressure readings reached 88/62. I tried everything to stay hydrated but it got really difficult. I even drank tons of Gatorade - and I don't like Gatorade! (Although I am finding there are a couple flavors that aren't so bad, it's just a little sweeter than I'm used to!) Even now, days later, my blood pressure is still super low. (91/72 a few minutes ago.) And I know I'm really hydrated now, but today was the first day that I was able to handle any food beyond applesauce, goldfish crackers, bananas and toast. Anyway, I started to feel really good today and got really excited at the prospect of visiting little Tanna in the hospital. I even ate a steak from Applebee's for dinner. I was a little afraid to try something so bold, but it was super tasty!

Then, at 11 tonight Charlie got up to go to the bathroom. Afterwards he wanted to cuddle on the couch with me, and I let him up because he was being so cute. After about 15 minutes he started to kick me and kind of twist around. So I asked him if he was okay. He said no, and then about 2 seconds after I said, "Can you tell Mommy what's wrong?" He started throwing up. Everywhere, (but mostly on me.) Pepperoni pizza. And that's probably more detail than you want, but I'll give you just one more. I have never seen that much yuckiness produced in one session ever in my memory.

Luckily Andy was still awake, and as I set to clean off Charlie, Andy went to work on the couch, clothes, bathroom (we had moved there during a lull), and carpet. It was so bad that I gave Charlie a quick bath, I didn't want to leave him in the water long after he'd just been so sick. And since we've been working on the tablespoon of water every 10 minutes recommended by the nurses line... and I've now taught him how to aim. I just really hope that he does not get as sick as I was. Man, I wouldn't mind never having to live through that again!

Welcome Tanna Zaniewski!

We are so happy for our very good friends Matt and Candice today! They welcomed their first daughter at 1:31 this morning, after a very long and hard couple of days. Tanna Danielle Zaniewski weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, and from the pictures I have seen, is absolutely beautiful.

Unfortunately, I have germs and couldn't go see her in the hospital today! I am hoping that tomorrow will be a different story. We can't wait to meet her.

Congratulations Matt and Candice!

Music Man

Charlie is turning out to be quite the musician. We gave him a Little Einsteins drum set for his birthday, and I think it may have been his favorite present. It came with a drum, maracas, a tambourine and castanets. One of his favorite games to play now is “Marching Band”. We each chose an instrument and march around the house to whatever beat Charlie chooses. The most funny part is his march... It reminds me of Hitler-era Germany.

Then for Christmas Santa brought both Charlie and Lynnae a harmonica for their stockings. They both love them! A few days after Christmas we were over at Grandpa Kovar’s, and they put on a harmonica concert for us. Charlie really gets into it!

It is cute to see Charlie picking up interests of his very own. We’re waiting to see what he likes next!

Storytelling

Another thing that Charlie has recently started doing is telling stories. Here are three he has told me in the last hour.

1) Once upon a time there was a doggie named Baby Mommy Charlie Cat. And it was crying. It went to preschool like a bird. There was an elephant behind the other elephant. It was a match. There was an elephant crying. It made a tower.

2) Once upon a time there was a boy named Charlie 3. Not number 3. The elephant making me crying. When I'm 3 years old.

3) Once upon a time there was a hammer. The hammer started to cry. Because it was a loud noise. The hammer started to cry when it was on the dog. The hammer stopped crying and listened to me. I said, "Stop crying and listen to me! Knock knock."
Hammer: "Who's there?"
Charlie: "Boo"
Hammer: "Boo who?"
Charlie: "Don't cry hammer, it's just a joke."
And the hammer was laughing now.

Quinlan's 3rd Birthday

My niece Quinlan turned 3 on December 27th. Because we were all in Vista that day, Daja planned the celebration for the 28th. This also happened to be the day that my parents were having the missionaries for dinner. So, on top of having all of the Boyce’s there, Quinlan also got two additional guests. I wonder what their thoughts were when they walked in on a big birthday party? Poor Andy was still at the hotel with the stomach flu, but my tummy was just getting back to normal so I brought Lynnae and Charlie over to join in on the fun.

The kids enjoyed the traditional hamburgers and hot dogs, and then we all watched Quinlan methodically blow out each of her three candles, one at a time. Afterwards she opened her presents... Carefully saying thank you for each one, often before she even opened it. The kids all had a good time playing... It is fun to be able to share Quinlan’s birthdays with her since they are so close to Christmas!

Flying

One of my nephews got a pretty neat remote controlled airplane for Christmas. Andy, Russ, Lynnae, Braxton, Jordan and Quinlan took it out flying in an open field just before dusk a couple of days after Christmas. (The rest of us hung back at Grandma’s house to relax... Aka sleep.)

Andy took the camera and got some neat pictures... It looks like they all had a lot of fun!

Carlsbad Beach

A couple of days after Christmas we were still down in Vista visiting my grandparents. We decided to go to In n Out for lunch that day, and Jordan came along. When we were done we asked him what he thought would be the best beach for us to just get out and walk around a bit. We had promised the kids that we would take them to a real California beach this time, so that they could see what it looks like. (Lynnae is absolutely in love with Washington’s Ocean Shores and I keep trying to explain to her why it’s just alright for me... Now maybe she understands that it’s because I’m used to a much different kind of beach!) Jordan recommended we head to Carlsbad, which was probably about 15 minutes from where we were.

It was still pretty cold, I would say in the 40’s, and it felt even colder being right off of the ocean. But the kids didn’t care. It was a beautiful, sunny day... Would have been the perfect kite-flying day if we’d had one. But again, the kids didn’t care. We wandered out onto the sand where they set to finding real seashells. There were actually quite a few, and Lynnae picked several out to start a collection. Charlie found one in particular that he fell in love with. Andy and Lynnae headed down to the very wet coastline to watch the waves roll in. Charlie and I stayed a little bit up the beach and continued the search for shells...

We stayed for less than an hour, but it was a really fun break. Then we headed back to my grandma’s, after making a pit stop at Toys R Us to find a birthday present for Quinlan! That night we all drove back to Riverside, (our family, Daja’s family, and Keira’s family,) after a stop at Red Robin to wish Quinlan a very happy birthday. Later that night Andy and I were both hit with a horrible stomach flu... So we were glad that we had already made a visit to Legoland and the beach before we were down for a few days!

Legoland 2008: Part 1

The day after Christmas we headed to Legoland with Daja and Keira’s family. We got kind of a late start... We were pretty tired after all of the festivities on Christmas! Andy and I had never been to Legoland, and neither had Lynnae and Charlie. So we were excited to see what it was all about. It didn’t take us long to be really glad that we chose Legoland over Disneyland. Several years ago we went to Disneyland during the week between Christmas and New Year’s. It was so packed that they actually had to close admission to the park during a portion of the day... The lines were horrible for everything, and although we had a great time, it was probably one of our most tiring Disneyland experiences. Legoland this year was busy, but not overcrowded. We had a great time!

The cousins also really enjoyed their day together. We rode all sorts of rides and ate a lunch that my Grandma packed for us. One of the most popular things that we did was spend time in the Build and Test area. This building has a little toddler place where the littler kids can build anything they want, then put it on an “Earthquake Plate” and watch it shake and shatter. Charlie had fun with this, although he refused to break the special T that he had built. For the older kids, they get to check out wheels and build a vehicle. Once their done, they get to race it down one of several tracks. I think we were there for over an hour – and they were all having a great time!

Another favorite was the cars... These cars are better than the Autopia ride at Disneyland because there is no track. The kids get in a car and drive it wherever they want. They have street signs and lines painted in the streets so that the kids can learn to follow traffic rules. They also get a driver’s license at the end. (Lynnae still has hers.) Probably the most funny part of that ride was when Evin was too busy telling Lynnae and Braxton to follow him that he crashed into the curb! They have a littler version for the toddlers too, so Charlie got to drive as well. This one also is a free-movement thing. Let’s just say that Charlie figured out the gas but not the steering! They had to help him quite a bit.

We had a great day, although it was getting very chilly by the end. Legoland was giving out free passes for every paid ticket so that you could visit the park another day. So we grabbed ours and planned to return on New Year’s Eve for their big block party!

Knock Knock

Today as we drove to Costco, Charlie told Lynnae his first Knock Knock joke.

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"My phone"
"My phone who"
"Ring Ring"

Then he told his second...

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"My two phones?"
"But Charlie, you don't even have one phone."
"My two phones!!!"

Then we heard another...

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Look, it's just Gwen and its Anna Marie and its Henry!"
"Gwen, Anna Marie and Henry who?"
"Henry the dog!"

I'm not sure where this sudden interest in Knock Knock jokes has come from... but he has had a cold this week and has been running a fever off and on, and he's been Mr. Grouch while he's been sick. So it was certainly nice to hear the funny side of Charlie again. He told us more Knock Knock jokes for about a half an hour, and they were all just about the same!

The Case of the Missing Diamonds

The Spy Ring started about two years ago, innocently enough. Andy and Evin, age 8 at the time, found a unique interest in codes. Andy created a special code that only he, Evin, and eventually Braxton and I knew. That year we stayed in the same hotel for Christmas, and we would find “spy notes” passed to us under the door morning, noon and night. Of course, we reciprocated with notes that gave missions, like retrieving some free lemonade from the lobby in order to receive your next instruction. Later that year Andy built a “spy tool” for Evin to use in order to encode and decode messages more quickly on the computer. The Spy Ring was born.

Now Lynnae, having an interest in math and science, is also very interested in spies. So, when she was asking for details about the cousins earlier in the fall, I might have let it slip that she had a cousin named Evin who loved spies and was the leader of our little Spy Ring. She asked if she could join, and I told her that she would need to ask Evin, but if she asked nicely he would probably say yes. She asked how she would know, and I told her that Evin would assign her an agent name when she was accepted. (I’ve been agent 99 for years.)

They met on Christmas morning. And by Christmas afternoon, Evin was giving Lynnae (Agent L) and Braxton their secret mission. It went like this:

“Dear Spy Friends, I need your help! 2 really bad people are on loose. There names are Jorden and Liel. They stole 65 tons of diamond from 2 local jewlary store. The diamonds were as big as an adults heart. From, the Master.”

Imagine my surprise, when presented with this letter as a Spy Friend, to learn that my brother and sister were thieves! (Not to mention that 2 local jewelry stores carried 65 tons of diamonds the size of an adult’s heart!)

The kids donned spy costumes, (Lynnae was pretending to be a chef,) and grabbed Evin’s new attaché case. (I believe it carried a bunch of DS accessories and was delivered by Santa.)

Did they solve the case?

I wish I knew... I’d sure like one of those diamonds!

A Christmas Race (by Charlie)

Somehow we found ourselves outside. You see, there are a lot of people on the other side of the door and almost all of them are older than us... So we haven’t had any presents to open for quite awhile.

So, somehow we three toddler cousins found ourselves in Great Grandma Hayman’s backyard. And Uncle Russ said the magic words.

You know the three phrases right?

On your marks
Get set
Go!

And I, the newest of these cousins all born within 2 months of each other, didn’t quite wait for “Go!” before I started running.

It felt so good to run outside! It was a little cold, but I picked my feet up as high as I could and moved as fast as I could until I reached the pole. And then I turned around to run back to Uncle Russ, and saw that Quinlan and Brinly were both behind me.

Silly girls, they must have waited to hear the word, “Go!”

I ran and ran and ran, and although I felt the girls gaining ground, I still tagged Uncle Russ first.

Then I noticed Brinly wandering off in the other direction.

Another race? The thought crossed my mind, so I ran after her.

Then I saw her pick up the hose. Too late. She aimed it at me, squeezed the trigger, and....

Nothing. Good thing toddlers aren’t strong enough to turn that spigot!

I really liked my race. Especially because I won. I hope we can do it again soon.

(Sorry, all the other pics had Charlie in them, so I can't post them yet!)

Christmas Afternoon 2008

After we were all ready, we headed down to my grandparent’s house in Vista – which is about an hour and fifteen minutes south from my parents. We hit quite the rainstorm on the way, and for awhile I couldn’t see in front of the car more than a foot. Thank goodness Andy was driving! He is a much better driver than me. Once we were there, everyone found a seat and more presents were passed out. We have the same tradition of opening from youngest to oldest at my Grandparents, just with more people in the mix. Daja and my cousin Bobbi even got presents for their soon-to-arrive babies.

My grandma also had a smorgasbord of cold cuts set out on the table, and as soon as my kids were done opening presents they both made their way over. The first picture of Charlie smiling is when he is asking for more food. The second, with Lynnae, is when she asked for more food too... And apparently he didn’t like sharing my food-passing-out abilities with her. My uncle Chuck and most of his family were there as well, so we got to introduce the kids to more new relatives.

The toy of the day was the Leapster. Adam, Brinly and Lynnae all spent quite a bit of time on their Leapsters. To be fair, Braxton also enjoyed his DS quite a bit... Although he became frustrated when I was able to score a much lower age then him on Brain Age. (I finally let him know that I had played it before... A lot.)

Evin and Lynnae had a lot of fun playing spies – but I’m going to type that up separately! And the toddlers all enjoyed some racing time outside, which will also be a separate post.

After everyone was ready to go, (I had previously crashed on the family room floor for over an hour, so I wasn’t feeling so tired anymore,) our family left to head over to our new hotel. We stayed down in Vista so that we could wake up and head over to Legoland with Keira and Daja’s families the next day. We decided to take a quick detour to Jack in the Box because I realized I was hungry... And Andy and I got shakes. We decided to let Lynnae have a shake too. She drank about half of it and then told us she felt sick and asked if she had to finish it! I think we finally managed to hit her sugar overload... But I figure if there is a time to let kids experience that sensation, its on their birthday or Christmas! Since then she has told me at least five times, “Do you remember the time that I asked if I could throw away my shake? That was weird!”

In the hotel Andy flew around his new helicopter, and the kids kept holding their hands out so that he could attempt to land on them. They were very happy... We all were. It was a great Christmas!

Christmas Morning 2008

We always spend Christmas morning at my parents house, where all of us open up our Santa gifts, stockings, and presents from immediate family. The family has grown every year. This year we are up to 2 parents, 5 siblings, 3 spouses, and 7 little ones. That’s 17 people that need to open presents in a timely fashion in order to make it down to Grandma and Grandpa Hayman’s house on time to do it all their with more family by the early afternoon. (Not to mention breakfast and showers.) I think it’s pretty obvious that we are always late.

We let the kids explore their Santa gifts whenever they wake up and make it downstairs. When Andy and I got to the house at 7am, all of the Harris’ were already awake... Evin, Braxton and Quinlan were showing off their goods to us the moment we walked in the door. This was also the first time we’d seen them in a year, so we had fun teasing them and admiring their gifts. Then Lynnae, Charlie, Brinly and Adam all wandered down at about the same time. Lynnae and Evin (10) hit it off really fast, and it was pretty hard for me to get her attention from the moment they said “hi”. Lynnae was super-excited to see her keyboard and Charlie immediately started working on his golfing skills. They also had fun going through their stockings, where they were both excited to see that Santa had brought them each a harmonica (among other things.) Lynnae also got a special toothbrush and toothpaste that the Tooth Fairy had given to Santa on Christmas Eve, because she had lost her tooth.

Then we went through the opening presents bit, and every now and then people would sneak off to the kitchen to eat some of the breakfast that my mom always lays out. Charlie’s favorite gift was probably “rocks” that he got from the Harris’. They are special crayons that teach kids to hold the right way. Incidentally, he still loves them and used them to write his name for the first time last week. Lynnae really liked her Easy Bake Oven and was excited to get TWO Cabbage Patch Kids. (If you knew me when I was little, you know that I was once obsessed with collecting these things!)