March Madness

Well as you all know we had an addition to the family on March 14th.  Yes, Blake Austin Arndt arrived a healthy 7.11 lbs 21 inches.  Here's multi tasker Erick at work while taking care of precious Blake, giving me some time to catch up on some sleep.  Erick has been amazing, taking care of me, getting Alexia ready in the morning, bringing her to school, picking her up, taking care of dinner and housework, making sure I'm drinking plenty of water and eating well.  He's been amazing.  Couldn't have made it through these last couple of weeks with your support and encouragement, thanks babe!!

Alexia is having so much fun with him, not quite sure what Blake is thinking about this moment though.

Alexia got braces on March 19th.  A very hectic week for us.  She was already scheduled and we didn't want to deviate from our plans.  She was excited to get them on until we got there and they actually put the braces and her palete expander on the roof of her month.  She was quite sore and was on a liquid diet for about 4 days.  She's feeling much better now, luckily she only has to have them on for 6 months and she'll be done!!!

Look how awake he is....aaahhhh.  He loves the swing.

Catching every second of sleep I can get...and I mean second:)

Can you say "hate the carseat".  Yes, he's not a big fan of being buckled in.

Yes, asleep at last next to his Jaguar that Alexia bought for him.  His first stuffed animal.  Alexia picked out the bedding for the crib (her favorite color is green) and we're using her old crib.

Oops, must have realy liked this picture, it's a duplicate.

Time to go home, finally after 5 days in the hospital.

Snuggle time with big sis!

Our friend Deb, she lives in our apartment complex and we met during hot chocolate by the fireplace one night a couple months ago.  Come to find out we both had the exact same due date.Doesn't she look tiny, this was the 16th and she had her daughter on the 19th.  It's great to have another new mom to talk to:)

Dr. Navi is my doctor who delivered Blake.  He has a funny sense of humor and we were so happy to have him take care of me during the 7 months we were here.  The night he delivered Blake, he delivered about 4 babies in 5 hours.....busy guy! When Erick came to the operating room he looked at me and said "hey gorgeous!". From behind the curtain Dr Navi replied "hi!". 

Proud mommy!!

Eyes open, gotta catch 'em while we can.

If that picture doesn't say it all...what a proud daddy looking at his son!  

Yes, I was pretty exhausted.  Think I had been up for about 30 hours at this point and endured surgery.  Natural delivery sure beats a c-section.

Diann holding a hungry Blake, looks like he's going to eat his hands.  Diann looks so happy to finally meet Blake.

Proud Papa, he's always been so great with kids and expecially babies.  Another grandson in the family:)

Alexia was so excited to see Blake, she always wants to hold him and be with him.

WOW, I absolutely LOVE this picture of Alexia seeing Blake for the first time.  It captures such a happiness in her expression.  She's so amazing with him, so natural and calm.  He loves being in her arms.  She's a very, very proud big sister!

February 2009 Update

It's February 28th and a beautiful day here.  Alexia and Erick were throwing the football and the frisbee around.   I played a little catch with the football but not much running around for me these days.  Erick and Alexia were laughing so much, it was great!  There were so many people riding their bikes and walking their dogs around here.  It's nice that there are so many parks in the area that it's never that crowded.

Alexia and her friend Mariah went swimming Saturday, February 28th.  The pool heater was fixed and the water was a balmy 82 degrees.  It was sunny and 80 outside. She has swam more here in the last 6 months than she had back in NH the last 6 yrs.  It's great because she's so good and I've seen such an improvement not only in her skills but her self-confidence. She just loves the water. 

February 27th was my birthday.  We went out to dinner with my dad & Diann to the Maccaroni Grill.  It was great food and entertainment.  The waitresses and waiters sing with incredible voices.  They sang to me in Italian, absolutely beautiful (typically I wouldn't like that but I wanted to hear them)  Then we went home for a yummy dessert.  Erick & Alexia made me a homemade ice cream cake with brownies and frosting.  I had such a wonderful birthday, thank you to all of you who called, texted and sent me beautiful birthday cards.  Erick and Alexia presented me with an amazing diamond necklace.    

Erick's hanging with some of our close friends that we've met here.  Chris, in the middle is a Director and Joey on the right is an actor.   Joey's daughter is Mariah who you saw pictured with Alexia at the pool.  They are just great people and this night the guys went out to Buffalo Wild Wings.  Erick said they aren't nearly as good as the wings we used to make back in NH.  (Erick comments: but they were good and there were a lot of them. An added bonus is that the manager is super nice and paid for all our food...sweeeet! And Chris signed up for the HOT wing contest this Monday at BWW. So we will go to cheer him on. )

Yep, we're getting closer, 8 months pregnant and still hanging in there.  Look at that, I actually have boobs too, gotta love it!!  Although almost everyone out here does if ya know what I mean:)

Alexia did it!!!! Yes, she finally put on a brave face and got her ears pierced on Feb 22nd.  She's been wanting to have it done for years now but every time we go, she chickens out and we have to leave.  This time she was determined and realized it wasn't even a fraction as bad as she thought it would be.  Isn't that how most things are?  We work ourselves up for no good reason.  

We've been visiting orthodontists in the area as well so the next month when you see our blog she'll have some braces on the front of her teeth & a palette expander on the roof of her mouth. She's anxious to get them.  Do any of you remember being anxious to get braces, not me. I was dreading it but these days (boy I sound like my parents) kids actually "want" braces.  This first phase will only be 6 months and then her teeth will be straight in the front and we're excited to see the difference:)

Above are pictures from a surprise baby shower everyone from the office at our church threw for me.  I volunteer there 3 days a week, 3 hours a day in the office, children's ministry, whatever they need and they are such wonderful, happy, positive people to be around that I truly enjoy being there.  They're good for me.  They contacted Erick to let him know their plan and to find out what we needed regarding the baby.  It was an overwhelming surprise as you can tell on the top pic I was crying.  

I was busily doing my work, watching some catering guy come in & set up for a luncheon (not realizing it was for me) when all of a sudden behind me I heard "surprise"!  I was so shocked and there was Erick with the camera snapping pictures.  It was just so thoughtful and unexpected. We have so many things for Blake now, the generosity of not only the church but Dad, Diann and her daughter Kristin (who is having a girl in July) have given us so many baby items and clothes that we're so grateful to you all.  We came out here with nothing but Alexia's bed that converts to a crib and now we have pretty much all we need....we just need the baby!

I went back to Camarillo one afternoon to go look at more homes with our Realtor, Lori.  The two of us had fun and she took me to lunch at one of the Country Clubs there.  We ate outside on the balcony & this was the view, a snowcapped mountain in the distance.  I just thought that was so beautiful.  We're putting a hold on the house search for the moment and will be agressively be back at it in April....I'll need a little breather after Blake is born.

Can you believe it?  It was hailing here for about 5 minutes one afternoon, it was shocking so I had to grab the camera.

Well everyone, the next time you hear from me and Erick you'll be getting an e-mail from us with pictures of Blake.  We're bringing Erick's laptop to the hospital so he can download the pictures and send them off right away.  We're very anxious as you can imagine as the day grows closer (about 2 weeks left)  I'd be jumping up & down with joy but that might make things happen a little too soon:)  

Take care of yourselves! We really do miss you all.
Lynn

Erick and I are enjoying Superbowl Sunday at our clubhouse here at The Madison Apartments. It was completely different without our great friends back in NH hanging out, watching the guys go crazy making their "wings" and drinking lots of beers.  Erick still made the wings but it wasn't with the same enthusiasm.   The weather was a balmy 82 degrees and it was only 3:30 in the afternoon when it started....like I said, completely different this year but we ended up enjoying ourselves with some friends here more than we thought.

Our friend Andy & Erick with the remnants of what's left of nachos, wings, chips n dip and plenty of beer for the guys.  Andy has never watched a Superbowl game in his life, never been interested.  I think Erick enticed him with the "wings" and Andy couldn't resist and stayed.  Andy & his wife Tina moved here from Connecticut a month before we did.  They were are very first good friends here.  Tina was nursing a cold back in her apartments and the kids were playing in another room here at the clubhouse.  

This must have been late at night.  These days I'm not sleeping very well so I try to stay up as late as possible to the point of exhaustion in hopes of sleeping most of the night.  In this picture I'm 7 months along and counting on only about 6 weeks left.  I'm always early so we're hoping for around March 13th date.   This belly of mine is taking up too much space on my small frame and making it quite uncomfortable for me and besides that Blake kicks constantly but mostly when I lay down.  We have to get that boy on a better schedule when he comes into this world because mama aint gonna like being up all night!! (like I have control of that)

We wanted to show you some pictures of a home in Westlake Village that we love.  These are the type of luxury homes we're looking at and cannot wait to move into in less than 6 months.  We absolutely love the master bathroom in this home, the shower as you can see is huge like the one in our house we built in Merrimack.  If only the prices of the homes were the same:)   

Here's the foyer with the staircase .  This room had 20 foot ceiling, lots of windows with incredible light coming through, even though it was a rainy, cloudy day.

This is the type of backyard we absolutely "have to have".  We want to be able to entertain like we're at a resort with all our friends, have parties and "wing fests".  There is actually a fenced in full size basketball court behind the pool area.  How cool would that be that I could let Blake ride his bikes and stuff back there.  The gazebo has a firepit which would be great for roasting marshmallows and warming up around the fire on a cool winter night (50 degrees :).

There's "The Man", checking out one of his favorite parts of the backyard, the bar/outdoor kitchen area.  A nice fireplace with outdoor furniture is another fun place to hang out with our friends and family.  "Anyone need a beer? Hey who needs a cheeseburger. And when are those wings done? Let's get this party going right?"

This is to the left of the previous picture which has the grill, outdoor keg and 'fridge. The outdoor keg is a nice feature in that it gives you ice cold beer all the time and it never ends. Never! It's like hooked up to the budweiser plant or something and never ever runs out. There are munchkins that patrol it to make sure it keeps on working. Kind of like the electric company. You just use what you need. It's very convenient. 

Alexia received Art Classes from my dad for Christmas at a wonderful school within walking distance from out home.  It's amazing what they teach her in just over an hour.  She's already learned how to use texture and tones in her pictures.  She's picked it up quickly and they are actually using one of her pieces (fruit basket) in a new art gallery they just opened.  Here she's working on a bouquet of heart shaped balloons as her next project.  

Alexia's house was her 3rd picture she made at the art studio.  It took her about an hour to complete it.  I'm so happy she's enjoying herself, stretching her imagination and growing.  I've noticed her work improve over just a few weeks...great job, peanut!

Alexia's playing a game of Sequence with a new friend she met here at the apartment a few weeks ago.  Kristen is also in the third grade but has a different teacher.  My dad's girlfriend, Diann, bought us this game when were were in Arizona with Ashley & Amanda the beginning of the month.  We played it several times there and loved it.  Thank you for your thoughfulness, we enjoy playing it almost every other night (Alexia's really good at it too). We even let Erick win once.

Alexia's buddy Mariah also live in our complex.  She's in fourth grade and also takes art classes with Alexia on Saturday mornings.  Here they are enjoying a playful game of tennis at one of our incredible local parks.  Mariah has a baby sister who's only 5 months old.  We enjoy hanging out with Mariah and her family on Saturday nights or during the day at the park.  Her dad is an actor who's been in movies and CSI episodes.  Ashley & Amanda recognized him from the movie "Disturbia" when they were here.  Super nice people who are down to earth and not "Hollywood".  

Playing Mario Kart with her friend Hope after school one afternoon.  They get a lot of half days here, not sure what that's all about.  Hope is actually the very first friend Alexia made.  When we came out here last April to go apartment hunting and checking out schools.   Hope's family lives in the same condominium complex as Diann (dad's girlfriend) where we stayed for that week. Her family was the only one we saw outside so we went over to introduce ourselves and what a sweet family they are.  They have 3 daughters and Hope & Alexia are the same age. Just so happened that when Alexia was assigned her third grade classroom, Hope was in her class.  What are the chances?   

Ashley took this stunning picture from my dad's neighborhood in Arizona.  The sun was beginning to set and the mountains were a glowing red, just beautiful!

The Valencia Community Center is a wonderful recreation center, where Erick played Volleyball.  Here they offer The Wii games, pool table, ping pong, air hockey and many other activities.  It's a great place to come and have some fun and it's free.  Erick usually takes Alexia here on their Friday "Lexi Days".  Its another way Valencia gets the community together. They do a lot of that here. It's really nice. Lexi and I still continue to have our own day one on one and do something special.  She really looks forward to them and so do we:)  Ashley patiently waits her turn while Alexia and Amanda rock with Guitar Hero. The girls pretty much spent their Christmas break here in CA "mastering" Guitar Hero. 

Ashley captured this gorgeous sunset in Arizona.

Ok, you & I know how in these 55 yr old and older communities they have all these people driving around the neighborhood with their little golf carts, well, my dad's not any different.  He picked this one up and he & Diann tool around in it to get from place to place when they have packages to carry to functions and parties (yes they are actually more active in that respect than most of us) They never stop!  Apparantly all the driving practice Alexia received at John & Judy's in Merrimack paid off, here she is giving Ashley & Amanda the ride of their lives...hold on Ashley. It was pretty strange to see Alexia "driving" her sisters around for a change:) :) She did well but I did hear she almost lost Ashley on a turn.  

The crew at dad's house in Arizona, Dad, Amanda, Ashley, Alexia, Diann and Erick.  This was during one of our card games that dad and Diann taught us.  We spent about 4 days there in the beginning of January and had so much fun.  It's such a pretty state (in the winter) too hot in the summer.  We went to Prescott, AZ to visit Embry Riddle, a school Ashley is seriously considering for next year.  It's an aeronautical school, probably one of the top in the country, right Todd?  For those of you who know Ashley, she's wanted to fly since she was about 11 yrs old and now she's thinking of flying helicopters or possibly majoring in airplane crash investigation or even Homeland Security.  This school only has about 1800 students and everyone there is going for the same thing so how cool is that to go to school with people all interested in the same thing.