Dada / Daddy VS Papa
I have been told most kids say dada before they ever say mama. Well.... Zeke called daddy "gaga". Then came "mama". Still no dada. Now, mommy calls daddy: dada, daddy and papa. Zeke loves papa and now calls daddy "papa". Every once and a while he just started actually calling him "dada" also. However when mommy picks Zeke of from day care, she asks Zeke - Are you ready to go home to see daddy / dada - Zeke responds yeah... and then I ask again are you ready to go home to see papa - Zeke then gets excited and repeats "papa".
It will be interesting to see what he ends up liking to call his daddy... Papa is kind of cool, and I call my daddy papa. We will see.
State Fair 2011
We took Zeke to the state fair this year. We went while it was early, which had two positive things about it:
1) Not as many people
2) Not as hot
Zeke walked through to see some of the animals: llamas, bulls, and sheep. After that, we walked around and showed him some carp, sturgeon, catfish, turtles, Koi, and other fish. He then went into the petting zoo of baby animals. He got to pet and play with the animals. Zeke enjoyed it as much as he could for his age.
There was a pony ride right next to the petting zoo. I thought for sure Zeke would be too young, and we would have to wait at least another year or two. As we walked by, I saw that it was for kids age 1 and older. Zeke was able to ride a pony for the first time!!! It was exciting for all of us. He did real well on the horse.
The rest of the fair day consisted of mommy and daddy walking around while he took a nap, eating lunch and chasing after a chaotic child having fun running away from mommy. It was a good exhausting day.
Yeah
One of Zeke's new words is Yeah... He says it sooo cute. It is sort of a slow and emphasizes it. He says it sometimes at the most perfect timing too. We would talk to him and ask him a question - something we know he does not comprehend yet, and he answers - yeah.
Water Water Water
One of Zeke's FAVORITE things is water! He LOVE getting wet and all up in the water. We have been trying to get him in the water as much as we can this summer. We have been to the pool at our gym, grandpa and grandma's pool, folsom lake and a water fountain feature at our local park. One day we even went to a friend's birthday party at a park. The sprinklers were going. We could not keep him a way from them. We did not have a change of clothes or anything. At least it is warm here in Sacramento for him to dry off easily.
Here are my toes
Life with a one year old is great. They are constantly learning and it is so cute what they pick up. We read a book to Zeke at nights called "I love you through and through". One of the lines in there states: "I love your fingers and your toes, your ears and your nose. When I read it to him (and I think daddy does the same thing), I grab his fingers then his toes. I then grab his ears, then his nose. So, this weekend I started just saying the line out loud and when it got to his toes part he bends down to grab his toes.
When I read the book and after I grab his ears, he turns his head to the side, so that I can also grab his nose.
Though when he gets off schedule he can become tiring, this just make up for it, and makes it wonderful
Zeke Sick at Church
Antoine and I help out at our church doing the usher / greeting. This Saturday night while we were in service, Zeke's number is displayed on the monitors. Now Zeke is really good and I cannot imagine them calling us unless something happened. Running scared back to his room, I discovered that he threw up ALL over the place. It is the first time he has thrown up - and it happens at church. All his clothes have to go - we did not bring any spare (luckly the church was able to provide us with temporary clothes). Antoine and I are still suppose to help out ushering during the service, so we cannot leave. It was chaos. Antoine was able to get out of the ushering and stayed with Zeke in the parent room while I helped out with the ushering. Man, this child thing is quite an adventure...
Standing in the Crib
Well for the last week, Zeke has been getting on his knees, but he not pushing himself up to standing position. Today as he woke up from his nap, I went upstairs to get him and found that he was standing in his crib waiting for me. Oh boy. What are we in for now?
Zeke has also been moving all over the place and fast. He enjoys finding all the things that he isn't suppose to play with... He loves remotes, phones, and the electronics below the TV.
If he is hanging out with mom in a room and dad enters, he takes off to go see daddy whether daddy is asking for him or not. He also does the same with mommy if he is with daddy.
Stepping in normal crawls
Zeke is starting to take a few steps in a normal crawl (not army crawl). However, this tires him and he cannot get to his destination fast enough, so he usually quickly lowers himself back down into an army crawl and motor himself in where he wants to go.
Also this weekend he is starting to experiment in making sounds. He is now doing the goo goo / gaga sounds. It is kind of cute.
Uncle Comes for a Visit
Uncle Collin and Aunt Stacy come down for the weekend. Collin had to turn his leased car back it, so it gave him an excuse to come visit. It was cute watching him interact with Zeke... Maybe Zeke will have another cousin soon... ;)
Thanksgiving
Had a wonderful time for Thanksgiving. Rob and Kelly came up with their two boys on Wednesday afternoon. Mom and Dad came up that evening and Santini, Zavior, and Jasmine came late that night. Festivities began at 10 am on Thursday with Hors D'oeuvres and the first football game. Zavior and Tyler hit it off great and were playing hard all day. Cameron was set to explore everything he could... Mome, Pape and Jahmilia came just before dinner.
It was so nice to be able to hang out and see everyone together. Thank you everyone who came.
We greatly missed Collin, Stacey and Jeannette... We definitely will not be having it at our house again for another three years. Maybe by then everyone will be able to make it.
Crawling Away
Today Zeke decided he knew how to crawl... He has been doing the roll and scout to get places before today, but today, was the day where he now sees something (like mommy or a toy) and crawls after it. It is still an army crawl (belly on the ground), but it gets him where we want to go. Look out house and cats, Zeke is now on the move.
Along with crawling... Zeke has finally got his first tooth. His bottom left tooth has broken through. Man my boy is growing up so fast!!! What am I going to do?
Antoine Traveling
After over 4 weeks of traveling for work Antoine / Daddy is finally home... Zeke and I got to hang out by ourselves for a while. Usually Zeke falls asleep on daddy while watching TV. He doesn't really settle on me so it was different trying to get him down.
During the second to the last week when Antoine had to travel for the whole week Zeke and I were sick. Mom came down to help me watch him and also let Zeke stay home from school so that he could get better. It was a great blessing to have her come down and help out.
Holloween
Well, with Antoine traveling these last few weeks, and having colds, we were exhausted for Halloween and really did not do anything. We ended up even turning our lights out early since the knocking and the commotion was waking up Zeke.
Zeke did not dress up or have an outfit. I don't know when he will.... We will see as everything plays out.
Apple Hill
My Mom and Dad were coming down to visit and for us all to go to Apple Hill. The rain decided to hit for a few days and Zeke became sick again... :( So, Antoine stayed home with Zeke, while I took my parents for the first time up to Apple Hill. The rain held off until the afternoon, so we were able to enjoy the day, plus due to the rain, there was less traffic.
Hopefully next year we will be able to go up together as a family. I was really looking forward to taking pictures of Zeke with the pumpkins and all sorts of stuff.
Hair Cut
Zeke's hair was getting so long... It was taking a little bit to wash it to make sure all the soap is out. So, Antoine cut his hair for the first time. Zeke did really good while Daddy cutting it. Daddy did a great job at cutting it too.
Men's Retreat
Antoine took off this weekend to go hand out with the men of our church. He kicked it off by participating in a golf scramble with some of our friends.
Since he was leaving me for the weekend with Zeke, I decided last minute to take Zeke up to my parent's house for the weekend. Grandpa and Grandma were able to show their grandson off at church. :)
The trip up and back were not too bad, since Zeke slept most of the 3 hours. It was just long and tiring.
Antoine will be taking off though for work for at least three weeks before Thanksgiving. We will see how we do. I am going to miss him.
San Diego Trip
We took Zeke down to San Diego to visit our family and friends. Since my grandparents did not want a sick child in the house and we never know if Zeke will be sick or not (he gets colds easily, esp with day care), we decided to stay with my friend, Farrah. We flew in on Thursday and hung out at Mission Beach. Zeke was able to meet Gavin, Lea's 1 1/2 year old son. After that we went to my friend, Lea's house for dinner. On Friday, we went to Sea World. Zeke enjoyed watching all the animals. We were surprised. He ended up taking a nice large nap in his stroller.
We then went to my grandparents house for the evening. It was nice being able to see them again.
On Saturday we hung out more with my grandparents and played some Hand and Foot. My grandfather kicked some butt. We then went back to Farrah and George's for the evening, and saw Allyl and Josh. Allyl's pregnant belly was becoming more noticeable. We are looking forward to meeting their new little one.
Sunday, we just head off the Rock church then took off and headed home.
Hair Changing
When we first met Zeke in the NICU, it looked like he had almost straight hair. By the time we took him home, his hair looked more like jerry curls (loose curls). Well now, his hair is changing again. His curls are now tightening up into tight curls.
4th Dry Night
Well, I think I have learned the trick and with Zeke getting older, it is becoming easier. We are now trying to feed him early, wait a half hour then change him and put him down. This help minimize the overflow. Hopefully we can get better at this and it will start to be come more normal than having to give him a bath every morning.
Terrible Terrible Colds
After a week at day care Zeke came home with a Terrible Cold. He could hardly breathe. We felt so sorry for him. It was hard - we had to keep sucking all the junk out. Antoine has now become and expert in this field along with giving him his saline drops.
Daddy was even kind enough to work from home so that he can watch Zeke instead of taking him to day care.
Both Antoine and I were lucky enough to catch what he had... Yeah - just what we always wanted. We are suppose to take off for camping in a few days and I don't know how we are going to do it with all of us just getting better.
Off to Day Care / School
Zeke is now off to day care / school & Daddy finally gets to go back to work. He is going to the Goddard School, which is right behind our house and in walking distance. It is very clean and secure. They are even suppose to teach him stuff... and we can visit him during lunch time. :)
I am sure I will visit him often during lunch instead of going home. It just means that I now have to pack a lunch - oh boy.
It will also be interesting to see how it works out getting us all up and ready to go every morning... I guess we get to get up earlier since we are having to bath him every morning.
The Blessing & Issues of Sleeping Through the night
Well, Zeke is still sleeping through the night. However, due to him being down for a long time, he overflows his diapers. We are in constant search of diapers or something that will help us not have to change his crib sheets every day.
We know that we could probably wake him up to change the diaper, but I would rather have a sleeping baby, and change the crib sheets and give him a bath every morning. We will see how long this lasts.
Sacramento Shower
A few of my friends here in Sacramento threw me (or should I say Zeke) a wonderful shower. It is so nice to start seeing people again after being gone for over a month. Plus I am so excited to show Zeke off to everyone!!!
Thank you everyone who put on and attended the shower.
Slept Through the Night
Well, Zeke had his two month checkup yesterday, which came with shots. I believe, as normal, it was probably harder on me than him. Once he starts crying because of the shots, I about to start. He just calmed down faster than I did.
Since daddy is off for the month of June to take care of Zeke, he was blessed with getting to watch him as he was unhappy and miserable during the afternoon.
The benefit though was that he slept through the night!!! How nice. I don't know how long it will last, but we will take what we can get!!
Baby Shower in Redding
All moms friends that she has known through church and some of the girls I grew up wanted to give Zeke and me a shower. We went up the night June 4th - day before the shower. Dad, Antoine and Al all went golfing while all us ladies got together to Celebrate Zeke and God Blessing us with him.
This was the first time Jen's Dad and Collin were able to meet little Zeke! It was nice seeing the family, church family, and friends!!!
Thank you everyone who put on and attended the shower.
Jen Back to Work
As of June 1st, I have to go back to work... :( It is kind of hard and kind of nice. It was nice to have a little break, but then it is hard to be away. At least Antoine will be taking care of him and I will be able to see him for an hour during lunch and he sleeps a lot, so it isn't like I am going to be gone all that long...
Second Weekend Home
My mom had plans to watch our nephews Tyler and Cameron while their parents went a way to celebrate their 10th Anniversary. Since my parents live up in Redding with out a major airport, she flew in and out of Sacramento. This also means that she gets to visit on her way going down and way coming back. On Wednesday, she stops by and spends a day with Zeke before she takes off on Thursday.
The furniture that we ordered the other weekend was not suppose to come for two weeks. On Friday, we receive the call that it is ready. At least Santini, Antoine's brother, is coming down for the weekend and will be able to help put it together and get it in the room. But now, I have to hurry and paint the room, since it is better done before hand. Friday night I stay up prepping the room and start painting around 10pm.
On Saturday - Santini and his family (Jeanette, Jahmila, Jasmine, and Zavior) come and visit / meet Zeke from Verdi (near Reno). They all fell in love / in infatuation with the new addition to the family. It has been fun to see everyone since we have been away for so long.
First Weekend Home
Wow!!! After being away from home for a month - there is soooo much to do. Yard work, housework, food shopping. The list is endless besides having to get the house ready for Zeke.
The first thing that Antoine went to go buy once we were home was a swing for Zeke!!!
Friday, My older brother, Rob, came up from Southern California to visit with our Nephew / God Son Tyler. They are the first family that get to meet Zeke. They brought up their pack 'n play, baby monitor, Einstein bouncer, bibs and other stuff. It was a great help. Rob could not stay long and left on Saturday to go home.
After he left, Antoine's mom and step-dad came down to visit us from Carson City. We are sooo excited to be able to share Zeke with the world in person and not just through pictures. Unfortunately, they were only able to stay that day and left that night.
Sunday, after church we went shopping for all of Zeke's room furniture. So much to get and do!!! It is all very overwhelming.
Coming Home - Try 2
We get up early and head to the airport. WE ARE COMING HOME!!!! This has been the least stressful day we have had in a long time. Once on the airplane we end up being able to sit in seats where we could lay Zeke down in a seat between the two of us from Newark to Arizona. I am sooo nervous of flying with Zeke and taking him up and down with the elevation. I am trying to plan his feeding time so that I can feed him as we take off. As we start to take off, I start shoving the bottles in his mouth. The problem is that it was a very long take off, so he almost finished before we were fully up in the air. For both take offs and landing though ha handled it like a champ and hand no issues.
When we arrived home, a friend of ours picked us up from the airport and brought us home. On our door step we had a "Welcome Home" gift (for Zeke) from our Wednesday night study. We felt so loved!!!
It was soooo nice to be home.
Coming Home - Try 1
Well we have been in New Jersey now for over a month!!! We have plane tickets to fly out today after 3:00, but we have not heard from California to know if we are allowed to bring Zeke back in. In order not to accrew another day of the rentail car, we turn it in to the airport before 6:00 am. That means, we have all day to spend at the airport waiting for our flight and waiting for California to give us approval. We were suppose to know by 12:00 PST of approval.
We hung out in the bagage claim area for a while with all our luguage so that we can spread out and not worry about others. After a few areas we found this nice spot up in the check in area behind a sign so that we were away from any draft and were out of the way of others.
Time krept on and we still did not hear anything out from Califonia. Our flight though going home has now been delayed. Yeah - it will give us more time to get approval. However we find out that due to the delay, we would not catch our connecting flight in Arizona for home. Time was getting close and still no word from California.
Since our flight was delayed to the point of not making our connecting flight, the airline allowed us to rebook for the following day with no added cost. This was a huge blessing from God. After we rebooked our flight, we found out that we were cleared to come back into California (still too late to catch the other flight though).
Now we just needed to find a place to stay the night. Since we weren't going to rent a car, we tried to find the cheapest place close to the airport with a shuttle. We ended up in a Howard Johnson. This made us greatly appreciate the other places that we stayed with kitchenettes in them. I cannot immagine spending this whole time in hotels and having to use bathrooms to clean out bottles!!!
The blessing though is that we KNEW we had a flight we were going home on the next day and we were cleared to leave. We were finally leaving NJ!!!!
Beware of the Frankenstien
So, now that Zeke is able to move, once he goes to sleep and he lays down, if his arms are not tied down, they will fling out in front of him and wake him up!!! It has taken us a little while to learn that it was this that was causing him to wake up. Now we are trying to make sure his arms are securely tied down. However there are a few times that they escape and then it can make it hard putting him back down again.
Plans to Come Home
Well... We finally have booked our tickets to come home!!! Yeah. We are coming home on May 12th. Though there may be a possibility that we would be able to leave earlier, it would cost more for us to wait and book our plane tickets the last minute. Our attorney thinks that we will be safe waiting until May 12th.
Though it seems like we have been gone for a long time, the days all seemed to blend together. It has also been sort of a blessing in disguise. We have been able to spend the first month all together and be able to work remotely. When we get home we will be able to take time off of work, so he will be older by the time we have to go back to work.
Three weeks old
Well, his allergies / sinuses thankfully have gotten better... However, he is getting older and awake more. It seems that the more often he is awake the harder it is for us to put him down, especially at night. He is so tired. We are trying various different things to get him down... some work, but we don't have anything perfected.
Third Hotel
We are now off to moving to our third hotel and now in Branchburg. It is another hotel with a Kitchenette. Thanks to God's provision and Hotwire, we are able to get another great deal that has made this trip sooo much easier.
We are seeing all sorts of places in New Jersey.
Helps to breath in order to sleep
The last few days Zeke has become congested and has been having a hard time sleeping. We have been holding him up right as much as possible since this has seem to help him breath the best. It has been fun trying to learn to sleep sitting up. We just bought a humidifier, saline nose drops and he seems to be breathing a little better. Hopefully he will be able to breath and sleep more content tonight.
It has been rough doing all of this from a hotel room, and not even having a pediatrician for him. Also the thought whenever we go to buy him something about - how do we get it home or do we just leave it here...
We will get through this, and it is going to cause a lot of memories and stories for him when he becomes older...
Nicknames
So - we planned on his nickname or the name we would call him most of the time being "Zeke", but here are some other names that he has adopted so far:
EZ B or EZ Booty
Precious
Munchkin
Little Monster (from an outfit he has)
Lil' Prince
Lil' Monkey (from an outfit and blanket he has)
Lil' Piglet
Brown Sugar
Dark Chocolate
Ethiopian Child (since he was skinny when naked when we took him home)
Constipation Come and Gone
Just as we are done with the Dr. Visit, we find out that he is now having trouble going poo. He went over a day with out going. This had us scared. Trying to do all we can with out going to the doctor since we don't have one out here, we research as much as we can to see what we can do. We learn that it can be due to too much iron. We have been giving him Vitamin supplements in the morning that contain iron as prescribed from the hospital along with his formula that has iron. We stopped the vitamins and fix him a baby prune juice mixture that was suggested to us by my Aunt who works in a Pediatrician office. After a little while, everything has started coming back thankfully. We are back in business changing poopy diapers. Oh yeah!!!
Social Worker & Dr Apt
Monday we get to take Zeke's birth mom to the Social worker. It is her first visit and has to wait another 10 business days until she can meet with her again for the independent adoption process to go through. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 3rd... after that, it will take 3-5 business days for all the paperwork to be done so we can take Zeke across state borders and bring him home. He is going to be almost a month old by the time he is able to go home...
Tuesday we head off to Zeke's first Dr. visit. This has also been complicated, because we don't have all the paper work for him to be fully in our custody yet. I believe that all comes on May 3rd. We were able to get a signed note on Monday that says we are able to take him to the Doctor's with out having the Birth Mom there. That was a huge relief. However he is still not on our insurance and Kaiser is not out here. This has been a lot of work and hard to figure things out.
Cannot wait to go home and have him all set up in our system.
The Dr. Visit goes great. He is now 21 inches long and weighs 7lbs 4oz. He is growing nice and strong - nothing to worry about yet. :)
The Art of Diaper Changing
Well, I know I have changed diapers many times before, but I guess it has been a while. It seems that I am having to use so many more wipes than need be due to spreading the poo around rather than clean it up... Zeke has poo'd on me (or while changing his diaper) a handful of times, and never on Antoine. The yellow fountain has gone off though a few times for both of us. I know one day we will become pros... But right now this is all a learning process.
Changing Hotels
Well, since the length and duration has changed, we have booked another hotel for two weeks. We end up in Homewood Suites in Princeton, NJ. The room comes with a kitchenette, couch, small dining table. They also provide breakfast every morning and on Monday through Thursday free dinner with beer and wine. This has been a blessing so that we do not have to go out to eat every night. We reserved the hotel through Hotwire, so it was even less expensive than the Holiday Inn Express we were staying in earlier.
Good and Bad News
We learn that the process in which is only suppose to take us 7 - 10 days will now be taking us about a month. A lot of hard decisions are being made. We have decided to go with it and work remotely while we can.
Thankfully through all this process we have a HUGE amount of support from our friends, family and work. We would not be able to make it through this process with out them!!!
Wednesday, we learn we can now take the baby home. He is now Ezekiel ("Zeke") Daniel Boutte - even though, that will not be official until the birth certificate is changed. He won't know any difference.
We FINALLY get to hold him!!!! We take him home for the first night. Oh, there is so much to learn. We are thankful though that he is a great baby and sleeps quite a bit. This will help us being able to work.
He was born 6lb 8oz and 20 3/4 inches long... He is so tiny - but cute.
NJ Here we come
We arrive on Monday at JFK around 5:30 am. We check into our hotel and take a nap. After that we head off to the Hospital to go and meet the birth mom and the baby boy. When we get to the NICU unit we learn that we cannot enter with out the birth mother and we cannot hold the baby at all either. We just sit there looking and falling in love with such a cute baby boy.
It is hard just looking at him and not being able to hold him, but our day will come.
The birth mom was back to work on Monday night and School and work on Tuesday. We would not be able to see him until 11:00 pm on Tuesday.
We did have to go shopping though for baby stuff and prepare for taking him home. What things do you buy when you are going to be in a hotel room and have to take everything back on a plane...
The Start of an Adventure
After talking to Lifetime through various phone calls, talking to the birth mom, Rahseeda, calling our bosses, and booking our flights, we are heading off to New Brunswick, New Jersey to adopt the baby boy. We plan to be gone for 7 to 10 days as they suggested the time would take for the process.
The baby is currently in the NICU unit due to taking in embryonic fluid. He will have to stay in the NICU and receive antibiotics until his bacterial cultures come back negative. We will meet the birth mom on Monday before the she is discharged and visit the baby. He is set to be released on Tuesday if all goes well.
Received "The Call"
We have been in the adoption process since the end of last summer... Tonight we received the call that a new baby has just been born in New Jersey and asked if we would be interested in adopting the new baby boy... Decisions... Decisions.
A New Year
Well each new year I get to move all my tabs around to create the new tab for the new year. For New Year's eve Andrew and Amber came over and we played games and karaoke way into the early morning. It was a lot of fun. I hope all of you are blessed durning this new year, and I look forward to see what it brings.
It has been a while...
We have been so busy with so much that it has taken me a while to upload photos and place news of what has been going on with us. Well since the last post:
- Antoine lost his position at Kaiser and had to interview for other positions at Kaiser. We are thankful that he was able to get another job (which was a promotion) within Kaiser. Only three of the ten people that were let go where able to find a position.
- We went down to San Diego in early November and stayed with some friends of ours ( David and Reesa). We were also able to see King, Lea, Gavin (their baby), Farrah, George and Allyl. It is always nice being able to visit friends. We do miss them. We finished up with visiting Jen's grandparent and getting our but kicked in Hand and Foot (canasta card game)
- Thanksgiving, we drove back down to San Diego to spend it with Jen's grandparents, and auntie. Jen's parents also came down from Redding. It was quite an event that dealt with a grandma who had a broken femur, Aunt with a torn ACL, and a grandfather that ended up spending a night in the hospital.
- For some reason this year I (Jennifer) was not able to get into the Christmas spirit. We decorated the house as normal and enjoyed that. However, I was not in the mood for doing much Christmas shopping. I didn't even make Christmas cookies or anything. I barely got some christmas cards out, but not to everyone.
- With having a heavy winter, and not having a 4x4 we were not able to visit Antoine's brother's family, since it requires going over the Donner (tahoe) pass. We had to put that off to the next year. Instead, we used a free night that Jen obtained from her work travel and went to Napa for one night. It was nice and relaxing.
- Just before Christmas, Jennifer's Dad had a heart attack. It was very scary, but we are bless that God still wanted him here on earth. We are thankful that he is back to feeling good.
- This year for christmas, we "did" christmas on christmas eve day and took off for Redding on Christmas Eve. We had fun playing Apples to Apples, Scategories, Hand and Foot, and Wii the whole weekend. It was fun hanging out with family (Mom, dad, Collin and Stacy)
Other than that, I have been busy working too much at work, stuff for the church christmas event and our Adoption. I can proudly say that we are currently being advertised on some websites. We still have work to do. I will be so glad once the work is over.
Off to the Ball Park
As stated earlier... Antoine and I have now lived in Northern California for 5 years, and he has yet to take me to AT&T park. Well, we decided we needed to go, and what could be better than watching a divisional game (Dodgers) close to play offs. Since I have a few free nights that I have to use up at a hotel, we decided to enjoy our time and stay the night also.
So, Saturday morning we packed up and headed for San Franscico. We checked into our hotel, relaxed, and then took the local bus down to the stadium and grabbed dinner. We got in to the stadium early to be able to look around - it is a very nice stadium. Antoine spoiled me with buying club tickets (this is a total different experience). The stadium was packed with giant fans and a fare share of LA Dodger fans. The crowd shouts loudly every once and a while "BEAT L- A". However, a lot of Dodger fans would start shouting "Let's go Dodgers" and then the giant fans would retort "Let's go Giants" - so it made it hard to distinguish if the fans were yelling "Dodgers" or "Giants".
The game was better than the River Cats game we experienced earlier. Though the Giants did get killed, there were at two home runs, a pickle and lots of fun hits with action.
On Sunday morning, we roll out to bed and head out to the "Crepe House" which is a cute little cafe with a great breakfast. After that, we headed down to the Golden Gate National Recreational Park where we could have fun taking pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge and stroll the beach.
Summer 2009
Well we have had an exciting summer... It seems thought that the "summer" has been shortened this year since schools in our area started towards the beginning of August. Oh, how I would of hated that as a kid. But as I am now an adult, I can understand how adults may enjoy it.
Some of the pictures that have been added since my last entry are some of:
1) Going to "Sip and Sing" - a wine bar that had Karaoke for a friend of ours birthday in our Wednesday night bible study.
2) We went to Folsom lake to hang with our Tuesday night bible study for another birthday party.
3) Antoine and I went to Lake Tahoe with both of our brothers. Santini's (Antoine's brother) kids are so adorable and hams for the camera. We had a wonderful time - it just wasn't quite long enough. We are thinking about maybe making it an annual trip with the family.
4) After I spent a week in Vancouver, BC Canada for work I was able to join Antoine and our Wednesday night study at a River Cats game. The River Cats lost and their wasn't many hits - so it was kind of boring, but we had great company to keep us entertained.
5) Hiking trip with our Tuesday night bible study group up to Lake Margarite.
During the Summer, Antoine and I have started going through the adoption process, and have been busy putting the package and all the materials together. We are getting close to finishing it and start the advertising process. We just pray for God to be in the process and that he will lead and guide us through all of it and that we will not stress out either by the work or the cost.
Future events for us... Well, I have bugged Antoine that we have now lived here in Sacramento for four years (cannot believe it really has been that long since we left San Diego), and he still has not taken me to see a Giants game - to see their stadium. Also he has been to a Raider game every year some how (mostly scored some free tickets), but I was never able to go (Though I HATE the Raiders, but it is still a football game). Well next weekend, Antoine is taking me to the Giants to watch them play against the Dodgers. Then, due to my parents giving us tickets (at a small cost), we are going to see the Raiders play the Broncos at the end of the month.
This year Antoine and I will be celebrating our 5th Anniversary!!! It does not feel like it has been that long... I could not picture being with anyone else. He is the best guy who has come into my life.
4th of July
Antoine's Brother and his family visited my parents up in Redding. We had a blast playing with the kids in the pool all day... I am currently peeling from the amount of sun I received. At least this summer has not been too bad with the heat.
After playing int the pool, we went to the Civic Center to watch the fireworks. Since Redding has such a large firework display, we might make it an annual tradition.
I am so glad to be done with all our travels for a while... We don't have anything planned now until August 21st when we get to go Camping in Tahoe with Santinit (Antoine's Brother) and Collin (my brother). We will be celebrating Jahmila's (Santini's oldest daughter) 8th birthday!
Collin's 30th Birthday / Sky diving
For Jen's Brother's (Collin) 30th Birthday, we went to Monterey to go sky diving. Antoine, Collin and Jen's Dad all jumped out of the plane at 18,000 feet. They went over 120 miles / hour. It took forever waiting for the them to get called to go up...
They all survived and had a good time. Collin and Jen's dad are glad they did it, but are not looking forward to doing it again. Antoine, however, would love to be able to do it again.
After the dive, we all went to dinner with Jen's older brother (Rob) and his family, Jen's Aunt and younger cousin (Emilie). It was fun being able to get together with family
Jahmila visits for Summer Church Camp
Our church puts on a week summer camp for K - 5th called Blitz. They have huge blow ups, slides and other fun stuff going on. Antoine took the week off to volunteer at the camp. His station was the huge water slide. Since he was off for the week and helping out at the camp, we invited our seven year old niece to come and stay with us and to go to the camp.
Jahmila came on Saturday and we went miniature golfing on Sunday and played in the arcade. Antoine also took her to the Folsom water park and Folsom Zoo. It was fun having her come and stay. She was excelent.
Memorial Day Weekend
Well, my mom decided to actually have a weekend off of work so that we could go up and visit them. We have been trying to go up and visit them since our vacation so that we can see their beautiful kitchen that they had to redo. They went through months of being out of a kitchen due to a water leak with their refrigerator.
We were able to go hiking at Wiskeytown falls, go golfing at Fall River Mills and see Burney Falls. I loved the wonderful weather and being able to be outside and enjoy it. Unfortunately my brother, Collin, was on call all weekend, so he wasn't able to come out and play with us. We did get to see and hang out with him though.
God however has been blessing my mom with quite a bit of work. She has lately been putting in full weeks of work, working as a contracting position. This way they call her up to work and she has the ability to say whether she wants to work or not.
Mother's Day
Antoine and I went up to Verdi / Reno to visit his family and mom. We brought up some bubbles and water guns for the kids and had a blast with them in their back yard. The boys grilled for us again. The meat and food were great. After dinner we were all hanging out in their living room and the kids all ransacked their father, Santini, and dog piled him. He then showed off his wonderful strength by doing push ups with all of them on his back.
Trip to San Diego
Last Thursday we went down to San Diego to visit our Family and Friends for a weekend. We stayed with my grandparents in Del Mar / Carmel Valley area. On Friday morning, Antoine went golfing with his friend David Cooper, in which he was able to shoot a birdie!!! (I am not talking about the animals, as my older brother asked) Later on that night my older brother Rob and Kelly came down to my Grandparents with their two boys (Tyler and Cameron). It we my first time I got to meet Cameron. He is very cute and has some nice colored skin. Saturday, we went to my friend Lea's place and met Farrah and Allyl and their husbands. We don't see each other near enough!!! So, I got to meet Gavin, Lea's son, also for the first time.
On Saturday night and Sunday, my grandmother was kind enough to beat us in Hand and Foot (card game) three times!!! We ended up having to go home with our tails between our legs. :(
We look forward to the next time we get to come down and see everyone again! Maybe, some of our southern california friends can come up and visit us, now... :)
Birthday in Monterey
Antoine took me to Monterey for the weekend of my birthday. Due to frequent hotel points, we were able to stay downtown for almost nothing. When we arrived at the hotel, they gave us a handicap room that had an ocean view. Since, I don't care for staying in handicap rooms, they changed our room to a mini suite with a balcony. I am starting to get spoiled!!! The first night we just walked around downtown Monterey and down the pier.
On Saturday, we drove the 17 mile drive. Once Antoine realized that all the golf courses including Pebble Beach was included in the drive, he got really excited. Of course, we had to stop by all the golf courses, take pictures and visit their proshop. After we were done with the 17 mile drive we stopped in Carmel and walked around for a little. It was a very cute town. Then we headed back, for some rest before dinner. Antoine took me to the Chart House and we were able to get an ocean view table. We had a wonderful time. After that we, needed to walk off all of our alcohol, so we walked up and down Cannery Row to see all the fun little shops they had.
Sunday, we just went out to breakfast and grabbed some chocolates at a shop and headed home. It was a wonderful relaxing time and a great birthday.
Extended Family Expanding
Though our family (Antoine and I) has not been able to expand yet, our nieces and nephews are increasing. While we were gone on our vacation in February, my older brother announced that they now have a new son Cameron James. We are looking forward to going down to Southern California to meet him.
This last weekend we met Antoine's sister Lakisha (on his dad's side) along with her daughter, Alexis, and son David for the first time. Lakisha is in her mid 20's and also lives in Rancho Cordova. It is amazing that we both ended up living so close together. Hopefully soon we will have pictures of them soon.
We are now excited to be able to go to Monterey for our first time this weekend. It should be a nice little get away.
Women's Retreat Lake Tahoe
Last weekend I went up to Zephyr Cove, Lake Tahoe for a women's retreat with our church, Lakeside. Two of the women in Antoine's and my Tuesday night bible study joined me. We roomed together along with another lady we met there. On Saturday the snow started falling and it was beautiful. The ride home however was LONG - God did answer my prayers though and they lifted the chain requirements before I got to the summit. Some photos of the retreat have been added.
Back from Vacation
Now we are back from vacation. It has taken me a while to post our vacation photos, but they have finally been added. Currently I am getting ready for our church's women's retreat that is next weekend. So much to do and so little time.
Antoine and I are also looking forward to visiting our family as soon as we can to spend time with them. Also, one of our friends in San Diego just had their son and my older brother in southern California just adopted another son while we are on vacation. So, we are going to be planning a trip down there as soon as we can - hopefully by the end of April.
I hope all is well with you.
Our Vacation to the Western Carribean
We Arrived into Fort Lauderdale the day before our cruise. We ended up going to a nice German restaurant. It was the first time we have ever been to a German restaurant.
Day 1: We waited for the shuttle to take us to our cruise, and then boarded the ship with no problems and virtually no line. It was nice. We walked around the ship to get a feel for it and where everything was, then went to our room to get ready for our first dinner. When we arrived at dinner they placed us at a four top table and we were the only ones there. This disappointed us, since we ask to be placed at a table of six, hoping to get to meet others on the ship. We still had a great dinner and enjoyed ourselves. We then caught the main show, Antoine participated in karaoke in the karaoke bar, and we looked around for the night life. The night life didn’t really start until about 11:30 in the dance club.
Day 2: We are on VACATION!!! This day is a full day at sea and we slept in until about 10:00. Jennifer NEVER sleeps in this late. We then moseyed up to the top deck with the pool and were able to lay out. Antoine stayed out in the sun quite a bit longer than Jennifer and found that his skin does actually burn. After we had enough sun, we decided to go for some Afternoon Tea. We loved it! It was relaxing and an interesting experience. We were also able to meet a few other people there too.
We then got ready for a formal night dinner. When we arrived at the dining hall, we learned that we were seated at the wrong table the night before, and that we actually belonged to a table of six with two other couples. We got to meet Nigel and Lydia, and Steve and Phyllis. We were happy to have others to sit with.
Day 3: Ocho Rios, Jamaica - We were blessed with a lot of liquid sun (rain) as we went on our 4x4 jeep safari ride. The jeep had a roof on the top, but the rain pelted through the sides. It was poring and we were drenched, especially Antoine. We saw a few “Ready Freddy” statues, drove through Fern Gully, drove on a two way one lane roads to a high location to be able to over look the city, Ocho Rios, and stopped by an old English house that was in ruins. Along the way, we were introduced to many of their local spices.
Next we made our way to the falls. Thankfully by the time we started to climb up the falls, the liquid sun had stopped. It was very pretty and fun. We were not able to take any pictures here since our cameras would have got wet.
We learned that there are only two problems in Jamaica:
1) Your car horn does not work
2) You walk into a bar and cannot find the bar tender
Everything else is just a situation.
We came away from the island saying, “Yeah mon, No Problem.”
Day 4: Georgetown, Grand Cayman - What a great island. We want to go back and stay for a while. We were temped to open an account in one of their 500 banks (with probably $20 or something), just to be able to say that we have an “off-shore” account. ;) We did not have an excursion to go on, we just walked along their stores. They had a lot of the high end jewelry, which we were too poor to buy anything there. We then took a taxi ride down to 7 mile beach and hung out for a while. Then we came back and hung out at Margaritaville and watched a whole bunch of people relive their college spring break years that would have occurred for them 30 to 40 years ago. It might of helped that they were giving away shots of tequila, margaritas and tee shirts. We also got to learn what the Cuban shuffle was all about. It is very similar to the electric slide.
Day 5: Cozumel, Mexico – The water here is gorgeous! It is a bright teal color. The island wasn’t as tropical as the others, but we still had a good time. We went on an ATV tour and received plenty of what the tour guide called Mexican makeup (dirt). After that we went snorkeling off the beach and saw very colorful fish: flounder, squid, eel, and other sea life. The ground here and in the Caymans was quite plain and white.
Day 6: This is our next day at sea. It was rather windy and chilly, so we did not feel like laying out in the sun (though we did want to do this if the weather permitted it). The boat was also rocking quite a bit, so we just relaxed, walked the ship and took pictures. This was our next formal dinner night, so we were able to dress up again for dinner.
Day 7: Princess Cays, Bahamas – This was a private little island that was nice and tropical. It was small and not much to do, except relax on the beach. It was very nice.
Day 8: The cruise is over. We get to disembark. This is the longest line and the largest crowd that we had to deal with. Once we were off the boat and received our rental car, we went for a drive while waiting for our room in our hotel to be ready. We traveled up north along A1A. We could not get Vanilla Ice’s song out of our head while driving on the road. (There is a line in the song that has A1A Beach Front Boulevard on it).
Day 9 – 13: We just enjoyed hanging out in our hotel. It was right on the beach, so it was nice and relaxing. Our balcony overlooked the beach so we could have our sliding glass doors open and hear the ocean on the beach. It was so nice.
Now we are back home and at work – the fun never lasts. At least we were able to get the break away and have pictures to remember it by.
No Scuba Diving for us...
For Christmas I asked Antoine if we can get certified in scuba diving. We are going the Caribbean coming up in February, and I have been wanting to go scuba diving on the islands. Antoine, being the loving husband that he is, got it for me. :) We were so excited. It was a lot of work for us though. The class took up a full weekend, along with a week full of self study and book work, then we would have a fun weekend in Monterey completing our first open water dive. This last Saturday, we suited up to do our confined (pool) dive, to get use to the equipment. Before we got to put on the equipment, we had to complete swimming four laps (back and forth = 1 lap) with out stoping at the wall or putting our feet down on the bottom. This is a very tiring, and was a test for the both of us. Since Antoine doesn't really swim, it was big for him to accomplish. Well, later on that afternoon and the next day, Antoine started to break out. :( We are learning that he has a major allergy to Neoprene - the stuff that wetsuits are made of, along with other items. The allergy happens mainly after the Neoprene is wet, so he is fine with mouse pads, neoprene sleve protectors and stuff like that.
So, needless to say, we have all this equipment, and we had to back out of the class... :( This has been really hard, especially for Antoine -- since it was his body that was attacked. We are hoping that we will still be able to go snorkling though, since the fins are made of rubber and not neoprene.
I wish I would have taken some pictures while we were at the pool that day. I was planning on bringing the camera to the next day -- but that was too late. Oh well. Another sad thing is that I was not able to go to my friend's baby shower because of the class.
If you can just pray for Antoine's healing this week - that would be great.
New Year's Eve
Friends from our church, Lakeside, and the Woods, our Kansas friends came over to help us bring in the new year. The boys did a little karaoke in the living room, while the girls get their game on playing some hand and foot. We were so entertained, that we lost track of time and past the count down for the New Year. We then tried to take group pictures for the first of the year.
The other prior pictures on the recent pictures are of Jennifer's coworker, Blong. His wife and him wore the traditional Hmong garb in the beginning of the reception and the changed into a tux and wedding dress for later on. They had over 600 people there.
Antoine and I are currently under going scuba diving classes to be certified. We are going to go scuba diving on our cruise in February. We are doing it as one of our excursions on the Grand Cayman Islands. We might also go scuba diving in Ft. Lauderdale while our stay their after the cruise.
Christmas Day
Christmas Eve, it was just Antoine and I. We ate a wonderful roast for dinner, then headed off for service. We came back and decided to take a couple of pictures of us... :)
On Christmas we woke up, opened gifts and then headed off to Reno to see Antoine's family for dinner. The drive took over twice the normal about of time (normally 2 hours, and took us about 4.5). There was a lot of traffic, snow, chains and low visibility as we went over the Donner pass.
We did arrive safely and it was all worth it. We got to see the smiley faces of our nieces and nephew (along with all the others in our family). We had a wonderful dinner and watched the kids open up their gifts. They were soo excited and loved all their gifts, especially their scooters that Antoine's mom got them.
We drove back later on that night, but there was no traffic and lots of visibility, so the drive went smoothly and safely. It only took us 3.5 hours. Not too bad since we could only go 30 miles / hour as opposed to 65.
I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas - and may the Lord truly bless you.
Christmas Photos
Christmas time is here!!!! and Antoine and I have decorated the house up and getting into the spirit. We also had a Christmas gift exchange part with our Bible Study last Friday night. We has a lot of fun socializing, opening gifts and doing some karaoke. We also had fun making random poses for the camera.
While I am currently away in Maryland for work (Sunday - Thursday) I am looking forward to going home for the Christmas time.
May God bless all of you during this time, and may He be in the center of all that we do!!!
New Tab Added
Recently, one of my friends emailed me and asked me what lessons has God been teaching me. There have been hints of things that God has been teaching me, but I must admit, I have not been seeking out to find what God has really been saying or keeping track of it. So, I have added a journal called God and Me under the "Jennifer" tab, in which I will try to weekly put down the new things in which God is teaching me. I invite any discussion on any of the topics. I would also LOVE to hear what things God has been teach / doing in your life.
Jennifer
Womens Christmas Celebration
Three of us girls (Brandi, Susannah, and me) from Antoine's and my bible study decided to host and decorate a table for this years Women's Christmas Celebration that is put on by our church (Lakeside). All of our husbands were nice enough to show up and serve the women. Shauna Niequist (the author of the book Cold Tangerines) came and spoke. It was a fun filled night to get us ready for the Christmas spirit.
Now it is time for decorating the house and preparing it for Christmas. We are half way there!!! I am looking forward to baking cookies and mailing out Christmas cards. The Christmas songs are already playing and the weather is cold. It is a fun time of year!
Thanksgiving Get Together
Antoine's Brother and his kids (Jahmila, Jasmine, Zavior), Antoine's mom and her husband, Jennifer's Parents and Jennifer's Brother and his girlfriend all came over to celebrate thanksgiving with us! :) The party started on Wednesday and lasted until Saturday night. The Wii and Wii Fit was the main center of attraction during the whole time. Everyone got to take the kids to go and see Disney's Bolt. Collin, Stacy (his girlfriend) and Antoine and I finished up playing golf on Saturday and hanging out downtown.
The pictures have been added to an album on the 2008 page, and a sub set has been added above.
Back from Family Vacation
Antoine and I just got back from spending the weekend in Windsor, Ca with my family. We were able to rent a Limo for the day and visit over 5 wineries. It was a nice and relaxing weekend, and it would have been better if none of us were sick. Antoine and I seem to always have issues with illness whenever we go on vacation with my parents. Oh well. We are still recovering.
We are looking forward to Thanksgiving and being able to host family from both sides of our family!