The Holloways

We're Back!

2011-09-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well after a very long break I have decided to start updating this from time to time again. We have been busy all summer long. We went on some mini vacations and ultimately have been trying to get these 2 to look like this:

We have come to accept that both of our children are wild and we definitely love them for it. There is nothing better than seeing the 2 of them like how they are in the photo above. It isn't an easy thing to do but when we can wear them out like this, it's huge to us. They are both progressing great. Rylan is such a (most of the time) good big brother. He definitely loves his sister. I think he just doesn't get that she's not his size. It's weird though because with other babies he is very gentle. Oh well it will give her thick skin. Chloe is 10 months old and I feel like she is doing so many things. She knows Tawny is mama and it is the cutest thing to hear her say it. She knows a few other words well at least it seems like it. She has learned to scream in the worst way, to the point where we have to leave places or stick our fingers in her mouth as soon as she starts just to quiet her. Again our kids are just a little rambunctious.

Rylan however will be working on controlling his energy since this kid just started pre school. He is continuing in the family tradition of going to the same school that my sibling and I went to. He goes 2 days a week for 3 1/2 hours. Yesterday was his first day and he loved it. Apparently they read the Three Little Pigs because he kept telling me about the bog bad wolf and then he would blow on me. Of course he likes the villain. Anyways he also was able to get there early enough to play a little bit with his cousin Drake before they separated the class.

Easter Catch Up!

2011-05-05T21:40:00.001-07:00

Okay so the pictures are backwards from how i actually wanted to put them but to delete them and then reload them seemed like a whole lot more time than I have. This last month has been mellow the biggest event that has happened was Easter. Rylan loves Easter and everything that comes with it. Right now when we talk to him about Jesus (whom he refers to as "Jesus Christ, Amen"), I think he somewhat gets what we are talking about but overall Easter was bunny rabbits and eggs. He had a couple of times over the weekend doing Easter egg hunts where he refused to let pottying get in his way so he just pee'd his pants. Twice! Other than that though he never seems to have any accidents he'll go all night without wetting his pull up. But yes Easter was very fun for him.

This picture makes me laugh every time for 2 reasons, 1 I took a picture of him like this when he was around 6 months and now he doesn't even fit in the thing, and 2 he thru a fit when Chloe was in there and he wasn't then refused to get out. Lets just say I should have taken a pic of him when i pulled him out to humiliate him when he gets older.

This look is classic, this is Rylan getting his way look and Chloe just in a daze waiting to be picked up.
When she was in here by herself she seemed to enjoy it a lot more.

Same 'ol!

2011-03-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

To be completely honest I have lost the drive to keep up with blogging. I am trying and we'll see if it picks up again, in the meantime here ar some recent happenings. We have been keeping ourselves busy with Disneyland and anything else we can muster in. No pictures but over the weekend we went to El Dorado Park to feed the ducks and were bombarded by the geese gang. Ugly things they are but for some reason Rylan thinks it's a game. Poor kid has no clue that geese are evil an will try and attack.

Speaking of Rylan this kid has or is trying to become quite independent. As you'll notice from the picture below he can put his own shoes on, just backwards. He was so excited that he could do this I almost wanted to leave them. He is also is in full potty training mode. He does really well. We have a potty jar which definitely helps, I mean who doesn't want an M & M or 2 first thing in the morning just for peeing. He is getting really good at telling us.

This little gal is just getting bigger and cuter by the day. She is a full on girl for sure, I'm talking dramatic emotional all that stuff. She is teaching us parenting in a whole new way. I mean with Rylan we could hand him to anyone and he was content. Not this one, she refuses a bottle, refuses a paci, and has specific napping criteria. But above all we love this little gal she can do all those things then flash a smile and we immediately forget everything else. She's a sweetheart who just gets cuter and cuter.
I had to include this pic of Rylan. I think it may be the only Sunday picture we've taken of him where he still looks decent.
And one more of our smiling little beauty, can't get enough of her.

Chloe's Blessing

2011-01-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

So I do realize Christmas and a lot of time has otherwise passed since the last post. But I thought I would start to try and stay on track again. This last Sunday Jan.2nd we had Chloe's baby blessing. Yes, she is 2 months but this was the best time to get all my family out here. We had the blessing over in the Los Al ward and that happened to be our last Sunday there. We did move months ago but asked permission to stay just until the baby's blessing so we will now start going to our ward here in Downey. The day however was great. I always love getting my family and the Araiza side together because I think it's really fun for Ry and Chloe as she gets older to have good strong bonds with cousins and Aunts and Uncles from both sides. We attempted to get a whole family pic of the Holloway side right before church. With a little photoshopping done by Tawny the pic turned out great. It was going to be at the bottom but somehow it's not and I tried for 10 minutes to move it and it didn't go anywhere so you are stuck with that being the first picture.

Here is our newest Green Bean (Irish Mexican) in her blessing outfit. We tried to get her in the same one Tawny had worn but unfortunately since we waited to have the blessing it didn't fit so we went and bought her one. And we couldn't find a single white shoe anywhere so we decided Chloe would be rebellious and add some pink into the mix.

The funny thing is in every picture we took it doesn't look like the dress fits her really well, like it's too short but it actually was a perfect fit.
We love our little Chloe so much! I can't believe she's on her way to 3 months now.

Sibling Love!

2010-11-19T21:22:00.000-08:00

I am not sure why now, but before Chloe was born we started to worry about how Rylan would cope with having another child permanently in the home. As you can see he handles it really well, he loves his little sister. I get a huge smile every time he lights up whenever he says her name. It's the best feeling in the world! I know when they get older they are sure to have disagreements but this is how I will always see these two. The only difficult thing now is Rylan has had a cold for the last week and has wanted to hold her so badly. He constantly says "I hode Cwoe!"

He is so excited to have her in his arms here. It's actually really hilarious. He loves her little hands and feet.

Let's not forget about Rylan!

2010-11-08T12:44:00.001-08:00

So I never got this post up before Chloe was born so here it is now. Rylan was Mickey Mouse for Halloween and was so excited about the whole thing. We took him to a few houses on Halloween (I know we are total sinners) but we really wanted him to give it a go. Last year we didn't even attempt it so we had to let him try this year. He loved it and I am sure next year he will be even more thrilled.

Here is Ry and Daddy at the ward Halloween party the night before. He was the most adorable Mickey Mouse I have ever seen. But I won't lie I can't wait till he is ready for some spooky costume. These have been Mommy's choices and well since Tawny made the costume she got to pick.
While at the ward party Rylan ran into Minnie and knew immediately that she was Minnie Mouse.
Speaking of Minnie. The Monday before Chloe was born we took Rylan to Disneyland for one final hoo-ra of him being the only child. He was the best behaved I have ever seen there and was just so patient and excited for everything. And who should greet us as we arrived? That's right good 'ol Minnie Mouse. He wasted no time giving her a kiss and moving along his way.
He loved the carousel. That might be his favorite thing to do.
We had fun with our little guy and we are loving how sweet he is with his sister. It seems to be a good transition so far so we shall see as time progresses.

Birth Story or lack there of!

2010-11-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

Now don't get me wrong when I say lack there of but really there is not much of this intense water breaking in the middle of Target type story that happens with us. Rylan was 10 days late so Tawny was induced. Chloe was breech so this was a planned c-section. Now we weren't thrilled with the idea of a c-section because recovery and all that stuff that takes longer but for the safety of our daughter of course Tawny had no objections. And in the long run it ended up being somewhat necessary since there were signs of late D-cells and pressure on the chord so it kind of was a blessing in disguise. Anyways our adventure started on Wednesday morning the 3rd at 4:00am. Thats when we woke up to get ready to head off to the hospital. The check in time was 5:30am and surprisingly enough we went in at 5:30am, there was no waiting. They did some preparation, asked questions, filled out forms all of that good stuff and the c-section was scheduled at 7:30 am. And at 7:30 am they took Tawny in (they told me I wasn't allowed in until after they had given her the epidural, apparently more and more husbands are starting to faint or something so they don't want the husband to do it.) I went in at 7:40 am and at 7:49 am she was out and screaming away. Tawny I am sure has the better version of the story. As an observer I don't get to share all the details. But I will say Tawny did amazing and I am so Proud of her. Chloe has been adjusting really well, the first night had a few moments but she is eating like a champ and sleeping really good. She's such a sweet blessing already! What's funny is we were in such awe of Rylan when he was born because he had reddish hair and we find ourselves being in awe of Chloe with her jet black hair. Rylan already adores his sister, Chloe was certainly the right name because he knows it's hers and says it so well. Our little family is growing and we couldn't be happier.

Chloe right after coming out and being put in recovery with me. We had to wait in there a while until they finished up with Tawny.

Day 3 Mommy and Chloe resting .

And our sweet little baby girl. Her eyes also are quite different to us. So small and deep but I am sure that will all change.

Chloe Elizabeth Holloway!

2010-11-03T21:09:00.001-07:00

I'll keep it short and sweet. Our baby girl arrived at 7:49 am weighing in at 7lbs 7oz. She's 20 inches long and look likes her momma. She has a lot of dark hair for now and yes her big brother came to see her and definitely was happy to see her. So here are some pics of our little sweetheart, more to come later.

The tale of the Urinal!

2010-10-25T21:56:00.000-07:00

This is Rylan, such a cute, handsome and intelligent little boy. He is coming closer to his 2nd birthday and we are so excited. I mean look at that adorable face. You look at him and think he must be the sweetest boy. Yes , our little Rylan is rather sweet, when he wants to be, is such a happy kid, when he wants to be, and is the most behaved child you could ever have, rarely but these are things we love about our little boy.

However recently Rylan has become somewhat mischievous, you might say he is entering those terrible 2's early or you might say he has a genuine interest in learning and understanding how things work.

Take for example this weekend. Saturday Tawny had a baby shower for our daughter whom we are having any day now. Anyways while she was enjoying her moment of fun with family I took Rylan and his cousin Drake to Chick fil A cause they have an indoor playground and since it was drizzly that day I figured somewhere to play would be a good way to get their energy out. So we had lunch and played for about an hour, both boys were beginning to act tired so we got our stuff together and were on our way out. I wanted to take Drake to the potti to make sure he tried to at least go before we got in the car since he had plenty to drink. Well this is all fine and dandy no problem doing that. I mean I have taken Rylan into the mens room before and he knows we DO NOT TOUCH any items in the bathroom. Well as I was in the process of helping Drake, Rylan took it upon himself to check the water temperature in the urinals and by check the water I mean he splashed and began to play in the urinal. 1st thing that comes to mind is shout because that will scare him enough to stop so I do that all the while holding Drake as he's using the potti. Well Rylan of course has a meltdown at that point and I am frantically trying to help Drake finish and get to Ry because now I am sickened by the idea of him playing in a Urinal water, who wouldn't be. So I scooped that kid up as quick as I could and began to wash every crevis of his hands and arms. The thought of coating him in hand sanitizer crossed my mind too but then i figured that might be too much for his poor fair skin. Anyways problem was solved and everything was fine. There was someone in the stall next to where we were but it wasn't a big deal they didn't see me and I was already on my way. Well I open the bathroom door and see half of the restaurant looking in my direction. I now figure out the reason Rylan didn't just get scared but also had the meltdown had to do with my shouting. Apparently the rest of the people at Chick fil A must have heard me as well. Needless to say i felt a fool and got the heck out of there. So when you see Rylan coming your way arms stretched out ready to hug you remember he played in the urinal.

My First 911 Call

2010-10-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

Donovan is usually in charge of our blog and is really good updating, but this time I thought I might try it out. Especially given the situation I was just in a few hours ago. So Donovan and I just moved into a house in Downey a few weeks ago and we are loving the space and having our own washer and everything. The only downfall is that we are basically jailed into our own house, there are bars on every window, we use about four keys to get into our home, and our security screens each have three locks, a dead bolt, a lock on the door knob and a latch that can only be undone from the inside. So now that you get the picture that there is absolutely no way to break into my home let me tell you what just happened.

I was getting ready to give Rylan a bath when I remembered I was supposed to get lunch with a friend today. So I went looking for my phone and couldn't find it anywhere so I thought it probably fell out in my car. I unlocked my car and was about to go look in my car when I realize my son is naked so I keep him in the house and shut the screen door to protect him from all those child predators. I looked everywhere for my phone and couldn't find it so I go back to the house and can't open the door! Yes that's right my son latched the security screen, meaning not even a spare set of keys could open the door! At first I kept it cool thinking if he could latch it then he should be able to unlatch it...no. That's when I started to panic, and it doesn't help being 9 months pregnant and extremely hormonal. So, I run to my neighbors house and my son is now screaming "mama, mama, where you going, come back, come back!" That's when the tears came. My very sweet neighbor let me use her phone and tried helping me get into my house. I didn't want to call 911 because 1. we are renting and I didn't want any damage done to the house and 2. My son was naked trapped in the house and I didn't want them calling social services on me, the situation just looked very bad. After trying everything and my son now crying like I've never heard him cry before, I called 911. They sent the fire department with sirens and all. It was so embarrassing with people coming out of their homes to watch plus I was in my pajamas and looked so gross. I explained what happened to the firemen, and explained why he was naked, but I could tell by the way they looked at me they thought I was crazy, heck I definitely looked crazy. Finally after about an hour of Rylan being trapped in the house alone the firemen were able to saw the bars off one of the windows and saved my little boy. Lets just hope I don't go into preterm labor from all the stress!

Double Pacifier!

2010-09-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

So this happened a while back and many of you can relate, I just thought I'd share the story. So we have had probably a good 20 + pacifiers throughout Rylan's 22 months and naturally the majority have disappeared. Well Rylan at some point or another had found himself a hiding place where he tends to put things that we are constantly asking where did it go? Like one time we were missing Aladdin for well over a week and he walked into the living room out of the blue one day movie in hand ready to watch it. So we figured these paci's were gone for sure and sure enough one day he walks out into the living room like this. In the last few days as we are packing up and getting ready to move we have found tubes of toothpaste and various other things that we knew he had hidden but could never find. Anyways this was just a pic I thought summed up our little guy. Silly and Mischievous!

San Diego!

2010-09-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: Alright so I originally had these pics in an order but accidentally deleted 1 or 2 then re-uploaded them then added some more, so they are all out of order but bare with me.

So funny story, well funny for everyone else. We originally had planned on going on a cruise this summer to the bahamas or somewhere over that direction. Everything was booked and ready to go and then came the question; Will you be 24 weeks pregnant or beyond at the time of the cruise? Umm yes is that a problem? unfortunately it was a problem and we couldn't go on the cruise. To make a long story short we were slightly irritated and annoyed but we understand the safety concerns and have gotten over it. Well almost!

Instead though we decided to do a mini vacation and go down to San Diego and walk till our feet could take no more. So we went to The Wild Animal Park, San Diego Zoo and Sea World. We had a blast ! Rylan couldn't have had a greater time. Our first day we went to The Wild Animal Park which was good just a little difficult considering the best stuff is the stuff you get to see while on the tour buses. Our mistake taking a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive down to San Diego with a 20 month old energetic little boy, then trying to make him sit on another bus just to drive around and point out animals. He loved seeing the animals but was totally over the bus.

Anyways next day we did Sea World, he loved it as did I being as I in my 26 years had never been. And then on the 3rd day we went to the Zoo. This was the best because 1. there is so much to see and 2. they have the elephant odyssee and elephants are Ry's favorite animals he had such a great time.

On our way home from San Diego we stopped at Farrell's! If you don't what that is ask your parents. There is one in Mission Viejo. Rylan enjoyed that ice cream and our server was great with him.

Rylan was definitely a little uncertain here.

The family at the Elephant Odyssee exhibit.( We do have pics of real elephants too)

Okay so while in San Diego we had to go to Old Town and this is what I call Heaven on a plate.

This is Mole (mo-leh) one of my absolute favorite dishes ever. Tawny does not like it because, well mainly because it is an aquired taste. Spicy chocolate sauce over chicken = Amazing. So I had to take a picture and share it.

This kid loves animals but I think they may fear him.

Polar bear exhibit playing in the "Ice."

Sea World Sesame Street land or whatever you want to call it. Rylan had a lot of fun there.

And our little Green Bean (Irish-Mexican) chowing down.

We're Back!

2010-09-06T07:57:00.000-07:00

Okay so we haven't really been gone but being as it's been quite a while since the last blog update we'll just pretend we've been gone. So there is a lot to update with but i'll start with the most recent and backtrack later. That works right? So we'll start with a belly update. Tawny is now 30 weeks along! The pregnancy has been once again not been the easiest on her but she's a trooper and manages to have a good spirit about the whole thing. She has gained a total of 7 lbs. which I know some of you are probably thinking Oh Poor Girl (sarcasm) however I will say she would much rather be able to eat something anything just not be throwing up all the time. These last few weeks have been pretty good on her though.

We have been doing a lot of pool trips some in real pools and some in the inflatable kind. Rylan loves the water, bath water, pool water, ocean water as long as he kind splash and swim he is one happy kid. Especially when his cousins are included.
There have been Disney trips this summer (naturally). This group got together and had a blast at disneyland all day.
WARNING: The pictures to follow are what we experience every time we are at Disneyland. Lets just say the original obsession started with just Chip and Dale but has turned into all oversized animal characters at Disneyland.

This 1st one you'll notice Rylan has buried himself in the shoulder of our dear friend Dale. Chip is in the background but decided to go sit down feeling very left out since this pic was taken after a few minutes of Rylan be stuck to Dale.
Next we have Tigger, now there was the moment that Rylan turned to kind of face the camera. Just barely, but Owen was pretty excited for Tigger too.
Again buried in Winnie the Pooh! This kid seriously loves Disneyland. The hard part however is 1. getting Rylan away from the characters afterward and 2. trying to make him wait in line/ not just run to the character as soon as he sees them angering all the patient kids.
Loving the splash zone at Disney's California Adventure!
And just yesterday we watched this gal Graduate? Well finish her 1600 hours of Cosmetology training. I don't know if thats actually graduating or not but she has her board test this month so either way she has accomplished quite a big thing and we are so happy for Hannah!
Rylan decided he would make better use of her balloons than she would and believe me I think he might have.
Up next Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and Wild Animal Park!

It's a . . .

2010-06-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

Well we made everyone in the blogging world wait an extra day because Tawny's family didn't find out till tonight. So I won't take long. We decided we should do something fun since we had done it before with Rylan. For him we popped balloons with confetti, It was a little more work than we thought so this time we thought of trying something a little easier. Well that didn't happen so we made homemade fortune cookies and let our families open up the cookies. Only 1 cookie had the fortune that everyone was looking for.

Here is Rylan waiting and ready to find out.

Here he is Happy about the news.

A before shot of the homemade fortune cookies.

And

without

further

ado

we are having a

...

Guess Away!

2010-06-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

We find out Monday June 21st what we are having. Take a guess and let us know what your intuition tells you! Boy or Girl!

18 Months!

2010-05-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Where has the time gone? Our little boy is 18 months (well tomorrow but i am doing this post tonight) and we can't seem to figure out how it's gone by so fast. We have been blessed with such a happy kid. Don't get me wrong he's a crazy little guy venturing on the terrible 2's really early but has the happiest personality. Rylan is doing all kind of things these days. Words are coming along good, the one he uses the most is NO! I can't imagine why, maybe cause mom and dad have to say it a lot. He's a little dancing machine, He dances to the hymn's at church and anytime music comes on.

He has gone to nursery a coupe of times and today he went all by himself and from what i understand he did really well. Not that that comes as much of a surprise considering he'd much rather be with kids his own age than us to play and sing.

Here is Rylan at around 5 months.

And our little man today!

I didn't do a Mothers day post because well mainly we have been busy and i can't find the time. With Tawny being pregnant again and having all the terrible symptoms that come along with it i get home from work and try to do what i can to make life easier. Oh by the way we are expecting again if you didn't know. We decided this time to wait a good little while before saying anything! Anyways we find out what we are having in a few weeks and are very excited! But getting back to Mothers Day we took some pics for my mom with the cousins and Tawny's mom with the cousin. We got some pretty good shots we thought! None of us our experienced photogs and it was a spur of the moment thing so we handled it pretty well.

Here is Owen and Rylan in a picture for Grandma Loretta!

And a pic with the Holloway cousins for Nana!

The Wonderful World of Disney!

2010-04-26T21:46:00.001-07:00

For those of you that know Rylan you know he is a very active child. He pretty much is a non stop on the go kid terrorizing and taking out everything in his way. Not that it's a bad thing at all, we are very entertained by our sons personality and how much fun he has. And you also know that there are very few things that will stop Rylan in his tracks. But there is 1 specific thing that this kid can't get enough of, Disney! Rylan's absolute favorite thing is Aladdin, he'll pretty much watch every Disney movie but only Aladdin will keep him occupied through the entire thing. This comes in handy! I am not saying we have used this as a means to get a break at all, i'd never say that. And i am not saying maybe we've let the Genie babysit him while we clean the entire apartment from head to toe. No, I am not going to say that but i will say this movie gets plenty of use here in the our home. The nice thing is Aladdin is actually one of the more fun ones and surprisingly watching once or sometimes twice a day has not made us want to chuck the movie out the window and forget it ever existed.

The next thing that will keep Rylan's attention also happens to come from Disney. It's set up on a shorter scale but none the less Rylan will watch these 2 chipmunks nonstop if he could. Chip and Dale cartoons are his favorite short cartoons to watch. His absolute favorite is the "Applecore" one.

Anyways to get to the point we took Rylan to one of his favorite places today, Disneyland. We have passes so we go often but today was great cause i think it's the first day we have gone in a while where the weather was perfect. We visited Toon Town and played piano at Goofy's house and we enjoyed some time at various other places.

But the absolute highlight of the night was when we watched the parade. Why you ask?, well you might say Pinocchio is like family and as such introduced Rylan to one of his friends in the parade.
Well who is this? Could it be Chip? Yes, and I don't know how much more excited Rylan could have gotten. Throughout a good few minutes of this parade where the characters are supposed to be going all over the place, Chip hung out with Rylan. And me like a fool thinking i am recording his excitement on video ended up just getting pictures. But it was the greatest experience and so fun to see our little guy having so much fun.
He may not look it but this was one happy kid.

Catch Up!

2010-04-05T22:22:00.001-07:00

Well I don't have any excuse other than laziness / lack of motivation to do any posts lately. We have been having fun over this past month or so. We welcomed 2 new nieces into the Holloway family (Unfortunately i realized the only pics i have are of the 2 of them in the hospital with all the monitors attached) but i can assure you they are so cute and adorable and we are so happy for Kevin, Melissa, and Reese. Aside from that we've mainly been trying to keep our overly active child entertained so that he'll sleep through the night. We went to Lake Arrowhead one of the weekends in February, we are very fortunate to have some great friends who let us borrow their cabin. Rylan didn't seem too interested but we got a couple oooohs and ahhhhs! He may need to be older to enjoy it more. Tawny however was on cloud nine, she had been wanting to go up to the mountains for months so we finally decided to give it a go.

The great thing as most of you know here in California is 1 minute you are in the snowy mountains and then you can just as easily be in a sunny front yard watering the lawn the next minute. Well Rylan discovered the hose and as you can tell loved every second of it. He is definitely a mischievious little guy, sometimes i'd like to say it's a little much but i would be lying because he keeps us entertained.
We also got to celebrate a 1st birthday. Our good friends Kyle and Shannon's son Mason celebrated his first birthday. I don't think Rylan could handle Mason getting to eat cake without sharing so he took it upon himself to go and pick some cake off of Mason's high chair.

Now for semi unfortunate events. Rylan has had 1 ear infection that has refused to go away for about 3 months so we were told he had to get tubes. *Note: Part of the reason it even lasted for 3 months cause they wanted to try a slew of antibiotics (that didn't work) then to get an appointment with the ENT was nearly impossible so 3 months later there you go. Rylan did super good though! We woke him up early this last Thursday morning so we could feed him since he wasn't going to be able to eat for 6 hours before the surgery. So at 6 o' clock we all got up fed Rylan then tried to keep him occupied and his mind off of any idea of food. We checked in at 11:00 am got him changed into his little hospital gown and waited till 1:30 before they actually took him back. I am amazed at how well he did during the whole waiting thing but he did. The aftermath of the surgery is a whole other story but our little baby did great overall.

Saturday before Easter Rylan dyed eggs with his Nana and seemed to enjoy the whole event.
And Easter morning he enjoyed a few toys and a couple of treats. Why the Easter bunny brought him a recorder i will never know, but he enjoys it so i guess the rest of us will just deal with it right?

FUN!

2010-02-17T16:17:00.001-08:00

Again we've been keeping busy. Rylan is becoming quite a handful on all accounts. He throws tantrums but still manages to keep us laughing despite it all. He's especially been a good little guy dealing with colds, ear infections and whatever else gets tossed his way. His favorite past time these days is the park especially the slides. He can't get enough! We were able to go to Arizona over Presidents Day weekend. We got to visit family and celebrate the 1st birthday of Finn and Sloane. It was a lot of fun and it always seems like time goes by all to fast when we are there.Here's our happy little guy, as you can see despite a double ear infection he keeps himself pretty entertained.
Also in AZ we got to spend some time with this cute gal. Bailey is a little ham herself and it was fun watching her get around also.
And the boys were in need of plenty of baths. Boys will be boys right.
Here is little Finn, as you can see my brother tries to make him punk with a mohawk and theming everything this kid does with pirates and skulls. When the reality is that this is one of the sweetest most loveable little guys you could ever meet.
And we can't leave out Sloane. She was so tired when it came time to get her cake but like a champ she went in for it. She to has just the cutest little personality.

The aftermath! He liked it.

Just like a prim and proper little lady she ate her cake with a spoon.

We had so much fun out there and can't wait to see all the kids together again. That should be sooner than later being as we have some new nieces on their way in a matter of weeks or days or whenever they decide to make their debuts.

We're Here!

2010-02-01T20:14:00.000-08:00

Well like I said before the last month of '09 did no go as smooth as we thought. We are confident and excited in continuing to expand as a family. With that said, 2010 looks to be as fun and great as 2009. We have been busy with Disneyland and caring for this guy who even though you wouldn't know it by looking at him has been dealing with getting molars and having a dual case of ear infections. He just stays as happy as can be throughout all of it, even though there have been a lot of sleepless nights on all our parts.

One of his biggest things lately are kisses. He has been giving kisses for awhile now but lately he has been kissing non stop. He also gives a lot more hugs. He is the sweetest little guy when he wants to be and is starting to understand how to throw a good tantrum every now and then as well. And as you see below he has the greatest time with himself.

Kissing his stuffed tiger.

This last weekend we headed out to Temecula to attend the wedding of Tawny's cousin, Karly. Tawny and 4 other of her cousins (all girls) were born the same year and Karly was one of them. It was a beautiful wedding and a lot of fun. When you get most or all of Tawny's family together you are bound to have some good times. Here is our family pic at the wedding. Tawny and I have started sort of dieting and in the last 2 weeks she has lost 6lbs and me 10lbs. We are making good progress to getting to our goal weights.
Here are 3 of the so called 5 in '85. Tawny, Chelsea, and Hailey.
Here is Karly's niece and the flower girl Payden. I know what you are all probably thinking. Yes i actually look like i would be related to Tawny's family more so than she.
Here is the happy couple Karly and Jon. They are a great couple together!
And here are 4 of the 5 in '85 Hailey, Karly, (space left for the 5th in '85 Katie) Chelsea and Tawny.
Rylan had tons of fun out at the wedding as well, thankfully Rick and Sherri were nice enough to watch Ry so we could go to the wedding ceremony and then bring him to reception. He got to see horses and do a lot of dancing which will be posted later on. Until then we are back and look forward to keeping everyone updated on the Holloway happenings.

MIA

2010-01-26T07:18:00.000-08:00

There will be some kind of update soon! We unfortunately the last 2 weeks have been dealing with some serious teeth breaking throughage. Needless to say our happy little guy has seen better days but he's coming out of it and the teeth are definitely starting to show. So now we are looking forward to a full nights rest and our little buddy running around rampidly, and at some point a good new update.

Where to begin!

2010-01-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

Well 2009 was an eventful year for us. Our little boy turned 1 and couldn't be a happier guy. He is such a joy in our lives and does the silliest things everyday that keeps us guessing where he gets it all from. We had some family pics taken from this great photographer. They turned out amazing! Thank you Kellie! Tawny took an early retirement from nursing! j/k But for now we are happy to have her at home with Rylan. She went back to work after her maternity leave was done and we then decided it wasn't working out like we thought it would and decided she needed to be at home with the baby. It's been a great blessing having her at home to care for Rylan. Donovan at the very beginning of the year started a program through Southern California Edison to become a planner and finished successfully in August. He is now working in Irvine and is actually enjoying what he does. The year was pretty great with some setbacks. December was a bit of a rough month and in the last few weeks we faced some trials that increased our faith in the Plan of Salvation. We look forward to this new year and are going into it with a greater love for one another that gets better and stronger everyday. Here are a few shots of Rylan at his best! Enjoy!

Rylan meet Santa!

2009-12-07T20:24:00.000-08:00

We had our ward Christmas party on Saturday, and it was there Rylan got to first examine then meet jolly old Saint Nick. Last year we didn't take him to meet Santa Clause cause he was a month old and we were paranoid 1st time parents (I'll admit it) and did not want him to get sick. As you can see Rylan did have to stare at him at first for a while. (side note, it didn't help that the room was pretty dark and there was a disco ball and white light to give off a snow effect) He warmed up to him after a minute but wasn't into smiling i think there was too much for him to stare at in the room like a disco ball. Overall he enjoyed himself!

Rylan meet Santa! Hmmmm!

We had to add this picture cause Rylan got this towel for his birthday and you can see how much he enjoys being wrapped in it.

Happy Birthday Rylan!

2009-11-28T22:24:00.000-08:00

Well today we had a 1st Birthday party for our not so little guy. It was a fun day with family and friends who we appreciate so much. Rylan loves being the center of attention and just eats up every minute of it (Even though he pretty much went all day without napping and managed to be rather pleasant the entire time). His actual birthday was on the 24th but we decided to have his little party today. It's hard to believe/ imagine that our little baby is 1 year old. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday, it was the most unbelievable thing i have ever experienced. Our lives changed from the moment we set our eyes on our happy baby, he has been the greatest gift to our lives. I could go on and on about my little buddy but i'll save that for another time. He enjoyed opening his gifts and and eating his cake as you will see as you scroll down.

Here is the birthday boy!

1 year ago smashed and swollen but still so darn cute!

Our first family picture, Tawny was in labor for who knows how long and did so good. Man i was skinny then!

Again today tearin away at all the presents!

Riding the donkey, he loves to pretend like he rides things, he bounces on every stuffed animal he can find and just giggles the entire time.

The cake, hilariousness throughout he refused to touch it and just went in at it face first. That's my boy!

Notice the cake Tawny made it was huge it took to cake mixes to make this friggin monstrosity and who knows how much sugar, but look how into it he is. (We did get a before picture I just did not post it)

He is doing a lot of things now as he's one year older. He talks a lot mostly non words but he does say a lot of real words. He walks, woohoo he made it before his 1st birthday! whether thats a good thing or not we will soon find out i am sure. He loves his family, i am talkin cousins, aunts, uncles, grandma's, grandpa's and just about everyone in between and it's very apparent if you've ever met Rylan! He adores and loves his mom and dad (at least we hope so). He is our pride and joy and we cannot believe how blessed and lucky we are to have this amazing boy in our lives!

Happy Anniversary!

2009-11-10T16:23:00.001-08:00

Today we celebrate our 2nd anniversary. So I thought i would take a little stroll back to 2 years ago. Here are some of the photos from our engagement session and the big day itself.

Black Eye's and Halloween!

2009-11-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

So we aren't quite sure how it happened, but Rylan sure seems to forget that he can't get around just yet like bigger kids. He has a black eye as you can see in the picture below, all we know is somehow he must have hit his face on the toy box, at least that is what his mom is telling me. We took him to a pumpkin patch Thursday night and he loved it. He was all about the pumpkins, he liked pounding on them touching them and looking very closely at them so much so in fact he poked himself in the eye with one of the stems (he's definitely our child).

For Halloween this little guy was a tiger and played the part amazingly. We were pretty sure he would hate the hood but surprisingly enough he left it on until we took it off. The only other thing he'll let us keep on his head are his Mickey ear's. But he loved it he even let Tawny paint his nose and whiskers which were completely rubbed off by the end of the night.
See how much he likes it!
Tawny and I on the other hand always go for shock factor on Halloween (well at least we try). Now before i say what we are just remember Tawny is half Mexican so it really is okay. I was an apple tree and Tawny was a field worker that picked my apples. I know it doesn't compare to our stint a few years ago as Beyonce and Jay Z but none the less it was a hit and we had fun doing it.
Here is another pick of our little guy enjoying the pumpkin patch.
On Halloween day we went to another pumpkin patch out in Irvine. It was on a farm so they had a corn maze and you can cut your own pumpkin from the vine. It was fun and Rylan and his cousin Owen got to enjoy some fun together ( thanks for the invite Rick and Sherri). In the pic below we took a wagon ride through the fields to get to the pumpkins.
Here are Rylan and Owen making their way through the corn maze. Well it was more of a good effort at a corn maze, in reality it was just 4 circles with openings at opposite ends of each other.

Kooza!

2009-10-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was Tawny's birthday, and every year when i ask her what she wants for her birthday she typically says the same thing more or less; clothes, gift cards jewelry etc. So this year as i expected that same answer she caught me off guard. This year she decided she really really wanted to see a Cirque De Soleil show. She has always wanted to see one but with the shows mainly being in Vegas, it would probably be something that we would have to plan for way in advance. I didn't want to give her a present that she would be able to use like 3 months from now so i decided to humor myself and look at the shows anyways. To my surprise there was a link for a traveling newer show called Kooza! And to my surprise it was starting in just a couple of weeks here in LA at the Santa Monica Pier. So I figured it was fate or something along those lines and bought tickets for the night after her birthday (Obviously her birthday would be spent at Disneyland to claim her Disney Dollars so i figured we'd go the next night). So on her birthday she opened her present and was really excited and even more so when she saw that the show was the next day. The great thing was that Tawny had never been to the pier before either so it was an added bonus to take her to the Santa Monica Pier also. The night was great and we really enjoyed the show. I would recommend seeing it, there didn't look like there were any bad seats and there was a lot of audience participation. I guess the show will be in Irvine in January. Rylan decided to hang with Nana and Papa and let his mom and dad have a date night.

Kooza

At the pier with the Ferris Wheel behind us!

Tawny wearing a 70 dollar mask

Me with a 300 dollar mask (Tawny was scared to touch it and thought i would break it)

20 Dollar mask

Tawny was very freaked out by this one I wondered wy then i saw the picture

Insanity!

2009-10-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to report much on the month by month stuff anymore but Rylan is definitely doing a lot of fun things as he gets older. He has most recently taken up talking, now he doesn't say a lot but he does know what words he's saying when he says them. He started doing the mama dada sound effects but now he says hello. It comes out Heyo but he knows he's saying it. It's the greatest! He's still a dancing machine! He has 5 teeth that have broken through and 3 more still making their way. After his spout with roseola last week, he is a million times happier to not have to deal with all the uncomfortable things he's had to deal with. We went to Disneyland again this last week, they have the Halloween celebration going on which is always fun. They have a new fireworks show which kept us all entertained and the kids mesmerized. Tawny decided she'd help her sister out this week also by letting Hannah perm her hair. The end results are great/ hysterical as you will see below. I told her it had to go! Good thing it wasn't a permanent perm, It was just done with rollers. Halloween came early as you'll see.

Sorry the pics are out of order from what i wanted to put but I am over it now.

Here is Tawny ready for her close up as the hispanic Annie!

Mom and Rylan on Smallworld

Dad, Rylan and Uncle Joe on the Carousel

And here is the video of our little chatterbox he talks non stop but we get the biggest kisk out of his Hello!

It's been a Circus around here!

2009-09-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

Cheesy title I know but I have never really been good at titling things. Anyhow again it's been a while but we've been busy with priorities or something like that. Tawny had her last day of work last Friday and is a million times happier getting to be a stay at home mom. But lets be honest i use the stay at home very lightly. Tawny's a busy body and there is always something to be done. So even though she is not taking care of patients at a hospital she still has 2 to care for. Last week Tawny's mom went in and had surgery on her foot so during the day Tawny has been over helping her mom with daily chores and tasks. Her second patient has been this little guy below.

Don't let this face fool you, cause these were from last week this week however our little guy is suffering from severe teeth enterage(i am aware thats not a word). He has his 2 bottoms but has around 6 that appear to be making their way through. A few have broken through but Rylan has had a fever for a day and a half now. The funny thing is is as painful as it probably is for him if you play music or put him in a swing like above you couldn't get the smile off his face if you wanted too.

Aside from that this week also found itself a potential patient for Tawny to deal with. I may have to get my tonsils out. I have heard horror stories like no other so I am hoping it will not be the case but the Dr. that looked at my throat didn't seem to think they could stay where they are so we are going to do a few test and see if there is a possibility they don't have to come out.

We also visited the Staple's Center this last week. Why you ask? Well if you remember not far back I won what i thought were No Doubt tickets and was so excited. Of course i found out pretty quickly that were not No Doubt tickets but in fact Britney Spears tickets. So Tawny and i went on Wednesday to the Circus. Now love her or hate her she did put on a good show. There were a lot of circus acts and all kinds of things going on. There were some interesting and odd moments but overall we left entertained. And free tickets why not!

Some pic's are blurry (Sorry) we sat in the 11th row. They were really good seats.

Jordin Sparks opened the show and did a great job, she sang for like 20 minutes and really sang the whole time.

Then came Britney spears we have a lot of video from it also but i never figured out how to get videos on here again so here are some photos from the event.

And to top off our week i finally got a car. I have been driving a '93 Honda Accord and it's been great but because i drive far at times we decided i needed something a little newer and more reliable. We bout an '07 Toyota Camry and i love it. It drives smooth and i don't have as much panic as i drive anymore.

We've got some updating to do!

2009-08-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

We have definitely had a busy summer! Rylan has been having a blast and i believe been enjoying almost every second of it. During these last few weeks Tawny has taken our little guy swimming a few times and the outcome has been good. The water takes a quick minute to get use to since he is so use to his warm baths. But he's been enjoying it.

And I know last post i said i was going to post some pic's from Sean and Jill's wedding but since it has been like a month since we have updated this great idea of a blog I will put up this one which i think captures everything and more about this fun couple. There will never be a dull moment in their home.
The very next day after the wedding Tawny and Rylan took off to Utah to go visit her family and all the new babies that have joined the family in the last few months. Tawny's cousin Katie has a lot more photos but here is a quick one of Rylan doing what he does best(being goofy), James (aka Jimmer) and Will. They had fun in Utah however Rylan came back with the dryest rosiest cheeks I've ever seen. Sorry you got the fair skin just like your daddy, son.

Many other things have been going on but that is why my wife should be updating the blog and not me cause I can never remember all that has happened. I finished my in class training as a planner for Southern California Edison. Now I am in the field and i love it. It's great to have time outdoors again. If any of you don't know i was a meter reader before, so i went from walking about 8 hours a day to sitting in a class room for eight hours a day. It was a major change which I don't think i really expected, so it is great to be outside in the fresh air again and inside doing my job.

On Saturday we got to spend the day with this guy to celebrate his first birthday. Owen is a whole year old, he had such a blast opening his presents and was doing a great job of hamming it up for everyone who came. It was a fun time to celebrate with family.
Rylan decided to take whatever opportunity he could to enjoy a lot of Owen's new toys as well.
And lastly with Owen being a year old that means our little guy is 9 months old. Yes it's true, and oh is he big. We can't figure it out! According to our parents neither one of us were really beyond average. Rylan has so much fun despite the fact that his top 4 teeth are starting to all come in together. He still does the army crawl but he also does arms and knees crawling, he just gets around way better dragging himself. He loves to throw we got him a couple of balls and he loves tossing them everywhere. He is talking a lot well baby talk, but he makes this one sound all the time it sounds like he says hi dada but it comes out ha dada . Tawny is trying to teach him to say mama, no such luck just yet. He also does a lot of standing and pulling himself up, he is really good at that. We had his 9 month check up and his results are below.
Rylan weighs 24 lbs. 90th percentile.

He is 30 inches also 90th percentile.

And I can't remember the head circumference but it was in the 90th percentile also.

And a side note he makes all kinds of faces now, I can't imagine who he gets that from.

Good Times!

2009-08-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

This week has been very busy. Our lives have completely revolved around our good friends Sean and Jill who were married on Saturday. (Some pictures will be posted later of that.) But we have had such a great time catching up with a lot of our best friends this last week with all the fun going on. Our child on the other hand has been neglected and deprived of the 2 of us all week, but he's had a great time with Nana and Papa. The photos below are from Thursday night from the grooms dinner. The Gardner family had us all out at the Tommy Bahama Island Grille at Fashion Island. Apparently there are a bunch of different restaurants throughout the country which was news to us. I thought they just made clothes. But it was a great night and the food was delicious.

Here is the Happy Couple!

A week of 1'st's

2009-07-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well about 2 or 3 weeks ago now, I can't remember, Rylan decided to start crawling. There is video but i don't understand why it takes so long or sometimes never uploads. If you have any tips on making the process quicker/ easier let me know. He does the army crawl and has pretty much perfected it now. Sad thing is his little toes are starting to get blistered from moving his heavy body across the floor. But he loves moving around. He gets the biggest kick out of knowing he can go with us if we have to go to another room without him. He also a few weeks ago started acting a little fussy and sure enough we spotted a tooth and the very next day the second broke through. So his teeth are coming in very nicely and he is all over the place. He of course is already going to every place of the apartment he should not be going and chewing on everything. He particularly favors the sandals. (Once I get the video thing figured out i will put them up, and i'll post some photos later as well.)

We also experienced another first these last couple of days. I am a fan of No Doubt and one of the radio stations here is having a giveaway where you can win tickets by calling in and then be entered into a drawing to see them in Hawaii. So the other day i got in the car and the station on said be caller 102 now for tickets so i called the station thinking why not it's 6:30 in the morning how many people are going to try right? And i got through i was caller 102, the strange thing though was i was asked, "How much do you like Britney Spears?" To which i responded, "She's okay i guess." Now while this is going on i am trying to figure out why they are asking me how much i like Britney Spears when i was calling to win No Doubt tickets but i went with it. Next thing i know i am put on the air with Ryan Seacrest where he informs me i won Britney Spears tickets, and it clicked, I called the wrong station. I was a little thrown off and can only imagine how probably rude i sounded on air, but i thought i was getting something else. It made me feel like I felt when this scenario went down Click Here. I guess i should consider myself lucky right? How many people actually get through to win things like that. Well apparently a million seeing as when we went down to the place in Burbank where we pick them up there were plenty of others waiting to get there prizes. I tried convincing a few people to trade me the ipod touch which some had also won but had no such luck. Oh well! i guess things work out not always the way i expect but hey the seats are good right?

Muchisimo!

2009-07-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

So we had a fun week! Our Fourth of July was busy. We went to the annual BBQ that the Howard's have every year and we had some great food. We also went to the Army Base around the corner from where we live and had a fun time there as well. They had games, food, an air show, a reenactment of a war and fireworks. It was a good time.

Here is Rylan with his cousin (whatever removed) Colin, he was so interested in everything she was doing.

Rylan with his aunt Hannah who joined us at the BBQ, I love his expression.

We also were able to go the Angels game yesterday. My work got tickets and so we went and had our friends Kyle, Shannon and their son Mason join us. I guess there must have been some major stuff happening though cause Rylan was tuckered out and asleep by 830 kind of early for him so we left. It was pretty much over anyways the Angels lost.

As you can see it was free hat night and so we took a picture wearing them.
Here is Mason he looks exactly like his dad if you know Kyle you'd agree.
This is my beautiful wife and boy as we were leaving.
And then someone offered to take a family pic. (Sorry it's so blurry)
And just to add we have had some major firsts this week those details to come later.

Busy Busy Busy!

2009-06-17T23:24:00.000-07:00

So, where to start! Obviously it's been a while since I have posted anything, but as you can tell by the title we've been a tad bit busy. I am entering the last month and a half of my training so I am almost 100% over looking at a computer screen, yet here I am. So I guess i'll start with Rylan's 6 month checkup. Since it has been a month I will just say he was in the 93 percentile and we get the feeling that a month later it hasn't really changed much. He just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Rylan was a whole lot better this time around with the shots, my theory is he puts on all of this weight so that he doesn't have to feel the pain of the shots his chub just absorbs it. At any rate he is a strong healthy boy and we couldn't be more grateful for that.

For those that knew me or have heard the stories of my childhood; I loved my Teddy Ruxpin (despite the fact that Blake tortures me to this day with the infamous Brew story... that's another time and day) so at Christmas my siblings bought one for Rylan. Well the kid loves it If he is in any type of mood we can sit it in front of him and he is just amazed by the movement of his mouth and eyes. After 15 minutes though he'll attack it and chew on his face!
And aside from that we have kept busy with graduations, family visiting, family moving back and a little thing called Disneyland. Yep Rylan finally got there, some are probably wondering what took so long. Well we just didn't have any time and at least the weather is getting good now! He loved it, and the only reason I know that a 6 month old enjoyed D-land is about 10 hours with hardly a nap and not one tear or peep of complaint. That's how i know!
We went through Minnie's house and then to Mickeys but the line was to long there so Mickey got the boot.
Waiting in line Rylan was just as happy as could be!
Rylan and Owen experiencing life behind bars in Toon Town
Feeling what it's like to be a bug!
9:00 pm and still way happy but wait who's that?
Oh it's Hannah in the Electrical Parade!

The only downside to the day is now we have to wait till the end of August to go again, oh well, it was a fun day and even better that the baby managed to stay energetic and happy all day.

Memorial Day Weekend!

2009-05-27T18:04:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of fun this weekend! My brothers Clint and Blake came with their families to visit. So we stayed busy spending time with them and Shannon's family. We took the kids to the beach which they all genuinely liked. Here is a photo of Rylan with a couple cousins and mom and dad.

Rylan has his 6 month checkup tomorrow so we'll let you know how much bigger he's gotten.

6 Months!

2009-05-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that it has been six months now since our little Rylan was born. He has brought us so much joy that words can't even express how much we love him and his happy go lucky attitude. Here is a pic of him from the day after he was born and a more recent one to show how he's changed over these last six months.

Here is a pic of him from tonight with his cousin Molly.

Just some things he has been doing lately are:

He sits up and balances really well and loves playing with his toys,

He loves getting his hands and mouth on anything and everything,

He loves his sippy cup,

He loves to hold his own bottle,

He loves food as you can tell,

He seems to want to be up and moving, but is going to have to develop some serious strength to get that chubby body in motion,

He is a talker, he loves to humm to himself,

He loves to laugh

He does many other things but our favorite is knowing how much he loves his mommy and daddy. He is the greatest little guy we can't get enough of him and can't believe how fast time is flying and how much he's growing.

Ooops

2009-05-21T09:54:00.001-07:00

So it's been a while since we've updated this thing, but life is just going. There isn't anything new to report we have just been keeping busy with work and baby. Posts to come soon!

Family Pictures!

2009-04-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

So while in AZ we were able to get photos of Rylan and Family pictures taken. We love the photos and think they turned out great. The woman that took our pictures Amanda, is a friend of my sister in law Melissa and she was so great for coming and doing this for us. I will put a link to her blog on the side of our blog if you want to check out her work. But in the mean time here our some of the pics, they all turned out amazing so we'll give you a taste.

Weekend Update!

2009-04-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

So I know the rest of the family already posted things about this weekend but if you don't know them it's new to you and if you do know them this might just be some review and photos at different angles. We had a really fun weekend! We were able to get out to AZ for the blessing of Blake and Liz's son Finn who we also met for the first time and he is so cute and chubby. He is giving Rylan a run for his money for sure! Anyhoo the blessing was great Blake did an excellent job, and it was so cool to have everyone in the family there. We didn't get a picture of the group and unfortunately our pics of Finn came out really blurry. But some of the pics turned out and so here they are.

Here are Papa and Nana with all the grandkids so far.

(Drake, Rylan, Finnegan, Reese, Sloane, and Bailey)

Rylan had a lot of fun getting to see all of his cousins and Aunts and Uncles

Another fun thing we did while we were out there was going to a small water park that was at one of the high schools. All the kids and adults had so much fun. This is a great idea it only was like $1.50 for each adult to get in and for the heat you can't beat it.

He did really enjoy himself and was mesmerized by the water.

We had a great time this weekend with family and we can't wait to go back and visit and see everyone and do one of Tawny's favorite things which is going to Bahama Bucks which is a Hawaiian shaved ice place that is the best for a delicious cold treat.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

Hey it's better late than never right? We hope everyone had a great Easter!

We are live People!

2009-03-26T20:05:00.000-07:00

That's right! We have internet again woohoo! What a drag though, we have to pay for it. Let's just say we are over Time Warner Cable. They are like the only ones that provide services around here so we had to go with them and their crappy rates. On the plus side we can get our updates going. We have had an eventful week. We got to go down to the Garden Walk in Anaheim one of our favorite places ( if you haven't been it is like a block from D-Land and has the best places for eating and some nice shops) for Hannah's birthday. Can't believe it but the girl is 19 now. She works at D-Land in the parades and has been there for a few years, she's been all kinds of characters from Dopey to a red headed Santa's helper and a whole lot in between. They are starting a new parade this year and Hannah is going to be Clarice which is one of the female chipmunks.

And our little guy turned 4 months two days ago, so crazy he is growing so fast. His latest stats per his 4 month check up yesterday were. 17 lbs. 10 oz (95%ile) 26 1/2 inches long (85%ile) and for some reason they never tell us his head size maybe the doctor knows my brothers and what they might say if we ever find out the actual head measurements. Anyhow he is just a little bundle of joy, we have let him try out rice cereal. Let's just say he likes it as you will see with the new pics. Anyways i will do my best to keep things more interesting with more fun posts as opposed to just these quick updates.

Our poor little guy right after his shots. I'm sorry but i think these doctors should be ashamed of themselves for making little babies cry.

This is the best remedy for curing a cranky guy after his check up. He loves going on jogs with me and can't control himself he'll fall asleep.

Close up of that chubby face!

Yummy! we are working on keeping it all in the mouth!

Do you think he cares if it all gets in at once? Or do you think as

long as he gets it he'll keep this up?

P.S. No he is not strapped in in his high chair but the straps don't reach all the way around his chubby body but don't worry he's definitely locked in place.

Complicated!

2009-03-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

So if you scroll down you will see 2 of the same post basically. Now if you are wondering why i didn't delete it, it is because i am hoping the video works for everyone if not just let me know and i will clear this mess. Somehow when it was posted it saved as march of 2008 and i couldn't figure out what the heck happened to it. So anyway let me know if it worked out cause from work i can't view the videos so until we get internet i'll never know. Just to set it up it is Rylan rolling over for the first time.

Let's try this again!

2009-03-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

I just posted this but it disappeared so we'll do it again. So we are moved in Woohoo, well all except like 2 pictures to be hung but that will happen. I know i said it before but moving is not that fun. Well the only thing really to report is; our not so little guy is rolling over, yes it's true! He started doing it about a week ago. Tawny was recording him while he was having tummy time, and while he was chattin away he just decided to flip himself over. Of coarse Tawny thought it had to be an accident so she put him back on his belly and sure enough he rolled right over again. And since then roll away he has. It is great watching him do all these things that are new to him because his reaction is like, " i don't know what i just did but you seem to be pretty pleased," as we are cheering over him for his success. He's a fun little guy, he's very strong and really happy, we couldn't ask for much more. He's also started trying to crawl (or at least it looks like it), well he brings his legs up half way and will sit there for a minute and then get over it and slide them back down to the floor. Anyways things are great we are so blessed and fortunate to have what we have.

We also had our our St. Patrick's Day dinner yesterday on my Mom's birthday. It was a lot of fun we had a few family members join us and my mom made a really good dinner of corn beef and cabbage. It was really good and fun to get to visit with everyone. We got a taste of what things will be like with a lot of toddlers when all of the Holloway's get together. It will be interesting to say the least. Sorry no pictures but my mom who is definitely our own Sandra Lee had a blast putting it all together.

Progress!

2009-03-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

So we are pretty much settled in we just have to hang some pictures up and we are good. But aside from the new apartment we haven't had a whole lot going on. One nice thing is about 20 minutes has been taken off my drive time from work so i get to leave later and come home sooner, which is great especially since Rylan has been starting to do all the fun things babies do. He has been making noises more and more daily which is so fun to listen to and he gets so excited doing it. He also started rolling over. Tawny was recording him doing tummy time and then out of know where he rolled himself over. She thought it was an accident so just in case she decided to flip him back over on his belly and sure enough he did it again. Needless to say we were both so impressed with him. He is also trying to get his legs to the crawling position, he's halfway there, he brings them almost all the way up and will sit in that position for a minute until he gets over it and just lays back down. Everyone tells us to enjoy the not crawling while we can but i am excited. He's growing up and learning to do all the fun things babies do as they get older. He also has gotten to big for his bumpo, his legs are to big for it so it's a bit of force involved in fitting his legs in the place they go and a good pull to get it off him.

He loves the swing and being upright. He is interested in everything that goes on.

A Work in Progress!

2009-03-04T07:41:00.000-08:00

Hello all well we are still moving in and have no one in our apartment complex to steal internet from yet. So as soon as we get our own (boohoo, selfish neighbors! haha) internet I will try and get some stuff posted while I am at work. But for those wondering, we love the new place. We are on the first floor which is heaven on earth when you have a heavy baby in one arm and groceries or something else in the other. We have doors that close; if you didn't know the doors in the old place were warped and painted over so much that we couldn't close them. We have a dishwasher which is nice because Tawny hates doing dishes and I have developed a hate for doing dishes. Rylan is adjusting to the new place really well too, so much so that he is laughing and smiling and trying to tell us more and more everyday. We did love how much space we had at the other place, we had to downscale a little with some of our things. Biggest loss was our washer and dryer, the new place doesn't have space for them and it already has a payable laundry room (boo!). But we did already sell them so we got some money back from it all. I guess you have your pros and cons anywhere right? But we are enjoying the new place. I now understand why people like to stay where they are. I used to think moving around to new places would be fun but after seeing all the work that goes into moving and physically doing it all i would like to never have to move again. Obviously we will have more moves in the future but, IT SUCKS! Anyways we will be checking in and as soon as we have internet access we will be posting more regularly.

Busy Week!

2009-02-23T21:49:00.000-08:00

Well this week is extremely busy for us. Aside from the normal busy things we have going on we are trying to pile packing our apartment up and getting ready to move. We aren't going far, just to Los Alamitos but the 2 of us have never really had to go thru the whole moving thing. When we moved into this place we kind of brought things over little by little. So now it's packing everything all at once ( basically) and getting the heck out of dodge. On top of it all we have way more stuff now with our little guy and all of his entertaining gizmos and gadgets. But he has been really good in all of it while I am off at work he enjoys playing with his toys and gives Tawny some time to get little by little done. Anyhow we have enjoyed living here, it's been fun and we are excited to get into our new place and not feel uprooted. Moving sucks we've decided!

But to give you something fun and nice to look at her are a few pics.

Here is Rylan and his cousin Sloane, we thought we'd compare a newborn to your not so average 2 month old. (Thanks for the idea Bailey and Finn)

Rylan loves tummy time and is so good about holding his head up he has been doing it for a while now but holds it longer and longer now.

You can't se it but on the other end is a mirror and he tends to stare at himself and make himself smile. He's a lot of fun!

Announcing Baby Girl Stoddard!

2009-02-16T20:51:00.000-08:00

So my sister and her husband don't have a blog so we are posting pics of their baby girl, born today so that the family and friends can see some more photos. She is very cute and nameless still. Mom and Baby are great! So without further ado her she is:

Baby Girl Stoddard

Born February 16th 2009 @ 5:00pm

7 lbs. 3 oz. 19 inches

Fun Happenings!

2009-02-16T09:01:00.001-08:00

So much has been going on, probably nothing to interesting to most but we've been enjoying ourselves. For starters we are so excited because Blake and Liz had their baby boy, Finnegan yesterday and today Shannon and Jason are having their (mystery) baby. Shannon and Jason like to find out the sex of the baby when it's born so we are all anxiously awaiting. We have been experiencing some great lessons on parenting the last couple of weeks. Rylan is getting bigger and bigger he just experienced his first cold. Not a fun situation for anyone, but he stayed as happy as he possibly could which we think made it little easier. He is such a good little boy and is having so much fun. He is playing with his toys all the time now he loves to be sung to and if he's not eating or sleeping he's mostly smiling and talking as much as he can. He adores his mom and loves to hear her sing to him. He stares at himself in the mirror, which is hilarious cause he will get excited when he sees his reflexion. He loves staring at his cousins and watching what they do. And we know he cannot wait to meet his all of his new cousins. So here are some pics of just some things that have been going on over the last couple weeks.

Tawny took a picture of Rylan in his Tigger robe and slippers

and after she left him alone for a minute or 2 this is what he

looked like when she came back.

He also loves his Bumbo he is holding himself up really well, he's a strong little guy. I have him doing sit ups everyday or at least our own version of sit ups, and he smiles so big when he does them.
See how much he loves it.

Here he is with his mom, if anyone has seen baby pictures of Tawny he looks just like her.

The trait he gets from me is his love of television. It's hilarious because sometimes we will just be sitting and we'll look at each other and think gosh! he's being so good and we look at him and he is just mesmerized by the colors and shapes of the tv.

In the Left Corner Weighing in at...

2009-01-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

Well our little guy is just over 2 months now (crazy!) and he had his 2 month check up. Well we weren't too surprised with his weight however we didn't know what it would mean. Well Rylan is weighing exactly 14 pounds which is normal ....., when you are 4 months old, but is fine at 2 months as well. He is 23 inches + which is normal for his age. He is in the 90th percentile so yes he is a big boy. He also got his 4 shots which were not his happiest moments. Lets just say he gave the nurse a scream which probably meant something more than just ahhh and probably some stink eye that would make his dad and probably his aunt Liz very proud. Tawny told me afterwards that she always thought it strange when people cried when their children got shots, but coming in a close second in tear duty was my loving wife who I am sure also gave the nurse some major stink eye making once again her husband very proud. I guess she now understands. Anyhow here is our little porker we love him and think he is perfect no matter how old they try to make him out to be.

Here he is after the shots. Poor guy with the 4 band-aids on his legs.

Side angle, does he look fat?

Here is our Happy Little Baby!

Fun in AZ!

2009-01-19T22:16:00.000-08:00

This weekend we took off to AZ for a quick trip to attend the baby blessing of little Bailey. She is such a cute, fun baby and we were so glad to be there for Clint and Andrea and be with all of the family. We took off from Chino where i've been having to work and about an hour into the drive a little rock flew up and chipped the window in our 10 week old car. That was a bummer but you get over it and move on right? On Saturday Tawny went to a baby shower for Liz while i went out with my dad and brothers to a restaurant called Chino Bandido which was featured on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. Definitely an interesting restaurant they serve a combination of Chinese and Mexican food, it was pretty good though. Clint did a great job on Sunday with the blessing and afterwards we all went over to his and Andrea's home where we got to relax and chat with friends and family until we left at 3. Now next time we head out there we'll have 2 more additions with Blake and Liz and Shannon and Jason both expecting within a month basically.

The happy family after the blessing!

Grandpa Holloway (haha) and the grandkids

This is the best shot we could get of them, i mean when they range from 2 1/2 years to 2 months this is what you can expect. But they are all so fun!

The Twins as I call them, they were born 2 days apart and basically measured the same.

One more why not!

Family pic with our new fresh looks short hair and finally getting some rest!

Rylan loves his mom!

New nickname smilin Rylan

I couldn't help it his lips are ridiculous!

What you all really want!

2009-01-15T18:17:00.000-08:00

So i figured since we haven't put any new pictures up of Rylan since Christmas i would get them on since he changes so much each day. He is really big now or at least he is to us. I can't give you exact measurements yet, he'll have his 2 month check up in 2 weeks and then we'll know for sure. But based on trying to weigh him at home he is like 13 lbs. so we'll see. Anyways enjoy, he is so much fun and such a good baby for us.

It's Been A While!!!

2009-01-07T18:00:00.000-08:00

Okay so it has been a long time and before i start getting hate mail i figure i better get this updated. So i apologize. It has been really busy and I have been getting a lot of stuff done with work since i start in my new position next week, and since I (Donovan if you haven't figure it out by now) am the one that mainly does the updates on this thing, I haven't had much time. Anyhow our holidays were great all of my brothers and their families came from AZ so it was great to have everyone together. The holidays were fun with everyone and we were so excited to meet Bailey. She is just 2 days younger than Rylan and they were the same weight and basically the same length so i've nicknamed them the twins. She is very cute!

Little Bailey

We also tried to get some photos of Rylan in his Christmas clothes that we had. We did it but with the help of our friend mr. soothie.

The Family

Rylan and his cousin Owen just before going out caroling.

The evening after Christmas my parents rented some Duffy boats and we all went and cruised Sunset Harbor, we had a lot of fun. Thanks mom and dad.

And to close off the weekend we had everyone here for Rylans blessing. Thanks to everyone that showed up we appreciate your support.

Santa and His Little Helper!

2008-12-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

So we basically couldn't resist. We are aware that one day he will probably loathe us for this but you have to admit, this is the cutest and most adorable reindeer you've ever seen. He did so good as we suited him up and sat him next to his cousin Drake for the photo. Drake did really good also. This was the only picture we ended up taking and i think it turned out well with the 2 of them. We are excited for our first Christmas with Rylan. He is such a good baby as far as i'm concerned.

Trying to get a close up, no smiles on command yet, give him a break he's only 3 weeks old.

Here is the whole thing, we have more but the way his arms and hands are here, were hilarious.

And you can't have reindeer without Santa Clause, Drake loves his little cousin and is so good and gentle with him. And of course Rylan loves Drake!

More Rylan!

2008-12-02T15:08:00.000-08:00

So a week has now gone by and oh the changes Rylan is having. We have figured out his schedule a little better for now, so we manage to keep his belly and diapers full and get him the right amount of sleep. He is staying awake a little longer and keeps his eyes open a lot now. Originally his nose was really swollen and is still a little bruised from coming out so i think that kept his eyes closed for the larger part of last week. But it's getting better so we are getting to see his eyes a lot more. He's so much fun and has been so good now that we have figured him out a little more.

Thanksgiving Day

I love how he sleeps.

Finally starting to open his eyes more.

Just for fun!

Eyes are opening much wider!

Look who's going home!

2008-11-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

Well we were able to get released from the hospital this morning and it has been so nice to take Rylan home. My mom helped us in getting him home today and stayed for a few hours to watch him while we rested. We can't stop looking at him, he is so much fun and we are so blessed to have such a beautiful healthy baby. We seriously can't get enough of him. He and Tawny are doing fantastic and he is eating great and doing all the proper things he should be doing at this point so we will continue to post pictures.

Home sweet home with daddy!

Sitting in his car seat with some of the chubbiest cheek.

His beautiful mom being wheeled out to the car with her adorable son.

Homecoming outfit!

Here he is with his uncle Rick, cousin Owen and mommy.

And with his cousin Drake who was giving him a kiss on the head.

Just a cute one to be looked at.

Rylan Stone Holloway

2008-11-25T06:59:00.000-08:00

Well it happened last night at 7:56 p.m. our little guy made his debut. Sorry no crazy birthing stories, we went in Sunday night/ Monday morning at midnight to be let in a room. The unfortunate thing was that the entire world for some reason felt it necessary to have their babies then. So anyhow we ended up being put in a room at around 3 or so in the morning they induced tawny around 8 a.m. and then almost 12 hours later we had our very own turkey. It's crazy because Tawny gained just a slight bit over 20 lbs and as you can see this is not a little child. We love him so much and look forward to getting him home and enjoying the steps of parenthood. Mom and baby are fine! So without further ado here he is.

Rylan Stone Holloway

Born November 24, 2008 at 7:56 p.m.

9 lbs. 1 oz. & 21 & 1/2 inches long

And Congratulations to my brother Clint and his wife Andrea they had a baby girl early Wednesday morning.

So who's he going to take after!

2008-11-23T17:54:00.001-08:00

Alright so we head off to the hospital in like 5 hours but in the meantime we thought whomever reads the blog might want to have fun in trying to figure out what the little guy is going to look like. Or rather who he is going to look like. So we are really excited and we'll get pictures up as soon as possible. In the meantime here we are when we were young!

For all who are wondering!

2008-11-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

Well it is now 4 days after the due date we were given and still no baby. Tawny had her appointment today and there has not been a change since last week in anything so she is going back again on Friday and they will let us know if they will induce her monday so basically he has decided he enjoys it on the inside still. Which i guess we have to deal with. So until then i have taken the baby counter down cause that thing starts counting back up and we don't want to think about going up just getting out.

Anxiously Awaiting!

2008-11-15T20:58:00.000-08:00

Well it's more or less the end of the night and the babies due date was yesterday. He's not here yet but we are anxious to see him. We'll keep waiting it out until he comes or the doctors decide they want to get him out. But sooner or later (hopefully sooner) he'll be here and we'll get some pics up. We also just bought a car last weekend and i will get some pic's up of that as well since people have been asking and i'll explain our ordeal that we went through to get it.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

2008-11-11T08:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday November 10th was our Anniversary and i thought i would just put up a couple pics. Wow time has gone fast and whew!, we were able to get through our anniversary without the baby being born. So now in Anniversaries to come we will actually be able to have a little time (hopefully) to ourselves. But it's just a couple of days now till the due date an we are eager and anxious for the little guy.

What we've been doing!

2008-11-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

Well here are some of the photos of the things we've been doing for the last little bit. This past Monday we had an ultrasound because we were originally told the baby was measuring smaller than average. Well based on the ultrasound ( which we realize might not be 100% accurate) the baby is measuring at 40 weeks already and is weighing 7 lbs 13 oz which if it were accurate would basically mean that Tawny is all baby. She has put on only 18 lbs this entire time so who knows, either way we are really excited to meet our little guy. The doctor also said they wouldn't let her go past her due date by more than a week. So sometime within the next 2 weeks we should have some pictures coming along until then here are some to hold you over.

Tawny at 38 1/2 weeks

Here is the crib bedding, we found some fabrics we liked and Tawny made it all.

And here are a couple of shots of what the babies room looks like right now. It looks a lot better in person and shortly we will have some stuff on the walls.

A Whole Lot!

2008-10-27T11:57:00.000-07:00

So we have been really busy these last couple of weeks it started about 2 weeks ago when Tawny had her shower with the families. A lot of family and friends came out to support her and the baby, so that was really nice. That day also happened to be my birthday, so in the evening we went to dinner with all the family members on the Holloway side that were here. Then throughout the week following we were finishing up little things here and there on the babies room. The room was pretty much finished and all that was left to do was get the crib bedding set up so that when it's time our little guy will have his crib ready. But that would have to wait cause we shot off to AZ for the weekend for Andrea's shower but more than anything an opportunity to get out and visit everyone out there. We had a lot of fun there and we were able to celebrate Tawny's birthday out there. And while there we also finally found the material we wanted to use to make the babies bedding. No joke for the last 3 months Tawny has been on a quest to find the right material to use and the right design. So since we've been home since last Tuesday it has been our mission to finish everything and i think it is safe to say that the babies room is ready for him. We can't wait we had a doctors appointment and the doctor said that the baby is measuring a little smaller than average which is no surprise to us considering Tawny has up till now gained about 18 lbs. total. To determine actual size and what not they will do an ultrasound next monday. So once i have an actual amount of time to get some photos up we'll post the babies room and all the fun projects Tawny has been keeping herself busy with.

34 Weeks!

2008-10-04T20:51:00.000-07:00

Well by request from Ashley here is a 34 week pic. We are getting close and excited! Our latest mission has been getting the baby room all finished up, but we still have a little ways to go. We haven't had too much difficulty finding most of the furniture we wanted but our problem has been that we've wanted to do the baby furniture black. The bad thing is is black furniture is almost impossible to find cheap, so we've opted to paint the cheaper versions we like. Needless to say we are way over painting and still have the crib to do. Our biggest ordeal has been finding an armoire. Armoires are way overpriced but as Donovan was working the other day he came across a specialty furniture store that was going out of business and needed to clear everything out. He saw an armoire and assumed it was expensive (considering that everything in there marked 50% off still ended up being like 500 or up to 2000 dollars). But he asked the woman and she said he could take it for 100 dollars if he would take it that same day. So he bought it and of coarse it wasn't black so we painted it black. Finally it was all done yesterday and our quest for a nice armoire at a cheap great deal was over.

Update!

2008-09-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry there hasn't been an update in a while but we've just been keeping busy with a lot of thing. Work has been the main thing keeping us busy but Tawny just has couple of more weeks of work left an then she'll get a nice break from her 12 hours a night shifts at the hospital so she can start caring for herself as we get ready to welcome in our little guy. We did get a little worried for a week or so because we thought Tawny had high blood sugar but after talking to a lot of people ensuring us they were told the same thing and turned out to not be, so Tawny had the long 3 hour test and it came back that she is fine. We're down to just a few weeks until our son joins us and we are so excited and can't wait to meet the little fella. We have a lot of work to do still to get ready as far as getting some furniture and other items but we are confident it will all get done. Anyhow that's just about all the update we have going on maybe there's more i'm not sure, if we think of anything else we'll let you know.

Baby Baby!

2008-08-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

So today was another checkup on our little guy. Everything is great, he is healthy and still sucking his thumb. We've been getting nervous because Tawny is still throwing up every so often and we had no clue as to why. The Dr./OBGYN or whatever the heck she is said that Tawny has normal weight gain and they weren't too too concerned about it, but that if it did continue you to let them know. We have ultrasound pic's but are dumbfounded on what we are even looking at so i'm not going to put them up. The ultrasound tech obviously got what they were looking for so i guess no need to give us clearer pics, oh well!

On another note while my parents have been in Oregon we got put on babysitting duty while Shannon worked and Jason had school, so we had Drake last night and we had tons of fun with him. We also were able to take him with us to Disneyland last week where they had a little petting zoo which he wasn't much of a fan of. He called all the goats doggies but the best part for him was he got to run wherever his little heart desired and enjoy some of the other fun rides.

Owen Edward Araiza

2008-08-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

Woooh!, Congratulations to Rick and Sherri after over 24 hours of labor, a C section was done and Owen made his debut. We are so excited for Rick and Sherri!

It's About Time!

2008-08-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

So first we have to give a big thanks to Blake cause he was here last weekend and helped us get our scanner to work or in other words he got our scanner to work since neither Donovan or myself could figure out what the heck we needed to do, so for now we'll give you the pictures you have wanted to see which are the (creepy according to Donovan) 3D ultrasound pics of our little guy. There is a profile of him sucking his thumb and then there is a shot of like a 3/4 face pic, we have more but these 2 are the clearest and they are all genuinely the same. We will continue to be more on top of things next time and not be so lame trying to figure out how to keep up with technology.

Baby Body @ 6 months!

2008-07-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

So people, in particular Donovan has been trying to get a good pregnant picture each month of me and since we are coming up on 6 months this week we figured since now I'm showing we should actually get a picture. Now it seems the baby is growing daily. We have started doing some work on the babies room. I will post those pictures later but for now this is what i look like. And since Megan just cut my hair it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Weekend Recap/ Earthquake Fun!

2008-07-31T19:00:00.000-07:00

This last like 5 or 6 days was a lot of fun we had a lot to do and we topped if off hitting up the OC Fair Tuesday. Last Thursday Kevin, Melissa and Reese came down and we had a lot of fun getting to see them and doing some things with them. We went to HB and had a bonfire with a whole bunch of people. We enjoyed some delish corn on the cob and smore's. Saturday Shannon wanted to have a little family birthday party (while there was more family here) for Drake, his birthday isn't for a few more days but it was fun to have some more of our family to celebrate along with Jason's family at the park for our little buddy. He surprisingly enough though didn't have much desire to eat his cupcake he looked at for a while had some help from his cousin Hudson but ultimately wasn't that interested. And finally Tuesday if you haven't heard even though this is being posted way late we had the earthquake but didn't let that keep us down so we went to the OC Fair in the afternoon and both of our families were there so we spent some time with both. We watched the pig races and they needed an adult volunteer to open the fences for the pigs to start going so of coarse Donovan who lives to make a scene gets picked and got to release the pigs. Short and sweet but a lot of fun it was great being able to spend time doing a lot with family and getting to go to the fair before it's gone this weekend. Here are just a few pictures from the couple days.

3D BABY!

2008-07-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

So we had the 3D ultrasound done on Thursday I promise just as soon as we get our scanner up and running we will post the pics. But anyway it was really neat, in typical Holloway manner the baby flipped off the ultrasound technician. He's already taking after his aunt Hannah and picking his nose well that's what the tech said. He sucks his thumb and hides his face a lot. We are starting to think he is going to be a little shy since he was trying to hide his face for a while, that and when we found out he was a boy it took the tech at least 20 minutes to get him to move into the right position. We'll make sure between our 2 families that shyness won't be a factor. We have also started doing baby room things we have colors picked out of what we are going to do now we just have to do it. Donovan found a store in Fountain Valley called Just Like the Model where they sell pieces of furniture used in the pictures for advertisement at a really good price so we got a brand new changing table for $45 and a really comfortable chair for $65 so we got hooked up I recommend going there if you want to find great deals on nice furniture and the inventory changes almost daily so you can get really lucky with great deals. And again pic's are soon to come.

It's a . . .

2008-07-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well if you said BOY you would be correct. That's right we are having a boy, I think most were surprised even though by the pole it was split almost down the middle we are super excited. We went to the doctor today at 1:30 and we had the normal checkup done and then the ultrasound tech spent the next 20 minutes trying to get him to move in the position she needed. He has been very calm and relaxed for the most part but clearly he's shy cause he did not want her checkin out his business. I got a little worried because we had this fun idea set up for everyone and if we didn't find out we were going to have to cancel it. But she found his stuff and put the pictures and wrote down the sex and put it in an envelope so we had no idea. So we had Emileah Hiatt come over pick up the envelope and instead of just opening the envelope with everyone around Donovan thought of filling balloons with helium and putting confetti in them and that would be how we would all find out . So we got all of the families together at the Araiza's and had some little snacks and what not and then we popped the balloons as you'll see in the video. We have some names picked out but we keep finding others we like so we'll let you know more as we figure out more. So now on Tawny's side there are 4 boys going to be born this year (which includes Owen) and then on Donovan's side Clint and Andrea are having a girl and then Shannon and Liz are also pregnant and due generally at the beginning of next year so we'll have to wait a couple more months to find out what Blake, Liz, and Shannon and Jason are having. We also along with family had Emileah and Richie there and Shannon and Kyle and that was fun sharing that with all of them. We also have some ultrasound pictures but haven't been able to figure out the scanner yet.

Almost!

2008-07-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

So just 2 more days and we'll know what we are having it's very exciting and from the looks of the pole, it's almost split down the middle. Donovan thought of a fun idea to tell the family ,and well ourselves because we kind of want to find out with everyone but i am sure that can all change when we are actually with the ultrasound tech and they say, "so do you want to know what it is?" I have started getting heartburn more and more and now Donovan can feel the baby move and does it move when he makes noises to it. And no more it on Thursday just he or she Yeah!

10 Days Till We Find Out!

2008-06-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

So we are really excited because in just 10 more days on July 10th we get to find out what we are having. It seems like we've been waiting forever to find out especially since it feels like everyone else is finding out before us. But we are thrilled for all the babies that are coming around. By next March our little one will have a bundle of new cousins and it is going to be so much fun. We just found out tonight that Andrea is having a girl and now Donovan is completely thrown off because he thought for sure Clint and Andrea would be having a boy and since he was wrong he isn't sure of his prediction of us having a girl. But we don't care either way, we are just really anxious and excited now. So stay tuned we'll be filling in all the blanks next Thursday.

Oh my gosh, Hannah

2008-06-14T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well she made it, Hannah graduated from high school and is now off for the college world and still doesn't have her license! Her graduation was thursday at Veteran Stadium in Long Beach. The family went except Donovan who couldn't get work off but met up with everyone afterwards for dinner. She and her crew of friends were way excited to finally be done and move on to whatever's next. Their grad night was at Disneyland so she basically got to go to work to celebrate being done with High School. But she loves Disneyland so it wasn't like she wans't going to have fun. Congratulations Hannah we are very proud of you! Here are some pictures from the graduation.

Disneyland Adventures

2008-06-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

So last night we went to Disneyland for a couple hours with Loretta, Joey and Hannah because Hannah works in the parades at Disneyland and California Adventures. And while there an interesting thing happened. Since I can't ride the roller coasters right now Donovan took Joey on California Screaming and immediately after that they went to go check out the new Toy Story ride which isn't open to the public till a little later this month. Long story short the ride operator let them on so they were pretty excited until .... Until the cart that they got on, instead of going through the ride was moved along the track through to the maintenance area with Donovan and Joey now locked in their seats. As Donovan describes it the ride door closed behind them and then a big steel door closed after that and they were locked in this random room so what did they do. Thats right they began screaming for help, no one was in this room and it wasn't for a few minutes that anyone came around, eventually the maintenance guy heard them yelling for help and took them through the backside of the park to get out. Now if you know Donovan he was not okay with not having gotten on the ride so they walked back through to the line and even though they weren't letting anyone go through anymore they let Donovan and Joey on, and their official report is it's a very fun ride and the whole adventure in and of itself was fun. Needless to say something always happens to Donovan and if you ever get to listen to him tell it it's pretty funny. They did however miss Hannah in the electrical parade.

What'l it Be?

2008-06-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

So Tawny had a Dr.'s appointment today for a quick check up to make sure everything is going good with the growth and development of the baby and everything is going well. She has however been suffering from nausea for pretty much no reason since she was never given the proper medication. And now of course the nausea is starting to pass and the Dr. gave her the proper prescription, so whatever i guess if she starts feeling nauseous again she'll have something to calm it down with. Now the next appointment is July 10th and that is when we will find out the big question is it a boy or a girl so start guessing and we'll let you know.

Memorial Day Weekend

2008-05-27T16:18:00.001-07:00

Well we don't have any photos of any of our weekend the battery ran out. First the baby is growing and last appointment It measured 5.6 centimeters which was last month we'll go to the doctor again next tuesday and find out more stuff i guess but they aren't doing an ultrasound. So we won't see the baby, but the next time which will be in the first weeks of July we'll find out what we are having. So thats the baby update! Our weekend was fun we went and saw Indiana Jones with the whole Araiza clan on Saturday and that was great. Sunday we had dinner with the Holloway's and got to visit. Yesterday was a lot of fun, we went to our friend Sean's for a memorial day BBQ which is always good times at the Gardners, then after that we went and picked up Hannah from a BBQ she was at with her parents and went to Nordstroms since it was there annual or biannual sale. After that we headed over to Rick and Sherri's and with the whole family went to a park and played some croquet, it was a lot of fun. We got dinner at a great chinese food restaurant in los alimitos (Fortune Cookie) and then went home being worn out and drained we called it a night after a quick visit with Brent and Sandi.

Zion National Park

2008-04-30T16:31:00.000-07:00

On Monday after having driven down towards the St. George area we decided to go to Zion National Park for a few hours. It was really neat and a lot of fun it's crazy how clean and nice everything there is and it was a perfect day. The weather was great the sky was blue and the only downfall was it wasn't really in the plans originally so we had to make due with what we had meaning Tawny decided to hike in sandals which is the way she'd probably prefer it anyways since i've rarely seen her wear shoes.

And The Reception!

2008-04-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from the reception.

At the reception the Farish family represented starting with Merlin and Rita.

2008-04-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here we are! And everyone else, Hannah, Joey, Allison with Joey and Takoa, Connor and the proud parents and daughter (Terry, Cindy, and Whit).

More Wedding Photos

2008-04-29T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here are the 2 pregnant cousins together Tawny and Katie. They're due dates are about 2 weeks apart or so. They are 2 of the 5 in '85 group Tawny has 4 cousins that were all born in the same year as her, they are all girls and have all remained really close over the almost 23 years. And this year Tawny and Katie and 2 other family members Sherri and Keri are all expecting so there will hopefully be another fun group of cousin friends.

Jake and Whitney's Wedding

2008-04-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

The weekend started for us Thursday evening when Tawny's family and us drove up toward Sandy, Ut. We made our couple stops and got up there in a pretty good amount of time. The

unfortunate thing was when we got there the Andersons had finally started locking their doors and because it was early morning we didn't want to call and wake everyone up so we drove down a ways to find a hotel the first 3 we stopped at were booked and we were all over it so we went to one more place and thankfully we were able to get a room and sleep through what rest of the night there was.

Friday we got ourselves up and went up to the families house only to get there and find out that Terry, Whitney's dad was rushed to the ER with cellulitis (a skin infection) in his leg. Which kind of threw everything in shambles and everyone was worried. Fortunately the doctors said he would be okay but now there was the whole wedding thing going on the next day and what was going to happen if Terry wasn't able to be there. But thankfully the doctors permitted him to leave the hospital for a few hours to attend the sealing, only under the circumstances that there be an RN present with him the whole time so here came Nurse Tawny to the rescue.

So Saturday we all packed up and went to Salt Lake for the sealing and it was great to see everyone there. The sealing was really great and the couple were so happy and excited as was everyone there for them.

Grand Prix Weekend

2008-04-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

So this weekend was the Long Beach Grand Prix and we don't live far from where they have the races so we became prisoners in our home, but we developed a plan one of us on the weekend parks our car on the street friday and use the other car to do whatever we need to for the weekend. Fortunately we are blessed with a garage so we don't have to stay trapped in the apartment, but there was literally no parking anywhere. We are heading to Utah this weekend for a wedding so hopefully i'll actually remember to take the camera to actually put some pictures up.

Semi Heat Wave

2008-04-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

So as i said until more stuff happens we are kind of boring and the little things are way exciting for us. We had a little heat wave this last week and by the end of it all we decided the summer was going to be ridiculous here in our apartment so we went and bought an air conditioner. Ahhhhh it feels great! Last night we turned it down to 60 degrees for like 2 hours and our bedroom was so cold we had to use our whole bedspread as opposed to just the sheet. That is going to come in super handy when we are facing the extreme heat, well the California extreme heat which we know compares in no way to the heat that our family faces in Arizona. So needless to say we are loving it even though today it dropped like 15 degrees making a cool normal day. Oh well!

This Weekend

2008-04-06T22:55:00.000-07:00

We had a nice weekend we started off on friday night heading over to our friends, the Bagleys to celebrate Shannon's birthday which is Sunday. There were a lot of friends of our there and from what we noticed she really enjoyed this gathering her husband set up for her. They actually just got back from New York where they saw Shannon's obsession the Broadway musical Ariel the little mermaid musical. While there they brought us back a little onezie that says i love new york all over it. It was very nice of them. Also this weekend, aside from conference Kevin, Melissa and Reese came down to visit so it was nice having them all here and Reese and her cousin Drake enjoyed getting to see one another.

And here they are our niece Reese chillin in her moms sunglasses and our little nephew Drake always with a grin.

2008-04-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

Changes

2008-04-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

So this whole thing is going to change cause i don't really know what i am doing but my sister in law Melissa is going to give me a crash coarse while she is down on this whole thing so if anyone is looking at this know that it's probably all going to go away and then come back better. Hopefully!

So it begins...

2008-04-02T17:52:00.000-07:00

Alright so we've been taken in by the madness that is blogging. Please bear with us as we are both pretty illiterate when it comes to this kind of stuff but I'm sure we'll get the hang of it like all of you have. We probably won't have much to report or say as our lives are generally the same on a daily basis. We work long hours and use whatever time we get to enjoy it with one another. So here we are and we'll try and keep it interesting. We were married November 10th 2007 (if you didn't already know) and have been making house in downtown Long Beach ever since. It's been fantastic and we are excited for all the great things that are happening in our lives. We have a lot to share but it will all come in time until then enjoy!