Beach excursion (sun, mar 4)

It was such a beautiful day that we couldn't help visiting our favorite little local beach spot. C loves the beach-- he goes into a zen state of calm when he runs his toys over the sand and makes ditches and mountains with them.

It's difficult to imagine living anywhere further inland than we already live (it's a good 5 minute drive to the beach on a not-so-busy day)... especially since my husband and I are surfers. In fact, a few hours after writing my uncle to inquire about jobs at the VA where he works, my heart sunk at the thought of living more inland. On that note, it's depressing that it's practically impossible for a veteran who has NO connections to current staff at our local VA to get a job there. *sigh*

Oh well... I like the hospital I work at now, and I work with a lot of great nurses. I especially love the older nurses on my floor. I love the mentorship they provide me, both as nurses and as mothers. I have always cherished the ability to have more mature and experienced women around me to give me guidance and advice when I needed it, especially at times that I (in my own stubbornness) didn't think I needed help at all.

Mini nature walk

Now that C has semi-recovered from his most recent bout with illness, we decided to go exploring around the little community where we live. We found lizards, spiders, flowers, pinecones, and other interesting things on our adventure. Poor thing isn't anywhere close to feeling 100%, but I didn't want him to feel like a prisoner at home... and I'm sure giving him fresh air and some sunshine wasn't going to hurt, either. ;)

Knit nap

While C has slowly been recovering from the flu, the flu slowly found its way into the rest of the family. Poor J's been miserably uncomfortable for the past few days. I've managed to squeeze some knitting time into his many naps.

It's fun seeing the Hermoine Hearts Ron hat slowly come into shape. The pattern is available as a free Ravelry download.

Brotherly love...

Shortly after I left these two like this to brush my teeth, I heard C sleepily say, "I love you, Baby J."

They then began to cough on each other. Hahaha :)

Rolly polly!

Someone was afraid of this harmless bug today.. Looks like we'll have to do some bug finding adventures, especially with the recent rains. :)

Tummytime skype...

...with lolo and lola :)

Playground knitting

We spent the afternoon at our favorite park. C got to burn off some energy and J napped for a few minutes. I got to squeeze in a little bit of time on a variation of the free Rocky ribbed beanie from Ravelry... And then Jordan was up for some people watching at the park when he woke up.

The hat is far from perfect.. I usually end up knitting it in the dark or in an awkward post-breastfeeding position, so it has definitely been a challenge to make. Especially since it uses fingering weight yarn. I'm happy with its progress so far, but the next hat will need to be made with yarn that's at least worsted weight. ^^;

Mama's little helper

C loves watering the plants.... Particularly this one. When we moved into our townhouse two years ago, the previous tenants left behind a large, flowerless pot of leaves. We kept flowering it, and to our surprise, this year it started popping out flowers like crazy. Apparently, they're cymbidium orchids. :)

Some daddy time...

Caught this precious moment with daddy shortly after I arrived home from work. Joel had already warmed up a bottle of milk, so I let them have some bonding time. :)

The simplest pleasures...

Trying to enjoy every moment as much as I can. Being able to spend every evening together as a, family truly is a blessing.

J loves playing with my yarn while I knit. :)

I've heard "The days are long, but the years are short." Goodness, it's so true. They grow up so quickly.

BLACKOUT!!!! :O

Thank you, Jesus, for semi-decent camping gear to help us "brave" our way through the great Southern California blackout of 2011 (shortly prior to leaving for a road trip to NorCal). C had a ton of fun camping out downstairs with mommy and daddy. :)