Bryson and Bodie at 2 weeks - our little Bodie still has blue eyes and fairer hair...he may have gotten some of my powerful Swedish genes!

like father like son

i love this picture. i love it because it captures what a crazy sleeper our bryson is...just like his daddy. he is so peaceful when he sleeps...i sneak in every night and kiss his sleeping face because i can't help myself...he is still my baby :)

who are you anyway?

despite his cries for attention, bryson is undeniably sweet with his baby brother. he wants to hold him all the time and always tells me how cute he is...

i think bryson is better off on bodie's good side at the rate this boy is growing!

Bodie's First Bath

both bryan and i are middle children, so we are really trying to not leave his baby book blank and to chronicle these moments. i think bryan captured bodie quite beautifully - he loved his first bath...maybe even remembered his birth...i think we have a water baby on our hands...

Bryson's Red Period

i think a "red period" is exactly what bryson is experiencing right now. we had a wonderful spaghetti and meatball dinner last night prepared by Candis and Eric, Julia and Donny were over. Bryson asked to excuse himself and i nursed Bodie and things were too quiet...way too quiet...i started to get a sinking feeling and julia offered to check on him and then we heard a very horrified "Bryan" coming from the back.

Bryson had found an ink pad left over from christmas card making and julia found him sucking on it...after he had managed to get it on the nightstand, bed, bedroom wall...basically all over. i kept telling myself this will be funny someday...but then Bryan showed me he took a picture of Bryson and it made it funny instantly...oh Bryson...we love you and your crazy personality so much...i hope this time of adjustment goes swiftly by!!

Who says it doesn't snow in long beach?

my brother and his family dropped by on their way home from mammoth...and they surprised a very happy bryson with some snow! another great distraction in his new changed world!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! This has been the most amazing Christmas...and this is why...

Bodie Owen Barnes - born December 24th at 6:55 a.m. - 9 lbs 8 oz - 22 inches long. He is a little bruiser and our Christmas miracle!

still waiting...

i just looked at my phone, which i don't seem to care to answer these days very much, and i think i have about 5 voicemails i havent even listened to yet...so please do not be offended if you have left a message and it is unanswered. i just wanted to let you all know that i am still here...still with child and starting to get very VERY ready to have this baby. i began waddling today, so i know i am close, but as to how close i have no idea. i am trying to maintain a semblance of patience and take into account the 9 lessons and carols from our church service today and adapt a spirit of waiting...what a great reminder to me especially! i am very blessed to have both my mom and bryan's parents here to care for me, bryson and my house - i have been spoiled with amazing home-cooked meals by Candis - lentil soup, chicken soup, a swedish feast, prime rib, roast, and sandwiches and crepes and oh my i miss my mom! and today Kathy made her Sunday spaghetti...and to top it off - i havent had to clean a single dish...it feels so good to be cared for - nothing like mothers! but i am doing okay...trying to walk as much as i can and be as active as i can, but mostly i am trying to keep my mind off of things because i am really trying hard to keep my mind focused. thank you to all of you who are checking in with me and care about us and are keeping us in your prayers - i covet them all i truly do. if you want to be notified as to when i am in labor - shoot me an email or post a comment and i will make sure bryan sends a text when everything starts so that you can start praying! and i will of course have bryan post a picture up as soon as he can after our little one arrives. thank you and love you all and hope your advent season is filled with longing and hope as well!

parenting, long beach style

This article was in today's Long Beach Press Telegram...i thought it too good to keep to myself...

Cruel and unusual punishment or just good, old-fashioned discipline?
Dennis Baltimore Jr. was caught vandalizing school property at Long Beach's Wilson Classical High School.
He was sentenced by his dad to walk the streets of Long Beach and Signal Hill on Tuesday for five hours in two locations wearing a sign saying, "I am a juvenile delinquent who should be punished. I have wasted your tax money with dumb acts of vandalism in the public schools."
When Dennis Baltimore Sr.'s phone rang Monday, he didn't know the call from his son's school would cost $875, the price of the vandalism.
"In a time of this uncertain economy, I'm sure the public is not going to like it," he said. "So one way I am going to discipline him is to have him walking around with a sign stating his crime."
Baltimore Sr., who works in the engineering department of DirecTV, moved to California a few years ago from Washington, D.C., where he worked for CNN and Fox News. He has a three-
day assignment to do video for Fox News for the presidential inauguration in January.
The father got the sign idea from a news story of an unemployed man in New York who recently advertised his resume on a board and walked the streets in search of a job.
"I didn't come up with this idea myself. I want to thank the guy in New York," he said. "When I saw that, I went to the store, bought the supplies and made the sign."

Twilight The Movie

my sweet sister took me out on a date yesterday to go see the Twilight movie. i was so excited to see it...such a dork i know! the really sad realization though is that I AM OLD! i seriously developed a crush on the guy who played Bella's dad...soooo much hotter than the vampire dude. how sad is that? but seriously - he was hot. it seems like a lot of these teen guys look like vampires - the whole cast of Gossip Girl look like vampires to me...its that rich, white thing i guess. and her dad had a mustache in the movie, but i am convinced it was to make him look older...and more like a cop...but i couldnt find any pictures of him with his stache so this is the actor who played him...

anyway...the movie...right- so it was a pretty good representation of the book. i feel like the over-pronouncement of apples was a little silly (the whole fruit of immortality thing) they over-played it if you ask me...also a lot of the cut shots seemed so late 1990s - it didnt really move me. i really loved the little actress who played Bella - she was exactly how i pictured Bella in my head, which is always lovely when that works out...and also the actor who played Jacob was exactly perfect for my imaginary casting. I keep winding back and forth between this being the best thing for pre-teen and teen girls and the absolutely worst thing. i mean - i just finished the last book and it was a little over 750 pages. my 15 year old niece read it...all of it...all of them. i dont recall reading any book that long in high school...or being so excited about a book at that age. plus i am tending to think that Bella is like every hormonal teeange girl's BEST friend. she makes every decision based on emotion pretty much but her consequence ends up being immortality - go figure. anwyay - i am still trying to make up my mind about the series, but they have been absolute brain candy and fun to imagine!