Crazy kid

I had sisters missionaries and their investigator over at our house during Andre's nap. As sister missionaries were about to leave, Andre emerged..with his legs marked up in various colors of pen. It was actually pretty funny, I still have no idea how exactly to wash it off as water and soap didn't seem to do anything to the markings. Apparently the kid got into my craft drawers before he went down for a nap, and pulled out a toy to play with - pens. I guess for the lack of paper he decided to use his legs for canvas - check out the product of his creative mind...'I didn't do it...'

There were other colors as well, I think he used at least 5 different colors of pens to create this masterpiece :)

Easter

We had a pretty normal Easter. In the morning we did a little egg hunt with Andre and he seemed to enjoy looking for and finding eggs, as well as eating his Easter candy. The Easter Bunny brought him some Elmo pjs and a basketball hoop. After church we had a potluck dinner with a few couples from our ward. We had an enjoyable time.

'What's in there?'

Do Not Rollerblade 4 Weeks Before Your Due Date

Since we got our wonderful new car we realized that we can fit Jeff's bike in the back even without folding down the seats. That got us really excited, as we used to go on our bike-rollerblade-stroller rides when we lived in Claremont (now our neighborhood is not at all attractive and with the many cars out on the road is not very safe for such activities). So in our excitment we decided to go on such ride on Saturday and stroll along the beach. We parked a few blocks away from Santa Monica Pier. I put on my rollerblades, put Andre in the stroller and Jeff got on his bike - we were on our way. It was so much fun. We went down to the biking lane along the beach and went for about 2-2.5 mi to Venice Beach. I was feeling well, and nothing hurt (yet). We turned around and went almost all the way back, but decided to stop at the kiddie playground, so Andre could run around for a little bit. I sat down while Jeff watched and played with the boy. We were there for 20 minutes or so, but as soon as we decided to leave, I went to get up - and oh no - the pain was excruciating! My ligaments, already loosened up by pregnancy hormones, were made worse by the rollerblading! We slowly made our way to the pier, upon which I took off my rollerblades and got on Jeff's bike while Jeff pushed Andre. When we got home, I could not move my legs for a few hours, it was horrible. Luckily, the pain slowly went away. The moral of the story is - do not rollerblade 5 miles within 4 weeks of your due date! :)
We did have an anjoyable time though, if I were to go back, I would do it again, but just cut down 5 miles to maybe 1 :)

Daddy, can you push me?

My two guys

On a fun note - at the park we bumped into none other than Billy Boyd - Pippen from The Lord of the Rings. He was there with his girlfriend and son Jack, who is 2 months older than Andre. I got to actually talk to both of them about... kids. We talked like any other parents in the park. I figured that he probably didn't need anyone oohing and aahhing about his celebrity status. So we just acted like he was just another parent in the park. Though I admit, I was a little starstruck.

Parentonomics

Hi Friends,

For those of you who have kids and are thinking "How could I use more economic theory in my parenting?", check out this blog (trust me, it's pretty amusing even if you don't love economics as much as I do).
http://gametheorist.blogspot.com/
If you are coming to the potty training stage, look under the "Greatest Hits" links on the right side for some great stories.

Or read a chapter, about traveling with kids, from his upcoming book here.
http://www.parentonomics.com/parentonomics--travelling

First Beach Outing

Ashamed to admit, but last Friday was actually the first time in about a year, and since we have moved to Los Angeles that we went to the beach not just to walk on the boardwalk, but rather to enjoy the sand, the sun and the water. I'm not even sure what the name of the beach was, but it's pretty close to Malibu. Andre enjoyed running and playing in the sand, watching the birds and the dolphins! Jeff and I got to go in the water. Anyway, we had a nice break to March Madness and enjoyed our family time.

This is the first time Andre kept his Nemo hat (his uncle Ryan gave him) on

It took forever for Jeff to gointo the water, our camera battery almost died by the time he actually got in. What a wuss! :)

Not that I really wanted to have any pictures taken of me, but I had to document the swimming.
And yes, I do not have a maternity swimming suit and just can't make myself spend $30 on to only use it a couple more times :). I figured my basketball shorts and a t-shirt will do - sexy!
Andre, though he loves water, is apparently afraid of the waves and tried to getas far from the ocean as he could.
Thanks for sharing, Andre :)