A Catcher in the Making

Andy has to take a picture of his sons in his baseball glove. Obviously they have to be pretty small, so we thought we better take the pictures of Joey soon before he "outgrows" the glove!

Napping with Daddy

The picture says it all...

Sunday Drive

Sunday we took a drive down the West Coast Expressway to try out our new car. We just had to break it in I guess!

Ike thought maybe he could drive, but we thought that might not be a good idea.

He got to play in the ocean for the first time while Elle and Joey napped in the car, so he still had a good time!

Addition to the "complaining"

Andy reminded me of a couple more things that happened on our Saturday morning, so here they are....

While Andy was feeding Joey, Joey decided to fill his diaper with, well you know what. I, Kris, was upstairs getting ready, and all I could hear was Joey screaming and Andy laughing. Turns out that while Andy was changing the diaper, Ike was "helping" by holding Joey's head still. This is something he likes to do when we are changing Noelle's diapers, and apparently he thinks that Joey needs this too. Well, Isaak was in just the right spot to get sprayed by his baby brother when the diaper came off. I wish I could have seen it! Isaak didn't get upset, he simply told Andy that "Joe went potty". We thought this was a funny story, hope you do, too.

When we did get to church, Andy dropped Ike, Joey, and me off at the door and then went to park the car. We usually park under the church, but our new car is too tall to fit in the lift. Well, he ended up having to park a half mile away from church. Ugh! I was starting to wonder what happened to him. Oh well, we all enjoyed some cold tea on our jaunt back to the car.

Yes, as one friend said, these things always do seem to happen before church!

When it rains, it pours!

Okay, no pics with this post, just writing. Andy and I decided we had to document somewhere the way this day started so we don't forget it. Here it goes....

1:30am-Joey wakes up to eat (normal)
1:45am-Elle starts crying and Kris goes to her room to see why
1:50am-Nothing wrong with Elle, but she is still crying
1:55am-Elle's crying wakes up Ike, and though Joey is done eating, he doesn't want to go back to sleep.
2am-3:45am-All kids are awake and, depending on the time, either laughing or crying (Andy and Kris were just plain crying)

In the end, Elle finally went back to sleep after some yogurt and medicine (she's getting some teeth), Ike fell asleep on Andy's side of the bed, Andy fell asleep on the couch, and Joey finally slept after pushing out some gas.

Then, the morning started out "great" too. Ike woke up, and wanted yogurt for breakfast. Half way through he was "all done" and when Kris went to wash his hands she spilled the rest of his yogurt all over him. At the same time Andy was burping Joey and he spit up on the floor. Then Elle woke up, of course a little cranky from lack of sleep, and had only 10min to eat before we left for church. This is hard for her because she is a slow eater. Then we spilled Kris' coffee in the car while getting the kids all buckled in. Ugh! This is only half of what happened from 1:30am on.

Somehow, we still managed to make it to church. On the positive side, it was a more comfortable ride to church this morning because yesterday we got our new (new to us, but really used) car. It is much easier to fit 3 car seats in a 7 passenger car than in a small sedan!

Another positive from the day is that when we got home from church, all 5 of us took naps at the same time!!!

Thanks for letting us share this with you (okay, for letting us complain)!

A Trip to Taipei

Today we were in Taipei to make Joey an official US citizen. Afterwards we "celebrated" by going to the Taipei Zoo. Luckily it is very cheap (US $4 for all of us), because it was SO HOT and humid that we only stayed for about 1.5 hours and only saw 1/4 of the zoo at the most. Basically, we all sweat the entire time we were there, but the kids had a blast, especially Ike. He could care less that it was hot, he just wanted to see all the animals (the zebras are his favorite)!

Do I have to do everything around here????

Ever since Joey came home, I have had to do a lot more around the house. Lately, my main responsibility is to feed my sister. She likes it, but I'm wondering what the next thing will be that I am supposed to do!

Check out the shoes!

Isaak and Noelle went swimming in our little pool yesterday to try and stay cool. Isaak has swimming shoes to walk around in, but I don't have any for Noelle. I didn't want her to get her only pair of sandals wet, so I had her wear an old pair of Isaak's ( I know, it is pretty sad that I haven't bought her any other sandals, but I just haven't found any cute ones yet). The sandals are almost 2 times too big for her, plus they are heavy and camouflaged. It was hysterical to watch her try to walk around in them!

3 Weeks Old

On Thursday Joey will be 3 weeks old! Wow, the weeks have flown by quickly as we have started to adjust to life with 3 kids, 3 and under. We are going to "celebrate" by going to Taipei and applying for his passport. Sounds like fun, right?!?!?

Ike and Elle love Little Joey

It has been so fun to watch how attached Ike and Elle have gotten to Joey! The first thing they both do in the morning is go and check out his bassinet to see if he is sleeping there. Ike is always asking to hold him, and I'll also catch him stroking his head gently and talking to him about this or that throughout the day. It is SO CUTE! Elle likes to hold him once in awhile, but I think she still thinks he is a doll!

Elle tries corn on the cob

On Father's Day, part of our dinner was good-old corn on the cob. Elle had never had it before, so I thought I would let her try some of mine. Well, the girl loved it, and needless to say, my piece was gone. That's ok! It was so fun to watch her chomp away on it!

A Fitting Shirt

Hey Grandpa..."You can't see me"

Joey got this camo. bib from Uncle Kyle and Aunt Ellen (who else would give a baby camouflage stuff). He wants to know if Grandpa can spot him in the picture.

Lucky Boy

Isaak got to go to the horse farm again this week. He came home so excited because he got to ride the "pony horse"! He is still talking about it 2 days later! He rode the pony horse and A Ba (Hakka for Uncle) rode the big horse. After the horse farm he went for a cool swim! Lucky kid! Thanks A Ba!

Bath time!

It has become a tradition in the house that Andy carries both Ike and Elle upstairs for their baths. Well, today he thought he would try to carry all three kids up. I think that poor Joey got a little squished. Don't worry, I didn't actually let him carry Joey up. I think we'll wait until he can at least hold his head up!

Playing ball in the rain

It's been raining almost everyday since Joe was born (about 2 weeks). Despite the imperfect conditions, Ike and his friends enjoyed a little baseball outside.

This one's for Grandma Larsen

Joey wanted to show Grandma Larsen his piano fingers. He thought that she would be happy that one of her grandsons has the long fingers.

What is she eating?

Elle enjoyed her first Oreo with Dad. Now if she could only figure out how to dunk it in milk.

Joe being Joe

Miss Independent

Elle has decided that she wants to be Little Miss Independent when she eats. This,of course, is hard for her mom who doesn't like messes. Today I decided to let her have that independence and she did so good. She does the best with the spoon, but of course I didn't take a picture of that. Maybe next time.

A New Do

Today we finally buzzed Ike's hair. It had gotten so long and with the weather being hot, he was already battling heat rash. I think he likes the new cut.

Real Men Wear Diapers

The first attempt at a picture of the 3 kids

We'll have to keep trying.....

Elle finally held Joey, and didn't even cry!

Return to the Bouncy

Noelle hasn't sat in the bouncy chair since she was about 5 months old. Well, now that Joey has been sitting in it, we caught her trying it out again. I guess she wanted to see what all the fuss was about!

Ike's "cake"

Yesterday we finally had "cake" for Ike's 3rd birthday. A friend of ours was coming to visit, so we decided it was a good time to celebrate. Since he doesn't like cake, we actually
just decorated a giant chocolate chip cookie like a baseball. Of course, we were too slow in getting the cookie cut, so all he wanted were the oreo cookies he pulled off a shelf. Oh well, he ate some of it today.

So peaceful

This doll is funny looking!!!

Elle has finally taken an "interest" in her new brother. She will walk up to him, poke him somewhere on his face, and run away crying or laughing when he responds.

This is what happened when Mom was gone

We are so proud of him because both his arm tattoos perfectly mirror each other. Keep up the fine artwork!

Home

Everybody came home today. Within an hour all the kids where sleeping. We expect this to continue on for eternity.

Ike is very fond of his new brother, but doesn't really know what to do with him. Elle is not feeling very well and she hasn't noticed anything different.






Andy was great with the kids while Kris and Joey were in the hospital. He was alone with them all day Friday and Saturday except for the visits to see Mom and Joey. Plus, he even managed to bring Kris meals! Another huge blessing was that when I (Kris, in case you didn't know) walked in the door, the house was all cleaned up, even the dishes! Thank you Andy!!!