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Hugs and Kisses

It's probably not the best time for me to be writing a blog post as I work through the post-partum hormones, lack of sleep, and overwhelmingness of life with two kids.

So, rather than share my dysfunctional thoughts, I'll just share a few photos of our latest addition, who decided to join us a couple weeks early. She is a sweet little thing, weighing in at 6.2 pounds at birth and 19 inches (already competing with her brother who was only 6 pounds and 18 inches). She's got some spitfire to her but she's also got the curious wonder and wise look her brother had and she's a great sleeper so far. Jaxon seems to be getting used to the idea and brags about his little sister quite a bit, always wondering where she is. We feel blessed to have such a beautiful family...

Welcome to the world Kiley Joyce Vuong!

Not so happy about the first bath... guessing she won't be happy about the next one either.

All clean and dry and a ribbon in the hair. Our sweet little girl.

Jaxon met Kiley for the first time at the hospital. Not so sure yet. He was pretty content to just sit and watch cartoons in the hospital room. Everyone tells us he looks so little, but now I think he looks so big!

Ready to go home!

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers and well wishes as we welcome Kiley to our family. We look forward to you meeting her soon! Now that Kiley is with us, we'll be migrating to our new family blogspot- Hugs&Kisses- with a new address. Please update your bookmarks with our new address- http://www.vuong-family.blogspot.com/ .

The belly shot

I know you've all been waiting patiently, on the edge of your seat, for news of Baby K's arrival. Well, you'll just have to wait a little longer. All I have for you today is a belly shot. Finally, right?

I have avoided the camera throughout this pregnancy. Partly because I'm always the one behind the camera (most women are I've decided), and partly because I feel less than attractive this time around. Where is that 'glow' they talk so much about in 'the book'?


But, I figured, this little one in my belly might feel a little left out if I didn't have at least a few photos to show her that indeed, I really did carry her for nine months and felt joyful about it. So, here you go. Jaxon had to get in on the action too. He still thinks he has a baby in his belly like mommy. Wait till he finds out I have a real baby and his is only pretend.

We've got the bags packed, we've been contingency planning all weekend. Yes, I have been nesting- last minute errands, cleaning and organizing. But, I wish someone would mop my floors for me. I haven't quite brought myself to nest on those floors. Darn.

Scott's hoping I can keep her incubating till the end of the week till his co-workers come back from vacation and I've already partially checked out. Feeling like I could go any day now... which is a little scary, a little exciting, and mostly surreal.

We both keep wondering, what is life like with more than one? It seems overwhelming to think about loving another child as much as we love Jaxon. Our world revolves around him right now... hard to think how that's all going to change, and yet we're so excited to be on this crazy train together and to be adding to the family. And it is a crazy train. Sometimes dysfunctional even. But, we wouldn't have it any other way. We'll keep you posted on when the train arrives at the station...

memorial day = fishing, fun, and family

This weekend we went to Cedar Shores Resort in Park Rapids with my parents and Cory and Zoe. After a very long car ride there, and many funny family moments, including Jaxon discovering peeing on the floor in the truck stop restroom, we finally made it!

We spent the weekend fishing, playing in the sand, running around, and playing games in the cabin. It was a lot of fun- here are a few of the 400 pictures I took ;-)

Jaxon got a new fishing rod from grandma and grandpa. He quickly learned how to cast and reel and Scott took him down to the dock many, many times. I think he is a natural!

Jaxon had really been looking forward to swimming, playing in the water, and squirting grandpa with some water shooters we'd bought. Here he is just hamming it up for us, as usual.

My boys... catching the evening bite.

Walking along the beach, lookin for trouble.

Ok daddy, I'm ready to go in the paddle boat! But my feet don't quite reach the pedals...

Hi Mom! I'm fishing!!!

Thanks to grandma and grandpa for a fun weekend!

to grandmother's house we went...

Fishing opener weekend. Dad went to Canada to have some dedicated fishing time before my little sister comes. He knows he will not get another chance like this, so he packed his bags (the day before of course!), got in his car, and drove in record time to Cedar Lake Camp. We heard from him yesterday that he caught fish for dinner and misses us a lot. I miss him too, a lot.

But, with grandpa gone fishing too, we decided to go visit grandma for the weekend in West Fargo. Of course, we always have fun there! I'll post some more pictures as soon as mom can find the jump drive grandma gave her. I think mom is in the official 'losing it' stage. She even put my shoes on the wrong feet today and didn't notice till I fell down a couple steps cuz I couldn't walk right. And I thought I was just being clumsy! You should see our house too. Two words. Pigstie.

Here's a few photos from mom's camera though. I was helping Grandma and Great Grandma deadhead the flowers. It's supposed to be a secret from Grandpa, but I'm guessing these pictures give it away. Sorry Grandma. I don't know much about secrets yet.

You're sure this is okay grandma? Would grandpa approve?

I gotta clean up this mess and get inside before those bugs get me! Too many bugs.

Looks like a bunch of lettuce to me. Might as well throw it all away.

This is Sunday night. Sometimes 'being difficult' is also 'really cute and funny'.

Mom wanted me to get my jammies on, but I had other things in mind. Like wearing my safari hat with no shirt on and reading Thomas. What's up with that?

Random phrases I said today that made mom laugh her head off:

• Holy buckets!
• What's up with that!
• Oh Man!
• Look at my arms! (wearing short sleeves)
• Look at my legs! (wearing shorts)
• I miss grandma. I'm sad. I need a hug.
• Where's that guy going mommy? (about a woman with short hair at Target)

Another fun weekend...

ideas sometimes lead to...

free Twins tickets!

One casual Sunday morning, Scott and I were reading the newspaper and saw an article about Minnesota Idea Open. It's a thinktank, if you will, for people like you and me. They take all of our ideas, let some experts look at them, and then a bunch of people vote, and someone gets their idea implemented. Okay, that is bare bones version. The first Idea Open centered around Obesity and how to tackle this XXL problem in MINNEsota. So I had a brilliant idea, I submitted it, and found out that of 414 entries, I was selected as one of 20 semi-finalists.

Althought i was not selected as a finalist, I was still quite honored and very excited when I found out they were giving us free Twins tickets.

Last night we got to go to the game, walk around the field beforehand in an Idea Open Parade, and got free concession stand dollars. It was awesome.

And once again, we got matching t-shirts for the family, although as you will see, they ran out of smalls. Here are some photos of our fun night at Target Field.

All the way there, Jaxon was cheering 'Go Twins Go!'. Now he got to do it with a pom-pom ;-)

The dirt for the mound and grass for the field.

Look closely. You can see us on the jumotron! J thought that was pretty surreal.

Jaxon, still trying to find TC the bear and wondering why we can't go on the grass!

smile at the rain

I have an art print I bought in Seattle when the three of us went out there last year. It's a great print of people in colorful rain jackets and umbrellas, and it just says 'Smile at the Rain'. Perfect image for this weekend.

Despite the end to our sunny days and a weekend of rain, we had lots of smiles these last few days. Sometimes it's nice to be forced indoors and come up with rainy day activities. It slows us down a little from the constant activity in our lives, and it gives us time to reflect on the fresh, new air that remains after the showers end.

Here's a look at our smiles this weekend:

Saturday, we had quite the morning. We went to several golf stores looking for new clubs for Scott, since he had just sold his that morning. Seems to be an annual thing (Back to my last post). But, we were troopers and it was sort of a fun 'treasure hunt' if you will. In the process we bought Jaxon some new play doh tools. Boy did he have fun.

I think we spent nearly two hours playing play doh. Two hours doing anything is a miracle in itself. We had lots of fun making 'pasta' and 'snakes' and 'horsies'.

We even made some 'Jaxons'! They're actually smiley face imprints, but you try telling him that!

Then after dinner, Jaxon decided he would really start hamming it up. What better way to work off your dinner than to turn you truck book into a ball, throw it around the kitchen, chase it, and say 'Oh man!' everytime just to make your parents laugh. He really is a potato head.

Sunday, despite the rain, we made it out to the March for Babies event and did a four mile walk at Boom Island. Jaxon and I got matching t-shirts, something he was really excited about ;-) We had fun together and later took a three hour nap. And that was glorious.

All in all, a great weekend. Don't forget to take time to smile at the rain. It is a beautiful thing.