Friday, May 28, 2010

Here he is!

Felix Augusto Greist!

Zach is still so stoked about our new old car! He thinks he looks sooo awesome riding down the road in this with a spiked up mohawk! According to Jake, he was a one man wolf pack, and then he was introduced to Zach, he became a 2 man wolf pack, and then Zach introduced him to Alan and Echo, now they are a four man wolf pack. They are also "The four best friends that anyone could have, the four best friends that anyone could have, and they will never ever ever ever leave each other!"

Other than the car, the mohawks, and the new best friends, we haven't been up to much. I got my tooth pulled yesterday, it sucks! And the ice is finally melting or whatever it ends up doing.

Rea found her hands, she was sitting in her swing and would stare at her hand for a minute, and then she would hit her self and then look at her hand like she was mad at it! It was funny, but I only let her do it a couple of times. She also found herself in the mirror thats on her swing. Yesterday she was looking at herself and saying "agoooo" and then smiling. I really wanted to take a picture, but my camera still hasn't gotten here!! Well it might be here, but we can't find the dang post office keys!





Tuesday, May 25, 2010

What a weekend!

So my birthday was on Saturday! I no longer can call myself a teenager. I'm still too young to go to the bar or rent a car, but hey i'm 20 and that's amazing!




(Thank you Cathy at Tundra Tantrum for the picture)

As you could imagine, Rea, Zach, and I had a very long exciting weekend. It started on Friday night. Maija picked me up and we attended a candle party. I don't remember the last time I laughed that hard. Zach stayed home with the baby, but I later found out that he asked Charlotte to help him out and ended up just sleeping most of the time. I wasn't mad though, I mean how could I be? I finally had a girl's night out and Zach finally stayed home. As soon as I got home, I knew I had to go to bed, because Saturday was my birthday and after we got up, we had to go to Maija's house to get ready for Dean's twins to come in and for my birthday dinner. After the twins and my 'sister' Charm and godson Aiden came in, we started getting ready for my birthday dinner. Maija made flowers out of the paper you put into presents to hide them (I can't think of the word) and hung them on the ceiling. We ate hot dogs and hamburgers as well as macaroni salad and potato skins, then I got to blow out my ONE candle. That's all Maija would let me have, which at first I thought wasn't fair. Then I realized maybe it's because I have too many candles, because I am getting so OLD! So I smiled and blew it out. On Saturday night, my cousin Ariel babysat Rea and Aiden (who will be 2 in July). Ariana, Charm, Zach, Blanche, Echo, Jake, Alan, and I hung out at Ariana's house, where we played games and laughed, and danced. Before the night got over, Zach, Echo, Alan, and Jake decided that they are the "four best friends that anyone could have, they're the four best friends that anyone could have" And of course, since Alan and Echo already gave each other mohawks, Zach and Jake had to have them to! Ariana dug out her dad's clippers, that we couldn't find the guard for. Jake took the plunge first, and Alan started to chop his hair off, I got to finish his mohawk and since Alan cut it somewhat crooked, it goes from being nice and straight and wide in the front to almost a point in the back. It's hilarious. I didn't finish Zach's hair, I just started it and Alan finished it. His mohawk is a little off to the side but it's pretty straight. We still need to trim the back of his hair though, becuase he is monkey-like and his hair is too long in the back. So once again Zach has an ugly mohawk and I can't do anything about it. I think Zach and Jake look WAY more awesome than Alan and Echo, becuase we didn't use a guard on Zach and Jake and their hair was WAY longer to begin with. Echo's hair though is very crooked! It's so funny, especially since I didn't notice how crooked it was until Sunday night when we went to their house for dinner. (I don't have any pictures, but when if I do get some, I will post them for sure)On Sunday, I got up at about 9 because I could hear Aiden, and Rea was being a wiggle worm, which is what she does for about 15 minutes before she actually wakes up. So I got up and brought Aiden downstairs to my mom who was just getting up and I brought Rea down so she could eat too. Of course I fed her and took her right back upstairs to sleep. We didn't get back up till almost one, then I realized that Max's birthday party started at two and I knew for sure Maija would need help. So I got dressed and rushed over to her house baby in the moby and a diaper bag that I didn't even bother checking for everything. When kids started showing up, Maija was still working on the clues for the pokemon scavenger hunt, so I played tag outside with the kiddos. I don't remember the last time I actually ran like that! After Maija finished the clues, Jake and I hung them up, well I hung them up and Jake HID them! During the scavenger hunt, my team couldn't find one clue, because Jake hid it in up in a corner under the roof of a shack behind Maija and Dean's. Jake's team ended up winning, but only because he cheated!! After the excitment of Max's birthday party, the kiddos were off to kid's club, which is at the baptist church on front street. Maija, Charm, and I cleaned up the stuff from Max's party and got ready for Maddisen's party, she was supposed to have a movie theme, but we decided to do girly stuff like make pretty headbands and clips. Maddie's party was much more suttle and fun, for me anyway. Through out the day, Rea was loved by everyone, even though she slept on the couch most of the time. After the parties were over, we went to Blanche and Echo's and ate sloppy Joes, they were SOOOOO good, since I hadn't had one in I don't know how long. On Sunday night, Rea didn't seem like she was feeling too well, and all night she was still not better, so yesterday I stayed home from work with her and now she's doing a lot better. We're back at work today and she's sleeping in my arms.

Here is the feather cilp that I made for Rea at Maddisen's party!

I ALMOST forgot that Zach bought a car this weekend!! A REALLY old Tahoe. It's hilarious, I think I am going to name him Felix Augusto Greist. Just don't tell Zach ;)

Friday, May 21, 2010

you call it spring, we can't...

I woke up this morning, in a fairly good mood... I mean considering the fact that I get up at least 3 times every night to feed Rea, being in a fairly good mood when I HAVE to wake up for work is awesome! (This one is Maija's absolute favorite picture!)
And then I went downstairs... WOW there was a thin layer of snow on the ground, needless to say, my fairly good mood turned into an grunt and "ugh I do NOT want to go to work today" Of course I had to take a shower this morning too, since the season finale of Grey's Anatomy was on and didn't end until 10 pm. I managed to jump in the shower though, without too much procrastination, then Zach brought Rea (who was soundly asleep) downstairs to take a shower with me. He undressed her and took off her diaper while she squirmed and wiggled and grunted her "i'm so mad at you" grunt. She normally LOVES showers and baths and doesn't even mind when I accidentaly get water on her face, but today, she did not appreciate that we woke her up and put her straight into the shower. As soon as I started getting her wet, she looked up to me with a 'mom why are you doing this to me?' look and I felt extremely bad. After the shower her daddy got her dressed and put her in her my little lamb swing and she fell right back asleep. After finally getting everything ready for work, I was already 15 minutes late and I realized I didn't even eat breakfast. So I wrapped the moby around myself and once again woke up my poor chubby girl to put her hat on her and stuff her into the moby. She cried almost all the way to A.C., but fell asleep right before I stopped the car. After finally getting to work, it was already almost 8:30. Of course Yogie (my supervisor) wanted Rea, and I was willing to sacrifice possibly making her mad one more time this morning. Normally if she's sleeping when I get to work I just leave her in the moby and do whatever I need to, but she really likes Yogie and gets very comfortable very quickly. I pulled her out of the moby with only a couple of grunts. She fell right back asleep as soon as Yogie let her lay on her chest. After a few minutes Yogie had to bring her back to me, so she slept in my left arm while I did my work on the computer with my right hand. Then Saima texted me and asked me to bring her to her house after Rea got done eating. I brought her over and now she's visiting Saima and Clara.
My day is slowly getting better. Right now i'm on the phone with my B.F.F. Jessa trying to figure out when she can come visit us. I ate an egg sandwhich and now K-Love is finally working. I sent out an e-mail to a bunch of people to brighten their days and here it is, to maybe brighten your day too (=
"life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." -Anonymous
"the best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up." -Paul Valery
"How you think about a problem is more important than the problem itself. So always think positively." - Norman Vincent Peale

"There are hundreds of languages in the world, but a smile speaks them all." -Anonymous

SO happy spring to all of you, even though 33 miles above the arctic circle, it is snowing. Eventually the sun will shine and the snow will melt.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Our Sunshine has arrived!

Our baby girl, Rea Jacqualine Iksrik-Gishreen'aii was born on Easter Sunday, April 4th, 2010 to the Christian tunes belting out of an iPhone. Of course, this was AFTER we had danced the evening away to some Beyonce' and some Lady Gaga, much to the amusement of the other patrons in the Providence Maternity Center! (Oh, yeah, we know how to have FUN, even while in labor!)

Hello Im here

In attendance at this special event were Momma, Daddy, Aunties Saima and Maija, Aana Jennie, and Gramma Emmy, Auntie Coleen, and a whole slew of doctors and nurses who just wanted to witness the awesome blessing of life.

rea baby

Rea (RAY-uh) is a Finnish Name, simple and profound. Jacqualine is Daddy's mom, my grandma. Iksrik (ICK-shrik) is Auntie Saima's Eskimo Name, and Gishreen'aii means SUNSHINE in Gwich'in.

Photobucket

Momma and Daddy's little REA Sunshine!

Mommy loves you!

Rea Carroll was born on April 4, 2010. She weighed 7 lbs 7oz and was 20 inches long.


April 4, 2010 also happened to be Easter!! and even though my mom didn't get us easter baskets this year, Rea was the best Easter gift I have ever gotten!


Right now she is 6 weeks and 3 days old! Each day, she gets bigger and stronger. In fact, she doubled her birth weight!!


She recenly learned how to smile, and always wakes up in a good mood!!!


Since she was born, my entire life has changed. I used to dream about when I would finally become a mother, and now that I am one, I LOVE IT! I came back to work this past Monday, and I get to take her with me, which makes it all the better. Everyone loves her in my office, and my supervisor Yogie cannot wait to spoil her!


Rea is the first grand daughter for her daddy's mom. She was ecstatic when the baby finally came, although she missed the actual birth, she arrived in Anchorage the day after and had a whole week to love her up! Zachary is the 7th child of a total of 14! He's got 3 full sisters, 3 half sisters, 5 full brothers, and 2 half brothers. In fact, his youngest sister is only a year and a half older than Rea!


On my side Rea has two loving aunties, and 6 cousins. We all live in Kotzebue, and are a very close to each other!



For now, this is all.