Meet Marlin Mauai Saluone

I know this is like 10+ months overdue, but I did actually give birth to a beautiful baby boy on November 21st (2014). He was sweet and perfect and still is - now with teeth! Here's a few pictures of our newest handsome little boy! And you may get a glimpse of his older brother who is still a good boy and is really sweet and gentle with his little brother - most of the time.

Home from the hospital

Marlin's first family photo - he's SO happy :)

With big brother

Practicing his modeling skills at 3 weeks old.

9 months old and showing off his pearly whites.

Family photo on Junior's first day of preschool (*upcoming post).

Showing us those baby blues.

I'll try posting more regularly. I just need to organize my photos first, they are saved and scattered all over the place. We're all doing well and really enjoying being a family of four.

Loves,

Karen

It's A ...

This post is way overdue, but I thought I would let everyone know that Jonathan and I are having a...

In case you can't see it, we're having another boy! Jonathan is excited because he's getting what he wanted. I'm happy too, we're not done having kids so hopefully a girl is in our future. But for now at least we'll save money on clothes, bedding, etc. And the two boys can easily share the only other bedroom in our tiny house.

I'm almost 30 weeks now, November 22nd is fast approaching and I've got my list of things to do. We'll see if I can get to all of them.

Here are more ultrasound pictures if you're interested.

Loves,

Karen

One Year

After a year since I last posted on this blog, I decided to finally post something. And it's going to be good, here's a start:

In case the message isn't clear enough, in November of this year Junior's status as an 'Only Child' will be expiring, as in he will have a little brother or sister!

That's right, I'm pregnant with child number 2 and we're very excited. I'm just starting to get over the sickness and fatigue of the first trimester, so things are looking up - those first 13 weeks are no fun. Baby is due around November 22nd, so I'm hoping I won't end up in the hospital on Thanksgiving Day. But now that I said it, that's probably what will happen.

I can't guarantee more regular posting on this blog, but I do have a ton of photos I'd like to share of our nearly 3 year old! He's grown so much and we have so much fun with him as he provides never-ending entertainment for us.

Loves,
Karen

Big Kid

Junior is growing up so fast. He's such a big kid, and he knows he's a big kid. He loves playing in the cupboards at his grandmas' houses.

I had a video to add to this post, but it wouldn't load for some reason. So you just get a few cute pictures this time. I'm trying to get "caught up" so you can see more recent photos of Junior. He really is a big kid now.

Loves,

Karen

Junior & Grandpa

Junior loves books, but he still doesn't have a very long attention span for them, especially if they are really wordy. He likes to get through each page fast. But this night Grandpa had him really excited about reading.

It was so cute, he would just giggle every time Grandpa tapped the page - he thought it was so funny. I didn't even get to video the best part of it either.

Loves,

Karen

Happy Mother's Day

I meant to post this yesterday, but in all my Mother's Day laziness I forgot. Hope you had a good Mother's Day!

I saw this video and it made me cry. I sent it to my mom and mother-in-law right away. But I thought I would post it here for all my friends and relatives who are also mothers, or who have mothers, or who are married to a mother. Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Loves,

Karen

Piano Recital

During Christmas when all the cousins were around we had an impromptu Piano Recital. Some children played music they made up, others played music they had learned from a book and practiced a lot. I swear I recorded this recital, but I couldn't find the recording on my phone - maybe it's on my real camera, I'll have to check. But I did get some photos of one of the littlest players. He really enjoyed showing off his skills on the 4-key mini piano, and he loved the applause he got.

Junior is grown up enough now that he can climb onto the piano bench by himself and really "play" the piano. He loves it, actually. He loves music of any kind so I think there's going to be some kind of music in his future. I wouldn't be surprised either, he gets it from both sides.

Loves,

Karen

Junior's Tongue

Here are more cute phone pictures of Junior.

I apologize in advance, I just can't help thinking my kid is cute when he sticks his tongue out! I'm sure I'll hate that when he grows up, but for now it's just cute. And I think I barely avoided filming a sneeze.

Loves,

Karen

Junior & Gracie

When Randy and Kim came to visit for Christmas Gracie and Junior had so much fun playing together. I just love these pictures!

 And this video is darling. Junior sure loves his sound effects.

I am so happy that they are so close in age and can be such good cousin friends. We miss seeing Gracie all the time, but it's so fun when they visit.

Loves,

Karen

Look What I Can Do

Our little Junior is such a ham! This is what happens when he sees himself in the camera on my phone:

The tongue almost always makes an appearance.

Then the bellybutton comes out.

Then he's just a cute little guy.

Later when he knew we were taking photos and videos of him, he did this...

And this...

And this...

And this...

And, finally, this cute little video. I love his facial expression near the end - SO cute!

I think it's funny how he's so influenced by technology like I never was growing up. He knows all about my phone, tablet, computer, and any electronic device in our house. He's going to be really good at it when he grows up! I just love him!!!

Loves,

Karen

One December Day

I found these pictures from a day in December, I thought they were cute. When we were forced to let Junior play in the kitchen (because he could crawl under, or tear down, the gate) he loved playing in the kitchen drawers. His favorite drawer was the one with all my measuring cups and baking utensils. Not long after these photos were taken we installed child locks on all the drawers. He wasn't very happy about that.

I'm pretty sure that's a candy thermometer in his hand, and I'm pretty sure he broke it.

This video may not seem exciting, but I thought he was so cute playing with the measuring cups and thinking about sharing them with the dogs. Then you get the cute wave goodbye at the end.

Every day with this kid is a new adventure. I love him so much! Hope you have happy moments like this one.

Loves,
Karen

Halloween 2012

When Halloween actually came around we were ready. We tried to get better pictures of our little cowboy and I think they worked out okay, well, one of them did.

Excellent timing!

I look horrible in these pictures, but my little guy looks so cute!

Obviously he couldn't stop taking his hat off. We had to go to extreme arm-holding-down measures to get the cutest photos.

Allison's kids stopped by, well, the trick-or-treating aged ones.

Then Savannah came over with her kids to do a little trick-or-treating. So I took Junior out and he loved it. He walked the whole way and loved being with his cousins. He wasn't that into the whole asking for candy bit, but he loved walking up to people's doors and seeing all the decorations.

 

 It was a very fun night. Can't wait until next Halloween!

Loves,

Karen