A few words from Duncan - posted by the Mrs.

Duncan loves to do the same things that we as grown ups get to do.

I was getting ready for the day and was putting on deodorant.  Duncan, of course, wanted his turn to apply.  With the lid still in tact, he got his turn and pretended to lather it on.  It's been a daily ritual for quite sometime.

I explained to him that someday when he gets to be an even bigger boy he will get to wear deodorant.

He stopped what he was doing, looked up at me with a quick look and said with disbelief, 

"And take the lid off?!"

Love this boy!

More of this and that - posted from the Mrs.

We got a jump start on Christmas decorating and got to it before Thanksgiving had even passed.

Duncan was my super helper and loved getting to put the ornaments on our little tree we've had since we first got married.  I think it will be The Kid's Tree from now on.  We'd like to start a tradition of having a real tree and possibly even cutting it down each year!

I love this next picture.  Can you spot Duncan and I in it?!

So I sort of forgot to crop the picture and Duncan's head is in the bottom right, but the correct answer is supposed to be in the Silver Ornament!  Sometimes we play around with the camera and cool things come of it. 

Daddy and Duncan making Gnocchis!

Here's a funny fact about Bobby and this night: I was feeding Charlie in the family room and he was looking for the whole wheat flour I had ground up in order to finish making the Gnocchi dough.  I told him it was in the freezer.  When I came into the kitchen a little while later, I saw the the big bag of Dough Enhancer on the counter.  Over 50% of the Gnocchi dough was made up of dough enhancer in place of flour! 

They didn't taste too bad but they looked pretty creepy after a day in the fridge.

Family picture at an Equestrian Park we hung out at on Thanksgiving Day.

It was beautiful there.  I felt like we were walking the grounds of a rich farmer.  There was a big pond with ducks, white picket fences, and beautiful trees with vibrant fall leaves covering them.

Here are a few cute Daddy Son photos taken on the pond.

This was a little hike we did later on in the day after having our Thanksgiving feast.

Some friends of ours (the Goodmans - their name says it all) invited us to tag along with their family dinner and this hike is something they always do after.  This spot is near the highest bridge (731 ft. above the riverbed) in California called the Foresthill Bridge.  The hike had a bridge along it as well and the family has a tradition to pick up the biggest rock they can find and drop it off the bridge into the water making a loud cannonball sound.  This is Bobby and Duncan down by the river where we skipped rocks.  

Apparently, just down the river there is a nudest beach.  We didn't care to stroll any further for this purpose though I imagine it's pretty vacant this time of year.

Here's the Goodman's themselves.  They are the angels that watched Duncan while we spent the night at the Hospital when Charlie was born!  You can tell in this picture how much Duncan loves these guys.

He even crawled on top of the air mattress they were sleeping on and snuggled with them... 3 different times during the night.

Father - Son time raking up the leaves.

Here we are at the Sacramento Temple where we got to do sealings together.

Who volunteered to watch our kids?  The Goodmans

Wish we could repay them for all they have done for us.

This is Duncan at his first friend birthday party.  It was a superhero theme and we didn't exactly have super hero attire.  We had just watched Nacho Libre and that got the wheels turning in Bobby's head.  You'll notice that Duncan is sporting a lovely Luchador mask that Bobby himself made.  It's not pulled over his eyes but you get the idea.  Duncan is also wearing a Lightening McQueen shirt that has a black and white checkered cape that attaches to it.  There were a couple of cute little Captain Americas, a Spiderman (the birthday boy - Madden), and an Incredible Hulk and Duncan...The Handsome Spanish Race Track King - Hero.

While Bobby was slaving away making Luchador masks, I took Charlie and ventured out into the rain to the Book Barn!  A girl in our ward introduced it to me and I'm pretty sure I'll be a regular!

Someone has offered up there old barn to house hundreds of books that get donated every month.  These volunteers do a basic organization of books: "Children's" and "Other" then give all the proceeds to a local animal shelter.

This is the best part...

the paperbacks are 25 cents whether there's 10 pages or 1,000.

The hardback books are 50 cents.

It's things like this that soften my heart about living in expensive liberal nudest California.

Randomness - from the Mrs.

So, these pictures are long past due but better late than never!

Here's the rundown of the first 6 weeks after Charlie was born

-NICU for 5 days

-Deciding to potty train Duncan the weekend we brought Charlie home (what were we thinking?!)

-Bobby goes back to work 3 days later.

(insert a week of crazy bathroom experiences that don't actually happen IN the bathroom, which lead to a very high increase and need for the laundry to get done, which obviously lead to one extremely exhausted mommy).

-Then for Charlie's Two Week birthday, we decided to give him a round trip car ride to Utah!

Poor Duncan was sick the entire time.

-When we got home Bobby got sick with what Duncan had.

-After that?  I got a fever.  This only added salt to my wound of exhaustion.  How do moms take care of children when they can't even take care of themselves?  I need to figure that one out for future reference.

- After that...nursing problems followed by a UTI.

-To end the list of craziness, our fridge wigged out and went on overload, freezing everything in the freezer and the fridge.  We threw out the ruined items and thought we fixed the problem with the fridge.  Made a trip to Costco and discovered that within days, our fridge motor blew up.  Good-bye food of all kinds.  Hello $500 fridge.

Wow, makes me tired remembering all of this.

Now onward to the photo gallery of this post:

Here's Duncan reading to his new little bro.

This was a common theme during those weeks:

Sleeping.

We craved it night and day.

Here we have more sleeping.

I had gone to the dollar store before Charlie was born and bought a whole bunch of things to entertain Duncan after he came.  One of those items was a bug catcher kit.

Our last minute Halloween costume...Batman Jammies complete with a velcro cape!

I was super sad that we didn't get to do a family theme this year, but there's always next year.

Sleeping again, in a hard wooden chair. Soo desperate for sleep.

Sleeping.

iPod snap of Mommy and Baby

Baby Charlie hangin' out.

Hot Chocolate after playtime in the rain!

The Stay-at-Home clan.

Playtime at a fun preschool a friend of ours works at.

Brotherly love.

Playing dress ups.

Mommy and Duncan hangin'.

My smiling boys.

My sister took some baby pictures of little Char-Bar.

I think she did a fabulous job, thanks little sister of mine!

Multi-tasking at it's best.  Duncan being potty trained (hence chillin' in his underwear) and Charlie getting some sun to help out with the Jaundice.  Duncan spent all day on the kitchen floor while we pumped him full of his favorite liquids and kept a potty chair within grabbing distance.

Stay tuned for another random segment of the Bob and Sara Quartet.

October 1st, 2012 - Posted by the Mrs.

October 1st, 2012

My dad took Jim for a spin up the canyon in his new little sporty sports car.

It sounds like they had a good time enjoying the fall colors, conversation, and fresh air.

They didn't plan it but on the day of Charlie's birth both of his Grandpa's were hanging out together.

Pretty cool.

Later that evening...

Hanging out in the NICU to spend time with Charlie.

Little Man Charlie - posted by the Mrs.

We made a quick trip to Utah to celebrate Charlie's 2 week birthday and spend time with family.

It was great to be with family again, unfortunately, Duncan was sick the entire time.

Joanne threw the most amazing Halloween party I think I've ever been to complete with doughnuts on a string, a scary story with glow sticks and balloons, a scavenger hunt, a dress up contest for the grandkiddies, yummy stew, sugar cookie frosting, and a guest appearance from a cute cackling witch!

While in Utah, my talented and willing sister took some pictures of Charlie.

Other than these, we really don't have many pictures to prove that we were even in Utah but I guess that comes with having our hands full with a super sick little boy and a brand spankin' newborn.

Quotes from the eldest monkey... - posted by the Mrs,

We have a lot of blog catching up to do but photos aren't downloaded and time is short so I thought I would post about some funny things Duncan has been saying lately.

1)  Duncan was at the park with Daddy and found a little girl to run around and play with.  Apparently, Duncan was kind of the leader of the two and at one point turned to the girl and said, "Come on Hon".

2)  During dinner prayer when we help him say the prayer he will sometimes add in his own thoughts and hopes:  "... and watch a movie" and just in case we don't hear him, he repeats "...and watch a movie".  Or at bedtime we've gotten "...and have cookies".  No response from us so he tries again, "And have cookies".

3)  "I have my two weeks birthday tomorrow!"

4)  He told Bobby the other day, "You're so proud with me"

5)  Finger painting at the table, "Red means stop.  Green means go.  Blue means dance."

6)   I was trying to get Duncan to finger paint (for some reason he didn't want to get his hands dirty but it was his idea to finger paint).  After I asked him to join me he pulled his hands into his over-sized smock shirt and replied, " I'm going to feed Charlie."  Then he pushed open the neck hole from inside the smock, looked down and said, "Hey Charlie, hey!"  Duncan looked up at me and said matter-of-factly, "He's smiling."

Charlie! - posted by the Mr.

So I was grilling hamburgers Monday night, when Sara decides that were going to the hospital. Luckily we had time to eat our burgers before our awesome babysitters Daniel and Katy came over.  We rushed to the hospital where they confirmed that Sara was indeed going into labor and got us into the delivery room.  it was 8:00 by that time and Sara's # 1 priority at the time was, you guessed it, an epidural.  Once she got that it was smooth sailing, and a quick delivery.  Charles Robert Rich was born at 10:28 pm ( for the record i guessed 10:30 for the delivery time) on October the 1st, weighing in at 7 lbs 7 oz. and 20 inches long. After the delivery Charlie was having some breathing complications, and they suspected he may have fluid in his lungs or that he may have an infection, so he was taken to the NICU, for testing and care.

Unfortunately, Charlie ended up having to stay in the NICU for a few days, but Sara was there with him the whole time. 

We finally got to take him home 3 days later on Thursday afternoon, here we are about to leave the hospital.

Charlie and Duncan had some gifts to give to each other, Duncan got a bunny and some trains, and Charlie got his blanket buddy who has yet to be named.  Please leave your suggestions for the name in the comments section ( he is a dog, or puppy, so maybe something starting in d or p, or anything really )  

Duncans protective elderly brother instincts at work.  We put Charlie down for a nap and Duncan put his chair next to Charlie and said, "I want to sit by Charlie." He sat there for a few minutes and just looked at him. In Summary, our new addition has arrived, and we are happy even though we're sleep deprived ( especially Sara )

Union Pacific 150th - posted by the Mr

Last weekend we decided to risk going into labor and went downtown to "old Sacramento" for the union pacific railroad 150th anniversary.  We had a fun time touring old trains, going to the train museum, taking rides, and of course waiting in lines, which I've found tends to make women that are 9 months pregnant a little anxious.

I don't know how anyone could fit in that thing and drive it, but here is us in front of our little riding train.

Duncans nose, courtesy of Duncan. All in all we ended up having a good time, Duncan of course was in heaven with all of the trains, and we didn't end up going into labor...yet.