Bitter Sweet

Bitter

Less time with them

Sweet

More time with him

Today was my last day working with the fabulous women pictured above.

My pink slip and I will be heading to work at El Camino tomorrow rather than UCLA.

Things I will not miss about my awesome job:

1. The commute on the 405
2. The temperamental elevators in my building
3. The loud protesting groups

Things I will miss about my awesome job:

1. My fellow DGP team members
2. FREE Yoga and Jazz dance classes
3. The fantastic benefits
4. The close proximity to yummy Westwood eateries especially Diddy Rees
5. The stimulating environment
6. The Professional growth
7. My UCLA rec pass that allowed me to have access to wonderful classes, the Wooden center, and the Olympic sized pool.

It is the best job I have ever had. You could not ask for better co-workers or a better boss(es). I have increased my knowledge of genetics a hundred fold. I have become a better thinker, a better interpreter, and a better person by working there.

Holla

The house is unpacked and the internet is hooked up.

We are back in business!

Hi-O!

So Long One, Hello Two

The current state of my living room

Dear Apt. F,

Thank you for being our home the past 2 years and 9 months. I will miss the huge bedroom, fabulous patio, and the rumbling of the garage doors beneath us; well maybe not the last one.

We have loved our time here but have out grown the space.

Thanks so much for the memories, don't ever change. Maybe I'll see you at the beach this summer.

K.I.T.,
-LeeElle

The time has come...we are finally upgrading to a TWO bedroom! We are moving a mere DEUX blocks away (ZWEI *german* blocks closer to the beach), which means we'll be able to stay in my beloved City. The new place is fantastic, has the most amazing kitchen with an insane amount of cupboard space, and a washer and dryer; can I get a hallelujah?

We are all packed and ready to go. I've brought all but the furniture and heavy boxes over (with the help of the Adams family) and we'll take the rest tonight when the truck and muscles show up.

Meanwhile John is staying in Beverly Hills finishing day DOS of TRES of the BAR. Fortunately for him he has been excused of all packing and moving duties - lucky duck. Truth be told I'd prefer to do this than take a gnarly exam. I am looking forward to his return home tomorrow night.

hmmm, there are no boys in that stock photo, must be an MFHD test at BYU

Caption?

I LOVE this picture, but I can't think of a good caption, or rather, an appropriate one. So my dear blog readers/lurkers, a prize for the best caption.

(My mother in law reads this so please keep it PG, Kirk I'm looking at you.)

5 Months

The child continues to grow and develop and we are still enamored with him

He's hard core.

Hence the board shorts and rash gaurd.

Things of note about his 5th month:

• He started to sit up on his own about 2 weeks ago. He's still a little wobbly and 'timbers' from time to time but for the most part can hold his own.
• He can move in his Bumbo seat. He pushes off with one foot to get across whatever surface he is on to retrieve the desired object. No more Bumbo on the counter/table.
• He's not really into naps, unfortunately. I think it's because he doesn't want to miss anything. Some days he'll take 2 or 3 20 minute cat naps. I (and my babysitter) love the days where he goes a whole hour or two. Luckily he doesn't get cranky from lack of sleep
• He loves being in the water. Yay for summer and pools and beaches!
• He's started scooting around on his belly.
• He's very flexible(I know all babies are) and eats his feet
• He has started to grab hair-it's not cool. Farewell to my cute dangly earings for a few months
• He loves textures and toys
• Can almost hold his bottle
• Ever since our trips to Sacramento he hates being put in his car seat. When he is strapped in he squirms, arches, and flails until we pick up the seat. Then he is OK.
• He is overall a friendly and happy boy
  

I wanted to snap a picture of him sitting up. This was the best I got before my camera battery died.

I wish you could hear the sound he is making in the picture. How I love my little grunter.

He still loves music. Don't feel bad if your child is not as oh what's the word...advanced. We got him a special pacifier to help with his embouchure.

The fam on the fourth.

We watched fireworks with our friends, The Calders, on the baseball field at Rec Park. Great seats and great company. Cohen was not a fan of the fireworks for the first 15 seconds then decided he was over them and fell asleep. I don't blame him. El Segundo puts on a good show but we/I am from Disneyland country and no one does fireworks better than Disney. (I say we because I believe that being from Disney-heim is a physical trait that Cohen inherited from me)

My sweet boy

Vacay

Cohen and I headed to St. George for a few days. We were joined by my mom, grandma, aunt Lezlee and her girls for a few days.
Unfortunately John was unable to join us. He is studying for some test he calls "the bar" (I don't know about you but that sounds to me like code for getting drunk and passing out by the pool). Anyway he claims it's very important. Whatever.

While we were there we...

Ate yummy food

I tried the pork Cafe Rio salad (I normally get chicken) and it was so good. The sweetness of the pork combined with the hot sauce (I don't do the tomatillo dressing) is to die for. I'm never going back to chicken.

Went shopping

I heart Tai Pan Trading and killer sales at Pier One and $10 cake stands/punch bowls.

but the main reason we went was

To see the plays at Tuachan

We saw Annie (adorable) and Footloose (Thayne from SYTYCD was Ren and was and amazing dancer)

> ;Aunt Lezlee and her girls, Grandma Matern, and my Mom




It was also Cohen's first time in the pool. He loved it! He was very interested by the water and enjoyed floating, splashing, and playing in the H20.

We are alive. We are busy. We are sad. We are hopeful. We are moving. We are overwhelmed.

but

We are good.

More to come.

The Weekend of John Part II

My handsome boys on their first Fathers Day

John is a wonderful dad. He is very involved with Cohen despite his rigorous schedule. I've loved seeing the evolution of John these past five and a half years from enjoyable friend to fun boyfriend to loving husband and now sweet dad. He loves this little boy so much; they are already best buds. It makes my heart happy seeing them playing/smiling/laughing together. Cohen and I are very blessed.

(please note John's non jimmy neutron hair. A few times every year he decides to grow out quaff. It lasts about a month before it drives him crazy, we'll see how long it lasts this time)

The Weekend of John Part I

Two. Eight. on six. twenty. (Saturday)

Oh how I love this man!

You, Mr. Tullis, are absolutely wonderful. You really are my better half (my family likes me a lot more now that you are with me. sad but true.)

Random things about John

• He loves cheesecake, watermelon, feta cheese, thrift stores, and semi colons
• He can play cannon in D by pachelbel on the gee tar
• He loves the jokes on laffy taffys
• Was quite the rollerblader back in the day (though he no longer blades)
• He does not like brand names. I may have already shared this but When he started his internship he needed some nice khaki pants. He went to Mervyns and bought a pair that were OK. I suggested he try the Gap because they had a good selection for tall guys but he refused to make a purchase from that store. Fast forward to his first day of work. I came home and noticed he was rockin the khakis. I was shocked at how much better they looked. A few days latter John confessed that he returned the Mervyns brand and bought a pair from the Gap but promptly removed the Gap tags and labels so no one (including me ) would know.
• He takes the wrapper of his chap stick so it's just a white tube.
• He knows all the words to "jump around" you know "jump up, jump up, and get down" (sorry ladies, he's mine)

Happy birthday bud!

Quatro Meses

An update on baby Casper

• The boy is getting big and growing out of clothes everyday (tonight someone asked me if he was 9 months old)
• He loves it when I sign
• He laughs a lot. We can get a hearty guffaw out of him.
• He loves it when we read him books. He calms down and touches the pages. He'll sit still while we read to him
• He's become very tactile; touching, grabbing, and picking up everything then promptly putting it in his mouth
• He loves to rub his hand and tickle whoever is feeding him
• He's very interactive and continues to be social
• He loves to play peek-a-boo
• He is strong and loves to stand on your lap, the floor/table/any surface. We've been doing strength/resistance training with him; he loves his baby bow-flex machine.

His game face

Lovin being naked in his bath

Playing Hide n' Seek with the Adamses. He's really good at this game.

Stats:

weight: 15 lbs. 2 oz a little above the 50%

height: 26.5 inches somewhere between the 75-90% (vague I know)

head: I forget and they didn't write it down

Go See Cal

This past Sunday Cohen was sporting an outfit my brothers wore when they were wee lads. I think it is adorable. John said he looked like a used car sales man, hence the title.

If you are a So Cal resident you most likely have seen/heard the commercial for used cars sold by Cal. He was always sitting on top of an animal waving at the end of his commercials and the jingle said "Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal".

(let it be known that John liked the outfit despite his snarky comment)

"Wanna buy a car?"

a little leg for the ladies


Here is a video I took on my camera. I forgot that you can't, or rather, I don't know how to flip videos, so it is sideways. A Thousand apologies.

Car Ralley

For Mutual tonight we had a car rally. One of the tasks was to have your teams picture on the Internet then print the page. Check.

Oh, what's that? You're wondering who won?

Well, since you asked...

WE DID! Boo-yah!

Cohen at 3 Months

He's getting BIG, as evidenced by his cheeks.

We started him on rice cereal and he loves it. When I take the spoon out of his mouth he lunges for more; I can't feed him fast enough.

He can roll from his tummy to his back

He is a happy boy, especially in the morning when he wakes up. It's my favorite time; he just smiles and talks

at Graduation

He loves this play place from Kevin, Sarah, & Simon. He grabs the butterflies, hits the cat to play the music and kicks at the foot board.

Cohen is fascinated by ceiling fans. He doesn't want to take his off of them when they are on but his eyes dry out so he can't look up as long as he would like. It's funny to watch him fight it.

I know it's blurry but I love the look on his face in this picture

Yes, we still are totally in love with him

Beam Me Up Scotty

Meet my new boyfriendHis name is Chris. We spent 126 enjoyable minutes together today.

I am not a trek-y. I've never attended a convention, bought a USS Enterprise lego set, or even watched an episode of Star Trek but rotten tomatoes and everyone else has been raving about this movie. So John and I went on an afternoon date to the theater to see for ourselves and Oh-My-Gosh it was wonderful!

All I have to say is

Live long and prosper my friends, live long and prosper

J.D., J.D.

John graduated this weekend from law school. Now all he has to do is the pass the bar and he'll be a lawyer!

This was Cohen's first time meeting Uncle Bro, Aunt Sylvia, and cousins Jason & Carol, and Brian & Becky. We had a good time visiting with them.

We started the festivities on Saturday night. John's parents treated this good looking group to a tasty dinner at Fritto Misto. I highly recommend this place. I'm not usually a fan of Italian restaurants because frankly I can make a lasagna, fettucini, and spaghetti as good as they can but this place has a funky flavorful spin when it comes to pasta and they are reasonably priced.

Yes that is a barf mark on my shirt, the joys of being a mom.

the proof...

The graduate

His cheering section

This is what John got me for graduation

It reads, "My husband graduated from law school and all I got was a baby (and this shirt)" then on the bottom is says love John in ASL.


And this is what I got John...

you may remember this post from last year. Knowing John's obsession with being called a Dr. I couldn't help but get him a lab coat with his title embroidered on it. I having been waiting all year to give this to him.

I know these pictures are blurry but he looks so happy in his coat.

Cohen does not like it when the attention is not on him, (he must be his mothers child)

I am so proud of John. Good work sweetie!

The Ol' Ball Game

Last Friday we went to the Angles game
John begrudgingly came, more for the company than the activity. He thinks that baseball is the most boring game to watch/attend. I, however, love it! Thank you John for taking away precious study time to hang out with us (and our friends)

(the above mentioned friends)

Cohen was looking good in his baseball garb and impressing the ladies

Especially this sweet little thang...

(This was Cohen and Sparkle's first date (Amy and I chaperoned))

The happy family (the visor was short lived)

We ended the night with a Win and the Big Bang Fireworkds show. Can't wait for more games this summer!

Home Town Fair

A few weeks ago we went to the 'Home Town Fair'. We went to support my cousins who were involved in the festivities. It was awesome we spent our time...

Supporting the Spanish club.

For only $1 we were able to throw sponges at Megaroni and Cheese*. Best $1 ever spent

Cohen wanted in on the action

Listening the Cougar Chorus and Quinnceanera* sing

AK 47* accompanied the choir and Brookelus Brookelby* turned pages

and then I decided to support the Key club by...

getting Casper's face painted!


I know, right?

*nick names were used well, because they are awesome.