The Schmidgalls

Aaack, I never got to finish our trip to California! Brace yourself for a long post!

Once we got to southern California, we got to see my dad and step-mom.  My dad has his pilot’s license and now has his own plane!  He got Zeke a little aviator jacket - so cute!  I still need a picture of it.

Finally, we made it to Santa Barbara (my college home!) for the main attraction!!!  The entire purpose of our trip west was to celebrate my dear friend Paige and her marriage to Sean!!  The wedding was at the Natural History Museum and Paige looked stunning!

She was so happy!

My handsome dudes excited to see the bride!

Wowser, I had prayed a loooong time for Paige to have this day!  It was wonderful to see her so happy!

We took the kids for a while and then had my parents pick them up so we could enjoy the reception.  We made sure to get a family photo first!

What is a trip to Santa Barbara without some time at the beach?!  One of the best parts of the trip was our time with Mom, Dad, Aunt Karen, Uncle Dan, and our dear friends Heather and Chris.

Poppy is showing his pride for Zeke!

Chris caught us TONS of sand crabs!

Zeke loved the Pacific ocean!

There was a butterfly display at the museum so we went to check it out. We went inside a huge greenhouse with bazillions of butterflies - gorgeous!

Zeke liked them!

Ella was panicked about the butterflies landing on her!

Finally, we got a chance to visit my alma mater.  Westmont College fell victim to terrible fires this last year.  Many students lost their dorms, professors and staff lost their homes, and we lost some campus buildings.  The campus is really small so fires roaring through the property was very devastating.  It was my first chance to see the campus since the fire.  Wow, it was amazing to see the damage right through the middle of campus.

This prayer chapel sits right in the middle of campus.  You can see how the fire went right up the chapel on both sides but didn’t touch it!

This bench sits just next to the pond and chapel in the middle of campus.

The pond…

Joel asked me if I prayed often in the little chapel.  It is a very sweet spot but, actually, there is a huge rock by the library where I prayed and processed.  You can see the ocean and the channel islands off the coast.  I wanted to show Joel but the view is mostly obstructed by construction right now.

I remember one time in particular time on that rock when I was wrestling with whether I could drop and add some classses to add a second major, Economics, to my current Biology load.  It seems so silly now but I was VERY distressed about the decision.  Without certain classes, I would be closing the door on grad school in the sciences.  I wonder if the pressure would have been off if I knew my future would be in politics!! Ha!  For the record, I LOVED every moment of my economics studies!  So God heard me on the rock.

For our final little treat, we stopped by my freshman year dorm suite.  A gal happened to be walking into my room!  She let Ella come in and sit on her (my) bed!  Our future Warrior!

We were so glad to have time with Heather and Chris.  Heather was my college roommate and was (is) one of my dearest friends.  She and Chris dated all through college…I don’t know if I was the third wheel or Chris!  Being with them was so fun, so relaxing, so wonderful!

They have a gorgeous backyard and we loved hanging out.

Heather and Chris have a “child” too - their dog, Annabelle.

It was a wonderful trip!  We boarded a plane home on my 31st birthday?  Heather and Chris made me a cake and everyone made the day special.  Flying with two small children is not the most exciting way to spend a birthday but, as Joel said, if I think about it as a birthday WEEK, it was amazing!  So true!

My baby is six months old already! Besides reminding me that I need to get back in shape because it has been HALF A YEAR since I had a baby, it was sweet to think of how much he is learning!  I canNOT believe how quickly this six months has gone!

Poor little man has second child syndrome.  Okay, major confession time…deep breath…my son is six months old and I don’t have one picture of him up in our house!  Ahhhhhhh!  I will take care of that right away, I promise!

Milestones:

Zeke first rolled over before he was four months old but, while we were in California, he became the rolling machine!  He would kick and roll all over the place!

On August 27th (five plus months old), Zeke reached for me for the first time!  We were visiting friends and he was sleepy and reached both arms to me.  I melted!

Zeke has always been a major kicker - his feet are ALWAYS going.  But now he is a jumping maniac.  If you hold him under the arms, he becomes a jumping machine!  He also does this hilarious head bob that looks like he is head banging or bouncing it to the beat.  I guess he just realized he actually owns his head and can control it.

And the big news…Zeke sits up!!!  (I mean, we all know he sPits up…but now he sits up too!)  I remember Ella was right on the mark at six months old too.  I always tell people with new babies that life turns around at six months.  Once they sit, you can sit them down and, ta-da!, you have two arms again!…at least some of the time! This last week, he was getting better and better in the sitting position and he can do it pretty well now!  If he could learn to stop trying to kick his feet he would be even better!

If he is fed, he is pretty much always happy.  If you look at him, even sideways, he grins HUGE!  He especially likes his big sister and she gets him laughing HARD all the time.  I don’t really have to worry about her being to rough with him anymore because he discovered a secret weapon…he pulls hair!  Sissy keeps her distance or learns to hold his hands if she is kissing him.

Zeke talks and sings all the time now.  He also loves to spit.  Joel often mentions that he is strong - he really grabs on to you when you hold him.  When I pick him up from the crib, he grabs on tight in a hug.

Ella LOVES going to get brother from his bed when he wakes up.  We both love peering over the side of the crib because he giggles and is so happy to see us.  Ella will drop any activity and race to his room if she hears him awake.

She also gets him going in the car.  One of the best parts of our California road trip was the way they started interacting in the car.  She really entertains him!

Oh, and here are the Six Month stats!  Weight: 16 pounds, 2 ounces (30th percentile), Length: 28 1/4 inches (96th percentile).  The doctor asked me if he is transferring objects yet, from one hand to another.  I told her he wasn’t doing that yet…but today I saw him do it a few times!

And since I never posted his FIRST food, here he is at 4 1/2 months.  I wanted to wait until 5 months on the dot but he was displaying all the signs of being ready so I went for it.  He LOVED it!  Now, he eats most baby food and loves Cheerios and puffs.  If I take too long between bites he grunts at me “uh, uh, uhhhh!” Since he can’t pick up foods yet, I have even trained Ella to go over and give him another puff from his tray if he starts grunting at me for more!

Our only problem with food…diaper rash!  Ugg…both my kids started getting horrible rash once we started foods.  We are continually battling the red and ouchy bum!

We love little dude!

Joel flew out to meet us in California and we were able to get away for a few days to celebrate our FIFTH anniversary!!  (Thanks for watching our runts mama!  The best gift!)

It. was. heaven.  We realized how much we really like each other!  Our goal was to do everything we couldn’t do with kids.  We slept in.  We finished conversations…OR sat quietly.  We even took the stairs (darn strollers!)!

We played around Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, and Dana Point.  Then we took the boat out to Catalina Island and snorkeled!  I just loved being with my man!

You can’t tell here but this is at the restaurant where we had our AMAZING dinner, overlooking Dana Point harbor.  It was delicious!

Catalina Island!

Snorkeling - we saw a sea lion!

So, I never finished putting up pics from our whirlwind California tour! Joel and I went early because Joel had a trip to Germany to check out some opportunities for our church.  He will have to tell his stories but I love this picture of him at the Berlin wall.  The last time he was in Berlin was as a kid, just after the wall came down!

Back at the ranch…I mean, in California with Mimmy and Poppy…the kids and I were having a great time!  The kids played, and played…and PLAYED!  I was able to get together with some old friends, like my small group gals from youth group (lots of babies between us now!), the awesomely hilarious Aughtmon family (I have no pics!  Sue, send me some!), our pretty-much-most-of-my-life family friends, the Gonyeas- just one day short of baby Jaxtin!, and my college buddy and Biology partner in crime, Krista!

Zeke loves Bella!

Snuggle time from Michelle!

Like old times with Krista!

Ella was getting desperate for some time with kids her size so a highlight for her was seeing her California cousins!

Ella and Keyana (she wore those goggles most of our trip!)

Can you tell they hit it off?

Kane, my “baby” brother’s little man - isn’t he just adorable?!

Grandma Sherry (my stepmom) and her, count ‘em, FIVE grandkids!

After some time in the Bay Area, we packed up the kids for the trek down the state.