Maligro Mania

Tagen turning 7?!

2012-01-25T11:25:00.001-08:00

Dear Tagen,

In just 5 days, you are going to turn seven. It's the oldest question in the world, but WHA?! When did I blink & suddenly you're a man? Please. Slow down a bit for your poor mother. Perhaps I should put a brick on your head.

But. There are most definitely many benefits of you getting older! One is that I'm always safe. Because you are super strong. You frequently remind me of this fact by showing me your bulging muscles and ninja moves. Aveda is the luckiest to have you as an older brother.

Another amazing part of you getting older is that we get to know more and more of the workings of Tagee's mind. You are getting more & more creative in your humor and you keep us laughing constantly. We can see that you love to make people laugh. It's definitely a gift God gave you early on. Whenever Aveda is sad or hurt you think of the craziest things, even if it means inflicting pain on yourself, to make her giggle. Just this morning you thought out loud "what if i could have a wind gun and blow things from here to there. We'd see chickens flying so far! or what if i could make a tickle gun and shoot tickles out of it - everyone would be laughing…"

You tell me that when you grow up you are going to be a police man. You are very concerned with justice, for yourself & for other people. I have never met a lil guy so empathetic. I can see this in the way you take note of how others feel and how, of your own initiative, you try to help. I greatly admire you in this. I can also see this in the way you like it best when everyone sticks to the rules and you panic a lil' when somebody doesn't. In this, I gotta say, lighten up my love. You are a tad dramatic (understatement). You get very upset when you feel that YOU are being unfairly treated. But you are also selfless. If Aveda feels SHE is being treated unfairly, you often share what you have to make her feel better.

Bonus again of getting older - your mind is coming up with more and more complex ways of putting together your legos. You are like a lego-king; something of a phenomenon. You love your legos and at your request are having a Lego birthday party with some of your buddies from school this year. Being a huge fan of legos myself, I am ecstatic about this idea. Perhaps you'll end up being an engineer or an architect or something. Your skills really are insane in this area.

My dear son, I know there is something very special about you. People feel it They're drawn to you. I feel it too, & it makes me a little protective of you. But then I remember how God gave us you as a gift. One to train to love Him above all the world has to offer and eventually to shoot you off like an arrow into this world we live in. I love you with a wild, ridiculous love, son. Happy 7th Birthday!

love, mama

preschool:

kindergarden:

1st grade!!

October already?!

2010-09-30T12:06:00.000-07:00

Why does time fly so quickly and then stand still at other moments? I've been asking Tagen & Aveda if they could just stop growing already and stay little forever. Tagen responded with an emphatic "no... I will be big like Goliath." "Just so long as we can still cuddle and be silly," I replied, and he agreed to that. I realized it was February when I last posted and how much has happened since then... Tagen is 5 'and tree quarters' and Aveda Violet turned 4 in July! We got to celebrate her special day in Oregon visiting Gramma & Poppy and Gigi. Just today she asked if we could go back and visit and go fishing again as she remembered those wiggly fish and how funny they were when they would flip and flop their tails and splash water on her. Tagen 'graduated' preschool in May and had a special lil' ceremony and now he is a kindergardener! He is loving his school and Mrs. Taba, his teacher except for having to wake up in the mornings. He's not exactly a morning kinda kid. He's playing soccer again this year and has 3 other lil' boys on his team. (There's only 3 on the field at one time) He loves it this year! Lil' miss Aveda has begun pre-school at Kalaheo Missionary - just around the corner from Tagen's school. Words cannot even describe how much she loves her school. Whenever it is not a school day she longs for it and constantly talks about it, asks about it, recalls stories of it etc... Pretty cute. I didn't realize until her being there that most of her friends are Tagen's friends or siblings thereof so it is pretty special to her to have made some friends all by herself! I miss both Tagen and Aveda like crazy when they go off to school but I have seen so many good things already in their little lives as a result of going and it makes our times together that much sweeter & more meaningful.
I came across an article recently entitled, "Why don't friends with kids have time?"... a woman (who doesn't have kids) wondering what her friend who has kids does all day and why she didn't have time to call... I liked it so i am reposting the answer to her:
"I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard.... When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out bed, fed, cleaned, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kids, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; ... it's needing 45 minutes to do what takes other 15.
It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to second tier.
It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.
It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiousity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.
It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling someone back..."
This article struck a chord with me because I could relate on many levels. How many times I have been asked "what do you do all day?" and really, how am I supposed to respond to that? This did sum it up so well. Although it does err on the side of doing it all with a cynical attitude even though at the end it does say "this is a joy". I really do consider it a joy. I LIKE being a mom. I LIKE being with my kids and all that it entails. I am honored and blessed to have this role and even though I the season has changed from baby/toddler-hood and all those demands (which actually leaves me a bit melancholy) I love this season that we are in and all the new questions and things we get to do all day. Even though they are 4 and 5, and in school too, I am still mama and going from morning til night.

pictures:

family photo from our trip to Oregon, unfortunately Kyle couldn't make the trip. I thought of photoshopping him into this one but realized how cheezy that would look.

Uncle Garrett and Tagen built this pirate lego ship!

Tagen's first day of Kingergarten!

Aveda V's first day of Pre-school!

Tagen has become good friends with the boy in the front (Jesse) and is on the same soccer team too! He's a big teddy bear.

and just because I love this photo

gratitude

2010-02-16T15:42:00.000-08:00

“Gratitude is truly my life preserver. Even in the most turbulent waters, choosing gratitude rescues me from myself and my runaway emotions. It buoys me on the grace of God and keeps me from drowning in what otherwise would be my natural bent toward doubt, negativity, discouragement, and anxiety. Over time, choosing gratitude means choosing joy…” – Nancy Leigh Demoss

he's FIVE!

2010-02-01T22:38:00.000-08:00

Tagen Train Maligro: about 4 months old

... and now ...

Getting a crown on your head at preschool. You couldn't be MORE excited about being snack leader this day!

Your birthday bug cake!

self-photo. You're turning into quite the photographer...

You and Koa eating musabi, talking story...

the result of your "nap time" - apparently you found a strawberry shortcake stamp and thought this would be an excellent idea.

How can be possible, you, our firstborn just turned FIVE years old?! It's like I blinked my eyes 5 times and that's how fast you grew this big. Raising you is an incredible thing. Now don't get me wrong, there have definitely been days that seemed to never end, screaming that was too loud and diapers that were just too dirty & stinky but YOU my love... YOU are irreplaceable. We love YOU more now than we ever could have imagined. You are funnier than ever and growing into an incredibly compassionate lil' man. I was just told by Mrs. Chang (your teacher at pre-school) how Alfred was hurt recently and was standing outside crying and crying and all the other lil' boys and girls were running right past him but you were the only one who stopped and asked him what happened and if he was oK. Melt my heart lil' man!

This has been a really fascinating year to watch you grow and change. I speak mostly of your inward development although I think you sometimes secretly grow an inch or too in the middle of the night without even telling anyone! Anyways, I've watched as this strange thing battles within you wanting desperately to be a really big boy and yet clinging sometimes to the little boy that you still are. Still, you are braver than you have ever been. You take on new things with gusto where previously there would often be a lot of hesitation... you jump off higher places... have mastered the monkey bars... swim out into deeper waters to see the bigger fish... you catch crabs, sea cucumbers, spiders and bugs of all sizes... you sleep on the top bunk of your new bunk bed... you speak up more and speak your mind especially if you think someone's doing something they shouldn't or bumped your sister (even if by accident!) and tomorrow you are going whale watching with Poppy! I am thankful how trustworthy you are. Some kids are really sneaky but this just isn't a part of you and Lord knows I'm prayin' you stay as real as you are right now. You told me the other day that you know when someone is lying by the way they smile. You are such an important person in our family and we just want you to know how much we appreciate you. You wear your emotion on your sleeve which some days is just plain comical because your emotions do take quite a wild ride... and everyone along with you! You are an amazing artist and have learned somehow to shake your booty regardless whether music is playing. I sit here laughing just picturing you in my mind. Seriously, if you figured out to do this when you have just done something really wrong, all discipline would fly out the window. You are still obsessed with all things Star Wars. You love legos and building/creating. Can't get enough of Wii - ever. Good thing we live in Hawaii where you get to play outside every single day or this Wii thing might become a dangerous addiction. ... We love you lil' bug. And even though a whole five years have past feel like the adventure's just beginning with all you're capable of now. How thankful we are the Lord saw fit to make you a maligro maniac so we could call you our own!

Holy Heat Wave...

2009-10-07T23:27:00.000-07:00

So it's "fall break" here on Kauai.... Tagen Train started pre-school in August and the schools run year-round here so there's a bunch of random 'breaks' through-out the whole year. He's LOVE-ing school so far and we're super impressed with the place and the teachers. Aveda and I have been able to join him on all the field trips and drop in whenever to hang out. The only thing I would change is somehow figuring a way to terminate all misquitos. Nightmare! Poor guy comes home with welts almost daily. grrrr. Aside from this, all is good.

Since ... Sunday there's been the craziest heat-wave here. (yeah so today is only Wednesday but we feel like we've been living in this for a month alreadY!) Kona winds (meaning NO WIND), muggy, HOT. Can't complain though because we have the privilege of pretty much living at the beach. This evening it was literally too hot to even be in our house so we packed up the kiekis and headed off to PK's - a beach where Kyle likes to surf. The beach itself is sorta sandy, sorta rocky. The kids and I don't typically hang out at this one because of how the waves crash on the shore and the reef under the water. But today - I didn't even care where we went as long as it involved us out of the house and in some form of cool water. Tagen has been, since about July, on an unusually brave streak which is pretty fun (oK, sometimes heart palpatating - is that a word? - for mama to watch)... Dada's been taking him out to the big waves to surf and duck-dive those big waves. And this evening I buckled on his life-vest and he didn't even wait for me but just charged right into the shore-break and out into the ocean. Aveda, on the other hand, has been having an unusually timid streak lately. So she sat, fully content, on the sand and watch and I went out to swim with Tagen. (For anyone reading this thinking I am a crazy mama who leaves her 3 year-old on the beach to fend for herself, it's just not case! This is a SUPER mellow place where she's not gonna get stolen and my eyes are stuck on her like glue. Besides, I'm really only like 20 or 30 feet from her....) I then decided I was was gonna break this girl of her timid fear of the waves. (Who knows why... maybe it was the heat) So I swam back to shore, popped the neon orange floaties on her arms and carried her (screaming) to the water. She screamed "I WANNA GO BACK DERRR (pointing to the shore) as we swam all the way out to where Tagen. This continued for about 3 minutes and then... she realized... it was JUST. LIKE. THE. POOL! (that she is in love with right now) and she stopped crying and had the HUGEST grin on her face and I couldn't even get the girl OUT of the ocean for a good hour! success. So we had such a blast swimming and playing out in the water. And it was the first time Tagen's really been swimming far out and at a place where there is TONS of reef fishies so I put his goggles on him and how i WISH i had video of him because I don't think words could possibly do justice to how excited he was over all the fish he was seeing right beneath him. He'd hold his breath and stick his head down under water and then pop up so excited and talking so fast I really couldn't understand what he was saying about those fish and then he'd throw is head back down before he even finished talking. And on and on it went like this for quite some time. So now, as you might imagine, they are sleeping soundly in the next room over with the ceiling fan on high because it's STILL so hot. And a side note - I don't know how this got started but every night before I leave the room I tell the kids "I'll see ya when the sun comes up" and Tagen replies "I'll see you when da sun come up!" and for some odd reason Aveda always replies "I'll see ya wen da moon come up mama!" It's been a good, hot, day.

ps - Dada's been teaching Tagen how to ride bike... hopefully this video works oK

Once upon a time...

2009-06-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was a mama who took her two young kids to the doctor because kid B got kid A sick. They went to this same doctor for Kid B a week ago but now it was Kid A's turn because his fever and cough were just getting worse & worse. So there they were in the doctor's office waiting... and waiting... and waiting. They waited so long you see because Friday is not a good day to go to the doctor as a walk-in patient... everyone's trying to get in before the weekend and then there's all those people who already had appointments and so on. So they waited.
Finally doctor called em in and thought Kid A's lungs sounded pretty yucky in there... a lot like asthma in fact. He went on to show mama with his handy-dandy flashlight thingy that Kid A had broken a whole bunch of capillaries on the soft pallet of the roof of his mouth from coughing so hard! ouch. So doctor thought it best to send mama and Kid A and Kid B over to get Kid A an x.ray.... There they went and there they played the waiting game... again.
As they waited Kid B thought it was a good idea to lick the hospital chair which made mama gag and nurse lady run over promptly with paper and crayons to keep Kidlings a little busier than licking hospital chairs. Kid A was soon called in... x-ray done and back they went to doctor. As he and mama looked at the x-ray it was concluded that at the least Kid A had bronchitis and that he could possibly have asthma too which is not unlikely seeing that whenever Kid A gets sick it immediately turns respiratory.
So off they went to get a nebulizer and antibiotics and finally mama, Kid A and B made it home. Breathing treatment done. Medicine taken but there's a new twist to this lil' fairytale... Kid A tells mama he just swallowed a marble! Naturally she responds with "Why didn't you do that BEFORE we had the x-ray?!" okay maybe not but she's been diggin' through his poops ever since looking for some sign of it coming out the other end. What a day. What a day.

And to dada of Kid A and B - what a good dada you are. We love you to the moon and back!

scroll down...

2009-06-05T01:07:00.000-07:00

so i realized there was an old post i wrote but never posted... scroll down a lil' and you can see it... besides that i'll just post some pictures. enjoy!

bye-bye binkie...

2009-05-05T01:09:00.000-07:00

incredible. it's official. we have two kids who do not need binkies. i never thought this day would come. no that's not true. i knew it would come, i just can't believe it is here. It has been over a week and lil' miss A. has taken both naps (or at least stayed in the room) and gone nigh-nigh withOUT her beloved binkie!!! For how incredible this is she really didn't put up much of a fight about it either which in an of itself amazes me knowing her strong lil' personality. I guess she was more ready than I was. I mean it really feels like the last bit of her babyhood I'm having to say goodbye to and so yes, it's true, I was more attached to that binkie than SHE was! HA, go figure.

So i had this brilliant idea of "helping" her "let go" of the binkie by asking her one night if she wanted to plant a 'binkie tree' the next morning. I told her how it would grow and grow and then lil' birdie mamas could come get binkies for their baby birdies and so on - making it sound real magical and stuff. Her reply: "no mama, i don't tink dat a veewy good ideer. i tink we sood pwant a pineappaw (pineapple) twee instead." well oookay lil' practical one. Way to burst my magical bubble (0: I'm proud of her - how easily she made this and the potty training transitions... and i am sooo thankful for her. Just can't believe how quickly she is growing up.

Dear Tagen Train....

2009-01-30T23:42:00.000-08:00

SO i just realized there've been a few posts that I had written yet never posted. Better late than never i suppose... This one's for Tagen's 4th birthday: January 30, 2009

Today you turned 4. FOUR... i think i'll have to keep saying it until i really get it through my head that my first-born, my little guy as already FOUR! crazy. you are so proud and i can just tell you feel so OLD when you've been able to say today that you are 4! that is too cute for words. You have a very specific look for moments like these and i can't help but smile. You raise your eye-brows, close your eyes about half way, move your eyes to the side, stick your chin out some and tilt your head a lil' bit... and then you usually put your hands on your hips while you raise your eyebrows up and down nodding your head very slowly. I hope you'll do this forever and i have a feeling you will because i've been looking through old photos and videos of you since babyhood days (because our computer had 7000+ photos on them and i was in dire need of getting them off before losing them forever!) and i see some of the same faces you make now that you made even when you were tiny... the happy, the sad, the worried, the mad, ecstatic, the bored, the frustrated, the content... you are a boy of so many expressions. This is something I do so love about you because i always know what you are thinking.

So we've lived in kauai this past year of your life and you've accomplished a lot this year... your balance is getting better all the time and you're really good at standing on your 'surfboard' down at the beach, you climb your 'monkey-bar tree' (the avocado tree) all the time with Aveda, you've learned how to hop on one foot, spin in a 360 on your heel (and you've learned it's even better when you wear socks), you make insane rocket ships out your leggos, you've taken your drawings to a new level, in the past couple weeks you decided you don't need naps anymore (at this point mom panics; your guys' naps have meant more to me than you will ever know... until you become a dad), you are almost as tall as a buffalo (well that's what the picture on your growth chart is next), perhaps the biggest milestone of this year (which occured only about 3 or 4 weeks ago is that you go DO-DO in the POTTY!!!!! yes it took you nearly a year and you sure weren't givin' in for any convincing or disciplinin' we'd give you but you apparently decided it was the right thing to do and so you DID iT one day and have done it ever since. THANK YOU! thank you. did i say, thank you?

You are definitely a cautious boy - an observer - i love to watch you watching others as this is the one time i can only imagine what you must be thinking; once you see what fun someone is having you don't want to stop once you join in on the action (i actually really really appreciate this about you, i think we may have avoided a lot of painful injuries so far because of this part of your personality)... you are the silliest kid i've ever met, LOVING to make people laugh and learning much more about what a 'joke' is... you are also the sweetest kid i've ever met (ok maybe i'm a bit biased) but seriously, you have a sort of empathy in you that makes you think about others in a way i haven't seen in other kids your age. I love this about you. You are thoughtful and contemplative and are learning to be a gentlema. I have taught you that we serve girls first and I laugh out loud at how quick you are to correct me if I accidently serve YOU before Aveda. We love you bug and are so happy to share this life with you in our family!

cultivating joy

2009-01-20T16:08:00.001-08:00

I read this recently on another blog and felt so much in agreement with it that I had to post it up

I think that when you do challenging things, you make a trade. You trade one thing for another, and you may trade something like convenience or the zoo for color and the rustle of coconut trees.... But the circumstances that you have found yourself in cannot define who you are.

Everyone has to decide what they will spend their life looking for. I learned a few years back that happiness is a shifty creature. Happiness is not easily found, or when found, is as elusive as a jellyfish. You can’t hold onto it. My emotions are all over the place, folks. Blame it on artistic temperament, genes, or maybe I’m just sulky, but I know that I cannot count on feeling a certain way for any length of time. Happiness. It’s something that happens to you and then whoops! There it goes.

No, I can’t follow after that. My life must take a more intentional path.

My tagline is Cultivating Joy. We all have many things that we can cultivate, things that don’t happen to us, but that we go out and water everyday, things that wrap their little shoots around their neighbors and need to be staked and cared for and checked for bugs. Like joy. Like love, thankfulness, kindness, honesty, choosing not to be offended, choosing to see the best in others, refraining from ill wishes or gossip.

What I mean is that I wouldn’t use the word happy to define my life. Neither would I say that I am more productive when I am happy. I know that I am the most productive when I embrace and fully receive the truth of the unfailing love of God who made me. (Because when I do, I am not telling myself the evil mantra: you’re no good, it’s your fault, you will fail, and I can shut those voices out and just have fun making stuff and loving people.) I know that the words that define my life are loved, blessed, supported, sure, steady, secure, at peace, content, broken, thankful, hopeful and waiting. There are probably many more.

The only thing I wouldn't trade for the world and anything it had to offer is my beautiful family...

Aveda prayer tonight...

2008-09-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

see if you can translate... I tried as best I could through the binkie she was holding between her teeth...
um, Jeeezuuus, tank You fo taygin (Tagen) an' fo me babies an' dolliees an' my feeeeet an' my tooowzzz (as she's grabbing her toes) an' um Jeeeezuuus, tank You fo Jonah (typing does not do justice to how cute she says her lil' friend Jonah's name) an' Wyan (Ryan) an' Tofa (Topher) an' um tank You fo' mama an' fo mama an' fo me tooowzzz an' me babies an' binkie an bwankie an' taygin an' ... (sometimes she'll pause and I really think she's done but really she's just thinking earnestly about what else to pray about - pretty dang cute) an' my books, i wuv my books. And Jeeezuuus, tanks fo' dada an' mustawd (Mustard) my bed an'
Tagen interrupts and says "and aAAAAmen!"
Aveda retorts back: "NO! my still pwayin'! You go get in yo bed taygin. my still pwayin'!"
thankfully Tagen doesn't take this too personally and continues listening to her.
... and Jeeezzuuus tank You fo my toes.

Tagen comments...

2008-08-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

Deep in thought while sitting in his carseat contemplating is hands... mom asks, "whatchya thinking about Tagen?" and he replies, "oh, I'd just really like to have some more fingers... one here, and one here" (pointing to other parts on his hand).

Having a rough time going to bed tonight and mom asks from a different room, "what do you need Tagen?" no reply... "what do you need Tagen?" finally he replies, "a time-out?"

wanting a bite of daddy's burger, "can I have a bite of your Burger King daddy?" i swear this child eats at Burger King only once every number of months. Obviously it has made a BIG impression.

when lying in his bed at night and he wants to come out of his room but knows that we always tell him aveda will follow... he turns to her in her little bed next to his and says, "Beyda, no come out. say otay, otay?! say otay!" aveda... "otay" really funny and cute to overhear their conversations...

Dear You...

2008-07-29T00:41:00.001-07:00

I came across this prayer recently on a blog of another mom I read when I can. It just resounded with my heart in more ways than one. Don't we all come to this place at some or many points?... it is a good thing that God is not content leaving us where we're at and a painful thing at times. Like just when we get comfortable it seems like He does something to up and draw us nearer to Himself - sometimes thru joy... at other times pain... anyways, I love the way she writes...

Dear You,

The Youest of Yous. The Dancing One, the Singing in my blood, the One who moves and breathes and loves me always.

So here we are again, we’ve been here before. I have a theory that You bring me here on purpose. Is it true?

Because this circle comes around again and again, and now I am at the start, where I’m kicking like a baby, resisting change with all of my might.

We box. You block all of my punches and never hit back.

I run to You, then pull away because I am more than a little upset. Why are You always bringing me to my limits? It doesn’t feel fair.

Every day lately I wake up with what feels like a fat furry cat sitting on my chest. It’s heavy and I can’t breathe and there’s that stupid cat dander that makes my eyes itch. I struggle to get out of bed because this cat feels like fear. Where is the fear from? Why is it heavy on me? Whose cat is this, anyways?

I remember the pattern from the past. You remind me, most excellent of friends, when I take the time to listen. You say, “We’ll get through this.” You say, “We’ll be a little closer, my love.” You say, “You’ll drop a few more of those ideas of yours, the ones about your self-sufficiency, your big plans for yourself, your need to be perfect, to keep it all together, to fix everything by your own small self.” You say, “Lean into it, don’t push away.” You say, “There are greener things than you can imagine, sweeter smelling days than you’ve ever known. Just wait. Just wait.”

But I feel alone and the fear is ever-present and I’m not sure why I have to do this again. Remind me?

I know there is a changing. There is the kicking and the pushing and then slowly my resistance fades, I go limp, I fall in, and then I learn contentment again. It has been this way so many times before. All the places I have been, the homes I have lived in, all the deserts, all the valleys. Even on the peaks. It is the newness I resist, the loss of what has been. It is the small etchings I have carved into the wood in places all around me, reminding me of who I am, of what my name is. Leaving these things brings a tearing that I don’t think I could have imagined.

Now I have only You to remind me. You and the faces of my family. It is enough.

And after the tearing comes a divine healing and Your hands surround me and I have obeyed and You have promised. And there are new things, there are sweet things and the ocean will fold over me and not throw me, it will rock me like a child. It is better than before, it is larger and more spacious than clinging to the old ways. You lead me into ever opening rooms.

It is good that we will have a long time together, my Friend. One day I will look back on all of this and say, “You told me so.” So just, please, help me now, when I am still blind and foolish and inwardly about two years old.

All my love. You know You have my heart.

lil' miss Aveda Violet turned TWO today...

2008-07-26T00:04:00.000-07:00

lil' miss,
you woke up today no longer a little one year old. how is it possible that just a year ago you were still such a little baby and now it seems you're on the verge of pre-teen?... ok maybe not quite that far yet but I just cannot believe you have lived two years already! i remember so clearly sitting in the hospital just after you were born. It was such a hot hot day in santa barbara and we were so stoked to be in the air conditioned room of Goleta Valley. You were born with a full head of thick black hair and big brown eyes. In an instant you made your older brother go from our little baby boy to looking huge and old. How tiny you were next to him... I'm not sure how he felt about you entering our family and taking the place of the "baby" of the fam but I know that he adores you now. Although there's some fighting (which i think you instigate most of the time) he always wants you around. I've even asked him if wants to go places just him and daddy or just him and mommy and he always replies, "well, beyda's gotta come too awright?!"
We love you lil' miss...
As you are now a two-year-old we've really seen your personality unfold over this past year. You are somethin' of a phenomena...
so fiesty yet so loving... tough and yet such a girlie girl... still need help with things but so sure of yourself and want to do things your way, say things your way and correct others when they're not 'your way' ... you're so into your books and will go off and read em for an hour babbling to yourself ... you've gotten into this strange habit of lining things up in some funky order (like all the stuff from your dollhouse, or your stuffed animals or really whatever else you come across) ... you're an independent little one but
I love that you are still my lil' cuddle bug. I love your hugs and the way you grab the sides of my cheeks with your chubby little hands and kiss me smack on the lips so hard that it probably shouldn't even be called a kiss. But you do it with such sincerity that all I can do is laugh. I love how you wrap your short little arms around my neck to hug me so tight I can let go and you hang on me like a baby monkey. Whenever I lie down on the couch or the ground you run over to cuddle. I hope you'll always do this my little lovebug. We love you so much and just thank Jesus for the spunk and charisma you bring to our family!

good times in the maligro yard...

2008-06-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

the Are you kidding me Day

2008-05-23T23:39:00.000-07:00

thought you might appreciate the insanity of our day on um, Thursday i think it was. well Aveda has had this eye goop goin' for like well over a month so i finally took her to the eye doc. thursday and he took a sample of the guck -mmm and thought maybe it's staph or some bacterial infection. anyways, he prescribed this ointment where i'm supposed to pull down her lower eye lid and squirt a 1/2 inch strip (it's the consistency of vaseline) into each eye 3 TIMES A DAY! thinking to myself: she's 22 months old - are you kidding me?! he suggests doing it while she's sleeping so she wouldn't fight me. is this worth waking a sleeping baby over? no. i'm ready to do battle with this child.
anyways, it took an hour and 1/2 too long in there but finally we got out and had to go to Wal-Mart to get the prescription filled. I called kyle to give him a heads up because he had Tagen at home. When i dropped the prescription off they told me it would take an HOUR! oh Lord - it was like 5pm by now so i knew Aveda was getting hungry. Not fun when you're stuck in a store for a long long time and couldn't do anything to hurry it up. Then i got a phone call from my hubby and this is how it went (side note: I'd been giving Tagen these homeopathic tablets by Hylands called "Sniffles n Sneezes 4 kids" cause he's had a little runny nose and it's supposed to kick it early. the serving size for him is 2 tablets)
kyle: "um, how many tablets were left in that bottle?"
me: "mmm, it was at least 1/2 full, maybe 40 or 50?"
kyle: "okay, well, um he ate them all."
me: "WHAT?! are you kidding me?! thinking to myself ' where the hell were YOU while he downed this bottle of pills?!' managed to refrain that one and told him to hang up and call Poison Control right away.
kyle: "are you serious?"
me: thinking "are you kidding? - there's that phrase... again... the kid just ate more than 20 times the amount he should have" i had to just hang up.
So he calls me back a few minutes later and the guy at poison control said he should be alright. He'll probably have a tummy ache but he's not gonna die. I'm still doubting that fact and praying the dumbest most repetitive prayers. Finally a painful hour at wal-mart goes by and we go back to pick up the prescription. The lady at pick-up tells me "oh, looks like there's a problem. Go see that lady over there."
oh you gotta be kidding me... again...
"That Lady Over There" says to me: "oh sorry, we couldn't read the prescription and the doctor has left his office so you'll have to wait til tomorrow morning to get it filled." (mind you we live a good 20 min. from this Wal-mart.)
I take the prescription out of her hand, look at it and can read and tell her exactly what it says.
She looks at it again... pause... hmm, well yeah that's maybe what it could say but I can't take your word for it, only the doctor's.
She goes to file it for the next morning but i get that thing back to get it filled somewhere else. Don't ya love days like this?!

Mama's day...

2008-05-13T00:28:00.001-07:00

Dang i've got a wonderful family! Getting to sleep in with Kid A and greeted by hubby who carried coffee and a scone from the shop down the road - a good good way to start the day. We got to spend much of the day at Mahalapu - a beach off the beaten path somewhat... we danced in the rain, drew in the sand, surfed on the waves and wiped poop with my bare hands off little miss' bottom. mm, that last one wasn't so fun and let me tell you, scrubbing with sand and washing in saltwater does NOT take the stink off. Aside from that we had a blast at the beach and the kids took super good naps after we got home. That to me was the bestest gift they could've thought of to give me! Good time with family is priceless.

been a while...

2008-04-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

so it's been a while since the last post... thought some pictures would be better than lots of words. Since Tagen's birthday we've been on a trip to the Big Island to see Kyle's dad - the kids call him Papa and his wife Momo... we've been on an easter egg hunt... we've been to the beach plenty times... watching the little monkeys grow and develop in amazing ways. These kids are tight - they love each other so much & it's a blessing to witness...

Tagen Train Turned Tree Today!

2008-01-30T23:40:00.000-08:00

Our little beloved Train...
Today you turned THREE years old! It really is hard to believe how quickly time can fly when moment by moment it can seem to go so slow sometimes. I measured you on our growth chart today and you are now taller than a peacock! You grow quickly little man! And you are cuter than ever in the things you think of to say. Just a few days ago you were sitting on the couch with your auntie looking at all the freckles on her arm. You laid your head in her lap and were looking up at the ceiling obviously deep in thought. The ceiling in our living room is wood with lots of knots and different shades of browns and you said, "look at all the freckles on our ceiling!"... You have also been interested in what Jesus has made. "Did Jesus make da clouds?" you ask. "Did Jesus make Beyda? me? you?! Mustard?" ... the more you've learned to talk the more and more questions you ask. I think it was just in the past few months you learned the question "why?" You used to say "where?" which never made any sense why you asked where so i usually wouldn't answer but that would obviously frustrate you because I think the whole time you meant to say "why?" oh man. So once you got that straightened out, that's taken our conversations to an entirely new level to where sometimes I just have to say "because" and thankfully, for now, you are satisfied with that answer and sweetly reply, "oh."

I was recently reading an article about the importance of raising a boy to be tough - I'm not talking about one who fights and never cries and never admits weakness because many men like that are called tough but inside are often weak and insecure. Rather the kind of boy who becomes a man who is tough in his inner being making his spirit resilient in the face of adversity. One who is so strengthened in his spirit that he will not allow obstacles to stop him or the pounding of public opinion to deter him. When everyone misunderstands, he does not succumb to self-doubt.
My son, whatever path you choose in life will be littered with signs that say, "closed to you; you can't do it; this is for people more talented or advantaged; you can't make a difference." And if you believe the signs and stop to ponder, you will hear voices saying, "You are not important; no one cares; it is not worth it; quit now." The weak ones go no further. They settle down and accept the lot that is handed to them and spend the rest of their lives unhappy and unfulfilled. Not you Tagen Train. It is my deep prayer for you today my son that YOU will never believe those signs and never slow down to listen to those voices. Granted it may be that you won't win a Nobel prize or be recognized with applause at a banquet; but how I pray that you will know in your heart that at the end of your days you have run the course and overcome the hardships to conquer, even in the little areas that only matter to a quiet few. You will not be a quitter, slacker, or buck passer. At the end of your life, you will have tasted of the sweetness, heard the music, and worn the crown of victory. It is not a tough exterior that matters in the end. It is a tough spirit, an overcoming spirit, a spirit of service. My love may you be able to say, "I have lived, and it was good... very, very good." By the grace of God we will raise you to be tough and faithful the way God wants you to be so that you will be able to reap many many good fruits from these priceless characteristics.
We love you to the moon and back our little superhero!

oh and did i mention california???

2007-12-16T00:51:00.000-08:00

i think i forgot to mention the aveda & i traveled to california about a month ago. perhaps because only now am i just about fully recovered from this excursion. it was the first time just the boys were alone for a number of consecutive days in row and just the girls too. we went for garrett (my brother) & rachel's wedding which was awesome to witness, attend and celebrate with them and for the most part travels went well. It's a stinking long flight from hawaii to california - moreso when you have a 16 month old to travel with. But being used to toting around a 16 month old AND a 2, almost 3 year old, traveling seemed a lot easier. Until the day after the wedding (the day before we were to fly back home) and aveda started throwing up. mmm, awesome to deal with when you're away from home. By God's grace, we had already planned to drive up and see my good friend Heather for the day... so this is where we were heading when disaster struck. Blueberry throw up on the car ride up... we made it to heathers... thought maybe it was just some fluke thing... rested a little - got us all cleaned up, hopped in the car to go downtown santa barbara... got maybe 100 yards down the road and she threw up again. oh Lord... this was a nasty one. Oh how grateful i am for my dear friend Heather. Who else would have cleaned up my own child's vomit and been ok with it?! Who else would have so graciously kept me in her home all day with my sick pukey baby alongside her own two kids who easily could have caught this same bug?!
So the day went on... nothing like I had expected to spend this rare occasion of being in SB again but looking back I wouldn't have wanted to be in anyone else's home at that time. The saga continued however as we were trying so hard to delay my flight thinking I would have to travel home with a sick sick child. Did I mention Thanksgiving was 4 days later? Making it virtually impossible to change the flight. Well that and the fact that daddy wanted me back exactly when he'd expected. Ugh. ok I was thankful he was taking care of kid A and all but I wasn't really feelin' the sympathy of dealing with pukey kid B... anyways, agreeing to come home the next morning we had to do more loads of laundry, wash vomit off of blankie for the third? time, and pack up to leave for LA that evening where we would spend the night to be there in time for the flight the next morning. So we (me, aveda, heather and her baby oliver) leave the house... made it further down the freeway this time and alas, baby threw up... again. Mom starts crying - can't DO this! i cried. Did i mention Heather's an ER nurse? We go to the ER to see about getting some super pricey anti-nausea pills for aveda for the plane ride home only to find out Doc. thinks it's not the best thing to give a baby on a plane. Frustration is a word that pales in comparison to what i was feeling at this moment in time. We take a hospital sheet to cut up and use as rags if needbe on the airplane. We leave the ER and go grab some food since heather and I am so starving it's about to do us in. After one more little pukey episode just before pulling away from the curb, off we drive to LA. We make it there - not exactly a place any mom would want to stay with her sick baby for the night but mostly because NO place but home or back at Heather's would suffice at this point. We made it through the night. Next morning we're all cleaned up, packed up, ready to leave... standing in the lobby waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport and oh no... she's making those noises again... oh Lord please no. She threw up again - all over me - neck to waist, my shirt is wet. So I had a change of clothes for the both of us in my carry on bag but here's the dilemma. What if she does this again later and it's even worse than this and then i have nothing to change into?! So I stay in my pukey shirt and off we go to the airport. HOW are we going to make it home?
I know lots of people were praying for us at this point and by the grace of God aveda did not throw up the entire plane ride. In fact, not only did she not throw up, it was probably the easiest possible plane ride that one could have with a 16 month old because she just passed out on my lap and slept nearly the ENTIRE 5+ hour ride home. incredible. Thank You Jesus.
The sickness continue with a few more throw ups back home but the point is, we made it back home. Then Aveda so graciously shared her tummy bug with her big brother Tagen. But it's all behind us now... which maybe you can understand why only now am I able to write about it.

the whole fam...

2007-12-16T00:43:00.000-08:00

so some of you say we put lots of great pictures of the kids on this blog but none of mama and papa... soooo, these are what i could find of us... a family photo - courtesy of our good friends katie and daniel who are visiting right now... and some of daddy teaching tagen how to surf. tagen was so excited to be standing up and surfing in the shallow waters of Poipu. Until the surfboard got kicked out. Apparently surfboards aren't allowed there. oh well - it was fun while it lasted!

tagen train surfing

2007-12-12T20:39:00.001-08:00

2007-10-27T23:01:00.000-07:00

Tagen's swimming lesson - day 3. can you believe it?! he's NOT screaming in this one. incredible!

aveda day 3... still crying but dang... gettin' it down! don't mind tagen who walks RIGHT in FRONT of me as i'm filming but you get the idea...

and another of her...

so the kids have "graduated" from their swimming lessons. they've got it down and we are so grateful they have this life saving skill! thursay i was in the water with them... that was a traumatizing day - more for me than them i think. auntie glendy was teaching me all the skills she's taught them and i'm obviously nowhere near as pro as she so i made the kids swallow a lot of water that day. sad. then tagen threw up all over me after i brought him out of the pool. puke from my neck down to my thigh and in my bathing suit. everywhere. oh gag. we got it off though... made it through and then friday dad was in the pool with them and they did AMAZING. i'll get those videos uploaded some day...

swimming lessons... day 2

2007-10-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

Ok so we've made it through day TWO of swim lessons.... Tagen did NOT want to go today. There was still a lot of screaming going on but they are definitely improving and by the time we were walking back out to our car to leave Tagen's words... and i quote "dat was fun mom!"
Tomorrow I will probably have to remind him he actually said these words. Anyways, brace yourself if you're willing to watch the kids get launched...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srRRwe4y7Mc

here Tagen is actually swimming to the wall without any physical support from auntie!

aveda getting tossed and coming up face up... craziness! i know there's a lot of screaming going on but really they're improving!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cz0j5xrEsg

(sorry for the youtube confusion... sometimes it worked to post it right onto this page and other times you have to copy/link it to another page... anyways, hope you can view it ok)

aveda & tagen's 1st day of swim lessons...

2007-10-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

aside from lots and lots of screaming and crying the 1st day of swim lessons have gone really well. I am amazed at how the kids already have learned certain techniques... i'll get better clips and pics as the days go on but for now here's one of how aveda has learned how to flip from her tummy to her back so she can breath. good thing huh?

What dis sound is mama?

2007-10-11T22:53:00.000-07:00

Tagen Train is very attune to the world he lives in. He hears new sounds, sees new things, tastes new things, smells new things and touches new things daily. The most frequently asked question from him lately is "what dis sound is mama?" whenever he hears almost any loud... or even subtle noise. whether it's inside our outside this question is asked. It's really cute the way he says it... I've gotta get it recorded some time. Sometimes I feel like he has just stepped into a foreign country and I am his interpreter for sounds, words, smells, and so on. "what's dis called?" is another common question along with comments like mmm, i yike (like) dis. and ewwww. i no yike dis.

the funniest one lately though is how he's figured out that if another kid (his sister most often) has a toy that he wants it's not the best method to grab it out of his or her hand because that usually results in time out. So he searches the premises for another desirable toy then goes back to kid A and says "you like trade?" ... it works well with Aveda right now because she couldn't really care less what toy she's playing with as long as she's got something. I can see in the near future she's gonna figure out this sly way of Tagen and have differing opinions about this trading game. then what???
until later we here in the strange land of the maligro household sign off.

a day in the life...

2007-10-04T23:04:00.001-07:00

6something... hear aveda and walk out in some groggy state sit on the couch to cuddle & nurse...
back to bed

7ish: hear tagen hit the wall - for whatever reason he does this every morning as he wakes up - then climbs out of bed with his 2 blankies, sippie cup, and book or toy in hand saying 'mommy, my awake... my awake mommy" the whole way walking from his room into ours. climbs in bed with us until he hears aveda wake up which then makes him say "Beyda aWAKE mama!" So he jumps out of bed and runs out to welcome her into the new glorious day. How is has so much energy first thing in the morning is beyond me.

7-8: breakfast and curious george cartoon... mom and dad drink coffee

8 to ? change diapers, playdough session, painting, playing reading, jumping, running inside/outside, tagen and aveda loving and fighting

10: aveda takes a little cat nap, Tagen watches his favorite show: Caillou. Mom and Dad look online for a battery charger to a Power Wheels mom scored from our field trip to the thrift store yesterday. It's a little power wheels race car that costs $250 brand new and I found it for $7! just need a stinking charger so it actually moves again. even so the kids have had great fun with it already.

11: mom makes a picnic lunch for the kids to eat outside under the avocado tree. kids play outside in the sprinkler and kiddie pool

11:30 aveda grinds more food than tagen and mom combined!

12:30-1: for some odd reason the kids LOVE to play on mom and dad's bed. i think they could hang out there all day probably. they wrestled and played forever up there laughing, giggling, & kung fu flighting...

1ish-3: NAPS for both kids. It is my goal every day to make sure these two kids take a nap at the same time. it happened today!
Mom packed food into mini cooler thing, cleaned up, took cat nap - oh how i love to nap!

3:30 Whole family heads off to Pikalas (Beach) with another family and their kids...

4:30 Dad takes tagen way out in the ocean to go surfing. It's his 2nd real surf session with daddy and he's loving it! They catch lots of ways and ride soooo far in. amazing!
Lots of sandy buns, swimming in the warm water and eating food... unless you're aveda. then you're eating lots of sand too.

6:30 the sun is starting to go down and since this is a beach you kinda hike into we have to start walking back to the car.

6:45 McDonalds ice cream sundae on the way home

7pm bath time, wild hyperness after baths, reading books together

7:30pm nigh-nigh beyda (she's starting to say "ny ny" and blowing a kiss)

7:45pm nigh-nigh tagen

now here i sit writing this... nigh nigh!

been a while...

2007-10-01T00:10:00.001-07:00

So it's been a while since writing on this blog page... the biggest thing that's happened was going back to santa barbara for a couple weeks. Just me and kids along with a good friend of mine here and her kids. Somehow our husbands opted out of the whole flying with a 1,2,3 and 4 year old (ages of all our kids at the time) - who could blame em? It is indeed pretty crazy flying with two little ones. But by the grace of God we made it not only there, but back here too and we had a awesome worthwhile time going back to a town full of so many memories for us. It was wonderful to see old friends and just to get of the rock (aka Kauai) for a little while. Coming home was good too - it actually felt like we were coming "home" instead of just this cool place to vacation that has always seemed beautiful but still foreign in a sense to me. I guess after a year of living here some roots having grown deep into this place. More than that is the people I've been graced to meet and walk some of life with together. So anyways, it is good to be home again.

because things like this are a BIG change in our household...

2007-08-14T00:38:00.001-07:00

So a little less than a week ago our son, Tagen Train, finally figured out how to crawl out of his crib. I'm actually suprised he never attempted it prior to this but we were able to keep him in it for just over 2 and 1/2 years of his life. And isn't it funny that until things like this change you don't really appreciate how wonderful it is that your two year is going to be in the same place you put him down to take a nap or go to sleep at night. He doesn't really have any other option. Now, however, we have entered a new season.
So the day he figured it out it was of course about 10 minutes before he was supposed to take a nap. I decided I had to put him down in his toddler bed for his nap. When I went in to check on him, he had crawled back into his crib to take his nap. Then when he deemed nap time was done, he crawled out, walked out into the living room like a member of the navy seal (ie: i didn't hear him coming) and walked right up behind me and said, "hi mom!" Oh, you should've seen the look on his face (and mine)... I wish I captured that on the camera... He was so proud of himself and I almost had a heart-attack.
Since then some naptimes and bedtimes have been harder than others getting him to stay put and not leave his room as he sees fit...
But even so, we are proud of Tagen Train and as we know our little boy is growing up to be a bigger boy in so many ways... this change just sticks out as a bigger one than others.

Little Miss AVM

2007-08-04T16:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Little Miss Aveda Violet,

You are now officially a one year old. Incredible. It seems your first year of life has flown like the speed of light and yet there are moments throughout this one year you've lived where time seemed to stand still. I remember clear as day your entrance into this world and your very first days of life... we were privileged to stay at Goleta Valley Hospital for a few days where the AC was so refreshing we didn't want to leave! (You were born on a VERY hot summer day)

I remember the very first time your big brother met you and gave you a kiss welcoming you into our family. I remember sleeping on the couch with you for weeks as we were busy emptying our house of all furniture so we could move from Santa Barbara to Hawaii and how I would swaddle your tiny body up in your peach blankie making you look like the cutest little pea pod I'd ever seen. I remember the feeling of your thick silky black hair and your perfect mini eyebrows... your pinkie toenail that was as teeny as a mustard seed...

You are a smart little monkey girl... you learn so quickly. I was so excited when you learned how to sit up by yourself around 6 months of age. You were so excited too seeing the whole world from a new angle. This lasted only about a week because then you learned to crawl. Once you had that figured out nothing held you back from exploring every nook & cranny of our house. I definitely found more things in your mouth than I ever would have in Tagen's at your age. Mostly because your older brother would graciously "share" whatever he saw as good for "beyda" (as he calls you). By God's grace you never had too bad of a choking episode. thank You Lord! Anyways, by 10 months or so you started taking steps and in a flash you were walking! You watch and study all that your brother does and learn from him daily. He is a very good big brother to you and loves you so much. As you are getting older you two are playing together and cracking each other up more than ever before. You wrestle and roll and around and I'm thoroughly impressed with how you hold your own. You are a tough cookie AVM. We know when you are really truly hurt because only then do you really cry. Things that I think would hurt you... you just stand up and shake it off.

It seems you've been a water baby from day 1... or day 5 or whatever day that was when we gave you your first bath at home. You liked it then and you LOVE going to the beach and playing in the ocean here now. Even when we just have the little pool filled up in our back yard you hop on in giving no thought to whether you have clothes on or not. Maybe you'll be a lover of surfing just like your daddy...
It's a mystery to me how a little person's personality emerges but we have seen yours unfolding rapidly especially these past few months. You make us laugh hard just like your brother does and yet at the same time we call you our "serious one"... you would win at any staring contest. You are strong little one. In both the physical and the mental. We can see that you will be a leader, not a follower. We are praying for you continually, little one, that you will love Jesus above all else the world has to offer. For in Him you will be content and experience life abundant. And in Him, lead many to Grace & Truth.

We love you little miss and thank Jesus you are ours.

AVEDA TURNED ONE!

2007-07-30T00:40:00.000-07:00

our little Aveda Violet Maligro turned ONE Wednesday July 25, 2007... how this whole year flew by so quickly is a mystery. Here's some video of a little party we had celebrating our little luv bug.

day 3 of mission bye-bye binkie

2007-06-23T16:48:00.000-07:00

So three days ago we went for a walk down the road to feed the goats. Typical day... beautiful blue sky... nothing seemed out of the ordinary. However, while we were feeding the goats I believe Tagen, at some point, must have chucked his beloved binkie and munch munch (goats eat anything) bye-bye binkie. He didn't seem phased by this... or maybe he didn't see it happen. On the walk home he asked for his binkie and I searched and searched and alas, no binkie to be found. We even walked back to the goats and it was gone. At first, not too big a deal but come nap time... very big deal. We decided this would be the day Tagen would have to give up his binkie for good. A big transition for a little guy. A piece of growing up - even sad for mama realizing her first baby is no longer a baby. Anyways, long story shorter... Tagen gave his binkie to the goats because baby goat needed a new binkie (or so we've told him) and in return the goats gave Tagen a new Buz Lightyear toy. So just remember, when you give up this:

you get this:

(why the picture turned out sideways is beyond me... you get the idea though)

Not a bad trade huh?
Tagen would probably beg to differ but he's getting through it.

Aveda Violet is walking!

2007-06-15T23:17:00.000-07:00

so you can see it with your own eyes - she's walking! for whatever reason she loved walking around with this Superman ball today. Maybe it gave her added superhero power to walk. She's a little unstable still and crawls a LOT faster than she walks but knowing how this girl works so far it seems that once she figures something out she masters it pretty quickly just like her daddy. So she's about 10 and 1/2 months old now, loves to wrestle with her brother. For some reason they LOVE to do this on mommy and daddy's bed. Throw them up there and they both get wild and can't stop laughing. Lately Tagen's been playing "pretend" a lot more which is so awesome and see his imagination grow and grow. He wants to be a firefighter and a superhero... maybe a superhero firefighter when he grows up. And he told me today that mommy will drive his fire truck. hmmm.

It's obvious this kid has parents who drink coffee every... single... morning.... as he's playing pretend and pouring drinks in the bath for aveda and says, "Here Bayda. coffee!"

videooooos

2007-06-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

ok so it's kind of pixelated but it's the best i could figure out for right now!

This picture says it all

2007-04-22T00:20:00.000-07:00

Tagen found these pink and green goggles at the beach last weekend and has worn them ever since. He would probably even sleep with them on if we let him. It is the funniest ever watching him run around with them on... usually lop-sided but he's actually getting pretty good at putting them on by himself ("My Try!" is the latest phrase we hear 100 times a day) and getting them to go on at least one eye correctly. There's a crab and a seahorse on them too but he calls the seahorse a sea cucumber because we always find sea cucumbers at the beach here and he's never seen a seahorse before. I love the way this little mind works.

a good morning even at 6:30am

2007-03-24T00:24:00.000-07:00

So Tagen woke up this morning at 6:30am. That's been the average wake up time in our household lately. Despite what I keep telling them, kid A or kid B decides this is a good time to get up in the morning. One or the other is my alarm clock every morning. Usually I wake up pretty groggy, stumbling toward the crib. This morning Kyle went and got Tagen and brought him back to lie in bed with us. A few minutes later Aveda woke up and so he went and got her too and brought her back in bed. So it's me, Aveda, Tagen and Kyle all squished into our queen size bed (and one wiener dog somewhere under the covers). I began to nurse Aveda and the sweetest, cutest thing ever Tagen did of his own accord. He was look down at Aveda and just started gently petting her head and whispering, "hi beyda.... hiiyyyy beyda." Every so often Aveda would stop look up at him and smile real big. So even though it was about 3 hours earlier than I really wanted to be waking up it was well worth seeing this gem of a moment. Tagen is such a good big brother and loves his little sis so much. The love is mutual seeing how much Aveda adores him as well.

Aveda Violet's 7 1/2 month birthday!

2007-03-10T23:21:00.000-08:00

20 things I love about you, Aveda Violet Maligro (this was supposed to be in honor of your 6 month birthday which was jan.25… and at the time you weighed in at 17 pounds 14 ounces; measuring 27! But now it’s march so let’s call it your 7 and 1/2 month birthdays because really – how many people do you know get honored for that?! So, 1-12 are when you were 6 months and the rest I wrote today)
1. The way you crawl around like a caterpillar except for some reason you go everywhere backwards. You’ve also figured out how to spin in circles so I place toys in a circle all around you and you’ll spin from toy to toy.
2. The way you’ve mastered this fake cough/cry thing if you want attention or to be picked up.
3. Your baby chub – I love to touch it, sqeeze it, hug it and kiss it and I love your earlobes too – weird? – ok yes but they are like velvet!
4. How happy you are after you wake up. Huge grins and happy squirms from head to toe – it’s like your whole body smiles when you do this. Now THAT is how we should greet everyone.
5. How much you love bath time.
6. The head nuzzles. Nothing beats these. Both Tagen and Aveda – when they’re tired or sad or just need some cuddle will nuzzle their head under my chin and into my neck/shoulder and although few and far between these are treasures of gold.
7. The way you smell. I wish I could save this in a bottle forever. Even your poop right now is still sweet to me (perhaps one reason I’m holding off giving you solids for a little while longer) – daddy thinks it smells like popcorn but still it’s a lot better than what Tagen’s smelled like tonight! Beyond just the poop – you smell so wonderful to me. And I love that your blankie smells like you because you cuddle with it every time you sleep.
8. When I am lying next to you as you take a nap I can tell when you are awake or asleep from listening to the rhythm of your breathing.
9. Your lengthy stares. You have chocolate brown eyes with which you love to make eye contact. You search deeply into the things or people you are looking at. I think you may have it all figured out by age two the way you focus and study things.
10. You have the sweetest spirit. You are so full of energy but such a sweetie at the same time. I can’t wait to see how this plays out in your personality as you grow.
11. You are incredibly strong. I could’ve guessed this from the womb how crazy you would kick at times. It still amazes me now – I think there are times I could probably let go and it wouldn’t matter because you cling to me like glue.
12. You make noises just like Tagen did at your age. Did he teach you this? How? Maybe it’s genetic or something. Regardless, it’s super cute!
Ok so between 12 & 13 I took a break for a month or so and now you’ve totally changed. It’s incredible how rapidly you babies grow and develop. Just when I’m getting the hang of you, you change!
13. You’re sitting up now. No support – just all by yourself! You’ve fallen back and bonked your head a few times but you get over it super fast because you’re a tough cookie (sidenote: whenever I say “tough cookie” your brother T looks at me and says “cookie? Cookie?” and doesn’t stop until I convince him we don’t have any cookies in the house)
14. Not only are you sitting up, you’ve totally got the scoot crawl thing mastered and you can get yourself pretty much anywhere you want to go. It’s really funny when you see something you’ve obviously gotta have because you crawl with such focused determination and NoThInG will get in your way.
15. Today you even crawled over and pulled yourself up to standing. Incredible. See how much you’ve changed just this month?! We’ve got a whole new baby in the house.
16. I love how much more you and Tagen are interacting too. You laugh. He laughs. You copy each other and just love to act silly. So sweet to watch. He’s nicknamed you “beyda” by the way and whenever you are crying he says… no he SHOUTS: “OTAY!!!!! Beyda OTAY!” with his eyebrows raised to the ceiling. He does thisbecause I asked him once to go over to you and say “It’s ok baby!” all sweet and gentle like. Oh well. His own rendition is pretty funny – somehow it even sometimes calms you down! That’s how much you love your brother.
17. You are such a little water baby. You’re probably the one who is going to be all into surfing like your daddy! You LOVE to sit in the shallow waters of the ocean. We also just got a kiddie pool that you now play in every day. You long outlast your brother in it and would probably stay in there playing all day if I let you. You splash, sit up, lie down on your belly, try to stand holding onto the edge (meanwhile mama’s heart skips a beat as you almost fall) but it’s so cute how happy you are in there.
18. You’ve learned from the professional (your brother) how to scream at a pitch that should not be legal. How did we birth babies with such loud lungs?! It’s crazy. I think you must be teething right now too because you’ll shriek many times a day for no apparent reason. Or maybe you just enjoy hearing yourself. Note to you: you could still hear yourself if you toned it down like 10 notches.
19. You’re chubbier than ever and I’m loving every piece of you!
20. That you, also, are mine.

Tagen Train is TWO!

2007-02-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

20 things I love about you Tagen Train Maligro. 2 years old! 31 pounds of rock solid toddlerness…
1. The way you dance. Turn on some music and you just can’t help yourself. You love to copy daddy’s moves in your own awesome rendition.
2. How you have learned that if you come into our room in the morning and says “eat mama” it will get me out of bed. All you really want is for me to get up with you and you really don’t care about eating at all. Okay actually this drives me crazy but I will always remember it because it seems to happen every morning and every morning I fall for it because you’re too dang cute.
3. When I am cooking anything you wander around saying “shoe?” asking for your stool because you must stand and watch… ok stand and mess with whatever I’m trying to cook and take everything off the countertops.
4. You can now climb all the way up into your highchair and climb back down when you’re finished. I can’t imagine if I had to do this every time I sat down to eat. You’re such a monkey.
5. You have learned how to open the screen door to let yourself outside whenever you please. Some day we’ll teach you how to get back inside too.
6. You are one of the only ones who can actually make Aveda laugh. You show such concern when she cries and even though she’s been with us for six months and you know full well what her name is you still call her “baby”. Maybe you’ll call her this forever.
7. You are totally obsessed with any kind of ball – football, basketball, soccer ball, baseball - and you now say trow (throw) and katttch (catch) and talks story about baseball and football. I think you would throw and catch a ball with us the entire day if we would last that long.
8. shubel and beeech (shovels and the beach) two of your favorite things living in hawaii
9. the way you can’t not jump on me or daddy and attack hug us when we are lying on the ground
10. How much you love bath time… you’ve gotten to a point where you hate getting out because you’re having too much fun. You’ve fully mastered blowing bubbles and “floating” on your back and tummy.
11. All the words you now say. You copy so much of what we are saying and you are so proud to communicate. Funniest ever the ways you say “yeeesss mammmaa” or “yessss daaada” with eyes wide open and many overemphasized head nods. Another word I love to hear you say: “sorry” which you say like “soollly” (sounds like Japanese or something). Really makes the disciplining difficult when I’m on the verge of laughing.
12. The way you draw. Such detail. Such focus. Mostly you draw circles – big circles, little circles or some other rendition of a circle…but these aren’t your ordinary circle. Each one is some incredible piece of your imagination. A firetruck or fire”guy” (as you call a fireman). A lion. A gecko. A fish. You usually draws them very slowly and then will turn and tell me what you just drew. I am amazed at how detail oriented you are. Not only in drawing but also when we are reading a book – you notices things in the pictures that nobody would ever notice.
13. Finally, after 23 months of being attached to your binkie and blankie you call them their names… well not always… actually only on rare occasions. Usually they still are called that noise which I don’t know how to write as a word – but you make the same noise every time you want these. MmmMMMmmmMMMmmmMMMmmmm. Or something like that. It cracks me up when you do the noise and then say ppeeeezze (please) at the end of it. Like you’re mixing baby language and toddlerese or something.
14. You are such a “boy”… so into all kinds of balls – especially footballs. Your uncle got you a football for your birthday and you carry it around with you like it’s your new blankie or something. You can’t get enough motorcycles, trucks and the like and love to see the fire truck every time we pass the fire station.
15. How you are consistently grumpy (note: opposite of sister) when you wake up from a nap and that I am the only one you want. Daddy can get you as long as he mentions something super exciting – like that there’s a rooster outside or something. But it better be good or you’ll hear nothing of it and we’ll hear a lot of whines. Ok so we kind of look forward to the day this will end but as for now is such a part of you that we’ve gotta love you and all your weird quirks too!
16. You are so opinionated now. So sure of what you want and don’t want. If mommy or daddy asks if you want something your first response will usually be “no!” and then you turn around, turn back and ask for the very thing we just offered you. I guess it had to be your idea. Sometimes it’s hard not to laugh at how ridiculous this is.
17. You are so crazy cute with your big ol’ belly sticking out as you walk around, blonde hair getting blonder every day as we live in Hawaii now and your little tans lines. I noticed that you still have baby chub for which I am happy because that means there’s still some babiness in you and you’re really white inside the folds now. That’s how I can gauge how tan you are getting too. I love your Fred Flinstone feet and toes. Where these came from in the genes I don’t know but since birth you’ve had little square blocks down there and they still are.
18. The sweetest ever is the way you give kisses and hugs. Especially watching you hug a little person your size. You lean way forward and pat their little back as you lean your head on their shoulder. So sweet.
19. Sometimes you think you are so funny. You just crack yourself up! We’ll be driving somewhere and you tickle yourself and just laugh and laugh. I need to record your laugh. It makes me smile every time.
20. That you are mine.

christmas and things...

2006-12-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

december 23rd we went to a full local Christmas parade with our kids and kyle's parents... too funny and super fun. Tagen just really figured out what Santa looks like a few days before this and (still) is soooo excited whenever he sees a santa. Doesn't even matter if it's a live santa or a plastic one. At the parade was the first time he met a live Santa. Here's the dialogue and pics:

Santa "hi"
Santa's wife: "you're supposed to say Ho Ho HO Merry Christmas! not "hi"

Tagen: "uh, dabaduba vroom-vroom... da wib a santa" (translation: look I got a motorcycle with a santa riding on it!)

Santa: "oooOOOOooo... akward silence. want some candY?"

Tagen then trades his vroom-vroom for some candy... but soon after grabbed his motorcyle and started gnawing on the wrapper of his candy. So what if we couldn't get Tagen to sit on santa's lap. The way he was talking about santa allllll night you'd think he did.

We DID get a cute pic of Aveda sitting on Santa's lap.

and other cute pictures too... dec.24 was mommy's b-day and we had a super fun day going out to a coffee shop in the morning and then to the beach and then to dinner at our friend's for the night. Christmas day kyle's parents and brother came to our house for breakfast and presents in the morning and we had an awesome meal at their house that evening. enjoy the pictures!

laughter

2006-12-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

I know I have mentioned before how Tagen seems to be the only one who can make Aveda laugh... I wish you could have been in their room tonight to see how hard she was cracking up as Tagen was just being his silly goofy self. She laughed so hard she spit up and then got the hic-ups. As always, it only egged Tagen on to make her laugh even harder. Too funny!

Tagen's best buddy Josiah came to visit for a week along with his mama Heather. We had such a good time going to beaches and exploring different parts of kauai. I haven't seen Tagen so happy and wild as he was this past week with Josiah than in this whole time of living here so far! He would ask for "Ida" (as he calls him) every time he'd wake up from a nap or in the morning. I was very proud of Tagen how well he shared his toys and food and sippy cups and binky (unless he had just woken up of course) with Josiah. But now he is gone and Tagen is going to perpetually think Ida is on an airplane because that's where he went when he had to leave and he just doesn't quite get it that after the airplane he went back to his house. Days later he sees an airplane and says, "Ida?" ah, the mind of an almost 2-year-old.

He's learned that if he does a "no-no" and after I make sure he understand what he did wrong he needs to say "yes mama" which he emphasizes as "yeeEEESsss mmmMMMMAAAaaaama" and usually says at least 2 or 3 times like this while sticking out his belly and making his eyes wide as can be. It takes all that is in me to keep from laughing. Every day he becomes more independent and more assertive about his opinions. (And for someone only 22 months old he certainly has a lot of them!) Every day I think that surely he must have reached the pinnacle of his oppositional behavior, but then he goes ahead to surprise us by taking his oppositional behavior to new heights.

isn't she cute?

2006-12-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

how cute ShE??? she rolls over now. looooves brother tagen more than ever - he really seems to be one of the only ones who can really make her laugh. she just discovered we have a dog in the house and is fascinated by her. she is sooo strong - she holds onto our finger and it's virtually impossible to break her grip. she's been half way into the ocean waters of kauai twice now and really liked it. she takes 3 naps a day and i wish i could say she sleeps through the night but that's not true of little aveda quite yet. she is perfect just the way she is though!

life on the rock

2006-11-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

So we actually made it to Kauai and are living in our new home. It is still surreal that we are really living here - kind of feels like we are on vacation or something. But no, this is our new reality. The last days before moving was nuts and there were many moments I was wondering if we were really going to be able to pack up or get rid of or clean everything we needed to. Grandma and Grandpa from Oregon came to help which was a lifesaver. For sure we couldn't have done it without all of their help! We stayed in a Super8 motel our last week there and the last night before we left I think we were the only ones there who weren't there with the intention of partying in Isla Vista for Halloween. Needless to say it was kinda loud there that last night. We are grateful for any and all of your prayers though because God's grace proved sufficient many times. We bought 4 plane tickets for mom, dad, grandma and grandpa planning on the babies sitting on our laps... not to excited about that but that's just how it was gonna be. We ended up getting hooked up with 9 or 10 seats we could move around between... basically having the back of the plane to ourselves which was such an awesome blessing!
Grandma in Kauai *aka:Tutu* basically stocked our house full of what we needed before we even arrived here... couches, beds, crib, etc etc etc... what a crazy blessing. Maybe that's why we feel like we are on vacation living in someone's vacation house. We've hardly had to do a thing to unpack/settle in. Our "magical mystery box" hasn't arrived yet though. That will for sure take some time to unpack and organize (it's a huge 1300 pound crate with kyle's screenpress and everything else we wanted to bring crammed in all the nooks and crannies of it.)
So anyways, we're here now. It rained the first few days we were here: refreshing. Then it was super hot and humid and now the winds have changed and there's this wonderful cool breeze blowing on me right now. Some differences from Santa Barbara: 5 baby geckos living in our house, 2 large toads living in our yard - one of which i almost stepped on yesterday, and ants. lots and lots of teeny ants. you can't leave food out for 5 minutes before they discover it. oh and did i mention the chickens and roosters? sheesh, roosters here start crowing between 3 and 4am. kyle says you get used to it where you don't notice any more. i still notice. Tagen looooves them though and calls roosters "ooshers" The sunsets are beautiful here which we see setting over the ocean through our living room window and the ocean is warm and perfect for babies. Kauai is a beautiful island we have moved our family to.

6DAYS&COUNTING

2006-10-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

INCREDIBLE!
can't believe it, countdown to kauai. It's been pretty mayhem here in the Maligro Household.
i don't like moving from place to place. so much stuff/clutter to go through. i just want to burn
it all, except some things, and just start all over. ever had that feeling? we're in it. so that's it
for now. please pray for the Crazy Maligro Family. we need it! thank you. papa maligro

love binds

2006-10-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

Upon reading a favorite blogger of mine: littlejourneymama... i read a post she recently wrote and couldn't have related more to what she was talking about. So, adjusting some to apply to our family, space and circumstances I have cut and pasted and rewritten some of the same...

I don't think you can ever know how having a new child will affect your family. How could you? The small person that is your child shines and darkens in ways that have never appeared to you before. Sometimes there is a spark of recognition, a piece of your childhood, the smile of your brother or the eyes of your husband. But this person is new; new to the world and to the small village that is your home.

With the birth of each of my children, I died a small death and awoke to new love. With Tagen, it was the death of my independent self, a self that spent hours reading and napping and creating this or that, a self that jumped in the car without checking lists, packing diaper bags, or shoving shoes on tiny feet. With Aveda, it was the death of having one baby, the concentrated affection, the passing back and forth of one child. This is what felt like a small death to me. It's what made me cry, during those first days as I missed Tagen while staying in the hospital.

But the awaking! The new love, the kind of love that you never have for anyone else, not even your spouse. Love for my husband is constant and HUGE in me, but how many times have I watched my children sleep and felt that clutch of pity, the fierce protection that brings tears to my eyes? I've never felt love like this before having these children. It has made me intensely vulnerable, easily shaken, and yet as solid as the hills.

I've also watched my children's hearts expand with love as our family has grown. They open and blossom in care for one another, and this is what forms them, in addition to the love they receive from us. Aveda has never known a life without a brother. Tagen has received Aveda with such joy. Yesterday was Aveda's very first laugh and Tagen is the one who made her do it... over and over and over again as he jumped and spazzed being his silly self. Aveda just couldn't get enough of him. At her tender age of nearly 11 weeks old she adores her older brother.

In all the craziness, the dullness, the frustration of parenting, LOVE BINDS. Love takes our family and makes us a small force in the world. In all the ways I've changed since my first son was born, the biggest is that I am more loved, and I have more love.

LEARNING LIFE THROUGH DEATH

2006-10-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

It's like 6:55am. 6 days after the death of our beloved KETCHUP. see below for the story, it may be really loopy cause we were totally emo writing it. amazing what can happen just days after a death of a loved one. it's the hardest thing i think for us to go through, and i don't desire it for anyone. but the reality is that death happens. i was recently talking to one of my best friends about the whole scenario we just had gone through. he actually went through the same thing with his dog so he actually could relate to our situation which was really nice and a blessing. one of the things that was brought up was how death wasn't suppose to be. meaning, not suppose to happen. before the 'fall of man', death wasn't in the scene. well we all know what happened, eve and adam ate from the tree that God said don't. there were consequences. death. so since then we all have to deal with it. seems to me that there is a difference between some deaths then others. obviously depends if you were close the person, animal, etc or was just an aquantence. but it still is hard for someone to deal with. real hard! hardest ever!

after all that said: i wanted to shared something that i've learned through this whole experience. i know that some of you may be thinking, 'dude, kyle is whacked, it's just a dog!'. well, you have the right to say that eh. but for our little family, ketchup was like our first kid since kristy and i got married. you're not married to either one of us so you don't know. hehe.
anyway, through the death of ketchup i've been learning about LIFE. yeah, sorry, it's not sounding really deep. but what i've learned about this life on earth is that i can get really ungrateful or just let beautiful things slip by and so on. God has been really showing me a lot about that sort of things and i'm really grateful to relearn it again because LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. go watch the movie!

yes, there is more from the whole experience. but i'll share more later.

tons of love to you all!
kyle

Our beloved Ketchup....REST IN PEACE

2006-10-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

Pictured here is our beloved dog Ketchup with Tagen. Today was one of the sadest days of The Maligro's ever!
We decided after a few days of Ketchup being sick, throwing up a ton, taking him to the vet and not getting better, taking him to the ER vet for 2 nights in a row spending atleast $1200. We don't know exactly how it all started, he could have chewed or eaten something bad or could have got a rat that may have been poisened. We just don't know. Ketchup ended up with pneumonia which is really serious and takes a bunch of time 24 hour medical assistance to get him better, could even take weeks for full health. we just don't know. so anyway, we had to make a choice whether to persist on him being in the hospital for who knows how long and how huge the bill or put him to sleep. soo sad!!!! sucked! kristy and I came to decide it was time to put him to sleep. we both were crying and even now are teary eyed or crying while writing this. it was one of the hardest things i've ever done, hold my dog who is like our first kid, who was really ill in my arms and talk to the vet, sign some papers and say we've decided to put him to sleep. worst ever!!!!!!! so we did. i placed him in someone elses arms and left the vet as fast as i could, losing it on the walk to the car. RIP Ketchup!!!!!!!!

Ketchup to us was a family member from the beginning. He has such a rare personality, we at times thought he was sorta human, obviusly he thought he was. He had at times a smirk on his face that looked like he was smiling a lot. He had his own personal dance move that we called "the shuffle", he would groan in bed if you moved him, and also snored loud. yes, he slept with us almost every night of his life, he loved a ball or anything like it, he was such a loving dog that always needed attention or give attention, he never understood if we left the house how come he couldn't go with us, he had to always check on us if we were in another room by touching his cold wet nose on our legs, he greeted tagen and aveda when they arrived home as his best friends, he loved people/strangers and would always jump on their laps even if they didn't want him too, he was a lover, he was also a barker which would drive us nuts a lot, and now our house is different place, we expect to hear him barking all the time and its not happening anymore/its like we live somewhere else now. one of the really sad things is that Ketchup was our other dog Mustard's husband and playmate and friend. Mustard is soo sad now, she doesn't know whats going on. tear tear. so now Mustard is our only dog going to hawaii. so sad, so strange.

So if you pray, please pray for us Maligro's cause its been one of the hardest days of our lives. Also, the hardest couple of months for us with figuring out moving and dealing with our Ketchup and scared out of our brains about Mustard getting sick and needing money for moving and all the stuff. It's really crazy and we're praying a ton to God for faith, hope, comfort, trusting and strength. We're trusting God knows whats up and He's never left us. Its just hard at times. Looking to grow through this all in Him.

That's it for now.
The Maligro's

hot dogs

2006-09-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Little did we know it would be such a process to get our two wiener dogs over to kauai with us. Pictured to the right is Ketchup jumping. Our dogs are wierd. There's no way around it. Especially Ketchup. He's like the opitomy of super-hyper-active-attention-defecit-separation-anxiety disorder. Mustard is the opposite. Anyways, we are planning on shipping them over in a couple weeks so that we can actually get some packing done and leave some doors open without them running off to who knows where. The paper work involved to get them into hawaii (see http://www.hawaiiag.org/hdoa/ai_aqs_info.htm for the lovely details of it all) is ridiculous though and if we get it wrong then they have to go into quarantine for some crazy amount of time costing more $ than they are worth. Needless to say we're doing everything we can to make sure we've got it all right. Anyways, these dogs are in for an adventure of a lifetime as they are soon to experience the longest day of their lives. They'll be staying with Kyle's parents over there (who already have two wiener dogs) until we get there. haha! That'll be a nut house for a while.

TTM growing up

2006-09-16T19:41:00.000-07:00

Tagen Train Maligro... you are 19 and 1/2 months old now and you've jumped full swing into toddlerhood. You now make known your own opinion with incredible passion although rather than using real words your thoughts are usually expressed by either a scream (because we got it wrong!) or an "uuuhn?" along with some hand motion to make it a little more clear what you are talking about. Thanks for that hand motion. We'd really struggle without it.
You love eating things with wrappers on them (like string cheese) but can't stand it when you get to the bottom and can't eat that last part in the wrapper. You are in the middle of transitioning from two naps a day to one and are VeRY attached to your TWO blankies and binkie. Yes mom got you an identical blankie should anything happen to your first one and you've now learned you have two of the same and need them both. You are totally obsessed with motorcycles, trucks, tractors, trains, airplanes and helecopters and have a different noise you make for each one.

The cutest thing ever is watching you dance. You looove to dance especially with your daddy and copy whatever he is doing. You also love hanging out with your buddy Josiah (whom you call him "Ida"). For months the two of you would love hanging out but just do your own thing while sitting next to each other. Now you guys are finally starting to act like normal friends as you have "conversations" usually about your dadas and some uh-ohs and a lot of head nods are involved. You also are learning to share but I can see that this is going to be a very long process. You say please now which is super cute as you pronounce it "peeeeze!". Having learned this is the "magic" word you do not at all understand why you can't have WHATEVER you want as long as you say peeeeze. Kind of hard not to laugh and give in when you're so stinking cute. You love your baby sister and call Aveda "baby". Often when you wake up in the mornings you call out to us trying to get us to come get you out of your crib: "mama? mama?.... dada? dada?!.... baby?" As if Aveda is going to come get you. Too funny. I love this about you. You are growing up and becoming more and more independent and yet parts of you are still such a little baby. We love you to pieces Tagen Train!

FIVE YEARS AGO FROM THIS DAY

2006-09-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

This day five years ago something crazy was going to happen on national television, actually it's really wierd cause I was going to be on national television. "What are you talking about Kyle?", you say. Well, just so happens that a couple months prior I got a call from some chick saying her name and that she was from the "Jenny Jones" show and so on. I was on the other end saying, "Ok, whatever, you can stop messing around already, who is this really?" Come to find out that it was the real deal. Basically, long story short, I ended up in Chicago on the show to reunite with a buddy of mine who I was surfing with at the time and he got his leg bit off by a shark and I was there with him and tied a leash around his leg to make a tourniquet and supposedly the doctors said if I didn't do that he'd probably die. I can only say that God was in control of that situation and I wasn't, glory to Him! Anyway, that episode of us being on the "Jenny Jones" show was airing September 11, the same day the craziness happened here in the USA.

So basically, it doesn't even matter to me that the show didn't air that day. What really matters is that a lot of people died and a lot of people still hurt this day because of what happened on that September 11th.

Back then I didn't have a wife. Back then I didn't have kids. Now I do and it even hits me harder to even imagine if my wife or kids for family or friends for that matter were killed in that situation. So nuts! I can't even imagine the hardship the family and friends have to deal with.

So today, I remember all of them. God please be with those who hurt and have sorrow.
God is close to the broken hearted.

Love, Dad

Aveda V. at 6 weeks

2006-09-06T21:19:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe Aveda Violet Maligro is 6 weeks old already. Here's a picture of this cutie-patootie with her dada...

These past 6 weeks have been pretty interesting in the Maligro household. Some moments are so psycho hard that I want to give up and then others are spectacular. To fill you in on who little Miss Aveda is at this time here are some the things she's into...

AVM LiKeS:
- being bounced on this big blue exercise ball for the length of time it takes to break mommy's back doing this
- taking warm baths (Tagen has been helping pour water on her belly to wash her off and he is verrrry proud of this)
- conversations with her daddy
- being held upright much more than lying down
- going for walks in the stroller (aka the bus we call it because double strollers are so looong)
- mommy's milk (which Tagen refers to as "numy-numy-nu")
- lying on a blanket in the backyard
- looking at her big brother T

Free Derek Webb Album "Mockingbird" download Sept. 1!

2006-08-28T20:54:00.000-07:00

PEOPLE! PEOPLE!! You need to if you haven't already go to this site asap! I made it easy for you, just click on the animated pic above. Why? Because, coming Sept 1st you'll be able to download a FREE ALBUM called "MOCKINGBIRD" by Derek Webb. I've heard a couple of songs and they are insane, meaning really good! It'll sure stir the soup and ruffle some feathers! I'm excited!!!! Yep, Derek is a Christian fella that writes songs about topics that a lot of Christians don't talk about or won't talk about. If you download tell me what you think and we can talk about the songs/lyrics! Much love, Dad

say cheese

2006-08-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

We realized that our daughter's belly button is in the shape of a smile and so put two dots above it and you've got a happy face. Look close and you'll see...

This is how I feel this morning

2006-08-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Yes this picture says it all... this is how I felt at 1:30am when my baby girl was actually sleeping but we were abruptly woken as our stinking dog Ketchup barked his head off because a friend of ours who was sleeping on the couch rolled over or breathed or something. argh! And again, this is how I felt an hour later when Aveda did wake up to feed. oh and then that feeling came again about 4am when Aveda woke up again and I staggered out into the living room to change her diaper her and feed her in the dark. Still felt this way 15 minutes later when she wouldn't go back to sleep and then 15 minutes after that when the guys got up to go surfing for the day. Look at that picture again to see how I felt at 5am when still Aveda was awake... oh and at 5:50am when Tagen woke up screaming bloody murder for what reason I have no idea but as I was in his room I heard Aveda start crying which then made me start crying because I was so stinking TIRED! I think they both finally fell asleep again but I'm not quite sure because it was such a blur at this point. I do know that Tagen woke up for the day at 6:50am and Aveda was (and is) still sleeping as I write this at 8am. So all I can say at this point is Oh Lord a have a mercy today! because Kyle is going to be gone surfing at Point Mugu today until dark. Oh Lord have mercy. I love my babies dearly but sheeeesh I am tired. (look at the picture again)

Side note: Aveda had a doc. appointment yesterday and is over 10 pounds now! my little chunky monkey is growing quickly... oh annnnddddd we couldn't be more stoked because she now takes the binkie and this has made for a little less crying in this house. Thank the LORD!

How's this for a night?

2006-08-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

So every night is a bit crazy in this household right now. Tagen sleeps through the night like a champ but the rest of us... not so much the same story. Some nights are hard, some are frustrating but last night was different than any we've had before. Aveda woke up around 3am and fed and then was crying pretty loud so I (mom) went out in the living room with her when suddenly there was this super loud crash right out front! So this guy was driving drunk and crashed into our neighbor's car across the street which made that car run into another parked car near it. The guy then jumps out of his car and starts running and our neighbor is running after him trying to catch him. He caught up to him to hear the guy tell him he didn't want to go to jail. Real bright huh? Leave your truck and run from the scene. Anyways, Kyle went outside by this time and then the cops showed up and I'm standing at the front door watching it all trying to get Aveda back to sleep. Here's the funny twist on it all. Kyle's been taking Tagen on bike rides around the neighborhood and took him on one just yesterday. As they were riding around he noticed that truck because of a sticker on the back of it. So kyle told the cops where the guy lived and because of kyle they were able to catch the guy! crazy huh? So then we all went back to bed and it's about 5am or so at this time. Just as we fell asleep the cop knocked on our door making Ketchup go crazy barking. The cop just wanted Kyle's info for cop stuff. So then back to bed again. Aveda woke up again about 6:30ish to feed and then Tagen was up by 7:30 ready to sieze the day. So that's why we're Maligro maniacs.

Tummy Time for Aveda

2006-08-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's been like 3 weeks for our little Aveda girl arriving in to this world. It's been said by the doctors/nurses and others about how strong she is. She fully holds up her head already! Craziness for sure! Mr. Tagen aka blonde shows up on the scene. So wierd to see Tagens blonde hair and then Avedas brown hair. What is going on? Love, Dad

first time on a bike for Tagen

2006-08-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

It came time for Tagen to have his first bike ride. I rigged up a little seat for the boy and off we went in our back yard, he was stoked! Especially, that he got to wear that helmet. *If you follow closely you'll see "ketchup" our dog biting Dads foot while we ride. Yes, we have a crazy family! Love, Dad

SMASH PIGGY FACE Tagen Video

2006-08-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Can you do that same face or what?

life in this house

2006-08-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

Number of times I have been puked on in the past week: 3

Number of poopy diapers I have changed in a row today without ever taking baby off the changing table: 4

Number of times I have heard a little boy I know say baaaaallllll? today: 3,527 or maybe more

Number of minutes I have had to hold my pee because some little one in our family needed something ImMediAteLy!: 90

Number of kisses Aveda received from Tagen today: 10
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.
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That last one makes the first four worth it.

RED EYE MASTER

2006-08-01T21:27:00.000-07:00

Ever felt like you're flying? I don't mean flying in an airplane way but in a way that feel like you're a total space case. That's me right now and it's only 9:30pm. I'm dieing here! haha! Reason being, I did a road trip to Morro Bay, sorta like 1.5 hour drive. Nice drive! Well, it was sorta strange cause I actually went back to a place I probably haven't been to in like 10yrs or so. The place? Toobs bodyboards. One of my oldschool sponsors, good guys! Anyway, I figured it was about time to get a new bodyboard. So it happened thankfully! I'm excited to try it out soon, hopefully this week. Anyway, I'm a "RED EYE MASTER" for not getting sleep cause Tagen woke up a few times in the night and then making the drive and then standing and talking all day, it was fun, but it was tiring. That's just how it works these days! So yeah, be careful for the "RED EYE MASTER" coming to your town. Dad

mom's perspective on labor

2006-07-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

labor.... this word sums it up. sort of... except for those excrutiating birthing pains also known as contractions. oh and the "ring of fire" when she's actually coming down and out of the birth canal. it's hard work to say the least. This time I got an epidural though - thank the Lord for whoever invented those! i had as low of a dose as i could handle though still wanting to be able to push effectively. hm, little did i know it wouldn't take the pain off the pushing part of things! anyways, as painful as it was to deliver Aveda into this world she took about 1/4 or at least 1/3 of the time it took to get Tagen out - thank You Jesus or for everyone praying for me! i remember telling kyle in the middle of labor that we aren't having any more babies. Ever. and then holding our little baby, it just changes everything. It is so miraculous to carry this baby and feel her moving and kicking inside of my belly for so long and then pushing her out and now holding her in my arms. it's something of a phenomenon! and somehow along with the birth of this child my love, not only for our little newborn Aveda Violet, but also for my baby boy Tagen (who suddenly turned into a big toddler while we were gone at the hospital) and my love for my hubby Kyle has increased 10thousand-fold!!! A family is such a beautiful thing! and i think i would go through that labor thing again - just have to wait like 4 or 10 years to forget what it felt like.

New to the Maligro Family

2006-07-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

LET'S JUST START WITH THIS ACTION:

Here's a little pic of the Maligro Family without the dogs. Yeah, we're one of those weird families that includes dogs as a part of the family, but, we're not so wierd that we get those stickers with all the family members and have it on the back window of a minivan. We're just not there yet! This picture is like the day after our newest daughter addtion, AVEDA VIOLET MALIGRO, born 7.25.06 @ 8:01am. She weighed 7lbs 9oz. Fully healthy and crazy dark hair! Notice the young boy, Tagen Train Maligro, he's basically a blondie! Maybe, Aveda is taking more Dad's side. We'll see as time flies! Mom did the best job ever in delivery! I (Dad) cannot fathom the birthing pains. So crazy! Thanks Eve for taking the apple off the Tree of Knowledge! Ok, that's it for now. Super tired! More to come! Dad

Maligro Mania

Tagen turning 7?!

October already?!

gratitude

he's FIVE!

Holy Heat Wave...

Once upon a time...

scroll down...

bye-bye binkie...

Dear Tagen Train....

cultivating joy

Aveda prayer tonight...

Tagen comments...

Dear You...

lil' miss Aveda Violet turned TWO today...

good times in the maligro yard...

the Are you kidding me Day

Mama's day...

been a while...

Tagen Train Turned Tree Today!

oh and did i mention california???

the whole fam...

tagen train surfing

swimming lessons... day 2

aveda & tagen's 1st day of swim lessons...

What dis sound is mama?

a day in the life...

been a while...

because things like this are a BIG change in our household...

Little Miss AVM

AVEDA TURNED ONE!

day 3 of mission bye-bye binkie

Aveda Violet is walking!

more maligros videos...

videooooos

This picture says it all

a good morning even at 6:30am

Aveda Violet's 7 1/2 month birthday!

Tagen Train is TWO!

christmas and things...

laughter

isn't she cute?

life on the rock

6DAYS&COUNTING

love binds

LEARNING LIFE THROUGH DEATH

Our beloved Ketchup....REST IN PEACE

hot dogs

TTM growing up

FIVE YEARS AGO FROM THIS DAY

Aveda V. at 6 weeks

Free Derek Webb Album "Mockingbird" download Sept. 1!

say cheese

This is how I feel this morning

How's this for a night?

Tummy Time for Aveda

first time on a bike for Tagen

SMASH PIGGY FACE Tagen Video

life in this house

RED EYE MASTER

mom's perspective on labor

New to the Maligro Family