Keizer Update

These are the things that are going on with Keizer:

He is officially 5 months old. He is now laughing and giggling at anyone that can tickle that funny bone of his, especially if you coo at him, play with his belly, shake paper near him, or play peek-a-boo with him. He can almost sit up by himself and is almost rolling over. We got him a jumper and he likes to spend the first 20 mins of his day in that. His nemeses are in the rolling clear plastic thing on it (the polar bear and penguin) and he can only take "so much" of them in a day.

He has started to grab things. When we are in the office together he loves to reach for the sticky notes and calculator. I feel like I have a mad midget on my hands from time to time.

Keizer has always been strong and has always loved to stand ridged, but he is doing it better now and can hold his weight very well when he is on his feet and supported by mommy or daddy. He loves the attention we give him and flashes so many smiles when we clap.

He started soft food a while back and loves dinner time. His favorite food right now is applesauce and sweet potatoes, though he LOVES anything with flavor. He can really down the food (3 oz of rice cereal and about half of a flavored item).

One of his favorite things is Bath Time. He gets so happy when he hears the water running. He could soak for an hour if I'd let him (he takes after his mommy). The down side is that the Utah winter air is DRY DRY DRY and so he doesn't get a bath every day. His skin quickly becomes what I imagine alligator skin would feel like.

He is almost sleeping all the way through the night. He wakes up about once a night now, the time is rarely the same, which is odd to me since he goes to bed at 8 every night. I have thought about just letting him cry it out, but I am a soft 1st time mom and can't lay in bed listening the the waling and gnashing of gums...especially knowing I need to function the next day. I'm an enabler, but look at that face...can you blame me?

Keizer is just a sweet little guy and I love him so much. I can't imagine my life without him now. I've learned so much in the last 5 months and I know I've got a lot more experiences coming my way...

January 2009

January went quickly, but I am suspicious that the next several months will fly by as a result of the daily care of Keizer. He makes the time great and move along. Anyway, not a lot happened in Janary.

We got our car back after the transmission blew on Christmas day. That was a joy. Atleast the dealership covered 75% of the cost.

Jaren blessed Eli and that was a nice little get-together with them afterwards.

This picture was of us Fowler Girls at Jaren's house after the blessing:


The weather was cold and we had a really bad snow storm. It dumped over a foot of snow (and much of it still remains).

Rory had his birthday. So we took the opportunity to take pictures of Keizer and Eli together. Here is one of my favorites:

Work kept me busy. We are about to launch our new company for sleep technician training (American Sleep Academy) and much of the work was done in February. I am very pleased with the look our developers are helping us with and we believe we'll have some great success as the year unfolds. I am very excited about it all, as besides my family, my work is my life.

I got a WII FIT. I LOVE it. It really gets my heart going (that's more a joke on a joke by Jo Koy, our favorite comedian at the moment). I've worked as best I can considering how busy Keizer and work keep me, and I am closing in on sheading the last few pounds of baby weight. That will be a joyous day for me as I feared I would never loose the weight. So I am pleased. Although at the same time I refuse to give up my daily "moment" of Bryers Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. Am I weak, yes, but it's just so good.

We had a WII game night with our old friends Sue and Zach Andelin. Hernan and Zach have become really good friends and Zeek and Dez (Zach's brother and his wife) were in town, so it was a perfect excuse to get together. We drank Mate (as the boys love the stuff) and we all got creamed by Dez in bowling. We all had boxing matches and had a lot of fun and laughs.

Hernan realized he and Keizer had something in common...they love to watch TV. This is them together one Saturday Morning:

Keizer's Blessing

This was the beautiful blessing that Hernan gave to Keizer.

Keizer Ludovico Rocha
Baby Blessing, Dec 7th, 2008

In the name of Jesus Christ and by virtue of the Holy Priesthood that we Elders of Israel hold, we take this child into our hands in order to give him a name for which he will be recognized on the records of the church and by the children of men, and the name is Keizer Ludovico Rocha. Keizer, we bless you so that you may keep growing healthy and strong, we bless you so that your body can develop in a natural way. Keizer we bless you so that you may always be a person of good, and be wise in temporal matters. We bless you so that you may be able to apply the principles of the gospel throughout your life and be an example to those around you.

We bless you so that when the time is right, you will serve a full-time mission and serve the Lord with all your soul, mind, and strength. We bless you so that when the time is appropriate, you will meet a young woman and be able to take her to the temple so that there you together can form an eternal family.

We bless you Keizer, so that you may always have respect for your elders and so that you can always follow the counsel of those that seek the best for you. We bless you Keizer so you may always have love for your parents, your siblings, and those around you, and also so that you may develop the ability to never judge others and love those that are in contact with you.

We bless you Keizer so you may be willing to always listen to your mother and follow the counsel that she gives you. We bless you with the strength to make the right decisions in your life that will take you back to your Heavenly Father. All of these blessings plus those that your Father in Heaven has in store for you, in His divine time, we sealed upon you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

2008 Pictures

Keizer says it all with this face! He's my little man...so cute...

He posed for this one...

Rocha Family Christmas 2008.

Dad and the boys (Keizer and Eli).

The purpose of the blog and the end of 2008

I started a blog really for one reason, I don't keep a journal and there are a lot of things that occur in our lives that truly are worth "documenting" for the sake of the future and posterity. Especially now that Keizer is in our lives, I feel like it's even more important to take some time and talk about what is occurring and going on in our lives. So I've made a new resolution to my old resolution (see how dedicated I am???)...which is to actually blog. So I figure I ought to catch up on the happenings of the last few months since I last blogged.

November 2008:
This was the month of Thanksgiving. That is about all I could actually remember about November. We spent it at the house of my mom and Prisca and her family joined us there. Jaren had to work, so their family was unable to attend. We missed them, but still had a good time. It was long day though, I do remember that. We went to Hernan's sister's house for dessert and just remember being very tired.

December 2008:
This was a BUSY month. We had lots of parties and events to attend as it was the time to celebrate Christmas.

We had my work party and that was rather enjoyable. Some of our best friends work at The Sleep Institute of Utah and so we had fun socializing there. I think our table had the most laughs, that's for sure, as Hernan has a tendency to make people laugh, he's a real comedian. Carline and Eddie Risser were at our table and so was Zach Andelin. We had dinner and then played BINGO. We used M&Ms to cover our numbers and our table cheated by having more than one card...didn't help us any though (go figure). We were some of the last to get BINGO.

Hernan's work Holiday Party consisted of a Movie. He knows one of the managers at a theater in Orem who let us in for free, so we go snacks and watched the movie The Day the Earth Stood Still. I actually really liked the movie.

The most important event that happened in December was that Hernan blessed Keizer. It was done on the first Sunday and he did it in Spanish, so half my family didn't understand a word. Dad, Jaren, Scott, Nino, Ruben, Eddy, and Nick Hanna all participated. We had lunch at our house afterwards and mom and I talked afterwards about how much of a "success" it was. Everything went smoothly and our families meshed very well. I will post the blessing translation and some pictures later.

Christmas seemed to come in a hurry in 2008. It was Keizer's first and frankly I think I hyped it up more than I had ought. Keizer just kinda sat there in his chair and stared at the things we bought him. But it was still fun. He was spoiled like no other. We got him some church cartoons and cloths, toys, and other little things that only a nearly 4 month old would like or want. It was fun. The best part of Christmas was probably the gift that came from my Dad. He spent hours and hours transferring our old home videos to DVD for us. Anyone that knew the Fowler's growing up knew that good old Vance always had his camera rolling. So it's been fun getting a recap on the Fowler kid's childhoods....and we only got the 80's worth of videos...so next year I bet we'll get most of the 90's. My favorite gift this year was the blanket Hernan got me. I saw it at Costco and went "oooooohhhhhh" when I touched it. I have used it pretty much everyday since. They must have been popular too because after I opened it, Hernan decided he wanted one too and we couldn't get one because they had sold out of them.

I did purchase a couple of things fun for myself this last Fall...I bought a gun and a bike. I have always found revolvers fun, so I bought myself an S&W 38 cal airweight. LOVE IT! I don't plan on using it much (but if you break into my house...plan on it), but it was just so nice I couldn't resist. The bike I got is a FUGI roadie. I fully planned on training through the winter, but so far Keizer has not allowed that. I can't wait until it warms up so I can get out in the fresh mountain air and get some miles under my belt. The great things is that Hernan bought me all sorts of things to match my bike for Christmas, like gloves and helmet. I have shirt and shoes that match too. It's white, light green aqua, and black. Sleek and sweet...

Then the year 2008 ended...we found ourselves at home with some friends (Carline and Eddie Risser and July and Eugene Santellan) came over to watch a movie and we didn't even watch the ball drop! But we did have cider! Of course, Hernan and I brought in the New Year with a kiss.