At the park today some seven year old boy decided it would be fun to pick on Manny. At first it was innocent, all the boy did was ruffle Manny's hair...I didn't intervene. Then, he thought it would be fun to place either hand on the side of Manny's head, and squeeze.

I'm not usually one to start conflict, or make a big scene, but I was on my feet within seconds. I very sternly told the boy to take his hands off of my child. He looked stunned. I don't think he saw me standing there to begin with.

There really isn't much to update on the boys. Manny's vocabulary is expanding daily. John and I need to spell everything now (i.e. cookie, park, and four letter words that we shouldn't be saying at all). He's got a wonderful memory (which can be a downfall too). If you tell him your going to do something, you better do it, because he'll keep reminding you.

For example, earlier today he asked for a cookie. I told him that we didn't have any, but that I would give him one after we went to the store. You better believe that five minutes after we got back from the store, he asked for the cookie.

Christian is growing beautifully. I believe he's starting to teeth. He can soak up a bib with drool in a couple of hours (just like his brother). He's "talking" up a storm as well. I really wish we had a camcorder, so that I could capture our "conversations".

And the biggest Bauson boy is finally going back to school. I couldn't be more excited. Great things are sure to come to the Bauson family after he gets his certification.

Here are some new pictures of Manny:

Well, we're back from SoCal, and John and I are KO'd (knocked out). I could probably sleep for 20 hours straight if given the chance.

Manny and Christian both did great on the plane. Christian slept the whole way, and Manny was entertained by the tv's on the back of the headrests. We flew Virgin America, and I LOVE their airplanes. They have satellite tv, video games, and movies that you can watch. The only downside, is that you have to pay for snacks and other food (drinks are free), but with everything else you get in return, I'd say it's a fare trade.

We arrived in LAX on Friday afternoon. We had planned to hit up Disneyland that evening, thinking we'd be at the hotel around 5:00 p.m., giving us PLENTY of time to see the sights. But you gotta love L.A. (especially L.A. traffic), and our plans turned sour when it took us 3 HOURS to get to our hotel! So, instead of going to Disneyland, we went to Downtown Disney.

We met up with John's friend Fernando, and went to dinner. We thought we would be awesome parents, and take Manny to the Rain Forest Cafe. We thought he would get a kick out of the decorations and animals. Well, the joke was on us...he was TERRIFIED. They sat us right next to the animatronic gorilla, and every time that thing moved, or made a noise, Manny was in my lap (and that damn monkey moved every 15 minutes or so). I'm sure it was plane exhaustion, but it's a bit difficult to eat, or hold a conversation when there is a 30lb two year old sitting on your lap. Luckily, John took over before our meals arrived.

We stayed at the Anaheim Plaza Hotel, and let me tell you, our accommodations were definitely 5 star (insert sarcasm here). The great thing about the hotel was that it was literally a 10 minute walk to Disneyland, and kids ate for free at their in-house restaurant.

On Saturday, we met up with some old friends of John's (Marianne, Kieth, and their adorable daughter, Rena) and went to the San Diego Zoo. I think this was Manny's favorite day. Throughout the rest of the trip, he kept talking about wanting to see giraffes, and hippos (even when while we were at Disneyland). He's been asking to go back to the Zoo ever since.

All of their exhibits were amazing. My favorite exhibits were the orangutans and gorillas. At the orangutan exhibit, there were two that were totally playing to the crowd. They were laying against the glass, and interacting with the people watching.

At the gorilla exhibit, there were several gorillas laying against the observation glass. There was a momma gorilla with her two babies...soooooooooooooooo cute.

We left the Zoo around 3:30, and headed back to Anaheim. Once we got back to the hotel room, we ate some dinner, rested a bit, and went to California Adventure.

Our first stop was the, "It's a Bugs Life" play area for younger kids. Manny's never really been a fan of rides, but we thought we would give them a try. The first ride John took Manny on was the "Tea Pot" inspired Lady Bug ride, and to our surprise, Manny LOVED it! We went on a couple of other rides in that area (all of which he loved), and ran over to the new Monster's Inc. ride. I think this is my new favorite ride in the entire park (both for California Adventure, and Disneyland), it was amazing.

They really captured every important part in the movie, and all of the special effects were outstanding. There were a couple of parts that scared Manny, most of them included Randal (who scares me actually...haha), but every time he saw Sully (aka Teddy Bear to Manny), he got this huge grin on his face.

Later that evening we watched the Disney Electrical Light Parade. In all of the years that I've gone to Disneyland, I've never actually seen this parade. I'm really happy that Manny was able to experience it, it was really beautiful.

On Sunday, we spent the entire day at the Disneyland Park. As soon as we entered the park we were greeted by Pluto, Goofy, and Mickey! Considering our experience with the Gorilla on Friday night, we were a bit concerned that Manny would freak out when he saw the life size Disney characters...but he wasn't! He was super excited!

We saw Pluto first, and then made our way to Goofy. I really wish we had a video camera to capture the moment when Manny met Goofy. He was so excited, he literally jumped in place for about a minute or so. It almost brought a tear to my eye to see how happy he was. He gave Goofy a high five, and then we got a picture with him.

We skipped Mickey (the line was waaaaaaaaaaay too long), and headed to the Nemo ride. To our surprise, it was only a 45 minute wait! I've talked to a lot of people who were disappointed by the ride, but I thought it was great. I don't know how they did it, but they had animation under the water.

The rest of the day was spent walking around, and going on rides. We were very happy that the lines weren't very long. The longest line was for the Nemo ride. Every other ride was about a 5 or 10 minute wait. All in all, it was an excellent day.

I forgot to mention that by mid-morning on Sunday we had gone on the Buzz Lightyear ride. After the ride, we went to the shop, and bought Manny a Buzz Lightyear doll. He wouldn't put that doll down for the rest of the trip. You will see Buzz make an appearance in every picture after he was purchased.

So the Bauson Family vacation was a success! I wish we could have stayed for another day. Manny really enjoyed himself this time. June is the PERFECT time of year to visit. The weather was perfect, and the park wasn't that busy. We'll definitely try and make this an annual event.

Last night I woke at 3:00 a.m. with a sharp pain in my stomach. I've been having these pains since Manny's pregnancy, so I wasn't too concerned. I walked to the kitchen, and did what I normally do when these pains occur...I got something to eat and drink; nothing happened. I took some Tums and the pain lessened, but I was still uncomfortable. After nursing Christian at 4:00 a.m., and I went to bed.

I woke up with Manny at 8:00 a.m., and I felt like I was going to keel over (the pain was so intense). I tried Tums again, nothing happened. I drove to Target, and bought some Maalox...nothing. I tried eating, drinking, laying down, nothing was working, in fact, the pain was getting worse!

At noon I decided to suck it up and go to the emergency room. Even if it was nothing serious, the docs would give me some good drugs until I could see a physician on Monday. So, we left Manny with Jen and EJ, and headed to the ER, minutes after we arrived I ran to the bathroom to hurl. At this point my pain level was at a TEN! I was literally in tears during registration.

So to make a long story short, they ran some blood work, and gave me an ultra-sound to look at all of my organs. It turns out I have gull stones! What am I, 80 years old? I thought only old people could get these!

I have two options: 1) try to control the gull stones with a low fat diet, or 2) have my gull bladder taken out. The doc told me I would need to have it removed eventually, it was just up to me when it was done.

To be honest, the main reason I don't want to have the surgery done soon, is b/c I'm breastfeeding Christian. I've come so far, and worked so hard to make it work this time, I don't want anything to jeopardize it. I'm afraid that the surgery, and medication that they'd put me on would decrease my milk supply (as well as contaminate my breast milk). Plus, Christian would be feeding off of a bottle for however long I would be in the hospital, and I'm afraid he wouldn't want to latch after I get home.


At this point I don't know what to do. I was given a prescription for some pain medication, so at this point I'm just playing everything by ear. If the pain goes away (which it has before), I'll probably just leave it on the back burner until it becomes a problem again.

I just got an e-mail from John letting me know that he opened a blogger account (great, another thing for me to get addicted to...haha), so I thought I'd jump on and give a better run through of what's been happening with our family....


Christian Merrick Bauson was born March 23rd at 12:49 a.m. He was 8lbs 9oz, and 20.5 inches long. He now weighs (2 months later) 14lbs 14oz and is 23.5 inches long. He's come a long way since his birth. He tracks me and Daddy all over the place, and is starting to have "cooing" conversations. He holds his head up extremely well for a 2 month old.



Manny is our oldest boy (2 years old), and is becoming an awesome big brother. His vocabulary is expanding daily. John and I have to be careful what we say, and how we say it b/c I'm starting to realize that he picks up on EVERYTHING.

He is a big ball of energy, and doesn't believe in walking anywhere. His current obsession is Toy Story. He can watch this movie back to back several times without getting bored. We will be going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks, and all he talks about is meeting Woody and Buzz (or as he calls them, WoodyBuzz). He truly is a joy to be around, and the light of my life.

John and I will be celebrating our 3rd anniversary this August! I still can't believe we've been together for so long (7 years total), time has really flown by.

I can't wait to keep everyone posted to the new things happening in our life. As I mentioned earlier, we'll be leaving for Southern California in a couple of weeks. We'll be in Disneyland for two days, and then we will be driving down to San Diego to visit some friends, and go to the San Diego Zoo - I can't wait!

so I've decided to take unneeded time from my important time here at work to create a family blog for the Bauson Family. As marisa and I work on this blog, we hope we can share this page onto our family, friends, and all loved ones. Sometimes, it's just easier to place a family update for others to read from time to time.

Manny (Lil'Man) and Christian (Lil'Dude)

Manny's First Halloween 2006