Brandon, Ashley & Janey!

Prematurity Awareness Day

2011-11-17T17:08:00.002-10:00

Today is Prematurity Awareness Day. I must admit I was not aware of this day until I read a friend's status on Facebook sharing her own experiences.

It just got me thinking A Lot about our own little soon- to-be-three bundle of Joy. I remember being over six weeks early and being at work terrified becuase I hadn't felt the baby move since the day before, I was trying not to overreact but finally left work to see my doctor who immedietely just sent me to the hospital. I remember calling my mom while I was driving myself to the hospital crying, thinking how unprepared I was if this baby were to come that day.

They ended up stopping labor and jane came a week later. She only spent a few extra days in the NICU, but seriously I am very grateful for the NICU nurses. They were the most amazing people, and I feel like since our family was unable to make it right away, they were my first mommy teachers.

I am so grateful to have Jane in my life, she is our everything. She was totally worth it all! we love our little premi.

Yo Gabba Gabba

2011-11-14T19:01:00.000-10:00

You may be wondering why there are so many pictures of the Yo Gabba Gabba show? The truth is Janey is a little groupy, she is only 2 years old and been to 2 Gabba Shows. If you do the math that is one per year. Its no suprise to us our little daughter in a fan she practically burst forth from her mother's loins singing Yo Gabba Gabba! and looking like Brobee.
Thank you tiffani and the starlight foundation for the amazing dancy dance party. Jane's only comments concerning the show was and still is "I NEED MORE!!" I think that means she loved it.

2011-11-14T18:46:00.000-10:00

2011-11-14T18:41:00.000-10:00

Our little Munchkin.

2011-11-10T17:00:00.007-10:00

Our little monkey is just growing, growing, growing. Everyday she is doing something new, and she is always cracking us up.

Here are a few fun facts and stories about our little girlie:

- She thinks she is a kitty, she is constantly walking around the house meowing and it is not uncommon for her to come up and lick you.

- She wanted to be a dinosaur princess for Halloween, and even though I somehow convinced her to wear her princess costume to the ward party and her dinosaur costume to go trick or treating, still even so if you asked her what she was, she was a dinosaur princess.

- Her Aunt Alicia took her to Build-a-bear, and got her the cutest bear and after she helped make the bear they fill out the bear's birth certificate and they asked her what she wanted to name the bear and after much thought she decided on "hello Kitty".

- She loves to sleep with her daddy at night and when she wakes up in the morning and realizes he has left for work, she still goes upstairs and looks all over for him and then proceeds to come into me craying saying "I lost my daddy!!"

- Janey's favorite store is Target, I tried to take her to Toys R' Us the other day and we pulled up and Janey was like "this is not Target"

- The other day My mom and sister took miss Jane to Target and we were just walking around and Jane spotted the Christmas Section and got really excited and turned to us and said "mom, I found Christmas!!" like it has been at Target all along.

-If Janey wants something she waits until Brandon goes to work and tells me that daddy said he she can do this, or gets that. Some things included have been buying her a brobee costume and buying her a new dino stuffed animal.

- Jane favorite show is still Yo Gabba Gabba, but she is branching out and really likes Angelina Ballerina

-Her favorite movies as of lately are Jimmy Neutron, Kung Fu Panda and the Chipmunks.

-Janey is constantly telling us that she goes potty in the potty (a half-truth) but she still has to change daddy's diapers and they are VERY stinky.

-Jane loves to listen to music and loves to dance.

-Janey's Favorite Color is Green.

- Janey loves to paint, color and play with play- do. She also loves doing art projects.

- Janey is always singing, her life is a musical. sometimes real songs, some she composes herself. some of her favorite songs lately are: "I am a child of God", "We are a happy family".

- Janey said her first Prayer all by herself and in which she said "mommy has to go to the hospital and daddy is always at work. and that Janey likes chocolate and that the monster got her toe. She even got the beginning and ending correct. I was so proud.

- Janey likes her mommy to straighten her hair sometimes, she asks if mommy can make her hair warm, she think that is why I straighten my hair, to make it warm.

- if you ask Jane her name she will give you her full name: Jane Milani Frandsen, and then she will tell you her parents names as well: Brandon Frandsen and Mommy Nichole Frandsen.

We just love our little Janey- girl she keeps life fun.

We have some catching up to

2011-11-07T19:35:00.001-10:00

Ashley will write

Summertime Jane

2011-08-02T20:50:00.000-10:00

I know it has been a while and there have been complaints to update the old blog. It hard to know where to start but throwing up some pictures should suffice temporarily and buy us some more time to get our act together.

Jane Jane Jane!!

2011-05-19T03:59:00.002-10:00

Janey Reading

2011-05-17T15:05:00.004-10:00

Jane has REALLY taken to reading lately, she often says to us "books and night night time" no matter the time of day, she really just means I want to lay in my bed and read FOREVER.

Lately she has been favoring LOVE YOU FOREVER. She actually says alot of the words... very impressive. I am so happy Brandon caught it on video, I can't stop watching it.

Little Miss Sassypants

2011-05-10T16:18:00.002-10:00

Our sweet little baby is growing up so fast, and with this whole growing up thing, she has really started to develop a personality all her own.

Now that the sentences are flowing, here are a few of our favorites:

1. mom: "Janey you want to take a nap in mommy and daddy's bed today?"

Janey: "NO, night- night all gone, mommy bed poo-poo in it. (just for the record it did not.)

2. When the nice young man came by with the Sacrament Tray and offered Jane the bread, she look at it and said "No thanks, Chicken Nuggets Please." We had a nice little chat about how he was not a very young waiter.

3. At the airport in Puerto Rico after a VERY long flight, I asked Janey if she wanted some water and she said "I no want water, I want dance.

4. During Family Home Evening,

Mom: "Janey, who do you want to say the prayer?"

Janey: "Pudding Pop."

Mom: "Janey can you say I will Obey?"

Janey: "Pudding Pop"

5. While doing her business on the potty:

Janey: "here it comes!!"

after the deed is done:

Janey" there it is!"

6. At the Movie theater, during the movie Rio when Jewel the bird's wing gets hurt:

Janey: "Funny Momma? that Funny?"

she is still learning when to laugh.....

HAPPY EASTER!

2011-04-24T15:07:00.000-10:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!! We had a lot of fun around these parts. It started on Saturday at the SO Easter party, there was egg dying, bouncy houses and an egg hunt. Then Sunday Morning Janey woke up to an egg hunt and her Easter Basket. I quickly noticed that Brandon had hid the easter eggs I made for Primary music time with the name of songs in them, for Janey. so Janey had to go back in the room so the Easter bunny could fix his mistake...

Church was great, Janey actually was pretty well behaved except for she does this new thing during church now, when there is any sort of silence (a prayer for example) Janey just starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Who taught her that?? it scared me everytime. and she also says "where daddy go" pretty much the whole time now that he doesn't sit with us anymore. She is getting better and better each sunday and was a champ in nursery so I hear.

We ended our wonderful day with an Easter BBQ at our friends house and ANOTHER egg hunt... Janey is a pro now. It was a ton of fun... a very successful Easter if I do say so myself.

My nephew Ben, the ARTIST!!

2011-03-26T21:44:00.003-10:00

My Nephew Ben presented me with this wonderful portrait of Janey, a true masterpiece if I do say so myself. Ben if you are reading this, know that I am getting it framed for Janey's room. She points to it and says "Janey". We love it.

Quirky Jane

2011-03-10T15:45:00.001-10:00

Happy Birthday JANE!!! welcome terrible 2

2011-02-19T14:50:00.000-10:00

Happy birthday JANE!!! you're such a big girl now that you have officially hit the 2 year mark and your babiness has worn off, if this were another period in time we would be sending you out into the work force where your tiny little fingers could be put to work on the assembly line to make us some money.

Luckily we were able to have a combined suprise birthday party at our apartment for Jane (year 2) and Blair (year 27). It was a lot of fun with all our friends from church and my roommates from last term. The highlight for Jane were the home made donuts Ashley made special for the occasision.

For those of you who don't know Jane and Ashley went back home to Seattle to be there for her Dad this Wednesday. I feel so lucky that we were able to have a birthday party before they both left.

This last picture is just to let you know how much Janey liked her party, she was so hopped up on sugar from all her donut treats and icecream that she eventually just passed out with dino and let herm mommy and daddy get some much needed sleep.

Fort George

2011-02-12T17:19:00.000-10:00

Last weekend we went to St. George's town and hiked up the hill to Fort George. There is a lot of history here. When the French colonized the island it was know as Fort Royal the British took Grenada back and renamed the fort to Fort George. In more recent history former Grenadian president Maurice Bishop and his cabinet were assassinated just feet away from where Janey is standing in the picture below and the bullet holes are still in the wall which have been up since the early 1700's (the day before I was born in fact Oct. 25, 1983) the US military invaded here in operation 'Urgent Fury' in response to the Cuban supported military coup and militarization of the tiny island nation.

There were Janey sized canons

Canons aimed at the cruise ships

Prayers for Dad.

2011-02-09T11:05:00.003-10:00

Most of you probably already Know but my dad has been diagnosed with Lymphoma, and on top of it all they had to do emergancy surgery. He went into the hospital the day we flew out to Grenada, we literally stopped by the hospital on the way to the airport. Now I wished I would have stayed back, if I would have known it was going to be this serious I would. I feel terrible knowing how weak he is and having to undergo surgery. I don't have too many detials as everytime I call he is too weak to talk to long. But, I know he is still in the hospital recieving great care. I was told they will have to wait a month to start Chemo so his body can heal from surgery.

I love my dad so much and it is killing me that he is going through this, and more so that I am so far away, I feel helpless. I know Heavenly Father is watching over him.

Please keep my dad in your thoughts and prayers.

thanks bunches.

My day thus far.

2011-02-09T06:27:00.003-10:00

Today was the craziest of days. I know what you are thinking it is only noon-thirty, sorry folks as far as I am concerned DAY OVER. I just climbed back into my Jammies put Jane down for a nap where I am about to follow suit, turn the AC on and hope for a better tomorrow.

My day really started last night as I waited until almost 1am for Brandon to come home from school. rediculous. Then as soon as I climbed into bed, Jane started to cry and say "mommy" and so it began....

so I gave in and brought her into bed which resulted in her hitting my head this morning at 6 in the am, asking for what other than cookies. what did I do you ask, I GAVE HER THE COOKIES....6am people. I immedietely started feeling sick and decided I was just going to watch Tangled with the girl and call it a day. But Janey kept bringing me my rainboots and putting hers on and saying OUTSIDE. We were homebound today waiting for someone to repair our broken deadbolt on our door. As soon as the repair man left, I decided maybe I can power through this junky day, and put on my gym clothes and packed Janey's school bag an we were off.

When we arrived at Janey's "school" I noticed everyone was outside playing, Jane was already holding onto her backpack for dear life, becuase she knows if i set the backpack down at school, it is all over. SO I go inside to put her bag away and sunscreen my whitey baby and in the process of doing so I scraped the inside of her ear which in turn started to bleed just an insey weensy bit, and then Janey went basurko. So I waited for Janey to forget about her ear wound and left to the sound of Janey screaming her head off.

I then went across the street to the gym to work out (why did I do this?) that was pretty much the beginning of the end, I started to feel yucky fast. So after just 30 minutes, I decided I was going home.

So I went to school to get Janey and called her name for like 5 minutes, but she didn't even notice I was there, she was content on her riding toy. I felt bad taking her away from such a good day she was having with her friends, but I did it anyway. Jane waved bye and said "Bye School" as she always does and we were off.

Now we are in Bed, one of us is sleeping and the other is getting there fast. I have already decided I am calling in sick tomorrow.

Signing off.

Animal Lover!

2011-02-07T02:18:00.000-10:00

Ever since we got here Jane has fallen in love with our nieghbors Kitty-cat and doggy, she chases them around, but mostly she likes to just sit or lay by the cat and try to pet her while saying "soft touches". If she had it her way the kitty would sleep in her room I am sure...

MINE!!!

2011-02-01T13:47:00.002-10:00

so Lately Janey has made a point of letting us know if something is hers... she grabs it, squeezes it tight and says "Janey's!". pretty funny. But today started a whole new level of this phase. It started when I asked Brandon to help me download a book on the Nook, she saw her daddy holding the nook and immediately grabbed it from him and said "mommy's!!" and then proceeded to hand it to me. So here is a list of items and who they belong to as decided by Jane:

MOMMY:

Nook
Pillows
clothespins
Janey
Brandon's big heavy Jacket
the netbook

Daddy:

xbox remotes
all money
the computer
the dustpan

Janey:

Dino
her Babies
cookies
her Dora Blanket

I would type more, but I am typing this on DADDY's COMPUTER and Janey Keeps telling me "daddy's!!! DON'T TOUCH IT!!"

View from Church

2011-01-30T14:28:00.000-10:00

Brandon snapped these today before church started, from the parking area and in the hall. nice view huh.

GRENADA!!

2011-01-27T16:38:00.000-10:00

WE ARE HERE!!! OK, so we have been here for two weeks now, but we have been a little busy trying to get all settled...

so a little bit about our new home:

Jane is excited about the warm weather which has triggered her naked tendancies once again. I have to arm wrestle her just to get a diaper on. But I NEVER have to fight her to wear shoes, because shoes mean she gets to go outside!! Jane's love for going outside is two fold, she loves the neighbor kids (kody and Allie) and she loves thier "kitty-cat". All she does all day is put her shoes on (clothing optional) and brings me my shoes and says "outside". repeat ten times and you have a typical day around here.

Jane has really taken to Alli, the cute little four year old that live below us. She cries for Allie all day long, some mornings she wakes up and the first thing she says is "allie". In fact the other day when I dropped her off at her playgroup she was crying... and who was she asking for you ask?? her mother who birthed her??? Nope, she wanted "Allie". Moving on to Janey's playgroup, here they have a program called GAP which is kind of like a daycare/preschool/playgroup. She goes two half days a week, she still cries when I drop her off, but she was fine when I picked her up on Wednesday, so I think it is getting better. I think it will be really good for her to have more time to socialize with kiddies her age, instead of kickin' it with mom all day.

Jane loves the beach, she is not scared at all of the water, which is good and bad I guess. Jane gets to go to the University club pool on Thursdays, but this thursday she discovered that the pool is on the Beach, so naturally she just wants to go down on the beach.

Also Janes new thing is gloves, she has to be wearing gloves whenever doing anything. She uses two sandwich baggies when playing with pots in the kitchen, she wears two socks on her hands when dealing with items in the bedroom, and recently she found a box of gloves in the laundry room which come in handy to play in the dirt.

Brandon and I have been doing great! Brandon has been pretty busy with school, he is pretty much there all day. But he has been wonderful with getting us settled. He found us a great car, and has made sure Janey and I are super comfortable here. We love our apartment and love living by such great people. We have been really lucky the the other students and their wives have been so wonderful in helping us get settled here, our Nieghbors Kensi and Rex where lifesavers in taking us to church and the store etc. we probably would have starved otherwise. I really like here so far, I have found a lot of similarities between here and Hawaii, but have also enjoyed learning new things about Grenada everyday. I am dying from the heat, and it doesn't help that I have been told that this is the cooler season here.... BLAH!! but other than that I am really enjoying myself, I do feel a little guilty that I am on this two year carribean vacation and Brandon has to go to class, but what can you do...

I am going to be a better blogger I promise, now that I have SOOO much more time on my hands!!!

These are pictures from last Friday of Brandon and Jane beachin' it up!!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-22T06:44:00.000-10:00

Some Long Over due Pictures from this summer

2010-11-02T20:04:00.001-10:00

We were so lucky this summer to get family pictures taken twice, by Ashley's friend Holly Aprecio. We had this photoshoot in down town Seattle near the ferry terminal before I left those 2 lovely girls for Grenada for a couple of months. We had a lot of fun

2010-11-02T19:59:00.000-10:00

2010-11-02T19:54:00.000-10:00

2010-11-02T13:02:00.000-10:00

Random Field Trip Pictures

2010-09-05T08:41:00.000-10:00

For our Concepts and Leadership of Public Health class we went an an all day field trip to visit the various government run medical facilities about the island. It was a great opportunity to see why I'm not in love with the idea of socialized healthcare and see some parts of the island I didn't know existed. We saw this wild monkey at our first rest stop and naturally started feeding it bananas and getting the nerve to get close enough to touching it, without getting my face mauled off.

I'm just in my first term of epidemiology but I'm pretty sure this is how AIDS started

This mid level facility provides the region with all the medical support it needs.

We decided to take a shortcut through the old airport on the way back and I wasn't sure if the scene reminded me of 'Mad Max and the Thunderdome' or 'Madagascar' which I know are two entirely different movies but if you use your imagination you might see why. (I guess you just had to be there)

A day on the town

2010-08-22T09:46:00.000-10:00

Oh Canada pics

2010-08-22T09:40:00.000-10:00

I realized that some of the pictures disappeared from previous posts, weird!

St. George's Grenada West Indies

2010-08-21T16:27:00.000-10:00

These cannons protected St. George's natural harbor from the French.

This is one of the most picturesque places I've ever been. The Dutch/French archetecture and bright Caribbean colors dot the lush green sloped landscapes.

This is the Saturday farmers market. Grenada is nicknamed the 'island of spice' and you can find almost anything in you would ever want in a spice rack but as fresh as can be. They harvest tons of nutmed and mace and for me this place had the destinct odor of pumpkin pie. The vendors are REALLY friendly but almost to the point of annoyance. Grenadians are very aggressive sales men and without an understanding of the culture you might feel a little threatened when they get up in your face with a pitch but they are harmless and wouldn't mug you or anything. I also felt that we were the only white people for miles.

Huricane Ivan tore through the island in 2004 and ripped the roofs off several of structures like this Anglican Church which is over 200 years old. We got to go inside and see the damage but interestingly enough they still hold services here (weather permitting) and plan on restoring the roof here soon.

A day on the town

2010-08-21T14:03:00.000-10:00

Even though I'm at a school called St. George's we are actually in a small college town called True Blue (because they used to produce indego along time ago). This was our first time getting on the city bus which ROCKS!! you just start walking and a guy will jump out of what we would call a small 15 passenger van and the bus will back up and you get on. From True Blue we traveled up to St. George's down town, where we got off and apparently looked lost enough to where an enterprising tour guide named Randy took good care of us and showed us around the town and got us in the right direction to go swim in a nearby waterfall which is on the property of an old plantation.

We later went back into town and walked around the spice market and up to old British fort sill used today for the police called Fort George, formally known as Fort Royal by the French who were the first to colonize the island. We got an excellent history lesson from our tour guide about the tragic events leading up to the US invasion "Operation Urgent Fury" where a military coup orchestrated by Cuban Marxists and high level govenment representatives killed the Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and those loyal to him. Needless to say the US military came in and conflict resolved is less than a week and the local Grenadians didn't have any problems putting the Cubans hidinig all over the island in US custody. There is a nice memorial and an even nicer view.

Janey's first trip to Oregon

2010-08-21T13:42:00.000-10:00

Oh Canada

2010-08-21T13:29:00.000-10:00

This is from the middle of July but hey I've been busy so lay off. Its hard to put into pictures how beautiful the Canadian Rockies actually are. They are so HUGE!! and in Banf and Jasper they are all around.

My Dad and brother Ryan accompanied by Chris and Tyler Byron had this little man trip where we returned to nature, just like Walden, only our philosphies actually make sense.

Beginning of life in Grenada

2010-08-13T10:53:00.000-10:00

For those of you who didn't know I have recently began my graduate career at Saint George's University in Grenada, West Indies. I am currently taking my required courses for my masters in public health which is a one year program, and granting I don't get into trouble or flunk out I'll probably start Medical School exactly a year from now. I am currently wifeless and babyless while I complete my first term, after which I return back to the good ol' USA for my practicum (end of Act -January). Its been lonely not having my fan club with me, and I realized how much of a slob I am without them around. I miss them very much and hope my very busy schedule will make the time fly by.

After a 24 hour plus voyage including layovers in Newark,NJ and Port of Spain Trinidad I arrived to the beautiful tranquil island of Grenada. Lucky for me I got all my baggage in one attempt and made some friends along the way.

I felt so out of touch with the world because I haven't lived without a phone for the past 5 years and it still is kind of strange. To top that off I forgot only one thing, the power chord to my laptop, luckily for me I have a Suite Mate (we live in a 3 bedroom suite on campus) has the same chord and has been gracious enough to let me borrow his when he's around.

These are the only pictures I have taken thus far. We (my suite mates) took the campus shuttle to Grand Anse beach the other day where the view was amazing with the green hills and vibrant colored houses and rooftops scattered aound. The water is as warm as bath water (even warmer than Hawaii). I have a suite mate from Florida who is an accomplished spear fisherman and we (and by we I mean he) went out snorkling and caught some lobster and fish (one of which was a barracuda). I didn't contribute much to the excusrsion other than getting to be a spectator and carrying in some gear. We had one funny experience as we were walking down the beach and a man in a police uniform was yelling at us to stop. I thought for sure we just did something illegal and he came running up to us and asked if we were selling it. We resopnded by saying we just got here and we planned on taking it home and cooking it and he said "that's to bad, I really wanted to buy one off of you" So we cut it up and gave him some. We all had some laughs after that, and hopefully we now have a friend on the force. When we got home we had fresh sea food and that has been the highlight so far. Orientation involves standing in long lines sitting through boring lectures with little down time, its definitely getting me more exited about school starting up. I have an awesome academic adviser who was born and raised here and he talks about taking us to go play and watch soccer and cricket. The people here are super friendly and open. everyone seems to greet you by what time of day it is. There is little to no frowning, lots of laughing. Definitely a different culture but one I think I will grow to appreciate.
I can't wait to bring Ashley and Janey here I know they will love it.

Seattle day

2010-06-22T20:11:00.000-10:00

This Saturday was an eventful day for our little family(with our favorite nanny Alicia), starting out with a ferry ride, a walk in the rain to Westlake, to a monorail ride and another walk in the rain to the Seattle Landmark DICK'S where we met up with Derek and Tiffani and brood and Brad and Sue, who arrived a little late because of the traffic caused by some weird bicycle rally in the nude. (I think it has something to do with Gay Pride month and the summer solstice) We ate our food and Headed across the street to the Pacific Science Center to se TOY STORY 3 in 3D on the IMAX.

After the movie (which we give 2 thumbs way up) we hung out with Brad at the Science center where Ashley and Jane watched their first Laser Show (LASER BEATLES)

This is where Brad AKA the Butterfly whisperer showed us his Dr. Doolittle skills. It was so funny walking though the butterfly exihibit with everyone looking at him and his 3 new acquaintences and Brad pulling this "what are you looking at" look to everyone

Then we met up with the other Ashley and her new boyfriend Nathan and Vikki and Ben. It was a great game the Mariners won and we had our share of garlic fries.
We did our fair share of walking that day but thanks to Brad and Alicia we had extra help schleping baby Jane all around.

Happy Birthday Ashley!!

2010-06-20T12:44:00.000-10:00

Even though its father's day I wanted to wish you a happy birthday!!! #27 woot woot! You are such a good wife and mother and Janey and I are so appreciative of everything you saccrifice to make our lives easier. We especially love your enthusiasm and stone cold fox, good looks! OW!!!!

Battle Point Park

2010-06-20T12:37:00.000-10:00

La'ie Memories

2010-06-13T19:08:00.000-10:00

Jane being silly attacking her mother

All the leis we recieved from our ward on our last Sunday, we were really touched.

Jane showing BYU what she thinks about its honor code policy

We'll never live so close to the Church again

Aloha oe

2010-05-30T08:07:00.000-10:00

Only one week to go and we're already missing Hawaii. This is the only place we have called home since getting married and Jane practically thinks of herself as Hawaiian. She refers to her parents as Haoles and has a strange phobia of the 'white man' and at church she'll go up to any polynesian like they are her real family. She loves the beach and has developed into qhuite the boogie boarder/body surfer. The girl is fearless when it comes to the water and its always a struggle getting her out. We are really going to miss this place and we will work hard to endoctrinate Jane into attended BYU-Hawaii so we'll have good excuses to come back in 18 years.

Ward Mother's day dinner

2010-05-10T09:20:00.000-10:00

Saturday Night the ward put on a dinner for Mother's day. The food was great, even thogh I didn't get to eat much due to Jane putting fruit snack with mine, and using her skills with the fork to put most of my food onto the table, but what I did eat was great!

on top of a wonderful meal, there was also entertainment. All the little kids had been practicing dancing to preform for the moms... it was super cute...

All went well until Jane found the room that they were playing Princess and the Frog in for the older kids on the projection screen.... then there was no getting her back...

Akasha

2010-05-09T23:39:00.002-10:00

It being Mother's day weekend, and me being the type to milk my holidays for all that they are worth, I casually mentioned to Brandon that I had to go see Akasha or I would just die!

Akasha was a dance performace put on by IONA contempary dance theatre in Honolulu. The tickets are usually around 25-45 bones each, it little too pricey for our blood, so when they came to the school and the tickets were a whopping 6 dollars, I was SOOOOO EXCITED!!

This was the blurb describing Akasha:

When the four elements of earth, air, water, and fire are combined, they create AKASHA, the Sanskrit word for ether and also the inspiration for IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre’s newest work. The new show will pay tribute to the dance company’s 20th anniversary with several fan favorites from past shows, including Electric Blue, Destiny, and The Mythology of Angels, in addition to five new works celebrating the elements.

the first two dances, I was a little nervous, they seemed a little cheesy for my liking, but then it really got good... and I was super impressed it the way they incorporated the elements.... and they did a lot of climbing/flying around on ropes... super entertaining.

I couldn't take any pictures... but this one is off the website...

Being able to go to different performances really cheap and walk to them form our apartment will be one of the things I will miss the most when we skip town....

BABIES!!! (the movie)

2010-05-07T08:35:00.001-10:00

Yesterday our little family went to the premiere of the documentary BABIES yesterday in Honolulu. I have been looking foward to this movie for some time now, and it did not disappoint. The movie follows 4 babies from birth until they start walking. From Tokyo, San Francisco, Mongolia and Namibia. There is no dialogue during the movie, they just film the babies during the different stages of the first year of their life. It was super interesting to see how the same things were done, in four different areas of the world. plus, it was hilarious!! Babies are so funny, I laughed, I cried, I LOVED IT!! And BONUS... Jane watched the whole thing, sat very still the whole time... she was an angel!! One warning though, this was a documentary filming people in their day to day life... so the parts they film in Namibia, the women are pretty much breastfeeding the whole time...

I give BABIES TWO THUMBS UP!!!

These are pictures at the theater, Janey won a BABIES movie onesie!!! score!!!

Sidewalk Chalk!!

2010-05-05T09:14:00.001-10:00

Arianna and Sina's first Birthday

2010-05-05T09:11:00.001-10:00

April 12 Janey Attended two of her good baby friend's birthday celebration!! We were actually all in the same birthing class before these little ones even made their debut. Janey goes to a reading group at Arianna's house, and LOVES it!!!

It was an Easter theme party, complete with egg hunt!! It was super cute, and the food was amazing!!

Learning to walk!

2010-05-05T09:04:00.001-10:00

Janey has been stompin' around for a while now, but I still wanted to post some pics of her learning the art. She took her first steps when she was 13 months, but really got the concept at almost 14 months, on April 9th. We were over at her friend Calvin's apartment, which happens to be a little larger than humble abode, and it was like she finally had room to move, and just started to walk when I wasn't looking. That night when we got home Jane just kept walking in circles in our living room and was so excited about it!! The rest is History...

Introducing our little walker:

Kokua Fest!

2010-05-03T10:02:00.000-10:00

Our last Kokua Fest... sigh..

This year was awesome becuase we had Ryan and Jane to go with!!

Janey LOVED sitting at the front of the Keiki stage to hear Jack Johnson, and to play with the shaker they gave her to play along with Jack!!

It was sooo good this year, Jack you did it again!!

oh and Ziggy Marley brought his kids on stage to sing with him.... too cute!!

Sea Life Park!

2010-05-03T09:35:00.000-10:00

During Brandon's week long break from school, Sue took us to Sea Life Park!!! I have been a few times, but wanted to take Janey before we left Hawaii!! Needless to say she LOVED it!!

Janey's surgery

2010-05-02T13:19:00.000-10:00

It has been over a month since Janey's surgery and she is doing well! It is healing very well, and her scar is in the crease of her eyelid, so as she gets older and the crease becomes more prominent, you will hardly notice it.

The day of surgery was kinda rouch, we had to leave at 5am to check in at 6am. Janey's surgery was scheduled for 8am, but due to an emergancy was moved back until 10:45. I was nervous about Janey starving to death, but she handled it rather well. She watched disney playhouse and fell in and out of sleep until it was go time.

I wasn't sure if Brandon was going to be able to make it, since he had class, but he got the okay to miss that day and was able to come along, which was a blessing becuase it ended up being a very long day.

The doctors came in to the waiting room to discuss the procedure with us, and informed us that only one parent could be in the operating/ recovery room at a time. So we decided that Brandon would go back with her when she was getting sedated, and I would be in the recovery room she she came to, so I could feed her.

At first she was a bit grumpy when she woke up, becuase she was so very tired from being up since 5am, but she fell back asleep and an hour later she was as happy as a clam, and waved bye to all the nurses.

Jane had a super easy recovery and was ready to play outside that day!! She has a bandage on her eye for the next two days. When that fell off there was little brusiing, but it keeps getting better everyday!!

Janey is such a brave little girl, but is so scared of the scale at the doctors office now...

14 Months!!

2010-04-30T17:20:00.002-10:00

Janey turned 14 months on the 19!!

Here is some info about our 14 month old muffin:

Likes:

Puddles
Princess and the Frog
Coloring
to walk EVERYWHERE
to be chased
Chicken Curry
chop suey
string cheese
noodles
yogurt
ice cream/ frozen yogurt (who doesn't)
the beach
her friends
walking up the slide
hiding under the table to do sneaky things, like eat magnets off the fridge
Turning the fan off
Jumping on the bed
steamroller
Fancy shoes
opening/ closing doors
holding hands while walking
outside
the drums at the PCC

Dislikes:

her carseat/ car rides of any length
her stroller
being carried.. so independent
veggies that are not in curry sauce
cake
being inside the apartment for any length of time
things on her head
getting weighed at the doctors office

She just keeps getting more and more fun!!! Love her to pieces!!!

Puddling

2010-04-19T05:27:00.001-10:00

Happy St. Patty's day!!

2010-04-18T11:58:00.001-10:00

Better late than never...

TVA Easter egg hunt!

2010-04-18T11:55:00.001-10:00

Graduation part 7

2010-04-18T11:39:00.000-10:00

Graduation part 6

2010-04-18T11:37:00.000-10:00

Graduation part 5

2010-04-18T11:35:00.000-10:00

even more friends

Graduation part 4

2010-04-18T11:33:00.000-10:00

More friends

Graduation Part 3

2010-04-18T11:31:00.000-10:00

Greeting the friends

Graduation part 2

2010-04-18T11:26:00.002-10:00

Here is Brandon shakling his professor's hands, and then us greeting him one he was done!!
Sue came out for the festivities, and spoiled us like always.. We had so much fun!! Thanks Mom Sue!!

Graduation Part 1

2010-04-18T11:21:00.000-10:00

April 10, Brandon Graduated!!! (woot woot!) He actually has 6 more weeks of classes, but he is soooo close!!! I can't believe we are about to leave our home here in Hawaii. This is the only place we have lived as a family.. and now it is over?!?! still waiting to here where our neext adventure will be so stay tuned... There were so many pictures from Graduation that I loved, so there will be many a posts on this one!!

Puddle Jumper!

2010-04-18T10:57:00.000-10:00

Brandon took Janey on a walk one day... this is were she decided to go...

Janey at the Zoo

2010-03-31T13:56:00.000-10:00

Janey's Favorite!

2010-03-11T23:23:00.001-10:00

Tuesday Janey had an Appt. in Kaneohe, so obviously afterwards we hit Windward Mall to play at Janey's FAVORITE playplace. Janey LOVES LOVES LOVES the kiddy playground at the mall. It has all these soft things to crawl on, the Turtle being her favorite, as you can see in the pictures. We have pictures of her when she was itty bitty just laying by it, and now she is getting a little too brave and is starting to crawl on it.

Janey just loves to watch and play with the older kids, she would stay there all day if she could. We stayed for a little over a half an hour before heading home, it is a nice little break from the swings and TVA playground we visit daily... we usually go see the animals at the pet store right next store afterwards, becuase Janey is taking a liking to puppies now...

The Brainiacs!

2010-03-11T23:10:00.000-10:00

Meet team Voldermort. Teammates being Marvin, Moema, Allyson and Brandon. Wednesday night these smartypants participated in the "brainstorm" trivia game held by BYUH honors society. and they ripped it up!!! they totally won the whole deal!! I was a very proud observer/ babysitter, since i did not make the cut. They came in first place and won gift cards to cheesecake factory and the theater here in town!! GREAT JOB GUYS!!!

Here are a few pictures from the event... sorry there are none of Cal, he kept running for crawling for the stairs the whole night!!!!

Trip to Temple Beach!

2010-03-07T21:55:00.001-10:00

Saturday we went with the Matsosos to Temple Beach, and let me tell you it was a great beach day, a little windy but so nice and warm! Brandon made the babies there own little pool to play in, it was a hit!! Janey and Calvin also liked all the dogs that were at the beach that day!

Janey Lou-Who!

2010-03-07T21:50:00.001-10:00

How you know it is time to go grocery shopping...

2010-03-07T21:47:00.003-10:00

Costco Date!!

2010-03-07T21:45:00.001-10:00

Girly Cousins!!

2010-03-07T21:41:00.003-10:00

I just know these two are going to be BEST FRIENDS!! here are a few pics of them tearin' it up disneyland style.

In Jail.

I can fly! I can fly! I can fly!

Jane thought we were going to see Muno, Lydia didn't trust that bear, she never took her eyes off of him!!

Playing pat-a-cake!

Janey's MRI

2010-03-07T21:20:00.001-10:00

A few weeks ago Janey had to go in to Kapiolani Hospital to get an MRI. Janey has a small growth next to her left eye, while the specialist was pretty sure it was nothing serious, he wanted to do an MRI just to be safe.

Since she is just a baby and does not even know how to sit still, she had to be sedated for the procedure. The morning started out pretty rough, she was hungry and tired and the last thing she wanted was to be poked with a needle. The nurse ended up having to poke her twice. Needless to say she was not very happy with the nurse. I was able to hold her until she fell asleep and then we walked down her down to the MRI machiney thingy.

The procdure took less than an hour and when she was done the nurse called us back to get her, the nurse told us on the phone that she was smiling and playing with the nurse, the same nurse she was so mad at before!! so quick to forgive.

We came in and she was smiling and laughing with the nurses and didn't even notice we had come back, she completely content with her new friends... most have been some good medicine!!

We have recently received the results of Janey's scan, and it is just a dermoid cyst, and is not connected to anything. The doctor has recommended that she has it removed before the age of two, so since we do not really know where we will be next we are going to take care of it at the end of this month. Janey and I went back to visit Dr. Woo, her specialist and he explained the whole procedure to us, and it seems fairly simple. We will get to the hospital at 6:00am and then she will be sedated, then they will go in for surgery where they will cover her eyeball with a piece of plastic and then make a small incision in the crease of her eyelid and then remove the cyst and sew it up with dissolvable stitches and glue it up, and we are good to go!! He said he has done tons of them, and they wake up in little pain, nothing Tylenol wont fix. He said most babies are back to normal after a day. The hard part is keeping her curious little hands away from her stitches!!

So that is Janey's big operation plan!! Keep you posted after she is done!!!

12 month Well Baby check up.

2010-02-28T22:20:00.002-10:00

Now that Janey is a whopping 1 year old, it was that time again to take her to the Docs... She used to not mind the Doctor's office, but ever since her MRI (more on that to come) she HATES being weighed, measured, poked etc.

Since Janers has been sick with a sinus infection we decided it would be best to hold off a week on her immunizations, so this time she just visited with Dr. Chang to make sure she was on track developmentally.

Here are her stats:

18 pounds= 15 percentile
29 inches= 50 percentile
I can't remember her head measurements, but I do remember she was in the 90 percentile, because she is a baby genius with a big brain.

Beachin it up with dad.

2010-02-28T00:40:00.001-10:00

After the Birthday Party Brandon had this great idea of going to the beach to take a nap, how could we nap when Jane was being this cute??

Janey's love for water just seems to grow and grow... this last time we went with Calvin and Allyson she would scream and cry anytime we were not near water. what a fish...

Happy Birthday Janers!!!

2010-02-28T00:26:00.001-10:00

I know Brandon already posted some birthday photos, but he just did not post enough!!

I would say Janey, Alexander and Calvin's combined birthday bash was a success!! minimal crying, and maybe even a few smiles... They didn't destroy their cakes as we had hoped, but there is always next year.

A few highlights were Margarita's awesome giant cupcakes she decorated for each baby, and Allyson's chicken salad sandwiches... yum.

Allyson also made the pinatas.. (okay who am I kidding, Allyson pretty much did everything!!) after the pinatas we took the babies outside to eat their cakes, and then threw them all in the kiddie pool!! (Thanks Dani and Joe!)

Thanks to all who came for partying with us!!! We had a blast.

More Birthday Bash....

2010-02-28T00:18:00.000-10:00

switched before birth...

2010-02-23T20:40:00.004-10:00

So Sunday after church I started to feel kinda yucky in my tummy, and it wasn't but a few hours later that I started to get the pukies... This proceeded all night long, I tried to just drink little sips of water and couldn't even keep that down (stay with me the story gets better) So I woke up Monday morning feeling like I had been hit by a truck, and Janey was still coughing, so I decided that we should both go see the Doc. As soon as I arrived at the doctor's office the took my by wheelchair to hospital for IV fluid treatments, and also to get some anti-nausea medicine pumped into me (ahhh zofran we meet again). Since they were not sure what was causing my to feel like death they decided to run some tests, it wasn't but a few minute later that the Doc came in to let me know that he knew why I was feeling sick... I was PREGNANT!!! He then told me that he was going to send my husband in so I could tell him, I almost wanted to ask him to stay in case my husband hit the floor due to the news. I told Brandon he actually was pretty excited, and told me he knew it was a boy. Then the Nurse came in and told me that I needed to give them a pee sample ( I don't like the word urine) When I asked why she said to see if I was Pregnant etc... At that point I was very confuses, until I heard the poor sick girl in the bed next to me talk about how she just found out she was pregnant and had been sick ever since. Something was fishy, the Doctor came in and started asking us if this would be our second child blah blah blah, and then I asked him are you sure I am pregnant, or could the test results been mixed up.... needless to say he was very embarrassed and checked the paperwork, and sure enough I was not pregnant, and the color started to come back into Brandon's cheeks.... The doc then said that there had been a mix up of tests in the lab and wanted to draw ANOTHER blood sample just in case, at this point I remember saying vocally as the nurse came in with the bucket of needles... " ahhh come on guys..." but they did it anyways, and sure enough nothing in my tummy....
So all in all I would say we had a pretty eventful day, no baby, just a virus...

I have heard of babies being switched after birth, but this one is new to me....

Birthday Party

2010-02-23T00:26:00.000-10:00

Every party has a theme, and this one was obviously a hawaii/beach theme.

Thanks to Alicia we have that "as seen of TV" giant cupcake maker. There were 6 February babies from our ward that year and there was a giant cup cake representing each one. Our dear Ruskie friend Margarita put Cake Boss to shame by decorating them. If you know Jane at all you will have no problem identifying her cake. I would have put a few pictures of them eating their cakes but maybe it was the performance anxiety but they appeared to have no idea what to do with this culinary masterpieces so the resulting pictures were either boring pictures of kids not knowing if they were supposed to eat it or step in it (that's what Jane ultimately decided she was supposed to do) or evidence CPS would use to snatch out babies away from us.

Although there were 6 February babies the party really was for these three (Jane, Alexander, and Calvin) who were all born within the same week. Jane is wearing her homemade tutu her mom made for this special event. They are also sporting their number of revolutions around the sun on the front of their 'one'sies.

Jane discovered she only likes cake if there is icecream in the middle. Who knew?

Janey Walker Ranger

2010-02-22T09:19:00.000-10:00

for Jane's b-day she got this push toy which like old people provides her with improved mobility and consequently she has transformed into an extrovert over night

Jane loves to ride one handed (I know, quite the daredevil) and wave at every person or pet that is passing by. She is huge among the Japanese and senior missionary demographics in which they actually stop to wave back, which gets Jane jacked up in a big way.

She has also becomes very vocal, talking to everyone and singing along with her toy's on board entertainment system, (although nobody can understand what she is saying) while taking her little stroll through the town.

the end

Happy First Birthday Jane

2010-02-19T17:42:00.002-10:00

Jane Milani Frandsen was born one year ago from today at Kapio'lani hospital at 9:31AM and there have been lots of firsts. Here are a few
first attempt at humor

2010-02-19T17:29:00.001-10:00

first time to disneyland

first time driving a car

first christmas

first public humiliation

2010-02-19T17:25:00.000-10:00

first halloween

first time in a bounce house

first love (swinging)

first surfing experience

2010-02-19T17:21:00.001-10:00

first mariners attire

first swim lessons

first ice cream cone/chocolate

first picking of the berries

2010-02-19T17:00:00.000-10:00

First headband

First kung fu move
first bed
first yodel

2010-02-19T16:42:00.001-10:00

First friends

First trip to Ted's Bakery

First Party (her baby shower in which she was invited to headline)
First hat and grimace

2010-02-19T16:32:00.001-10:00

First time outside of the womb

First Eskimo Kiss & first time with mom

First Bath

First nap

2010-02-10T20:49:00.000-10:00

2010-02-10T20:46:00.000-10:00

is there such thing as too much disneyland?

2010-02-10T20:42:00.000-10:00

More pics of disneyland

2010-02-10T20:10:00.001-10:00

Disneyland

2010-02-10T20:04:00.000-10:00

SUPRISE!! DISNEYLAND!!!

2010-02-07T09:08:00.000-10:00

A couple of weeks the Hawaiian division of the Frandsen clan flew down to Disneyland for the week as part of the opperation 'Suprise the you know what out of mom' orcustrated by my dad. Sorry its taken so long but doing Disneyland and the trip justice will require a little more time, so here is the preview of the good things to come. (sorry but with all the cameras we had I didn't really get any good pictures with all 16 of us)

I can hear myself think..

2010-01-19T23:28:00.003-10:00

Ashley here, I feel as If I need to clarify, as Brandon is head blogger of this ohana. So I am sitting here in my living room.. ALONE... and it is so quiet... I can't remember the last time it was this quiet in our little apartment... If it isn't Janey screaming at the top of her longs (use your words please Janey) then it is some other baby in our building... ( I am not naming any names here *cough* Kaipo *cough*). I feel like so much is happening but when I go to blog about it I got nothin'. Brandon has just started his LAST Semester at BYU-Hawaii (woot woot).... I am trying to figure out a plan to make him fail his classes so we can extend one more summer...J/K..(kinda).. Brandon is still waiting to hear back from the Medical schools he applied to (fingers crossed). He is currently taking an early morning Jogging class, which I feel is harder on me because when he gets up at 5:15 to get ready to go, Janey is up and ready to play, and I am up and crying, obviously...

Janey is growing, growing, growing... we keep telling her to stop, we like the baby version, but she never listens... she is currently making bigger messes in the house than even Brandon, hard to believe I know... I feel like I am constantly following her around with a broom... and my apt. is STILL always a mess... She like to pull herself up on things that are dangerous like the TV, Fan, oven, bathtub etc. etc. etc. She is starting to "talk" alot... and screams even more, mostly at church... I swear she knows exactly what to do so Brandon will take her out to crawl in the foyer... We are in the planning stages of her birthday party numero uno, she is going to have a combined party with the other babies that were born in Feb. She asked if she could have a party with her friends, so we obliged...more to come on that one later...

Me.. well I am currently trying to take a daily shower... that is my big goal really... I am also searching for a part time J-O-B so Brandon can focus on his studies.... but am nervous about who will watch Janey, she is a handful these days.... I miss my sister tons, ever since she trekked it back to WA I realized how much she helped our little family unit out here, she really did help us on a daily basis, exp. with the little monster... and now she is GONE, forcing me to be independent.. WHY ME?!?! but seriously, come back Alicia...now, seriously, NOW!

We had a nice Christmas Break here on the Island... The weather was beautiful... and can you believe it, it even snowed here!!! ok, a girl can dream... we spent Christmas Eve at the Beach, then we made miniature Ginger bread houses, mine had barely any candy on it because Allyson hogged it all... go figure... Christmas Day we spent with our Neighbors the Toelupes, they were kind enough to invite us over to their family's home here in Laie for Christmas Dinner, and it was superb to say the least... They were a great bunch of people, and the food was amazing... Marvin made a mean turkey as usual.. We were definitely spoiled by our families, even with us being so far away, you guys are the best...

I think that brings us up to date.. for the most part...

The end.

Ok, to be continued.

Jane loves sand!!

2010-01-17T23:40:00.002-10:00

She even likes eating it but for those moments I put the camera down immediately to get it out of her mouth

New Lens at Sunset Beach

2010-01-17T23:27:00.003-10:00

new lens at pipeline

2010-01-15T22:51:00.004-10:00

Learning to Crawl

2010-01-07T21:29:00.000-10:00

This post is seriously delayed, but necessary nonetheless. Janey started crawling when she turned nine months of age. Since Brandon has had her standing since birth she was very hesistant to get on all fours. After some serious encouragement and my sister putting her on the cold, hard kitchen floor, it finally clicked. Baby Jane has been unstoppable ever since, sure she still gets a little top heavy and falls on her head, but who doesn't in the beginning.

When she first started to crawl she got on her hands and feet, it was adorable, but then she discovered it was much easier on her hands and knees.

These are some photos Brandon snapped when she was first started.

Mele Kalikimaka!

2010-01-06T21:08:00.000-10:00

Honolulu Zoo

2009-12-28T23:22:00.000-10:00

Before Janey's Auntie Alicia up and left, she came with us to the zoo... We had been a time or two, but this was the first time that all the animals were up and active, usually they are all sleeping... Janey loved the monkeys, they were so funny, swinging away... but her favorite was the keiki soo where she could pet animals and crawl into the middle of the fish tank... very neat!! We will be going back again soon, for sure!!

Wahiawa Botanical Gardens!!

2009-12-28T23:13:00.000-10:00

Lighthouse Hike

2009-12-28T23:09:00.000-10:00

Story time!

2009-12-28T22:50:00.002-10:00

Saturday is usually the day we go run errands.... costco,walmart etc... I found out about these story times that they occasionally do at the Borders in the Kaneohe mall. They read a story and then do some activities... Jane doesn't really know what is going on, but LOVES to be around the other kids.... she just is so happy at story time... We also have been to the story time at the Kahuku library and that one is awesome... These are a few pics from the Polar Express story time.... Auntie Alicia came... Jane colored a letter to Santa and then read the story... Janey loves books...

More Valley of the temples....

2009-12-25T23:12:00.000-10:00