More Dogs

Little Guy has mastered the signs for more and dog!  So this means he can consistently ask for more yogurt melts and let us know when he sees a dog, two VERY important components to any one year old's day!  He also picked the dog out of all his animal magnets over and over before bedtime!  We've been pretty sure that Little Guy knew some of his animals, but until tonight, he's never responded to our prompts to "Get the doggy".  Next up, we're working on the sign for please!

A Day at the Park

We went out to celebrate baby Jacob today at a park fundraiser in Martinez.  Baby Jacob is a sweet two year old boy with Niemann Pick A/B disease.  The fundraiser was a blast with a clown, magician, musical performances and potlucked picnic food.  We also spent a little time crafting some frames with G'pa for a staircase picture gallery (be sure to check out Teaspoons and Twine for that project!).

G'pa and Little Guy doing some swinging!

We've started a new tradition in our house- at dinner time we say what we're thankful for each day.  I know it's not a novel idea, but it's something we're starting to remind us how lucky we truly are for all that we have.  Today we were all thankful for our healthy baby boy; it's too easy to forget how amazing it is to be blessed with a healthy baby and the chance to watch him grow and evolve every single day.

The Gated Community

Little Guy loves to take things out of drawers...and cabinets...and shelves...and put said things ANYWHERE but where they belong.  We had our house baby proofed back in April and I thought we were all set- today I had 22 additional drawers and cabinets outfitted with locks, so we actually weren't even close to set before!  It's been a welcomed relief to not fetch things from the garbage can or spend a ridiculous amount of time cleaning up the contents of the entire guest bathroom 50 times a day, but it also breaks my heart just a LITTLE TINY TEENY bit every time Little Guy tries to open the cupboards and can't figure out what's wrong.  Along with the cabinets, I gated off the upstairs craft area- now I have no excuse for not getting it organized and clean!  Daddy now refers to our house as the gated community...I call it heaven!

Babies

We had a fun play date with our buddy Baby Jackson today!  Little Guy LOVES having his friend over to play and I love to watch them navigate playing together, it's precious!  After breakfast we packed into the wagon and trekked over to neighbor Bill's house to visit his new baby puppy Gidget!  She is a little three pound fluff ball and just TDF!  Little Guy was in heaven with a dog that not only didn't run away, but was also just his size for holding and chasing!  We can't wait to visit her again.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Today we celebrated my Uncle Don's Birthday- this was the first birthday since he passed away last December and it was nice to be with all our family to remember him and celebrate him like he would have loved to have done.  Daddy, Little Guy, and I went out to the marina to fly kites (one of my uncle's favorite things to do) and Little Guy loved his first kite flying experience!!  After we celebrated with a Mexican themed fiesta, complete with tacos, salsa, and Jarritos soda!  It was a beautiful day to celebrate.

Sweet Surprises

My sweet husband asked me to be home this afternoon to sign for a UPS package he needed for work...

I think this delivery is much better, is he a keeper or what?!?

If surprise flowers don't make your day AWESOME, how about BBQ'd hot dogs and an outdoor dinner with your two favorite guys?  Our dinner was delicious, but also a little sad since we know the summer nights are quickly slipping away, only to be replaced with Crock pot dinners by the fire (which are pretty spectacular in their own way!)...I decided to make a little pasta salad to go with our hot dogs, and this is what I found when I opened the stove cabinet-

That's Little Guy's baby cow- it's no wonder we can't find shoes, remotes, or keys in this house... he's such a good "helper" putting things away!

He's a Party Animal

The cold is still here...and I hate to say it aloud, but I almost, ALMOST, feel like Little Guy could be sharing it with me...we're in full hydration, Vitamin C, Airborne attack mode- fingers crossed this cold doesn't wipe out the whole family!  After another day of resting we headed over to Grandma Patty's house to celebrate her birthday.  Little Guy was on his best party behavior after his four hour afternoon nap!  Let's hope all this sleeping kicks the cold to the curb!

Coughing Congestion

Lazy Sundays are the best especially when you are fighting a nasty cold.  Little Guy is a bit congested; it breaks my heart to hear him wheeze while he's coughing.  After a steam bath and saline spray (which he hated!) he headed to bed for another marathon nap!  I know he's napping so long because he's sick and I want him to be better, but I am getting spoiled with these quiet afternoons!  We spent the evening with Aunt Lori and Michelle in from Indiana!  Aunt Lori is looking awesome with her new short 'do and her positive beat cancer attitude!  It's always so much fun when she's in town.  We love our Indianaians!

Wedding Bells

We got all fancied up today and headed out to Park Winters to celebrate Tyler and Loren!  It was a beautiful venue, complete with gorgeous weather, yummy food, and amazingly perfect touches of detail everywhere you looked- they even had a flip book photo booth, it was AWESOME!  Little Guy was ready for a party after a four hour nap(!) and he certainly looked the part.  My personal hair and makeup whiz Miss Alyssa helped me get ready and once the hubby was all polished up we were set to go.  We didn't get any great family photos, but here are a few from the lovely evening:

Oh.my.goodness!  I just love his little vest and shoes!

He's obviously super happy to be taking a picture with his mommy. 

My two loves!  Little Guy is loosening up and getting ready to dance!

Strollin' Along

Little Guy hit up the Davis park with G'ma, Alyssa and Noah while I was SUPER DUPER lucky enough to be getting a facial.  Little Guy made friends with Charlotte and she let him take her stroller for a spin, preciousness!  Later that night we went to a Mexican fiesta to celebrate Tyler and Loren's rehearsal dinner.  I can't wait to see Little Guy in his dress pants and vest tomorrow!

Wraps and Seaweed

We set out extra early today to meet some new friends at the zoo.  I got to try out a woven wrap, which was AWESOME and Little Guy got to hang with his little buddy Noah.  Win win for everyone!

Later that day Daddy and Little Guy were home prepping dinner and Daddy gave him some seaweed....and he LOVED it!  

Go figure, his fav foods now include, yogurt melts, ice cream, watermelon, and seaweed.

Mommy shame

You know the "pet shaming" craze that's sweeping the internet right now?  If not, it's pretty funny; you can check out some here.  Here are two of my favs I found:

It's not the pets that are being shamed this week in our house (although I am sure I could catch them doing something!), it's this mommy's cooking, or lack there of.  I didn't get my act together enough for a picture (that could be part of the shaming right there...), but if I did, I would be holding a sign that would read something like this...

On the plus side, Daddy comes home today!  Here's hoping his return inspires me in the kitchen (I wouldn't hold your breath!)

I am pooped!

Okay, I'll say it...We miss Daddy!  Not just 'cause he's our favorite guy to hang out with, but also because this mommy is T.I.R.E.D!  Little Guy had a rough time sleeping last night- he wasn't really awake much, it was just a lot of whining/crying in his sleep- I think between his shots, teeth, and the challenges of being one year old, he just wasn't feeling it and wanted to be held. All.night.long...which brings us to the current state of exhaustion we're in!  Not one to let tiredness bring us down, we cycled ALL the way to playgroup this morning, AND all the way back!

Little Guy took a snooze on the way home, you know you're tired when you can sleep on a bouncy bike ride, helmet and all!

Later in the day Little Guy did his best to keep me on my toes- this included throwing the whole roll of toilet paper into his bath water ( I should have known better than to sit down for a quick potty break!)...

In case I missed it, he's pointing to the toilet paper...

Hurry home Daddy, we miss you!

Packing on the Pounds

Little Guy had another weight check today, and we're happy to say he gained around 9 ounces!  The doc is happy he's back on the growth curve and continues to encourage the ice cream!  The problem is when the doctor recommends the MOST FAT for your bite Costco brand vanilla and Little Guy isn't eating it fast enough to keep it out of the house- I have to display too much self control EVERY.TIME.I.OPEN.THE.FREEZER!  Little Guy also got two more shots, he was a rock star, and a new outfit for the weddings we have coming up (it is TDF!)!  We're excited that Daddy may be coming home tomorrow (fingers crossed!), because not only do we miss him, but I have a hard time motivating myself to do any sort of remotely decent cooking of anything...unless it's a little something for Little Guy, and even then, it's not nearly as gourmet as it could or should be...I finally had real food tonight thanks to a great friend, and she even sent me home with an entire freezer bad full for later, yay for Heather's cooking!

Two Tired Babies=Two Tired Moms

We hit up Buy Buy Baby and Nordstrom before heading back to Vacaville.  We should have known that was a bit ambitious, but we tried it anyways.  Buy Buy Baby went great, with a free photo session and 20x20 print (why am I such a sucker for anything free?!?); we were smooth sailing on to Nordstrom with Little Guy falling asleep on the way and looking poised to spend a chunk of the shopping trip snoozing...long story short, impatient people in the parking garage and their obnoxious honking woke him before we even got unloaded, so no, he didn't sleep.  The shopping trip turned into quite a spectacle and concluded with three tired ladies and two hungry babies grabbing a quick bite to eat before heading home.  I couldn't bear to wake the sleeping boy, it had been just too long of a day (a weekend for that matter), so I propped the fan up and he took his two and a half hour nap in the garage.

Once he was recharged, he was ready for playing and getting in a little Sunday reading...I could read with this baby boy all day long!

Saddlin' Up with Some Vino

What a busy day!  First we headed out to Miss Mercy's 2nd birthday bash at the farm, then on to the Lafayette Art and Wine Festival.  The farm bash was precious (who doesn't love babies with bandannas and petting zoos!?!?), here are some pictures of Little Guy and his buddies:

Mommy's Little Cowboy

Mommies and babies, boys and their buddies...and no, those aren't our cups that Little Guy and Landon are eating...

After the farm, we headed to the wine festival...it was hot and crowded, but we still had a fun time with all our friends, including Miss Emme and her mom- Emme got a purple dancing puppet who she named "Jackson" since he (the puppet) is little.  We helped out at Grandpa's Beyond the Wine Barrel booth and had plenty of time for playing with g'ma and g'pa AND Tyson!  It was a fun day, but an exhausting one!

Someone's Going to Report Me

Ugh....after the blood draw and tumble at the outlets, I thought Little Guy would take it easy today on his mommy, but alas, he did not.  We led off the day with a great round of swim lessons then headed out for an extra special trip to Noah's Mo-Mo's house to check out their property for Auntie Katie's wedding!  The wedding portion of the trip went great (we'll wait and see what they decide to do), but Little Guy insisted on conquering the MANY two and three stair sets on the patio...the stairs won and he ended up with a little gash and BLOOD on his face.  My mommy heart can't take seeing her little baby hurting and bleeding two days in a row and I am pretty sure someone may report me after they see the two scabs and multiple bruises/bumps on my baby's head...

I need a drink!

What a day!!!  It all started out great...Daddy and Little Guy went to check out some cattle, so I got to sleep IN- I usually get up to get work done while they're gone, but today I decided to just sleep, and it felt SOOO good!  As the old saying goes, anything that goes up, must come down...so while our day continued to climb, including a brisk walk, tiring play date, an AWESOME nap, and a visit from BOTH grandmas, I was getting more and more anxious!  I knew that after naps we were headed to the lab for Little Guy to get blood drawn (the doctors wanted to check his iron levels since he doesn't take formula)- Daddy already requested a sub for the event, so my mom came to help out.  IT WAS H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E...I cried...Little Guy was more annoyed that the nurses had the audosity to hold his arm down and require him to be be still for two minutes than by the fact they were sticking a needle INTO HIS VEIN!  Needless to say, I was a blubbering sweating mess by the time we left (and I wasn't even holding him!) so we decided we all needed ice cream!

Fast forward 40 minutes to our quick stop at the outlets...Little Guy is running around, smiles and giggles, when he falls and scrapes his knees...or at least we thought it was just his knees.  After about 1.7 seconds of crying he's over it and on to the next thing- a few minutes later I look down and see a giant swollen red lump on his forehead!  Poor baby hadn't gotten just his knees, but his face too!

I am not sure, should I be concerned that he barely flinched when he fell?  Good thing Daddy was home and ready to play when we got back.  A fun game of chase, a dip in the pool, and a warm bath make everything better!  Here's hoping tomorrow is a little less trying on my heart strings!

Hibachi

Today we tried out story hour again...I think gymnastics may be more our speed...after a fun day and a much needed over-due nap, we hit up the local hibachi restaurant for Little Guy's first front row, high flying flame dinner.  He must have really loved it; it was the best he's been in a restaurant in a long time!  Not only was it the best he's been sitting at a table, but it was also a home run with eating- he LOVED the tofu and the grilled veggies...guess I am going to need to brush up on my tofu cooking skills!

I am not sure who was loving it more, Daddy or Little Guy!

Sunday Funday

Well, at least it was a fun day for most people...unless you are one of the 96 remaining Miami Dolphin fans still holding out hope for a decent season- Little Guy is apparently NOT one of those 96 fans, evidence by this photo:

"Why is my dad still a Dolphin fan??"

Before this meltdown, we took a morning ride to the ranch to help Daddy ship some cattle.  Little Guy was pretty jazzed to wear his new shoes, they match Daddy's Merrell's, precious!

 

After the ranch, I was working upstairs when I realized it was too quiet...you always know there can't be anything good coming from a too quiet toddler...well, wasn't I surprised when I peeked in and saw Little Guy sitting on the floor READING...not tearing out pages, not chewing on paper, not even trying to stand on a stack of books.  Nope, just sitting there reading.  Here's a quick video, and no, I won't be offended if you find the 30 second clip of my baby doing nothing but flipping through a book boring, some things only a mother can love.

After a quiet start to our day, we had some friends over for an evening football game BBQ.  After lots of fun with the water table and dirt, we headed to the bath.  I love that we can just throw all three babes in the bath, preciousness!!

 

Cheers to a fun and eventful weekend!  Who can believe that we're only 49 weeks out from these babies turning 2???  I know, I know, that's almost a whole year, but when you think about it, 49 Saturdays isn't very many...

A riddle

What do you get when you cross a Saturday afternoon, a husband on a mission, and a wife who hasn't truly shopped in over a year....

 You get WAY too many shopping bags

 followed by El Pollo Loco being eaten in the bathroom while Little Guy gets a pre-bed bath (I shouldn't admit to this, but we had to do a bath since he hadn't had one since Thursday, grossness!)

 

The hubby decided he needed new clothes- not a new shirt or some socks, a new wardrobe.  He does this every few years, gets on a certain fashion kick and commits to converting his style...the current kick is cowboy/western.  He wants to have fancy clothes for dinners, meetings, and going out (apparently wearing tennis shoes to industry functions gets you teased a little).   He told me, and I quote, his shopping experience in the western store was the most fun he's ever had shopping with me (I reminded him that he did propose marriage on a shopping trip, so maybe today should be his second favorite shopping trip ever).  Anyways, he's now got his fancy pants (literally) and square toed boots to start his wardrobe conversion and I've got my eggplant purple winter coat (super excited over here!) to start my fall wardrobe, win win for everyone.  And yes, even Little Guy made out today with not one, not two, but three pairs of shoes...My "one pair a season plan" only lasted through the first season.  And in case anyone else besides me was on pins and needles about the lost sandal, I have GREAT news- IT WAS FOUND!!!  I retraced my steps AGAIN, and there it was after three days, sitting on the curb under a tree in the Kohl's parking lot, talk about LUCKY!  And just to clarify, the El Pollo Loco was being eaten in the bathroom in an attempt to multi-task with our time so Little Guy could get to bed at a decent hour- we had a late night last night with the football game and before our shopping extravaganza, we had a boating adventure with the Santopadres!  

We took all four kiddos out on the boat, complete with a picnic lunch and some fishing.  Daddy was the only one to brave the cold water, but both of the twins got to drive and we all had a blast hanging out together (although I think the babies could have done without the life vests eating their faces.)  It was a fun final voyage, the boat is going on craigslist tomorrow!

Let's Go Dogs

Little Guy got to experience his first high school football game tonight, and boy, what an experience it was.  We went to cheer on the Vaca High Bulldogs AND to watch Uncle Mark's cousin quarterback for the opponents, Marin Catholic.  The game lived up to its hype and Little Guy was a part of the action right up to the winning touchdown pass with five seconds left on the clock...Vaca High Wins and the crowd goes wild.  It was a fun to watch Little Guy take in the sights and sounds and attempt to master the bleacher stairs and ramps.  I am sure we'll look back on this night and think, "it seems just like yesterday that Little Guy was playing in the stands, and now we're cheering him on from them..."

Our Day in Numbers

15- number of clean folded shirts Little Guy unfolded and dumped in the dirty clothes hamper...Mommy's little helper...

8- number of "Married to Jonas" episodes I've watched since last night...I think I may be addicted...will Dani and Kevin decide to have a baby before the brothers leave for their world tour???  I can't wait to find out!

20- number of minutes we lasted in story hour today...we missed the 18 month and under group, so we thought we'd try the 18 month-3 year...Little Guy was just fine, but there was a little too much sitting around for his liking...

1- number of shoes we had on our feet at the end of running errands...I know it's lost somewhere in the car (this is when I am cursing the size of the Armada!)

2- number of words I am pretty sure Little Guy started saying today..."All Done" and "More"....we'll see if it was just my mommy ears hearing things, or if he says them again tomorrow...

107 (give or take 3)- number of times I closed, restocked, and attempted to rig locks on all of our un-baby proofed cabinets...so far the makeup drawer, nail polish bucket, and any shelf holding glass jars are his favorite.

infinity- how much we love our daddy who's working hard and coming home tomorrow!

And in case you've only found 49 things to smile about today, here's number 50:

Pitch Perfect

I am not ashamed to admit it...I saw the preview for Pitch Perfect and I CANNOT wait to see it...If you haven't seen the trailer, watch it now!!


I needed this pick me up after a playgroup that was anything but fun...we had a guest speaker come in to talk about some all natural herbal wraps that help loosen fat to tone and shrink any problem areas you may have- that doesn't sound half bad, until you started filling out numbers and getting your "actual age" based on fat/muscle/heart rate/etc...we won't get into specifics, let's just say, it didn't make me feel any better about myself.

On a different note, cue the teething pain cause Daddy left for Oregon today!  I think Little Guy's teeth just wait for me to be single parenting until they strike...fingers crossed for a decent night's sleep.

Guess What I had for Dinner

Little Guy is pretty much all over anything you give him to eat, or should I say taste.  He loves to put food in his mouth, chew it and gum it all around, then spit it out, making sure to get EVERY LAST PIECE of food out of his mouth...so with just a quick glance, you can see we had broccolini, ribs, potatoes, peaches, and some yogurt melts (just Little Guy had yogurt melts!)...Meal time is a mess in our house...good thing Olive and Winston are around and LOVE to help with cleanup.

T-minus one week

I had a little special treat today with some R&R mani/pedi time with some of my besties...it was really a pre-season gift before football (and therefore fantasy football) starts up and our hubbies become otherwise preoccupied for a portion of our Sundays...and Mondays...and the occasional Thursday...nonetheless, it was nice to get my toes all shined up and catch up with the ladies (although I miss Little Guy and Daddy even when I am getting pampered!).  Earlier in the day we hit up one of Little Guy's favorite parks.  Here's a quick shot Daddy got of us on the see-saw!

Side note:  We pre-registered for PRE-SCHOOL today!!!  How is that possible?  It may seem like I am uber on the ball, but I am actually not...Baby Jackson's been on the waiting list since BIRTH!!  Here's to the preschool class of 2014-2015!

Happy Birthday Baby Lizzy Bug

Birthday season continues with Miss Lizzy Bug's garden themed first birthday party!  We had a blast celebrating her with giant flowers, a ball pool, and YUMMY desserts!!  Miss Lizzy was quite the birthday girl in her flower costume and birthday bib, too precious!  We've had so much fun watching our babies grow this year, only two weeks apart!  We can't wait to watch them grow up together with a lot more birthday party fun to come!

Here friend, have a block to eat!