memorial weekend 2017

I don't know about y'all, but this family just finished up the busiest past four days imaginable.  I absolutely love Memorial weekend honoring all those that served and kicking off the unofficial start to the summer season.  And after spending last year's Memorial weekend working on house projects, it was a-maz-ing getting away and visiting my family with warm temps and plenty of sunshine! It was perfect.  And I'm already trying to relive the weekend in my head because I can't turn back time and do it all over again.

 

It's always a little chaotic the day we leave for trips as we try to pack, do laundry, do dishes, clean the house and make sure we're not forgetting anything. But we had a little wrench thrown into our normal leaving routine when we suspected that Linden could have an ear infection and we wanted to make sure that he got checked by the doctor before venturing 7 hours away on a holiday weekend.  Let me tell you, I thought we were just being cautious and that Linden would actually be perfectly fine, but his doctor confirmed there were two big fat ear infections in that little boy.  Seriously, so thankful we took him in and were able to get the meds he needed before heading off.  It obviously made him feel a lot better as we ventured through the weekend.

 

We didn't take off until late evening on Friday which meant we rolled into my parents house well after midnight, so we chatted for a bit before catching a few hours of sleep.  Saturday started all the fun activities.  We spent the morning biking around town visiting great-grandmas and hitting up the park.  Conner rode his own little bike 3.5 miles before deciding that he wanted to hitch a ride in the bike trailer with Linden.

 

 

After lunch and naps, we headed over to the zoo which actually is the boys' first visit to a zoo ever.  In my head, I imagined it being fun and the boys being excited for the animals they see in books.  In reality, the boys were running around like maniacs (Linden especially) and throwing some epic tantrums if you stop them from climbing through the fences to get closer to the animals.

 

 

The zoo also has this amazing cage that you can walk into and stand right in the middle with all of the parakeets.  I also imagined that the boys would get a kick out of this.  In reality, they could've cared less, but I loved it!  To be honest, I think the only thing they were truly excited for chickens and goats.  Go figure..

 

 

After we survived that trip ordeal, we left the boys with my parents and Joe and I used the evening to run errands and grab a bite to eat.  It's amazing how much you can get accomplished when you don't have toddlers in tow. And it always amazes us when we can actually have a conversation with each other over supper instead of being interrupted every five words by a toddler screaming, asking questions, or boys fighting.

 

 

On Sunday morning, we took the boys on a walk with Papa and spent some time afterwards playing outside.  We planned for dinner with my entire family in the late afternoon along with family photos at the park afterwards.  Somehow I completely forgot to take photos of this amazing family time!  And family pictures went as expected... the boys had meltdowns which is very standard for them whenever I pull my camera out for nice photos.  We ended the evening with dessert on my parents' back patio as the kids blew off bedtimes and ran around chasing each other. 

 

 

On Memorial Day, we headed out early to my sister's house to watch their town's memorial parade.  It was so fun! Linden totally caught on to waving at the everyone in the parade, but instead of telling them "hi!" he just waved and yelled out "bye" to everyone passing by.  This kid is too cute!! I can't handle it at times!

 

 

Linden crashed for a nap so we snatched Conner away to the pool.  It's always fun watching that little water bug have a blast swimming.  I'm still getting hit with waves of morning sickness from time to time, so I decided to sit out from swimming because of that.  But I had fun watching from the pool deck soaking up some vitamin D. 

 

 

We had a little bit of time before we were planning to hit the road and head home, so we decided on an early dinner of pizza with my parents.  Literally, on the 5 minute drive to the restaurant, Conner passed out so hard from exhaustion.  And since we couldn't wake him up, we just picked a table in the corner and laid him down on the floor to sleep away.  Of course he finally woke up as we were carrying him back to the car and he wanted pizza.

 

 

After that, we loaded up, said our goodbyes, and made the journey back home.  It was an amazing weekend, and I hope everyone else had an amazing weekend too.

 

Thanks to everyone who serves or has served and the families of those who serve.  You're all appreciated so much!

 



baby #3 | 16 weeks

I know a good amount of friends and family know this now, but Joe and I were holding in the biggest secret!  We are adding another sweet baby to our family!

 

 

If you remember a few posts back (here) I mentioned there was another reason for my absence here on the blog.  Shortly after getting everything squared away with starting up my little side business, we found out that we were expecting yet again! And the morning sickness took over my life.

 

Totally unexpected.  Totally exciting!

 

We had planned on having another baby, but we really didn't have plans to start thinking about until later this summer.  Funny how things don't always work the way you think they should, but that adds to the excitement of life!

 

I haven't decided if I'm doing weekly bump updates like I did with Linden, but I do plan at a minimum to do a handful of them for this pregnancy.

 

So here we are! A baby announcement and a 16 week update!

 

16 WEEKS

 

 

This baby takes the cake for having the worst morning sickness! Unfortunately, each pregnancy seems to be stronger and longer than the one before.  Conner was easy.  Baby #2 I did start feeling nauseous a bit for a couple of weeks prior to losing him/her.  Linden gave me a solid 7 weeks of sickness but it only lasted for the first half of the day and as long as I took Unisom and B6 the night before, I could get through the day just fine.  This child, however, has been relentless! The morning ALL DAY sickness started right at 4 1/2 weeks and did not let up a bit until 14 weeks.  There was no relief either and no breaks from it.  I was sick all day, all evening, all through the night.  And unlike the others, I threw up more times than I could count with this one. I tried everything I could along with my trusty Unisom/B6 combo, but I could barely handle taking even half of a prenatal a day.

 

And just when I was wondering if I would ever be able to step foot in a grocery store surrounded by food, open the fridge or drink water again, I finally (and slowly) started getting a few hours of relief each day.  For the most part now I can eat normal meals and I can enjoy vegetables and fruit and even touch raw meat again without throwing up.  There are certain foods that still make me feel uneasy like milk and tortilla chips. I even catch myself thinking about how much I eat throughout the day now, and I'm amazed and slightly terrified at how much I consume now that I can eat again. 

 

We do plan on announcing what we're having.  We kept Linden's gender a secret until he was born but I like to do each pregnancy different to make it fun and unique.  So we will be sharing whether this baby will be another boy if it will break the boy streak and be a girl! And be sure to keep checking back here because we will be sharing the baby's name when we finalize it!

 

And forget about sleep! I haven't had a solid night of sleep yet.  There's always a trip to the bathroom or simply waking up from these pregnancy dreams and never going back to sleep. It goes without saying, I'm tired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



conner | life at 3 1/2

I know Linden just turned 1 1/2 but my little Conner just turned 3 1/2 last month and that's something to celebrate too! And I realize that it's been so long since I sat down shared what's up in this little boy's life.

 

Conner, I don't really view you as a toddler anymore.  You've grown so much these past six+ months that sometimes I forget that you're still three, and I take you as a four year old.  You're so advanced when it comes to so many things.  Anything relating to physical ability, you can catch on and do so easily!

 

Since we have a yard that slopes to our walkout basement, we let you hop on the kid-sized snowboard this past winter and you blew us away with your ability to ride it down the hill.  You acted like you'd been doing this your whole life and continued to go down the hill countless times with a huge smile on your face each time.

 

 

We got through the rest of Spring with constant colds and fevers every two weeks. But, little boy, when you are sick, you become the best at cuddling.

 

 

You've always loved your cousins, but this year, you've really loved playing with Dylan and Alex.  You talk about them for days after seeing them, and when you're together, it's non-stop wrestling, running and laughing.  You are such the little boy that loves wrestling so much that you always try tackling your little brother that immediately turns into screams.  Linden hasn't quite enjoyed the wrestling as much as you, at least not yet.

 

 

For about a year at daycare, you've been riding around on a small two wheel bike designed for someone your size. This past April, your daddy surprised you with your very own bike like this and everyday you take that bike out riding around the driveway, yard, and down the dirt road.

 

 

You've grown so tall these past months too! I have to keep buying new clothes to keep up with your growing length. You've had a handful of small haircuts, but your hair is still unruly to the point that Dad and I are surprised on the days that your hair is tame. :) You can still burn 6 hours of energy off of a single cracker before you finally get hungry. And we still don't know how that's even physically possible.

 

When you're sweet, you are the sweetest boy on earth.  And when you're upset, your screams know how to fill stadium.  You are a stubborn one too, just like your mom and dad.  But the moments that you randomly come up to me and say "Mommy, I love you so much"... my heart just explodes.

 

 

I really look forward to this summer and all the adventures we're going to have.  Even now as I look at my calendar, our weekends are filling up fast with fun activities, and I'm so thankful we have you with us to make these moments better.

 

You keep us on our toes.  We keep you in line.

You keep us wild.

 



linden | 18 months

Linden boy, you are 18 months already!

 

I can't imagine any other kid like you.  You are the perfect boy to make our family of four.  Your personality comes through more and more each month and it's so exciting to watch you develop your own likes and dislikes, and watching you get excited for things.

 

PLAY

Now that the weather has warmed up a bit, you have discovered how much fun it is to be outside.  All I have to do is say the word "outside" and you go running for your shoes and carrying them back yelling "SSSHOOOES". It never gets old.  You've also quickly developed a love for daddy's tractor. The second you hear that thing fired up you're running over there with your arms lifted up demanding that you get a ride.  And really, there's nothing cuter than watching you ride around wearing adult sized ear muffs on daddy's lap. 

 

You also love any toys with wheels (so much like your brother). It's not surprising to find you with a toy train in your hand scooting it around the floor saying "choo-choo".  You're still not quite sure what to do with all the bubbles when we run the bubble machine outside but one thing you do have figured out is your love for water.  It still isn't warm enough to go swimming at the beach but it doesn't stop you from going straight in while you have your clothes on and splashing around.  You have a huge love of water little boy!

 

TALK

There is definitely a list of words that you know and you know how to say them well! And the rest of it still sounds like a jumbled mess, but you look like you know exactly what you're saying when you have something to say.  Your vocab list includes words like "up", "hi", "bye" (you love telling anyone bye), "choo-choo", "food", "shoes", "uh-oh", "sit down", "get down", "go", "no" and "want this".  And even though I might be missing words and there are still a lot of words for you to learn, you seem to understand what we say very clearly.  You're great at following through with commands, that is unless you're being a little stinker who is intentionally ignoring me as part of a game.  You do that often these days.

 

SLEEP

You're not a huge fan of nap time, and I can't really blame you because who is? But you go back and forth between taking one nap a day and two naps a days.  Usually you'll protest for five minutes in your crib but then eventually quiet down and either play until you fall asleep or just lay down.

 

Nighttime, however, is a different story.  These days, you get so excited for going to bed at night. We've bumped your bedtime back to 8pm and you seem to do really well with that.  By the time I say "it's time for nigh-night" you start running over to your daddy or Conner to give them a hug good night.  Then you open your mouth wide so I can brush your teeth (and you have 12 teeth now by the way!) and eventually grab the brush and move it around in your mouth to finish off the task.  Then it's off to the crib when I hand you your favorite blanket and you give me a final wave and sweet little "bye" for the night.  My heart ends up in a puddle every night.

 

FOOD

Let's just say you've been quite the picky little eater.  I've always had trouble getting you to drink milk but I'm not concerned.  When you have an appetite, you eat an adult-sized meal.  It amazes me that you're only in the 20th percentile in weight for kids your age.  You love raspberries and this is quite possibly your favorite food ever.  Following close behind are strawberries, yogurt, peanut butter, pancakes, oatmeal bars, pizza and ranch. You love to dunk food whether it's salsa, ranch, guac, you name it.  If you see anyone dunking food into anything you start letting us know that you want whatever we have!

 

 

 



we're back!

We are back!

 

So it's pretty obvious that I've taken a long break from this blog.  Like a solid six months.

There has been a lot going on since the start of the new year so this has really taken a back seat in my life.  And by back seat, I mean like the trunk space area of my life.

 

At the start of this year I dove into my own slice of entrepreneurship and started a small photography business.  It's been a blast so far, but it's taken up a lot of my available free time.  I even set up my own website!! That's something I never thought I'd ever do!

 

But that hasn't been the only thing keeping me distracted from typing away here, but I'll save that for another post soon to come.  In the meantime, I just want to do a photo dump from January through now to give a taste of what we've been up to around here.