Sunday, April 27, 2014

Happy 6th Anniversary

Yesterday S and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary.

6 years married. That means we've been actually together for 10 years, since we started dating in 2004. So we've been together a decade. Just thinking about that makes me feel equal parts of awe and happiness. I mean how is it possible that we've been on this journey together for an entire decade?

Well, at 6 years in, things are certainly different now than they were on that warm April day that we said our vows. In 6 years we've added 3 beautiful children to our family. We've settled into life, we have a car payment and a mortgage. We often spend our evenings discussing the benefits of different preschools or potty training.

And in 6 years, we've learned that marriage can be hard, but that is really what makes it so wonderful. It's hard to always have to be willing compromise, it's hard to balance work and parenting and life and fun and everything else that life throws at you. But man, I wouldn't change any part of the last 6 years for anything. Every argument has made us stronger. Every hardship an trail has brought us closer together and made us stronger as a family. I truly believe that I can conquer anything in this life with S by my side. He's my best friend and my rock and I"m grateful for I'm every single day.

OK, enough of the mushy stuff. So, for our anniversary we slept in late and enjoyed mimosas in bed. No, just kidding. We actually had to get up early, grab some bagels and head to L's tball game! After that we headed out to the mall, where S bought me a new bathing suit as my anniversary present. (Side not, trying on bikinis is not a fun anniversary activity.... but I did find one that I like!) We had a light lunch at a new restaurant we've been wanting to try and then went home for naps and to get ready for the night.

For our date night our neighbors were nice enough to watch the big boys for us and we took baby R and headed down to downtown Phoenix to my new favorite restaurant, Postinos. (The same place my mom, sister and I went after the botanical gardens) We enjoyed delicious food and drinks and a relaxing dinner where R was beautifully behave and we didn't have to worry about toddler tantrums or sippy cups or ordering of the kids menu. It was pretty wonderful. We were home early and spent the rest of the night watching movies and just enjoying each others company.



It may not be flashy, and our anniversary may no longer involve fancy jewelry or nights out on the town, but I'm so in love with my life it's almost unreal. 

Happy 6 year anniversary, baby. Here's to about a million more!!!

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Family visit part 2

OK friends, I'm back to finish our family visit post! Honestly, while  these memories are one of the main reason I started this blog, these big family visits are probably some of the hardest for me to sit down and recount. The reason is because I don't always take enough pictures, and I certainly don't sit down and write about things as they are happening in real time. I desperately want to preserve these memories, but not at the expense of missing them while they are happening. I guess what i"m saying is I tend to put down the camera and the iPhone and computer during these times and try to just live in the moment, and I know that while my kids will love having these pages to look back on and read, they will love even more remembering that I was there and present.

OK, that was basically my disclaimer for only having pictures from a few of our event and not the whole week. We did a lot, and as always the kids were so excited to go to the Phoenix Children's Museum. We don't go as often as we should, mostly because its far away, but the cousins love it and so do L and L2. Even baby R was able to enjoy the baby room!







We spent an entire day here, and S took the day off so he could come and help me wrangle our children. Seriously, the museum is fun, but it is also big and crowded and I had no desire to try to keep track of all three of our brood by myself.



The noodle forest... terrifying for parents and a blast for kids!












The cousins hanging out

We also went to the pioneer museum, and my mom, sister, and I snuck away to the Chihuly exhibit.... but I have not pictures of these events so you'll just have to take my word that they did indeed happen.

We ended the week with Easter. My Nephews spring break always coinsides with Easter and it's always the perfect way to end a great trip. We decorate eggs an buy mimosa makings and pastries and my dad makes eggs Benedict. I try not to go to crazy with Easter presents, but this year i did get the boys a bubble machine that a few of their friends have, and of course we got copious amounts of chocolate and candy. (Have you ever tried the Reese's Pieces eggs? They are to die for!)









And then, sadly, the trip ended. My sister and her family flew out early Monday morning and my parents left on Tuesday. I'm not going to lie, I got a little teary. I wish my boys could have this time with their cousins all the time, and I wish we had the support and love of family around all of the time. And poor L and and L2 were devastated. They love their cousins and they don't understand why they can't play with them all the time. 

So this week has been a bit tougher. There have been more tantrums and more tears and I have had to try harder to hold my patience and remind myself that they are sad and this is the only way they know how to express it.

But we are moving back into normal, and the weather is getting hot again, so we have pool days and  camping trips and splash pad play dates to look forward too!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Camping round two and a visit from Family

For the past week and a half, we have taken a complete break from real life. L has not been in school, I have not gone to the gym, and S has taken several days off of work.  For the 5th year in a row we had our annual "family visit" over my nephews spring break, and our house was filled up with my parents, sister, brother-in-law, her three kids, and even my brother for one night. Luckily we're able to spread out a little between my parents vacation home and our house, but it is still crowded, and loud and messy .... and probably the most fun we have all year.





The last three years we have gone camping at Lake Pleasant, and this year we were especially excited to go since we have our pop-up trailer. (I was also especially excited that I wasn't pregnant this year. Last year I was about 7 weeks pregnant with R and so horribly sick the whole time... it was miserable!)



(R taking a nap in the trailer)










Camping with six kids is no joke. I love our camping trips and they are a lot of fun, but I would not necessarily call them relaxing! You always have to make sure the little ones are being watched, and since they are constantly running around everywhere it's kind of like trying to watch 25 games of ping-ping at the same time.




But the boys had a blast, and the adults had fun too! There was fishing and hiking and kayaking, and of course playing in the dirt! (what is with boys and just playing in dirt? It makes me itch just watching them!












We ended up staying for two night and three days, and I've decided that's about my camping limit. There is only so long I can go without showering and sleeping in a sleeping bag!










I'll cover the rest of the visit on my next post! Everyone just left on Monday, so we are still trying to get back into the groove around here!

Sunday, April 6, 2014

5 months!!!

My sweet baby R is 5 months!

Sometimes I can't even wrap my head around how much I love this little man. He is so sweet and so good and so funny..... I can't remember what life was like before he was a part of our family!

So what's Baby R doing at 5 months. A lot! He's still really working on crawling, and as of tonight actually managed to get himself on to all fours. He is scooting around a ton, although he tends to move in circles instead of going forwards. He is starting to get really into toys... especially blankets and the "taggy" toys.

We are still exclusively breastfeeding and haven't started any solids yet. I know it;s about time to introduce at least the rice cereal, but I would like to try and hold of until 6 months. I think he is ready though.... he shows a ton of interest in our food! He's eating about every 3 or 4 hours during the day, and he's still waking up about twice during the night. We are pretty much exclusively co-sleeping. he starts the night in his bassinet around 10, but moves to our bed usually before midnight and sleeps their the rest of the night. I know I need to start thinking about breaking this habit.... but I kind of love it and I'm not ready yet.

He still loves being held and he gets a little put out if he feels like you are ignoring him. He thinks his brothers are hilarious and he is babbling and cooing up a storm. He takes one good long afternoon nap (about 3 hours) and usually a few small capnats during the morning hours.

He doesn't have any teeth yet, but he is drooling a lot and chewing on everything. I don't think this is a huge sign of impending teeth, because all of my boys have teethed for  long periods of time before any teeth actually broke through, but we are keeping an eye on it!

And here's a picture of our adorable, big 5 month old!