My baby is One!

Alex is one!!

Birth Minute

 It is nearly impossible for me to believe that it's been a year since this little guy arrived!  Alex has brought so much joy and adventure to our family.

Alex's party wasn't until Saturday, so we spent Friday celebrating with family.

Birthday Cup Cake!

Lunch at Rubys!

We decided to set up for the party a day early to give Alex some time to play in his own personal amusement park for his birthday!

The first gift Alex got on his birthday was from his big brother.



It's Olaf!!!

Some quick notes on my Big Boy:

Height/Weight: 22 lbs!  Up to 40th percentile!  

Clothing Size:12 months

Diaper Size: 3 (but honestly, he should be in 4s)

Eating: Loves eating!  Mommy is happy he's a year so I don't have to keep trying to bribe him to drink his milk/formula!

Sleeping: Overall he sleeps great!  He goes down about 6:30 and wakes up around 8 am.  He takes a nap from 12:30 to 3:30 or so everyday.

New Skills: Nothing specific this month, but Alex is growing every day!  I can't wait to see what's next for my little guy.

Grandma's Birthday!

Grandma shared her birthday with us this year!  Of course there's no shortage of work around here, so it was a working birthday. :)

I didn't get a picture of the actual cake we got her, but I did use our brand new feltboard to 'build a birthday cake for Grandma.'

Thank you for all of your help, grandma and we hope you had as much fun for your birthday as we did!

Amy's Birthday Interview!

As I shared on Colin's birthday, we have a new tradition in our family, the birthday interview!  So without further ado, here is mine.

Birthday Interview!

Name:  Amy

Age:  31 (wait, I'm supposed to say 29, aren't I? Eh, I worked hard to get here, so 31 it is!)

Favorite Thing to Do:  Spend time with my family.  

Favorite Food:  Salmon Sushi and champagne 

Favorite Color: blue green

Favorite Book:  I love you as Much

Favorite time of Day: I currently have two; when things go well, it's the early morning when Gavin brings a hungry but drowsy Alex to nurse and he falls asleep snuggled up to me.  Sometimes that isn't quite so idyllic, so the other time is when Colin gives me check kisses.  I LOVE check kisses. (A check kiss is when he holds my checks in my hands and gives me a kiss)

What do you want to be when you grow up?  besides an engineer and mommy, a children's author.

What do you do really well?  Involve the boys in my daily activities.  People are amazed when I tell them that Colin helps me in the kitchen (okay, help is a strong word, but still).  It's never easy and I have good days and bad days, but I feel like I'm pretty good at making it fun for everyone.

What makes you laugh? My kids most often, followed by my friends (that's why their my friends!)

What are you afraid of? I work hard to let go of my fears so they don't take over, but being a parent is scary.

Who is your best friend? I've meet a ton of great women the last few years who I am incredibly grateful to call my friends, but my best friend is still my husband.  I love you, Gavin!

What do you like to do with your family: Play, explore, and cuddle.

What do you like to learn about: publishing a book and starting a new ministry.

If you had one wish, what would it be?  I wish that all mothers everywhere had the luxury of worrying about the things I worry about.  I guess another way to say that is that I wish there weren't children facing disease, hunger, abuse, or neglect.  I wish the biggest concerns facing any family was if they should choose organic produce or if their children should attend 3 year preschool.  

Colin is 2!!

My sweet sweet baby boy is 2!

Colin is an incredibly advanced communicator.  He often speaks in complete sentences, uses pronouns and knows more words than I could possibly count.  Most people who meet him are amazed at his vocabulary.  The other day he said "Grandma, you should try it." (referencing a smoothie I'd made that Grandma said she didn't want.)  I was amazed that he seemed to understand what each of those words meant.

Colin has also started to become more introverted.  He's not shy and he enjoys interacting with people and other children, but I've noticed several situations when we prefers to keep to himself.  I love watching his personality develop.

One!

Two!

The last six months have been busy ones for Colin!  He got a new baby brother, started school (technically two schools!)  He even (temporarily) gave up his pacifier.

We started a new tradition in our family: Birthday Interviews!  It's a little over Colin's head, but here are his answers anyway (along with mommy's answers)

Birthday Interview!

Name: "C! Conin!"  (Colin seems to pronounce his name with an extra N)

Age: "Two!"  

Favorite Thing to Do: "Watch a Bo" (he was asking to watch a Bo, but that is probably one of his favorite things to do! :))

Favorite Food:  "Bananas" ( We had just eaten breakfast, but he does love Bananas.  It's so nice to have our little eater back.  Colin will eat almost anything)

Favorite Color: "Pink one!"

Favorite Book:  "That one."  (Colin loves books, his current favorite is probably "Three Billy Goats Fluff")

Favorite time of Day: "Conin push something!" (I started losing him at this point. Colin's favorite time of day is probably whenever he is outside.)

What do you want to be when you grow up? ""Push that one right there, please!" (At two, it's impossible to say but daddy says based on his play preferences he'd guess Librarian!)  

What do you do really well? (Colin was done answering questions at this point, but the answer is talk!  Kid never stops!)

What makes you laugh? (Daddy!  He loves playing games.  His two favorite are 'running' where we run around the kitchen island and 'achoo' where his big bear sneezed and sends everyone flying around).

What are you afraid of? (I'm not sure.  He doesn't seem to have any acute fears yet).

Who is your best friend? (The answer oscillates between Desmond and Jax).

What do you like to do with your family: (Read and play!)

What do you like to learn about: (Everything!  The world is our classroom.  We are casually working on letters and potty training, but mostly just playing)

If you had one wish, what would it be? (Probably unlimited bos (videos) and birthday cake all of the time!

Zero

One

Two!

How long do you think I'll be able to convince him to take this picture every year?? 

Happy Birthday, baby boy!  Mommy loves you!!

Colin's Birthday Celelbration Part 2!

It's been a whirlwind week. Colin is 2! Alex is 1/2! We celebrated Thanksgiving, had aventures at the beach, Palm Springs and around our house!  I'll go in order I think.

Colin's birthday was on Thanksgiving this year, so we had a house full of people to celebrate with us!

Special Birthday Breakfast

Colin had so much with his family!  Grandma and Grandpa got him a work bench, an electric toothbrush, a guitar and some big boy clothes.  Auntie Cheryl got him the coolest book with moving pictures in it and mommy and daddy bought him his much wanted dyson vaccum, a magnetic whiteboard with letters and numbers and a car play mat.  This kid is crazy spoiled!

He also got another borthday cake!

While we will definiately need to watch the sugar for a while, it was so much fun to celebrate with everyone!

Happy Birthday, Bright Bug!

Birthday Celebration Part 1

My baby boy is going to be 2!!  While I was pregnant, my OB called him my little butterball since he was due so close to Thanksgiving.  This year, his birthday IS Thanksgiving!  I am so greatful for all of the joy this little guy has brought to my life.

We wanted Colin to have a special time with some of his friends so we had a small get together for some of his favorite little people the weekend before his birthday

Before Chaos arrived!

 Gavin and I were going with a casual cars theme, but at the store, Colin insisted on Thomas, so we did a last minute switch.  He was so excited to see his cake!!

Grandma bought him a fun Thomas train tent and him and his friends had so much fun!

We bought pizza and the kids sat and ate it pretty much on their own; like big kids.  Sniffle.

My favorite part was watching the kids interact and play.  But a close second was being reminded how many people love and care about my precious son.

 

Colin has apparently been practicing for blowing out his candle because as soon as he saw it, he started trying!!

We didn't really intend for him to open his presents during his party because ownership is a difficult concept for toddlers and we thought the kids would get bored.  But Colin had plans of his own.  He got lots of help!

Overall, the kids were amazingly behaved and we had so much fun.  It was pretty much exactly what we were hoping for: a low stress party focused on making sure the kids had a great time.

Happy Birthday Jax!!

This weekend we celebrated the birthday of our special little guy Jackson.

Jackson's mommy and daddy always do such a fabulous job hosting parties (kind of makes me wish our children's birthdays went in the opposite order!! ;)

This year, they celebrated with a knight theem and a special musical guest!

The Birthday boy!

tattos by Miss Leslie. :)

I am so happy that I can be a part of this little guys life as he grows up.  I can't believe how much he has grown already.  He becomes a more fun and playful little guy every day and  I can't wait to see what's next!

What a decade!

I approached my 30th birthday with ambivalence.  The party I had made Gavin promise to throw years and years ago (a champagne tasting) was obviously out.  I'd also spent the last month or so fighting the flu.  Plus, in the light of Colin's first birthday and his first aware Christmas, a grown up birthday just can't compete.

I had a beautiful day.  I slept in, ate Indian food, received some beautiful and thoughtful gifts, ate cake, and had a romantic and simple date with Gavin.  I also had some time to reflect on what a fantastic decade it's been.

It wasn't so long ago that thirty seemed so old!!  I couldn't imagine being thirty.

But today I am 30.  And even better, I'm absolutely ready to be thirty.  When I reflect on the last ten years, I'm amazed at how much I've grown.  I'm also amazed at what I've accomplished.  I finished my education.  I passed my professional licensing exams.  I found a career I adore and I've done well in it.  I've built four bridges, one sports complex, countless roads, sewers, walls, and improvements.  I met my husband.  We traveled around the world, from Poland, to Australia, to London to Monte Carlo.  We bought a beautiful home and everyday we slowly learn how to take care of it and make it ours.  I bought two turtles who continue to hang around despite my initial thought that they'd last the semester.  I adopted my (evil) cat. We adopted Penny and then Dora and Lucky.  We moved from pet parent to human parent after a trying journey and now adore the time we spend with Colin.  And soon we will be four!  I've made some amazing friends and some incredible memories.  Along the way, I've also made my share of mistakes.  I've learned from every one of them.  Some of them have taken longer to bounce back from than others, and some left scars, but every single one of them helped make me who I am today.

I'm proud of what I accomplished during my twenties.  In no particular order, 10 memories from the last ten years:

? (2003)

First Internship (2004)

Disneyland (2005)

An early date with Gavin (2006)

Graduation (2006)

Celebrating with Gavin (2007)

Our House! (2008)

A birthday Celebration in the Bahamas! (2009)

Wedding Day! (2010)

Colin! (2012)

Today (basically)

I can't wait to see what this decade holds!