Thanksgiving and mostly Black Thursday

Thanksgiving was so great this year. I love family and I love eating. Win win. The week started off with my parents coming into town on Monday. I just love having them here, it's nice having company during and help entertaining the kids. Dan, Britt, and Kami arrived Thursday morning. I'm so glad my family was able to come and visit even if it was for a short time. Dan, Britt and my parents ended up leaving Friday, but kami was able to stay until Saturday.

This was the first year that we had our eyes on a few items at Walmart for Black Friday (or Thursday).  We've been wanting a new TV for a while, but just haven't wanted to spend the money on one, but when we saw that 60" TV for less than $700 we couldn't pass it up.  Andrew and I headed over to Walmart at 5:00 to see how things were looking.  If there was already a huge line we'd just walk away, if there wasn't, we just might stay.  Well we got there and the place was surprisingly empty.  We found the line for the TV and there were about 15 people there already.  We asked a worker how many TV's there were and he told us 41, so we were like "holy crap we might actually have a shot at getting one!" So we stayed, or actually, Andrew stayed.  We brought Colby along with us so I didn't last long with him.  I put the boys in bed at 8:00 and headed over.  I also had my eye on a sewing machine that went on sale at 8:00.  I got there a little after 8:00 and the sewing machines were gone. That place was absolutely CRAZY, walking through the DVD section took FOREVER.  I met up with Andrew and just waited with him until 10:00 when the TV's went on sale and before we knew it, we had that beautiful TV back in our home.  Was it worth the 5 hour wait? yes, yes it was (dont worry, andrew agrees).  Andrew surprised me after we got home, we were trying to find a place to get a cheap wall mount (we saw one at walmart.com but we didn't want to wait for it to ship - we were anxious!)  I had to get sleep because the boys don't let me sleep very well, so i stayed home, but andrew got all crazy and in the black friday spirit and headed back out at 12:30 to find a wall mount.  He went to Target, best buy, and another walmart store (where he found my sewing machine) and also came home with a wall mount and "how I met your mother" seasons on DVD (funniest show ever by the way). It was a fantastic night :)  We just love our TV, and I am trying my best to sew.  It was a great day :)

I believe I jinxed things...

I would like to take this opportunity and take back almost everything I said about Colby. That little stinker is constantly changing.  I believe he has officially turned into a two year old over night.  He now wants all sorts of independence and do things on his own.  He tends to think he knows what is best for himself.  He fights nap time and bedtime now, he throws fits and whines a lot (I tend to think this is because he sees that I respond to Parker's cries so he now does it to get attention). Just now he tried to take my iPad from me so he could "see something real quick". So basically he acts like a baby but thinks he owns this place. Haha kinda funny.  It's cute watching him get all independent and figure things out on his own (nap time and bedtime are my least favorite of this change). This is just a phase and it'll pass :)

28 month Colby

I can't believe how  fast these kids grow.  I mean, 28 months? really? Colby says the funniest things these day, I've been writing them down in a book so I can always remember them.  He is always cracking us up.  He really does want to be such a good boy, he never wants to disappoint us.  He throws tantrums like any other 2 year old, but I know in his heart he wants to please us.

He is so good about naptime lately, it really is such a huge relief.  He tells me when he's tired and he grabs his bear and begs me to follow him (come on mommy, come on) and he leads me back to his room where he then gets the room ready (turns on the music, heater, fan etc) and then we read a book, he puts it back for me, and then gets into bed.  This is such a huge help since I am usually holding a tired Parker trying to put him to sleep as well.

• He is such a nice brother to Parker.  If Parker is crying, he will give him a toy to try and calm him down.
• He treats his bear like a baby, his bear cries, gets hurt, needs to take naps and even gets time outs.
• He jumps like crazy! He will jump off the couch, jump from the couch to the ottoman, jump off his bed. He's a crazy little dude.
• He always has to sit on the counter when I cook.
• After he eats his dinner, he comes running to us for a treat (yes we had to bribe him to get him to eat).
• He has started doing somersaults and loves it.
• He is very curious in what we're doing and says "what are you doing?" a lot.
• If we complete a task he'll say "good job mommy!" or "good job daddy!"
• He is always asking to go to the park with his friend Alina or to go to the store or get the mail.
• He is really good at understanding when I say "one more time" that it really is just one more time and then we need to go or we're all done with something.

 

Funny little story:

This morning I left Parker and Colby out in the living room while I ran in the back to take a quick shower, when I got out I heard Parker crying a bit (nothing unusual since he cries a lot) but I went out to check anyway, and what i saw was Parker laying on his stomach pinned down by Colby who was just laying on Parker on his stomach, his hands resting under his chin while he watched TV. Just like he would be laying on the floor, only he had Parker pinned down and was acting like it was no big deal.  Oh boy, these kids sure are going to have lots of fun together soon!

Colby really is such a good boy, I just love him to pieces!

Parker 7 months

Parker turned 7 months old on the 6th.  I just took him to the doctor today and here are the stats (at least what i remember of them):

 

Weight: 14 lb 3.5 oz

Height: 25.5 in

 

He's under the 5th percentile for a 7 month old, but since he was a month early they counted him as only 6 months and in that case he's in the 5-10th percentile.

 

• He's rolling all over the place
• He scoots around like crazy to get to all sorts of forbidden objects i purposely put out of his reach
• The doctor confirmed that he's teething (which would explain the extreme fussiness)
• He usually falls asleep for nap and bedtime with no problem
• He smiles all the time (even when he's fussy I can get him to fuss with a smile)
• He just stares at his daddy and gets the biggest grin on his face
• He already suffers with separation anxiety
• He wants to eat everything
• He LOVES electronics and tries to claw his way to get it (phone, remote, ipad, anything)
   



Fun little crafts

Lately I've been trying to find ways to entertain Colby.  I would love to just send him outside and let him play all day, but with him still wanting me to play alongside him I'm not able to with a newborn in hand.  So after searching pinterest for ideas, i finally tried out a few.  We have so much fun!  His favorite thing (and the thing that keeps him entertained the longest - so therefore my favorite thing too) is play dough.  Here's some other things we've done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love days at the beach

I have been looking forward to this last weekend for a long time.  Andrew had a CPA test Saturday morning, so we headed down to LA to stay with Dan and Britt Friday night, and then we would have ALL day Saturday to spend and the beach or carve pumpins or perhaps both. Things didn't exactly go as planned. Friday night andrew told me we would have to leave LA early because he had to work, and then when we were on our way he tells me early meant 1:00. So basically every plan was out the window.  We still had a great time though. He finished his test around 11:00 and then we headed to the beach for an hour.  It was a short visit, but so much fun. I love spending time with my family (kami also made the trip up to LA from Huntington Beach).

 

 

50's Date Night

Andrew and I seem to only go out when it's free, and it just so happened we scored 2 free date nights this week (thanks to CBIZ)!  Andrew got tickets to go to a college fundraiser thing (good food) but the real fun was a couple days later we were able to dress up in 50's dress to attend a Petroleum Club party.  I didn't really have much of a 50's costume (i was trying to go as cheap as possible) but i was able to pull something together, and of course...the guys were easy to dress.  We had a great time with some co-workers of Andrews and some great food!

 



Volkslauf

On Saturday the 13th Andrew, my dad, and I ran a 10k for Volkslauf.  I was dying to do it last year, but since i was secretly pregnant with parker, I had to come up with a very lame excuse to get out of (I think it was along the lines of Andrews team needing another guy, not a girl? i don't know, but my parents bought it). Anyway, so ALL year I've been wanting to run the Volkslauf race, and when it came down to actually running it, I realized how completely unprepared I was (I mean I had a year to prepare, but did i? no). I ran about 4 miles a few weeks after i had parker, and it wasn't too bad, and then a couple months ago i ran other 4 miles, and in between this time i would only run a couple miles every other day.  So all of a sudden i needed to bust out 6 miles, it was SOOO hard. Did you know that Andrew can go from sitting on the couch for a year, to running a 10k like no big deal? Well he can, and I can't.  I thought I'd be setting the pace, but both Andrew and my dad wanted to go much faster than I did, so I tried my best to keep up with them so i didn't let them down.  Holy heck I thought i might die (it's a tad depressing to think a couple years ago this run wouldn't have been a big deal. kids change things).  You basically run 5 or so miles straight (maybe just a couple obstacles) and then the majority of the obstacles and all the mud is at the end of the race, and let me tell you they were a blessing! Running was so hard, but he obstacles...SO NICE. I was finally able to catch my breath (it didn't hurt that i didn't have to jump over the walls, but just climb on Andrew to get over). I'm not sure if I'd run the 10k again (i don't know when i'll get in good shape again) but i would definitely run the 5k. SO much fun!!



I asked Colby for a kiss.  This was the face I got.





6 month old Parker

Parker is 6 months old now and we FINALLY got him back to the doctor for his 4 months physical when he was 5 1/2 months old. Holy smokes dealing with insurance is INSANE, but that's off the subject. Here are his stats (when he was 5 1/2 months):

head: 15 in

weight: 13 lb 8.2 oz

height: 25 3/4 in

 

• He is smiling all the time, and has the cutest smile. 
• He rolls over like a champ onto his stomach, but finds himself stuck there because he can't roll back over very well. 
• He LOVES standing.  I try to get him to sit, and all he wants to do is grab my hand and try to stand. It's cute.
• He is sleeping ALL night (from 8-7) and is now in the same room as Colby.
• I'm pretty sure he'd be closer to crawling if he would ever take his hands out of his mouth.  He has been chewing and drooling since he was a couple months old. Now I'm not sure if he's teething, or if it's a crazy habit.
• He absolutely loves his daddy, I'm just the food lady, but his daddy means FUN.
• He is completely amazed by Colby and all the cool stuff he can do.
• He sits up really well, and this makes him MUCH happier than laying on the floor.
• He gets mad when we are all eating and he isn't.

He gives us the BIGGEST smiles. I love him!

He can't take his eyes off that sandwich

Colby and his suitcase

This kid. He's completely crazy.  Who knew a suitcase would entertain him for DAYS?!? He has always loved playing with ours, but they were so big to push around that he would always need help.  Well finally, i came up with the bright idea to get him his OWN small suitcase.  I tell ya what, I'm pretty sure he thinks i'm #1 mom.  This thing works great to entertain him AND to bribe him :) haha.  He didn't even ask me to go in the backyard yesterday (the 100 degrees may not bother him, but it bothers me a great deal. so whenever we get to stay inside i'm happy). I thought this video was just so great (ignore the mess). Colby took this suitcase everywhere, he sat with it on the couch and would even sit on it to eat. The first thing he says to me in the morning, wanna guess? yep. "suitcase? where is it?" yeah buddy, good morning to you too.

Colby's room

At 4:30 on Saturday evening, we decided THEN was a good time to paint Colby's room, FINALLY. We only had enough time to pain 2 walls, and then we finished the other two walls on Monday.  We even found the perfect storage unit that we have been searching for at Costco, so of course we had to purchase it.  I feel that his room is now way more organized, but more than that, our living room looks a lot less like a kid tornado now that we are able to put most of Colby's toys in his room. SO SO happy with his room now :)

 

 

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After (it's hard to tell, but the walls went from white to tan, oh yeah, and we picked up the junk)

kids

Parker wants to move around SO bad. He just watches Colby and wants to be just like him.  Whenever I'm holding him, he's always trying to force himself to sit up, or when i try to get him to sit, he automatically stands, and when he's laying on his back, he's trying to roll over.  It's so cute to see his motivation, I can't wait for him to be moving!  He's rolled over from his stomach to his back about 6 times in the last couple days (yes, i've counted).  He doesn't quite know he can do it yet, but he's well on his way!  Parker needs to be constantly entertained, and he hates when I leave the room, so I'm very much looking forward to him being able to sit up and entertain himself with some toys around him.  I just love his smile! Even when he's trying to cry, I can get him to give me the one and only Parker smile. It's so precious, and I'm so glad he does it all the time! I'm in love with that kid!

Colby is so much fun these days too.  He's speaking so well, and loves helping out.  I love how honest and pure his heart is.  He truly wants to do the right thing and make us proud.  He's got a little mischevious side to him also, but that also makes me laugh (usually)

I've been wanting to let Colby paint for a while, but just hadn't gotten around to it, so last week I decided to give it a shot.  I kinda picked a bad time, because while Colby was painting, I was trying to get Parker down for a nap, and before I know it Colby starts crying.  I look over and he's just upset because he got paint on his foot.  This kid of mine, he doesn't mind getting dirty if he's outside and in the right environment, but he just KNEW that the paint wasn't supposed to be on his foot and he couldn't stand it.  So later i decide to make some paint for the bathtub, thinking he'd be okay getting dirty in there.  NOPE, again, he starts crying after 15 minutes or so because he was getting too dirty.  cracks me up.  Some days he's super sensitive about it, and others he doesn't care.

4 wonderful years

Andrew and I have been married for FOUR years! I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  I'm so happy and blessed to be married to such a wonderful man.  Andrew is so good to me, he's a wonderful husband and he is such a good daddy to Colby and Parker.

  

 Things have been pretty crazy around here, I got home from Hawaii on the 12th and our anniversary was on the 15th.  All I wanted for our anniversary (well besides a ford explorer) was for andrew to get home early enough from work so that we can hang out together, and he did that! He even brought home a Marie calenders pie :) it was a low key anniversary, but I got everything I wanted (besides that Explorer).  it's crazy to see where our life is now in just 4 years of marriage, and over 8 years of dating.

High School Graduation in 2004



Trip to Hawaii Summer 2004

Same spot on Maui 8 years later

Hawaii

At the end of July and beginning of August we had our family vacation.  There were good and bad things about it, but it was definitely a learning experience.  For example, a cheap house with a pool anywhere would be great for a vacation.  Going all the way to Hawaii for a beach is a bit of a stretch with little kids.

Pros: 
The first week Parker was AMAZING with the time change.  He'd sleep from 7:00 until 5:00-6:00.  That changed as he got used to the new time, but that first week was great!

Colby loved going in the ocean with daddy.  He would boogie board with him and had a blast.

I now know we did not waste our money buying a beach tent, I had to have it to keep Parker out of the sun, and it worked great.

I loved spending the entire first week with Andrew.  Too bad he had to go back to work, but it was fun having him around that first week.

Colby and Lea were so cute when they played together.  Lea would follow Colby around, and Colby would crawl around with Lea.

Colby loved seeing all the chicken on Kauai, and would call out "CHICKEN BIRD" whenever he saw any kind of bird.

I didn't get burnt, I was hardly in the sun so therefore, I didn't get burnt.

There was a great pool at both places we stayed, which ended up being way less stressful than heading to the beach.

There was a lot of family around to help me with Colby and Parker.


Cons:
A newborn can't be in the sun, therefore making a trip to Hawaii is VERY difficult. Someone had to be holding him all the time under an umbrella or in the tent.

Almost everyone ended up getting sick, kinda makes anything miserable. So sad watching Lea and Colby get sick though, they were up a lot at night coughing.

Colby would hardly eat or drink anything, that made tantrums pretty great....

Skipping naps all over the place is hard on little ones.

The time change back to California time has been a NIGHTMARE.  Parker didn't struggle the first couple nights, now he's wide awake until 10:30.  And wakes up multiple times at night.  NOT happy about that.

Colby was sleeping with Nana and Papa the last week, so now (on top of time change issues) he HATES sleeping by himself.  He used to chill in bed until he fell asleep and waited for me to get him in the morning.  When we got back, he started screaming bloody murder until Andrew finally ended up just sleeping in the room with him all night.  I've got high hopes for him though, he's already 80 times better.  I bought a lock for his door and he hasn't even tried to open the door yet since i got it.  He still cries, but at least he stays in bed.

Next year I'm not sure what we'll do.  I know this is only the first week since we got back, but we'll see how long it takes before Andrew and I start getting sleep again.  A 2 week vacation may be too much for the kids.

Now that our vacation is over....Andrew and I need a vacation.

Colby at 2 years

I can't believe my little boy is 2 years old! He's such a crazy kid, and I love him to pieces!  He is always making me laugh either by what he says or what he's doing.  I love watching him copy everything his daddy does. It's way too cute.  I took him to the doctors yesterday for his check-up.  Having the doctors give a 2 year old shots makes me more sad than giving a baby shots. But colby took it like a champ and was super happy about the sucker afterwards.  Here are his 2 year stats:

Weight: 23.8 lbs

Height: 34 in.

He's just growing so fast.  He's still in the 5th percentile, but they aren't too worried since he's consistant with the 5th percentile and isn't going down.

Colby loves:

Reading certain books over and over and over again

His stuffed animals

Acting like his stuffed animals are babies (copies what I do with Parker and practices them on his animals)

Playing cars (especially his digger)

playing on my Ipad

watching the beginning of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and one of the baby einstein movies

playing outside whenever he can for as long as he can

pretending to drive

jumping into the pool

being on the counter when i'm cooking

chasing around the house

and many many more things

He's in a toddler bed now. He's so good with it, I put him in and tell him to wait for me to get him, so when he wakes up in the morning or after his naps he still waits in bed for me to get him.  I know it's only a matter of time before he figures out that he can get out and roam the house, but right now i'm enjoying how cute it is that he still just lays there and waits.  He loves Parker, sometimes he doesn't understand how rough he's being with him, but I can tell he just wants to play with him and love him.  Colby also has three out of his four 2 year molars in.  The last should be coming any day now.

This past weekend we threw him a birthday party and it ended up being so much fun!  I had a great time watching as everything came together.  Andrew and I decorated he birthday cake, we made little cars out of apples and grapes, and dipped strawberries and pineapples in chocolate. Fantastic food if you ask me (that's why we chose it).  We had a slip n slide, rented a big blow up slide, and filled the kid pool up.  We never even made it over to the big pool.  The kids seemed to love the slide.  They were still a little young to go down the slide on their own for the most part, but the parents had fun taking the kids down (at least andrew and I had a great time)

More Jump

We were able to take the boys swimming on Saturday for a little bit. This is the second day putting Colby in a life vest and I think he's doing really well! he wont be swimming anytime soon, but he's very comfortable with this thing! Just a month ago he wasn't too thrilled about the water, but now all he wants to do is jump in and is always saying "more jump". I'm so happy he's finally liking the water!

I'm not sure what you can hear in the video, but he's saying "one, two" and then jumps, and as soon as he comes up from the water he yells "three!"

4th of July

I did it. I stepped outside of my comfort zone and we traveled to LA for the 4th to spend the night at Dan and Britt's. I have been wanting to go to LA so bad and stay with them, but I've been terrified about how the little kiddos would sleep at night.  After Andrew got off work on the 3rd, we headed down to LA and got there a little before 8.  Colby went OFF THE WALL!!  He was so hyper and LOVING that he was center of attention. He was purposely trying to get us all to laugh, it was so funny watching him go crazy.  We didn't even try putting him to sleep until after 10, he was hyper for that long.  We had Kami, Andrew, and I laying on the living room floor, Colby in a pack n play behind the couch so he couldn't see us, and Parker in his carseat in the closet. I hardly slept because I was having crazy anxiety, but they did so good!  Colby actually woke up whining for some reason (he's been doing that lately, but I can ignore it when he's at home in his crib) I didn't want him to wake everyone up including Parker, so I picked him up and let him sleep on me.  I just watching him sleep for an hour and a half, he was just so precious. Then Parker started waking up at 4:00, so I put Colby back in his crib and went and fed Parker, and he went back down super easily as well.  Love those kids, maybe we can do it again now that we had success.

The next morning, we headed for the beach to spend the 4th of July at the beach. We were welcomed by the clouds, wind, and COLD. (perhaps it was cold because I just might be getting used to the 100 degree bakersfield weather). but luckily the sun came out around 2:00.  Colby didn't seem to mind the cold one bit. he played in the ocean, and the rest of the day he spent it in his diaper while I was all wrapped up in a blanket.  He had so much fun at the beach, this makes me so excited to go to Hawaii at the end of the month.  We had such a great relaxing day at the beach. I absolutely loved our little break.

A new perspective

I believe it is time for another update on how the kids are doing.  I feel like the last few blog posts have been quite negative (well I don't feel like they were, i know they were). So now that things are getting under control, and I'm not completely sleep deprived, I think an update is a must.

Being a mom of two has not come easy for me.  I kept telling myself it could be worse, and I'm blessed to have two healthy kids.  I couldn't get that to change my attitude though.  There are days that I just made sure their needs were met. I could hardly smile and the only emotions I felt were sadness and anger.  It's hard to have a positive outlook on life when the most sleep you get for 2 1/2 months is a broken 3-4 hours a night and then you deal with crying all day.  It's very draining, and your patience is very thin, it's amazing what no sleep does to someone (and i'm ashamed that it got the best of me). I'm working past that, and now I feel happiness again - and thank goodness it's taking over the other two emotions.  I don't want to jinx myself, but Parker is now sleeping amazing at night.  I feed him at 7:15, and he's down by 8.  He doesn't wake up again to eat until sometime between 3-4 usually (one night he even made it until 5). I'm able to feed him, and put him right back down.  I'm usually back in bed in 20 minutes (now to only train my body to sleep at night again, but that'll come).  It was pretty much the worst 2 1/2 months of my life, but we figured it out. And we are ALL happier because of it.

I've started keeping a baby journal.  I felt it was really important for me to watch for the things that I love about my kids.  Watch for the things that make me smile and love being a mom.  I've been trying to write in it a little bit every day to remind myself that my kids are a blessing, and that being a mom is such a wonderful gift. I've got two of the cutest little boys in the world who keep me smiling and laughing.  I love the way Parker looks at me and smiles, and I love the way Colby communicates with us and plays with his toys.  I love that he is always trying his best to be a good boy, he hates when he see's someone sad. He never wants to upset us.  I'm enjoying every moment I have with them while they are young and want me around :)

Kids are my life

So after walking out of the doctors office less than a week ago because they tried to tell me they dont take our insurance, I spent the rest of the afternoon calling every doctor in bakersfield and the only people that did take my insurance were on the east side of town. Not only did i not want to go over there by myself, but i knew this doctors office took my insurance. So i sucked up my pride and called and set an appointment AGAIN. We got things worked out and it went a lot smoother this time.  We are still going to change our insurance next month so we don't have to deal with this doctors office anymore.

2 month stats:
21 1/4 inches long
weighs 9 lbs 5.9 oz

He's gaining weight slowly, in the 5th percentile.  I could tell the doctor wanted me to supplement again, but I might try to squeeze in another feeding instead since last time the formula made him throw up all the time.  Colby was the same way, very slow at gaining weight, so we aren't too concerned. He also has torticollis (his neck muscles are tight on one side) so we need to work on stretching that out and strengthening the other side. Hopefully all goes well!

I still can't believe Parker is TWO MONTHS OLD!!! How crazy is that?! And i can't believe it's been 2 months since i've slept!!  it almost feels like an achievement and that i should be receiving some time of award or something. I can usually use lack of sleep to get myself a back rub from a concerned hubby (he's afraid i might snap at any moment).  You know how you go through trials and those trials help make you stronger for other trials? Lets just say I'm terrified for what baby #3 will bring (no i'm not expecting, pretty sure i'm going to have to become normal again before i can even bring up THINKING about having another child to Andrew)


Here's a typical night:

• Put Colby down at 8
• Feed/bathe Parker shortly after (usually around 8:15ish)
• Rock him and have him finally in bed around 9:00-9:15
• Then I get a blissful 45 minutes before I need to go to sleep (around 10:00)
• Parker starts fussing around 2:00, but he makes it until about 3:00 before he really wants fed (so I lay in bed listening to him)
• Feed Parker at 3:00 (then burp, and walk with him upright for about 20-30 minute so he doesn't spit up his food and read a bit)
• Lay there in bed reading for a few minutes to make sure he goes to sleep
• Parker sleeps for about 45 minutes before he starts fussing from pain
• burp/hold/bounce and sometimes sleep until around 6:00 and sometimes read
• Feed at 6:00 (by now it's light out and more difficult for him to go to sleep)
• give him the paci to try and get him to go back to sleep for 2 more hours (he doesn't keep it in, so I lay there and put it in every few minutes and usually read)

So I don't know if you picked up on it...but basically my only time to sleep is until 2:00 and I read A LOT! and then I'm dealing with an incredibly gassy/uncomfortable baby the rest of the night. Once a week or so when I've reached my limit, I get Andrew up to help me so I can get another hour or so of sleep.  I'm a walking zombie these days. I've come to the understanding that I just have fussy babies. With lots of prayers, i'm able to handle that fact. Sometimes I just catch myself staring at my kids and I'm amazed at the blessings they are.  These 2 kids completely rely on me. Heavenly Father sent them into our home and I'm truly greatful and humbled by that. It's hard sometimes, but I wouldn't change a thing. I love the little things they do that make me laugh. They light up my life.

Parkers Blessing Weekend

This past weekend was Parkers blessing.  We blessed him in our home Saturday morning. All my family was able to be here (Dan, Britt, Kami, Jason, Francisca, Lea, my mom and my dad) and Andrews parents were able to make it down too.  We had a full house, but we had such a good time with family around.  Andrew gave a beautiful blessing and were were able to spend the rest of the weekend by the pool (which helped us manage the 100 degree weather).

Oregon

Going back to Oregon was probably the best thing for my little family.  We were there a little over a week and it was such a stress relief.  Parker began sleeping at night (YAY).  I was actually able to feed him, and put him back down.  Yes i still had to try and burp him a couple times, but i didn't have to walk around with him for an hour.  I even put him in his own room, but it was right on the other side of the wall so i still heard him, but didn't wake up for every sound.  I'm now getting about 5 hours or so of sleep a night and I'm SO much happier. He's even sleeping for a 6-7 hour stretch of time (which happens to be from 8-2 because if i wake him up at 11 to eat, he still wakes at 2...bummer).

While we were in Oregon we visited the Portland Zoo.  I haven't been there in SO long, it's so pretty! Colby enjoyed it a lot more than I thought, but i think he enjoyed the freedom he got more than actually seeing the animals.  His favorite animals were the hippo, the giraffe, the ducks, the elephant, and the monkeys. his favorite THINGS were the water puddles, the stairs, and a bird that landed next to him.

Colby also learned some colors over the week.  Before this last week the only color he knew was pink (slightly embarrassing) but he's picked up on yellow, orange, and green, and sometimes blue. He also knows how to count to 10 pretty well (with encouragement, if i say a number he usually knows what comes next), and when i ask him "what's rock hard?" he hits his abs. I love teaching him new things :)

Back to Oregon though...we didn't do too much, but it was so nice to just relax and have more time.  We made it to the park a couple times, went out to dinner, and just played outside.  My parents were a great help with the two so that I was able to get some much needed freedom.

 Parkers favorite spot - right next to papa

Swinging is always a good time

first bath together

finding ways to entertain him outside 

Couldn't get Colby to give me a smile, so this is what i got

My parents came back with me to Bakersfield since we are blessing Parker on Saturday.  You know those stupid people who hold up traffic on the freeway? well that was us. My backpack was not secured in the back of the truck, so within a few minutes of getting on the freeway the tragedy happened, my bag fell out while in the fast lane.  We pull over to the left, and while backing up (yes, backing up on the freeway) i'm trying to think of everything i have in that bag.  Diapers, wipes, some sandwiches and snacks.  I'm in the clear! nothing worthwhile. And then it dawns on me that perhaps i have a few valuables... my phone, my cheaper camera...not too bad, and then i remember...MY IPAD!!! We HAVE to get it back!!! We see my bag there between the middle and far left lane. My dad gets out of the truck, my mom starts hysterically praying, and I watch my bag as cars dodge it. 2 lanes of traffic stops for my dad to rescue my Ipad.  My phone was in the side pocket, so that was definitely gone. I open up my bag to find all the crackers are now crumbs, the sandwiches completely flat...and there's my Ipad. I pull it out, open it up, and the screens lights up beautifully. Unbelievable. It survived getting ran over by cars. I'm so incredibly blessed that I did not have to break that news to Andrew.