San Diego

I'm blogging this a month late, but lately my little two boys have kept me going! I even have to do this fast because Parker is waking up.  So as I mentioned in other posts I'm sure, Andrew has been working crazy hours at work for the past few months. I think he averaged about 18+ hours a day. FINALLY he has slowed down and we get to enjoy his company once again and we love every second of it! Anyway, when it started slowing down he was able to take a Friday off and we decided to go ahead and do what we've wanted to do for a very long time.  We headed down to San Diego and visited the zoo.  It was amazing, that zoo is HUGE! I had no idea there were so many animals! Parker of course didn't care much, but Colby loved seeing the animals, although not nearly as much as he loved seeing all the BUSES!!  We went on bus rides around the park for his enjoyment.  That's all he wanted to do.  They even have this skyfari thing there that takes you from the bottom of the park to the top,  he loved it, but we couldn't see much.  We asked him how he wanted to get back down and of course he said...BUS.

This trip is kind of a big deal, it was our first trip that WE paid for, with absolutely no help. I can't believe we've been married for almost 5 years and this is our first official family trip, then again we don't go on many trips without either his family around or my family around and they are both just so generous.  ANYWAY, it was a great time.  We had planned to go to an aircraft carrier museum on Saturday, but both kids woke up Saturday morning sick, so we went to breakfast instead and then checked out mission beach.  It was then that I realized I LOVED San Diego.  I didn't see much of it, but what I did see what so fun and amazing.  and it wasn't over 100 degrees like Bakersfield, that might have a lot to do with it.

San Luis Obispo

Andrew had a recruiting event at the college in San Luis Obispo on Saturday.  We decided to make a little trip out of it, and I'm so glad we did.  It was such a nice weekend to get away and enjoy a little time at the beach. 

 

We hung out at Pismo beach while Andrew was away for a couple hours at his recruiting event

 

When Andrew got back, we rented an awesome bike and strolled around town, despite what you may think from this picture, the boys actually had a great time.  Colby kept saying how fun it was, and parker kept banging his helmet against the bike, clearly out of excitement.

 

 Then we made the crazy walk up to the end of the pier.  It was so windy and cold, but we couldn't give up!

 

Loved this weekend. Andrew has been working insane hours the last few months, it was nice to get away, even if he was still gone for part of it!

Parkers 12 month check-up

On the 13th Parker had his one year check up, a month late.  For my records, here are his stats:

Weight: 17 lb 10.5 oz
Height: 29 in

He's a tiny boy.  Dropped below the 5th percentile.  The doctor is a little concerned, but since i told her how much he eats she seems ok with it, but how my goal is to fatten this little boy up.  I looked back at what Colby was at this age and he had dropped below the 5th percentile at some point as well, so I think it'll all be ok!

Parker is so much fun.  He isn't using any words, just dadadada, but he talks ALL the time. Always babbling something.  every now and then i'll get a mamama or nanana in there but he has no idea what he's saying.

He is such a trooper and doesn't even cry much when Colby pushes him down.

He tried to climb on everything.

He wants whatever colby has.

He thinks whats mine is his.

Still taking two naps, but soon will probably be down to one.

Smiles so so easily.

Loves his daddy more than anything.

Drools more than you could ever imagine.

Never stops moving.

I love that little boy :)

potty training

I believe the first attempt to potty training Colby started sometime in January.  I went into it with little research and being completely naive to how hard this process was actually going to be.  I guess my thought process was along the lines of if you stick to it, your child will learn to potty train in a week, and after the first day he'll start to figure out what was happening.  I guess I was thinking I had a miracle child that would figure it out fast.  He didn't.  We tried for a week straight, i went straight to underwear so that he would feel he was wet, not like it, and soon start going in the potty so he wouldn't get wet.  Well, I spent that entire first week cleaning up mess after mess after mess after mess.  It was awful.  I gave up after a week.  I tried again a few weeks later, and had about the same sucess as before, so again, i gave up.  I tried again and this time I went to pull-ups so I wouldn't have to keep chasing him around with a towel to clean up his messes.  It was FOREVER before he started to understand.  I want to say it was a few weeks, and he finally started to go on the toilet all by himself, but would still have a few accidents.  Then, we went on vacation. oh goodness.  it was all out the window, i even brought his little potty on vacation with us, so he would go every now and then, but was having messes for the most part (we were at the pool/ocean most the day, so accidents just happened). So after a week on vacation we basically started over.  LUCKILY he picked it up faster this time around and didn't take months to accomplish it.  I don't know if I can even say he is fully potty trained (it's been about 5 months of trying by  now).  He will pee in the toilet, but pooping is hit or miss.  If he is outside, forget it, he wont come in to go.  His naps he stays dry, but not nighttime.  It's a work in progress.  I take him on quick trips with his big boy undies. we go to the park and the grocery store without having accidents (he even told me at walmart that he had to use the potty - which he didn't, i guess he just thought it would be fun to sit on the store toilets. gross). I cannot believe we are finally near the end of this potty training process with him!  it's such a huge relief. Of course next comes teaching him to stand up instead of sit, and to actually use the big boy potty instead of his little one, but he's too small to get up on it by himself, so it'll just be a work in progress...and then the night time wetting. goodness now that i realize this list still to do, is there an end to potty training?? well, at least we are down to having one kid in diapers. that's a relief!

Parker turns one!

On April 6th Parker turned one. I CANNOT believe how fast this year went. We had a rough start, but Parker is the best baby. We love him so much and are so blessed to have him in our family.

For his first birthday my parents, Andrews parents, and auntie boo (aka kami) came to visit and spend the weekend here. I'm so glad they were all able to come for his birthday, it was a blast having everyone in town.

 

 

This is also the day that he really started walking.  He had been taking steps and really trying, but all of a sudden he just got it!  He was walking all over! So much fun!

Easter

Easter kinda crept up on me this year.  Once i realized that easter was pretty much a day away, i got so excited for the things that colby would be able to do this year.  however it didn't turn out quite the way i had in mind, but it was still a lot of fun.  coloring eggs was almost a disaster.  we probably should have just let him go to town, but we weren't really prepared.  i guess the simple egg dying kits are Tara and Andrew proof.  we totally botched it.  the eggs hardly colored.  colby started getting a bit hyper about it and would pretty much chuck the eggs in the cups.  after doing that to a couple of them, we called it good. 

 

then we headed out for an easter egg hunt.  Parker had no idea what was going on, and colby found all the eggs (of course it rained for the 10 minutes we were outside and then stopped) so it was kinda rushed.  after he got all the eggs we told him to open it up, and his face was priceless when he found out that there was candy inside!

 

 

 

I absolutely love their easter outfits this year.  i can't get over how adorable they were!

 

 

 

and just another picture of the rare moment of colby sharing his truck with parker

 

picture overload time:

trying to get colby to pose

with daddy :)

 

so photogenic at this age

getting better at smiling for the camera!

 

cheeseball face. love it!

another pose

Bear

Before i really get into what happened, i feel i should say that i know my emotions on this issue were completely irrational and out of control.  I'm embarrassed about how emotional i was about this issue.  With that being said, this post is all about colby's Bear.

I had decided that i wanted to be a good mom and take my kids to the park.  There is a park about a mile down the road, so on that friday morning i loaded my kids in the stroller and ran to the park.  Colby doesn't go anywhere without his bear, so i didn't think anything of it when bear came along for the ride.  While at the park colby was pulling bear out of the stroller and taking him with him around everywhere, the sand pit, the slide, and the swings.  I thought i was keeping my eye out for that guy, colby would be a wreck if he was left behind.  well the time came for us to leave.  The last i remember seeing bear, colby was pushing him on the swing, and then grabbed him and took him somewhere (i had assumed the stroller but i wasn't quite sure).  I put colby in the stroller, and then i put parker in, kinda looked around and left for my mile run home.  we got home and i turned on cartoons for colby, put parker to sleep and then jumped in the shower.  soon colby comes in asking for bear. IMMEDIATELY i'm thinking "shoot we left him at the park".  i frantically looked around the house and couldn't find him ANYWHERE.  by this time parker was about to wake up, so i grabbed him and colby as fast as i could and strapped the back into the stroller and ran to the park again.  we looked around but couldn't find bear. we were only gone for 2 hours and he was already missing! i was FREAKING out! So, I ran another mile back home. (by the way, i should mention that the reason i'm RUNNING back to the park is because andrew took my car to work that day with the carseats in them. what luck!). so the whole way back to the park i'm trying to prepare colby that we may never see bear again.  i was telling him he was lost, and we can buy him a new one.  he just kept agreeing with me, so i don't think he quite understood what i was saying.  meanwhile i'm fighting back tears! i mean, this is Bear! He's been in our life since colby was born, this bear has been EVERYWHERE with us. he's like...part of the family! Colby amazingly goes to sleep without bear.  and that afternoon after naps i ran back to the park again and waited for an hour and a half hoping someone would come up to me with bear. didn't happen. so i ran home.  That night i begin crying like a baby! i know how much colby loves bear, and it was killing me that i couldn't do anything to make this better! On saturday we went to build-a-bear and got him a new bear. it was working! he loves Koda! but every once in a while he would mention that he wants his brown bear, and i'd start bawling again.  i struggled sleeping (i struggle anyway, but with bear missing thats all i would think about when i woke in the middle of the night and i'd start panicking.) i even put posters up at the park. yes, it's completely ridiculous! i know this! but i mean, if someone saw that we left bear and grabbed him, then they needed a way to get ahold of us right? i had someone prank me which led me going to the park for 45 minutes waiting for someone to come up to me with bear, never happened.  i finally lost hope, i was trying to come to terms with the fact that we will never see Bear again, and i was just hoping that soon colby would stop asking about him and we would all move on. we would just be left with the memories and the many many pictures. 

and then, one day a miracle happened.  I never gave up looking, when i had a chance i'd continue to look around the house in the same places i had looked 20 times before, but my closet kept sticking out to me. i searched my closet more than any other place, but couldn't find him.  then i decided, this is it, i'm going to tear that closet apart so i know for a fact he's not in there and i can move on. well within two seconds, i find bear! i was looking through my shirts one by one and after the 5th one bear falls out! colby shoved him between the shirts and just forgot he was there! oh my goodness i couldn't be happier! i ran and showed colby and he was so excited! and now, bear continues to go everywhere with us, and koda isn't too far behind.