end of summer. almost.

I woke up and checked my instagram feed just like I do every morning, you never know who of my friends had a baby over night after all. Today caught me off guard because all my Utah and Idaho friends were getting their littles off to the first day of school! We are still soaking up summer days here, and will for a little while longer. 

12 days to be exact. 12 more days of lazy mornings, breakfast at 10am, and swimming in the pool in our underwear in the afternoon- Ryan, not me I swear. 12 more days for Ryan to be my little toddler and not a school attending, big kid. 

I know it is only preschool but I am sure I will feel the same way Kelle did here.

I can tell you're nervous. I am too. And I have replayed in my mind so many times what tomorrow will look like. I want you to be happy. I want you to run into that classroom and feel the opportunity that exists between those walls, in those books, through those friends. You might not feel it right away, and that's hard for me. Because I won't be there to hold your hand when you're feeling a little bit insecure, reminding you of your strengths and the happiness that exists around you. 

So for now I am planning on soaking up every last minute of summer break before the structure of fall beckons us. We have more farmers markets to attend, more bubbles to blow, more otter pops to eat, and more sidewalk chalk to dissolve in the pool  color with. 

This crazy baby with his manly eye brows and all, is going to miss his sidekick big time. They really are best friends.

He started cutting his top teeth this week and decided that he is okay with breastfeeding again, yay!

water baby

Ryan has been enjoying the little pool in our backyard for months now, today it was baby brothers turn. Both of my babes love the water so much so we always take advantage when we have the chance.

Big pictures huh? I am quite happy with them. Mandy recently wrote a post on the importance of watermarking my images. I always watermark my business ones but this blog has been left alone except for one time 2 years ago when I found the hardest way possible to do it- therefore it did not last long.

Turning a new leaf... the blog world is amazing but with all good things there can be bad, hopefully this will help bring out little family a little bit of internet safety!

loving summer.

The big joke is summer arrives July 4th here in the PNW and it's so true! The day before it was raining and depressing outside. We woke up the next day to heat and sun- its been amazing ever since.

We are still at my parents and loving their huge back yard, play set, trampoline, kiddie pool, garden and LOTS of room to run. They have the PERFECT house and yard for little kids we are so incredibly lucky.

 "mom take a picture of me pretend sleeping then let me see it"

Weston sequestered in the pack n play outside so he doesnt eat grass and get trampled by his brother.

The first year with the garden and already reaping the benefits, yummmm.  

We miss daddy though and excited to see him tomorrow! Homeward bound in the morning. 

fend for themselves

So while I was off on my wild weekend away the boys took a little trip of their own. Hubs had his yearly family reunion at the coast *gasp! I didnt attend?! What was I thinking?! Well that we all live in the same town with in 15 minutes of each other with the exception of my lovely sister in law who is out here for almost 3 weeks visiting anyway! It was okay no hard feelings everyone was happy about it.

I was really looking forward to a trip where I only had to worry about myself, because I am selfish ya know. No baby baths, no nap times (wait I wished I had that), no missing lovey blanket.. JUST ME! But wait life has a way of being tricky. The boys were leaving at the same time as me so that meant I still had to PACK like they were coming on my trip. Hubs is the best dad I could ask for but even having him pack for the trip himself was a little nerve racking for an uptight mama like myself. So it wasnt as care free as I had originally planned but none the less they had a rocking good time and thanks to Papa's camera I could relive some of the moments when we all were home again.

Almost the whole fam damily. They played the amazing race one day.

Yes I know we really should  have him in modeling with those kind of faces and product placement! I dont blame hubs for not wanting to carry around my super stylish petunia pickle bottom diaper bag all weekend and since we believe in child labor we got Ry his own back pack. He was in heaven he agreed to work for free. And no you cant have him, that adorable face belongs all to me :) 

Nearly above freezing temperatures in the water didnt keep my little fishy away. I heard that if you didnt keep a tight leash on him he wouldnt have stopped til he got to China. Instead of living in an african village like the kids on Babies, maybe we should just go to the coast. He was in his element- sun, partially naked, water, people to play with. Yup, thats it!

Aunt Jennifer and her lovely little gals, I try to steal them every time they come to town and for some reason she wants to take them home at the end of the trip- can you blame us? They are precious. They are the like my children. I didnt have to grow them in my belly to feel an overwhelming maternal bond towards them and Aunt J feels the same about Ryan. We both got really lucky to have each other. This year we add TWO more babies to the cousin pile with our other sis in law Kayleigh who is due in a few weeks and then our jelly bean at the end of the year. 

I was sad to miss the beach but hubs brought home one of the best parts- a huge bag of salt water taffy and its almost gone already. I am glad he has great family that do fun things together. It was hard to miss out on the experience with Ryan- to see him in a new place in a new way. But that just means we have another trip out that way coming soon! 

balancing act

My life is a balancing act. All my time must be equally and fairly divided for my household to run smoothly. The term household these days means me, my husband, my son, the babe on the way, the roof over our heads, the relationships we have... its all encompassing. Sometimes one side of the balancing scale gets heavier than the other one. My good mom/bad mom scale is a sight to see. The bad-mom side is all the way down to the table.

I confess I havent been the best momma lately. Not much you can do when you cant keep anything down and can barely get off the couch. However today I woke up to the sun, and if you've been here for a while you know how much I love my sun. It fuels me. It fuels my boy. So today we decided to call up some friends and plop some coins on the much deserving good-mom side.

And we didnt just put a few coins on- we tossed the whole dang bag. Thank you for farmers markets!

I was grateful to spend the day with a good girl friend and just relax- as much as you can in a sea of strange people pushing a double stroller the size of a truck. The boys had fun sitting next to each other and I got to try it out for the first time. I scored my bumbleride twin indie off craigslist a few weeks ago. It was the first thing I did when I found out I was expecting! 

 And of course the food... and we ate our way through the whole shebang. 

I love local, fresh produce. Ryan loves the samples they give out. It was win/win. He strolled away with a stroller seat full of bare sample tooth picks and I scored a huge bag of fugi apples and some baby red potatoes for dinner tonight. 

There were lots of furry friends. This dog was almost up to my ribs.

Ryan was pretty grumpy at me. I felt like I had a teenager, he just wanted him some strawberry lemonade and to be left alone. There was a live band playing some great classic oldies, everyone was dancing and having a grand ol' time. I tried to get Ryan to dance with me and he said no, then I made him like good moms do- one more point for me. He was so irritated so I asked him if I was embarrassing him. He rolled his eyes and said yes. Well then.......

When we got home our beds were welcoming us with open arms. All that walking was hard work! Little man even talked me into reading some books and having a tickle fight before his nap. Feeling pretty confident in my abilities to do this mom thing again.Yeah, I can totally do this if I take it one day at a time. Plop, there goes another coin on the good side. I am sure the scale will continue to teeter back and forth but as long as I am trying I think we are winning.