18 month boy post at 19 months

My beautiful beautiful boy!

Grammy always says she hopes you are a baby just like your daddy because he was such a delightful boy. Well my child, a delightful boy you are indeed.

You are busy, but busy in the way that you try to help with everything I'm doing. Turning the washing machine on and off for me, loading the dishwasher with 15 detergent cubes and then closing the door and trying to turn in on while I'm still loading. Taking your diapers to the garage for me, always opening and closing the garage door for us, helping the dogs drink their water (usually by example), pushing the laundry baskets around the house for me, and loading and unloading your pantry with all the canned goods.  You always want to go "side"(outside). Many mornings you just start driving either your racer or cozy cab into the front door over and over again. Luckily you can't reach the lock on the door yet. You speak an adorable version of what auntie brooke calls caveman. "Uhhhh?" "memememe" and other grunting sounds that your dad and I pretty much speak as well. You do say very clearly however, "daddy" "mom" "doggy" "side" "zip" "gooo" reserved only for sliding and of course the sound for trains "mmmm MMM"

This would be the face for "uhhhh"

You loved the Dr's this month and happily played trains with him which he said "he's definitely not autistic"to but then did question your attention span :)

He had a fishy mobile that he kept blowing for you so he could check you out and now anytime we see something hanging from the ceiling you start blowing.

 officially your stats are:

Height: 82.6 cm 54%

Weight: 27 lbs 4 oz 67%

Head: 50.5 cm 98%

your head shrunk from the last visit so he was pretty sure they measured it wrong :)

you are definitely a tv watcher, like your daddy.

And your terrible pregnant mother has been letting this be an afternoon activity so I can lay down.

but you cuddle me when we do watch tv so it is a terrible double edged sword. rest and cuddles?

oh and you're quite the monkey.

Climbing on everything and loving it.

We took your baby seat off your high chair so now you can "climb" in your own chair.

You love it.

Oh and cars, buses, trucks, trains?

It's like you've died and gone to heaven.

Daddy let you help him clean out his car this particular morning.

We usually go out to say goodbye to daddy and sometimes if your luck you get to drive around the cul-de-sac. 

this is the face that accompanies your train noise 

"mmm MMM"

I'm thinking your such a big boy now. No more babas for you and I have a child that goes to nursery! Oh I love you and love watching you grow, but where did my baby go? You could stay my baby forever you know...

Happy 18 months to you my boy!

xoxo

mommy

Maui

Or

MAORI

as I kept saying 

to Nate's chagrin :)

(more on maori here)

We made it to 5 years though and it was time for a Nate and Paige vacation.

We tentatively had planned on going to Hawaii for our anniversary for a long time and really the trip remained pretty tentative until we actually checked into our hotel in Maui.

The date.. tentatively changed, our babysitter... tentatively changed, our flight and transportation... tentatively changed, our destination... tentatively changed, our hotel... tentatively changed.

But our trip was a great success.

 I don't really care to leave Brig again, but a great success.

My king of the world made this whole trip really quite fantastic. Even though the whole trip was quite "tentative" I have absolute confidence in Natey's travel agent skills. Really he has a knack for it. 

Even if the 10 pm drive to the airport the night before to get my mom, which ended up in a broken down car, renting a new car, following the old car being towed the 90 miles to Santa Rosa and not getting home till 3 am only to have to jump back into the rental car to drive to SFO at 5 am for our "stand by" flight to either Maui or Honolulu was a little stressful.

Our first whole day in Maui we attempted the road to Hanna.

It was beautiful and we really enjoyed "Maui Revealed" little secrets and felt like quite the adventures.

However, pregnant Paige got carsick and hungry and tired and by the time we got to Hanna I really was not pleasant.

Luckily, Nate knows a thing or two about me after 5 years and put food in me as soon as we arrived.

The road was long and slow but really had beautiful views.

Three bears

Really kind of surreal being so close to big beautiful things like this.

Nate got in every pool we found.

I did too... but turns out when I get nervous about foreign/cold waters I dog paddle.

Nate was bugged when I hesitated getting in then just laughed me to shame once I did.

What can is say? unfortunately I'm really not that adventuresome.

I was instructed to take a lot of pictures of Nate in the waterfalls.

Particularly when he was under the fall. 

Let me just say, that water wasn't coming down lightly.

That night we participated in our worst investment of the trip.

 Luau's are lame.

The food was gross, I mean buffets rarely are good, the entertainment was long and by the time they got to the fire dancing it really wasn't that cool and we left early.

BUT

we were seated at the table directly behind Rob Thomas and he had a buddy who was a Russell Brand twin. 

Our hotel was amazing.

beautiful grounds, open lobby, beach front

we got a great rate for our ocean view room but really when you spend that much money on your accommodations you kinda wanna make it worth your while.

So we did.

We spent most our time at the "adult only" pool with our private cabana but everyday we had to make our way to kiddie land for Nate to ride the slides.

This area made feel very cruel for not having Brig with me...

Although my heart was breaking the whole trip cause I was missing my boy

It really was splendid.

Sleeping in, inhaling books, eating when and where we wanted(except for the fact that pregnancy made nothing taste good), laying out, taking naps.

Splendid.

beggers can't be choosers here when it comes to photography.

I don't love swimming in the ocean, but I could let the waves wash over my feet all day.

Nate likes to play.

Of course I joined him and we rolled around in the sand and waves like it was our first time in the ocean and we were covered in sand by the time the sun set.

view from our room...

more sliding :)

This is the run when he made it all the way to the end.

Ah... and our open lobby.

I am in love with these trees.

Not even sure what kind they are but they were magical.

It was the longest and shortest 5 nights.

My mom made it all okay though. I can't believe I thought I could leave Brig with anyone besides her!

She was a lifesaver and so flexible with all our crazy travel plans.

Coming home was even better than leaving and I have come to realize that I have lost my wonder for the world for a time. We saw all these beautiful and majestic vistas but nothing even comes close to comparing to my boy. He is all the wonder I have for the world. Who would have thought?

It took Brig a good week to forgive me on returning home. He loved daddy more than me for that whole week and the fact that daddy had to go to work made life for me a little tough. And I think Nannie was way more fun than I am too so it took him awhile to realize the party was well, just a party.

All in all? My experience is that traveling never goes as planned. But that is part of the fun.

I am so glad we did this though with baby #2 on the way who knows when we'll get another break for the two of us. 

Maybe 10 years?

oh baby :)

As of today I am 12 weeks 5 days along with baby number 2

Oh the roller coaster of emotions a baby is!

I have gone from utter elation to I am a terrible mom and probably shouldn't even have one baby let alone two.

But come April 23, 2012 2 kiddos (hopefully!) will be a reality.

I feel like I got hit by a freight train and really sleep and sit on the couch way to much. 

Hence, the I am a terrible mom thoughts. Entering into the 2nd trimester I hope some energy returns. 

That's all the griping I am allowing for now.

We are thrillllllled. 

Timing? perfect.

They will be just over 2 years apart.

Fun fact? Brooke and I officially have the same due date.

We've come a long way together that sister and I.

We ourselves are only 16 months apart and apparently there are two little spirits that really like each other and need to come to earth together.

Really, we never could have planned this.

We both found out we were pregnant the same day while we were on the phone together

and now our due date and all our dr appointments are coinciding. 

It's really very exciting.

For a few weeks there we thought this little babe might have another cousin but the timing wasn't right.

I am still heartbroken.

little 12 week baby

When we went to Brig's 12 week ultrasound we both immediately thought "that's a boy" we could see Brig's personality through the ultrasound.

Although I love this little tadpole more than anything.

Baby was a stranger!

I kept looking at the baby thinking "who are you little babe?"

My gut says this is baby is girl.

But my gut has been wrong many a time before.

Little baby was very still for this ultrasound, the technician had to be very patient with us.

Toward the end however, little baby got the hiccups or something and started bouncing around like a mexican jumping bean. Nate and I are still imitating the adorable whole body jolts.

But at the end of the day with all my worries and all my excitement I am perfectly happy with an overly rounded tummy and an image of LEFT LOWER EXTREMITY because it really is amazing that 12 weeks ago that LEFT LOWER EXTREMITY didn't exist and that now it is my world.

A few of my favorite scenes...

Just cause there is little else I adore more than this...

(sorry so blurry!)

Little engines peeking over my counter, cause of course Thomas wants to drive on the counter!

And this seemed like a good place to secure their couplings

Oh I love watching this boy play.

Just the way his mind works and how he knows that trains and cars well, drive.

I hope you keep playing forever 

because I for one could watch you forever

a petrified forest

I see the sign all the time "Petrified Forest 10 miles <--"

I, for one, find such things interesting.

So when Nate got invited to go to niners first pre-season game... Brig and I needed a few tricks.

It also happened to be the same weekend as "Wings over Wine Country" so we stopped by the cemetary to catch a bit of this. It was not very entertaining this year :( 

Petrified forest it was!

Brig needed no promptings to know what to do with a petrified tree.

You climb over it of course.

It was very overpriced, full of tourist, Nate would have hated it, and really it was not much of a "forest"

but

It was the perfect little "hike" for a Brig and a good "once every few years" kinda things.

They were cool though.

And with all their claims of "largest petrified trees in the world" and "7 million years old" and "Robert Louis Stevenson" I did feel a bit awestruck.

And again, Brig knew just what to do.

Find a seat on a petrified tree of course!

Oh I love that curious boy.

It was on this visit that I learned Brig's love for uneven surfaces.

Rocks, sand, dirt, sticks, leaves. Yes, please.

We started exploring baby hikes after this discover.

Much to Brig's delight.

A shakespearean girls retreat

Coleen and I have been talking for years about how much fun going to the Shakespeare festival would be. I went with my grandma in high school with a group Michael Wilcox took down. We read and studied the plays we were going to see, discussed them most the way down and it is one of my favorite memories with my grandma. I remember feeling so grown up.

Coleen is quite the reader and the kind of person who has her favorite passages memorized and can spout them out in the perfect time, place, and scenario.

Anyway, we finally worked out a time to go. It was last minute, no kids are allowed, and I knew if we didn't just do it, it would never happen.

Luckily it did!

"the globe"

where we watched Romeo and Juliet

Misty and Cass joined and we were the perfect set of 4!

We met up around noon and went and got ourselves tarts before our first show "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They were all they were talked up to be and we even got to witness a man truly hitting on our gorgeous mother-in-law ;)

Intermission we entertained ourselves in the gift shop.

And guess who I ran into there? The Michael Wilcox. I went right up to him and let him know I was Johnnie Belle's. He loves her :)

For last minute tickets we were very strategic. We didn't sit next to each other but we all had aisle seats right behind one another. perfect.

The girls at "Romeo and Juliet."

After our first play, at 2 pm, we went to a lovely dinner at the Garden House. We sat on the lawn and over stuffed ourselves and I think all of us were ready to call it a night. Coleen is the only one who actually did. We missed her but we really couldn't blame her...

Cause this is where we stayed and we had the entire top level to our selves.

It was simply charming. 

When we returned from the play we all climbed in Coleen's king sized bed for a Dickens movie.

We lasted 5 min before we all found our own beds :)

oh and Brig?

He was at the Lamoreaux and happily calling Robyn "Mom"

traitor

We had a leisurely morning enjoyed stuffed french toast on the big yellow inn's big white porch then it was time for Cass and I to hit the road.

What a fun little 24 hours we had.

The return home does however merit a mentioning.

Cass's nicest family took both of us and the babes to Vegas to catch our flight that night. The two little goobers did great. They enjoyed a lovely nuggie meal from Wendy's (sweet and sour for Brig, honey mustard for Cleo), a treat and toy airplane stop at the gift shop, very quick diaper change, then boarded in a timely fashion and seated next to each other. Then a seat change mid flight "because two babies can't sit by each other" and TWO poopy diapers on our 60 minute flight we made it to Oakland. Seriously Brig... those bathrooms are not meant for changing diapers. 

Anyway, it was fun and we made it back to two very excited daddies.