Fall Break 2017

Okay, so about a month ago...as most of my blog posts have begun lately I think!...the boys had their 2.5 week long Fall Break. Josh was home the first week and then gone for the rest for work.

Generally I can remember that we had a play date, went to two farms, went to a new aquarium we have had now for a year that we hadn't been to yet, a lot of bike and park kind of dates , a little Halloween party one evening...I think that sums it up, just doing local things. Aaron was sick a few days the first week of break so that put a little damper on going out for two days. First time I've ever had a stomach bug kind of sickness out before, at a restaurant (even better). I was relieved since I was there on my own with the kids that other tables actually rushed to help me versus look away. I think it was still a good time of getting to do things we don't get much of a chance to do otherwise, with other weekend obligations.

That's right - we went to the zoo to see the new robotic dinosaur exhibit! It has also been awhile since we last went.

One of our bike riding mornings! It was nice out until late morning, so we either went early or in the evening time.

Oh wait! We took the kids to Hard Rock Café before a concert one night.

We saw a group called Kidz Bop -  a group of kids who sing modern day songs (with some friendlier lyrics). They were so good!

Apparently the only aquarium picture that was saved - the coolest part was being able to see the shark tank from the bathroom! Washing your hands and a shark swims right by you. Otherwise, it was just okay. 

Outside the aquarium. It is kind of neat though that there's restaurants and things right outside.

Date with the oldest boys to a farm - "Mom, what about bringing this one home?"

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At the Chandler Airport for breakfast - this is where my middle son got sick,  haha.

Working Days

Not many posts are dedicated to just Josh and I ! It has been a while since I've last talked about our jobs...this is what is going on our professional world!

When Josh isn't traveling (which he has been 25-50% of each month, minus I think two months where he was actually home the whole month!) he is busy working long hours. On top of that, he wears multiple hats with the boys' Cub Scout pack, so chances are once the boys are in bed at night you can find him working on Cub Scout stuff when he is home. We are hoping that 2018 will bring a less hectic, and more time at home year! I suppose it's better to have the problem of work being busy and successful than the other way around.

Other things have developed since I last wrote about my writing job a few months ago! At that time I'm pretty sure I already described my fabric cutting job as being done, at this point I think even if I get asked to do so I will decline. In a way I am thankful for it, because I think it revved my engine of looking and feeling confident to try for other jobs.

I am now writing five columns each month - three for Ocotillo Living (Kids, Recipe and Local Events) and two for a sister publication, Foothills Living (Local Events and a Sports Schedule with professional and local school teams).

A friend of mine created a workbook for a nutrition workshop she is going to run, and asked if I would edit it. So, I have recently just taken that on as well.

In the next few weeks, I will also be writing my first post for a local group called the East Valley Mom's Blog.They are a group of women who write posts about parenting, health, family topics...anything they think moms would want to know/read about! I will be writing one post monthly. While I don't get paid, I'm happy it's still something to go on the resume and has the possibility of being shared nationally. I used my writing from my first issue of Ocotillo Living for the application, so it's exciting to see that start to open doors!

I have been grateful for these opportunities to sort of bring my brain back from writing hibernation!

Preston Turns One!

It happened whether we wanted it to or not. We no longer have a baby, but a "toddler" ! He really does look like a young boy versus any kind of baby anymore (and judging by his year old doctor appointment, his measurements point to being a very tall one year old, too!)

Gosh it was a fast year, as it always is. The days are long but the years are short is such a true statement all the time!

Some factoids about our little dude :

--After just having his one year appointment, he is 93% (percentile) for height, and about 78% for both weight and head circumference. I don't think any of my other two boys have been that high for weight, ever!

--Just has two teeth yet! But, his top middle two are coming in, we are seeing them right at the gum. Despite that, he is still such a good eater and devours pretty much anything we put in front of him.

--On that note, we are on our last few days of formula! He has been given the "go" on drinking milk.

--Loves lift the flap and touch/feel books.

--Is crawling, cruising, and for now standing up by himself for a few seconds without holding on to anything. No walking yet!

--Is either going through a sleep regression or we are nearing the 2-1 nap transition. Some days he doesn't take his AM or PM nap. It will start to get more tempting to drop his AM nap as our weather cools down in the coming months....it will be so nice to be outside for longer durations of time, and to have a bigger chunk of time in the morning to do things.

--"Dada" and "mama" are his words. There's a lot of other babble :)

--Can clap.

--Separation anxiety! A bit.

--Continues to try and wedge himself inhatever his brothers are doing. He likes to be and play with them.

In general, we can pretty consistently count on him to be a chill, sweet little guy. You know something is up (illness, teething, fatigue) if he acts cranky.

On his actual day we spent some time at a park, ordered in lunch and otherwise just hung at home. We still had brothers in school that we had to drop off/pick up, so it was a typical day. I made a spice cake from scratch to have after dinner.

Nana joined us for the park

Spice cake

Singing time!

...and brought the birthday boy a cupcake!

Happy 1st Birthday, Preston!

Preston's Birthday Party in New Mexico

Almost a month ago (eeks!) we drove to New Mexico once again to visit our family and celebrate not only Preston's birthday, but my sister's, too!

It was the longest drive we've ever done with the kiddos. Preston slept only about forty five minutes out of the whole eight hour day. Making a few pit stops seemed to help get his wiggles out and sort of "reset" his mood for a bit. Considering, he did really well.

Since we arrived at almost dinner time, we just hung out and got the kiddos to bed early. We were to have Preston's party the following morning at our family's home. I'm really happy with all of our decisions - that a) our family was kind enough to let us use their home for the party that we didn't have to go anywhere, that b) they let us use their backyard for it (the weather was perfect!), that c) we just ordered trays for food (no baking and prepping) and, d) that we hired my sister-in-law's friend to take pictures for us. I was also grateful for my sisters and their spouses  who also lent helping hands in getting the party ready since we still had kids to watch and take care of.

Didn't the pictures turn out cute?! Needless to say we went with a Hungry, Hungry Caterpillar/ Eric Carle theme. I even brought the cakes from home! We purposely had the frosting be fondant so it wouldn't smudge on the way. We thought the party went well. Pretty chill. Our family has a nice deck out in their backyard so it was really nice just to enjoy sitting and socializing.

We otherwise just cleaned up and let babies have their naps before it was time to move on to the next birthday party! That evening we went out to dinner to celebrate my older sister's birthday.

While my sisters went home the following day, we stayed one more to spend more quality time with our family. It was really nice for all the babies and cousins to have time together. I don't have pictures, but Josh took the older boys out to hike and ride a tram on a nearby mountain while the babes slept. We picked up pizza and had it out on their deck. It is still a nice 90-100 degrees here, so it was nice to enjoy the 70-80's there! A taste of Fall.

Another nice weekend in NM!

Preston at 10/11 Months

The months just roll and blend together...here's what the little man has been up to these last two months!

--Discovered his tongue! Now he likes to stick it out, or really just do new things with his mouth in general. Funny fella.

--As you see by the 2nd picture, still just two teeth! The older two boys at least had 2-4 on the top by this time. It's still so interesting, as we go along, to discover how they are similar and different!

--Even though he has few teeth, he is starting to steer away from puree food now. He really has begun wanting to feed himself, so we just give him soft, small pieces of food. It's rather nice really, as I serve him whatever we're eating for all meals! He hasn't turned his head much to anything, my good little eater! On that note - I'm glad that we're hopefully on the down swing of him being on his last few weeks of formula! We have started to have him playing with sippy cups, but he hasn't taken to drinking out of them much yet.

--Probably the biggest development, STANDING! He hasn't done much cruising yet, and he hasn't stood up in his crib yet (though I think having a sleep sack has probably made that part harder). This has only been the last two-three weeks. He's standing up more often and now at more things - activity table, couch, kitchen table, etc.

--Only word he is speaking is "dada".

--He is still doing pretty well with sleeping. Still sleeping through most nights, though naps have gotten a bit sporadic. I think we're starting to near the point of him transitioning to one, long nap. Some days he will take his morning nap, others he doesn't and he ends up with a lunchtime - mid afternoon nap. He's considered too young yet to make the change, so for now while it's still warm here in good ol AZ I'm going to just keep going with the two. I'll be more tempted to see about the one nap when the weather cools down! It would be nice to have the longer chunk of time in the morning when it's cool out to play and do things.

--Plays with about anything. Or, pretty much whatever his brothers are into he wants to be into.

--Still loves bathtime!

--Enrolled in his first music/play class! They're kind of hard to make now, though, because with the times and his naps being sporadic we aren't always able to make them :( He loves the open space, variety of toys and obstacles, there's parachute time and bubbles...not to mention other babies his age that he's fascinated with.

We're gearing up to celebrate his first birthday in just a few weeks! When Josh and I went to New Mexico over the summer, we talked about how nice it would be for the cousins (our kids and the two baby girls) to meet, and how fun it would be to celebrate Preston's birthday together, with Preston having kids around his age. So, we're having a destination birthday party! That will be a first. We'll be in New Mexico with family to celebrate both Preston's birthday, as well as my sister's birthday who will also be in town that weekend. We invited other family to come, but so far it looks just to be my sisters. Still, so fun! We're really looking forward to having some good, fun, quality and party time together with family!