August Post

It's been a month of transition.

Mostly transitioning from Brian being home to Brian going back to work (so, fewer fun activities and more finishing up of projects).

Luckily, I've also transitioned into feeling a lot better. 17 weeks, woo hoo! I think that was kind of the magic number with Everett too.

Curious George books are his favorite books. The Curious George TV show is his favorite TV show. And Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey is his favorite movie. He's a big fan of that "good little 'monkey'."

Here's his awesome photography skills. Under armpit portrait.

We went to Templeton Concert in the Park with some friends. It was fun. Everett and Remi playing. Everett getting to know what a bite feels like. Karma's a b*tch. (;

We've been doing more play dates since I've been feeling better and Brian's been working. The pictures below are from a blissful play date with all two year olds! And a couple little ones.

Ever since we went camping, and Brian went backpacking, Everett's been talking about camping (mostly because he wanted to eat marshmallows). So he and Brian went "camping" in the backyard. He didn't even fall asleep out there because Cruise Night was happening downtown, and it was too loud. He had fun though!

Here's a picture from a recent trip to the park/farmers market. This little girl was wearing her glasses, and I had Everett's exact pair in my purse. Don't they look like tough little cow poke?

I'm constantly saying how Everett's a lucky boy. So lucky to have so many grandparents around to play with him. Everett and and Grama Kathie playing in the sand.

It's been an amazing month for Everett. His comprehension (but more dramatically) his direction following, has increased incredibly. The biggest deal for our family is we're able to say, "it's time to sleep now. We'll see you when it's light out." He doesn't always follow the direction, but he certainly does understand. If we're watching a move or show where a person wakes up (or the sun is rising, or there's a rooster), he'll say, "the sun is up. It's light outside!" And we'll talk a little about how it's okay to get out of bed since it's light out.

Forgive me if I've mentioned these things in previous posts, but I want to make sure they're in the blog (but I don't want to re-read any old posts right now). (;

He's such a little singer! Half the time he's awake he's singing. "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," the Sesame Street theme, different songs from Yo Gabba Gabba and the Curious George movie.

A couple weeks ago, Gion took us out to lunch after going to Templeton farmers market. Especially at the end of the meal, Everett was singing away. When we got up to leave, a woman at the table next to us said, "I like your singing!" This woman was there with what looked like her adult daughter and her 3-year-old (?) grandson--who was not the singer Everett is.

I thought I'd mentioned this before (here or on Facebook at least), but a couple weeks ago, Phil was acting like he'd never heard Everett say this thing he's been saying often for the last few months, so I must share. When he wants to get picked up, he says, "I wanna hold you." And we usually respond with, "I wanna hold YOU!" or "I want to hold you too!" Someday soon he'll start correcting himself, and that will be a sad day.

Everett watched quite a bit of Olympics with me. He knew the difference between indoor volleyball and beach volleyball (sometimes called "sandy ball"). He would ask for bicycles or horses. We watched a bit of it from the antenna, so it had commercials. Even muted, I hated how many commercials he was seeing. After the games were over, I was like, "no more commercials for baby for 6 months!" Our shows are all on Netflix streaming and commercial-free.

Here's a little baby genius moment I don't want to forget. We were at Phil and Gion's house, Everett was playing with Gion outside. He had a triangular rock. He said, "my triangle rock. I want to break it." Gion said it was too hard to break. He said, "a hammer will break it." Gion said they didn't have a hammer. Everett said, "in the basement!" and went running around the house to the basement, where he helps Grandpa Phil arrange his tools.

Bye Bye Summer

Brian went back to work today. ):

Well, he's been going in to work for about the last week, but an hour or more later than he has to be there now. And the kids don't come until Monday. But today is his first, official, mandatory work day.

This is going to be tough.

It's been an amazing summer. Not amazing as in adventurous or mind-blowing. Those kinds of summers will come as our kids get older. This summer was amazing to me because I had so much help while being first trimester/early second trimester pregnant, PLUS we did a few other fun things, and Brian actually got quite a bit done around the house.

Him being home made me wonder how other pregnant mommies do it without husbands on vacation. He shopped, cooked, cleaned, did laundry, played with Everett a lot, even when he was working on the house and I had to say, "Everett and my energy levels are not compatible right now." He'd stop what he was doing so I could take a nap or just sit on the couch and watch The Olympics (side note: it was rad that I got to watch The Olympics for 17 days of my pregnancy. I was obsessed!).

I understand how lucky I always am to have a partner who believes men and women should share equal responsibility at home, and actually acts on his beliefs--although this might be because he's more of a clean-freak than I am, but I'll take it!

He's an amazing husband. No doubt about it.

I was pretty hard on myself this summer. That may have been the worst thing about being first trimester this time around. I was so tired, but I was never content to just let myself be lazy and do nothing. I would be lazy and do nothing, but I would be upset with myself for not doing anything. Thankfully, Brian never gave me a hard time about it. So I was the only one being hard on me.

I hope Brian had a good summer. I think he feels like he had a good summer. Besides helping his wife grow a baby (and getting to go to all the OB and ultrasound appointments without it being a scheduling issue), we went camping, went to the beach, The Fair, berry picking, Brian got to play a lot of disc golf (sometimes with me but almost always with Everett). We went to a parade and a baseball game, BBQs in the middle of the week at Phil and Gion's. And Brian built almost an entire bathroom!!

He even got to go on a backpacking trip with two of his best friends, Henry and Peter. This was a big deal. First, Brian had never been away from Everett for so long, which felt weird. But I was freaking out a bit about being without Brian. It was hard, but it was good for me. I got to see that I could take care of Everett by myself (with a little help from the grans). It also made me realize how much better I was really feeling. But I was soooooo happy when he came home.

Although it's sad that Brian's back at work now, I look forward to this fall and winter. I look forward to my growing belly and to all the upcoming holidays that will be even more fun than last year. Everett trick-or-treating will be the cutest thing ever!!

Baby #2!

Oh yes! We're having another baby!

As I type, I am 13 weeks 6 days. I'll be 14 weeks tomorrow?!?

I think, with Everett, I blogged about the pregnancy for the first time at 9 and a half weeks. I couldn't wait (I was also tired of people asking how the wedding planning was going). (;

It's not that this pregnancy has flown by, in fact, my first couple months moved like molasses. But now that I'm feeling a little better (certainly not 100%), and as I've approached and passed the second trimester mark (and got to hear and see the baby again), I've started to relax, and time's moving faster.

One reason the first few months moved so slowly is I found out about this pregnancy so much sooner. With Everett, I found out when I missed my period and took a test (several tests, actually) at about 5 and a half weeks.

This time, I started getting that pregnancy exhaustion A WEEK after conception. It was ridiculous. But I couldn't take a home test for a couple weeks. So I waited and waited for the result I knew would eventually come.

(picture caption) a stick I peed on! May 29th 2012

This pregnancy is so different than my last. With Everett, I was going to school, working, painting, doing homework, and had a bit more of a social life. So I was busy and distracted. This time, I have a toddler. Being a stay at home mom with a toddler, I'm always occupied with him, but I wouldn't say I'm busy.

But we planned this pregnancy, and we were very lucky to get pregnant when we planned. So Brian's been home for most of the first, and the beginning of the second, trimester. And it's been so nice. Every day I think how lucky I am to have his help. It's not like I get to veg on the couch all day, since Brian's been renovating our second bathroom. But he's been doing much of the shopping and cooking, and if I'm feeling particularly bad, he can stop what he's doing and take Everett. It's been amazing. A true luxury.

We got an ultrasound at a bit over 8 weeks. It was fun. Got to see the heartbeat and that there really was a baby in there.

(picture caption) giant head baby

It was a little annoying that, with all the measurements they took, they put my due date at January 27th (they measured all sorts of things, not just the fetus). From the first day of the last period, I was dating at February 6th, so that was a big jump forward. This was not just annoying because I wasn't sure what to tell people about weeks/due date, but my biggest fear with this pregnancy is getting induced again, and the risk is much greater if I'm being told I'm a week past my due date (time for no stress test!) when I'm not even at my due date yet.

I showed Everett this picture, and I said: "what's that?" and he said, "It's a shark!" Baby just might get called "Sharkie" in the future. (;

Luckily, at our 13 (ish) week ultrasound, the doctor measured the fetus again and was able to give us a due date of February 1st. Much better. I was thinking February 3rd myself (based on conception), but that's close enough.

(picture caption) little leg and foot!

Oh, and he guessed it's a girl!! He said he couldn't be sure, and not to count on it, but he said he was 80% sure. That's pretty sure! A girl?! What would we do with a girl? Love her, I s'pose. And give her the tools to develop into a smart, strong woman! (:

The general wisdom that you get bigger faster with your second is certainly true for me. At 13 weeks I look as big as I did at 20 weeks with Everett (I doubt I was showing much at 13 weeks with him). But I'm all around squishier and in worse shape than I was with Everett. Back then I had a built in walk of at least 40 minutes on school/work days. Now I just chase around and lift a toddler all day. But as I feel better, I'll be walking and swimming more, and plan to take prenatal yoga, so I should be in decent shape for this pregnancy.

We'll be doing this Pinterest inspired photo series. It's challenging, but so fun and silly, to include Everett. When I was pregnant with Everett, I could choose one best picture to show belly progress. Now I'll end up sharing all the cute ones of him (and hope the belly progress is shown).

We're very excited. It seems like a great time to have another one. Everett will be 2 years 9 months in February (yup, babe was conceived just a few days before Everett's birthday--luckily I was still energetic enough to throw him a party). By then, I expect he'll be better able to grasp what the little wailing thing is, and maybe help me a little.

Helpful or not, we think he'll be a great big brother. He's so mellow (relatively), loving, generous, happy, and smart (he'll teach her/him so much!).

Should be a fun and busy 6 months left of pregnancy!

Late May and June

Oh my! It's been a long time since I last blogged! Kiiiiiind of on purpose. I wanted to switch from blogging on the 15th of the month to blogging at the end of the month. I did the 15th because it was his birthday day, and I could say, "Everett's 23 months old today!" for example. But it was confusing to separate months, and I think he's old enough now that we don't have to celebrate months so much, and I can just blog about what we've done in a month. It can be more about what our family has done in a month and not some much developmental stuff. Although it's still mostly going to be about Everett, Of course. 

This is going to be kind of a photo dump. Because I'm going from the 15th to the end of the month, I'm doing a month and a half. Lots of pictures. Plus a lot has been going on, and I don't feel like being choosy with pictures. 

Ok, let's start! 

My mom joined us for a road trip to San Diego May 19th/20th. We went down to attend the memorial service for our Cousin Roger. Unfortunately we couldn't stay long, and we missed what was surely a great party the evening of the service. Roger had so many amazing family members and friends who will remember him fondly.

Mom was a great diversion for Everett in the car. It was a long trip. Ran into traffic going south and north. No fun for a 2-year-old.

We had to stop at Pea Soup Andersen's to stretch our legs and so Everett could ride the carousel, race car, and shuttle.

"to infinity and beyond!"

Mom and Everett on the beach in San Diego. Brian NEEDED to get tacos at the beach. (;

Big guy carrying his own lunch box for the first time.

Big guy "learning" to shave.

Brian's parents invited us over for a Memorial BBQ on May 28th, and we thought it would be much more fun if the Hunters came over too. It was!

Everett's first group bath. Something that doesn't happen much as an only child.

Stroller fun at the disc golf course.

In early June, Bob Bacon visited us for a few days. It was fun. Brian was excited to show Bob all the work he's done on the house (Bob gave him a lot of advice before he started). And Bob is always a favorite with kids. Everett LOVES him!

My cousin Jason has been staying with my parents lately. I guess we had just finished disc golfing with Bob and Jason when this picture was taken. Brian's been teaching them how to play.

Relaxing on the new grass. All very excited about Brian starting his summer vacation later that week.

I finally got some pictures at Mommy and Me (Playtime Discoveries)! We only went to 5 sessions before it ended for summer, but we're signed up for the fall. And Everett's been practicing all the things he's learned, like the monkeys teasing the alligator song, galloping, and walking on tip toes!

We went to Sylvester's for Jason's free birthday burger (fourth time this year after Brian, Trago, and Rachel!?) My baby cousin is 22!?! Is that possible?

Trying to have lots of play dates with all his friends (who am I kidding, my mommy friends). (; Heilmann is a favorite because it has a water feature!!

Most exciting thing that's happened for Brian this summer, Atascadero's very own brew pub, Molly Pitcher Brewing Company, opened! Double exciting because it's owned an operated by a friend of ours, a guy Brian pole vaulted with. We hope they continue to do really well!!

Zoo puppet show with a bunch of great friends!

Hugging friend Rosa on the disc golf course.

Ines getting in on the hugging action.

Brian's been trying to take Everett out disc golfing often. He slows things down a bit, but he's really great out there. Our friend Chis, who takes his girls out there often said of Everett, "best disc golfing kid ever?" because he's so easy out there. But he's pretty easy most places. The guys in the picture above are Henry, Chris, and Brian.

Trying out the R2D2 chair (from Barbara and Bruce) at Tuesday Concert in the Park.

Look at Phil's face! Gion must have said something funny?

June 21st, Brian and I went to IKEA to get another countertop, a sink for the new bathroom, a small couch for my studio, etc. Everett stayed in Atascadero with Phil and Gion. But of course, baby boy ended up with the coolest stuff! New play mats, trains, sippy cups with dog faces. This is him staying up way past his bed time playing with his new toys.

June 27th we went camping at Santa Margarita Lake. Yes, it's like a 20 minute drive from our house. But we wanted to be close to home if we needed to abort the mission.

Everett had fun! It's a beautiful campground and lovely location overall. Brian and I have to talk about whether we're up for taking a 2-year-old camping again soon. It's so much work, and Everett didn't really seem to appreciate it more than any other experience. His favorite thing to do while we were there was play in the Subaru. We let him hang out in there and pretend to drive and push all the buttons. He thought that was the coolest! And we can do that anywhere!

our view

Ready to roast marshmallows!

I wanted to tack on a few extra pictures. These sort of belong in between the 2-year-old post and the birthday party post, so I'm sticking them here!

He opened a present from my parents. It contained a tie dye shirt. He said, "oh tie dye!" and gave it a HUG! Ha! What a funny, sweet boy.

I decided he needed to get a professional haircut before his birthday party. We talked about exactly what I wanted. Then I saw the first clipper swipe, and I knew it was TOO SHORT, but there was no going back. ):

I was so disappointed. He ended up looking like a little boy from the 50's with the slicked up hair in the front. Actually, normally I would have thought it was pretty cute, but not before his PARTY! I tried so hard to make the party and all the decorations gender neutral. He wore a shirt with yellow, orange, and red on it. And he ends up with this mini butch haircut . . . oh well!

Got some cute pictures out of it!

Ok, a couple of little things I want to remember and then I'm done.

Everett likes mayo on his artichokes (like me! Brian likes butter). We were eating artichokes for dinner, and Everett said, "more manonnaise?"

On May 31st, Everett said, "watch Star Trek?" We've been watching Star Trek Deep Space Nine as we wind down for bed because it's boring enough that he doesn't pay attention to it. He didn't really want to watch it, but he asked for Star Trek!!

On June 5th, Brian was plugging the laptop into the TV so we could watch Colbert, and Everett said, "Tonight!" It's what Colbert says to open many of his shows. The website wasn't even up yet!

On June 11th, we got a piano! I haven't touched it yet, but Brian and Everett like to play it together.

On June 14th, Everett had his 2 year check up. He did great! Cried for the nurse, was happy and talkative for the doctor. Stats: Weight: 27 lbs. 4 oz. (38th %), Height: 35.8 in. (77th %)


On June 23rd, we tried to give Everett avocado for the first time in almost a year and a half. He refused to eat it. 

On June 23rd, Everett started watching Star Wars for the first time (another nerd baby milestone!). He didn't get very far, but he liked the droids a lot. Now he calls it "robot movie." He calls R2D2 "cool robot." 

A conversation we had: 

Everett: That's a moon, mama, that's a moon!

Me: That's no moon, baby, that's a space station.

We'll raise a good little nerd!