Valentine's Day 2014

This year, Valentine's Day was really great. Eric brought me flowers and I gave him a card and then we dropped off our kids at a friend's house whose teenage daughters had volunteered to watch kids and throw them a party for free! So we took our little sidekick Ian and headed out to dinner. It was in a fancy hotel in Buellton where they were putting on a special Valentine's Day dinner where you chose food from a limited menu but it was all VERY DELICIOUS and came out very quickly, which was nice with an infant. It was quiet and romantic and yummy, so much better than I was even expecting. It was the perfect night, especially because Ian did really well and the kids had a blast at their party, so much so that they did not want to leave.

Point Sal Hike to Paradise Beach

We had contemplated taking a trip for the 3 day weekend but decided to take it easy and enjoy the time off. We were getting a bit stir crazy by Monday and Eric decided we should go on a hike. It was a pretty easy hike so that the kids could handle it with beautiful views all along the way. The beach was in a cove which blocked the almost always constant wind coming off the ocean and so it was really warm and enjoyable. Lillie spent her time playing in the waves while Henry and I climbed on the rocks. Ian actually enjoyed being there this time because of the wind block, which was great. It was a fun family time, glad for the time we've had to enjoy the beaches of the central coast.

Ian is 3 Months

Our sweet and super chunky baby is now three months old.  Man, how time has flown!  And yet, at the same time, it is weird to picture our family without him.  Ian is the perfect baby.  He is so happy and so chatty.  He is always talking and his most recent love is sucking on his hands and blowing raspberries. He goes down for naps with hardly a noise, usually wakes up once a night, but has slept through the night on a handful of occasions.  He won't take a bottle or pacifier, he spits up frequently.  He spends lots of time under his play gym or in his bouncy seat and is batting at the dangling toys.  It is nice so that I can still get stuff done while he is awake.  He only tolerates tummy time and bumbo time in small amounts though.
He is wearing size 6 or 9 month clothing.  We weighed him at 2 1/2 months and he was 16 lbs 10 oz. His hair is starting to grow back in, although it is more of a dirty blonde than red this time.  Ian's skin is milky and fair and paired with his blue eyes and cherubic cheeks, he reminds me of an angel.  Did I mentioned I am in love with his blue eyes?  Seriously, that boy is going to get away with murder because of them.  He loves his brother and sister, which is my favorite thing ever.  I love this little guy!

Birthday Girl

Back on the 16th, this sassy girl turned six years old.  SIX!!!  I cannot believe it.  Seems like yesterday that I held her in my arms for the first time.  Lillie will always hold a special place in my heart for being my little guinea pig.  I didn't know what I was doing in this new role as a Mom and I am so grateful for the chance that I've had to go on this crazy journey called the past six years with her.  I did not know how deeply someone could love another until she was born.  I still often feel that I don't know what I'm doing as a parent, but I can only hope that all the love that I have for her, shines through my missteps.  There are also many things about her that are surprising to me, such admirable things, like being so brave, so strong and so independent.  She is super friendly and so emotional.  Okay, maybe that last thing is a little like me. Sometimes I see parts of myself in her, and it scares me.  Not that it's a bad thing, but just that it reminds me that every little thing that I do makes an impression on her.  We've had some struggles as of late as she tries to stretch her wings of independence and I realize that this is just the beginning.  Still, I am so proud of the young lady she is becoming.

Birthday Weekend: Blast or Bust?

With the extra time that Eric took off from work and the great weather forecast, we felt like we should go do something for his birthday. It's not everyday that you turn 33, so we decided to go down to Oceanside to the navy base to enjoy their beach cottages, sun and surf. We were so excited to get there, after spending time in heavy Friday traffic and getting lost multiple times on the base. But when we went to check in, Eric was informed that Saturday the electricity would be out from 8 am to 6 pm on half of the base while they upgraded the power grid. So we were totally annoyed because no one told us that when we made the reservation and the one single thing that Eric wanted to do on his birthday was watch the Seahawks game. Seriously, he said I don't care what we do this weekend but I have to watch the game. That was his one request. Well, the game started at 1:30, so clearly he wouldn't be watching it at the beach house. We toyed with the idea of getting another hotel, but the location could not be beat and being offered half price to stay, we decided to tough it out. And I'm so glad we did. The kids had such an amazing time. They spent as much time out on the beach as they could. The main downer to the power outage was the game and that we couldn't cook any food ourselves, but other than that, it didn't dampen our stay as much as I thought it would. The weather was awesome, the kids spent their time pulling each other around on the boogie board, making sand angels, sand castles, collecting shells and hermit crabs, etc. I haven't seen Lillie that happy in a long time. There were other kids to play with on the beach and so when Ian was napping, I spent my time on the patio reading a book and watching the kids play in the sand. It was heavenly. Around lunchtime on Saturday, we headed to the Oceanside Beach Cafe and had some amazing food. Seriously, I cannot wait to go there again. The coffee cake was so delicious. We were able to get a table near a TV playing the Hawks game and so Eric was able to watch most of the first half there and then was able to watch the game on my phone for the second half. So while it wasn't ideal, he was able to watch the game and thankfully they were able to pull off a win. Phew! And after playing all afternoon until the sunlight was gone, we went to dinner at Chili's and were able to use a gift card from Christmas. It started off on a low note when we found out there wouldn't be any power, but it turned out to be an amazing and very memorable trip.

There were lots of beach houses, but we chose one that was in between two jettys so that the water would be calm and therefore, the kids could play in it without us worrying.  Also, the house was a lot closer to the water, so I could watch them from the patio.  So while the view wasn't as great as the other beach cottages, these were ideal for families with little kids.  

Other Pics from the Science Center

After checking out the Endeavour, we walked around looking at all the other cool exhibits. We saw a lot but there was still a lot that we didn't see. This is a huge building full of fun and interesting/educational things to see. The kids loved it... until they got hungry and then started to fall apart and so we left to go get lunch.

Trip to See the Endeavour

Eric took Thursday and Friday off of work since his birthday was on Saturday. We decided to head south to take advantage of the warm temperatures and spend some time in L.A. and Oceanside. The first day we went to the California Science Center to see the Endeavour. It was so. cool. I remember back in 2012, not long after moving here, that we saw the space shuttle fly by on the back of the Boeing airplane, so that made this a little more special. Anyway, it is such an amazing vehicle.

The lady in this picture was an astronaut that is now stationed on Vandenberg AFB with Eric. When she comes into the dental clinic, it's a big deal. Only the boss can work on her, rightfully so. She's the celebrity of the base.