Raspberries

Calvin loves nothing more than making his little "Weesey" laugh.

I love nothing more than watching these two play together.

Beach Boys

A few photos from our trip to the dog beach a few weeks ago.

 

 

In a nutshell..
 

Marshall enjoyed running free as if he's never been off a leash a day in his life.
 

Rhys loved being barefoot and squinted at this sun as if he's never been outside a day in his life.
 

Cal enjoyed tasting, throwing and rolling in the sand as if it weren't covered it dog pee.



 

 

Easter

We had a great Easter!

Okay, that photo isn't the best representation of our weekend but hilarious nonetheless. Calvin enjoyed battling hundreds of kids on the playground for an Easter egg hunt before meeting Mr. Bunny. The meeting went just as expected, with Calvin glued to Jakob's hip as he screamed for help. I should have known since the same creepy bunny was at the park last year but Calvin insisted he wanted to see the creep. Let that be a lesson learned.

A much cuter bunny visited our house Sunday morning and left eggs and baskets for the boys.

Calvin loved playing with his new sandbox toys (sandbox coming soon to a patio near you!- and by you I mean us!) while Rhys drooled happily on his new bibs.

We enjoyed a nice Easter service at church followed by a little playtime with the Johnson cousins. 

This year in particular, we are reminded of how incredibly blessed we are for our health and our wonderful, wonderful families.

And of course, our little family too.

So thankful. So blessed. 

Twelve Weeks

My maternity leave ends tomorrow.

Pause for tears.

Over the past week I have been doing my best to focus on enjoying my days at home with my boys and not think about the fact that I now have to leave my little baby and crazy toddler for 10 hour stretches four days a week. I know I am lucky to have three days off with them each week but three days is not the seven days I have grown accustom to over the past three months.

Now don't get me wrong, I am blessed to have a job that I love (for the most part, on most days). My coworkers are some of my best friends and I am so excited to see them and catch up on what I've missed. I'm happy to have some time away from the the Land of Cartoons and Fingerpaint where I can talk to other adults and share my new motherhood adventures with my patients. Overall work is a good thing for me and and I really am excited to go back, I just can't help but want a little more time at home too. Even during the longest and most dreadful winter in history, my twelve weeks at home went by incredibly fast. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was ringing in the new year as a patient on my unit and now it's time to go back as a nurse.

Deep breath.

Due to the fact that I had ridiculously high expectations of what I was going to accomplish with my time off, I was beginning to feel like a bit of a disappointment last week. I was supposed to organize all of our closets, work on a few DIY projects for the kids and tackle a few home enhancements. With the exception of one closet and a sewing project that I crammed in just last week, my life is only more disorganized and my home more dirty than it was pre-baby. And I suppose that's how it should be. A newborn is only a newborn for so long. Lounging on the couch with Rhys each afternoon as Calvin napped was much more enjoyable than crossing off a few things on my endless to-do list. But we did manage to get a few things done over the past twelve and I have some photos as evidence.

How we spent my maternity leave..

1. Ringing in the new year with our new Rhys

2. Reading books

3. Celebrating Cal's 2nd birthday over and over again

4. Sleeping on the couch with the little guy

5. Attending a few birthday parties

6. Going to toddler music/art/activity play-group each week

7. Playing in the snow

8. Setting up a quiet corner for Rhys in the guestroom

9. Goofing around with cousin Jack

10. Getting haircuts

11. Buying a new car

12. Attending gymnastics classes

13. Enjoying few date nights

14. Inventing several indoor snow day activities

15. Road-tripping to visit family in Minnesota

Not too shabby, maternity leave!

Now I'm off to find my ID badge so I can get paid when I show up to work tomorrow afternoon.

And I will not cry on my way in. 

I will try not to cry on my way in. 

Birthday Boys

February 8th was a big day for us this year. Jakob turned the big 3-0, Marshall turned 3, and Calvin celebrated his 2nd birthday with a few of his favorite people (extremely belated due to a few things we had going on near his actual birthday like Christmas, New Years, and the birth of his brother). Needless to say, February 8th was a day worth celebrating!

**Disclaimer**

Before I go on about Calvin's bus themed toddler birthday extravaganza, please note that Jakob was 100% fine with sharing his birthday with Calvin and insisted that he did not want a party of his own. I just have to clear the air. I don't want anyone thinking I planned a giant play-date while completely forgetting about my husband's milestone birthday. We are hoping to celebrate our 30th's this year by running away to some far off destination this fall.. hopefully tropical.. with endless mojitos.. and quiet.. and food more delicious than grilled cheese and applesauce...

Back to reality.

I chose a bus theme for Cal's little party. He's been all about transportation for the past few months and I figured a bus theme sounded cute so I rolled with it. Well, I chose wrong. The correct choice would have been an all out Disney Pixar Cars themed birthday as he is beyond obsessed with the little red car and cried out for Lightning McQueen plates as we walked through the aisles of Party City. Oh well, that's what 3rd birthdays are for. 

So without further ado, I give you the next best thing.. a bus birthday party.

For our birthday brunch: a waffle, pancake, yogurt, and mimosa bar.

What birthday would be complete without cupcakes?

And very specific cupcakes I might add. Calvin found a rainbow cupcake in a cookbook of mine and insisted on asking for them every single day leading up to his party. "Cake... pweeeease... CAKE.. PWEEEEEASE!!" and so on. 

 The birthday boys. At two and thirty respectively.

 I did my very best to get a few pictures with all of the kids. Holy blurred photos!! Trying to get them all still and in the same place is worthy of an Olympic medal.

I tried. I think at some point they are all clear in one photo or another.

Of course we couldn't have a bus birthday without a ride on the bus. A cheaply made homemade poster-board bus at that. So fancy.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Calvin!!

Happy 30th Birthday, Jakob!!

Brothers

So many things I could write about, so little time and energy to write. I figured I might start by answering the number one question I've been getting since Rhys was born, "How is Calvin doing with the baby?". Well, to sum it up, he's doing great. He is incredibly sweet with his little brother and very affectionate towards him. He loves to hold him and offer him hugs and kisses (usually a little more aggressively than needed) whenever he can.

Not pictured is the tender moment between them this week when Calvin threw a toy car at Rhys' face while yelling "Catch!!", so please don't assume it's all kisses and kindness over here. I'm sure there's more of this to come as Calvin slowly realizes that Rhys is not quite up for rough-housing just yet.

Thankfully, the majority of the time Calvin seems to enjoy having Rhys around. He frequently checks in on him, counts his fingers and toes, offers him his pacifier, and likes to give us helpful hourly updates on Rhys' condition. 

"He's awake!" 

"He's sleeping."

"He's crying."  

"He's eating."

I don't know what we would do without his help! haha.

But seriously, I couldn't be happier with how well Calvin has adjusted to having a little brother. I may be singing a different tune when all of the wonderful help from family and friends slows (Calvin has been receiving undivided attention from his grandparents for three weeks straight) but I am incredibly impressed with the transition so far. 

There is something so special about watching Calvin and Rhys interact with each other knowing that they are forming a friendship that will span their lifetime. I am so excited to watch these brothers grow up together. 

Our Christmas

We had a lovely little Christmas at home this year. In the past, I have either worked on Christmas or we have traveled to be with family. This year we were just home. No work, no snowy drive, just our little family of three. And it was just as I had pictured it- with lots of laughs, coffee, and relaxation. Speaking of relaxation, this little pant-less wonder slept in until eight before joining us in bed and tearing through his stocking.

As for the rest of the gifts, Calvin dashed down the hallway at the speed of light to see what Santa had brought him (no, he really doesn't get the whole Santa thing yet). 

We were pleasantly surprised as Cal patiently opened one gift at a time, giving us plenty of time to listen to Christmas music, sip on coffee, and exchange our own gifts as he "Ooh and aah'd" over his new train tracks. 

Besides his train set, the other favorite of the morning was a big transportation book. I can only hope he is always so thrilled with a book for Christmas!  

But to no surprise, the biggest hit of the day was the new Strider bike he received from his Grandma and Grandpa Ondrey. He jumped on the bike immediately and hasn't been away from it for more than five minutes ever since. He now uses it as his only form of transportation in our house. Why walk to the dinner table when you can ride a bike? Time for a bath? Simply park the bike by the toilet. It's hilarious. 

Marshall was in on the day of relaxation as well. He spent the majority of the day gnawing on a new antler bone by the fire. Spoiled pup.

Later on, we enjoyed a Christmas brunch with Sarah, Craig, and cousin Jack. Did I manage to get a photo of everyone? Of course not, but I promise the boys were sweet and the food was delicious.

We spent the afternoon lounging with bowls of ice cream as we watched Christmas movies with our boy and  found ourselves crashing our friends' annual Christmas day, pajama required, Chinese food extravaganza that evening. It was the perfect ending to a lovely day! 

Hope your Christmas was merry indeed!!

Christmas Card Outtakes

My mom was sweet enough to act as our official Christmas photo photographer this year. We picked a nice day in late October and headed down to the lakefront in an attempt to get a few family photos. We did manage to get a few winners but let's be honest, the outtakes are much more entertaining.

And now for a few keepers..

And of course we couldn't leave the new guy out so here he and I are at 30 weeks.

Things are looking quite different now at 37 weeks. We have big plans to officially get our house and lives ready for baby #2 this weekend. Knowing that he could arrive any day now is so exciting and only a little overwhelming. Okay, maybe a lot overwhelming- I still have about 27 things to check off my list before he arrives. Babies don't need diapers, right? If he could stay put through Christmas and his big brother's 2nd birthday (December 29th) that would be great. If not, we will happily welcome our new holiday addition and scramble for diapers on the way home from the hospital!

Hope you are finding time to relax and enjoy the holidays!!