Dear Weston - 2 Years Old

Dear Wes,
It's really hard to believe that you are two.  It's really sad in a way that you are growing up, but I am so happy to say that you are flourishing in all areas as a two year old.  You are hilarious, you are sweet and sensitive, you have a kind heart, but most of all you are friendly.  You know ALL your letters and your ABC's, you know how to count to 10 and you can recognize each letter, and you LOVE your books more than anything.  While we see an extremely bright young boy, we also see a very tender, loving boy.  If you see mommy upset, you come up to me and hug me.  You say I "wub" you out of the blue.  You give us kisses whenever we ask (well most of the times, sometimes you do say no kisses and push our faces away), but there is never a shortage of hugs from you.  You love to dance. You love stuffed animals and giving them hugs and kisses. You are obsessed with cars and trucks, especially Mater (aka Matey) from Disney Cars.  When you get upset or angry, you pout your lips really big and say NO! You hate wearing pants, and will only wear shorts.  You have gone potty on the toilet a handful of times on your own doing.  You finally mastered the slide at the park, which for you took a while to gain confidence.  You could swing ALL day long.  Your vocabulary is advanced for a two year old. You form 3-4 word sentences and you talk all day long. This wasn't always the case, because I feel compelled to add that I was a bit worried that you didn't say much around 18 months.  This word explosion has been great in understanding what you want and need, but there are still times where we are confused which upsets you.  For a 2 year old toddler, you sure do know what you want.  You want to do things on your own, mostly copying your sister, but you get upset if you can't do them by yourself.  You are obsessed with mowing the lawn. You say it 100 times a day to daddy.  You are also obsessed with trash cans and the garbage truck.  Monday mornings are a highlight when we go to the curb and watch the garbage trucks come pick up our trash.  You yell, blue can, black can and green can. Which is also been helpful, because you are eager to help me take things out to the garbage!

You also love to help me cook.  Which is surprising because you are still a PICKY eater!  It drives me nuts. We had a red flag with your weight at your 2 year check up.  You went from 30% to 10% in weight.  The doctor was concerned.  He told us no more nursing! He also wanted to see us back in one month for a weight check.  So we stopped nursing cold turkey - sort of.  I continued to nurse you before nap and bed. It was a hard transition.  We had to say goodbye to the morning nursing session which was my favorite because it meant I carried you back to bed with me to nurse while I got extra time in bed and got snuggles from you.  In order to transition you from super cranky monster in the morning, we put on a short cartoon of Disney's cars. You loved it. You got milk in a sippy, and sort of forgot about nursing.  After naps were much easier, you didn't mind so much that we didn't nurse.  It was not an easy month, but after our return visit you had gained 2 pounds!!! You were back up to 30% and doctor was very happy.  In this month we started to see you eat so much more.  Eggs for breakfast every day with sausage, lots of mac n cheese and pastas, lots of rice and one of your favorite foods is chic filet chicken nuggets! Honestly I was relieved on so many levels.  While you still don't eat much through out the day, you are consistently eating at least one good  meal a day.  And we give you what you like. 

As far as nursing, we are down to just one time a day, right before nap.  I lay down with you in your room, let you nurse to sleep and then I get up and leave the room.  You give us solid 2-3 hour naps, and most of the time wake up happy, but honestly you are a cranky riser.  I think it's still because you miss the nursing, but I also think this will get better with maturity over time.  Nighttime has been a huge success on account of daddy.  He puts you to sleep, and personally I think you prefer it.  You two have created your own routine which is books, singing songs and then laying together until you slowly fall asleep.  You still cry a little when he leaves the room, but as daddy says, it's building confidence and over time this will only improve. 

We had a small birthday gathering for your big day.  Grandpa Curt and Grandma Mo were in town, and of course we invited over Dan and the Bielats.  We ordered pizza and had a custom cake made and you got lots of fun gifts.

A few other things I don't want to forget:
1) You like to role play and can play house with Jillian or princesses, or another favorite: the farm!
2) Your favorite toy is your bruder trash truck.  Every day all the time
3) You still call Jillian GiGi
4) You love playing at Jillian's school after we pick her up. You love the teeter toter and your favorite friend is Cayden (Riley's younger brother). Wow, you love him.
5) Another toy favorite: leggos!
6) Running running and running - you are speedy
7) Nick names: Wild wild west, Wes man, Wes bug and Jillian called you West

Weston's First Birthday Celebration

The theme was incredibly easy to pick out.  Airplanes!  Since buying our home last year, we have moved underneath the flight path to John Wayne Airport.  It's actually really quite cool. The area we live in, is central Orange County, and we see a ton of airplanes throughout the day making their decent.  Needless to say, every since we moved in, Weston has been obsessed. One of the things he started doing after he noticed the patterns of planes was point. So anytime we would be anywhere, we would ask him "Weston, where are the airplanes?" and we would have him pointing his finger to the sky.  It was incredibly cute.  His fascination with airplanes is still dominant over most other things. Sure, he loves cars, balls, all those boy like things, but if he hears the roar of a jet engine or a hoovering helicopter above, he's straining his neck to locate it with his eyes, and then there goes his little hand pointing in awe.

This winter in Orange County has been non-existent this year.  It's been officially declared a drought.  Anyone that knows Tim and I, knows we LOVE rain.  However, I was thrilled to be able to plan an outdoor party at our new home for Weston, in perfect viewing site of the airplanes. We ordered a jump house, tables and chairs and invited over 30 of our closest family and friends.  Well, the weather of course decided to send a HUGE storm our way that week, and of course it called for 90% chance of rain on his birthday party day. I was soooo bummed.

So you know what we did, we moved the jump house into the garage for all the kiddos, and made do with our indoor space.  We HAD THE BEST time ever.  Because the weather was so nasty out, all the kids wanted to jump. Three days of pent up energy, and parents were glad to see a controlled space like a bounce house to use for hours!  And we did. We got our money out of that thing. 

You know what Weston did?  He slept. He greeted our guests, posed for some photos, and then was exhausted and excused himself to his room where he slept for over an hour with his door wide open, and people make a ton of noise. Ummmmm....since when did he adopt the term sleep like a baby? Because our son, doesn't ever do that.  So I had to wake him up to do cake before everyone had left.  He was groggy and tired, but after the birthday song, he really started to dig the idea that he was the center of attention and this person who is the center of attention gets a cake to eat all by himself.  And this kid of mine....he DUG IN.  He was eating it, got it all over his little cheeks, and continued to play with it for a good 15 minutes. I was in shock. Both my kiddos and their first cake experience were the complete opposite of what I thought they would do.

The day ended with the opening of presents and LOTS of leftover food.  I am pretty sure we still have a whole bag of Costco Tortilla chips.

Catching Up

Celebrated birthdays.
Bought a house.
Drove to Arizona for a family vacation.
Went to Disneyland.
Had family pictures taken.

Weston's Birth Story

As I write this, Weston is almost 2 weeks old. I am still in newborn baby bliss, but the memories from his birthday are fading and I don't want to forget those moments leading up to our first meeting. There is nothing more powerful than giving birth. The love you feel is so overwhelming.  Even through the pain and discomfort, I would do it 1,000 times over just to feel the warmth of his newborn skin on my chest minutes after he was born.

I knew in my gut he was going to come early.  I wasn't far from my original prediction of February 26th.  On February 27th, I had my 39 week appointment.  Tim and Jillian both came with me, because I knew we were going to talk about induction.  My doctor per usual gave me an exam, and instantly told me he was extremely low and she wouldn't be surprised if he came any day.  That excitement alone had Tim and I giddy as we left the appointment.  Tim went back to work, and I went home with Jillian.

During Jillian's afternoon nap, the contractions started.  I didn't think too much about them, and started to casually time them.  I made lunch, checked email, finished laundry and when that was all said and done, I was exhausted and decided to take a nap.  When I woke up, I became very nauseous. I was also having strong contractions but nothing consistent.  I called Tim and told him he needed to come home right away because I was feeling like I was going to throw up and I was fearful for Jillian to see me hoovering over a toilet bowl.

The minute he came home, I started to throw up.  Shortly after the vomiting started, the diarrhea kicked in.  I was contracting during all of this, but couldn't decipher between cramping because of all the vomiting.  When I started vomitting blood, Tim called the hospital on duty and they told us to sit still.  I was super frustrated.  I couldn't even keep water down, and started to get nervous about the well being of our baby. 

So finally around 9 pm, we called Lisa so we could head to the hospital.  Jillian was in bed already, and we had made plans with Lisa to babysit once we knew it was go time.

As suspected, I was contracting and was 3 cm dilated when they monitored me.  The doctor on duty checked me in without hesitation and once I was settled into the room they offered some anti-naseau medicine in my IV drip.  Once that kicked in I started to feel much better.

I found it odd that I wasn't really bothered by the contractions. Surely, I felt them, but the distraction of the nasuae spells, took my mind off of them.  However, when I hit 5 cm, I was ready for my epidural.

Once again, I was vomiting but this time from the pain of the contractions, so when the epidural finally kicked in, I was so happy.  Tim and I both decided to get some sleep.  By 4 am, there was very little change so the nurse gave me a small drip of pitosum to hopefully speed things along and literally within 30 minutes I was at 10 cm and ready to push.

I remember getting the shivers when they told me it was time.  Tim covered me up in a blanket and held my hand while the staff prepared for our arrival.

I pushed for 5 minutes and at 4:57 am, our little West made his debut.

Once on my chest, he stopped crying.  I was so happy, I remember staring at him thinking "he is so calm." Alert, calm, very sweet.

This labor was so different than Jillian's. The epidural was WAY better.  I could feel my legs and I could REALLY feel Weston when I was pushing.

I recovered A LOT faster.  I had some tearing, but after I was stitched up, I was up and walking shortly after.

I am enjoying every single second of Weston, his smell, his sweet coo's, even his cries.  I am unbelievable happy, indescribably living in bliss, and I never want these feelings to escape me. I am sure I will be a crazed sleep deprived mom of two in no time, but right now I am on cloud 9.  Our family feels complete now that he's here.

I love you, Weston.

Jillian's 2nd Birthday

My daughter is 2.  Wow. I can't help but think about the day she was born, the first few minutes with her and the emotions that came along with that.  Sometimes I wonder in astonishment how we even made it this far??! Secretly I think I should throw myself and Tim a party for getting through all the challenges that came along with first time parenthood, but none the less, we made it  and we have a beautiful 2 year in front of us.

When Jillian turned 1 we were living in our condo.  Since then, we sold our condo, moved into a rental house, and have a lot more space.  I really wanted to throw her a 2nd birthday party and invite all of Jillian's friends.  The theme was "we all scream for ice cream" since Jillian absolutely loves ice cream and what adult doesn't love ice cream as well??

Both sets of grandparents made the journey, and we got to invite Jillian's daycare provider Amy and her two daughters and Jillian's favorite friends from daycare, Caleb and Lannie.  Also in attendance was Ava, John, Oden, and Colton, her go-to best friends. Baby Pete was there, and while he's the youngest, he was the biggest one there, all 35 pounds of him!

My mom helped with the decorations and really helped organize the party before, during and after.  (Moms are serious rock stars, is there anything they don't do)??  By the end of the party, our house was relatively clean, and Jillian napped for a solid 3 hours.

This is the last birthday she will have as our only child and I really wanted to savor the day and enjoy all the little details.  My heart melts when I hear Jillian say, "my mommy"  and comes running into my arms for a giant hug.  These are just small moments in a chaotic day that remind me how quickly life does pass us by.  Thank goodness for blogging/journaling, because this was a special day for our family, and I hope to never forget how magical it felt at the time.

Bonnie and Matt are Married....at last!

Tim and I attended Matt and Bonnie's wedding on Sunday, September 4. It was such a beautiful wedding. There were some clouds in the sky that made for a very fall like wedding. The reception and ceremony were both outside, and reflected both Matt and Bonnie's personality. They wrote their own vows, which I thought was so sweet, and of course, personal. Matt seemed a little nervous, while Bonnie got choked up when Matt surprised her with vows to her son, Nathan. The table gift was a mason jar with three seeds planted in some soil to represent their growing family of 3.

We ended the night indulging in the best carrot cake I have ever had, and dancing the night away under the stars. During the last two songs, it started to sprinkle a bit, which made for a magical moment for everyone. By the way, Tim was a maniac on the dance floor, he tore it up!

Jillian was at Grandma and Grandpa Roberts house having a blast!