Goodbye September, Hello October!

We’ve had a pretty busy/hectic month at our house. On the 9th, I turned 25 (yay!), and on the 10th, my husband and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary (double yay!). We ended up low-keying both events this year. I’ve just been so tired this pregnancy, and Owen hasn’t slept well in months! We thought that anything extravagant would just be too exhausting!!

  
The week following our anniversary, Owen caught a seriously nasty stomach virus. That was an exhausting (and disgusting) week, made worse when Marshall ended up catching the virus! Ugg! I was fortunate to have not caught it, because it fell on my shoulders to take care of my boys! A mother’s job is never done, I suppose.

Once Marshall and Owen were back to feeling 100%, we decided to take a day trip to the coast! We hadn’t had Maddie or Owen in the sand and water yet, and we were anxious to see how they’d do! Owen was very hesitant, but ended up loving both the sand and water! Maddie seemed to like the beach, but all she really wanted to do was say hi to other dogs. She loves other dogs, but she really struggles to come when called, so we didn’t risk taking her off-leash. That’s ok, though–mommy and Maddie sat in the sun while Owen and daddy played in the water!

   
    
   
Our trip was cut short because I ended up being very ill that day. My nausea has been horrendous this pregnancy, and I ended up vomiting several times throughout the day.

We ended up in the ER this last Sunday after Owen swallowed leather cleaner….awesome….We called poison control and were assured that unless he was struggling for breath, we were fine! But, in typical new parent fashion, we didn’t trust them and went into the ER anyways!! And we were assured by the doctor that Owen was fine. So there ya go.

And, we finished up the month with a bang! I got a part-time job! I saw a craigslist ad for a part-time position at the local packing/shipping store, handed in an application, and got a call two hours later saying I was hired! I have worked three days so far, and am loving it! I mean, it’s not what I went to college for…and it’s not what I would have chosen for a job…but if you have to get a part-time job (and I did), it might as well be fun! And I work with some really great ladies! I think it’s going to be a great experience! 

Now it’s October, and I’ve got big plans for this month! Pumpkin patches, corn mazes, Halloweentown in St. Helens, and, of course, Halloween!! I’ll try to update more regularly this month, as it should be lots of fun, and I’m sure to have lots of great photos to share!

Our HUGE Announcement!

Well, the time has come to tell you all that in April, 2016, we will be welcoming the newest member of our family! Baby Baker #2 is due on April 1, April Fool’s Day! I really hope he/she isn’t actually born that day, but we’ll see what happens!

  
So as of right now, I’m 10 weeks along, and baby is the size of a prune! My morning sickness and fatigue has been far worse this time around, and everyone seems to think that that means I’m having a girl this time around! Honestly, I would be happy with either. A girl would be fun and adorable, but a boy would mean that Owen would have a brother/best friend to grow up with! Plus, I already have all boy stuff haha! But as long as this baby stays healthy, I have no preference on gender.

We got to have our first ultrasound last week, and the little one’s head and arms are very visible at this point! Plus, I was able to see the heartbeat! It was incredible!

This has been a shocking/happy/stressful time for us. We are very concerned about our finances and the cost of having a second child, but we are trusting that God will provide. I may be taking on a part-time job either while pregnant or after the baby comes, but the thought of losing time with my babies just kills me. Plus, daycare is so expensive! And I don’t even know how to go about finding someone that I can trust! Ugh, just so much stuff to think about.

For the next several months, look out for my bump photos!! Cuz I’ll def be posting lots 😉

A Weekend with Owen’s Cousins

In July, Marshall’s sister, Lisa, came to Oregon for a visit! Her family lives in California, so we really look forward to our yearly visits! Lisa has 2 kids, Joli and Marcus, who love playing with Owen. 

While they visited, we made sure to have lots of fun! We all gathered at grandma’s house for swimming one day. Owen’s auntie Holly helped him in the pool, while Marcus enjoyed jumping and splashing! Owen just loved all the commotion!

   
   
 One night, we all went to see the play, Mary Poppins! A local theatre group puts on a fun play every year down at the high school. Owen and I had to leave early, though, since the play didn’t even start until close to 8 pm! But what we were able to stay for sure was fun.

We did something new while the cousins visited, too! We went for a little train ride! On the outskirts of town, there’s this miniature railroad called the Tennessee Thunder Railroad, and they take families for rides around their property! We weren’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be great fun. And the kids loved it! 

   
    
   
   
We always love visiting with Lisa and the kids, and look forward to their visit every year!

An Outdoorsy Summer

We’ve been trying to get outside as much as possible this summer. Marshall and I both love being in nature, but we’re both natural-born couch-potatoes, unfortunately. In an attempt to save our child from our lazy ways, we decided to introduce him to the joys of hiking at this ripe, young age! 

My hubby decided that I needed new hiking boots (seriously ladies, he said we NEEDED to get me new boots…and any kind of shoe shopping is fine by me!) before we could start our summer trekking. Once the boots were purchased, we set out for a nice hike over at Cape Perpetua, on the coast. I absolutely love this hike, because you’re not only going through some beautiful forest, but you also get to walk out to the tide pools! It was still high tide when we went, so there was no anemone touching, but it was still gorgeous!

   

  

  

    

We decided to go to Clear Lake for our next hike. It. Was. Amazing.
It was about a 5 mile hike all around the lake, so we decided to bring snacks, and stop halfway through to change and nurse Owen. He rode on daddy’s back the whole time, and managed to stay awake all the way up until the last 15 minutes or so! I was definitely pooped at the end of the day, but it was a really wonderful feeling. 

    

  

  

      

We happen to live near a pretty nice park with some beautiful sights, so our next hike of the summer was over at McDowell Creek Falls. Now that our puppy, Maddie, was old old enough and had all her shots, we decided to take her along! She did really great, but she’s still very wary of bridges.  
     

Throughout the summer, we’ve also been taking walks down to the creek that runs through our property. Owen is such a water baby! He needs to hold daddy’s hands, but once he gets into that water he wants to go, go, go!

                

It has been such a joy getting out of the house with my family this summer. And I’m so grateful that my sweet boy seems to love the outdoors so much! I know that we have some awesome summers in our future!
  
   

   

August Tacoma Trip

This last weekend, Owen and I picked up my 16-year-old sister, Ali, and headed to see our other sister, Bri, in Tacoma Washington! Bri is a student midwife and is studying under an awesome midwife in Tacoma for the next year or so, so we decided to check out her new stomping grounds!

On Thursday, Ali, Owen and I took off. We arrived around 4:30, to find that Bri was actually attending a birth! So we hung out with her husband, Cody, until Bri got home. Because Bri doesn’t like scary movies, we took that time to watch two new scary movies!

The next day, Bri took us to Chambers Bay. Chambers Bay is over in University Place, and it’s where the 2015 U.S. Open (golf thing) took place! We had a lovely walk and ended up at this pretty awesome play area. I had Owen in the baby carrier, so we took a break to let Owen play and let mommy rest!  

    
    
    
 
After our walk at Chambers Bay, we headed home to change, then we were off to the lake! The weather was perfect! And because we went on a weekday, the beach wasn’t nearly as crowded as I thought it would be!

   
    
 
On Saturday, we definitely low-keyed it. We planned on going garage saleing, but I’m related to horrible over sleepers…we didn’t leave the house until after 11. We then proceeded to get very, very lost on our way to get me some caffeine, ended up only going to a few sales, and getting even more lost. We basically got a thorough tour of Tacoma. But oh well! 

After somehow finding our way up North, we decided to check out Point Defiance! We stopped at Owens Beach (great name 😉 ) and walked around for a bit. Owen had a good time throwing rocks into the water. 

    
    
 
Sunday was our day to head out. But I decided that I needed to get a little crazy before I left. I’ve been wanting to get my nose pierced for years, and on Sunday morning I finally did! It was scary and invigorating and freeing! I feel like a new person, and it’s not even that noticeable haha!

 
 
Seriously, what an awesome trip. And my sister didn’t get called to a birth the whole time we were there! But, wouldn’t you know, the babies all came at once the second we left 😉 I know that my sister was just happy to get a few fun days with family, and so were we!

Owen’s First Disneyland Trip

On July 2, we took off for Disneyland! It was Owen’s first trip and my bajillionth trip! I can’t even properly describe my deep, deep love for all things Disney!

Marshall wasn’t able to take time off from work, so we went with my mom, both sisters, and my brother! Bri and I missed our husbands, but it was great to get some sibling time! 

I was extremely nervous for the plane. I just know that babies don’t always handle the changing cabin pressure well, and I really didn’t want to deal with cranky passengers while trying to deal with a cranky baby. But, he actually did pretty amazing! No cries, whatsoever! He really enjoyed looking out the window and coloring with the crayons we got!

   
    
 
Once we arrived, we had the absolute best time! We didn’t really worry too much about nap time or bedtime, and I’m glad we didn’t worry! Because even though his sleep schedule was thrown way off, it didn’t affect his mood at all! He was the most mellow kid during the whole trip!

Owen was very unsure of the characters, as you’ll see in the photos, he’s got the most grumpy look with every single character! 

   

    
   
He did end up warming up to the characters by the end of the trip, though! He loved Minnie Mouse, Pluto, and the princesses!

   
    
 
Then there was us adults! We had an absolute blast! It was so great getting some much-needed sibling time!

   
    
 
While there, I happened to experience one of the greatest moments of my life. I met Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers!! My favorite player on my favorite team…I completely fan-girled, cried, hyperventilated…and he still took a picture with me!! Excuse the crazed look in my eyes…I said I was crying!

  
I made it back and white to hide my blotchiness…at least he looks good!!

I know that some people are totally against taking kids this small to Disney, but I’m just so glad that I did. The memories that I made were priceless, and I’ll treasure these sweet photos for the rest of my life.

Owen had such a great time, and I really did, too! It was definitely a different kind of trip, but it was great! I still got to go on plenty of rides, we just had to take things slower than we usually do, which worked out just fine! I mean, just look at these smiles! 

    
    
   
Totally worth the trip!

The Haircut of Shame

So, I gave Owen his first haircut several months ago, and it really wasn’t that bad. Mostly because I hardly took any hair! Unfortunately, his hair grew back with a scruffy vengeance! So, toward the end of June I decided to give it another go! But I decided to try to cut it a bit shorter this time.

It did not work.

Oh my word!! I don’t know what I was thinking! I tried to mimick what my hairstylist does when she layers my hair, but I’ve never been formally trained on how to cut hair…and it shows…

Here’s his scruffy mane before the cut:

   
 
And here’s my hack-job:

   
   
Stop laughing!!!!! I know its awful, okay? I seriously just hit a certain point and couldn’t stop. It was like a sickness came over me and I just had to keep cutting!

My husband got home, buzzed it (after laughing for way too long), and made me promise to take him to a barber next time:

   
 
I’ll be keeping that promise.

Moving Grandma and Sibling Visits

June was a busy month for us. Earlier this year, we found out that my grandma would be unable to stay in her home of 20+ years. It was really heartbreaking news, but due to a lot of unforeseen circumstances, there wasn’t much we could do about it.

I began looking for apartments/cheaper homes for her to rent that would be closer to us (she was living on the coast and we’re all inland a bit). It was a struggle to find anything that fit her budget, but we finally did it! After the biggest garage sale I’ve ever seen (with the most profit I’ve ever heard of), we were finally able to move her.

She now lives about 20 minutes from me. And, although it’s small and it’s not the coast, I think she’s feeling pretty happy there. I know she’s happy that she gets to see her great-grandson so often!

The week following her big move, I had my brother stay with us for about 6 days. He’s 12 and a handful, but we had a lot of fun! We spent some time at the public pool, then bought an inflatable pool and water balloons to have some fun at the house! Owen loved it! We invited my grandma and aunt out, and they seemed to enjoy themselves, too.

  
The very next week I had my 16-year-old sister stay with us for a week! We had a low-key week. We worked out together (ouch!) and made some coconut oil facewash! We also redboxed a bunch of dumb movies haha! Owen just adores his aunties and uncle!’

Overall, a very busy month, but July was even better–we went to Disneyland! I’ll post about it in a couple days!

Apparently, I Suck at Blogging

Well, I’m back.

Again.

But for real this time! So much has been happening, and my toddler has proven to me that kids are a handful, that I just decided to put blogging on the back burner for a while. But I’ve missed it. So I’ve decided to pick it up again. I thought about doing a photo dump, but I think I’ll actually try to post separate blogs about the last several months! We’ve had a very busy summer, and I have lots of adventures to share!

But for right now, I’ll leave you with this: my child is an insane 15-month-old now, and I feel like I’m losing my mind!

Parties and Puppies!

What an eventful week! In my last post I talked about my son turning one. That weekend, we had a big party for him! We originally planned a BBQ at our house, but moved to the local Pizza Hut, due to rain. But I think it turned out pretty great, and I didn’t have to take care Of cleanup!   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Owen had an absolute blast and got so many great gifts! Lots of toys, clothes, and money! He got so much money, in fact, that I’ve decided to open a savings account for him. He has a big piggy bank that’s completely full, so every year on his birthday (or sooner, if necessary), we’ll empty it and take his money to the bank! 

   

      

On a sad note, we also ended up rehoming our dog, Rowan, last weekend. For the last year, he has been so jealous and aggressive with Owen, that I just couldn’t have him around anymore. He used to just growl, but ever since Owen started walking, he’s been barking as well. It would only take one second for things to turn south, and change our lives forever. We decided that we had no choice but to find him a new home.

My mom works with a lady named Dawn who is a total animal nut! She has a female border collie and has actually been searching for a high energy companion for her. We took Rowan to meet them, and it was amazing. Her house is completely dog-friendly, there are no kids to stress Rowan out, and the two dogs just love each other! I cried as we were driving away, but I really couldn’t have asked for a better home for him. Dawn has even been sending me updates and videos, and Rowan seems to be so happy! It definitely makes things easier to see that he’s having fun.

Because we are total dog people, my hubby and I decided that we can’t be without one! We decided that we needed to make sure we got a family-friendly breed, and we wanted a puppy. It was hard with Rowan, because we got him as an adult and didn’t know his history. With a puppy, you know what you’re getting because you’re helping to write their history.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, as soon as we started looking, we found a lady near us who was selling lab puppies! I’m usually against backyard breeders, but in this case, they weren’t trying for puppies, but their neighbor’s male dog snuck under their fence and…let’s just say they’re taking momma to get spayed as soon as possible!

We picked out a beautiful black female, and we named her Maddie May! We are completely in love, as is Owen! The two of them are so cute it hurts. And I can already tell that they’re going to be best buds!

Best birthday present ever?? I think yes.