So, we survived vacation with three kids!

Despite our better judgement, we decided to get out of dodge for the weekend and head to our "home away from home" to Orange County. My best friend and her family live in Huntington Beach so we headed her way for a long weekend to see her kids and go to Disney.

Things I learned from this vacation:

1. Babies sleep better if you can shut them in the bathroom. 

2. When little boys pee in the ocean, the sand sticks to it which creates a pretty awful rash. 

3. You can never have enough snacks. 

4. A fearless five year old may be more afraid of Space Mountain than a two year old (yes, he is a 40" tall beast). "But what happens if I fall out mom?!"

The boys LOVE the beach. They always have, and hopefully they always will. I hope Leila learns to love the beach as much as they do. My niece, also had her first beach visit this trip. She is seriously the most adorable little toddler, we love her, even though she only loves us when we give her candy and chips (sorry, Mingy!)

We were so happy they were able to make the trip out with us! At one point, we were nearing our end at California Adventure because it closes two hours before Disney, so Berto was going to take one for the team and let Heather and I ride Tower of Terror, so we left, and a few minutes later Berto came running up, followed by Eric and Trevor.... Bryan and Veronica stayed with six kids while we all rode the ride! 

We ate at so many amazing places. That is one thing I love about vacation, not the same old food. Plus, Southern California has AMAZING eateries. 

Cousins

Yes, that is all SEVEN of them!

There is something about having friends that you are comfortable enough with to leave your children with them, roll into a beach bar with six adults and seven kids, and know that it is just normal. *You should have seen that servers face.... "Can we have a table for 13, six adults and seven kids..." I swear, every server scrambles elsewhere! Yes, we have a beer or two while we are on the beach with our children. We got home from a day at the beach and I started to do some laundry at Heather's house and I came out of their laundry room to see her bathing all of the boys in the tub. It is friends like that that make life complete. 

If you have ever met Aiden and Luke, you know they are FULL of energy. Like more than a lot of kids I know. If we do not make them go to bed at night, they will stay up like blazing balls of fire until the wee hours of the morning. Unless they are sick, they never have fallen asleep on the couch. They NEVER. STOP. GOING. 

One thing I noticed about California is how many people think having three kids is crazy. We got so many comments about the kids... "oh, you have your hands full!", "oh, wow, three kids!" I know so many families here than have three kids, and a decent amount of families who have four or more kids. I guess when you pay a ridiculous amount for housing, having three kids would be a little impossible. 

Seaweed scarf. He loves it. 

I got kind of sad on our walk home from Disney, I didn't take any pictures with my good camera. Veronica reminded me you have to live in the moment, because sometimes it is hard to do both, which is SO true. If you want to see those pictures, see my Instagram! We also were able to go on some of the "big kid" rides since both boys are over 40" and I feel like we didn't do a lot of the little kid rides. This makes me kind of sad because one day all they will want to do are the big rides and the little rides will become "stupid." Why do kids have to grow up so quickly?

First Disney trip!

We survived our first family vacation as a family of five! We hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Fall with our three babies.

This past weekend was the first weekend we had nothing to do, so we worked around the house, went to a pumpkin patch, planted our fall flowers, and watched the Broncos. I thought I would share some pictures of the kiddos for our family members near and far!

Aiden's BFF Jimmy at our annual pumpkin patch visit together...

It was a pretty hot fall day, which isn't terribly unusual. But needless to say I am tired of the heat. I already have thoughts about snow, christmas lights, and sledding. 

Photo bomb!

I am slowly working on getting things done around the house... I finished our porch this weekend but I need to take photos. Since I have been working this semester, I have had no time to do fun projects. BUT, we did get a HomeGoods about 10 minutes away - this is dangerous! All I will say, Luke's room is COLORFUL and full of animals, his favorite thing!

Leila: four months old!

Four months!!

September 29, 2015

I swear I love this girl more every single day, even though the day before I do not think it is even possibly to love her more than I do! This past weekend I traveled out of state for a friend's wedding and I had far too many distorted thoughts about never seeing her again... needless to say, leaving her was more than difficult. Pumping was difficult. Airports and pumping were even more difficult. 

Weight: 14 lbs. 2.2 oz.

Length: 24.74"

Some nicknames we have for her are: Leil-y, Leggy, Leggy bug

Heath issues: Still battling reflux, but I think it is getting better as she gets a little older. 

Sleep: She was doing great. She has hit her four month regression. Enough said. Get ready to cry it out, baby love, because it is coming! Mommy and daddy do not like being woken up every two hours!

Diet: 100% breastmilk 

Baby gear love: Her bumbo, jumperoo, her swing, pretty much everything she is in... she is a super happy baby!

Likes: she still loves being held, her little lovey-bunny and hippo, her wubba-nub, being bounced in her bouncy chair, smiling, cozy blankets, her lovies on both sides of her face when she goes to sleep

Dislikes: being cold and naked after bath, being hungry (who doesn't?!), screaming brothers, dad beard kisses

I have been really bad about keeping up on the blog. Life has kind of been out of control busy lately. I am going to try and calm some things down in life this upcoming month, and we have very few plans, so I am very excited about that! 

Leila: three months old!

How is my baby 1/4 of the way through her first year already?! I swear, every kid you have, the faster they grow up. It just isn't fair!

August 29, 2015

Leila is growing like a weed! She is still in size two diapers but I honestly feel like she could jump to a three because of how long she is. She is wearing 3 - 6 month clothing and fills them out very nicely! She is definitely starting to get a little meat on her bones! 

Some nicknames we have for her are: Leil-y, and Leggy have stuck! 

Heath issues: Just this past week she got another little cold from her older brothers, which we expected because Aiden started kindergarten and is now exposed to more germs. She seems to be doing better and much less stuffy. She is still on medicine for her reflux, and it has been very helpful! 

Sleep: Before she got her cold she was sleeping 11 - 12 hours straight, we were so rested and it was so nice. Then after her cold, she has been sleeping between 7 and 8 hours straight. Hopefully she will go back to her 11 - 12 hour stretches soon. 

Diet: 100% breastmilk 

Baby gear love: She is happiest if someone is holding her. I guess I would say her Rock-n-Play is her favorite since she sleeps in it at night and has recently started napping in it!

Likes: loves being held, her little lovey-bunny and hippo, her wubba-nub, being bounced in her bouncy chair, smiling, cozy blankets, her lovies on both sides of her face when she goes to sleep

Dislikes: formula, being flat on her back, really loud noises, when her brothers yell, when daddy kisses her neck with beard hair, being cold after bath

She is the calmest, happiest baby ever. She literally just hangs out, watches what is going on, and smiles. If I could guarantee to have one more just like her, I totally would. We love her to the moon and back, she is the best! 

Upholstery decisions: the tale of an ugly chair.

So I have THE most comfortable nursery chair in Leila's nursery but it is kind of ugly. Not nasty, hideous ugly, but it ain't pretty, folks. Not only does it not scream feminine, floral nursery.... it has this sort of wind breaker material that is noisy and when I have to stand up with a sleepy baby it startles her. We had it in Luke's nursery and it worked a little bit better for a little dude nursery, but it was still not awesome.

So I went to fabric.com and found 8 different fabric choices that I love. Like, I could picture this chair with all of the swatches. So I am asking you this... please help me decide which one you would think would look better in this nursery?

Whoops, ignore the fact that five and six are exactly the same! Whoops! Leila has a blanket in this print and it is adorable... but I love the others too! Ah, help me! 

Oh, and I will be staining or painting the wooden rails! 

Aiden's First Day of Kindergarten

Holy moly, I cannot believe I have a kid in kindergarten. Every day he is so much more grown up and I sure am going to miss his help during the days. He only goes to school Monday, Wednesdays and some various Friday's, but he helps me so much with Leila!

We had Back to School night on Monday and afterwards we went over to my in-laws house for dinner. When we were at Back to School night he found his name in the scavenger hunt and noticed that it was in lowercase, when we usually practice all uppercase when writing. When he drew his name in chalk at my inlaws, he added a dot to the top of his eye and said that is how they do it in kindergarten. It was adorable.

He couldn't find his glasses, so my old ones had to do. 

Walking up to school. 

Officially a kindergartener. 

The crew. 

Little morning pow wow before school starts. Pep talks or bug talk?

Berto walking him to his door. 

Luke saying goodbye!

I literally cannot believe school has already started. Wasn't it just the end of preschool?! He has come a long way since he cried every single time I dropped him off at preschool! Today he just waved bye to us and walked right in! 

2013

2014

2015

I hope he has the best school year ever!! 

Back to School: Teacher's gift.

This idea isn't terribly creative, and is similar to the other gifts Aiden has given his preschool teachers, but I think it is useful in many ways!

I decided to take something that was on his supply list and grab an extra pack. This is something the teacher asked for so she must use them a lot! 

I cannot believe my little man is starting Kindergarten on Wednesday. That is the saddest thing ever.  You may just catch me down at the park spying during recess! 

Sources:

Cup: Target

Expo markers: Target

Tags: Target (so cute!)

Crinkle Paper: Hobby Lobby

Ribbon: Michaels