I love unexpected finds, especially when they consist of my Mowgli bear

Sorting through our pictures and came across this gem of a photo. Love the temple, love that clear blue sky, but mostly love that fluffy haired sweet little boy hammin' it up for the camera.

birthday bash

We had fun last weekend celebrating Talis' birthday with lots of hugs, high-pitched "you're one years old!",  and of course a birthday party. We invited some friends and family over to our neighborhood pool and had a pretty laid back birthday pool party. Talis was a little too busy eating watermelon (or smooshing the few pieces he didn't in his fist) to play in the kiddie pool but he made sure to show off his swimming tricks to some of his fellow swim class classmates in the big kids pool. We had so much fun visiting with everyone who came and can't thank you enough for all the sweet presents you brought for Talis. Happy birthday Talis!

                                                  

a year ago today...the birth story a year later

Today is my sweet Mowgli bear's birthday. I can't believe it, I'm filled with so many emotions thinking about it. The past year has been filled with so many ups and downs, mostly ups, sweet-joyful-heart melting ups. I've learned so much about myself since becoming a mommy to my sweet T, lessons that can only be learned when you experience what it's like to love as a parent. So I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate the priviledge of entering parenthood a year ago other than sharing the precious details of  my sweet Talis' birth story and before my memory of them becomes fuzzy...





The week leading up to Talis birth consisted of DJ working out of town in Dunkin, Arizona and me staying over at my mom's house while he was away. Luckily I didn't go into labor then (which I was really nervous about happening) because Dunkin is a few hours away. Fortunately DJ came home from Dunkin with baby showing no signs of coming. So that Friday (July 8th) we went in for my routine doctors visit. With the baby measuring big the doctor wanted us to go ahead and plan on being induced the upcoming Tuesday (July 12th) if the baby had not come yet. We sat dumbstruck. I was hoping I'd have a late arrival baby (due date was July 18th) even though at this point my wardrobe consisted strictly of stretchy yoga pants and baggy pj tees and my feet resembled water balloons with pickles for toes. I was anxious about motherhood to say the least so I was telling myself I still had about two weeks left. We awkwardly agreed (and I say awkward because we were so surprised at the doctors request that we mumbled what I'm sure sounded like "oh um yah? um k aaaaa sure". The doctor checked me before we left and we were informed I was already dilated at a 3 almost 4 and was effaced some percentage that my mind can no longer recall. We had no idea what that meant so again we mumbled an acknowledgement and left. The entire elevator ride and walk to the car we both had permanent smiles on our faces. Tuesday was the day! or so we thought...

Later that night DJ got called into work and worked through the night. He didn't get home until around 11 the next morning and promptly passed out on the couch downstairs. I was upstairs folding laundry when I felt funny. I ran into the bathroom and jumped into the tub just in time for my water to break. I wasn't entirely sure what to do (since no one tells you that once your water breaks, it continues to leak up until baby time) so I stood in the shower for a little bit. I was not about to get water juice (what would you call it?) all over the carpet so I just started taking a shower while simultaneously yelling down at DJ that my water broke. He never heard me so I made what can only be called a makeshift adult diaper out of a towel and waddled downstairs to wake DJ up. He was a textbook freak out of a husband whose wife is going into labor while I tried to act cool and nonchalant about the whole thing. "Oh hey hun, whats that? your awake now? oh well just fyi my water broke. no biggie. no we don't need to go to the hospital. I'm gonna go do my hair." (my go-to stressful situation handling mechanism is to act cool, way too inappropriately cool). So why DJ showered and got dressed I did attempted to do my hair (I was a sweaty nervous mess at this point so any attempt I made to do my hair were pretty futile). After trying our best to explain to our dogs that when we come home we'll have an extra in tow (dead serious) we called our family and loaded up in the car for the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital they did our paperwork (very slowly in my opinion. What happened to parking in the emergency zone and running in doing loud labor breathing and yelling "she's having a baby! She's having a baby!" ? Father of  the Bride 2 is so off). They took us to the holding room and checked me (dilated to a 6) which I still don't exactly understand but am glad for none the less because it meant that I suddenly was important enough to proceed to the delivery room. As soon as I was in the delivery room they checked me again and was dilated to a 7. Baby would be here fast! And then I got an epidural...

Hearing my mom talk prior about how she progressed so fast while delivering my brother that by the time she was ready to get an epidural it was too late I was determined not to make that mistake. So as soon as I heard I was dilated to a 7 I told the nurse I was ready for the epidural even though I wasn't feeling any contractions yet. As soon as I got the epidural things slowed way down. It seemed like nothing happened for hours, which not much did. Our family was so sweet to stay the whole time too. Everyone pretty much took turns hanging in the waiting room and hanging in the delivery room with us. We had everyone taking guesses on the gender and the time baby was going to make his or her entrance. They eventually started Pitocin on me and after a few hours on that I was deemed ready to push. A little after midnight I started pushing. At 1:58 am our sweet little baby was born. Our little baby was 8 pounds 14 ounces and 21 inches long. Tears and smiles filled the delivery room. We had a baby, a baby boy. Soon after he was born they rushed him over to the nursery to run some tests. I had spiked a fever during labor so they wanted to make sure everything was okay with the little one. He ended up needing to get an IV to get some precautionary medicine and they wanted to monitor him overnight in the nursery for the first night or so. We felt so much love from family and friends throughout our hospital stay. So many people came to see baby and to congratulate us. 

I remember the first night we got to keep him with us in our hospital room. Just us three in our dark quiet room, our own little world, our own little family. It felt right. It felt complete. And while I won't say I knew exactly (or at all) what I was doing it felt natural to me, loving this little baby of mine, caring for him. Between nursing him, pumping, changing his diapers, and trying to take care of myself I don't think I ever slept more than thirty minutes while we were in the hospital and I was okay with that. I felt like it was our own special time me and my baby. With DJ sleeping soundly beside me I would study Talis' face, hold his little hand with my finger, and whisper countless times to him how much I loved him.

I still study his face. His expressive eyebrows when he's mad or concerned and how his cheeks seem to become extra puffy when he's asleep. I still try and hold his hand. Sometimes he lets me when he walks by my side, most of the time his independent self shoos me away. But when he snuggles into me when I'm giving him a bottle he always searches for my finger, like it's his way of reassuring me he's still my little newborn back in our hospital room. And I still tell him countless times throughout the day that I love him. Because I do, and I never want him to forget it.



Happy first birthday Talis. Mama and daddy love you so much. We have experienced happiness and love to it's fullest when we met you. You will always be ours. Our boy, our heart, our own little piece of heaven. 

feeling lucky

wrote this post right before we left for the airport a few weeks ago and forgot to post it. Normally I would just not post it but it was too sweet not to, memories like this one need to be remembered...

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This morning has been a whirlwind of commotion and emotions (hey that rhymes). As we get ready to head up to Seattle today we've been busy packing, cleaning, packing, and some more cleaning. I have this really annoying OCD habit about having to have my house spotless clean before leaving on vacation or going out of town. If it's not, it completely throws off my vacation mojo and it's in the back of my mind the whole time. This morning as DJ headed off to work to try to chip away at the ever growing amount of work he needed to get done before we left I found myself trying to shower/pack/care for Talis/and clean house all at the same time. Needless to say I was failing miserably getting panicked and stressed which lead to a very undeserving phone call to said husband where I complained to him about how much I needed to get done (It's a wonder how this guy lives with me I tell ya). And just when I thought the world was ending (because that's how dramatic I was being) Talis started to calm down, I realized I was done with packing, and the house was almost clean. But the real icing on the cake was seeing DJ come home with a smile on his face as he quickly disappeared to the backyard to do yard work before we left. That guy sure does love me. And while I'm still getting used to the fact that having a family means more dirty floors and piles of laundry more often than not I'm pretty lucky to share those dirty floors and piles of laundry with these two guys (and thank you bunches for putting up with all my quirks and faults, I sure love you two for it).

happy friday

 Talis and Dj leave for father and sons in about five hours and I don't even know what to do with myself. A whole weekend without my guys? I plan on getting crazy but in reality I'll most likely spend it cleaning the house and going to bed early. But even that sounds like a solid weekend :) Happy Friday!

a 9 month T

My baby is nine months!(didn't he just turn six months?) He is such a busy little boy these days and quite the character. Just the other day I caught him attempting to get out of his crib, like standing up leg over the railing kind of attempt people! When he's not busy pulling all the dvds and wires out from the entertainment center or pulling plugs out of the sockets he's busy chasing crawling after Tank and Weezy. He's recently discovered his pointer finger and likes to point and touch everything. I know that every baby likes music but I can't help but feel this little guy takes a special liking to it. He even tries to sing with me when I sing him his lullabies (actually tries is the wrong word because his high pitched humming is still better than my singing). Just as busy and boyish that he is he can be just as quiet and observant. Whenever we are around a group of people (other than family) he spends a good amount of time just staring and watching what everybody is doing. And then as soon as he feels like he has the situation figured out he goes back to being his active little ham of a self. He'll keep busy crawling around and playing and then as soon as Dj or I walk by he scurry crawls over to us and climbs in our laps looking up at us with the perfect little  "i sure do love you" smile. And then just as fast as he came over to us he scurry crawls back to the back door to look at the dogs outside or inspect the dog food bowls in the kitchen. Loads of people have told how much they think he looks like my brother Bobby and while I am usually surprised at the people that tell me this (because it often comes form people that I wouldn't think knew my brother that well to remember what he looks like) I can't help but feel that they really are saying he looks like me. ( People have asked if my brother and I were twins before. And although a comment from a friend when I was in high school about me being "Bobby with a wig" is not my shining moment I'll take it if it means my sweet T resembles me). Being a mom for nine months to this guy is the best. He makes me feel like I know what I'm doing and as a new mommy that's pretty special :)

girls day with a baby! but minus the girls

Today I decided to have a day like this so me and T set out early this morning for a genuine girls kind of day. We shopped, had an Auntie Anne pretzel (which turned out to be burnt and not so tasty), shared an ice cream cone, and perused the puppy store.T is the best kind of girlfriend for me to have because he  laughs at all my jokes and acts just as excited and giddy around puppies as I do.  We substituted going home early to nap instead of getting our pedicure on because well, lets be real he still is a baby. How did you spend your Monday?

rest stop shenanigans

This weekend I took a last minute road trip to California for my friends wedding. DJ was tied up with work so my mom, T, and I loaded up the car and headed west! It was a super short trip but way worth it. The reception was beautiful, the bride was even more beautiful, and T established himself as the best road trip partner. He acted like a well seasoned traveler and slept the majority of the way both times. He took advantage of the rest stops to get out his wiggles by climbing around his car seat and trying to crawl out the window. We had so much fun, Thanks mom!

cutting the hairs

i finally consented to letting the hubs cut T's hair. (am i the only mom that doesn't want her kids hair to be touched?) we borrowed my mom's hair shears and rockin hair cape while we were at her house to get it done. enjoy the raw video, just don't judge my high pitched baby voice.....

our happenings lately according to T

spending too much time on the computer...

celebrating MLK Day with fried chicken and kool-aid, I of course had mama's milk...

going out for great grandpa sims' birthday. auntie k shared her ice cream...

  

going to the zoo with my friend brazia. i slept pretty much the whole time...

and then woke up as we were leaving through the gift shop...

 celebrated my great grandma's birthday....

 swung on a porch swing with my grandma...

 keeping busy being

 super

 adorable.

lots of celebrating and lots of cute faces. what have you been busy with?

six months.

remember when i blanked on T's five month mark? well you'll be proud that i was more on point come his six month mark, i mean 6 months...that's half a year! i celebrated by taking him to the doctor for his six month checkup. T celebrated by being in the top percentile for every category.

his hobbies include:

• eating some baby food (partial to squash)
• chewing on everything with his two bottom teeth
• play dates with tank on a daily
• getting the wiggles right before nap time, bedtime, or any other time
• being put in his crib at night
• ending up in mom and dads bed before morning

happy six months my sweet T!

christmas eve procrastination

(excuse the picture quality, it was taken on my phone)

we've been busy preparing for christmas this past week shopping for presents, throwing christmas parties, spending time with family, and running to the mall christmas eve morning to get pictures with santa since we are lame parents and have put it off/forgotten till the last very possible day. baby T was fearless with santa. he took turns giving wide toothless smiles at the camera and leaning back to gaze up at mr kringle. more pictures and updates to come but for now we're soaking up every minute of T's first christmas. Happy Holidays!

mom brains

last weekend i attended a bridal shower of a childhood friend with my mom and baby T in tow. everyone at the shower kept asking me how old T was in which i replied, "he'll be five months on the tenth" only to realize the next day that the shower was on the tenth. i'm pretty sure i didn't make sense to half the people i talked to. my brains have officially turned into mom brains. so overworked by multitasking (i can nurse T, type one handed on the computer, ge tank and weezy to see whose at the door, and talk to the hubs all at once) that it no longer can function regularly most of the time. i'm considering making myself flashcards to help keep my brain on point but i'd probabaly forget them somewhere after making them.

happy 5 months T! hopefully i'll be thinking a little more clearly on your 6 month mark....

it's begining to look a lot like christmas.

T was in awe while we put up the christmas tree. celebrating the holidays is already that much more fun with this little stud.

all i want for christmas is a time machine

i now have a 4 month old (it was official on the tenth). where has time gone?

baby T's stats (according to the doc)
-weight: 18 lbs 8 oz
-height: 26.5
-head circumference: 43
-"based off how he's grown so far he should be about 6'2 or 6'3 when he's older"
-"he is so social and happy. he's got everything goin' for him" (proud mama moment when the doc said that)
-received his second round of shots and took it like a champ, hardly made a peep

baby T's stats (according to me)
-loves to sing, he's taken it upon himself to be my little morning wake up song bird
-becoming quite the thumb sucker
-smiles alot, laughs every now and then
-he's a ham as soon as you whip out the camera, which is lucky for me since i'm constantly taking pictures of him
-sleeps in his crib between mom and dad

a white mountain kind of vacation

we made it back from vacation #1 this month (we're pretty lucky) and it was a blast. lots of card games were played, fires were made, food was eaten, and fun was had. it was also a plus to officially get to experience true fall weather (and even some snow!) for a change. we might of slightly abused it by wearing every warm piece of clothing we own every time we stepped outside the cabin but can you blame us?

t's winter lookbook

awhile back i had a girls day with a girlfriend of mine and her super cute baby girl. we may have gone a little crazy shopping at my home away from home which i later suffered from in the form of buyers remorse. i later had even worse buyers remorse when my argument of "but hun, look at all the stuff i got for that much. it's really a steal!" didn't work on the hubs (its almost as if he's heard that one before....). until recently my purchases have been tucked away in the back of t's closet just waiting for an excuse to be worn. with the cold front that rolled in last night and our upcoming vacations up north and to seattle i couldn't wait to try out his winter wardrobe. so because i couldn't wait i assembled a winter look book for him. because that's what all mamas do right???

a lot of his winter clothes are still a tad too big which is surprising since in true ili fashion he no longer fits in anything smaller than 6-9 months (yowzer!). i had a plethora (dont you just love that word?) of other winter looks for him to try on but after the first few he started to get cranky (diva!!). i can't blame him though cause i was fussing over him pretty badly. i can't help it, look at those cheeks. they just beg to be smothered with kisses.

just a bunch of youngins having an old timer kind of night

i'm pretty lucky to get to wake up to this every morning....

(baby T has grown a lot since i took this picture a month or so ago. he still sleeps in our bed though because he told me he'd get scared sleeping in the other room in his crib :)   )

i went ahead and labeled who was who in the pic because quite frankly these two are such twins sometimes i have a hard time telling them apart myself. well the sweet hubs has been clockin' alot of hours at work lately. partly to us going on multiple vacations this month and partly so i can stay home most of the time with our sweet son. the result being that our time together has been limited. this saturday was no exception. sweet hubs was up before baby t woke me up and came home right after it got dark out. and while most would be grouchy, tired, and irritable after working all day on a saturday he was all smiles, flirty butt grabs, and "honey i'll hold talis, go relax." (told you i was lucky!) it's been ages since we had a date night and while i don't mind because the thought of leaving talis for very long gives me mini panic attacks, we both were needing some time together. so we had a date night in. while i was making soup for dinner the hubs busted out the checker board. we played a game of checkers (or rather i dominated in a game of checkers. although i think he might of let me win) while baby T was kicking away on the living room floor beside us. right before this we were watching some nature show on tv and when it was over the lawrence welk show came on. we were too involved in our game of checkers (or that's what we kept telling ourselves) to change the channel. we kept joking that we were acting like old timers eating soup, playing checkers, and watching the lawerence welk show.

later on baby t thought he'd spice things up by giving sweet hubs a little surprise. baby t's timing couldn't have been better either. this happened right after me saying "do airplane with him, he loves when i do airplane with him. hun do airplane with him he won't stop smiling if you do airplane with him" and husband lifting him up. if it wasn't for the hubs super human reflexes it would of landed in his mouth. talis, quite the prankster that boy.