This Beach Town Family

Harper at one month

2012-02-27T19:37:00.000-08:00

I don't know how it happens, but I'm fairly certain that right after you give birth, time warps into light-speed. Harper was one month old this weekend!

Before I get any further, this amazing headband is from Aunt Danielle {xoxo}. It may still be a bit big on my little Harper, but I couldn't resist putting it on her anyway. I LOVE.

There's not too much to tell about this little miss so far, except that she is an angel. She is so sweet, easygoing, and oh-so-fun to dress, look at, kiss & cuddle. Most of the time she is the easiest of the three.

Harper visited the doctor at four weeks old, where we learned that she weighed 9lbs 5oz--up almost three pounds from her four-day-old appointment {she was 6lbs 9oz}! I also decided to graduate her from size "newborn" to "0-3 months" clothes that day. Her longest stretch of sleep at night has been about four hours, but we're surviving.

So that's Harper at one month. I'd apologize for the excessive number of pictures, except that I'm not at all sorry--I love looking at this little face!

The Everygirl

2012-02-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

One of my very best friends {I've mentioned her here only about a thousand times} just launched a fabulous new website today called The Everygirl. She has been working her a** off on this project for the past six months, and I must say, the results are stunning. Please leave my blog immediately and go check out this incredibly cool online resource for us twenty {and thirty!} something girls!

Congrats Danielle and Alaina! So proud of you, D!!!

Photo dump

2012-02-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

Today Harper is three weeks old. How did that happen?!? Thanks to Instagram, I've been sharing photos from my phone like a crazy person, but I forget not everyone is constantly attached to a smart phone and spending time on Instagram on Facebook. So while these are redundant for some, gotta share on the blog, too! Enjoy :)

Harper's Facebook debut, hours old

Proud big brother!

Double diaper change with her other big brother

First bath

Helping hands

Milkshake break

Daddy & daughter

Eyes!

Sleepy/tummy time

First trip to the beach, 2 weeks 2 days

My sweet girl

My silly boys

Logan loving his little sis

Valentines girl

Valentine's cupcake date with the kiddos

I'll post soon with some pics that never got a chance to make it to FB. Hope everyone had a great love day yesterday!

Harper's Birth Story

2012-02-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

I'm finally sitting down after an insanely crazy week and a half to tell the story of our little Harper's entrance into this world.

In between then and now we have been dealing with life challenges left and right. None of these {including a seriously nasty flu} have actually been the result of our precious new addition, but the timing is quite unfortunate. I'm not sure what God's purpose is handing us so many trials at once, but I have faith that we will weather this season and cherish our little family of five that much more.

Back to the birth. Now, this is a birth story, so naturally it will be long and there will be a little TMI. But it's a story that's important to me and the details are those that I want to remember... so here we go!

The first thing I should mention is that so many things fell into place soon before Harper was born. My nesting instincts had gotten pretty intense over the past couple weeks, so all the home birth supplies had been ordered, my room was clean and arranged to accommodate a birth tub, the co-sleeper arrived a week earlier than expected, and a fellow mommy had just given me a huge bag full of newborn sized hand-me-downs. It seems that my body knew what was coming, and that God's hand was there in all of the details.

I even took pictures of my prettily prepared sanctuary just four days prior to the start of labor--

--and then stripped off all of the bedding and replaced it with old stuff!

On to labor day.

In the very early hours of January 24th, I got up to use the bathroom and noticed during my short walk to the toilet that I was "leaking". I was sure for a minute that I must be confused and that something else was going on, but one more walk to the bathroom and I was certain. At this point I was 36 weeks and 4 days pregnant, so this was quite the shock. I made my first call of that day to the midwife. She came by at about 6:30 that morning to check the baby's heartbeat and see how I was doing, and told me to stay in touch as things progressed.

We spent the day cleaning, preparing, calling in the reinforcements {aka parents}, running errands, and walking. I would have a contraction here and there, but nothing very strong or promising.

At one point in the late afternoon, I laid down to rest and watch an episode of Grey's Anatomy. I began feeling contractions across my stomach that were more regular, but they were still mild and nothing like what I had experienced with the boys. Even so, I called the midwife to update her. The midwives had previously told me that they've seen many third labors that don't follow suit with the previous two, so I was preparing myself for anything.

Around dinnertime the midwife came over for another check-up, even though my mild contractions had subsided. We had partially filled the birth tub at this point, and our room looked like this:

But after we returned home after being sent on yet another walk, I found the room transformed:

With things now set up, the midwife left, and another couple hours passed. I watched a bit more TV, had some dinner, and finally laid down to read once the boys had been put to bed--I had no idea if things were going to pick up again that night.

But reading seemed to do it. While lying there I felt my first back contraction of the day, a very familiar sensation from my previous labors. After a handful of those, I called the midwife yet again! I didn't know how long it would be from there, but I knew our baby girl was on her way.

I later learned that once I started "active labor", the process lasted about three hours. Towards the beginning, the contractions would last anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute, with a break that was anywhere from two to eight minutes. I would have Chris massage my lower back where I felt it to help me through the pain, and then I'd have a break where I felt relatively normal and could rest.

The interesting thing about this labor that differed greatly from my previous two was that the contractions never seemed to occur very close together, they just became more intense. I think because of this I assumed that things weren't progressing very quickly; in contrast, once the back labor started with the boys, it seemed to never let up from there. So the long breaks were definitely a welcome change!

At about four centimeters dilated, I got in the tub. The warm water was super relaxing and it was nice to rest on the side of the tub during the breaks. The same pattern pretty much continued in the tub that I was experiencing before I got in, and both Chris and I were thankful for this tamer labor experience. He enjoyed being able to help me cope with the labor this time around, in contrast to feeling helpless when things got so intense during the previous two at the hospital.

Once it was apparent that the contractions were lasting longer and more intense, the midwife suggested Chris get in the tub with me so that he could apply better pressure to my back, and support me when it came time to push. The time to push came shortly after, and I'm so thankful for the midwives' guidance this time around. The second midwife arrived right as I transitioned, and the two of them were such godsends. They were able to coach me in relaxing, holding back a bit, and doing "little pushes". Apparently after only two pushes {though it did not feel like just two!}, our little beauty slipped into the world.

Looking back, it was still labor and it was still hard, but it was by far my best birth experience. There were two midwives and two birth assistants in our small bedroom with everything else, but it was so peaceful. Between the warm water and the coaching, all of my "stuff" remained in such good shape that by twelve hours later, it hardly looked as though I had just given birth--I was in disbelief! Such a contrast to my previous recoveries. And being able to crawl into my own bed afterward was priceless.

So that's our sweet girl's story. It's mild and uncomplicated, and I am so grateful for that.

And we are so blessed by little Harper. She is beautiful and sleepy and sweet, and we love her so.

Introducing...

2012-01-26T18:30:00.000-08:00

Harper Kate Vivian McCormick

born 01.25.12 {3.5 weeks early!}

weighing 6 lbs 14 oz / 20 inches in length

Although today is my birthday, we are still celebrating hers! Our little Miss Harper has completely stolen our hearts and we are so thrilled that she has arrived. I will share her {home} birth story soon! In the meantime, there is much cuddling to be done. Be back as soon as I can tear myself away :)

The year so far.

2012-01-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

Please excuse the lack of posting. The past couple weeks have consisted of getting ready for Baby Girl, coping with busy boys in my very limiting physical state, trying to keep my mind distracted, and of course, doing my best to document it all along the way! I've been defaulting to Instagram {jessmccsb} when I'm not posting. Anyway, here are the Cliff Notes.

We've had primarily gorgeous weather this year. New Year's Day:

The boys are keeping busy as ever. The bottom left was Logan's first day of preschool! He looks a little nervous in this picture, but the report at the end of the day was that he acted as though he had always been there. So proud of him!

The nesting continues to get more intense with each passing week. Below: the loot after Chris' day-long trip to Ikea; a glimpse at the nursery pre-painting & decorating; dressing up an Ikea purchase with my old kitchen knobs; the arrival of my home birth kit--eek!!!

Just more of my buys kids {plus "Lindy"}

We've had some date nights amidst everything else. Nice dinner, the Tin Tin movie, and the oh-so-exciting Scrabble night.

As of yesterday I'm 36 weeks pregnant. Here's the belly. And me. Wouldn't it be awesome if this little girl decided to show up within the next two weeks...??? My due date is 2.17--any birthday predictions?

That's all for now. Hope not to stay away as long this time!

Wintertime in Santa Barbara

2012-01-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

It's been averaging around 70 degrees this week. No idea how the weather can be this gorgeous in December and January, but it makes for some great adventures with the kids--and I'll take that any time of year!

Here are a couple outings we've taken with the boys recently. I may say this every time I post iPhone pics, but oh how I love having a perma-camera in my pocket!!!

Outting #1: The Douglas Preserve above Hendry's Beach, 12.23.11

Hendry's from above.

Fuzzy, but Jude looks like such a big boy here!

Crazy, massive tree.

Logan + Daddy

Logan + Mommy {32 weeks}

What boy can resist climbing?

Logan, trees, and the sea.

On Dasher, on Dancer! Nevermind, they're not going anywhere...

Outing #2: Daddy & Logan at the Devereux Point tidepools, 12.10.11

The duo went out one Saturday while Jude and I napped. I was pretty jealous of their outing, though, once I saw Chris' pictures!

Now, where to go next...?

Happy New Year! Now, back to Christmas...

2011-12-31T23:00:00.000-08:00

Well, no parties for me tonight. At thirty-three weeks pregnant, with two toddlers in bed, and still feeling under the weather after a whirlwind post-Christmas visit up north...where on earth would I be going??

Instead, tonight is for going through Christmas pictures and perusing the interwebs for decorating inspiration for Little Miss' room--my official January 2012 project. And ice cream. Somehow I've already had two helpings of ice cream...

Anyway. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and ideally at least some of you are doing something fun and interesting tonight to ring in the New Year! Here are a few glimpses of our Christmas this year:

Oh, Christmas tree...

You only had ornaments on the upper third of your branches and your needles became brittle far too early in the season, but we appreciated you all the same.

Christmas candy making...

Fudge {with hazelnuts}, Caramel, Holly Cookies, Candy Chex. YUM. Also made Turtles {thus the homemade caramel}, but I forgot to photograph them before wrapping them up!!! Next year.

Christmas card...

This was definitely one of those "What picture do we have on hand?" years for the card. We took this on the front step of our new home back in September to give to our realtor for our testimonial. I'm not sure that we ever did send him the pic! :)

Family after the Ocean Hills Christmas Eve service @ the Fess Parker...

Excuse the low-light iPhone pic. And the 32 weeks of extra weight I'm carrying. Oh, and Jude's creepy eyes. We're just a lovely bunch, I know.

Christmas morning presents!...

Gift opening was over in about seven minutes. That was okay, though, because it was followed by three days of presents while visiting the grandparents!!!

Christmas morning homemade cinnamon rolls...

Definitely keeping this tradition. I tried this recipe and we loved them!

The next few days was filled with driving, Christmas celebration after Christmas celebration with our families, visiting with some friends, and more driving. The boys got SO spoiled with great toys...and Chris and I got spoiled, too! It's so fun to "grow into" Christmas as a family more and more each year. And while I can't wait to do it all over again next year, I'll happily take the twelve month break between now and then!

$500 I did not spend this season.

2011-12-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

Baby girl shoes have to be one of the cutest things you can possibly buy. The smallness, the colors, the sparkles, the embellishments... and the utter uselessness of the things {aside from looking freakin' adorable}... it's just too much. Every time I pass by a pair in a store or stumble across a picture online, I have to remind myself that a) we do not have a budget item called "Unnecessary Girly Shoes", b) it will be a whole year before our daughter can walk, and c) even once she is walking, that little chica cannot have a better shoe collection than her mom...!

Oh, the temptation. Images from Nordstrom, Piperlime, Toms, Crocs, Pediped, See Kai Run, and Endless.

The Land Shark Light Tour

2011-12-21T12:00:00.000-08:00

It has been two years since our last excursion on the Land Shark, but I'm so glad we had a chance to go again this past Monday night! Logan 100% loved every minute of it. Jude happily pointed at all the lights once he was done stuffing his face with Christmas cookies. Thank you, Ocean Hills, for making this an annual tradition--we LOVE it!

We arrived with full arms and very close to the departure time, so I didn't manage to grab a pic of this fabulous vessel before boarding. BUT. I did take this one on our first trip in 2009. Hooray for digital & well-cataloged photos!

I brought the nice camera and decided to take advantage of the high ISO capabilities. So while these are totally grainy, crazy-colored, and in some cases blurry, I decided all of that better captured the experience than pictures washed-out with flash. If you want the full Land Shark experience, go ahead and play yourself a little "Feliz Navidad" or "Jingle Bells" in the background!

Logan is really into a book called "Hats" that he randomly picked out at the library. This picture totally makes me think of him and that book :)

"My Lindy". As Logan refers to her...!

Snapshots!

This is said to be the ~~tackiest~~ most decorated house in Santa Barbara.

Barber shop turned gingerbread house.

View of State Street from the Land Shark.

My beanied boys.

Can't wait to go again next year with Little Missy, too!

Wrap it up

2011-12-19T12:00:00.000-08:00

I'm almost done wrapping all of my gifts, and I'm optimistic that I may finally run out of years-worth of wrapping paper so that I can start wrapping like this...

I love how paper bags / kraft paper act as a neutral backdrop for creative ribbons and accents. And what a great way to reuse paper grocery bags!

Want to "wrap" a gift card? How cute is this?...

images & sources found on my 'holidays' board

Are you done with your Christmas shopping? Do you have a wrapping theme?

Santa at the Stow House

2011-12-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we found our new Santa tradition. There is a quaint historic home next to the train museum nine miles up the road, and one weekend each December there is a Santa "experience" there unlike anything I have been to before!

Admission is $5.00 per adult and $2.00 per child. After paying, you enter the grounds and they serve you hot apple cider. From there you can sit and enjoy a live brass band (followed by an acoustic guitarist), go on a tractor ride, make an ornament or color a picture, pet the festively dressed "rein-goats", take your child into this 1850's home to make their own sugar cookies, or get in line to see Santa. Sugar cookies, seriously? And they're warm and waiting for you after you're done visiting Santa. Amazing.

Santa was still the highlight of the afternoon. He was setup on the porch of the house and did such a great job interacting with the kids. He seemed particularly good about trying to ease in the younger ones who typically cry as soon as you hand them over. Jude, however, was hardly phased by the big man with the white beard. This kid also didn't bat an eye when he had to have his blood drawn at 12 months old!

I'm kicking myself for not having enough depth of field on this last one, but you get the idea. Not sure what they're looking at, though :)

The boys had so much fun, and it was so wonderful to watch them enjoy everything this little event had to offer. It was by no means crowded, but we ended up running into four families we knew within the hour or more we were there. I love that about Santa Barbara :)

Now that I know what to expect, I'm so excited that we now have one more Christmas tradition to add to the list! It was very special and did not feel like some cookie-cutter production. Last year we joined my friend at a local outdoor mall because she wanted to get a Santa picture of her son, and we learned that you sit on Santa's lap for free... but if you wanted a picture (even just your own), you had to pay $20 for a snapshot from their setup! How Grinch-y! There will be none of that for this little family -- the Stow House was the way to go!

Catching Up: Big Three Year Old!

2011-12-07T19:00:00.000-08:00

Logan turned 3 on November 9th. He is officially a little kid. Bye, bye baby.

At three years, he weighed 35.5 lbs and was 38.75" tall. He wears underwear, talks about starting preschool and going to college, picks out his clothes, starts way too many sentences with "When I'm a man...", asks me questions about how his little sister is going to get out of my belly and shows me with his hands how long he thinks she is, tells me stories and says, "...remember that?", sings songs, counts, colors, buckles himself into his car seat, gets his own water and snacks, identifies types of cars on the street {"Woah, look at that Porsche!"}, says in a silly but loving voice, "Oh Mommy, you're so pretty..." or "your baby is so cute", won't let his daddy leave for work without a hug and a kiss on the mouth, and does a hundred other things that I don't want to forget but am afraid I will.

We had a housewarming party with cupcakes and some of Logan's friends were there, but that was a close as we were going to get to a birthday party this year! On his actual birthday, we went out for breakfast to our usual spot--The Daily Grind--and let him open gifts from Danielle, Rachelle, and Linden {thank you again, friends!}. Despite his very happy nature, somehow we were unable to catch this kid with a smile that morning! Present opening is far too serious for such things...

My dad and half brother--who is technically Logan's uncle, but more like a cousin since he is closer in age to Logan and Jude than he is to me!--came to visit us for a few days to celebrate Logan and come to the housewarming. Logan got so spoiled with birthday gifts and definitely loved getting to hangout with Curtis & Papa as much as possible {thanks, Dad!}.

We managed to squeeze a short beach visit in one afternoon before Chris got off of work. I love taking pics at the beach in the late afternoon, even if they are only phone pics...

loving the sand

Logan, Jude, and Dad

Can you believe what Jude built?!? ;)

I'm still alive...

2011-12-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

...and very happy to be able to say that! Well, that may be a tad dramatic, but a week ago tonight I was in the emergency room just to make sure I'd stay that way.

It's still a bit mysterious what all happened, but the gist of it is that I got suddenly ill Tuesday night and vomited to the point of blacking out--twice. The first time I found myself with the front of my hair wet from falling into the toilet, and the second time I actually hit my head on the way down. As if Chris wasn't freaked out enough after that happening once, there was no way he wasn't going to take me to the ER after the second incident.

The timing of it all was so terrible it's almost comical. Logan woke up and started throwing up around 2:00am. Chris got up to help Logan and that's when I scurried off to the bathroom to get sick again. While his sweet little boy is literally puking on himself, Chris then heard the "thud" of his wife losing consciousness. This happened both times! Needless to say, it wasn't just a tough night for us sick ones...

So at 3:00am the four of us show up to the hospital. Fortunately that's about a half mile trip. They gave me some anti-nausea meds pretty early on that I passed on to Logan, and the little guy fell asleep on the floor of the ER. As for me, I received an IV, the meds, and an ultrasound for the babe. Baby Girl was, and continues to be, happy as a clam. The doctor thought that the blacking out was due to some combination of the intensity/pain of getting sick and the fact that much of my insides are in funny places from being pregnant. So despite all the drama, everything is fine!

Our family was definitely out of commission the rest of the week, and whatever it was seemed to drag on especially for Chris. Amazingly, Jude never got sick. It seems that everyone is now back to 100% and ready to take on the rest of the Christmas season! And so resumes my endless quest to get back on top of life...

Hope everyone else is well!

Catching Up: Chicago! Again!

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

For five days in between Apple Hill and Halloween, the belly and I went all by ourselves for a relaxing girl's trip to visit Danielle. No six-week-old like last time. Love you, Jude, but SO glad you could stay home.

Between the boys visiting the grandparents for a week and the next week me taking off, I was 100% child-free for NINE days during the last half of October! Minus the belly. 99% child-free. Either way, it was amazing...!

We had such a great time. In typical Danielle + Jess fashion, we took almost zero pictures during the time together. But here's what we did do:
- talked and talked and talked {duh... girl's trip.}
- shopped, a lot {hello summer sales for baby during the fall in Chicago!};
- ate about as much as we shopped;
- walked enough to almost balance out everything we ate;
- gave ourselves Halloween manicures;
- watched girlie movies;
- slept in late every day {glorious};
- had a fun girl's night with some of D's adorable Chicago blogger friends {more deets on her post}

Here's an even smaller sampling of the already small number of of pics we took. All on our phones, of course. A real camera is clearly too much of an effort for this duo...

Belly is 24 weeks here {now 26...how did that happen?!}. Note my awesome "pirate" nail; Danielle had an amazing full set! I did not end up buying these adorable shoes for Little Miss, but will gladly accept them from anyone who would like to do so.

Beware of what your belly may look like after consuming a cupcake at Crumbs Chicago!

It was such a bummer to leave, even though I was thrilled to return to my boys. Periodically, I try to convince D to move away from that crazy weather and back to the sunshine. Alas, no luck yet... But I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to spend some great quality time with one of my closest friends!

Catching Up: Pumpkin Patch, Apple Hill, Halloween

2011-11-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

This week is officially "catch-up week" for my highly neglected blog. Of course things spiraled into absolute craziness as soon as I thought I was finally getting things under control! So in attempt to get back on track, here is the first of three posts to give you a little overview of the happenings of late.

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We took the boys to Lane Farms to pick out pumpkins and spend a little time with Logan's sweet gf Linden--and our lovely friends to whom she belongs.

We looked at the farm animals and pumpkins, took a tractor ride and munched on kettle corn. Fun was had by all. I love the pumpkin patch tradition and look forward to it every year!

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Next up was Apple Hill in northern Cali. We met the boys and Chris' fam up there after the boys' week away up with their grandparents, so the time together was extra-special! We spent the afternoon eating too many apple-y treats, feeding more farm animals, hanging out and taking in the sights.

Here's some extra cuteness from the trip home...

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And just over a week later: Halloween! This was Logan's first full-on Halloween experience and he absolutely loved it! Jude was a trooper and seemed just as interested in everything his big brother was doing. We went to a trick-or-treating pre-party with Linden and some of Logan's other friends. From there we all left from there to trick-or-treat in a very festive and bustling neighborhood. We were going from door to door for just over an hour and Mr. Logan came away with about thirty pieces of candy :)

I love Halloween and am so excited to watch the kids grow into it. One of these years I'm determined to start making costumes, too! You know, since I'm so good at planning ahead and following through with things...

Little updates

2011-10-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

First off, thanks for all of your comments on the last post!! It's reassuring to hear about others' experiences with ultrasounds and baby girl parts, and I think I've gotten to the point where I'm all-in trusting that this is our little girl!!

I just got back from a leisurely hour at Starbucks with Chris, sharing a pumpkin spice latte as he read and I started my post. Aside from this being the twelve year anniversary of our first date, we are also currently taking advantage of our third day without kiddos in the house! The boys went up to northern California to visit their grandparents this past Sunday night, and after a full five childless days, we will be joining them for the weekend before all returning home.

What have I been doing with all of this amazing free time? Organizing / cleaning / "settling" into our house more, running errands, lunch dates with my hubby, stroller-less walks with friends, late night movies {"Moneyball"}, and sleeping in late / resting my pregnant body. Talk about a blessing!! I'm so grateful for my in-laws' willingness to take on a week of boys to give us some free time--and happy that both my parents got to have a little special time with them while they're up there, too!

Speaking of my pregnant body, I thought I'd go ahead and share the first bump pic I've taken this entire pregnancy.

This is one week ago today, at 21w 6d. I've been so bad about it this time around--compared to the weekly pics I took while pregnant with Jude!--though I'm hoping I may be able to take a weekly one from here on out. But honestly, I felt like this baby was hiding until about week 20 when I finally started to "pop". And even now, if I don't wear a shirt like the one in this pic, sometimes people still don't realize I'm pregnant! Maybe it's because I'm carrying a girl this time, but the weight seems to be distributing to create more "lumps" and less "bump" :)

In other girl news, Little Girl's closet is starting to gain some substance! I had a handful of cute little outfits already from the first gender mix-up, but I'm definitely adding some bulk by hitting up the baby girl sale sections around town! I've found some of the best deals at Gap Kids; between getting great coupons in my email and the sale section conveniently being an extra 40% off, I haven't paid even close to full-price for a single thing I've purchased for this little princess. Though I'm sure that day will come!

Do you have a favorite resource for kids' clothes? I love getting a great deal, but I'd also like to expand a bit from the Gap, Inc. family!

And just to brighten your day, here's a little snapshot taken in the backyard when it was freakishly hot last week {86 degrees in. my. house.}--

Definitely not a kiddie pool, but it will work!

It's a girl...right?

2011-10-10T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here are {most of} the ultrasound pics from our 18 week appointment. For any of you who have found out that you were expecting a girl during your ultrasound, I need your input on the gender snapshots! As most of you already know, this is not the first time we've been told during an ultrasound that we were expecting a girl... so I need 110% verification this time! I'm including the boys' gender ultrasound pics at the end for comparison's sake. What are your thoughts?

But first, the face pics.

Steven Tyler mouth, anyone?

Now the gender pics. This view is "sitting on a copy machine", rear-end at the bottom of the image:

If you're wondering, the tube-y thing above the cursor is the umbilical cord!

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Here are the boys. The doc got a fancier new machine since the boys' ultrasounds, and it does seem like you can see a quality difference. Even more reason that he should be right this time...

Logan, our supposed first girl {rear-end is angled toward the top right}:

Jude {rear-end is to the side}:

So number three is a girl...right?

Bring it on.

2011-10-04T18:00:00.000-07:00

Dresses, and ruffles, and bows! Oh, my!

Images via my Pinterest.

That's right, people. After being blessed with two wonderful boys, this little fam is expecting a GIRL! I'm trusting that the doc is right and that this won't happen again. I'll post ultrasound pics soon so you can all help me confirm!

SO excited. Let the shopping begin.

Hello, Goodbye

2011-09-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hello.

This is our new house. Pinch me, because I still don't believe it.

The sale of our little cottage closed on September 2nd, but we were able to move in here right away and rent until the sale was final. Today, it's finally final.

We are infinitely grateful for how all of the pieces lined up to get us into this home. I won't bother with the details, but the ways in which everything came together was miraculous to say the least.

Here are a few of the photos taken to showcase the home while on the market...

Goodbye...

Some farewell pics of our little cottage, our very first home. I'm sure the new owner has a lot of painting to do in her immediate future :)

Life is slowly starting to return to a form of normalcy for us after the craziest summer EVER. And hopefully that includes regular blog posting and reading again! Looking forward to catching up--I've missed my little corner of the internet.

Our Second Boy

2011-08-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

Jude is thirteen months old today. His first birthday has come and gone, and we have yet to celebrate.Bad parents, bad.

Instead, on his birthday, we accepted an offer on our home, submitted an offer on a new home, and had that offer accepted. Moving day is fast approaching.Happy Birthday, Jude. Sorry we haven't gotten around to your birthday. We promise to give you a party and celebrate you first year in our new house.

Jude's birthday kitty from Aunt Danielle Meanwhile, Jude has been walking full time for the past week and a half or so. He says mama, dada, this, that, and ball. He signs more and all done, and shakes his head no. He eats a ton; way more than Logan. He screams when he's impatient, and smiles and laughs often.We love you, sweet, second boy.

Virtual Open House

2011-07-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

What good is it to pour blood, sweat, and tears into getting your house ready for sale without the pics to show for all of your hard work?!

Well, let's have a little fun first. I managed to find the original marketing photos from 2007 when we purchased the home. Let's just say our tastes are a little different from the previous owners'...

Front exterior:

Living room:

Dining room:

Kitchen:

Master bedroom:

Side exterior:

We've come a long way!

To get our house to a state clean enough to photograph, we had to get a storage unit to stash extra kids stuff, furniture {our desk, office chair, & bookshelf}, and all sorts of miscellaneous things that never had a very good home. Chris' mom also came down for four days to take over most of my usual mommmy duties so that I could spend that time cleaning and organizing. And nap/grow a baby :) We would still be trying to get ready if it weren't for that help!!

So without further adieu, here are the pics taken of our home in its for-sale state...

Exterior photos:

If we were staying another five years: I would have loved to paint the exterior. Despite my love for bold, bright colors inside my home, I prefer a more neutral exterior, so I would have probably gone gray with white trim and black on the accent trim.

Living room:

Did you notice the unusual acoustic tiles on the ceiling in the original living room pics? That nasty ceiling was the first thing to go in this room!

The second {boys'} bedroom:

If you're standing in the doorway, there is a tiny hallway off of the left side of the living room that goes to the boys' room, a hall closet, and the second bath. You won't find pic of the second bath here because that room gets its own unveiling! Anyway. This is as "finished" as I ever got with the boys' room. This room was originally salmon pink with a floral wallpaper border--yikes! But of course, the next owners will be saying the same thing in reference to the teal blue room ;)

Dining room:

Kitchen:

If we were staying another five years: I would have liked to paint the cabinets white, replace the appliances with stainless, and update the flooring. As you can see from the 2007 kitchen, we already did so much work to get it to this point that we just sort of ran out of energy {and $!} for the rest. Plus it seemed to look "good enough" with the upgrades we made, so it has always been low on our to-do list. A project for the next owners!

Master bedroom:

Master bathroom:

If we were staying another five years: I would have liked to replace the floor & shower tile and the vanity with something less floral/shabby. This is the only room that we have not touched since we moved in. I loved the big bath tub and the oil rubbed bronze fixtures are nice, so like those things in the kitchen, I just overlooked the rest!

So there you have it. 1,117 square feet of our Santa Barbara cottage. Any offers? :)

The Things That Happen When Posting Doesn't

2011-07-03T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Blog. It's me. I know it has been awhile... sorry about that. I realize that for you to feel important and useful, you rely on me to invest time and energy into your well being. Obviously I haven't been doing that for you, and rest assured, I feel pretty lame about it.

I'll try to explain myself, though. Things got a little crazier than expected over the last month or so. A lot of it I blame on Maui--that place does some funky things to your plans for real life...

While on that enchanting island, we got to talking a lot about our home situation, our family, our finances, and the housing market. After considering many factors, it was looking like this summer would be an ideal time for us to sell our house and find something that's a better fit. Once we got back from vacation, we did more homework, found a realtor, and set a timeline in which to prepare the house for sale.

As a quick side note, let me add that "preparing the house for sale" included finishing our lingering bathroom remodel. When the realtor came over the first time to evaluate the home for a listing price, there was still paint that needed stripping, walls that needed repairing, trim that needed finishing, hardware that needed restoring, and lighting that needed installing. Sometimes I stop and ask myself, "Why do I get myself into such craziness?". Perhaps I require more drama in my life than I'd like to think...

Fast forward two or so weeks. As of this past Thursday, our home is officially on the market. Since the "realtor caravan" on Thursday, there have been four separate showings and today was the big open house. So if you can, Blog, pray that something comes from all of this activity and that our home sells soon. The sooner things mellow out over here, the sooner I can put more of my free time back into you.

This one we can't blame on Maui, but on Monday {yes, of the same week that we put our house on the market}, Chris started a new job. Great timing, right? He actually interviewed for this position back in February, received the offer in March, and then had to sit tight for almost four months until his start date at the end of June. Despite the long wait, this is a great move for Chris. Already the position is intellectually challenging and is making good use of his programming skills. There is also much more opportunity to move into management here, which is something that he would like to pursue. Did I mention, Blog, that his office is now five blocks from our house?! Oh right, we're trying to move... Well, we'll enjoy the ten minute walking commute while it lasts.

So I hope you see, Dear Blog, it's only natural that in the midst of all this insanity that I'd have a hard time putting in the extra effort to tend to you....

Oh, wait. I guess all of that didn't quite qualify as full-blown "insanity". Let's throw some fatigue, nausea, and a surprise pregnancy into the mix.

Yup, now we're there. Commit me.

We actually had been talking about going for number three in 2012, but we thought we were going to have a chance to wade through all of the aforementioned events before taking that one on as well! Logan and Jude both took a good amount of time and effort to conceive, and during those processes I learned a lot about the way my body functions each month. But somehow this one was conceived during what was previously a "safety zone". Either Maui was so relaxing that it affected my fertility that cycle, or God really wanted this pregnancy for us. I think I've decided it's probably both :)

Alright, Blog. You have all of my excuses for being terribly neglectful. I do still cherish and value you, and I will do my best to find my way back.

And Google Reader, I am sorry to you as well. I know you hold a vast amount of interesting and fun content for me to peruse, I'm just not there yet. I'll be back soon, I promise.

Maui: The Motherload

2011-06-13T07:00:00.000-07:00

So often I find myself making grand plans to get a, b, & c taken care of, stay on top of x, y, & z, and even try improve how I do...j, k, & l? {is there a third alphabet placeholder set I should know about here?}. But inevitably, life gets in the way.

So here I am, posting the final installment of our vacation photos almost a month after we left for our trip. Nevermind that a Project 365 photo hasn't graced this blog since even before then. Or that I haven't picked up my big camera to shoot the boys since then either. And let's not even talk about all the things that aren't done around my house or the other "shoulds" that are still shoulds...

But this is how it goes, right? It's just one of those seasons, it seems, and I'm trying to lean into God and embrace this state of life, and not let it consume me.

I'm glad I got to spend time this weekend revisiting these photos. A little vacation back to my vacation; a reminder of the blessings in my life.

So here goes it. The epic finale of the Maui blog post trilogy. Sorry to have kept you waiting!

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Napili Bay.

This afternoon was probably one of my favorite memories from the trip. We floated around in the waves, soaked up the sun, and enjoyed being lazy. Perfect.

The ultimate snapshot collage.

I call it "Maui via iPhone" {LOVE the freakin' camera on this phone!}. Pics include {starting from the top}: resort grounds at the Honua Kai, pic of us at Whaler's Village, tiki man Mai Tai at Kimo's Restaurant, sunset and restaurant at Duke's Beach House, lady with spunk & her truck full of coconuts and banana bread, me and an overpriced coconut overlooking Honolua Bay, a "walk at your own risk" sign before the Nakalele blowhole; scenery pics of: boat in Honolua Bay, Chris at Dragon's Teeth, dramatic coast around Nakalele blowhole, sunset outside of Honua Kai, looking down the cliff at the Olivine Pools, rainbow at Honokeana Bay, lush greenery on the walk down to Honolua Bay.

Forgot to cram this one {at the Nakalele blowhole} into the collage...

But Chris' great HDR shot from Dragon's Teeth {via flickr} is a *bit* more worthy of standing on its own:

Mala Ocean Tavern.

Our dinner at Mala Ocean Tavern was one of my favorite dining experiences on the trip. We made reservations, but waited for a seat to open up on the itty-bitty lanai, where the waves essentially lapped up onto the deck. And see the rocky shoreline to the right? There were sea turtles grazing along them at sunset. Unbelievable. Food and drinks were amazing, staff was super nice, and the setting was unbeatable.

Food was a huge part of the trip for us {as an expense, yes, but in general we just LOVE to eat}, and we did lots of homework before we went anywhere! Merriman's was the only place we ate that I thought was on par with Mala, though we skipped a main course there in favor of drinks, appetizers, and desert. We were also impressed with our food and drinks at Duke's Beach House {Lava Flow--yum!!!} and Kimo's, and our favorite casual-takeout was at The Fish Market and Okazuya & Deli Honokowai. Oh! And shave ice at Ululani's Hawaiian Shave Ice--incredibly nice staff and delicious shave ice {with ice cream!!!}.

Road to Hana // Mama's Fish House.

Before our flight on our last night, we drove about an hour in on the Road to Hana, which was enough time to stumble around in a bamboo forest and check out two waterfalls. Our last meal was at the famous Mama's Fish House on our way back from the Hana drive {above beach pics taken there}. The grounds and restaurant were absolutely gorgeous, but unfortunately the food didn't live up to its hype for me. I'm glad we tried and experienced it, though. A dinner with that view right before getting on a plane is not a bad way to end a phenomenal week in Maui!

I don't know when we'll go back again, but after getting to take a trip like this with just the two of us, I'd love to experience it again with the kids. It would be a whole different vacation for sure, but I'm sure still oh-so wonderful!

Maui: Snorkeling Adventures

2011-06-01T22:45:00.000-07:00

Chris and I both absolutely love swimming in the ocean. So priority number one for our kid-free Maui vacation? Snorkeling!

We picked up a Canon PowerShot D10 underwater camera before the trip, which as you'll see, was invaluable in capturing the memories of our adventures!

Chris is responsible for most of the wildlife pics. The camera performed well and he did a great job diving down and composing some great shots!

We snorkeled at three different spots. The first day was at Kahekili Beach Park, which was just down the beach from our resort. It was a really fun snorkeling spot, not to mention super convenient! The pic above and the following were taken there...

Did you catch the turtle?!

The next day we took a seven hour snorkeling trip to Molokini and Lana'i with the non-profit group, Pacific Whale Foundation. There was some great snorkeling at both locations--we even spotted a small octopus at Molokini! And though the boat tour provided yummy food for breakfast and lunch, as well as wine, beer & cocktails after the second spot, my stomach was not on board with the idea of drinking after hours of rocking in the sea and on the boat. Unfortunately I remembered while on the tour that I don't particularly love boats, and while I didn't end up getting physically sick, I definitely should have taken some Dramamine before the trip!

The pic on the bottom right is me trying not to puke.

On our second-to-last day we hit up the popular Black Rock snorkeling area.

I really loved that spot as well {may have been my fave?}, and we had our second turtle encounter there! This one we came face-to-face with--it was probably close to five feet long. It's incredible how large and majestic those creatures are...

It was such a blast to take in Maui's underwater paradise and to float--in complete awe--among God's glorious creation. What a way to relax and recharge!

Maui: We've Arrived!

2011-05-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

After a long, but relatively pain-free day of travel, Chris and I arrived in MAUI on the evening of 17th. Like we did after arriving in Kauai three years ago, we picked up our rental car, stopped at the nearest fast food joint, then headed to our hotel.

Our resort was in Ka'anapali, which is almost an hour from the airport. Between sitting in airports and all of the plane & car travel, sitting down somewhere for dinner was the last thing we wanted to do! Enter McDonald's. I swear a quarter pounder with cheese never tasted so good! And turns out that McDonald's in Maui has tropical flavored iced tea {you know, flavored but not sweet?}. Best surprise ever.

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I was beyond ecstatic to arrive at our accommodations that evening--the Honua Kai. As soon as we entered the lobby, I knew it was time to put down the iPhone camera and pull out the big guns...

Gorgeous inside and out, this was an amazing place to call home for the next week. Add to that a "stay five nights, get the sixth night free" deal? Perfection.

It's the details that always get me...

After drooling over the room for awhile, we unpacked, hit the pool & spa, and enjoyed a blissful night of sleep!

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The next morning we had breakfast at the very popular Gazebo restaurant up the road at Napili Bay. It's essentially a diner, but with the best view of any diner, ever. The place opens at 7:30am, at which time they begin to fill up the very tiny dining area from the line that wraps around the place. We got in line at about 7:15, but that was too late to make it into the first round of seating! The turn over is super quick, though, and we were in by 8:00.

There is a ton of hype around their macadamia nut pancakes, so of course we tried them! We ordered the white chocolate mac nut pancakes, and they were... pretty good. I thought they were a bit starchy/dry, but I could see how if you completely doused them in their very tasty coconut syrup, the experience may be more exciting. Personally, I'm a banana-wheat germ pancake w/100% maple syrup kinda gal, so you could say I was barking up the wrong tree. Chris got an omelet which was equally fair. But again, I think the real selling point is the view! {And by view, I'm not talking about the super-buff surfer waitresses!}

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Afterwards, with doggie bag in hand, we headed to the tidepools just below the restaurant. We poked around a bit and met a couple of the "locals".

While Chris was photographing these guys...

...I grabbed a shot of this guy. He was about the size of a dime--so cute!

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Then it was back to the hotel to head out for our first of three snorkel adventures; pics to come...!

Spring Recap, Part 2: Easter & Mother's Day

2011-05-25T21:45:00.000-07:00

Easter is one of those holidays that I look forward to growing into with our kids. Watching them start to understand & appreciate the importance of the day, seeing their excitement over the traditions of coloring eggs, celebrating at church, receiving a basket and finding eggs--the potential for fun and memories is immense.

But after Easter this year, I learned very quickly that we are not at all there yet!

While in theory it should have been a good time--we danced the "funk" in church, went out for a tasty brunch, had lots of silly goodies to fill the colorful eggs...

"Green" eggs; we reused last year's eggs and then packed 'em back up for next Easter

...the day really just felt like one giant mess.

I botched my first batch of lemon bars for church the night before, and was remaking them the next morning up until five minutes before the service. We lost Jude's pacifier within minutes of getting to church. Logan got a major candy-high off of jelly beans, and continued to fuel it with chocolate eggs and gummies for the remainder of the day. Jude grabbed fistfuls of a chocolate muffin and completely soiled his Easter outfit, which I didn't get pictures of either of them in. Logan threw a record-breaking number of tantrums, presumably due to excess quantities of sugar and not enough sleep. You can see his crazy-eyes in this pic--it pretty much sums up the tone of the day...

In spite of the day's challenges, I still enjoyed the time spent visiting with out-of-town family, hiding eggs, and watching Logan bolt around the yard desperate for toys and candy. And more than anything, it's a day of immense joy and good news, and none of those little frustrations hold a light to that fact!

So here's to embracing the joy that is Easter. Our sweet little bunnies' egg hunt {brought to you by the hubs, who knew that I wanted pics, but also knew I was completely wiped by the aforementioned events of the day!}...

Mother's Day was a little bit like Easter.

My two doting children.

The difference was... after brunch and cupcakes, I was allowed to abandoned my little brood and went downtown by myself for a couple of hours--YAY! Mama came home with a new bikini for Maui...

And while I did not look nearly this good in it, at 15 lbs lighter than I have been in a long time, I don't think I offended too many people while we were there! :)

Maui pics are up next!!! I hope you like tropical fish and teal blue water, because there are a LOT of photos coming your way...

Spring Recap, Part 1: Playtime & Friends

2011-05-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

Summer is just around the corner, and I'm not even finished with spring! So as not to lose these images to the abyss that is my hard drive, I've put together a couple posts to recap some of the big highlights that I have yet to share.

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We love stopping in Pismo Beach / San Luis Obispo whenever we’re driving north up the coast. Before kids, it used to be to grab a Starbucks and take in views of the gorgeous coastline. When we were heading up to Tahoe last month, our stop was less coffee-centered and more for the sake of saving our sanity from the two not-so-happy campers strapped down in the back seat. Fortunately our saving grace came with an incredible view; this marine themed park is right off of the freeway and provided some sweet moments to refresh my spirit before the long drive ahead...

The next weekend we were back from the snow and ready for more sand! The weather was gorgeous and we joined a number of our friends for a day at the beach.

For those really committed, this was an ADBD {“all-day beach day”}. For families like ours, it’s more of a two hour event.

Jude was loving the sand, but the problem was that he never seemed to stop loving the sand.

Daddy finally grabbed a hold of him, and he seemed to be just as happy groping Daddy’s chest hair under the shade of the umbrella.

I didn't snag many pics of Logan at the beach, but Chris snapped a few later that evening at the park. Such a silly little guy!

That next Friday was Good Friday, and some dear friends who moved back east some years ago were in Santa Barbara for the day to visit. This was our first time meeting their son, who’s almost exactly one year younger than Logan--such a sweet little guy! We enjoyed some great food together, took our coffees & kiddos to the park, and embraced the food coma while the little guys ran around. It was so great to see them!

I grabbed a few of our friend’s photos from Facebook, too, since you'll actually find me here :)

Stay tuned for Easter & Mother's Day in part 2!

Project 365: Week Nineteen

2011-05-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

May 07
Location: Santa Barbara Jr. High
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: The day before Mother's Day we went with Chris to SBJH so he could find good light/setting for after-church photos. Logan came down with a fever out of the blue, and was so lethargic that morning. He ended up taking a five hour nap after we got home!
High today: 63°

May 08
Location: Santa Barbara Jr. High / Crushcakes Cupcakery
Kit: the other photog's Nikon / iPhone camera
Memo: Our family portrait from Mother's Day. Clearly the boys were on-board. Mama got treated to a cupcake though, and oreo cookie cupcake = YUM!
High today: 70°

May 09
Location: Target in Camarillo
Kit: Hipstamatic via iPhone
Memo: You wouldn't think that Target is worthy of a 365 photo, but our nearest Tar-shay is 30 miles down the coast! After that there are four Targets within ten miles. WTH?! Anyway. I took the boys and it was glorious. Left with lots of goodies for the vaycay!
High today: 67°

May 10
Location: Kid's World playground at Alameda Park
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Brothers swinging together.
High today: 73°

May 11
Location: a different block of Alameda Park
Kit: iPhone
Memo: Loungin' with the boys under huge trees.
High today: 65°

May 12
Location: front yard
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Playdate at our place! Linden & Logan were loving the tunnel!
High today: 68°

May 13
Location: kitchen
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Got a new stainless steel sippy cup for Jude. I love that it looks like my Klean Kanteen had a baby :)
High today: 67°

{little} Mr. Nine Months

2011-05-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

Now close to ten, but who's counting...?

So much has happened for little mister Jude since his last update. But before I get into that, I need to pause for a moment of gushing. Jude is the most amazing ball of sweetness at this age. He is so interactive with us, loves to snuggle and flirt, and smiles at everyone all the time. He still eats everything, loves to play with toys and watch his brother, and goes to bed without protesting almost every time I put him down. I'm all about this stage.

Anywho. The first big update is definitely his toothy grin. Our little man now has eight teeth--the top four of which all came in together last week--OUCH! I think he may have had only two last time I posted.

Jude decided since the last post that hands-and-knees crawling is for weenies, and if he wants to get somewhere fast, you'll primarily find him slithering and squeaking across the wood floors. But last week he started pulling up, and this week he's even letting go to stand for a second or two on his own! Everything with this kid seems to happen so suddenly. I guess he's got a lot to keep up with with an older brother!

But my favorites of his recent milestones have more to do with his cognitive development. Jude has explicitly said "mama" a number of times now {maybe even as early as seven months?} which of course melts my heart. Although he usually says it when he's super upset, so not sure what to think of that one... He also started clapping last week, which he'll perform for you if you say the word "clap", say "good job!", or if you clap for him first. And "what" hands. I don't know what the deal is with my boys and "what" hands, but both of them have been a fan of this one. I'll have to watch my own gestures more closely... Oh. And he sort of waves, but it's more of that backwards opening & shutting his hand thing.

In terms of growth, turns out that Jude isn't the huge beast that everyone thinks that he is. At a few days before his nine month b-day, he weighed 21lbs 4oz {65th %}, measured 27.5 inches {35th %!}, and continues to have a head the size of a peanut in the 25th percentile. Basically, he is SUPER compact. To quote the words of Danielle, "He's SO round. He's a circle."

I think that about wraps things up for this month. Jude continues to develop into an awesome little man and we are so blessed to have him as part of our little brood!

Project 365: Weeks 16, 17 & 18

2011-05-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's a big one. Knowing how many pics were building up... I couldn't take it any longer. Admittedly, sometimes this project does feel like a burden. Chris can probably testify to hearing, "Oh crap! Gotta take a 365 today!", multiple times a week. But it really is so fun to look back at how we spend our weeks and days. So not to worry, the project continues!

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April 16
Location: Santa Claus Beach
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Jude's first ADBD {"all-day beach day"}. This boy LOVES the sand. And by "loves the sand" I really mean "loves to eat the sand". Strangely we never saw it come out the other end...
High today: 80°

April 17
Location: Marjorie Luke Theater @ Santa Barbara Jr. High {aka "church"}
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Palm Sunday. Logan's in the center of the frame. "You want me to stand in front of people and sing?!? Yeah right, I'm outta here..."
High today: 75°

April 18
Location: front yard flower bed
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Accidentally left Logan's window open during nap time. Apparently the garden wasn't colorful enough.
High today: 66°

April 19
Location: Kid's World playground at Alameda Park
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Jude looking very "zen". Maybe he was super-satisfied with how his gnawing session went on the dirty rubber baby swing.
High today: 62°

April 20
Location: kitchen
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: One of my favorite flavor combinations ever. There's a bakery in the town that I grew up in that makes {invented?} this sandwich {with better bread} and in my opinion it's a must-try:
- spread mayo on one slice of tasty bread, preferably something soft and grainy/nutty
- mash half of an avocado on the slice with the mayo
- spread an ounce or less of goat cheese on your other slice
- layer slices of apple {red delicious if possible}, alfalfa sprouts, and a piece of romaine lettuce {missing from mine} and put the sandwich together
- enjoy a serious party in your mouth
High today: 63°

April 21
Location: front yard / the top of California Street
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Today was seriously gorgeous. I got to take a walk with a friend sans-kids/stroller, so she decided to take me to California Street. Oh. my. gosh. Is there such thing as a 90 degree incline?? Pretty view, though.
High today: 67°

April 22
Location: the 101 {Ventura Freeway}
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: We got to visit with some good friends who were in town for the day, but those pics need their own post. The filler: there was some funky weather today and we got to see an amazing rainbow arcing over the freeway.
High today: 63°

April 23
Location: Santa Barbara City College
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: We walked the campus of City College with Chris' fam while they were in town for Easter. This was a new perspective of the waterfront for us. INcredible.
High today: 65°

April 24
Location: front yard
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Yes, I still need to do an Easter post.
High today: 70°

April 25
Location: Kid's World playground at Alameda Park
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Logan is getting so comfortable at the big playground! "Hanging" is definitely among his favorite activities right now.
High today: 80°

April 26
Location: kitchen
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: We managed to salvage two boxes worth of tile from the bathroom wall to donate to Habitat for Humanity's ReStore. We have also set aside the pedestal sink, fixtures, and toilet to donate as well. This is an easy way to be environmentally responsible with your old household stuff and a great way to contribute to your community!
High today: 74°

April 27
Location: guest bathroom
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Unfortunately, I wasn't having any luck with salvaging the bathroom floor tile. This is the start of my attempt to demo the floor. The tile was so hard to get up off of the mortar I was practically in tears with frustration. NOT a good day.
High today: 82°

April 28
Location: guest bathroom
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Thankfully my grandpa took charge of things. This man is a miracle worker. He pulled all the mortar/concrete off the wall and up from the floor. Such a better idea to take the tile off WITH the mortar, something that I had no idea that I could do. It felt so great to see the tile remodel start from the bare bones rather than working on top of the funky old construction materials.
High today: 78°

April 29
Location: Goleta Beach Park
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Taking a much needed lunch break from the construction site, I took the boys to meet up with Chris for lunch. Here's Logan in a public sandbox topless. I canNOT keep clothes on this kid. He figures if it's sunny and he's outside, shirts are 100% optional.
High today: 78°

April 30
Location: back yard
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: A before and after look at stripping paint from one of the bathroom baseboards. I've primarily switched from Citristrip to a heat gut, putty knife & sander.
High today: 72°

May 01
Location: backyard
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: "I get by with a little help from my friends"
The sign of good friends? They'll strip and sand your 7' doors until 9pm and take food as payment. These guys are seriously awesome. Denise has a blog, too, of her seriously awesome food.
High today: 76°

May 02
Location: Ventura Freeway
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: On my way to meet up with Danielle in Westlake. LOVE this portion of the drive south, although *probably* shouldn't be taking pics while driving...
High today: 80°

May 03
Location: master bedroom
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: My "big" boy showing off his new pulling-up/standing skills. Have I mentioned that we pretty much run a nudist colony in our home?!? You can't see it, but Logan isn't wearing pants either. *Sigh*...
High today: 73°

May 04
Location: State Street
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Around 6:15pm, pushing the stroller on my walk home from an a**-kicking workout class at church {oxymoron...?}. The light was so gorgeous on the recently renovated Granada Theatre {at which I have still yet to see a performance!}, I had to stop and take a pic like a tourist in my own town.
High today: 78°

May 05
Location: dining room table
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Cinco de Mayo fare? I think not. This was our savory breakfast for dinner:
- waffles with bits of pancetta sprinkled throughout {added to the batter} served with pure maple syrup {not savory}
- what I'm going to call "tangy scrambled eggs": eggs beaten with a ~2 tsp spicy brown mustard, salt and pepper, and topped with sharp white raw-milk cheddar cheese
- side of strawberries {also not savory :)}
High today: 71°

May 06
Location: master bath
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: The boys enjoying their new morning routine. I realize a bath first thing in the morning seems backwards, but it seems to be calming for Jude before his nap, helps transition Logan into the day, and gives me a few minutes to get dressed and maybe even put on some makeup {gasp!}
High today: 65°

Sugar Bowl

2011-04-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

Unrelated, but fun: Danielle {Breakfast at Toast} is hosting a wedding week in honor of the royal wedding this weekend, and today's post includes a couple pics from our own big day! Head on over and check out this girl's incredible inspiration.

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Our big weekend away earlier this month was spent in the snowy mountains of the Sierra Nevada {aka Tahoe}. The goal was a weekend of rest & relaxation with the group of guys {and wives!} from Chris' bible study during his years at Stanford. It was a good thing that we were in such good company because we spent a good NINE hours driving to our destination--not including stops for nursing, diapers, leg-stretching and food. It never ceases to amaze me how far you can drive and not leave this state!

We stayed at a cabin at Sugar Bowl {ski resort} that belongs one of our friends' family. Everything about it begged for cups of cocoa, cozy lounge wear, and whole lot of doing nothing except enjoying the beauty and friends around you.

The boys' favorite room was definitely the "moose room"--a bunk room at the very top of the cabin with built-in bunk beds, a plush moose rug, and of course a giant moose head. Logan was begging all weekend, "Upstairs?! Upstairs?!".

We spent a *little* time in the snow. Logan enjoyed it much more than the last time he went at about 13 months old. Jude was only out in it for a few minutes; we stuffed him into a borrowed {too-small} snow suit long enough to take pictures and let him touch the unfamiliar substance. When the boys are older and less fussy, we'll definitely make a point of doing some snowboarding or cross-country skiing...us parents need to have some fun too!

Overall it was a lovely {big} little weekend and we were so glad to spend time with such dear friends whom we so seldom see. Crossing my fingers that this will become a yearly tradition!

Project 365: Week Fifteen

2011-04-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

I apologize. This has to be the most uninteresting project 365 post yet. All phone snapshots, nothing else. And I'm still behind a week. And I know some of you are waiting for our wintery weekend photos. My bad. I'll get there, just bear with me!

Anyway! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter yesterday, celebrating the good news!

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April 09

Location: getaway location that I have yet to post about :)

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: Jude's bedroom on vacation: a walk-in closet.

High {in SB} today: 63°

April 10

Location: same as above

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: I think this may have been Logan's first encounter with blueberry pancakes. I'd say the meeting was a success!

High {in SB} today: 61°

April 11

Location: cafe in Granite Bay, CA {our hometown}

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: Stopped in GB on our way home to visit fam & break up the trip. This is the only pic we snapped that day: Logan pushing Jude's high chair around on the wood floors.

High {in SB} today: 67°

April 12

Location: 2nd bathroom

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: Back home! And life resumed as usual...

{I did a little modesty editing here--gotta protect my little man's virtue! :)}

High today: 67°

April 13

Location: Santa Barbara Zoo

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: We've done lots of zoo days this spring! The penguin in the bottom right was crAzy--it was trying to bite Logan's friend's hand through the glass!

High today: 69°

April 14

Location: La Arcada

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: Ever since I asked Logan to sit on the dolphin for an earlier 365 photo, he now asks me to take a photo of him on it every time we pass by!

High today: 70°

April 15

Location: 2nd bathroom

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: Removing tile has actually been a rewarding task for me--it satisfies that same urge that *forces* me to pick at my chipping nail polish. Anyone else relate?

High today: 63°

Bathroom Remodel: Inspiration, the Vision & Demo

2011-04-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

We live in an old {1925} bungalow style home and when I actually do get to update with things like new lighting, hardware, or in this case, do a whole a bathroom face-lift!, I gravitate toward traditional design elements with a bit of a modern flare. If money were no concern, my house would probably look like Pottery Barn epitomized! So in my mind, there was really only one style that would fit our guest/kids' bath. These are some bathrooms that have many of the elements that I adore:

Source: remodelista.com via Jess on Pinterest

Source: ths.gardenweb.com via Jess on Pinterest

Source: suziebeezie.tumblr.com via Jess on Pinterest

Source: alkemie.blogspot.com via Jess on Pinterest

Source: gardenhomeandparty.com via Jess on Pinterest

You get the idea.

As far as where we're actually at, these are the items currently laid out & waiting in my dining room, en route, or on my shopping list:

{everything is white; the product images vary in shade}

Now, I'd love to stop there and next thing you know--poof!--the bathroom would be remodeled. But this is actually a very-hands on project for this beach town mama! Since last week we have *slowly* been removing tile, paint and wallpaper--tasks which I'm finding difficult to make progress on with babies in the house! But it's gotta get done because next week my grandpa is coming down to do the tile work and help install things like the sink, toilet and new faucet hardware {SO thankful for this!!}. After that we'll finish the room by stripping the 800-something layers of paint off of the woodwork and putting on a nice fresh coat of white with some pop of color above the wainscoting.

Here's a look at things at as of a couple of days ago:

Is the idea of chiseling tiles off one by one sound ridiculous to anyone else? At least the process speeds up after you get past the first tile!

Logan was a big help with beginning the process of removing wallpaper. This is all his handiwork.

There is a ridiculous number of paint layers on all of our wood trim and molding, which I've decided to remove due to chipping & sticking issues. I was using Cirtristrip and a crappy plastic stripping tool, but I've since moved to a heavy-duty stripping tool and a friend is going to lend us a heat gun.

I think that about wraps up where we are currently. We are keeping the tub, hopefully refinishing some of the original hardware, stripping & repainting the existing cabinets, and I still need to pick out a light fixture. I'll be sure to take many more pics of the progress so we can look at how big of a mess we'll have made before the final product!

Project 365: Week Fourteen

2011-04-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

April 02

Location: front yard

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: Definitely photo-worthy: Logan putting something together, not pulling it apart.

High today: 59°

April 03

Location: Ocean Hills Church - The Loft

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: Renowned author Phillip Yancey was in town to speak at Westmont College--and he was able to squeeze in a talk at Ocean Hills, too. {I realize his face is a blown-out in this pic, but can you tell from the hair? :)} He gave a talk on prayer which was awesome; he is very insightful and extremely well spoken. So glad we attended!

High today: 62°

April 04

Location: Santa Barbara Zoo

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: The zoo's new baby giraffe! I'll call it "Sophie" because that's the only giraffe name I know these days :)

High today: 66°

April 05

Location: family room

Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom

Memo: A quick & lovely surprise visit from my grandpa and Toni. Before they left, I hoisted the boys at them, grabbed my camera and said, "Here. Be my 365 picture today." And so they are!

High today: 68°

April 06

Location: family room

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: A vase full of roses from the garden. I love spring and making bouquets from the flowers in the yard!

High today: 64°

April 07

Location: back seat of the car

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: This is where my phone spends much of its time--in the nimble little fingers of Mr. Logan. At not even two and a half, this boy turns on my phone, swipes to unlock it, scrolls through the various pages, and selects a toddler game {or camera!} of his choice. Frightening. Tozzle seems to be his current favorite.

High today: 61°

April 08

Location: front seat of the car, I-5 and I-80

Kit: iPhone camera

Memo: We spent the day driving to a destination a *little* different than the one we left behind. This is just a hint of the pics soon to come!

High {in SB} today: 54°

This & That

2011-04-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

With all of the pictures this year, I haven't spent as much time writing about everyday life on the blog. And because right now I have some time to myself and some things that actually seem worth sharing, I'm going to do just that.

Fun things first!

If you've been following for awhile, you may remember me mentioning some awesome organic cotton pajamas that Oprah picked as one of her "favorite things" back around the holidays. My personal interest in these pj's is that my good friend {Linden's mommy} works for this blossoming company, and their first "Piggy Pajamas" giveaway is happening now on their Facebook page! The quality is superb, the prints are adorable, and the model is stunning...

{this is Kacy--cozy in her sustainable threads!}

Here are the giveaway details...

Support {our} local business & enter for a chance to win!

Enough oozing about pajamas. Here's some fun stuff going on with us...

- After a botched attempt to give Chris a stylish haircut, I decided that I was done cutting his hair {which I've been doing for the past five or so years}. So last Monday we entered new territory and buzzed it all off. And surprisingly... it's adorable! I've since been rehired as his personal hairdresser. :) Pics to come in the next 365.

- This week I ordered tile, a pedestal sink, sink faucet, towel bars, robe hooks, a towel ring, and toilet paper holder for the second bathroom. This weekend we will be working on demolition--which includes peeling off wallpaper and tearing out old tile. Anyone removed tile before? I'm going to need to do some serious research tonight and tomorrow! The bathroom stuff will definitely be getting it's own post soon.

- In about a month we're going to MAUI!!! And by "we" I mean Chris and I--no kids!! If the excess of exclamation points didn't tip you off, let me just say that I'm super excited. We've been to a couple different islands in Hawaii over the past ten years, but I think the last time I was in Maui was when I was about nine years old! I always remember it being exceedingly beautiful with amazing snorkeling. I'm currently reading Maui Revealed to prepare, which I've decided is a must for anyone considering going. Have you been to Maui/Hawaii?

- Also in preparation for Maui and for the sake of being in better shape in general, I've been exercising more and practicing portion control since the beginning of February. I've lost 10.5 lbs, which puts me about 4 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight for either pregnancy. I'm shooting for at least another 5 lbs before we leave, and that will get me closer to where I was in high school & college. I went to Old Navy today and tried on all mediums!!!

The not so fun...

- Logan has been wearing underwear exclusively since about January and is very capable of using the toilet. He can unbutton/unzip/pull down his pants, hop up onto the toilet, and do whatever business he needs to do. BUT... he will almost never tell us when he needs to pee {only when he needs to poo}, so if I don't initiate a potty break, he doesn't seem to hesitate wetting his pants. I would think after doing that a handful of times he would decide that it would be a good idea to speak up and tell me that he needs to pee, but that almost never happens. Not only that, it just seems to be getting worse lately. This is SO confusing to me especially because he can stay dry all night and put himself on the potty first thing in the morning. So. I think we're going to revert to training pants, even though it stinks to feel like we're taking a step backwards. But really, anything is better than constantly washing pee-soaked underwear and shorts. If you have any insights here, please share!

- I seem to be breaking out a bit lately--what the heck?! I'm 27, have pretty normal skin {maybe a little on the oily side}, but I SO thought we were past this!!! Who has some product recommendations for me? I noticed that Sephora has a "Naturally Sephora" section that seems right up my alley--it's just so overwhelming to randomly pick a new product!

Anyway, that's just a bit of fun and fact pertaining to our corner of the world these days. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Project 365: Week Thirteen

2011-04-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

March 26
Location: guest/kids' bath
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: This funky little bathroom has a date with destiny: at the end of April it's getting a facelift!!! {Shower curtain is new & staying; Amy Butler on clearance at Bed Bath & Beyond!}
High today: 57°

March 27
Location: family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Pretty sure that used toys are the way to go. The cost of this Little People set? $5.00.
High today: 63°

March 28
Location: master bedroom
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Love that the mirror is one of Jude's favorite playmates.
High today: 70°

March 29
Location: sofa, family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Our very first baby, Maeby. Unfortunately the doggies don't get much screen-time on the blog. For some reason between the two kids and the two dogs, the kids always get our attention first...
High today: 71°

March 30
Location: front yard
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Linden came over for a quick playdate on Wednesday morning. Did you notice the makeover this table and chairs set received? I may have to give them their own pic one of these days!
High today: 77°

March 31
Location: Hendry's Beach
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: More Linden! This time we met up with a couple of girls & mommies for a morning at the beach.
High today: 85°

April 01
Location: entry/family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: I recently ditched two large rugs in the house in favor of exposing more of the hardwood floors. This is Jude "helping" me put some some furniture pads on the bottom of the chair legs :)
High today: 73°

{little} Mr. Eight Months

2011-04-01T22:30:00.000-07:00

We're back for another monthly update--late as usual! Jude turned eight months last week. Overall, I'm really loving this stage.

The most notable update this month is that our little man is on the move! Jude has been army-crawling for at least a couple of weeks now, and last week he made is first journey from one room to the next. He had been getting on his hands & knees a lot as well, but would always drop back down to his tummy to crawl. Today he brought it all together and showed off some belly-off-the-floor, hands-and-knees crawling!

I had thought that Jude was getting a bit of a later start mobility-wise than his big brother, but I was looking back over some pics and realized that it isn't so! Logan was 8 months and a week when he started crawling, while Jude clocked in at about 7 months and 3 weeks. The real difference is that Logan didn't really do the army-crawl thing that Jude started with; he just got up one day and started going. All very riveting information, I know. But hey, gotta write it down somewhere!

Jude continues to be a fantastic eater and loves to pick up or take food from my hand and shove it in his mouth. He eats all sorts of crazy {good} things--including cooked onions, tomatoes, bell pepper, and soy beans {edamame}--to name a few. Unfortunately he also tries to consume things like leaves, bark, and sand, which I'm less crazy about.

He has had some issues with rashiness around his mouth, which I need to bring up with the doctor this month. Both boys have sensitive skin, so I'm not sure if I should attribute it to that or if I should be worrying about food allergies. I'd love to hear if anyone has experienced anything similar! After reading up on it a bit, I decided to take out cheese, yogurt and other dairy for awhile to see if that makes a difference. The redness seems to have subsided, so perhaps I'll try adding one of those things again and see if it flares up again or not.

With mobility and solid food now part of his daily life, Jude definitely seems to be more content than ever. I'm really enjoying this time with my smiley little toe-head {even if there is the occasional screaming fit due to teething pain or overtired-ness}, and I'm looking forward to watching him continue to grow and change!

Project 365: Week Twelve

2011-03-27T22:45:00.000-07:00

March 19
Location: kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Super-yummy and EASY baked chicken fingers. Found the recipe in this book {received it from a friend; for some reason the book is only available for pre-order...?}. If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know and I'll post it later this week!
High today: 55°, rain

March 20
Location: family room
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Jude spends a lot of time on his hands and knees these days. And Logan spends a lot of time taunting Jude.
High today: 54°, buckets of rain

March 21
Location: funky second bathroom
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Jude army-crawled from the family room to the bathroom! He had been getting around the family room for awhile, but this was his first trans-room voyage.
High today: 56°

March 22
Location: boys' room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Clearly these boys adore each other.
High today: 58°

March 23
Location: Hendry's Beach
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Despite the rain earlier in the day, we headed to the beach to catch the sunset. We carried Logan kicking and screaming from the car to this spot {he hasn't been a fan of the beach since a scary encounter with the waves last summer}, but as soon as the shovel hit the sand he was 100% perfect.
High today: 53°, rain
Bonus footage: Crazy foam was hanging out on the shore--presumably something to do with the rain and/or run-off?

March 24
Location: family room
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Logan "playing" Dance Central. Such a fun game--and great workout!
High today: 56°, rain

March 25
Location: kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: My new hair! I whined about my tired tresses at the beginning of week SIX--that's right, this is week twelve. I'm SO happy that they were able to fix my color, and while I miss the length, it feels great to have it healthy again. Oh, and yes, I do realize Jude is wearing brown-on-brown. It was naptime and I needed to throw on some comfy pants--that's not normally a fashion decision I would make. :)
High today: 59°

Brownie Covered Oreos

2011-03-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

Since you asked...

This isn't so much a recipe as it is a concept I was recently exposed to. And because oreos covered in brownie clearly isn't evil enough, another variation {which I have yet to try}: chocolate chip cookie covered oreos. I'm sure you could let your imagination run wild with other goodies to hide oreos within...

To make these beauties:

Prepare a box of brownie mix following the package directions
Spoon small amounts of batter into a well-greased muffin tin {just enough to cover the bottom of each cup}
Place an oreo on top of the batter, and spoon in more batter to more or less cover the cookie
Once assembled, pop them into a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes {I prefer to bake them for closer to 12 mins for a fudgier treat}

I've heard of people successfully coating each cookie just by dipping it into the batter, but the brownie mixes that I've used are much too thick. The spooning, plopping, and sticky fingers gets a little tedious, but the end result is pretty decadent! An easier approach may be to submerge rows of oreos into your normal pan of brownie batter? I may try that some time...

Anyway! Hope that's helpful for my fellow baking fiends out there. Let me know if you try it, or if you have any fun variations to share!

Project 365: Week Eleven

2011-03-22T07:00:00.000-07:00

March 12
Location: kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Hungry little hands.
High today: 62°

March 13
Location: party @ friend's house
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Jude's balloon.
High today: 66°

March 14
Location: kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Pioneer Woman's beef with snow peas. YUM.
High today: 76°

March 15
Location: kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Jude in his big boy clothes. And pretzel cigar...?
High today: 80°

March 16
Location: family room
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Matching Christmas pajamas in middle of March. Naturally. {Logan insisted we put his on after he saw Jude wearing his pair!}
High today: 74°

March 17
Location: boys' room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: St. Patty's Day outtake. I look forward to the day when Jude is bigger than his brother :)
High today: 76°

March 18
Location: kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: My favorite new treat to make: brownie covered Oreos. Need I say more?
High today: 63°

Lucky Boys

2011-03-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day is one of those holidays that it's easy for me to get behind, primarily because I can do very little and still get credit for being festive ;) I threw some green on the boys, picked up some corned beef from Trader Joe's {and made pesto (green!) mashed potatoes}, we had some friends over for dinner, and called it a day.

Here are my two little leprechauns in their green outfits from Thursday

I saved a special "brotherly love" outtake for Project 365. I'll get that up soon!

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It has been non-stop rain here since yesterday afternoon. At some point the rainfall was so intense that it woke me up in the middle of the night... I was not happy about that, but made up for it with a three hour nap today! Aside from the epic nap {which the boys participated in as well—YAY!}, we've all been a bit stir-crazy. Hopefully your weekend was full of more sunshine and fun than ours!

Project 365: Week Ten

2011-03-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

March 05
Location: master bathroom
Kit: iPhone camera, edited in Lightroom
Memo: One of the few places Jude was content today, even if it was only for a few minutes. The poor guy had a couple nights of high fevers {and no other symptoms} and then showed up with a rash after the final fever broke. Did a little research and it looks like it was likely roseola. All better now, though! High today: 68°

March 06
Location: family room
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: We downsized our previous jute rug in the family room to expose more of the wood floors. I'm diggin' the basket weave on this one—and turns out that the baby and dogs love it, too!
High today: 65°

March 07
Location: kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Food is Jude's most-favorite thing right now. Chris recently complained to me that Jude was trying to remove the food from his {Chris'} mouth after he had just taken a bite of his lunch :) High today: 66°

March 08
Location: front yard Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Smell my feet.
High today: 71°A little more Logan/Jude love. Note the inside-out & backward shirt that Logan put on "all by myself"...

March 09
Location: East Beach playground
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Met the playgroup at this playground; it was my & Logan's first time there. Slides next to the waterfront are *not* a bad thing...
High today: 73°

March 10
Location: Santa Barbara Zoo
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: A morning at the zoo with a new friend. Logan wasn't quite sure what to make of this VERY loud macaw at first, but warmed up to him. And he had a blast on the "Ant Hill"! High today: 72°

March 11
Location: dining room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: One of our current favorite, quick dinners: penne pasta with pesto, shredded chicken, broccoli, spinach, tomatoes and goat cheese
High today: 69°

Project 365: Week Nine

2011-03-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

Behind again. Not sure what's up, but I have about this much motivation to post right now. Things have been busy around here, so I'm sure that has something to do with it! I'll find my groove again...

On a separate note... LOVING my new clean, updated blog makeover by Danielle. I love that one of my bff's designs blogs :)))

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February 26
Location: family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: We're finally watching Modern Family! I know that it can never take the place of Arrested Development, but it's nice to have something again that at least begins to fill that void...
High today: 54°

February 27
Location: Lake Los Carneros Park
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: I'm full-on cheating here. I didn't have a pic from Sunday—so I stole one from Thursday. Anyway, we were excited to see these two big beautiful... birds... land in the lake as we were walking by. Can someone tell me if these are swans or geese? Either way we rarely see this kind of wildlife around here!
High today: 57°

February 28
Location: front yard
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Just another morning in the front yard with Logan while Baby Jude naps.
High today: 57°

March 01
Location: front yard
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: And another morning in the front yard while Baby Jude naps... This time I was having a little bit of photography fun: I was playing around with panning my iPhone and got this shot.
High today: 67°

March 02
Location: kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: A quick, delicious, and filling lunch: one avocado {mashed}, a sprinkle of sea salt, and some warmed corn tortillas. LOVE me some avocados!!!
High today: 55°

March 03
Location: South Coast Railroad Museum
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: This was such a fun way to spend lunch hour with Daddy!
High today: 61°

March 04
Location: Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: A gorgeous Friday afternoon at the turtle pond
High today: 70°

Another one of those things I'll want to remember

2011-03-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

This is the La Arcada water fountain. These pictures are from a day in October when we spent an afternoon being tourists in our own town. It has become a favorite place for me to stop and spend some time with the boys during the week because it's home to a handful of turtles and coy, and what two year old doesn't love water, turtles, and fish?

On Tuesday I met up with friends at Jeaninne's {remember that scone from week three?}, also located in La Arcada, and after about an hour there it was clear that Logan still needed to let off some steam. So naturally, we stopped at the turtle fountain.

I parked the stroller next to the fountain and proceeded to check email on my phone, while Logan was kneeling on the ledge and sticking his hand in the spray of one of the lion heads.

"Logan, be careful please."

Back to the phone.

"Logan, only little splashes."

Again, back to the phone. Next thing I know...

SPLASH!

I look up instantly and catch the tail-end of Logan's feet going over his head. Bad news: somehow my kid just slipped in {backwards?} to very cold, fishy, poop-laden water. Good news: apparently once you become a mom you also gain some sort of react-in-a-crisis superpowers. In one fell swoop, I set down my phone, dunk my arm into the fountain, grab the back of my fully emerged two year old's t-shirt, yank him out, confirm that he's breathing, strip off his clothes, and wrap him in his brother's fuzzy blanket. Awesome.

This next bit is the truly unbelievable part of this whole incident: in the basket of my stroller, I had with me a clean pair of Logan's underwear, jeans, and a hoodie. Not sarcastic: Awesome.

Logan was a bit shaken up by the whole thing, telling me during our walk home, "I really sorry, Mommy" {which, of course, was the sweetest thing!}. I, on the other hand, couldn't help grinning like an idiot at the thought of what just happened. I left feeling confident that next time we visit the turtle fountain {or any of the other water fountains around town}, I will have a much more conscientious little boy by my side. There's nothing like your kids "receiving the opportunity" to learn a lesson that really sticks :)

{little} Mr. Six & Seven Months

2011-02-28T21:00:00.000-08:00

I missed Jude's update last month, so here's a quick recap of what's been going on with our little mister...

6 months 1 week

"Jude-one-tooth" is now Jude-two-teeth—his bottom right tooth popped up near the beginning of February. And it seems that he's teething yet again... The inexplicable cranky episodes tend to be a sure sign, and there have been a lot of those recently! To be fair, that's just the way he is right now to some degree. While he's happy to sit and watch his big brother do his thing for a little while, Jude's contentment threshold is much lower than Logan's was at this age. Where is he most happy? In Mama's arms, of course. Other places/things he enjoys for at least awhile? Daddy's arms, wrestling/playing anywhere with Logan, gnawing on a random object, and playing in the bathtub.

At his six month check-up, Jude weighed in at a whopping 19lbs 14oz and measured a more modest 26 inches long. The boy is solid and compact! That could be because, in addition to nursing like a champ, Jude also eats food like a pro. We've taken a different approach with solids from what we did with Logan, getting some inspiration from Real Food for Mother and Baby {recommended to us by friends}. Along with eating various fruits & veggies, Jude will also eat avocado {something Logan still doesn't eat!}, meat & fish, dairy, beans, and just about any meal that is soft enough to gum. Surprisingly, he doesn't care much for bananas, of all things!

7 months

At this point Jude has pretty much followed in the same developmental footsteps as his big brother: same birth weight & similar growth rate, rolling over, sitting up and teething around the same time, and so on. Logan started crawling around 7.5 months or so, so we're excited to see if Jude will be doing the same! Right now he's in that inchworm stage :)

I think that's all for now! I'll be back again with more updates for the big boy next month.

Oscar Night

2011-02-27T22:45:00.000-08:00

Despite the two babies and lack of cable, I actually got to watch the Oscars! We brought the fam over to an Oscar party at our friends' house, and my amazing husband took the boys home after about an hour while I stayed and watched the entire show and enjoyed a glass of wine. I love that man!

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A few observations from the night...

* I'm certainly no fashionista, but these three were among my favorite looks:

Mila Kunis looks so feminine. I love lace!

When did Jennifer Hudson get such a rockin' bod?! She looks incredible!

Gwyneth is just so elegant. Wasn't really feeling the singing, though... Was it just me?

images via

Who were your faves?

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* The general consensus around the TV was that James Franco seemed a bit ~~high~~ aloof. Thoughts?

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* This was fun...

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* Accurately predicted and SO excited about this year's best actor, actress, and best picture!!!!

via

YAY Collin!!! He was so cute with his drawn-out British-ness about wanting to start dancing :)

via

Natalie is an all-around amazing actress—she so deserved one of these statues!

via

I love that The King's Speech also won best directing and original screenplay. That movie was just so good.

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While I'm a TV girl at heart, there are few things more exciting than an incredible film and fantastic dresses!

Project 365: Week Eight

2011-02-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

February 19
Location: family room
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Logan helping Daddy get a K.O. on the Kinnect
High today: 52°, rain
Bonus pic: The boys weren't going down for naps, so we went for a drive...

February 20
Location: view from the front porch
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: that's right, Sunday morning SNOW {which survived until about noon}
High today: 58°

February 21
Location: family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Another goofy {albeit, blurry} face. Made sure to snap a cute one to offset the silliness :)
High today: 56°

February 22
Location: Stearn's Wharf
Kit: iPhone Camera
Memo: After we walked Chris to his interview, the boys & I continued another two miles to the end of the pier. I'm going to cheat and include more pics here—it was such a gorgeous morning!
High today: 59°

February 23
Location: Chase Palm Park playground
Kit: iPhone Camera
Memo: "Mom, really. No pictures, please."
High today: 60°

February 24
Location: front yard
Kit: iPhone Camera
Memo: this kid already has mad frisbee skills {and by "skills" I mean that I duck & cover!}
High today: 61°

February 25
Location: kitchen
Kit: iPhone Camera
Memo: rainy-day lunch: mini calzones!
High today: 56°
Unrelated, but I went to see "The King's Speech" tonight—LOVED it! Colin Firth is incredible {as always}. Anyone else see it? What did you think?

Project 365: Week 7

2011-02-22T15:45:00.000-08:00

Late again! I'll hopefully get back on schedule this weekend. Not at all related, but Chris is currently at an all-day interview for a potential new job—please pray and/or cross your fingers for him, it would be a great change!

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February 12
Location: Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: aquarium outtake; Flotsam & Jetsom, anyone?
High today: 74°

February 13
Location: master bedroom
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: my funny monkey
High today: 66°

February 14
Location: dining room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: a V-day gift to my huny—spinach & goat cheese frittata & french toast
High today: 60°
We had a great, low-key Valentine's day that included a uber-fun old film, a tasty bottle of wine, and {for me!} a beautiful new wallet from Chris...

via, via, via

February 15
Location: La Arcada
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Logan loves the sculptures in the courtyard {second pic is from 2/17}
High today: 61°

February 16
Location: State Street at Victoria
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: loved the accent of the clouds behind the Arlington
High today: 60°

February 17
Location: Santa Barbara Public Library
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: pretty light on the fountain just before "Wiggly Story Time"
High today: 57°

February 18
Location: family room window
Kit: Hipstamatic {Jimmy "lens" & Ina's 1969 "film"} on iPhone
Memo: it was a wet, yucky, stay-inside kinda day
High today: 56°, rain

Bonus pics {more of the boys from 2/16}

We thought we'd get a jump-start on spelling with Jude ;)
Random discovery from the alphabet magnets: "Chris", "Logan" and "Jude" don't share any of the same letters!

While Jude was working on becoming Baby Einstein before dinnertime, Logan was sleeping on the couch. He fell asleep on our walk home that day {around 4:45?}, woke up for a minute just before 6:00, decided that he did not want to be awake, and went back to sleep for the rest of the night!!! No dinner, pajamas, or stories...he refused to wake up!

Long Beach

2011-02-19T07:00:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was a Stanford Alumni event at the Long Beach Aquarium. Since we had never actually attended one of Chris' alumni events {he's the super-smarty pants; as a Cal alumna, I can't claim the "super" :)} or made our way to Long Beach, we decided to do a day trip with the boys and have a mini vacay.

We arrived in Long Beach around lunchtime and headed up Pine Street to find a place to eat. As we walked further up Pine away from the waterfront, it became pretty obvious that we were heading to a much more "local" part of town. There were a lot of newer improvements on the street that added pretty charm, but sadly there were also many closed down businesses and storefronts. We were happy to find a local deli we saw on Yelp still in business—the 4th St Deli—where we had an amazing panino, homemade baklava, and the owner was so nice and accommodating. Definitely worth visiting for lunch if you happen to be in the area!

After lunch we met up with one of my bff's, Rachelle, who drove up {with her adorable boyfriend Matt} from San Diego to come hang with us. We headed back down to the waterfront which was definitely the main tourist area of the town. The views were beautiful, the shops were adorable, the food was fattening {yes, that is a funnel cake sundae}—

—and it was lovely just to walk around. We then followed the bike path along the waterfront for a ways to get a better view of the Queen Mary {or rather Logan playing on a pier *closer to* the Queen Mary}—

—and to try to lull Jude to sleep. Sadly, that attempt was in vain. He decided his time was better spent flirting with Rachelle.

We walked back through the pier, took a few sunset pics, and headed to dinner. Logan hopped on a mini horse carousel {courtesy of Matt}, but ended up being very unsure of what to make of it!

After having one of the best burgers of my life at the Yard House {pepper crusted gorgonzola burger with sautéed crimini mushrooms, carmelized onions, baby spinach, and sweet potato fries—YUM!}, Rachelle & Matt headed home and we headed over to the after-hours event at the aquarium.

Despite being deliriously tired, Logan had such a great time! He was so funny—one of the first things he did was run over to a table full of crayons, markers, and coloring pages. Seriously child? You are at an aquarium! We did end up looking at lots of different fish, playful seals, and Logan had fun telling me over and over to touch the sharks & rays in the Shark Lagoon {behind Chris} while he safely observed :)

The highlight for us was definitely the huge diver tank. The diver in purple spent almost the entire presentation playing copycat with Logan! They blew each other kisses, and she did somersaults and funny faces as Logan did the same. It was so precious!

The boys finally conked out around 10pm {Jude a bit earlier} and the drive home was peaceful and traffic-less. Despite being such a long day, it was the perfect dose of fun. Some of our 16 hour vacations have really been the best!

Project 365: Week Six

2011-02-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

AH! Super late posting this week. We had a crazy-busy weekend, but good busy. Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day!

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February 05
Location: backyard
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: On my way to a baby shower {and proof that I in fact exist}. I'm currently in the market for good hair style suggestions—got any? Besides the fact that my old color is growing out much too slowly, my need for change *may* have something to do with the recent discovery of many gray hairs {I just turned 27 people!!!} and round two of postpartum hair loss... Hooray for motherhood. High today: 62°

February 06
Location: kitchen
Kit: Hipstamatic {John S "lens" & Ina's 1969 "film"} on iPhone
Memo: two things we've been enjoying lately: portion control and root chips!
High today: 75°

February 07
Location: front porch
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Jude is ready to go cruising downtown. Logan? All I know is that he's got some awesome eyebrow action going on under those shades.
High today: 69°

February 08
Location: master bedroom
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: dance-jumping on our bed {pretty sure we're listening to Katy Perry}
High today: 63°

February 09
Location: master bathroom
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Marker face... It's surprises like these that get me out of bed each morning. Seriously. I'd rather keep sleeping, but Logan starts his trouble-making pretty early these days.
High today: 67°

February 10
Location: Metro theater on lower State Street
Kit: Hipstamatic {John S "lens" & Ina's 1969 "film"} on iPhone
Memo: Date night! We saw The Black Swan; anyone else see this yet?
High today: 66°

February 11
Location: Shoreline Park
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: After another epic walk with Amber {the ocean was incredibly gorgeous at the end of last week!}
High today: 70°

Mr. Two-Year-Old

2011-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

I feel like it's been awhile since I've dedicated a post to Logan. Two is already flying by {he's 27 months today!} and I know I need to document some of his precious {and sometimes quirky} behaviors that will inevitably fade into distant memories as my firstborn continues to grow oh-so quickly.

A couple weeks after his second birthday, at Legoland

A glimpse at his personality:
Hellow car! Hellow dog! Hellow tree!!! Chris perfectly described Logan one day as our sweet boy sang out greetings to anything and everything from his daddy's shoulders: "He delights in life". And the boy really does...
- He spreads his arms and flies like an airplane as we walk down the street.
- He does somersaults on the lawn, and backwards somersaults off the couch!
- He climbs up the slide instead of using the steps, only to turn around and slide down headfirst... on his back.
- He pushes every button and picks up every rock.
- He sees the pole of a street sign and wraps himself around it. Yes, like a "performer at a gentleman's club".
- He plays peekaboo with his brother in the morning, and sometimes after both of their bedtimes, and still loves to get into Jude's crib and lay down next to him.
- He points out every bug, bird, and butterfly. Most bugs are now referred to as, "Oh! Ladybug!"
- He dances when he hears music. Despite how many times I use the word "music", Logan always asks for "more dance?".
- He loves to "See friends?!".
- He's game for almost any activity you suggest. Frisbee, baseball, cars, a walk, puzzles, drawing, reading books, cooking—he'll do it all. Right now his "thing" with drawing is that he asks us to draw pictures like "face", "eyes" or "belly" and then color them in, or he likes when we draw balloons and he draws all of the strings to "hold balloon".
- He stops what he's doing and asks, "Hear that?", whenever he hears an interesting background noise such as a garbage truck, train, or fire engine.
- He says "hi." to people we pass by {especially the homeless!}, and gives no shortage of high-fives or "fist bumps".
- He is the best cuddler/hugger/kisser a mommy could ask for!

Some notable things he says:
- Stating the obvious: Jude shleeeeping. Jude crying!
- As soon as his #2 hits the water in the toilet, with wide, excited eyes: Boink! BIG poo poo!
- Or, if it's just some loud flatulence {again with wide eyes}: Hear that!? Ex-coose me.
- After grabbing his blanket when upset, injured, or knows he's about to spend some "room time":
Oh. Feel better.
- When I tell Logan that I'm about to put Jude down for a nap: Goodnight Juuuude! Wuv you!
- When he sneezes: Oh... Bless you, Logan.
- Any time I try to put on/take off his clothes, open/close the refrigerator, turn on a piece of electronics, or attempt numerous other tasks: {whining} No no no NO! Logan do it! {then calmly} Logan do it.
- When something has to go "bye bye" because of misbehavior: Oh... Too bad. It's sad...
- When he whines for "more cheerios?", and we calmly repharse his request: "You would like some more cheerios please?", his reply: Okay. {like it was our idea!}

Last week, our bed

When the going gets tough:
Many of the concepts in these parenting books have been our lifelines when we're confronted with difficult behavior that has reared its ugly head at various times {especially right around turning two}...
- Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Practical Parenting from Birth to Six Years
- Positive Discipline: The First Three Years: From Infant to Toddler--Laying the Foundation for Raising a Capable, Confident Child (Positive Discipline Library)
- Parenting with an Attitude.....21 Questions Successful Parents ask Themselves

Smarty pants:
- The boy knows his anatomy: hair, forehead, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, teeth, cheeks, chin, shoulders, elbows, nipples, hands, fingers, belly, belly button, booty, penis, knees, legs, right foot, left foot, toes
- And a little of mommy's anatomy, too: boobies! {breastfeeding, what can I say?!}
- Colors {imagine some of the r's replaced with w's}: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black, white {perhaps his favorite color?}, gray, silver, rainbow
- Numbers: I've heard Logan count more or less correctly to ten, and the other night he broke out with eleven, twelve, and thirteen!
- Alphabet: he can repeat any letter, but definitely doesn't say it on his own yet. He refers to the ABC song as "WX". :)

Unfortunate habits:
- Chews on his fingernails {Any ideas how to address this? I'm so surprised that this can start so young!}
- His finger often goes into his nose. Next stop? His mouth.
- Although he will use any potty anytime anywhere, he insist on being completely disrobed from the waist down. {Another one I need help with!}
- Along the same lines, Logan almost always takes off all his clothes {including his pull-up} after he goes to bed. We've been leaving his portable potty in the room with him, but maybe there are pj's that zip up in the back...?

Favorite TV: {because honestly, Mommy needs a break sometimes}
- Currently watching: Dora the Explorer
- His previous favorite: Caillou
- Where it all began: Blue's Clues

Last month, at the zoo

So far the two's have not been so terrible!

Project 365: Week Five

2011-02-05T22:15:00.000-08:00

January 29
Location: the family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: because *obviously* one pair of underwear is not enough...
High today: 60°

January 30
Location: the courtyard outside of the Arlington Theatre
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: checking out the "red carpet" setup for SBIFF's Modern Master Award presentation
{recipient: Christopher Nolan}
High today: 61° {with crazy sporadic downpours!}

January 31
Location: Logan & Jude's room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: I had no idea it was possible to get this much light into *any* part of our house
High today: 71°

February 01
Location: the family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited with Lightroom
Memo: Jude playing on the floor while Mommy talks on the phone to aunt Danielle
High today: 60°

February 02
Location: master bedroom
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: reviving an old bedtime ritual {and clearly desperate for a photo for the day}
High today: 60°

February 03
Location: Shoreline Park
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: beautiful Amber & sweet baby Mick after we finished a 4.8 mile {stroller} walk!
High today: 61°

February 04
Location: Goleta Beach Park
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Jude in an exceptionally happy mood during our Friday lunch date with Daddy
High today: 61°

Photographing a Photographer

2011-02-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

This past fall we became friends with an adorable newly-married & newly-moved couple from Iowa. The husband, Ryan, went to school for photography, and in the short time I've known him, he has invited me along to help photograph a wedding and has taken pics of our family...just because he's cool like that. So I was really excited {and even more nervous!} when he asked if I could take some pictures for him that he can include when he updates his website. Here are some of the pics from our shoot a couple weekends ago. If nothing else, we had fun bumming around Santa Barbara—and it was of course another great learning experience for me!

Project 365: Week Four

2011-01-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

January 22
Location: Logan & Jude's room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Saturday morning surprise
High today: 65°

January 23
Location: the family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: learning sign language after an afternoon nap
High today: 71°

January 24
Location: the kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Rachael Ray's "Moo Shu Stoup"; really liked it, though need to find out how to add a tad more flavor
High today: 74°

January 25
Location: Santa Barbara airport tarmac
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: ♪I'm lea-ving on a [prop] plane ♪ ... I'll be back again Friday {Logan went to visit his grandparents!}
High today: 73°

January 26
Location: dining room table
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Happy Birthday to ME! Amazing chocolate cupcakes with whipped mocha buttercream frosting made by this uber-talented friend.
High today: 76°

January 27
Location: Hendry's Beach
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: tail-end of the sunset
High today: 69°

January 28
Location: the kitchen
Kit: iPhone camera, edited in Lightroom
Memo: in an effort to provide Logan with better lunchtime nutrition....a pb&j makeover.
High today: 68°

The Many Faces of Jude

2011-01-25T23:30:00.000-08:00

I can't help myself with the photos—this kid is a crazy-expressive emotional roller coaster...

That's all! And in case you happened to think that my baby has remarkably uncluttered nostrils, I'll go ahead and admit right here that I digitally "picked" them. I would have gone in full-force with the fingers at the time, but I think that may have ruined the moment :)

Project 365: Week Three

2011-01-21T17:30:00.000-08:00

January 15
Location: Ellwood Monarch Grove
Kit: Canon 7D, 55-200mm f4.5-5.6 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Monarch mating season; the eucalyptus in the background is literally covered in butterflies
High today: 75°

January 16
Location: Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens
Kit: iPhone camera, edited in Lightroom
Memo: bunny in the shadow of a palm
High today: 80°

January 17
Location: The Boathouse at Hendry's Beach
Kit: Hipstamatic {John S "lens" & Ina's 1969 "film"} on iPhone
Memo: a night with the girls under the sparkly lights
High today: 80°

January 18
Location: friend's house
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: ~~potty~~ play date
High today: 76°

January 19
Location: floor of master bedroom
Kit: iPhone camera, edited in Lightroom
Memo: very furry pup, very warm heater vent
High today: 74°

January 20
Location: master bedroom
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Hi Mama! Can you see me?
High today: 68°

January 21
Location: Jeannine's Bakery downtown {with Kerry}
Kit: iPhone camera, edited in Lightroom
Memo: espresso chocolate chip scone—best.thing.ever.
High today: 70°

One of those things I'll want to remember

2011-01-19T23:15:00.000-08:00

I wish I could have witnessed this one myself.

Last night I went out with the ladies from our Bible study for happy hour at the Boathouse. It was the perfect child-free evening, complete with great conversation and fantastic wine. When I arrived home, both of the boys were asleep and I asked Chris how his evening went. He said it went well, and that there was just *one funny little incident*...

After Chris put Logan to bed, Logan continued to play and chatter away in the darkness. He does that every now and then after we put him down, so Chris wasn't concerned. But after hearing Jude stirring as well, he decided to go check on the boys.

Can you guess what Chris saw when he opened their door? Logan had climbed into the crib of his almost six-month-old sleeping brother, sat down next to him, and proceeded to "tend to" his little brother.

According to Chris, Logan had turned on Jude's Sleep Sheep, got his pacifier {or "fire", as Logan calls it} for him, and seemed to be jabbering away at his baby brother. I know you love Jude, Logan, but SERIOUSLY CHILD?! Please don't force us to get a video baby monitor. They *are* cool, but wouldn't you rather we save that money for college? Great. Thanks.

Now I know why I waited more than five months before moving them in together! Have I mentioned that my hair is literally graying?

Project 365: Week Two

2011-01-15T22:30:00.000-08:00

January 08
Location: a few blocks from the house
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Fido on the roof
High today: 56°

January 09
Location: the boys' room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: if you're going to wake them anyway, why not snap a photo first??
High today: 56°

January 10
Location: the family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: Logan's current reading list
High today: 58°

January 11
Location: Santa Barbara Zoo
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: one of the new baby {well, teen by now} otters
High today: 59°

January 12
Location: the family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: I love seeing the brothers together, even if it is in front of the TV...
High today: 62°

January 13
Location: the family room
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: this kid makes some *crazy* faces!
High today: 68°

January 14
Location: the kitchen
Kit: Canon 7D, 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: chocolate chip pancakes on a Friday
High today: 74°

Thing 1 & Thing 2

2011-01-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

With twelve more days to go, this almost-birthday girl has already been exceedingly spoiled this year.

Meet Thing 1...

...from my wonderful & generous friend Danielle. Yes ladies, that's a Lisa Leonard necklace, personalized with each of the first initials of my boys! Like probably many of us, I've been eying her beautiful jewelry after seeing it on blog after blog. I'm honored to own a handmade piece crafted by an inspiring woman and gifted by a treasured friend. Definitely check out Lisa's site if you haven't before! Along with being ridiculously talented, this creative mama is "practically" my neighbor, living up the coast only 90 minutes in gorgeous San Luis Obispo.

And Thing 2...

...from my husband. I don't know that we would have justified it if Chris didn't have a passion for creating some incredible work of his own, but we did—and I am SO excited!!! The 20D that has served us faithfully over the past five years will continue to do so; it will be Chris' new companion to & from work so that he'll never again whine to me that he missed another gorgeous sunset. :)

So, yes. Two big fat THANK YOU!!!!'s to my spoilers.

{little} Mr. Five Months

2011-01-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Flail, grab, roll, arch, squat, flap, kick. I'm a very active little guy.

Hold me during a meal at your own risk—I will try to grab anything you put to your mouth. You also better watch out for any papers, packaging, or mail you have laying around. I love things that crinkle and may cry if you take them away.

I'm still a big a growing boy, and I think I'm starting to make life a little easier on my mommy and daddy. I sit up unsupported and play with my toys, I sleep {through the night} in the same room as my big brother, and after cutting my first tooth in the first week of January, Mommy's giving me a bit of food. My brother knows I'm getting bigger, too; he likes to roll around on me, which makes Mommy nervous—but makes me laugh and squeal! I can handle it though...I weigh about 18.5 pounds now, and wear mostly 9-12 month sized clothes.

If you haven't noticed, I'm also very smiley, and very fond of sticking out my tongue. I'm also very bald. And round.

Project 365: Week One

2011-01-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

Danielle encouraged me to join her this year in taking & sharing one photo from each day. We all know how good I am at following through with things, but I'm going to give it a shot! I'd really like to challenge myself to take better pictures, as well as just document the day-to-day stuff that life is made up of! My plan is to do one post each week that covers the previous seven days. Here's week one; I hope to gradually shoot more with our DSLR, but this week I relied a lot on my phone. What can I say?! I'm just starting to ease into it...

January 01
Location: Butterfly Beach
Kit: Canon 20D w/ 17-55mm f2.8 lens, edited in Lightroom
Memo: New year's day at the beach {I'm cheating a bit here since I already posted this photo :)}
High today: 56°

January 02
Location: our kitchen
Kit: Hipstamatic {John S "lens" & Ina's 1969 "film"} on iPhone
Memo: Fallen off the wagon...
High today: 55°

January 03
Location: Paseo Nuevo shopping mall
Kit: Hipstamatic {John S "lens" & Ina's 1969 "film"} on iPhone
Memo: my favorite two-year-old & my favorite wall
High today: 57°

January 04
Location: our front yard
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: Mommy's little monster needs lots of distractions!
High today: 62°

January 05
Location: State Street at Sola Street
Kit: Hipstamatic {John S "lens" & Ina's 1969 "film"} on iPhone
Memo: the Arlington Theatre and a winter sky
High today: 59°

January 06
Location: our dining room
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: first solids!
High today: 63°

January 07
Location: Arrellaga Street facing Alice Keck Park Memorial Gardens
Kit: iPhone camera
Memo: palm with wintertime sunset
High today: 60°

The Recap

2011-01-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope you all had wonderful Christmas and New Years celebrations! We spent last Saturday through Wednesday visiting our families up north, and Thursday through today cleaning and preparing for the start of the week/year. My two big goals this year are to continue to improve my photography knowledge and skills, and to look acceptable enough in a bikini for a big trip we're planning {sans-children!!} for the fall! Ah, how I love the start of a new year...

Our New Year's Eve celebration was probably one of the most exciting in the history of the world. We went to Butterfly Beach for a bit, where Logan cried the whole. entire. time. We finally abandoned the beach and coaxed him into sitting with us on a balustrade overlooking the beach. We're hoping this is just a phase, but he has had complete meltdowns the past two times we've gone to the beach! Goodness gracious, child—who doesn't like the beach?! After that we made the 35 minute drive down to Target. Yes, going to Target is an event in this household. The final hours leading up to the new year were spent with me charging through season six of Desperate Housewives and Chris working on a pretty epic photo edit, and mere minutes before, the two of us hoovering in front of the computer clock waiting for the stroke of midnight. New Year's Eve is probably the one day a year I wish we had cable; it feels like the year doesn't actually change if you don't see the ball drop!

Christmas was lovely—and very Logan-centric—which was a blast. We had a total of three celebrations, and our little guy tore through tons of wrapping paper at every one of them! The next best thing to being a little kid at Christmastime is definitely having your own little kids at Christmastime!

Jude slept and drooled through his Christmases, but next year should be so fun with that little guy.

And just because he's so dang cute, a trip down memory lane—last Christmas...

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T23:00:00.000-08:00

It's just about that time! This week I've been finishing up all of my baking and packing before we leave this weekend. A friend even took the boys for 2.5 hours this morning so that I could have some extra time to wrap things up—what an amazing gift!

This year we sent out our first-ever Christmas card. You know, only 5.5 years of marriage and two kids later... We never got around to sending out birth announcements for either of the boys, so this is a BIG deal! And I owe a special thanks to our friend Ryan for taking pictures for us; he's the real reason there's a card this year :)

Please excuse the less than stellar quality—I had to scan the card in order to get a digital copy! When's the last time you scanned a pic?!

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And because I can't resist sharing an excess of photos, here are some bonus pics from Ryan's shoot.
Thanks again Ry!!!

Can you tell how cooperative Logan was through all of this?!?

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I hope you all have an amazing Christmas with your loved ones! We'll be staying in SB to attend our church's beautiful Christmas Eve service...

...and then heading up north on Christmas day. Hopefully I'll find my way over here again some time next week while someone else is hanging out with my kids! ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Family Photos

2010-12-17T12:15:00.000-08:00

No, these aren't our family photos. We didn't suddenly become stunningly fit and tan. This adorable family is good friends of ours, and were sweet enough to ask me to take pics for their Christmas card this year. They of course made things pretty fool-proof for me by being so freakin' adorable and photogenic!
Thanks for letting me share guys! :)

I'll put up our photos next week after our Christmas cards have had a chance to arrive. Have you sent your cards out yet? I thought I was on top of things this year, but I just got them out this morning!

Happy weekend!

Jumping Bean

2010-12-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Jude

loves

his

bouncer!

And we love that he loves his bouncer!

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The day I took these pics, Jude was making an EPIC sad face. I don't know that I *really* caught it, but I tried...

I even took video...

Bonus bouncing video...

I could watch this kid bounce all day.

Logan didn't fail to notice the attention his little bro was receiving in his bouncer, and decided to take matters into his own hands...

I have no words.

Bird Mobile

2010-12-07T22:45:00.000-08:00

You may or may not have noticed {I'm sure you did notice!}, but I am the queen of starting projects which take me forever to finish. I find it irrational and completely annoying, yet I continually lack the motivation to break my bad habit! Jude's crib bumper? About 80% done, and has been for the past six months. The boys' table & chairs? About 95% done since three about weeks ago. In fact, this project has been done for about a month or so, it has just taken me THIS long to get it up on my friggin' blog! But amazingly, I can finally say that this little birdie project is 100% complete! Yes, I sewed the majority of the birds for this project back in MARCH. I love what I wrote in that post:

I originally found this sewing pattern associated with a really cool mobile idea, so I'm considering trying my hand at that for the "boys' room" {thus all the blues, greens, and browns}. I'll be sure to update you when I get to that project...you know...in like a month. ;)

HA!

Alright, I'm done being amused by my epic ability to procrastinate. Here's my inspiration for what turned out to be a pretty stunning {albeit not very entertaining :)} baby mobile...

It's hard to get a good sense of the depth and movement of the piece from pictures, but the touch of one twig initiates a graceful dance. I'm really happy with it—and it was definitely worth the wait!

A Day with The Design Girl

2010-12-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

My friend Danielle came back to CA to visit over the Thanksgiving holiday, and yesterday she made a trip up to Santa Barbara to hang out with us for the day! You can see her post with more of her great pics here. It's so refreshing to have someone else document your family for a change :)

We had a great day doing what we do best—shopping! While I was picking out some goodies at Lush, D took an adorable video of Logan looking at the different colored bath bombs. She's always harping on me to post more video of him being cute, and since she provided the video, I decided to cave...

I ended up picking up a seasonal facial cleanser called "Buche de Noel" that feels and smells heavenly.

I'm so excited for this. A little goes a lonnnng way, and the scent of almonds and cranberries makes me want to wash my face all day long! Add to that the fact that it's handmade and preservative free, and friends, we have ourselves a winner.

The saleswomen there also gave me generous samples of their Ring of Roses soap and Dream Cream body lotion for the boys' ultra-sensitive skin. I'm eager to see if they help to clear up Jude's persistent infant rash—I'll report back!

We also stopped in Anthro because, honestly, how can you not? Logan was fascinated by a "mirror!" that Danielle picked up. Naturally, he had to inspect it more closely.

We browsed, but didn't buy. For the record, I was dying over some of the amazingly cute kitchen things they have right now! Oh, how I dream of a kitchen full of Anthro goodies...

1, 2, 3, 4

Such a fun day! Thanks for visiting, Danielle!

{little} Mr. Four Months

2010-12-03T10:30:00.000-08:00

I went to the doctor this week, and I'm still a big boy! I weighed 16.5 pounds and was 25 inches long. Like my brother, I have a little peanut head that measures 16.25 inches around. Mommy thinks it's cute, though.

Right now, life is all about my mouth. I gnaw on anything and everything. Constantly. My mommy bought lots of teething toys for my brother that he didn't use much, and she's very happy that I like them all! I wonder when my teeth will start popping through...

I love to play with toys. Sometimes I'm even content in my stroller or car seat if I have a good toy. But my favorite place to be is still in someone's arms!

We Gobbled 'Em Up

2010-11-30T22:15:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! We celebrated with lots of family down in beautiful San Diego. My contribution this year was turkey...cake balls! Again I fall short of the awesome talent that is Bakerella, but how could I not take a stab at turkey cake balls?!

Can you believe that we're officially in the Christmas season now?? I joined in on the frenzy yesterday and did my fair share of Cyber Monday shopping. I think I pretty much picked up everything that I plan to get for the boys—essentially books and pajamas :) How's everyone else doing on their shopping?

Second Shooter

2010-11-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

I didn't intend to completely fall of the face of the blogosphere, but sometimes things get so dang busy! I promise that I will post and I will read blogs again!

Among the 800 things I've been keeping busy with, I got to play "second shooter" for a friend who was photographing a wedding over the weekend. It was a great learning experience, and I'm thankful to him for giving me such a cool opportunity. And since I don't have anything else to show for the past ten days... wedding pics it is!

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday!

The Birthday

2010-11-15T22:15:00.000-08:00

Logan is doing much better, thank you for thoughts & prayers! I spoke with the doctor again today, and his strep culture came back completely negative, so the staff infection was the main concern.

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We celebrated Logan's birthday last Sunday, and in typical me-fashion, I'm just now getting around to posting!

The day was full, yet simple. After church and lunch, we spent a couple hours at the zoo. We didn't go through the whole zoo, but instead took it at a Logan pace. So we checked out the kapibara, the lions, the giraffes, the gorillas, the "farm", and the fish.

Logan took a long nap after such a full day, and after dinner we had a little surprise waiting for him—Elmo cake pops {thanks to Bakerella's amazing tutorial}and presents!

Now, if you think these little fellas look like they were a little difficult to make—you're right! Though not for the reasons that I assumed they would be. I thought that the decorating would be the tough part, but it was the physics in my experience. If you look at Bakerella's post, do you notice how the candy coating smoothly drizzles off the spoon? When I dipped my spoon in to the coating, the drizzle factor was zero. I suspect it was a brand issue—she uses Merckens which apparently is always that thin, but I used Wilton's from Michael's. I was able to cut the thick candy coating with vegetable oil, which helped, but the thickness of the coating proved to be a huge pain and Elmo's head would inevitably start to slide down the stick, sending him to an untimely death. This is why I ended up only making about eight full Elmos, had four or so in my "Elmo graveyard", and spared the fate of the remaining 24 balls and instead made them into "cake balls" vs. pops. Oh my goodness, they were tasty, though!!!

I plopped one of the uglier Elmos on a piece of cake, so that Logan had something to blow out {in case you're wondering what that red monstrosity is in this picture}...

Fortunately, Logan doesn't discriminate against ugly Elmos.

Little Linden and her parents came over to help eat Elmo pops as well, and the two kids had fun running around with a sugar high and jumping on Logan's bed. :)

After they left, we gave Logan his gifts! We got him a pack of dinosaurs, some dino notepads, Sesame Street alphabet flash cards and coloring books, and an Elmo of his very own! I think it was just the right amount of birthday fun for our big two year old guy.

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On a separate note: Jude rolled over from his back to his tummy today! YAY JUDE!

Quick Prayer Request

2010-11-12T16:15:00.000-08:00

What did my little boy get for his second birthday? Apparently a nasty staff infection, strep throat, and possibly scarlet fever. :(

Today happened to be Logan's annual check-up, and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. A couple of days ago some icky rashes started to show up, and I though it might be a flare-up of eczema, or perhaps a weird diaper rash. Alright, I'll ask about this at his appointment on Friday. Yesterday he slept way more than usual, which meant a three hour nap AND putting himself to bed at about 7:00pm. Huh. He must not be feeling that well... This morning, he woke up with more rashes, super-hot {101.7 last I checked}, and clearly feeling miserable. AHHH—get this child to the doctor!!!

Doctor's orders: two oral antibiotics, one antibiotic cream, plenty of fluids, a few baths a day, and as much Caillou as his little heart desires.

So, all that to say...this boy needs some prayer. I guess I do too. I had no idea how scary it could be to see my baby sick like this, and completely devoid of the daily vibrancy that I take for granted. And while you're add it, maybe add Jude to your list, too. I just took his temp, and he has a fever of 101.1. No rashes or sluggishness, though, so that's good at least.

Alright. Back to nursing my sick little ones...

Two

2010-11-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to our beautiful, blue-eyed boy! We love you SO much, Logan!

xoxo

"Mommeee" & "DA-deeeee"

{little} Mr. Three Months

2010-11-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

I love being a little brother! My brother Logan comes to find me each morning when he wakes up, gives me kisses and hugs throughout the day, and likes to make me smile and laugh.

I'm pretty happy these days; I love to play with the dangling toys on my play mat, give big flirty smiles to people around me, and I love to grab my mommy's hands and touch her skin when I eat. I still often roll onto my back when I'm on my tummy, but now I'm working on rolling from my tummy to my back.

I use my pacifier every now and then, but have mostly traded it in for my thumb. Mommy appreciates that because it helps me to sleep full twelve hour stretches through the night.

Though I'm usually a happy guy, I'm still very quick {and loud!} to let my parents know when something's wrong. My happy places are sitting on a lap, in my "super man" position, or in the Ergo carrier. My unhappy place is my car seat, unless we're on the freeway going 70 mph! I cry at every stop light—ever.

I still don't know if my hair will be as light as my brother's. It's brown right now, but it's growing in blond in a lot of places! I had my first haircut a few weeks ago; Mom decided she'd spare me the infant mullet and buzz it short on the back of my head. I look so handsome!

It's so fun to grow up!