Afternoon with Grandpa Al

These are from several months ago, but I just downloaded all the pictures off Michael's phone and found lots of pictures from outings that I wasn't in attendance for. (Thank you Daddy and Grandpa Al for the time alone!) We are so thankful that Grandpa Al drives out to Orange County from Sun City about every other week or so to spend the afternoon with Wes and Michael, and they always have such a great time together! Here's pictures from a windy day down in Balboa:

You can't see it, but the boys stopped at Kmart before they headed to the beach to buy a cheap kite to fly since it was so windy. I heard that Wes got to fly it for a few minutes by himself, but then decided he was done, so he just let it go! Luckily they were able to retrieve the kite and bring it home so it could fly another day :)

Running on the beach

Having a corn dog, one of Wes' favorite treats. They wanted to go to the hand dipped corn dog place right by the ferry entrance on Balboa but it was closed. Such a bummer, that place is the best! Luckily they found a corn dog elsewhere :)

Taking a ride on the carousel.

(I'm happy to have this picture, because Michael just told me that he read they are removing the carousel from the Fun Zone to expand the Nautical Museum.)

Mommy was sad to miss this one, a frozen banana is a treat you can't pass up when in Balboa!

And a ferry ride to end the day!

We're Having a Girl!!

We had our big anatomy ultrasound on July 11th and it's official, we are having a baby girl!! I wanted to do something cute, like have Wes hold a sign that says Baby Sister while pointing to my belly, but I'm a little over two weeks behind in my blog posts and I just have to let some things go :) The appointment went great, the baby is healthy and we are so blessed! It always amazes me all the things they look for and can see at this stage of development. Here are a couple of pictures from the ultrasound:

Girly profile :) I actually lost, which is so unlike me, the pictures from Wes' anatomy ultrasound. I am praying that someday they turn up, I am usually a hoarder of all things sentimental!
It's hard to tell in this scan, but here are the "three lines" they are looking for (and the absence of a penis) to tell for sure that it's a girl. Thankfully the tech put in the pointing arrow and the official "I'M A GIRL!!!" text!
And here she is sucking her thumb, I am destined to to have children with funky teeth and a large orthodontia bill.
The doctor who double checks all the techs work, printed out this picture for us. He said he liked to be able to catch different images in ultrasound, so here she is giving me a swift kick!

We are so excited to be able to raise both a boy and a girl and though a little nervous about all the pink and ruffles we couldn't be more excited. What an amazing journey God has taken us on from our first fertility appointment over 3 and a half years ago. We have learned some amazing lessons in faith, trust and letting go of our own plans and are just excited to see what He has in store for us coming up!

Wesley Says: A Few of My Favorites

A talking two year old has got to be the funniest, and most exasperating, thing on the planet! This kid is constantly cracking me up and driving me nuts, which in a moment of weakness I recently said to him to which he replied, "no mama, drive trucks!" Out of the mouth of babes. Here are a few things Wes says all the time, that we get such a kick out of:

"Nice Hat": Michael taught Wes this one. When Mike is home he gives Wes his bath and always pulls his shirt over his head like this, and asks "what do you say?" to which Wes now replies without needing the question "Nice Hat!" (Because it's so cute, I try not to get irritated that I have to turn all his shirts right side out before I do laundry :)

"All done the nap, mommy, mommy!!!": This is what Wes yells from his crib when he's woken up from his nap, even in the morning time too, and is ready to get out of bed. If he's really involved in something before nap time and I say, "ok buddy, time for a snoozer" he'll reply, "no, all done the nap!" Though just the other day, Wes started climbing out of his crib, so I have a feeling this saying is going to be obsolete pretty soon.

"Poo oo's in the diaper now": This one cracks me up. Once he's done his business he comes and informs me "poo oo's in the diaper now." I think potty training is in our near future.

"Read about it": Wes loves books and if I'm looking at anything including newspapers, magazines, junk mail, etc. Wes comes over and and asks to "read about it." The other day we went out to get the mail together and I received the new Sunset Magazine. I was flipping through it as we walked back to the house, and Wes kept asking to "read about it." So we sat in the drive way and read/looked at all pictures and recipes. To every recipe he'd point and say "that's yummy," this kid loves his food! Here he is reading our local Clipper magazine which I was trying to read at lunch one day.

"Take a Nice Walk": Grammy started this one. When Wes stays at her house, they usually walk to the park and Grammy would say, "it's a nice day for a walk." Somehow Wes took that and started saying "take a nice walk" pretty much any time he'd walk anywhere. And when we take a bike ride he'll say "take a nice ride." It seems so civilized hearing him say "take a nice walk" :)

"I Lub'ee Mommy": Wes has been saying I love you for quite a while, and I'll always remember the first time he said it to me without me saying I love you to him first. But the pronunciation is what gets me, it's just too cute.

"Scoop Dirt": right now, scooping dirt is my life. This kids loves all things construction and knows all his loaders, backhoes, dump trucks, excavators, tow trucks, and on and on and on. If it has wheels, Wesley wants it. If we're outside, we're usually scooping dirt in the front or sand in the back yard. Though I think my lime tree is protesting the disturbance of it's soil by refusing to produce limes this year, but I don't blame it. I often protest myself :)

"I need sometin' ": If Wes knows what he wants, he'll say "I need dump truck", "I need mulk (milk)," "I need it, mama!!!!" but sometimes he'll just randomly say "I need sometin.' " And I'll ask "what do you need?" and he'll usually reply "sometin.' " I love it when he asks for sometin' because it means we don't have to have a discussion about the difference between need and want :)

"Nudie": Ever since Wes was little, when he had no clothes on we'd say he was "nudie" or call him "nudie boy." And now he'll always point out when he or anyone else is nudie. (This includes when he has a diaper and shorts on too, just having his shirt off constitutes being nudie). The other day when I was giving him a bath and he was waiting for the bath tub to fill up, he said to me "mama loves nudie boy". He sure is right, I love my little nudie boy!

"Mom and Dad": Wes has recently taken to calling us "Mom" and "Dad." It makes me feel old, like I have a teenager in the house. But it makes me laugh when he's trying to get my attention and he calls "mama! mama! mama! MOM!!!"

I really love hearing his little voice and all the learning and processing and repeating that's going on right now, though we are quite conscious of those little ears which are always ready to hear and repeat whatever we say :)

Ride for 9-11

Michael has always been into bike riding and it's very obvious if you see our garage. There are three people living in our house, only two of which know how to ride a bike, yet we own 6 bicycles...two beach cruisers, two mountain bikes and two road bikes. By the way, the only one that's mine is a beach cruiser! Several months ago, Michael started training to join the team of part time riders on the Ride for 9-11. They are a group of fire fighters who are cycling across the country to honor the lives lost on September 11th as well as all the military members who are fighting for our country. They are raising money for the Leary Fire Fighters Foundation and the Wounded Warrior Project. Michael is riding in the first leg of the tour, which left Hollywood on the 24th (pictures from the send off to follow later) but will return home and plans to join the cyclists once they reach Pittsburgh in the beginning of September and ride the remainder of the tour into New York city on September 9th.

On July 14th, the Ride held a fundraiser at Roscoe's in Fullerton to help raise money for the tour. We had such a fun time visiting with our friends, climbing on the fire trucks and supporting Daddy!

Grandpa Al was there, so here's a picture of Daddy in his Engineer's seat, Grandpa in his old Captain's seat and little fire fighter-to-be Wesley!

Wes and his buddy Dylan

Wearing daddy's headset

Michael's good friend Adam is also one of the riders and did an awesome job of organizing the fundraiser at Roscoe's. These are just a few of the riders, there are six full time riders and about nine part time riders.

There was also a raffle and Wes won this great basket of beer from Bootlegger's Brewery in Fullerton. :) The ironic part about us winning this prize is that I had just cleaned out the area under the stairs and was giving this basket to the Goodwill when Michael saw it and said Adam could use it for one of the raffle prizes. And of course that huge basket is still sitting in my living room! Anyways, we're so proud of you Daddy and all the cyclists part of the Ride for 9-11!

Check out their website here at : http://www.ridefor9-11.org/

Swim Lessons

I'd been wanting to get Wesley into some swim lessons since he loves being in the water. When we went to Palm Springs with the Jazayeri's we were really impressed with how well Mattie was swimming so Jenny gave us the name of her swim teacher and we signed Wes up for some lessons. The first lesson with Miss Megan didn't go well at all since Wes wouldn't even get in the water! But thankfully Mattie's lesson was after ours that day so Wes watched her swim and by the time she was done, he was playing on the top step of the pool and ready to get in. Thankfully since then he's been like a little fish and doing really well!

Upon Wes' request/demand, Mike or I need to be in the pool with Miss Megan, which has actually been really helpful for him. He's able to swim to the other person and is kicking his legs and using a little doggie paddle stroke. Right now we're working on swimming, taking a break and then keep swimming.

He's also doing well swimming to the edge and reaching up and grabbing on. At this age, having him be water safe is what I'm concerned with, so having him learn to reach for the edge is really important. He loves jumping off the edge of the pool, so Miss Megan said we'll start to work on having him be able to turn himself around and then reach for the wall in case he ever falls into a pool.

Having a toddler who loves the water but can't swim reminds me how important it is to be extremely diligent with little kids around any open water. My eyes never leave him!

Happy 2nd Birthday Evan!

On July 9th, we headed to Huntington Beach for an evening BBQ celebrating Evan's 2nd birthday! We got to the beach around 5pm and assumed everyone would be leaving, but boy were we wrong!! It was a georgeous afternoon and evening, so I think everyone else decided to enjoy the beach as well. But we made it to Evan's party and had a fun evening with the Sides and their friends and family.

Evan's mom Amber was due to have her baby in about a week and I told her that throwing a beach party should definitely put her into labor! (But baby Emilia waited to arrive until July 18th, and we are so excited she is a girl!! Her gender was a surprise, and I'm so excited that our little girls are going to be friends too!)




Wes and Evan playing trucks and motorcylcles, these two are definitely all boy!

The daddies and Evan's birthday cupcake. I love how Wes is totally eyeing that thing, he definitly knows what is served at birthday parties now :)

And here's Wes enjoying his own cupcake, notice that all the frosting is gone. This is definitely my son!

We also roasted a s'more! Sugar overload, but it helped us get in the mood for our upcoming camping trip.

This is a s'more with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, so delicious! And I think Wes agreed :)

Happy Birthday Evan, we had a great time at your party!!

Beach Day

On Friday, July 8th, we joined Auntie Chrissy, Cody and Eva and Joy and her girls down at the beach in Dana Point. And it was such a beautiful afternoon!

Of course we brought many dump trucks, loaders, diggers, fire trucks, etc, etc, etc so we could scoop as much sand as possible! Wes' most favorite activity!

Cody trying to find something on the bottom of the toy bag!

Thank You!

I sent out a thank you card with this picture on it to all our generous friends and family who showered Wes with wonderful birthday gifts. I just wanted to included it on Wes' blog since I had fun (though it took several attempts) spelling out "thank you" with gifts. Then it took several more attempts to get Wes to pose as the "Y" and smile too! He wasn't quite sure why he couldn't just grab all his fun new things and why I was standing on a chair in the middle of the living room. But I finally got a good one! Thanks again everyone, we love you!

Happy 4th of July!

We were really excited about our 4th of July plans this year since Daddy finally had the day off from work. I'm not sure if he's ever had the 4th off the entire time we've been married! But unfortunately he was sick the whole night before and definitely not up to a long day of celebrating, so he stayed home and Wes and I continued on with our modified 4th plans.

In the morning we joined Grandma Susie, Auntie Jessica, Uncle Nino, Haley, Gia and Cash for the 4th of July parade in Irvine.

Wes was not a fan of the hat, but I managed to snap a quick pic with it on his head!
(the fingers are in protest)

All decked out in our Red, White and Blue and ready to march.

It was crowded and hot, but so much fun!

The kids in the parade throw candy to the kids watching on the sides, so Gia had the perfect seat on the front of the stroller, tossing out candy from her hat.

Once we saw Grandma and Uncle Nino, we decided to have a seat and watch the rest of the parade from the sidelines. The girls even caught a few pieces of candy :)

After the parade, Daddy still wasn't feeling well so we cancelled our plans to join our Fire Department friends for a block party and headed over to Grammy's house for some swimming, playing and a nap. I'm not sure why I didn't take any pictures there, but we had a fun afternoon with Grammy and Bampa.

Then around 5:30 we headed back to Grandma Susie's house for their cul de sac BBQ.

Grandma Susie recently bought this bounce house from a friend of hers and it was perfect for all the cousins!

After dinner we walked across the street to the lake to watch Woodbridge's fireworks show.

This is a horrible picture of me, but I had to include this one, since this is how Wes watched the whole fireworks show...just peeking out from his sweatshirt. He wasn't scared, he was just content that way :)

When we got home, Michael was feeling better, so we walked out to the street to watch some of our neighbors light off fireworks in the street. (It's still legal in Costa Mesa to do your own fireworks). And Wes kept telling us that fireworks make a "boomin' sound!"

Even though our plans changed, we still had a wonderful 4th of July!

Happy Birthday America!