Sweetness

Avah turned seven last Monday. SEVEN. That seems so very old. I had a whole post written out about it but then blogger decided pictures were lame and wouldn't upload them. That is definitely a post that is deserving of pictures, so I will wait until blogger lets me upload them.

Its interesting to look at Hunter and remember Avah at his age. She was such a sweet baby and was so angelic. Shes definitely a girl though, and has (quite a few) moments of diva-ness these days. Every now and then, though, she does something that is so incredibly sweet that I cant help but tear up over.

For her birthday she got $5 in ones from Justin's Aunt Diana and $10 from his grandpa Bud. The day she got it we went to the grocery store and she saw the claw machine with all of the stuffed animals in it. She asked if I had cash and I told her all I had was her birthday money. She said that's ok, so I gave her $3 of it and sent her to play while I checked out since I could watch her easily. She kept turning around and telling me not to look and I kept telling her not to be silly, that I had to watch her so no one would take her. She ALMOST got a little technicolor dog, but (like all claw machines) it wouldn't hold. So she left the store slightly dejected and $3 poorer. When we got into the car she looked into her lap and said "I didn't want you to watch because I wanted to get an animal for you and wrap it up so you would have something to open on Christmas." It melted my heart. I told her that her birthday money was for her to buy something for herself and she said that what she wanted was for me and her daddy to have presents. Then she asked me to take her to the store to buy something for Daddy with her remaining $12. I cant tell you how proud that made me.

Its hard watching your children grow up, but in moments like those, its so amazingly rewarding.

"I'm gonna get you!"

Milestones

In the past two weeks Hunter has achieved two new milestones!

Phone pic of Hunter in action

 First, he can now crawl. It started out very slowly, with him getting on his hands and knees and just sort of hanging out for a couple of weeks. Then he started rocking back and forth and you could tell that he just wanted to move SO badly but couldnt figure out how. Next he started moving his hands like he was going to take a "step" but instead just lunged for whatever he was trying to get at. Finally, he figured it out. Our little man actually crawls and is getting faster and faster by the day. He managed this just days before his 7 month mark!

Look closely...you may be able to see his little teeth!

Hunter also has two new teeth! The teeth on the bottom jaw broke through about 3 days from one another. He was a little monster leading up to the teeth cutting, but hes back to his little angelic self. He still has yet to learn that when he bites down on people now it hurts! Hes very offended that no one will allow him to chew on them any more. Hopefully we will get a month or two break from his next round of teething. That was no fun at all.

As for everything else Hunter-related, he is now 7 months old! He is still breastfed and we are still cloth diapering (we get those questions a lot so I figure I might as well post it). He is really developing an amazing personality and its really fun to watch him become who he will be. I remember being pregnant and having a hard time believing that I could love another baby as much as I love(d) Avah. Its hard to imagine that your love will actually multiply, not divide...but its so true. Having two kids is great!

Halloween!

I meant to post earlier but we had a little issue with our internet. We are now back up and running, so here I am!

This year for Halloween Avah was a pirate and Hunter was a turtle. Hunter wore the same costume Avah did when she was a baby. Avah was a little tiny baby so she fit into a size 3-6 month costume at 10 months old. Hunter barely fit into it at 6 months, but he managed. I LOVE that I have pics of both of my kids in the same outfit.

Hunter (with a little sweet potato on his mouth)

Avah

We had some family over for our traditional chili dinner and then Justin and Avah went off trick or treating. I put Hunter to bed slightly late (he was exhausted) and then we enjoyed some family time while passing out candy. All in all, it was a very nice Halloween!



Music to My Ears

I have cute kids

Let me preface this post first by apologizing for lack of new material. I have been working a super duper crappy shift for the past 3 weeks leaving me with little time for blogging.

Today I bought 2 new rugs. While this may seem like a little thing, it has been a very long time coming. Our entire house has hard floors and with Hunter trying to learn how to crawl we figured we need to break down and buy the rugs we have been saying we were going to buy for the past 2 years. We bought carpet remnants from a little shop in Mesa and are having them bind them into rugs. We get them Monday and I am super excited!

Now its time for a little cuteness fix. Enjoy!

A baby by any other name...

My poor child is not going to have any idea what his real name is. We call the kid pretty much everything BUT his actual name. He responds to most of them. Just for fun, here is the current list of nicknames:

Hunty
Hunty Bunty
Hunty Bunts
Hunties
Booger
Booger Bear
Boogey
Boogey Man
Hunty Bunches of Oats
Hunty Bunches
H.
H-Man
Big Big Boy Man
Little Man
Bugaboo
Buggy Man
Buggy Boo
Buggy Boo Boo Bear
Stinky Winky
Booby Head

Yes. We are THOSE parents.

Baby Brezza!!

As I've said before, Hunter hasnt started solids and wont for a few more weeks. At my baby shower I was given a Baby Brezza, which is a one step baby food maker from my dad and stepmom. Over the weekend I decided that I would start making some baby food to see just how easy it is and to start stocking up. All I have to say is O.M.G. I freaking love this machine. With Avah, I had to steam the veggie, transfer to a food processor, and then end up with a very large quantity of the same veggie. Either that or I had to do a million small batches and wash all of the stupid little food processor, steamer basket, and pots over and over again. No thank you. The Baby Brezza, on the other hand, is genius. I made sweet potatoes first. I peeled the potato, chopped it up, and threw it in. I hit a button, and twenty minutes later we had preservative free, fresh as can be baby food. It steams and purees all on its own. It makes about 2 cups of puree, which is the perfect amount to stock up on a food item without it being way too much.

The amazing Baby Brezza

We pour it into glorified ice cube trays (3/4 ounce for each cube) and then freeze. Once its frozen, we pop em out and stick them in ziplocs. Amaaazing. Once he gets to be eating combinations of foods he can have a little sweet potato here, a little bit of peas there, instead of having a whole jar of one barely recognizable vegetable. I love that he will get variety.


I could go on, but I wont. This little gadget is a gem.

Prescott

Last weekend me and the family went up north to Prescott to enjoy the cooler weather and visit some family. Its SUCH a beautiful place. If we were to choose anywhere in Arizona to live, Prescott would be it. Unfortunately for us, there is no where for us to work up there. Even so, we are lucky to have family up there to visit and we are lucky its only about an hour and a half to two hours away.

Before we went to visit Justin's Aunt Diana we went and saw Lynx Lake. Its about 5 minutes down the road from the local Costco, but it feels miles and miles away.



Avah looking out on to the lake



A rare photo of Avah without her "photo face"



My little family



Hunter had just spit up and Avah was convinced she was covered in the stuff

We were worried about the drive up and back with Hunter, but he was a little angel. He started getting fussy on the drive up so we stopped and I changed him and nursed him for a few minutes. He cried for about 2 minutes and zonked out. On the way home he slept the entire way.

Overall it was a really enjoyable day. Its inspired us to get out more!

POP Walk for Tim Barber

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Tim Barber a few years back. He was the (very lucky) new boyfriend of my sister's gorgeous high school friend, Autumn. He was a Tempe police officer, a husband, a father, and an all around good guy.

I just learned today that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009 and lost the battle just last month. On Saturday, September 24th there is a walk supporting the POP. Please, please come if you are able to. Early dedection saves lives.

Please visit this link to Autumn's blog for more information. Thanks.

5 years ago...

Me and Justin, about 4 years ago

Today I had a pretty startling realization. I was just sitting here, doing my work, and I realized that me and Justin's wedding anniversary is also the date in which we first laid eyes on each other. That was not planned at all, but for some stupid reason it just solidifies the fact that we are meant to be together.

Justin and I met 5 years ago on October 3, 2006. We both worked for GE. I was a new hire and he was a tenured employee. He stopped by my training class on the first day to meet us all, and that was the very first time I saw him. My mom also worked at GE at the time, so I had heard stories. I knew of him, but never actually met him. It was many months after that first meeting that we started talking on a friendly basis, but I still remember the exact moment that I saw him for the first time.
Four years later, to the day, we were married. Its crazy where life takes you!

Baby Command Center!

Hunter's new favorite toy (courtesy of daddy):

A New Day

Avah, waiting to leave for school



Lately I have felt like every day passes so  quickly that its almost like watching my life in a movie. I watch my  two kids grow up before my eyes and its almost like they are running ahead and I can't catch up. My dad tells me nearly every time he talks to me to "spend more time with your kids" and I understand exactly why. They grow up SO fast. He spent so much time working he missed out on a lot and I think it is his biggest regret.

When I was admitted to the hospital to give birth to Hunter I was a whopping 60 pounds heavier than when I got pregnant. I was already about 5-10 pounds larger when I got pregnant than I like to be so I felt like (and was) a whale. Fast forward to five months later and I am still 40 pounds away from my norm. That's a LOT of weight. I have a closet full of size small and medium shirts and size 6 and 8 pants that I cant even think about fitting into. This may not seem like THAT big of a deal to some people but its a huge deal for me because I don't feel like myself. I almost feel like I am suspended in time waiting for "me" to come back...all the while my kids are growing like weeds and my life is going in fast forward around me. I have been really conservative about attempting to lose weight because of breastfeeding, but I need to do this for me. I am trying desperately to find a balance between making enough milk for my son and eating less calories so I will lose weight. It seems like every time I eat less my supply takes a dip. Ill keep you updated on my progress, but I thought I would share my struggles with people. If anyone has any suggestions or advice I would love to hear them!

Hunter: 5 Months

Hunter and daddy "flying"

Hunter is 5 months old on Saturday! Its absolutely crazy how fast time flies. He is a really smart little man and his personality is starting to really come through. He can do the following:

- Roll over both ways
- Lift his upper body up 90 degrees
- Smile and laughs (a lot)
- Chew on anything and everything
- Reach for toys
- Objects when you try to take a toy away
- Razz and babble
- Bear most or all of his weight on his legs
- Sit upright, supported

He is still exclusively breast fed and we have not started him on solids yet. He has stupid reflux still so his pumped bottles of breastmilk (while I'm at work) are thickened so he can keep them down. Hopefully that gets better soon. We will start solids sometime after he turns 6 months old. We are also still cloth diapering and using cloth wipes as well. We absolutely LOVE them, and this is coming from a VERY busy mom that works full time.

We also have Justin's cousin, Haylee, watches the kids while we work. She is absolutely AMAZING and so so so much better than daycare. We are so lucky to have her.

Avah has been growing like a weed. She put on a pair of shorts she hadnt worn in a month or two and they were so short they were like daisy dukes! She mustve grown like 3 inches! Shes doing well in school and is really starting to mature. She has about an hour of homework every night as well...its insane.

In other news, me and Justin's 1 year wedding anniversary (4 years together) is coming up in a few weeks. Crazy! I got a job as a loan processor within the same company I am working for now. That starts on October 1. Things are going really well for us as a family. If only I could stop time from ticking away so fast...

Photo Montage!

4 months old =(

Technically, hes not four months old for another 4 days, but still. Its so sad how fast hes growing. Im hoping to finish this entry without interuption...I am watching him squirm in his sleep on the monitor. We are transitioning from cradle to crib right now and I'm not sure how tonight will go. My guess is not so great. He has been teething like mad and doing a lot of baby sit ups. He reeeally wants to sit up but has no interest in rolling over. Avah was the same way as a baby!

In other news, we have another busy week ahead of us. Avah gets to meet her teacher on Monday night and then my dad will fly in Tuesday night. Then Avah has her first day of school Wednesday and we will need to get back into the groove of that. I picked up the last item needed (shoes for PE) today so we are all set. Its absolutely INSANE the amount of crap you need for back to school. About $100 worth of school supplies (including back pack and lunch box) and another several hundred for clothes and shoes. I wouldnt feed into the whole clothing shopping frenzy for back to school but she really needed new ones so we did.

Ill leave you all with pictures and a vow to start blogging more often!

Daddy and Hunter

Hangin out with Grandpa

His shirt says "Ladies Man"...Justin's mom brought it back from Seattle for him! That chair he is in is the only baby item I have left from when Avah was a baby. She loved that chair!

Hunter hangin out with Sophie the Giraffe

"Sophie, come back here!"

Squirmy, unsteady baby + portrait mode = bad (but cute!) photo

Avah looking cute as always!

No time!

I started work a few weeks back and I literally have NO time anymore. My day looks something like this:

Wake up at 3:00 and nurse the baby. Go back to sleep for a half an hour if I'm lucky and wake up at 4:00 am. Get ready and pump a bottle to put in the fridge for Hunter's breakfast. Leave the house while its still dark and everyone is still sleeping. Work from 6am-3:00 (pumping 3 times while there) and drive home, pick up Hunter from daycare, and then walk across the street to pick Avah up. Go home, nurse the baby for about 45 minutes and spend some time with Avah. Get dinner ready, start a load of diapers, pour bottles of pumped milk into clean bottles for the next day, label the bottles, wash the bottles, eat dinner, bathe both kids, and nurse the baby to sleep. Then I have to make my lunch for the next day, prepare the bag for daycare, prepare my pump and cooler, and get my water filled. Then I go to bed at around 8:30.

So...blogging takes a back seat.

Anyway, things are going really well. Its busy but very enjoyable. Avah starts first grade in two weeks (I cant believe it!) and Hunter will be 4 months old on that day...its crazy how fast time flies. He is getting very big and is around 13-14 pounds. He is still exclusively breastfeeding and is learning so much every day. Ill post pics  soon!

Utah!

We went to Utah for a week mid month this month and had a blast! We went to Lagoon (an amusement park) and got to celebrate my little brother's birthday. We missed my nephew's birthday but we got to see him to give him his gift.

I go back to work July 5th and am really sad. I cant believe how fast time flies. Hunter is 11 weeks old Sunday! Wow!

Summer Family Photos

I went to Utah for about a week and we went and got photos done for Father's day. They turned out great!

Mitra, Avah, Sammon (holding Hunter), Dylan, and Devan (holding Gabe)

My siblings, Sammon and Mitra

My nephews Devan and Dylan

My nephew, Gabe

My kids, Avah and Hunter