TGIF

definetly at TGIF kinda week! Long. Exhausting. Stressful. and full of lots of unknowns! But- Today is a very good friday. Lots of backyard playing and stuff.

so here are some updates from the week. first off-


 here is my long winded video of our 4th of july camping trip. i posted most of the pics already but i still wanted to put up the video i so lovingly worked on :) hubby fixed it of course so that it would upload correctly for me! i think it is appropriate to post this week since we'll be camping round 2 this summer...all next week in big sur with my parents and i'm really excited since i haven't been to big sur yet! ocean and sand will make caleb a happy boy. here's hoping nights go a little better this time! we'll see ;) sometimes i think to myself-we're pretty brave aren't we?...

dentist visit on monday.


so what is new this week?
caleb did great at his neurologist apt. on monday. he really liked the dr. and was chatty with him (this does.not.happen! with strangers for him so it was kinda funny!) we are in the waiting process right now for some blood work that was done to rule out some things....at the end of the month we'll be having him assessed by an OT for some sensory stuff. We've ruled out food allergies with a previous blood test. And so I'm feeling glad that we are doing everything we can to rule out things and to make sure if there is something more going on with him, we will be able to get him the help he needs...and if it isn't anything and he is just an extra sensitive little guy like his auntie jen, then that is fine too. we will be glad to know either way. It is hard to wait but we're making the best of it and knowing God is already there and holding us through this.

some more updates....

lucas is getting his 6th tooth in (third top tooth) and this has been a nasty round for him. 'oh poor guy' caleb says whenever lucas starts to cry! with a little drawl on the ahhhh poor guuuy!! heart melt. but seriously, not fun. although with big brother to watch all day he's not that fussy...but definitely the most fussy he's ever been, besides the ear infection go down a while back.

lucas is 11 months :( i'll have an 11 month update soon!! i can't believe we are almost through his first year of life. if i think too hard about it-i will cry. it is so cliche but so true. it goes by so fast with the second! everyday has been a joy with you little man.

lastly, we are gearing up for camping in big sur. i'm so excited for some beach time with my boys. and so excited to have a week off of work. i think we need this time together after all we've been going through lately. we have an eye dr. apt. for caleb when we come back to follow up with his eyes and i think we just need this time to recover and spend some time, beach side. this summer has felt too busy for me. and i don't like it one bit! i like our lazy backyard barefoot playing days. It feels like we've had too many dr. apts. work stress for me. and not enough sprinkler splashing and long nights of swinging and reading and just being. that is the season we're in right now. and it is fine, but it just makes this last camping trip of the summer more special and i'm going to try and savor it a little bit more.

i hope everyone has a beautiful weekend!!

                                                           one of my favorites.

sweet brother memories made this week
lots of hugs and kisses to each other.
'can i hold him?' 'can i kiss him?' 'good morning lucas! 'i missed you lucas!' 'where you going lucas?' 'lucas this and that all day long...' i love these brother boys of mine. caleb's doting. lucas' wanting to be and do everything big brother does. lucas launches himself onto caleb and they fall happily to the floor in giggles and smiles. they make each day a treasured one. now our days have much more 'no lucas, that's mine! don't touch!!' and lucas sitting back and crying' and mama helping, guiding, and smiling and knowing that this is the best kind of thing for my sweet boys to learn. the turn taking/ sharing of a life with a sibling. they'll grow to be best friends, they already are. lucas brings caleb out of his moods. caleb protects his little brother and tends to him with love and happy play. they have their frustrations as all siblings do...but isn't that the best kind of way to learn? through each other? with each other? they are learning life lessons and growing right before our eyes and this mama couldn't be more proud of her brother boys.

Happy Friday!

company picnic

we went to dave's company picnic today. here are some pics from our day...

"can i hold him?" caleb asks. "sure" we say. cause it makes them both so happy.

flowers. dirt. lucas.

cause digging in dirt is just so.much.fun.

a couple videos of lucas crawling around, exploring and dancing.

some firsts today (though they weren't all exciting)

first company picnic we went to for dave's work. very hot, but the food was good...as well as the music...as you can see from lucas' dance moves

second. my very first ticket-ever- and i cried. bawled. because there goes a couple hundred bucks from my paycheck. not exactly how i imagined i'd be spending it (was going more for a romantic getaway with hubby) you would think the officer would have felt sorry for a stressed out mama with two babies in the backseat (we were lost to boot). nope. and know what it was for? not staying in the lines when i switched lanes to exit the freeway...as i always say..."i like to color outside the lines" guess i better not do it on the roads anymore. figures-when it rains, it pours...i know my rainbow is waiting patiently!

it was still mostly a good day, besides the ear piercing screams we endured from mr. c (hoping this screaming stage is short lived, for the well being of all our ears). the good consisted of this...lots and lots of people getting their groove on at the company picnic...which always brings a smile to my face. from the young to the old...and especially those who really like to shake their booty. can't help but smile. the boys had fun with each other of course. digging in flower pot dirt, eating grass (lucas), licking ice cream (all of us), hot dogs (for caleb), messy and sweaty as all get out. love my messy boys and their daddy too.

made perfect.

 2:cor. 12. "My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in your weakness"
these words were sent to me from my sweet bible study leader. they were just what i needed to hear at just the right time. I have been praying them since and find such strength and comfort in Him!

today is truly a happy friday. probably the best we've had in awhile. the happy dance for sure is being done around here. especially after the week we have had! and better yet...i don't work tonight! family night for sure! (i'm actually no longer on my friday case as of yesterday...random story but family chose to end services with the company i work for and i can't say i'm that sad to not work on friday, although the boy was so adorable!)

here are some updates. kinda long so only read if you have time....
yesterday found us at the dr.'s office. where our sweet ped. thought caleb's moods were perfectly normal for a two year old but if they don't improve in 6 months time she would refer us to a neurologist....(i choose to just get the number at the end of another long and horrible day of him melting down almost two hours... and we'll be going monday.

the 'raisin' on top of the cake (as they say cherry on top of the cake but raisin is more appropriate in this instance) is when caleb came outside to inform me had stuck a raisin up his nose...or rather, in his words...'i have a raisin in my nose mommy' i thought my day had been exciting enough without the raisin thank you caleb.

ever done mouth to mouth? you're not missing much!
....i then got to perform 'mouth to mouth' on a saliva filled toddler to try and blow out the raisin 'per dr. at the er's recommendation during our last pea up caleb's nose incident' when nothing came out and dave got home i assumed it was all in his imagination...so i left for work and dave for the first time all week experienced the 'mood' of caleb that'd i'd been dealing with the past week. i took a long hot shower, left for work, and upon my arrival and caleb thankfully still being awake....i thought we'd better actually really take a look 'just to make sure' and let me tell you....looking up your two year old's nose with a lampshade isn't what you want to be doing on a thursday night, much less mouth blowing....upon our further inspection i'm sad and disgusted to say that there was a wrinkly brown raisin way up in there....now this is where some might wish we had a secret camera watching....(as my sister so did) i'm glad we didn't because what followed will disguist you probably! or make you laugh....depending on your mood....

dave and i took turns blowing in caleb's mouth and squeezing one nostril shut. caleb made funny noses (cause it had to have felt pretty weird i'm sure!) we had to swipe the disgusting drool....it got the raisin close enough that we started to suction with a suction...then dave took the pliers and started pulling it closer to the surface while i held my breath praying we wouldn't do any damage and kept calming suggesting that perhaps we might make our way to the er and have a professional do it...dave calmly asked me to have a little confidence....well folks i'm glad to say between the two of us it took one last big blow to the mouth (made by me thank you.) and dave catching it in his hand (thank you hubs) for that wet, slimy, double sized raisin to come flying out.

  
 i almost threw up. we cheered and clapped and once again gave caleb the food belongs in the mouth! not the nose! speech. he was happy. and dave and i recovered with a huge bag of popcorn, two bowls of ice cream, and some of our favorite show watching (while both boys slept) happy to finally be alone and raisin free.

today is as if the last horrible week never existed. caleb has yet to have a melt down. he is back to his happy and sweet self and has been in the best mood all day. both boys have been playing so sweet with each other and it melts my heart. we basked in the sunshine all morning and i felt like life has returned to normalcy and maybe the horrible moods were just all in my imagination (though memory says they were not). still, monday will be a big day for us. we will be going to the pediatric dentist (i just want to make sure his mouth is healthy and no cavities or anything like that which could be causing pain) and a visit to the neurologist (since three times now we've had 3 diff. doctors mention taking him...and we figured sooner rather than later if it keeps coming up in passing) my mom will be going with us and i'm hoping everything checks back fine or that we get answers either way. i feel so thankful to all my sweet bible study girls who responded to my prayer request for caleb and prayers were sent our way. as well as our family who is so supportive and encouraging! i'm looking forward to a nice weekend of family time. beach day...berry picking....relaxing in the backyard...bbq...late nights of alone time with hubby...so many possibilities! hoping caleb's great mood lasts right on through the weekend...lucas' good sleep habits have returned as well...and we can all just relax! oh and one more big and exciting way to end the week is celebrating testing success for dave at work! he's been stressed about that and all the tests worked and so we'll be celebrating that after the boys go to bed with some wine and a good movie :) i love the weekend.

lucas loving on the peach from our peach tree. i love having fresh fruit growing in our yard for the boys to pick and enjoy.

Happy Weekend everyone!

'brother loves me.'

here is what is good. these two together. yes, they sure do have their squabbles. lucas is living up to 'pesky' younger brother and certainly giving caleb some frustrations! i have to laugh though (most of the time i am able to hide it) as i give caleb the words so he doesn't hit lucas (and he's gotten a lot better about just moving his body and his toys away and using his words first, before he hits lucas now) but lucas wants to do everything big brother does. his face lights up when caleb is in the room. and caleb really is so gentle and sweet with lucas (most of the time) lucas can always cheer caleb up when caleb's in a mood. today we had a one hour melt down with caleb. in between tears lucas crawled over on top of caleb and started kissing him, or well, lucas' version of kisses. he put his mouth right on caleb's and smiled big. this made caleb smile big back. and the tears were forgotten about until lucas had to go down for his nap and then my last exhausted attempt to get caleb to come out of his spiraled melt down was a call to nani where she sang kookaburra on repeat until caleb's eyes started to drift shut. so i'm kind of going on a tangent here, but yes. these two together are so good for one another.

lucas is so good for caleb. and caleb is so good for lucas. i think they must have known in heaven they'd be together down here on earth.

it has been really hard over here with caleb. for the past few days his 'sad and frustrated' moods have been so frequent and so unexpected that we just never know what will cause a melt down. he has so many good moments in the day, but so many hard ones too...and the hard ones seem to just spiral out of control more than usual as of late. (do they get 3 yr molars?) i'm pretty close to calling the dr just to chat and see how much is normal two year old behavior and if we're doing everything we can to help him. the littlest things cause a melt down and while we have strategies that work for him, i feel so emotionally drained that i didn't even want to get out of bed this morning. i know work is causing me to stress more and i think that is affecting the day so i am trying to let work stay out of my mind while i am home with the boys. night times have been wakeful for lucas. 3 teeth are coming in so we are choosing to wait until they are in until we can help him learn to self soothe, he's only nursing once really at night, but dave is in there a lot. i can't even tell you how much since i am sleeping through it :( probably 2-3 times. needless to say all the day time melt downs and night time wakefuls are causing exhaustion in the parenting department. i'm dreaming of a date away with my hubby...of a weekend away just the two of us....it is the little things in life. moving on though...

this is a bad quality picture, and it really doesn't do justice to the moment, but it still shows the love these little boys have for each other. they make life better just by the way they are with one another. they have such different personalities. lucas is a mover. caleb is a talker. not much can make lucas get upset. caleb can get upset at the drop of a hat, but that sensitivity spreads onto his little brother and he is so gentle and concerned with him. they delight in one another. i am so glad they will have each other through life. they bless us daily and i'm so glad i get to go through these daily ups and downs with such a wonderful and supportive husband.

Happy Wednesday!!

whirlwind

not so many pictures this weekend. we mostly relaxed and recovered. spent some time outside playing and sunday we went to monterey and walked around and had some ice cream.

 fresh peaches from our peach tree

 just happy and hanging out in the stroller on our beach walk in monterey

catching up on some zzz's.

gearing up for a whirlwind week. I've started back with work. i have two cases and work monday Wednesday and Friday evenings. this will be my first week on both cases though. so we prepped our weekly menu and my plan is to get dinner ready with caleb while lucas naps in the morning.. i'm waking up earlier :( 6:30 so i can get in my runs (cause i am really hoping to do a half marathon in october!). and i'm still doing bible study tuesday evenings. which really only leaves Thursday evening completely open and free ;( thankfully dave and i still have our time together when i get home from work in the evening. the other good thing is that we all eat lunch together almost everyday (now dave will be riding his bike into work on tuesday and thursday) but on the days i work we have lunch as our family meal which is really important to dave and I. I'm trying not to stress too much about work. We have been praying and i knew if a case opened up for me it would be in God's time not mine. Friday night when I got home from my case I just bawled. I actually bawled all the way home, came in, tried not to show my tears to dave, but he could tell and came over and I just stood there shaking in his arms tears falling down :( i haven't been that sad in such a long time ( i actually don't remember the last time i cried that hard!). the little boy i am working with is so adorable, but i just missed my boys sooo much!!! I think it'll get easier. I hate change and always struggle with new things!! It should be an interesting week! As for the boys, Lucas has his top 'fang' teeth coming in and two more bottom teeth...this makes for more wakeful nights. Caleb is in a major funk (going on day 4 in a funk) and the only one who can get him out of it is lucas. They keep each other happy (most of the time...when they aren't getting upset about a toy they both want). one cute thing is that lucas follows caleb all over the place! like a little puppy. it is pretty hilarious. caleb leaves the room to go get something and off goes lucas, i'll have to try and get that on camera because it is quite comical. Lucas is curious george in a big way! he sees it...he crawls to it...between lucas' constant motion and caleb's constant chatter...let's just say our days aren't boring!!!

Happy Friday!!

so excited for a warm and sunny weekend full of relaxation (hopefully)!

here is our little random wagon walk adventure story. really random i might add. here goes...

a friend gave my mom a (used) wagon...it sat at her house for probably a year or so...we finally brought it up to our house.

after a good cleaning we decided to go for a walk around the block....the boys were oh so very excited!!! they were happy!! and smiling!! and enjoying the ride, until....well, the wheel fell off.

the next day we decided to go for another wagon walk (mom thought dad had fixed the broken wheel) and lucas was pleased as punch to have big brother giving him a lift, almost as excited as big bro who was doing the pulling.

we didn't get very far when... the wheel fell off again....(can you see the wheel way over there on the sidewalk?)

 we had to walk back home...i had a great helper i might add, who walked the wagon and wheel all the way back.

so, when dad got home he fixed the wheel (for real this time). if it breaks again...i'm going to try and convince dad that maybe a (new) wagon (wheels in tact) would make a great first birthday present for lucas. and speaking of first birthdays, i can't believe my sweet lucas will be one in a little over a month :( tear. i'm working on his first year video and we'll be keeping it simple with a  couple family parties and maybe a friend party at the park. looking at all his baby pics from the past year has me feeling very sentimental!!

hope everyone has a wonderful weekend ;)

home sweet home

we are home sweet home (for good now!) and catching up on sleep in a big way.

 lucas slept right through half the morning today. curled up and cozy and making up for all those lost hours of sleep this past week between fourth of july camping trip and fireworks party and a couple extra days at my parents, it was needed, though you'd never know it by his constant smiles and laughs. The excitement of crawling! oh my! sleep?!! too much to do! the excitement is still there but he has finally crashed it seems!

the drive home yesterday was half way horrendous (hard for three hours, quiet for the last two while the boys thankfully slept). the boys did great for 25 hours of driving (up to oregon and down to santa clarita) the final 5 was where it all went to pieces. my mom and i drove up yesterday so that we had a couple days with the boys down there instead of turning right back around on sunday with dave. despite a couple days to recover from the car it was the hardest drive in a long time! we got home and could barely keep our eyes open (and of course both boys were roaring to go after their long car naps!) our ears were also ready to fall off from a certain toddler who was so bent out of shape from lack of sleep and strange eating that he just lost it and screamed/cried almost two hours straight. It was so sad for him...and for us! Today was glorious though. healthy Eating, sleeping, playing. Both boys are happily back to normal which always makes mama happy. I felt so sorry for Caleb yesterday. I almost forgot he can be so delightful and charming after last week with him being more clingy and defiant and a lot of melt downs. He has such a hard time out of his element (just like his mama) we're all happy to be home, but the memories and time spent together as a family this past week make all the lack of sleep and exhaustion worth it.

i found these random videos from our trips.  some hanging out time ;)

peek-a-boo, santa clarita

lunch and music, hanging out at the 4th of july festival in sunriver, oregon

and lastly i just wanted to write this down to remember for myself. I was rocking lucas to sleep (which i am going to do for as long as possible since he still sleeps so good when we do!) his sweaty hair curled around the tips, light brown wisps, his eyes fluttered closed, and i was just holding my hand around his curled toe when it struck me (once again) and it usually hits me about 10x a day with him! how fast time has gone. I still so clearly remember the moment he was born, those first joyous hours and his newborn sleepy, curled up cozy days. each day has been so very sweet with him and made all the sweeter as i watch him with caleb and the bond they have shared from the start. there is so much joy and happiness from loving them, caring for them, and watching them together playing silly. before their naps this afternoon, lucas was grabbing caleb's blanket and laughing and caleb was trying to pull lucas around on it, lucas was rolling around, crawling, and they both were watching each other and laughing and talking in their own love language. my heart swells in those moments. i have my sister moments with my sisters, from the time we were little until today. we are best friends and there is something so special in having sisters. well there's something just as special between these brother boys of mine. even in the times they get upset because lucas goes for big brother's toy and caleb shouts out "mine, no lucas!" i am watching them learn and grow, they are learning from each other and it is such a blessing to have these brother boys. i thought boys would be so different from girls...and yes... it is different, but there is sameness too...they still have a bond that will hopefully last a lifetime and that is what matters to me. they might not play with baby dolls and barbies but building Lego's and rolling around rough house is just as good (although we do have some baby dolls that are played with ), because it is their togetherness that they share. siblings make the world go round. and these boys of mine make their mama and daddy's world a very happy place to be :)

Happy half way through the week Wednesday!

 

lucascrawls!

so i think we can officially say lucas is now crawling everywhere!! and with his newfound freedom and movement he has yet another tooth that has made a pearly appearance at the bottom of his mouth..three more on the way...those two things and the fact that we are traveling (again) but will be home for good tomorrow yay! may have to do with his interesting sleep last night and this afternoon...and lack of it :) i mean who wants to sleep when they can crawl around everywhere?!!

annual 4th of july oregon camping trip!

whew! we're back :) it was a great camping trip. the first two days were tough. dave and i were ready to call it quits and head home but we hated to leave on a bad note (caleb fussy, sleeping arrangements tricky and did not go as planned!, bummed out hikes, etc.)but i'm soo glad we stuck it out. the second two days ended up being wonderful and well worth the 20 hours of driving, the hours spent packing and baking and preparing! we ended up going on some beautiful hikes. we dealt with the tricky sleep situation...caleb started to come out of his funk, and we had a good time and by thursday i didn't even want to leave. lucas was happy i would say 95% of the entire trip and when caleb wasn't in a funk he was having fun too. it is always worth all the hard work to create these memories with our family. growing up, i loved our summer camping trips every year. i never knew how much work my mom and dad put into it...and same goes for dave's parents. but i do now. and even though it is hard on mom and dad, it is totally worth it to see our children enjoy themselves and to create lasting memories with them!!

so here is a video i made of our trip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=J9R0Zo96Wgw

 

fireworks!

 

it has been 6 years since i've seen fireworks!! wozers. so i was really excited that we would be able to make it to my aunt's annual fourth of july firework party. they shoot the fireworks off on the beach so it is right over our heads and sooo cool! caleb has never seen them nor has lucas. i was excited to share this with them :) growing up fireworks were a big deal for some reason. my poppy always got us really reeved up for it. so it was special to be there this year. hopefully it'll work out again in the future years. normally we are camping and miss out, although i wouldn't trade our camping trips in oregon with dave's family for anything! it is just a bummer that these two things always happen to be the same week/weekend and we always miss. so maybe we'll get lucky to do both again in future years :) it was so special to watch the boys share in something special to me. they both were watching with big eyes the entire time. no tears! and they were super loud!!! i mean...hello right over our heads going off loud!! anyway it was loads of fun and i'm glad we were able to somehow drive down after our 20 hours of oregon driving!!! i guess we kind of rock our road trips :) hope everyone had a happy 4th!