mud puddles

Happy Friday!

we've been slipping outside every morning this week. 8:00am sunshine. and then we hole in the house for the (very hot) afternoons-cooling off during nap time. yesterday daddy came home from work and turned on the sprinklers. caleb assisted and lucas splashed his way through every mud puddle he could find. i love long summer days with my boys. and now the weekend is upon us. we'll most likely be found in the backyard-finding mud puddles.

i finished my very good book (that after thinking it through i don't think i already read...maybe just a book by the same author?...excited to have found another author i like!)

a funny story about friendship with some twists and turns. i was really pulled into the characters, especially the main character. this would make a great book club book! (especially if it is all females) i love stories on female friendships and can't wait to read another one of her books :)

i hit the jackpot and am reading another really good book this week. two great books in a row? i never get this lucky in finding great library books back to back! can you tell i'm excited?

i just started this book today and am already hooked. it is based on a true story, and is another beautiful story on female friendship and strength! (another great book club book) it mostly takes place in Afghanistan and sheds light on the women over there and their amazing strength! more info here

we have a birthday party and some backyard weeding activities this weekend...hoping to wash our cars too. it may not sound all that exciting, but i'm excited to just be home and relaxing this weekend!

off to do some happy friday skipping, sashaying, and twirling, with a dance or two thrown in there too :)

sunshine and breeze through the windows.

the backyard beckoned this morning (and every morning this week). the sun shone through the open windows letting in a soft breeze and fresh air scent. we ate breakfast and scooted outside where rays of sunshine warmed our skin at the early 8am hour. the boys played. i swayed softly back and forth on the swing, deep in my book. a camera by my side capturing the little moments that make up our days.

 

 rocks and sticks. bare toes and sunshine's warmth. two little boys-happiness.

 

p.s. lucas slept (quietly) all night last night (no check-ins. no nursing) i woke up once. to go to the bathroom (body.is.not.used.to.full night of sleep!). so dave and i can't figure out why we're so tired> could it be maybe cause it's been almost a year since we have not had to remove ourselves from the bed. so used to our once/twice/wakings with babe...anywhoo. sleep feels so good. way to go lucas!! what a champ. it took 10 minutes last night before little man fell asleep at bedtime. i think it is safe to say a week after our 'self soothing' mission for lucas we are all experiencing... happy dreams in the land of nod. :)

and tomorrow is friday. double goodness wrapped up over here.

tidbits here and there.

moments like this-where the boys are happy with their task at hand. happy sounds in the house. a smile on my lips.

random tidbits this week.
we were finally able to make caleb's apt. with the pediatric endocrinologist! what a relief to have that scheduled. our dr. put urgent on the paperwork because they had no openings till the end of the year. as it is the soonest is sept. 14. which we took because otherwise we wouldn't be able to get in until after December! this is a huge relief to have scheduled and taken care of. I've been on the phone back and forth with the dr.'s office and children's hospital trying to get all the paperwork through. What a process.

for now we can rest and wait until our OT apt. and endocrinology apt.

it is hot here. running in the morning is nice. running at 5...not so nice. and maybe all the heat made me a little crazy. I had my first face splat yesterday on our run. I fell-face planted- into the street. all cars there to witness. i'm left with bruised pride along with some scratches and a really sore shoulder! hello. the last time i face planted like that was in high school! how embarrassing.

lucas is now officially weaned at night :) last night he went 13 hours. and only woke up twice before putting himself back to sleep after a few minutes (with one check- in from dad). as for dave and I, we still haven't slept through the night...hoping that'll be soon. maybe when we take our first vacation just the two of us (which i am hoping is sometime in sep. or october!) have i mentioned the love i have for my wonderful (purple) sleep book? it is full of amazing help and information.

we've been watching the gymnastics (online...no tv remember? lol) i cry every time! track and field is next. oh and swimming too. gymnastics and swimming are my fav. running is dave's. (now i get a little more excited about the running though!)

i'm reading a really good book...but i can't remember if i've already read it. does this ever happen to anyone else? so random i know :)

we had a new friend come over this morning. sweet as can be and her mom is the one who ref. us to the OT we will be going to at the end of the month. (her sweet little girl goes there). Watching the two of them play made me feel like we added another special friend to our lives.

Wednesday is my friday...and tonight after work, i will feel like the weekend has almost started. i'm ready for a relaxing weekend. life has taken us on a busy path....i'm ready to get back to relaxing barefoot backyard days.

happy half way through the week wednesday :)

Happy 11 months lucas!

Happy 11 months little man! I'm a little late on this one, but better late than never!

Here's what our little  guy has been up to this month :)

 crawling. everywhere. and by everywhere-i mean everywhere.

 eating. everything! this includes everything we eat, plus some....meaning anything found on the ground. (as you can see from the picture he found the bucket of tree apples and decided to try a munch)

 playing. laughing. saying 'ma ma' 'da da' 'ba ba' maybe a hi in there? waving. playing peek-a-boo. looking at books. mostly just crawling. everywhere. and pulling self to stand on everything.

sleeping. we've finally helped lucas learn how to self-soothe. it has been about a week. we started after our trip back from camping. no travels for awhile, no new teeth, no sickness, etc. this was as good a time as any. we used my wonderful sleep book (the sleep easy solution) more info about that here. it includes everything on sleep. how much sleep for each age....how to help through each developmental stage. i think i've probably read it hundreds of times. it is a wonderful resource for the land of nod. anyway lucas is doing great. he's sleeping 12 hours and last night was his last middle of the night nursing (i've been slowing weaning his one night feed). we're almost back to getting a full night of sleep. and lucas just cuddles with his lovey. he was ready (he started waking up a ton at night and it was just affecting us all!) anyway.  he's sleeping about 12-13 hours at night and napping once or twice a day (depending on his wake him) for 2-3 hours.

Lucas we love you so much. You bring so much joy and happiness to our lives. We love watching you as you learn about your world and interact with you brother. You just love to wiggle your way into everything and you always want to be right in there and part of the action! If we leave the room you follow right on our heals in speedster crawl. We love each stage and can't believe we are almost to your first birthday! Happy 11 months little man :)

shout of from the eye doctor's.

hey there.

 

quite a look with those glasses. am i right? so my sisters and i all had glasses starting in kindergarten. i'm thinking if the boys need them...it won't be so bad. they're pretty cute wearing them in a nerdy sort of way :)

anyway caleb had his eye dr. apt. follow up yesterday. it was a brutal drive but well worth it. his pediatric optomologist is amazing. we actually had three wonderful doctors in the room for his eye exam and they checked lucas' eyes too-free of charge-. i'm so grateful for such a wonderful and amazing eye dr for caleb. both boys did great. lucas' eyes are totally fine and caleb's working so hard correcting his eye on his own (he has intermittent exotropia) that for now we don't need to do much of anything. we have a follow up apt. in a year. it was such a relief to hear that good news! as for his blood work we are still waiting to schedule an apt. with the pediatric endocrinologist at standford children's hospital. (his lab work is still processing through). this has been a slow process. but we are in the best of hands!

i couldn't resist. we were pretty cute with those glasses right? i mean my mom 'helped' us pick out those frames. excellent taste. i especially love lor's.

love will shine on through

oh my sweetness. where to begin? it is all slowly processing. little baby steps for my us. i wanted to give a quick update on what's going on around here with caleb. as of yesterday we got 4 of the 5 blood test results back (that the neurologist ordered last week). the only one that came back positive was for hypo-thyroidism. which basically means the thyroid isn't functioning as it should causing tiredness, low muscle tone, sluggish, and moodiness. this is genetic since he didn't have it at birth when they did this test.  my aunt was diagnosed with it at 12. my mom and dad both are on meds for their thyroid as well. so basically this means we are getting ref. to an endocrinologist and based on what the our pediatrician said/what i read/family history... they will most likely put him on medicine to regulate this thyroid. we'll know more once we have our apt. with the endocrinologist .  i am so glad we went to the neurologist when we did instead of waiting like our pediatrician recommended. never, never doubt yourself. since becoming a mother i am far more brave and trusting of myself when it comes to caring for my babies. the mama instincts are very rarely wrong. there's more to come of course...the next being an OT apt. august 20th and we'll know more then...if perhaps it ends here, or if there is more. we'll do everything we need to for our sweet little guy. my heart hurts a little bit with the fact that he might be on medicine to regulate his thyroid, but it is also relieved that we figured this out and we'll be helping him feel better. as all this goes on (all my phone calls to an OT, insurance, endocrinologist, pediatrician...all yesterday am) my firstborn just happily sang and played, backyard and barefoot, pretend stories in the bedroom, a long bike ride, and just a happy morning all around. the moods have been on a back burner lately and he's chipper as can be and it makes my heart feel full. little did i know we'd have our share of very sweet and very helpful doctors. from our pediatrician, to our pediatric optomologist (who we'll be seeing again on monday to follow up with his exotropia) to an OT, and now an endocrinologist. I'm thankful for such a knowledgeable community that specializes in working with this sweet little babes of ours. i feel a little torn sharing all this on the blog and with others, we are treading lightly... but i also feel like i want to be open and honest with what is going on. caleb is so very cautious and reserved around most people and not many people get to see his personality the way we see it at home where he sings all day, dotes on his little brother, plays sweetly with lucas, chit chats to us about anything...i want to shield him from the world that can be cruel...some comments i've heard make my heart hurt (although those comments are far and few in-between and for the most part i have found more support and encouragement in others than anything, still-it really only takes one comment to leave me feeling vulnerable and sad, though i am instead trying to focus on all the good i've felt from others. and trust me, there has been so much good.). i know his reserved personality will hopefully weed out most and keep in the best...i know growing up i was almost as shy as they come and i was blessed by it. because of my shyness i found rare and beautiful friendships. the rare and beautiful kindred spirits will find caleb, of that i am sure. the greatest blessing is what he has in his relationship with lucas. my heart continually swells with love for these two boys of mine and they way they care for one another. of course he will be hurt by others in life...that is just how the world works. but he will be blessed greatly too... and him and lucas will have one another when the world is hurtful. i am so thankful for my sisters, our childhood, and the fact that we were and continue to be the very best of friends. i pray that he always knows how greatly loved he is. and i hope both boys will continue to be the very best of friends. protecting one another, caring for one another, and sharing the joys of growing up together. i love you boys more than you'll ever know.

while this journey we're on is slow...and much of the time unknown and can be scary and even slippery, there's much surprise...but oh the joys we find along the way. the goodness that comes out of suffering and sadness. the pain that brings hope and healing. the friends we sadly lose and are only here for a short little while. the touch of others that leave heart prints in our soul. the goodness others bring. the support of family that keeps you pushing on. the love we share. the joy we find. the perfect place of just being. God at the center of it all. the hurt, the real, the smiles and simple act of living. oh the journey.

i couldn't ask for a better parnter, husband, friend...so equally yoked... to share in this journey with. i know God placed these two little boys in our lives at just the right time-they may be so different in so many ways yet they share a brother bond unlike anything i've ever seen. they complete us.

Happy Friday Friends. wishes for a warm and peaceful weekend.
we have a wedding and some visitors. weddings always put me in a good mood. how about you? the good, the not so good, the beautiful? any good plans this weekend?

Big Sur Camping Trip 2012

 

We're back from our last camping trip of the summer. It was short but sweet. I've always wanted to camp in Big Sur and it was just absolutely breathtaking!! A little bit of heaven on earth.

The hikes were gorgeous.

The views were spectacular. The water was sparkling in the sunshine and it took my breath away every time I saw it. Hubby and I took a beach walk (alone) and it was so peaceful and so good for my soul.

The fog covered us in a protective cloak and it felt good. This time was needed. It may have been short, but it was so good to just be together and outside enjoying one of God's beautiful masterpieces.

The boys did great this trip! Aw. What a relief. Caleb was in fine form and it was so nice after all we've been through the past couple months. He finally seems to be back to his 'mostly' happy self. He sang 'allellulia' and the abc song almost the entire time. This kid has a constant song soundtrack going off at all hours of the day and night (sings himself to sleep as well) I'm sure the entire campground go-ers enjoyed his sweet angelic voice. It melts my heart every time.

Lucas was happy as usual. Only this camping trip he was crawling. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. Did I mention there were no showers at our camp sight?

one of the best parts of the trip? all of us waking up together every morning. caleb made it all night in the tent without getting upset and having to go in the car with dad. lucas slept through caleb's wakings in the night. and we all got a pretty decent night's sleep. (although being home in our bed with boys sleeping soundly in their rooms tonight is going to be nice!) but having those family cuddles on family trips?....they are certainly sweet and oh so treasured. warm bodies. babies breathing deeply next to me. feet mixed warm with hubby. caleb's snores and lucas' suckles. these are the little moments i'll always remember. car rides with favorite songs on repeat. brothers waking up sleepy eyed with excitement and extra long morning cuddles with nowhere to go or be? i'll always remember. campfire warmth. dirt and play. sticks and sand. hands and holding and hiking and walking. alone time with hubby. family time. One more trip for the memory books.