the. best. surprise. ever.

Yesterday while hanging out with my boys outside, Ty told me that my surprise was here. This "surprise" he had been harassing me about all weekend. He convinced me that it was in his trunk, but when I sneaked a peak while he was on a bike ride Saturday morning, the trunk was empty. Then Ty told me the the surprise would be delivered early next week. Then he started to hint that the surprise was a dog (not a good surprise). But...my surprise was actually my family coming two days early. Thanks to Ty, I had no idea. I was so excited and it has been nonstop fun since they got here. Thatcher is in heaven, James is in heaven, and I am in heaven. I am excited for a month of family time, a month of entertainment for my kids, and a month of fun for me.

baby food

I know it is probably not a big deal for a lot of people, and not even worth the effort for most others, but I really want to make my own baby food for James. So far I have made (and frozen in ice cube trays) spaghetti squash, butternut squash, and peas. I have also fed him mashed up bananas, avocados, and our organic applesauce. After all I have read and considering the budget we are on, I think it will be a good thing. So...this is my goal: to spend less than $20.00 total on pre-made baby food (excluding cereals). Starting today I want to consistently feed James at morning and night so we are entering the solids phase. I hope I can do it. It is silly, but I think it will give me a sense of accomplishment.

my boys

Man I love these three. Thatcher and James are the happiest, sweetest boys a mom could ask for and Ty is the best dad in the world. The three of them together are one cute trio. I especially love them on days like today where we are all feeling under the weather, but they still manage to make me smile, laugh, and be grateful for my life.

Travel Town

On Sunday afternoon we went to Travel Town. It is a park with a lot of retired train cars that kids can climb on and see what real trains are like. Thatcher was in heaven. He was half running, half skipping from train to train and then didn't want to leave when he was pulling all the levers and pretending to drive one of the cars. We took him on a mini train ride and he even got to take two little train erasers home with him (he picked them out and has not let them out of his sight the last two days). It was a fun little outing.

The Lake

On Saturday we spent the day on the lake. Ty got to wakeboard and Ty and Thatcher went out on the tube. Thatcher loved playing in the sand (he quickly learned that eating sand was not the greatest) and the water and he was super excited to be on a real boat. James loved the boat too and was happiest when we were going fast. It was a fun day, but Thatcher was beyond exhausted by the end- I have never seen him quite so red-eyed, delirious, and emotional as he was Saturday night, poor kid.

California

We spent this last weekend in California. We stayed at Ryan and Mel's and had a great time with them. It was a fun mini-vacation where we ate lots of good food, got lots of sun, and had a good time. The first night (after a disastrous effort to go to the beach...it was crazy windy and cold) we went to Outback Steakhouse and while waiting for a table Ryan and Mel dished out the quarters so Thatcher could ride the rides...even though it doesn't look like he is having that much fun, he really was in heaven.

The boys did great, but there were a number of mishaps. Ty and I felt like we were continually saying, "they never do this." I think I learned my lesson that when you are on vacation and want things to run as smoothly as possible, things that never happen do. Here are some examples:
- Thatcher woke up the first night crying like crazy and had a hard time going back to sleep
- James woke up at 2am consistently every night
-Thatcher woke up on Sunday morning with diarrhea all over the pac n' play and continued to have diarrhea throughout the day
- Thatcher was so exhausted each day that he was pretty temperamental at night.
- James spit up... a lot... all over Ryan and Mel's bed, all over Ty (numerous times), on my dad and I am sure on others
- Thatcher ate very little throughout the trip (very much not the norm for him)
- Thatcher's diaper somehow came loose when we were at the beach and he sprayed Ty when peeing, leaving Ty very wet while we walked up and down the Santa Monica pier

becoming a mom

Bekah once told me that she really felt like a mom the first time she was up all night cleaning throw-up and taking care of her sick boys. Having experience that same scenario, I finally understand what she means. Yesterday I wasn't feeling that great and it got worse as it got later. Ty was picking me up some Pepto Bismol when James started throwing up...everywhere. I have no idea how much stuff was able to come out of his little body, but come it did. He continued to throw up throughout the rest of the night, and I followed suit not much later. It was a long, achy, nauseous, head-achy, freezing-cold-then-hot-sweat, sleepless night. Ty started to have the same symptoms around 2am, then Thatcher woke up this morning and threw up first thing. We are all doing a little better it seems, but I think we are all still feeling pretty poorly.
So...now I am officially a mom. When I was throwing up myself, I cleaned up my boys' throw-up, went to the grocery store for pedialyte and gatorade, have done massive amounts of laundry, and have taken care of my little family. I never thought I would be able to suck it up like I have today and I am pretty proud of myself (and my brave little boys who have been great sports).