Monday, December 7, 2009

saylor is 3!

today i am 16 weeks pregnant with our baby girl, and saylor is 3!! how wonderful. i am finally feeling better for a couple months i was pretty miserable but the nausea only comes now if i really need to eat. my food aversions aren't nearly as bad as they were with saylor so that's great. and my son is great! he is so sensitive and soft-hearted i can't wait to see his love for his sister. i am way behind on this blog and i do plan to catch up! but i wanted to throw that quick update up there as we are celebrating today. yay!
3 years ago today [in about 2 hours] i delivered this beautiful, huge baby with an amazing black mohawk... our big cheeked unbelievably perfect baby... yummy! thank you lord.

Monday, October 19, 2009

a few things i love about my son these days

he says sofee for soft, i LOVE it
he loves old disney movies- lady and the tramp, fantasia, bambi...
he tells/reminds me to put both hands on the wheel when i'm driving. [how he learned that's right to do i don't know. but it's funny]
he loves to 'turn the wheel' himself. could play in the car for hours.
he loves to sleep and play in his crib- he doesn't cry in the morning he wakes up laughing and talking...and will do so until i get him
he loves letters. he learned all his letters before he was two. and now he's learning rhyming, spelling and how do sign the alphabet. he practices a lot. the other day i was driving and he goes 'mommy what letter is this?' i look and see he's holding up his middle finger... not so much a letter buddy!
he loves to paint/draw...and is usually painting/drawing letters.
he loves to jump and fall and bang into things.. but otherwise is SO cautious. takes him awhile to warm up to things and while it's sometimes difficult i also think it's endearing; and it will be interesting to see how he grows. it's very similar to how i was and ties in to being quite sensitive.
he always asks/tells me to smile. and asks 'are you happy mommy?' - part of the sensitivity. if my voice quivers slightly-even if i'm being silly he gets upset 'mommy sad?! no mommy happy!'
he loves, loves to read
he enjoys getting his nails clipped, always sits patiently and even wants to learn to do it on his own
he has always held his peepee down when he goes potty.. sounds silly but i love it, i never had to do it or tell him to, he just always does. if you have a toddler boy you may understand this.
he sticks out his tongue when he knows i'm taking a picture, it's his way of smiling
he loves to clean- sweep, dust, whatever. if something spills he will clean it.
he loves to snuggle and he gives many spontaneous hugs and kisses.
spontaneous hug

reading in the car wearing the awesome headband craft he made in sunday school

always reading in bed

loves to play guitar and drums

colin with some fluffy hair

my boy

Friday, September 18, 2009

movies i was surprised i liked

i love movies and books. always reading and always watching something...anyhow,in my humble opinion...movies i wasn't expecting to like...but did...

the women
all women cast, even the extras. it's actually a remake of a play,then a movie in the early 30's. i love debra messing! i'd like to own this one, as it fits my criteria of being able to watch it over and over.


17 again
rented this with a couple girlfriends and really didn't expect to even pay attention to it. but we laughed and laughed. the casting is great, the humor is great- similar to mean girls. i actually want to own this movie too.


then she found me
i don't remember how i came across this movie.. and i will say the first half of it i was wondering if i still liked it. but it's a great story and the ending it so beautiful..i fell in love. i've always loved helen hunt. my love of bette midler is confined to beaches..but she plays her character well.. great story.


georgia rule
i think i was most surprised by this one. grabbed it at the library and boredom was the only thing that made me give it a chance. it was so good. the actresses are brilliant they play their characters so so well. the story is heartbreaking.

honorable mentions: rachel getting married, ghost town

Thursday, August 27, 2009

summer times




someone took these pictures at a show hoh played on monday and sent them to me. love them! [my son's hair is out of control. all the time] colin also took these pics while i was unaware-


ah my boy...he definitely ran halfway on the stage for the first time... he was totally dancing like a free bird it was quite amusing then he took a few steps closer...then again, then again and i had to run out and grab him and he cried. awesome.
jared and noemi got married last saturday, it was lovely. hopefully get some pictures of that soon. it was a pretty perfect wedding.. i was a last minute sub bridesmaid and had no time to find anything cute so i was not fond of the dress/shoes i had to wear...definitely changed after the ceremony/pictures! we are so happy to have noemi in our family and excited for them to grow in marriage...

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

to blog or to tweet

i thought twitter was pointless and stupid... could not understand it at all... and then i joined just to follow my husband and a few companies and now i enjoy it. kinda like the first time i watched arrested development- it was on tv, i was with friends who were all into it, laughing hysterically. i thought it didn't make sense, and so i didn't pay attention....now of course, i realize that arrested development is one of the best shows ever made. but that's my new excuse for not blogging as much, cuz i'm sending pics and mini updates on twitter... i can't update my life in 10 different ways, i get tired of repeating myself :) waiting for the technology where we just think a thought and it sends a text to our friends phone... god help us.
this chunk of colin being gone has been really hard for some reason. there was an exact moment where i just lost it. lost my patience, energy, sanity.... i'm hanging on by thread here, waiting for him to get home. saylor LITERALLY asks about every 10 minutes 'mommy?! where'd daddy go?'.. i keep saying a toddler is so much like an ederly person with alzheimer's! i think he just likes to keep asking about daddy and i used to pride myself on my patience and shake my head at people who lost their cool so easily with their child... oh, ignorant self. a toddler will test your patience...hourly....i've gotten so frustrated that i start shaking and then i'm laughing, like truly laughing out of frustration, i can't explain it but it feels like i'm going crazy. so there are good hours and awful hours... and i keep thinking of real single moms and yes it is truly the hardest job in the world and i'm so thankful for colin, when he is home he takes over and gives me so much freedom.
my son is awesome he is doing so many cute things right now, and overall i think he is a pretty good boy... but it is exhausting. and apologies to my friends who have seen me this last month- more frazzled than relaxed.
colin talks to him on the phone and sends pictures and videos- and skyping has been cute, saylor talks to him like crazy so that's sweet.... alright a few cute things he's doing-
he still does 'ah ah ah' the count laugh, every time he counts something... a lot of people are loving that
he often says 'i'm so sleepy again!' like he's surprised that he gets tired
he's singing all the time now his favorites being happy birthday and ring around the rosie
he has known all his letters since before he was two, which i guess is pretty advanced, and he's learning his numbers now. he loooves letters and numbers.
he tells stories now, i can ask him what he did in sunday school and he will tell me things! i love love this.
he loves and is devoted to his stuffed animals
everything is she... stuffed animals, trucks, people-he uses 'she', never 'he'
he loves to snuggle and give long hugs and kisses...mmmm

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

un-potty training and mustaches

where have i been why am i not writing anymore? so much has happened. one being my son has stopped going on the potty. what in the world! never read this in the books. he was so happy, going all the time, never having accidents... and he just started holding his pee until nap/bedtime when i'd put a diaper on him. he would hold his pee for hours and hours! still wearing underwear, no accidents...but would NOT sit on the potty. he suddenly acted like it was fire and would cry 'i don't like it!!!!!' with the threat of UTI from holding his pee so much, i had to go back to diapers :(. it's a feeling of defeat, but they always say not to pressure them and i was starting to coerce and beg and it was getting ugly/annoying. so occasionally he will wear underwear...and just hold the pee. we are waiting for him to wake up in love with the potty again, and reading fun potty books and chatting it up like it's the funnest thing ever in the meantime.
have had some fun things this month, of course i just steal pictures..here's a million from our friend beckett's 3rd birthday party...it was a mustache theme, obviously.



beckett sharing some icing with saylor



saylor loved this baseball toy!! apparently it's on clearance at meijer and i may have to snag it....

lucy goose eyeing hoovie with confusion


with saylor's puppet buddy/doggy....i have a thing for puppets.

Friday, July 3, 2009

potty 'training'

my son is in the midst of potty training! it's so amazing though i haven't really done any training at all per se [does renting potty dvds and books for him count?]- i've tried here and there, talking about it and letting him go naked with no success. but lo and behold a couple weeks ago i was running out of diaps and thought what the hey let's try this again. and he started going on there perfectly! we've yet to get some poo in there and he is still wearing diapers at nap and bedtime. that's the next step. but we can go out and about with no accidents he's great at holding it, or using his potty in a different place. i am in AWE of him i think i'm more impressed with this than when he started walking. so proud of him. of course the one time he poos in his underwear, i was in indiana with colin and my friend beth got to deal with it. he also pooed in his diaper during nap and stuck his hand in there and got it on his hands! i find this hilarious. he has NEVER done anything like that...saving the fun stuff for beth i guess. i also love that my child is a cautious clean kid- no he did not wipe his hands on a stuffed animal or go digging for more. he immediately started crying and saying 'wash hands, wash hands!' she went up there and he was just holding his hands out, not touching anything. awesome. so that's the next step, poo in the potty! this is probably gross for anyone who is not a parent.
couple more cute cali pictures

saylor's first visit to a beach- manhattan beach

out to dinner, saylor was perfect which is doubly impressive as his sleep was so screwed up. we let him have his paci the whole trip. i love how he's totally posing in this picture!

i love this picture. nimma took this of us on abbott kinney road outside of our friend's-friend's store urban paper boutique.


watching my friend julie's son kelton the other day... and that's my monstrous son on the right. holy crap-cow.

loves his yogurt

Saturday, June 27, 2009

everyone's talking about MJ

last thursday the 18th house of heroes did a quick interview with radiou while at the alive festival....the dj jared french asked them how they got permission to use the beatles songs for their EP. well, as you may know, michael jackson owns the publishing rights to most beatles songs. so house of heroes said 'oh, we killed michael jackson'... !!!!!! and jared french said 'you heard it right here. house of heroes killed michael jackson!' AAAAAH the irony the horrible irony. [upon remembering this yesterday they called radiou and asked to have that part removed from the interview...]

i am seriously quite frightened by what he actually looked like these past 5-10 years. i'd like to remember him with this nice skin color

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

a must see!!


can't wait to see this! let us not be ignorant... let us be smarter, healthier, safer.... yum!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

koebele wedding

heather got married! one of my best friends, so close to my heart. she's so amazing and god finally gave her her beloved. their story is pretty amazing, though i don't feel like writing it all out, it is beautiful. and we've been waiting so long for nick! we love him and are so glad they are now one....
it was surely one of my favorite weddings. her best friends handed her flowers as she walked down the aisle to make up her bouquet. sweet idea though we were all crying so much it was funny. so it was literally all of us crying and laughing at the same time as we handed her flowers. it was a perfect evening..the weather was great and it was fun spending time with friends. the other highlight for me was i burnt my head with a sparkler. i have no idea how it happened, though we had wooden sparklers and apparently they can break easier than metal ones... our friend angie also burnt her head! but i felt a few sparks fly in my head and i spazzed out and kept trying to smack it out, feeling like my head was on fire.... and then a huge chunk of hair flew out. and yes, i have a bald spot now. and with me and angie....it was smelling like burnt hair everywhere. it was hilarious! i was laughing pretty hard but it hurt so bad i started crying too.. two times in one night of laughing/crying simataneously... so it felt like knife scraping my head for a few days and i've got a good size battle wound bald spot...random pictures as again i never seem to take pictures anymore... so i just have to steal people's....i was excited about my dress- i got it at a vintage store here in westerville called cinda lou... so it was a straight up vintage 70's dress, fun.



one of my favorite families, showing only two of the 10 grandchildren. love the harts!

our favorite twins

jen's daughter bella putting makeup on me...i look funny and i think this is the face i make when i put makeup on myself. haha

i love these because i don't think they realized i had the sunglasses on in the first picture...then they decided to be stupid in the second one but i didn't catch that....


beautiful cake by lindsey rike, beautiful topper by christen nelson...yum!!

heather and nick koebele

Monday, June 8, 2009

books

books i'm into...
Taking Charge of Your Fertiliy

a must read for every woman! why aren't doctors telling us this information!?! this book was a total 'aha moment' for me. easy to read, i couldn't put it down. BUY it!

Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About

just getting into it, kinda interesting, i think it's worth reading. this guy is super passionate, and for good reason.

what i'm looking forward to reading
Sacred Marriage

on the cover it says 'what if god designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?' love it! have had some friends recommend this. and ok, i checked it out from the library and had to return it before i could read it. because ok, yes i read tori spelling's mommywood first... so now i have it on reserve again and i will read it this time!!

Friday, May 29, 2009

lazy homebody

i'm an extrovert that prefers to be home! if something's going on i want to be a part of it, but at the same time i'm longing for my bed. and i really prefer smaller groups, although there's definitely times where a big party is in order. i feel like i still have one foot hanging out in the not-yet-parents group. we are fortunate to have grandparents that take saylor often, and friends that welcome saylor anytime we need to bring him... but there are times and there are people who are definitely more free and i think it's only natural to look at them a little wistfully. our cali trip worked out reeeeally well but of course it would have been easier without a toddler in tow. and of course i recalled all too fondly those days without the responsibility of a child. it so much mirrors a relationship with Christ though. i honestly don't have much responsibility. i don't work a typical job, i don't have a bunch of commitments to people... i'm actually feeling the weight of commitment as we've started this new small group. i almost want to resist but i know responsibility, commitment, hard work- this brings about good character and builds faith. and i'm due for some of this. my nature is to be lazy. i don't have the drive that some people do, honestly. and while i know the lord works in all things- so my hangout lunch with a friend can have an impact in the kingdom, my snuggling with saylor is building him up... i know god isn't gonna let me off the hook so easily! i think we are always called to dig deeper, DO more...things that are out of our 'comfort zone' absolutely yes! ... all these thoughts and you know what- having children- while again is great, has given me an 'out'. a way to easily turn down commitments, keep us out of small group, even keep us from going to church every week. so. i'm ready to do and learn some more, lord. actually i'm scared to say that and kinda want to retract it.... but i'll keep giving it to him, and in the meantime here we are wanting baby number 2. pregnancy/newborn stages... they definitely take you out of the loop socially. my prayer is lord, use me more, beyond my home and my friends- i want to serve you.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

californianess

we had such a great time! it's hard to sum it up, but i'll try to recap a bit, mostly for my own sake. we made some great memories. we arrived wednesday morning-saylor was perfect on the flights out there. [a guy behind us asked 'is he always this happy? and a flight attendent said he was the cutest thing she'd ever seen and gave us cookies] though i feel like we had 'external' attack- i swear this is what often happens when my emotions and relationships are doing well, and the enemy wants to mess around with me. colin and i had a great first year of marriage relationship wise- we were so happy- but we were constantly under attack- sickness, car broken into, car accident, blahblah. so on this trip- i had bought a tent for saylor to sleep in that didn't arrive in time, the portable dvd player i brought wasn't working properly, colin got really sick as soon as we got there, i got a nasty cut on my leg and a bad sunburn, the airport lost my stroller on the way home... but seriously all that and i was still having the best time. you just have to go with the flow and choose to have fun anyway sometimes. we got to see so many great friends and make some new ones as well. saylor was SO excited to see colin-ran up to him and wouldn't let go. wed and thurs we hung out in san jose. friday we got to meet noemi's family, and then we spent the weekend at chris and angie's, some close friends of ours that recently moved out there. our friend nimma was with us for the weekend as well... saturday was a hangout day, we walked around and went to venice beach [where i was 2 seconds from my cousin but we didn't connect in time to get together. bummer!]. here are a couple pictures from the marina beach we also went to- saylor is playing with javin-little boy of friends of chris and angie. he is SO cute! his parents own a couple stores that are pretty sweet-julia roberts and reese witherspoon are frequent customers [so much name dropping can be done! i'm trying to refrain]





sidenote-i actually wore my contacts the whole trip, i swear. except for when this picture was taken. haha. grr i hate glasses. and contacts! saturday night saylor was baby-sat by angie's friend frederique so we could all go to one of their shows. frederique is this little french woman, best accent ever! and saylor loved her. got to see jen, jen, dustin and nate at the show and that was nice.
sunday was spirit west coast where we got to see some more friends and hang out.
food/restaurants i enjoyed- pomodoro- SO good and great prices!, pinkberry [frozen yogurt], in-n-out [had to get it], french market cafe- a perfect place.
random sayings that made me laugh hysterically and won't be funny to anyone else, but i wanted to write them down so i don't forget---
tim: katie, am i in your top 20 friends? name all your friends, go! katie: ok, katie, michelle, aj.... all of us: laugh and what? you're friends with yourself??
chris calling pomodoro for directions: hi is this the uh... restaurant? ... he then carried on trying to explain himself as he couldn't remember the name of the restaurant we were going to, it was hilarious..
me, caught off guard by a small rat looking dog:oh! he's...cute.. cool california dog owne: thanks... walks away and turns back,sheepish: we didn't know he was going to be this small! --that made me laugh forever. someone embarrassed of their dog! and i picture him and his wife or whatever, they get the dog and their like.. ooh. he's so small. um...... haha!
and then katie saying i have a unique [read:big!] nose and then saying someone once told her: girl, you have got the smallest nose i have ever seen!... haha! who would SAY that to someone!? hilarious.
saylor was whiny on one of the flights home, he was SO exhausted and i was at the end of my rope with him too.... he fell asleep on the way home from the airport and then slept from 6pm-10am. 16 hours!!!! haha! then a 3 hour nap. then slept until 9:30 today as well, after going to bed at 7. he's very happy to be home and in his own bed....as am i!!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

packing up

traveling with a toddler takes thrice as much effort.... i have done too much shopping and list making, but i'm enjoying it. saylor is very excited, hopefully he does well. he really has been amazing [read: behaving well] these past couple weeks without his daddy here. of course my mood affects his mood tremendously- yesterday i realized our flight home was booked out of san jose- and we need to fly home from san diego. i honestly don't know how this happened. i'm pretty organized and thorough.... anyway this little mistake cost us $645. oh yes. ouch ouch ouch. oh yes, and colin got a $140 speeding ticket yesterday. LORD grrrrr! i get mad if i spend $3 on a bag of chips that i don't like.... soooo. i kept breaking down in tears, but then saylor would burst into tears saying 'mommy happy!' he didn't want me sad! our whole day yesterday was exhausting. i was on the phone for a good four hours trying to figure it out and get the best deal. i was told by american airlines that cheaptickets had canceled my flight right after i booked it... so that is fishy. the whole thing just blows. i don't understand it, but i have to get over it! aaaaggh ok yah i can't think about it.
otherwise we are excited- colin is literally going to notice a dramatic change in saylor's talking- he is talking so much more! he talks about daddy everyday...

this is my mom's fire pit she got for mother's day. kinda a lonely-ish mother's day- colin gone, my sister had to work [she's a NICU nurse], my brother was at school, colin's parents are in africa... anyway we still had a nice time- though saylor is pantless because about 10 minutes before this picture was taken he threw up all over me and himself. we aren't sure why, he was happily enjoying graeter's then started crying... he may have choked on something? so sad!! of course he was immediately all better after throwing up...

enjoying his new carseat and his 'my first airplane ride' book- we checked out two books about flying and both of them end with the boy seeing his grandma... weird only to me?
i cut his hair last week too. which i think everyone would agree that's something i shouldn't do. but it turned out decent! i think.
..saylor says 'mommy talk airplane' as he wants me to keep telling him all about it. and he says he will be a 'good boy, quiet' on the plane.... we will see!