So It's Been A While

So yeah, it's been a while since I've blogged...

and I'm feeling really rusty even typing this sentence out. 

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There. That helps.

Anyways, I am definitely in a funk when it comes to this space. Mainly because I'm having trouble finding the time to invest in it, but also because I feel as though my life is lacking in inspiration at the moment.

"Ahh, but you have a kid!" you say. Loads and loads of fun stories to share and cute pictures to post. How could the inspiration be lacking?!? Well, today Jack ate a bunch of cheese and then drank copious amounts of water way too quickly. I said, "Jack Jack, slow down," and he responded by leaning over and throwing up in the diaper bag I had just neatly stocked for our mall outing. It was really cute. And super inspiring. 

And I still feel like there is the faintest smell of soggy cheese in the air.

Okay, but seriously, not a lot has been going on lately to blog about, yet at the same time I am the busiest I've ever been in my life! How is this even possible?!? The jury is out so I'm just going to have to fill you in on a little life lately update via bullet points. Enjoy.

Let's start with work.

You may have read my post when maternity leave ends back in August. At that time I was in a pretty rough place dealing with a lot of postpartum issues and really struggling with the fact that I simply couldn't (I mean I physically, emotionally, spiritually) could not return to the office. I felt like the only option I had was to quit my job and Steven and I put our home on the market and drastically change our lifestyle. It was an extremely emotional and (in complete transparency) dark time for me and such a struggle because all I wanted to do was smile and love on my baby.. yet all I could do was cry. To make a long story short (don't you just love cliches?), I was allowed to stay on and work from home until they hired my replacement.. or so I thought. Turns out my boss was working behind the scenes and eventually got it approved for me to work from home full-time! It was such a huge relief and a huge answer to prayer! The task has been far more challenging than I could have ever expected though! See my little man above? Yep, he's just editing a proposal for me. No big deal. 

Speaking of my little man... OH.EM.GEE he is into everything and growing up so quickly! 13 months was a huge communication explosion for him. In English he can say mama and dada, but in Jack Jack speak he has quite the vocabulary. He loves to talk about the birdies and airplanes he hears outside. He loves to wave hi to Huckleberry every morning and then run up to him and jibber jabber about all his plans for the day. He loves to pull Herschel's tail and wag his finger at him when he cries in pain (poor kitty). He signs the word "more" and Daddy is busy teaching him "I love you." He waves hi and bye and gives really energetic high fives. He is a delight and a terror all in one and I wouldn't have it any other way.

In other baby news, Huckleberry (my first born) is a brat. He has dug a massive hole underneath our fence so he can go to the neighbors and play with his girlfriend, Jessie. He's decided he loves her more than me and I am very hurt when he sneaks away. Maybe it would help if Jack didn't pull his tail so much. Relaxing, tail grabbing free evenings are hard to come by these days.

The truth is, my life is pretty ordinary and I feel like even the prettiest of pictures and wittiest of tag lines just can't snazz that up. Maybe that's why I've been steering clear of this space? OR, maybe it's the crazy amount of time I find myself staring into a computer screen at night to finish up work after the baby's gone to sleep? My eyes literally can't take another minute of it! OR, maybe I'm just freaking tired? OR lazy? OR full of excuses. I don't know. But I do know that I love recording my little family's life together and all the memories we are making and I'm not ready to give this space up quite yet. 

And for all of you who still visit this space from time to time, thanks for sticking with me.

In 2014 I Became a Mother

In 2014 I became a mother. I experienced a range of emotion I never even knew excited. I lost a lot of sleep and had to make a lot of hard decisions.  At times I felt such love, appreciation and joy, and at other times I felt myself being engulfed in misery and an overwhelming sense of failure. I cried a lot, but I also laughed.  I quit my job, but they fought for me... and I can't even put into words how good that makes me feel. I struggled finding the balance between working from home and caring for my son around the clock. I still haven't perfected it, and know I never will. I grew a lot. I questioned myself more than I should. And I'm still growing, changing, and finding my way.

In 2014 I fell more in love with my husband. The father of our beautiful, little boy. I saw a tenderness in him I hadn't seen before, a patience I, at times, was envious of, and a love for our son that was simply the most attractive thing I have even seen. He is a great husband, an amazing father, and a blessing to me and Jack each and everyday.

In 2014 I welcomed a son. Jack Ryan has stolen my heart and the limelight on this blog (oh, wait... you hadn't noticed??) Watching him grow has been an exciting, albeit emotional, journey that I am grateful for each day. My little family (Huckleberry included, of course) brings me more joy than I could ever fathom describing. I am blessed. So, so blessed. And very grateful for this past year and all it has brought me and taught me.

2014 was a great year, and I pray for many more to come.

Happy New Year, friends!

Jack's First Spooky, Prehistoric Halloween

Apparently, October has come and gone. I never got the memo. I've been too busy trying to freeze time and keep my little man a little man. Obviously, I haven't been very successful. I figured I better go ahead and document Jack's first Halloween before it's 2015. Because seriously, if I didn't you'd be missing out. 

We originally didn't plan on doing anything for Halloween other than plopping Jack down besides some pumpkins and snapping a few pictures (everyone does that with their first born, right? I'm not weird or anything). But if  we were to go trick-or-treating, I really wanted Jack to be a blue dinosaur because he is obsessed with his blue dino wubbanub. I thought it would be pretty stinkin' adorable if he was dressed as a dino while his dino wubbanub was hanging out of his mouth. (Again, I'm not weird or anything.) So after browsing online for blue dinosaur Halloween costumes and finding the most adorable one (ever!!), I decided trick-or-treating was a must. 

 Huck -- busted sniffing the little dino's booty.

We met up with some friends and went store to store showing off our cute, baby dinosaur and collecting lots of candy... Then Steven and I consumed all the candy in record time and got stomach aches. Of course we ate all our son's Halloween candy. That was my hidden motive from the beginning. Sounds like a pretty epic Halloween if I do say so myself. 

Our friend's little boy, Max, was a dinosaur, too!

I know Jack is too young to remember any of this and will probably just find these photos embarrassing when he's older, but I sure am glad for them. Because really.. have you ever seen anything more adorable?? I thought not. 

So Jack, I'm sorry for dressing you up as a dinosaur. Everyone really did think you were the cutest thing on the planet, though. And honestly, things will probably just get more embarrassing for you from here on out. Just wait until I blog about your potty training adventures.

Just kidding!

Kinda...

Off to the Pumpkin Patch

We had one beautiful, sunny Sunday a few weeks ago, so Steven and I decided to head to a local pumpkin patch with our little man. And Oh.Em.Gee. It was sort of the best. The Thomasson Family Farm had waaaay more than just pumpkins. We were able to sip some hot apple cider and roam the grounds which boasts of a corn maze, small petting zoo, an onsite country store, and a super fun looking playground that I'm sure Jack will love next year.

But since he's still young we just walked around and enjoyed the beautiful October day while picking out our pumpkins. Oh, and snapped way too many photos of course.

I must say, this fall has definitely outdone itself. We've had beautiful weather (until this week) and have been able to get out and enjoy plenty of fall festivities with Jack! The family time we've been able to squeeze in has just been so nice. Sometimes I wish I could bottle days like these up and hold on to them forever. 

The good news is that all the fall fun isn't over yet! Halloween does happen to be tomorrow and I know a cute little boy who is going trick-or-treating as a blue dinosaur in honor of his favorite dino wubbanub! 

Stay tuned. I have a feeling the photos will be worth it.

;)

Family

"What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories." - George Eliot

Lately, my heart has been feeling pretty full. Life has never been more busy, but these two make the chaos and late nights worth it. I am so incredibly blessed and thankful that they belong to me and me to them. Being a wife and mother are by far the best roles I've had the honor of playing. This phase in life.. Jack's chubby cheeks and thigh rolls, Steven's strength and tenderness... I just want to soak it up for a bit. 

So I apologize for the silence. The three of us are making memories and falling deeper in love each day.

Annual Cider Press

This past weekend Steven and I were able to attend our friend's annual cider press for the third year in a row. Hands down, this cider press has become my favorite fall festivity and is something I look forward to attending for years to come. It's funny to think that the first year we went we were newlyweds just 3 months into marital bliss, and this year we had little Jack with us. 

It ended up being a beautiful fall day with so much to see and do.  I'm pretty sure Jack was on sensory overload (and enjoying every minutes of it). He loved looking at the baby piglets, chickens, horses and cows... and he especially loved his first experience swinging! (I admit it, I teared up a bit. These milestones... I tell, ya. They get me every time.)

Jack's buddy Max! Sand seeping through fingers is some serious business.

Love my little family. <3 <3

Needless to say, Jack took a long snooze after his fun filled day. 

The cider press really epitomizes fall for me and I simply can't think of a better way to kick off the season. To see a glimpse of our annual cider presses from years past click on the link below.

cider press, 2013

cider press, 2012

One Last Ode to Summer

Okay, not an ode per se, because who has time for that? But it's occurred to me (thanks to the help of my Facebook feed, Instragram account, and every blogger I follow) that it is now officially Fall. Time to break out the oversized sweaters, grab a Pumpkin Spice Latte and exclaim how much we just love. the. rain. (even though we all know that's not true).

But I'm not going to lie. Summer time is my jam. I live for those hot days -- wearing flip flops to any and every occasion, spending time outdoors, ruining my skin by never applying sunscreen so I can be georgously tan. Sigh. Yep.

I like summer. Summer is my season of choice. Don't hate on me. It's true I enjoy pumpkin scones and I really do appreciate the Fall foliage and the sound that leaves make when under foot. (I've even been known to go out of my way to step on a particularly crunchy looking leaf. True story.) But I really, truly, deeply do love summer best of all, and it makes me sad every year when it is so easily dismissed for the extremely orange season otherwise known as Fall.

I thought summer deserved a proper farewell this year. So farewell, Summer! (Okay, that was very anti-climatic.) It was a good one full of lake lounging, too much sun, and many, many walks with my little family.

 I look terrible. Jack looks adorable. Sharing was necessary.

It was a contest.. who is the most pale.

Jack won.

This guy ^ Can't forget him!

Cue LFO's "Summertime" lyrics in your head... 

"summertime girls are the kind I like. I stole your honey like I stole your bike" 

... or something like that.

Snoqualmie Falls

You know what you do when you get visitors, right? Play tour guide and pretend like you know all about the state you live in, of course. Truth is, after living in WA for almost 3 years, I've still seen very little of it. That's partly due to the weather here (booooo rain), but also to the fact that we just don't make it a priority to get out and go on adventures. But that's all about to change, ya'll. We bought a tent. A TENT, I tell you! But more on that later... Now back to me being a tour guide.

My mom is here for a month visiting, and we decided a trip to Snoqualmie Falls was in order. It really is a beautiful waterfall and the trails down to the bottom were beautifully kept and easy to walk. 

Climbing back up the trail was no small feat, however! It's like I gave birth to a human being 4 months ago or something... I'm so so so soooo out of shape!

We were blessed with a beautiful day (See, Dad? Told you it doesn't rain everyday in WA.. just every other day) and my mom was able to see some of those pretty sights those NW Pacific peeps always rave about.

The best part though was the signs they had along the trail's edge detailing the different type of floral. We discover that those little red berries Steven's been munching on in our yard are indeed Huckleberries, and not poisonous red bird berries like I kept telling him. (what? I'm a worrier.) So Steven's not going to die. Which is a plus. 

Oh, and these two.. I just can't get enough. 

Washington, you're kinda fun to look at. I think I'll go out adventuring more.

Weekend Snapshots...and a Winner!

We had such an amazing time this weekend! It felt so nice to get away for a couple days with a few friends and just unplug. Not to mention Huckleberry had a blast with his first ever off lease beach experience. I hope we can make this little retreat a pre-Christmas tradition in the years to come.

I'll share more snapshots of our weekend later this week, but for right now I have to head back to the 8-5 grind.