your daily cup of cuteness

I swear I will finish the trip posts someday!

speaking of Cars...

how can you deny a child this much joy?... (sorry its a little long but I am lazy and I dont feel like editing it down)

Gettin Cozy in the Cozy Coupe

That title reminds me of Cars- "Getting cozy at the cozy cone!" haha...if you have a boy and have watched Cars for the gazillionth time, you get it. :)

We had our good friend Evan over today! The weather was so nice we could play outside- shocking!! Alex didn't want them to go home and decided to just hop in with Evan!

The Scoop on the Lightscoop

My friend Shelby is doing a giveaway of a lightscoop!! What is a lightscoop you ask?! Only the coolest thing for your camera Moms!! I have one ordered and its on the way and I can't wait!

You know when you want to take a picture of your precious babies and the lighting is bad because its too dark and the flash goes off...well, here is the difference a lightscoop makes!

It just attaches on the top to reflect the flash.
Check out their site and head over to Bringing Up Madison and Tyler to win one for yourself! :)

Day 2 San Fransisco

Thanks to the lovely and wonderful grandparents that came with us and the awesome family that let us stay with them....we got to go by ourselves to San Fransisco! A day of fun for Mom and Dad! That's right, we left both kids behind (and didn't look back).

Just driving into the city was very exciting to me and it was beautiful! I loved seeing all the colorful houses on the hillside that just seem to go on for forever! Not to mention the natural scenery.

We drove in and enjoyed the sites from the car as we made our way to start our touring at Pier 39. It was a foggy cold start but warmed up and turned out to be just a gorgeous day! We saw all the classic tourist things.... (I feel like I am the last person ever to go to SF so let me bore you with the details)(I love our long lens btw- its like I was laying with the sea lions)

my criminal face- for Alcatraz of course. travis likes this pic of me a lot.

We had fun just being together and laughing and getting to do what WE wanted to do.

Travis said I had to get a picture with the breastfeeding mermaid- I don't think she is but whatever

eating our free chocolate, such moochers

Lunch was perfect- outside, sun shining, cool breeze, music from some street guy that was actually really good, and fish and chips! Sad I didn't get a picture.

gotta do a little shopping when you don't have kids around to stop you!

The only thing we didn't get to do was ride the trolly because we just didn't have time. The line was long and we really wanted to get over to the Golden Gate Bridge. It's okay, we will just have to go back someday :) Really, you can't see a city in one day anyway! At least not such a cool place like San Fran!

The Bridge was amazing as expected! Travis really wanted to go out on the bridge since he had never gotten too before. It was cool until Travis brings up the horrific thought of an earthquake- seriously?! Do you want me to freak out!?!

Travis, being the civil engineer, loves bridges!

coming through....

a great day to sail

We saw it from all angles and went up to the lookout on the far side too. The view was just amazing.

A great end to our adventure! Or so we thought...
We actually had to go on one more! We were both hungry and thristy and thought what better place to go than "In and Out". Unfortunately it was harder to find/get to than we thought (I know, I know, they are everywhere! The roads are not like Texas where you can see everything!) But we made it happen.

Word is that Alex had a blast at the house and Ellie was a sweetheart!

Just for note, this was Eliana's first time to have formula. It was just easier than bringing frozen milk on a plane. She took it very well and seemed to be just fine. So since I didn't see her all day, I had to pump while we were out and about. First time pumping in a bathroom stall and on the GG Bridge. Oh the memories. (Sorry if that was TMI)

Day 1 Getting There and Family Time

anyone want to sit by us?!

I was very nervous about getting out the door on time with everything for our 8am flight. Thanks to Honey and my parents I had a couple of days to get everything packed and be totally ready the night before. Thank goodness for that!! Otherwise I am not sure how it would have all gotten done!
I set my alarm for 4:30. Guess who woke up at 4 wide eyed and bushy tailed ready for the "air-pane". Really. Could I not get my 30 min? Well, I told him it was still night and to go back to sleep. He listened to his aquarium for the next hour or so.
We actually did really well getting out the door with all our stuff and made it to the airport in good time. Alex was soo excited about the airplane but really excited to see Taxi cabs at the airport. He learned about it in a book and for some reason became obsessed. We met Honey and Grandpa Steve at the airport and its a good thing- they were so helpful! This is a trend throughout the whole trip! We could not have done it without them! We had our 4 suitcases, one carryon, backpack, diaper bag, stroller, infant carrier, toddler and baby!!
Well, we got through the line to check bags and got through security with minimal stress- the only frustrating part was that I bought this cover for the car seat and it didn't fit! Travis kept trying and it ripped. ugh. oh well. thankfully the airline had bags for us. Eliana did poop on the way there so as I carried her through security I really did want to hold her out in front of me. After a quick change we were down to the plane. No waiting. We were some of the last ones on the plane. Whew!

am I crazy, maybe?!

The flight went surprisingly well. Since Alex had been up so long and early he actually took a nap! Woo hoo!! I could not have planned it better! The rest of the time was spent watching Cars (forget the new movies I bought) and playing with a few new things I brought. He wasn't really into the actual plane ride. Eliana slept most of the time too and did really well. She only had a few outbursts that didn't last long. I actually got to read a magazine while she slept!
Overall, success! :) I am a happy momma!



We finally (rental car co. was slower than molasses) got our minivan and carseat for Alex, loaded it up with ALL our stuff barely fitting, and we were on our way!

honey let Alex watch the busses and taxi cabs while we waited

it was cold! time for leg warmers! yea!!

We stayed with Travis' Aunt Les, Uncle Jim, and cousins Nathan and Holly. They have a beautiful home. His grandparents Lillian and Ken came over for dinner too. We had a great rest of the day playing at the house and chatting with family over some delicious food!
The weather was so nice! It was cool outside! It warmed up a little during the afternoon and then got cold at night. They leave their windows open all day- it felt like summer camp except there was no sweating! :) Alex was in hog heaven in their backyard! It was so nice that he could actually play outside all day- what a concept!

Grandma Lilly and her famous pork and sauerkraut
Isnt she adorable!

Oh, and Eliana and I met our new roommates....Jarvis and Split. yikes! Thanks again Nathan for letting us sleep in your room! I am glad your lil friends didn't seem to mind us and our ocean sound machine!

California Sneak Peek

We are home! We made it on our big trip out to California and back! I decided to post about the trip, like my friend Leah did theirs, by breaking it down by each day of the trip. We had a fabulous time and we are worn out!! We were loving the beautiful days and cool nights...the weather was just awesome! Welcome back to 100 degrees, sweat, and bugs.

4 Months

Ellie is 4 Months old! we are rolling right along....

She does the sweetest bashful grin for her daddy. Just giddy!
She just loves to look at us and loves us to talk to her. poor thing I think just craves the attention since its shared by the attention hog, big bro ;)
Found her voice and is quite loud when she wants to be
Likes to "talk" with her pacifier in, kind of a "nuk nuk nuk"
Hands are always in her mouth
Loves to grab for her toes!

Started to prefer to have Momma
Has a hard time sleeping in public now and sleeps a little less during the day
Doesn't really care for tummy time and always rolls over
Likes to sleep in her bed and gets very dramatic when she is tired
Has quite the grip and is gripping for everything in site...including my hair, face, chest, shirt- you name it!
Can sit in the bumbo pretty well
still really good about playing on her own
Is a little cuddle bug and lets me rock her now...yea!! Alex wouldn't really let me do this because he just wanted to nurse if I sat with him in a chair. I think the main difference is that she takes a pacifier. I don't get to do it that often because I don't have a lot of time during the day without Alex busting in demanding something of me ;) So she still has practice going to sleep on her own.

I am not sure what happened because we were doing so well, but now she gets up a couple of times in the night most nights. Every once in a while I am blessed with all night or just once. I will take it because I know it could be worse. She is really good about going right back to sleep after nursing.

I am not sure about her weight and stats because her appointment isn't for a couple of weeks. I forgot to make her appointment early and we couldn't get in till Sept! Oops! :( but we are still in 3 month clothes

I do know that my baby girl is just the most precious thang ever!! Love you sweetheart!

bumbo baby

it may be a little early but she doesn't seem to mind and she likes the view to watch mr. brother (yea for mom-free entertainment!!)


someone, who will remain nameless, always wants in on the photoshoot. he also always wants to do what she does, including sitting in the bumbo. i thought he wouldn't fit and would get stuck but he proved me wrong!

thanks aunt jenny for the beautiful "e" onesie!!