Indoors

Rob's last night working the late night shift was yesterday. In short, after over a year of saying goodbye to him 30 minutes after I get home from work, all I can say is that I'm extremely happy it was the last goodbye we had to say to him. Thankful beyond words for the sacrifice he made for our little family. There's no way I would've been able to do what he did. <3 

We're gonna be off the grid in a little bit soon (vacation, baby!)...but for now we're hanging at home. Rob is off enjoying his freedom with a much needed game night tonight with some other boys. Due to the heat, I kept the boy indoors today. (I seriously need to find one of those splash pads around here) We played in our "new room" (office/guest room) for a bit. Finn found the fascination of climbing through the desk...

He then got to coloring with his markers. The kind that only work on the special paper. He loves it.

 He doesn't love being told not to put the marker in his mouth though...

Yeah, this is his new pouting position. Or sometimes he'll flail his little arms and run full speed after being corrected. Oh man. The testing has begun. Mama and daddy need to study.

We later transitioned to cooking dinner time. He pushed the chair in here from the dining room and proceeded to eat his raisins while I cooked. You can see some of them stuck to his leg...yeah, they kinda look like little bugs. I'm not a fan of stepping on those in the dark.

There's a lot of things lately that I've been soaking up that I don't want to forget about. Like our nighttime routine.

I get his diaper changed then we go to the kitchen and give Jack a goodnight treat, turn off all of the lights on that side of the house and head to his room. We then hit the metal lamp to make a bell noise a few times, then turn on the noise machine and turn off the light. His head then instantly falls to my shoulder. I then sing to him a few songs I've made up (one of them the words really don't make any sense, but we both like it). He usually hops his little legs while I sing. Sometimes we spin. We just started doing butterfly kisses and he's fascinated by it. We then pray together and he's usually still when I pray. Then I sing again. He rubs the feet of his ducky pacifier in his eyes when he's sleepy. Tonight when I was singing, he rubbed the ducky's foot in my eye...sweet boy. <3 Then we swat the origami birds hanging over his crib and then I lay him down.

With all of the hard moments, the trying moments in between, it's good to remember this good stuff. Stuff we wouldn't trade.

Hoping you all are doing well and staying cool. I'm off to search for splash pads. We need more water fun in our life. Stat.

Smorgasborg

Yeah, I definitely had to look up that word up to make sure I spelled it correctly.

So yeah, I've kind of reveled in the loveliness of not having a project to work on (aka the guest room/office) and have instead dived into watching (nerd alert) Battlestar Galactica.

Now this is a spacey show Rob would sometimes put on when Finn was a little infant. It didn't catch my attention but that's because I didn't know the context and the characters. Rob one day urged me to at least watch the opening episode and see what I thought. He even boldly compared it to "Lost" comparing it to our love for deep character story. So one night when he was working, I tried it out. And I liked it enough to keep going and now I'm hooked. And here I am writing a paragraph about it, lol.

Anyway, so this past weekend Rob and I went away for our first overnight away from the boy. We had a wedding to attend of a dear friend of mine and it was just far enough away to warrant an overnight stay. And man was it nice. I captured this initial shot of Rob on my phone when we checked in...

It was fun...and to the wedding I decided to wear my heels. Heels that I never wear. And I decided to wear them to an outdoor wedding with lots of gravel, dirt and grass. Midway I thought to myself, I barely know how to handle these things inside let alone rough terrain. But I made it safely. No falling or anything. I was impressed. Rob too. He knows my track record...

We then returned home the next day around lunch time and were happy to see our little man. Our little man who pretended that he didn't care and walked away from me only till I caught him and giggles erupted. Stubborn little boy.

So I gotta say...taking pictures of this boy is getting harder and harder. Most pics are just a blur. I think back to when I took tons, but lately it's just not happening. He either is moving so quickly, getting into something, or he wants to inspect the camera. (which makes it difficult for picture taking)

So, I was looking through recent pics and the only clear ones are from me holding him...

Or restrained in his car...

Or restrained in his high chair. Key word here = restrained. :))

I'm pretty sure we're entering those mobile-high-energy-toddler years. So thankful this kid sleeps well which gives us a much appreciated break.

So that's some randomness for you. We're gearing up for vacation soon and I'm having a major case of senioritis. The temptation to just drop everything and run to the beach is there, but I'm holding back. :))

Hoping you all are well! Maybe I'll energize myself to do a few things around this hacienda before our escape.

Office/Guestroom Rehab

A room in our house got a bit of a makeover, and let me tell you, this one didn't come easily…

Let me back up as this is a story about an office/guestroom that was previously a cray-hay-zy disorganized junk room. Most people have attics or garages or some sort of place to store their stuff. We had this…

The room was filled with: old mail to be shredded, paper, Christmas stuff, paper, books, a stroller, car seat, ladder, vacuum, old magazines, paper, random odds and ends that we just didn't know what to do with and a whole bunch of chaos. Absolute chaos. The room got out of control during us prepping the house for last year’s Christmas party. It was the dumping ground for everything we wanted to conceal. It was a gradual thing, but it turned into craziness. Overall I really hated the fact that we didn't have a functioning guest bed, or a functioning office space.

So I finally started chipping away at the room. With the encouragement of my mom, I would just choose one section and work on it then stop. And this is what I’ve been doing at night for the past 3 weeks. I threw out so much stuff, it felt amazing. There’s still stuff on the other corner of this room that needs to go in the attic that still needs to be “built” (we just need to lay some wood down) but for now, this room is looking 1000x’s better.  Just the fact that I can see the floor is a HUGE victory.

Rob’s need for an office space was the real push for me. I was able to “reveal” the room to him on Father’s Day. (yes, I told him not to go in that room till I was done, lol)
 

The curtains are those $10 Vivan curtains (yep, $10 for two panels) from Ikea, which I highly recommend washing and drying before using. I pulled them out of the package and they were suuuuper crunchy, but now they feel great. The wall hanging metal file holder is from Ikea as well. Only $14, gotta love Ikea.

The marker board is from Target, as well as the cork boards. The splash of color is some awesome crayon art from my dear friend.

I also purchased this little tray from Target and placed some notepads, sticky notes, a vase for pens/pencils and that cute little green canister to hold our thumb drives. 

We also hung our dear friend Moby above the bed and I love it there.

We celebrated Father’s day on Saturday and Sunday. My side of the family gave my dad this zero gravity chair, much to his enjoyment. Lol, love our dad.

Sunday was just a Rob day. We went to church, ate at Chipotle (Finn even gets his own little kids meal from there now…his baby quesadilla is adorable) then went to Rob’s favorite book store. We're so thankful for this man.

Hard to tell in the above pic, but Finn had his little arm wrapped around Rob's neck, a favorite little thing of ours. <3

Overall it was a good weekend, and man I am happy to not have to sort through one more box of random junk from 7th grade. With this new office I have a feeling Rob and I might be super productive in the days to come. Watch out world, I feel like I could do anything! ;)

Your Daddy

Little Finn,

Your daddy is a special one. Much to your delight, he'll carry you around in the laundry basket for 20 minutes with sore arms to pay for later. Due to his late night work schedule he often has to fight through exhaustion and fatigue to play and care for you. He's a special one.

Although daddy and I both know that you're a bit of a mama's boy right now, I know that one day you'll get a better glimpse of the daddy you have. An honest and hardworking man. Respectful and considerate of people. Caring and protective of women. A daddy who loves God and isn't afraid to journey through the doubts and questions. A daddy who looks forward to your interests and passions. A daddy who absolutely cannot wait to introduce you to some amazing experiences as well as some pretty awesome hero and comic movies. 

You've got a good one Finn. Yep, your daddy is a special one.

xo - Mama  

A Backyard Visitor

A funny looking penguin came to visit us this evening. Finn was intrigued for a second...

Then went to pick up rocks...

Then finally got in the thing (much to mama's delight, yeah it was only $15, but still!)... ;)

And then he got out and ran down the other side of the yard...

Then came back with a newly discovered object...

Oh wait...this IS kinda fun, ma!

Wee!!!

I'm learning...the only thing bad about introducing something new is when it's time for dinner and you have to take the little one away from the new thing. Not a happy camper. But the weird looking penguin will definitely get some good use this summer.

Happy almost Friday everyone!!!

Stop And Blow The Weeds

Yeah, I know that title is kinda weird, but I couldn't officially determine the name of that puffy white flowery weed that grows everywhere (apparently it’s like the seeds of a dandelion, but not an actual dandelion?). Anyway, you’ll see what I’m talking about…here’s a few pics I took from our Sunday together. :))

After church, lunch and a nap (all three were wonderful things), Rob mowed the lawn while I pushed the little one around the front yard. When Rob finished the backyard he came out front and Finn was mesmerized with the thing. Anywhere I pushed him, he craned his neck to watch what daddy was doing.

A couple of weeks ago Rob had sent me a video while I was at work of Finn blowing at one of these “flowers”. While mowing yesterday the sweet man stopped before he mowed a few down and brought them over to us. It’s the little things. <3

It was getting a little too warm so I brought the boy in and he continued to watch his dad from the front window. (excuse those trash bags, I'm purging our back junk room and am having a fun time throwing stuff out)

He even threw up his leg to show his excitement, lol.

We also were able to enjoy TWO meals together. And the best part was that the three of us got to eat at the same time. Something I strongly enjoy and something that doesn't get to happen too often with our schedules. Again, it’s the little things. Oh and Finn started looking like an oompa loompa with the amount of spaghetti sauce covering his hands, face and little body. :))

Later we went out and got ourselves some ice cream.

Rob and I tried determining whose ice cream Finn liked the most (me = mint with chocolate chips and crushed cone :: Rob = sweet cream and crushed oreos). We held both of our spoons up to Finn to see which he’d choose but instead he just opened his mouth wide. He wanted it all. No ice cream discrimination here. 

And over here is a crazy lady...

It's funny because if all you do is look at this blog, you could think that I carry my big camera everywhere...or at least that I take tons of pictures. And yeah, I do take a lot, but I do it in spurts. I'll not see my camera for a week and then pick it up (usually on a weekend when there's more time). I guess I do try to balance the whole documenting thing that I like to do with keeping in mind to live in the moment. 

Yep, there are plennnnnty of distractions out there, but I love the way that having a child opened my eyes to the little discoveries all over again.To remember the little things. To stop and blow the weeds.

"This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24