aaaand I'm back!

Yikes.

My blog was down for over a week and I am so sorry for no explanation before it happened. We kept putting off renewing my domain name and then I transferred it the day it was expiring. Bummer is that transfers take 5-7 business days. Whoopsie!

Anyway, I've transferred to purchasing my domain name from Twenty70 Hosting and I'm SO glad I did. Their customer service has already been amazing. Night + day compared to using My Domain before. I received one on one attention and personalized help from someone who actually cares. I highly recommend them for your blog/website needs!

So I'm back and I have a lot of catching up to do. Life has been busy in some good + satisfying ways and in some bad + not so happy ways. We are moving onward with life as always and keeping a positive outlook as we always shoot for.

While the blog was down spring arrived, and then it snowed (photos to come), and then it was sunny for a few days. Oregon. I have also been sick and I keep thinking that I'm getting better, and end up feeling worse. I have a tendency to overdo it when I am on the mend instead of letting myself heal completely. Thank you dearest husband for teaching me this interesting fact about myself.

I have also been terribly behind on my Project 365. I've been taking photos like a maniac, especially since getting an iPhone, but I have been bad about posting them. So I'll take some time tonight and over the next few days to try to catch up here and over there.

Meanwhile, here's a precious photo of my boys from today.

Thanks to those of you who are still around. Hang in there...

snowy day

I'm doing some writing while my url is down, I figured it'll all pop up when my site is functioning normally again. Besides, I blog so little now I'm not sure how many people are still out there reading! Guess that's what happens when you have a baby and a toddler AND you work from home...and host a small group...and... you get the point, we are busy people these days. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining. We are so happy in our busyness.

Today we got to slow down a bit. Ben woke me early this morning to say he wasn't going to be heading to work right away because there were a few inches of snow. I barely understood him because we never get snow that can be measured in inches. It's been since winter of 2008 that we had enough to even stick around for more than a few hours. I rolled over and went back to bed, literally dreaming that the snow melted before I woke up. Then Ben woke me again and I assumed he was going to tell me that he was leaving for work, but he was waking me to come see how much snow there was. It was 4 inches by then and still coming down!

{front yard}

{back yard}

We spent a cozy morning watching the snow fall and then began suiting up to play before it inevitably disappeared. It took more than half an hour to get all of us dress. Malakai wanted to go out in the snow but didn't want to wear a coat or anything besides pj's, as usual. Once we finally got him dressed and outside he wouldn't keep mittens on so we snapped photos and then I headed inside with Des.

{first snow!}

I got him down for a nap in hopes I could head back outside to play but of course Kai's hands were too frozen by then and he was ready to come in. I was pretty bummed to not get my playtime in the snow, because then it rained on the snow. Wet snow is no fun at all.

So for the rest of the day Ben did some work from home and we stayed in our comfy clothes and enjoyed the view of the snow from our nice warm house. It was a pretty pleasant day overall and I'm glad we got one big snow before the spring rains hit.

Desmond: 5 months

Oy. It's almost painful when I realize how quickly babyhood is escaping us. I often say that with how fast Des grew after birth, we didn't get enough time in the teensy baby stage. You know...this one...

{photo by Davee Blu Photography}

That was just a week after he was born. 7 days old and oh so little. Why can't it last? I digress...

Desmond is now 5 months old as of the 10th. His favorite past time is to spit and blow raspberries. He loves it so much that he can be found doing this instead of going to sleep during many a nap or bedtime. 

He is a drooly mess most of the time as well. Partly from the spitting and raspberries, but mostly from the furious teething he has been experiencing for the past month. We NEVER had to deal with drool when Kai was a baby so this is new territory for us. Most days I'm not sure if I should put a bib on him or just change his clothes. 

I started a bit of a tradition (if you can call it that) during Kai's baby days. On the exact day he was a month older we would do a little photoshoot. It hasn't gone as well with Des but I always get a few pictures. This month I got more than usual and we let brother join in for the fun. 

Speaking of brother, Desmond LOVES his big brother Malakai. Kai has discovered what makes Des laugh and will do what he can over and over to get him giggling. 

We recently introduced Desmond to his activity jumper. He loves to play with the toys and jump up and down. Kai also likes to join him, connecting links to it for him. He's also been caught trying to climb into it...while Des was in it too. yikes.

Little guy enjoys tummy time and has been pushing his entire belly up off the floor. He can also scoot enough to move 90 degrees from where he had been originally facing. I have a feeling he'll be mobile early.

He is the happiest baby I have ever known. It is a breeze to get him to smile, showing off those great big dimples. He's super social, always looking for a face and lighting up when he finds one looking back at him. He's growing up too fast and I'm enjoying every minute of it. 

and I'm back...

It seems like just yesterday I updated around here, yet nearly a week has passed. I'm losing track of time all too often. We've been keeping pretty busy with playdates, family gatherings, work, and regular to-do's.  Just today I joked about how before kids we thought we were "so busy!" all the time. I'm wondering what else will make us even busier down the road to make us look back and long for this time in our lives. Probably when the kids are in school and having social obligations of their own.

Last week some mama-friends and I met up at a Tot-day at a local science museum and planetarium. I was able to leave Desmond with his Grandma Debbie so I could focus on Malakai. It was so nice to have some quality time with him out and about. He enjoyed the activities and just running around with other kids his size for a couple hours.

Over the weekend we went out for our first taste of leige waffles at Off the Waffle. They were so good! I looked up recipes to make them myself but they seem quite involved...we'll see if I make any attempts at them.

We ran some errands, then stuck around home for the rest of the day. That night the boys took their second bath together. Kai decided Des would make a good ducky holder.

Sunday went to church together (we usually go at different times) and afterwards I headed to Salem with Desmond and Grandma Debbie to have lunch with Kristi, my sister-in-law and other gals from the bridal party. Afterwards we watched her try on wedding dresses for the first time and she found the one! 

Des did pretty well on his first long car ride, he slept through half of it. He fussed for the last 10 minutes or so and was quite mad by the time we got there, but was back to his happy self once we unbuckled him.

On the way home I sat in the back with him (for the first time since our car only has room for the two carseats in the back), he babbled at me for a while and then passed out til we got back to town. Ben + Kai spent the afternoon napping and playing together. It went by fast, but was another good weekend.