Malakai: the ring-bearer

Malakai is going to be a ring bearer next month for the 2nd time. The first time was for my sister-in-law, Kristi's,  wedding back in September. It was interesting, to say the least. I don't recall if I've blogged about it specifically, but I do know I've mentioned Malakai's aversion to clothing. Recently, that has changed some, but I'll get to that later.

So prior to Kristi + Nick's wedding my mother-in-law did a fantastic job prepping him for the big day. Months before hand she talked it up. She made his vest for the big day and his wearing it was our main concern. Not only because it was a piece of clothing (because that alone, was enough to stress him out) but it was a piece of clothing different than T-shirts and shorts.

Now, I do take some responsibility for his attitude toward clothes, I did let him frolic around our house in just his undies for a very long time. I mean...doesn't everyone wish they could do that? I digress. So, when it was time to get dressed, it became a fight. It did get easier as he understood that if he wanted to go   that he'd have to get dressed. He was still picky about what it was that he wore. T-shirts and shorts and occasionally jeans. 

We spent so much time focusing on getting him to wear the vest, that we did forget about the dress pants and button-up shirt. The day before the wedding we were preparing to leave our house for the rehearsal and dinner when Malakai threw the most epic fit about wearing a polo shirt ("buttons!"). He got himself so worked up that he was irretrievable. Then, the puked. He was that upset about it. So, we let him wear whatever he wanted that day and knew to be really careful about how we approached him on the wedding day. We were all a part of the wedding and couldn't risk getting vomited on before walking down the aisle.

After a lot of running around (literally), some tears, and a lot of angry birds graham crackers this is what Malakai wore...

{why yes, that is a yellow Avengers T-shirt underneath his vest}

see, he wore the vest. The rest of the outfit, not so much.

Things have gotten better since then and it got even easier after I made him a list of daily routines, that he started to call his "projects", 3rd on the list is to get dressed.

 He doesn't ask me "where are we going" or "who's coming over" when it's time to put clothes on. He just does it, a lot of the time by himself.

{look mama, it's red, your FAVORITE!}

However, when my cousin Valeena asked me if Kai could be the ring bearer in her wedding next month I was apprehensive. Not because I didn't think he could complete the task, but because I wasn't sure what she'd want him to wear. I warned her about last time and that I'd totally understand if she'd want to back down, but she didn't. So, for this wedding he is going to wear a white T-shirt (hallelujah!), dress pants, shoes, and suspenders- all in brown. I have the shoes, the rest we'll have to work on. I do however have blue suspenders. I can't recall if they were Ben's when he was little, or perhaps my younger brother Cody's. Either way, I decided to warm him up to the idea of them and he blew me away with how curious and almost excited he was about trying something new...

How precious is he in that funky little outfit. My husband threw out the word "hipster", which Kai immediately repeated over and over again. whoops.

So here's hoping we can get him to wear the whole outfit this time around. And hey- anyone have recommendations on where to get the rest of his outfit?... especially brown suspenders?

February 2013

I can hardly believe spring is here...I mean, where did February even go?

Here is a bit of a recap of how last month went for us....

On the 2nd, Ben turned 28. We celebrated by going out to breakfast, but then after nap I headed up to Portland. I had a bachelorette to attend, and my sweet husband gave me the go ahead to miss the evening of his birthday for it. I'm telling you, he's one generous and patient man.

I had a blast at Carina's bachelorette and felt about 10 years younger, if only for an hour while we were out dancing. I also started a 2 week vacation. I figured I was going to be away from my job for 2 weekends, I might as well take off the days in between and spend some focused time with my boys. It was WONDERFUL.



The next day, I headed back home as soon as I could to continue Ben's birthday weekend celebration. After the boys woke up from nap we headed to Ben's parents for a Superbowl/Bday party for Ben. Just a little party with both of our immediate families.

The following weekend was THE wedding. Carina and Reid's big day was one of my favorites of all time. Ben and I left the kids home with his parents for the entire weekend (which was a first and made me nervous- mostly because of their sleep habits). We stayed at my High School best friend's place and had a great time catching up with her and her husband. We had the rehearsal, dinner and then stayed up late talking with Linds and Adam before crashing and then SLEEPING IN (glorious!).

Then February 9th, Ben dropped me off at the Crystal Ballroom and I dove into the preparations that were already underway (While Ben cavorted around Portland by himself, and thoroughly enjoyed it). Things moved quickly and the wedding started just after 5pm, beautiful ceremony, cocktail hour, dancing, dinner, dancing. Ben and I had a really fun night, and we realized it was the first time we really danced together. I passed out shortly after we got back and then the next morning we were off to visit a Portland church and we even ate lunch before rushing home to our boys. It was so good for us, our marriage, our kids...our whole family. The boys did GREAT and Ben and I felt rejuvenated and were so relieved to discover that our children didn't disintegrate without us.

A few days later we took the boys to see Liz's lambs. They get bummers every year and invite everyone to come out for a feeding to see them. I love it just as much as the kiddos do. Ben was there, he just did all the photo taking...

All month we had about a million different types of appointments that kept us quite busy (more on that later and NO I am not pregnant again, haha). Then I came down with some weird stomach thing (yes, I'm SURE I'm not pregnant) and then the next day Ben was out with the stomach flu. Then we had some sort of food poisoning a few weeks later. Hm, perhaps my cooking is killing us slowly.

The weather was randomly dry and sunny and we spent some afternoons and weekends outside. We mostly let the boys play, even though we have a LOT of yard work to catch up on.

Malakai went back and forth with potty-training all month and I wanted to tear my hair out or throw him a party a handful of different times. Yeah, it's been a roller coaster ride.

Desmond is talking up a storm, he started repeating just about anything he hears. He's such a little parrot in that regard. He also LOVES to mimic anything Kai does, so we've had a lot of talks with Malakai about setting a good example for his brother. Good example- cleaning up toys, playing gently. Bad example, running around and literally bouncing off the walls, climbing chairs to reach things on tables. Sigh.

Things at work have been different for both Ben and I. I don't really like to go into details about our workplace joys or woes too much here, so I'll just leave it at that. We are both gainfully employed and while it's often a struggle to make ends meet due to our long term debt (we have ZERO debt outside of our home and student loans, but those 2 things are more than ENOUGH), God always provides somehow and we are able to make it work.

So...that was our February, a short month packed with more activity than should actually fit.

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. 

wedding weekend

This adorable couple is now enjoying wedded bliss as of their lovely wedding on Saturday.

{Megan + Michael 7.23.11}

Ben + I were blessed to be a part of their ceremony and can't wait to see the rest of the photos. Unfortunately I didn't get a single photo of Ben, myself, or Malakai from the day with my own camera so we'll all have to wait for the professional pictures to come through.

On Friday night we headed to the Oregon coast  for the rehearsal with my mom + sister along for the ride to help us with Malakai. We checked into our hotel and were off to the dinner and to practice for the big day while Kai got incredibly sandy and refused to eat Taco Bell (that's my boy!).

That night sleep eluded us all in our shared double-queen hotel room. Malakai was not a fan of sleeping in a strange place. It took me by surprise after how well he had done camping just weeks before, but many factors played into the different outcome. He wasn't as dead tired as he was while camping from running around all day long, and he didn't have an enclosed sleeping space, free of distractions. He kept trying to climb out of the bed and over to my Mima + Aunt Nans. Then he insisted on sleeping on top of me, or he'd scream at the top of his lungs. So for as long as I could endure, I lay on my back, 6 months pregnant with a 30lb toddler on my stomach. I thought if I could lay there long enough to let him fall into a deep enough sleep I could roll him over. Despite his snoring, he still screamed when I tried to move him! It was a rough night...

The next day we got ready, packed up, and were dropped off at the church once again by my mom + sister. They headed to lunch and for more sandy fun at the beach. We figured if the came to the wedding ceremony Malakai would just call for me when he saw us walk down the isle, so they waited til the reception.

I came with my makeup ready, got my hair done by one of Megan's talented friends, and wrapped myself up into my bridesmaid dress with the help of my fellow bridesmaid Angie. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was the shortest I'd ever been to. After barely any sleep, I was thankful for the brevity.

{I did get a photo of their fabulous cake!}

We ate cake, mingled as much as we could, took a few more photos with the couple and then sent them off in a rush of blue + purple balloons before packing ourselves up and heading back to the valley.

Kai was overtired from not napping. He spaced out for most of the ride, it took him 45 minutes before he passed out. We came home and all napped for an hour even though it was 5pm- we needed it! The rest of the weekend we spent some time recuperating and visiting with family a bit.

We survived our busy July...a quick recap:
Camping
Our 4th wedding Anniversary
having a garage sale
Malakai's 2nd birthday
Bridesmaid + Groomsman

Whew! August, here we come. Here's hoping for warmer weather and a few lazy afternoons by the pool.

down the isle

Tomorrow afternoon our friends Megan + Michael are getting married. Megan and I have been friends since college and I'm so thrilled to see her as a bride. It's going to be such a fun and happy day.

I'm quite excited to walk down the isle as one of her bridesmaids. It's such an honor to be asked to stand beside someone on such an important day in their lives.

Ben is also in the wedding, which means we get to walk down the isle together-again. It may be cheesy but I'm really looking forward to walking down the isle him almost exactly four years after our own wedding.

I'm still here...

We had another busy weekend and I'm still catching up on work and life stuff, so the blog took a backseat for a few days. On Saturday we went to my parents' place first thing in the morning so Ben + my dad could replace the brake pads on our car. Later that afternoon I went with one of my best friends to check out an option for bridesmaid dresses. We're getting some lovely handmade convertible dresses from Erin, who co-hosted Jamie's shower with me just last month. I am going to be about 6 months pregnant at the wedding so I'm really excited for these convertible dresses and I'll definitely be able to wear it again!

On Sunday I worked and we attended service at church. I interviewed more potential volunteers, which I just LOVE! That afternoon I made dinner for Jacob + Jamie and we got to visit and hold little Justice. Malakai met him for the first time and Ben held him for the first time. Malakai wasn't too happy about me holding the baby. I think it'll be great that we have so many new babies around to get him used to in preparation for our new little one.

{what a natural}

Something not so pleasant that we were dealing with on Sunday was our washing machine going out, while it was full of clothes and water. We had to empty all of the clothes and take them in a big storage bin (because they were soaked) to my in-laws to rewash. Thankfully it's working again and after my cousin looked it over today, it seems like everything is in tact. 

On Monday I had the car, so after a day of playing and only an hour nap for Malakai we headed out to meet our new cousin Cordelia for the first time and bring her sleepy parents some dinner. We were sick when she was born 2 weeks ago and didn't want to risk getting her or her family sick. 

{so teeny + precious}

I loved finally hearing my cousin's birth story and snuggling little Delia. Malakai was more interested in exploring their house and having the dog lick his face, which is probably why he didn't mind my holding the baby this time. 

This morning Ben had to be at work at 5:30am (he usually goes in at 7am). When the alarm went off at 4:30am I was pretty confused...so was Ben, because he turned it off in his sleep! He startled awake at 5am, which also woke me. I instantly felt sick and struggled to go back to sleep. I've been feeling more nauseous than I have thus far. I'm pulling out all the stops: protein rich snacks, hard candies, fruit and lots of water. So far so good!

a story of embarrassment, 2007

{Being home sick means that there's not much new or exciting going on around here to share. I was inspired to tell this story after sharing it with a long time friend who somehow missed out on hearing it until now...}

I'm not easy to embarrass. My parents did a good job of desensitizing me to potentially embarrassing moments as an adult, but putting me through them as a teenager. Dad + Mom, thank you?

The story I'm about to tell didn't so much embarrass me because of what happened, but more because of what others perceived to be the reason for what happened. Okay, so on with it...

Ben + I were married in July of 2007 after a short 4 month engagement. I really enjoy planning, but could not wait to be done with our wedding. There was just too much coming at me from all sides and a lot of pressure landing on one day. Looking back, there were things I enjoyed and now I fully enjoy going through the process with my friends, but being the bride was a lot of unwanted attention for me. I had so many people asking me dozens of different questions that I mostly didn't have the answer to. It stressed me out when I couldn't answer, it made me feel like I was doing something wrong.

Our wedding was smallish and not super traditional. We got married at our church, but out in a grassy area instead of under the wisteria where all the other outdoor weddings had been held. I didn't wear a vail. We high-fived after our kiss and walked out to Relient K.

I wanted something simple for my dress. I didn't think I'd find it at the only wedding dress store in town, David's Bridal, based on what I had seen online, but we went anyway. We went at night and there was practically nobody there, perfect. I tried on about 5 or so dresses and my miracle dress (as my mom calls it) was the last of a discontinued style that they took off of a mannequin.

I came back with some family for a fitting a while later. I stood on the pedestal under the hot lights wondering why they didn't do this part in the back instead of in the showroom. I really don't like to be in the spotlight, but I don't get particularly nervous or embarrassed by the attention. I was standing there for a really long time as they needed to take the dress in quite a bit and hem it up pretty far (I'm only 5 foot 2 inches tall). After a while I started to feel flushed. This really warm feeling came over me and I was a bit dizzy. I chose to ignore it, figuring the seamstress was almost done and then we could go. I mentioned feeling hot and she blamed the lighting overhead.

A few moments later I started to sway a bit and realized I really needed to sit down. I let her know and stumbled over to a bench near my family. Someone went to get me water and I said I was fine. Then, my sister gasped loudly and caught me in her arms.

I fainted.

Not like, passed out on the ground, dead to the world. I fell forward from where I was sitting and my sister eased my body to the ground, then I sat right back up. The color came back to my face, I felt cooler, and less dizzy. It was almost as if someone hit my reset button.

What came next was the embarrassing part. The shop ladies came running to where I was, fussing over me and getting me water and candies (for my blood sugar?). One lady in particular was suddenly very vocal, as if she was making an announcement to the whole place. She went on about how I must have gotten so excited thinking about my wedding day that I fainted. Later we came to find out she wasn't even an employee, but a nosy customer.

What had really happened (because I am not the giddy, faint from excitement type) was that I had locked my knees. I never really sang in choir or did anything that would have warranted someone warning me against this apparent hazard. I honestly didn't realize I was doing it, I just wanted to stand perfectly still so that the hem on my dress was pinned straight.

For the rest of that day and the month leading up to our wedding I was teased quite a bit about fainting during our ceremony. Nobody really listened to the explanation of why I actually fainted in the first place, they just found it to be great fun to pick on me. Luckily, as I mentioned before, both of my parents are "button pushers" so I didn't let it get to me too much.

Despite my little episode and the flood of embarrassment that came over me, we finished the fitting and my dress fit me perfect when I went back in. Thankfully, I knew not to lock my knees and no fainting occurred on our big day.

{Anne Nunn Photographers}

And now I can laugh about this story and easily share it with anyone. I often warn other brides-to-be when they are about to go in for a fitting.
What's one of your most embarrassing moments?

Birthday Weekend Part 3: Road Trip!

On Sunday of Malakai's Birthday weekend we had a wedding to go to for a friend of mine from college + work. We didn't have any more "birthday" activities, but I'm including this post in the series as it was all part of the busiest weekend of our lives so far.

 {Remember this post about her gorgeous Bridal Shower?}

It has actually been a lot of fun to have Malakai's birthday and her wedding fall on the same weekend. We've been counting down to "our big weekend" together since they set their wedding date.

That morning we got a slow start. Mostly because we thought that we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us, but according to google maps, we had a 2 and a half hour drive! So we bumped up our departure time by a half hour. We realized this at about 11:30am and needed to get out the door by 12:30pm! Needless to say, we didn't really get on the road til closer to 1pm. We even had to wake up Malakai from his nap. He was so sleepy I thought he'd just drift back to sleep. Instead, he just quietly sat there, looking a bit spacey for the most part. He was happy, and that's all I cared about!

Once we got to the church, it was 3:10pm, and the wedding was supposed to start at 3:30pm. I wanted to get Kai's diaper changed, dress shirt + shoes on before we went into the sanctuary. I headed to the women's restroom- NO CHANGING TABLE! I just about panicked. I went back to the front of the church, asked one of the lovely girls at the guestbook table if she knew where I could find one and she pointed me to the nursery. SAVED! It was also nice because the nursery had a tinted window into the sanctuary. Ben + I agreed that if Kai had a meltdown during the ceremony he'd take him in there so I could enjoy the wedding.

He babbled a few times and when he got really loud Ben took him out into the foyer, but no meltdowns! This was his 2nd wedding, but the first was when he was only 2 months old. He did such a good job! The ceremony was beautiful and I was so happy for Krista + Matt!

The reception was in the fellowship hall which was attached to the nursery, so nice + convenient. 

Malakai met another college friend of ours who lives in California now. Whitney was a bridesmaid in the wedding. There were two other times she was supposed to meet Kai but her trips got cancelled, she was so excited to finally get to see him in person!

Later Malakai couldn't decide which bridesmaid he wanted to hang out with...so he chose both!

The reception was very casual. Just eating, visiting, toasts, + cake cutting.

{lovely centerpieces}

 Malakai cruised around a bit and we made sure he got some time outside as well.

One of my best friends, Carina, was really helpful to have around when we needed an extra set of hands. She's a very fun "auntie"! She also took this next photo for us. LOVE it!

This was the first time we stayed for the entire reception since Ben and I have been together. We are so glad we didn't miss the send-off. When Matt + Krista got through all the people and bubbles, there was no getaway car!

After a few very confusing minutes, someone drove it around front. Every wedding has to have a fun story like that!

It was after 6:30pm so we got Kai in his PJ's to make him more comfy for our long drive back. He passed out before we even made our first turn towards home and slept the whole way!

Ben + I enjoyed each other's company and the sunset all the way down I-5

We got home just after 9:30pm and settled down as our crazy weekend finally came to a close. 

Now this week we've been trying out a new schedule with watching Henry. It's been interesting as the last 3 days Malakai hasn't taken very good naps. He either wakes up to early or won't go to sleep before we leave, and always refuses to nap while we're there. Thankfully he's fallen asleep on the way home and stayed that way for me to transfer him from car seat to crib. Luckily, this schedule will only be going for the next few weeks!

three years

I had this wonderful post planned out for today. It's our 3rd wedding anniversary and I've been working on a photo post of our love story...unfortunately all of those photos are on our desktop, which isn't cooperating with me this morning. Perhaps by Friday I'll be able to share them with you.

Until then, Happy Anniversary to my love. He is my best friend, partner in crime, an amazing daddy to our little Kai, the love of my life who I'm working on being my best for each and every day.