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.

Dear Desmond Lee

Dear Sweet "Little" Desmond,
This past year has been a wild ride. It has gone by faster than any time in my entire life and it shows no signs of slowing down, neither do you. It's hard to imagine that 12 months have already passed since I went into labor. Daddy still teases me for all the chores I did before I would go to the hospital. I know that all that work helped you get here faster and we got to spend more time with you once you were home because there were no chores to bug us, not that we would have let them.

You started out very colicky and it was rough for all of us those 1st three weeks, but nothing compared to your recent virus that kept us up all night worrying about you and trying to help you sleep. Thankfully you are strong and healthy again, just in time for your birthday. As a newborn you had an ear infection at just a couple weeks old and it broke our hearts, we also struggled through other illnesses together those first few months but we've made  it out stronger.

You progressed through life so quickly, doing everything early. You even gained weight by your 2-day appointment (when most babies are still working to get back to birth weight by 2 weeks). You sat up, crawled, and walked earlier than most. I think you were trying to catch up to your big brother.

You and your brother Malakai have grown into such special friends. Before you were born he was jealous of any other baby or child that I held. The day you were born and he met you, all that changed and then he wouldn't let anyone hold you but me. You were "mama's baby". He was protective of you until you learned to crawl, then he realized you were a playmate and the wrestling began. It has only recently become a two-sided affair. Still, the two of you love to chase each other and dance together, although you can be found dancing at even the hint of music, it takes a bit more to get your brother to join in these days.

Your look has changed quite a bit since you were born and it seems you've slowly morphed into looking like your daddy and brother. Mama finds you all to be so handsome that she's perfectly fine with losing her "look alike".

Lately you are repeating words and sounds and pointing at what or who you want. Pointing at noses and saying "nuh" or things you get excited about like dogs and saying "whoah!". You also seem to be experiencing a tad of separation anxiety as you always want me to be nearby. Thankfully it hasn't inhibited you enough to keep you from enjoying yourself in the church nursery where you play hard and have won the hearts of many volunteers.

You are very stubborn and grunt when you want something that is being taken or blocked. Like when you insist on climbing inside the lid drawer and someone tries to take you back out again. We've decided that you enjoy being "containerized". You love to "read" the Elmo Peek-a-Boo book that you got last Christmas and play with blocks or your shaker eggs.

Our little family is so much better because you are in it. We can't wait to see what the years ahead bring for you.

{traditional birthday breakfast at OPH}

Happy 1st Birthday Desmond Lee!
Love, Mama

Malakai is 3- how we spent his birthday... Part 2

Malakai's birthday fell on a Monday this year. We decided to still go ahead with our plans to take him to The Original Pancake House for his birthday stack. We did this for the first time last year and hope to make a tradition for all of our kids. The photo of him blowing out the candle last year when he turned 2 is still my desktop picture, it's one of my all time favorite photos in existence. 

{7.16.11}

Look how much my baby big boy has grown!

{7.16.12}

Malakai enjoyed looking over the menu and blowing out his candle just as much this year. It was fun to have Des experience the place for the first time. It was such an enjoyable little outing. 

Afterwards we dropped Daddy off at work and went to the mall to play. I knew Kai would really enjoy playing on the big slide in the courtyard. However, it was still so early that it was closed for cleaning. We wandered around the mall a bit and Malakai explored the little mechanical rides. He wanted to try a rollercoaster one but freaked out a bit when I actually put the money in. So we just watched a gal finish vacuuming the play area until we could go in. It was odd, but the boys had the place to themselves for a good 20 minutes. 

We ran a few errands, had lunch at Target and headed home for naps. When Kai woke up I surprised him with his turtle sandbox full of sand for the first time. We had previously used it for a ball pit and for the last year or so it's been put away...

He was thrilled to have his own sand to play in, and I'm thrilled to be able to avoid the park sandbox for the most part!

When Daddy got home from work we took the boys to Red Robin. It's pretty much the only kid/baby friendly restaurant nearby and they send a free kid's meal coupon for birthdays. Malakai picked everything he wanted off the menu himself, and after the fun he had with his straw at breakfast he requested a milk with a straw. Thankfully, they delivered!

He had the sweetest grin on his face when the servers sang happy birthday and he scarfed down his Sundae like we were going to take it away any moment. (he shared, of course). 

It was such a sweet day for all of us. 3 has been the magic number for Malakai and we are really enjoying watching him grown. 

celebrating 5 years of wedded bliss

On July 7th Ben + I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It's a small milestone, especially compared to the decades we plan to spend together. We decided to go away for the day/night, making it our first overnighter away from the boys for fun. Our 1st nights away from Kai were spent in the hospital when Desmond made his arrival. This was our very 1st night away from Desmond.

We hadn't done anything to celebrate except a quick dinner here in town since our 1st anniversary. Back in 2008 we spent a weekend at the coast, so we decided to do that again this year. We wanted to check out the River House Inn in Florence because it's right at the end of Old Town, so we could walk everywhere except the beach.

On Saturday morning we got ourselves and our boys ready to go to Mima's house, where we'd drop them off and our car so she could come back to our place for naps and the rest of our time away. Ben stopped for gas in the other car and met me there. I got Kai + Des all settled, chatted with my mom and joked with my dad about forgetting to leave them my car keys (and then I forgot to leave them my car keys...and they had to go to our house to get the other set, sorry guys!).

When we left Ben told me he had called the hotel to see if they do any free upgrades, as some do when they have openings. They don't...but he upgraded our room to the river view one anyway. It was such a lovely surprise!

When we got into town the first thing we did was run out onto the beach. Then we hurried to meet our dear friends, Michael and Megan, for a long overdue lunch in Old Town. We spent some time catching up and resolving to not let so much time go by before we see them again. We couldn't NOT see them while we were there, they live a block away from where we were staying!

Afterwards we checked into our room and I went straight to the balcony to take in our view.

$40 well spent. The other rooms had a view of the parking lot and the walk way. No thanks. 

We had a few hours before our dinner reservations at the Waterfront Depot (where we ate 4 years earlier), so we decided to go for a walk. 

{so blessed that this handsome man is mine}

We still had plenty of time to kill so we watched some HGtv (a channel we love but do not have) and enjoyed the quiet, uninterrupted time to ourselves. 

Once we were ready for dinner, I wanted to take a photo but didn't have the tripod. We tried a number of ways to prop the camera up and ultimately dared to put it on the balcony ledge. I love this photo so much, it's my profile picture on facebook right now, but that version is cropped. Here is the full version, 

This one makes me laugh because you can clearly tell the camera is balanced atop something, and our room is a disaster after on a few hours. We laughed about how "freeing" it was to leave our stuff lying around and not have to worry about one of our kids getting into it. We're wild ones, I tell ya, living on the edge!

We had a fantastic dinner and went for another walk afterwards. Ben suggested we walk along the river, after about 30 feet I got stuck in the mucky sand and we had to climb our way out. It wasn't pleasant at the time, but we were laughing hysterically anyway. 

The next day we slept in (SLEPT IN!!!), and took our time getting up for breakfast. We grabbed coffee and wandered Old Town again. Along the way we picked up prizes for our boys, and my parents as a thank you for enduring a sleepless night. We found some goodies at the dollar store that I was obnoxiously excited about, went to the beach again, had sushi for lunch, and grabbed ice cream at BJ's for the ride home. 

It was so much fun to spend time just the two of us and re-energize ourselves by taking some time away from the kids. Now that we've done it once, I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to do it again although it may be a while. Our boys were so excited to see us and it was such a joy to bring them a little something from our trip. Malakai still calls the magnifying glass that Ben picked out his "surprise". 

Happy Anniversary my love, each and every day as your wife is pure joy. Parenting with you is a dream come true. I love our life together and count myself blessed every moment. 

and then he was 3...

Today my sweet Malakai is 3 years old! We had a ton of fun celebrating him this past weekend with family and friends. This morning we'll take him out for our traditional birthday breakfast.

Happy Birthday to our smart, strong-willed, energetic, and loving first born!

and for nostalgia sake, here is my first post after he was born. and HERE is the story of his birth from Ben's perspective.

swamped

There are so many things I want to write about (day to day, anniversary trip, various milestones) and a zillion photos I want to share, but with Kai's birthday party less than a week away- I have no time! I am hoping to do a massive update after the kiddo turns THREE!

Robot Birthday Party

Ben + I decided that as long as Malakai is young enough not to ask for a specific theme for his birthday parties that we'd choose ones we liked. (EDIT: I should say he thoroughly enjoyed the robot theme now that he's old enough to notice). Last year was pirates and this year was between dinosaurs and robots, we went with robots. Of course we always choose a theme that is hard to find premade decorations for, but that means our party ends up one of a kind! Last year's pirates stuff was homemade and a collection of things found and purchased at quite a few different places. This year  pirates stuff is EVERYWHERE, oh well. With robots I found even less store bought things which posed a challenge for favors, but I think I pulled it together pretty well.

I started out with a set of free printables from this website. The original plan was to use these little guys all over everything. When it came time to print just days before the party it turned out that not everything was going to work the way I wanted. I couldn't find a 1" or 2" round craft punch for the cupcake toppers and the water bottle wraps wouldn't work on the cups like I had hoped. I went to picnik and created my own toppers and cup labels as well as a few other items.

I made this little sign to greet guests. This way everyone could just let themselves in and nobody had to stand watch at the door.

I went for an eclectic look using lots of white and primary colors. This also made my shopping a bit easier. I got these adorable party hats at Target and simply printed some robots onto sticker paper and we had instant robot party hats!

I did the same thing with some plain blue cups from the Dollar Tree and served cupcakes on the matching blue plates (but without the robot stickers).

For the cupcakes I just printed the toppers I made with picnik onto cardstock and then cut them with an oval cutter my mother-in-law had. I taped toothpicks to the back and they were ready to go!

I wasn't planning on adding any colored frosting to the cream cheese frosting I made for the funfetti cupcakes, but I had a bunch of blue left over from writing on Kai's cake that I decided to embellish some with 2's and confetti like squiggles.

The little robot guys among the cupcakes are actually bubbles! I found them on amazon.com and used my free 2 day shipping to get them here quick. I had enough to decorate with as well as include one in each favor bag.

For the favor bags I had a little too much fun. I started out looking in stores and online for cute little toys but didn't have much luck. So I went back to my printable robots and stuck them to various things to go with the theme. In addition to the robot bubbles I had made some playdough and simple sealed it up in babyfood jars I had been hanging on to for far too long. I painted the lids with chalkboard paint and then wrote on the tops with chalk ink. I had all of these things at my house already.

The inspiration for make a "dough-bot" came to me as I was putting them together. I was so proud of my cheesy play on words that I had to announce it to Ben as soon as I thought of it. He's so sweet for putting up with me sometimes. The best part is that at first Malakai pronounced the word robot as "dobot" so it was a sweet little touch from him as well.

I grabbed fruit snacks at Target to include at the last minute instead of candy and as I was stuffing the bag I got another random urge to play on words. When I realized that the bags said "Mott's for tots" I had to change it to fit our theme...intro more sticker paper...

I obviously didn't strive for perfection here. It was late at night and I just went to work at getting things DONE. I threw in a couple of robot stickers, topped it with the "thanks for coming" label and that was that.

Ben was tasked with making the robot centerpiece. I bought him a package of foam sheets at the Dollar Tree, borrowed googly eyes and pipe cleaners from his mom, and let him go to work with items we had around the house (and a origami box I made for the head). He did GOOD!

I made some zigzag streamers by cutting opposite sides down regular crepe paper streamers, alternating all the way down. Ben grabbed some balloons at the last minute (local people, Rite Aid is the cheapest to fill balloons at .25cent a piece!)

Ben's mom made this cut out robot and surprised us with it when we came over. 

I also used picnik to make the robot coloring sheets which were quite a hit with Malakai's guests.

Lastly, I embellished a cardboard box with some corrugated craft paper for the favor bags that each little guest got to take on their way out. The favor bags came in handy when Kai's little friends didn't want to leave the birthday presents behind. 

All in all I'm happy with the way it all turned out and am looking forward to decorating for next year already!

and then he was 2.

Well we apparently survived Malakai's 2nd birthday and the festivities that ensued. I have SO many pictures and so much to tell that I think I'll break it up into a couple posts. First, a bit of a timeline of how we spent his birthday. I'll do a 2nd post of the decor + prep that went into throwing his party.

The night before I could.not.sleep. I woke up every hour and my mind was spinning with the details of the following day. Being sore + pregnant didn't help. I decided to give up and get out of bed at 5:30am which is when I finished his birthday letter. I posted it at 7:20am, the time he was born.

Ben + I got ready quietly and let the birthday boy sleep until he was good and ready to wake up for a very eventful day. He woke up around 8am and we greeted him together with a birthday song, he grinned through the whole thing and was in a very good mood. We got him ready and gathered our things to head out the door for his first ever breakfast out. Moments before we loaded the car he pulled an entire tray of cupcakes out of the fridge and onto the floor. I gasped and then composed myself because it was his birthday and a few cupcake casualties shouldn't ruin it. Thankfully, they were all saved.

We headed to the Original Pancake House, a favorite local breakfast/brunch spot. I planned to split the banana pancakes with Malakai but I found out that they'd give him his very own birthday stack! It came complete with berries and a candle. He was thrilled (we've been practicing blowing out candles all week).

I knew it was going to be a good day when I captured such a perfect photo of him blowing out the candle. This is my new all-time favorite photo.

Kai then proceeded to eat the entire stack of pancakes and downed his glass of milk. He was happy + well behaved the entire time. What a great start to his 2nd birthday!

When we got home we played a bit and then loaded up the car to take all the supplies and decorations to Grandma + Grandpa Pottorfs where his party was held. We played a bit and I decorated. Around noon he ate lunch and Ben took him home for a quick nap while I stayed to finish decorating and frosting cupcakes.

At 2pm guests arrived and the birthday boy came shortly after, fashionably late and a little groggy from his nap. After he warmed up to the house filling with loved ones he was ready to play and socialize. He was quite enamored with the balloons as well as the new water feature that Grandpa had just put the finishing touches on that morning.

Nothing like balloons, water, and rocks to make a two year old very happy!

After an hour of greeting guests we went straight to singing to the birthday boy. He was once again thrilled to see a flickering candle headed his way and grinned from ear to ear as everyone sang to him. He blew out the candle but it relit itself 3 times before going out. It was quite the spectacle and he enjoyed every minute of it.

Then came time to dig into his very own cake. Unlike last year's healthy recipe I made him good old fashioned funfetti cake out of the box with homemade cream cheese frosting. Instead of digging in he carefully lifted the robot and licked the frosting. Then poked at the top a bit. It was only after I gave him a spoon that he actually ate some of it. Leave it to a toddler to save his manners for the one moment you want him to be a bit messy!

Everyone else had cupcakes and vanilla ice cream. Shortly after we gathered for gifts, I didn't want to draw things out and have any guests feel obligated to stay for hours on end. He was really into opening the first couple of gifts but then all he wanted to do was play with the basketball hoop and flashlight he just got. It is a bit cruel to ask a child to open a gift and then not play with it until later. We kept trying but eventually gave up and opened his gifts for him.

This kiddo is well loved, he received many generous gifts. There were about 45 people in attendance at his party, it was such a blessing to have so many friends + family come see him for his birthday.

After we finished up gifts he played with his toys, the balloons, and of course the water feature some more. We also got some photos in the stand up robot that Grandma Pottorf had made the night before. Great minds think alike because Ben + I almost made one as well!

{beep, boop}

As the crowd thinned and we were down to just family we barbecued for dinner and tried to relax some. Malakai did not have the same idea. Thankfully he ate some dinner but then he was back at running around, full of energy. He didn't rest for anything all day other than to eat and take a 1 hour nap.

{play time with G'Pa Jim}

It was no surprise then when later he had a hard time settling down and falling asleep. He finally got to sleep by 9pm and Ben and I settled in at 11pm. I am currently surrounded by boxes and bags of gifts (while the remainder are still at my in-laws) and no energy to find a place for them. Our next big task is to get the playroom together so that we have a place for all these things.

Malakai obviously had a fantastic 2nd birthday and despite the exhaustion Ben + I enjoyed it too. We felt loved and accomplished and couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate the birth of our first born.

Thank you to everyone who came and celebrated our special boy!

Dear Malakai...

Dear sweet Malakai,
Today you are officially two years old. It's hard to believe that it has been a year since your 1st birthday and two since the day we saw your handsome face for the first time. You look even more like your daddy than ever before, but have a few of my features and a look all your own at the same time.

{7.16.09}

Over the last year you've become even more fiercely independent. I tend to describe you as a very strong willed child. You don't throw tantrums very often or for very long and I'm so thankful for that. However, on a rough day it makes it hard to know how to deal with your break downs because it's so rare. Although I see more fits in our near future. While it's exhausting I'm here to learn through this stage with you and come out better at communicating with one another on the other side.

You love to explore and figure out how things work. Buckles, buttons, and just about anything that comes apart or moves fascinates you. You've discovered digging in the dirt, collecting rocks, and a love of swimming. You are adventurous and fearless. If left to your own devices you would walk straight into the swimming pool or off the edge of the deck, you're still learning boundaries and what it means when something is dangerous. You do understand when you get hurt and will tell us by saying "hurt" or "ouch" and then "tiss" for a healing kiss from mama or daddy. We love that part, especially because it's most often nothing that really hurts you.

On the eve of your birthday you had your first big accident. You ran head first into a sharp cornered piece of furniture and it knocked you back hard. When I picked you up you had blood running down your face but you calmed down faster than mama did. Thankfully you didn't need stitches but the visit to the doctor was still an unpleasant one.

Over this year we have settled in to our 2nd home together, you learned to walk, had your first real sickness, tried many new "nummies", started to talk and do odd things in your sleep (just this past week you've taken to stripping from the waist down and falling asleep that way), you've memorized some of your favorite stories and read them to yourself,  you've also ripped many books and broken many crayons among other things,  you've destroyed almost every "baby proofing" device, you had your first haircut, you've learned the names of your closest loved ones, you experience your first and 2nd snow,  attempted potty learning but then  you have endured and overcome a painful hernia and surgery to correct it and the issue you had at birth, you've mastered nearly half the alphabet and quite a few numbers and love to sing the abc's and the birthday song, you love to sing + dance, you are increasingly polite; using please and thank you without being asked, you like to pray before meals and always say "may-men" afterwards, you are able to repeat just about any word thrown your way as long as you're in the right mood, you've developed a love of animals, you've learned to climb the furniture and love to empty your drawers in an attempt to find clothes for going outside, you can get yourself completely undressed and partially dressed, you still love to snuggle with mama + daddy on occasion, and so very much more...

I am so excited and blessed to continue to watch you as you learn and grown physically, mentally, and spiritually over yet another year. I pray that you never forget how deep our love is for you, especially once we welcome your little brother into our family in the fall. I am confident you will grow into the role of big brother quickly and enthusiastically. You are so strong and resilient and inspire me to be the same for you and our family.

Today is the first day of your THIRD year of life! Happy 2nd Birthday Malakai Benson, I love you very much.

Yours,
Mama.