Sharing the New with the Old

Sorry I never posted this last week!

This past weekend we had our first OC visitors, Shannon "Shannigans" Ritter & Amy "Monty" Martinez. I was so excited to have the two of them come to Lincoln because I have really missed them both since the move. They got in late Friday night after being stuck with the flight mate from hell (haha, sorry girls!) & we capped off the night with some citrus vodka & tonics (not gin & tonics - note to Alberto).

The next day got off to a rough start since my little baby woke up with spit up all over his crib & diarrhea (yuck, sorry). I had got experimental & gave him spaghetti the day before & feared that had done him in, but it turned out (read below!) that bubba got his first little flu bug. I was so sad for him & a bit worried - MIZ has never been sick before. He seemed in good spirits after a bath, though, & we didn't have anymore yucky episodes (that is until Sunday at lunch when he projectile vomitted exorcist style!). After making breakfast together (& hanging a window curtain - thanks girls!) we went & toured model homes. Now some of you might think that this is a really lame thing to do, but we really like doing this type of thing. Plus, I am actively recruiting Amy & Alberto to move to Lincoln - hehehe. It's outrageous what you can get for your money here compared to OC! But, yes, I know things are so expensive there because the OC is awesome, beaches, yadayadayada ;)After coming home & getting ourselves gussied up we went out to Mikuni's in Roseville & had the best sushi & sake I have ever had. Amy even took a Sake bomb (a baby one, but hey, still counts!)! It was such a great evening out with the girls filled with goofy moments & buzzed girl chatter. We closed down the restaurant! It was awesome. I wish Shann & Aim lived closer for more frequent nights like that one!

Saturday night brought on the most wicked flu I have ever seen Mike get in my life. He spent the whole night hugging the bowl & I felt so bad that there was nothing I could do for him. He woke up on Sunday looking like death & unable to hold down sips of water. It was another rainy day (boo) & we had Miles with us so Mike could rest in a peaceful house. We went shopping at the Galleria & had lunch at Plutos. It was nice to be able to be with old friends in a new place & see that the distance hasn't changed things (only frequency of get togethers!).

Miles was so cute when he first saw the girls too & has started doing this thing where he rests his head on my chest when he meets people he doesn't see on a weekly basis. I just love it! He warmed up to the ladies fast & was over mama in no time! It was nice to have some extra arms to share the almost 22 lb. load I carry around daily!!

Here are some pics from the weekend ( a few of Miles from earlier in Jan)...

Bonding with Shanny

I love Shanny & Amy!

Amy, Shannon & Milesy

Girls Night Out

My side of the table

Sushi soup - I can't think of the name of it, but it looks like the girls think it's yummy!

Chill'n on the porch with Daddy

A new way to enjoy the exersaucer

Teething bisquits - mmmm

Hi Everybody!

Starting to Get A Life

Mission "Get A Life" has been going pretty well so far. Granted it has only been one week, but I am pretty proud of how proactive I have been at putting myself (or should I say "ourselves") out there to make new friends here in Lincoln.

I went & cruised some model homes last week (one of the things I had listed to do just to get out of the house!) & ended up meeting 3 very nice young mommies. Two had just moved here within the last 4 months, & 1 had moved from Huntington Beach! Our kids are around the same ages, so we exchanged numbers. I got the courage up to call the mommy, Lori, on Friday (so weird having to make friends - it is like dating! Or what I guess dating would be like...) & we had an easy conversation & made a playdate for tomorrow. Piece of cake ;) I also went to Amber's play group on Friday, where some of the other Mom's had their less than 1 year olds. Miles got to play around with these little ones, I got some adult interaction & hopefully some new friends! The playgroup resulted in an invite to Dana & Hugo's house for a play off game party this past Sunday. The tribe went with the Laney family & had a really great time. I even met a mommy who lives around the corner from us with two boys (one Miles's age) who is Physical Therapist! Too cool. Lincoln has a formal "Mom's Group" & I sent in all my stuff last week to become part of it. Hopefully I will be getting hooked up with my very own play group with babies Miles's age soon. I am really looking forward to it!

The weather in Lincoln (& all of Cali!) has been gorgeous & I am liking our new home more & more each day. There is so much to do around here & it is really beautiful. This weekend we enjoyed taking walks, attempting to explore Sacramento (yuck! Not a fan - we ended up in the ghetto, happened to be next to an outdoor shopping mall - whatever!), hanging outside & visiting with my Mom, Dad & bro. I got to spend some time with Uncle Billy yesterday just the two of us while Grandma hung with Miles. It was great to get out of the house solo for a bit & to get that time one on one with my brother - it had been awhile.

Miles has been the dream baby lately, which has made for a very happy Mommy. Not that he has been anything less before, but I am just over the moon for him lately. He is so freak'n adorable & his personality is just exploding. He has learned how to wave & say "Hi" in this precious little baby voice. He smiles constantly with this huge 6 teeth grin. And I seriously think his eyelashes grew an inch in the last week. Ugh, I am so whipped. He has begun crawling on all fours (creeping) & our home is now his personal obstacle course! He still has trouble "creeping" on our tile floor & I tease that I will wrap him in swiffer's so he can help with the house work. It would be nice, keeping tile clean is a pain in the you know what. It may be time to wean him off nursing too, which makes me super sad. But, he has been biting me - hard. I know, cringe, OW! He doesn't get how bad it is to do that either so he smiles at me while biting which makes it much worse. My breasts hurt just thinking about it.

On that note, hope the week is off to a good start for all!

Week Days...

Amber & I decided that Tuesday's are kind of funky as a stay at home Mom. The weekend is too far away to look forward to & the blues can kind of set in if you don't have things lined up to do. With the holidays, I managed to keep myself pretty busy in a town where we know 4 people (our lovely Laney fam!), but now that the holidays have passed & we are well into January, I need to get a life!!! There are plenty of things to keep me busy around the house still - pictures to hang, dishes to wash, baby food to make (yes, I am still doing that!) but a little social interaction is always nice. Of course, at times of social need, it is pretty easy to succomb to spending money on random things you don't need at Target (anybody, anybody?) so I have been brain storming free things Miles & I can do during the week days. On my list so far: Go for walks, visit the library, tour all the model homes, have Ambie & the kids over for lunch, explore new parks, cruise the Galleria (kind of dangerous for that spending money thing, though), volunteer with church, attend Mom's group playdates (soon - just sent in my info to get hooked up with Lincoln Mom's group), AND...any other ideas you stay at home mamas?

Since it has been GORGEOUS outside (80 yesterday!), I think Miles & I are going to explore a new walking trail today. Mike found one around a little lake that is not too far from our house. I took a long-ish walk with Miles last week when it was nice & sad to say, I think I got a minor case of shin splints. How pathetic is that!!!

This past weekend blessed us with gorgeous weather as well & we took advantage of it by heading to the most awesome park I have ever seen (no joke - I wanted to play! I did wait in line with a bunch of 5 year olds for a turn to go down the BIG slide!) Miles had fun watching the other kids & taking turns with Mommy & Daddy going down the slides. As one picture revealed, I think the slide was a little scarier for him that we may have realized!

Just one half of the park; LOVE the slides!

Cute pic of Ambie & Mase; A then theres Mike..

Check out the teeth & the new goofy face Miles likes to make while snorting

Officially my favorite picture. Check out Miles!

Miles crashed out after a fun day

After the park we had some lunch at a new place called the "Habit". The tuna burger I had was delicious & I think we will be regulars at his place. We had the Laney's over for dinner later because we just can't get enough of them & I had to make up for the fact that I invited them over for roast the weekend before only to realize that the meat took 2.5 hours to cook instead of 1.5! We ended up dining on Jack in the Crack! I went all out & made 2 roast chickens (a la Costco!). We had a pretty calm night (Brian hung our ceiling fan so we now have light in the family room!) until Brian decided he wanted to play a game of hide & seek with Abby before going home. I have some cool boxes from the delivery of our kitchen chairs that he thought would be the perfect hiding spot. He pratically had to beg Abby to play with him because she was so into the Jungle Book, but she finally came around. He ran into the living room to hide while she was counting & we immediately heard a huge crash! Brian tripped on his own shoe & fell into our wall creating a lovely little crater! I can't be mad because it was a total accident. I am just glad that Brian is so handy & can fix it for us no problem. Plus, the whole thing was pretty funny.

Sunday was a mellow day of yard work & hanging as a fam. It was actually a great day. I went to a church that I really liked & plan to go to again next week. It is a small church, but the sermon was great & the music was fabulous. We sang praise to Bongo drums - loved it! Other than that we hung out in the sun & watched a movie after the monkey was off to dream land (Stardust - a must see for all you Princess Bride fans). I was sad to see Monday come & Mike go back to work :( Why can't weekends be 3 days at least?

Mike working his land

Me posing with yard tools

Miles: 7 months (& a little 8 month stuff too!)

Miles officially turned 8 months on December 23. With all the hectic activity of moving & holidays throughout the month of December, I feel like the 7th month of his life just went by in a flash. My little baby is getting so big & I am reminded everyday as I see him crawl around the floor or strong arm me from giving him lots of smooches that he isn't going to be my baby bubba forever and this time is so precious. I am very grateful that I have been able to be home with him full time (even though I have my bad days & going to work seems like it would be a treat!). The idea of going to work part-time one day still lingers in my mind (I really love my job as a pediatric OT) but I definately don't think that will happen until after the monkey is at least 1 (which is only 3.5 months away!)

So, a little 7 month review on the babe. Miles made a great transition to our new home & his night time sleep was mostly disrupted by the erruption of 4 new chompers! I tell you, my kid has more teeth than some 2 year olds! He has 6 in total & when he gives you a big grin, it's the funkiest (& most adorable) looking thing ever. Miles is such a happy baby & he has started to really crack up laughing often. Needless to say, we love it. The "big kids" really get him going & my neice Lily or little Abby have sent him into giggling fits just by saying "Boo!". I walked in the house yesterday after going outside briefly only to find he & Abby staring at each other in hysterics. No surprise to Mike & I, Miles is a great eater & we found out he LOVES brocoli (? spelling?) just like dadas. He became very skilled at pointing & loves using his little index finger to point at details on toys or just to stare at in pure amazement. It cracks us up. He became quite the talker in the last month too. He started consistently saying "mama" & he babbles, yells, sings, schreeches. gurgles (you name it) A LOT! Usually I know he has pooped by the magnitude of the happy babbling I am getting to enjoy! He still oves the company of his mama but he started playing better by himself while I do chores (boo, chores.)

The day he turned 8 months he started crawling (still army to date, but quick & with many attempts to get that belly off the ground!). He knows he is not suposed to touch all the TV equipment (& I know this because he looks back at me while cruising towards it) but it is all he wants to do. A new type of media storage might be in our future! He recently started saying "Dada!" too which makes the score even. He is finger feeding (lov'n the puffs) & using his pincer grasp to get the food into his mouth. Mama OT is so proud! When he gets lazy or using his fingers gets too tricky, he just face plants the puffs on his tray! I love watching his little face look up with puffs stuck all over it! He has really developed some "boy-type" tendencies like banging, pulling hair & biting :( He doesn't know any better, and he gets something in his mouth & he just wants to bite it with those new pearly whites. He bit my face the other day while giving me a kissy. No more kissy's for awhile. It seriously hurt. I still wish I could pause time because I am so in love with my baby, but I catching on that each month just gets better & better.

A few updated pics below. So happy I figured out how to add them!

Standing like a big boy with Grandma

Oh, this face! Get ready Maddi June ;)

So flexible!

A chunk-a-monk picture just for Amy!

Happy (Belated!) New Year 2009!

Well, I am a little late, but i hope everyone had a very happy new year! Mike, Miles & I rung in the new year at the Laney home with some newly met Lincoln friends & their tots. Miles made it to about 8:00 & then it was off to the Pak n' Play. We had a really great time drinking cosmos, eating yummy treats & playing hungry, hungry hippos...??? Nothing like re-living your childhood through your kids! The best part of the new year was that Miles went back to bed after his 6:00 feeding & slept in until 9:00!!! It was the greatest.

Miles & his new best friend, Mason Laney

Little Maser-facer prepping for mobility

My bubba-boos

Hungry, Hungry Hippos. Seriously.