Growing Up

As quick as Hunter is growing I've frequently forgotten to take note {where I can look at it forever} of how quick Eden is growing. I was looking back at pictures recently and she has physically grown up SO much!

Top left: Eden at the Spaghetti Dinner hosted by the Daigle Family Relay for Life team in New Orleans in May 2010
Top right: Eden at the Fripp Family Reunion in September 2011
Bottom left: Thumbs up folding socks with Mommy June 2012
Bottom right: Posing for the camera during a picnic lunch July 2012

She's so grown up! I always thought I wanted her to have a pony tail and I always complained about her lack of hair, but now that her hair is long enough for one, I'm sad {and happy at the same time} because it makes her look so grown up. I'm in awe of how big she really is! She can dress herself, and usually does a pretty good job of picking her own clothes out. She brushes her teeth {and puts the toothpaste on the brush} all by herself.

Intellectually she's much more grown up too. Lane was gone for the weekend for work and when he got home last night he was amazed by how much she was talking. He said that in just being gone for 3 days he could notice a change. Some of her new catch phrases are, "wow! That was a close one!" even if it doesn't really apply to anything. She also says, "I know Hunter, it will be ok," because I say this to him often. When we got to video chat with Lane over the weekend she told him, "When Hunter cries, Mommy says, 'It's ok, I'll feed you,' to him." She's right, most of the time that's what I say to him! She's very observant, and sometimes we don't realize until days later when she says, "I member. I ate goldfish," when talking about going back to a friends house. Or, "I'll eat pizza on a banket with Clara," when I told her we were going back to Clara's house to play {and she had pizza the last time we were there - on a blanket in the back yard}.

Some of the things that she used to say that she doesn't say anymore {and it totally breaks my heart} are "a-new" for I love you. Every now and then I can say "a-new" to her and she'll giggle and say it back. She will also fill in the blank of "Mommy loves you..." "Heaps, scoops, and gobs" like my mom still says to me. When Daddy asks, the answer is "SOOOOO much!" I guess if we had to lose "a-new" at least she replaced it with something just as meaningful. She also used to call a drink a "gunk" no matter how hard we tried to get her to say it right. Now that she does say drink, I'm a little sad about it. She used to call her bottom her "bonom" and it was the most cute thing ever - now it's her bottom, and even sometimes her butt {and I'm not a fan!} Oh, and milk used to be "mowk" and it is now milk. And when did I think full sentences were a good idea?! "I am a tunnel" {as she bear walks across the kitchen} "Mom, I told you..." or "Mom, answer me!" and let's not forget when she calls me Brittany {excuse me, child. It's Mommy to you!}

Not all is lost, she still has some things that she says that are still "baby" about her. She speaks really well, so I'm wanting her to keep her few words that are innocent and little while it's still acceptable. Most of the time her version of a word isn't that much off of the real thing, so most people can still understand what she says.
monote = remote {my all time favorite!}
siwy = silly
gi-yrl = girl {a southerner at heart!}
nack = snack
poon = spoon
nails = snails
banket = blanket
who dat = who's that, what's that, where's that...you get it!
I 'member dat = usually for something she doesn't actually remember, but is trying to remember

Can my kids please stop growing?!?!? I'm not ready for them to grow up, go to school, be teenagers, graduate, go to college, get married, have kids...AHHHHH, it's all too quick!!!!! Slow down!!!!

Friends

We love having friends over! We love going to friends' homes! We love being with our friends! We had the opportunity to have friends over and enjoy some time with them. While they were here I decided to snap some pictures of all the kids having fun together. I love watching their friendships blossom and I love that Eden is enjoying time with her friends!

They were very excited to make kebabs together! 

Coen looks like such a big boy next to Hunter! 

He's such a lover.

Motherhood Is...{30}

Regression

I mean this in a fun way - and in a not so fun way. First, let's go with fun! Who ever thought that becoming a mom would mean I could sit on the floor and eat fish sticks for lunch?! And the snacks that I keep in the house that I didn't keep before? Gold fish, animal crackers and capri sun. I forgot how great {yet how terrible} kraft mac and cheese is, but honestly, velveeta shells and cheese take me back to childhood like no other food can! Ah, corn dogs!!! One of Eden's favorite and I'm quickly learning that I have a fondness of them too. Enough about food - let's talk tea parties and "throwing ice cream" to share with one another and picnics with Pink Bear or Brown Bear. The pretend things that I get to do on any given day is amazing. We make kebabs, eat pizza, change diapers, and color all day long.

And then there's the not so fun regression that I dreaded and totally expected once Hunter was born. Recently Eden has been talking in a really high voice {her baby voice} and telling us that she's a baby or that she's Baby Hunter. When she's doing this she's wanting to crawl around instead of walking. She's not just crawling all the time though; she's crawling when we want her to get somewhere quickly or when she's just stalling for one reason or another. She's constantly wanting to be held. I don't have a problem holding her - I secretly love to pick her up and hold her! I just wish she didn't want to be held when I'm trying to also carry Hunter in his car seat or when I'm trying to move him from point A to point B at home. I love that she's cuddly and wanting to sit in my lap, I just wish it wasn't when I was in the middle of feeding Hunter. I know and I understand why she's doing it, I just wish it wasn't so hard to juggle the 2 of them! She gets into Hunter's bouncer, his swing, and even his car seat some times. She's even asked recently if she could eat in the high chair because it's set up in the kitchen now. She loves being the "Mommy" most of the time, but we're getting more and more "Baby" from her now-a-days. This regression isn't quite as much fun for me!

The Finished Kitchen!

Here are the much anticipated pictures from our kitchen re-do project. There are also some "in between" pictures to show how hard we really worked!

Top left: the day we moved in
Top right: trying to pick paint colors for the kitchen, good picture of the old color of the cabinets
Bottom: new and improved kitchen cabinets!

Pop was our designated baby sitter. He came waltzing into the kitchen one day proclaiming, "it's Moses! Look at him, he looks like Moses!" while carrying Hunter just like this.

Mimi hard at work on her hands and knees and Pop is getting to play with the kids all day long! {I'm actually not 100% who had it easier, ha ha}

Mimi working hard and getting some painting on the cabinet frames done.

Eden couldn't miss out on updating things, so she wanted to "paint" her kitchen too. She got a foam brush and a bowl of water to use. She loved it {and so did I since she had colored all over her kitchen with chalk!}

Cheese!

Painting away with her sucker in one hand, a paint brush in the other!

Pop, hard at work putting hinges on doors and doors on frames.

He had to take a Hunter break. I mean, how could you not. He's too darn cute! Oh, and he's also Pop's mini me.

Top left: a close up of the hardware on the upper cabinets.
Top center: measuring the cabinet doors to put the knobs on them.
Top right: the "desk" beside the refrigerator all finished with hardware.
Bottom left: measuring the drawers.
Bottom right {top}: Pop drilling the holes for the hardware.
Bottom right {bottom}: measuring to find the center before using the template to mark the drawer for hardware.

It was a TON of work and took much longer than expected, but I couldn't be happier! I'm glad my mom didn't let me take the "cheap" way out and just paint because the wood grain is beautiful with the stain.Thanks Mom, you were right!

La Jolla

When we moved to California I was the loser that pronounced this exactly how it looks phonetically - La Jolla. Yep, that was me {and I hope you did it too!} Unfortunately it's pronounced La Hoya, and it's also a pretty wealthy area near San Diego. Obviously we're not part of the "wealth" in San Diego and I showed it by not knowing how to say this. Ugh!

I digress...When Mimi and Pop visited this time, Pop wanted to go to La Jolla and "eat lunch on the sidewalk" and walk to the beach. We did, and it was beautiful. We ate at a little place that we found a parking spot right in front of. Dad said it was fate! He was so excited. The lunch was delicious, we ate in the middle of all the beach-goers walking to and from the beach, and we were just 2 blocks from the ocean.

Once we were done with lunch we quickly changed Eden into her bathing suit and me into shorts that I didn't mind getting wet and we headed to the beach. The cliffs were amazing {I'm in awe of the cliffs right on the edge of the water at all locations here in SoCal!} and the water was crystal clear. I couldn't have asked for anything better...well, leaving without the kicking and screaming toddler would have been 100% perfect, but who could blame her. She loved the water and only got to spend a few minutes {more like 20-ish} playing in it after being so well behaved at lunch on the sidewalk! 

North Island

While Mimi and Pop were in town we made sure to put Cabrillo National Monument on our "must-do-list" because Dad insisted last time and it was beautiful. This is where the tide pools are and the cliffs that are just spectacular that I love "hiking" with Eden and Hunter when I have people in town to offer some help since I don't trust it on my own. The views are stunning and it's a little surreal that it's practically in my back yard!

This trip with Mimi and Pop we had another reason to go. Lane told us earlier in the week that he was going to be landing at North Island {a Naval Base} and I remembered that it is one of the things that you can see perfectly from the monument! We went down to watch Lane land and take off since he was just dropping people off at the base and heading back to work that morning. We didn't tell him we were going because I didn't know if it would make him nervous that we were "watching" him. I love that Eden and Hunter have a daddy that does something so cool for a living! She loved watching him fly, it was neat to see the excitement of her getting to see her daddy.

The view of North Island, where Lane landed and took off from. Terribly gloomy morning.

Hunter hanging out, waiting for Daddy to land.

There he is, leaving. Yes, that spec that you might have tried to wipe off the picture, dead center, is the plane leaving. {Next up on my wish list...a new camera lens that has great zoom!}

A little easier to see. I wish the pictures did it justice. He was so close to us!

Bye bye Daddy!

Last shot before heading out.

Yumm, yumm!

When Hunter turned 20 weeks old we decided we'd try rice cereal for him. Though he didn't seem to have any adverse reactions to it, he wasn't quite ready for food being served with a spoon. He ended up with more food on him than in him, but what he tasted, he seemed to enjoy. I wasn't one bit surprised because the boy loves to eat! He's a great eater and once he nails down eating off a spoon, he'll be golden!

He enjoyed getting to play with his spoon after his meal was over and that was just about as much fun for him as getting to eat.