Cole's Birthday

Yes, you can judge me.

I am just now getting to blog about Cole's birthday and it was June 13th.  That's right, more then a month ago!!!

Oh well, I am pretty sure that "better late then never" could be my motto for life!

The Birthday Boy with his favorite boy

Tavian is signing more for the cupcake, even though he hasn't even had any yet!

He was trying hard to be patient

The Blessing Cup.  Our tradition for all of our special holidays and celebrations!

Cole reading from the blessing cup while Tavian insists on getting more cupcake!! lol

This was just our intimate family celebration.  It was a beautiful night together celebrating such a special life!

Month of Weddings

Ok, I know I have already mentioned all the weddings we had in June.  This is just going to be the quickie recap with a few pics of each.

First came our dear friend Jonathan's wedding, in California.  Cole and I flew out saturday morning and back sunday night.  A very short trip, but we wanted it to be quick because Tavian wasn't coming with.  It was a great time with great friends.  We didn't get a lot of sleep, but we got a lot of time to just relax and enjoy our time together.  Surprisingly, it didn't even feel like a rushed trip.  The wedding was beautiful, and we were so happy to be a part of it!

Ready to go to CA!

Did I mention My dear friend Joedy and her fiance (the got married two weeks later..see below), flew out to the wedding with us?  Talk about a fun time!!!

One of the coolest parts of the night...the bride singing to her new husband.  It was BEAUTIFUL!

The lovebirds getting excited for their big day

Smiling with the groom!

So fun that I got to share the fun vacay with two of  my good friends!

The beautiful couple!

The second wedding was Cole's cousins wedding.  Cole was actually a groomsman in the wedding.  It was in Denver in the evening so we left Tavian with my dad for a few hours.  The wedding was beautiful and it was fun getting to spend so much time with family.  The problem is that I didn't really take any pictures.  I'll post the few that I have! 

The couple during the ceremony

My handsome hubs!

The last wedding of the month was my friend Joedy's (you know, the one who also went to the first wedding in CA).  I had been looking forward to this wedding for a long time.  I knew it would be a fun celebration of love and that I would get to see many friends.  Again the wedding was in the evening and in Denver so again we left Tavian with a sitter.  We really, really enjoyed ourselves.  I have known Joedy and her family since I was born, so it was great getting to share in all of their joy with them.  Her sister gets married at the end of August and I know that will be another fun night!

There were a lot of friends from high school there.  I wish I got to see Ashley more often!

Smiling with Ashley and Whitney!!

(again, I hardly got any pictures...and worse, I didn't get any with the bride and groom.  Well, actually i did, but not on my camera!)

That pretty much sums up the wedding madness.

Although I think we have three more coming in August and September!

Father's Day

Because of the craziness of the month, Father's Day wasn't celebrated on the actual day. I told Cole to give it a few weekends, but that we would indeed be celebrating. After all, Cole is the most amazing father ever, so no excuse not to celebrate!!!

I always have trouble deciding on gifts for Cole, no matter the occasion. This year for Father's Day was absolutely no different. I know that Cole likes artsy, creative things, but since that isn't really me it can make it difficult. Tavian loves, and I mean loves, birds, and it is also his favorite thing to say and sign. It is so cute watching his hand go to his mouth and try to make a beak with his fingers as he says "Bir". I wish I had it on tape because it is just so darn cute. Anyway, I figured Tavian would love it if birds were visiting our backyard a bit more often, and he and his Dad could paint a little bird house together for Father's Day. It turned out perfect. Such a fun family day together and so sweet watching them complete the project together! I love that it is something we will have forever :)

Getting to work painting the bird house!

He is very concentrated!!

Probably one of my new favorite pictures.  Absolutely adorable!

Tavian loves sitting on his little bench

"Look what we did!"

Too cute for words

My happy baby

The completed bird house from the back



Picture from the front

And now we have an adorable bird house in our backyard just waiting for birds to come and visit!

What happened to June

Hey everyone!  I haven't posted all that much this month, but it is because we have been far too busy.  I have plenty of things that I want and should blog about, but the time always seems to escape me.  June has actually been a pretty crazy month.  Yes, there have been a lot of fun events and reasons to celebrate, but the craziness is making it really hard to keep up with anything.  I think Cole and I are both pretty exhausted and wating for a little break...although it doesn't look like we'll be getting one soon.

The main craziness of June is that we have had three weddings in a row.  Weddings are great and all, don't get me wrong, but it definitely can create some chaos.  Especially when the first wedding is in California, and the secong wedding Cole was a groomsmen (and therefore had a bachelor party to plan, a rehearsal dinner, and the actual wedding, all of which were in other places then Fort Collins).  Our last wedding (for a awhile anyway) is tomorrow, and I am very excited that my dear friend Joedy is getting married.  The wedding is at 6 in the evening in Denver though, so for the third weekend in a row we'll need to find a babysitter for Tavian.  I just don't think any of us would be able to enjoy ourselves with a tired, yet very active, baby running around!!!

Anyway, the weddings have been a lot of fun, and we have gotten to spend a lot of time with friends and family, but it has made me realize how much I depend on weekend time at home with Cole to get stuff done.  We just have a lot of organizing/yard work, and even just relaxing together that keeps getting put on the backburner.  And in turn I feel pretty overwhelmed.

It really doesn't help that Tavian has been sick and or teething over the past month.  I actually think he has been atrooper, all things considered, but it just adds to the stress of life and adds anxiety over leaving him.  I wish I could say things were looking way better in this department, but he is still working on at least two teeth.  The good news is another two just broke through, so at least we are getting somewhere.  The thought of going through teething again with another child kind of makes me sick to my stomach...

Anyway, I will try and post some pictures of some of the fun events of June smetime soon. 

And on a very happy note, my sister Andrea and her son Augustine come into town tomorrow.  SO EXCITING! They will be here until Tuesday and I am so happy to get to spend some time with them.  I'm sure Tavian is going to have a blast with his cousin.  :)

Hope your June went well!

The Joys of Motherhood

A few weeks ago i had quite the experience with my little rascal.  Ok, BIG rascal!  I felt like I was truly welcomed into the joys of motherhood...lol.

As you may have noticed from pictures, Tavian has gotten to be quite tall.  I knew he was growing, but what I didn't know was that he somehow became tall enough to reach things off the kitchen counter.  Call me crazy, but I just didn't expect my 15 month old to be that tall and coordinated!!!  My baby proofing obviously needs updating, and this little incident made that very clear!

I was on the phone with my sister on the couch in the living room.  We had been talking for maybe 5 minutes with no intention of talking much longer because I was going to be putting Tavian down for his nap at any time.  He was playing in a cupboard that he likes.  I couldn't see him because he sits behind the cupboard and it covers him, but I could hear him playing with the tupperware and I couldn't imagine he was causing much trouble.

That is until it got really quite.  For those of you who don't know, the quieter the house is, the more I know Tavian is up to something. 

And sure enough...

While talking to my sister I go look over the side of the cabinet, and on the floor is my little guy, hands bright pink, with a large puddle of pink on the wood floor next to him.  I was shocked and at first had NO idea what he had gotten into. 

And then I saw it.

The nail polish.

The bottle completely empty with the lid broken off (luckily it broke right off without glass shards or risk of him getting cut.

Basically he pulled the polish off the counter, the top popped off, he emptied the bottle onto the floor in its entirety, and then decided to finger paint with it and cover his hands in it.

I kind of laughed, but I also freaked out at the same time.  He had a smudge on his mouth from where he had touched his face with his hands, but I was obviouslyl SO thankful that none had made it into his mouth!!!

I tried to wipe his hands and the floor but it is "instant dry" nail polish and lets just say it worked!  Nothing would come off.  I decided since he doesn't suck his thumb and he takes a binki that i would just send him to bed pink hands and all so that I coudl start working on trying to get it off the wood floor.  I had to use nail polish, a little at a time, and it took a looooooong time.  I was worried it would strip the floors, but I had to choose between that and a BRIGHT pink stain, so I decided having stripped floors would be the lesser of two evils.  Luckily, it didn't.  And i was able to get it off.

Later that day I took Tavian to Cole's work for lunch and we worked together trying to get it off his hands with nail polish remover.  We didn't make much progress.  Little by little over the next day or so it wore off on its own...that is except for his finger nails!

Lets just say me and my 15 month old son had mathching finger nails :) 

Oh the joys of being a mom.  Especially to a rascal! 

I suppose this is just one of the funny stories I'll get to tell Tavian when he is older!!!

I grabbed the camera quick to get a video but he was so tired and upset that he really just wanted to be picked up and loved.  I just couldn't resist trying to document it...especially since he was covered with all the evidence!!!

Some of the after math...somebody just wanted to match mommy :)

What a stinker!



A Sweet Moment In Time

There is a picture of me and my mom that hangs in our stairwell.  It is a really big professional picture and it was taken just a few months before she died.  It is a beautiful picture and I have always treasured it because it was a special "just us" moment.  It wasn't like we took the whole family in for pictures and happened to snap one of just the two of us.  For whatever reason she took me in to get some pictures taken with just her, and I love it!  

Ever since Tavian was born, as we come down the stairs in the morning (or really at any point in the day), I always say, "Where's Nana?"  Over time he has realized the woman in the picture is Nana and so he looks at her and points, and I tell him to say hi and say love you as we continue down the stairs.  Well, just two days ago, as we went down the stairs, I asked if he could blow Nana a kiss.  And sure enough, right then and there, looking at her picture, he blew her kisses.  The words that came from my mouth were the essence of what I knew to be true.  "You just melted Nana's heart!"  And I know that he did!

(And he melted mine too!...but then again, what day does he not??) 

All Good Things Must Come to an End

I'm not sure I actually believe this saying, but it is true that most good things end in some capacity or another.  

And that was the case for breastfeeding Tavian.

About 2 1/2 weeks ago I had my last feeding with Tavian.  I was aware that we weren't going to be able to keep it up much longer, and because of the pregnancy my milk supply was really starting to dwindle.  The doctor had suggested I wean even sooner then this, but I wanted to keep going (even if just for one feeding)  for as long as I could.  And that is what I did.  I kept thinking each feeding could potentially be the last, but I don't think I was taking it as seriously as I should have because I didn't want to believe there would actually be an end date.  One night while trying to feed Tavian  before bed I just didn't have let down.  I kept trying to continually offer the situation up to God and tried really hard to not get too emotional about it.  So I just thought, ok, I guess you aren't going to breastfeed tonight.  But then I kind of freaked out because it happened again the next night.  I realized I may never have that actual last feeding.  I wanted to know the last time would be the last time!

Thankfully God was so good to me and one of the following days, really early in the morning, I got to feed Tavian for the last time.  I held him in my arms, just the two of us in the absolute silence, watching as he drifted back to sleep.  I get emotional thinking of it now because it was just so beautiful.  

I know I could have tried harder to keep feeding him, but I really had to ask myself who I was benefiting in doing so.  It had been a very natural process and he seemed to be doing just fine with it.  Should I really put up resistance to it?  Especially when I have another baby growing inside me?  I felt like I should accept the natural course of events and be so very thankful for the many months I was able to share that special bond with him.  I am forever grateful!

It had to end sometime.  Sometimes I'm sad the time is already here, but I'm happy for the time I got and I am happy to see my little baby becoming a little boy.