Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The Luckiest Kid Ever + 19 week pics


Do you need some proof that Ezra is the luckiest little boy in the world?  Here it is...

Our midwife made this happen for him at our last appointment.  He was so happy and kept talking about how he got to drive the "peace-cah" and it had "si-rees" and lights and he met a real "peace officah."  Yes, in case you're wondering, my kid talks with a slight Maine accent.  Or British.  Could be   either one, really.  

Jordan spent the morning with us at Sea World...

Ezra's favorite part of Sea World is whenever he gets to put his hands in the water...so he's a fan of the dolphins, manta rays, and tide pool creatures ;-)


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And here's the 19 week pics.  Looking and feeling pretty large these days.  I don't have a clever name for this little one - Ezra is the baby formerly known as Spork (like, you can't tell if a spork is a spoon or a fork...we didn't know if he was a boy or a girl...see?  Clever ;-))  Anyways, until I can come up with something, we'll just refer to this little him/her as The Baby.  So, The Baby has been moving around like a sugar-crazed, excited little maniac.  The Baby also likes to snuggle up as high/low as it can, causing a big ball of baby (and a funny-shaped gut for me).  Other than that, nothing really new to report.  This pregnancy, though very, very different from Ezra's, is still very easy now that the 1st trimester is long-gone.  





 And finally, here's a reminder that we do, in fact, still have some dogs ;-)  He's all clean (and white and sand-free!) from his post-beach bath.  He wasn't pleased (damn dog never appreciates a nice warm bath)...but I think he's 89% less itchy now :)


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Earth Day!


It's kind of a thing now, going out to the Earth Day Earth Fair at Balboa each year.  It's always fun, always great people-watching, and you can always find something cool to spend some money on ;-)

A couple years ago, we stumbled upon the Skoy booth.  They're these awesome reusable non-paper towels.  Doesn't sound too exciting, but I'm telling you...they're really great.  The amount of paper towels we would use if not for these babies is criminal.  Anyways, we've only tossed out 2 since we bought a pack 3 years ago, but since I'd rather buy from a person standing in a booth than online, we had to find them again this year.  That was really our one and only goal of the day, which we achieved early-on...so there was plenty of time to wander around.  

Oh, and the other major plus was that there were more volunteers to hold up giant signs to hide all the crazy, fundamentalist, you're going to hell if you don't repent NOW, pro life, etc signs.  It made for a much more enjoyable experience - we didn't notice any arguments (there's always some) and everyone seemed much happier.  WIN.

Here's me and my E-Z, in our yearly pic. 

A shot down one of the main "streets," with lots of people.

We found a guy out for a nice stroll with his goats.  What?
Naturally, Ezra had to pet them.

Afterward, we went over to Sea World.  We figured that since so many people were over at the park, Sea World wouldn't be as bad as a normal Sunday.  It wasn't.  I mean, it was really crowded (it was seriously, the most beautiful day, so...) but it wasn't bad at all.
I didn't really think this one through -- I let him go play on the splash pad, thinking he'd get a little wet but not soaked to the bone.  I was wrong.  The kid went nuts.



We had to strip him down and let his clothes dry for a few minutes in the sun.  Even then, it took him another 2 hours to dry :)  It was worth it...did you see that face?  Sheer joy, folks.  

Friday, April 26, 2013

18 weeks & More Adventures with Ezra!

All of this is from last week.

I'm just getting worse at this as time goes on.  Not that it's bad, it's just that the very limited time that I do spend inside is usually spent cooking, doing laundry or cleaning up.  Being back in San Diego means spending every available moment outside, doing something way more awesome than sitting stagnant in a house ;-)  I love this city.

I'm just warning you now, these pictures are probably the least flattering EVER.  I'm in desperate need of a haircut, I was reallycrazystupid tired, and I'm wearing shorts that are too tight around my waist.  I'd already taken off my pants, and dammit, once they're off...they're off.  It's a rule, okay?

If you chose not to look, I don't blame you.  I'm only posting them because if I didn't, I'd be missing a week and then I'd be mad at myself in 4 years when I look back at how giant I was.  So, here's the 18 week pics...





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This would all be filed under the heading, "Proof that my kid is obsessed with his fireman hat."

At the playground, riding the fire truck...

At the zoo, playing on the mini-playground near the elephants...

Cooling off in his pool...

Winding up to splash his Dad and Brodie...

Even getting splashed in the face by Dad...

And once again, at the zoo.  He absolutely, positively MUST ride the SkyFari at least once each time we go to the zoo.  Sometimes, that's all he wants to do.  Screw the animals, man...the SkyFari is where it's at ;-)



Sunday, April 14, 2013

Photo-Catch-Up & 17 weeks


Ez and I have been sick for the past week, so we've been flip-flopping between, "Let's just stay in all day and rest" and, "Fresh air would do us some good."  Neither one has really been helping, but at least it's breaking up the monotony of being sick ;-)

We met some friends at Sea World last Monday (before I realized that this was more than just a runny nose).  We got to see the killer whales (there's a baby!!), some dolphins, the penguins, polar bears and belugas.  So...roughly 1/4 of the park...which is good considering we were a group of 5 adults, 8 kids :)  Oh, and we watched the live Elmo song & dance and the kids got to meet Elmo afterward.  This was pretty much the highlight of Ezra's week!


Ez, checking out the belugas...

This was the closest he was going to let me get to getting a pic of him posing next to the tank. 


He's a dare-devil, folks.
The rest of the week was spent inside playing firetrucks, reading books, watering the flowers outside, and trying to finish decorating the office.  Not nearly as much fun as meeting Elmo ;-)
Here's a couple that I think I forgot to put up from the past couple weeks...
Ezra pretty much refused to stay out of the truck as we were loading it up for the move.  Also, notice the little UHAUL truck (actually a piggy bank) that he was given at the rental place...This kid get everything!
 Ezra "driving" the UHAUL when we stopped for gas somewhere in Baker, CA.  Kid just cannot get enough...

 We tried to get ice cream at Mariposa, but they were closed.  Then, we tried to get VivaPops, but they were closed, too.  Seriously, Adams Avenue...I love you, but damnit, we always seem to want things from there on the days that the businesses are closed.
After 2 failed attempts at a delicious dessert, Ezra was getting pissed.  So we headed over to The Daily Scoop on Juniper, in South Park for some really awesome ice cream.  Clearly, Ezra enjoyed his chocolate chip ice cream...

He takes his cones very seriously, people.
A little aside -- they have a Kaluha Krunch ice cream that is freakin amazing.  Must try it.  And I must have it again soon ;-)  


And here's the boy, wearing the fireman helmet that he (seriously) takes off just before climbing into bed, puts it on the nightstand...and grabs it before his feet even hit the floor in the morning.  Obsessed.  It's tough to tell in the picture, but he's got the garden hose, I mean, fire hose...and he's putting out fires. Because he's Fire-Ezra, damnit.

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And now, here's Further Evidence that I'm carrying another person in my uterus.  17 weeks (we're really closer to 18, but I'm trying, people).





Definitely feeling the little him/her moving around in there.  Much like with Ezra, I'm pretty sure that someone is doing Kenpo in ma belleh.  Also, I'm aware that the belly-band only adds to the "damn, girl...you gettin' fat" look (especially from the front), but I'm not breaking down and buying maternity jeans right now.  It's WAY too early for that.








Friday, April 5, 2013

Hopefully, maybe, kind of getting back into the groove of things!


It's optimistic of me to think I can get back to updating a even weekly again, but I'm going to try.

I only just pulled my camera out of a random bag (inside of a more random box) -- to use for the first time since before the move.  I used to have that thing, at the ready, constantly snapping pics of the boy.  We'll get back to it :)  

We've finally made some progress on the office and started to get the house in order...so I'm hopeful that as we move forward, things will ease back into some sort of routine.

A few things to update...in case you're the last person to hear, we moved back to San Diego!  To say that we never should have left wouldn't be fair.  The experience managed to teach us a lot about what we wanted and where we truly wanted to be.  For that, we're grateful.  For the incredible headache the entire process caused...we're not so much grateful as we are thankful that it's over ;-)  With all the motivation that we should have had the first time around, added to some experience and a little bit more knowledge of how to get to where we want to be -- we're on track to make this our last big move.

Things are also progressing on the pregnancy-front.  I'm about 16 weeks along now, and, thanks to my phenomenal lack of abdominal-workouts (post-Ezra), I appear to be showing a lot more than I was at this point last time around.  I even got down to a whole pant-size below my usual...but as I was warned,  since I didn't do much for toning, I'm paying for it now.  I did manage a few half-hearted attempts to get back into P90x...but even the draw of Tony Horton couldn't keep me coming back day after day, when I had so precious little time to do anything at all while Ezra napped.  If only I didn't value sleep....;-)

The office is up and running, too.  The painting took longer than expected, so the first week officially started this past Tuesday -- and Jordan was booked!  Each day is a little different, but considering we just opened back up, I think we can call it good.  Really good :)

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Jordan decided to take a break from the office and knock off about an hour early the other day (don't worry, he went in early and stayed late every other day ;-))  We wanted Ez to have some fun at the one place that he's constantly asking for -- the zoo!  The kid loves the zoo.  So, we met up with some friends...


...and had a great evening.  Can't wait for Nighttime Zoo to come back :)

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So, here's what I've really been putting off...the growing-belly pics.  I did it with Ez for a couple reasons:
1.  It was new and I'd never had a child before
2.  I wanted to be able to look back on how much I/he grew
3.  I wanted to be able to compare to future pregnancies
4.  I didn't want to have the conversation 43 times each week about how much bigger I was getting

Now, it's not that I'm not excited about this pregnancy.  I am.  Very much so.  But we've been SO FREAKING BUSY with the move and the office that it's made documenting this one that much more difficult.

But...we did it.  I managed to find a cleared-out space to snap a couple pics to use as Further Evidence.

Before I get a call from my mother -- yes, I cropped my face out (it was really late and I was looking as tired as I felt).  Yes, I'm already wearing my belly-band.  No, I'm not wearing maternity pants yet (my ass is still fitting into regular pants, thankyouverymuch).  Yes, I'm aware that I look like I ate too much. I pretty much just bloat up from drinking water and looking at food.  I can't help it, damnit.

Here I am, in all my 16 week glory.  Hopefully, I can get Jordan to let the camera autofocus before he snaps next week's photos ;-)