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 ;-)

30 Months!

I wrote this over a month ago.  I'm really bad about checking to see if things post.  Mostly, it's because I'm either headed to the zoo, at the zoo, coming home from the zoo, or telling Ezra that we just went to the zoo and he can go back when they reopen the next day ;)
So, without putting it off any longer, here's Ezra's 30 Month picture & post...

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-He's a running, jumping, climbing, talking, singing, laughing little ball of energy.
-His favorite game lately is playing "Fireman-Ezra"  (or, as he says, "Fire-Ezra")...where he runs from room to room after getting a "call" about a fire in a specific area of the house.  He goes in, puts the fire out, and declares that he has "Saved the Day!"  It's freakin hilarious.  And he'll do it for an hour, straight.
-Emergency vehicle sirens and garbage trucks can wake him from a deep sleep.  He also talks in his sleep, often saying, "firetruck, "police car," etc.  It's pretty clear what this kid is dreaming about ;-)
-He straddles Lucy, the chihuahua, and declares that he's riding Firetruck-Lucy.
-He's begun "putting out fires" and "saving the day" by peeing on things (in the bath, outside, in the potty...)
-He really likes pickles.
-Still consuming more frozen blueberries than an entire family would.
-Watering the flowers is a favorite activity.  Really more like drenching them, then turning the hose on himself to soak every last inch of his body.
-He's mastered some scary playground equipment.
-He's still the most amazing person ever and I still tell him every single day.

Birthdays, Blue Toes and Big News!

So, last Monday was my birthday!  I took a day off from packing and decided to sit around, eating spicy Cheez-its (don't you judge me, dammit), watching Steel Magnolias.  I wore sweat pants and a ratty tank top and didn't care one bit that I looked homeless ;-)

Speaking of Steel Magnolias, when I was younger, I decided that I wanted to live in the south because I wanted to be like the sassy ladies of Chinquapin  Parish.  I'm not kidding.  I have a deep love for Ouiser (Shirley MacLaine), especially.  Oh, and Clairee (Olympia Dukakis).  Smart-ass, southern women, man...it just doesn't get much funnier.

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After painting my toes blue, at Ezra's request, he required me to do his toenails as well...

He thinks it's sooooo cool and keeps talking about his blue toes ;-)  And yes, he's got 2 different shades of blue.  It's what he wanted, okay??

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Also, Ezra has a little announcement that he'd like to make.

That's right, folks.  More baby-Blausteins!  As you can see, we're expecting this latest addition in September, probably a few days before Ezra's birthday.  Seeing as how I tend to procrastinate, we may be looking at a shared birthday for the kids ;-)  We'll see!

Also on the list for "shit that we've been keeping relatively quiet about," -- we're moving!  It's been the most insane back-and-forth between going to the east coast and going back to San Diego.  I'll elaborate more later, but I think we've finally come to a decision and we'll be gone by the end of this month :)

Visitors from Home

Our good friends from San Diego came out to visit us a couple weeks ago.  Ez and I hadn't seen them since our last trip out there in October, so it was really awesome to spend some time catching up!  The kids acted like they always used to - as if they were still seeing eachother a couple times a week :)

Reunited and it feels so gooooooooooood :)

Ez really loves "Baby Molly" (she's barely a baby anymore, but I'm pretty sure he'll always refer to her as a baby)

We headed out to Red Rock for a little "hiking."  Really, it was a minor incline with some rocks...but very kid-friendly, so it worked well for us. 

Ezra and Claire, before we started our trek at Red Rock.

27 Hours....later.  (please tell me you saw the movie, otherwise this makes no sense...)

It's Jack-Rabbit-Ezra!

 This was about the most colorful thing we saw on the trail...

Pausing for a quick family pic

Ez fell asleep about halfway through the trail, so Jordan got quite the workout, holding a limp-Ez ;-)

The next day, we spent some time letting the kids go crazy at the playground...and crazy they went :)  Plus, it was President's Day - so every other kid in Vegas was there as well.

Ez, getting his slide on at the Town Square play area

The big kids, chowing down on some smoothie pops...and harassing the dogs.

We went down to the strip so that the kids could watch the fountain show at the Bellagio (okay, I like it too!)  Here's some highlights...

Inside a hidden corridor in the Cosmopolitan, I found this gem...

The kids had a race up to the glittery horse in the Bellagio lobby...

They side-stepped their way around the whole enclosure, trying to find a weak spot so they could get to the chocolate ;-)

Ez and Molly, ready to dive into the fountain...

29 Months!

A LOT has changed for Ezra in the last month!  Two big changes are that he has stopped nursing and has begun phasing out his daily nap!

The nursing happened a lot quicker than I'd expected (I thought it would take longer to completely be done)...and though he occasionally asks for his "milkies," he was genuinely excited about the change from "wake-up-milkies" to "wake-up-eats."  I know that a lot of people in our life have expressed their thoughts on our extended nursing, but I made the choice to let Ezra nurse as long as I did because I know it was what was best for him.  Sometimes it got to be a little irritating, frustrating, etc, but I always knew that he wouldn't nurse forever.  He and I really enjoyed our time together.  And though I'm happy he's done, I'm also a little nostalgic for our special time and sad that it's finally over.  I'm also extremely proud that we maintained that long and I wouldn't have had it any other way :)

As for the nap-drop...at first I wasn't so happy that he started skipping it.  It was the time during the day that I could catch up on housework that I simply couldn't do with him around or get started on dinner...whatever.  That said, he had been having some seriously restless sleep a few times a week...so when he started going napless, his nighttime sleep got WAY better.  He almost stays in one spot at night!  We still have naps a couple times a week - his pattern is usually 3 days w/o a nap, 2 days w/ a nap.  We're both starting to get used to it and, though it is easier to have that mid-day break to get stuff done, the way-more-restful sleep for everyone at night definitely wins out :)

Other news for Ezra this month?  He continues to add more and more words to his vocabulary, he's doing way better with potty-training (we finally got back into it again), he climbs up things at the playground that, I swear, he shouldn't be able to climb, and he has really been loving helping me cook lately.

Here's the succession of photos.  Notice that not a single one is frame-worthy.  This child simply refuses to 1. Look at the camera, 2. Smile, and 3. Pose with his chalkboard.  He actually just started saying, "No, Mommy, NO, NO, NO!" when he saw the chalkboard.
FUN.

Look! A new post!

In an attempt to catch up a little, here's a rather disjointed, random offering of pictures of the boy.  I realize that, if you are my mother, this is not enough.  Bare with me.  Lots of stuff happening these days.

Ez likes to go for rides in the laundry basket (Blast OFF!) and has been requiring that Lucy also go along for the ride.  While she seems to like Ezra (he gives his "Goosey" lots of love), she's not too keen on the idea of being in such a confined space with the little monster...as you can see from her about-to-escape-pose...

He's a lover of the vacuum.  Seriously.  It's a pain to vacuum when he's awake because he insists on helping...which generally doubles the time it takes :)

Just pay no attention to the mess around Ezra...our closet tends to be the messiest place these days - between our own laziness and Ezra wanting to "help" by taking out clothes and shoes...
This pic is really just to show Ez, in all his Ez-glory.  He LOVES wearing that hat (he calls it his Goofy hat) and he's also in his favorite Cat in the Hat shirt.  Yes, he has more than one.

Here's Brodie, hiding under the coffee table.  He's generally afraid of Ezra.  I'm not sure if it's because he's actually afraid of him or if he is more nervous about possibly hurting Ezra.  Either way, he tends to run away from Ez, unless he's getting a treat from him ;-)  In which case, he takes the treat as gingerly as possible and then runs away.

His expression here reminds me of of of the guys from Dumb & Dumber.  JUST THE FUNNY FACIAL EXPRESSION.  That's it.
Also, let's all notice that he sat down in one of the smaller plastic toy bins...then required a push around the living room (playroom).  Because he doesn't have enough ride-on toys, he has to create his own.

28 Months!

I'll catch back up.  I will.

Until then, here's E-Z-E's 28 month pictures!

Ez decided to do his best impression of Quincy from Little Einsteins.  What?  You don't know Little Einsteins?  Neither did I until two weeks ago.  That damn Disney Junior app is getting a workout...

My happy boy.

CHEEEEEESE!

He's the coolest kid ever.  Seriously.

Mini Man is growing up SO fast now.  His spoken language has just exploded over the past few weeks.  He's trying to say just about everything - he's finally parroting us...which is great...except for Jordan's habit of not catching himself before swearing ;-)  There's still a few words he completely avoids, but he seems to want to try so many others that we aren't concerned.  He's still signing sometimes - but really only uses the signs when his Signing Time DVD's are on - I think he knows all 10 volumes by heart now ;-)

I keep meaning to mention this...but always forget.  Awhile back, we noticed that Ez was hearing some words that we were saying -- as different, but similar sounding words.  He was frantically signing or half signing/half speaking these word-combos before we finally realized what he was trying to say.  Two that we thought were really funny - He was signing "bean" and "stop"...duh...it's beanstalk!  And one that we constantly say to each other, even now - Ez kept signing "girl" and "cheese".  Jordan was dumbfounded until we started saying it fast...girl cheese, girl cheese, girl cheese.....Grilled Cheese!  Get that kid a sandwich!

He's such a cool kid.  I'm kind of jealous of his coolness.