my scootin' baby

Will is crawling! Well- army crawling... but it's still crawling! We can't believe it. I don't know if I should be excited or scared shitless. I think I'm a little bit of both. Time to baby proof!

hangin' out in Nor Cal

Last weekend Will and I flew up to Northern California to visit some friends. I figured it was our last weekend before Patrick got home so why stay home all weekend? Lindsey, Taylor and Ashley were generous enough to open up their house for us. We flew in Friday afternoon and Lindsey and Ashley picked us up. Friday night they took us to their favorite sushi restaurant in town. Before we went Lindsey asked me if I wanted to go to sushi- who is she kidding? If you know me, no one has to twist my arm for sushi! I'm always down for a little raw fish. 

Saturday we headed down to Old Sac to meet up with Amber. By Old Sac I mean OLD. It's this really cute town complete with horse and buggy rides and old victorian dresses you can have your photo taken in. I tried to convince Will to do it but he wasn't having it. We had lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, got some yummy salt water taffy, meet up with Kara and her adorable daughter Hayleigh and headed to the Nordies sale! When we got there we then met up with Kortnee and her little girl, Ali.  Add those up and that's 5 girls and 4 kids! Try shopping with that many people. I think we did pretty good actually. Lindsey wanted to buy everything in the Nordstrom kid's department and at Gymboree. Unfortunately, their boy stuff wasn't that great. 

It was great to see everyone- thanks for a fun weekend!

a huge work in progress

So now that we decided to stay put for a while in our house, it's time to make a few changes, updates and remodels! I cannot wait go get started on the remodel. In the works is: adding on, including an indoor laundry room for me (woot!), updating the front of the house with rock and extending our master bedroom. Smaller updates include new paint inside (we just repainted when we moved in but I'm not in love with the color), taking OUT some canned lighting in our light room and many other little things that make a big difference.

Earlier this week on Monday my ever so helpful Nana came over and taught me how to highlight our entertainment center. Now, it's a nice big until but it has zero contrast on it. It looked very orange to me when I looked at it from our couch. It was just a lot of the same colored wood in one place. So with the help of my Nana we added some contrast and what a difference it makes! 

It's hard to capture this in photographs but you can at least get an idea. When Patrick gets home I'm going to have him install some knobs I got that will also change the look a tad. Here are a few before and midway point pictures (without the knobs). 

Before (click to enlarge):


Midway:

got a little kate in me

Anyone watch Jon & Kate + 8? If you do then you will know what I'm talking about. 

See Will eat "teething biscuit". Then you'd see me perpetually wipe Will's face. I let him gum on this "biscuit" for a while, naked so he wouldn't ruin any clothes (the spit up gets that job done for us) -yet with a bib. To protect what you ask? I don't know exactly... his diaper, the high chair? Maybe my insanity. I know I have a boy and I really need to get used to this dirty thing.

How did he manage to get it on his forehead? 


He liked it so much, he's saving some for later.

here we go around the Merry-Go-Round

Patrick is leaving us again tomorrow morning ::tear:: so for our final day together ::tear:: we went to the Spectrum with my parents. After lunch at the ever so tasty Javier's we took Will on the Merry-Go-Round. Man- it's been a long time since I've been on a merry-go-round! That thing hauled ass! Will seemed to like it- he even rode it twice. PS: I promise he was wearing an actual outfit in public. He just puked all over it before the Merry-Go-Round. But what else is new?

Will's 1st 4th of July

We started off the morning with a parade decorating party at the end of our cul-de-sac. They started it at 9am thinking we could beat the heat..ha try again. It was so hot. Once Will's stroller was pimped out I had to go stand in the shade. Why didn't I think to decorate in the shade? 

Finished product. I think we give Pimp My Ride a run for their money.

Let the parade begin!

After the parade I picked up my parents and we headed down to the St. Regis down by the beach for the weekend. On Friday, 4th of July, the St. Regis hosted a huge BBQ for all the hotel guests. They went all out. With delicious food, face painting, cookie decorating stations, a balloon character creator, a visor decorating station (I think it was visors anyway) and my favorite a Cold Stone Creamery like station! Of course Will was a little young for most of it but he had a great time watching everyone. He loves to watch other kids. I can't wait for next year when he can participate a little more. I still made him get his face painted. That was pretty hysterical. We missed Patrick, he didn't come home from Alaska until the 6th. I'm sure many of the lovely guests thought I was some single, teenage mom with my parents. Nice. One hotel worker even called MY dad- daddy while he was holding Will.

I just wanted a simple star painted on his face. It started off small....

but then he got this look on his face...

and the star got a little bigger... but it was still cute and festive.
No children were hurt in the making of this star.

And then we had to bust our moves of course... we had to show the lady to the right (black skirt) how you are supposed to bust a move.

The party animal himself was out by 8:30 and before fireworks started at 9.

The next day we hung by the kids pool. They passed out all kinds of goodies to all the guest throughout the day. Will's favorite was the rocket popsicle.. don't be jealous- they are available at your local ice cream truck.

"Hey lady, I can hold it myself."

and lastly..rockin' the shades by the kiddie pool.

a busy weekend

Will's 4th of July weekend was jammed packed. We spent the weekend in Laguna Beach with my parents, sans daddy =( but we had a great time! Daddy comes home tonight! Yippie! I can't wait to sleep in soon! 

Things that happened this weekend that will be added to the blog soon: 

*Will's 1st 4th of July

*Parade

*Star Painting

*Popsicles

*Babies have arrived! 

STAY TUNED 

photoshop at it's best

ok maybe I'm exaggerating a bit with the word "best" but I am self taught on Photoshop. I hate reading the directions or tutorials. Occasionally if I don't know how to do something I will click on the dreaded help button or Google a video tutorial. I much prefer video tutorials- that's  the visual learner in me. 

I have been using Photoshop for quite a while now and I learned something new! I'd like to introduce you to the Clone Stamp Tool. The Clone Stamp Tool (CST) is often used for "airbrushing." What kind of airbrushing? Well, you know those perfect bodies modeling the Victoria Secret Swimwear? I think the CST might have had a little something to do with those flawless bodies. Or maybe I'm in denial and they really are that flawless. Whatever. But we all know that some major editing or "airbrushing" is done in magazines, photo shoots and ad prints. 

Now that I've discovered this new Photoshop friend of mine, I've been going to town with it. 

Can you see the difference? Not just the coloring.. but can you spot the spit up and glitter all over Will in the 1st pic? Click on the pics to enlarge. 

independence day

Love, W 

beach babies

Will and I met Sarah and Reagan down in Newport for a little playdate yesterday. We've been trying to get the kids together and finally it worked out. The weather was perfect- a warm 80 degrees. This was Will's first time on the actual beach and playing in the sand. Reagan has been to the beach several times so she is no rookie. She showed Will how to put your hand in the sand and insert into the bottomless pit- aka the mouth.

Reagan is 2 months and 3 weeks older than Will and by size comparison you would have never guessed that. She is such a mellow and sweet little peanut. For almost 2 hours they both sat and played together... in the meantime Sarah and I didn't realize how long we had been out there without sunblock on ourselves. I guess once you have kids you kind of forget to do things for yourself sometimes. Of course we both lathered up Reagan and Will but totally forgot about ourselves. Let's just say we are two very red mommas today.

Meet Miss Reagan



Reagan's thinking..."You think you're so funny don't you mister?"

6 month pictures

Every 3 months I take Will to get his picture taken. It's fun to document his growth every couple months and I'm using up all the gift cards my gracious MIL got me to Picture People. Which by the way, is a great gift for any baby shower! It can be to any place that does kids photos. Babies R Us has Kiddie Kandids and JC Penney is always great too.

I have a photo collage of all his professional photos since he's been born and it's crazy to compare newborn-3 month- and now 6 month pictures. Just 3 months ago when we went for his 3 month pics he couldn't sit up unassisted and yesterday he didn't fall over once. I took Will to Picture People yesterday for his big photo shoot. Here is what we left with.

Happy 6 Months!

to my baby boy! Times flies when we're having fun.
I can't believe you are half a year old!