The Herways, The Herways, and The Herways and Picture Overload

All of last week we had the most wonderful stay-cation. Seth's parents, along with Seth's older brother's family, came to stay in Coronado for the week. Seth's parents rented a house big enough for all of us for the week. We stayed at the house, even though we only live a stone's throw away from it. Otherwise, we would have missed out on the late night chats with the grown-ups. It is one of my most favorite vacation activities after all.

Seth had the week off from work which was fantastic. Before his vacation week started he said he wanted to be lazy and watch "a lot of TV". I don't actually think he ended up watching any TV but he did get in a couple of early morning bike rides with his brother. (FYI Seth loves bike rides)

Taft was on cloud nine hanging out with his cousins all week. Like any other time spent with his cousins, Taft laughed at just about every darn thing Brauer (almost 4) did or said. Like belly-busting, side-splitting laugh. At times we had to tell Taft to give Brauer some space. Taft loves his cousins.

Lukie also soaked up the attention he got from all of his big cousins. He loved it.


We spent a lot of time at the beach, went to Cabrillo National Monument, checked out the tide pools near Sunset Cliffs, took our kayak out, and ate, and chilled, and ate, and relaxed.

After our family left I decided all of the people I'm related to need to get together and decide on one place to live and we all move there. I really like my family.

Boys at the Padres' game. Grammie was there too. Um, the kid behind Pop looks like he hates you guys.

Lukie with a snack in each hand. Pretty standard.

To get Taft to smile Grammie said, "Who wants ICE CREAM?!"

Cabrillo National Monument

Lukie and another snack.

Other than us, these guys are the coolest couple we know. 

Daph. She's growing right up on us. When Seth I were dating she was 4 and pretending she was a baby tiger/leopard/animal half the time. Now she's a boogie-boarding, science loving, sea-creature finding, gorgeous-looking almost teenager.

The little boys...next summer there will be another one!

"Gaaaak!!" says Lukie as an airplane flies over head. 

Scarlet. This girl. Everyone needs/should definitely want a Scarlet in their family. She's the sweetest.

Tide Pools

Eeek. Don't know how this girls touches all this stuff.

The crew

Dudes.

Cute family huh?

Zaner and Lukie. I was so surprised to find out that Zane was not only NOT annoyed by my boys but actually played with them TONS and gave them lots of attention. Both Lukie and Taft loooove Zane. 

Pop and Zane

Brauer might have been reading here and trying to hint to Taft that he needed some alone time. Taft didn't catch the drift.

Our family before church. And the TV.

Taft says...

Conversation at our house while eating ice cream:
Gwen (4 years old): "You have a mustache!"
Taft: "No I don't Gwen!"
Gwen: "You have a mustache!"
Taft: "No I don't!"
Gwen: "Yes you do."
Taft: "I don't understand what you're talking about!"
Gwen: "You're hilarious."

Driving in the car:
Taft: "Mom, those cars are up THERE!"
Me: "Ohhhhh...." (I had no idea what he was talking about)
Taft: "Don't say OH! I'm trying to talk to you!"


Grandpa trying out a new nickname with Taft:
Grandpa: "Hey Chunksly..."
Taft: "Just Busski."



Me: "When Lukie wakes up from his nap we're going to go to Costco, ok?"
Taft: "Oh yeah!! Now THAT'S what I'm talking ABOUT!"


After Taft was talking about poop, alot:
"Taft, we don't talk about poop."
Taft: "Oh. Can I talk about 'H'?"
Me: "Sure."
And ever since then, when I say, "We don't talk like that," He says, "Oh, oh, oh. H, H, H."


After going to the doctor regarding a mysterious bald spot on my head (don't ask).
Taft to Seth: "We went to the doctor because Mom's hair got lost."

Early one morning Taft woke up as Seth was leaving for work:
Taft: "Where are you going?"
Seth: "My work called and said I have to go in."
Taft: "Oh. Your work called and said I have to watch a show."

Babies!!

Last weekend I took a very last minute trip to Texas to meet the newest members of our family...on both mine and Seth's side! Seth's sister Natalie had her third baby, a gorgeous girl, a couple of weeks ago and my brother's wife had her baby just a week ago! I was sad I wouldn't get to see the babies for a while, but once I saw pictures of them I HAD to visit. Like HAAAAAD to.

My parents and sisters had already planned a trip to Texas with the anticipation of my brother's baby for the same weekend.  I believe my brother's baby was born on Wednesday, I looked at pictures of the baby all day Thursday, searched for flights, and bam! Friday afternoon I was on a plane (by myself!!) to Texas to visit not, one, but two beautiful new babies. It was the shortest trip, but I am so glad I got to go. It was Seth's first full weekend off in a long, long time so I felt guilty leaving when we could actually be spending time together, but there was something serious going on in me that was insisting that I go see the babies. I told Seth that I either needed to go see the babies or have a baby. His choice. :) Just kidding. Seth was very kind, said I deserved the time away, and sent me on my way. The boys did great while I was gone...so great I think I should've stayed away a few extra days. I was a little nervous about leaving for some reason. It was the first time I left Luke overnight, and the first time I've left both boys at the same time. For the first time in my life I was worried about the plane crashing and Seth becoming a widower and my children motherless. Luckily, the plane functioned properly, I read a book, drank Diet Coke, and ate candy. I realized this is the first time I've flown solo in about 6 years! Seth or the boys have always been with me.

Anyway, I got in late Friday night and stayed with my brother and his wife. I got to hold the baby for like an hour (or even longer?) straight the first night while chatting it up with my siblings. It was heaven. Saturday I held him some more. Sunday morning I drove to about 2 hrs to Austin to see Seth's sister, held her baby for another hour, and then headed back to San Antonio, had an early dinner with the fam, and went back to the airport. The trip was way too short, but totally worth it. I stole all these pictures from Carissa's FB page and didn't take any pictures with my new niece unfortunately. Take my word for it, she's so so beautiful.

Alexander

Alexander and his very cute big sis Jayda

Has his mama's eyes and dad's nose and mouth

Doesn't it look like I need another baby?

Pete and mini-Pete

Want an update on what's been going on with us? Sure you do. Uhhhhh....Seth works a lot. Like a lot. I always kind of thought the wives that complained about medical school being hard for them were kind of weak sauce. I thought it was pretty easy peasy. Seth never complained or stressed about it much either, so it didn't really phase me. I went to work, he went to school, we had a life in the evening.  Then I realized all those complain-y ladies had kids already and I didn't until the last year. Residency is a different story and it's probably because I have kids and now am one of the weak sauce ladies. And really, it's actually not that bad. It would just be nice to have Seth home on both a Saturday and a Sunday. And I just feel bad that he has to work all the time and hardly gets sleep. Actually, it would be nice if spouses/people didn't have to work at all, that money grew on trees, and we could all be on vacation and do fun things every single day. Seth hasn't had a full weekend off since.....January? I can never complain about this much here because there are a TON of Navy families and they deal with several month long deployments.

"Your husband is working all weekend? Oh, that's so sad. My husband has been on a ship in the middle of the ocean for 7 months. " (just to be clear, nobody has ever said this to me)

 Last week Seth had a rotation sent from heaven and it actually felt like he was on vacation most of the week. He was home a lot, we did fun stuff together as a family, and it was a nice break for all of us. The boys love, love, love their dad. I think he's cool too.

Taft is a sweet, sweet boy. He is getting easier and easier to manage every day. He really only throws a fit when he is COMPLETELY exhausted...like hours past bedtime exhausted. Oh and he becomes hysterical if I shut the door while using the bathroom....so that's fun. He's a very good big brother and is getting more and more used to sharing with Lukie. Taft gives compliments freely to Seth and me. Things like, "You're a good guy, Dad." "Mom, you're pretty awesome. And you're a good listener." (As in good at minding.) Taft now can recognize and name all his letters! It's so cute to be out and about and have him be like, "Hey! There's a P! There's a T like Taft!" "S! T! O! P!" Taft loves being read to, "reading" on his own, and telling stories. There are a lot of "and then..."s in his stories. He starts preschool in the fall and I think he's going to love it. I'm going to be sad to have him gone, but I'm also looking forward to the one on one time with Lukie that I've never really been able to give him.

Speaking of Lukie, we went to the ENT this week and he is a candidate for ear tubes. We're going to see how the summer goes and if he gets another ear infection we'll do the tubes. It's only a 10 minute procedure, but he does have to go under general anesthesia for it. Lukie is a character. I think a good way to describe Lukie is he is "passionate". He is either all the way happy or all the way sad/mad. Today he was absolutely hysterical for 10 minutes at the library because I broke off a piece of granola bar instead of handing him the whole thing. He would NOT eat it broken. I would hand it to him and he would squeeze it together, making it crumble, and would then throw it. I felt bad, but it was kind of funny. He was just so dramatic about it. I could not get him to calm down at all. I ended up buying a bagel from the coffee cart outside the library for him and he immediately stopped crying and scarfed the entire bagel.  I'm not always pleasant when I'm hungry, but I think he was a tad beyond unpleasant.
When Lukie is all the way happy he loves to dance to music, read stories until I lose my voice, play with toys, play on the top bunk (with supervision of course),  and hug the guts out of stuffed animals. I really can't express how much I love when he snuggles with me. He snuggles at all times throughout the day. He'll just lay his head on my shoulder and pat my arm or back. It's the cutest/best/my favorite part of the day with him. He does say one phrase right now, "thank you" but it sounds like "Dee do". I don't know if we can count it as a word, but he uses "dee do" at appropriate times so I'm going to say it counts. He also says, "gak" for everything related to eating. But I think "gak" seems like more of a stretch for a word.

Aaaannd.... I have no pictures.

St. Geezy with my peeps

The little boysies and I headed to St. George last weekend for a little rendezvous with some of my family members. My mom, dad, and Lanx met us there and we visited my grandma, aunt, and cousins.

The first day we headed to Zions National Park. My dad said he hasn't been to Zions since he was a kid! A KID! I couldn't believe it. But then I realized it was because he was always working when my mom took us to St. George as kids, just like Seth was working while we took this vacation. Poor dads, moms get to have all the fun.  

We really only managed to do one hike due to driving all the way through the park on accident, then getting lunch, taking the shuttle, etc. We were there for over 6 hours, but still only managed one hike. Oh well, it was still fun. 

Lukie pooped out about 3 minutes into the hike. He was so tired but was a good sport all day. I feel bad because I put them to bed so so late each night. And you're welcome for the booger shot.

Lanx and Taft chillaxin in a cave

"Oh hi guys."

Again, poor Taft did not get enough sleep this trip.

Taft was a really great hiker. He made it the whole way in, but need a shoulder ride from Grandpa on the way out. On each of these steps he would grunt like he was working really hard.

After this he slipped and fell in and got his shorts soaking wet.

But Grandpa carried him out anyway. Soaked pants resting on his neck.

I love this boy. 

Notice Taft's face. 

I don't have any other pictures from the rest of the trip but activities included:
-A Birthday Dinner in memory of my Uncle Bob.
-Visits to the rehab facility my grandma is currently in (physical rehab. Surprisingly, many people have asked me to clarify what kind of rehab I'm referring to when I mention where she is.)
-Met my cousins super duper cute baby boy.
-A lil' bit o' shopping
-Sunday brunch at my aunts

And then the fast weekend was over. The boys did quite well on the drive to and fro. I got a dang speeding ticket going through Vegas though. I was so mad because I had been in cruise control the whole time in an appropriate speed, EXCEPT when I reached back to give Luke a binky and accelerated on the gas on accident, RIGHT as I was passing a state trooper.

Thanks Grandpa and Nana for the trip!

Lukie at 15 months

My friend Jennie took some pictures of Luke for me, but this is the only one I've seen so far. Typical for a second child, I feel like I'm already neglecting recording some of Lukie's milestones....such as walking! Luke has been walking for about a month and a half now. It was weird, he just decided all of the sudden one day that he was ready and bam! He was off. Both my and Lukie's life have become much better with him walking. I've already noticed he is less cautious than Taft was (and sometimes still is). Lukie loves to climb up the playground equipment and would dive off with no hesitation if I let him. 

With all this walking going on Lukie has had quite a few "eating it" episodes. The most recent one he tripped and and flew straight into our front door. He got a nice gash in his forehead and you could literally see the goose egg growing before your eyes. He didn't need stitches, but it was still very sad. 

Luke seems to always be sick with something. I think he has had a snotty nose since before Christmas. He has had a few ear infections. One of the more recent ones he had to go through 3 rounds of anti-biotics to clear it up. He currently has an ear infection and I'm wondering if he's going to need tubes put  in his ears. Let me first say that I love my little Pookie to death, but holy freaking cow, the kid can cry and whine like no other. Taft often tells me, "Lukie is very fussy." I'm wondering if his ears are constantly bugging him or something. He is whiney/grumpy/sad for all but about 2 of his waking hours. Fo'real. Maybe tubes are our answer. Another possible reason for the fussiness: He has been in the state of teething since like 6 months old. He only has 6 teeth. We have a long way to go.

Lukie is a bottomless pit and likes the majority of the foods we give him. He loves, loves, loves books. The first thing he'll do after he wakes up in the morning or from a nap is head straight to the book shelf to grab a book for me to read to him. Sometimes when he's super fussy and I'm about to lose my mind, I'll put him in his crib with some books and he'll immediately stop crying. He'll be content by himself for a good 15 minutes. Maybe he just gets sick of us and needs some alone time?

Lukie isn't into many baby/age appropriate toys but loves to play with Taft's trains and cars. It drives Taft up the wall when Luke messes up his tracks. Understandably so. That being said, Taft adores Lukie. In the morning, after a nap, or if Taft feels like he hasn't seen Luke in a while he'll say in a super high pitched voice: "Hi Bubba! You're so cuuuute!" and will give him a big, squeezy hug. It usually makes Luke whine, but it's still so sweet. 

Lukie babbles all the time but hasn't really said any words. Although, I do think he says "Dada" on purpose when he sees Seth. Lukie claps his hands and gets very happy when Seth walks through the door after work. Lukie is learning some of his body parts and can pat his head and point to his nose on demand.

Lukie likes getting his teeth brushed and likes to walk around chewing his toothbrush all day.

Lukie haaaates doctor visits. Hates it. He knows those jerks are just going to give him shots every time.

Lukie likes to wrestle with Seth and Taft. 

Lukie is a good sleeper (knock on wood) and sleeps between 12-13 hours at night with a 3 hour nap in the afternoon. The other day he slept from 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 a.m. the next morning!!! It was right before I found out he had another ear infection. Poor little dude.

And my most favorite thing: Lukie is a snuggler. My life is complete.

(Also, for the record, Taft, in his old age, is becoming more of a snuggler too. It's the BEST.)

Future MLS player?

Easter 2012

Long time no blog, eh? I've lost the desire to blog, but since this is the only family record keeping I have, it's best that I keep it up. Plus, when I don't blog it, I don't remember it. For real. I have a terrible memory.

These are really the only pictures from Easter weekend. Saturday morning I took Taft and Luke to an Egg Hunt put on by the Primary.  Seth had to work all day and night Saturday. He got home in time for us to go to church. We spent the afternoon at a BBQ with some of Seth's work friends and their families and finished off the night with a 'mallow roast at the beach with church friends. 

The Easter Bunny went low key this year (and probably will every year) and got each boy a new book and pair of flip flops. He also left a dozen or so  candy filled eggs for the boys to find Sunday morning. Taft's basically took candy shots all morning. (Dumping the candy straight from the egg into his mouth)

The darling outfits were from Nana. I was very grateful and I think the boys knew they look quite handsome. They both loved wearing the hats and loved looking in the mirror at themselves. Ha!

Super Taft is 3

Taft turned 3 this past week and we had a great time celebrating. Tates was here for her Spring Break, my mom made a 4 day stop here on her way back from a business trip in El Salvador, and my dad surprised all of us with his arrival Saturday morning! 

Seth and I both agreed that a Superhero birthday party would be pretty awesome for Taft. I had visions of 3-5 year olds running around in Superhero capes, having the time of their lives. I made 14 capes. Fourteen. And I do not really sew. I didn't get to bed before midnight a single night the week before the party. I'm sure someone who is good at sewing could have whipped them out in a night or two. So after swearing a few times and not getting much sleep, I decided it was worth it, but probably won't do it for any future birthday parties (sorry Lukie and other future children). 

We had planned to have the party at a park near our house since our place is quite small, but the forecast was predicting rain. I checked the weather all week hoping for a change. I was starting to stress not knowing where we would have the party, but luckily our library had a perfect room and for hardly any money at all. I was glad we had it because it ended up POURING rain that day. 

I think Taft had a fun time at his party. He got a lot of fun gifts from everyone. I don't think he got a single gift that he hasn't played with since his party. 

Some pics of the partay:

Taft at three years old: 

-loves playing with his friends. In particular, Logan and Chase. 

-loves playing with trains (tank engines), cars, and all his new b-day gifts

-loves wrestling with Dad, playing "PB&J Sandwich" with Dad (a made up game)

-knows his ABCs, shapes, colors, and the letter W

-likes singing songs

-doesn't take naps, but sleeps about 11-12 hours at night. Still sleeps with his monkey and favorite blanket

-loves TV shows of all kinds

-loves being read to

-enjoys trips to Sea World, the zoo, the park, and library

-loves Nursery at church

-likes being a helper by doing the dishes and helping me clean

-can get himself dressed except for shoes and socks

-despises eggs, rice, potatoes, cheese (except for the fake powdered kind in mac&cheese), most meat, oranges and most dinners I make. 

-loves/will eat mac&cheese, many fruits, peas, broccoli, carrots, pb&j, yogurt, cereal, pancakes, plain noodles, Pirate Booty, most crackers, Cafe Rio pork, granola bars, fruit snacks and white (vanilla) frozen yogurt.

-gets sad and angry when he gets in trouble. 

-is a good big brother (the majority of the time)

-is afraid of heights. Deathly afraid of heights. 

-doesn't really like to color or do arts and crafts projects. 

-When he doesn't want to do something or go somewhere he says, "I'm sorry, but I can't _____"

-When he does want to do something he says, "Of course!" or "Alrighty!"

-Loves being outside and running free

-Can spend a good 20-30 minutes in the bath tub. 

-"Has to go pribacy" (Needs privacy)when going potty

-When playing with kids and they do something he doesn't like he puts up his hands and says, "I don't like that guys." 

-Loves to talk and tell stories. 

-Can be super snuggly when he wants to be. (Every other week or so. :) ) 

-Says good prayers. 

-Loves his family

I'm so glad Taft is in our family. He is the funniest, cutiest, silliest, sweetest 3 year old I could ever hope for. 

I Reached a Goal

which is not really like me. I ran a half marathon a few weeks ago. I ran with a friend here and we actually got a better finish time than we thought we would! It was the first race/run thing I've done where I've actually been well trained. Well-trained as in, I followed the training schedule and finished faster than planned. Not well-trained like I placed. Well, I placed if you consider 50-something a place. Anyway, just leave a comment validating this somewhat-of-an-accomplishment in my life.

Driggs 2012

The week of Presidents' Day Seth had a week of vacation. During residency you only have a certain number of weeks of vacation (Seth has 4 for the year) but you have to plan them way in advance. It's kind of annoying, but we've known we had this trip coming for several months and we were very excited for it. Last year, during this same week, we spent it with Seth and two of his brothers in Driggs, ID. (Near Jackson Hole, WY) We were lucky enough to get invited again and had another great time. One of Seth's brothers couldn't come which we were sad about, but Seth's parents came this time!

We spent the week riding snowmobiles, snowshoeing, playing cards, and of course eating good food. The highlight of the trip was probably that Taft LIKED riding the snowmobiles. Last year he wouldn't even go near the snow clothes for fear that we would put them on him and make him ride a snowmobile. I was nervous he was going to hate it again and was so, so proud of him for being brave even though the snowmobiles are so loud.

A HUGE thanks to our hosts, Seth's brother, Dan, and his wife Lara. They rock. It's very, very nice of them to let us mooch off their hook ups. It was a lot of fun spending time with their kids too. They have GREAT kids. Their older boy, Zane is almost 8, and was so so so great with Taft. All their kids were great with him, but I was just surprised than an 8 year old would be so nice and not seem annoyed by him.

Pop with 6 of his 11 (soon to be 12) grandkids!

Grammie with the kiddos

Staying entertained on the long drive

Ready to Ride

This picture makes me laugh out loud, you can tell Taft is a cautious boy.

Taft and Brauer. These two got along really well. It was fantastic and kinda made me wish I had twins. 

 The weekend before we left for Driggs we spent with my family in Sandy. We had a great time with them as well...Nana, Grandpa and Lanx took Taft to the Ogden Train Depot, a family dinner out at Joe Mo's, grown ups only night at the movies, and a Sunday feast with my family, Lanx's BF, Seth's sis, Colie, and Seth's parents. It was too short of a weekend (and week), but it's always great to see family. AND I didn't take any pictures in UT. Which reminds me...Lanx send me some pics from the train station. Hopefully one of these days we'll be in UT for longer than a weekend so I can see some friends!! I really miss my Utah friends. Like lots. 

It's always a little bit of a bummer when vacations are over, but I'm not going to lie...it's pretty great coming home to a place like San Diego. Now if just all our family and friends would move here too!!