Summer 2014 (in a nutshell)

Summer was way too long ago for me to remember details, but I'll do my best with the photos that I have. And they are all out of order. Here we go:

We did a couple of hike at Torrey Pines. We definitely miss have a variety of hikes like in Utah, but Torrey Pines sure is a gorgeous one! 

It was Seth's idea to initiate an annual Kids Day at our house. I've already forgotten what day we decided to have it, sometime in August. The boys got to choose the meals for the day, activities, and we gave them really small simple gifts. They loved it. 

We had our own Summer Bucket list this summer which included bowling. The boys loved it! We also found out that our local bowling alley had free bowling all summer long for kids! 

One of many beach days. One of my new favorite beaches is Del Mar. 

The city built a cool splash park downtown that we checked out one day.

Big Brothers standing "guard" to protect Jonah 

I love this kid

There's a pretty fun children's museum in Escondido, about 20 minutes away. Luke loves these tiles! I thought they'd be a great birthday gift but I checked it out and they are $150!! Looks like we'll just keep visiting the museum instead. 

The Safari Park opened up a new tiger exhibit that is really cool. Here Luke is demonstrating how to be a tiger. 

Seth is getting good at catching waves on his SUP. I'm still just to the stage of slowly paddling on calm water. 

"Look Mom, I'm a teenager!" This may be foreshadowing. If he has my teeth, he will most definitely need head-gear. 

Reading books after his swim lesson while waiting for Taft to finish his lesson. The boys took lessons from a water-polo player in our ward. Luke responded amazingly well to the guy and made HUGE improvements! Taft did great too and is a total fish. 

Jonah!

Pile of my most favorite guys. This was in Pacific Beach after Taft and Luke had finished Vacation Bible School. Vacation Bible School is a big thing around here. Tons of churches put on really fun week long camps, for a few hours each day. The boys had a great time and came home slightly evangelized. 

Back to School Shopping for our KINDERGARTENER! "Mom, do you think I can wear this on a date when I'm 8?"

When he "ran away"

Thumbs up for this boogie boarder

Lukie Bootie

Roasting s'mores in our backyard! 

Taft also did a week long basketball/bible combo camp. Yep, they tied in sports and Jesus. The theme was "God's Game Plan"

We had our old Coronado crew over for a BBQ. We never could have much of a gathering at our condo, so we loved being able to finally host everyone!

One of my dear friends and old roommates lives just 15 minutes from us. Our boys are the same ages so we get together quite a bit. Lucky for us, they have a pool! 

Of course we can't forget about Seth's Residency Graduation! Every year they hold the graduation at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. It's a dinner and program with the Anesthesiology Department and it's always pretty entertaining. The chiefs always put together a fun video, full of skits/reenactments from the year/roasting attendings and such. Seth was a chief resident this year and had a big part in making the video and he did a REALLY good job. He sure can ham it up when he needs to.

Since I haven't documented it on our blog I should document that Seth took a  faculty position with UCSD. He is an anesthesiology attending/assistant professor now. Since UCSD is an academic hospital, he is only required to work a few days a week. He also signed on with Kaiser Permanente hospital for the days he isn't at UCSD. 

My parents and Tates came in town for Seth's graduation. 

On Father's Day Seth was on-call at the hospital so we paid him a visit. It was a very slow day so he played around with equipment on our boys. Here Taft is getting an ultrasound of his heart. 

Lake Tahoe

For Jonah first official vacation, he took a bit of a road trip to meet up with some of the Herway clan in Lake Tahoe. I had never been before and holy cow, it is gorgeous up there! We had a great time with Seth's parents, his sister Nicole and her husband Jed, Seth's other sister, Natalie, as well as his brother Jake and his wife Melanie and their youngest, Lily (who is to die for cute). We missed having many of the other Herway's there, but we had a great time.

We just stayed a few days, but Seth's parents were wonderful and rented a house for us all to stay in. I tried my best to stay up late playing games, but with a two month old, I also desperately wanted to sleep. I have a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out) but sleep won most of the nights. I think I only stayed up one night.

We spent a great day on the lake and rented a pontoon to take out. Toward the end, Luke and Seth's mom got practically a bucketful of lake water tossed on them when he went head on to a wave. Seth had a great morning mountain biking with Jake and Jed. We took a late afternoon family walk/hike, but I wished I'd been able to spend more time exploring. It was too short of a trip.

Our Circus

Yes, that is a five year old driving a boat with his feet. 

Pretty sure they didn't leave Jed alone the entire time.

Uncle Jake is a fun dude. 

We love the mountains!

View from the deck of the house we stayed in.

Jonah at 1, 2, and 3 Months

I wish I would have documented each month on their own, but man! Time is flying! I can't believe Jonah is already almost 4 months old. Jonah's first month was spent sleeping a lot, a trip to the lactation people  (you'd think nursing would be a cinch by your 3rd....), and hosting family who came to meet the sweet boy. From the beginning Jonah was a good sleeper and could go 3-4 hours stretches at night. I was very appreciative! 

Month Two we discovered Jonah was sensitive to dairy and could be very fussy and uncomfortable. He continued to sleep at least 4-5 hour stretches at night. He started smiling! And he more than doubled his birth weight.

Adoring big brothers

Month Three took a trip to Utah and Jonah decided he know hates the car! Perfect timing! However, he decided to start sleeping through the night! He loves to smile at Mom, is talkative, especially first thing in the morning. He's on a good eat, wake, sleep cycle, usually only liking to be awake for 1 1/2 at a time. Occasionally he wants to be out for the night starting around 5 pm, but it makes for a really early morning. Like Taft and Luke, he detests tummy time. He really likes to be paid attention to when he's awake. He doesn't really appreciate being put in a bouncer or under a mobile during his awake time. He likes to be talked to and held. When it's time for him to sleep he seems to still like the swaddle and to be rocked until he's just about out. I try not to get him all the way asleep so he is pretty good about getting himself to sleep. He loves getting his diaper changed and being stark naked for a few minutes. Tonight I let him be naked a little too long and he peed on Seth. Oops. 

Jonah is just so squishable! I really have to hold back from squeezing him too tight. I could eat him!

Swoon. Another blue-eyed dreamboat to add to the family! 

Jonah Shaw Herway

Jonah's due date was April 21st. The last week of March I had an OB appointment and was told my belly was measuring a little small. The doctor wanted me to have an ultrasound to make sure the baby was still growing on track. March 31st I had an ultrasound appointment. I wasn't too concerned when I went in for the appointment, but was a little anxious to hear that things were fine. After the tech took all the measurements, she went to show them to the radiologist. She seemed to be taking a while so I starting getting a little nervous. She came back to tell my amniotic fluid was low, but bordering on ok, so they had called my OB to find out how she wanted me to proceed. The tech told me to wait in the waiting room until they received word from my OB. After 30 minutes of agony for me, they told me I could go home but to call my doctor. I called the doctor and she then told me she actually wanted me to go the triage at the hospital instead. She said I had time to go home and gather a bag and some things. I ran home packed a bag for me and an overnight bag for the boys in case I ended up staying a while at the hospital. I ran over to my friends (Jill) house to thank her profusely for watching them while I was at my appointment and what would now be the rest of the evening. I felt awful as I drove away leaving her with 6 kids to take care of! (4 were hers) 

I got to the hospital, ran into my neighbor who is one of the head L&D nurses and she got me all checked in. I was in triage for about an hour or so before my doctor came by. She told me I'd be staying until I had the baby. She said there wasn't room on the schedule for an induction until Tuesday evening (It was Monday at the time) so I'd be staying on the antepartum floor until induction. I called Seth, who was working, told him what was going on. We both just started laughing because, um, we were supposed to be moving that coming Friday. 

I called another friend (Alycia) and had her pick up the boys from Jill's and she took them home to get them ready for bed. Seth stopped by the hospital to see me, then went home to spend the night with the boys. The next morning Seth took care of the boys while I was bored to tears at the hospital. Seth told me to try to enjoy my alone time and think of it as a trip to the spa. Seth brought the boys by the hospital that afternoon for a visit before heading to yet another friend's house. Luke was a little concerned seeing me in a hospital bed, hooked up to an IV. Taft was just excited to be getting to meet his baby brother soon. "So tomorrow your baby is going to pop out?" Since we thought my induction would be that night, Seth took the boys to my friend Jessie's house to spend the night. Jessie has two boys Taft and Luke's ages and they had a total party. 

Last picture pregnant. 

Around 9 p.m. Tuesday night they moved me to the L&D floor and started Cervadil, which helps to ripen the cervix. What I was not previously told was that this takes 12 HOURS(!!) to work. At this point I had been at the hospital well over 24 hours and was so bummed that labor would not be starting that night. Since we weren't going to be having a baby that night, I sent Seth home for a good nights sleep. I was given a sleeping aid (first one of my life) and man was it awesome. 

The next morning around 9:00 they started pitocin. Around 1:00 I got my epidural and around 4:00 it started wearing off. I went from thinking I could feel my contractions to full on crying like a baby in about 20 minutes. I completely started panicking that I would have to deliver without an epidural. I just kept thinking how unprepared I was to deal with that kind of pain! Luckily we were able to get the anesthesiologist back in and everything was taken care of by the time it came to push.  

Then about 3 pushes and baby Jonah was here. 

First picture with Mom

First picture with Dad

Just the tiniest peanut! 6 lbs 3 oz

Since we had left our kids with my friend much longer than we were anticipating, Seth rushed off to pick them up. When Luke saw Jonah for the first time he said, "I wanted a baby that talked." He was also hesitant to hold him or touch him. He warmed up to him toward the end of the visit.

A visit the next day

First family picture as a family of five!

Herway Brothers

Taft is such a great big brother. He loves Jonah so so so much.

Already trying to get Jonah to laugh

Seth, the hero of the week. He did such an amazing job taking care of the boys, me, packing up our apartment, all the while still going into work!

I took this selfie to remember how precious the first days are. My face shows how completely exhausted I was, but man, just laying there with your baby, almost totally uniterrupted for a whole day, is priceless.

As much as I wanted to soak up my bonding time with Jonah, I was also feeling like a burden on others (by having them watch the boys) and was starting to stress about our move. We ended up staying an extra 24 hours longer than I was hoping, but thanks to wonderful friends it all worked out.

Ready to go home!

Jonah spent one night in our Coronado apartment.

 Seth tell the boys stories every night and occasionally he tells them the stories of the day they were born and they really love it. Seth's predicts Jonah will love his story the most. It definitely was the most dramatic! We are so grateful to have another baby boy to love.

Taft is 5!

Taft turned 5 over a month ago but a lot has happened in that month!

 A day or so after Taft's birthday he climbed up a part of the jungle gym that's he always been too nervous to do. He came running to tell me he had done it and when I asked why he decided to try it he said, "Because now that I'm five, I'm not afraid of heights anymore!" He was really proud of himself.

Taft's birthday celebrations were a little lower key than in years past. I wasn't really feeling up to throwing a huge invite-his-whole-class-and-everyone-from-church-plus-everyone-else-we-know-and-their-parents-and-siblings party this year. I pitched the idea of going to Chuck E Cheese with two friends of his choice for his birthday instead. He was sold from the start! He loved it and didn't ever mention not having a big party. He decided to invite his friends Anthony and Lenox from his preschool class. We took them to Chuck E Cheese to play games for about an hour or so, then headed back home for pizza, cake, and presents. The boys were so adorable together!

Taft's actual birthday fell on a Sunday but we still tried to have it be a good day for him. His birthday breakfast request were German pancakes (or Hootenannies) and for birthday dinner "Noodles with Green Sauce" aka pasta with a pesto sauce.

(I did this same video last year)

Taft is at a very sweet age. He loves to help me out, play with Seth, and be a great big brother to Luke and especially to Jonah. Any chance Taft gets he's kissing or hugging or trying to soothe Jonah. Taft is very giving with his compliments to others. Taft is still our social butterfly and will talk to anyone endlessly (I often have to cut off his conversations with random strangers). Since the move we've met several of our neighbors. One lady in particular has been great with humoring Taft and listening to his many stories. Taft is always wanting to make new friends and introduces himself to any kids we see at the playground or anywhere else really. It breaks my heart when some kids aren't very interested in playing with him. Right now he seems pretty oblivious to the fact when someone isn't interested in playing, but he's only truly had his feelings hurt by other kids one or two times. I'm dreading him starting kindergarten in some ways and that is one of them, that one day, someone will be mean at school or make fun of him and or hurt his feelings somehow. I totally get that it's part of growing up and it's important to have those experiences, but the mom in me just wants to be able to protect him from all that. Speaking of kindergarten, he is pretty excited to go. Although, he started saying he didn't want to go because Seth had told him he'd be gone all day, every day. What Seth meant was just a longer full school day, M-F, as opposed to his half day T/TH preschool. Taft thought he'd never see us! Poor thing. We cleared that up and he's excited about going again. Taft loves to learn new things and most recently has learned to read. He also really, REALLY loves learning about different animals, bugs, etc. He always spouting off random animal facts to us.

I often get comments by other adults about what a good kid Taft is. I know I'm biased, but I have to agree! Like all of us, he has his moments, but he is a very easy kid to have around. Seth and I really lucked out on having Taft as our  kid.

Big Bear 2014

This was our second annual trip to Big Bear for skiing. I didn't ski, I'm not confident enough in my abilities to ski while pregnant. Taft had a great time in his lesssons and did AWESOME. I need to get some video on here. Last year he was too young for the ski school but they had a pre-K snowboarding program that he did. This was his first time actually skiing. It's amazing how quickly kids learn this stuff! I was so proud of Taft for wanting to do run after run despite getting hurt several times.

I love this little trip with my family and I hope we keep going every year that we live in San Diego.

It was a really warm winter so although we were able to ski, there wasn't snow anywhere other than the manmade stuff at the resort. We took a little hike one day and it was gorgeous!

Tubing. The boys had fun but I'm pretty sure they'd agree that the tubing hill at Soldier Hollow in Utah is loads more fun. I wasn't allowed past this chain link fence due to the baby bump. They wouldn't even let me cross to take pictures!

We put Taft is a ski school for the morning and Seth took Luke out (no classes for Luke's age). However, it took serious convincing for Luke to put his skis on. He had a love/hate relationship with skiing the rest of the day. 

Turns out he was feeling super sick this day. He has NEVER fallen asleep on me since he stopped taking naps over a year ago. Later this night he threw up in our hotel. I felt terrible that we made him ski when he probably felt so sick.

After Big Bear (or before? I can't remember) we went to Disneyland for a couple of days. This was our last chance to use our annual passes before they expired. I'm so glad we bought those passes even though they were NOT cheap. I'm bummed that we won't be getting them again this year, but we figured with Taft starting Kindergarten we won't be able to go up as often to make it worth it. Sad :(