Lots of fun things

We made this 16" cake for our friends Randal and Evie's wedding. It slightly resembled a cut tree when it was complete. It was crazy to do and also fun. (We are not cake decoraters!)

My sweet boys dressed all nice-y for the wedding. Royal did really well during the ceremony which we were both a little nervous about. It was a beautiful day to be wed.

Labor Day! We spent 4 hours at Cherokee Park with friends eating cheese and crackers and drinking Malbec out of plastic cups! It was a real nice time. Here is Izaak being a small spider monkey climbing on Tyler. 

Farmer Groces showed up later after some hard work (servers and farmers dont get a labor day). It almost appears as Royal is the one taking the photo, but nope, he just has a big head. 

Yea! We got to go to a real fancy dinner with Luke and Katherine sans Royal. It was a last minute surprise that we had someone to watch the little guy. I had lots of fun eating octopus, chicken liver pate and pork jowl as well as Gnocchi and cornmeal fried okra. 

We got up and out one morning...took our coffee to go to Cherokee Park of course. I joked that we should have made Royal's middle name Cherokee instead of Oakland because we go there so much. He likes being in his sling looking all around at the trees and leaves. It is sweet.

First time in a park swing.

We got a surprise visit from Royal's great-uncle Art of Florida. We got to have lunch at Flanigan's with Art as he was passing through. I hadn't seen him in 9 years so it was nice to catch up.

I am learning different ways of presenting food to Royal. Pureed foods are not totally necessary and probably are not the exciting of a texture anyway. And I have learned that you may as well teach them to feed themselves right away since you will have to eventually. So, I have tried cutting up carrots real small and mashing them a bit with a fork and putting them on his tray. Right now he  mostly just yells at the carrots and smashes them around but every once in awhile he will get some in his mouth. I am looking forward to him trying new yummy foods but keeping him breastfed as well for some time yet. A good book that I found through Passionatehomemaking.com is Real Food for mother and baby by Nina Planck. She pretty much just talks about feeding your baby what you are eating (as long as it is good for you of course) and making sure that they are getting fats from fish, meat and healthy oils like coconut and olive. 

By the way, Royal is 6 months old! Whew, God has really blessed our family through this stage. I am still able to stay home and can't imagine being anywhere else: learning patience over and over again! I am happy that this is all a process that will not end. There is always room for growth.

Blue eyed babe

It's been awhile since pics of Royal have been up. He is 5 1/2 months, 19 lbs. He weighs more than most babies we know, including those that are quite a bit older! What a chunk. He is working on sitting up, grabbing things and of course putting everything possible in his mouth ( he grabs my arm and tries to shove it in his mouth often). 

All is well otherwise. We anticipate the fall! It was one HOT summer, making it difficult to do anything really. Now we can get out in the park more often and take regular strolls through the city. 

We love Jessica!

Gentlemen's Swimming Hole taken over by the ladies (katherine really jammed her toes right after my brilliant idea to get a pic of us jumping)

me, katherine, jess, erin, steph, shelley, rebecca and lyndsy

crispy black bean and bacon tacos with scallop ceviche and guacamole!

This past weekend a great bunch of girls got to go out of town to celebrate the upcoming wedding of our dear california -turned -kentucky friend Jessica! We all had the most fun eating great meals, yelling at bears that we could not see, swimming and hot tubbing, laughing until our shoulders hurt and our eyes burst....serious goodness. 

midwest tour: the end

OK, we had some serious fun and beach bummin with our dearest friends Bradley and Jessica. Who would have thought that Traverse City, Michigan was this beautiful? So much Lake Michigan to go around, no humidity at all, mid 70's.... sorry Louisville, kinda wanna stay. We spent the whole day today at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the water was perfect, the wind was just right. The only bummer is that little Royal may have gotten a bit too much sun. He was under an umbrella the whole time, but you know that sneaky little sun has its ways. We are cooling him down and giving him an extra dose of breastmilk to make sure he is hydrated.

A long drive tomorrow, and goodbye to this place. I can't say that I miss Camp st. I know though that Royal will be a bit less crabby when he can get all the sleep that he needs. Moving him around so much has certainly taken its toll.

midwest tour part 1

Here we are in Chicago! We visited my family in the Appleton area for 4 days than headed to Milwaukee where we stayed with our dear friend Ashlee. We enjoyed awesome pork fries and ginger snap cocktails at Honeypie, so yummy. Following, we retired to the back porch of Ashlee's apartment.

We made our way to Chicago on tuesday not before stopping to see my sister in law Kerri for a few minutes. We ate dinner at De Cero our first night in the big city. A very loud place, which was good since Royal was being a bit fussy. But very good food none-the-less. We walked back and were pleasantly surprised to turn on the tube (something that is a luxury when on vacation) and see that The Office was on. That show is something.

Today is wednesday. We got up to the sweet cooing of our son. Tyler and I love it when this happens. We lay in bed and giggle to ourselves as Royal makes the smalliest, cutest sounds in the dark. (Good News! Royal has been sleeping from 10:30-5ish! I only have to feed him once!)

We got a hold of our dearest littlest friend Elizabeth and went out for coffee at the Star Lounge. Tyler found out that the owner had been to some of the same coffee farms as us in Guatemala. Crazy! It was nice to catch up with Liz. I love seeing obvious growth in people that are dear to me.

Since we have left Louisville Royal has learned how to put his foot in his mouth as well as sit upright without help for small periods of time! It is real mind blowing how these things happen so quickly. He also is eating avocado with gusto.

Tomorrow we spend half our day here, than off to Traverse City, Mi to see Jessica and Bradley.

summer time

I am so big, I roll around and push myself up all the time!

Watch out for these baby blues.

Concentrating on my hands keeps me occupied.

Lounging with my papa.

Royal and his cousins, Roman and Elias

We got 4 blueberries, one for each of us! They were tasty; next year we look forward to more.

Me and my bubba.

90 degree Days

hot, greasy pizza: so yummy, so sicky feeling

a quick diaper change in the grass

those plums we commandeered made a just ok Plum Crumb Cake ( I let it cook a bit too long)

basil is coming out of our ears, as is sage, parsley and thyme

how could you now want to squeeze these!

he gets this smirk from his papa

Being a mom is awesome; like no other thing I have experienced. Royal is now 3 months old and weighs 17 pounds 4 ounces. He can flip himself over from his back to his stomach and he does it almost to the point of annoyance for me. I can’t just let him be on the ground or in his crib without checking on him constantly (he’s ok Noel, says Tyler, you just looked at him 30 seconds ago!). Some of it has to do with the fact that I just love him so much, and some how my love for him grows everyday. When I don’t know what to do with the love that I have for him, I grab his cheeks in both hands and squish his face and make a sound that can’t really be described. I know, luckily my husband understands me when I am doing it.

The hardest part about being a mom so far, besides less sleep and less alone time with Tyler, is being home. I love being home, do not get me wrong. I feel so blessed to be able to stay with Royal, that Tyler is able to make enough for our family. Inevitably there are times when I just can’t make another loaf of bread or Plum Crumb Cake; picking basil out back to make Pesto is less than appealing, and cooking dinner is replaced with thoughts of take out. These times, I know what I need is someONE. Talking to a 3 month old just doesn’t quite cut it all the time. I am fortunate to have recognized the problem early on and, even though it wasn’t easy (pride and all that gets in the way), I decided I needed to reach out to those around me. As a result I have been able to go to the zoo with my sister-in-law and nephews, spend an entire day with my best friend at her house doing not much of anything (except maybe making a tiny kitten climb one of her house plants), sit at a coffee shop with said friend on a different day, sit in living room for hours with another lady friend eating cheese, crackers, pesto (yep, homemade), and drinking coffee.  

We are still learning what life looks like with a wee-one. Slowly we are falling in to more of a routine, which is something that we prefer to randomness. I try to organize my weeks to look somewhat similar to the rest; this gives me a better idea of what to expect.

Coming up: looking forward to visiting my family in Wisconsin, we are spending time with Tyler’s family at the lakehouse for the 4^th of July, a welcoming home party this weekend for our friends Nathan and Amy who have been stuck living in MN for the past year, and a belated bday hot dog roast for our dear friend Katherine!

Tyler and I just wanna say that we are very happy together with our son. We feel undeserving of the life that we have, our home, church, family, friends… I am amazed whenever I reflect on these things. We very much love you all!