messy baby

today has been a good day. Henry decided to sleep in until after 8, a sweet surprise which meant I got to lay in bed and read a little before our day began. After a tasty acai bowl breakfast we were off on a morning jog, which can be accurately interpreted to mean walk/jog. but the morning was so pretty, and surprisingly devoid of the student masses that take over the sidewalks everyday. play time with Henry, and then lunch. I decided to let him try and feed himself today:

one bath and a clean kitchen later I have a sleeping baby, I’m actually ready for the day (before 4pm, a first for this week : ) and I’m trying to find the motivation to actually go to the grocery store and make a real meal tonight. We’ll see how it goes. I’m just in the middle of a really good book (The Alchemist), really wanting to enjoy this pretty day, wanting to enjoy my sweet babe. so much more fun than cooking.

looking through pictures on my camera i found these:

what a mess-maker. his latest favorite thing is pulling things out of baskets, drawers, recycling bin, closets, shelves….anything. I swear I’m cleaning up after him all day long. it’s fun to see him so curious but it seriously makes me wonder how those super creative, busy blog moms with a personal business and 5 kids manage to do it and not have a total disaster of a house. after walks, cooking, cleaning, playing, exercising, statistics (yes I’m finally taking the last class of my undergraduate!), laundry (I loathe), I am just about out of time for the day. If anyone knows the secret I would love to hear it! Also, Mckay and I are heading to New York in a few weeks! sans baby. We haven’t been on a trip just us two in almost 3 years, so we’re pumped. Planning what we’re going to do is exciting. Once I get over the separation anxiety I’m sure I’ll have fun : )

weekend with the red rocks.

Friday morning we left all our responsibilities behind and escaped to Moab for the weekend. This was the first trip with just our little family of 3 and we were definitely looking forward to it. We timed the 3 hour drive down around the time of Henry’s nap and thankfully it worked out great because he slept the whole way down, which was a little vacation in and of itself : ) and we were definitely grateful for it. We got to Moab in the early afternoon and found a place along the river to eat our lunch. Henry had just woken up and was full of energy. We sort of knew going down  that it would be impossible to keep him clean so we embraced the dirt and let him crawl around. It took less than 2 seconds for him to start shoving rocks in his mouth. We thought it was pretty funny, and he thought us telling him “no” was funny. It was pretty cute but here’s hoping he figures out what no means soon. Our first hike was 3 miles round trip out to Corona Arch. It was beautiful and for the most part we had the place all to ourselves.

The day ended with dinner at Pasta Jays, a rather disappointing Jazz game and a sleeping babe that ended up spending the night in bed with us.

Saturday we hiked to Delicate Arch. It was such a fun hike, a little tough at times, I’m just glad Mckay was the one carrying Henry. I had never hiked to Delicate Arch so I didn’t know what to expect, it was fun hiking up the steep face of sandstone and along the rock walls. You get to the top, go around a corner and get the most amazing view of the arch. It was so much fun and we met a lot of interesting people while hanging out at the top.

Henry fell asleep the last few minutes of the hike back to the car so thought it would be a good time to take a drive so he could sleep in the car. We drove out to Dead Horse Point National Park (who in the world thought up that name? depressing.) We took turns walking out to the lookouts so one of us could stay in the car with Henry. The views were amazing.

We left the park taking the Gemini Bridges trail out for a little off-roading fun. Amazingly Henry slept through the whole drive. The road took us out into the middle of no where and some of the sites were incredible.

Henry was awake by the time we got back into Moab. We grabbed some dinner, browsed through some of the shops, and shared a scoop of Huckleberry ice cream.

Sunday morning we decided to keep things easy. We drove back into Arches and drove out to the Windows. We walked around North and South Window and Turret Arch before heading home.

 

we had fun. little family trips like this make me so happy. can’t wait for the next one.

highlights from the past few weeks

it’s been awhile since I’ve written an update. things have been busy over here but I simply haven’t gotten in the mood to blog till now. and this update, is mostly just that, just little bits from our last couple of weeks for record.

~This is a big one. Mckay completed his qualifying exams-9 hours of testing over a three day period, over a weekend which was the worst-this was a big deal because these tests basically decide whether you get your masters or not. Mckay not only passed, but had a high pass, which means if he wanted to continue at byu and get his doctorate degree he could. we’re hoping to be lucky enough to get into another school out of state for that one but it is such blessing to know we could stay if we needed to. so proud of Mckay for how hard he’s been working.

~highlight #2. The babe is officially weaned. I started thinking about weaning him around his birthday but what hesitant for a few reasons, but mostly because he wasn’t drinking normal milk, in fact he hates it. but after talking with his doctor and a couple days where we were out and didn’t have a chance to nurse at lunch we sort of just started cutting back feedings. I was mostly worried about not feeding him before bed. we’re spoiled and have gotten used to him getting 12 hours of sleep but we finally just tried it and he did great. I have so many emotions about this one. I am so excited mainly because this makes travelling a whole lot easier and nursing a big, squirmy and strong 1 year was getting to be a little awkward and frustrating. but wholly hormones. I was not expecting to be so moody when I stopped nursing but it made me sad and a little emotional. actually a lot emotional. thankfully that only lasted a couple of days and now we can all move on with our lives :) but oh, our babe is growing up and a little too fast for my liking. He is sooo close to walking but he just cant give up crawling, he knows he can get around faster.

~ Henry and I have been enjoying lots of walks while the weathers been warm, sometimes all over campus, sometimes to get an Awful Waffle, sometimes to feed the ducks. I love it and so does Hen.

~We’ve been really watching what we eat, no diets around here, just lots of healthier choices. We’re trying out the vegetarian life this week, and let me just say, black bean burgers are weird, and not the prettiest of burgers but topped with lettuce, salsa and guacamole and it’s actually just okay : ) We’re trying to lose a little weight before our trip to New York next month (hooray, except that’s where we’ll probably gain it all back) so I started doing Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. This was sort of a joke but I love her from the Biggest Loser and let me tell you after the 20 minute workout i. want. to. die. she doesn’t mess around. and I love that I can feel myself getting stronger, when I’m not almost too sore to even sit down.

~It snowed enough to justify finally stuffing henry into the snowsuit we bought him months ago. It was a snug fit and he looked his cutest. but he wasn’t really loving the snow. He sat around for a minute, touched it once, shoved his face in it and decided he was done.

~We celebrated Leap Day and Mckay’s rattail got a little fancy with a thin yellow ribbon in honor of Leap Day Williams (30 rock reference). kind of gross right?

~ Last week Henry was extra fussy (maybe due to weaning, or his recent phase of waking up at 5 am, or his little cough) and not quite himself so on the really cold days we decided to have a snow day. A day where we hung around in our pajamas, house chores were neglected and we just played, Hen had a long warm bubble bath, ate soup, cuddled and watched movies, it was a nice day. I also took that opportunity to make the mantle a little more festive for St Patricks day.

(idea found on pinterest)

I also made our house smell so cozy with a delicious little mix I found on pinterest. I filled my smallest pot 2/3 of the way full with water, added a sliced lemon, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and a couple shakes of dried rosemary. I let this simmer on low all day. The “recipe” online called for fresh rosemary but I used what I had on hand and it worked great. I’ve made this two other times since then, it’s so easy and really makes your house smell amazing.

~We’ve been busy and tiiiiiiired around here so we’ve decided to escape for a few days and head south for the weekend. We’re taking a little family trip down to Moab and WE ARE EXCITED! I actually think this is our first trip with just us three. should be fun.

Lastly, I’ve been really wanting to cut Henry’s hair, not a lot, just trim and even it out a little bit because it is getting so long. The only thing stopping me is obviously Mckay’s major disapproval and those sweet little curls in the back. I’ve heard mixed opinions from others. anyone else have a vote?