Weekend Fun

Friday June 27, 2014:

My little sister turned 17 on Friday! We had a small party for her at our house with all of her close friends and a few family members. Then off to Wet 'n Wild all the teenagers went for a day of sunshine, water rides, and boys. You can't forget the boys ;). Austin was in heaven. He had four beautiful teenage girls who had eyes only for him and he played it up BIG TIME! He didn't even care that he missed his afternoon nap because he was so busy being a little stud. My mom bought sub sandwiches for everyone and I had bought a watermelon which always tastes wonderful in the summer. While Briana and her friends sat in the living room playing with Austin, the rest of us (Mom, me, Sadie, Heidi, Jessica, Mikayla) sat in the dining room talking, laughing, and having a great time. Although Briana had requested no cake this year because she is a teenage girl who is always watching her figure, I bought cupcakes anyway. You can't have a birthday and not blow out candles. I think she was secretly happy about that ;).

Austin and his entourage.

 

Sadie, Heidi, Mikayla, Jessica (who is covering her face) and me hanging out (Mom is taking the picture).

Lighting the candles!

Happy Birthday Dear Briana! And many more...

Saturday June 28, 2014:

On Saturday we had a BBQ/Pool Party with my Uncle Brian and his family. It was a blast! It started out a little rocky because I am extremely anal about punctuality and they were hours late (insert stress and annoyance here) but once they showed up all my anxiety melted away and we had a good time :). Josh BBQ'd hot dogs and hamburgers and my Aunt Amanda and I had made cheesy potatoes, 7-layer bean dip, and brownies. Again, like the day before, we sat at the table for hours talking and laughing. There's something about the kitchen table. It's so comforting to be sitting around it with the people you love and there's something about good food that always brings out an inner happiness in everyone. Even my Autistic cousin who normally can't sit still and is always wanting to go somewhere else was calm and sat on the couch as contentedly as could be! Austin took a mini-nap that afternoon and then we headed out to the pool for a couple hours. It has been ridiculously hot so the water felt perfect! My Mom had bought Austin a new pool floatie for him to sit in/float around and he loved it. I loved it too because it kept him in one place and I didn't have to worry so much about him doing anything crazy. The floatie has a little pillow on the back and I loved watching him lay his little head back on the pillow and float around in the sun. He also enjoyed drinking the pool water which I tried so hard to stop, but there's no stopping this kid once he decides he wants to do something.

Getting ready to go swimming. I have to post good pictures of myself before my pregnant belly starts showing! (8 weeks prego).

Hanging out with Uncle Brian and Cousin Kaden.

This picture is a little blurry because Austin never sits still but I love it so much! My uncle is one of my most favorite people in the world and I love that we live close enough for Austin to get to know my family!

Lovin' his floatie

Swimming around with the kiddos (Little Josh, Austin, and Kaden).

The water was perfect!

Love our little family!

Jura's First Baby!

Best friends holding our first babies. Such a special moment!

The baby shower was done, her maternity leave had started, and baby Juliette was a week over her due date. Jura went into the early stages of labor on Friday and the baby wasn't born until Monday afternoon. This little princess is going to be a stubborn one! I was so excited to be a part of everything. Jura and I have been best friends since we were ten years old and I feel like this amazing experience somehow made us even closer! She called me at 1:30am Monday morning because the contractions were starting to pick up and things were looking more serious. I stayed up that entire night with her, rubbing her back, arms, feet, and holding her hand through every contraction. Her husband and older sister took advantage of my presence and went to sleep. I wasn't annoyed or anything because that gave us some special time to just be alone and talk in between contractions. Her midwife had given her a sleeping pill so not everything she said was coherent and she was being brutally honest about some things that she doesn't remember saying now but I thought it was fun :).

I had to leave at 5:40am because Josh would be waking up soon and I had to be home for Austin when he headed off to work. I called Sadie and asked her to come babysit and after she showed up I headed back to Jura's house. Sadie didn't mention that due to her recent breast implant surgery she can't lift anything over 10 pounds so she called me while I was with Jura and informed me. That had me super stressed out because now I had to find someone to go help her if she couldn't lift him out of his crib and down the stairs! After I made a bunch of phone calls and finally got something set up, I called Sadie to tell her the plan and she told me she had already lifted him and everything was fine..... I was a little peeved at that moment. But I was grateful that she was helping me out so I couldn't freak out on her.

At this point, Jura was in the final stage of labor and it was pretty intense. She was having a home birth in a birthing tub which is like a mini swimming pool. I had never experienced birth outside of a hospital so this was all so new and so fascinating to me. I give home birth two thumbs up and would recommend it to anyone! It was a million times better than a hospital and the midwife was amazing. However, you don't get an epidural when you have your baby at home and I just don't think that is a commodity I could live without. But if you are looking to go the natural route, check out midwives and home births. I promise, it makes a world of difference. You don't have the pressure of the hospital constantly telling you that you aren't progressing fast enough and that you need Pitocin. You also have a warm, quiet, comfortable setting where you can labor in peace without a million doctors and nurses coming in and bothering you all the time. You aren't hooked up to monitors and your midwife actually sits there with you and coaches you! When do you ever hear of an OBGYN doing that? Umm, NEVER! But like I said, even though it was the perfect way to go, I don't ever plan on putting myself through that kind of pain again.

She pushed and pushed in that tub for what seemed like forever and then the time came when the midwife told her to reach down and pull her baby out! It was so amazing I started crying! I was in charge of pictures and I took a million of them. The whole experience was perfect. Jura was amazing and showed so much strength. Adrien (her husband) did a great job of being there for her and helping her through it all. And little Juliette was so tiny and perfect! There was almost a reverence about us as we watched the whole scene play out.

Pictures taken minutes after she was born. We all look super tired, but Jura looks so lovely after just having a baby!

My first time holding this sweet little angel

After we got Jura dried off and into bed with her little precious bundle in her arms, I left to go take care of my own little one. I couldn't wait to tell my sister everything, but at the same time, I was so tired I couldn't get the words to come out right. The next day I took Austin over to meet his new friend and to see how the new parents were getting along. Austin was all over the place (as usual) but he did stand still for a second to snap a few pictures with Juliette. I can't wait for them to grow up together! We are all going to have so much fun!

I could hold her all day.

Introducing Juliette to the A-man

He wasn't sure what to think about everything.

Austin's First Haircut

For the longest time we just couldn't do it! The poor little guy was sporting a mullet in the back and had wings on the side.... it was definitely time. It's so funny how you can literally love ever hair on your child's head. Becoming a parent makes you a little strange like that. We bought our own set of clippers and scissors because it seems ridiculous to pay $14 or more just to buzz a kid's head at a salon.

This was my first time cutting a boy's hair and I was nervous. I used to cut my baby sister's hair all the time when she was little but that really wasn't so difficult. She sat perfectly still and all I had to do was cut a straight line. Austin on the other hand, is incapable of sitting still and fought me the entire time. We put him in his walker in our bathroom to restrain him and Josh tried his best to hold him still. The problem was he kept watching the clippers and wouldn't put his head down for me to begin! I NEVER let him play with my cell phone but at this moment I gave in because it was the only thing interesting enough to distract him from what was going on. My trick only worked short term though and pretty soon he was crying and freaking out. I finally decided he had been tortured long enough and what I had done so far would just have to do. The next day I used the scissors and perfected things. I'm sure the next time around it will look much better but I was pretty proud of my first time attempt, especially under the stressful circumstances.

It is amazing how much older he looks now. He is such a little stud! I kept having to do a double take when I would look at him because he looks like a different child! I am almost in awe of how handsome he is. We did good Josh!!!

The before picture.

Bye bye baby hair!

"Whoa, what are you going to do with that thing?"

He wouldn't let me touch his head! This is the point where the phone distraction came in.

And then the crying ensued.

Getting some loves from Dad after the traumatic event.

The after picture! Isn't he handsome?!

Taking a bath to wash all the hair off.

Why I Love Weekends

Okay, who doesn't love weekends? It's two days of freedom to do whatever you want, whenever you want! What's interesting is how weekends change as we age. When I was in high school I filled my weekends with friends and more friends. That's basically all that mattered to me at that time. I know this because I wrote very intensely in my journal about my dramatic teenage life. Going back and reading this makes me laugh every time. I look back and think, "Oh how trivial my life was!" All that mattered was fun and if I wasn't having fun then my world was ending...

Then college began and with it came a job and homework. I had homework in high school too but it was nothing compared to the new version of the word. In college I spent my Saturdays working, Saturday nights dating, and Sundays were meant for church, laundry, and homework. It was a whole new version of fun and I loved every minute of it! I didn't sleep much in college but I didn't care. Who wants to sleep when you have boys calling, friends wanting to go dancing, and loads of tests to study for?! I sure didn't :).

Now I am a Mom and I long for the weekends because they bring Josh home. Austin and I do fun things when he isn't home, but we enjoy it so much more when he is! Our house is messy on the weekends because Josh turns our living room into his and Austin's fun room. He puts the love-sac in the middle of the room so he has the perfect angle and comfort to watch TV. He then surrounds the couch and love-sac with pillows of all kinds because Austin uses the love-sac to climb up on the couch and then proceeds to jump off without care as to how it's going to feel when he hits the ground. Cheerios litter the carpet and both Josh and Austin eat them off the ground whenever they feel hungry. And the toys...... oh the toys. They are everywhere! There are moments when I look around and feel the stress rising but then I have to stop and remind myself that my family is happy and a home should be a happy place, not just a beautiful place.

We try to do fun family things on the weekends. Right now it is 100+ degrees outside so our activities always involve water. This past weekend we took Dad to the splash pad for the first time. We went in the late morning before it got too hot which was perfect. We had a great time playing in the water, and when Austin started looking cold, we took a walk around the park to dry off in the sun. When hunger struck, we sat in the shady grass under a tree and ate pretzels. Austin is a big fan of pretzels.

Splashing around with Dad.

Big cheesy smile!

Brrrrrrr that water is cold!

"Come on Dad, let's go this way!"

This picture is my favorite because it shows the pure bliss of childhood.

LaFeber Life Lately

 

There's so much that I want to record on this blog about our day to day life, and the best way to do that is through pictures. Most of this has been posted to Facebook or Instagram, but I doubt in 20 years I will even use those. I need to be better at posting things onto this blog and the goal is to someday turn it all into a gigantic book of our life! Here's basically a slide show of what we've been up to lately!

 

Josh's Father's Day present came in the mail and Austin got to help open it!

 

"What do we do now, Dad?"

In case you were wondering, it's an expensive gel-filled memory foam pillow. Kinda lame, I know. But he really wanted it!

Austin was a huge ball of smiles this morning!

I don't know what he drank to make him so happy, but I want some!

He was also in the acrobatic mood.

headstands are his specialty!

Yesterday we had a splash pad play-date with some other kids in the neighborhood and their Mommies.

Austin thought it was great!

Our baby is getting so big!

I'm loving that he can walk now! It makes it easier to do fun things like this!



Not only was this his first experience at the splash pad, it was also his first time wearing shoes! He kicked one off right after I put them on and insisted on chewing on it the entire car ride to the park. I was worried that he wouldn't let me put it back on after that but he actually did just fine!

My urban garden is growing beautifully! We've had lots of tomatoes lately. I'm the only one who likes them but I don't mind eating them all!

My adorable mini bell peppers! The plant just said "peppers" when I bought it so I had no idea what was actually going to grow. They might be small but they taste delicious!

I have been trying to eat more nutritious meals like the rest of my friends. Who can be the healthiest seems to be a growing trend around here. Sadly, like most of my meals, they usually sit for a few hours before I get around to eating them.

I made super yummy nutritious bran muffins that were pretty bomb! I'm a sucker for bran. My favorite cereal is raisin bran and I can devour a dozen bran muffins like its nothing. I tried not to do that though ;).

I've had my days when I want to feel pretty and get all dolled up.....

....and then I've had days where I am lucky to get through the day, let alone apply makeup and wear something other than yoga pants.

When days like the second occur, it's moments like these that save me. I LOVE nights like this when we cuddle, pig out on brownies, and watch stupid reality TV shows like the Bachelorette.

We had a house full of sickies over the past couple weeks and there were a few days when I really just had to get out! On this day I chose to head to the gym and then stopped by Einstein Bagels on the ride home while listening to Collective Soul. It's amazing what exercise, good food, and good music can do for your spirits!

Austin being a little goof ball in the back seat. He loves eating his feet when he's in his car seat..... I guess there's not much else to do back there.

My first purchase for the new baby came today! It's a Solly Baby Wrap and since I will have two kids under the age of two, I plan on using it often! It looks so comfy and convenient to have your baby strapped to your chest in it's little cocoon. I wish I would have known about it when I had Austin!

*As you might have noticed, there aren't a lot of pictures of Josh because he works during the week, so most of the time it's just me and the little man.

*My Mom stopped by today and I was sooooo happy! We were both feeling a little bored and lonely and quality time is the best cure for that! She brought a beach ball for Austin to play with and he thought that was just awesome! More pictures to come soon I'm sure! It worries me though because he likes to roll on the ball and fall off and I hope he doesn't end up hurting himself. He is such a boy! She also brought by a little stair vacuum for me to have so I can finally vacuum our stairs! We've lived here almost a year and I haven't vacuumed those stairs once! Then the neighbor and her little dog (Lulu) stopped by to chat and we had some fun with them. Austin is beginning to love dogs! He gets excited and screams whenever we pass by one on our walks. I take him to the pet store all the time so he can pet them, and he enjoys pestering my Parent's dogs whenever we visit. We went out for lunch to Applebee's and Austin got to sit on Grandma's lap like a big boy (instead of the high chair) and eat mozzarella sticks. He LOVED them! His favorite part was dipping them in the sauce. He's never had cheese before so I hope we don't pay for it later.... Then we walked over to the pet store and played with a little boxer puppy for a while, and then walked around Trader Joe's and Austin got to sample a turkey hot dog. It was a good day!

*Josh and I have been sleeping in the guest bedroom lately because the AC is much stronger in there and these Nevada summers are killing us! If I want to go for a walk with Austin, it has to be by 7am or it will be way too hot. I'm so glad we have a pool and a splash pad to play at or we would be stuck indoors all summer!

*We have been having fun planning for baby #2 and can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl. That's when the real planning begins!!!

*My best friend (Jura) should be having her baby any day now and I can't wait to get the call! She is having a home water birth and has asked me to be there with her. Of course I said yes!! I just hope it will be a convenient time for Austin..... as if babies ever do anything convenient ;).

*My Mom has started working for a Montessori Charter School in St. George and it has been so great for her! She was a Montessori teacher all throughout my life until she married Nathan which was a huge learning advantage for me because I got the expensive schooling for free! She has given me books to read so I can start teaching Austin via the Maria Montessori methods and I can't wait to start! My kids are going to be intelligent and successful if it kills me! Hopefully they cooperate ;).

*On my morning walk this morning we passed by our neighbor (Koi) from Taiwan. I told her my exciting news about being pregnant and she informed me that I look too thin. This made my day since I have already started gaining weight! The morning sickness hasn't kicked in yet so maybe my body is storing up fat to prepare? Or maybe it's just from not breastfeeding as much? Or perhaps it's from it being too dang hot outside to go do anything? Either way, I'm just hoping I don't gain weight this fast the whole pregnancy or I am going to be a blimp!

That's about all I can think of for now.....