Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Because quitting my job, becoming a stay at home mom and leaving all our friends to move to another state wasn't enough of a change, we decided it would be a great idea to get pregnant at the same time!  I know this post comes a little late because we've told most of you, but for posterity's sake I figured I should make a blog post too :-)

We were incredibly excited (and surprised) to find out on our 6 year anniversary that we are expecting Smith baby #2!  It had taken so long to get pregnant with Elijah, that we really did not expect to get pregnant so quickly with number two.  Looking back though, I think after my miscarriage I was so emotional and stressed out and was putting so, so, so much pressure on myself to get pregnant again right away, that I really think that was a huge part of why it took awhile with Elijah.  This time I really didn't think about it too much.  We were really more not-not trying.  No stressing over my ovulation calendar, no lying on my back for 30 minutes after you know what.  (Sorry if this is TMI Dad!).  I really just figured it would take awhile and I was totally ok with that, so I just let nature take it's course.  And it did!  To be completely honest, I was a little shell-shocked at first.  I couldn't quite believe it and of course questioned whether we were ready for another baby, but really, are you ever completely ready for another baby?  Especially since number 1 is such a "spirited" child ;-)  I've been doing lots of reading on high energy kids and "spirited" is our new term for the duder. :-)

So needless to say, we are VERY excited, and of course a little nervous.  The first trimester was pretty difficult for me this time.  I had heard from several friends that morning sickness tended to be worse with the second one, and that was definitely true for me.  I was sick pretty much from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed, which was pretty early, because not only was I completely exhausted, but I had no desire to be awake any longer than I had to be.  You could also say that I may possible have had a few mood swings ;-)  For example, there was a sale on babysteals.com for a Boppy, which we already have.  I mentioned to Jason what a good deal it was and maybe it would be nice to have two.  He said "Why do we need another one?"  I then proceeded to sob hysterically for 15 minutes followed by a transition of crying while laughing, and concluding in some hysterical laughing.  I have never felt like more of a crazy person in my life!  The good news is that now that I'm fully in the second trimester, I'm feeling much more like myself and able to feel even more excited!

And I'm not the only one :)

Halloween

I know I'm totally late on this, but better late than never right?  I mean, let's be honest.  Anyone who know me doesn't really expect me to be on time anyway.  :-)


Halloween this year was absolutely  wonderful.  It was a great opportunity to jump right in to our new neighborhood.  It was so fun to see all the kiddos running around.

We met at a neighbors house and had dinner with friends while the kiddos ran around outside before we headed out to trick-or-treat.  Or "tri-tree" as Elijah would say :-)

We love the costume that his Auntie Stacey gave him last year, so much that we decided to recycle it :-)  It actually still fit for the most part.  I just had to expand the headpiece a little for our darling son's giant noggin'.

Can we go already??

 

Elijah and his buddy Jena (aka Minnie Mouse)

Let me make sure your costume is on straight.

Why are we still sitting here people??

We're not kidding.

One of the kids we went with was a "headless guy"  Love it when the kids get creative!

E was a little shy at first.

It took him a little bit to warm up, but before you knew it, he didn't even want to ride in the wagon.  He was running right along with the big kids!

Trying to eat the candy through the wrapper.

Ellie wants to help him open it :-)

"I just want to make sure it's safe for you little buddy"

Come on thing!  Open up!

Trying to figure out how to blow our new whistle.

Wow!

Getting the hang of it!

I think I'm gonna go back to the candy Mama

Here Mama, you try.

First Haircut

So I finally caved and made an appointment to have the Duder's hair cut.  To be honest, I was pretty nervous.  He's not the type of kid to sit still for more than 5 seconds and is pretty vocal when he doesn't want something, so I was picturing having to sit on him or bear hug him while the stylist cut his hair.  I couldn't have been more wrong!  He did AMAZING!  I swear it was more traumatic for me than for him!

We took him to a kid-only salon here in Reno called Snipits.  I am so glad that we did, because the whole experience was amazing.  They really are kid focused.  When we checked in with the receptionist she handed him a card that he could use for a prize after he got his haircut.  The had little statues with spinning wheels and a video playing in the waiting area, all of which were great to keep him occupied.  He even kept giving one of the statues a high-five.

When the stylist came over to get us, she immediately started to talking to Elijah and asked him what he liked.  She brought out two toy dinosaurs that not only kept his hands busy, but kept his mind off of what she was doing.  They also had a little cartoon on about getting your haircut.

First snip

Even bending his head forward like a pro.

Starting to realize that something else is going on....

He started to realize that she was doing something to his head and would try and turn his head to look at her.  The he started to hold his hand up and tell her "Dahp.  Dahp" (Stop.  Stop) :-)  That's when the lollipops came out.  She literally had a bowl of them at her station.

Got his lolli, and his paci on standby.

Not so sure about this, but I'll tolerate it for now.

"Dahp"

Thank goodness for lollis.

Starting to take shape.  Who's that big boy?

 The only time that he really started to freak out, was when she tried to use the trimmer on him.  It's actually a trimmer designed specifically for kids - it's quieter and smaller. She was really gentle and even tried to show it to him and have him feel it before she used it, but I think it was just too new an experience.

Showing him the trimmers

Not having it.

Finished product!  Such a handsome little man!

New Obsession

So most of you know of my obsession with pumpkin.  Literally, anything pumpkin.  So for our Mom's Club Halloween party I decided to try out a new recipe I'd found for pumpkin dip.  O-M-G.  If you are a fan of pumpkin, you MUST try this.  It's super duper easy and I even took two pie pumpkins and hollowed them out for serving dishes.  Again, super easy and really a cute touch.  I served it with cinnamon graham crackers and apples per the recipes suggestions.  I also subbed light sour cream for regular and it still came out super yummy.  No one seemed to notice.  Seriously, this stuff is amaze-balls.

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup frozen whipped cream, thawed
• Gingersnap cookies, apples, or cinnamon graham cracker sticks

Directions

1. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.
2. Add in pumpkin, sour cream, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and ginger. Mix well.
3. Fold in the thawed whipped cream.
4. Serve with green apples, graham cracker sticks, or gingersnaps.
5. Store in refrigerator.

Recipe courtesy of tablespoon.com
 

Love

 One more tea at Loveyjoy's before the big move.  Sarah and I have been going here for years now, a least a few times a year.  Recently we have added our littles to our dates.  It's a special place for us and we knew that we needed to have one last date here before we headed to NV.  It's always interesting with the munchkins along, but so much fun.  I am going to try my hardest to maintain at least an annual trip to Lovejoy's with these girls.  I love them so much and miss them like crazy!  Sarah and I have been friends now for over twenty years and even though our lives have gotten busy and we don't get to see each other as often as we've liked, it is still going to be hard to be so far from her.  Love you Sarz! xoxo

Love, love, love

 

My smiley boy

Little Miss Z being shy for the camera ;-)

Mendocino

Again, trying to catch up :-)

So before the craziness that was our August, we decided to take a few days out and just drive up the coast to Mendocino.  I had bought Jason a Groupon for a round at the Links at Bodega Bay, so we decided to start our little trip there.  We checked into our room and then headed out for our day.  Bodega Bay is such a cute little coastal town.  We Yelped a place for lunch and decided on a little place that was lauded for their fish and chips. Delish!  We sat out on the little patio and watched as the tourists and locals walked by.  After lunch, we headed over to the golf course.  It is absolutely gorgeous, right on the ocean!  Jason went out by himself to start so we got to ride along with him for the first few holes.  Duder absolute LOVED it!  When it was time for the two of us to head out, he had a bit of a tantrum.  Something of a norm for us these days.  Whoever named it the terrible two's new the heck they were talking about!

Duder and I decided to take a little walk down the boardwalk to the ocean.  Duder is such water baby.  He literally just wanted to stand there forever and watch the waves.  And the sand between his toes was pretty fascinating too :-)

On a mission

Love the mistiness of the northern coast.

Needless to say, Jason thoroughly enjoyed his round of golf and I enjoyed looking at the awesome houses along the course.   We headed back to the hotel and hit the heated outdoor pool.  The ocean had not been enough for our little water baby.  I'm not exaggerating - I think this kid could live in the water if we let him.  He absolutely loves it - whether it's pool, ocean, bath.  He's our little Aquarius.  We literally spent so much time in the pool that we missed all of the restaurants!  They were all closed by the time we had gotten out and dressed.  We ended up running by the Whole Foods and begging the guy to leave it open for us to run in and grab some sandwiches and salads.  They were so nice and accommodating and it was almost more fun to go back to our room and picnic just the three of us while Duder gave us a dance show :-)

The next day we grabbed some breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to Mendocino.  On the way, on the advice of my bestie Sarah, we stopped in the Anderson Valley for some wine tasting. Duder was sleeping, so we decided to just stop at one, and boy did we pick one!.  We just happened to stop at Goldeneye, which was on Sarah's list of recommendations and it was so beautiful!  The view was absolutely stunning and the tasting was delish!  We were thoroughly impressed!  (all of our pics are on the new DSLR we got in June, which I still have not downloaded, so those will have to wait!)  You can see this video though :-)

After the tasting we continued up the coast to Mendocino.  We checked into our B&B, which was so cute and quaint.  We had our own little private garden patio, which was so nice!  We were right up the hill from the downtown area, so we headed down to explore.  There were so many cute little shops and the mainstreet overlooks the ocean. We went into the this amazing little kaleidoscope shop.  They had the most beautiful and original kaleidoscope we had ever seen.  After wandering some more, we stopped for dinner at the Bay View Cafe.  We sat on the deck on the second floor, which had an amazing view.  Luckily they had bubbles and crayons on each table because a certain little toddler was not a happy camper, which meant we didn't get to stay long, despite the great food and awesome service.  We headed back to the hotel and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.  Jason and I enjoyed some wine on our patio and the duder got a nice rest :-)

Hanging out watching the football game.

The next day we decided to explore Fort Bragg.  We headed over to Glass beach and walked down to the shore, which is all made up of sea glass.  It was pretty incredible.  We took a nice walk down the boardwalk and then explored downtown where we made a stop at the Mendocino Cookie Co.  (Again, thank you Sarah for the recommendation!)  We then browsed some of the neat little shops downtown.  My favorite was Pippi Longstockings.  The entire store is just socks!  The cutest funkiest socks you've ever seen!

That night we tried to go the Mendocino Hotel for dinner, but after waiting 20 minutes for someone to come to our table to even offer us water and having to go find a waiter ourselves, we decided to try someplace else.  We came across Frankies ice cream and pizza and it was such a better choice!!  The pizza was delicious and so fresh and original and the atmosphere was so casual and warm and they even had live musicians which was great!  They also had a collection of actual questions that people had come in and asked.  Examples were "How do I get to Frankies?"  "Do people actually live in Mendocino?".  We were cracking up.  The best part by far though was dessert.  They had made to order ice cream cookie sandwiches.  You got to pick your own flavor cookie and then whatever flavor ice cream you wanted.  They were absolutely ginormous and absolutely DELICIOUS!!!  I would go back to Mendocino just for the ice cream cookie sandwich!

Duder in his headphone hat.  We ordered these from this awesome girl who crochets the most adorable hats!

Checking out the scene.

I love him :-)

What have we here?

I think I'll just go ahead and take both of these....

YUM!

After dinner we took a hike on a little trail along the cliffs.  So pretty!

Someone had started a bonfire on the beach so we got to watch the firemen, which was a a highlight for Duder.

After that we continued our little adventure over to Point Cabrillo to watch the sunset by the lighthouse.  One of the most beautiful moments of my life!

Duder was more interested in the rocks on the driveway  than the sunset ;-)

When we left town we decided to take Hwy 1 back down to Bodega.  It was an INCREDIBLE drive!  We used to take it up the coast to visit my Aunt Louise in Seattle, but I really don't remember it being so beautiful (probably because I was knocked out by Dramamine - which I actually could have used about halfway through).

We are way above the ocean here, but you can't tell because the cloud layer covered it all.  It was stunning and kind of creepy at the same time :-)