Thank you, Dee and Ron!!

I LOVE homemade gifts and admire those who take the time to produce them. Before Isaac was born, I had a baby shower and some of his and my favorite gifts from the shower were the ones that either my Sweet Adeline friends or my work friends had made. Then yesterday, Isaac was blessed with yet another awesome homemade gift from his first cousin, twice removed (but for simplicity sake), his Great Aunt, Dee. :)

We got the package while we were finishing lunch. The first item I pulled out were 6 cars. Isaac loves cars and as soon as he saw them he got excited, so I opened the truck and let him hold it.

Then I took out the next gift- a quilted play mat with a carrying pouch!

I, of course, loved the play mat immediately and I was a little surprised how much Isaac enjoyed it too! He went straight to it and started to push his new truck around, saying, "Vroom vroom!"

And lastly, Dee made Ike a bedtime quilt!

I still am not sure who was more excited about the gifts- me or Ike. It's pretty close... :) THANKS again to Dee and Ron! Isaac is truly a very loved little boy.

SEE FOOD!

I need to go to bed and I'm exhausted, but I want to share this little video with you, accompanied by a joke:

What's Isaac's favorite kind of food??

SEE FOOD!!

I know it's kind of gross, but you have to admit he's cute and it was so unexpected! He had been dancing to the music and I wanted to record it. Of course, once the light from the camera came on, he stopped, but then decided to open his mouth! goofy boy.

Photo Shoot

What do you do when you have one child? Take photos of and with them!

This is what we did last Friday. Just wanted to share.

Springsteen Grandparents

On Monday, the 12th, my mom left early in the morning, Jake got home at 9pm and then his parents got in at 10pm. Whew! It was kind of a crazy day.

We spent a lot of time hanging out at the house which is easiest to do with Isaac at this age since he's still taking two naps- one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Since Mike and Betty wake up earlier than Jake and me, they took Annabel and Isaac for a morning walks which both the human child and the furry child LOVED.

While Mike and Betty were here we got their professional help in decorating one of our walls with the walking sticks and family fish plaque that they had made for us a couple Christmas's ago.

When Isaac was born, Mike made him his own walking stick. Ike had a lot of fun with it (which was a little scary) before we got it mounted on the wall. 

The finished wall!

Later on in the week we made a trip out to my family's cabin at Fallen Leaf Lake. It ended up being kind of a dark day, but still lots of fun to show Mike and Betty the lake, have some lunch and take a little boat ride.

This is another one of those times when SO many pictures were taken that I decided to make a little video with them. It was so wonderful to have Isaac's Springsteen grandparents visit. He is a lucky little man. We look forward to seeing them again!

Animals At Home

I haven't been in our backyard as much because we are lacking outdoor furniture. However, the other night I wanted Annabel to go to the bathroom so I walked around with her and Isaac and it was so peaceful.

Our animals are settling in nicely. 

We keep the kitties in the garage at night because they can become quite irritating in the evening, or rather the early morning. We miss cuddling with them, but any time we are on our bed during the day Striker (and sometimes Bug) is sure to join us. Annabel follows me wherever I go. This is nothing new for her, but I do feel kind of bad that she doesn't have the outlets for energy and love here as she did in San Luis. We go on walks almost every day and she LOVES it. There is a nice path near where I live and I can let her off leash. I think it helps a lot to let her get out and run around. Though it would be great to find a small dog for her to be friends with and chase!

Mother Goose on the Loose!

This morning Isaac and I attended Mother Goose on the Loose at the Community Library just about a mile from us. It's a really neat library program that is put on all over the country and the best part- it's FREE!

There were TONS of kids there. This was just one area I was able to snap a picture of.

Isaac was a little unsure at first, but once the clapping and songs began he was happy. He got to shake a bell, wave a scarf and watch other kids jump and sing along to songs- what could be more fun?

Isaac Weekly Update: Week 39

This week started off pretty busy for Isaac and me as we tried to get everything ready for Jake's arrival. Ike’s been happy and adjusting well to living in his new home. He loves to eat and PLAY with his spoon.

He is still figuring out how to drink water from a sippy cup, but at least he really enjoys exploring it and it doesn’t get him too wet in the process.

He’s still a little mover- crawling and climbing on things.

Jake was home for a couple days and played his guitar for Isaac. After that, Isaac now makes a beeline for Jake’s guitar whenever he gets a chance. 

Ike is getting clearer on his gibberish and lowers himself MUCH better to the floor now from a standing position, so not as many face plants! YAY! He's also a lot more purposeful with his toys and is becoming more dexterous. Sometimes I don't realize these things until Jake comes home after not seeing Ike for a couple days and brings these advances to my attention. Many times things slip past me since I'm with him so much!

Recap of Moving

It has now been about 1 1/2 weeks since Jake and I moved into our new home in Roseville, CA. We packed up a U-Haul on the 25th and then started driving north on the 26th. First we stopped in San Jose to pick up some furniture from my sister's place and have lunch with her and then arrived in Roseville around 6pm to this:

My awesome cousins had set this up and it made me feel so special and welcome. They then came over and helped us unpack the U-Haul and get the essentials inside like the bed, couch and table. Around 9:30pm Jake picked up BBQ from one of the only places open for dinner. Isaac had gone down at 8:30pm (his normal bedtime), but woke up at 10pm and we brought him out to eat with us since the poor guy hadn't gotten much solid food all day.

The next day Jake left for work and right when I was pulling in from dropping him off, my mom arrived with my dog. :) My mom is one of the best workers I know. What would have taken Jake and I weeks to complete, she helped me do in just a few days.

When we unpacked the U-Haul we put most of the boxes in the kitchen and dining area. I wish I had a picture of what the before looked like. In the first hour my mom was here the kitchen and dining area was clear and she was doing dishes (LOVE this woman!!). I sent this picture to Jake since we were both feeling overwhelmed with all there was to do and this was so encouraging that already a dent was being made.

On my mom's last night here, we had microwave s'mores.

It is wonderful to have a place and feel like I can start establishing myself, but I will definitely miss the many moments that I got to share with my parents and that my parents got to spend with Isaac. It was a really special time and as weird as it sounds, I am really thankful we ended up living with my parents (for almost a YEAR! crazy). I feel blessed that Jake and I have parents that are so awesome. I know his would do the same for us if we were in Michigan. So again, I will miss getting to hang out with my best friends every day, but I am excited for this new chapter! (and at least they are only a drive a way!)

Skip In My Step

Jake and I have been looking for a place to live in the Sacramento area and very little has come up and what does come up ends up getting snatched very quickly. Needless to say, it's been frustrating, exhausting and stressful. This last trip consisted of me driving to San Jose to stay with my sister, picking up Jake late that night and then driving to Sacramento the next morning on the 26th and then driving back to San Jose that evening to have Jake fly out and return to work and I stayed at my sister's before driving home the following day (yesterday, the 27th). Even though the driving went well and we got to look at a few places, I returned to San Luis Obispo feeling troubled.

Today has been MUCH better. Two glorious things arrived for me today:

1. Beautiful flowers with a note

It's funny to get a message from Jake in a woman's handwriting

The flowers smell SOOO good!

This was such a nice gift to have unexpectedly arrive. Jake tends to be more pragmatic and so little romantic gestures do not come naturally. I, on the other hand, love romance and am more idealistic than Mr. Springsteen. So to have flowers delivered out of the blue today was quite a treat and definitely an act that does not go unnoticed! This thoughtful gift put an extra skip in my step the rest of the day. I do have a very loving husband and it's great.

2. My wedding album!

I have been working on this for a long time and so it was fun to finally finish it and have it arrive. Every time I look at the pictures I am reminded of the love that Jake and I share and the fun and specialness of that day.

Then there's this kid

Oh how he makes me smile. It's not a bad job hanging out with him all day (especially when he takes a two hour morning nap! YAY!). 

I look forward to Jake coming home on the 30th. Until then, I will smell the flowers and remember how blessed I truly am.