Little League Has Begun!

Well, it's official, we are a little league family once again! We have spent many, many, many spring days and nights at little league games over the years with Tommy and Conor, and now we get to experience it again with Logan.  

T-ball is so much fun to watch.  The kids are all adorable in their uniforms, they pretty much dogpile on top of each other trying to get the ball no matter what their position is or where the ball lands, and Logan is super excited to play!  The best part though is that the team is made up of Clarksburg families, which makes the whole thing extra special. 

 

Milo even got team onesies!

Emmie's favorite part of the games are the snow cones.

Emmie got all dressed up for the game!

Pregnancy Musings

Baby Milo will be here soon and I wanted to take a minute to reflect on this pregnancy journey. 

• Sciatica - This is definitely new with this pregnancy and has been rearing its ugly head since the first trimester.  In the middle of the night I am grateful for the walls to hold me up on my many trips to the bathroom because my leg will not support me.
• Pelvic pain - Walking is very difficult and has been for the past couple months.  Even walking down the hall is a workout.  I definitely miss my walks with Heather and it is frustrating to be so uncomfortable walking around.  Doc says his head has just been in a low weird spot and that's what is causing the pain.
• Cravings - Throughout the pregnancy I have had various cravings for things like McDonalds caramel sundaes, pop tarts, pastries, caramel corn, and ice cream (sweets mostly!).  With Joey all I wanted was pineapple and lemonade, with Logan it was all about baked potatoes, but with this one all I want are sweets.
• Morning sickness - Just like with Joey I was super sick for a very long time.  I had to be medicated after losing too much weight.  It was a very difficult time for me, and the whole family really, since I was down for the count on a daily basis for months.  Lots of tears, depression, and misery for months battling Hyperemesis Gravidarum.   
• Heartburn and leg cramps - Just like with Logan, I have been having bouts of heartburn daily and frequent leg cramps.
• Anemia - I was anemic for several months but tested negative recently which is good news.
• Exhaustion - There is nothing like pregnancy level tiredness!
• Pregnancy Insomnia - Totally exhausted and wide awake all night - Unisom has been my friend this pregnancy.
• Hormones - Crying at the drop of a hat is not typically me, but it has been during this adventure! I nearly cried when Starbucks was out of blueberry scones one day - ridiculous.
• Size - In the last month or so I have gotten much bigger.  Up until then I was really pretty small and people were always commenting that I was tiny for how far along I was.
• Movements - You can pretty much see Milo move whenever he shifts, which is pretty weird looking! He also has recently been developing bouts of the hiccups.  Very weird to have your baby have hiccups when you don't have them!
• Thirsty - I am thirsty all the time - very unlike me.  And, water tastes good - totally unlike me!  My drink of choice is cranberry juice though, I'm sure I have drank gallons and gallons of it in the past several months.
• Carpal tunnel, headaches, swollen ankles, itchy stomach, etc. - yep, dealt with all of those this pregnancy too.

Okay, so with all of this pain and suffering it is amazing that women keep getting pregnant!  But of course it is all worth it.  I would take a bullet for any of my kids, would suffer anything for them, so obviously this is totally and completely worth the amazing gift we will have in the next 2 weeks.  I just wanted to document some of the not so magical parts of pregnancy so that I can remember this when I start getting Baby Fever again, and so that I can sympathize with others who are also not feeling like pregnancy is the most wonderful experience ever. Having a baby is wonderful, being pregnant is definitely a challenge for me.

10 Years!

Well, we made it to the 10 year mark! Our 10 year wedding anniversary was this year and to celebrate we spent 2 kid-free nights in the bay area.  Being pretty pregnant limited my desire to do much walking around, but we still had a wonderful time.  I am always so nervous about going on a trip and leaving the kids, and then I am always so grateful for the alone time with Jeff - you'd think I would learn by now!

Our trip included a stay in Berkley on the water and started off with a nice walk on a very long pier....

Then we went to Skates by the Bay for Happy Hour and appetizers to watch the sunset.  

The next day we headed to Samovar Tea House for some delicious tea and English pastries.  

 Then to Golden Gate Park to walk the Botanical Gardens...

Then to Ocean Beach and Cliffhouse Restaurant where we had a wonderful meal and even got to see dolphins swimming by. 

The last day we explored Berkley and caught a movie together, Monuments Men, before heading home.  

It was a great trip and much needed before we embark on the newborn baby adventure!

Valentine's Day 2014

A couple days before Valentine's Day we took the kids to see Disney on Ice.  They loved it and we were lucky enough to get to watch it from a suite!  It was awesome to get to take them to a fun show like that and Emmie cried when we had to leave and refused to leave her behind. 

The preschool had this lovely artwork of Emmie's featured on the wall...  Yes, Emmie is the only child who felt the need to also include what she doesn't like about her mom on the Valentine. :o)

Valentine's Day morning the kids woke up to find their gifts from us.  We named a star after Joey, Logan and Emmie got personalized books.  

Joey made this for Logan... yes, I cried. 

Boys First Kings Game!

We had the opportunity to take the kids to their first Kings game last night!  Keeping with our goal this year of spending quality time with the kids separately and together, we arranged it so that Emmie got some special time with Aunt Megan, and we made it a boys-night at the game. 

Here are my boys in the suite...

Me & Logan making silly faces during the game...

 Joey & Daddy watching the game...

 Even though the Kings lost to the Nuggets, it was still a ton of fun!  Emmie also had a blast last night going to McDonalds and playing Toy Story Memory with Aunt Megan. 

Lake Tahoe Winter 2014

We kicked off 2014 with a focus on "family time" and a low-key trip to Lake Tahoe.  We stayed at the same house we have stayed at several times before, and planned to spend three days doing nothing but playing games, playing in the snow, and relaxing.  Unfortunately Mother Nature is not cooperating this year and there was pretty much zero snow in Tahoe despite it being January.  

At the park just outside of the house there was some ice though.  It looks like snow but it was ice, hard packed ice that was slippery enough to sled down but so hard you couldn't even make a snowball out of it.  The kids were bummed that our plans of building a snowman were dashed, but they were happy to sled.  

Clearly the hill they were sledding down was pretty small, so we weren't too worried about injury... famous last words!

 

After about a half hour of sledding on the first day, Emmie decided to head down the hill despite Logan being at the bottom.  She took him out at the knees and he fell face first into the ice.  This was definitely our worst injury to date - bloody nose, swollen lips, loose teeth, skinned chin and nose, bleeding gums, and lots of tears.  This is a pic of him about an hour after the incident when we finally got the bleeding to stop... 

And here he is the next day, feeling pretty pathetic still... 

I felt so bad for my little man!  He had trouble eating with his sore and loose teeth and it was hard to see him like that.  I will say though that he wanted to go back out sledding that same day, which we were surprised by.  He was VERY cautious on that little sledding hill for the rest of the trip, ordering everyone to be totally and completely out of the way before every sled run.

When we got back to town we took him to the dentist to make sure no major damage was done to his teeth.  Thankfully everything looked fine on the x-rays and he did great at his appointment (which was a first!). 

2014 Family Goals

During 2013 our family goal statement was, “Exploring California” and we made a conscious effort to take a lot of big and little trips around CA throughout the year.  It was a perfect goal for 2013 because no matter how rocky the year was for other reasons, we always had something to look forward to! 

Looking back on 2013 we did the following to achieve our Exploring California goal:

-          Private tour of Raley Field

-          Monterey Bay Aquarium

-          Dennis the Menace Park in Monterey

-          Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

-          Daffodil Hill

-          Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge

-          River Cats Game

-          Safari West

-          Yosemite

-          Santa Cruz Beach

-          Big Basin Redwoods

-          Yolo Causeway Bat Watching

-          Mt. Lassen

-          Six Flags

-          San Francisco

-          Victorian Christmas Nevada City

While we could easily continue with “Exploring California” for a 2014 goal since there is so much more to see and do, it isn’t going to be as feasible to travel this year with Milo on the way.  So, we decided our family goal for 2014 will be, “Family Time Together” with a focus on spending quality time with each other and the kids separately and as a group.  We felt this will be important as we add a new member of the family this year, and will help us to not get so overwhelmed with our To Do lists and the new baby that we forget to stop and enjoy special moments.  It’s important for the kids to get one on one time with us, time together as a family, etc. to adjust to our new family dynamic with Milo. 

We plan to make an effort to focus on things like family dinners, movie nights, game nights, etc.  We are planning for our big Disneyland trip this year too, but we don't want to push it with a bunch of family trips - a new baby will be exciting and busy enough!  And we will make an effort to give each of the kids special time so they don’t feel like they aren’t getting attention just because a new baby is coming. 

Here's to a year of little moments that create life long memories!