Blake is 2! (very belated, lol)

Somehow between the craziness that was January and the end of December, I missed posting about Blake's second birthday! Yikes! This mama is bad about recording big events in my kids' lives. Someday they're going to realize that their baby books are half completed and none of the photos are in any kind of order and they'll yell at me :P

This past year with Blake has flown by!! He has really changed our whole family and brought us all together :) something about having two kids (especially two brothers) really made us feel more like a 'family'! I always dreamed of having a sibling growing up and I think Blake and Logan are going to have that relationship I always wanted. They love being around each other which makes me happy!

Since I've been doing a little survey for Logan each year, I thought I should really do the same for our left out second child ;)

His personality: Seriously, this kid is a ham! He is the sweetest little guy, never really ever fights with anyone and I don't think I've really ever seen him be aggressive. If someone asks for a toy, Blake will almost always hand it over, no questions asked! He's my snuggler too, loves to give hugs and be held. But at the same time, he is wildly independent! He thinks he can do anything his brother can do (and he can do most of it, too!). He's always smiling or laughing, and thinks everything is funny. He's always been a talker, and has lately started talking in full sentences and talks NON STOP (just like his brother). It's actually kind of overwhelming to take them both with me to the store, neither of them will stop talking long enough for me to think! ;) He loves to tell stories about what he did that day or what Logan is up to. He definitely loves to try and keep up with Logan - he knows his alphabet and can identify tons of letters, counts up to 12 in English and to 5 in Spanish. Crazy!

His favorite toys/things to do: Blake is still a technology man, through and through. It's so funny because Logan hasn't really ever been into that - he didn't want to watch tv until he was closer to two and a half, and he loses interest in the iPad fairly quickly. Blake, on the other hand - I'm pretty sure he could spend all day rotating between Netflix and the iPad if given the chance! :P As far as toys go, he does love his "puppy," or Barky as Logan has affectionately named him - a stuffed dog that Blake likes to drag around. He also loves Legos, playing with the kitchen, doing puzzles (this one is definitely a favorite for him!), stickers, and his bike and helmet. And of course he likes to do whatever his brother is doing!

His favorite places to go: Blake is always asking to go to Mimi & Gra's house and to Abuelita & Abuelo's house! In fact, he might choose to live there instead if we gave him the option ;) He also likes going to the "dog store" (Petco) and "the playground" (any park, really, since he LOVES the swings). And he loves trips to Target so he can request apple juice from Starbucks!

He loves to eat: pasta, chips, pancakes, yogurt, milk, pirate booty, cheese, popsicles (he calls them 'ice pops'), guacamole, bananas with peanut butter, pizza, and chicken. Not really much of a veggie/fruit eater unfortunately...but he does love meat and bread! Some days this little guy can out eat his big brother!

His favorite tv shows/movies: I'm pretty sure Blake will watch whatever you put on...but his faves are the Wild Kratts, Color Crew, the LeapFrog shows (especially Amazing Alphabet and Phonics Farm), Secret Agent Oso, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Mater's Tall Tales. His fave movies are Monsters Inc, Monsters University, Cars, and VeggieTales Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.

His favorite books: Polar Bear, Polar Bear is a favorite! We have to read that one over and over again. He also has a set of Monsters Inc books that he really likes, and then of course the Wheels on the Bus book, Dragons Love Tacos, and any of the Dora the Explorer books. He's also really into the Look and Find books, so we read Look'n'Find with Bear, Elmo's Potty Book, and Jake and the Neverland Pirates Look'n'Find a LOT.

His Favorite songs: I didn't include this one for Logan because he's not quite as musically inclined, but Blake LOVES to sing and dance! He has almost all the words memorized for the songs on our Jump for Joy Christmas cd, and he also loves to sing his ABCs, Wheels on the Bus, Bean Bag Rock, and Spin Again songs. He's constantly requesting a new song/cd in the car!

Names for #3

We have finally decided...on a name! :) It has only taken us all 30 weeks so far to pick out a boys name! We kept adding names to the list, then crossing them off for one reason or another one by one. This name is actually one that we almost put on the list for Logan, considered for Blake's list but at the time it didn't seem like a good fit for Blake, and this time around just seems like the right name for this little guy. In fact, I think it's one of the only names that has stuck around since our first list.

It's funny to think what our boys could have been! Logan was going to be an Ethan up until 33 weeks, Blake was never really anything but a Blake (unless he would have been a girl, of course), and this newest little guy has had about 5 different names in our mind before we finally vetoed them all and decided on this one. And if they were girls - we would most likely have had an Aubrey, Clara, and a Juliet (although this one is a little less final since we found out so early with #3 that he's a boy so we never really got into the major girl name list). 

But whew, I don't know why but I feel so much better now that we've decided, it's final, no turning back now on the name! It's hard for me to really start picturing/planning for having a new baby around until he has a name. I know for sure I could never be one of those parents who wait until the baby is born to decide on a name! If I did that, the baby wouldn't even have a coming home outfit ready, lol! So in the spirit of name decisions, I went ahead and bought this little guy three things we've been needing for his arrival and now it all feels so much more 'official' :)

...and in case you're wondering, we're not announcing the name ;) sorry folks!

Pregnancy Round 3

Life has been a little crazy here...between Daniel's work schedule and keeping up with the kids, this preggo lady is exhausted! This pregnancy has been a lot harder than the other two...I'm really not sure how women keep having kids after the 3rd one simply due to the fact that pregnancy while watching the other kiddos is ridiculously tiring.

Finally at 30 weeks and in the third trimester, I've been trying to slow down and remember that this is probably the last time I'll ever be pregnant. It's not working. I'm still busy hurrying away the weeks! lol! So far I've noticed in the past week or so that my energy has definitely decreased (not that it was ever really there to begin with, haha) and some of the nausea has come back (ugh!). I really haven't been in the mood to eat or make food lately, yet I still keep growing, growing, growing...on a side note, all I really ever do want to eat is fruit.

10 weeks (give or take a few) to go!! Woohoo!!! Ready to get back to my regularly scheduled life of running & working out, drinking wine, and fitting into my normal clothes :)

Kid-free Vacay!

For the first time in 5 years, Daniel and I embarked on our first real "kid free" vacation!!

We've gone on a few trips here and there, but they were all one nighters or just quick day trips for anniversaries or friends' events, but no big trips (especially ones that required air travel!). We've had this trip on the books for awhile and somehow it crept up on us. Originally we had planned to do this trip in October but since #3 will be just a wee little guy at that point, we decided to bump it up to the end of January/beginning of February so the grandparents would just have 2 to wrangle (and I wouldn't be enormously pregnant yet, although it kind of feels like I already am).

SO...

Rio Grande, Albuquerque 

just us!

Natalie, Gerald, & Athena

FSU friends reunite!

And That is how we ended up with a 4 day kid-free vacation to visit friends in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was quite the adventure! :) My most recent flights have all been with the kids, so naturally I assumed that a kid-free flight would be easy, if not relaxing. Wrong! Somehow it's still stressful (delayed flights, catching connections, keeping up with luggage) and that I never really anticipated. On the plus side, the actual flight time was pretty relaxing despite being 27 weeks pregnant and stuffed into an airline seat! I managed to read 2 books and enjoy my diet coke and complimentary pretzels all to myself :)

We had an amazing visit in ABQ - hanging out with Natalie and Gerald, eating (or should I really say, gorging ourselves) on delicious New Mexican food (hello, chile rellenos!!), two hiking trips (one resulting in SNOW!!), visiting the Zuni Indian reservation and staying at the Inn at Halona, walking by the Rio Grande, and seeing downtown ABQ. We had great hosts who showed us such a great time!!

As much fun as we had, I did miss the kids a TON! I really expected that, but what I didn't expect was how much I realized that even though I loved my kid-free life, I still prefer my chaotic, noisy, crazy life with 2 boys :) mostly because I get the best of both worlds now - the crazy, chaotic lovable boys during the day and the adult only fun evenings with good friends!

Cheers to an amazing vacation!