A weekend away

This past weekend we made a last minute decision to head to Albuquerque for the weekend. We left Clovis around 7pm and arrived in Albuquerque around 11pm, so it made for a long night on Friday, especially for Matt who worked a full day and then drove the whole way. But it was worth it to just wake up in Albuquerque and have our whole Saturday ahead of us to do whatever we wanted.

So whenever we go to Albuquerque we stay at the hotel on base, but this time we stayed in a TLF (temporary lodging facility) on base instead, which was awesome. It cost $3 more per night (yes, you read that right, $3), but instead of just being a regular hotel room, it was a 2 bedroom apartment. We had our own covered carport, a full kitchen, a backyard, a living room, a huge dining table, a washer and dryer, a high chair, a pack and play... all for an extra THREE dollars. It was just so nice because we had plenty of room to spread out and relax, and we usually have to be quiet and tip toe around in a hotel room after Ethan goes to bed at 8pm, but this way we put him in his own room and could still sit up and watch a movie together and not worry about keeping him up. We will absolutely be staying at the TLF next time, too.

So we woke up Saturday morning and went to Panera for breakfast, then a little shopping at Kohl's followed by some furniture shopping for our master bedroom. Matt and I have been married almost 4 years and we are literally still using our childhood dressers because we've never found a master bedroom set that we liked - but this weekend we finally had success! Finally!!! The set is nothing like what I ever would've pictured for us, but it's unique and really durable (which is super important for our lifestyle since we move all the time) and I am SO excited for them to get here so we can move into them and feel like adults with a real adult bedroom. :)

After shopping we hit up the Chickfila drive-thru for lunch and then back to our apartment for Ethan to take his afternoon nap and just let Bradley stretch it out and relax a bit. And during nap time Matt got to run to the home brew store and our favorite liquor store to stock up on some brewing supplies and yummy beer to bring back home. Then once Ethan woke up we all headed to our favorite playground on base to let Ethan run around and burn some energy.

While Matt and Ethan played on the playground, Bradley and I relaxed in the shade

 

My Bradley loves his tummy time!

 

From there we had dinner at the Noodle Bar for sushi (something else delicious we can't get in Clovis, lol) and then we got a growler from Marble Brewery, dessert from Flying Star Cafe and a movie from Redbox to take back to our place. So once the boys went to sleep Matt and I got to enjoy good beer, good dessert and a movie. It was really an awesome day. And a bonus for the day? Bradley rolled from his back to his belly for the first time ever! Yay! :)

Then Sunday we woke up and headed to the Albuquerque zoo for the morning, where we rode the little train around (which Ethan loooved).

The polar bears! Ethan's favorite :)

Sizing up his hands to polar bear paws

 

We watched the seals get fed

Three generations of elephants (grandma, mom and baby)

With the train engineer after our ride around the zoo

After the zoo we went to Holy Cow for burgers and then we got back on the road to head home. It was seriously such an awesome weekend spending time together as a family. Sometimes life can get so busy we forget to really stop and appreciate one another, but this weekend was exactly what we needed to relax and recharge. <3

Secret confessions of a toddler

Ethan sitting on the potty last night.

Ethan: Mommy, I don't want to drop my rocket ship in the toilet.
Me: That's right, Ethan. You don't want to drop your toy in the toilet.
Ethan (leans over to whisper to me): I dropped a toy in the toilet at school.
Me: You did? Did you tell Ms. Shawna?
Ethan (still whispering): No. I flushed it.

A little update on my Bradley

Time is seriously flying by with Bradley. I feel like everything was slower with Ethan. I have always heard that, though, that with your first child you pay attention to every little detail, but with your second you're so busy chasing around two kids that time seems to fly by much faster. Well, it's true. Bradley is such a little happy, joyful baby, though. He makes the thought of having a third baby an actual possibility, haha. I always knew I didn't want an only child, so no matter what kind of baby Ethan was, he was getting a sibling. But depending on what kind of baby Bradley was was definitely a determining factor for if we have a third. This is all, of course, very far away from right now. Like years. Years and years away. Which I'm totally fine with. Two and a half years is a great gap, but I have a feeling if we have a third it will be an even larger gap. But I digress.

So here are just a few little updates on my Bradley:

1) Bradley is doing awesome. He is growing healthy and strong. At his four month check-up he weighed in at 16 lbs 6.5 oz (just a little over double his birth weight!) and was 25.7" long.

 

2) He has awesome neck control and loves his tummy time. He has rolled from his belly to back, but not his back to belly yet. He has slept through the night twice, but usually he wakes up once or twice in the middle of the night to eat. He hasn't quite started sitting on his own, but once he does, I'm going to see if he's interested in trying his first bites of food.

3) My poor little guy started cutting his first tooth earlier this week. That hasn't made for the easiest nights lately, but teeth are teeth and they have to come at some point, so I figure let's just have them cut through and get it over with!

4) He started attempting to blow raspberries in the air this past weekend. It's the cutest little pbfffff sound ever, if you can imagine, haha.

5) Bradley did awesome traveling to the beach in June. With already two round trip flights under his belt before even hitting six months old I have a feeling he is going to be an expert in no time. :)

6) The verdict is still out, but I have a feeling Bradley will be my second blue-eyed boy. They've lightened up since birth (when they were a dark gray-blue), but they are still blue. I'm not sure they'll ever get as light as Ethan's, but only time will tell! :)

7) He is always full of smiles (especially for his Daddy), but over the last few weeks he has really started to giggle, which is just awesome. Matt can really get him going with some of his silly faces. I absolutely love it. Smiles and giggles from a baby are just the best thing ever.

And here's just a few random pictures of my Bradley:

Helping me get some work done early one Saturday morning

My not-so-baby baby boy is almost 3 years old. Holy cow.

Ethan will be three in about five weeks. Three! Is it just me, or did that happen fast? I am loving every step of watching him grow, though. He is truly such a sweet, compassionate little boy and I love him to pieces. So this post is just a little update on my not-so-baby baby boy.

1) Back in June, Ethan started sleeping in his own "big boy" bed (aka a twin mattress on the floor). We decided to skip the toddler bed step, just because, but weren't quite ready to put him on a bed frame up off the floor, so this was our idea for a transition. So far he has only really completely fallen out once and that was his second night in the bed, so I have a feeling we will promote him up to a real bed frame sometime soon.

2) Ethan is officially potty trained! We switched him from pull-ups to underwear almost two weeks ago and have not looked back since. It definitely takes more awareness on our part to continually ask him if he needs to go, but he is really doing amazing on his own. He'll get up from playing and run to use the potty all by himself. Even this past weekend when we were at Walmart he told me he needed to use the potty, so we rushed to the public restroom and had no issues at all.

3) A few nights ago Ethan had his first real night time scare. I'm not sure if it was a nightmare, or if maybe the cats made some noises in his room that scared him (based on what he's told me, I think maybe Natty is to blame). But he is of the strong belief that there is an elephant in his room (under his old crib that is still in his room because eventually Bradley is going to go into the crib and they are going to share a room). So we've had to continually reassure him (night after night) that there are in fact no elephants in his room.

4) Ethan's current obsessions include: the ever constant Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, a new favorite Thomas the Tank (and all things train), anything that flies (especially rockets) and, of course, sports. You name it and he likes it (baseball, golf, soccer, basketball, football, hockey...). I have a feeling we're going to have a little athlete on our hands, just like his Daddy. :) He also really likes puzzles, books and stickers (which he has about 10,000 of).

5) There are big static display airplanes on base as you drive through the gate. We see them everyday, but yesterday Ethan asked me why they couldn't fly. So I told him it was because they were just for decoration. His response? "Decoration for boys?" And I asked, "Why is it just decoration for boys?" And he said, "Girls can't touch airplanes." Which I, of course, asked him why and he said, "Because they'll get dirty." Lol. Umm... where does he come up with this stuff?

6) Ethan (after going #2 on the toilet and feeling ever proud of himself) shouts to Matt, "Daddy! I pooped on the potty!" Matt says, "Good job, buddy!" To which Ethan replies, "Daddy! Come see it!" So, as any good father would, Matt goes into the bathroom to look. And as Ethan is still sitting on the potty, but lifting up his leg to look in the bowl he says, "It looks like a hot dog." Lol.

Catching up...

Okay, so my blogging last left off after the boys and I got back from our visit to Maryland and I know this is going to be cheating a little, but I think I'm just going to make this post a catchall and get myself up to date. Otherwise, I may never be back to "real time" blogging. So here are some fun highlights of the last two and a half months:

At the end of April, I'll be honest, we didn't do a whole lot. Matt was gone and I was alone with the boys, so just getting everyone fed and bathed was a daily success for me. And speaking of bathing, the boys took their first bath together in April. It is totally the norm for us now, though, because one bath is way easier than two baths. :)

Then at the beginning of May, Matt finally came home - whew! A few of our highlights from May? Ethan came down with Scarlet Fever (who knew that was even possible anymore??) and we did fun stuff, like shoot off rockets.

Next up is June, and I really can't say I was sad to see May go, it was just a long, rough month. So in June the boys' had their school pictures taken (adooorable), I got to meet my dear friend's newest little bundle and we took our first vacation together as a family of four to South Bethany, Delaware, along with my family and Matt's Mom.

 

After 24+ hours of traveling home from Delaware (2.5 drive to the airport, 7 hours on the plane [including a 2 hour delay boarded on the plane, sitting at the gate], an unexpected night in a hotel and a 3.5 hour drive from Albuquerque to Clovis) we had never been so happy to see Clovis, ha. :) That brings us to July (almost up to date!!!). So for the 4th of July we celebrated by going to a squadron party, which was a ton of fun (but I sadly took no pictures). It was a little crazy because everyone buys their own fireworks around here and just shoots them off all throughout the night, but the party was still fun. Ethan, however, made me lie in bed with him until he fell asleep because all the booms and bangs going off outside his window had him a little unnerved. Poor guy.

Then the following weekend (aka three days ago) was a squadron pool party, which Ethan LOVED, but again, I forgot to take pictures (boo!). I was just so happy to see Ethan loving the pool, he didn't even want to get out. I think we're gonna need another trip to the pool to strike while the iron is hot and make a water baby out of my not-so-baby baby boy after all. :)

And that is that, folks. I am finally up to date! Yippee!