a few notes before take-off

tomorrow we leave for this place:

but we arent going to see this:

we are going to play with these guys! (my sister, brittany,
her husband and their three awesome boys):

then these people (my parents, betty and kimball):

are driving us to my hometown:

where we will party it up with them and another sister of mine, natalie, and her wonderful family:

and my other sister, ashley, and her husband who will be driving all the way from orem to see us (dedication, i tell you!): well, blogger is not letting me load a picture of them no matter how hard i try... but it is off their blog so go there if you need a visual! :)

we are having a 4th of july party, blessing asher on sunday, and living by the pool every other day. we'll head back to las vegas at the end of the two week visit for some more fun and then it's back to the land of aloha.

i am so so ready for this trip! my family is so great and fun and happy and we know how to relax, enjoy each other, and have a good time and that is just what i need! i love hanging out with my sisters- we end up laughing so much and it just feels good to be together. and dont even get me started on all the trader joes, in and out burger...etc. that i look forward to having. plus, it will be nice to be together as a family without thomas dashing off to work in the morning or heading out to take care of a crisis. i am sure he will have to do some stuff over the phone, but for the most part it will be a nice time to just be together. still wont let me upload pictures for some reason... well, picture a cute photo of my family- and remember it while we are gone! haha- ALOHA!!!!!!!!

done and done

now that beginning sewing is done over at byuh- they are starting registration for the advanced class. i guess we get to work on our own projects with the teacher's supervision and still learn some more advanced sewing techniques. cool.

man, over the phone registration is easy. especially since i could never face a trip over to campus with two kids in tow to take care of something like that these days.

class starts Tuesday, August 4th thru September 22nd. you can get registered and pay for it over the phone too: 675-3780 if you're lazy like me :) $60 for the whole session.

as my bff diana would say: "booyeah grandma."

i wish i could do this at church too

but if i had to pick only one family member to sleep his way through 12 o'clock church each week- i would def. choose this one.

and WHO ON EARTH decided 12 o'clock church was a good idea? who?

obviously not a woman. a woman would KNOW that the entire nursery needs a nap around then. sheesh.

magic

the beach is magical. we take a rowdy boy to the beach, run him around at ward camp in the morning, aunty rachel's birthday celebration all afternoon and about 20 otter pops (this is not an exaggeration, i have several witnesses) later we get this:
and this boy was all tuckered out too, but what's new? honestly:

and our little camp site is pretty hilarious:

simply because all the other ones look like this:

"why we gotta be so haole all the time??" i asked thomas. :) oh well, it's a good size for us- especially since we are only there during the day. i came to my senses... spending the night in a small tent with a two year old and a two week old... crazy. maybe next year!

anyway, the beach is magic. amby is so much more well behaved and happy in the great outdoors and so much easier to handle at bed and nap time. magic.

at the end of a loooooooong day

we have mostly been sticking close to home with a few adventures out to liko's house which have been so nice, but other than that......... well, let's just say i miss this:
i am having a hard time remembering the last time we were at the beach and i know ambrose is going through withdraws too. we are not used to sitting around home being boring and bored all day and frankly i'm tired of the sound of my own nagging voice! i.e.: "put that down- you'll break it!" "ambrose, we dont scrape cars and lincoln logs along the walls." "close the fridge door right now or your going straight to your room!" or worst yet: (me yelling from the bedroom where i am trapped nursing asher) "AMBROSE!!!!! WHERE ARE YOU????? get in here NOW!!! mommy doesnt have any idea where you are!?!?!"

anyway, can i make a quick list of all the things i am dying to do in about 3.5 weeks when i hopefully get the ok?

1. JOG, RUN, exercise, run, run, JOG, and jog some more
2. SWIM!!!!!!! beach, pool, natural spring, man made lazy river...whatever. just swim. period.
3. and that's mostly it, but a lot of life's happiness is tied up in those two things for me. so there ya go.

also, some day, i hope to regain some energy and brain power so i can return to the happy world of sewing and getting dressed for the day before 2pm... or dressed in something besides pajamas at all. oh! and fitting into my clothes. this hippo thing is getting old.

well, this semi-pointless post was brought to you by a long day of contemplation, boredom (if you can be bored while racing from one kid's needs to the other), and a lack of hygiene.

the boy is in bed... i am off for a shower (unless the sweet, dreamy sleeping baby wakes up to eat, in which case i'll gladly put my own cleanliness aside for snuggle time with him) and maybe a perusal of this little gem my mom gave me for my birthday:

does he seem ridiculously grown-up to anyone else lately?

he insists on picking his own outfits these days ("amby do it!") and carrying his own things and opening the door for his mother ("here ya go mommy!"). i'm sorry this blog has really taken a major turn into the "look at my kids" only zone, but that is what i'm all about these days. oh and yes you guessed it melissa- this song is totally my theme song these days. haha! :)

camera over one shoulder, apple in one hand, bag of his essentials in the other.... he's ready for a playdate with elijah!

"oh. shorry doodoo!"

this is what we hear a lot lately.

several weeks ago i noticed ambrose talking to and about "doodoo." we dont know who doodoo is, but apparently he has a house, he requires a lot of apologies, and he must be hilarious, because a lot of laughter ensues whenever he is around.

anyway, besides talking to ourselves and our imaginary friends- we are getting ready for ward camp this weekend (we are setting up our spot for during the day, but whether or not we are actually crazy enough to stay the night with both kids is still up in the air), getting ready to go to the mainland next week, and no doubt watching way too much caillou.

somebody's been acting like a real punk lately....

and it's not this guy:



although he has been demanding more food lately, but at least that is something i can help him with.... anymore guesses?

ding ding ding! this guy:



today felt like the longest day of our young lives. thomas and i took turns having and losing patience with our spirited (whiny) little two year old. it didnt help that he didnt nap until waaaaaaay late in the day.... ah, i can laugh about it now that he is trapped in his room (with a new door knob and baby proof knob on the door) crying "get out da crib" (fyi: this doesnt even make sense since he no longer sleeps in his crib and has been slumbering in a "big boy bed" for a couple of days now due to the fact that he discovered a way to fling his chubby body out of said crib....)

anyway, it's a good thing he is so cute and lovable. he or we may not have survived the day otherwise. :) good night.

you want a better look at him?

man he is precious. it's almost heartbreaking to be the mother of a second child because you know to appreciate them so much more because they change so quickly, and you are less nervous about taking care of a newborn so you can just soak it all up, but you most likely need to give 95% of your daytime attention to the older sibling and so you feel like the second just gets to wait (luckily they sleep so much). but, when ambrose is napping or in bed for the night i scoop this little one up and we nurse for longer than during the day and we cuddle up and i just sniff that sweet newborn scent and want to eat him up! he is so very sweet.

anyway, today me and ambrose decided to introduce asher to one of our hot spots: aka- the play area, pet shop, arcade, elevator section of windward mall while daddy was getting a little business taken care of at the kaneohe office. it was.... hectic. but we survived and it was nice to get out and try to manage the two jungle beasts for a morning outside of the home.


oh and if you like this sling, it's one of melissa crosby's creations and you can buy them here. there are several fabrics to chose from and i think she might even custom make one if you have your own fabric, but you better double check with her on that one. they are so handy for the second kid cuz you need your hands FREE so you can hunt down and tackle the older and more rascally sibling!

dear everyone i have talked to recently,

THANK YOU for listening to me!!!!!

we had a couple of hard days where ambrose was all thrown off and i was healing and hurting and tired and it was a little rough and he was so hard to deal with and you let me COMPLAIN and complain i did!

and then you all jumped in and either listened to me, gave me advice, picked up my child for play dates, set up play dates, made me food, shared similar horror stories so i didnt feel like a bad, abusive, crazy mom...etc.

so to: my in laws, matti parker, melissa crosby, sara frantz, liko miller, ashley moffat, my sister brittany, my parents, THOMAS ROBERTSON, my sister natalie, dee kauwe, cassie lee, echo allred, kim howard, shanae jones, i feel like i am forgetting like 50 people, but know that i am grateful for you too.....etc....etc...etc... THANKS!

i feel like i am starting to get the hang of this all of a sudden. maybe it was the mini-van, maybe it's the fact that i feel so much more healed this week, a little more well rested, or that asher is an angel baby and ambrose is starting to be his old self again- but mostly i just think you helped me.

THANKS!

love always,

stephanie

ps- one particular play date yielded some awesome results- if you want to see the cutest little video (it's only 11 secs. long so not too much of a time commitment) of your life (who doesnt love two toddlers dancing gleefully?) go here

pps- and this includes all you thoughtful people who sent me well wishes and treats on my birthday- what fun! if that's the way birthdays go- i hope to have one every year. ;)

mini van mom

it's happened. i'm 25, i have two kids, and now.... i drive a mini-van. wow.

a 2007 silver hyundai entourage to be exact.

and truth be told, i am pretty pleased about it.

we knew we wanted to get something bigger than the good old aveo for the two kids to ride in...safer and whatnot and yesterday we were given an offer we couldnt refuse and were able to trade in the aveo nicely and can you believe it... (sometimes we can benefit from this crappy economy) it comes out to be the same payments as our little car we traded in. YAHOO FOR US!

so, if you see me cruising down the highway with a "my student is the most annoying kid at such-n-such elementary school" bumper sticker, with the wiggles soundtrack going full blast, on the way to this lesson and that school fundraiser, feel free to wave hello and try not to laugh... you and your sporty little crumb and juice free car will get your turn at a sweet trade-in someday too. :)

new born

to brittany, my sister: i am sorry if this kills you. dont worry, he will be at your house in two weeks and some odd days and i will be happy to hand him off to you... just give him back at some point... we cant live without our sweet, precious, tasty baby boy.










and we cant forget about chub-chub. he is still awesome too... even if he has been slightly thrown off by this new arrival... he loves to kiss "beebee sasher" and needs A LOT of attention from mommy all the time and has been pulling some pretty rascally stunts, but this will all calm down soon right? right? please tell me it will. :) for now, i think he knows his "brudder" is here to stay, but i still think he's somewhat in denial: