Cole Update!

Cole at almost 15 months~laughing, talking, semi-walking...he's the joy of our lives and Blane and I are having so much fun with him in this stage. Some of his favorites are trucks, buses, birds, his Da-da, baba, shoes, socks, airplanes, cars, trash, up, walk, saying his name and veggie tales (Bob!). He learns something new everyday and we're amazed at how much his little brain absorbs.

We have just three months before Cole's little sister joins the family and we are cherishing this time with our firstborn. Happy Thanksgiving!

Cole's "Ma-ma"

Facetime Love

My husband may kill me for posting this, but it was too good to pass up!

These past few weeks Blane has had to work many late nights, and often he has left while Cole is still sleeping in the morning and returned far after Cole has gone to bed for the night. Nifty iPhones to the rescue! The other day Blane facetimed with Cole. I took a screenshot. You all are welcome :)

Christmas is in less than a week! I'm so excited to celebrate Christ's birth with family and friends starting this weekend. In my devotional this morning I was reminded to center my heart on the real reason for the season. If you haven't yet read the Christmas story this year, I'd encourage you to do so!

Joy to the world, the Lord has come!

Aim

Mobbed on a Sunday

Last Sunday, as you know, we took Cole to church for the first time. It was great to introduce him to his church family and Blane and I got to see a lot of our youth that we haven't seen in awhile. Some mob action might have ensued :)

 In the cry room after second service got out. Blane couldn't get out of the room because our high schoolers came by right after they got out of Sunday School. Love these kids.

You hear it all the time but it's so true-when you take the time to invest in other people, you are usually the one who gets blessed in the process. Blane and I are blessed to have an amazing church family. Everyone was so excited to meet our little guy because, in a way, he's their little guy too :).

Cole did great that day, by the way. He slept some, woke up to stare at all the inquiring eyes a bit, and was overall just quiet, taking it all in. 

Have a great Wednesday all~everybody grab their first red Starbucks cup of the season yet?!? Quiddie-we need to go!!! ;)

Aim

Daddy Love

Just thought I'd share some portraits of a father and his son in the first almost-two months of Cole's life.

Nose to nose during week one and passed out together during week two.

At night, they have their bonding moments...Cole flailing his little arms around and "punching" Blane and of course, passing out together on the couch. You should hear the snore symphony! ;)

After Cole was all good to go in the breastfeeding arena, we introduced a bottle so that Blane could feed him at least once a day. They now bond over bottle...and sometimes paci too :).

Sometimes Cole is passed out when Blane gets home from work. They also have similar tastes in fashion...although Daddy still wins for most outrageous ;).

These two have had a bond from the start and it's so precious to see! Cole is blessed to have a father who loves him so very much.

Can't wait for you to come home today B!

We love you.

Aim

One!

One year ago today this guy swept me off my feet. 

HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY LOVE!

Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King, His love endures forever!

Going out to celebrate with my man tonight. See ya'll tom!

Mrs. A

Hello, Monday

Little guy was fussy today. I'm not sure why but it broke my heart to hear his little screams throughout this morning and afternoon. I was helpless to find a cure! It was with great relief when my Mom came over and helped me through the afternoon and finally too when Blane walked in the door tonight. Reinforcements for the win :)

Sad or happy, rain or shine, how can you not just fall in love with this face?

Love you little guy,

Mommy A

Daddy Time

Today Blane had to go back to work. :( Sad face! It's been so nice to have him home and I've been dreading today for quite some time.

We've been a great team this past week, as we've maneuvered the waters of parenthood together. It's taken our relationship to a whole new level-what with midnight feedings, diaper changes and just hours and hours of staring at our son. I love being "Mom" to his "Dad" and I'm thankful for a husband who puts so much heart, care and effort into our little family.

For a guy who says he "doesn't like babies" I think he's fallen pretty hard for this little baby. What do you think? ;)

Back to staring~
Mommy A

Fore!

This is a photo Blane took while on the golf course at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach Monday. His two bosses from work took him on a little half-day "babymoon" and the three of them played a round at this  "best of" course in Orange County. The ate lunch, golfed, then ate dinner and Blane had a blast.

I am glad that he got to have this experience before the chaos of parenthood begins. Blane loves golf and the opportunity to play Pelican Hill was like the icing on the cake for him.

Thanks bosses for blessing my husband!

Aim

Hang Time

I've come to realize that my life is about to drastically change any moment now. So, I've been cherishing the moments that I've gotten with those in my life lately knowing that soon things will be different. 

Blane has been my top priority for the past nine months at least :). One of my cousins (who has four kids) shared with me the other month that one of the hardest times in her marriage was right after their first child was born. Suddenly they were both tired and stressed about being good parents and she said that communication became harder between the two of them. I am worried about this. Hey-maybe it'll be nothing and things will be fine, but I also know that I do not function well without sleep and I worry how that will affect my marriage and Blane. You can pray for that for me :).

So I've been cherishing the time that Blane and I have been able to spend together more lately. Even just the mundane things like cleaning the house together or doing laundry or talking at the end of the day.

I've also had many of my nearest and dearest who have wanted to share a meal or just hang out. The other day I had a nice lunch with my dear friend Den, who left work just to spend time with me. Court came over and helped me organize some of the baby's clothes. Dawn and I were able to connect over dinner one night and the same with Meliss too. 

Blane and I tagged along on an anniversary dinner celebration for my parents and Uncle Mark and Auntie Ruth last weekend. It was neat to talk and hear them reminisce about 35 and 34 years of marriage, respectively.

After youth group last Saturday night, Pat had his own "pregnancy craving" and so Blane, him and I drove down to the South Bay to have ramen at 11:30 at night. Not something any of us would normally do, but it was a spontaneous fun time with a good friend.

Next week my sister will be here all week long. I am looking forward to spending some quality time with her, hopefully before this little guy makes his debut :). 

Seven days and counting from today. Whew! Can you believe it? 

Me hardly either :)

Aim

A Man Shower

Blane came home from work the other night all pumped up and excited. Earlier that day, his co-workers had surprised him with a mini-baby shower in his honor. The cherry on the cake was that everything was Miami Heat themed for baby!

The pic on the left was the one he sent me from work. It's a little blurry, but I had to show you because he's so excited :). Their caterer created this "Little Heat Fan" baby cake just for him. How cute is that?

Blane had recently been saying that we didn't have any "Sports stuff" for his son, haha. Everything that we've gotten is way more my style-chic or cutsey-and I know Blane was thinking "we need more manly boy things" haha. Well, he got his wish!

His co-workers not only gave him the baby cake, but also a real cake with a fondant-baby dressed in Lebron's jersey! On the back was our name and Blane absolutely flipped out when he saw it. He's known for having the best reactions to things and this day was no exception.

They also gave him cards, some gift cards, had baby decor and flowers around the room and a banner with his name spelled out. He brought it all home to show me :). I love that they celebrated with him and that it was a surprise to boot! 

Later that night he came home and we took apart the baby cake. These are all the goodies that were wrapped up inside. Blane laid them all out on the kitchen table and took this pic which he immediately posted to Facebook with the caption, "Now we are 100% ready for our little guy to enter the world. Thanks to my team at work for hooking it up!"

Of course, the first thing he told me was that we finally had a take home outfit for the baby from the hospital. -__- Umm...I've had a perfectly cute baby blue one complete with little hat and tiny socks all ready for weeks now! Fortunately, the onesie above is a size 18 mos. so he'll have to wait a bit to rock the Miami gear ;) *Phew!

Thankful for baby blessings!

Aim

Dapper Day

Did you know that Friday was "Wear-a-bowtie-in-honor-of-the-Olympics" day?

Yea, me either. Maybe it was just something B's work did :)

Have a dapper Monday everybody!

Aim

Weekend.

This past weekend was bittersweet for me. Our church left for our annual family camp and for only the third time in my entire life, I was not inside of a vehicle joining them! :( Major sad face. With our due date fast approaching, Blane and I thought it wise to skip out this year.

Our church at last year's family camp

My heart goes with them though, and I am praying for each one daily...that God would meet them, touch them, change them and just all around blow their minds :D. Because everyone was gone, this past weekend was a quiet one for B and I. It was nice though-gave us time together...as probably one of our last few weekends sans kiddo. We organized and cleaned up the baby room, did massive amounts of laundry, took a nap or two, cleaned out our kitchen pantry, B washed all the floors and cleaned both bathrooms and we finally got our A/C fixed, praise the Lord! I'm now happily sitting in my 69 degree house, typing away!

Last night we had dinner for the first time with two of our neighbors at the house next door. We have been wanting to get to know our neighbors better, and it was the perfect opportunity to do so. Our neighbor Laurie is a great cook and she made the perfect summer meal-cheese and crackers to start followed by perfectly grilled chicken and a salad to die for: arugula, baby tomatoes, edamame, olives, grated parmesan and freshly grilled corn doused in a homemade apple cider vinaigrette that she homemade. We finished off the meal with some juicy watermelon and cream puffs! Haha. Later, B and I were able to hang out with one of his old co-workers at our house and it was nice to catch up with him too. 

Hey, so even though I feel like I'm missing out on being with everyone at camp this week, God has already brought some people into our lives back here at home to spend some time with. He always provides!

Hope you all have a wonderful week. God goes with you!

Aim

The Fourth of July

Stars and Stripes and Freedom and Independence and...a day off from work! :)

Happy 4th Everyone! Today, Blane and I are headed to his parent's house to feast with the family and then afterwards we are, in true American fashion, going to a Dodger game where we will see fireworks and hang out with good friends. Whoo-hoo! 

Oh, and if you're feeling ambitious and would like to try and make this beautiful pie, the recipe is here.

Happy Independence Day!

Aim

Busy Busy

Summer has been busy for me. Between finishing up youth events for the school year+starting summer youth events, I've been busy planning for the fall youth calendar when I will be away on Maternity leave. It's been kind of crazy, but I'm thankful for the many people God has given me to help with youth stuff, vision for its future, as well as encourage and uplift me in the process.

Sunday afternoons are one of my most favorite times of the week. Its usually the time during the weekend where Blane and I have some quiet time together. Yesterday Duncan, our neighbor cat and Blane's BFF, came by for the zillionth time this week and the two of them were hanging out. Duncan has been lonely this past week because his owner is out of town so he's been coming by constantly for some love and attention. Mornings around 8:30, at least once in the afternoon, again when Blane gets home from work and finally at 10:30-11pm at night he's been meowing at our door. I'm not a cat person, but I can't help but feel bad for him!

Anywho, so back to Sunday afternoon. I was putting dinner together and Duncan was there, meowing away, so we decided to spend some more time with him and eat our dinner in the back on the deck so he could just "hang out" with us. Call us crazy, but that's what we did-have dinner with Duncan! 

It was a really nice early evening and we enjoyed taking advantage of the longer summer days and the cooler afternoon temperatures to dine on the deck. I can't wait to get a rectangular outdoor table+chairs to put out there so we can have dinner parties under the stars!

Happy Monday all,

Aim

Ring On

This was the state of affairs in our house last night...

My dear husband's favorite NBA player of all time finally won his first Championship ring. He was SO thrilled that he couldn't contain himself :). He stayed glued to the t.v. until way past our normal bedtime and I fell asleep to him watching commentary and game clips on his laptop. Makes me happy to see him so happy!

Blane's quote of the night, "This is the BEST year EVER! We got married, got to go to New Zealand, Lebron won his first ring AND we're having a kid!" :D

Maybe I need to find him some Miami Heat branded socks no? ;)

Aim

Big Night

We interrupt our regular scheduled blogging tonight for something major...

It's a big night in our household. 

Hoping for a "husband-happy" kind of result!

Aim

Hello Guys

Meet Remington (back right) and Riley. These are Blane's parent's kitties and we are taking care of them this week. Yesterday when J and I went over there to check on them we opened the door and found them sitting right inside waiting like this for us. I think they are lonely and miss my father-in-law, who dotes on them daily. :)

I'm not a cat lover, but I have a special place in my heart for these two. Over the years I've come to like them-I mean, they are part of the family! I've been told that pregnant women should not handle kitty litter (whoo-hoo! haha) so B's on poop duty while I just say hi, make sure they have food and water and a treat or two.

J and I left yesterday furrier (is that a word?) but convinced that Rem and Riles would be fine for the night. They're like our babies for the week! Hahaha

Aim

A Mid-week Hello

Last night I got a text around 10pm from this guy asking if Blane and I were home and if he could stop by with his friend because he was "in the neighborhood." Noah is our youngest cousin on my Dad's side and to me he's really more like the little brother that I never had because he's essentially grown up with J and I. We go to church together and more recently, he's been serving with me in the youth program. I love seeing him on a weekly basis and last night was neat because it was an unexpected mid-week visit!

It doesn't happen very often, but I really do love it when friends and family drop in to say hi. I'm a family person and it means a lot when those I love take the time to stop in and say "hey." 

Thanks for dropping in No! We love you :D

A

P.S. This pic was taken a couple of summers ago when No's hair was long and curly, we were all a bit more tan and my face was in good working order, obviously ;).

A Sprinkling of Fun

Over the long weekend B and I got to spend some good quality time together. We had a fun dinner Friday night with friends, cleaned our house, went grocery shopping, hosted a Memorial Sunday get together for both sides of our families, B played golf, we enjoyed the weather and the Heat won the first round in the Eastern Conference Finals. Couldn't have been better ;)

One new thing we tried was Sprinkles Ice Cream. Sprinkles is famous round these parts for their gourmet cupcakes. A week or so ago, they opened an ice cream shop next door to their cupcake bakery in Beverly Hills. I'm not one to "hop on the bandwagon" but something about the ice cream shop intrigued me and so Blane and I meandered over there this past weekend. 

Fortunately, the line wasn't too bad (we waited about 15 minutes or so) and we found parking right in front (no small feat in Beverly Hills) so hopefully this was going to be good :). They had ten or so flavors featured and after trying two each (the limit) we went with coffee (B) and dark chocolate (me). I'm pretty sure their "signature flavor" is the red velvet but somehow the chocolate called my name today. I'd say the majority of people had the red velvet in their special "red velvet waffle cone" to boot so if I ever go back, then I'll have to try that.

The one big downfall is the price-we didn't get anything fancy (just one scoop each, no toppings) and it was $7. Can you tell from the pic below how teeny-weeny the scoops were too?!? Not cool Sprinkles :( Ya'll make Baskin Robbins look like a deal!

Of course, I couldn't pass up a chance to peek into the cupcake shop next door to see what flavors they were featuring and one-Key Lime Pie-caught my eye. I used the "I'm pregnant" excuse and snapped one up to bring home for later :).

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend as well. Here's to a great week!

Aim

Meet Duncan.

Blane has a new best friend, literally, on our block. He's cool, respectful and he loves to hang out with Blane. The past week or so especially, I've found him a couple of times at our front door waiting for my dear husband to be home. Meet Duncan~

Duncan isn't ours, he actually belongs to our neighbor, but somehow he and Blane have struck up a relationship and now he comes to visit a few times a week. Him and Blane have a routine now. Duncan "knocks" (meows at the door), Blane lets him in and they both go into our garage to "hang out." No cats in the house, but the garage is our exception :). Here they are just hanging out the other day in the garage. Didn't think I was serious when I said that they hang out? Haha. Check it out...

I'm not typically a cat person...or any animal person for that matter. Blane is another story-he loves animals. His family currently has two cats, Remington and Riley, who Blane can't wait to see when we go visit his parents. He grew up with a little Pomeranian named Dylan who was his "best friend in the whole world." Blane loves animals. He wanted to bring home a sheep from New Zealand and he's constantly asking me about getting a dog. I'm softening, but still skeptical. I cave a little more when I see how happy animals make him...it's strangely therapeutic in a way. 

Until then though, Duncan to the rescue! Thanks Dunc, for "hanging out" with my hubby. See you soon!

Aim