Baby Sullivan | Week Eighteen

It's a winter wonderland outside and both kiddos are in their rooms taking a nap or having their quite time. Marin is pretty worn out from playing in the snow at preschool and I'm just hoping she crawls into bed and sleeps for a while. Usually on preschool days, I get lucky and she naps for even just a bit. The time change has kind of thrown all of us a bit off this week but we seem to be getting back into the nap groove again. Granted, I want to go to bed at 8pm every night the past few nights. I really dislike how dark it is so early nowadays and I just want to stay inside all of the time and drink my coffee under some blankets. 

Sullivan had his 4 month well check yesterday and he is a growing boy! His weight clocked in at 18 lbs, 11.8 oz. I cannot believe how big he already is. He's wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes right now and still is in size 3 diapers. He's also pretty tall but is in the 80-90th percentile for weight, height, and head circumference. We got the clear to start introducing some cereal and baby food in the next month or so. With Marin, we hardly did any rice cereal because of the lack of nutritional benefit and we will probably do the same with little dude. It's pretty crazy to me that we are already almost to the point of digging out the high chair from the basement. 

We've been doing lots of tummy time and Sullivan grows stronger every day. He has not rolled over quite yet though but seems so close. I think part of it is that he is so dang big that getting himself to roll over is quite the task. We will keep working on it though and I'm sure he will surprise us one day and just roll on over. 

Rocking his "My Mom Rocks" outfit at the church nursery. 

He's been sleeping really well lately and I'm thanking Jesus for that. We moved his bedtime up to 7pm and it seems to be working really well. On good days, we get him down for consistent nap times and that helps him so much. He's such a chill, awesome little dude to begin with but when he's getting good sleep, he's in such a good place. 

We escaped to a toddler free lunch on Monday. 

This snow makes me want to put on some Christmas music and get out the decorations...I'll wait a little while longer...maybe. Last year, everything was up before Thanksgiving. I love this time of year and having the decorations up for as long as possible is always a favorite part of this time of year. I'm almost done with Christmas shopping as well....just need to pick up a few more things. I love this time of year. Having children makes this season even more special. I love seeing it all through the eyes of a child. I want to soak it all in. 

Here is Marin at eighteen weeks! 

Baby Marin | Week Fifty Two

This is it. We made it to one year. I am a few days late in posting this but I wanted to make sure we celebrated our little one's birthday, surrounded by family. I realize that she probably won't remember much of this party, but mid-party, Saturday evening, I took a step back and realized how greatly loved our little girl is. There was a pretty intense snowstorm going on outside and family still braved the drive to our home. 

Marin thoroughly enjoyed opening up her presents and playing with her new toys. Her attention span was shockingly long when it came to opening up her presents. She understands the concept pretty well, I believe. Marin received a lot of new clothes, which she needed. She also received some awesome toys, including a drum set, a circus tent to play in, and a little car to ride around on. She was given puzzles and books, bath toys and even the beginning of a college fund that family can place money in throughout the rest of her life. 

She is well loved. 

She also loved the cupcake, once she figured out what to do with it. She was a lot cleaner about that whole process than I expected. Granted, I still had to clean a lot of cupcake off of the floor, but we didn't have to give her a bath afterwards. 

She slept like a rock that evening and didn't wake up until almost 8 am. Marin has started her first year with a bang. 

Baby Marin. Week Fifty Two. 

Baby Marin | Week Forty Five

Another week has past. The dust from the holidays is settling and our living room looks empty without the warm presence of the Christmas tree and lights. I always am sad when we pack away everything for the beginning of a new year. It is nice though to have our home back to normal once more. 

We have been fighting some gnarly colds around these parts and I feel like we are finally nearing the end of all of this sickness. We have spent many days at home lately and I feel like Marin is going a little stir crazy. She has been full of it. Aside from a runny nose, she seems to have bypassed the colds and I am very thankful for that. 

Marin has found a new love for Sesame Street. She has been trying new solid foods and is slowly learning to pick up her food and not just toss it on the floor. Don't get me wrong though, a lot of it ends up on the floor still and I'm sure it will only get messier as we try new foods. Someday we will try spaghetti and someday it will find its way into every nook and cranny of our kitchen. 

Marin's current word is "pretty." She points at everything and states that everything is now "pretty." All day, every day. "Pretty, pretty, pretty." 

It was snowing again today and Marin gets so excited about seeing all of the snowflakes. We need to get this kid out to play in the snow soon. I haven't quite embarked into that yet. 

Week Forty Five. 

Campfires, S'mores, and Toddy

We awoke yesterday to the beginning of our first snow. Don't get me wrong, I love the colder weather lately, but I'm not ready for snow. At all. I want to enjoy all that fall has to offer for a little while longer. Luckily, the snow didn't stick around for too long. But, sadly, we have finally resorted to turning on our horrible heater for the first time this year. That generally signals the beginning of a cold season. Our house is from the seventies and we have all of the original windows in the house. Which means: outrageous heating bills or going day to day freezing, stocking up on a good pair of house slippers, and eight blankets on our bed. We usually lean towards the second option because we aren't made of money. My philosophy regarding heat: I turn up the heater only enough for the pipes not to freeze and we bundle up. Cheap? Probably. Do we really need to replace our windows? Oh yes. Someday. 

Aside from the freaky, yet predicable Colorado weather, the rest of the day was pretty awesome. My honey and I went and saw Looper in the afternoon, which was an awesome movie. We really enjoyed it. 

On our way home from the movie theater we decided to have a nice evening at home with one of our roommates and a friend. We went to the store and purchased what we needed for a fire out back, s'mores, and hot toddy. 

Geoff was a huge help as always. 

My honey. 

I can now cross off three things from my fall bucket list. It was a wonderful evening. 

I'm thinking of doing a 365 days of photos things again. I started it a couple years ago and did really well for a while then I moved and life became pure chaos. Here's something to start off the goal of a photo today, well two photos for today.

Last night, we began practicing for the studio. Next weekend on Oct 17th, we will be heading into the studio to track two songs, called Thunder and So Very. I'm very excited. I plan on releasing a four to five song ep in the next few months, Lord willing and the creek don't rise. I'm not playing a ton of shows for the next few months, which leaves me with more time to figure out what I really want or even need musically, some new, cool merch, a new record (EP), and what my life will look like musically in the future. I'm to the point where I really have no idea, but I'm ok with that. I'm just so glad I'm along for the killer ride.

Some photos from practice....

Today, we also got the first snow of the season. I don't know if I'm quite ready for that yet. You might not be able to see the flakes in the photo, but it was pretty crazy! Nothing stuck to the ground. I want more fall, not winter quite yet!