Newport Beach

I have heard a lot of moms say they “mourn the loss” of having all their time to dedicate to their first child. Obviously, having another baby is so exciting! But you can’t ignore the fact that once that new little baby gets here, you won’t be able to give the same kind of time and attention to your toddler.

I don’t know why I had this vision in my mind of seeing Ryder’s toes in the sand one last time before he has to share his Mommy and Daddy with an infant that demands attention 100% of the time, but I did. I know Ryder won’t remember the trip and he did not wake up one morning demanding we take him to the beach “or else!!!” but my understanding hubby agreed we could take one last trip with the three of us. (TJ couldn’t join in on the fun this time because he’d already missed so much school from traveling with us, his mom’s family and some karate tournament trips he had taken.)

So off we went to Newport Beach! (We stayed at Hyatt Regency and loved it!) Let me just say that Ryder is an excellent traveler and I’m always so impressed with how well he handles hotels, planes, time changes, different bed, etc. This was his 15^th flight and we’ve figured out what works for us while traveling to make things go as smooth as possible.

We had never been to Newport Beach so I didn’t know what to expect. Of course, it’s beautiful! We didn’t get lucky with the weather this time and it was kinda overcast and rainy the whole trip. But we still got in some beach time and decided last minute that we would spend a day at Disneyland since we didn’t have “beach” weather.  Disneyland was a 20-30 minute drive from our hotel and we spent the entire day there! Tooth and I have never been huge fans of Disney. Not that we dislike it. We’ve just never been Disney obsessed like some of our close friends (you know who you are!!! LOL).

Surprisingly, this ended up being our favorite day of the trip! I didn’t even recognize myself buying Minnie Mouse ears and souvenirs at every corner. There is just something about your babies “first” time doing ANYthing that brings you so much joy as a parent. I think we went on a total of three rides – haha! But Ryder enjoyed every minute of it and took a great nap in his stroller half way through the day while Tooth and I munched on hotdogs, pretzels, churros, cotton candy, ice cream, etc. LOL. Apparently, we like food. We also saw a live Aladdin show and it was hilarious for us, and so entertaining for Ryder. He sat there the entire hour completely into it. So cute!

We did try to get some pics on the beach together. But the photos I had envisioned (Pinterest inspired, of course. What else?!), just weren’t happening. Ryder was totally freaked out by the sand getting in his toes and wanted nothing to do with getting wet. This was such a shock to us! He’s all dude and generally likes to play/do anything that involves getting dirty. The last time we were in Cali (Lake Tahoe for my Dad’s wedding) he ran right into the water fully dressed and didn’t care one bit that the water was FREEZING!

All in all, the trip was a success and I’m so glad we have these memories with our little man before our baby girl gets here this July. I love taking short little trips like this with our family and I am forever grateful for the fact that we are able to experience these things with our kids. Here are some of our best moments: (I'm sorry in advance for the pic overload!)

We took a bike ride along the coast. It was really fun (and easy for me because I was mostly pretending to peddle) and Ryder loved it. He kept putting his hand back behind to help us steer. So cute!

We were expecting him to love the sand but it just kinda freaked him out this trip.

Yup, freaked out!

I have many pictures with my parents very similar to this. Near the beach and drinking a Slurpee.

Safe to say he loves his ICEEs as much as his Mommy!

This kid is a MAJOR Daddy's boy and loves everything he does. Watching them play together completely melts my heart.

The start of our rainy day at Disney which turned out to be a blast!

Apparently, bagels and cream cheese tastes better when it's shaped like Mickey :)

I had this vision of getting a picture of Ryder in his personalized Mickey Mouse hat. Epic FAIL. He wasn't into it. And it was so sad but so cute! We couldn't help but laugh :)

Ryder loves anything that has a steering wheel and loves to "drive". This becomes a problem when he's actually steering. LOL He LOVED sitting on Daddy's lap and steering the boat. Clearly, he took this job very seriously HA!

I desperately wanted to get pictures on the beach with this adorable, goofy boy of mine. But he wasn't having it. Still not sure why the sand freaked him out on this trip but he didn't want anything to do with getting his feet sandy or getting in the water.

Would love to hear some of your favorite places to travel as a family. Any recommendations?

My Wild Man

I was hesitant to post about this because I know there are so many opinions out there about parenting in general. I feel like people are going to look at us and think “WTF?! Don’t you watch your kid??” And, yes. We do. Obvi. 

About six months ago Ryder fell down a few carpeted stairs at a birthday party. This kid is tough and falling never seems to phase him. I have tried really hard not to over react when he falls and figure he’ll always let me know if and when he falls and it actually hurts or scares him. When he fell down the stairs he cried really hard. He held onto his right hand and said “hurt”. Cutest and saddest thing ever. It was already late that night and we weren’t sure how bad it was because he didn’t didn't cry for too long after the fall. So we decided to go home and let him sleep. I figured if I needed to get it checked out, I could do it in the morning after he’d gotten some good sleep. 

It was a rough night. He was whimpering and/or crying all night. I tried to rock him, let him lay in bed with us, sing to him, cuddle. Nothing helped. So early in the morning I took him into the emergency room. Every nurse/doctor told me stories of their own kids and how they’d fallen down an entire flight of stairs, shut their kids hand in the car door, tripped over a toy and broken their arms, etc. Which made me feel a little bit better but I was fighting back the tears the entire day.  Boys will be boys I guess? 

After a few X-rays we learned that Ryder had fractured his right arm in three places. I was heartbroken for him and fighting back the tears while they put a tiny red cast on him. He was NOT happy about the cast and cried the entire time they put it on him.  He recovered quickly and one week later we were able to put him in a removable brace. I was shocked because originally they told me he’d be in a hard cast for 3-6 weeks! The brace was great because he had better use of that hand and I could remove it for bath time and bed time. He took it like a champ and I’m pretty sure it was harder on me watching my poor, innocent baby walk around struggling to hold/pick up toys than it was for him! Three weeks later he was cast/brace free. 

Fast forward to this past weekend… Ryder fell. Totally normal fall while he was running in the basement. Nothing unusual, but I guess he hit it just right. Tooth said he cried for a while and then was really cuddly and even fell asleep on his shoulder. This never happens! He’s too busy playing and making a mess to cuddle and take 20 minute cat naps on our shoulders these days (something I miss beyond words). We gave him cuddles and baby Advil and he seemed to be ok.  He was a little grouchy, but nothing crazy. He ate with his left hand at lunch and took a normal nap. But when he woke up and still favored/babied that hand we knew something was up. 

So we took him back into the emergency room and sure enough, it was broken. I can’t tell you how much this hurts my (pregnant/hormonal) Mommy heart. My poor baby was just innocently playing and being a boy. I feel so bad for him. He was put in another cast and I’m just hopeful it heals as quickly as the last break. 

He’s learned how to play with it and carry toys between his cast and belly. Which is very smart of him but also just so sad to me. It hasn’t slowed him down one bit, though! He’s still running around and playing like he always does. I do think it affects his sleep. I imagine it’s hard to roll over and get comfy with that big, bulky thing in the way. Poor baby! But other than that, it doesn’t seem to bother him too much. I guess I’m glad it’s not pool season quite yet, since he can’t get it wet. I’m praying we are able to get him into a brace again soon so we can take it off for sleeping and bath time. My little baby angel. Ugh. I have a feeling he is going to be a rough and tough kid who gets hurt. He is ALL dude and I love that about him. 

This is the opposite of me. I was always afraid to get hurt and it really held me back in sports and so much more. I was very cautious – still am! Which is why I suck at skiing and pretty much anything else that can lead to me breaking bones! (Knock on wood!!) 

Prayers for a quick recovery for this wild man of mine are much appreciated!

First Break - Right Arm

 Second Break - Left Arm

Anyone else have a toddler in a cast? How do you keep it clean?

Would love to hear your stories/advice!

Baby Moon in San Diego

Tim and I were able to squeeze in a few trips before the new baby arrives this summer. We decided we wanted to make San Diego our Baby Moon location this time around. Tim had never been and I love it there! 

I had the HARDEST time leaving Ryder for this trip. I’ve left him for a few days in the past (Tooth surprised me with tickets to Britney Spears in Vegas last year for my birthday, a girl’s trip for me and my best friend.  Have I mentioned how awesome my hubby is?!). But Ryder was home with Daddy so I wasn’t nearly as anxious about it. This time one of my good friends stayed at our house to take care of him, and… OMG! I think I ran back in to give him a hug, say “I love you”, squeeze his cheeks and get one last look at him like 127 times. I’m not exaggerating! 

I don’t know how I managed to make it the entire car ride to the airport without crying, but I did. But, true to form, instead of crying I just carry all my emotions in my stomach! I had the worst heartburn and acid reflux of my life for two straight days!! It was so bad I called my doctor to get advice because I couldn’t eat anything without feeling ILL. And sleeping wasn’t even an option.  Not only was my mind racing (and my heart pounding) I couldn’t even lay down half way without feeling sick.  After the first couple days, I was able to chill out and relax! 

We ended up having so much fun just laying by the pool, sitting on the beach listening to the waves crashing, catching up on reading (something other than half a US Weekly and a Parenting magazine), nap, eat, watch movies, etc.  It was awesome! We stayed in La Jolla at La Valencia Hotel, which was awesome. We spent time exploring the town and trying different beaches and restaurants. It is the cutest little town and we had so much fun exploring! We also spent a couple days at Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island and that was beautiful as well! My happy place is and will always be at the beach.

Getting quality time alone with Tooth is my favorite!  And to get this for more than a few hours on date night was just fantastic. Here are some highlights from the trip:

This is at La Valencia. So quiet and relaxing! Just what this mama needed.

Beaches in La Jolla

Hotel Del Coronado

25 week bump :)

We loved La Valencia in La Jolla. Recommend it when traveling without kiddos. Hotel Del Coronado was also beautiful! I'm already looking forward to going back sometime with the kids. This hotel is very kid/family friendly. But it isn't overwhelmingly crowded with kids, so also a fun place to take a trip with just adults. 

What are your favorite places to travel when you're kid free? I'm always a sucker for a beach! Like moth to a flame! :)

3D/4D Ultrasound

This weekend Tooth and I did our first ever 3D/4D ultrasound. I really wanted to do this when I was pregnant with Ryder but Tooth thought it was creepy we never got around to it. We went to Belly Up Spa where they have different packages you can choose from when getting an ultrasound. We did the 3D/4D and got to take home tons of pics and a DVD. We've been there twice throughout this pregnancy and everyone there is so sweet! It is so cool to see her moving around in there! She was sucking her thumb and smiling at us the whole time. Every now and then she’d put her little hand over her face and give us the “peace” sign. LOL She has the cutest little pout and chubby cheeks. Oh my gosh, I can’t wait to see her in real life! 10 more weeks… Pregnancy is SO cool! Here are some pics from the ultrasound. We are in love with her already!

This picture of Ryd melts my heart!

Ryd checkin out his Sissy. He loves to hear her heartbeat! Oh - and his tool fork. People must think we're crazy letting him walk around all day long with a fork! LOL Choose your battles, eh?