{Favorite} Night and a Garden Adventure.

Well the hubby is home and boy it feels good! The only damper on the day is the blizzard swirling outside my window... (and the fact that hubs basically went straight to school after I picked him up this morning) It's like being thrown back to the winter devils after reveling in spring for a week. Good thing Paula escaped a couple days ago.... I don't think she would have much enjoyed this.

Even though I missed Trav like crazy while he was gone, it wasn't all bad times out here. Megan threw a {Favorites} party one Saturday night and that turned out really fun. Here are the ladies....

(I have to add that I know I look weird in this picture, but what you can't see is that I am crading a baby in my arms. So that is why I look "posed"... not because I'm trying to show off my {good side}.... not that I have one. 

We all brought our favorite food...

(I died for Kendra's dill dip and Crescent's berry goodness... forgot what it was called.)

I brought the {Lindblom Green Salsa} and later thought to explain that that was my maiden name... everyone else thought it was some weird branding name.

Megan, in all her over-achieving cuteness, compiled our recipes into handouts.

Tiff brought all the fixing's for Italian Sodas and they were soooo tasty.

and of course, cute.

We each brought 5 of our favorite things and while we crafted, Megan would draw our names out of a bowl to win each others "prizes". I brought Wegman's French Vanilla muffins (if you haven't tried these... don't. I think I've gained 5lbs from them... they are sinful) and my favorite FAVORITE chapstick... Natural Ice. They were becoming scarce in AZ so we stocked up before moving out here. When we ran out, my mother in law special ordered them online and sent us a box full. We treat each tube like gold. Then I looked on the label one day and saw that they are manufactured in Orchard Park, NY, about 20 minutes away from here, and sold in our local grocery stores. You've got to be kidding me.

Here we are crafting the birthday banner kits that Megan made up for each of us.

Probably definitely one of the cutest decorations I now own. Thanks Megan! It was a really fun, girls getaway.

On another day we paired up with Gavin, Rachel, and her mom, Sheila, to go to the Botanical Gardens. Paula dressed warm, thinking it was an ouside garden, like in AZ. Nope, it's basically a gigantic greenhouse. It took us about an hour to walk through all the rooms and check out the cool plants and flowers. I know it doesn't sound that great, but it was actually a really fun morning. If not just to be out of the house and in a warm place. :)

Here the boys are getting pennies to make wishes and throw in the fountain.

These two are so cute and best buds. It's crazy to see them looking so big and grown up. And yes, I was one of those parents with a leash on my kid. I didn't whip it out until he ran away from me and got pretty far. At least it's not an electric shock collar or something. Trust me, some days I wish it were.  

The fish pond was a hit.

Of course I wasn't able to get pictures, but another night I invited some of the "husbandless" girls over for molten chocolate cakes and another night, Paula and I got Duffs. So there is Spring Break 2011 for us! :)

(Thanks Meg and Rach for sharing the above pics!)

Tonga

Boo hiss on Tonga. I'm just saying. Tonight is probably not the best time to write this post because I'm missing my husband pretty bad. I think there have only been 3 times in our marriage that we've been apart about a week but it's never been longer than that. How do military families do it? It is no fun whatsoever.

My saving grace has been my mother in law, Paula. She was nice enough to come out and help me while Trav was gone, and she has gone above and beyond the call of duty. I really lucked out in the mother in law department. She is nothing like the sterotype. She is so laid back and easy going. She even watched the Bachelor finale with me Monday night. And she's teaching me how to do crochet edges on burp cloths. I haven't crocheted in over ten years and it's been reallly fun relearning. She loves to read so I enjoy talking about books with her. Collin loves her too... of course. He has been referring to her as "momma" and for good reason. She has been getting up with him every morning so I can catch extra z's and in that sense I am getting a vacation! I haven't even felt sleep deprived this past week. It's been marvelous.

All of us had doctors appointments this week, just so I could either go by myself, or only have one munchkin with me. I've taken Collin to the Family Room and the park and been able to leave the babers. And I went grocery shopping with just Collin. What will I do when I have to face the reality of taking two kids out?

So a little background on Travis's trip.... He is doing volunteer dental work in a clinic that the church owns in Tonga. At UB, they have required the students to do an externship between their 3rd and 4th years, and these volunteer trips have taken care of that requirement. Even so, I was not super excited about him leaving for 11 days just a month after having a baby. After a lot of discussion over a long period of time... it was decided he would go. And during that decision, I remember saying, "You're lucky it takes care of the externship requirement, otherwise I would not be ok with you leaving." Well, the day before the plane tickets had to be purchased, the school had a meeting and told them that the externship requirement was being dropped. Poor Trav. I can only imagine the sinking feeling he got right then. I guess he turned to all the guys there and announced that none of them were allowed to tell their wives, so that it wouldn't get back to me. Of course, when he got home that day, he told me anyway. And somehow he still got to go. Props to me. :) Actually, I know all the other guys going think I'm crazy for even putting his participation into question. It is hard to imagine why I wouldn't be super excited about him leaving me in dreary Buffalo for tropical paradise over spring break with a newborn. Check me into a mental institution! But really, I am glad he's getting some good dental practice in and able to help those in Tonga. And props to him because he sacrificed a vacation in Fiji with the rest of the group and left a few days later than they did. As a side note, while the first part of the group was making their flight over there, the tsunami hit. As far as I know, they weren't affected by it, but I know some of the wives were pretty nervous for a while. And you all know me... I would have been hyperventalating.

Oh! I nearly forgot to write about his plane troubles. It could take a while to explain, so I'll try to make it short. Basically, his 1:40pm flight out of Buffalo got delayed.  He saw that online, early Saturday morning, so I dropped him off at 10:30am, hoping he could get on the earlier flight. He couldn't. So he waited until his plane finally took off at 4pm. He missed his connecting flight in NYC, but was able to make another one that was scheduled at hour after the one he should have been on. I guess they let him on even though the gate doors had already been shut. Well that got him to L.A. 1/2 hour before his flight left to Fiji. Definitely not enought time to get his bags, switch terminals and check in. Luckily, he had anticipated this in Buffalo, and called the travel agency to ask if there were any other flights to Fiji he could get on. (I guess normally, there is only a flight every other day) Well for whatever reason, there was another flight leaving the next day, which was Sunday night. So now he's in L.A. at 10pm on Saturday with 24 hours til his flight leaves. He remembered that a mission buddy was living in L.A., so I got on Facebook and sent him a message telling him about Trav's situation. Within just a couple of hours, he had seen the message and was able to go pick up Trav. Granted, it was 1:30am, which was 3:30am, Buffalo time. So he had a heinous day of traveling. But it would have been a lot worse if he would have had to sleep on the airport floor and then hang out all day with just a book to keep him busy. Instead, he had a nice couch to crash on and was able to go to church the next day with his friend, Jay. He said that as they were walking home from church, Jay asked him if I watched Dancing With the Stars because Chelsey Hightower (who is one of the professional dancers on the show) is in their ward. (Oh, btw Jay isn't married yet, so it's a singles ward). Trav knew who she was because we watched the season of So You Think You Can Dance when she was on. When he told me this I exclaimed, "Did you get a picture?!!!" I guess not. He failed to mention this while they were still in church, so he missed his chance to meet her. Darn. Apparently the quarterback of UCLA also goes to that ward. High rollers they are. Anyway, I was just so grateful for Jay and his willingness to help Trav out. I told Trav later that night that it was a good thing he served a mission. :)

Well that was the last time I talked to him. We aren't able to talk on the phone while he's in Tonga, but people with AT&T can send text messages so I've gotten a couple texts from him and one email. Hopefully I'll be able to do a post with all the pictures he took when he returns next week!

TuRNiN' TwO!

Collin turned two last Sunday but we did our celebrating on Friday, since Trav would be out of town on his real birthday. (I must note that this is extremely ironic considering he still won't let HIS parents live down the fact that they were frequently out of town on many of his birthdays growing up. The irony would have continued when he realized not only would he have been out of town, but he actually would have missed his birthday altogether. Since he loses a day in his trip to Tonga, he would leave L.A, Saturday night at 10pm and arrive in Fiji on Monday at 5am, completely skipping Sunday. That didn't end up happening, but more on that later.)

My original thought was to just have a glorified playdate for his "birthday party", but after I sent out the evite and started looking online... well things just evolved, I guess.

This is the picture I used for his invitation. The title was "Someone is Growing Up!"

I let him help me in the kitchen all morning. He was the official "pourer" of any ingredient. And of course he loved to stir. Big mistake. Now I can't cook anything in the kitchen without him dragging a chair over and announcing "Help!"

It was a {Curious George} themed party, so here is his monkey cake. Like I said, having a theme was not in the original plans, but when he saw this monkey cake on the computer he got so excited that I figured what the heck. He's so obsessed with Curious George so I knew he would like it.

We had Chef Pisghetti pizza (nothing special about the pizza, just appropriate for the theme of the party), Banana Pudding (Grandmother's famous recipe. Oh my, it takes a while to make, but it was worth it.), and "Monkey head fruit kabobs", topped off with banana splits for dessert. And I made small loaves of chocolate chip banana bread for each family to take home as their party favor.

The kids played "Pin the butterfly on the poster" and actually did pretty good with it. They liked putting on the {monkey mask} blindfold. I thought it was weird that it wasn't "Pin the tail on the monkey" but then I realized that George doesn't have a tail!! Weirdness. He's a monkey. He should have a tail. The winner (Miss Maddie) got a package of Curious George stickers.

Then we scooted the kids to one side of the basement while Rach and I hid 24 monkeys from Barrel of Monkeys for them to find. They each got a cup and with some help from parents, found the monkeys hidden all over. The two winners got to take home the Barrel of Monkeys game.

Blowin' out the candle!

 I wish I had gotten a picture of him with Grandma Evans (you can see her in the background). She flew in Thursday night to help while Trav is out of town. It was fun to have her there for the party! When he turned 1, Uncle Christopher was in town, so we'll see who turns up for #3! :)

The party guests:

top to bottom: Ryden, Lily, Kadence, Maddie, Gavin, Collin, and Elsie.

Collin loves his friends. I can't tell him early when Gavin or another friend is coming over, otherwise he heads straight to the back door and says their name over and over (like 200 times) while pounding on the door, until they actually come.

After his nap, he opened up his presents and he got spoiled for sure. He loves the playdough, glove with velcro ball, bath toys, puzzles, fire truck, and books. Grandma brought him some fun toys and he is in 7th heaven. Especially since she actually plays with him! Mom needs to do that more.

On his actual birthday, it was a mad dash to get to church on time to teach my lesson (daylight savings stole an hour from us the night before) and when we walked in, our old bishop saw him and commented on how he was getting so big. I started to agree when it hit me that it was his birthday!! I had completely forgotten. That night during his bath, my family called and sang happy birthday so I put it on speaker phone and he was absolutely thrilled. His face lit up and after they were done he clapped and did a little jig right there in the tub. So they sang it again! Silly family. :) Thanks for remembering!

He had his 2 year doctor's appointment on Tuesday and his stats are:

26lbs (16%)

33 in. (25%)

Looks like I have a shorty on my hands! If he's like his dad he'll have a growth spurt around 18 or 19. If he's like me, he'll shoot up between 8th and 9th grade and tower awkwardly above everyone else. I'm thinkin' he'll take after his dad.

A few things about Collin at 2.....

*He is ACTIVE!! This kid doesn't stop moving. People make comments about it all the time. When he's feeling especially stir crazy, he'll just run from room to room- back and forth for no apparent reason. For like 20 minutes straight.

*He loves to talk, we just don't always know what he's saying. He's pretty good at repeating any words we give him, except for Grandma. It comes out "Cop-e". ??? I love that for fish he says "pish".

*He is an affectionate fellow. He loves to give hugs and kisses and you won't get one without the other. If you just give him a kiss, he will yell "Hug! Hug!" with arms outstretched until he gets a squeeze.

*He LOVES Curious George. Did I really need to say this? He will watch countless hours if I let him. He has the episodes memorized and will laugh and giggle or say "pop!" all of a sudden and then something will pop on the t.v. He knows when it's coming.

*He's kinda of a momma's boy, but still loves his dada. He just needs some time to warm up to him when he gets home from school.

*You'll frequently find him with his finger up his nose, but I have a hard time getting mad at him, since I probably taught him that. :)

*He is not potty trained, but will grab his crotch and yell "poop!" when he needs a change. What more can ya ask for?

*He loves balls and throwing things. When I pick him up from a friend's house, they will usually comment on how much he likes to throw. And not just balls. Anything. You have to watch out when he's in the room. I got pegged in the nose so hard a couple weeks ago, I thought something was broken.

*He sleeps about 11 hours every night and takes a 2 hour nap. He can't climb out of his crib yet and I am supremely grateful.

*He's got a mean lookin' scowl he'll throw your way and it makes us laugh. He doesn't even usually use it when he's mad, just to be silly. He'll tilt his head down and pull down an eyebrow and give you a "look". I need to get a picture of it.

*He's big into telling you what he {can't do}. Like if he sees a package of cookies on the table, he'll get your attention then wag his finger back and forth and say "uh, no no cookies. no no" very matter of factly.

He's pretty much everything that can drive me crazy one minute then melt my heart the next. Even though he can throw a tantrum with the best of them, he's really a good boy at heart. I'm so grateful he made me a mother 2 years ago!

Trav left last Saturday morning, so Thursday night I tried to do a fancier dinner. Ok, it wasn't really fancy, just more expensive. I've gotten on a {homemade mac n' cheese} kick, and didn't know what to serve with it, so I tried making a brisket. Yes, you read correctly. It was actually a pork brisket instead of beef, but it was delicious. I cooked it in the crockpot after rubbing it with liquid smoke and a plethora of spices. It fell off the bone and was oh so good but oh so bad for you. I made Trav take a picture because let's be honest, who would have thought that I would ever cook a brisket?

Then on Friday night we went out to Cheesecake factory. It had been a whole month since I had pictured my Navajo Taco and French fries dipped in ranch during contractions and I finally got it! Di-vine. No wonder it popped in my head during labor.... heavenly food comes with heavenly babies. :) And that was my {Last Supper} with my hubbie until next Wednesday. I made him take our camera with him even though he said he won't remember to take pictures. If he knows what's good for him, he'll remember. So my next post won't have pictures, but I'll do a little update on the Tonga man.

Weston's Newborn Pictures

Happy one month birthday to Weston! Strange how fast a month can go by. Travis and Collin are at church so I have some time alone with Weston and while I was uploading these pictures I couldn't help but cry. I'm just so overwhelmed with gratitude for all of my blessings. Really, how did I get so lucky? I glance around my living room at all the pictures of our family and I'm amazed at God's love. I could have been born into any family, into any country, and at any time in history, but I was born a Lindblom, in America at a time when the church is restored to the earth, and had the privilege of marrying an Evans. I'm humbled at all the sacrifices my parents and in-laws have made for their families and the church. I think about the Founding Fathers... what amazing men... and the early pioneers... what faith. And I'm the beneficiary of all their hard work, prayers, courage and sacrifices. It really makes you think. And rededicate yourself to doing better. I'm so grateful for my two beautiful sons! And for the incredible man that is raising them with me. I don't think Trav gets enough credit. He is everything to me. He is such a loving father and husband. I sure am grateful to his parents for raising a son who respects me, is always concerned with my feelings, and is so dedicated to the church. I'd truly be lost without him. (How do single parents do it?! I ask myself this often. It would be crazy hard.) So, sorry for getting all sentimental, but emotions are one thing I'm not good at hiding. :) And these pictures sure bring out the emotion in me! Thank you again, Megan. She is an artist! And she put so much time into these.. not only taking them, but editing as well. We are SO grateful. Pass her name along and check out her website- www.shaheenphotography.com We will treasure these forever.  

Here is the announcement that Megan designed...

 Of course, poor Collin was sick, and not getting much sympathy from me at this point. I love Trav's {kill me now} face (can you see it behind the smile?) A moment where you want to cry, but now we can laugh. I will be hanging this in our home. It captures reality too well. :)

Crescent crocheted this sweet little hat for him and I just died when I saw it. It was a little big on him, so she went and made another one just so I could use it in these pictures. It is my favorite thing he owns!

 I am nothing short of obsessed with this picture!

What day is it?

Because the days just all blur together. I've been a negligent blogger and I'd say it's because I'm really busy, but actually, I don't feel like I do much. Except for change diapers. And nurse. And tell Collin, "Can you wait? Just wait one minute until brother is done eating. Ok?" or "Please don't throw your toys. What did Mommy just say? Don't throw your toys, they might hit someone."

If I've learned one thing since having a second baby, it's I can't overbook myself. My "to do" lists are now about 4 items long, and one of them is always {take a shower}. If I can do one load of laundry and clean one thing AND make dinner... well, I'm on a roll. 

We still aren't leaving the house, but I haven't really gone stir crazy yet. I went to church on Sunday because I needed to teach Sunday School, so I took Collin with me and we were there for the second two hours. It was the first time I had really gotten ready in over a week and it was surprising to see my face with make up on. Last night was Bunco and I thought it was funny when about 3 of us had to leave right when it was over to go home and nurse. Super cool.

Still not sleeping much, but I know that is to be expected. I pulled out "Babywise" on Monday and started getting all excited about putting Weston on a schedule. Then I remembered how hard it is to get a newborn to fall asleep right when you want him to, and even harder to get him to wake up when you want him to. So I'm a little disheartened, but will continue my efforts. He's really such a good baby, so it's hard to complain. I remember with Collin I couldn't even finish a shower without him crying. When he'd fall asleep for a few minutes, I run downstairs to exercise until he started to cry, and continue that throughout the day, sneaking in about 3 or 4, 15 min. exercise sessions. He was just so fussy and always wanted to be held.

I'm trying to soak in all the wonderfulness of {newborn time} while it lasts. Like the adorable stretching after being unswaddled. Where they crane their neck back and pop their arms up, arching their back and grunting. I love his smell. I love snarfing on him (yes, just as it sounds) and kissing all over his head and neck. Sleep deprivation aside, there is nothing sweeter than a newborn.

Here he is getting his first real bath. His cord fell off after 5 days, but there was just a bit of a remnant that lasted almost 3 weeks. I got smart with this kid and had a space heater going in the bathroom to keep it toasty.

 Collin hasn't been completely forgotten. I thought this was cute walking past his room one night and had to steal a pic.

 So we got hit with the winter sickness, just like everyone else. Collin was so sick while my mom was in town and I kept thinking how lucky it was that Weston hadn't caught it. Well I spoke too soon. The next week, Weston was full of mucus and coughing. I took him to the doctor, but they said there wasn't anything they could do about it, and I should just use a humidifier at night and keep his head elevated. I suctioned out his nose regularly and panicked every time it seemed he couldn't get a breath. Two friends out here had to take their kids to the hospital for RSV, so I thought we were in for it. Well, Saturday morning I wake up and his eye that had been goopy for a while, had gotten much worse. He couldn't even open it. It was basically swollen shut. So my peds office sent me to urgent care. Ok, for those of you living in Buffalo, I have to tell you about this place. It's called Maple at Ayer and it's on Maple road, just east of the hospital. It is the Hilton of urgent care facilities. It was just built in December and has that {new building} smell you NEVER get to smell out here. It reminded me of Mesa actually. There was no one in the waiting room and they even tried to call me back before I was done registering. I felt like Weston got really good care... even better than when he sees his normal pediatrician, like when they took his oxygen level. I don't think my doctor's office even has the ability to do that. And then the kicker... this is what a patient room looks like:

You know how normally they examine you on a table covered with that nasty paper that doesn't even cover the whole surface? Well here they examine you on a bed... and yes they change the sheets between every patient. They had a full on crib and a flat screen TV on the other wall as well as a rocking chair. While I was waiting they kept asking me if I'd like a bottled water, juice, snack, or blanket. There was space heater in the room that was so fancy it looked like a decoration. I had gone to the place all scrubby looking, thinking I was going to be slumming it with the other germ covered people, but when I got here I felt underdressed. Am I really in Buffalo?!

Ok, so the appointment. They swabbed his eye and also swabbed in his nose to test for RSV and influenza. The doctor asked me a huge list of questions and examined him and then admitted that she was debating on whether to send him to Children's Hospital. That's when I felt myself start to come unglued. If he was sent to the hospital they were going to have to do a urine and blood work up as well as a spinal tap. When the doctor left the room, I text Trav and started to tear up. I didn't want my baby in the hospital! Luckily, when the results of the first culture came back it, it was negative for both viruses. I was so relieved, but she acted like it wasn't a good thing, because now she was worried he could have a bacterial infection. We just wouldn't know for 48 hours. But she had called my pediatrician and she said she was fine for me to take him home and keep a close eye on him. Hooray! I just had to keep checking his temperature and if it went over 100.4, I had to take him to the ER. Well, that night it got to 100.0 but not over it. To think I was less that 1/2 a degree away from having to take him to the hospital is ridiculous. I'm SOO grateful that we were able to keep him home. And since then he's only gotten better. They prescribed drops for his eye so within a couple days it cleared up and I haven't had to suction out his nose since earlier this week. So as of now we are sick free! Next goal: get some sleep!

(Next post will be newborn pictures!

And here is a sneak peek.... Collin was just a peach.)