Half a year with baby Beck

Happy half birthday mister! We are all in love with this sweet, smiley baby! Beckett has been meeting some fun milestones lately. He is really in that grab everything and chew on it phase. He is enjoying the exersaucer lately and chewing on his toys! He is a super roller, and rolls all around our house. But the silly guy is not so good at sitting up, I think he is too top heavy haha. He just flops over, but he is getting close.  He is still a big boy... he's in 12 month clothes, but I can still squeeze him in some 9 month stuff. I feel like we go through clothes like crazy. He has a check up next week so we will see how big he really is. I mean check out that double chin! We started solids last week and he was super into that as well. Last month I thought we were making some progress in the sleep department, but actually no... It seems like he wants to nurse all night long! And he refuses to take a binky anymore. I've basically given up hope of ever getting a good nights sleep! Haha. I think he may be teething though? I mean sleeping badly and chewing on everything?? But Ruby didn't get teeth till 9 months and I don't see anything on his gums. And other than at night, he's a happy little guy. So I'll just keep giving him lots of loves.

Just for fun, I dug up some 6 month photos of baby Ruby! She was (and still is!) so cute. They definitely look like siblings for sure.

 Thanks for reading! Hope you all have a great weekend! :)

A spring day & other news

We had a couple of spring-like days! It was exciting. Funny how living in the PNW has made me appreciate the sun so much more! The pictures above were from Saturday when we went to check out Pirate park with daddy. Ruby is so obsessed with her daddy lately. In the morning she is yelling for him.. It's all daddy all the time. One Saturday when I got up a little later she tried to push me back, like go away, daddy is mine! At least I have the little bubbers! He loves me. Anyways, at the park she was having so much fun hiding from daddy. It was cracking us up. At one point, she crouched behind the tiniest little plant and covered her eyes. She thinks covering her eyes means she is hidden. And then her little walking stick, she was pretty excited about that. We even had to take it home with us.

Most of the week we were stuck inside because we are trying to potty train Ruby! It was going okay... but we haven't made much progress since the third day and I am getting stressed out so I might put it on the back burner for a few more weeks and try again. I'm trying to be really mindful because I don't want it to be stressful for her! So that's where we are at there!

And in other news, Beckett had his first bite of solid foods. As you can tell from that satisfied look on his face, he loved it. It was kind of on a whim... he's always trying to steal our food, and Ronnie was like can he have some of this avocado? And I thought why not? He's turning 6 months in a week anyways. We also tried some rice cereal last night. He enjoyed it but wasn't very good at opening his mouth for the spoon, so it was very messy. He's growing up so fast. How is he already almost half a year old?!

Seattle trip

We have been wanting to check out Seattle since we moved to the Northwest, so we finally did it! I was a little nervous because the forecast was for rain (big shocker there, ha!) but it wasn't too bad. Saturday was beautiful and Sunday it rained on and off. We mostly did the usual touristy things, but we had a lot of fun doing it!

Driving up we had such a great view of Mt. Rainier (NO clouds!). I'm kind of a dork but I get all excited about volcanoes, I just think they look so cool! Our first stop was to Kerry Park. I read that it has some of the best views in the city, and I'm a sucker for pretty views.

^Enjoying the view at Kerry Park

^Family selfie!

Beck's bald head looks so huge in this picture, ha! 

^There was a little playground at the park. 

So of course we had to stop and play a while

It kind of took us forever to get anywhere, which is to be expected when traveling with little kids. After the park we were hungry so we stopped for donuts at Mighty-O Donuts. I've been on a pretty big donut kick lately and they were very yummy and organic. So that makes it okay to eat 2 of them, right??

Our next stop was downtown and to check out the Seattle Monorail. It was built in the 60s for the World's Fair and is super retro. It's only a 2 minute ride and takes you right to the Space Needle. Ruby is a big fan of trains, she calls them "chee-chees" so it was a big hit.

 ^On the monorail... this is her excited face :) 

^We didn't go to the top, but we walked around the area. 

I loved the retro 60s architecture.

After we rode the Monorail back downtown, we walked down to the waterfront. It was starting to get dark and Pike Place Market was shutting down, so we kept walking to the Seattle Great Wheel. If you don't know what that is, it's this big ferris wheel right over the water with an awesome view of downtown Seattle. I think this was my first time on a ferris wheel? I really can't think of another time I  have been on one. Ruby had so much fun but I was a little freaked out about the heights haha! When it was moving I was okay but when it stopped to start letting people out, we were of course at the very top, and that's what I was most afraid of!

^My buddies on the ferris wheel

We got a hotel for the night which was an interesting experience with 2 kids! Beckett of course woke up a lot and ended up waking Ruby up at 5 am and she didn't want to go back to sleep. It was not a very restful night, to say the least.

Sunday morning we went to Pike Place Market. This was probably my favorite part. I loved all the pretty flowers, especially the tulips! And the fresh fruit and veggies! One guy gave me a sample of a Muscat grape. Have you ever heard of them? I hadn't and they are SO good. I'm kind of obsessed now. Apparently they make wine out of them, haha. I had to buy some and we pretty much ate them all the way back home to Portland. The market kind of reminded me of Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, but with a west coast feel.

^Blue skies! For like 5 minutes :)

^This is what happens when you wake up at 5 am, haha.

And notice the pretty bouquet I bought!

^I was seriously in love with all the fresh flowers

So that's it for our Seattle trip. It was pretty quick and we didn't get to do everything we wanted to, but I'm glad we went. My legs were killing me at the end of this trip! After walking up those big hills with a 20 pound baby in an ergo baby carrier... definitely a work out!

Before I moved out here, I always thought Portland and Seattle were kind of the same, but they are pretty different. Seattle has a lot more of a coastal feeling and is way bigger. I noticed people were very friendly in Seattle. Once when we were looking pretty lost, like 3 different people tried to help us. But I still love Portland, it's just the right size.

Do you guys have any other suggestions for our Pacific Northwest bucket list? I also want to go to Crater Lake and Bend, but those are much longer trips, so I'm not sure if they will happen!

And in other news...I am thinking about getting serious with this potty training business. Ruby seems ready. So I'll let you guys know how it goes. Any last minute tips are welcome!

Beckett James: 5 months old

Can't believe our little guy is 5 months old already! Well he's not really a little guy because he gives chubbiness a whole new meaning. But we love his chubbs. His favorite things are eating and getting lots of attention. You can tell when he just wants you to pick him up and smile at him. It's the best. He also likes to latch onto mine and Ronnie's faces, I think those are kisses? That's what we will call them... or else he's hungry again. He's in 9 month clothes, sometimes 12 month depending on the brand. He is still not a great sleeper. He only takes 30... sometimes 45 min naps. We are working on him at night, so we are doing all little better there but he wakes up probably every 2-3 hours. Honestly it's all a blur and I can't keep track. So if anyone has tips for making longer naps, please share! I used to think Ruby was not a great sleeper but now I know she was amazing and I should have been super grateful haha! And she is still a great napper (if she's not on a nap strike!), taking 2 or 3 hour naps almost everyday. Speaking of Ruby, she has a newfound love for this guy since he's become a little more interactive. She will go up to him and give him a hug and say "ohhhh bub bub". Ronnie started calling him bub bub and now we are all doing it. And I probably say you're so cute a little too much because Ruby will go up to him and say "cute". She's not a big talker yet, so that's a pretty big deal! Love these babies of mine. Well I could probably talk about babies all day long, but that's it for now! 

On a side note, what kind of things should I post on here?? I was thinking our weekend adventures, crafty things maybe? Maybe even Beckett's birth story? I typed it up a few months ago so I wouldn't forget but it's pretty long and I'm not sure! 

A little update

^Those chunky thighs. All the heart eyes!

I am so enjoying this time where I get to be at home with my babies. I'm just soaking it up. Being a mom is pretty great. I feel like we are finally starting to get into a groove with these 2 kids. It's not so scary to leave the house by myself anymore and not so hard getting them in the car or into a store. Not to say we don't have bad days, because kids are just unpredictable... especially 2 year olds :)

The weekends are our favorite, because that's when Ronnie is home, or as Ruby calls him "da-dot". Lately we have been trying out a new place to eat and exploring a little bit of Portland. Nothing too fancy though, because kids, man... they can be crazy. We have so been enjoying living here (despite all the rain, ha!). And we don't know how much longer, so we are trying to see as much as we can! I'm going to try and include pictures next time we have a little adventure!

^From one of our walks by the river. Ronnie took this one. 

Probably my favorite vandalism, haha. 

I usually have some kind of crafty project going on, I like to stay busy. My newest hobby is embroidery! I've been having fun with it and it's kind of addicting. I'm just starting out and trying to get better at it. Next I want to learn how to embroider funky flowers and that kind of thing.

Some things I am looking forward to: 

A trip to Seattle, probably this weekend if we don't chicken out because of the weather. 

Also-very excited that my mother in law, sister in law, Mae, and her babies will be visiting in April! Just need to figure out where to put them all in our tiny 2 bedroom! I'm sure we will figure it out :) 

First blog post

Hey, I've got a blog! I've been wanting to start a blog for a long time but just never did it. I always thought I didn't have a fancy enough camera or I stink at writing... but I'm just going to go for it! I thought this would be a fun way to keep family and friends up to date with what we are doing and some of our Portland adventures. But probably it will just have lots of baby pictures. So if you like babies, you are in the right place! 

So this is me... (& my babes!)

Well I think that's it for now. Thanks for reading these ramblings and hopefully I get the hang of this blogging thing! :)