San Diego Trip

What can I say about this family vacation we recently took to San Diego? It was better than words can describe, really. It was everything you would hope a vacation would be. It was exciting, relaxing, slow-paced, delicious, entertaining, and full of family. Just the three of us. I'll let some of my favorite pictures show you how it went for the most part, with a bit of captioning to go along...

We started our first day by exploring the zoo and some surrounding San Diego areas.

Little Italy was a FANTASTIC suggested place by our wonderful friends Kirstie and Nick and we had the best food ever there. Seriously, pizza is ruined for me because I'm sure (unless I ACTUALLY make it to Italy one day) that I'll never have pizza that delicious ever again in my life. Ever.

Max started this super charming grin whenever we asked him to see his "big smile". I love that kid. He seemed to really sprout this vacation. His vocabulary took off (including "hey-ca-ca" for helicopter, of which we saw at least 10 a day) and has been booming ever since!

This boy is the happiest I have ever seen just being outdoors on the beach. Or walking freely on the Coronado Island streets amongst happy strangers passing.

See what I mean? Happiness, baby.

Coronado Island was where we wound up after one day of exploring the San Diego area. Our first hotel didn't work out and we had quickly fallen in love with this small beach town straight across from downtown San Diego so we made our way there and stayed in this charming hotel located above shops in this corner plaza.

There were many quaint coffee shops to visit.

And there was plenty of personality in this little gem of a town.

We fell in love and basically didn't leave the island for the next 2 days.

How amazingly handsome is my husband? 5 years coming up this month and I couldn't love that man more.

And this one?

Don't even get me started.

Our last day we had to travel north a bit for our family photo shoot with the FABULOUS Amanda Patrice. On the way we went to Ritchie's favorite brewery - Stone Brewing Company.

When we got to Oceanside Harbor we had a little time to spare so we took Max on his first boat ride!

All in all a great day that ended with some fantastic photos and a tragically awful stay in a hotel that we will NEVER stay at again. Shudder...

The next day, on our way back home, we stopped to see the aforementioned Kirstie and Nick and, of course, sweet little Roman. I just love this family and was sad we didn't get to spend more time with them on this visit. We'll be planning another trip after Ben's arrival to be with them more!

How sweet is little red-headed Roman?

And how cute are the two of them together??

Sharing like a good friend should. Max didn't share... we're working on it. At least Roman has good manners!

That's all for our trip. Coronado Island is a place we will most definitely be traveling to again. It was so charming and the Lincoln family is thrilled to have found this sparkling gem by the sea to frequent in the future.

Year 2 Book Look

Okay, so I know I've only ever done 2 of these, but this year's book is kicking last year's book ass!

Here are just a few of my favorite pages in the book so far. They're meant to be looked at as 2 page spreads, just FYI.

By the way, I totally steal all of my ideas for these books from Kelle Hampton because she's super fabulous! Thanks for looking! I cannot WAIT to start putting Baby B's book together!

The Gillettes Visit!

We were so lucky to have the Gillettes visit us recently. I feel so fueled and happy when I get to spend time with my friends and, even though I talk to Kim almost daily, it's no substitution for getting to be with her, play games, talk, watch Quinn playing and interacting with Max, and just loving them all! It was so wonderful to be together again and I'm already looking forward to the next visit.

We squeezed in so much on the trip and were horrible at taking pictures to capture it all (or, well - I was horrible) but here's just a glimpse at some of the fun that was had.

The boys had a grand time jumping on beds together. Max tried SO hard to keep up with Quinn but doesn't quite have the leg strength for jumping yet. The outcome, I must say, was pretty adorable!

Just a small glimpse of them playing in the house together. They really enjoyed their time together, I think!

We visited Ortega park, which has a small water component. Quinn was thrilled, Max... not so much.

Max spent most of the time either wandering off away from the water or in someone's arms.

Quinn spent most of his time drenched in the water!

We finally were able to get some fun shots of the boys together by playing a bit of, "Ready, Set, GO!" a running game where everyone holds hands.

The boys each have such a unique personality and it was amazing to see them together. They can play and interact, and be so incredibly different and wonderful in their own ways. I love these boys!

And I love my friend who also loves my boy and me and my whole family! I'm so glad that no amount of distance has changed our friendship.

Come again soon, Gillettes!! You're always welcome!

18 Months

I can't believe that Maxton is already 18 months! The past few months have been SO much fun as he is rapidly becoming quite the little boy who is full of curiosity, mischief and joy for life.

This kid is ALL boy. He has a love for the outdoors, exploring, sticks, rocks, bugs, animals, dirt, and anything he can throw! He loves balls, blocks and cars at home, but mostly prefers to just be outdoors.

Witness the joy a stick can bring him.

When we are home he is OBSESSED with Elmo on TV or the ipad. He says Elmo quite well now and requests him often. We try hard to keep the TV time to no more than an hour day, but I think at this point we may be bordering on more like an hour and a half. I wish I could say it allowed for some productivity, but really he just wants mommy to watch Elmo with him rather than clean the kitchen or get ready for the day. I'm working on it - haha!

His vocabulary has taken off and I'm finally feeling less worried about his speech. Last time I counted we were at roughly 30 words, but he's added at least 3 in the past two days alone, so who knows where we're at now. His favorite words right now are Elmo, Daaaaaaady, Mama, doggy, eat, cracker, cookie and night night when he's tired. We also hear a lot about cars, airplanes and food and water (mostly Gracie's food and water as he gives us fair warning that it's out and he's going to get into it by running to us and bringing us to the said food and water with a look of great concern and quite the pointer finger working madly - hey, at least he warns us).

This past month we switched to cloth diapering and are really liking it so far! Sure, it's a lot more laundry, but it's manageable. I wish I could say I have some cute fluffy butt pictures, but nope, I don't. Sorry! I can show you this cute one though!

At Max's 18 month appointment he weighed 27 pounds and was 31 inches tall. He's a big boy with an even bigger heart. He fills our days with adventure and bliss. Little man has me wrapped around his finger because his smile is so freaking contagious that I'll pretty much do anything to see it. Lucky for us, he smiles all the time and easily. I just love this boy more than I can even describe in one blog post.

Baby B

It's been SO long since I even blogged! Yikes! It's time to get caught up and update you all on our sweet baby B brewin' in there.

Here's Baby B at roughly 12 weeks!

I'm now 21 weeks (insert mini panic attack here) and despite one minor incident where I thought I had either a UTI or kidney stones (neither of which I have, thankfully) all has been so...easy. Max's pregnancy was anything but (although I still had it easier than some) so I've been very thankful that Baby B is making it easy on me.

And again at almost 19 weeks.

We were scheduled to find out the gender at our 18+ week anatomy ultrasound, but I got this weird fit of uneasiness at not knowing when I was 15 weeks and decided to get an elective ultrasound at 15 weeks 6 days to find out what kind of cargo I was a towin'. And, just like Max, this one is NOT shy. Showed the goods right away.

And... just in case you couldn't tell.

Yup, it's another little BOY! We're thrilled! I immediately got excited about having brothers and watching them grow. I just know they'll be amazing friends and the anticipation of starting our life as a family of four is starting to grow. I still get really nervous at the idea of TWO kids running around and managing nursing sessions with Max's ever growing curiosity at everything around him (read that as Max's constant trouble making) but, for the most part, I'm just really anticipating more love, joy, friendship between my boys, and a tad bit of insanity that all of us mothers need to make it through. I intend to rock it out.

My best friend Kim is also pregnant and due just a few weeks before me with a sweet, albeit nameless, girl (hah - just poking fun, Kim!). She was just here with her wonderful family visiting and we snuck in a very, very short photo shoot to capture our bellies. I'm on the left and she's on the right. I'm 20 weeks and she's 22 1/2.

It's always so fun to go through pregnancy with a friend and this is our second time going through this journey together!

I simply cannot believe that the whole pregnancy is over half way done now. I'm getting big, I'm peeing frequently, and soon I'll be banned to flip flops due to the inability to bend over to strap or tie shoes. Ahh, the joys. I'll try to keep you guys updated on our little guy in there.