Del Mar continued..

As Squeaky would say- "More please, More please pictures", and so here are some more from our great week on the west coast

A few more from the Zoo, and the petting zoo which was a huge hit. I thought she might be nervous about the live animals running around her, but she wasn't in the slightest. Definitely got me excited for the petting zoo birthday party!

This is the "why aren't we going inside yet and what's with all this waiting around face"

Petting "gently" which is a term come in handy with our super todd

"Is Goat!"

Hanging out being silly.. She likes to hold up the iPhone to her ear, or frankly other random bits of technology as well and say "Halloo?"

Not exactly sure what the attachment to the owl towel is, but cute nevertheless

Sweet little face

Rental toddler furniture and stroller was the BEST idea ever.. With our steep climb back and forth from the beach, the BOB was clutch.

Chasing birdies

Taking a toddler squat while enjoying the view

Running around nakies with her owl towel on

Ahh, what a sunset

View from the street outside our rental.. Not too shabby

Suburban Summer

Harrison, CeCe, Audrey, James and Harper enjoying some tunes in the Village during the evening concert series. Might be my favorite picture taken from the entire summer.

Del Mar Delight

We took Squeaky back to her "home town" and got to spend a wonderful week enjoying all of our favorite spots in Del Mar.  Our VRBO, aptly named the "Tree House" was a cute little one bedroom cottage at the top of a very steep hill above the town of Del Mar.  We were within walking distance of Power House park and the beach, which was amazing, but that walk back home and up those steep hills was intense to say the least.  We really did enjoy getting to experience the beauty that is that area again, and Harper loved the playground and the beach, and the daily choo choo's coming through town.  Really the only thing about it that we would change, would be doing a two bedroom next time around.. Sharing a bedroom with Harper is just really hard since she is such a sensitive sleeper, and especially with a big time change, she was just kind-of out of sorts for some of the week.  I was happy to find upon our return home, though, how completely excited I was to be back in our home and our neighborhood-- it's certainly not as beautiful, but we really do have a wonderful environment for our family with where we are living now, and I am so thankful for that.

Have frogger suitcase, will travel

Silly face selfies at the airport.. Yes, that was Pirate's Booty that she was eating at about 9am..

Toddler on the move

Our "Tree House"

Probably my favorite pic from the week.. So happy just to have a bucket, shovel, and some sand. Made for a very easy to please little travel companion.

Choo Choo Train!! Talk about excitement, every time a train would come through every child ran over to watch.  Harper was super excited about them, clapping her hands and saying "more choo choo, more choo choo" over and over

Mommy's little slice of heaven- LuLu's for a mani/pedi

Obsessed with this little wall display and the quotes used.. My fave is "be happy be bright be you". What a great sentiment to put up for Squeaky at home

Impromptu photo shoot outside of Claire's on Cedros.  I wish we had eaten there like every day if we hadn't wanted to do so many other places

Nakies playdoh session

Visiting the zoo with good friends Kelly and Matt.. Harper loved it as always

Passed the Squeaky Out in about 0.2 seconds of leaving the zoo

Our naive attempt at taking the toddler back down town for dinner with Kelly and Matt after our day at the Zoo.. Shame on us for thinking it would be ok, because this half smile preceded the first of several melt downs before we rolled her out to head home 

August in the Toddler Suite

We are coming up to an end shortly on Harper's time in the Purple Locomotives toddler room.. It definitely feels like she just get settled into a routine there, but she is once again the oldest in the class and needs to move up to the two year old room next month after her birthday.  Every new transition for her seems to be hard, so I am not super excited to go through yet another one, but we have definitely seen that her development really blossoms when she can feed off of the older children around her.  She is a total sponge right now, and seems to have new things to say every day and new mannerisms that really add to her personality.

I am a little wistful this morning on the whole daycare thing.  A girl that works here at the hospital had her three month old daughter pass away yesterday while at daycare- it was the nurse's second day back at work after maternity leave, and ironically she was in PALS class while her daughter was being resuscitated by another hospital staff.  It was likely just another tragic, horrible case of a baby dying unexpectedly and had nothing to do with it being in daycare, but it does leave an awful pit in my stomach.  The thought of something happening to Harper is just so unbelievably painful/nauseating/excruciating that I just can't bear to think about it, and yet all the time around me these things are happening to others.  It's just so unfair.

But back to the lighter side and our happy, fun tod in her daily element where she is so happy and thriving.

Painting diapies nakies and with a crown.. So incredibly cute. I mean I just can't get enough of her sometimes!

Red day for colors week. They look like little toy dolls all lined up

Counting bottles

Blogger Break

I have been a very lazy blogger for the last month. There are a variety of things that have prevented my loyal uploads which I had started to really enjoy, primarily that for some reason I can no longer get the silly thing to compose on my work computer, and ironically this is the place where I have the most peace and quiet to think and write. Also, it's just been a really busy summer, both at work and at home!

Soo, no time like the present to get back down to it and make sure that these memories linger around in the midst of our nuttiness.

First, I have made no record of the fact that Carson is getting married!!!  Such an exciting time for her, and brought tears of joy to my eyes when we got the call on July 4th that it finally happened. I would be lying if I didn't fess up to the next moment of quasi panic over having to engage in wedding planning with my sub optimal family dynamics, but I hope that I can get through the process as peacefully as possible. Harper will be three the same weekend as their wedding, and I hope that they can share some special time together as bride and flower girl.. Picking out a dress for Harper is going to be so so fun, but I know that this experience should be more than that also. And as Harper gets older and more like Carson, I desperately want them to be bonded together.

Second, planning a two year birthday party has become another full time job. I really want it to be super cute and special now that we have so many little friends to share it with, but that does start to feel like endless pressure in the details. I have finally hit my threshold for feeling like I am close to being organized with the decor, and am pretty excited to see all the kids with the petting zoo. As with any big affair, I'm pretty anxious that I will put all this effort into it, only to be stressed the whole time or HG will have a total meltdown from the over stimulation, but I really hope not. Talk about being overly influenced by Pinterest and Etsy and all of the portals with over the top party ideas- it really does suck you in to the vortex of what is needed for a birthday party for a two year old. Hunt mistakenly made the comment "she is our only child, she should have whatever she wants"-- mind you this was at the start of the planning, and I am confident that he will live to regret ever letting that sentiment slip. But if it's to be that she is our only child, and you only turn two once then I guess it should be as special a day as possible! It's just so crazy that our little Squeaky is already two and a full blown toddler.

Speaking of the toddler, she is super cute these days.. When she's not being a super tod! Her vocalization has gotten quite a bit more advanced and funny. Also, she has peed in the potty twice! Before eating, there is always "Is hot? Is hot??" as she blows on a refrigerated piece of fruit. And lots of "Mommy ALL DONE ____ or Daddy ALL DONE ____".  She loves being outside and holds Harrison's hand and gives hugs to the other toddlers on command which is precious. And recently discovered that "nakies bounce house" is super fun. She will also use blankets to tuck in her elephant "Mundo" and wants to take her lovies "Pink" and "White" everywhere.

Must keep up better with the blog!!!