Baby Shane

September flew by...

2010-09-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

September was busy and hectic and just flew right by! The Head Start grant I had been working for since returning from my maternity leave was coming to an end so I was a little stressed out about not having a job...luckily I was fortunate enough to find another position within the University at the end of August. It has actually turned out to be really great, but it caused us to have some new schedules and routines to get used to and much less time for me to get all of my fun personal things done...like blogging! I had to say goodbye to some great colleagues and my wonderful boss, but they sure did make me feel appreciated!

Shane got his first ear infection shortly after starting my new position. He was fine all day, but started saying his ear was hurting that evening and then it quickly turned into all out pain during the night. It was an awful feeling hearing him cry and being unable to do anything to make it better. Luckily we got in to the doctor right away the next morning and he responded quickly to the antibiotics. I feel very fortunate that it took almost 3 years for this to happen as most of our friends have had trouble with ear infections since birth!

Just before Shane got the ear infection, he and I escaped to the beach for a little fun in the sun...and wind! We had a great time building sandcastles and chasing seagulls. The pouty face is because his friend the seagull wouldn't let him give him a hug!

September also marked an even that Shane had been waiting for all year...the "scary store" opened up in preparation for Halloween! Last year we took Shane to the Spirit Halloween store at least once a week, if not more, to see all the "scary stuff." He had been waiting and waiting for the scary store to be opened again...so of course we went the very first day and got him his Iron Man costume. He just loves skeletons and spiders and dressing up and all the scary things that go along with Halloween. He wanted to try lots of masks...but only the skeleton ones!

The next week I was told that Iron Man was spotted at Target one day while I was at work. Then Ryan sent me this picture of Shane in his costume and his Spiderman slippers. Yes, he took him out in public like this and it wasn't even October yet! lol

Shane is REALLY obsessed with Iron Man now. I heard him whispering in his room one night, "Shhh, Iron Man you are supposed to be sleeping!" I was cracking up! Iron Man also enjoys a good soak in the hot tub every now and then.

In preparation of Shane's 3rd birthday, Grandma Linda ordered Shane an awesome new swing set! So one drizzly day Ryan and I managed to get it all put together in Grandma's backyard. Shane was pretty excited to have his own playground!!

We were long overdue for a playdate with Shannon and Samuel, so we met up with them to see Petty Theft, a Tom Petty Tribute band, that was playing outdoors at the Northgate Mall. It turned out to be a beautiful night and Shane and Samuel got to have ice cream and dance the night away! These boys are too cute!

We ended the month with Cash's 4th birthday party and Shane's first visit to Pump It Up! I was concerned how it would work out since it was a Sunday night party and Shane has never really liked the jumpy houses since he is so little and gets knocked around so easily...but he had a BLAST playing with the boys and going down the huge slide over, and over, and over!

August Birthdays

2010-08-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

Shane's friend Lennon (aka Lemon) turned 3 this month! She had a birthday at her house and the kids got to decorate their own mini cupcakes. They loved it! Shane was very proud of his blue frosting, super sprinkled creation!

Birthday Girl with her cupcakes

Lennon in the cute butterfly hat I made for her!

Too cute playing in the play house together

At first Shane avoided the cute girls in the pool

Lennon attacking Shane, but he loves it!

We also celebrated Ryan's 35th birthday this month! His Mom and Step-Dad treated us to sushi at Hana. This was Shane's first sushi experience. He didn't try any of the rolls, but he did seem to really like the red wine teriyaki salmon. YUMMY!

Aunt Tammy and Shane

Happy Birthday, Ryan!!

Fun in the Sun

2010-08-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

We went to the Santa Rosa Air Show, but Shane wasn't very interested in the airplanes...and the cool jet was so loud that it hurt his ears. He did have a blast playing with his buddy Zane though! So these ended up being the only few pictures I took while at the air show...but they sure are cute ones!

I also managed to escape to the river with Shane one day. We went to our favorite spot and he made a new little tiny friend: Mr. Froggy!

Here he is so excited that he almost squished his new friend!

Here is a close-up of Mr. Froggy

Shane loved him and played with him for a long time

"There is a frog on my head!"

Fair Days

2010-08-09T16:32:00.000-07:00

We got to go to the fair TWICE this year and both times for FREE! Well tickets and parking were free...I'm not even going to mention how much was spent on all the other fun stuff inside! I was excited for Shane this year since he is a little bit bigger and would be able to go on some of the rides. But of course before any of the rides we had to find ICE CREAM!!

It turned out that Shane was still just a little too small to ride some of the rides alone, but we are smooth talkers and Shane is just so darn cute most people can't resist him :) Here he is with Daddy on his all time favorite...SUPER SLIDE! I just love this smile!

It cost $5 PER PERSON to go on the ferris wheel...so I sat this one out. Unfortunately Shane was a little scared of how high it went and kept asking for Mommy so maybe next time I won't be so cheap ;)

Shane and Ryan also went through fun house maze with all the clear plexiglass, but I couldn't get any good pictures from the outside. The first time Shane smacked head on into the clear window I started to panic, but he just laughed and did it over and over again. It was pretty darn funny!

Last, but not least was the Beach Fun House! Shane was just under the height limit and we didn't even have enough tickets for both him and Ryan...but we worked our magic and he loved it!

The second day we went to the fair I promised him cake with SUGAR so funnel cakes were our first stop. You will see his little Iron Man figures in most of these pictures because in between these two trips to the fair my big boy finally became completely potty trained and got his Iron Man rewards!

Here we ran into our friends Rick and Stacey and their two boys Zane and Ozzy. We don't see them very often, but Shane and Zane soon became good buddies! Here we all are in the Hall of Flowers.

Aren't these boys adorable? Shane was really excited to have some friends to play with.

Shane finally found a friend who loves to dance as much as he does! It didn't even matter that it was country music ;)

We walked around the Grace Pavillion and checked out all of the cool vendors. I bought Shane a birthday gift and some yummy donuts. Then we saw the photo guy where Ryan got these cute motorcycle pictures taken last year. We didn't want the same one, so the alternative was the Mexican Bandito!! You can't tell me this doesn't crack you up!

Here we are getting ready to ride the pony!

He was just a little excited!

Doesn't he look like a real cowboy?!?

Then the boys went on a couple of rides together...

Shane's first fast roller coaster type ride!

Watch as he goes from excited...

...to not so sure about this...

...to terrified and wanting it to stop!

Just then it started going in reverse...

Shane did go into the Glass House and Beach Fun House again after this...but no more fast rides!

Mission Complete!

2010-08-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

It's been just over 5 months since this post when we first started potty training. It took a long time to get over that last hurdle, but he finally did it! SHANE IS POTTY TRAINED!!

We tried all sorts of bribes and rewards over those 5 months...but it didn't take long after buying a set of Iron Man figures that it happened. We put those and the toy guns that he loves sooo much up in this metal tree wall hanging we have in the dining room. He called it the "Poopy Tree." We told him as soon as he went in the potty like a big boy he could have all the toys in the Poopy Tree. He went up to it several times in those couple of days and would tell everyone about the Poopy Tree (which was pretty hilarious to have to explain to people) and then one day when I was taking a little nap on the couch he came in and told me he did it! Of course I didn't believe him since we've struggled for so long with this...but sure enough he did! With no help and no pressuring...he just went all on his own! Everyone said that is how it would happen, but I was still shocked. Hooray for Shane and hooray for no more diapers!!!!

Shasta Vacation

2010-07-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

This was our 2nd Annual Shasta Vacation! My cousin Monika comes down from WA with her family and her Mom is nice enough to let us all stay at her house in Redding right on the lake. Niki housed 10 of us for a whole week! It sounds crowded, but it was really fun getting to spend time with them since we don't have many family members nearby anymore. Cooper and Shane are 6 weeks apart and are so cute playing together! Last year they were so tiny...now they are big boys and ran the house.

Cooper and Shane feeding Whitney the turtle

And feeding themselves which they thought was hilarious!

Twins!

My child, the kitty!

Our second day we went to Water Works in Redding and had a blast! I think I was more excited than the kids...I hadn't been to a water slide park in years!! Right away Ryan says he is going to take Shane on the BIG water slide. The employees said he could go on the big ones with the tubes, but I was pretty nervous about it. I made Ryan test it out first and then Shane was ready to go!

Look how high they are!!

Shane went down this huge steep one first. I thought he would have been totally freaked out, but he went right back up and did it again! Ryan even convinced Cooper to do it once and Cooper hadn't wanted to try much of anything. Ryan can be pretty convincing :)

Shane went on a couple other big slides, but both times he got shot in the face with water at the end so he said he didn't like those. Cooper eventually warmed up at the end of the day and we couldn't keep him off the kid slides. They had a blast playing!!

Shane couldn't understand to keep his feet up and SLIDE,
so he scooted down and ended up with a little train of kids behind him!

The boys taking a little break

This little froggy slide was Shane's favorite

At the end of the day Shane was having so much fun in the wading area

The third day was Father and Son Day...so the guys took the boys to the Lake Shasta Caverns. They got to take a boat across the lake to get there, which they thought was pretty cool. They tried to take pictures in the caves, but they didn't turn out well. The boys had a good time, but of course Shane wanted to run-a-muck in the caverns.

Check out the awesome views!

Jesse and Cooper on the mountain

Shane and Ryan on the mountain

While the guys were at the caverns, us ladies (and the other Ryan) got to enjoy the lake! I went with Ryan and his girlfriend and jumped off the bridge into the lake! It was fun, but just reminded me that I am not young anymore. It messed my ears up for a good 2 1/2 days! Then we had time to relax at the pool for a bit too. Then we got cleaned up and headed back down to the pool for Bingo night! It was a lot of fun, but Mom was the only lucky one at our table that night.

The 4th day was a real lake day! Niki was nice enough to rent a sweet patio boat for us, plus her friends came with their speed boat. We found a really cool cove to chill in all day and just had a blast playing in the water. I went tubing with the teenagers...just another thing to show me how old and out of shape I am!! I did doubles with Lea and got a good elbow to the mouth the first time I bailed (not to mention my swimsuit dangling around my ankles!) and after the second bail my shoulders were hurting so bad I could barely get dressed! I am determined to get in better shape by next year and will hold on longer than her :)

Shane loving the boat ride

Cool dude just like Daddy

Niki and Ryan relaxing on the boat

Shane floating all by himself!

They got Cooper in the tube, but he was not having fun!

The Grandmas were having a wonderful time relaxing

♥ the lovebirds ♥

Shane also went swimming all by himself with his life jacket on for the very first time. Don't mind my high pitched voice...I was one proud Mama!

The last day turned into a free for all day. The Grandmas went shopping, the girls went floating in the lake and the guys took the boys out to these really cool waterfalls. They liked it because it was probably 20 degrees cooler there! The boys threw rocks for hours and explored in the water and had fun doing BOY stuff!

That night was karaoke night down at the pool. We had a huge table of people playing LCR (I didn't win then either!) and drinks were flowing. It was a fun end to a wonderful vacation!!

Shane partied like a rock star all night!
Here he is eating Cheetos and dancing away!

The girls were the only ones brave enough to get up and sing!

Sparkler Fun

2010-07-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

Another fun 4th of July party at Jackie and Del's house. BBQ oysters, hot dogs, jello shots and tons of SPARKLERS! Shane had soo much fun with the sparklers this year. Between him and Jackie we went through 13 boxes of sparklers!! He didn't even care about the big fountains we lit, he just wanted more sparklers! Now we know what to stock up on for next year. We had another big finale this year too and Shane loved it. He didn't get scared by any of the loud fireworks and stayed up with us all night. He is getting so big!

Jackie had just as much fun as Shane did!

We went to the Petrified Forest the next day. Shane wasn't very interested in the trees, but he loved the rocks and lizards. Daddy is an expert at catching lizards so Shane had a blast hunting them out. I was more worried about him running into a snake, but we made it out okay.

Holding his "friend" the lizard

Taking his friend for a walk

When he saw the blue belly he said "Wow, he is beautiful!"

Shane the Fisherman!

2010-07-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Daddy took Shane on his first fishing trip!! He got a cute little Toy Story fishing pole, a tub of worms and headed to Spring Lake. Shane had so much fun! The fish were biting instantly and they caught dozens of fish and crawdads. Shane was reeling in the fish all by himself even! I wish I could have been there, but Daddy took some really cute pictures for me. Shane is a pro already!

I love this smile! He is having so much fun!

Proud little fisherman!

After every catch Shane throws him back to his Mommy and Daddy fishies.

I love this dirty face! He is so proud!

Some of the fish they caught that day.

I got to go back the next time and get this super cute video of Shane fishing.

Harmony Festival

2010-06-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Another summer tradition...Harmony Festival! This festival promotes "Health, Art, Ecology, Healthy Living, and Spirituality”, but I really go to hear all the awesome bands that play there. This year it was REALLY hot. Poor Shane's little cheeks were bright red the entire time. He came and checked out the cool vendors and stations that were set up and then Grandma picked him up so I could enjoy the bands for the rest of the day.

Lunch break!

He had a great view of all the crazy people

Shane just loved the meditation tent

During the day I got to see The Expendables, Steel Pulse and Slightly Stoopid. Then Jackie and Del came and hung out with me that night. We got VIP backstage for the night show and fully enjoyed seeing Galactic up close. I was having a blast until someone stole my iPhone from backstage. I panicked for an hour or so, but didn't let it ruin my night!! Can't wait for next year!

BBQ's, Birthdays, & Baby Showers, oh my!

2010-06-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

Ryan hurt his back this week so I got an unexpected day off with Shane! We decided to go "exploring" at Spring Lake. The weather was very strange...not hot really, but very humid. We just started walking down the path with no particular destination...

Shane always brings his whistle when we go exploring!

He said he wanted to be like a tall, tall tree!

Shane said he needed a rest...exploring is hard work!

One of the cutest pictures I've gotten of him in a while!

The whole time we were walking Shane kept saying he wanted to go swimming. I kept telling him there was no where to swim and we were just exploring today. Five minutes later we stumble upon this swimming hole that I didn't even know was there! How could we live 5 minutes away and not know about this?!? Of course he was soo excited and I just had to let him play in the water with his pull-up on. We were totally unprepared for swimming, but still had so much fun!

This was also the weekend of the Forestville BBQ that we go to every year. It benefits the Forestville Youth Park which is privately owned and operated by a non-profit organization. There is music, food, carnival games and rides and tons of vendors. We always have a good time!

Shane was excited to give Clo a high five!

He had fun driving the car, but then had a minor meltdown because they said he was too small to ride the motorcycles.

Hitting the Super Slide with Daddy!

And then with Mommy!

And then all by himself!!

We were both a bit nervous, but I was right next to him and he loved it!
We could have done this slide over and over all day long.

Then we headed straight over to Nate's house to celebrate his 3rd birthday! These boys have a blast playing together, but mostly they ran around naked and played in the pool with squirt guns so this is the only picture I can post!

And this is Shane when we got home!
Busy boys crash HARD!

The next day was Dominique's baby shower! Her daughter Dakota was born just 2 weeks after Shane and now she is expecting her second baby...a BOY! We are so happy for them and were excited to celebrate at her shower. We know Dakota will make an excellent big sister!

Desiree, Dominique, and Dakota

Shane and Mommy

I just love these little munchkins!

Shane, Dakota, and Morgan got busted for rocking out on the piano!

End of May Events

2010-05-31T12:14:00.000-07:00

Our good friends Jackie and Del always enter their car into the Petaluma American Grafitti Car Show so we headed down to make a quick appearance. It's always fun to walk through the streets and check out all the cool cars.

It was unusually hot in Petaluma and Jackie shared a bit of her shade with Shane.

Shane and Mommy!

Shane said this one was his favorite!

I love how Shane got caught in the corner of this picture!

That same night we had dinner plans with Aunt Tammy to celebrate her graduation! We had a fun night at Grandma Sandi's house, an awesome dinner (it's always good when we eat over there!) and Shane had a blast torturing his Aunt!!

Shane disappeared for a bit and came back out wearing Grandma's cowboy boots!!

Trying to make friends with Angel, but she is so loud and still freaks Shane out.

My cousins Kyle and Brett were visiting this week from Boston so we got to spend the day with them on Sunday. We had a big BBQ at my Uncle's house. It is always fun to see them, plus I got to meet both of their girlfriends! Really sweet girls. Of course Shane entertained everyone with his cuteness. All the girls thought he was adorable and he would repeatedly bring them ice from the ice chest...he could do that for HOURS!

Kyle showing Shane how to rock

Brett and Shane

Shane's goofy "cheese" smile

Vanessa and Brett...oh so cute together!

Shane doing a little gardening with his lizard

April's Birthday Party!

2010-05-09T11:58:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Miss April! We had another awesome birthday at the Varellas house this year. Thanks to Ryan's gift of vodka...April only remembers half of it! lol We had a blast swimming and BBQing and hanging out with old and new friends. We love you Auntie April!!! xoxo

Birthday girl showing off the mixings for her favorite drink...Starburst!

Silly Shane ready for a swim!

SHOTS!!!

Jello shots in the pool!
This is right before you see April trying to scoop hers back out of the water!

Shane LOVES the hot tub of course!

Swimming with Daddy

Shane's favorite part...homemade hostess cupcakes by Benay!!

Mommy's messy little monster!

Always the last to get out of the hot tub!

Oakland Zoo and Train Town

2010-05-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

My Mom has been wanting to take Shane to the zoo for a long time, so I finally had a day off of work when we could go to the Oakland Zoo and avoid the crowds. Our first attempt at visiting a zoo last year didn't go well...it was LA, it smelled and it was 102 degrees and just awful! This trip was so much better! There were hardly any people there and Shane was much more into the animals this time. We made it through the entire zoo and then got to ride the train and carousel. I was really impressed with how nice the Oakland Zoo was. I haven't been since I was a little kid and will definitely be taking Shane here again soon.

We watched the camels spit for a while.

Dancing in the meerkat tunnel

Shane thought the frogs were really cool

My little turtle

We got to see the new exhibit with emus and wallaroos! They were literally just a couple feet from us on the train. It was so cool, but I wasn't expecting it and didn't have my camera ready.
Heading out on the train with Grandma.

Shane and Mommy on the train

Shane was pretty bummed that the carousel was the only ride he was big enough to go on, but he still loved it!

Shane and I also went to Train Town this week, just the two of us! I had been wanting to take him for a long time and the weather was beautiful, so we just decided to go spur of the moment. He absolutely LOVED the trains! We went around a couple of times and he would point out the little animals and waterfalls and told me that it looked "just like Bambi"...whatever that means! I guess it reminded him of being in the forest. He kept saying it over and over and the people next to us thought he was so cute!

We started feeding the little goats, but of course he had to feed the big ones too.

This was the first time I let him ride all by himself...he felt like such a big boy!

Fun Stuff

2010-04-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

One of Shane's many Easter gifts was a t-ball set and baseball glove. We finally got to test it out at the park and he was very excited to play the "hitting game". He can hit the ball pretty good, but unfortunately he has a short fuse and gets frustrated very easily. After he saw Daddy hit the ball up in the air, he wanted to hit it up in the air, but usually it just rolls on the ground a few feet. Also, the glove (although tiny to all of us) is still way too big for his little hand and he was tired of that pretty quickly. My friend has a son playing t-ball and his games are near our house so I am hoping to take him to watch soon so he can see how the game is really played. Since we don't watch sports in our house he doesn't really get the whole idea of it yet. But he is so cute trying!

Grandma went to Texas for a bowling tournament right after Easter. She brought Shane back a real pair of cowboy boots! He wasn't very excited about them at first, but he has grown to LOVE them! Now he wants them almost every morning right when he wakes up. He even came out of his room the other night wearing nothing but the boots. It was pretty darn cute, but I won't post the naked pics on here :) You can't see the boots very well, but here he is in full cowboy get-up!

I am very excited to attempt camping with Shane for the first time this year! We have a big tent with a tiny tent that attaches to it, so I got out the tiny one to show him. He thought it was the coolest thing ever! He calls it the "kitty house" of course and wanted to go to sleep in it. I bought him a toddler size blow up bed which he also loves and wishes I would leave out for him to play on every day. Let's hope he is still as excited when he REALLY needs to use it for sleeping!

To sum up this funny little post, here are the pictures I received on my phone at work today. Ryan took Shane out for pizza and they had a fake mustache machine! I am thinking he might need to be one of the Mario Bros for Halloween this year!! Too funny!

Happy Face

Sad Face

Scary Face

Cheese Face

Easter 2010

2010-04-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

Easter was kind of a last minute event for us this year. Ryan's best friend passed away unexpectedly and his services were the day before Easter. Shane and I colored eggs together before the services on Saturday, but he wasn't as into it as I thought he would be. He didn't like the smell of the vinegar used in the colored dyes and wouldn't even come near the table! I had also bought him these fun little paint rollers to color the eggs with, but that was still a little too hard for him to do so he gave up pretty quickly and I colored most of them myself. It also rained on Easter this year, so we had to improvise and did our Easter Egg Hunt upstairs at Grandma's house. Shane was still sooo excited! He would point out every egg to us and wanted to make sure we saw it before he would put it in his basket.

Of course he had to line up all of his eggs.

Then I thought he would really be excited about helping us crack all the hard boiled eggs to make deviled eggs, but as soon as the first one was done he totally freaked out! He cried hysterically and wanted us to fix his egg! After that he wouldn't let the eggs leave his side. Grandma hid the eggs for him again upstairs three more times and he thought it was so much fun! Then Grandma was nice enough to let Ryan and I go to the movies to see Clash of the Titans in 3D while Shane napped. We found out that he insisted on having the eggs right next to him during nap time too! He also insisted on having them ride with him in the car on the way home. Then I had to explain to him that Easter was over and after he went to bed that night the eggs would have to go away...surprisingly he was fine with it, but he still played with the plastic eggs for days after until I finally hid them from him. I think next year I might just do plastic eggs so I don't have to worry about him carrying around real eggs all day long!!

Snow Day!

2010-03-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

I took Shane to the snow for the very first time! We bought all his snow gear last year, but for many reasons we never made it up to the snow. With the crazy weather and our busy schedule I almost missed our chance again this year, but I was determined! We had a rough week with Ryan's best friend passing away, but I really thought it would do us good to get out and do something fun. We went to Cisco Grove where they have a really cool tubing area, but this time Shane and I just played around in the snow. He got so excited when he caught his first glimpse of snow when we were driving. He kept saying, "I see SNOW Mommy!!" He could barely wait to get his gear on before he climbed the snow in the parking lot.

Then we had to climb up a long snow covered road to find a spot to sled and play. It wouldn't have been so bad except that poor Shane was having a really hard time moving in his snow gear and insisted I carried him after the first few minutes. Since it was just the two of us I had to carry him and the sled uphill in the snow. I sure got my workout that day! It was soo worth it though! We did all four things he wanted to do:

1. Make a snowman

2. Go sledding
(he refused to wear his sunglasses even though it was super sunny)

3. Throw snowballs at Mommy (his favorite part!)

4. Make snow angels

We really wished Daddy could have come too, but we understood. It meant for a lot of pictures like this though:

A nice lady did offer to take a video of us sledding down together and it made Shane very happy! We hoped to go their again the next weekend, but we found out that was the last weekend the tubing area was open. At least we know of a great spot to go to next year!!

March Madness

2010-03-20T15:18:00.000-07:00

March was a very busy month for us! We started off by going "exploring" at Crane Creek Regional Park with Emily and Brandon. It was a gorgeous day and I was so glad to get out and enjoy nature. Of course it had rained recently and the trails were a bit muddy so it was hard to bring the stroller, but I knew we would need it at some point. Shane walked most of the time, but we could never get very far without him needing to stand on a rock or check out a flower and try to splash in the puddles. We had a picnic lunch, threw rocks in the creek, and saw birds nesting in the trees. It was wonderful.

Then the next weekend Ryan and I got a VACATION! Shane stayed with Grandma and we flew to Las Vegas for 3 nights to celebrate our friend Andy's 30th birthday. We got to dress up, eat at nice restaurants, stay out late, and gamble...long story short: we spent WAY too much money!

Parking lot with a view

Dinner at the Venetian

Tao nightclub with Cory

YUMMY birthday dinner at CraftSteak

Our only time out on the strip during the day

Shane was very excited to see us...and his lollipop!

The next weekend one of my best friends from high school flew out with baby Charlie for a visit. We did brunch at our house with a couple other friends from high school. It was so good to see everyone and their kids! Unfortunately I was too busy running around being hostess to get any pics of Charlie while he was awake other than this one of him and Lennon. He was the cutest little guy...so smiley and sweet. I can't wait for Amber to move back home to CA so our boys can grow up together!!

The next weekend was our friend Daya's 3rd birthday! Shane really gets into the birthday spirit and was so excited to go. They had a huge jumpy house with a slide which we had never seen before. Everyone knows how tiny Shane is and he has always been intimidated by the jumpy houses as he gets knocked over so easily, but after me going in with him and down the slide once or twice he was on his own and LOVING IT! He had so much fun and was such a good boy. I almost hated making him leave!!

They all waited very patiently for cake!

He insisted on wearing the birthday hat over his other hat!

We also missed Grevin's 1st birthday party while we were in Las Vegas, so we also had a little play date with him to give him his presents. Shane wasn't too sure about having a "baby" in his house, but we walked to the park and they got along just fine. Shane really wanted to sing happy birthday and blow out candles so we improvised and did brownies with ice cream and sang and he got to help blow out the candle. Happy 1st Birthday, Grevin!!

Growing Up

2010-02-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

My little boy is growing up! We started potty training this month and he is doing really well! We started using a sticker chart, which was very exciting for the first couple weeks, but we were constantly telling him to go potty. He has no problem going pee in the potty, but the other part we haven't convinced him to do yet. I've tried bribing him with chocolate lollipops and new toys and games, but still no luck. He tells me, "It's too hard Mommy!" I'm sure he will do it when he is ready, but it would be soo nice to be done with the pull-ups and diapers! At least he has moved on to telling us when he needs to use the potty and has even gone all on his own. When he goes without us reminding him he gets an M&M, but this kid is too smart! Once he went potty 3 times in 10 minutes just to get the M&Ms!!

Here he is with his full sticker chart!
(The blank rows are the 3 days when he was at Grandma's)

His reward was getting to make cookies "all by myself!"

He also moved on to drinking out of a big boy glass with his meals.
We are so proud of him! He hardly ever spills :)

Another first...his first painting!!
It quickly turned into his first finger painting!

We don't have too much more to report for February...other than that Ryan and I got to enjoy a lovely Valentine's Day cocktail party at Jackie's house. You know I just LOVE an excuse to dress up!

New Year...New Bed!

2010-01-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

We stayed home on New Year's Eve this year and I decided Shane was ready to ditch the baby crib and try sleeping in a big boy bed! He was very excited and thought it was so cool that he could jump into bed all by himself...and jump ON the bed too! These pictures were taken with my phone so they aren't great, but you can still see how happy he was!

He did great that night, but when it came time for nap the next day he was not as excited. He got out of bed once and banged on his bedroom door, but I explained to him that he was a big boy and big boys stayed in their bed for nap time. He has never gotten out since! Even in the morning he will wake up and stay in bed and call for me until I come in..."Mommy...it's not night time anymore! Mommy...come IN here!"

Not to say that the transition was that simple. He did cry for the first couple of weeks at bedtime and would say, "My big boy bed is NOT BETTER!" but at least he stayed in bed! I was worried about him falling out too, so I put a big pillow on top of one of our plastic storage tubs next to his bed. He did great until I found him like this a couple weeks later!

He also fell out one night when he had a cold. I heard a thump through the wall, but no crying. I peeked in to check on him and he was kneeling on the floor by the bed. I picked him up and laid him back down and he said, "Don't worry, the kitty is okay. Love you Mommy..." and fell right back asleep! Um...yeah...my son thinks he is a cat and tells us all the time that the "kitty" wants this and the "kitty" wants that. He is a crack up!

The Princess and the Frog

2009-12-29T17:00:00.000-08:00

Today I took Shane to see his very first movie in the theater! I was not sure how he would react because it is so hard for him to sit still, but he has been very into movies lately and I thought it would be a fun experiment while I was on vacation. We talked about it for a couple of days and he was really excited when we would see the commercials for this movie.

Honestly, I expected to be there for 40 minutes or so at the most before he decided to cause a scene...but I got him the kids pack with popcorn, M&Ms and Sprite and he was in heaven! He would ask me the color of every M&M before he hate it, but he managed to be pretty quiet about it. He was very excited during the previews and wanted to know what would be coming next.

He wanted to sit in a seat, "All by myself!" but he is so tiny that it kept folding up on him! I had to hold it down with my leg, but in a way that he wouldn't notice I was "helping." The characters were fun and he loved all the music. He especially loved the "scary guy."

After about an hour he started getting restless and said he wanted to go back in Mommy's car, but I convinced him to stick it out a little longer and we ended up making it until the end of the movie! I was so proud of him! Of course he keeps asking to go back to the "movie store" to see the froggies. He did great, but I'm not pushing my luck :)

My Favorite Time of Year!!

2009-12-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

December is my FAVORITE time of year! The Christmas tree and decorations go up the day after Thanksgiving so that I can be sure enjoy the festiveness all month long. I have my birthday, Christmas and New Years all in one week! Plus a 10 day vacation from work!! It was really fun this year because Shane could really understand everything that was happening. We read lots of Christmas books and watched Christmas movies together all month long. He loves to look at all the Christmas lights around town and we would take extra long ways home from Grandma's house to see them all.

Here he is after helping me decorate the tree.

Shane and Sticky liked to cuddle under the tree together

My first Christmas event was our Cootie Christmas party at Linda Buffo's house. Linda is always the host of the Christmas Cootie party and goes above and beyond in her decorating, hosting, food and drinks, and thoughtful personalized gifts for all of us ladies. This is a great group of women and I am grateful to be a part of their fun each month!

One of the 5 or so Christmas trees at Linda's house

Mom and I

Cootie gals 2009

The next night was my birthday celebration. I decided to do an Ugly Christmas Sweater bar crawl this year. Ryan was not thrilled about having to wear an ugly sweater out in public, but it was my birthday wish...that and an iPhone which he got for me the weekend before and I haven't put down since!

Don't we look fabulous?!?

I love this picture of the guys!

Looking good, even in tacky sweaters

The very festive group!

My best girls, xoxo!

Then we had Christmas Eve at Grandma Sandi's house. Aunt Tammy and Uncle Peter made us the BEST dinner and homemade chocolate lava cakes! Shane had spent the morning at Grandpa Dan's house and went without a nap, but he did surprisingly well for having such a long and eventful day. The adults did a small gift exchange this year, but of course Shane was super spoiled by his Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle. We didn't leave until after 10pm and he didn't even fall asleep in the car! He still wanted to stay up after we got home, but fell right asleep once his head hit the pillow. I was exhausted and not feeling well myself, but I still had to set up for Santa and make dessert for Christmas before I could do the same!

Horsing around with Daddy

Spoiled by his Grandparents

Measuring Kiwi with Grandma's tools

I was probably more excited for Christmas morning than even Shane was! I set up Christmas lights from the tree and stockings all the way into his bedroom (a cute idea I got from Dominique last year). He was soo excited to see the lights that he didn't want to leave his bedroom! We decided to do stockings and make coffee before waking Daddy up.

Then we opened the presents from Santa (a new scooter and helmet that I didn't end up taking pictures of!) and the presents from Mommy and Daddy before heading over to Grandma's house.

Cool motorcycle helmet that makes racing sounds
(from Daddy of course)

Lining up all of his new dinosaur bath toys

We got to Grandma's in time for brunch. Grandma had to pick up Uncle Cory, Aunt Janice and baby Carah at the airport that morning. It was Carah's first trip to CA and we were all very excited to see her! Shane really got along well with Carah. The last time we saw her he wasn't interested in her very much and would get really jealous. Then Uncle Jim came with Kyle and Brett who were home for the holidays from the East Coast. It was their first time meeting Baby Carah! She is the sweetest baby and will sit content for hours and not even make a peep! Just about the complete opposite of her cousin Shane! lol

Playing his new harmonica with Daddy

Playing with Carah's new piano

Cousins...aren't they adorable?!?

Carah playing with her Auntie

Shane making all kinds of noise with his new power tools

The guys horsing around before dinner!

Everyone contributed to the delicious dinner!

So nice to have everyone together for Christmas!
xoxo

The boys are always hard to shop for, but I had the brilliant idea that we could all do the indoor go-kart racing this year. I had the guys in suspense for weeks wondering what we were all going to be doing! Well...I didn't anticipate that TONS of other people would have the same brilliant idea and the place was packed and fully booked when we arrived the next day. My awesome plan backfired! Ryan and I still did racing with Cory and Janice the next day and then went again with Brett and his friend on Monday. It was soo fun, but just not the same as all of us doing it together.

I was feeling sick Christmas Eve and that whole weekend of non-stop entertaining and running around had me exhausted! It took the my entire 10 day vacation to recover, but we still had a great time! I was sad for everyone to go home so soon!

Wine, Turkey, and my Reunion!

2009-11-28T11:20:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Mom's birthday a month late in early November. We did the limo wine tasting trip again and it's always hard to get all those ladies together on one day! My boss and her mom joined us this time so we had a big, fun group of ladies! We were worried about the weather, but it turned out to be a beautiful day!

Shane got to check out the limo before we left

Fun times at Ravenswood!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Thanksgiving was nice and simple this year. None of the family was around this year so it was just us and Mom's cousin, Niki. Dinner was great and it was nice to be mellow for change.

My handsome man

Shane had lots of fun reading books with Niki

Then it was time for my 10 year high school reunion! I still can't believe it has been 10 years!! Mom even had us pose for a picture, just like before a school dance! Thanks to FaceBook I have been able to keep up with lots of people from high school, but it was really fun to see everyone in person. It's very rare that I get a chance to go out in Petaluma! I had such a good time and I can't wait for the next reunion!!

"Let's go get MORE candy!!"

2009-11-01T11:18:00.000-08:00

We have created a fun tradition of taking pictures of Shane and Dakota at the pumpkin patch every year. This year they wore their Halloween costumes and Dominique took some amazing pictures! Of course it is near impossible to get one with both of them looking at the camera AND smiling, but they are always cute!

We had an awesome Halloween Cootie party this year and all the ladies dressed up as Rockstars! I had to post this so the world could see Mom dressed as a member of KISS!

We went back to the pumpkin patch with Daddy to pick out pumpkins. Shane had a blast checking out all the animals and farm equipment and PUMPKINS! This pumpkin patch went all out this year. It was more like a fair than just a place to pick out a pumpkin! They had all kinds of food and yummy treats...HUGE blow up jumpy houses and slides...tractor rides and train rides...animals and crafts...a haunted house...it was a bit overwhelming! Shane was bummed that he didn't get to ride the train (and talked about it for weeks afterwards) but there were just too many people! We picked out two big pumpkins and two tiny pumpkins and he was happy.

Last year Shane was totally into the whole process of cleaning out the pumpkins...this year, not so much!

Then it was time for Jackie's birthday party! My best friend's birthday is the day before Halloween and she always throws a big costume party at her house. This year I was Jem from the cartoon Jem and the Holograms!

Dr. Ryan...you can get what he prescribed all night!

There were some great costumes this year!

Birthday girl...a.k.a. Sally Jupiter

I loved Popeye and Olive Oyl!

Shane's first lollipop!

This was Shane's first year going trick-or-treating! We went in Grandma's neighborhood since the houses are all close together. We had been talking about it for weeks and he was soo excited!!

Grandma and Shane heading out!

So excited to get candy!!

We met up with other kids in the neighborhood and he felt like such a big boy! He wanted to do it all by himself, but some of the houses let him pick his own candy out of the bowl and he would take it all if they let him! After every house he would say, "Let's go get MORE candy!!!" It was the cutest thing!

First piece of Halloween candy...YUM!

October Babies!

2009-10-30T11:17:00.000-07:00

Shane is lucky to share his birthday month with two of the cutest girls ever! Dakota had a birthday costume party at the park this year. The kids were so cute in their costumes! Shane absolutely loved being a dinosaur and Dakota was the cutest little lady bug!

Birthday girl!

Dinosaurs like dirt!

Shane and Mommy

Anniston and Dakota...adorable bugs!

I made Dakota an ear flap hat with a flower (my very first one) and she loved it! She put it on right when she opened it and wore it the rest of the party. She is so cute! Dakota and Shane play very well together and had lots of fun playing with bubbles and riding around in Dakota's new PowerWheels Jeep.

Shane likes to pick flowers for "Kota" which of course I think is the cutest thing ever, but her Daddy is very protective of boys coming after his baby girl! At least Shane is polite and does nice things for his girl-friend! We'll see if the usual boy-shoving-girl flirtation comes around in Elementary school :)

Nora had her 2nd birthday party at the park too! Nora was so cute running around in her dress and loved all the attention. Shane seemed a little unsure at first, but then made friends with another cute little girl that talked even more than he does!

Birthday girl!

Grumpy man

Shane and his new friend told me they were making chocolate pies

We have such cute kids!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Baby Shane!

2009-10-09T14:49:00.001-07:00

Yes, my baby boy is 2...and although he is now a little man, I still call him Baby Shane! What is even funnier is that he actually referred to himself as Baby Shane while riding his new motorcycle. It was the cutest thing and I even got it on video, but I can't seem to upload it!

The birthday party was a lot of fun, but oh so much work! Thank goodness for my wonderful family and friends who helped with a lot of it. This year was Thomas the Train theme and my girls helped me make this awesome cupcake train. I got the idea from another blogger on here and it worked out great!

The kids had a blast playing at the park and once Shane got his new motorcycle from his Aunties (Jackie and April) we couldn't keep him off of it!

We finished off the afternoon with a few presents. Shane likes to tear off one little piece of wrapping paper at a time and hand each one to me...the kids got a little restless and started to help him out. It was pretty cute!

After we got home Shane napped for a bit and we put together his new train table. He LOVES it! Of course not all of the trains/cars that we got fit well on the tracks, but he doesn't really care.

I knew it would only be a matter of time before all our hard work was destroyed...the tracks only lasted for 5 days, but that is actually a lot longer than I thought it would!! Thanks to everyone who came out and celebrated with us!

Catching up!

2009-09-23T20:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, September has just flown by! We have been unusually busy at work and I just can't seem to find the time to keep up with my blogging! (Plus almost everyone we know is on Facebook so they see all this stuff there anyways!)

Let's go back to August...Ryan and I had a lot of kid free time last month. We went to the wedding of my girlfriend that I have known since 1st grade! It was a beautiful day and they are such a cute couple. I got to see a lot of old friends from High School that I haven't seen in years and Grandma Linda watched Shane so we could really enjoy ourselves!

Suzy and Gabe Nelson!

Gorgeous bride!

Dancing with the new bride

Known these girls since elementary school!

Beautiful couple

I even managed to get Ryan on the dance floor!

Then we celebrated Ryan's birthday at the end of August. We went with his Mom, Step-dad, sister and brother-in-law to Sonora for the weekend. It was the very first time we had left Shane for an entire weekend!! He had a great time with Grandma and we had a great time in Sonora. We went to Moaning Caverns and rappelled down the caverns and raced on 1500 foot zip lines! Then we took a tour of California Caverns and got to see the literal view of absolute darkness! And spent the final day in Columbia where Ryan's Mom and Step-dad got married 10 years ago. It was a wonderful birthday weekend!

On our way to Moaning Caverns

Ready to rappel

Ryan has done this many times before

But here I go for the first time...

Ryan decided to stop and talk to some boy scouts half way down

There I go down the 165 foot cavern!

We all made it down safe and sound!

Then it was off to the zip lines...and I beat Ryan!

Taking our tour of California Caverns

The whole gang in one of the large rooms in the cavern

Saying good bye in Columbia, CA

Then I had a girls night out and went to see Nickelback in concert (which I have been waiting 5 years to do!) and Ryan and I even had a "date night" and got to go to Sea Thai Bistro! I have been wanting to go there since we moved to Rincon Valley well over a year ago. I think that is the first time we have gone out to dinner alone since Shane was born, so it was a well deserved treat!

We spent a day at Dillon Beach during Labor Day weekend. We met up with friends that were camping there and had a great time. Shane loved exploring the dunes and even went in the FREEZING Northern CA ocean!!

Shane has been having a lot of fun in water too. We will have to do swim lessons next summer. I thought he would be worried about going in the hot tub, but he went right in and just started walking around like it was no big deal. He had lots of fun "swimming" with Daddy.

He has been experimenting in the bath too...putting his face in the water and floating on his back. He is getting very brave!

I see the holiday season fast approaching, so I have started to get my yarn out again. I need to try new things this year so I made this cute ear flap hat for Shane. It has been a big hit and I have had many people ask for them already! I was worried Shane wouldn't like it, but he LOVES it and asks to wear it all the time.

I had to work over the past weekend in Concord so I had an unexpected Tuesday off which allowed a fun play date with Lennon...or "Lemon" as Shane calls her. We went to the park, but it was quickly taken over by 20 or so kids getting out of school. They are really cute together...Lennon likes to follow Shane where ever he goes, but usually he is trying to escape her! He did give her hugs and kisses when she left and then repeatedly asked for her when he got up from his nap. I just love that he has all these adorable friends his age!

We have the big 2nd birthday coming up next weekend and he is very excited! He now tells us that he will be 2 and wants cake! This has managed to sneak up on me and I feel very unprepared, but I am soo looking forward to it and all the birthdays we have next month. It's going to get crazy again...I'll try to keep up with the blogging though!

Oh, and did anyone notice my nice new header I made? It was long overdue!

Our Big Vacation, Part 3 - Carah

2009-08-11T10:27:00.003-07:00

I have REALLY been slacking in the blogging department lately! I apologize for everyone who has been waiting to see these pictures! I have been really busy at work and just haven't found the time to type out all of the fun details from our vacation. Be sure to scroll down to look over the past few blogs to see all the pictures. It was too much to do all at once!

This was the last leg of our vacation in early August. Grandma Linda, Shane, and I drove from Southern CA over to Las Vegas to visit with Uncle Cory, Aunt Janice, and baby Carah. Shane did great in the car until he woke up from his nap and we were in the middle of the desert with NO WHERE to pull over. We listened to hysterical crying for about half an hour before we finally reached the only rest stop. It was awful, but check out the great mood he was in when we finally made it to his cousin's house.

Carah is now 7 months and is OH SO CUTE! Auntie Jill was able to get all the cute smiles from her.

Shane likes to talk about "Baby Carah" a lot, but once we actually got to see her he didn't want anything to do with her. She was checking out all his toys and drooling over his cheese puffs and NO WAY was he going to share! This was probably the closest he got to her the entire trip!

I convinced my brother that we needed to go out Friday night. After all it was the weekend...in Las Vegas...and I drove alllll that way to see them! It was Janice's first night out in almost 2 years since becoming pregnant. Her sister came along with us and we danced the night away at Pure at Caesar's Palace. It was lots of fun...but don't ask how everyone was feeling the next morning :)

Due to all the fun we had the night before, we kept our last night simple and ate at our hotel and went bowling. Shane became very jealous of "his Gramma" holding baby Carah so we tried once again to get them to sit together, but it was not very successful. Look how much Carah loves her big cousin though!

Shane always has a great time hanging out with his Uncle Cory.

It was already 92 degrees at 9am on the morning we left. We had a great visit, but it was way too hot and I was ready to get the show on the road. I bribed Shane with toys and tried to get him to take a picture with Carah and I before we left...semi-successful!

We left at 10am and I didn't walk into the house until 10pm. It was the most driving I have ever done in my life! Shane did soooo very well for how long of a drive it was. Thank goodness for Grandma Linda to take care of Shane in the back seat. And we wouldn't have survived the trip without the portable DVD player because all the wanted to do was watch Cars the whole way home!! I was cranky, tired, and sore, but we finally made it back. We really had a wonderful time and can't wait to see everyone again! Preferably up at our house :)

Our Big Vacation, Part 2 - Samantha

2009-08-11T10:27:00.001-07:00

I took an entire week off of work to visit both of my brothers. Our big vacation started with Grandma Linda, Shane, and I driving down to Southern CA to visit my brother Kevin, his wife Kathy, and my niece Samantha. I was really looking forward to this trip since I had never been to my brother's house before and we so rarely get to see them. It was a 7 hour car ride and Shane did so good. I was really impressed that we didn't have one single meltdown or temper tantrum the whole way there!!

Kevin and Kathy have a beautiful house and yard. It was so nice to be outside on the patio enjoying the beautiful Southern CA weather. Samantha and Shane may not look like they are having too much fun in this picture, but they were!

Samantha LOVES cats and she let Shane help her line them all up so they could count how many she has. Samantha was being really sweet with Shane. He loves to be a big helper! She had over 70!!

ALL MINE!!!

The next day we went drove about an hour to go to the Los Angeles Zoo. We were really looking forward to it since Shane had never been to the zoo before. We left the beautiful 85 degree weather to venture into 100 degrees. Shane refused to sit in the stroller after the first 5 minutes and demanded that Mama be the only one to carry him. Then we walked really far up hill to get to the train, only to find out it was closed. It was smelly and hot and there were bees everywhere. Needless to say it was pretty miserable, we didn't take any pictures and left after having lunch...and a beer or two! Here is the only photo we had taken at the front gate...Samantha already looked miserable!

Once we got back to the house we busted out the slip 'n slide and Shane had fun pretending to shoot the hose.

The next day we went to the beach and it was wonderful! Southern CA beaches are soo much nicer than Northern CA beaches. We brought a couple other kids with us that day and they all had a blast digging holes and running up and down the beach. Shane even played in the ocean for the very first time. He LOVED it and kept saying "MORE, MORE!" I wish we could have gotten that on video!

My surfer boy!

Let's see if this sand tastes like the sand back home...

Shane's first sand castle

Uncle Kevin and Shane taking a break in the shade

Checking out the BIG hole the kids made

We got back to the house and all the big kids were really sweet to Shane and included him in all the fun they were having. They even took turns pulling him around in a tiny wagon. He thought it was great!

Thank you Kevin, Kathy, and Samantha for having us at your beautiful house and for being such great hosts! We can't wait to see you guys again!!

Our Big Vacation, Part 1 - Cooper

2009-08-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

We took a little trip up to Redding to visit with my cousin Monika and her family who were visiting from WA. It was 112 degrees while we were up there!!! HOT! We spent most of the time in the house or at the poor nearby. Cooper and Shane got to hang out last Thanksgiving, but boy how they have changed since then! We had a great time hanging out with them and watching the boys interact. Here they are playing with Whitney the turtle.

They liked to do all the same things...we called this bucket head.

Good morning!

Shane saw this cool "motorcycle" out in front of the pool and had to sit on it...so did Cooper!

Checking out the patio at the pool

The Grandmas and their boys

We tried to get the boys in the pool,
but neither one of them lasted very long.

Daddy and Shane lounging at the pool

Niki got a TON of toys for the boys to play with while there were visiting. Only a Grandma would get this much stuff for only a few days of vacation. They loved it :)

There is lots of wildlife to explore around Niki's house. The boys always get so excited when the deer show up!

Of course they both had to sit on this little deer.
Shane was confused I think!

Playing with Whitney one last time before we left!

Fun Times at the Fair

2009-08-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Daddy was going to be gone over the weekend so he took Shane to the fair on the opening day. Shane was still too small to go on most of the kiddie rides (he was NOT pleased!) but he saw this motorcycle and was in heaven! Daddy got these adorable pictures taken of our biker boy:

The scary face!!!

Then on Saturday Jackie was nice enough to go with Shane and I. The carousel was about the only ride he could go on, but he really enjoyed it.

There was a giant sandbox in the kids area and once he saw it, he didn't want to go anywhere else! He couldn't believe he was allowed to play with ALL of those toys! He was having a great time until he started flinging sand and I made him get out.

They had these cool dinosaurs that you could sit on and they roared and moved...it freaked him out a little bit.

Flirting and hogging toys

Here is a little video of Shane eating his first ice cream cone.
Thanks for the free ice cream CLOVER!

He got to pet a cow which he thought was pretty cool

He got really excited when he saw the pony rides, but I wasn't sure he would really like it. After demanding for a couple of minutes, I finally gave in. He thought it was so cool!

Getting a little braver on his own...

Then they tried to take his picture and it was all over!

Having a great time at the fair!
Thanks for taking all the pictures Jackie!

River Trip!

2009-07-26T21:56:00.001-07:00

I was determined to get out to the river to use those cool new tubes we used up at Pillsbury and was finally able to fit it in this past weekend between my two vacations. We have a nice spot in Healdsburg that we go to...it's a pain to get all of our stuff down there (thank goodness for Jackie and Del to help me!), but once we are there it's perfect! Most of it is really shallow so Shane has a great time playing and I don't have to worry about him too much. He mostly hung out right by shore and played with rocks.

I love this cute face with his hat!

At one point Jackie and Del crossed the river to go for a walk and Shane just started heading out into the water to follow them! He is usually real worried about walking out and always wants to hold my hand or have me pick him up. He wasn't even discouraged when the water reached his chest, which is the farthest he's ever ventured out on his own before! Maybe it was because the water was so clear and warm. Look at my brave boy!

I decided if he really wanted to go that deep I would have to put the camera down and get his life jacket. He still walked out just as deep and even let me pull him around like he was swimming and kicking his feet. He even experimented with floating on his back and putting his feet back down. I was very proud of him because he has never let us do that with him before!! We had such a great time and we are going to try to fit in another trip next weekend in between going to the fair and starting our week long vacation to visit both my brothers and nieces! FUN FUN FUN before the summer is over!!!

Need a smile?

2009-07-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Here is my naked cutie pie in his new pool. We had a lovely visit with Aunt Patti this weekend for her birthday and she bought this new pool for Shane. He's always been a little bit hesitant about being in his old pool, but he could not wait to try it out. He had lots of fun splashing and trying to squirt me. And even though he is naked and will probably hate me for it later, I had to post these adorable pictures and videos I took. Just watching this video makes me smile!

Smile for the camera!

2009-07-08T13:42:00.001-07:00

Do you remember how much trouble Shane would give us when we would try to take professional pictures? He would never sit still and we could NEVER get him to smile! Mr. Serious! Well, Shane has really been into taking pictures lately and will now give this BIG cheesy smile when I ask him to. He even came up to me with the camera and said he wanted to take a picture with Mama. He is just sooo cute!

Lake Trip #2 and the 4th of July

2009-07-08T13:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted! We made another trip up to the lake and had a great time. It was over 100 degrees that weekend, but it really didn't seem that hot. We did a lot of floating with our cool new tubes and did a little wake boarding on the lake again. Shane ventured out farther into the pond than he ever has and even made it all the way out to the dock in the middle! He also went 2 out of 3 days with NO NAPS! It was the first time he had ever gone without a nap and he actually did pretty well. Luckily he slept the whole way home and went back to his normal schedule after that. It's a long and bumpy ride to this spot, but we love it!

We went to Jackie and Del's house for the 4th of July. Their whole block really gets into the spirit of this holiday and we always have lots of fun over there. The kids got to go for rides in the golf cart on the creek paths and one of the neighbors had a big jumpy in the front yard. We had TONS of fireworks this year and Shane loved it! He didn't seem to get scared at all. He got to stay up really late to watch most of the fireworks and to top it off he even went to sleep there with no fussing! He drove me crazy on Friday so maybe he was trying to make up for it :)

Six Flags

2009-06-12T10:48:00.001-07:00

I decided to take a day off work this week to go Six Flags. We were trying to avoid the weekend crowds, but school just got out so there were still lots of people there. We had so much fun! Remember we took Shane when he was just under a month old?Well this was a much different experience! Last time he slept the entire trip and this time I was WISHING he would take a nap! He had a blast running around the park and would barely sit in his stroller. We watched the seal show, but left halfway through because he lost interest. We had been talking about seeing the dolphins for a few days so that was really fun, but once again he lost interest by the time the killer whale came out.

He LOVED the butterfly exhibit. I was sweating and ready to get outta there, but he wouldn't leave. He would run around chasing butterflies and then would want me or Daddy to catch them! Then he saw the water and then the fish and almost threw a fit when we finally made him leave. It looked like the fish were going to bite his little fingers off, but he had no fear!

Of course we had to go to Thomas Town. We rode Harold the helicopter and Thomas the train. Shane was very excited, but more excited to play with the train table in the gift shop than going on the rides! I now know what he will be getting for his next birthday and it will have to be Thomas themed!

Then we checked out the rest of the animals. It wasn't too exciting. We were in time for the giraffe feeding and Shane thought their long tongues were really funny. All the lions, tigers, cougars and cheetas were sleeping so that wasn't much fun. We saw the elephant do a couple of tricks, but then it was time to go. I let Shane play in the water before we left just to top off the day! He thought it was great.

BBQ and playdate!

2009-06-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

We went to the Forestville BBQ this weekend, as we do every year, but this year was especially fun because Shane was big enough to go on the rides! He was too small to ride the motorcycles, but he didn't seem too upset about it. He got to ride in a car without his parents and of course wanted, "more, more!" Daddy took him on the spinning dragons and we both went down the BIG slide with him a couple of times. He thought it was great! If you can believe it...I FORGOT MY CAMERA, so Daddy managed to get a few shots with his phone so I could document this big event!

He got an airbrushed tattoo, but did not like it!
He soon forgot about it after a minute or two.

My friend Tania was moving just a few blocks away from us this weekend so I offered to help out and watch her kids for her on Sunday. They had a blast! I seriously never realized how many toys Shane had until they were all pulled out! He has 5 vehicles at our house!!! I'm glad I had enough to keep them busy. We worked a lot on sharing and taking turns, but they were very well behaved. Brother and sister were just TOO CUTE together!

Weekend at the Lake

2009-06-02T14:08:00.001-07:00

Our friend's co-worker owns a house by Lake Pillsbury and was nice enough to let us use it this past weekend. My two girlfriends and I went up Friday with Shane and got to have a very fun "Girl's Night" before the guys came up on Saturday. We had a blast!

Of course Shane went straight for the hose when he got out of the car...and gave me the cutest smile ever for the camera. He also loved scooping the rocks and dirt up in front of the house. For some reason there were hundreds of pennies in the dirt and collecting them kept him occupied for quite some time.
Dirt, rocks and sticks...he had lots of fun being a dirty boy!

Collecting pennies

Scooping rocks

Chillin in his camping chair

Does everyone know how Shane is obsesses with flowers? He kept saying "flower, flower" and I would tell him "no there aren't any flowers around here"...but of course my child would have found a flower this tiny where there is nothing but rocks and dirt. I thought it was hilarious and had to take a picture.

The house we stayed in is in a gated community where they have their own little "lake" with a playground, tables, BBQs, rope swing, river access, fishing, etc. It was the perfect place for us to hang out with Shane. We checked out the playground first, but Shane was more interested in his motorcycle or "mung" as he calls it!

Our little lake

Shane burying himself in the sand

Baby jail

The guys finally showed up in the afternoon and we went off the rope swing for a bit before heading out to the actual lake.

Me on the rope swing

Here is a little video of Ryan doing a back flip off the rope swing

Shane finally fell asleep on our way to go boating. I see he doesn't have his life jacket on in the pictures below, but DON'T WORRY GRANDMA...he had his life jacket on the whole time until we anchored on the back part of the lake to go swimming. He did so good on the boat this time, too! We were out there for a few hours and he didn't complain about the wind or his life jacket or wanting to get off. He even went back and forth to two different boats! I'm sure it helped having Daddy there this time. Ryan and I both got to wake board and had a really fun time! Although I can tell you that both of us are still REALLY SORE even two days later now!

Nap time

Driving the boat is hard work!

Enjoying the calm

Kisses for Mama in the water

On Sunday, Daddy showed Shane how to catch lizards! They had a great time that morning playing with a couple of blue belly lizards they found. Ryan made a little leash out of long grass and Shane walked it around like it was his pet. So cute!

No fear!

Hanging out with his new little buddy

He wanted to give it kisses!

Cool guy

Fisherman's Wharf

2009-05-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we took Grandma Sandi and Grandpa Warren to Pier 35 in San Francisco to depart for their 10 year anniversary cruise to Alaska! It was the first time Shane had ever been to S.F. Unfortunately it was really cold and windy, but you come to expect that in the city. We were lucky enough to find a parking spot right there in front of Pier 39, so we went exploring. He thought the seals were pretty cool, but I think his favorite part was chasing pigeons up and down the pier!

Then he saw the big carousel and could not wait to ride it! It was a big difference from the first time we took him on the carousel at Howarth Park...he was terrified then! This time he was excited and even chose what animals he wanted to sit on. We did the dragon first and then a seal. By the time he rode with Daddy he was done with the animals and just wanted to sit and look for Mommy and he went round and round!

Then we went to Colma to put flowers down for my Dad. I hadn't been there in a long time and it was the first time I had brought Ryan and Shane with me. I'm glad we did it, even though we had to sit in traffic for nearly 3 hours to get from there back to the Golden Gate. It was MISERABLE! Shane did not nap all day and the stop and go traffic was not helping. He wanted OUT! This was the lovely view we had for nearly 3 hours...

HOT weekend!

2009-05-19T21:36:00.001-07:00

We had a long and HOT weekend! Saturday we went to the American Graffiti car show in Petaluma. Our good friend Del had his pride and joy entered and we just had to brave the heat to check it out. Shane had a great time checking out all the cars and listening to all the music. Here he is showing us his dance moves in the street!

A great shot of Jackie and Del

Del's pride and joy

Shane checking out the Petaluma river

Look at those pink cheeks! It was so HOT!

He was running a muck through the streets
and everyone thought he was so cute!

Then on Sunday we made last minute plans to head to the lake. Shane had a great time, but wasn't too sure about the water. He wanted to splash in it and pick up rocks, but anything passed his knees and he was "ALL DONE! ALL DONE!" There were lots of people there and kids for him to play with, but it was an exhausting day for me. Here are some pictures of Shane on the boat for the first time. He didn't like the wind, but enjoyed watching the water spray out behind the boat...until he fell asleep a few minutes later! He napped the whole time and then when I tried to take him back out after his nap he didn't want to go! We will have to work on that this summer.

Always with that straight face!

Trying to get him to smile

The motion knocked him right out!

Mother's Day

2009-05-11T21:42:00.000-07:00

My own Mother was on the East Coast to see both of my cousins graduate from college this week. I wish I could have gone! I did have a great weekend though. We went to Dillon Beach for Mother's Day. It was a little cold and windy compared to the weather inland, but it was still a beautiful day. Shane had a great time playing in the sand and watching all the people and dogs run free on the beach. Then Ryan cooked me an awesome filet mignon dinner. YUM! I hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day weekend too!

Butter and Eggs

2009-05-01T15:16:00.001-07:00

Jackie and I took Shane to the Butter and Eggs Day Parade in Petaluma last weekend. Shane had a great time, but there were so many people and it is so hard to keep him still or in the stroller for long. I kept him occupied with lots of snacks until the parade actually started. Of course his favorite parts were the motorcycles and any type of band that went by. Even just a solo drummer gets this kid dancing!!

Shane decided he wanted to sit down and take a break to pick some flowers. Isn't he adorable?!?

Then we stopped by to see the animals on our way to lunch. Shane got to pet baby pigs, goats, ducks, bunnies and chickens...although the one rooster was almost as big as him and kinda freaked him out. Then a chicken laid an egg right at our feet!! It was so strange to be petting this chicken and then see this egg just pop out and land on the cement!
Shane thought it was great :D

Geico Money

2009-04-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

For some reason Shane just LOVES the Geico commercial with the stack of money. It is hilarious how much he loves it and he asks to see it every day. I had to get it on video so we can tease him about it for years to come! He definitely takes after his Mom with his love for dancing :D

I cut it a few times so it wouldn't be so long...he is just too cute!

Easter weekend

2009-04-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! One of my best friends from High School is visiting from MA for a week. She is expecting her first baby so we had a baby shower for her and her husband on Saturday. She is almost 5 months and you could barely tell she was pregnant! Tall people are lucky. We had a fun day and it was great to spend some time with all her CA friends. They are not going to find out the gender of the baby so I picked out some fun colors and made a baby hat and my first ever baby bib for them.

Amber (the Mom-to-be) and I

Then we had to get ready for Easter! Can you believe Ryan had NEVER colored an Easter egg before?!? We decided to wait until next year to let Shane help with the eggs, but Ryan and I sure had fun doing them!

After we had breakfast on Easter morning, Shane caught a glimpse of an egg out in the backyard and got soooo excited!! I told him he had to wait for Daddy to get up before he could go outside and he ran straight to Ryan yelling "Daddy, up up...side, eggs!" He says "side" for outside. It was so cute!

I kept him entertained for a while by giving him his Easter presents. We did a wagon instead of a basket this year. He loved it! He was so excited to see sand toys in there that he almost forgot about looking for eggs.

Then Daddy gave him his first ever piece of chocolate.
Of course he LOVED it!

Then it was time to look for eggs!

The first couple of eggs he found had toy cars inside of them and he just had to have them right then and there. He insisted on holding them while trying to pick up the rest of the eggs. It was pretty funny to watch how determined he was!

Then he sat down to take a break. Finding eggs is hard work!

My Mom, Ryan's Mom and Step-Dad and my Uncle all showed up towards the end of the egg hunt. Shane finally gave the cars to Grandpa Warren so that he could get to the candy in the other eggs he'd found. Then we BBQ'd tri-tips for lunch with this awesome marinade my boss told me about and the grandparents all got to hang out with baby Shane for the afternoon. It was a lovely day :D

Happy Easter!

2009-04-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

Shane is really excited about Easter. We have been reading what he calls his "bunny books" all week and he can't wait to hunt for "pretty eggs!" Check back next week for cute pictures and videos of his Easter adventures.

Ryan took Shane to the mall while I was sick and got his picture taken with the Easter bunny. This is what happens when you leave it up to a man! Shane is giving that "I'm too cool" look already. Like father, like son! HAPPY EASTER!

Spring is in the air!

2009-04-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

This cold is a hard one to get rid of, but I am feeling almost normal again! It's raining now, but we were lucky to have beautiful weather these past couple of weeks. We managed to spend a lot of time out in our yard even while being sick. Shane is completely OBSESSED with flowers. He wants to go on walks just to see and pick flowers and then will carry as many as he can hold in his cute little fingers. We planted morning glory seeds in our backyard a few weeks ago and he loves to help water them every day. He is also talking soo much! Right now everything ends with "it." Want it! Have it! Get it! Hear it! See it! Fix it! I will try to get a cute little video of that soon. I know I have been slacking in the picture department...so here you go!

We love this hat my boss made for Shane

He always gets me with that Mr. Innocent look

So cute with his haircut

First ride with his new bicycle seat. He loves it!
He says he wants to go "FAST, FAST!"

Mr. Cool in his glasses

The cute hat Jessie knit for Shane

He insisted on wearing the hat to breakfast...
and had to have yogurt with his french toast!

He is getting really good with his stacking!

One of his favorite faces...
reminds me of Bart Simpson!

Following the geese at Howarth Park

He kept saying,"want it, want it...get it!"

My Miserable Update

2009-04-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

The few people that actually check this blog may have noticed my recent absence the past few weeks. I have been stuck at home...sick and miserable. Ryan got sick maybe 3 weeks ago now and it turned out to be the WORST COLD EVER! Shane woke up with a cough...it will be 2 weeks ago tomorrow and then had a fever for 5 days. Shane had never been sick before or ever even had a low fever. It was awful. He sat around with me all weekend just this hot, limp little boy who wanted nothing but his Mommy.

After that miserable weekend I took him to Kaiser on Monday and was even shocked to see how worried the nurses were about him. Just about everyone knows how active Shane is and it is so unusual to see him just laying so still with me. We waited a ridiculously long time to see any available doctor and they said it was just a cold and to bring him back Wednesday if he wasn't better. Well the next day my Mom came over to help out and see Shane and was really worried. She had not seem him since he became sick and convinced me not to wait until the next day to take him back.

We spent almost 3 hours at Kaiser that night and did chest x-rays and breathing treatments and found out that he had the beginning stages of pneumonia. They gave him a shot of antibiotics and it was the first night he slept all the way through in his own bed. We really needed the sleep! We had to go back to Kaiser the next day and finally got to see our own doctor. She confirmed the previous diagnosis and we did another breathing treatment before being sent home with 9 days of antibiotics. I am so happy to say that Shane has been a much happier boy ever since.

The next day I was finally going back to work and woke up not feeling well myself. That was last Thursday and I am STILL HOME with this terrible cold. Now get this........I finally think I will be able to pull myself together to come in to work today and I wake up with crusty red eyes and called Kaiser only to have them prescribe antibiotics for double PINK EYE! Could I be any more miserable?!? I don't think so.

Gymnastics

2009-03-04T14:05:00.000-08:00

Grandma and I took Shane to his first Gymnastics class a couple weeks ago. It is the same place I went when I was little. He had a blast! They let the kids just run around where ever they want for most of the class. Shane really loved all the mats and ramps, but was not very interested in the trampolines which surprised me. Then they do fun group things with the colorful parachute and Shane freaked out and wanted nothing to do with it! We used the two free passes my Mom got in the mail and although he had a great time, we are going to wait until the fall to enroll him in hopes he will be able to enjoy more of the activities.

Here are some little video clips. Notice that he starts out yelling "FUN!" a bunch of times and it ends with him terrified of the parachute!

Big Boy Words!

2009-03-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

A week ago Sunday, Ryan's Mom babysat Shane all day for the very first time. She brought Grandpa Warren and Aunt Tammy with her too. Shane was a such a good boy...no crying, napped for over 2 hours and not even a poopy diaper! He really was on his best behavior for Grandma Sandi! Then when everyone was getting ready to leave I told him to say bye-bye and instead of waving like he usually does he let out the cutest "bye-bye" I have ever heard! Of course I was soo excited that he finally managed to say the actual words. Now it is like that one little "bye-bye" opened the flood gates because it has been non-stop talking ALL WEEK! Until last week he has been really good with the signs and the animal sounds and can even point out almost all the letters in the alphabet (except for maybe 4 that he still gets confused on), but the only words he really would say were Mama, Dada, cup, hat, up, moon and eggs. I took a couple of minutes today to type out some of the words he has said this week and was shocked that the list is already over 80 words! His latest yesterday was Grandma and careful (because my little daredevil likes to stand up on the arm of the couch and fall forward so I tell him to be careful A LOT!).

We also had another big boy breakthrough last night...it was our very first night of going to bed without a bottle!!! My big boy didn't even put up a fuss. I am so glad to be done with bottles!! Now take a look at this list so you can see why I am sooo amazed and proud of my little Shane!

apple

April

ball

bee

belt

bib

blocks

blue

boo boo

book

breakfast

brush

bubble

bugs

bus

bye-bye

cake

car

careful

carrots

chair

Cheerio

choo-choo (for Thomas the train)

Chris

cloth (for wash cloth)

coat

coke

comb

corn

cute

dance

dinner

down

drink

eat

Elmo

eyes

fall

food

George

ghost

Grandma

grape

grass

hair

hippo

ice cream

juice

jump

kitty

lunch

meat

medicine

milk

mouth

noodle

nose

owie

pants

peas

pee pee

pillow

poo poo

puff (for his cheese puffs)

puppies

Robby

shirt

shoes

sit

Slimey (the worm)

snake

soap

socks

space

spoon

stars

Sticky (our cat)

teeth

tractor

truck

vitamins

Wordless Wednesday #1

2009-02-18T15:11:00.001-08:00

My niece Carah at 5 weeks old. Sooo cute!

Valentine's Weekend

2009-02-17T14:09:00.000-08:00

Ryan and I had a nice night out on Valentine's Day. I made dinner for us at home and it turned out great! If anyone is interested in a VERY easy and delicious crock pot recipe, click here! I added potatoes and carrots half way through and it turned out really good. Grandma was nice enough to watch Shane for the night so we then went out for drinks. We were supposed to meet up with a few of our friends for drinks, but no one ended up meeting us. Most everyone knows that Ryan does not drink, so it then turned into a night of me drinking A LOT by myself (and paying for it the next day...or two), but we really had a good time. It was nice to go out just as a couple.

Nothing got done on Sunday since I was recovering from my fun night out, but on Monday we had a play date at Jack and Jill's in Petaluma. It was such a cute place and the kids had soo much fun! I wish it was closer since that is at least a half an hour drive for us, but it was worth it. Shane had 7-8 little friends there, but the place was packed by 10:30am. They even had a waiting list going. It was really fun to see the kids interact with one another and to see which things they liked to do. Of course Shane was mostly glued to the train table, but he liked the pretend kitchens too.

Having fun at the train table

Learning to share with Lennon

Playing with his best buddy Dakota

Sitting like big kids for snack time

Shane kept smiling at Mady :)

Little Lulu is just too cute!

I never got around to posting my pictures from wine tasting last week. Ryan was our sober driver and we went to about 6 wineries in and around Healdsburg. FUN! My neighbor Chris is moving back to New York in less than two weeks so we just had to plan one more tasting before she left. I'm really going to miss her!!

The whole gang at Alder Brook

Who doesn't love fun hats and wine?!?

Great Pinot at La Crema

Gorgeous views at Ferrari-Carano

Freezing our butts off at J. Rickards

Around the house...

2009-02-08T21:27:00.001-08:00

Today was a nice, mellow, relaxing Sunday. I didn't put on make-up or even leave the house! Shane and I did play outside this morning, but it was really COLD! He didn't mind and had a blast playing in the mud with his shovel and collecting sticks and leaves. He insisted on carrying around this stick that was twice his size. Too bad I didn't have my camera out for that! He then went down for a nap and didn't even put up any kind of a fuss. I even heard him playing around for almost 20 minutes before he actually fell asleep. I decided to relax, watch a movie and work on crocheting a hat. The movie ended and I FINISHED the hat and Shane was still sleeping! Ryan and I decided to go in and check on him and this is what we found:

Look at those cute little feet! I guess he didn't want to sleep with socks on today! The funny part was that we were in there with the camera flashing away and he was still sound asleep! Then about 10 minutes later I went in and found him standing there smiling away. I couldn't help but smile and take his picture again.

These are just some cute pictures of Shane reading in his room. He has also been on a real reading kick these days. He will even sit there by himself and read several books at a time. We just love the bookcase Grandma Linda got us for Christmas. Now he can get good access to his books all on his own. He likes to sit and read on the alligator Grandma Sandi got him too.