Updates!

Oh heeeeeey guys! I have not been blogging consistently, but today I was reading back through previous posts, and I have to say, a) I am hilarious and b) it's really good to document things. So here I go!

Life lately has been AWESOME! I cannot get over how much I love being a Mom. (Besides at Church-- sheesh, this kid can't go to nursery soon enough-- ahhhhhhhh!) Anyway. G is the cutest thing ever, and is truly a sweet boy. He started blinking at me when I wink at him-- it is SO CUTE!!! Oh my, it melts my heart. He also started talking a little- now besides Mama (which he actually says Nana) and Dada, he says "dog" (daaaa!) "more" (moe) and "bath" (bah) and occasionally "hi." He also says "mmmmm" for moo and growls like a lion when asked. He also blows for "sssssssnake" which is super cute. He signs more, please, all done, thank you, train and waves very enthusiastically. He is officially a toddler, and yes, I want another baby.

Neal just got promoted at work (so proud!) so he's feeling good about life. AND I get to get a KitchenAid! WOOOOOOT! I start teaching a week from tomorrow, and I am excited! I'll be teaching one class-- (a night class twice a week) at American University. I'll be teaching French 2, which will be more challenging, as I've only taught it once, but also more rewarding French-wise. I've been revamping my syllabus and am really excited!

We just bought tickets to fly out to Kansas City over Thanksgiving, and Neal is even flying out Sunday night with G and then I fly out *ALONE* on Tuesday morning, since I teach Monday night. I know, right?!?!?!

Here are some pics of our life:

Riverbend Park... so gorgeous, right???

G-money likes to chillax in the jogger

Look at this big boy!!!

Great Falls Park, we walked here from Riverbend. It wasn't far, but farther than I thought, and feet were sore because I wore flip flops! (it's actually a 4 mile walk, roundtrip)

He loves his Papa! and yes, G has a mullet.

Seriously, G could and would drink an entire smoothie if I were willing to share that much. Sheesh!

Hey, Mom-- can you make me a smoothie in this?

Our annual peach picking trip. Before the downpour...

I don't think I ever blogged about our solo trip to Annapolis. It was so fun!!!! Everyone should ditch their kids once in a while-- it was AWESOME to have some alone time. And sleep in. And go to a movie. And go out to dinner after 6 PM. And choose when to get out of bed. And eat a meal without sharing. And not have to get a toddler in and out of a carseat constantly. Does this make me seem like a bad Mom? Trust me. I love my  buddy boy!!!!!

I just also love alone time with this guy:

LA VIE EST BELLE!

Just me

You know, I am not very good at updating this blog, but when I do, I always talk about how cute G is, and how much I love Neal. While these things are true, I've decided to post about ME today. Here I am:

Okay, that's bud with me, but what can I say? He is in every picture of me now. I know, right? Fine, here's a picture of Neal and me, but then I'm posting about ME!

 Precious, right? I love him. This pic was taken while on our little getaway in Annapolis. Everyone should leave their kids once in a while-- it was AWESOME! Anyway.

Things I absolutely love:

• kiwi ice cream.. I just made some today and it was DELISH!
  
• getting home after a good run
• finding really cute clothes on sale
• the Fun. station on Pandora
• Girls Nights Out
• speaking French/hearing french/teaching French
• dangley earrings
• cookie dough (seriously)
• making photobooks
• clean sheets 

Things that bug:

• worrying I'll see ants when I open the peanut butter jar (shudder)
• the saying "yes, please." I can't really explain why... it's just overdone. Maybe because of pinterest... people always say things like "peanut butter/nutella/rice krispie/brownie/cookie bars? yes, please!" ugh.
• people calling my husband "Nil". It's NEEEEEAL, people. (this is mostly a Utah offense)
• aviator sunglasses on women. Yes, I still love you if you do it, I just don't like the look.
• Ugg boots
• people being late without letting you know. Especially to dinner. 
• the fact that laundry can never be caught up

So yep. That's me. What about you?

May holidays

Hello friends! I never know what to post about, especially if I've already put the pics on facebook.. you know what I'm saying? Anyway, since May is quite a month... I decided to blog about it.
First off, is G's birthday. He had a wonderful birthday! (we think) ;) We threw a little party for him, and it was really fun. Kudos especially to Steve and Stacey for driving all the way from Delaware just for the party! We are loved.

He loves owls!

We heart our friends

Family is the best!

It's hard to look cool with a messy face, but G is totally pulling it off.

My birthday weekend was great. Neal took my birthday off (the best present ever!) and we drove down to Virginia Beach. We used Neal's Marriott points to stay for free, and it was a great weekend. Other than getting sucked into a Time Share presentation... gaaaaaaaah-- a "90 minute no pressure presentation" that turned into a very stressful, shady, 3 hour ordeal.  NEVER AGAIN! The perks (50$ visa giftcard and a weekend stay) might not have even been worth it. Anyway. G loved the beach and was squawking excitedly the entire time. It was awesome. Gideon did try to get a free trip to the ER (croupy wheezing), but we denied him and handled it at our hotel with steam, a humidifier, and a mere 20 panicked phone calls to Dad.

I am very spoiled, and I wouldn't have it any other way. ;)

Nutella cookies for my birthday dessert!

Yes, I ate cookie dough. A lot of it. It was awesome.

G is getting so good at self portraits.

Mother's Day was great! Actually, most of it was spent in the car driving home from the beach. I should have really thought about the fact that a good part of my birthday AND Mother's Day would be spent driving to and from the beach... gaaaaaah. I am grateful for this little buddy every day!

Here is the only surviving picture from our AMAZING anniversary dinner at L'auberge chez François-- DELISH! It was seriously one of the most amazingly delicious meals of my entire life. (We lost the other pictures in the devastating XD card debacle of 2012.... I'm gonna take a sledgehammer to my camera the second I get a new one).

So yeah, May is a pretty great month for us. And by us I mean me. ;)

My sweet one

Seeing all these Mother's Day posts has made me feel very tender about my sweet one, my Gideon. I have always loved babies and kids, (you kind of have to if you teach Kindergarten!) and it came as no surprise when I loved my sweet one more than I could have possibly imagined. What did come as a surprise (other than how long it took to push him out---gaaaaaah) was how natural it all felt. When they placed Gideon on my chest after he was born, I felt a feeling I have never felt before. I felt so full of love, of joy, and of tenderness. All I could do was weep and say to my baby "I love you, I love you" over and over.

Neal and I often compare the first few days home from the hospital with Gideon to our honeymoon. Everything felt so wonderful, so full of love, so perfectly meant to be, and so natural. Our house was full of love--more than we ever thought possible. I waited and waited for everything to "hit me" and cause me to totally freak out, but it never happened. Granted, Gideon may be the easiest baby in the history of the world, which I know helped me out SO MUCH in feeling like a natural Mother, instead of a sleep deprived zombie. Those first few days and weeks, I just felt so full of love for my sweet one; my cup runneth over. In the months that have passed, I still feel that same love, and I know it will only intensify. My dad wrote me a letter for my birthday, and in it he said "it tickles me to hear you talk about Gideon" and my mom has also mentioned how sweet it is to everyone that I am so enamored of my baby boy. I can't help myself-- I have so much love for him it spills out in everything I say!

The fact that I know I will feel these same feelings for another baby is enough to make me want to have another one, as crazy as that seems right now. Although, if it also takes me 2 hours to push out baby #2, we're done. ;) Happy Mother's Day to all-- past, present and future mothers!

Family in DC!

My mama, baby sista, and niece came out to DC to visit, and we had a BLAST! They stayed for 8 days, and it wasn't long enough! Because we all have babies, it was a more laid back visit, which was awesome.

Hanging out at the Air and Space Museum

For some reason, Gideon screamed every time someone else tried to hold him-- it wasn't just Mom, although, she did get the brunt of it-- such a stinker!

 Love my family!

 Hanging out in Georgetown with the stroller posse

 Mom biked to the MLK memorial-- we opted for the lazy option of driving downtown

 Sigh... I miss them already!

The butterfly pavilion at the National History Museum--as you can see, one landed right on Mom's head! Lucy was unimpressed.

 Gideon loved going on a boat tour....

He loved the boat so much, he even allowed himself to be held by Marmie without screaming his head off! A National River Cruise miracle! It was a truly wonderful week with good times had by all. We love having visitors in town-- hint, hint. Luckily Trent already got this memo:

Hooray for Utah people in DC! 

Who does G love more?

I think the pics speak for themselves!

;)

Our New Place

So, people have been asking for pictures of our new place. Honestly, it's usually not clean enough to take pictures of-- judge if you will. Gideon can dump out all his toys, pull all of the dvds/books of the bookcases, and empty out the end table drawers before I can even turn the camera on...see???

kind of depressing, really. Although I am sad to be living in a complex, (as opposed to a neighborhood) it is SOOO nice to have, you know, a bedroom. Yes, we gave Gideon our room in our old place, and it was totally worth it. BUUUUUT it's nice to have more rooms! Space wise, our new place is only 150 square feet bigger. But instead of one giant room and a bedroom, there are many rooms. It's a cute little 2 bed/2 bath condo in Oakton, Virginia. And yes, having 2 bathrooms is just as amazing as I dreamed it would be!

Here is our living room. It's nice and spacious, and I LOVE having a "sunroom" which you can see in the pic (between the 2 sets of sliding glass doors) to keep our jogging stroller, bike, etc. instead of having them in our living room.

This is our kitchen and breakfast nook. I love it! Off to the left is our washer/dryer, a utility/storage closet, and a pantry. I love having a pantry! The oven, fridge, sink, microwave, and tile are all brand new. Oh, and the carpet is brand new. Honestly, the things that AREN'T brand new, are pretty old, but at least some stuff is new!

Here is our "dining room," which as you can see, is not being used for that purpose. You can also see a utility/storage closet, as well as "Gideon's" bathroom. My friend came over the other day and asked if she could use "his Majesty's bathroom." haha. There is a linen closet across from the utility/storage closet.

Here you can see the... wait.... what is that? A HALLWAY!?!?! yes, I was very excited excited to have a hallway! (Again, in case you forgot, our last place was like a studio with a bedroom.) The bedroom you can see in to at the end of the hall is our room.

Here is Gideon's room. I got Alphabet wall stickers and I absolutely love them!!!

A close up-- kind of washed out, but you can see the cute letters!

Here is our room-- it's quite large, although you can't really tell. Also crazy about this picture is that our super expensive and classy curtains just look like a sheet tucked into the blinds-- weird..... We also have a walk-in closet and a bathroom. I LOVE having a bathroom in our room! (For those of you who know me well, you can see why having a bathroom so close is very convenient for me!)

I'm also happy to say that Neal's HIDEOUS gnome has been banished to the patio. (I was hoping it would get "lost" in the move, but I was out of town, and Neal's movers weren't easily bribed on this front.)

We have plenty of room for guests-- come on out and see it for yourselves! And now, I shall leave you with another reason to come out to the DC area:

GORGEOUS! Wish you were here!!!