Natime post

I'm not quite sure what is in the air but both kids are down for naps. Olive had an hour of quiet time in her room then begged me to come out. I had just gotten done putting Otto down and with no fight left in me I said fine and let her sit on the ipad an watch Sofia. I had some thank you notes to write so I figured she would happily do her own thing. It got really quiet and when I walked out she was passed out in the middle of the room. Otto woke up after an hour of his nap and I was able to nurse him back down. Then as I walked out Olive woke up and then when I lay down with her she passed back out. Weird weird day and so unlike my kids. Otto got shots today so I'm sure he is wiped and Olive had school so lets blame it on that. Oh and its 90 degrees in the middle of november. The weather is doing some wacky stuff which has caused me a major migraine today. Feels good catching on and finally not being behind on posting photos here.

Pretending its fall. Potato, kale, and leek soup (with bacon on top) 

no couch=stage

Since removing the couch Sierra has gone in a deep depression. It was her favorite spot. She followed me around all day yesterday. 

Even when I was putting Otto to sleep. 

Funny pup. 

Our rope swing broke yesterday and she was on it. Hands down one of the scariest things that has happened to her. She was centimeters away from landing on the curb (she happened to do a face plant on the grass) It could have been really really bad. Time to get some tough climbing rope and try again. 

She wanted to wear these sock and shoes. Amazing. 

Eating fast food while I lay down from a massive migraine. Sometimes you do what you have to do. 

Otto has developed this weird habit of scratching at me when he nurses. Ouch! 

After she told me she didn't want to nap. She has been out for 2 hours. 

fall at the beach

Fall, you are one crazy crazy bitch. I mean I'm not going to complain about having a beach day in the middle of november but I would REALLY like to wear some of my boots and sweaters. Olive had Veterans Day off from school so we decided to go to the beach. I honestly didn't think it would be that nice but it was perfect, 74, sunny, and just beautiful. I thought it was best to go solo as Olive is just so much better on her own at the beach. That and I had no idea how Otto was going to do. It was a good call as Otto was awake for about 10 minutes then passed out in my ergo for a couple hours. He barely gets in a 30 min nap at home but if I wear him he takes the longest naps. This gave me plenty of one on one time with Olive. I know I'm home with her all day but sitting down and it just being us is hard. We walked to the rocks, played about a million games, and just wandered the beach and played in the water. It was nice, she was good and listened to me and it wasn't stressful which is a change from our normal days of total chaos. I think we both needed this. No matter what mondays just stress me out. After the high from the weekend and the help from Blake being around I get anxious about what I need to get done in the week and its hard for me to just relax so going to the beach was just what I needed. It's silly, I know but it must be leftover from life before kids when monday was the start of the week, the time to get organized. Guess that crazy never leaves you.

This weekend my mom was around and helped me get so much stuff done. I had a list of stupid shit that I just couldn't manage to get done so I crossed a lot off and damn it feels good. And in the best news ever we got a new couch. If you've been reading this blog for the last few years then you may be smiling with me cause I talked about it so much that is was kinda silly. I feel like I've been shopping for the perfect couch for years but yesterday we walked into West Elm sat on two couches and boom it was ours. Olive was being a shit head and besides waking up Otto she was going crazy in the store so we didn't have much time to ponder this, which is actually good for me. I'm a terrible decision maker so she probably did us a favor. By oh man am I excited!

Otto turned 5 months on saturday. He is officially sitting up. He still gets a little wobble here and there but for the most part he's got it down. He's seems pretty excited about it, mostly because now he can get  his feet in his mouth pretty easy which is super strange to watch. His sleeping is still crappy at night but for the first time in my life I'm not analyzing anything and just going with it. I feel like with Olive I spent so much time with the why of everything and in the end it just is what it is. I get to catch up on all my blogs, pinterest, and anything else being up every couple hours. That's exciting right? Kidding it sucks but this too shall pass. Right right? This age is super fun, maybe my favorite so far. He is starting to show his personality, super cuddly, but not mobile so still my little baby. He is still beyond obsessed with Olive. He pretty much just laughs at her all day and wants to be anywhere she is. It's pretty darn cute.

The 11:00 hour is approaching which means Otto should be waking up so off I go!

My mom bought her this outfit. Its hideous but she LOVES it.

Mint chip for everyone. 

Post nap crazy hair. 

Date night. 

Hammock lounging. I may put him in overalls forever. 

Olive took out all his toys and decorated him. 

She found this seaweed and was pretending she was rapunsel. I think I blew her mind when I clipped it in and it stayed.  

This was my brothers shirt when he was a little one. 

I let her wear a tutu to school. Also she is looking like such a big kid to me. 

Coffee hangs with my friend Alexa. 

Both kids were sleeping and I did this. It was magical. 

I think Bones is the one laying the eggs. 

Opie knows her name. I know its weird but she does. 

Facetime with Sonia. 

Olive told me this was the best dinner ever. I swear some days she won't eat anything I make but the kid loves salad. I had absolutely nothing in the house to eat for dinner so I made this salad and it was delicious and super filling. Lettuce, shredded carrots, roasted garlic chickpeas, tiny bit of tri color pasta, and shredded mozzarella. Roasted chickpeas make the best snack too! 

I added green onions and radish to mine. I'm not a salad for dinner person but this was good! 

We went to the Huntington Library. I reserved free tickets a month in advance so I was pretty excited as I've never been. This was part of the science area. The most amazing drawings from maybe the 1600's?

There was a section on childbirth. I love this shit. 

I don't know if its the fact that I've had kids but I'm fascinated by all aspects of birth. 

Rose garden. Smelled so good. 

We had fun but I don't think its the best place for kids (at least my kids) Olive wasn't super into looking at everything and was pretty antsy most of the time. The grounds are massive and you could seriously spend the whole day just wandering. 

She did however like the tea service. I mean how can you go wrong with scones and tea? 

roadtrip and rashes

I've started a handful of posts in the last few weeks but haven't actually had time (mostly energy) to finish them.  Considering the lack of sleep I've had the last few days I'm actually not super tired or maybe I'm just adjusting to living on a few hours of sleep. We escaped out of town this weekend and it was kinda a bust. The adventure and being with the family and a few friends was awesome but traveling with two kids was quite the nightmare. We started on thursday up at my parents for Halloween. They have an annual block party and this year was pretty fun as some of the older kids were there which was kinda full circle as we all used to hang as kids. We did a few laps around the block trick or treating and Olive loved it. The neighborhood was totally empty. Such a difference from when I was a kid and the streets were just covered in kids and it was just madness. She scored on candy as people were literally giving her handfuls since it was so empty out. She has eaten exactly 2 pieces of the candy and me, well I've eaten the rest. 

So we had big plans to leave early friday am and head up to Santa Barbara for the day. Our final stop for the weekend was in San Luis Obispo so we figured we would head up slowly. Olive was complaining all morning of her lady parts hurting so I thought we should get it checked out at the urgent care since it had been an on and off complaint all week. Hours later we headed up there.  We made it to the zoo, missed the giraffe feeding which was probably 99% of why we were going there. Serious fail but we did have a good time at the zoo regardless. We had plans to stay up in Santa Maria for the night so we headed there. We ended up stopping at one of the most awesome places to eat, Flatbread of Life. Seriously horrible name but they have a woodfire oven and make the most delicious pizza ever. I feel like the first night was just a blur. We were up super early to head up to SLO for Blake's bike race. We had another good meal and headed to the races. The park they were racing out was beautiful and it was all fall like out. There was even a playground smack in the middle of the course where Olive pretty much spent all of the day in. I had a few friends there and they don't have kids so they have LOTS of energy to help me entertain mine. We drank cider, ate yummy snacks and the day was looking pretty good. BUT then Otto started breaking out in this rash on his face and things just kinda went to shit mostly because I was a paranoid mess thinking I ate something and he was having a allergy to it through my milk. Thank goodness my friends were there and calmed me and were crazy helpful with everything especially helping with Olive.  I contemplated taking him to urgent care but just wasn't sure what to do as he was eating and didn't seem all that fussy over it. We ended up going to dinner with all of our friends then wandering around downtown SLO for the night. It was so nice but I just couldn't relax wondering what was wrong with Otto. The next morning we got out of there pretty quickly and I ended up taking Otto to the urgent care. They said he has fifths disease or slapped cheek. I was super relieved but still its pretty gross. He's been sleeping like shit lately and I don't know if it's connected to him being kinda out of sorts or what? He's totally fine during the day and besides some red skin he is acting totally normal. I assume he got it from Olive but she never had the red face or rash so I have no idea. I mean we are always on the go so who knows where it came from. As long as it runs its course and gets the hell out soon I will be happy. 

Today we did Disneyland with a few friends. I was a little nervous with both kids but it was actually pretty easy. Easy as in I pulled it off and had fun. Disneyland is exhausting no matter how good the kids are. Standing, waiting, heat, its a lot. Having passes, going with the flow, and not putting any pressure on doing too much are really the key. Olive had her moments of whining and being a little jerk but she did pretty good.  Seriously when does the whining phase end?? Shit is driving me bananas! Besides the moments of whining she had a blast and I loved having my friends there even if its nearly impossible to have a bit of a conversation without having to wrangle a kid. After everyone went home and I decided to stay a little bit more. I'm the queen of pushing it but honestly it was awesome. I almost gave Olive away at one point but besides that she was super good. Sometimes when she doesn't have her friends around and its just us she is so much better. This isn't always the case but today she did good. We waited in line to see the princesses and went on two other rides before it was time to head out. I probably would have just stayed till closing but I ran out of diapers for Otto. Bad bad mom. We ended on a good note so thats the important part and really there is always next week. 

I still have a ton of older photos to post but here are Halloween through today. 

Uncle Jared + Otto. 

Grandma + kiddos. 

Pirate Princess + Pirate. 

Look at that stash! 

Lunch date. 

This is when I first started noticing a rash but didn't think anything of it as he is always stabbing himself in his face with his nails and making red scratches. 

Butterfly!

He's starting to sit for much longer now. Still not totally sure about it. 

Chillin' in a dinosaur egg. 

Sliding down the weird fake grass on cardboard. Hippie shit. 

Roadtrippin'. 

Those chins....

Otto the beer thief. 

Probably my most favorite photo ever. I wish I knew he was going to do this so I would have gotten a closer photo. 

Gimme that beard! 

Sorry if this grosses anyone out but I think how the rash progressed is interesting. This was the drive home where I just noticed it spread to the rest of the body. 

Drinking coffee and enjoying the view. For a few moments it felt so nice. Then the kids started crying.....

This was the night after we got home and after we went to urgent care.  Crazy bad. 

Not thrilled. 

Putting on a light show and Otto is just cracking up. 

Casey jr. 

Jungle Cruise. 

Otto was not amused by the rocket ships. 

I am obsessed with photos of characters eating Olive's head. 

And today (probably from all the sun) the "slap" look really showed up. 

Probably the only time I can win since Blake always kicks my ass. 

All the babes.