April means birthdays.

In our house, April means birthdays. All three of the loves in my life were not only born in April, but born in the SECOND HALF of April. That's a lot of pressure folks. Making the 3 most important people in my life feel the most special special all within 10 days of each other every year is not easy. So this year I actually pulled off the "low key" birthday trifecta. All three of them got to blow out candles in front of our closest family memebers and open a couple presents. That's all a kid really needs, right? I made a pretty amazing cake and dinner was great. From now on, the kids only get parties on the "big years." That means 1, 5, 8, 12, and 16yrs. (Accept for Wendy who had full blown themed parties for years 1, 2, 3, 4 AND 5 - hence the fact that I'm a little burned out). I think it was a big success!

Some of Harvey's adorable 2 year old vocabulary that I always want to remember:

• ah-moat - oatmeal
• wa-wot - water
• yesth - yes
• ah-man - superman, spiderman, any super hero man really
• meh-meh - talking like a baby / talking like a monkey
• Ay-na holg you - pick me up
• apunz  - rapunzle

Introducing Ozlo Hop-hop Williams

Meet the newest member of our family: our bunny, Ozlo. It was a surprise birthday gift for my pet loving husband. 

Around Easter time, Ryan decided he's over his 4 year obsession with birds and he started talking about wanting a different animal. A dwarf bunny to be exact. He went around trying to talk other people into talking me into it. But my best friends down the street growing up had a pet bunny, Popcorn. It was big, had the most disgusting/stale smelling urine, and sharp claws that would scratch the crap out of you as it tried frantically to hop out of your arms if you tried to pick it up. I was flat out against it.

But as the 18th of April got closer and closer, I couldn't find anything else to get Ryan. To make matters worse, he always get the BEST gifts. Then I started thinking, bunnies are a lot quieter than birds. Their nails can be kept short. They don't have to be walked like a dog. They can't fly around your face and peck your eyes out. PLUS, my kids would love it. (I kinda love it too).

THEN, two days before his birthday, he decides he's over bunnies and really wants a pet chameleon. "It will be so much easier than a bunny! They don't shed! You don't have to clean it's poop! All you need is a 4 foot by 6 foot enclosure with the right plants and a heat lamp on 24/7." (Oh, is that all?) Then he proceeds to ask my princess-loving daughter, who's favorite princess is Rapunzel, "Do you want to get the SAME pet as Rapunzel?! We could even name it 'Pascal' just like the movie!!" He proceeds to go to the home of our friends who breed chameleons, and post a picture of himself wearing the biggest grin and a chameleon on his shoulder on instagram.

After basically telling him my big surprise, getting depressed because I can never make his birthday as special as he does for me (because HE always buys himself whatever he wants, even if it's 2 days before his birthday/christmas) I decided to keep it. We love it. Plus, it's cuter than a lizard.

Ryan is 32!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life! 32 is going to be a good year for you, full of milestones. A new baby. A college degree. A decade of marriage. I can't wait to experience it all with you. 
I love you.

We're having a baby! ...AGAIN!!

On our anniversary trip to Portland, I started thinking I might be pregnant. The food there was amazing, and I was having a hard time enjoying it in the way I'm usually able to enjoy food (a blessing and a curse). So on our way to hike the beautiful Forest Park, I told Ryan we should stop at a Walgreen's we saw to pick up some water bottles and trail mix. While he was getting snacks I snuck and grabbed a pregnancy test. I ran to the bathroom, heart pumping, and took the test. .  .  .

Pregnant. 

I simultaneously thought, "I KNEW IT!" and "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" 

I kept it to myself for a while, waiting for a more special time/place to tell Ryan. We drove to Forest Park and got majorly lost in the mountains. This park is 30 miles wide and the trail we were looking for was not where our GPS took us. I didn't mind though. The mountains were beautiful, and at one point it started snowing! (Being from Southern California, it felt magical to be in the middle of the silent forest with snow drifting around us). I almost told Ryan at that point, but unlike me, he wasn't enjoying the surroundings so much as he was frustrated that we were lost = not a good time.

We finally found our trail and started hiking. We felt like we were in the movie "Fern Gully," or in a movie from the Twilight saga, it was so beautiful and enchanting. When we got pretty deep into the hike, we stopped at a great spot and I pulled the test out. I always love watching Ryan's face light up the way it does when I tell him he's going to be a daddy... again. It was perfect.

*I mean... gorgeous, right?!

We told our families a couple weeks later. I baked some sugar cookies and spelled it out for them in sugary goodness. We told Wendy RIGHT before we told everyone else. We thought she should be the first to know. You can see by the muscles in her neck how excited she is! (I love that). I know she is going to be so much help with this baby. (I wanted Harvey to be involved in this picture/announcement too, but he had no self control with the cookies and no idea what was going on).

pregnancy #3 fun facts: NAMES

• my vote if it's a girl - june ...but it's taken and ryan says no
• my vote if it's a boy - oliver ...totally taken, not a chance
• wendy's vote if it's a girl - sally or suzie (ALL of her dolls, stuffed animals, pets, etc. are named sally)
• ryan's vote if it's a boy - lars after his dad larry or carlos after my dad charles (but with a mexican twist, cuz we're part mexican)
• ryan's vote if it's a girl - sally or suzie or betty or betsy

Wendy's Words of Wisdom

I really love giving my kids baths. Yes, sometimes by that point at the end of the day I'm tired to my bones. Yes, sometimes I zone out a little and count down the minutes until I can just lay down for a second. But there's just something about watching my babies giggle their heads off as they get clean in the tub that warms my heart, makes me focus on them and effortlessly live in the moment the way I try so hard to do all day long. They just seem so cute and little in there. And I know there will be a day when they're too old for me to help them in this area (maybe it's because Ryan's aunt once started crying helping me bathe them because her children are now young adults and it brought her back). I've also been told that washing away the day helps prevent sickness (not to mention keeps their sheets clean a little longer). So I TRY to bathe them every night.

I always get Wendy out first so I can wrap her up in her hooded strawberry towel and hold her like a baby. This way I can get some one-on-one cuddle time with my un-cuddly child while Harvey splashes around a little longer. While cradling her, wrapped up like a little strawberry burrito, on the bathroom floor the other night, I asked her, "Wendy, will you just stay like this forever? I just want you to stay my little girl forever." Her answer was a whole lot of truth and it slapped me right in the face. 

Wendy: "Sorry mommy, I'm going to grow up. Every day I get a little older. You can't stop it... And I WANT to grow up. I want to be seven, and six, and five. I really want to be five! I want to go to school and have long hair and learn new things. And one day, I'll get married and have babies and you can love on THEM. So you don't have to be sad. But I can't stay like this forever."

Wow. I kid you not, these words came out of my four year old. Out of the mouths of babes, right?