Wesley's Birthday Video

Here's a video of Wesley's actual birthday. I'll put together clips of his birthday party later tonight. Right now we're off to enjoy some of this beautiful weather! Have a great day everyone!

Party Time!

Wesley's birthday party was this past Saturday and it went really well. Notice I said it went really well... not Wes had a great time... not Wes really enjoyed it.. etc. Saturday was the first time I've ever been one of those moms to utter the words, "he's not usually like this..." MY WORST NIGHTMARE! Yes, Wes was not really in a good mood for his party. He was pretty sick on his actual birthday followed by crankiness for the next 5 days. Turns out he got Roseola, a red rash that makes you achey and tired. Tired and achey Wes = a toddler that mom must hold anytime she's within his sight.

Decorating his cake was very interesting given these circumstances. He played in his high chair beside me, he sat on my lap, he ate some frosting and made the process take twice as long as it should have. All things considered it turned out pretty well.

Tony and I had a great time at the party. It was nice to see all of our West coast friends in one place at a time. I was amazed, when I took a minute to stop and look around, at how truly fortunate we are to have so many great people in our life. Thank you for everything you do for us and for being our family away from family. You make it really hard for me to hate Washington!

Back to Wesley: He did perk up in time for his gifts. He has been playing with everything non-stop since the party. Our house looks like a war zone. In fact, I think Tony has some battle wounds from stepping on a stray leggo or puzzle piece ;) Wes also loves all of his new books. One in particular has a duck on the front. He carries it around, points to it and says "duck" over and over again. Yes! we know you know what a duck is. It is so cute to see him so proud of himself.

His favorite toy right now seems to be a wooden mallet that came with a huge puzzle board from his Grandmom Janice. He carries the mallet around everywhere, even when he has other things in his hands. He loves to beat on things and lights up if the things he's beating on make an interesting noise. Ladies and gentlemen, we may have a musician. Or a child with a black eye if he's not careful where he swings that thing. :)

Happy Birthday Wesleybug!

July 13, 2009 2:55 pm Wesley Lennox came into our world. He's topped my list of favorite people ever since.... Here's a list of my favorite things about him:



*Anytime he eats in his highchair he takes a bite and then gives a bite to Webster. In that order, over and over again. He loves his dogs.

* He loves to climb. Seriously, LOVES.to.climb. I always find him in weird places. Today for example, he was in the bath tub and I stepped out the door to grab a towel and he had climbed out of the tub and onto the toilet to get his toy. 1. How did he get out of the tub? 2. How did the wet child climb onto the toilet?!? When I caught him, he just laughed. This is why they tell you not to leave your child unattended.

*He has not even cried once when I've left him at Vilma's (knock on wood). This makes going to work SO much easier for me. I know he is loved and he loves being there. Now, leaving him to take the dogs out potty is a whole different ball game. :)

*Every time we get in the car and go for a drive he is as excited as the first time he got in the car for a drive. He just sits back with his hand on the arm rest and takes in the views. Never cries, never looks for other things to do. He just really enjoys taking in the scenery. He reminds me that we all just need to take a chill, sit back and enjoy the view.

*I love the way he taps his foot and waves his arm up and down like a rapper when he's dancing. He dances to any song now, the kid just loves music. I played "Birthday" this morning and he couldn't get enough. This was my favorite way to wake up on a birthday as a kid. I hope we can keep the tradition going.

*He is ALL boy. He likes to be messy, grab his wiener, and he would make out with the dog if you let him. I wanted a boy and definitely got one... as gross as that is some days.

*He gives the best hugs. Almost like he knows you've had a bad day and he's going to make it all better. Then he'll follow it up by grabbing my face, looking into my eyes, and say "Dad!" I can't help but laugh every time.

July 11, 2009

This day last year was one of the saddest days of my life. My mom left Seattle after spending 2 weeks with us waiting for Wesley to make his appearance. I cried all the way home from the airport. My mom and I tried everything, within reason, to get Wesley out... but he didn't budge. In addition to walking several miles a day we got to take in a lot of the Seattle sites. I wish I would have taken the time to stop focusing on Wesley not coming while she was here and just enjoyed spending time with her. We still had a good time all things considered, I was just terrified to have a baby without her. How would I get through labor, recovery, and raising a child without my mom? I consider myself a very independent person, but even writing about how terrified I was at that moment makes me tear up.

I went into labor on July 12th... less than 24 hours after she left. Wesley has a wicked sense of humor. I can tell..or maybe he knew that's what Tony and I needed. We got through labor, we got through recovery, and now we've almost made it through the first year. No it hasn't been easy, but we've done it. We've done it living across the country from our family and friends. This year has made us stronger individuals and stronger as a family. We have each other. And when everything else doesn't work out the way us type-A personalities want, in the end that's all we really need.

Summertime in the PNW!

Everyone that's ever lived in the Seattle area knows the joke about Summer starting on July 5th & for the past 3 years that I've lived here the joke has turned into the truth! I just cannot believe how remarkably predictable it is. 9 months of weather under 75 degree then boom! above 85. This year we huddled through a chilly 4th, to the point where Wes and I went home early because we were too cold. I woke up July 5th only to find more of the same chilly weather. The weather god must have heard my complaint on facebook because by 3 pm our sunshine had arrived! Thank goodness! Tuesday was nice and Wednesday started to get a little toasty, above 90... I came home to find Tony has already unpacked and plugged in our portable AC! REALLY? Most of you know, I begged for a portable AC while I was 180 pounds and about to bust pregnant last year and T would tell me "its not that hot." Seriously, I even broke down crying in the AC aisle at Lowes and told T "to take me to the hospital to get this baby out" when they were sold out of these things. (I know a bit dramatic, but hey... I was hot) Now, look who can't take the heat?!?! He says he's not really that hot, he just does not want to waste the AC that we purchased after Wes arrived. (its another story about driving around a 5 day old baby all day because the car is the only place up here with AC)

Hope you guys have a fabulous weekend enjoying this weather! :)

Happy 4th of July!

Sorry for the lack of blogging this week, we've been super busy... Well, we always seem to be super busy so maybe I'm just super tired and that's why I haven't been blogging. I've been picking up some extra shifts this week to help with T's transition into the civilian world... surprisingly, there is always extra work to be had in the medical field. The work isn't what is making me tired though... It is a little boy named Wesley who just happens to have 4 molars coming in at once. He's not handling it too well at night. 3/5 nights this week he's ended up in our bed after waking up screaming twice. He's usually fine once he's in our bed, but he turns in circles and kicks me in the head.. which means no sleep for mommy.
Wednesday we woke up early to take Tony down to Seattle for his first interview with a recruiter. For those of you non-Seattleites driving alone from Everett to Downtown can take upwards of 2 hours.. on a good day. We decided to ride along in the H.O.V. lane and it only took 30 mins! Tony had his interview and then we went to Sweet Iron Waffles. Yummy! I had the banana caramel one and it was one of the best things I've ever tasted. Wesley loved it too!
Saturday we finally broke down and got a carpet cleaner. I'm very embarrassed to say that we've lived in our home for 3 years and this is the FIRST time we cleaned the carpets. Boy did it need it. We decided on the Bissell 1770 lightweight mainly because of the price and convenience of not having to clean the whole house at one time. Surprisingly, it was easy to assemble (I did it myself!) and easy to use. It also did a pretty good job on a carpet that hadn't been cleaned in 3 years.... gross. Wesley played with dad while I cleaned the living room and then decided to explore the newly rearranged furniture by climbing up on the dining room window.(see picture above) Why does he have to climb on everything? I see a lot of broken bones in our future.
This morning I'm working and then we're headed over to Todd's house for a BBQ. It should be a fun time to see all of Tony's friends from the shop. I hope Wes enjoys the fireworks. I hope all of you have a fabulous 4th!

The barking baby

Today, I picked up an extra shift at work so I ended up leaving before Wesley woke up this morning. I was really excited when I got the chance to run home during lunch to sneak a quick hug from my bug. I walked in the house and Webster started barking. I didn't see Wes downstairs but I heard something coming from his room. Tony told me that he just put him down for a nap and I could go get him if I wanted. As I walked up the stairs the noise got louder and louder... Is that barking? Sure enough, when I opened the door Wes was standing up in his crib, laughing and barking. Can he get any cuter?

What a day!

My favorite part of my job is asking patients to verify their children's or spouse's date of birth. Seriously! I get all kinds of answers. To the point where I'm giving people credit if they get the month correct! So today when I was laughing about this with another one of our date challenged patients I said, "hey just do what I do... have everything happen on the same day." Today is one of those fabulous days for me. 3 wonderful things, one date to remember.

1. June 25th is Shara's (my mother in law) BIRTHDAY! We gave her a ring this morning to find out that the old man is treating her to lunch and dinner today! Wesley yelled in the phone a lot and Shara is convinced he now knows how to say Nana. I heard a combination of Dog and Tea, his two favorite things :) Nice try Nana! For those of you that don't know her, Shara is my very own Paula Deen. She makes a mean fried chicken and you can't help but love her to pieces. We are all very lucky to have her in our family.

2. June 25th is also my parents 27th (eek!) wedding anniversary. I'm learning, slowly, as the years pass, how great an achievement this really is. Their strength as a couple and love for each other is amazing.

3. June 25th is Tony's last day as a working sailor. Yep, terminal leave began today at 9:30 am. Tony says it doesn't feel real for him yet, maybe it will on his official retirement date... but that still didn't stop him from going through all his uniforms and Navy gear as soon as he walked in the door. Surprisingly, I had a harder time with the thought of him donating all of his uniforms this soon. Is this really happening? Anyway, as his 7 1/2 year Naval career came to an end we can't help but be thrilled with the possibilities for our future.

All three events began with excitement for what the future held. I hope to teach Wes to hold even the most trivial days with the same excitement and hope.

Quest for a Babysitter

Tony and I have been talking (keyword: talking) about going on a date now for many, many months. In fact, the last time we've been anywhere together without our little bug was February! Baconopolis was delish but not worth going this long without mommy and daddy time :) This weekend we decided to get serious about making this happen. Task 1 to realizing our goal: Find a babysitter. Now I know what most of in Seattle are going to say... Christy, why didn't you just call me? Well, Tony and I want to save our friend babysitting credits for emergencies... that is why we didn't call. No Emergency.... yet! Finding a babysitter is a lot harder task than one might think. We really wanted a teenager to watch Wesley because something about an older stranger watching my child really creeps me out. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?!? Next issue, has anyone seen some of these teenagers around Seattle?!? Frightening, to say the least.

Monday I checked the classifieds at my work and someone in another office had posted a nice little advertisement for their 13 year old daughter's babysitting services. Score! I looked up the mom on our company directory... She looks normal. Kid should be too. I contacted the mom and asked how much she charged, if she was CPR certified, experience level, etc... All sounds good so far. Next task: Arrange a meeting/interview.

We scheduled an appointment for M (babysitter) to come over and meet Wes, the pups and answer a few questions. Next task: What questions do you ask a 13 year old babysitter? Hmmm. I probably should have thought of this task before she was walking through the door. Before I knew it this is what was coming out of my mouth.. "Do you know how to change a diaper?" I couldn't think of any BETTER question to ask? Probably not my brightest moment as a mother. The rest of the meet and greet went well and we asked her to come over on Saturday. Fingers crossed, we'll be going to the movies!

T's Job Search- Part A

Yesterday, Tony got his first offer for an interview from a large recruiter in downtown Seattle. This company specializes in corporate jobs in the salary range that he is looking for, so keep your fingers crossed for him! Tony getting out of the Navy has been a different experience than most of our friends that have discharged. He isn't able to work in most nuclear plants jobs because of his physical limitations; therefore, the most likely progression has been taken away. He also doesn't have much experience in the civilian sector, so knowing exactly what kind of job he wants is like finding a needle in a haystack. Being that he is getting medically retired from the Navy, Tony has the great opportunity to take a little more time to find a job that most. He has done a lot of research into finding the perfect job to meet his "ideal" criteria and has spent hours formulating a new resume' for each application. Tony's hard work during this process is amazing and I hope he finds exactly what he is looking for! Please keep him in your thoughts during this huge life transition :)

Wesley's Summer Vacation

For the next two weeks Vilma, our nanny, is on vacation. Wesley is spending his mornings with mom, as usual, but he now has the pleasure of spending the afternoons with daddy! This morning Wesley tried to sleep in because he was tired from our dinner play date last night with the Chavez family. Javier and Letty have 3 beautiful daughters that showered Wesley with all the attention he could ever want. He soaked it up! I don't think we made it out of their drive way before he crashed (9:30) and I had to wake him up at 8:30 this morning. Next, Wesley spent some time playing in the bath tub, terrorizing the dogs and eating his morning waffle (which means he ate half and gave the other half to Webster)

This weekend we started giving Wesley half servings of whole milk in between his regular formula routine. He doesn't seem to like milk yet, but I'm hoping by his first birthday we can make a smooth transition. Wes is also learning how to give up his bottle. It has been a pretty easy swap except for when we let him get too sleepy.

I'm hoping Wesley gets a good nap in this afternoon and lets Tony get some job applications done, but we'll see how that goes. Tony has one week left until he goes on terminal leave. For all of you that don't know what that is, terminal leave is when you use all the vacation that you've saved up during your time in the Navy before they officially retire you. Tony's official retirement date is July 31st & we can't wait!

Have a great day everyone!