Smiley McSmileson

Tomorrow we are having a party for Joey's 2nd birthday.  His birthday was the 15th and we celebrated that day as a (small) family, but we are having a larger celebration today for friends and because Uncle Rob could visit from L.A.  We have been having a great time.  We just got back from a great dinner and time checking out a brewery in Mountain View.  It was fun.  And I have SO much to do before the party tomorrow.  So much.  And I really should get on it, but my littlest one is such a joy that I don't think I can bear to part with him now. 

 I know he's tired.

...And I'm tired. 

 It's been a looooong day!  I have food to cook and streamers to hang and a cake to bake but there is this priceless little gummy boy grinning at me like I am the greatest thing in the world, and I honestly can't move from this spot (ok. I can move enough to write this blog but he is grinning at me while I do it!!!).  

I think for now, we're just going to snuggle and then go to sleep.  Because I know in a minute we will be having his 2nd birthday party and I will be struggling to remember what his toothless little smiles looked like.  And right this minute... those smiles are just for me.  

The cake is not made and there's fur on the floor

And come 1 p.m. friends will be at our door

But it's just not enough to put me to sleep

Because I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

New Pictures on FACEBOOK

So I don't have a facebook account. I can't.  I just can't.  I'm way too addicted to blogging, and then checking other people's blogs.

Well, mostly just checking other people's blogs.  Particularly when I should be doing something productive like (helping Matt with business items, putting away laundry, washing diapers, washing dog, washing children, sweeping my kitchen floor, washing myself, sweeping my kitchen floor 15 minutes after the last time I did it, etc...)

So I haven't had chance to download any of my recent pictures yet, but wanted to share some cute pictures of a recent trip to the beach that we took with Joey.  So I'd like you all to "friend" (ohmygosh, is that right?) my husband, Matt Beardsley.  Even you blogstalkers.  Please friend him so that you can look at these pictures.  Plus he'll get lots of invitations and wonder what the heck is going on.  PLUS then I can spy on you when I am poking around on his facebook..... oops.  I mean, then he can see what you and your family are up to!  :-)  

.....because I would never be so ridiculous as to not get my own facebook account, and instead use my husband's to check out people's pages. Def. NOT!!  

Don't worry if you and Matt aren't great friends... He's probably heard me talk about you, and really, Matt is definitely the kind of guy that would be excited anyway, because he's just nice like that. Plus I'll tell him that I told you to.  Go ahead.  Go!!  MATT BEARDSLEY.  Here!  Isn't he handsome?!  :-)

Now you can see our great trip and all the fun we had with Joey at the beach!  

If you're feeling really generous you can follow his photography page, which would be great encouragement for him, and then you can see how talented he is.  

Thanks everyone!

Great Finds!

Our neighbor a few streets over called us on Sunday to tell us that her neighbor was having a yard sale and had tons of little kid things (carseats, strollers, toys, books, etc.).  Even though Joey didn't really need anything we dropped by to say thanks for the heads up, and of COURSE we found a few good deals!  We got the:

Fisher-Price Classical Chorus (which is no longer available): 

There are different settings to the music and Joey can "play" as much as he likes.  It is also great for Matthew and can grow with him!  

We also found a "quarry mine tunnel" for Joey's train tracks:

It's a part of the "Thomas" series, but fits in just fine with our train tracks and since we gave Joey a COOL TRAIN for his birthday, he is having such a fun time putting his new trains down through the tunnel!

Lastly we found a great push car...

This  will be outgrown by Joey after a little while, but we hope that Matthew will enjoy it as much as he does!  

And all of this for only $15!!!  It was also nice to meet a new neighbor (who "has a TON of boy clothes if you want any!")  Hope you can all visit and get a push in Joey's new car and build some train towns with him!  

Photo Dump: Ski Trip!!!

In the spirit of several blogs I follow I am working on "photo-dumping" from some events that I didn't have a chance to blog about. So enjoy some older pictures without too much explanation, while I try to enjoy this Matt-less Saturday :-(

As Matt would say... "Gotta make my paper..."

These pictures are from a great trip with the Beardsley family to Snowmass, Colorado to ski this past February. We had, at various times in the week, Matt's sister, Brother, Sister-in-law, and Mom and Dad, plus, Matt, myself, Joey and BBB#3(Matthew) still baking. It was a great trip and we had a fun time watching Joey enjoy the snow for the first-ish time. Best of all, it was a wonderful time with family!

Thanks for reliving the trip with us!!  

And a Few More Pictures...

These are all waaaay outdated, from Matthew's first week, but I had to post them anyway.... (that of course is why he is asleep in all of them though!)

3 Months of Matthew!!

Technically our littlest Beardsley is not quite 3 months yet (just 1 more week) but it's close enough, and I definitely won't have time for a 3 month post because (among other things in our exciting life) we'll be planning and celebrating Joey's 2nd birthday!!

First some stats: At Matthew's 2 month appointment he was

13 lbs 12 oz (80% percentile)

24 1.4" long (80% percentile) and

16 1/2" for his head circumference ( 70% percentile)

It's been interesting having a baby that is so much bigger than Joey was at his age. I have pictures of Joey in an outfit at 10 months that Matthew can wear now! He is in mostly 3-6 month clothes, and cute as a button!

He smiles ALL the time and has started to laugh a little.

It took me forever to get those smiles on camera because he just stares at the camera in amazement and then when I try to catch his eye to make him smile he looks away from the camera. He LOVES to look at people though and will smile when he just sees someone come into view. He smiles lots at Joey who always comes to greet him whenever he sees him!

Here he is having his first bottle (way back during his first week).
A few other tidbits:
*He has a funny cowlick in the front, I think he definitely is going to have little boy hair straight from the beginning.
*He doesn't really mind his tummy time (Joey would scream like we were hurting him!)
*He goes to bed somewhere between 7 and 8 and sleeps until about 8 or 9 (usually waking once to eat at 4 or 5 a.m. and sometimes twice if I wake him to feed him before I go to bed).
*He is still swaddled
*He loves his playmat and small mirrors and will smile to himself while looking at his toys.
*He is a pretty light sleeper and we are really blessed to be able to put him in our guest room now while he still wakes to eat. I have this fear of finally combining both boys in one room and having them wake each other!
*He still sleeps most of the day eating every 3-4 hours and then playing/laying/swinging for about an hour before getting wrapped again to sleep. Right now he takes a loooong morning nap, and an average afternoon and evening nap.
*He and Joey wake up at about the same time in the morning...this is very much a blessing and a challenge :-)
*He is a mover and wrestles his way out of most swaddles, swaddling blankets, duct tape (oops, I mean...) that we use. I think he will move faster than his brother, but so goes it right??
*He also "talks" alot and makes lots of cooing sounds, something Joey didn't do too much either.

We are having so much fun with him!! Hope you enjoy the smiles!

To Train Up a...

Don't miss my post below.... The "Zen" of Ziggy (soon to be followed by a post about Matthew!)

The Zen of Ziggy

And weighing in at over 70 lbs..... my second youngest little boy (and most furry by far!)

ZIGGY!!

We are loving our sweet, dopey, (sometimes gentle), giant!! He is so much fun, especially for Joey, who loves "riding" him! He is a wagging tail destroying, slobering, farting (yes I did just say farting on my blog!) mess, and he's all ours. :-)
I know you all are just drooling with jealousy, or maybe that's someone else drooling...

Well he is still BFFs with Mocha, who plays with him less and less frequently as Ziggy gets bigger, but still shows up whenever he wants a good romp and really seems to enjoy getting chewed on, as sick as that sounds!
He's also generous enough to make time to play with Joey, even after being presented with a new toy! He can devour a new toy (down to chewing on the bare squeaker with fluff all over the floor) in a matter of days and really eats rawhides. I mean, really dedicatedly chews on rawhides until they are gone (takes about 15 minutes for 1). I grew up with little dogs who would chew on rawhides for a few minutes, maybe like twice and then you say "ewwww" and throw them away. (the gross rawhide, not the small dog)
He weighs more than all of our other little boys put together but is always up for a quick snuggle!
This one is just for comparison! Not too long ago though....
Man's best friend!

A throwback...I couldn't help it

Once faster than a speeding bullet, Ziggy is mostly just content to be with us, and is desperate to please!
He's only 7 months, and probably a good 30 - 45 lbs from his full grown size, and we are just loving every lb of him! I'm so thrilled that he's ours!

And if he wasn't the CUTEST puppy you've ever seen, well than.... I don't know!