Dear Casey (19 months)

Dear Casey,

You are 19 months and I really meant to be writing stuff down more often but the holidays were here and I was too busy and distracted to even attempt. (Also, you will learn as you get way older that I get a little stressed and overwhelmed around the holidays but I am trying really hard to make them special for you.)

It was so much easier to write about you when you were just hitting milestones.

You rolled over! Yay!

You started eating! Yay!

You are walking! Yay!

You are still hitting milestones, of course, but it is much more than that. You have a will now. You have thoughts and plans and schemes and frustrations and feelings. I can see all of them in your perfect eyes. And you are talking a lot. Some words very clearly. Outside. Airplane. Apple. Bubble. But you can't always verbalize what you want or need and I know it is frustrating for you. It is frustrating for me, too.

And sometimes you take your frustration out on Rose. (That was your first two-word phrase : NoNo Rose! And Rose sounds alot more like 'wos') And so do I, so I get it. This is just a phase little baby. As Grandma Lauri says, 'This will pass." And that is what I want to talk about.

All of this will pass.

I can already tell how much quicker this year is going. I just want it all to stop. Or at least slow down so I can enjoy it. Spending days with you is the most fun I have every had. I really mean that. We have TONS of fun together. We played this game tonight when you in the bath. You would call my name, I would lean towards you, you would splash, and I would pretend you got me all wet. You laughed forever. It was the absolute best.

Know that I am trying to soak it in. And know how much I absolutely adore you. And know that my love for you has no limit at all. You really must know these things.

And also know that being a mom is hard and there are lots of days where my exhaustion/frustration/lack of self are through the roof and it is hard to remember how important these days are. These incredibly special years.

I know you won't really remember, but I just had to write it all down. Because we are on this journey together. Figuring out life and all that. And it really isn't easy at all.

(When I starting writing, I was really planning on keeping it light. Sorry, kid. You get what you get.)

Love you.

Grass!

Very happy to announce that winter around the Swen house has been full of projects! Things are getting done, people! 

As our Christmas present from Jay's parents, we got sod! There is no other explanation needed. So, have a look at the Before & Afters!

In this last picture, you can see that there is another addition! String lights! Hellllllo, patio party!!!

We got 100 feet of sting lights as a Christmas gift from my parents and Jay ( & brother-in-law Teddy) had them up before New Years. Productivity is a great thing.

Looking forward to all the projects (and repairs) of 2016 to our Verde Street.

A New mailbox and Halloween

I have some major blog catchup to do... So here goes a very odd combination of events!

First, here is a before shot of our mailbox:

Here is a shot of our new mailbox behind Lyra the giraffe:

Which brings us to Halloween! This year was super relaxed. Casey and Lyra were both giraffes, and Eleanor and Elio were a flower and a peapod, respectively. Everyone came over, hung out, had food, and basically did nothing but talk about babies. (Are we even interesting people at all?) 

There were many attempts at picture taking, including a group cousin shot. It looks like just a pile of stuffed animals really. We took the big kids to a few houses and let them paint pumpkins. Overall, very quite and relaxed. Now, time for the pictures!

And yes, we let Casey eat paint. It was non-toxic and he is still alive. No mom-guilt there.

Also, giraffe Lyra in flip-flops?!? Kills me everytime.

This is what we wanted.

So awhile back, we had plans to take a trip to Portland to meet Jayson's nephew. We were pumped. We were taking a day off work; it was practically vacation. And then there was a mudslide on the 5 and no way to get to LA. We tried and tried again to rearrange plans. But sometimes you just have to give up. And we did.

Thankfully, we were home when our backyard had a mudslide of its own.

There was some slight panic when we looked in the backyard and saw one large puddle. Thanks to Jay's handman skills, he was able to turn the water off at the main and stop the water flow. From that point, there was lots of digging, mud, friends who brought food and beer (still thanking God for them) and putting the pipe back together.  And a reminder to ourselves that 'repair' is the name of the game when it comes to old homes. 

We have had a couple things brake on us since moving in. A/C, the pipe pictured, and the one remaining cast iron pipe behind our sink (resulting in only minor basement flooding). Nothing we can't handle. Or Jayson can't handle. I will stick to the less manual labor type of home duties. 

Canada Trip 2015

How I miss it already!

Our trip to Canada was simply the best. I LOVED Canmore. Loved the mountains and the little town and Tim Horton's and doing nothing and just being together. People asked us over and over why we were going. Here is the answer: I have always wanted to go to Banff and we got the chance to use a timeshare in Canmore so we went. We saved and planned and made it happen. I highly recommend just making things happen.

We did all of the touristy things. Lake Louise. The gondola. Banff. And then none of the touristy things. Went on long walks and hiked and barbecued. 

Casey was 15 months on our trip and traveling with him went better than I expected. He is busy but we went prepared with new toys and lots of snacks. He slept on the way there and back for about and hour. 

One of our first days we went on a walk to Quarry Lake. It was beautiful. And quiet. This was sone of our favorite days because we felt like it was just us. Banff was super touristy and busy. But we like how it felt to just be us taking in a new place.
And we saw a deer! Which ended up being the only wildlife we saw [other than a bunny rabbit in the parking lot of a gas station].

We had a lot of time just relaxing around the condo with Case. Which really, who could ask for more. He is simply the most fun.

Downtown Canmore was great. Lots of places to eat and shop and it wasn't quite as crowded as Banff. The mountains surrounding Banff are amazing... But the Three Sisters doesn't disappoint. There was great photography material everywhere. In fact, I barely used my digital camera. My Ricoh was my best friend on this trip.

While we were there, Canmore started to see some early signs of Fall. I did not want to leave. 

This trip definitely deserves it's own photo album, which I will be putting together with all my film photos. 

16 months.

I told myself I was going to write Casey notes each month. And 3 months have gone by and nothing.
So here it goes.

Casey, you are BUSY. 
I mean, very busy.
I am one exhausted mama. You don't stop moving from the time you wake up to the time we force you to sleep. Really, sometime I have to pin you in bed with my arm to keep you from getting up. It is a hard thing because you rarely get fussy. So it is easier to just let you play until you are tired enough to give into sleep. But still, you stay up later than most babies and it doesn't seem to bother you. 

You climb. Everything. And you have learned to scoot the chair around and use it as a step stool. Smart baby.
Last month, I caught you perched half on the back of an armchair, half on the window sill with one leg hanging down. I see stitches in your future. And also, I have caught you standing on the dining room table with your hands on our light fixture. I don't doubt you want to hang from it. And you have these schemes. I can see you have ideas in your head and you are trying to execute them. It is great to watch.
However, I can hardly leave the room with all of these new abilities. And no matter how many times you get the stern "NO!", you look up from your perch with the most proud look on your face. 

For the most part, you are still really easy going. When we took you to Canada and flew on your first flight... It was pretty great. You are not a high maintenance guy. We did not keep a schedule. You napped when you could, played outside, were a champ on the plane with only minor whining that we wouldn't let you roam. I feel like we saw your easy-going nature from birth.

At sixteen months, you are getting more words. The whole language acquisition thing is awesome. SO fun to watch. The weird part about you talking or not talking is that I truly believe I know most of your thoughts. You don't have to try to communicate that much to me and I just get you. And I feel like because I get you, I know your intentions as well. And you are such a nice kid. Keep that up. Like the time you poured coffee all over the floor during our small group and then ran to the kitchen to get a towel and got down on the floor to help clean it up. 
Here are the words you can say: Moon, yeah, yes, no, cat, dada, mama, nose, eye, lyly, and there are probably others that I am not remembering right now. And that is just receptive language... I can't even come with all the words that you do know. It is so cool to ask you a question and you can point and answer me. Or do a one step task. Like get your water cup. Baby, you are so smart!

You and Lyra are good friends. You really seem to like playing with each other. Brings major joy to my heart. She teaches you things and speaks for you. And you want to play in different ways that she goes along with. It is hilarious to watch you try and wrestle with her. You are such a boy with your flopping and rolling around. She doesn't quite know what to do with the wrestling side of your relationship but she seems to think it is fun. 

You threw your first tantrum. Like threw yourself to the ground, flailing. The biggest screams and crocodile tears. And want to know why? It was time to go and I said we had to put the toothbrush away. Also, the hitting? Why? Will be very excited when that phase is over. It is more of bopping I guess. Especially to Lyra and Rosie. A 'No!' and a bop on the head is the normal pattern. I have gotten it too and it makes me so mad. Let's move past that one, ok? 

The days till 5 o'clock seem to last a long time and there are times I feel lonely and exhausted. But you are so worth it. All the hard work. Your person-ness is coming out and it is such a reward.

Gosh, we are just amazed by you. Love you more than I thought possible.

July Haps

Trying to make up for lost time and filling in some of the blanks that was Summer 2015. Here are photos from Avila with the Bazemores. This year was super fun because Casey got to enjoy the ocean. Last year, he was just a lump. He had only been walking about a month by the time we went on this trip so he was very busy. Watching him run towards the water brought major joy to my heart. We did a lot of sitting around. A lot of eating. Cousin Molly came which was a real treat. And we got to see Auntie Robyn and James. All the details have kinda faded because I am writing about it three months late so, I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

 All the cousins in their first photo together! Obviously, we have room for improvement!

 Lyra-Bug turned two on the trip and we got to celebrate her birthday!

There you have it! A random collection of photos. I enjoyed it. Hope you did too.