Beach Vaca 2014

My lovely uncles invited us (me, mom and Phoenix, the husbands didnt have vaca time at work) along with them to Florida a few weeks ago and it just happened to fall during Phoenixs 2nd birthday week! So we packed up and headed to florida! The car ride, not so fun as Phoenix wont take car naps, but once there ( and got some sleep in a real crib) the week was glorious! Of course this meant we did a second birthday celebration, but grandmommy made this weeks cake: construction site style! we had such a blast and Phoenix really embraced the fun that came along with the beach! The difference was so obvious from his first birthday beach trip to this years- he listened better, he enjoyed the beach more because he grasped the concept of possibly drowning in the ocean, he loved the sand and the pool, and he learned to swim on his first try! He was totally obsessed with the elevator aka wed-uh-wader and hitting floor "G for grandma" as he liked to say! The trip was so welcomed after an exhausting last semester at school and taking boards!

Thank you "Mikey and Ronnie" for letting us tag along, we had such a blast :)

Watching grandmommy unload birthday balloons!!

I packed silly string for beach birthday fun! He did indeed love it! 

Swimming super star! 

Before going home, saying farewell 

A leap in potty training milestones!

Today, while hanging out with his daddy, Phoenix got up and walked downstairs then proceeded down the hall to the bathroom. Sat down. And peed. All alone. Without any words and without any encouragement to do so. Until now he told us and we'd go with him this time he must've felt competent enough that we'll, he just didn't need help. So daddy cheered and hooray-ed and did the potty dance. I was actually out getting potty rewards for his potty jar, so that he can have a prize every time he goes! What an amazing fella'!

Potty "training"

Well,  6 days after his 2nd birthday, Phoenix decided he is going to potty train.... Himself. We haven't potty trained per se, we have mostly just talked about the potty for many months now. We tell him what it is, how we use it,  and would sit him on it just to get use to the feel of it at random intervals. He used the potty once, at 15 months, when we first bought the potty but assumed this was just a fluke or perhaps he was excited but the novelty of the item. He pooped in the potty a few months later which totally shocked us as well. But that was about as far as it went for potty training. We were actually gearing up for PT in the next few weeks but then low and behold, this sudden diaper hating baby, came to me and said "mommy I need to pee pee". He'd been diaper less under his Jammie's for 3 hours. I ran to the bathroom and sat him down and voila! We had pee pee! Yesterday marked day 2 of full potty use, mo diapers at all! We are so proud of this boy but also amazed that he required no "training". Momma said I potty trained the same way, though. I have a theory that babies know how to wean themselves off just about everything: nursing/ bottles, diapers, nighttime waking, naps, etc. they are pretty aware of their own needs if truth be told :) for this reason, I'm so glad I haven't exhausted myself forcing any of these acts upon him. Most transitions for us have been smooth by just simply following his cues. As mommas advice went: " read your baby, not baby books".

New realization that he can actually pick up and "snuggle" bebe ( i dont think bebe enjoyed it though)

We also visited mammy this week and she even made us a delicious lunch! 

2 Years Old, A Completed Degree, & Freedom!

Well, I had promised myself i would resume my blog once school and boards were complete..and guess what, they are! I m officially a Family Nurse Practitioner which means i am officially a free bird! I see life through whole new eyes! No more weight on my shoulders, no more nonexistent free time and no more mind clogging thoughts. So, with this ending comes the restart of this blog, which for me is a way to document our lives and at the end of each year, I'd like to print a professional blog book. Its a great new age diary :) ( Currently working towards printing my first one from my previous blogs, ill keep you posted).

August 25, 2014 marked our babys 2nd birthday! holy cow! ( as Phoenix says), how did this happen already! This baby is seriously unreal. He speaks nonstop, in complete sentences that shocked even his pediatrician. He is funny, and understand comedy/ humor, he is physically strong, strong willed, decisive, independent, takes risks, doesnt understand "no", loves food (esp. suckers and jello and popsicles but also broccoli and "boobies" aka blueberries/ strawberries), he is beautiful, and a true free spirit who lives for the outdoors. He knows his numbers up to about 14, his alphabet upon recognition  ( by that i mean he doesnt know the ABC song, he knows the letters themselves), he knows all of his colors, and just about any item you were to show him. At 2 he still sleeps in his crib (amen), sleeps from about 9pm- 9am ( 10 if id let him), he still takes a 2 hour nap at around 2pm. He loves his "bindin" and his "pa-pa" (blankie and paci). He especially loves the "co-ner" of his bindin, its now dingy and thinning, with pilling of the fabric. this boy loves jokes, his favorite: what has 4 legs but doesn't run? A TABLE!, he adores dancing and hears music in any and everything ( heavy machinery, a/c units, alarm clocks, etc- to him all of these are music and have rhythm), he loves to play the drums with his daddy, build things like " Bob the Builder", trains, cars, and heavy machinery. But he also loves his kitchen, his dollhouse, doing dishes, and putting clothes in and out of "the round round" saying, " i good boy mommy, I good boy!".  He is tall and lean, with dimples in those precious, puffy cheeks, with eyebrows that can express his emotions in one singular twitch. This boy of ours is so intricate and difficult to express in words, probably because we think hes simply amazing and love him more than the universe.

With all of these milestones, its a great time for me to restart this blog so that i can document all of these amazing things we experience in our life. So thankful to God for allowing us to live each day in this life.

For Phoenixs 2nd birthday we opted to celebrate at home, just us, so that we could really enjoy him. No party favors, no entertaining, no fancy clean house. Just us. A Lazy Day. Cake. Gifts. and our precious Boy. Were sure that our families understood :) He had a fabulous birthday breakfast with sprinkle pancakes complete with birthday song and dance! He loved blowing out his candle so very much, hed been practicing all week! After nap we had his decor all ready for him and he came running down the hall yelling, " hooray ! Its party time its party time! Its phe phe's party day mommy! Its number 2 its number 2! ( we had big #2 balloons!) hooray!" it was magical of course! We had a train themed dinner, followed by a delicious 6 tiered multicolored "naked" cake i made with love :) He enjoyed his kitchen and the dollhouse from grandmommy and pawpaw all night long! At about 10pm we headed out for Florida! it was a last minute trip so sadly, Ben wasnt able to go but Phoenix was so excited to see mikey and ronnie when he arrived! On his actual birthday grandmommy baked him a construction cake with dump trucks hauling candy :) we sang happy birthday about 10 times b/c it made phoenix oh so happy :) plus he loved blowing out the candle that many times haha. He learned to swim and jump in the pool, too so it was a grande 2nd birthday- only thing missing was daddy!

 Crying for the cake:

Florida Birthday: 

Puzzles on the patio: