Friday, April 20, 2012

missing out

For those of you who may not already know, I'm at a blogging conference in Salt Lake City this weekend called SNAP and I'm having a blast. I've met great new bloggy buddies, I've learned so much, and I'm enjoying a little "me" time. My days have been filled to the brim with logistical seat saving, craning to take pictures of amazing speakers, and quickly scrawling notes of all the gems that these geniuses have to offer.

But if I'm being 100% honest, I feel like I'm missing out.

I received a phone call from Keith last night during our dinner letting me know that Reagan went on the potty for the first time ever. And I missed it. And I know what you're thinking: why are you sad about poo? It's really not the poo that I'm sad about -- I can guarantee you that! I'm sad that I wasn't there to celebrate her new accomplishment.

I feel awful that I missed such a big milestone. I miss my kids and husband terribly and this has helped cement to me that as much as I love and adore blogging, I love and adore my family WAY more. One of my goals for the Sweet Rose Studio blog that I'd set awhile ago was to attend more conferences so that I can learn and grow this fledgling business of mine. Now that I've had to leave the state to attend one, I'm determined that I will only ever being leaving my family for this once a year from now on.

The message that is the theme for this conference is Be Authentic; Be You and I'm certain that in order for me to be that person, I need to remember what my main focus is: my family.

I fly home on Sunday and can't wait to squeeze the beejesus out of the three most important people in my life, but until then, I'll enjoy myself and keep missing them.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

four

It's really hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that my sweet Luke is four today. He has brought us innumerable smiles since he made his entrance into the world and it wouldn't be right if I didn't share his goodness with you!

This picture was taken April 12, 2008, 10ish days overdue. Yep, you read that right. I was in my dear cousin's wedding that far overdue. It was rough and painful and beautiful and memorable all in the same moment. The wedding took place on a Saturday and I was induced the following Monday.


After 19 hours of back labor, our little man arrived and we were over the moon. He has been such a sweet baby from the very beginning. His pregnancy was cake (minus being tired all.the.time.) and he started sleeping solidly through the night at 8 weeks, as soon as we let him. For his first two years, I could count on one hand how many times he woke during the night and how many times he screamed.


During his first year, he was able to experience snow for the first (and only) time. He was such a cute little bundled baby! And in case you were wondering, that is a toddler size hat on his head. His noggin has always been on the huge size.


Okay. Don't laugh, but Luke's birthday falls on April 15th which meant that right when the whole Tea Party situation was going on, that was Luke's first birthday. He attended his first (and only) Tea Party rally that day due to his proud Daddy being in a total politically charged phase at that point. Wasn't he just so precious?!?


Our little man near his second birthday. I feel bad that I can't find pictures from his actual birthday that year, but in my defense, Reagan the princess had just been born and was in the process of turning our worlds upside-down.


I love Disneyland, so any excuse to go for me is a good one. We started the tradition with Luke that we'll take the kids for their third birthday. He loved every single second of it; from the characters to the rides (minus the dark ones), he was one happy birthday boy.


Which brings us to four. Four. I'm honestly having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that our little man is now four. He has brough so much joy, so many smiles, and so much laughter inti our lives.


I feel like celebrating another birthday of my child is such a contradiction in my heart. On one hand, I couldn't be happier to celebrate such an amazing boy and how he's grown. On the other hand, I'm sad that he's growing up so quickly and that he's leaving the baby and toddler stage so fast. What's a momma to do? Love my little man and support his growth, his learning, and his loves.

Happy birthday to my sweet little man. Momma loves you more than you know!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

egg-citing

It's a tradition each year for Keith and I to color Easter eggs with Andrea and Andrew and now that the kids are old enough to understand the process, we included them plus Andrew's cousin Adam. I always love getting to hang out with some of my fave people {yes, that's you too Andrew} and Easter egg hunting holds a special place in my heart.

See, every year either Andrea of myself forgets to buy the vinegar. And each year we always have a goal to dye one egg black for Andrea's dad, Tom. I'm not even sure why we do that, but it's always funny to see how it ends up.


The kids were super excited; this was a completely new experience for them. We did have some difficulty with the logistics though...




Reagan had a really tough time understanding that she couldn't a.) eat the eggs right away, and b.) drink the "pink" water.



She eventually calmed down and we got to coloring. Reagan lost interest pretty fast because she was too impatient to wait for the color to set, but Luke was a champ.



I'm pretty sure he ate up every.single.second of being the center of attention. He basically ran the show.



He even put Keith to work drawing on the eggs with a white crayon.





Luke and Andrew made a decision to put multiple eggs in the cups to speed up the process.



 

 


Thanks to Andrea, Andrew, and Adam for sticking it out with the two kidlets and us! We had a great time with you guys!