Introducing...

Gavin Mark Solomon
Okay, okay. If you've been anywhere near Facebook or Twitter you know he arrived a week ago. But his name hadn't been established until just yesterday.

Yes, we left the hospital without choosing one. And no, we did not get harrassed by the nurses for doing so. We pretty much waited until the last possible minute to put it in writing. That's just our style this time around.

But he's here and we are overjoyed! He weighed in at 8lbs 8oz and was 19.5in long. The labor and delivery were just short of amazing. I had a wonderful experience (much improved over O's delivery) and actually felt good afterwards.

We're all so excited to have baby Gavin around, no one more so than Owen. His new favorite activity is trying to wake baby up every time he is sleeping (which is most of the time). He also happens to be an expert on what baby wants. A true bother...I mean brother.

I'll post more pics and info in the coming days. For now we are simply adjusting to life as a little family of four. It's truly amazing. We love our little Gav.

Can You Guess...

Which belly is which?

One is my pregnant Owen belly and the other is my current pregnant belly just a week before my respective due dates. Interesting comparison, no?

Bending it Like Beckham

Would you believe this child is just two years old? I don't know if it's because I've got baby on the brain or if I'm just realizing my little guy is not so little anymore--either way, I swear he looks at least four.

Lately Mark and Owen have been kicking the ball around together at the park and in our culdesac. And I love watching them play. Mark must be in heaven to finally have a little soccer player in training.

Mark has played on a soccer team ever since I've known him. When we were dating I used to watch him play indoor soccer in Salt Lake. Then when we got married and moved to Houston he played on both an indoor team and an outdoor coed team. Once I even attempted to play on the coed team with him. Seriously. I look much better from the sidelines than I do on the field in shin guards and cleats. (Short-lived was my soccer career.) And then we moved to Oregon, and Mark continued to play the sport he grew up playing. Whether it was on his lunch break or at a late night game, he managed to make time for soccer. But ever since we came to California Mark has been off the field. With a kiddo in the mix and a demanding job, life just got busy. And I didn't realize how much I missed watching soccer until I saw these pictures of Owen.

I have a feeling the sport may be making a comeback in the next few years. My little O is growing up. And with another boy on the way, I think "Soccer Mom" is in my future.

Operation Baby Brother

We're counting down the days until baby arrives. Up to this point, I have to admit I have just sailed through the pregnancy without much thought of the after-birth. It has not consumed my every conversation, thought, action...like it did the first time around. Quite the opposite, in fact. I have to keep reminding myself we ARE having another baby. We are, we are, we are. And so with the due date only a few short weeks away, I feel a need to set the tone. Make preparations! It is time to get serious! This week our days are being filled with things like:

1. Reading "big brother" books we checked out at the library
2. Making the switch to a big boy bed
3. Pulling out and organizing baby clothes and toys
4. Taking a tour of the hospital
5. Talking to baby in my belly; giving him high-fives and kisses
6. Picking out a name...or at least establishing a solid list of choices

Oh brother, I'm totally not ready for this.

Getting All Crafty

As if we didn't have enough going on with all our travels and renovations this past month, I managed to squeeze in a little craftiness on the side. The first couple weeks in May found me participating in a local craft boutique and organizing another Enrichment Night for church. While I normally enjoy doing both, it was a bit stressful to get it all together this time around. Thankfully it is over with and I can start relaxing for the next 7 or 8 weeks until baby comes. Wait, I only have 7 or 8 weeks? Maybe relaxing isn't quite the right word.

Anyhow, here's a little peek at what I made and sold at the boutique.

I sold sets of decorative wooden blocks, magnetic message boards, and scrabble tile pendant necklaces.


The necklaces turned out so cute. They deserve a close up.


And my mom convinced me to sell some last-minute baked goods as well. She really did all the work...and I took all the credit. We prepared two kinds of cookies--sugar cookies decorated with summer flip-flops and painted toenails AND monster cookies handsomely packaged in CD envelopes. The cookies were both adorable and delicious!


And finally our May Enrichment Night. The theme of the evening was "Simple Abundance". The tables were decorated with pots of wheat grass that I grew from seed and took care of for the past few weeks. I also made butterflies out of coordinating napkins to hang on the walls; and used the same patterned napkins to create signs for our display tables. The decorations were simple and cheery. Paired with our uplifting message and informative displays, I'd say it all came together quite nicely.

One Busy Month

April, where did you go? You were just here a second ago. It's hard to believe you were around for a whole 30 days. We were so busy visiting and being visited that we hardly noticed you. One busy month, that's for sure.
Part 1: The beginning of the month brought a visit from my dear friend Marissa and baby J. It is always good to see her. But it was especially fun to spend time with her little one as well. We had been waiting to meet him for months. And he was just as cute as promised. Plus he offered good practice for Owen's coursework on "how to be a big brother". Oh how I wish they lived closer!

Here are the little buddies after a dip in the pool. Baby Wy at 5 months, Owen at 2 years and 9 months, and baby J at 8 months. [Photo via Kim's blog]


Part 2: Not even a day after Marissa's visit, Owen and I headed out to Utah to visit family. We had a great time staying with the grandparents. Again, I wish we lived closer so we could hang out more often. I have no good pictures of our trip because I did not take the camera. So instead, I will entice you with a list of Owen's highlights.
1. Spending time with older cousins - watching their lacrosse games, visiting them at school, unleashing some wildness, idolizing everything they do
2. Taking a personal tour of the fire station with uncle Dan (it's great to have a firefighter in the family)
3. Dropping by the local library storytime about dinosaurs (quite possibly the coolest storytime we've ever been to)
4. Visiting the zoo with Grandma and the pet store with Grandpa (yielding two small goldfish)
5. Getting to play with Trenton (a favorite San Jose buddy who now lives in Utah)
Here are O and T hanging with T's twin sisters. It was just so fun to see them and catch up for an afternoon. [Photo via Jami's blog]


Part 3: Not even a day after returning home from Utah, we found ourselves hosting another set of visitors. My parents flew down to visit [work for] us. My dad spent the week renovating our master bathroom with Mark. And my mom spent the week helping me craft and prepare for the new baby. Owen spent the week hunting pirates with grandma and fixing things with grandpa. We owe them BIG TIME! (Pictures of the renovation are in the works).

San Diego

We recently returned from southern California where we spent a week in the sunshine with our Oregon friends. It was so nice to get away and enjoy the beautiful spring weather. We drove down and rented a beach house in the Carlsbad area where we soaked up the sights. Despite two urgent care visits (one for Owen and one for Kim) during the week, we fully enjoyed ourselves and began planning our next vacation together before this one even ended.


The first highlight of our trip was Legoland. I have to admit I have always heard great things about it but never really understood what could be so cool. And now I know! So maybe it's geared a bit more toward boys, but I think I enjoyed our day there just as much as Owen and Mark. So many fun things to do, see, ride, build...


One day during the vacation, Mark had to drive up to LA for work. So Owen and I went with our green-thumbed friend, Abby, to the Carlsbad Flower Fields. They were gorgeous and springy and so very perfect. Rows and rows of ranunculas as far as the eye could see. The greatest part was watching the field workers collect small bouquets of the delicate flowers and load them onto trucks. They looked like they were ready to be delivered to my local grocery store...but I got to see them being picked fresh from the fields!


Our second family outing was SeaWorld. I don't have any amazing pictures of it because we took more video than anything. But Owen's mouth was half-open in awe the entire day. In fact, we're still hearing him talk about "Shamu" the "BIG whale" and "San Diego". We had a great time seeing all the sealife and watching the amazing shows. And we were true theme park goers (to Both SeaWorld and Legoland). We arrived when it opened and stayed until it closed.



And our last big stop was the San Diego Temple. We couldn't leave the area without seeing such an exquisite building. We enjoyed a peaceful family walk along paths of perfectly manicured foliage. Then Owen released some wild and crazy...so we left.

A trip to southern California? I would highly recommend it to anyone. Especially those of you who live in states that are still getting snow. C'mon, it's April already!