On the road again!

We are packed up and on the road once again, this time to Manteca for
Thanksgiving this week. We have had a busy week and our little guy is
tuckered out as you can see! He had his 4 month shots on Monday, poor
baby but is doing well. The only issue is he seems to be on a nursing
strike since Monday! Anyone had experience with this? But he is now
13lbs and showing no signs of being a little early praise God! He
laughs throughout the day at almost anything and just this week
mastered rolling on one side from his tummy to his back. He will also
now play with rattles and he loves anything that makes a crinkle
sound! So cute :)

Birthday in Arizona

My Parents live in beautiful Scottsdale Az and we always like to drive out when we get the chance, but it has been over a year and a half since we have been out! So for my bday this year I decided it would be fun to come! We feel so refreshed after staying at their resort like house and it is a great place to get away from all the hustle and bustle. We arrived late night this past Thursday and it was so quiet out, it was eerie! We all have been sleeping so soundly and eating gourmet meals every day :) I get to stay until this Friday, but Andrew had to leave today to get back to school. More pics to come of Weston's first trip to AZ!

Believe it or not, this was my first car! I know I know...spoiled brat right?! Well my parents let us choose any used car we wanted if we waited until we were 18 to get our licences. I don't think they thought about classic cars being in that genre, but I did! My dad loves to fix up cars and motorcycles so this was our project. I found it in a guy's garage in 5 pieces, but envisioned this beauty! My dad has added alot more to the car under the hood in the past few years and let's just say it could get me to school now alot faster than it did when I drove it! In college I traded it back to my dad for a car less precious to beat around town in. Whenever we come to visit we always go for a ride. The inside smells wonderful if you like the smell of old classic cars and it always reminds me of those early mornings driving to school with my sister!

Target practice in the back yard of course!

Birthday dinner at Heirloom. I am sad I didn't take any pics of the amazing food we had that night! One of my fav chefs out here opened a new restaurant and my parents thought it would be fun to go and sit at the chefs table with a perfect view of the kitchen. How fun! We even got to walk around the kitchen after dessert. The chef de cuisine made us his own personal creation before we ordered: foie gras on baguette with some tarragon oil and a berry reduction. Andrew passed on that but it was amazing! Then I had a grilled quail terrine with greens, a crabcake in a fennel broth and then an olive halibut fillet with artichokes and roasted tomatoes! They brought out two fabulous desserts for us to try: a chocolate speckles cake and homemade doughnuts with lemon cream inside.  It was a great dinner and Weston slept pretty much the whole time as well! 

4 months!

Our guy is already four months! He is growing alot and likes to eat
all the time! This past month has been more of a challenge with
keeping up with his appetite and he also seems to have developed a
very sensitive tummy. Each day brings something new with our
expressive baby! He giggles each time we change him and talks to
himself quite loudly when he wakes up each am. So cute! He loves to be
on the go! He likes to look around at different people and places and
will now fuss if he gets bored :) he also Loves music. To help him
cheer up we put on this classical baby cd and he will lay and kick his
legs for a good 15-20 minutes! We are having so much fun

Great new bath tub!

So this is bathtub #3 that we have purchased! Who knew it would be
such a tricky thing? The first one wouldn't hold water (ironic) and
the second one Weston grew out of, but this one is genius! It is
inflatable so it is super soft all around and is much more portable
than the other awkward plastic ones. Weston loves it since he has room
to kick his legs and be on his belly. We love bathtime, we just need
to work on the drying off part...he screams like I am torturing him!

Trying rice cereal!

Our little guy is such a hungry man all the time that I decided to try
a teaspoon of cereal and see if he would like it...as you can tell he
loves it! I'm not surprised as Weston loves any kind of eating
experience :) we will see how it goes!

Light and yummy! Shrimp cucumber cups

We are having some friends over for dinner tonight and I thought I
would share an old recipe I found again that I love! So easy and yummy
and great as an appetizer:

Cut one English cucumber into 1 inch pieces scooping out the middle.
Chop 1/2 pound cooked shrimp and combine with a little olive oil,
lemon juice, 1 garlic clove minced, 1 tablespoon chopped capers,
chopped fresh flat leaf parsley and salt and pepper. Fill cucumber
cups with shrimp mixture and your done!

Recent Happenings

We have been so spoiled lately as you can see in this pic, we have had
wonderful visitors! First my mom, dad and sister came for a few days,
my mom staying on an extra 2 weeks! And then Andrew's mom came for a
couple of days! So Weston had both grandmothers at the same time for a
day and loved it.
What a blessing to have family willing to drive many hours and many
miles to stay with us in our tiny place and to serve us with such love
and affection! Between all the cooking and cleaning being done for me
as well as the free babysitting, I am getting quite spoiled!
These visits have also come in a time when they were much needed. For
the past few months I have been struggling off and on with Vertigo
symptoms that actually started last year. For whatever reason the
symptoms have been much worse after Weston was born. Needless to say
that between Weston and I there have been quite a few doctors
appointments! (all his have been normal baby stuff)
I have been to my normal MD a few times, an ENT, had an MRI and just
recently went to the eye doc to figure out the problem. Praise God
nothing serious has been discovered and it may be as simple as needing
glasses! My vanity is fighting against the idea, and picking out
frames will be more painful than bathing suit shopping! But I am
grateful and hopeful that there is an end in site to the dizziness and
all the running around to appointments. In the meantime I have learned
how much more I need to grow spiritually. I found myself with a
complaining spirit and given to self pity after expecting (and frankly
thought I deserved) to feel great after I had our baby! Oh dear.
Although it isn't completely sinful to want to feel normal while
trying to learn to care for a newborn and accomplish everything it
requires to keep our home up to the health standards at least, it is
sinful for me to be complaining and lacking thanksgiving despite the
small trials! But our God is so faithful and is teaching me that no
matter the circumstances He is there and He is in control even when
there are unknowns. I should have this lesson down by now, but I hope
I'm a work in progress!