our week by iPhone - week 78

pretty much another awesome busy week in these parts.  life has been nothing but go-go-go around here lately & it doesn't show any signs of stopping any time soon.  we've had pretty awesome seattle weather which means lots of time outdoors during the day & catching up on everything else at night.

i've really slacked on checking out blogs & returning emails & comments these last couple weeks so i'm feeling a little outta the loop.  someday i'll catch up on everything & be on top of it all, right?  ha!  i wish.

here's what was keeping us busy this week.

monday.  as every pregnant girl knows, there comes a time when you hit that magical stage in your pregnancy when the doctor informs you it's time to check your glucose tolerance.  so on this beautiful day i got to sit in my doctor's office for an hour & sip the most sweetest orangey sugary drink & then have a needle poked in me to draw blood for testing.

weird that i look forward to it?  no, & i'll tell you why.  parker was at a friend's so this hour was filled with headphones & good music & time on my laptop cranking out some editing.  the drink is very reminiscent of the mcdonald's orange hi-c we all drank as kids or a melted orange freezy pop.  in short?  delicious.

that evening parker took his spot waiting for sam to get home so we could head to the park for a walk.  there was ice cream eating, bench sitting & fish-watching.

tuesday.  we hit up some stroller strides on another gorgeous day.  also?  i can't resist taking a thousand pictures of parker now that he is forward facing in his carseat... i pretty much think he's the cutest little human to have sat in a carseat EVER.

tuesday evening i whipped up a batch of my favorite chipotle-chicken-avocado salad.  and by "whipped up" i mean spent an hour making what the recipe calls a "10 minute meal."  whatever.

then we all got lazy & hung out & slept with our arms behind our heads.

wednesday.  another gorgeous day, another workout in the sun.  i also spent a decent amount of time on tuesday shopping for a baby-boy doll for parker to have as his "baby" since he's so obsessed with babies & i figure it'd be good to teach him some baby-etiquette.  but no such luck.  turns out every freaking baby on the market is a baby girl & dressed in all pink.  c'mon target & toys r us... where all the boys at??

then there were crazy bath antics... pretty standard.

thursday.  i'm telling you, anything this kid does in his carseat is pure gold to me.  he enjoyed a little light reading on the way to his babysitter's thursday morning & i promise you it was probably the cutest thing i've ever seen.  at that moment.

once i was at work baby boy #2 gave me lots of kicks in the belly to let me know he wanted a burrito from my favorite taco bus for lunch.  who am i to say no?  that taco bus is legitimately legit.

friday.  another sunny-day workout, another few hours in the park.  this week is spoiling us rotten... i might cry the next time it rains.  parker spent quality time going down slides & staring up at trees until it was time to head home for naps.  sam got home in time to climb in bed with us for the tail end of nap-time which obviously turned into family wrestle-time.  it's what happens when those two get together.

then it was off to five guys for dinner {YUM} and cheney stadium for a rainier's game, the local AAA baseball team.  we sat in the grass on blankets & froze to death once the sun went down trying to hold out for the fireworks at the end of the game.  everyone made it through & we got to hear a little boy talking about "baseball!  fireworks!  boom boom boom!" all the way home.  so that was worth it.

happy weekend friends... enjoy your moms, ok?

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=144786" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:

on our travels & leaving our baby.

sam & i had a blast in st. louis.  it was a pretty intense trip with a lot of flying, driving & work but it was an amazing experience.  i took a thousand touristy pictures but have yet to upload them because i've been so busy editing wedding photos.  maybe someday in the future... maybe not.  i was so nervous about leaving parker but he did great & his auntie was a rockstar stand-in for the weekend.  i'm so grateful for that!

it was weird to be so torn between wanting to get home to my little monster & not wanting our weekend away from him to end, all at the same time.  it was so fun to just be out & about alone with sam & to remember that we really do have a good time together even when parker's not around.  we went to restaurants & had relaxing meals, we made lots & lots of stops & didn't have to mess with carseat buckles & we slept in past 9:00.  but we still found ourselves calling milk "milch", horses "nays" & telling each other "ni-night."  that little boy has rubbed off on us.

but seriously, it was great to get out & just remember what life without parker was like.  it was fun, it was free, we had much less responsibility & we were much more spontaneous.  we were reminded that we connected on other levels besides our kid & that we actually enjoy each other's company.  we decided this is something we need to do regularly.  that in no longer than two years, when boy two is parker's age, we'd do it again.  we'll take a trip just the two of us & take time out for each other.

but holy crap, it felt good to come home to that little boy.  as much fun as we were having out there away from him, it's nothing compared to how good it felt to be together again as our little family of three.  being away from him for a while was nice but being back together is even better.  i'm so grateful to have this little boy that makes all the diaper changes, car-seat wrangling & naptime scheduling worth it.  that even though our free & spontaneous lives have been forever-altered, we wouldn't trade it for the world.

and since this trip away went so well, i'm already looking forward to the next one that will again remind me of that fact.  distance makes the heart grow fonder, right?  nothin' wrong with that.

twenty-six weeks. bumpdate!

{compare boy two belly to parker belly here.}

so i tried to re-wear the t-shirt i wore at 16 weeks & well... no dice.  i think it reached my belly button?  anywho, i know my trusty rolling stones shirt lasted 40 weeks once before, it'll act as a stand in this time around when i need it to.  glad it can be making an appearance in this pregnancy :)

the last week of my second trimester went by pretty quickly, just like all the ones before it & i'm just getting more & more pregnant.  seems like that happens every week.  my belly's getting bigger & the kicks are definitely getting stronger.  this little boy is SO active.  it was so fun to have him in my belly on our trip to st. louis... even though we had to leave parker back at home, it kinda felt like we got to take one kid along as this little man kicked & punched the whole weekend.  sam said it was because he missed his big brother.

speaking of his big brother, parker loves my belly.  he loves "tickling the baby" and he even specially said "ni-night" to the baby in my belly one night when i was putting him down.  he likes to pull up my shirt to "see the baby" & it all makes me so happy.

as much fun as these parts of the pregnancy are, there are parts that are getting harder too.  i am so stiff when i wake up & it's like a five minute process to get out of bed.  it's so lame that i have such horrible pelvic pain with pregnancy... i pride myself on being strong & physically fit but thanks to pre-existing bad-back & hip conditions, pregnancy seriously just cripples me.  with the hip-spreading & ligament stretching, there is so much pressure on my lower back & i almost always feel a dull pain in my back.  sometimes it feels like my left leg is tingling or has fallen asleep & if i'm down on the floor with parker or trying to flip sides in bed it feels like my legs are being ripped off my body when i move.  so that's fun.

but it's all worth it right?  only three more months til we get to meet this little boy.  i think i'm gonna like him.

our week by iPhone - week 77

holy cow friends, holy cow.

it's been a whirlwind last few days & i just have a few minutes to talk about it before it's off to bed to recover.  sam & i have been in st. louis since thursday so i could shoot a wedding on friday.  it's been so fun!!  we've been missing parker like crazy but we've skyped a couple times & he is having a blast back home with his auntie, so we've been able to enjoy these kid-free days knowing he's in good hands.  thanks jodi!!

anywho, this is gonna be short & sweet because this girl is tired!

monday.  distracted by baby kicks while at work & counting down the hours til i got to drive home in the pretty sun & play with my little monster.  once home i made some to-do lists & a packing list for my st. louis trip.  i'm kinda an obsessive list-maker.  while i was busy doing that, parker thought it was hilarious to brush his teeth with his dad's toothbrush... which it was.

then it was outside for some puddle splashing til sam got home.

tuesday.  get ready for a parker overload because i'm preparing you {& myself} for a few days without his little face.

so here he is, shopping for his favorite snacks at trader joe's, forgetting why he was throwing a fit on the floor mid-tantrum & just hanging out instead, lining up all his cars & trains so they're just right, being a little cheeser in the bath tub & looking adorable in his sleep.

then there's me, doing stuff on the computer... pretty typical.

wednesday.  we hit up some stroller strides for the first time in a couple weeks {vacation & sick kid made this pregnant girl a little lazy} & then came back home for a pb & jelly-faced giggle fest.  this kid kills me.

wednesday night was all about packing up for the trip... and photographers do NOT pack lightly.  multiple cameras, lenses, chargers, some lighting equipment, cords & computer things make for a heavy load.  lots of things to remember, thus all the list making.

thursday started at 2 am for sam & i.  it was up at 2 am & out of the house by 2:30 to be at the portland airport by 4:00 am to catch our 6 am flight.  made for a long day & a super tired couple.  we got to st. louis around 1:00 pm & were starving so we hit up the first place we saw that looked foreign & awesome... white castle.  turns out their sliders are mushy & no-good.  ah well.

after loading up on mushy sliders, french fries & a milkshake, we set off on a three hour drive to nauvoo.  at some point on this drive i realized we'd been in six states that day... washington, oregon, colorado {had a layover}, missouri, iowa {drove through on our way to illinios} & illinios.

how many people do you think can say they were in six states that day?

anywho, we got to nauvoo around six & crashed for an hour or so before climbing out of our hotel room like zombies in search of more food & a some site seeing.  turns out nauvoo, illinois is a pretty cool little town.

friday.  i honestly didn't take a single picture with my phone on friday.  oops.  i was too busy having a blast shooting this gorgeous couple on their wedding day.

after the wedding a little more exploring around the town, sam & i drove back to st. louis for some dinner & an early bedtime.  actually, that was sam... i think he was in bed by 10.  i may or may not have been up another four hours playing with wedding photos.  ha!

saturday.  after rolling out of bed around 10:00 {whaaaaat??} we set out to explore st. louis a little bit before we had to be at the wedding reception for more picture taking.  we hit up pappy's smokehouse for amazing bbq & drove down around the riverfront & gateway arch.  some pretty cool stuff to see in ol' st. louis!

it's been a pretty amazing trip & i can't believe this weekend is almost over.  as sad as i am that it's just sped by way too fast, i am also so freaking excited to get home to parker... can't wait to kiss those cheeks!!

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=143800" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:

wordless{ish} wednesday: parker + presents.

last year we went all out for p-ray's birthday.  a bbq, friends, family, decorations... all of it!  it was a blast & i love that we did it.  this year we went for a much more tone-downed approach... we did cupcakes, presents {yes, that's christmas wrap} & just the three of us.  our san diego vacay was a pretty big celebration of him turning two {our last big trip while he's free to fly!} and i don't think his big day was forgotten by any means, i just think the next huge birthday party will be when he's old enough to pick the theme & invite his own friends... so, maybe next year?  haha.

i just can't believe the day has come & gone & i am the mom of a two year old.

it's exhausting being two.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, jenni from the blog & a little king & i}

twenty-five weeks. bumpdate!

{compare kid two belly to parker belly here.}

i had my first emotional meltdown of the pregnancy.

blame it on being exhausted {up til 2 am the night before with a sleepless-sick kiddo}, on pregnancy hormones, on a week of having a sick/cranky/irritable/out-of-sorts kid, on being worried about an upcoming weekend away from said-kid... whatever.  it happened.  you know when you get to the point of just letting it all out?  crying because it feels good to cry?  yeah, that.  poor sam took the brunt of it.  he made a comment that was meant to be a joke {i'm sure he was making fun of me for using one of my million forms of social media...} but it struck me wrong {i'm sure i felt he was being "unsupportive"} & boom went the floodgates.  looking back?  it was an overreaction, it was a meltdown.  but for some reason it made me feel better.  weird, right?

usually i am pretty dang level-headed.  i can hold on to things & deal with them as they come & not let it all boil over.  i even pride myself on that... i'm mellow.  but on sunday little things added up to a lot.  stress about how the heck we're fitting two kids into one tiny room, how parker will adjust to getting kicked out of his crib in a month, worry over finding a sitter willing to babysit my sick kid so i can avoid calling into work sick again & last but not least?  worry about leaving parker this weekend while sam & i fly to st. louis.

so after getting all this out to sam & realizing not every one of those issues needed to be resolved right that second i felt completely fine.  actually, i felt silly for freaking out.  i got a text from our sitter saying she was available at the last second to watch parker so i wouldn't have to call in sick again & i'm starting to get really excited for a weekend alone with sam instead of worried.  i got a good night of sleep last night & i found some really cute shared-bedroom ideas on pinterest.  it's all gonna be fine.

i'm chalking this one up to being an overly-tired-hormonal-pregnant woman... i'm allowed to do that, right?  the answer is yes.  because i've made it 25/40ths through my pregnancy & am just now having my first breakdown.

i'd say that's pretty good.

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also?  random.org picked a winner from the jewel kade giveaway... yay nicole!