My month in Instagram

I've fallen behind on my weekly posts of Instagram photos. Sure, I posted a few of my hospital stay and our morning at Liberty Park, but not the day to day stuff. Not the stuff that gets easily forgotten. It's been a busy month. 

But I'm back at it, and that top photo might be my favorite photo of both my children EVER! And the golden light? No filter! Remember I said the air has been smokey and the light has been super gold? Yep, the lighting looks heaven kissed. Oh my goodness do I love those kiddos. 

Now, onto the rest of the last month's photos. 

1. Alone on the swings. 2. Top knot and nose kisses.

3. Saturday morning snuggles.  4. Saturday morning breakfast.


5. Red Butte Garden with Daddy. I was home with Juliet for her morning nap and this photo came through text. Loved it so much I decided to IG it. 6. My grandma gave away some of her most prized possessions to all of her grand children. Top on my list? This amazing clock that once belonged to my Grandma's Grandma. It chimes every hour and I adore it.


7. Clock, again. 8. Another Daddy/James date, this day they went to Silver Lake and saw two moose! Totally not fair because I take James to Silver Lake all the time and we've never seen moose there.


9. For a year James has been talking about picking blackberries at the neighbors. Well it is finally time again and the blackberries are ripe. We picked today and filled our tummies with delicious tart fruit and got purple juice everywhere in the process.  10. Him: "What's this popsicle's name?" Me: "Rootbeer" Him: "It's delicious!"


11. Another day, another river. 12. This was the moment before he crashed. At least he was happy post-tumble.


13. Hiking date with Dada. Can you tell I really like stealing seeing his photo texts? 14. Snuggle bunny.


15. Six month check up. She's 87% for weight and 91% for height. Big girl. 16. Garden helper. He insists I take his clothes off.


17. Mr. Blue Eyes with spiky hair in the bathtub. 18. I love when her smile gets so big it gets crooked (again with the crazy gold light!).


19. Vintage Little People Fisher Price, we got the farmhouse and the barn. James is in LOVE! 20. I'm on bath duty when E is out of town.


21. This babe wakes up at 6:30 or 7:00 most days and James has been sleeping in a bit, so I get her all to myself for a little while. 22. Some leg rolls to get you through your day. You're welcome.

We have a tooth! {and the garden with the baby}

A few days before my surgery when Juliet was gnawing on my knuckle I noticed a little rough spot. I opened her gummy jaws and saw it, a tiny tooth making it's grand entrance into the world!

I was so excited about the momentous day, I took her outside, plopped her on the lawn and took some photos so I could always remember the last of her gummy grin.

And then I went and got my gallbladder removed and never blogged about the big discovery.

Lame.

But when I returned her little tooth bud and moved into a real live little tooth! Something I can even brag about with photo evidence.

See? Yes, it is hard to see, but it's there, on the right side (her left), on the bottom. And the other bottom one is not far behind. Only days from now you'll be able to see both!

Also, brown eyed girl? I hope so. ;)

While I was outside with my happy garden helper I had to take note of the beautiful flower boxes. So full and colorful this time of year.

Teething means lots of drool.

She loves to give me this face. She sucks on her bottom lip and tells me she's figuring out the world.

Her hair is filling in more and more. It is a lot lighter than mine, but might be a touch darker than James's. We will see.

Splash machine

It seems like only yesterday James was bathing in this bath making a huge mess of the kitchen floor.

Juliet, like her brother, loves to splash. So many waves that I think this will be the last time she bathes in the blue tub, next time she'll sit directly in the sink.

I was soaked, as was the floor, after her little swim.

She's a serious splasher. No smiles, she's concentrating. (Notice the water!) Ohhh, and those rolls... so perfect.

Blast from the past? James in the same spot. Ah time flies.

JJ upgrade 3.1

I needed an upgrade.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

About 14 years ago I was struck down with a mystery stomach ache. It came and went, gathering intensity always after breakfast, almost always on weekends. I never wrote about it here (because this blog is where I document the happy memories, not the miserable), but this stomach ache was killer.

Fast forward 13 years and over $5,000 later, I finally have a clue on what it is. My damn gallbladder. I finally figured it out when my mom was diagnosed with gallstones and my symptoms were identical. (I'd had my gallbladder looked at, a couple of times actually, but nothing ever showed up.)

But this year was my lucky year. We reached our huge deductible with Juliet's birth and I found a surgeon that was willing to take my gallbladder out because the gallbladder attacks got much worse since she arrived in February.

Also? My pelvic floor was messed up giving birth to James (TMI? Probably.) Two and a half years ago I went to my doctor and complained that things hurt and she said "yes, I see the problem. Finish having children, and get this repaired." (I know I'm being vague, on purpose, mind you.)

So recently I asked my doctor if I was crazy to get both of these surgeries done at once. She said no. The less you go under anesthesia, the better. Get all fixed up all at once.

First I had to get a few things done. No lifting post surgery so James needed to be moved to a big boy bed and out of his crib. Check. Juliet can't get much bigger (she's big enough already) so the sooner the better, because I'll obviously still need to lift her.

I needed to pump milk and get Juliet to take a bottle so that my 24 hours in the hospital worked out.

So with 60% completed (Juliet NEVER took a bottle), I checked into the hospital on Wednesday morning scared and anxious. I'm an anxious person, but you probably already knew that.

(One reason I was super worried? James had been waking up days prior to surgery crying for "Mommy". When I went to him he asked over and over "where did Mommy go?!" Broke my heart and worried it was a premonition.)

I was so worried. Posted this photo to Instagram on Tuesday saying "What will I miss? This."

But things went well. I checked in at 6:30 am on Wednesday and checked out today. No complications other than a UTI which I'm on meds for. I'm still healing, of course, since it's only 36 hours post op, but things are looking up.

Last night was rocky, and once I finally drifted off to sleep they came in to check my vitals, get a blood sample and give me a shot in the stomach (ouch!) but I'm home now, and oh so happy.

I hope to not be in the hospital again for a really really long time. One good thing about this stay? The view of the sunset from my hospital bed.

This little stubborn lady gave her Daddy a run for the money. She would NOT take the bottle. Not once. Boob or bust. Her stubborn way is going to give us trouble when she's 15...

Super Daddy and James. I was relaxing in bed with Juliet while James and E made a reading fort outside. So glad to be back to this sweet family of mine.

I am so excited to feel well again; to not have gallbladder attacks and to feel healthy and awesome.

Upgrade 3.1 complete (you know, because I'm 31 years old. Ha!)

Liberty Park date with my boy

It seems like in every post I talk about the fact that now Juliet is taking a morning nap. I say this (and say it again and again and again) because it has changed our family dynamic so much. Not for the worse, per se, but definitely different.

Only a couple months ago we'd be out morning and afternoon. On the weekends we looked forward to mornings out as a family. Hikes, visits to parks, and the Farmer's Market was how we'd spend these hot hours before noon.

This morning E offered to stay home and let James and I go on a little one-on-one date to Liberty Park.

We were so excited to visit the Seven Canyons Fountain and James was pumped to see the "huge waterfalls". When we got there we were so disappointed to see the fountain was closed with a large repair sign posted. James went to each and every corner of the fountain to double check it was turned off.

It was. We were so bummed.

So we decided to head over near the lake and run up and down the hills. Luckily he didn't seem too put out by the change of plans.

Soon we decided to wander over the the rides. James had been eyeing these retro rides for ages. I loved them as a girl and have been waiting for the perfect time to take him. 

After buying tickets we went over the the Farris Wheel. James was beside himself with joy. He could not wait!

This ride looks the exact same as it did when I rode it as a girl. Vintage yes. Maintained? I hope so.

The Farris Wheel is not huge, but actually pretty fast. At the top we had a nice view and James was loving the entire ride.

He kept looking over at me with the happiest biggest grin. I could tell that the speed and the newness frightened him a little, but not too much, he was having the time of his life.

 Before we left we hit up the vintage merry-go-round.

 And the airplane ride.

I realized on the way home as he happily chatted about the fun he had had, that it was actually kind of lucky the fountain had been closed. Our day took such an unexpected awesome turn for the better. And one-on-one time with this boy is so important.