Disney Adventure!

We had originally planned on taking a trip to Disneyland in October right before Grayson's birthday to take advantage of their under 3 is free policy, and to experience the park decorated for Halloween.

God had other plans, and instead we will be welcoming our sweet baby 2 in October!

We had to decide pretty quickly what to do about our plan, and decided that if we wanted to still get a trip in before Gray turns 3 and make the off-season we were going to have to book a trip like.... now. Which meant that this is now my second trip to Disney in the last three years while pregnant. The one and only trip before that was when I was seven. 

We booked our trip through Costco Travel and got a bunch of really great perks but not any real discount on tickets or hotel.

We were totally that family on the flight and I won't lie... this prego was giving the side eye to the Bloody Mary on the Southwest drink menu from the second we boarded the plane. 

We decided to stay at the Paradise Pier on the property and upgraded to a premium view room so that we would be able to see World Of Color from our room and I'm so glad we did! Having the option to do that took away the pressure of feeling like we had to see everything else at night, knowing we could just go back to the room if we needed to and still see a show. 

The room was also adorably decorated. 

The view from our room was amazing. You just can't beat that. 

  

We had our Extra Magic Hour in California Adventure on Wednesday morning and headed straight to Cars Land. Gray absolutely loves Cars and Lightning McQueen and it was so much fun to see him look around Radiator Springs and actually recognize what he was seeing. 

Almost immediately after we got off of our first ride, Mater passed us walking down the road and we took off running after him to be first in line for a picture. Gray wasn't so sure but agreed to take a picture with him, but not by himself. 

We spent the rest of the riding as many rides as we could, met Lighting McQueen and after a few tantrums and absolute refusals to get in the stroller, we went back to the hotel to swim for a bit and nap. 

Boys from a family of plumbers... 

We played in the toddler pool for a little while and then my tiny two year old decided that he needed to go on this water slide. 

via

And then actually did it. Twice. And he would have kept going but we had to shut it down before I had a panic attack. Insert wide eyed emoji here. Seriously. My kid is such a bad ass.

After naps we headed over to the Disneyland side to watch the parade and positively blew Gray's mind. Our cousins from Utah were in town and we met up with them for the parade and then met up with them later again that night for the electrical parade which was such a special part of the trip. Gray loved meeting his big cousins, especially Landon who is "so so so big" and he was absolutely amazed by seeing Mickey and all his favorite characters in the parades.

He decided on this trip all of a sudden that he hates riding in the stroller. Which is super inconvenient and led to us either carrying him or dragging him, or chasing him for 50 miles a day. So that was fun. No matter that I just dropped a bunch of money on a new stroller right before this trip. Toddlers don't care about that kind of stuff.

We spent the rest of our first day frantically passing out snacks to avoid a freak out and waiting in line for rides. Gray did such a good job being patient in line and melt downs were relatively few.

Saying good morning to Mickey's house! 

Our second morning we woke up and had breakfast and headed over to the Disney side for our extra magic hour. We rode a few rides in Fantasy Land and then waited by the gates at Toontown to get in early to meet Mickey! 

Gray was so excited and shy but totally gave the big guy a hug and it was everything I could have hoped for.

Gray waited so patiently the whole trip to get to ride the Dumbo train and he was so excited to finally get on. He loves Dumbo and watches it all the time. Because "it's about a train!" except not...

At the end of the second day we let Gray pick out a prize from the store and he picked a light saber just like his big cousin Lando has. 

We had such a good time and I'm so glad we were able to make this memory with him before we become a family of four.

A New Home and A New Baby!

Things are changing around here! We have been just a little bit busy.

On a random Wednesday in February I got a notification from Redfin on my phone and texted our Realtor before I even texted Nick. I almost couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the listing and could have cried with excitement. We made arrangements to see the house the very next day and we all fell in love before we even walked in the door. Our Realtor actually told us she wanted the house if we didn't. Ha!

The weekend of the open house was rainy and gloomy and football playoffs so we crossed our fingers that our competition would all stay at home. We got our offer prepared and wrote a little letter to the owners hoping they would think we were just so cute they couldn't possibly deny us. It worked! They accepted our offer and after a few short days of negotiations we had a contract on the house signed sat back to wait to close escrow.

Then, just a few weeks into escrow I had a funny feeling on a Friday morning while I was making breakfast for Gray. I took a pregnancy test and yet again couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the result. My doctor had originally told us that it was very unlikely that we would ever be able to get pregnant on our own without Clomid, and wrote me a 5 year prescription (which I never filled after the first dose that got us Gray).  I just didn't believe that my body would never be able to do what it's supposed to do and we had decided to go ahead on a prayer and see what happened. Anyway, here we are!

So, I find myself at 6:15am with a positive pregnancy test and a WHOLE entire day ahead of me that I'm going to have to keep this secret. I asked Gray if he wanted to be a big brother and he said "mmmm.. no sanks." Welp... this should be fun. Once I got to work I got online and ordered a Big Brother shirt from Target and picked it up on my way home and then picked up Gray from school and went to get dinner started before Nick could get home. I put the shirt on him and decided to just let Nick figure it out on his own. When he walked in the door, Gray yelled "Daddy! BABY!!" which didn't get a response. And then 5 minutes went by and nothing.... and finally I had to tell Grayson to show Daddy his shirt and Nick just started laughing and asked me if it was real. Real as can be, babe. Here we go!

Life Lately

I'm really behind on this post. It's been in my drafts for months but things have been a little crazy around here. We have settled in nicely to our temporary home. It was a little rough at first but we are feeling more and more comfortable everyday. It's tough taking your life that's been spread out through at 1,900sq foot home and condensing down to two bedrooms and a bathroom with minimal closet space. I bought up all the plastic bins and under the bed boxes at Target and slowly have found a space for everything... almost.

We finally closed escrow  and said goodbye to our sweet little home for the last time the weekend after Thanksgiving. The final days were chaotic and stressful to say the least. We made it a point to keep Grayson and away from the house which added another element of complication. It took Gray weeks after we moved to Napa to stop asking for home so the last thing we wanted was to bring him back to an empty house and confuse him more. We are so thankful for a smooth sale, even though it seemed to drag on forever with delay after delay.

We started November with a trip up to Oregon to visit my sister's family and my mom. She retired this year and made the move up to Oregon to be closed to my sister and her grandbabies. We absolutely love where they live. Gray and Nayeli had so much fun playing together and we got to love on our sweet new nephew Arlo.

On the last day of our trip, on the way to the airport, we received a call that brought the world crumbling down on top of us. We learned that Nick's mom was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. The following months were a whirlwind of doctors appointments, meetings with surgeons, a hospital stay, and many tears. We cancelled plans for Thanksgiving and arranged for a quiet holiday at home with just the immediate family. Almost four months later, she is doing amazingly well. She is in good spirits and has been such an inspiration to our entire family.We are hopeful for the future and doing everything we can to remain positive and to reflect that positivity back on to her. It's so important to remember how, in an instant life can change.

Its easy to get caught up in the inconveniences of every day life. It doesnt matter how messy life feels, or how long our commutes are, or how chaotic dinner time is. Because together, we have everything.