Washington, DC

We introduced Sully to another city last week, and had a great time doing so. Dave had an anesthesia conference in Washington, DC, so we all went along to take in the city, history, and culture.

The week was pretty jam packed with touristy things, including The Lincoln Memorial, The Washington Monument, The World War II Memorial, The Jefferson Memorial, The Holocaust Museum, The National Cathedral, The Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Georgetown, and even a 5K walk for The Wounded Warriors. Sullivan was an absolute trooper, he is so adaptable, wether it is cruising in the stroller, or hanging in the baby Bjourne, he just goes with the flow.

One of Dave's residency friends, Fernando Zepeda, his family (wife, Ferrissa and their boys, Caleb (10) and Tyler (6)) were also there for the same conference, so we spent most of our time with them. We had a great time catching up and touring around the city. We had been in Hawaii with them last fall for another meeting and it was fun to see how the boys had grown. Sullivan loved them, especially Ferrissa's southern accent, and the way Tyler squeaked Sophie every chance he got.

Sullivan did manage to hit the rolling over milestone while we were there, although I missed it. We had arrived on Friday and were going to dinner with Ryan and Ali Schelpfeffer (one of Dave's partners and his wife), and I was in the bathroom pumping before we left when I heard them all cheering Sully on. Too bad it hasn't happened since, although he has mastered back to front, then squeals with frustration when he gets there cause he doesn't know where to go.

Another exciting fact...Sullivan is sleeping! Big long stretches of sleep, it is amazing. The first few nights of the trip were exhausting as he hardly slept at all. We were all in the same room, so when Sully was up, we were all up. We turned in on Sunday night and I was feeding him at about midnight, and preparing for another long night when I put him down. The next thing I knew, it was 5am and Dave and I were both up waiting for him to get up. I think Dave was up about 4 times between then and 7am just making sure he was breathing. Sure enough, he woke at 7, starving and smiling. We have have been doing pretty well since then and Im ecstatic about it. Getting up once a night is a breeze, and Im starting to feel like life may actually be getting back to normal.

Overall, we had a great time. Dave enjoyed teaching Sully all about America's history and we cant wait to take him back when he is a bit older when he may actually be able to comprehend what is going on.

Enjoy the lots and lots of photos below...

The Run for the Warriors 5K run (although we walked).

The Lincoln Memorial

The Washington Monument

The White House with the Zepedas

The Jefferson Memorial

Sullivan found his toes :).

Daddy and Sully outside of our hotel.
(yes, the numbers are still on the Bjourne,
in fact, Dave probably wont ever take
them off ;)).

Mama and Sully outside the National Cathedral

Number 3!

Sullivan graduated to size three diapers last week. I cant believe how big my little boy is getting! 

Chicago

Life has been so so busy lately, the three of us seem to always be on the go. I told Dave, I feel like I unpack, do laundry, then repack again.

I was able to get away to Chicago a couple of weekends ago to see a few of my college friends. We had a great time, very relaxing. This seems to be the chapter of our life that is centered around babies, wether or not we are with them. Someone is usually pregnant or breast feeding at the time of our get togethers, which does change the dynamics a bit, however, it is still great to be together. During this particular weekend, Jill was 24 weeks pregnant with twins, Maggie was 33 weeks pregnant, and Leanne and I are breastfeeding...wow!

Maggie came from LA and Leanne came from Minneapolis. We stayed with Jill who recently finished construction on her amazing house in Chicago. We spent the time eating, chatting, getting manicures, pedicures, massages, then eating and chatting some more. We had lots of laughs, and I had two full nights of sleep, which was amazing.

Sullivan stayed home with daddy and his auntie Maggie. Dave was on call so Maggie took the night shifts and the day on Saturday, which unfortunately didn't go as well as I had hoped. Sully had a really sleepless night, resulting in a sleepy Maggie on Saturday. He did do better on Saturday night, thankfully, but it is safe to say I probably cured Maggie's baby fever (if she even had it). Bummer...I was holding out hope that maybe, just maybe, she would have one more. ;).

Jill (24weeks pregnant with twins), Leanne, me, and
Maggie (33 weeks pregnant).

These girls are some of my favorite friends, and I always look forward to our yearly get togethers.

Fantastic Role Models

Maggie and I made the quick drive to Mitchell on Tuesday night to celebrate my grandparents 70th wedding anniversary with them. We were able to leave the kiddos behind with their daddys, which was great for us.  We had lots of time to chat with the others, and free hands to be my mom's helpers.

My grandpa Wally is 96 (will be 97 later this month), and my grandma Gladys is 89, it is amazing to see them together. My grandpa takes such good care of my grandma; Maggie and I were helping her out of her chair and into the other room when Maggie offered her arm to my grandpa. He looked at us and at my grandma and said, 'no no no, Im ok, just make sure your grandma is ok.' The way he looks out for her is amazing. She is equally as grateful towards him and tells him over and over again how lucky she is and was to have married such a wonderful man.

All of their kids were there to celebrate as well. It was a really nice dinner and Im really glad we were able to make the trip.

Love birds :)

Maggie and I with our grandparents.

My grandparents with their six kids.

Special Tree, Special Boy

Dave, Sullivan and I got home from California on Saturday evening and as we turned the corner onto our street, I looked towards our house, wondering a few things, like; are the pumpkins still there? Are my mums still alive? Are they starting to bloom yet? etc. Thats when I saw it, one of our Maple trees was the color of a bright red apple. In the six falls I have been in my house, I have never seen anything so awesome. Many of the trees on my street are still green which makes this one stick out even more. I immediately grabbed my camera and started taking photos. Little did I know, this would become my obsession over the next few days. 

We have had several neighbors and walkers stop by to take a quick photo, or snag a few leaves. It has really been fun to chat with the people about our little prize in the front yard. My across the street neighbor has been in her house for 30 or so years and said this is the first time the tree has turned this color. 

On a side note, Dave and I kind of have an inside joke, lots and lots of people comment on how Sullivan's hair has the slightest tint of red, which we both find interesting considering neither of us have red hair in our family's history. Whenever people make the comment, we just smile and say, yep "we have our little strawberry blonde baby, and love every ounce of him." We usually chat about the comment later in the day and smile, thinking that was about the millionth strawberry blonde comment so far. 

So, looking for the reasoning behind the tree, I decided to correlate the two. Our beautiful Maple tree is one in a million, and our beautiful strawberry blonde Sullivan is our one in a million :).

Isaac came to play in the leaves.

Sullivan and the Maple tree.

One more angle.

4 Months Old

Sullivan is officially four months old today, and we celebrated with his four month check-up and shots, poor guy.

We are happy to report that his stats are as follows... 

Weight: 14lbs 7oz (50th percentile)

Length: 24inches (50th percentile)

Also...he is officially in his crib! We had been alternating between the swing, his crib, and our bed. When we went to California last week, there was not a swing available to us, so we all went cold turkey, and were excited to take the big bulky thing down and out of his room earlier today. Sleep is getting better and better, he slept for a five hour stretch, followed by a four hour stretch last night. We were a happy family this morning. 

He is a sweet little boy, his smiles and blue eyes melt my heart. I love every thing about him.

Sweet Sullivan

Coronado, CA

We had a wonderful week in Coronado, Sullivan made his daddy very proud by being an excellent traveler 90% of the time. He is a trooper on flights, snoozing most of the time away, and smiling at other passengers the other part of the time. We hope to continue on this streak for our future trips.

We spent the week relaxing with a few excursions peppered in here and there. We went to Balboa Park, Point Loma for family photos (with our awesome wedding photographer, Melissa McClure), and took the ferry to Catalina Island. Catalina Island made for a great day trip, it is a darling little island north of San Diego; we went on a short tour, had lunch, had ice cream, wandered the streets, and then caught the ferry home.

We are really looking forward to future trips to Coronado. Every time we would see a toddler boy on the beach, we would stop to ask the parents how old their baby was in order to gauge how Sullivan will be in years to come. I definitely have a different perspective of the beach now that I am a mama and cant wait to see Sully explore.

Last, but not least, thanks to my parents for letting us stay in the condo, we feel so lucky to be able to enjoy Coronado, its our own little piece of Heaven.

Family photo on the beach.

Sullivan lounging.

Sullivan snoozing. 

Tubby in the sink.

First touch of the ocean with daddy.

Family Photo on Point Loma.