five.

to my baby who made me a mom,
i can not believe you are now five years old! it is such a huge milestone. you have taught me more in these past five years than i have taught you i am sure. you have taught me to dig deep and really question every single thing i do, in a good way. being your mom is a wild ride full of ups and downs and laughs and cries. you are a such a good, wise, and wild soul. you are determined, creative, inventive, brilliant, and energetic. you have a wild side mixed with a whole lotta sweet. you are sensitive and really feel alllllll the emotions. you are my greatest adventure and i love you more than all the stars, around the world, through the universe, and back.
happy fifth birthday my love!

right now river is all about the legos. he loves building and creating. he loves to paint and draw. having his birthday in october is fitting because he loves all things scary. he is obsessed with werewolves. he loves to dress up and have dance parties. he loves acting. he will tell you his favorite person is his dad. he is the sweetest big brother to his baby sis when he is not teasing her or pushing her away from one of his inventions. we go on a bike ride in the morning and then the park, and then i can take him swimming or to a museum, and he would still come home with a whole new level of energy.

this age and stage is so much fun. river is learning so much and so aware of the world.  he wants to know all about everything. we are homeschooling this year and he loves it. i ask him if he wants to go back to school or go take classes at a school and he said he never will, ever. we just take it one day at a time with this kid;) river is on his own time and does things when he is good and ready. he loves the beach so living in california these past couple of months has been a dream. he has the best laugh, some awesome dance moves, and i could watch him act all day. he is always pretending to be some animal or character throughout the day and we are just happy to go along with his wild imagination.

we got to celebrate this special boy at legoland. all river wanted for his birthday was legos so it seemed pretty fitting. it was a first time for all of us, and its safe to say, river was in lego heaven!

river,
your mom and dad love you forever and always. we are always here for you, and we always believe in you. keep being you.

happy birthday! 

xo

WILD ONE

our baby girl is ONE! 

how did this happen? i knew this day was coming, but it seemed to sneak up on me and i am just not ready. she is so yummy and squishy and sweet, and i know that now going through this for the second time, babies don't keep. i want to freeze this time with her.

i am so in love with this girl its crazy.

one minute old

i love love love to see this girl learn and grow each day. she is beautiful, oh so determined, intuitive, happy, super aware, and dang smart. she is also wild...like doesn't sit still, and if you look away for a second she is probably climbing up something. just the other day we were at the beach and i was helping river get a juice box out, and in that time rumi had climbed up the wagon handle bar to the top. like she was standing on the handle bar pole. how? luckily it was locked in. i have mini heart attacks daily. her dad can't even watch her on the slides at the park because she just cruises right up them and then laughs as she slides down. ha. she also gives the best kisses, has killer dance moves, loves teasing/wrestling her brother, loves taking mowgli on bike rides, and is a mama's girl through and through. she's got seven teeth and two more on the way. she loves food. she also loves feeding other people, even if you don't want it, she will stuff it in your mouth. she is still mostly breast fed, but loves apples, coconut water, carrots and hummus, rice, and guacamole. her favorite toys are the dog water bowl and shoes. why? haha. she loves her dog brother, and is obsessed with birds and bugs. her first word was "da" for dad, but says and understands so much. my favorite is when she says bye and waves, because she does it like ten times in a row. she is quite the little actress. she also makes really good animal sounds. we all love her sooooo dang much its hard to contain it. she gets kissed and hugged and squished all day long. 

for her birthday we celebrated in San Diego at the zoo. it seemed fitting (even though we aren't fans of zoos) since she is our wild child and loves animals. we spent all day there because someone just learned how to walk and decided that they wanted to walk the entire time instead of ride in their stroller. it was a perfect day celebrating our favorite girl. we also had the traditional cake smash. this girl is not afraid of getting messy thats for sure. she even blew out her own candle and loved opening her presents. how does she know how to do all these things? she blows me away daily. ok. now you can stop growing up my beautiful babe. 

and... we are also celebrating this kid becoming a big brother and learning his new role this past year. this kid loves his baby sister so dang much. he has to be the first one to get her up from her nap. they have this bed time ritual of wrestling on my bed before they go to sleep. he takes her hand when needed and loves trying* to carry her. he is her protector, but don't get me wrong, he does his fair share of teasing too...just like big brothers do;)

you are loved. you are loved. you are loved. 

happy first birthday baby girl!

xo

six.

six months with our baby girl has been a dream, and not because she is a great sleeper (maybe the worst;)) or never cries, but because she brings such a joy and peace into our lives. she has the most beautiful and sweet and peaceful spirit. it is so fun to see her personality grow. lately she is becoming quite a mama's girl. she is super happy as long as she is in mom's arms or at least within arms reach. she can sit up and roll over, loves mama's milk the most, but is starting to try different foods...so far avocados are a win...no teeth yet. she only laughs really hard when her brother is teasing her, she has a grip of a bear, loves the sand and water, and is fascinated with her dog brother, mowgli. we have given her lots of nicknames which include rumi-zoomy, rooms, ruma luma, roo, and roomas. she wakes me up with the biggest smile and the sweetest baby coos. its.the.best. she has already been on three road trips, moved to a new house, and hiked more in her 6 months than most do in their whole life. as long as we are outside or on the go she is happy. she is everything sweet and good. i am just grateful i get to be her mom. i feel at times inadequate because she is so perfect. she is pure sunshine. 

we are so in love. 

thank you for coming to our family Rumi. 

these past six months have been the absolute best. 

one minute. 

one month. 

two months.

three months. 

blessed. 

four months. 

five months. 

six months.

2018.

these past four months have whizzed on by...maybe it had something to do with adding a new addition to the family. man, having two kids is a lot harder than one (and really i mean three kids, because if you know me at all, then you know my dog is my child.). duh. 

i am still trying to figure out how to balance everything, and to be honest, most days it's kicking my trash. baby girl is a dream baby though. she greets me every time with the biggest smile, and she has the cutest smile with the best dimples in the whole wide world. i hold her pretty much all day long and kiss her cheeks a hundred times, because she is just so squishy and yummy, and also, because i know how fast these babies grow. 

we decided to get out of town to bring in the new year. being at the beach just felt right, and so did the 75 degree weather. i need the sunshine. everyone wins at the beach...dog, kids, parents. 2018 is going to be so good. our family is on a path that i am super stoked about. i am learning so much everyday being a mom. it's teaching me to dig deep, simplify, and understand what is really important...and of course....patience (obviously that is the theme every year with kids. kids man.).  if you want to read some good books, add wayne dyer to your collection. i am reading (listening to) the secrets of the power of intentions and excuses begone. oh and i can't forget, the happy vegan by russell simons (no, not the aerobics spaz, and no, you don't have to be vegan to read it. so good.).  both highly recommended. 

mostly, i am just really excited to see where 2018 takes us. 

since we were already in california we decided to spend a day at disney. we wanted to go when it was all decked out for the holidays because we had never been this time of year. it was definitely magical and so pretty, but now we can say we have seen it, because man was it crowded. 

oh. my. gosh. i love them. 

my people. my tribe. my team.

4 months

4 years

and you can't road trip to california without taking a pit stop at 

seven magic mountains. 

new year. new goals. new me. 

2018 we are coming for you.

xo