Quick run down!

It has been a fantastic summer so far and it has been a little while since I blogged, so I thought I would give a quick run down of what is going on in the White household :)

Last week I got LASIK surgery! My vision is not terrible, but I WAS nearsighted and did have corrective lenses that I RARELY wore, but should have because without them I was squinting a lot! So I finally decided to get the surgery because we had some extra money in our health flex account and this is the last year to use that money for LASIK. I scheduled this surgery months ago and the day of surgery I was fine, until Ronnie and Connor dropped me off. Despite LASIK being very routine and not major, I suddenly felt very anxious and emotional, I couldn't say goodbye for some reason and just had to give my boys quicks kisses goodbye. Connor realized something was not right because when I left, Ronnie said he cried out a very worried "Mama!" :( So glad I didn't hear it! The surgery itself was very bizarre, I felt like I was being probed by aliens. It was not a painless as some people had told me, but manageable. The first three hours after the surgery were rather uncomfortable and I was thinking "Why on earth did I do this!" But literally after the first three hours I was totally fine. The next day my vision was 20/15 and I have been amazed at how crisp everything is, to see trees so clearly. I am going to need good eye sight to keep an eye on my boy!

Two days after my surgery I met some of Ronnie's family on his mom's side. Ronnie's mom passed away several years ago and he lost contact with a lot of his mom's side of the family, but thanks to the magic of facebook, his aunt found him and we had lunch with her and her daughter and her daughter's two kids. It was really nice to meet Ronnie's mom's side of the family because Ronnie's mom means so very much to him and he misses her everyday. He misses her even more now that Connor is here and wishes more than anything that they could know each other. It makes me happy that Connor has now met that side of the family.

In about a week we will be making our yearly summer trip to Eureka, CA to see all of my wonderful extended family. It is always an exhausting trip, but it fills me up with so much joy. My extended family is my world and it is so very important to me that Connor knows them well and loves them as much as I do. Growing up I remember constantly being surrounded my aunts and uncles and cousins and I love and treasure the closeness my family has. I want Connor to have that too with his cousins and so we are very excited to go and see them on a perfect long weekend. On one day we will be celebrating Braelynn's first birthday and the next day we will be going to a baby shower for my cousin Lili! There is always something going on in the family, I love the new generation we are all creating!

New Camera

For Father's Day this year I got my husband a very nice camera, a Nikon D3100. He has wanted an SLR camera for as long as I have known him and his goal is to one day make a book on botany and use pictures he takes of native plants from the Northwest. We have always put off buying one because they are rather expensive, but this year for Father's Day I really wanted to get it for him because he simply is a remarkable Dada (whom Connor still calls Mama). No one can make Connor laugh quite like he can and he is very much present and active in Connor's life. Except for breastfeeding, Ronnie has done and does everything that I do for Connor. He stays up with him all night when he is sick, he reads him books, he folds his laundry, gives him baths, rocks him to sleep, takes him to the doctor, he does it all. He absolutely deserved this camera, he was very surprised and a little nervous about my big purchase (because we bought season duck tickets the same week!), but I assured him that we were taken care of budget wise and he became excited.

He got his camera right in time for one of his summer school courses on digital photography, so he was able to learn a little bit about how to use the camera and the different settings. Here is some of his work so far and some pics of the boy of course :)

I think Ronnie is well on his way to making his book!

This one is my personal fav :)

Summah Time!

So Monday marked my first official day of summer vacation, I had classes the week before. Somehow I am more exhausted this week than last week! Watching that Connor boy all week on my own was not easy! The kid has endless amounts of energy. Ronnie drove to Western everyday this week to finish up his summer term and I sure did miss him and his help. So to pass the time I tried to get some activities so that Connor and I wouldn't drive each other crazy!

Monday was very low key, we just stayed at home and relaxed. On Tuesday we went to story time at the Wilsonville Library. It was really cute! It was our first time going, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. They read three books and in between each book we sang a song. Connor wandered around the whole time checking out the other kids and trying to take the book away from the storyteller. He did really enjoy the songs and he interacted well with the other little kids, which isn't always the case from my short tempered boy :) I plan on trying to make story time a weekly thing.

Thursday and Friday were fun, (maybe more for mommy than Connor) because on Thursday Kelly and Kalaya visited on and Friday Heather and baby Josie visited. I really talked up Kalaya's visit to Connor and told him she was going to come over and they were going to play together and Connor was going to share his toys. So we met them for lunch at Chipotle and Connor right away went to go give Kalaya a hug. However, wweet Kalaya was not ready to give Connor a hug! Denied! We had a nice lunch and then went to our house. Connor did really well the first 45 minutes Kalaya was there sharing his toys, but after that he was like "She is still here?" And then everything was "EEEEEEE, mine!" Ughh, I hate that phrase. Hopefully he will stop that soon. But they did end their playdate with a sweet hug and kiss. :)

Friday was easier for Connor because, well, Baby Josie doesn't do a whole lot since she is only four months old. Auntie Heather brought over a wading pool and Connor really enjoyed that and Heather and I enjoyed catching up and cooing at sweet Baby Josie.

So all in all, a successful, albiet tiring, first week of summer. Lucky for us, Daddy will be home with us from now on so we can really start going out on adventures!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy of our summer thus far!

Finally, some sun!!

Umm, Kalaya, that is my lion!

GO DUCKS!!!

Time to mow!!

He melts my heart!

Ahhh, nothing better than a balloon and the great outdoors!

Summer, please don't go by too fast!

20 months

I can't believe it, but my baby is 20 months old! Where in heavens name has time gone? In four very short months he will be two.. TWO... It is really hard to comprehend. So where is the little guy at? Well, he is not talking as much as I thought he would be by this age, but he is saying new things everyday. He is stringing together two word phrases like "Oh no", "Tank you", "oo elcome" and his new favorite "Go away". The last phrase needs a little explanation. We do not say that phrase, so I think he picked it up a daycare, but he only says it to the cats, my parents' dog or to the thing he fears most right now..... bugs.... He is petrified of bugs, it is hilarious and annoying at the same time. My son is not afraid of heights, dogs of any size, the dark, loud noises, nothing. But all of the sudden the past two weeks he is terrified of bugs! He sees a fly or a spider and he begins to cry hysterically and runs to me. It was pretty funny at first, not so much anymore!

Connor is still about the pickiest eater ever. He won't eat meat anymore, doesn't like very many vegetables or fruits. He likes pasta, rice, yogurt, eggs and cheese. Not much else. I try not to let it stress me out, but the kid is a string bean and in the 1 percentile, so it is hard not to worry when he skips a meal, which he usually does every other day. But, he is still growing, albeit slowly, and he has energy for days and he is REALLY strong.

He is throwing more tantrums and trying to be more independent, so we have had to have timeouts a little bit more lately. We are trying really hard to be consistent with him and it is obvious he is frustrated with his lack of language to communicate his needs. But timeouts usually do the trick to stop any unwanted behavior.

Connor is getting really good at following requests, like throwing something away, or putting something back where it goes. He is also very sweet and loving. He loves to dance and he loves to sing, it is great. He is just full of life and love and personality :) I am just in shock that it has gone by so quickly and I am savoring the baby moments I still have with him. I love you so much Connor!

Xander Saito Fregoso

On June 7, 2011, I became a new Tia to the cutest little chubby man, Xander Saito Fregoso. Xander is my brother Jorge and sister-in-law Jenny's newest member and he could not be loved anymore. All yesterday morning I was anxiously awaiting the text message telling me my little guy was here. My brother sent me a picture and I was instantly in love. School went by soooooo slowly, I was counting the minutes until the bell rang so I could get to the hospital as fast as I legally could to I could snuggle up the little man. Boy, was he worth the wait. He is such a little chunky monkey! So much bigger than my little string bean and he looks so much like my brother Jorge and Izack.

My dad brought Connor with him and I was a little anxious as to how he was going to respond to little Xander. Let's just say Connor's sweet side doesn't always come out when he is around new little ones. When he got there with Lito, he was pretty preoccupied with the balloons and stuffed teddy bear he brought for Xander. Eventually he made his way to my lap when the nurse came in to check Xander's stats. She walked by us with Xander and kneeled down next to Connor and asked if he wanted to say hi. With no hesitation, Connor gently put his arm around Xander and give him a kiss on the cheek. Jenny and I burst into tears. I was so proud of my little guy!

Later on when my sister was holding Xander, Connor wanted to see him again. He sat next to his Tia and right away started snuggling on him, kissing him and patting him on his head. He is so in love with this little guy!

Getting ready to give him a squeeze.

So sweet.

Smooches.

Welcome to the family Xander.

You are loved.

Mow?

Connor has a new obsession. Mowing the yard. Rain or shine. Everyday.

E-V-E-R-Y-D-A-Y.

At first he wanted to be held while mowing the lawn with Dada or Lito. Not an easy thing to do, he may be small, but 22 pounds can wear your arm out. Let's just say the lawn would mysteriously get mowed while Connor was away. So we bought Connor a little lawn mower hoping that give him the "fix" he needed. Like giving crack to an addict! The first day he was outside "mowing" for three and a half hours and cried his eyes out when we forced him to come inside to eat dinner. Then with this lovely Oregon spring we have been having, he didn't understand why he couldn't go outside to mow when it was pouring down rain.

So anytime we pass by through the garage and he catches a glimpse, he squeals in delight and asks "Mow? Mow?" And when the mowing is done at our house he is ready to go to Lito's house to mow his lawn.

At least now he no longer wants to be held the entire time and is content with pushing his mower around :)

The side walk needs to be mowed too ya know!

Here we go Lito!!

His little helper

Come on Lito, don't forget the backyard!

So sweet.

And one more random picture. This is what happens when laundry doesn't get done on the weekend

Please don't judge :)

The BIG slide!

One of the things I love most about living in Wilsonville is all the great parks we have here! Within one mile of our house there are three play structure parks and a nature park. Last week we decided to trek to the other side of town to our favorite park by the library. This park is so amazing, it has the best and more importantly free water park! It was a little too cold that day to go to the water park (I had to distract Connor as we were driving by it) but they also have a great play area too!
The park has a big hill that has a really wide slide. Connor and I have used this slide before, but one problem with it is that you don't actually slide very well. So people have brought little pieces of cardboard to really fly down the slide. It never even occurred to me when we went down that I would use one, I saw how fast those kids were going and I was not interested!

But Daddy came with us this time and he is far more adventurous than I am.

Yeah, that moment of whiplash at the end had me holding my breath too. But Connor couldn't get enough! He kept say "Otra", which in Spanish means "another"!

So otra they did!

A new world

So I've done it. My first foray into blogging. Since Connor was born I have debated whether or not to start a blog. I enjoy reading the blogs of my girlfriends' so much, so maybe someone will enjoy reading this as well! Especially once Connor starts talking more and giving us what I am sure will be some hilarious one liners :) I look forward to looking back on the blog and sharing it with Connor when he is older and giving my family who are far away a little look into our simple life.