General Updates and Such

• I'm making cabbage rolls tonight. Never made them before, and I'm following about 3 recipes that I'll morph together, plus a little creativity on my part. It's also a clean-out-the-produce-in-my-fridge meal, so it will be unique.
• I bought a bunch of cabbage at the store last week and have been making a cabbage salad every few days. 1/4 head of cabbage sliced thin, 1/4 red onion sliced thin, handful of cilantro roughly chopped, handful of baby carrots sliced thin (or julienned), 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp sesame oil, dash of soy sauce, 1 tsp grated ginger, salt & pepper (make dressing separately). It gets even better after a day or two. Mmmm.

• Also made dragon noodles recently and loved them so much, I made them again the next day! I made with different noodles each time and omitted the egg because I think they're gross. And also, I don't buy them.
• B has his fourth tooth officially. I've felt it since the weekend, but I can now officially see it well enough to confirm that it's broken through.
• Thank God. 
• The cold is still here and in full-force. My Nose-Frida is taking her sweet time getting here and I'm getting impatient. 
• B is also getting up on all-fours and rocking a bit, but he still does the airplane and gets pretty pissed that doing the airplane doesn't actually make him fly. He manages to scoot all over the map though with his roll and 360 degree turn technique.

New hat! Thanks Ceil & Helen!

• We took B to vote with us last night. Why I had to use a half-dried up pen to bubble in my choices like a scantron as opposed to the punch stamps like past elections? I felt like I was voting in a fake election. And they were out of stickers? I mean... really.

• We're like this close to finishing our basement. We took a pilgrimage to Home Depot last night after voting to buy paint. The light is finally seen at the end of the tunnel. Good heavens. Hooray. Renovation post to come.
• Every night for the past few months (+ randomly over 1.5 years), Ray has been going down into the basement after B goes down to bed for the night and working until midnight and later. I've been joining him once the primer/painting started up. 
• And bonus, B decided to start waking up randomly (dang cold!), making for a sleep-deprived family.
• We scheduled to have our floor epoxy done the week of the 18th! We've never been more excited to spend thousands of dollars on flooring. Hah. It will look similar to this. We chose the brown.
• We bought a mattress for the basement and plan to buy a mattress encasement so it stays moisture free. Our basement is the cleanest basement around, so I'm not too worried, but I like peace of mind. We're also thinking about a metal bed to hold said mattress and we like this one for an affordable, yet classy option. 
• We also really want a treadmill for the basement, but we don't want to spend the cash right now. Anyone have one and love it? We're runners (albeit slow), so it would have to be durable.
• Ray just finished the Steve Jobs Biography and I'm excited to read it. 
• I'm gonna need a Halloween candy eating intervention. We have gone through like 50 various chocolate items in the last week. I'm averaging 3+ a day, people. 
• It's Wednesday and nap #1 of 2 is fleeting. Off to accomplish!

Nashville & California

Pretend like this post isn't super overdue, mmmkay?

As expected, we saw a ton of people we love and that means we have tons of photos to share. If you don't want to see a trillion photos of the B-monster and his adoring familia, this is likely the post that will never end for you. If you are said familia, this post will rock your socks off.

Can't please everyone. ;)

Nashville was short and sweet. We did a little exploring and listened to some country music and then scooted out pretty quickly. We were there less than 48 hours in total and hopped on a plane from Nashville to California for a very late night with the ol' time change working against us. I really hoped I could meet Molly, but unfortunately she doesn't live anywhere near Nashville and therefore it would have required an intense drive with a 6-month old, by herself. I know how hard that is, so that ended up being a no-go. Note to self: just because you're visiting a state someone lives in that you know, it doesn't mean they are going to be close to your location. Kind of like when people used to ask my husband (who was an Air Force Academy grad and Officer) if he knew their uncle/cousin/sister/nephew/whoever that is also in the Air Force.

Tangent complete. Here's the quick rundown of Nashville before I lose any more readers.

Benjamin meets the King. Yet, he cannot be bothered.

Just before they started setting up to film the TV show, Nashville. How appropriate in... Nashville.

Those are all fake I.D.s, says the bouncer.

Live music!

Las Paletas Peanut Butter Gourmet Popsicle. Similar to the gourmet popsicle place I visited in New Orleans.  With 220 five-star reviews on Yelp, I was up for it. And sure enough, it was delicious. Also bought: chocolate almond.

We took an evening flight from Nashville to California. The next morning, my best friend and matron of honor in my wedding, Alison, and her son Scotty came to visit. Scotty was born while we were living in Germany and is 2 1/2 now. His big sister Gabrielle is 8! Her photo is at the end of this post.

Nevermind the shower hair I am rockin'. This was the best picture of Alison and myself-- the kids had better pictures, but I'm vain enough to not want to post pictures of our double chins. 

Grandma photo bomb!

B's first pumpkin patch! In California of all places. Where I grew up in a very populated Los Angeles, pumpkin patches pop up in empty parking lots and vacant lots of all kinds. Throw down some hay, cart in some animals, add pumpkins and carnival rides, and you're set! Here in IL, I learned quickly that there really are such things as farms that grow pumpkins in the ground at the very place you go and pick them! Maybe next year.

"So I was just thinking..."

For a belated birthday present, my parents rented a boat to take us out on Alamitos Bay. My brother brought dinner from one of our favorite teriyaki joints and we got to meet his wife for the first time (they'll be married a year this month!). It was a really nice time! 

Fun fact: On the first day I introduced Ray to my parents back in my early 20's, we took them out kayaking in this same bay and saw moon jellies. It was a blast.

Such wonderful boys

Maybe Benjamin enjoyed his dinner. Looks like it. :)

Steering the boat with Grandpa.

My brother, his wife Anna, and the latest face B makes all the time. We think it's hilarious.

Post boat riding and dinner eating, we headed back to the pumpkin patch for more fun with Grandpa this time. Notice the attire. This is L.A., people. No long sleeved shirts or mittens like you'll see us already sporting in Chicago. It was 70+ degrees.

Grandparents + B-man

First carnival train ride with Grandpa

Weeeeee!

My, what big hands you have!

This series of photos cracks me up. I'd usually choose just one, but being that I was looking at them in order, I just had to post them all. I'm sure my dad will really appreciate them. ;)

That's funny. Something's missing...

No really. Check out his hair, it's missing!

Happy B-man and his Grandpa up way past his bedtime.

Family photo 

From my parent's house, we headed to San Diego to meet up with Ray's family for his cousin's wedding. I'm telling you, it was quite the trip... hence my excuse to insist on posting so. many. photos.

More Grandpa jokes. What is that on your chin? Hair? But why is it so... white?

Giving a little love to Ray's Aunt Helen

Aunt Helen, Aunt Ceil, B-man, Grandma

I love attention!

Pre-wedding festivities

Great Papa & Dad

Great Gramie & Gramie

Three generations of men

Hanging out with Ray's second cousins and his Aunt Jan

Wedding celebrating! Please excuse the fat mom arms. I eat a lot of chocolate.

We headed back up to L.A. after our wedding festivities ended and had lunch with our friends Nik, Solange, Caity & Oliver at one of our favorite restaurants in Hermosa Beach, El Pollo Inka. Solange is Peruvian and they introduced us to that restaurant (and others!), but Chicago doesn't have much to compare. Especially not in the 'burbs.

Caity, Ray, B-man sporting his L.A. bib. When in L.A., be like an Angelino.

Lomo Saltado and Benjamin stealing a tomato. Gotta watch him; he's sly like a fox.

Lunch crew

After lunch, we headed to Hermosa Beach (where I lived just about 7 blocks away when I met Ray) and had to dip Benjamin's feet into the Pacific! He's experienced the Atlantic and now he's touched the water of both coasts. Our friends took some awesome photos of the occasion.

Where I come from... there's corn bread and chicken amazing weather and gorgeous beaches. And a bright sun that gave me skin cancer. Okay, so it's the same sun as in the Midwest, but it sure seems more intense in the West!

Ray, B, Nik, Oliver on Hermosa Pier

My friends Alison, Nic, Gabrielle & Scotty came down to join us before we headed to LAX to catch our flight so Gabrielle could meet Benjamin. My friend from the beginning of this enormously long post? That's her daughter. I cannot believe she is EIGHT. I was in that hospital room when she was born and it still shocks me she's such a beautiful and smart second grader already.

B was pretty smitten.

If you're tired just looking at our adventures, imagine how we feel! We're staying put for awhile. This might be the first time in ages we don't have plane tickets purchased to go anywhere. Of course I can name at least 3 plane ticket purchases we will be making in the next few months, but they're not booked yet!

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Lighting a candle tonight. 23 months. Next month will mark another year. I'm sure the next month will be more emotional than usual. I ordered his ornament for the remembrance ceremony we'll be attending again this year in December. It will be an annual tradition to honor Andrew.

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I'm being featured on BlogHer's Life Homepage tomorrow! I've never been featured... anywhere! And I get to add this to the side of my blog.

Insta-Friday + The Sumo Wrestlers are Back

What a day. What a night, really. We were just hanging out on the couch around 9 and heard B crying. Ray went upstairs after awhile and held B for about 5 minutes and he fell back asleep. Just as Ray was wrapping up the Steve Jobs Biography, B started crying again... this time around 11:30. This type of behavior is very unusual for Benjamin. When he used to wake up during the night, it wouldn't be before 3 or 4. This was twice, much earlier. It didn't occur to us that B could be sick. That's right... the sumo wrestlers are now attacking the B-man. Sure enough, Ray returned downstairs, this time with a very snot-nosed bebe, still groggy in his sleepsack (no fever). I used the aspirator and then decided I would bite the bullet and buy the Nose Frida. I gave my friend a lot of grief for sucking out her twin kiddos' boogers with that thing. And then I read all the reviews on Amazon {well, not all of them, because wow, y'all} and decided baby sicknesses are miserable and sucking them out with my own mouth {barf} was the least I could do to provide him some comfort and both of us some sleep.

Our next concern was... what to do? Poor B couldn't sleep because he was all stuffed up when he was laying flat. He needed a good night's sleep. We don't own a recliner, though I'm heavily considering a Craigslist purchase now. We considered the Ergo, but he would be laying on his belly and that's not the best for congestion. So there we were, back to... the carseat. He spent a good 1-2 months sleeping in his carseat in the earlier days of sleep drama between the co-sleeper and the crib transition. We found ourselves putting him in his carseat when he woke up again for the third time at 2:30. He slept until 9:30. He had another nearly 2 hour nap in there already today as well.

What a lifesaver that carseat is. I almost wish I had one just my size for when I get super congested and have to sleep with 12 pillows propped under my head. Full day 1 of sickness is underway. And let's not forget that he's getting a top tooth any day now and drooling like a fool. That's snot dripping and booger bubbles and drool. How to handle all these...... fluids. And I won't even get into the other bodily functions that are particularly messy and rank lately.

Kids are disgusting. But man do I love this boy. On to the week in pictures. I promise I'm working on the Nashville/California post. There are going to be about 50 pictures in that post. At least.

Champagne on a random evening. This particular bottle was given to us for Andrew's celebratory arrival. Yes, from you, Alison. We never felt proper drinking it to celebrate, so instead we picked a random day of the week to drink it and celebrate both of our boys. I love champagne and I love my boys.

B is usually covered in oatmeal before bathtime. Unless we wanted the bath to be an oatmeal  scrub treatment, we usually put B in the sink for a quick pre-soak/wipedown while his bathwater is warming. He quite enjoys his miniature hot tub.

Love me some Tillamook. More evidence that I belong in the PNW.

Teething baby with mom's lip balm. We only have 10 other teethers, but the lip balm wins every time.

This fruit is called rambutan. We had it on our honeymoon (sweet like a  grape) and I saw it at the market yesterday. 

This morning. Sick bebe: sad, snotty, and teething. Ergo carrying around the house