4 month check up

Savannah passed her four month check up yesterday with flying colors.  This is a huge relief because up until this point there were still some fairly serious things that we were told to monitor her for. 

 

Savannah now weighs 12 lbs 3 oz and is 22 inches long.  She is still in the bottom 10% for height and weight at her age, but I no longer have to supplement her diet with extra calories and formula. 

Her heart murmur is gone and her lungs are fully developed and functioning at 100%.

She is not behind or delayed on any of the fine motor or communication checks either.

 

I don't think I even realized how worried I was about her until the doctor said yesterday, "Congratulations! You are in the clear and the scary part is over!"

 

Amen to that!

 

Can't believe our little girl has tripled in size and is 4 months old!

Now if I can only train myself to stop waking up every hour to make sure she is breathing...

Dana and Layla Visit Part 2

Our weekend with Dana and Layla continues...
On Sunday, we decided to walk through the Farmer's Market and head to the end of the strip for a quiet brunch at Hanson's.

Hanson's is a neighborhood bar and grill that is super kid friendly with great food and great service.  Chance and Layla played really well together, which made for an enjoyable brunch.  

That's right folks...I'm getting brave enough to take Chance and Savannah out for brunch!

After brunch we headed out to the aquarium downtown. 

When we first arrived it was if everyone without air conditioning and a child under the age of 8 in the entire metro area had decided to spend the afternoon at the aquarium.  It was no es bueno!

Dana and I hauled a$$ through the "millions" of people to the concession stand to let the crowds die down...and Dana taught Chance how to properly eat a Twix.
Finger licking chocolate good!

I'm so glad we took a concessions break because the second time through the aquarium was 100% better.  

We could actually get up to the glass and see the animals.  

It was very relaxing to be with the kids and point out all of the fish.  

Chance loves the overhead tunnel.  

This was the first trip to the aquarium that we also got to see the mermaid show.  I never understood the mermaids in the aquarium before now.
They do a little choreographed swim and talk with the kids about pollution and keeping the oceans clean.
It sounds cheesy but it was actually really cute and the kids seemed to like it a lot.
I get it...who doesn't love Aerial?  

I know Dana and I love watching Chance and Layla's excitement!

 

 

The tiger sat up and looked at us,
we found Nemo,
and the jellyfish are always stop in your tracks amazing!

 

Chance was completely passed out in the stroller by the time we got to the grand finale shark tank, but it was still a great day with a wonderful friend.  

Thanks for coming Dana and Layla! I plan to return the favor and take you up on that Napa Valley tour.  XO

Dana and Layla visit - Part 1

I spent this past weekend catching up with one of my dear friends, Dana.
Dana and I met in Tulsa at a Wallace Engineering happy hour and became instant friends.  We were both new to Tulsa, paired up with an engineer, from Kansas, and looking for new friends.
I'm sure if the ol' blog would have been around for our Tulsa years, you would have seen many pictures of Dana and I running marathons together, shopping, and prepping for silly mustache parties.
Here's an example of a pic from the past...


Needless to say, we have remained friends and kept in touch. I was ecstatic when Dana called and said that she would like to book a flight and a time to come and visit with us.
Dana now lives in San Francisco, has an eighteen month old daughter named Layla and another little girl scheduled to arrive in November.
It worked out perfectly for Dana and Layla to use Denver as a half way stopping point in between San Fran and Kansas City so that Dana could break up the flight time for Layla.

Dana is a brave woman traveling with an eighteen month old and being pregnant.  She is a supermom that believes that she can do it all....hmmm....I think I understand why we became fast friends....something about having a lot in common.

Dana and Layla arrived in Denver on Friday afternoon.  I picked them up from the airport, but had to leave Chance and Savannah at daycare because we don't have a car that holds 3 car seats!! It worked out for the best though because I got to help Dana check into her hotel, get settled, and  enjoy a nice lunch over chips and queso.

We spent some time with all of the kids at our house on Friday night but we all called it a night early so that we could be fresh and full of energy to explore the town together on Saturday.


Dana had told me the night before that she was going to stay at the hotel until after Layla's morning nap.  Max was up and at em' bright and early on Saturday morning painting the garage so I took advantage of having alone time with the kids and attempted a mini photo shoot.  

I can not believe how fast Savannah is growing. 

Chance said he didn't want to take any "cheese's" but he wanted to take pictures of Savannah with me on his phone.  These kids are so fun.  Exhausting...but fun :)

Dana and Layla arrived just before lunch and we decided to walk over to Pearl St for a quick and easy lunch option.  We settled on Sexy Pizza by the slice and had a great time talking and laughing with the kids.   

 

After lunch, we were off to the park.  

We all played a little of everything....
swings, slide, sand

 

 

 

 

 

It was the perfect afternoon at the park.

We decided to cool ourselves off with some ice cream on our walk home.  

 

 

Meanwhile, Max had been a painting...painting...painting...
The neighbors tease me about never allowing Max to play.  Max is working so hard to get this project finished.  I know he  can not wait until the day that he can spend hours playing in the park and eating ice cream with us too!
But for now the man is on a mission....

Unfortunately...I set that mission back a few hours by picking out a bad paint color.  It looked great on the sample, but not on the garage.  Max thought it looked like primer and was way too light.
Dana was friends with us back in the Tulsa remodel days and understood the need for me to take a trip to Home Depot to fix my costly color choice.
Oh well! You can't win them all I guess.  

Saturday night we opted to stay in for dinner and play with the kids.
Dana helped with child safety control while I made us dinner.     

The kids played great again together and rode the little train around all evening.

It was a great night spent with good food, friends, and laughter.  

Chance drove Layla around on the train yelling "all aboard!"
It was hilarious. 

We ended the night with Despicable Me (what else) and some cuddle time on the couch.
It was a great day.
I'll post pictures of our Sunday adventures soon.  

Savannah's first laugh

Playing with daddy before bed time is by far Chance's favorite thing of the day. Max and Chance usually wrestle and tickle each other while Savannah and I sit and smile at those two crazy boys.

Last night, Max scooped up Savannah and began to play with her. I had to bite my tongue when I saw him start to raise Savannah in the air!!

"Don't do that!" I almost said. "You'll scare her to death!" I almost said.

But I didn't and then I heard the unmistakeable sound of baby laughter!

Ear to ear...do it again daddy...baby laughter!

Savannah's laughter was so contagious we were all belly laughing. I'm glad I kept my big mouth shut and we were able to enjoy that moment as a family!

I guess we have three adrenaline junkies in the family and now we know how to make Savannah laugh.

Grandpa Les meets Savannah

This past weekend I finally had the pleasure of introducing my dad to my new little girl!
To say his was smitten is an understatement. 


I guess my dad got tired of my mom sending him picture texts of her visits with Chance and Savannah so he decided that he wanted to come too. 

Cuddles for Savannah and Buzz Light Year toys for Chance made everyone in the house happy that Grandpa Les had arrived. 

I invited my bff, Brandi, from high school over for the evening because she still has a close relationship with my parents and I knew that they would want to see her and her daughter Reese. 

We ordered pizza and had a great time catching up and laughing about how the times have changed :)

On Friday we headed to the Alpine Slide....

my dad graciously volunteered to sit out the first round with Savannah....I honestly think my dad wanted nothing more than to sit and hold Savannah all day. 

So...while we had a trustworthy babysitter, Chance, my mom, and I hit up the alpine slope.  We all had a blast racing down the mountain side on our little sleds. 

Chance is definitely going to be a mini-Max! He loves riding the lifts (he even warned me not to drop my phone during our lift selfie shot) and he immediately said.... "again!" as soon as we were done with the slide!

I'm so in love with this little man!

We had a great day and I loved spending it with my parents. 


On Saturday, we decided that the best time to try out the hotel pool would be right after breakfast while the kids were full and awake. 

This turned out to be a great plan and we had an absolute blast playing with Chance in the water. 
Of course we got no pictures of Chance fearlessly jumping in the water for hours....but it happened and it was fun!

My mom and I loved teaching Chance to swim and playing with him in the water. 

My dad played lifeguard and held our bathing beauty again....I'm noticing a theme :)

After the pool I began to get really anxious because I realized that I had not yet heard from Max who was supposed to be joining us after his mountain bike ride...
long story short
Max spent Saturday in the urgent care at the hospital because he feared that he had broken his arm!
Luckily, Max did not break his arm and he was able to join us for the evening.
Thank GOD! Can you imagine two babies and a husband with a broken arm....I would've killed him....which is why he said he didn't call until after he had confirmation that his arm was just bruised and capable of holding babies.  Phew!

We spent the rest of Saturday  night with my parents eating dinner, blowing bubbles, and watching Cars.  It was a great evening and so relaxing!

On Sunday, my parents had to leave bright and early to make the 13 hour car trip home.  Max and I decided to have a family day and do some more work around the house. 

We spent the morning at the park, which I think has become our Sunday thing. 

 

I love these four little feet
and
I could not be more fond of our family time every week at the park.  I think it is important to have family time to keep us talking, connected, and on the same path. 

Who wouldn't be happy around a little boy with this much joy.  He's contagious...I tell ya!

 

AND Savannah is the chilliest child I have ever encountered.  I wish I could be as relaxed as Savannah all.of.the.time! She is so chill it's scary!

We ended our park day on the merry go round 

and then hit up the farmer's market for lunch. 

By Sunday afternoon....Max and I struck gold by getting both kids to nap at the same time. 

It was a great weekend and I am so thankful to my parents for making the long drive to Denver to visit us. 
I guess these kinds of weekends are our new normal! Good thing we all had a great time!
So much fun!