Beanie's new friends (& mommy & daddy's forever pals)

We journeyed all the way to NE to be a part of our beautiful sister Kelly's wedding of coarse, but we went a little early to get in some time with some of our amazing college friends who hold some of the sweetest memories in our lives! And...BONUS there have been many a babe born in the last few months here that we were able to visit! Bean has a whole state full of new friends, what a lucky guy! Wish we were closer so that they could all get together, have some milk and lay and stare at the bright lights...ha ha! Check that, wish we lived closer so that mommy could get in some good mommy chats & the babes could slowly but surely strike up some hilarious friendships...but we'll take what we can get, hopefully that will happen over the miles! Don't worry that Beanie was the only one who got some buddy time....Griffy got some love from his oldest friend, the adorable Miss Lyla herself! These two played together on their play mats as teeny tinies and are still buds! It's so fun for me to watch Lyla grow with Griff! God blessed us so richly with great friends and it's amazing to share this part of our journey with all of them!

Griff, Beanie & I with my oldest friend Mollie and her peanut Sam in Iowa City! It was a great pit stop!!!

These two are my sweet friends all the way back from my first year in the dorm, yeah Sandoz!!! Many hilarious memories were shared! Josie just had baby Kennedy and Sarah "Woots" is pregnant and due this winter with Baby Rider! I love the pic of the "3" babes! We are just missing Andrea & baby Graham, our other roomie & mommy combo!

This pic is a little hard to see, but it's Lindsey, Baby Evie, Ryan, Griffin, Lyla & I posing in the pirate ship at the Children's Museum in Omaha!

Aw, Griff & Ly...you're a match made in heaven!

This is baby Emery with the boys & her adorable mommy Kim! Ryan & I have had the blessing of knowing and loving Kim & Scott through our dating years at Lincoln and we got married the same year! They now work at Boys Town in Omaha...truly amazing!

And we also got in a visit with the Kubiceks! Brooke and I did bible study and lived together all through college & Ry and Brooke went to High School together. Her husband Jason and new baby Libby are awesome additions to our group!

So all in all we got in a lot of visits with some great friends...they may have been fast and furious, but we just felt so lucky to get the chance to see, catch up and enjoy all the new additions to our friends lives!

road trippin it mini van style....

So last week we loaded up the van with 1 bouncy seat, one infant bath tub, 4 huge suitcases, 1 tiny suit, one bridesmaid dress, endless amounts of snacks, diapers, wipes & car activities, 2 small boys and car seats and left our sanity as we headed out for what is normally a 7 hour road trip.

Sunday was the first attempt to make it to Nebraska and all was going well until Sawyers doctor called to let us know that the blood work we had done on Friday came back irregular and they over looked calling to let us know on Saturday so we turned around just as we crossed the good ole Mississippi. We headed straight into the lab to recheck the numbers and thankfully they were turning around the other way so on Monday we felt good to start the journey back West again. Let's just say jaundice can make yellow some out of some crazy places! But before we could introduce our little bean to the land of corn and soybeans we had to endure a few other comical delays on our trip. Not only did we crack our bumper when pulling up to grab some breakfast but while I ran into get the food, Ryan stayed in the car with the boys and by the time I came out he had come to the realization that his seat belt wouldn't come unbuckled and he was stuck in our car. After much tugging and pulling from us both we drove straight into the dealership where Ry shimmied out of the belt and the guys from the dealership tried to unlatch the belt with no success, so we ordered a new part and hit the road again. It was quite a trip, there were tears had by all...some from laughing and some from crying!

At around hour 10 we pulled into our home away from home the dear old state of Nebraska!

It is here where you see endless fields of this....

can eat delicious pockets full of goodness called Runza like this....

and streets are named this...

...and not to mention it is loaded with friends & family we love, so all the chaos was worth the reward & don't you worry we even made a stop at the Husker store so that the boys are ready for football season...less than 2 weeks away! Plus all that extra time in the car gave us lots of pratice on our Huskers cheers....so, as Griffin now says, "GO BIG RED!!"

this morning

exhausted!!!

Before 8am today precious beanie shot poop out onto the sheets in our bed & my fingers...& while I was grabbing wipes to get it up he shot pee over himself, into his eye and onto our comforter. The cherry on top...Griffy whizzed through his pull up onto the carpet while we were getting the sheets off. Ha ha! So were doing some wash around here, and baby boy is sacked out from all the excitement. In the end we just laughed...even Griffy! Isn't it crazy that before you become a parent the thought of someone else's poop & pee all over you is gross and after you are one, it's a daily occurrence!!??!!

sawyer richard eccleston

Here is the sweet bundle we have waited all these months for!

I know he's been here for a while but I wanted to post of few of his newborn pics. These were taken the day after we got home from the hospital and he is 4 days old. I know I will look back on these photos & treasure them and never believe he was this small and delicious, as I am sure he will be towering over me:)! His orange blankie is already a family favorite & Griffin loves that he has a green one that matches! This morning when I woke up I looked over and saw all 3 of my boys packed into bed next to me and I felt..crowded...haha, joking! I felt total bliss to have a full bed full of the 3 people I love the most in this world! Thank heaven for BOYS...big & little:)!

a shout out all the way to Africa!

This is a shout out to our besties, the other 1/2 of the super couple, the Hoins!

I posted about Zach & Case earlier this spring when they left for an amazing adventure in Uganda to start an awesome project over there helping kids who have been involved in warfare. Before they left Casey sent Beanie this adorable onesie & I had to post a pic of him in it before he gets too big for it! It is an awesome reminder for us to pray for them and the little heart on it just always makes me think of how unbelievable the hearts of these 2 really are! This pic of Sawyer would lead you to believe that he is really unhappy but on the contrary, he is really yelling out that he misses his Uncle Z & Auntie Case and that we are praying for you...he had to scream so you'd hear! Love you! xoxo

Their blog, if you are interested, is listed on the side of ours, and you can read about their journey!

i'm with this guy....

Thank the Lord for Briany...what would i do without my hubs??

He is a great dad, a super good super hero side kick to one "Super G", a crazy hard worker, excellent toddler putter to bedder, a patient potty trainer & has wonderful calming a screaming child skills! Wish I could put all those on your resume babe, you would get a raise for sure!

I am pretty blessed, even on our worst days, to get to do life with Ryan!

On the love note our "sister" Kelly is getting married next weekend & we are so excited to watch her & David start this crazy adventure called the rest of their lives:)!! We are all in the wedding so we are loading up and driving across the midwest on Sunday...cross your fingers we have quick and safe travels! Adorable ring bearer pics of Griffin to come...

1 month update.....

So we're a month into life with 2 kiddos and I have to say, we're tired! Ha ha! Like that's a big surprise! I wish I had the energy to write a really funny and creative post that would give you a picture of our last month, but apparently when you add a child into your family it zaps your time & energy just a little bit, who knew?? These last few weeks have been a hazy mess of up in the night with babe & up all day with the toddler, plus late nights at work for Ryan, potty training, several accidents, a solid effort to keep our heads up about potty training, many feedings per day & night, many diaper changes per day and night but a lot of sweet moments with the boys & snuggle time for myself and beanie which is what I will remember about this very temporary moment in time anyways.

I am 1 month old today!

Sawyer continues to steal my heart, what absolute bliss to be a mommy to a newborn. Even though they are a ton of work, knowing that this baby is my job to love and care for is so amazing, God's plan for moms is incredible. I also wanted to add that this kid is a great eater and has already gained some solid weight, he is now 10 pounds, 6 ounces...but crazily enough that is still under Griffin's birth weight at 10 lbs 14 ounces, haha! I look down at this little chunk and imagine him still in my belly and realize why I thought I was dying at the end with G, not to be dramatic:)! Sadly, his sweet little face is covered in baby achne which we are anxious to say goodbye to until the teenage years:), but other than that, he is doing just great and has such a cute little personality already!

here's where I hang out & "go potty"!!

I am also really learning a lot about myself and my outlook on life when it comes to Griffin. He is feeling this new phase out, and so are we. Ah, the joys of being the first born...now we know what we felt like way back when, both being first born ourselves. We are all in a new phase of life so we just have to pray that God leads us to figure it out the best we can. G is an awesome big brother already and I just see him as SUCH a BIG boy now. I can't believe how fast he has already grown up in this short month. He is being very patient with us as we make changes & adjustments in the way our house runs!

All in all, we are together, healthy & blessed to have each other. The rest will come...someday Griffin will wear big boy pants and pee in the potty and we'll laugh about the times we sprinted to to the bathroom with him while he dripped pee all over the floor & someday we will sleep all night through, but not today. And truthfully I am glad it's not, I don't want time to slip away any quicker than it needs to, and I want to "enjoy" these parenting rights of passage. Missing part of the journey would make me really sad....although I am tempted to call one of those boot camp places where you drop your kid off and they come back potty trained:)...shhhhhhh, don't tell!