our week by iPhone - week 72

we made it to the weekend my friends & it was a pretty good week leading up to it.  my mom was in town all week & some good times were had.  i do have a twenty-one week bump post coming up but it'll have to wait til monday... we've been having too much fun.

here's what it looked like in pictures!

monday.  i took p-ray & the bump out for a run monday morning in the sun & crisp air.  felt pretty awesome.  back at home there was face squishing & wrestling... which is just business as usual when you're the mom to an energetic little boy.

monday night we took my mom downtown to a couple of our favorite local spots.  a sandwich shop for dinner & a cupcake shop for dessert.  parker's excitement was apparent all the way through bathtime.  that's pretty much what i looked like all night too.

tuesday.  parker & i started the morning off with some wrestling while my mom made major headway on new curtains for my living room.  parker decided a nap wasn't for him that day & opted for an hour & a half of quiet time with books & animals in his bed.  whatevs p-ray, whatevs.

once he was up parker decided it was time to go outside.  in the pouring rain.  we threw on our raincoats & boots & got really really wet.  after dragging him inside kicking & screaming we went out with friends to mexican food to celebrate heather's birthday... happy birthday heather!  your birthday should be everyday, if it means chips, salsa & delicious enchiladas.  yummm.

wednesday.  parker & i went to stroller strides {where he spent quality time with his girlfriend madison} while my mom stayed home & put finishing touches on the new curtains... that lady is amazing, i tell ya.  parker looked out the window at the torrential downpour & tried to convince me we needed more rainy day play but i wasn't as easy to convince since the rain was coming down sideways.

wednesday night was kinda awesome.  hunger games with my mom.  pop, popcorn.  nuff said.

thursday.  i went in to work & emptied that little inbox while mom & parker stayed at home & worked on puzzles.

i hit up a soft pretzel on the way home {major pregnancy guilty pleasure... and non-pregnancy guilty pleasure} where i met the newest addition to our family.  our new macbook!  love love love it.  kinda obsessed.  and in love.

then p-ray slept all crazy like & i liked it.

friday.  after stroller strides parker hit up the books & pretended to be happy with me even though we were very very sad... it was mom/grandma going home day.  booooo!  we dropped mom off at the airport, stopped at the pet store to look at animals & the mall to try on clothes & then parker took pictures of his feet all the way home.

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=138689" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:

little bits of happiness, week three.

i'm linking up for another week of "little bits of happiness" hosted by my very good bloggy & real life-friend stephanie.  here's what made me happy this week.

{a walk along the marina on a rare sunny day.}

{p-ray watching for fish in the water below.}

{a completely out of focus picture that i can't bring myself to delete because p-ray is obviously giving me a killer stink-eye in this shot.}

{bright tulips purchased from pike place market that help make me feel like spring really is here.  despite all the rain.}

{new curtains finally completely sewed & hung up!  thanks mom, you rock.  all that fabric probably woulda sat in my closet another six months if it weren't for you.}

and that's just a few.  it's been a pretty good week.  my mom & i went to see hunger games last night & i can't wait to talk about it!  i feel a random post with bullet points in our near future.  i have so much to talk about & it feels like zero time to type it all out.  so for now?  pretty pictures & the promise of future bullet points will have to do.

wordless{ish} wednesday: rainy day play.

i don't know if you know this but in seattle?  it rains a lot.  

and if on one of these rainy days your toddler drags out his boots, puts them on all by himself & then asks to go outside you don't waste your breath saying "maybe if it stops raining, ok?"  because you'd be inside all day everyday.  nope.  instead you throw a couple more layers on him, zip up his raincoat & send him on his merry way.  

and then you watch him have a really, really good wet time.  that's how we do.

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, jenni from the blog & a little king & i}

a day at the market & a quick steppin' out.

my mom is visiting for a couple weeks so saturday was officially designated as "seattle day."  after fighting traffic just to get in to the city for over an hour, we snagged a 30-minute loading zone spot right in the middle of pike place market & called it good.  these pictures are the result of a 30-minute jaunt through the ginormous market just to get our fill of flowers, produce & fish smell.  totally worth it.

but i have for reals gotta get me back there with some time on my hands to just snap pictures til my finger falls off.  pretty sure i could be there all day & never run out of things to shoot.

and then sunday was just a laid back laze-around-the-house-after-church kinda day.  there was a walk to the park, movie watching, popcorn eating & cereal-for-dinner having.  pretty standard around here.

here's what p-ray & i wore to church.

hope everyone had a great weekend!  happy monday.

{linking up with mandy for steppin' out saturday.}

our week by iPhone - week 71

my mom is visiting from salt lake all of this week & next so we are showing her a really good time.  and by "a good time" i mean dragging her repeatedly to stroller strides, target & the grocery store.  because that's what we do around here.

the first couple days of our week i was a little too busy showing my mom said good time to take too many pictures but don't worry, i made up for it in the end with an extra day o' fun.

here we go!

monday.  lunch at the pita pit after picking mom up from the airport.  face-timing with my dad back in salt lake & being face-time bombed by p-ray who just wants to see their puppy.  he's obsessed.

tuesday.  we braved torrential downpours to go to stroller strides.  which by the way, my mom rocked.  guzzling nesquick in the store parking lot so i can rid the evidence before getting home.  p-ray sleeping in weird positions, per the uge.

wednesday.  snuggles & sesame street in the morning, new bubbles at the grocery store & lunch out with me ma.  weird napper minus a sock & half his shirt.  hide & seek/tag/wrestling with dad after work.  my mom making her world famous potato salad to eat with her also world famous oven-fried chicken.  yummmmmmmmm.

thursday.  a headache & allergies at work alleviated by quiznos & hot chocolate at lunch.  {proven cures.}  a "popped" belly button that can no longer be hidden & maternity clothes shopping for clothes that aren't mumus & tents.  cute little mister in the bathtub & another one-sock sleeping incident at bedtime.

friday.  stories on the nook with grandma before some serious shopping at trader joe's on an unbelievably gorgeous day in the northwest!  win!

saturday.  day-trip into downtown seattle for some of THE best fish n' chips in the whole wide world & a quick jaunt around pike place.  there was produce eating, flower buying & the "original" starbuck's store visiting.  once home it was puppies on youtube & snuggling.

all & all?  perfect week.

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=137714" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:

twenty weeks. bump.

{compare kid two belly to parker belly here.}

half. way. there.

no, honestly?  i don't think this counts.  i mean, the first five weeks of pregnancy you don't even know you're pregnant {technically the first two you're not pregnant... but let's not nit pick details} & aside from a little sickness, you're still feeling fairly normal.  well, normal in the sense that your body hasn't completely morphed into belly-torpedo mode & moving it around isn't a total chore.

the second "half" of pregnancy is a whole new ballgame.

it's where it all gets legit.  i mean seriously?  do you see that belly up there?  it's actually there this week.  i'm having to really get creative with clothes & i find myself shopping the maternity section every visit to target.  sleep is a little sub-par because turning from side to side takes some extra maneuvering in order to avoid the round ligament pain.  but generally?  i'm still feeling really good.

i'm feeling lots of baby kicks, despite the discovery of an anterior placenta.  they just feel a little more muffled.  baby kicks are THE best.  it's like this little inside joke going on between me & my little guy.  even if you tell someone they're happening, they don't really know.  the little kicks i'm feeling are just our thing.  there is nothing like feeling your baby move inside your belly.

and all of a sudden sleep is my new favorite hobby.  i got 8-9 hours of sleep every night for like six nights in a row & was still dying to nap come nap-time.  baby growth spurt?  maybe.

anywho, we're starting another weekend!  my mom has been here visiting all week & i think we're gonna show her some sort of good time.  there'll probably be some seattle-sight-seeing & some good-food-eating.  all things i'm really into.  hopefully there will be lots of picture-taking because i've really slacked at that lately.

happy friday friends.

twenty-two months.

first off:  i have to thank everyone for all your overwhelming-awesomeness about baby #2 being another boy! everyone had such sweet things to say & i enjoyed each & every single comment/tweet/facebook comment/instagram message.  it all seriously made my weekend.  we couldn't be happier to be expecting another boy & i can't wait to talk more on this topic later!  for now, this one's all about p-ray :)

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and this is the latest i've ever been on one of parker's monthly update posts... he'll be 23 months in less than a week!  and then?  TWO right after that!  this isn't possible.

actually it is.  he feels so grown up to me & so kid-like.  i feel like he's so ready to be a big brother & not the baby anymore.  i feel like we've already had a taste of what everyone loves to tell you the two's are like {happy!  sad!  everything's so funny!  i'm sooo mad!!!!} and although he can be challenging at times, i just love the little person he's becoming.

here he is all growed up to twenty-two months.
{compare previous monthly pics here.}

parker's vocabulary has exploded this month.  i feel like he can say anything & really tries to say it all.  he's stringing 2-3 words together at a time & will repeat pretty much anything back to us that we ask.  he asks for things specifically {"more oatmeal?" "more yogurt?"  "more outside?"} which really helps in the figuring-out-exactly-what-the-heck-he-wants department.  he often tells us when he's poopy but still hates diaper changes with a passion.  he refers to himself as "papeesh" in pictures or the mirror & oh yeah, he looooooves looking at himself in the mirror.  he thinks it's so funny.  especially full length mirrors.  he often dances or throws fake little tantrums or runs full speed ahead to "attack" the little boy in the mirror when he sees one.  a mirror can entertain p-ray for good chunks of time.

parker has mastered counting to three this month.  he counts to three before anything major happens... before cars go down ramps, before he jumps off a step, or before he races down the hall.  and it's pretty much the cutest pronunciation of the words "one, two, three" i might add.  he stacked a record ten blocks on top of each other a few times & was pretty dang proud of himself for making a tower so tall.  he can put his boots on all by himself {not always on the right feet} & uses adjectives with his words {"big truck", "baby elephant"}.

his night-time sleeping hasn't been awesome this month since he's waking up more around seven instead of eight but he's still napping like a pro so i can't complain too much.  he's still in size four diapers & in all 18-24 month or 2T clothes.  his favorite toys are still his thomas choo-choos & his cars & he is more addicted to his blanket than ever.

he is an awesome breakfast eater & almost always asks for seconds when given oatmeal with bananas & could eat bottomless yogurt if given the chance.  lunch & dinner are less popular with the toddler & throwing chewed up food is probably the biggest battle we fight.  that one's getting old.  oh yeah, & most diaper changes are still all-out battles.

but?  he is still so dang cute.

love this kid.

our week by iPhone - week 70

and this is a little bit late.  but while on vacation?  i got lots & lots of sleep & my body wanted to continue that trend upon getting home so my bed sounded much more inviting than blogging in my computer chair last night... no offense.

here's last week in pictures!

monday.  driving into work on a stormy day while branches are falling feels like running the gauntlet.  luckily i survived.  at work i designed pretty maps & let the belly do its thing... which is pretty much just hanging out these days.

after work parker & i went on a mission to find girl scout cookies & scored big at safeway.  this is what trying to get a picture of a little boy enjoying a girl scout cookie looks like.

monday night was all about my new business cards {always so fun getting those in the mail!} and babies sleeping with their bums in the air.

tuesday.  we woke up to snow & a cancelled stroller strides class so that meant pjs & cartoons in bed was #1 on the agenda.  then parker settled in to watch a movie in his favorite seat of the house while i cleaned & did laundry until it was time for our BIG ultrasound!

our ultrasound was kinda amazing {more on this here & here}... i loved watching our squirmy little BOY move around in there for a good hour.  then it was girl's night with {virgin} apple martinis, cookie dough cheesecake bars & "pretty in pink."  so much fun.  especially when your husband sends you pictures of your little boy sleeping to tide you over til you get home.

wednesday.  i spent a good part of my day avoiding this mound of laundry by editing pictures for parker's 22 month update post.  that should be posted tomorrow... nevermind he'll be 23 months in a week.  oops.

sam picked up our gender reveal cupcakes from the bakery on his way home & parker wondered what the heck all the fuss was about.

thursday.  we got up at 4:00am to get on the road to boise for sam's family reunion.  there's just something fun about a super early morning road trip, am i right?  a breakfast of bagels & milk was on the go in pj's & parker didn't seem to mind.

we got to boise early afternoon & parker immediately took a liking to his cousins.  it was so much fun seeing them all play together!

friday.  spent the morning lazing in bed at the hotel & the afternoon doing some shopping & eating.  we attempted to get a picture of all nine cousins but always seemed to be missing someone, so this picture will have to do.

friday night was dinner out & p-ray watched home videos while we waited for our table.  how the heck did people entertain kids for long boring waits before the days of iphones?  i'm glad i don't have to know.

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=136890" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here:

nineteen weeks: bump & gender reveal!

it's true!  baby #2 is a BOY!  it was very obvious & there is absolutely no question parker is gonna have a little brother!!

...yeah, not at all shy.  hehe.

here's the rest of the nineteen week info!

looks like we're gonna have another little boy around here!!  we could not be more excited!

sam & i both saw the little boy parts right off the bat & even though the technician didn't confirm because she was trying to leave us in suspense & whatever we saw very well could have been a blob of who-knows-what, i spent the rest of our ultrasound knowing it was a little boy.  i just knew the minute i saw him.  and then when she really honed in on the goods, i just started crying with happiness.  it was another active, healthy, little BOY in there.

i'm gonna write a post with brutal honesty on how i feel about having another boy but for now, let me just say i am SO excited to be the mom of two boys.  i am excited for parker to have a little brother & i can't wait to watch them plot mischief together, play cars & sports together & grow up together.  i can't wait for our little family to become a little family of four!

another week has come & gone & it's crazy to think next week i'll be writing about how we're halfway through this thing.  although i do have to say the first half is by far the easier {and shorter!} half, so i'm not sure it actually counts.  and this pregnancy hasn't left me with much to complain about so far other than feeling uncomfortable in my normal clothes but whattyagonnado?  and how much does that really matter when i basically live in either workout clothes or pajamas anyways?

but as the bump grows, i am gonna try & make an effort to be a stylish little prego on work days & sundays & maybe even the occasional saturday out with the family.  we'll see how that works out for me.

and lastly, i can't wait to share how our little gender reveal party with sam's family went.  i know it was a little tortuous to keep this secret a few extra days from so many of you but it was totally worth it to see our family's reaction in person.  and?  we all got to enjoy some freaking delicious cupcakes so none of them were complaining!

have a great weekend everyone!

little bits of happiness, week two.

we're officially on the road for a weekend of family reunion-ing & i'm gonna leave you with my second week of playing along with stephanie's "little bits of happiness."

here's what's making me happy this week:

{one of our gender reveal cupcakes!  filled with either a pink or blue cream filling.  and umm, LOTS of chocolate.} 

{little snapshots of baby #2.  legs, face, feet... all so cute.}

{my little baby #1 combining two of his favorite things... baths & cars.}

{a VERY full calendar for the next couple months.  that's how i like it.}

{snow in march.  ok, maybe this didn't make me all that happy but it was pretty to look at.  and it was gone by noon.  so i guess that part made me happy.}

see you all back here tomorrow for a look at what's inside those cupcakes!  pink or blue!

wordless{ish} wednesday: little face.

we got to see this little face yesterday.  and not only did we get to see this cute little face, we got to see the cute little arms & legs & fingers that go along with it.  and they were wriggly & squirmy & totally moving all around, every which direction.

we got to see the heart & its four chambers working together to provide blood to this little baby's body.  and there were hard bones & functioning organs & this mama could not be happier.

and yes, we now know whether we need to buy into the world of all that is pink or if i am going to be officially way outnumbered in this household.  this little baby wasn't shy & we are beyond excited!

i am so excited to tell you... & i'm not holding out to be mean, i promise!  sam's entire family is getting together this weekend & we are waiting to tell them all in person so i can't spill the beans just yet.

but here's a poll for final guesses... we'll see if majority wins!

{linking up with wordless wednesday at and then she {snapped},  baby baby lemon, the paper mama, jenni from the blog & a little king & i}

let's get a little crazy. a random post.

life's about to get a little nutso up in here.  we've had a good run of routine & now?  it's time to mix it up.  we have a crazy amount of craziness on our horizon... weekend getaways, visitors, more getaways, p-ray's second birthday & then i'm flying to st. louis to shoot a wedding.  pretty excited about it all.  my head is just kinda frazzled with all the things coming up & all the things i need to do, that i just can't find a way to come up with an organized post.  so here are some randoms for the day:

•   we {hopefully} find out baby two's gender today.  we are plotting a super fun way to reveal it to sam's family on thursday at our get-together & i just hope hope hope it all comes together.

•   hint:  it's gonna taste yummmmy.

•   the formal gender announcement will be up on the blog on friday in my weekly bump post.  i can't wait!

•   i wasted way too much time watching the bachelor finale last night & even way too much more time wondering why no one has told ben his hair is awful.  it seems so clear to me.  hopefully he reads my blog because here i am formally saying, "ben.  your hair is really bad.  please for the love of all that is 2012, cut it."

•   have you guys caught wind of all the pinterest controversy?  so much going around about copyright issues & ownership questions & what the pinterest people can do with things that are pinned, what your rights are as a pinner & what your rights are as a person who has things of theirs pinned.  kinda interesting/scary/maddening/meh.

•   i have a love hate relationship with daylight savings in the spring.  but mostly i hated how parker decided to show daylight savings who's boss & wake up an hour earlier than normal just to spite the day.  it's like he knew.

•   i bet sam thinks it's really sexy when i take off my pajamas, get in the shower & get out & then put on the same outfit of pajamas.  he's a lucky man.

•   i just took a ten minute break from this post to shop online for a sweatshirt i already own that i've been living in for the last month.  sometimes when i find clothes i really really love, i buy backups.

•   the last two randoms make me sound like i hardly ever change my clothes... but really, i just own lots of clothes that qualify as pajamas.

and with that i'm off to count down every minute until there's goopy cold lube on my belly & a little squirmy nugget waving to me on an ultrasound screen.  i wish everyday was ultrasound day!

our week by iPhone - week 69

sometimes these posts are a lot of work but you know what?  i LOVE them.  i love going back through our week & remembering little smiles & moments that otherwise would be forgotten.  this week was fun.  it was routine, there were regular naps & there was even a little bit of sun.

here's what it looked like through iPhotos.

monday.  groggy little boys like small doses of sesame street in the morning to gear up for their big day at stroller strides playing in puddles & talking their mom into the good cereal at the grocery store.

later it was pulling my hair & checking out the porch swing cushion quality with dad at costco.

tuesday started with some running out in the sun at stroller strides & browsing the aisles for stuff we probably don't need at target.

the fun continued when i shot a session for one of my class of 2013 senior reps.  the light was amazing, she rocked the shoot & everyone went home happy.  see a few of my favorites on my photography facebook page here.

and tuesday night?  parker slept with funky arms & drool puddles.

wednesday started off pretty freaking awesome with a giggly little boy & an 18-week pregnancy check up.  there was also time spent at the playground {where septic covers are way more interesting than the toys}, rough housing with dad & lots of splashing in the bath tub.

thursday morning parker watched me get ready for work while perched on his little stool & i didn't wanna leave his cute little face.  but lunch alone out in the sun made working-life a little more bearable.

fun fact about me?  i'm a little neurotic about my day-planner.  as in, my planner is color coded, only certain kinds of pens are allowed to be used, absolutely NO scribbles or cross-outs allowed {think white-out tape} & the more highlighter the better.

driving home i was greeted by a lovely message on our neighborhood reader board {jealous your neighborhood doesn't have a reader board?  we're classy} that said, "WARNING: GAS IS BEING SIPHONED FROM CARS."  alrighty, have a nice day!

thursday night parker & i both spent over thirty minutes being entertained by a stool & then he slept with his bum up in the air.

friday.  what better way to cap off a great work out than with a big ol' cup of fro-yo?  there is no better way, actually.  and for the record, everyone should start their friday with a cup of fro-yo before lunch.

toy box update:  it continues to be parker's favorite place to play.  on, around & especially IN.  goofball.

friday night was supposed to be date night but when sam came home & immediately crashed on the couch i had my doubts.  nevertheless, he rallied & we filled our bellies with spicy thai food & cupcakes.

and then i stayed up late & blogged about it.

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***photos edited via instagram.  do you instagram?  find me @amy_agoodlife & let's picture bond!***
that was our week!  how was yours?  i wanna see, so link up!

Game Rules:
1.  your pictures have to be taken by your camera phone. that's it!  you don't even have to have a picture for every day.  got one camera phone pic of something fun from this week?  link up!

2.  if you want to grab the code below & put it in your post to have the linky with all the thumbnails show up on your blog do it.

and please post a link to my blog so others can come here to grab the code, too.
the more kids who come out to play, the more fun it will be, right?

Grab the code here:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=135456" type="text/javascript"></script>

...and get on the linky here: