Our PB&J Adventure Book

Happy 3

Three years of hope, hearts & our little rainbow!

Starting off with a dose of MAGIC
The very first day of month fourteen literally began with a hefty dose of magic for our family! We made our 2nd Disneyland trip of the year for the most wonderful of reasons. In a crazy turn of events, we were invited by Disney Family to experience all the fun at Disney California Adventure Park's Lunar New Year event. Read about DCA's Lunar New Year HERE.
This was such a short but sweet trip. We literally were only in the parks a total of 24 hours! We drove down from the Bay Area late Friday night, got to the parks the next afternoon, then back home the very next day. Despite the shortness of the trip, it's always so good to be able to be back at the parks.

Hearts & Love
February was also a month of LOVE. We celebrated our 2nd Valentine's Day with our Ben. As the years have passed our versions of romantic Valentine's celebrations have definitely become way more low key. Now that we're parents, to a toddler no less, Valentine's day took a back seat to the reality of everyday parenthood. We made the best of a Thursday night Valentine with a nice home cooked meal, a sweet surprise of flowers, and just spending some quality time together as a family.
Curious George meets the Enegizer Bunny
We're another month into being parents to a toddler which means another month of growth and learning. Ben is much like Curious George, he literally wants to know about anything and everything! We joke that he has the mind of a little engineer already just like his daddy! He wants to know how everything works. He's so curious about his surroundings. If there's a button, he'll press it (favorite activity), if theres a screw, he'll want to unscrew it. If there's a knob, he'll want to open it. Let's just say our stock in baby proofing materials has gone up tenfold!
With all this curiosity also comes new mobility adventures for our Ben. This kid won't stop moving. Another way to describe him: an Enegizer Bunny. If you let him roam free, he can crawl clear across the room in seconds. He's also learned how to climb up on everything to get what he wants, which is both impressive, and scary at the same time!

Ben is also turning into a little grown up right before our eyes. It's really quite amazing to say the least. Watching him problem solve in situations, learning how to self feed, vocalizing his needs and wants? It's been crazy to see all the development literally happening with each day that passes.

One step at a time
Ben is now well into one year and two months old, and one thing he hasn't done yet? WALK. This boy can crawl like Speedy Gonzales around the room, pull himself up and climb over things, pretty much stand on his own.... but the one thing he hasn't managed to do is take those fateful first steps on his own.
Last year when we were in the thick of being newly minted parents I obsessed about everything. I followed every growth chart, milestone tracker and learning program for our little one to make sure he was "on track" with everything. When he hit 4 months and his cousins and same aged counterparts were rolling over, Ben wasn't. Our pediatrician assured us that Ben was fine and that he might just be "lazy" (said in the nicest way possible, lol) and that he had all the growth and physical ability to do so, but just didn't want to. Then in the very last month of the typical timeline, he finally rolled over.... then never stopped moving.

What I remember clearly from those days was the anxiety and the fear things not happening in these preset "timelines". As a parent, you get sucked into all the apps and the sources telling you what "normal" should be, but what I've personally learned in the last 14 months or so? Every child does things on their own time. Chances are more than not, they'll do what they need to do eventually!

So with Ben still not taking his first steps yet at this point in the game, we're not too worried. We know our little guy will get there... just on his own timing. And for the record, most children tend to take their first steps and walk between months 12-15... we've still got a month left to go! LOL. Our little Ben is getting there, we see it get closer each day, so hopefully by next month he'll take those giant leaps forward!

Onward!
So here's to looking toward another full month of memories and fun ahead. Much like our February, we'll be kicking off month 15 with another magical trip to our happy place. We're ready for a whole month of new adventures, memories and growth! So until then, from our little family to yours, thank you for reading!💜

Hooray for the Mouseketeer!
December 30, 2018, it was a day surrounded by endless love, family and lots of cake (& red frosting aftermath).

We weren't originally planning anything big for his actual birthday day, our original plan was to throw Ben a big bash at Disneyland. But the Disney party wasn't for a few weeks until after his actually birthday, so the plans changed from a small cake and dinner with our immediate families to a huge Mickey celebration surrounded by our extended family! We realized that with our Disney party, some of our family wouldn't be able to make it down, and we didn't want to miss a chance to celebrate with them and Ben. Our little guy has made quite the impression on or relatives, so it was no surprise that we had a full house of loved ones, all there to cheer on Ben as he turned one year old!

I'll let the photos do the talking from here:

It was a day to remember and so special since it was all about our little rainbow! As you can see, he had a great time, hehe. Stay tuned, coming soon is a recap of Ben's Disney birthday extravaganza!!!

Merry & bright
Ben's 1st Christmas was definitely a special one for our little family. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday and this year would be extra magical since it would mark the last "first" holiday celebration for Ben. PB and I made sure to fill his holiday season with lots of family fun and adventures, but when it came to the official Christmas celebrations, we made sure to do what we could to make sure Ben's 1st Christmas would be *merry & bright*.

Family, Food, Gifts and Fun
The main event for Christmas in my family is our traditional family Christmas Eve celebration. I come from a huge family, so our Christmas Eve celebrations are always loud, full of food and most of all... fun! Ben channeled his inner Santa Claus and was showered with gifts, cuddles and lots of Christmas Eve love from my family.

Santa's Elves Working OT
After our annual family party, PB and I headed home to get the magic started on making Ben's 1st Christmas morning one for the memory books.

All about that Christmas morning
While Christmas Eve always meant "party-time" growing up, Christmas day on the other hand is traditionally a much more low key affair. I say "low key" but it doesn't mean any less special. Christmas Day, particularly the morning has always been one of my favorite parts about Christmas. It's those quiet moments, right after waking up as a child... running into the living room and realizing that Christmas magic had happened overnight and just maybe... a special visit from one called Santa Claus. This was something I hoped for Ben to experience and boy oh boy was it a Christmas morning to remember!
Santa stopped by and dropped off a little walk and play car for Ben! The look on his face when he came out into the living room and saw the gift set up was priceless. His big toothy grin, the giggles and curiosity. He looked around thinking "what is this thing and how did it get here?" LOL. There were definitely a lot of mama happy tears shed. I can't even begin to describe the emotion you feel as a new parent, seeing your child experience the magic of Christmas for the first time.

The merriest memories!
Christmas day also means more merry festivities! We spent the day with our closest family, more gift fun for Ben, food, tons of quality time spent with our loved ones and of course, more food. Ben's 1st Christmas may be over, but now we have so much to look forward to in the years to come. Here's to a lifetime more happy Christmas mornings and merry moments ahead. 💜