California, Oregon, Pneumonia, and Month 17

April 18th-May 17th
This month was a crazy one. Partly because it included a trip to California for my Grandma's 85th birthday and a trip to Oregon directly thereafter to see Matthew's family, but mostly because it involved Anthon and I being extremely sick :( I had been sick for a week before we left for our trip, and we came down with whatever I had the day before we left for our travels.

Granted, this meant the hardest part of our flights was trying to keep my butt from falling asleep while our angel boy of a sickling snuggled with me, but it also just breaks my hearttttt to see him so insanely pooped. We had brought benadryl to give him in the event of us needing it to help him sleep...but, honestly, he was MAYBE awake an hour of our first entire day of traveling. 

The five minutes or so he slept on the seat next to me. His head was glue to my shoulder all day. 

  

 Smiling because, well, I feel weird not smiling in pictures. But truly so sad for our little guy :(

 

So, SO sick :( :( 

On another bright note, I have an angel of a husband who somehow manages to carry everything else besides Anthon on his own. This included: two backpacks, a lunch box, duffel bag, stroller, and carseat. Not to mention, figuring out where and how to check in everywhere. I could walk around in my own sick, out of it haze while just worrying about Anthon and trying to walk in ways that would allow him to stay zonked out on my shoulder. I don't think he left my shoulder for more than fifteen minutes of this 12 hour day of travel.

 I have a few pictures from the visit to my Grandma's and time with both extended family and Talon and Kellie that other people took, but, seriously, the day after we got there we took Anthon to urgent care to find out he had an ear infection--so my focus was mostly on him and not so much on picture taking this trip, particularly the first few days. Lots of naps, 3 AM wakeup times (thanks to our time difference...), and sleepless nights. Thankfully, the antibiotics kicked in after about two days and he started seeming a little more like himself. Here are some of the pictures I've managed to scrap together from the California portion of the trip.

 
After a whale watching trip. My grandma has lived in California for...who knows how many years and had never been on one! We saw dolphins, sea lions, and seals.

Anthon is a fan of my family, but not so much a fan of the movement of the boat, and definitelyyyy not a fan of his life jacket.

The Santa Ana Zoo with my parents. A smaller zoo, and perfecttttt for a tired little boy, since we couldn't stay long anyways, so it was nice to be able to leave after only a little while and not feel like we were missing out.

 



 

Anthon loves love loves cars. Actually, I think this trip was where that really developed. My grandma had a little bin of hot wheels type cars he played with every day; it was the first thing he'd run to in her living room every time we entered it. One of his favorite activities was bring cars to members of my family one by one until they'd have a whole line of cars next to them or in their lap. He was eating this jeep time up.
   

 And...a few more cars. We occupied ourselves well while Matthew got Anthon's perscription.

 There were many sapo games played while we were here, which is a South American game we always play at my grandmas house. Though I don't have pictures of play, I do have pictures of us finding years worth of lost sapo pieces with the metal detector we got Grandma for her birthday :) Matthew, my uncle Daryl, and Evan, my cousin Darcie's husband..

A windy (the windy-est of) walks on the pier.

 

 

Kellie has got to be the world's BEST aunt. Seriously. She loves Anthon and he ADORES her. She goes out of her way to spend time with him, entertain him, enjoy him, and is just all about him. What more could a mom want from an aunt? She was walking with him bouncing up and down while singing for like twenty minutes and he was LOVING it. 

  

And...some snuggles <3

 Talon was able to come for the weekend as well. He was toooo stinking cute with Anthon. I can't say enough how much I love seeing my family interact with Anthon and enjoy the fun little dude I get to enjoy every day.

 Once Anthon was feeling a little better, Matthew and I snuck away for a bit. I was still sick (and it was freezing), so I didn't take part in the boogie boarding, but this hubby of mine boogie boarded to his heart's content before we walked along the boardwalk for awhile.
I have so many memories at Huntington. Crazy to think that the last time we were here,
I was pregnant with Anthon and we didn't even (officially) know it yet.

And...a trip to the tide pools with my mom and Grandma Shirley. Grandma didn't make the trek down to the water, since it's a bit of a doosy, but she watched from above. 

As a side note...you'll notice our little girl started making her appearance on this trip. I left Albany not looking pregnant, and returned a pregnant woman :P Granted, we didn't know she was a girl until June 3rd, but...still :)

 

Anthon, searching for rocks. hehe, Matthew wasn't all that thrilled with my lack of concern for the bacteria infested things Anthon picked up and was throwing. 

Some pictures with Nana outside under the tree I never knew bloomed purple, after all these years. haha, we've never been here in spring before, apparently. 

 KISSESSSSSS <3

Our trip to Oregon was still nap-filled, as Anthon wasn't 100%. Thankfully, he did let Matthew take him for part of the trip, which was a huge relief for my bum.

Anthon was a little more lucid, so he was able to watch the planes (and buckle up) before conking out :)
   

Oregon was full of hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, some new favorite toys, snuggles and the movie Cars, a few trips to the park, and, naturally,  lots of rock throwing. 

 I love this next picture because it so sums up Lyn and Darla. They adoreeee Anthon and nothing makes me happier than seeing other people love and just eat up my baby :D

Skyping some family. This bus was by far his favorite toy. At first, he insisted on there not being people inside it, and would remove them whenever Darla would put them in. Eventually, he allowed passengers inside.

 Snuggles before nap time..

Smelling flowers with Granda Lyn...

 

 

Inclined driveways make for some quality entertainment. I think this ball rolling went on for about twenty minutes. Good thing Matthew moves quick :P

  
Anthon sporting a hat Matthew wore when he was little.

 

Getting rocks with Grandpa.. 

 Grandpa Lyn walking Anthon backwards to keep the sun out of Anthon's eyes :D

 Magic Carpet Rides!

 Hanging out with Grandma Darla in the wee hours of the morning...He LOVED his little play station she had set up for him and the table that was just the right height. I had this Fisher Price marketplace when I was little, too. Anthon lovessssssss it and I've been searching for a reasonably priced one on Ebay (or anywhere) ever since our visit.

Seeing Grandpa at the Farmer's Market

 And, some more snuggles with Grandma and Grandpa. I believe this was during his first viewing Cars.

As far as the rest of Month 17...here are a few pictures and tidbits...
After getting back and Anthon seeming to have recovered from his ear infection, he got sicker. Hoarse voice, coughing, and just absolutely exhausted. There are few things sadder in this world than listening to your child through a baby monitor when they're sick. I guess it's equally bad without a baby monitor, but oh my gosh, is it painful. Glued to my shoulder, snuggling all day long. Just so miserable. We ended up taking him to the doctor to find out he had developed pneumonia. Accordingly, we don't have very many pictures from this month besides those on the trip, but here are a few. 

 

Anthon sporting some of the cutest pajamas known to mankind, compliments of Lin and Cathy <3

A few of Anthon's favorite things this month continued to be stuffed animals. The potty chair pictured below on the left was also a favorite. ha, he played with that thing for like ten minutes straight one day, and that was before he even brought out his teddy bears to join him.

 This CAR. Best invention EVER. One of our neighbors a few streets over let us use it once and it was love at first use. After that, every time we walked by the house and saw it, he begged for it. As it happens, our neighbor had actually started leaving it out front so we could use it while we were on our walks. People here are seriously SO nice.

 One of my favorite things to do with Anthon still this month, at least when he was feeling up to it :)

 Helping me pack for our trip..

Anthon's little perch on the couch. He likes to start and end being awake with his blanket, bink, and a bottle of warm milk. He's decided this would be his designated spot, though sometimes he switches to the other side of the couch. 

One of Matthew's co-workers found out Anthon can't have milk and bought him some coconut yogurt. He LOVES it. Yogurt is definitely a new favorite this month.

Favorites and Tidbits:
-Frosted MiniWheats--but, the Walmart, bag brand specifically.
-String Cheese
-Milk: while he was sick and would wake up at 3AM on our trip, the only thing that would really calm him would be to go get some warm milk. Granted, it wasn't like he went back to bed after that, but it was such a comfort to little man.
-CARS: Seriously. That bucket of cars at my grandma's house was his best friend all of that week in California. It was basically all he did in her living room.
-Hugs! Anthon has given kisses for a long time now, but he's just started giving hugs and I can't get enough of them! You ask for one and he'll spread out his arms super wide and walk up to you for you to pick him up. He also will just give me a squeeze if I ask for a hug while we're snuggling before I put him down :)
-Kisses all around: Anthon is ALL about fairness. If one person in a room gets a kiss or hug, everyone gets one. It's ADORABLE. A little sad when he's sick and I'm trying to avoid getting everyone around him sick....but, adorable nonetheless.
-Head nods and 'uh huhs': hehe. I love asking him questions and see him nod! He really only nods yes currently, and his 'uh huhs' are about the cutest things you've ever seen, next to his 'eeeese!' (please) that also came on this month :D
-Everything in its rightful place. Homeboy may have inherited some of his dad's OCD, or he just knows how to clean up. He loves putting things where they belong and is SO good about it. My neighbors are always amazed when we visit because he always puts their stuffed animals right back where he got them from when I ask him to put them away before we leave :)
-A mom attachment--he's always done fine with either Matthew or I, but we were mattress shopping this month at the mall and Anthon was sooooo very unhappy when Matthew took him to hang out while I tried out some of the mattresses.
-The pet store. Anthon LOVES this place. Like, LOVES. Ironically enough, I think he enjoys the toy aisles more than he does the aisles with the animals in them.
-Putting his bink down my collar when I'm putting him down to bed. He cracks UP. It's become part of our bedtime ritual, actually. He takes out his bink, puts it just under my collar, then puts his hands in the air as if to say, 'where is it??!'. I take it out, put it down his shirt, whereon he absolutely CRACKS up and giggles like crazy as I attempt to take it back out.
-Basketball hoops: on our walks he LOVES pointing at all the basketball hoops we pass, which is like, every other house.
-Walking up playground stairs on his own-- WHAAA! How old is this little boy and whose child is he anyways??!

New Words:
-Please, or 'eeseee'
-bum... haha.

Gosh. To say we love him is the world's largest understatement. It was so hard to see him so sick this month. But, even in illness, he is just the sweetest, most tender, fun son we could ask for. There are few things I love more than seeing other people adore and enjoy Anthon, so spending time with family this month was a dream.