It's been a while...

Well, it has been a really long while since I last updated. Life and work just seems to get in the way... I have the best of intentions and then something pops up and I forget about doing the update, and forget again, and forget again. You get the picture... Quite a bit has happened sine the last update in June. So here it is:

July
We received great news from Sebastian's GI doc in July. He is all good to go and we don't need to go back unless he has issues pop back up, but they don't see that happening. Woohoo! We also were able to head out of town for 2 weeks to go and visit family in Iowa and all trekked down to Branson, MO to get away for a little while. It was extremely hot in Branson, but we all had a good time being able to spend time together. Since we don't get to see everyone in Iowa that often (except over Skype) we all cherish the time we have, and Granny loves being able to have Sebastian sprinting circles around her!). Here are a couple photos from the trip, once I get the rest transferred from my phone I will add those as well...

August
This month started with my crazy traveling for work. I traveled 5 out of 7 weeks between early-August to mid-September. I felt like I was never home, and when I was Mark had work trips. Needless to say not much happened in August, but we did manage to see some good friends in the little time we had at home.

September
We can't believe how fast time goes. Sebastian turned 1 1/2 years old in September and at the same time started working on his 2-year molars... not so fun for any of us. Our traveling continued and grandma and grandpa continued to spend many weeks at our place helping out when one of us was on the road. Don't know what we would do without family around! Here are some of the pics from his 18-month shoot :) (I say shoot, because he stops and poses for the camera...)

October
October came and went with more traveling. I headed off to Chicago, and then when I arrived home we all packed up, grandma included, and headed down to Vegas. Mark had his work convention there, and mom, Seby and I went down to see Carl, Allan and Jaime. Unfortunately the boys didn't stand still long enough for us to think about much in the way of pics, but I managed to get a couple. Sebastian found his first Harley and a pic of the boys playing with a water table. October also brought Halloween. Sebastian was a crab this year (think Little Mermaid) and it fit really well since he is still working on his 2-year molars. We went to a Halloween party at a friends over the weekend and she got some great pics and on Halloween he partied hard at daycare - so hard the last pic below is before trick-or-treating even began. So, he didn't make it out but he did help me hand out candy to those that came to our door. Unfortunately, mark had another work trip and missed Halloween this year but we sent him many pictures so he could see what was happening while he was gone.

November
I can't believe that the holiday's are already here! Christmas decorations are all over the stores everywhere you go, but luckily for me, they inspired me to get a head start on my shopping this year (I only have 50% left...). Don't be mad at me though, if you saw the list I had to buy for, you would need a head start too! Sebastian is 20 months old now and is into everything, climbing on everything, mimicking everything, and starting the preview of the terrible two's... Luckily it doesn't happen too often, mainly when his mouth hurts from working on his 2-year molars (yes, still... teething kicks his bootie...). But the kid has no fear whatsoever, which means that mom and dad will have a heart attack at some point in time. We went up to Apple Hill with some good friends this past weekend, so as soon as I get those photos, I will do another update. But here is a photo from earlier today with him climbing into the washing machine... Note to mom.... keep it closed and locked from now on...

Update: Pics from the trip to Apple Hill with the Campbell's now included :)

I will try to update again soon, thanks for being patient with us :)

Winter fun!

We had been planning on doing it for a while, and with the break in weather this weekend, it was a perfect time! We got up, got ready, packed the warm stuff, and headed up the mountain to take Seby sledding before the season wrapped. Apparently, everyone else did the same thing but we still had a blast and Seby loved it.

A helicopter was taking off, taking snowboarders up, right when we parked about 100 ft away from us, and Seby was just enthralled. Nothing else in the world existed when the helicopter was warming up and taking off. Heaven help me, not another aviator in the family...

I forgot Seby's sunglasses when we left the house, so after being there for just a couple of minutes he was able to steal mine... it was bright without them!

Here are the pics from our day. Seby didn't want to sit on the sled when we climbed back up the hill so he rode on the sled on all fours back up the hill each time... It was cute :)

It's been a while, here is our last couple of months...

It's been quite some time since I last posted an update, so I will do a big one now... Here is what we have been doing the past couple of months...

October

In October, the three of us ventured up to North and South Dakota to see Mark's Fraternity brothers and celebrate his Fraternity's 75th year on campus at University of North Dakota. It was great to see everyone again and we brought the California weather out there with us. It was getting to be in the high 60's / low 70's during the day while we were there - we brought a snow suit for Sebastian just in case, and thankfully we ended up not needing it. We were able to spend some time with Mark's best friends and their wives, and all had a blast! On the same trip, we drove down to Aberdeen, South Dakota to see Mark's Great Grandma. It was a great opportunity to be able to see her and visit, but also for Sebastian to be able to meet his Great-Great-Grandma. Even better, we found out where he gets his blue eyes from - the color matched Great Grandma Johnson's exactly.

October was also the beginning of my work started to get really busy and the start of me going MIA from everyone from working so much. We are very fortunate to have family near by to help us out in times of extreme chaos and stress. October was also the beginning of our crazy travel months. On top of our North & South Dakota trips, Mark has gone to Washington, D.C. and Atlanta, I travelled to Florida and we all went to Houston and Iowa. All in a 10-week period.

In October, on the weekends we were in town we had some great friends over to BBQ and held my nephew Allan's 3rd birthday party. I had a dream before our friends came over that one of them was pregnant, to which they thought I was crazy... Only to find out a couple weeks later, they were preggers - just didn't know it yet. Always a little weird how that happens. It was great to get all of the family together for Allan's party - we can't believe how much he has grown. We are hoping that they will be able to make it up here to visit for Sebastian's birthday!

November

November was the month we barely saw our house! Mark started the month in Washington, D.C., then I travelled to Florida, then we packed up and headed to Houston (Katy) for Thanksgiving. During the time that we were home we were both working crazy hours. Our days consisted of working, picking Sebastian up from daycare, playing with hime for a little while, then going back to work once he was down for the night. Lather, rinse, repeat for all the days we were home - we were lucky to scrape out 5 hours of sleep a night on the good nights. Luckily that is behind us now.

We had a great time in Houston for Thanksgiving and were able to spend some time with more family. It's hard not having all of our family near-by but we are lucky that we are able to go out and visit regularly. We were also able to squeeze in a visit with Jared, Kari & kids while we were in Houston. It was great to see little Alex and spend some time with them.

In the midst of all the craziness, we were able to sneak in an Apple Hill trip and Sebastian is a huge fan of their apples and pears while I still have apple pies to bake from the trip. YUMMY!!

December

In December, work was still crazy for both of us, but we could at least see the light at the end of the tunnel (at least the tunnel we were in at that point in time). We were also able to head out to Iowa for 10 days over Christmas and New Years and had a great time. It was cold, but it was worth it. Although we had a great trip, it was not without its hiccups. Our connecting flight out of Vegas into Omaha was delayed which ended up getting us into Omaha a little over an hour late. Not bad for holiday travel except for the fact taht if our flight had been on time, we would have landed in Omaha before the storm hit there. What happened instead - smack in the middle of the storm, snow coming down sideways so it looked like a 3-D move as you were driving in it, no snow plows out so roads were horrible and we hit people going 20mph on the highway. The normal 75 minute drive to Mark's parents took 2 1/2 hours - yup - at night, after travelling all day with a tired infant, a sinus infection myself, and zero patience left...

So, what happens next you ask? Well, Christmas day, Sebastian cut 3 teeth, then he came down with the stomach flu that had been going around out there (his first time really sick), and to top it all of, he got a sinus infection too. Once we made it over the hump with all of that, he was great and I was feeling better. He had a great Christmas, has way too many toys now, but I have a feeling that will always be our opinion. This month he also started his beginning crawling moves. He wasn't a fan of going forward crawling, so he crawled everywhere in reverse. Then he'd back up into something and not know how to get back out. We got many good laughs with that!

And that wraps up 2010, and begins our journey into 2011.

January - so far

In January, Sebastian started really crawling. No more keeping him contained, but it is still great to see. He is pulling himself up on anything and everything he can, so it won't be very long before he starts walking on his own. Heaven help us then becuase the kid is never still (even while sleeping) already, and we have a feeling he is going to skip walking and go straight to running.

After using Jim & Cathy's rocker recliner with Sebastian while he was sick in Iowa, the day after we got back from Iowa, we went out and bought new family room furniture. We can't wait for it to arrive, but we had to wait until late-February / early-March since they had to special order it. We are counting the weeks until it is done and delivered!

Tomorrow, Mark leaves for another work trip to Dallas and on with life we go. No work trips in the hopper for me, thankfully, so we will be getting back to normal and are looking forward to being able to spend some more time with our friends and family. It has been a crazy couple of months, so we are ready for normal - whatever that is!

Here are a couple of pictures from the past couple of months. I'll put more up later this week, but here's a taste.

Sebastian in his Halloween costume.

Mark and Sebastian in their Iowa gear. The Hawkeyes started out strong this year, just didn't really finish that way. Here's to a better 2011!

The three little ones playing at Christmas in California

Sebastian woke right up when we landed in Iowa for Christmas, it was cold!

Sebastian at Wyitt's 1st birthday party in early January.

As I was putting away clothes I came across this comparison. The small outfit was a preemie outfit that was too big for him when he was born. The larger outfit was 3-6 months in size and he just grew out of it... He has definitely gotten big!!