Suzie's 60th in San Francisco

This past weekend we traveled up to San Francisco to celebrate Jake's Moms 60th Birthday.  For those who don't know, San Francisco is Suzie favorite city so it only seemed right to ring in her 60th in her most beloved city.  Once we arrived we headed straight to Great Grandma Mary's house to pick her up before we made the trip into the city.  

We stayed in the Marina District of San Francisco at one of Paul and Suzie's favorite hotels.  It has a cute courtyard which everyone knew would be perfect for the kiddos to run around in.  Don't know if the other hotel guests were as pleased as we were because the kids definitely took advantage of that courtyard.  Paul and Suzie greeted us at the hotel and just enjoyed spending time with Skylar while we waited for the rest of the family to arrive.

The hotel is a pet friendly hotel, so Skylar was in heaven whenever she would see a dog! 

That night the rest of the family showed up and we went to dinner at Fisherman's Wharf.  For some reason I'm really bad at taking photos at restaurants because I didn't get one of us all together, which now I'm really mad at myself about.  Here is the only photo I got at the restaurant.  That night I took Skylar back to the hotel early and put her to bed while Jake went out to the bars with his family.   

Being the early birds that we are, Jake, Skylar and I headed out to breakfast before anyone was even awake and then took a nice stroll to the Palace of Fine Arts to let Skylar look at the ducks.  She loved it, but it was so cold, I couldn't handle it so we didn't stay too long.

By the time we got back the rest of the family was up having mimosa' and the kids were playing in the courtyard.

Nico was not a fan of the balloons Geddis, Dom, and Skylar were popping.

Playing with army guys with her cousins.

That afternoon the ladies decide to go shopping and grab lunch on Chestnut Street while the guys took the kids to a local park to play.  It was really nice having girl time with Jake's family because it's pretty rare when we are all together.  Skylar had a ton of fun playing with everyone at the park that she was completely wiped out so she and Jake went down for big afternoon naps.

Our final night was the big birthday dinner with the whole family (all 20 of us) and then half the group was going to see Beach Blanket Babylon.  Once again I did a bad job and didn't take many pictures at the restaurant.  It was also hard because Skylar was very tired and didn't want to sit still so I spent most of the night outside the restaurant walking up and down Chestnut street with her.

The Birthday Girl!!

 
The initial plan was for all the ladies to go to the play together, but plans changed and I took Skylar to bed that night and Jake and his cousin Clint joined the ladies and attended the play.  I was really happy that Jake got to spend those extra hours with his Mom and the rest of his family on her birthday. 

Well it was a quick trip, but it was very enjoyable and we really had a great time celebrating such a milestone birthday for Suzie.  

Hanging with Linc!

Last weekend we decided to have a little BBQ with our friends since it had be way too long since we had all be together.  Skylar and Linc were having a blast together running all over the house, playing in Skylar's playroom and hang outside once the rain stop.  Really need to get these two together more often.

Love the stonefaces on these two!

Just cracking each other up!

Playing jokes on Grandma

So last week when Skylar was kept inside the house and couldn't go to daycare my Mom came down to watch her for us while I worked the first half of the week.  I guess Skylar thought it would be funny to lock herself in our guest bathroom freaking out Grandma.  My Mom who began to immediately have thoughts of Skylar falling into the toilet or something called the Fire Department to come to our house and get Skylar out.  Not thinking they would have to bust open the door, my Mom assumed they would have a little tool to just unlock the door, but NOPE.  This is what our door jam now looks like. 

What felt like an forever to my Mom was only about 10 minutes to which Skylar was locked in the bathroom until the fireman came to her rescue.  Mom said she was didn't cry but start to get a little upset at the end because she was ready to get out.  Needless to say, the next day I came home from work and there were kids safety locks on all the door knobs.

Getting into Baby Mode

Ok, I won't lie, I have really been dropping the ball with this baby.  I can't believe I'm already 6 months pregnant and I finally purchased an outfit for our little man.  With taking care of a toddler this time around, the holidays and then moving into a new house I haven't had a chance to even think about being pregnant, which I guess is a good thing because it's making this pregnancy fly by.  I decided now it's time to kick myself into gear and get into baby mode, so last week I picked out the paint color for the nursery and put Jake to work. 


As you can see the room previously belonged to a little girl so we had to cover up the pink and white stripes.  The bedding I purchases is red/blue/white so I went with a dark blue for the room color.  After seeing the blue on the wall I'm a little scared that I went too dark...urggh!!  I'm hoping once we get the white beadboard installed on the bottom portion of the walls and put the white shutters back in the windows it will help lighten up the room and it won't look so dark...fingers crossed.

Dancing Queen

Skylar and Dad have a new ritual where at night they have quick dance parties before bath time, I was dying laughing.

Healing up great!

Just wanted to post a picture of how well Skylar has healed up. This was her a week after her incident and you can barely see the 2nd degree burns in between her nose.  Our final follow up appointment on Friday went great and they said that Skylar is on her way to a full recovery. 

Update on the Bravest Girl I know

We have been receiving so much love and support from our friends and family after they heard about Skylar's little accident.  As parents, dealing with the guilt has been very hard for Jake and I but having such amazing support from everyone has definitely made this experience a bit easier.  The constant reminder from everyone that accidents happen and hearing stories from other parents does help us with some of the guilt we have been struggling with.  So we are both extremely appreciative and thankful to have such wonderful people in our lives.

I wanted to give a small update on Skylar and how she is healing.  Monday we had our first follow up appointment with the Burn Unit and all the nurses and doctors were very pleased to see how well her wounds were healing.  They said Jake and I have been doing everything right by keeping her out of the sun this week and continuing to keep the medicine on her burns.  The doctors even said that probably in a few weeks most of it won't even be noticeable.  Every night this week when Jake and I have came home from work we have been able to see such an improvement in her wounds which has been really helping our mood.  We go back to the Burn Unit on Friday for hopefully our last follow up appointment and they will continue to give us more encouraging news.

Bravest Girl I Know

Well I wasn't too sure if I was going to blog about this or not, but I want Skylar to be able to read this when she is older so she can know how amazingly brave she is.

Last Friday night turned out to be the worst night in both mine and Jake's life.  It was a typical Friday night.  Jake had just gotten home and we had started to make dinner.  Skylar was watching Sesame Street as she normally does when we make dinner because it keeps her out of the kitchen and we can get everything done.  We just started boiling the pot for some pasta, when our beloved little girl crept into the kitchen.  Within a split second Jake and I were both screaming "NO" when Skylar reach up and spilled the hot water on herself.  Jake got to her so fast and was able to prevent the entire pot from spilling on her, thank god!  She of course started crying and we immediately not really knowing what to do we put cold aloe on her face and wanted to make sure her eye sight was still intact.  Thankfully Elmo was on TV and once we got her to stop crying she was watching Elmo as if nothing had happened, so Jake and I took that as a good sign that her eye sight was good.

We jumped into the car and headed straight to the ER.  Skylar wasn't crying and didn't seem to be in any pain.  I was crying more than she was.  The ER wasn't busy at all and they got us right in to see the doctor.  The doctor checked her eyes and told us just how lucky she was that there was no damage to them.  They said her burns were all very minor and only 1st and 2nd degree and shouldn't have any scarring.  As a precaution they had us take an ambulance to the Burn Unit in Hillcrest because of her age and the location of the burns.  While waiting for the ambulance to transfer us, Skylar was in a great mood.  Running all over the hospital, playing with the door, and eating the yummy vending machine food.  It was so nice seeing that she didn't seem to be in any pain.

After waiting for about 30 minutes the ambulance showed up.  I was hoping she would take a little nap on the long ride from North County to Downtown since it was getting late and past her bedtime, but nope!  She was up and just enjoying the ride. 

Once we arrived at the Burn Unit all the nurses were so sweet and seemed to be relieved that Skylar injures were so minor and they would be able send her home that night.  While waiting for the doctor Skylar was still happy as could be, running up and down the halls with Jake.  The doctor who saw her said again that she was extremely lucky to have such minor burns and since she is so young everything should heal just fine in due time.  They sent us home with some cream to put on her wounds and told us to keep her out of the sun for the next few days.  By the time we left it was after 10:30 pm and Skylar past out the second we got into the car.  She was so brave and Jake and I were so proud of how she handled it.  We still can't believe how calm and happy she seemed to be the whole time.

So now I'm having extreme mother's guilt, that I'm trying to handle it best way I can.  They told us to be prepared that her wounds would get worst before they get better so it's definitely been harder the past few days because her face is blistering and pretty red, but she hasn't skipped a beat and doesn't seem to even notice which makes me feel better.  As a mother you just want to protect your children from anything and everything, but unfortunately that just doesn't seem to be possible.  Jake and I are just so grateful because it all could of been so much worst and we just keep reminding ourselves of that and that all we need is to see is her smile and we know its all going to be OK in the end.

Pee Pee in the Potty!!!

It was a big day last Thursday in the Ernest household.  For a few months now we have been talking to Skylar about pee pee and would have her sit on her potty whenever Mom and Dad go to the bathroom.  We recently just started having her sit on the potty with no diaper on before her bath, just to get her used to her bare bottom on there.  On Thursday she went to swim class and after class she usually is a pee machine because she swallows so much water that I thought that may be the perfect time to catch her and it was.  Right when I sat her on the potty and said "let's go pee pee" she went.  The sound was like music to my ears!! I start jumping up and and down and telling her what a good girl she was for going pee pee.  I don't know if she really got it, but she was happy and smiling and seemed proud of herself.  I'm sure it was just pure luck and it's probably not going to stick, but it's definitely a start.

I'm super bummed that I didn't get a photo of it, but I still wanted to document it as it was a big day for our little girl.

Christmas - 2011

OK, now I know I'm totally late with blogging about Christmas, but better late than never right.  We were really excited for Christmas this year because I knew that Skylar would be old enough to open presents and get excited over them.  She of course, doesn't understand the holiday yet, but it was still fun seeing the excitement on her face over each toy she would open.  Our home was pretty bah humbug this year since we were moving less than a week after Christmas we didn't decorate or put up a tree, luckily our neighborhood looked great so it put us in the holiday spirit.

We went to my parents house for the holidays so Skylar would have a tree to open her presents under.  Christmas Eve is always a big occasion at my parents.  We have my Dad's whole side of the family over, friends stop by, and then Erin's family comes over for the after hours.  Skylar was in a great mood and full of holiday cheer.

It's tradition for me to pass out all the presents to the kiddos and then the adults do a white elephant gift exchange.  I have to say that Jake gave away the best white elephant gift this year with the Twilight cutt out.

Skylar was not ready for bed time, even though I knew she was exhausted.  She was having too much fun playing with Erin and Melissa.

Christmas morning was all about Skylar and my Mom.  They were definitely the two who made out this year.  Jake and I tried to hold back and not get Skylar too many toys, she just has so many as it is.  We did get her a baby and a stroller to start getting her used to seeing a baby around.  Every time she opened a new toy she would forget about the previous.  She could care less about all the clothes I got her.  I think I ended up opening all of those gifts.  My parents got her a super cute vintage looking tricycle, which she just wanted to ride around all morning.  Santa made a trip to the Apple store for mom this year because she made out with an iPhone and the iPad 2 with all the accessories.

After all the excitement from Christmas morning, Skylar went down for a nap before it was time to head over to Erin's parents house.  Erin's family was so sweet to get Skylar a few gifts.  She made out with an adorable princess house that she always wants everyone to join her in, a princess crown and wand, a HUGE stuffed animal and a toy camera. 

Of course the holiday came and went way to fast, but as a family we had a great time together.  We are looking forward to next year when we will have double the gifts and double the excitement and get to celebrate our first of many Christmas' in our own home.