We love company!

Two weekends ago, my friend Meredith from college came to visit. (Funny random tidbit, her full name is Meredith Ryan Cameron...how funny is that?!--for those of you might not know, Ryan's bandmate's name is Cameron.) It was an uber hot weekend! Especially for a gal who lives in Winter Park, CO and has been waking up to weather in the 20's already this season!
But, regardless of the weather, it is tradition that we do some hiking when we get together.

Ezra all geared up for our hike at Sabino Canyon...


Our hiking companions...


Taking a break along the trail...


Deciding that it is too hot to continue hiking and that we ought to just play in the stream...







On Wednesday my parents and two of my nieces (Haleigh and Lydia) are coming to visit!

By request...

Last month I posted about how I love driving our gas-guzzling high top conversion van. And, now without further ado, I present to you photos of the Green Machine.

Isn't she a beauty?


View from the side door.


View of Ezra's carseat and trucker fan from the side door.


View of the front of the van (and meredith's butt...she wanted to make the blog :) from Ezra's bench. (The TV doesn't work...but we do have a whole storage compartment of car games!)

Swap Meet!

Last weekend we went to the Swap Meet for the first time. When I told people earlier in the day that I was going to the swap meet and that I had never been before, I was often greeted with one of the following responses:

"You've never been to the Swap Meet?" (said with a look of disbelievement and disgust)
"You are going to love it!"
"That is one colorful place."
"The swap meet is where Mexicans go for fun." (Said by a latina woman, just so you know there was no racism in her tone.)
"You can buy everything at the swap meet."

It was definitely a fun evening. We didn't buy anything, but then again you know us..we never buy anything. We're too cheap for even the swap meet. :)

It's definitely true that they have the largest selection of various items that I've ever seen in one shopping experience.
-shower curtains
-carseats
-type writers
-underwear
-beds
-shoes
-cell phones
-mangoes
-brooms
-bikes
-(insert what you've always been looking for, but never knew where to find it...)

Joel on the search for a new hat...


I love that they differentiate between "bikini" and "bigkini"...


Lots of laughs! Blanca is due at the end of October. Ezra's new thing is to chew on my water bottle top. I don't think he has the skills yet to bite/suck at the same time to get water out of my camelbak water bottle...or does he?

Rachel on the court!

Ryan's sister Rachel is in 6th grade this year! Wow, it's crazy to think that when we moved here she was only in 3rd grade. She is growing up beautifully I must say. With Mary (Ryan's stepmom) now married to Ray, their family feels complete and absolutely wonderful. We are so incredibly happy for them!

Last week we were able to make it to 2 of Rachel's volleyball games...


Ezra absolute adores Mary and Ray...and, I'm pretty sure the feelings are mutual...


Ezra and Rachel post-game...

Milah's Daydreams...

I just stumbled upon this, and couldn't resist passing it on...

Our Crazy Boys (the blog)

My etsy site was featured on a great blog today called Our Crazy Boys. Becca is an entertaining writer that shares many tales as a parent to two boys. I have been reading her blog for a while now and really enjoy it, so to be the giveaway for the week, is a huge honor! Please check out her blog, you will like it. :)

Ezra and Miri unite!

This past weekend Traci (Ryan's cousin) and Joe were in town with their uber cute daughter, Miri. At last, Ezra and Miriam got to meet for the first time. They are only 6 months apart in age...and I foresee them bringing back the family Christmas talent show in full-swing this year!

Dada time...

I love that when I go into work without Ezra, I know he is getting to have lots of quality time with Ryan. And, I know Ryan enjoys getting that one-on-one time with him too.

They had another photo shoot the other day (I LOVE when they take photos and send them to me while I'm at work!!).
It is no longer any question who Ezra got his eyes from...




Ryan also bought Ezra a new toy the other day...I'm pretty sure the new Sun Chips bag is every 5 month old's dream toy.

Family Date!

Last week I had Thursday off from work and we decided to go on a Family Date! We all got dressed up and headed to the U of A campus to check out the galleries at the Museum of Photography. Such a nice way to spend our morning.

On the mend...

(written on Saturday...)

Ezra is doing a bit better today. He slept a large part of yesterday. And was still throwing up throughout last night and this morning. But, he truly seems to be on the upswing now. He hasn't thrown up since 10am-ish this morning, and he's nursed twice this afternoon, each time for about 2 minutes.

Here is our sweet boy sound asleep...


And here he is drinking some pedialyte with Ryan.


I feel like Ezra being sick has been a new step of parental induction. Yesterday morning I had to wash all of the sheets, matress pad, couch cover etc. And this morning he threw up over everything again...so it's all back in the washing machine now. Oh the joy of being a mama. That may have sounded sarcastic, but I mean it actually. I do love taking care of our lil' dude.

After putting Ezra down to sleep for the night yesterday, our 81 year old neighbor Roger Allen called to say that he fell and bumped his head, and his wife is out of town. So, I went over to check on him and we decided that it would be best to go to the Emergency Room to have him checked out by a doctor. Do you remember Roger Allen? If not, please refresh yourself here. He's truly one-of-a-kind. When the person at the front desk of the ER asked what brought him in, he responded with, "I got these new slippers in the mail today, and wanted to try them out. And, we had some handymen at the house today so our cat was hiding in the back bedroom, but once they left, he came back out and needed lots of attention, so I leaned over to pet him and because I was wearing my new slippers my feet weren't so sure of themselves and I tripped and bumped my head on the corner of the wall...."...it was honestly like a solid 5 minute explanation. Hilarious. And, I got to hear it at the front desk, with the triage nurse, the woman at registration, his nurse, and the doctor. Five times. And, somehow he was able to give the exact same details each time. They did a CAT scan, and fortunately everything is just fine. We finally made it home at about 1am.

(now skipping ahead to Sunday evening...)
Ezra seems to be back to his normal self...aside from the fact that he has horrible pedialyte diarrhea now, which smells awful.

Oh Ez-ray.

Dominic (18 months old now!!) calls Ezra "Ez-ray"...and Ryan and I have picked up on it too.

I woke up at 6am this morning and realized that Ezra hadn't woken up at all to eat throughout the night. A rare thing indeed. However instead of feeling like, "wow, this is great!", I immediately realized something didn't seem quite right. I tried to wake him up to feed him, but he was too groggy to latch on. I then sat up with him to see if that would help, and he still just couldn't seem to latch on. I moved him to hold him upright and he started throwing up all over the place. He still seemed tired though, so I laid him back down, and he just kept throwing up. So sad. I remember my mom saying when I was little and sick that she wished there was something she could do to make me feel better. I know what she means now. It's so sad to see your lil' one sick! I handed Ezra to Ryan, and he just laid in Ryan's arms totally limp and lethargic. I called the pediatrician and he said to give Ezra some pedialite in a bottle. Tried that. He threw it all back up. He's nursed for about 2-3 minutes total in the past 12 hours, but somehow he is seeming a bit more smiley and himself. He's sound asleep now, and I'm hoping that when he wakes up he will be ready to eat a little bit more.

Chicago 1/2 Marathon re-cap

Last weekend Ezra and I boarded our Southwest Flight for Chicago. Can I just take a moment and tell you how much I love Southwest? I do. They are truly my favorite airline. I like that they check bags for free, don't count carseats and strollers as luggage, and they give you lots of free snacks. But, what I truly love about them is how friendly the flight attendants always are! It makes such a huge difference to be surrounded by people who want to be helpful and seem happy with their job.

Onto Chicago. We had a very fun reunion with Megan, Kerry, and Natalie (roommates/friends from Albion)! Our first night we had a ravioli party...handmade ravioli by Natalie to carb up on. Sooo delicious. My favorite was the spinach and goat cheese ravioli. Yum!

Sunday morning was the "big run". The weather was gorgeous (low 70's would be my guess). Somehow I was able to have one of those running days where I just felt great. That, and I was afraid that if I started to walk I would never start running again...so I somehow ran the whole thing even though I haven't ran anything further than 6 miles in well over a year. I finished in 2:04, so I was quite happy with my time, especially since going into it I really didn't think I'd be able to run it in under 2:30.

The rest of Sunday was nice and relaxing. And then on Monday we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was such a wonderful weekend with friends. I wish we all lived closer to one another!

Happy Labor Day to you!

Yesterday morning I woke up at 5:15am (!!) to run the annual Labor Day run at Saguaro National Park. 5:15am is early. It is especially early when you feed a baby on demand throughout the night. And, it just so happened that Ezra was especially hungry/wanted to be close to mom throughout the eve of Labor Day. I think he ate at 12am, 3:30am, 3:45am (just needed extra cuddling), and then 4:50am. And yes, I did go back to sleep after the 4:50am feeding for all of the 13 minutes before my alarm went off at 5:15am.

But, sleep deprivation didn't slow me down somehow. In fact, I ran my best 5k time in a few years. That's not really saying all too much for me considering I haven't been the most consistent in my running/training since moving to Arizona. I finished at 25:56 (my watch time) or 26:00 (official clock time). That put me at 32nd overall out of 292 runners. And, 1st for my age group. Yup, I'm now officially in the 30-34 age group so I have no college kids to compete against. Gotta love it. :) Oh, what did I win you ask? A snazzy water bottle.

Next weekend I'm signed up to run the Chicago Half Marathon. I don't think I'm going to fair as well in that race. So far my longest run has been 6 miles. Please pray that I finish. :)

When it rains it pours...

Another "real blogger" contacted me through my etsy to host a giveaway on her blog! Woohooo! Who knows what will come of this, but it is encouraging for sure! Stay-at-home-mamahood, here I come! :)
If you'd like a chance to win a set of bags, just go to her blog and leave a comment.

Ezra love

Happy (belated) 5 Months Ezra!

joy

This evening our friends from Congo came over with their 'new' baby, Yvonne! It was wonderful. In fact, I cried when they left because I loved seeing them and having them here so much. Their hearts are so big and full of love and generosity.

There was a whole lot of baby swapping going on...




...as well as bonding between the little ones...


Vitale (pronounced Vee-tall) is on the right; he's getting too big too fast! It seems like yesterday we were at his first birthday party!


We first met them 2 years ago, just 2 weeks after they arrived to the United States from Rwanda where they were in a refugee camp for many years. When they arrived Bienvenue wanted to become a pastor. Now, just two years later he is the pastor of a church that he started here in Tucson.


Welcome to the family Yvonne, we love you!

I'm Famous!?

Okay, maybe not famous. But, I do have some exciting news...

A couple of weeks ago blogger, Katarina of Coupon Katarina, contacted me through my etsy site and asked if I'd be a sponsor for her giveaway! Naturally, I said yes...and today is my debut in the (real) blogging world! If you'd like to have a chance to win a snack/sandwich bag set, check out her blog! She has lots of great coupon deals!

Red Heads!

Sticking with the refugee theme. Last month my friend Sushma organized a group of friends to welcome a new refugee family from Iraq to Tucson. In my past experience, they Iraqis I've met have had beautiful dark complexions and dark hair. I assumed this to be the norm for Iraqis. I guess I was a bit closed minded in thinking that though.

The oldest son:


Do kids get any cuter than that?? Seriously! He reminded me of a little boy that should be an extra on The Little House on the Prairie or Anne of Green Gables.

Here is his little brother (and their mother). Also quite the red head and full of fun energy.


The whole family.



One tired lil' dude.

It's all in the pronunciation..

This afternoon I called our friends from Congo. It has been a long time since we saw them last. Too long really. I have had a baby, and they have had a baby, and we still have not seen each other. Normally when we call, we call one of the male's phones because, quite frankly, they speak better English. But today I decided to call Elodi's phone. She's been here for two years now, and her English is way better (like 100% better) than my Spanish, and I've lived here for 4 years! Our conversation went a bit like this:

Me: Hi Elodi, it's Abby.
Elodi: Who?
Me: Abby.
Elodi: (pause)
Me: Abby and Ryan.
Elodi: (lots of talking in Swahili)
Me: How is your baby?
Elodi: good. Who is this?
Me: It's Abby.
(Elodi hands the phone to her husband, Bienvenue)
Bienvenue: Who is this?
Me: It's Abby.
(Ryan in the background: pronounce it "A"-Bee.)
Me: It's "A"-Bee.
Bienvenue: Ohhhhh "A"-Bee!!!! How are you??? (Lots of laughter, and "it's 'A'-Bee")
(Elodi takes the phone)
Elodi: Oh "A"-Bee! How is your baby? How are you?

Lots of laughs indeed. They are coming over on Saturday and I can't wait!

Family Reunion Part II

I still have more photos to post from when we were in Michigan...I just got ahead of myself for a while there and decided to post about more current happenings around here...

While we were in Michigan we also got to attend the family reunion on my mom's side. I think it has been at least 10 if not 15 years since I was last at one of these reunions! My mom's cousin bought my great grandparents house several years ago, and ever since then, that is where the reunion is located. In Shelby, Michigan on their farm...surrounded by lots and lots of woods. My great grandparents were Mennonite, and while I only ever met my great-grandma (she died when I was in 3rd grade) I feel like I have lots of visuals of who they were. My great-grandma in her prayer cap and my great-grandpa in his suspenders (did he even where suspenders?? I don't really know).

Grandpa Echelbarger and Haleigh...


Emma and Lizzy...


Ryan, Ezra, Lydia, and Alyssa...


Going on a nature walk...


The warming hut (a stop off on our nature walk)...


Ezra was pretty into the grass...let's hope he's not as allergic to it as his dad is!

Second Saturdays!

Downtown Tucson started up a new thing over the summer called "Second Saturday". (At least that's what I call it.) And, it's been going over so well that it's going to continue on past the summer months!

When is it: The second Saturday of every month starting around 5:30pm
Where is it: All over downtown Tucson, the streets are closed off so it's just foot traffic (and many stilt-walkers as well as it turns out)
What is it: All sorts of family-friendly activities. Lots of live music, good food, an outdoor movie, kids' rides, arts and crafts, etc.

I think this is another thing (along with Bountiful Baskets) that is on my Top Five Things I love about Tucson list. :)



(Just to clarify, I'm not holding a beer while wearing Ezra. In fact, I don't even know what I'm holding...my guess is that it's Barnes' soda from (ahem) Jimmy Johns....some people just prefer the familiar things in life. :)