Happy Birthday Little Buddy!!!!

Yesterday, Three years ago (!)  I looked like this:

And then this happened: 

 (go on, be jealous of my labor face.)

(good thing I had that headband!)

And Weston looked like this:

Even though his head was a little wonky, I still loved him. 

I sound so cliche saying it, but I never knew how much such a "tiny" (at 8 lbs 10 oz) little boy could change my life. Despite being stubborn, defiant and at times pretty whiney, this guy has such a calming spirit to him. He has helped me be less dramatic (since there's only room for his drama at our house), has helped me be more patient, loving, grateful and easy going than I ever could have imagined.  Either that, or I'm going insane and only in my delirium I think these things have happened. Not to mention he has taught me all things boy, which were all foreign to me before, such as truck noises, Ninja Turtles, scary growls, 

Anyway, now, Weston looks like this: 

Clearly, he looks just like me and gets all his good looks from his mother.

Next year we will tattoo that same design on his face permanently, since he freaked out so much about washing it off in the tub that night. Parenting fail? I think not.

Some of my favorite things about this kid:

* Every night he likes me to "read" him stories from my head while we lay in his (my) bed (that he has taken over). He likes books, but prefers me to just tell him stories. Have you noticed how many fairy tales have threes in them? The three little pigs, the three bears, the three billy goats gruff... those are some of his favorites. Although, right now, he's totally on a Snow White kick. He thinks the Hunstman is awesome.  Anyway... When I'm finished with the story and say "the end" he always says "no Mom, there's more pages". 

* Speaking of fairy tales... We went to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out pumpkins a few weeks ago. They had a giant straw 'pyramid'. I asked Weston if he wanted to go climb in the straw. He looked at me and asked, "The big bad wolf is not going to blow it away?"

* His daycare provider speaks Spanish. When I pick him up, I notice that she will sometimes instruct him in Spanish, and he quickly obliges (come here, go get your shoes, drink your milk, see you later, that kind of thing). However, if I ever say the same thing to him in Spanish at home, he looks at me, and slowly and loudly says: "MOM- I - DO - NOT - UNDERSTAND - YOUR - TALKING". Oh, really?

* He has a favorite blanket -- his "Debbie", which he carries around with him everywhere. It was crocheted by a dear friend's mother, Debbie, hence the name. He always has to put his fingers through the holes in the blanket, and a while ago, made a giant hole in the blanket for his hand to fit through. Before the whole blanket disintegrated, I asked Debbie if she would be so kind to make a new one, which she obliged. In the meantime, Weston's "Auntie Nana" (Josh's Aunt Merilyn from N.Z.) fixed the hole in his Debbie. On Sunday, he opened his "Debbie #2" and squealed with delight that now he has "TWO DEBBIES" and is now inseparable from both of them. 

* This kid is a singer (Hallelujah!!!!). He matches pitch, LOVES music, and is already better than David Archuleta. True story. He loves to learn new songs, and if I start singing a new song or nursery rhyme, he makes me repeat it OVER and OVER and OVER and OVER again until he has memorized the words. (remember that part about him teaching me patience?) Just the other day, we were driving in the car and he asked Josh if we could listen to Ellie Goulding. I have no idea where he learned that from, but I DIED of his cuteness!

* Usually in the dark, Weston grabs my hand, or cling to me, and then say "don't worry mom, I'll keep you safe!"

* When I do his hair in the morning, he always wants to look at it, and I always say, "oh, you're so handsome!" One morning, dropping him off at daycare, the wind was blowing. He got pretty upset, and said "The wind is going to mess up my handsome!" He constantly has to know that his 'handsome' isn't ruined.... Even though his hair DOES NOT EVER stay neatly in place. I love his mop head, anyway.

I don't know how 3 years goes by so quickly, but I'm wondering if I can find passage to Neverland? My wrinkles and his size 10 feet don't want to keep growing!

Weston Kelly Lund

10.30.09

Yes, it has taken a week to get this blog updated with our BIG news. And by BIG, I mean 8 pounds 10 ounces, 21 1/2 inches big. Weston arrived, to our surprise, last Friday night (10 days early -- still giant!!!) at 7:36 p.m! Who knew I could love anything as much as this guy! So far, Weston has 3 jobs: eat, sleep and mess. The eating and sleeping parts seem to confuse him, but he is messing like a champ -- he may even win a medal.

For those interested in a 'birth story' -- I can sum it up in 3 words: Thank You Epidural. The recovery is going slowly for me, and I pretty much fail at being a mother about 18 hours of the day... BUT we're getting there. And I couldn't imagine it any other way.

Happy Birthday To You...

This post is just a little late -- so what, I've been too busy to blog at home and upload pictures of this old man who also happens to be my husband. Ah, where do the years go?

Josh turned the big 2-7 on the 5th of October (which, f.y.i., is apparently the most common birthday in the world, who knew?) My parents and all the "illegal" sisters (that means anyone under 18, not illegal aliens, sheesh) came down to watch conference with us, and my mom made delicious lasagna for lunch/dinner. Next, the main food event: Josh's football birthday cake! I have been forced to cross off cake-decorating from my resume, because I am an awful cake decorator. It was a mess. But it was delicious and Josh gave me three points for cleverness.


Moving on -- I thought Josh's birthday post would be an excellent time to incorporate a tag I received from Sara. Many of you may not know my husband very well, so here are some funny quirks about him:

MY JOSH:

1. He will not wear shirts without a collar. True. He thinks he has a long giraffe neck, and will not wear a plain t-shirt. Who knew someone could be self concious about a NECK? Also, he has at least 10 blue polos. I think they are all the same color. He assures me they are completely different shades. If you think Josh keeps wearing the same shirt over and over again, he really doesn't. There are just 10 of them.

2. Josh will not swim in public pools -- for fear of floating poo (or "brown trout" as it is so affectionately called, sorry I know that is gross). Not even dip his toe in. Last summer when that whole crypto-thing came out Josh wore his "I told you so" face for at least 3 months. Along with his fear of public places -- his hatred for Disneyland. We went there on our honeymoon before our cruise and apparently his experience was so bad he will never return -- maybe he felt like he was babysitting the whole time, as I LOVE disneyland and was running and squealing everywhere? I actually forced him into going once after and he and his friend Jake literally whined the whole time... Really, he hates most public places, he's all phobic weird.

3. Josh is Uncle Sam? I have never met someone more patriotic! He really gets after me about my civic duties as a citizen-- yes I am voting next month --, wears his American flag tie on a regular basis and absolutely LOVES the 4th of July! Apparently we are naming all of our unborn children after Ulysses S. Grant -- as he is Josh's all-time hero (and to prove it, he bought a giant photo of him to hang in our house... ugh...)

4. Josh wears flip-flops at least 9 of the 12 months a year. He does not like shoes. To match his polos, he also has approximately 10 pair of the same flip-flop. I suspect he wears them to show off his freakishly long toes --he says they are his Polynesian heritage, made for walking in the sand-- even if it is 30 degrees outside. The only times he does not wear flip-flops is if it is raining or snowing heavily.

5. Another one of Josh's all-time heroes: Santa Claus. I must have had a bad experience as a child that I have blocked out of my memory because I find real-looking Santas creepy. Josh, however, is nuts about Christmas and Santa, cannot get enough of real-looking Santas, and even wishes we had a lifesize Santa decoration in our front entrance. (How creepy would that be? some fat bearded guy staring at me every time I come home?) We fight about this every year-- Santa vs. Snowmen. Josh insists that we send out Christmas Cards that look like this:





Hence, this is why no one gets Christmas cards from us, gross.

6. Josh watches cartoons every day. But not any cartoons, just old, "classic" cartoons. I wake up in the morning and turn on the TV to watch the local news (I should be informed says Josh) and it is always on some Cartoon channel -- apparently this is what he watches before he goes to bed. Our DVR is full of X-Men and Scooby-Doo re-runs. Every Christmas Eve (again, he really, really loves Christmas) we watch Yogi Bear's First Christmas and every October we start watching Scooby Doo Halloween specials. He may have just turned 7 and I mistakenly added a 2 in front of it? Oh, and also, he owns at least 10 Justice League action figures. And yes, we play with them.


7. I don't really know if this is a quirk, but it is something that cracks me up -- there is something about Josh that makes him incredibly attractive to other men. At any given time there are at least 3 guys out to make Josh their boyfriend. Several years ago some guy asked Josh to move in with him (the "perk" this guy used -- I have a shower for two!) Josh gets pretty uncomfortable when guys wink at him or make a go for his back side, but man, I crack up every time! Apparently, Josh is "pretty".


8. Josh talks in his sleep. And he is hi-larious (that is also one of Josh's things -- hi-larious is said just like that, with a pause in between the hi- and the -larious). My still all-time favorite, is when he told me so matter-of-fact-ly that aliens are more afraid of us than we are of them. Most of the time his sleep-talking comes with complimentary hand gestures.




I really lucked out. Josh also reminds me of that every day. How in the world did I end up with him? However it happened, it sure is entertaining every day! And for any of you who haven't had the chance to experience Josh in the full-extent of his funniness, COME ON OVER! If it's my cooking that scares you away, we'll order pizza.

Happy Birthday To....

Apparently I'm a nerd and I can't stop theming my posts! This one is my birthday post! I first wanted to thank all my wonderful friends and family who wished me a happy birthday on the 22nd! It was a great day, and unlike last year, I was lucky to not spend it in the hospital!!! That's how much Josh loves me! Unfortunately I told Josh what I wanted to do for my birthday was go see Indiana Jones, and man was that stupid. So I guess it's my own fault for getting a stupid birthday wish. My favorite present, though, was that Josh actually let me take a picture of us! Enjoy. This is me at 24, don't look closely, I'm sure I'm getting wrinkles and saggy skin.

Next, we were ever so lucky to get invited by Seth and Brittney to go down and celebrate Brittney's big 2-3 on Monday (June 2nd)! We had a great time and really enjoyed the "Roberts" version of Happy Birthday. We fit right in, I think!

And it's true, I saved the best for last. I'm going to say this in big words hoping it can somehow convey my excitement in this statement:

I'm an AUNT!!!!

That font just wasn't big enough... "Largest?" Bah, I don't believe it.

I've been waiting probably 80 years for this moment to happen, and I didn't imagine it would be so wonderful! Jayson (Josh's brother) and Heather gave birth to a healthy, BEAUTIFUL baby girl, Hadley, on Monday (again the 2nd, she must've known it was a good day for birthdays!) and I can't even express how much I love her already! I know that is so corny! I am sure I'm the favorite aunt, after all, she did make a squeaky noise when I held her! Monday was just full of little miracles. One I'm glad I witnessed: Josh actually likes Hadley AND he wanted to hold her AND he didn't drop her! He deserves a medal, or maybe a trophy. Here is a picture of our beautiful niece -- I'll upload a few more maybe tomorrow. I can't wait to go visit her again!