2.5, going on 7.

Seriously. This kid takes my breathe away. Every. Day!

Work is IN-SANE right now. I almost can’t breathe…but this little guy…oh my.  Bud, you make everything better. You give me purpose, comic relief..you bring me back to Earth when I forget that advertising is just...um…advertising. After 80 hrs/week, there isn't an ounce of me that's willing to apologize for locking us up in the suburbs and not going anywhere. Home is where the heart is, always.

What a rad dude.

You’re funny – inflection and timing are your strong suits… who knew? You were born with this uncanny ability to deliver a joke with the perfect timing, inflection, and response. You can thank your daddy later.

You’re compassionate. You don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, you want everyone to be happy and content.

You’re self-aware. You get it and understand when you’re in trouble. It’s funny, you can totally call it when you’re about to go to timeout – sometimes you put yourself there before we have a chance to. Doesn’t mean you don’t act up, but you correct yourself when you do. Awesome…you can find me napping in the other room. KThanksBye.

Favorites lately:

1. POTTY TRAINED!!! You’re like 90% there. It’s sad, I want to take a pic of every epic defecation. It’s disgusting but so pride-inducing I almost can’t help but instagram it. Good God. Your favorite reward after doing the deed? Washing your hands. Really, dude? Really? Your 2^nd fav reward? Skittles and/or fruit snacks. You are your mothers son. Also, bacon and peeing seem to work well for you...

2. YOUR VOCABULARY! It’s insane. We can have an actual conversation, about anything, and you get it. A few of your favorites:

- observing the random cars/trucks/tractors/school busses on the road on our way to school

- watching for traffic lights and instructing your driver how to proceed (whew!)

- telling us what you learned at school – each week is themed

3. YOU CAN WRITE YOUR NAME! What? You’re 2.5. are 2.5’s supposed to know how to write their names? Trip out

4. YOU LOVE YOUR UNCLE CAM! Oh man, do you. It's weird, it's like you two speak the same foreign language and just get each other. It's the best thing ever. You think he's the COOLEST dude ever and the feeling is so clearly mutual. He loves you to pieces and would do anything for you. Yay for family and awesome uncles.

5. You have naturally adopted the concept of control, and you like it. Weird, no clue why this concept is so appealing (oh hey, mirror). On occasion, we’ll put you down for a nap or bedtime, and you don’t love the idea of sleeping where we want you to. You're into sleeping, just on your own terms. In these cases, you’ll pass out anywhere BUT where you know you’re supposed to sleep. Your favorites lately are the kitchen and the doorway of your bedroom. Our philosophy? Let the boy sleep...

5. You just cannot get enough of your cousins. You love them to pieces. We are so thankful to live so close to our friends and family. They are your favorite – watching you grow up with my best friends kiddos is an absolute dream come true.

My favorite things you say:

I love you too

Mama, you’re so pretty (unprompted, I guarantee no one taught him this...no really)

Ending every statement with “RIGHT?”

I tooted!

(after you go potty) “and now I get a skittle!”

See my cool shoes?
When I wake up, I'm going to the mountain with daddy
elk call.

Statements of appreciation/affirmation: “Good Job on the nuggets, Cam!”

Your favorite foods:

Skittles (duh)

Asparagus

Bananas

Any berries

Fettuccine

Any version of breaded chicken

Sammich

Mac & Cheese

...and the very first photographic evidence we're related....

RESET

Mama needed a TIMEOUT today after working 3 weeks straight; thankfully, it all culminated in a very big, very successful meeting in California. So many days of nonstop working will do a number on your old lady. We needed a reset button.  First on my list of things to do? Hang with you, of course.

We called in FUN to school, cancelling your day of growth and education (much to the dismay of your teachers, and my conscience), gave cause to launch into breakfast and a day of awesomeness with our favorite cousins. We ate pancakes, we drank hot chocolate, we went swimming, we snacked on pistachios. We were human again. Nothing like a reset day with the best, most fun, hilarious, and energetic little dude on the planet, and our super cool friends. It just melts my heart to see you play with your boys, Jackson and Maverick. It's truly the cutest thing - you love them, and they take SUCH good care of you - like you were their brother, I mean, you basically ARE brothers. Each day I am more and more thankful for this beautiful life and these incredibly amazing, generous, thoughtful friends (family) we have. We are so, so lucky bud. What a great day. 

It.

Was.

Awesome.

Adventures in berry picking!

Your school is closed this week so mommy and daddy are taking shifts staying home with you. Also, it happens to be summertime and absolutely drop-dead gorgeous outside!!! 

This morning we decided to go on an early morning berry picking adventure with our favorite friends, Maverick and Lori! (Before work emails started to really roll in).

Too fun!! Who knew this farm was right in our backyard just up the hill? 

We rolled up to the Skeeters Farm for u-pick blueberries. $2 bucks a pound. Whatta deal. 

At first you weren't so sure. 

Then you started helping pick the berries and put them in the bucket.

Then you realized you could actually eat them right there, and you were done for. 

...and then you got cranky and it was time for a nap - at your request of course. 

We live in such a beautiful part of the country. I'm so thankful that we can take a drive up the hill and pick berries in our bare feet overlooking this gorgeous valley. We are one lucky bunch. 

Now...what to do with 5 lbs of blueberries?!?

Love.

talk to me.

talk to me, kiddo.
talk to me.

I love that you can communicate.
sometimes. hah.
That, and you're so dang expressive. You never hesitate to tell us when you want a "love" (hug) or a kiss. I want you to always feel safe and comfortable when expressing your feelings, and it makes me so happy to see you loving up on everyone. Before bed: "Gimme WUV, gimme kiss, mommy, daddy". My heart sings.

You tell us everything you want and need. and it's awesome. Your daddy, well, he's a talker, and I can't help but feel like this is you taking after him. You talk us through your every emotion, feeling, thought.
You have so many opinions and observations. It's inspirational, really, to join you in your world. It's way more fun through your eyes.

Here's an interview with you yesterday all about your favorites:

Favorite Color: Yellow (later, in a video, it was pink, flipflopper. perhaps you have a future in politics?)
Favorite Food: Yummy
Favorite Teacher: ShiShi (Shannon)
Favorite Animal: Tigers
Who's your best friend? : Benny (and later, it was Dustin)
Mommy or Daddy? : Daddy
Grandpa or Grandma? : Grandpa
(guess you're a dudes dude for now)
Hamburgers or Hotdogs? : Tacos (duh)
Camping or Beach? : Camping at the beach (smart kid, no really, you said this)
Ocean or Mountains? : mountains

Other favorite sayings lately:
When you're cranky and don't want to do ANYTHING: "I JUST NOT" ~whatever that means
cute, agreeable you: "yep"
still: "I'm so happy to see you"
While we were camping, you rolled over to daddy in the morning after sleeping in bed with us (for only the third time ever): "Hi Daddy. You're so nice to me".

You also have books memorized to such a tee that you can read them back to us. Trip out. Your favorite books that you've memorized are: Dr. Seuss' Marvin K Mooney (Go Go Go book), Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham, Skippy Jon Jones, Dinosaur Friends, Dr. Seuss One Fish Two Fish. It seriously blows my mind that you can read entire books to me. and you don't know how to read - as far as I know.

Guess what else? You LOVE camping. I mean really, I've never seen a kid more in his element. You explore, you throw rocks in the river, you ride your bike, you build fires (with assistance) - I shouldn't be surprised; from the time you were born, all it took to calm you down was to take you outside. You're just like your daddy.
We've already gone camping a handful of times, there's too many trips to document, but here's a few shots of you and your buds in the great outdoors.

And here's you talking about your favorite things:

You are my Sunshine ☼

It’s been a rough couple of weeks. We’re really, really trying to make lemonade out of these lemons right now, but the dang things are nearly dry. When it feels like enough is enough, whenever I even get close to throwing in the towel, there you are. A sticker on my hand since morning, and a smile at the door when I come home. You've brightened up what's been a pretty dark day. You rescue me with your smiles and your laughter. Your imagination takes me on a trip to somewhere far away, a place I didn't know existed. Tonight we took Superman to the grocery store where we bought mcdonalds nuggets and fries, where we talked to dinosaurs about how happy we were. And they knew we were happy because we just went to the park and went down the slide, and we were smiling really big. That imagination, already, at 2? Are you kidding me?

And there I was, sitting next to you sopping wet (may as well have been in the bathtub), with a superman truck in one hand and your little piggy that had roast beef in the other, and I realized I had forgotten about all that ails me right now. You are life. You’re it. I am so, so thankful God put you here, in my bathtub.

Thanks for being so freaking cool, bud. So.freaking.cool.

#materpower

https://vine.co/v/hB9EXTjIYKT

The things this boy says

Me: "Sawyer, are you the cutest thing that's ever existed?"

Sawyer: "yeah, mama. I'm just happy. I like to smile" (smiles)

Be still. My. 

Ketchup

Oh, man.  I have been majorly neglecting this blog - bad mommy! Truth: It's been a freaking CRAZY few months. I've been traveling a ton, missing you like crazy. So when I have a spare 15 minutes, chances are good that I'm either cuddling up with you or....sleeping. SO SORRY!!

Here's an attempt to highlight some of our best moments:

AUNT MARSHA VISITS!!! We don't have a huge family, but the extended family we do have is amazing. Marsha made the trek out to Oregon from her home in Idaho and it was the best thing ever to see her and watch her love up on you. You sure charmed her, bud. We were sad to say goodbye at the end of her visit, but so very thankful for the time we had with this angel. 

YO GABBA GABBA LIVE!! Our generous friends at Nickelodeon gifted us with tickets to go see Gabba live and oh man was it fun to watch your eyes light up as each character jumped up onto the stage. You weren't quite sure in the beginning, but as soon as you saw BIZ MARKEE you absolutely lost it. It still blows my mind how happy it makes me just to see you happy. 

SO MUCH ZOO!!! You love animals and trains. The Oregon Zoo is your candyland. Grandpa got us all zoo memberships, so we've been visiting the zoo quite a bit. Your favorites are the Giraffe's, elephants and of course, the zoo train.

NEWPORT BAY AQUARIUM // We took a superfun daytrip to Newport Bay to visit the aquarium. You loved the seals and the fishes and were super stoked to see the sharks in the tube. 

CUDDLES // My favorite thing is our morning cuddles. We've been doing this a lot - you come into our bedroom and jump up right next to me. It's the sweetest and best thing to wake up to EVER. You are so kind and gentle, and you really do love your mommy right now - I dig this phase. 

WEEKEND TRIP TO YACHATS // We spent a weekend at the beach with your Grandma & Grandpa. So so fun. It was all relaxation time. My highlights were introducing you to Disney movies: Snow White in particular. Oh, and taking you to Rogue Brewery headquarters. All of my favorite things in one place = so totally awesome.

You turned 2!! (in February, 3 months ago...oops)

Time is FLYING by! I can't believe you're already 2.
And if I'm being completely honest, I feel like you're super advanced. I know every mommy probably feels this way, but I really think you are! Everyone is impressed by your vocabulary - you're able to express yourself in a way I didn't think 2 year olds could. You have compassion and sympathy, you're incredibly intuitive and checked in to your environment, and you're funny. OMG are you so funny - you have wit and timing down for your funny little sayings. It's crazy.
My favorite quality of yours though - you are the absolute sweetest little thing. You love to give "loves" (hugs) and kisses. Your Grandma came over yesterday and you told her "I'm glad to see you, Grandma". You proclaim that you're "Happy" ALL the time. You hug all of your friends the minute you get to school. You are just so stinking sweet!

For your 2nd Birthday, we went to Slappy Cakes (a pancake hibachi style fun restaurant on SE Belmont). We got the big table and had a super awesome breakfast and made super awesome pancakes.
From there, we went to the Children's Museum - which you LOVED. That night we had a dinner, ate cake and played all night long until you were so conked, you put yourself to bed.
A super fun, mellow birthday just for you.