What's Up Wednesday

Today, I’m linking up with Shay, Shaefer and Mel for What’s Up Wednesday!

What we're eating this week: 

We've been grilling almost every day and eating watermelon almost every day! I love summer food!

What I'm loving:

•  My cute little family! I took this picture on Father's Day

• Grapes that taste EXACTLY like cotton candy

 

• The fact that Kate has slept from 11 pm to 8:30 am for the past week! #bestbabyever I do not take for granted the luxury of sleeping without interruption, then exercising and getting ready for the day all before my infant wakes up. (I've never had a baby or a toddler sleep past 7 am, and 7 was always a really lucky day) And here's a mini photo dump of Kate: 

 
 

 
 
 

•  The fact that Kate puts up with her crazy brothers. David always holds her and says, "Mom, take my picture!" and "Kate, say cheeeeeeeeeeese!!!" And then he makes her smile like this. Poor, poor, baby. hahaha!

 

• This little Wonder Woman outfit for Kate that my friend sent to me. David was SO EXCITED about it and now Kate will be able to play superheroes with her brothers. I have the best friends in the world. I really do. 

What I'm reminiscing about:
I was going through pictures and found this picture I took the night before I had Kate! hahaha I'm so glad I'm not pregnant anymore!

And look at her now! Two months old last Tuesday. We love her :)
 
What I'm dreading:
Nothing! 
What we've been up to:
I love our location in Gilbert and there are a lot of places really close for quick time killing activities ;)
Last week we went to see Lego Batman at the summer dollar movies, we went the Disney Store event where we learned to draw Star Wars characters then looked at the puppies at the puppy store afterwards, and we swam at a friends house. Kate got in the water for the first time and loved it.

 




On Saturday, we stopped at Chic-fil-a for ice cream cones because I heard Spider-man was going to be there. I didn't tell Jack and David that he was going to be there (in case he didn't show up!) and their faces were priceless when Spider-man walked through the door. Jack thought it was just a guy dressed up in a costume but David was sure he was the real Spider-man :)
Funny story: David said he wanted to be Batman when he grows up and Jack said, "There already is a Batman but maybe you could be the Chic-fil-A Batman when you grow up!" hahaha

What I'm working on:
Unpacking. I swear it is going to take us a year to finally get everything unpacked and organized! haha It feels impossible to get anything done but the basics during the week with a newborn and two other demanding little kids. Saturdays are crazy and we always have a huge list of stuff we want to get done over the weekends but we never seem to get to it all.
I'm almost done decorating Kate's room and I just love her newborn pictures so much :)

What I'm excited about:
Living by a Walmart with grocery pickup! This is a game changer!!!

What I'm watching:

 Friends! I watch it while I nurse Kate. (I also watched it when I nursed Jack 5 years ago but I'm having fun watching it again :) I started when she was born and am already to season 7.
What I'm reading:
Nothing. I have failed in this area since Kate was born :)
What I've been listening to:
Trending playlists on Amazon Prime Music
What I'm wearing: 
None of my summer clothes fit me unfortunately and I refuse to buy anything in the size that I am currently so I alternate between two not-very-cute shorts and a couple of skirts. #dangitpostpartum
What I'm doing this weekend: 
More unpacking and organizing!
What I'm looking forward to next month:
Escaping the heat for a quick weekend in California!
Bonus Question: What's your favorite 4th of July tradition?
This is not your typical tradition, but my dad is the most patriotic man I know, and every 4th of July he sends us a goofy picture or video of him with the American flag. He thinks he's pretty funny (and he is!).
 

Things I'm Loving

• Celebrating Father's Day. I love my dad and Spencer more than words can say :)

 

• Our trail from our house that leads to the canal. Last Sunday it wasn't too hot to go for a walk, so we hunted for seashells and pokemon on our walk ;) I'm a little bummed that Jack is so passionate about anime, but at least Pokemon Go will get him out of the house :)

 

 

• Our next door neighbors! The neighbor kids are the exact same ages as ours and Jack and David love playing with them. They have a snake, Pokemon cards, and a cool blow up swimming pool and the other day David told me, "Mom, Madden's house is better than our house." We can't compete :)

 

• Splash pads and swimming at friend's houses! (We went to the splash pad earlier in the week when the weather wasn't as hot but now that the temps are in the triple digits again, I don't think we will make it to the splash pad again until the fall!)

 

• Storytime at Barnes and Noble. On Thursday, we were desperate to get out of the house for a quick activity and the storytime there was cute! They read a story, did a craft, ate a cookie, then played at the train table afterwards.

 

• Kate, who is winning the "best baby" award. She sleeps 6-8 hours straight in the night and just goes with the flow during the day and hardly ever cries. On Tuesday during Jack and David's soccer skills class at the rec center, I wore work out clothes just in case Kate would cooperate and let me run on the treadmill and she did. She watched me run for the first mile and fell asleep during the second mile. It was a miracle.

 


































More Kate pics:

 


































































 

 

• Kate's room! We were given some adorable furniture that used to be my grandparents (not pictured but that cute carriage was my grandma's) and honestly, I'm just grateful she has her own room. It was so hard having Jack and David share a room the first year of David's life.

• David's bed head :) We have finally accepted that David is just not going to sleep through the night in his own bed until he's a teenager probably ;) He always makes his way to our bed in the middle of the night and since he is always on Spencer's side of the bed, I don't mind waking up to this sweet face ;)

 

• Prehistoric Preschool. When I saw this dinosaur summer camp offered at the Natural History Museum in Mesa I couldn't NOT sign Jack up. He LOVED it!

 

Catch up

After Kate's blessing, Spencer flew back to Arizona to start work and I stayed with the kids for one more week in Utah.
This picture of David kills me - he looks too big and just like Spencer. My mom bought Jack and David army hats at the dollar store and they played "soldiers" all week :)

Grandma Wirthlin came and stayed for a night - I hope we didn't scare her with our craziness!



 Jack and David watched Guardians of the Galaxy soooo many times with Isaac in the basement :) Kate watched it a few times too :)

I make the same face as David when I see fry sauce :)

On Saturday morning, Spencer flew back to Utah to come and get us! We went to the zoo on Saturday with his parents and brother's family and on Sunday we drove home to Arizona.




You would think the pictures below were from the zoo, but they were at a random petting zoo by a gas station somewhere between Utah and Arizona. We even got to feed the camel :)


We got to Arizona late Sunday night, and thankfully the next day was Memorial Day so Spencer didn't have to go to work and we were able to get some stuff done. We miraculously found the perfect little rental house for us - it's in a great location in Gilbert and in a cul-de-sac plus, we are right next door to a greenbelt and bike trail, and our next door neighbors have kids the exact same age as our kids. I think the most stressful part about moving wasn't the moving part or having the baby part, but finding somewhere to live. Because I was 38 weeks pregnant, going to look for a home in person was out of the question and most of the rentals posted were gone within 24 hours. I had a few friends in Arizona who were willing to go look at some homes for us and Facetime us and we miraculously secured our house on the Saturday night of Easter weekend. I truly feel like it was heaven sent. I guess I had to have a flea infested apartment, a smoke filled apartment, and then a bedbug infested apartment to realize how miraculous it was to find a clean home that we love without seeing it in person first :)
Our view from the kid's rooms makes me happy.

Another benefit of living next to a greenbelt is the sprinklers that come on every day at 3:45-4:30. I was surprised that Jack and David didn't even know what sprinklers were - it's rainy enough in Iowa that nobody has sprinklers there!

Our backyard needs some TLC, but Jack and David have loved just playing in our tiny pool and I have loved being able to just watch them from our air conditioned house :)

Jack and David started swim lessons and a little parks and rec soccer skills class the day after Memorial Day. David cried at swimming lessons for two days straight because he thought I was still going to be his swim teacher but thankfully, he was happy going by the end of the session. He is still working on not crying at soccer though.


My mom and Elizabeth and Isaac came to visit the Thursday after we got to Arizona, and then James and Maddie and Calvin drove from California to stay for the weekend. We are excited that we will have a lot more visitors here! That weekend, my amazing momma watched the grandkids while the siblings went to get bobas and went to Jesterz. We had a great time! (It took forever to convince Isaac to get into the picture - then he made an "I'm too cool for this face" that backfired on him ;)
 


Calvin KILLS me! I love that sweet boy!





Both cousins have a Wirthlin look - one just looks like James Wirthlin and the other looks like Annie Wirthlin, so obviously they look nothing alike ;)

I didn't get one picture of my mom while she was here! She was soooo helpful getting our house looking like a home and taking Jack and David on outings. She has been with me for 5 weeks out of the 7 weeks of Kate's life and it has felt like a breeze compared to postpartum with Jack and David. I think I will have 10 more kids if I can have that much help from my mom every time :)
I think it is time for the Kate photo dump:
Most people say that she looks like Jack but I think she looks more like David did.









We've also been loving the library here - the first time we went, they gave us a paper with items to find at the Riparian Preserve right next to the library. Jack whined and whined for me to take him on a hike there (in the middle of the day) and after the second day, I finally caved and took him. He lasted for all of 10 minutes in the heat but we found the Saguaro cactus, the prickly pear cactus, and the dino tracks on his paper before he gave up.


The next time we went to the library, there was a reptile show! I was surprised when the guy pulled out a tortoise and an alligator because I was just expecting a big snake, and I was even more surprised when he let the kids have at it after the show. We stayed for an hour after the show and were the last ones to leave! Jack was in HEAVEN! David liked it, but got bored after a while and started playing super heroes by himself while Jack was up close and personal with the alligator. Why play with an alligator when you could play super heroes instead?! haha


The tortoise was missing a leg and had a wheel instead!





Kate was not impressed ;)

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Spencer and I are so happy to be in Arizona and still can't believe we are here! In December, we flew to Arizona on our way to meet Spencer's family in California and sadly thought we would never come to Gilbert again. My family had moved and every job lead for Spencer in Arizona wasn't working out. But six months later, here we are! God works in mysterious ways. I can't wait for another Arizona adventure! It's good to be back.