a lovely three days

Oh, thank goodness for three-day weekends!

Got to spend not two, but THREE days with my sweet little Gunner bear.

I don't think there's anything my heart needed more. It's been so tough going back to work and missing out on all our quality time together... these three days I did nothing but spend it with him, and it was nothing short of amazing. Any time, little or long, I spend with him is always so precious to me... but having THREE whole days together just made me so happy - it was like old times again. & honestly, I found myself forgetting that I did have to go back to work eventually. Tomorrow is the dreaded day of the workweek starting up, and as grateful to have had so much time with Gunner, it feels like I'm leaving him to go back to work after my maternity leave, all over again. It's so hard being a working mama, just when I thought I got the swing of it and was adjusting to being apart, throw in some extra time and I got WAY too spoiled, I forgot all about work, well, reality really.

 

But enough mushy sad talk. I really wanted to share how we spent our fun three days together! All three days I tried to do fun stuff together, and of course I left PLENTY of time for cuddling & snuggling at home with dad. That's another thing, with Rick being on his paternity leave right now - it was the first time in... well, ever that we were able to spend time together as a family - & three days at that! It was so nice I could write a whole three blogs (one for each day) - but don't worry - I'm going to give you the short version of it, aka:

 the highlight real::

 

Saturday:

Saturday I had two appointments to try on wedding dresses! Yes, Rick & I have already gotten married... however, we are still planning on having our formal wedding this Summer since it had to be postponed last year (due to this precious little surprise of ours). Anywho! Yes, it is now time to find a new dress for our big day! I have had one for 4 years now in my closet and after so many times of rescheduling or having to postpone, Rick told me to use some of our tax refund and go get a new dress! We've downsized our wedding a lot over the last year, and he said I at least deserved to have my dream dress. I could NOT have been more excited, boy am I one lucky gal to have him!

 

So Saturday myself, Gunner, my mom, my cousin Karin & one of my bestest friends Danielle all set out on the search for my dress! I didn't end up find "the" perfect one.. but I got close. Now I know exactly what I'm looking for, so the hard parts over!

 

After wedding dress shopping, my mom parted ways and the girls (+Gunner) and I headed to the Fountains in Roseville for lunch and some window shopping. I tell you, the Fountains are seriously like another state or city! You'd never guess you were still in Sacramento. The shopping center is so clean and beautiful & the people are all friendly & it's so perfect for family trips, oh, and SO stroller-friendly (which is always a bonus!) I definitely will be taking more trips out there from now on!

We had lunch at one of my favorite places, Boudins (Best clam chowder bread bowl that isn't right on the shores of the ocean). We had a blast! Gunner took a nap through shopping (typical guy) and then woke up to enjoy the sunlight when we were walking around outside. It was so fun!

 

Afterwards Gunner, me & auntie Karin went furniture shopping for her new house! I got to use my nwe baby carrier and that was fun! Gunner absolutely LOVED it because he loves being able to look out at people and not stuck in a stroller or on my chest facing my collar bone! LOL!

 

Saturday night was Rick & my very first "night out" since Gunner has been born! I was very hesitant to leave because I really do cherish our weekends together and try to spend every second with him since I work all week now - but I also know we needed some adult time & to go out and have some fun together. We left Gunner at his godparents house and they were obviously THRILLED to watch him! We went out with Ricks ENTIRE family for his dad's birthday party. We all went to some bar/clubhouse for a big party his friends had put together for him & it was a pretty fun night :) I couldn't get back to Lola & Oscars fast enough though to pick up the munchkin & head home to cuddle up together!

 

Sunday

Sunday is always my family day. Every Sunday my family gets together and meets for lunch somewhere. Sometimes we also run errands or go the fruit market - but no matter what, we always get lunch together. This Sunday was extra special because it's the first one that my Grandma Ruby has been able to join us in, in about three months. She had some health issues come up around Thanksgiving and has been hospitilized since then & the last few months was in a rehabilitation center to help her recovery. We've been going to her rehab facility the last month or so on Sundays to spend it with her, so it was so much fun that she was finally out of the hospital & able to come out with us again! It's the first time we've all gone out to a restaraunt since before Thanksgiving, so we had LOTS of fun! We usually go to the same Persian restaraunt every week, but this week we decided to celebrate the occasion and all went out to Red Robin. I ate WAY too many appetizers & Gunner was as happy as a clam being passed around by all the family.

 

My Uncle Mahmood bought Ethan & Gunner matching sunglasses and brought them to lunch.. OH MY GOODNESS I've never seen anything cuter than infant sunglasses! I've been looking for so long but never been able to find any small enough & sure enough, he did! The boys looked A-Dorable! Ethan is such an amazing older cousin to Gunner & he just loves him so much, it M E L T S my heart. All day long I heard how "baby Gunner" wants his bottle, or "baby gunner" loves Ethan, or "baby Gunner" is so cool. It's the sweetest thing. Before Gunner, Ethan was the baby of the family, and we've always had a really special bond together... I was so scared he'd have a hard time adjusting to sharing his auntie roya with another little boy.. but he's done such an amazing job. I've never seen such a better, more loving, little guy than Ethan when he's around his little cousin "baby gunner" <3

 

After Sunday Funday with my family I came home to Rick's family at our house - so Gunner got even MORE attention and loving and our house was full of love & story telling from the night before:) It was so much fun!

 

Sunday night Gunner went to bed REALLY early (definitely because of his extremely busy/fun Sunday with all his family). So Rick & I took the quiet time to catch up on our dvr and all our shows. It's little things like that, or relaxing nights at home - that really make me thankful for my life. Nothing makes me happier than being at home with my family... and something as simple as Gunner sleeping peacefully while we catch up on our dvr and eat leftover Valentines Day candy - was the very best night for me.

 

Monday (President's Day)

Monday was mama's "chores" day. I only get 2 days a week where I'm at the house and free from work. One day is always the "Fun" day to spend with the family and go do all the fun stuff I can't all week. Then the other day is always "catch up day" where I have to catch up on all my errands & chores I couldn't do all week... and also prepare for the next workweek to come! Since I got a bonus day in my weekend, I took today to really get ALL the things I've been meaning to do, done! It felt AMAZING! You know you're old when you get excited for a day free of plans, to just clean the house & do laundry! Gunner slept in with dad and I woke up bright & early like it was Christmas - because I knew I had the house to myself to CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN! I did 5 loads of laundry, vaccumed, did all the dishes & sanitized all of Gunner's bottles and pacifiers, cleaned our room & Gunner's nursery (including replenishing all the diapers, wipes and sheets) & put ALL the house laundry away! WOWZERS. I felt like a superhero. Rick does so much throughout the week, I felt like it'd be nice if he could just relax and play with Gunner and not have to worry about the house & laundry for once. And BOY, did our house need it! Gunner had two loads of laundry to himself! Yeah, definitely going to need to stay on top of things better now that I'm back at work.. I can't wait for the next three-day weekend to roll around ! (lol)

 

As if that wasn't enough for a FULL day's worth - Gunner had his 3 month photoshoot scheduled for today so I had to get his outfits all together for that! The photographer came to our house (he's still too small for an outdoor shoot) and took all his photos and got all his outfit changes done - I am SO EXCITED to see what they look like! This photographer has done photos for us in the past, and she is just amazing. And Gunner was smiling & laughing the whole time, so I'm really excited to see how they look!

 

After she left, Rick went and got Chinese food for us (last cheat day before my diet starts back up tomorrow) and rented the movie Flight for us to watch. Gunner laid down with us and we all watched the movie & ate dinner together as a family. It was a really good movie but Gunner was real fussy. So with all the stops to give him attention or a bottle or change his position - the 2 hour movie took about 3.5 hours to get through. But, we still really liked it! After that, I gave Gunner a nice long bath to calm him down and relax him - and before I could get his clothes on he was falling asleep! One bottle later - he was/is OUT (still is asleep actually so that's how I'm getting to write such a long blog!)

 

 

 

All in all, I could not have imagined a more fun three days together. I got constant time with Gunner, LOTS of cuddles throughout the day & in the morning (what I miss most about being at work) and it felt like we were back on maternity leave together, just spending all our days and nights together without a time frame. However, tomorrow reality awaits & I'm not looking forward to going back to work. BUT, only FOUR days until the weekend! Then it's funtime for this mama again<3
 

The boys in their matching shades!

 

Sunday Funday with the fam! Here's us & the boys in our sunglasses :)

Daddy playing with Gunner on our family day off together.

Having fun shopping at the Roseville Fountains!

Wedding dress shopping! Unfortunately I didn't find "the" dress, but I'm a little closer!

Having lunch at one of my favorite places, Boudins! Gunner wasn't too thrilled about it..

This little munchkin LOVES tummy time! He always has so much fun rolling over and over and holding his head up to watch everything going on in the house.

What I miss most about being back at work -- morning snuggles with this cutie.