This is the Place over UEA

This weekend I met up with my friend Jasmyn and her two kiddos and we went to This is the Place park.  I haven't been there in years!  We couldn't have picked a better day either, the weather was beyond perfect and the leaves were beautifully golden and red.  Also, it was trick-or-treating for the kids so mixed with the people in their pioneer outfits you'll see little princesses, super heroes and pirates.  You might also see a little frog mixed in there :) 

On the left was a little Elmo feeding sheep and pigs.  And there there was mom who was a little to old for trick-or-treating.  I don't think that the outfit quite fit either...

And here is a hint as to what Dave and I were for our Halloween party over the weekend, and here was our frog prince :)  Pictures to follow.

the binky detox: be still my breaking heart...

who in their right mind would ever want to detox this sweet little creature??  me.  i do.  i'm desperate.  oh he's such a sweet boy.  what an angel in this picture right?  he really is a wonderful baby, however; i can't keep getting up 5-10 times per night to put his binky back in.  i just can't :(  dave asked if we could just let it slide since it's his only vice... but when i said "ok then you get up with him to put the binky back in," he stopped asking.  letting him 'cry it out' is one of the hardest things i've ever done!  it seriously breaks my heart.  we were up last night for an hour and fifteen minutes of tears and i wanted to cry too.  if his binky only popped out a few times in the night i wouldn't mind but it's verging on ridiculous.  it not only messes with my sleep but Roman hasn't been sleeping well either, his naps have been super short making him more frustrated.  sooo i decided to give it a go for a few days.  please pray for me to last!  from what i've read many mothers have said "it was the best thing i ever did."  their babies are sleeping through the night and their naps are better so their child is more happy over all, as are the mothers.  while roman was crying before his nap today i looked over longingly at his binkyjust sitting on my night stand teasing me... sigh.  wish me luck!  (he only cried for about 5 minutes before his nap but while he was half in and out of sleep he kept moving his lips as they pretended to suck a binky:( 

the picture above was taken like two months ago now - i'm so behind on my blogging!  this was back when we gave him soothies, he has since moved on to 'mams.'  i also realized we never posted about his baby blessing which we did when he was six weeks old so here are a few pictures.

 these sweet baby booties were dave's from his blessing so, so, so many years ago (i like to make fun of dave's age since he's six years older than me ;)  aren't they adorable?  some sweet old lady in their ward in alaska made them for him.  they're light, light blue and white striped.

 these are some super good friends all pretending to be super cheesy happy, like an overdone baby ad or something... oh we're so funny, or think we are ;)

this is some of my immediate family.  my brothers tyler and jed and their families weren't in the pic.  that's seven more peeps we're missing.  our family is getting ginormous!  oh and this is our silly picture, we don't all normally look that creepy (well the kids kind of do actually - they're always pulling faces).

below is dave's immediate family.  i'm really diggin the plywood in the background... please disregard ;)

this is ro six weeks ago just watching some really good (apparently) tv.  we're getting him addicted at a young age.

after an exhausting but great day.  the one drawback about having your baby blessing so soon after having the baby - you still have the extra weight and you're taking lots of pictures!  please disregard the extra lbs as well :)

so what else have we been up to you might ask?

1) well dave is attempting to restore one of these:

a 1965 mustang.  his dad has one in pretty bad shape.  they already had the engine completely redone so he's trying his hand at fixing the exterior... my vote is black.  what do you think?

2) most days i'm trying to finish decorating, DIing and cleaning the house, the never ending struggle.  i'm also baking and cooking a lot more and loving it.  i need to share some recipes on here!  soups have been my latest craze.  so easy, filling and sets the tone for fall no? 

3) we've been watching some new fall shows: terra nova (meh), broke girls (meh), new girl (loving it)

and we've been watching some old favorites... vampire diaries anyone?  my guilty pleasure ;), modern family (love), community and parks and rec

4) i've been frantically trying to get all our costumes ready for our annual Wahlstrom Halloween party this saturday!  everything i ordered should be here by friday... cross your fingers!  can't wait to show pics.

5) and lastly: we've been gearing up for our two big ol trips and the end of this month and beginning of next! 

first trip: Nauvoo and Springfield, IL

we're doing this one over Halloween which should be a blast.  they have some awesome Halloween traditions out there which should really get us in the mood.  i did a semester out at nauvoo during the fall and they go all out for their Halloween celebration.

second trip: Kauai, Hawaii

enough said :)  this will hit the spot while the weather is cold here in utah!

we're so looking forward to both of our trips - we're taking baby... so once again, wish us luck!  we'll see how he does on an airplane...

This is my boy.   
He has many, many nicknames.  Here's a few:

Little Boy
Ro Ro
Romeo
Rome
Lovey
Honey Pie
Sugar Pie

Isn't he a doll??

Oh, and I call him Doll Face (is that a femine term?  I think it's fine for a baby yes?)

Today Roman:

Had a blowout, I changed him and he pooped again while I was changing him.  Then 2 minutes after I changed him he had another blowout.  Later, while I was nursing him, I all of a sudden felt warmth spread across my belly and run down my side.  Roman had peed on me.  It had leaked out the top of his diaper and down the side.  Then he gave me the biggest smile I'd seen all day.  What a doll.  And what a pill!  ;)  The picture above was taken after the 2nd blowout.

We take him in tomorrow for his 8 week check up (even though he'll be 10 weeks old tomorrow, I couldn't get in due to my work schedule).  I've heard this is one of the worst ones because of all the shots they get :(  Last time they did his PKU shots and squeezed the blood out of his poor little foot I just stood there holding him and sweating because I was feeling so bad for him!  Poor boy.  At least he won't remember all this stuff.

Today Roman was just a stellar baby while I returned/exchanged some stuff to Target, returned a bunch of stuff I really didn't need that I bought at Girl's Night Out during the Priesthood session of conference.  He also was an amazing baby while I ran to Home Depot and picked up some epoxy that Dave and I had bought on Saturday and both left in our cart on our way out - we're so awesome, and sleep deprived. ;)

Later on today I did a bunch of stuff I needed to check off my check list, which is so fulfilling.  I topped it off with watching several DVRed episodes of my new obsession - The Nate Berkus Show, and a long walk with my baby and hubby. 

All in all, it was a fantastic first work-free day.  Did I tell you I'm done with work??  And sleeping sooo much bettter at night knowing I don't have to wake up and go to work in the morning??  (That, and my little guy is sleeping a little bit better at night, I'm still waiting for the 9 hours of sleep per night... ahhhh that would be amazing...).