Dillon's birthday was a success!

Dillon's birthday!!

Dillon opening gifts.

 My darling husband insisted he wanted to do nothing for his birthday and wouldn't even give us a list of birthday gift wishes. WELLLLLL, that didn't work for me! I could deal with not being able to invite his friends over for a party, but no party at all?! NO WAY! So I requested the car for a day so that Opal and I could brave the cold to find something for the man in our life.

I kept it small, but I didn't want it to be just another day. So the night before I wrapped gifts, put out some birthday party decor, baked a small cake, and set out some surprises for him.

We woke him up bright and early, told him to cut his hair and shower, and then made him open up gifts!!

He was blown away at how I somehow got all of this done under his nose. Opal and I are sneaky girls, I suppose!

Opal, Daddy, and the clock she picked out for him.

I let Opal pick out everything, from decor to the cake's icing color. She even picked out the funniest gift for her daddy! We were browsing the shelves in Marshall's when this little girl starts yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!" and pointing at this silver clock. I look around so puzzled as to why she wants me to hand her this clock, and when I do she holds on to it for dear life and continues to say, "Daddy!"... I asked my sisters and mom what to do and they agreed to just buy it and let him return it if he didn't want it for his night stand. Luckily, he did. :-)

Opal watching daddy open gifts.

She loved watching her daddy open all of his gifts. It was so precious to watch her face light up when his did. She is the cutest. I am so thankful to be back under the same roof getting to share these moments together. It means everything to see these two build their bond again.

After he opened his gifts we dragged him out to IHOP for a birthday breakfast full of super sugary pancakes! It was lovely. 

The day was great, we ran around and ended the day with cake and a delicious steak dinner.. (cooked by me!) I am glad I didn't listen to this guy and that we spoiled him. It was great to see him so happy and to know he felt loved and appreciated. 

He is definitely the apple of our eyes.

Singing Happy Birthday!

Dillon's cake.

 

The gifts all wrapped up.

Dinosaurs, hats, and mini pinata were all Opal's doing.

Where, OH whereeee have I been?!

Hey guys! I have been so busy busy busy. Opal and I are currently recovering from a small cold that seems to be passing pretty quickly. 

I wanted to share a few of the photos from Dillon's trip. We had so much fun, it was amazing to see Opal and her daddy reconnect and form a bond again. She has been asking for his every day. He is literally the first thing she asks for in the morning. She pops up and smiles really big and lets out the cutest "dada?".... 

It melts my heart. 

Anyways, while he was here we did a lot of activities, so here are some of my favorites:

First, I picked him up in Los Angeles, so we headed to Hollywood BLVD and had lunch at Dave & Busters. We then walked the strip and went to Ripley's Believe it or not. It was a lot of fun and they had some really neat stuff.

We went to Ikea afterwards, and then hit the road to go home.

When we got home we decided to take Opal to the zoo and to an amusement park for children.

 Dillon and Opal fed and pet sting rays. It was very cool.

 They fed the giraffe together! Opal was amazed at how big the giraffe was.

 She loved the petting zoo. She kept saying, "dog, dog, dog".. haha!

She is basically as tall as me, now!

I secretly loved having Dillon there to push the stroller so that I could do more fun stuff!

Opal really enjoyed the merrie-go-round. After this photo was taken, tons of other kids hopped on with us.

 nursing pit stop!

We also took her to the park to play. She and daddy went down all of the slides and she got to go on the swings.

I have a lot more stuff to share, but I still need to edit the photos.

After his week here, we drove to Monterey, CA and to San Francisco. It was amazing.

We had a couple bad luck scenarios but we made the very best out of it.

:-)

Eight month update.

 I know I say this every month, but I seriously cannot believe it has been 8 months since this precious girl came into our life. She changed our lives so much. She makes every argument and disagreement seem miniscule compared to the magnitude of what our family means and stands for. Living apart from my husband the past 2 months has shown not only I, but Dillon too, how much we love each other and want to raise our daughter together.

This past month, she has changed so much. She mastered the crawl, and then surprised us by pulling herself up and standing! She started this with her playpen gate, and now does it in her crib, to the couch, toys, and even to me! She is brilliant!

She has 5 teeth now, her bald spot grew in, and she says "da-da!" We started her on 3rd step foods, but she actually has been eating food off of my plate. She hates eating the mushy baby foods and is all about the textures of actual food.

Jake and the Neverland Pirates has been her favorite tv show, and it still is. She also is loving Sofia the First and Doc Mcstuffins. She also loves the intro song to The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Last but not least, she has learned the "Happy and you know it" song... but instead of clapping, she slaps her thighs with her little hands. It is honestly the cutest thing. She is so cool.

I cannot wait for Dillon to see her next month, he is going to be so amazed at how much she has grown so far. I can't even imagine what I will be writing and sharing in another month. She blows me away every time.

Thankfully, next month I will also be preparing to pick her daddy up from the airport days later! Let the countdown begin!!

-Chels.

Dad's take on breastfeeding! -Dillon

To start off my "World breastfeeding week" series I wanted to interview my husband on his side of this journey. I gave him 4 questions and he emailed me the following answers:


Question One: What were your expectations of breastfeeding while we were still pregnant?

His answer:

"When my wife first told me that she wanted to breastfeed Opal, I was excited. As a husband and soon to be father, I was rejoicing at the fact that my wife wanted to save money just like I did! Expectations were at an all time high. Weeks and days before the birth I was just thinking, "I'm going to be rich! I don't need to buy formula or anything!" The thought was that life was going to be easy, (well as easy as possible with a newborn baby during the winter months of DC). I can remember the first night in the hospital with Opal trying to get her to latch on and I was thinking to myself,  "are you sure you want to breast feed?!" Thankfully though, Opal stopped being stubborn and realized that if she didn't eat that she was going to be hungry. I can safely and confidently say that I'm proud of my wife for sticking with breastfeeding and couldn't be more thankful for it."

Question Two: What was the reality of the first couple of months?

His answer:

"Reality set in quickly as stated before, when we were up for a whole night listening to her scream for milk! Even though we could officially call ourselves "parents" we were more lost than a chicken with its head cut off. It wasn't until the second day with Opal, that we were getting the hang of breastfeeding. We were incredibly blessed when a Lactation Consultant talked to Chelsea and helped with her engorged breasts. She confirmed that even though the first couple of days would suck, if we kept up with nursing our baby girl she would grow fast, learn quicker, and be smarter. Over the months to pass I would come to love that lady for her advise and admire my wife for her total dedication to helping our daughter be the best she could be. I got to see my daughter say her first "papa" and "mama", be able to sit on her own, and grow taller. She did all these things before kids her own age got the chance to even do half of that stuff. I can honestly accredit it all to my wife. It's because of her restless nights, drained afternoons, and early mornings that my daughter is as smart as she is now."

Question Three: What do you wish you knew then, that you know now? 

 "I now know that mother's produce milk because it's what God designed BOOBS for!"

His full answer:


"When I was first learning about breastfeeding, I thought of it as a cheap way of feeding my daughter. I now know that mother's produce milk because it's what God designed BOOBS for! Guys, if you didn't know, you do now. I am also blessed with the knowledge that if your wife is going to breastfeed you will NEED milk storage bags and need to make sure you put these in the fridge as soon as possible... because if you don't, you will regret it. Guys, also remember a key saying that my dad taught me... "Happy wife, happy life". Remember those words when you don't want to do something but your wife needs it done!

Question four: What advice would you give to new or expecting breastfeeding fathers?

His answer:

"What would I tell you dads-to-be? Honestly, suck it up and learn how to feed your child with the breast milk your wife recently pumped. Give her some rest, because she will truly need it."

-Dillon Gonzalez (Chelsea's Husband)

I want to say a HUGE thankyou to my wonderful husband for participating in this post! I hope you ladies share with the men in your life.

Good luck, xoxo.

Memorial Day.

Thankyou to all of our veterans out there who've served, are serving, or who've made the ultimate sacrifice. 

Being "married to the military" opens your eyes to what is going on in the world in a whole different light.

Today I am thankful that my husband is stationed at a non deployable duty station. Why? My husband is the kind of man to volunteer for a deployment without even thinking about it. That's just who he is. 

I am thankful for my papa, who served in the Navy during Vietnam. He witnessed too many tragedies, lost far too many buddies, and still suffers from PTSD from it all.

I'm also thankful to live in this wonderful country. 

Land of the free BECAUSE of the brave. 

Hope you all had a great weekend and reflected on how great this country is because of the men and women who selflessly serve. 

Here are some photos of my handsome man in uniform :)