our sunday

walking wells from Maddie on Vimeo.

was a good one!  it's been a long time coming so we were just tickled. 

we're growing

yes, that's correct, we will soon be a family of 4.  matt, maddie, wells and a baby GIRL (well, 87% sure it's a girl)!!!  i feel so happy to have a shopping, ballet going buddy.  please tell me that i will not die having kids 19 months apart (maybe not our timetable, but we've very slowly come around)?  i am just praying that wells will be walking by then - i was a bit special needs and didn't walk until 19 months whoop whoop.  anyway, we're very excited to meet you, miss!  please be as charming as wells.  

don't worry little lad, you'll still be our favorite.

 

as of late

we have had a lovely past month or so but unfortunately our camera broke (dang sippy cups) so i only have about one picture from each happening.  without further ado:

boise.  we went and helped (ha not me so much) after erin's knee surgery.  she pretty much still did everything - she is an iron woman.  i have one picture from the trip, appropriately of wells and auggie.  he followed this poor dog around all week long. 

coronado for wells' big birthday.  unfortunately i had a very bad case of strep the entire time.  and it rained basically the whole time.  but it was still just wonderful!  there is nowhere i would rather be while bedridden. 

the birthday, which unfortunately happened to be my very sickest day.  matt and my family were really nice to him and even sang him happy birthday the minute he turned one!  sorry wells, next year i'm going to plan a huge party.

quick stop in the slc on my way home.

dave and pauline come to visit!  wells loved the zoo.  too bad we forgot his stroller and had to carry him around the whole time.

finally we took a little road trip up to kansas city to see matt's family and the new (gorgeous!) temple.  it was so much fun.  one of those times that having a camera would have been lovely.  thanks for snapping a few, traci!  

moral of the past couple of months: we love our families!  thank you all for being such wonderful hosts (sorry we did not return the favor, dave and pauline). we may live in dallas but clearly you cannot get away from us.  we will find you.

our man...

turned one year old yesterday!  how did we ever live without him?  as most of you know, matt and i took our sweet time to have kids.  i had been known to say "i hate kids" every now and then.  then we got the bug to have a babe.  we were just about as nervous as they come - i had replayed every horror story i had ever heard over and over again (why do you hear so many of these while pregnant?), prepared myself mentally for all the horrible sleepless nights and nursing nightmares/infections, etc. etc.  we went out for a final dinner before he was born - we told people that we were literally dying on march 18th.  THEN HE CAME!  and honestly everything was completely different than i expected.  those first few weeks were some of the best i'd ever had. he was so cute!  he was so funny!  he is so charming!  we loved spending hours just watching him and laughing at his crazy forehead and sounds.  he completely changed the spirit in our little apartment.  but what about all the awful things?  they don't matter because you really really like him.  AND all the things we did before were even more fun with our new adorable little sidekick!  he has changed our lives and makes us want to be better peeps.  what a joy.  why the heck didn't we do this sooner?

i think he was trying to ride the giraffe before he fell asleep?

we love you so much, wells!  we have loved watching you in all of your weird sleeping positions (your current most common pose is sitting indian styleish and just falling forward, often face down), listening to you sing to the radio, learning that boys can be very cautious, watching you down a banana like a monkey, seeing you shriek and shrill in happiness around dogs, watching you light up when we sing the duck song, feeling your little chubby hands climb up our legs cause it's time to be held, learning that baldies can be handsome, hearing you moan and crawl to me ensuring that we are ALWAYS within about a foot of each other (the bathroom is no exception), and watching you go from one cupboard to the next taking everything out.  there is no one in the world i would rather spend my days with.


happy birthday, little cutie! 





ps here a couple of my favorite clips from the past few months.  please forgive the nasty apartment in the second one.   

new york new york

we had a little new york getaway last week after finding tickets for $39 round trip!  yes, that is correct - $78 for the three of us to go to the big apple.  love ghetto spirit airlines where you even have to pay for a soda and carry-on (which forced us all to wear the same clothes the whole 35 hour trip).  wells was very charming the first day.  we ran him ragged getting back to our hotel at midnight after accidentally jumping on an express train and ending up in harlem.  the second day all hell broke loose.  he woke up in tears and did not stop crying until we walked on the plane.  poor man - maybe we should let him sleep like a normal babe.  anyway, enough of this babbling.  here are the few pics we took:

a woman handed us this free balloon and wells had a death grip on it the rest of the trip.  we had to hide it in the bathroom at the hotel so that he would go to bed. 

 

oh my gosh it was frigid.

pleasantly surprised that we came during fashion week!

huge fan of the subway.

funny story with this very ugly picture - we were attempting to get a family shot so we found the only other human around, a russian woman, and as she's handing back the camera she says in a very strong accent, "oh sorry, i don't get the baby".  so much for getting a picture of the three of us.

 don't get near wells these days if you don't want his fingers in your mouth.  that is his only agenda when you hold him.

so sad that i did not capture matt going to magnolia over and over again, and more importantly, going to see perfect megan fairchild dance (new york city ballet principal, nbd).  it was a dream!  third row, center seat thanks to the student rush tickets. nyc, i love you.  

holidays and crawling in video

wells' first holiday season.  babies make everything more fun (except for at your grandma's funeral when they scream all morning and make you miss the family prayer)!

thanksgiving in the horsley home was a bit more somber than usual.  we lost the hostess with the mostest, sweet rhoda.  she was all things lovely and threw a killer party.  i love you and think about you constantly, dear rhoda.  thank you thank you for raising my perfect mother! 

on a much lighter note, christmas was a barrel of laughs.  a few things i want to remember:

-welcoming ash home from her mission.  late night target run, watching tangled, pride and prejudice, and young elizabeth to initiate her back into the real world.
-caroling to a teenage woman home alone in a bikini on christmas eve. very happy that we condensed our performance to two songs at that house.  
-matt screaming out loud after seeing the scariest baby jesus doll during our reinactment of the nativity on christmas eve.    
-watching the boys play one dumb game after another - tennis ball head bounce game, jumping over the river at cornerstone, etc.
-paying $14 EACH to see a movie and THEN falling asleep during it. quite an expensive little nap. 
-matt not knowing his parents' address therefore having all of our christmas packages sent to a neighbor's house.  
-not getting our package with all presents, wells christmas eve pajamas, etc. until december 27th.
-endless delicious and fattening food at the crane household.  think never-ending cruise buffet.  
-trip to sonoma.  i could not be more obsessed with napa valley.  run run run to el molino central.  best mexican food i have EVER had!
-romantic date for two at the boulevard in san francisco.  seriously divine (even better than the aforementioned mexican food)!  ending the date riding the elevators at the st. francis overlooking union square.  never gets old. 
-and wells!  even though he could not have cared less about christmas, he made it so much fun for me.  love that cutie.  
  
happy belated holidays! 

so long 2011

in the past two months i have started about 5 posts that i never finished.  rather than going back i will mush it all into one final catch up post for 2011.  sorry in advance for the overload.  2012 will be the year of blogging - maybe??

ahhh sunday walks.  heaven.

twins' blessing day.

celebrating wy, pat and eve.  september produces the finest people who choose the BEST restaurant for their birthday dinner.  you are perfect cucina!

design sponge woman.

texas state fair.  officially texans. 

wells LOVED the jumbotron at cowboys stadium.  i had visions of a house full of boys watching sports all day long.  booo.

grapevine ward ladies...  they are legit!  trying to make up for no costume with googly eyes.

wells was so exhausted on halloween that he fell asleep in costume on the grass.  must be all of that adorable crying.

farmers market, long boring wait at la hacienda, snider plaza.

blue plate.

bffs who still coordinate outfits at 26 he he.

cute wells who doesn't crawl.  come on little lad.

don't mind that wells and i are in the same clothes in just about every picture.  when we buy something, we wear the heck out of it, i suppose.  

holiday pics to follow.  really soon, mom.  i promise. 

cheers 2012! hope you had a party.