Updates

Trevor is a hoot these days!  We keep saying 'this is our favorite age' yet, we've been saying that every month since he's been born!  What has T been up to these days?  Lots!

- It was the beginning of May that he started asking 'why' - for everything.  He's a learner like his Mommy :)  The best though is when he answers himself.  Like when he was in the bath and Daddy told him not to scoot back...T asked why...Daddy said 'cuz you'll get an owie on the faucet...T thought about it and then said 'why?  'cuz it is sharp?'  You got it buddy!

- Trevor could live in his jammies.  It's a struggle to get them off each morning so sometimes he wins and he has jammy days and he thinks he just one the lottery....see below!

- Trevor really enjoys going to our nearby PetSmart store to see all the animals.  He especially loves the bunnies (um more like rats) and the fishies.  Luckily he hasn't asked to bring one home yet!

- The kid still eats and eats.  We can hardly believe he is 'only' 31 pounds with everything this kid eats.  And boy does he let you know when he's hungry.  He has this exaggerated thing he does where he pokes his tummy and bends over and announces "my tummy is very hungry" - it's hilarious!  He also knows what exactly he wants to eat and isn't afraid to put whatever it is in the shopping cart or go and get it from our pantry.  Once in a while he says 'he's looking for something' but usually he knows exactly what he wants!  Like the humongous box of goldfish at Target: 

- Speaking of knowing what he wants, Trevor is a bit bossy!  Tells you where to stand, where to sit, what to play with, what book to read, what show to watch, who will push the cart at Target (and throw a fit if it isn't who he wanted).  It's unreal....although he does usually say please and thank you :)

- He likes when we go to the mall and he gets to ride the choo choo train that goes around the mall...which is a special treat at $3 person including kids.  He picks to sit in the caboose...

....and proudly waves at all the mall shoppers!

- We don't think we ever officially shared the end of Trevor's fire truck bed :(  We set it up for him for his first nap at our new house and he took his first nap in it.  However, upon waking he stated very clearly "I don't like this bed.  I want a big boy bed!"  So Daddy and the Papas took down the firetruck bed and put up a queen bed for our prince.  Guess he got used to sleeping in the big boy twin bed at the Hillins and didn't want a little boy bed anymore.  See, he knows what he wants! 

- Fortunately there was someone on Craigslist looking for this exact bed so we sold it that night for $5 more than we paid for it!  We hope he likes it as much as Trevor did when we were in MN!

- Trevor decided one day he didn't want to take a nap.  Kept saying it over and over 'I don't want to take a nap' and the stubborn boy didn't....until after 4pm when he fell asleep on the couch by Mommy while watching a show on the ipad.  Most days it takes about an hour to get him down because he'll lay there then say "Mommy, guess what?  I want to play"  Mommy usually has to leave the room, shut the door then he cries and Mommy goes back in and then he goes to bed.  Ugh, wish it wasn't so complicated.  Must look up sleep training for naps because we can't have this when baby #2 arrives!

- Trevor loves to swim!  Most nights after dinner we take a dip in the pool and this kid has no fear.  He jumps off the beach area, the side on to a float or just in the water.  He's so fun to watch!!

So how is baby #2 doing?  All is well.  Sara continues to feel great although she's been having some headaches.  Doctor said it was the time in the pregnancy where your hormones are shifting so headaches are to be expected and will subside within a few weeks.  Otherwise she just continues to be tired...which makes it difficult to get things done during Trevor's naps or at night after Trevor goes to bed.  So the house is somewhat not put together and the blog is not up-to-date but she does what she can!  Weight gain is right on track although she has yet to wear maternity clothes.  She's still in regular clothes - thank goodness for all of her empire-waisted summer dresses! 

Night Out

Brian was invited to a Diamondback's game with some work colleagues and they must have liked him outside of the office (he he) because before you know it we were invited out again!  This time to the Van Halen concert on Saturday.  The Hillins were out of town so our first prerogative was finding a babysitter for Trevor.  Well, Mike and Nicci insisted on taking Trevor for the night so that the boys could play again.  That was SO nice of them and we can't wait to watch their boys overnight sometime!!

The night started at our friend Dan and Donna's house for a preparty that included a 'can't drive 55' signature drink in honor of the concert we were all going to.  They have an awesome bar in their home that rivals that of real bar/restaurants!  There were probably 20 of us total, some even came in costume!  We did not...nor did Bob (PetSmart CEO).

They arranged a party bus to take us to the concert, which was just a hoot...complete with not just one but two stripper poles as well as an overabundance of cold beverages.  Water for the pregnant lady.  Here's a pic of one of the girls dressed up in 80s gear!

After a 30 minute or so ride we arrived at the venue and promptly went to our suite and caught the last song of Kool and the Gang which was 'Celebrate'!  We chowed on a fully stocked suite of food and drinks before Van Halen came on and the place erupted! 

Everyone in the suite was dancing, picture taking, just having a GREAT time!  At one point we even had a congo line going in the suite which was a little interesting because Bob was behind Sara but no worries, Sara doesn't get intimidated by that and we all were having a great time!  Which reminds us, Bob has a memory of steel!  After the concert a few of us were in the hallway waiting for the others when Bob said, "Sara, improv" so Sara started salsaing and Bob joined in.  Turns out he grew up in Argentina and has some good moves!

After the concert we headed back to the party bus for more drinks and fun...and lots of singing.  A popular song for the evening was "Small Town Girl" and boy can the party goers belt it out!!  This picture shows everyone dancing to the tunes and maybe using one of the poles!

The bus dropped us off at Blu Martini at Desert Ridge for more drinks and dancing.  Holy sweatiness but tons of fun!!!  People commented that Sara was a trooper for hanging in with all the drunks but honestly, she was having so much fun dancing she didn't even notice she wasn't drinking!  However at 1:30am it was time for Sara and baby to go home!

How did Trevor do at his slumber party?  Fabulous!  The boys went swimming, enjoyed a pizza dinner, lots of playtime and a movie complete with popcorn!  Nicci thinks he's amazing because when it was time to go to bed, Trevor hopped right in, listened to a story then rolled over to close his eyes.  Nicci asked him a few times if he was okay and he said yes and that was it!  No crying, no getting out of bed, nothing!!  He slept until 7:30am and probably would have slept later but he heard Adam and Cole were up and didn't want to miss out on play time!!  Thank you Mike and Nicci for watching Trevor so we could have our fun night!  It's so nice to have family in town and can't wait to see you again soon!!

Roslansky Visits

We couldn't be any more blessed with great parents - and fabulous grandparents to Trevor!  He sure enjoyed having all 4 of his grandparents with him this week!  He's taken to calling Grandma Pauline just Pauline which is pretty funny, especially because he's doing it on purpose now that he knows we don't like it!

They worked endlessly to get us unpacked and settled in our new home.  The men even put up shelves in the garage and other manly projects outside in the heat.  Wow, such fabulous workers we had.  Very blessed in so many ways!  Thank you Grandparents!!

One of the reasons we worked so tirelessly on Monday evening, Tuesday and Wednesday was because we had visitors starting on Thursday!  Jim, Annie and Sam had already had a trip planned to see her sister and family but it was an added bonus to get to see us too! 

We met up with Jim, Annie and Sam and Nicci, Adam and Cole at a nearby splash pad, enjoyed many lunches (including In and Out thanks to Jim and Annie) and dinners including pizza and a wonderful steak and brat dinner courtesy of Mike!  The boys - Adam, Cole, Sam and Trevor sure have a hoot together!  It was fun seeing them all play so nicely!

One other outing we fit in was a trip to Jambo, an indoor amusement park which was right up the boys' alley.  Trevor was a little hesitant at first but after watching Sam on a few rides, Trevor was all game!

Cheese!

Sam rode this cool zebra...this was the one thing Trevor wanted no part of!

Two thumbs up Mommy!! 

All 4 boys even went on the swings!

Before leaving on Monday, Jim, Annie and Sam came over to hangout.  The boys enjoyed having Uncle Jim read Thomas the Train books to them:

Although not sure if it was the book or the cuddles they enjoyed more:

And then the funniest thing happened.  The boys started chest bumping complete with shirts up.  They would run from room to room, lift their shirts, chest bump and just crack up laughing.  Sara can still hear their giggles :)

And then one last genuine hug.  Melted our hearts.  We'll see you guys in July!  The countdown has begun!!

Big Move

The day finally arrived for us to go back to MN to oversee the move.  It was a welcome change of pace from all of the paperwork and phone calls that go into a big relocation.  Sara and Trevor went first on a Tuesday.  At the airport while standing in security Sara saw an old colleague of hers just getting off the plane in Phoenix.  He visits there frequently since Target Financial and Retail Services has a headquarters in Tempe and he heads up their Collections division.  That was fun running into him.  Sara kind of chuckled because he was in his business suit and Sara and Trevor were in flip flops :)

Trevor was fabulous as always on the plane.  He played with the ipad for a bit....

And then as soon as we landed and hit the runaway, he fell asleep!  Stinker didn't sleep the whole 3 hour flight, just when we were taxiing to the jet bridge!

Dada flew home late Thursday night so on Friday we ran errands and Trevor requested to see his old teachers and friends at school.  It was fun going back there and everyone was excited to see Trevor as well as learn about baby Hillins #2!  Friday night we had a good friend from grad school over for a late dinner.  He's going through a difficult time in his life so it was good we could be there for him and catch up.

 

On Saturday morning we walked to our favorite area one last time and had bagels.  Of course Trevor was most fascinated by the water fountain!

It happened to be Golden Valley Days when we were back so while Dada went to use up a gift certificate for a massage, Sara and Trevor went with our neighbors Katie, Erik, and Mac to the parade.  Needless-to-say we got a lot of candy but Trevor was very excited by the 'horseys' and the fire trucks, including this old one:

 

Saturday night we had a few friends over for a low key bbq.  It was nice seeing them one last time at our house and we really got a kick out of Trevor already courting his future wife Sophia by pushing her around the backyard.

Saturday night Golden Valley had fireworks for the celebration, although we like to think that they did it all for us...what a nice send-off ;)  Trevor loved the fact that they were right out of the room he was staying in.  He said "Look!  Fireworks just for me!"

Trevor kept oohing and ahhing over each one.  He couldn't pick a favorite - each one was his favorite!

Dada spent Sunday and other times throughout the weekend unconnecting electronics and organizing things that the movers wouldn't touch (or the papers said they wouldn't).  He was busy and probably glad to fly out on Sunday afternoon.  Monday morning 7:45 sharp this truck came rumbling up our street.  Our neighbor Katie saw it first and raised her proverbial middle finger to it as it drove by...rightly so, it's a big change and we will miss them and our other friends and family tons.

There were two drivers and two local guys all packing up our stuff and boy did they cruise!  They only stopped for a donut break and lunch that we provided.  By 5pm that day they had the entire house packed up!!  Mind you they said it would take 2 days to pack and one day to load!!  

It helped tremendously we're sure that Sara and her parents worked endlessly to purge contents for many many days prior to Sara and Trevor leaving for AZ.  We probably got rid of 1/8 of our stuff.  It felt good to donate stuff we no longer needed to families that could use it.  But seriously, Sara's parents were amazing at the task....we went room to room and sorted and organized everything. (Will make move in a breeze)  Anything Sara said they didn't want just disappeared into Sara's parents' car and they took it to their house to sort then throw, recycle or donate.  Simply amazing!  Thank you so much Mom and Dad Roslansky!!!

Where was Trevor during all of this packing chaos?  T stayed with Grandma Jeanne and had a blast!  Mommy and Papa Steve would drive back and forth in the mornings and evenings and it worked just great!  On Tuesday the crew was there by 7:00 to load before it got to hot!  They also came to get Brian's car that was being shipped.  The tow truck takes it to one of those big vehicle trucks that you see every so often on the highways transporting cars. 

By 3:00 the truck was wheels up!  The crew was excited that now they would have a day off (hard to come by during prime move season) and now the drivers would have a few days to stop and see one of their families in IA before heading to Kansas to pick up an apt. load before getting to AZ.  They asked if it would be okay if they unloaded our stuff a day early - so on Memorial Day instead of the following day (Tuesday) and of course we said yes given that we close on our house on Friday and will be just waiting for our stuff to arrive!  They would have even unloaded on Sunday but the Kansas load wasn't willing to move her move up a day to accommodate!

And just like that the truck was gone and we were left looking at one of our favorite things about 'our house' - the view out the front door.  Look how green it is!  A lot different than Arizona!!  Sara surprisingly didn't shed any tears at that point...but a few did fall after seeing Trevor's room empty the day prior :(  It probably helps that we have a gorgeous home in AZ that we're moving into.  It doesn't have this view but it has a lot of other things that make it special!

Tuesday night Grandma Jeanne treated Trevor to his first batch of Rice Krispie bars.  He wasn't as into making them as he was eating them!  Who can blame him?

On Wednesday we went and bought another flower to add to his planter.  Trevor might have a green thumb, unlike his parents!

Before we headed to the airport on Wednesday we had one last get together with Jim and Annie quick - nothing like some Davanni's pizza to wrap-up our time in MN.  YUM!  Trevor and Sam even got to take a ride with Uncle Jim on the riding lawnmower.  They thought that was 'pretty cool' (in the words of Trevor)!

Our flight home was delayed a bit due to weather so we didn't actually land until well after midnight but Trevor was an excellent flier.  Mommy told him that he could play with the ipad while all the passengers were loading but once the plane started moving it was night-night time and that's exactly what he did!!  All went fine on the flight until he woke up hot and was nice enough to wake up the whole plane with his tears.  At least were already descending so it was time to start moving anyway!

All went well with the close on the 25th although Arizona does it a bit different....all docs need to be signed 3 days prior to close (so we signed prior to leaving for MN) and money needs to be wired and verified 2 days prior.  So we had our final walk through Thursday at 5:30 and once everything was recorded Friday morning we picked up the house keys at our realtors.  That was probably around 10am.  

On Saturday morning Sara's parents flew in to help with the move and we had some nice family time and meals with the Hillins and Roslanskys (along with completing some new home projects) prior to the moving truck arriving at 6am on Memorial Day!  They asked to start early because of the heat and that was just fine with us - we'd be up anyway because of the excitement!  Plus we asked the neighbors and everyone was fine.  They all have young kids too so they are up as well!

It was so nice to see our drivers and our stuff again!!  This time there were three local guys helping unload the truck and reassemble our furniture where we wanted it!

Trevor came to see the truck and was a little apprehensive about what was going on....

...until he saw his toys and all was right again in the world!  'MY TOYS!!!!'

So that we never forget our fabulous drivers, here are Nait (from IA) and Carlos (from TX).  We highly recommend them and will be sure to request them if we ever relocate again.  Nait asked Sara at least three times an hour if she had any questions.  You could tell they really cared...unlike some of the horror stories we heard prior to our relocation!!

And they hit the road by 4pm and then it really was home sweet home!

 

So how did we spend our first night in our new home?  The 4 Grandparents and Trevor stayed at the Hillins' house while Sara and Brian spent the first night in our new home.  Brian had to go into work for an hour or so but he came home with Dairy Queen so we celebrated with a favorite treat - blizzards!  And after that we never went back to the Hillins where Brian had been staying since the end of February, Randle had been staying since March 5 and Sara and Trevor had been staying since the beginning of April.  We really, really appreciate their generosity in letting us stay with them for so long.  We all get along well so it really went smoothly.  We had check-ins every so often and everyone agreed at each 'mtg' that things were going well!!  We know we will all miss each other but we're only about 20 minutes from one another so we'll see each other often!  A big heartfelt thank you Grandma Pauline and Papa John for all that you did for us during our time together - the accommodations, the meals, the activities....wow!  Thank you so much!

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

As you can tell, we're a bit behind on the blog due to everything going on...and since selling a house, buying a house and relocating across the country wasn't enough...we're super excited to announce that baby Hillins #2 is due to arrive November 18!  

Long legs Hillins, just like Trevor!

  These pics were from the ultrasound at 12 weeks, 5 days.  We actually found out that we were pregnant the day before Sara's last day of work (hence the 'giving alcohol up for Lent' excuse at Sara's happy hour that evening).  But since Brian was in AZ, Sara surprised him with a text of the positive pregnancy test and told him that he better find us a house to live in quick :)  Needless to say he was excited and surprised!!

Is this like deja vu to some of you?  Most understandably it is because 3 years ago on Mother's Day we announced baby Hillins #1!  Their due dates are a day apart (Trevor's was 11/19 but didn't arrive until 11/25) and Sara's pre-pregnancy weight is exactly the same.  

We were able to tell Sara's parents the day that Brian and Trevor flew to AZ after we ran errands (ie had a doctor's appointment and had an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy).  We told them by having Trevor come out in a 'Big Brother' shirt and they got it much quicker than when Randle came out wearing a 'I'm going to be a Big Brother' collar :)  Super exciting for them because Jim and Annie are also having baby #2.  Their little guy or gal is due in early October!

Once Sara arrived in Arizona we waited a few days to tell the Hillins.  Because they thought Sara gave up alcohol for Lent the cover was pretty easy but we had a nice meal the night before Easter and Sara decided to 'have' a glass of wine to compliment the steak.  However, at the beginning of the meal we toasted to our new life in AZ and not drinking for 7 more months because baby Hillins #2 was due in November.  It was a tad confusing but then we explained what was happening and there were cheers and hugs all around!

How's Trevor handling the news?  He's super excited!!  He tells everyone that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy and his prediction is that he is having a little sister.  We'll see....Sara is carrying just like she did with Trevor so if Sara had to guess she'd say boy.  Pauline says boy too!  Although this pregnancy is way different.  As in nauseous all the time especially after dinner, sometimes ending with trips to the bathroom :(  One other thing is that on March 23 Sara woke up and walked to the bathroom only the next thing she realized she was laying on the bathroom floor, kind of half up on the wall.  When she came to she didn't really understand why she was sprawled out in the bathroom and did she go to the bathroom already or not?  She felt fine after that so once Trevor got up she got him ready for school and drove him to school.  After getting home and processing everything she called Brian and they decided she should call her most awesome OB/GYN Dr. Chow.  He advised going to the ER right away for fainting and a possible head injury (with blackout) and letting them know she was pregnant.  Since Sara wasn't allowed to drive she called our most awesome neighbor Katie who works from home and through tears Sara got out that she needed to go to the ER and Maternal Assessment Center at Abbott.  Katie dropped everything and was there in minutes, no questions asked although she already assumed Sara was pregnant.  Good friends do that :)  Once at the ER Sara was seen immediately, tests were run and there was lots of waiting and Katie stayed through it all.  We'll never forget how great she was when Sara needed her most.  All was fine it seemed (could have been dehydration after an extra salty McDonalds meal that Sara and Katie and kids had the night before) but the last test they did was an ultrasound and all looked good with the baby.  Thank goodness!! Never had all that with Trevor :(

But in all seriousness, Trevor is going to be an awesome big brother!  On his own doing he started carrying around a baby and requesting a bottle to feed his baby.  Baby also likes cookies.  What a good sharer!

And he takes the baby for walks.  Melts our hearts!

 Trevor often asks to wear his Big Brother shirt and is on a mission to grow up even faster.  He recently requested to drink his own 'coffee' at restaurants.  Stop.growing.so.fast. 

 So we'll be sure to keep you all updated on baby Hillins #2 that will most likely be born via c-section on Monday, November 12.  EXCITING!!!!!!