LONDON TOWN PART 2

while we were in london we went to the natural history museum & it was a huuuuuge hit, especially with cedar. natural history museums are like hitting the jackpot for kids, they seriously love them. cedar is currently pretty into dinosaurs & they had a whole dinosaur installation going on & he was so excited about it. around every corner he would point, scream, giggle, stare & was constantly telling austin & i to look at the dinosaurs. my favorite was when he needed me to hold him to walk by one of the t.rex dino's, it's adorable seeing him stare at these replicas totally believing that they are 100% alive. childhood is seriously so cool.

after the natural history museum we loaded cedar up in his stroller, got him all comfy & made our way to notting hill. i had never been to notting hill but have obviously heard & seen a lot about it & really wanted to check it out for myself & i was not disappointed. it is the cutest, happiest little spot. we walked along through portobello market taking it all in & loving all of the bright colors & flowers that are all over the place.

LONDON, ENGLAND

^^ the most adorable looking pub across from our hotel, which doubles as a sherlock holmes museum. great combo^^
guys, i love london. our time there was short, cold & amazing.

the tickets we got were at the crack of dawn sunday morning & it didn't cross our minds that we didn't have cedars n.i.e. card, which is his visa, until we were on the flight for london. a tiny bit of background on why this was an issue: three days before our trip my wallet was stolen. talk about total emotional breakdown. i seriously felt so violated! & i have no clue when/where it happened, but it did & that's that. all of my cards, my drivers license, university i.d. (discounts, duh) & most importantly, both my & cedar's insurance cards & cedar's n.i.e. (mine just so happened to be in austins wallet at the time, luckily). so on the flight to london we realized cedar didn't have his card, which works as his visa for the schengan area (spain is part of it, the u.k. isn't) & he couldn't enter in as a tourist because he had overstayed his 90 days, so austin & i immediately started panicking, thinking the worst & planning for scenarios like "if cedar gets deported we..." yeah, it was an overly stressful flight & not how i wanted to kickoff our trip! we emailed austin's school immediately to see if they had a copy or could help us in anyway & they ended up having some paperwork that would allow for cedar to come back to spain, which really helped calm our nerves... along with the u.s. consulate number "incase anything goes wrong". luckily when we were entering back into the schengan area in belgium there was a slight language barrier so we didn't have to even provide the paperwork the school had sent us explaining the situation. instead, after the passport control looked & talked about cedars passport & did a lot of typing & trying to talk to us... he said he didn't speak english well & let us go on our merry way. it felt like a gigantic weight was taken off our shoulders! anyways... back to london, haha!

 our flight got in around 10 a.m. we took the train from the airport into the city center, where we then took the tube to trafalgar square which was right by our hotel. we got there around 11:30 but couldn't go into our room until 3, so we unloaded our bags & headed off- straight towards big ben & westminster! no matter how many times i have seen big ben i still get giddy to see it again. there is something truly magical about london for me, it totally makes me feel like a little kid. there is something adorable/great/exciting to see around every corner. 
one of my favorite things we did was walk along the south bank on the river thames. the walk takes you from big ben down to tower bridge, which takes you to the tower of london. it was a chilly walk since we were right along the water, but it was really so fun. there are multiple food trucks along the way, shops & performers & it takes you right to borough food market, which i highly recommend going to. we were recommended to go there & it was soooo good, everything we ate as delicious from the donuts, fudge, pulled pork sandwhiches to the bratwursts. there were so many options!we walked about 10 miles (at least) a day, which was EXHAUSTING! but it is my favorite way of seeing a city because you see so much you would otherwise miss in a taxi or on the tube. besides walking ourselves skinny we spent a lot of our time going to the museums, parks for cedar to roam around & eating constantly, which is totally cool cause we walked like crazy & i'm pregnant, so it's pretty much what i'm supposed to do!

PLAYLIST


ME TIME


 when we got back to madrid in the beginning of september, we started cedar in a little class twice a week at this adorable place named baby deli. cedar goes to one class that is in english & another that is in spanish for three hours a time & he absolutely loooooooves it. it's pretty adorable, he gets so excited when we arrive & i tell him he gets to go down to class. he seriously thrives on going & he adores his teacher. they have music time, gym time, play time, arts & crafts time, snack time, basically any 'time' imaginable for kids. i love knowing that he is getting the interaction with other kids & is confident enough in himself that he doesn't need me to be there with him. the first couple of times he insisted i stay, but now he could care less when i tell him i'm leaving which is fulfilling for me as a mom but also kind of like, "hey.. what about me, cedar?" haha but seriously, it's great because i get 3 whole free hours to myself. hurray!

at first i had no idea what to do with myself with my new found free time, so i just sat in the cafe, but now i've started to go on walks around the neighborhood, run errands, or go wander around in retiro (it's directly across the street) & have some me time. i'm loving it. i take a book, my journal & a coloring book with me every time i go & i just find a little spot to write/draw/read or color; it's been amazing. i was feeling a major disconnect from myself there for a minute because i was rarely writing my actual feelings down, which is a huge deal for me (you can read other posts about journals here), & i had pretty much stopped making.. anything.. since moving last november. since i've started doing this though i feel so much happier & less stressed, there's something about just putting it out there, writing my feelings down even if no one is going to see them, that makes me feel so much lighter. & as far as my coloring book goes, i think everyone should start this hobby up. i've read a lot about how great it is for people to color & i've always loved to  color, so for me it made sense to buy a coloring book when i found one i liked. i got this really intricate small-ish coloring book that is perfect to throw in my bag. whenever i color i totally zone out in it & i love it, it gives me a really similar feeling to how i felt when i used to paint all of the time, but it's a little less hassle than painting was, especially when i'm on the go & have cedar with me! not only that though but it has totally instilled a new sense of creativity within myself & has lead me to start drawing/doodling again which i just hadn't for a while. i'm in love with my coloring book for this & i encourage everyone to go get one!! turn some music on, turn off your phone & zone out. it's good for the soul.

BABYMOONING!

this picture is from my last trip to london. i always think it's funny to look back at old blog posts, so if you're interested have a look

in just over a week our little family is venturing off to london, scotland & brussels! i couldn't be more excited for this trip. i'm looking at it as our 'babymoon' since we probably won't have the chance for one without cedar before austin graduates, we have christmas, possibly moving & what not. there is a lot up in the air for us right now, so i'm taking this opportunity & going with it! we went on a babymoon when i was pregnant with cedar & it was really fun, so i'm kind of just making the tradition live on.

austin has time off of school for a couple of weeks so we decided to head off somewhere different. the whole time we've been in madrid we've talked about going to london but it never seemed to workout, then a couple weeks ago i was checking for flights from madrid to anywhere, literally, & london popped up with cheap flights & we were sold. i've been to london before but austin never has so i am really excited for him to go! & in all honesty it just sounds nice to be somewhere that speaks english, even if it is just for a few days! from london we're going to edinburgh, scotland & have plans to drive through the highlands (i am pretty nervous to drive on the opposite side of the road...), check out the little towns & explore edinburgh. originally our trip stopped there, but when i looked into booking our tickets back from edinburgh to madrid they were about 145€ a piece.. one way.. & there are three of us now that need seats (i'm pretty bummed cedar is no longer considered a lap child), but then i looked on the little map & noticed that tickets to brussels were just under 40 & then from brussels to madrid around 30! so i talked to austin & we figured we should make a pit stop in brussels on our way home, not that it's necessarily cheaper when you count in lodging & food & what not, but it's a whole extra trip for a similar cost of going home. at least that's how i look at it, haha.

i've been busily planning what sites to see, where to eat, what to do for all of our spots on our list & it has been really fun for me. this whole making a plan/itinerary thing is new for me & it is surprisingly nice. i'm normally more of a go with the flow, we'll see when we get there, type of person, which i still am , but there was a lot both austin & i wanted to see in london so i figured it'd be good to get it all down on paper. we'll see how the plan works out! any suggestions for must-see things, or must- dos, or must-eats? i'd love to get some more input!

CEDAR BABY BOY

27 months

cedar is constantly making my heart melt. he is the sweetest little dude i could have hoped for. if you follow my instagram then you may know that last week i woke up with a terrible 24 hour bug which left me puking, lethargic & extremely tired. needless to say i was feeling pretty bad but on top of that i felt horrible for cedar, i felt like doing nothing & that is pretty much what i did while he quietly & happily played on his own while watching movies. all. day. long. luckily for me austin had a break at school & was able to come home & entertain cedar for a while. during that time i wasn't doing too hot & it melted my heart when i heard cedar asking austin: "daaaaad, mom? she ok?" he was so concerned for me. & while i was wasting away on the couch he would come & ask "mom, you ok?" he was so worried about me that he even parted with his beloved blanket & stuffed animals to let me cuddle up with them, he was the sweetest. the next day i woke up feeling 100% better, thank goodness, so i took cedar to the park since he had been cooped up the whole day before. the entire time we were at the park cedar made sure to hold my hand & ask if i was ok. it was adorable.

these two days were a huge reminder of how much he is growing, learning & changing. i don't want to forget these moments so i have began writing down little things he says in my journal & figured i should document on here as well, cause that's what this blog is all about! documenting our life!

cedar is talking soooo much & comes up with the funniest things to say. dinosaurs are currently all the rage in cedars world & with that has come an obsession with land before time. he has even started calling his dinosaurs the names from the movie... he has a cera, foot (little foot) & tooth (sharp tooth), he also like to point at all the leaves in the trees saying "look! tree star!" ... about ever 5 feet we have to look at the tree stars, haha. cedar has also gotten really into "scare" as he calls it, which is when he scares me or austin, normally by putting his hands up by his face & going "rooooooooaaaaaar! scare you!" & we pretend scream. he could do this all day long if i'd let him, he thinks it is the funniest thing in the world & i love watching him giggle after every scare he gives us. multiple times a day  cedar asks me to let him take a bath, he loves to be in the tub but sadly for him, he can't take a bath 5 times a day! but every once in a while, after i tell him he can't have another bath, he'll lay on the floor kicking & wiggling his arms & say: "swimmmmin, swimmmin, splash! splash! splash!" & i find it really entertaining, especially because he never does this when he is actually in the tub. he also like to try & get me to join him in his bath by pulling on my pant leg saying "pants, off! mama, bath!" to which i politely decline, but it's nice to know i'm wanted.

i love this little boy more than i could have ever imagined.

IT'S A...

18/42 weeks

when i first knew i was pregnant i really hoped that we would have another boy. the thought of a little brother for cedar to run around & wrestle with sounded pretty adorable in my mind. plus, we already have a lot of "boy" stuff, so it would be easy on that aspect, haha. but as i got farther along in my pregnancy i felt pretty confident that we were going to have a girl, not a boy. my pregnancy this time around was feeling totally different than with cedar, i felt more sick, i am pretty positive i have been more moody (sorry aus!), i've had more acne & i was having more cravings than i did the first time around. it's been a lot different & the only explanation i could come up with was that i was growing a baby girl in that belly of mine! 

i started to feel pretty confident in this feeling but at our first dr. appointment, when i was 14 weeks, the dr. said that it was going to be a boy! i was beyond shocked & austin was overly excited. but i still wasn't sold that it was a boy, i mean i was only 14 weeks along & while gender doesn't normally change from boy to girl, but girl to boy... i still thought maybe the dr. saw something wrong in the ultrasound. i was just so sure that it was a girl! so i decided to wait till our next appointment before telling everyone & guess what? it was a boy... & i was still equally shocked hearing it the second time around. so much for my motherly intuition!

we are pretty stoked though to have another little guy to cuddle & pitter patter about the house with cedar. i think it will be so much fun watching these two grow up with each other. for me, part of the excitement of having another child is thinking about him & cedar being best friends & growing up together. i absolutely loved having siblings growing up & love the sibling bond. it makes me so pumped to watch it happen between my own little humans :)