May - June 2013

May and June have been a very busy and exciting two months!  The beginning of May found us traveling up the coast to visit our friends in Salinas, CA.  It was Emilee's 2nd trip up there, and besides the occasional tired fussing in the car, she was a pretty good sport.

We went wine tasting, except for my friend Kristen and I, since we are both pregnant (about 3 weeks apart!).  We enjoyed food and cheese tasting instead. We spent the majority of the trip hanging out in Carmel finding places to taste food and wine.  Emilee really enjoyed the cheese tasting as well!

On our way back, we took Hwy 1 down the coast with our friends to enjoy the scenery.  On our way down, we made stops in Big Sur, saw the elephant seals in San Simeon, and took a tour at Hearst Castle.  It was a fun trip, one of many more to come in the future I'm sure. :-)

We went out to dinner at the Lazy Dog Cafe for Mother's Day, with my parents, Camille & Brendan, and grandparents.  The food was wonderful, as was the company. 

June found us spending Father's Day weekend visiting my grandparents in Silent Valley, Banning.  It was a peaceful and wonderful visit.  It was also nice having no phones to distract us (there's no cell service there).  We took Emi to the baby pool in her baby floaty, which she just loved!  And we spent quality time visiting with my grandparents - overall such a relaxing and wonderful Father's Day weekend!

Yesterday, my mom, sister and I took Emi to the beach for her first official beach day!  We drove down to Seal Beach where we browsed the seashell shop, then set up a fun spot on the sand to soak up the sun and play in the water.  Emilee was an absolute water baby! She loved walking on the wet sand, and even when a small wave knocked her on her butt in the water, she loved it! I think we have ourselves a little beach bum. 

This weekend we had our trip to Iowa scheduled, but ended up making a few changes.  Matthew went for the both of us, as flying pregnant with a 15 month old would have been rough, I wouldn't have been able to do much once there, and we decided we needed to save money for the next baby coming.  Flying with kids can be expensive - not to mention all the luggage.  We still have yet to take Emi on a plane, but I'm sure it won't be too long knowing how we travel.

As for the kids, Emilee is 15 months old today.  She's now walking everywhere, she can shake her head "yes" and "no", and is just blossoming into a little toddler!  Yesterday she mimicked using the phone for the first time.  She's a little late with her talking, but she babbles all the time and says "mama", "dada" and "yaya".  I'm excited for her to have a language growth-spurt in the near future hopefully.  Talking with your children has to be one of the most exciting milestones! 

Our 2nd little one will be 18 weeks along next Tuesday.  I can feel the tiny kicks and am starting to finally look pregnant.  It's becoming very real and very exciting! Only 5 more months to go!

Anyway, that is all for now.  Looking forward to this summer! Hope everyone stays cool. :-)

January - April 2013

Life has been moving at a quick and steady pace for the Ott family!

January found Mom and Dad celebrating their 28th wedding anniversary, and Emilee learning how to stand up with support.

February we went to Big Bear for super bowl weekend, and Emilee got to experience snow for the very first time! She looked like a little marshmallow puff in her snow suit.

Emi also celebrated her first Valentine's Day by going to get frozen yogurt with mommy.

March found us busy preparing for Emilee's 1st birthday party, and even more thrilling, we found ourselves expecting a new baby - due this Thanksgiving!  

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take many pictures of Em's birthday, but I did get the whole party on video. It was so wonderful to have all of our friends and family from out of state visit, and just to see how many wonderful people came to help celebrate Em's big day! We are so blessed!

We also celebrated our first Easter in our new home, complete with an overabundance of food!  It was a very relaxing day with family.

April has been a wonderful month as well! We celebrated Mom's birthday with a lobster/steak dinner at our house, and then Grandma, Mama and I went to a tea parlor the next morning. 

Camille and Brendan got engaged, and we couldn't be happier to soon be adding such a wonderful guy to our family!  Camille also celebrated her 24th birthday and college graduation today at the Old Spaghetti Factory.

Overall, life is good!  We are planning a few trips in the near future, as we won't have as much time (or funds) once our newest addition comes into the world. :-)  Some of our destinations include Monterey (CA), Colorado, Iowa and Redding (CA).  We are looking forward to so many wonderful things!

(Here is a short video of Emilee's 1st year of life, including a little bit of the pregnancy.)

December 2012 (and Halloween)

I almost forgot to mention Halloween in my previous post!  Emilee was dressed as a baby jack-o-lantern (same for me), and Matt was dressed as 'the Dude' from the movie "The Big Lebowski.  We spent the evening at our friend's home, having a BBQ and bonfire on the driveway, giving candy out to the passing trick-or-treaters.

Our friends Tony & Kristen

Brendan (Jafar) and Camille (a pirate)

Matt and part of our group by the bonfire

Kristen and me

December was a wonderfully busy month! It was our first Christmas in a real home, and getting to hang lights and decorate was really fun.  Em turned 9 months old, learned to crawl and hold her self standing all in the same month.

We went on a boat wine cruise at the Newport boat parade, and went on a Christmas light walk with friends (and to show Em all the pretty lights).

Mom and Dad joined us as well

Matt strolling Emmy along

Em and her Auntie Bug (Camille)

Christmas Eve we spent at my parent's house, where we had an amazing lamb roast dinner.  After dinner, we went to our place for dessert and a Christmas movie.

Matt and I hosted Christmas Day at our home, where my grandparents parked their RV on our driveway, and everyone came over that morning for breakfast, champagne, and gifts! Towards the evening, Matt's cousin, her husband and their baby joined us, as well as the Prophet family for dinner, cocktails, a bonfire, and games.

We were originally going to travel up to Colorado right after Christmas, but the weather turned sour on us, and we had to postpone at the last minute.  Hopefully though, we will get to reschedule in the new year!

And speaking of New Years, we spent it at my parents house with friends, food, champagne and welcoming another new and exciting year!  Can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us!

September - November: A Summary

September through October proved to be busy months for us!  We worked on the house from the day we received our keys (Sept. 21st), up to the day our carpet was installed (Oct. 31st).  Below is a video of our renovation. :)

November slowed down with the house, but not with our social lives.  November 7th was Matt's an my 3rd wedding anniversary.  He was so sweet, he surprised me with a dozen red roses delivered to our house, and told me to be ready to go out at 7:00pm.  He asked my mom secretly to babysit Emilee, and when he got home from work, he took me to a surprise location dinner.  We ate at the Pomona Mining Company, with a beautiful view of the valley below.  I'm such a lucky girl!

Close to our anniversary though, is Matt's 30th birthday, on November 9th.  I had been planning to throw him a surprise party on November 10th, and have his best friends from out of state fly in to spend the weekend with us.  On his actual birthday, our friends Nick and Katie and I took him out to dinner to the Melting Pot as a decoy.  Everyone else he invited gracefully declined (he had no idea it was because of his party the next day).

During dinner, I stayed in touch with our friends who were flying in.  I left our home's side door unlocked for them to come in, and when we got home from dinner, you can imagine the surprise on Matt's face to see his friends from Iowa and Oregon sitting on our couch!  He thought THAT was his birthday surprise.

The next day, our friends took Matt out as planned, so that a few of our friends and I could start setting up the house for the party.  There were a few hiccups, along the way, but we got the surprise we had hoped for!  It was a fun party, and great way to also show off our newly finished home.  After the party, we took the time before Thanksgiving to finally relax in our new home.

Thanksgiving we spent at my parent's house, and had a wonderful time!  The next day, we packed up and drove up north to Porterville to spend Thanksgiving with Matt's Aunt, Uncle and cousins.  We had a wonderful time introducing Emilee to Matt's side of the family.

December has been busy as well, and we are looking forward to Christmas, a trip to Colorado, and the New Year.  All that to come in my next post!  Have a Merry Christmas everyone!!

Love,
The Ott Family

Catching Up (September - March)

It has been a long time since I last posted in Matt's and my blog!  So much has been happening, I'm afraid I can only summarize at this point to catch up.

We moved into our new apartment last September.  It's been a wonderful change!  The extra space has made a big difference.  We're much more organized, and I've had a lot of fun decorating the place.

I also flew up to Napa for one of my best friend's Bachelorette parties.  It was a limo wine tasting tour.  Being 2-3 months pregnant, I only tasted a couple different wines (just sips), but still had a great time! Plus, some of the wineries had non-alcoholic wines I could enjoy.

October we went on a camping trip to Catalina island with a group of friends.  My parents joined us, and were so generous as to drive us over on their boat.  The weather was beautiful, and we all had a great time!

November found Matt and I celebrating our 2 year wedding anniversary.  We exchanged cards and went to El Torrito Grill, where we had our first official dinner date almost 7 years ago. 

We also celebrated Thanksgiving at my parent's house, and then drove up to Porterville to spend a second Thanksgiving with Matt's Aunt, Uncle and cousins.

December was more of a relaxing month.  We spent the night at my parent's house Christmas Eve, and enjoyed Christmas Day with everyone.  We also started putting Emilee's room together.  Things were beginning to get exciting as I was beginning to show my baby bump more, and starting the 3rd trimester.

January was a little busier.  We spent New Year's weekend in Wrightwood with a few friends, for our annual cabin trip.  Everyone snowboarded up at Mt. High, while my best friend Kristen and I browsed the cute village shopping.

January also found Matt, Camille, Brendan and me driving up to Novato to spend a weekend with Uncle Curt and Uncle Richard.  We took the ferry and spent a day in San Francisco as well.

February we started winding down on our travels and plans.  We spent a weekend with my Grandparents in Palm Desert, hosted a dinner party with some friends, had my baby shower for little Emilee, sold my Saturn and bought my Dad's Honda Element for our new family car!

Finally, the month we had been anxiously awaiting for - March! The first half of the month seemed to last forever!  We patiently (or not so patiently) waited for labor to start.  I was walking almost every day, dancing in our apartment, doing chores... anything to try and encourage things to start.  The due date came and went, and by the time I was one week late I had to go in for some non-stress tests to check Emilee's heartbeat and get an ultrasound.  Little did we know, I would not be leaving the hospital for the next 2 days, and would be induced that very day!

Emilee was born on March 21st, at 12:17pm, weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz. and measuring 20 in. long.  Recovery has been a little rough, but in a matter of 2 weeks, I've been able to bounce back a great deal.  Emilee is just the sweetest little thing, and we couldn't be happier!  Parenthood is both challenging and wonderful - I am so excited to have the privilege to raise our beautiful baby girl.

(If anyone wants to read my actual labor/birth experience, it can be found on my other blog: http://sweetart-ott.blogspot.com/)

Holidays

A pastor once told Matt and me that one of the best things we could do as a couple, is to pre-plan our holidays. By doing this, we ease the stress on ourselves and avoid overbooking. Last year was a little short of a fiasco for us, but this year we really tried making an attempt to pre-plan our holiday season - success!

Last year we tried to make it to 3 consecutive Thanksgivings, all in different areas of California. San Diego one night, Glendora the next, and Porterville last. Needless to say... Matt and I were pretty stretched thin by the end of it all.

Thanksgiving this year was calm, relaxing, and so enjoyable! We spent Thanksgiving day with my side of the family in Glendora, and the following day drove to Porterville to spend another Thanksgiving with Matt's Aunt and Uncle. They were very gracious and let us stay the night and relax the entire next day. This made for a very relaxed holiday weekend.

Christmas Eve Matt and I spent a relaxing day together. Later in the day we picked up Matt's brother Dave, and his girlfriend Lauren, for a Christmas Eve dinner. Usually, this day would have been spent visiting Matt's grandma in San Diego, but due to a broken hip, she didn't want visitors and needed to rest. The four of us had a good time, and afterward, Matt and I went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at the church we were married in. We spent the night at my parent's house, and the whole next day we celebrated Christmas with my side of the family.

There are still kinks to work out for next year's holidays... but I must say that it has made such a difference to pre-plan where we go, and settle on it. Trying to make it to everything, and squeeze it all in 2-3 days, is just too much!

As for New Years, we spent a fun night at a friend's party. It was probably my favorite New Year's yet - hopefully a good sign for the year to come!

Anyway, hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season as well!

Love,
Candace