our "surprise" visit to Utah

Last week I planned a little (ok really big) surprise for my family.  I called my little brother, Parker, a few days before I was scheduled to fly in and made him promise not to tell anyone I was coming, and asked him for a ride home from the airport.  Milo has always been a decent flyer, but I always get nervous before getting on an airplane with him and just myself.  (One time he had a horrible blowout just after we had taken off-- luckily Jordan was with me and was able to help.. can I ask why airplanes don't have changing tables in their bathrooms!?!?! It makes it very hard for a mom!  But thats another story…)

So I wake up early- get to the airport, and fly to Utah with only 15 minutes of whining and crying from Mr. Milo.  Parker was waiting for us when we walked off the plane.  I had Parker text my dad and ask him where he was.  He was at lunch with one of his business partners, and luckily not too far away.  We drove to where he was eating, and walked into the restaurant.  He was so surprised to see us!!  It was so great :)  My dad usually catches on to things and it is so hard to ever get anything passed him!  He has been super busy with work and being a bishop that I guess my "lying" just slipped right passed him.  We then drove to my parents house where my mom was waiting for us.  I called her the night before and told her we were coming the next morning because my whole fam had had the flu the week before and I wanted her to disinfect the house before I brought Milo haha.  She was standing in our driveway, so excited to see her grandson!  She wouldn't even let us pull into the garage before she got him out of his carseat.  Next, I had to surprise Summer.  She called my dad around 2 and asked for a ride home from school.  It was perfect!!  My dad drove, I sat in the front seat, and my mom and Milo got in the back.  As she walked out of the school I ducked so she couldn't see me.  My dad told me when to pop up, and I just yelled surprise!!!!  Her and I were almost in tears!  I love that little sister of mine so much!!  I really wish she could move down to San Fran and come live with me :)  Later that day we went to lunch with my brother Tj, and my sis-in-law Sara.

So everything turned out perfect!  Parker kept a secret and picked us up from the airport, and we were able to surprise everyone else.  We stayed in Utah for a whole week while Jordan studied, and took tests, and studied some more.  (We missed you babe!!!!)

Our time in Utah consisted of lots of walks, aerobics class every night, making yummy soup, NAPS, going out to eat, the primary program, lunch with a great friend, visiting another friend that is having her baby anyway now, going to see a movie! (something i haven't don't since before Milo was born!) and even a lunch trip to Sundance :)

I was able to catch up with lots of friends, and a lot of our extended family.  Milo got to play with his cousin 2 different times during that trip.  My cousin Brooke has a little boy who is just 5 days younger than Milo.  So we went to lunch together, and then on Sunday met up with my moms side of the family for a big family dinner!  We told stories, caught up, laughed a lot, and had a great time!

I love being able to fly back to Utah and visit my family.  It has been quite an adjustment moving away from them into a big city.  We love that we are able to make the short 1 hour flight back so Milo can grow up being close with his grandparents, aunts, and uncles.

Another part of our trip included lots of pictures and videos that Jordan requested multiple times a day of Mr. Milo.

 Mr Milo and cousin Logan

 Cousin Savannah with Mr Milo and Logan - sorry Milo was hitting you in the face ha

Tickle time!

RRRRRAAAWWWRRRRR!!!!

(and our dog hanna photo-bombing) 

Toe eater 

Milo and mom

and probably one of Milo's favorite part of the trip… grandpas iPad!!  He was fascinated with that thing!! I don't know if he is ever gunna give that back to you dad haha


and I just HAD to throw this last pic in… Milo has fat feet, so I asked Jords to cut the elastic in his footie pajamas.  I figured he would, as I asked, just snip the elastic.  He brings Milo back to meet like this….

I guess I wasn't clear enough???  haha.  I just about died.  I guess cutting the ENTIRE toe part off works too??  Now we just have to put socks on him so his toes don't freeze at night.

Anyway- that was how our last week was :)  Thanks for letting us visit family!  We can't wait till Christmas when we get to see you again!

xoxo Amber

Happy Halloween!!

Trick or treat - smell my feet - give me something good to eat! - or not.. cause my little one is too young to eat candy, and I feel stupid going trick or treating asking for candy that people know Milo can't eat.... This halloween we went to Jordans school to have lunch and watch their costume contest.  All the wives bring their kids dressed up in their costumes, Milo was Batman, I was wonder woman, and Jordans "row" in class dressed up as cowboys and Indians.  Later that night we went to grab burgers with some friends and watched a scary movie.  Hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween!!

I love my little batman!!  

To my little man:

To my little man:

     You are a rockstar!  I let you cry for an hour during the night without picking you up, it was so hard for me.  All I wanted to do was to come in and comfort you.  But in the morning, you still looked up at me with those big blue eyes and smiled.  You then let me drag you on a walk around the park where the birds were WAY too comfortable and got WAY too close to us.  And you let an older couple stop us for longer than I want to say, and you stayed pretty calm until the end.  You were hungry on the ride home and cried... and cried...and cried.  Because mom got lost, ended up in the Financial district, and it took us an hour to get home.  You cried for 50 minutes, and when you fell asleep for the last 10, I cried.    I tried to find a parking lot to pull into, but there was no such luck in the busy streets of San Francisco.  I felt horrible.  You then cried as I pulled you out of your carseat to take you inside.  I fed you, feeling like an awful mother for making you wait so long to eat. Your eyes got heavy, I thought you were asleep. But then the most amazing thing happened!!  You got the biggest grin on your face, milk was spilling from the side of your mouth, and you ever so softly started talking to me.  You were cooing in the most gentle voice, and looking up at me with love in your eyes.  It was just what I needed.  You taught me a valuable lesson today - one that I desperately needed to learn.  New moms make mistakes.  We are still learning, and trying our best.  When you cry, we cry.  But just as our love is unconditional for you, you have unconditional love for us too... even when we screw up.  Thank you for that my sweet little boy!  You knew just what your mama needed today and boy did you deliver.  I love you so much!  Thanks for choosing me to be your mother :)

The day my fire alarm went off for 2 and 1/2 hours

Today started out fine.  It was really cold outside, and Milo had woken up to eat at 7am.  So we decided we would take Jordan to school.  We got back around 8:30, Milo played for a bit, and went down for his morning nap.  At 10:30 we went with some friends on a donut walk.

This is only part of the group

We looked pretty silly walking our long line of strollers down the busy streets of San Francisco on our way to the donut shop.  I even had a guy ask me on the way if we were doing a flash mob.

After donuts we hit up a local park for a few minutes.  Milo was in heaven watching the other kids play!  I can't wait for him to be old enough to run around with the other little munchkins! 

After our donut walk we went to visit Jords at school.  Every Tuesday a Sr. missionary couple brings lunch for the students and we have institute.  I think this might be one of Milo's favorite things to do during the week.  He loves his dad!  And was talking to him the entire lesson.  (To the other dental students -- Sorry for being such a distraction!!!)  We missed nap time due to this - but Milo was hanging in there

Now this is where our day got a little more rough.  Just as we had gotten home from visiting Jordan, I put Milo in his crib for a nap.  Poor guy was getting pretty tired!  Not 5 minutes later i hear a loud BEEP BEEP BEEP!!!  FIRE FIRE FIRE!!!  Ugh our fire alarm was going off.  I ran in and grabbed Milo, took a quick peek around and headed out the door.  I ran him over to a friends house and asked her to watch him while I went and tried to figure out how to turn the dang thing off (no fire, no smoke, just a faulty alarm.)  I came back a few minutes later and was stumped.  I grabbed a bottle and the diaper bag and headed back to my friends.  I could hear our alarm a building away!  While I was there I called our maintenance people.  They said they would have someone over as quick as possible.  Well 30 mins went by, then an hour.  Milo was getting CRANKY!  He needed a nap.  And my friend, Ashley, has a few rambunctious kids of her own!  Milo was not able to fall asleep anywhere!  This is how he was feeling after now missing BOTH of his naps...

Not a happy camper :(

I was getting a little frustrated at this point.  I ran back over to my loud apartment, grabbed his carseat, and decided it was time for a little drive.  So where did we drive to??  The only drive thru McDonalds I have seen in San Francisco (20 minutes away...)

Oh ya - welcome to San Fran.  Fast food chains now have to charge 10 cents per bag.  (So do i pay the 10 cents or individually get handed my burgers and fries?? -- Just kidding, I only got a Diet Coke, because McDonalds D.C. is THE BEST DIET COKE IN THE WORLD!)  Luckily Mr. Milo fell asleep not 2 minutes after we started driving, and I drove that boy around for over an hour to keep him asleep.

After 2 and 1/2 hours someone was finally able to come fix our faulty fire alarm.  My friend Ashley came to the rescue again and cooked dinner for us.  What would I do without this girl!?!  Pictured up top is her 9 month old Isla.  Milo is her boyfriend haha.  Love that little girl.  

Ivory (Ashley's oldest) was such a good babysitter to Mr. Milo.  This girl cracks me up!  If you wanna read some of the funniest "what motherhood is really like" stories, go to ashley's blog

 johnnyandashley.blogspot.com

You will DIE!!

Milo had fun playing with his friends.  And we were finally able to go home. 

 Sadly, we came home to a disastrous house, and I am too embarassed to even show you pictures of what the living room and our bedroom look like....Between our adventures to the donut shop, school, and having a faulty fire alarm... there was no time to clean up.  I have been putting it off for the last 30 minutes by blogging...And now I am too tired to do it. UGH.

There's nothing I hate more than going to bed or waking up to a dirty house.  I'll probably just clean it tonight cause I'm a neat freak and can't sleep when my house is messy.

On a totally different note - I totally wanna do this with Milo before Halloween (...in 2 days haha)http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/disturbing-trend-pumpkin-babying
I can just picture his face now hahaha!

Catching Up

So I am going to try and get back into blogging.  Most of you probably follow me on instagram @amberswarbrick9 and know what I have been up to lately.  My beautiful family moved to San Francisco shortly after our son Milo was born.  My husband, Jordan, is here going to Dental School at UOP for the next 3 years.  I hope to track our adventures in San Fran as well as my favorite moments being a mom!  Check back to see what this crazy city has in store for us :)

Mr Milo is now 4 months old.  I have had to take him to the doctors by myself both times he has gotten his shots because Jordan is always in school.  For all you mommy's out there that have had to hold your child down while a nurse shoots him up with those nasty needles, I FEEL YOUR PAIN!  Poor little guy... I swear he likes his dad more on those days I have to take him to get those darn shots.  Luckily he is the happiest kid, and can give me this cute face just minutes AFTER being poked.

My beautiful mother is a frequent visitor in San Fran (even though I wish she would just move in with me...)  Here we are at Stow Lake (in Golden Gate Park) taking Mr. Milo on a little walk.  I can't wait till he is old enough to feed the ducks!!  It is a childhood memory I cherish, and I can't wait to make those memories with him!

Look at that handsome Smile!!

Mr. Milo with his cousin Finnely.  She is only 3 months older than he is -- and I have a feeling they will be best buds growing up!

The other day Jordan came home from school and was able to hangout with us before Milo went to bed.  He held his leg out like this for 64 seconds.  Jordan and I were dying!!  "When in doubt, leg out!"

Mr. Milo's first swim at my parents house back in Utah

For Jordan's week long break from school we were lucky enough to send a few days in Capitola with his family.  Jordan is an avid surfer and is insistent I become one too. 

I hope this blog will serve as a little journal of our time here in San Francisco.  Some things you can look forward to reading about include our adventures, friends, family, as well as the ups and downs of figuring out this whole "mommy" thing.  I hope to also post progress I make with getting back in shape after delivering a 9 lb 9 oz baby that was 22.4 inches long.  I'll be testing out recipes and workouts that I hope will benefit not only me, but some of my readers.

xoxo Amber

Dental School

I am going to brag about my husband right now because he is AMAZING!!  That's right!!  Jordan got accepted to DENTAL SCHOOL!  He got a call last Tuesday from UOP (The University of Pacific) congratulating  him on his acceptance.  UOP has a great reputation for being the top clinical dental school in the NATION!!  And my smart husband was accepted!  A few hours after UOP called him, he received an email from LECOM (a dental school down in Florida) also congratulating him on being accepted :)  We are so thrilled he was accepted to the two schools he interviewed with.
One thing thats going to be tough about dental school is the cost.  Last night I was looking at housing in San Francisco (where UOP is), and was completely shocked.  I had no idea such a small apartment could cost more than a mortgage in Utah!!!  Heaven help us!!

Regardless - I am so proud of my husband!! And if I have to pay $2,600 per month to live in an amazing area (San Fran), and be close to family while he kills himself at school, then I will and I will try not to complain haha!!!  I love you Jords, and I am so honored to be the wife of such a great person!  I can't wait to have some wild experiences in San Francisco with you :)

Half way through Pregnancy!!

Jordan and I are so thrilled to have the opportunity to be parents.  These last few weeks have been especially amazing!  First off, we found out our baby has three knees... a right knee, a left knee, and a weenie!!!!  (This is a terrible picture, but you get the point!)  Thats right, Baby Swarbrick is a BOY!!  I was completely freaking out during the ultra sound, because I thought I was for sure having a girl.  When the ultrasound tech started to write Boy I just laughed / cried / screamed with joy.  

Baby Swarbrick finally started to show at around 19 weeks.  (And thank heavens!!  I was sick of telling people I was pregnant and not just getting fat!)  This photo was taken last week, after I called Jordan while he was busy at school (as usual) and said "Alright, I am pretty sure I just felt a kick, then a punch!"  Jords was laugh because I felt the difference between that first karate kick, then the little jab that came right after. 









And just a week later (Now 20 weeks prego!), this boys dad got to feel him KICK!  I had just eating a delicious cafe rio pork salad and was passed out in our bed.  Jordan put his hand on my stomach while I was sleeping, and apparently baby had a sugar high because he was kicking like crazy!  At first it freaked Jordan out.  He quickly pulled his hand away, but then put it back on my belly to feel a few more movements from our babe.  

Yay for being half way done with this pregnancy!!  Can't wait to meet you little one!!