Bodega Bay Tide Pools

For as much as I love the ocean, I have never been to a real tide pool before. So when I saw an ad in the local family magazine for a guided tide pool tour, I knew I had to get the family to go!
 If heaven had a heaven, this would be it for me:

I was totally unaware of the 1-mile (pretty steep) hike going into it, but thankfully Myles did so well and walked the whole way there and most of the way back.

The views definitely helped as well.

When we first got to the ocean, they gave us a bit of a break to change shoes, get a drink, check out the water, etc.

We weren't allowed to pick anything up without the guides' assistance, unless it was something that was floating and/or not attached to anything.

We played a little iSpy...

We saw the most of mussels and anemone. Some anemone were almost a foot in diameter!

Have you ever been to a tide pool?

#BOYMom Box Swap

Myles and I are quite excited about this post and sharing what we got in our BoyMom Box this year! About a year and a half ago, I shared why I love being a boy mom over on Elizabeth's blog for her Boy Mom Series. Since then she has ended the series, but now co-hosts (with Seeing All Sides and Wife Mommy Me) a yearly exchange for all boy mom bloggers. Myles lives for getting mail, especially when toys are inside, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity! Plus, I love getting to know new moms and their blogs... so win, win!

We were lucky enough to get paired with Meghan and Noah from The Adventure Starts Here! I'm really grateful to have been introduced to her and Noah. She has a great blog with tons of great content, and Noah is so smart, sweet, and cute! We talked a little about Myles' likes/dislikes, but Meghan really hit it out of the park with our box.

We got a great sampling of some of Myles' favorite things! My favorite thing to do with Myles is Play-Doh, so of course I was all over that! It instantly brings me back to my childhood. Meghan was so sweet and found a Froggy book for Myles. I mentioned to her that he really loves them, but I no idea she would actually be able to find one! We have been reading Froggy Bakes a Cake every night since.

I have mentioned several times here on this blog that I struggle with finding good bath toys. Meghan was so thoughtful to include two of Noah's favorites: Crayola Bath Crayons and Crayola Bath Squirters. Meghan also added a little something for momma! She got me a beautiful coral nail polish and some cute note cards. 

And within 5 minutes (no joke), we were in the bath playing:

Am I the only one that finds unused Play-Doh fresh out the can so satisfying!?!? 

Thanks again Chasin' Mason, Seeing All Sides, and Wife Mommy Me for putting this all together and Meghan and Noah for the perfect box!

Boy Mom

A couple of months ago I guest posted over on Liz's blog Chasin' Mason for her Boy Moms series. I was so excited to be apart of her series because I love being a boy mom and find comfort and encouragement from connecting with other blogging boy moms.
So in case you missed it, I thought I would post it here as well:

"I'm 90% sure you are having a girl" said the ultrasound tech at my 20 week anatomy scan. I wasn't at all surprised. Over the last 16 weeks, I had worked myself up to be scared to death to have a girl. I am not at all into girly things and I really have no idea how to be a girl myself, so how in the world would I be able to raise a girl and give her the true girl experience? Because the universe works in funny ways and I was really terrified to have a girl, I was sure I was going to be blessed with a baby girl just to show me that I could raise a girl perfectly well and it would all work out. 

 We decided not to tell anyone yet since we weren't 100% sure. We were waiting to see what was going to happen at the follow up ultrasound at 24 weeks.The reason the ultrasound tech was only 90% certain was because she couldn't get a full, clear view of the genital area. I turned sides, walked around, and prayed my little heart out, but after 10+ minutes of trying, the tech moved on. She told us she didn't see any boy parts, and so was fairly certain it was a girl. I was so disappointed to not know for sure (after hyping myself up for months to find out). However luckily, she also wasn't able to get a good view of certain parts of the heart, so we had to make another appointment at 24 weeks. 

In the weeks following that first unsuccessful gender scan, I began wrapping my mind around what it would be like to have a little girl and tried to make a real effort to be positive for both myself and my boyfriend Mark. I also became obsessed with anatomy ultrasound pictures. I would study every one that would come up on my mommy forum app and I learned all the ways to tell boy or girl. I was determined to be prepared for my next ultrasound; I was not going to leave that office without knowing 100%! 

Being that this post is part of the Boy Moms series, I am sure you can guess what happened at our second scan, but since I am probably the most long-winded writer you will ever meet, I will finish the story. The first thing she asked was if we wanted to know the gender and with a resounding yes! she moved her little wand around and found the sweet spot. All my 'research' was completely worth it because within 2 seconds I knew what I was looking at. I didn't say anything though because I wanted Mark to hear it from the tech. Somehow the little person inside of me that I was hoping was a boy, but knew had to be a girl, was in fact, a BOY! I was elated, so overjoyed, and incredibly grateful to get the news that I wanted so badly to hear! I basked in that elation for a long time. Pregnancy was not my thing, but finally finding out that I was going to have a little boy helped me get through that last grueling 15 weeks. 

DIY gender reveal photos

As D-Day grew closer and closer, I began to conger up all sorts of crazy thoughts: namely... oh crap is this going to be one of those "be careful what you wish for" situations where my son is going to be a complete terror and eventual serial killer?!?! 

Well 2 years into his life and I am happy to report that he is not a serial killer (yet), but I can't say that I haven't used the word 'terror' to describe him once or twice ;) He embodies every sense of the 'BOY' label and I do very often have to remind myself "this is what I wished for", but I wouldn't have it any other way. As I am sitting here writing this, I am trying to imagine what life would be like if the ultrasound tech was right the first time. It's hard to speculate on something so arbitrary: maybe life would be drastically different, but maybe things would be quite the same. I find it hard to tell if I am making him be all boy, if it just comes naturally, or if it is some combination of the two. Whatever the reason having a boy is everything I ever imagined it to be and more. I love everything he loves and am really enjoying learning about all the 'boy' things I never really knew much about. Currently, that means sports, dinosaurs, and Ninja Turtles. His ninja moves are on point and he is really excelling in his baseball skills. 

 It is hard for me to put into words all that I love about having a boy, specifically my boy, so I will be brief and use (mostly) pictures:

1. His laughter!

2. His love for all things messy (Paints and Edible sensory play):

3. His fearless (Noodling):

4. His goofy and imaginative demeanor:

5. His need to always be involved:

6. His determination (which will probably be the death of me):

He has been a man on a mission since the day he was born. It all started with his Houdini skills in the swaddle:

Then, it turned into a need to explore everything (even if that meant tippy toes):

Then, it was his needed to do everything his daddy did: 

And now apparently it is his need to become a pilot:

He is a handful and a half, always on the go, but he also has a very endearing, lovey-dovey side. His new goodbye routine consists of saying 'kiss, hug, high five, and boom-boom (fist pump)', making you do them in order, and insisting on all four before you leave. He is a pretty fierce cuddler as well, although only when he is tired or hurt. And he gives the best tickles and raspberries in all the land.
 He is my everything and will always be my number one. Anyone that knows us can attest to the fact that he is 120% a momma's boy. Sometimes it can be overwhelming when I need a break, but really, to know that he thinks I am the coolest person in the entire world makes my life complete.  

{Fall Bucket List} First Professional Baseball Game

Hey there... I guess it's been a while. Somehow time is passing by so fast that I can't even post once a week now! I have a legitimate excuse though... one week out of the last two we spent back in Illinois visiting our family and friends. We jam packed our time full of fun, quality time with our loved ones and I didn't use one second of my time to blog! But now that I am back, I plan on trying to get back into this blog. I have tons I want to share from our trip back and updates on Myles as well. So stay tuned...
 For now I am sharing another activity we checked off of our Fall Family Bucket List. I am linking up with two of the beautiful hosts of this series, Elizabeth from Chasin' Mason and Desiree from Macke Monologues.

A few weeks ago, we took Myles to his first professional baseball game. My dad is a huge baseball fan and has already gotten Myles really into the game; teaching him to play and such. Since he moved out here a couple of months ago, we had been talking about taking Myles to see his first professional game out here. It wasn't until I noticed a super deal on Groupon for an Oakland A's game one day that we finally stepped up and purchased tickets. I chose the Sunday afternoon game against the Phillies. It turned out to be the perfect day: cloudy and 70 degrees.   

If you follow me on Instagram (@theeveryday_momma), you may have seen a couple of these! I wasn't sure how Myles was going to do, but at $14 a ticket, it was worth it to find out. 

When we first got into the stadium and to our seats, Myles was so into the game. He was clapping along with everyone and paying attention to the players. When he started to get a little antsy, we took a walk to pick out some food. Myles' first baseball game hotdog:

He cheered and clapped and was just all around excited to be there! I couldn't believe how much he sat in his seat and actually got into the game.

When he was ready to move around, we found the kids area and got to take home a balloon. This was his second balloon, the first one took a trip into the infinite sky when Myles accidentally let go of it. His grandpa had to go and find him another one.

Goofy faces entertained us into the third hour and we finally decided to call it a day when Myles was ready for his nap around 4pm (the game started at 1pm). I was so impressed that he lasted three hours and was a total champ! Within 10 minutes of the ride home he was passed out! So I would say it was a successful day!

I had more fun than I thought possible! It really made my heart so happy to experience this first with Myles! And for him to really enjoy it made it that much better. I even had a little tear in my eye when he sat down and started clapping and cheering for the first time!

What is on your Fall family bucket list to do over the next couple months?