This lovely life

Came back and then left.

2011-09-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

So three Mondays ago my husband came home and asked me what I was doing on Wednesday. Nothing, I replied, why? Because I'm having a surgery. You are?
You see my husband has been thinking about becoming a woman lately and he's finally going to go No. I'm kidding. He had a hernia that was going to be repaired. He's doing well now even though he's still considering that woman thing... healing from this has been hard and painful for him. It's hard to see your love in agony, that's for sure. So, that's where I've been for three weeks. Finally when I got back on the bandwagon of blogging, I became a single mother of three and lost my energy. I don't know how you single moms do it. Cause, dang every night I was SO tired after cleaning, cooking, bathing, playing, feeding, carrying, chaufering, nursing..in the feeding way and the pill giving to the hubs way, among other things. I couldn't think of even turning on the computer. I didn't realize how much I depend on my redhead on a daily basis. My man starts back at work tomorrow. I'm going to miss him here all day but at least we can get back to our routine. Hopefully life won't throw me any more curveballs...even though I'm sure it will.

Like that 80's song about obsession (FYI I'm about to use that word alot)

2011-08-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

I have a new obsessesion. And when I say obsessesion, I mean O.B.S.E.S.S.E.S.I.O.N.

I can't help it. The cuteness has gotten me. It's so bad that I ignored my hungry stomach, let my son watch a movie in the middle of the day and my baby girl take a really long nap on my visiting madre, rather then on me.

You see, I learned how to make bows, yesterday. Like little bows that I can put on a headband and accessorise my sweet baby girl's beautiful head with. Yesterday I made three. Today I sat down and made eleven. Eleven brightly colored, animal printed, polka doted adorable bows! All adorned with jewels and buttons and cute little flowers. I was downright giddy as I sat at the table listening to 90's music, cutting one ribbon after another with new ideas flooding my mind. That qualifies as obsessed right? When I was done, I brought out all of Miss H's clothes and tried to match a bow to each piece. P.S. I'm loving having a little girl! I realized though that she has a lot of yellow, brown and a kind of kelly green in her wardrobe. And I don't have any ribbon to match. Travesty. Sooooo I'm heading to the fabric store tomorrow. Because my girl needs to have a bow to match everything. Right? Right.

My little model and her Daddy

Next up? I need to learn to make those little curly bows! And figure out somewhere to store all of this cuteness.

It's coming down the track

2011-08-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

Do you hear that train?

It's red, blue and yellow and every time a sweet little boy sees it he yells out,

"CHOO CHOO! WOO WOOOO!"

It just makes a Momma's heart skip a beat. That cramp in my right hand from pipping all that icing is SO worth it!

My baby is turning two on Tuesday. How did that happen? Tomorrow's his birthday party. We will have 9 kids plus their parents descending on us for dinner and tons of fun. I'm really looking forward to it, but most of all I can't wait for him to come downstairs after his nap and see the house all decorated just for him.

Just pretend this is one of those pretty Papyrus cards.

2011-08-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

This is for my friend back in California. My friend who we had to leave behind when we moved away. My friend who is an absolutely wonderful mother and an amazing friend. The sacrifices and hard work she is doing right now to reach her goals and keep and continue making her babies lives amazing, is amazing. I wish I could give her a hug right now. I wish that I could walk around Target with her and sit and get pedicures with her. Then maybe neither of us would be lonely.

She always makes me feel so good about myself. Her compliments and positive attitude toward/about whatever I"m doing, lift me up. I still haven't found someone like her out here in Texas and I don't think I ever will. I wish that I could make her feel as good about herself as she does I, because she is an awesome person. Her babies are so sweet and so smart and that is because of her! As a friend I could go on and on. I mean she came to my wedding over an hour from her house, THREE days after giving birth! She was there to support me and the hubs the whole time he was deployed in that far away land. And she's been here for me while I go through a difficult time in my life...even while she's doing the same. Only the very best people would think and care about others the way she does.

I'm lucky to have her in my life as is anyone that has ever met her.

Now go out and infiltrate that circle of friends, you deserve to have fun. Continue being strong and proud of who you are!

Love you!

The moment I realized I could do it.

2011-08-08T19:57:00.000-07:00

Take care of two kids all day by myself, that is.

*If you missed my announcement yesterday of the birth of my baby girl, go here.

I was nursing Miss H on our front porch while HRJ was playing in the yard. All of a sudden he starts to scream and I look up to see him standing on an ant hill. I could see the evil, mean, bitting ants swarming his legs. I jumped up, ran over to him, lifted him off of it. Ran to the tangled up hose, pulled it over to him and started spraying off his legs.

All while my boob hung out for all the world to see and Miss H was craddled in my arm.

When HRJ was ant free and I was back nursing Miss H on the porch I did an inner cheerleading splits in the air thingy and mentally high fived myself. I can do this!

It's been awhile...

2011-08-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

Since I've been around. Ya. Sorry bout that. I kind of had a "I don't feel like blogging" pout for 6 months or so. So many things have happened. We've moved again..while I was 38 weeks pregnant. We made a trip back to California to see the family. We've made Texas our home at least for the next three years. I've gotten a really nice tan with no actual laying out involved. And most importantly, we welcomed an absolutely scrumptious little girl on May 20th. Miss H weighed in at 7lbs 8oz and 19 3/4" long. Only one ounce more than her big brother and the exact same length, crazy. I basically gave birth to HRJ's twin 21 months later.

Miss H has brought so much to our lives already. She's got a smile that goes all the way to her toes. It is too cute! HRJ is in love with her as are the hubs and I!

In your face bad info giving doctor!

2011-03-21T20:33:00.000-07:00

Because I found out today that I don't have gestational diabetes! Fist pump in the air! In fact everything was completely normal. Every.single.blood.draw. was normal. So those bad results were all because of the doc up in triage. Boo on you doctor! Boooooo on you.

I did the three hour glucose test last Tuesday and luckily it really wasn't that bad. Phew.

The three days before the test I had to eat a high carb diet, which sounds good now but while I was in the throws of it, it was awful. My body could not handle all that sugar. Every day I would have an episode where I would *almost* pass out. The last one was in a store while I waited for a clerk to check inventory on a stroller. As she was calling the back room I was having hot flashes and gripping the counter. Making a lovely seen I stumbled over to the only seat I could find (which was being blocked my some man that I had get around) and took deep breaths until I returned to normal. It was all sorts of fun. And it got me really wondering if maybe I did infact have gestational diabetes. I mean I must if I kept having these issues, right?

Anyway back to the actual test,

I was told I had to fast again, this time for longer than I did the week before. I was all sorts of nervous when I read that! My test started at 7am. Oh M gee that was early to be up, showered and in the lab! They took my blood at 7,8,9 and 10am. And I'm happy to say I didn't pass out any of the times. Unlike with my 1 hour glucose test the week before. About 8:30 I did feel hot and passy outy but I blame that on the extreme hunger that I was suffering from. All in all though it really wasn't bad, thanks to the wonderful tech who I requested for sessions 2-4 after she did an awesome job the first time.....When I saw the guy who was drawing my blood last week, though, when I fainted caused all my quesy feelings came flooding back. Ugh.

I'm so glad that this is all over and I can return to my regularly programmed pregnancy and concentrate on things like willing this little girl out of the breach position.

I do have this question for the lab though, would it kill you guys to get a couple comfy chairs for big pregos who can't lean back in your chairs, if they you know, want to breath to sit in while they hang out in your lobby watching CNN for 3 hours? I think not.

Oh and here's a picture for you from Friday when I started my 30th week. Crazzzzy that I'm already there, btw.

Woe is me.

2011-03-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

Irritated.
That's me, right now.

Irritated with a doctor that I was seen by last week. It wasn't my normal doc, it was one in labor and delivery where I was seen for a minor issue. You see I asked this doctor if she knew if I needed to fast for my upcoming gestational diabetes test. She said yes. *I didn't need to with my son but I didn't know if the rules were different out here.*

So Sunday night at 11pm I ate my last snack and headed to bed. I went to get the test done the next morning at 8am. I drank that sweeeet drink, sat in the waiting room playing solitaire (really badly, I might add) for an hour. Towards the end of the hour, I started to notice that I was feeling incredibly jittery and like my hands and arms were filling with warm sand. A little odd, I must say. At 9:30 I went back to get my blood drawn (normally an easy process for me). The man poked me with the needle and from there I'm not sure of why or how but I got woozy. I grabbed onto the table I was sitting next to, then I held onto the man as my stomach turned and I got incredibly hot. A nurse came to take over and tried to keep me talking as my head swayed back and forth and ultimately landed on my outstretched arm. Then I went off into la-la land. I was dreaming about my son and my hubby...that is until this god awful smell jerked me back to reality....but apparently that dream was too good and I passed right back out again and got to get another whiff of the stinkyness. Long story short they finally moved me to a bed, I ate a banana and a granola bar, recovered and was on my way. Except that all day I was in a funk. It wasn't the best way to start my day and I (and my baby) were all kinds of out of sorts.

Today was my 28 week appointment where I found out that my test results were 2 points over normal. Which means that I now have to take the 3 hour glucose test. I know all of this is completely normal and happens to alot of women...but here's why I'm aggrevated. I told my doc today about the fasting, passing out, etc. and she said that I didn't need to fast and that that is probably why I was over the normal line. This probably will turn out to be a false positive. Which would be great news, obviously.

But here's the thing about this whole 3 hour glucose test. As I was reading over the paperwork when I got home, I discovered that I have to fast from 9pm the night before. And possibly the whole 3 hours..but I can't be sure about that because the paperwork was in a word: brief. But seriously? I really don't feel like passing out again.

So thanks to the stupid doc giving me incorrect info, my baby and I get deal with more sugar, blood work and possibly more fainting. Grrrr.

Sidenote: Yes I am aware that maybe I just plain and simple have gestational diabetes and the fasting had nothing to do with the results but right now I want to think it's all because of el stupido doctor.

A tell tale sign

2011-02-25T20:06:00.000-08:00

You know you're pregnant when......

Your husband comes home from running to the grocery store and while putting away the tortillas he bought he says,

"Soooo, I did something for our future today."

And immediatly you think "Our future as in tonight? Did he stop at McDonald's and got me a Shamrock Shake? Yessssss!!!!"

And then he starts talking about something financially smart that he did for us.

The spreadable spread is spreading

2011-02-22T21:27:00.000-08:00

Whether I'm sitting on the couch or here at the computer or really anywhere for that matter I feel like I can literally feel my butt spreading. Like growing ~~a mile~~ a centimeter a minute. It's like I can feel it flattening out. When I sit, I can feel all the bones and everything. Like all that padding that used to be there to protect the bones from the evilness of the outside world has just runaway. It's like the ~~fat~~ muscle is pounding on my skin saying "what skin? what? you think you can fight us?" And then for good measure, it's also saying "here we come!!" All snickery and everything.

This makes me all sad faced.

I mean don't get me wrong, I sit. I sit ~~as much as an 18 month old will let you~~ at every opprotunity that I get. So I guess there is good reason why I feel like this. But as you all know I have a good excuse...or do you know? If you did know you probably forgot because I am like the worst blogger ever, lately. And of course lately means for the last 6 months. Well I'm now 26 weeks pregnant and I am h.u.g.e. I'll give you proof below. I am the size I was when I had HRJ at 37 weeks, 18 months ago and I'm no where close to being done baking this baby girl. In fact the shirt I'm wearing right now is showing about 3" of my bare belly. Let's just say getting dressed to go out in public has become hard. Really, really hard.

Anywhoo back to my spreadable spread.

So, I have to sit right? Because it's not good to stand all the time according to all those baby books/websites I read. Besides that fact, my legs start to ache and my horrible hips start acting like the 80 year olds that they think they are. So sitting is necessary. A necessary evil. I wonder if I can just suspend myself or something so that I don't have to put any weight on my poor butt?. Hmmm. I wonder on average how long it takes for the average spread to spread? I'm going to go research that.

26 weeks 1 day.

The diary of a mad and hungry pregnant woman.

2011-01-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

Don't mess with me random chinese restaurant! I'm pregnant, hungry and craving your food.

If you tell me when I call to place an order my card has been approved and then tell me the food will be here in 35-45 minutes, I expect it to be here in 35-45 minutes!

Then when I call an hour later and you tell me that the delivery guy left 20 minutes ago and we live 10 minutes from your restaurant, I expect him to be here NOW!

And when I call 10 minutes after that and you can't find my order, name, phone number or anything, then you have unleashed the beast! Seriously. Don't use the excuse that there were alot of orders on my street tonight or that maybe I'm calling the wrong location. No dude, I'm not an idiot. I'm calling the right place! And further more, the lady who took my order said my credit card was approved..so where is my money? You keep telling me that you need my phone number to run my credit card but here's the thing the lady didn't ask me for my name or my number! She said she already had it, yet now you can't find it??? I'zd be mad. Believe you me I'm going to be watching my account like a hawk and if anything pops up, YOU WILL BE HEARING FROM ME.

Oh, what? You can't hear me because of the screaming child clinging to my legs? Ya, that's because he's starving! His dinner was supposed to be here over an hour ago! So while I'm arguing with you over the apparent disappearance of my order I'm throwing something in the oven for my baby who should have eaten forever ago...and that is your fault!

I hate you random chinese restaurant.

P.S. On top of the above awful first time experience with you, I also discovered that your food isn't good.
P.P.S. I ordered steamed rice not fried rice. Thanks for nothing.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away

2011-01-14T17:00:00.000-08:00

We all know that quote.

But in my house it's more like "an apple a day ends up chewed up and spit out on my carpet."

SUPER annoying, let me tell you.

I have tried so many different things to get HRJ to actually swallow an apple. But all he wants to do is suck the juice out and then out it goes.

Maybe I could cut the apple into chunks? Nope out they came. Cut off the peel? Made no difference. Smaller slivers? I'll let you answer that. Ugh. Stop giving him apples? Heck no! He asks for one everyday and who am I to discourage him from making healthy choices.

So, I've been brainstorming lately.
I know he eates/swallows applesauce so it's not all apples. I've made him applesauce a few times but lately ~~I've been too lazy to make some~~ time has just gotten away from me. "What else can I do?" I've cried as I pick up chewed up red delicious. This morning it occured to me that maybe he would eat them if they were steamed. So, I threw some apple chunks in a bowl, covered them with water and put them in the microwave for 10 minutes. After they were steamed and de-skinned, I gave HRJ a chunk. He looked at it for a little bit and then took it from my hand. After carrying it around in his hand for a couple minutes he finally put it in his mouth. HRJ immediatly turned around and looked at the hubs and I, pointed to his mouth and said "Mmmmmm!" And then I jumped up and down and did a flip...on the inside of course.

He proceeded to finish that bowl and signed "more." Ten minutes later, he started in on his second bowl, finished it and signed "more." Ten minutes later and two burned thumbs (mine) later he started on another bowl. In the end he ate and swallowed 1 1/2 apples. I count that as a success!

I am mother, hear me roar.

Gender reveal!

2011-01-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. This is draft number 3. I have so many exciting things to share with you but no matter how I write it out it just isn't flowing the way I want it to.

So let me give it to you in bullet points. Because honestly, it's just too good not to share.

The hubs and I went to my 20 week ultrasound, yesterday.
I drank 32 ounces of water and then found out later it wasn't even necessary. Which was great because I got to pee much quicker than with HRJ's ultrasound.
Our baby looked good and healthy. It had femurs and shoulders and kidneys and all those important things that we all need.
The baby has the same luscious lips as HRJ. It was so obvious. Lucky kids! Maybe even the same nose. That wasn't as obvious though.
And the most exciting? We found out we are having a little girl!!!!!!

Eeeeeeee! We are so stinkin' excited!

I love that now I know who is kicking me and that I can refer to her by name instead of by "it"!

Ps. That makes me two for two on suspecting what my baby is. AND? That makes the chinese gender calender two for two also. All you non believers? Ha.

Manhatten Clam Chowder

2010-12-30T21:04:00.000-08:00

I put the lettuce in the bowl, cut up the tomatos and grated some cheese. My salad was ready. I grabbed the bowl, all proud of myself for actually wanting to eat some vegetables. Placed it on the table and walked back into the kitchen. I glanced down at the delicious looking soup on the stove. It wasn't boiling yet. I ~~squated down around my big belly~~ leaned over and grabbed a paper bag, from our recent trip to the grocery store, off the floor and collapsed it. Again I glanced at my soup, still not boiling. AND Again, I grabbed another bag; this time with my toes because leaning over is u.n.c.o.m.f.o.r.t.a.b.l.e. Lather, rinse, repeat. I prepared HRJ's dinner...ya, it was left over night..why is it I never want to cook after stocking our kitchen with food?...got him all set up. Then I scrubbedthekitchenpaintedtheentireupstairswentthrough18hoursoflaboragain and headed back to check on my soup. Still it waaaaasn't boiling! I stood there at the stove, looking puzzled.

"Oh my gawd!" I ~~yelled.~~ said in a inside voice. "I am such an idiot."

"What?" said the hubs.

"I turned the wrong burner on!" I whimpered.

Five minutes later my soup was boiling and ready.

In my defense, I've only ever had gas stoves and this one is electric. It doesn't show which one is on if someone say doesn't use their brain.

Sicky comfort

2010-12-21T19:35:00.000-08:00

You know most people when they're not feeling well like to curl up with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. Maybe they get in their most comfy clothes, snuggle in to bed and fall fast asleep.

But my HRJ? My poor little baby who's nose is running down his face three days before Christmas. When he's ready for bed, he needs his Mama to sit by his crib with her hand through the slats, laying on the mattress palm up so that he can lay his face on it. Then with his closest hand he holds onto her other arm. Until he and his stuffed up nose fall fast asleep with his little mouth open wide.

It melts his Mama's heart.

How to: Move to a new state.

2010-12-20T19:23:00.000-08:00

First of all don't move to a new state unless you want to deal with the hassle and a half. I mean if the love of your life is obligated by the military to relocate, than do move to said state. But let me tell you, there is a ton to do. And if you don't know what these things are, like moi, than you are in for a treat.

Here's a heads up of what could happen.

BANK.
If you belong to a credit union check if they are affiliated with other credit unions. Because if you get to your new state and have a pretty little check of your previous renters deposit in your hot little hand and all you want to do is deposit it. You will find that you can't. You will drive from credit union to credit union unable to even find an envelope to put the check in. You will get frusterated and have to join a new bank, which has an annoying policy of holding checks for 20 days.

FORWARDING MAIL.
If you don't have a house when you move to your new state and you have your mail forwarded to general delivery at your new base. There are important things you need to know. Like filling out a second change of address form, like the post office told you to do, won't mean your mail will come to you. It will indeed still continue to go to general delivery. And if you don't provide general delivery with a current address they will send your mail back to the sender. So when you go to general delivery three months after you arrive to inquire, if maybe just maybe they might be getting those missing magazines. You will discover that they are and have been returning all of your mail since September 30th.

CARS.
If you aren't active duty military you are required to change over your registration to your new state. Especially if your car is an 03 and your lovely home state of California requires a smog every two years. To change over your registration you must have the title to your car. It does help though if the bank you had your loan through, that you paid off two years ago, had sent the title to dmv. If they haven't, even though their records show that they did. You must then get the bank to send some document to dmv and you must fill out an application and pay a fee. Even though you had absolutely nothing to do with the failed transaction. I do suggest in this situation insisting that the bank pay the fee. After the bank sends the letter to dmv you hope they expedite your request so that you can get your car transfered over to your new state before February when your registration expires. If you live on a military base, this is really important as they won't let you on base with expired plates.

CAR INSURANCE.
If you happen to belong to an insurance agency that only serves the state you lived in, you were forced to cancel that policy. Being rule abiding people, you and your husband do upon arrival. You open up a new policy with the same company but in your new state. Then three months later you receive a letter from the state of California that you don't have insurance and bad things are going to happen. So you must go online to prove that you do have insurance, except California won't acknowledge your new states insurance companies. This is especially frusterating for your husband who again, isn't required to register his vehicle in your new state. When you speak to dmv they will tell you that insurance companies are required to report insurance holders every 30 days. So if you decide to stay with California car registration you will receive bad letter once a month. Awesome.

I hope this helps.

Emo ramble

2010-12-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel like you don't want to share anything at all about your life? Like you want to be all moody and emo and just address your christmas cards. But you can't because your order for said christmas cards hasn't gone through and is lost in cyberspace somewhere. And you feel guilty that you haven't blogged in a couple of days but when you try to think of something to write you get all Idon'twanttosharethat and stick out your bottom lip. And finally you do think of something that you are alright with sharing but it's basically a one liner about how you bought sparkling apple cider that you'd been craving for a week and when you got it home the bottle managed to fall to the floor and break before you got any. So you decide that isn't good enough to write about. Then you start thinking about eating more of that pizza you had for dinner. And your stomach starts to feel hungry but you're pretty sure that it is more in your head than in your belly, but you kinda still want the pizza anyways. Ya, that's where I am right now.

I wonder if she thought I was crazy

2010-12-12T18:31:00.000-08:00

as I handed her my ID and began giggling.

I was talking to my Padre on the phone as I came to the stop sign. I turned right and slowly pulled up to the front gate. I tossed the phone to the passanger seat and handed the serious guard my ID. As she checked to make sure all was right, I thought of what my Padre had just said. My body began to shake, a smile grew across my face. I tried to hold back but it was just too funny.

"They can't even do that at the feed lots."

He's so weird, I thought.

The guard handed me back my ID and I pulled forward. I leaned over and grabbed my cell phone.

"No Dad, it's a good thing I've gained weight, I'm supposed to. The doctor wasn't concerned that I'd gained six pounds in six weeks." I responded.

"Oh, ok" He said and handed the phone to my Madre so I could tell her about my 16 week doc appointment.

"Your husband" I said. "How does he come up with this stuff?"

What not to do..

2010-12-08T18:46:00.000-08:00

When your hubby works a 12 hour day.

Don't make his favorite soup for the first time, from scratch. (Thanks Padre for the delicious recipe!)
Don't warm his core with fresh off the stove, creamy goodness.
Don't fill his belly full of hearty potatos. And toast.

Why?
Because then you will most likely be sitting alone at 8:38 at night while he sleeps soundly in bed upstairs.

Upside?
Full control over the remote! Score!

And by don't I mean do, because the satisfied look on his face as he sips (very manly sips of course) your dinner and relaxes, is worth not really getting to hang out with the love of your life. As long as it doesn't become common.

The roach super highway

2010-12-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

So, I've been telling you since we moved into this house back in September about our roach issues. You know like the one in the kitchen that I tried to catch but I ended up running across the house instead. I think I told you about the one that was sitting right next to my toothbrush one night and how I boiled the hubs and my toothbrushes afterwards. No? Oh ya, that was absolutely disgusting.

Pretty much all of our roach issues have been in our downstairs bathroom. Everytime the hubs would kill one I would stand around afterwards going how are they getting in here?? I've looked in the cabinets, I've looked in the empty space next to the cabinets. I've looked everywhere, there was nothing I could find. Finally I started to imagine them coming out of the sink and the toilet..I know totally not plausable but I was desperate for an answer.

Then one night, I finally got my answer.

I headed to the bathroom that night so I could wash my face, etc. before heading to bed. Like normal I stopped at the edge of the carpet, threw open the door, checked the floor, stepped onto the tile and turned on the light. I looked to my left and then my right. There on the sink were 2, read that TWO, roaches. One sitting on my make up bag, the other on the counter. I ran out of the room and got the hubs. By the time he and I returned there was only one. Where had the other one gone? The hubs took care of the one and I started on my routine, you know after a quick dissenfecting. Later that night I had to come back down to the bathroom to grab some toilet paper. I opened the door as normal and there was the other roach. He stood frozen, as did I. I tried to lean over and get the paper out of the cabinet, cause I had to go! He didn't like the movement of my arms and decided to run. Where did he decide to run? AT ME! I jumped back and sprinted up the stairs. Waking my sleeping hubby so he could go take care of the problem.

Again after my night in shining armor saved the night, I stood around dumb struck. Where had that roach gone and come back from?

Then I saw it.

Right behind our pedestal sink where the pipes come into our house where two gapping holes. Basically, when they had installed the pipes years ago, they hadn't bothered to close up the wall. Leaving a nice pathway, you know so they could enjoy a liesurely walk right into my home.

Are you kidding me?

And this had never been resolved? What did the previous, previous, previous tenants enjoy these antennaed visitors?? Yuck.

You better believe I was on the phone with maintenece the next morning! It's been a week now since the holes were patched and I have no new stories to tell. Hopefully it stays that way, cause seriously I am sick of writing about roaches.

Trust me I'd rather have been here.

2010-12-05T19:49:00.000-08:00

Woooo.

Life is crazy. And unpredictable. So many times I have wanted to sit down at this desk and write about our thanksgiving. About our 14 hour drive to see the hub's family. About the funny time HRJ was sleeping on my legs and my red ant bite started itching...ok, you had to be there, but trust me it was funny! And then something side tracks me...yes normally, it's just plain exhaustion, but lately?

It's been my severe morning sickness, worse than it's ever been. In fact it was so bad that besides that not making to the bathroom in time episode, I ended up in the ER on Thursday with dehydration. They even gave me an iv of saline and everything. It's been an insane couple of days. That's right, it was two days of morning sickness and then it was gone. I was fine Tuesday, sick as a dog Wednesday and Thursday and back to normal Friday. Crazy.

I thought since I'd reached my second trimester that all would be done. But I was wrong. Hopefully though, it's over now. Because having to do this, be this sick, in front of HRJ is just killing me. I hate that I can't get off the sofa, that is until I'm running to the bathroom. That I can't play blocks with him or vroom, vroom cars. The worst part? When I'm actually throwing up he is standing behind me hugging my back or laying on my legs. Breaks my heart. He is such a sweet boy, I don't know how the hubs and I got so lucky.

So for his sake especially, I'm hoping this is the end of that misery. I'm also hoping that I can get back to blogging regularly. That I won't always need to nap when baby naps and that some creative bone pops back up in my body. My creativity has been limited lately to a status update on my personal Facebook. That's it, that's all I've been able to muster. Sucks.

Here's my belly at 15 weeks.

A big fat sign with neon lighting

2010-11-20T11:08:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning, HRJ and I decided after a week of being stuck in the house and a few weeks of me not being able to go far from the house, that we would go to playgroup. It was at a new park at 10am, btw what is it with everything for kids being at 10am? HRJ and I dragged ourselves up from our nap, oh ya we go down for a nap at 6:30 am now..just guess our new wake up time? 4:15 and got ready. I filled the diaper bag with food for ~~him~~ myself and got us dressed up in our first long sleeves of the season. As we were getting ready, I noticed that HRJ's nose was dripping buckets.

"Maybe we shouldn't go," I thought. "No, he needs to get out and play with other kids. I'll just bundle him up."

I questioned my decision a bit so I called my Madre for a second opinion. She hemmed and hawd, but finally she agreed with me that he needed to get out...and so did I. We hung up and I threw the last few things into the diaper bag. With the bag over my arm, I met HRJ at the door and we headed out. As soon as he was off the first step, I turned around and noticed the back door was unlocked. Being that we were actually running on time and HRJ was half way down the walk, I considered not locking it.

"No," I decided. "I need to lock it."

I called HRJ back up to the door, and with the speed of a super hero I was there and back before he could say, Mom. I pushed the door open and walked out pulling it shut behind me. As soon as it latched, I reliazed I forgot to grab my car key. I reached into my pocket, grabbed the house key and pointed it toward the lock. The key met the lock but wouldn't go in, I turned it upside down. It wouldn't budge. It wouldn't even fit a little bit. All of a sudden a light bulb went off in my head, I as holding a silver key, my house key is gold.

I had grabbed the wrong key. HRJ and I were locked out of the house with my car key inside the house.

I took that as a sign we weren't supposed to go to playgroup.

That season has arrived.

2010-11-16T16:54:00.000-08:00

Where do I begin?

Where have I been for the past week? On the couch.

Why have I been there? Because HRJ and I were hit by some horrible bug. The kind that gives my baby a 101 temp for over 24 hours and keeps me on a ginger ale and toast diet...you get the idea. I don't know if mine was pregnancy related but whatever it was it was a.w.f.u.l. And HRJ wasn't having much fun either. Sometime on Thursday his body was taken over by some demon, who screamed and clung and yelled and well basically just hated his mother. The hubs and I didn't see our happy little boy again until Saturday and then squared off with the demon again on Sunday.

It's been loads of fun around here.

Today, HRJ and I are feeling better. And apparently that wasn't ok with me, because what did HRJ, the hubs and I go and get today? Our flu shots.

I of course immediatly felt sick and found myself back on the couch as soon as we walked in the door. I'm not cut out for this sick stuff. FYI.

Palm to forehead.

2010-11-08T13:59:00.000-08:00

My Madre is still here. We are having a fantabulous time! This weekend was amazing, we introduced HRJ to sea lions and whales and penguins among other things. Then yesterday we headed to the base's air show and saw amazing planes doing amazing things. I'm exhausted to say the least. I think HRJ and I will need a week to recover once my Madre heads home.

But the reason I'm here today?
I have to share some some conversations with you. Two things that my parents' have said over the past couple days that have made me laugh hysterically and shake my head in shame at the same time.

My Madre.
Let me set the scene. We had just finished touring some really old historical site when I decided that we should all go to Cracker Barrel for dinner. The hubs and I made arrangements for all of us to meet there. As we were driving I was telling my Madre about their menu, trying to think of things she would like. Then I thought of it. The perfect dish.
"Ooo," I said "you can have chicken and dumplings!"
She looked at me all matter of factly,
"Only if they make their dumplings with Bisquick."
I slowly turned my head toward her with pretty much the most dumbfounded look I think I've ever made.
"Are you kidding me?" I questioned my extremely intelligent, common sense-filled Madre.
She laughed. "What?"
"I'm not asking them if they make their dumplings from Bisquick." I laughed back.
*Palm to forehead*
Sidenote: She got the chicken and dumplings and with the help of HRJ ate them all up. And no they weren't made with bisquick.

My Padre.
Again let me set the scene. My Padre is the resident pizza maker in the family. He's made delish pizzas for as long as I can remember. Last night I made the Pioneer Woman's homemade pizza for the first time. As each pizza came out of the oven my Madre took pictures of them and texted them to my unsuspecting Padre. After the second one had come out and the picture had been taken she called him to make sure he checked his phone. They hung up so he could go look.
As the hubs, HRJ, my Madre and I sat around devouring the pizza, my Madre got a text message. She picked up her phone. After a few seconds she made a confused face and then laughed out loud.
This is what it said: "I'm confused, I didn't think ultrasounds were in color. Can they tell from the pictures if it's a boy or a girl?"
*Palm to forehead*
Sidenote: Yes, he was kidding.

These are the people I come from.

Explains alot doesn't it?

Sad.

2010-11-04T19:03:00.000-07:00

**This post is not about having a miscarriage. I'm happy to say that the baby is healthy and growing right on schedule. Sorry for the misunderstanding.**

Tonight I was going to show you a picture taken last night of my 11 week belly. I was going to show you a picture of our healthy baby, that I saw on the ultrasound yesterday. But to show you those things, I have to have my camera. And it's gone. It's no where to be found. It isn't in my car. It isn't at Cracker Barrel where we had dinner. I have no clue where it is. I want to cry. There were pictures from the last three weeks. Things I never got around to uploading. Priceless moments I can't get back. I know, I know I have my memory but that isn't what I want to hear right now. I loved that camera. It was like a member of my family.

If you'll excuse me I need to go cry.

How to make your day fly by

2010-11-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

My Madre arrived yesterday! YAY!

She didn't land until after 5:30 last night. When she told me that a few weeks ago, I almost died.
"Really? I have to wait a whole day before I can go pick you up?" I asked her. "That is going to be the longest day ever. Ugh."

On halloween I asked my neighbor what she was doing Monday and Tuesday? I was going to need all the distraction I could possibly get.

Before my Madre came I had some straightening up to do around the house. You know a little vaccuming here, clean a mirror there, then cleanthekitchenputawaylaundrystraightenupupstairs. Basically clean the whole house. Things I could ~~procrastinate doing~~ leave until Tuesday to do. Things that could help my day go by a little faster.

Enter big ole backfire.

Monday night, my hubby and I were sitting on the couch watching some shows. I happened to look over at the hubs right as he made a terrible face.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"My arm hurts. My hand is tingling." He responded.
O. My. Gawd. I thought. He's having a heart attack! I thought.
"Are you having pain in your chest? What about here?" I asked quickly.
Thoughts ran through my head. What would I do without him? He can't be having a heart attack! He's too young!
"No'" he said, "it's in my shoulder. I'm not having a heart attack."
Phewww, I thought.
He and I continued to work and discuss his shoulder and arm. After a motrin we headed to bed.

HRJ woke up at 5:30 Tuesday morning. He and I were downstairs cuddling on the couch, watching Sprout when the hubs came downstairs.
"I can't move my arm," he said. "Let's go to the ER."
Turns out he was (is) having muscle spasms. My poor man is in a sling, in pain and on meds. I'm telling you this guy can't get a break.

We got home at 11 from the ER. No problem, I thought. I can whip everything out...after I get some sleep. I needed sleep. 5:30 and I are not friends.

HRJ and I went down for a nap (when are you supposed to stop sleeping when baby sleeps? Never?) at noon and woke up at two. All of a sudden I only had two hours to do everything on my list. And HRJ woke up he was in the worst mood, ever. Like so bad that he refused to eat his lunch and after I made him something he else, I made me hand feed him. Ya, cause I had time to do that! AND if he saw me stand still for more than 5 seconds he was clinging to my leg. I kept looking at the clock and all the things to do, my heart would race a little faster. But then HRJ would catch up to me and start screaming at me and I was side tracked. Needless to say, everything did not get done. Good thing it was my Madre coming and not the Queen because she would have been a tad disappointed.

At 4:15 HRJ and I headed out to go pick up my Madre from the airport. Her plane landed right on time and HRJ had remembered her by the time we got home. They haven't stopped giggling since.

So to recap. Need the day to go by fast?
Take a trip to the ER, take long nap, have a must do list of chores you've procrastinated on and the most important thing? Make sure your toddler is extra clingy! It's a sure fire method!

P.S. Tomorrow I will have a pic of my belly and our baby!!

Best halloween

2010-11-01T19:20:00.000-07:00

Ever.

This pretty much out did any halloween I ever had growing up. There were so many trick or treaters, it was unbelievable. I'm thinking it was something like 200, given that we ran out of 4 bags of candy in 1 hour and that was roughly 100 pieces.

It was seriously crazy. The trick or treaters started at 6pm. HRJ happened to want to go walk around the front yard about 5 till, so he and I headed outside to waste time. When we got out there I noticed some of our neighbors set up in their front yard. I quickly grabbed our candy and pumpkin and set up on the front porch. Then we got our first little boy and the wait while he walked down to me seemed like an eternity. So after he left I moved down the walk. And again with the next kids we seemed like forever, so ultimitely I ended up standing at the trunk of my car.

While the hubs, HRJ and I were standing waiting for some more trick or treaters we looked to our left. And not even kidding you there was a mass of people walking toward us. It was a sea of people, think of some huge protest. It was like that. I have never seen so many kids in my life. In fact you wouldn't know that that many kids even lived in the neighborhood. They descended on us and it was a blast!

We decided not take HRJ trick or treating this year so he and the hubs wandered up and down the street watching the kids and the DOGS! In fact he followed (with the hubs) a couple of dogs, pretty far down the street. It was adorable.

Here's our little skeleton!

food, Food, FOOD!

2010-10-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

My mouth is on FIRE! Fire I tell you!

Why?

Oh, because I just downed some flamin' hot cheetos. And by some I mean alot. I did this, because I was starving and they sounded really good. You guys I am hungry all the time. Like seriously, all the time. It's actually kind of annoying, to be honest with you. I'm sick of having to think of things to eat. Especially since the thought of so many things makes my stomach turn. Turn huge sickening circles. It's been like this since I took the test. It's like my body all of a sudden went, ok you know you're pregnant, here are the side effects! Enjoy!

Don't get me wrong, with HRJ I was hungry alot. But I wasn't sick. So whatever I craved, I ate. Of course, I craved fruit, veggies and healthy stuff. I'm sure I had hard times figuring out what to eat, anyone who eats 17 times a day would. This time, I'm hungry for salty stuff and sweet drinks. Not sweets, just sweet drinks. The thought of veggies, proteins and cheeses makes my gag reflex kick in. I can't even prepare HRJ's tofu (which he has taken to eating dipped in salsa, btw. gag.) anymore unless I hold my breath and work quickly. But I know that I should eat healthy, so this makes my decisions even harder. I stand at the pantry door staring at the chips and crackers but my brain is saying, "Eat veggies. You need your leafy green vegetables." And then guilt kicks in and I turn my back from the pantry and move to the frig where the veggies are. Then I stare at them and proceed to get incredibly nauseaus. This happens everyday, all day.

I promise I won't do this often, but I have to tell you what I ate today. Seriously. You're going to laugh at me..or at least be grossed out that I consumed this much food in a 14 hour period.

Here goes.

Bowl of raisin bran
Apple
Grilled cheese (the only way I can stomach cheese) and tomato soup
Couple bites of banana (HRJ stole the rest, that banana stealer!)
Flamin' hot cheetos and chocolate milk
Two large carrots
Peanut butter and fruit preserve sandwich
Hearty chicken and noodle casserole
MORE flamin' hot cheetos

Crazy, huh?

How does all that food fit into me? I'm perplexed. Especially since I've been eating like this for a month, save three days when I lived on bread, crackers and apple suace. According to my last Doctor's appointment I've gained only one pound between my two visits. Which were 4 weeks apart. One. I was ecstatic, don't get me wrong, but I was also incredibly shocked. I keep joking with the hubs that there are twins in my belly, partially because of the terrified look on his face when I do and partially because I can't figure this out. On top of the enormous amount of food I'm consuming; my stomach is huge, already. I know that muscles remember and you're always bigger with the second but WOW! I look like I'm 5 months already and I'm 10ish weeks. ~~Maybe there are twins in there.~~

Now, if you'll excuse me I'm hungry again.

The difference a friend makes.

2010-10-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling relaxed tonight.

I don't have to keep the secret of my ever growing belly, anymore. My madre comes to visit in four days! It's actually cool enough not to have the AC on in October. And I think most importantly the reason for my relaxation, is the fact that we got to see someone from home tonight. The hubs's good friend is in town this week for something with his work. So, tonight we all got together for dinner.

It was great.

I actually put makeup on for the first time in a couple of weeks. I got out of my jeans and flip flops and got to wear leggings and boots. Ahhh, to dress up.

At dinner, we talked like the old friends we are. It was relaxed and comfortable. We weren't trying to get to know anyone. We didn't have to be on our best behavior, either. It was ok that HRJ couldn't sit still for more than five minutes or that I ate all the salsa at the table. Whoops.

We talked about our old city and our friends. Everything that he said, we knew exactly what he was talking about and vice versa. I felt myself smiling differently, than I have recently. I wasn't trying to navigate my way anywhere. I wasn't trying to figure out how things are done. I wasn't trying to smile at my neighbor in the hopes that they would want to talk to me and become my friend. The four of us just were. We were just friends having dinner. It was what I needed, it was what the hubs needed.

When we drove away, the hubs mentioned that he could tell I was much more relaxed. I guess I am, I thought. Because for the first time in a couple of months I didn't feel completely out of place and lost.

A big ole announcement!

2010-10-27T13:28:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I took a bite of my raisin bran cereal and it tasted like blueberries.
"It must be because it's near the expiration date," I thought. "Maybe Texas milk changes flavor," I shrugged and took another bite. The next day, I had HRJ's vitamin D milk and it tasted the same way.
"Hmmm," I thought.

Then I ate a pickle. And another and another. And they were devine.

Then I drank a capri sun and didn't breath until it was done. This happened a few times.

Then I peed 3 times in an hour.

So, I took a test.

And my suspisions were confirmed.

It's light but it's there!

The hubs and I are having another baby!

HRJ is going to be a big brother!

We had our first appointment today. I'm about 10 weeks and got to see our baby's heartbeat. I have my dating ultrasound next week, so I'll have a more definite due date then.

We are super excited to welcome our newest addition!

Where I ask that really tough question.

2010-10-23T17:54:00.000-07:00

Is it strange that when I'm sitting on the couch all by myself. An hour in to a wonderfully quiet nap time. No is around. Except, well maybe Adam Richmond on Man v. Food, my current obsession, is challenging some enormous amount of food. But he's on tv, so he doesn't really count as anyone around right? And I'm enjoying a ~~bag~~ handful of jalepeno chips and a nice glass of water. That I all of a sudden think to myself, "Mommy has to pee,"?

Mommy?

Mommy?

HRJ isn't around.

Maybe during these times I could possibly think to myself, "I have to pee."

Is that too much to ask self?

This isn't all gross. I promise.

2010-10-19T14:08:00.000-07:00

Guess what I just did?

Cut up a whole chicken all by myself. And the cracking of the bones didn't even freak me out. Sorry. I know, that's gross. But that's big for me. I'm a buy the prepackaged chicken breasts kinda lady, so to actually, buy, open and then cut up is huge!

Other random news?

I am one proud Mama. My beautiful angel baby ate an entire burrito last night. Like a whole tortilla, beans, cheese and tomatos. He definetly came from me, that's fo sho.

We bought a bird feeder the other day because HRJ loves to watch birds. Well, he's been watching birds. Millions of birds. Trillions of birds. They flock to our yard and cover our fence, ground, tree, power lines across the street. They're everywhere. It's pretty amusing. And keeps HRJ's interest for many minutes at a time!

We went to a pumpkin patch the other day. It was an hour away. Such a fun day, but my favorite part was the drive out there. We drove through small towns and I was in love. We found a ton of little restaurants that look authentic and delish. I've felt like we aren't getting the full effect of this state since moving here. We live in a huge city and pretty much the only restaurants around us are chain places that we had back in California. I have hope now that I might get some real bbq and get to try some good tex-mex.

Here's a picture I snapped at the pumpkin patch. Melts my ittle-wittle heart.

Mommmmeeeeeeeeeee

2010-10-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

Seriously. This isn't funny anymore.

I mean I was warned about the bugs in Texas but my niave California mind couldn't have fathomed what I would encounter.

I told you about the cricketts that we've had here and in the hotels we stayed in. Then I told you about the red ant attack on poor, HRJ. I think I briefly mentioned the beetle in the kitchen and the 2-3" spider that the hubs squared off with 2 days after we moved into this house.

But then things kind of died down. There's been the occasional wall spider, maybe a fly that came in the door while HRJ was outside.

Well.

Apparently a memo went out to a new insect, nae discustingfilthyhorrible creature, that it was all things go in our household.

Enter the roach.

I was going to post a picture of said roach but looking through pictures on google is making me violently ill.

Let me preface this, before you go assuming that we are disgusting, dirty people. We are not. We keep our house clean. Dishes put away, food sealed up in plastic bins. Yes, there may be the occasional crumb on the floor but nothing that warrents us getting visits from these things.

Here is my story.

Two nights ago, I came downstairs at 2:30am to grab a drink of water. I turned on the kitchen light and looked down on the floor to see the 6 crackers that HRJ had thrown on the floor.

"Oh shoot," I said outload. "I forgot to pick those up."

As soon as the word "up" exited my mouth, a roach walked out from the side of the frig.

"Oh My Gawd," I said before leaping out of the room.

A few moments later I popped my head back into the kitchen to see if he was gone. He was. So I walked in, grabbed the crackers, threw them in the trash and got my glass of water. Apparently I wasn't making enough of a ruckus becuase he found it safe enough to make his entrance, again. I watched him walk around the kitchen. I'll trap him I thought, the hubs can take care of him in the morning. I grabbed a glass and leaned over to get him. Then, and I don't know why but I all of a sudden had a caring streak. The glass isn't big enough, I thought. It will smash his antanae. Did I just make you squirm, cause I am? I know. Don't ask me why the heck I cared. After I came to my senses, I tried to get him. He sensed me and ran. Once again, I lepted from the kitchen. A few minutes later I tried with a big tupperware container. I wouldn't have to get as close, I thought. Guess what? He sensed me and ran again. Then? Debbi lepted into the air and ran in the opposite direction. So, I gave up and went to bed. Where I laid there for an hour thinking about our unwelcomed guest. Thoughts of him and where he could be now, circled my brain, as I stared into the darkness.

That didn't creep you out? Go on scrowl down the page.

Then, today I went to take a shower. We have a suctioned mat in our shower/tub combo so that HRJ doesn't slip and slide all over. It had started to scrunch up, so I leaned over to fix it. As I pulled up the right corner, to my horror there was a decapitated roach lying under the mat. In.our.shower. Once again, I lept out of the bathroom and ran to the farthest point in the house that I could.

This isn't funny anymore. I miss California bugs. I would take a random daddy long legs and a measly black ant in a second.

Where has my short term memory gone?

2010-10-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I changed HRJ's diaper and noticed his not improving diaper rash was spreading. So, I let him roll over and walk away sans diaper. A little air does a body good.

Here's the problem,

I then proceeded to forget that he didn't have a diaper on.

He wandered around wearing one shoe and his unsnapped onsie for awhile. He played in the tupperware, pulling every piece out onto the floor. Then he wandered over to me sitting at the computer and asked to sit on my lap. I picked him and there we sat for 10ish minutes, browsing Facebook, Eonline and different blogs. You know catching up on all the gossip. When I put him down so that I could get up to get something, I looked down and realized, OMG. I never put a diaper back on him.

Thoughts ran through my head. Did he pee on the carpet? In the tupperware? Or worse?

Like the time in the hotel when we first arrived here in Texas? Where he stood up in the middle of a diaper change and began to clean out his colon. As he watched TV ever so non-chalantly, I got the privelage of quickly pulling wipe, after wipe out of the package. (Use your imagination.) While the hubs stood by ~~cackeling~~ laughing hysterically. A horrific flash back, that causes me to twitch slightly.

I jumped up and started circling the downstairs.

I have to report though, that I have found nothing. But now at least you have been let in on that little gem of a incident that the hubs and I were privelaged enough to be a part of.

You're welcome.

MILK, Milk, milk

2010-10-07T19:09:00.000-07:00

What am I going to do?

HRJ is a.d.d.i.c.t.e.d. to nursing. Addicted. Like I wish there was some kind of methadone treatment I could give him to help his withdrawls.

I'm ready to stop nursing. He isn't using me as a food source as I'm barely producing any milk. Basically, I'm one big pacifier. All day long. If he sees me sit down on the couch or at the computer he comes over and immediatly signs, milk. When we go out to a new place and he's uncomfortable or strangers (new friends) come into our home he desperatly wants to nurse. But just long enough to feel comfortable and then he's off. It's exhausting and a little irritating to be honest. I'm sick of having to do it in public. On top of that? It's starting to become painful.

But how do I cut it off?

This afternoon he wanted to nurse and I told him no. I put his sippy cup and his bowl of food right next to us so that he could eat or drink if that's what he was wanting. He had absolutely no interest. He just layed in my arms and screamed bloody murder. We were sitting next to his toys so I started pushing buttons and trying to distract him. After 10 minutes of his screaming and my almost giving in, he did finally move on to other activities.

The look on his face was so sad, though. And the way he was acting made me feel as though I was taking away his most favorite thing...oh, wait I was. Am I going to break my son by taking this away?

No, I know I won't but it feels like that.

Should I take my time doing this? Give it to him at bedtime, naptime and in the am. Is that good or should I just cut him off completely?

I wish they'd said in all the advice I read: don't let your baby continuously nurse while sleeping, even if that book you are reading is really good and you want him to stay asleep. You will regret it when you're ready to stop.

Also,

I've been introducing Vitamin D milk lately. It isn't going very well, he takes three sips and then will turn his head at the offer of anymore. Does he need to have the milk? He gets calcium from other sources and Vitamin D from his daily vitamin and being outside everyday. I don't know. There are so many questions rolling around in my head. It's exhausting. I'm exhausted.

My kid is Sid

2010-10-05T19:20:00.000-07:00

Remember Sid from the original Toy Story? Remember how evil he was? How he used to torment toys and animals and well anything he got his hands on?

Well, HRJ has apparently picked up on his torment the animals thing. Actually, not all animals, only little miss Maggie. He has learned what really erks her and it is his new ~~mission in life~~ hobby.

What is it that really gets her goat? Putting her ball just out of reach and then watching her pace, whine, bark, claw at whatever is between her and the ball.

Example #1 Throw ball in an empty laundry basket. Sits back and watches Maggie claw and run around basket. I take it out, he crys and puts it back in. I take it out again. Maggie moves it 4ish feet away. HRJ crawls/walks over, grabs it, crawls/walks back to the basket and throws it back in. The whole time sporting a mischievious little smile.

Example #2 Next to the railing, upstairs in the hallway of our old house. He grabbed her ball, stood up, stuck his arm through the railing and opened hand. He watched as the ball fell. Immediatly looking over at Maggie and smirking.

Example #3 Kneeling next to the gate at top of stairs. Again, simply sticks arm through and drops the ball. Sits back on his knees and watches Maggie wimper.

Example #4 In bed with the hubs and I. Maggie brings us the ball for the first time in the morning. HRJ immediatly grabs it, crawls to top of bed, sticks it down between the mattress and the headboard.

Example #5 On the way from our room to his room for a diaper change in our old house. Maggie drops her ball in the hallway. HRJ grabs it, turns right into the bathroom. Crawls with ball in hand to the bathtub, stands up and throws it in. Maggie stands up next to him looking back and forth between him and the ball.

Example #6 Grabs Maggie's ball and walks over to the barstool. Calmly reaches up and places the ball on top of the stool. Then walks away.

I could go on for an hour giving you examples. Where did he learn this?

washa, washa, washa!

2010-10-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

The hubs and I are officially adults.

Yes. We may have successfully made it through 2 years of marriage, but that doesn't make us adults.

Had a baby and grew him to 13 months so far? Nope not adults.

Two successful careers? Nope not that either.

1700 mile move to Texas? Still no.

What makes us adults?

Friday we went out and bought ourselves.....

wait for it....

A washer and dryer!

Yes, that my friends has catupulted us into adulthood. Only adults make boring purchases like that, right?

But

Can I tell you? I'm so stinkin' excited! I can't wait to start doing laundry. Get some clean clothes with out taking up 6 washers at the laundry mat. Get HRJ back in cloth diapers. I.can't.wait.

What? You smell that fresh clean sent of a dryer at work? That's coming from my house.

It's the downstairs!

2010-10-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

FINALLY.

The house is put together enough for me to show you all how it looks! Well, the downstairs that is. Ok, the living and dining room only. You can see some of the kitchen, you'll get the idea. Keep in mind that there are still some things I want to do. I'm going to repaint the red bookcase in the dining room for HRJ's toys. I'm on the lookout for a chair and a lamp, I can refinish to accompany our new desk. Other than that though, we love our little house. It's cozy and welcoming but still gives us tons of room to play vroom, vroom cars and to entertain our guests!

A view of our open floor plan, downstairs.

Another view of the family room. The front door is shown and the half bath is behind the open front door. I stood outside to take this picture and unknowingly let a big crickett in. See below for more details.

What you see when you come down our stairs. Our little office with the picture that my ponytail knocked while I was taking pictures and forgot to fix. Maggie's toys need a box.

HRJ's corner o' toys. He loves looking out of the window.
See the ugly fan/light fixture? Yuck.

I'll let you know as soon as we get the upstairs viewable. Hopefully that will happen someday.

So that big flying crickett? He is harrassing me. I'm curled up on the chair in the corner on the computer. I'm afraid to put my feet on the floor and my ferocious guard dog? After begging to get on my lap after a run in with said crickett has run upstairs to HRJ's room. Wimp.

Thursday, fun day.

2010-09-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those good "do nothing" days.
One of those days when you walk to the park and watch your son walk all over.

One of those days when you're overcome with pride over that little 13 months old.

One of those days when you put too big hats on your head, socks on your arms and gloves on your feet.

One of those days when you move all the furniture out of the way and roll on the floor.

One of those days when you lay on your back on the floor and read books while your baby leans against your head and rest his arm on your nose and mouth.

One of those days when you stand in the front yard all excited, as you wait for your hubby/Daddy to drive down the street.

You know, just one of those days.

A beautiful autumn day...

2010-09-28T20:34:00.000-07:00

   The sun was shining through the back door. It's warm rays landed softly on the thick carpet, warming it's every fiber. Maggie Mae lay with her legs stretched out as far as they would reach, as she soaked up the rays. It was as if they were meant especially for her. A deep country voice, talking of love sang from the television. It was 8 am.
   HRJ and I lounged on the sofa, our bellies full from breakfast. My feet relaxed on the cool deep brown leather ottoman. HRJ lay across me, nursing quietly. His eyes growing heavy with the thoughts of his morning nap. My Padre and I chatted back and forth over the speaker phone.
   My eyes moved around the room. I gazed out the window for a while, watching the leaves rustle softly in the trees. My attention then turned to the tv for a moment and then moved down to HRJ. I looked down at my sweet baby's out stretched neck and saw something black. I glanced again.

"What is that?" I said out loud.

I flicked it once. It wouldn't budge. I tilted my head down to get a closer look, it was an ANT ATTACHED to my son's NECK.

"Oh My Gawd." I screached to my Padre.

I flicked it again. It wouldn't move. It was implanted in his skin.

"I'm going to the neighbor's," I yelled and hung up the phone.

HRJ and I speed walked three doors down.

"Look at this!" I said as my neighbor answered her door.

   We laid him on the sofa so she could get a good look. HRJ didn't make a sound or a movement. His neck was all red, the lone ant hung by his mouth off HRJ's skin. Have I mentioned that it was attached to his skin?

"I don't know," my neighbor said. "I've never seen that before. He isn't reacting so it musn't be hurting him."

    I moved to the floor and laid him down again. I carefully flicked the ant a couple more times as to not leave any part attached. Was this thing just like a tick I wondered? Finally I flicked at it at just the right angle and it came off in my hand. HRJ rolled over and got up to go play. I stared down at the already dead ant. What the heck was it doing, I thought. I looked at it closely, it wasn't a red ant. It was an "everyday" ant. Just like the kind that envaded our house last week when tropical storm inconvienent came through.

What was it doing attaching itself to my baby?

I caught it!

2010-09-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

First, please excuse the shirtless boy you are about to see. He had hummus for dinner and well, the shirt wasn't in a wearable condition afterwards. Also. Please excuse the whinning and crying at the end. He's 13 months and is in love with the camera.

And now for your viewing pleasure......

I give you HRJ walking!

Not a shiny happy person

2010-09-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

Dear phosphate free dishwashing detergents,

I have a bone to pick with you.

I understand that phosphates are bad for the enviornment and I am all for them being removed from detergents. What I am not ok with, is what you have done to my dishes, silverware, pots and pans and anything else that goes through the dishwasher. This white film that you are leaving on everything, is seriously not ok. We have beautiful silverware that you have clouded up and made to look constantly dirty. You see you powdered disappointment, we just moved to a new state and I don't want our new friends who are over for dinner to look down at their place settings and have the urge to run for the door, because they think that I have given them dirty silverware. I'm trying to make new friends! PLUS, our amazing pots and pans? You've killed their beauty and I've only been using you for a week. Don't try to tell me that beauty is only surface deep and they still work perfectly, either. That isn't going to make everything ok.

I can't describe the sadness that I feel when I unload my dishwasher and don't get to experience the joy of holding sparkly dishes in my hands. Not only that, I also wonder are these really clean? Did you really rinse off all the residue from the raw pork I cut up the night before? Is it safe for me to cut my son's apple with this same knife? You have added undo worry into my life. I now have to add another step to my nightly routine, of cleaning the kitchen. I used to lightly rinse my dishes. Now, I have to wash everything with hot water and soap before you even see the them. And that is taking away precious time that I could me spending with my handsome hubby.

Isn't cleaning your job? Your whole reason for being?

You need to fix this issue and fast.

Signed,
Disgruntled housewife

Communicating with our hands

2010-09-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

The hubs and I have been teaching HRJ baby sign language since he was two months old....yes, the books say four months, but I thought he was so smart I started early. His first sign was dog at 8ish months old. He would hone in on any dog within a ten mile radius and start slapping his leg. Now, he signs more, all done, milk, bird, drink, Dad, Mom and eat. And he recognizes many more than that. It is amazing. Instead of screaming that he wants to nurse he just makes a squeeze gesture and I know what he wants. It's that simple.

Misty from Baby Sign Language.com contacted me a couple months ago and asked if I would be interested in featuring an article about signing. Immediatly, I said yes! I'm a big advocate for signing. I've seen first hand how it can improve even speech delayed children's communication skills. I think more people should teach this to their kids. It's amazing and incredibly helpful.

Life Made Easier With Baby Sign Language

Baby sign language makes life with a young baby or toddler so much easier. It gives you and baby the tools you need to communicate with each other without relying on words. It can help with baby’s sleep, mealtimes, weaning, and help combat toddler tantrums. If you are struggling with any part of caring for baby, try learning Baby Sign Language .

Communication Made Easier
Baby sign language is a way of teaching your baby to communicate her needs by using hand gestures. It is based on ASL (American Sign Language) and is a version which is simplified for babies and children. You can start signing at any time – even from birth. The sooner you start signing with your baby, the sooner she will be able to communicate with you.

Verbal skills take a long time to develop – even young school children can find it hard to communicate with their parents sometimes. By using simple hand gestures, babies and toddlers have extra tools for communication – and so do their parents.

Sleep Made Easier
One surprising side-effect of Baby Signing is the way it helps some babies sleep. Parents who sign with their babies often report that bedtimes are less stressful, and that their babies or toddlers will actually sign them when they’re tired! So how exactly does Baby Sign Language help make sleep easier?

Every parent knows the importance of a regular bedtime routine. A bath, followed by milk, cuddles and a story, is the foundation of a good night’s sleep. Learning the signs for Bath and Milk are fun ways for a tired baby to communicate with you at this important time of the day. When Mom signs Bath Time, your baby will understand what is to come and will feel more secure and confident. Babies love to know what’s happening – and their confidence increases every time they correctly predict what will happen next. A relaxing secure bedtime routine leads to easier sleep.

Mealtimes Made Easier
By teaching the signs for favorite foods, parents can reduce frustration at mealtimes and make weaning fun. The key is to remember to make the sign every time you offer a certain food, saying the word clearly. Limit your signing to four or five favorite foods, and repeat these often. It’s important to be consistent and patient. Soon your baby will learn the signs that go with their favorite foods and this make it easier for you to interpret their demands.

Toddler Tantrums Made Easier
Signing helps your toddler communicate with you which in turn reduces frustration. Most childcare experts agree that toddler tantrums are often caused by extreme frustration. Toddlerhood is a time of mobility and an awareness of needs and desires, but a very limited range of communication – the perfect recipe for a frustrated toddler! Teaching your baby to sign may have the longer-term result that when he reaches toddlerhood he has the tools he needs to communicate successfully, avoiding many frustration-based tantrums.

Thanks, Misty.

Check out her website, I've bookmarked it fo sho!

I think I need to carry rain boots in my purse

2010-09-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

So, I went to the post office yesterday to get a change of address form. When HRJ and I went in the building it was partly cloudy and horribly muggy. When we came out 6 or 7 minutes later there was a torrential downpour. Seriously. As soon as I walked out the door, I froze. Really? I thought. I looked to my car. It was 8 or 9 parking spots away. I looked to see where the awning ended. Shoot. It stopped at space 3. I had to go out in the rain. Maybe I could wait for it to stop? That's stupid, Debbi. So, I pulled up my big girl pants and ~~ran~~ lugged HRJ in is carseat out into tropical storm inconvient. The rain drops were ginormous. Yes, that's a unit of measurement. We got to the car, I put HRJ in and then I jumped in. I was absolutely soaked. To the point were my hair was matted down, my flip flops looked like I had thrown them in the pool, not just walked 20 feet to the car. Then, I started to drive. Wow. The previously damp roads, were now small oceans. Water flew up 4 feet whenever anyone drove through said oceans. It was insane. I decided to cut out our window shopping stop and go home. By the time, we got home 8ish minutes later, it had stopped.

It didn't rain again.

Hello? Hello, out there.

2010-09-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

Remember me? Debbi? Chocaholic, list making, wife to my red head, mom of a walker?

Starting to sound familiar?

I know. This move has made me so sporatic with my posting. But that my friends is over!

Why?

Because we are finally settled in our home! Big sigh of relief.

Remember when my Madre called me last week and said our furniture would arrive on Friday? Well. She.was.right! The moving truck was actually here before we even signed our lease. The poor guys had to wait an hour for us to finally get to the house. Because of our super unprofesional property manager. As soon as we arrived though, they were on it. They wanted to get home to Houston.

Ever since then, the hubs and I have been unpacking. Wooo that is a big job! My head hasn't hit the pillow before 1am since Friday. But our house is really coming together nicely.

We are in a cute 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath duplex. It isn't as big as our home in California but we are definetly making it work. I've actually been having a great time space planning and hanging pictures, etc. It's been awhile since I've utilized my design skills and they are loving being used!

I promise to post pictures once all of these boxes are out of the house!

Mom of a walker? Did you catch that? I was all sly about it, huh?

Yep. HRJ took his first steps last week! On my birthday, in fact. Great present, huh? We are AND he is so proud of him. Everyday, he is becoming a little braver and taking a couple more steps. It's the most exciting thing to watch. I can't even stand it. Walking babies are thee cutest things ever!

There is a ton more to tell you, like the downpour I got stuck in, or the 2" spider vs. the hubs. Don't worry, I'll fill you in later.

So how are you? What's been going on?

This is what I come from

2010-09-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Seriously. You guys, my Madre is a covert operative. She could have been a spy for the CIA.

Today our furniture f.i.n.a.l.l.y got picked up from our storage unit! My Madre was going to be there to supervise the packers and movers. The packers arrived early and called us to see where she was. While the hubs was talking to the guy about her ETA he asked if they possibly knew when our furniture would arrive. The guy looked at his paperwork and told the hubs that it said they had until the 30th to get it to us.

When my hubby got off the phone, he told me what the guy had said. Tears immediatly welled up in my exhausted eyes. (We only got an hours sleep last night, but I'll tell you that horror story later.) I knew that they had until then but I was hoping that it wouldn't take that long. We move into our house on friday and the thought of living two weeks with no furniture, etc. was just devastating me.

My hubby watched me start to have my mini-breakdown and immediatly began to calm me. This wasn't anything we had control over, we have to let it go, he said. So, we went on with packing up our hotel room so we could move to another room.

Time passed. We got settled. My Madre text me with updates on what the packers were doing. On the 18 wheeler moving truck that wouldn't fit into the storage yard.

Then she called.

"Guess what?" she said "The moving guy is from Houston."
"That's great," I responded as I really thought who cares.
"I asked him if he had family there." she chirped. "He has 8 children and 9 grandchildren. He's got a set of twin grandbabys that he misses the most."
"Mmmm" I said as HRJ climbed up the front of me.
"I asked if he was going to see them and he said, yes. So then you know, I had to ask when?"
"Uh-HUH?" I said my anticipation growing.
"FRIDAY!!" she squealed.
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" I shrieked as I bounced on the bed.

Friday! That means our stuff will be here Friday. OMG. Folks. OMG!

We chatted a little more and then hung up.

Then? Can I tell you it was like 300 pounds just flew off my shoulders. My heart felt happy. Finally this nomadic life of packing/unpacking/restaurant eating/Maggie boarding/living out of 2 cars is almost over. Of course I won't believe it until the men are bringing the 109 boxes into our house. I have hope though. And it's all thanks to my Madre's CIA ~~training~~ questioning tactics.

Thanks Madre for all of your help. We are so lucky to have you! Love you!!!

It's September 13th!

2010-09-13T16:05:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing how just 27 years ago, today the world began? The sun rose for the very first time. A chicken laid an egg or an egg hatched a chicken, still not sure about that one and one little girl was born.

You don't remember that from science class?

You must have been absent that day.

No, but seriously 27 years ago my beautiful Madre gave birth to me.

And this princess was born.

No, seriously my name means princess.

Haven't you noticed how my name doesn't have an e on the end? There's a story behind that. You want to hear it, don't you? Don't lie, I know that you do.

When I was born my Madre and Padre decided on Deborah. They filled out the paperwork and sent it down to the birth certificate lady. News of my birth and name made it's way around the family. Finally it got to my great, great aunt. She was a Catholic nun. A devout Catholic nun. She wore her habit everyday from the day she became a nun at the age of 17, to the day she passed at 100 years old. Apparently after hearing my name she looked it up in the bible. Turns out Deborah is a servant, but the way I spell my real name is a princess. This got back to my Madre who proceeded to have my name officially changed on the birth certificate. Her daughter would not be a servant. And believe me I'm not.

So, I'm not being conceded. I'm a princess. It's written in the bible.

Veggies, spiders and ants, OH MY!

2010-09-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to everyone who commented and gave me advice both here and on facebook on how to get my little love-muffin to eat his veggies! I can't tell you how happy I am that this is normal and that apparently most kids go through it.

One of friends from back home told me what she does for her almost 2 year old, picky eater. She makes whole wheat pasta with cream of chicken soup and then mixes in pureed baby food and he is none the wiser. When I read that, a whole new world opened up for me. My mind started turning, slowly yes, there are alot of cobwebs up there, but that's for another day. What can I put his baby food into? Hmmmm.

Today, I tried my first thing. I took a tortilla, his cheese and carrot puree. I split up his cheese on half the tortilla and spread the carrots all over. Then I microwaved it up and made him a little quesadilla. And guess what? He ate it!! Score. High five A for giving me the idea!

Oh, and I got him to eat his veggies last night too. How you ask? Hehe. I'm still proud of myself. For dinner he wanted left over raviolis. Remember when I told you yesterday that I had a veggie on ever bite until he caught on. Well yesterday evening, I tried something new. I cut up the ravioli, cleaned out the meat and stuffed a veggie in each bite. He never saw it coming and ended up eating 2 1/2 raviolis! I'm not gonna lie, I did a few jumps through the air, whenever I was out of his line of vision.

What will I think of tomorrow?

Thank you again everyone, I so appreciate it!

Now. Let's discuss insects. Mainly of the spider and ant variety.

Last night, I encountered a spider. The biggest spider I have ever seen, running wild in a house of course. It was seriously like 1 1/2 inches big, maybe 2 inches across...seriously go look at ruler, that is huge. I was on my way to get my hubby's sandels so that I could get rid of this unwelcome friend when I saw my husband's combat boots on the floor. I quickly jumped in them and hurried into the bathroom where the spider had just run under a towel....Now, normally I don't like to kill the things. I am in their ~~territory~~ state after all, but my flight or fight instincts had kicked in. I was ready to fight. I went over to the towel, laid one foot down then the second foot and then...jumped. Alot. The hubs said I mutilated it. Sorry, dear spider but you sent shudders down my spine.
Whenever I got up during the night, I wished I had a light that wouldn't wake up HRJ sleeping in the family room so that I could see anything else. Am I too old for a night light?

To conclude my insect story telling hour, I'd like to tell you this little ditty from tonight.
HRJ and I went to the park after dinner. We went down the slides, crawled in the sand (not me, him.) Watched the big kids have fun. After a good 25 minutes there, he grabbed my fingers and we walked to the side of the playground. He walked over the edge onto the grass and sat down. Three minutes later, he let out a shreik, I've never heard before. I quickly picked him up to find ants all over his legs. Red ants. Fire ants. On my baby. I turned and we ran all the way back to our room and straight to the tub. The ants had gotten right inside his diaper and left him with 5 welts on his boot-Ay. Not to mention the 15 or so on his legs and a few on his hands. We spent a while in the tub where he was in good spirits and continued to be right up to the point where he fell asleep. The redness has already subsided. But isn't that record time? 10 days living in Texas and attacked by fire ants. Should I put that in his baby book?

Why won't he eat??

2010-09-10T13:37:00.000-07:00

Ok. I need assistance. HRJ is giving us trouble.

In the past two weeks he has decided that he is a picky eater. Like, super picky.

He used to eat peas by the handful. Avocado? Yes please! Raisins? Couldn't get enough of them. Cheerios? begged me for them.

Now?

None of it. Don't even put them infront of him.

He will not touch a vegetable. And believe me I've tried everything. Asparagus, carrots, zucchini, brussel sprouts, green beans, lima beans, squash, sweet potatos, lettuce, cucumbers, bell peppers, corn, spinach...you get the idea.

All he wants now is fruit, wheat bread, cheese and protein.

The other day I introduced him to peanut butter on toast and he is loving it. I've been feeling a little better since then..today, there is a rash on his neck and chest...peanut butter is all we can figure. Now, we are nixing that.

What do we do?

Before we left California, the doctor gave me orders to stuff this kid with food because his weight was plateauing. I was and HRJ was gobbling everything up.

So, why has everything changed? I know we are in a new enviornment and life is chaotic right now, but still. I don't want my baby to be unhealthy.

Two days ago, I went to whole foods and grabbed organic vegetable baby food since all of my food making supplies are in transit. I've opened 4 jars. He has eaten one.

I'm still breastfeeding so he is getting nutrients that way. My milk really only comes in, in the morning and night, though. So, during the day he is out of luck. Plus mostly breastfeeding is not helping his weight gain.

He's a smarty
Last night, I gave him raviolis and with every bite, I snuck a pea or corn in. It worked for 5-6 bites until he caught on and started grabbing only the ravioli off the fork. The other day, I mixed spinach and cottage cheese, a previous favorite. With his tongue, he was able to seperate the two and spit out the spinach. He also has developed a new routine of sticking out his tongue and tasting whatever is in his hand/on the spoon. If it doesn't meet his approval ASAP then he turns his head away.

So? What do I do?

He has never had chips or goldfish or anything with high-fructose corn syrup and I intend to keep it that way. What are some healthy alternatives? Is there a healthy dip that could maybe mask the flavor of the veggies? Smother something in a healthier cheese? Does that even exist. Help. Please!

One week in

2010-09-07T11:29:00.000-07:00

Today, HRJ, the hubs and I are inside. We've got a movie on and just finished up some delish pizza. Outside it is crazy. The rain is coming down in sheets and the wind is blowing. Except as I type this, I look outside and trees have stopped. Thanks for making me liar! Apparently hurricane Hermaine has sent some of his bad weather to Texas. So, what does that mean to me, besides a time to bunker down with my two favorite guys? It means I finally have time to blog. Seriously, ever since I told you all about our drive out here, we haven't stopped. Every night, I think about what to write about. What funny story can I tell you about my day? Then? I fall asleep on the couch while trying to get HRJ to sleep or I fall asleep in our bed while waiting for the hubs to get HRJ to sleep. (I can't wait until we can get back to our normal routine!)

So, here I am.

It's been a roughish week. The first couple of days I was depressed. There was such a weight on my shoulders. Such a nervousness about this new city. Nothing was as I expected and I was feeling trapped. By what, you ask? Well. The dog had us trapped. Our first night, we went downtown to explore a little bit. While we were out, our stomachs started to grumble so we found a restaurant and sat down. Not twenty minutes later we received a call from our hotel. Maggie was barking. Ugh. So we canceled our meal and headed back. The next day, we woke up ready to go explore. But of course, there was Maggie staring at us. What do we do with her, we wondered. We couldn't leave her. If she barked again and got us kicked out...well, that just wouldn't be good. So off we went with the dog in tow. Do you know how many places you can go with your dog? None. Ok, there's Petco and Petsmart but really? That's not where the hubs and I were hoping to explore. So, as we were driving around, my heart was heavy. We went and found our house. It wasn't what I had pictured it could be. (Remember we are military so we don't get to choose our house.) Then we wanted to go eat. But with a dog and this heat? We got to feast on the gourmet food that is Wendy's, in our car.

It just wasn't a good situation. For anyone, including Miss MM. I was really homesick for what I know. For freedom.

So Thursday while we were heading off to some place, I looked to the left of the freeway and saw the sign pet resort. Ding. Ding. Ding! Ya, we made a be-line for that place. It also turned out to be a walk in vet where I had Maggie checked out and was diagnosed with dyhradation. So, Maggie has been there since then and has completely recovered, by the way. We pick her up tomorrow. It's been glorious and very helpful to my emotional well-being. We've gone out to dinner, we've explored, we've done a two day soccer tournament. I've ventured out without the hubs. I've navigated. I've gotten lost. I've circled a hospital 3 times trying to get on the right road.

Now we are in our second hotel. Fifth if you count the ones from the drive out. Tomorrow we move into a pet-friendly room for a few days. I can't wait until our furniture arrives and we can move into our house and I can get started on making it a home. Because I will make it a home! And I will learn this city! And I will get over being the idiot driver that Texas has made me!

Have a nice trip, see you next fall

2010-09-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

1,786 miles, 4 days and one bottle of Pepto Bismol later, we finally made it to our new city.

And wow, what a trip.

We left Saturday morning and traveled through California, Arizona, New Mexico and then into Texas.

Let me tell you that if you haven't seen any of these states you need to jump in your car and drive. Beautiful. Beautiful land we live in. I'm not gonna lie, there was some ugly and some b.o.r.i.n.g. but the good things are ~~pretty much~~ what stick out in my memory.

Let me break down the trip for you.

Day one: Miles driven, 472
   We stayed at our friends' house the night before. They made us delish breakfast burritos in the morning. A great way to start a trip.
   A couple hours in we took a nice break. HRJ threw the ball for Maggie. We shared a peach and the three of us relaxed for a little while.
   Many, many hours later we finally stopped and had dinner outside of LA. We settled on Applebees, where we noticed that everyone was dressed up in their "going out" clothes. Then there was us. Sweats, t-shirts, hair a mess and a baby at 11pm. Definetly got some looks.
   Stayed at a nice, clean, new inn for the night.

Day two: Miles driven, 400ish.
   Drove through the Redlands of California and was absolutely amazed by my surrondings.
   Had lunch at a McD's in the last town in California. We shared chicken nuggets (more on this later) and had to eat outside on the ground because it was too hot for the dog in the car.
Passed into Arizona. We knew the border was coming up but didn't know when. The hubs and I were talking to each other on the phone (yep, we drove two cars.) Up ahead, we saw a bunch of cars stopped coming the opposite way. What is that? I asked. Probably a truck stop we assumed. We kept driving and then I saw the sign welcoming us to Arizona. And unexpectedly the tears started. I really didn't think I would be so sad to leave my state. But I was.
   Arizona was long. I started trying to make up games to entertain myself. How long can I hold in my stomach? It was 11:32. 15 long minutes later, I looked down at the clock it was 11:34. WHAT? It had only been 2 minutes. Well, nevermind on that game. Try to find the shapes of human body parts in the rock mountains around me. One set of boobs later and I was bored. I know how about the A,B,C game? Right away, there was A! I'm startin' out strong, I thought. B? B? Where are you B? 2 hours later at a gas station I remembered that I was looking for B. Whoops.
   We made it to Tucson that night and stayed at another location of the same hotel. I've gotta tell you though, this one was awful. Apparently we pampered ourselves the first night.
   As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, my hubby mentioned his stomach was hurting. Begin: over 12 hours of food poisining for my poor man. Then at 5am I got sick. Not as bad, but still not fun. All from those evil chicken nuggets.

Day three: Miles driven, some good number.
   When we finally got our nausau under control enough we packed up our cars and headed out. The land outside of Tucson was absolutely gorgeous. There were clouds in the sky that were casting shadows on the tall hills turning them a beautiful dusty blue. Below them, the lower hills were a pretty kind of baby blue that complimented the dusty blue perfectly. There were fun plants that I had never seen before, that I looked at for miles.
   We made it into New Mexico after what felt like 2 years and stopped for lunch. While the hubs was inside getting our sandwiches, Mags, HRJ and I walked around outside trying to find shade. On the semi-truck side of the building, I finally found it. We walked over and came to a stop. I looked down to see the biggest bug ~~I've ever seen~~ I've seen in a long time. What is that? I asked the side of the building. Seriously it was like 2 inches long. It was actually, really, really pretty. It had blue and red and tons of other colors. Turns out it was a grasshopper. 20 of it's closest friends and relatives were hanging out on the side of the building. I was amazed. A little while later, in the front of the building I saw the biggest beetle I had ever seen. As I was pointing it out to HRJ, I looked up to see some man staring at me with a bazaar look on his face. I can only assume he was thinking, crazy Californian!
   Back on the road after a dose of Pepto Bismal for the hubs and I, we continued through New Mexico until, my little 03 sedan lurched a little. I looked down at the dashboard and saw my check engine light pop on. Insert, panic, otherwise known as pooping ones pants. I kid, I kid. I didn't do that! I did call my hubby and tell him to go to the rest stop so we could check out my car. 30 minutes later, after checking all my fluids and a call to my Padre, we decided it was ok to keep going. I was super scared, though. I was imaging every bad thing I could. Stuck on the side of the road in rural New Mexico? Rural Texas? It was decided that something like my oxygen gauge had died, since my car has never been driven this long and this hard before.
One stressful hour later we finally made it into Texas. I can't tell you how good that felt to actually be in the state we would be settling into. Texas welcomed us with lightning. Now I'm not sure if it was east or west or north or south but one of those combos was having a competition. I crowned what I thought was the south the winner.
   After a border patrol check point and another hundred miles we finally stopped for the night. Once again our hotel expectations of the first night, reared up and made us cringe when we walked into our room. Among other things, the front desk clerk didn't hear us when I said the king size bed would good. She put us in the room with 2 doubles. So, the hubs, HRJ, Maggie and I all crowded into one double bed for one interesting night of ~~sleeping~~ napping.

Day four: Miles driven, the rest of the way.
   The next morning, my stomach was still in knots. After a few tears on my part, one not exciting conversation with the toilet bowl, 3 slices of plain bread and the rest of the Pepto Bismal. We once again got back on the road. Can you feel our pain? Because seriously we were all done with this trip! The whole drive, we kept watching the signs telling us how far until our new city. Every time it went down to the next hundred, it felt so good. We were so close. Yet.so.far.away. The hubs and I kept pep-talking each other. We're almost there, babe! Only 150 miles to go! When we finally crossed into the city limits, I screached like a little girl on christmas morning.

It was a good trip, but it was a long trip. HRJ was an angel the whole time. I think he had maybe 2 breakdowns in the car? I have so much more to tell you. I'm having some serious emotions right now, Maggie is sick and won't stop throwing up and we have a huge weekend ahead of us. I'll tell you about all of that stuff later. Oh the songs that will forever remind me of our trip? "Airplanes" by b.o.b and "If I die young" by The Band Perry.

To you.

2010-08-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

To you, this may look like any old kitchen.

But to me, it's the place where the hubs and I shared many great conversations while cooking countless meals together. Where I baked my first cake from scratch for my grandma's birthday. Where we cooked our first thanksgiving turkey. Where I lovingly made all of HRJ's food.

To you this may look like any old living room.

But to me, it's the room that I filled with our adorable furniture. Where the hubs and I watched movies and our favorite shows every week. Where we reconnected after long days at work. Where our friends laughed and hung out. Where our son learned to crawl, roll over and vroom his truck.

To you, this may look like any old master bedroom.

But to me, it's my hubby and my sancturary. It's the room where we lay our heads. Where we always kiss each other goodnight. It's the room where HRJ, the hubs, Maggie and I cuddle in bed every morning.

To you, this may look like any old bedroom.

But to me, it's the room that held our friends and family when they came to visit. Then it became HRJ's nursery. The place where we read stories every evening. Where I have rocked back and forth, nursing him every night for one year.

To you, this may look like any old backyard.

But to me, it's the yard where I taught Maggie to play fetch. It's the yard where the hubs grilled millions of delicious meals on the bbq, I gave him for our wedding. Where a tomato plant finally produced tomatos.

To you this house may just be four walls with a roof.

But to me, it is the hub's and my first home. The place where we spent the first 2 years of our marriage. Where we started our family.

Good bye sweet home.

The last moments.

2010-08-25T00:38:00.000-07:00

We went to visit my Grandma on Saturday and say our goodbyes. Just as I took this, my Grandma said to HRJ "you walk with your walker, I'll walk with mine." It was a good moment.

This whole moving business is going well. Life is extremely chaotic, but things are getting done. Even with my daily panic attacks that everything won't get done. We leave in just a few days, so we are really down to the wire. I can't wait for life to become normal again. I'm missing blogging and all of you! I hope everyone is doing well!

I can't believe people move all the time.

2010-08-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hey friends and family!

I'm sorry about my MIA-ness this week but life is crazy, crazy busy. If you missed my announcement last week, the hubs, HRJ and I are relocating to Texas. We found out for sure last week and we leave in about a week. Needless to say running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Our lovely life right now is about organizing, packing, cleaning, throwing awaying, weeding, canceling, forwarding, paperworking, saying goodbying and packing some more. By the time night rolls around, when I normally sit down to write, the hubs and I are still saying to each other "do you really want this? Do you wear this anymore?"

Next week is going to be just as busy. Bear with me, please. I'll check in when I can and let you all know how it's going.

It's a party recap!

2010-08-16T22:27:00.000-07:00

Sunday was HRJ's 1st birthday party and my hubby's birthday! We had all my family, our best friends and HRJ's best friends over for lunch, swimming and cake. It was great fun!

The theme was doggys and orange, HRJ's two favorite things. We had mexican food catered in and it was so flippin good it wasn't even funny. Who can go wrong with crispy and soft tacos, rice, beans, chips, dip, watermelon and of course blueberries? No one, I tell you. The party started at one and at 5 we were still ~~stuffing our faces with~~ snacking on the beans and rice.

Since we had a little joint celebration, I made my hubby a funfetti cake, by request. To go with the theme, I made my first doggy cake. I was super proud of myself. See picture below. And for the babies, I made sugar free cupcakes. I just couldn't give HRJ regular cake. He has never had a lot of sugar and I was very afraid of the after affects.

We sang happy birthday to my hubby first and then sang happy birthday to HRJ. As soon as I put the cupcake down, he leaned in and went for the flame of the candle. Crazy little boy. After we blew out the candle, he spent a couple of minutes staring at the cake, amazed at what his mother had put in front of him. Really, this is for me? He seemed to ask. He stuck his finger in the frosting a couple of times, investigating the amazingness of white frosting with blue sprinkles. Then to my surprise, he leaned to his left and grabbed a spoon that happened to be sitting on the table. He picked it up and started poking his cupcake with it. Seriously hilarious, folks. He did end up smashing it with his fingers as 1 year olds are supposed to do after a few minutes with the spoon.

After opening some awesome presents (he is a very, very lucky boy to have so many people love him!) he reached his limit and begged for a nap. It was a perfect day for my honey and my baby!

This is what we call pre-partying baby style. Playing with the water as I filled up the pool.

The doggy cake I made from scratch.

See the spoon in his left hand?

My birthday boys and I

Playing with one of his awesome presents!

Happy 1st birthday, HRJ!

2010-08-16T00:02:00.000-07:00

In honor of my baby turning one today, here's his story of coming into his world!

HRJ was due September 2nd. August 15th I was 37 weeks 2 days pregnant.

August 15, 2009 was my husband's 30th birthday. I was throwing him a big birthday bash to celebrate. He had been out of town for the past 3 days, so my cousin came to stay with me. She and I worked hard to get ready for his shin-dig. During the party, my back and legs were bothering me but I chalked it up to all the physical labor I had done.

At about 12:30am I drove our drunk friend home and then the hubs and I headed back to our house. We got settled and finally went to bed at 1:30am, August 16th. My hubby fell asleep right away but of course, I took sometime. So, I was laying in bed listening to my husband breathe peacefully. I was just starting to drift to sleep, when I felt some pain in my back. My eyes popped open. I looked at the clock it was 1:50. Then thats same pain happened again, a few minutes later.

Are these contractions? I thought. If it happens again, I will start writing them down.

At 2:09 I pulled out my pen and paper as the third one ended. They continued for the next hour. I paced back and forth. I leaned over the side of the bed and breathed deeply. At 3 something, I decided to call labor and delivery. sidenote: If you are going to call to ask if you might be in labor, act like you are in pain. The nurse asked what my pain level was. (I hate that question!)

"A 6 or 7, but I'm sure the pain gets much worse." I said, laughing.

"The contractions need to be 2-3 minutes a part before you can come in," she said. "Call back in a couple hours if they continue."

I was confused, my doctor (who was on leave, a huge bummer) had said they needed to be 3-5 minutes apart. We hung up and I called my Madre.

"Hello?"
.
"Oww" I said. My Madre, sleepily chuckled. I told her about the past hour. "Standby," I said and hung up.

My contractions continued, they were 5 minues apart, then 1 minute, then 10 minutes. Then, I had one really bad one that lasted for 10 whole minutes. Ouch, folks. But, I still wasn't convinced I was in labor since my contractions didn't have a normal pattern. Because all I'd ever heard about were consistent contractions.

Two painful hours passed, it was time to call the nurse again. I was scared though. I was worried, they would say I couldn't come in, that I wasn't in labor. I kept resisting dialing the phone. The hubs had to yell at me to finally call and tell them exactly how I was feeling. So I dialed and told the nurse that the pain was a nine or ten. I'm pretty sure she didn't believe me.

"I'm not going to tell you not to come in." She said, with an irritated undertone.

So we packed our car and left at about 5:30am. On the 10 minute drive to the hospital, I had what I thought were 3 contractions. Was I faking it? I wondered. Maybe I'm making this all up.

Up in Labor and Delivery, we nervously waited for the nurse to check me. Finally she came into the sweltering room and did the extremelly unpleasant exam. I was 6 cm, I was in active labor. You could hear the surprise in her voice when she told me! A few minutes later I was getting settled in my room. The new nurse on duty asked me a whole slew of questions. My answers were peppered with jokes and laughter, in between contractions. During contractions I focused on a little spot on the ceiling. It was my friend.

After all the questions were answered my Madre arrived and the three of us hung out. After about 30 minutes, the doctor came in and checked me. He said I was 10 cm.

Really? Already? Awesome, I thought.

He had me push a couple of times. Then he had me stop and checked me again, nope I was only 7cm. Oh man!

As labor continued I got super thirsty. I wanted an ice cold coke, not one from a fountain either I wanted a bottled coke. Of course all they allowed me were those pesky ice chips. But then I wanted watermelon and an 0'Henry's peach. Oh, oh then I needed, had to have a Togo's sandwich. But I couldn't.

At some point, I stopped progressing. They talked about giving me pitocin. I really didn't want it, so my doctor gave me pointers on how to make my body release it's own pitocin. A while later my other doctor, named Dr. Pain, by the way, broke my water. Then the contractions got worse. Much worse. My hubby had to hold me up when standing and help me sit down. He had to physically tell me to breathe, my brain wasn't remembering that part. Finally at 2:45pm I asked for pain meds. I couldn't take it anymore. The epidural worked quickly. I had relief!.Then all of a sudden, I got sick. My blood pressure dropped and they turned off my epidural. My relief was short lived.

At last I was 10cm. I kept feeling pressure but I really wasn't sure if I was right. I kept calling for the doctor, but there was another lady delivering at the same time so the nurses would come in check me and leave. Finally, my doctors (it's a training hospital, so there were two) arrived and I started to push. Thats when I discovered why it was called labor. That was hard! With every push, my face felt like it would explode. At some point, they offered to put the mirror up so I could see my baby but I turned it down. I didn't want to be distracted. My hubby stood by my side. He held my leg and told me how good I was doing. He was great!

Then that Dr. Pain lived up to her name. She had her finger on me (I'm assuming it was for something important), but it hurt so bad.
After biting my tongue for as long I could I yelled, "She's hurting me" and swatted at her hand.

All of a sudden everyone yelled, with excitement that they could see his head,

"Can you see his eyebrows?" I asked. To my dismay, he wasn't out that far yet. The doctor asked if I wanted to feel his head, he pulled my hand down and I felt his hair. Very cool.

A few more pushes later, I was tired and couldn't hold myself up anymore. The nice doctor yelled at me to focus on him. Which I did. Then I focused on the nurse. Which I did. When I stopped focusing on her, I looked to her left and noticed that there about 3 times as many people all of a sudden. It was getting close to the end. I have to admit, I was screaming in pain. Finally, it was time for the last push. I grabbed the sheets on the side of the bed, closed my eyes, yelled....something not very lady like, at all....and pushed him out.

At 6:04pm our baby came into this world. He cried right away. They laid him on my chest, he was the absolute cutest thing I had ever seen.

I remember seeing him immediatly moving his tongue and doing all the signs to eat, that I had read about. My hubby cut the umbilical cord. After they cleaned him up, they brought him back to me. He immediatly started nursing. I couldn't stop staring at him. When he wasn't eating, he was talking. Our perfect angel.

I'm sad to say that Togo's was already closed by the time I was ready to eat. So, my wonderful hubby got us some oreos, sour cream & onion chips and a huge cherry coke. We had a mini picnic while my parent's cood over HRJ. It was the best food I had ever eaten.

Happy first birthday baby boy! Mommy and Daddy love you so much. You are everything we could have hoped for. This year has been amazing!

Well, it has begun.

2010-08-12T22:32:00.000-07:00

This morning I officially started to stress out.

At 9am a lady from our local maid service came over to give me a quote to clean our house top to bottom. Her quote of 500.00 surprised me to say the least.

At 10am my Madre arrived to hang out for the day. She sat on a bar stool while I stood leaning up against the couter looking over my to do list, repeatedly. I looked at the things I can't do, yet. The appointments I can't book until we know when our furniture will be packed up and moved. My mind raced and my anxiety level grew as I thought of all that had to be done. How am I going to clean this house top to bottom, throw a 1st birthday, see all our friends and family, organize, change addresses, entertain a one year old and you know breath before we drive away in 2 1/2 weeks?

At 11am the maid services quote didn't seem so high anymore.

At 12pm my hubby called me to tell me he finally got some important paperwork. He listed all the things he has to do. So much more than I have, my poor guy. After we hung up, I ordered the food for HRJ's birthday party and tried to find a chimney sweep. Fail. Nobody answered their phones.

At 2pm my Madre took HRJ and I out to yummy pizza. It was delicious.

At 3pm I thought about what I have to do tomorrow. I have to get all the supplies for HRJ's birthday cake, buy groceries, get stuff to send my friend in the desert, get my hubby's bday gift and get some more cleaning done. I wished I had a pen and paper in front of me, to make a list. Then I thought about my saturday task. I am going to try and make HRJ's cake. Like pipe it with different colored icings and stuff. It will be my first time ever doing anything like this. I hope it turns out.

After that? Hmmm. Oh, ya I cleaned this, cleaned that, pulled weeds. Tried to make a dent in something.

The feeling of not being able to check anything off my list, not having the satisfaction of seeing boxes being stacked up. Is driving me batty. I keep finding myself standing in my hallway turning around in circles, not knowing where to go or what to do. Should I clean the windows? No, it's too soon. Should I wash out the dishwasher? Again, nope. Too soon. Ugh.

On a happier note: I just spent a little while perrusing the website of our new town. I found tons of things for us to do! I am really excited!!

Vacation, bad luck and big news

2010-08-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

Vacation

Like I said yesterday we had an awesome vacation. We went to the same campground that my family has been going to for about 20 years. It was an incredibly relaxing week, ok as relaxing as it can be with an 11 month old. We ate lots of yummy food. I beat the hubs at Uno, 3 times in a row. Then a wonderfully brilliant game of Yahtzee where I rolled two, read that, two Yahtzees both with sixes. I know awesome, right? Of course he beat me at a ton of games but we won't be discussing that, here. I succeeded in annoying my Madre so much that she used the excuse of charging her car battery, to be able to read in silence. Hehe. It's so fun being her daughter! Thanks for a great trip, Madre.

Also?
I learned a few things while on our first vacation as parents.

1. The baby isn't the only one who gets filthy on a daily basis. The parents do too.
2. I love playing in the sand and covering peoples feet with the stuff.
3. HRJ loves blueberries.
4. The hubs and I are very good at acting on our toes and doing what needs to be done. Read: To keep HRJ's new cough from getting any worse in the night air. We cleaned out our SUV and moved sleeping bags, pillows, blankets into said SUV at 10:45 at night. Then slept on the hard floor.
5. My son LOVES camping. He could spend all day in the dirt.
6. The new coconut M&Ms are amazing.
7. HRJ loves looking at and signing birds.
8. Little baby shoes are thee cutest thing I have ever seen!
9. Learning to walk in the dirt is the best way to learn.
Oh and
10. Camping with Nana is the bestest thing ever!

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

My cute hubby out for a walk. HRJ's first campfire.

All bundled up in the morning. HRJ's first trip to the beach.

Hanging out in the tent. Stirring up all the mud in the lake!

Hours were spent pushing his walker. His first kayak ride with Nana!

My dirty little boy playing in the dirt. Looking at a crow's feather with Daddy.

Bad luck.

You know when you're getting your baby ready for his bath? You take off his shirt. You pull down his pants. Normally, you pick him up and pull the pants all the way off. Today, though you decided to unsnap his diaper and pull it off, first. Then you sit him down and you notice his thigh is wet. Hmmm, you think, that's weird. Then you smell of pee wafts into your nose and you start searching for it's source. You look down at his feet and find that they are soaking wet. Then you look down at your hubby's oversized shirt you've been sporting all day and notice that it is drenched. Omg, he just peed on me, you realize. As you get up to go change you think, seriously if I had just waited 15 more seconds his diaper would have caught it all. ugh.

Big news. No. Huge news.

So, my hubby made me keep a secret for the past 2 months. It has seriously been eating me from the inside, out. I have posts written for the day I finally got to tell all of you. Finally yesterday, my hubby unlocked my speaking handcuffs and said, ok you can tell people now. So, I have to include it today. I can't wait to tell you in tomorrow's post.

So, guess what?

My hubby applied for and got this amazing job.

Which means.

My family is moving to Texas!!!

And we leave in 3 weeks.

Ahhhhhh. I'm so stinkin' excited! I can't wait for this new adventure.

So, my future fellow Texan neighbors, I need the 411, the dealio, the inFO. Tell me all I need to know!

We're back!

2010-08-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

From an awesome camping trip!!

HRJ is most definetly a camper. He took right to the dirt, sleeping in a tent and playing in the lake among other things. We got home today and I am exhausted. I don't have an awake creative writing bone in my body. But! I've done 3 of my 5 loads of laundry already. *Go me!* I promise to give you highlights of our week tomorrow. Oh and I have some HUGE news to tell you, too. I'll see you tomorrow!

Here's a picture to hold you over.

Can you see allllllllll the dirt? This was taken an hour after we arrived.

El favorite stuff-o

2010-08-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was going through old post the other day and I came across this one. My favorites. My favorite material things in our home. Since none of you were here when I wrote this and I'm feeling nostalgic, I thought I would bring it back for an encore visit.

3.28.10
My favorite things: The design edition!

I'm sitting here in my favorite chair in our house. It is the cutest chair. It has a pretty red gingham fabric (think picnic tablecloth) and white distressed painted wood arms and legs. On top of the beauty-ful-ness, it's super comfortable!
The chair had to go into the office when the babes was born. We needed space for the playpen, that I thought we would use ALL the time. We used it for a few successful diaper changes. Mostly though, HRJ practiced his aim on the fireplace. He took maybe 2 naps in the bassinet part. When it was obvious that the playpen was not as necessary as I thought, it moved upstairs and back down came my chair! I realized I had missed the chair. It is so happy and makes the pretty flower pillows on the sofa, pop so well!
Every time I come home, I think how pretty our house is. I'm proud of it!
What are my favorite things in our house, you ask? Well let me just tell you!

My favorite piece of art: Over the fireplace we have a beautiful vintage looking painting. You've probably seen it and it's friends out there. The ones that have saying on them. They look kind of aged and worn. Ours says "It'll cost nothing to dream and everything not to." When I saw the art, I couldn't pass it up. Besides the nice phrase, there are happy lemons and a refreshing glass with ice on what could be a wooden box. At the top there is some worn spaces that has red popping through. I never get sick of looking at it.

My favorite vintage accessory: A milk canister that my Grandpa, who was a milkman, (awesome, huh?) had. I've wanted it forever and am so lucky to have it! It is painted a black and I just can't get enough of it.

My favorite heirloom furniture piece: A hope chest with cedar lining that my other Grandpa bought for my Grandma. Another piece I am so lucky to have! I can't wait until we have room for it in our family room and it can make its way out of the black hole.

I love that I have the opprotunity to own these pieces!

My favorite accessory: The lovenest birdhouse I got as a bridal shower gift. It is just too cute and creative and I love it. I'm a little nervous because HRJ was eyeing it for a long time today. It will be moving to higher ground soon. Okay, I actually have a lot more favorite accesories but I would be here all night telling you about them.

My favorite lamp: Duh, the only lamp we have. Picture it: yellow, jar with handles, aged looking. Perfect.

My favorite framed photo: The set of three shots of the hubs and I when he was home on leave from that place far, far away. They were printed in sepia tone, framed and matted beautifully. I still stop and stare at it 2 1/2 years later. Thanks R for the perfect birthday gift.

My favorite weird thing you would never expect: Albert Pujols....yes, I said Albert Pujols from the St. Louis Cardinals. He is a cardboard cut out that sits way up on a ledge. Probably 10 feet up in the air. It's actually pretty funny. It's fun to see the faces of my fellow designer friends when they look up from my couch.

My favorite hen/rooster: The Fitz and Floyd salt and pepper shakers I got as a bridal shower gift. LOVE.

My favorite handmade blanket: The quilt that my hubby's Grandmother made a long time ago. We just got it out of storage and is perfect for picnics in the park.

What are your favorite pieces in your home?

He runs a tight ship- guest blogger

2010-08-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

I am really excited today, because Kate from Mommy Monologues is here! She has an adorable little boy and a feirce chapstick addiction just like me! I love her blog, if you haven't already you need to go check it out! So scroll on down, read and enjoy her wonderful post! I'm going to go beat my husband at Yahtzee! Ya that's right babe, I went there!

Hello All! I first met Debbi through the Ultimate Blog Party--at least I think that's when I found her. As my mother would say "It's all a blur." But, regardless of how we met, Debbi's blog is one of my favs & I'm super excited to be writing over here today! It's truly an honor!
A little about myself: my name is Kate. I write over at Mommy Monologues. I'm a first time mom to 14 month old, Lboy, wife to my amazing husband, Todd, & doggy mommy to Giorgio, my 5 lb beast of a yorkie. I'm learning how to be a "Domesticated Diva" one day at a time--meaning I'm learning how to do chores, cook supper every night, change diapers & still be divalicious while doing it all.

As I mentioned I have this precious kid, Lboy. He is the light of my life & the reason I now live in a beautiful mess. But he's also quite demanding & runs a tight ship. I mean a TIGHT ship. This kid has rules--some serious ones:

1. Mommy is not supposed to hug or kiss anyone else. ESPECIALLY not Daddy.
About the time Todd & I go to kiss, Lboy rushes over between the two of us, pulls us apart, & climbs into my lap. Then laughs at both of us. Sometimes I wonder if he's trying to prevent any future siblings so he can have us all to himself FOREVER. lol

2. Showers are absolutely FORBIDDEN.
For example, this morning, he stood outside my shower door, beat his hands against it, pressed his lips to the shower & screamed the.entire.time. And sometimes he will wander the house & I will hear his wails get fainter & then louder. I can only assume that he is running laps, hysterical laps, around the house.

3. Mommy is never, ever to play on her computer when Lboy is present.
This is a biggy! He walks up to me, grabs my laptop by the screen & pulls it straight to the ground. Then climbs into my lap & sits there as though nothing has happened.

4. Lying down on the couch, bed, or floor is strictly not allowed.
If I lie down on the bed, couch or floor while he is playing it's bad, bad, bad. This is when he walks up to me & pulls my hair. At which point we have to have a "discussion" (as well as you can discuss with a 14 mo old) about "why we don't pull mommy's hair."

5. No sitting on a couch or chair. Mommy must always be in the floor.
If I'm on the couch or in a chair watching him play he comes over & pulls me to the floor. I'm supposed to sit in the floor with him at all times. I don't even have to play with him, he just wants me there next to him.

And although he is quite demanding, he also has LOTS of precious moments too! Like, he's learning how to give kisses. He's obsessed with his Daddy's swim goggles & wanders the house pointing at them saying "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" He loves to play with the puppy, he loves to snuggle during book time, & he loves to give hugs to every person he meets. Just don't break those rules & we'll be just fine!

Thanks Kate for coming over today! I think Lboy is giving HRJ lessons. This was all too familiar!!

Raising a Mama's boy-guest blogger

2010-08-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have another long day ahead of me. You know playing at the beach, playing in the dirt with HRJ and eating delicious food! It's tough, I tell you. Since I can't be here, I have Betsy from Funky Mama Bird filling in for me today. She is a great writer and has one of my favorite blogs. I'm so excited she is here, today. I was definetly cracking up while reading her post. Enjoy!

Parenting a Mama's Boy

My family of origin is not exactly what one would refer to as "close". My siblings and I like to refer to our father, Mr. Know It All, by his first name, usually said with a snarky inflection, just to drive home the point that we're mocking him. I remember little about my biological mother, who I lived with when I was young, but I do remember feeling uncomfortable around her. So, let's just say I was not fully prepared for the kind of parent child experience I received.

When I was pregnant, and found out it was a boy, I made lots of jokes about having a "Mama's boy" and that "boys love their mothers" but I don't really think I was expecting to have the kind of intense bond that my son and I share.

I should probably explain, because I often tell people that he's Mama focused, but they don't seem to get it. For example, we're visiting my parents right now and on three separate occasions, someone has marveled that, "He's really into you, isn't he?" Yes. Yes he is.

So I thought that I would come up with this handy guide to help others identify when they may have a Mama's boy of their own under foot.

You May Have a Mama's Boy When

· Your son learns to walk by holding the hem of your dress and trailing along after you wherever you go.
· When relatives try to get him to say their names, he responds very seriously with, "Ma. MA."
· Someone stepping between you and your son, temporarily blocking his view of you, leads to a full scale meltdown in .03 seconds.
· When you catch your son wrapped around your leg and licking your knee, and you ask him what he's doing, he'll respond lovingly, "MaaaMaaa."
· You find yourself making a huge deal out of any time that your son voluntarily goes to his father, even going so far as to state that your son is in a "Daddy phase". You do this despite the fact that ten seconds after voluntarily going to his father, your son is searching for you and beginning to announce, "MMMM-MA MMMM-MA!"
· Your son likes to pet your hair, stroke your face, lay his head on your shoulder and would probably crawl back inside your womb if given half a chance when you have been separated by a long night. This behavior may or may not last from the time he wakes up until noon.
· Ignorant people try to take pity on you after witnessing this show for a few hours by suggesting that he would be better off in day care where he would be forced to accept other care givers.

I don't want to give the idea that this is in any way a hardship; I really secretly love it and eat it all up. Knowing that you can make someone happy simply by stepping into the room is a wonderful feeling. Knowing that all you have to do to get some laughs is glance quickly at your boy and then look away like you didn't see anything is just too cute.

I am exhausted from hauling his butt around everywhere since he can't stand to be parted from me for one minute, and I won't have it any other way.

Thanks Beth, so much! This was great. I most definetly have a Mama's boy, too!

Hippie Mom- guest blogger

2010-08-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Like I mentioned yesterday, the hubs, HRJ and I are off exploring the great outdoors. In honor of us introducing our baby to the beloved campground I grew up at. I have asked three of my favorite bloggers to grace you all with their presence. Today we have Jessica Anne from Adventures with three girls. I love her blog AND what she has written here today. As I read it, I sat here (you know on my cute green sofa!) nodding my head. Yep, I do that. Yep, that too. Oh! I need to do that. So, go read. I'm off to the lake!

Hippie Mom

I was so excited when Debbi asked me to do a guest post. I think it’s so much fun to go over to someone else’s place and snoop around a little. Plus, her blog is one of my must reads. She cracks me up. Then she told me I could write about whatever I wanted. Hmmm. That’s a lot of options. I finally decided to do the obvious. Confession time. Are you ready? It’s a big one. I am…a hippie.

I know, shocking. I really have no idea how it happened. I grew up in Minnesota. Not a lot of hippies in Minnesota. In fact, I grew up kind of making fun of hippies. So, how did this happen to such a down to earth, Midwesterner like me? Clearly someone is to blame. In my case, I have to admit, the blame falls squarely on none other than my husband and children.
First, my husband. He’s from Los Angeles. It’s where we now live. His choice. Everyone knows there are a lot of kooky people in L.A. It was really only a matter of time before some kookiness rubbed off on me. He started it my transformation.
My children are the primary culprits, however. It started innocently enough. When I got pregnant with my first daughter I decided to eat organically, you know, just in case pesticides were bad for her. When it came time for her to eat solids, I decided she should eat organic too. The easiest way for me to make sure she did that was by making her baby food myself. A little hippie-ish but not too bad.
As she grew and entered that stage where they stick everything in their mouths, I realized there were pesticides on my grass and my daughter was eating them along with fistfuls of grass. Kind of defeated the point of buying organic produce. So, we stopped using pesticides on our yard. Sometime during my second pregnancy it became obvious our lawn would look better with some kind of extra nutrients. So, I decided to take all those organic produce peels and compost them. During my third pregnancy I realized I could have a better system if I had a second bin. I now have two compost bins in my backyard.
My oldest wasn’t the easiest baby in the world. She cried unless she was being held. My arms got tired, so I started using a baby carrier. When number two came around, I found baby wearing to be a necessity. It’s really hard to chase a toddler around while holding a baby. I now own three separate carriers for different situations.

With my first, I decided to breastfeed. Again, not too hippie-ish. Until she decided she wouldn’t take a bottle. So then I was one of those moms who only breastfed. It worked pretty well not having to deal with bottles, so we didn’t even try to get the other two to use them.
With my second I had to start breastfeeding in public. My oldest daughter had places to go, so I really had no choice. You could find me breastfeeding at malls, preschool, and the beach. Of course, I tried to be discrete with a blanket. Enter third daughter. Discretion went out the window. I now have a two and four year old running around like maniacs when I’m trying to feed the baby. I don’t have time for discretion. So now I’m one of those moms you see walking around, breastfeeding with no cover, chasing her other kids around. I have chased while breastfeeding at the beach and while watching my husband’s basketball games (you know the leagues old guys do to pretend they’re not old).
When my second daughter was born, I had two in diapers. Every other day we were throwing out a big trash bag of diapers. I looked at that and thought, gross. My kids’ kids will be able to dig up those diapers. So, I decided to try cloth diapers. Totally hippie.

Recently, I decided to go semi-vegetarian. I can’t really blame that on my family other than they’ve created a monster.

So, I am standing up and declaring my hippie-ness to the world. I am an organic food eating, composting, baby wearing, public breastfeeding, cloth diapering, semi-vegetarian hippie. It’s amazing what motherhood does to you.

Thanks Jessica, so much! I really enjoyed this. (Had I mentioned that already?)

It's our anniversary!

2010-08-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today the hubs and I are celebrating 2 years of wedded bliss! I can not even convey to you how lucky I am to have this man as my life partner. Not a day goes by that he doesn't make he smile, giggle, get all flutter-pay-ted or roll my eyes. I have dreamt of my prince charming since I was a little girl and when he typed his way into my life, I knew what was in front of me. My everything. I couldn't ask for a better father to my son and life partner.

To celebrate our anniversary we are headed off to go camping for the next week. I won't be around but I have some awesome ladies filling in for me starting tomorrow. I hope you all have a great week! Oh and while I'm away if you could remember to click the button on the left for top mommy blogs once a day! Thanks, friends!

Happy Anniversary, love! I'm a lucky, lucky lady!

Learning at Harvard

2010-07-29T22:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, not really. I'm just learning in my own home but I've learned a few things the past couple of days.

1. HRJ doesn't have hand, foot, mouth disease. He has no blisters. anywhere. His temperature is gone. He woke up Thursday morning with a smile on his face. Wonderful.

2. When I'm exhausted the ceiling fan in our room sings to me. Last night it sang Old McDonald and The Farmer in the Dell.
    A. Hmmm, apparently it only sings about farms. Interesting.

3. I shouldn't drink two of Chili's mango ice teas at 9 o'clock at night. Unless, of course I want to see 3 am.

4. When I'm nervous about my son's temperature I,
     A. Can't stop checking on him even though he is sound asleep. read: every 10 minutes.
     B. Almost walk out of the house with no wallet.
     C. Lose my cell phone while searching for my wallet.
     D. Wake my husband up every twenty minutes during the night to ~~ask pointless questions~~ update him.

5. I hate, nay loathe cleaning. Enough said.

6. As much as I loathe cleaning, I need to change the frequency in which I do it.
    A. Example: the oven and I had words today.

6. When I want to be, I can be really productive.
     A. Ok, I already new this about myself, but it's been awhile since I have wanted to be this productive.

7. I have no patience.
     A. Again, I already knew this but did you? No? Well, now you do. Waiting is the devil.

8. Last but not least and this is more of a realization instead of a lesson. My creative side is rearing it's head. I need to do something. Scrapbook? Make ice cream with our new AWESOME ice cream maker from the parentals? Redecorate the house? Make new wall art? I need to do something. Seriously or I might combust.

What have you learned lately?

What's new pussy cat?

2010-07-28T23:14:00.000-07:00

Oh, let me just fill you in on what's been going on over here, lately.

Monday, HRJ woke up from his nap with a fever. I figured it had to do with teething, gave him some baby tylenol and went on with our day. Four hours later, the temperature came back again. Gave tylenol, took long nap moved on with our day. Lather, rinse, repeat all night long. Except I stopped just moving on with our day. I watched him a little more closely. Made sure he was drinking more water, gave a few cooling baths in the middle of the night, etc.

Tuesday morning it was time for his next dose of Tylenol. I took his temperature 103.3. Oh my gosh! Where did that come from? We had been hanging out at 100-101. So, I gave him more Tylenol and put him down for a nap. Four hours later when the meds wore off, his temperature jumped right back up to 103. So, I packed up, I need to tell you about that insanity later, and headed to the ER. Where we proceeded to have the saddest ER visit ever. Normally HRJ likes to play this game of being sick at home, better at the hospital to make mommy look like a fool thing. Not Tuesday. He was just a blank little boy. He stared at everyone. He screamed when they weighed him and took his temp. He screamed bloody murder when the doc examined him. Saddest thing ever, people. Saddest thing, ever. So the doc checked him all out, then told us, she thought he had hand, foot and mouth disease. Seriously??? This aggravated me, probably more than it should have, but it did. How could he have gotten this? She showed us what she called ulcers on his foot and his hand. Then gave us some fever meds and sent us on our way. Since HFM disease is a virus there is nothing she could perscribe, apparently. It just hast to run it's course.

We headed home. After cleaning all of his toys..I learned something then, the more toys a child has to play with, the more his mother has to clean when he's sick...the real fun began. My poor baby's exhaustion caught up with him. He went into meltdown mode over any.little.thing. As much as I tried to nurse him to sleep and calm him he just wouldn't. Finally after 4 hours of up, down, up, down. He fell asleep only to be woken up by his mother trying to put him in his crib, someone calling with a wrong number and then Maggie barking. At 8:00 it had been 6 hours, we could give him his next dose. First though I took his temp, 104.9. Holly scaredness! After meds and cool bath, it came back down and he fell asleep in my arms. Which is where he stayed. He was completely unwilling to entertain any other options. A rocky two more hours of waking and crying the three of us went to bed together. At 1:50am after lots of fussing and some sleeping, he woke back up to nurse. As I nursed him I could feel him getting hotter and hotter, remember the meds 6 hours was up 2. So, I woke my poor baby up and gave him more. Oh the crying! It breaks a mama's heart. He fell back asleep right away on my chest. Where I then laid there for the next hour, worrying. Listening to his fast breathing. Feeling his hot little hand on my chest. Thinking about calling the on-call doc. Thinking about what they would say to do..which we already had done. At 3, I was stilled worried and took his temperature. 102.9, an HOUR after giving the meds. How high was it at 2?? Finally he cooled off enough and we all slept peacefully for a few hours.

Wednesday, we continued his meds. Continued fighting that horrible fever. I'm not sure I believe what the doctor diagnosed him with. The things he had on his hand and foot, I think are splinters from crawling outside and playing in the dirt. None the less, we are keeping him away from everyone and taking all precautions necessary to not pass anything on to anyone else.

It's so hard seeing your normally happy, go-lucky baby all zoned out and just not himself. I've been reading alot of really heart wrenching blogs lately about little ones fighting really tough battles. This is just a little bump in the road for us, and I'm aware of that. We are very lucky that HRJ is an otherwise healthy little boy. My heart and thoughts go out to all the families and babies fighting everyday for their health.

Five years ago.

2010-07-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

Five years ago today, I got off of work at the flower shop. I drove the ten minute drive home. I walked through the front door, said hi to my friend who was staying with us for 3 weeks. Headed into my padre's office and logged onto my 4 day old Myspace account. Over on the left side there was a notice that I had a new message. I clicked on it to see a picture and message from some random guy.

It said, "Hey Debbi, my name is -------. Just wanted to know if you wanted to talk some time."

I immediatly clicked on his picture to view his profile. Oh, he's in military, I thought. That's cool. From the that midwestern state. I have family from there. He's cute! I'll talk to him.

So I clicked back to the message and responded all swav and cool-like. "Sure. So you're in the military? How's that working out for ya?" Wouldn't you have just swooned over me with words like that? But he wrote back.

For the next week, every night I would run to the computer to see if he had written me. And he always had. There was always a sweet message waiting for me. I would write back immediatly and we would talk back and forth for a few hours. One night, he messaged me his number. I was super excited, but really scurrrred. So I waited. I waited two days until I finally got up the nerve to the dial the phone. I was SO excited as I dialed. My heart was thump, thumping like crazy.

Ring. Ring.

"Hello?" This very smoothhandsomesexyamazing voice said.

"Hi, -------? It's Debbi." I said with a huge grin on my face.

Absolute dead silence. I can only assume he was jumping up and down and doing back flips.

"Hi!" He said. I could physically hear the excitement in his voice. It was awesome.

After 2 weeks of many long phone calls and those long online convos he had me. One night I told my friend, this guy had me hook, line and sinker. So, we decided to meet in person.

What?
No, of course I didn't meet some stranger off the internet in a dark parking garage. I would never do something like that.

August 8th, I drove to the ~~parking garage~~ incredibly safe meeting spot. After I parked, I called him to get his ETA. He had already arrived. I spotted his car, took a deep breath and got out of my car at the same time as him. We walked toward each other. My heart was racing like crazy! We were both smiling. Immediatly we hugged each other, then stepped back and took a good look at the other person. After a few seconds, I grabbed his hand and we headed down the stairs to go grab dinner.

Luckily, the stranger didn't murder me (read that future daughter? Others aren't as lucky! Don't ever do what your mother did!). We walked around downtown, hand in hand for a couple of hours. We talked about anything and everything. He witnessed my indecisiveness. Yes let's get dinner. No, I really don't want to eat. Well maybe we should eat? He told me stories. I told him stories. It was perfect.

5 years ago it all began...

Saa-winnng Batta, Batta

2010-07-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

Saaa-winnnng!!!

It's official, HRJ is the Oakland A's good luck charm! We took him to his first baseball game on Saturday and let me tell you it.was.awesome. The A's beat the Chicago White Sox 10-2. It was a great game to watch. Especially since the last two games the hubs and I have been to were big fat losing games.

The three of us were all decked out in our A's apparell. Some of us feasted on hot dogs, nachos, chicken fingers, garlic fries and ice cream. I know totally healthy right? Others of us feasted on peas and pureed carrots, yummm!

HRJ's shirt had number 32 on it, Jack Cust's number. He hit two home runs. After every homerun or any time he was at bat, if you want to get down to it, the old men around us would point at HRJ. They would yell, "That's your shirt! He's on your shirt." Too cute. HRJ would just stare back at them. He watched some of the pitches, the batters swing, the crowd going wild at the great plays. He danced back and forth with me while we all sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch. He's a definite baseball fan in the making!

Daddy and son watching the game.

My boy and I

FYI: I will be framing this one.

His first taste *ever* of ice cream.

sidenote: I proceeded to have to stuff the rest of the cone in my mouth, so that he would stop ~~overpowering me and eating more~~ stealing it from me.

My awesome little family.

p.s. no, I don't have a broken middle finger. I have some crazy form of excema. It will only heal if I stop bending my finger. The doctor made me do it.

Our time will come

2010-07-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

I've always loved you
Since the first day we met,
I knew I was hooked

Today, I laid on the sofa
And I dreamt of you
I thought about how it would be to be together

Then I realized that we can not be together now
The timing isn't right
I tried to work out the details in my head
It just wouldn't work
There are plans that are getting in the way

But still,
I couldn't stop thinking of you.
I thought of how you would taste
I thought about your crispy exterior
I thought about your salty flavor

I pictured you laying perfectly next to a hot dog
You were nestled securely in a wheat bun
You looked so happy resting on that bed of mustard

Oh dear Claussen's pickle
I long for you.
But we just can't be together.
I must save your unopened jar
I must wait to taste your salty deliciousness
I must wait until our camping trip

Stay strong, my love
We will be together soon

Like when Dusty sang to Harley

2010-07-21T22:37:00.000-07:00

We grabbed each other's hands. My new husband stepped infront of me and lead me onto the dance floor. When we reached the middle, we stopped and he turned toward me. In perfect harmony we wrapped our arms around each other. He pulled me close. The music began and we were swept away. Into our own world. We were husband and wife. We were together forever. We danced, chatted and giggled as George Strait's "I cross my heart" told our story.

But this song is more than just the dance that we shared as brand new husband and wife. It was also the song that we shared as a brand new couple. A few months after we began dating my boyfriend invited me to go back home with him to the mid-west. One night we went to visit his brother who was bartending a wedding reception at the local hall. For two hours we hung out in the kitchen and watched the sweats sporting groom and his wedding gown wearing bride dance the night away. After what I'm sure was the chicken dance the DJ put on "I cross my heart."

"Awwww, I love this song!" I exclaimed.

My heart swelled with love. I looked at my boyfriend all dreamy like. I had spent hours listening to this song and watching Pure Country. Always dreaming about when I would find the guy who would make this song true for me. Now, here I was. Standing across a large metal table from this amazing guy.

I continued to look all dreamy at him.

Half way through the song, my boyfriend's brother said "Dance with her!"

"No" said my shy guy.

"Come on," his brother prodded again.

After a little hesitation he walked over and wrapped his arms around me. We danced, not caring about our audience. It was just the two of us in a random midwestern kitchen. There I fell, fell harder than I've ever fallen before. I don't mean literaly.

Credit

This was written for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.

Write about your wedding song. What was it and why did you chose it?

Our visitor

2010-07-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was getting ready to take HRJ to a playdate. As I was closing the blinds, I looked out the window to see this:

In my backyard. I've never seen a butterfly this big outside of a zoo, etc. Seriously, it was so cool.

I found it!!!

2010-07-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

Remember my story about the carrot toe? No? Oh, ya it was one I wrote when only my Madre and Padre were my followers. Well, when I wrote it I mentioned something about having a picture that I couldn't find. Today, I was going through my pictures on the computer and I found it! And I need to share it with you! This is not one to keep to myself. So here it is and a re-broadcast of Itsy Bitsy Feetsy Weetsies.

3.25.10
Today, HRJ and I laid on the floor with our legs in the air and examined our feet. First we looked at mine. Then we looked at his.
HRJ has perfect little feet. They look as though they were inflated with a tire pump. I think if they weren't attached to his ankles they would float away. Sometimes I wonder, if I pricked them with a needle would they go POP! or would they fly around the room as they deflated?
He has recently discovered his feet and more importantly, his toes. Well, his and Mama's toes, actually. We've discovered that they are awesome to hold on to. Mommy's are good to use as a security blanket when we are out in big groups. His are good to hold onto while sitting around or while laying with our feet in the air. He loves to roll to his side with them in hand.

I have noticed recently that when he is concentrating he likes to curl his toes. Too cute.

Hopefully, these cute feet and toes don't turn out like his Momma's stinky, vegetable ones.
WHAT?!?! You ask! Don't worry, I have a look of horror on my face too! Let me explain.
I have smelly feet. The kind where people sniff the air and look at me right away telling me to put my shoes back on. They got really bad when I worked at that ~~furniture store~~ interior design center. I wore heels everyday and I did a lot of walking, what can I say. One day, the ladies and I were sitting around one of the tables designing beautiful rooms and I took my shoes off. That isn't so bad, right? WRONG! Not 5 minutes later my friend A, who was mid-story stopped and asked, "Did someone take off their shoes?"

Well, what can you do? You can't lie, they could just look under the table. So, I had to fess up.

That was the beginning of the end. From that day forward, if I took off my heels someone knew, commented and pluged their nose.

What is that vegetable referrence, you ask?

Here is that story.

I have long toes and barely any nail. (Fun times for my pedicurest.) On a different day at that job I had, my coworkers were sitting around another table. This time it was the lunch table. One of my coworkers was eating some carrots. You know the small ones that come in a bag? She was down to the last few and there was one sad, sad, sad carrot in the bag. It was just too sad to eat. Did I mention it was sad? So there it sat on the kitchen table as they (I was with a client) all chatted and avoided going to back to work.

Apparently, at some point my coworker leaned forward and grabbed the bag. She pulled it out. And what popped into her mind? THIS LOOKS LIKE DEBBI'S TOE!

And because designer's can't leave anything simple..

By the time I saw the carrot toe, a small nail had been carved out and nail polish had been applied.

It was pretty funny!

So, here's hoppin' baby boy that you take after your Daddy!

Weekend = 10

2010-07-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

I got HRJ's birthday invitations done! Yay! I love them. What do you think? Don't you love my steady hand for crossing info off? Thank god the real thing doesn't have that feature. Oh and sorry for the grainy picture.

So, I called my fave mexican restaurant to get a quote. It's gonna be $150.00 to feed 30ish people. I really want to do it, so I am trying really hard to convince myself. My family has never been a catering kind of family, so I'm out of my element. But I am salivating with the thought of crispy and soft tacos, rice, beans and the BEST salsa ever!
The hubs, HRJ and I compared prices yesterday at another mexican place. They were comparable. Then we added up how much 30 chicken breasts, the makings for 3 salads, rolls and appetizers. It's pretty comparable in pricing, too. Grrr. I wanted it to be more expensive.

Come on convince me how much HRJ needs LP mexican food for his first birthday!! Please??

Let me tell you about my awesome weekend?
Saturday, the three of us went out to a yummy mexican lunch, are you seeing a pattern here? It was nice and relaxing. Then we ran errands. Saturday night we went with our friends and their two cuties to the drive ins. So fun, people! So fun! We saw a double header of Decipicable Me and Inception. Inception was a great, great movie. You need to go see it! Seriously. HRJ was such a good boy. He slept in my arms through almost both movies. He looked so cute I actually had a hard time watching the movie, because I kept staring him. We got home at 2:30 this morning. Wow, I was tired. It was worth it, though.

Oh and we have another new development! Mr. Man now has 5 teeth!! That pesky tooth has been pestering him for awhile. I was so happy to feel it this afternoon.

How was your weekend?? Tell me about it!

7-11, actually just 11.

2010-07-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Today my itty bitty baby is 11 months old. That means in one month, exactly he will he 1. 12 months, 365 days old. I seriously can not believe it!

But you know what that means?

That in one month, we get to part-Ay like it's 1999!

The preperations have begun! The theme for the party is orange and dogs! HRJ's two favorite things.

Let me give you a run down on what we are thinking for the celebration (celebrate good times, come on! Ok, I'll stop singing now) is:
5x7 white invitations with a thick orange border and a cartoon doggy sticker in the lower left corner.
Orange plates, cups, napkins, streamers
A cake that looks like a dogs face
Mexican food catered from my fave place.

So...Yesterday I searched and when I say searched, I mean searched! for invitations. While on my hunt I discovered that apparently orange and dogs are not the popular thing right now. Anywhere. At. All. So after a quick recalculation in my head, I abandoned the orange invitation idea. I settled on a plain white note card and I'll just print the text in orange. Awesome.

After an unsuccessful week long hunt for doggy stickers, my friend suggested I use a stamp instead. GENIUS, I tell you. She is a genius. What can I say, I roll with the best. So again yesterday, I headed down to the big box store that has forced all of the local craft stores to close and looked for a stamp. Here's where I dodge a wrench being thrown into my plans. Did you know that they have recently redesigned stamps? Instead of the whole single-stamp-attached-to-wood thing, they now have packages of not cheap, acrylic stamps. On top of that you have to get this really expensive acrylic holder that replaces the wood part on an old design. So I spent the next 30 minutes wondering down the same three aisles hoping that I would find a sticker with adorable cartoony puppies on it. No such luck. So I sucked it up and headed back to the stamps. Where I actually ended up finding a reasonably priced package, that turned out to be perfect. AND! I figured out a way to be all McGyverish and use the back of my stamps at home so I wouldn't have to buy the acrylic piece. I have to say that if I were an avid stamper the new designs would save me tons of money.

Last night (the reason this is being written today) I printed out a couple rough draft invitations and stamped to my little hearts contentment. Minus having to search for two of the stamps that decided to fly across the room, everything was a success! I showed the drafts to el birthday boy today and he gave me a big 4 tooth grin. And immediatly started kissing the dog he liked the best. Too cute.

Once I get the final draft of the invitations made, I'll show you.
Next up calling the restaurant to see if we can even afford to have this thing catered..cause I have too much to do to cook. More on that later.

Stay tuned.

Don't you just hate it?

2010-07-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

Don't you just hate when your parents can't get enough of you? You are sleeping all snuggly. Your hands are tucked up under your body, your boot-Ay is high up in the air. You are sleeping peacefully and then your parents come in to see how cute you look. They giggle a little too loudly and wake you from your sweet slumber. Then they act like you are some kind of idiot and can't see them pressed up against the wall, not moving a muscle. Finally, your mom comes and gets you and nurses. Which you actuality you don't mind at all. You nurse for about 30 seconds and fall back to sleep. Then your mom puts you back in your crib, just in time for her milk to come in. So, she has to wake you up. Because she needs you to nurse, there is no way she can go to sleep like that. Which in retrospect you still don't really mind. And then you wonder why your mom keeps questioning why you keep yawning through out the day?

Don't you just hate when you might have added too much salt to your chocolate chip cookies and then you have to eat six of them to make sure that they aren't all salty?

Don't you just hate it when you're so excited for your hubby and your son's daddy to come home that you stand in the hot, hot garage waiting for him to turn onto the street?

Don't you just hate it when you are 26 years old and you and your 37 year old brother can't stop teasing each other like you are 10 and 21 again? Every.single.time.you.are.together.

Don't you just hate it when your son has a growth spurt. And while you are going to the bathroom, he wants to play with everything he can, like say the plunger. So you put it on the back of the toilet which yesterday he couldn't reach. Then he reaches up with no trouble at all and grabs it. And all you are trying to do is go.

Don't you just hate it?

60 something years ago..

2010-07-13T23:22:00.000-07:00

My Padre was born!!

And in honor of that day, I would like to sing him a little song.

Ready?

Here we go!

Oh they had a little party down in Newport
There was Harry, there was Larry, there was Grace
Oh they had a little party down in Newport
And they had to carry Harry from the place

Oh they had to carry Harry to the ferrry
And the ferry carried Harry to the shore
And the reason that they had to carry Harry to the ferry
Was cause Harry couldn't carry anymore.

California, California
The hills resound the cry
It's gonna do or die
California, California
We'll win the game or know the reason why

And when the game is over we'll by a keg of brew
And drink to California 'til we wobble in our shoes
Drink, tra rah, rah
Drink, tra rah, rah

Drink, drank, drunk last night drunk the night before
Gonna get drunk like I've never been drunk before
Cause when I'm drunk I'm as happy as can be
Cause I am a member of the Saus family.
Oh the Saus family is the best family
To ever come over from old Germany

We're the highland drunk
And the lowland drunk
The rodder damn drunk and the Irish
Sing, glorious, victorious
One keg of brew for the four of us.
Here's to the Irish
Dead drunk.

Happy birthday Dad!
P.S. I wrote that all from memory. See you tonight!

Men!

2010-07-12T21:50:00.000-07:00

I don't like to complain about my hubby. He is a wonderful man. An awesome father, my best friend. I think Juno put it best, he is the cheese to my macaroni. But Sunday he made me sigh. He made me sigh loudly.

We were heading out to go and visit our friends. Remember the ones where the pee story happened? Anyway we were backing out of the driveway. And as I always do, I looked at the front door to see if anything was sitting there. There is always a pesky something.

I said to my hubby, "There was a tag hanging from the door yesterday but now it's gone. I wonder what happened to it?"

"I took it down," he said.

"Oh cool."

End of subject. We continued down the street and I said to him.

"I saw on someone's facebook that 7-Eleven was giving away free icees today. Isn't that cool?"

"That was what the things on the door were." My handsome red head said.

"What? And you didn't tell me about them? Babe! We need to go back and get them."

He put on his brakes and looked at me with an, are you serious expression.

"Come on!" I exclaimed. "Let's go get them before we drive any farther."

He put the car in reverse and backed up to our street.

"I don't know where I put them," he said as he dug himself deeper into a hole.

Back in our driveway, he jumped out and quickly searched the garage and found the three coupons.

Woohoo! I thought.

Then again we were off. I looked down at the coupons. Among other things, they said the words between 11 & 3pm, I looked at the clock. It was 3:10.

"Noooo," I screached.

My mind began to race, maybe we could beg for them to give us one! We were only 10 minutes late. I continued reading down the page and LUCKILY (for my hubby) the coupons had an experation of Nov. 2010. I sighed a sigh of relief. We could still use them. The listed time was for the official grand opening. We pulled into the 7-eleven parking lot and took turns sitting with HRJ while the other ran in to grab their free icee. All was ok.

And as we drove down the road enjoying our little treats. I thought, oooo, my hubby is one lucky man that 7-eleven was on his side. We almost missed out!

You would think he would know that he must never come between me and my icee!

If I ever questioned whether I had mom instincts..

2010-07-12T00:06:00.000-07:00

Today I proved to myself that yes, I do in fact have them...or at least partially.

Let me set the scene for you all.

Picture it.

It was a cool 74 degrees. Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix played in the background. The big picture window looks out on a newly installed sprinkler system. It was the family room of our good friends T & R's home. It's a nice family room. Sage green walls, that some really good interior designer, might have chosen for them. Some very cool electic multi-colored draperies frame the pictue window. Dark brown leather sofa and chair. Really, really cool print on the wall, that again that awesome interior designer might have found for them. I won't name any names though.

In front of the fireplace I knelt on the floor changing HRJ's diaper like I have so many times before. I took his diaper off, wiped and grabbed the new diaper. As I unfolded it, my adorable semi-naked baby, rolled over and crawled away. He immediatly stood up at the fire place hearth (about 18" high). My friend R says "Oh you let him walk around naked, too?" I look her direction. A fun story about how cute he is in just his baby legs, when he crawls away at home, pops into my head. "Yes" I said. "Every night we let him craw....." R cuts in "He's PEEING!" Oh my god. I look over at my son, there he is looking down watching the stream of liquid pool on the carpet (The kid knows how to peeeee). Ahhhh, I thought. And acting on what I can only describe as complete mother's instinct, I threw my hand in front of him and tried to catch the pee. Of course it immediatly leaked through my hand. But there I stood hand in place, looking for something, anything to soak it up. I looked left, I looked right, I might have even looked up. There were a few toys, a diaper, the changing pad, there's that diaper again. Where were the wipes? Where had they gone? "Someone, get me something!" I ~~shreiked~~ calmly said to my hysterically laughing audience consisting of the hubs, T, R and their 2 year old (who had moved the wipes). No one moved. Finally, someone (probably the brillant R) said "use a diaper." DUH! By the time I threw the diaper in front of HRJ, he had finished. Way to think fast, Debbi.

If ever I wondered about my ~~lightning fast, super sonic response~~ instincts, at least I know I'm on my way.

I'm not here today

2010-07-08T22:04:00.000-07:00

You aren't actually reading this. This is all a figment of your imagination. WoOo. WoOoooOo. **That's my friend, "ghost" the ghost providing the sound affects.**

I'm over visiting Kate at Mommy Monologues today!! I'm so excited because I love Kate's blog and it's my first guest post ever. In honor of that, I am dishing out some awesome advice! Oh sarcasm, how I love thee. So, head over there and learn something, cause you aren't learning anything here!

p.s. I went the whole day without a soda!

It's about time.

2010-07-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

The other day I was going through our camera deleting pictures. I got back to pics from before I got pregnant with HRJ. Clearly, it's been awhile since I've cleaned out the ole camera. And I've got to tell you I had a terrible jealousy come over me. I was jealous of my previous self's body. My face was thin, my stomach was flat. Love handles, what were those? Sadly, that question answered itself about 10 1/2 months ago. I hate looking at myself in the mirror. I often go through 3 or 4 shirts before I finally settle on usually the loosest one in my wardrobe. Well, I'm sick of it. I'm sick of hating seeing pictures of myself. I want to love seeing the snapshots of the hubs, HRJ and I. So today, after a 5 month hiatus, I dragged myself back to the gym. I am ready to take control. I had a great workout. I used the eliptical (my first time and can I just tell you that I am in love), the bike and the treadmill. By the end I was sweaty but I felt good. I even discovered that the gym has implemented a coop daycare so I can go even when my hubby is at work! Woohoo.

I am going to try really hard to make this part of my weekly routine a part of my life. I also decided that as a little extra push toward slender-ville, I am going to give up soda. I did it 8 or 9 years ago and noticed a difference in my body. Hopefully if happens again! I am ready to get back to the way I was.
How about you? Are you were you want to be? No? Well let's do this together. We can support each other, cause it's tough to keep the motivation up. At least for me, it is.

In other news I need to vent for a second. Can I tell you how much I hate waiting. I don't have patience, at all. See: no patience while cooking which lead to burned grilled cheese sandwiches. Without going into details, we have been waiting on some news that I thought was supposed to come today. It didn't. I was told we now have to possibly wait until the 21st. I'm so aggravated, actually no it isn't aggravation. I'm not really sure what this emotion is. It's a feeling that is nawing at me. I feel breathless and exhausted. It's a feeling I didn't expect. This has been alot for me to wait for today. I've been counting down and dreaming of the phone call and then nothing. It just stinks, to put it nicely.

I want to thank Elsie at Little sprout growing for the beautiful blogger award! You need to go check out Elsie's blog. She has a great reading list of her favorite books, that you should look at. Along with that her favorite author is Nicholas Sparks (the before all the movies, Nicholas Sparks). My favorite book is by him, it's The Rescue. It's amazing and I've read it 5+ times. I'm actually feeling the urge to pull it off the shelf again. Thank you again, Elsie for the award and for giving me the craving for my favorite love story!

A boy and his..

2010-07-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

A boy and his dog..
could play together all day long.

A boy and his ball..
equals hours of laughs and fun.

A boy and his Daddy..
share an absolute trust.

A boy and his Nana..
don't know how to not have fun

A boy and his laundry..
wait.
that isn't right.

And I know I shouldn't because I'm the one writing this, but...

A boy and his Mama..
undescribable, unspeakable love

Did you all notice that in 4 of the 6 pictures there is something to do with soccer in the background? Can you spot them? Have I ever mentioned that my hubby ~~has a borderline unhealthy obsession~~ loves this sport?

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I want to thank Hannah at Our Happy Home for the A blog with substance award and the Cherry on top award! You all need to go check Hannah out, she is great! Not only does she have two adorable little boys but she loves In 'n Out burger! If you haven't had the privelage of indulging in a double/double or animal style fries, then you need to make your way to California and get you some. Seriously. Yumm. Remind me to tell you all later about the time I had to rub my friends stomach after he ate a 12/12 (12 patties & 12 cheese slices). Thank you again, Hannah. You are too nice!

My hope for my son.

2010-07-05T21:39:00.000-07:00

Joanna at Raising Madison has a linkup this week about the subject hope. Check out the other links below. If you are visiting via the linkup, welcome!

I'm a terribly shy in person. Whenever I am in a new situation, I clam up so tight you would think a pearl would drop out of my mouth if I ever dared open it. If I'm in a big group where I only know one or two people, again I become the introvert version of myself. So many times I have tried to be social. I have tried to overcome this shyness, but words never come out. Why? You ask. Why am I like this? Because I have the terrible concern of caring what people think of me. I'm deathly afraid that the person(s) will think I'm an idiot/dork/nerd/stupid/unimportant, etc. And this causes me to stay in the corner or to remain silent on twitter or facebook, etc. Sadly it also makes me come across as rude, judgemental or snobby at times. Even though that is the complete opposite. I've been afflicted with this "what people think" illness as long as I can remember. It has faded a bit over the years, otherwise I wouldn't be here, but it is definetly still present in my real life.

I am hopeful that HRJ will not have this issue. I have hope that he never has to worry what others think of him. That he never feels inadequte and compares himself to others. I also hope he has the ability to be friends with everyone he meets. That he can be open and kind to everyone. That he can show his true self, right away. That he never has to be an observer, but rather part of the party...if not the "life" of the party.

To help him, I make an active effort to put my fears to the side and talk to people when they speak to us. I make sure that he says hi. That he interacts with other children and well, everyone he can. I hope that he never has to feel the way I have always felt. That terror. I hope he can be like his father. A friendly person with the ablity to not care what others think of him.

Here's hoping little boy!

My honey & I

2010-07-02T21:50:00.000-07:00

This afternoon the hubs and I grabbed each other's hands and ran up some stairs and over a lazy river. We picked up a double tube and got in line for twenty minutes. As we waited we stole kisses. We chatted and giggled. At the top of the winding stairwell we handed a lady our tube and stepped into the water. Together we sat down in the tube and my red head put his legs on either side of me. We scooted forward and then were pushed off. Down we flew. I screamed as we dropped down the slide. Up we went, around one twist, then another! Splish. Splosh. We flew left, we flew right. Hub's yelled, I screamed some more. We had huge smiles plastered on our faces. Finally we came out the bottom into the lazy river. "That was awesome," we both exclaimed! As soon as we manuevered around everyone, we ran to the next ride at our local water park. Smiling and laughing the whole way. I felt like we were teenagers. Like there wasn't a care in the world. It was awesome!

Thanks T and R for inviting us and for watching HRJ so we could act like 16 year olds!

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I want to thank Holley at Sweet Tea and a Soundtrack for the Versatile Blogger award. And Cheri at CheGo2 the kitchen for the the Versatile Blogger award and the Sunshine award. Thank you so much ladies for these lovely awards! You both are too sweet. I get so excited when I get an award! So, you can only imagine my excitement with 3!!
According to the rules I need to share 7 things with you all that you don't already know about me. Hmmm.

1. My favorite book is The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks. I hope they NEVER make it into a movie.
2. I much prefer sunrises over sunsets
3. I love to camp. That is as long as there are flushable toilets available.
4. I don't like lemons..or fish
5. Someday I want to live on a farm
6. I must have ranch to dip my pizza in.
7. My husband choses the weirdest movies to watch.

I would like to pass these awards on to these lovely ladies, who's blogs I really enjoy!!
Jessica Anne at Adventures with three girls
Funky Mama Bird
Katie at Fire Wife Katie
LeeAnn at The life of Rylie..and Bryce too!
Kate at Mommy Monologues
Brandy at the farm wife
Mama Mandolin at Mama and The Dudes
Katie at Desperate for Coffee
Sarah at Citified Country Girl
Amanda at Chasing Twins in Louboutins
Laura at Madcap Motherhood

Where I'm a responsible car owner and it backfires.

2010-07-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

See how I used backfires? A car backfires. When something goes wrong it backfires. Get it? Hahaha. ha. ha. ha. no? Oh ok.

This week has been car maintence week. Tuesday, I took my car for its oil change. I'm pretty good about maintaining my car. I do the oil changes when required. I do all that mileage stuff, etc. For this service I took it to Jiffy Lube. I haven't been to the one in my town for three years. Why? Three years ago, I had just moved to the area. I searched out where to take my car, found a name I recognized and headed over. They did my service and I left. A month later I was avoiding commuter traffic, on some random backroad on my way to a client's home. And all of a sudden a light, I've never seen before popped on on my dashboard. As soon as I parked in front of my client's house I got out my manuel and looked up what it meant. It was telling me that my car was completely out of oil. Completely. Really? Really? Do you know the damage this could have caused my car? The money it would have cost me? Ugh. Luckily nothing bad resulted from this. Needless to say I found myself a new oil change center.

This week I decided to give them another chance. I prepared myself to be super assertive. I wasn't going to leave until I was sure that every cap was secured, that every bolt was tight and that oil had in fact been put in the car. HRJ and I headed down to the store. When we got there we found that they had moved to a new location 3 days prior. After a couple U-turns I found the newly built store and headed in. When the manager rang me up, I told him about my previously bad experience. He assured me that none of the same people worked there. That they were extra careful. When they were done, he walked me to my car and checked under the hood. I was satisfied.

Today was take care of the hubby's car. He needed new front tires and an oil change. HRJ and I headed over to Costco bright and early or about noon, which ever one you would expect of me. We were all prepared to walk around Costco for a couple of hours. I was looking forward to a slice of pizza for lunch and whatever samples were available. I had even been thinking out where the heck I would nurse HRJ if he needed to. We got in line and waited our turn. When it finally came, the guy told me that they didn't have the tires in stock that we needed to order them. Seriously? Have I mentioned that we will be doing a ton of driving this weekend and the front left tire was a 1 in tread? So HRJ and I headed back to the car to go search out another tire place. We settled on Les Schwab. No problem. They had our tires in stock, all was good. During our hour and a half wait I got to check TIRE SHOP off the list of places that I never, ever, ever thought I would nurse my child. After an hour of throwing newspapers on the ground and looking at every rim multilple times, HRJ got tired. Normally for him to fall asleep with me, he has to nurse. Well, I was actually succesfully swaying/walking/singing him to sleep. When a soon-to-be well meaning grandpa ignoring HRJ's sleepy eyes and head on my shoulder. Made his way over to talk to us. I wasn't successfull in getting him to sleep.

Next stop, Jiffy Lube. But first, I drove my starving stomach to the McDonald's drive through and stuffed down a sandwich as I drove. I pulled into the parking lot and was escorted in to the lobby while they prepared to do my oil change. While we were sitting there I noticed an older man and some collared shirt guys walking around. One of them had been there on Tuesday so I assumed they were from corporate, setting up the new shop. I asked the manager if the older guy was the owner and he said yes. Anywhoo. They did the oil change. Once again I made sure all the caps were secured and every bolt was tight. I put the carseat hating baby back into the car for the 200th time and drove off.

Before I even got to the stop light at the end of the block, I noticed the check engine light was on. Sigh. I threw the car in reverse and backed my way down the street, pulled into the parking lot and waited as the terrified looking manager ran out to me. I told him about the light. That thing was not on when I got here I said. He called over the guy who welcomed me. Apparently the light was on. Sometime between me getting my McDonalds and getting to JL the light had popped on. I hadn't noticed in that 45 seconds between the two stores. They got out their sensor readers to find out the codes. As they were doing this the owner came over to see what was going on. I'm glad he did too. I feel like I was being taken seriously. I have a feeling many complaints have come to the surface about the old location. Now they are doing damage control by trying really hard to make people happy and bring business back. Pretty sure if I or the man in the lobby with me had asked them to shine our flip flops, they would have.

In the end, it turns out there was nothing that they or the tire place did to cause the light to come on (I double checked with a third, unrelated party). It just happened to be a crazy/crappy coincidence. Lovely. Thanks car.

More cheese, please.

2010-06-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

We introduced HRJ to mozzerella cheese the other day. He liked it. Alot. Here is his story.

This stuff is amazing, Mama!

Mmmmmm!

I'm having a party in my mouth.

Pray tell. Do I have something on my face?

Forget this!

My hands are just slowing me down!

sidenote: You better believe I will be bringing this photo out in 15, 18, 23+ years. You know every time he brings a.n.y.o.n.e. home.

Whoops!

2010-06-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

So on father's day the hubs and I taught HRJ how to throw a ball. We clapped. We got all excited for him and played toss for 30 minutes. Every day since then we've done the same thing. After nap time, we sit in his chair and play fetch with Maggie.

Well.

It seems that HRJ now thinks that he is supposed to throw everything he comes in contact with. The remote control, his wood blocks, his plastic toys, tupperware. Everything. He'd probably throw Maggie if she'd sit still long enough.

Whoops a daisies.

I guess we'll be un-teaching now.

Window shopping with my nose pressed against the glass.

2010-06-27T21:49:00.000-07:00

HRJ and I had lunch and window shopped with my sister-in-law on Friday. We had so much fun and hit some awesome stores. Stores that awakened my excitement for interior design. Something that has kind of waned recently.

We started off at Anthropologie, where I could have bought every home item in the store. Including but not limited to...

Couldn't you just see this knob in my future kitchen? Me too!

I love this bath mat for our bathroom!

This would be a great accessory somewhere in my house!

Love. That is all. Do you hear that honey?

Then we went to The Paper Source. I could have moved in there. My hubs is very lucky we live an hour away from the closest store! I found the prettiest greenenvelopesbirdstampsadorablepostitnotepacketsmorepostitnotesandmorepaper. Ahhhh, it was love. Then I found what I was on the search for. I've been looking for something to put on a blank wall in the hub's and my room for years, now. I've been running through ideas for awhile now but never came up with anything that I loved. Then, I had the idea of putting those big pieces of paper, you know that thick stuff that comes in seperate sheets? Into an 18x24" red frame that I got for free. I saw some in Portland and thought they would be absolutely perfect. But I ~~have forgotten that I was on the search~~ haven't found them anywhere. Then the other day I was browsing around for new design blogs to read and I found Holly Mathis Interiors. She had written a post about this paper and she showed a picture (below) from Southern Living. This is exactly what I was imagining! I mean I want the print to be of flowers or something, but you get what I'm saying. So after a quick search of the web I found them at The Paper Source. Friday, I didn't find any that were perfect but at least I started searching, right?

After lunch we went to CB2 (A more contemporary Crate and Barrel). They had some cute, cute stuff. I know, I know that isn't my style. But I can appreciate different designs. I enjoy imagining different styles whether I would live with them or not! I DID find three really cute, appetizer sized, plates for HRJ. They were by Andy Warhool. They were a picture of a cow head. And like he is known for, they were all in different colors and they were awesome. I couldn't resist. Add in the fact that they were .95 cents. HRJ now has 3 cool plates to throw on the ground! Then I started looking at their area rugs. They had some great shag rugs. I love that look. I used to use shag carpet whenever a client would ~~wary of my unrelenting coersion~~ agree. I think I might try and talk the hubs into letting us get one for our next house. It would add a nice young/fresh feel to any space. And I if you know me, you know that I love fresh! AND then I found the most awesome rug for ~~moi~~ a child. It was a white hopscotch on a gray background. OMG people OMG. I really had to fight the urge not to jump right on and play. Thank goodness I was pushing a stroller.

Across the street was Z Gallery and of course we couldn't NOT go there. I made a b-line toward their art, which I always love looking at! I found this awesome piece.

Seriously. I am in love. It looks much better in person. The different shades of blue are amazing. sidenote:have I ever mentioned to you how much I love blue? That it soothes my soul and makes me excited all at the same time? This thing has absolutely no business being anywhere near my house but if I could buy it, I would. I would make it work. no. seriously.

Had I mentioned that I was serious?

Now, that I've gotten excited all.over.again about all the browsing we did. And ideas are sprinting through my head, I must excuse myself or I might just explode.

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I want to thank Elsie at Little Sprout Growing and Jessica Anne at Adventures with three girls for the Sunshine award! Thank you so much ladies! That is the perfect award for such a nice, sunny weekend! You both are too sweet!

Make shift baby book.

2010-06-24T21:47:00.000-07:00

My son is just too adorable. He does things on a daily basis that just crack.me.up. Things that I want to document and remember, but there is no room for in his baby book. (Seriously, who cares what the price of milk was when he was born. I'd rather have room for things like this!) So today, I am turning This lovely life into a page from his baby book.

credit

June 2010. You are so picky when you eat. You have to be ready for your next bite. Every thing must be just right. Every sip of water must be drunk, every last morsel of food must be swallowed before you will even consider letting the spoon in. You also smell all of your food before opening up your mouth. I have to make sure that there are apples or pears on the tip of the spoon, if I'm trying to trick you into eating something. Otherwise, again you won't open up.
Not only do you sniff out every bite, but you also study every bite. If you don't like what is on your spoon you turn your head away. I then have to put the contents of the spoon back in the bowl, rescoop and present it to you, almost always then you open your mouth and enjoy.

You recently discovered that if you throw food off your highchair that Maggie will eat it up. This is your new mission, every time I try to give you anything to feed yourself.

When you sleep it is thee cutest thing, your daddy and I have ever seen. About a month ago you discovered sleeping with your legs underneath you with your boot-Ay up in the air. Your little arms are tucked up under you. It's more cuteness than we can handle. I want to take a picture, but I am too afraid that the bark, flash and chirp of our camera will wake you up. And baby boy, you need your sleep. Oh, oh, also when you are trying to fall asleep you put your face on your hands, and there they stay. You often wake up with finger indentations on your face. Adorableness.

On monday June 14th you clapped for the first time, without any prompting. At dinner that night you also tried twice to feed yourself. You weren't successful. The pea kept falling out of your hand. The fact that you even attempted to put it in your mouth, made Daddy and I very proud!

Today is June 24th and you can feed yourself like a champ. You no longer need two hands to get the peas in your mouth.

You have discovered how fun the water faucet is. You want to be put in the bathtub while the water is filling and you try to grab at the water as it's rushing out. It's too cute.

You love books. We've been reading them to you since you were a few weeks old but now you like to look through the books all by yourself. Today you held the book up, right side up and looked at the pictures. If you'd had an easy chair and a pair of bi-focals you would have been set.

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It's fun to say.

2010-06-23T22:30:00.000-07:00

For the past two days I have had a word stuck in my head. Two words actually. They circle my brain continuously. As I emptied the dishwasher this afternoon, it popped up. As I cooked up some dijon pork for dinner, it reared it's little head. As the hubs and I walked back to our car after seeing a movie it floated it's way back in. Not only does it keep making it's way back into the ole noggin but it also keeps escaping my lips. It's like I have tourettes. Every time it pops up, I've had to voice it. It may have been said while other's were mid sentence. It may have been used instead of the phrase "goodbye" as my Madre headed down the front walk, tonight. It may have been said repeadetly as the hubs and I transfered some toys from one bin to another. Maybe just maybe.

What IS this word? This phrase that has taken over my world; my life; my ittle, wittle brain?

Gefilte fish.

Yes.

Gefilte fish.

Go ahead. Say it.

It's fun, huh?

Gefilte fish.

Baby boy's summer tips

2010-06-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

It's officially summer, yesterday! Woohoo. To help you have the best summer you could, HRJ asked if he could give you a little how to list.

Take it away baby boy!

If you're going to go out into the sun. Be sure to put your sunscreen on 30 minutes before hand.

Remember to always stay hydrated!

If you're feeling hot, take a refreshing dip in a pool/lake/ocean/slip 'n slide.

Take advantage of the cool evenings. Enjoy a nice walk. Oh and don't forget to take your favorite ball with you!

Take advantage of the all the seasonal fresh fruit available. Crisp and delicious. It's the perfect addition to any summer day. I recommend pureed apples!

If you're sleepy, don't fight it. Enjoy a mid-day nap.

Take the time to do what you love to do. Like ringing your favorite bell!

And most of all

Don't forget to be happy, laugh and enjoy your friends and family!

Happy Summer everyone!

DVR'd father's day

2010-06-21T22:30:00.000-07:00

You know when you get ready to watch your favorite show? You go pee, wash your hands, grab yourself a ~~bowl of ice cream and a liter of soda~~ nice glass of water and a banana. You make your way to the sofa where your comfy looking husband is waiting for you. You sit down, draw your legs up underneath you and snuggle into his side. You're set. The show starts. Your into it, the stories got you. AND then it goes to commercial. Ugh! Now you have to wait those three horrifingly long minutes until you can get back to the gripping story of whether this girl is Ted's future wife. As you sit there you find yourself wishing you had Tivo or DVR. You kick yourself for being cheap. (Honey, I'm just telling a story. I'm still cheap and we still can't get DVR).Well dear friends I'm not going to be cheap for you. We had an amazing father's day weekend. Instead of walking you through every detail, I've DVR'd it and I'm just going to show you the highlights. The real seat grippers.

Friday.
The hubs took the day off so he could watch the World Cup, US vs. some other country. Since he was up he took HRJ downstairs. I got to sleep in until 9. It was bliss. When I woke up and came down stairs, there my hubby was sitting on the couch in his USA jersey and a blanket over his lap. Don't know why but I seriously thought it was the CUTEST thing I have ever seen. I love his pride for the US and soccer. That night we went to a bbq for a coworker who is deploying. It was fine.

Saturday
Again the boys went downstairs bright and early and watched the World Cup. I slept in. Was this mother's day weekend or father's day?
Saturday night we went to a surprise baby shower for an old coworker of mine from the flower shop. I haven't seen any of my coworkers for 2 years. Haven't worked with them for 4 years. *Fast forward* They tracked down my Madre's phone number and called earlier this week to try and find me. I worked with them for 5 years and shared so many hilarious moments and great times. I was tickled that they wanted me to come to the shower.*Play* None of them knew I had a baby. It was great to see them and fun to see their faces when I walked in with HRJ on my hip. At the shower I finally got to have a good tres leches cake, yum!
The highlight of our Saturday though? The impromtu crawl/ball fest HRJ, the hubs and I had when we got home. After a 45 minute car ride I assumed that HRJ would be ready to go to bed. When we got inside I got him ready for his bath. I took off his diaper and then in true crawler form he rolled over and off he went. I didn't go after him. This lead to about 30 minutes of a naked baby crawling around with his parents and learning to throw a little ball. He was so proud of himself. It was an amazingly special time.

*pause* for a ~~refill of that yummy mint chocolate chip ice cream~~ sliced apple.

Sunday
After we woke the hubs up to give him the super soaker, he's been ~~threatening to shoot me with~~ talking about getting for a few years. HRJ and I let him go back to bed and get some beauty sleep. We took him to lunch at Texas Roadhouse. Where we didn't have to wait for a table, score! And where I accidently gorged myself on only potatos and vegetables. Tater skins, mashed potatos and fries. Whoops. At least I threw in a salad and some seasonal veggies. They cancel each other out right?
Then we had an impromtu shopping trip at the local outlet mall where HRJ was the only one who got anything. Don't know how that happened but he has some great new clothes for the summer!
After a yummy/fun mexican dinner with my Padre and Madre we went to hubby's indoor soccer tournament. Where I proceeded to slip on some water on the concrete floor while holding HRJ. My hip broke the fall so his little head didn't hit the ground hard. He only cried for the second that I was laying on top of him. Then he fussed for another few seconds as I checked him out. He was fine.

Monday my hip and back muscles were not fine.

Since I don't own a DVR I don't know how they end. I'm assuming it's just like regular tv. The show ends with a little cliff hanger.

I gained 4 pounds this weekend it's time for me to try to regain some serious self control....

Ps. You thought this was long? Imagine if I'd given you the mundane details. You got lucky.

Happy father's day!

2010-06-20T00:10:00.000-07:00

HRJ knows who his daddy is!

Happy father's day to my amazing husband. You are the best father I could ask for, for my child.
I love you!

Happy father's day to my padre, my father-in-law and my big brother. You are all wonderful men and we are lucky to have you in our lives!

Our lovely wedding

2010-06-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone from SITS friday potluck, SO MUCH for coming by This lovely life and leaving such fun, fun comments for me. I have had an absolutely wonderful time reading them. I will be by to visit you all this week!

Welcome twitter blog hoppers! Thanks for coming over to see my wedding! I've got lots of pictures for you but let me tell you just a little bit about our day...

We got married almost 2 years ago on a beautiful August day. It took place at my local church, our reception was at a pretty golf course. It was a fun, spring wedding in the summer. Why didn't it happen in the spring, you ask? Well, due to the absence of the groom because of his military obligations, we decided to wait until he was home. I absolutely loved my flowers. I had tulips, hydrangea and lisianthus in pretty lavenders and apple greens. Everything and everyone was beautiful. Especially my husband, he looked so handsome. We danced to good music. We laughed with our family and best friends. Our guests ate something tasty. We went to In 'n Out burger afterwards. We loved every minute.

Two months until 1?? How??

2010-06-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

So, my baby turned 10 months yesterday. Sigh. I can't believe how fast he is growing and how quickly this time has gone by. I miss him at night. He is an amazing little boy....ok...enough of that.

Can I just tell you how much I am loving this stage of his life? I'm putting it out into the universe right here and now. I love that HRJ is crawling! I can't handle how cute he is as he creeps forward, moving in on some unsuspecting tupperware. Or the sound of his hands as they slap on our wood floors. I love that I can put him down and walk ahead of him and he follows behind. If something is in his way, like an article of clothing, he stops picks it up and throws it over his shoulder. Too stinkin' cute. It's a whole new wonderful world, for all of us.

Now

I ask you.

Can YOU handle it??? (The cuteness, that is.)

Move out of my way highchair!

He's not going to let some prickly concrete stop him!

Paper bags are so fun!

And..because well, I just can't get enough of him!

In other related news, he now pulls himself up like a pro. Has learned how to open all cabinet doors. He started feeding himself two days and is so very proud of himself!

Remember this update? Well, we went to the doctor today and he gained 6 ounces in 2 weeks, so our Doc was really happy. We also get to stop the inhaler. Apparently he is just too young to have asthma/allergies. His issue might be slight reflux. They aren't sure but since he is eating and doing better than two weeks ago, we are moving forward from this and just keeping it in the back of our minds.

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I want to thank Jessica Anne over at Adventures With Three girls for the beautiful blogger award! You all don't know how excited I get when I get an award. I really appreciate it! You guys need to go check out Jessica Anne. She has three adorable little girls. One of her girls loves hummus. And since I love hummus and I want HRJ to love hummus, Jessica Anne is my hero for introducing her kids to the yumminess. Thank you again, you are so sweet!!

Today at the grocery store.

2010-06-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Today at the grocery store, I had to use the bathroom with my son sitting on my lap.

Today at the grocery store, my cutie, patootie son held the shopping list. Until he started eating it, that is.

Today at the grocery store, HRJ got really, really fussy (read:crying loudly) and refused to sit in the cart. He was happy being carried.

Today at the grocery store, I got a really good workout on my right arm due to the aforementioned fact.

Today at the grocery store, I got super excited that they were carrying Heritage Dr. Pepper again!

Today at the grocery store, I had to manuever (I really do mean, maneuvered. Like as in stealth military operations.) around the same people on every aisle.

Today at the grocery store, I might have failed at my military manuevering and run into a few free standing displays.

Today at the grocery store, the cashier gave me lip after watching me struggle to pick the soda up from under the cart, put it on the counter with one hand and a knee, holding HRJ and no handle punched through. "You do know about the handle, right?" Ya. I'm aware. Thanks.

Today at the grocery store, HRJ grabbed receipts out of my open wallet at the checkstand and threw them on the floor.

Today at the grocery store, the bagger helped me to squeeeeeeze the bags into the car. Since we couldn't get into the right side because a pregnant lady in a big ole Bronco parked way to close. Or did I park too close to her? Not sure. No, it was her.

Today at the grocery store, I watched a pregnant lady squeeze herself in between two cars and climb into her car. Not sure how she fit.

Today at the grocery store, I mouthed "seriously" to an old lady who decided to stop and wait for me, with her blinker on, to close my doors so she could pull into the spot on the left side of me. There was an open spot directly behind me and directly in front of me.

Today at the grocery store, while the lady waited and I held the baby, I fumbled around trying to find the money to give the bagger her tip.

Today at the grocery store, while the lady continued to wait, HRJ acted like an alligator killing it's prey when I tried to put him in the carseat. He grabbed my hair, locked his body and rolled. Mulitple times. It hurt.

Today at the grocery store, the lady finally got the point, turned off her blinker and drove away.

Today at the grocery store, as I nursed HRJ in the 100,000,000 degree car, so that he would allow me to put him in his seat, I watched the lady circle around the parking lot and find a closer parking spot.

Today at the grocery store, I kicked myself for going to a military grocery store on pay day.

The end.

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Welcome SITS potluck ladies! Thank you so much for coming by my little blog. If you want to see a little more of what This lovely life is all about go here. I hope you all have a great weekend!!
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I would like to thank Amanda over at Chasing Twins in Louboutins so much for the beautiful blogger award! That was so sweet of you to think of me. Amanda has a set of the cutest twins, you'll ever see. You need to go and check them out! She has some adorable pictures of them visiting horseys the other day. I'm a little jealous of all the visiting of horses, if you must know. Oh, how I miss riding horses. Thanks again, Amanda!

Crack is wack.

2010-06-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

I have a question for you. If it is so wack, then why is my son acting like he is on some serious, serious crack? The kid will not sleep. He has been wired for three straight days. If I didn't make his food from scratch and if his milk didn't come from me, I would seriously be wondering if he was ingesting something tainted. Seriously.

~~Normally~~ Latelly ( because we don't have a normal) he has been going to bed around 6:30-7 and sleeping until 11ish, then until 3ish, 6ish and finally wakes up at 9 or so. Yes, he is almost 10 months and doesn't sleep through the night, but we'll get back to that a little later. For a few brief weeks a couple months ago he was only waking up once a night. Glorious, bliss. Now, we are back to two times a night. why? why? During the day he usually takes two naps. But recently everything has been turned upside down.

Saturday morning he woke up at 7:45. Napped from 10:30-11:45 and then r.e.f.u.s.e.d. to go down until 4pm. Thirty minutes later, he was awake. Bed at 8ish I think and woke up 3 times. Oh and when he wakes up I have to go in, no more putting himself back to sleep. This new skill of pulling himself up is really cramping our style. He refuses to lay back down. He just stands there and screams.

Sunday morning he woke up 6 am napped from 10-11. Started rubbing his eyes at 1, just as we were headed to a birthday party. After a brief nap in the car later that night, I tried to carry him to his crib to put him down. The second he went into a horizontal position the eyes popped open and the crying began. At 8:00 he went down. Read: crazy screaming. At 2:45am (yay for 6 hours!) he woke up. As I was nursing him I looked down through my half-massed-exhausted-eyes and saw big ole eyes staring back at me. He was wide awake! I tried 4 different times to put him back in his crib. He would tease me and shut his eyes, acting all asleep. I would make it all the way back to my bed and then the screaming would begin again. REPEAT for 2 hours. It was 4:30 and two awake parents, when he finally fell asleep in our bed. And at 8 am his little eyes popped open ready to go. At 10 he started rubbing his eyes for a nap. It then took one hour for me to get him to finally go to sleep. He woke up an hour later and that was it. No more naps. Lots of yawns, rubbing of the eyes, moodiness, but he refused, refused, refused to sleep. He went down at 8:15 tonight after much fighting on his part.

I'm so frusterated. Why is he not sleeping? Why is he fighting going to sleep in his crib? AND when, When, WHEN is going to start sleeping through the night?

Mama's tired. Advice please.

Bow wow wow, yippy yo, yippy yay.

2010-06-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

This is our puppy Maggie Mae. Also known as Magnus, Mags delicious or just simply Mags. We adopted her back in 2008. It's kind of a funny story how we got her. Not a haha kind of funny story, it's more of like a huh that's neat Debbi, kind of a story. Oh, you want to hear the whole thing? Well, ok. Who am I to deprive you?

One sunny April morning the hubs and I headed out to go look at dogs. We had been talking about getting a dog for a while, but I was dead set against it. I wanted to wait until after we returned from our honeymoon in 4 months to get one. So, don't ask me why it was MY idea to jump in the car and drive to the nearest pound. Boredom, maybe? Maybe it was the non-stop sad look on my hubby's face everytime the word dog was mentioned? We were just going to look. Right?

At the first pound they had one dog, it was kinda cute. But this was first stop and so we left. Next up, the SPCA. They had a cute little terrier, but it was so frail there was no way it could be a family dog and be around our future children. So, again we were on the road again (insert Willy Nelson singing). On a whim we decided to head to the next county's pound. We had no idea where it was so one quick call to my mom for directions and we were off. It was 30 minutes away. This pound had the best puppies we had seen all day. There were three adorable dogs that looked just like my puppy Coco, who was really sick and has since been put down. I was in love, I wanted them right then and there. The sign on their kennel door said adoption was pending so we were out of luck. After a good 15 minutes of standing at the kennel, willing the sign to go away, it didn't. So, we moved on.

Back in the car the hubs and I looked at each other. "Hey, if we are out this far, why don't we see if the next city has a pound?" That took us 45 minutes from home. We pulled into the parking lot and headed inside. They had tons of pit bulls and big dogs to look at. We walked down one aisle and up the next. As we rounded one corner this little chihuhua mix was standing on it's hind legs doing twirls. I had to stop and take a look at this cutie-patootie. We oooo'd and ahhh'd and then walked on, because my hubby wanted a medium to big sized dog. But by three kennels away, my heart was aching for that little puppy. I turned on the big guns. I looked at my red-head and with my puppy dog (so, fitting for the occasion) eyes and lower lip extended I asked if we could go back and look at her again? He succome and said, yes. We walked back to her and watched as she did a few more twirls for us. We asked if we could see her in the yard, so the lady carried her out and let us be. She, Trixie at the time, immediatly started smelling the fence line and found a hole into the next yard. Off she went. Normal people would have gone ding, ding, she's a runner. Nope not us. We got her back. Spent a little more time petting her and took her back inside. Since my husband and I had never adopted a dog before, we didn't know the protocal. We decided to go ask how it all works, in case we decided that we actually wanted her. All of a sudden we were sitting in a little room being interviewed as a prospective forever home. Then I was on the phone with our property managment co. asking for permission. Then handing over our credit card and walking out with an appointment to pick her up the following day. The hubs and I got in the car, our heads spinning. I guess we just adopted a dog, we laughed. The next day my hubs brought her home. And now, we couldn't be happier that she twirled into our lives. She is a wonderful dog, minus of course the runner issues. She is a cuddler, a lap dog (especially if you are using a certain blanket), a hyper active, crack up. Awesomely sweet and incredibly protective of our baby. HRJ loves her to no end. An important part of our family. Even if I do want to send her, her squeaky toy and tennis ball packing some days.

Woooo I guess I got carried away. I was just going to show you some pictures of her.

Men and their food.

2010-06-11T22:04:00.000-07:00

The hubs and I were sitting on the sofa together tonight having this little convo. He cracks me up.

Me: What do you want for dinner? I'm getting hungry.

Hubby: I'm NOT hungry, yet!

I returned to what I was doing and he to his stuff. 5 minutes later and after a few tummy growls.

Me: Well, I'm going to go cook dinner for myself.

Hubby: What are you going to make?

Me: Eggs, bacon, toast and potatos.

Hubby: OKAY!

Me: I thought you weren't hungry?

Hubby: You start cooking. I'll probably get hungry.

Ok honey.....

Friendly friday follow

2010-06-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day? I know, I'm gettin' all crazy and stuff. No. I just wanted to take part in this cool friendly friday follow that is going on over at Toddler awesome! So if you're visiting via Toddler awesome, welcome! I'm Debbi and I'm so happy to have you! Take a look around, if you've go a little time go here to read a little more. I hope you decide to stay, I'd love to get to know you!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programing....
Take a looksy below at my almost ten month old son, HRJ but be careful he is out to get you!

Be afraid, be very afraid.

2010-06-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

Cause HRJ is coming for you!

You can run but you can't hide!

You think this dog is gonna stop me?

I've got my eye on you.

I can see you shaking in your shoes!

Gotcha!