I reject your reality and substitute my own

Awesome Giveaway

2010-11-18T10:24:00.001-08:00

Just entered an awesome giveaway at http://brookevangory.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/giveaway-spit-on-this-baby-gift-set/#comment-1010 you can too!

Tulip Festival

2010-04-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok... so it's not my favorite place to go. I will admit it. It was AMAZING the first time, but now that I have been about 20 times... I'M OVER IT! However Lorelai really wanted to go, so we went... again.

I think most of the fun is in the ferry ride. We typically stay in the car and blast music and hang out together. In this ride, Mae wanted to try her hand at driving. I couldn't convince her of the importance to look ahead and keep both hands on the wheel.

Lorelai's new toy... I mean, Ty's new toy, is the iPad.

I NEVER have to convince Lorelai to let me take pics of her, but on this day, she was NOT into it. This was about the best I could get her to do. We always go to the same garden because they have a museum of all the different types of tulips and other flowers as well as being adjacent to a few tulip fields so you also get to see the magnitude of the fields.

As far as the eye can see...

I wish Mae had been looking forward, but like I said, Lorelai was not ok with pics so we were lucky to get what we got.

She doesn't latch onto binkies, but they make amazing teethers... so Mae keeps hers handy.

Fresh kettle corn is so delicious on a spring day at the festival.

Easter!

2010-04-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

Mabel's first Easter was a very good one! I love that Lorelai is getting to the age where she cares about leaving food for the Easter bunny out and gets excited about what he will leave her. It's also tons of fun to start introducing her to the real meaning behind holidays and have her begin to understand. Holidays mean to much more with kids. They really are a blessing!

I have no idea why I didn't get pics of their full Easter baskets but I did get a pic of Ty giving Mae a peep. Ugh. Right after this, she sucked down the ENTIRE ear of the bunny peep and began to choke. I really thought I was going to have to start administering all sorts of maneuvers. :) Don't even get me started about her being 5 months with candy in her mouth.

Lorelai, on the other hand, is a seasoned candy eater and could not wait to have a delicious breakfast of candy. Ty and I have developed one rule about holidays and candy. She is allowed to go nuts, eat all she possibly can and wants to for one day only. After that, it is GONE! So by the end of the holiday there are guaranteed melt downs, but there will be no repeats the next day so it's a good rule for us!

Mabel got some super cute sunglasses. I really wish she would leave them on, because she is made for sunglasses.

Later that morning, we went to brunch with Ty's parents. It was such a nice change. There was no cooking, no cleaning, no mess... definitely a welcome change. The only bad thing we encountered was no left over ham... next year I will have to make a ham the night before.

Oh this baby just melts my insides to mush... I could just eat her I love her so much. My Aunt Kathy gave her a beautiful pearl bracelet and her wrist was finally big enough to wear it.

The handsome hub and the beautiful babe.

I relish in the days that Grandma and Grandpa are Lorelai's best friends. It's going to be such a sad day when they don't come first anymore.

Miscellanea

2010-04-25T21:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a few miscellaneous pics from the last 2 months. Ty recently came into a few Tonka trucks like the ones he had when he was a kid and was so excited to show the girls. This is what came of that...

Sometimes dress up is just exhausting! Lorelai hasn't been taking too many naps lately but sometimes I still make her lay down and relax in my room watching a cartoon. This is what I found after a particularly exhausting day

Mae is in that middle stage where she is too big for her baby bath but too little and unsteady to sit up in the tub with her big sister so I've been bathing her in an inch or two of water all by herself. She has so much fun splashing around and exploring water in a whole new way!

Dying Easter Eggs

2010-04-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

These are 2 of my very dear friends, Jordan (left) and Sam (right). I am lucky enough that they love my kids and love to spend their time with my family, so they were pumped when I invited them to dye Easter eggs with us. I hard boiled a few thinking that Lorelai would be excited since she loves hard boiled eggs... WRONG! Turns out she couldn't bare to crack her pretty eggs... so, we had about a dozen hard boiled eggs go bad. We blew out the yolks on some too, so by the time this pic was taken, we all had sore cheeks. I love holiday craft projects and I love them even more when Sam and Jordan can join in too.

Mae eventually grew tired of the festivities and Ty put her to sleep in this comfortable position... but he sure was proud of himself that he put her to sleep anyway.

The Zoo in the Springtime

2010-04-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Ty's sister got us a year pass to the zoo for Christmas and we were so excited to get out there and start using it so as soon as the weather allowed, which was right before Easter, we were there! This was Mabel's first zoo trip and she was about as excited as any 5 month old would be.

She did really love to see the fish tank... that was probably her favorite.

My poor Lorelai... I am going to have a collection of crack pics until we can find pants that are big enough for her booty but small enough for the rest of her skinny body.

She was chasing this peacock. Ty had 2 peacock's that ran away when he was a boy, so Lorelai thinks every peacock she sees is daddies peacock.

Lorelai was holding Mae's hand as we walked through the zoo and she was telling her all about the things we were seeing. It was very sweet.

So that was our zoo trip... I know you would expect to see pics of animals, but I have about 12 pictures of every animal in that zoo just due to the fact that we have been so many times so this time I only took kiddo pics. And let's be honest, they are cuter than the elephants anyway.

Ooh Lincoln City... I Miss You!

2010-01-23T00:18:00.000-08:00

All I wanted for my 30th birthday was to get away! So we packed our bags and headed south to Lincoln City, OR. It was the most absolutely perfect place for me to be before leaving my 20's. The house we rented was gorgeous and spacious and perfect. The weather was sunny and warm and perfect. The people we brought with us, Kim and Nancy were perfect. It was my most favorite weekend ever. I can't wait to go back again and again and again.

This is the view from the rental. The sound of the ocean filled the whole house, it is such a powerful yet relaxing sound. I wish I could hear it every day.

The first night, we got there a little late so we played some games and just hung out.

Lorelai's first experience with Candyland... super fun!

The next day it was 65 and sunny... unheard of on the Oregon coast in January. It was a birthday blessing.

Another birthday blessing is what a good baby I have! Super smiley even after a diaper blow out.

Mae loves to hang out near her favorite furry cousins, Tucker and Taz.

The entire weekend was so relaxing and there was so much time to do absolutely nothing and with Kim and Nancy there to play with Mae, I got some reading time in.

Me and my Nanc. Love this girl!

Sunday, we decided to take a day trip to the aquarium. It was probably the most lame aquarium we have been to, but it was still a fun outing. Mae spent the afternoon chewing on my hand.

These crabs were enormous! And they standing up like they were going to attack. Of course all I could hear in my head was "hey, hey, hey" from Nemo.

They did have a really cool tunnel where you were surrounded by the aquarium. I love this picture, Lorelai was in such a state of wonder. Seeing the fish swimming all around her was amazing for her.

My poor baby girl will always have a hard time finding pants that will cover up her entire bum. They will fit every other place, but her crack will always be out in the open.

This is Ty's favorite bridge. Doesn't look like much huh? That's what I thought... I try not to judge him.

This is what Lorelai thinks about Ty's favorite bridge. hehe

All in all the weekend was just what I needed it to be. We cooked fabulous food, played games, laughed, took walks and just enjoyed every second. I wanna go back right now.

My Girls

2010-01-11T01:23:00.000-08:00

I took a quick shower and in that 5 minutes, Lorelai had climbed into Mae's playpen. Even with Mae being so young, they have so much fun together. Lorelai can be such a great big sister!

They melt my heart!

New Years

2010-01-01T01:12:00.000-08:00

I imagine that many more of our New Years will be exactly like this years... at home with our babies. We had an appetizer fest; making wings, mini-pizzas, cheese sticks and jalapeno poppers. We played games and just had a really fun time together. Lorelai made it all the way until midnight and we banged on pots and pans.

Me and my girls... even tho Mae's hat had fallen down. All 3 of us can't be perfect in one picture. :)

Christmas!

2009-12-25T00:16:00.000-08:00

This year was especially special for us because it was our first Christmas with our Mabel! It was also our first year with 2 kids and Santa had to make a few changes as to the amount of gifts he brought. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

Still I think Lorelai made out pretty darn good. I love wrapping presents and setting them all up... definitely one of the better perks of parenthood.

Mae didn't do too shabby either, and although she didn't know one present from 100... the gifts that she got were things that she now, at 6 months old, LOVES!

I think Lo might be a cheerleader when she grows up because she absolutely loves dressing up like a cheerleader, Santa must have known because he got her a new uniform.

And the ONLY thing she asked for this year was Strawberry Shortcake... Santa got the memo.

So did Nana and Papa because they outdid Santa and got her all outfitted for some serious Strawberry Shortcake play.

Anyone who knows Lorelai, knows that she loves to dress up like animals, hair clippies like a rabbit are perfect!

Whose idea was it to give her a drum?? Horrible Santa idea.

After opening all the presents, we noticed one more that was plugged into the wall. We turned it on and WOW! Santa left a blow up house. Super fun!

There were no pics of Mae... probably because she slept right through. She was such a super sleeper at 2 months that there are hardly any pics of her at all... she was always asleep!

Dance Recital

2009-12-19T23:45:00.000-08:00

Lorelai has been in dance since the summer and finally we got to see all her hard work at her very first recital. Of course, they just mostly stood there and smiled and forgot their steps... but so incredibly cute anyway. I mean, Lorelai was obviously the best dancer up there, but I might be slightly biased.

Here is the proud Daddy with his 2 girls

Mae got all dressed up for the occasion.

Seriously enough to melt your heart into a big ol' puddle...

I chose this pic because my little girl is so well endowed in the rear. I love her little bubble butt.

I even remembered flowers for the little dancer.

She did a great job, I cant wait to see how her dancing progresses and what area she decides to go in.

Thanksgiving, Ty's B-day and Decorating the Xmas Tree.

2009-11-26T23:35:00.000-08:00

This year, Thanksgiving weekend was especially busy. We usually have Thanksgiving and decorate our Christmas tree, but we had Ty's birthday and Ty was leaving out of town for a few days. After having almost every holiday at our house, we have the process down! A couple folding tables and table clothes and BAM! Insta-Thanksgiving.

There were a couple of new little people at our holiday this year... Miss Addi was not only here but in a high chair eating real food. How fun!

Look at Mae's little puckered lips... she loves cuddling close to Gramma.

Since Ty's birthday was not only his 30th but also on Thanksgiving day, we skipped the pumpkin pie and had a big ol' Costco cake instead. Yum.

He has one more helper to blow out candles this year...

Here is Grandpa with all 3 of his girls. I wonder if there will ever be a boy in this family?!?!

As daddy was packing to leave us for work for a few days, we were decorating our Christmas tree. Lorelai has put up the angel every year and we have this exact picture every year!

Lorelai's favorite thing about having a little sister is getting to have matching outfits. I'm sure that will change at some point, but for now I will take advantage as much as possible.

For a very brief moment in time, Mae was a thumb sucker. I am sad that this didn't last, but in the long run, I am positive it's a good thing. Thank goodness I will always have the pics to remind me.

Soccer!

2009-11-21T23:45:00.000-08:00

Along with dance, gymnastics and preschool, I put Lorelai in soccer so that her and Ty would have an activity Saturday mornings together. Mostly so I could sleep in with Mae.

The lighting is horrible and they were so far away that it was impossible for me to get some good pics, but here are a few of her very last soccer class until we enroll her in a league. It was parent participation, so Ty got to play space rangers and run around goofy with Lo too.

Nana, Papa and Aunt Amy's Visit

2009-11-08T23:11:00.000-08:00

There is just nothing like having your mom there when you have a baby and the time right after, at least having my mom there... probably not just any mom. :)

She loves me and she loves my kids in a way no one else does and no one else will. She knows me so well and she she knows how I do things. I am so lucky that she has agreed both times to come take care of me and my house until I was able to get back on my feet.

My dad and Amy came up after a couple weeks to meet Miss Mae. I can't recall what we did while they were here, so I'm sure it was not much... but I do remember feeling so happy that they were here to meet my new little one.

Ok, no one believed me or my mom that Mae was smiling at just a few weeks old... but here ya go. You tell me she isn't looking at her Nana and smiling? I like Lorelai's smile in this too. hehe

Here's my beautiful sister! Amy was a complete life saver with Lorelai. There were more than a few times I got tears in my eyes because she was so sweet and so patient with Lorelai when Lorelai wasn't exactly exhibiting the type of behavior that would make you want to be sweet and patient with her. She is such a great mom and nothing phases her, I envy that so much.

Wow! Those are some fantasticly young and beautiful and handsome grandparents!

And here's our Mae when she had her old man head. She was such a serious newborn, I'm glad she's lightening up a lot. Lorelai is serious enough for the both of them. She sure was a beautiful newborn though!

Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T22:48:00.000-07:00

A few short weeks after Mabel was born, it was Halloween! Lorelai had picked out her costume 2 months before and since I wouldn't let her wear it until Halloween and she stared at it daily, she was super excited when it was FINALLY time to put it on.

I knew there was no costume small enough for Mae, so I opted for a swaddle blanket and hat (that was still too big) to turn her into a watermelon. But seriously, how cute are they??

Our visit to Grammas house. Considering the year Gramma has had, we are so very lucky to have another Halloween with her. And many more to come!

I love this pic. First of all, Uncle Paul hesitates holding newborns and I have tortured him with both, you can kind of tell :) But look at Lorelai... staring so intently. What a fantastic moment captured. I love it.

Lorelai with her monkey of a cousin, Addison. She adores little Addi.

This is Lorelai's bestie, Sophia. They have been friends since before they were walking, and have seen each other every Halloween too.

And finally...TADA! We were lucky enough to have our Nana this Halloween. She was here for Mabel's birth and Yay! We got her for Halloween. Definitely not something that happens every year, so we are so fortunate to have this memory!

Mabel's Birth

2009-10-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

Wow... 9 long months of nausea, puking, mystery rashes, hernia, acid reflux, esophagitis, ER visits, weight retention and who knows what I am forgetting. Of course there were so many good things... I absolutely love being pregnant. I love feeling the kicks, I love having the life grow in me, so I would obviously do it over again. Call me crazy! :)

I was convinced that I wasn't able to go into labor on my own and just like every 9 month pregnant lady, I got super antsy towards the end. But, just as labor goes, I started getting really bad contractions and bloody show on the night of the 11th. Since I was induced with Lorelai, my reaction was to freak out. If you had been on the outside looking in without volume, you would think there was a fire. My great aunt and uncle were here for a visit and I felt horrible to break it up after 15 minutes... but I was freaking. Everyone dispersed... Ty was collecting things, I was panicking... mom was trying to calm me down.

Kim and Nancy were going to watch Lo and were on their way, but again... there was a fire... I was freaking... so my aunt and uncle sat with Lo until they got there. We arrived at the hospital and got settled into a room. They hooked me up to moniter my contractions, which were pretty strong and regular. The nurse asked my pain management goals and before I really knew what I was saying, I heard myself utter the words "natural childbirth". I hadn't made a choice one way or the other so I was surprised I was so quick to blurt it out, but I'm a daring girl... figured I'd roll with it for a while.

Hours and days and years passed... ok, maybe just hours, but holy cow it felt like forever. It was rush rush rush and everyone come to the hospital and then as I'm laying in the bed with everyone staring at me like "ok, we're ready!" Well, Mabel was not ready. So as the time went on, people gave up on me and left the hospital. All that was left was Nancy, Mom and Ty. My mom and I walked the hallways, stopping as the contractions got worse and worse. Since I was having natural childbirth, I wasn't hooked up to anything and was able to take a bath. I never understood people who had water births, but now I get it. The water relieves so much of the pain!

After my first bath I was hurting bad and when I get hurting, I get GROUCHY! I was getting the hospital gown back on and a HORRID contraction came on. Ty came into the bathroom to tell me there was a nurse change and they wanted to talk to me. Seriously? I'm in the middle of a contraction, doubled over in pain, trying to breathe through it and this man, the one who did this to me in the first place, wants me to walk into the room and talk to the nurses because of a shift change? Needless to say, not nice things came out of my mouth, things that would offend most truckers. I say most because there are those ones that murder hookers and stuff them in the cargo area... I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have offended them.

So after the shift change, I was back to walking, swaying, cursing. In that order. Questioning myself but I've already said "natural childbirth" and the nurses were encouraging me and being so nice... so I kept up the charade and acted like I wanted to do this. Meanwhile "stupid, stupid, stupid" was running through my head.

Then the bomb hit... or at least that's what it felt like and suddenly the pain was more than I could bare. I knew it was time to push but wanted, no needed something to take it ease it. I don't think any mother could put the pain into words. I would imagine sticking a burning hot iron fire poker up into the nether regions would feel pretty good comparatively. The nurse got authorization to put something into my iv. To this day, I don't remember what it was. I do know it wasn't anything that took even a shred of the pain away, but it did make my head float above my body so I was able to think it through and stay in the moment.

I should mention that the nurse that was currently on duty had a nurse in training with her. This poor, poor nurse had no idea what was coming to her.

So my head is floating, they are putting my legs in stir-ups... I know my mouth is saying things I have NEVER said before in my life and I am unable to control it. I know I am embarrassing my mom and Ty because they both have this uneasy look on their face. The same look they would have if I came out of the bathroom naked in a 4 star restaurant. But I have no control, so I don't spend much time trying. I start pushing and the doctor isn't there yet and I hear someone say "stop pushing until the doctor gets here" and I really lost it. I have half of a head poking out of my vagina and you want me to stop pushing until it's more convenient for them???? NO WAY! Luckily it was at that second the doc walked in and I could resume pushing.

This is when the poor, poor NIT (nurse in training) comes into play because it was at that second that I shot a cannon of amniotic fluid all over that poor girl. Down her legs, I'm pretty sure I heard sloshing in her shoes as she walked away with the most mortified look on her face. I'm pretty sure nothing that had happened to her in her life had prepared her for that moment.

I instantly went into apologies, but there was no time because Mabel was a few pushes away. More pain and I'm telling my mom "this is just stupid, absolutely stupid" and "why am I doing this" and then the last shot of pain and she was here. Perfect, little 7lb 9 oz little Mabel. Looking nothing like her sister but weighing only a 2 ounces less and 1/2 inch taller. It was amazing, just like with Lorelai.

In the hours that followed there was a stream of people in and out to meet little Mabel but then the nurse and the NIT came in and told me I needed to go to the bathroom and get changed. Again, to this nurse, I am SOOOO sorry because as they stood me up, we quickly learned that the blood had been pooling inside me and there was a downpour. It splashed all over the poor nurse that had just changed into new scrubs. Again, the look on her face is burned into my memory and I am quite certain I am the worst patient she has ever encountered. Then my head started to float again and they were telling me to do things but I couldn't think quick enough and there was blood all over and wow. That was almost worse than the birth.

But then there was Mae... so sweet and little and REFUSING TO SLEEP!!! I hadn't slept at all the night before and I just had natural child birth and I was tired. Everyone had left to sleep and there I was with a baby that wouldn't sleep. She was crying and just wanted to suck and suck. The nurse came in and tried to get her to sleep and was unsuccessful, so she called in the lactation nurse that finally got her to sleep with the shooshing in her ear and a pacifier. She tucked her in next to me and we slept for an hour or so.

Lorelai was so quick to love her sister but so quick to get jealous too. She had been everyone's center of attention for so long and suddenly mom was glued to this baby and everyone is making a fuss over her. That started about 10 weeks of hell. Things are much, much better now. But for an entire 10 weeks, my 3 year old was replaced with the devil himself.

Anyway, that's neither here nor there because this Mae's birth story and that's how it went. Sorry for the detail, I have a bad memory and I wanted to remember every detail I have hung onto for 12 weeks. I'm sure there is much, much more that I have forgotten... but that's probably for the best. So she's here, our little Mabel Campbell Walker. She is so sweet and so kind and so quiet and is ALREADY SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT, so of course she's my favorite kid already. Just kidding mom... Lorelai is smarter so she's my favorite. ;) Ty is going to make fun of me for the next part, but we are so truly blessed. Both our girls are so beautiful and smart and easy to love. Can't wait for the next one! Right Ty????

The Baby Shower!

2009-09-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

My baby shower was so amazingly fun. The games were so incredibly fun. We were put in pairs and had to match up little tiny baby socks. I was pretty confident since I'm pretty sure Lorelai has never owned 2 pairs of socks that were the same... we did good, but Laura and Kim still beat us. They were the hosts, so I got the prize anyway. :)

The next game was pairing up and feeding each other an entire jar of baby food. Whoever got through the jar the quickest won. This is Nancy's face after tasting her baby food. I made it through one bite and ended up dry heaving in the bathroom. It was mac and cheese flavored apparently but I have a very weak gag reflux while I am pregnant... so it did NOT go well.
I will never forget how funny it was watching everyone else eat this disgusting baby food. This was the best baby shower game that I will reuse for anyone I get to throw a shower for in the future... beware!
There was also a purse treasure hunt. I have EVERYTHING in my purse, but I just barely had cleaned it out and lost at this game too. Laura really did have everything... EVERYTHING! haha
I want to put up the picture of my cake, but it was a little on the racy side so I will refrain. Let's just say it had a barbie giving birth on it. That's why I love my friends, such a great sense of humor.

Thanks girls! I love you!

Zoo Trip with Nana

2009-09-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

I wish there was a way to show how cool the penguin tank was. It was awesome to see them swimming all over from the top and underneath water!

haha, I had to take this pic!
Lorelai is so in love with animals, particularly hippos, rhinos, giraffes and zebras. She saw this giant hippo and freaked out. She totally ended up with her foot stuck in mud, but I had to let her do it.
Here's my little giraffe with the giraffes. She met her most idolized animal, it was such a great moment. They let you feed the giraffe for $5 but the line was SO long and we eventually gave up. I will have to take her back on a weekday and try again.
No zoo trip is complete without a carousel ride!

My mom tried to surprise me for my baby shower, I ended up finding out, but I was just as happy as I would have if I had been surprised. I couldn't believe she was coming just for the shower. Ahh, it was a breath of fresh air! While she was here, we went to the Woodland Park zoo. I haven't been to that zoo yet, so it was fun to experience it for the first time with Nana.

Painting Lo's Big Girl Room

2009-09-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

We've been finishing the basement in order to give the girls their own rooms. We decided to move Lorelai downstairs since I'll be up with the baby at night, so better to keep her on the same level as the master bedroom. We have included Lorelai in on every decision with her room to make it an easier transition for her. That includes paint color, she chose orange. We only did one wall the darker orange and the other 3 a lighter version. Lorelai wanted to help, so I gave her a paintbrush and let her at it! Of course she drew pictures. :) The picture on the far right is of me with Mabel in my belly, such a great picture! I was sad to cover it up!

She wasn't too much help, but she felt great about helping!

Grandparents Weekend!

2009-09-22T21:06:00.000-07:00

Ty's grandparents came for a visit at the beginning of August. They haven't seen Lorelai in a long time and it was their first meeting with Addison. What a fun visit we had with them!

We went to the Port Townsend airport cafe for breakfast, this day Lo was a zebra and not a giraffe. She likes to change it up occasionally.

Lorelai loves it when she finds new people who think she is amazing and cute. She turns "on" and performs a show the whole time. It's so cute.
She definitely found a friend in Grandpa.
Someday she will look back and wonder why I let her leave the house in zebra ears... haha. I will always crack up looking back at this phase.
We went to the beach in Port Townsend and it was COLD that day, but that definitely has never and will never stop Lo from jumping right on in. She would go all the way up to her chest and freak Grandma out. Grandma Jeanne has a fear of water and to see Lo so comfortable seriously was giving her heart palpitations. There were a few times I made Ty go in after her too... she really has no fear!
Some new glasses Grandma Jeanne got her
I LOVE seeing her with Ty's dad. They are like 2 peas in a pod, seriously the best of friends. She looks up to him and adores him so much. She wants to be just like Grandpa when she grows up.
They have so much fun together, Grandpa is not afraid to give into his inner 3 year old and play right on her level. She is so lucky to have him in her life.
Lorelai wanted me to bury her. When I got done, she was so excited! It very quickly turned to panic when she realized she couldn't move.
And there's the panic. haha. Don't worry, I didn't make her suffer for long. :)

Whaling Days Parade

2009-09-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

July 25th we went to the Whaling Days Parade in Silverdale. It was seriously 90 degrees that day and being pregnant, it was not the best situation ever. Um, not to mention this parade lasted 2 and a half hours... no joke. Lorelai loved every second of it and that's what counts right? Luckily, my wonderful husband went to Sears and bought me a camp chair so I didn't have to suffer on the ground.

Ty's sister and my neice, Addison, came too. She slept right on through the entire parade except for a few moments we got to play with her.
Waiting for the parade to begin.
Honorary fire kid!
Her poor heat face, luckily I remembered sunscreen so she didn't burn to a crisp, but we were all a little heat stricken by the end.

A Whip Cream Party!

2009-09-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

During chemo and radiation, Gramma's throat got really sore and she was having a hard time swallowing. She really found comfort in cold things, so I would bring her a blended mocha here and there. One particular day Lorelai wanted to give Gramma her drink, it had tons of whip cream on it and Lo wanted to stick her finger in that whip cream so badly, but she refrained the whole time and was so proud of herself when she gave it to Gramma with no finger dips. Gramma decided to reward her with a whip cream party. She brought over a chocolate cake and COVERED it with whip cream and let Lo go at it. It was so fun and the best treat for Lo ever!

We are so lucky to have Gramma so close to give us memories like this!

The Wiggles

2009-09-22T20:33:00.000-07:00

We took Lo to the Wiggles in July. This was our second visit. The first time was at the Tacoma Dome but this time it was at the Everett Event Center. This was particularly confusing to Lorelai because she was convinced the Wiggles lived at the Tacoma Dome and couldn't understand why they were somewhere else. :)

Here was Lo in her giraffe ears and tails with her roses for Dorothy. She went through a phase where she wouldn't go anywhere without her ears and tail on. While we were in line, a mean little girl said "hey girl, why are you wearing those ears and tail?" This really hurt Lo's feelings and she took them off and wouldn't put them on again for the rest of the day. It was so sad, that the second I saw a Dorothy the Dinosaur tail for sale, I knew I had to get it for her and sure enough, that made her feel lots better and the tail came back!!

So excited with anticipation! We were there SO early, but it gave Lorelai lots of time to get out her jitters before the show.
I was very upset because I spent lots of extra money... $42 a ticket to be exact, to be in the front. Turns out they had another tier up that they didn't advertise on the floor. You had to call and specifically ask to be on the floor. I couldn't believe I spent that much money for no reason at all. This is my grumpy face without bumming everyone out.
My goofy family on a sugar high from cotton candy.
She CRASHED the second we got to the car. Way too much stimulation! But what a fun day. I am so grateful for the days we get to do activities like this together. Ty doesn't get a whole lot of free time away, so we count our blessings when we finally get some time!!

4th of July

2009-09-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

Ya, ya... 4th of July was months 3 months ago almost. It's catch up time!

We had a nice quiet 4th of July at home with just a few friends. We made some crafts, Lo ran through sprinklers, we ate some AWESOME food and did a few small fireworks.

Lo and Lucy thought the fire crackers were a little too loud, I love this pic!

Lo loved the sparklers! This is the first year that she really knew what was going on, so it was by far the most fun 4th we've had.

Poor Lucy had an ear infection and was NOT feeling well. Lorelai was so determined to spend time with her friend that she laid inside and watched shows with her. It was so cute to see them cuddled up together!

Lo and Fiona all cuddled up together. Fiona is so cute with the kids, Lorelai always has a blast when she's around!

There was our 4th! Hard to believe next year we will have a little one crawling around!

Healthcare

2009-07-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

I'm watching the President's news conference on health care reform. I am in no way an expert on what Obama is proposing, actually this conference is the most I have educated myself.

I am, however, an expert on how messed up the system is NOW. My family has health care coverage... good coverage by most standards and because of 2 health issues (Lo's surgery and my meningitis) we have $3,000 in medical bills. I pay out $400 a month in medical bills. I can not even imagine how a family with state coverage or no coverage, would survive having 2, rather minor health care issues, let alone a big issue.

I am now pregnant and learning quickly that this baby will end up costing us a ridiculous amount for having good insurance.

My second biggest issue is Medicare. My Gramma was diagnosed with lung cancer a few months ago. In that period of time, she has gone to a physician... who has referred her to another physician... who has referred her to a specialist... who has referred her to another specialist. Every single one of these doctors have made my Gramma get chest x-rays, blood work and CT's. All within weeks of each other. There is no reason why these doctors couldn't fax over the different test results other than they want to be paid also. Well Gramma has Medicare and just to save her life, she will probably end up filing bankruptcy.

The current health care system is irresponsible and unethical. So preach on, President Obama... your plan is far superior to what we are being forced into now.

Lorelai's Farm Birthday

2009-06-15T08:04:00.000-07:00

I gave Lo free reign for he birthday this year, pretty certain I could pull off whatever was in her almost 3 year old brain. I was a little scared when she said she wanted animals at her party. She's not really a doll kinda girl, she prefers to carry around her bunny or sheep and feed them lettuce and grain. I guess I should have figured that she'd pick a farm birthday.

Since I don't know anyone with anything close to a farm, I decided to post an ad on craigslist in the farm section and just see what happened. I had 20 replies in just 3 days from people all over the state that were more than willing to have us over for Lorelai's birthday party. I was so amazed at all the generosity. After weeding through all the emails, I found one that sounded perfect for us. She offered us the ability to pet and feed the sheep, goats and chickens. Also a hay loft that we could have some food and cake in that had a slide going down to the hay and Todd (the owner), even built a hay fort for the kids.

Here is Lo with her BFF Sophia, these girls are so ridiculously cute together. They hold hands and play together and are sweet as sugar. Love it when they get to play together.

Here is the hay slide. The kids loved it! Lo had more fun with the hay than anything. She sat in this big pile and bathed in it. Her bath was filled with little bits of hay that night.

Here's my little country girl! We were worried there would be mud, so she wore her rain boots.

Here is Soloman... still unsure whether he's a goat or sheep... hahaha... either way, he was cute and completely tame and wandered around baa'ing at us and pooping all over while we ate and partied.

We got to feed the chickens, there were tons of them! I think this was probably the crowd favorite activity for the day.

Then we got to collect the eggs... if anyone knows Lo, they know she LOVES eggs. If I let her eat eggs all day, she would. So I think she enjoyed this the most. It was a tricky piece of maneuvering I had to do to get the eggs away from her without causing tears. She really wanted to keep them.

They had big sheep and goats too!

I forgot what her name was, but she had the craziest eyes and scared me just a tad. She also had boundary issues and would push you to move you if she didn't like where you were standing.

Here's the kids with the cows. The smell was something I could live without, but the kids didn't complain at all. They loved watching the cows be... cows!

My dainty little girl with the pinata... nothing was going to happen with her behind the stick!

But then Jeffrey stepped up to the plate and it took a VERY long time, but finally that puppy got whacked open!

Lo and Jeffrey collecting candy.

Cake time... and the only pic of me... which is a good thing.

Make a wish!

She is SUCH her Nana's girl. Completely ignores the cake and devoures the frosting. She had a great day and a great party! Thanks to everyone for coming and sharing in he big day. Compared to the last 2 parties before #3, this was the easiest. I'm thinking nothing but destination parties from now on.

2009-06-02T13:37:00.000-07:00

Our summer has FINALLY arrived... I really hope I am not jinxing myself saying that, but it's been warm and sunny for about a week now. Ty had oral surgery on Friday, so we took a break from basement renovations and decided to do something FUN! We decided to go to the beach... it was so nice. It was pretty cold on the coast, but that made no matter because we had a blast!

We decided to explore a new beach, which was a good choice. Ocean Shores is usually so packed with people, it's hard to find your own space. It was kind of a hike to the beach, but it gave us such a view walking up to it, we didn't mind.

It was pretty windy, Lo thought she might be able to fly!

Not a very flattering rear shot, but whatever. You can see how much space we had to roam. We were even able to let Tully off leash and she went NUTS! Ran right into the water, tried to catch up to the surfers way out in the ocean... Lo went crazy too, running as fast as she could every which way. No boundries or any trouble to get into. Just lots of space and fun sand to walk around barefoot in.

Wind blown, family portrait.

This is about how she was running around the whole time. A GIANT smile and leaping and skipping. It was freezing water, but you would never know. I'm pretty sure this is her favorite place to be... ever.

She got buryed in sand. Tully kept trying to dig her out, which was making her SO mad. We finally convinced Tully to just sit down.
Daddy and Lo having fun...
Letting the waves chase them.
This weekend will bring more basement work, but we also have Lo's bithday party on Saturday!! Gotta LOVE the summer!!

First Day Of Preschool!

2009-06-02T12:43:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already time for her to start preschool. She has been ready for something more structured for a long time. She really has no attachment issues and she loves being around other kids, so really it wasn't a hard choice to make. I toured a bunch and asked around and Sycamore Tree was the one that kept coming up. Seems like everyone has heard of it and everything has heard great things. While they are owned by the Lutheran church next door, they are non-denominational. They teach of God's love in a non-dogmatic way. This was a perfect fit for us. Where as we haven't found our particular church home, we absolutely want her to have some sort of faith base for us to build upon when we do find our perfect place of worship. I really feel like the head teacher and I clicked and the teachers aide is the mom of someone I know.

Anyway, all that being said, I decided to enroll her in the summer program as well as the fall program. I figured the summer program is a little shorter and would be a good introduction. Also give me some much needed "errand" time. I am at the bank multiple times a week and even though she is a celebrity over there, sure would be easier to go alone.

We've been discussing school for a while and preparing her. Last night she was a little anxious and moody, but we talked about what to do when she has to go pee and talked about sharing. I think I was more anxious about her behavior. It's really the first time my parenting would be out there in the world to see.

Here she is getting ready... yes, she got toothpaste spit all over her shirt. I got most of it off. I was proud of myself that I didn't change her outfit completely. I knew she'd be outside playing and painting so she'd come home dirty anyway.

Gotta have the "off to school" mandatory pics.

Then she just started posing. I stopped her before she started throwing out "jazz hands".

Here we are at school! This is the back entrance. It's really just a small house they converted into a preschool. There is only one class at a time and the entire house of rooms is all different stations. A life skills station, textile table, art room, library... then unless there is in climate weather they have an awesome courtyard of fun toys.

We were slightly early, so she got to play outside for a little.

First thing's first, hang up your backpack and then wash your hands! The sinks are at the perfect height for 3 and 4 year olds and have automatic turn on. The toilet is also super low to the ground so they can potty on their own.

Anywhere we go, she finds the creatures. She loves fish!

Then found an art station. She already had a cubby full of drawings when I picked her up.

It was right about this time that she told me I could leave. No hesitation, just "bye mom!" I watched for a minute and then just left. Of course I sobbed in the car for a while. I did some work for the stand, came home and folded some laundry... then I was bored. Talked to my mom for a long while and I still had 45 minutes. So yes, like a stalker, I sat in the parking lot and waited. I'm sure it'll get better and I will have more things to do in my free time.

When I finally walked down to pick her up, they were outside playing. She saw me, but didn't pay any attention... just went on playing. She actually seemed a little nervous and I could tell it was going to be a fight to get her home. I went in and got her cubby papers and her backpack, talked to the teacher, who said she did great and then I went and found her again. I was right, it was a fight to get her home. I finally told her that I wanted to take her on a special lunch date... that did the trick. We went to Arby's, she insisted on eating in and talked about preschool. From what I gather, she painted, they read a book about bears, she went potty all by herself and she made lots of friends but forgot to ask their names. Either way, she loved it and I can't wait to hear all about her preschool adventures!!

Lorelai's First Trip To The Dentist

2009-05-28T20:14:00.001-07:00

Lo will be 3 in a couple weeks, so I figured it was time for me to start getting her regular visits to the dentist. She was really nervous, I don't know what she thought it would be like, but because of her extensive history with doctors, I think she just didn't know if this doc would hurt too.

You can see the fear starting to show on her face. She was not about to have me sit on the other side of the room, I had to move the chair over to hold her hand.

Now you can really see the fear. She kept trying to get down from the chair and just wasn't sure what they were going to do. Ty recently found out he has to have 2 wisdom teeth pulled so I think she heard us talk about that and kind of got scared.

Getting her teeth counted, she's got 20 of them!

After she was done, she gave me this look like "that wasn't so bad after all". The dentist said her teeth have nice gaps so when her permenants come in there will be plently of room and no need for braces. WOO HOO!

She got her bag of goodies, including floss that she has to she has used everyday since the exam. She's actually not bad at flossing and the dentist said it was definitely time she knew how to use regular toothpaste and spit, so this morning, we taught her that and she did it perfectly. I wasn't giving her enough credit.

First trip down, hundreds more to go!

Nana's 50th Birthday!

2009-05-21T23:08:00.001-07:00

While in St. George, we planned a surprise 50th birthday party for Mom. It was by far, the most fun party I've ever been to. We danced, we sang, we ate... we did the LIMBO! Here are some of my favorite pics, I don't think they need any explanation. We love you Nana! Can't wait to see what the next 50 years bring!

Ok, well this deserves some explanation. For some reason, we let the birthday girl have a whack at the pinata before the kids and in the first smack, it busted open. There was an immediate sigh from everyone, including the kids. Then they realized... there is candy... all over the ground. CHARGE! Didn't take long fo them to forget.

Random St. George Trip Pics

2009-05-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

Ok- so these are SO out of order, but they are from March and April so whatev.

The 4 or so hour drive to St. George is NO fun for a 2 year old. I bought her a Max and Ruby dvd, regardless of how much I hate Max and Ruby, I knew it would keep her occupied. For the most part it worked, it wasn't towards the end of the trip up and the trip down that she really went stir crazy.
Bath pics are my favorite, probably because I know how mortified they will be when they are older. Just a little payback I will store away for a few years.
Papa brought a treat for Grant. He was the only one we figured we could get to eat it and we were right! Looks innocent enough right?

WRONG! That was a real scorpion inside. He sucked on this thing until the tail was coming out of it. Amy finally took it away and to be honest, I was really glad because it was starting to creep me out. What a daring kid! I couldn't even bring myself to taste the darn thing.

Dinner and Build A Bear!

2009-05-21T22:45:00.001-07:00

One night, we went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory... which BTW, besides the actual cheesecake, I don't see the big deal. But that's neither here nor there. I added this pic, for one because there are hardly ever pics of Papa and Lo and two, because I think you can see how much she adores her Papa and the funny relationship they have.

We were at the mall and walked past a Build-A-Bear workshop, there was no way I was going to not be able to stop... so we did and Lo picked out the freak show of the year to build. It's an elephant, not bad right? Well, she picked out a monkey cackle to put in it's hand. So now we have an elephant that sounds like a monkey.

She stuffed it.
And kissed a heart to put inside.
Got it all stitched up.
Gave it a bath.
Then proceeded to pick out an Ariel costume to dress it up in. So, we have an elephant... that sounds like a monkey... that looks like a mermaid... whose name is Mary... AND who is a BOY. WOW!
I'm pretty sure she loved the box more than Mary. After we got home, she told me that the Ariel wig scared her, so we had to take it off but she still loves her monkey speaking elephant mermaid. I love her for being so quirky.

I found the video... read the below blog before watching.

2009-05-21T22:37:00.000-07:00

More On Our Trip To Utah

2009-05-21T22:08:00.000-07:00

When we were up North, we went to the most ghetto Chuck E. Cheese imitation. Lorelai would never know the difference, she had a BLAST!

I had to put this one in just because I am lucky enough to have such a pretty girl! :)
Testing her strength... gRRR

Hungry hungry hippos was by far her favorite game. She must have played Nana 15 times and won all 15!

Can't you see the excitement on this one? haaha... might have been a little young for her.

Ok, Nana is going to kill me for putting this one up, but I had to because it was by far the funniest thing I have ever seen. Nana was the only one daring enough to ride on this ride with Lo. You have to understand this place was GROSS! There was dirt and muck ground into the gates around the rides. The kids running the equipment were no more than 16. It was bad, I'm not even sure why I let my kid ride on it, let alone my mother!! I need to find the video because the video is pretty humorous. Lorelai had a blast, not so sure Nana did... but boy, I'm positive I won't see anything as funny as that again.

Making Pizza With Nana

2009-05-21T21:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know... this is from MARCH! I'm trying to get caught up. Felt like crap for so long, didn't want to do ANYTHING, let alone sit in front of the computer. So let's get caught up.

Nana is so patient with my little helper that watched carefully for Nana to even step foot in the kitchen, hoping to get to help her with whatever it was she might be making. Even when Nana just went in the kitchen for water, Lo was right at her feet asking if she could help. She got her chance to do some "real" cooking when Nana made us homemade pizza.

Nana didn't even have the beater on yet, but she was pretty sure she wouldn't like it and was plugging her ears.

The best part! Kneading!

Roll it and roll it. Pat it. Mark it with an L, and...

PUT IT IN THE OVEN! Her first ever pizza! We love you Nana! Thank you for giving Lo so many good memories!

Taking Out a Bush

2009-05-21T16:03:00.000-07:00

We have a small yard, which after having the BIGGEST backyard at our last house, this was a welcome thing. I forgot to get a before pic, but this giant bush was taking over a whole section of our yard. We had to cut it in half to just be able to use our side walk. It was time for the other annoying Bush to go. Here are some pics:

She dug the WHOLE thing up herself... daddy may have helped a little bit.

This is the giant bush we moved to our RV pad until we loaded it up in the truck, had no idea it was a refuge for about 50-60 snails. Lo and I saved as many as we could and moved them to a new location.

Not sure if you can see them in there, but there were a TON of them in this grass patch... aka, their new home.

It's not a day unless Lo is posing with Tully at least once.

There is a God...

2009-04-30T20:54:00.001-07:00

I just received a link to a performance survery for the Kitsap County Department of Community Developement... a.k.a the Occupancy Permit idiots! WOO HOO! I just filled it out and BOY did it feel good to get all that frustration and annoyance out. We will see if I get any sort of response.

Eat? Nah... I don't need that.

2009-04-29T13:39:00.000-07:00

I had my appointment with a GI doc on Monday. I don't know what I expected, but I guess more than what I got. He changed my medication from Protonix to Prevacid and told me to drop the Zantac and Mylanta (which was the best news I have ever had) and start chewing Gaviscon instead. He gave me a packet about reflux and esophagitis and gave me some tips on trying to keep the reflux at bay.

The best one is to never get full. Telling a pregnant women to never get full is a very low blow. I've been really working on it. Small snacks all day and never sitting down for a meal. Since I'm starting over on my medicine, I have 2 weeks before I will be feeling full effects. Which means 2 weeks of awful heartburn until I know if it will work or not. Gaviscon was shocking at first, foams up in your mouth and made me gag, but the second time wasn't as bad.

But when he was listening to my heart beat, he heard the babies and that was so exciting, I didn't care much about the reflux I had that night. Last night I even felt some of the first kicks, which I think is the best part of pregnancy. Having that constant reward for taking good care of the baby, knowing it's alive and kicking. Pardon the pun.

One more month and we should know the sex, then we have to try and get our basement finished before I bankrupt us buying cute little tiny outfits. Can't wait!!

Doctor Appointment

2009-04-16T09:52:00.001-07:00

I always go into these appointments with guns blazing... thinking "He WILL do something about this and he will make this better!" By the time I leave, I'm purring like a kitten with no resolve. He has a way of wording things to soothe me and make me believe that his method is better than mine. Grrr... happens every time.

I have a mass above my belly button that he thinks is probably a hernia. It's starting to hurt and get bigger, I was convinced that I need an ultrasound and I want to know exactly what it is and what the solution will be... either while pregnant or after the baby is born. He assured me that whatever it is, there is no way to fix it while pregnant so just wait until the 20 week detailed fetal ultrasound. Ok... I guess it makes sense. Whatever. And the constipation I was convinced meant my bowel was protruding through my hernia? Just normal pregnancy. Milk of Magnesia and Citrocil. Should get better. I hate him.

My esophagitis and reflux and heart burn were things he actually wants to investigate further. I got a referral to a GI doc to see what, if anything, can be done. He thinks there will be nothing until I give birth. On top of the Zantac and Protonix I am already on, he advised me to start taking a dose of Malox after every meal. Which works well, but is so repulsive in flavor that I have a hard time getting it down. The GI appointment will be on the 27th, so we will see.

The itching is something else I went in thinking there will be an answer before I leave, and I left with nothing. He said there are a handful of pregnancy induced itching disorders... hard to figure out which is which and there is no cure besides not being pregnant anymore. My blood work came back just fine, so it's not my bilirubin or liver. Morgan suggested sweating it out... I still am going to try that and see. The doc advised if it gets worse or I start seeing hives then he will send me to a dermatologist.

So that's that... I feel like a walking medication bottle. I am using one of those MTWTFSS pill holders so I can keep myself straight. In the morning I have the Zofran for nausea, Protonix and Zantac for reflux, Citrocil and then Malox after breakfast. Malox after lunch and dinner and then there's the Zantac at night along with my prenatals. I had been taking Benedryl for the itching but he advised that I should only use that when it gets bad and not everyday. Which is too bad... it was helping me sleep. And on top of all that, we propped the top of my bed up on 2x4's to help prevent the reflux at night. OH BOY!

But the BEST news of all was that the baby is doing great. The heart beat was very easily found and still going strong. No matter what I go through, the second I hear that fast paced heart beat... ahhh... nothing better. Can't wait to meet this little one and start getting back at him/her for everything they've caused. :)

Just because I am pissed...

2009-04-13T17:09:00.000-07:00

Ever since I decided to purchase my latte stand, I have tried my hardest to do everything by the books and have spent hours trying to figure out permits and fees and licenses. There was a master business application online that has both a federal and local check list of all the things I had to accomplish. With the help of my friends and a big ol' notebook, I knocked through the whole thing.

I learned how to do my own payroll and I learned all about the quarterly and monthly and payroll and excise taxes... I spent countless hours trying not to miss anything.

I received a phone call from a very unpleasant woman that told me I didn't have an occupancy permit, not only that but the previous 2 owners also did not have an occupancy permit. I was told to go to Port Orchard and talk to a man at the development building. Ok, sure. I go there and pick up the paperwork. I bring it home, fill it out and mail in the $59.50. I get another phone call from the mean woman asking me when I plan on picking up the permit. I said I didn't know I needed to. But ok, I will pick it up this week.

I went to pick it up today and was told I needed to also pay a $55 penalty, the cashier couldn't give m answers so I paid and decided to take it up with the mean woman. The mean woman called this afternoon to schedule the inspection. I asked her about the penalty. She told me that because they had to tell me I needed permit in the first place, I had to pay the fine.

My question to her was how I was supposed to know I needed this permit? Where it was listed? Where was the notice? How was I supposed to figure it out? Her only response was that it was my responsibility as a business owner. I asked if I was supposed to call every single government agency and ask if they want my money and she said "if that's what it would take".

My frustration level shot through the roof. I tried to remain calm and I gave her my feedback and how ridiculously unfair it was, she just responded with "not to be smart, but what would you do since you have it figured out?" wow.

Being a first time business owner, I feel so much more for all the businesses that I see go under. It's rough. Everyone wants a piece of you. Everyone wants what little money you make. The amount of taxes put on a small business is outstanding. Almost half of all the income my business brings in, goes to taxes. I sell latte's for goodness sake. Then after that, I am bombarded by local governemental agencies that are mean, cruel and have no sympathy for the struggling business.

I never thought in a million years the hardest part about owning a business would be taxes, licenses and permits. Shouldn't be that way. Not in America.

Lately

2009-04-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

So they say that someday I will laugh and someday it will just be a story, so I better document it. Everyone knows I've been super sick with this pregnancy, well probably the last week and a half or 2 weeks I have been less nauseas but throwing up more. Tuesday night I decided to make chili dogs for all my AI crowd and shortly after got some serious heartburn that turned into difficulty swallowing and pain in my chest. I thought it was seriously bad heartburn so just went to bed. All night long I was throwing up and couldn't even swallow my own spit. The next day I decided a doctor visit was in order. I couldn't get into my doctor, so I had to sit at prompt care for 4 hours before they sent me to the ER. The ER doctor diagnosed me with esophagitis. A severe burn and inflammation to the esophagus because of all the reflux and throwing up. They changed my antinausea meds and gave me another heartburn medication.

I was also experiencing itching all over, the doc didn't know how to fit that into the diagnosis so I just decided to push that with my regular doctor. I had blood tests done for that, still waiting to see why I am scratching my whole body raw.

So basically, it's going to take a month for my esophagus to heal and still I can not swallow much of anything. Basically living off of yogurt and popcycles. I was so desperate for real food today I started sucking on pizza crust, and I have heartburn now. Just can't win! This little baby is giving me so many problems, better be an easy baby! :)

I also have what they think is an umbilical hernia. If anyone saw me pregnant with Lo, you would know I grew straight OUT. So when my stomach muscles came back together, they left a hole and now there's a hernia. They think it will be ok until after I give birth, but I am waiting to have an ultrasound done for that.

I'm trying to keep my spirits up, I got to hear the babies heart beat the other day in the ER and it was so magical. I know that I am not me right now, my body is merely a host for this little miracle. I may have to suffer a bit, but I'm just so happy that the reason I am suffering is because of the baby. And honestly, I would almost rather be going through this than the nonstop nausea. At least I can put on a happy face and play with Lo and even do some cleaning. Until I swallow or try to eat, I am doing great!

So that's that. I have lots of pics and posts to catch up on, but I better file my quarterly taxes and catch up on business paperwork before I do that. Maybe next week! ;)

Festus the Fetus pics

2009-03-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

Here are the ultrasound pics! There was a heartbeat at 171 bpm and this little booger was doing a dance. Shaking its shoulders and then its hips, over and over. Lo kept saying "he's dancing all over!" Very cute... and quite possibly the reason I've been so sick. Maybe if he/she held still for a while, I'd feel better. But I am not in charge right now, so whatever. I've long since given up hope of control during the next 6 1/2 months. I have my first doc appointment tomorrow, they'll go over the ultrasound with me, but pretty sure all is well. The ultrasound techs guess at a due date is October 6-13th. I figured October 10, so somewhere in there. I'll get a more "solid" date after tomorrow.

Boy or Girl?

2009-03-05T16:31:00.001-08:00

Well, it's way too early to be able to tell right now... but this is what Lo thinks:

When asked if she wants a boy or girl, she will ALWAYS say girl. I asked her today if she would be happy if it was a brother or if she would be sad. She said "HAPPY MOMMY!" I said "so, happy if it's a girl and happy if it's a boy?" "Yes, happy to have 2 babies mommy!" she replied.

I don't think I'll ever be able to get her to admit this baby could possibly be a boy... Lord knows there would be no convincing me there's 2 babies, so I guess I can see her point of view!

Turns out I did have a couple pics...

2009-03-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

I guess I did get at least one pic of a onsie... not sure why it's sideways, it's not like that on my computer. oh well.

So fun to get personalized onsies, maybe this will be my new baby shower gift for people.

I thought this pic was so cute. Lorelai is so excited to have a new cousin, she constantly cuddles with her Aunt Toadie and puts her hand on her belly.

Festus the Fetus

2009-03-02T07:42:00.000-08:00

So I'm 8 weeks now, I think. My first appt is on the 17th I think. This pregnancy has so far, been so different. I've been so incredibly sick. All day, all night. Sometimes I have breaks and when I do I feel like it's no big deal and I can handle it. Then the sick comes and I get into a pity party like you wouldn't believe.

Poor Lorelai. She has been such a trooper. She tries to take care of me. Last week I was sitting on the couch being sick and she put her hand on my face and said "honey, what's wrong?" So sweet.

Anyway- I have about 15 loads of laundry to do today and about 7 days of MC2 paperwork to do, so I'm hoping I have a break day today.

Toadies baby shower!

2009-03-02T07:15:00.001-08:00

I hosted Ty's sister Kate's (we call her Toadie) baby shower on the 28th. It was a lot of fun and I think we had a good turn out!

I was struggling to find decorations that weren't the cheesy stereotypical stuff, but it was actually really hard. I did make these puff balls to hang in the center of the table. Everything else was pretty basic... pink and white. I just did Costco food to keep me focused on hostessing and not worrying about cooking. I put out my Easter decorations the day before and they actually looked great mixed in with all the pastels.

I set up a onsie decorating station on the table. Everyone signed in and wrote down advice in a baby shower memory book and then they could get food or decorate onsies... there were so many cute ones. I wish I would have taken pictures. I think Toad really enjoyed getting all of the original artwork too.

We played the melted candy bar in the diaper game. It was fun and really challenging. I've never played it at a baby shower but I've heard of it being done, sounded super fun. It was mostly fun for me to look around and see every ones nose buried in a diaper sniffing. We also played the obligatory "guess how big the preggos belly is" and the "don't say baby or someone will steal your clothes pin" game.

There's the mommy-to-be herself! Sniffing away!

Then there was the opening of presents. This is always my favorite part of the baby shower. I love to see all the little clothes and all the nifty gadgets.

Ya. she did ok for herself! I'm so excited to be getting a niece in the next 5 weeks.

She's trying to kill me, volume 8,743

2009-02-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

I took a 3 minutes shower... seriously, 3 minutes. Came out to check on the little rug rat she stuck an ENTIRE book of stamps onto my front picture window. Stamps came off, sticky stuff did not... so an entire book of stamps ruined and a now I have a lot of scrubbing to do.

As for #2... he/she is already trying to kill me by making me nauseas all day every day. I'm also a lot more tired with #2 than Lorelai. I wake up 5-6 times a night tossing and turning.

Oh well, they're just doing what comes naturally.

Yep, it's true!

2009-02-13T07:47:00.000-08:00

I'm having a baby! We are very excited to add to our family. Lorelai is especially excited. She kisses my belly all day every day. She can't wait to have a "sister" to play with (she refuses to think it might be a boy). October is going to take a long time to get here with this much anticipation.

Ty and I have been trying for so long, it was a bit of a shock. I went and got a plain t-shirt and fabric marker and wrote "I'm going to be a big sister" on it. I called Ty and told him Lo was missing him so we were going to stop by to say hello. He met us in the parking lot and didn't notice at all, so I had to tell him to undo her car seat... and there it was! He really freaked when I told him about being pregnant with Lorelai, but he handled it like a champ the second time around.

Later that day Lo and I were walking into the bank and she turned around and said "mom, I was afraid daddy would frow a fit" I said "throw a fit? why?" she said "because of baby". I couldn't do anything but start laughing hysterically. Sometimes she is wise beyond her years.

So far I'm feeling alright. Excruciatingly tired. Hormones are making me cranky. Haven't been able to breath through my nose at night. Other than that, not too shabby.

I can tell it's going to be harder this time around. With Lo I could just nap when I wanted, work when I wanted, just do whatever the baby wanted me to do or was causing me to do. This time, I'm still running on Lo's schedule but she's on the outside so the baby is taking a bit of a back seat.

With Lo I was just so excited to have a baby I just breezed through the pregnancy. This time around I want to enjoy every second. Plus, we have so much to do before he/she gets here. Our basement is unfinished and we only have 2 bedrooms right now... we have a lot of work to do down there so we even have a place to put a baby anyway.

Alright, that's it for now. Lo is requesting blueberries... I'm at her service!

The Nutcracker

2008-12-30T08:07:00.001-08:00

We went to the Nutcracker with Ty's mom and sister. I do not wish to talk about it, I'm still traumatized... but before it started I got some cute pictures.

Christmas

2008-12-30T07:42:00.000-08:00

I think this was our funnest Christmas yet! Lo finally semi-understands the concept of Santa Claus. She really got into all of the traditions. Which, I created another one this year. Ty and I were watching Dirty Jobs and his job was a gourd farm that scrapes them and dries them and turns them into these amazing decorations. My new tradition is adding a gourd every year. I love him. Definitely my favorite Christmas decoration.

Lo loved leaving a cookie and milk for Santa and I found this gigantic carrot for the reindeer.

I was tryig to explain that she needs to go to sleep quickly so Santa can come quicker, looks like I was the only one understanding

I take a pic every year of Ty reading Twas The Night Before Christmas to Lo. I love looking at them side by side, 3rd Christmas this year!

Christmas morning! Amy got her a Fancy Nancy dress and shoes that she loves! Her favorite books are Fancy Nancy so it was fun to show her she was wearing the same dress as Nancy!

A personal DVD player was a must this year. Her old one broke so it was time for a new and this one is supposed to be TOUGH!

She was so sweet and cute and amazed. Couldn't believe all the presents were for her.

Her most favorite present was her Brobee doll. She had all of the other Yo Gabba Gabba stuffed animals, but not Brobee. When you asked her what she wanted for Christmas all she would tell you is Brobee. Definitely a dream come true for her. haha

Mommy Chronicles

2008-12-29T20:48:00.000-08:00

I used to have a whole cabinet full of beautiful smelling soaps and body wash. Spring time scents, winter scents, going out scents, etc. etc.

This morning I found myself showering with a very unnatural strawberry scented glycerin ball with a Christmas snow globe in the middle. I had other choices... there was the harsh staph killing soap we use on Lo when she gets flair ups. There was rollers of equally unnatural smelling body paint soaps. There was baby wash.

Although none of my options were close to my beautiful smelling ones collecting dust in a box somewhere, I chose the glycerin ball because Lo is so excited to get the snow globe out of the middle and I know if I use it than she will get it out quicker.

This is my life... and I couldn't be happier!

A little bit of catch up...

2008-12-25T01:50:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is bake. Even more now that I live so far away from my mom. Seeing her in the kitchen baking is one of my strongest memories of the holidays and I love all of the goodies she made only once a year. I really want Lorelai to have that memory and to be apart of it and help me. I bought us matching aprons and we have been baking once a week for a month it seems like. I love it, and she just loves to taste... oh, and crack eggs leaving little egg shells in whatever I bake.

Lorelai is finally old enough to do gingerbread houses. I am not nearly crafty enough to make my own, I just buy the kit. I think she ate more than she helped though. Every time I looked at her she was putting fistfulls of candy in her mouth. Oh well, it's the holidays, right?

This is Phil. I have known his wife, Jessica since high school and they moved in with us a little while ago temporarily from Palm Springs until they can get on their feet. There certainly isn't a shortage of laughs when Phil is around. He has taught Lo a few interesting tricks. She now will ask you to pull her finger... which is fun. I think this was one of the nicer things he taught her. How to lick frosting off the palm of your hand. Goody!
This was Phil's Elton John gingerbread man. I LOVE LOVE LOVE him. I think he did a great job.In all of my 12-13 years of living in Western Washington, I have never seen the amount of snow we got this year. After it was all said and done, I think we got 2 feet and with no rain to melt it, we were royally S.O.L. with everything. It started last week and when I went grocery shopping there was absolutely no produce and no milk. No trucks can get in with the cities prepardness lacking immensly. The roads have been horrid, no plow trucks, no salters or de-icers except on the highways. A few gas stations ran out of gas and we didn't get mail for a few days. Perfect for holiday time! No UPS either, which means no presents from Nana and Papa for Christmas day. I think it's probably a good thing so Lorelai can open them separate from everything else and really appreciate them without being overwhelmed.

But I digress, these pics were from our first day of snow and so there isn't much to play in. Ty and Lo were out there throwing snowballs at each other still tho. I personally hate snow. My espresso stand was closed more than open because of road conditions and we were literally stuck at home more than one day. Luckily my car is like a mini-4 wheeler. It has sabilization and all wheel and totally rocked it out in the snow. I am so incredibly appreciative of it now. I would drive down the road and see 20-25 people walking to the grocery store in the freezing 2 feet of snow. I think everyone made the best of it though. We spent one day at Laura's house because she has a hot tub. The kids would be bare butt naked and run out of the hot tub and into the snow and then run back in. It was so fun and the kids had a blast. We made real snow cones, ate great home cooked food and spent a lot of time together as a family. Can't beat that, right?

What I am getting for Christmas...

2008-12-24T14:27:00.001-08:00

Be jealous.

Manette Coffee Company

2008-12-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

Ty never takes any vacation time and he accrues a ton of it. This year with his cash out, I came across an espresso stand that was for sale. The same one I go to every single day and know the employees and completely love. So we bought it. It has been awesome and stressful and exciting and scary, but I have loved every second.

When I bought it, it was called The Green Submarine. I really didn't like the name and I REALLY didn't like the color. So I negotiated for us to paint before I even took it over. I didn't want to open up my first day and have it that awful color.

Here is the "almost" finished product!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-17T12:18:00.000-08:00

I have been so crazy busy that I haven't had a chance to update posts. So I'll try to get a few done now.

Thanksgiving was totally fun. We had it at our house. Gramma, Paul, Kate, Kevin, and Tom and Lyn. Everyone did their own cooking and then brought it over to share. I only had to make stuffing and do some snacks... so it was totally low stress.

Ty's Grandma makes the best rolls but since we don't live close to her, Ty's mom recreates the recipe every year. Lo was lucky enough to get to learn how to make them this year!

I don't own table cloths... surprise surprise. Luckily Ty's dad had this roll of butcher paper in his truck. Actually worked out for the best. Less mess and we all got to color while we ate!

This is a perfect turkey if I've ever seen one!!

Red light, green light woes

2008-11-06T17:35:00.000-08:00

I taught Lo what red, yellow and green lights mean. She picked it up pretty quick except now, when we are in the car, all I hear is "Mommy! Red light! STOP!" or "Green light Mommy! GOOOOOO!"

This is added to her already worried little mind that tells me to "be careful!" and "too fast Mommy!" Talk about a back seat driver... SHEESH!

Rock the Vote!

2008-11-04T08:09:00.001-08:00

Important Voting Info!!! (pass it on...)

Everyone's talking about how important it is to vote today, but there are still lots of people who don't have all the information! Help your friends and family be informed by checking www.justvote.org with all your voting questions.

http://www.justvote.org

-look up the address where you're registered
-find your polling place
-learn the law about time off from work

Also you can video your election day experiences and upload them to http://videothevote.org

PASS IT ON!!!!!!

Happy Election Day!

2008-11-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

Even though I voted last week, I'm still going to be glued to the t.v. all day and night to see how the voting goes. I honestly don't think we could do any worse, so as long as everyone gets out and votes... I'm happy!!

Halloween!

2008-11-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

Halloween has been such a blur the last 2 years. Guess that comes with the kid territory. This year we started off by going to Gramma's house. Lo was so sad when Gramma couldn't come trick or treating with us. Here's a couple pics from there:

After that we went to Lucy and Williams house and got ready to go to the Sheridan Park center for some games. There was a ton of kids there and it was so incredibly loud, so we didn't stay very long. The below pic pretty much sums up how I felt about it:

Lorelai was getting stressed out with all the people. She actually bit me, which hasn't ever happened before, so it was time to leave after about 10 minutes. But here are the pics from that:

Then it was trick or treat time! I actually got to take her this year. Garma and Garpa came along and Lo conned Garma into carrying her from house to house. Tricky little character. She was so excited about getting the candy she didn't want to stop. She went to sleep crying that she wanted to trick or treat longer. Here are the pics from that!

It was a great Halloween and I am so excited that Lo has such great friends to experience these fun times with. There are a couple more pics I don't have yet from a dance party she had at Kim and Nancys, I'll post those when I get them.

Irritated...

2008-11-03T15:23:00.000-08:00

Tolerance is a God given gift every baby is born with, YOU are the ones that change that. Why not teach to love and not discriminate?

Carving Pumpkins

2008-10-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

On the 18th we had the Holts over for some dinner and pumpkin carving, turns out it was way too early in the season to carve pumpkins because ours are all caved in now... oh well. It was fun and the kids had a blast and that's all that matters.

Lucy and Will can't stand the smell of pumpkins... hahahaha.

William doing his share.

Lo obviously doesn't remember last year, so we had to explain the whole thing, she was grossed out by the innards at first but then she was fine with it.

After pumpkin carving, it was bath time and then we watching Halloween Max and Ruby. There might have been some early Halloween candy in there somewhere.

And here are the finished products!! Wish they still looked this good!!

Halloweens past.

2008-10-06T23:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics from Lo's first 2 Halloweens. I can not wait to post pics from this years. Everything is better with kids!

My little fishy. Her first Halloween. Sarah and I did a little photo shoot. It was so fun.

Baby in a bucket! I still have this bucket and Lo can't even begin it sit down in it without getting stuck.

I really have no good pics from last years Halloween of her entire costume. This was her first trick or treat and we had had a LONG day of Halloween activities before trick or treating so she was one UNhappy camper. She went to one house before throwing a fit and coming back home. We are hoping for a better time this year!

Lo Lo words

2008-10-06T22:25:00.001-07:00

Lorelai has been making her own words up lately.

She loves telling me that my hair is beautiful or my pink shirt is cute, so she recently combined the 2 and now everything is "cute-iful".

Every single toy today requires batteries. When the batteries stop working I tell her that it needs new batteries to work. So Lorelai now says "mom- (insert toy here) needs new batterworks".

These are my favorite parts of having a kid. I love watching her mind grow and seeing how she puts things together in her head. She is so incredibly smart (tho I may be a bit biased). She is speaking in full sentences now mostly and I almost tear up when she says something new... well, no. I DO tear up when she says something new. I thought I was going to melt into a ball of sappy mush when she told me I was her best friend the other day.

Every time I stub my toe or slam my finger in a cupboard or anything and say "ouch" she runs over saying "oh mom, I'm sooooo sorry. Are you no-k?" Not sure how "ok" got translated into "no-k" but we run with it and now everything is "no-k".

Tomorrow we are going to Chuck E Cheese and all day long I have been hearing about it. "Mom- I high-five chuck e cheese". "chuck e cheese has candy in his pocket". Then after a few more little tidbits she remembers from last time she gets so excited nothing makes sense and it's 5 miutes of complete giberish.

Lorelai has a blanket that is her entire world. so every time I sit down on the couch next to her she will instantly get up and say "mommy blanket too?" Then she will run and get the blanket off my bed and say "here you are mommy!" She recognizes how good she feels when her blanket is around and wants me to be that happy too. She can be so sweet.

Every time I get her dressed or comb her hair (even though she kicks and screams and wiggles and tries to run away), when it's all said and done she always follows it up with "thank you mom getting me dressed!" or "thank you mom brush my hair!" She may be 2, but she's a very kind 2.

Ty is out of town right now and we use Skype to keep in touch so he can see Lorelai. Today, after she had a session with daddy I told her daddy had to go and to say goodbye. When goodbyes were done, I closed to laptop and she said "daddies hiding in the puter!"

Lorelai has been out of a crib since before she was 2. After only a couple rough nights, it has been uneventful except that she will never get out of her bed unless I go in there. I know this is a blessing, but I get so curious as to why she thinks I need to be there for her to get out. Even before I go in her room I can hear her saying "mom- wanna get out!" Sometimes I stand outside her door and say "get out of bed Lo, come open the door". She still will not.

My most favorite thing in the whole world is after I put her to bed I leave her room and she usually talks to herself for a good hour or so. I love listening to her talk and listen to every little thing that goes through her head. But that's not my favorite. Sometimes when she gets sick of being alone and isn't tired she says "mommy- I need you". Regardless of how tired I am or how much I know it's just a ploy, I run in there.

Not sure how this turned into such a long blog about all my little favorite Lo moments, but I'm glad I put them down in writing. I get so worried I am going to forget all of these things. I have such a poor memory. Sometimes she will do or say something and I think, OH! I need to tell Ty when he gets home and just over the course of the day I forget.

Something clever I stole

2008-10-06T21:47:00.000-07:00

You all feel how you do and I feel how I do. Regardless, this is funny. I just read it on a family friends blog and got a serious kick out of it.

http://www.humanistsofutah.org/2002/WhyCantIOwnACanadian_10-02.html

Lorelai stories before I forget them...

2008-10-02T23:24:00.001-07:00

Lo has a plastic beetle that she likes to keep around but is horrified of it. One morning I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth and she asked me to go get her "beetle-bug". I told her no, she could get it herself. She goes into the hallway and all I hear is "OUCH!!" I asked what happened and she said "beetle-bug bite me. see mom loook right there!" points to her incision from her hernia surgery. I think this was the first time she lied to me. Hahaha

Forks or Bust II!

2008-10-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

So when I left off we were at the high school. From there we headed to the police station. There was a mom and daughter that we had met earlier at the visitor center that we kept running into throughout our tour. They were nice enough to take this picture. I'm sure they were a little weirded out at first, but after they took our pic they posed for the same one. hahaha... this might be my fav picture from the trip. Have I said that before?

This is the sign in front of the police station/city hall. Mike had told us earlier that the police chief had been called Chief Swan so often, he now answers to it. We were trying to look shady as we walked around so that a police officer would come out and we could take a pic with them... but apparently they've seen our kind before. I did have to pee really bad at this point and I debated going in, but didn't happen. Also, on my life list is to get arrested... so I thought this would be a great addition to our story, but I chickened out. Plus, I didn't even know what I would do that would have no fines and could get me released within 4 hours. So, didn't get to check that off the list this trip.

Next stop was the Cullen house. It is literally next door to the police station and not hidden at all and no woods around it, no drive way... really nothing that would make you think it was the Cullen house besides I think it's the nicest house their... which really doesn't say too much. It's actually a Bed and Breakfast and the mother and daughter we had been running into were staying there. We were so jealous.

The Innkeeper leaves a note on the door everyday about what the Cullens are doing that day, so that is what this picture is.

After the Cullen house we were starving and headed to Sully's so Laura could get a Bella Burger. I don't eat beef and neither does Jess, so Laura was alone in her adventure unfortunately. I didn't think to ask if they would do it with chicken until after I had ordered. Boo. Anyway, it was your typical greasy spoon. Really yummy stuff and the Bella Burger came with a pair of vampire teeth!! Laura was nice enough to ask if we could all have a pair and they obliged. There was a photo booth there and we took some amazing pics. I still have to scan them in, then I will post them.

What can I really say? <>insert laughter here<>

We took a break from the tour and did some shopping. We went to all the tourist shops and looked at all the Twilight loot. Of course shopping didn't mean we still weren't being creepy twilighters. hahaha I found a few shirts and sweaters that were ok, but I was still holding out for the perfect one. I was a little too cautious and ended up walking away with nothing! I did buy a pen and a coupe postcards for a select few that prob haven't received them yet since they are still sitting on my table.

There was an ice cream/sweet shop that we went to that had these awesome tags. We all decided to get one. Mine said "Twilight Visitor". These are the ones Jess and Laura got. I also got a box of chocolates with vampire teeth on them and some wax candy vampire teeth as a souviner for Lo. This was the store that gave us the hardest time for being Twilighters.

That was the end of our Forks tour, but it wasn't over yet! Next stop was LaPush!!

She's pushing me... get it???

We went straight to First Beach in LaPush. It was GORGEOUS! One of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen. I wanted so badly to rent a cabin and stay for the night. Someday I will. We stayed for a while just absorbing the amazing scenery.

Thought maybe these were wolf prints. hehehe

We were in LaPush, but we represented Team Edward!

Then we saw this carved into a fallen tree. Of course I managed to swipe a piece of driftwood, hahaha. I stole a couple of the smooth rocks for Lo too. She digs rocks.

So that was it, that was our trip. If anyone has the chance to go, I highly recommend it. I'm sure it will all fade away eventually, but definitely not until all the movies are over and done with. That could be years! Next time Amy or mom come up, we are definitely going! Thanks Jess and Laura for seriously making it one of the funnest days of my life. I haven't laughed that hard and so frequently in years! It was great!

Forks or Bust!

2008-09-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

Laura came up with the best idea last week... to go to Forks. We live so close, it's only 2.5 hour drive. Saturday morning we left bright and early at 9am and of course I had to make a little sign so everyone knew where we were going! We only stopped twice, once for coffee and once for gas and snacks. We rocked out to good tunes, enjoyed the scenery and gabbed a lot. I only had less than 3 hours of sleep the night before so I was tired, but nothing my latte didn't cure!

When we pulled up, we all had to pee so bad, we drove passed the welcome sign and straight to a gas station where we were made fun of for being "Crazy Twilighters". Already we knew the trip was going to be fun. That gas station had some tote bags, baseball hat and tee shirts all dedicated to Twilight series... definitely getting off to a good start! We ran back to the edge of town to take some obligatory welcome sign pics. It was a hike up and a hike down on slippery mud. Good times!

Jessica took this pic and I think it looks so "twilight-y". hahaha The weather was a little cloudy and chilly, but throughout the day it did warm up and the sun came out. Which probably explains why we didn't see any vampires.

Laura drives a Volvo... Edward drives a Volvo... pretty coincidental right? We had the perfect ride for the perfect trip!!

Our first stop was the Visitors Center. I had read online that they have maps with all the Twilight stops on it. It was all the way at the opposite end of town, so we drove down the main street trying not to look around too much so that we could experience it fully. We knew we were in the right place when we pulled up to the visitors center and saw...

A poster saying I love Bella and Edward. This was the only possible picture to happen in front of this. There was also other posters in the windows. When we walked in there was a guest book with people from all over the world that had come to Forks. There were souveniers and a signed note from Stephenie herself. There were 2 other groups in front of us getting the whole tour run-down from the visitor center worker.

And this is the visitor center employee himself, Mike. He spoke about the book like it really existed and was happening now. He really got us pumped up and excited and just a little nervous about the locals...

They had Bella's truck in the parking lot!!

The second stop was the Swan household. The people that live there put a sign up saying Home of the Swans. When we pulled up there was a man and a little girl cutting wood on the side of the house. Jessica was starting to doubt mine and Laura's judgement when we walked right up for a photo op, but we decided long ago we would have no shame while we were in Forks. I can guarantee that we are the most mild of all Twilight fans.

Next stop was the hospital where they had a real parking spot reserved for Dr. Cullen. It was so funny to see how far they went to really make it an experience for visitors. It was so fun.

Forks Community Hospital!! There wasn't a whole lot going on over there besides sick people walking in and out... how boring. ;)

Next stop was Forks High School where Bella and Edward attended. It was one of the funnest stops as you will see by the pictures. The parking lot wasn't at all what I thought it would be. It was very small, I'm guessing local kids don't drive much. But I still was able to visualize Bella almost getting plowed into.

We were looking into every window trying to find the Biology room. Laura found it and the pic actually turned out! Even though it's obviously fiction, it was fun to pretend and be silly.

This has nothing to do with the tour, but I love it anyway. Jessica and I were pretending to be high school students telling secrets. We had so much fun, I literally can't look at these pics without cracking up.

I will finish tomorrow... this was about 1/2 way thru the tour, so it's appropriate.

Lo's Costume is Official...

2008-09-26T13:37:00.001-07:00

Of course, she will be much more adorable in it... she is obsessed with lady bugs and beetle bugs and slugs and snails... she loves them all. Year 1, she was a fish. Year 2, she was an octopus. It was a difficult decision to steer away from the whole underwater creature theme, but it had to happen sometime. ;)

I am getting out all of my Halloween decorations today. I know that it's early, but now that Lo is going to know what's going on and can get excited, I just can't wait to decorate the house and watch how excited she gets.

Rainy Days Don't Get Us Down!

2008-09-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

All ready to go hunt out some puddles!

Oh ya, those are great ones!

Run, stomp and repeat

After an hour we were so ready to go back inside. Then, bubble bath time!!

End with some hot chocolate and that was one FUN afternoon!!

um, so... start getting jealous.

2008-09-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Laura came up with the best idea ever today. We are going to drive to Forks on Saturday and go see the town and all the places that do actually exist there that are in the books. I am so incredibly pumped. The visitors center has a whole tour list you can pick up. Then places all around the town have Twilight food and items. I can't wait... pics to follow.

Lo's First Movie

2008-09-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

Lo and I decided to do something we have never done before... go see a MOVIE! The only kid movie playing was Igor, so off we went. I decided to get popcorn and drinks, Lo had her first real soda. She's had sips, but never her own. She of course got Sprite. She loved it and sucked all 24 ounces down before the movie even began. Which made for a TON of potty breaks. She did really well considering it wasn't probably the best movie for a 2 year old. She sat in her own chair for half the movie, on my lap for a quarter and stood up for the rest. I was all in all impressed and I think we will make it a new fall/winter activity! I forgot my camera, so here is the cell phone pic:

THE concert

2008-09-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

So last night was the big night. I had some issues getting someone to go with me, luckily Michelle was free and I am so glad she was. We had to much fun!!

Our summer is totally over and it's been raining for a week, but yesterday it was semi-warm and no rain. I had sprung for the covered seats, but it didn't look like that was going to matter. We left around 4:30, stopped by Kadyn's birthday party and then off we went!

We got there and found a latte stand. The line was SOOOOO long and not hardly moving, but we were willing to wait for a coffee. It started sprinkling, no big deal. It started raining a bit, ok... we can handle it. It started monsoon raining, we freaked. Of course it wasn't enough to make us leave, but we got drenched! After getting the coffee we went straight to our seats. Augustana was opening but I knew CC was next. And yes, our seats were covered, but on the very last row of covered seating, so sideways rain hit us all night.

The second I saw Adam Durst, none of it mattered. I instantly had tears well up in my eyes. 15 years with this band. Every teen and adult moment in my life had been tagged by Counting Crows songs and here I was. It was just amazing. My favorite song is Anna Begins and sure enough, second song into the set list and it's playing. It was unreal to me. What was probably 10-12 songs, felt like it passed in 30 seconds. Before I could even breath they were leaving the stage and I was screaming for the encore. It was truely life changing for me. I loved every second of it. Wish I could do it all over again.

Maroon 5 rocked it too. We didn't stay for the entire show, but most of it. I think Adam Lavine is so incredibly hot. He sang a song to me... ;)

Here are a couple pics and a video of Anna Begins.

Digital Scrapbooking

2008-09-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

I've started digital scrapbooking, I know some day I will look back at this and be embarassed at how amateur it is. But for now... I'm pretty tickled!!

Lorelai trying to poop

2008-09-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

Lo has been potty training for a long time now. She rarely has pee accidents these days, but every single day she poops in her panties. I can not figure out how to get her to poop in the pooty, I've tried everything. She even has a Yo Gabba Gabba toy waiting for her when she decides to finally poop in the potty. So yesterday I video taped what we go thru daily when I try to teach her how to poop. It's pretty funny if you ask me.

CC/M5 9/21/08

2008-09-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

I am FINALLY going to get to see a Counting Crows concert on September 21st. They are my all time favorite band since I was 14 and I have always, for one reason or another, missed out on their concerts. I have a life list in my head and seeing this concert is definitely a BIG CHECK! next to that place on my list.

Maroon 5 is also playing with them, which is totally exiting to me. I have changedmy play list to only have Maroon 5 and Counting Crows tunes. I also had to move it to the bottom of the blog so it didn't get cut off.

I'll be posting pics after the concert!

Severe Corneal Ulceration

2008-09-02T23:58:00.001-07:00

So about a week after I started feeling better from the meningitis, I woke up in the middle of the night with uncontrollable tears coming out of my left eye and was feeling like there was something in it. I got a wet rag and put it on my eye and went back to sleep. I woke up with the same issues only I was having serious light sensitivity. I thought maybe I scratched it so I just dealt with it and went on with my day.

The next morning I woke up and it was swollen almost closed and was horribly painful. I got into the eye doc and learned I had a corneal ulceration, one of the worst he has seen. He gave me an ointment cocktail of antibiotic and steroid and sent me home.

Because of the light sensitivity, I have been in the dark for almost a week. I broke down and went to bumbershoot, but other than that, all my shades have been drawn and I haven't been outside the house during daylight hours except to go to daily appts with my doc.

I am so sick of being sick. However, I have a new appreciation for my health and I will definitely work on taking care of myself more. Both diseases have been because of a weakened immune so I need to make sure I am getting sleep and eating much healthier. Of course I am saying this at almost midnight and I'm on my blackberry writing a blog.

So on that note, I'm going to bed. All of us mommies out there need to take care of ourselves!! It's not just us that suffer when we don't!!

A fun time killer...

2008-08-27T17:23:00.000-07:00

Laura introduced me to this fun website you can try out different hairstyles and be placed in year book folders. It's awesome, love it. Here are my faves:

2008 Kitsap Fair!

2008-08-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

We have been to the fair for 4 or 5 years in a row now but more importantly Lo has been every year of her life! The first year, she was barely 3 months old. I nursed her at the milking station where they milk the cows. hahahaha. That's my favorite memory of the fair.

Last year was fun because she knew what animals were and was excited to see all of them, but she was still taking naps and got grumpy quick so we couldn't stay very long.

But this year was by far the most fun. She not only knew the animals but was so excited to see them and we spent the majority of our time walking through all the animals. We also got to ride the rides this year. I never thought she would be as excited about the rides as she was. There was a dizzy dinosaur that I thought for sure she would cry through but she didn't. The more we spun, the more excited she got and wanted to go again. I, on the other hand, was not about to get on that thing again.

Here are some pics!

Found these from Lo's birthday

2008-08-22T21:19:00.001-07:00

I found these 2 pics on Ty's dads camera and had to post them... she is so funny. But, it was her party and she'll have 2 suckers if she wants to.

Toadie's Wedding

2008-08-19T19:55:00.001-07:00

Toadie's wedding was on the 9th of August. As much as I complain about dressing up, it was fun to wear my fake eyelashes and get my hair done. Here is a pic of me and my hubby walking down the aisle.

Lo didn't manage to throw flowers, but she did make it all the way down the aisle, which is further than she made it at Jessica's wedding, so I take it to be a success!! Her and Kadyn were very cute.

The happy couple! It was a very beautiful ceremony with tears shed! I wish I had a picture of the cute dance Kate did after this.

This was after taking hundreds of pics, so Lo was naturally irritated. But I think it's a cute pic anyway.

Here Lo is with her Garpa. These 2 are so dang cute together. She has him so wrapped around her finger and she knows it!!

The after party was my fav part. Our friends reunited Cone and Rachel was here and we had such a great time dancing and laughing. I had a blast!!

Viral Meningit-yuck-is

2008-08-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I started to get a nasty headache. I didn't think much of it because Rachel had been here for a week and Toadie's wedding was the night before and we uh... well, had LOTS of fun. Late nights and lots of good times.

So I napped Sunday and went to bed early. I woke up Monday with a gigantic headache. Every day it got worse and worse. Wednesday at 4 am I woke up with a 104 fever and couldn't even bare the pain of my headache, my joints ached, I was nauseas and irritable. I called the doc that day and got an appt for 11am. Dr. Havers did blood tests and had me go in for a ct, she gave me a prescription for a mild pain reliever. I got home and took some of the medicine and it just got worse and worse. The nurse called and told me the ct was clear so call back in the morning if it still hurts.

That night was horrible, I got no sleep and the pain in my head was the worst pain I have ever felt... and I've had natural child birth. I called the doctor and they told me I should go into the er. Ty came home and his mom came over to watch Lo. And off we went to the emergency room. I got checked in and they decided to do a lumbar puncture to test for viral meningitis. However first they needed to put in an iv.

Most of you know, I don't do well with needles. However lately it seems as though I've concurred this fear. I had my blood drawn earlier in the week and didn't even flinch. But as he was putting the iv in, I felt myself slipping away further and further until finally I was in such a happy place. I don't remember what my dream was, but it was the best dream and there was no pain and I felt so good and never wanted to leave.

In reality, I had passed out, but because of the meningitis, it had escalated it into a seizure and from what I understand I was flailing about all over the hospital bed with blue lips and my tongue swollen and hanging out my mouth, wide open eyes. I guess the sight was enough to make Ty almost pass out.

When they finally got me awake it was the rudest awakening. The room was suddenly filled with people and they were all screaming at me. I felt pain again, I was scared and I couldn't breath. When the dust settled, they gave me some iv pain meds and gave me time to recover before performing the lumbar puncture.

When that came back an hour later, we learned it was indeed viral meningitis. Thankfully not bacterial, but at least they can treat bacterial. The only treatment for viral is to treat the symptoms. So I was sent home with anti-nausea meds and oxycodone for the pain.

All evening and night Thursday I threw up, which was even more horrible because I couldn't keep my pain meds down. It was possibly the lowest point of my life. I would never even wish it upon my worst enemy.

Friday and Saturday were spent in bed, in and out of sleep and in the most pain I have ever felt. The one symptom that I hadn't had was neck rigidity and pain, but I developed that Friday night... I was banned from Lo in case I was still contagious, so I was quarantined in my room. Sunday I started feeling a little better and was able to get out of bed. My headache lifted a little. The medicine started to actually work.

Today I had a follow up. The doctor refilled my meds and said it could take a few weeks to feel like myself again. I am so tired of being sick and it's been so long now (today is the 9th day), I have forgotten what it feels like to be normal. I'm still having pain when I look in my peripherals, so I have another follow up on Friday.

Throughout this whole thing I have been so blessed by my friends and family. My Gramma made us dinners, my friends grocery shopped and babysat Lo for hours on end. I can't even express how much it meant to me. I didn't have to worry about one thing. Laura did all my worrying for me and was 2 steps ahead, always taking care of my needs before I even had them. At first I was nervous because my mom and sister are so far away, but there was no need for that.

Everyone keeps asking how I caught it, it's a viral infection. Anyone can catch it. There are carriers that never actually get the infection, they just give it to mostly the young, old and those with weakened immune systems (ding ding ding).

So I've probably got a few more days before I am feeling back to my old self... I'm hoping its sooner rather than later.

Zoo Fun

2008-08-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

My mommy friend Shelby and I decided to take our girls to the zoo last week. Lo loves animals but we haven't taken her to the zoo since last year so I was totally pumped!

She loves otters, but there were porcupines in there as well and I had no idea she even knew what it was or looked like until she yelled out "mom! porpupine!"

The Anoa were her fav for this zoo trip. They constantly came up to the window and she loved getting that close to them. Startled her at first, but then she realized she was safe behind the glass.
These girls are like sisters, Sophia really looks up to Lo and Lorelai just likes to pick on Sophia. She does adore Sophia, she just likes being the older one since most her other friends are older.

Lo has had a tumultuous relationship with the carousel. When she was a baby, she loved it. Last year... no way. She cried and I had to hold her the entire time. But this year! Wow! She was a little hesitant at first, then she really got into it and loved it! She actually screamed crying saying "MY TUUUUURRRNNNN" when it was time to get off.

All in all it was one of my favorite days this summer and I'm so glad I had Shelby and Sophia to share it with. Next week we are venturing to the Science Center. Very excited!!

BD- Spoilers below, so don't read if you haven't finished

2008-08-04T16:37:00.001-07:00

Right after I finished Breaking Dawn this afternoon I jumped online to read reviews and was absolutely floored that so many people hated it. I think it brought the saga to a perfect close. I read review after review about what kind of message is she sending to girls that they don't have to go to college, they can get married and knocked up and everything will work out just fine. WHAT??? Are you kidding me???

Following that train of thought we could also say, what is she trying to tell girls? That they can find a vampire to marry and be bff's with a werewolf?

People have lost track of what FICTION is. It's all about being able to escape from your life and be mentally wrapped up into someone elses. The lessons you learn from fiction are not about the situations they are in, but rather how they deal with situations. Regardless of what happens within the Cullen family, they treat each other with loyalty and respect. There's a good lesson to learn. What about facing your problems and figuring out solutions that not only work for you, but others around you? There's another good lesson.

Any girl that will make it in this life will make it regardless of whether they read Breaking Dawn. Any girl that has enough sense to make it in this life will know that it is fiction and of course it makes more sense to go to college and of course getting married at 18 is harder than 25. And OF COURSE she will know that there are no vampires and no werewolves.

Also I read a lot of readers were mad there wasn't more romance from Edward and Bella. I guess maybe you have to be a mom to really "get" Breaking Dawn. Reading about Bella doing everything she could to make sure her child stayed in her womb, when the Volturi came and she was protecting her and then when she thought it was hopeless, saying goodbye to her. I felt her ache, I imagined having to say goodbye to my child in order to save her life, broke my heart. I get this, I am a mom. This love is just as amazing as the love between her and Edward. Not to mention that the ultimate love, Edward and Bella creating a child. There is no more romance possible than that! So to those readers, sorry... you just don't get it.

Of course life isn't tied into a sweet little bow and not everyone gets everything they want out of life the way Bella got her man, baby and to be a vampire... but can't we just for a few days pretend that we can have everything we want out of life? Pretend that in the end everything will be absolutely perfect? Don't ruin that for us that know what fiction is.

Tea Party for Four

2008-07-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

Lorelai got a very sweet dress from Stella for her birthday with a tea pot and tea cups all over it. When we got home from lunch with Stella and Aliya and Landon saw the dress, they were inspired to have a tea party. They prepared all the food and got all the coffee cups out. They took them into the playroom and set it all up. Then they all got into their nice clothes and of course, Lo got into her tea party dress.

Apples, strawberries, carrots (and a seperate plate of ranch so it doesn't touch the fruit) and water for tea.

Lo and Grant swirled their suckers in their tea.

Lo was dipping apples in ranch, this is Aliyas reaction... not too thrilled.

Here is Landon refilling everyones tea. I haven't had this much success getting Lo to drink straight water in a long time!!

And let's have a toast! To new toys, having friends over to play and most of all... to long and healthy lives. Ok... they may not have said that, but they thought it.

You can't ever expect Landon to stay put for too long. Didn't take him much time to be under the table being crazy.

Grant needs to be famous because he loves having pics taken of himself. He kept doing different poses and telling me to take pictures of him. Then he'd make me show him every single pic. He's a nut!

This is why I am exhausted...

2008-07-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

It's been windy the last couple days, so yesterday the kids decided to fly a kite. After a lot of work, they finally got it up.

We let them fly for a while and then looked out and they were all sitting in the stroller. hahahaha
The things kids come up with are so funny. I couldn't ever figure out if they were hoping the wind would carry them away or if they just got tired. If you look close you can see them on the left and kite up on the right.
After cleaning and spending the day at home yesterday, the kids needed to get out of the house. It was supposed to get stormy today, so Nancy and I decided to take the kids bowling. It ended up to be a nice day, so we could have gone to the pool... oh well. Maybe tomorrow. Here are some bowling pics! Nancy and I decided to put the kids on one lane and us on the other. It was fine, but the ball took about a minute just to reach the pins each time, so the one game (actually only 7 rounds) took about an hour and a half. Next time we figure we will divide the kids up between us... or better yet the whole family can go and we could probably take up the whole alley.

Landon was naturally really good at it. His ball only took about 25 seconds to hit the pins and sometimes he didn't even hit the bumpers. The only thing was he didn't really care what happened after the ball left his hands so he was pushing the reset button before his ball got to the pins.
Nancy and Landon double teaming it.Being patient is SOOOOO hard for a 2 and 3 year old. They actually did pretty good considering. And those bowling shoes are RIDICK!!! So cute.
Lo had to find a way to ham it up at some point and get the attention. hahahaAhhh, there's my cutie patootie neice.
Lo was so cute trying to push the ball. The only one whose ball took longer than Lo was Grants. Grant definitely took the cake for slowest ball.
His technique was pretty good tho.

I didn't do too well, probably because if I wasn't holding Trey, I was looking behind me... totally horrified a kid might run up behind me and I would whack them in the face. But I did get one spare and one strike. Lo was actually winning for a while, but Aliya took first, Landon second, Lo third, Caydence fourth and Grant fifth.
Caydence and Grant had to add some style to their bowling.
And here is an Aliya action shot. She is a good sport hanging out with all the younger kids and still having a good time.

As put together and relaxed and organized as these pics may look, Nancy and I were running around like crazed people. I was sweating profusely. Lorelai just wanted to take her shoes off and run away. Grant wanted to hang out with the people to left of us. Landon wanted to keep his hands on the ball in the holder (which is a crushing injury waiting to happen). Caydence just wanted to push the reset button. Trey wanted me to love him. Aliya was just generally helpful and did whatever I asked of her to help us keep the younger kids contained.

All in all it was a really fun time. Regardless of how exhausted I am, I have really enjoyed getting to know my neices and nephews better. They really are great kids... even more so when they are away from Amy. I think they are so sick of her not being able to take care of them they act up more when she is around. Maybe I should have sent her to Washington to rest while I stayed here. Then she would actually rest and not do more than what she should be.

I have 3 1/2 days left. Was going really slow until today... now it's speeding up.

What we've been up to...

2008-07-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

All of you know by now that Amy broke her pelvis and has been down for a few weeks and prob has a few more weeks to go. I decided to fly out here on the 6th and help take care of her household and kids while she recovers. Here are some pics of what we've been doing this last week...

This was on the airplane. It was definitely the best flight we've had, but still... this kid has a long way to go before I will enjoy flying with her.

Monday we went to the splash pad park. Lo wasn't too sure about it, but as long as the other kids were running around in it, then she was pretty happy to follow suit.

Grant didn't get in the water once, but he did make 2 girlfriends and hung out with them the entire time. What a PIMP.

I think this was Tuesday, Grant put on Lo's princess dress. Lo was really upset, so I put Grants lion on her and she was just as happy as a clam.

What a cute little lion! She was crawling all over the floor "rawr"ing.

Utah give Lo serious bed head. I have never seen anything like the rat nests she wakes up with day after day.

Tuesday we discovered the pool at Nancy's house. It was totally fun, but we didn't have floaties for all the kids. Grant even "drowned" as he says. He went under for a second, but I got to him pretty quick. I went and got some floaties that night.

This was Lo's first time in a pool since last summer at her swimming lessons and I'm sure she doesn't remember that, so she was a little hesitant. Didn't like to stay in for long periods of time.

Mostly she just laid there and sunned herself. Which I totally get, I would have rather been doing that too.

Aliya is a super good swimmer and she keeps the boys and Caydence pretty much entertained.

These are from Thursday. We went back to the pool, prepared this time! Trey likes the water until he gets sleepy. He is so cute floating around in that thing.

Caydence is so cute and is so comfortable in the water. It's so fun to watch all the cousins run around and play.

And here's the gimp herself! She finally got the ok to do very minimal activity to try and start rehabing the pelvis. The doc recommended swimming, so we brought her with us. Even though it was super hard for her to get in and out and up and down, she felt pretty darn good floating around with her hippo.

Lo refused to play in the pool too much, but probably the last hour of the 2nd day in the pool she let me put floaties on and actually let go of her. Of course someone was always right next to her, but she got a kick out of floating around by herself.

So that's what we've done so far... at least the fun stuff. This morning we are going to Josh and Ashley's pool at the hotel. Better get the kids up and at em.

The 3 week head trauma

2008-06-23T22:07:00.000-07:00

Lo was at Nana Sandy's house and tripped and fell and rocked her head on the coffee table leaving a giant goose egg on her forehead. A week later I just stepped in the shower and heard a loud thump and then screaming. Came running out and Lo was bleeding from her mouth. I grabbed her and started to clean her up when I noticed the goose egg was more than back. Bigger than last time and there was an outside ring of yellow from the week before's incident with a giant blue inner lump from this time. 2 days later her delayed black eyes showed up from that crash.

A whole week later I was chatting with MG and Lo was playing with her kids and she was on the couch and fell off backwards, flipping over and smacking into the hardwoods face first. I about died. The black eyes instantly got worse and the forehead goose egg was the biggest yet and she scratched her upper lip. I felt so incredibly horrible. I didn't get good pics of the first 2, but these are pics after a few days of the 3rd. I wish the pics were true to how horrible it really was. These pics look totally mild.

Chuck E Cheese

2008-06-13T09:38:00.001-07:00

We took Lo to Chuck E Cheese for her actual birthday. Ty's parents, Gramma, Paul and the Holts met us there. We took Lo to Chuck E Cheese not that long ago and she hated it! She wouldn't ride any of the rides and kept signing and saying "SCARY!" So we weren't sure how it would go over, but she actually LOVED it this time! I think we all had a great time and she even got more gifts the lucky duck!!

This jeep jerks around from side to side and forward and back. She was playing peek a boo through the windsheild.
I'm not sure you are supposed to THROW the ski ball... but she had fun doing it!
Grandma Lyn gave her this mermaid that she has ocd with and the hair has to always be perfect and she gets really mad when you mess it up.
She hasn't rode on this since last year because it has been too scary. And again, she's fixing the mermaids hair. hahaha

Finally doing something with this thing.

2008-06-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

I finally added a layout that suits me, actually used some of the apps blogger has to offer. I added the blogger feed so I don't have to go to every single blog I follow to see if there's new stuff... it posts it now for me and I added a slide show from my picasa web albums that I have started to post to. I also added a music player with a few of my current faves. Wow... I feel to savvy.

Better warm up soon...

2008-06-10T07:46:00.001-07:00

East Coast peeps... bottle that heat up and send it this way! I have 2 inches of oil left and can't afford $5/gallon to get anymore!!

Lorelai's Second Birthday!

2008-06-09T22:04:00.000-07:00

So my daughter is officially 2 now, I can't believe it. In some ways I can't even remember what life was like without her and it feels like she's always been here with us. But in other ways, 2 years went by so incredibly fast. There are no words to describe the way I feel about this little girl. She is amazing to me, she has so much wonder and fascination for life. Anyway- these are some pics from her b-day party this last Saturday.

Well, finally it was the big day. All the hard work paid off!

All the Yo Gabba Gabba characters... now officially up for sale.

It looked AMAZING!

Treat Bags!
Chris from August Wynn did all the food, I ordered a white strawberry shortcake cake from him and Nancy is talented enough to pull this off! If you don't know Yo Gabba Gabba none of this will make sense to you... it's all in the theme!
On the menu was pulled pork, meat and cheese tray, potato salad, green bean salad, mozarella balls, shrimp and grilled and fresh veggies and of course, Laura made her fabulous pasta salad. Not too much was kid friendly, but they were so hopped up on sugar, I think it was ok to be selfish with the food.

Nancy whipped out a life size Brobee in an ADHD fit and Lo LOVES it... but she does keep asking why Brobee is sad. He is sad in the show a lot, but also has a smiley face. However, there is no way to change that on the lifesize one... so that's been fun to try and explain why no matter how many times she kisses and hugs Brobee, he won't get happy!

Her outfit was ridiculously cute. She looked adorable in it!!

She had such a good time opening presents and she is the most gracious little girl ever. Telling everyone thank you without even being asked and every time a present would open she would gasp and say "Look at that!"

Here comes the cake!! Of course, she had to put on her new princess dress.

She blew her candle out with gusto! She knew exactly what to do!

Yum! Cake and ice cream!

It was a fabulous party, thank you so much to all who helped me put it together. Couldn't have done it without everyones help. Lorelai had such a great day and we were lucky enough to have Nana and Papa here to celebrate with us!!

I have a few more pics and some from tonight, which is her actual birthday. We went to Chuck E Cheese, so I hope to get those up sometime soon.

Nana and Papas trip

2008-06-08T23:06:00.000-07:00

Lorelai was so tickled her Nana and Papa were here to see her. She calls Ty's parents Garma and Garpa, so calling my mom and dad Nana and Papa was a little hard to grasp. She switched between the 2 sets of names... at one point she called my dad Garpapa. Nice mix. We spent the first few days planning for Lo's birthday, this is a pic walking into Walmart right before Lo dropped her feet and made them carry her in by her arms.

After the party was over (will be in a separate post), we finally got to do some fun stuff. We went to the Science Center. This pic is right before Lo fell completely off the caterpillar. The Butterfly Exhibit was the most amazing it has ever been. There were so many of them fluttering all about. The most popular person in the butterfly world was dad. One landed on his head and then this one hung out on his shoulder the entire time we were in the exhibit and then the butterfly whisperer had to take it off him before we could leave.
Lo was so into exploring the butterflies.

This is Lo Lo and Garpa in the helicopter. They look like they are getting ready to fly away!

On the ferry daddy let Lo stick her head out the sunroof. It was so cold, I'm surprised she didn't turn into a popcycle.

We didn't take too many pics now that I go back through my camera. I'll have to snap some tomorrow before we reluctantly say goodbye. I really, really am not looking forward to taking them to the airport tomorrow... seems like they just got here. I was hoping to talk my dad into staying a little longer while they were here and had a sweet 2 year old begging them to stay... but my sister broke her pelvis and my sis in law has a broken foot. So unless I can come up with an injury worse than both put together... I will be parentless tomorrow. I can't even talk about it yet.

My chosen family

2008-06-03T23:38:00.001-07:00

At least a couple times a week, we all get together. Most of the time it ends with the kids in the hot tub. Ben was the lucky one this night that got to "bathe" all the kids. These are my favorite nights when the kids are running around playing and all the parents get to hang out and chit chat, telling funny stories. Some "chicken bones" on the grill and Lauras pasta salad.

Lo happens to LOVE Ben so much. Most of the time she calls him daddy since Lucy and Will do.

Some of my favs... not all 76... had to stop myself somewhere.

2008-05-29T07:13:00.001-07:00

My little girl is turning 2!!

These are what we call "I Love You Fingers". We have taught her sign language since a young age and I am so happy to capture her second language talents.

No joke, this is how she would leave the house daily if I let her. The santa hat is worn every day in my house... adding the seahawk "12th man" beanie is a second fav... but both together??? WOW!

Lorelai loves wishing flowers, so when we found this feild of them, she was in pure heaven.

I love those lips... just want to kiss them.

She tries so hard to blow on them but she can't ever get enough wind in the same direction, so she just shakes them. But I love watching her try.

Throughout this shoot, she tried her darndest to something to "ruin" all the pictures. Holding her shirt up, making funny faces, turning her head and tucking her hand in her dress. Little does she know, these are the pics I love the most.

Roller Skating Diva

2008-05-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

She was so jealous of Lucy and Williams skates that she had to have her own. She actually did pretty well for a while. They are toddler skates so they have stages. The first stage locks all the wheels so she can just get used to walking with skates on.

I can't help but chuckle when I see these pics. She was so proud of herself. I could tell she felt like such a big girl. Her friend Sophia was watching and I know she was showing off a little.

After this experience tho, I realized the need for a flat, even surface. She fell down a million times and eventually said "mommy, hold you!" Now that I think we are going to get a break in the weather I will take her to the tennis court or basketball court. Might be easier on her.

One step forward, Two steps back.

2008-04-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to move Lo to a toddler bed. Mostly because I finally ordered her new bedding and I was super pumped to get it on a bed... not a crib.

Anyone that knows me, knows that Lo and I are no strangers to sleep issues. Lorelai did not sleep through the night until she was almost a year old. But not just waking up here and there... she was up every 2-3 hours or less every single night for 1/2 hour to 1 hour feedings. It doesn't sound bad until you live through it. I almost went crazy.

But after a year hit, she was a champion sleeper. We brush teeth, read books and then I rock her for a second and put her in bed and she takes it from there. She very rarely ever wakes up and has even been sleeping 12 or more hours every night.

Why would I mess with this?? I guess I just thought she was over her sleep issues and she loved her big girl bed and she LOVED her mermaid bedding.

So last night we set it all up and made a big deal about a big girl bed...

She was pumped... you can't tell, but she was.

The fear was starting to form... you can see it in her eyes.

Quick shout out to Nancy, because she built this book rack... BUILT IT! And painted it (I tried to upload the rotated picture a few times and it wouldn't go... so whatev, you get the idea).

This is sign on her door I got off ebay. I wish it was closer, because the mermaid looks like the middle aged version of the mermaid on her bedding... maybe the lady that sales these should keep her day job. But it works!

Anyway... she screamed for about an hour and a half. I finally got her to sleep and laid on my bed to listen and make sure she didn't get up and start playing when "THUMP!" and then crying. She had fallen off the bed. I go in and lay her down, she didn't even really wake up.... This happened 6 times. One time, she was clear cross the room and I couldn't find her until I stepped on her. This was at 2 am and I was exhausted. So I threw the mattress in her crib and put her down.

Of course she slept fine the rest of the night... {insert really long story about her waking with another ear infection here... I'll save that for another day}.

Tonight she completely freaked out again, screamed for a while, but she's actually asleep now... on top of the bed. So knock on wood... however I am not too proud to put that mattress right back in that crib and not letting her out until she's 10. Don't think I won't do it if it means I get sleep at night.

Why won't my baby cuddle with me???

2008-04-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

Ty is in Texas tonight and all I wanted was to keep Lo in bed with me and cuddle and fall asleep. Started off well enough... she was totally pumped to sleep in mommys bed. She ran over to the bed and when I lifted her up she laid down and snuggled in. Then she started tossing and turning, so I asked if she wanted to watch a show. Of course she wanted to watch yo gabba gabba. Bad idea, 2 seconds later she is singing and dancing and jumping on the bed. For about 10 minutes I laid her back down and told her to settle down, then I threatened her. I told her if she doesn't lay down she'll have to sleep in her bed. Thinking that would get her to lay down immediately, I was surprised when her response was "ya! mommy- Lorelai bed!" and she ran into her room.

Boo... oh well, Tullys in bed with me now. Other than dog breath and the occasional fart, she's a pretty good cuddle bug.

My next kid better be a cuddler or I'm sending him/her back! ;)