Wednesday, May 27, 2009

I wanna be a wet nurse when I grow up...

I was in the shower just now, yes first shower of the day at 6:20pm, and I decided to shave my legs. I NEVER shave my legs except for on Saturdays. I don't really know when or why I started doing that, it's just a dumb habitual thing. I guess if I didn't I'd probably never do it. Anyways, on this, a WEDNESDAY, I decided to shave my legs because I knew it would take a while and I would be in the shower longer and I would be avoiding my 3 1/2 year old longer.

As I was shaving a thought occurred to me, after 2 children, my boobs are definitely not what they used to be anyways. It's not like they could get much worse right? And today was one of those days when my 1 year old seemed like an angel in comparison to her older brother. A light bulb went on. I could totally be a wet nurse! Babies only really need to nurse for nourishment for like a year...

I could totally nurse and then I'd be done before the kid starts talking and then back talking and throwing tantrums and screaming and kicking and yelling and asking why every 5 seconds and then getting mad when you don't know why he has decided to poop his pants when he is the only one that can say why he decided to do something and then touches his poop and starts screaming some more because he has poopy hands...

It would be awesome.

I guess what I mean in a sense is that I LOVE the puppy (so to speak). All cute, little, cuddly and helpless... Then they turn into a dog and I just want to give it back.

At least today I do.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Keepin' up with the Jones'

Nowadays everyone thinks if they have a nice camera they are a photographer. Not the case. I have a camera. I am most definitely NOT a photographer. But my friend Chris Jernigan totally IS! And one of my super rad friends with one of the coolest names, Kerri, has been keeping her new husband a secret from me... So this last weekend we finally made it up in Portland to hang out. You know how sometimes when you spend time away from friends you forget how much you miss them? Well, I am so happy we finally got to spend some quality time together! Chris was gracious enough to take some photos of the fam as well. I was so super excited, mostly because Tony and I have not had any photos of JUST the two of us since 2004. Here are just a few of my favorites...












Saturday, May 16, 2009

Twitter... my new best friend

I was so upset that I had absolutely no control over my physical response. My body just started to shiver like I was cold. How odd. I wasn't cold. I was just so overwhelmed by my frustrations of the day that my body took it as a physical pain as opposed to an emotional one.

I needed an outlet. I couldn't just sit there shaking forever. So what did I do? I turned to Twitter.

I heart Twitter.

Before Twitter, all I had was Facebook, Myspace and a bunch of friends that often too close to the situation to tell my feelings to. I needed something more anonymous. I needed a journal, a blog... no I needed Twitter.

I use Twitter as an outlet. When I have something on my mind, I say it. The tweeps that I follow and follow me know that I'm not shy and I can tweet my opinion without offense being taken. That's what Twitter is to me. It's a way to bypass the BS and be real. Most of my followers are not people I know particularly well. They don't judge, nor do I. Sometimes they are more helpful, insightful, or understanding than I could ever imagine.

I heart my followers. They listen, they respond, they are wickedly cool.

If only real life was as honest as a Twitter conversation.

What do you use Twitter for? Networking? Business? An outlet?

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Happy Birthday Tatum!

One year ago today, after an entire day of labor, and 4 minutes of pushing, out popped my 9 lb. 4 oz. baby girl!
(3 days old)
(1 wk shy of 1 yr)
Happy birthday to my baby girl. I've been in denial that this day was coming for about 2 months now. Tatum has been able to sit up by herself since she was 5 months old. And that's all she did for ever! She didn't start "crawling" until she was nearly 10 months old. And by crawling I mean pulling herself with her hands and then kicking with her feet. She looked more like a fish out of water. So I wasn't aware for 5 months that she was aging.But here she is, one year old and I can't believe it. She's the sweetest little girl you will ever meet. She is mellow and calm (like her father) and she has the biggest 2 tooth smile with the biggest dimples that will melt your heart.We wanted her so badly. After Spencer, I had 2 miscarriages in our attempt to have another baby. I started to think that it wasn't possible. But now I know that without the loss of those 2 babies, I never would have had Tatum Eliza.

Happy birthday baby girl! I love you so very much...

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

2 tickets to paradise... er, uh 3.

Tatum's screaming, my stomach hurts like nobodies business and Spencer starts to pee his pants. Never again. This was the worst idea I've ever had! What could I have possibly thinking when I said, "Hey, let's just bring the kids with us to Hawaii!" So after 5 excruciatingly painful hours we finally landed in Maui. But this was not the end. We had to jump on a short flight to get over to the Big Island. As soon as we boarded, Spencer fell asleep, Tate calmed down and I thought to myself, "why the h-e-double hockey sticks couldn't this have happened on the 5 hour flight!?!"

Despite the not so fun flight, we had made it. We were in Hawaii! I've always wanted to go, and we were supposed to for our honeymoon nearly 5 years ago. Turned out we were broke though and that wasn't happening. So we took the plunge and headed over with the 2 kids.

It was amazingly beautiful. The resort we were staying at, Kona Village, was only 20 minutes from the airport. As we drove the long winding road to get there we spotted tons of little goats. Apparently they are wild there and everywhere. We finally arrived, got lei'd, and shown to our Hale, on the edge of the lagoon.After a quick dinner, we headed to bed (at 7 it was 10 in our internal clocks)... Kids woke up at 6. Awesome. It was going to be a long day. We got dressed and headed to breakfast. Oh breakfast, how I love thee. Every morning started with a fruit of a wide variety of fruit... kona coffee and the tastiest coconut syrup to top off your waffles, pancakes, french toast... whatever you desired. The last morning we were there, our waiter actually snuck us a bottle of the tasty coconut syrup to take with us. :)

After breakfast every morning we headed straight for the beach to explore. The first day we saw a turtle hanging out on the beach that Spencer nearly ran into because he didn't notice it. Then we would spend the better part of the morning building sand castles and standing in the water getting crushed by the waves.
Here's our attempt at a sand castle. Turned out to be more of a sand wall. ;)There was this really cool tiki guy on the edge of the lava field where everyone would put their leis after they arrived. We were no exception...After beach time, we'd head over to the "turtle" pool. Which was a little kiddie pool about a foot & a half deep with pretend turtles in it. That was Spencer's favorite place to be.After pool time we would go to lunch and then have a little more exploration/time in the sun. Soon after, the kids would be so completely drained, it was time for a nap. Tony would hang out in the hale while the kids slept (he said his pasty white skin needed a break from the sun, but I knew he was just letting me have some me time in the sun). I would go hang out at the pool or beach and read.

After nap, we'd all shower and get dressed for dinner. Dinner was always beautiful, complete with live music and an amazing sunset. Here are some of our dinnertime photos...



There were also so many beautiful plants, birds, and lizards. Always available for photo ops. Nearly every day there was a chance for some sort of crafty activity. We made lei's for the luau, made shell necklaces, (Spencer beaded Tony's all by himself!), wove bracelets and did some basket weaving... There were also hammocks everywhere if we wanted to just sit and soak up the scenery.We even had a chance to take Spencer fishing for the very first time in the lagoon. He LOVED it, despite the lack of interest by the fish. The baby fish would eat the bread off the end of the bamboo rod & hook while the bigger fish watched. There were about 5 massive blue fish that we kept trying to catch, but they were too smart for us. Besides, they were about 4 feet long and would have snapped the rod in half, or pulled us in.Spencer made some friends while we were there. There was this little girl from Texas, named Emma, that he just adored. They left the day before us and he was so bummed at dinner time when she wasn't there. But he picked up the pieces and asked another little girl who had just arrived the day before, Emilia from Seattle, to dance.Friday night we went to the Luau. It was pretty rad. Spencer LOVED the Polynesian Tour show. Well, aside from when the dude stuck a stick of fire in his mouth. He was a little concerned at that point. I think you can tell from the photos what my favorite part was... ;)The last day we were there, we spent the day soaking in the last sun we would probably get in a while and actually spotted some sharks in the bay! Regardless of the horrendous flight experience, I am so glad we went and I am so glad that the kids were there. This was definitely an experience that none of us will forget. Well, Tate might, but we've got some killer photos to prove she was there.

I tried to convince Tony to find a job while we were there so we didn't have to leave and we could just have our things shipped, but it didn't happen. When we left, Spencer was so SAD! He actually thought that we had sold our house and that the little 400 square foot hale we were staying in was our new home! If only... if only...