Splish Splash

Well after another messy day in Babyland, it was time for a bath.

I unfortunately haven't had mine yet, but Joli had a grand time with hers. I had already drained the water out but she didn't seem to mind. She was having too much fun playing with the non-slip part of her tub. The interesting part was that she was leaning over so far that her foot kept getting in the way, and every once in awhile she would randomly bite it. I think she was trying to let it know who was boss. Maybe all the circulation was gone and she didn't know it was her foot. Either way it was quite entertaining watching her grab for the edge, and then bite her foot, grab for the edge, then bite her foot again. Oh to be young and only to worry about your feet getting in the way.

Our day was not completely uneventful. Joe didn't have to go to work until after 1:00pm, so we got to spend the morning with him. Then we went to the grocery store, which is very exciting when your fridge is empty. Once we got home I used my food processor to make Joli some baby food. I have now discovered that her favorite food is avocado. She was okay with the banana but it just wasn't as good as the avocado I guess. We also bought squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, and mango. She tasted the mango, then gave me the sour face, maybe we'll try again later. All in all, good day.

Beach Babes

Today was a beautiful day in San Diego, so Joli and I decided to enjoy it. We headed to the beach with all our gear, in anticipation of a lovely afternoon. Unfortunately it was incredibly windy, and every time I put something down it ended up covered in sand.

But we put up our big umbrella to block the wind and lounged anyway.

Now that Joli can sit up, she had her first opportunity to sit in the surf.

Though she didn't actually get wet, she did enjoy sampling the cuisine.

As time went on it started to get a little chilly, and I was tired of tasting sand. So Joli enjoyed the soft sand while I got our stuff together.

Then we hit the road.

Hazards of Motherhood

When I found out I was pregnant, it was like people lined up to give me advice and tell me how to do everything. I would be lying if I said that I enjoyed it. The one thing no one bothered to mention however, were the hazards of becoming a mother.

I knew of course about being spit up on, and having food thrown at you, and the possibility of braking your neck on toy. But I was under the impression that however messy things may get inside a diaper, they tended to stay inside the diaper. I did not know that everything I own would eventually get pooped on. I did not know that on several occasions, I would have to come up with a way to get myself and my child into the bathroom without leaving a trail of poop throughout my house. I also did not know how to remove the "seedy, mustard-looking bowel movement" from clothing, carpeting, bedding, and upholstery. It would be safe to say that now I do know about all these things, and I have generally excepted that I will be performing one or more of these tasks on any given day.

"The Pooper"

But today I experienced a new hazard. Up until recently my sweet child has sat in her bouncy chair on the bathroom floor so I could attempt my thirty second shower. Then a few weeks ago she learned how to sit up, and became very angry with the idea of having help in this area. So at this time we got out the tub toys and now she sits on the non-slip, foot-shaped grip at the end of the tub, while I take a slightly longer sixty second shower. Up until today, things were going fairly well. Today she got it in her mind that on this particular day she would not be put down. (As I type one-handed). So as I had a painful lesson in the acoustics of my shower, I decided to bend down and show her some more of the toys. Once she was happy, I pushed myself up, only to realize that I was not quite as far away from the faucet as I had originally imagined. Pain shot down my legs at the same time all the blood rushed back into my head, causing me to grab onto the shower head for fear that I might actually squish my baby; and the whole time I'm thinking in my head "Don't scream or you'll scare her". At this point I realized, oh yeah I'm a mommy.

"The Bruise"

So to all the mommy's, be careful out there.

Happy Memorial Day

Although we spent most of our weekend moving furniture, it has thus far been a fairly good time. My parents are finally in their new house, in one of the most expensive parts of Los Angeles. Congratulations to them. It is a beautiful house. With four bedrooms, three baths, and an enormous great room with fireplace. It's so pretty. Everyone gets their own room and bathroom, and it's all hardwood floors, so it will cut down tremendously on the amount of cat hair.

Now we are back home, but the weekend's not over yet. This weekend we all get an extra day to relax. But today isn't about relaxing. Today is about remembering and honoring the men and women who have died, so we can enjoy our freedom. I want to challenge everyone, even if you don't run into a soldier on a daily basis, make an effort to find a soldier either in person, on the phone, the Internet, or by mail; and let them know that you appreciate what they do. It isn't about whatever you may feel about our president, or our government; it's about these people that say "I will sacrifice my life if need be, in order for the people I know and love, and those I don't, to have a good life". So find a soldier today, and let them know that they are not alone in this fight, and we are here cheering them on.

Have a great weekend everyone!

My Hero

In the past I have put up posts about my husband to give a light-hearted and humorous spin on dealing with the trials of marriage. It has recently been brought to my attention, that however funny these stories may be, they might give someone the wrong impression about my husband. So all jokes aside I would just like to let everyone how wonderful he really is.

Not only is my husband a wonderful father and husband, he is also my best friend. When he is gone I am at a complete loss for who to share my thoughts and feelings with. Although I am close to many people, no one quite gets me like he does. I can say anything that comes into my mind, no matter how strange or wrong it may sound, and my husband will just laugh and say that he loves me. I can piss him off to the point that he might just snap, and he will still cool off and tell me that he loves me. I can nag at him constantly about the dishes or his clothes and though he may yell, he will still do it, because he loves me. I can come to him with anything, no matter how big or small, and if I tell him that it's important to me, he'll listen and say he loves me.

My husband is one of the most amazing people I know. Anything he wants to do, once he sets his mind to it, he'll do it. He can conquer things that average men only dream about. He is the best thing that ever happened to me. He saved me from a life that was on its way down and only picking up speed. He is incredibly passionate, and loving, and loyal; in a way that you would never expect. I can only hope that my daughter is lucky enough to spend her life with someone just like her daddy. Although I may joke, I know and have always known, that I would be lost without him. He is my husband and he is my hero. I love you hunny!

I recently put up a song on my myspace page that somewhat describes how I feel. Anyone who would like to is welcome to go to it. http://www.myspace.com/bunnysbaby

Fred is Red

For those of you that haven't visited my MIL's blog today, their cat Fred was hit by a car last night. So I decided to write a poem for him.

Fred is Red,

That's what we said,

When we brought him home

So he wouldn't be alone.

Fred is Red,

He loves the bed,

He hides under covers

And plays with his brothers.

Fred is Red,

He has a soft head,

His fur is black,

He's the friendliest cat.

Fred is Dead,

That's what they said,

He was hit by a car,

He went to far.

Fred is Red,

We love you Fred.

Wife or Mother?

I woke up to a sad realization this morning. The past four years of my relationship has been practice for having a teenager. As I was visiting my MIL I heard several phrases that she used to speak to my 15-year-old brother-in-law. "Pick up your clothes", "Do your chores", "Close the door all the way", "Where are you going?", and "When are you going to be home?". Sadly these are all phrases in which I use on a daily basis with my husband. The realization came to me as he was getting ready for work. He told me he had ten minutes before he had to leave. I was nursing the baby and I asked him if he could get me a glass of juice. He then spent the next three minutes arguing with me about how he had so much he had to do and he didn't have time. Then he spent two minutes getting his stuff together. Then left five minutes early. At this point I'm thinking in my head that if he would have just shut up and got me the damn juice, he would have been done in less time than it took to argue with me. Then my brain went "oh no, I'm not his wife, I'm his mother".
This is the point in which I began to think about what a wife really is. Here is what I've come up with:

Loving someone unconditionally, even when they are being a complete idiot and you'd rather just smack them on the forehead.

Constantly cooking and cleaning up after someone else.

Calling and embarrassing them in front of their friends because they forgot to call, again, and you were worried.

Telling someone to do something for the five hundredth time, knowing you're just going to have to tell them again in five minutes.

Spending time figuring out how to phase things in order to avoid a tantrum.

Finding things that were in the same spot that they left them when they took them off and threw them in the middle of the floor, again.

And my favorite:
Hearing them use the phase "I'll be out in minute, I have to do my chores real quick."

Yep, it's official, I'm his mother. I've decided that the only real difference is that as a reward for doing all this, I get to have sex with him whenever he wants. Not, of course, when I want. Well hopefully I'll be better at raising teenagers once Joli gets old enough.
At least I don't look old enough to be his mother. I hope.

Baby Bumps

Well along with getting the hang of sitting (and getting back down), my baby is also learning about pain. Daddy loves the fact that he can just set her down anywhere now. Unfortunately he and I are both learning how close and at what angle to set her at. Most of the day went really well until the late afternoon when I set her on the thick play mat I have for her out on the patio, and she figured out the one and only way she could fall to smack her head on the concrete. Once I got her calmed down from that, Joe took her inside to play on the floor. I came inside and Joe tried to kiss me, but Joli decided to fall over and hit her head on the wall. So we didn't put her down for awhile. I started to make dinner, Joe said he'd watch Joli. I went in to see what they were up to and Joli was sitting next to Joe. I tried to give him a kiss, and Joli went face first into the base board. I'm beginning to think we're not supposed to be kissing. I don't know if you can tell, but she ended up with a fat bump on the right side of her forward.

She was quite a trooper though and tried again. She had fun letting daddy take pictures of her. He kept saying "she's just so cute".

Eventually they got bored and layed down to watched television. It's amazing how much you miss the site of your family sitting together.

Daddy's Home!!!

Well it took her a second, but Joli was very excited to see Joe. It was kind of a "Hey, I know you" moment. Then it clicked and she's been all smiles ever since. I'm of course very excited. Not only do I have my loving husband around again, but I get to pee in peace! What a concept!

Home Sweet Home

After being gone for two weeks, most people would just relax once they reached home. Not me. After putting away all of our stuff, and doing all the laundry. I potted some plants and started making our back patio look not so bare. It used to just have a grill on it, and that was it. Now it has plants and some decorations. I'm in the process of putting up a garden arch with some vines, and getting a little cafe table, and some hanging lights. It's going to be my own little paradise, hopefully!

After that I started working on some different things that I wanted to paint some sayings on.

Then I decided that I wanted to make a headband out of some of my new fabric.

Now of course I'm blogging and taking care of screamy! What a fun weekend!

Highway Of Hell

Once we left Laume's house we went to my brother-in-law, Sam's house. It was fun to hang out and see old friends. They were all excited to see Joli. We went to Sam's softball game and our favorite hang out, Logan's Roadhouse!

Then we woke up at 4:00 a.m. and started driving home. This is where my nightmare begins. We got some snacks and some Starbucks and hit the road. Three and a half hours later we stopped in Modesto to get me some more Starbucks and for Joli to drink her Mama Starbucks. We got some gas and continued on our way. We drove awhile longer and discovered that the middle of California is completely boring. I have never been to Bakersfield, but let me just say for the record, that it sucks! The only place I could find to stop was run down and very creepy, truck stop. Joli ate and then we moved on.

Unfortunately, at this point Joli had been sleeping most of the day and was pretty pissed that we were back in the car, but now we were really out in the middle of nowhere so I wasn't about to stop. I gave her a bottle of water with my arm bent over the back of her car seat while I played a very loud children's CD called "Circle Round and Sing". Eventually she went back to sleep. Now we were getting out to the desert in every sense of the word. I saw what at first I thought was a mirage, and then a place where airplanes went to die, and finally I figured out it was where they were built. This was very odd since I had driven over 50 miles to get to that point and had to go another 30 miles to get to anything else.

We finally got to some town on the eastern border of L.A. and after searching for awhile, found a mall to stop at. Joli was thrilled to be able to get out of her car seat for more than ten minutes. We played in the grass in front of the mall and then went in and looked at the fountains. We walked the entire length of the mall, and tried to stay out of the stores in order to not spend any money. Finally after and hour and a half we got back into the car. This of course was not long enough for the queen and she started screaming after we got through the rest of the desert and into the wonderful Los Angeles traffic. She screamed for at least twenty minutes while I searched for something, anything, that looked like it would be a good place to stop. I finally found an outlet mall just over 60 miles from our house.

As I went to get my red, weeping child out of her cage, I noticed a gigantic ant crawling across her hand. Great, now not only have I tortured her with child restraints all day, but I've let her get attacked by enormous insects. I now label myself the worst mom of the year. Luckily, there were no bites; and I had pounded the ant with my foot over and over, while using several swear words mixed into my lecture about threatening my child, (I won't repeat them). Now being an outlet mall that was away from the city, one would think that they would have some place to eat. Nope only ice cream. I then put my spawn back into the torture chamber and drove five more miles to an Applebee's.

At this point I should say that when we left this morning, we did not take a shower or get dressed. So walking into an Applebee's, in my pajama's, with a five-month-old, at 8:00 on a Friday night; would probably explain the looks I was given. But we hung out anyway. We needed it more than the embarrassment was worth. I ordered a sandwich and Joli ate my mashed potatoes. An hour later, we were back on the road.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. Joli slept, I drove. Finally at 10:00, eighteen hours after we got up, we arrived at our house. It was exciting enough that I almost didn't care that the party two doors down had caused a mass amount of cars, that thankfully did not pour into my driveway; and was shaking the windows that my cats were staring out of with extremely wide eyes. Once they saw me get out of the car, however, they forgot all about the noise that was threatening to crumble the floor beneath them. I unloaded the car while Joli tried to match the amount of noise on the street and we went inside to our wonderful home. We didn't go to sleep for three more hours, but we were out of the car, and off our highway of hell!

The Final Day

Well it is a very sad day today. It is the last day we get to spend in paradise. Tomorrow we must get up and leave. It has been a good day though. Joli and I hung out in the front yard and refinished some furniture. I got sunburned, but I was smart enough to put Joli in the shade. The nightstand turned out really cute! The top says "Always kiss me goodnight", and the sides say "wish", "love", and "dream".

This is a cupboard that I'm redoing for my sewing room. I'm going to use it to put fabric in. The top of this one says "No one notices what I do until I don't do it".

We also went to the tea room one last time. Joli squealed as loud as she could while the room was full, then once we were the only one's there she quieted down and hung out. She's crazy. But I had the cutest tea cup!! It reminded me of a beautiful flower that a fairy would live in! I took a picture of it next to it's mate.

It was a great day but we are so sad to be going home!!

Just Relax

We had a very slow relaxing day today. Laume got a lot done around the house, but Joli and I just hung out. I started to refinish an old night stand. I'll finish it tomorrow I guess. We played in the grass some more. Practiced our sitting up again.
I think Joli got bored and decided it would be more fun to eat her toes.
We ran around town, and did some errands, ate some different kinds of food, and just relaxed. Joli once again chose to not take naps all day, so she was pooped out in the end!

My First Mother's Day!

Today was such an exciting day for me!!! It was a once in a lifetime day, as my first Mother's Day! I woke up to a pot of tulips and a Happy Mother's Day balloon. I'm not sure how Joli did it, but it was very sweet! He he! Then we all relaxed on the couch. My Mother's day present to myself was to not take the time to take a shower and get pretty.

Then we all went outside and watched the boys play football.
William had a slight advantage considering he does this for the majority of the year.
Sam didn't do too bad. Especially since he never played football.

Joli enjoyed her seat for all the excitement.
We asked a gentleman riding by to take a picture of all of us. Missing a few people, but some of the family.
Next we all relaxed in the yard while we figured out what we wanted to do for the day.
Joli hung out with Rosie in the little doggie run. I think she liked being able to hang on to the side.

We finally made a decision to go out to lunch. When we got back we all hung out and I blew bubbles. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more.After Sam and Kyla went home, Joli and played in the grass.

Joli finally got the hang of sitting up, now it's a regular thing! Good job baby girl!

What's more fun than playing with Mama! Look we can both sit up now!

A Ghostly Day

We we woke up very early today to drive to Virginia City and go on a Ghost tour. It was fun just because it was an old town with lots of historic things to look at. The ghost part was a little spooky but we still had fun!
We got to go to an old school house that was really interesting! Kyla and William pretended to be in school still. We even got to ring the big school bell!
We spent a lot of time walking and finally got a drink break, when we came across this car with this crazy motor! I thought it looked so cool, like it busted out!

The rest of the day was fun, but hot. We left and stopped in Reno for an hour or so, just get something to drink and relax. We were all so happy when we got back and discovered that Sam had grilled us some hamburgers and tri-tip! It was a great meal! We were all so tired after such a long day. We watched The Divinci Code and then went to bed.