Looking Back at 2012

Earlier today Adam and I were talking about NYE celebrations and how we're not big on the 'holiday.'  Even more so now that we have Sebastian.  One thing I did tell Adam, as we were talking about something that happened years ago and he commented that time flies by, is that, for me, this has both been the longest and fastest year of my life.

To sum it up, as best I can, with the help of my FB timeline and my digital photos from the year:

• February - Sebastian met Elvis at the White Wedding Chapel!  First time I'd ever been to a wedding on the Vegas strip.
• March - my surgery.  I'm STILL hoping for more recovery with the nerves, but...as always, the outcome could have been much worse.  I'm keeping up the patience and trying my best to stay positive (most of the time anyways).  Justin comes home from his mission in Sendai, Japan, and I hit my target of being released from the hospital the day before he gets home.  
• May - Holly's wedding!  All the fun and craziness that surrounds a wedding (bachelorette party, rehearsal, day of hair and makeup pampering).     And now, she and Bryan have moved back to OC.
• June - The annual family reunion up in Mammoth.  The Kings won the Stanley Cup.  Sebastian starts day care and goes swimming (and loves it) for the first time.
• July - Justin & Naomi's wedding. Adam and I attended 4 weddings in the past 10 or so years.  We were invited to FIVE this year alone.  Seb starts crawling.
• August - Sebastian's first birthday!  Adam's 32nd birthday.  He actually got his own birthday celebration this year.  Seb rode on the carousel for the first time but we're undecided as to if it's fun or scary.  Oh, and I started my blog to help my numb fingers work on recovery.
• September - Adam gets busy opening the first Orange County Capriotti's.  My husband works his tail end off and I rarely get a glimpse of him until around Thanksgiving.  I get my braces off.
• October - We celebrated our 4 year anniversary.  I won a raffle to see, touch, and get my picture taken with the Stanley Cup.  Our Peter Pan themed Halloween, as well as Seb's first taste of candy - a  Hershey's bar.
• November - We took Seb to Disneyland for his tragic first visit.  It was also his first visit to the ER with croup.  My post-surgery MRI's have looked good, so I receive the news, that, moving forward, we're just doing follow up scans on the surgical site.  Sebastian starts walking!
• December - seems like we split the month between our house and Vegas.  We survived 3 separate Christmases in slightly more than a 30 hour span.  I dream of the day we own a house and can ask people to come see us at Christmas.

In terms of milestones, we've had a huge year.  If I look back and think about everything our little family has gone through...it's a LOT for a 12 month span.  In terms of my health, both physical and mental...that part has made 2012 seem to drag on for ages.  Also, looking at Adam's job situation over the course of the last year - that's been and adjustment and roller coaster ride for us as well.

As far as the big picture goes, we keep plugging along, grateful to experience life through the eyes of a 16-month old, but overall, we're hoping for a smoother, more enjoyable (and hopefully less stressful) 2013.  I'm also hoping to get back to work very soon too.  :)  Not that being home for the past year has been bad, the terms of it were just less than desirable.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

I've got one more homemade gift to finish (I hope the recipient likes it), and the best attempts at preparation still have me with a slight To Do List, but I love t his time of year.  Even if thinking about everything that is going to take place in the next 24 hours is dizzying.  I just wanted to take a moment to post an image of our Christmas card.

And now I'm, crossing 'update blog' off the list.  One less thing to do.  Time to finish that gift and wrap it while my boys are napping in preparation for Christmas Eve.  Merry Christmas!

Christmas Crafting

I've always joked that Micro Center is to Adam as Sephora is to me.   In the evenings, after we've wound down and Seb is in bed, Adam likes to play video games.  Most of the time he gets sucked in and looses all track of time.  In another SAT-like comparison video games are to Adam as Pinterest is to me.  So, I've got to really stay away from it.  I do, however, look at a bunch of food/crafting blogs, so it probably takes up the same amount of time.  But...there are some amazing ideas out there!  Things that make me wish I could cook/sew/craft better than I can.  I've had my eye on this one for awhile.

So, cute homemade reindeer from a brown washcloth and bar of soap became the base for Sebastian's Christmas gift to his day care teachers.

Adam and I went back and forth on the gift card.  I wanted to split it between iTunes and Starbucks, but he thought 1 card was a better bet.  Due to time limitations, we ended up doing Target.  I think it turned out to be a pretty cute and festive gift idea.  The craft was super easy too.

Family Pictures Part II

Facebook is an interesting place.  I'm not one of those people who friends everyone I ever knew.  I won't friend anyone I work with who is in an office.  Just seems like good logic.  Just because we went to the same high school doesn't mean I'll automatically want to friend you.  However, you can also find out interesting things about people you knew 'way back when.'

That's how we ended up getting our family pictures taken in October.  A girl I went to church and high school with, Cat, is now a photographer in Utah and she posted on FB that she would be in So Cal doing a weekend of photo shoots.  She did our very first family photos last year when Sebastian was about 3 months old, and she let me know she'd be available again this year.  My whole family hadn't had pictures taken for a few years, since before Justin went on his mission, so I decided we should get new ones taken to include Seb and Naomi.  :)

In less than an hour we did family pictures, and individual family/group pictures.  We now have an updated picture with Melanie and Justin, and I think the picture of Seb with Granny and Grampy is just too cute.  My favorite one of the group has to be the second to last - just me and Seb.  It was near the end of our pictures and he was getting cranky and ready for dinner, why must the 'good light' near sunset coincide with dinner time???  But, he was a trooper, and I love the picture.  It also happens to be one of the first pictures of us without my braces :D

This past weekend we were in Vegas for Adam's parents annual holiday party.  I'll have to post some pictures from that.  We had Seb in an adorable little three piece suit.

Family Pictures

Now that the Christmas cards have gone out and the shopping is done, I feel like I can share some of our recent family pictures without spoiling any surprises.  I wanted to have pictures of Sebastian taken to mark his first birthday, but we were able to do it as a family photo shoot too.  I hope this is something we can make an annual tradition.

When I decided I wanted to do pictures, I put out a call for suggestions on Facebook and my sister in law referred me to the talented Jenn King.  I'm kinda particular when I'm looking for a photographer.  First of all, it can't cost as much as one would pay for a wedding photographer, and I want more than 1 or 2 edited images when all is said and done.  On the day of, we discovered she has a daughter just a couple months younger than Sebastian, and she was absolutely amazing with him.  I'd say Naomi gave me a pretty good recommendation; all my criteria were fulfilled, and I love the pictures she shot.

The second to last image was the one I had printed on a 16x20 canvas.  I love the leaves & tree, and how it feels more casual and not super posed.  There were so many great pictures that I had a really hard time deciding which one to do for my canvas.  I just need a little spare time this holiday season so I can get it hung up on the wall.

A month later we did another photo shoot with my whole family.  I'll have to post pictures of that soon.  Next up...taking photos with Adam's side of the family?  They're all in Vegas now so we could make a weekend of it.  I talked to his sister about it this past weekend and we're going to look into it once she has her baby in January.

Parenting Lessons Learned the Hard Way

For breakfast this morning Seb had 3 silver dollar pancakes, oatmeal, and milk.  He eats the oatmeal while I get the pancakes ready.  Each pancake gets a small drop of syrup before I cut them up into toddler friendly sized pieces.

I had a bowl of Life cereal for breakfast and Seb, always curious as to what I'm eating, wanted some.  Not thinking anything of it, I grabbed the box and poured 4 or 5 squares onto his tray.

Seb eats best when we're eating at the same time.  So I ate my cereal while, out of the corner of my eye, I see him in his highchair quietly working away at his breakfast too.  When I'm all done, I look over to check on his progress, only to discover he's turned into a human scarecrow!

Not realizing what Seb would do with the Life cereal, his curious hands shredded it.

Syrup is sticky.

He had bits of Life cereal stuck all over his hands, face, and bib.

Lesson learned.  No more Life cereal when there's syrup involved!

Annual Santa Visit

Adam was off on Tuesday so we took Sebastian for his annual visit to see Santa.  Eventually, Seb will understand the concept of Santa and it'll be a fun experience, I hope.  I draw the line at Santa though.  Have you ever taken a good look at the Easter bunny sitting at the mall each spring???  I totally understand the screaming kids on that one. Even if you find Santa scary, you want to make sure he knows what you want for Christmas and tell him you were good this year, so you may put up with it.  But the Easter bunny; what do you get there?  Chocolate and candy.  Everyone gets chocolate and candy.  Therefore, in our family, I think we'll limit our overpriced mall photo opportunities to once a year.

Sebastian got his hair cut prior to visiting Santa.  He still hates haircuts and was crying before they even started.  Even the customary lollipop didn't help.  Afterwards we wandered around the Disney store to give him a breather before Santa.  Since it was a Tuesday, there's virtually no wait, which is nice.  He doesn't see other kids freaking out, so there's no uncertainty or hesitation prior to the big 'hand-off.'

He cried.  There were no smiles.  But it was not a meltdown of Disneyland proportions.  In one photo he has his back slightly arched and his legs are stiff as boards, but it wasn't a good view of his face.  I like how the expression on his face in this one nicely sums up his reaction.  Surprised to sit on this stranger's lap, hesitant at what's going on, and a little angry at us for making him endure a haircut and Santa visit in the same hour.  I hope the Santa visit will make more sense next year.  Eventually, some year, I'll get a smile out of Sebastian, right?

Over-thinking Creativity

Sebastian's day care classroom has sensory activities each day so he got to experience finger painting for the first time at school instead of at home.  Initially I was kinda disappointed I didn't get to experience that with him.  Then, when we finally bought finger paint and a pad of paper, and I began to think about the logistics of finger paints; I was worried about painting at home.  

Where should we paint?

Would he eat it?

He doesn't have a smock.  I don't have a smock, do I need one?

Will he try to fling the paint?  Do I need goggles and a shower cap for protection?

How do I clean him up if it gets all over?  Can I hose him off in the backyard?  In November?

I was on the verge of running to Lowes to buy a huge painters tarp and cutting down some old t-shirts to make painting smocks.  In the end, I opted to strip his clothes off and put him in his high chair so he would at lest be contained.

He didn't understand the concept of putting it on the paper.  He really just wanted to coat his hands in paint and hear it squish between his fingers as he made a fist.  In the end, I think more paint ended up on the high chair tray instead of the paper.

Finger paint on paper

Crayons aren't as scary, but the very first time I gave them to him, he was too young.  Only recently have crayons started to make more sense.  Right now Sebastian's big on making lots and lots of dots on his paper.    And of course, he tries to eat the crayons at some point during the coloring process.  No crayons up the nose.  Yet.  At 15 months his attention span for coloring is about 2 minutes.

Crayon on paper

I'm still not sure the best way to have art time at home.  Maybe while sitting on the kitchen floor?  But then I'm in trouble if he crawls away with finger paint all over his hands.  While sitting in the empty bath tub?  I'm sure I'll eventually figure something out.  Until then, I'm already wondering if Sebastian and I should give watercolors a try.  Maybe Santa needs to get him a smock for Christmas too.  :)

The Best Laid Plans

Right now Adam's work schedule is anything but traditional.  He works most weekend's and I never know if he'll be home for dinner each evening.  He takes days off during the week to make up for the fact that we haven't had a Friday night - Saturday - Sunday weekend since sometime in early September, but I'm not used to it yet.  I feel like I'm his secretary scheduling a meeting with him when we sit down with our calendars to discuss which days in the upcoming week would be the optimal days for family time.  To be honest, I hate it, and he knows it, but there's nothing we can do about it right now.  He is able to get in family time with us so I need to get over the fact that it's not traditional.

I was on cloud nine thinking about the fact that he had Tuesday, Wednesday, Thanksgiving, and Sunday off of last week.  Oh the possibilities!!!  We got the house cleaned.  I forgot how nice it was to have help with this and how much quicker it could be done with a second pair of hands!  Laundry was done.  We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family.  And we had big, big plans for Sunday.

To Do List

Watch last F1 race of the season
Get out Christmas decorations
Decorate tree & house
Dinner at my parents
Bonus: put up lights around garage

In preparation for our big day of Christmas decorating we upgraded to shatterproof toddler friendly ornaments.  We picked up some new fabric for our tree sashes.  The hope and joy of Christmas decorating!

And then I caught the stomach flu Saturday evening, and our Sunday went from looking like a beautiful day, to a day of recovery and hoping Sebastian could entertain himself most of the day while we rested and wished we were dead, because by then, Adam had caught it too.

Our new Christmas decorations look lovely sitting on the floor of our entry, still in the boxes and bags from when we purchased them last week.  Sometimes life has other plans for you and Sunday, November 25 was not the day for us to do our Christmas decorating.  Adam is off this coming Sunday, so we joke that we just pushed it back a week since it's not even December yet.  Dear life: please don't disrupt our plans this time.  Adam's other days off are spoken for and attempting to coordinate Christmas shopping was a whole other level of crazy and I don't want to have to reschedule that item.

Pumpkin Pie & Christmas Movies

In 33 years I have never once been alone or without my family on Thanksgiving (maybe because I went to college about 10 minutes from home).  I've never had to cook for Thanksgiving (I'm terrified of the turkey guts and have no idea how it's even humanly possible to have all the delicious Thanksgiving dishes ready at the same time). The only prep I have for turkey day is to ensure Adam, Seb and I get to my parents house in one piece and to make sure we leave with leftovers for lunch the next day.

Adam's actually had the last two days off this week and its allowed me to direct my focus to Christmas.  Shutterfly had a great deal going on so our cards have been ordered.  I put together our gift budget, and today we updated our ornaments to the oh-so-kid-friendly 'shatterproof' version.  I found the local radio station that's already broadcasting holiday tunes, as well as the satellite radio stations; and I started thinking about holiday movies.

There are 3 movies that are my holiday essentials and they illustrate how my tastes have changed as I've grown up.  When I was little I adored A Charlie Brown Christmas.  I always felt like it was officially Christmas-time when it was aired on TV.  I love when Linus explains the true meaning of Christmas to Charlie Brown and references the bible passage in Luke.  I still keep an eye out for the annual airing and we bought Seb a Charlie Brown Christmas t-shirt at Target today even though he has no idea who Charlie Brown is.  While Charlie Brown is great, it is a bit dated and from way before I was born.  My next movie is the Christmas movie for my generation.

Home Alone came out when I was 11 or 12 and I think I actually saw it in the theater with my family.  It's perfect for both adults and kids.  What kid didn't love all the stunts Kevin pulled on Harry and Marv?!  I can quote so much of the movie, and it has an awesome soundtrack.  I'm pretty sure, since it is THE Christmas movie, it'll be aired on some channel tomorrow evening, better set the DVR.  What better way to wash down the turkey and pumpkin pie than with a little Kevin McAllister antics.

The last movie in my Christmas trilogy is The Holiday.  I love, love, love this movie.  I own it on DVD but the recording's also sitting on my DVR from last year.  In fact, I think I'll go watch it after I search for (and most likely find) and set the box to record Home Alone tomorrow.  I love the story and can't argue with a nice dose of Jude Law.  Bonus: it's one of the few movies where Jack Black's character doesn't annoy the heck out of me.  I also happen to adore the sound track.  Adam and I used a bunch of the songs as the prelude music at our wedding ceremony, the music is just that good.

I wonder, when Seb's my age, what movies will make up his ultimate Christmas collection.  :)

House of the Mouse

If you live in OC, the odds are pretty high you have a Disneyland annual pass.  Adam and I have both had them on and off over the years, and since neither of us are playing hockey right now, we've got em.  Today we took advantage of Adam's mid-week day off and took Sebastian for his first visit to the Magic Kingdom.

Only...someone forgot to tell him it was supposed to be a place of fun.  To him, it was the Tragic Kingdom.

I thought I went in with realistic expectations, we have passes, so there's no need to cram everything into one visit.  Hit up a few rides, have lunch, head home.  Feel Seb out.  If he does good, maybe spend a little time there after lunch.  Yeah...notsomuch.

Disneyland's kinda hard to enjoy if your kid's afraid of the rides.  We went on Peter Pan and Dumbo.  He cried on Peter Pan, I think it was too dark.  We experienced an epic meltdown in line for Dumbo.  He calmed down while on the ride, only to resume the meltdown once the ride was over. I'm talking full on, snot shooting out of his nose, cry so hard he shakes, guests looking at you wondering if your kid's hurt they're crying so hard, meltdown.  And nothing we tried would calm him down.  :(  Eventually we threw in the towel and decided to head out.  I took a risk and changed him before we left, breaking out into a sweaty mess from changing a 22 lb crying, snotty, hysterical toddler, while Adam waited in line to buy a nice cool Dole Whip refreshment (which I soooo needed by the time I was done with Seb).

In the end, I must applaud Disneyland for having rolls of toilet paper mounted on the wall next to the changing tables.  Once he had a dry diaper, I was desperate to calm Seb down (and wipe off his face), so I yanked on the roll and let him have at it.  At home he loves to shred paper towel, baby wipes, and toilet paper, and THIS, was what calmed him down.  Should I start carrying an emergency roll of TP in the diaper bag???

Once we emerged, Adam further distracted him with a few bites of Whip, and we were able to make it out of the park and even grab lunch at Downtown Disney without further incident (just a really, really tired kiddo) who fell asleep before we even got him strapped into his car seat.

I almost think, at his age, he's better suited to walking around and enjoying the 'park' aspect of Disneyland rather than the 'amusement' side of things.  We did get to kinda enjoy the holiday decorations, which I think just got put up a few days ago?  But the visit was pretty much a hot mess once we stepped off Main Street into Fantasyland.

Main Street Christmas Tree (pre-meltdown)

When we got home I told Adam that Sebastian didn't like the rides or the waiting in line part.  He laughed at me and said, "that's what Disneyland is!"  Maybe I need to Google how I explain this to a 15-month-old?  :D  I'd love to try again, but want more success the next go around.

Flashback

Thanksgiving is in a few weeks and it wasn't until yesterday that we knew our holiday plans.  It became a complex mathematical equation: balancing our Christmas plans, taking grandparents and Sebastian into consideration, and figuring out Adam's work schedule.  I was never any good with math and now we had to factor in X, Y, and Z, I thought we were going to have to call in some NASA scientists to help us figure out where we were going.

Thanksgiving 2011

After all was said and done, we're staying put.  I'm excited for Sebastian to experience his first Thanksgiving dinner.  Last year he was just discovering his hands, this year, table food.  :)  I hope he saves room for pumpkin pie!

Do As I Say

I learned a very important mom lesson yesterday: when you least expect it, your kid will do exactly what you tell them.  Literally.  I was trying to wash some dishes and Seb kept crawling in my legs and pulling on my pants pockets so I handed him a pair of socks to distract him for a few more minutes, saying, "Here is a pair of socks, put them on your feet."  I said it because I'm trying to teach him his body parts and it was a good opportunity to link the feet and socks together.  He took the socks from me and I finished with the dishes.  When I bent down to pick him up, he was sitting there, looking at me, with a sock draped on top of each foot.  :)

Thank you for listening and doing exactly what I asked.  I wish I could say the same for other things we're working on learning.  Like "stop" and "no."  Those words seem to fall into the selective hearing category.

A Month of Thanks

November 1st hits and suddenly the remaining Halloween items in stores are on clearance and our minds move to thoughts of turkey and Christmas.  I only have 53 shopping days before Christmas, ohno!  Haha.  How about I focus on the time change this coming weekend?  How about I enjoy all things pumpkin: bread, beverages, and home decor, before everything becomes peppermint?

I stumbled upon this November Thankful Challenge and I'm participating to slow down and enjoy the spirit of this month. 

Day #1 - I am thankful for chubby toddler feet peeking out from beneath the highchair :)

Happy Halloween

When inspiration hits, grab it and don't let go!  There are bunches of amazing family costume ideas floating around on the Internet, but I never gave the idea of a family costume much thought...until I was watching cartoons with Seb one morning and realized our little family could easily pull off Jake and The Neverland Pirates.

 

With that idea, and a few phone calls/texts, the whole family was on board with our Peter Pan theme.  Ever since our Gilligan's Island theme, I've found it's loads more fun to do a family Halloween party when there's a theme.  Here's what everyone came up with, we're just missing Captain Hook!

Tiger Lily, Tink, Smee. Tick Tock Crock, Peter, Cubby, Jake, and Izzy

And here's our interpretation of Cubby, Jake, and Izzy.  I think we pulled it off pretty well!

Trick or treating with Seb this year was an adventure and it was fun to experience it through the eyes of a 14 1/2 month old.  He tried to go into several of the houses (mental note: work on teaching him about stranger danger), didn't take too well to the man down the street who had dressed up, but oddly wasn't afraid of any of the masks and monsters he set up in his walkway.  He loved when the neighbors would hold their candy bowl down at his level and he thoroughly enjoyed sticking his hand in the candy bowl and hearing all the crinkling noises the wrappers made as he swished his hand about.  When he would finally grab a piece, he'd hold it out and try to give it back to the resident.  On that note, why is it our neighbors gave us handfuls of candy???  It's not like Seb's gonna eat it!  All in all, we went out for about half an hour and hit up 4 neighbors before returning home with a tired toddler and a pumpkin full of candy.

It was too hard to snap pics while we were out, but our next door neighbor took a few with her camera, I just need to wait for her to email them to me.  At home we dumped out Seb's candy and had fun watching him explore it.  The Dots and Lemonheads were popular because he could shake them and it was an instant rattle.

Just like exploring the candy bowl, the shapes and noises the various candies and wrappers were most fascinating to our little guy.

*Gulp* I even let him try a few bites of candy for the very first time.  He liked Kit Kat and he loved the Hershey bar.  After that, there was no more playing with the candy by shaking and squeezing it, he attempted to put every piece into his mouth for further exploration.

I know it's a Wednesday night and there are tons of community and church events to attend, not to mention, lots of kids enjoy Halloween parties at school, but our doorbell rang a disappointing 3 times.  The last time I held out the candy bowl and told the two boys to pick out 4 pieces each.  As they headed down our walkway back to their parents I hear, "We got to pick out  FOUR PIECES!!!"  Heck, had I known they were the last kids we'd see, I'd have dumped my bowl into their bags.  :)  Now I gotta figure out how to dispose of a ton of extra candy (minus the Twix of course, I'll pull those out for my enjoyment).

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin patch?  What pumpkin patch?  Halloween is tomorrow and we haven't made a trip to the pumpkin patch.  I'm a little disappointed, but sometimes life has other ideas.  Between Adam's crazy work schedule and my Dad's surgery, we just couldn't pull off a visit and everyone wanted to go.  Adam had today off so we picked up and carved a pumpkin for Seb.  We let him play with it prior to the actual carving, here's my take on his thought process.

Once we cracked it open, he got to play around with the little scooper and at one point, would dip it into the pumpkin and tap it in the plastic baggie we set out for the guts.  Very helpful buddy!

Once I took over and started scooping out the guts he got this horrified expression on his face, like I was hurting his friend.  :(  As I mentioned before, I gut the pumpkins and Adam carves them.  This year I had a special request, so Adam carved the pumpkin to have 6 teeth, just like Seb. 

Happy Halloween!

Covert Operations

This sneaky photo actually turned out (unlike my attempt to snap a shot of the Stanley Cup), maybe I won't have to resort to taking my spy pictures through a curtain of my hair like Dr. Lahiri on The Mindy Project.

He really does exist!

Just a little photographic evidence that the Starbucks Frappuccino drinker does, indeed, exist.  Unfortunately, he sat down on the bike directly in front of my elliptical.  I'm not sure if watching him sip his drink while he pedaled was more distracting than the time someone left Man VS Food on the TV, but it was certainly a test of focus (and will power), especially since he sat down 7 minutes into my 30 minute block of time.

Hehe, I just noticed he was watching The View.  :P

Blue Stripes

In the mountain of new parent paperwork we received for Seb's daycare, they ask you to bring in a camera so they can capture the things that go on and you don't feel bad for missing a huge chunk of your child's day.  The camera was in his drawer the other day because the battery died, so it was the perfect opportunity for me to browse his pictures and see the things he enjoys.  If he could talk, here's what he'd tell me:

Crawling in this ginormous room is so much fun!  It's way bigger than the living room.

Can my fishy friends see and hear me blowing raspberries?

If I sit right in the doorway, I can see what goes on both inside and outside.  

I won't miss out on anything, like Mamma coming to pick me up.

I got tired of painting on the paper so I painted my leg.  

Mommy likes purple, she'll think it's pretty.

Too bad I can't count yet, I bet there's a hundred balls in here! 

Do I roll this, bounce it, throw it, or chew on it?

It's a masterpiece and I didn't even paint my leg this time!

In looking at his pictures I've realized I dress him in a lot of stripes and a lot of blue.  I love how blue clothes makes Seb's eyes stand out, but maybe I should explore other color options since it's finally cooling off and we're getting ready to invest in winter clothes.  My favorite comment about his clothing came from Adam (who has been working like crazy for the last 6 weeks).  He saw a picture of Seb playing and said, "Why is he wearing some other kids clothes???"  No dear, those are his clothes, you've been working so much you really only see your son in his pajamas in the morning.  Yes dear, he really does have a cute green Kermit tee.  Why?  Why not, it's Kermie.

I love, love, love this last picture.  It's from the day they did a sensory activity with blue jello and I dropped off a little boy that morning and picked up a smurf.  It was fun to see pictures of the activity and see his little toddler hands squishing the jello and eating it.  I just think this is a really cute picture and he looks like he's having fun.  I love the expression on his face and that one of his teachers pulled up his hoodie for the shot.

Toddler Toys

My son has become fascinated with this object.  Apparently it's his new favorite toy.  He can't resist it.  I don't know how to deter him, short of moving it into the garage.  It's like the trash can has a magnetic pull and calls to him.  Seeeebaaaaaastian.....

In an effort to better understand, I sat on my kitchen floor and examined my uber fascinating kitchen trash can.  Here's what I came up with, but I'm eons away from being 14 months old, so who knows how on track I am here.  If only my son would talk and tell me.  :)

It has wheels so it moves when he pushes on it, just like his cars and trucks do.  So it's a toy.  Right?

It's tall, so he can use it to pull himself up.

It is hollow, so it makes a nice pounding sound when he bangs on it.  Or kicks it.  Or tries to knock the whole thing over if it's recently been emptied.  It's a giant drum (if only he knew what  drum was)!

It has a lid that lifts up and flops back down, sometime smashing his fingers, but he doesn't seem to care that it's biting him.  He loves playing the 'up, down' game, and the lid does just that.  It goes up.  And it comes back down.

But most importantly, and this is what I think fascinates him the most, stuff goes in...and it disappears.  I can practically see him spinning his wheels as he tries to figure out why we put stuff in there and walk away.  He puts toys in his toy bin and immediately takes them out again to play with them - the concept of cleaning up is one that he still needs to learn.  Maybe he thinks we forgot to take the trash out after we put it in there and he has to go over and help take it out for us so we can play with it?  If only, my son, if only that were the case.

He is so curious right now.  He is at that age where every.single.thing is utterly fascinating.

Fuzzy on the carpet, AMAZING!
String at the seam of your shirt?  AMAZING!
Rogue piece of paper from the shredder?  AMAZING!
The price tag on his new toy.  AMAZING!
The safety label on his changing table. AMAZING!
His belly button?  AMAZING.

So, I guess, to a 14-month-old...why not a trash can?

Gym Observations

After taking a week off from the gym, I needed to occupy my mind today while I churned away at the elliptical and bike, so it was time for some good ole people watching!  I do 30 minutes on each machine and that hour brought some observations today that I share because they are most likely far more interesting than what I did this weekend.

• An over sized tunic off-shoulder style top may look cute, but if you're constantly pulling it up your shoulder, only to have it fall back down (as it should since it's an OFF THE SHOULDER top), maybe you shouldn't wear it to the gym.
• To the old man wearing bright banana yellow sneakers.  You rock!  Great style.
• Cement colored work out pants are unflattering and look dingy.  Be safe, wear black.
• The juice bar girl walking around the floor of the weight area with a tray and samples, is *sigh* probably handing out energy bar samples and not cookies or cupcakes (as I found myself hoping she was while I was pedaling away).
• My black and purple accented gym shoes seemed boring in comparison to a funky and fun pair I saw jogging away on a treadmill.  Think watermelon: fun bright green with hot pink laces.  Super cute!
• What's a bigger offense?  Gym clothes that smell moldy, or being stuck on an elliptical next to a chick who has on so much perfume you can barely breathe?  Thankfully this did not happen today, but has in the past, and as perfume girl walked by today I was silently praying she'd keep right on walking and find a machine far, far away so I'd be out of her over-perfumed zone.
• If you're going to hold up your towel to cover your nakedness, but only in the front, and leave your butt hanging out, I'm going to be glad you're headed down the hallway to the showers and there aren't any mirrors so you can see me smirking at you behind your back.  It just looks funny!
• An older woman approached two of the OCFA guys as they biked and spoke with them for a few minutes.  Flirting with the firemen ;)
• Are you addicted to daytime TV if you program not only the TV on your bike, but the one on the empty bike next to you so you've got your talk shows covered?  Do you hate the gym so much you need the extra distraction?
• If your gym towel, when draped around your neck, has me wondering if you're wearing a cute polka dotted scarf - is it stylish or extreme?  Or do you just have such fancy towels that your gym towel puts my version of a gym towel, an 8-to-a-pack washcloth from Target, to shame?

I've had other gym observations in the past, believe it or not, the above list is just from today!  One member appreciation day saw the gym handing out Monster energy drinks.  Pretty sure they intended for you to take one on your way out, but one guy took one heading in and proceeded to drink it while doing a cardio workout.  But the worst offense had to be grandpa walking around with his venti Frap, complete with a large fluffy dollop of whip cream.  Not only did he make me want to stop at Starbucks, but what the heck was the point of going to the gym if you're just going to consume a beverage like that?

Then there's 'bat man.'  An older guy, who wears short booty compression type shorts and a large do-rag getup with the long tails trailing down the back of his too tight tank top.  He's in shape, but when most of the women in the gym are wearing more clothes than you, maybe you should invest in a shirt with sleeves, or maybe shorts that hit mid thigh.  I call him bat man because he always catches my attention because he uses the machines for very unique exercises, most recently, hanging upside down to stretch? or something, not sure, I had to look away at that point.

There was also the grandma who initially had me applauding her fitness level as she used various machines on the weight room floor - but when she came up and hopped onto the bike next to me, had me wondering if she was a germaphobe.  She wore a large, long sleeve peach button down shirt.  She wiped down the bike with paper towel and Purell, then put a large towel down, completely covering the seat.  Then more Purell for her hands. THEN she dug around in her gym bag and pulled out a pair of brown mittens so large they looked like they belonged to her husband, and proceeded to put on the mittens before she could touch the bike to program her workout.

But hey, maybe I shouldn't judge.  I show up in my boring black gym pants and a solid colored tee, my gym towel, as mentioned above, is a washcloth, and since I've most likely just dropped my son off at day care, if he happens to have a runny nose, I could be walking around with snot on the shoulders of my shirt and end up being the target of someones gym observation list.  :)

Happy Anniversary

Last week Adam and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary.  Well, we haven't officially celebrated since he's been working around the clock, but I got a Happy Anniversary kiss in the morning when he left for work and we exchanged cards when he got home from work at 10 that night.  We'll have to get a babysitter and go to dinner, or Disneyland, or a movie, or something...but not until his work schedule calms down.

We were married on October 3, 2008 at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club.  It brings a smile to my face just thinking about all of the memories we have of the day.  The venue, the food, flowers, dancing, and most importantly, all our loved ones there celebrating with us = perfect day!

The first year anniversary is paper.  I asked Adam to take me to the Kings home opener.  It was easy to remember because paper = ticket in my mind, so it was a no brainer.  Oh, and I *may* have filed a few pictures of the ice at Staples Center in the "Anniversary" photo folder along with us digging into a delicious re-creation of the top tier of our wedding cake.  Mmmm red velvet and cream cheese frosting.  Love that most bakeries now make you a fresh cake so you don't have to save, thaw, and then eat a freezer burned year old dry cake. 

No pictures of us eating the cake, it was after the gym and I was in my pajamas.  Also, no pictures from the game, apparently I only took pictures of the ice, there don't appear to be any of us.  So here's a picture of us..driving in the car.  LOL  The time frame is correct within a 4-6 week span.  

Happy 1 Year Wedding Anniversary

In 2010 we were driving home from Vegas for our anniversary.  We went to Frozen Fury at the MGM the day before.  I'm noticing a trend here and I'd be perfectly content to be taken to a hockey game every year for my anniversary.  A few days later we went to dinner at the restaurant where we held our rehearsal dinner.  

Photo not from restaurant, but was taken in October

As with Halloween, in 2011, we were new parent zombies.  We went to dinner at Maggiano's and drooled over their seasonal pumpkin spiced cheesecake for dessert.  Apparently zombies don't carry cameras because I have no pictures.  We did do our first official family pictures the following month, close enough!

Photo by Cat Palmer

The NHL is locked out, so I can't be taken to a hockey game this year.  I'd like to let the owners know they're interfering with my anniversary.  Maybe they'll listen and end the stupid lockout so I can enjoy a hockey season?  I'll keep dreamin!  In the mean time, we did family pictures to mark Sebastian's first birthday, so lets keep the visual time line rolling.

Photo by Jenn King

Maybe when we do finally celebrate I'll get us a red velvet cake as a throwback all the way to 2009.  :)

Happy Anniversary Adam!  XOXO