Tinted Windows!!

My teenage dreams have come true...
Taylor Hanson once again has a musical career. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmbop indeed.

Hard day's night? No, just a hard night.

Let me be the first to say, nothing throws a SAHM off like 3 months of sleeping through the night interrupted by one night of shrill baby-crying for an hour, followed by an early morning. Catch all that?

Here's a translation for you in layman's terms: Scooty was up from 12-1 last night, screaming her tiny heart out and woke up at six this morning, fresh as a cucumber!

Everyone has hard nights, and this was certainly not our first. But man, it made me rethink my whole "we got this" attitude that I've been sporting around for the last three months. Even at her 1st birthday party, I felt more "with it" than I felt last night at 11:47. I made J get up with me, I was so out of it. I've never done that. In a year of parenthood, it's always been "you get up, or I do." Unless something was terribly wrong...which I can't recall a time before last night...he's always been afforded the luxury of staying asleep or only being on "binky duty." Not that this means he's been getting more sleep than I have, b/c as we all know, that's not always the case.

Well, my point of this whole thing is: baby is not ready to give up her bottle at night, yet. How did you moms handle this transition? I'm at a loss. I folded last night, after an hour of screaming and clawing her way out of the crib, diaper changing, rocking, restarting the lullaby cd, cuddling with mom, ibuprofen and a drink from the sippy cup...I fed her a bottle.

I just realized that again, I have no idea what I'm doing.

And on another note, why did we stay up until 11 o'clock watching Encino Man?

And on another "related" note, you only care about three things: Nugs, chillin' and grindage.

The end.

Nadya business

As you undoubtedly know, there have been TONS of opinions stated on numerous blogs (and news sites and at Tupperware parties and at the water cooler and in the break room and....) concerning the infamous Nadya Suleman...or as she is better known now: "Octomom."

As it as been stated elsewhere...it is reeeeeeally easy to be hypocritical and judgmental as to this woman's choices for conceiving her 14 children. Certainly, I would not wish to be in her shoes. She has a long and daunting future ahead of her and I must say, it takes a strong woman to defend her circumstances under all of the pressure of raising those kids...not to mention outside pressure from the media, her community and society in general.

It has been especially hard for J and I to cast any sort of opinion or views of our own on this woman. If you think she's crazy, maybe you think we are too. J and I had desires to start a family almost immediately after getting married. We were married in August, and certainly by Christmas...or Thanksgiving, we were starting to plan for "trying." After a couple of months of heartbreaking moments with pregnancy tests, I decided that something was probably wrong and I needed to go see my GYN. After getting blood work done, I received a call saying that we needed to go see a fertility specialist because I was not having a complete cycle every 30 days and this needed to be remedied before we could actively conceive.

I went through a battery of tests, and it turned out that all I needed to do was to take a pill (Clomid) that would "jumpstart" my reproductive organs and give me a cycle. We were made aware of the side effects of such treatment, including the chance of multiple births. Well, needless to say, Clomid worked the first time for us, and with no real side effects (other than drowsiness and a little nausea). Even something as simple as the treatment plan that we were prescribed can have unintended results and known risks.

I think there is some weight to what people are saying about the doctor in Suleman's case. He should hold some responsibility for the outcome of Suleman's treatment. But have him provide any kind of support to her and the children now? That's just kind of silly, isn't it?

This is one of those areas that are not black and white; it is a total grey area. If you cast opinions and judgments on one part of it, you are casting those same opinions on the whole of it. I hope that society's opinions of IVF, IUI and other fertility treatments are not affected after this, but fear that they may be. I hope that this doesn't make it hard for women and/or couples to seek any kind of fertility treatment for fear of being judged or thought of as nutty.

Cakes.

You were born on a Wednesday.

As I watch you explore your surroundings with your new-found sense of confidence, my heart beams with pride. But sadly, every night when I put you to bed, I realize that you are growing up. And that tomorrow, you'll be a day bigger and a day more independent. You'll eventually need me less and one day, you'll be embarrassed by the kisses I so freely give to your forehead and cheeks.

But today, you are only ONE. You are one. I have to pinch myself! I can't believe how quickly the year has gone by! One year ago today, you were a puffy-faced 8 lb. 13.4 oz newborn. Now you are a 22 pounder, verging on toddlerhood.

It's no surprise your first word/syllable was "Da-da." From the minute you were born, you could follow his voice through a room. At first, you were a mama's babe. But, in the last 6 months, you have developed a ridiculously adorable bond with your daddy. You follow him to the door each morning, and every day starting at 5:00 pm (sometimes earlier), you ask for him repeatedly.

You are our little athlete...you love to pick up, bounce and chase balls. Your dad's dream came true when you dribbled a toy with both feet the other day (maybe it was coincidence, but, hey...). You can crawl and climb over anything. You were an early walker...and your "crawling" left us all in stitches. You came into this world wide-eyed and observant; like a little sponge who had heard all about this wonderful place and the people who live in it, and wanted to learn more.

Your favorite things are baby dolls, books, bathtime and binkies. I like to think that you are so sweet to your babies because I have been so sweet to you. You love our puppies, and spend 50 percent of your day playing with them through the window or in person. You love to be outside.

You have three teeth and thick blonde hair, a sweet pouty lip, cheeks to die for and big, beautiful, blue eyes.

You have changed our lives, filled our hearts, kept us on our toes and wrapped us around your little finger.

Happy Birthday, Baby.

A Very Happy V-day.

Happy belated Valentine's day everybody!

We had an awesome V-day, for the very first time. It's not that we haven't tried before (in previous relationships and previous Feb. 14's with eachother....), but this one actually worked out. Our first Valentine's Day together, I was absolutely ill. I had whatever was going around the office that "winter" and had actually gone home from work and climbed in bed and gone to sleep. J woke me up with an amazing dinner and a nice potted mum, but I was too sick to even enjoy it. When ya can't even smell the flowers or taste the food, it's kind of a buzz kill. After our lovely dinner, I sent him packing and went back to sleep with a green dragon (nyquil) cocktail.

The next year, we were in the midst of buying our house and were completely freaked about spending money. I managed to get J a card, and he hand-made me the cutest card ever (as a total after-thought, but whatever).

The next year, I was overdue with baby S. So, nothing kills the romance like swollen feet and false labor.

THIS YEAR, though. J really outdid himself. He arranged for a sitter (thanks mom and A!), had fancy dinner reservations, booked a hotel stay, and took me to a movie and shopping! It was a day full of my favorite things, and I couldn't have been more surprised. To cap it all off, we met up with friends downtown after dinner and stayed out late like we were just a young couple again.

It's safe to say, this V-day is good for another three years. ;)

Awkward.....

So I recently have come to grips with SAHM-ness. I denied it for almost a full year, but you know what? I am a stay-at-home-mom. I think the thing that solidified it for me has been my enjoyment of morning t.v. programs like GMA, Today, The View, and my favorite, Ellen.

I just have one problem. Is anyone else a little freaked by the mandatory dance-off at the beginning of every Ellen show? Now, I'm as big-of-a-fan of crazy flailing of arms and kicking of feet and snapping and clapping (also known as awkward dancing) as anybody...but, man. It almost gives me a bit of anxiety during this part of the show.

eh, not like it's going to keep me from watching and enjoying.

has everyone seen this?

and also this:

FLOOR!!!

new floors