A Mommy's Tale

Little Fishies!

2011-07-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

We recently started swim lessons for summer and for safety given the recent incidents in our community and boy are they fun! I have done quite a few different swim lessons in the past with Kash and they were all, meh so-so. The instructors were great and the facilites were nice but there wasn't a lot of progression in the swimming itself. So based on a few recommendations I decided to check out a "family" swim school that I have driven by hundreds of times and never gave much thought to. It is so cool though! It is indoors and the water is 90 degrees (no freezing mom and tot classes!). The classes are 30 minutes and children are evaluated once a month and they recieve ribbons for their accomplishments- which is great for kids since they are so hungry for praise.

We have been going for about a month now and tonight was the night that both my kids decided they were ready to go all the way under the water! Penny went under 4 times and Kash went under countless times! I am so proud of them- I thought we were going to be struck in a terror of water stage forever and that I would be still helping my 15 year old son into floaties and my 13 year old daughter wade onto the step! Yay! We are progressing, I am so excited for summers at the pool and visiting the oceans- they are some of my fondest memories from childhood! I am so thankful we found a great school that my kids love! Oh and you know Amanda Bear, the swimmer from the Olympics? Yeah, she goes there with her baby- guess we found the right place!

My Heart Aches

2011-06-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a sad post. So, if you are not really wanting to read something down and serious please move along to the next post in your blog reader.

So one of my worst fears is losing my child, even more so losing them to a pool. I have let myself fo down that horrible road of imagining it and what the feelings would be like, the sheer panic and terror. Living in Tucson where it is extremly and brutally hot there are a lot of swimming pools. Every year the news stories stream across my tv and radio. Every year children die in water. It is so horrible and all it takes is 30 seconds of having your mind and watchful eye distracted. Even if there are a lot of people by the pool it can happen- I have seen it almost happen when we have been gathered by the pool because everyone thinks someone else is watching.

Friends this can happen to anyone of us. Not one of us is perfect and I know I have been distracted from my children while we are by a pool.

This past Sunday it happened to a child of a family that goes to my church. She was 2, her name was Olivia. I don't know this family personally, although some of our friends do. But really, I do know them and you do to. It is me, it is you, my heart just aches so much for this family.

I sat on my patio last night exhausted after a long day of work, household work and kids and I was just so tired. But I had both of my babies. I thought about the huge, empty space in that home. I thought about the little bed that would be empty and the heart in that home even emptier. I thought about how I would never be able to eat, sleep, function if that were to happen to me. The family has two other little girls, 4 and 6 and they were there during this all. What do you tell those little girls? Why is this fair? Why them?

I know I love the Lord and I know that the Lords thoughts and plans are far above mine. I can only pray for this family. Pray that they can somehow move through the steps a day, an afternoon, an hour, moments at a time. Will you please pray for them too?

God speaks in mysterious ways...

2011-06-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hang with me- it will all come around :)

So, I have been doing a new bible study with the Good Morning Girls which includes diggin into the word daily and sharing our thoughts and feeeling and prayers in a private group on facebook. I have really been enjoying it- it definitely keeps me more accountable and I love that. In general, since we have made some work changes, like me working much, much less and PJ starting with a new company, things have been tight. Being at home is hard work, it is fun and wonderful to be with the kids but keeping up with the household, keeping them into activities and out of fighting and staying sane is something I am still working on (especially the sanity part, lol).

Anyways, this morning I left the house for my morning job and decided I was feeling rather worn out so I decided to take the time and walk and not listen to my Ipod but rather just let myself pray and meditate with God. About halfway through my route I was asking God if he could please give me a sign today and speak to me to let me know he was with me, that he was there supporting me and loving me. WHACK!!! I was wacked in the head with something!!

WHAT WAS THAT?!? I whipped my head around so fast, sure to catch a punk kid or something up throwing things at the innocent exercisers- when I noticed

THE BIRD.

Huh? A bird hit me in the head? He flew up to a tree on the other side of the road. Normally, I would have chalked this up to randomness, but I am a believing woman folks! When I shook off the surprise and carried on the thoughts went something like this: really God, a bird? Was that bird the sign God? Why a bird? Did I really need the bird to smack me in the head- what am I to learn from this? Well, thanks, I guess, I know you are with me? Oh and thanks for not having the bird poop on my hair.

It was rather funny really, I think God has a really great sense of humor, excuse me Kodi, my creation, yes dear, I am here, Oh lets just send this bird to her, that will let her know I am with her! It was funny- God knows way more than me so I am sure I needed the wake up call! You would think that the day that follows a bird wacking from God would be different, but so far it has been a pretty normal day.

Oh and on a side note, I never thought the original The Birds film by Alfred Hitchcock was all that scary, but today I changed my mind! They are meaty little creatures!

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed weekend and remember- God is always with you! :)

Do you neighbor?

2011-06-08T21:33:00.001-07:00

i like our neighborhood.

for the most part our community is pretty cool. when we first looked here i was able to see past the pepto-bismol pink exteriors and i was immediately sucked in by the mature trees that lined a walking path and the tidy yards..... and the clincher- you know ladies the one that made you see everything in rose-colored lenses....was a lemonade stand on the corner of our street. two sweet kiddos selling lemonade under a big, gorgeous tree on a hot summer day. it was sweet and what i wanted for my kiddos. time has gone by so quickly that i cannot believe we have been here for almost 3 years- it has gone by super, duper fast with all the renovations (the rose colored lenses convinced us it would be "fun" to fix up a fore-closure together- BAHAHAHAHAHA).

there is only one thing i don't love- our neighbors.

once about two years ago we were invited to their house where they were really pushing their twin daughters to babysit. which was great and a wonderful idea, but we had just met them and we are so blessed to have family here that babysits for free. so i am not sure if it was that we did not accept the babysitting offer or that we didn't have them over to our torn-apart house in return, but since that day they have become increasingly less friendly, well, not friendly at all.

the neighbors just next to them, which we call "the canadians" since they are from canada (i know we are super original) were at this said bbq also and are even less friendly if possible. it is completely weird to me that i can full on wave to them everyday and not receive even a head nod- i just was not raised to be so rude! (might i just add that we never called them "the canadians" in public, only after the bbq and brush off).

it is kind of sad. i am sad about it. we tend to make friends pretty easy and we are pretty friendly people and lets face it i have a hard time with people not liking me- the audacity right? i am not sure what we did or didn't do but it sucks and makes me angry- especially since they have a son only a year or two older than kash.

i sometimes let my insecurities get the best of me and think, it is totally our plain, dirt/rock yard- so boring, who would want to be friends with people with such a ugly yard? maybe i had a giant booger on my face at the bbq that fell on my hamburger and i ate it and everytime they see me they remember the booger and throw up a little- is that possible? i know i should just let this go but i haven't and it sucks. so i have decided to just keep on waving and smiling, hopefully one day we can have bbq's and hang out and our kiddos can have sleepovers. until them it is them and us and my dreams of a lemonade stand.

We do have two friendly neighbors, just for the record. I like them.

A trip to the Gaslight Theater!

2011-05-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

Last night we had the pleasure of being treated to a dinner and a live theatre experience by PJ's parents. The restaurant is called Little Anthony's and it has a 50's car-hop theme to it. All the wait staff wear 50's themed clothes, there are juke boxes, balloons and milkshakes galore. Kash was especially impressed by the red sparkly chair and booth cushions. They also have these fun cardboard cutouts- you know, the kind you stick your head through....The kiddos did okay with that but of course we could not get one with both of them looking!

After dinner we walked across the hall to the Gaslight Theatre to our front row seats (PJ's parents do shows righ ;-) where we were entertained by "The Curse of The Pirate's Gold". The first scene starts with two big and scary looking pirates who were so loud- Penny and Kash's face were mixed with emotions or excitement and terror. I was worried I might spend the night outside with Penny but she quickly adjusted. When the music began both the kids were loving it!! The cast is interactive with the audience and a girl pirate waved her scarf in Kash and PJ's face and it was soo cute to see Kash get shy! It was also really fun because you are encouraged to boo at the bad guys and cheer for the good guys- kiddos love that. About 1/4 of the way through Penny decided she was going to stand on her chair and dance with the cast during all the musical numbers- the cast was in stitches as was the audience. If you have never seen Penny dance- this girls haas the moves and the facial expressions- hilarious! They made it through the WHOLE hour and a half of the show- at the end a gentleman was given the microphone and proposed to his girlfriend! Apparantly The Gaslight is her favorite place- it was so romantic! The kids had no clue and were so ready to go but I felt so blessed to witness love! We will definitely be heading to the Gaslight again, the kiddos have already been talking about it all morning today and asking if we can go back. The next show is calle Gnat-man, like batman but a gnat- get it? Kash also told me when he grow up he was to act like a pirate in a show, so it looks like some of PJ and my love of the theatre is being passed on to our children. Here are some great shots of the night!

I'm just going to go with it....

2011-05-24T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hmm, I don't have a perfect plan for this blog. Seems like my ideas, thoughts and inspiration for it change on a daily basis. We have had one heck of a month, so if anything I want to jot down what this past month has been like so I can show my kiddos how much work they are lol, no, no joke I know that we are that busy and have had that unhealthy of a month that I will proably look back and say, "ouch, yeah, I remember that one..."

So here are the chain of events, in mostly correct order...
1. Went on vacay- Kash develops some wierd zits and Penny comes down with a 104 fever the day before we leave.

2. Spend $50 at the American clinic for some suppositories (ouch!) for the dear- thank God they actually work!!! Penny then develops a horrendous rash overnight, we work up every hour to take her temperature and monitor her to make sure we don't have to rush her back to the clinic.

3. Panic and over analyze the fact that we had her on an alternative vaccination schedule and that she probably has something like measles that could have been prevented by vaccination. Hmm, measles or Autism- when she was born the vaccination myth still wasn't proven a myth so PJ and took what we felt was the best plan for our family and worked with our Dr....Lose sleep over past decisions.

4. Rush home and take her to Dr.- no measles!!!! PRAISE, some other weird virus. Have DR look at Kash's weird zits and tell us they are probably staph infection, EXCUSE ME!?! OH yeah, this is probably from the naso-nex said Dr prescribed.... Oh and since it is after hours we pay $40 after hours fee for both kids plus the co-pay- twas fun!

5. Kash goes back to ER for swollen eyes and finally a monster asthma attack. The horrible morning that I had with these two I don't have the energy to write about- lets just say they sucked and were $$ as our mortgage. Joy.

6. We had a follow up with a real allergist today for all of my poor babies issues and finally get some RX for singulair, a preventative inhaler and some steroids.

7. Relax, go to dinner with friends, come home and head to bed for a full night sleep....

8. Wake up at 12AM to son screaming and vomiting all over a crevice between his two toys bins, not on the preventative allergy air mattress....

9. Have to email Boss's yet AGAIN about child, realize that they probably think you are full of it and regreat hiring anyone with children....

10. Work from home and act professional as son dry heaves into a bowl on the couch while some cranky people let you know they are cranky about something you have absolutely no control over.

11. Convince son that chocolate milk is not the go-to post puke marathon drink after 10 hours of vomiting.

12. Feel blessed despite of it all :) I have no idea how this will all work out but I am happy I could be with my son today. I hope this is the end of the sickies for us and none of us get this nasty stomach bug, pray!

13. Plan to follow up this post with positive post that makes anyone who reads it all warm and happy inside.

Peace out!

Gettin my run not on....

2011-05-09T14:38:00.000-07:00

So, the other day I did some weirdo, crazy and no I believe dumb thing.

I saw this great Groupon for a 5k Mud-Run. I have to confess, I have wanted to do a mud-run for quite some time now. I picture me and PJ running through the mud (get your mind out of the gutter) and looking fit and trim, completing random wacko obstacles and finishing up the 3 miles with a high five and rosy cheeks. I bought them- 50% off so $50.00 for two, I BOUGHT them.

Enter Reality.

Do we run????? No

Have we ran since the purchase????? Once

How hot is it in the Old Pueblo latelly??? 95 degrees and rising

I am screwed.

The whole family has been disgustingly ill for two weeks and I have no idea how I will run 3 miles in the heat. WHY??? Oh WHY do I think these things are a great idea? The idea is always more fun than the reality no? Maybe I can sell them on Craigslist...maybe...

Happy Easter All!

2011-04-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! A little late I know, things were C.R.A.Z.Y. around here. Like, I still haven't even gotten my house back to normal crazy. PJ's dad and his son Mason who is 3 (I know, Kash has an uncle who is younger than him- welcome to the fam) came and stayed with us for the weekend. Throw a couple 3-4 year old boys together, throw in a 2 year old girl (diva) and you have a recipe for trouble. So needless to say I am exhausted. We did baskets, photo shoot, church (was awesome), naps and Huge family bbq at my mom's. The kiddos dirtied up their feet and fashions as they should in the afternoon. Here are some pics for kicks. I am hoping to get a newly designed bloggy home up and running. I think I am waiting for that to kick off the bloggy pants in me :)

Day 2 of 30?

2011-04-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hello! Quick check-in, no fun photos, I should do that, but here are the to-do's on April's calendar: 1. Finish baseboards- we have had the floor in for about 4 months but they are naked without the baseboards. 2. 30 day shred- yup PJ and I are on day 2. I have to admit it made me really, really happy when PJ was dying 10 minutes into the 20 minute DVD- you know because "how bad can it really be?". 3. 30 day eat healthy challenge- We are doing good so far- lots of fiber being consumed in this house, so while we may be a wee bit um, gassy I am feeling really good about eating lots of fruits, veggies and fresh food. 4. Pick fireplace tile- we have it narrowed down, now we need to purchase and install. 5. Back to School- After a month of shlepping the kids all over town to friends and family we decided it was best for our sanity and for the kids development to re-enroll them in the $$$ childcare we send them to. Eh- it is not so bad, they go twice a week so I am not paying more than our mortgage this time and they were really excited to go back and see their teachers and friends and that makes me happy. 6. Blog- I am not used to sharing and caring with the blog. It is still kind of unnatural and when only you and your mom (maybe) reads it there isn't much motivation. BUT I really like writing and I am hoping the kiddos and we will like looking back on it and seeing what was going on in our lives ya know? Ta Ta for now!

Icky Story, Happy Ending

2011-03-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Whew, Well THAT was one heck of an illness. I blame the exercise and all the "thrusting" as my friend Lisa descriptively put it we did in Zumba. Just when I am high on endorphins and jazzed for a 5 mile hike in the gorgeous Arivaiapa canyons, smack...vomitious-horrendous. I spent most of last Tuesday silently praying on the gorgeous hike that I wouldn't blow chunks on my hiking companions, which I happened to like and wanted to continue to keep as friends (well in reality it was half-fam so they didn't really have a choice, lol). I would get these rolling pains through my stomach and would just breath through and I was sooo thankful when a cool gust of wind would come along. Never the less, hiking while you feel like crap is kind of nice since you would feel like crap anyways ya know? Kind of like how my mom made me go to school when I had a cold but wasn't vomiting or with fever, because well you would feel like that anywhere. Anyways, I ended up not tossing my cookies and keeping it together until I got home, yet I still had to work and due to some new-hires at my office lets just say I had a whole days worth of work cut out for me. The next day and the day after and the day after I just felt- meh, head-achey no real appetite, unless redvines count. Until finally Friday night it came and it came good. Poor PJ probably didn't sleep all night- it was That Bad. The wierdest thing happened too- I bust about oh, 2000+ blood vessels in my face from it? Tiny little purple-ish-red dots cover my face still. I have given birth people and one night of vomiting tore me up like no other! So since then I have done a little migration circle in my house from bed to couch to desk (for work- blah) to bed again. Finally today I feel almost 100% and I am so, so SO THANKFUL for my health. You really never know what you are missing until you feel like crapola. So that is that...on to...cleanlier items....

Today Pennylaine got to go to her first all by herself gymnastics class! Meaning, no mommy in there helping her. She is about 3 months younger than the age group but the teacher was willing to give it a go and so was I and lo and behold she did great! Well, she kind of does this log-roll thing down the traingle mats instead of a somersault but details right? Whilst I am so proud and excited and just beaming like a cheesy proud mommy I kind of feel like crying honestly. Oh my, where does the time go? Have I been like in a wierd time warp because I don't remember her growing up so fast? She was adorable in her little cute outfit and 3 cutesy little pony tails. I just want to scoop up all of her sweet sticky fingers, silky hair, chubby chunk-a-cheeks, giggle, tiny toes, big blue eyes and realness and bottle it up so that I can have it when I am all wrinkly and old. Precious. So the moral of the story is; take pictures because they grow up fast.

Stomach Bug

2011-03-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends, Just when I think I am going to be able to write all my heart desires I am sidelined with a stomach bug...since last Tuesday :(...... It comes and goes but all I know is that I want to feel normal again! Doctor on Wednesday. See you soon and hopefully with something more upbeat to blog about. On another note, my husband is a wonderful rescuer...

Spin-O-Rama

2011-03-11T09:03:00.000-08:00

Yay! Friday is finally here!! I love, love, love Friday's- they are the exciting opening act for 2 whole days off with my hubby and babies!! We have lots going on this weekend- but not too much, I hate when we are justing running from one commitment to another, then it just feels stressful like the work week. So this weekend we are heading over to a friends to pay her and her husband for watching my kiddos on Fridays by trimming and hauling all of their trees- PJ is lovingly sacrificing his muscles to the cause, what a nice guy huh? He and said husband's friend will be out there together measuring, hmming, haaing and nodding approvingly while the other one sweats. In the meantime me and girlfriend will be inside probably sipping iced coffees while watching the children play- I mean that sounds fair right?

I really hope we can get home in time for Kash and Penny to get their naps- otherwise the rest of Saturday will probably be disastrous as it was last weekend when they missed their naps. Sometimes I really think Kash is fine without one but then on the days he does nap he is sooo much more lovely to be around, plus then mommy and daddy can do fun things like paint baseboards and stuff (yes I know, we are wierd). I somewhat double-booked myself this Saturday night. I totally spaced that I was going to my own birthday dinner with my girlfriends and committed to watching another friend's baby- ooops (I blame it on being 27)....I am quickly attempting to move the dinner to more like a late lunch or early 80-year-old dinner at 4pm. We are heading to a local university pizza joint- this place has huge pizza slices with delicious, greasy thick crust- YUM! Can't get enough, it will definitely take me back to my younger university years!

Sunday will be normal, we will wake up lazily thinking we have enough time to lie around before church and then make a panicked mad dash to make it to church on time; seriously I CAN NOT CHANGE THIS....Don't tell PJ but I totaly blame him :) shhhhhh.

Finally, I leave you with a hilarious video of Penny "dancing" with her best moves during one of our wild living room dance parties- my favorite part is you can hear me gasp-laughing horribly in the background and then PJ says "oh- she's going down". Well, maybe my favorite part is Kash's little routine at the end- that kid has the funniest facial expressions. Too cute. I love those little munchkins. Hope you all have a fun and safe weekend too!

March Goals

2011-03-09T10:38:00.000-08:00

So there is a long and short of it to why I am able to blog again, but that story may take some time, so in the mean time I am just going to express what I want to when I want to- afterall this is a blog right?

March is the BEST month ever, ever, ever. For starters, my birthday is in March- big 27 this year which is crazy since I still feel ummm about 24. Other things that rock in March include:

Moustache March- this is where a lot of our male friend who have cushy jobs attempt to grow out moustaches- hilarious(although I do have to admit I am thankful PJ can't participate),

Spring weather- high 70's and low 80's here all month! I feel like March is when the sun starts coming up earlier and sets later, there are bbq's being fired up and taking bike rides comes so naturally.

So enough about March, since I just turned 27 I feel like now is about the time to start setting some monthly goals for myself. I am a bit less stressed than in the last 6 months and I am actually really excited about new goals and challenges and life in general. I am hoping to build my goals around my gratitude in my life. So without further a-do? My goals for March:

1. For the past 2 days I have met my friends Lisa at the gym at 6am- okay, okay I know it is only two days but I feel good about that, I swear my muscles were beginning to shrivel up into mush. So in an attempt to be realistic I want to make it to the gym three times a week for the rest of the month- just get there and get my blood flowing sounds awesome! I am grateful for my healthy body and it deserves to be treated right with some much needed excercise.

2. Let the dishes/toys/laundry/crumbs sit and just play! Play with my kiddos- skip mopping for monkeys at the park. I came home yesterday and looked at all the housework in store when my beaitufl kiddos stumbled out of their rooms with eyes still closed. That is when it came to me- the housework can wait, my time with my kids can't. Off to the zoo we went and guess what- we had a great time and double guess what- nothing horrible came of the chores not being done. I am grateful for the time I have at home with my kids.

3. Cook more dinners and enjoy eating them at the table, which means trying not to overcommit to outside of the home activities. Kash already goes to karate two nights a week and even though they are only for 30 minutes I feel the stress of having to be somewhere those nights. I love having family dinners, my kids chit-chat with us and we all try new foods and in general I think it is a great bonding time that is good for all of us. I am grateful for food (yum) and family.

Pretty simple right? Well hopefully, I am going to try to follow up with them and be aware of them for the rest of the month. Simplifying and reprioritzing is definitely my goal here. Wish me luck. Anyone else make any goals for the month of March?

I'm ba-ack!!

2011-03-07T11:48:00.000-08:00

Details and insane amounts of photos to follow, but overall I am overly, enthusiastically thrilled to be back.....

Long Time, No Blog

2009-10-21T20:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends- I think the title of this post captures it all! Long time- no blog. There have big big, huge, gynormous changes here in our home and blogging was the last thing on my mind. I decided at the end of July to take a full-time job at a mortgage company. At the time we really needed the income since PJ's industry has taken such a hit and while it was exciting and new, it has also been challenging and bittersweet. I HATE being away from my children- we have the best sitter in the world and I know they are so safe while they are with her, but my heart aches while I am away from them. The job I took is very high stress and one mistake can make a big mess for a homebuyer and/or my company. Over time I suppose you can say I have gotten used to working, but everything still feels very temporary, like I am acting- since I am really supposed to be home with my babies. Time goes by even faster now and I am thankful for the very few hours a night I get to see the kiddos. I am goign to be very honest since this is my blog and I feel very much like venting right now but I am not sure this is going to last. In truth, betwwn the cost of childcare, gas, work clothes and my happiness and sanity, PJ and I feel that it really has not been worth it. I am in such a yucky position right now because of who my boss is- I love her and don't want to hurt or dissapoint her, but I also want to do what is best for my family. PJ is also encouraging me ot come home, he says the whole house was a ton more happier when I was home, but this isn''t his issue to deal with, it is mine. The problem is, I took this job with the committment to learn it and do it well, but as of right now, it is beating me up! When I stayed home I always felt like I wasn't contributing...to PJ or to all my working friends conversations.... and I also felt like I was missing out a little. But they say the grass is always greener and that is exactly how I feel right now. I wish I wasn't such a baby and I could just (for lack of a better term) cowboy up and tell my boss the truth. But until that time comes I am still punching the time clock.

So there it is, that is why I have been MIA. Between bouts of crying, thinking, laughing and a whole lot of praying I have made my blog re-debut. I hope you will welcome me back and I will try to update on a regular basis now. With Love xoxo Kodi

Pennylaine Presley is 7 months old!!

2009-07-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

And here are the pics to prove it!! My friend Becca was sweet enought to take P's 7 month pictures fo us!! She does it as a hobby, but I think she could do it as a career!! Thanks Becca!! Enjoy the preview!!!

Bad Blogger

2009-07-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I am a bad blogger!! When life gets super busy, the blog seems to be something that I let slide- especially since I now share a lot of pictures and stuff of facebook- it is like double updating my family what's going on. I still like having the blog though because I can show it to the kids when they are older, even now when I look back at older posts I am like "oh yeah, I forgot about that" so I am glad that I TRY to keep up with it! We have been SOOOO busy lately! Between going on two vacations to California, me going back to work, PJ working, social commitments and trying to just see each other I feel like there is barely time to breathe. There is a lot of changes going on in our home right now and I will update when I feel the time is right, but lets just say there has been a lot of praying going on! We did manage to slip away for some old fashion pizza party fun!! My college friend Cassy had her daughter Cloee's 3rd birthday party recently and it was fun to get them together- I haven't seen her since graduation last May!!

Here are the boys racing, I think PJ was more into it than Kash honestly!

Kash playing air-hockey with ME! (The haircut was the result of poor decision making skills and lack of patience on my part-oops mom did it again!! Thank goodness hair grows and Kash seems to like it!)

Typical organization of 2 and 3 year olds singing Happy Birthday!

Enjoying the fruits of his labor!!

Sunday morning routine..this is why we are ALWAYS LATE!!

Fourth of July Fun!

2009-07-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

I guess you know you had a great time when you only take the same picture over and over!! We were so busy this past weekend I didn't take any pictures!! Bad mommy, Bad blogger!!! Oh well, I wonder if I will ever learn!! Our awesome friends Drew and Debra came and visited from Colorado (we are working on getting them to come back) so Friday night we all went out for dinner and pool. Saturday I attempted a step-class with a friend, yeah we left early, it was wayyyy tooo hard- I have a new found respect for those step die-hards, it takes a lot of coordination! We made it to our first bbq where smoked ribs were served and so many yummy sides! The bbq was mostly made up of our friends from our ABF (adult bible fellowship) and a great time was had by all- only three of the six new additions made it to the pictures, but they are still super sweet....

I posted them all because I think it is funny how hard it is to get three babies to look and smile in the same direction...

Yeah, she was loving being surrounded by the boys ;P Just kidding, daddy would die if he read that!!

We then headed over to our second bbq at the bff house! More food, fun and games!! We love, love, love catch-phrase- go get it today if you want a fun game. We always do boys versus girls, which gets super-competitive, but that's the fun part right?? We caught a few of the firework shows from the back yard and I fell into bed that night. Sunday entailed church, ABF and lunch with more friends followed by us hosting dinner for the out-of-towners, I wimped out due to exhaustion and we got Papa Murphey's take'n'bake pizza. Gotta love it!! So here is to taking more pics and capturing life's wonderful moments.

Happy Birthday America!! We love you and all the amazing freedoms that you afford us!!

Cierra's Highschool Graduation

2009-06-29T15:24:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Pennylaine and I attended my beautiful neices highschool graduation. I can't believe she is so grown up!! She is my first neice, so I have a special place in my heart for her and I am so proud of the woman she has become. She is off into the "real world" now and I wish her the best of luck in whatever path she chooses to pursue. Here are the highlights....

My sister Kim and my neice Cierra, it was so sweet, Cierra go to choose who escorted her to the stage and she chose my sister since she homeschooled her until mid-highschool and then the teacher that helped her finish highchool...

My cute nephew Levi & P

L to R: Cierra, Makenna, Savannah, Muah, and Makaylee!

Let the Party begin: Mom, C, Me, P, Stacy and Tami!!

Even more girls!!! Me, mom, P, Makaylee, Aunt Judy, Cierra, Jenna, Stacey, Tami and Susan!

Nathan and Great Grandma Maxine in the front!! Look at all the wonderful family she made!

I love this picture, three Matriarchs'! Aunt Judy, Grandma Maxine and Mom!!

Everyone celebrated by swimming and bbq'ing, the weather was nice and toasty and beautifully sunshine gorgeous, like California tends to be!

The kids did not have any fun, obviously....

GG Maxine holding Pennylaine :)

We had such a blast seeing the family like always, I can't wait until we get to do it again next month when we drive out for my cousin Stacy's ten-year anniversary/wedding renewal!! Her wedding was one of the first trips PJ got to come with me on, so I have really special memories of it- well and some bad ones of short, fluffy hair at the time ;-)

#1 DAD!!!

2009-06-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

That's my wonderful hubby, Paxton Buglewicz. From the moment I met him I have loved him, he is truly a wonderful, sweet, kind and honorable person. Goodness, I have no idea how I got so lucky!! (Well, I know that God pretty much hooked me up!!). PJ is the BEST dad ever, he has never hesitated in his role of being a father and the leader of our family!! He also does a bang up job at changing diapers and playing with the kids and teaching lesssons!! Thanks babe! I love you and I hope you have a wonderful Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day Dada!!

2009-06-21T05:48:00.001-07:00

Happy Father's Day Dada!! My dad is such a wonderful part of my life! I have so many awesome memories of him and I still enjoy his company... Here are a few of my favorites...

* Jeffrey- When I was little my dad created Jeffrey, an imaginary boy from Africa who lived in his mouth. Jeffrey would talk to me and help me from being nervous about going to school of making friends, he would often take a vacation, when my dad got too tire obviously of doing his voice. I always knew it was just my dad, but just knowing that he was pretending just for me always made me feel special!

* Posing in the family hallway like Mr. America....

* Rollerblading on the riverwalk while dad biked

* Obstacle courses- Dad would create these elaborate obastacle courses in the backyard and pool and then rate me on a scale from 0-10 and thumbs up and thumbs down.

* Honking- He would purposely honk at me when I was walking into school and make dorky faces and wave until I would turn around, just to embarass me.

* "Kods"- I would hear "sideout Kods" "come on Kods" shouted to me at every volleyball match I played in highschool!

* Spam- Dad told me that I should eat the spam he cooked because when he was little he was so poor that to live they had to "raise spam"...a pig- like animal...

* That he was Chef Boyarde...

* Trying to have a sex talk with me in the drive through at DQ, while I burst out laughing and silently prayed for it to be over.....(thanks for the trying dad)!

* Spending countless hours building solar systems, science projects and stupid GATE projects that I procrastinated on.

Most of all, thanks for stepping up and taking care of Mom, Chad and I when I know it was hard. I know life didn't give you everything you expected dad and I know I don't always do exactly what you want me to or take the path you had planned out for me, but I want you to know that you did a wonderful job of being there for me and I am happy and responsible! I have never felt alone or neglected or forgotten and I have always known that if I needed anything you would be there for me! Thanks for everything Dad!! Heres to many more years together, I love that the kids are blessed with such an awesome Papa!!

Christmas 2006

April 2009

March 2009

December 2008

September 2006

I have no idea...

Summer 2008

College Graduation- May 2008

Summer 2007

May 2007

Summer 2007

September 2006

I wish I had more from when I was young, but I love all these pics of Kash and P with their Papa.

We are off to a Father's Day BBQ...Wait until I show you what I baked!!!

To all you Father's out there...Happy Father's Day!! Go hug your babies- they are a gift from God and the rest of you go call you Daddy's.

A Trip....

2009-06-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

To the ER and the DR....

Gah things have been so busy around here!! Saturday we had an awesome yardsale. My sisters and some friends came over with their stuff and we set up shop around 6am and stayed out in the AZ sun until about noon!! You know I was tired after that, we made about 100 bucks, which considering it was all stuff I wanted to part with anyways that wasn't so bad! Anyhoo, Kash was running in the driveway and got in a fight with the pavement--- the pavement won, he was banged up on his face pretty bad but was pretty tough about it really. So the next morning on the way to church he starts coughing a little and PJ and I think, hmm maybe we should take him to Nani & Papi's so that he won't get any kids sick in case he is coming down with something. Off we go, once we got there he had fallen asleep and I could see him breathing really hard for air...like his ribs were really sucking in and out. We tried to wake him up and it took a lot more than usuall to get him stirring. Something about it just struck the mom and me and off to the ER we went. 9 hours, 2 breathing treaments, a chest x-ray and 3 movies later we were released, with an inhaler and orders to follow up with his pediatrician. Kash was so brave, he did better than me and PJ really, we were like "I'm hungry, I'm cold, when is the Dr. coming".... and he pretty much played or watched movies the whole time. I was so proud of him and I really just thanked God for my healthy children, you really have nothing if you don't have your health. It got me thinking about all the parents out there whos' children are sick and are going through the hardest circumstances imaginable. It made me want to do something and so I've decided to do a 10k for cancer! I am so excited about this decision, I have been wanting to sign up for a race for a long time but never really just dove in, so I decided to race for cancer. My goal is to raise $1000.00 by November 14th and I am going to run my little heart out that day BECAUSE I CAN. Because I am healthy and my body is strong and my legs work!! Anyways I am really excited and I hope I can get a few other people to run with me too!! Husband you in?? Susan I know your in...Anyone??

Tuesday we had a follow up appointment with Kash's amazing Doctor and have an action plan as far as his breathing stuff goes. We are hoping it is just a reaction to an allergy that occured and are going to watch things closely to monitor the possibility of asthma. It was SO cute, Dr. Schultz said "Kash you did a great job today should we go get a sticker" and Kash looked down real serious like and spread out his fingers and said "no, no sticker"!! Bahaha, I guess that's how you know you live in AZ!! Poor thing gets poked, proded, shots and now sticker at the office. Don't worry, we fixed him with a handy manny sticker that he wore the rest of the day!

Bling bling baby!!

2009-06-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after having a fab lunch with Papa Eddie, we all headed to the mall to get P's ears' pierced. Aunt Kerri, Nicollette and Garrett met us there. I was pretty calm about the whole thing, I knew that it would be less traumatic to do as a baby than as a little girl and this way, it is already done and she will have them her whole life. She was such a good girl and the girl at Claire's did a great job of getting them perfectly centered and straight, which I think is super important. Papa Eddie treated her to the experience, but left when the dirty work had to be done. They came out great and she looks so sweet with her baby bling!! Check it out....

In other news, Kash called to me from the kitchen this morning..."Mom, I cook egg", I got in there just in time to see him crack a raw egg onto the middle of the stove, luckily I salvaged some of it and we cooked it in a pan together after having a "only mommy and daddy use the stove" talk. He didn't eat it.

Potty training is going better!! He manipulates the point a bit for reading time, but he does actually go tinkle in the potty now, numero dos is still a diaper duty, but hey we are making progress.

PJ is FINALLY finishing the guest bathroom this weekend, he did the crown molding and baseboards yesterday, so all there is left to do is sand and paint- I am so excited!!

Tacos at mom's tonight and yardsale and haircut tomorrow!! Hoping to make enough money to convince PJ to come to California with us for Cierra's graduation- he doesn't want to spend money on gas to drive for "only two day" but I think it is worth it. Wish me luck!!

Random Business

2009-06-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I have not updated since Mother's Day...eeeek!! But things around here are randomly super-busy with nothing!! You know everyday stuff that leaves you falling into bed every night! So I will show you through pics that silly shinanigans happening in the Buglewica household....between wisdom teeth, potty training and commitments galore we managed to have some fun!

Being silly with sunglasses!

Daddy and his little princess!

Eating yummy veggies!! She is SO BIG already!!

One day Darth Vader came to visit....

Don't worry, he is a good doggy- they had so much fun talking to each other.

GG Pat and biscuit, 4 generations difference!

Hanging out with friend Mattie!

Hanging out with Gavin at Bible Study.

Nicollette had a fun hip-hop dance performance, it was off the hizzle my nizzle!!

I found Mr. Hobbs waiting for me in our linens one morning....

Being super cute before church, don't mind the laundry in the back!!

More informational posts to come soon, but I find just uploading pictures seems to e what I can keep up with right now. We have a fun yardsale planned for this weekend and in about a week we are heading out to see my 1st neice ever graduate highschool, sheesh I feel so old!!!

"Potty Training"

2009-05-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

I would like to update y'all (can I call you that even thought I don't live in the South?) on the potty training home front. Things are going well, as in well they are disastrous! I decided to start this past Monday, armed with my trusty kitchen timer, Sesame street step and toilet seat insert and books galore, "potty training" began. I set the timer in 30 minute increments, let Kash choose which spiderman undies (not panties I have learned from PJ...boys don't call them panties) to wear and was ready to take on the pee-pee, um head on?? I figured we would at least make friends with the potty mid-day.

Well friends, I was wrong....very wrong, he HATES his potty. He would rather play, sleep and eat all day carrying a hot steaming load of meatloaf in his pants than sit on the potty for 30 seconds. Still, we continued to go to the potty every 30 minutes and just try. Day 3, it wasn't so bad, he was actually okay with it, actually excited to read and play with mommy's undivided attention, the only thing is....he still went potty everywhere else but the potty! Rug-check, Couch- check, Next to potty, check, check.

PJ went to sit him on the potty day 4 and discovered that he had already gone elsewhere....."Kodi we have a situation here" is what he called to me from the bathroom....5 minutes after scouring the house I found the nice little nugget on the carpet in the office, by the bookcase...just in case you ever come to my house and want to avoid that area...actually it wasn't that bad, just like a giant tootsy roll waiting to be discovered.

Today was day 5, no timer, no potty and no surprises...maybe we'll try again when he's three or I am thirty...we'll see.

If you have any fantabulous ideas I am game, please tell me your secrets!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

I love you Mama!! You are my best friend and I cherish all of the time, memories and love we share! I only hope that one day I can be a 100th of the woman you are.

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers' out there! Now go call your mama!

Fun in the Sun!

2009-05-01T07:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, the title might be cheesy, but it was the best way to describe our week-long vacation to Puerto Penasco! We had so much fun lounging around in the same beach house that our wedding reception was held in. It was bizarre to be back and I kept having flashbacks of different moments during our wedding, kind of fun to do that. We have been home a week today and it is the first time I have had a chance to blog, catching up is hard to do! I always need a vacation from my vacation! Here is a glimpse into the week, but really I was doing far too much stuff, like reading and playing bocce ball to truly have a weeks worth of pictures..

P in her cutesy beach outfit! Just for show of course, but fun anyways!

I couldn't resist...

Papa and Presley

Boys and their toys...and children :)

We decided to celebrate PJ's birthday a few days early for the atmosphere, here is a recap of his gifts:

Bocce ball set, which led to an awesome tournament...we lost...horribly, I foresee bocce ball practices in my near future ;)

An awesome hockey shirt! Jesus Saves!

Tequila- Don Julio- Come on, it was Mexico!

Aunt Susan and P
Nica, Kino and Makaylee, such sweet girls!

My brother and his awesome girls!

Look closely, there is a hidden message....<3

We finally had a chance to fly the spiderman kite that poor Kash dragged around the house in the package for about two months and even had to sleep with some nights! I was so excited to get to use it!

Kash even got to try his hand at it....for about 10 seconds, then the wind took it....

In my little man's world, this was a tragedy! I don't think there are words to capture this moment in all of it's emotion!

Throwing oneself to the ground was the only obvious and reasonable reaction!

Don't worry, daddy ran about 1/2 a mile and saved the kite...waaaay down the beach! Kash napped soon after this, and so even though we only flew the kite a total of 10 minutes, we flew it and that is what mattered. We spent a lot of time playing bocce ball, hanging out, one night turned into a full-on concert among us women, while the men and children stared at us using things like spray butter and carrots as microphones, priceless video was captured for our viewing pleasure this Christmas! Overall I couldn't be more blessed! Love you Family!!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a little peek at Easter festivities! We started early with an awesome egg hunt at playgroup...there is nothing like scattering 200 eggs on a grass field and watch 2 year olds go at it...They learn what it is all about when they figure out there is CANDY in the eggs. Here is Kasharoo looking super cute with his monkey basket- thanks Grandma!

Hanging out munching candy with his friends.

Coloring Easter eggs with the family!

Easter morning, showing off the goods in his Easter basket...he did not take the backpack off for 2 whole days- no joke. PJ had the genius idea to fill it with diapers and wipes, sweet, we got the kid carrying his own diaper bag!

Presley so super cute in her Easter dress, Thanks Aunt Kerri!

Hanging out with Papa Eddie!

Charlie in her Easter dress.

P hanging out in the bumbo chair, my little lemon puff!

I hope you had a great Easter too- we went to church (duh), barbequed with the family and ate waaay too many recess eggs.

GG Pat turns 80!

2009-04-12T21:25:00.001-07:00

Great Grandma Pat (GG Pat), just celebrated her 80th birthday. We were graced with her wonderfulness at a birthday tea party and brunch complete with mini-sandwiches, a fruit bouquet, dark chocolate cake and friends and family! It was so wonderful to look through all her old pictures and meet all of her friends, here is a little, tiny recap of the day- I was running around most of the time and didn't take a lot of pics :(...

Dorky picture of PJ...
Grandma Pat proudly introducing all of her family...

Kash, all dressed up and playing in the fountain...

P in her Sunday best for GG P

Happy Birthday GG Pat! We Love You!!!

A picture is worth a thousand words!

2009-04-12T21:07:00.000-07:00

New Friends....

Old Friends....

Big Smiles...

More Weddings!...

And my chubbsie wubbsie!

Where does the time go?

2009-04-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

I can't beleive how fast time flys- I am so busy everyday doing nothing, how does that work? I will tell you: wipe down kitchen, dishes, nurse, snack for kash, do more dishes, wipe down table, start a load of laundry, change a diaper, pick up toys, change a diaper, nurse, deal with tantrum, lunch, change laundry, nurse, think about doing those toning exercises for your arms, drink diet coke for energy, feel bad about drinking diet coke, make lunch, do dishes, wipe down kitchen, facebook, start another load, nurse....REPEAT!!! Gahhh I go round and round in circle doing the same things over and over again.

On a happy side note remodeling has officially started, a wall has been taken out, tile ordered and dates scheduled.

On a crappy note the Troopers transmission is shot and we have to buy a new car.....just when we decided on wook flooring :(.

Presley is huge, 13 lbs and has ankle and wrist rolls, I am in heaven.

Kash is full of energy and life and gives me a full day, everyday but he is such a sweetie, his new response to everything is "no way mom, no way", he of course has no idea how bad this sounds, so it is kind of cute with his sweet tone.

We leave for Mexico in less than two weeks and I am so excited!!

I promise pictures are coming soon, I am trying to catch Kash in his Imagination Movers dance time, sooooooo freakin cute and funny- I must share it with the world!

I hate when that happens...

2009-03-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

I was SOOO tired last night. We enjoyed an awesome bbq at our friends Shelby and Alshli's- they just had a baby too, so I guess it is a "playdate" for the parents. So after a night of steak, chicken, salad, grilled veggies and a lovely glass of white wine- I was out for the count. I fell right asleep. 3:30am rolls around and I wake up to go to the bathroom and can't fall back asleep...two reasons 1. Lady gaga's "Just Dance" was in my head from working out earlier and 2. I was thinking about paint colors and window treatments for our house!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH I hate when this happens. I can't turn my brain off and toss and turn to no avail. Finally around 4 I decided i might as well get up and get some stuff done around the house. So here I am, dishes done, kitchen reeeaalllly clean, 2 cups of coffee in, email checked, week planned and playdates scheduled. Paint colors and window treatments still undecided..grrrrr. I wish I could turn my brain off, but I know myself when this happens and I ussually just end up laying in bed listening to PJ breath and think about things. What do you do when you can't sleep, try to fight through or just get up??

Rollin like Spiderman!!

2009-03-25T17:26:00.000-07:00

So, I thought it would be a great idea to buy Kash these spiderman skates, well since he LOVES spiderman (biderbo in Kash terms) and then kind of had to rethink it all when he wanted to sleep, eat, play, ride, hang all in the skates. For example, the day started liket this...

Hockey stick, helmet and all...

And ended like this....

Well at least if he falls off the couch he is safe. See I am a great mother- safety first folks!

Check out that gorgeous, angelic face.

Other Festivities...

2009-03-19T21:20:00.001-07:00

We were lucky enough to venture to the zoo recently with Nani, Popi and Daddy!! We kicked off the day with some serious duck feeding... I not too keen and being so close to the "pond" and made PJ promise that he would jump in the deep, slimy, green duck water should Kash fall in. Luckily there was no falling in and the duckies got their fill!

The giraffes were especially friendly and are such gorgeous animals! I never cease to be amazed by God's beautiful work on these creatures, they are so cute and they never fail to entertain- our zoo may be small but it rocks!!

Presley...post poop explosion...yeah that's why she is so happy.

This pic is funny to me because out of nowhere on this zoo trip Kash was terrified of all birds!! I have no idea what got into him, my only thought is that the fact that PJ and he watched Jurasic park pre-zoo may have something to do with it!

Awesome pic!! Thanks for spending the day with us Nani and Poppi!

We have been so busy lately I am just craving my comfy bed! I will keep updating asap, but I find myself seeking sleep over surfing.

Also, my cousin's son was admitted to the hospital last Friday for RSV which is serious in babies and especially in preemies, which he was, so please keep baby Miciah and his family in your prayers!!

Zoo, Hockey, Picnic, Repeat

2009-03-16T08:27:00.001-07:00

First off, I have to apologize, but this photo journey you are about to take has been posted backwards. I always forget how the images upload and well, it is backwards, so until I get another blogging host, you will have to deal with thinking in backwards terms. Therefore, we will recap the weekend journey from Sunday moving backwards.....

Sunday was Poppi Jeff's *9th birthday! He wanted to head up to Mt. Lemmon to celebrate, which is where Pj grew up as a child. It was GORGEOUS, upper 60's and sunny, but still some snow to play in. We had a picnic on a family friends' lot and got to visit all of our favorites. Debbie's store, good friends and smelled the cookie's from the cookie cabin...

Back up to Saturday night where we took Presley to her first Pro hockey game!!! Okay, so here I have to admit we are crazy..what were we thinking taking Kash to a full day of watching daddy play hockey to a pro hockey game sans nap? I don't know, I am still wondering how we thought this was a good idea. Actually it wasn't as horrible as I am making it sound, both the kids really were wonderful considering the circumstances and thankfully the hockey game ended right about the time Kash was done too. Here is our family in front of the huge mascot!

Earlier we went to an outside rink where PJ was in a hockey tournament...he did awesome and the tough guy manages to get a penalty in every period. We enjoyed miniature golf and pizza rink-side. We were also lucky enough to have both kids have diaper explosions within the first 10 mintue of arriving. I pulled Presley out of her carseat and wondered why her back and front were soaked...hmmm could it be a giant poop explosion on the first leg of the trip...well YES of course it was!! Once I got her a wipey bath and changed we headed in where Kash went from having a bone-dry diaper to having Lisa poke me in my side "Kodi Look" and there running down his leg and onto his sandels was a pee explosion. Lisa got a real treat since I was nursing and took on full mommy duty to take and change him into some dry duds. The day couuld really begin now that we got that all over, nothing like travelign with kids ;-0

Presley pre-poop explosion, enjoying the journey...

Me, passing the time...

It was tiring, but it was fun!!! We had such a great time with our friends and family- just knwoing the memories we are creating is so worth every diaper explosion, tantrum, break down, gas money, food money and a-hem speeding ticket.

Our Costco Trip

2009-03-09T16:01:00.000-07:00

Went disasterously (is that a word) wrong...

They were out of the rugs I had been eyeing for quite a while now....

They did not have 3T in the outfit I wanted to get Kash for Easter...

Presley wanted to eat and we were scrambling to make a bottle when...

Kash peed by my estimate 40 ounces down his leg and onto the floor- he must have not been properly, ahem, tucked in.....

Pretty, soft green blankie wiped most of it up until we found someone to mark it and clean it while we ran to get cat liter and out the door asap.

There are days like these- I am just happy PJ was with me and we have cat liter :-)

We are surviving...

2009-03-09T15:54:00.000-07:00

Here there are even pictures to prove it!! Although I still won't let you in my house if you drop by :-)

Presley gets bathed dressed and bowed on a regular basis.

Held more than half the day I think....

The cats get quality time with the family

Kash gets to read books everyday...

He is still pretty happy, even though he has to share with sister now

And sometimes, just sometimes we all get some rest...

People are like wine...better with age!

2009-03-08T05:05:00.000-07:00

Thats what I keep telling myself anyways! 25 years ago at around 4:30pm a beautiful baby girl was born to Eddie and Marcia Benavidez. Marcia pushed Kodi Laine Benavidez into the world naturally all while Eddie swirled around her, a ussual tornado of energy and emotion! He was sure she was boy and even lost a bet in which the prize was his poor daughter, although in the end he chose to keep her. The video of this event shows my father with such high intensity of excitement it is humorous, he kept flipping his hat backwards, then frontwards, then backwards again, hands clapping, cheesecakes being promised in huge amounts to the staff and doctor from my sisters cheesecake shop; I think he even made skiing plans with the doctor. Meanwhile my gorgeous mom lies in the background probably a little annoyed but a little thankful for the distraction away from labor pain. I love this video and all the home videos thereafter, I love the youth in my parents faces, the pride they have in creating life, the love they show for each other with their simple glances and smiles. It makes me nastalgic for my childhood, I grew up in such a loving and safe home and I am so thankful to my parents for that. To this day I talk to my mom everyday and my dad every few days just because they are my best friends, they are truly wonderful, caring, giving people who make the world a better place to live. So yesterday, my birthday I just wanted a simple day with my family, my husband and my kids are the most important thing to me. I can only hope to give them the same type of loving memories and satisfaction of being loved and knowing it that my parents gave me. I can't believe that I am 25 years old, I feel 50 and 18 all it once and it is such a strange feeling to know that I have been around so long. But I will take it, I am happy to be alive everyday because someday I won't be, even now as I type this at 5 in the morning since I couldn't sleep since 3 when Kash woke up crying I am happy and thankful. For the messes and the tantrums, the singing and dancing and playing, the friendships and living that goes on under our roof.

It really is a great life! Here is to 26!

A bloggy interview....

2009-02-20T08:27:00.000-08:00

I decided to jump in on the blog interviews. Teresa over at http://thencameevainababycarriage.blogspot.com/ sent me these questions to answer and given the fact that I can barely get 10 minutes alone to shower, I thought this brief break I am getting tonight would be ther perfect time to finally get around to answering them. Let me know if you want me to send you some bloggy questions too!

What's your favourite part of being a Mom to your two little cuties?

My favorite part of being a mom is the love I receive back in return. I never understood how much my parents loved me until I had my own children. I sometimes look at them while they are sleeping like little angels and my heart just aches with love, I love them so much it scares me- it is unlike anything you can explain... until you have your own children. Kash says the cutest things and is the most empathetic child I have ever seen, he cares so much about others at the tender age of 2. I am sure I have somehow influenced that, but in all honesty his loving and caring nature has developed on it's own, he was born with it. The little biscuit is growing so fast too, she is a little chunk now and I love it! I realize that I am getting off topic, but ask a mom a question about her children and watch her run!

What would your dream vacation be?

My dream vacation would be to a tropical island with my husband, children and of course a babysitter too! We would bike around the island discovering all it had to offer, sip yummy drinks while looking out onto the sun falling behind the ocean, eat local gourmet food, play beach volleyball, swim, surf, dry off in the sun, play with the kids and sleep in (hence the need for the nanny) for a month or so.

What was the most exciting moment of your life?

The most exciting moment of my life was when my son was born. Labor was painful and hard but we were both so anticipating meeting him! When he was finally placed in my arms and I stared into his little eyes it was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. I have had lots of other exciting moments, but this by far surpasses anything I have ever experienced.

If you go out for a coffee with anyone, past or present, who would it be and why?

I had a hard time with this one. There was obvious choices of someone famous and then there were my heroes and role-models, all of which I already know and love and so therefore I decided on someone I don't know at all but is very related to me and that is my sister, Natasha. My dad was married long before he met my mom and had a baby girl, I am not sure of exactly what transpired between him, his ex-wife and his daughter, but I do know that he loves her very much and has always talked about her. I have always loved the idea of another sister as I love my other two sisters so much already...even if they are are only "half-sisters". I wonder I laugh like her or if she is a bit compulsive like me and being able to sit and share our lives over a latte sounds like a great idea. I have never contacted her because as far as I know she probably doesn't care much about meeting me, after all I got to grow up with our dad, I know our dad so well and love him so much it hurts. Growing up I wrote her letters and dreamed of meeting and as time has gone on and I have learned what life is like, I have realized that she probably doesn't have this same romanticized ideas of me as her sister and I did of her. That said, the little girl in me still wants to meet her at a starbucks and maybe share parenting tips, cute stories and celebrity gossip...but for now I will settle on picking her the answer to this question.

Where do you see yourself (and your family) in 15 years? Do you have any long-term plans or dreams?

In all honesty I haven't given much thought to where I will be in 15 years. Life is so hectic and busy right now just getting through each day is challenging enough! But I imagine we will be either here in Tucson or near my sister Kim's family either in California or Oregon, I hope to someday own a new home, one that isn't needing remodeling or any sort of face-lift, as that has quickly gotten old. I also plan on going back to school to become a labor and delivery nurse- I have wanted to do that now for about 3 years, so hopefully by then I have been helping women have babies for a while. By then we will be seeing the kids through the last part of highschool so hopefully we are doing lots of fun stuff as a fmaily too before they leave us to start their own grown-up lives!

25 Things

2009-02-17T18:01:00.000-08:00

In a tribute to the infamous 25 things on facebook, here is 25 things about PJ and me, a little different but totally sweet and following the Valentine's Day theme...

♥ What are your middle names? Laine and James
♥ How long have you been together? been together since 1998 (10 years!!), Married in 2005
♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating? Since 6th grade...so 4 years, how silly is that- I even have a diary entry about having a crush on him in middle school, go ahead roll yours eyes...
♥ Who asked whom out? He asked me and I was so happy!
♥ How old are each of you? His 25 and I am 24
♥ Whose siblings do/ did you see the most? Probably his brother Alex and my sister Kerri
♥ Do you have any children together? Yes, Paxton Kash 2 and Presley 2 months!!
♥ What about pets? Pets- 2 kitties we have had for 7 years- Hobbs and Puddin.. animals- there is one that is here called Meatball.
♥ Did you go to the same school? middle school and high school
♥ Are you from the same home town?Yes
♥ Who is the smartest? PJ wins on most things-esp geography, but I am def. the better writer/speller.
♥ Who is the most sensitive?Me, I am all sensitivity, although he has his moments.
♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple? hmmm, probably eegees
♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? The carribean mon
♥ Who has the craziest exes? Exes?? We were like 14, but I will say he had some crazy ones
♥ Who has the worst temper? Him, when it comes out once a year
♥ Who does the cooking? I cook the most, but he does lots of yummy grilling.
♥ Who is more social? We are about the same on this one, I will say PJ though.
♥ Who is the neat-freak? Me hands down.
♥ Who is the more stubborn? I think we are equal if different ways
♥ Who hogs the bed? We are so funny, we both stay on our sides
♥ Who wakes up earlier?Usually me, but he gets up with Kash lately to let me sleep, which saves the day everyday.
♥ Where was your first date? If you call walking down to Brooklyn Pizza after school a date...
♥ Who has the bigger family? I do
♥ Do you get flowers often?Every once in a while.
♥ How do you spend the holidays? We try to alternate sides of the family
♥ How long did it take to get serious? Roll you eyes again, but like a week.
♥ Who eats more?PJ, he amazes me sometimes.
♥ Who does/ did the laundry?Me....except I am awful at it...I have ruined so many things and I don't get either, my mom does the BEST laundry.
♥ Who’s better with the computer? I am, but I think he fakes it so he doesn't have to do stuff.
♥ Who drives when you are together? PJ, it just seems like the guys job to me :-)

Writers Block

2009-02-12T07:23:00.000-08:00

So, I am having a serious case of writers block for the blog. Perhaps it is the major lack of sleep, the lack of ever getting to actually sit and enjoy a warm meal, having the life drained out of my boobs (hey-at least it burns calories) or changing diapers all the live long day. But I am just out of inspiration for writing, that and there isn't exactly a lot of real "excitement" in the house right now, unless you consider diaper explosions and Kash's newest motto exciting. (That motto by the way is way stressing me out...it is "oh shit" and was originally uttered by PJ when a whole bottle of creamer was dropped and began oozing under our refrigerator. Cute when used in context in front of immediate family, but potentially disasterous in public places such as church or playgroup. We are currently trying to switch it to "oh sweet" or "oh sit meatball" with no such luck....suggestions anyone?). Combine that with my upcoming 25th birthday and the last of the baby weight and I just feel plain old. There are lots of things I could write about, but until feel inspired I'd hate just to try to write about anything...I could write about how I am trying to lose weight, but realy I have only been to the gym once and still eat like I am mostly pregnant. I could write about the exciting crafts I do with Kash, but really we've only been reading and coloring. What I really need is and idea for Valentines Day and QUICK... before PJ reads this and before Saturday. Maybe the blog will take a "please help" turn and everyone can give me their tips for anything and everything...we could all use more help that is for sure. In any case, I hope everyone has a fantastic, romantic weekend!!

Look!! One Handed!

2009-02-02T15:53:00.001-08:00

I find I have less and less time to post what has been going on in our lives....I am posting this one-handed while Kash naps and Presley eats...talk about talented. In any case, here are some new pics of the little one, she is growing so much, I can't believe she actually has some chubby cheeks- just like her mom ;-) Otherwise things are as hectic as ever, potty training has evolved to a trade of sitting on the potty for vitamin-gummies, diapers, dishes, laundry, spit-up take up a lot of time too. We are all happy and healthy though, besides the runny noses. I plan on having more frequent, interesting posts soon, until then, these precious pics will have to do! xoxo

Yay for weight gain!

2009-01-23T09:45:00.000-08:00

I am sleep deprived, so I plan on keeping this short and sweet...and no the title was not a mistake...

Yes, you read right, I am so excited. Presley weighs over a whopping 7lbs now..which is actually AMAZING (dr's words)...she was sure I was feeding her formula (I'm not), God must have just given me cream for milk, whatever it is, it is working. She is no longer considered "preemie" by weight standards and her charts are amazing. As for sleeping longer through the night, no such luck, but I am taking the positive view that longer hours of sleep are right around the corner.

In other news, I will be heading up to Phoenix with PJ on Sunday for his bone marrow donation procedure. He was matched to a man from CA who has leukemia, Monday and Tuesday he will be undergoing a procedure to donate his bone marrow and stem cells. Yesterday and for the next few days leading up to the procedure he is receiving a shot that makes him produce more white blood cells and in effect makes hiim feel still and flu-like, so please keep him and the man on the receiving end in your prayers.

Kash has wee-wee'd? (hate that word) in the potty twice and had probably 200 more skittles, but hey it's something.

Lost is recorded and ready for viewing...thats about it around here. Give me Lost and some comfort food and I am a happy woman :-)

Bribing children with sugar....

2009-01-19T11:42:00.001-08:00

I headed out this morning on a mission. Still sporting my Victoria's Secret "PINK" sweats, a ponytail and shades I braved the grocery store on a mission. I headed straight for the sweets where I picked up a pound bag of skittles, that is right a pound of skittles. I then headed for the cold drink section where I picked up two giant cans of green teat, afterall the task ahead is daunting and you must be very brave in entering it. I whip out my club-member card, hand over the debit for a $5 visit and head home. Upon my arrival I empty the skittles into a pretty clear tupperware with a spout-top, for easy access. I call my boys in and announce to Kash..."Mommy will give you a yummy candy if you sit on the potty". I was unsure of what his reaction would be, my words hung in the air and then blew away as Kash dashed into the hall, crying towards his elmo potty. He purposfully turned his back to the potty, his face painted with sheer concentration as he slowly backed his bottom towards the seat...and then...HE SAT ON THE POTTY. This is no easy feat, he has never wanted to sit on the potty. Keeping up my end I handed him one orange skittle, he chewed, he sat and then stuck his hand out. "take off your diaper and sit on the potty if you want another candy" The words were out of my mouth before I realized what was happening. The diaper came off, he sat, the hand came out, another dirty bribe skittle handed off...

Potty Training has begun...

Not much here...

2009-01-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

It is the ussual around here, thanks for all of your supportive comments, I have since had an attitude adjustment, which I guess I will need often and am trying to tackle everything with a positive and thankful attitude. Which means the laundry is nearly done, my house is "pretty clean", my babies are both sleeping (sigh of delight) and I am contemplating taking Meatball to training myself- I think that is the only way that will get done. I had a great weekend, Saturday while PJ went to the Coyotes game with some of the guys I spent some beloved girl time with my mom and sister. We had so much fun! I missed my alone time with them. I made a mediterranian salmon pasta and we just talked the night away, for those of you who have sisters you know how awesome it is to have a great friend who is always there and shares so many special bonds. I feel like my mom and sister understand me so much and they love me despite my boatload of imperfections! Sunday we made it to our Adult Bible Fellowship (ABF) and we followed it up with a party- my Real Estate company had their "holiday party" yesterday, it was fun to chat it up with adults and I even indulged in a bit of champagne. Back to the grind here though, PJ's dad, wife and son are coming in town this week so we will have lots of visiting to do and Kash and Mason will get to play! I am hoping to sneak in a date night on Wednesday if they haven't already arrived, I miss my honey!

Yes, I have disapeared

2009-01-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

I am vastly overwhelmed by the whole two children thing. Kash has turned into an evil little monster who laughs at my attempts to discipline and still poops in his pants. Presley wakes up every other hour during the night, which is her job but makes the poster child for concealer, my house is a wreck, crumbs are eating me alive, the dishes are piled up, Meatball stinks in general and I am in grave need of a shower. So yes, motherhood has arrived. God bless Jon and Kate plus 8 because I convinced the woman has to be on drugs to be so organized and peppy with so many children. So if I don't come on and report the latest feats in this household you know why. I have disappeared somewhere under the dust, crumbs, diapers, laundry, bills and toys, please send help.

Man up!

2008-12-29T19:43:00.000-08:00

I just experienced a new thing in this household. If you don't us very well, both PJ and I seem to take on the traditional gender roles in our relationship and in general. He takes out the trash, I do the laundry, he tends to drive, I clean, he mans the grill and I make most of our other meals. I am getting somewhere with this, since we moved in our house we have had an increasing cricket problem. I don't care that they don't bite, they chirp and are so annoying and when I see their little bodies crawling across my carpet when I am nursing Presley at night it gives me the eebie jeebies, we finally decided to call a professional for spraying the house when PJ discovered a scorpion in the house while I was in the hospital (thank God). Apparantly crickets are #1 on the delicousness list for scorpians, so it was time to bring in the big guns. Tonight I am going about my bed time routine, looking forward to a night without the creatures when I discover that they have all come out to die?? There was literally like 10-15 crickets just in my little bathroom this evening (insert girly scream here). So I called for my man in shining armour to take care of me...he always takes care of the crickets for me... and maybe it was the fact that the hockey game was on, maybe he is just tired on taking care of the boogers, but he actually gave me a really hard time for not "being able to just squish them myself"...uhhh how rude, I am completely offended and he is breaking our silent husband-wife code of who does what. Picking up crickets or killing them or doing anything with them is clearly his job. He huffed and puffed around getting every last one I pointed out, clearly annoyed at my girlyness. hmmmm I am saddened by this because this means that he may no longer view me as his damsel for saving, maybe he wants me to "man up!" and take care of bugs myself. I only deal with them in one way which is the dust buster, should I tote it to the bedside with me? Even thinking about touching one or having it jump around in my hand grosses me out, even worse, when did saving your woman lose it's allure? I still like being rescued from bugs and cold weather and getting gas when we are together. Suggestions??

A Very Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T07:00:00.001-08:00

WOW, it has been a jam-packed few days around here. I sit now, surrounded by....stuff, lots of toy cars, train tracks, tissue paper, cookie crumbs, dishes clean and dirty and my two beautiful children. Todays mission, try to get the house back into normal state as much as possible and not leaving the house as it is nasty, rainy weather out there. Christmas Eve was a whirlwind, I ended up having to nurse Presley through the gifts and so we have no pics :-( but we had a great time and Kash and Presley are so loved and spoiled, our car was full of gifts on the way home. For starters, here is Kash holding Presley again, he loves to hold her and does a pretty good job of it too!

Presley's First Christmas outfit, perfect for Christmas Eve and I even got a bow to stick in her hair for part of the night...

The husband and Kash were able to attend the Buglewicz Christmas party (the trip was too long in the carseat for Presley) where Kash spent more than a few hours playing golf, I can see my future already...

After a fabulous Christmas Eve at my moms house which I have to find pics of somewhere my mom and dad and two of my neices came to our house Christmas morning to open presents and eat a yummy pancake breakfast, courtesy of chef le' buglewicz. Check out Kash's major gift from Grandma and Papa, our morning involved lots of shooting contests, I think PJ is just as in love with it as kash is!

We feasted on Christmas tree pancakes, bacon, eggs, fruit and lattes ;-)

Makaylee holding Presley for the first time!

It was then on to Nani and Papi's house to see the whole Roads side of the family. Check out this gift Kash got that was bigger than him, he had a ball just opening it.

Relishing and relaxing in his new gift, perfect chair for present openin' :-)

Thanks Aunt Bridget!

Mr. Fix it and Handy Manny

Too cute for words, love the hat.

Christmas outfit #2 courstesy of the Vermeulen Family!

A shot of our family including the new addition..not sure why we take pictures at the end of the day, but this as pretty good considering the lack of sleep/ amount of stress over the past few weeks, I am just glad we got it!
I hope that you and yours had as wonderful a holiday as we did. I love being with our big families and celebrating our relationships and friendships as well as celebrating the awesome gift of Christ's birth, I am hoping that as our family grows I am able to relate this joy and love to my children and that they can grasp what an awesome day this holiday represents! From our family to yours we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

We made it!

2008-12-22T06:07:00.001-08:00

Well, we made it! It has been a little over a week now since Presley B has made her grand entrance in the world. The week just flew by and I had so much help from friends and family easing the transition. We had dinner brought to us by my mom and several friends over the past few nights which meant there was one last thing to worry about...thank goodness since PJ hadn't gone to the store for a while and I was eating quesadillas for lunch the first few days :0). I was even able to nap a few of the days thanks to Katy and Jeff watching Kash for us. I can't even believe this week is Christmas and so since I am stuck here , not being allowed to drive and all and Presley having her carseat restrictions I included our would-be Christmas cards had I just a few more days before the holiday they would be in your fingertips.

I feel so blessed that Presley was able to come home with us and I truly believe that at one point we had hundreds of people praying for her health, Prasie God she was happy and healthy and ready to come home. Kash has been getting used to everything, he was at Grandma's and Nani/Papi's for some time and so coming home with our rules and the new baby has been a bit of a challenge, but he loves her. He wants to hold her so much and every time she crys he raised his hands to his head in a panic and says "oh no". PJ has already had a talk with him too about how his sole job in growing up now is to protect his little sister whom he calls "aw cuute" instead of Presley, there are worse things he could call her I suppose. Well that is all the time for now, I have two hungry babies waiting for me. Have a very Merry Christmas and God Bless!!

This is my attempt to show how scrawny her little legs are, but this doesn't truly capture the chickenesqueness of her legs...

First ride home from the hospital, she had to be monitored in the hospital for an hour for her heart rate and other vitals before we were allowed to leave and yes we had to stuff a blanket on each side to get her to fit properly.

Kash being cheesy!

First time holding little sister..."aw cuuuute"

Growing is hard work!

Imagine this showing up in your mailbox....Merry Christmas from The Buglewicz Bunch

A family one for good measure, head more supported.

2008-12-14T06:56:00.001-08:00

Presley Marcia Ryan Buglewicz
Born on 12-12-08, 3:41 pm
4lbs.14oz 18 inches long
4 weeks early!!

I guess she just couldn't wait to meet any of us and like most babies she made her way into the world on her time and a bit unexpected, I am tired from c-section and lack of sleep, so I will give you mostly a picture update of the day and will post more pics and stories later...

r....

34 Weeks

2008-12-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

Had to show of my belly next to the new advent calender courtesy of Nanni Sarah...
And next to our tree!

I guess I will have to take my 36 week pic in the hospital gown :-)

Alex is the (fire)man.

2008-12-10T08:00:00.001-08:00

Wednesday December 3rd we attended Alex's graduation from the Fire Academy! Congratulations Alex, here are the brothers post ceremony enjoying some delicious pizza and beer at the local Frog n Firken...

Kash was equally pleased and excited for Alex, especially since the firemen let him go on their truck and play with all the medical equiptment...thats gotta make you feel safe :-) We carried him out of there screaming.

Finally here he is at the restuarant where he spent a lot of time dancing and flirting with local college girls. I sweat I have seen PJ make that face a million times!

Thanksgiving Recap...Finally

2008-12-10T06:19:00.001-08:00

I finally have the time to recap Thanksgiving (Thanks to being in a bed 24/7)... We will have to work backwards to Thanksgiving. The family was able to come back with us from California after the holiday and spend a few days in warm Tucson. The weekend was filled with multiple air-soft wars, fun conversation and wonderfu time with family. I am so blessed to have all these people be my relatives!! Here is a Sunday photo of the girls in the fam, my mom and her three daughters and their daughters, three generations from the greatest woman..

Kim hosted a HUGE Thanksgiving, I think there were over 30 people there and wowza did we cook for them. I made over 3 dozen fresh herb rolls, homemade reeces (hello lover), turkey cupcakes, pumpkin gooey cake and helped with the potaters which were divine. Of course thanksgiving wouldn't be complete in this family without someone taking off their clothes... I thought there was no way the anyone could fit into Devin's skintastic diva jeans..but Rick was positive he could, mind you this nephew of mine looks like he has an 18inch waist, so the great pant trade began. Devin is wearing Rick's shorts and Rick is wearing the black rinsed jazzercise denim (sorry Devin, you know I love you... but those are the descriptive words that come to mind :-)

Shot One..

All the way up!

The cutesy turkeys by Cierra and me!

The turkey tamers mid-creation...

My Kasharoo all bundled up in daddy's beanie, oh how I miss him right now.

Paxton and Savannah "sleeping"

Overall we had such a great time. The girls had a girl day where mom was treated to an hour facial and then we all got pedi/mani's and spent the rest of the day in the kitchen together. The guys worked on fixing random items and running around with their airsoft guns so it was a pretty perfect time. Thanksgiving brought my grandma, aunts and cousins who I love to get to visit with and Rick's fmaily too which are so friendly and always amusing with tales of their childhood, I can't wait for the next time.

Juice, Juice and more Juice

2008-12-09T05:26:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone, I am blogging from St. Jospeh's Labor and Delivery, where I was admitted as an in-patient yesterday afternoon. I went in for the NST and sonogram only to learn that the amniotic fluid had dropped substantially low, so they sent me across the street to this lovely place, which actually is lovely. The nurses hooked me up to an IV that was so cold going into my arm and pumped a whole bag in about an hour, I have since had 3 or 4 more, I guess they are hoping that pumping me full of liquid will pump my uterus with more. I have also had 2 cranberry juices and 2 grape juices, they are so generous with the juices, something about juice in the hospital on that crunchy ball ice is delicious! PJ stayed with me into the evening last night while my mom watched Kash for us and he brought me magazines, dvd's and even beyond bread. It was tough when he had to leave, but I love knowing that our son will be at home in his bed with everything comfortable around him. They gave me an ambien to sleep last night but I only slept a few hours from about 10-4 and woke up at least every hour if not twice, I can't really move and sleeping on my back is hard I need my big pillow and to be on my side, but they had two monitros on my belly so I am kind of stuck, I hope I get to go home soon if anything just to get some sleep. I get another round of tests this morning by a perinatal specialist who will look at the baby and my fluid and I guess we will find out what will happen from there. If the fluid remains low they will probably deliver her soon via c-section, but if it goes up back to normal I might be able to go home with constant monitoring and bed rest, I am hoping that I get to go home and she has a chance to turn so that I can deliver he naturally. I really am looking to c-section as a last resort but each day that goes by seems to make it more of a real possibility. I feel safe and blessed though and know that I have so many friends and family praying for us and the ultimatley God has a plan...I always meditate on the fact that He already knows how many hairs are on our daughter's head and exactly what will happen, He has always known and he would never give us more than we could handle. I just also pray for more sleep! PJ will have to keep working no matter what, which is going to be hard since we don't have anyone to watch Kash (so many people work these days :-) but he seems to be somehow figuring it out. I will try to update on here as I learn more and find the time and energy. Until then, thank you all for your love and friendship.

Thanks for the Prayers!

2008-12-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

To all of you that were praying for us, our prayers were answered and in a great way! So thank you so much, it really meant a lot to me to get your kind emails and phone calls over the past two days. I went in for a follow up sonogram and non-stress test today and at first things did not look good. They were measuring even less fluid than before but then just at the end she decided to move around a bit and open her knees up which exposed a huge pocket of amniotic fluid, over 4 cc's which put the count up to 9.56 cc's of fluid- in the normal range (8-22cc's is normal I found out). Yay, so I did not have to be admitted to the hopital! After that she passed her NST with flying colors. I chugged so much water the past few days that I am glowing but the plan is to keep that up until I deliver, more water equals healthier living space for baby girl, so despite being in the bathroom ALL the live long day, a-water I will drink. I am going back in for the same tests on Monday just to double check and if those turn out okay I won't have to go back again hopefully until I am in labor. In the mean time I am focusing on taking it easy per Dr's orders, getting lots of rest and getting ready for Christmas, that is like an oxymoron no? Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers and I promise to post again soon with a new preggo pic.

Frankly, she's breech!

2008-12-02T19:54:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a long day it has been. My plans were to spend some time today getting Thanksgiving on here, but at my 35-week DR's appointment there was some issues that came about. I was still at the same weight I have been at for about 2 months, which is not typical for the third trimester, then my belly was still measuring at 31 weeks when I am in my 35th week, enough of a difference that Dr. Mainman sent me over to labor and delivery to get check out. 6 hours, one non-stress test, sonogram and other, ahem fun tests later I was sent home. Turns out the baby girl (yes she is still a girl, yay) looks great, she is small, but not too small around 4lbs 11ounces, but my amniotic is extremely low, normal levels are around 8-22 cc's and mine is at 5.8, at 5 or below they make you stay at the hospital. They thought my membranes had ruptured, or my waters had broken, but after coughing with a lovely microscope up the hoohaa, they were deemed intact. I learned from that lovely internal exam that I am dialated to 1cm, which is early to be dialated but not a big deal, baby girl on the other hand is in the frank breech position, which means her head is in my ribs and her feet are up by her head as well. I was sent home on strict bedrest and instructions to drink as much fluid as possible. I go back on Thursday for another sonogram,NST and amniotic fluid check and if things aren't improving they said they will keep me there until things do look better or I deliver, so needless to say I am drinking like a fish and reading up on natural ways to turn a breech baby... no c-section desired here and there is no way I can leave my family to stay in the hospital. The nurse told me to pack my bags though just in case, so we are in need of prayers here for the health of the baby and that she will turn so that I can deliver her naturally and not by surgery. The biggest concern is for her, that she isn't thriving inside and may need to be taken early, we just want a safe and healthy baby. I will catch everyone up on the Thanksgiving festivities tomorrow from my bed. I am beat!

Jam Packed!

2008-11-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

The days around here have been jam packed! I am so tired and I can't believe that Thanksgiving is this week, my how time flys! Wednesday we had playgroup and Lindsays 25th birthday dinner, complete with yummy tacos, Thursday night PJ had hockey and we went to game night with our new Adult Bible Fellowship and had so much fun! I can't believe what a wonderful group of friends we have been blessed with. Saturday we had birthing class ALL DAY, which I now realize was a easte of money since I felt like I knew everything, but we did learn a few more things and it got us both thinking in that area anyways, which I suppose is a good thing since technically I will be full term in about 3-4 weeks. We ended up doing dinner in with the in-laws as they treated us to PF Changs after taking Kash to the Zoo all day...and I think we were more tired from class, they are amazing. Sunday we had church, an ABF potluck which was delish and great time for fellowship and then another bbq at my moms complete with my favorite meal, homemade rolled chicken tacos. I was about ready to collapse when we got home and unfortunetly after much wrestling with daddy, I realized that Kash was burning up! He was at 102 when I took his temp as he fell asleep and then almost at 104 all night and morning. I had SO MUCH to do today but have yet to leave the house or his side and it is 4pm :-( I just want him to be okay for our trip tomorrow. As of right now the temp is down to 100* after his second dose of motrin (which he gagged and threw up in a matter of seconds so I don't even know if he got any) and he is jumping on the couch. It is hard to keep a semi-sick kid in resting mode. This morning, though his cheeks were as red as scarlet and I was worried and scared I love that he cuddled me for hours in bed. He would hug me and stroke my hair and let me cuddle him, ahhh I love the small perks of fevers, but I am relieved to be getting my normal, full of life son back. Tonight I still have to go buy a new carseat (PJ and I decided ours wasn't "good" enough...read here, we got it from Craigslist), pack, clean and get ready to leave for Cali. Prayers for everyone to have a wonderful and safe holiday with their friends and family! Pics and updates of our turkey day to come soon!

Baby Paige/Presley/Penny's Shower

2008-11-16T17:03:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my wonderful friends Katy & Alejandra threw us a fabulous baby shower!! I had so much fun and felt like new baby is already so loved! The bash was great, there were 3 types of chili, two types of cornbread and a dessert buffet that I only wish I had a picture of!! I was NOT a good blogger this weekend and only have a few pics, I think because I was spending the whole time having a blast! We got so many cute things for the new baby and I finally can start on her room now. There were even games, boys included, the first of which was a name vote. PJ chose the names and those up for naming were: Paige, Prestley, Penny, Cherry, Gertrude (he thinks he is hilarious as this was a fake name) and Natalia. Paige won with an overwhelming 18 votes, first runners up were Prestley and Paige tied at 9 votes each with the others tailing behind and few write-ins... and of course we are still not sure! Ah, I hate this part, I am sure we will be in the hospital still weighing our options. A couple at our church who have baby only a ew months old told us that they didn't name her for over a month!! For the first month they just called her baby girl or something, I really don't want that to happen so we better really begin thinking about what we like now! The rest of the games were captured in the pictures below and were so funny! I think everyone had a great time and I am so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Here is a small taste of what the day entailed...

32 Weeks, 2 Days

The "dirty diaper" game...contestants went througha bout 10 diapers and tried to desphire what the contents were...I think most lost on the twix...

Me and GG Pat!

More Diaper pics...PJ and Shelby both won, they got them all right..good thing too since Shelby will also be a new daddy come February!

The bottle-guzzling contest...

Ryan won, but PJ insists that he cheated and drank 1/2 before...hmmm

And thats all the photos :-( I wish I had taken some of everyone there, there were so many special people that we love there. I will also have to take some pics of the adorable and awesomely practical gifts for the little one....now we just have to figure out the name thing.

Grumpidy Grump Grump

2008-11-10T17:22:00.001-08:00

Not much going on here..I am just tired and grumpy...must be the third trimester. I have yet to find a food that does not give me heartburn or an angle where my butt is smooth....must be the third trimester. I have a million things to get done yet energy for only a few and no energy to try to get my darling husband to do them, so I thought I would vent to the few blog readers I have who are probably rolling their eyes as they read this at work because well they are at work and I am at home...mind you with heartburn, cellulite and the need to sleep :-). My stupid dog eats crayons and Kash's playhouse and then leaves things that spill on the floor that I actually want him to eat...grrr, he is the dumbest dog I have ever had contact with, does anyone know a good trainer that just does it because they love it and not for the money?? If so send them my way please. I hope to post again this week in a jollier? mood.

31 Weeks and Counting

2008-11-08T05:56:00.001-08:00

Silly self-pic of me and Kash.

31 weeks, 1 day

Thankful!

2008-11-06T19:10:00.001-08:00

Okay Okay, I know I am starting a little bit early for the month and I am sure my hormones may have something to do with it, but I can't help but feel extraordinarily thankful for so much in my life. We are dealing with some issues here in the Buglewicz household (babies are expensive with no insurance) yet despite all the difficulties we face everyday I look around myself and become engulfed with love and thankfulness. God has been so good to us and blessed us in more ways than I can count. My whole family is healthy, I have my amazing mom (who is my best friend and the most wonderful woman I know), my caring and hilarious dad, my wonderful in-laws, friends and extended family. In fact, PJ and I have never lost anyone we were extremely close to, I know that day will come for now I fell incredibly thankfull; health and people are blessings that should never be taken for granted. I also realized that I have been given the most wonderful husband. PJ has not only been making me laugh for over 10 years now but he works hard for our family, meets all of my needs, is a great father, is exceptionally handsome and he is totally opposite of my type A personality (which mellows our family out). He knows how to comfort me and when I need comfort, he knows when I need a break, he loves me despite obvious dorkiness (in fact I think he likes my dorkiness) and he leads our family like the strong and brave man God made him. Kash is another blessing, every day I get to spend with him is a gift, he makes me laugh and makes my heart smile, he makes my worries go away and is such a ray of light in our lives, even on the hard days. He is learning and growing so much right now, talking more, showing new emotions, making tons of new adorable expressions and he loves reading books. I can't help but wonder what the new baby will bring to our little family, more love that is for sure, a little sister for Kash, a daughter for PJ and I, a blessing indeed. Nope, I am not stopping there either, I am thankful for our new house, the food in our fridge, living in the US, our health, the weather in the 70's right now, that I haven't gained 40 lbs with this pregnancy (yet :-), the pumpkin candy corns, friends old and new, Christmas season, and Jesus Christ most of all. Whew, I think that sums it up for me right now, hopefully my next post won't be so sappy...but I can't make any promises!!

Ttitterteet...

2008-11-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

Ttitterteet... means "trick or treat" in Kash language. This halloween has been my favorite one in years! The Arvizu family and Nani Sarah and Poppi Jeff joined us to trick-or-treat. Kash was finally old enough to walk from door to door and didn't need to be pushed around in a stroller the whole time wondering what we're doing. No, this year, it was like he was born to trick or treat, he was a trick or treating all-star, it was amazing and one of those moments in time that you wish you could bottle up and re-live over and over again. Aside from my becoming weepy eyed at the gorgeous site of my son growing up and trick-or-treating on his own, we were all cracking up at the intensity of Kash, the trick-or treater. From the first door he jumped right in, doorbell ringing, then knocking, repeatedly raising his pumpkin up the candy bowl and finally trying to repeat it all again. Poor Lola was a bit shy and most times I had to physically guide Kash back from the door to let her through. We were off, he was running from door to door, he wasn't scared at all and a few times I thought I might have to stop him from going in and hanging out! After a highly successful trip around the block, the kids were tired and I was starving so we headed back to the house to share pizza, salad and candy of course. Once home Kash had a blast handinng candy out to the kids, making sure to give each person a candy, he would methodically pick one candy drop in in a bag, go back to the bowl get the next piece and drop it in the next persons bag, good thing most of the kids were sweet and good sports. Then he went home with Nani and Popi without blinking or looking back at me and PJ, which made me a little sad and a little proud at the same time, it is so true, you never know what your parents went through (and this is the easy stuff) until you do it yourself.

Check out all the treats from Nani Sarah...you don't think he is loved do you? The peanuts characters are my favorite! We are missing Peppermint Patty but one of us will find her today!

My little monkey, how precious is this picture, I love this picture. Just so you know, Kash calls monkeys "eee-aaa's" because the noise "ooh ohh- ahh ahh" I make for them..

Enjoying a cupcake (on a different day) at play group...

My only pic of the shy princess Lola, Queen Katy and eee-aaa Kash

Charlie was so adorable in her bee costume, here she is peeking out from under our table.

Nani and Kash, post Hallow's Eve activities, lounging in his halloween night-nights and her in her full pumpkin glory. Take a look at the socks- each toe gets it's own color!

After Kash was on his way, we got dressed up in our costumes to go to our friend Lindsay's party. PJ was supposed to go as Bleaker, but my running shorts (even my preggo ones) were a little too um, revealing for his taste. So here he is as a hockey player, tooth missing and everything!

Here we are at Lindsay's, hockey player and Juno (I carried a sunny-d with me all night too). Lindsay and Brandon went all out for their party. There was a haunted house, complete with dead bodies, blood,spiders and scary things that pop out at you at every turn. I of course didn't think to snap any pics, but it was amazing!

From left to right, Batgirl (Lindsay), lame no costume :-) Alejandra, lame no costume Katy and me as Juno. How is the pregnant girl the only one not wearing slimming black??

Our group, Alex as "smart guy"?, batgirl, John & Ali, Katy and Noah the fed-ex man (a change from his normal everyday UPS gear) and me and Peej.

It was such a fun night! Nothing is better than getting to hang out with friends and family. Now I am just waiting to go get Kash, I miss him already and it is barely 8am! We have such a full weekend planned, I want to get so much painting and organizing and household improvement items done. I feel like the baby is going to be here much sooner than we are going to be prepared for so I want to try to get as much done as possible. Then Sunday we have church and two barbeques and hopefully this week will usher in some weather that is under the 90's. I really hope so. What did you guys do for Halloween? Any cute costume pics??

Some Valtrax Please....

2008-10-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

So, last Thurday I was feeling really wierd. We were at the Radmacher's (that is wierd to say) rehearsal dinner and I was feeling...bad. I had a horrible back ache and my skin was hurting me all over. I kept telling PJ it felt like my nerves were coming out of my skin and that I had been burned all over the left side of my body. We chalked it up to the pregnancy and called it an evening. Friday on the way to the wedding I could not stop crying I was in so much pain and poor PJ is beggin to tell him to go to the church or the hospital, but I was not going to make a groomsman miss one of our best friends weddings so again I sucked it and enjoyed the night despite this horrible burning? pain on the whole left side of my body. It came and went throughout the weekend, when on Sunday morning I noticed a rash in an especially painful area on the back of my leg. I self medicated with an ice pack and anti-itch cream, even though it was more painful than anything. I called the DR first thing Monday morning and they told me to pick up some rash cream and keep my appt on Friday, yeah, thanks. So here we are Friday morning, I kept my appt and everything despite being 15 minutes late due to an unexpected visitor, Mr. Spider in my car. I peed in the cup, got weighed, lost a lb, got in trouble, and then the dr took one look at the rash and told me, i have SHINGLES. Of course it is nothing normal and easy, but shingles which during pregnancy is only safe to be treated by VALTRAX, the HERPES medication!! So now I have to beg my husband to pick up herpes meds from the pharmacist, take Kash in for a chicken pox vaccine, which he can catch from me having the shingles (it is the same strain of virus??). I also found out shingles are brought on by the same virus as the chicken pox we had as children, it just lives dormant in us until some stressful situations like pregnancy. I am telling PJ it is him that caused it thought o guilt him into picking up my herpes medicine that I am just too embarssed to do on my own, or maybe we should go in together holding hands and looking very strong, like those commercials. So there, Happy Halloween, I am a walking disease :-)

It's pumpkin time!

2008-10-29T09:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, there is a power tool for everything!

Mr. Jack O Latern

I was so excited to carve our family pumpkin this year because Kash loves them and I was just imagining that awe of carving one and making it a glowing face....but then reality hit and the smell of the pumpkin inners makes Kash, ahem dry heave. As soon as we began carving he began dry heaving, I had to take him outside while PJ finished and then we had to air out the house. So it was mostly a PJ project, but I have to admit the combo of power tools and a filet knife made us a mighty fine jackolatern. Kash did like the face and we made it our dinner centerpiece for the evening before moving him to his home on our front porch.

Wonderful Weekend

2008-10-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, we had such a wonderful weekend!! It began with one of my favorite things ever...a wedding! Our good friend Justin married his beautiful bride Danielle on Friday night. The ceremony was held in a gorgeous Catholic church and it was so beautiful. My favorite part of the whole evening was hearing the letters they had written to each other and about each other and truly being so thankful that God had made them for one another. Nothing like a wedding to make you appreciate your mate! PJ looked amazingly dashing in his suit and I have to confess that I spent a lot of the wedding thanking God for my wonderful husband. The night was filled with laughter, happy tears and friends- Fabulous! Saturday we were tired from extreme lack of sleep as we shut down the wedding but PJ still had to work so I got to hang out with the little man all day, which I was happy because I really missed him since he was not with us the night before. Sunday we tried a new church that is not 45 minutes away from us and I was pleasantly surprised. I am ussually super stressed about leaving Kash alone (even at church) but he went willingly into the arms of a "grandma". The service and sermon were something PJ and I decided we were both comfortable with and the pastor is a young married man with children and so his references to parenting and Star Wars sucked us in. I am looking forward to next week. After church we bbq'd with friends in town for the wedding and some other good friends, steak, chicken sausage, sweet potato fries, ceasar salad, grilled veggies, chips and dip were all on the menu and did not dissapoint. We ended the bbq by taking all of our dogs to the dog park together, which is a brilliant place to wear out pooches and children, I think Kash liked it just as much as Meatball! We ended the weekend cuddling on the coach watching Juno...to review our costumes for Halloween..Juno and Bleaker, come on, I don't even have to spend any money on a costume! It was that or Brittany.....so... This week we have a normal busy week, I would like to get a lot of painting done around here and the garage cleared out, playgroup meetings, trips to the doctor for us both and flu shots for the boys (I got mine two weeks ago :-). The only thing that would make things perfect is if the weather would get just a teensy bit cooler, it was a hot 92* today, bleh, at least it is cool in the mornings so I can get my exercise in. OOh and I think we are going to carve our pumpkin soon. Pics to come. Have a great Monday!

Woo Hoo...long time gone

2008-10-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

So we have been so busy that I have hardly had time (or energy) to take a picture or therefore write about the happenings in our household, but finally this weekend I busted out the camera for the fun "fall" (90* here) events!!...The images go from most recent to least recent and so you'll have to forgive me for my lack of blogging knowledge but there was no way I was uploading all of these again. Sunday we ventured to the pumpkin patch the WHOLE fam in tow for some pumpkin picking, hay rides, child voting and fair food. Saturday Kash had his first gymnastics class which really entailed PJ and I chasing him all over the place while he ran, full speed, giant smile followed by Hichschool Musical 1 & 2 on ice...1.5 hours of nonstop music, I was treted to the even by my mom and it was worth it to see my nieces faces when the characters waved, pointed and threw the "hang loose" sign at them...oh and finally there is a 28 week belly pic in there. Less than 80 days to go and the third trimester is in full swing. So without further ado, I believe the pics will speak for themselves....

Okay, I died laughing at these pumpkins, they were so funny, both such angry gourds though. I am proud to say all my neices and nephews voted too!

Here is the kids on the way back from picking pumpkins as you can tell from the bright red faces.

PJ and Kash admiring the horses leading the hay ride.

Kash loved pumpkin picking! Roaming around a field for hours what fun!

Katy and Charlie on the hay ride, unprepared for a pic.

Kasharoo on the back of the hay ride, full sun.

The Buglewicz Bunch on the Pumpkin Patch.

A pumpkin for my pumpkin!

Savannah and the giant pumpkin...

Belly and the giant pumpkin...which is bigger??

Garrett and Kash and the Giant pumpkin!

Makenna and the Giant Pumpkin

The Men in our lives posing with the children in front of a sign that says...

"Danger Stay Away from Ditches"...only the D in ditches has been changed to a B and well yup that is just how mature they are...they actually requested this pic!

Highschool Musical 3 here we come....check out those hats!

Savannah, such a jewel!

28 weeks and counting!

Newest addition to the Rangers!

Kash's first ride on Papa Eddie's boat! The waters were

really rough but none of us complained!

25 weeks, 5 days

2008-10-02T13:33:00.001-07:00

98 Days to go!!!!!!!!!!

An M'n'M a Day gets the baby on the way...

2008-09-30T12:28:00.000-07:00

So I have only 100 days to go until my due date! wooo hoooo, I feel like everything is going by so fast!! I picked up some chocolate at Target and counted out 50 peanut mnm's and 50 dark chocolate mnm's and put them into my favorite crystal bowl from my Grandma Maxine. I plan to eat one a day until either I reach my due date of the little girl is here! A little fun and delicious way to count down if you ask me! Nor much else going on around here, busy busy busy. I did get to escape to girls dinner last night to enjoy Gavis and the new move "The Women", both were meh, but my friends were fabulouso!!! Ali might shoot me over a bid pic of us all to post, I will edit this to add it if she does.

Weekend Shinanigans...

2008-09-21T19:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Lovies, just a quick update of weekend shinanigans, sans pics, must remember to take more pics!! Esp so Kash has something to really look at and try to envision when he reads this when he is older! What a busy weekend. We had the in-laws or nani and poppi over for dinner Friday night and cooking for others is always just such a blast. The menu included, Fresh French bread and butter, grilled salmon and veggies a la PJ, California artichoke pasta in an almond-citris pesto, an arugula and orange salad with marmalade dressing and finally a creamy, chocolate puddin pie....a fab recipe from cooking light that I highly recommend. The crust, though hard to cut at first was so delicious, I should have just made crust ;-). Kerri, the bf and my neice and nephew ending up joing us too so that they could unload stuff for Sat's yardsale. That is right we did it, we had a yard sale Sat and cleared out a good amount of stuff, a whole crew joined us for production and wow I never realized how many people buy clothes and toys at yardsales, at one point it looked like we were running a swapmeet, it was packed! Needless to say we were exhausted afterwards but that didn't stop me from making Peej stick to his promise to take me to get some much needed maternity clothes...I am tired of sqeezing into my old clothes...no it is no longer um "cute", just uncomfortable. We rounded out the night by picking up pizza and wings, delish and a swimg for Kasharoo at Toys R' Us with the giftcard from Aunt Lindsay. When we got home I realized that our neighbors were having a party and (oops) we forgot, so we decided to go meet and greet the neighborhood, after PJ cut tile until 10pm at night a few weeks ago I felt like we had to redeem ourselves from title of "bad neightbor", hee hee. Everyone was so nice, I just love relaxed, chillaxed families, I felt right at home and am so happy to know everyone now, plus we found out there are twin girls across the street, with babysitting experience, woo hooo. Today we went on the usual walk, dropped my car off to get fixed :-( and I headed to Katy's while PJ and Noah got to go golfing all day long. Katy and I were adventerous and took all three children to the theater to see Igor.....a horrible $30 mistake. DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE, it was creepy and demonic, little scary people chanted "kill kill kill" and I was scared for myself and everyone's minds. I don't believe in putting things like that into my head and so needless to say, though we had candy, popcorn, soda and three attentive children we were out of there after a few off glances at each other. I couldn't believe more parents hadn't walked out, it was that ridiculous and completely foul, ew. We filled the rest of the day with lunch, attempted naps, "swimming" and a few fabulous episodes of America's Next Top Model, good drama-filled crappy reality TV :-). I am now home, fed, with a clean kitchen, semi-clean house and a full week ahead of me. Time to go snuggle into bed with my books and hubby.

It's how we roll...

2008-09-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

24 Weeks Pregnant

Kash's new attitude!

Here are a few highlights from last weekend. We made it to our friend Aiden's 3rd birthday party, where Spiderman Masks were all the rage. Here is Kash in his John Deere shirt running around with another little boy. We had so much fun! We went swimming and did cake and icecream and then....carried him out screaming (nap time). Sunday we went to a wedding shower for Justin and Danielle and had an awesome time seeing friends and watching them open up various kitchen items (trying not to be jealous of the bakeware). This week we have ventured to the park twice and twice I have also left carrying Kash screaming in my arms to the car (nap time). That just seems to be the way we roll now. Go in happy and great, leave screaming in moms arms, falling asleep in the car. This was at 10 in the morning too it is not like i am keeping this kid out until 10 at night!! This is so new to me to have to do this everywhere we go and becoming hard on my pregnant bellly and pride. Does anyone have any tricks or suggestions to try? He is beyond reasoning when this happens and ussually (i find out) exhuasted, but I am tired of it too. This week coming up is pretty low key, a yard sale and hopfully some more progresss made on the remodel and garage (insert scary music here please).

Kash is 2!!

2008-09-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

Kash had more of a birthday week than just a birthday. I can't believe he is already two! I feel like it was just yesterday (so cliche I know) that we were driving him home across town and I was so freaked out by all the bad drivers endangering my baby. Still feel that way, but now he no longer looks crushed by his car seat belts. We celebrated his real birthday August 31st with some homemade, whole-grain birthday pancakes, complete with the song and 2 candles...

Next, I decided to let him open the only gift we had on hand since his actual party was the next weekend. Uncle Ric, Aunt Kim, Cierra, Devin, Levi and Savannah, sent him this.....

Wow, no joke, I saw broken bones flash before my eyes when we opened it, but hey at least she sent a helmet and some knee pads....his cousins might have to work with him at Thanksgiving on actually skateboarding...From there we moved on to make birthday bbq snacks (7-layer dip), change into what I call church clothes and head over to Nani and Poppi's for a tri-birthday celebration for Kash, Lalo and Aunt Lee. This is how the trip started, Kash insisted on holding his balloon bouquet from Gramma Marcia.

....And this is how it ended. I just thought it was hilarious, he slept for the first 2 hours or so of the party and then...

He caught his second wind when he found out he had his awesome cousin Will to play with.

Yummy birthday cupcakes...

Silly Nani with his new hat and Daddy's old favorite stuffed bear, which he got back from cousin Will for his birthday.

Family Photo, Aunt Bridget, Cousin Jesse and soon to be bride, Erin :-)

Skipping ahead to the big birthday shi-bang, here is Lola and kash getting ready to blow out the candles on their Little Eintstein's cake....courtesy of prfessional cake make KB, hee hee ;-)

Some major princess action going on while opening gifts, love the tiara Lola.

Kash's favorite gift, so far this has come on walks, to Target, to the Grocery store and to bed.. PJ was very proud and we are so grateful to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Lisa!

Whew, that pretty much sums up the week. The party was awesome and both Lola and kash had a great time, they had so many gifts!! It was amazing, it was wonderful to share the special celebration with our best friends and family. I am off to bed for now, it is 8pm here (yes that is late and exhausted time for me) and my dad and PJ are still laying tile in the bathroom, looks like I am going to plant myself on the couch with a book and some icecream. I am hoping I get some miraculous surge of energy soon, the 2nd trimester is supposed to be the best, but I am so tired!! XOXO for now!

So September is NOT my month!!

2008-09-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

I will warn any readers that this post is a rant and a way to relieve my stress since I can't....drink caffiene, alcohol, workout (too damn hot), smoke or any of the other things people might do when they need to blow off some steam. Lets just say it has not been my month. The house is under construction, which I love ;-) but my stuff is randomly boxed and carried about from room to room and other stuff is completely lost and unorganized. Then I get in a freakin accident which is going to cost money and possibley my car, and we can NOT buy another car right now. So today I decide I will take kash to ride in the cars at the mall, like a stroller, but it looks like a car and even has a steering wheel to give 2 year olds some sense of control. I should known and I should have never gone it, kash was already being grumpy, but I was sure all he needed was a car to roll around in, that way I could get some excercise and he could get out of the house (we missed out morning walk). So off we went and things were going great and smooth for about an hour until we hit the food court where he announced he wanted "eet eet". The only thing open was burger king, so I am in this long-a** line trying to figure out which junk food to order my child, high fructose corn-syrup nuggets or fries?? I discover they serve mac n cheese, apple 'fries' and milk, hmm not too bad. So we order and he insists "eet", we get our food 10 minutes later and head for a table...no high chairs in sight...are you kidding me? We are at a mall, where are the high chairs, so I ask the subway girl who asks her boss and the answer in NO, no highchairs. Meanwhile Kash start to lose it, he wants to EAT....I unload him, sit him next to me and then I don't know what happened but he screams, flings his whole body and kicks his shoes off. I am trying desperately to show him the toy and fries and food to EET, but no, persistent blodd curdling screams that have attracted everyones attention. Fine, we are leaving that is for sure, trying to contain myself I re-load the F******** food into the bag, try to put Kash back in the car, which now is in full on tantrum mode, fighting to go in, going limp kickking his legs. Some nice older lady starts talking to another nice older lady and taking pity on me they come try to talk to Kash, ask him his name....um yeah right, you think he is going to stop because you ask how old he is...HE IS OBVIOUSLY IN THE TERRIBLE 2'S. They have begun...a week into year 2 and I am about at tears in the mall with some compassionate older lady trying to help me. So throught the screams, she hold his legs striaght so I can get him into the car, I shove all of our stuff into the cart and we are off. It ended with my carring him out under the armpits while tottting all the other crap in the other arm, he screamed the whole way to the car, into the car and half way home until silence....he is asleep. You would never know the amount of screaming, crying or energy exerted just 30 mintues before, he looks peaceful and angelic. PJ likes to tell me that it's so easy, just take him with you. Until you do it all day everyday, until it is your sole job to try to raise a child and reason with a 2 year old, don't tell a stay at home mom, how "easy" kids are, it is the hardest job in the world. It is hard, never-ending work that is brushed off by society and unfortunetly the women that choose to do it (it they are lucky enought) aren't given the recognition they deserve. I am tempted not to go anywhere for the rest of September, that hopefully my once cheerful son who now wakes up every morning grumpy is in a growing phase that will pass....I'll let you know. Thats all I have for now, the next post I promise will be much more cheerful with details and pictures of Kash's birthday celebration which he was a delight at his birthday party...I think we are just paying for the lack of napping now!:-)

I'm back from being MIA...

2008-09-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been such a long time between posts (my four loyal readers you know who you are), but we moved!! YAY and therefore I was without internet, time and motivation. Between packing, moving, unpacking (yeah really haven't done that yet...) painting, cleaning and being coherent and sane in general there was no time for the blogging. So here is the quick rundown of what has been going on the past few weeks....

#1 IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#2. We are officially homeowners dealing with everything that comes with it, who knew a freakin mail key would cost $40 dollars and a front door handle $150?!?

#3. Today I was in a car accident, it was truly horrible and ALL MY FAULT. I was reaching for the damn ringing cell phone in the endless engulfement that I call a purse when a fire truck pulled out in front of traffic, which to my surprise was stopped, HELLO BACK OF 2008 Prius!! I was so shaken and hysterical the poor guy I hit spent the next 10 minutes trying to calm me down. The firetruck which witnessed the whole thing met us in the gas station parking lot and wanted to make sure me and the baby girl were okay but I assured them I felt fine, just really shaken. They called the police which were not nearly as young, fit or handsome as those firemen....sigh, PJ would be a perfect fireman, they were so sweet and comforting and cute too! I just felt so blessed to hit such a caring, sensitive LAWYER, what an oxymoron huh and be treated so nice by everyone even though it was cleary my fault, guess pregnancy has perks that come in hand with the fatness and hormones. So I have now learned my lesson, once the car is fixed I am going to get the ear thingy for the phone or have the handsfreee installed and no more screwing around while driving, that was just way too scary for me!

#4. This past weekend we celebrated Kash's 2nd birthday, he went to the doctor and is 90% in height and weight, thats my big boy and to think he was only 6lbs 4.7 ounces when born, I can't believe he is two and thinking about it for any extended period makes me cry so I am moving on. His official Little Einsteins birhtday party which he is sharing with his future wife Lola is on Sunday and should be a pretty laid back type of bbq, good food, friends and family.

#5. Bills suck and unfortunetly they are all I get in the mail, which I had to pay $40 to get...sorry, already said that, just bitter about it.

#6. Other than the bad day and the stressful month I have so many blessings in my life to be thankful for. I have such awesome friends and family and my husband is the most supportive, caring and wonderful person I have ever met. Kash speaks for himself, everyday I want to hold him and cuddle him with love and he gives in for a second, long enough for me to get a fix but for him to want to play trains or cars or something.

#7. I am 22 weeks pregnant and have gained 10lbs...I have 18-20 weeks to go, lets see how high we go.

One day down...Four to go...

2008-08-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

Wow, I am so excited this week is finally here. This week is monumental to our lives for several different reasons!! Tomorrow we sign the last documents for the new house and turn over....gulp our down payment. In addition, Kash's HUGE birthday present from all of his grandparents gets delivered (Woow00, my life saver), you'll have to wait and see what it is. Wednesday we have the first and probably only sonogram, we will finally know if this little bean inside me is a boy or a girl. I am so scared of getting a false result and then the baby being born the opposite of what we prepare for, but from what I have read we are pretty in the clear getting the sono at 20 weeks and not like 17. With Kash we didn't find out and I was so okay with being surprised, but this time I have wanted to know from the beginning and now I can't come to figure out how I didn't find out last time. The only thing I can think is that once you figure you'll find out, there is no stopping you! I also get to get a haircut on Wed which is a major plus because that means I can make a gorgeous blow-out last 4-6 days, no joke (if you know me this is a HUGE feat). Thursday I am treating myself to a much-needed pedicure, which at this point is a selfless act to benefit of others, that is how bad my feet are and rounding out the night with a girls dinner at Frog-n-Firken, which has these gynormously thick, crusty slices of pizza and ice-cold beer-er soda :-( Oh well , it is all worth it for the bean (see once we know what it is we can give the bean a name too). Then Friday we get the keys to the new house and the chaos of remodeling, painting, moving and general fix-up begins. Anyone who loves our family is welcome to help ;-). For now I will focus on the content filling in my belly from the BLT's we had on crustly rolls with grilled portabella mushrooms and sweet potato fries that and the fact that I got to share them with the most gorgeous wonderful man in the world, well actually the two of them :-). Goodnight Y'all and I will leave you with these pics...

Pizza...who me?

Okay..it was me!

Adventures with home-made play-doe

Flowers from the husband..."just because" ;-)

Eggplant Anyone?

2008-08-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I am starting to take the shape of an eggplant. My shoulders to the bottom of my belly, well I guess my torso are starting to be shaped exactly like an eggplant...I made this decision while catching a glance of myself doing bi-cep curls in the mirror at the gym today. Lovely...I feel as if I am at the is she pregnant or pulling beer-bongs everynight stage. I made the mistake of asking PJ if I looked pregnant before going to the gym the other day and I am sure in his sweetness he said "no", which to me means that instead I still just look fat, like and eggplant. Pregnancy is a miracle no doubt, but until you experience it yourself is hard to understand. I think pregnancy looks beautiful and sexy on other women, but when you start to lose your waist and your arms beging to look like snausages...you begin to miss your old self. I wish more people embraced pregnancy and the female body, but it seems that we will continue to see the stars back to size -0 bodies only 3 weeks after baby and thus the rest of us will feel the pressure from society "not to let ourselves go" just because we're pregnant. But I want to be healthy and give this baby all it needs so I will continue to work out....1. because I LOVE IT and 2. It will make me and baby healthier and 3. Brownies have started to taste extra delicious...so I will waddle my way into that gym hopefully until the day I deliver.

Moving on....because there is not good transition here... we had a fantabulous week and were able to celebrate Justin's 29th birhtday, usher in the Olympics and get a 18.5 week photo taken of the belly, I'll leave you with those...

18 WEEKS 3 DAYS

SOON TO BE MR. AND MRS. RADMACHER

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!!

Two Bests

2008-08-07T13:07:00.001-07:00

Last night was filled with two of the best things...1. the best tacos and 2. the best book.

I made a recipe out of cooking light called chipotle-salmon tacos and wow they were a crowd pleaser, sure the crowd was just PJ but he was pleased none the less ;-). They had a fabulous crema-chipotle sauce that when mixed with the spicy grilled salmon and citrusy lime made for fantabulous flavors. After dinner PJ allowed me to unwind from the busy day of 5 children by letting me read in our room in the AC!! Here it is, the best book ever and one that will make you cry and smile and feel so grateful for the freedoms in your life. It is called ESCAPE by Carloyn Jessop, that is Jessop of Merlin Jessop, one of Warren Jeff's main allies. I won't give away the whole story but obviously Carolyn esapes from the FLDS compund that Warren Jeffs is now the prohet and leader of. The tale was nothing short of breathtaking, I spent four hours up past my bed time reading because I could not put it down. I was amazed at the cruel harsh reality of this group and cult and my heart was broken for Carolyn and her 8 children, I was sobbing and then smiling and finally gripping the book until my knuckels hurt. I was so grateful for my freedom, life, husband and son (and unborn baby) that I just cried at the number of blessings I have in my life. I can't imagine having to live through the hell on earth many of these women face, they are property, only commodities to be traded amongst the men, belittled, beatened and stuck in a horrible life of competition with the other wives based on sex, disgusting. The first chapter begins with her exacpe, but Carolyn takes you through each part of her life throughout the book and no doubt int he end, it is nothing short of miraculous. Okay well you can tell from how long I have gone on that I love it, I think everyone should read it if only in an attempt to inform everyone what is going on right in our own country....slavery and concentration camps.

2008-08-05T09:57:00.000-07:00

The weekend was wonderfully filled. Here are some pictures from Makenna's Swim Party at Grandma's house... The meal for the evening was ribs, grilled chicken & hotdogs, my grandma's recipe potato salad, Mikey's famous greek salad, tortillas and skillet cornbread gone wrong (yeah that was me....darn that cooking light recipe...we gave most of it to the birds).

Paxton testing the diving board after watcing the girls do front-flips, back flips and dives!
Charlie-Bella and me...this pic doesn't truly capture her beautiful squishy, rolly white self.

The Birthday Girl getting ready to make a wish and blow the candles out from atop her cupcakes!

Paxton enamored with the leaves on a tree...oh to see the world through the eyes of a child.

The coming week will be filled with my neices and nephews, more getting to move, cleaning and hopefully some swimming with the kids since they go back to school on Monday!

Hooray for August!

2008-08-03T12:06:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I am thrilled that July is over and August has begun...that means it is closer to less than 100 degree weather and closer to actually being able to go outside without feeling like one might pass out. Among other things, August meant that I FINALLY got to see a doctor, I have not seen a dr. since 11 weeks (I am now in my 18th) and that according to most is bad, well at least boring. I want to know how things are going and on Friday Dr. Mainman...(yes that is my ob's name and he is a main-man in my life right now) confirmed that things are going swell, like my big belly. I am up 5 lbs from my pre-preggo weight which I guess is good and the heartbeat is strong and ...guess what...drumroll, I get to get a sonogram on the 20th of AUGUST and get a peek at the little guy or gal! Other than that it is business as ussual around here. Yesterday Ali and I went on a decorative-mission for the new house. We were pretty successful being as wel found furniture, carpet and my bathrooms sink and vanity and even squeezed in some lunch at a new world sports grill. The day ended with the husband meeting me at Costco to pick up the new sinks in my brother stake-bed truck, which gets more attention that anything wherever it goes, I really should take a picture because word would not describe this truck...like rickity, wood, old, flat?? and broken-yet-working, that was the best I could do! I was supposed to go up to Scottsdale for my fabulous friend Alicia's bachlorette but alas, my family has colds and ear infections which means mommy must be home. Today involved cleaming, making buttermilk corn bread for the bbq at my moms and picking out a present fro my neice. I ended up finding her a gift at the grocery store of all places, but it was so cute and i knew she would love it. The gift is a high-school musical lnch box, that is pick and looks like a purse, come on that is adowable!!! Plus to HSM folders, kids can't get enough of this stuff. So pretty soon we will head over to the moms for swimming, ribs and birthday cake and then tomorrow it is back to the same old. I am watching my sisters kids all weeks so it should be busy, I wish I knew what to do with them so they weren't bord...any suggestions?

Back to the Grind...

2008-07-29T11:47:00.000-07:00

After getting home from Mexico on Monday it was back to normal. Then, Wednesday I started losing my voice, wierd and no I wasn not screaming at PJ or anything. That night we had free tickets to see the premiere of Stepbrothers which was funny but had a lot of gross stuff that I would have preferred they had left out...do we really want to pretend to see Will Ferrel's fake testicles...um no I will pass. So there in the theater i found no greater joy than resting my head and eyes on PJ's shoulder, and I just knew. I was sick. The only drug that is really acceptable while you are pregnant is tylenol...yeah that sucks. When I am sick and my head is blowing up to monstrous proportions I want to be drugged up and knocked out with some dayquil, nightquil, throatspray, tylenol..well you get the idea. So of course during the busy week I was layed up in bed for about 3 days which was hard but nice to sleep and I read 2 books (the first two in the Left Behind Series that I am addicted to). The weekend came and ushered in some relief, Sunday we even went to church and had kash go in the nursery for the first time. I think it was harder for me than for him and when we picked him up was the worst because all the parents rush there, their kids see them and freak and so there was Kash watching all these other 1 year old go crazy with screaming and crying and his little lip came out a little and started shaking and he just looked so sad and scared that I had a bit of a mini panic attack. This was me...

Kodi: Pj I have to get him, I need to get him right now...I can't wait in this line he is terrified.

PJ: He is fine babe, we are almost there, he'll be okay

Kodi: NO, I need to get hime right now, oh my goodness, he's scared!

When he saw me he too lost it and was scream-crying for me to pick him up, a traumatic experience for me to say the least, how am I ever going to leave him at school. So we have a whole week to get ready for next Sunday. The past two days I am still in recovery but I am not a slave to the headaches and while i am hacking up gross stuff and congested I feel much better. The appraisel went through on our house which has led me to pack up a good portion of our house the past few days. I am getting everything ready to paint and patch and clean. I am so excited It is unbelievable. That is it for now, Kash is napping so I am going to use the "free time" to paint without little hands or distractions :-)

Viva Mexico!!

2008-07-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

SENOR PAXTON OLE!!

HOLA, we had a wonderful weekend visting my dad in Mexico. The days were filled and it flew by. We were lucky enough to get two gorgeous days at the beach, where Paxton found time to climb stairs, see the water, climb stairs, eat some chips and then climb stairs some more, you get the idea...he LOVES stairs. We made the attempt to go to dinner after a very full Saturday, which looking back we should have just put Kash to bed and called it a day. But we ate at a restaurant called La Palapa and I was a bit dissapointed, it was overpriced and the food was just okay. Kash had more than a few meltdowns, which resulted in his PAPA buying him a few rounds of songs from the Mariachis, a guitar and finally a ball. Talk about spoiled. After dinner there was a huge fiesta with bands and the whole town seemed to be there, kash walked outside and pointed at the stars and said "da stas", I almost cried, I don't even know where he learned that. We ended the evening with a thrifty icecream, there is something about Mexican icecream that is so delicious...must have more fat, or is unpasterized, I'm not really sure, but I LOVE it, we split the choco-malt and praline-pecan, delish. Sunday we lazed around and went to the beach and then swimming followed by a BBQ and off to bed early that night, we were all exhausted. We left at 5:45 this am to get home by 9:15 and Pj was off to our house inspection at 10...whew, I am shutting down this laptop, eating a neapolitan icecream cone and calling it a night. Oh and I am thinking about incorporating a food aspect into the blog, a way to monitor myself on the gaining part of pregnancy and then as inspiration for the losing part, post baby. Night!

Kash and Papa climbing the beloved stairs...they keep him busy for hours!

Kash and Papa wakling the beach.

Look what my hubby made me out of dominos while I was napping! So Sweet!

Kash and Daddy on the other stairs :-)

Paxton on his new guitar...he's pretty good!

Fat, pale and gray...

2008-07-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have a very sad, depressing announcement to make...This morning while washing my face and getting ready for the day I found this.....

Heavens, what is this? I started screaming upon it's initial discovery and continued screaming all over my house until I got PJ's attention and made him look at the wirey, crikling whitish/gray hair. Is this supposed to happent to people my age...I am 24 not 44 what the heck is going on...I must call my mother to find out who's fabulous genetics is coming into play here. That is it, i was going to blog about the fab pancakes I made for breakfast, but who cares now. I hope you go into your weekend feeling fab, young and vivacious, which is more than I can say at the moment.

Whoa, thats a whole lot of belly!

2008-07-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

Yikes, check out this picture the hubby took this morning...This is me at exactly 15 weeks (which means I am currently in my 16th week, so confusing really). My pregnancy books and website tell me that the baby is about 4.5 inches long right now and 2 ounces and hopefully/thankfully the ears have moved from the neck to their rightful place on the side of the head. Isn't God amazing? So on to the pic, I didn't realize until I saw the picture that I am way showing, I still feel just fat, squishy and bloated with a uterus somewhere in there. Until this...now I realize that I am showing, I looked at my old pics and realize that I looked this way at about 5-6 months last time so I am a little early...damn those abs with their lack of muscle memory!! I am only up 2lbs which is bound to shoot up at any point, I think one time with kash I gained 5 lbs in a week, not looking forward to that momentous occasion.

On a different note, we are supposed to go to Mexico this weekend to visit my dad and sail on his cool, new boat. But now I found out our hosue inspection is Monday at 9:30 so long as all the utilities get turned on...and we are leaving Friday afternoon, making for a very short trip overall. Sigh, not sure what we are going to do yet but I will keep everyone updated!

Moustache Mania

2008-07-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, I know I said this last time, but this time I mean it...I will be updating the blog so often you won't even know what to do with yourselves...I mean the maybe one person that reads this every other week, but thats okay. Maybe if I wrote more often there would actually be a reason to check the blog in the first place.

We were lucky enough to get a visit from one of our old friend, Huber from Chicago. He came in late Friday night where the evening turned into what i like to call Moustache Mania...

Looking at the photos now, I realize that a more appropriate name would be something like facial hair fiascos or hair happenings in Tucson, but none of those has the ring that Moustach Mania does. The rest of the weekend was filled to the brim, totalling I believe less than 8 hours of sleep, leaving me feeling like I have the flu. I am working hard to get back on track with my sleep and excercising, which has been less than succesfull, but it is only Monday giving me four more days to fit excercise in. We are leaving for Mexico on Friday to fish in my dad's new boat and then something terrible will be taking place on Saturday...but I will leave that story for next time.

Hot Summer Days

2008-06-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

Wow, it is disgustingly hot here in Tucson and if you leive here you know what I am talking about. The heat takes your breath away, leaves you feeling tired, fatigued and all around cranky. We don't have AC either, so we try to make our swamp cooler stretch by bringing in fans, opening cracks of doors and window, but it still feels icky.

Our days have been filled. The morning sickness has subsided so I am feeling much better and much more up to simple life tasks like grocery shopping, showering, eating, etc. Paxton has been loving his swim class and looks forward to it, he runs to the pool and tries to climb the gate as soon as we get there.

Fathers day was fantastic. We spent the morning making breakfast for Jeff and PJ, which consisted of Swedish waffles (ummmm so buttery), eggs, turkey bacon, sliced peaches, OJ and our favorite starbucks picks. Then we splashed in the pool while PJ headed to his massage. He returned only 20 minutes later...his massues (sorry can't spell that word) cancelled and they tried to call....um yeah ...no they DIDN'T. This is the second time I have had them do this, they did it to a friend of mine a while ago on our girls day...and they lied. In addition, the place is run by girls my age and younger and I find myself annoyed by the combination of their youth and unneccesarry snobbishness, I may be 24 but at least I am sweet! Ah, the foothills, got to appreciate it for what it is worth.

We put an offer on a house today...not getting my hopes up, it is bank owned and we low-balled it...jusgt keeping my fingers crossed and saying my prayers. Pics to come soon....especially when we get the under-water pic form class.

Until then, stay out of the heat!

Long time, No post!

2008-06-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Okay so I realize that in order to have a blog that you actually have to post things on it. The long and short of it is, I am tired and sick all day long. So actually sitting up and putting forth effort and thought into what I am going to write proves to be way too much of a challenge for this 9 week pregnant gal. Things have been busy around here, we enjoyed a swim date with Cassy and Cloee (Have fun in Germany guys), enjoyed a visit from Papa Eddie, haircuts, swimming, bbqing and last ngith we celebrated my sister Kerri's 40th birthday! I promise to start taking more pics and updating more for those friends and fam that are out of town so you can see the action here, but for now, I will leave you witha 9 week belly pic!

And this is Meatball...

2008-05-25T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is meatball, he is such a great dog , but unfortunetly we can't keep him because we can't devote enough time to walking him and he needs a loving home...HE IS FREE. If interested please contact one of us and disregard reading the rest of this post! Thank you.

.....Okay the truth is, I am highly un-fond of this dog!!! He has the most gut-wrenching, knock you off your feet, take your breath away, gagging gas. You would swear that he has pooped a huge steming pile in the house and will even search for it, but to no findings....is is GAS!!! I have talked to the vet, changed his food and nothing seems to help. In addition, he has bad manners and jumps on people and has only attended 3 of his 8 week training course....uhmmm PJ you should probably get on that. He will also whine and shake his but at you or bark when he wants attention or his hungry...again please someone rescue me. Now I don't hate animals, in fact I think of myself as an animal lover, as long as the animals are from afar and not mine...except for tiney, cute, fluffy ones like my kitties. But of course a few months ago after we had gotten rid of our cute, tiny yorky who bites, Suki, I was feeling like we needed a dog. We live on an okay street, but as soon as you leave our street...eeekk watch out, tweeker city, it is almost like ajoke around here amongst the neighbors, because for the most part, the people on our street our normal. So I thought a larger dog would be gret protection and a great companion for Kash. Listen, I was WRONG, I admit it, the day we brought him home I cried and wanted to take him back. The first week when we put $800 dollars into saving his life I was kicking myself. But here we are, Meatball is alive and well and full of GAS. The plus side is that...hmmmm....thinking of a plus side, well he lets Kash do whatever he wants to him and doesn't bite...that was the problem with Suki. She now lives in Scottdale sporting a Coach bustier and painted toenails, but that is a whole other story. So I will leave you with these words of wisdom...If you ever think you want a dog, come borrow Meatball for a week or five to make sure you are really SURE.

Ups and Downs

2008-05-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Well, life has brought a series of ups and downs...well lets say mostly ups with just the constant nagging feeling that I might faint or puke at the same time! We have almost put an offer in on three houses in the last three days!! We have been ready and willing until at the last minute some saving grace or God's divine intervention keeps us from writing an offer. I have to say that the house we finally wrote an offer on today was gorgeous. But now we play the waiting game, the house had three offers come in and it and we will find out tomorrow or next Wednesday, nice right? Tomorrow or a bloody week, thank you Memorial Day! On another note I LOST A DIAMOND out of my wedding band and it is 90% somewhere in my house because the day I lost it I only went to Walgreens to pick up photos because I was so sick. So floating somewhere around my dog hair-infested home is one of my main diamonds, lovely. But I have to say I am still not complaining because we are happy, healthy and done with college. Not much more you can ask for. Kash is starting to say more words and even puts some together, so cute, but you can tell the whole annunciation thing is really hard for him. I will have to post a video some time....if I ever find the right tape for the camera...

PS. The midwife actually said "we hug here" when I went to shake her hand. I heart her.

Well now I am REALLY pregnant!

2008-05-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

It seems as though since I sent the email yesterday informing everybody about the blog and since now that cat is out of the bag about the new baby, I really feel pregnant. Up until yesterday I felt fine, normal, excited about being done with school and then BAM!! I tell everyone that I am pregnant and I am all about nausea, being grossed out by food, sleeping and feeling more ikcy than ever. The thought of any of the healthy food I bought two days ago from WildOats sounds DISGUSTING. and the only thing that sounds good is eegee's veggie grinder on wheat, hot with extra italian dressing. I know that I will be eating many of these because I had one last inght and I almost cried from happiness, I am not even kidding. In addition I am looking for Kashi Mountain granola, has anyone seen that around? It looks so yummy with ice cold milk. Oh and just to let everyone know how pregnancy has naturally helped me save money, the daily gum and frequent latte trips well don't sound very good anymore- damn hormones. If I continue to feel like this for the next 6-7 weeks PJ might divorce me and Kash me watch wayyy to much TV :-(. On a different note, I found a midwife that has been midwifing?? for like 20 years now or something. We meet with her next Wednesday and I am quite nervous about it, she does home births and only home births...patuchuli here I come. I am wondering if I am going to wander into her office and be hit with "positive energies" and have the sudden instinct to burn incencse and wear birkenstocks, umm probably not, but I did buy some non-toxic cleaner!!

Let me introduce you to Alex....

2008-05-15T08:31:00.001-07:00

This is my brother-in-law Alex.... so charming with the new moustache Alex, always makes me smile. Thought I would share it with all of you too! He is an awesome uncle and goalie for several random Tucson hockey teams. Yes ladies he is single, but he only grows out his moustache for someone special!

Vaca Pics at Last!

2008-05-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

Here are the boys at the beach, How cute is Mason, he is 1 today! Happy Birthday Mason!

the camera here, but a cute pic none the less! I loved my graduation dress and it is a shame there are not more photos of it!

Here is one of me and Cassy, my best school mate! We did ALL of our group projects together and our children are within 2 months of age.

This is my sister-in-law Susan and I. We totally get each other in so many ways, I think my brother in so lucky to have her. She also was sweet enough to give a toast to PJ at my graduation to thank him for all the baby-watching and support he gave me to graduate...GO PJ!

This is us on the merry-go-round at the Santa Monica Pier. It was Kash's first experience with the go-round and he cried when we had to say goodby to the horses.

Here is one with my parents, that is my mom's hand on my belly, kind of looks freakish if it were mine. We all look so proud, even though my mom looks as if she is going to cry!

Hello from a Graduate...

2008-05-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

I will check in later to update on what has been going on. I GRADUATED!!! Pics and tales to come.

Blueberries again kash?

2008-05-09T20:36:00.000-07:00

I can always tell when Kash has been to his nani & poppi's house because I can tell he has eaten a TON of blueberries and I know this from the massive loads of blue speckled playdough poop I change in the few hours thereafter. Sorry if that is TMI for some of you, but I know most parents this won't bother. In fact, we are all keenly aware of what type of poop our children are producing. Smell, color, consistency and we even talk about with others, like I am doing here. On a less icky note, tomorrow we leave for Flagstaff for MY GRADUATION. I can't even believe it is true, but after tomorrow I am an official college graduate, contrary to what you might believe after reading a posts on this blog. We are heading out at 7 and the graduation is at 2, followed by dinner and family and then breakfast for Mother's Day. I don't get to do much dining with my mom so this will be a real treat. From there we head to LA to see PJ's real dad, his wife and thier son Mason who happens to be younger than his nephew, our son Kash. Does that even make any sense to you? Hilarious since I am the only one that reads this, but I try to imagine if someone did...it would be hard to follow.

House Hunting GRRS

2008-05-09T10:43:00.001-07:00

I hate house hunting. It is frustrating and takes a long time and is very tiring. I should know I have been doing it for about a month now and while I thought it would be fun and exciting, it is not. It is a task that tests your endurance and patience and makes you want to rent forever. But then there is the yard that I would like to invest some grass in, a place where Kash can play and we can have swings and I definetly do not want to put all that money into someone elses property. So here we are, on the search for houses that I can tell will probably take a good 6 months, with a dirt yard that smells like Meatbal (ewwww) and no grass or swings in the 100 freakin Tucson heat. But hey, good things take time right? In addition I think the mental stress combined with pregnancy and mommying is going to make me explode, I seem to have lost all patience for things, like people leaving crap around the house and disciplining Kash for the 1000th time about not climbing on the dining table, please lord give me patience and help me to slow down and enjoy the little things and not let those other little things annoy the crap out of me so much. Please.

Much to learn

2008-05-08T19:48:00.000-07:00

So I have been browing other blogs and I realize that I have much to learn. Like for example just how to make my page a little cute...like putting a picture at the top etc. So now I have to figure out if I have to learn to write in html or java or something along those lines, anyone that wants to lend any advice please do. Today while on a walk in our oh-so-lovely neighborhood (read sarcassm here) a little kid saw us walking with Meatball and just opened the gate for his dog to come out and attack us. So there I am trying to run up a hill with Kash so that no dog bites hit me or Kash and then low and behold three other dogs and their owners turn the corner. It was a freakin dog fiasco, for like ten minutes the dog chased tho other dogs while the owner's "daughter" was like "oh my" "here boboo", the dog's name is "boboo" and it is this huge german shepard. PJ just stands there like that is helping until finally one of the other dog walkers catches the shepard and we all go on out merry way...that was the excitement of the day :-) Really exciting huh.

Early bird gets the worm!

2008-05-08T11:02:00.000-07:00

This first post if for my first visitor. I am letting you in on a very BIG (tiny though) secret. I am preggers!! I just found out last Thursday, which means I am only 5 weeks along. The husband know and Cassy knows and maybe Alex if he listens to any of my phone conversations. But that is it, no one suspects it either! I have been able to excuse my way out of drinking alcohol and caffiene and into having white pasta instead of wheat....because you know, that is what the baby wants. So there you have it, I will be waiting for a phone call whenever the first lucky person knows.