monkey

and here's baby girl.

that's all.

one lame halloween post

k.  i guess i lost my motivation.  so.  yeah, sorry bout that.  have some pictures instead.



the inside of a pumpkin



the inside of our albino pumpkin

honey with a knife

first self timer shot on new camera.  maybe a little off center.



tricking honey with candid self timer shots.  see my mischevious smile?



two pumpkins. 



all of our pumpkins. 
minus the two that molded and got thrown out.  RIP.




so many seeds!  hooray!
albino pumpkin = albino pumpkin seeds

 we went to a GSB halloween party and our ward halloween party.  sorry, no pictures for you from those.  just a few pumpkin carving pictures to compare from last year. 

and just in case you were wondering.  i wore that same orange sweater like i do every year.  honey and i do not dress up.

hope you had a great halloween!

mmm

what i would give for those eyes...

too bad we can't inherit physical traits from our kids or spouse. if we could.. i would take these eyes from them. i'm gonna be so sad if baby loses honey's eyes.

but speaking of mmm, at least i'll always be able to enjoy honey's eyes on honey.

also speaking of mmm, i thought it would be a given but apparently you think more of me than you should. i did NOT make those cupcakes. they were chocolate with cream cheese filling and chocolate chips inside and heaven in the palm of your hand.

sorry to disappoint. but the story was actually pretty cool. i was skyping with my dear friend carolyn and she was talking about cupcakes and i was thinking about how delicious that sounded when i got a knock at my door. i opened the door and VOILA! CUPCAKES! i have really great neighbors. the best part is that i told them not to tell honey that they'd come by with cupcakes. so then i ate two cupcakes. honey came home and only saw three cupcakes. so then he got one and i got two [more] and we were all just real happy about life.

next time you want cupcakes, just put your mind to it and maybe they'll appear for you too!

but i DID take those pictures. i've been reading up on aperture and those were some practice pictures i'd taken.

and speaking of mmm again, i'm eating such delicious pumpkin seeds. i LOVE pumpkin seeds!!! and we finally managed not to burn them!

anyways, tomorrow is halloween and we are doing nothing for it (since it's sunday) so i will use my halloween night to blog about our halloween festivities from the past few days. i know you can't wait.

treats

for sawah.


ps- i might have eaten four of these in less than 24 hours. i wish they weren't all gone...

tricks

this is baby rolling over.  she was two weeks old the first time she rolled over.  she did it a few times and then went through a rolling over drought.  now the past few days she's been rolling over a lot again.  as soon as i put her on her tummy, she rolls right over.  since she did this at least five times today, i thought it was consistent enough to tell honey to come watch baby's new trick (i know, we've already established that it's not actually new but whatever) because he's never seen it and doesn't believe me that it's ever happened.  well, guess what.  baby won't roll over for him.  i feel like i'm trying to convince someone that my puppy really can sit, lay down, shake, speak, play dead, etc.  so let the games begin of my child making me look like a fool because she will not perform on command...

ps- i told honey if he says "i think you're making it up" one more time i'll shoot him.  too aggressive?

jaws

i took this picture on my phone.  it's terrible quality and my child looks like she's about to bite her arm off.

BUT for some reason i really like it.

what can i say?  i think she's precious.

i guess she's mobile

how did this happen?

twice.

and they were gonna charge me 15 bucks for this?

oh please, i've got skills.  

 

a few weeks ago, honey and baby and i jumped through all the hoops to get baby a passport.  and believe me.  there are a lot of hoops.  make appointment, bring self, baby, and baby daddy.  bring front and back photo copies of both parents' drivers licenses, original birth certificate, all forms completely filled out, passport picture of baby against white background that is not over or under exposed where baby is looking straight ahead, eyes open, mouth shut, no shadow, and non blurry.  seriously?  and the most difficult part... coordinating the appointment time with honey's schedule.  i normally don't see him during daylight hours.  anyways, it ended up being the biggest disaster ever but we got it done.  ohmygoodnesswhatapain.

 

anyways, it already costs over $100 to get this kid a passport that's going to expire in a few years anyways, i was not about to pay $15 more to have someone click a picture of her.  i mean, i do that like eighty million times a day and no one pays me $15 a photo.  who knew infant passport photos were so grossly overpriced... even more so than regular adult passport photos?  

 

so baby and i had a little photo shoot.  i placed her on her beautiful baby blessing dress and snapped away, startling baby with my uncontrollable bursts of laughter.  my favorite is the one directly to the right of the center picture.  fabulous.  BUT i didn't think the government would enjoy it as much as i, SO i picked the most normal photo i could find and went with that.  i really hope they approve it because we kinda need this by christmas or else i'm leaving baby in the states while honey and i head to cancun...

while i eat raisin bran

uhh, i took a great 5 hour nap this evening.  just kidding... it was more like 3.  but evening because i woke up at 8 or something.  not really sure of the time because i can only tell you that i fell asleep 2 hours after i last fed my kid and i woke up 10 minutes before she did.  honey tried to ask me what time we fell asleep and what time i woke up.  i told him i really had no clue because i don't look at clocks anymore.  i only look at that baby timer.  how's that for having my life revolve around my baby?  no clocks, just timer.  anyways, i should have set my alarm.  now i'm hoping i can fall asleep tonight.

church was nice today.  my friend katt taught the RS lesson and it was absolutely fabulous.  i took pity on her because of that one time i almost died.  i made three comments.  that's a big deal.  i don't really make comments in RS because i'm surrounded my too many intelligent people.  anyways, that RS just totally made my day.  maybe even my week but we won't know that until seven days from now.

i'm so excited about all of my friends having babies.  hate to say it, but a year ago right now i would have hated their guts for it because i was jealous and bitter.  i am so grateful for my child and the joy she brings to my life every single second of the day.  a year ago this month, i was crying several times a day, most days.  for me, that was the worst my life has ever been.  and to think... it was only 12 months ago.  that is crazy to me.  and an excellent example of how weak i am.  so anyways, now that i am able to personally experience the joy of motherhood, i get insanely excited for my pregnant friends.  my ultimate goal is to get my polar opposite best friend rach pregnant.  uhhh, i mean, i want to convince her that kids are not of the devil and that she would be happier for having one of her own.  i'll leave the actual getting pregnant part to her and her hottie husband.

have i told you lately that i look pregnant?  well, i'll tell you again.  my stomach is biggest from my blogging angle.  luckily my husband does not take note of my physical appearance like i hear other husbands do of their wives.  this allows all day pajama wearing, questionable hygiene, and of course, looking pregnant, to go genuinely unnoticed.  some girls get worked up when their husbands don't notice their haircut.  i am sad that they do not see the positive potential of this.

i'm trying to figure out our fancy camera.  i wasn't making much headway until my blogging sister suggested i look at the photography section of pioneer woman's blog.  it was really starting to make sense!  until i got hooked on reading her hotel room tours posts.  tomorrow i will focus again!

i don't like to see scratches on my kid's face, so i try to keep her nails nicely trimmed.  i despise cutting my own nails though so they get decently long.  yesterday i drew blood when i accidentally scratched baby's chin.  i would have deducted good mom points from my bounteous stash (just kidding) except that she didn't even flinch.  when it comes to child abuse, my baby has been conveniently desensitized.  wonderful.

not wanting to break the sabbath but in dire need of soy sauce (in honey's opinion), honey went to a chinese restaurant where they graciously handed him about fifty (or ten) packets.  although it was my idea, he was the one to carry it through.  not only are we cheap but we are righteous too.  and humble i might add.

i opened a pack of huggies snugglers yesterday and they were completely different diapers than the previous pack of huggies snugglers we've been using.  same exact packaging.  can someone explain this to me?  call me a diaper-buying-rookie but i'm confused.

what a guy

i know some of you have those really deluxe husbands that are master chefs and make homemade bread and cookies from scratch.  i do not have one of those.  he makes cookies from a betty crocker mix in a bag.  and when it calls for a 1/2 cup of butter and he asks me how to measure that.  so i tell him he can look in the back of our fridge for stick butter (because we have that now since my most recent trip to safeway!), or use a measuring cup to measure out margarine from the tub (doesn't that sound disgusting?) in the fridge [he looked at me like those options were a little too much work], or use applesauce (and i tried to tell him this would make it extra moist and delicious although i'm not sure that it even substitutes well in this case).  as i was eating the finished product i asked him if he ended up using butter or margarine (because we all knew the applesauce was not going to happen.  his response?

"oil."

oh. my. goodness.

i'mgoingtodieoffat.

this is domestic honey's impressive multitasking.  watching the avs (that's the colorado avalanche...you know...hockey) game on his computer while dumping oil dough on a cookie sheet.  there's the man i fell in love with.  mmmm.  oil cookies.

and what is it about tv that makes it so mesmerizing to kids?  i know it looks like we set her up to watch hockey but really, even if we have her back to it, she's got this go go gadget neck that can do a complete 180.  she's just a hockey fan i guess.

speaking of...  my fantasy hockey team is sucking it up.  out of the twelve of us playing, i think my team has less than half the points of the NEXT lowest team.  ummm seriously?  my players are failing me this week and it's giving team PINK a bad name.  things better get shape up soon or we're going to have some major trades next week.

honey is using kettle corn to lure me into a redbox.  gotta go.

we're a two pumpkin family... with a jumper

last night gave me flash backs of the previous friday night.  it wasn't terrible but i was feeling down even after trying to salvage my mood with nutella and banana crepes.  i decided that although they were delicious, they were kind of difficult (my non-stick pan is having some identity issues) and i think i just prefer nutella plain.  anyways, i went to bed before ten.  even though at one point i was 100% sure i was going to get out of bed again.  but it didn't happen and then i woke up sometime around nine this morning.  i sure know how to live it up on a friday night.

kids are so perplexing.  they're just constantly changing so it's like meeting a new person every day.  my kid has started occasionally singing/moaning (sounds like a wounded animal... really it's precious) before naps.  and occasionally she'll wake up at night.  not sure what that's about.  it's been going on for maybe a week... maybe a little more?  could just be from this growth spurt but that seems to be a really long growth spurt.  or it could be that we started giving her awake time late at night (10 or 11pm) so that honey can spend time with her.  or maybe it's just that she's getting older.  last night after baby had been asleep for an hour, she woke up crying.  this was very unusual and i was pretty confused.  so i went in and gave her kisses for a few minutes and gave her a very awkward hug and i walked out and she was fine.  she went right back to sleep.  i thought for sure there was no way it would work since i didn't even pick her up but i guess she just needed a little comfort?  i dunno... i'm sure she's too young to have separation anxiety and she doesn't know about object permanence yet.  but as i've said before, she's got something extra.  she just knows.  (yes, i realize i'm vague and difficult to follow.)  anyways, it was a sweet moment.  i absolutely love things like that.

when i worked at the daycare preschool in colorado, there was a little girl there that i absolutely LOVED.  with kailee, it was love at first sight and then love every sight after that too.  she was in my one year old classroom and then when i moved to a two year old classroom her parents requested that she come to my class when she got old enough.  baby girl reminds me a lot of kailee.  anyways, i've stayed in touch with kailee's parents.  they are very generous and thoughtful.  a few months ago they sent me a few nursing covers, and they sent baby girl this jumper.  they wanted to buy a gift for baby girl that kailee had absolutely loved as a baby.  this thing got incredible reviews online so even though it takes up 75% of the free space we have had in our apartment, i think it will be great. 

and i got sick of honey telling me that our kid needed more stimulation.

check out that war zone.  i swear things were clean before i opened the box... but when your apartment is only about 10 ft by 10 ft, it seems to get cluttered pretty fast.

 oh yeah, that's our couch cushion under her feet.

 because she can't QUITE reach the ground... even at the lowest setting. 

 and when i say QUITE, i actually mean that she's a good four or five inches off the ground.

 what an angel.  and see the golden oreos, nutella with spoon, and baby timer?  i told you, i don't lie.

baby girl was having traction difficulties so i took her feet out of the footies and replaced the sofa cushion with our wedding photo album box.  works great.

this morning we went to the EV (that's where we live) pumpkin patch that they do every year.  they give every family a pumpkin (and three pieces of candy!  per person... not per family...) so now we're back to having two pumpkins.  honey tried to convince me that he should carve them today.  i said no.  hopefully i can hold him off for a while so the mold doesn't devour us before halloween.  who knew he would be so anxious to carve every pumpkin he could get his hands on?!?!

 kids were invited to come in costume and who were we to deprive baby of that opportunity?!?!

 looking thrilled as usual.

and a cheesy shot of us sitting on a bail of hay.  and my right foot was replaced by a pumpkin.

anyways, i'll write more later.  but now i need to wake up a honey and a baby because we're going to be late for the football game!  let's hope we don't get rained on.

binge and purge

at three months of age, my child seems to be exhibiting bulimic tendencies.  should i be worried about this?

monday, she was in her fifth outfit by 11am.  tuesday, she was in her fourth outfit by 2:30.  yesterday, let's see...  blue sleeper, spider onesie, yellow stripes, brown shirt, and snail onesie.  she was in her fifth outfit by 5:15.  and with the exception of the blue sleeper, these outfits were trashed.  like completely drenched from multiple spitups.  the brown shirt outfit was on her for less than 20 minutes and it had been spit up on at least six times (that i counted).  the last one just did it in.  i had to strip her and wipe her down after that one.  seriously.  you can't even see how wet the sleeves are because they're white, but let me tell you that they were soaked because normally baby keeps her hands up by her grill so many times, they get the brunt of the spit up.

hot, right?

so i changed her into her cute polka dotted snail onesie that used to be white but is now a precious shade of pink.  i snapped her snaps, pulled up her pink socks, and picked her up off the changing table.  and as i was dangling her in the air and professing my love for her, she projectile vomited all over the place.  right then and there.  on herself, the changing table, my shirt, the floor, and in between my toes.  this outfit was fresh for maaaybe 8 seconds.  luckily though, since she was dangling, it didn't get too wet and in my books, did not require an outfit change.

well, today she wore at least different outfits and spent some time in the nude (well, not totally nude... she did still have a diaper on) and managed 3 outfit changes tonight within the space of an hour.  she was even wearing a bib part of the time! 

granted not EVERY outfit change is due to spitup though.  some is just plane drool and there are also very frequent blowouts due to explosive poop and skinny legs.  at any given moment you can bet baby's bottom there's gonna be SOMETHING coming out SOMEWHERE.  i'm 100% convinced this is why she's so skinny... my baby knows how to binge and purge.

granny's got a shotgun

does this sweet old lady look like the most precious thing on earth? 

well she is.

but don't mess with her.

she's got a gun.

ps- when my technologically challenged non-blogging sister finds a way to upload pictures to the internet, then maybe we can all enjoy a nice post about papa's fun birthday weekend at the farm... 

love you liza.

a few pictures from the week

here are some highlights from my week...  in pictures.

the flowers honey brought me.  i strategically placed them next to this "families are forever" frame to remind me to be a really kind and loving wife.  it kinda didn't really work.  poor honey.

i've taken pictures of every flower honey has ever given me.  it's almost a tradition.  i have to take pictures or i won't remember.

our flower vases are in storage in colorado... along with the rest of our life... so i used this nice halloween mug instead.  festive huh?

honey bought two giant pumpkins at safeway while i was in georgia.  on sunday he insisted that they were each getting a soft spot so he needed to go ahead and carve them.  does this seem counter-intuitive to you too?  that's because it is.  i explained to him that carving them now would only mean that we'd have to throw them out in a few days but he insisted.  this is how our pumpkin carving went last year too.  i take pictures while honey does the hands-on work.

he takes his job very seriously.  just so you know, i almost left his eyes red for added effect but decided to be mature about it... red eye correction.

we got a lot more seeds this year thank goodness.  i was worried we'd be in for another year of pumpkin seed famine.  this year, since we had enough seeds, honey split them in half and insisted we have a contest to see who could make the best pumpkin seeds.  how did i marry someone SO competitive?!?!

cute huh?  i'm not sure why but i'm always extremely impressed with honey's pumpkin carving abilities.

remember that big trip to safeway?  well, i told you i thought the receipt was longer than baby girl and i was right.  my curiosity got the better of me so i laid her down for a quick measurement and then had to take a picture for documentation.  and yes, i know she looks like a boy, but when your child has puked, pooped, and drooled over every cute sleeper that fits her, you have you put her in little boy hand me down sleepers.  if she ever looked like this in public and someone made a comment about my son, i wouldn't even correct them... just not worth it.

here's our jack-o-lantern/pumpkin family (and some pumpkin seeds for good measure).  honey wanted to do a face on baby pumpkin too but i wouldn't let him.

what's more festive than fiercely mold infested jack-o-lanterns on your kitchen table?  mmm.  good thing we don't eat there.  immediately after taking this picture i texted honey and told him to throw them out as soon as he gets home.  i am NOT touching them.

i spend 97% of my evening hours looking at this beautiful sight.  sometimes if i poke at it, it moves... and occasionally even talks!  he sure looks tempting...

a little much?

is my writing too add?  i think most people that know me (and have spent time with me late at night especially) would say that this is an accurate account of what goes through my head.  but this morning i woke up super tired (i'm blaming the cold, wet california weather for this) with a panicked "oh no!  what did i write about last night?!" because of my lack of editing (and because i couldn't really remember) and whatnot.  maybe this are getting a little too free flowing? 

different posts serve different purposes.  picture post last night was to satisfy picture requests from the sarahs.  add post last night was to empty my head and help me cope with my mute husband.  have you noticed the increase in the number of add posts lately?!?!  but of course we all know that blog reading is optional... except when it comes to me reading your blogs.  this i do obsessively.  i need to get that under control.

anyways, i'm off to bed.  i'm SO excited to spoon my honey.

he is SOOOO attractive!

baby's stretching routine

 for sarah brazee from tennessee and sawah.  do the pictures show up?

safeway, sara(h), names, and golden oreos

you know what else really bothered me over the weekend?  friday afternoon, baby girl and i went to walgreens, rite aid, walmart, and cvs.  i brought my reusable shopping bag in each place knowing i was only getting a thing or two and i didn't want to end up with six plastic bags when i already have a million at home.  well not a single one of the cashiers took advantage of this!  i mean, i had my bag with me and they scanned my item and shoved it in a plastic bag.  like a whole plastic bag for a thing of toothpaste.  that's unnecessary.  especially when i clearly and politely stated, I HAVE MY OWN BAG WITH ME.  four for four fail.  and somehow i ended up with more than four bags even though i only went to four places.  i'm still not sure how that worked out...

so today when baby girl and i were at safeway, i had a huge cart full of groceries and a couple of coupons and i decided i wanted a cashier that would do the job right.  i always try to find something that looks like a native english speaker (i know you're judging me right now and i don't even care) but today i was especially looking for someone friendly and competent.  i even waited in a longer line for this very reason.  i'm not sure why, but i don't mind waiting in grocery lines.  other lines i get very impatient, but not when i'm waiting to buy groceries.  that's irrelevant.  anyways, it helped that baby girl was sleeping.  she's started sleeping again sometimes while we're out, but only if we're doing something boring like shopping at safeway.  church is too exciting, as is walmart.

okay, so the whole time sandoval (he spoke perfect english and was even wearing a crisp white button down shirt with a pink tie) what scanning my groceries he was cheerfully telling me about his daughter (although he did say that her first six months were easily the hardest thing he's ever done in his life.  i never really know what to say to that...) and it was honestly refreshing.  except that he forgot one of my coupons (i had them all laid out for him) but he happily scanned it when i pointed it out for him.  he used my reusable bags that i'd brought and packed them well too.  does anyone else have a problem with this... i swear at least one of the coupons didn't scan.  but how do you really know because receipts are about as easy to interpret as the rosetta stone.  oh well.  i still managed to walk away happy.  maybe because i saved $38 off my total.  but probably because i bought a $100 of delicious things to eat.

i've been overwhelmed/discouraged lately by my unhealthy eating habits.  this actually means something because everyone i ever lived with in college agreed that i was the most unhealthy eater they'd ever met.  when i lived with amanda k one summer while i was home from byu, she told me that without the maycock genes, i would be severely obsese.  and she wasn't exaggerating.  she's a nurse and was constantly appalled by my eating habits.  anyways, i was on the phone today with my blogging sister and i told her that i've decided real life for me will start in june when honey graduates.  we'll probably move to colorado and buy a house.  probably buy real furniture for the first time in our lives.  probably buy a second car.  probably do a bunch more things that for me signify real life.  real life = nonstudent life just in case you were wondering.  for me, if you have a two car garage, you're living real life.  everyone has their own definition though.  my dad once told me that for him and my mom is was having orange juice, ice cream, and one other thing i can't remember right now all in the fridge/freezer at the same time.  for them that meant that they were rich.  it's all relative.

so that will be quite the lifestyle change from right now for a million and one reasons.  for that reason, i decided i should start taking baby steps towards living my rich real life.  that's why when i was at safeway today i turned down some unhealthy choices and bought healthier things instead... even if they cost a little more.  i know a few dollars isn't much for most people but I HATE SPENDING MONEY so it's a huge deal for me.  even when we can totally afford things, i have a hard time parting with the money.  BUT while i was at the store today i bought heart healthy bisquick (the other stuff has transfat), pillsbury simply biscuits (no transfat or artificial stuff), real butter (instead of margarine) for baking, the least unhealthy of the margarine choices (i would give up margarine altogether except that i strongly prefer the taste to butter and yes, i know that's weird), applesauce without high fructose corn syrup, and a number of other healthy/ier foods.  i also got light sour cream, lowfat yogurt for my granola, and cottage cheese with added fiber.  and in the name of protein, i got new york strip (on super sale for $3) and made it for dinner tonight.... just for me.  honey had stuff going on.  so i enjoyed mexican squash and steak all by myself.  it was delish.  oh yeah, and i got vegetables and a few avocados since they were on sale too.  i got so much stuff.  i bet my receipt is longer than baby girl.

oh yeah, umm, tonight i was on facebook chat with my friend sarah who i've never met although i've blog stalked her for about a year now, and i had to explain to her that "baby girl" is not a blog nickname.  that's what i call my child.  i try to occasionally call her abigail but really, i'm not very good at it.  same with honey.  when i use his name, i call him christopher.  but that's really only in public.  when i blog i pretty much just write word for word what goes through my head with additional details from time to time for clarification.  that also explains the terrible grammar.

when i was in georgia a week ago, i was with the great-sara-snow-who-loves-to-type and jill, the sister of sarah-who-i've-never-met-before (referred to on my blog list as cory's sister... but her hilarious blog is private which is actually the reason we're not-yet-met friends now.  after stalking her for a year i could either give up or admit to her that i stalk her and as non-sketchily as possible, as her for an invite).  both girls said they'd read my blog before (which was funny because my best friend rachel was there and she's never read it... but then again, my honey doesn't read it either...) which kind of made me feel like a celebrity because they're pretty cool girls in my opinion.  well, as i was taking a picture of my dad with baby girl, i found myself trying to get her attention by saying "baby girl!  look over here!  baby... baby... baby girl!  over here!"   and then i thought crap!  they're going to know now that i really do call my child baby girl!  so then i think i awkwardly tried to incorporate "abigail" into my vocab for the night.  so anyways, let this be another thing where i feel i just need to come clean and tell the truth.  24/7 around the clock, i call my child "baby girl" and "baby" for short.  honey does too.

and as for sara-the-great-who-loves-to-type and cory's-sister-sarah-who-i've-never-met-before...  they get clarification names for the sake of not requiring anyone to think too hard.  i have five blogging sara(h)s.  it just makes sense.  if i'm not clear enough on the blog, i get a call from my non-blogging sister jeff (just kidding, it's actually liza's husband who's named jeff and for some reason liza likes to comment under that name) and have to explain it all to her.  this way is just easier.

oh my goodness i just remembered i bought two packages of golden oreos today (healthy right?  at least i had a coupon for buy on get one free) and i'm SO excited to eat them right now!  i wonder if they float the same as regular.

snipits

did you know oreos float?  i mean for a long long time.  chips ahoy float for a while but then they start to sink (and then i snatch them up and shove them in my mouth!) which oreos float and float and float and then finally i give up and eat them anyways.  i used to really enjoy oreos but ever since my recent experience with golden oreos, i'm having a hard time with the regulars ones.  i'm not prejudice... i'm just sayin'.

y'know what really annoyed me the other day?  i went to cvs and i didn't like the cashier.  i could just tell she was one of those people that didn't really feel like doing a good job at her job and so she just did whatever was easiest for her.  i saw it when she rung something up for this old lady and then the old lady found another coupon she wanted to use and the cashier lady said no can do because it had already been rung up.  i wanted to step in and tell that cashier to cancel the order and ring it up again because we all know it's possible and it's part of her job to make that old lady happy.  i was severely annoyed but i felt it wasn't my place so i stayed out of it. 

well, then it was my turn.  something screwed up (i was using my brand new cvs card that i'd just gotten 5 minutes earlier) when she rang up my purchases so she had to ring it up again (i asked her nicely/told her/made her).  well, when i got home i noticed that she didn't scan my coupon i'd given her!  ummm i was buying toothpaste and candy corn.  and there was only one coupon!  so she's either incompetent or dishonest.  and i'm 75 cents poorer than i should be.  go ahead and say it's my fault for not checking the receipt more closely but sometimes it's tricky to know how much you should be paying because here in sucky california sales tax is 9.25% so it's TOTALLY NORMAL to be paying way more than what you'd previously added up in your head.  i wish i wasn't bitter about it but i am.  i now hold a grudge towards cvs... especially the one in mountain view.  and especially that lady.  i hope it was just an accident because i have bad feelings in my heart towards her.

now you know why i've been so down lately.  it's because a cvs cashier can ruin my weekend!  i bet she has no idea of the power she holds...

AND friday morning, i opened up a new pair of contacts.  well saturday morning i went to put them in and the left one had a tear!  AFTER ONE DAY!  but y'know the great part is that it was my left contact and not my right.  for a reason too long and boring to explain, this is a good thing and it was my silver lining.  the more i read what i write, the more i wonder if i should be diagnosed with something.  ummm...

our home teachers came over tonight and commented on what a clean apartment we have and how impressive it was.  it made my day.  if my apartment is clean, then life is good.  when i nannied this past year i could judge how good of a day i was having by how clear their house was.  clean places make me happy and they normally mean i've been on time, haven't spilled anything, etc.  the ultimate is having a clean kitchen.  if my kitchen is clean then i'm okay with life.  everything else is just an added bonus.  sometimes i'll even just shove all of my mess in one place so i can hang out where it's clean.  doesn't totally make sense but it works for me.

honey carved our pumpkins tonight.  he said he had to because they were getting soft.  doesn't make sense since we'll have to throw them out in three days when they're rotting.  for that reason, i'll try to get a few pictures in the next day or two while they live out their final days.

church today was nice.  i have greater appreciation for sitting on the back row of relief society since that one time i almost died.  baby girl was so nice at church.  she's getting better at dealing with no sleep.  she only took a 20 minute power nap but i guess it was enough because she was so pleasant for the whole three hours.  even the two girls sitting next to me commented afterwards on how well behaved she was and asked if she was that good all the time.  i think baby girl works as reverse birth control. 

i even had some lady in walmart strike up a full on conversation with me about how much i loved motherhood.  she was kind of suspicious though.  she didn't have a cart with her and she happened to be by the checkout lines and she had some sort of ipad looking device that she occasionally made notes on.  i would have asked her what it was for (i'm guessing some type of research... i'm all for that being a psych major and all) but she was obviously trying to be discreet so i just went along with it like i had no clue what she was doing.  she did say about twenty times though that she couldn't wait to be a mom.  and the guy behind me kept mumbling/grunting about how i still had 40 years to go and wait til baby girl was a teenager and all.  i'm sure he was well intentioned but i chose to ignore him/chuckle and look away.  i was tempted to ask how many kids he had but thought better of it.

y'know how a million times a day honey says "let's go wake our baby up!" (when i wrote about that before i tried to count how many times he said it and just between then and when we went to bed, less than an hour and a half, he said it over eight times) he's said "why aren't we snuggling?!?!" and it's been so funny.  he has a strange sense of humor but it gets me every time. 

k, well, i can't remember what i was actually going to write about but my fingers are actually tired and honey's been waiting for a while.  and he just texted me a   : (   face so i gotta wrap it up! 

goodnight!

my honey jumped out of a plane today

and told me all about it.  and it was funny because while he was doing this my mother called to ask me about it.  "did chris go skydiving today?!?!"  "umm, yes, i think he's probably skydiving as we speak since they were running behind schedule from the weather or something."  and i can't quote the rest, but basically she was talking to the dad of my friend from birth diana and asked how she was doing.  he told my mother that diana had recently been skydiving (something she has ALWAYS wanted to do... yeay for realizing a longtime dream!) and blah blah blah.  so then my mother got on facebook and saw that honey's status said something about jumping out of a plane.  so that's when she called to ask me, "what's the deal with everyone going skydiving these days?!?!"

anyways, honey loved it and he took video of the whole thing and he told me all about it (i LOVE when he tells me stories about stuff!) and baby girl was just clueless about the whole thing although she was really interested in watching that video... so it was just a win win for all.

and now we're going to go to bed and spoon.  my honey is the second best spooner in the whole wide world.  guess who's first?

a more serious post

i had a bad night last night and went to bed at 9:00.  and then i was still upset about it this morning so i slept in til 10:30 or so.  and i'm still upset.  anyone ever get in one of those sad/bad moods that you just can't seem to shake?  i mean, i know it's there.  it's painfully obvious.  but no matter how hard i try to combat it, it beats me.  it drives me nuts. 

poor honey.  he's trying so hard to help me feel better too.  wednesday night he came home from a meeting and brought be roses and three gallons of milk (we were out) and it was so sweet it made me cry.  go ahead and laugh but roses and milk are probably my two very favorite things to receive from my honey (aside from hugs and kisses, of course) and i was feeling so sad at the time that it was just perfect.  but then i went back to being sad.

i can only liken this to how i felt a year ago when i was in the first trimester of being pregnant with baby girl.  24/7 around the clock migraines, feeling STARVING, and crying at the very thought of eating food.  literally 24/7.  even when i slept, i was aware of it in my dreams.  weird huh?  anyways, i felt so extremely hopeless.  like i seriously was so scared that i would never like food again.  and i was scared that i would never be able to experience life again without a constant migraine.  do you know the feeling?  i mean, every single day was just so long and painful.  the only thing that made me happy was the fact that i was finally pregnant.  ironic, huh, since that's what was making me feel so crappy in the first place.  and then finally on thursday of week 14, i ate a goldfish and i wanted another one.  i did a double take that i was actually reaching for food to put in my mouth and i didn't have to force it on myself.  i ate another goldfish and then another.  i could feel the fog lifting right then and there.  i sat on the kitchen floor eating goldfish and crying such sweet tears of joy.  i didn't stop until i'd offered at least ten prayers of thanks.  i have a lot of very happy memories in my life and that one is right up there with the best of them.  less than 24 hours later, the migraine went away and i loved food like never before i always had.  24 hours between night and day and from each side it was nearly impossible to see the other.  tell me you've experienced this.

so here i am waiting week after week after week for my goldfish moment.  i'm sure it's got to come sooner or later.  it always has.  and i know it always has.  in the mean time, i'm just trying to hang in there.

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and not to blame this on my baby, but it's kinda her fault.  she brings me so much joy that it's like nothing else can keep up.  my little ball of sunshine just seems to cast shadows on everything else.  my baby girl is so perfect, she makes everything else seem so full of faults.  is this some sort of twisted post partum depression?

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by the way, baby girl turned three months yesterday!  we celebrated by drinking milk, singing, shopping, going on a walk, and watching stanford mens soccer.  she loved it.

sleep

i have tons of fun and exciting and hilarious things to post about.  but you get none of it.  at least not tonight because i am far too lazy and sweating my eyeballs out and i have a headache and i'm hungry again and i'm bored out of my mind because all i do is sit around and wish that my baby was awake to play with me.

so that brings me to what i'm actually going to write about which is that i fear i may have screwed up my child's sleeping habits.  yes, i realize this probably sounds way more boring to you than even to me and i'm okay with that.  not 100% but definitely at least 60%.

my honey and i have a good marriage but let me tell you, if you happen not to already know, he's not a talker.  i'm a talker.  he's almost a mute.  it wasn't always like that but it's been like that for a long time.  sometimes i can occupy myself for a whole 30 minutes just trying to think of something i to say that could trick him into conversation.  sometimes i try a few of those ideas out.  when they don't work, sometimes i just have the conversation with him in my head.  i can make him say whatever i want to.  he never forgets to say please or thank you or "you're the most gorgeous wife in the entire world" when we're talking in my head.  --yes, i realize i sound psychotic.  i majored in psychology so i would know.  i can spot those types of people.--  one time i shuffled a deck of cards for a full seven minutes or so because he was talking to me about something and i didn't want him to stop.  i can't remember what he was talking about... i know it wasn't anything terribly interesting, but i just loved listening to him talk.  it's like how i love watching myself type.  i LOVE typing.  that's one of my main motivators for this blog.  the great sara snow also blogs because she loves to watch herself type.  i know this is the case because she wrote it in her blog description and sara snow would never lie.  she's the most angelic person on earth.  aside from honey's paternal grandmother that is.  her name is virginia and i love her to death.  so much so that i was wanting to name our child after her but i'm not really a huge fan of the name virginia and her other name is belva and we just weren't gonna go there.

anyways, honey doesn't really say a whole lot in general but i can always count on him saying "let's go wake our baby up" at least 30 times a day.  maybe not a whole 30.  i'd say 7 or 8 is more realistic.  so it's not just me that sits around and waits for our baby to wake up.  although he's normally more productive with his time (out of necessity) than i am.  y'know how people tell you to never wake a sleeping baby?  well i wake my sleeping baby.  all. the. time.

she loves sleeping and she loves her crib.  at night i'll sometimes rock her to help ease my anxiety that i feel when i put her to sleep.  well, sometimes (like tonight!) she'll lay contentedly in my arms but most of the time she starts thrashing her head from side to side and kicking a lot and getting worked up.  i lay her in her crib and it's like a sigh of relief like "thanks for finally putting me down, now maybe i'll get some rest around here" and she's calm again.  she's always been like that.  she's just a kid that loves sleep.  she'll wake up for a while and if i don't get in there fast enough then she'll just go back to sleep.  more than once this past weekend, my blogging sister told me, "i'm going to go get abby, she's awake."  and then she'd come back two minutes later and tell me she'd already fallen back asleep.  yup.  that's how my baby works.

and for the record, i'm giving up trying to act like i have an average kid.  i'm just gonna go ahead and say it.  i have an angel baby and you'll never know the half of it unless you're me.  so i'm going to stop being so vague and discreet (TIME OUT:  honey JUST walked in the door "how'd you like your movie?  time to go wake up baby girl?" uhh i really wasn't exaggerating... just in case you thought i was) when i say anything about her.  my whole book club knows, all of the biz kids moms, most of the girls in the ward, and close friends and family i keep in touch with on the phone.  i tried, but is there any point hiding it anymore? 

did i mention it's hotter than hades in here?  i'm seriously sweating a river.  it's like a sauna.  maybe that's a good thing since my blinders are coming off and every day i'm seeing more and more just how pregnant i still look.  okay.  so honey's home now.  i'm going to eat something and try to stop sweating and get ready for bed and wish my headache would go away.  i keep getting them... every night.  i've never had nightly headaches before.

but oh yeah, the point of the post was just to say that we wake our baby up because we miss her and want to play with her and i'm afraid we're going to undo her amazing sleeping habits.  there i go being vague again.  i'll spare you the specifics just this one last time so you won't come trying to trade kids with me.  i wouldn't put it past you...

field trip to a pumpkin patch

here's a traditional blog post for you.

baby and i went on a field trip with biz kids this morning to a pumpkin patch in half moon bay.  i think i've mentioned biz kids before.  it's the group for all of the business school kids.  i went to all of the biz kids activities last year with the boys i nannied for even though that's technically not how it's supposed to work but i paid the dues and the biz kids president was okay with it so whatever.  now, i'm having a lot of fun going with baby girl.  the activites vary from week to week.  story time, music time, play dates, craft activites, field trips, etc.

well, the pumpkin patch was super cute and even though it wasn't geared towards three month olds, baby and i had fun walking around and hanging out with everyone.  i like to tell myself that she enjoyed it and that the sights and sounds were good for her development.  i don't like to tell myself that baby girl probably hates me for making her skip her morning nap every wednesday.  don't worry.  when we got home, i let her sleep for over 4.5 hours before waking her up to eat.  see, i have a conscience.

anyways, here are some pictures from the day.



ps- isn't baby's outfit precious?  my wonderful mother got it for her.  strangers where giggling at its cuteness.  i was amused.