more travel anxiety

tomorrow morning at 6:30am we're leaving for girls camp.  this is so sad for me to admit but i would give anything not to go.  my appetite has been super weird lately and the heat and altitude has been giving me bad headaches and making me faint/dizzy every time i stand up.  but that's not really it.  because, i mean, i really really really loved girls camp when i was a kid.  i probably loved it more than any other girl there but this time it's not the same.  why?  because i have a kid and a husband now.  but mostly because i have a kid now.  i hate leaving her, even for date nights.  my time is much happier and more enjoyable when she's with me.  i love nap time as much as the next person but aside from that, i don't ever feel like i need a "break" from her.  so my biggest reason for not wanting to go to camp is actually that i'm going to have to be away from my baby.

i spent the whole night with her since my christopher spent the night in bed trying to rest off a headache.  i hugged her and kissed her as much as i could.  we played dress up, alphabet blocks, drug dog cards, a bunch of new toys from liza, and a million other things.  and then it was time for bath and bed.  after we prayed i held her in my arms and told her how much i love her and that i'm going bye bye tomorrow and will be gone for a few days while she plays with her friends and daddy and grandma, grandpa, and uncle nate.  she was excited about seeing uncle nate.  i told her i'd be back soon and then we could play some more and that i would miss her while i'm gone.  i cherished holding that little body in my arms and fought back tears as i mourned the hours and days ahead that i would miss spending with her.  i laid her in her crib and told her goodnight.

then i went straight downstairs to my laptop, opened up my blog, and scrolled through post after post after post of pictures and stories about her.  i left her for ten days when we went to dubai.  four days while we were in napa.  and this will only be four days while i'm at camp.  i won't lie... dubai was really hard.  but napa was not as bad.  and this?  well, my heart is breaking.  and my tears are spilling.

i know she won't even notice or care that i'm gone.  i am 100% not at all worried about her.  i am 10000000% worried about myself.  i know i say it jokingly quite a bit but i am absolutely and completely sincere when i ask you this time to please please pray for me.  specifically that my heart won't hurt so bad and also that none of my girls will see their young women president crying in her tent because she wants to go home.

and now i just need to dry my eyes, suck it up, and pack my bags.  but really, please pray for me while i'm gone.  i would really appreciate it.

screen shots

from yesterday.

shortly after i had baby girl, i signed up for a million and one email things that would hopefully send me coupons or alert me to good deals on baby things i would need.  well, it's been almost two years and i've been trudging through them daily, forgetting that they're only an option.  luvs email?  haven't actually opened on of those in who knows how long... i wonder if i'm missing out on something.  so i opened up the email titled "get BIG savings on a whole lotta luvs - one week only!" and was... not impressed.  first, amazon is way way cheaper.  second, it says the every day price is $15.75!  a whopping 75 cents qualifies as "BIG savings" these days?!  maybe next time they should title their email "$15 box of diapers!  this week only you can save a huge 75 cents on your purchase!  in case you're not that great at math, it's a whole 4.7% off the every day low price!"

and then i unsubscribed.

this left me more time to moan about the current colorado heat wave going on.  because i'm nostalgic, when i checked the weather for parker, i also checked the weather for atlanta.  108* on friday?!  with a tropical storm?! 

 i'll try to limit my moaning for the duration of the week.

yesterday i spent an hour on the phone with a very polite guy, eric, from the costco computer customer service line.  my warranty for my computer ends in 12 days and i've been having some issues with my battery so i decided to call in and see if there was anything costco could do for me.  this experience went as well as it possibly could have because talking to this guy never made me hate him.  even a time or two when something came up he would say "i'll let you check on that and give you a call back in ten minutes."  he was wonderful.  the downside?  apparently my computer battery sucks but it doesn't suck enough to warrant a replacement battery.  

eric said to keep running the test for the next 12 days.  so now i'm basically just crossing my fingers that my battery will die already.  although i'm sure that'll probably end up happening on lucky day 13 or something.  i guess i'll just have to start saving my pennies.

back from the beach

we made it home.  late last night but better late than never.  yesterday we woke up early, packed, drove in the car for eight hours, got to the airport, ate at the airport varsity!, waiting around for a few more hours for our flight, endured three hours of flying, waited for our ride, made it back to parker, and rolled a sleeping baby in her crib after a very very long day.

and then i went to the store to get milk.  you do not want to be within ten miles of me if there is no milk in my fridge.

and then like zombies, honey and i passed out somewhere between 1:30 and 2am.

and then i had to wake up at a pleasant 5:57am this morning for ward council.  which is nothing when you think that honey had to wake up at 4:30 am to get meeting agendas and church stuff done.  all three of us reeeaaaallllyyy enjoyed that long nap time this afternoon.  i think i slept for at least three or three and a half hours.

ps- colorado is experiencing a heat wave and has hit record breaking highs.  i have girls camp later this week.  and might i remind you that we have no AC?  i put my kid to bed tonight in just a diaper.  hopefully she's still wearing it when she wakes up.

and pps- the beach was incredible.  family fun and games, pride and prejudice, hours upon hours reading and sleeping in the sun, listening to baby girl say "baby beach" about a hundred million times a day, eating great food all the time, kayaking with a pod of dolphins, and leaving behind the real world for an entire week.  i'm pretty addicted to my computer and even though i brought it with me, i only opened it the first night after we got there and then wednesday on my cooking day to find a recipe i needed.  and i kept my phone on silent and plugged into the wall for a full EIGHT days and neglected all calls and texts.  a technology cleanse so i could more fully enjoy my week at the beach with family?  absolutely necessary.  pictures and posts to come.

no gum necessary

tonight i had to cut baby girl's hair a tiny bit.

last night we got home late and she was the most tired i've seen her maybe ever.  then we had to wake her up early for church this morning.  so during lunch she's begging for a nap which isn't uncommon but i still knew she was tired from the travel.  normal naptime is 2 but i had her down by 1:30.  at 6:15 i still hadn't heard a peep from her so i finally went up to her room to make sure she was still alive (anyone else do that when their kid takes a super long nap?  i swear i can't be the only one) and i heard her in her crib just happily playing away.  i got her out because it had been almost FIVE HOURS and saw that she had the most ridiculous knot in her hair.  she likes to twirl her hair with her finger... especially when she's tired.  i think this must be a recessive trait in our family because my brother got it too... although he doesn't limit the hair twirling to when he's tired.  so i tried working it out with my fingers.  and i kept doing that while we played outside for two hours and then i decided i'd have to be done with conditioner so before bed i gave her a long bath (yeay for the beach because my baby went from dreading and crying during baths to begging for them and crying when i tell her it's time to get out!  crossing my fingers this lasts...) and let her play in the water while i massaged that knot with conditioner FOUR times.  it got better but not all the way.  so i got her out, dried her off,

and clipped out that little knot.

and that is the story of baby's first unofficial haircut.

and to liza: it's true that baby girl hadn't napped when we left your house after the zoo but i put her down for a nap when we got home and she slept for a few hours until i woke her up.  late nap better than no nap!

notes to prompt me later

we're in north carolina!  atlanta flew by and i'm sad we're not going to be back til september.... but WE'RE AT THE BEACH!!!

thursday was a bundle of fun.  it involved sleeping in (as was the case every day this week... yeay for a jett lagged baby!), running errands with mom - costco!!!- , ditching a sleeping baby to go play at sarah's house, delicious waffle dinner at my brother walter's new house with his beautiful wife and my mom, dad, sister liza, and baby girl.  waffles with cinnamon, butter, syrup, whipped cream, and tons of special costco peach mango orange preserves... well, that's just heavenly.  and even though i was too full and nauseous to move, somehow i got home to put baby girl to bed and made it over to lynell's by 9:30.  ish... i was a little late.  hung out with lynell, diana, tarin, and weed til after midnight before calling it a night and heading to the car.  and then weed and i didn't drive away til after 2am.  so much fun.  if only my dear friend rachel had been there.  those girls were my life in highschool... and as far as lisa and diana go... they were my life in.... well, my whole life.  since birth do we never part.  k, i need to go to bed.

friday was excellent as well.  errands, staining the floor and a nasty smelling house, nap time, picnic lunch at the chamblee airport park, aunt jane arrived, made french toast bake in the garage, and picked honey up from the airport at 11 30.  for the fifth time this week didn't get to bed til after 2 am... or 3.

today we drove to the beach.  and baby girl did not sleep for a single second of it so this is officially her first day of her life that she has ever gone without a nap... like was awake for 12 hours straight!  the car ride was pretty good considering it was like sitting next to an add octopus in a carseat.  having so much fun with everyone at the beach already and baby girl looooved jumping waves and getting her clothes all wet.  no pictures of it because i was too busy enjoying the moment but it was sooo worth it.  perfection with sand.

official posts with pictures to come.  maybe.  but don't hold your breath.

can this count for three days of journaling?  i know i'm cheating.

ps- on page 350 or something and i'm absolutely loving atlas shrugged.

pink toes

i realized this morning that i never actually got a picture of baby girl's little toes.  

"show me your toes!"

don't judge me for letting her wear her too small tevas.  she's absolutely in love with them and i swear i'll send them to the basement as soon as we get home from our trip.

 ps- note to self: stop taking pictures in extremely low light situations.  they look ghetto.

aaaannnnndddd now i'm all caught up on atlanta so far and back on track with my 20 day journaling goal.  time to go to sleep!

an important day in history

weed came over tonight after institute to hang out for a few hours.  she was alarmingly skinny.  so one thing led to another and we discovered.

 

 

WE WEIGH THE SAME!!!  safe to say this is the first time in the history of our lives that this has ever been the case.  

so we documented it.

ps- i think i'm pretty safe posting this because weed does not read my blog.  much like the rest of the world... which gloriously leaves me very free to post whatever my heart desires.  oh the perks.

pink pedi

this afternoon when we got up from nap time, baby girl had a little snack while i painted my mother's toes in preparation for the beach.  baby girl was intently observing the situation so i asked her if she wanted her toes painted too.  she did... so i put some newspaper under her feet and gave her a coat of pink polish and a clear top coat while she remained in her little snack chair.  then i took some newspaper and fanned her toes and my mother's to help them dry faster.

so tonight before dinner, baby girl saw the stack of newspaper still on the floor and picked up a paper to hand to my dad.  she then picked up another paper and laid it on the floor in front of her booster seat.  and then i couldn't help but die laughing when she sat down and somehow instructed my dad to start fanning her feet.  so i explained the situation to my dad and captured a bit on video.  this girl cracks me up.

pretending to polish her toes

and then pretending to fan them dry.

 what a good grandpa to play spa pedicure with his littlest grandkid.  i love it.

ps- my parents completely gutted and renovated their kitchen and put in hardwood floors throughout the entire main floor.  they were getting prepped today to be stained later this week so everything on the main floor has been moved to the basement, the garage, or the upstairs part of the house.  for this reason, everything is a bit of a disaster and that is why baby girl eats her meals on a booster seat on a sheet on the playroom floor.  "after" pictures of the kitchen renovation to come... eventually.

keswick park videos

today we went to a park by my parents' house.  it was a little ghetto with all of the non-child friendly giant drops and crazy slides (umm, they were painful to go down... what's up with that?!) and stuff that probably wouldn't be up to code these days but oh my goodness baby girl has never squealed and giggled so much in her life.  like for a solid hour while we were there.  sooo, i got no pictures because i was too busy enjoying things but i managed two videos.  they're very typical and ordinary and i love them both.

baby girl was very sad to leave.  she threw a 30 second tantrum when i told her we had to go.  which is kinda a big deal for her.  maybe we can go back thursday or friday.  or in september...

ps- that outfit she's wearing is size 12 months.  marianne... thanks again!  we're getting two full summers wear out of it!

french toast bake, the varsity, and atlanta!

first off, before i forget...  i have to post this amazing and easy french toast bake recipe.  i pinned it to my pinterest forever ago and forgot about it until i was browsing my food board for some mealtime ideas.  since we had the derenthals in town saturday night to sunday and i had ward council sunday morning, i thought this recipe would be perfect because i could make it the night before and just throw it in the oven before i left for church.  and POOF!  i'm an amazing hostess.  anyways... christopher said it was a little too sweet for him but tracy said it was the most divine thing she's ever tasted.  and my goodness it was delightful.  and just for history's sake... and because i'll want to know for next time and surely not remember... i cooked mine for 52 mins and then left it in the warm oven for another minute or two (i think).

second... and more importantly... baby girl and i made it to atlanta!!!  the drive to the airport was kinda rough with baby girl being tired and whiny (i had to wake her up at 8 because we needed to leave at 8:15) and refusing to eat because it was too early in the morning... but the rest of the day was great.  she was an angel for all of the checking in, going through security, getting moved from gate to gate, and waiting for our delayed flight.  the actual flight was as good as it could possibly be with a 23 month old that was awake the entire time.  although i actually fell asleep several times so maybe she wasn't as well behaved as i think she was but i we survived without any tantrums.  and although no one directly complimented my child on her behavior, the guy sitting next to me commented to the guy next to him "they did really great"... referring to my child and the kid in the row behind us.

the best part of the day though was that my mom flew in from buffalo (she drove out there with my sister emmy who is ENGAGED to a wonderful guy from buffalo!!! - i've been meaning to do an official post on that but short story = i suck... i swear it'll happen eventually) 30 minutes before we got in so she could meet us at the gate!  and although i actually enjoyed the rare experience of flying into T (it's the closest to baggage claim since it goes: baggage claim - T - A - B - C - D - E - F, it was wasted because we actually hopped on the train and went all the way down to F to visit the new varsity that just opened up a few weeks ago!  it was amazing and delicious and even though it's more fun to go to the real thing, this was the perfect option for us because we were getting home by way of marta and my brother in law and it was either airport varsity or none at all.  and although the onion rings are always delicious... they were especially piping hot and perfectly crispy today.  oh my heavens!  perfection!

and then we hopped on marta, hopped off marta, drove home with jeff, ate and hung out til bedtime and then our day was complete.  i'm pretty sure this is the first day that baby girl has ever not taken a nap.  like the first day that she has woken up in the morning and then gone to bed that night without falling asleep in the middle.  although i'm not actually counting it as legit since we lost two hours and i would never in my right mind put her down for bed at 6pm.  but if it's 8pm east coast time... i'm all for it.  sooo, as i said, if we'd be in colorado she would have just gotten a late nap... but since we had the time zone change i just kept her up.  my mom can attest to the fact that by 7:15pm atlanta time, baby girl was begging me to go to sleep.  "naaaapppp.  i want naaaaapppp.  baby naaaaaaappppppp."  well, okay baby, you can have your nap (nap = naps and nighttime sleep)... in 45 minutes.  hang in there.

and on that note, i'm off to take a nap myself.

flying bunny take two

these are the pictures from this flying bunny post.  hopefully these work now...

 

 

 

jumping

flying

 

 

 

 

being stealth

leaving for atlanta

it's been busy.  chelsey's baby shower thursday night, making a dinner for a family in our ward/going to a high school play friday night, parker days parade and festival saturday morning, cleaning saturday afternoon, and having the derenthals visit friday night until this afternoon after church, and now packing for abigail and myself for our trip to atlanta tomorrow.

then we'll be in atlanta for a week, north carolina at the beach for a week, home for three days and then girls camp for the rest of the week.  june is a busy month and although i've been sucking at blogging, i'm going to try and be more consistent because i'm inspired by the young women lesson today we had on the importance of journaling and record keeping.  sooo, here's to the 20 day challenge we got!  wish me luck!

pregnant chelsey and fake hosting

i sure do love me some pregnant chelsey.  just for reference, she's my first counselor in young womens.  and i love her to death.  did i say that already?  whoops.

anyways, tonight i fake hosted her baby shower.  if you've never fake hosted something before, let me tell you that this is the way to go.  it will make you feel like a grownup seeing something like this take place in your very own home!  basically i agreed to clean my house (the visible parts at least) and have her mom put my address on the invitations.  all of the food, decorations, etc. were brought over and set up 15 minutes before the shower started and i listened to adoring praises all night because apparently if tissue poms appear in your home, you probably made them.  and if that cupcake holder is on your table, you must have personally selected and purchased it.  and the food?  well go ahead and take credit for that too.  i mean, the water came out of your faucet so you can take credit for everything edible, right?

just kidding... i gave credit where credit was due (everywhere but here) and just enjoyed the party.  happy congratulations to pregnancy chelsey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

chelsey is on the left... and after she's no longer "pregnant chelsey" you better believe i'll be referring to her as "gorgeous chelsey"  because seriously, how could you not?!

 

and that is how you fake host a baby shower.  i highly recommend it.

"poopoo!" = "peekaboo!"

should my child ever cover her face and say "poopoo!"... you actually have no need to fear.  it's just a friendly game of peekaboo... no poo involved.

 

 

 

 

ps- i'm looooving the curls that are starting to happen on this little head of hers.

splash park

this morning, a few friends and i took our kids to a splash park and we stayed for over two hours.  it was awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we're definitely putting this in our weekly rotation from now on.

ice balls

 

 

 

i'm sure a someone with photography skills is cringing at these pictures.  three terrible attempts at a shot of the hail.  pitch black, through the glass, from far away.  it was a difficult shot for me.

last night honey was supposed to get home at 6:15.  then 6:30.  then 6:45.  then "i'll just text you when i leave."  so i gave up attempting to entertain baby girl inside (i was wearing my pajamas... actually we both were... and wasn't in the mood to model that to the neighbors) and took her outside.  the backyard happened for about 30 seconds before she requested the front yard.  the garage turned into the driveway then the sidewalk and then walking down the street to get the mail.  we saw a gorgeous rainbow that came from the dry storm (clouds, wind, thunder, and lightening, but no rain) we'd just had.  i took a picture and texted it to my honey.  then we walked back home.  in the ten minutes that lapsed the weather went from super sunny and hot and we were almost sweating... to windy and cloudy and cold.  baby girl hung out on the driveway begging me to play with her.  i hung out in the shelter of the garage begging her to come play with me.  then the sunny sky started to let out some raindrops.  then more and more.  all while my baby stood at the end of the driveway... not coming to me.  then it was really raining.  and eventually my baby inched her way up to the garage saying "wet! wet!"  yes baby girl... you're super wet now.  

and then the rain started pouring down and then blowing horizontally.  and then it started hailing and it looked like popcorn popping.  you won't see a video of this right now though because blogger sucks.  it was the size of large blueberries and it came down so hard that it bounced two feet high back in the air.  and it was so loud.  it was awesome.  meanwhile i was getting texts and calls from my friends saying stuff like "i don't have a tv, is everything okay?!" and "there's a freaking tornado watch!  i'm headed to my basement!" and from my neighbor saying "we're on lockdown at sam's club in their tornado shelter but hailey is at home alone right now... will you watch out for her if a tornado comes through the neighborhood?!" (ps- that neighbor was still at sam's club 2.5 hours later when i talked to her at 9pm).  then the hail stopped and two minutes later honey arrived home!  i was happy to see his undented car to which he replied, "what?  no, i didn't see any hail.  i didn't see any rain even until i pulled into our neighboorhood and it was sprinkling."  SERIOUSLY?!?!  so then we went and checked out the hail in the yard while i got more texts and calls.  and then we went inside.

and the rain, hail, thunder, lightening, crazy winds, etc. pattern kept going for the next three hours.  it would come down so hard i thought for sure it would break our house.  and then it would die down some.  and then it would come back in the blink of an eye... with a frightening vengance.  we waited until it died down enough (and they removed the tornado warnings) to take baby girl upstairs for bedtime.  it was so super crazy but so awesome.  i was fascinated.  i absolutely loooove storms like that.