One of Those Days

I woke up this morning feeling like I was hit by a bus. Not sure what is going on, but my entire body is sore and I'm just not feeling well. I'm hoping it's not a precursor to some sort of spring cold. Maybe it's because my body knows I have to return to work on Monday and it's going into shut-down mode. If that is the case, I may have to tell Tim returning to work is probably not such a good idea!!!

Of course, when I'm not feeling well, Sophie and Noah sense this immediately and feel the need to make my job as a Mommy extra tough today! Noah decided to skip his morning nap today and Sophie decided to get up an hour earlier than usual. Fantastic....Sophie is also going through this phase where she changes her mind a thousand times and goes back and forth deciding what she wants. Just what I need, another indecisive member of this household. We always have this in-depth conversation in the morning about what she will eat for breakfast. "Cereal, no I want oatmeal. No, I want cereal. No, I want toast, I want toast! No, I want a muffin. Yes, I want a muffin." I proceed to ask her if she is sure she wants a muffin and she states, "Yes! No! I want cereal. Cereal! Cereal!" You get the picture. So finally, she decides on oatmeal (or so I think). I make her a bowl of oatmeal, with much love, and place it in front of her after taking 5 good minutes to cool it down to the oh-so-perfect temperature. She pushes the bowl away and says, "I don't want oatmeal."

Some days I give in because I just want her to eat (she's not the best eater in the world and I always fear she's malnourished) and other days I stand strong and say that is her only choice for breakfast. Needless to say, inconsistency isn't the answer when it comes to parenting. Long story short, I ate the oatmeal and she had a muffin. I can't wait to see what my loving children have in store for me when naptime comes!!!

He's a Rolling Fool!!!

So, just like Sophie, I have missed yet another milestone. Noah, for the very first time ever, rolled over today! He is only 12 weeks and I can't recall when Sophie rolled over, but I guarantee it wasn't this early. Anyway, I get this phone call from Tim just as I left to pick up Sophie from pre-school and he broke the good news to me. Great....good thing I practically wear a camera around my neck all day to make sure I don't miss anything. I leave for 10 minutes and this happens!

Don't Look Too Long, It's Gross

As you can see in the beautiful picture, Tim sprained his ankle pretty severely during a slow-pitch softball game last week. It's still really swollen, as you can see, but it's finally starting to bruise on the bottom. The doctor thought it was broken, but thankfully, it is not. Forget Tim, I'm not sure how I would cope if he ended up on crutches for 6 weeks! It's hard enough being the "go fetch" girl for Noah and Sophie, I can't deal if Tim is added to the mix!

Anyway, since Tim is injured, I have had the pleasure of taking care of some outdoor tasks, including mowing the lawn. I understand our yard isn't that large (however, by California standards it's huge!) and I don't have any hills to contend with, but it was definitely an experience. It took me three times as long to mow the lawn because I refused to attempt any speed higher than 1; I was very much content with a nice slow pace. I've realized I could never ever work for Tim because banana lines probably wouldn't go over well on a golf course. Tim didn't seem to care and was just happy I was okay with actually tackling this chore.

Tim and I learned two things when we moved to California. 1) Nobody out here mows their own lawn and 2) Nobody out here washes their own car. I know I'm making a huge generalization about an entire state, but I'm not kidding when I say I can probably count on one hand the number of people that actually do these tasks on their own. And these "people" I'm talking about usually are not from here originally....they've either just moved or are transplants and refuse to give in. I am really not judging either party and understand the convenience of having someone else help with these tasks. And maybe, just maybe, I've given in to #2. I don't think Tim will ever let anyone else take care of his lawn, so I think we're safe in this department. Besides, nobody else could do a better job! Anyway, I did it and I wouldn't mind doing it again...there, I said it. Actually, taking care of the outside seems kind of fun compared to laundry, cooking, vacuuming, dusting, bathroom cleaning, etc. But, I think Tim is too smart and would never trade!

My Little Prop

O-H-I-O
This is what Tim would like to refer to as Noah's linebacker pose.

Thanks for Riding the Sierra Express

Sophie loves to ride Sierra like a horse and like the good mom that I am, I captured her getting thrown off Sierra with my video camera. You will hear me roar with laughter at the end, but I did check to make sure she was all right after I shut off the camera....don't worry, she was, and she had a good laugh about it as well!

http://www.vimeo.com/clip:166943
password: sono

Easter Egg Drive-Thru

We are spending Easter in Reno with my family, so I made sure to ask my sister to look for places Sophie can go to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt. Easy enough, we get a long list of options. Most of the good ones are on actual Easter Sunday, but we wanted to find one for today because we'll be traveling home tomorrow afternoon. We decide, quite confidently, in going to the event held by one of the libraries in town. No, they weren't hiding the eggs IN the actual library, they did hide them outside. So, we go to this Easter Egg Spectacular and expect it to be pretty decent. There seems to be a good turnout and Sophie is super excited.

I walk in the check-in room and read on the board, "2 Egg maximum." WHAT??? I bought a big freaking basket so my daughter can pick up 2 eggs??? Okay, for Sophie, I maintain my positive attitude and ask my sister and Tim if I read the board correctly. Oh yes, I certainly did. So, finally it's time for us to line up and go outside. I kid you not, my blinks in the late afternoon last longer than this egg hunt did. My sister was supposed to take pics but it happened so quick she couldn't even get the phrase "say cheese" out. We walked outside, picked up two eggs, and proceeded right out to our car. How do you explain to a little girl that, although you see a thousand eggs in front of you, you can technically only pick up two of them. You don't, so you let her pick up five eggs, scoop her up, and jet to the car. So, we waited longer for the egg hunt to begin than we did actually participating in the egg hunt. Thanks for playing.......

The best one seems to be up at Squaw Valley tomorrow, they are promising 5000 eggs to be hidden all around the village. Snow, Easter eggs, crisp mountain air, beautiful scenery.....sounds great, but we sadly have to pass on this extravaganza because Mommy has decided to create her own Easter egg hunt for little Sophie. This way, Sophie gets all the eggs, Mommy doesn't have to kick any little kids in the shin for getting in my baby's way, and I'm not required to drive an hour to enjoy the event!! Win, win, win.....Happy Easter.

Noah the Giant

Here's Noah sleeping in his crib. Doesn't he look like a giant? He looks like he's at least 29-years-old!!! Who needs to go out and have a social life when Tim and I can amuse each other by doing things like this??? Seriously, send help quick......

Sophie the Giant

Doesn't she look like a giant in this picture? She looks like she's at least five years old!!! This is the outfit she wore to Noah's baptism. She absolutely loved it and walked in front of the mirror at least 20 times checking herself out.

My Little Diva Child

I am slowly beginning to realize the monster I have on my hands. She is incredibly smart, but at the same time, she is acting way too old for her own age. Lately, when she isn't listening very well, I repeat myself by saying something like, "Sophie, I said no. The answer is no." And she, of course, is not happy with this answer 99% of the time. Well, she has taken it upon herself to quote me on pretty much everything I say. Tonight, we were running an errand together and she asked to have her window rolled down. I said it was a little cold outside and I wasn't going to roll down the window. To which she replied, "Mommy, I SAID please." Oh really Little Miss Thang??? Apparently, she thinks this is the magical phrase used to get what you want. "Mommy, I said NO.....Mommy, I said NOW!"

On top of everything else, she is going through an annoying routine before bedtime. It is necessary to ask me where EVERYONE on the planet lives.....It usually goes something like this, "Mommy, where does Santa live? Mommy, where does the Easter Bunny live? Mommy, where does Sophie live? Mommy, where does Daddy live?" And this cycle is repeated at least five times. Sometimes, I'll try and shut the door after the first cycle and walk away. But then, she will scream at the top of her lungs, "MOMMY, WHERE DOES SANTA LIVE???!!!" This is repeated over and over until I open the door and go through the cycle again.

Normally, I wouldn't succumb to this behavior and would be able to ignore her or even threaten that I'll take something away if she isn't quiet ("threaten" is easily interchanged with the term "teach"....it's all the same in Mommy's world). But when you just put down an 11-week old baby and he is finally sound asleep right next door, you give in to these ridiculous games to keep the the child quiet. So, I patiently answer her questions night after night, over and over again. I was so flustered with some answers, I accidentally told her the Easter Bunny lives in a basket. So now she believes the Easter Bunny, indeed, lives in a basket.

The other night, Tim jumped in on one of the cycles and told her the Easter Bunny lives in the ground (???) and this just threw Sophie for a loop. She had to correct her daddy and said, "NO!!! The Easter Bunny lives in a basket!" Tim came in and proceeded to question the Easter Bunny's habitat and then asked that I write down the appropriate answers to all her questions so he doesn't feel like an ass next time he tries to help. The excitement in our lives overwhelms me sometimes.

Noah's Baptism

Today was Noah's baptism and he did wonderfully. He didn't make a peep during the whole ceremony, but he did make a poop right before the ceremony! I was so paranoid everyone in the church was able to smell it, but we made it out of there okay and he didn't squirm one bit!
The whole family together....Sierra, unfortunately, was unable to join us but she was patiently waiting at home for our arrival.
Here's some family members who attended the actual baptism ceremony, including Brandon, who is serving as one of Noah's godparents. Jen, my best friend, is Noah's other godparent, but she was unable to attend. We had a party at our house right after and had about 20 members of our family come over and celebrate.