Things I'm loving lately...

It's been awhile since I made a list....so here is what I am loving lately.

1. political chat. it makes me laugh. bring it on. i am a strong black woman.

2. tv-particularly sons of anarchy. i cannot believe that i watch this show. it is everything i shouldn't like but i have no qualms about watching it on tv. sometimes i hide my face because i cannot believe i am enjoying it. shan loves that i watch it with him.

3. noah's sense of humor. he really enjoys talking about his "big poops" and his butt.

4. my belly. it's large. i'm super calm about this pregnancy. oh- and it's a boy.

5. halloweeen. this last weekend we decorated the house shannon style. this means spider webs, gravestones, ghost, and a strobe light. it is ridiculous. my husband is clark w. griswald.

6. cupcakes. that is a given. one of my students brought me a dozen yesterday. it was magical.

7. people-particularly minta, eric, rece, mason, sarah,  julie and heav. their witty texts, conversations, facebook posts keep me going through the work week.

8. invisible children. great non-profit. strong message. rad people.

9. my mattress. enough said.

10. air conditioning. it's hot.

11. shannon. i could just make a shannon list-hmmmm next blog.

12. non leaking sippy cups. amazing.

13. gala apples, dried mangos,  2% milk, red sauce, garlic bread, and zofran.

#2

Well, well, well. We are pregnant. For those of you that know us-know that this is nothing short of a miracle. It's so crazy to me that we spend our 20's trying not to get pregnant, and our 30's trying to get pregnant. This baby is blessing.

He or she already has given us the element of surprise. For the last year and a half we have been charting, doing the BBT, ovulation kits-you name it. We even had a miscarriage last fall. So at  my last lady appointment  my doc asked if I was pregnant. I told him no-and he said it was time to take action. My doctor is awesome and knows how to deal with my sense of humor and anxiety. So he started ordering tests, and sent me to the infertility clinic up at UCSD. I went to my appointment on a Friday to create a baby making plan and start the process. I found out I was pregnant on the following Tuesday. Go figure!!!!! Then at my 9 week appointment I saw, and heard the heart beat. It was amazing! We are so excited and nervous at the same time.

One of the most exciting things is that our dear friends the Crosby's (you know the runners) are pregnant and one month ahead of us. It could not be more fun to have a girlfriend to text or call. and share this experience with:)

We are due in February, and cannot wait to meet Noah's brother or sister:)

Summer time part 2

I am in complete denial that my summer is over as of Wednesday. It makes me sad. When school lets out at the end of each year I am more excited than the kids. I push them out of the way so that I can start my summer before them.

This summer has been pretty relaxing since we didn't take a trip. Noah and I got really comfortable with our schedule. Wake up, coffee, breakfast, today show, pool (or activity), lunch, nap, park or walk, cook dinner together, bath time, story time, bed time. It was glorious. Sometimes we diverted from our schedule for really fun days.

We did go to the San Diego county Fair. Noah had a blast. Shannon and I realized that Noah was growing up as he got to ride several rides by himself. It was such a right of passage.

Noah loved riding the train of course. We did this ride three times!

Noah's first roller coaster. Of course Shannon and Noah rode in the front.

Gangsta truckers!

 So for the past 4 months Noah has been taking a dance class called Toddler Pop Stars. There was a culminating dance recital at the local rec center. I knew we were in trouble at the dress rehearsal when Noah literally laid down in the middle of the stage and cried. It was such a spectacle. So it shouldn't have surprised me when it came time for the actual show that it would go just as well. There were about 200 people in the audience, and the music was blasting and of course Noah screamed, laid down, and bawled. I laughed because then it was like a domino effect. Two more toddler pop stars lost it. Noah eventually ran off stage into Shannon's arms as I couldn't control my laughter. Parent of year-right here!

You would never know that a meltdown is about to commence.

The 4th of July was great! We went to the Coronado Parade with friends. Then we had the Crosby's over for a cookout. We ended the evening at the Olympic Training Center for the fireworks. I decided that it was the most American 4th of July ever! Especially with the Olympics just 11 days away! How lucky are we that we can walk to the Olympic Training Center for a private fireworks show just for our Eastlake community?!

Playing at the park before the Conoronado parade.

My favorite ladies at the Olympic training center waiting for the fire works.

All tuckered out. This picture is very rare.

This picture defines Noah-happy and always going at least 100 miles an hour!

 Another fun event that we did this summer was go to the drive in. A few girlfriends and I packed snacks, chairs, and blankets and took the kids to see Brave. It's the best way for kids to see the movies...they can move, play, or fall asleep. Noah loved it.

 

We spent most days at the pool. It was glorious.

Just a lazy day at the pool:)

On another awesome day my best friend Sarah hooked us up! She is super cool and has season tickets to the Padres. There was a special event for ticketholders where you can eat on the ball field. It was delicious and awesome! We even got a private tour of Petco Park, it was amazing. Noah was stoked because he got a free baseball. What an awesome summer memory.

Noah was so excited to be on the ball field.

One of my favorite days this summer was when we took a train ride with Grandma to San Luis Obispo. Noah was so excited to ride the train. It was a magical day for him. We rode up to San Luis Obispo, ate lunch, and walked around the mission. It was beautiful and hot. So then we got ice cream:)

My son is obsessed with trains. He literally wore a train tee shirt, played with his Thomas trains while riding the train. The conductors really got a kick out of him.

Noah and Grandma in the Mission's Chapel.

In the mission garden.

This might be my favorite pic of the summer.

    While this summer I was all about bonding with Noah-it was also about getting away with the ladies! I went to Palm Springs with 5 girl friends and it was amazing. We stayed at the Saguaro resort which literally looked like a bag of skittles. I was in love. We all left our husbands, responsibilities, kids, the house, and our inhabitions. (ok- well maybe not our inhabitions) For 48 hours we were giddy, silly, glutenous, 21 again, and free. It was the best! We accomplished many things-shopping at the outlets, delcious pizza, Magic Mike, a sex shop, ice cream, amazing mexican food, shopping, laying out at the pool, a sex shop (yes twice), doing hair and make-up, room service (15 dollar guacamole), drinks, a fantastic breakfast, ocean spray, keeping a list of quotes from the weekend that were "unpublishable"....it was such a fun weekend. Tori did all of our make-up on Saturday night and we looked amazing. We decided that it should be an annual event. Our husbands will love us much more if we take time for ourselves:) I loved laughing and making memories with these ladies!

My purple shoes were the exact same color as the carpet!!!!

Ladies night out!!!!! Heeeeeeeeeey!

Our balcony and view!

Shopping!!!!

Everyone should have a girlfriend that is a professional hair and makeup lady!!! The glamfacTori made us all look beautiful!

This was the throw blanket on the bed. I was in love!


We still have to accomplish a more this summer!!!! I need to finish Noah's big boy room, see Batman, go to Legoland, and sleep some more:)

Running is a four letter word.

*Just a disclaimer this post may be slightly offensive.*

I hate running. It's disgusting. I am lazy and I love being lazy. My favorite place in my house is my bed (and not for reasons that you think) but becuase I love my bed. There is nothing better than snuggling in my bed and watching TV. It is heaven. About a year ago my husband started exercising and he lost about 65 pounds. It was crazy. All of a sudden I was married to Richard Simmons. You may remember the post I did earlier about his triathlons. It was amazing to see him do the difficult races, however I was not motivated to do anything about it.

Shan's first triathlon with our super fit friends the Crosby's.

Shan and Shannon (another super fit friend) doing after the Fearless triathlon which was a double sprint triathlon. INSANE!!!!! Soooooo after watching Shan do several races I decided to attempt to walk and get healthy. I am definitely not the poster child for healthiness. I love cupcakes, pizza, noodles, pizza, cheese, coca cola, pizza, cupcakes, m&m's, and did I mention pizza? The first thing that we did was the Thanksgiving 5k last November. Shan ran the whole in thing in like 5 minutes and I walked/dragged my butt with Noah in the bob. It sucked. And on top of that our super fit friends the Crosby's ran it as well and the three of them did it so fast! Shan finished the race and came back to finish it with me. I love my husband.

We were all smiles before the race-but really I was nervous and just wanted a cupcake.

One of these things is not like the other! Me-I hate running. Two of my lady friends are crazy, fabulous, fit, runners. I hate them. Not really-but I envy their drive, determine and and their pant size:) In addition to my husband they are a great source of encouragement and support.

Seriously a half marathon-kudos to heav!!! These be-otches are beyond super fit.

For my birthday Heav and Tori got me a giftcard to REI. I was able to purchase these shoes for free! I love them. They are a minimalist shoe with tons of arch support and they put a little bounce in my step. I waited forever for solid shoes and I love these! (but I still hate running)

My pretty shoes. The only time that I can run is before Noah and Shannon wake up. Which means that I have to run around 5 am-it's way early, cold, and I have to wear a headlamp. Now that it is summer time the sun is up early and I am enjoying running in the sunlight:) (but not really)

It's 5 am-what are you doing? I am up running. Disgusting.

My second race was in March and it was called the Hot Chocolate Race. I decided to do this race because I will run for chocolate. Plus you got a super cute jacket for running it. Once I finished the race we got a bento box with goodies and then chocolate fondue to dip it in! It was amazing. Plus we got free samples of Ghiradelli chocolate because they sponsored the race. I will do this race every year.

I will run for chocolate! I will run fast for chocolate. My fabulous fit friend Christine.

Getting ready to eat our buffet of chocolate! My friends Hanna and Christine. In May I went to San Francisco with my students. I wanted to keep up the stamina as I had a race the weekend I came back. My students are awesome. It was great to run along the embarcadero and see the Golden Gate bridge all lit up. My students were fast and I was very slow.

My kids and I on a 5 am run in San Francisco.

I came home from San Francisco on a Friday night at midnight and I had to run a race the next morning at 8 am. It was rough. At least it was fun. We ran a race called the ROC race. ROC stood for Ridiculous Obstacle Course, and it was ridiculous. We climbed hills, slid down slides, jumped in pools, hopped fences, slid down poles, slid on ropes, and went down monster water slides. It was insane. I am so glad that we finished that race-and I was super filthy once it was finished.

All these ladies are cute, tiny and in shorts. Hmmmm. I hate them, but only when we run together.

There are no words-my face says it all. Most of the time when I run my inner dialogue goes a little something like this..."skinny jeans, cupcakes, f$&*, pizza, move your fat a$$, i wish Justin Timberlake was running with me, this is only an hour of your life, s&^*, i hate running, cupcakes, new clothes, oooo I love this Britney song, this hurts, f&^%!!!!!!"

I

I am going to persevere.

Our wall of pride.

My love. And I mean Shan, not running.

Summer part 1

I am a professional at summer vacation. I am kinder, productive, cleaner, and more relaxed. Even my husband loves me more:) It's only been about a week and a half of vacation yet I feel like so much has happened! The best part of break is hanging out with Noah everyday. We wake up together, eat breakfast, watch the today show, go to the farmers market, play at the park, go to toddler pop stars dance class, share Popsicles, kiss, and hug a lot.

I love my little Noah!

Last week was busy! On Wednesday we went with Grandma to a special event at the Wild Animal Park. It was awesome! It was a private event for donors-I will never go to that Wild Animal Park any other way. We got to ride the carousel for free-AND ride the African Safari for free too! Plus there were no lines-and we ate a yummy dinner! It was a magical evening!

Noah playing in the bird's nest.

Noah and Grandma getting ready to go on the safari!

Mommy and Noah as bats!

The second part of the week was crazy because I had my tap recital and my mom came to visit. For those of you that know my mom know that our relationship could be compared to a root canal, an enema, a mammogram, chemo/radiation, or a straight up punch in the face. Things that are a pain in the butt, but inevitably have to happen. However, this trip was actually enjoyable. We had fun, relaxed, and genuinely enjoyed each other. It was so weird.

Last Saturday night was my tap recital in Balboa Park. After a year and half of tap classes it was time to shine on stage. It was hilarious. I cannot wait to post the professional photos that we took! I even ordered a coffee mug with our fancy photo on it. (Someday that is going to be an amazing goodwill find for someone!)  Our class was such a motley crew! It was really fun to go through this experience with my girl friends-Sarah, Nancy and Janine. We laughed so hard-and our husbands got some great ammunition after seeing us in our slutty ganster costumes. We looked ridiculous, but we tapped our little hearts out! One of the funniest moments was actually walking to the theater from the holding room because we literally had to walk through a wedding! Yes-20 slutty gangster -loud tap shoe wearing adults. It was hysterical! Then in the middle of our dance Mary (age 65) slipped and fell, and I had to help her up.  Insanity! I cannot wait for fall semester. Learning a new skill has been a lot of fun. And all this transpired because I was watching SYTYCD and thought "that doesn't look hard-I can do that." Boy-am I an idiot! I love tapping, and the sound it makes on the floor-kind of like how I love the sound of a casino.

Sarah is the bestest friend of all time! This pic was taken at our dress rehearsal.

Sarah, Nancy, Janine, and me getting ready to "tap our troubles away." Don't be jealous of our neckties:)

So back to my mom. She came out for my recital, and stayed for four days. It was really sweet of her to fly out here just for my recital, and it meant a lot. We stayed at the Hotel Del Coronado for four days and it was amazing. We leisurely lunched, went to the spa, shopped, had cocktails, swam, and genuinely embraced our time together. Noah loves seeing Nana-and now believes that the Del is "Nana's Castle." He has so much fun with Nana. She introduced him to shrimp cocktail, and he introduced her to his train collection.

Mom and I on the beach after brunch.

Watch out ladies-He is all mine!

Our happy little family.

Nana made Noah laugh:)

Sunday Brunch at the Del.

Noah and Nana kisses.

We made Noah go shopping all day on Friday so we made good on our promise to go swimming. However, it was literally 64 degrees out, and so we had to get his suit off right after we got out. We couldn't resist taking a picture of his chunky butt!

 Needless to say it has been a wonderful start to the summer, and I cannot wait for the rest of the summer. I am looking forward to Noah's dance recital, a girlfriends getaway, train rides, the pool, and sleeping.  In the words of Noah-see ya soon!