The Best Library Find, Yet!

The book has a wonderful message. Take care of your belongings. It's simple, really.
It's not so much the story I fell in love with, but the drawings.
They make me smile.
My heart skipped a beat when the book's pages opened to the centerfold. I gasped and pivoted my position for Tim to see it too. It is a truly amazing work of art. It's awesome. I've never read anything like it. We excitedly took it to check out.

Audrey specifically asks for "Mi Carrito" before bedtime. I just love to hear her repeat some of the Spanish words.

From the picture below (the centerfold), you can get an idea of the diction used throughout the book.

(Click on picture to take you to Flickr. You can view the large size there by clicking on the caption under the photo. Then, you can read the passage!"

And why wasn't this a top seller?

A Word On Lovies.

"What exactly is a lovey? A lovey, also known as a transitional object, is something that a child uses to aid their feeling of security. A perfect example of a lovey is the Linus’ blanket in Peanuts. Not all children have a lovey, but studies show that more than half of all toddlers do have a special blanket, doll, or stuffed animal."-Amy Cottrell (of Associated Content)

When I was pregnant, I always wondered what Audrey's lovey might be. I'd read several funny stories of strange attachments that toddlers have towards lip gloss, pot holders or tattered squares of once upon a time blankets. I often imagined that her lovey would be the uber soft baby blanket that I was knitting for her when I was 8 months along.... WRONG!
I began to wonder if she would ever attain a lovey, seeing as she was not growing attached to anything. She came very close to being attached to her baby doll, her barbie doll and her baby owl, but they never quite made it to lovey status.
What does my child, my child have to sleep with every night? What does she scream to hold onto while rocking to sleep? I could give you 53 guesses and you'd still be wrong.

Audrey's lovey is her sippy cup.

Yep. She cries and cries for it. "MY WATER!" She must hold it while falling asleep. Luckily, I can, without argument, wrangle it out of her hand before transferring her into her crib. But a sippy cup?

I guess it could be worse.

Just a Vision, for now.

Fingers Crossed.

I know it's taboo to talk about these kinds of things before they manifest, but damn if I don't lose my mind over this.
I feel like I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I've never experienced this much uncertainty before.
Selling a house and buying a house, on the contigency that you'll actually sell your house, is one of the more stressful things I've ever done. I hate it.
It should be exciting. I want to be excited. However, I am the biggest worry wort you'll ever meet. I'm also a skeptic, a pessimist, and a complete freak when I'm stressed to the max.

Long story short:
About three weeks ago I found myself in an awkward situation. I was pulling out of our neighborhood to go pick up Audrey from day care. After pulling out onto the main road, I noticed this lady was literally on my ass. She must have been flying down the road. She proceeded to pass me on a double line. This being my hood, I honked my horn. She slammed on her brakes. I came inches from her bumper. That wasn't it.
She got out of her car.
She came up to my window bobbing her head and cussing me out the whole way. She stuck her head in my car and her airbrushed fingernail came so close to my eyeball I thought I might lose it. She said something about, "How dare you pull out in front of me...blah blah blah." I managed to get a "First of all, I didn't pull out in front of you. Maybe if you were going the speed limit...." before she cursed at me again. At that point, I said, "Get out of my face." and rolled the window up on her. She remained outside the car blabbering away.
Finally, I grabbed my phone and dialed 911.
(Okay, so that wasn't so short.)

Anyway, it wasn't until I recalled the event for Tim, minutes later, that I realized how affected I was by it. I started sobbing on the phone. All I could think about was, "This crazy woman could have pulled a gun on me. She didn't give a shit about me." and "What if Audrey had been in the car." and "What if I would have slammed into the back of her."

This was, officially, the last straw for me. When I got home, with Audrey, I stuck a For Sale By Owner sign in the front yard. It had felt good. I was confident then. I wasn't acutally considering the idea that someone might call on it. I never imagined we'd be signing a contract 2 weeks later. Again, I never thought we'd find the perfect house on our first day out. Let alone, put a bid on it!

Now, I'm so unsure. Everything is up in the air. I have no control. My world could possibly be about to change in a matter of weeks. Be careful what you wish for, right?

We wait. We hope. We keep our fingers crossed.

I knocked on wood...

I did! I knocked on wood, but apparently not fast enough. Tim and I were talking just yesterday about how Audrey hasn't been sick since her surgery. Well, this morning she woke with a mild fever. It progressed to a 104 by the afternoon and she'd stopped eating.
You know something's really wrong when she doesn't eat yogurt, of all things.

Children never get sick at a convenient time, do they? Today, of all days... I had awards ceremonies at both of my schools that I missed. We signed a contract on our house (Yes, I'm still freaking out about it and have an enormous headache b/c I cried for about 20min before meeting with the Buyers.) Not to mention all of the other stuff that needs to be wrapped up at the end of a school year. Poor Audrey. She was so pitiful today. None of that other stuff matters. I'm just sayin', it never happens when you want to take a sick day and stay at home. I always feel guilty when I miss work, whatever the reason.

In short: I am one giant stress ball. My forehead is killing me. Sick baby between us. Fearing the future.

I'll be glad when everything settles down.

Now you can read all about it!

Remember what it was like to be so totally in love that you were on a constant high? You wore a grin as large as your ass is now. You listened adoringly to them tell stories and couldn't wait to be left alone, behind closed doors, so you could have your way with them. Well, now you can read all about it.
Rebecca and Garrett have started a blog. Finally. I can never get enough of this woman. She's beautiful, smart, encouraging, funny and just the nicest person you'll ever meet. And Gar-O, he's like a brother.
I'm just wondering how many of their stories she will actually dare to make public. Never a dull moment in that house!
Here's the link.
Yahootie!
Join me in living vicariously through them. Show their blog to your husband/wife and reminisce about that time you couldn't rip his/her clothes off fast enough. Appetizing young love at your fingertips.

Today, I got up first.

I am not a morning person. On a normal day, I pretend to be comatose while Tim rises to Audrey's beckoning from the crib. She lays in bed with us, for all of about 10 minutes, until Tim gives in and gets up for the day.
Me? Yeah, I get about 20 more minutes of shut-eye before dragging myself to the bathroom for my 5 minutes of prep. Some days I don't even brush my hair! The horror! I'm such a slacker.
All of this history is to preface today's entry about how things were different this morning.

I got up first.

That's right. 364 days of the year Tim takes the lead. Today, he slept in and thanked me for it. He is golden. I should do this for him more often.

Nah.

It wasn't so bad really- the getting up early. We got dressed, listened to some obnoxious children's music and headed downstairs to get the coffee a-brewin'. It's usually very quiet in the morning (because I'm such a crabby mccrabberson in the am and will complain if Tim walks too hard on the floor. I'm such a bitch!) Anyway, I'm not that considerate. (I love you, honey!) Blondie blared in the background whilst spatula flipped eggs and toddler chased dogs. In other words, we were freakin' loud. Tim didn't seem to mind.

He made his entrance half asleep. I think it was the smell of coffee that eventually lured him downstairs. As you can see in the video, he was headed straight for the coffee maker in true zombie fashion, before realizing Audrey was talking to him.





Good Morning, Sweet Pea! from my daily struggl on Vimeo

Once he had some joe, we all commenced in the living room (which we never do) and danced, danced, danced. Dancing and laughing at 8am? I don't voluntarily open my mouth to speak until about 9, on a normal day. And that's because I have to!
And another thing, I realized I've never been awake to notice that my husband dresses like an 80 year old man in the morning. Seriously. Moccasins? That alone can be considered a bonus to sleeping in. Other than that, I think I've been missing out on this morning thing. I'd consider it again. Especially since I think I make the better cup of java.

Not to mention, a great start set the tone for the day. It was perfect.

The Birthday Girl Wanders Off Into The Forest...

...While Father Plays With Gift.

I don't care how old you are, bubbles are fun.
And I don't care how hard I try to take a cool picture, I always manage to cut off someone's head.

Audrey's Birthday Debut!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
Nothing. I mean nothing gives me more joy than- my husband, photography, children and most of all Audrey.
So, you can imagine my delight when I was lazily flipping through Popular Photography only to come across a half spread of Audrey Rose! (I knew they might publish it, but I didn't know if or when.) I think the entire front half of the book store might have heard me squeal, "Tim! Tim! It's in here! There she is!" Pretty freakin' cool. AND awesome Mother's Day gift.

Today, Audrey, you are two. Two. It still doesn't sound right, however many times I repeat it.
Two years ago today, my heart grew 73 times. It has continued to grow every time I see your smile or hear your laughter. Every time you hold my hand or grab onto my leg for security. Every time I hear you say, "Mommy!" or see tears run down your face. Every time you snuggle up to me or tickle my arm. Every time I listen to your soft breathing or watch your golden curls bounce in the wind. Every time I watch you and your father together. Every time I realize how fragile you are, how fragile life is.

Sometimes I feel as if it will explode, my heart.

It's scary to love something or someone so much. Some people fear it so much that they never want to make themselves vulnerable. Some people crave it so much that they set themselves up for disappointment. Some people grow numb to the feeling and lose appreciation. And some people soak up every little moment so they don't forget what it feels like. I'd like to think that I am the last one. I think that's why I've latched onto photography. Document, document, document. Her first tooth! Her first bike! Her first boo boo!
I know some of you might find it annoying. Me, I love it.

Being a mom is tops.
So, Happy Mother's Day out there, to all of you. Mom, you too!
We all have THE most important job.
Now, get out there and document it.

More Audrey update to follow.

Summer?

Bring it on.