Reason #27

Reason #27 I can't wait for Thomas to come home: I hate wresstling with Gus-Gus. He has a giant triangle brick for a head and he does a lot of licking. Not to mention his 86lbs (just got weighed last week at the Vet) of pure muscle throwing itself into me causing my achy joints to scream when I push him. Why do I do it, you ask? Because this 86lbs of muscle dog will chew on toys, etc if he doesn't get his energy out. So I have to. Until Thomas comes home.

Dinner Out

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the last time I ate dinner out was the night we spent away from the kids before he left for Afghanistan. Before that?... Sometime before Glenn was born. I've had offers from friends of going to their house for dinner, or out to dinner, but I always decline because Glenn doesn't seem to do well in the car seat after dark.

Today I decided to try it out and see what happened. Crying. Lots of crying.

Since Ambrosio came over to fix the bathroom wall today, we didn't go anywhere in the morning. After so much time spent inside, I looked at the blue rain-free sky and decided to take the kids down to the ocean to walk along the sidewalk and then maybe have dinner down there. Glenn was in desperate need of a nap (Genny came in talking loudly while I was putting him down this morning, so he woke right up and didn't go down again), so the car ride helped that out. What didn't help was the fact that I realized I forgot my wallet at home after we parked down town and had to drive back to get it. Glenn let me know that he had been in the car a little too long.

After the screaming and crying ceased (aka when we parked and I got him out) we had a nice chilly stroll by the ocean. Then we ate at a Japanese resteraunt for dinner and had Cold Stone ice cream for dessert. It was all very lovely but quite chilly.

Thank You Ambrosio

I had good intentions. I wanted to complete a few home projects while Thomas was gone to Afghanistan. There were fences to paint, rooms to paint, and an ugly wall of tiled mirrors to be fixed. I searched and searched, but can't seem to find a picture of the ugliness that was our mirrored wall in our bathroom. Just take a look at the pictures below and imagine square tile mirrors on every inch of all three walls. Now imagine an unleveled rusty light fixture which was probably from the 70's. Yah, I know. I'm glad to see these new fresh walls complete with the Whisper Yellow Behr Ultra paint I picked out. Now all I have left to do is re-seal the shower and finish painting the rest of the bathroom. But there is still a fence to paint...

Kari's Croissant Grilled Sandwich

Ok, I'm a sandwich girl. I like to make them, I like to eat them. This one is the best one I've made in quite a while. Here's the recipe:

Kari's Croissant Grilled Sandwich

Ingredients:
Croissant[s]
Gouda sliced cheese (mine is from Trader Joes)
Antibiotic-free deli meat (yay hate free!)
Butter
Spinach

Fillet the croissant and butter the inside. Grill in a pan until crisp. Add cheese, meat, then spinach and grill on both sides.
DONE!

Oh my, this sandwich was so good. I only made one, thinking that Genny wouldn't like her portion and would end up eating meat, cheese and spinach separately, but she loved it and ate more than half of the sandwich.

Tomorrow I will make another.

Dinner with the Jones's

I had a package. A giant foot locker weighing in between 70 and 100lbs sent from my husband in Afghanistan. The predicament was somehow getting it to my car with two small children to wrangle.

I didn't even try.

As the months have come and gone since Thomas's deployment started, I've tried to sprinkle out my manly needs amongst my neighbors. Ask one man to clean up a dead mouse, ask another to start up the motorcycles. It was Nick's turn for me to ask a favor of him, and I needed Rosy's help too. I asked her to watch the kids while Nick and I went to get the foot locker. Afterwards, we all had dinner here, I made my new favorite meal Lazy Baked Greek Chicken. They all stayed after to watch/help put Genny down. It's such a nice break in routine to have someone stay and hang out while I'm putting Genny down. It helps Glenn if he's super tired (like tonight) and it keeps Genny going with the routine, as opposed to her vehement "NO!"s that she tells me when sensing my urgency of getting her to bed when in order to get Glenn to bed.

As I finish tonight's blog, I think to myself, tomorrows Friday. I finally get my massage. This is one of the luxuries I deemed a necessity while Thomas has been gone. With caring for these two babes 99% of the time, I get sore muscles and boy does that massage feel good on them. I have found the goddess Karin from Massage Carlsbad and just LOVE her massages. I even want to be her friend outside of our business relationship and plan on inviting her to my next gathering, which will hopefully be in the next month or two for Thomas's welcome home party.

My sore muscles and I need to go to bed. And we need to stop off in the nursery on our way there to soothe a crying baby. Maybe when Thomas comes home I can stop trying to do the Sears Method and focus on the Ferber Method full time. Maybe then Glenn and I will both get some sleep...

That would be a small Raspberry Torte hanging out of Glenn's mouth. He has a fascination with those Strawberry Shortcake dolls!

On a side note: Gus had a heck of a time trying to find a hiding spot for his bone tonight. It took him about four tries, but he finally found a good spot for it to hide.

Then he went and snuggled up with a giraffe and June [from The Little Einsteins]

Where Do You Keep Your Baby?

Gus wanted to say Hi.


Leave a comment with a link if you have any laundry-basket-with-a-baby-in-it pictures!

There's A Storm A Brewin'!!!

Ah Kate... With your wide-eyed innocence that doesn't acomodate the fear of the elements nor preparation for them. You sit in your house, no candles, no extra water on reserve and none of your firewood available. What will you do when the power goes out? You will sit in the dark, thirsty and cold.

Or maybe you'll sit in the warmth of your house and turn on the tap for some water. Maybe you'll flick the switch to turn on the light. I'll sit in my house with extra supplies for nothing... Yah, that sounds a lot more likely.

Yes Kate, you are prepared. You are prepared for the one to two inches of rain we will get over the next two days. How did you prepare? By doing nothing. Because nothing is what is warrented of this storm we have here. My silly flare for the dramatic has landed me with extra water sitting in containers and knowledge of where the candles and flashlights are. I am so humerously overly prepared that Kate seemed to try to mask her amusement at my worries tonight at dinner. Ah Kate, if I didn't realize how much I've over done it, I wouldn't have even known...

So kudos to you, Kate, for not making me feel like a complete idiot in explaining my preparations for this 'huge storm' we're having here. What a good friend.

P.S. The reason I prepare? I grew up in Northern Michigan where you had to have supplies in your car in the winter because it was probable that if you got stuck in a snow drift somewhere you were there for at least a few hours, maybe even longer since cell phones weren't as common back then. We also had to leave the water dripping so the pipes didn't freeze... Then I lived in Okinawa where we had five [count 'em, FIVE] typhoons [hurricanes] my first summer there, one lasting five days. So since I've lived in areas where you need to prepare for the elements, I tend to overly prepare. Cause there's nothing like realizing you're out of something and knowing you can't get more for a few days.

Thank goodness I have all this water! (just kidding, I have the water in my Disaster Preparedness Kit just in case I need it)

Yup, these tea light candles sure will keep the place lit up at night if the power goes out. ;) It's sad to say, but I thought about making a trip to K Mart to buy some bigger candles just in case.

This is me saying to you, "Yup, nothings going to happen and I'm a silly woman for thinking it would"

Playing Outside

Every day [excluding rainy days] we, as a family, go outside to go for a walk and play. We go out between 3:30 and 4:30pm, and stay out for about an hour or so, depending on the day. Some days we also play outside after we get home from our morning errands as well, but the afternoon stroll is a must for me, and it's great for the kids too. I say that it's a 'must' for me because, as a stay at home mom, the afternoons have a way of dragging on, causing fatigue for me, as well as tantrums for Genny. Playing outside is good for the soul, and whereas we do live in a climate where we could spend most of the day outside, I've come to realize that too much fresh air can lead to even more tantrums. Plus I don't want to contribute to the skin cancers my kids will most likely get some day due to the fact they are growing up in Southern California as opposed to Michigan.

Here's a little glimps into one of our afternoons outside. This particular one involves hanging out in Kate's front yard while she planned her garden and planted seeds for it. Genny was eager to help plant the peas.

It's bubble season here at the Alford house.

Here's a few mugs Thomas probably hasn't seen in a while: Baby D and Jake

San Diego

Today I had an appointment down in San Diego. It was at 10am, so afterwards we got some lunch at a pizza place, then fed the meter again so we could find somewhere to nurse. As luck would have it, there was a Borders within view of where we parked, so I was able to not only nurse, but use the bathroom as well (a rare treat when you aren't familiar with the area you're in). We ended up loosing BOTH of baby Glenn's socks, but Genny got a few new books to hopefully help her learn her letters.

What little girl wouldn't want to learn her letters with this book?!

With "C" for cupcake and "I" for ice cream, it's a surefire winner!

The other books we got: a discounted four-book set that has letters, numbers, colors & shapes, and animals; 'That's Not My Bunny' (a favorite book from Aunt Christine's house); and a 50% off 'Where Is Love, Biscuit?' book.

Valentine's Day!!

I'm psyched. Genny is old enough to appreciate holidays, so I may have gone a little overboard... I made pancakes and cut heart shapes out of them, I did the same with our grilled cheese and spinach sandwiches, and we are all wearing Valentines Day shirts. I didn't decorate the house, so I guess it isn't quite overboard. Next on the calendar- St Patrick's Day!



Genny's breakfast

Glenn liked the pancakes too!

My pancakes

Heart shaped grilled cheese and spinach sandwiches

Genny's craft (a red paper heart that she decorated)

My beautiful roses from Thomas

Right Now

Right now this boy:

~figured out how to get out of the fence in the living room that I haven't had to connect [until today]
~Loves melba toast crackers
~Still has no teeth (I'm starting to think the amber teething necklace I bought him is preventing his teeth from coming in)
~Babbles "dadadada"
~crawls almost as fast as Genny runs
~has a ticklish back
~goes to bed at 7:30pm and wakes up for the day at [the latest] 5am
~is precious in every way

Cupcake Dress

I bought Genny a cupcake dress. (she's obsessed with cupcakes, cookies and ice cream)

High School Community Service

Thank you, Obligatory High School Community Service. Because of you, I was able to weed a bit in the back yard [jungle] as well as run to the 7/11 to get lottery tickets, and not to mention: take a shower.

My neighborhood teenager has offered babysitting since the day we moved in. I remember the kids gathering around Thomas as he unloaded boxes from the truck, asking him questions, and 'S' volunteering her services if we ever needed them. I'm not a big fan of leaving Genny with anyone except medical personal, but Shelby's dad told me the other day that she needs to complete 100 hours of community service before she graduates, and she wants to baby sit to complete them. I marinated the thought in my mind, and realized that if she came over, I could get some stuff done around the house while she occupied the kids. It was perfect: I was outside, in earshot of the kids, but not having to worry if Genny was pushing Glenn or if he was choking on something. I picked up dog poop, and started tackling the area between our master bedroom slider and the sunroom that Thomas paved last year (because it was tragically looking like it was supposed to be grass and weeds instead of pavers).

Thomas has been doing a little of his own marinating: a plan for the back yard landscaping. I thought it would be nice for him if he didn't have to take care of a bunch of weeds first before he started on anything he has planned. Let's just see how much I get done before he gets home... This could end up just like the master bathroom project and sit half-way done. But then again, any de-weeding is better than none.

Pre-weeding

This is what I got done. I had to stop if I wanted to get a shower in before I let 'S' go home. I did get other spots in the back yard weeded, but these are the only pictures I took. (and yes, they are two different angles, not because I wanted to confuse you, but because I took one picture outside, and one from my bedroom slider)

Meetup Valentines Day Party

I heart my meetup group. I joined when I was pregnant with Glenn, and since having him we've been to many meetups. It's a small group, and I really enjoy the women and children.

One of the moms held a Valentines Day party last week and boy was it fun! It was probably the best Valentines Day party I've ever been to. From the decorations, to the food (yummy heart-shaped cupcakes, cookies, grapes and oranges) it was wonderful. She had so many activities planned that we only got to a few of them before we had to leave to go home for lunch. All in all, it was a good first Valentines Day party for the kids!