Monday, May 28, 2012

in theory...great. in practice...not so much. :)

tonight was one of those nights when the clock struck 8:00pm, my little guy finally fell asleep (after getting a very late start on bedtime due to too much fun) and i made that sweet and unfortunate decision to lay for just one more minute with eyes closed, snuggled up next to him.

...and then i woke up...at 11:00pm.

crap. yes, in theory falling asleep next to your sweet little bug at 8:00pm sounds AMAZING. in practice? eh...not so much. when i woke up i was so disoriented. i couldn't immediately piece together what happened, hadn't brushed my teeth or washed my face and finished zero of the "projects" on the to do list. "projects" reads: dishes, prep for dinner tomorrow, house pick-up, finishing half(ish) complete laundry (which wouldn't be such a big deal, if i had my own washer and dryer to speak of), feeding cat, making menu/grocery list for the week (we shop mondays), pretty much anything that should have been done tonight and probably would have made the beginning of my week easier...

in the last three weeks, i've learned a valuable lesson. the first three days of the week are my grunt work days that make the last four a little more laid back, while not letting everything go to pot. this starts sunday night. when sunday night fails...i end up a mess monday morning, which just sets the week up for muck.

so, it is now midnight...my face is washed, i've eaten a snack, i've caught up on some "business" emails, i've done tomorrow's dinner prep, and i'm getting ready to floss/brush, but i still have two loads of dirty laundry waiting patiently on my living room floor (again...no laundry room to call our own) that will just have to wait until tomorrow, four clean and dry loads kickin' it on the table in the communal laundry room (ick), a sink full of dishes, a moderately messy house from life today, and a menu/grocery list to sort out.

good thing i'm WIDE AWAKE...

that, really, is the worst part of this 8pm nap. the rest, eh...i could get by, but now i can't sleep. meaning...tomorrow morning is going to come really, really early. and then tomorrow night will be even harder to make it past 8pm. i'm doomed. ha.

at least i got to blog about it. hahahahahahaha. oh...sigh. ;)

Friday, May 18, 2012

march of dimes 2012

yay! the thank you's are finally sent! whew. i really need to work on my thank you sending punctuality. punctuality? can i use that in that context? well, i'm going to. :) anyway...now that they are sent, i feel like i can blog about it. haha.

this was our fourth consecutive year walking for our sofia in the march of dimes march for babies and we really rocked our fundraising!

in 2009, we raised $555.

in 2010, we raised $550.

in 2011 we raised, $500.

and this year, we raised a whoppin $650!

that makes an all-time total of $2255!

we are so proud! and we are so thankful that our family, friends and community have stepped up so willingly to help us out!

the sun was shining bright, there was little shade and we had a 2-year-old in tow. there was a point about halfway through the 3 mile walk that i have to admit, i was ready to be done and was feeling a little uptight. but then i remembered the whole reason we were there. it isn't about walking the fastest or being finished. it is, like life, about the journey.

once i let go of it all, stopped worrying about how long we were out there and gave in to the experience, i found myself enjoying it all so much more. sure, we walked most of it at a 2-year-old's pace, were sweaty and hungry and a little sunburned (i only remember to screen up the babe...doh!) by the end of it, but we got to spend quality time together as a family (which seems tricky to fit in to our busy, busy lives), we got to feel the amazing sense of community, support and love amongst the walkers, especially the other family teams and did a little something to help out babies and families in need.

running toward the event
he didn't quite get that i wanted him to hold it up for the camera. :)


fam photo - 4.28.12 - nolan 26 months
2011 quilt square
2012 quilt square
breaky before the big walk
"walk curb. walk curb."
and this is why it took us so long. :)
he was so excited to stand on the firetruck!
one by one, he peeled off the stickers and put them on his arm.
and then one by one, he transferred them to mine.
"yay!"
all moved over. :)
sticker/sofia ribbon bathroom self-portrait. :)
curb-walkin' with mama
got this SWEET headband as a free goody. he rocked it all afternoon. ha.
he has such an arm, he threw every ball way past the target. ha. center-fielder in training??
daddy had to play too. :)
man, this kid LOVES popcorn.
and canteloupe. :)
climbing.
hugging. :)
totally spent.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

meltdown city saved by local moms

twice in the last two weeks, i have had huge (i mean monster) emotional meltdowns. not a screaming and yelling meltdown, but a completely shutdown, tears shooting out of my eyeballs meltdown. probably needless to say, it has been pretty ugly.

both times the final straw was the sleepy time struggle, but i venture to guess that in all actuality, that was merely a small part of the whole picture. yes, toddler sleep can be a doozy all in itself but right now, there seems to be so much more. being a mommy who is committed to peaceful parenting, being a wife of an incredibly busy husband, trying to build a massage practice (a small one, but still), housework, cooking healthy homemade food to nourish my family...yadda yadda...the list goes on. where does anyone find time for it all? and then of course there is the general hustle and bustle of la life that often pushes me over my stimulation limit or at the very least wears on my patience.

sure, i can think of a number of quick solutions, but they all require me to give up something or some piece of something that i'm not sure that i'm willing to give up. and ironically, when i think about each thing individually, i love doing/being them all (with the exception maybe of the housework...but even that i don't really mind). but when you lump them all together they become a pretty heavy load. and then, on occasion, i get overwhelmed...which you guessed it, leads to meltdowns.

last night was intense. it even spilled over into today. luckily, last night in the midst of my spinning world, i resisted the temptation to hull up in the corner and chose not to cancel today's moms' group. this amazing group of women saved me today. they helped me slowly pull myself together. and now that i'm standing again, i would like to offer each of them a sincere and heart-felt thank you. i know i said it while you were all here, but here it is again. thank you, each and every beautiful one of you. all of your open hearts, open ears, advice, support, comradery, and love...THAT is exactly what a moms' group is about. THAT is what friendship is about. THAT is what moms should be doing for one another, not the judging and tearing down that happens amongst mothers so often.

i am so grateful to know you ladies. i'm so happy to call you my friends, my village. if we ever actually do end up moving away from here, i am going to miss you all so much. we are going to have to to skype moms' groups or something. ;) and once again...just for good measure, i'm sorry i dominated our group today with my (hopefully temporary) instability. :)

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

growing sunflowers!

first...let it be know: i'm no green thumb, but i sure long to be. :)

a couple of weeks back, we were lucky enough to hang out with some lovely friends, play in the dirt, plant some seeds, eat some delicious trader joe's orange chips and replant some flowers in pots (not necessarily in that order, but maybe). nolan even helped me with the sunflower seeds!

i opened the seed packet and to my amazement, poured out two little sunflower seeds just like the ones you pop into your mouth at a ball game. who knew!? not me. clearly, i'm well-versed in gardening - note the sarcasm. (sorry, mom. i know we planted a garden a fair number of my childhood years. apparently all of your hard work and knowledge was completely lost on me. :D)

when we got home, we put our new gardening experiment in our sunny bedroom window and in a mere 5 days, our seeds had sprouted! i was instantly reminded of planting a lima bean in a tiny milk carton in mrs. christy's 2nd grade classroom. i'm pretty sure i was just as impressed at age 30 as i was at age 8. another 5 days or so and our sprouts were way too tall and couldn't hold themselves up. again...i had no idea what to do with this problem. thanks to the advice of my lovely friend lisa (who was the bearer of the seeds, pot, soil, and orange chips in the first place), nolan and i re-potted them into larger pots today. sadly, one of them broke during my "staking" attempt. doh. we'll see what becomes of them.

lovely lisa also sent us home with a packet of marigold seeds and i have an easter lily bulb that i want to try to replant, so more gardening practice to come. maybe one of these days (with the help of pinterest...hehe), we'll sort out the vegetable garden of my dreams. one day. :)

placing the seeds. day 1.
covering the seeds.
watering the seeds...obviously. :)
day 5. see that tiny little bit o' green popping up!?
day 6. say what!?

day 7.
day 11.
we were so inspired that we got some gardening tools from target on a recent shopping trip.
re-potting our sunflowers! day 13.
re-potted. this is my attempt at staking it...
...aaannd i broke it. whoops. we'll see what happens...*sigh

our apartment maintenance guy game and weed whacked the devil out of our "back yard" so we actually got to go back there and play while we re-potted! it's a little uneven and rather dirty, but fun none-the-less. :)