How To Survive a 7 Hour Car Ride

We went camping. And although that sounds "blog worthy," I"d rather share something I learned about Taylor. When the going gets tough, i.e. a 7 hour car and camping in the snow, she's a trooper. More so than her mother. I kid you not when I say that my high maintenance kid somewhat enjoyed 7 hours in a car seat. She watched a few dvds, laughed at Mommy sticking felt pieces to our car ceiling, and practiced singing her ABC's and counting (She can count to 10, and sing A through D). She didn't whine or cry, and only seemed a little fidgety the last 5 minutes of the ride home. Thank goodness, is all I have to say. She could've made that the longest road trip of our lives.


In other Nikki news, I'm in a bit of a pickle. For the last couple of weeks I've been bummed. I want to go back to school and finish my BA, but I'm having a tug of war in my head over what to major in. Should I choose something I love and have interest in, or something practical? And how the heck are we going to pay for school? I have an AA, so it won't be too much money, but still. I refuse to take out a loan that I'll be paying off the rest of my life. Anyway, it's something I've been mulling over in my head for the past couple of weeks. Sigh...

Wes is feeling much better and is almost fully recuperated. He goes back to work in a few weeks, and we'll miss having him around the house. He will miss us too, and playing Halo everyday.

18 mth. Pictures (1 month late)

So Taylor was sort of grumpy this morning, which was great because we had her 18 month pictures scheduled at Picture People. Despite not being her spunky self, she did pretty well, and we got a mother-daughter shot too. Grandpa came along to help supervise, and was a big help.

Other than that, I'm happy to report that Taylor's "phase" of being shy around other toddlers, has seem to quickly subside. She had 2 play-dates this week, and yesterday was by far her favorite. Alex came over, which she was super psyched about. She said his name about 20 times after he left. They've known each other since forever ago, when they were Pebbles and Bam Bam for Halloween. It was lovely spending time with Alex's mom Tanya, and we sat back and let them run wild. It seemed like they were actually playing TOGETHER, instead of next to each other. And she cried when he left, so it's safe to say that we're making progress, and Taylor might grow up to be a social butterfly after all.

For better pictures that aren't taken in a mall, go to whitebalancephotos.com, and see my friend Ashley's site. (plug, plug)

Attachment Parenting

Taylor and I were visiting Todd Longshore Park, waiting for her friend Alex, when we stumbled upon a playgroup of toddlers. Happily, we hurried down the hill to play and meet new friends. Little did we know that our encounter would quickly turn ugly and uncomfortable. Taylor played, while I chatted it up with a friendly mom who was quick to introduce herself. The conversation went as follows:

Me: So this is a playgroup?
AP Mom: Yes, we're the AP Parenting Group of Santa Clarita. Would you like to hear more about AP Parenting?
Me: (Starting to feel slightly like she's going all "missionary" on me). Uh, sure.
AP Mom: Well, we believe strongly in certain aspects of parenting like breastfeeding, co-sleeping, and home schooling.... (At this point, I'm totally turned off by the word "home schooling." I will celebrate the day when all my children are in school, and I can have a few hours of freedom.)
Me: (Looking around for my friend Tanya, who I'm totally mad at for being late now that I've been ambushed by this crazy Mom.) Well, that sounds interesting. We co-slept with Taylor off and on when she was an infant. (I totally didn't mention that we didn't feel like human beings again until she moved OUT of our room)
AP Mom: O, well we still co-sleep. We plan on keeping it that way until my daughter tells us she wants her own bed. Did you breastfeed your daughter?
Me: (Kind of a personal question, don't cha think, chick?) Uh, no. I tried but I had a uterine infection and was a little too sick to pull it off successfully. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks after Taylor was born. (Phew. That's a good enough excuse, right?)
AP Mom: What a shame. It's so important.
Me: (Red faced, and ticked off at this point.) Well looks like Taylor survived being formula fed.

I happily look over at Taylor, who is the same age as crazy-lady's daughter, and she's loudly describing her features.

Taylor: Eyes. Nose. Ear. (Tay points at the little girl's shirt with a picture of the sun on it.) A Sun.
Me: What shape is the sun?
Taylor: A circle.

The AP kid stares blankly. My friend Tanya, finally arrives.

Me: Well, it was nice meeting you. (NOT!)

In all fairness, I looked up more about AP Parenting when I got home. It looks like they have some wonderful principles, that I will try to apply to my style of parenting. Overall, they are people who just want to raise healthy and happy kids, just like I do. I think I just got a dose of the extreme end of the philosophy. We walked away from the park, and from all the moms who were sitting on the bench breastfeeding their 4-year-olds. We headed for home where I fed Taylor juice, and where she took a nap in her own crib.

The AP parenting website http://www.attachmentparenting.org/principles/principles.php

The Flood

When Wes was a young lad, he decided to dig a hole in his front yard to place a basketball hoop in. While digging, he hit a water main, and water gushed up like a geiser. Fast forward 20-some-odd years, and the same thing happened this morning. Only, it happened in Tay's closet as he was drilling a hole to hang a shelf. In all fairness, who would have thought that drilling a small hole would produce a gush of water that literally SOAKED half her bedroom? Luckily, it was Grandpa Bob to the rescue. Since he owns a carpet cleaning and restoration company, he was here in a jiffy to set up dehumidifiers. Right now I'm just sitting here, staring at the mess of crap from Tay's room, strewn all over the upstairs. Books that are wet and ruined, and stuffed animals that got a nice bath. I choose, however, to do nothing. I will sit here, type my blog, and hope that Wes will clean it up. I just don't have it in me today.
And the icing on the cake is that Taylor dropped her first F-bomb! That's right. And she's only 18 months. Wes, being in a panic while running down the stairs to find the shut-off valve, said "f***, f***, f***". And what do you thing little Ms. Tay said 2 seconds later? That's right. I didn't bother to correct her. I figure she'll forget that word anyway, with any luck. It's been a grand morning.

Mother's Day Picnic

Last year we started a new family tradition, by having Mother's Day at a big park in Simi Valley. Everyone in our family comes, and brings a dish. It works out great since we don't have to worry about driving around all day to visit everyone, and there isn't any ONE person who has to do all the work. It ended up being another beautiful, and successful picnic on Sunday. Although it was Mother's Day, a day to honor and love our Mothers, Taylor decided to completely ignore me all day. When I tried to hold her she'd just scream "NO!", and high-tail it to the nearest Grandma. Stinker. I sware, my family must think I'm the worst mother in the world, the way she runs away from me when we're with family. I'm THE LAST one she wants. But she had a great time, and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves. We ate, played games, and hung out in the beautiful 78 degree weather. It's a tradition that I hope we keep up.

The toilet paper game.Wes, playing the laundry game.Jen and Tay, in the Hawaiian cut out.Tay and Daddy.Aunt Sue and Uncle Mike

Tay, and my nephew Logan (Who is smiling despite being sick.)

Grandma and Grandpa

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!

It's my Grandpa's birthday today (Taylor's Great-Grandpa Bull)!!! He's a super bowler, and an even better Grandpa. We love him a lot, and are blessed to have him in our lives. Happy Birthday Grandpa!

"Mother, I Love You..."

One of my favorite primary songs:

"Mother, I love you

Mother I do

Father in Heaven has sent me to you

When I am near you

I love to hear you

Singing so softly that you love me too

Mother, I love you

I love you

I do"

Taking care of my own sick child this week (hand/mouth/foot virus. Yuck), I thought about the countless times my own mom took care of me over the years. How lucky I am to have a mom who has done so much for me, and continues to help in so many ways! It's true what they say. You really appreciate your mom when you have kids of your own, and start to understand the incredible love and responsibility that entails. So happy early Mother's Day, mom. You're the best.

Taylor's Ocean Encounter

It's been a long weekend....

We took Tay to Ventura Harbor yesterday where we saw real live boats, which was very exciting to Tay. We strolled around, and spent a good hour on the beach. Tay LOVED the ocean. We let it chase our feet, and she ran screaming with glee back to the sand. We did that for a good ten minutes until she saw someone actually walk IN the ocean. That gave her all sorts of ideas, and she bolted, full speed, into the Pacific's freezing cold water with mommy close behind. She had a blast, and only face planted twice, but didn't even cry. I can tell we'll be making a lot of beach trips this summer. We finished off our trip with McDonalds ice cream.

I'm not really what you'd call a "beach person." I'm not the kind of girl who can have her hair tossed in the wind, and still look good. I wear makeup to the beach. And I haven't gone into the ocean past my waist since I was 13. It's cold, and there's all sorts of things living in there that I can't see. (Not to mention we saw a dog take a giant crap on the beach yesterday, and it's owner simply left it there and continued a game of Frisbee. Doesn't take a scientist to figure out where that poop is headed.) But Taylor has made me enjoy the beach again. Everything is so new to her, that it's made me stop and slow down to appreciate things I normally wouldn't. In the past couple of weeks she's spent many hours studying bugs, picking flowers, noticing the sights and sounds around her, not to mention pointing at every circle we see and proudly yelling "CIRCLE!" I'm really enjoying these moments. She's been sent here for me to love, and to teach me patience. I've got a lot to learn about patience, but I'm getting there. In the mean time, I'm enjoying seeing things for the first time, again.

"Thanks for the white pants Nana! I'm just ganna sit down on this blue chalk painting."

Bathing Suit Season

I've been working out a lot. Can you tell?

Actually, this picture is courtesy of Heidi Klum and Photoshop. I frequent the gym 3 times a week, but I seriously doubt it will ever get me to look like that! And I've started to wonder if I'd even WANT to look like a supermodel/bobble head. I went shopping yesterday and noticed that it's bathing suit season. I spent 20 minutes looking for one, when I finally gave up and decided to wear the same one from last year. I didn't even step foot in the dressing room. I guess I need a couple more days or weeks at the gym to get excited about baring my pasty white flesh to the community swimming pool. Regardless of what my body does or doesn't look like, I think it can do some pretty useful things. Here is a list of the cool things my body can do.

1.) It can run a mile under 10 minutes.
2.) It takes me up steep hills at the zoo with minimal exhaustion
3.)It made a baby. A big baby with glowing skin.
4.)It can hold large quantities of pizza without feeling sick.
5.)It can get me up and down the stairs about a million times everyday.
6.)It can bust out cool dance moves like the Roger Rabbit, The Snake, and the Running Man.
7.)It can push Taylor on her bike.
8.)It can give hugs.
9.)It can do a hand stand.
10.)It can swim.
11.) And most importantly, it rarely ever gets sick.

And the list goes on...

I found this site for one of my student's in Science class. Your kids might like it. It explains pimples, burps, farts, and funny bones.
http://yucky.discovery.com/noflash/body/index.html