farewell 2011.

2011 you treated me really good this year. and while you threw me some unexpected curve balls i finally learned my lesson that life doesn't go according to "my plan" and for that, i'm forever grateful. the memories you gave me this year are cherished and marked as my favorite year so far.



because in 2011 i....

• became a mother ( even though i'm sure baby T would have to argue that i'm still trying to get this mother thing down. he's so patient with me that one.)
• finished my first block of my teaching program
• stopped working full-time at a job i less then liked
• went on un unbelievable romantic trip with the hubs which we dubbed our babymoon vacation
• traveled to washington, twice!
• made some new friends and visited with old ones that live far away
• had my dad come visit for ten days during the holidays
• tasted the amaziness of Trophy's and started my quest to find an equally delicious cupcake bakery in the valley. i have yet to succeed on this one
• saved a bunch of money like adults

things that had to go in 2011....

• the money we saved earlier in the year
• my pregnant belly, pregnant cravings, pregnant bladder, pregnant swollen feet, pregnant back aches
• my long hair. i'm now sporting a mid length bob that requires a fifth of the amount of time to get ready
• tank and weezy's ridiculous amount of allergies (crossing our fingers their allergy shots got rid of them for good)
• black beauty (the hub's huge lifted diesel. it didn't really scream family friendly so we traded it for the mazda. we still have yet to name it though)
• my old cell phone. i was still rocking the first cell phone ever made and was convinced i would never use anything else. but when the battery forever died i had to get a smart phone to replace it and lets just say i was wrong.
• a good nights sleep (babies tend to do that)
• the hub's massive closet. he finally consented to letting me get rid of some of his clothes to free up space for me
• baby T's newborn, 3 month, 6 month, and some nine month clothing. he's grown so fast and he's only five and a half months

excited about 2012 because....

• we celebrate our third year wedding anniversary three days into the new year :)
• following through on my new years resolutions
• like getting back in shape (i want to take up yoga and zumba) and start running again
• summer comes again (i want my olive complexion back)
• so will baby T's first birthday
• getting more schooling under my belt (someday i'll graduate, someday....)
• the new season of jersey shore (i'm not proud of this one)
• experiencing an awesome year with baby T and my amazing hubs

2012 you have alot to live up to. let's see what you got.

christmas run-down according to baby T

1. picked out a christmas tree

2. helped mom and dad decorate

3. ugly sweater christmas party

4. got smooched by my friend gracie

5. met my grandpa ili for the first time and became buddies

6. sat on santa's lap and looked adorable

7. got spoiled on christmas morning

christmas eve procrastination

(excuse the picture quality, it was taken on my phone)

we've been busy preparing for christmas this past week shopping for presents, throwing christmas parties, spending time with family, and running to the mall christmas eve morning to get pictures with santa since we are lame parents and have put it off/forgotten till the last very possible day. baby T was fearless with santa. he took turns giving wide toothless smiles at the camera and leaning back to gaze up at mr kringle. more pictures and updates to come but for now we're soaking up every minute of T's first christmas. Happy Holidays!

original GLEEker

remember how studly my grandpa is? don't be fooled my grandma is just as feisty and unpredictable. she once ate a whole gallon of chocolate ice cream in thirty minutes. dj was there, he couldn't believe it. and when we were able to stop laughing long enough to ask her why she ate it all she simply said because it tasted so good. after that response eating the whole gallon seemed like the only reasonable thing to do.

 today while i was over at their house visiting i noticed my grandma had on what i can only assume was her old high school sweater. i had no idea she was so current even back then. when i asked her if she was in glee club in high school she replied, "well i have a sweater that says so so i suppose i was." oh dementia, bless her heart. between chatting her up about her glee club days that she doesn't remember and sneaking peeks at my grandpa giving eskimo kisses and baby talking to T it was a pretty memorable visit.

mom brains

last weekend i attended a bridal shower of a childhood friend with my mom and baby T in tow. everyone at the shower kept asking me how old T was in which i replied, "he'll be five months on the tenth" only to realize the next day that the shower was on the tenth. i'm pretty sure i didn't make sense to half the people i talked to. my brains have officially turned into mom brains. so overworked by multitasking (i can nurse T, type one handed on the computer, ge tank and weezy to see whose at the door, and talk to the hubs all at once) that it no longer can function regularly most of the time. i'm considering making myself flashcards to help keep my brain on point but i'd probabaly forget them somewhere after making them.

happy 5 months T! hopefully i'll be thinking a little more clearly on your 6 month mark....

it's begining to look a lot like christmas.

T was in awe while we put up the christmas tree. celebrating the holidays is already that much more fun with this little stud.

the northwest episodes: des moines pier

one of the places we visited while in washington was the des moines pier. we weren't there long because it was pretty cold and by that i mean freezing. i'm pretty sure some fisherman were looking at me funny with no coat and slippers (aka flip flops. dj thinks it's so weird that i call them slippers, not sure why) on. we were hoping to see a few fishermen pull up their full crab pots but we had no luck, so we just "ooh"ed and "aah"ed over the incredibly beautiful puget sound instead.

the northwest episodes: the reception

ever since we got my cousin's invite in the mail  awhile back i've been pretty much counting the days till their reception and it did not disappoint. an intimate party (at their favorite restaurant when they were dating, super cute) with close family, friends and amazing food (the vanilla on vanilla cupcakes and pizza were outrageously delicious) made the reception pretty perfect.

the northwest episodes: thanksgiving

thanksgiving was a blast. not only did baby T act like a well seasoned traveler (he didn't cry once on the plane, both ways!)  but we ate like kings the entire trip. our thanksgiving meal was the best i've ever had hands down (homemade everything.....and i mean everything!) and the constant cold overcast weather helped me get in the spirit of holiday (it's just not the same when it's ninety degrees out and shining, sorry az). although i didn't take many photos of actual thanksgiving day (i must have been too busy eating) i did take a lot from our trip. however i couldn't wait to share these few photos i did happen top snap on thanksgiving day ...

turkey day football, family dodge ball, me and the hubs, thanksgiving morning traveling, baby T, after feast food coma

that thing called running

welcome back mr. running shoes. i have a love hate relationship with these guys. i love to run. i hate running when i've gotten out of shape. we just started our relationship back up again. wish us luck.....

the lovebirds in us.

remember our family date we took? well that night me and the hubs had our own date. it had been a long time since me and the hubs had some alone time and we needed it. we couldn't help but act like a giddy teenage couple. we were laughing none stop. our night went something like this...

• went to the keg to eat
• read the menu outside the keg and turned around (thirty bucks for a plate of food? no thanks)
• went across the street to kona grill
• kept saying how fancy we felt (that's how long it's been since we've been out. kona grill made us feel fancy)
• ordered our food (i had pad thai, he had macadamia chicken)
• made each other laugh
• he told me he could not blink for two minutes
• i timed him not blinking
• he kept trying and kept blinking without realizing it
• we kept laughing
• made a bet with him that if he could do it i'd buy him some new shorts
• he accidentally blinked again
• we laughed some more
• made a deal that if i could hold my breath for forty five seconds he'd buy me a new skirt
• made the deal and won the skirt
• food came and it was delicious. he let me have his string beans
• i ordered dessert (macadamia nut pie)
• he tried to not blink again and made it to a minute twenty when the dessert came. i stopped timing.
• paid the check
• walked to the theater
• bought our tickets for the seven o'clock show of breaking dawn part one (he's a good sport)
• walked around to kill some time
• went into a skate shop to look at trucks and wheels for his long board
• felt really old around all the high school kids in the store (especially the twelve year old that worked there and was talking to the hubs about skate brands. okay so he wasn't twelve but he looked like it)
• went into the puppy store
• held a puppy on our way out
• went to watch our movie
• laughed throughout the movie on the cheesiness of it all
• walked to our car holding hands and smooching
• drove to pick up baby T blasting jay z and kayne just because we felt rebellious
• promised to have rad date nights once a month
• snuggled baby T as soon as we picked him up because we missed him pretty bad

fell in love with the hubs all over again :)

its a good saturday if you get a date with the hubs and baby

being a mom is the by far the funnest and craziest thing i've ever done. and as much as i love being a mom, especially to such a sweet baby like T, it is hard work. add on the amount of hours dj has been clocking in at work and the fact that we both never really get a good nights sleep (baby T still prefers his nighttime meals and has been waking up at 4 in the morning the past few nights singing and co-ing, though very sweet it's also very loud and wakes me up right when i'm falling back asleep), we both were feeling a little rugged. we decided a date night was an absolute must. we planned for friday and true to our schedules lately couldn't do it till saturday. we wanted to make it extra special and spend the day as a family on a family date before us lovebirds had our date. we filled our day with mall browsing which made me and dj come to some conclusions

1. shopping for a baby is a lot more satisfying than shopping for yourself. a baby will look good in anything, me not so much.
2. one side of superstition mall is defiantly the less traveled side. i felt like i was in a bad part of town as soon as we passed the food court
3. you can't make eye contact with the kiosk salesman. you'll walk away with foot lotion for everyone you know. (true story in dj's case. he even got me the matching hand lotion for christmas that year i think)

4. dj is a huge people watcher (i already knew this one but was reminded when we sat down to eat at the food court and i watched him watch everybody for a solid 20 minutes before he realized what he was doing)

5. if you see a "hurricane simulator" don't spend two dollars to do it. it's nothing but a big fan.

our family date was super fun. and while i'm pretty sure towards the end baby T just wanted to be held because he was tired of being in the stroller i can't help but think he was having so much fun he couldn't sit still.

ps. i got free dog treats for tank and weezy. i went up to pay for them and the guy behind the counter gave them to me for free. score! tank and weezy appreciated the gesture.

all i want for christmas is a time machine

i now have a 4 month old (it was official on the tenth). where has time gone?

baby T's stats (according to the doc)
-weight: 18 lbs 8 oz
-height: 26.5
-head circumference: 43
-"based off how he's grown so far he should be about 6'2 or 6'3 when he's older"
-"he is so social and happy. he's got everything goin' for him" (proud mama moment when the doc said that)
-received his second round of shots and took it like a champ, hardly made a peep

baby T's stats (according to me)
-loves to sing, he's taken it upon himself to be my little morning wake up song bird
-becoming quite the thumb sucker
-smiles alot, laughs every now and then
-he's a ham as soon as you whip out the camera, which is lucky for me since i'm constantly taking pictures of him
-sleeps in his crib between mom and dad

cowards version of a bob

dj has been on me to ask my mom if she can cut his hair (one of the many things my mom can do. she's super woman that lady). i finally remembered to ask her yesterday and she came over last night to cut the hubs hair. i turned it into a two for one and jumped in the seat after dj. i've always loved the look of super short hair but have come to terms with the fact that it would never look good on me. so i went with the cowards version of a bob inspired by the beautiful gwyneth paltrow . dj kept laughing the whole time saying "your gonna hate it you've never had your hair this short before" which i stubbornly replied "yeah i will!even if i don't its just hair it grows back!" i have to say i do feel like a sophisticated mom with this hair cut. however i can't help but get a little panicky when i try to put it in a pony tail. guess we both were right.

please excuse the the baby spit up on my shoulder. baby T seems to get me every time.

the big 3-0

i'm really lucky to have a pretty rad sister. not many sisters come more hardworking (she seriously clocks like sixty hour work weeks regularly!), kind hearted (she's known for treating you to lunches and pedis "just because"), brainy (the woman is going to nurse practitioner school. makes my brain hurt just thinking about all the medical mumbo jumbo she knows), and thoughtful (she always is calling to see how i'm doing). i really don't think they make sisters any better than this. i am glad to call her my sister. or how we like to say "seeeeeeeeeester!" so happy birthday today kaylani! go on and get crazy!

kaylani with cousin halia @ aloha fest

a white mountain kind of vacation

we made it back from vacation #1 this month (we're pretty lucky) and it was a blast. lots of card games were played, fires were made, food was eaten, and fun was had. it was also a plus to officially get to experience true fall weather (and even some snow!) for a change. we might of slightly abused it by wearing every warm piece of clothing we own every time we stepped outside the cabin but can you blame us?

t's winter lookbook

awhile back i had a girls day with a girlfriend of mine and her super cute baby girl. we may have gone a little crazy shopping at my home away from home which i later suffered from in the form of buyers remorse. i later had even worse buyers remorse when my argument of "but hun, look at all the stuff i got for that much. it's really a steal!" didn't work on the hubs (its almost as if he's heard that one before....). until recently my purchases have been tucked away in the back of t's closet just waiting for an excuse to be worn. with the cold front that rolled in last night and our upcoming vacations up north and to seattle i couldn't wait to try out his winter wardrobe. so because i couldn't wait i assembled a winter look book for him. because that's what all mamas do right???

a lot of his winter clothes are still a tad too big which is surprising since in true ili fashion he no longer fits in anything smaller than 6-9 months (yowzer!). i had a plethora (dont you just love that word?) of other winter looks for him to try on but after the first few he started to get cranky (diva!!). i can't blame him though cause i was fussing over him pretty badly. i can't help it, look at those cheeks. they just beg to be smothered with kisses.

just a bunch of youngins having an old timer kind of night

i'm pretty lucky to get to wake up to this every morning....

(baby T has grown a lot since i took this picture a month or so ago. he still sleeps in our bed though because he told me he'd get scared sleeping in the other room in his crib :)   )

i went ahead and labeled who was who in the pic because quite frankly these two are such twins sometimes i have a hard time telling them apart myself. well the sweet hubs has been clockin' alot of hours at work lately. partly to us going on multiple vacations this month and partly so i can stay home most of the time with our sweet son. the result being that our time together has been limited. this saturday was no exception. sweet hubs was up before baby t woke me up and came home right after it got dark out. and while most would be grouchy, tired, and irritable after working all day on a saturday he was all smiles, flirty butt grabs, and "honey i'll hold talis, go relax." (told you i was lucky!) it's been ages since we had a date night and while i don't mind because the thought of leaving talis for very long gives me mini panic attacks, we both were needing some time together. so we had a date night in. while i was making soup for dinner the hubs busted out the checker board. we played a game of checkers (or rather i dominated in a game of checkers. although i think he might of let me win) while baby T was kicking away on the living room floor beside us. right before this we were watching some nature show on tv and when it was over the lawrence welk show came on. we were too involved in our game of checkers (or that's what we kept telling ourselves) to change the channel. we kept joking that we were acting like old timers eating soup, playing checkers, and watching the lawerence welk show.

later on baby t thought he'd spice things up by giving sweet hubs a little surprise. baby t's timing couldn't have been better either. this happened right after me saying "do airplane with him, he loves when i do airplane with him. hun do airplane with him he won't stop smiling if you do airplane with him" and husband lifting him up. if it wasn't for the hubs super human reflexes it would of landed in his mouth. talis, quite the prankster that boy.

morning mommy and t time

T started teething these last couple days. we battled naps and a fever all day yesterday and just when i thought my sweet little guy would have a good nights rest from skipping his naps throughout the day we had little luck. he tossed and turned his cute little head all night and woke up more frequently to nurse (it also didn't help that a huge storm rolled in last night and i was too excited listening to the downpour of rain and the windy branches outside my window to fall asleep when i should have). come morning time (very early morning time) T woke up and decided he wanted to be held by his mama, particularly by his mama that wasn't laying or sitting in bed trying to still catch some z's. so i got up and we had a very early, very sleepy, very out of focus photo shoot instead.



 cant wait for our trip up north this weekend. crossing my fingers for some snow so we can actually use our winter clothes this year.

weekend "treat yo self"

this weekend i felt like following tom and donna's advice and participated in my own "treat yo self" 2011. i gotta say i think it's something i might make an annual tradition. seeing as how the holidays are around the corner and we go on two different week long vacations this month i didn't want to overdue it. so i just got some new perfume and a new dress.




 i think everybody should participate in this awesome new tradition of mine and go "treat yo self!"

let the wild rumpus start!

this halloween weekend we've been having a blast getting the most mileage out of our costumes. three halloween parties (one in which i insisted we walk to. i thought it would help us get into character), two costume contests (we walked away with first place in both, booyah!), and one to many sugar overload tummy aches later we deemed this years halloween a sweet success. sadly tank and weezy didn't dress up this year but they are already helping me brainstorm for next years family halloween costumes.

happy halloween! from the wild things and the cutest little max you've ever seen

talis and the bear

in a few short weeks we take off for seattle for my cousins wedding and T couldn't be more excited. i go on and on about my love for the cloudy city so he thought it fitting to make sure his bear hat (it was the first thing me and the hubs bought after finding out we were expecting) was warm enough to take with him. his verdict: seattle trip wardrobe staple.

grandpa "evil knievel" sims

i'm pretty fortunate to live pretty close to my grandma and grandpa sims. i grew up living down the street (literally down the street like a hundred yards away) from my grandparents and a couple years ago they moved down the street from my mom (who luckily also lives close by). my grandparents are pretty amazing and even though i get grossed out when i occasionally catch them making out (talk about awkward) i can't help but love how in-love they still are after 50+ years of marriage! so not only have they been great role models of what a great marriage should be like but my grandpa will do stuff like this.....

yeah, that's my eighty plus year old grandpa hopping on the back of my brothers motorcycle for a spin. oh and did i fail to mention that my grandpa met my grandma because she was his nurse, while he was in the hospital, for a motocycle accident! ( he even has uneven legs to prove it) talk about fearless!