the evolution of dj and i's picture taking abilities

 first there was the "i'm too cool for pictures" phase

followed by the overzealous excitement and cheesy smiling face phase

then the unflattering sun-in-the-eyes matching outfit weird angle phase

looks like we've learned a few things in the nearly eight years we've been together

 yay for us! :)

happy friday

 Talis and Dj leave for father and sons in about five hours and I don't even know what to do with myself. A whole weekend without my guys? I plan on getting crazy but in reality I'll most likely spend it cleaning the house and going to bed early. But even that sounds like a solid weekend :) Happy Friday!

summer, bike riding, and my thoughts

Summer has made it's way to Arizona. I know this because of a few reasons. Reason number one being that when my mother, sister and I decided to go on a bike ride down to get smoothies ended with us being covered in sweat and sporting flushed faces after just two blocks. Reason number two being that when my friend Cordae and I went to the zoo we headed straight for the splash pad (where Talis and Brazia played for about 10 minutes) and pretty much left after because it was too hot (at 9:30 in the morning!). And Reason number three being the return of cockroaches that I see on nightly walks around the neighborhood (yuck! nothing grosses me out more). So swimming has become a daily staple to me and T's routine and well anything else that involves water really.

The other day after Dj got home from work we headed over to Lumber Liquidators to check out their selection of flooring. On the drive over there I was chatting away to Dj (as usual) about funny things that had happened that day, friends I had met up with, adventures me and T had gone on, and so on. And it just so happened that day that we visited the zoo in the morning and played in the splash pad, went to T's baby playgroup and went swimming, and went to lunch with four of my girlfriends (two of which are usually out of state),played with Tank and Weezy, and took a quality nap time all before Dj got home. Anyway this is basically a really round about way of saying that Dj was shocked about all we had done that day in which I went on to tell him how I feel that I am falling short in terms of being a good mommy. I see a lot of my friends and other moms and it seems like every day they are teaching their child something new, taking their kid on fun filled adventures all the time, and still somehow manage to have their house cleaned and their pre baby body back. Most days me and T just hang out at home and I'm doing good if I remember to move the clean clothes from the washer to the dryer (which I often don't and have to rewash all over again). Motherhood is hard. I've never felt so much joy, so much love and so much patience along with so much sleep deprivation, sacrifice, and inadequacy as I have in the few months I've been a mom. Why are the most important life lessons we learn the ones that come only with experience? If only someone could truly prepare you for motherhood I think I would be so much better at it...

my smile list

a few things that are making me very smiley lately...

1. a just vacuumed carpet

2. the anticipation of watching the documentary the happy movie

3. sprinkles cupcakes at 9:30 in the morning with my brother and husband

4. finding smooshed up pancake in fists, leg rolls, and diapers after breakfast 

5. last minute date nights

6. New Girl on hulu

7. tops of little white teeth poking through T's gums

8. freshly shaved legs

9. mamma and baby pool parties in T's kiddie pool 

10. sore ab muscles after an ab workout

All things yard

My morning has consisted of soothing Talis multiple times (he keeps getting into things and getting hurt that little rascal), picking up clutter, and listening to Temper Trap while I simultaneously research landscapers to do our backyard. I just set up an appointment on Friday to get an estimate and I am so excited! Even though our backyard is the size of most closets (and not the spacious walk in ones) I am a true believer that no matter what you have, whether it be a lot or a little, expensive or not, big or small, you need to take pride in it and take care of it. Unfortunately I have fallen really short of that with our backyard. Two dogs, a baby, and a two story household (note to reader: two stories are hard to clean! one stories are where it's at) leaves me beaten and tired which has resulted in our yard to look like Iraq but with more doggie messes. I'm dreaming big for our backyard guys and Pinterest is not helping. I wonder if it would be logical to incorporate some of these ideas in a 10x10 backyard......

This window is begging for me and Dj to do a reenactment of Romeo and Juliet's balcony scene

I'm day dreaming of sunny spring naps on this already

Is this porch not the prettiest? (I never thought I'd describe a porch as pretty...)

The perfect little backyard hideout

Okay so these backyard ideas will most likely have to be filed away for when one day Dj and I build our dream house but it sure does get my creative side thinking of the possibilities for our humble little backyard. What would you put in your dream backyard?

a 9 month T

My baby is nine months!(didn't he just turn six months?) He is such a busy little boy these days and quite the character. Just the other day I caught him attempting to get out of his crib, like standing up leg over the railing kind of attempt people! When he's not busy pulling all the dvds and wires out from the entertainment center or pulling plugs out of the sockets he's busy chasing crawling after Tank and Weezy. He's recently discovered his pointer finger and likes to point and touch everything. I know that every baby likes music but I can't help but feel this little guy takes a special liking to it. He even tries to sing with me when I sing him his lullabies (actually tries is the wrong word because his high pitched humming is still better than my singing). Just as busy and boyish that he is he can be just as quiet and observant. Whenever we are around a group of people (other than family) he spends a good amount of time just staring and watching what everybody is doing. And then as soon as he feels like he has the situation figured out he goes back to being his active little ham of a self. He'll keep busy crawling around and playing and then as soon as Dj or I walk by he scurry crawls over to us and climbs in our laps looking up at us with the perfect little  "i sure do love you" smile. And then just as fast as he came over to us he scurry crawls back to the back door to look at the dogs outside or inspect the dog food bowls in the kitchen. Loads of people have told how much they think he looks like my brother Bobby and while I am usually surprised at the people that tell me this (because it often comes form people that I wouldn't think knew my brother that well to remember what he looks like) I can't help but feel that they really are saying he looks like me. ( People have asked if my brother and I were twins before. And although a comment from a friend when I was in high school about me being "Bobby with a wig" is not my shining moment I'll take it if it means my sweet T resembles me). Being a mom for nine months to this guy is the best. He makes me feel like I know what I'm doing and as a new mommy that's pretty special :)

Adulthood

Now that Talis is crawling around and pulling himself up onto everything he has become a handful to watch, a pleasant handful but a handful none the less. And since our current set up for a dining table is made completely out of glass (the super thick and heavy kind) where the top just balanced on the legs I was getting suuuuuper nervous about him playing on the ground around it. In reality though it was just the push we needed. After being married for more than three years I say it was time we started being adults (or more adultish) and spend our money on furniture other than late night mexican food runs and Judd Apatow movies. Dj usually cringes every time I suggest we go to Ikea (I tend to become Uncle Money Pockets there...whoops!) he was surprisingly game today. We noshed on one dollar hot dogs and had a little too much fun with their super swivel shopping carts but the real win of the day was actually agreeing on a dining table (in record time no less!).

Dj's super skilled trunk tetris. Dining table, stroller, and my cheap version of a Louis Ghost chair, I was impressed to say the least.

Being awesome is

Being awesome is changing into sweats halfway through the day because you sweated too much in your nice clothes, going on two weeks of forgetting garbage day while every trashcan in your house is overflowing, and making a healthy dinner of tilapia and veggies in a cake pan.
I felt very awesome today.

girls day with a baby! but minus the girls

Today I decided to have a day like this so me and T set out early this morning for a genuine girls kind of day. We shopped, had an Auntie Anne pretzel (which turned out to be burnt and not so tasty), shared an ice cream cone, and perused the puppy store.T is the best kind of girlfriend for me to have because he  laughs at all my jokes and acts just as excited and giddy around puppies as I do.  We substituted going home early to nap instead of getting our pedicure on because well, lets be real he still is a baby. How did you spend your Monday?

Song For a Fifth Child

Came across this little gem of a poem today. I think it's in my top favorites seeing as how anything related to motherhood and children makes me feel super sentimental.

          Song For a Fifth Child
          by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

The last four lines sum it up perfectly.

never ending battle

today went something like this...

-woke up to T staring at me and "talking" (in his oh-so adorable high pitched voice) mere centimeters from my face

-allowed myself a ten second pity party for not getting to sleep more 

-got up and fed T his usual morning staple of oatmeal and fruit followed immediately by his morning nap ( I find it strange how soon he falls back asleep after eating breakfast...)

-did laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, and put dinner in the crock pot while he napped

-went to baby play group at Freestone 

-got the mail, shared my protein shake with T (he insists every time I make it to have some, along with anything and everything else we eat) while I watched Ellen, tickled T while he used me as a jungle gym (the kid can and does literally climb all over me)

-husband came home

-we took turns between eating and feeding T dinner

-made T a bottle and sung him to sleep

-and now I sit on the computer catching up on my blogging

while in my mind I still have this perpetual TO DO list that never seems to get done. It's past eight at night and I still need to go running, finish the laundry, wash the dishes from dinner tonight, and exercise the dogs. Not to mention about the twenty odd ball items I came across throughout the day that I need to add to the grocery list (Borax, brown sugar, facial astringent to name a few) that I know I will forget to do until I've gone shopping and returned home already. Why is there never enough time in the day? I wish there was somehow a way to take all those hours as a kid when you complained about being bored and having nothing to do and add them into your adult day to make it longer. Or maybe I'll just forget about the rest on my list and go to bed early instead of late for a change...

                                                          

general conference sunday

We spent our Sunday watching conference. It felt like every single talk was directed straight to me (isn't that crazy how that happens?). I love general conference and I feel like with every passing year I feel the spirit stronger and the messages stand out to me more (maybe I'm maturing?).  Dj's family came over with an amazing street taco spread (delish!) and we filled the day with conference watching, basketball play, and topped it off with a trip to the park. T loves getting doted on by his Grandpa and Grandma Reynolds and don't even get him started on his aunties...the kid had so much fun he fell asleep at 7:30 which hasn't happened in forever. Thank you Reynolds! (Seriously though, thanks. It's nice to have some time to ourselves before ten o'clock at night!)