life in Lexi's world...

Tips for Organizing, from the Disorganized

2010-04-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

IconApps.com
For those of you who know me well, Organized may not be the first word that jumps to mind if asked to describe my wonderful personality traits (there are many, many wonderful ones). Even so, upon entering this world of motherhood and wifedom I was forced to reexamine the way I had been doing things. Here are some pointers that I’ve found to help keep me on the straight and narrow in the midst of the total chaos that comes from a disorganized person raising a kid!

1.Plan What You Can

Life with a toddler is so unexpected. Everyday has challenges and surprises, and you are going to have a lot less say in your days than you would like. Sure, a trip to the grocery store sounds like a good idea, until your kid wakes up screaming and doesn’t stop all day. Another night of spaghetti looks real good on hour 3 of the whining tsunami! That being said, it’s good to make plans, and let your munchkin in on your plan. If we have something on the schedule the next day, I always tell Lexi about it the night before (this works as a bedtime incentive too. “the sooner you go to bed the sooner we can wake up and go to music class”). This way she knows there is something coming the next day and is more likely to wake up in a good mood with something to look forward to rather than another day hanging around the house with me and the dog! Having plans ahead of time also helps when trying to get ready to pack a bag for the day. I always do what I can at night after Lexi is sleeping so there is that much less to do the next day and we can hit the ground running in the morning!

2.Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

That may be one overused cliché but So. True. Not everything is always going to go the way you want it to. As a matter of fact, 75% of the time your plan isn’t going to come to fruition the way you envisioned it, and that’s ok. Parenthood is not for the faint of heart or the freaks of control. Kids spill, kids fall, kids climb, kids make enormous messes when your back is turned for more than 5 seconds, because that is who they are, and what they are good at. They were obviously put on earth to teach us a lesson in rolling with the punches. So next time your daughter empties all the laundry out of the laundry basket you were folding to play fishing, don’t get mad or upset, hop in the boat and go for a ride with her. Laundry can ALWAYS wait an extra 10 minutes!

3.Pick a Day, Any Day

The biggest challenge for me has always been cleaning. I don’t enjoy cleaning, I don’t find it therapeutic or relaxing or any of that garbage! I clean because if I don’t, we will have nothing to eat off of, our floor would be carpeted in dog hair and we would all be running around naked. So in the name of Hygiene, I clean. As a reluctant cleaner, I’ve noticed that some of the big things can go every other week and others need to be done more often. I will pledge my undying devotion and gratitude to Josephine Cochran (for those of you who don’t know shame!!!! She invented the wondrous dishwasher) because dishes are an everyday. The rest of the stuff can be spread out over the rest of the week. In the beginning of the week I pick 2 days where I am going to vacuum the rug, one day for Laundry and one day every other week to clean the bathrooms. When we have company coming I will always clean a little more, but my general rule is I pick one day to do each of my chores and never feel too overwhelmed!

4.Know Your Limits and Don’t Push Them, Too Far

I think it is healthy to discover what you can and cannot do, push your boundaries. Take on too much once in a while, but don’t make it a habit. If you are doing too much you are going to have no energy left over for enjoying your time as a parent. Some days I have class, a ton of homework, a dog to walk and Alexis all afternoon, which usually involves a trip to the park. These are the days when frozen chicken nuggets and french-fries are a God-send. I’ve tried to do too much enough that I have a good feeling for when I need to stop. Not to say that it never happens, I’ve been known to get stressed out and -gasp- lose my temper with Alexis or Sunny. I’ve also noticed that Alexis senses my bad moods and instead of keeping her distant, the whining increases. Don’t think just because you are a grump, your kid is going to be on their best behavior, chances are they will act out more. Better safe than sorry and keep within your boundaries, it’s better to have a happy night dirty dishes than clean dishes and a grouchy family!

5.Prioritize the Demons

There are no human clones yet (that we know of), so one of me has to be enough. This is where it’s good to prioritize!!!! Not everything can be on top. Bleeding child takes precedence over straining pasta, for example. We don’t have emergency situations everyday but everything is an emergency to a 3 year old. There is no patience button we can press to let them know that getting them a fruit snack is lower on the priority list than cleaning up a doggy vomit. You have to recognize what is more important than something else and stick to your guns, take care of the priorites first, screeching child and all.

6.Mark Your Calendar

No, seriously, buy a calendar and mark your activities on it. I have a little $5.00 calendar by my sink that I mark birthdays, dates when people are coming to visit and big events like weddings and birthday parties. I look at it 10 times a day without ever having to look for it. I am technologically stunted, I can admit it, I’ve come to terms with it and I embrace it. My calendar has all my big events I need to worry about and it is all I need for my day to day things. When I reenter the work world I may need a slightly larger calendar but for now, a 1’X1’ block a day suits me just fine and I have yet to forget to pick someone up from the airport or show up late to a party!

7.Use Technology, Don’t let Technology Use You

Now that you know that I am technologically stunted let me tell you what works for me: a cell phone, a computer (that never leaves home), and an occasional GPS. I should note the GPS is new and I still don’t understand it completely, but it is a handy little guy. I should also note my cell phone is a little Verizon slide closed one, not a fancy pants $600 internet-surfing, meal-planning, calendar-keeping super phone. I don’t understand the stay at home moms who can’t leave the house without 1 of each of the following: their Blackberries, iPhones, iPads, Mac Books, and whatever else ridiculous things they have in their purses. A good website for simplifying without ovverwhelming is www.iconapps.com Being a stay at home mom is a busy thing, I understand that, I am one, but pretending you are the CEO of a Fortune 500 is not the way to go about life. Use what you need to get by, but don’t become dependent on your technologies. Remember all it takes is one Starbucks to the purse to wipe them all out, and then where will you be? Lost in your town with no idea how to get home, no way to get a hold of anyone and without any coffee to get you through it!

8.Have a Routine Without Becoming Routine

Routine is important for kids, I know this because I have heard it numerous different times from numerous different people with numerous different degrees. Duh! Of course routine is important, you can’t have your kid having a bedtime at 7:00 one night, 11:00 the next, then throw an 8:00 one in there just to mix things up. Certain routines are important, we have bedtime between 8 and 9 every night. Before bed we eat dinner together, take a bath, brush our teeth and read a story. Sometime around the middle of the day we take a nap. We go to preschool the same two days every week and go to music class the same day every week. Other than that I’m not a dictator. If Alexis is having a great time at the park and she’s not cranky or tired, we can either skip the nap or take a later one. Life is boring when you live or die by your routine, consistency is good, a stifling rigid schedule is bad! Loosen up a little the world will keep on spinning if lunch is an hour late!

9.A Happy Mommy Means a Happy Family

Yes, now that I am a mother and a wife, Alexis and Matt come first, however it is so important not to lose myself. A problem I have is letting go of some of my control with my daily life. Matt works hard, long hours so I do all Lexi stuff and the majority of the house stuff. Not good. I’ve discovered that I am so much more effective as the organizer of the family if I am not miserable. A palm to forehead moment, right? It’s one thing to know this and another to act on it. Take 20 minute showers (the drought is over), go for a run by yourself and if you really need it, run to San Diego with your best friend for the weekend. A cranky Mommy is a sluggish Mommy and a sluggish Mommy just can’t get done what needs to be done! So I’m OK with being selfish every once in a while, as long as my selfishness is kept in perspective and gratitude is shown for the selfish trips to San Diego (by the way Matt, thanks, for watching the baby this weekend!)

10.Communication Makes the World Go ‘Round

Talk! Converse! Contemplate! Check In! Again, something that is a work-in-progress in our household, but how are things supposed to get organized of everyone’s not on the same page? Matt travels a lot with work, it is a rare treat to have him home for a full week, and his schedule changes on a week by week basis. Floppy schedules make it difficult to organize outings as well as identify the things that need organizing. I’ve gotten in the habit of asking Matt what his next week looks like over the weekends and what the next day looks like every night. Tedious and repetitive? Yes. Effective? Most of the time! If I know the schedule in the beginning of the week, I know how many times that week I am going to need to cook dinner (poor Lexi is a hot dog and nugget girl when Daddy isn’t home) and how much sanity I will have left by the end of the week! We’ve been getting a lot better about letting each other know what’s going on with our schedules so that we can make sure we all get to spend some family time together during the week!

Disclosure
This post is part of a blogging contest from the TwitterMoms community. There is a chance this post could be randomly selected to win a $50 Target GiftCard, so wish me luck! For more details, you can view the contest page here (http://icomp.ly/IconApps).

New Direction

2010-04-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Matt wants me to see if we can start doing a little more with the blog, so we're entering a turning point in our bloghood. I'm going to see what options are out there for a Mommy-blogger. This means more posts, an updated page (Let's make this happen Mavs), and different topics. Enjoy!!!

Easter

2010-04-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

Once again Easter has come and gone and that wonderful bunny left lots of goodies. It's a love/hate relationship with the bunny, my stomach loves him, my waistline does not (spoiler alert: my stomach wins 9 times out of 10).

We took Lexi to Irvine Park Railroad Eggstravaganza on Saturday and had friends over for a little good old fashioned face-stuffing on Sunday. Both were a lot of fun. I love watching Alexis become more and more established in her personality. Gone is the little girl who stood back at last years Easter Egg hunt and had to rely on another kind-hearted kid to share his candy, because she was too timid to go out and get her own. In that little girl's place is a chocolate-hungry candy monster!! The kids are only allowed to take 8 eggs each so there is sure to be enough for all, at one point Matt was trailing behind her removing 1 egg from her basket everytime she picked another up! After she got her share of the loot, she got to decorate a cookie, jump in a bounce house and the coolest of all (coolest to an almost 3 year-old, her almost 28 year-old mother was MUCH more impressed with the sugary goods)the train ride!!!! We waited inline for 20 minutes and the whole ride she was choo-chooing. Irvine Park Railroad is one of my favoite places to take her all year round, they just have so much for her to do: feeding the ducks, going to the OC Zoo, playgrounds, paddleboats, picnic areas and, of course, the train!

After IPR I sent an email out inviting our friends over on Sunday for an impromptu dinner. I didn't think many would be able to come because of the short notice but was wonderfully surprised when we had 10 people come! Some of the guys went hiking while Steph and I hung back and cooked. It was a great day, relaxed and stress-free, as all holidays should be. We broke out the fine china (paper plates) and our best crystal (Plastic cups and winetasting glasses)and had a great time!

I don't have any pictures of Dinner but I have more than enough of our Eggstravaganza adventure!

Potty potty potty potty potty all the time

2010-03-25T11:45:00.000-07:00

This morning we reached the coup de grace in our potty training, Alexis’ final stand against the inevitability of becoming a regular potty-er. After weeks, oh who am I kidding, MONTHS of back and forth in the Battle of the Potty she had her final farewell to the world of diapers and she went out with a bang. Or to make a “mom joke”: she really made a splash! I’m sorry you had to read that. Anyway more on our early morning episode later, first let’s talk about the blond ball of stubbornness that is my almost-3-year-old, and the wild ride that has been our potty training experience.
At 18 months my beautiful, angel child was potty trained. I’m not kidding, I sat her on the potty and said “This is where we are going to do our pee pee’s from now on.” (I wonder why when I tell her how to do things I always include myself. I can assure you I have been potty trained for quite some time now) Anyway, that bright, obedient child looked up at me smiled and then peed on the potty. On her 1st try!!! The following 3 days resulted in lots of bragging on my part, “Alexis is potty trained already, I don’t know why everyone says it is so difficult” Ha! My kid! My 18 month old! Potty Trained! Chew on that Super Moms! Those were a great 3 days, I was walking on a cloud of accomplishment and an pride. On day 4 I awoke to a big slice of humble pie, who knew a 1 and half year old could put you in your place so efficiently…
We woke up and when I tried to put her on the potty, my sweet, obedient angel child turned into an alien. I swear, overnight the pod-babies snuck in and took over my little one’s body, in place of her sweet temperament they put an ornery (I know ornery is a label usually reserved for the stooped gray hairs complaining about how expensive produce has gotten in the last 60 years, but it is the best word to describe my grouchy little pod-baby) foreign personality in there. Who’s child is this? Sure she looks like mine, and sounds like mine : well except for that wining, that does not sound like my child. But MY child was potty trained yesterday, and this child refuses to sit on the potty, let alone make a deposit. And so it began. The Battle of the Potty.
When we first started potty training, we bought a little pink potty. A little pink potty that looked like a miniature throne. A little pink potty that looked like a miniature throne, that played music every time a successful potty was made! How could we go wrong with this little guy?! Well, I’ll tell you how, there is a little button hidden on the flip side of the potty that when pressed plays the same music that can be heard when pee-pee is deposited. Well, let me tell you, when this discovery was made progress made it’s swift exit. Progress, what a fickle little traitor! Who wants to sit on what essentially is a plastic chotchky adorned bucket to do their business, when diapers are dry and warm and get changed for you?! Music??? Puhlease, all I have to do to hear that music is turn the potty upside down and press that little button.
I told myself, “she’s still young, 18 months is way too young to be potty trained anyway. “ “Maybe it was just coincidence, good timing, that she was going on the potty when I sat her on it. Yes, that’s it, I just had Pee ESP, and my ESP left me as quickly as it came.” Pee ESP, another fickle traitor. Fast Forward 3 months to a Rhode Island visit. Aaaah Christmas in the North East, freezing, wet gray and full of the hopeful optimism of potty training. Our friends Joe and Jess and their adorable almost-2-year-old Madison were potty trained. Madison is only 4 months older than Lexi and look at her, saying to Jess, “Mommy I need to pee” running into the bathroom, the kid WASHED HER HANDS after she was done. It was like gazing into a glimpse of the promised land. Oh what could have been, had that evil little button never been discovered.
Our return to California was accompanied by a renewed sense of determination on my part. This child will learn to pee pee on the potty, not only that, but she will wash her hands afterward. Yes, this is the future, I have seen the future and I like it. I hit the ground running. I dusted off the throne and followed Alexis around the house with it. Praying for my P-ESP to return I would sit her on it once an hour. Nothing. This lasted for 2 weeks (my sense of my determination was a lot stronger than my actual determination) at the end of the two weeks, without so much a a drop of the yellow stuff, but with plenty of button music, I packed it up repeating what I had told myself 3 months earlier “She’s not even 2 yet, I’ll try again when she gets a little older”
Her 2nd birthday came and went and about a month later I decided now that she was two, it was FINALLY time. Somewhere in my mind it made perfect sense to think that two was the magical Age of the Potty. She has such a greater understanding of things, yes, now that she has hit that number, surely an internal switch has been flipped and she will want to celebrate her entry into toddlerhood by doing her peeps and poops in a toilet. Not so much. She would sit in her designated spot, look at me, look down and announce “It’s broken” or “It’s not working” or, my favorite, “pee pee needs new batteries”. She would then hop up, pull up her training pants and pee. Right there, STANDING NEXT TO THE THRONE! It happened day after day hour after hour, another 2 weeks of dry potty and wet diapers. It was enough to make me want to tear my hair out. Instead of making myself bald I opted for my old fallback peptalk “She’s only Two. It’s still early, they wouldn’t make diapers big enough for 2 year old if there wasn’t a market for them. More kids than not are still in diapers at her age.”
A few months passed, and my friend told me about an amazing potty method. All it took was 3 days! Imagine that, 3 days and she will be potty trained! I ordered the tutorial and gave it a go. Maybe it is very effective for normal kids, you know normal kids who feel discomfort, my daughter has no such sensitivities. A huge part of the 3 day method was the baby had to get uncomfortable when she peed in her underwear. Not Alexis. She ran around like she was dry. No big deal. Occasionally she would tell me she was “all wet” but it never slowed her down. I mean, really, 5 minutes waiting for a swing was a lifetime for a 2 year old, she was definitely not going to be losing her spot for something as ridiculous as bodily functions! HA, the thought! After a week (3 days of which were spent holed up in our apartment) and few “accidents” on the furniture and communal park equipment, I loaded the still unsoiled potty back into it’s home into the closet and pulled out the diapers.
The next month brought a visit from mother, and her notebook, filled with notes scribbled while watching Dr. Phil one day. Maude, bless her, thought that Dr. Phil had a good idea. Give Alexis a doll to teach potty to. When she teaches the doll potty, she will learn too. The problem of course, not being that Alexis doesn’t understand how to use the potty. I had given up on the hopeful thoughts of P-ESP and come to the stark realization that my daughter knows perfectly well how to use the potty, she is capable of telling me when she needs to go, she just likes her diaper. Pee-pee on the potty would only slow her down and she was going to fight it with everything she had, and lets be perfectly honest, I’m decades older than her; she has much more time to fight than I do. Needless to say Dr. Phil and his dolls in all their wisdom have never come across my daughter and her frustrating commitment to diapers and his method had 0 effect on her potty training. I had long since stopped thinking the little pink potty was cute and actually resented the thing. I didn’t even bother putting it back in the closet. Stupid thing sat in my bathroom mocking me for another 3 months.
In the fall I started school again, and Alexis started preschool (which cost more than my college classes, in part because children in diapers are more expensive, of course they are). Caught up in my classes and running back and forth to preschool, college, music classes and weekend beach trips I didn’t even think about her not being potty trained. Of course it was always in the back of my head, mainly taking the form of a question of when would I have time to potty train when I hardly had time to take a shower at the end of the day? The end of my semester rolled around and after receiving good grades I found my optimism had been restored and if it took all vacation, so be it, this child will deposit waste in her potty by the time I go back to school. Well, it did take all of vacation. All of vacation and 6 weeks into the new semester. There was a diaper discarding ceremony, an exciting trip to Target to buy underpants adorned with various Disney characters, and what I think the biggest factor that played into my success, an obsession with all things princess. Princesses did pee-pee on the potty, not only that but they had potties that looked like THRONES! Thrones that played princess music when they went pee on them.
She was potty trained, finally one month shy of her 3rd birthday. YIPPPPEEEEEE. Which brings us to our incident this morning; It has been about 2 weeks since we’ve had a pee-pee accident and 4 days since a poo-poo boo-boo. As I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel Alexis must be seeing the light at the beginning disappearing because she made one last-ditch effort in the Battle of the Potty, she Peed.On.The.Dog. I am basking in the glory of a successful 1st half of the semester being over, emptying the dishwasher, completely unassuming when I hear Lexi and the dog playing with each other (the dog that was housetrained in 2 days, thank you very much). “How nice they get along so well” I thought to myself. Then I hear it, “Mommy, I peed on Sunny!.” That adorable little voice coming out of the adorable little toddler. Adorable. No way did the adorable child do that, she’s far too adorable. Sure enough there was an adorable little puddle forming underneath the puppy, dripping off her back and my ahem-adorable daughter standing there with a big smile on her face. I couldn’t believe it. So close I could taste it and then this!! After a serious talk and a dog bath we are back to going in the potty. I hope.

Welcome Sunny!

2010-01-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been pretty absent from the blogging realm and this is the reason why:

Meet Sunny! She is a yellow lab and the new terror of the Caldwell household. Alexis Loves Loves Loves dogs and we thought, now that she is 2 and a half and has a much better grasp on being able to defend herself it is time to get a dog! We thought wrong. Matt (and I love him with every ounce of my heart) came home from getting his haircut and said "Want to go look at a dog?" Well we loaded up into the car and made the trek to the petstore and fell in love with the sweet puppy. She was so well behaved that first night, just a love sponge, and I thought, ' awwww this is going to be great, Norman Rockwell shold be taking notes'.

The next day, my husband (who I love very dearly) left on business for 2 weeks. and when he left he took our dog's sweet demeanor and my sanity with him. Sunny the Saint was a saint no longer. Not only did the dog change but I miraculously made the switch from loving mother to frustrated Circus Ring Leader. My life was altered irreversably and is now a neverending circle of pulling baby off dog, dog off couch, baby off counter, dog out of toy box, baby off dog, dog out of bedroom, baby out of fridge, dog off baby etc etc etc. I've been told before that I have a slight problem with being assertive and I think it is pretty safe to say that never in my 28 years have I said the word "NO!" so much.

Now that we have had the dog for a month and neither the baby, the dog or Matt is sick anymore (oh yea, did I mention that when Matt got back from two weeks of business trips he was sick for another week?)things are getting a little easier. we've discovered that Lexi loves dogs, but loves to instigate dogs more. We've also learned that despite every stranger in the street giving you their unwanted opinions on what you are doing wrong when training your dog, a 3 month old puppy CAN be housetrained and learn not to jump on people. We've also learned that Marly and Me should be required viewing/reading for anyone considering getting a labrador, because the junk that the dog eats was not exagerrated at all in the movie, in case you were skeptical, don't be.

Here are some pictures of our new addition that I took in some rare moments of down time between banging my head against a wall and planning my escape to Mexico.

Halloween

2009-11-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

This year we took Lexi into Huntington Beach again. I really enjoy doing this, they shut down the entire downtown to traffic and have blow up toys for the kids and all the stores and restaurants handing out treats. It's well lit and safe and if you get there early enough the kids really make out well with the candy ( Don't worry I confiscated most of her chocolate, you can never be too safe hehehe). Alexis had a blast sliding down the jumbo slide, she really is such an adrenaline junkie, I love it! She may have a fear of monsters and a super picky eater but throw her from any heights and she is game! Anyway, she was the cutest little kitty I've ever seen. I may be a little partial since she is my offspring and I made her costume but, whatever, she was DARN CUTE! After we got back from Trick-or-treating, we went to a Halloween Party! Matt was a cowboy and I was Smurfette, the blue paint lasted way longer than I thought it would, about 2 hours before I got sick of it! We had a great Halloween, I think my favorite part is how it was 70 on October 31st! Love it!

good night

2009-10-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

Slow motion good night brought to you by the sleepy kitty in the back seat

Goldfish Toss

2009-09-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

I love Lazy Sundays. Today we were planning on driving down to Sand Diego and spending the day at Sea World but Matt was still feeling sick so we took the day off of activities and spent the day cleaning (well, I cleaned) and watching some PGA golf and some Giants Football... GO G-MEN!!!!! Alexis is a huge Osi Umenyeiora and Eli Manning fan, she's a Mama's girl. Matt also took some time to show Alexis how he tosses goldfish in the air and catches them in his mouth, as you can guess it took turn pretty quick and there was goldfish throwing and baby giggles galore. Here's a silly little video of the two kids playing with their food!

Back to school, Back to school....

2009-08-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

Well maybe not back to school but she is definitely starting today. I dropped Alexis off for her first day of preschool today. My little baby is gone and there is a toddler wearing her shoes!! She picked out her very own Tinkerbell backpack yesterday and has been singing about preschool for a full week.
She did so well getting dropped off, ran right up to the playground and the kids. She tried to get me to come but when I told her I was leaving she just shrugged her little shoulders, gave me a hug and a kiss and said "Bye Mommy!!!". She couldn't get rid of me fast enough. A little preview of her preteen years. I fared slightly less well and got a little choked up but succesfully held back the tears. She goes 2 days a week from here on out as I go back to school also. Big happenings. Here are some pictures of my girl heading off to her first day!

s'getti

2009-07-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here's my little girl doing what she does best, making a gigantic mess!

Maude and Poppy's visit

2009-07-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

I just dropped my mom off at the airport, which makes me sad, but we had a great visit! My dad flew in a couple of days before my mom and hung out with the baby and me. When Mom got here we went to the circus then Matt and I hightailed it off to a Mommy and Daddy only cruise vacation! It was so nice to get away just the two of us and know that Lexi was well taken care of! When we got back Poppy was gone but we had a few days with Maude. We went to the Orange County Super Fair which was a lot of fun and watched the US Open of Surfing down in Huntington which was impressive! Now it is time to regroup before Mavs comes out in 10 days, yiippppeeee!!!

2009-07-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

Water baby

2009-07-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

Lexi's new favorite thing to do during bathtime is lay on her back with the water covering her ears. She is getting so good about learning to blow bubbles and hold her breath while sticking her face in the water. She is also doing well with swimming, as long as she has her life preserver and swimmies on. She floats all on her own and can actually "swim" from point A to point B.

Happy 4th!

2009-07-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day and happy I Finally Got My Darn Camera Back Day. After a month without my life-line and two trips to the Best Buy repair facilities my camera has come home to roost (or shoot in this case). Let's start this month off with a bang, fireworks should do nicely. Yesterday was The Fourth Of July and we had quite the busy day! In the morning we got Matt up at 8:45 and hoofed it around the block to a parade close by us. Major letdown. The parade consisted of a firetruck, which Alexis loved, followed by 3 convertibles carrying the city planner, a councilwoman and someone else... maybe head of the neighborhood watch? Who knows, she didn't have an 8 year old carrying a piece of posterboard with her description on it. After the convertibles there was an antique firetruck which was pretty neat and then a parade of the neighborhood kids on their bikes and scooters decorated in red white and blue. It was a nice little neighborhood parade but we were hoping for something a little bigger, I'm sure we would have appreciated it more if we actually knew any of the people in the convertibles or kids on the bikes. Next year we will be attending the parade in Huntington, THEY have jet planes with red white and blue smoke and street performers.

After an anticlimatic parade we went home and made PB&J sandwiches, jumped on our bikes and rode down to Huntington Beach. As we were having a nice ride along the beach, a demonic kite caught me in it's sights. It plummeted to the ground at just the right angle to affectively close-line me and remove me from my bike seat. I tried keeping the bike up right at the same time as detangling the kite string from my neck before it severed a major artery, keeping the bike up lost the battle. Alexis, bike and picnic lunch went crashing to the floor. Luckily all 25 of the people that had stopped to watch the Crazy Lady on the Bike vs. the Kite came rushing over to pick up baby and bike. I think Alexis might have been upset about it if all of a sudden she didn't have 25 concerned people fawning over her. Instead of crying about the scrape on her arm she just turned on the mayoral charm and, I kid you not, started shaking hands and saying hi! My two year old shakes hands in greetings. After checking her over for injuries and assuring the alarmingly growing crowd that we would survive to see another kite we were back on our way.

We stopped and got some deeeelicious freshly squeezed lemonade from the middle-aged lemonade stand manager and set up our blanket on the grass overlooking the ocean. I don't think we were sitting down for more than 30 seconds when Alexis had a glimpse of the little boy next to us' toys and she was off like a cannon. She barrelled over there, all grace and charm and started pulling his toys out of the toy bag. Like any other child reacting to our painstakingly shy and introverted daughter he ran straight away and to his mom. Luckily they were a very nice family and had no problem with Alexis commandeering their picnic. She ate all their goldfish and played with all their toys and being the selfish parents we are, we let her... Hey, she was wearing herself out, don't expect me to stop anything that will eventually lead to a two hour nap. After lunch we rode around the neighborhoods surrounding downtown and got an apartment hunt underway, we didn't make as much progress as we hoped but there is always next time, we still have a month before our lease is up here at Spring Break Coronado.

When we got home Alexis spent a nice afternoon making mud pies out of Matt's beautifully landscaped lawn and after hosing her off we headed across the street to see the fireworks. For some reason, unknown to me, Alexis associates fireworks with Mickey Mouse. All the people around us were treated to an energentic rendition of "Mickey Moouuuse Cluuub Tooouse" everytime she was swept away by the spirit of the lights. You have not lived until you have heard our daughter sing Mickey Mouse Club House. She definitely will be carrying on all the singing talent that we have to give her, which boils down to approximately, none. She is currently sleeping on the couch because despite all her activity yesterday she was still up at 6:30 this morning, yayyy. Well I hope everyone else had a great Fourth too, I have to go put neosporin on my war wounds from the Battle of the Kite. bye!

Get off the road!!

2009-05-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

Camping

2009-05-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon we drove up to Ventura to go camping with Keith and Steph. I had never been camping before (outside of good ole Camp Sassacus overnights) so I didn't really know what to expect. We rented a couple of bedrolls from REI and spread them out in the bed of the truck and Lexi slept in the back seat. Aside from Alexis being overtired and cranky, but not wanting to miss anything it was a lot of fun. Steph and Keith spent Friday night there also and they found a great spot! we were literally right on the sand with the ocean about 100 yards away. There were big rocks allover the beach that Lexi had a great time moving and throwing into the water. We BBQ'd and had S'mores, yum!!! When we finally got Alexis to sleep it was adult time, although we were all so tired adult time lasted about the span of 1 beer and we all hit the figurative hay. Actually sleeping in the truck bed was a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be and you gotta love Southern California weather, it was warm enough that we just needed a blanket to keep cozy all night! I definitely think there will be more camping trips in our future, maybe when Alexis gets a little older though, so I don't have to spend the whole time chasing her around and keeping her from climbing into the fire.

Summer Dress #1

2009-05-15T09:26:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things about having a little girl - besides the love, cuddles and feeling of accomplishment blah blah blah- is that I get to dress her up in the cutest outfits! We got a package from Aunt Ro this week and this is one of the dresses from that package, how cute is this dress. We also went to the outlets on Wednesday where I got ton more cute clothes for her. It's a good thing for me that she is a girly girl and a huge ham because she loves putting on the ridiculous outfits I find for her and hamming it up for the camera, now if I could only do something about her unruly hair. We will be going through our entire new summer dress wardrobe over the next couple weeks so stay tuned!

2009-05-11T11:47:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Mother's Day and Lexi surprised me with some chocolate and an Elmo card... Well maybe not a complete surprise since she found them the day before and brought the chocolate out to me, begging me to open them up. HA! After we had a breakfast of chocolate (hey, it was a holiday!) we had a nice relaxing day around the house. Matt and I watched The Doors and when Alexis got up from her nap her and I went on a walk with her new stroller. She loves that thing! She pushes it around every waking moment of the day and ants to bring it everywhere with us! great buy! Hope all the other Moms out there had a great day!

Happy 2nd Birthday Alexis Leigh!!

2009-05-09T11:17:00.000-07:00

Alexis turned 2 on April 26th. I don't believe my sweet little baby girl is two years old! She is getting so big, it's like a toddler ate my infant. and boy oh boy has she hit the ground running with the "terrible two's". I swear the morning she woke up on her second birthday her eyes opened to a new found attitude. She tells me "Mommy, NO!" all the time. She makes messes on purpose then says "Clean, Mommy" She has started throwing herself bodily on the floor kicking punching and screaming if She doesn't like what I have to tell her. She is a piece of work and it is taking every shred of patience I have some days not to put her out by the park with a 'Baby $5.00 or best offer' sign. I kid I kid, but if this is any indication of how she is going to be once she hits her teenage years then maybe I should consider it.

For her birthday we had promised her to take her to Disneyland to see Mickey Mouse so we got all loaded up in the car and went to Anaheim to go see The mouse and his friends. We got there and it was a beautiful day. We walked around the park and Matt and I were sorely dissapointed. We kept asking where all the characters were? Where all the rides were? This was NOT the Disney of our youth (wow, that made me sound like a crotchity old lady). We just couldn't believe it! There were almost no rides or shows and the park was so small! After walking around for a few hours we sat down to eat some lunch and started talking to the family next to us. She mentioned something about taking a train ride with her kids, which sparked my interest and I asked her where that ride was and her response... it was at Disneyland! Apparantly we had spent the whole day walking around California Adventure Park (not an entirely accurate name, not much of an adventure) thinking it was Disney. Matt and I had quite the head smacking moment.

We then tried to go over to Disneyland because we had promised our daughter Mickey for her second birthday and had bought the 2-fer tickets (you pay for one park visit and can go to the other for free on another day). So we moseyed our silly behinds over to the correct Disney park, only to be told that we couldn't do both parks in the same day. Matt went over to talk to the people at customer relations and they told him "Tough Luck". So we spent the rest of the day at California Adventure and headed back to Disneyland the following weekend with Keith and Steph and it was MUCH more like the Disney we remembered. Lexi got to see Mickey Mouse, although like the awful mother I am I wasn't standing on line for a half hour with an impatient toddler to take a picture, we'll go back during the week one day and take pictures with the characters when it isn't overrun with tourists. We got to go on It's a Small World (lucky Matt got to ride it twice, by the end of the second go around he was clinging to the shred of sanity he still had intact). We also took her on a safari boat ride and quite a few others! Matt chowed down on a... no kidding honest to goodness whole turkey leg. After round two at Disney we went out to dinner at Cheesecake Factory which was fantastic as always, we all had to be rolled out of the restaurant and Alexis didn't even make it through the meal, she fell asleep in the booth. Our second weekend was a much more succesful birthday celebration than Lexi's actual birthday weekend and we all had a great time!

RI Visit Part II

2009-05-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

On the last day we were in Rhode Island I dropped my camera and haven't been able to upload any pictures... Gasp!!!! This is the first day that I have been able to rig up the camera to the computer with duct tape and some crossed fingers! After we got over being sick we had a nice visit! We got to spend some quality time with Jane and we got to see most of our friends and Rhode Island family. Unfortunately, because we spent so much time being sick we couldn't get to everyone. It was so nice to see everyone, I really miss our people so much being out here, but I sure don't miss the 45 degree weather and rain (it obviously rose to the 70's and was sunny the day after we left) We finally got to meet Emily and visit with the rest of the Norris clan. Alexis and Madison picked up right where they left off, grabbing dolls out of each others hands in the beginning of the visit but giving hugs and kisses by the end!

sick in RI

2009-04-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

We had a great first day in RI, Lexi was happy and cheery, playing with Grandma and her RI toys. The weather was warm and then the second day the clouds rolled in and Lexi came down with the sickiest sick that ever sicked. She threw up almost all night and into the day. We spent 3 hours in the walk in clinic waiting to see a doctor, and she started to feel a little better as we were waiting. She kept trying to play with the little girl with pink eye (I nipped that in the bud, Mommy would NOT be happy with the two P's, puke and puss). We finally got into see the doctor and his conclusion was that post nasal drip was making her sick, apparantly a west coast address includes zero tolerance for the pollen we normally could live with. Well hey, if thats all the doctor thinks it is then I was heading out to dinner with the girls "Wooohooo!! Margaritas!!"

Needless to say post nasal drip was 100% without a doubt NOT the cause of her vomiting. The cause of her vomiting was a vicious evil virus clearly created by the devil himself that sits in wait for you to get relaxed thinking that you won't get sick, it waits for you to let your infected daughter throw up allover you 5 or 6 times, making it's way to your brain first where it whispers to your subconscience "doooon't worrryyy. it's just pooost nasaaal drrriiippp". From your brain that whily little virus works it's way down to your partying bone where it whispers "yesssss 5 beers are a grrrrrreat idea, just go for a run in the mooorrrning, you will be okkkkk". It works it way very much out of your SUB-conscience into your super-conscience the next afternoon. It starts to hit you conveniently during your daughter's 2nd Birthday Party so that you think maybe the run wasn't a great idea and causes you to second guess that second serving of spaghetti and meatballs. Well by 6 o'clock that night you can not even move because if you twitch or take a breath too deeply you are hugging the bowl. Jane and I are both on day 2 of this evil sick and are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, who knows by this time tomorrow maybe we will be eating giant bacon cheeseburgers, and then again Maybe Not... here are some pics of our RI visit that weren't spent in the bathroom...

Secrets to traveling with a toddler

2009-04-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

The only secret to traveling across the country by yourself with a toddler is feign insanity so that all the people around you will avoid getting in your way, chances are by the end of the day you won't have to fake it anymore and you will be genuinely crazy. If the airport staff is on their game they might even have a padded van waiting for you to get off the plane straight-jacket and a room at Butler with your name on it!

Alexis and I left for RI yesterday morning at about 9:30 and we were "blessed" with the most unhelpful cab driver in the world. Luckily he came to pick us up in a van so there was room for our gigantic suitcase and the gigantic jogging stroller that I brought under the false hope that I would be going for runs this week, not going to happen. Well the van was the last of our lucky streak with the cab ride over there. Not only did I have to fold the stroller and put Lexi's carseat in the car (which I fully expected having to do) but I also had to figure out how to fold down the back seat of the van and load the suitcase in because apparantly the driver had never had to do this before. I wasn't put off at all at this point because no biggie, I don't mind lifting the suitcase and putting down the seat, whatever. But when we got to the airport I told him our airline then watched him drive right by it, keeping the meter running, and letting me off about a 1/4 mile away from the check-in spot I needed to be at. Did I mention I had a huge suitcase, a huge stroller, a huge very bulky toddler carseat, a computer bag and an overstuffed purse? Bye-bye taxi driver. Alexis obviously at this point refused to get in her stroller (this became a running theme for the rest of the day)I left the bag back where the cab dropped us off and walked over to the check in with the stroller computer, purse and baby where a very nice airline employee came back to help me with the suitcase and car seat. Once we got to check in we went to get our tickets, assisted by the same airline guy and turns out the reservations were made in my married name but my maiden name is still on my driver's license, courtesy of the friendly folks at the CA DMV. That was a 15 minute ordeal because the only piece of identification I had with the Caldwell last name was my Costco card and shockingly that is not considered a valid form of Identification, I mean come on, Costco doesn't just let any Tom Dick or Alicia sign up... right? We eventually got our tickets and worked our way over to security, Oh Security, the highlight of each and every trip to the airport, I was excited now. I got the computer out of the bag, our shoes off and the stroller folded up ( this was easy because I had no baby to remove before folding) just to be told that my stroller on steroids would not fit through the xray machine. I was unfolding the stroller when Alexis decided it was time for a game of round and round. As my energentic daughter ran around me in circles screaming "ROUND ROUND ROUND" I caught a whiff of the Diaper A La Alexis and immediately contemplated the merits of banging my head against a concrete wall and humming something soothing, but decided that the moment of peace would be short lived after I was ushered out of sight for a cavity search due to suspicious behavior. After we made it through with a quick check of Alexis' juice with the magic vapor wand, I think it was so quick because the people around us were dropping like flies due top the stench radiating from the toddler's bottom half, we were off in search of a bathroom. Whoever had the brilliant idea of putting a sink 2 inches from the changing tail should have to change my daughter's poo-poo diaper using said changing table as punishment. All I wanted was to get a fresh diaper on her and all she wanted to do was climb in the sink and make a gigantic mess, Lucky for me I outweigh her by 100 lbs (give or take, let's not get into numbers) so she was easily overpowered with pure braun, although she definitely won the attitude portion of the Battle of The Diaper. We then got a banana that kept her busy until it was time to board the plane, thank heaven for small miracles!

When we fly Alexis likes to consider herself The Mayor of The Sky. She turns on the charm and stops to greet every person on the plane, every person. I like to sit in the back with her because then people are less likely to sit next to us and she is less likely to kick those people and climb on top of them, it makes for a happier flight for everyone if it is just the two of us in a row, trust me. the first flight was a quicky and I do have to give it to her, she is an excellent flyer. Not a tear, she love love loves takeoff and looking out the window and peeking over the seats to do her mayoral duties keeping everyone seated by us entertained with games of peekaboo and shared raisins. Well we got off the plane in Phoenix, and staying true to her earlier decision, had a complete and total breakdown when she caught sight of the stroller. Well I think it was clear to everyone getting off the plane that the angelic toddler they spent the last hour playing with was not to blame for the out of control devil-child they were now bearing witness to, so I caught quite a few evil eyes as people passed us by, causing me once again to abandon all hope of a stroller ride. we went to the bathroom for a much less dramatic diaper change than the first then got some chicken nuggets and plopped her in front of the god-sent TV playing Scooby-Doo. She made friends with a woman in a wheel chair (which she reffered to as a big girl stroller) and played another exuberant game of round and round, effectively wearing her out so that she slept for an hour on the next flight. The rest of the flight was spent peek a booing with the girls in the seat in front of us and watching the critically acclaimed film, "Elmo in Grouchland". All in all we got to RI in one piece at 10:00 pm, brain activity in tact and our flight staff must have been distracted just enough because there were no men in white coats waiting to take me away when we landed hee hee hoo hoo haa haa!

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

Alexis and I went into Huntington Beach today for an Easter Egg hunt and had a blast! Lexi got to search for Candy with the kids, sit on a fire truck, pet some dogs and play on the playground all in a cute dress!
Last night Matt and I went to a Red Sox game in Anaheim and I could kick myself for not bringing my camera because Shemar Moore was sitting two seats down from us. Even if you don't know who he is, if you know me you know about my obsession with crime dramas! He is on one of my top crime dramas; Criminal Minds. I was so excited an Matt had a fun time teasing me so it was definitely my favorite baseball game ever! well I hope everyone out there in cyberland has a great Easter, here are some pictures of Lexi searching for some candy!

Sea World San Diego

2009-04-06T11:04:00.001-07:00

Meghan and Sarah are out visiting this week and we are having a great time! Sarah got in on Wednesday and Meghan got here in Thursday. Meghan rallied with her jet lag on friday and like a true trooper headed down to San Diego with us to go watch some Shamu! Matt met us down there after his morning meeting and we spent the day expanding our knowledge about marine life. Sarah suggested we feed the stingrays without fully understanding just what that entailed, and when I came back with a little tray of fish heads she second-guessed that activity! But the stingrays got fed and Lexi loved feeding the ducks at the next stop! We saw the Shamu show, smelled the stinky clydesdales, watched the dolphins jump and the crowning glory of the day was by far the pet show! Alexis was enthralled with the cats dogs and pigs running across stage leaping and flipping. She laughed out loud and cheered for the doggies! We enjoyed the beer stands as well as the shows and sesame street rides, fun for all ages! We all got fun-passes so we can go back any time for the rest of the year so we will be sure to take full advantage of that!!

OREOSSSSSS

2009-03-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Alexis has had her first adventure into "Milk's favorite cookie" and it was a slam dunk! she loved them, not that I am surprised she is My child. she made a gigantic mess and loved her oreo mustache. yummm yummm all this cookie talk is making me hungry I think Mommy is going to go have one.

Bed-head

2009-03-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a little baby-bedhead to start out your day and week! This is the adorable sight I get the pleasure of viewing every morning. Alexis got the curse of my Ultra Fine hair and some curly on top of that, J&J No More Tangles is going to be our bestfriend in a few years when it really starts growing, but until then I will just sit back and take her picture for embarassment later in life, hee heehee

thhhbbbtttt

2009-03-19T20:53:00.000-07:00

welcome back computer!

2009-03-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

After almost four weeks without my computer, the powers that be at Best Buy have decided to bestow my belongings back onto me. HAPPY DANCE!!! Since I've been absent from the wonderful world of blogging we have had a great time. The weather is starting to warm up. It is in the 70's this week, love it! Lexi and I also took a trip east to Florida for a visit with family and Shamu! It was a great trip. We went to Sea World in Orlando and Alexis discovered a new found love for giant sea mammals. She was wide-eyed and opened-mouthed through the whole Shamu show and was so excited to wtch the dolphin and birds. She had a great time visiting with Poppy, Maude, Uncle Ian and Aunt Ro... oh and of course Kudja. Her obsession with doggies reached a new height after spending a week with Kudja. She is still asking for the doggie everytime she wakes up from a nap or gets out of her crib in the morning. I think our pet-free days are numbered. We will hold off as long as possible by distracting her with her fish, Stew. that would be a fish named Stew... not fishstew. ew. alright that is all for now I am going to go outside with Alexis and enjoy this beyootiful weather!

play-doh cannon

2009-02-17T19:58:00.000-08:00

Alexis has THE FUNNIEST LAUGH EVER. She throws her entire being into letting us know she is entertained and I love it! She really cracks me up. Matt combined her new favorite toy (play-doh) and her love of getting things thrown at her (I know, weird right?) and had us all cracking up because of her response. When she finds something funny there is no stopping her. I will take the blame for this one. I sometimes have been known to laugh in extreme excess at things that are just sort of funny, for hours. Poor girl better get over it or she is going to find herself sitting on the floor making fishy faces to try and stop the laughter, which lets be honest, only makes the laughter explode out!

Wash Me

2009-02-16T16:32:00.000-08:00

Matt and Alexis broke into the magic markers while I was in the shower and Lexi got a little tattoo. Doesn't she spell upside down really well? Matt wrote the same message on the truck a few weeks ago, I obviously married him for his maturity hahaha!

baking

2009-02-15T08:02:00.001-08:00

Lexi and I cooked up some Valentines Day cupcakes yesterday and I decorated them after she went to bed, here are the results:

elmo hat

2009-02-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

We found another use for the halloween bucket. 'nuff said

Nanner-Puss

2009-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Lexi's new obsession is the Denny's Nanner-puss commercial. She loves it, we sing Puss while we change diapers and everytime I am on my computer she tries to comandeer it to watch Puss... and in answer to Denny's question, Alexis says No it is NOT time for a serious breakfast.

MINE!

2009-02-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

Well I guess all you can do is delay the inevitable, try as hard as you might but you just can't prevent it. Alexis' new favorite word is "MINE!". Not mine or even Mine... no it is MINE! It is forcible and angry and it is my new least favorite word. Matt and I tried very hard not to use that word in front of her, we said Mommy's or Daddy's or Lexi's but we tried to refrain from using mine. I honestly don't know where she picked it up from or how she mastered the meaning of it when she still doesn't seem to understand the word no when it comes out of my mouth. Odd how she knows what it means when she is saying it to me...

Here are some pictures of my sassy little girl trying to weasel a way to bring both her pacies after I told her she didn't need 2 to help mommy get the laundry.

TGIF

2009-02-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday!!! Alexis and I had a big week, 2 playdates, a music class and a couple trips to the park! We were going to try a new story time because the story lady at our other story time is evil, but when we got to the new library there was no parking. Not one space open! So we went around the corner and found a new playground which was fun. We also had a couple playdates and as always I am singing the praises of her music class. That class was the best thing I have ever done with her. She loves the interaction with the other kids her age and the singing and dancing. I love watching her eyes light up as she plays with the colorful scarves and maracas and everything in our apartment has now turned into a drum thanks to the class. She just loves it and I just love going there with her every week!

Tonight we are having Matt's friend from work and his girlfriend over for dinner so I am obviously procrastinating cooking by blogging. Keith and Stephanie are such a nice couple and hopefully they will survive my cooking so we can get together with them again sometime. Keep your fingers crossed for me that I cook everything thoroughly and don't send anyone to the bathroom with food poisoning tonight. haha. well I guess I should get cracking. Here are some pictures of Alexis helping me clean today for our company. She was great at cleaning Elmo her stuffed pig and her book. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Seriously?!

2009-02-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I was completely flabbergasted when Michelle Duggar had her 426th child, little did I know that this little gem would come out of the woodwork and completely blow Michelle and her rabbit-reproduction out of the water.

A woman who lives a little further north of us, by L.A., had octuplets (yes 8 babies at once). Now when I first heard about this I thought, good for her, it was very obvious to me that she had used in-vitro and I am all about using the medicinal miracles of today to make things happen that otherwise would not be possible. Well the excitement around this woman kept building and she kept herself out of the spotlight, not subjecting her 3 day old babies to Today show interviews and sattelite broadcasting, although the doctors who delivered them couldn't get enough of the spotlight. They called a press conference everytime one of the babies sneezed! Anyway I thought it was great how she was trying to keep the spotlight off and attempt some semblance of a normal life. Well turns out she was not giving interviews because she is a complete and total nutjob and didn't want the whole of the country in on her purple elephant and rainbows life.

As it turns out this woman is under 35, single and already has 6 more children under the age of 7 at home. 6 UNDER THE AGE OF 7. I have one child and have already had to stop writing 4 times(I've been keeping track) to deal with one thing or the other. How is she going to take care of her litter? She got pregnant through a sperm donor and lives with her parents in a 2 bedroom house. Now I can't decide if this woman is completely bonkers or just totally irresponsible. Right now I am leaning heavily toward bonkers, very heavily. Her mother has all but told the press her daughter belongs in the looney bin and her father is jumping ship to Iraq. The man would rather go to a war torn country to find work than deal with 14 kids in his 2 bedroom house, and all I have to say about that is he must be the smartest one in that entire family. If his wife has any smarts she will be packing up her personal air-conditioner an heading east with her escaping husband.

Now the news hasn't said anything about her being on welfare which I am sure that they would have jumped all over if that was the case. So on the upside maybe we won't be paying for her kids, who knows maybe TLC will have a new John and Kate plus 8. They could call it One Psycho plus 14 Tyke-o's (I know I know I was stretching for a rhyme, I'm sure the masterminds at TLC will come up with something catchier- and more P.C.) She has hired a publicist to speak for her and the P.R. lady has released statements saying that they have tons of offers for book deals and other money making options, and you know the whole country will eat up the crazy pudding by the gallon and this crazy lady will soon be known to the world as a strong-willed eccentric single mother because if her Public Relations lady is worth anything she is going to make her into the next Virgin Mary. I can see it now, "Yes, folks, Not only does this amazing woman raise 14 kids by herself but she is a virgin and she can spin gold out of straw, GOLD. She will be meeting with President Obama next week to discuss the economy. No questions at this time." Mark my words we are appalled now but by this time next year she will be running for a government position, because that is where all the truly delusional end up.

Yes the crazies are outnumbering the sane people of the world (14 at a time).

A Smile for Daddy

2009-02-03T20:44:00.001-08:00

Matt had a tough day at work today, then he made late plans to drive up to Los Angeles at the tail end of rush hour to meet with someone for dinner by LAX so this post is just for him. He missed Alexis' bath escapades tonight so I styled her hair up nice and took pictures like the wonderful embarassing mother that I am heeheehee

weekend fun!

2009-02-01T11:36:00.000-08:00

I love where we live! I can't get over it that it is the beginning of February and we are spending our weekends on the beach! Alexis and I brought Matt to Jump N Jammin this weekend. It is an indoor baby superland and I don't know who had more fun, Alexis or Matt! Matt found the guns that you can fire little nerf balls at the unsuspecting kids and parents below and I think some kids walked out of that ball pit scarred for life, haha. It's funny how all the dads that were at Jump n Jammin yesterday gravitated towards the combative ball pit. Lexi climbed and slid and jumped and had frozen yogurt and had a great time! We decided to take the scenic route home and stopped at Laguna Beach to watch the sunset and explore a little. Matt found tide pools filled with sea creatures and Alexis found a playground in the sand shaped like a boat so all in all it was a succesful day! Weekends make me so happy, I love when we do things as a family and can really spend time enjoying each other's company! Today we are taking it easy and watching the superbowl from our apartment, Go Cardinals!!

Adventures in Naked Baby Land!!!

2009-01-21T16:41:00.000-08:00

Alexis looooves her baths and haaaates putting her pj's on after a bath. Here's some pictures of her naked play and trying to be cute so we won't put her pjs on, crazy girl. I also added some from Carly's visit! It was so good to see her and have a little east coast in my life, even if it was just for 1 weekend, One day she will be here for good, one day! (best line of the weekend: Chris telling college stories; " 'what sport do you play??' 'Does it really matter?' "

baby in a box

2009-01-20T13:16:00.000-08:00

Well, who needs tons and tons of toys when a collapsed box is so much fun?

3-day beach weekend!

2009-01-20T12:04:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of Circuit City going out of business sale and replaced my camera's usb cord so I can upload more pictures and get this blog rolling! Matt had a 3-day weekend this past weekend and we took great advantage of the 80 degree weather and took Alexis to the beach. We rode our bikes out to Balboa Peninsula and played on the beach playground. Alexis is such a little climber and completely fearless. She climbs up any ladder, jungle gym, or slide that she comes across and conquers them all. We got to watch the sun set over the Pacific ocean, had some dinner by the sea, Alexis has a new found love of chocolate milk, then threw on our sweatshirts and rode home. I just can't get over that it is the middle of January and this is what we are doing with our lives, it's great!

sorry... or sowwy if you speak baby

2009-01-09T06:56:00.000-08:00

I know I know I have been majorly slacking lately on the blogging. It's tough when you are traveling around the Holiday season. We just got back from a week in Florida with my family and we had a blast! It was in the 80's all week and sunny everyday. Since it was right after the busy Holiday season my parent's store was slow and they could take a few days out and spend extra time with the Lexi. We went to a New Year's party, the Aquarium, the beach, Busch Gardens, Matt got to golf with my dad and brother and we even snuck a much needed date night. It was a great activity filled week and made me realize how much I miss being close to our families.

Busch Gardens

2009-01-05T14:46:00.000-08:00

We are still in Florida visiting my parents and having a great time. Yesterday we spent the day at Busch Gardens and it was a huge success! Alexis loved riding the train around the park and seeing all the animals, I was a little worried about her sitting still for a 30 minute train ride through the "jungle" but she did much better than I thought she would. She opened ate her raisins and cuddled with Daddy and Maude. Then she took a nap and the inner children in Mommy and Daddy came out to play! I had forgotten how much I love love love rollercoasters. we spent Lexi's afternoon going on rollercoasters, watching Matt torment my mom on Bumper Cars and cheering on my Dad as he won the baby a Care-Bear on the frog tossing game. When she woke up we climbed through this netted maze that was about 100 feet overground, Alexis loved it but Matt and I are still sore from all the bending and climbing (I guess our inner children can't save our adult bones from the rigors of aging). We are going to be heading home in a couple of days to post some more pictures but in the meantime I'll post some of our day at Busch Gardens!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T08:54:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year from Florida!!!! Yayyy 2009! A whole new year of adventures just waiting to happen! Where will Lexi take us this year now that she is mobile?...

Lexi "Helping

2008-12-31T13:41:00.000-08:00

we are in florida for the week but here is a quick video of Lexi "helping" me clean up after her soup

Christmas Morning

2008-12-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

Cinnamon Buns, wrapping paper and Elmo... what more could a baby want out of one morning!? Lexi was up at 7:30 and was calm for about 15 minutes untill she got a load of what was under the tree! As soon as she saw the scooter it was all over! I had to drag Matt out of bed so she could unwrap her gifts but all she wanted to do was sit on the scooter! We finally got her going with the wrapper tearing and she was getting so excited for every present, it made my heart smile! She unwrapped the stuff dog from Grandma and started woofing and yelling "DOG", she opened the drum and immediately started banging away, and forget about it once she opened Elmo, as soon as she saw the box all we heard all morning was "MO MO MO MO". She has been climbing in and out of her new wagon all morning and on and off the scooter, I wish it was dry out so we could take her for a ride. Both her and Matt are tuckered out and lounging on the couch right now before we head out to the Ambrosetti's. hope everyone is having as nice of a morning as we are!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T23:00:00.000-08:00

Tonight is Christmas Eve and I am BEAT! I made a big dinner tonight and it was edible if not yummy!! We had a roast candied yams mashed potatoes and green bean casserole (just like Mrs.Rieman used to make) and Uncle Jimmy's cheesecake yummmmm-my. Alexis went to bed early which worked out well for Matt and I because we had a lot of wrapping and toy building to do before morning. We watched It's a Wonderful Life, which I have never seen, and I cried like an idiot at the end... who knew? well I am going to go hit the hay and let my stomache digest the gigantic piece of cheesecake I wolfed down. Here are some pictures of everything before it gets torn apart in a munchkin tornado

2008-12-24T03:44:00.000-08:00

Well it is 3:45 am and Lexi decided that it was time to wake up about an hour ago. We are sitting on the couch watching Elmo and she is pointing out the pictures of Elmo on her pants. As much as I love to wake up in the middle of the night I wish she would just go back to sleep. Oh, well I thought I would make the best of a bad situation and post a blog, because if I don't get one up soon I think Mavs might have my head. Well I hope you all are sleeping well having nice dreams about a magical place where babies sleep through the night. Here are some pictures of our middle of the night Elmo Party.

2008-12-19T10:18:00.000-08:00

The Duggars had another kid. That woman's ovaries have got to be ready to give their resignation letters. "Dear Mrs. Duggar, We quit. We have been overworked to the point of exhaustion and can't do it anymore. We're packing up our eggs and moving on with our lives. Maybe buy a nice condo in FL, relax, spend the rest of our days on the beach. We've earned it.

sincerely,

your ovaries"

All kidding aside I am so glad when Alexis' bedtime rolls around at the end of the night because I am exhausted and she is a lot older than me and has 17 more kids than I do, She must eat like 30 power bars a day to keep her energy up. I love love love shower time because that is Mommy Time, how does she even take a shower with 18 kids running around? You know there are at least 3 kids banging on that bathroom door anytime she gets anywhere near it. Craziness. 18 kids... 18.

Internet?? I think not

2008-12-18T18:09:00.000-08:00

Time Warner cable is really ticking me off. We pay way too much for cable and internet every month and we haven't had internet for almost two weeks. I have called them 4 times and they keep telling me there is a "white out" and they have people working on it. Forgive me if this is ignorant but this is their job, to fix internet problems, two weeks seems more than a little ridiculous to my for our internet to be down. A "white out" sounds like something that might be a common, easily fixable problem. Apparantly these people are just making sure they have great job security during the holiday season by telling all the customer service people that it should be back up by 6:00pm on any given night. Convenient that when it is not up at 6 there is no one in customer service to answer my call. Sorry for the vent I know no-one cares about my internet annoyance but that is why there have been no new pictures up lately. Thank goodness one of our neighbors has a wireless connection through someone other than Time Warner so I can weasel an hour or so a day to check my email... Whooooo thanks for being patient and reading all that whining. Here's a Lexi picture on our new bikes to reward everyone for being so nice.

Vain baby

2008-12-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Our daughter loves loves loves looking at pictures of herself... everyday we need to go through all of our facebook pictures of her, her baby photo album and whatever pictures are on my phone camera or computer. All day long I hear "Baby, pleeeease. Baby pleeeease. BABY PLEASE!" She calls herself baby. here is a video of her bugging Matt to show her a picture of herself on his computer.

Bike shopping

2008-12-07T16:54:00.000-08:00

Matt and I decided to get ourselves bikes, or beach cruisers as they are called out here, this year. We went bike shopping yesterday and I think Alexis was more excited about it than us. She ran from bike to bike laughing and yelling "Ride, Ride, Ride!" she loved testing out all the stuff that was her size and we even went for a little cruise around the back of the store. I think we know what she will be getting for her birthday!!! Not the hot-rod, although she did love it I think it might be a little too Greased Lightening for a 2 year old girl. We would have to start calling her Sandy! haha

Afternoon Cuddles

2008-12-07T16:49:00.000-08:00

After a lazy day around the apartment nothing makes me feel better than some couch cuddles with the munchkin!

Emily Girard Norris

2008-12-03T09:43:00.001-08:00

Welcome to the world Emily Girard Norris!! We missed Joe and Jess' latest bundle of joy by two days. We can't wait to meet her on our next trip to Rhode Island!!

tree time!

2008-12-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

we had a very Norman Rockwell-esque Tuesday, Lexi and I baked cookies all day and when Matt came home we decorated our tree. Funny how Norman never painted the mess that surrounds the family activities, flour covered babies and tinsel and ornaments strewn about the house. I have a feeling that our well balanced decorating is going to be bare from the bottom 2 1/2 feet. Alexis has already started pulling all the ornaments off the bottom. She loved "helping" with the cookies so much I mixed some flour milk and and sugar in a mixing bowl of her own so she could make Lexi Cookies (my intentions may have been a little more selfish than that... after 4 hours of cookie baking little fingers get in the way a lot more than they help) after an extensive cleaning session almost all the flour and sugar and pumpkin puree is gone, almost. It was a fun day though, and Lexi loves her cookies!

Gobble Gobble Gobble

2008-12-01T12:33:00.000-08:00

We went to Rhode Island for Thanksgiving and it was the first time we've been home since we moved out to California. We had a great week, lots of turkey, beef stew, crisp fresh air, crunchy leaves and family catching up! It took a few days to deal with the time change (it's a lot easier to deal with the time change coming out to the west than going east) but after a few days we were good and were out and about. I got my tooth put on 3 months after a root canal and died my hair brown (matt is not too pleased about the hair, but I am ecstatic about the tooth) the weather was chilly , freezing the first two days and only chilly the last 4. Lexi did great on both plane trips, she slept through the red-eye to Rhode Island and lasted really well through all 3 flights back to California. We had a great time and it was really nice to see everyone, I only wish we could have had more time!

nap time with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Steve

helping with turkey dinner

Insert Tool Time grunt here

2008-11-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

fun with screens! here is our silly girl being just that!

2008-11-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

I had a great idea a day late, I think Matt should have been Joe the Plumber for Halloween. It could have been the easiest costume ever, a t-shirt, jeans, and a plunger. I also think that Matt is rethinking his decision to marry me after I couldn't think of the name of a plunger and called it a "poop-sucker" in my frustration. poor Matt.

Boo!

2008-11-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! I like Halloween... what other day of the year can you dress up and dress your baby up like anything you want and it be acceptable. Huntington Beach shut down Main Street and had every blow up maze, game, and jumper known to man set up allover the street, so we headed there since Alexis is too little for trick or treating. It was fun, very crowded but fun. Lexi was running around like a crazy baby, looking at all the kids costumes and all the dogs dressed up. She kept ripping her hat off (less wind resistance for running around) We taught her to say Bzzzz (do ladybugs even buzz?) someone asked me if I made her costume, I tried very very hard not to laugh, Martha Stewart I am not. Everyone out here dresses up! All day doing errands, everywhere I went people were dressed up, it really was fun!

So the thing that bothered me were the costumes these little girls were wearing, not little little girls but definitely pre-teen or just-teen. I couldn't believe the lack of costume, bandanas as shirts paired with micro-mini skirts - just what the heck are you supposed to be?- it was ridiculous. I can't get over it. when I was that age I always was a hippy, my dad's old navy dog tags, a green burlap vest, a tye-died shirt and a headband and I was good to go, I loved that costume. even as I got older in High School, the costume I remember most is when I was an M&M (Thanks for the memory Erin). Even in college when slutty clothes ran rampant I don't think my friends' and my costumes were every very revealing. I was a "frat-boy" one year, a (non-slutty) pirate one year and a devil one year and a football player with my old powder puff jersey. I was astounded by these outfits! Don't these girls parents look at them before they leave the house? Matt thinks they change once they get out.

Anyway we had a nice night overall, we saw a bunch of cutie pies in costumes running around. There was a real little munchkin dressed up as a pepper I thought it was just the cutest thing ever! and a bunch of tinkerbells and mermaids running around. All in all everyone under 12 and over 20 looked great the 12-15 year olds made me sad, they are still kids, why try and look so much more "mature"...

Pumpkin Patch Revisited

2008-10-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

We went to Irvine Park Railroad pumpkin patch, and it might just be the best place on earth. Alexis loved it! There were a ton of kids around for her to run up to and say "hi".- I always feel so bad for her because she will say Hi to everyone she walks near and more than half the time they don't her so she stands there holding her little hands together and looking up with her big eyes and says "hi" in her little voice to no response. So I walk around all day greeting her back when she doesn't get an answer and I think half of Southern California must think I am some sort of crazy lady.- Anyway back to the pumpkin patch. It was especially nice because Jess and Nicky came down and played with us and the pumpkins! Matt also just HAD to have the hugest pumpkin known to man. If we want to put it on display we are going to have to build an arena sized stage for this monster! I haven't seen him so excited about something in a while, ear to ear grinning! There were a bunch of picture cutouts that everyone had fun goofing around with and a hay maze that I took Alexis into and we managed to find our way out the right way, instead of climbing over the walls of hay like she was so determined to do ( I just don't know why that child feels the need to scale any obstacle, chair or wall she comes in contact with, I swear she is a spider baby in disguise!) All in all it was a fun day and it did the trick, Alexis Matt and I all slept like rocks that night!

Sunny Skies

2008-10-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

You know what the best thing about California is so far??? THE WEATHER. It is the end of October and I am going for runs outside, Matt is taking the baby in the pool, we drive with the windows down, sleep with the fan on at night and are wearing shorts on a regular basis. It's still in the mid 70's and not even a hint of a cloudy day! LOVING IT!

2008-10-26T11:54:00.000-07:00

Well, the computer geniuses at Best Buy have my computer and are doing whatever it is the computer geniuses at Best Buy do, to hopefully make it work right. The charger on it was bent on the inside and apparantly it takes two weeks to fix bent chargers.
We had a nice day at the pumpkin patch yesterday with Jess and Nicki and we took a ton of pictures that I can't post right now. When my computer comes back to me I will be sure to overload you with pictures! We also have very big news! Last night Alexis went poo poo in the potty! (sorry for the late night calls Maude, Poppy and Grandma) and then she went pee pee in the potty this morning! Very exciting stuff going on in the Caldwell apartment this morning. I think our neighbors probably think we are a little (or a lot) bit looney, dancing around and singing potty songs! The time to say goodbye to diapers is closing in and I couldn't be happier about it!!
My posts are going to be few and far between for the next couple of weeks because I can't use Matt's computer all that much (APC would not approve of potty blogging on the company computer) but I will try and sneak on every so often! Peace Out Cub Scout (that was for you 06410!)

good-bye communication

2008-10-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

My computer is going into the shop tomorrow, again. blah! and my phone is lost, double blah! I guess I will find out very quickly what is was like to live in the early 80's. If only I could find myself a larger phone, I wouldn't lose mine all the time. I wonder where this girl got hers, it even comes with it's own carrying case!! MUST.FIND.80'S.PHONE.

It's time to PO-TTTYYY!!

2008-10-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

The time has come at last to start potty training! Alexis keeps walking over to the toilet and saying pee-pee, and if that isn't a sign that she's ready for a potty, I don't know what is! So we went to Target today and bought a little pink potty that plays music when you go in it! As soon as I took it out of the box she walked up and sat on it and said "Pee-pee". She loved sitting on it until she realized it plays music...the music is supposed to play when you go potty in the hole but she figured out how to turn it over and press the button that makes the music (this might lead to messy potty training). I don't know how to go about teaching her to actually 'go' on the seat so tomorrow we are going to get a potty training book and for today she will just continue to sit on it and I will continue to jump up and take off her diaper when she sits on it!

She's Advanced

2008-10-21T08:45:00.001-07:00

I know I have been saying it since she was born but, Alexis is advanced! Sure, she only has 2 teeth and has trouble with multi-syllable words, but she is well on her way to being an engineer or architect! (Alright maybe I am living in la-la land and am slightly delusional because I spend all day everyday with an 18 month old) Matt is not as easily impressed as I am though he says what would really impress him would be if she could change her own diaper! We will begin diaper changing lessons tonight... jk!! This is what the little one was up to last night and this morning:

the one on top is full of juice and the bottom one is empty... clearly untapped genius ;-)

she thought Lexi Pumpkin needed a couple hats

goodnight kisses

2008-10-20T14:33:00.000-07:00

I love this picture. Lexi was giving Daddy a kiss goodnight before bed a few nights ago. I forgot to post it till today though!

2008-10-20T11:00:00.001-07:00

There is a nature center across the street from our Apartment and they had a big fall fair yesterday and a pumpkin patch so we headed over to get some pumpkins! It was really cute, I am going to have to take Alexis over there one day when it isn't so crowded. They have nature trails to walk on and they have a little wildlife information center with snakes and frogs and birds that light up. She loved the snakes...weird! we picked out some pumpkins. Lexi kept picking up little ones and throwing them on the ground saying"ball!". Try explaining that a pumpkin and a ball are not the same thing to an 18 month old! We came home and gutted and carved the pumpkins, well Matt and I gutted and carved them, Alexis walked around licking the tops of the pumpkins, which grossed me out but kept her busy. While we were taking pictures of our jack-o-lanterns the munchkin fell and hit her head on the fence. This is her first big tumble. she didn't say "Boom" after this one, she cried for about 5 minutes and she had a scratch and a little bruise last night. but when she got up this morning it grew!! Now she has a nasty blackeye. the poor baby. She won't let me get anywhere near her with frozen peas to ice it so she is going to be walking around for a while looking battered and bruised. Everytime I look at her eye I run up and give her a big hug, it makes me want to cry... she has already forgotten about it, it isn't bothering her at all, but I still feel so bad! here are some pictures of our nice day at the pumpkin patch and her subsequent injury with pics from last night and this morning:

Lexi the Photographer

2008-10-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

Alexis got a hold of my camera and I thought you all would get a kick out of her photography. there is also some in here of piggy back rides around the apartment and some goofy hat ones. we had a big picture day today!

Lexi: A Self Portrait

"EAR!"

taking Dolly for a stroll.

2008-10-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

Alexis' favorite toy is a little doll Grandma got her for Christmas last year. About a month ago she started carrying Dolly around by the pigtails, dragging her feet along the ground, poor Dolly is in desperate need of a pedicure, and everyday we drag Dolly around the apartment or whatever store we are in. well this morning Alexis decided to take Dolly (Dah-ey in Lexi language) for a walk in the stroller. I obviously ran right for the camera because I am a little picture crazy.

Ohhh Al

2008-10-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

I don't get to watch the Today show all that much anymore, But Lexi is sleeping in this morning so I get to watch it!! It always strikes me hilarious how inappropriate some of Al Roker's comments are. Something about watching Matt, Meredith and Ann (yes I am on a first name basis with my buds up in New York) flounder at what to say to his comments just puts me in a good mood. He just has less censors than everyone else, this morning for example they were doing an interview with two actors from the new Robinson Crusoe show, two good-looking guys, and everyone was standing outside shivering from the cold. Well they start the interview and the guy that plays Crusoe is wearing a button down shirt that is buttoned halfway to his bellybutton (not that I was complaining!) and leave it to Al at the end of the interview to call him out on it! "If it had been a little bit warmer he would have unbottoned the whole shirt" oh Al! This is a mild example of his spunk, Matt loves Al and could probably come up with better examples than that but he is in the shower. just thought I would share the little spark that makes my morning!

Nightmares

2008-10-15T05:54:00.000-07:00

Alexis was up at 5:15 this morning,sobbing and screaming her little head off. Every so often she gets baby nightmares, poor little munchkin. I can't imagine what could scare her so much at 17 months... maybe someone took Elmo away from Sesame Street, or the pool vanished. She was so scared though, I rocked with her for 15 minutes then I couldn't put her back in her crib, she clung to me and started screaming, so I brought her into our bed and she sat up straight and wanted to climb allover Matt, then when I tried to take her in the other room so he could sleep she started screaming allover again. so now we are having an early morning milk and Elmo session, hopefully after an episode of sesame street and a book she will go night-night... I'm not counting on it though!

Lazy Day

2008-10-13T14:04:00.001-07:00

well it is now 2:00 and the Red Sox are on to be closely followed by the Giants tonight... Go G-Men! The wind has been going crazy all day and that was a sufficient enough excuse to stay inside and catch up on some housework and lounge. Alexis took a super long nap this afternoon which makes a happy (and somewhat bored) Mommy. Matt did some landscaping on our extensive lawn and I did a seemingly never-ending pile of dishes. Somewhere in between all that we managed to find the time to watch a couple episodes of the Sopranos (CLEARLY not my choice, but Matt gets so few days off and works so hard so... Tony ruled our living room today). Anyway all in all it was the best wasted day we've had in a long time. It's nice just to be able to put our feet up and co-exist sometimes. here are some pics of Matt the Gardener and some of the pool that we probably should have used, but lets face it we are just to lazy to leave the apartment today!

Sunday at the beach!

2008-10-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

Since we moved out here, even before we moved out here, all we hear from everyone is "On a clear day you can see Catalina from here" Now we heard this no matter what town we were in. If you are within 2 miles of the beach you can be sure that on a clear day you can see Catalina. Well so far everyday we have been here has been sunny. No clouds in the sky and the bright sun shining down on our skeptical little east coast faces, and still no sign of the illusive Catalina Island. It has become a bit of a running joke between us, we wake up on a particularly beautiful day and say "I bet Catalina is looking lovely today" or some other sarcastic comment. Well it has finally happened... WE HAVE SEEN CATALINA!!! it isn't an island on a sneaky turtle's shell, always shifting to keep us on our toes! We went to Huntington Beach with Alexis yesterday to get some beach time in and right in back of the pier we saw it! and it was bigger than we expected! there was a curtain of haze between us and the Island but it was there! At first I thought it was a barge, but after being (teased) very nicely corrected by Matt we realized we were indeed looking at Catalina! Well it just about made our weekend! The Californians haven't been lying to us, you really can see Catalina from"here" on a clear day! Well either that or we have been drinking the water here for long enough that we are having the same hallucinations... I'm going to go with we saw the island! Here are some pictures of our day at the beach. if you look very closely at the ones with the water in the background you can see the veiled Catalina!

Isn't this picture pretty? my husband the photographer!

Happy Columbus Day!

2008-10-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

It's Monday, but not just any Monday, COLUMBUS DAY MONDAY!! Now this used to mean a hungover drive back to URI from a hard weekend of partying up in Montreal, but it now means a morning with Elmo and friends on Sesame Street and a trip to the pumpkin patch if the wind dies down a little. Sometimes I miss the freedom of just being able to pick up and take off for a weekend adventure, but then I look at the little one and the husband and I am happy that we have an extra day to spend together as a family when there are no business meetings for him, just a relaxing day at home!

2 + 2= what the he**

2008-10-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

I joined this online community called Cafemom, I love it.... but anyway one of the Mom's posted a problem from her 2nd grader's math homework tonight. this is the question:

Pat's favorite number has a 2 in the ones place. Think of the next number.

what is this number?

the wording alone confused the heck out of me. after thinking about it for five minutes I got the right answer, but boy oh boy am I in trouble when Alexis gets into school. I might have to pull a Billy Madison and have a 2 week refresher before she starts each grade. Maybe Sarah can tutor me in Elementary Math since it will be fresh in her mind... all my math is surrounded by dusty cobwebs!

(p.s. it took Matt about 30 seconds to figure out, I guess we know who will be helping Alexis with her math homework. haha)

stuff

2008-10-11T08:38:00.000-07:00

Stuff by Kate just got picked up by a store in Boston! The first of many to come!!! VERY exciting for Kate after all her hard work for all these years. Fashion Week Milan, New York, Berlin, and Los Angeles... Watch out!!! Kate is going to dominate you!!!!!

this is the Stuff by Kate myspace page where you can see all her newest stuff
http://www.myspace.com/stuffbykate ... she has links up to http://www.etsy.com/search_results.php?search_type=tag_title&search_query=stuff+by+kate
and her website where she is selling stuff now!

here is my talented friend Kate halping Alexis with her hair-do last month!

Congratulations!

2008-10-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

Madison is using a potty!! Congratulations to Madison, and especially to Joe Joe and Jess. saying goodbye to diapers is right around the corner... well until the new princess gets here, but Yayyy for Madison. here is a pic of Alexis and Madison... she misses her best friend!

I'm a doofus

2008-10-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

As a little ha.ha. for my computer savvy friends the reason I could only post two pictures to the first Fair post was because the picture upload window was behind the blog window and I couldn't see it, therefore I got frustrated, decided the gnomes in my computer hated what I was trying to do and thought I would appease them by closing out all windows and starting over... Maybe I should have taken a Computers for Dummy's class before I started this. Maybe they could have taught me what to do about the darn gnomes...

more fair!

2008-10-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

she caught on to this little scooter so quick we were amazed so we bought it for her for christmas (Matt wanted to get her a powerwheels, but we have room for this more than a powerwheels, and it was less expensive which was the best selling point of all!)

In line for the helicopter ride!

I still have a lot to learn about this blogging shenanigans I could only post two pictures in the last post so here are some more...

kids fair!

2008-10-10T09:17:00.001-07:00

here are some pictures from the fair we went to last weekend. It was a lot of fun. We took the baby on a pony ride, she kept going "NEEEEIGH" and saying "niiiiiii" which means nice in Lexi-land and she would pet the horse. It was really cute. then we walked around a littlewhile and blew bubbles and Matt took her on a helicopter ride. she was looking at the pictures of the helicopter ride yesterday and she kept saying "weeeee" I think it is so neat how she can now relate pictures to experiences she remembers having. It is just so amazing to see her little mind developing and expanding.

Bloggggg

2008-10-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to our blog!!! I decided to start this because I am pretty awful about phone calling, especially now with the 3 hour time difference, and this way if I get behind everyone can be updated on the baby and remind me, "hey dummy pick up your phone and give me a call".

So I don't know what all this blogging stuff entails but I will find out soon enough. watch out Perez Hilton, here comes Alicia and Alexis!