wordless wednesday... with a few words

p-ray's first trip to the zoo, just taking in all the sights with grandma & grandpa.

my little monkey.

click it. click it. click it.

a good day to be a sahm.

{for those who don't know - sahm means "stay at home mom" but i'm sure 90% of my demographic already knew that.}

not all days go like today.  some are boring, some are overly busy, some are filled with to-do lists, some are filled with a fussy baby.  not today.

today has been one of those days where you stop & say, "hey, i got it pretty good." 

it was sunny & i went for a walk with a friend who's due with her first baby on friday.  we'll see if our little two-&-a-half mile stroll gets anything started for her.  parker did awesome on our walk... when he wasn't sleeping he was peeking out of the stroller at stuff around him.  how did i get so lucky as to have such a good little boy?

after our walk, i did what all good sahms do.  i went to target.  a little of this, a little of that, a couple shirts for p-ray, some makeup for me, a pack of gum, sixty bucks later & we're on our way.  how is it impossible to get out of target without spending at least fifty dollars?  boggles my mind.  & this wasn't frivolous stuff either.  all necessities, of course.

anyways, now we're home, parker's napping & i'm wasting time on the 'net.  shouldn't i be cleaning you ask?  nope, i did all that yesterday.  see?  i told you today was a good day.

today my internet-time-waster-of-choice is youtube & i'm feeing so inclined as to share one of my faves.  if you feel so inclined as to have your day made for you by something worth watching, then hit that little play button.  you won't regret it.



i {heart} flight of the conchords.  in a big way.  they rock my socks.

again, i want to say not all days go like this.  & my life isn't perfect.  but if you don't take a moment to remember the good times, & appreciate the good days, then what do you have to look forward to on the not-so-good days?



you would rock my socks if you voted.  we're within an arms reach of the top fifty... & i have short arms!

photo challenges

the paper mama photo challenge - "a hint of color"

this is one of my faves.  how can someone look so innocent while being so mischievous? 

check out all the other entries here:

a sort fairytale photo challenge - "snoozing"

after a long day of playing at the beach {read: being held & having his feet dangled in the cool water}, the little man needed a good snooze.  

more entries here:

like what you see here? support the cause by voting!

five months

welp, here we are.  five months after i birthed a baby.  this one's a doozy for me. it means we're just one month away from six months, & you know what that means, right?  yup.  time to start planning the one year birthday party.  i mean seriously, if these next seven months go as fast as these first five, i better get my planning shoes on.

so here's the little man himself.  all growed up to five months old.
{compare previous monthly pics here.}

feels like this little guy has changed so much in this last month.  his little personality has really begun to shine.  he's always been a happy, sweet little guy but now he's become a happy, sweet, silly, funny, playful little guy.

he's mastered the art of blowing raspberries.  it's one of his favorite pastimes.  he's good at it.  so good that he covers his whole face from his forehead to his chin in spit when he really gets going.  when he's not wearing socks, he loves to rub his feet together {evidenced in the above photo}.  especially while nursing.  rub rub rub... those little feet just work themselves back & forth.  we suspect early stages of teething.  lots of drool & lots of gnawing on whatever he gets his hands on, but no signs of the pearly whites just yet.  he has mastered pinching, pulling hair, & scratching.  he's really taken this up a notch in the pain-to-mom-&-dad-department this month.  those little pinches can hurt.  as seen here.

he's wearing size three diapers, all six-nine month clothes, & weighs seventeen pounds as of september sixteenth (last doctor appointment).  he's learned how to whine.  he makes the saddest face ever & wails a big cry but there are no tears.  he's fine as soon as he gets what he wants... diva alert.  he's really expanded his vocal cords this month.  his soft coos & little voice have now been supplemented with high pitched squeals & shrieks just because he can.  he loves exploring his vocal cords, & boy does he have some range.

he goes to sleep every night drowsy-but-awake after being swaddled & rocked a few minutes by sam & sleeps from about nine pm to six am, nurses for fifteen minutes, then back to sleep until eight-thirty.  we're currently in the process of transitioning him from the pack & play in our room, to the crib in his room.  i did not foresee myself having this much separation anxiety.  i was fighting off tears imagining what it will be like when he leaves for college.  i wish i was joking.

he's gone from averaging about twenty minutes per nursing session to about ten.  huzzah for efficiency!

& he is still so dang cute.

love this kid.



i can totally see the top fifty from here. kinda like how you can see russia from alaska. vote vote vote!

hey parker, tell me how you really feel.

nothing like a little domestic dispute to ruin a lovely afternoon meal at the cheesecake factory.



your continued votes help to make me feel better.  (alllmmoosst top fifty!)

it's flashback friday heeeeeyyyy

so for today's edition of flashback friday i'm gonna take you back.  way back to the year 2000... and 1.  yes.  in 2001, sam & i didn't even know each other, & to make things more interesting, we were on opposite sides of the world.

sam was serving an lds mission in sydney autstralia, & i was a senior in high school.

sam's on the right here, passing under the harbour bridge.

he's in the middle in this one. behaving like a respectable missionary should, of course.

i was busy doing very important things, like ummm... being a senior in high school, & pretending to be a cheerleader.

i did cheer my senior year with some girlfriends just for a good time. i wasn't a hardcore "cheering is a sport" cheerleader by any means, & didn't take myself too seriously. it was a blast.

every teenage girl spends time day-dreaming about what her future husband is gonna be like. i love looking back & knowing that while i was doing my thang back in ha school, he was wearing his white collar shirt, & little black tag, & being a good mormon boy. makes me happy.

we have since gotten to return to sydney & visit some of the people & places of sam's mission.  best. trip. ever.  seriously not sure we will ever be able to top that.  i for reals left my heart in australia & really really hope we get to go back some day.  uh-mazing.  everything about it.

anywho, that's it for today's little trip down memory lane.  now back to living in the present... i think i hear p-ray waking up from his nap.  that's one way to be snapped back to reality.

we're still climbing & it's because of votes from viewers like you.  danke sheon.  (that's german for "thank you."  you're welcome.)

what's the best part about a twenty minute commute two times a day, one day a week?

the twenty minutes of guilt-free music blasting at totally unacceptable baby-ear volumes.  love that.

i initially pouted about having to go back to work, even just one day a week.  but it's working out great.  i'm really enjoying the one day out of the house, using parts of my brain different from those required to change a diaper or sing the abc's.

don't get me wrong, i love my mommy job the rest of the week, but for now i'm really enjoying the excuse to wear heels on a weekday.

today it was a coldplay, keane, & the xx sing-a-long in the car.  i think those moments to decompress & be alone make me a better mom when i am home with parker.

am i alone in this?  how do the rest of ya'll decompress & regroup?





i can see the top fifty from here. it's so close. so so close. your votes are needed!

wordless wednesday... with a few words

these are just a few pics from our trip to utah a couple weeks ago.  this last shot is proof that parker throws fits so rarely, that even grandma can't help but smile at that cute little chubby, crying face.

a good life gets awarded... woohoo!

ladii aponte from "through my eyes" has given us the "versatile blogger" award.  yeah-er. 
but there are rules to accepting this award, & today i'm going to follow the rules.  just this once.  i know, i'm such a blogging rebel.

here are the rules:

• thank and link back to the person who gave you the award... check.
• share 7 things about yourself... k, will do.
• pass the award along to 15 other bloggers who you recently discovered and think are fabulous... hmmm, let's do 5.
• contact the bloggers you chose and let them know about the award.... ok.

seven things about myself:

1.  i was born & raised in the seattle washington area, but now my whole family lives in utah.  i'm the only one from my family still here & i miss them all greatly!

2.  i will put off & put off a work out all day, but then when i finally do it, i feel so so good that i'm like, dang, i need to not put that off next time! & then i do.

3.  sometimes i let my eyebrows grow out just because i like tweezing big clumps of hair at a time.  ew, that sounds gross.  no, actually, i don't let them grow out just for that reason, i just find that i can't always do it as much as i should & thus i tweeze big clumps at a time & i get a strange satisfaction out of that.  weird, i know.  moving on.

4.  i once decided to go without eating sweets/candy/sugary treats/ice cream for months & months.  i didn't even eat birthday cake on my birthday that year.  i lost lots of weight & looked the best i ever had.  i have since decided that a life without those things every now & then isn't worth living, no matter how good you look.

5.  i now live by the motto "moderation in all things, including moderation."  thanks for that one, buddha.

6.  back in college, i may or may not have stalked, er, "put myself in the right place at the right time" in order to get noticed by this tall, dark, & handsome guy living in my apartment complex.  it worked, he noticed me, we dated, then we got married.  i may or may not write this story in its entirety some day.

7.  i love animals.  i have loved little squirmy, fuzzy things since the day i was born.  i majored in wildlife ecology at washington state university & wanted to be a wildlife biologist.  i graduated & got a job for the forest service studying flying squirrels in the olympic national forest.  i hated being away from my home & husband & am now much happier working a desk job & going to the zoo on the weekends.  lame, right?

& now for five other bloggers who's blogs i heart:

1.  the chronicles of corbin
2.  our precious jas
3.  harvesting kale
4.  here comes the sun
5.  the mccain family





we are so close to the top fifty i can taste it... it tastes like powdered sugar. it's delicious.  vote. vote. vote.

more productivity + more drugs = today

today was far more productive.  you can tell because i'm wearing makeup, my hair is done, & p-ray isn't in pajamas. every now & then, a lazy all-day-pajama-wearing-day like yesterday is important because it allows a person {me} to recharge & be a little more motivated the next day.  that's what i say to justify it, anyways.  i think i'm buying it.

today i had an appointment with my endocrinologist.

apparently pregnancy wasn't the magical cure-all for my thyroid issues & my levels are way out of whack again.

& just in case i didn't believe the blood test results on paper, they did an ultrasound on my neck to show me in living color how messed up my thyroid looks.  it's awesome when the doctor puts the ultrasound on his neck and says, "see this?  this is what a normal, healthy thyroid looks like.  let's look at yours.  oh yeah, that's a beauty.  see how big & unhealthy that looks?  beautiful... just lovely."

my drug levels were tripled & i was sent on my way.  so that's cool.

my thyroid may be twice the normal size, it might be worthless in ten years, & i'll probably be on drugs for the rest of my life, but at least i have a doctor who thinks big is beautiful.

in closing.

here are three things for today's edition of "what makes amy happy"...

1.  the nikon d7000.  i think we've made a decision about which dslr we'll be buying.  nikon recently announced the d7000.  it fits somewhere in their lineup between the d90 & the d300s.  it has increased video capabilities & some other cool features, but won't be available to buy until mid-october.  that's ok.  it gives me more time to find someone to sell my soul to so we can pay for it.
 

2.  sophie.  i have to admit that all the sophie the giraffe hype is true.  i have read about how uh-mazing she is on many many mommy blogs/community boards & gave in to the rumors.  parker thanks me.  he l-o-v-e-s his sophie.  if you're wondering whether spending twenty dollars on a toy that looks like it is meant for a small dog is really worth it, i'm telling you it is.

unless you're ok with having your baby endlessly gnaw on your knuckles/fingers/nose/other small body parts, then ignore this.

3. modern family. who's with me?  such a great show.  season premiere tomorrow night & i am super excited.  i would argue that i don't watch much tv, but then i start counting up all my favorite shows & i have to stop talking.  i don't care.  i'm in love with this show & i don't care who knows it.





your votes keep these fingers typing. vote vote vote!

it's raining, it's pouring

& we're totally not getting out of our pj's today.  or putting on makeup.  at least not yet... i still have an hour or so until sam gets home, & i might throw on some mascara.

i'm feeling totally unproductive today.  the house is a mess from a crazy weekend, i'm unshowered & unworked-out, & i have no idea what's gonna be eaten for dinner.  but i have gotten a lot of quality play-with-p-ray time in... that counts for something right?

at least i am typing this to the sound of clothes tossing around in the dryer.  i suppose running a couple loads of laundry also counts for something. 

i vowed to get three workouts in last week.

i got in 2.  how lame is that??  it is so hard. so so hard.  now that it's pouring 23 hours out of the day, my options are even more limited.  we unfroze my gym membership at l.a. fitness & opened an account for parker at the kids klub there.  he's gone twice & does great.  but it's 20 minutes away from home.  that's almost an hour in just driving-to-&-from-time.  but it's all i've got, & i've got to keep going.  my sanity & my ever-persistent love handles depend on it.

& don't get me started on my eating habits.  i know a lot of people get in the habit of eating lots while prego, but you are actually supposed to eat even more when nursing & oh boy have i taken advantage of that!  however, quantity is not my issue.  it's quality.  we eat out way too much, & it's got to stop.  i have got to start making smarter nutrition decisions.  so this week, i vow to:

work out three times.  i can do it, i can do it, i can do it.
only eat out twice.  i have a lunch date with some girlfriends i have to keep this week, & i'm leaving another time open for a meal out on the weekend.  seems reasonable, right?

lindsey from linkie lueville & i are still working on getting our get fit blog hop up & running.  we have some schnazzy name ideas & are trying to work out details.  i hope more people will join us in our quest to get back in shape!

so this is how it works.

1.  for those of you who linked up last week, link up your blog post about how you did over the course of the week & if you met the goals you set for yourself. 

2.  if you're new & are looking for some goal-setting support, join in this week by linking up your blog or blog post about what goals you may have set for yourself.

3.  once linked up, visit the other blogs & offer support/sympathy/empathy/etc.

good luck this week!

feel free to grab the code for your own blog post:

<script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=45853" type="text/javascript"> </script>

we are allllmmost in the 50's.  vote vote vote! :)

some dear friends & some deer friends

we've been busy this weekend hanging out with some old bff's.  ryan & christie came to spend a few days with us & it's been a blasty blast.  we headed down to portland to do some tax free shopping & ryan made a purchase to add to his current apple collection.

he bought an ipad.  as if his macbook, apple tv, & iphone weren't enough.  he also bought a pair of toms.  can you say walking cliche?

christie & p-ray got to spend some quality time together & we made sure parker was on his best behavior so that ryan would not be opposed to bringing a little friend for him into this world asap.  parker cooperated & was a total angel all weekend.  good work parker.

we were also graced this weekend by the presence of some other deer friends.  this doe & her twins hang out in our backyard from time to time & have done so ever since they were itsy bitsy babies with cute little white spots.  i guess that's one perk of living in the middle of nowhere.

& in other topics, we've been watching a lot of this show lately:

every time we start watching this show over {we've seen it from pilot to finale multiple times} i am reminded how freaking hilarious it is.  if you have a sense of humor, check it out.  if you hate it, don't blame me... but you just might want to rethink whether or not you actually have the sense of humor you thought you did.

& in conclusion, i'd like to thank lauren from three crazy munchkins for our very first blog award.  she likes our blog & we like her.  thank you lauren!

& now i must go.  sam is in the kitchen making brownies.  no, for reals.  & ryan & christie are wrestling on their air mattress here in the office so i'm gonna get out of here.  i suggest you do the same... just make sure you vote on your way out ;)

circadian rhythms

back in the day when i took mammalogy at wsu, we learned about circadian rhythms.  basically, these are natural instincts or cues that prompt animals to do certain things at certain times.  like, how the amount of daylight may be what prompts birds to migrate south, & the such as.

around this time of year, i definitely have my own circadian rhythms.  i start getting certain cravings.  for me, fall starts cluing my belly into a whole new set of foods.  is that weird?

even though the calendar says fall doesn't start until september 22, i know it's fall at my house.  because all i want to do is get all cozied-up inside my warm house & eat this:

dipped in this:

& then wash it down with hot chocolate & some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on the side.

...& then wear big comfy sweaters to cover up the fact that i'm indulging in all of my favorite fall treats.  oops.

i am so excited for fall i can hardly stand it.  i love the fall.  love the changing leaves, the crisp air, the football games, the pumpkins, the boots, the cozy nights spent inside with candles burning & wind blowing outside, the excitement of the holidays around the corner, & everything else that comes along with it. 

& this year there is gonna be a whole new person in our household to experience all of this with.

who?

this guy:

this little boy has no idea what's in store for him.  halloween costumes, corn mazes, football games, pumpkin carvings, family gatherings, christmas spoilings, oh my.

a night at safeco & a workout resolution

ah man.  birthday weekend is over, our visitors have left, & it's back to reality.

on saturday my two nephews alex & ben flew up from utah to hang out & go to the m's vs. red sox game last night.  oh, & to celebrate my & sam's birthdays too, of course.

the game was a blast.  alex & ben both got two baseballs during batting practice & had them signed by terry francona, the red sox manager... pretty cool.

then, during the game, some drunk red sox fan in the front row {we were only 7 rows back} decided it was a good idea to reach over the barrier & grab a ball that was still in play which results in automatic ejection from the ball park.  his loss was our gain.  the four of us jumped all over that & took his seats!  hellllllloooo front row seats at safeco!  it was good times.

clearly parker was beside himself with excitement.

aaahhh, safeco. even though your mariners are horrible, you are still my happy place.

& now that all the birthday cakes (or birthday cinnamon rolls & cookies, rather) are eaten it's time to get serious.  isn't that kinda what i promised last week?  well this week i mean it.

i'm getting serious, & now you're all invited to join me.

i'm not going this alone anymore.  i'm teaming up with lindsey from linkie lueville to start a workout/fitness/get-healthy-again blog hop.  we're going to report every week on our fitness/health goals & have a mclinky for other bloggers to join in.  we can link up to our weekly posts & help support each other & keep each other accountable.

sound good?

now all we need is a fancy name to call this blog hop & a badge & we'll be official.  any suggestions?  but we're kicking it off informally this week & encourage anyone & everyone who wants to join in to sign up below!

do it. do it. do it.

so, a report on my last week.  i worked out three times.  barely.  two runs & a walk/hike.  does that even count as a workout?  this, from someone who used to work out 7-10 hours a week, barely gets in 3 hours this last week.  ah well, you gotta start somewhere. 

& this week, i resolve to do the same, & then a little more.  three cardio work outs & two strength training workouts.  yup... upping the ante.  look out.

now it's your turn... don't be scurrred, sign up!






i'm still accepting votes as a late birthday present :)