Maybe It's May

Perhaps it's because this just happens to be my favorite month of the year. Perhaps I just miss blogging a little more than usual--the feeling that I am at least doing something to document my life (I am a horrendous journaler). Blogging always means routine. Something safe and consistent. When I didn't have time (believe me, it hasn't been a matter of motivation) to upload a few cheesy photos and write a few cheesy captions, I knew my life was far more chaotic than desired. 

Elliott and I are moving to Tempe this summer. He is graduating dental school the first week in June and will start working shortly after. Tempe is my favorite city in Arizona. One of my most treasured memories (one that I often replay in my mind) is from when Elliott and I were dating. He would drive me down Rural Road to ASU in order for me to catch the last shuttle of night back to ASU West in northern Phoenix. We would hold hands as he drove and the glow of the streetlights and surrounding stores would streak by our windows and leave us wishing that a night would come when I wouldn't have to go. We were happy to be young and together. We loved the excitement and fun being out at night naturally brought, though it usually meant our time together for the night was coming to a close. I love the memories and locations associated with Tempe. We are moving into a neighborhood where we already know our neighbors--literally!

PS, anyone in need of serious packing boxes? Take a stroll down the aisles of Wal Mart at 1:00am and help yourself to the mounting piles of boxes discarded by the stocking crew. I don't think it's every night, but they are happy to let you know when!

Snuggle Puppies

Happy Mother's Day to my mother through birth and mother through marriage. 

And a thank you to my children for allowing me to celebrate this day for myself also!
I really do need to mention, however, just how many new mother's there are this year! It makes me so very happy to think of the friends and family who are either expecting or just had their first babe over the past year, either through adoption or conception! It seems as though, for some, the road to motherhood is just as long as the road of motherhood. Neither is necessarily easy, but both are incredibly worthwhile and experiential. Congratulations new and soon-to-be mothers! The first Mother's Day is always a special one. 

Barrett Turns 3 Months.

Barrett turned 3 months yesterday. One week exactly after Beckett turned 2. Twenty-one months apart are my boys (yesterday, my doctor implored me to get an IUD and take a break from kids for a while). I am in the throes of school (notice how these age-related posts are a day late being that I had school the past two Wednesdays). While I love it, yesterday I found myself excessively sharing concern with my classmates over what the final semesters will entail for me and my two, young kids. It'll be just fine, but it's been a challenge indeed ensuring that my participation in school is healthy and does not overshadow or consume my primary and prioritized role as a mother. I am so glad I'm earning my Master's. I have questioned myself, doubted myself, and near given up on myself numerous times over the past year and a half, but I am already two-thirds of the way there and the times where I have felt encouraged and self-assured are motivation enough to persevere and feel reinforced that this has been a great and awesome experience. I will be grateful to share my educational endeavors with my children through putting into practice what I have learned, but moreover by example. 


But enough school. Little more can be said about Barrett than what already has. I suppose the exception is that he is even more so a sweet baby and even more so a happy and GOOD one. I love babies. Toddlers... I struggle with that age. Sorry Beckett. But babies... Babies will be my downfall. I will always miss having a little baby, a little doll. It will always keep me wanting just one more. I just have to remember that even the littlest babies grow up, and turn into toddlers, who turn into children, who turn into adolescents, who turn into... well, my age. 

Beckett Turns 2

Beckett turned two years old yesterday. My dearest, my oldest, is two. He knows his age. The other night he was having an especially hard time going to bed. I had placed him back into his bed several times, but 20-30 minutes later I'd hear a handle turn. I was tired and frustrated. On the final time I escorted him back to bed, I laid him down softly (after smelling his bum for a bomb) and held his hand, placing my face near his, and humming. He started to hum with me though the concept was difficult for him to fully grasp. I hummed "Baby Mine" from Dumbo and "The Second Star to the Right" from Peter Pan. It was going on 2 hours since this nighttime charade had begun, but I stared into his eyes, kissed his hand as if he were a little prince and hummed sweet and soft songs with the hope of sleep for him. I knew then, that there would be a time when there would be nothing I wouldn't give to be able to see my sweet baby almost 2 hours after he was supposed to be asleep. 

 Breakfast at JP Pancakes. 

 May 2 is also Claire and Bella's birthdays, but Beckett was so sweetly included in the festivities with them as well. 

The birthday festivities extended into two days and we will even have our second (or third?) annual Cinco de Mayo festivities at ASU Library Storage tomorrow incorporating graduation/birthday/and Hispanic Heritage into one Blue Whale-themed party (because it's that big).  

Easters 2012

Though it's been nearly 2 weeks since Easter, it is one of my absolute favorite holidays and times of the year. We decided to go all out with the pastels and gingham so if the brightness is just too much, dim your screens now. 

I died laughing when I saw this bunny. Take it home as a pet, then eat it. When I went back a few days later to get it and saw that it was the only Easter item on clearance (why wouldn't anyone want this?!), I knew it was meant to be.   

 Once again, Beckett tries to make a run for it with someone else's eggs!

 It was also my Dad's birthday on Easter, so we drove across the Valley of the Sun to have a dual holiday celebration. As an Easter surprise, my parents and grandparents put together this cute little cabin/clubhouse/fort for the little-'uns to play in. It is absolutely darling (there's even a mail slot). 

The birthday man and his dog William. Interestingly (though unintentionally enough), they also have a dog named Harry. Fancy that!

Barrett Turns 2 Months and Works It Out

I had Barrett all ready to go for his 2 month "photo shoot" (each month "birthday" I take at least a couple hundred pictures) only to find that my camera was still in Elliott's car from yesterday's Easter celebrations and he was away working on rotation downtown. The outfit and baby are a little more wrinkled and stinky this time of day, but still just as cute. I get a small window of a two hours a day to myself. It should be spent doing housework and schoolwork (naps are nonexistent for mother's). Instead I work out; getting my body back to its healthy state (It's been months since Taco Bell much less Sprinkle's). I have turned down free cupcakes and free packages of cookie dough, pizza, Easter rolls and candy and many opportunities to eat out. I feel good, I look good considering..., I have more energy, and I am releasing a lot of stress. To me this is more therapeutic than a nap (though I'd rather take the nap). Anyway, long story short, blogging falls by the way side and I still want to put up pictures of Beckett's first hair cut, him holding Barrett, and other randoms. We'll see! 

Barrett is still as sweet as ever. He had a gauntlet of shots this morning and has been screaming all evening: any sudden movements while holding him and it's catastrophic. I don't blame him though and he's usually quick to return to his smiley self.But then again, he's not able to turn on a Liam Neeson action flick and work out those crabs on the treadmill.

Barrett Turns 1 Month: We Go Back to Our Roots

Barrett is a month today. While the time has flown, I look back at every moment and event and am amazed that more time hasn't gone by. We spent Monday night through Thursday afternoon at Phoenix Children's Hospital with Barrett, who had RSV. Babies who get it that little are at an understandably high risk but Barrett did wonderful as always and is doing much better, aside from a little cough and snort here and there--not to mention a slight rash on his cheeks from where they taped his oxygen tube on. Barrett is hardly eight pounds still and has plenty of room to grow in his 0-3 month clothes. I have a tendency to fret just a little bit more over my baby than I did with Beckett because of how little he is and how much he's gone through in his short but sweet month here (I'll have to be careful with the coddling in later years I'm sure). I love my baby.

He likes to be held. A lot. 

The IV wouldn't work in his hand

Unintentionally Matching