Back to Life, Back to Reality

Alexa & I had a great trip to NY. I loved it there so much, I was trying to figure out how I could get Ava out there so that I could just stay until the wedding. It really was quite unrealistic though since I'm going back to work on Friday. More on that later though.

My sister's bridal shower was absolutely perfect. The weather was HOT, the food was great, there were lots of people, and most importantly, she really made out with lots & lots of gifts & gift cards! I'm so happy that they will have so much to furnish their new house with!

It was so nice to have time with my mom & my sister. Alexa really is such a happy baby. She smiles at everyone. Needless to say, my mom & sister just loved her. In fact, she was the hit of the shower.

I missed Ava while I was away, but I honestly savored every moment of having just one kid to take care of. It was so nice to not have a toddler to chase around. Hope that doesn't make me sound awful, but it was really a nice break!

So I'm sad to be back to reality, but we're all heading back to NY in a few weeks, so I'm not too sad. Usually I get pretty homesick after a trip to NY.

As mentioned earlier, I'm back to work on Friday. It looks like I'll keep my same Wed & Fri office hours schedule. I'm not looking forward to having to take phone calls again & deal with paperwork and stuff. I am going to bring Alexa with me for awhile since she mostly just sleeps during that time of the day anyhow. I hope it works out okay so that I can save on the cost of daycare for awhile. I know that I have a pretty good deal with this part time job, but I just don't feel ready to go back to work yet.

I was also feeling pretty good about my weight loss, until yesterday. Alexa is 2 months & 2 weeks old and I've lost all but the last 10 pounds. It took me a lot longer than that to get down to this point with Ava. I think she was 10 months old before I got to this point. But with my sister's wedding, I really want to get down a few more pounds. I haven't really been feeling into weight watchers, so I haven't been recording anything. I'm just not feeling motivated yet. However, yesterday I was at a bridal shop looking for a dress for my sister's wedding & the salesperson there told me that if I had given her more time, she could have ordered me a maternity dress. I was like, um, baby is 2 months old. I was actually pretty offended because I just spent the entire weekend hearing all these people at home telling me how great I look. Obviously I still have a pretty big gut!

On My Way Out!

Off to NY tonight with Alexa. I'm looking forward to it, but I will really miss Ava. The only night I was ever away from her was the night I had Alexa. It's going to be hard for me! I really hope that she doesn't even notice I'm gone, because I don't want her to feel sad.

I've gotta get packing & since I'm a horrible blogger these days anyhow, I'll just catch up on blogging when I get back next week. Have a great weekend!

Feelin Hot, Hot, Hot!!

Has an entire week gone by already? Things have just been crazy around here. I wish that I had more blogging times these days.

We got our van all fixed, only to discover that they botched up the paint on the door. It was definitely not like that before & it's right where they would have been doing work on it. I, of course, didn't notice it when I picked it up, most likely since I was running around chasing two girls while trying to install the car seats & give them back the rental car. Edward noticed it right away. They are going to fix it for us, but they don't seem to believe that we didn't do it. Regardless, they aren't charging us, but it's now gotta go back for another day or two. I told Edward it just can't be this week, I have too much to do.

Alexa & I are heading to NY on Friday night. I just can't wait! My sister's bridal shower is on Sunday. My mom & I have been stuck on the favors though. We have these little tins that we can put candy in, but I wanted to do a cute little saying on them that goes along with the candy. For my shower, my friend did them with hershey's kisses & put "hugs & kisses from the Mr. & Mrs." It was super cute. I can easily get jelly belly's here, but we can't come up with anything to rhyme with belly. Any ideas? I'm stuck!

We're having a major heat wave here this week. It's so, so hot. High 90's I believe. The girls are both napping, which makes it very nice here this afternoon. We may head over to my friend's house to go in the kiddie pool for a bit before dinner if Ava doesn't sleep too long. I love the heat!!

Reno/Tahoe/Easter

We had a wonderful trip to the Reno/Tahoe area. We actually stayed in Reno & visited Tahoe. We had a great time, other than when the sliding door on our van stopped working. Thank goodness we have two sliding doors. It's in the shop right now being fixed & since it's going to take most of the week, they are getting us a rental. We did make it back in time for Easter though, so here are a few pictures of the girls in the snow & then back in sunny California for Easter.

All Those Years Ago

I've been feeling very old lately. Maybe it's because I have two kids now. Maybe it's because my nephew just turned 20. Maybe it's because I realized that I've lived in California for almost 7 years. Or maybe, just maybe, it's because I turn 30 this year. Yes, I'm thinking that may be the real cause for this sudden feeling of oldness.

Remember being a teenager & hearing your parents discuss something from before you were born & hearing them say "that was so long ago, it must have been at least 15 years ago!" Remember thinking how weird it must be to actually be able to remember things from 15 years ago? 15 years ago I was 15. Um, I remember things from when I was 15. I am definitely old.

15 years ago I was babysitting for my cousins Luke & Emma, who were just babies.

Now Emma is 15 & will be babysitting my two girls when I'm at my sister's wedding.

15 years ago I was looking forward to getting my learner's permit so that I could drive an awesome little car.

Now I drive a mini-van.

15 years ago I was fantasizing about how amazing it would someday be to have hot, wild sex with my tall, dark & handsome husband, who would also make over 6 figures & be very rich.

Now I actually fake headaches occasionally to get out of having sex with my tall (which makes me look short), dark (half Japanese), and handsome (well, I think he's handsome!) husband, who does make 6 figures (which in the bay area, 15 years later, is really just middle class).

15 years ago I was in great shape from all the walking, cheerleading & general energy level of a teenager.

Now I get my exercise by pushing a double stroller through the mall.

So yes, it is really weird to be able to say something happened 15 whole years ago. You want to know something even weirder though? 15 years from now, I'll be able to look back at my 30's with fondness and say, "That was so long ago, it must have been at least 15 years ago."

The Girls

Trip

Yay, I think we're going to take our first family trip as a family of 4! I am so excited. Edward can take Good Friday off as a company holiday, so we've decided to take advantage of that & go away to Tahoe. Our plan is to leave on Thursday afternoon when he gets home from work. Then we'll drive to either Tahoe or Reno (Edward can usually get great rates at the Reno hotels, so we like to stay there). Then on Friday we'll spend the day in Tahoe enjoying what I hope is nice weather, but I honestly haven't checked the weather reports.

We'll stay Friday night & on Saturday morning start heading back towards Sacramento to spend the day with our friends Shannon & Josh. They have a daughter a year older than Ava. They used to live right down the street from us, but they just moved to this golf course community in the middle of nowhere somewhere between Sac & Tahoe. Their community is having a big Easter egg hunt & then Josh's twin brother, who also lives there, is having a big BBQ. We're definitely excited to spend the day with them. Then we'll head back home on Saturday night so that we can go to our church for Easter services. Plus, we don't want to leave Edward's dad alone on Easter.

We still have to book a hotel & make sure that we are really up to such a trip, but I'm starting to get so excited! I sure hope this all works out because I really could use a few days away.

Playing Catch Up

If only I could motivate myself to blog as much as I have been checking Facebook. I have become seriously addicted to Facebook. Edward finally got the wireless network working in the house so I've been on the laptop in the living room while Ava plays. Lots more computer time now. I just have not been feeling all that motivated to blog though. Hopefully I'll start feeling up to it again soon.

Let's see, what's been going on? Life here is definitely getting into a routine. We get out pretty much every single morning. Sometimes to the park, sometimes shopping, sometimes on play dates. I seriously don't think that we've just stayed home a single morning in weeks. Then we come home for lunch & Ava goes down for her nice 2 hour nap in her own bed. That's right... we finally got her on a schedule & taking real naps.

Unfortunately, Alexa is still sleeping in our bed at night. With Ava, we followed the rule of never letting her sleep in our bed. I was pretty adamant about it. However, this time around, all rules changed. It all started with the fact that we didn't have Ava's new room ready by the time Alexa was born. So we had to have Alexa in our room until we could switch Ava over. We had planned to put her in the bassinet portion of the pack n play, but we didn't bother to set it up ahead of time. When we got home from the hospital, we found that 3 of the bars that are required to set up the bassinet portion were missing. Therefore, we had nowhere to put her! We borrowed our friend's co-sleeper & used that for a few weeks. It was fine, but we were both uncomfortable because for some reason our California King bed was just not big enough for us & it. So she's been sleeping in my arms (don't worry, I'm a light sleeper) with the boppy propping her up a bit. Now that she's 6 weeks old, I think it's time to transition her. She's a great sleeper, so I don't think it'll be all that difficult. I just need to clean out the computer room so that we can actually reach the crib. She's going to sleep in there for a few months until she's sleeping through the night & then the girls are going to share a room.

So Alexa is doing really, really well. She's growing fast & she's a truly amazing baby. She sleeps all the time & rarely cries. She loves the swing, likes the bouncy seat, doesn't mind the play mat. She's starting to smile more & more, which just melts my heart.

Ava is 20 months old now. In only 4 short months I'm going to have a 2 year old. I think the terrible 2's have already started though. She certainly has a temper when not getting her way these days. Overall she is a wonderful little girl though. She's a ton of fun!

My sister's wedding is coming up very soon. I can't believe it, but she's going to be married! They are even in the process of buying a house. I'm heading to NY with Alexa in a few weeks for her bridal shower, then we'll all be heading back to NY again a few weeks after that for the wedding. I can't wait! I still have about 10 pounds to lose, but once I feel more motivated I know I'll lose it.

I'm heading back to work at the beginning of May. I'm not thrilled about it, but it's a necessity. It's really not a bad deal, especially since Alexa is going to be coming with me to work for awhile. I just hate working at all. I really need to treasure this last month of just getting to adjust to life with 2 kids.

We're taking my FIL out to dinner tonight because we haven't seen him since we had him over for dinner last week. It's been a busy week for us. He's doing okay, but we're nervous because his memory loss has progressed to making things up. It's a long story, but he seems to think that he had all this jewelry that a pawn shop stole from him, but it turns out he made the entire thing up in his head. He doesn't believe us that it didn't happen, but we have proof that it didn't. We finally have an interview for the Veteran's Home which will ultimately be the best place for him.

I think that's just about everything going on right now. Oh, I know... I got my new Hot Sling in the mail last night. We haven't had opportunity to try it out yet since Alexa has been mostly sleeping all day today, but I'll let you all know if I love it!