What Mother's day means to me

As anyone who has ever had any contact with me over this last year knows, I became a mother last May. I am very proud of my sweet little guy and know that he is the best part of me.
Over the last year, I have learned many parenting rules. (none of these came from those handy books devoted to parenting.)
And as my first official mother's day weekend starts, I would like to pass my wisdom on to you (especially to my friends who don't have children yet... this might be an eye opening event).

Motherhood is the ability to plan 20 different 'snacks' for a six hour period.
Motherhood is picking out outfits that will be changed or altered two to three times a days and that includes your clothes (baby = a messy sponge; they just spread dirty everywhere)

While eating out at a restaurant, your meal is entirely based off of what your child will nibble/graze off of your meal.

Once your child is able to eat solid foods, their meals have three courses: 1) crackers or cereal; 2) main course of food 3)some food that is tasty enough (a.k.a. 'dessert') to hold their attention long enough for you to shovel a few bites of food into your mouth.
A baby will only show love to you when their mouth is messy or their nose is snotty.

No matter how much money you spend on toys, babies will forever be more entertained with box that it came in or the paper it was wrapped in.

The super power for mothers is being able to determine what your child ate by the poopy diapers. (I am sorry that this is so graphic, but it is seriously so true)

While taking a shower, if your baby starts crying, you learn what parts need to be cleaned and what will wait, Example:shaving my legs is like a day spa event. (it happens only every so often because there isn't enough time.)
Now comes the part that sounds like a cheesy Hallmark card. While motherhood is the most rewarding thing in my life, it has also been the dirties, hardest, most tiring, worrisome thing I have ever done. And while I wouldn't trade anything for my little Baby, I want my lessons to be passed on to whoever is listening. Maybe it will help bring the whole parenting thing into focus for some other rookie/or soon to be rookie out there.

(*also I would like to give a special shout out to all the mothers in my life: My mother, my MIL, Yia Yia, Grams, and both my sisters. Thanks for always being such a great examples for me to learn this mothering thing from. Love ya! And Happy Mother's Day!)

Two great guys + one holiday = one fantastic night

We were all dressed up...

With weather like this... a downpour!
Heading to restaurant that had ambiance like this.....
(I don't know what other cities are on this website, but it freakin' rocks. We got our $25 gift certificate to this yummy restaurant for only $2 (our total Valentine's date dinner, a rocking $18 including two dinner entrees and dessert, what a SCREAMING deal!!!)

Drinking and eating a fabulous meal that made us all very happy....
Taking a stroll in the freezing cold wind....
Ended the night at home having a great laugh (playing 'jumbo elephant' with a 9 month old will make everyone happy including Thing one and Thing two.) and our warm pj's.
Great dates, great meal, great night. Thanks to my boys, and here is my mushy quota for the month, Love you both and you make my life the best! Happy Valentine's to the ones that matter in my life!

Happy New Year

Wow, this last month has flown by. I have had blogs that I meant to post, but something, namely Baby has usually come up. So while I have 2 minutes to myself while my husband wrestles with a wet baby in the bath tub and two dogs in the bathroom as well, let me just wish you all a Happy New Year.
Our New Year, started off very quietly at home with a homemade pizza and a movie. Very quiet. It is hard to be party-ers when you have a 7 month old that goes to bed at nine. Maybe next year. I hope everyone else's night was fun and eventful.
I was thinking about the good ol' resolution. In the past they have just been to be happier and stuff like that. This year I am hoping for more efficiency. Ever since I started to work part time again with a baby, my blogging has been on the back burner. I want to find a nice balance where I can have it all with this. Of course baby comes first, then work has to come second, but maybe I could be a little more dedicated and work out some blogging schedule that works too. That isn't asking too much right? Blogging to me is like my 'out'. It is my zen moment on my crazy days. Maybe for the family's sake they will work with me to make this work. Trust me when I say it is to their benefit too. A sane mama is better than a crazy one any day.

Christmas Day

I know some of these blogs are a little out of order, but when you might have 20 minutes or you might have an hour to post, you take what you can get. Santa was very good to Baby this year. He got a lot of presents and I have the feeling this year the givers of the presents were more excited than the recipient. (I know that will change next year.) He was very happy to have so many new things to taste and eat. I had never realized that parents get a totally different experience than the kids. The kids get to open and play with all the new toys, but the parents spend most of their time prying the new toys out of the ridiculously difficult packaging. Who comes up with the way they package toys? I don't really think the toy truck needs 10 twist ties on it, but hey what do I know. Then after you have pried all the buggers out of their respective packages, then the clean up begins. I swear I am still finding bits of cardboard lying around. Amazing. It was a great time for all and we received some wonderful gifts.Even Thing 2 was excited...or maybe he just wanted me to leave him alone with the entire box of dog biscuits. But I can see why it only comes around once a year, it took us two days to recover and we are definitely broke now! Ahhh, the holidays are almost finished and on to the gloomiest part of the year, January. Sorry January, you just can't compete with December.

Winner winner, reindeer dinner!

On Tuesday night was my sister's annual Bunco Christmas Get-together. It was so much fun because everyone brings a gift of their favorite things. (like Oprah but with a $25 limit) It was great to visit with all the ladies and drink a really yummy sangria. I love to have someplace fun to go to at night especially when there is a chance to win money and you leave with a belly full of delicious food and a present. It must have been my lucky night because I won $25 for the most wins, (I have the reindeer antlers on in the picture because I had the last bunco of the game.) and I drew a number one for the present pick. (that means that you get to choose the first present and then at the very end you can steal the last present as well.) For my present I won a gift certificate to one of my favorite restaurants, Pomegranate. Soder has never been there so I was happy to steal this present at the very end so that we could have a date night. (conveniently I stole it from my sister, I wonder if she will still babysit for me after I took it from her?) It was so much fun and definitely was a great ab workout because we were laughing so much. Thanks girls, and Thanks Am, you sure know how to throw a great party!

So this is ok right?

I was impressed that he would go cross-eyed for it.

I figured that since he had to dress up like a monkey he should reap some of the benefits, right? I only let him suck and break apart the candy bar from the outside of the package. No chocolate this year, but definitely next for sure. Until then, the fun size candy will only be moving straight to my hips.... maybe I should try sucking on a few of the candy bar packages too. I don't need to open any more.

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway from Monday...

My Monkey Related family....

Yesterday, we officially had a reason to celebrate Halloween. I was a lot more excited this year than in years past because I couldn't wait to put Baby in his cute little monkey costume. I decided to dress up as jungle vines because I realized that I needed to find a way to carry the little one around all night for the party we were invited to. I really liked how my costume turned out and was excited that Baby didn't freak out when I was wearing my vines. Soder found a shirt that was the chest of a Wookie, and since he is losing his hair he decided to wear a werewolf mask and hands that my sister had. It was funny because the kids really loved the fact that Soder would try to scare the kids which would in turn make the kids run around and then want Soder to howl at them. I loved to watch Soder get attacked by a pack of children. It was a great time and while we didn't trick-or-treat very long, it was a great first Halloween as a family.

Something big and exciting coming on Monday!

Remember all those day where you read my blog for no good reason, well your loyalty has paid off. Early next week, I will be doing a giveaway. (and this is a good one with a prize from a website that has everything from bar furniture to baby stuff.) So check back to not only see what Baby will be for Halloween, but also to join in on the fun! Until then have a great Halloween weekend and eat an extra bite size candy bar for me!

Pumpkin Time

Once upon a time, there was a young couple with a 5 month old baby. The young couple has been learning to do all the fun parenting things so that their baby will experience it all. They decided one frosty morning that they would go to a pumpkin patch that you had to ride a hay ride to the field to pick your pumpkin. The only thing that the young couple didn't plan on was it being so cold. So instead of going to on the quaint little hay ride, they decided that it was too frosty and the baby wouldn't care where they got the pumpkin from this year. So they left and went on a trek to find another pumpkin patch. So with the baby safe in his car seat in the warm car they set off on their journey. After a few wrong turns they discovered this beautiful little tucked away neighborhood that had big fall trees full of fall leaves and it was along a very out of place red bricked road. It was a nice break to drive along the red bricked road and enjoy the scenery, but there were no smaller pumpkin patches. After about a thirty minute detour/scenic drive, the young parents did discover the perfect place for their baby to find his first pumpkin.
And so they romped through the small fields until they discovered the perfect pumpkin for their perfect little pumpkin. When it was found, they all were happy that they had discovered what they were looking for. (The 5 month old was actually still deciding if this was the perfect pumpkin or if he should still be asleep in the warm cozy car and also wondering why his mother put him in such a ridiculous hat.)
After paying for their find, they piled back into the car and headed home to relax and enjoy the rest of the lazy weekend. Next year, the young parents thought, it will be different because we will all be dressed warmly and on a hay ride we will all enjoy to find the perfect pumpkin.The End.

Father's Day Celebration, belated

This weekend our adventures took a busy turn. We started out at the XXX Burger joints Chevy only car show. (I am a Chevy girl through and through and told Travis that this cute little 1960 red corvette would be a great gift for his wife when we make our millions.) It was a beautiful day and just the right temperature to meander around the cars. My dad was in town (along with my mother, of course) and he loves car shows. He has been a mechanic for the last about 40 years or so, and he loves to look at his craft. I have been drug all over the western United States and have seen all sorts of car shows. I used to hate going to them but now I find that I actually enjoy walking around and seeing all the beautiful cars that the owners have taken such good care of.
After the car show, we took my dad to Dick's Burgers. (seriously the best burger joint around and the best value.) We then headed to the Center for Wooden Boats. It was fun, but I wouldn't classify it as an actual museum. It was kinda just about 8 boats in the water with plaques explaining what they were.
After that we took a short drive around Lake Union to my favorite, Gas Works Park. My dad loved it there because you could watch all the boats and water planes landing. I think he would have stayed there all afternoon. (I know I would have been happy to if only the wind was a little less and my baby was a little more tired.)
It was a great day to celebrate our "Father's day" with my dad. I think he had a great time and we got to see a bunch of stuff we haven't seen yet. Happy Father's day Dad! (even though there is no way he will ever even see this post... he only knows how to find Bejeweled on the internet.) :)

Fourth of July Craziness!

This is what our Fourth of July activities included, watching Liam coo and gurgle at us. Oh, and we watched The Hangover with my mom, which was entertaining enough because she was actually laughing at the movie a bunch.
We didn't hit the fireworks this year for two reasons, 1: We didn't know how Ratchet would react to the fireworks and we didn't want to leave him alone(we only got him at the end of last July) and 2: It was sprinkling outside. Of course, I used the baby as an excuse as to why I didn't want to go and sit on the wet grass to watch a bunch of fireworks go off. That is what babies are for, right?!
Hope everyone had a great and safe 4th of July.

Father's Day Wishes!

I would like to wish the Father's and Grandfather's in our family a happy Father's Day. We love you, guys! And to all those Dad's out there, Happy Father's Day also. Jim and Travis (outside the Sci-fi Museum)
Papou (with Travis and Yia Yia) Me and Moto

Happy Father's Day, Travis!

Today, we celebrated Travis' first Father's day. My husband is the biggest carnivore ever. He would eat only hamburger patties everyday if they were covered in bacon with cheese (of course we don't eat like that so it is a special treat when we go to a great burger joint. I look the other way when he happily orders the largest burger covered with his true love, Bacon.) We had heard many great things about Red Mill Burger on Phinney Ridge. It was a cramped little restaurant, and in my experience the smaller and more crowded the restaurant the better the food is. This was definitely worth the wait and the crowd. This burger joint was featured on the show Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel and ever since Travis has wanted to try it. It was hard to find, but we were happy we went on the adventure.After lunch, we decided to explore a little more. We headed west knowing that we would eventually hit water. Our exploration ended at Golden Garden Park. It was so beautiful, but a little cold for our little one. We went on a short walk, but didn't stay too long. Hopefully, we will be able to go back when it is a nice summer day. (we have yet to see any of those yet). It was another great day of exploring our new hometown! And a great big Happy Father's Day to all those fathers, new and old.

A little love poem

On this Valentine’s Day, I started to think about my sweet Porkchop

Your smirky smile, your belly and your cute bald top,

How exciting this past year has been, with the Northwest move,
The baby, Ratch and Kimi, and my trip to the louvre,

Through it all you have been so loving, kind and supportive,
Even with occasional hormonal threats that I won’t let you live,

I hope I have supported you like you have helped me,
I know you will be that famous artist and everyone will see.

Night stocking at Fred Meyer is not your fate,
And some great comic book hero will be your future date.

We have had a lot of laughs and that is what I love the very most,
Giggles about Nero, goofy family members, and that Shadow ninja post.

I am glad we are on this adventure and finally left the ‘tah,
And like it says on your ring that doesn’t fit anymore, love ya!

Year in Review!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is funny to wake up today and not have to clean a turkey while watching the parade. I feel a little lost because this year I will be a guest and not the chef. Weird! Also it is our first Thanksgiving away from home. I know I have my husband and dogs here, but I will miss the little things. I will miss eating breakfast with my mom and dad, (I can almost smell the maple sausage lingering in the air) I will miss watching the dog show and It's a Wonderful Life with my mom, as she nags me to get things going even though we aren't eating for 6 hours. I will miss waiting for my sister and her family (they are always late coming over to my parents house.) I will miss taking days and days of prep work and planning to have a really great 15 minute meal! I will miss running over to Yia Yia's house to have her amazing pie. (even though she was generous enough to give me her recipe, it still is better when she makes it.) I miss talking with Travis' family all afternoon as I struggle to stay awake!
I am very blessed to have my wonderful sister (no sarcasm there at all for once.) and her family. I am very blessed to have my energetic dogs. I am blessed that I haven't chased my husband off with my crazy hormonal rollercoaster that I am on! (and also that he is understanding and will totally plays along with my requests!) I am beyond words blessed that I am pregnant. And with that I would like to wish you and all yours a safe and blessed Thanksgiving!

Random stuff from the weekend...

This weekend has been a busy one.  We have visited both sets of parents,  went to an outdoor concert, did a little work, had a movie night (watching the Terminator, and Star Trek Undiscovered Country), a barbeque, breakfast with my best friend, the dog park, dinner at a new pizza joint.  Fun for us, nothing to complain about.   The best part of everything is of course the laughter.  We were lucky enough to have our camera with us to help tell this story.  

As I said we watched the Terminator.  This last week, a billboard was put up in on our drive to work/school that shows a "highway patrol man" on a billboard that read, "I see you Mr. drunk driver." It is a very strong billboard, but maybe the timing might not be the best.  With all the advertisements for the new Terminator movie that was released last weekend, both my husband and I came home and asked each other if we had seen it. We both laughed because immediately our minds went to the Terminators and how we pictured it coming after us.

  (Imagine seeing a "Highway patrol man" chasing you down to pull you over.) It would be even more disturbing if you were actually drunk to see this thing chasing you down.  So that was good for a laugh.  Then the next day we were driving to work/school and noticed that the mannequin was gone/missing.  That was even more funny because then it seemed to come true that the "highway patrol man" really did go after someone.  Thankfully yesterday he had returned to his post and we were relieved that he was back looking for more drunk drivers. 

The other hysterical thing was as we were driving home from the pizza place, we were stopped at a red light.   We looked over and saw this car...

It looks like it is screaming or angry.  We both started laughing and we came to the conclusions that it was screaming because it was priced at $32000  (and was a Nissan) and it thought it was too much money. 

Anyways, I hope everyone had a safe Memorial day weekend.   

Happy Valentine's Travis

This year we decided to not spend money on each other for Valentine's (we bought the Big Bang Theory as a "present" last month) (I couldn't wait anymore, I finished it today!) So we have made our presents. Hopefully, it is not too mushy, but instead hilarious because that is how we are... crazy! This is dedicated to my Husband who is my best friend and who always makes me laugh.

Love ya, and thanks for the great year!

Thanksgiving Day

Our Table Setting, nothing too fancy.  (Oh and BTW, Mom, there were enough placesettings before you messed with my table!) ;)  

Travis drawing before dinner

The Hardman Boys all dressed up! :) 

The "Kiddie" Table

Our version of the Norman Rockwell Painting. 

Our Thanksgiving went well. All the cooking was wonderful. We had a great cheese tray for an appetizer (Thanks Mari)  and there were no major disasters.   I know all the cooking stuff will bore, but I made all homemade dishes this year.  Usually when I do that I end up making two dishes one of the old and one of the new dish (like gravy I usually make some packet gravy and some homemade gravy or with the stuffing I would have done Stovetop and homemade) But this year I decided we needed to be more minimalist, and made the executive decision that we were going to risk it and eat all that we had.  It was so much easier. Stuffing, Sweet Potatoes, Turkey, Potatoes, Gravy and that was it. Delicious.  The only problem tends to be my mom sometimes. She always likes to be busy and it ended up that she started rearranging the table saying there wasn't enough spots.  (Thankfully I took a picture after I had set the table--- proof, to leave my table alone I know how to count!!! )  No, I know she was just trying to be helpful, but I swear she is a such a meddler.  She is a great mom, very good at doing the "mom" thing (you know sometime getting into things that she shouldn't bother with) and sometimes she just causes trouble. Travis likes to call me and my mom Lucy and Ethel (from the I Love Lucy Show)  because we usually plot and plan together. For her Thanksgiving antics,  she was all along causing trouble. That is my mom!  Love her to death! Thanks for letting me use your kitchen.