Shootin' The Poop

I MISS FAFA!!

When does the next season start?!?  I am pissed because I can't see this season's game.  Who is in 1st?  Last?  Who has Miley?

and where in the hell is everyone?!?

Because They Care

Yesterday I got home and checked the mail and saw that we had a large envelope, er, I mean what used to be a large envelope wrapped in a plastic bag in the mail box.  The envelope looked like it had been run through the garbage disposal and then subsequently placed in said plastic bag by the post office.  The best part about the bag?  Largely written on the bag were the words "We Care".  Hell yeah.  They care enough to put my package through a freaking wood chipper and then send me the remnants.  Big kisses for you Postmaster!

We had an exciting weekend.  After all, nothing says fun like watching an old guy steal something from the grocery store then cut and run, right?  Maddie and I had just walked into the grocery store on Saturday morning and got run over by an old guy "briskly walking" towards the door.  Once he hits the door the alarm goes off and then he takes off sprinting.  Awesome!  Grocery store theft!  What does one steal from the grocery store anyhow?  Mac & Cheese?  Any ideas?

Saturday night we had my family over for a bbq for my mom's birthday and had a great time.  I have lots of pics and will probably post some later this week.  Alan cooked up some burgers and dogs and we all had a good time!

Here are a few pics from the past week or so.  My new favorite pictures because it's all of a sudden occurred to me that I have a bajillion pictures of this adorable kid and about 2 where she's actually with us.

April Flowers

Yesterday I took Marley to a Birthday party to come home to my Hubby re-planting our front planter.  It was looking a bit overgrown and weedy, so I asked him to weed and clean it up a bit while we were gone.  He took the opportunity to rip out all of the old stuff and plant some new.  I was so surprised!!  It turned out lovely.

And here's picture of Marley and Rosa, just because they are too cute!

Parker Michael

Sorry I have been so absent.  Mike is still home (he goes back to work Monday) and I have been selfish with my time and bonding with our new family.

I thought that I should come on and give you all a catch up on life now that Parker is here and about our new little guy getting here.

As you all know he was born a little over 2 weeks ago and you probably saw the first few pics I posted or the ones that Nicole did. 

His arrival into the world was very similar to Abbie's.. it was a planned c-section and we went to into the hospital a few hours before his arrival.  We were very anxious and excited to meet our little guy as the hours approached.  I went in and was instantly monitored for my sugar levels.  The minutes seemed to  take twice as long!!  My Dr came in and saw us and told us that he was being pushed back in his schedule so we would be about an hour or longer still.  He prayed with us and told us he would see us in the operating room.  That extra hour and a 1/2 took FOREVER!!!  I should have been taken into the operating room at 1pm, but instead was taken in about 2:15pm.

The first step was getting my spinal.  I was shaking so bad I couldn't control it.  I definitely didn't shake that much with Abbie.  For some reason I was more nervous knowing what to expect.  I think I was also more fearful of something going wrong as I have even more on the line now then I did before.  All went well and before I knew it Mike was back in with me and my Dr was getting ready to cut me open.  I felt more pressure this time and much more tugging and pulling.  I was much more compacted this time and there for I got beat up a  little more in the process of getting things in and out.  I shook through the whole thing.  The process of Parker coming out seemed so much faster then Abbie.  My Dr told me that he was coming and a few seconds later I felt him come out and heard his screaming.  I was positioned differently this time to were they cleaned them up, so I could only see his feet, I kept asking over and over if he was ok and if I could see him.  I kept telling Mike to take pictures (even though he told me he was!).  They brought him over all wrapped up for me to kiss and touch.  He was so beautiful and I was so overwhelmed with emotions and feelings.  It was so similar to how I felt with Abbie, yet so different.  I kept thinking how lucky we were and how much I loved this little being.  They then took him back over to the other side of the room to clean up more and Mike took more pictures while they put me back together.  This process felt like it took so much longer then I remembered and there was so much pressure in my chest that I started to get scared.  They told me it was normal as they were working on my uterus, but the shakes came back.  I told my Dr. that I trusted him completely, but it hurt so bad it scared it.  Mike came back with Parker and sat with while they finished.  That helped distract me a bit. 

About 30 minutes after he was born I was taken into recovery.  Parker was put back on my chest to breast feed while Mike went and got Abbie from the waiting room.  We wanted her to be the first person to meet him.  Mike carried her over and she didn't take her eyes of of Parker.  She kissed me and told me that she loved me - the whole while with her eyes glued to him.  She willingly kissed him, but wasn't ready to touch him.  Mike then went and got our family to come meet him.  My parents, Mike's parents and his sister came in.  Abbie sat in Mike's lap and was the first to hold him.  She instantly took possession over him.  She told everyone that he was "Her Parker" and they couldn't hold him.  She finally allowed it, but stayed close to watch over him.  I was starting to hurt as the spinal wore off  so they gave me some pain meds - that made me sick and I started to vomit!  OMG!  Not a good thing when you just had your abdomen stapled together.  Within an hour I was taken into our private room.  I was sooo tired and hungry.  They tried to give me some fluids and crackers, but they came right up.  That went on until about 3 am where they finally gave me some sugar through an iv and I finally kept some food down about 6am and they changed my pain meds at the same time.  Much better!

We were in the hospital from that Friday morning until Monday morning.  We had so many family members and friends come meet Parker.  Everyone was so generous and loving.  Not only did it remind me that not only I blessed to have my babies and Mike, but to have so many people that love our family.  You all know who you are and I love you so much!!!

The first week was very low key.  I was definitely moving around better then I did after Abbie (and still am).  I had heard from so many people that the 2nd c-section is easier then the first and I completely agree.  I have had one sore spot that has bothered me, but everything has been easier.

Even dealing with a newborn is so much easier.  I feel so much more relaxed and at ease.  Parker is also a very good baby and it is so much fun to have a cuddly infant again.  I am also enjoying seeing he and Abbie together.  I really look forward to the years to come with these two!  Abbie is such a good big sister.  We are having so emotional outbursts, but non of them are directed towards him, just emotional melt downs, but very mild and very toddler like.  It is all manageable.

Mike goes back to work on Monday and it makes me sad.  I love us being home together so much.  Mike and I do very well together at home and I hate the idea of him not getting to be home with us the rest of our leave.  But what can I do?  We have bills to pay!  I go back to work the day after Memorial Day and I already dread that.  I love bing home.

I think that I have answered all of your questions I have gotten in email- if I haven't please let me know!  Bottom line is we are all doing well and this transition has been easy and nice.  Yes, it is more work having an infant and now having 2, but it doesn't feel like a huge change - it is all doable and we are loving them both!

Here are pics from the last 2 weeks...

PS... Parker is sleaping 3-5 hour stretches at a time at night already!  Lets all pray it sticks!

PPS... Abbie peed in the toilet this am for the first time!  Please send us positive thoughts that we are on a real track to potty training!  I would love to only have 1 in diapers and right now with me home is a perfect time to have her transition out of diapers!

Free Rice!!

I just heard about this website the other day on the news!  It is a great program that provides rice for the hungry.  You can improve your vocabluary and feed people at the same time!!  Check it Out!!

Title Goes Here

I'd try to come up with a better title but seriously it just says it all.  That's how it's been here lately.... so busy that there's just no time to even come up with a title!  Did you guys miss us?  We're here, we're still alive, I promise.  We've just been doing things like being pregnant, having babies, going on vacation and last but not least, working!

We've been pretty busy around my house with Alan pulling a lot of hours at work and then when he gets home he gets to work some more.  Awesome, huh?  He's re-doing the entire website for his company so it's been a huge project.

Things that have given me a stomach ache in the past week:

• Looking into the "next step" in daycare for Maddie.  I hate the thought of even leaving her current provider but soon she'll need to go to a place where there is cirriculum
• Trying to make plans for Maddie's 2nd birthday
• Being in almost last place in my celebrity fantasy league
• Fiber One Bars.  Holy shit!  Literally!!!

I joined Weight Watchers today and am really excited about it.  I have been doing so great with my running since the first of the year and was initially eating really well too.  So well that I've managed to drop 18 pounds, however I've gotten really lazy on the eating thing and have officially hit a wall so I figure paying $12 bucks a week and having the nice lady weigh me will give me some more accountability.  I'm sitting here right now wanting to eat my arm because I am so damn hungry.  Boooo!  Here's to being a skinny bitch!

20 Weeks, 4 days...

I meant to post last week but I forgot my login information (BABY BRAIN!!) but I figured it out today!

Last Monday we went for our Big Ultrasound. It was great--we got to see all four chambers of the heart, kidneys, bladder, arms, legs, toes, fingers, head, face (it was a regular U/S--not a 3 or 4D kind)--it was awesome and made things more real.

So we had the tech write down the gender on a piece of paper and had her put it in an envelope. As of now, we are not going to open it.  So we still refer to him or her as "little nugget".

Needless to say, we are getting offers for people to hold on to it for us everyday!! I let Dale hide the envelope since I don't trust myself.

So if we hang tough, we won't know what little nugget is until the third week (or so) of August.

Stay tuned...

And How was YOUR Breakfast?

So, my girlfriend Leah is in town this weekend getting ready for our cruise on Monday.  So I wanted to take her someplace great for breakfast!  We jumped in the car and about 30 minutes later we arrived at Gaffey Street Diner which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network.  Ferdie and I have been there once before, but we thought it would be fun to go this morning.  I ordered the Specialty French Toast, a lovely concoction of cinnamon-bread french toast, berries, bananas, whipped cream, Kahlua sauce, and almonds  .  Mom had the homemade Chile Verde with eggs .  Everyone else had the standard breakfast fare, but the food was far from standard!  If you get the chance, I HIGHLY recommend going.  It is located just off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro!  Yuuuummmm!!

Parker Pics

I know MK and Mike have their hands full right now so I wanted to share some pictures I took of Parker at the hospital. How cute is this little guy?

Carnitas!

I made Carnitas for tacos the other night and they were SO GOOD, I thought I would share the easy, easy recipe!

Take a pork shoulder or pork butt and stab it up with some garlic, season it with salt and pepper, plop it into a slow cooker (crock pot), place a bunch of cilantro on the top of it, open a bottle of light beer (take a sip) and pour the rest over the meat.  Set it for 8 hours.  After 8 hours, the meat will just fall apart making for delicious taco meat!