Hot Mess McGee's: May 2012

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Clara Turns 3

Clara turned 3, on Monday, May 21, 2012

When she woke up she came down the stairs and peeked at her surprise from the staircase.

She was half asleep still and said, "Balloons".

Cole stayed in town so we could spend some time together with Clara for her birthday. My mom was out of town up in North Fork cleaning up my grandma's property with my dad, grandpa and brother's Tom & Bob. I know she was very sad to miss her actual bday but we are having her small party at my parent's house next weekend.

We took Clara to John's Incredible Pizza for her bday. Misty met me there with Eric too! Clara was in kind of a grumpy mood. She wasn't really interested in eating and then the rides and noise scared her in the playland. However she really like the kids area with the slide (which was free). So I bought $5 in tokens for no good reason haha!

Eric & I finally got her to play skeeball. Uncle Eric put her on top of the machine and was letting her throw them. I was freaking out that someone was going to come yell at us for letting her stand on it haha.

Then Eric won her a shark in the claw game. She was quite excited about it. Later that night we went over to Misty's and hung out for a little bit.

I made tacos for dinner and when daddy came home, he went and bought her ice cream at rite aid and played tickle game with her.

Later that night I took her to bed. We played for a little bit and then I got her into bed where I read her some stories. It's our tradition every night. She picks one book to read, and then I read from the "baby" book as she calls it, It's a book I received for Mother's Day a couple of years ago from my mom. I LOVE this book. It has recipes, fairy tales, songs, rhymes, poems. I never realized how gruesome fairy tales are. Apparently I grew up only knowing the Disney version of them. I never knew the wicked queen in Snow White, ate her heart. I never knew that the giant had a wife in Jack in the Bean Stalk. So many things I'm learning. I'm loving that book!

She also has me read her every night the note that my grandma Dorothy wrote in one of the books she gave me for my shower.

I LOVE Clara to pieces. She's one of the loves of my life. It's been the best 3 years of my life. I can't wait to enjoy her more and more as the years go by. She's my sweet girl!

Amgen/Splash Day

We decided to go check out the Amgen Tour since it was really close to our house. Misty has been working her butt off on it for the City of Bakersfield. She's been in charge of all the marketing for it, and all kinds of stuff. So we were excited to see all her hard work come to fruition. Unfortunately it was extremely hot. One of the hottest days we've had so far this year. Clara was miserable and being a total pain in the tuchus. Also their legs were burning in the sun, I didn't even think about sunscreen. We never did find Aunt Misty but she was a very busy bee that day.

Later that day we let the kids play in the back yard in their water sink. Daddy was squirting Mommy with a water gun.

Nothing better that a cute baby booty!!!

Clara decided to dump cold water on brother and he started crying so hard. So I took a bucket and splashed her with it. Then she started crying. I don't think she liked it very much, Mommy is mean, lol.

She made up with me!!

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Jackson's 12 Month Update

Jackson's hit a few big mile stones this month. He said his first word, which is a hilarious story. When I change him I always say "Wee Wee" and make him laugh. Well I was changing him and he said "Wee Wee". I wasn't sure if he was actually saying it or if he was just making noises. But he reached for it and kept saying it over and over. I then realized besides "dada", his first official word is "Wee Wee". Really??? How great of a story is that when he's a grown man. He's already obsessed with it, lol!

He also received another tooth. He got his 4th bottom tooth on the left side. So now he had a total of 8 teeth. I think his molars are coming soon.

He is now a full on crawler. He was just army crawling for so long and now he is on all fours and going everywhere. He is so busy and into everything. We never had to put locks on any of our cabinets with Clara but he's is a whole other story. The locks are going on this weekend.

He is officially weaned from bottles. Dr. Pardo said between 12 to 15 months no more bottles. I thought it would be a lot harder than it was bc he loves his bottles. But since he's still very much so a pacifier baby he did fine weaning from the bottle. He can drink from a straw really well and will use any sippy. However weaning him from the pacifier is going to suck. I'm not sure when we will be doing that, I'm in no hurry lol.

He walks along all the furniture and can stand himself up and sit himself down. He's tried to take a few steps but falls face first. Now that he can move fast crawling I don't think he's as interested in walking.

He eats EVERYTHING!! He's a little piggy. He eats twice as much as Clara. His favorite foods are yogurt, bananas, english muffins, cream of wheat, eggs, beans, rice, pasta, chicken and sandwiches. He also still eats one jar of stage 3 veggies a day just to make sure he's getting his veggies and it fills him up right before bed.

He's not the greatest sleeper. But he's not the worst either. He's in bed by 9:30pm and wakes up usually once bc he moves around so much and gets cold, and then he's up about 8:30am. He takes a really long nap during the day for about 3 hours.

He loves to play with his sister, and they make each other laugh so much. It's quite adorable. He still loves Yo Gabba Gabba, and also Mickey Mouse Club. He loves music and shakes his head when he dances, and bounces up and down, and claps a lot. He claps when he's excited or when he hears music.

He loves to swing!

He also loves to splash, he literally soaks the bathroom floor and me when bathing.

Mother's Day 2012

There are no words to describe what it means for me to be given the gift of Motherhood. I always wanted to be a mom when I was little, and then when I was in high school I swore I'd never have children. Then when I got married to Michael we knew we definitely wanted to have kids. I had no idea we would end up struggling with fertility for 2 years. It was terrifying and depressing. We were incredibly lucky however bc we only needed one round of fertility treatment and I was pregnant. I have many wonderful friends that have struggled with fertility and have experienced tremendous losses that I cannot imagine surviving. I often think, why me? Why were we so lucky and blessed to be given the gift of children. Most of you know I went through some pretty major medical problems from Clara's birth, but I would do it all over again a millions times to have her. And then I had to give up my career which meant everything to me. I felt so lost and deeply saddened to have to resign from being a social worker. But I had to have the surgery and had no more medical leave left. I was terrified to give up my job. But it was such a blessing in disguise!! I now have the most amazing job in the world, I'm a stay at home mommy!! And then Jackson was such a wonderful surprise. We were getting ready to start fertility again and was starting all the "pre drugs" & then bam I was pregnant before treatment started. What a miracle!!

I get to wake up to my beautiful, hilarious, amazing children every morning and get to spend the entire day with them playing, feeding them, changing them, and loving them. Michael has given me the most amazing gift of all, and that is to be a stay at home mom with our children. I could not ask for a better life right now. I'm just trying to enjoy every moment with my babies bc they are growing so fast but everyday is like a new adventure. Clara is doing things and saying the funniest things and it changes everyday. Jack is hitting mile stone after mile stone. And I get to watch it unfold right before my eyes! So I can't thank my husband enough for all that he does for our family. Yes we have our ups and downs and boy do we fight at times, but he's the love of my life, and loves me & his children more than anything, and takes the best care of us.

We went to Old Towne Pizza in Tehachapi for Mother's Day with the family. It was fun to all get together. I was really upset bc I forgot all the presents at home. I worked so hard on a homemade rice pack for my mom and couldn't wait to give it to her, plus her half a pound of See's chocolate chip truffles. Oh well she came the next day and got them and then forgot the chocolates on the table. She was very upset haha! My parent's got me a Demarle mat that I can roll out dough on. I've been wanting one really bad bc flour gets nasty on my grout. And Misty made me chocolate covered strawberries, a beautiful planter with seeds, and a giant pickle.

Later that night Michael gave me a beautiful card and made me a bomb dinner! This is what he wrote in my card..."I love you so much for all that you do for our family. I know sometimes I expect a lot from you. You fill our children with so much love & happiness and I am so grateful for that" He's the best!!

My mother is the most hard working woman I know. She busts her butt everyday. She literally never rests. She is always organizing, cleaning, doing yard work, paper work, running errands everywhere, cooking, taking care of everyone. And right now she's trying to get my parent's old shop cleaned out so they can sell their house. I can't believe all that she does. My children are so in love with her. Jack literally screams and cries when she walks in the room bc he wants her to pick her up. And I can get Clara to do anything if I tell her we are going to grandma's or that she is coming over. I LOVE my mother so much. She is 1 of 3 of my best friends. I tell her everything and she's my rock, my support and my friend. I just love being with my mom and hanging out with her. I knew growing up I loved my mom, but I had no idea how much I did and that we'd be so close. I aspire to have the same relationship with Clara when she's an adult. And of course with Jack Jack too.

Friday, May 11, 2012

BEST DAY EVER!!!!!! (Coldplay)

How is it possible to describe THE BEST DAY EVER?!?!?!?!?!

My dear friend Chrissy mentioned a couple of months ago that she bought 4 tickets to Coldplay on subhub because the actual tickets sold out during the presale. She paid a FORTUNE for them, and I kindly declined to go bc there was no way we could afford it. Well it was National Scrapbook Day on Saturday and she said she would cut Misty and I a deal on the tickets bc she tried to resale them and couldn't. And when I mean a "deal" I mean RIDICULOUS!! There was NO way in hell I was going to say no. So I quickly begged my mom to take the kids overnight since it was in the middle of the week and Mike didn't get off til really late. Misty was able to get the day off so whew!!

So I show up to Chrissy's about 12:30 and she tells me we are going to the Saddle Ranch for lunch. Well I begin to get soooooo excited because while I was recovering from my c-section and nursing Jackson in the middle of the night I got hooked on this reality show called Saddle Ranch on VH1. It was about the staff there and the drama that went on when they moved the staff from the Universal restaurant to the one on Sunset bc they had better sales there. Anyway it was awesome and I was hooked. So to my surprise we were going there. Of course (being the reality tv whore that I am) Chrissy, Sherrie, and Misty had no flipping clue what I was talking about.

It was on Sunset and it was awesome!!! I was STARVING so I ordered WAY too much food. I had nacho's and a "Kettle O' Rings". It was literally in a Kettle and I was sick. And the manager came over and introduced himself and we told him all our business and so he turned on a bunch of Coldplay music videos to get us all pumped up! It was starting out to be the BEST DAY EVER!

Then our waitress was Alex. On the show, she was the mean bitchy waitress who had a lot of seniority and didn't take crap from anybody. She was the BOMB.COM waitress. She was hilarious and so awesome! She loved my story and that I was a groupy. So she brought us this GIANT cotton candy that was Blue Raspberry/ Pinacolada flavored. It was delish! And she gave it to us on the house. She also brought over Cindy the manager on the show, who was so sweet and loved the csection story too, haha! And then Nancy the sweet little blonde waitress that I loved on the show (who now has black hair) came over and introduced herself. Honestly I don't think very many people watched the show and it hasn't been renewed for a second season. So whatever I was super stoked & very full.

Chrissy ordered a MaiTai and it was GIGANTIC! She was pretty tipsy and was talking and laughing a lot. It was hilarious and so fun! So then of course Misty had to drive us to the Park & Ride.

Alex & I

Once we got to Park & Ride behind the Federal building in Westwood, we hopped on a tram and headed over to the concert. First of all it took FOREVER to drive 13 miles from Saddle Ranch to the Park & Ride. I think it was like 45 minutes. We were nervous we were going to be late, but it all worked out and it was hella entertaining with all the laughter and jokes flying in the car. Then we rode the bus to the Hollywood Bowl which also took a really long time bc of traffic and we had arrived.

The Hollywood Bowl is stunning!!! It was so beautiful, woody, and the weather was perfect! It was slightly overcast and just right. They gave us these bracelets when we walked in and apparently it was part of the show. Of course when they were turned on, mine didn't work. Made me sad lol! Also the tshirts were $40 & $60, so I did not purchase one. And then when the concert was over there was a guy selling them for $10 in the tunnel haha!

Misty & I

We had the best seats, to the side row 12 section E. The first opening act was a sister pair called "The Pierces". They were fantastic, and of course Coldplay produced them. The second band "Metromony" was retched, I couldn't wait for them to get the hell off the stage lol.

There were two people dressed as the Elephants from the Paradise video, they were in the very front row. Then this woman two rows in front of us was eating the most divine looking piece of cheesecake. I wanted to karate chop her for it. *ve m

Then they came out!! OMG there are no words to describe what we experienced. It was phenomenal, life changing, moving and every other word that's awesome. They by far put on the most amazing show I have ever seen in my life. NOTHING will ever top this concert experience. I'm a HUGE Coldplay fan. First time I heard them was when Mike and I were dating and we were house sitting and this video came on MTV2 (when they actually played music) and it was Yellow. I melted right then and there and that was in 2000. Through the years Mike would leave me little notes with one of the lines of that song bc we got engaged that weekend.

The show itself was crazy, I had never seen anything like it. They had fireworks, laser lights, confetti, smoke, bouncing balls. It was insane and so fun!! Not to mention the crazy kid in front of us that could play every instrument in his air band. Just ask Misty about her flute playing skills, it's not so good.

I waited the whole night for them to play "Fix You" my favorite. And it was one of the encore songs. I cried and cried and cried. And the way he danced was just beautiful. Seriously there is NO way to ever repay Chrissy for what she gave me. That experience was priceless!!!! AND we converted Misty into a lover of Coldplay!

Chrissy posted on facebook the key words of the trip and I have steal them for the blog: park & ride, saddle ranch, Cotton candy, Chris Martin, flying balls, fix you (tears), free-stylin dancin guy, friggin' 405 closure & junk-n-trunk girl selling chocolates!

Oh yeah and on the way home the freaking 405 was closed and we had to go a very long way home. We were so tired and poor Chrissy drove us home and stayed awake for the whole thing!

I stole this set list from an article I read online, we seen them May 2, 2012