If I could turn back time

So, for the first time in the history of my mamahood, I'm wishing for time to stop.

I hear this from just about every mom and mom blogger I know (or don't know, I guess). Usually it's in reference to their newborns. "This is going by way too fast!" and "I wish that time would just slow down." But as most everyone knows, I don't make it any kind of secret that I'm not craaaazy about teeny babies. I have never ever wiped away a tear while packing up small sizes. I rejoice. We got through 3-6 months! We survived!

That first year, well that first year drags. It's all about the next new milestone. When will you sleep?! Roll over. Eat solids. Crawl. Feed yourself. Walk (that one technically took about a year and a half for my Incredible Hulk sized boy). How old is he? Well he'll be 7 weeks in 3 days. But the second year? You stop counting the days and weeks and months. You never say: well he'll be 73 weeks in 4 days. The second year flys by, and that's what scares me.

You think I'm worried about August getting older? Oh no no. Come on kid, control that central nervous system already! It's Sawyer that I want to pause. That's right, you heard me. Right smack in the terrible twos I want to stop time. People say it's because now they have a personality. No. He wasn't a piece of wood for the last 2 years, he had a personality. Now he has an OPINION. I'm right at the beginning of talking and right before the sass starts. He has the funniest little quirks. He tells the best stories, even if I can't understand a word of it. He can work and iPhone better than anyone over the age of 40. He has an overly dramatic polite laugh. He loves his brother so so much, he knows exactly who he is. After all, he was just with him not that long ago. The tantrums? Well those are out of this world, and if you asked me if I wanted him to stay that age in the midst of one I'd tear your face off. But most of the time I'd like to bottle up this age and keep it forever.

Stats

Sawyer just had his 2 year check up so I thought I'd update this dusty old blog. Can I just say that 2 has been my favorite age so far? Am I crazy? Sure the tantrums are out of this world, like he embarrasses me at target pretty much every time we go. If I tell him not to touch the dishwasher (for the 100th time) he'll drop instantly and scream for 20 minutes without breathing once. But he's also so fun! He runs and talks, he has favorite movies and favorite parts of favorite movies. Like when the guards are chasing Flynn Rider on their horses (again!). He repeats everything we say, he recognizes emotion. Like if mama's crying well then he's going to cry too. I have a newborn, there's quite a bit of crying. Ok so to sum up; 2 is hard but awesome. Here are some stats.

Height: 35inches-so close to big rides at Disneyland!
Weight: 31lbs-actually down 4 pounds from his 18 month appointment. Failure to thrive.
Head: Big

He's saying about 40 words regularly. Some of my absolute favorites: Tooooooow=toe. Foooooot. Geeja=Jesus. Ahhhmimi!=Amen, he even throws in praise hands. Pay=pray. Feeeesh=fish. Ahmamama=mama. Dayee=daddy. And my personal favorite: Eyeoooh=I love you.

Favorites: Grandma and Grandpa (always, above everything else). Toy Story. Baby brother. He dotes on him like no other, and if brother is crying Sawyer will hug and dance for him, and August is finally starting to realize he's there. Anything with a screen.

When he's in a crowd of kids or off playing I'll see him search for mama's face and lights up when he finds it. Oh how I love this little guy. There's no way anyone is still reading this. Pictures!

My Halloween post

Well it's no secret that Halloween is my very favorite holiday. We have about 2 totes of Christmas decorations. We have 7 for Halloween. Is that sacrilegious? Probably.

So it's also no surprise that I have some very strong opinions when it comes to most things Halloween, my biggest being costumes. Kevin and I kind-of-not-really-at-all met at a Halloween party where, get this, he wasn't even dressed up. Then when I saw him at the YSA Halloween dance he was just wearing his moms scrubs with a little bit of blood splattered on them. Points lost indeed. He's lucky I decided to date him at all, let alone marry someone with such poor priorities.

Costume regulations, just in case you were wondering:

1. Costumes must have at LEAST 3 elements to be considered a costume. For example: Shirt, pants, shoes. Shirt, face paint, headband. Hair, shirt, accessory. 3! Not just a shirt. Not just some plastic weapon. Not just clip on devil horns. No.

2. No repeating costumes: Which is ironic because for the first time ever, this year I'm repeating. But there's a loophole! Oh yes there is. If you alter or add to your costume it's allowed. Also allowed if one year you're something and the next you're the same thing BUT scary this time. This loophole expires after the second time the costume is worn though.

3. NEVER! Just wear your work clothes and call it a costume. Say "I'm myself for Halloween." Think you're too old to dress up. Ask yourself "Is this a little too much?"-no such thing. Be friends with someone like me.

And the absolute worst most heinous of costume offenses: Wearing a shirt that says "This is my Halloween costume." It's just never ok.

Happy Halloween!!

Attention Attention

Coming this Thanksgiving

These boots are made for walkin

So after 15 1/2 months we officially have a walker. A toddler! And just like everyone said I would (darn you, everyone) the second he really started walking I thought to myself "why was this SO important to me?" My baby is gone, and a big walking boy has taken his place.


At the museum with Katie

Walking around the park

And this is how he goes down the slide. Cracks me up every time

15 months

Sawyer's big guy 15th month check up was today and here are his stats:
Weight: 27 pounds
Height: 34 1/2 inches
Head: I never pay attention. It's big, we get it.

He had a couple shots and only cried for a second. It was so much easier when I was able to nurse him during shots (I think I've talked about this before, I miss nursing if you haven't noticed) 27 pounds! My arms are getting pretty buff, lemme tell ya. Especially since he's not really a walker yet. I'll get to that...

Some fun stuff he's saying: Mama, dada, na, yeah, and possibly some form of "grandma" (you hear that, grandpa? Better get it together)

Some fun stuff he's doing:
He's not quiiiiite walking yet. He'll take a couple steps alone but he'd rather hold someones hand and walk around. But he's getting close folks, seriously. He loves playing peek-a-boo and thinks we can't see him when he covers his face (we can) and he loves Mary Poppins. He gives the DVD cover endless kisses. Mama? Not so much. Most of all he loves being outside.

Stuff we're working on: Feeding himself with a fork and walking. Come on already!

The end

Location:Home sweet home

We wish you a merry Christmas

Growing up I would watch all the Christmas movies and envy the hollyfied houses. The garland cascading down the staircase, big luscious wreaths, stockings all hung by the chimney with care. I didn't know how Santa would find me in our little apartment, but he always did.

I thought that when you had a two story house that was it, you made it. You were rolling in the dough. As we looked for houses to buy I fell in love with some single stories but my heart still wanted a place to hang my garland. Now that I'm a professional when it comes to house buying I know that single stories are actually more expensive per square foot than two stories, and we are far from rolling in any kind of dough. But I have my staircase to hang my garland, and a fireplace to hang our stockings. And I am thrilled.







Here are some pictures of Sawyer and Santa that I'm sure you've all seen.

D-R-A-M-A!

I'm a little nervous about writing this post because I know how controversial it's going to be.

But it's been weighing on my heart lately, so here I go.

Christmas time. When do you start celebrating?

Or should I say, when are you allowed to start celebrating?

After Thanksgiving? When Disneyland decorates? When Christmas music comes on the radio? Christmas in July? December 24th at the stroke of midnight? I just don't know why so many people care and are deeply disgusted when someone celebrates "too early"?

I've been seeing friends put pictures of their trees up lately and everyone screams "What the HECK?!?!?!?!?!?! IT'S NOT EVEN THANKSGIVING!!!!!!" I'll walk through the store and hum happily to the Christmas tunes and then some grinch exclaims "Christmas Music?? It's 90 degrees outside for petes sake!" Tonight I was going for a walk and listening to Christmas songs on my iphone and every time someone would pass me I would get a hot flash and turn it off. I was scared someone would scream at me "Um excuse me, but what exactly do you think you're doing you big jeark? I am the seasonal police and you are in violation of the holiday code." My next door neighbors put up their lights yesterday and I clapped my hands silently and whispered yaaay to myself. I don't dare tell anyone in fear they'll come rip them down. But why? Why am I not allowed to celebrate Christmas halfway through November? Why is that so upsetting? Can't I enjoy the birth of Jesus, stuff my face with peppermint chocolate, dress my baby in Rudolph slippers and track Santa online as early as I want? Why are people online saying "Would you look at this?? Christmas Trees!! In OCTOBER!!!"

If I put up my American flag in June do you think someone would come knocking, it's not even July yet you freak! Take it down! Are we scared Christmas Cheer is going to run out? Are we frightened we won't have enough holly jollies come December 25th? Im genuinely interested, you people who have strong opinions. Please explain.

Bragadotious

We went in for Sawyers 1 year check up (and shots, ouch). Kevin is so lucky he works on dr days. It physically hurts me when poor Sawyer has to get shots, and this was the first time I didn't nurse him while he got them, so that was extra hard. But here are his award winning stats:
Height: 33.2 inches
Weight: 24.4 pounds
Head: Nun ya bidness. Let's just say they measured it 4 times.

His 1 year tricks are:
Saying mama, dada & nana (no)
Waving
Clapping
Kisses on occasion
He crawls and cruses along the furniture but isn't walking yet
He loves absolutely everyone he sees and we still haven't gone through any stranger anxiety. Seriously, if jack the ripper came to our door Sawyer would gladly go with him.

Oh the dr wants him to drink almond or soy milk because of some poo poo related issues. Has anyone gone through that?

All Hallows Eve Part Three

Part 3 you say? Well what could be left? Oh there's lots left.

TV shows
Ghost Hunters I will always be in love with these guys. I've been watching them since they were working out of a trailer. Are they kinda sorta sell outs now? Sure, but still fun to watch. On SyFy


"Wait...did you hear that? Shhh...what was that?"

Paranormal Witness This new show on SyFy can creep me out at 1pm during nap time on a Wednesday afternoon. People recount their paranormal experiences along with a re-enactment and real footage (if there was any.) Super duper creepy.


Look at that! How creepy is that? Oh my gosh and what is that noise upstairs?? Definitely the last time I do this in the middle of the night.

The Haunted Who would have thought that Animal Planet could put out such a good paranormal
tv show? Sure all of the stories have a little something to do with animals but in my opinion this is the scariest show on tv.



Shows to miss: Extreme paranormal. Celebrity ghost stories. Ghost Hunters International. Bor-ring.

Kid shows to catch: Fridays throughout October on Disney are "Dress up Friday's." All of the Disney Jr shows are Halloween themed and so cute. Disney also has "Monstober" where the teen shows are holloween-ified too.


We watch a lot of Disney everything.

Books
Oh my gosh books? Seriously? Oh I'm serious. I just finished Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children and it was SO good. In fact when I host book club (oh I'm a great grandmother now, didn't you know?) this will be the book I choose.


Plus it's filled with odd pictures that the author collected from all over the Unite States. There's just so many reasons why this book was good.

The Sookie Stackhouse series. Now ladies and gents, this series is by no means for the faint of heart or those with very high morals. This is the book series that inspired "True Blood" so...there you go. There's like 50 books, or maybe 16, and they're impossible to put down. But some parts definitely make me blush. (I skip over the sexy parts! I do!!)



Right now I'm reading Holy Ghosts or How a (not so) good Catholic boy became a believer in things that go bump in the night. That's seriously the title, and when I tell people that I'm reading it I say the whole thing. It's a really, really good spooky non fiction book about ghosts that my dad got me for Christmas. Yeah that's just the kind of family I come from.


Thanks dad!!

Ok well that concludes my All Hallows Eve blog post trifecta. Hurry back, hurry back! And make sure to being your...death certificate.

All Hallows Eve part two

Ok, you asked for it (not really) so here it is. More spooky suggestions for your October. Next we have:
Movies-
Poltergeist Carolaaaaane! Probably my favorite scary movie of all time. Spooky without all the CGI. The scene where all the kitchen chairs are stacked on top of each other? Forget about it!
Poltergeist 2 and 3, optional but definitely not necessary.



"They're heeere!"

Exorcism of Emily Rose You want to kick it up a notch? Maybe throw in some demonic possession? Add based on a true story? This movie is down right scary. The unnatural movements that come with being possessed by a demon gets to me every time. It gave me nightmares (the mark of a really good horror movie.) Even looking for a picture to put on here freaked me out.




A Haunting in Connecticut Oh you want something that you'll have to turn off multiple times? This movie is terrifying. And also based on a true story. I saw it in theaters and when I got home I was so scared I called the police to check through my house before I could go in. Long story. Actually not that long, that was pretty much it. Watch it, and make sure you have someone to cuddle with that night (so you don't have to call the police.)



I got scared looking up this picture too. Maybe I shouldn't write these posts at 11pm?

My favorite Halloween movie that I can't go through October without watching 4 times and quoting incessantly is Hocus Pocus. It's so fun and you can watch it with your beebee's.



"What do you call them Max? Yabbos? Max likes your yabbos...in fact, he loves them!"

Seriously folks I could go all day.

Some other friendly spooky movies that I like are Halloween Town and...well that's it I guess.

Some other not-so-friendly spooky movies I like are Signs, Dead Silence, and all the Nightmare on Elm Street's.

That's it for...WHAT'S THAT BEHIND YOU??

All Hallows Eve

So as some of you know I like Halloween. In fact, I love it. I'm kind of a Halloween connoisseur, if you will. And I have some recommendations for you, since you didn't ask. I'll tell you some of my favorite hallo-weenie activities.

We'll start off with my favorite,

Haunted houses:
For 10 years (that's a decade!!) I went solely to Knotts Scary Farm- If you go early in October during their "preview nights" it's better; It's cheaper and there's less of a crowd. BUT there's also less monsters. Now, I give it a C- The crowds are rowdy, there's tons of mazes but they're not very good, and it's getting pretty pricey.



Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights-I went a couple years ago and LOVED it. I also went this year and had a great time. The mazes are so well done because, hello, it's a movie studio. The haunted tram ride (the Terror Tram) is a must. Wandering around a studio outside in the dark? Oh yes please. It's kind of far and pretty expensive but it's worth the money. I give it a B.



The Queen Mary-This was the first year I've gone to the Queen Mary's Dark Harbor. It was by far the best and scariest haunted attraction I've been to. They have you go through the mazes with only your group (in my case just Beka and Trista) and you walk through decrepit and most likely haunted old run down places in the ship. It's DARK and loud and there's dead crazy sailors around every corner. It's terrifying. The monsters talk to you, they touch you, they follow you and they most definitely earn the minimum wage they're making. Since they hold the line and only let a few people in at a time it's a long wait to go through a maze. The tickets are only $20-$25 so definitely splurge and get a front of the line pass (an extra $20.) You won't have to wait at all so you can get to peeing your pants faster. I give it an A+



Haunted first class pool



Zombie friend

Other haunted places to check out: Scandia. Castle Parks "Terror on the tracks" (I worked there! Screaming girl in the car? That was me!) Disneyland's Halloween time.

I have more to say but this is getting pretty long. Stay tuned!
Mwahahahahaha!