Mother's Day. Los Angeles. Birthday.

The last two weekends have been non-stop and so much fun!  Two weekends ago we had a baby shower in Bellevue so my mom, sister and I left at the crack of dawn and spent the morning in Seattle.  We had a long, relaxing breakfast at Macrina Bakery (it was SO delicious, gotta try when in Seattle)!  After that we walked through Pike Place and then headed to the baby shower.  It was a wonderful shower and I can't wait to meet little Miss Staples!  We were at the shower until evening so of course we had to eat dinner.  We had dinner at Barrio Mexican Kitchen & Grill.  Another must-try when in Seattle.  Can you see the food theme with this Seattle trip yet?!  After that we had to go Cupcake Royale for dessert.  They make their own ice cream now.  Heavenly!

After that, my mom and sister dropped me off at my in-laws, where Joe and Liam had spent the day.  I spent the night and we spent Mother's Day morning in Seattle again.  All of us girls explored Volunteer Park.  It was a gorgeous day so it was a fun morning to see the park.  Can't wait to take Liam back, they had a huge playground!  Went back to Cupcake Royale after, I was feeling guilty for not bringing a cupcake back for Joe the day before.  It was our lucky day, free ice cream sandwiches for Mother's Day.  Yum!  We headed back home after that and had an amazing lunch waiting for us when we walked in.  Steak, chicken, potato casserole, salad, fruit, homemade creme brulee and apple pie.  I wish I would've taken a picture of the spread.  It was so pretty, so well put together.  We can thank Uncle Jack for that!  The guys stayed home to make dinner but we all know it was mostly (or all) Jack.  Pretty impressive!

The next morning Joe and I took off for Los Angeles for my 30th birthday!  Our flight left at 6am on Monday and we came back on Tuesday at 7:50pm.  Two packed days but it was the best birthday ever.  As soon as we landed on Monday we went to Six Flags. Record breaking heat, 102!  That was a shock to our systems.  The park was empty though so that made up for the heat.  The longest ride line was about 5 minutes.  Amazing!  We were tuckered out by the end of the day, the heat zapped us!  We checked into our hotel, freshened up then headed out for dinner.  I had grand plans of going somehwere new and exciting, spent a lot of time getting recomendations from LA friends, but by the time dinner came we were too exhausted to care.  We went to an old favorite, C&O Trattoria.  Delicious as usual!  To prove how tired I was, I dozed off giving Joe directions back to our hotel.  I don't think I've ever been that tired!  I was asleep by 8:30 that night.  So much for living it up on my 30th! ;)

The next morning we slept in until 8!  That's late for us.  Really late.  It felt so, so good.  It also felt good only having to get ourselves ready.  This was the first time we've ever left Liam.  It felt so weird at first but we quickly adjusted.  It's amazing how much ground we were able to cover with just the two of us.  If we got hungry, it didn't matter.  We could power through it.  If we were tired, there were no meltdowns, etc.  It was a much-needed getaway for the two of us.  ANYWAY, after we got ready we headed to Venice Beach to walk around.  Joe had never been, I still can't believe that.  It was too early for any of the crazies to be out so we ended up just walking on the beach.  It was gorgeous and warm, it felt so good.  We ended up eating breakfast at around 11 (something else that would never fly with Liam), then headed to Burbank because I got tickets to Jay Leno.

We got to Jay Leno an hour before we were supposed to but we were still #151 and 152 in line.  I knew we would get in, but figured we'd be near the back.  WRONG!  We were selected for the front row.  It was amazing.  I was giddy!  I had a perma smile on my face that I couldn't shake.  I thought they'd probably edit me off thinking I was fake smiling!  Lol.  We got to go up and shake his hand at the beginning.  Joe gave him a high five, I got nervous and didn't stick around on stage long enough.  He smiled at me a few times during commercial breaks though.  I know he was smiling at me.  I was staring so intently, it was probably distracting!  I love Jay, what can I say!  This was the 4th or 5th time seeing The Tonight Show taped but our first time in the front row.  It was definitely the highlight of my birthday trip.  Yep, I said it.  Even more exciting and more of a rush than the CRAZY roller coasters (I don't remember them being so scary)!

There's no way we should've made our flight that night, we left Burbank at 5:30.  The Traffic Gods were looking out for us the entire trip.  We didn't hit any traffic at all!

Last weekend was another busy one.  I won tickets to see Paula Poundstone at the Columbia Theatre on Friday.  She was hilarious!!  I love supporting local events like this, hopefully they'll keep bringing funny people.  Saturday I had another baby shower then on Saturday night we had a big LCC event at the Red Lion.  It was the "Horns & Halos Gala."  It was fun getting dressed up, don't do that very often!

Sunday we celebrated Joe's birthday since we were busy all day Saturday.  I was sad for the fun to end.  It's been busy but a great month so far!  Here's to squeezing the most out of the last few days of May.

Happy Memorial Day!

May!

This picture was taken right after Liam said, "You are my best friend, Mama."  I had to capture the moment. I love my baby so much!

Happy May!  May is a big month for me this year.  I am officially FIVE years cancer free and I'm also turning 30.  Both of those seem crazy to me.  In some ways it feels like having cancer never happened.  So much has happened since then.  Sophie was born, we got married, Joe got a new job, I got pregnant, we bought our house, I quit my job,  Liam was born....  It's been a busy five years to say the least.

On turning 30: wow!  I'm not very sad about leaving my 20s.  They were definitely some of the best and absolute worst times of my life   I just wish time would slow down a little.  I love life how it is right now, I wish I could turn 30 and stay that way for a few years.  Keep everything as is.  Life is just flying by so fast, I want to be able to savor it more.

Busy

Just when one home project gets finished, another one begins.  It's never ending!  Joe and I are both really excited about this one though.  We are adding a sprinkler system to our backyard (currently it's only in the front), making our driveway six feet wider and also extending our back patio 14 feet.  We will have so much more room in the back now!  I can't wait for lots of fun BBQs and play dates in the back this summer.  We are having the concrete work done professionally but Joe has been working hard on the sprinkler.  I'm so happy Joe is so willing and able to do projects like this.  He's bee so excited, he just loves this stuff.  We had another bid for the concrete yesterday, we'll be making a decision tomorrow.  Hopefully by this time next week it will all be finished   

I was looking at the calender last night, almost every weekend from here until September is booked.  I'm not complaining, but it makes it feel like summer is already accounted for.  I know there's more to it than just the weekends, but the weekends are when everything happens.  We have several trips planned, one being a week in the San Juan islands.  I am so excited for this trip.  I'm secretly hoping they won't have Wi-Fi so we can be cut off from the world for awhile.  

Happy Tuesday!

Finally, a post!

I think I might be better at blogging if I break things down a bit.  It's going to be random, but it's better than two months between posts.  Here goes...

1.  Liam has fully recovered from his last illness, thank goodness.  I am so anxious for warm weather and everyone to be healthy!  It seems like everyone has suffered this year.

2.  We've been busier than ever.  With what?  I'm not sure!  I really, REALLY need to start writing stuff down more.  I'm not kidding, I think I really suffered major memory loss after going through chemo.  My short term memory is fine but my long term memory has vanished.  I try not to have regrets, but I feel like I've failed in the "keeping track of all things Liam" department.  Another reason why I need to start blogging more since this blog has turned into only things about him for the most part!  He continues to amaze everyone with how well he talks and the funny things are really starting to come out.  A few recent ones:

• We were all out for dinner and he got a serious look on his face and looked at me and pointed at my face.  After studying my face he said, "Mama, you have two beards!"  I think I had the look of horror on my face (he tells it how it is, thought he saw something I hadn't)!  Thankfully he looked around and pointed out my moms beards, etc.  He was talking about our eyebrows.  Haha!
• The last time we went for dinner he had another funny/embarrassing comment.  We were walking out and there were two women having dinner.  I didn't even notice them but of course Mr. StareHard did.  He pointed at one of the women and said, "Look at that funny looking guy over there."  Ahhhh!
• He is starting to become very tenderhearted.  We were visiting Joe's parents last weekend and Papa David raised his voice (because Liam was about to drop a granite slab on his foot).  Liam was so upset that he made Papa mad.  We were in a design showroom and he came running to me as fast as he could and buried his face in my neck.  I said, "Papa isn't mad, he just didn't want you to get hurt."  He kept saying over and over, "Papa IS mad, mama.  Papa is mad at me...."  Heartbreaking!  If only he reacted that way when I raise my voice at him!
• He still calls Joe's parents PapaJayne (all one word).
• His best friend is Gavin (straight from his mouth)
• He absolutely loves cod.  He ate 6 pieces the other night at dinner and asked for "more chicken."
• He has become aware of strangers.  We had someone come give a bid and he was really worried until the guy got here that he "didn't want stranger coming to our house."  Then when the guy got here Liam immediately befriended him and had to tell him his life story.
• He still uses the word poo-poo quite frequently.  Luckily it's just to make people laugh now.  For awhile it was every other word.  
• Another word he's added to his vocab recently is "actually."  "Actually, mama, it goes this way."  "I actually don't like that" (looking at dinner before he's even tried it. 

3.  Phew.  I feel better already documenting some of that stuff.  Will I regret not having more records down the road?  So far I've never looked back at past things.  I find it more sad than anything.  I just want to enjoy every moment, it is going so, so fast.  Tomorrow he will be 2 1/2.  How did that even happen?  

4.  So many scary things going on in the world/US. Don't think I need to elaborate much on that, just turn on the news.

I think that's all for now, breaking news about Boston and I want to watch before Liam is up and I have to change it.  Thankful for another ordinary day in my life.  

Sick baby

My sweet little guy has been sick since Monday. Started with a runny nose on Super Bowl and got worse from there. I basically just sat and comforted him on the couch all week. When I'd get up, he'd start crying for me. I decided to just go with it, not worry about the little things I needed to get done, and enjoy the snuggles. I think I watched every episode of Caillou, Poppy Cat and Curious George in existence.

Below is another inherited trait he got from me. He loves to be massaged. Before he could talk he'd grab my hand and put it where he wanted me to rub. Now he just tells me. I gave lots of back rubs this week!

Hope everyone is staying healthy!

Three years ago today...

I found out I was pregnant! After trying for what seemed like forever, I was in shock when I took the test and saw. I was home alone and so nervous to look, I knew it would be another sad month if it was another negative. But low and behold, when I got the courage to look, there were two lines. My heart started beating out of my chest! Joe was still at work so I rushed to Walgreens to buy a digital test, ran to Target to buy something that said "daddy" on it and made it home before Joe got here. I had it all wrapped up and told him it was just a little early Valentine's Day present. I never could've imagined how much our lives would change for the better after I got that positive test.

The love of my life