Philip

Two random phone camera photos of my little guy.

One is of him in his carseat having a happy moment. These are few and far between.

One is of him in his walker. A friend of mine gave this to me and WOW does Philip ever like it.  Natalie also thinks it is pretty cool to ride in...

Dinner

I really out did myself with dinner the past two weeks. Something different each night and not the same old standbys.

This is a photo of the roasted chicken and pea and basil risotto. Yummy. We also had cheeseburger soup, whole roasted chicken and Veggies, beef ragout with creamy polenta,  spaghetti, and enchiladas. I've started a dinner calendar so hopefully that will help with the planning and preparing ahead.

Photos Grandma took

Natalie and I went downtown to meet Godfather and Grandma for lunch. While walking to get a sandwich we came across a fire hydrant that the city had left open for some reason.  Natalie is fascinated with fire trucks & hydrants so this was extremely exciting to see!  Godfather got her close enough to the water to put her hand in it - pretty awesome for a Monday afternoon!

Another cute photo of my prima ballerina 

Cute Natalie with Horatio the horned toad

5 years in a blink of an eye

Five years ago today I was getting my hair done while sitting in my condo with friends...it was wedding day and in a few short hours I would be a Mrs. and no longer a Miss.  Seems like so long ago, and at the same time like it was just yesterday.  I loved my wedding day, but what I love more is where that one day got me to.  I'm a very happy wife and a blessed mother of two.  I have the life I have always wanted (except more sleep would be nice) and know how fortunate we are.

Just Married!

Baby #1

Family of Four

Today we are celebrating with a trip to the circus with Natalie, followed by a wedding reception for a friend followed by dinner with just the two of us.  Five years is a good start at a long happy life together...

Ballet Class

We enrolled Natalie in a Ballet/Tap class that started in September and goes until May.  I'm not sure who is more excited about it - her or me?

We went to the dance store and she got to pick out her own leotard - the purple one with the low back and sparkles - her shoes and tights.  She also has a cute tu tu to match the leotard.  It is rocking.  And the little tap shoes?  I die

Here is a cute phone photo that sort of captures the cuteness of Ballet Natalie

Oh, and she is performing at Festival of Trees this year.  I can't wait!

8 Months

Well...traveling once again got in the way of the monthly photo...so we will skip month 8 in photos and talk about the other changes going on:

• You have two bottom teeth and I think there might be another one coming because you really like to bite
• You sit up like a pro, even though there are times that you get really excited and toss yourself backwards, so we still put pillows all around you on the floor
• You love your sister so much and miss her when we travel.  In fact, Grandma was asking you to say "dada", then "mama", then "sister" and at the word sister, you started to cry.  As soon as we saw her at the airport you couldn't get enough of her
• You are eating cheerios now and pretty much anything else we give you.  You have a huge interest in eating everything on our plate!
• You still sleep in mommy's arms, but when we travel you insist on being on your own next to me and not in my arms
• You wear size 3 diapers, 6-9 month clothes, although some things aren't long enough for your legs
• You sit in the high chair now and love it
• You still talk ALL THE TIME
• You have just started doing the motorboat with you mouth and mostly when you are tired

Those are the highlights. Let's hope that next month we can get a photo!

Traveling

We (Philip, my mom and I) just returned from a business trip back east.  New Jersey, specifically.  We left on Sunday, September 11 and stayed through Friday, September 16.  It was the longest trip I've been on since going to Europe last summer and it was hard to say the least.

Traveling in general is hard.  Not only do I have to pack everything I might need on a business trip - the clothes, shoes, stuff to make me pretty(ier), etc. - but I also have to pack everything for Philip.  My suit case is large and in addition to packing that, I have a laptop bag stuffed full of work stuff, my pump bag full of bottles and pump parts, a diaper bag of toys and my purse.  Oh, and the car seat, base and stroller!  I roll up to the airport and people probably think we are traveling for a month and often it is just a few days.   But the packing isn't the hardest part of the traveling.  It is leaving home.  It is leaving my first baby and my husband and my comfortable bed, my surroundings, my routine, my life.  That is the hardest part.

Don't get me wrong, I like having a job and I'm not looking to quit.  There are days, like everyone else has, that I wish I could live in a perfect world where I wouldn't have to work, because money wouldn't be a factor and I would have perfectly behaved children and we would play all day and dinner would magically be on the table at 6:30...ah, the American dream.  But, that won't be happening any time soon, so work I do and my work involves some traveling.  Last year, I started to really travel for work.  It started in February and occurred almost every other week through November.  It was a lot!  I was lucky that I didn't have to skip a night with Natalie until she was 16 months old, but at 16 months I started being gone a lot.  I missed a lot of nights and at first it was actually nice to be gone (gasp!), but it just got harder and harder as time went on.  Now, every time I travel I remember all the nights I missed last year and it makes me sad.  Which is why, I tote Philip along with me.  I'm lucky enough that I have a mom that is willing to travel with me and that I have the means to get her where we are going.  However, taking Philip and my mom doesn't ease the harder part of leaving everything else behind.

Motherhood in general is hard, then you toss in all the other decisions that you have to make as a woman and it is even harder.  Working outside the house, being a stay-at-home mom, traveling, not traveling, the list can go on and on.  And I find it amazing that men don't put themselves through it.  Even when Phil travels for work, I know he doesn't want to go, he misses us and would rather be home; but he doesn't have this huge sense of guilt that I have when I have to go.  Not only do men get to pee standing up but they don't put all this guilt onto their shoulders about raising a family.  I'm not going to be able to pee standing up (without getting all wet) any time soon, but I guess I can start to work on the amount of guilt I feel for traveling...

Balancing motherhood and a career is hard - it isn't so much balancing as juggling, and I'm learning to juggle better and better each day.  I recently had a conversation with a very close friend, one who I didn't call on her birthday, just sent her a text message as I was chasing kids and cleaning the house.  I called her the day after to explain that I'm really not a bad friend, just a late friend.  She, and here is the reason she is such a close friend, said to me, "You're doing a wonderful job, you don't need to call me on my birthday I know you were thinking of me and that is what matters."  Without bursting into tears I explained to her that she has no idea how much just that simple sentence meant to me.  She doesn't have kids yet, but she already understands that we as women can't put more pressure on each other.   It takes a village to raise a kid?  I think it takes a village to keep a mom sane while she is raising her kids.

We are all home for a few weeks and then back on the road we go...until then my suitcase is unpacked and things can get back to some level of normal around here.

Horatio

We spent Labor day in southern Utah.  It was a lot of fun, except for the over priced pedicure and the complete-waste-of-time horrible massage.  

Phil golfed, we ate dinner, drank drinks, swam in the pool, went to the splash pad, the park and the local fair.  It was a great getaway and we are looking forward to the next trip. 

Oh, before I forget, let me introduce you to Horatio (see him on Natalie's shirt).  This is the horned toad that Godfather found on the golf course and gifted to Natalie.  She was in LOVE instantly.  She wanted to let Horatio sleep in the bed with her and carried him around on her shirt or in her hand for the last day and a half of the vacation. My parents packed him home and he was reunited with Natalie last night.  Absence only made the heart grow fonder. 

Capture the Memories

A little while after Philip was born, I found a journal where you write just a little blurb about what you have done each day.  I write things like "Philip broke through his first tooth!" or "man, rough night last night.  I wish Philip would sleep better!" or this gem "Natalie loves to cuddle. Keeps saying 'keep me warm'".

I've been pretty good at writing every night; although there have been a few times that I've had to play some catch up. The book has space for five years of writing and I'm so looking forward to rounding the first year and thinking back about the day-to-day activities that go on and remembering how special that new tooth, missed night of sleep, or cuddling really is.