3 Things I'm Into

Today is the last day of NaBloPoMo and I almost went to bed without posting! Yeah, I realize it's only 8:30 pm, but remember that little list from last night? Ideally I'd like to be in bed by 9:00pm, I'm quickly approaching my deadline. Lame I know, but I was up with a cuddly Reese at 2:30 am then up at 5:00 am to get ready for work. So yeah, being in bed by 9:00 is justified.

One of the things I should have added to my All About Me list was that I LOVE Johnjay & Rich. They are a morning show here in town that I am obsessed with. Something they were doing for awhile was What 3 Things Are You Into Right Now. I'm still feeling a little selfish so I thought I'd share my 3 obsessions of the moment.

Starbuck's Decaf Peppermint White Mocha. Delish. 

How can anyone resist this cute little chocolate shavings on top?

Song Pop. Love it. Can't get enough. 

Justin Beiber  Niki Minaj's song Beauty and the Beat. Really, I'm in love with Justin Beiber's song Boyfriend  and any Niki Minaj's song so put them together and I'm sold. 

Can I say that I don't like looking or listening to either of them speak, but their songs? I can't get enough.

*****

This probably deserves it's own post and I should have ditched my 3 things post, but oh well. 

It's BIG news!

Reese took her first steps! 

I was taking these pictures of her standing on her own...

 and then she took 3 tiny, tentative, wobbly steps. I was so flippin' excited and so was she! She is so ready to walk. It won't be long now. I hope. 

Literally, the second after this picture she 'walked'

One more thing, just because. My kids love their 'lovies'. Reese isn't attached to hers like Jaxon is, but she looks for it when she's sleepy. She cuddles with it all night.

Papi is still number 1 in this house. 

****

And I'm DONE! 

All About ME!

Tonight I'm feeling selfish. I feel like having a post all to myself! So I present a few little known facts about me. 

1.  I NEVER hit the snooze button. My alarm goes off and I'm up within a minute. Snoozing stresses me out. What if I hit the wrong button and the alarm never goes off again? Ugh. I can't handle it. So I set the alarm for the latest possible minute I can sleep. 

2. I have to align my Starbucks cup a certain way before taking a sip. The drinking hole needs to align with the sleeve's logo and the sleeve has to align with the cup's logo. My OCD about it goes far as to want to align any Starbucks cup I see. 

3. I cannot STAND ketchup. OMG. It makes me gag. No kidding. I hate everything about it.. the look, the smell, the taste, the sound when it comes out of the bottle. My disgust used to be so bad that Brian had to build a 'barricade' between me and his ketchup. 

For that matter I don't like any condiments. Not mustard, mayo, relish. Eww.

4. That brings me to my eating habits. I'm quite the particular eater. I don't want to say picky because I've gotten better. I mean I used to not even put salad dressing on salad! But I have some unique eating habits. Like, I don't ever drink the milk from my cereal. I prefer my hot dogs and hamburgers plain. I pick out the fruit from my yogurt. I don't eat tomatoes from a restaurant. I like them, but only when bought from a grocery store, by me. I pick out the whole tomatoes from foods such as spaghetti sauce, enchilada soup. 

5. When Brian and I were planning our wedding my parents offered to give us the cash to start our new life instead of having a wedding. I declined and everyone said I'd regret it. I don't. 8 1/2 years later and I would still choose the princess wedding over the cash. 

6. I'm a better working mom than a stay at home. I love my kids with every ounce of my being, but I know that I am better to them, have more patience and appreciate them more when I work outside the home. 

7. I don't like fast food. McDonald's, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box... pass. 

Now Chipotle is a different story. I'd eat there every day if I could. 

8. I heart reality TV. Love the Real Housewives series, Top Chef, Amazing Race, Cheer, DCC, Dance Moms, The Bachelor, the list goes on and on.

9. I used to be a go-with-the-flow girl. Before kids. Now, I need to have a plan. I can't handle going into a day without a plan. I'm always looking a head... breakfast, dinner, shopping, activities, whatever. I need a plan.

10. When in a store I feel this need to arrange messy shelves. I find myself folding a shirt someone else unfolded, straightening a crooked magazine

11. I miss being pregnant. I totally got jipped. Twice. My baby carrying days were cut short :(

12. I'm not a morning person. Or a night owl. I need at least 8 hours of sleep. I get 7 if I'm lucky. An ideal night would be going to be bed at 9:00 pm and waking up at 7:00 am. Yes, I realize that's 10 hours, but I'd really like to sleep until 7:00 am again.

13. I LOVE working out. Weird I know, but I feel much better after I do it and if I don't go to the gym for a few weeks, my body feels miserable. Last year I joined a bootcamp class that kills me every time I go, but I love it and wish I could go 3 times a week. I'm lucky to make it twice.

14. I've eaten the same cereal, Special K Vanilla Almond, every workday for the past 7 years, if not longer.

15. My favorite meal of the day is breakfast. I love weekends and school breaks just for the shear fact that I can make breakfast, from scratch. No Bisquick pancakes in this house! Most of the time, I make it just for myself. Jaxon & Brian are not breakfast eaters. I hope Reese is or I'll be heartbroken. 

16. I can count on 1 hand the many times someone has ever spelled my name right without me telling them. Sometimes it irritates me, but most of the time I chuckle at the ways people spell it. My favorite is "A-N-E-B-E-L-L" Not even close.
"A-N-A-B-E-L-L-E" In case you were wondering and would like to make my day by spelling is correctly on a note. :)

And there you go. 16 things that make me me. 

Wordless Wednesdays

I wanted to make sure these gems made it to NaBloPoMo. Jaxon had the phone again while driving home from school a few weeks ago. These really made me laugh! 

You're welcome. 

Random Tuesday

Jaxon & I leave for school at around 6:40 am. Today I had an early meeting so we left at 6:30. The sun was barely peeking over the mountains and Jaxon says, "Holy guacamole! It's darker than an elephant in a tree!" WHAT?  That's funny stuff. 

*****

When my grandma was here, she gave Jaxon $50 to spend on anything he wanted. In the past few months he's had his eye on a few things in a Lakeshore Learning catalog he got from school. Immediately he said he wanted the tub of 100 animals. Yes, 100. 

We have been waiting so very patiently for them to arrive. This afternoon we are sitting in the living room when the door bell rings. OMG did the kid go nuts! He didn't even know it was a package because I had no idea it had even shipped!  He was beside himself when we opened the door and there on the doorstep was a box with little cartoon children on it. He knew immediately what it was, he's very familiar with those cartoon children. 

He propped his chair up between the couch and the table to be out of Reesey's reach.

*****

A few minutes after opening the package I sit with Jaxon to look at all 100 animals. I have my leg resting on the coffee table when I feel little teeth bite down on it. Reese got me! I gave a little "OW" and she responds by giving me a 'hug'. 

It's ok Mama. I won't do it again.
Except she did. THREE times!
Bite, hug. Bite, hug. 

***** 

To make up for the biting she helped me with laundry. 

Which was perfect because all afternoon I've been trying to get a picture of her standing all alone. 

Look Mom! No hands AND I'm eating a sock!

She was really helpful in case you can't tell :)

Jammie Pictures

Wow. This blog a day has been rough this month. I'm stretching. In car I always have a great blog written and lots of ideas, but in real life... it's 9:00 pm. I'm tired. The elf needs to go the North Pole, lesson plans needed to be typed, water bottles need to be filled, babies need their diaper changed and Mama needs to go to bed!

Last week I took the kids to have Christmas jammie pictures taken with the wonderful Meridy. I wasn't going to post them because they may end up in the Christmas card. But then this Saturday we had family pictures done and THOSE may end up on the Christmas card. So who knows. Either way they are already on Facebook.

Music to My Ears

This afternoon the kids and I packed up and headed to Target. Which to Jaxon & I makes for a perfect outing. Lately, Reese has been so good during outings, which makes we are thrilled about. On the way there Reese got a rocky start. She was cranky and crying. Jaxon so sweetly gave her one of his Cheese Itz and he won her heart. I then hear hysterical giggling from the backseat. 

Then came our venture into the store. And we spent most of the trip keeping Reesey down.

The Return of Ned

Ned the Elf is back in our home for the holiday season. Jaxon has been counting down the days! The first words out of his mouth Friday morning were, "Let's go find Ned. He should have come last night."

Jaxon spotted him easily. I believe this is where he made his debut last year too. Must be a comfortable spot. 

Picture courtesy of Jaxon.
We can't get too close, he may lose his magic.

I have a video of Jaxon & Reese looking for Ned, but dumb blogger won't upload it. So instead I bring you a video of Jaxon telling Reesey Ned's rules. She doesn't care much for them as you'll see. 

Ned left the kids a letter as he does every year. This year he had a nice little surprise. He sent his best friend to Lola & Abu's house! Yep. They now have an elf.

Little did we know that Ned's BFF was a girl. Who knew?! In typical, practical Jaxon fashion he says, "Oh a girl to watch over Reese when she stays at Lola's house. Reese is pretty naughty you know."

I introduce you to Sally the Elf. The newest member of the Rios house.

She has earrings and red lipstick. She's quite adorable I think.

On Ned's first night with us he forgot to fly to the North Pole. Jaxon woke up a little earlier than expected and found Ned in the same spot as the day before. Again, ever so practical he says, "Oh. It's because it's still night. Santa hasn't come for him yet. Let's just go into the office so Santa can come to take Ned back to the North Pole." And there you have it. Problem solved. We hung in the office watching Octonauts on the laptop while Ned reported to the North Pole and came back. We found him in the kitchen 30 minutes later. Voila! 

Tonight, Ned decided he didn't want to procrastinate. So he made his journey early. 

He must have talked to Randall the Bunchkin's Elf, because this is how I found him. 

1 Year

It's no news that Reese is 1 year old. 12 months seems to be a magical age for Reese. I've noticed a big difference in her this month. She's happier, more easy going, sleeps later, more lovable. I really feel I am enjoying my time with her even more than I did. I can even take her out in public and she's well behaved! 

Weight: 20 lbs. 9 oz. 42nd percentile

Height:  31 in 95th percentile

Head: 45 cm 69th percentile

Sleep: She is FINALLY on a schedule! She wakes up every morning between 6:00 am - 6:30 am (YES!), morning nap is between 8:00 - 8:30 then an afternoon nap around 1:00pm. I think he sleep is why she's happier. 

Food: She is a lover of it! She likes to feed herself and Lucy. 

She is still on formula, but only takes 3 oz bottles a day. Dr. Goldberg wants her solely on milk, but I have about 3 months worth of formula and there is no way on God's green Earth that I'm letting that go to waste. Plus I figure she's always been a couple months behind so why should milk be different?

Temperment: She's become such a happy and loving girl. She's feisty as all get out and doesn't take any crap from anyone! 

Likes: Standing up. Taking picture frames off shelves. Lucy's water bowl. Being outside. Jaxon's toys.

Favorite Person: Hands down, Brian. All he has to do is walk in the room and she cheers, claps, blows kisses. It's a little sickening. 

Dislikes: Being told no. Staying still.

Clothes Size: It pains me to say it, but she's in 12 months. Ugh! Double digits. 

Language: She doesn't have words for anything yet, but she talks a lot! 

Physical: She has started to stand on her own, without holding onto anything. I feel like she's close to taking her first steps and I cannot wait! I think walking will be so much easier for us. 

She loves to waves to people and blows kisses to her favorite peeps. 

Dr. Goldberg said that she's 'caught up' developmentally! Boy, was that music to my ears. 

Thanksgiving

From the moment I woke up this morning all I could think about was last Thanksgiving and how torn & sad I felt. Reesey was a mere days old and still in the hospital, for how long we didn't know. I felt so sad to have her spend her first holiday without her family. Well, not entirely without her family. I did make the trek first thing in the morning and later that evening with Brian. My parents also visited her late in the night.

This year so much different and the way each Thanksgiving should be. The four of us were home and under one roof.

 We still had a very simple and small Thanksgiving dinner, just Grammy Sue & Lola. Abu was flying hundreds of people to their families today. Reese enjoyed a tiny bit of turkey. Ok, enjoyed is being generous. She was not fan. She did love herself some mashed potatoes and yams though. Hey, you can't win them all! Jaxon ate her turkey. Between the 2 of them they ate a complete meal. He's a meat and corn sort of guy. Although, he was pretty proud that he tried the mashed potatoes and ate 2 bites. 

The highlight of the meal for me was when Grammy Sue said Jaxon should say grace. A couple of years ago Jaxon did say grace on Thanksgiving. This year he says, "Yeah! I can say grace.  Grace." No joke he said, "Grace". and that was that. 

Unfortunately I got no pictures to capture Reesey's first 'official' Thanksgiving, but that's ok. The sight of her falling asleep in her high chair with a bottle while we ate is a memory I will have forever. (Probably not since I have the worst memory known to man, but maybe I'll recreate it tomorrow night when we have leftovers :)  ) 

That's all. Right now a hot tub & tall glass of wine await me. 

Happy Thanksgiving!