Mama McDonald

wednesday dinner: sloppy joes

2011-07-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

I didn't take any pictures of this past Wednesday family dinner - dang it! My poor dad was sick so my mom stopped by to help me make her delicious coleslaw and didn't stay for dinner. My sister stayed though so it was still a nice time had by all. I made sloppy joes and I got the recipe on foodnetwork.com. I looked for the most simple recipe I could find so I wouldn't have to buy many more ingredients. I've made this recipe twice, a ground beef version and a meatless version, and it's delicious.


Cafeteria Sloppy Joes

For the meatless version, I used this.

And if anyone is interested in knowing my mom's scrumptious and easy coleslaw recipe, here goes: thinly slice a head of cabbage (of your choosing but I especially love napa cabbage,) add that to a bag of ready-made coleslaw mix, make a dressing using vegenaise (or mayo) and lime juice not sure on the measurements but you want the dressing to be a thin consistency and not too thick, add about a cup of thinly sliced green onion and a handful of chopped cilantro, toss it all together, finish off with salt and pepper and voila! A delicious and simple coleslaw that goes perfectly with sloppy joes. It even tastes good the next day!

wednesday dinner: homemade marinara

2011-06-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

Last night, I made Giada's homemade marinara sauce. It is so easy to make and I got to use my immersion blender for the first time which was really exciting! Giada doesn't actually puree hers but some people in my family (my sister) have a major aversion to tomato chunks (which I love.) I served the sauce on capellini with a simple caesar salad on the side and Dennis picked out garlic cheese breadsticks from Trader Joe's. To set the mood, I picked out Italian chianti and turned on a little Dean Martin on the iPod. What a great night! Oh and Dennis made delicious truffle brownies...from a box (TJ's) but they were still amazing!

we made the table bigger so we can all sit together!

wednesday dinner: simple curry

2011-06-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of Wednesdays ago I made Jamie Oliver's simple curry sauce with tofu, cilantro lime rice and roasted brussel sprouts and asparagus. If you love curry, Jamie's Food Revolution is a must buy. He has a ton of different curry recipes and they all look delicious. Because I was short on time, I kept it simple. It was pretty tasty! My family really enjoyed it. I did substitute low-fat coconut milk from Trader Joe's but when I make this dish again I'm going with the full-fat stuff. I like the consistency better.

simple curry with tofu

cilantro lime rice (yum)

roasted brussel sprouts with turmeric

roasted asparagus

she loved the dinner...but the picture taking not so much.

wednesday dinner: asian chicken

2011-06-09T18:50:00.000-07:00

A couple of Wednesdays ago I made Kelly's Asian Chicken for dinner. My mom has been making this recipe for years. We've shortened it to just "asian chicken" now and whenever she makes it the whole family is thrilled. We even ask for it on special occasions still to this day. Growing up, the house always smelled so good when my mom would make this...it would make our mouth water. I would describe the smell as both sweet and pungent. And until recently I thought my mom was some sort of magician...that is until she got me my very own The Garlic Lover's Cookbook (the really old book this recipe is from.) This cookbook is really just a collaboration of recipes from garlic loving home cooks...some of them won contests and whatnot. Turns out Kelly's Asian Chicken won first place! It's silly how easy it is. It doesn't take very many ingredients at all. And if you love garlic, you will love it!

loads of garlic!

roasted some broccoli

veggie version for myself (trader joe's chickenless strips)

dennis squeezing out the roasted garlic for the broccoli. yum!!!

finished product.

wednesday family dinners

2011-05-22T21:51:00.000-07:00

For the past three Wednesdays, I've had my family over for dinner. It's sorta becoming a tradition and I like it. Dennis works insane hours right now and he's off on Wednesdays so I see it as the one night a week my family will get to hang out with him. Plus, with him off it gives me a chance to clean up the house and go grocery shopping. Pretty sweet arrangement if I do say so myself.

I love to cook. But it's hard to really try out new things when you have a husband who comes home at 11:30 p.m. every night, a 4-year-old who has become increasingly picky with age and a 6-month-old who only eats pureed stuff. And I could care less about myself these days...if I don't eat at my mom's then I make myself something random for dinner, sometimes I only eat chips and salsa. Yum.

The first Wednesday, Dennis barbequed chicken and I made pesto and salad and corn on the cob. It was tasty. (I made myself Trader Joe's chicken-less strips to have with the pesto.) The second Wednesday, I made orecchiette pasta with white beans, parsley and balsamic vinegar with a salad - oh and a really good artichoke dip. The third Wednesday, I made Jamie Oliver's Chile con Carne minus the carne...except I added smoked paprika, coriander and turmeric into the spice mix and used kidney beans, white cannelini beans and black beans instead of garbanzo beans. Everyone liked it, even my dad who is not partial to spicy food. Next time, I'm keeping the garbanzo beans and making a batch with ground beef since Dennis told me he likes his chili with meat. I asked him for his opinion, at least he was honest! I love Jamie Oliver and this cookbook is amazing! I plan on making many more of his recipes.

I'm still looking for ideas for this Wednesday...I'm thinking Giada de Laurentiis this time? I'll try to post my cooking endeavors on here every week (with pictures hopefully.) This should be fun!

grass, art and rolling over!

2011-04-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't been on here for a while. But I figured since I have Penelope taking a nap and Olivia watching a movie on the iPad I have a few moments to write down what's been going on lately in the McDonald household (mostly for my own benefit because I am truly so so forgetful!)

This weekend has been a bummer because both girls are sick with cold/coughs and yesterday Olivia had a fever for most of the day. Sad. We've been lounging around the house spying on our landlords who installed grass in our backyard yesterday! We've lived here for a few months with just dirt for a backyard so this is so exciting for us! Our landlords live on the same property but in a completely separate area in the back. They are awesome people and the best landlords we've ever had. They've also given us some places to plant flowers, herbs and vegetables. My mom bought me some herbs to plant. Let's see if I can manage to keep them alive! Liv is starting some flowers from seed (see picture below.) :)

While our landlords are weekend warriors outside, we've been pretty unproductive although I've managed to keep the house semi-clean while Dennis finally agreed to hang up a wire art gallery so we can hang the trillions of art projects Olivia brings home from school. I bought the Dignitet wire system from Ikea on eBay. It's meant to hang curtains but it will hang paper art projects just fine.

Even though our little Penelope (4 1/2 months old) is a little sick, she's still as active and feisty as ever! She rolled over for the first time yesterday. From back to front and then from front to back. She's a rolling machine now! She's rolled over a few times last night in her crib and couldn't get back over because of her sleepsack. Poor thing. I know if they can roll over it decreases the risk of SIDS significantly but I still worry.

Today we're off to buy another humidifier...stupid coughs! Happy Sunday everybody!

my attempt at vegan baking

2011-02-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

So I've officially been off dairy, caffeine and chocolate for over 3 weeks now (with the exception of a special occasion day where I splurged on my mom's homemade spinach and ricotta ravioli and her friend Leonor's angel food cake with lemon curd filling...my mouth is watering as I write this.) I have to say being vegan is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be! Still, I find myself craving eggs and cheese but to distract myself I buy vegan cookbooks and attempt to make vegan baked goods. First, I made oatmeal raisin cookies. They were pretty good. And yesterday I made vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting. I modified a recipe I found on chefchloe.com. Chloe is this super cute vegan gal who won Cupcake Wars on Food Network with her all-vegan cupcakes! She has a ton of super delicious looking recipes on her blog. I want to make her avocado pesto recipe next. It looks scrumptious!

I am so happy to report that Penelope's colic has come to an end. Hallelujah! I'm not sure if it's my diet or if she just outgrew it once she turned 3 months old. She is however a complete cling on! She won't even let my mom hold her. Seriously...and Olivia was obsessed with my mom as a baby so I'm not used to this! I am hoping it's just a phase and that by making new people hold her on a regular basis she will start to become more comfortable with different people. I really do hope so because my arms and back are going to literally fall off of my body pretty soon. But I'd still take a clingy baby over a colicky baby any day hands down.

Yesterday, I took some pictures of Penelope for SUPER LATE baby announcements. Olivia wanted in on the action...see below.

Olivia is FOUR

2011-01-28T13:37:00.000-08:00

January 19, 2007 - the day we met our precious Olivia for the first time - will remain etched in my heart for all time. Four years later, she has blossomed into the funniest little girl I have ever known. She really is hilarious. She makes me laugh all day. On her actual birthday, I wanted to make her day extra special. Before school, I made her chocolate chip pancakes.


yummmm


fancy girl!

Dennis and I surprised her after lunch with balloons and Hello Kitty cupcakes for her class! That was my favorite part of the day - the look on her face when we showed up was amazing!

A few days later, we had her Hello Kitty party with her little friends. It was at Doc Burnstein's which was awesome in so many ways, but space was limited so I had to make the difficult decision to only invite kids (and their parents) this year. I think the kids had a great time! Here are a few party pics...

miracle blanket

2011-01-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

Seriously, I almost gave up on this blanket. My cousin recommended it because her baby sleeps...well...like a baby in this blanket. I didn't think Penelope liked it until last night! She slept for 6 hours straight in this blanket last night and right now she was freaking out and I swaddled her up tight in it and she instantly calmed down. We all know the benefit of swaddling, but this blanket makes it so the baby cannot get their little arms out.


kinda like a straight jacket...but cooler!

Miracle Blanket!

colic

2011-01-25T22:42:00.000-08:00

col·ic definition

Pronunciation: /ˈkäl-ik/
Function: n
1 : an attack of acute abdominal pain localized in a hollow organ or part (as the small intestine, ureter, or bile duct) and often caused by spasm, obstruction, or twisting
2 : a condition marked by recurrent episodes of prolonged and uncontrollable crying and irritability in an otherwise healthy infant that is of unknown cause and usually subsides after three to four months of age

Penelope has colic. Until I had her I had no idea what colic even was. Sure, I had heard people talk about their babies being colicky but I never really truly understood what that meant. I thought colicky babies were cranky, grumpy, crotchety babies all day, all of the time. Well, this really isn't true. A baby who has colic really only cries inconsolably for a few hours every day or almost every day and usually at the same time every day. There will be large chunks of time during the day when colicky babies are perfectly happy.

I noticed Penelope started having these crying jags at around 3 weeks old. At night, at around 7:00 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. she would just cry and cry sometimes until 11:00 p.m. or midnight. I was totally freaked out. Of course after researching for about 5 minutes I realized she has colic. The pediatrician confirmed this for me. Apparently, her belly was a little enlarged which is a symptom of colic. Unfortunately, you cannot do much about this condition. The doctor did recommend I purchase the Happiest Baby on the Block DVD which has some helpful soothing techniques. She also recommended I administer infant probiotics since studies have shown they can help decrease crying in colicky babies by 70%. I purchased both the very next day.

DVD...not the book.


this tiny bottle costs $40!

The DVD was amazing. Dr. Karp shows some pretty awesome soothing techniques which I've been using when Penelope's crying gets out of control. The techniques, while extremely interesting and helpful, do not always work. The probiotic drops are maybe helping? I'm not sure... I have been trying to eliminate dairy and spicy foods from my diet to see if that will help. So far I don't think it's helping.

Colic is such a frustrating thing mostly because no one really knows what causes it. Experts assume it is due to the fact that for the first 3 months of a baby's life they have a really underdeveloped digestive tract. Dr. Karp even calls this first 3 months the "fourth trimester" because so much more development happens during this time.

Olivia was always such a calm and happy baby so it's so weird to have the opposite disposition in my second child. It's been 5 weeks so far. My nights are still really hard. They consist of a lot of crying, pacing, swaddling, shooshing, jiggling, praying she will just take the dang pacifier (she hates it.) But when she finally calms down and God willing goes to sleep her little angelic expression makes everything worthwhile. I can never stay mad at such an innocent creature. It's so easy to get caught up in the moment and question why this is happening to me...what am I doing wrong? But I take solice in the fact that this challenging chapter in Penelope's life will soon be coming to an end (hopefully.)

Penelope

2011-01-17T23:12:00.000-08:00

Two months later and I am just now getting around to writing about Penelope's birth! I guess I've been busy!

Little Miss Penelope came into this world on November 14, 2010 - nine days before my scheduled c-section. I actually went into labor! I had never felt that feeling before so it was so foreign to me. I was out to dinner with friends the night of the 13th, started feeling cramp-like pains but told myself they were nothing and went to bed. Around 3 a.m. I couldn't sleep through the pain any longer. I started writing down and timing my contractions and finally called Dr. Monroy at around 4 a.m. after I lost my mucous plug. I went to the hospital where I was expecting them to tell me I was having false labor pains and turn me away. They hooked me up to the monitors while Dennis went to fill out insurance paperwork. Literally five minutes after both him and the nurse left the room my water broke. What a weird weird weird feeling! I was so completely terrified and alone in that moment but thank God the nurse came in a second later. Contractions came on like crazy from that moment on...I was holding onto the bed rail for dear life...the nurses were impressed at the size of my contractions...but unfortunately I never dilated. It was the craziest experience to go into full blown labor only to have them inject me with drugs to stop my contractions. My body is like a freak of nature. I literally do not dilate during childbirth. It's very bizarre. So a repeat c-section it was! Earlier than I had planned...which I was perfectly ok with.

Our newest addition to our family, Penelope Melissa, was born on November 14th at 8:11 a.m. She weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces and was 19 inches long.

She's two months old now and already weighs over 10 pounds. She reminds me of Olivia sometimes but I think I see more of myself in her. Speaking of Olivia, she is the most amazing big sister. All she wants to do is hug and kiss her little sister. It is so sweet.

I'm enjoying my time as a stay-at-home mom so far even though it comes with challenges. For instance, Penelope has colic. She does a lot of crying in the evenings and is sometimes inconsolable but I'm trying out this infant probiotic that her doctor recommended which I think is helping. Other than that she is a really feisty baby! She is constantly moving her arms and legs. She smiles a lot and is trying to coo. I just adore her! She is such a little sweetie.

Life is funny sometimes.

2010-08-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

It's a girl! Penelope Melissa will be here sometime in November. We're still deciding if VBAC is the way to go for us (I'm actually leaning more toward a repeat c-section for numerous reasons.) If I do have another c-section, Penelope will be born on November 23rd which is also Dennis' birthday! Crazy right??? As exciting as that is, I'm more than a little bummed that there is a very high possibility that I'll be spending Thanksgiving in the hospital. Sad. It'll be ok - my mom already promised me she'll bring me some Tofurky.

On a funnier note, two nights ago Olivia woke up screaming. I asked her what was wrong through our walky-talky monitor (yes we still use it) and all I heard her say between tears was, "My hand is rotten!" Half asleep, I run into her room and she's completely freaking out saying over and over, "My hand is rotten! It's rotten and it won't stop!" Ok, now I start freaking out. I turn on the light and look at her hand. I don't see anything wrong with it. She's bucking like a bronco on her bed at this point and I find myself yelling, "What is WRONG with you?? I don't understand what you're talking about!!" Then she says, "It's TINGLING!!" Oh my word, her hand fell asleep. I tried to tell her her hand is just asleep and she looked at it for a few seconds and said, "No it isn't" with a really confused look on her face. I didn't even attempt to explain it to her. I just sat with her until it felt normal again and she fell right back to sleep.

Memories I will cherish forever...

it happened - I'm pregnant!

2010-05-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

So seven long months of trying and a few emotional breakdowns later...I'm so happy to announce we are finally pregnant! Just when I was about to throw in the towel for a while too...God works in mysterious ways.

I'm 13 weeks today. My morning aka "all day long" sickness is starting to get a little better although it's still really bad at night...not to mention the constant indigestion which is really weird because I don't think I've ever had that in my entire life! hahaha.

So far, this pregnancy is WAY different than with Olivia. I pretty much feel like death most of the time, but I'm praying that will fade away in the next few days since I'm starting my 2nd trimester. Oh and I'm already being asked if I'm pregnant so I'm either already showing or I'm already fat...hmmm.

He/she is due November 30, 2010.

Olivia is over the moon excited. At first, she was dead set on it being a girl...but I catch her saying it's a boy sometimes now too. She likes to hug the baby. She also said that if the baby cries she'll just tickle it.

:)

wishing and hoping

2010-02-25T22:18:00.000-08:00

In case you didn't know, I really really really really want to get pregnant. I'm just putting it out there for good luck.

The Princess & the Potty

2009-08-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight marks a glorious occasion: Olivia went pee in the potty for the first time! Just when I was about to throw in the towel too...seriously. She has gone #2 in the potty about 4 times...but completely at random and only after much coercing and bribing.

Earlier this evening, darling little Olivia had just about the worst fit ever over a pack of Pez I wouldn't let her eat right before dinner. She screamed so loud and for so long that it resulted in me completely losing my cool (and Dennis running downstairs with a really worried look on his face.) After a few minutes of complete chaos, calm returned for long enough for us to eat dinner. Olivia ONLY ate broccoli tonight - no chicken. Oh well. And then a few minutes later, she says, "Mommy, I have to use the potty!" And before I know it, she is peeing like a big girl and I am jumping up and down with joy and calling Dennis into the bathroom to come and look! She got her princess sticker to add to her potty chart and her beloved purple pack of Pez.

Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions!

I know this is just the beginning of the long journey down the potty training road. I just thought I'd share this amazing moment with you all.

:)

WORK

2009-05-19T01:02:00.000-07:00

I've been working full-time lately to help support our family with Dennis being unemployed and all. It's really taking its toll on me. Everyday is a challenge. Everyday I feel less and less connected with my friends, the world, and my family. It's really hard, I'm not going to lie. However, after much contemplation and due to the fact that I can't sleep and I'm pretty much delirious right now...I started thinking about all of the GOOD things that have come out of this.

Good thing #1: the smile on Olivia's face when my car pulls into the garage is PRICELESS.

Good thing#2: the relationship between Dennis & Olivia is amazing. I cannot even believe it at times. For example, this evening my mom & sister (two of Olivia's all-time favorite people) picked her up to take her to get a frozen yogurt. Supposedly she cried and cried for "Dennis" as they drove away. Just thinking about this brings tears to my eyes.

Good thing #3: Dennis cleans. It's not what you might call "my version of clean" but I'll take what I can get.

Good thing #4: sometimes Dennis has a glass of wine ready for me before I even walk in the door.

Good thing #5: to me, Olivia is freaking adorable even if she's throwing a fit. That's what M&M's are for... hahaha.

Don't get me wrong, I CANNOT wait to work less. These are just a few things that get me through the day.

To my friends: I miss you.

:)

...tagged...

2009-04-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Erin, this is for you! I just took this picture. Gross.

I tag Krista!

mexican tofu

2009-04-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

Mexican Tofu

Saute 1/2 onion and 4 cloves of garlic in 2 tsp. olive oil. Add in a whole block of Trader Joe's Super Firm tofu, cubed. Add salt/pepper to taste and about 1 tablespoon cumin. Cook tofu until browned. Add in 1 can of corn & black beans, rinsed and 1 whole jar of Trader Joes Double Roasted Salsa. Simmer for about 12-14 minutes. Sprinkle on shredded cheddar cheese and you're done! A little sour cream & cilantro would be amazing on top. Oh and I usually serve on top of brown rice.

This is one of Dennis' favorites. You'd never know it, but it is. I made it the other night and thought I should blog about it since it's one of the easiest dinners I make when I am lazy/tired/crunched for time. And I guess it's pretty healthy if (if you don't over load it with cheese like Dennis does.)

Easter 2009

2009-04-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

Easter was amazing this year. I'm so happy we got to spend Saturday with friends and Sunday with family. It was a perfect balance. I hope that happens again next year. Saturday, we attended an Easter egg hunt at the Stumph residence. The kids were ALL so adorable. Olivia got to experience her first "real" Easter egg hunt. I thought she would have no clue what to do, but she started running around looking for eggs like a pro. She became a little attached to her basket though. She wouldn't even let me hold it for her when it was obviously too heavy for her to carry. The candy feast began soon after. Her favorite Easter candy this year: Rolos and jelly beans...oh and Pop Rocks (I put them in her Easter basket.) After the egg hunt, the kiddies got the incredible opportunity to ride a miniature pony! I was sooooooo excited for this. But when it was Olivia's turn she was too scared to ride him! Sad!! I'm glad Shaun got a picture of it though.

Sunday morning, I was so excited for Olivia and Dennis to open their baskets. Olivia got caught up in all the candy of course. She had like 5 Rolos in a row before I made her stop! She was sneaky with those. I LOVE Easter baskets. I remember every year my mom would make me, my brother and sister the most amazing baskets. They were color coordinated. Mine was all purple of course. She would even get us these fancy truffle eggs that were personalized with our names on them. Well, those days are over but at least now I get to have fun with Olivia's. We went over to my parents where she was spoiled beyond belief with a basket bigger than her filled with clothes, toys and mostly tons and tons of Play-doh. We hid eggs for her, they all had Play-doh in them and her excitement afterwards just wasn't the same as the day before. hahaha. We watched The Tale of Despereaux. It's pretty cute, a little on the depressing side though. Olivia took a nap on the couch WITH my mom while my brother and sister FORCED me to watch The Fast and the Furious (the first one.) It was way better than I thought it would be, I have to admit.

go back to bed!!!

2009-04-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

The is an update on Olivia's toddler bed transition. It's been a few weeks and I can honestly say...it's NOT going very well. At first, she did some crazy things, i.e. trying to sleep on her changing table, but after a few days I thought it was getting better. Then after a couple of weeks it's like she did a complete 180. She tries to get out of her room numerous times before falling asleep for the night AND she continues to wake up 2, 3 or MORE times every night. I thought having Dennis back would make things easier, but I'm afraid it may have made things worse. This is a separate issue, but when Dennis is with us Olivia is extra attached to me. So I've been doing 99% of the baths & bedtime routines. Oh and she only lets ME walk her back to bed in the middle of the night. Lucky me!

I've tried bribery. "You can have a surprise in the morning if you stay in your room tonight!" "Ok!!!", says Olivia. She is at her door about 30 seconds later.

I've tried punishment. "If you get out of your room, I'm going to have to take your Tinkerbell light away." She is at her door in 15 seconds. I take the light away and let her scream for about 10 minutes. That night she slept without the light but got up about 10 times.

I've tried the silent treatment. This is the Super Nanny technique: I walked her back to bed without saying ANYTHING and without making eye contact. This made her really frustrated at first, then she started thinking it was funny and she tried coming out about 20 times before I couldn't take it anymore. Dennis took over and ended up having to stay in her room for her to fall asleep.

I've tried singing/reading her to sleep. I will say this HAS worked a couple of times, but one night took over an hour! I almost sang MYSELF to sleep that night. And I really don't want to start the habit of her needing me to fall asleep.

I bought this light today (saw it in Parents magazine,) you can buy it at goodnitelite.com. It is supposed to help with the night wakings. Supposedly, you can help your child learn the difference between night and day by telling them it's "wake up time" only when the light turns into the sun. It's a "moon" during the night and you program it to turn into a "sun" at the predetermined a.m. time you choose. It's pricey, but worth a try in my opinion! I should get it in a few days.

I also bought the following book by Dr. Richard Ferber. Since we used his "Ferberization" technique successfully when Olivia was 9 months old, I thought I would read about his ideas on toddler sleep.

I pretty much research this subject any chance I get, but if anyone has any ideas I would LOVE to hear them. I will try anything other than putting a lock on her door. I just don't feel right about that one. I am thinking about starting a progress/sticker chart but I think she might be a little young to grasp the concept...

this story made my heart race!

2009-03-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

I could hardly read the story below. The headline grabbed my attention of course so I clicked on it. I cannot even believe this happened. Seriously, I have goosebumps right now.

TWO MEN CAUGHT AN 18-MONTH GIRL WHO FELL OUT A THIRD-STORY WINDOW!

dinner nightmare!

2009-03-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

Dennis' parents are in town from Idaho. It's a pretty big deal since they have only seen Olivia a couple of times since she was born. I wanted them to be able to get to know her a little better and enjoy being with her before they have to go back and spend months away from her again. This week has been crazy with Dennis still at the outage and Buffy working at Bill's Place on St. Patty's Day. They FINALLY were able to hang out with Olivia while I was at work on Wednesday. They watched her while Dennis got some sleep. Supposedly, Olivia was a perfect little angel! She had soooo much fun. She gave them both kisses and hugs and Buffy even put her down for a nap....IN HER BED!!!

So last night was their next chance to see Olivia. Keep in mind that at this point they still think she's a perfect little angel. We got to Steamers...Olivia was already antsy. We had to wait for a while to be seated and by the time we finally got to our table she already did not want to sit down. So out come the distractions...coloring book, crayons, toys, even candy. She finally calmed down when she got a cool big kid cup like Jaden's with some orange juice. We order our food, she wanted chicken of course. And not even a minute later she was trying to get out of her chair. Dennis took her on a little walk and she came back happy with an easter egg Dennis had stolen from their Easter display.

The egg was a mistake. She had a pink one but wanted an orange one, then a blue one, then a green one!!! She could not rest knowing there was a bowl of easter eggs by the door. She wanted ALL of them. I tried to explain to her that those were not for us, they were for other little kids too. She could only have ONE. She freaked. Layed down on the floor face first and everything. So I take her outside for a "time out" on the bench outside. She is SCREAMING. People walking into the restaurant either tried to ignore it or they looked really annoyed. How pleasant. Then of course someone I know walks by! AWKWARD. She took one look at the situation, asked how I was, I said, "Um...ok. We're just having a tantrum out here." She was on a date too...the guy looked uncomfortable. They walked inside and right back out (I guess the wait was too long) and she just said, "Good luck with that."

Olivia was crying so hard at this point for those damn easter eggs that she couldn't even breathe. Dennis came out with another egg! I thought, COOL this is good. Maybe she'll calm down so we can sit back down. NOPE. She wanted EVERY COLOR of those eggs, not just 2!

We left the restaurant before our food came. Embarassing. The drive home consisted of Olivia screaming, "I wanna sit down! In a chair!" Yeah right, I've heard that one before!

Needless to say, Dennis' parents don't think she's a perfect little angel anymore. Now they just think she's a normal two-year old. Which is good. Because the pressure of having a "perfect" two year old was way too much for me to handle.

kitties & cupcakes

2009-03-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

Finally a new book to take Olivia's mind off the Sock Monkey book for a while! This book is pretty precious. It isn't too long. The illustrations are really well done. And Olivia CANNOT get over how he just spills sprinkles on the floor! hahaha...too cute.

no nap day

2009-03-15T19:44:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those crazy days, the kind of day where I just go with the flow and try not get too stressed about anything. Yesterday, nap time was a nightmare so much so that I decided to give up on a "real" nap today and just let her pass out while watching a movie on the couch. Unfortunately, this couch napping habit originated at Ama's house and since she takes naps there during most of the week I don't know if I can break it for only the weekends. Can't really say I blame my mom. Ever since Olivia started climbing out of the pack-n-play, nap time has been real topsy-turvy.

So today, we were going to visit with Aunt Wee and on the way there she fell asleep. Of course. I pick up my sister, we drive by a rental I wanted to look at and Olivia woke up. She slept for maybe 20 minutes. That is the only nap she took today.

Well, to make a long story short, right now I officially feel like a bad mom. Since she never did fall asleep on the damn couch, she never took a nap and a few minutes ago she literally started to go crazy. Like I think for a minute there she didn't know where she was. I just left my parents' house. Olivia fell asleep in the car. I transferred her to her bed. She mumbled, "sock monkey book" and before I even had time to reach for it she was PASSED OUT.

Poor thing is sleeping in her jeans.

I guess I need to work on nap time a bit more.

The highlight of today: making cookies (and eating cookie dough of course!)

olivia fun facts

2009-03-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

1. She just started to sulk. Today she broke a flower and then proceeded to hold her head down and lie down on the floor face down.

2. She STILL loves Yo Gabba Gabba.

3. She is also still obsessed with milk.

4. She has no interest in potty training yet.

5. She sings the words to Sugar Sugar by the Archies like this, "Sugar doo doo doo doo doo doo, ah honey honey, you are my CANDY girl...." (She got it from The Bee Movie.)

6. If ANY song with a good beat comes on, doesn't matter if it's a commercial or whatever, she will yell, "Dance!" and will make anyone who is sitting down get up and dance (aka run around in circles) with her.

7. She sings the Barney song all day everyday...my fault, I taught it to her and it stuck.

8. I swear she looks like Dennis more and more every day especially her side profile.

9. Her current favorite foods: quinoa, chicken, strawberries, blueberries, fake bacon, hash browns and of course CHOCOLATE.

10. She still hates having shirts pulled over her head.

11. She picks her nose.

12. She told me she wants a little brother or sister...ok I made this last one up but I hope she gets one someday!

13. She can make me happy/sad/excited/crazy/mad/laugh all at the same time.

14. I love her to death.

hey Dora, can I ask you some questions?

2009-03-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

1. Why does your shirt NEVER cover your belly?

2. Why do you wear ruffled socks folded up instead of down?

3. Why do you feel the need to YELL constantly for no reason at all?!?!

Anyone else curious about these things?

SOCK MONKEY BOOK!!!

2009-03-03T20:29:00.000-08:00

I bought Olivia this sock monkey book mainly because I thought it was cute and colorful. (We bought it for Claire for her birthday too.) Well, Olivia is obsessed and ever since we transitioned her to a toddler bed she has been EXTRA obsessed. I read it every night, sometimes twice and she always wants me to read it over and over and over. At this point I literally want to rip out all of the pages, throw them in a metal trash can, add a little gasoline and a match...that is how SICK I am of this book.

I just thought I would let everyone know that Olivia is slowly getting used to her bed. (Not sure anyone actually cares but I thought I'd share anyway.) I bought her a crazy Tinkerbell nightlight that changes colors and told her that if she stays in bed she can keep it in her room. She insisted that I plug it in right by her head. It changes colors so her room looks like a psychedelic rave at night...but as long as she stays in there I really don't care! She stays in her room most of the night, comes in my room around 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. but I can walk her back to her room without a fight. She DOES wake up earlier than ever now...around 5:30 a.m. or so but at that point I let her come into bed with me and she usually sleeps for another hour. Not perfect, but oh well.

She is getting better and better at getting me to go in her room though. For example, somehow she waits to go poop until I put her in her bed fresh from the bath with a clean diaper. She does it almost every night. I'll put her down and then hear her yell, "Mommy I pooped!" She lies about it 50% of the time, but I have to check every time because I can't just let her sleep in her poop. Well, the first time she did this tonight, she didn't have poop. Annoying. But the second time she did. She immediately layed down on the rug by her bed, I changed her diaper and was about to put her back in her bed when I saw about 15 books on her pillow. With the sock monkey book on top of course. I guess she thought if she pooped she could get me back in there to read all of those books. hahahaha. She is so smart, it's crazy. And I swear she can control her bowel movements. (How is that for a crazy 2 year old, Erin?! hahaha.)

ok this is annoying...

2009-03-01T20:59:00.001-08:00

WHY????????????????

Amy will feel me on this one.

internal affairs: RIP

2009-02-23T18:42:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we went down to Anaheim for Internal Affairs' last show. Dennis was exhausted from working all night but slept a couple of hours in the car before I dropped him and Matt Bandy off at his practice on Saturday afternoon. I killed time at Target and came back to pick them up. I have to admit, watching all of the guys come out of their last practice made me really sad! I think it hit me all at once that this is the last time Dennis will play music with these guys (most of whom I've known ever since we moved from San Diego.) Admittedly, I am not Internal Affairs' biggest fan. I've been known to bitch and complain every time Dennis had to practice or play a show. The music, let's just say I couldn't relate to it much...they were a straight-edge hardcore band (no further explanation needed.) But Dennis loved everything about being in this band. He loved writing songs, practicing, recording, playing shows (big or small,) and he especially loved touring. And he got to go to some pretty amazing places...places like Australia, Guatemala, Canada, and the East Coast a whole bunch of times. (His band went to Japan & Europe without him...he was bummed.)

The show was at Chain Reaction in Anaheim. It was sold out. There were a TON of people there. I saw a few people I haven't seen since before we moved back when I was pregnant. That was cool. IA played last. When they were setting up I thought it would be a good time to try to find a spot inside where I wouldn't get killed. Dennis was so sweet. I could see him up on stage acting all frantic and asking people if they've seen his wife (it still kills me when he calls me that.) His friend Tru spotted me and Dennis told me to stand up on stage off to the side so I could see. I always felt weird doing this, but literally if I didn't stand on the stage I wouldn't be able to see anything at all. They started playing and crazy me started getting all emotional again. Dennis kept looking over to me and smiling while he was playing. He looked so damn happy. He even took the mic and did a "shout out" (haha I am such a nerd) mentioning how happy he was to have his family's support and how he appreciated me for putting up with a lot through the years... :( (If only those people knew how truly evil I was at times and how resentful I was that he was still even in the band.)

But people grow up and move on. I think IA had a good run. Dennis said they finished on a high note. I guess it's just sad that something he loved so much is ending.

RIP INTERNAL AFFAIRS

toddler bed woes

2009-02-20T21:27:00.000-08:00

Tuesday

My sister came over for a visit. I put Olivia to sleep like normal. It was a little harder than usual due to the fact that she wanted to hang out with Aunt Wee, but she got quiet and we assumed she was going to sleep. We were about to head downstairs when I look over and Olivia is just standing next to us in the hallway. I WAS SHOCKED. The rest of that night was an absolute nightmare. At one point, I thought she was asleep and I heard her door moving. I tried to open her door to check on her and found her asleep right next to her door! She got out of her crib and out of her room probably more than 20 times after that. I got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep.

Wednesday

We converted her crib to a toddler bed. It's really more like a three sided crib with two guard rails. She got out of her room twice and woke up for the day at 5:30 a.m. She is so QUIET when she gets out of her room. She doesn't cry or anything and I can barely even hear the doorknob turning. And then when she does get out she just stands in the dark hallway completely quiet (too scared to come out because she knows I'll be mad??) She pretty much scares the crap out of me when she does this. I was too afraid to even go downstairs because I have this fear of her climbing over the stair gate and falling to her death.

Thursday

Night #2 of the toddler bed. She went down ok, cried a little but didn't come out. I assumed it was going great until I heard a weird sound at 11:00 p.m. It sounded like she was playing with the package of her wipes on her changing table. I went in to check and guess what I found??? Olivia was sound asleep on her changing table!! I move her to her bed, she falls back asleep. 3:00 a.m. I hear that damn sound again. She is asleep on the changing table again!! This time she had poop (don't ask me why she went at 3:00 a.m.) so I change her. She wants me to read her a book, I tell her it's still bedtime. She cries a little, goes to sleep and wakes up at 6:00 a.m. Dennis went in to get her and yes, he found her on that piece of crap changing table.

Friday

Night #3 of the toddler bed. I took the changing table out of her room. All that's left is her rocking chair, dresser and bed. She hasn't cried yet. I'm still afraid to go downstairs though. And I'm currently researching motion detectors or door alarms that will let me know when she gets out of her room. If anyone knows a good one, let me know.

This is tons of fun.

Of course Dennis gets to miss this crap.

I miss the crib.

Product Review: Annie's Microwavable Mac & Cheese

2009-02-15T09:53:00.000-08:00

I am in love with this stuff! I grabbed it at Trader Joe's the other day. I already loved Annie's regular white cheddar mac & cheese, but this single serving product is even better! It's ready in 3 minutes which is especially convenient for those times when the food cannot be ready fast enough for little Olivia. There is nothing worse than a whiny toddler literally hanging from my pants while I'm busy trying to make her something to eat!

Well, if you busy mommies haven't tried this yet, you should. Olivia loves when I mix in peas or broccoli. And I will be the first to admit that yes, I do eat her leftovers and call it "dinner" from time to time. ;)

Oh and I almost forgot to mention that like most of Annie's products, it is 90% organic and has no added artificial coloring. Cool!

I heart Valentine's Day 2009

2009-02-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

I love Valentine's Day. I guess that makes me a super cheesy person, but for some reason when I start seeing all of the heart paraphernalia in stores I get really happy. I think it has to do with my birthday being only 10 days before, it brings back memories of heart-themed birthday parties and when I used to take conversation hearts to all of my classmates at school.

Yesterday, when I opened the door at 7:00 a.m., Dennis was standing there with his arms full of sweet things. He was really excited to give Olivia her Valentine which consisted of a heart full of M&M's (her favorite,) a ladybug balloon and a really cute teddy.

Dennis slept for a good portion of the day, but Olivia and I had fun going to store to pick out some cards for Daddy and eating lunch together. (It's the little things that I enjoy most - I hardly ever get to eat lunch with her.)

Then my parents came over while Olivia was taking her nap to babysit. Dennis took me out to a movie then dinner. It was so nice. Taken is really good, pretty suspenseful. And Giuseppe's never fails to impress. I had a Raspberry Lemon Drop, felt kinda weird at 5:00 p.m. but oh well. The waiter checked my ID which used to be nice but now it's just annoying. I don't look even close to 21.

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! I love you all!

little chef

2009-02-12T22:19:00.000-08:00

So it looks like I have one serious little chef on my hands. Olivia loves loves loves her kitchen. She also loves sitting on the kitchen counter while I cook dinner. She also loves to pour cups of water into her kitchen sink and then proceed to spill water everywhere. She also loves to make huge messes and when I tell her to "pick that up" she responds, "No, YOU pick it up." hmmm, things are getting interesting.

Also, something interesting happened this morning. It was approx. 7:00 a.m., Dennis and I were both downstairs. Olivia was awake but just chatting it up with her "guys." I go upstairs, Dennis was right behind me, or so I thought. (I didn't close the gate at the top of the stairs because I thought he was coming right behind me.) Anyway...I go get ready for work and the next thing I hear is Dennis running up the stairs. He busts through the bedroom door and yells, "Did you close the gate?" I said, "Didn't you? You were right behind me?!" He said, "No, I was washing her cup! And I heard something on the stairs and guess who was there?" My heart stopped beating at this point as I realized that my worst nightmare had come true. Not only had Olivia climbed out of her crib but she also made it down the stairs!!! For those of you who really know me, you know how scared I am of her falling out of her crib or down those damn stairs. Well, if I dwell on all of the bad things that could have happened (for example: her falling down the stairs and landing on her head, crushing her skull on the tile, dying instantly) I will go crazy. So I'm letting it go. What's crazy to me though is how stealth-like she was...climbing out of the crib not even making a peep the whole time. Sneaky little Livi.

Looks like the toddler bed is in our very near future.

Livi's Yo Gabba Gabba 2nd B-Day Party!!

2009-02-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

We FINALLY had Olivia's 2nd birthday party on Saturday! It was so much fun. Olivia had a blast. I'm pretty sure her favorite part was the cupcakes. She had about 3 of them before she even blew out her candles. Thank you to everyone who could make it to the rescheduled party!

Trying to decide which one to eat first!

We made these "Muno balls" for the kids to unwrap while Olivia opened presents. We wrapped a thing of play-doh in the middle and added a few other super cheesy surprises in there too. (I got this idea from another mom on gabbafriends.com!) Pretty cool!

She is OBSESSED with thie fruit/veggie cutting set from the Rittenhouses. She can just sit and cup up veggies for days!

Another year has passed, another party down...our baby is becoming a little girl right in front of our eyes. Happy 2nd birthday Livi!

27

2009-02-04T23:32:00.000-08:00

Today I turned 27. It feels really weird to say it outloud. I can honestly say that this is the first time in my life that my age doesn't make sense to me. It might seem strange, but I don't feel 27!

I didn't really think about my birthday this year. I've been pretty busy with other things. But my birthday turned out to very nice. I got to spend it with friends (last night) and family (today) and work wasn't even that bad. I even got cupcakes! :) Thank you to everyone for all of the birthday wishes and gifts. It really means a lot to me to have such thoughtful people in my life.

Instead of being negative about getting another year older (those thoughts have already crossed my mind) I am going to try to think positive. I might be 27 (yikes!) but I still feel young, I have my health, amazing friends, a silly husband, a darling daughter and an amazing family. So I guess getting older isn't really all that bad. Now if only these pesky gray hairs would go away, life would be perfect!

Congratulations on your new desk plant.

2009-01-26T19:55:00.000-08:00

Today I won Biller of the Month at my company. I didn't think I would ever win, but today I did. The WHOLE office comes together for an announcement and the winner has to "Spin the Wheel" in front of everyone. The "wheel" consists of a selection of prizes that vary from an iPhone to a panini press. I spun the wheel and won......

drumroll please......

a desk plant!

hahahaha. It's not much but I really do feel like I'm on a lucky streak. Perhaps I'll buy some lottery tickets.

hahaha, we won a contest!

2009-01-25T20:31:00.000-08:00

This makes me laugh. I go to gabbafriends.com almost every day just to check out their blog and basically lurk all things Gabba. After Halloween I e-mailed them a couple of pictures of Olivia and Dennis dressed up like Foofa and DJ Lance. Well, I didn't know it at the time but the pictures got entered into some sort of contest for best "family costume" and WE WON!!

Check this out:
http://www.gabbafriends.com/contests-round-two

These are the pictures I sent them:

This is the prize I picked our for Olivia:

It's a Yo Gabba Gabba Dance Mat...she got it in the mail yesterday and loves it!

I just had to share this with you all. I am obviously pretty excited about this. Hey, I never win contests ok???

the plague...

2009-01-25T19:53:00.000-08:00

...or gastroenteritis is wreaking havoc on my family.

On Wednesday at approx. 9:00 p.m., only one hour after a completely normal bedtime, Olivia woke up screaming. I knew something was wrong because she never wakes up only an hour after falling asleep...not unless she's sick of course. I walk into her room and she's covered in her dinner which happened to be this (see below) and pasta sauce:

Needless to say the clean-up was horrendous. Dennis was working which was a huge bummer since he usually deals with the clean up while I deal with sad little Olivia. To make a long and disgusting story short, my poor little girl threw up probably around 14 more times that night. The last time was at 4:00 a.m.

The next day I went to work (I had an important meeting or else I would have called in sick.)
I called my mom and she said Olivia was fine, just lethargic. By the time I get there at 1:00 p.m., she had just thrown up her lunch. And then a few hours later she threw up again. I called the doctor (I actually called the night before too and the on-call Dr. told me to call if the vomiting hadn't stopped by morning) and the nurse told me that this crazy strain of gastroenteritis is going rampant around our area. Oh and it's incredibly contagious so wash your hands, blah blah blah. She said that about 75 % of their calls the last 48 hours were for this exact same thing!

So the next day, I call off Olivia's party. I just had this nagging suspicion that I was going to get sick too and there was just no way I'd have her birthday party while we're both sick and contagious.

Friday, at 5:00 p.m. I started to feel nauseous. I knew it was starting. The whole night I was up with dry heaves and diarrhea. Sorry to be so graphic. My brother got it too, so bad he threw up all night and the whole rest of the next day. We stayed at my parents so I wouldn't be alone dealing with this. At this point, my brother hates me and we are both hunkered down in the living room looking like a couple of diseased people on their death beds. That day Olivia started feeling better, thank God.

Saturday: my brother and I still are dying...Olivia's party would have been today. :(

Sunday: we missed Parker's party today. :( So sad, it was Brobee themed which Olivia would have LOVED. I am feeling a little better, just weak as I've only had about 4 crackers in 2 days. Olivia threw up once today and is still looking a little pale. She just went to bed. Please pray that God lets her get through the night without vomiting. I can't take much more of this sickness!!!!!

Here is a link about gastroenteritis. It is pretty general since there are many strains of this virus.

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/viral-gastroenteritis

Please be careful everyone. Wash your hands a million times a day if you have to. Don't touch shopping carts and wash your little one's hands after playing at the park. I would hate for anyone else to get this.

A day in the life of the 2 year old birthday girl...

2009-01-20T22:12:00.000-08:00

Olivia turned 2 yesterday! I took the day off of work so I could spend a rare Monday with her and Dennis. Let's just say she started off the morning right with some homemade blueberry coffee cake and ice cream (my fault for mentioning that we'd go get ice cream later.)

I don't think she really knows what a birthday is yet. We kept singing happy birthday to her. I think she just thought we were singing a cool song. She literally sang "Happy Dirtday" all day to anyone that would listen.

We gave her a couple of presents, a Tinkerbell doll and some Gabba books. She STILL likes opening the presents more than the actual presents. She thought it was Christmas again I think. Except now she says, "Another one?" the second after she is done ripping the paper off.

She loved her Gabba coloring book! But I think Dennis liked it more...

Dennis is really into coloring right now. He will start coloring with Olivia and will continue to color an entire page even after Olivia is completely over coloring. He completely zones us out and has the most serious face on while he's doing this.

We took her to Doc Burnstein's for MORE ice cream. She ate every last bit and even shared some with me! mmmmm, Birthday Cake flavor. Our favorite.

Ice cream for lunch! Amazing!

Ama, Papa, Aunt Wee and Uncle Matt came over for cake...funfetti cake with rainbow chip frosting of course! She blew out the candle herself!

Thank you for all of the presents Ama & Papa!!!

The finale: ice cream for dinner!

Happy 2nd birthday my little Livi.

lonely nights and TV!

2009-01-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

So Dennis has officially started working nights for the outage. I am already starting to anticipate many lonely nights without him. I am sure I will get a ton of stuff done (he has a way of getting me to lay on the couch with him all night so I can never get anything done!) HOWEVER, I also watch a lot of TV when Olivia goes to sleep so if any of you want to come over and watch with me, please let me know.

Here's a list of shows I watch:

24
House
Bones
Lost
American Idol
Fringe
CSI
CSI: Miami
Law & Order: SVU
Smallville

* I am probably forgetting some too. Seriously, who wants to come over??

Crazy.

2009-01-16T12:05:00.001-08:00

I cannot believe what just happened. Olivia was getting cranky and of course when this happens I check the clock and it just so happens to be nap time. I get her drink, take her upstairs with her "guys" aka a million stuffed animals. I am changing her diaper while she chugs her milk and I ask "Do you want me to read you a book?" This is her response, "No! Bed! Bed! Bed! Bed!"... so I put her in her crib. She rolled over and said, "Goodnight." I literally just walked out of her room and she's sound asleep.

How sad, she didn't want to read or sing or anything. Sometimes I feel like she doesn't even need me anymore. :(

Our water got turned off...

2009-01-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

...yes, I guess you could say we've hit a new low. I completely forgot to pay our water bill. I got a notice a couple of weeks ago that had a shut off date on it and I just left it in my car and totally forgot about it! So...yesterday we come home and our water is turned off. I called them at 4:15 p.m. and they told me they don't take payments by phone, I have to drop off a check only I am too late because they close at 4:30 p.m. I was pissed. The lady told me to drop a check in the drop box and they'd turn it back on first thing tomorrow. So Olivia skipped her bath, we brushed our teeth with Brita water from the fridge, couldn't flush the toilet...I'll spare you the rest of the details.

I look for my checkbook so I can write out a freaking check in the morning and guess what?? I'm completely out of checks. I have to go to work so I call my mom, she comes over to pick up Olivia and gave me a check to use. (Thank God for my mom.) I dropped the check in the drop box and went to work. About an hour later I call the water company and I just got a message.

I had a crazy day at work today. I didn't get a chance to call the water company again but I just assumed they had turned our water back on since the lady said they would! We get home at 7:00 p.m. and I say to Dennis, "Please tell me the water is back on." He turns on the faucet and it just drips. They didn't turn the water back on!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is only one stupid number to call for the piece of crap Nipomo Community Services District...I get the 24 hour "Emergency Answering Service." The guy told me that having your water turned off isn't an emergency so they couldn't help me until Monday! I hung up and completely freaked out. I called back CRYING asking how they could do this to a family with a two year old daughter, how can they expect us not to have water for an entire weekend, we can't even flush our toilet! The lady said she "understands I'm frustrated but she can't help me."

I walk downstairs completely defeated. I officially feel like the most white trash person on earth. I mean who gets their water turned off these days??? I asked Dennis if he could look outside and try to turn it on himself. He looked at me and rolled his eyes as if that was the most ridiculous idea I have ever had. hahahaha. He grabs a flashlight, goes outside and a few minutes later he comes back in...turns on the faucet...and it works!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHA, TAKE THAT YOU STUPID IDIOT WATER COMPANY!

Now...let's hope we don't get arrested. With my luck, we probably will.

Bed.

2009-01-04T21:42:00.000-08:00

I just have to write about a little adventure Dennis and I went on today.

We just got home from a very quick day-trip to Ikea. We got a gift card for Christmas and went to go get a new couch cover. However, we rarely make it Ikea these days and I have been dreaming about getting a bed for oh I don't know...YEARS. Before today, our bed consisted of mattress and box spring just on our bedroom floor. So we decided that today would indeed be the day to change our lives forever...on the bed front anyway. hahaha.

We get to Ikea, which was an absolute madhouse. I think the entire city of Burbank decided to refurnish their homes today. We met up with some old friends, which was awesome since I hadn't seen them in more than 2 years. We find everything we need and UH OH...the headboard doesn't fit in the car. I suggested that we just return the bed and come back and get it some other time. Dennis wouldn't have that. He decided it would be a good idea to strap the bed on top of the car...with the doors closed. Yeah. So we get on the freeway and the headboard is moving a little and Dennis has his hand out of the window just to be safe...I could only hold my hand out of the window for about 5 seconds because it was so cold. By the look on Dennis' face I could tell he was worried so we stopped at Wal-Mart to get some ratchet ties. After Dennis felt like the damn thing was finally secure we were on our way. But oh no! I had to pee. And we were hungry. We pull in to Del Taco and both have to climb out of the driver's side window. Dennis had to LIFT me out actually. If anyone saw us they would have thought we had completely lost our minds.

At least we have a bed now.

THE END.

Our Christmas 2008

2008-12-26T12:26:00.000-08:00

First of all, I hope everyone reading this had a magical Christmas yesterday with your families!

This year was our very first McDonald Christmas of our own...well in a place of our own since we were living with my parents last year. Olivia started off the morning right by waking at a lovely 5:45 a.m. Good thing too because I was waking up every half hour since 3 a.m. anyway...I couldn't sleep! I felt like a little kid! Here are a few photos of our Christmas morning and Olivia's 2nd Christmas morning of her life!

Don't mind Denny's grizzly bear beard!

Kissing her new baby.

INKERBELT!!!!!!!!!
That's what she calls her.

Taking a cookie break. After she opened up her Santa presents we headed over to Ama and Papa's for more presents, mimosas, and eggs benedict!

Olivia's first tricycle! So cute with streamers on the handlebars and everything.

Thank you Ama and Papa for all of the presents!

Look closely to see Dennis' Christmas present to me... Taryn, you might be the first to notice!

DENNIS SHAVED!!

Aunt Weeeeeee!

Just trying to teach her how to ride.

MERRY DAY-AFTER-CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! WE LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!

- Love, The McDonald Family

Tree Trimming

2008-12-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

This year Olivia got to go tree shopping for TWO Christmas trees! What a lucky little girl! Last week, Dennis and I took her to Holloways which was tons of fun. I had never been there before and didn't realize the pre-cut trees were propped up in water troughs. I saw a sign that said something like, "Watch out for the water troughs" and the next thing I remember Olivia's entire foot was in one. She had water up to her ankle. At least now I know for next time!

This past weekend, our whole crazy family (minus Uncle Matt) went to Avila Valley Barn to pick out my parents' tree. While we were there, we saw a nice tree but it was missing a top...it was sort of just flat on the top instead of pointy. Well, don't ask me why but for some reason we thought it would be a good idea to get that tree. I think we thought we could cover it up with my mom's angel tree topper. We brought it home and then realized (with help from my brother) that our tree is sort of sad looking without a top. hahahahaha. We're nuts. Here are some pictures from that experience.

Olivia loved handing me ornaments to put on the tree. She took her job very seriously.

My mom made tiramasu. Olivia is in heaven in the picture below.

Don't be jealous of this next picture. Dennis and I were getting romantic with the lights. hahahaha.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

2008-12-04T14:53:00.000-08:00

So Christmas season is officially here! I am very excited about the holidays this year. I am totally in the decorating/baking/celebrating mood, it's crazy! Here are a few pictures from the Christmas parade in the Village. Olivia had a lot of fun! We saw a lot of friendly faces and Olivia LOVED Santa. Scroll down to see just how much she loved Santa this year...

My mom made her a Christmas blankie. So cute.

Shaun with his hands full!

Hahahahaha, she was terrified of Santa! She wouldn't let me put her on his lap hence why I am in the picture. This picture makes me laugh every time I see it! hahahahahaha.

Oh Edward...how do I love thee?

2008-11-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

Oh me...oh my! Only 5 days left until we get to see our beloved. I am so excited! Twilight has done an amazing job of making me feel young again. I mean I might compare how I feel about Edward to how I used to feel about Jonathan Brandis...hahahaha. This is WILD!

...clingy little Livi...

2008-11-08T20:14:00.000-08:00

Olivia is growing up so fast. The older she gets the more opinionated she is. She cracks me up on a daily basis with the things she says and does. However, the smarter she gets the better she gets at driving me absolutely insane at times! She is still in her never-ending "mommy phase"...some of you moms might know this phase...the one where they want YOU and only YOU to do everything for them. Of course, I don't give in to this most of the time. But there are instances where I'm so extremely exhausted and it's supposed to be daddy's bath night but I give in and give her the bath just so I don't have to hear her cry about it.

We just got back from a BBQ...she didn't know any of the people there so of course she wouldn't let me out of her sight for two seconds. Every 30 seconds or so she'd find me and say "Mommy" but not in a cute voice, in an extremely whiny voice to make sure I wouldn't leave her side. Times like these I just want to scream! I end up taking it out on poor Dennis when it's not even his fault. He WANTS Olivia to want him to do things with her. He probably gets his feelings hurt every day. But somehow I still feel resentment towards him since he just gets to sit back and relax while I deal with our whiny and clingy daughter.

Sorry for the rant. It feels better now that it's out.

I keep waiting for the "daddy phase" to come. People tell me it's coming...but not soon enough!

DJ Lance, Foofa, and friends!

2008-11-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

Olivia got really into Halloween this year. My mom made her a Halloween blankie that she slept with every night, she loved going into stores and seeing all of the scary decorations (especially skeletons for some reason), she yelled "HALLOWEEN!" every time we drove up to my parents because they had this witch flag outside of their house... I guess this year was just extra exciting because she started understanding what Halloween actually is all about...CANDY OF COURSE! She went trick-or-treating for the 1st time and loved it (and we had fun too.)

She dressed up as Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba! That is her favorite show at the moment. It has been for quite some time. I actually really like the show so I thought I'd take advantage of the fact that she likes it so much before she moves on to something else. My mom and I made her costume. We finished it the morning of Halloween just in time to go visit Papa at work!

We also visited Matt Bandy at work which was really funny because I don't know if she recognized him at all. Usually she says, "Hi Matt!" (She loves him.) But he was the corpse of Walt Disney, hence the blue face paint, and she just stared at him.

Dennis was DJ Lance Rock and Olivia thought it was just the greatest thing to see him dressed up! She wanted to be with him all night. It was the cutest thing! Dennis was reluctant to wear the costume at first but I think once he saw how excited Olivia was he started getting into it!

Ok, how cute are these kids?! Claire was a pretty little bee, Ella was a princess ballerina mouse, and Parker was a precious little golfer!

We went trick-or-treating around Taryn's neighborhood. Some of the houses we went to were decorated really cool! Some people went ALL out with movies projected on their windows, fog machines and gigantic pumpkins!

As the night wore on, Olivia was getting tired so we ended up taking turns carrying her. She made you sweat. She really liked Shaun. She says his name now which he might think is pretty cool!

I got to see Faye for the first time! She didn't miss out on any of the festivities! So cute.

Trick-or-treating with friends was a blast. I am so glad we did it. Next year will be even more fun with even more kids!

This was Olivia on our way home - cracked out on candy! Look at those crazy eyes! hahahaha.

(I apologize for so many pictures but I just couldn't help myself!)

Halloween: 1 year later

2008-10-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

Before:

2007 - 9 months old

After:

2008 - 21 months old

* I debated whether or not I should post the most recent picture as some people might see this as a form of child abuse. Believe it or not, she was fine until I stepped away to take the picture! You'd think I was making her sit on a bed of nails or something!!!

Halloween Eve

2008-10-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today I finally made it to the pumpkin patch with Olivia. Better late than never! Olivia had way too much fun trying to run away from me the whole time. And she refused to take a picture with me (in the one below she's trying really hard to get away from me.) So these are the shots I managed to take. I swear my little girl is part Tazmanian Devil.

Olivia's Friends

2008-10-24T20:37:00.001-07:00

Olivia is so funny these days. As the days go on she is forming more and more attachments to "babies" or pretty much any doll or stuffed animal she can get her hands on. Recently she has been obsessed with the following: tiny Elmo (in her hand), soft Elmo, Brobee, about 5 baby dolls (some aren't pictured), Rose, and Mickey and Minnie (also not pictured.) She tries to take them ALL everywhere with her. Of course she cannot possibly hold them all so she ends up dropping one or two and then proceeds to not know what to do because she cannot leave any behind. It's the cutest thing!

She dances with them and sleeps with them. She actually sleeps with an elephant and a couple of bunnies too. They are only for sleeping though. And when she wakes up and it's time to go to Ama's she insists on taking all of them. I have to pack them all up every morning and then bring them all home with us in the afternoon. Heaven forbid I forget one of them!

I can't believe how many ideas have been forming in her little brain lately. I love watching her pretend. This is probably my favorite age as far as playing is concerned...so far anyway. Today she grabbed my sister's cell phone and opened it and said, "Hello Taryn? What you doing?" Hilarious!

Goodbye Weekend.

2008-10-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

So another weekend bites the dust. I thought I'd share a cute picture with you before I go downstairs to attempt to catch up on Dexter (even though I know I'll be asleep in a few minutes...) Olivia and this little kitty seem to be having a screaming contest!

Side note: We went to our nephew Jaden's 6th birthday party today. There were a lot of really cute kids there and I realized that I felt totally out of place. We were one of very few couples there that only have one child (so far anyway.) It was crazy! My sister-in-law's sister-in-law (does that make sense?) has four sons and just had a little girl! They are all pretty close in age and she just looked so happy and together and she has FIVE KIDS! Another woman there has two sons and is pregnant with her third child. I don't know if there was a point to this story. I just thought it was a cool thing for Dennis to see... hahahahaha. ;)

Halloween is coming!

2008-10-18T14:00:00.000-07:00

Halloween is almost here and I haven't even started Olivia's costume! Leave it to me to be so last minute. My parent's took Olivia to the Avila Valley Barn a few days ago. These are a couple of pictures they took when they were there.

crocheted critters

2008-10-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

So I recently discovered a book about little crocheted animals or "amigurumi" which is the Japanese art of crocheting or knitting small animals. Needless to say, I love love love making these little guys. These are the first two I ever made for Ella & Owen, a funny little brother & sister monkey duo. Ella, the big sister, has button earrings and I added a bow for femininity (of course.) Owen, the tiny little brother, is so cute! I need pictures (Taryn: hint hint) of Ella and Owen (the real ones) with these guys. How precious would that be?

These little guys are for baby Christopher, my cousin Brandy's little guy. He is going to be a lion for Halloween, so I thought I'd make him some little friends to accompany him. The manes on these guys were a little tricky for me, but I think they came out ok. I hope Chris likes them! (Brandy: pictures please?!)

Crochet is a great form of therapy for me. I could sit on the couch for days (ask Dennis) and tune out the world and crochet away. Of course, occasionally I have to put the hook down so I can pay attention to other things i.e. Olivia or TV.

3 years ago...

2008-10-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

...I became Mrs. McDonald. I cannot believe that it's already been three years since that magical day in the garden when we joined all of our closest friends and family to celebrate US! Since that day we've moved a couple times and oh we had a baby. She's a miniature replica of Dennis and I love that. We've been together for what seems like forever sometimes but I now know that God chose the perfect person for me. He is my perfect complement. I stress out a lot which is making me age at a supernatural rate while he retains the youth of a little boy. Just yesterday we were sitting on the couch both eating our ridiculous ice creams of choice (Take the Cake for me and peanut butter with Magic Shell for him) and it made me laugh because our little girl was sound asleep yet we were acting like a couple of little kids. :)

Happy Anniversary, Dooters. You're still my favorite thing.

Lazy Day

2008-10-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

I feel like it's been a while since I've had a day to just relax and hang out at home. I guess a lot has been going on recently in my life...but today has been such an escape for me. Let me tell you what today has consisted of so far:

6:19 a.m. - Wake up. Hey I didn't say I got to sleep in.
7:30 a.m. - Yo Gabba Gabba marathon. Olivia really got into the WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE STOP dancing while I sat on the couch and crocheted an owl. It is looking pretty cute.
8:30 a.m. - Breakfast. Olivia seems to only eat sweet things now. hmmm...I blame Grandma. She didn't touch her veggie sausage & toast...so I slathered sunflower seed butter on a piece of bread, drizzled some honey on top, called it "CAKE" and voila! Ok, she only ate 4 bites but that's ok. Better than nothing!
9:30 a.m. - Attempt to make bed, but SOMEONE loves jumping on beds now so...that was fun.
11:30 a.m. - Phone chat with Taryn. She's sick, poor thing.
11:45 a.m. - Olivia takes her nap, EARLY. Oh well, I get to catch up on Lipstick Jungle and The Ex List...which is actually a pretty funny show.
2:45 p.m. - WTF, Olivia is still sleeping. I could have cleaned the entire house during this nap but instead I decide to lounge around and do nothing.
2:53 p.m. - She's waking up finally...talking to Rose and saying "Mine" for some reason. Rose must be a blankie hog...

Gotta go! Off to the fabric store...it's Halloween costume time!

...my new obsession...

2008-10-08T21:26:00.000-07:00

The other day I decided to buy this ice cream...and thank God I did because my life will never be the same. I AM OBSESSED. I haven't been this obsessed since I got hooked on Trader Joe's BBQ sauce. For those of you who know me, this is serious. hahaha. I feel like a five year old...what a silly thing to love so much. I mean it has sprinkles for crying out loud. I don't care though. Olivia better back off, because I'm not sharing.

Oh and in case you were curious, the flavor is similar to Cold Stone's cake batter flavor. YUM.

Owen Patrick

2008-10-08T20:06:00.000-07:00

Owen Patrick Rittenhouse is finally here! He graced us all with his presence on October 1, 2008. One look at Taryn and I could tell she is already in love. But how could you not love someone so small, helpless and precious? Seriously though...that hospital brought back so many memories. Just a couple of doors down from the room Owen was born was where I waited for my Livi to come out just a short 20 months ago. It's funny how even after you have a child of your own, an infant brings back all of those old fears/concerns that you had before. Owen is just so tiny and it brought back memories of the first days in the hospital after I had Olivia when I was afraid to even hold her or change her clothes. Those fears don't go away! I was afraid to even lift the little guy out of his bed! Once I got my hands on him though, I didn't want to give him up. Infants are mesmorizing...you can literally just stare at them all day and just watch how their miniature expressions change while they sleep.

I am SO SO SO happy for Taryn, Shaun and Ella.

What a little glow worm...all bundled up in that green blankie. So cute.

This bottom picture is Ella...do you see the resemblance? It's crazy! I swear they could be twins!

wine + candy + a barn = FUN

2008-09-28T14:56:00.001-07:00

We went to a family friend's wedding yesterday in beautiful Santa Margarita at Taft Ranch. It was a lovely wedding. We had a lot of fun eating candy, drinking wine and taking really embarassing/funny pictures. Melissa might kill me for posting these...but here goes.

There was a cute little kiddie corral area. A really good idea to keep the kids entertained.

Olivia met a boyfriend (Jeremy, the cute little ring bearer)...they played house for a while.

We can't seem to get a family picture with all three of us smiling. I think Livi's shoving candy in her mouth in this one. Oh well!

Flash forward to the end of the evening...us "dancing" (if you could call it that) in front of the swamp cooler. Not sure if this was before or after the chicken dance but I'm pretty sure it WAS after about 5 or 6 glasses of wine. hahahahhaha. Good times.

Cousin Chris

2008-09-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

So we FINALLY got to meet my cousin Brandy's baby, Christopher, last weekend. He's 6 months old already! And what a doll he is! He seriously has the most GIGANTIC eyes and smile I have ever seen on a little baby. He's always so happy and is very calm and just hangs out (unlike a little 20 month old I know and love.) And his smell??? INTOXICATING. I forgot all about that baby smell and now I'm hooked. Here are a couple of cute moments I caught on camera.

Nice to meet you, Baby!

See! Look at his gorgeous eyes...and those precious teeth!

Bath time. So cute.

He's happy just kicking his little legs...looks like there's a copycat there too!

I wish we didn't live so far away. I miss that little guy.

Querido Avô

2008-09-21T19:55:00.001-07:00

Funerals are hard. As if losing someone you loved wasn't bad enough, now you have to endure seeing your lost loved one in an open casket and have to go through the grieving process in front of many many people. I haven't been to a funeral like this one since my Great Grandma Olivia died many years ago. Five Wounds Catholic Church, which probably has a capacity to fit a few hundred people, was packed. My Grandpa touched so many people's lives and seeing all those people there just made it more of a reality. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, to see my Grandma so grief stricken it looked as if she could pass out at any moment. I've seen enough sobbing relatives to last a lifetime.

My Grandpa was 72 years old when he passed away last Sunday. He died in his sleep, which is how I would want to go if I had a choice I guess. Although it was sudden, at least he got to live every day of his life knowing how much he was loved. He got to take all of his memories with him. He was such a funny man. He could always make you laugh. He loved loved loved babies...and ALL babies loved him. He just had this magic baby touch. Watching him with Olivia for the last time last month will be one of my most cherished memories of my life. He loved wine, don't think there was a wine out there he didn't like. He loved football...the 49ers...and was the kind of guy who would stand up and yell at the referees and if his team didn't win, he'd be in a bad mood the rest of the day. He loved fishing. I would say that was his passion...fishing and then cooking his catch with my Grandma. Even though he knew I have been a vegetarian for years, every time he saw me he'd give me a hard time about not eating meat. hahaha. I don't think he ever understood why I didn't eat meat, he probably thought I was crazy.

He was so cute and small, but if you saw him you'd know he was a strong man. He lived a full life. He brought his family here from Portugal when my mom was still a young girl. He had 6 children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He was survived by his mother and his brothers and sisters. He will be missed.

1982 - Grandpa & Me

Mario Goulart Vieira

2008-09-17T21:02:00.001-07:00

In Loving Memory of Mario Goulart Vieira

June 26, 1936 - September 14, 2008

My Grandpa Vieira, one of the cutest, funniest, and strongest men I've ever known, passed away in his sleep this past Sunday. I can't talk about it much right now, but I'd like to thank my amazing friends who have kept my family in their thoughts and prayers this past week. We will be heading to San Jose tomorrow for the rosary and funeral. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts as this will be a very trying time for our family. We love you all.

- The McDonald Family

Tunnels and Taco Bell

2008-09-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

On a lighter note, I get an extreme amount of happiness from watching these two little girls play together. They have a lot of fun...and even when they get into a "fight" over something they are still adorable. Here are a few pics from their playdate today.

Watching Monsters Inc.

Eating Cheese Roll-Ups

Hanging out in the hallway.

They were hugging...but things got weird.

Ella = out of control cute in this picture!

Little Name Dropper

2008-09-11T21:48:00.000-07:00

Owen's Shower

2008-09-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

So the baby showers have come and gone. Today I realized that I'm starting to get the pre-baby jitters! I'm not even pregnant and I'm starting to get anxious to see the newest additions to my friends' families. Maybe it's because I'm scared that once I get my hands on one of them, I won't want to let go.

Owen's shower was beautiful. Mia did a wonderful job with the decorations. Amy's games were really funny. As for the gifts, I've never seen so many precious baby boy things in my life. All the Rittenhouse family needs now is baby Owen. I CANNOT wait to meet him.

I don't care what she says, Taryn looked stunning.

Ella's picture smile cracks me up every time.

This was a funny moment I caught on camera...Amy in the Care Bear tent with Claire!

UM...this is too cute to handle.

I can't wait to see everyone else's pictures, since I didn't get as many as I should have!!!

Faye's Shower

2008-09-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I had cute pictures of Faye's shower that I have yet to put up! (I know I sometimes lag in the picture department.) Faye's shower was so fun. I know the kids really enjoyed it in that cool playroom!

How cute are these pregnant ladies??????

Serious coloring going on here.

That poor dog! At one point, all of the kids were just pounding on that glass door screaming "doggy!!!". I wish I would have caught in on video.

This is cute. Shaun is not above trying to fit into a baby slide and Ella loves it!

Parkie riding a pony!

San Diego!

2008-09-03T23:28:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! We're back from our whirlwind three day weekend in San Diego. San Diego is SUCH a great city for toddlers...I never realized that when I lived there. We had so so so so much fun! We tried to fit a lot of short, exciting activities into our short 3 day stay. Olivia had a blast. However, I AM ready for a real vacation (one that involves sleeping in.) Here are a few highlights!

The view from our room. Olivia LOVED looking at all of the boats. She hung out by the window whenever we were in our room.

A petting zoo at our hotel! She got to pet chickens, baby bunnies, goats and pigs. Oh and she went on her first pony ride.

Seaport Village where she went on her 1st carousel ride. She liked it at first, but it started going real fast and she got scared!

We let her run around at The Del...until she had a meltdown...couldn't eat dinner so....

...we got room service...corn on the cob and pizza...she really had it rough!

She went swimming with Papa and he bought her some grape shaved ice. She would not get up until she ate every last bit.

We found a little train in Balboa Park. She wanted to go on it twice!

The beautiful view from Coronado!

Here we are at Il Fornaio in Coronado...the restaurant where Dennis proposed. :)

Breakfast at Cafe 222. Oh she learned how to say "CHEESE" on this trip which is why she has a crazy smile in most of the pictures.

BYE BYE San Diego!

We're baaaaaaaaack!

2008-08-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

Looks like we're back too! Amy has inspired me, so I guess I should start blogging again. At least it's a way I can keep better track of my friends' lives since I don't get to see them enough these days.

Stay tuned for the adventures of Olivia and the gang!