A Weekend in Heaven

Okay ladies, admit it. The blog title made you instantly flash back to your (much) younger days and two minutes in heaven (remember: x minutes in a closet with a boy where you giggled nervously and awkwardly stood there until the time was up). Well this weekend was WAY better than that game ever was. (Hmm...I'm seeing your shocked look and feeling your dismay that I even brought up this 'game'.)

Anyways, so what was this amazing weekend? Well, last weekend my sister and I headed out for a relaxing, sun-filled, lazy weekend!

Highlights included lots and lots of sunshine and pool time. An entire Sunday at the pool, in fact. The hardest decisions were what to eat and when to turn over to avoid getting burned. The most exertion involved the flight of stairs we had to take to get to our absolutely lovely room. The resort, FireSky, was so very fantastic.

Lessons learned:
*This is definitely becoming a yearly tradition
*Our sister’s weekend will always be somewhere sunny
*We are adding one more day to the trip
*We are never renting from Budget again (Zippy, our rental car, was quite comical and although adding humor to the weekend, the VERY LOUD and SQUEAKY brakes announcing our presence and the terrible rattle in the dash that made us think it was going to come crashing down on us is not something I want to repeat)

Bottom line: Regardless of the rental car situation, last weekend was just dreamy. Me likey…A LOT!

After such a great weekend it ended with my heart melting when Kaitlyn came running up to give me a big hug as a welcome home (and then immediately wanted down so she could keep playing. LOL!) Thanks, Ryan for doing the Daddy weekend with KP so that I could have a carefree weekend away.

A Plea To All Moms Out There

In honor of Mother's Day, I must send out my plea. To all you amazing mommys out there, as you know parenting is such a wonderful challenge. One minute you're flying high and on top of the world with your child and then 'bam', the next minute you're shaking your head wondering 'where did I go wrong?'

There are moments where you are amazed at how well you handled something and other moments where you think, 'wow, I pretty much mucked that one up.' And at least for me, I'm always wondering how many hours (months, years) Kaitlyn will spend in counseling reversing all the damage I did.

At the end of the day, I always ask myself if I did the very best I could. Most days are a big triumphant yes! But some days are an honest and sad no. And then I vow to do better tomorrow. Nonetheless, the bottom line is that we moms love our kids more than we ever thought imaginable and would do ANYTHING for them. And that is the exact reason why I send out this plea. Because we do so much for our kids, it's important to not lose sight of ourselves. Thus, if you ever find yourself in the the following scenario, please call me and I'll talk you off the ledge.

So what's this horrible scenario? It's a true story that I witnessed. I took KP a week ago to get her hair cut (we left before she got one because the wait ended up being too long, thus Friday's haircut in the post below was try #2). Anyways, there was a 3 year old getting his hair cut when we walked in. He was very active and his mom was doing everything to keep him from squirming. My heart went out to this mom. After 25 painful minutes the little guy's hair was done. And that is when IT happened.

The mom sat herself down in a chair and asked for her hair to be cut. So what's the big deal you ask? Well, let's see here. We were at a place called 'Kids Cool Cuts' where they have chairs that are kids sized airplanes and cars with only one semi-normal seat (the one she plopped down in). The hair accessories are cute clips with kittys and sunshines and the hair products are strawberry, bubble gum, or apple scented. She starts in saying 'I want to change up my look and get layers'. Go ahead and gasp now. I did! NO mother, I repeat NO mother, should devalue herself so much that she decides a cut from 'Kids Cool Cuts' is in order. I don't care how busy your life is. Never.Ever. You deserve better!

Saddened, I left the salon with Kaitlyn and instantly called Gene Juarez and made myself an appointment in hopes of reversing this awful tragedy.

Please, I beg you, call me if you are ever tempted to do anything like this...we'll plan an intervention at the nearest salon/spa.

And so it begins...

Today Kaitlyn was introduced to the world of primping and pampering. She had her first haircut and she did GREAT! She walked in and promptly picked out her chair of choice (an airplane, of course) and was ready to go. High-flying with the wind in her hair she was having a good 'ole time. Off went the hair, next a little styling and a cute kid updo (fancy pony twist). The finale brought a little vanilla spritz...mmmmm. Smelling good and looking great we headed off.

Afterwards, as I was changing KP's diaper in the bathroom a lady approached me and said, 'my grandkids and I were watching her get her hair cut and she did amazingly well.' Come to find out, the lady had been cutting hair for 30 years so she should know. As a treat for doing so well, KP went on the carousel with Daddy to show off the new 'do.

Nana's Special Day!

Happy Birthday, Nana! Wish I was celebrating with you in Hawaii. Enjoy your special day!

I'm a big ole softy

I swore I'd never, ever be one of those moms pushing around her little one in this hideous, jumbo cart at the grocery store. But then the day came, and KP's face lit up and I couldn't say no. My heart melted and I eagerly helped her climb in and giggled the whole way through the store at how happy she was. OK, honestly it helped a bit that Ryan was the one who drove this monster of a thing around most of the time. But I did get a stint behind the cart and let me tell you, these things are NOT easy to steer.

As we were leaving the store Ryan asked if I wanted to go mini van shopping. I laughed really hard and said, no way in h-e-double toothpick! I'll never, ever own a mini van. But then I stopped midlaugh and cringed...that's exactly what I'd said about the cart. Zikes!

A breath of fresh air

I noticed the other day that KP's 'ahhh baby smell' is definitely gone. You know the smell I'm talking about, where you smell her head and just sigh with contentment. Well, now she has toddler stink. And by stink I actually mean that in a good way. It's the:
*I explored everything and have been everywhere today smell
*I tried a new yogurt and banana hair conditioner smell (aka breakfast mushed into her hair)
*I climbed up the slide ten times today smell
*I made snow angels in the rocks at the playground smell
*I chased every dog I saw today and caught up to a couple of them smell
*I played with play doh and only licked it twice today smell (instead of full-blown eating it, progress I tell ya!)
*I colored my entire face, hands, and feet with marker smell (the fu manchu look isn't a good one)

And the list could go on and on. The thing is I LOVE those things (ok, maybe the last one wasn't so funny today when it was combined with coloring on the carpet as well) but I sure do miss the baby smell.

Well, Kaitlyn has had a bit of a cold this week so isn't sleeping too well. The other night I was snuggled up with her on the overstuffed chair. She finally falls asleep (poor congested boo!). She's a totally crazy sleeper. She's moving here and there, throwing arms, tossing and turning. Anyways, at one point I end up with her little tushy RIGHT in my face. And then I got it. A whiff of that baby smell I loved. Yep, she just had a clean diaper put on and it was a pampers one that smells like baby powder. Even though I was super tired it made me giggle that I got my wish to smell that baby smell again in the most unlikely of places. *sigh*

Happy Birthday, Grammy Jill!

Hi Grammy Jill,
Wishing you a very special birthday! I sure wish I could celebrate with you today. Guess that just means we need to schedule some time really soon so that we can have cupcakes together!

Luvs and hugs!