7 days and a wake up

[our card for this Christmas. Mailed out today. That's right, 8 days before Christmas.]

Ah, Christmastime. Do you love it as much as I do?

Done with all my shopping. Even purchased all the food for the feast I'll be serving on Christmas day.
Almost all the gifts are wrapped.
Decorations are up.

Nothing left to do but wait. And I am terrible at waiting.

Having a child around for the holidays is proving to be pretty fun. Granted, at 14 months old, he doesn't understand any of what's going on, but it's still great to watch him point his finger and say "ooh" at our christmas tree and the lights.

I look forward to him getting older and writing letters to Santa and decorating cookies with me. All in due time. One day I'll wish for him to be this age again. Speaking of Santa, we are going to pay him a visit next week @ Town Square. That guy is the most legit Santa I've ever seen. And if you have to have a knock off, it better be a dang good one.

Today Sawyer and I drove out to Lake Las Vegas because it was a nice day and it's something I've been meaning to do. We walked around a bit and took some pictures. Sawyer loved the water fountains and the flowers. We might have to go back in the evening so he can "ooh" at the holiday decorations all lit up. He missed Spencer, and kept pointing to any man that walked by asking, "Dada?".

Dada is now a Dean and is working long and hard at getting in the groove of his new gig. We are very proud of him, but sure do miss his usual 3:30 arrival home during the week.

Here's my favorite shot of our adventure. Cause this is truly how he rolls...

mon favorites

Per Meleah's request, these are three of my favorite pictures.

Complaint department

Dear Old Navy,
Thank you for having affordable and somewhat cute clothes for little kids. And thanks for offering free shipping and having childrens coats on sale online on black Friday.

NO thank you, however, for sending said childrens coat in the wrong size and wrong color. And since exchanging items by mail with your company means the actual coat I ordered for my son would likely arrive in March, I am mailing back the wrong coat and just reordered the correct coat online. Hopefully you get it right this time.

And thanks for sending me a 20% off discount code for any online purchase the morning AFTER I reordered said coat.

Maybe I should stop buying from you. But it's likely I won't. And you probably knew that. Jerks.

give thanks

We had a good Thanksgiving. The usual dinner (at lunchtime) and games with Spencer's family, and dinner and games with my family later. The rest of the holiday weekend was spent doing serious vegging out, some Christmas shopping and movie watching.
All of Spencer's fam together for group picture.
Sadly, I didn't get a nice picture like that with my familia.
But here's Sawyer with Grandpa, post thanksgiving feast.

And here's Sawyer with Grandpa again. This was when Santa made his big arrival at Town Square before Thanksgiving. Obviously you can see how Sawyer felt about the big parade.

It's amazing how fast December arrives every year. This is my favorite season. And with a curious little dude in-tow, this year will be a Christmas to remember I'm sure.

let the wild rumpus start

Fall Festival with Grandma and Dad

be still, he would notrefreshment for the king
get it?...
King of the Wild Things

Halloween was fun. We didn't do trick or treating (cause the kid is one, honestly) but we had a good time at our ward party and hanging out with our nephews.

Halloween weekend did bring with it a nasty little cold for our household that we have still yet to shake entirely. Poor Sawyer still sounds congested but is surprisingly pretty happy. Good to know he didn't inherit my wussy genes.

adventures in babysitting

For the Nevada Day holiday off of work, we took a little trip down to the Shark Reef. Not sure what beats a free afternoon at an aquarium. It's free for teachers + a guest, and babies are free. I've decided we'll stop going places and doing things once Sawyer is over 4 years old and we have to start paying for him for everything, everywhere. Hope he doesn't mind seclusion.








Sawyer loved watching all the different creatures. Kept trying to reach at them through the glass.

It is fun to watch him grow and interact with the world.

baby birthday

We celebrated Sawyer's first birthday this past weekend (on the day of his father's birthday, per his request). It was a Where the Wild Things Are theme party, so the older kids had fun with the games and activities.

Really, first birthday parties are not about the child at all, and I'm ok with that. It was a great party. Sawyer was a trooper and stayed happy the whole time, even during the gift opening marathon. He got seriously spoiled.
pin the tail on max
our wild thing with papa jim
familia
sawyer with his friend, and costume designer, miguel. he made the wild thing costume for sawyer and we LOVE him.

more to come....

the best laid plans

[cheerio, mate!]

As fall slowly approaches (we're talking a snail's pace here in Las Vegas) my life is becoming a lot more crowded. Crowded with things needing to get one, things taking up my time. They're mostly good things, good time-eaters, but things nonetheless that I am obligated to do, plan, attend, etc.

And in case you didn't notice, I don't always love doing, planning, attending...But I will prevail. Or I will die trying. Either/or.
[naptime on the kitchen floor]

Sawyer is turning ONE in about 3 little weeks. This is both exciting and sad. When every woman I ever met told me to cherish him as a baby because "they grow up so fast!", they were not kidding. Somedays it seems like it went by in a flash and others I am dying for him to walk steadily and speak real words.
[wait, you're telling me that if i stand up against this chair it might move? and i might fall? psssh]

Speaking of speaking, he says "Mama" and "Dad" a lot but from what we can tell, he still hasn't figured out who's who in relation to those words. As for the walking...there's a lot of falling and crying. I want to buy a helmet for his precious brain but Dad finds that a bit excessive. So for now I follow him around the downstairs of our home all day to avoid the gut-wrenching experience of scooping him up after a tile floor tumble.

So hopefully his first birthday party will be fun for him. Historically, most first birthday parties I have been to were not fun for the guest of honor. Time will tell.

[beautiful bedhead]

Ah, now back to all those things that are waiting on me.

latest and greatest

all over the place. discovered the stairs. luckily, he's not that interested, yet.
what did you wear for your first day of school? not this, i presume.
teething and chewing on hands all day, everyday
loves grandpas beard
our new photoboards, made by Spencer's stepmom. love love love them
slingin a bottle on his own
oh and my new style. for once, i came home and declared, I LOVE MY HAIR!

trade off

Tomorrow is Spencer's first day back to work. The kiddies don't come till Monday so he's got a few days to get back into the swing of things. I think he's excited to get back to school and doing something with his days. Not that lounging around with me and Sawyer hasn't been great, I'm sure.

So that means back to work for me too. The boss here at Beals, Inc. has become increasingly difficult during naptime. Does he not realize how important nap time is to his employee(me)? I only have the chance to really get my work done when the head honcho takes naps. Productivity will decline rapidly if this persists.

He is also pulling up/standing up on furniture a lot and I am constantly cautioning him to "be careful" (as if he knows what that means, at all?)


What happened to that tiny baby who hung out and slept and ate and slept? I remember him, he didn't get into kitchen cabinets or stand in his crib crying or refuse to keep a bib on at lunch. But this new guy is kind of fun. He laughs a lot and chases the dog in his walker and claps his hands to music and likes to hold my hair in his little hands at bedtime.

It's all a trade off.

thrill of the hunt

Yesterday was a fun day of hanging out with my oldest, best friends. In N Out and thrift store shopping, my favorites!

After a day of thrift store hunting, I came home with a smattering of quality goods and spent a ridiculously small amount of dough.

Exhibit A (I tried doing one picture but all this awesomeness just doesn't fit into one shot):
Nordstroms BP cardigan

Vintage cropped black peacoat sweater. One of my favorite thrift finds ever.

Black polka dot dress

Navy blue Ann Taylor skirt. Sometimes I like old lady clothes. But it's super cute on.

Navy sailor-esque shirt.

Printed brown top. I need more pattern in my life.

Brand new skinny navy pants. Like a glove.

Royal blue Ann Taylor cardigan. It'll look cute in the outfit I have planned in my head, trust me.

Total 8 items purchased
Total $42 spent

Usually I don't spend that much thrifting in one day, but usually I don't find so many great things at once. And all of these items are in like-new condition, have no wear or tear or stains, and require no alterations to fit me. JACKPOT.

Some people might turn their noses up at buying second hand, and thats cool for you. But some of my all time favorite pieces of clothing and accessories were found drooping on metal hangers inside smelly thrift stores. I kind of love that someone else owned and loved them before me. My favorite lemon yellow and black dress maybe belonged to a sweet, older woman who held onto it well into her 70's, reminiscing about times spent dancing with suitors in that dress?

Maybe not.

But if nothing else, tell me what beats having an amazing piece of clothing, that no one else will be wearing, that you paid $7 for? Holla.

"It's my life and I'm not sitting on the sidelines watching
It pass me by
I'm leaving you my legacy
I gotta make my mark
I gotta run it hard
I want you to remember me
I'm leaving my fingerprints
I'm leaving my fingerprints
Don't give up
Don't give in
Build your house on the rock
Oh not in the sand, in the sand, in the sand, in the saaaaaand"

I like to sing this song at the top of my lungs to my son as we dance around my office. If I could turn it up louder on the imac speakers without blowing them out, I absolutely would. Yeah, it's Katy Perry and alot of her songs are very "meh.." but girl can sing and she's the long lost twin to my number one style icon, Ms. Deschanel. So, naturally, I am sort of a fan, some of the time.

With our long summer break as a 3some draws to a close, I am reflecting on what was accomplished and enjoyed over the past almost 3 months. And I had a realization today. I was a complete slacker. ALL. SUMMER.

I strayed from my weekly routine of grocery shopping/cleaning/cooking/laundry/treat-baking/mama+baby time. I slept in past Sawyers wake up time almost every day. Bless my sweetheart of a husband who got up before I even heard the little dude every day, and asked me "why'd you get up?" when I would wander downstairs after breakfast had been served and cleaned up. I cleaned every 2 weeks (if that) and didn't plan dinners or hardly make any. I shopped and went off budget entirely. I got dizzy and handed the baby off to Dad a lot. I flaked out on life.

This was supposed to be Spencer's summer break. Mom works year round for Mr. Sawyer, and yet, here I was, taking all the personal time off I wanted. It is no surprise to me (or anyone else, I imagine) that I am far more selfish than my husband. But I didn't realize how selfish I have been recently. Where I lack, he always makes up. He steps up, each and every time. I know I will spend our entire lives together wishing I could be more like him.

And with that jab at myself, I am making an end of summer resolution. (totally made that up)

For the rest of 2009 I will make a concerted effort each day to be better to and for all the people I love. Summer slacker, no more. Time to enjoy this little life I have and all the good stuff within it.

Let's go, August-December of '09.

And to repay the man for his hard work as other-mother this summer, I am tentatively planning a Padres getaway weekend in September. But we will stay at my favorite, The Omni. Is that me being selfish again?

Dangit.

want for nothing

some things i'd like for christmas (in august).