Easter 2014

I'm pretty sure I don't have a single picture from last Easter.  Camden was five months old and I remember that it was a glorious 70 degrees outside and that Camden was non too thrilled with the temperature or any clothing that I put on him.  Maybe that's why there is no photo evidence?

Even though I know it's silly, I was excited about my first year of getting to play the Easter Bunny and putting together a basket for Cam.  I knew that he would probably care less about what was inside, but it's a tradition that I was excited to start.

In his basket was some spring clothes, two books, a sippy cup, and a bubble machine.

We had a gloriously lazy morning.  Well, I should say that I tried to be lazy and Camden was determined to get into ev-ery-thing.  He may have been clueless regarding the Easter Bunny.  But he was sure emulating another bunny... The Energizer Bunny.  Ryan was trying to sleep and after the tenth time of chasing a da-da-da-da-ing Camden away from the bedroom - I resulted to using Toy Story 3 as a way to keep him still and quiet.  It didn't work.  

Our jammies finally came off and we put on our Easter Sunday best and I forced both my boys out into the front yard for Cam's first Easter egg hunt.  Also known as several plastic eggs that were randomly thrown in the grass.

Maybe next year he will understand the egg hunt concept?  I'll stay hopeful.

We went over to my parents for a yummy dinner (although I was shocked when Cam wasn't a fan) and documented our second family Easter.

And of course, my Hammy Cammy continued to live up to his name with the "bend and kiss."

Happy Easter!

Take Luck,

LP

2,303

2,303 miles.  That's how far I live from my best friend.

I remember how hard it was to leave family and friends when I left Washington to go to college in Illinois.  When I left Illinois to come back to Washington, I didn't really think how hard it would be to live so far away from the girls that became my family.

Knowing I was going to have a two hour layover in Detroit on my way home from Canada on Friday, I asked Tiff how far she lived from the airport and if it would be at all in the realm of feasible/worth it for her to drive there for a quick visit.  I knew it wasn't super far, but with a busy baby on her hands - I wasn't sure if it was close enough to make an hour visit worth the trip.

Because she's the greatest ever - she didn't even hesitate and responded with something that included, "hell yes," and "OMGGGGGGG!"  I shared her excitement.  The number of extra G's being totally necessary.

I tried not to get my hopes too high, knowing that there was a chance of my flight from Ottawa being delayed and potentially affecting my layover time.  Thankfully, it wasn't an issue and my flight landed almost 30 minutes early.

We met (her mom and Huck in tow), ordered delicious frozen lattes from The Coffee Bean, and began an hour long chit chat that I think both of us needed more than we could have ever realized.  We were hoping there was a Panera at the airport, but that would have been too perfect.

Our visit flew by (as I knew it would), and I was watching the clock so I could go back through security and get to my gate, but we made the most of the time we had.

This little meet up made my day, my week, and my month.  I got hugs, laughs, and kisses on those chubby Huck cheeks.

It's hard to be this far away from Tiff and my other college girlfriends, especially now that we're all starting families.  Getting to see them, even for super small bits of time, fills my heart tank so it can continue until the next visit.

A family trip to visit them in Michigan was already buzzing in my head, but now I really (really, really, really) can't wait for some things around here to get straightened out so we can set some dates.

I already can't wait.

Take Luck,

LP

Off to Ottawa

I traveled to Ottawa, Canada yesterday for a very quick work trip.  Very quick as in, this meeting that I came for is expected to last approximately two hours.  And I've been warned to leave this place with an unclear understanding of what the hell just happened.

That's an awful long way to travel for a two hour meeting - just saying.

I felt like a total ogre monster Wednesday morning as I was running about the house trying to finish getting both Camden and myself ready for the next few days.  Because Ryan is working an overnight shift right now, my parents get to have Camden overnight and get him to daycare in the morning.  I know they are happy to help but I feel bad that they are having to help out so much.

Besides the horrendous traffic that I could not avoid on my way to the airport this morning, it was a very smooth trip.  Smooth in the sense that I arrived in one piece, virtually unarmed.

I experienced the longest and bumpiest decent that I can recall while descending/landing in Chicago.  Thankfully, the person near me with the extremely pungent body odor waited until after the plane was on the ground before gracing the plane with their stench.

Unlike my last tango with Chicago's O'Hare, I did not have to run across the entire airport to get to my next gate.  It was conveniently located in the next terminal from which I landed.

I boarded the alarmingly small plane to Ottawa and sat next to a very nice Canadian gentleman and behind a woman who may or may have had Tourette's Syndrome.

  I had my eyes closed with the air on full blast while we were pulling away from the gate and taxiing, when the nice gentleman asked me if I was scared of flying.  My response?

"I'm not scared of flying.  I just don't like take off.  Or small planes.  Or turbulence.  Or landing."

We landed in Ottawa and I proceeded through customs and only walked through one wrong door.  I considered that a small personal victory considering my complete lack of international travel.  

I should add here that I called Verizon last week to ask/confirm what was covered in terms of phone calls and texting while outside of the U.S.  The super nice guy assured me that both incoming and outgoing calls and texts were unlimited, and he made it sound like it would be no problem at all.

Once I got through customs and was waiting for a co-worker to land, I noticed that my texts to Ryan and my mom weren't showing as "delivered" like normal, and I wasn't getting anything in response.  I called Verizon and after a lengthy waiting period, got to talk to a human.

I recapped my previous phone call, and the issues I was having, and what do you think the first thing she asked me was?

"Are you able to make phone calls?"

Well, lady, I sure as shit am sitting here talking to you on the telephone... So, what do you think?

(I didn't really say that, but I was certainly thinking it).

She quickly fixed the issue and I was then capable of checking in on my hubby and my baby boy.  I would totally be OK without texting for the duration of this trip - but I like to be able to make sure everything is going swimmingly without me.

I'm sure to have extra time on my hands this afternoon, so maybe you'll be lucky enough to see a blog post chalk full of grainy, Downtown Ottawa iPhone photos?

Only time will tell.

Take Luck,

LP

My Super Power

I've decided that I have a super power.  A gift, if you will.

My super power?

Picking the absolute worst line while checking out at a grocery store, or any store that may present a patron with multiple exit-upon-payment options.

This gift of mine used to be funny.  Ryan would laugh at my ability to continually choose the worst/slowest line possible.  I'm afraid to say that this tendency of mine is leaving the funny zone and been given a shove into annoying and incredibly irritating.

Let me enlighten you.

Sunday at Fred Meyer to do our weekly shopping with my shopping cart buddy who was done sitting in the seat.  I spot a family friendly line where there's only one couple, and they are checking out with several hanger plants.  Super.  I unload the masses from my cart onto the conveyer belt whilst holding my Hammy Cammy with my other arm.  I'm in a good rhythm when the belt stops full.  The coupon the woman had for her hanging planters wasn't registering and so the cashier was having to call back to the nursery.  Could the problem be solved over the phone?  Of course not.  

The customer attempted to make idle chit chat with me while we waited.  She laughed about the fact that she wasn't missing out on saving $7.50 and I did my best fake laugh while wiping the sweat from my forehead.

Eighteen minutes later it was our turn.  That's an exaggeration but with a wiggly toddler it felt like for-ev-er.

Yesterday I stopped at Safeway after work to pick up doughnuts for Ryan to take to his new 6pm-6am work shift.  I quickly selected an assortment of doughnuts, considered stuffing one in my mouth right then and there, and proceeded to the checkout.  Shocked at the number of lanes open, I chose an express lane with one couple in line and a bunch of cases of soda in their cart.  The stars seemed to align.  The cashier asked the customer if they had a Safeway Club Card and after much internal though and reflection, she declared that she did not.  He offered her one, she agreed and proceeded to fill out the damn paperwork right there on the spot.  

I'm not kidding when I say I covered my mouth with my wallet in order to keep from yelling some sort of expletives.

Last week at Target.  The lady in front of me forgot her wallet.  This was established after she emptied the entire contents of her purse out onto the counter.

Two weeks ago at Fred Meyer.  The lady in front of me was arguing over a competitor coupon and whether or not she was purchasing the exact same advertised item.  She wasn't, but the way, and insisted to speak to a manager.

Is this problem and these examples really a big deal?  Hell no.  But they happen all the frigging time.  I cannot make this stuff up.  I'm hardly ever in a true hurry, it's just the principal that this always happens that is stirring me into a dramatic frenzy.

Clearly I need a new strategy for selecting check out lanes.

Do you have this problem?  Or is this truly a magical super power that I possess?

Take Luck,

LP

Weekends

I started writing this post last Monday, in hopes of sharing the highlights from our weekend.  Here we are, a week later and I've already forgotten what we did.  I even had to think (sort of) hard about what we just did this weekend.  Not good.  I'm telling you - mommy brain is a real thing.

Anyway, the highlight of last weekend was that we took Camden to meet the Easter Bunny.

Overall, I'd say it went really well.  Why does the Easter Bunny have to be so creepy?

This weekend kicked off with a new session of shrimp swim lessons and a birthday party at an indoor play center where we continued to inflict torture on our child and make him go down the giant inflatable slide.  He was piiiiiiissed and pursed his lips in a very Derek Zoolander/Blue Steel fashion for the rest of the afternoon.

You can't tell, but seconds later he was screaming with a "why did you do that to me?!" look on his face.  I thought for sure he would like the inflatable farm area that was just for wee kiddos.  And I was wrong, wrong, wrong.  I'm not sure I've ever seen his face get so red or the veins in his neck and head pop in such a way.  That goodness we located the child-size shopping carts, because then all was well in his tiny world.

A particularly high point in the weekend was discovering a Boy Band station on Pandora.  My inner-14 year old self has been shamelessly singing along to Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and 98 Degrees more than I should even begin to admit. 

Sunday we ventured out on our first family hike.  Because I wasn't sure how Hammy would do being in the Ergo for a 5-mile hike, I wanted to stay close to home.  Thankfully, he did great and found it hysterical to yank my ponytail the. entire. way. down.

After our hike we rewarded ourselves with Panera - lots of Panera, complete with Frozen Caramel "smoothies."  Do we live it up or what?

Totally blog worthy news - Camden fell in the backyard and got his first legitimate knee scrape.  He hardly noticed but for some reason I took it a little hard.

The weekend ended on a high note and we were literally cheering at the television when watching the latest Game of Thrones episode.  Two words.  Purple Wedding.

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Take Luck,

LP

We All Survived

My brother and his family bought a new house and were moving this past weekend. Knowing I wouldn't be much help with physically moving them (or maybe due to a temporary lapse in my sanity) I offered to watch Kennedy and Riley for the day. 

I spent many hours with them before Camden was born, but this would be the first time I watched them since. They LOVE Cam and he just goes with the flow so I didn't think it would be too tough - just tiring. 

As luck would have it, my little man cub has been (finally) cutting top molars and woke up with a faucet in place of his little button nose. He was grumpy, clingy, and overall the opposite of his normal gem-like personality. Humbled. 

Really, the day went well and the big kids only got overly rambunctious a few times - but that's to be expected. What I didn't expect (or rather, had forgotten) was the absolutely historical things that innocently come out of Kenny and Riley's mouth. 

- Riley kept calling Brock "Brick" and neither kid could keep Sonny's name straight (one of their other aunts has two weiner dogs named Finny and Lucy so naturally...). By the end of the day they were getting close but calling her "Sunnyshine." 

- Because he's cutting teeth, Camden's hands had been in his mouth allllll morning. Camden put his hand on Riley's arm and he said "Uhhh, Aunt Lauren? Baby Camden's hands are really sweaty."

- Kennedy: "I think my dad's favorite color is gray." Me: "Why do you say that?" Kennedy: "Because his hair keeps getting grayer and grayer."

- Riley: "Does Uncle Ryan have a pump in his pants?" Me: "Uhhhhhh what?" Riley: "Does he have a pump in his pants?" (Clearly annoyed and holding up little sports balls that are flat and need to be pumped with some some air) 

- Kennedy, commenting on Camden's fascination with his noise blocking ear muffs - "He likes to wear them so he can't hear you."

- Kennedy, after I tried to help her with a Frozen online game, but ended up getting Kristoff eaten by a wolf - "(heavy sigh) You were supposed to HELP me but you blew it."

I can't wait to start documenting "Camdenisms" and the funny things Hammy says.

For now, I have confirmed my previous decision to not pursue a career in in-home child care. And after this experience, it's quite possible that we will only have two children. I only have two eyes, two arms, and two legs, and after today, I feel like I would need an extra of each to wrangle three.

By the end of the day, Camden was in rough shape and rare form.   He practically refused to take off his ear muffs and I was willingly giving him Roberto just to keep the crying and shrieking at bay.

The good news? We all survived.

Take Luck,

LP

First World Problems

We randomly lost power for about an hour Sunday night.  Not sure what happened - it wasn't windy and we didn't hear any boom/explosion to indicate a transformer had blown, so we reported the outage to the electrical company and waited.

The really sad part, is how crystal clear it became that randomly losing power for an hour is truly a first world problem.

Why?

The first thing I did was check my phone to see the time.  I wanted to make sure that it was past 7:00pm and that the outage wouldn't affect the DVR recording of The Walking Dead season finale.

Source

Ryan was in the middle of a fantasy baseball draft so of course, our wireless modem stopped working.  After several huffs and choice words (and because I'm such a thoughtful wife) I suggested using my iPhone as a personal hotspot so he could continue.

I then sat on pins and needles as my already "low battery" phone dwindled down below 10%.

Finally, I worried that the outage, causing Camden's sound machine and night light to turn off, would wake him up.  So, naturally I turned on the video monitor to see if he was awake............... I bet you can guess how much visual evidence was on the other end of that monitor.

Seriously, what is wrong with me?

Take Luck,

LP